The sun is bright.
The waves are big.
The beach is very pleasant today, considering they just came off of a thunderstorm.
It's the last sunny day before a week of more rain, it's time to scoop up the opportunity.
Cole plays with the sand, manipulating it into small structures.
Pixal brought her small brick person out to see the sights.
Cole offers that he makes a small sandcastle for Pixal's tiny person.
She declines, afraid of ruining the person's paint with sand.
Zane stands on top of a rock, giving a pirate impression.
He claims it's necessary. Again. Really, everyone else thinks he just likes pretending to be a pirate and rolls with it.
Cole starts building spiked sand structures around Zane's rock. "Behold, the Sand Emperor!"
"May I be the Sand Emperor's empress?" Pixal giggles.
Zane looks confused.
"Get it? Like the Ice Emperor?" Cole explains, the laughter rising in his voice.
"Ice Emperor?" Zane asks, leaning forward on the rock.
"Yeah? When you were trapped in the Never-realm?"
"I remember being trapped in the Never-realm but I don't recall any sort of Ice Emperor."
Pixal facepalms. Zane's been clearing out too many memories, it seems. This isn't even the first time he's done this.
She reaches for her beloved's hand. "Did you delete any memories recently?"
"I did! Just last week to make room for movie catalogs."
Cole and Pixal share a distressed look.
"Oh boy, we have a story to tell you," Cole says with a nervous chuckle.
Meanwhile, Jay and Kai both sit on the shore.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Splash.
Kai threw a rock into the water.
"Sorry, Nya," he sighs.
A small wave rolls. Maybe the sea is talking back.
Or he's just believing that.
He looks over at Jay. He's just talking to the water. Rambling about irrelevant bullshit.
At least, it's bullshit to Kai.
The fire ninja lets out a small growl. "How are you dealing with this so well?!" he asks Jay, his voice containing more venom than the lightning ninja will ever have.
Jay looks up from the water. "I would ask you the same thing."
Kai grits his teeth. "What made you think I'm dealing with this well?!"
Jay's eyebrows knit together. "What made you think I was handling this well?!"
"You're just so weird and calm right now! I know you've had your meltdowns but how are you just sitting there-"
"I was literally so distraught that my body was sent into some stress response that caused me to change species. Don't tell me I'm handling it well, we're just handling it differently."
They stare at each other.
Kai takes a deep breath and turns his attention back to the water. "Whatever."
Jay scoots closer to Kai. "Wanna talk about it?"
Kai turns his head.
Slowly, scaley arms wrap around him.
After a moment of hesitation, Kai hugs back.
"I just don't get it," Kai whispers. "Like I do, but she shouldn't have. She should've found another way. We could've found another way. And I'm grateful but eff fucking ess em, I miss her so much. And I respect her choice, she had the freedom to do that but..." He presses his face into Jay's shoulder.
Jay pats Kai on the back.
Cole's looking over from the rock, mouthing something.
Jay shoos him away.
"I practically raised her," Kai mumbles. "I respect her choice, I'm proud of her but how do you just let go of your sister?"
"We were yin and yang. It was hard for me to deal with. Still is. She saved my life and just..."
Kai pushes Jay away. "Yeah, because dating for a couple of years is totally the same as being someone's sibling. Someone's guardian. And you've seen them grow and evolve only to fuck off into the ocean."
"I didn't say that. It's just taken a toll on me too. On all of us. I can't say I've known her for her whole life, but we've all known her for the last five years. She's left an impact on all of us. To varying degrees. Very varying degrees."
Kai turns away from Jay again. "I'm sorry. I don't wanna be that asshole who's like 'you're not good enough for my sister and can't get close enough and you'll never understand' it's just. She's my sister. I lost someone I spent most of my life protecting."
"No, no, I get it. I can be closer to her than the rest of the team but I'm still just some guy in a way, y'know? Can share a bond, basically be married, go through traumatic events together, but I'm not the one who shaped her into who she is."
"You're not just 'some guy,' none of you are just some guy. We're family."
They sit in silence for a good while.
They agreed to not tell the others about this conversation.
The sun's a little less bright.
Jay no longer basks in warm sunlight.
He can tell the weather is growing a bit cold and damp.
He abruptly pulls his hand away from Nya's grip, looking at the sky. He glances between the water and the sky repeatedly.
Cole sits up. He was enjoying the sunlight, it reminded him of mountain climbing. He brushes the sand off of his bare arms. "Guys?"
Kai looks up from the water. "Shit."
Zane quickly shields Pixal.
Small water droplets start hitting.
"The weather broadcast said we couldn't expect rain until 3:00 AM," Pixal states.
"Weather lies sometimes," Cole says hurriedly. "We need to go home!"
Despite the rush in his voice, they're all kind of hesitant to leave.
Cole's the first one to pull himself together and start marching onwards.
Zane has to guide Pixal away.
Kai and Jay are last, taking their sweet time.
She's even with them as they walk, sticking to their skin and their clothes.
She'll be with them, always.
Pixal cracks an egg into a pan.
She watches as it cooks.
Zane smiles.
Cole nudges her over slightly, pulling breakfast sausage out of the oven.
"This is fun," Pixal remarks, the wonder bleeding through her voice.
She understands how cooking works and why the food reacts the way it does, but making the food heat up and turn into something edible feels amazing.
Maybe she just really likes making things.
Or maybe that's just to fill a void left behind by Samurai X, whichever samurai she's missing.
She misses Nya so much, of course. But she can't deny that she misses filling that role as well. While she is still the samurai, she hasn't been on duty or worked on her gear since...
You know what, maybe she just really likes making things, it's fascinating.
Turning bricks into cities.
Turning weird fragile ovals into food.
Maybe that's why Zane likes cooking so much.
"I did it! I made a pancake!" Cole cheers.
Pixal glances over at him.
She can't help but smile. He finally did it.
"Excellent, now let's try to do it again," Zane challenges, a warm smile on his face.
Dinner is eaten in the living room.
It's been like this for the last several days.
Ninja and a samurai scattered about the room, all staying generally near the couch.
It was breakfast for dinner. Everything was simple to make. Plus, it seemed like a nice meal for the gloomy day, in a strange way.
Everything feels so cozy.
A movie plays.
The acting is terrible.
And that's its charm.
Zane giggles a lot.
"I feel like there's a drinking game here," Cole snickers.
"Take a shot every time we can see the mic?" Kai mumbles.
"Nah, feel like that's kinda deadly," Cole responds.
"How about every time we see ketchup?" Pixal offers.
"That is a significant amount of this movie," Zane notes. "It is a slasher movie, after all."
Jay looks at the screen. Two people passionately kissing and getting a bit touchy. He's lost track of how many times this happened already. Normally he'd laugh at horror movies cramming so many scenes like this in, but in light of recent events? He looks out the window.
She taps on the window, almost calling out to him, her fingers falling in a million droplets.
He's so tempted to go out into the rain.
It kinda hurts.
"How about we count every makeout session or steamy moment?"
"Not as funny to be honest," Kai says.
"Yeah...not that funny," Jay whispers, curling further into his blankets, stabbing his pancakes.
Even if the pancakes were only made under Zane's instruction, considering previous attempts, Cole did an amazing job. Not Better than Zane's, but they are in fact pancakes.
Jay looks back up at the screen after getting a fork full of pancakes. Wow, this movie's kinda blurry. At least for this scene. Guess it's a low-quality rip. That or the wifi's acting up.
He looks back down at his plate for another forkful.
That's blurry too...
He rubs his eyes.
Still blurry.
Don't be worried, it'll go away in a minute.
Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm.
Zane takes notice first. "Are you alright, friend?" He gently puts his hand on the blue ninja's shoulder.
ZZZZAPP!
Both of them look horrified.
Then Zane's face turns to one of worry as the electricity dissipates. "Is there something wrong?"
"No? Yes? I don't know! Let's just keep watching the movie."
Cole gets up from the couch.
After a moment, he finds himself crouched down on the floor, next to Jay. "What's wrong?"
"It's fine, I'm fine," Jay hisses, pulling away from Cole's outstretched hand. "Just let me enjoy my pancakes."
After popping the fork into his mouth, his eyes go wide.
He quickly throws what's left of the cheap plastic fork on the floor.
It's nothing more than a handle. The acid dripping off of it seeps into the floor, leaving small burns.
Pixal slowly approaches him. "Do you need us to run diagnostics on you?"
Jay shakes his head. "No, no, I think I just need a minute."
He stands up.
He makes a b-line out of the room.
Kai reaches for him from the back of the couch. He can barely hear the fire ninja say "Wait," before the door slams.
Jay sits out on the courtyard, Nya gently checking for wounds, caressing his body, her fingertips checking almost everywhere for injury, tapping all over, washing over his skin and clothes.
He doesn't even care that it's slightly cold right now. He's warm when he's with her.
"Nya, do you miss your body?" he asks. "Do you miss having a body?"
Thunder booms.
He sighs. "Well, I miss yours. Not in a creepy way! I just miss...we miss..it isn't just about me. We all want you back. We're all feeling empty and there's a missing piece."
Softly, her hands grip his, washing over his palms far kinder than any other rain droplet.
"It's tough," he mumbles. "I was so sad that I ended up like this! And I guess it distracted me for a time but now I just really miss you. I'm going through things, through changes, and they scare me, some mornings I wake up not knowing what to expect, and I just want you here to hug me and say it'll be alright."
Drip
Drip
Drip
Drip drip
Drip dripdripdrip
Dripdripdripdripdripdripdrip
The rain started pouring harder.
"Yeah, selfish, I know," he whispers. "I guess maybe also I want the peace of mind knowing you're here. That you can be next to me just as much as you can be next to Kai or Cole or off doing your own things or sleeping sound in your bed."
He rubs his eyes.
No tears come out.
His vision's still blurry.
The rain washes over his hands again. He can almost feel her curiosity.
"I'm okay. I think. Eyes just doing a weird thing."
BOOM
The thunder seems to let him know that wasn't a good enough answer.
"I'm not okay, but..."
He finds himself laying down on the concrete.
A hand strokes his face.
He can swear he can see Nya's outline.
Probably just a trick of blurry vision.
At some point, his eyes drifted shut.
"Do I have to check his vitals?" Zane asks frantically.
"I don't know yet," Cole whispers. "I think I felt him move though?"
Jay frowns.
"Oh fuck, I think he's coming to," Kai says.
Slowly, Jay cracks his eyes open.
It's mostly just blurry blobs surrounding him.
It seems like the ceiling is bouncing up and down?
Did a picture frame pass him by?
This seems familiar. The hallway?
Then he realizes that he's moving, but not on his own.
There's a face above him? Based on the skin and hair colors, he thinks it's Cole?
"I don't need anything checked?" Jay mumbles.
He stops moving.
"Think you can walk?" Cole asks.
"Sssure?"
"Alright, on three..."
Then the gears start turning in Jay's head. Cole was carrying him.
Shit. He didn't mean to scare anyone like that, all he did was take a nap sleeping next to his wife...outside...in the rain...okay maybe that wasn't a good choice.
Before he knows it, he's stumbling onto the floor, gripping Cole's arm.
"Do you need help walking to your room?" Zane asks.
"No? I don't think ssso? Why?"
Kai can be heard coughing. "We thought you had some sort of accident out there, you were just laying on the ground. In the rain. With teeth missing."
Jay's eyebrows knit together. "Teeth missssing?"
He's pretty sure nothing is missing.
He runs his tongue over his teeth.
His front teeth are all sharp. Not as sharp as his fangs, but then seem significantly sharper than normal front teeth.
After realizing this, he covers his mouth.
"Yeah uh, guess they grew back? So that's the good news," Cole reassures him.
"But why?" Kai asks.
"Snake doctor time?" Zane asks.
Jay shakes his head, pushing past everyone, picking up his pace down the hall.
Pixal holds open the door to Jay's room. "I gathered your teeth and put them on the dresser," she says way too cheerily as if it's a good deed she did.
Well, it's the thought that counts.
He doesn't even consider closing the door. He goes straight to bed, shoving his face into his pillow to scream.
He doesn't even scream.
He just lays there, processing things.
Someone shakes his shoulder.
He swats the person away with an angry hiss, sitting up, seemingly defensive.
Red blur.
It's Kai.
Okay.
Calm down.
Honestly, he shouldn't be upset if anyone approached him.
They're family.
They can have boundaries, sure, but he shouldn't instinctively jump to attack and defend.
"Crap, sssorry, I didn't mean to-"
"I just wanted to let you know that your clothes are still wet, so maybe don't lay down in your bed?" He can't make out the expression on Kai's face, but based on his tone, he didn't seem upset. Startled? Maybe.
That might more upsetting than anger.
Jay looks down at his blurry green hands as they tug at a blurry blue hoodie.
Yup, it is soaked.
Kai sits down next to him. "Not gonna lie, I had the same idea, hanging out there with her, only y'know, I would've brought an umbrella."
Jay facepalms. Then he feels something sharp scratch his forehead scales.
His nails weren't always that sharp, were they?
He feels for one of his nails.
That's not a nail, that's a claw.
Why does a snake even need claws?
What sort of First Spinjitzu Master given test is this?
Kai takes note of his shock and fear and surprise. "How about you go rinse off real quick?"
Jay's eyes go wide. Yeah, he probably should.
He walks out.
He's honestly surprised he isn't bumping into a whole lot of things.
Shock turns the whole walk into more of a blur than it already is.
After he shuts the bathroom door, he can hear whispering.
"I'm worried about him," Zane says at a quite literally low volume.
"Yeah, whatever set him off, I think it was too much and some sort of further...mutation happened?" Cole says through gravel.
"I think I know what set him off," Kai mutters. "I think we all know what it was. And I can't blame him."
"We need to take him to a serpentine doctor," Pixal interjects.
"There hasn't been a case remotely like him in ages though," Zane retorts. "Can help even be offered beyond what information we've already gotten for him?"
"Does it hurt though to at least ask?" Cole whispers.
"So what, do we make a list of his symptoms?" Kai asks.
"Loss of teeth, as well as acquiring a new, sharper set," Pixal answers.
"Claws," Zane continues the list.
"He kept blepping when I went into his room. I don't even think he noticed he was doing it. Does that count?" Kai asks.
"Blepping?" Pixal asks.
"Yeah. Like, sticking out his tongue?" Kai answers.
"We can add that," Zane answers.
"I swear I think his tail was longer," Cole adds.
Jay moves away from the bathroom wall. Stop eavesdropping. That's not cool.
Reaching for the tub faucet, he realizes that he is sticking his tongue out. And his tail does seem more swishy.
After cringing for a moment, he turns on the water.
More time with Nya. That's nice.
"Anything else of concern?" Pixal asks.
She just listed off everything new that just happened to him.
They sit together on the couch.
He leans over the tablet, pretending he can read it.
Well, he asked her to read the list out loud for a reason. Granted, he just blamed it on tired eyes.
He rubs his arm. Why shouldn't he bring it up?
"I ummm. Can't really see anymore? Like I kinda can but everything's kinda blurry and abstract right now."
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
He can see three fingers, that much is clear. But her face and the intricate details on her hand? Not so much.
"Three."
"So what's the issue?"
"It's little things. Like, I can't see your face."
"Oh." She starts tapping at the tablet. "Got it, I will add deteriorating eyesight."
He cringes.
Bleh, he's had to cringe a lot today.
"I'm fine, I promise," Jay has to say as he tears his arm away from Zane. "I can see."
"According to what you told Pixal, you cannot."
"Yes? No? It's hard to explain. I didn't even notice I was doing it at first but I keep sticking out my tongue and I think that's somehow helping me figure out my surroundings better."
"I still think it's safe that you have someone with you."
"I'm just setting up my blanket lump for the night, it's alright."
"I suppose."
A small colorful light turns on.
Too bad Jay can't make out the dragons anymore.
Kai climbs under a wad of blankets.
Pixal pulls most of the blankets off. "Fire hazard."
"Whatever, go robo-snuggle with your boyfriend," Kai snorts.
Pixal rolls her eyes. She gets up and hands some of the blankets to Cole.
He wads several blankets up into something to hug.
His body pillow hasn't arrived.
He doesn't even know that it's on the way.
He doesn't even know that he's getting one.
Zane finally wedges himself under a blanket.
It makes him feel more human. It's very nice.
Pixal lays down without a blanket.
Zane offers her one.
She declines.
Then she sees how cozy Zane looks.
Screw it, she'll try it.
Much to Zane's delight, she takes one and bundles up.
It's homey. It's warm. It's human. Why didn't she try this sooner?
At some point, Kai kicked his only blanket off. He overheats very easily.
When Kai threw his blanket off, it landed on Jay. So natrually he took it for himself. Otherwise, the blue ninja fell asleep quickly. Turns out, when the world is mostly abstract shapes, it's hard to get distracted by too many things surrounding you.
He curls up, not quite in the fetal position but somewhat close.
His newly lengthened tail curls around a decent amount of his body as he sleeps, its tip going past his feet.
Even his sleeping habits seem to have grown more snake-like than before.
He feels safe though, surrounded by family.
