Everything I think I know is just static on the radio Chapter 3: Through shadowlands and troubled times, a ninjago fanfic

TW: graphic violence, minor characters death, graphic injury, animal death, referenced child abuse.

They desperately ran into the base beneath the monastery. Their footsteps echoed with a cold, thunderous echo, the chaos and scandal outside only made them even more uneasy as they prepared themselves.

"Shit, shit!" Nya muttered under her breath as she grabbed her weapons in a hurry. Pieces of debris fell to the ground next to them. The others had already left for the city to help as many as they could. "Why didn't Master Wu tell us any of this?"

He gave a forced laugh as he bit his lip nervously.

"I wish I had a coin for every time I've said that." He teased softly, his voice noticeably shaking around the edges like the floor beneath his feet.

She glared at him over her shoulder.

"This is no time for jokes, Jay!" she growled, shoulders tense and brow furrowed.

He blinked dazedly at her outburst while grimacing.

"Nya-" he started to say before she suddenly interrupted him, practically cursing into the air more than she was talking to him.

"I just don't understand why we can't have one more moment of calm before things go to shit." she growled in a sharp voice and ran a hand over her forehead. "How many times are we going to have to go through this?"

He nodded in sympathy as he approached. It really didn't seem like they had much time to catch up after a year of being apart. They didn't even know what this thing was about, only that it put them all at risk and as always they had to jump into battle to defend the city.

When he got closer he could hear their breathing at an irregular rhythm, his with uncertainty and hers with frustration at the injustice of it all.

They took a few seconds to just be there, their breaths synchronized as the sky fell above them, the question of how the hell they were going to solve this floating permanently in their heads.

Finally, he took a deep breath before speaking.

"Hey, I promise everything will be alright, okay?" He swore as he grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. His own trembling stabilized as they both nodded. "Whatever this is, we will get through it like all the other times."

She nodded confidently. Jay could see her biting the inside of her cheek as she thought for a moment about what to say.

"Do not do anything stupid." She finally said as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly for a few seconds.

He laughed and returned the hug with a shaky sigh, wishing they could stay like this forever.

"I'll try." He murmured against her neck as he closed his eyes for a moment, pretending that the world wasn't falling apart like it had so many times.

They eventually broke apart, she had a bitter smile on her face and he himself was doing his best to remain calm despite the trembling of his limbs.

The master of water slowly walked away as he approached the mech that was resting in the hangar. Just as he was about to get on he looked over his shoulder at her with a half smile.

"I love you." He took a breath for a moment as he paused. "Take care of yourself out there."

He didn't need her to tell him, her eyes were directed at him with all the emotion they could muster and her face held a weak smile that made him pause for a moment. With a firm nod she said goodbye, running ready to join the others.

"Take care you too." It was the last thing she said to him before leaving.

And then they went out into the storm together.

After the incident in the desert, Jay and Kaida settled into a normal routine for several weeks until they finally finished their assigned tours. Review the routes, report the objects that were there to clean, eat, camp, and sleep. Nobody talked about it. She remained unusually calm about it and Jay's throat burned every time he remembered the blank look on that man's face. The sound of blood under his boots.

He felt bad for having yelled at her like that, and he did his best to try to act normal despite the tension there.

He still hadn't forgotten what she had said. That she had been able to see him in some way in that house, the caution with which she said it as if she hoped he wouldn't tell anyone.

They didn't talk much about it either.

He tried to interact more with his squadmates. Teamwork was essential there, and although in general the agents tended to be quite reserved when speaking, they had good communication to act in battle. He figured that if he was going to continue working there until he could decide what to do with his life, he should at least be able to get along with some of them.

It wasn't easy, mainly because his social skills were rusty, mainly because every time he spoke he was afraid to say something that would guarantee that he would eventually be expelled. He had noticed how others in the rest of the Administration looked at him, the looks and whispers that people made when he did something as insipid as going shopping at the market. That was just the fact that he felt like he didn't belong there and that the only place he felt at home no longer existed.

Nothing of that life existed.

"So how are you doing on the patrols, Walker?" Maiko, a fellow member of his team, asked him once they had gathered at the central base after several days of patrolling. Despite having much more rank than him, in everything she had been less cold when speaking to him than the rest.

He shrugged, forcing himself not to think about his mistake there. The stupidity he had done.

"I can't say it's a boring job." He joked, his voice somewhat strained as he swallowed.

She hummed in agreement.

"Yeah, I guess so. You can tell things are never boring around here." she commented lightly. "Although they are not easy either, not there it feels like everyone is against you."

He frowned heavily, looking toward the horizon as something stirred inside him. He hadn't forgotten the hatred in the man's voice when he threatened him, how sure he had been of his words, how ready he had been to kill him and the kid as if it were nothing.

He wondered how many persons like that were out there. He wondered if his parents, if they were even around after the whole disaster, had encountered any of them.

The very idea made him nauseous.

"I could not agree more." He agreed with his throat too tight.

Jay tried to make sure he wouldn't make a mistake that stupid again.

He became more careful, more cautious about what he said and who he surrounded himself with.

He didn't want to think about it, about having to do something like that back with someone. In which the life of someone like Kaida is in danger because of his stupidity. He didn't want to have to take a life like that again, he didn't want to keep thinking about it every time he closed his eyes and the damn doubt of what he had done before tortured him.

The past only brought him problems it seemed.

There was one occasion when they were busy neutralizing some Underworld skeletons scattered near a town. They were no problem, and even though they fight well, it only took one squad to handle them while doing damage control and stopping them from causing any more problems.

They barely spoke, and their words were garbled at best. But when Jay took off his helmet to check a wound on his forehead, when he thought he was far away from anyone, one of the skeletons saw him in the distance. He shook back and forth restlessly, pointing desperately at him while exclaiming short words like "blue" and "lightning."

His mouth tightened into a thin line at the words and he pretended not to hear them as he quickly put his helmet back on. With a brusque gesture, he indicated to the others that it was time to leave.

The other agents looked at him curiously as they left. Although the skeleton's talk had been almost incomprehensible, his concern had been quite obvious as soon as he saw Jay.

"Did you know that bony guy?" Asked Mark, one of his teammates. He was a couple of years younger than him, and it was obvious that he didn't have much experience in field patrols.

Jay frowned, and made a disdainful sound as he shrugged.

"No, you know what those idiots are like anyway. Nothing they say makes sense." He replied with a tone that left no room for further conversation. The others dismissed it easily, not wanting to probe further after that curt response and quickly changing the subject.

Kaida glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, however, probably seeing through the harsh tone, but stayed quiet as they walked home.

There was another occasion when they were near a community of strangers in a nearby land. Helping to close some Merge Quakes when Jay made a mistake again.

When he was busy giving orders to his companions to evacuate the area quickly, a woman seemed to recognize him just by the sound of his voice. She was an older woman, with gray hair and skin cracked by time. Her amber eyes lit up with recognition when she saw him, and with hesitant steps she approached his side, taking him by surprise.

She grabbed his wrist gently and Jay looked at her, startled.

"I recognize your voice, you... You... You saved the city, you are the-"

Jay interrupted her harshly as he removed his arm with a curt gesture.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I think you're confusing me with someone else." He said, making sure to keep his voice low as he quickly walked away.

He could see the confusion on her face, but it didn't matter.

After the incident in the desert, he tried his best to stop clinging to those fragments and old static. He realized that sometimes it was better to avoid them. Pretend they didn't exist, let them go, and don't think about them. The useless pain and frustration that trying to decipher them brought to his head was not worth it.

He couldn't change that. None of that mattered anyway. No one cared and he might as well convince himself that it didn't affect him either.

But of course she noticed.

"Why you do that?" Kaida suddenly asked him as he handed out her rations one of the many nights they had had to camp out in the middle of their daily patrols. A questioning tone in her voice as if she had been gnawing on the question for a while.

They hadn't been talking much lately either. It was tense, not even in the first few days when he met her had she been so silent. She had been too quiet, he too absorbed in himself and trying to respect her silence. Still, he missed her endless talk.

Jay blinked in confusion, frowning as he stood.

"Do what?"

"Lie." She declared as she looked him in the eyes. And his confusion must have been more than evident on his face because she instantly cleared up. "The other day with that man who said he knew you. You said you didn't know him... But…It don't seemed like you were sure of that."

His shoulders slumped as he thought about it for a while. Thinking about the trace of recognition he saw several times on the faces of people who were strangers to him. The terror that followed after that, because he didn't know them and he didn't know what they were capable of. But they did recognize him.

Or at least enough so that in most cases, they wanted to kill him.

And he couldn't even remember why.

Sighing to himself, he looked away, focusing for a moment on the crackling fire. His foot tapped against the floor in a slow rhythm as he sat down heavily.

"It's because I'm not." He admitted honestly. His eyes lost in front of him.

Kaida seemed less satisfied with his answer.

"And why?" She questioned, lowering her voice as if she didn't want it to rise above the smoke, looking at him confused without understanding the expression on his face.

Jay let out a short breath through his teeth, running a hand over his forehead.

Only very few people knew about his… condition. Christa, the Administrator of course, and some other agent who had met him that day on the beach. No one else, and he could tell no agent really wanted to talk about it. Neither of them were talkative enough to go around talking about other people's private lives anyway.

It had been months since he had acknowledged that out loud, as if everyone was unaware of that. As if no one cared, as if he didn't have to care and just had to pretend that... it really was nothing. He was missing some memories, that was all. As long as he did his job, no one could be less affected.

But then he thought about the incident from a while ago. He thought about that incident with that man, how easily he had been fooled by his naivety. He thought about the way she looked at him that time and how he had yelled at her, and the words forced themselves out of his mouth a little easier.

"There are parts of my life that I don't fully remember..." He explained slowly without even looking at her. He didn't know why he was telling her this, but he felt like he at least owed her that after the last time.

She blinked beside him, taking in his words as she leaned forward in disbelief.

"What? Did you hit your head really hard or something?" She asked, still a little skeptical, moving closer as if trying to give the scars on his face a new reason.

"Something like that." Jay said quietly, his fingers twitching and closing as if electricity lightly assaulted his muscles. He didn't want to remember. He didn't want to remember that.

Kaida was surprisingly quiet. Her mouth closed as she looked at him with wide eyes. Jay thought maybe she thought it was a joke.

The number of times he had thought the same thing about the whole situation was laughable.

After a while, his silence must have been confirmation enough for her. Something in her hazel eyes cleared as she finally realized what he said was true, too shocked to move for even a moment. After a while of staring at nothing, still processing that abrupt piece of information, she leaned back, leaning on her arms while looking up at the sky.

"That sucks." She complained after a while.

"Yeah."

They remained silent for a while longer. Jay, on the one hand, still rethinking whether telling her that was the right thing to do until she spoke again.

"Do you have problems remembering other things? People's faces? Do you forget what happened a moment ago, for example?"

He frowned in offense as he let out a snort.

"Have you ever seen me forget something that just happened?"

"I've seen you forget where you leave your tools." She said as she brushed her hair back.

He rolled his eyes before lying on his back. The night sky hung above him and for a moment he was able to pretend, despite the different constellations and two giant moons, that he was home.

They settled into the darkness of silence for a moment, long enough for him to believe she was finally asleep until her voice snapped him out of his ruminations again.

"Do you remember your family?" Kaida questioned quietly carefully.

Jay drew a shaky breath. His fingers tapped against his knuckles rhythmically as he closed his eyes.

"I don't remember if my parents are alive." he whispered, and admitting it felt like defeat. It was like agreeing with the rest. It was like admitting that he was a failure. He couldn't remember if they were alive and and the doubt was devouring him every day that passed without him noticing.

Kaida made a sound of thought, her feet tapping against the sand absentmindedly.

"Yeah, that sucks too." She whispered bitterly. A resentful tone that made her sound older than she was. "Hey, mine, you know… Sometimes I'm kind of glad I don't remember them."

Jay frowned in her direction. Something pasty settling in his throat at that thought. Several times he forgot how young she was, many times he forgot that she didn't even have the concept of a peaceful life that he had. There, everyone was expected to help, to adapt too quickly to that broken world regardless of age.

She was just a kid, but she already knew how to shoot, she was just a kid, but her free time was spent doing tasks for the agency. None of it was fair, but he supposed nothing there was really fair.

"Why do you say that?" he asked without thinking, his voice heavy.

"Well… Um…" she paused for a moment, her eyes closing as she leaned her head forward. "They left me in Boarding School when I was very young… And I don't even know why. Sometimes I like to pretend that there must be a good reason for them to do it. Maybe they wanted me to be an Administration agent or something." A faint laugh escaped into the night air and died away as quickly as it came. "But most of the time I think there really was no good reason and I just… I think it was my fault."

Jay looked at her for a moment before lumbering over. His hand wavered in the air for a few moments near her shoulder before falling to the side. Instead, he sat a few steps away, remaining silent. Trying in vain to think of something that sounded like the right thing to say.

It was the first time she had talked to him about her parents.

His eyes absentmindedly returned to the sky, following the trail of stars. Something in the back of his mind, muffled and dull, rumbled faintly.

"A good reason."

Why did that bring a dull pain in his chest? Why did every word have to be crossed because of so much static?

He wanted things to be simpler, for everything to be simpler. If he had to deal with these blank bumps, at least he wasn't aware of them.

Turning his gaze to her, he noticed the silent sadness on her blank face. Her mouth pressed into a thin line and her fingertips trembling weakly.

It reminded him of something, far away and worn, almost shapeless. But it was there. It felt familiar in a strange way, a deja vu that he could perhaps pinpoint as a real memory, although that feeling was with a different person.

He wanted so much things to be simpler.

"Well, for what it's worth…" he began in a rough voice, drawing her attention back. "I know that not having any clear answers to something so important can be difficult, things… just happen without us being able to fully understand them. And it sucks." He interrupted himself to take a shaky breath before continuing. She looked at him carefully. "But I know that… whatever happened was not your fault. Okay? Their decision was not your responsibility and you should not feel guilty about it."

He turned to look at her then. The fire was beginning to go out, a sign that they probably had to finally go to sleep if they didn't want to be delayed in the rest of their remaining patrols in the early morning. But even in the low light, her eyes shone as she looked ahead.

He thought about what it must be like for her, to be glad she did't remember them.

His throat tightened as he remembered his own parents, and he was a little embarrassed to think that he didn't remember their voices as well as he used to. He felt guilty that he was forgetting all of this, all of that before as if it didn't matter either.

The least he could do, he supposed, was for her not to feel that kind of guilt. It was the least he owed her.

They settled back into quiet silence. Jay noticed that she was still, her arms around her knees and her face thoughtful.

"Hey…" he said shortly after. Something mocking in his tone that removed the stupor from her face. "Do you want to keep telling me about that realm where the sun is supposedly now alive or something?"

Kaida laughed heartily, her voice rising and falling warmly before giving him a half smile. It had been a while since he had heard her laugh.

It had been a long time since he himself had laughed genuinely.

"Only if you promise to tell me more about Ninjago."

He smiled back, chuckling as he nodded.

"Okay."

He started carrying his pin in his pocket more often in recent months.

He had tried to ignore it, to avoid thinking about it, but he had realized that he didn't really have anything from Ninjago there, nothing more than that medallion and that pin. Nothing really, and sometimes just holding it for a moment brought him back to reality when that feeling of loss pierced his chest too much.

So more than once, he found himself staring at that mocking symbol that seemed pathetically harmless, even though he knew what it meant.

"I can't get rid of this. I can't keep pretending they're not there..."

He couldn't continue repressing the energy that wanted to get out of his hands no matter what. It was an effort, one that he was required to mitigate in training camp so he could learn to control it. He pretended that they weren't really there, that he couldn't really master them despite all the times he felt like he was capable of burning something when he got excited enough.

That energy only brought problems like everything else, it only brought too many very complex questions to answer that would get him nowhere.

And then there was also what she had told him in that house buried in the sand. She confided it to him as if she expected him to understand, as if she herself knew that he was in a similar situation.

Maybe they were and he had no idea.

He wondered if what she had said was similar to his powers. If she was as lost as he was about what they were, what they could do or how to control them. He remembered the shock on her face that time the guard had suddenly lost strength during a fight, and he wondered if that was the first time something like that had happened.

He wondered what his powers were capable of if he lost control like that.

However, he kept all his gloomy questions to himself. He didn't mention how he sometimes noticed her eyes getting cloudy looking at people while she also didn't mention the times he ended up burning something by accident just by touching it.

He would solve eventually.

In a patrol, they were on the outskirts of the remains of a city he didn't recognize. He talked to his companions about it, and they told him that it was probably some area that had been removed from Imperium. Which only meant bad luck, since they had to cross it to clear the route, so he made sure to be twice as cautious with that. He didn't know if there would be dragons locked in there or soldiers. None of the prospects seemed ideal, so he simply waited until the city was as abandoned as it seemed.

They came across a wall on their way, and he carefully observed his surroundings. He was doing that more often, he didn't want to be caught off guard so stupidly again.

"I can't open it, we'll have to climb." He reported after circling the area several times in an attempt to find another path.

Kaida made a low sound to get their attention as she pointed to the fence.

"Eh, I can't get there." She commented awkwardly.

Jay followed her gaze, rocking on his heels for a moment with his hands on his hips. Finally, he clicked his tongue and turned around.

"Okay, I'll give you a boost." He began to say as he crouched down, putting his hands in front of him.

She looked hesitant for a moment, but after a while she convinced herself to put a boot in his hand. Carefully, Jay pulled her up as she quickly grabbed the edge of the wall.

"Careful." He admonished as he backed away.

"Yeah, Yeah." She complained as she climbed until she was on the other side. Once she climbed down from the wall, he could practically hear the smile in her voice behind his mask. "I arrived first."

Jay snorted, holding back a joke about her height before climbing the wall until he landed next to her. As they set out to cross the city, there was nothing really valuable worth reporting to their squad. Empty and destroyed houses, broken and useless warehouses scattered throughout the fragments of what was once a street. There was nothing.

It seemed that way until they came across what was undoubtedly a dragon cage that had been removed along with the remains of what appeared to be an Imperium laboratory. The cage still occupied and squashed between the cracks of the street for what seemed like a long time. The dragon didn't move and Jay had to take a couple of steps back and turn around to catch his breath while she paled in shock.

"How long do you think it had been there?" The kid asked in a muffled voice behind him, she was still looking at the creature, still completely frozen.

"I don't know." He choked quietly with his eyes downcast, although he well knew it could have been from the beginning of the Merge all those months ago. The coldness and stillness in the air reminded him too much ofthat, and he had to stay still so that the sound of his boots on the sand would not be confused with something else.

When he pressed his intercom, and busied himself informing his team in a flat voice that there was nothing really valuable in the city other than a few supplies and equipment they could extract for analysis, she still did not move. When he finally told her it was time to leave and continue on their assigned tour, only then did she snap out of her stupor and turn around to follow him. Him not looking back and her looking over her shoulder all the time.

"Do not think about that."He repeated to himself, ignoring the sensation of sparks tugging at his arms. He didn't have to remember that.

It was strange, as time went on, to get used to the battle.

For Jay, learning to fight was like putting on an old coat, one that surprisingly fit him. It was something familiar, something that suited his body as easily as breathing. As easy as wearing an old clothes that he didn't know he had in his closet, but there it was. Fighting on instinct while his body got used to what he thought was a habit ingrained in his bones.

When he hit, it was like feeling a shadow accompanying his movements. Someone else fighting, holding onto his body as he learned to move, to analyze his surroundings, to analyze his opponent. He learned to look for a way out in any area, the characteristics of each kingdom and its properties. They taught him about the different species of the other kingdoms, their weaknesses, and how to exploit them. He was expected to be quick to neutralize them and brutal to do his job effectively. It was hoped that he could take out any intruder from miles away with a single bullet.

So, he learned to fight dirty and brutally. A patrol became an opportunity to fight with whatever was at hand, to grab the first thing he found and throw it. When he jumped on his feet and kept attacking, it was like dancing to an old familiar tune.

It became increasingly difficult to contain how much force he put behind each blow, it became increasingly difficult for him to care about the life of some stranger when there was always someone attacking, always someone wanting to kill him.

The tension between the kingdoms was evident as time passed. The borders were a boundary line that divided the desperation and violence of each person trying to survive in that new world in which no one understood what was happening.

Little by little, the murdered man in that abandoned house did not become an exception but a rule that he had to follow if he did not want to be shot in the head out there.

For the first time, he was the one dealing the blows after having been hit with everything in the way over and over again since things had gone off the rails.

And of course, she was also there.

There were missions in which she was not allowed to accompany him, mainly those that required directly confronting large groups of enemies close to the Administration's border. However, there was nothing to anticipate them if they were suddenly attacked or ambushed during a patrol. So more than once she also found herself involved in the middle of those confrontations that only ended with someone dead.

He would prefer that things didn't have to be that way, that they stopped sending children like her to such dangerous tasks. She really had no opinion on the matter, resigned to that reality for a long time before he arrived and willing to collaborate with what she could. Whether throwing any weapon at his disposal to throw at someone, or being in fights a second pair of eyes that anticipated enemies as fast as she could. They developed a strategy eventually. He surrounded his attackers, separated them, and picked them off one by one. And she always watched to make sure they weren't cornered and even caused distractions if necessary.

She was ridiculously young for all that, and yet he was surprised at how much she adjusted. Of the effort she made to learn and listen to him when he corrected her with advices about battles that he didn't know where they came from.

He also suspected that sheknew. That she already knew of his powers, as aware of it as he was of her cloudy gaze when she looked at people.

He finally convinced himself when in an encounter with a group who wanted to try to cross the border, she wasn't scared when he ended up using his powers by accident.

Everything happened very quickly, but of course, to his bad luck, everything he was trying to suppress came to the surface when he fought.

They were on a route near the border. Which meant there was more than one piece of discarded scrap metal that could be used as a weapon to avoid attracting attention. During the fight he grabbed an abandoned metal pipe between jumping from side to side and dodging. The pipe fitting carelessly into his hands as he lunged forward. The feeling of vertigo whenever that happened, whenever fighting brutally became the only option.

On that occasion, both of them were careless. She failed to warn him of one of the guys who disappeared from his sight and reappeared behind him, managing to strangle him before he could even react. Not trusting her aim, the kid did not risk shooting. Instead, against any denial Jay might have given her she ran to the man's back. She jumped in their direction which ended up throwing them off balance and her knife (one of the few weapons they allowed her to use) stabbed into his shoulder. Jay managed to free himself, the fighting instinct kicking in again as he took a few steps back. The attacker screamed in agony, quickly turning around to throw her back.

Kaida fell back, her breath hitching with the impact as she stared straight ahead, the stranger glaring at her with a bleeding forehead. She only had a moment of terror before Jay reacted. The crowbar he had used as a makeshift weapon pointed at his head as his power slipped through his fingers amid the adrenaline that filled his chest.

The metal resonated with a dull thud. And as fast as the blood ran through the air, electricity coursed through his muscles until it followed the path of the metal. The blue continued along the pipe like a snake and burst into the air with a symphony of sparks. The sound of dripping blood sliding from the pipe to the ground brought an end to what had previously been a deadly confrontation.

He let out a sharp breath, his arms shaking uncontrollably at the still ingrained sensation of the shocks coursing through his skin with such force. Shoulders falling and rising with his raspy breathing, each breath scratching his throat. His hands tightened around the pipe he had used, frowning as he watched it, a small thought manifesting in his mind. He hadn't even had to make an effort, the energy had left his body and traveled through the metal pipe as if it were nothing. A torrent of power that only followed his path when he needed it.

There was a muffled curse of surprise and horror behind him and only then did he snap out of his lethargy to look at the kid, seeing firsthand what he was capable of. Turning around, his order to move took them both out of their stupor, so easy to break if they were attacked again. She followed him, her footsteps reaching for the heel of his boots as they backed away and headed for the nearest checkpoint there was.

When they arrived, still catching their breath between sharp gasps, she was still staring at him. Spitting out incomprehensible words in the middle of her breath in an attempt to speak.

"How did you do that?" there was no fear in her tone like Jay had expected, but rather complete surprise and amazement. Her mask covered her face, but he could perfectly imagine her brow furrowing in confusion as she stared at him with her hands still on her knees.

He bit the inside of his cheek, pausing, looking at her from the corner of his eye. Outside of several agents at the training ground, no civilians in the city knew of his abilities. Especially because according to their leaders this would generate distrust among the people, at least until he could control them.

"What are you talking about?" he asked cautiously.

Kaida stayed quiet, taking a sharp breath as she stopped silently. There were a few moments of pause that revealed that she meant something else with her question.

"I mean…" the girl gestured wildly in the air. "I saw a blue light when you hit him… How did you do that without getting tired?"

The question caught him off guard, he had been prepared to explain that he had no idea what his powers were or how he had obtained them, but he certainly hadn't expected the demand in her tone.

Apparently she did know.

"Have you done anything like this before?" he questioned instead as he carefully checked his surroundings. Once he realized the place was clear, he carefully removed his mask. He was going to have to call his squad soon to inform them of what he had seen.

When he looked back at the girl, she was just standing still, staring at him as silence took over again. They hadn't even acknowledged what had happened in the desert for weeks, and the idea of doing so after how they had both ignored it seemed laughable.

He hesitated for a few seconds, clicking his tongue as he forced himself to speak.

"I mean…" the word seemed stupid, but it was the only thing that came to mind. Saying it only added to a haze of static that only told him that it was the kind of thing that had a special meaning that he couldn't decipher. "I mean your powers."

The girl kicked the dirt beneath her feet as she hesitated before answering.

"I mean, no..." she explained, struggling to get the words out. "But every time I tried to focus on... on trying to do something with them, it made me tired... Don't you feel the same?"

He tilted his head to the side, frowning as he did so. He didn't want to tell her, but he knew as much about those skills as she did.

"I don't think they work like yours, kid." He began to say after a while, his tone measured as he crossed his arms. "I don't really know what they are, but… As far as I know, mine are related to electricity."

Saying it on air sounded as laughable as it was in his mind, but it had seemed the same to him when they had told it to him some time before on the beach and he still couldn't get used to admitting it.

Kaida looked at him for a long moment, tilting her head back as she snorted.

"Electricity?" She snapped.

"You know, lightning and that stuff." He explained vaguely while gestured with his hand. At least that's what he knew.

"Lightning. Yeah, I don't think I can do that..." she spat as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

He hummed quietly, his hand traveling to his chin as he looked up at the sky, his eyes lost for a moment. He took a few deep breaths before asking.

"You said... You could see me that time... How did you do it?"

She hesitated, letting out a heavy sigh as she struggled to speak. After a while, she took off his mask, wiping the sweat from her face with her eyes lowered.

"I… Sometimes I can see it. A dim light surrounding people." She explained, the lost and insecure tone reminding him of things he couldn't decipher. "Not all the time, sometimes it's just when I touch someone… But I have no idea what it is." She sighed dejectedly as she squeezed her hands. "I only know that for this months I have been able to see certain things in people, which had never happened to me before."

He grimaced, knowing that feeling well. His boot scraped softly against the dirt as he walked.

"Hmm... You mean like seeing their auras... or souls?" He asked awkwardly in a drawl, wanting to know at least something about how these things affected them.

She shrugged her shoulders as if the question was insignificant to her.

"I don't know." She simply blurted out.

Great, they were both equally lost about it.

Suddenly, he remembered something. His eyebrows rose in understanding as he turned to look at her.

"Wait, that's how you knew about my powers?" he questioned, the image of her cloudy gaze the time he touched her shoulder fresh in his mind through the roar of static.

Kaida grimaced slightly, biting her lip as she half nodded.

" More or less, I knew there was something that wasn't normal about you. But I didn't know what it was." she answered vaguely. "And then I realized that you were probably hiding the same thing too."

Jay nodded as he muttered to himself. That explained a lot of things.

There was a moment of silence as they both meditated, before her eyes suddenly lit up with intrigue. Her gaze rising to him as she frowned.

"In Ninjago did the others have powers too?" he asked curiously. The words hung in the air, innocent and harmless, and yet they managed to sting and make a bitter expression cover his face.

She asked him because she really wanted to know, she asked him, because like him, she wanted to know that she was not alone. But he had no answers for her or himself, only questions and broken memories.

"I don't know." He grumbled tiredly. When he turned to face her, she looked up at him, startled by the cadence of his tone, nodding silently as she lowered her head. Shoulders tense and high as always when she was frustrated with something.

He sigh. A hand traveled to the bridge of his nose and pressed there for a moment. They both bit the silence in the air as they continued there, standing and without answers.

He didn't know where these powers came from, he didn't know if they were anything special. He didn't know if he always had them or if he got them suddenly during those years. He didn't even know what effects they had on his body, why his fangs were bigger than they should be, why his pupils sharpened when he got angry, why he was unable to hear certain words before succumbing to a panic attack.

So many questions and all he knew was that the answers might never be satisfied or even satisfactory.

His other hand went to his suit pocket, finding the pin and the edges melted by his own curse. He squeezed it tightly, jaw tense as he focused his gaze on the horizon. So far that he couldn't even escape.

"I'm sorry. " He whispered into the air, his words so low that maybe she probably didn't reach them.I would like to know what all this is, but the one who knew it is no longer here."Lets keep working."

The girl stared at him. The anger on his face melted into an unreadable expression, she did that often. Just staring with a blank face. Finally, she nodded. They both put their masks back on and shuffled away. His hands still burning as she looked at him from the corner of her eye. Taking a sudden breath before huffing.

"By the way, I don't know what it is, but you glow blue, did you know that?"

"… Good to know."

It was his favorite color at least.

Whenever he had an idea, he couldn't find calm until he got it out of his head as quickly as possible.

In this case, he couldn't help but think about how his powers worked. The currents of energy that coursed through his limbs as he let the energy build up. It was strange, like he could never really get tired when that happened. As if nothing could bring him down.

He was the guide of that power, but he had no idea how to use it.

What he did know is that electricity needed a conductor. That it was stronger to release it into the air as long as it had something to direct it. Every time he tried to summon that spark, that power, it slipped out of his hands. It dissipated into the air in any direction and accomplished nothing. He knew that if he had a Merge Quake or an enemy in front of him, he wouldn't be able to shoot, even if he wanted to.

That's why, once he got free time, he started sketching. He stole some plans from the workshop and drew the idea that had been materializing in his mind since that fight. He analyzed the parts of his energy cannon and his gun, the strength, the materials it was made of. If he got his invention to work, he would be able to use those powers, easier than he thought.

Of course, he did not inform anyone of the modifications he planned to make. He moved forward with his project between patrols and fortunately no one found out.

Except her.

One day, Kaida looked closely at one of the blueprints spread over the front of the ship. Staring at it with a frown before pointing to one of his doodles.

"What's that?"

He looked where she was pointing and brought the plane closer while his index finger traced the white lines.

"An invention I'm working on." She looked at him curiously and he continued to explain. "It is to be able to improve the resistance of the energy cannon to stop the Mer-"

"No. I mean… What does it say there?" her hand emphatically pointing to the annotations surrounding the drawings.

He stopped in the middle of his chatter, taking a moment to think before realizing what she meant when his eyes focused on his own messy, cluttered handwriting.

"It is written in the Ninjago alphabet." He said simply. More than once it seemed like they both forgot that he was still a outlander there. Little things like that, like the fact that he still hadn't fully learned to read the Administration's writing system was a sudden reminder of that.

Kaida nodded in understanding, anxiously biting her bottom lip as he continued to explain what his idea was about. Something uncertain in her eyes that he couldn't decipher.

It was only a few nights later, as his blueprints lay carelessly spread out in front of him, that she finally worked up the courage to speak.

"Could you teach me to write like that?" she blurted out suddenly, voice quick and anxious as she leaned in from where she sat waiting for a response.

Jay blinked startled, looking at her in confusion as he raised an eyebrow.

"Do you… do you want to learn the Ninjago alphabet?" He questioned uncertainly, not quite understanding why she would want to learn something like that.

The girl nodded emphatically, her hands clenching together as she looked between the scattered blueprints.

"Only if you want, of course." she murmured.

His gaze softened as he thought about her proposal, nodding immediately as he pulled out one of the plans, gesturing for her to come closer.

"I'm warning you that I'm probably not that good of a teacher with these things." He warned with a smile, but she was already leaning in with more excitement than he could expect from a child interested in writing.

It was a good thing, though, that someone wanted to know so much about where he came from. Between the questions about the customs of Ninjago, the cautious questions about his past, the little girl made a constant effort to find out more about him. It was a stark contrast compared to how closed off the rest of the people on the Administration were towards the other kingdoms.

"Hey, when I learn this, we could even use it as a secret language."

He laughed, twirling the pencil between his fingers as he nodded. "Well, that's a pretty good idea, kiddo."

Although he had his own doubts about how good a teacher he was (linguistics was never his strong suit) she was a quick learner. There came a point where he found himself going to the city market just to find her Ninjago books so she could read, mainly those that included animals, although he didn't understand why she was so interested in that.

She was fascinated of course every time he brought her one, and little by little a small collection was created that she dragged with her to read on each patrol when they had time.

"Hey, look, that's a goat." He pointed to an illustration from one of the books he got her as he peeked over her shoulder.

She instantly frowned in confusion, searching for the animal's name tag and attempting to read the page several times.

"Jay, I think it says here that's a yak."

"…I'm pretty sure it's a goat." He replied without even bothering to take a second look at the page. Fortunately, he was better at teaching her to read than he was at identifying animals.

There weren't always questions he was prepared to answer, or questions he even knew how to answer with those blanks, but he could try little by little. It was definitely a good change.

They were patrolling outside the Administration. It was getting late, and they hadn't come across anything really interesting during the day other than checking out certain sectors that had supposedly been unstable after the Merge Quakes.

"Now we are coming back." Jay reported over his intercom to the rest of his squad as they circled a fairly steep rocky coast. On the shore, the sea broke against the rocks and the foam melted with the sand. It had been a long time sincethat, the painful memories were duller and he was able to see a certain calm and beauty in such a landscape. "No, we haven't found anything out of the ordinary. Yes, that's why-" his words were suddenly cut off as he looked ahead with his eyes wide open. Beside him, Kaida looked at him in confusion as he stopped. "Wait, I think I saw something, keep going and we will catch up with you later. " He ordered hurriedly before starting to trot towards the shore.

She followed him bewildered.

"Hey, where…?" She braked suddenly as she watched the direction he was heading.

Among the rocks, stuck at the bottom of the cliff and close to the shore of the beach, was an abandoned car. A car from Ninjago.

Jay cautiously approached the vehicle, surveying his surroundings before putting away his gun and taking a closer look at the car. Kaida looked at him cautiously for a moment, as if she thought it was one of those times when he saw something gloomy about his home and simply got lost in his head. However, this time it wasn't about that.

He threw her a half smile over his shoulder and gently tapped the silver hood of the car.

"It's intact." He said in wonder. She raised her eyebrows in amazement at his excitement, rarely seeing him so cheerful or expressive. "These models were discontinued a long time ago, it is a relic."

She gave him a confused look, looking at the vehicle as if he were showing her a tractor or something.

"It looks old." she grumbled with narrowed eyes. Clearly not impressed. "What's so special about this thing?"

Jay put a hand to his chest as he frowned in offense.

"This thing," he explained while pointing gravely at the car, "has one of the most complex and revolutionary designs of its time, kid. It's practically worth a fortune."

"Jay, no one in the Administration would pay half a cent for Ninjago's primitive technology."

He made a slurred sound in his throat as he muttered.

"That's because they have bad taste."

Leaning down, he inspected the driver's seat with his hands pressed against the glass in an attempt to see the dark interior.

"Anyway, what are you going to do with that?" Kaida snorted as she walked closer to get a better look at the car.

He frowned at her as if the answer was obvious.

"What do you think I'm going to do? I'm going to keep it" He muttered as he checked to see if the door was open. It was and he practically slid into the driver's seat in one fluid motion. A smile broke out on his face when he realized the keys were still there.

"You mean steal it?" She laughed with an eyebrow raised as if the very idea seemed funny to her.

Jay emphatically shook his head while clicking his tongue.

"This is not stealing." He emphasized lightly as he ran his hands over the old steering wheel.

She tilted her head to the side as she looked at him in confusion.

"Jay, how exactly is this not stealing?"

He huffed as he leaned back.

"What is theft is when the owner tells you 'I don't authorize you to take the car.' But since we haven't seen the owner and no one has specifically told us that; It's not stealing."

She blinked before nodding.

"Yeah… that makes a lot of sense."

"Plus I always wanted one of these." He explained as he closed the door. "Stand back while I turn it on."

She obeyed his order, waiting expectantly to see exactly how a piece of scrap metal could compare to a ship that could fly, but all she managed to see were the wheels trying to fight against the stones while the car roared muffled until Jay got out in annoyance.

"It's stuck." He complained before looking back. The rear wheels were trapped between the rocks on the beach. Grabbing the underside of the vehicle, he lifted it and attempted to push it forward with a grunt of effort. After a few attempts at pushing it up the climb and trying to get it unstuck from the rocks, he gave up as he let it fall back into place. "The climb is very steep." he murmured.

Kaida looked between the car and the climb before her face lit up with a smile.

"How about I drive it and you push it?" she proposed excitedly.

He frowned at her.

"What? No!" he growled in disbelief. "I'm not going to let you drive the car."

The girl snorted tiredly as she crossed her arms.

"Come on, it shouldn't be that hard!" she complained with a frown. "It must be like piloting a ship, but more boring."

He rolled his eyes as he threw his head back and sighed heavily.

"First of all, you've never piloted a ship. And, secondly, cars are not ships." He emphasized.

Kaida gestured to the climb carelessly.

"You can teach me how to drive it." He then smiled at her as he gently knocked on the side of the car door. "Plus this is your chance to get this piece of junk before someone throws it down the ravine."

Jay growled lowly as he carefully scanned the road with his hands on his hips. It was completely clear, and other than the rocky edge that overlooked the beach behind them, he didn't think she would have much trouble doing it if he showed her. Damn, the kid had done harder things like going so far as to shoot someone.

She looked at him expectantly, the look of arrogance on her face giving away that she knew exactly his answer.

"Okay, come up." He said as he opened the door. She let out a cry of victory as she smugly got into the car. Once he adjusted the seat as close as possible so she could reach the pedals, he pointed to the front. "Eyes on the road at all times and the steering wheel steady."

" Eaaasy ." She scoffed, even though she had to stretch her neck as far as she could to look straight ahead.

He patiently explained how to turn it on and how to change gear while pointing to the pedals. She resisted the urge to tell him that technology was terribly simple and paid attention to what he said.

"When you want to brake, do it gently, okay? Do not brake or accelerate suddenly. It is a steep climb so you will have to go straight and light." He took one last look at his surroundings before going to the back of the car. "When I tell you, turn it on."

She waited patiently for his signal, and then started it, startling a little as the old engine came to life.

"Ready!" She shouted, looking out the window.

"Okay." He leaned down and again lifted the wheels off the rocks where it was stuck. Holding it in the air for a moment, he began to push it up as he spoke to her, his voice strained with effort. "Now, start accelerating slowly-" he cut himself off as the car suddenly moved forward. Almost causing him to stumble over his steps as he pushed it back up the hill.

She was doing better than he thought.

Eventually the old vehicle picked up speed and began to climb the hill on its own. He trotted alongside it for a moment, quickly shouting instructions as she drove with an excited smile permanently on her face.

Finally they reached the top, and she braked the car gently as he told her.

He laughed as he stopped beside her, a feeling of pride brewing in his chest that didn't even have to do with finally having that relic. The perfect stole.

She jumped out of the vintage car laughing all the while as if she had really piloted a ship. She slammed the door shut and Jay didn't even bother to scold her for it.

"Did you see that?" She said proudly as she trotted towards him. "I fucking did it!"

He nodded while chuckling.

"Not bad, kid." He responded as he ruffled her hair as he passed, knowing well how she hated it when he messed up her hair.

Kaida pushed his hand away while huffing.

"Not bad?" She complained arrogantly as she raised an eyebrow. "Come on, admit I was great!"

"Yeah, well, I think it could have been- OH, THE CAR!" He suddenly shouted while pointing behind her. "IT'S GOING INTO THE WATER!"

Behind them the car was going downhill quickly, with nothing to stop it.

They both cursed at the same time, and Jay began running down the hill while frantically shouting a chorus of "no" and curses with the kid following him an attempt to try to stop the vehicle.

They couldn't reach it, and the car sank resoundingly into the water and rocks until it disappeared completely.

Finally, they stopped next to the shore gasping for air and exhaustion. Jay put his hands to his face and was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Did you put the handbrake on?" He said, his voice muffled behind his palms.

She looked at him confused.

" Huh , what's the handbrake...?"

The robbery couldn't have been that easy.

Very often, dreams of those people were not the only thing that plagued his mind at night.

They weren't ideal, but he preferred them much more than the other nightmares.

"Believe me, aboard my ship you will break. I will make sure of it. And when that time comes I will be there so you can wish it away."

Jay woke up fighting for air as he sat up instantly. He fumbled for his gun at his side, not sure where he was, meaningless images still painfully stuck in his vision.

He didn't know what it was, he could only feel the devastating feeling of having lost everything. He had that nightmare often. The world breaking beneath his feet and his own sobs, an overwhelming loneliness and a paralyzing pressure on his ankle that prevented him from moving or even breathing freely.

He didn't know what that meant, he didn't know if it was a memory or a simple nightmare, and he was afraid to think about the answer. If that shit was real, sometimes he was kind of glad he didn't remember it. What he dreamed of was just remains that were enough to take his breath away, who knew how horrible whatever had really happened to him before would be.

Fuck those people and fuck those nightmares. He was sick of them.

Once he found his gun and adjusted it on his hip, he sat up, putting his hands to his face as he took shaky breaths. At times like this, he felt like he was dragging a corpse on his back.

The fire next to him had not yet completely gone out. Which reminded him where he was. On the outskirts of the city camping while he continued doing his job.

"You had a nightmare." The girl's voice declared a few meters away.

He turned his head to look at her and noticed that she was sitting in her sleeping bag. Her face was calm and lucid as if she had been awake for a while.

"I woke you up?" He asked quietly with some guilt. He knew that he sometimes electrocuted himself while he was asleep and he didn't want to know what he would be capable of if he lost control like that.

She, however, shook her head with lowered eyes.

"Bad dream, huh?" He guessed, his old accent more marked due to his tiredness.

Kaida rubbed a hand over her forehead as she nodded.

"I couldn't go back to sleep..." she whispered, her voice choked as if she didn't dare break the desert silence. Her foot tapped against the sand for a moment as she took a breath. "It was about the day the Merge happened…"

He raised an eyebrow at that. He didn't know much about what things had been like in the Administration when that happened, other than that it was a disaster that devastated many parts of the city.

The girl continued talking after a while of babbling under her breath.

"Do you remember the time I told you that they enrolled me in the workshop for trying to escape?"

He thought for a bit before nodding.

"Yeah." He said, a little strange at how far away that felt.

"Um, yeah, well… when all that happened, buildings falling, people disappearing, I got pretty scared… I tried to escape… I didn't get very far and they caught me." she muttered, her voice too wrinkled as she hunched over with her knees to her chest. "I was so scared there, no one understood what was happening and I just knew I had to leave. It was stupid, but… I don't know…" her tone ended up fading into a sorrowful murmur and she finally ended up staying silent, still too huddled in on herself and shivering from something that wasn't the cold of the desert.

He stood up slowly, taking a few steps closer to sit next to her. Watching her from the corner of his eye, he placed an arm carefully around her shoulders, as if waiting for her to move away. She didn't and instead leaned against his gentle hold still curled in on herself.

"I'm sorry about that, kid. I can't imagine what a disaster that day must have been…" he commented quietly.

Kaida turned to him with her eyebrows raised in shock.

"You don't remember that either?" then she cringed as she turned around again. "Wait, I'm sorry, it doesn't matter."

"Kaida…"

"I'm sorry." She blurted out too quickly. She always got anxious when that topic escaped her, tiptoeing around because sometimes she didn't know which questions were the right ones and which weren't.

"It's okay, kid. And no, I don't remember." Jay sighed. He didn't even know how he ended up there to begin with.

"Oh."

There was silence for a few moments. He didn't turn to look at her and he didn't make an effort to speak again because his mind was too tired to put together words after the burning that that nightmare had left in his throat. She didn't seem to be in a better mood either, as strange as it was to see her lost in thought.

That is, until she suddenly let out a scream that shook him and made him look in alarm as if a monster were about to jump out of the shadows.

"Oh, I forgot!" She exclaimed in a still choked voice. Standing up she suddenly reached for her bag as she rummaged through it for a moment. Jay leaned in curiously as he squinted his eyes in an attempt to see what she was up to. After a while she hurriedly took out a small, somewhat worn wooden box. "I forgot to give you these. They're a little melted, but I think you'll like them."

He took the gift confused, and after a few seconds of hesitation, lifted the lid. His eyes widened in shock and his jaw went slack in disbelief when he realized what they were. The brat had actually gotten him an entire box of untouched Ninjago chocolates.

She smirked at his surprised silence.

"Now we are even."

He stammered for a moment searching for an answer as he took out one of the chocolates to take a closer look. He didn't know when they had changed the price of things over the years, but back in the day just one of those chocolates was quite expensive.

And the little brat got him a box full of those.

"Did you steal it?" He asked knowingly as he looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

She raised her hands innocently in the air while shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey, the store owner wasn't there to tell me he didn't authorize me to take it, so it wasn't theft."

He blinked for a second at her explanation before a laugh escaped him, the sound contrasting against the coldness of the desert.

"You're right." He chuckled still amazed at the fact that the kid hadn't forgotten about that. Still rolling one of the chocolates in his hand he turned to look at her. "Still you shouldn't have risked getting caught."

She huffed as she rolled onto her back to look at the sky.

"As if those old men could do it. We're secret agents, remember?"

He rolled his eyes as he sighed , though his voice leaked with more affection than annoyance. Carefully opening one of the chocolates, he appreciated it for a moment before looking at her again.

"Thanks, kiddo." He thanked, his voice still overflowing with emotion as it hadn't been in a long time. Before she could respond, he threw one in her direction that bounced off her body without her being able to catch it. "Try one."

The girl looked at him completely speechless as she quickly sat up.

"Oh really?"

"Yes, before I regret it, come on."

She did it with great pleasure, and he simply ate his in silence, enjoying the sweet taste to ward off bad memories. He had missed that, it reminded him of home.

"Don't be mad if I start stealing them from you now." The girl chewed loudly, having finished her chocolate in just an instant.

"I imagined." He complained as he ran a hand through his hair. Maybe it had been a bad idea to teach her about 'justified theft.'

"Or..."he thought as his gaze returned to the wooden box, a small smile on his face as he thought that this was probably the first time she had ever eaten anything remotely similar to chocolate."Maybe not."

They were sitting a few meters from the ship while Jay was in charge of obsessively checking and cleaning their weapons. Because as boring as that was, he'd rather clean them than risk blowing his fingers off by shooting. They had eaten the rations they had been given for lunch, and although it tasted practically like nothing, it was better than anything that was on that piece of dry land.

Kaida was leaning against his bag, searching for something in her own backpack that he couldn't see. However, every now and then she sighed in frustration, stubbornly brushing her hair over her forehead in an attempt to see behind the strands that fell into her eyes.

Jay had noticed that she had been doing that quite a bit lately. Her hair had grown longer and she wasn't really doing a good job of combing it out so it wouldn't bother her. When he saw her complain once again when her hair obstructed her vision, he couldn't help but speak.

"Do you want me to fix that mess in your head?" He offered mockingly as he set his equipment aside.

She pursed her lips as her fingers tried to undo one of the knots in her locks.

"It is not that bad." She defended himself with a glare.

"Kid, that head looks like it's never seen a comb in its life."

"You're one to talk." Kaida complained while pointing at his hair.

Jay rolled his eyes as he stood up. Although his hair was permanently bristly and curly , at least it didn't look as dry or tangled as the kid's.

"Yeah, yeah, and thanks to you I'm going to have gray hair before my time, little nightmare." He murmured.

She laughed heartily with a snort.

"Gray would look better than that color."

He sighed with mock reluctance, crouching down next to his bag as he pulled out an old brush he had stored away. It was missing some bristles, but it was better than nothing if he wanted to fix his hair so it didn't fall into his eyes all the time.

He did that very often before. Keeping his hair trimmed and groomed, trying to straighten it so that no curl was even noticeable. Same thing trying to hide his freckles with concealer. But that was before. Long before. And it wasn't the kind of thing that mattered or worried when he was out daily trying to clean up the chaos of a broken world. There, hiding his appearance was his least concern compared to scattered memories that came to torment him and leave him lost.

"Are you sure you won't make it worse?" She asked with a smile as she walked over to sit on the floor in front of him.

"Is it even possible for it to be worse?"

She elbowed his knee hard, leaving him struggling for air for a moment amidst his laughter.

Jay did his best job of undoing the dry knots and not pulling too much. She surprisingly stayed still, looking up at the sky as he ran the brush through her brown locks.

"Do you prefer a braid or a bun?" He asked once he finished untangling it.

"Bun." She responded immediately, though the growing sleepiness in her voice loosened a laugh from his throat.

When he finished, she couldn't stop running her hands through the helmet of her hair. Going over the locks as if she were amazed that they were straighter and softer and shaking her head from side to side to see how much her bun could resist.

He smiled softly when he saw the bright look she gave him, seeming completely genuine as she smiled back.

"Thanks."

"You welcome, kiddo."

If after that, she became obsessed and insisted that he comb her hair every night to prevent her hair from bothering her during patrols, he couldn't complain.

His attempts to escape had stalled somewhere during those months.

He had been there for almost a year. It was strange how quickly time had passed. How much that little girl had consumed his days while teaching her to read the alphabet of his home, repairing ships, and comforting her every time she woke up in the middle of a nightmare. And she in turn stole sweets that she knew were from Ninjago and brought them to him, talked a mile a minute about animals and being a pilot in the future, and asked him questions about his old life.

All of that felt strangely far away. Sometimes it felt as if that part of his life, the calm of the desert and a normal life, was a dream that he couldn't fully remember.

"Do you think there are more people with powers like us?" Kaida asked him once in a low voice, one day when they were returning early to headquarters. The guard had not yet come to look for her to take her to the Boarding School, but he stayed by her side waiting even when the sunset began to fade the sky.

He shrugged with his arms crossed. He had never really thought much about it.

"Maybe…" he said half-heartedly.

They still didn't know much about their powers. Any information he could have gathered in those months was vague and insipid. They were both equally lost about it, although while she wanted to continue finding out about them, he simply tried not to give it any importance. He had bigger questions in mind to investigate instaed of why he could summon lightning just by thinking about it. Or why she could do whatever she did.

That was strange too. That a city where the basis was technological progress, the constant change and the superficiality of those advances, that the girl had powers related to auras or spirits. He didn't know anything about it, but he supposed it made sense. She was a little rebel after all.

He saw the guard appearing from the exit of the headquarters, walking firmly in their direction, and prepared to say goodbye.

"See you tomorrow, kid." He said as he uncrossed his arms. Unable to contain himself, he ruffled her hair despite her muffled curse. "Try not to fight with anyone."

Kaida snorted, rolling her eyes as she jerked his hand away.

"I'll try." She was quiet and still for a second. Arms at the sides. She made a move to step forward suddenly, but regretted it at the last moment. He just looked at her confused without understanding. "See you."

Finally, she left following the guard. Waving her arm exaggeratedly over her shoulder all the way until she was out of sight.

A heavy feeling filled his chest, and he stayed there for a few seconds. Rocking on his heels for a moment as he looked uncertainly at the spot where she left.

For the first time in a long time, the prospect, his plan to leave, didn't excite him. The thought of going back ran through his head and he felt nothing at all.

It wasn't in Jay's plans to get involved in a shooting that day.

And the way it all turned out was definitely not in his plans.

They had been on the edge of the border. Nothing difficult, nothing dangerous. A fairly large group in which there were even other children from the Boarding School helping to load materials and check the defense weapons. The Administrator, who rarely left his office, walked around the place at a slow pace analyzing the surroundings , his dark eyes fixed on the high wall and the gate that divided the Administration from the desert.

Kaida, as always, was glued to his hip, telling jokes while they calmly busied themselves loading ammunition. Everything was going smoothly in what seemed like it would be just a tedious routine check.

And then they heard a muffled roar charge toward them in the distance.

The people in charge of guarding tried to warn immediately, but nothing prepared them to react when a dragon smashed forcefully against the immense metal boundary gate. The creature, a little larger than a horse, crossed the border, running madly with its head down and its eyes wild. The grayish scales catching the fiery reflection of the sun, its pupils sharp in the midst of their frenzy. Roaring into the air with a force that startled them, wings spread as if it wanted to fly, but did not have the strength to do so.

There were shouts and gruff, hoarse orders that enlisted everyone to grab the nearest weapon and take aim immediately. They couldn't control a dragon, they weren't even going to try at a point as delicate as the border. More than one squad aimed at the animal's head, but none managed to fire before a thunderous chorus echoed from behind the border. Passing through the tear the dragon had created.

Jay had been prepared to neutralize the dragon, even though he didn't like the idea of shooting it in cold blood. He had not been prepared, however, for the betas of reddish light that split the air as soon as they pointed ahead. Gunshots crossed the field quickly, a cacophony of screams of pain as more than one ended up trapping an agent. He himself remained frozen for a long time, assimilating the disaster that was created from one moment to the next. He was only brought out of his stupor when one of his companions tackled him as he ran, narrowly avoiding a headshot.

He crouched against the sand, breathing heavily. Without delaying another second, he grabbed Kaida by the shoulder and dragged them to one of the few areas where the mad dragon fire and gunshots could not reach.

"What's going on?" he shouted at one of the agents, forcing his voice to overcome the pain and panic tangled in the air that was growing the more time passed.

"It's the Claws of the Imperium!" someone from his squad snapped. Crouching down with his rifle in his hands as he looked over his shoulder. "They lost control of one of their dragons and crossed the line to try to get it back! Now they opened fire on us!"

"Probably so we don't kill it before they can take it." Jay muttered, his voice strangled. It made sense, the dragon was only useful to them alive if they wanted to use it as a source of energy.

The problem was that said dragon was wreaking havoc on their base, and the only way they could try to handle it was not to the dragon hunters' taste. And between the gunshots and the dragon itself trying to escape, he already knew that they weren't going to be able to solve that easily.

Kaida was close to him, holding onto his forearm tightly as he and his companions peered out from where they stood to survey the battlefield. As soon as the dragon's angry gaze focused on them, he realized that exposing himself was a serious mistake.

The animal bellowed with anger and indignation, there was no doubt that it had been fighting and fleeing its capture for a long time. It did its best to take down every enemy it could, snarling into the air, its tail lashing out with a deadly slash at anyone who approached, slow burning smoke warbling from its throat. As soon as it saw them, it let out a hoarse roar that echoed through the infernal chaos. The shots tried to cut it off from its desperate fight, but none of them could stop the violent trot it started in their direction. Not with the Imperium soldiers fighting at the same time so that none of them ended up killing the dragon.

At the same time that the dragon's phosphorous, fiery gaze fixed on thir weapons, Jay muffled a curse and dispersed with the rest of his team. The creature started running towards where they were, charging with a violent jump that forced them to move as fast as they could. They didn't even manage to take a breath when the dragon once again took off and tackled in their direction.

At one point, Jay reached for his rifle, cursing and breathing heavily through his teeth as he braced himself. He aimed forward, firing while retreating from the animal's advance. However, the creature was faster, and his shots did little to stop its attack. Once again he fled again, having already lost track of the rest of the agents while everyone was divided between stopping the advance of the dragon hunters and stopping the beast.

Only when he started running, he realized his mistake.

"Shit!" exclaimed a voice further behind him than it should be.

Jay dug his heels into the dirt and braked desperately while looking over his shoulder.

His chest tightened with icy terror, a sudden, sickening sensation of vertigo.

Kaida was on the ground, probably having stumbled between the crossfire and the battle. She was hurriedly getting up, but she was already far behind, right where the beast was heading.

The dragon, which simply ran and charged in any direction it saw any victim, lunged forward ferociously. Its gaping jaws clawed at the air with a menacing hiss that bit at the front as it approached.

Jay turned around and ran over there. Panting agitatedly as he closed the distance in just a few strides, practically being at her side in an instant as he threw his right arm in front of her face without even a second thought.

And then the dragon's teeth closed on his arm.

He knew instantly that it was a bad idea, but reality only truly set in when the beast's fangs tore through the fabric of his uniform and found the muscles beneath with an audible tear.

And it hurt like hell.

The beast did not pull, no, it simply pressed against his arm with an abysmal force as if it wanted to tear his limb. Enough to make Jay let out a strangled cry as he tried futilely to escape the painful grip.

His power acted defensively like all the other times, erratic and shooting out in a scattered arc that went between him and the creature. The bolts barely accomplished anything more than making the beast jerk back, its jaw still not loosening as it continued to struggle. It was as if its teeth had fit and locked perfectly and nothing could make them open.

Far away, beneath the haze of burning pain, he heard a stupefied scream.

Jay didn't even bother to look at his arm as he tried to tug, his boots kicking uselessly in the sand, his other arm thrusting into the air in an attempt to gain strength to free himself. He was acutely aware of the blood dripping through the dark fabric, the fangs digging in like sharp razors to the point he practically felt like they were touching each other. No matter how much force he tried, he couldn't get free.

Suddenly, a ringing noise numbed his ear. A gunshot, a boom echoed at the side of his head. Followed by another faster one. The hiss of a bell piercing his ear as he still struggled to escape. The grip around his arm loosened enough that he could push the beast back, his gaze still too unfocused and glassy.

He could barely feel his arm from the elbow down, he didn't want to see it, he didn't feel like seeing how bad it was.

Instead, when he looked ahead, he realized that the dragon was staggering in place. The beast was panting heavily as its limbs did their best to keep it upright. From its shoulder, two dark streams gushed out, standing out among the scales. Its gaze was glassy and unfocused, desperately searching for a way to escape as it continued to growl and exhale heat into the air.

Jay didn't have to look to find out who shot. When he looked over his shoulder, Kaida was still staring in shock at his wound while the weapon trembled slightly in her hands.

Cradling his arm against his chest as best he could, he turned and began to jog until he grabbed her shoulder. With a groan of pain, he led them both after one of the ships that had been burned in the dragon attack. Being acutely aware of the muffled sound of battle behind the ringing in his ear. There were gunshots and choking screams along with the dragon's slurred, muffled roar.

His breathing came out shaky and labored as he thought about what the fuck to do. Still frozen to the ground as his arm burned and his power bristled from his body.

"Jay, what do we do?" Kaida whispered softly in fear. His free hand still hadn't let go of her shoulder as he shook, trying to catch his breath.

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the pain as he thought. Hammering his head as he gasped through his teeth.

"Can you tell me how many are out there?" He asked with a strained voice, practically spitting out the words as he forced himself to relax, to let his power stop beating so madly.

She stuttered for a moment in confusion before realizing what he was asking. He kept his eyes closed, but he could feel her move slightly, still not escaping his grasp as the chaos continued.

"There is a large group shooting on the edge of the border." she murmured, and Jay could hear his clouded, narrowed look in his voice. "Our squad is nearby, they are retreating."

"And the dragon?" he cleared his throat.

She waited in silence for a moment before answering.

"It's heading towards them."

Shit.

"I'm going to need you to stay here." He spat out heavily as he cleared his throat. He felt like the longer he stayed still, the closer he got to finally passing out. He had to get up, he had to move. The screams and muffled orders didn't help that.

Kaida looked at him in alarm, still clinging to his good arm desperately.

"What…? No!" she mumbled in terror, the audible chattering of her teeth making him shudder. At any other time, he would have taken a few seconds to calm her down, but he knew they had no time to waste. "I'm not going to let you go alone! I want to help!"

He swallowed heavily, nodding as he leaned back.

"I'm going to let you help." He started to say getting her attention. "I need you to use the rifle. I can not do it." He stated, the only weapon he could hopefully use was the pistol he carried on his hip. And part of his plan depended on that. " I'm going to try to stop that thing, and you… I need you to cover me, okay?"

There was silence on her part for a moment, before she nodded while gripping his rifle firmly.

Jay took one more breath before speaking.

"And one more thing, if things get bad there, don't come out and help me. You flee or you seek refuge." He instructed seriously, immediately anticipating the way she bristled before replying.

"But- "

"No, I need you to stay this time. Whatever happens, don't follow me." He remarked, nauseating fear soaking his tongue as he spoke. Wishing she would stop being a little rebel for a moment and not jump right in to help him. He cleared his throat again before continuing. "Is that clear, Kaida?"

The girl seemed reluctant to argue, as if she were about to protest and refuse. However, some of the pleading and firmness in his voice must have changed something, because after a few seconds of meditating, to his surprise; she nodded. A single nod as she gave his arm one last squeeze. He didn't know if she would completely follow his orders, but that was all he needed.

With a shaky sigh, he stood, gun in hand as he forced himself to walk straight. Some of his strength returning inexplicably as he walked away. Only when he took steps did he trap his voice in a tight, choked murmur.

"Don't try anything stupid."

There was a tickle of static in his mind, but he pushed it aside as he walked away at a ragged trot. Desperately hoping she would listen and stay safe no matter what.

He approached the edge of the border. He noted the Imperium soldiers struggling to advance, flashes of red and yellow moving too quickly at the edge of his vision. The sound of gunshots and hoarse screams gnawing at his mind as he focused on one thing. The beast that was desperately running over everything it found in the middle of its attempt to flee.

As he approached, pressed against any cover he could find, he caught a glimpse of a few shots splitting the air next to him. No hunter could get too close to him before falling against the sand, and for the first time he found himself grateful to the infernal Boarding School. At least they had taught her how to shoot well.

Eventually he was close enough. The familiar and melancholy feeling as he moved carefully and stealthily. His arm burning and throbbing with every movement, completely useless at the side of his body. He didn't even look at it. When he got close enough, among the mass of fighting people, he noticed the dragon's sudden fatigue.

The creature was fighting for its life in the middle, its crackling breath possessing everything as it thrashed back and forth. No force could stop him, its struggle to escape being more intense than Imperium's attempts to catch it or the agents' attempts to neutralize it. Jay knew that if he had a chance, this was it.

The beast retreated between the two groups, its body arched, its injured paw raised in the air as it scuttled to find an exit. Its eyes sharpened for any possible exit as it fired and roared. Resisting in the hope that one of the two groups would give in enough. However, at some point during its desperate fight, its movements slowed enough until its was cornered on a dune with the infernal chaos surrounding it in a semicircle that ate itself.

Jay weaved around the people and approached the creature. Catching its angry gaze as it lashed out with claws that nearly knocked him down or flapped it wings in an attempt to hit him.

He was faster, and despite the resistance that the Claws of the Imperium tried to put up, the useless attempts to avoid any attack on the dragon, he finally managed to stay just a few meters away from which any false move could easily cost him his life.

He raised his pistol, the weapon too close to the creature's neck, so close that he could practically breathe the heat it exhaled. So close that he knew that if that didn't work, nothing else would. He just hoped his calculations were correct.

He let the energy pool in his veins with a single inhale, tickling the tips of his fingers as he tightened his grip on the weapon. And without a second of hesitation, he fired. Letting the energy simply follow the path of the gun barrel, and hoping with all his might that electricity would obey him.

Blue ribbons departed with a sudden hiss from the muzzle of his pistol. Crossing the air too quickly, cutting the short distance between him and the creature in an instant.

The animal did not even have time to react before being hit by the edge of the lightning bolt.

The beast fell heavily. Its body and blood finding the ground, the electricity still shaking its muscles horribly until the cold stillness came. Its gaze remained glazed toward some lost point in the sky and it took everything in him not to lose his control.

The sparks were still pulsing between his fingers with a terribly familiar heat when Jay turned around. An angry growl filling the air behind him, reminding him of the threat on the other side of the border.

Among the Claws of the Imperium army, someone emerged who Jay assumed was their leader. A tall, burly man with black fur and the face of a tiger. His red eyes glared at him, something very close to rage and anger as he gestured to the rest of the hunters. Advance and attack.

He frowned at it, his teeth clenching 's their fault for losing control of a fucking wild dragon.

There was nothing more to fight about, but none of them seemed less persuaded to retaliate. Weapons were readied in front, wounded men attempted to form, and the leader advanced in their direction with firm movements that only highlighted his frustration.

Jay didn't even turn to look at his teammates. He could hear the commotion behind him, the agents also readying their weapons, and he wished he had enough time to retreat and take cover to think of some good plan. But there was nothing to do, the Imperium morons seemed ready to cross the border because of their own mistake and he had nothing to do about it other than what he had already done.

As he pointed forward with his only good arm, he hoped that the kid had sought some good shelter or had left there.

And suddenly, Christa's loud voice startled him before he could prepare to shoot. The tone too wrapped in urgency and disbelief to the point that it scared him.

" Get away!"

Turning around, he saw the Administrator enter the battlefield for the first time. Walking upright and confident, advancing to the edge of the border, his gaze fixed and expressionless on the Claws of the Imperium.

For a moment, Jay thought they were really going to shoot him. The man walked with complete confidence in front, his firm steps raising trails of sand that hung in the wind as if he didn't care about the weapons pointed at him. He didn't seem to be a fighter and he didn't even have a gun with him and yet he acted with complete confidence that none of the weapons would hurt him.

His feet refused to move as he pathetically continued to point forward, his free hand gripped with enough strength that his grip didn't shake despite the confusion that washed over him. He didn't understand what that man was doing and it seemed like Christa didn't either.

The weapons only remained pointed at the head of the Administration for a moment longer before slowly lowering themselves. The leader of the dragon slayers stood in the center, raising a hand toward his people, signaling them to wait.

Finally, the Administrator spoke.

"You have nothing to do here." He stated coldly, almost on the verge of a scream as he raised his chin. "Leave and return to your kingdom. Or cross the border and die like this animal."

His hand pointed to the corpse next to him. His work. A shudder of disgust ran through him as he gritted his teeth. For a few seconds, it was as if he had pointed it at him.

Silence hung in the air as everyone waited. Through the cold sweat that clouded his vision, Jay noticed how the tiger-man paused to himself, his expression relaxing in meditation as he watched him carefully. He was glad at that moment that he was wearing his mask, the last thing he wanted was another crazy person recognizing him.

"No one will find out about this." The man growled suddenly, his booming voice taking the breath of everyone there.

Jay supposed they were more reasonable than he thought.

The Administrator nodded.

"I hope so." He said, with that always sure and confident tone. That undoubtedly strong tone as if each response was the one he anticipated. Control at all times, above all. "I trust you to handle Empress Beatrix's reaction."

The leader of the hunters snorted, the sound muffled and thunderous as he glared at him.

"That's what it will be like. We don't want things to get out of control." He warned, his threatening tone slithering like a snake.

None of them wanted a war.

They remained silent for a few more moments, only the whistling of the wind was the only thing that broke the tense eye contact that both leaders maintained. Jay believed that one wrong move on either side could easily stain the sand with blood again.

He continued without moving, practically not feeling the pain in the side of his head or the burning in his arm. He didn't even think he was blinking as he continued staring forward with a lump in his throat.

The dragon hunters began to back away, still attentive to every movement. The agents held on to their weapons, the few that remained at least while the others remained collapsed on the ground or crumpled around their burns. The sound of ships echoed in unison as everyone prepared to leave, and it felt like an eternity until each dragon slayer finally left the border. Disappearing into the horizon where the rest of the kingdoms were lost.

The Administrator didn't move for long either. The man only turned around once the Imperium ships were no longer visible to anyone. Once there was no doubt that they were gone, he turned around and stared with a stony face at the remains of the confrontation that had occurred. The broken ships, the charred traces and the injured agents. However, he did not stop for more than a second to contemplate this before resuming his walk.

And he addressed him.

Jay tried his best not to cringe. He stood with his chin up, still too confused and stupefied to be scared, to speak, or to collapse from exhaustion. His eyes remained fixed on the Administrator's face until he stopped just a few steps next to him. His always scrutinizing gaze. Looking at him attentively without any emotion.

Jay just stared back, and even though he was wearing his helmet, his eyes returned the same coldness.

Between one of his shaky breaths, the man finally spoke.

"Have my doctors check that wound of yours." He ordered, the tone too clinical and formal contrasting sharply against the blood and dirt he carried with him.

And without saying more, he left.

He let out an uncertain breath. His eyes turned to the creature lying next to him. A few moments ago a powerful being that had been desperately burning all the foundations, seeking to flee, to fight without surrendering. And now, the scales didn't look so shiny, it didn't look like such a big beast, and an eerie coldness was ingrained into the body that had previously exhaled so much fiery power.

It was different to see that body. It wasn't like seeing that unrecognizable guy who had attacked him in the desert, or seeing out of the corner of his eye every person he had had to "neutralize" in one of his field jobs. He didn't feel numb, or even in shock.

This time it was as if there was a deep sense of horror rooted in his bones. Like he had done something he wasn't supposed to. Something that seriously surpassed all the times he had aimed it at someone's head and pulled the trigger. And he didn't even know why that was.

A dead animal, that's all it is.

It had been attacking them anyway. It wouldn't have been possible to stop it any other way. He didn't want to risk losing more people.

"That animal was already doomed anyway,"he thought as he swallowed heavily. He decided to look at his arm. Noticing the tatters of his uniform that barely hung with blood dripping grotesquely between the tears where the burning pulsed incessantly. "It was either this or spend the rest of its life locked up like a damn battery."

Above him, just where the dragon's gaze was pointed diffusely in the sky, a group of birds were flying taking advantage of the desert thermals. Probably about to descend to feed on all the chaos unleashed in just a few moments.

Sinking his fangs into his bottom lip, Jay walked away. Adjusting his arm against his chest, he felt like he had committed something irreversible that he didn't even understand.

Once he met with his team and they ordered a quick transfer to the hospital, only then did he realize how bad his arm was. He didn't know much about these types of wounds, but he had a good suspicion that it would be a miracle if it didn't get infected.

"Where is Kaida?" he asked one of the agents worriedly as they were leaving. He had not seen her and fear began to tighten his chest when he noticed that she was not on the ship either. Seeing the confused look his companion gave him, he hurried to explain. "One of the kids from the Boarding School, the one from squad 2B."

The other agent shrugged her shoulders while frowning.

"Surely they already took her to the Administration with the rest of the children." She offered simply as an explanation. And only then was he finally able to relax enough to sit up and breathe normally. As normal as he could have with his arm burning every time he moved.

"At least she's safe…"He thought as the ship took off, almost feeling unconsciousness dragging him against his will as he slumped in his seat. His eyes stopped on the body of the dragon abandoned in the sand as they leaving."That is what really matters."