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His world was falling to pieces. Things just wouldn't stop going wrong.

First, there was that infamous Day of the Departed, then there'd been the Time Twins to deal with directly after that. Then Master Wu… Then Cole's stupid ghost PTSD had reared its ugly head.

And now this.

Heaving a sigh, Cole slumped against the ship's railing and fixed his eyes on the rolling waves.

His whole world had been crumbling on and off since his mother died, but somehow, he'd always known what to do—and if he didn't, he'd always had his friends to come alongside him. He'd always had some sort of help, some form of backup. Now, his only backup was on the verge of a breakdown.

Oh, Jay…

Cole ran a few massaging fingers over his temples.

His world was falling to pieces, crumbling faster than a landslide…

… And the mighty Master of Earth couldn't seem to do anything to stop it. Not for the first time, he longed for Master Wu's sage advice. I'd even go for Lloyd's advice at this point. Maybe even Kai's… He shook his head, sending the absurd thought back into oblivion. No, that's stupid. Scratch that, not Kai's advice. Zane's though… And Nya's…

Somehow, Nya always knew what to do when it came to figuring Jay out, especially after they'd gotten their relationship back on track. After that out-of-the-blue kiss behind the billboard.

Cole had never been able to figure that kiss. On one hand, it made no sense considering the weird 'I don't need your help because I'm just one of the guys' phase Nya had been going through at the time.

On the other hand… It was a thing everyone knew was bound to happen at some point—how could it not? Still… it made no sense that it would happen so quickly and for seemingly no reason.

Talk about shot-gunning it, Cole thought, letting out a scoff. Then there was the fact that Nya had somehow learned Airjitzu almost as fast as she'd rediscovered her feelings for Jay.

Cole couldn't make any sense of it and it hurt his head to even try. So, he didn't. He simply cleared his mind completely and stared out at the waves.

It was the scuffle further down the deck that succeeded in finally tearing his attention away from the blue horizon. At first, he was tempted not to look. After all, whatever was going down over there was someone else's problem, anyway. I have enough of my own, thanks.

But something inside pushed him to turn around just in time to watch Jay zap the captain with a bolt of electricity before crashing backward onto the deck.

Cole's legs were moving faster than his brain could calculate his next move. Because he knew that face; he could feel the electrical static in the air. He saw the way Jay's fingers twitched; the way his contorted expression morphed into one of vicious resolve.

"Jay!" Cole called out mere seconds before colliding with his brother, who had just leapt into the first steps of Spinjitzu. "Stop!"

Their combined tumble into the side of the ship lasted no longer than a few seconds, but time had slowed to a crawl for Cole the instant he'd torn his gaze off the waves. After the hollow thud and the pain exploding in the back of his head, he took a moment to breathe. To clear the stars from his vision and recenter himself.

Biting back a groan, Cole sat up, heart still pounding as he glanced over at Jay.

"Jay…?"

His brother had also pried himself off the floor and was clutching his head in his hands while mumbling something about not making any wishes. It was gibberish Cole didn't have the time or patience for, so he turned to look at the captain.

"Are you—?"

"I'm fine, lad," the old pirate said as his lips curved into a reassuring smile. "Now I can tell folks I survived being struck by lightning. Makes a good story."

"Right." Cole blew out a sigh and focused back on Jay. Okay. Okay…

"Jay?"

No reply. At least, not a coherent one. Just the same thing about wishes. Come on, Jay, work with me here.

"All right!" he heard the captain call out behind him. "Back to work! There's nothing to see here!"

A chorus of aye captains pierced the air and Jay flinched, hunching his shoulders as if in some sort of twisted effort to make himself smaller.

Gently, Cole took Jay's hand and helped him stand.

"Hey, it's okay," came the first of many soft reassurances. "How about we just go back to the cabin, all right? You're right, it's way too hot up here."

Then, Jay met his gaze for the first time since the whole mess started. His brown orbs were clouded with uncertainty and glazed over with a thin layer of fear. But somewhere underneath it all was recognition, and that was all Cole needed.

"C-Cole…? Is that you?"

"Yeah," Cole replied, willing his voice not to crack. "It's me."

"B-But how did you…?" Jay trailed off as he surveyed his surroundings. "Oh… Wait… What?"

A wave of confusion doused Jay's terror and he swayed slightly. Cole was quick to put an arm over his shoulders and guide him toward the door. The sooner he got his brother away from whatever had spooked him, the better.

For a time, Jay leaned into Cole on the way down to the cabin, but neither spoke. At some point, Jay ended up leading the way, and Cole didn't miss the click of the lock when they entered the safety of the cabin.

As much as he wanted to, he made no comment about it.

"Did I hurt anyone?"

"No."

Jay's reply was so soft, Cole could just barely make it out. "I wanted to."

"I know. I just don't know why."

"Self-defense?" Jay replied with a shrug.

"Defense against what?" Though he'd told himself he'd be patient, Cole couldn't stop the tinges of exasperation from bleeding into his voice.

Jay's gaze fell to the ground. "Nothing."

"It didn't look like 'nothing.'"

"Looks can be deceiving."

"Oh, come on, Jay!"

"Well, what do you want me to say, huh?"

Stealing some of Cole's exasperation, Jay flung his arms up in the air. "What do you want to hear from me? That I almost had a mental breakdown up there, but you stopped me just in time? All right, then. Thanks for that." Every mocking clap of Jay's hands cut through Cole's skin like a knife. "Bravo!"

"Jay—"

"Or did you want me to spill every horrific, little detail of my nightmares just so you can console me and try to fix it? Well, guess what, Cole: you can't, okay? You just can't."

"I can't because you won't talk to me!" Cole shot back, curling his fingers into a tight fist and promising himself he wouldn't ever use it as a weapon against Jay—no matter how hot his anger and hurt boiled.

"I can't talk to you! I can't talk to anyone about this except for one person because she's the only one who remembers! But she's not here!" Just when Cole figured the argument was about to enter into the next level, Jay's expression crumbled and his eyes glazed over. "She's… She's not here. None of them are. They're all gone and it's just… It's just you and me and I don't know how to…" He sucked in a shaky breath. "I've never… Sometimes I can't even talk to Nya about it, so I don't know if I can… But I really don't want to keep fighting with you. I'm not… I swear, I'm n-not doing it on purpose."

Silence choked Cole after that because what was he supposed to say now? Jay had given him too much to unpack and it was overwhelming.

"I'm sorry," Cole heard himself whisper at long last. "Whatever's going on with you… If you don't want to tell me, or-or can't tell me, it's fine. It's okay. I shouldn't have pushed."

Jay swiped at his eyes before replying. "I do want to tell you, though. I mean, you were there, too. You deserve to know. I just… I don't know how to…"

"Well…" Cole eased down onto the floor and leaned back against Jay's bunk. Then, he patted the empty space beside him. "Just start with the easy parts. Or, if there aren't any of those, just start wherever you can. It doesn't have to make sense—I'm still here to listen, anyway."

It took a moment, but Jay finally accepted the silent invitation and sat next to Cole with a heavy sigh. It took even longer for him to begin speaking. Sure, Jay opened his mouth several times, only to promptly shut it again.

Cole was patient, though. He had to be.

Breathe… Just breathe… He didn't know whether he was thinking such calming thoughts for himself or for Jay, but it didn't seem to matter all that much.

And at least it helped him pass the time while he waited.

And waited.

And waited… Until, finally, Jay sucked in a breath.

"Do you," he began slowly, his hesitance palpable as he stared off at some distant memory Cole couldn't see. "Do you remember that one time a while ago when… Well, when we got that call that Claus was in Stiiks? And we were running from the media because Kai couldn't stay off his stupid Chirp account?"

Cole nodded even as he wracked his brain for the memory. It all seemed so long ago. Before the Time Twins, before the Day of the Departed. And it was such a small memory, too. Not even worth storing in his mind for more than a few months, but somehow, he found it. He remembered.

"And then Nya t-took my hand and we kissed behind the billboard? And the media found us anyway, but it didn't really matter anymore?"

Cole found it ironic that he'd just been thinking of that kiss not ten minutes ago. Maybe it's not so ironic after all…

"Well," Jay continued when Cole nodded once more, "a lot of… other stuff happened in between those two moments."

"What kind of 'other stuff?'" And though this was the conversation he'd been waiting for, Cole found himself having second thoughts. If the infamous 'other stuff' could shove Jay into a breakdown, he wasn't sure he wanted to hear about it.

It's too late to back out now. Besides, you wanted this, didn't you?

Didn't I? Cole set his jaw, realizing his thoughts were in the past tense for a reason.

"Lots of other stuff," Jay replied, his voice low and shaky—not the best combination, Cole noted.

"Like…?"

Sucking in a breath, Jay forced his shoulders into a shrug. "Well, we all went to prison for things we didn't do." Wait, what? "Because Claus found the lamp and messed everything up, and there was this djinn posing as each of us because he could shapeshift and he was trying to make this city in the sky out of our city, a-and he—"

"Jay, take a breath!"

Relief came in small doses as Jay filled his lungs, but that was just enough for Cole. For now, at least.

"All right," Jay said with a heavy sigh. "All right… Sorry."

"It's fine," came Cole's soft reply. "Just… try not to talk so fast next time."

Nodding, Jay took another breath. "Anyway, uh, this old pirate helped us escape Kryptarium and we went undercover to try and find the djinn. That's… Uh, t-that's when he came to me—when I was alone, because he does… did that. Caught you when you were alone, I mean. It all sorta went downhill from there…"

For the next hour or so, Cole listened, and with each word, he got sicker and sicker. His stomach rebelled against him as his brain tried to make sense of everything Jay was saying.

Pirates. Prison. Poisonous spiders. Brothers vanishing one by one.

And everyone turning against Jay because he'd lied. Cole supposed his old self—or his erased self, however that worked—would've been furious, but in that moment, he couldn't find it in him to care.

Because you don't remember. You don't remember any of it.

Why? Why didn't he remember? Why were Jay and Nya the only ones burdened with these horrific memories? And Cole had a feeling that Jay was only telling him the condensed version, leaving out many of the most painful details.

That was fine, though. When it came to Jay, Cole was somewhat of an expert at reading between the lines.

One detail he couldn't seem to leave out, however, was the one part Cole wished he had.

Died. Nya had died. As in stopped breathing, gone cold, a never-coming-back-again-ever kind of thing.

Only, she had come back, but not before Jay had clutched her lifeless frame to his chest…

Yeah, Cole was sure he was going to be sick.

The worst of it was that he couldn't even comfort his brother properly because he couldn't remember any of it! Why did Jay have to be the one to remember?

It took Cole several long minutes to realize Jay had finished his story; to notice the silence that taken the room captive.

Sometimes, Cole knew exactly what to say. He could talk Jay down from the highest mountains of anxiety. But sometimes, words failed him harder than his fifth grade math teacher.

Because sometimes, there just weren't any words to be said—and if there were, Cole certainly couldn't find them.

So, he squeezed his mouth and eyes shut, then slipped his hand into Jay's—and squeezed.

It took a bit, but Jay finally squeezed back. That's when Cole felt the tear drops plink down onto his fingers. Maybe they were his, maybe they were Jay's. Maybe both. It didn't matter.

Because whatever the case, tears were healing.

And they were both in desperate need of some healing.