Wu and Misako enter the room with Lloyd. Nya and Jay are clutching each other's hands nervously.
"Lloyd said you had something important to share?" asks Wu gently as they take their seats.
Jay gulps. It's now or never, and never was looking less and less likely. "Yeah… just trying to figure out where to start?"
"How about you start with when?" says Lloyd. That was the part he was still struggling to understand.
Jay glances at Nya, who squeezes his hand reassuringly. He lets out a small huff. "Well, I sort of created an alternative timeline." he admits.
"You did what?" It is Misako who speaks up in abject horror, being a scholar and a historian having a bit of a better idea about why messing with time was a pretty big deal.
Jay laughs nervously. "Heh, well, it's not like we haven't messed with time before. Remember Garmadon and his mega weapon?"
Kai and Zane nod in understanding. "His what?" says Lloyd.
"Oh, right… I guess you don't know about that either." Jay scratches at the back of his head. This was going well.
"I'll tell you later." says Kai, trying to get things back on track. "Alternative timeline, remind me what that is again?"
Jay sighs. "Maybe I should just draw it…"
Zane is able to procure a sheet of paper and some pens. Jay starts drawing a long straight line in the middle of the sheet. "Ok, so this is the timeline we are on now." He adds a dot at the end and writes now. "If you go back along this line you get to all of the past events." He adds a dot near the other end which says Morro, then Chen's Island. He pauses, tapping the pen on his face before adding an unlabeled dot in between Morro and Now. "Do you all remember the day we went to visit Lil' Nelson at the hospital?"
"I knew it!" declares Kai. "On the rooftop! You two were acting strange, and there was this weird feeling…"
"Like deja vu." finishes Lloyd.
Jay nods. "That was where the timeline split. The first time things went very differently." He draws a second line coming out of the dot and then takes it parallel to the first almost up to the now point. "We were going after Clause. In the first timeline Clause found the teapot of Thyrann, and released Nadakhan the Djinn." Jay lets out a shuddering sigh. He can't stop now. "Things went, well, very poorly, until the end where I used my last wish to wish that no one would ever find the teapot. It undid time, all the way back to when it was first found." He drags the pen back towards the dot. "For some reason only me and Nya remember what happened in the other timeline."
He drops the pen and looks around the room. Wu is frowning and stroking his beard. No one looks completely lost.
"So we can not look for the teapot because of your wish?" asks Zane.
"No," says Nya sternly, "we can't look for the teapot, because Nadakhan must never be let out!"
Kai places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Ok, we get it. No teapot."
"Why only you?" muses Misako. "Jay made the wish, but why Nya?"
Jay and Nya look at each other. "We have a couple of ideas." says Jay. "Nya was closest to me when I made the wish."
"Or, it was Nadakhan's way of seeking revenge." adds Nya.
"Revenge?" asks Lloyd. "How is letting you remember revenge?"
"Because these memories are terrible!" exclaims Nya.
"That's kinda why we didn't say anything." says Jay. "Remembering sucks, we didn't want to share that."
Kai sighs. "Seeing you both struggle with this is also terrible ok? So please, I want to know, what exactly happened in this other timeline?"
Nya looks over to Jay, who is staring at the paper with hollow eyes. He'd been doing a great job so far, so she decides to take a turn. She reaches out, giving his hand a comforting squeeze before clearing her throat. "Nadakhan could grant wishes, but he would always twist them, turn them against you. He could also teleport, proofing in and out super quick like, which made it challenging to fight him. He stole the realm crystal, got his crew back, and came after us." She pauses, taking a deep breath. "He tried to get each of us alone, and when he did, he somehow managed to get the person to wish it all away. First Wu and Misako went missing, then Kai, then Zane… everyone he captured went into his Djinn blade. He could use their powers, their energy. He used it to steal sections of land, raising them up into the sky to make a new city, a new Djinnjago."
"I got captured… into a Djinnblade?" asks Kai.
Nya nods. "You all did."
"You didn't list me or Lloyd yet?" asks Cole.
"I'm getting to it." She sighs. "Captain Soto taught us that spiderwidow venom would stop a Djinn, so we went to get some. Jay had been hiding the fact that he already made two of his wishes, so, we, um, made him collect the venom." She looks down, she still felt so guilty about how they had treated him. How he definitely didn't deserve that. "Nadakhan showed up and took Jay…" her voice wavered. She couldn't do it.
"What do you mean he took Jay?" asks Lloyd.
"Did he get captured in the sword?" asks Zane.
"She means he took me back to their ship." says Jay. This part was his story to tell. "Misfotune's Keep, where they tortured me, trying to make me use my last wish, to wish it all away."
He feels the entire room staring at him.
"Torture?" Croaks Wu. These were his students. Barely adults, they shouldn't be subjected to such horrors.
"So that's when it happened…" says Lloyd. "But you said you were stuck there for over two weeks?"
Jay laughs nervously. For what else could he do? He was meant to be the jokester, the trickster, the one to run his mouth and laugh when things were going terribly terribly wrong. "Heh, heh. Yeah, it was just over two weeks. I'm, I'm not ready to talk about all of it, ok? But it was bad. I got pretty beat up, got a sweet looking eye patch. But I didn't give up. I didn't use my wish." Jay shoots Nya a glance, begging her to continue the story before people can ask anymore questions.
"It took us longer to mount a rescue than we would have liked. First we needed to escape the island where we were trapped. Then we needed to come up with a plan, which involved building a replica airship to slip in undetected. It took time. When we did finally get there, we were caught almost straight away. It turned into a wish battle where myself Lloyd and Cole used up all of our wishes. Lloyd used his last wish to let me and Jay escape, telling us to save Jay's wish and use it to stop Nadakhan."
They continued to tell the story, taking turns, helping each other fill in the gaps. They jumped around a bit, not always getting things in order, as they hadn't really been given any time to prepare. Zane took over Jay's timeline drawing, adding notes, trying to get all the events in order.
Mostly the team just listened, occasionally asking questions when things didn't make sense due to something being left out.
It took hours, but they both managed to get through without another panic attack. Eventually the story was reaching the conclusion. Nya was being controlled by this point, so Jay was telling the story.
"We had one chance left, one shot with the tiger widow venom, we just needed to distract Nadakhan long enough for Flintlock to take the shot. But it was impossible! He had infinite wishes! He started turning you all into golden statues, one by one as you tried to attack, poof!" Jay made a big gesture with his hands. "I only just got you all back, and he was taking you away again!" Jay takes a deep breath, knowing what came next. "And then, when I was the last one left, Flintlocke took the shot. My heart soared seeing Nadakhan was hit, venom splattered on his skin. He couldn't poof away, I could make my wish, we had won." His voice cracked, as his eyes drifted to Nya. She was already holding his hand, but places her other hand on top.
Lloyd frowns. "You don't sound very cheerful for someone who has won."
"Something happened, which made you alter your wish." states Zane. They all knew what Jay's real wish was, he had explained that at the start, and it wasn't the one he had been planning to say.
Jay nods, opening his mouth, but nothing comes out. He couldn't do it.
"It was me." says Nya, keeping her eyes locked with Jay's. "When the poison hit Nadakhan, I was too close. When the dart shattered, I was caught in the crossfire, it got on my chest." She moves one hand to clutch at her chest, a movement many of the team recognised, now with a deeper level of understanding. "It burned, hurt so much worse than anything I've ever felt. Jay was there, by my side in an instant, we both knew one drop was deadly, there was nothing that could be done. I tried to hold on, give Jay more time to think, but it happened pretty fast." She pauses, taking a deep breath. "I died." She finally braves a look around the table, seeing shock and horror on everyone's faces.
"You, died?" Kai's voice cracks, realising how close he had come to losing his little sister. He was suddenly much less mad at her taking Jay's meds.
"Nadakhan had infinite wishes." says Jay, needing to finish the story, needing to get past the part where Nya was… well, dead. "He could have saved her, but he knew I only had one wish left, so he didn't. Instead he forced me to choose between defeating him, and saving Nya. I was also not 100% sure that making Nadakhan human would free you all from your statues… so yeah, that wish was out. It's like my brain short circuited, going a million miles an hour but still stuck staring at Nya's limp body in my arms. Eventually, I figured out a wish that would save everyone, and, well, then we were all back on the rooftop of the hospital."
Lloyd lets out a sigh he didn't realise he was holding. "Yeah, that's, a lot… I can see why you didn't tell us."
"But I'm really glad you told us now." says Cole. "You shouldn't have to carry that on your own."
Wu nods. "These are most troubling events." he says, while taking Zane's timeline for a closer review.
"You, died?" says Kai again, still stuck on that.
Nya pulls her hand away from Jay and goes to give her brother a hug, showing him she's still here, letting him hold her like he did when they were younger.
Jay is exhausted. The meds always make him sleepy, and they had been at it for a while. He folds over onto the table, resting his head for a moment. It was over, it was finally over, they all knew, and whatever came next would come, there was nothing he could do to alter the course. He could let go. He was free.
"Jay, are you ok?" says Cole.
"Yeah, just tired." comes Jay's muffled voice through his sleeves.
A strange sense of relief hovers in the room. Like it is just a bit easier to breathe. Like everyone was able to stop masking for a moment and just be. No more big life changing secrets weighing them down.
Jay pushes himself back up off the table, a thought bubbling through his hazy mind. "Oh, also, I'm adopted." He gives a small chuckle. "Might as well get that over with too." He ignores the seven sets of eyes looking at him and lays back down on the table.
"Um, what?" asks Cole, restraining a laugh at how casually Jay had mentioned it.
The blob of Jay gives a shrug. "My birth parents literally left me in a junkyard, so they don't matter." His voice was muffled, still face down on the table.
Kai shoots Nya a glance. "You knew?"
She shrugs. "We first learnt about it in the other timeline."
Lloyd shoots Wu a glare with one eyebrow raised, he hadn't seemed surprised at the revelation. "You knew." Because of course he did. Elemental powers were hereditary, at least somewhat.
Wu nods. "I knew the previous master of Lightning."
Jay raises his head at that, staring at Wu with confusion. "Is, is she alive?" Wu shakes his head. Jay sighs, "Then I don't want to know. I've got two great parents in the junkyard. My real parents." He lowers his head back down. Sure he was curious, sure he had questions, but he didn't want to do that now. Not in front of everyone. Not when he was like this. He had barely come to terms with losing Cliff, he didn't want the concept of 'birth mum' to become a real person in his mind, someone else he could miss, resent, or otherwise feel complex emotions about. He had enough of those already. And if she was dead, well, there really wasn't any rush. That could wait. He wasn't going to miss out on anything.
"Why don't I fetch some dinner, then people can start heading to bed?" offers Misako, not wanting to place that burden on any of the ninja in their current state.
Jay barely ate half of his before almost falling asleep at the table. Zane helped him back to the shared room, where he promptly passed out, fully clothed on his bed.
The other ninja finished the meal before starting to wind down for the night, brushing their teeth, getting changed and cleaning up. Lloyd was an evening shower person. Zane went off to do some final checks on the bounty, making sure things were properly secured, monitoring programs fully functional.
Nya sits on the edge of Jay's bed, stroking his hair as he sleeps. It reminds her of when they were at the lighthouse. He had been so exhausted then, so injured. She was glad he hadn't kept the scars, at least not the physical ones. She reaches out, but stops herself before tracing his cheek bone, not wanting to wake him.
"He probably wouldn't mind if you snuggled in there with him." says Kai.
Nya startles slightly, not having seen him come in. "No. I couldn't."
"He cares about you. A lot." Kai walks over to the dresser, pulling out something more comfortable to sleep in, pausing when he takes off the deepstone, debating if he should put it back on. He glances at Jay, relieved to see he was still wearing his.
"It's not that… it's just, I don't think he wants to wake up next to someone he can't remember falling asleep with. Especially after he's been drugged."
Kai cocks his head. What exactly was she hinting at? "So… consent?"
"Yeah, consent."
"Well I consent to cuddles if that's what you want right now." Nya's nod is small.
Kai pulls the deepstone back on, he could worry about Cole more tomorrow. Right now he needs to be there for Nya. He would normally take top bunk over Lloyd, but goes over to Nya's normal bottom bunk, and sprawls out on the sheets, posing and blowing her a kiss.
Nya laughs, a suppressed chuckle, not wanting to be too loud. "Be serious!" she complains, but still makes her way over to the bed, climbing in to be little spoon. Just like when they were kids. Like when she had a nightmare, or if there was a big storm, or if she was just lonely. She would climb into his bed, comforted by his warmth.
Kai strokes her hair gently. "He isn't 'drugged', he's medicated. He consented to that."
Nya flinches slightly. "This time." she says, so quiet Kai barely makes it out.
"Did you force him to take some before?" Jay was pretty freaked out when she offered them to him.
She shakes her head. "Not me. He, um, he thinks the pirates drugged him."
"He thinks?"
"He can't remember, he has gaps." Nya stops, realising Jay probably didn't want that particular detail shared around. "Shit, I, I shouldn't have said that." They had been sharing dark secrets all afternoon, it felt right when they kept tumbling out.
"It's ok. I won't say anything. I think Lloyd knows already though." He had looked knowingly at the pill box.
Nya relaxes slightly, and nestles into Kai's embrace.
By the time Lloyd comes back from his shower, Nya is asleep in his arms.
The next morning Jay sees Kai staring glumly over the railing of the bounty. He was tempted to just walk on by, but should probably check in after the bombshell from yesterday.
"Hey, are you ok?" asks Jay as he approaches.
Kai looks at him, blinking a couple of times as he drags himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah… Just processing what you both told us all yesterday."
Jay looks down guiltily. "Sorry."
"Don't do that. Stop apologising." Kai grumbles, then lets out a sigh. "I'm not mad, it's, well it's just a lot to think about."
"Heh, yeah, I know what you mean." Jay looks up nervously, examining Kai's face. He looks worried, but not angry. Jay slowly lets out a breath before joining Kai in staring out towards the sea.
Kai wrings his hands nervously. "Um, do you remember that time we were sparring, and you electrocuted me?"
"Surely that is something I'm still allowed to apologise for?" says Jay tentatively, still feeling regret for that particular incident. Why was Kai bringing that up now?
"It's just… was there something I did? Something I said, that sent you back there? I just want to know if there are things I should avoid."
Jay frowns, thinking through his answer. He had been deliberately obtuse about the events of Misfortune's Keep, but Kai was right that sharing more about his triggers would be useful to the team. He gives a deep sigh before beginning. "Everything was really fresh then, it had only been a few days since we got back. On the ship, the pirates would make me fight, Well, it was less like a fight, and more like an excuse to beat the crap out of me. But they pretended like it was a fight, they wanted me to think that I had a chance, because then when I lost, it felt like it was my own fault for not fighting hard enough."
He could feel Kai's worried gaze upon him, but he went on. "They called it scrap and tap. One-on-one hand to hand combat, well, they could have a weapon if they wanted, I just had a vengestone ball chained to my ankle that must have weighed at least half my body weight."
"That's why you weren't moving around much… It was chained to your right, wasn't it?"
Jay nodded, a little dismayed that Kai had noticed that. "Only the winner gets to tap out, and I literally never won. When you asked if I wanted to tap out, it felt like you were taunting me. If I stayed down, they'd just hurt me more. I-I'm sorry for hurting you."
Kai sighs. "Dammit Jay, I told you to stop apologising already!" He shakes his head, suddenly full of more things to churn through. "Thanks for telling me, that sounds awful… Um, how often?" Kai's voice trails off, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.
"The first time was probably day 3? Most days after that, but sometimes they let me off if I was too hurt to be entertaining."
Kai shuddered in anger at Jay's captors. "Fucking hell… I probably would have given up, wished it all away or whatever. For a little beenshoot, you really are strong." Kai reaches over and tussles Jay's hair.
Jay stands there in stunned silence, he had just told Kai about how he had lost a bunch of fights, and Kai had called him strong? He had been so ashamed about what had happened on that boat, those memories always made him feel so weak, but Kai, one of the strongest on the team, said he would have given up? He really had believed them didn't he? Fell for their ploy in making him feel like it was his fault. Listened when they called him weak and pathetic. Jay reaches a hand to his mouth, attempting to muffle the sob as it escapes his lips, vision blurring as tears trickle down his face.
Kai tenses slightly seeing Jay beginning to break down, he could comfort Nya through something like this, or Lloyd, but Jay? They had never been particularly good at sharing feelings, but shit. He made Jay cry, so it was his job to try and fix it, right?
Kai's hand moves down from Jay's hair and wraps around his shoulder, pulling him into a warm embrace. "Hey, it's ok. You're safe now."
Jay continues to sob, leaning into Kai's shoulder. Kai isn't sure what else to say, so he just stands there, awkwardly offering comfort, drawing small circles on Jay's back.
Jay suddenly takes a deep breath, attempting to regain control of his own face. "Sorry… it's just… damn it." Jay rubs the tears out of his eyes, pulling away slightly from Kai. "You always tease me, for being weak, expendable, the least useful ninja." Jay raises his hands, gesturing aimlessly.
Kai winces. He did enjoy teasing Jay, probably a little too much. Maybe he needed to ease up a bit if he was taking it to heart.
"I was so sure after hearing about Misfortune's Keep, that you would all think I was weak. I was so sure, that I started believing it myself." Jay gives a half hearted chuckle at how ridiculous that now seemed.
"Jay…" says Kai with sincerity, "you were literally the last one standing, twice! How would that possibly make you seem weak?"
Jay pauses, "Ok fine! When you put it like that…" He turns in a light hearted huff to look back out over the railing, and then sighs. "My mind is pretty great at latching onto the worst possible situation."
"I've noticed." says Kai, as he leans on the railing beside Jay. "Which is why if you're worried about something, you should talk to us, we can help you check if it's worth worrying about."
Cole had suffered through another night of no possessions. It felt like Jay and Nya's big reveal had pushed his little problem out of everyone's heads. He sighs, watching the team get ready for the day.
He was glad they had finally talked about it. While he knew bits of it before, there were plenty of parts that had still surprised him. Like Nya's death… Of course the team needed a bit of time to process it all.
Time that I don't have.
Zane had stayed up with him. They had tried to do some fishing, but even tying knots was becoming near impossible. So Zane had done some fishing while Cole watched. Looking out at the huge moon, almost full. It was only one more day until the day of the departed. They had plans to go light lanterns, and then meet up at his dad's concert.
He was going to see his dad. A slight sense of dread clings to him as he carefully carries the small envelope labeled 'Lou' and stashes it in his vehicle. It could be his last chance to give it to him.
My last chance to see him.
Cole hadn't seen his reflection in the caves. He hadn't seen a future. He had been so hopeful that it was just foretelling his invisibility, but was that really the most likely scenario? Jay had gotten his eye patch, and Cole would get, well, whatever was coming for him.
He wasn't ready. Even with all the time he'd had to prepare, he wasn't ready to die. Was this how his mother had felt? Waiting in that bed, knowing her end was coming much sooner than it should have?
He missed her so much, but even that thought wasn't enough to make him want to leave, to make him let go.
"I just have to keep fighting, push through a little longer." he mutters to himself.
Ninja never quit.
He hoped that would be enough.