And now a fic where the main couple of the show don't end up getting together. Happy Valentine's Day!

This fic roughly follows the same plotline as Skybound. The parts that don't change much will just be skimmed over. Enjoy!


Being framed for a number of petty crimes and thrown into prison had been a bit of a setback, but the ninja did manage to obtain a solid lead on how to defeat Nadakhan from one of the inmates before they escaped.

All they needed was a map hidden in a lantern on his ship, Misfortune's Keep.

The only problem was that they had no idea where Nadakhan's ship was located.

Scouting for information on Nadakhan would be difficult with the police on the lookout for them, but Jay and Nya managed to sneak into police headquarters under disguise.

Nya had only been trying to keep their cover from getting blown when she'd requested a lunch break, but once they were outside the smell of burgers cooking made her realize she was actually quite hungry.

"Two double cheeseburgers, one with double cheese, double ketchup; the other double pickles, double mustard, ready to go!" the hamburger vendor finally announced.

Nya reached into her pockets, but Jay stopped her.

"Lunch is on me." he insisted.

"That's okay Jay." Nya said.

"Nonsense, what kind of gentleman lets a lady pay for her own food?"

Nya rolled her eyes, but she didn't want to cause a scene while they were undercover, so she let Jay have his way.

But when he dug through his pockets, all Jay could find was lint. He didn't have the money to pay for his lunch, let alone Nya's.

"Uh...um...wrong pants?" Jay smiled nervously at the unamused vendor.

Nya sighed and gave the vendor money for both their burgers.

"I-I can pay you back later." Jay said.

"Nonsense." Nya grinned coily "What kind of lady lets a gentleman pay for his own food?"

Jay sighed.

Not one of his smoothest moves.

Jay and Nya walked for about a block until they found some benches that were semi-hidden by a giant tree.

Nya sighed in relief as she pulled off her itchy moustache and police cap.

"If I had a nickel for every time I was broke..." Jay laughed.

But Nya wasn't in the mood for jokes.

"Jay," she said, "We need to talk."

"Oh?" Jay's throat went dry "About what?"

"About the way you've been acting. You've been making moves on me all week, and frankly, I don't appreciate it."

"Whaaaat?" Jay tried to smile innocently "I don't know wha-"

"Don't you dare play dumb with me Jay Walker!" Nya snapped "We both know very well what you're doing!"

That shut Jay up.

Nya sighed.

"Jay, I like you. I really do. But as a friend." her tone was soft but firm "Somewhere out there there's a really great person for you, but that person isn't me. I broke up with you because we weren't right as a couple. It...it just didn't feel good for me. I wasn't happy. And yeah, I know I probably should have been more upfront with you back then, but I'm being upfront now and telling you to cut it out. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Nya's words hit like a dagger through Jay's heart.

He'd seen the future, they were together, and they had looked so happy. Nya had looked so happy. The sight of relaxed upturn of her lips and the crinkled corners of her eyes had been burned into Jay's memory.

In the present though, Nya's lips were tight and the soft wrinkles of her brow had been replaced with stressed creases.

Jay had just been following the vision. Why was it having the opposite effect of what he saw?

Despite his confusion, Jay knew there was no way he could continue to try and make the vision come true. Not after what Nya had just said.

"Yeah, I got it." Jay managed to stick a smile on his face "Cut the flirting. We're friends. Good...good friends. And friends...don't try to push friends into situations they're uncomfortable with."

"Yes," Nya smiled, her shoulder visibly relaxing. "That's exactly what I'm saying. I'm so glad we're on the same page. Hug?" Nya stretched out her arms.

Jay usually had no problem hugging his friends, including Nya, but right now he didn't think he could handle such an intimate interaction.

"Uh, how about a fist bump?" he counter-offered, holding his fist out.

Nya, still smiling, enthusiastically smashed her fist to Jay's.

Too enthusiastically.

"Agh!"

Having neglected to set her hamburger down before fist bumping, Nya's sandwich got squished and spilled all over Jay's shirt.

"Oh um, oops." she said.

"Heh, guess lunch really is on me," Jay forced out a laugh "I'm gonna go clean this up."

"Alright, I'll keep your spot saved." Nya called as Jay started across the street to look for a restroom.

Nya looked up at the beautiful clouds in the sky. That had gone way better than expected. Her life was kind of a disaster right now, but at least she and Jay were back to normal.

"Why Nya?" Jay wiped away the tears that had started to form in his eyes.

They'd been such a good couple! Having a girlfriend who shared his interests and sense of humour had been the greatest thing that's ever happened to him. He'd felt so confident and complete knowing someone so cool loved him as much as he'd loved her.

It was the happiest Jay had ever been in his life.

And then...that stupid matchmaking machine! That was where the trouble started.

Jay supposed it made sense. Nya had lost interest in him the second she realized she could go for someone other than Jay.

Someone better than Jay.

Sure, she hadn't actually ended up dating Cole, but that only proved Jay's suspicions further. Nya had liked Jay enough to start dating him, but it didn't take her long to realize he wasn't worth it.

It hadn't been that she was interested in someone else, she just didn't want to be with him.

"Maybe if I was better..." Jay glanced over his shoulder "Maybe we'd still be together if I wasn't just some loser who was born in a junkyard without a penny to his name..."

"I may be able to help you with that."

Jay jumped at the sound of the unfamiliar voice.

When he turned back around someone with four arms and a cloudy tail instead of legs was floating in front of him, grinning sinisterly.

Jay had never met him before, but there was only one person this could be:

"N-N-Nadakhan! I forgot we weren't supposed to be alone!" Jay's head snapped back to Nya, obliviously munching on her sandwich "I can scream, you know. Really loud!"

"Fine, fine, suit yourself." Nadakhan turned as if to leave "Even if you are wasting a golden opportunity to get the girl to fall for you...aw well, it's your decision."

"Ha! Nice try!" Jay gloated "But I already know you can't wish for love!"

"That is true, but..." Nadakhan slowly turned back around "There aren't any rules against wishing for something...a little less direct."

"What do you mean?" Jay asked, his indomitable curiosity getting the better of him.

"You said so yourself," Nadakhan gestured to Jay with his upper right hand, "The girl showed interest in you before, right? Perhaps if you had a little more to offer her than 'boy from a junkyard', her interest would return."

Jay glanced back at Nya one last time.

"Well...maybe just one wish wouldn't hurt. You wouldn't tell anybody, right?"

"Of course not! It'll just be our little secret. Now, what was it you wanted to wish for?"

"I wish...I wish I wasn't born in a junkyard, and I wasn't poor so I can give Nya everything she ever wanted."

"Your wish is yours to keep."

Jay could hear his voice, but when he looked around, Nadakhan was nowhere to be seen.

"Um...Nadakhan?" An ominous feeling began to bubble in Jay's stomach.

What had he just done?

"Hey there, ninja!"

Jay whipped around and saw a familiar mail carrier approaching on his bike.

"Don't worry," he said "I'm not here to turn you in. Just delivering the mail." He reached into his bag and handed Jay an envelope.

"Uh, thanks?"

Who could've possibly been sending Jay mail at this time? He tore open the envelope and started reading.

"Mr Jay Walker, this letter has been sent to inform you of your father's passing, and the vast inheritance he has left you in his will... Wait, my father's...passing?!"

Jay couldn't look away from those two words. His head felt like it was under water, while the rest of his body seemed to turn to stone.

He couldn't...his dad couldn't be…

"Aw, that's sad to hear. Congrats on the inheritance, though." The carrier waved as he rode away.

Jay barely heard him. He just stood there for several seconds, unable to move or even think properly.

"Mom..." Jay suddenly realized.

He summoned his elemental dragon, and they flew off towards the scrapyard at top speed.


"Mom!" Jay practically screamed as he slammed the RV door open "Mom! Where are you?"

"Jay!" Edna smiled from the rocking chair she was knitting in "I'm so glad to see you, dear! We've been pretty worried after those reporters came by and asked us-"

"Mom, where's Dad?"

"Oh I'm sorry dear, but your father's no longer here."

"No..." This was all Jay's fault. Why'd he have to make that stupid wish? "No, no, n-"

"Well Edna," Jay heard a familiar voice say behind him "I got those diddilybops for the buggy, but I still can't seem to- Oh, hey there Jay! What brings you-"

"Dad!" Jay was on his father in an instant, nearly strangling him in a bear hug. "You're okay!"

"Of course I'm okay, son." Ed said once Jay finally let him have enough air to breath. "Whew! Quite the arm strength you got there! That ninja training's really paying off."

"Whoops, sorry Dad."

"Quite alright, son. Now, not that I don't appreciate a visit and a hug from my little Jaybird, but what seems to have gotten you so worked up?"

"Sorry dad, I just got the weirdest letter." Jay pulled the document out of his pocket to show his parents. "It said that my dad had died and left me lots and lots of money. It addressed me by name and everything, so I thought something had happened to Dad. But I guess there was some mix up and we can all laugh about it now, huh?" Jay shrugged lightly.

Ed finished reading the letter and looked at Edna somberly. She gave him the same look back.

"Um...am I missing something?"

"Dear, I think it's about time we told him." Edna said.

"Told me what?" Jay asked.

"Well Son," Ed said "We did want to tell you sooner, but it just never seemed like the right time, and we could never really figure out how to say it exactly. I guess we can't really put it off any longer though." Ed laughed emptily.

Jay's heart rate began to pick up.

All his life, Jay's parents had spoken with a bubbly warmth in their voice that persisted through the worst of times. Even when Jay had broken his leg trying to invent a flying machine as a kid, even when the serpentine attacked the scrapyard, even when the two of them had almost turned into snakes-zombies, that bubbliness always lingered.

But now their voices were dead serious.

That scared Jay more than any dragon he'd ever faced.

"You see son, it's just that you're uh...you're...adopted."

Jay hadn't been expecting that.

"I...huh?" Jay's brain struggled to form words. The walls of the RV seemed to shift and swirl around him.

"It's true." Edna stood up and joined Jay and Ed by the door "We found you right there on our doorstep one morning with a key. Your father and I hadn't really planned on having kids, but you were just the cutest little thing, so we took you in and raised you as best we could."

"A...key?" was all Jay could manage to get out.

"Yes," Edna pulled a key out of her pocket and handed it to Jay. "It didn't come with a note or instruction of any sort, but I have a feeling those directions on the back of that letter might have something to do with it."

"Oh?" Jay hadn't even noticed anything on the back of the letter until Ed passed it back to him "Oh um, yeah. I-I should probably go check that out."

Jay turned and ran out the door, his mind too full to form a proper goodbye to his parents. Once he was far enough from the RV, Jay summoned his dragon and took off to the location specified on the back of the letter.

"Well, there he goes." Ed sighed.

"You say that like he isn't coming back, Ed."

"Edna, that kid's been itchin' to leave the scrapyard behind ever since he figured out it was all we could give him."

Edna didn't say anything. She just grabbed Ed's hand as the two of them watched Jay's dragon disappear into the distance.


The directions on the letter led Jay to a secluded woods a small distance away from Ninjago City.

His dragon landed on a stone path and let Jay dismount before vanishing.

At the end of the path was a sleek villa surrounded by various types of lush flora. The building was coloured in tasteful gradients of grey, and very expensive looking.

A part of Jay wasn't sure this was the right place, but when he tried the key his mother had given him in the lock on the front door, it fit perfectly.

More confused than ever, Jay opened the door and went inside.

"Hello?" he called.

The house was completely silent.

"So...this was my birth dad's house?" Jay said to himself.

The inside of the house made him think of a magazine cover. Giant windows let in enough natural sunlight that there wasn't any need to turn on a light (which was good because Jay had no idea where the lightswitch was). The furniture was sparse, but very modern and pristine. A giant flat-screen TV hung on the wall above the electric fireplace.

Whoever furnished this place clearly had money to burn.

Jay walked over to a blue-grey chair. He was slightly afraid to sit in such an expensive looking seat, but he really needed a quiet minute to just relax and-

"Fear isn't a word where I come from!"

"Gah!"

Jay jumped and whipped around. Standing behind him was a two metre tall statue of his favourite comic book character, Fritz Donnegan.

"Fear isn't a word where I come from!" the statue repeated.

"Guess my dad was a big Fritz Donnegan fan. That's…kind of cool."

Jay walked over to the trophy case by the statue.

"Gee, he sure won a lot of awards." Jay reached for a random trophy "I wonder what-"

There was a click. Jay pulled his hand back as the shelf slid to the side, revealing a hidden room.

"Woah!" Jay stepped inside. The secret room was full of various costumes and Fritz Donnegan paraphernalia.

Jay's eyes widened when he spotted a limited edition Starfarer Rayblaster lying on a Hollywood-style vanity.

"Wow, I don't even have this one!" Jay excitedly ran over and grabbed the ray gun "My dad must've really liked Fritz Donnegan! I wonder why he had a secret collection room with a giant mirror, though?"

Jay looked into the mirror. Surrounding his reflection were some taped-up notes and a bunch of old photographs of one guy with various people.

"That guy looks kind of familiar...oh! It's Cliff Gordan! The actor who played Fritz in the movies. I can respect a fellow fan, but maybe you're going a little far with the decorations here, Dad. I wonder what all these notes say...Good luck Cliff, love Nancy...You're hot stuff Gordon, Vanessa...Go get 'em Cliffy, Libber ;)...Geez, did my dad steal a bunch of personal notes to Cliff Gordon? That's- wait a minute..."

It suddenly clicked for Jay.

"My dad...was Cliff Gordon?!" Jay tok a dizzy step back from the mirror "N-no way! How's that even possible? I can't be...Jay Gordon...can I?"

"Ah, but you can."

The hair on the back of Jay's neck stood up.

"Nadakhan!"

Jay turned and fired his ray gun at the djinn.

A rubber dart bounced harmlessly off him.

"Now now, there's no need for such hostility," Nadakhan smiled, "All I'm here to do is grant your second wish."

"Look Nadakhan, I don't know if you rewrote the past or what, but whatever you did, I don't want a second wish!"

"Rewrite the past? I did no such thing. All I did was merely reveal something you didn't know to already be true. I didn't change a thing, as fun as rewriting the past would have been..." Nadakhan tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Y-you're evil! I don't want to make any more wishes!"

"Oh come now, everyone always wants something." Nadakhan insisted, lazily floating in a circle around Jay "Power, prestige," he leaned a little closer to Jay "Perhaps a ray gun that actually works?"

"No! I don't want anything else! I just wish I wasn't alone with you! No, wait!" Jay buried his face in his hands "I didn't mean to…"

Nadakhan grimaced. That hadn't been how he'd planned to make Jay use his second wish!

The wish magic surged through and out of Nadakhan before he could come up with a way to turn Jay's request to his advantage.

Ding dong! Ding dong!

"Hello?" a distant voice called "Jay? Are you in there?"

"Nya!" Jay lifted his face from his hands "Is that you?"

"Until next time." Nadakhan grumbled, vanishing in a puff of smoke.

Jay didn't waste any time racing out of the secret room and across the foyer. He nearly tore the front door from the wall as he threw it open.

"Nya!" he exclaimed "How'd you find me here?"

"You were kinda gone for a while, so I went looking for you. When I couldn't find you, I got worried and called your parents. They said you'd be here. Why'd you run off without…"

Nya trailed off as she got a look at the inside of the building.

"Wow," she breathed, stepping inside "I didn't know you had a place this ritzy. How long you been hiding this?"

"Oh, uhh..."

Jay couldn't tell her the truth. If anyone knew he had made a wish with a dangerous djinn, he'd never live it down. Especially since the wish involved trying to impress Nya after she'd literally just told him to back off.

Jay desperately wracked his brain.

"I mean...if you can have a secret hideout...why can't I?" Jay hoped he didn't sound as nervous as he felt.

"A secret hideout eh? Well, I suppose I of all people can respect that. But why'd you leave in the middle of-"

"Nya, Jay, come in!" Lloyd's staticky voice interrupted Nya.

"We're here." Nya spoke into her bracelet "What's going on? Did something happen?"

Jay quietly sighed with relief, thankful for the distraction.

"Haven't you heard?" Lloyd replied "Sky pirates are attacking the city! We need everyone here stat!"

"Sky pirates? We're on our way now!" Nya looked up at Jay "Come on! No time to lose!"

Jay nodded and followed Nya out of the house. Once they got out of the trees, both of them summoned their dragons and took off towards Ninjago City.

"Hey, about earlier," Nya called to Jay from her dragon, "I'm sorry if I've been kind of in a bad mood lately."

"Oh, uh...you don't really need to apologize for anything, Nya." Jay called back.

"I don't know, I feel like maybe I do." Nya rubbed the back of her neck "I've just kind of been under a lot of pressure. I mean, being the newest ninja on the team, trying to catch up in training, how the general public has been reacting to there being a girl ninja..." Nya briefly frowned but quickly shook off whatever was on her mind. "Anyway, it's just been a stressful couple of months. I'm just really glad I've got at least one person in my corner."

"Oh, y-yeah. No problem..." Jay said,

"Seriously Jay, thank you for just listening to me being a friend. You have no idea how much I need that right now." Nya turned to Jay and smiled.

Jay smiled back briefly before turning away. He genuinely wondered if he should take some kind of medication for the awful feeling in his stomach.


During their battle with the Nadakhan's crew, Cole managed to snag the lantern that contained the map to the hidden Tiger Widow Island, but their victory came at a cost.

Kai was nowhere to be found after the sky pirates retreated.

It didn't take long for the remaining ninja to figure out that Nadakhan had trapped him in his Djinn Blade along with Wu and Misako.

The loss hit the group hard. It wasn't that Wu or Misako's absence was unfelt, but Kai had been by their side minutes ago, and now he was suddenly just...gone.

Something flashed across Nya's face that made Jay's heart ache, but before he could even consider consoling her, a determined rage replaced any vulnerability in her eyes.

Nya was the first one to speak, breaking the group out of their stupor by reminding them it was time for the next step in their plan.

Feeling a bit guilty about Kai, Jay offered up his new house for the group to hide out in and plan their next move.

Cole took Jay aside and confronted him about his sudden acquisition of such an expensive property. Jay knew he wouldn't be able to get away with lying to Cole, so he confessed everything. Cole was not happy to hear any of what Jay told him, but he promised to not say anything to the rest of the group.

So long as no one else got hurt.

The island was too far away for their dragons to fly to, so the team headed down to the docks to charter a ship.

Unfortunately, the sailor manning the docks sensed a mighty storm brewing, and refused to lend them a sea vessel.

Luckily, Jay's late father happened to have a robust (not to mention incredibly shiny) boat at that dock the ninja were free to use.

The storm was as bad as the sailor had predicted. Jay had to be tied to the top of the mast to act as a lightning rod, while Zane went below deck so he wouldn't attract any lightning away from Jay.

It was one of the worst storms any of the ninja had ever seen. Everyone was so caught up in the chaos of making sure the ship didn't crash, that no one noticed the island approaching before it was too late.

"Brace yourselves!" was all Lloyd had time to shout before there was a deafening crunch, and the world went black.


The gentle sound of waves breaking on the sand greeted Jay's ears as he started to regain consciousness.

When he opened his eyes, he saw the sun beginning to rise, and Lloyd helping Cole stand up. Nya stood nearby, her hand shading her eyes as she scanned the sea.

Behind them was a thick jungle, presumably with the tiger widow lurking somewhere in its depths.

At least they'd made it to the island in one piece, even if the former Cliff Gordon's boat hadn't.

Jay blearily stood up and brushed as much sand as he could out of his gi.

"Cole!" he suddenly realized "How on earth did you manage to not get wet in a shipwreck?"

Cole just rubbed his head, not awake enough to form a response.

"Jay! You're up!" relief washed over Lloyd's face "Thank goodness we're all okay."

"Not all of us," Nya frowned, "I can't find Zane anywhere!"

"Zane?" Cole blinked and looked around the beach.

"Oh no!" Nya's hands shot to her mouth in horror "He was below deck during the storm alone! How could we have forgotten? Nadakhan must have-"

"Okay, that's it!" Cole snapped, now very awake and very angry "This has gone too far!"

"Cole," Lloyd said "We're all upset about losing Zane and Kai, but you have to stay calm."

"I'm not talking about them, I'm talking about him!"

Jay's heart stopped as Cole pointed at him.

"Jay?" Nya asked "What'd Jay do?"

"Ha ha, y-yeah Cole? What'd I do?"

"Don't play dumb." Cole shot Jay a glare before turning back to Nya and Lloyd "Jay already made two wishes with Nadakhan before he visited any of us. He could have warned us, and Kai and Zane might still be here!"

"Wait what?" Nya's eyebrows shot up.

"Wh…" Lloyd scrunched his face in confusion "Why didn't you tell us earlier Jay?" Lloyd asked.

"Oh, I don't know, it just didn't really seem important, I guess..." Jay didn't make eye contact with anyone.

"He didn't tell anyone because he used his wish to get that fancy house to try and impress Nya!"

Jay's stomach dropped and the world seemed to stand still.

Nya's eyebrows somehow shot up even higher.

"You..." her voice was unsteady, like someone had knocked the wind out of her "You mean when you disappeared at lunch...after I had made it very clear I wasn't interested in dating you..." the disbelief in Nya's voice steadily morphed into rage "You told me you understood, and then you ran off with an evil djinn and tried to wish for my love!?"

"N-no! Nya, it's not like that! I wasn't trying to...h-he tricked me into-"

"Save it Jay." Nya turned away from him and crossed her arms "I don't want to hear whatever lies you're trying to feed me!"

She marched into the jungle without looking back.

"No, wait! Nya! I'm not-" Jay looked at Lloyd and Cole "C'mon, help me out here guys!"

"Here's some advice," Cole said "Next time, don't keep vital information from the team just to save your own sorry hide."

Cole's shoulder bumped roughly into Jay as he walked past him to follow Nya.

Jay desperately turned to Lloyd, but the hard glare Lloyd was giving him destroyed any hope he had for sympathy.

Lloyd didn't even say anything as he walked past Jay into the trees.

"I just found out my parents aren't my birth parents!" Jay shouted into the trees "If anyone cares!"

There was no response.

Jay groaned and ran after the others.


When they got to the tiger widow's cave, Jay was unanimously voted to go in and retrieve the venom alone. He desperately tried to protest this decision, but no one was budging.

Despite the threat to his life and limb, a part of him was glad to get away from Nya's burning glare.

After much struggle (and screaming), Jay finally managed to procure a canteen of the deadly spider's venom. When he escaped the cave, he found his friends scattered and locked in fierce battle with various members of Nadakhan's crew.

The ninja managed to regroup, but the angry tiger widow had followed Jay, and chased the group across an unstable bridge. The bridge couldn't hold their weight and snapped in two.

The ninja managed to grab onto one half of the bridge and began to climb to safety, but Nadakhan suddenly appeared and took advantage of their compromised position.

He kidnapped Jay, emptied his canteen, and sent the tiger widow tumbling to the treacherous valley below.

"Jay!" Cole yelled as the cackling Nadakhan and his crew retreated into the sky "Oh no, we've lost Jay and the only thing that can stop Nadakhan!"

"Not quite." Nya pulled out a canteen full of-

"The tiger widow venom?" Lloyd's eyes widened "But, how?"

"I switched canteens with Jay before the bridge collapsed." Nya grinned proudly.

"So that means..." Lloys smiled.

"We have the only thing that can stop Nadakhan!" Cole finished enthusiastically.

"And better yet, they don't know we have it." Nya added.

Cole squinted at the sky.

"But there's no way our dragons can fly that far, and our ship was scuttled on entry, so how are we supposed to get off this island?"

"If we managed to escape an asteroid in the desolate void of space, we can get off this island." Lloyd said confidently.

"Lloyd's right. We'll find a way. We always do." Nya tightened her grip on the canteen. "Nadakhan had better watch out, because we're coming for him!"


Hope you enjoyed reading. Next chapter should come out in roughly two weeks. Probably.

Feel free to leave a review. I love feedback and am open to critisism. Have a lovely day :)