All the help they had been giving the police force was making them locally famous. And the TV segments organised by Dareth were icing on the cake. Life was settling down into this strange new normal, at least until the day they visited the hospital. They had been followed by paparazzi, and were trying to make a swift escape. Nya was out in the open, Jay begging her to take his hand. Cole gets this strange shiver up his spine, brief pain in his head, a fleeting rush of memories like he had just woken from a long dream, but when he reaches out to them they are already gone. Forgotten to the void.
Nya performs a perfect airjitzu, and takes Jay's hand, embracing into a loving kiss. Something about it doesn't feel right. It isn't jealousy, just, they had been avoiding each other. Nya especially was determined to stay single, so to see them embracing out of the blue, so publicly. It was unexpected to say the least.
The next few days Jay and Nya are often giving each other secretive looks, and talking in hushed whispers. Cole would write it off as young love, if it weren't for the worry lines creasing their faces and the fact that Jay in particular was more jumpy than normal. Cole often snuck up on people accidentally with his lack of footsteps. One morning he caused Jay to completely lose his breakfast, dropping the bowl and spilling the cereal all over the galley. But whenever he tries to talk to Jay about it, Jay gets all defensive saying things like "I'm fine, just a bit tired, you know me, I'm always a bit on edge!"
A few days later Lloyd and Zane are out on patrol. The rest of the ninja are moping in the game room when Kai decides he can't sit still any longer.
"Come on. How long has it been since we had a good sparring session? Time to get out of this funk or whatever has got you all so down."
The other 3 reluctantly make their way out onto the deck. "Fine!" whines Jay, "but I'm with Nya."
"Nope." declares Kai. "You two have been spending way too much time together lately."
"Have not."
"Jay, you're with me." says Kai. "Which means Nya gets Cole."
"And who exactly made you our supreme ruler?" whines Jay.
"Jay, it's fine." says Nya gently, placing a calming hand on his shoulder. "I'll go with Cole."
"No elements right?" asks Cole nervously. "I literally can't get wet."
"Sure, sure." says Nya with confidence. "No elements." She isn't sure exactly how she is going to spar a ghost without them, but maybe Cole will play fair, staying as solid as he can. "Which means no ghost powers either."
Jay sighs in frustration. "Fine, no elements." He assumes a fighting stance and faces Kai. He is the smallest ninja of the bunch, often relying on his element to help him battle larger opponents. But he hadn't had it during his stay on Misfortune's Keep, and had plenty of practice sparring there, although not much practice at actually winning…
Kai also assumes a fighting pose and starts circling around Jay. Jay instinctively holds his ground, taking small steps in case the chain trips him up. There's no chain, snap out of it!
Kai lunges, Jay ducks under his arm, then makes a counter attack by kicking Kai's chest with his left leg. Always his left leg, the other one was chained. Except it wasn't, Jay growls in frustration, getting distracted.
The kick was weak, barely pushing Kai back a step. Kai takes another jab at Jay's head, fully expecting him to block the blow, so is taken aback when it connects. Jay stumbles back, finally lifting his arms. "Come on Jay, you're better than that!" taunts Kai, circling him once more.
Jay is still mostly rooted to the one spot, bouncing on the balls of his feet, arms held up defensively. Kai was expecting a witty come back, not a silent death stare.
Jay doesn't seem to be moving from his spot, so Kai steps forward for another jab, aiming lower this time, and Jay just loses it screaming loudly as he launches punch after punch, and kick after kick on Kai. Kai blocks them as best he can, but Jay has always been fast. More than a few hits land their mark, but thankfully speed has its drawback, with each hit carrying less weight.
Kai waits for a moment of opportunity, Jay is never lifting his right leg off the ground. When Jay goes for another kick Kai anticipates the direction, and darts to the side, grabbing Jay while he is off balance and slamming him face first into the deck, putting him into a hold. At this point Jay would normally give up, declare the match a loss, and they would get up, laugh about it and move on, but today Jay continues to squirm and struggle under Kai's weight. "You ready to tap out?" asks Kai.
A broken sob escapes Jay's mouth as he whispers "Only the winner can tap out." Kai frowns as he sees sparks forming on Jay's hands, then he is launched backwards, lightning erupting from Jay's back.
Cole and Nya look over from their much more peaceful training session. "Kai!" yells Nya, starting to move towards him as he lays limply on the ground. Jay staggers as he pushes himself to a standing position, lighting coursing through his arms, and turns to face Kai. "I'm tapping out!" he yells, a hollow angry fear resting on his face as he raises his arms towards Kai.
Cole can't believe what he's seeing, it looks like Jay is about to attack his downed teammate with the full force of his lighting. He needs to do something, but he can't block an attack of that scale, especially with his ghost body. There was something else he could do…
Cole leaps into Jay, taking possession of his body and is instantly overcome with pain radiating through his arms, barely contained electricity begging for a way out. He grits his teeth as he turns away from Kai, releasing the electricity over the side of the bounty. He collapses to his knees, white spots clinging to his vision where the lighting had been particularly bright.
Jay starts fighting him for control, turning them to face Kai, a desperate rage bubbling inside him. Nya is by Kai's side, helping him sit up. He's awake, he's ok. Cole lets out a sigh of relief, and focuses on subduing his friend. "Jay, look at what you did to Kai." It sounds weird coming out in Jay's own voice.
"What the hell man!" Kai growls. "What happened to no powers?" He groans in pain.
"Kai, stop moving, I need to check you out." Nya sounds panicked.
Jay stops fighting Cole for control, the rage suddenly replaced with a deep sinking regret. Pain still flares through their body as Cole walks them a few steps away, then sits down where they can still see Kai and Nya. "I need to talk to you, so I'm going to get out now ok? But if you start attacking anyone, I'm coming straight back in." There is no discernable reaction, so Cole takes one final deep breath before leaving the possession.
Jay remains frozen in place staring at Kai, after a moment he pulls his arms in, wrapping them around his torso.
"Jay, are you ok?" asks Cole gently, with his familiar echoey voice.
"I-I'm sorry." says Jay weakly, voice cracking.
It is only then that Cole sees a small trickle of blood dripping down Jay's forehead.
"What happened?" asks Cole, lifting a hand towards Jay's head wound. Jay flinches back.
Nya walks over to them. "Cole, I need you to swap with me, go take care of Kai."
It wasn't a question. Cole got the impression that Nya knew what had caused Jay to snap. "Sure." he says, before walking over to Kai.
"Let's go get this cleaned up." says Nya softly, helping Jay to his feet and directing him inside.
By the time Cole gets to Kai, he is trying to stand. "Whoa, should you really be standing right now?"
"Why is it that I get attacked, but Jay still gets all the sympathy?" complains Kai.
"Oh you poor poor thing. You want a band aid?" mocks Cole, before realising Kai has a significant electrical burn on his arm. "Eesh, I should go get you something for that. Sit down already."
"I'm fine!" grumbles Kai, before begrudgingly sitting where Jay had been just moments prior.
"I know you are, but I'm still gonna patch that up."
Kai is frowning, lost in thought. "Something happened, I've never seen him like that, something must have happened? It's not just me right? They've been acting weird since…"
"Since the hospital." finishes Cole. Remembering that weird feeling, like he had forgotten something important.
Kai nods, pleased to know he is not alone. "What are we going to do about it?" he asks.
"I'm going to get some bandages." says Cole.
Cole walks towards the med bay, then turns invisible as he passes through the wall. He had been trying hard to resist the temptation of spying on his friends, but Jay had just almost killed someone, so privacy be damned. Jay is sitting on the cot as Nya cleans his head wound.
"You should have told me you were having nightmares!" says Nya.
"Why, so you could have them too?"
"Jay, I'm serious, if Cole hadn't been there…"
"I know, I know, shit, I just… It's like he's still haunting me, messing with me."
"Maybe we should tell them."
Jay's breath hitches as he wraps his arms around his middle once more. Colour drains from his face. "I-I can't."
"At least talk to me. What exactly did they do to you on Misfortune's Keep?"
"I can't." Jay repeats.
Nya sighs. "Well you have to figure out something, I'm somewhat fond of my brother you know."
Jay sighs. "I'll spar with you, or Cole, I'll practise until it doesn't feel weird anymore. I'll get over it, I-I'll be ok."
Nya pulls away, finished at cleaning the wound. "I don't think this is something that you just, get over." She clutches at the shirt over her chest.
"Well, I'm gonna get over it." Jay says stubbornly. "And if I freak out, Cole can just possess me again."
Nya frowns. "It doesn't bother you, that he did that?"
Jay shrugs. "It was smart, and I was asking for it." Jay lets out a big groan. "I need to go apologise to Kai, don't I? If he kills me, you better say something lovely at my funeral."
Nya rolls her eyes, and pushes him out the door.
Cole makes himself visible before grabbing some supplies for Kai. A he did something to Jay on Misfortune's Keep. Something that Nya knows about, but also doesn't know everything about. Something that they are deliberately keeping secret from the group. Something that is giving Jay nightmares, making him jumpy, and go nuts in a friendly sparring session. Cole frowns, wondering what to do about the situation. Wondering when it could have happened.
Cole focuses on holding the medical supplies as he heads back to where he had left Kai.
Jay and Nya are standing with him.
"Where is Cole?" complains Nya. "I told him to look after you!"
Kai shrugs. "I'm fine, nothing to worry about."
"I'm back!" says Cole before spectacularly dropping the supplies when he was only half way over to the group. "Ugh, now you see why this is taking me so long!" He crouches down to try and start picking them up when Nya's hand passes through his.
"It's fine, I've got it. We can swap back now." She meets his eyes and he catches a look of worried concern. Your turn to talk to Jay. He gets the message. Jay was his best friend. They could talk about anything! At least that's what he liked to think, but they had always had some secrets.
Nya leads Kai back to the med bay and Cole is left on deck with Jay, who is standing there guiltily tugging on his sleeves. Cole walks over to him.
"Hey, are you ok?" they say in unison.
Jay chuckles, "Still talking for me I see?" he says with a fake grin, trying to use humour to cover whatever he is actually feeling. Cole doesn't smile. "Sorry. Too soon?"
"A little."
Jay shifts into a more serious tone. "Thanks, for earlier, for stopping me." Jay looks embarrassed, clutching his arm, tugging at his uniform.
Cole sighs. "I guess I just don't understand why I needed to?"
Jay looks away guiltily, leaning on the railing. "I got confused for a moment. Thought I was somewhere else."
"Where?" Asks Cole. Misfortune's Keep. Not that he expected Jay to tell him that.
"Somewhere, dangerous. I felt trapped, like I was fighting for my life."
"But where exactly?"
Jay shrugs. "We're always getting into dangerous situations, fighting real nasty people. Honestly, I'm surprised it's taken me this long to snap." He chuckles nervously.
Liar. Thinks Cole as he lets out a sigh.
Jay looks back up at him "Are you ok?"
Cole blinks. "Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?"
"Last time you possessed someone, it was hard on you, to um, stop."
Cole frowns, then passes his hand through the railing, not trusting himself to lean on it while they are docked on water. "Everything's a little hazy, but I'm fine, this time wasn't so bad."
Jay nods. "Why do you think that is?"
Cole blinks, he hadn't really thought about it. "Maybe it's just a matter of practice? Or maybe it's cause I didn't stay in you for very long. Or, maybe it's because this time it didn't feel…" He turns to examine his friend, not sure if he should continue. "Does it always hurt like that? When you use your lightning?"
Jay looks wounded. "You felt that? Of course you felt that…" He looks away, running one hand through his hair. "I guess, it can hurt a bit when I go all out."
"A bit? It brought me to my knees!"
"And you're not the master of lightning! Maybe it was worse for you? It's fine. I'm used to it. I can handle it."
Cole sighs, fully believing that Jay was underselling it. "I wish you'd told me."
Jay flinches at the statement. "Why? So I could be coddled on missions? Firmly placed in the position of weakest ninja?"
"No one thinks you're weak."
"Hah! Have you heard how Kai talks about me?"
"I don't think you're weak."
The conversation pauses as they both look out over the calm ocean. Jay wrings his hands before speaking once more. "When you possessed me, um, could you like, hear my thoughts?" His voice is small, fearful.
Cole cocks his head thinking back to what he had felt. "No. Well, not exactly, but I could feel how you were feeling." He frowns slightly, trying to remember. "You were scared, and angry, you were fighting me for control, much harder than the other guy I might add, and then you stopped. That fear was replaced with regret, and I knew it was safe to leave you."
"Oh." says Jay, still looking out to the ocean.
"I'm sorry, I never expected to possess a teammate… especially after what happened to Lloyd."
Jay shakes his head. "It was the right thing to do." He turns to face Cole, looking right into his eyes. "If I freak out again, don't hesitate."
"How about you just don't freak out?" says Cole with a half grin, focussing on making his hand solid so he can put it on Jay's shoulder.
Jay smiles weakly at the touch, "That's plan A."
Kai lets Nya lead him to the med bay, brow furrowed as he continues to think through what had just happened. Jay had just given him what felt like a genuine apology, but it was interlaced with obvious bullshit excuses. I didn't sleep well, I panicked, you surprised me… The only truthful part in there was the 'I'm sorry'. Kai knew he was, knew Jay hadn't really been trying to hurt him.
He sits down as Nya puts down Cole's supplies, back where they started, and dons some gloves getting ready to patch him up.
"So…" Kai tries to sound casual, "what's really going on with him?" He watches as Nya flinches momentarily before continuing her work.
"What do you mean?" she asks, playing dumb.
Kai scoffs. "Come on Nya, don't do that! You know what made him freak out back there. That wasn't normal."
"Actually I don't." says Nya bitterly, being less than gentle with the antiseptic. Kai hisses at the stinging sensation. "Not all of it." she clarifies.
"But you know something?" Kai pushes, but Nya doesn't react, keeping her mouth shut as she works. "Nya… I'm not angry, I'm just worried. Both of you have been acting off since the hospital."
"It's fine." says Nya sternly, "You don't need to worry."
"Fine? This is fine?" Kai gestures to his arm. It wasn't anything life threatening, but it was the worst he'd got from Jay's lightning before, he usually had much better control.
"It was an accident." She sounds so sad.
Kai sighs, "I know, I just… I want to know it won't happen again. I want to know he's ok."
Nya gets out a bandage, starting to gently wrap it around the dressing. "He's just going through something right now. He's working on it. There's no danger, there's nothing you can do to help." Kai leans back, watching her continue to wrap his arm, tapping the fingers from his other hand on the bed.
"If there's no danger, why can't you just tell me?"
"Jay doesn't want me to. At least, not yet."
Kai ponders why Jay is sharing secrets with Nya of all people. "So… are you two dating or what?"
Nya slips, having to undo some of the bandage to get it all even again. Her cheeks go red as she mumbles a small "I dunno, maybe?"
"What do you mean you don't know?" says Kai with a chuckle.
"We haven't really talked about it." Nya admits.
"Uha. Sure." She finishes up with the bandage, so Kai tests out the fit by using that arm to ruffle her hair. "Just be careful with Jay, look after yourself, I don't want you getting hurt too."
"He would never…" starts Nya, before Kai cuts her off.
"I didn't mean physically. You don't have to be his girl just because you're feeling sorry for whatever's going on with him."
"That's not why!" Nya shoves him away.
"Good. I just wanted to make sure, your feelings about him seem to shift with the tides."
"Not this time." says Nya as she removes the gloves. Kai sees the determination in her eyes, and he wonders what Jay did to earn such steadfast trust.
"And if he ever hurts you?"
"You'll be the first to know." Nya wears a cocky smile, confident that it won't happen.
Kai nods, pulling her into a bear hug. Good enough.