Hey everyone, happy friday, time for an update. I...why is it that I never anything to say in these beginning A/N's? Oh well, enjoy the update.
Chapter 11: Broken Hearts Take Time to Mend
The sky was grey and dull as the grey clouds flooded the once blue sky. Rain softly dripped from the clouds to drench the land and those that stood were sheltered underneath their umbrellas. Thunder softly rumbled over with the wind softly breezing as the day was stricken with grief and sorrow. Today wasn't a cheerful day or happy as most days would be. No, this was a day of sorrow as a funeral was happening in the cemetery outside of Ninjago City.
Jay's heart was heavy with sorrow as his hazel eyes were glued to the dark ebony casket in front of him. He couldn't turn his eyes away from it while not paying attention to the service as he sat next to his parents and aunt under the gazebo for those being close to the deceased. Others stood around the casket and the family under their black umbrellas while listen to the service. The blue ninja finally pried his eyes away to gaze around the cemetery to stifle a sigh as he couldn't bring himself to tears again. He turned his head away to stare at his parents as his mother cried onto his father's shoulders as he knew Ed was mourning for his brother as he was. And next to his parents was his aunt weeping underneath of her black veil that was attached to her hat to match with her black dress. He sighed as he knew the loss of Ben Walker was hard for them all.
Sighing again, the Ninja of Lightning turned away to glance around the crowded grave to lock eyes with Nya as she rested the stem of her umbrella on the shoulder of her black jacket that reached down to her ribs from her black dress to softly smile at her. He watched her smile back and turned his gaze away to search around through the crowd of matching black clothes until his hazel eyes easily spotted spiky burnet and fiery red hair underneath an umbrella as the fire and wind ninja shared one together and were both appropriately for the funeral. A black dress coat over a red dress shirt for the red ninja and a matching black dress like Nya's for the orange ninja. He smiled to them as they softly smiled at him and turned his gaze to spot bleach white hair contrast brightly against a black sweater and dress pants he adorned on with Cole next to him underneath a golden maple tree dressed sharply in a black polo and coat crossing his arms over his chest and leaned against the tree trunk to smile at Jay with his cousin, Dawn from Oscorp, next to him. He smiled softly back and spotted Lucas and Lloyd in matching dress shirts without an umbrella to have the rain miss them as he figured the water ninja was using his elemental powers to manipulate the water from drenching them.
Thanks for being here, guys. he whispered barely. For all of us. I appreciate it a lot. We all do. He glanced away from his friends to notice Otto Octavios and Curtis Conners were also in the group of mourners as well the possibility a quarter or less of the people his uncle worked with at Oscorp. And to Jay, this was probably the first time he or anyone had seen Octavios without the robotic ar-scratch that. He watched the robotic arms lower themselves as they shared his brainwaves to mourn with their creator. From the crowd he gazed at, his hazel eyes paused as they caught sight of Gwen Stacy. His heart stammered to the snow white haired girl as she didn't know she was going to be over and began to feel the same way he felt before he got bit by the spider at Oscorp. You love Nya, he told himself. Don't let this get in your way or let Kai catch you. He shook it away from his head to not worry and turned back to hear the service as it was finishing.
It all came quiet as the service came to a close and each mourner slowly gathered with a single white rose in hand. And Jay slowly pulled out his rose, a single blue rose unlike the others from his black dress coat. One by one, the blue ninja felt the tears cascade down his cheeks as each rose was placed on the ebony casket to cast a new color. His blood felt like ice as his aunt and father each placed a bouquet of white roses onto the casket to say their last goodbyes and slowly left with everyone leaving; leaving Jay all alone. It brought more tears to the large pile of roses on uncle's casket as he stood in the rain, not caring if he was drenched. He glanced over to his blue rose to dry his tears on his sleeve to draw in a deep breath. "Goodbye, Uncle Ben." he murmured quietly. "You were the best to me and I'll miss you." He placed his rose on top of the pile to become a beacon of light.
He couldn't take his eyes from it all but managed to and walked away to join with his family by his unc-his now widowed aunt's car to sigh. This was going to be hard to cooperate now that a family member of his was gone. The grey clouds began to turn slightly darker with thunder softly drumming as the rain began to pour harder. The auburn didn't care if he was soaked to the bone of the cold rain. He felt a slim hand gently grab his right hand to give it a comfort squeeze and no longer felt the heavy drops pelt his head and heard them beat above him. He turned his eyes to meet with soft chocolate brown eyes to smile at the samurai shielding him from the rain as she greeted him one back; thankful she was there for him. For his family.
Jay sighed quietly to himself without batting an eye as he blankly stared toward the ceiling from his bed. The rain pelted loudly against the window of the sheltered bunkroom with the soft rumbles of thunder scattering. It was dark in the room that held the lightning ninja and its only source of light came from the natural grey light of the outdoors of rain. The wood above him held the deck and drummed softly as it was either rain or people leaving the Destiny's Bounty from the small after memorial party. The memorial party for his Uncle Ben.
After the hurtful funeral to the Walker family, the Ninja decided to host a small after party to help keep remembrance to the deceased and anyone was invited to join. But for Jay, he rather not attend and locked himself in the bunkroom to be just alone. And his friends and family understood. Who could blame him? Even they don't know, he took it the hardest because he watched his uncle die in his arms; to be the first to cry. But also to take chase after the killer. To which the auburn was proud that a death was avenged, not as he wished, but grieved as he was gone again. Which was why he locked himself alone in the bunkroom while the party was held in either the bridge or living room of the ship, he couldn't remember.
The Ninja of Lightning drew in a deep breath to sigh to himself again, lost count after being alone for half an hour, to stare at the wooden ceiling with dried out eyes. His body was still as a gargoyle statue to where a falcon could perch itself on his chest and make a nest to call its humbling home on his chest. After finally blinking his eyes to feel the dryness sting a little, there was a small knock on the door to have him crane his head to face the door across from him. "It's opened." he sighed quietly. He slowly pulled himself up as the door was opening to take a quick glance on who it was and looked away quickly. "Oh... What is it, Kai?" he asked while hanging his dress coat on a bedpost. This was probably the chance the fire ninja wanted for the fight on the deck a week ago and he didn't care.
The red ninja softly closed the door behind him and slowly walked over to the lightning ninja but stopped to lean against the bunk bed next to him. He could see how upset he was on every happening around him and looked away to cross his arms over his chest and tapped his arm to ponder. He sighed without turning his head to face the blue ninja. "Jay, I know you're taking it hard on everything today and we're all worried about you, but I came in to apologize for that dumb fight last week." the burnet said. Jay's ears perked slightly to turn his gaze onto his hotheaded brother. "Nya pointed it out to me that I do act rash before I think and I was about to smack you around for the implantation to harm my sister and I never thought of the scenarios why. I just went for it to pick a fight. I know you love Nya and I'm just being the overprotective brother when I joined the team after you asked that question about her." The Ninja of Fire sighed while pinching the bridge of his nose. "Okay I'm getting off track on this." He lifted his head to meet with the auburn's hazel eyes with his chocolate brown irises. "Jay, I'm sorry about everything. Being annoying to be protective over my sister and not stopping with that dumb fight in the beginning. I don't know if you'll ever forgive me especially today being the hardest to your family. But that's all I had to say." He drew in a deep breath to turn on his toes to head for the door.
Jay felt his heart tug and stammer to the burnet's apology to frown as he was heading for the door. He felt like he needed to stop him and talk about it. No, he had to. Once he watched his friend reach for the knob, he quickly jumped to his feet to land on the wooden floor. "Kai, wait." he begged to make him stop and turn around to face him. Once the blue ninja met with his brother, Jay pulled him closer to a tight embrace of a hug. The fire ninja blinked at the embrace at first and looked at him curiously to slowly wrap his arms around him to return the hug back. The small embrace lasted for only a minute and the lightning ninja pulled himself away to give the confused spiky haired teen a small smile.
A chuckle escaped from his brother's throat to make Kai raise his notched brow at him. The corners on the edge of his lips played with him to ruffle the burnet's spiky hair to chuckle more. "I accept your apology." he smiled to him lightly. The fire ninja blinked with his mouth slightly agape in surprised. Jay laughed lightly with his childish laugh and smile to move his jaw close and lightly tapped his cheek. "I too wanted to say how sorry I was about the fight because I didn't know what was happening to me because..." he paused to remember to keep his powers hidden. "Because I can't explain it really. It just happened without me knowing. It just happened. So I'm sorry to where I almost hurt Nya and started the fight."
Now a small smile played on Kai's face as he felt happy that his friend accept his apology. Even though now both felt guilty to start that dumb fight in the beginning. He now pulled the auburn teen to a small embrace for the apology to pull away and pat his shoulder. "Thanks man." he said and pulled the door open. "Come on then. Zane made a special cake for your uncle and everyone is worried for you. They want to see you at least." The smile on Jay's face slowly disappeared and his eyes were turned away. The fire ninja now frowned to his frown and sighed as he must've made it worse for him. "I'm sorry, Jay." he said quietly. "We'll save you some slices. But remember, we're here for you all the time. Even for these moments. We're brothers and we all care for each other and family." He turned to leave while softly closing the door behind him.
Jay was now all alone again.
The blue ninja sighed while slowly regaining the small comfort of being alone as he needed it. Course he was shutting himself away from everyone, but he felt that he needed it. But Kai was right though. They were all family and they care for each other. Like he should be there for his father and aunt. But the other half was telling him to stay in isolation because he needed it. And he had to agree to it with himself.
The lightning ninja gazed around the empty room to feel boredom creep upon him to sigh and felt an idea to make him walk over to the closet he shared with the others. After rummaging through the crowded walk-in closet, Jay finally found what he was searching for and pulled down a box labeled with his name on it and carried it back to seat himself in the middle of the room and removed the lid to give himself a small smile. He shuffled through the contents to find what he was looking for until he pulled out an old photo album of his and gently ran his fingers over the soft, creased black leather binding and opened it. His hazel eyes stared into each page carefully to see baby pictures of him all the way to kindergarten and stopped to see a picture of his uncle. He frowned as the photo had him at age ten with his aunt and parents at Mega Monster Amusement Park for his birthday when it was a surprise to him when they and his parents planned for the big decade birthday. And to him, it was a special birthday as his uncle gave him a seasonal pass to use for two years when he was with him and his aunt. And the thought of it made his heart ache.
As he browsed through his album with a heavy heart, his perked to the sound of the door opening slowly and glanced over his shoulder to see Mary walk in with a small frown as she closed the door behind her. He sighed and turned back to the black album to gaze at the cherished pictures to keep remembrance into them. Once he heard his aunt walk over and knelt next to him, he turned to greet her with teary eyes. "I miss him, Aunt Mary." he said heartbroken. He quickly dried his eyes on the sleeve of his blue dress shirt and closed the book to hug it to his chest. "A lot. He was my only uncle and can't believe he's gone."
Mary felt her heart tug more than it already has and removed her hat to fix her hair that was fixed into elegant bun to rest it on her knees. She turned to her nephew and wrapped her arms around him to pull him closer to hold him closely. She felt the tears form and refused to shed any and deeply sighed. "I miss him too, Jay." she cried a little. "Your uncle was a good man to both you and me. We'll miss him and have to move on now. I never expected him to leave so soon. But everything is going to be alright."
"But not everything isn't going to be alright." Jay corrected her. "What about you? Uncle Ben mostly supported you and paid the bills. How are you going to do it now without him? I don't want you to be broke."
Mary sighed as he was right on that statement. Since her marriage, her husband said that she wouldn't need to work because of his job, he'll take care both of them. She thought he was crazy at first and felt that she could be supportive too for financial payment, but her husband was a man of his word to convince her to not. Course she wouldn't become bored and has been teaching classes for pottery to make some money for the family while her husband worked. But she also been taking classes to be a nurse. She sighed and gently rubbed his back. "I can assure you, I'm going to be alright." she said reassuring. "When your uncle started working for Oscorp, he signed a beneficiary life insurance contract if anything happened to him. Some money will help pay off the final bills and payments while his beneficiary gets the rest. Your uncle named me because he knew what dangers were in his job and wanted to make sure I'll move on. But I can't when he's gone too soon for us."
Little relief and sympathy washed over the auburn's body to know his aunt will make it through without his uncle, but still. He sighed and now became the one to hold his aunt closer and leaned on her shoulder. "I know he left us so soon." he agreed. "Because I was there when he died. In my arms." Mary turned her head to face her nephew, surprised on the news he never told. Jay saw her look and nodded while sighing. "It's true. I even saw who did it and took pursuit for him to…turn him into the police. But by the time I got to him, someone else beat me to him. He was murdered even and I didn't see who." He felt guilty to lying about it all to his aunt. But he felt it was the best she wouldn't know. "Bright side is that Uncle Ben's death was avenged, but not in a good way. I don't know if I'll ever move on with him gone."
Mary slowly let the news settle into her about her husband's murderer to turn her away to let tears slide and wiped them away to smile a bit as he was right. Death was redeemed but not in a good way. She turned back to the Ninja of Lightning to shake her head. "That's not true." she said finally. "Your uncle would want you to move on as you have a main priority as a ninja to protect these lands as it's your destiny. There was nothing you could do to save him before and stop his murderer, but you will have to risk everything to move on. Protecting family, friends, and yourself. Remember what he always told you. With great power comes great responsibilities. Remember that for both me and him. Please."
Jay felt his uncle's words burn through him to open his eyes more. It now made sense to him. His uncle didn't mean that with power, such as his elemental lightning powers, were a tool to be used when needed. It holds responsibility to aid those in need when needed. But now with his spider powers, it was now a new goal for him. "Alright, I will." he nodded. "For both of you." His aunt smiled to him softly and leaned forward to hug and kiss his forehead before heading for the door and left.
Once he felt that the coast was cleared, he set his photo album down to reach into his box and pulled out a large sheet of paper with a finished drawing on it. It showed the image of a teen, him, in a red and blue suit with thin black lines entwined into a web attached onto the body; from the tip of his nose to his feet. He stared deeply at the mask avenger in front of him to hear the cry of redemption take hold. He felt he needed to be the person to help protect the city with his new powers. He needed to become Spiderman.
With great power comes great responsibilities. His uncle's voice rang in his head. Remember that, Jay. Always.
Remember that, always. Hmmm... Could this be the start of Spiderman for Jay now? Oh we'll have to see then. I also did my best with the funeral scene to make it like as heartbroken for Jay, second time with funeral scenes in writing. The first was in my third story, Consequential Waters, I wrote about Lucas' funeral before he came back. Anyway, thank you for reading the update, leave a review if you wish to, and also Happy Birthday to my sister, Kaitoukiwi, yesterday and I'll see you all next week. :)