Jay stood at the top of the hill, overlooking the sea of sand. He noted how small the junkyard he grew up in looked from this view It was nothing compared to the palaces he had seen, and the places he had been. Somehow the scrap heap was still just as special as any of them. Even if he preferred the conditions of those grand places to his childhood home.
"Are we going in or what?"Nya remarked from behind, setting a hand on his shoulder. She had insisted she come with him. It has been hard for him to talk to his parents since he had found out the news of his adoption. Even if they had no memory he had found out in the first place. Jay's mind would sneak back to the way they treated him when he knew. It was like he wasn't their son at all, simply a lonely child left by the wind on their doorstep. Nothing more, nothing less. It made it worse that every time he looked at his family he was reminded no one wanted him in the first place, not even the people who had created him. He never told Nya how he felt of course. It made it too real to say out loud. She had seemed to notice something was off about him though, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.
"Duh! I'm just admiring the garbage. Once from a junkyard always from a junkyard." Jay joked. Nya let out a snort. He smiled to himself. It always made him feel better when she laughed at his dumb jokes even if she pretended she didn't.
"Jay? What's wrong? You've been acting weird about seeing your parents for months." Nya asked, brushing a stray hair from his face.
"Nothings wrong! We've been busy doing Ninja stuff ya know? Kicking butt, saving the world. Now with Master Wu missing, we've had to deal with that-" Jay began. He was interrupted by Nya flicking his nose.
"You are lying to me. You always talk a lot, well more than you usually do, when you are trying to cover up something." Nya set his hands on his chest, beaming in the moonlight. Jay grabbed her hands, lacing them together. It was a tradition they had, for some reason Jay couldn't even think about addressing something serious with her without doing it. He looked down at them, tracking every scar on her knuckles. Every mark was proof of everything they had to go through over the past few years. He sighed, bringing their hands down and swinging them at their sides.
"I-"Jay started to speak before he was cut off again, this time by his mother's voice calling to him from the junkyard.
"Oh, Jay! Come in dear! I made your favorite!" Jay groaned hitting his forehead against Nya's.
"Mom!" He called. She never ceased to embarrass him or interrupt a good moment.
"Oh, you are having a moment son. I and your mom will just go inside and wait until you are all done." His dad interjected.
"It's fine. I'm coming, I'm coming." Jay pulled himself away from Nya, breaking their bubble of solace. He made his way down the hill, stepping through the sand. Jay gave his parents both a hug, but it felt strange. Distant he could call it.
Nya made her greetings while Jay walked quietly to the door of the trailer slowly removing his boots from his feet. He wanted to say something witty, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to even speak. It was strange for him, and Nya noticed. She looked over, trying to subtly ask him what was wrong. He looked away.
"Tell me, son, how have things been in the ninja world?" His dad put a hand on his back, guiding him inside. His mom followed beside them, berating him with all sorts of questions about what he has been up to in the months he hadn't visited.
"Yes, yes we haven't had a clue what you have been up to since you don't visit." His mom added, helping him to a seat at the table.
"Don't be too hard on him dear. I'm sure he has had a good reason." Nya took a seat beside him, holding his hand under the table. Something about it helped ground him, and made him aware of how fast his heart was beating.
"It's been fine. The usual. Defying death, and saving Ninjago." Jay tried to be his usual fun self but it felt flat. His parents looked at each other then back at him.
"Jay, honey, are you alright?" His mother asked gently. Jay's grip on Nya's hand became tighter.
"I'm fine mom," Jay reassured.
"It's just, the light son." His dad pointed up to the fixture above the table. The bulbs were sparking blue, and humming softly. Jay pulled his hand away from Nya's, setting them onto the table. He willed the sparks to stop.
"Uh." Everyone at the table was staring at him intensely. Nya looked concerned, but he felt like a different emotion was in his parent's eyes. Fear. Fear had been something his parents always regarded him with. Every time his powers acted up they had looked at him like that.
"I am just excited to see you two! " He jested, trying to play off the mishap. "Guess I'm just feeling a little sparky." Jay laughed, it drowning out slowly in the silence.
His mother turned around to prepare everyone's plates. His father slowly took a seat across from Jay. The plates were served, and his mother sat next to his father.
"So, what have you guys been working on?" Nya broke into the quiet, looking between the family members.
"Oh, well, I've been working on fixing some more vehicles. Edna and I have been working on a big one for a guy downtown. Real famous."
When his father said that, his mind was back on his birth parents. His handsome, womanizer father was adored by everyone in Ninjago. His mother was faceless, nameless, and had no story to her name. The thoughts ate away at him. He wanted to know why they didn't tell him, he would have loved them the same. He wanted to know why they acted like they didn't.
"What were you before?" Jay interjected. His parent's eyes went wide.
"I'm not sure what you mean son."
Jay clenched his fists, he felt lied to. He had been lied to, and they would keep lying to him. It took a wish to get them to tell him the truth. What else had they been hiding from him?
"What did you do? Before the junkyard, before me?" He asked, Nya set a hand on his arm.
"We were always mechanics son, we got the junkyard when we were married."
"Well, one of you had to be the master of lightening right?" Jay prodded.
"Honey we, well, we." His mother stammered looking at his father for answers.
"If neither of you was the master of lightning, then where did I come from?" Jay tried to get them to tell the truth. Tried to get them to admit it, but they sat there and they lied.
"From us son. I don't really see where this is coming from." Jay stood up from the table. He could hear the faint buzz of electricity surrounding him.
"Jay-" Nya began. She tried to follow him across the room. He didn't look back at her, he knew she would have that same look of fear in her eyes her parents did.
"Unless I'm not from here right?" Jay said looking back at his parents. There was guilt there eyes that he hadn't seen before.
"Honey, everything we ever did was because we loved you. We never did anything to hurt you." His mother started to stand.
"So you admit it?" Jay didn't want to hear his mother defend himself. Not after months of trying to forget about it, not after months of trying to do it for her.
"How did you figure it out? " HIs father whispered solemnly. Jay was painfully aware of the lack of term of endearment, or son in his sentence.
"What happened to them? My birth parents."
"We don't know hun. They left you here on the doorstep. There was no trace that night but the storm. You came to us during a hurricane."
"Let me guess, that's a lie too." Jay felt the trailer home shake beneath his feet. "What's a lie or two right?"
"Jay, this isn't like you." His father stood up, pulling his mother behind him.
"What do you want me to do, crack a few jokes and act like nothing happened?" Jay brought his fist down on the table. Thunder and lightning rippled through the ocean of seas. Everyone in the home was brought down by the force of the storm. By the force of Jay's hurt. His parents were right, this wasn't like him. It didn't feel like him. He looked over at Nya. The lights of the house had gone out, the only light streaming through the windows every time the lightning crashed. There she was, his Nya basked in blue. His Nya who he had hurt. He looked down at his hands, his breathing heavy.
Jay wanted to run, so he did. He ran out into the storm, up the sandy mountains, through the storm that hid him. He couldn't help but wonder if his mother took this exact same route when she ran away too.
There was a cave he would go to when he was a child, a small hole he would do dangerous experiments in. It was the only place he could think of that he could hide from everyone, from himself.
He took a deep breath, sliding down the cave wall. The thunder shook, and the lightning crashed but he was alone.
"Jay?" A woman's voice spoke from the storm. She could see a shape from the flashing light, one he didn't regonize. "You were never supposed to find me."
Jay squinted, standing up to face his intruder. His head was spinning, but her voice kept clear in it all calling his name. She stepped out, and he could see her clearly. She was blonde with wild hair much like his, freckles dotting the same spots on her nose like his, and electric blue eyes just like his.
"You're my mother." He stared at her in disbelief. Not understanding why she was here, what she was saying, why she found him after all of these years.
"No, I am the woman who never wanted you."
Jay woke up from the dream in a cold sweat. He rolled overseeing Nya still tucked away safely under their blankets. He heaved a sigh of relief turning to his back. He knew then that he could never let anyone know how he was feeling. Even if he suffered, even if it killed him.
Jay's eyes wandered over to the small light bulb he had been tinkering with on the desk. It was in pieces. He wandered over to it, picking it up to look it over. Anxiety welled up in his chest. It only got worse when he looked outside and realized it was storming.