Set after season 2 (AU)

Things had been weird after the Tournament of Sources. Nya and Kai found Jay and managed to convince him to come back to the Monastery with them, after proving they knew Jay but he clearly didn't trust them, until he saw his room and seemed to remember some things. That was the only reason he was still here. Nya would usually wake up a lot later than everyone, and when she woke up the monastery was already loud and bustling, but today the monastery was silent and empty. Nya remembered that everyone was out of the monastery on different missions. Zane and Cole were investigating things at the Tournament Temple City, Kai, and Wyldfire were "training together" and Lloyd and Sora were still looking for Arin and Lord Ras. The ninja team seemed slightly fractured without two of its key members. Not completely broken but it wasn't perfect.

Nya's one goal was to help Jay settle into the monastery but that wouldn't work if Jay didn't trust her and keep a conversation longer than some small talk. It was harder when Jay wasn't as talkative as he was before. Nya got up to get ready as fast as possible, to check in on Jay. Hopeful Jay didn't run away while she was sleeping.

When she finished she headed over to Jay's room and knocked on his door. "Jay, are you awake?" no one replied. She tried to hear any noise coming from the room but it was silent. Before Nya could panic she heard some noise coming from the kitchen. She ran over and opened the door calmly. "Jay!" Nya said happily as she saw him at the breakfast table. He must've waited until everyone had left to eat.

"You're awfully chipper this morning," Jay grumbled, sipping his coffee. "I'm just happy to see you," Nya said happily. Nya was still surprised because the roles were usually switched in the morning. Nya would be a grump in the morning chugging down coffee. Then Jay the early bird would walk in happily to see Nya how the tables have turned.

"Now then I promised to help Sora tune up the elemental mechs while she was away. Do you wanna help me?" Nya offered.

Jay wasn't hesitant to accept the offer. Some part of him wanted to hang out with the water ninja, but on the other hand, this was an opportunity to search around the ninja monastery to gather information while they were all away. "Ah, sorry. I was going to play some Prime Empire today," Jay said, 100% confident in his acting skills.

"Oh alright then. Enjoy your video games." Nya left with disappointment on her face but Jay had to ignore it. He didn't feel guilty in the slightest. Right?

The first room Jay went to was the ninja's master, Wu something. The only thing Jay could find was some scrolls in gibberish writing and an ungodly amount of tea leaves. The rest of the ninja rooms were all in a similar format. There was nothing of interest except some mech plans, weapons, and a deadly chicken. This couldn't be it? Worst of all he kept finding pictures. Pictures with him in it.

The final room Jay went to was the Water ninjas's room. Why did his conscience tell him not to go? Jay quickly brushed off his feelings and began searching her room, avoiding the closet of course. He looked through Nya's desk drawer, filled with papers and other knick knacks when he finally reached a photo album. It had a picture of him on the cover.

Looking inside there were a bunch of pictures of them together, happy, and not a care in the world. Jay's emotions overwhelmed him, and tears began falling down the pages. This couldn't be fake.

"We really need to work on your acting skills," Nya said leaning on the door. Dang it. Jay was startled. They were ninjas. Jay dried off his tears and turned to look at Nya, still clutching the album in his hands. "Jay, are you okay?" Nya walked over to him and tried to put her hand on his cheek, but he brushed her off. "I'm fine," he replied gruffly.

Nya noticed the book he was holding. "I see you found our photo album." "Yes" "Did you want to ask anything?" A million things actually but Jay managed to lower it down to one. "What was it like?" Jay managed to stutter.

"No relationship is a straight line, and we're ninja so our line is all jumbled up. We've broken up once before." Jay gave her a confused look but Nya continued on. "But we managed to get past it. Here this was a photo I saved from when all of Ninjago saw all of us makeup. The news and tabloids were all over us for weeks." Nya flipped through the pages and stopped at a picture that looked to be of them much younger, hugging on what looked to be a rooftop. "Why were we making up on a rooftop with a whole city watching us?"

"Long story we went through a tough battle, I died but time reversed, and we made up. I will tell you the full story but I don't want to stress." Nya was hesitant to continue. "Either you're hiding something or a pathological liar." Jay muttered. "Yeah and don't you believe this pathological liar?" Nya replied sarcastically. That silenced Jay. Nya flipped through the pages and landed on one with her and Jay after the Oni invasion. "And this was the day after you asked me to be your Yang. Nya smiled fondly at this photo. The two looked to be celebrating and in matching blue kimonos. Jay noted the photo was taken more recently.

The two spent some more time looking at the album, and talking till late into the afternoon. Now then. I can't exactly let you walk free for snooping in my room." Nya crossed her arms but still kept a smile on her face. "Oh," Jay should've known, hopefully, whatever her punishment was wasn't too cruel.

"Um, is this really a punishment?" Jay asked as he worked on the mechs with Nya. Nya's punishment entailed working on the mechs with her for the rest of the day. It wasn't a particularly hard task for him so he wondered why? "You're doing manual labor. Do you want me to give you a tougher punishment?" "Ah no I'm good." Jay couldn't figure out her motivations. Why wouldn't she give him a stricter punishment?

What Jay didn't know was that Nya's goal was to get Jay to spend time with her. Of course

She would never let Jay get away with snooping in her room, so she used that to her advantage. It was a punishment and a gift all wrapped into one. The two toiled away until evening when Nya asked Jay to come outside with her.

"Now the punishment is really going to start." Jay thought. They arrived outside the Monastery gates, as the sun was slowly fading away, the sky turned a dark orange. The view from above the clouds made the sunshine so bright that Jay couldn't see Nya until he felt a hand urging him to sit down. Jay's heart began to ache like all the hatred he was feeling was slowly draining. It was painful. Why was this happening now?

"Why are you like this?" Jay asked, upset. Why was she so nice, and loving to him? Why was everything Ras told him a lie? Was this his reality? "Like what Jay?" Nya gave him a concerned look. "It's nothing." he scoffed. "Well it doesn't seem like nothing to me," she replied sassily.

"You knew I was snooping, so why didn't you give me a harsher punishment? The Administration or Lord Ras." he was interrupted by Nya's voice. "What would they have done Jay?" Nya asked in a stern tone. Jay didn't respond. "Jay, listen. I might be upset that you were snooping in my room and lying to me, but I never want to hurt you." Nya held his hand tight as the sunset, gold, and red colors shone on Nya's face. To Jay, it looked like she was glowing.

"I could never hurt the person who's most important to me. Jay, my life has changed so much because of you. I would have never laughed or cried, or felt so much love if I didn't let you in my heart, so thank you, Jay. Thank you for everything." Nya smiled so brightly at Jay. Jay could faintly see the sadness in her eyes, but a certain strong will that was keeping her going. In Nya's eyes, she could see that Jay no longer had the same look of love and passion in his eyes. This isn't the Jay she wanted to thank. She didn't know if this was the same Jay she loved but couldn't stay away from him. Jay struggled to respond to that deep confession but managed to stumble to say some words.

"I don't hate you by the way." Jay turned away to hide the fact he was blushing. "And I love you by the way," Nya said smiling. Jay was startled. "How can you say that so casually?"

"That's honestly a question you need to ask yourself," Nya said as she got up to head back into the monastery. Huh? What did she mean by that? While Jay was contemplating Nya's words, he also realized something else. The entire conversation the two were holding hands, and Jay barely noticed. It felt so natural. This was way too confusing for Jay.

"Jay, are you coming?" Nya called after him. "Coming!" He had to stay and figure this out, and not because he wanted to stay a little longer with Nya. And now he was referring to her as Nya in his head instead of the water ninja. What has changed?

~The End~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Agent Walker. A tsundere. Gasp! Okay, let me be delulu about this. Seawalker is a thing. Jaya Week 2024's been announced. Dragons Rising part 2 is on its way, and yet still feels like Jaya's drowning. Also if that last I love you made you feel the feels I'm feeling it too and I'm the one who wrote it! Oh yeah go watch Lego Friends The Next Chapter and read my fics.