The first time had been at the memorial. After they had poured out their water, and Wu gave his speech, Jay had started to feel a tightness in his chest. He ignored it, thinking this is what grief feels like, but after the ceremony ended it didn't go away. So many people wanted to talk to him, pay their respects, but the talking, and the breathing was getting harder, and harder. He excused himself from the courtyard, slipping into the nearest room to get away from everyone and try to calm himself down. It happened to be Nya's room, which didn't help at all with the calming down idea. He felt like he was drowning all over again, drowning in sorrow, drowning in memories of her, drowning on dry land, breathing, but not getting any air. Cole had come looking for him, found him crying and gasping for air.
"Jay, there you are, are you ok? You just disappeared?"
"Can't.. breathe.."
Cole's face turns into a frown. "How long has this been going on?" He asks.
"Since.. the ceremony.."
"Right. We're going to the hospital."
Cole scoops Jay up, putting him in the back of his drill car, then speeds as quickly as he can to Ninjago City General Hospital. The whole ride there Jay's breathing keeps getting worse, Jay remembers lying on that couch for hours, with his lungs full of water, struggling to breathe. He never wanted to do that again. Each breath felt like climbing a mountain, his chest crying out in pain. Over and over, mountain after mountain, but he just had to keep breathing.
By the time they got to the hospital, his vision was starting to blur, the voices around him sounded like they were underwater. He was lifted out of the car, movement, bright white lights, and a mask was put over his face. Cole was there, among the faces. "Just breathe!" he barely made out the words, slowly his breathing became easier, and the world came back into focus.
Jay pushes himself into a seated position on the bed, examining the people around him. Cole was there, a look of relief on his face, and two medical staff. He was in a bustling ER, a half drawn curtain the only thing providing some privacy. Cole sees him looking at the curtain, and gets up to close it the rest of the way. The doctor approaches Jay to shine a light in his eyes. Jay flinches at the brightness.
"Please follow this with your eyes, can you tell me your name and where you are?"
"Um, Jay Walker, we were going to the hospital." his voice sounds funny under the mask, but surely the doctor would tell him when it was ok to take it off.
"Good." he stops shining the torch. "How are you feeling? Does it hurt anywhere?"
"Um, like I just ran a marathon." He looks at his hands which are trembling. "And a bit shaky. Apart from that, nothing hurts."
"The shakiness is a side effect of the medicines we gave you, it will wear off soon."
"Ok, so what happened? Why did I stop breathing?"
"You had an asthma attack." says the doctor calmly.
Jay looks at the doctor like they had grown a second head. "I don't have asthma." he states.
"Well, you just had an asthma attack."
"No. it must have been a panic attack or something, because I don't have asthma."
"While panic attacks can have similar symptoms, if it was a panic attack, the meds we just gave you wouldn't have helped." They pulled out the clip board at the end of Jay's bed. "Is there a history of asthma in the family?"
"I don't know, I'm adopted."
"Ah, I see. Um, any allergies?"
"I get a bit of hay fever, nothing serious."
"Any recent infections, particularly respiratory infections?"
"No, not that I can think of.."
"Does breathing in a bunch of seawater count?" interrupts Cole. Jay shoots him a death glare.
"That wasn't an infection, Nya got it all out, I was fine." grumbles Jay.
"You had like a litre of seawater stuck in your lungs for close to 12 hours, it could be related."
The doctor interrupts the squabble. "Did you get checked out after the seawater incident?" they ask while flicking through the file.
"No, cause I was fine." huffs Jay while crossing his arms.
"There hasn't really been time." adds Cole.
"I want to run some tests, including an x-ray, and recommend you make a booking with your GP. In the meantime, you can purchase reliever medication from any pharmacy over the counter, here is a free sample so you know which one to get."
Jay sighs. "Fine, but I won't need it because I'm telling you I don't have asthma!"
When they finally got back to the monastery, it was late, and all the guests had left.
Some of the other Ninja had been waiting up in the lair for Cole and Jay to come back.
"Where the hell have you been?" Asks Kai angrily as they get out of the vehicle. "Today of all days, you were meant to be here, we were meant to do this together! And you just, vanish?"
"I told Zane where we were." says Cole defensively.
"Right, yeah, he said you left, and not to call, but didn't mention what was so damn important."
"We were at the hospital!" exclaims Cole with his arms in the air. "Zane, why didn't you tell them?"
"I didn't want to raise a panic." says Zane cooly.
Kai looks like his brain has short circuited, suddenly having to reevaluate if his anger was justified. Lloyd takes advantage of the silence and says, "The hospital? What happened?"
"Jay had an asthma attack."
"No, like I told that doctor, I don't have asthma." interrupts Jay.
Cole rolls his eyes. "It might have something to do with the seawater, from when he almost drowned."
"No!" snaps Jay, "It has nothing to do with that, Nya saved me, ok? She did it perfectly. I'm fine, I was just so overcome with emotions from the ceremony that I momentarily forgot how to breathe. I'm fine, see?" He does a backflip onto his hands, then back onto his feet. "Fit as a fiddle." His four friends look at him with mild concern.
"Ok." says Cole in a tone that Jay knows means 'I don't agree, but this is not worth arguing about right now'.
"Ugh, I'm going to bed." says Jay, as he heads over to the elevator. When he reaches the lift he pauses, turning back to Kai. "I'm sorry we missed the end of the memorial, it was important to me too."
Kai nods. "I know." he says warmly, which by Kai standards was very close to a heartfelt apology.
As the elevator door closes his heart sinks as he hears Lloyd ask "So what's actually going on with him?"