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Chapter Text

When Nya came back, it was the happiest anyone felt in a long time. Happier than all the movie nights and goofy sparring sessions combined.

Kai's emotions were so strong that his tears of joy were mostly steam.

Jay's emotions were so extreme that the first time she saw him again, he was in snake form. He had so much to explain, especially when her confusion was furthered when he returned to a human appearance. But who cares, she's here. She's solid flesh. They can all tell her stories of the last year whenever they want. She's here.  They can do that.

In the nights since then, they often shared a bed. Sometimes it was Nya's room, sometimes it was Jay's. Sometimes the other ninja would sneak in to check up on them, Kai especially.

Some nights they talked and talked and talked, seemingly never running out of stories to tell. Sometimes they just slept in each other's arms. Sometimes another ninja would be in the room to talk too.

Tonight, they were in Nya's room. Just the two of them. Sitting on the bed.

They were talking about scars. Jay happily showed off the Lichtenberg marks running throughout his body. Rolling up his sleeves, pulling up his shirt, rolling his pant legs, just to show her the damage his powers caused him throughout the years. Being electrocuted so often seems like a terrible existence to Nya, but Jay seemed to shrug it off and laugh. Even showing her the side-effects of becoming a snake got him to laugh just a bit. These were all things Nya had noticed over time, but hearing him talk about it was different and new.

Hearing Jay tell stories and show off where he's a little fucked up gave her confidence. She was finally ready to talk about one side-effect of coming back.

She sat with her shirt off, showing an old bra she sleeps in. Scars run up and down her torso, creating small intricate swirls.

Guess that's one of the costs of coming back from being a sea-goddess-thing. Not the worst fate. Worse things resulted from this, after all...

Jay traces the swirls on her back. "Did it hurt?"

Nya shrugs. "I don't even think I can describe how it felt."

She was never one to be shy about scars, she often wore them with pride, but these are large and complex and clearly not made from combat, but rather the result of a painful choice she made that hurt everyone for a year. Not the kind of thing she wants to flaunt.

He nods, understanding that he'll never quite understand.

After a moment, Nya feels a kiss between her shoulder blades.

Then another.

And another.

All going down her back.

A rosy color slowly stains her cheeks.

"What are you doing?" she asks as she looks over her shoulder, flustered.

Jay looks up at her. "Kissing it to make it feel better." In all of his sincerity, there's a hint of a smirk, as if he's proud of a really bad joke he just made.

"You cornball," she sighs affectionately. "It's fine, they're healed."

He hugs her from behind, resting his head on her shoulder. "Mkay."

She's tempted to say 'I didn't say stop.'

Instead, she grabs his hand with the bright green scar on it. She plants a kiss on his palm. "There, we're even," she says softly.

His face burns red.

He pulls away to scratch the back of his hand.

He wraps his arms back around her. His thumbs graze the back of their opposite hands as if he's trying to hold back scratching the now slightly green patches of skin.

"Oh, I get to see snake boy tonight?" she giggles.

"For my water goddess? Sure. Just for you. Totally isn't an emotional reaction I can't control," he laughs nervously.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you're cute either way."

His face burns in a combination of blood rushing to his cheeks and the itch of scales forming.

"I think...I think your scarsss are pretty," he says in response, trying to deflect and stay composed.

Her eyes dart side to side as she thinks of a response. "...Can you kiss them to make them feel better again?"

He smiles and takes her up on that offer.

His hands grip her shoulders as he leans in to kiss the scars again. As he moves down, his hands move down her arms.

At some point, she feels his head against her shoulder, as if he was hiding behind her.

His head comes forward just a bit to playfully gnaw at her neck, not daring to bite or puncture, before giving a small kiss.

Then he ducks back behind her.

This has to be some snake instinct thing. The first time he did this, Nya asked him what that was about, and he said it just 'felt right.' That or he's been way too into paranormal romances. Nya's guess is honestly the latter, considering how much he loves sappy movies and that specific subgenre has been resonating with him. But sure. She can say she believes the former. Sure.

A long, scaley appendage reaches around and flops in her lap.

She turns to look at him.

He's mostly in snake form at this point, although his face is still mostly human-shaped.

She turns and sits on his lap. "I think your scars are pretty too." Then she rethinks her words. "I mean, your scales, uh, they're-"

"I like being called pretty," he coos.

She kisses him on the cheek, her hands drifting to the hem of his shirt. She pauses for a moment as if to ask if she can do what she's about to do.

He nods in approval.

Slowly, she pulls his shirt over his head.

Her eyes dance over the patterns on his body.

"You're pretty," she says again, more confidently this time.

Shock washes over his face when her lips come to his.

He kisses back, making a mental promise to not accidentally hurt her in any way.

When she pulls away, she presses her forehead to his.

"A sssnake and a goddessssss," he mumbles. "I feel like that'sss gotta be the beginning of a legend or sssomething."

"I'm not a 'goddess' anymore."

"C'mon. The goddessssss cured the sssnake of hisss sssnake-y-nessssss, then when the goddessssss went away he became a sssnake again. And now they're reunited, they're both kinda different now, and they're in love anywaysss."

She looks away, the hugest smile on her face. "Okay, that is cute."

"It'sss usss."

"I guess it is."

He hugs her tight. "Promissse me you'll ssstay thisss time?"

"Until my last dying breath."

Jay bites his lip. "Don't sssay it like that."

As soon as he said that, it registered for her. Yeah, bad choice of words. She really should try avoiding "dying" a third time though...

It never happened though. The first time never happened. Sometimes she swears she can still see the outline of the Tiger Widow venom burned on her chest. It's not there though.

It technically never happened. Right?

She rests her head on Jay.

He traces her back scars again.

She feels like water, the way she melts into his arms.

He runs his fingers through her hair just like water.

Yet, she's not going anywhere. She's safe. Nothing can take her away. She won't slip away from this family. (And the tail currently wrapped around her waist is certainly making sure of it.)

She isn't water. She isn't the ocean. She isn't dead or a goddess or whatever you wanna call her.

She's just Nya. Right now and until the end of time. She's Nya.

Chapter Text

Kai checks on Nya (and Jay, by extension, regardless of whether he wants to or not).

He knows she's not going anywhere.

Still, he feels the need to check in on her. On some deep, slightly paranoid, brotherly level.

The door creaks open.

Nya sits on Jay's lap, their faces practically connected, both of them shirtless, and Jay is in snake form.

Kai screams.

Nya scrambles to pull a blanket over her shoulders, making sure to cover her scars. Jay gets entirely under the same blanket, the only sign that he's there are his eyes shining as he opens the blanket just a bit to peek out. 

Kai shields his eyes, staring at the ground in shock. "...sorry. I didn't know. Sorry."

He forces himself out of the shock and slams the door shut.

Nya blinks several times.

Jay pokes his whole head out of the blanket.

Nya starts looking for her shirt.

She grabs a white shirt off the floor.

"I'm pretty sssure that'sss my ssshirt," Jay whispers as she pulls it on.

It's baggy on her. Though it's not too noticeable, considering that the shirt she was wearing was about the same size and the same bagginess. Seeing as Jay's about two inches shorter than her and they're just about tied for the smallest ninja, she hasn't had the luxury of a "boyfriend cut" shirt in a while...probably not since the first time they were dating, years ago, when they hadn't known each other for too long, they both had yet to hit their final growth spurts, and they both assumed Jay would stay the taller of the two.

"Is it?" she mumbles as she tugs at the hem to get a good look at the graphic.

It's a worn and tattered picture of a little yellow brick-man's head wearing a blue helmet, declaring 'I CAN BUILD A  SPACESHIP! '

Yeah, that's his.

She starts pulling it off.

"Nononono you can keep wearing it," he insists. "It looksss good on you."

She looks at her grey pajama pants. The shirt she was in before was already white. Yeah, this was actually a pretty good match.

"Well. You wanna come to bed?" she asks, getting ready to lay down in the bed instead of just sitting in it.

He nods and creeps under all the blankets. He flicks his tongue out at her.

She shakes her head, smiling affectionately as she puts her arm over the Jay-shaped lump in the sheets.

He'll return to his human form by morning, although with the way she still knows how to fluster him, it feels almost impossible. And as long as she's the cause of it, he's kinda okay with that.

---------------------

Breakfast is filled with an awkward silence.

It's only Kai, Nya, and Jay at the table.

They completely forgot about the shirt debacle until Kai gave them a certain look.

Nya still wore Jay's shirt.

To top it off, Jay put on Nya's shirt when he got out of bed.

"I'm sorry about last night," Kai starts. "I saw way more than a brother needs to see-"

"Uh, Kai?"

"-but good on you two for having uh, that healthy of a relationship-"

"Kai-"

"I don't know why I didn't expect that, you two have been together for years-"

" Kai -"

"You're yin and yang!"

" Kai- "

"If I knew you two were uhhhhhh, getting  spicy  I would've stayed away-"

"Kai! We weren't doing anything! We both had our pants on for fuck's sake." Nya waves her fork around as she speaks.

"Oh."

"I mean, we kinda were doing stuff," Jay mumbles.

Nya slaps him upside the head.

Jay rubs the back of his head. "None of it was what you think though! It was just a lot of kisses!"

Kai lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank the Master." Then he thinks it over. "I mean, don't be discouraged, there's nothing wrong with  that , it's a healthy part of any relationship, I just really don't need to be walking in on anything."

Nya raises an eyebrow. "Alriiight? We don't really need your blessing."

"That isn't my blessing, that's my 'please never bring it up to me unless you're warning me to not enter your room or there's some sort of emergency.'"

Nya gathers the plates. "Yeah, okay, understandable, but I think I'm done with this conversation."

---------------

Nya and Jay swap shirts in Jay's room.

"So about what Kai said..." Jay starts pulling Nya's shirt over his head. He subconsciously bunches it in his hands. "If we did try to do anything like  that ...would you be okay with that?"

Nya throws Jay's shirt over her shoulder. "Okay with what? Why wouldn't I be okay?"

He looks at the ground. "When I'm flustered, y'know..." he opens his mouth to show off his fangs. "...if we  did it  I probably wouldn't be human  during the act ."

"I already told you you're cute-"

"Okay, but there's a difference between cute and being attracted  in that way , and ummm. I'd understand if it's a turnoff." He hands her the shirt.

She takes a moment to think about it. "I can't say for sure I'd be into it for  that kind of act , but because you're you? I would try. Also, you're already pretty attractive like that." She tosses his shirt to him.

He doesn't catch the shirt, trying to process what she just said. "You think I'm...I'm hot like that? When I'm a snake? And I'm covered in scales?"

"You're you. Of course."

He lets those words sink in.

She'd really do that? Just for him? She loves him that much? She'd try getting in bed with a snake it doesn't matter that he's the snake that's kinda weird or is it really weird because well geez if the roles were reversed he'd probably still try just for her so fair play and actually would it be weirder if she said no because that'd be kind of a slap to the face even if understandable-

He tries to slow down his racing mind to get some coherent thought out of his mouth.

"...can we try tonight?"

She laughs at the suggestion.

His eyebrows knit together.

Oh.

He's serious.

They had only ever tried  that act  once before, not too long after they became yin and yang, as they had realized they somehow avoided any attempts all these years. It was awkward and they didn't fully follow through, ultimately breaking into laughter then choosing to spend the night quite literally sleeping together, turning the euphemism for what they wanted to do into what they actually ended up doing.

"Maybe," she answers.

Chapter Text

Jay cracks his eyes open at the sight of sunlight.

Should he even bother getting out of bed? He's tired, the sun is comforting.

He sits up, rubbing his eyes.

Nya's in bed his with him. She seems to be sleeping well.

He's not wearing a shirt. 

Oh yeah.

They did do  something  last night.

He should be missing way more than his shirt, then.

He peaks over the edge of the bed.

Yup. Clothes are scattered about on the floor.

They did the thing.

They did the thing.

He starts rethinking the details.

They actually did it this time. The second attempt at a first time...

It was kind of tiring. Maybe slightly in a sexy way, but most of that energy was spent in a horrifying, awkward, anxiety-inducing way.

And yet, it was very pleasant.

Screw it, he can go back to sleep.

When Nya returned from the ocean, Jay would be the big spoon for the first few nights, comforting her in her recovery.

Eventually though, she became the big spoon most nights.

Feeling Jay wrap his arms around her as he returned to bed was a surprise, but a welcome one.

----------------------

Two ninja and two samurai gather around to repair and upgrade some of the old Samurai X gear.

"Jay, may I ask how you got a bruise on your neck?" Pixal asks.

She had been squinting at it for a while, trying to figure out what that round, dark mark was.

Zane leans over and whispers to her.

"Oh!" Pixal exclaims. "Well. Good for you?"

Jay rubs his neck. "I had no idea it was there."

He knew it was there.

He knew.

Nya giggles and snickers just a bit.

Zane turns his attention back to the mech.

Pixal looks at the couple. "Why would that be seen as romantic? To kiss someone so hard that you harm them?"

"It doesn't hurt," Jay answers quietly.

"So if I did it to Zane, do you think he would respond positively?"

Nya and Jay both look around and give small wells and umms and ahs.

She nods, understanding some sort of answer in their answerless response.

The feminine presenting nindroid proceeds to shoo everyone but Zane out of the room.

--------------

Zane rubs a series of scuffs covering his neck and the side of his face as he sits on the couch.

Nya tries to buff them out. "Sorry, I didn't know that uh, we'd give her that idea."

"I thought it was sweet," Zane says calmly. "We never tried kissing before."

"Really?"

Zane offers a small hum. "We're far beyond kissing. We share a heart. Kissing is sweet, although that and further intimate acts are unnecessary...and near impossible."

She looks at his face. Some spots look kinda nice and shiny? "I see," she mumbles.

"Kissing was very difficult due to the shape of my face. But I tried to return her affection. We made sparks fly. Literally."

"I kinda get that," Nya says under her breath as she rubs a towel on the side of Zane's face.

Ever since he lost his "skin" a couple years back, his new face has lacked a nose. Of course, a cloak can fix that, but why should he do that at home?

In spite of his very different face, his mannerisms never really changed. Sure, he may act more mechanical at times, though that's simply because he can. Erase this bad memory, turn down that emotion...

His smile always stayed the same though.

"Do you and Jay have difficulties like that?"

"I think that'd be TMI," she snickers. "No, but uh. I don't think I wanna talk about what makes our relationship physically difficult. Ummm..."

"Was last night difficult?"

"Overstepping."

"Sorry."

She can almost see her reflection on the side of his face. Almost.

"It wasn't difficult, just interesting. I learned things about him, I learned things about myself. Last night he just barely told me about the time he bit Cole and I can't tell if I'm scared or..."

"Cole's wound would not heal until receiving a special tea."

"Thanks for the heads up. But I don't know, it's...interesting. I still love him. And I don't mind the uh, alternate form,  I actually really like it , but there's something funny here. To take a step back and think yup. If I show my boyfriend too much affection he turns into a snake. It's a little strange to think on for too long."

"...are the two of you no longer compatible?"

She scoffs at the idea. "Far from that. I just...wish I could be more affectionate...without his body rearranging itself?"

"I asked him a while ago if it hurts. He said only 'a little bit,' nowhere near as bad as the first time. Just about every time his body went through a change before his semi-cure, he would pass out."

"Only a little bit? I guess that's...something. Still doesn't make me any less worried."

"Have you tried talking to him about it?"

"No."

"Go do that then." Zane's smile is very gentle. "No need for partners to hide things, yes?"

"You're one to talk," she mumbles.

"Pixal and I made an oath. No secrets-"

"No. Not that. The way you tamper with your emotions and 'clean up' memories. You may not hold secrets necessarily, but you hide other things."

"I have no grievances with Pixal."

She holds his face tight, trying to buff out a specific spot on his cheek. "Alright. Just. Try clearer communication before you start tampering with your brain."

"Files."

"Brain, files, memory, whatever." 

She gives up on the single spot.

"I think that's it," she says, handing him the towel.

She gets up to leave the living room.

She opens the door only for Pixal to eagerly slip past her.

Metal clinks on metal.

And Jay stares at Nya.

"What?" Nya asks.

"Nothing, nothing. I just finished polishing Pixal's face and wanted to bring her to Zane but uh...I heard you two talking."

"And?"

"I worry you?"

"I also said I'm really into you!" she closes the door, keeping their conversation contained in the hallway.

"So what, you can't enjoy our time together orrr?"

"No, no. I can. A lot actually. I just worry. That's all."

"Do I scare you?"

"Not really, no."

"Not really?"

She smiles. "I wasn't scared on the rollercoaster years ago and I'm definitely not scared now."

He tries to keep a level head. He can't tell if he's upset or in love right now. Feeling her hand on his face doesn't help.

Keep calm. Keep calm.

His back is against the wall.

"You're not scared," he says breathlessly. If it was a question or to remind himself, he can't tell.

"No." She leans closer to his face.

He can feel that familiar itch creep across his skin.

His heart is racing.

Isn't that how she cured him years ago?

Why does a raised heart rate seem to make him change?

He shoves her away.

She watches her lover run down the hall.

His bedroom door slams shut.

------------------

Jay curls up on his bed in an attempt to calm down. Tail curled around himself. He runs his hands up and down his arms. Every once and a while, he feels a claw graze his (disturbingly scaley) skin, causing the smallest wave of panic to wash over him.

He hasn't felt this insecure about this body in a long time.

It scares Nya.

Even if she's not scared of him directly, he has to do something. He has to find a way to calm down quicker. He can't make her worry all the time.

For something that happens so quickly, it takes such a long time to go away.

Sometimes, he'd go weeks without seeing this form. Other times, he'd spend whole days in a row like this.

The door cracks open.

"Can you do something about him?" Nya whispers.

"Why?" Cole scoffs.

"I don't know, you're his best friend, he wouldn't worry about what you think, you can calm him down," she answers.

"I see, I see, but also he's not my boyfriend and I didn't tell him I'm scared of him. This isn't my relationship, not my problem. At all."

"I didn't say I was scared of him!"

"Well, seems like that's what he thinks."

Cole shoves Nya through the door.

The door clicks shut.

She slowly approaches the bed.

He knows she's there but what can he do about it?

Inhale.

Exhale.

The weight on the bed shifts.

"Hey," she says softly.

She lays on her back, placing her hands on her chest, twiddling her thumbs as she stares at the ceiling.

His back is to her, his face staring at the wall.

He gives a muffled, soft grunt in response.

"There's nothing wrong with you. I only worry. That's all. I don't want to be loving on you and then our love causes you pain."

"It doesssn't really hurt," he mumbles.

"That sounds vague," she giggles weakly.

He shrugs. "I get itchy and sssome partsss feel...pinch-y, and sssometimes I'm a little sssore after, but it isssn't any major pain, I promissse. Oh and sssometimesss thingsss pop but actually that feelsss kinda niccce."

She puts her hand on his arm and leans in close. "...what if I kiss it, make it feel better?"

"What?" Jay cracks a slight laugh.

"I don't know, I'm trying to think of something romantic to say but-"

"I don't wanna  hear  romanccce, I jussst want you here."

She nods silently, hugging him from behind.

"One time I wasss talking to Kai. We were just talking I dunno. And he sssaid that when Ssskylor was an Andacondrai, he wasssn't really into her? He ssstill loved her and could overlook the uh, ssscalesss, jussst for her but uh. It was jussst for her? If he didn't already like her beforehand...Isss that how you feel? Like it'sss an obligation to love me like thisss?"

"No, and I think you're twisting what Kai said. If you love someone enough...I mean I guess...you've been my only partner...but if you love someone enough I guess you can just. Overlook things like that. I might not gawk at just any snake man, but I'll gladly admire you. Because I like  you  and I'll never hate how you look."

"You actually like the way I look..."

She shrugs. "I kissed you on the rollercoaster. I barely knew you compared to today. I didn't mind it back then, what makes you think I mind it more now?"

"But it wasss life or death and...and...wait..."

"If I was gonna die on a rollercoaster...well, there were other things I'd wanna do before going out but for what it was, I was content with kissing you being the last thing I did. Snake man or not."

"But I wasss-"

"And that's why I'm the cooler sibling."

He rolls over to look at her. "You...kinky...human being..." he's trying to string words together and process the information.

She presses her forehead to his. "Sure. We can say that."

A smile slowly cracks across his face, growing from cute sincerity to the face of someone ready to tell a joke.

Nya gives a curious hum.

"You're a furry," he giggles.

She playfully shoves him. "That even the right term?"

"You love me and that makesss you a furry," he laughs, rolling over on his back.

She smiles, sitting up and leaning over him.

"If that's true, then I'm okay with that."

He can feel blood rush to his face.

Oh FSM. 

She's serious about loving him like this.

"Ssstop, if you keep being ssso sssweet I'll never turn back."

"I'm okay with that as long as you are. Are you?"

He looks at her with sparkles in his eyes. All he can let out is a breathless "maybe."

Chapter Text

Nya had wandered out to the courtyard, searching for Cole, thinking about something.

He was here. Sitting on the concrete. Staring off into the distance.
He offers a small wave.

Nya waves back.
After a moment of hesitation, she sits down.

It's nice out here.
The air is a little damp, but it isn't particularly muggy.
It's the sign of a storm.
That'd be nice to see.

She misses the water. Not being it, but the ability to move it and let it flow around her.
She had to give that up though.
Damn.
Rain's as close as she can get to that feeling again.

She brings a hand to her shoulder, her fingers grazing the scars there.
Her eyes dance to Cole's many scars. Or rather one big scar.
When he was revived, he had a bright green scar going down his face. This was super noticeable, but something more subtle was the way his arms had small scars along where his earth punch would form. What remains of the green scar is faint, but it matches what's on his arms. Generally, it was easy to forget that those scars are there.
She tilts her head. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When you were revived and you got those scars, umm, did you ever feel insecure about them?"

He looks at his arms. "These scars?"

"Yeah? What else."

He looks over his body. He had a lot of scars from battle, but who on this team doesn't? How many did he have just from revival? "Fair point," he replies.
He traces his own scars. "I don't think I ever really felt insecure about them. I was just glad to be back. If anything, they're kind of a sign of pride. A little 'fuck yeah, I made it,' y'know? Why?"

She smiles weakly. Good for him, honestly. "Returning from the sea gave me some scars and I don't know how to feel about them. I mean, Jay loves them but he's my yin, of course he does. I can't say I love them though."

Cole's eyebrows knit together. "You? You once got a nasty gash on your arm and showed it off when it healed because it looked cool."

"...yeah but this is different. They came from something else. As much as I don't regret what I did, I do think I would've done it differently if I could. All it does is remind me of that."

"But you couldn't. So why beat yourself up over it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

He pats her on the back. "Be proud of those scars. I take pride in mine. Even when I fear I might fade, I never bemoan the sign that I made it back."

She smiles and hugs him.

"So what do the scars look like, if you don't mind me asking?"

She lifts her shirt just enough to reveal her mid-drift and the beginning of the swirls.

"They mean you made it back, you should be proud of them!"

"I guess I should." She puts her shirt back down. "What about you?"

"What about me?"

"How are you doing?"

He shrugs. "I dunno. I was thinking about my own stuff before you barged in here?"

"Oh, sorry. I can go-"

"It's fine, I get it. Jay says I give really good hugs."

"...do you wanna talk about your problems?"

"Not really."

"Okay."

They both sit there in silence, taking in the scenery.

At some point, Cole pulls Nya into a side hug.

Chapter Text

"When was the last time the two of you even went on a date?" Kai asks, looking his little sister up and down.

Nya's dressed up fairly nicely. Nothing extravagant, just a nice shirt and her leather jacket. She has to think about it for a moment. "I'm not sure. Before...when we lost Wu in the timeline?"

Kai cringes. "That long?!"

"It's fine, not like we haven't spent time together in other ways. Y'know, on missions and around the house..."

The firey ninja starts pushing his sister out of her own room. "You need to go do this."

"We're not leaving until the afternoon it's-"

"It's fine, you two can have all day together. I can even make sure the two of you get out of the house safely since I need to go see Skylor."

"Oh, you still talk to her?"

Kai quickly (and loudly) shushes her.

-----------

Nya grips Jay's hand tight as they walk through the streets of Ninjago City.

He almost trails behind her fast pace. "Hey, let up a bit, we're not gonna get attacked or anything, I promise. Nothing's gonna happen to me."

She loosens her grip just a bit. "Sorry, it's just been a long time."

"It's a date, not a mission, we don't have anything to worry about."

She nods and lets go completely. He walks next to her, hands in his pockets.

The air feels damp and cool.

To Nya, it feels familiar and comforting.

To Jay, now that Nya isn't in the water, it feels cold and unpleasant and kinda sticky. He keeps his hands in his hoodie pockets.

"So, where are we going?" he asks.

She pauses.

A whole year in the ocean. She hasn't really gone shopping since returning...

Where would she even wanna go?

Even ignoring the year she was gone...

When was the last time she just did this?! Walk around, shop, eat, loiter in areas...

She heard the ninja did that a lot while she was gone.

It's her turn.

"Wherever the wind takes us," she answers.

-----------------

Kai sits down at a booth at the noodle house.

He waits for Skylor to notice him sitting there.

He coughs just a bit to get her attention.

"Hey, don't cough on the counter, please," she mumbles.

He frowns. He coughs harder.

"Are you sick? Do you need to be escorted out?" she asks, her back still turned to Kai as she fills bowls with noodles and passes them off to waiters.

He presses his lips into a thin line. "The only thing sick about me is my fire," he says with a smirk.

"Oh! It's you." Her voice goes from super enthusiastic to totally flat.

"The job more important than me?" he asks flirtily.

"Kinda, actually, yeah."

He narrows his eyes.

She motions for someone to come take up her task of serving food.

She walks over to the counter. "How may I help you my dear customer?" Now it's her turn to smirk like an asshole.

"I'll take some chit-chat with the prettiest woman I've ever seen. If it's on the menu."

She rolls her eyes in response. The redhead can't help but chuckle a little bit, although it was mostly because it was a terrible flirting attempt.

"How have you been?" she asks.

"Amazing. Nya's been back home for about a month and I think she's been adjusting really well all things considered."

Skylor nods. "Great to hear."

"What about you?"

She frowns. "Ehhhhhh."

"I'm listening."

She's honestly tempted to jump over the counter and into the seat but blah blah blah sanitation.

"Hold on," she says tiredly as she starts walking around the counter and out of the open kitchen.

--------------

Cole stands next to Zane in the kitchen.

The ice ninja was teaching the earth ninja how to make a cake.

They're waiting for it to come out of the oven.

Pixal does the dishes, taking pleasure in the small, human things in life.

It honestly isn't that fun of a task but at least she's tried it. And after today she can proudly say never again.

"I miss eating cake," Zane states. Sadness? Reminiscing fondly? Both?

Cole looks at his friend in pity. "Damn. You can't be modified to take food orrr?"

Zane shakes his head. "That would require rearranging my internal workings too much. More trouble than it's worth."

Pixal dries her hands. "I am quite curious about food. I understand it but..."

Zane leans back on the counter. "Food can vary but a lot of it is good! I liked tasting the food I made."

"What about the nights I'd cook?" Cole asks.

Zane blinks. He opens his mouth. Then closes it. Then thinks through what he'll say.

"T'was an acquired taste."

Cole rolls his eyes. "What about this cake in the oven? Do you think this one'll be good?"

"Potentially. Depending on if we forget about it and it burns or not."

"Sweet."

----------------

"So, your powers aren't real.." Kai mumbles.

Skylor toys with a fortune. She didn't even eat the cookie. "They are real, they're just artificial and I dunno, that makes me uncomfortable? I'm not the rightful heir to any sort of power, it's like I just inherited someone's stolen heirlooms!"

Kai nods. "It's your choice what you do with that power, then."

"Yeah, I know that, but what can I do? I can't just un-make my powers, I can't just remove them like that, I can't undo what my ancestor did!"

"Then use them for non-selfish reasons?"

"No shit."

"I don't know what else to tell you. You avoided the pitfalls that your father had made. Do the same here."

"Yeah, just take over another noodle shop to spite my ancestor."

"Come on, you're a good person. You can do something more than your ancestor ever could."

"Like what. Sell noodles instead of stealing powers?" she scoffs.

"No. Just being you."

She slouches in her seat, staring at Kai. "Go on."

---------------

Jay finds himself pulled into a small clothing store.

Nya isn't even shopping.

She might've pulled him into the shop, mostly because she thought he'd like it, and indeed, he's the one enjoying it.

Kinda.

He looks through the clothing excitedly but he refrains from trying anything on, proceeding to move along and hold things up that Nya might like.

"Come on, get yourself something pretty," she says gently.

"I mean, I want to, it's not like I don't like some nice clothes, but ever since-" he holds up his hand and points to the green scar across his palm- "this stuff started acting up I don't know...I don't really like drawing much attention to myself?"

"Come on, there's serpentine living up here, what's the worst that can happen?"

Jay gives the smallest chuckle. "You should've seen Wu for the first month or two. Pretty much up until I was 'cured,' and even then if I switch forms too abruptly, I can see how scared he is."

She flips through clothes on a rack. "But you only do it, what? When you're stressed? Sad? Flustered? Extremely happy?"

She holds up a shirt that he might like.

He ignores the shirt entirely, looking her in the eyes. "Only did it when I was super happy once. When you came back."

"Oh!"

The shirt falls to the ground, slipping out of her hand.

"Also maybe a few times when I'd get angry..."

He grips a shirt sleeve as if he's regretting something.

"You got angry?"

"Do you not know me?"

"Yeah but- you- you've been calmer ever since what- when we lost Wu? And you make it sound like you were so sad all the time when I was gone..." 

FSM, why did he like her scars so much? She should be proud of them, she should be happy to be here, but it hurt him so much, how can he kiss those very scars that were the byproduct of a year of anguish for him and everyone else?

"I might've gotten into it with Kai a few times..."

"You two? I know you pick on each other but-"

"We'd patch it up, it was whatever."

She can almost bet on what it was that made them fight.

She doesn't wanna inquire more. For her sake.

"What about this one? For you?" she asks, holding up a bright, neon blue hoodie.

"Maybe. How much money do we have?"

------------

Zane was able to quickly get the cake cooled enough to be frosted.

It cooked just fine!

Pixal watches as Cole frosts it, bringing the spatula around the dessert.

"You need to smooth out that corner," she chimes.

"Got it!" he does just that.

The frosting is uneven in some places but all things considered, it's going great.

Zane looks over at the doorway, sensing a presence.

Lloyd peeks in, staring, watching. "I smelled sugar."

"Come on, you may watch," Zane offers.

Lloyd wasted no time asking, "Can I lick the spatula?"

Cole looks at him. "I'm not even done."

"But can I?"

"You can have all the leftover frosting," Pixal offers. "But let Cole finish first."

Cole slaps a tiny smiley face onto the cake using frosting.

It's kinda uneven and lumpy and the smiley face doesn't help, but it doesn't seem awful.

"That looks terrible," Zane laughs.

Cole hangs his head in shame.

"But it's your best attempt yet. It may taste amazing."

Cole's eyes light up.

He picks up the spatula one more time to even out all the frosting.

He tosses the spatula into the bowl.

Pixal grabbed the bowl to offer to Lloyd.

Lloyd wasted no time grabbing it.

He regains his composure.

"Thank you," he says calmly. Then he offers the smallest smile he could, which still didn't do much to mask his excitement.

----------

Kai watches with affection as Skylor breaks down his order to the employees.

"They'll have your food in about an hour," she says with a wink.

"An hour?!"

"...we're not a fast food place. You just placed a large order for six people."

"No, four people, with intended leftovers for two more people."

She rolls her eyes. "So it'll be about an hour."

"You can't give me a boyfriend rush or something?"

"Aww sure, you want undercooked food?"

He crosses his arms. "Fine. Can I at least have a boyfriend discount?"

"Why would I give you that? You're not my boyfriend."

"Skylor. What are we? Boyfriend and girlfriend? Friends with benefits? Just friends?"

"What benefits? You've never even been to my house."

"Are we just friends then?"

"I don't know! I don't see you enough to call you anything else! I like you but I don't even have your phone number!"

Kai stares blankly at the table. "We completely butchered this romance, huh?"

"I guess, I don't know!"

"Kiss me?"

"Not now!"

"Honestly I respect that."

-----------------

Nya ended up in a nice restaurant. The kind of nice place that doesn't need reservations and it's kind of cheap but it puts up the facade that it's nice.

She stares at the menu. "Everything here is so expensive," she mumbles.

"Not really. The other places I was looking at online were ridiculous!"

"I'll just take the cheapest thing on the menu."

"Come on, it's fine. It's our first date in forever, and your first time eating out since you came back. I can splurge a bit."

She looks it over. "It's fine. I think I just want some pasta anyways."

"Can we at least order a dessert?"

"Depends on how I feel."

"We can take it home."

She smiles, closing the menu, putting her elbows on the table. "Alright. Let's do this."

---------------

Cole and Lloyd stare at the cake.

They both want it.

So, so badly.

Zane stares at his phone, scrolling through brick sets for Pixal. "Save it for after dinner," he says, almost paying them no mind otherwise.

Cole sighs, pulling Lloyd back, slamming the fridge door shut.

-------------

Skylor hands Kai bags of food.

He hands her money in exchange.

"So. See you another time," she huffs.

"Yeah. See you another time," he mumbles.

And then he's out the door.

They argued a bit, trying to sort out what they are to each other then they just kinda. Stopped.

They have a date next week so that's nice. They can finally figure out what they are.

How it took so many years to try this, he's not sure.

Honestly, no wonder they're so distant, really breaking it down.

Welp. Time to bring home dinner.

---------------

Lloyd sets the dinner table as Kai pulls their meals out of the bag.

Two small meals are set aside. For Nya and Jay. For later.

Wu checks his meal.

It's wrong.

It should've been rice, but he got noodles.

He says nothing, letting out a small sigh.

Cole pops his open, eager to dig in.

His order is also wrong. He wanted beef, not chicken.

"Huh. Okay."

Lloyd waits for his.

Kai never pulls it out.

"I think our order got botched..." Kai mumbles.

He opens up his. Everything is exactly what he asked.

"Mine's fine though."

"Of course  yours  is fine, you're banging the owner," Cole says partially annoyed, partially in jest.

Kai laughs and laughs. "Hah, I wish, she doesn't give me  that  time of day. We don't even know what we are to each other." He offers a large smile and two thumbs up.

"Can we call? I want my food," Lloyd squeaks.

Kai hands his meal to Lloyd. "It isn't what you ordered but you can have mine."

Lloyd hesitantly takes it.

Kai should keep it, to be honest.

But he did offer it, and he is hungry...

The green ninja has been trying to slowly live a bit more. Having once held himself to a perfect standard, as time goes on, it's less and less necessary that he does so. Also, it's tiring.

Screw it, let's be selfish and take the food.

He nibbles on an eggroll first, waiting for Kai to change his mind.

Kai didn't change his mind.

------------------

The rain thuds against the sidewalk.

Nya's shoes splash in the puddles as they had plenty of times before, although this time she can't move the puddles out of the way.

She laughs, pushing Jay aside as she gestures moving water.

The water never moves though.

She knew nothing would happen but it still stings just a bit on an emotional level.

She laughs it off though.

Jay tugs at his hoodie.

"Come on, we can just buy an umbrella or something."

He pulls her close, placing his hoodie over her shoulders.

"I have my jacket though-"

"It's fine, it's fine."

-------------

Cole takes the first slice of cake, eager to see how he did.

Lloyd takes the next one.

Zane offers some to Wu.

Wu smiles and takes a small slice.

While Kai takes his slice, Cole cheers himself on.

"Cole made this?" Wu asks.

Cole happily nods, sparkles in his eyes.

"You did well," Wu says softly.

----------------

Nya holds the umbrella they just bought. (They split pay, unable to decide who should pay for it.)

She pulls Jay closer and closer under the umbrella.

A red tinge comes to his cheeks. He looks away from her, takes a few deep breaths, then tries to slow his breathing.

"I know you're holding back," she giggles.

"I kinda have to."

"You were never afraid of PDA."

"Yeah, that was before I'd turn into a giant snake any time we're too affectionate."

She takes his arm and rests her head on his shoulder, keeping their shopping bags hanging on her wrist.

Trying to keep his heart rate down, he almost doesn't respond.

Almost.

He takes the umbrella from her, twirling it a few times. Then he pulls his arm away from her and places his hand on her waist.

She puts her arm across his shoulders.

He makes a small hum of contentment.

Nya smiles. She's content with this.

Now he just has to keep this up. Keep his heart rate even. Keep the date perfect for Nya. Even if she likes him either way, he doesn't wanna make a scene in public (at least not one like that and not with Nya around), that would be an issue.

--------------

Kai lays back on the couch, playing Prime Empire.

He's been playing for hours.

He doesn't even know where the lightning chicken stays for most of the day, but it always rests around them when they play video games.

He pats it on the head as it sits on his lap.

The door opens.

Kai can hear his sister (and Jay) giggling.

He looks over at the door.

He can see an umbrella, a lot of scales, bags, and soaked clothes.

"Seems like you two had fun," he snickers.

Nya grabs Jay's arm. "It  was  fun."

Jay chuckles. He clearly failed to keep his heart rate down at some point within the last few hours. He cups the side of Nya's face. "You're ssstill my water goddessssss," he coos.

"I can't even manipulate water anymore." She doesn't seem upset about that though, she's laughing as if he was simply being ridiculous.

"Ssstill."

Kai moves his character in the game to a place where he can't be found.

He peeks over the back of the couch.

"You two have food for tomorrow. From the noodle house."

"Thanks," Nya says, pulling Jay over to the couch.

She reaches over and pets the chicken, handing Jay the closed umbrella.

"There a reason why you came in here?" Kai asks.

"I was wondering why the TV was on at midnight," Nya states.

Kai drops the controller. "It's that late?"

Then his eyes widen as much as they possibly can. "You two were out that late?!"

"Hey, we made it home," Jay mumbles, slowly backing away.

"Hold on, you're not off the hook."

"I can take care of myself," Nya brushes off Kai's slight anger.

"I know that! But we just went a year without you. Damn if I can't worry a bit more than usual."

"I wasss also there," Jay points out quietly.

Kai takes a deep breath.

Okay.

Okay .

They made it home just fine. She can take care of herself, especially the older she gets, the more capable she grows, and she was already pretty capable when she was younger.

Also, she had Jay with her. Strength in numbers, right?

Alright.

Alright .

"Y'know what, you made it home safely, that's all that matters."

Nya tugs Jay's arm, pulling him out of the room, both of them giggling.

Kai smiles, glad to hear that they're happy.

Now he should probably turn off this game.

Dear FSM, he was really playing for that long?

Chapter Text

Jay goes through his dresser, tossing old makeup onto his bed.

Nya tilts her head, sitting on his bed, flipping over a pallete to look at the pigments. "You don't wear it anymore?"

"No, irritates my skin now. And it  really  isn't friendly on scales."

She frowns. Everything he's tossing out is very neutral-toned.

He always did nude looks.

She remembers a point in time when he'd always cover his freckles. And she was none the wiser for that long...

Men are right, makeup  does  lie, for  this  man, in particular, lied well with it. Even when he started drawing his freckles on, they didn't quite look like how they do when he has no makeup on. They would always be perfectly placed, five dots on each cheek.

She can't help but giggle just a bit, remembering times when he'd touch it up occasionally, and the times she'd lean into the mirror with him and touch up her lipstick.

Wonder if he still has it in there. She gave it to him when she stopped wearing it years ago and it's probably expired but...

"Jay, do you still have my old lipstick?"

"I think so? Why?"

"If it's not too old, I think I wanna wear some for old time's sake."

He feels around the inside of the drawer, feeling under hats and scarves and other little things his mom made for him.

He let all this makeup fall to the wayside, buried under other things.

He stopped wearing it when Nya...went away. He only really wore it once after that point. After being cured, thinking he could control his emotions enough to keep transformations at bay. He wanted to use it to hide any potential tinges of green, but the makeup irritated him to a point that he had to rush home and wash it off. But the delays on the way home got him frustrated, and he was so close to clawing the skin off his face...

"You want any of this?" he asks Nya, gesturing towards the products on his bed.

She picks up the foundation. "We're not even the same shade."

"Yeah, but the rest can be used on any skin shade or undertone if you know what you're doing, I dunno."

"I just wanted to try on my old lipstick. I'm feeling nostalgic."

He finally finds the tube under a hat.

He tosses it at her.

She grabs it and walks over to his mirror.

She hasn't done this in so long.

It doesn't look bad.

It looks...classic. Nostalgic. Old samurai.

Jay comes up behind her and wraps his arms around her waist.

"Can I do your makeup?" he asks eagerly.

"Oh! I didn't wanna do anything else. I never cared much for makeup, just my handy lipstick and sometimes red eyeshadow-"

"I think the red eyeshadow is still in my drawer too!"

"I rarely wore it, even back then-"

"It'll be fun! I can't put anything on my face anymore, I'm out of practice, this stuff isn't getting used otherwise, c'mon."

"I wouldn't be able to kiss you or anything."

"Who cares! I just want this time with you."

Well. When he puts it like that?

"Alright."

----------------

Cole had wandered into Jay's room to watch the couple play with makeup.

Kinda reminds him of when his dad would get ready for performances.

This is nice.

Sitting in the chair across the room, he offers a thumbs up when Nya turns around to ask how it looks.

"Wait, wait, you need eyeliner," Jay says eagerly, feeling around the bed.

Nya hands it to him.

"Okay, look up."

She tilts her chin up.

"No, just your eyes," he says, gently tilting her chin back down.

A part of the fun for her is these small moments of contact. While he has been very physically affectionate, something about him guiding her and holding her face in his hand is nice.

Maybe she just likes being held. Guess a year being the ocean and slipping through everyone's fingers- even her own- does that to you...

When he's done, she goes over to the mirror.

The look isn't her cup of tea, but she can't  not  smile about it. It was a fun experience.

"Can you do me next?" Cole asks.

Jay blinks several times. "You? You didn't seem like the type. I mean, you climb mountains for fun-"

"I wanna see what you'd do with my scar," Cole says with a shrug, gesturing to the dull remnants of a once glowing green scar going down his face. Most of the time, it was easy to overlook, given how it faded so drastically with time.

"I don't know about covering it up-"

"Nah, not covering it, I just think it'd be funny if you could make it  sparkle  or whatever."

Jay ends up with Cole sitting in front of him, tracing the old scar with a brush, having absolutely no idea what he's gonna do here.

-----------------

Nya has to stifle her laughter, watching as Jay takes the brown eyeliner and draws a tiny smiley face inside of Cole's scar.

"And there we go," Jay giggles, giving the scar one last poke with the makeup brush because at this point, what can go wrong?

Cole gets up and walks over to the mirror.

"I love it," he cackles.

His scar is decorated with hearts and smiles and highlighter for sparkles. While the colors Jay had on hand were rather lacking in bright colors, it was still ridiculous.

It's great.

Cole walks back to the bed, picks up a clean brush, and uses it to poke Jay on the nose.

"Hey, there isn't even a snoot for you to boop right now!" Jay exclaims.

"It can always be snoot boop time though," Cole giggles.

Nya gestures for Cole to come closer.

He does just that.

She blushes his cheeks, not caring how it even looks.

They're all giggling at how terrible it looks.

It's beautiful.

Chapter Text

Nya doesn't know how she got here. How this happened. Why this happened.

Well, she kinda knows, just simply not how it grew so out of hand.

She opened up emotionally. Not much. She's never been good at that. But she mumbled thoughts that came to mind.

Maybe she let some tears out.

Jay cried into her shoulder, gripping her tight, refusing to let go, listening to her talk about the sea and its lively loneliness.

Despite it being behind both of them, she can tell they're both kinda fucked up from that year apart. On multiple levels, beyond missing each other. Issues that time together still just can't quite fix. Fears. Anxieties.

Now she can feel him shift and twitch in her arms as bones and cartilage crack and pop. Once dull nails become claws that pull her shirt into shreds. Soft skin turns into cold scales. She can swear his tears burn her skin just a bit.

More than anything, said tears go from light as he cries about the time when she was gone, to heavy and physically pained.

She never heard him grunt like this before.

All she can do is hold him and try to reassure him that she's here.

She's sure of it.

He eventually stops squirming in her grip. Heavy breaths slowly turn into deep, trying-to-be-calm breaths.

She can practically feel his heart thump.

He slowly picks his head up.

Red irises on yellow sclera dance around in the dark, trying to adjust to the dark and meet Nya's eyes.

Nya's seen his eyes like this many times before at this point- probably more times than Jay wanted her to see- but never had she seen them paired with this degree of...fear? Panic?

"I'm here," she whispers.

He stays quiet for a moment.

His breaths are still slightly ragged.

"That hurt," he finally croaks. His voice sounds raw.

"I thought you said it doesn't hurt when you do that?" she asks, cupping his face with her hand.

He closes his eyes, letting his face sink into her hand, a hiss of contentment escaping his mouth.

"Usssually it doesssn't," he groans.

"Sleep it off? That always works, right?"

"I guessssss."

He weakly flops over onto the mattress.

He immediately curls up, feeling his joints pop.

She pulls the comforter over him.

Then she gets under it with him.

He pulls her close.

Usually, when he gets like this, she'll be the big spoon to keep him warm.

Not this time though.

As if trying to keep her from drifting away in some invisible tide, he holds her tight.

"I jussst want you to ssstay here."

"I'm not going anywhere. Not right now, at least."

"Even if you up and left thisss room right now, I jussst want you to ssstay  here . With usss. With...people. On land."

"I don't think I could return to the sea even if I wanted to."

"Mkay."

His fingers play with the back of her shirt.

It's kinda horrifying how he so easily tore holes in her shirt without meaning to or even realizing it.

He closes his eyes, sinking further into the pillow, his tail whipping around and laying across her waist.

Her hand drifts to the appendage. She runs her thumb over the tip of it as if it were the back of his hand.

He snuggles with her.

-------------

Nya wakes up to sunlight on her face and scales pressed against her hip.

Her back is turned to him.

She places her hand over Jay's and looks over her shoulder.

He's still a snake.

Okay.

Weird.

Maybe he just needs more time?

She slowly gets out of bed, trying to carefully keep from disturbing him.

She plants a kiss on his face and makes sure to adjust the blankets perfectly for him.

It's okay. He just needs time. That's all.

---------

Nya grabs a small breakfast, going for a granola bar.

She leans against the counter as she eats it.

Kai walks into the kitchen to rinse off his plate.

She looks at the dark crumbs falling into the sink, scrunching her nose in response.

"Kai, stop heating up your waffles like that."

"No."

She rolls her eyes, balling up the granola bar wrapper.

"You don't have Jay with you," Kai notes. "That's a surprise."

"He's not feeling good. We're not joined at the hip, y'know."

"Yeah, but you two have been clingy lately."

" I  haven't been that clingy."

"Whatever you say," he teases.

"At least I have someone to cling onto."

"How dare you insult Cole behind his back like that."

"Cole doesn't even know what he wants or if he wants a love life, keep him out of this. You just visit Skylor at her job and expect her to strip naked for you."

"Hey, we have a date set up!"

"Only took you what, three years to figure out that you have to ask her out?"

Kai leaves the plate in the sink, turning to look at his sister.

"It's good to have you back," he chuckles.

"It's good to be back," she says quietly.

"I gave you space to be with your boyfriend buuut wanna play some video games later? Just some brother-sister time? Like old times. You can talk to me."

"Maybe. I have to check on something."

------------------

She peeks into her room.

Jay is still bundled up in her blankets.

She isn't clingy, is she?

She just wants time with him and she desires more physical contact than she used to because now she won't slip through his hands.

Is it clingy to check on him when he clearly isn't doing well?

Well, he is in her bed. She can't do much about that.

She sits on her bed and gently pets him.

His hand reaches for her leg.

She grabs his hand. "Hey there."

"What time'sss it?"

"It's still kinda early. It's only seven in the morning. You can go back to sleep."

He nods and sinks further under the blankets.

She can give him an hour or two more. It's fine.

------------

Nya lays back, watching videos on her phone, waiting for Jay to do something, get out of bed, change back, anything other than toss and turn in bed.

Every once and a while she'll lace her fingers with his or move his hair out of his face and just. Look at him.

She wonders why his ears are pointy. She knows he said something about how his body tries to get as close to a serpentine body as possible while working with tissue already present, hence why he doesn't look perfectly like one. What were the ears supposed to be a remnant of? A snake hood? Maybe? Did his body just realize it couldn't do that in particular and give up?

Her eyes drift to the rest of his face.

She kinda understands why Cole likes to boop him on the nose. He is cute and his little nose- snout?- does look boopable when he's like this. It's not quite a human shape but it's still a far cry from the shape of a born serpentine's face. Somewhere in between human and reptile.

Slowly, she gently pokes between his nostrils.

His tongue flicks out.

He swats her hand away (even though she had already pulled it away) in a delayed reflex.

"Don't do that," he murmurs.

"Sorry," she whispers.

She kisses between his nostrils.

"That better?"

A slight smile tugs at his lips. "Maybe," he tiredly mumbles, a sleepy giggle creeping into his voice.

She checks the time.

it's 10:30.

She snaps a picture of her sleeping lover with her phone.

She sends it to Cole with the caption  'Is this normal?'

She threw in some emojis for good measure. A snake and three confused faces.

Cole is typing.

Cole is not typing.

Cole is typing.

'Yeah he sleeps in a lot'

She rolls her eyes.

'Has he ever stayed like this for this long'

'how longs it bee'

'*been'

'around midnight?'

'oh no yeah he stays like that for a while sometimes when he's sad'

'I don't think hes sad???'

'what caused it'

'We were talking'

'about life'

'Got it it was caused by sad'

'but he's fine now'

'One min'

Shortly after receiving that text, she can hear a door down the hallway open and close.

Footsteps.

Cole comes through the door of Nya's bedroom.

"So what's the issue?" Cole asks.

"I don't know! He cried then he did this and it hurt him this time and he's been sleeping ever since. Usually he returns to normal by morning but..."

Cole nods and pokes at his best friend as if he were a problem child poking a dead animal with a stick.

Jay swats him away.

"Well. He's alive."

Nya gently shoves the earth ninja. "Come on, be serious."

"Listen, I tend to take things seriously but I don't know what to do about this. It isn't out of the ordinary. He's probably just stressed out or something. I can't solve his problems."

"Stressed out about what though?"

"I don't know, he's your boyfriend, talk to him!"

"You're his best friend, wouldn't hurt you to try either!"

"Nya. I love him. I really do. But I spent a year being kept awake at night by almost incoherent rants and sulking. And I love you. And I am so happy you're back home. But damn if I wasn't just a little bit happy that you coming back meant that he had someone else to air out his issues with."

Nya presses her lips together.

"Wake up," she says gently as she carefully shakes him.

She could be rougher. Totally.

But she heard what happened when Cole scared him in his sleep.

Screw it.

"Wake up," she says more aggressively.

Still asleep.

Cole pulls the blankets off of him.

Jay shudders, feeling the cold air on his scales.

He curls in on himself.

"Wake up...honey," Nya tries.

"Who'sss there?" he mumbles.

He's always thrown off whenever she attempts to call him pet names. It just isn't a thing she does unless she makes a conscious effort. It's noticeable when she tries.

"Wake up babe you're late!" she yells, shaking him a bit less gently.

"Late for what? And who're calling 'babe?'" he groans as he rolls over.

"You aren't late for anything," Cole answers.

"You the one ssshe'sss calling 'babe?'" Jay sleepily chuckles as he rubs his eyes.

He pauses for a moment, his eyes going wide as he sees Cole standing there. "Wait fuck no Nya why would you be calling Cole your babe-"

"It's you. You're 'babe.' I was trying to throw you off."

"Thank the massster."

He notices his snake-ly pronunciation of the letter S.

He looks down at his hands.

"Ssshit," is the only response he can muster.

"What's wrong?" Nya asks.

"I think it'sss obviousss."

"I know that! But is anything bothering you? There has to be something keeping you this way."

He shrugs. "Ever sinccce you came home...I'm usssually better by the morning. I usssed to ssspend daysss like thisss but I think you made it better."

"That's sweet," she coos. "But we should try figuring this out."

"I say give it a day or two," Cole suggests. "Maybe it's just some...biological anomaly?"

Jay sticks his tongue out.

Nya pulls him into a hug. "Whatever it is, I'll help pull you through it."

His fingers dance over the holes he accidentally tore in the back of her shirt last night.

He cringes at it just a bit.

She notices.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't hurt me," she whispers.

"But I can."

"If you don't mean to do it, what's the harm?"

"Lotsss of people sssay they didn't mean to after hurting people they claim to love."

"But you don't claim to love me, you  do  love me. You wouldn't lash out and hurt me willingly. Would you?"

"No. I'd have no reassson to do that."

"Then you can't hurt me anymore than a papercut."

"But papercutsss ssstill sssting for a while."

"Yeah, and I got over it eventually," Cole assures. "I was scared in the moment, and for a while after I was pretty annoyed about the wound, but I got over it. You didn't mean to, you didn't do it willingly. It was a pure accident."

Jay remembers the time he bit Cole.

He's still not proud of that. That he's capable of that sort of harm...

...but Cole has a point.

Knock knock

All three of them turn their attention to the doorway.

Kai peers in. "This looks like a bad time. Is it a bad time?"

Nya motions for him to come inside.

It's not an ideal time, but it's time.

Chapter Text

The two days that Cole suggested turned into a week.

Jay never turned back.

He decided that before he went out to ask the serpentine what it might be, he'd look at the serpentine forum Pixal found forever ago.

It wasn't much help. Most answers didn't seem to apply to him (which makes sense taking into account that he's considered a special case)

He decided to go visit the serpentine to ask questions anyways.

-------------

Nya sits on the couch with her brother.

They play video games while Jay is out.

Just brother and sister.

It's been a while since they've had this.

"So, how does it feel to be back with the living?" Kai asks playfully.

"I didn't die," she scoffs.

"Yup. Because normal, living people just lose all their organs and become sentient water. I don't think water counts as being alive."

"Fair point I guess." She makes her avatar move across the screen in circles. "It's surreal sometimes."

"Surreal? You were just a water diety thing!"

"Yeah. And it was...interesting. I could kinda feel things but not really, it all slipped through my hands, I'd slip through your hands, even my mind slipped through my hands. Then suddenly I'm here. Tangible. Sitting on this couch."

"I'm glad you're on this couch though. I don't think anyone would disagree."

She makes her character kick over a fire hydrant. "Yeah. I don't  disagree , it's just weird when I think about it for too long."

"I respect that," Kai mumbles.

Ever since she came home, he's been significantly calmer most of the time. 

Most of the time.

He was always pretty supportive of her relationship with Jay, and while he still doesn't have any problem with them dating, he has been more on Jay's ass about keeping Nya safe.

Nya doesn't need anyone to keep her safe, frankly.

But it's a nice reassurance after everything that happened.

And while he dislikes the feeling of being a third wheel with the way they seem inseperable, it is comforting knowing someone usually keeps an eye on her.

Not that she really needs it.

It's just big brother paranoia and the sense of responsibility that comes with raising your little sister. (And the lingering emotional effects of watching your sister run away into the ocean and have a weird not-death thing, even though she's back home now.)

Even if she's an adult now. And she hasn't needed you in a long time to start with.

"Seen anything good on TV recently?" he asks.

"Pixal showed me some of the soaps she apparently binged while I was gone?"

"Yeah. She was really into that for a while."

"They're awful."

"That's exactly why she watched them."

"Huh. She didn't strike me as the ironic enjoyment type."

"Yup. She was trying to explore more genres and broaden her horizons or whatever."

"I get that," Nya says with a nod. "New things."

"Done anything new recently?" Kai asks, looking for a subject.

"I let Jay do my makeup a while back."

"That's nice. Gonna try it again?"

"Probably not. Maybe for shits and giggles. But not to go out in. It was fun to do but I didn't really like how it looked on me. It's the journey, not the destination, that sort of thing."

He nods. "Well, that still sounds like a fun time."

"It was."

They play the game in silence.

Kai fights to defend Nya's character, letting his avatar die time and time again.

"I got it on my own," she insists.

"Yeah but..."

"It's just a game. I won't die."

"Alright," Kai sighs.

Maybe he is still a bit impulsive.

He's always been somewhat impulsive, though not nearly to the level of how his sister can be at times.

After losing her though, his hands would heat up often. And he struggled to talk about her. And he was angry often.

Now that she's back, he has no more grief, but some impulses remain.

He needs to protect her.

Kai's character is suddenly impaled.

Nya's character runs off holding a spear.

Nya giggles mischievously.

"How dare you," he playfully scoffs.

He pulls Nya into a gentle noogie.

"Stop, stop," she laughs.

He stops.

"Why are we messing around in Prime Empire? Let's play a fighting game!"

Finally, she's suggesting something. She seems happy.

It makes him smile.

-------------

Nya's determination to win every round of this game makes Kai's hands hurt.

Out of the fifteen rounds they played, he only won two.

Zane and Pixal came to watch. At first they would wager small, harmless bets, but once they realized the probability of Nya winning was too high it stopped being fun. So they gave up. Now they're just watching.

"May I try next round?" Pixal asks, analyzing Nya's movements.

Screaming comes from the TV.

Kai's character falls to the ground, their body contorted in a manner that looks like it would be painful.

Nya's character declares victory.

Kai rolls his eyes and hands Pixal the controller.

Pixal immediately takes to it.

She analyzed Nya's combos.

Nya met her match.

--------------

Nya sits off to the side, watching Zane play with her controller now.

Pixal and Zane have pretty much had a 50/50 win to lose ratio.

Cole leans on the back of the couch, eating a cupcake.

The door opens.

Cole's the first one to glance at the entrance.

He waves to Jay, humming through his mouth full of cake.

Nya looks over the edge of the couch. "Hey! How'd it go?"

"It went okay," Jay mumbles, tugging at his hoodie.

"Did you receive an answer as to what may be wrong with you?" Zane asks.

His eyes are glued to the TV.

His character gets their head kicked off.

Pixal's character is huge and tank-ish. It wasn't much of a surprise.

"It'sss not a definite anssswerrr." Jay drags out his whole words, not just the letter S, as if to drag out having to give the answer.

"What is it?" Nya asks.

"It'sss uhhhhhhhh, a ssspecccial time of year where the environment boossstsss the effectsss of venom. Sssomething about old sssociety ssstructuresss and thisss time of year being chaotic back then due to environmental reasssons and needing to protect family. The venom in my blood isss overpowering the tea. I think."

"That doesn't sound too bad," Nya says quietly. "So it's just a weird time of year, you're stuck like this for a while, I can deal with that."

"Yeah...I don't like it though," Jay mumbles, practically trying to disappear into his hoodie.

"But it will wear off, yes?" Pixal asks.

She's letting Zane win this one. His character is pretty, she wants to see their win animation.

"It ssshould. In a few weeksss."

"Okay, so you're being cursed by your own blood for the next month. Got it." Cole's general demeanor seems playful but supportive.

"What if we just got the venom out of his system," Kai suggests.

"It's been there for over six years," Zane states. "It probably can't be removed, it's just as much a part of him as the rest of his blood at this point, especially when factoring in his current state."

Nya narrows her eyes. "Jay, don't you produce venom?"

"Yeah. It burnsss through thingsss. Why?"

"But you never hurt me."

"I asssked about that! It wasss weird to me too. Apparently it dilutesss to a point of having no effect if I feel ssstrongly enough about a loved one. Like a partner or a child or good friendsss-"

"Wow. Thanks. So you didn't love me enough to protect me from that bite," Cole says dryly.

"I wasss having a nightmare! I thought you were a weird water monssster thing attacking me! And it'sss on the given that I'm not dissstressssssed, in which case the desssire to protect myssself or loved onesss overrridesss the desssire to not hurt people."

"I'm just teasing," Cole says. He holds out his fist.

Jay takes up the offer for a small fist bump.

"So, you're stuck like that for a few weeks," Nya sighs. "I can deal with that. Can you?"

"Ehhhhhh."

-------------------

Kai pulls Nya into the kitchen.

He grips her by the shoulders. "Okay I know you said you don't need my blessing, and I generally don't feel I need to give one, but he's looking like that right now, and I don't think it's a good idea to  do certain things  with a snake-"

"Okay, stop, I'm twenty, I can make my own choices, let's avoid this conversation, just give yourself this speech whenever you get that far with Skylor. It's only gonna take another three years, right?"

He stops dead in his tracks.

He hugs her.

"Have I told you I'm glad to have you back?"

She gives no answer, hugging back.

Yeah. She's glad to be back. She missed her brother.

"You want some ice cream?" he asks.

"Still not big on sweets."

"A cookie?"

"Depends, what do we have?"

He opens the pantry.

"You like oatmeal cookies?"

"Sure."

He hands her one.

"So, the cookie crumbled," she mumbles. "And somehow, here I am."

"It's a good thing though."

"Yeah, only lost my powers and emotionally traumatized everyone and let Aspheera out and let you be arrested in the process."

She takes a bite out of the cookie.

"But we're all here, safe and sound," he says gently.

"I guess. And I've avoided uselessness so that's nice. Now I'm just redundant."

"Hey, Pixal loves having a second Samurai X around."

"I mean, I like it too but..."

He pats her on the back.

She pushes him away.

"It's no big deal, just thinking I guess. Want the rest of this? You can have the rest of it."

She shoves the cookie into his hand and walks off, free from the sea, free to do as she pleases.

Yup. That's his sister, alright.

Not the Endless Sea.

Not water.

Not a sea goddess thing.

Not even Samurai X at the moment.

That's his sister.

Chapter Text

"Okay, I'm gonna be asss gentle asss possssible," Jay whispers.

"I don't mind if you're a little rough," Nya snickers.

At least it's a sign that she can feel something.

A sign that she's solid mass.

He's pretty sure she can't see him blush, but he can feel his face heat up.

"You're way too comfortable trying to  get down with  a sssnake."

"Am I? Or am I just being comfortable with my boyfriend?"

Nya lays on her back. She only had a bra and underwear on.

Jay leans over her, only wearing boxers.

"Every other time we did thisss, I ssstarted off as a human at leassst."

She brings her hand to his face. "Okay but you're still my boyfriend."

Oh FSM. 

He'll never get used to how accepting she is.

He pulls her hand away.

Ever so gently, he rubs his thumb in circles over the back of her hand.

He kisses her hand.

She closes her eyes as he kisses her scars.

Some of her new scars swirl further than they seemed to at first.

As he moves down, he grows more anxious.

Don't hurt her don't hurt her don't hurt her it doesn't matter that she said she doesn't mind being a little rough she probably won't want acidic venom burns don't hurt her stay lovey don't worry about it too much if you worry too much it'll hurt her stop worrying-

Suddenly he gets pushed away as Nya rapidly rolls over onto her side.

"Shit," she grunts.

His eyes get big. "Crap, did I burn you? I wasss trying not to but-"

"No, you scratched my thigh up."

He looks at her leg.

Yup.

That's a big scratch.

He was gripping pretty tight. Guess when he moved his hand down he accidentally scratched her...

"That'sss a turn-on for you, right?"

Please say yes please say yes please say yes it's not too late to salvage this-

"Depends, how bad is it?"

He gently moves her leg to get a good look at it.

He broke the skin...

It probably won't scar. But it's still there. It still looks bandaid worthy, at least.

"There'sss sssome blood," he squeaks.

"How much?"

"It'sss not going to ssscar...I think. But we need to clean thisss."

"Go get the first aid kit," she sighs.

He nods and runs out of the room.

She stares at the ceiling of Jay's room as she waits.

How many nights did he stare at the ceiling while she was gone?

The door opens.

Jay rushes to the bed, practically jumping on it.

"I think sexy times are over," she mumbles as she lifts her leg up.

"I don't know, I can play sssexxxy doctor if you want."

"Okay, show me your sexy medic act," she giggles.

He puts on a deep voice. "Well ma'am, it ssseemsss like sssome monssster attacked you. You got away sssafey but medical care is needed asssap!"

"The monster is my husband, he's just a cute fool! Don't worry about it, he's harmless," she responds in a high-pitched voice.

He kisses the light wound. "Forget about your husssband, I can make it all feel better."

He kisses it several more times.

"I don't know if my husband would like you doing that," she giggles.

"Well ma'am, I have newsss for you," his voice returns to its normal pitch, "I  am  your husssband!"

He starts putting peroxide on.

"I never would've guessed!" she playfully gasps.

He tapes up the gauze since the scratches are a bit (way) too big for a bandaid.

He partially climbs over her, his face parallel to hers as he's on all fours. "Isss it true, wife, that you think I'm a monster and a fool?"

"The cutest fool-monster I've ever laid my eyes on."

They both break into laughter.

He moves the first aid kit to the nightstand.

She wraps her arms around his neck.

"Sssexxxy timesss  are  over though, right?"

"Probably, but that's okay."

"Good, becaussse anything I had going on  down there  wasss killed the moment I drew blood."

"That's okay. You know what can't be killed?"

"The Overlord?"

She has to stifle her laughter at his terrible joke.

She brings her lips to his.

They roll over, still holding each other close.

As she pulls away from the kiss, she can see the tip of his tail wagging, thumping against the bed.

She's not even gonna point it out to him.

It's cute.

"You're a monsterfucker," he giggles.

She rolls her eyes, cracking the smallest smirk. "If that monster is my boyfriend, and my boyfriend is you, why does it matter?"

She presses her head against his chest. "And for the record, jokes aside, I don't  actually  think you're a monster."

He runs a hand through her hair. "I know," he whispers.

"I know."

He knows. Truly, he understands, even only for a moment, as his hand trails over her shoulder, tracing her scars.

He loved her as water, why shouldn't she love him as a snake?

"What about you?" he asks.

"What about me?"

"Any hangupsss you got? About yourself?"

She remembers him kissing her scars earlier.

"No, none at all."

----------------------

Nya wakes up to Jay curling into himself, his back to her.

She holds onto him.

Maybe she is clingy.

Clinging keeps her from slipping into the tide though.

"Jay?"

He sleepily hums in response.

"Am I clingy?"

"You're...pretty?"

He's still more or less asleep.

She doesn't even think he fully processed the question.

"You're pretty too," she mumbles.

"Yaaayyyyyy," he tiredly slurs.

-----------------

"I ruined sssexxxy times," Jay explains.

He sits out on the courtyard with Cole.

Cole opens a can of soda. "And you're telling me because...?"

"I hurt her."

"Ah, got it, one of those days."

"I mean, we laughed about it, it wasss on accccident, but it ssstill happened!"

Cole sighs. "If she's fine with it, I don't know what to tell you. Stop beating yourself up."

"We've had thisss talk a million timesss, haven't we?"

"More or less."

"Damn." Jay awkwardly twiddles his thumbs. "Ssso how are you today?"

"Tired."

"One of those daysss?"

"Yup."

Jay gives Cole a hug.

"You give terrible hugs," Cole chuckles. "You're too small. You're like a snakeskin belt."

"I'm not that small!"

"It's true, you aren't, but also there's like, a good foot difference between you and Zane."

"Zane'sss a robot  and  he had the privilege of rebuilding himssself, we all know he cheated and gave himssself sssome exxxtra height. He'sss taller than you too."

"By like, two inches."

"You're the massster of Earth, aren't you sssupposssed to be beefy anywaysss? That'sss not a fair to compare either of you to me, man."

"I mean, if it's any consolation, you are more muscular than Zane."

"Becaussse he'sss a robot! He doesssn't need it when he'sss made of metal."

Cole takes a swig of his soda. "This is true. Though, for someone made out of cold metal, Zane gives good hugs. I think it's just his attitude."

"Wow, I don't have a good hugging attitude?"

"No, you do, it just feels like I'm about to get punted by a small evil child sometimes. Also, you give off a lot of static."

"I'm not that ssstatic-y."

Cole raises an eyebrow.

He holds out his fist.

Jay hesitantly fistbumps him.

He feels a small pop of electricity.

Nothing he isn't used to, though.

"Sssee, nothing happened."

"I think you're just used to shocking yourself."

Jay stares at the ground. "Isss...isss it not sssupposssed to feel like that when I touch people?"

"No, not really. People shock each other sometimes, yeah, but for you, it's literally every time we make contact with you."

"Oh FSM. Doesss Nya know?"

"Probably, considering-"

"Ssscrew sssnake-y-nesssss, you mean to tell me I'm been electrocuting you guysss thisss whole time?"

"Wouldn't call it electrocuting, just static. Tiny shocks at worst. Most of the time."

"Isss it at leassst better when I wear rubber glovesss?"

"Mostly but I swear it's like you defy physics. Think it just comes with the territory of being an elemental master."

Jay claps his hands together. "Thisss whole time..."

"Please don't have another emotional crisis over this one. It's fine. I think we've all gotten used to it after six years of living with you."

"Thisss whole time and I never realized though..." Jay mumbles. "Thisss isssn't a breakdown, it'sss a 'how the fuck did I never noticcce.'"

Cole shrugs.

"I have to asssk now. Am I the only one who didn't know?"

"Yeah."

The blue ninja gets up. He dusts himself off.

He's probably off to ask about the static he gives off. 

Cole listens as the door slams shut.

"Good talk," he says under his breath.

The leaves blow.

The door opens again.

Footsteps.

Nya is sitting next to him now.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

"Here to enjoy the weather?" Cole asks.

Nya slouches forward, staring at the ground.

"You worry about fading, right? Even though you know you can't."

He seems surprised. "Y-yeah- yes? Why?"

"I keep feeling like the ocean can take me away...even though I know that's not possible and I think it's manifesting in me being really clingy and that's weird because I feel like I'm being over-reliant on Jay to keep me here and-"

"Buy a body pillow. Best gift I ever received."

"Buy a what now."

"A body pillow."

"How would that-"

"When I felt like I'd fade, hugging something would make me feel better. Usually blankets or a pillow but hey, sometimes a person was nice too. I've been sleeping way better since I got a body pillow though."

"The problem isn't sleep, I don't mind sleeping with him, he's my yin for crying out loud. But through the rest of the day...I don't spend much time away from him. And even when it's only night or morning or whatever, I hold onto him so tight and..."

"Find an outlet. Try loosening your grip next time you're aware of how you're holding on. Try doing something without him for a day."

"I'm not with him right now."

"There you go!"

She rolls her eyes.

"I don't know what to tell you," he lightly scoffs. "Take control somehow? I don't know."

"Of my life...?"

"Yeah, y'know, maybe if you do things you want, you won't think about drifting."

"But I do want to do things with him..."

"Then do it!"

"Is this how you got over it?"

He presses his lips together.

"It took a lot of cake and alone time but yeahhh...we can say that. Time with family doesn't hurt. And again, body pillow."

"I don't think I need a body pillow, but thanks," she snickers.

"No problem. And don't get me wrong, it won't solve everything, I mean, I still have those days but-"

She hugs him.

After a moment's hesitation, he hugs back.

Neither of them will disappear.

-------------

Nya aggressively locks lips with Jay.

They agreed to try another 'special' night to make up for the last.

They also agreed Nya would take charge.

She holds him like he's gonna spontaneously slip into a void or something.

He's practically  panting  when she pulls away.

"Pleassse be gentle," he gasps.

"Maybe," she whispers in his ear.

He can feel a chill go through his spine.

It's his turn to hold on tight.

He's still not sure how the hell she manages to leave hickeys through scales.

She smiles, hearing him let out something between a moan and a hiss.

Her hand drifts down to the waistband of his boxers.

He stops her, guiding her hand over to his shoulder.

"Jussst a little longer like thisss," he says softly.

She nods, slowing her movements as he sits up.

He hugs her tight, taking in the warmth of her body.

He nuzzles the side of her neck.

She feels goosebumps rise as his teeth graze her skin.

He runs his nails down her scars and his tail picks at her waistband.

She runs her hands up and down his back.

Ever so lightly, he bites. Just a bit. He isn't breaking any skin, just closing his jaw slightly.

He enjoys the noises she makes.

A door down the hall slams shut.

They both internally panic.

Is it about the headboard against the wall? Is it that loud?

Shit shit shit fuck

As Nya moves to look at the door, Jay clenches his jaw in some sort of impulsive, instinctual, knee-jerk reaction, forgetting where his mouth was.

If the headboard didn't wake anyone up, Nya's cry of pain probably did.

Jay quickly finds his head slamming into the headboard, the tiny spikes hidden under his hair leaving nasty scratches on the wood.

"Fu-u-uck," he groans, curling up on the mattress, rubbing the back of his head.

She taps the wound to see how much it's bleeding.

That is a lot of blood...

He reaches for the first aid kit on the nightstand that they had forgotten to put away.

He tosses it at her weakly.

Slowly, he gets up with a grunt to help her.

"Hey, you did sssay you like it rough," he chuckles as he opens the kit.

"I said I like it rough, not that I wanted you to almost bust an artery," she responds.

She can feel his hands shake as he wipes the blood off.

"It wasss an accccident."

He starts applying pressure to the wound.

"I know," she sighs. "And sorry about your head...and the headboard."

He takes a quick glance at the headboard. Those scratches aren't too bad. There's bigger issues at hand.

"It'sss fine."

She hisses in pain at the peroxide.

"Let'sss be glad I'm not a fangpyre," he says, forcing a chuckle. "That would've been ssso much worssse."

His hands shake more and more.

"You don't have to lighten the mood," she whispers.

"But I wanna make you feel better."

Here comes the bandage.

She has to guide his hands to keep them from shaking too badly.

She knew he could get anxious, but usually, he was loud and screaming and cracking jokes. Granted, he tried some lighthearted banter, but it's not the same.

She isn't used to seeing his anxiety manifest itself like this. Quiet. Needing to force words out. Shaking.

He's not scared of dying or a mission gone wrong right now.

He's scared of something he did.

And honestly, he might be right to be scared.

The bandage is on.

Nya stares at him.

"You can go back to your room if you want," he says quietly.

She ignores that.

She moves the first aid kit over to the nightstand.

She sits with her back leaning against the headboard.

She pats for him to come next to her.

They sit together in silence for a good moment.

"You sssaid I couldn't hurt you any more than a papercut."

She can't tell if he's distraught, joking and failing, just saying it, or emotionally withdrawn.

"This is still just a papercut."

"Are you...are you ssscared now?"

She looks away from him. "I'm not... happy  about it."

He nods, looking away from her, letting his eyes wander the room.

She lays down, not saying a word as she sinks under the comforter.

He doesn't say a thing.

He just sits there.

Minutes go by.

He's pretty sure she's asleep.

He gets up to brush his teeth.

He's not happy about the taste of her blood.

She's still awake.

The time that he's gone feels like a small eternity.

Eventually, the weight on the bed shifts, and the blanket is pulled up.

He doesn't try to lay so much as a finger on her.

They keep their backs turned to each other.

Papercuts sting and the paper feels drenched in blood.

That was a deep cut.

Chapter Text

"When I woke up this morning, he was hugging me. And I know he's sorry...honestly I'm kinda sorry too...and he really didn't mean it but it still hurt, y'know?"

Nya sits on the living room floor with Pixal, looking over the instructions of a brick set.

"And you're sure it was an accident? What do you have to be sorry for?"

Nya arches her brows. "If he did it on purpose I would've knocked his lights out." She tears open a bag of bricks. "No, something startled him, he bit me as a reflex, and on my reflexes, I knocked his head into the wall."

"Oh! That's what that noise was. I thought the two of you were simply enjoying intimacy. Well, good to hear he didn't mean you any harm."

Nya shakes her head. "No, no, everything was accidental."

Pixal clicks the windshield into place on a car. "I see."

Nya blows the hair out of her face as she clicks two bricks together.

She doesn't even know what she's supposed to be building, she didn't look at the cover of the instruction booklet.

"So this is what you did while I was gone?" Nya asks.

Pixal carefully builds the roof of the car. "Yes." It was a simple answer.

Nya nods.

"When it's done, am I helping you carry it to your room orrr?"

"Depending on when we are done, I will make modifications to suit my aesthetic preferences. And then we can take it to my room."

Nya keeps clicking pieces together.

She thinks it's a small building?

All she knows is to leave the tiny people for Pixal. Those are her favorite part of each set.

Blue brick 

Blue brick 

Blue brick 

Transparent brick

Blue brick

Footsteps.

Accompanied by the sound of a staff.

Nya looks up.

"Where is Jay?" Wu asks.

"He went out to see his parents," Nya answers, fighting the gravel in her voice as she places a transparent window piece. "Why?"

"I wished to speak to him."

"I mean, you can call him if you want."

"No, no, it's fine. I wanted to sit down with him. Over some tea, maybe."

"Really? What's with the change of heart?"

"I saw him this morning. He appeared absolutely terrified when he saw me! I realize that maybe I haven't been the kindest to him."

"Only took you a year to see that," Nya huffs.

She knows Wu's presence wasn't the sole reason for his fear, but she knows just as well that Wu's presence was a factor.

Wu knits his eyebrows together. "Why the attitude?"

She stands up to look at her teacher closer to eye level.

"It's nothing, just you've been kind of cruel towards serpentine all these years, him included, it's no wonder he's afraid of himself-"

"Nya, what is that on your neck?"

She pulls some locks of hair over her shoulder to distract from the bandage. "It's nothing, just a little sparring accident."

She's sure as fuck not telling Wu of all people what the real cause was.

"You cut your neck open while sparring?"

"Yeah! I pulled out my old boomerang, turns out I'm really rusty with it."

He looks at her warily. "Be careful with that, then."

The old master leaves the room.

She sits back down on the floor with Pixal.

"You lied to him," Pixal says quietly. It quite literally sounded as if someone turned her voice's volume down.

"He's warming back up to Jay, why would I tell him about the bite?" she whispers.

"What if you need assistance? What if you need tea like Cole did?"

Nya opens her mouth to protest.

Fuck.

She should probably check on the wound.

She checked in the morning to make sure that it was properly cleaned, considering the way Jay was shaking when he put the bandage on, but she didn't inspect it too carefully.

She runs to the bathroom.

--------------

The wound is still red. Bright bite marks dotting her skin in a circular pattern.

It's scabbed over in some spots. That's good. So it isn't like Cole's wound. Granted, it isn't healing as well as the scratches on her thigh, but both are relatively fresh so it's almost a moot comparison.

FSM damn, his teeth were sharp.

That's a sign she's more than just water, alright. So it's not  entirely  unwelcome. Even if it hurt.

And yet it's still sorta terrifying that he could do that.

She pulls the bottle of peroxide out from under the sink.

Clean it up again. Just to be safe.

At least it seems like he bit before his stress response could get him to produce any venom.

Put on a new bandage.

She gives herself a thumbs up in the mirror. She did good patching herself up.

-------------------

Lloyd sits in on the brick building.

"You may assemble some of it," Pixal offers.

"I'd like that, but it's yours."

"I have five more of these. Please. You may assemble a small percentage."

He picks up some random pieces.

"...to be honest, I always wanted to do one of these but y'know. Tomorrow's tea, lost childhood, that whole thing."

Nya hands him an instruction booklet. "For starters, you might want this. Or not, I don't know, it  is  a toy that promotes creativity."

Pixal glares at Nya. "Please don't encourage that. These are mine. I would like it if you followed the instructions. Any departure from the booklets will be modifications  I  make for  my  satisfaction."

Nya puts her hands up. "My bad."

She leans close to Lloyd. "Tell you what, maybe we can start taking some days to do things you missed out on."

"But I have training and responsibilities. You don't just become a master, y'know?"

"You're not training right now."

He blinks. "You're right."

Lloyd's smile grows. "Can we watch some movies while we do this? There's a few animated ones I wanted to see but I never got around to it because it felt childish."

"Gimmie a list and I'm sure we can find them," Nya answers.

She feels like an older sister.

She's only taking after her brother.

-------------------

"I don't think this is the right movie," Lloyd whispers.

Nya looks away from the bricks to see what he's referring to.

Oh man, that's some terrible CGI.

"I think you grabbed the wrong movie," Nya whispers to Pixal.

"Oh yes, it's a bootleg."

"That's not what he wanted."

"But it should be the same basic premise, just funnier."

"He wanted to see the real deal."

Pixal gets up and grabs the remote off of the table. "Alright."

---------------

At some point, Lloyd fell asleep on the couch.

Pixal sits in silence, making modifications to her tiny building and car.

Apparently, it's an apartment complex.

Pixal wants to turn it into a more sophisticated building.

From what Nya can tell, it looks a lot like a building Borg would own.

Nya pokes at the tiny people. "These are cute," she chuckles.

She picks up a small woman, looking over the design.

"That one is a single mother trying her best to raise her five children after her husband was tragically decapitated due to me accidentally dropping his boat, his head popping off, and my inability to find his head."

Nya stares at Pixal, mouth agape. She slowly blinks several times.

"I've decided to name her Karen, so don't feel too bad."

Nya doesn't know when Pixal developed such a grim sense of humor, or if this was even supposed to be a joke, but it earned a chuckle from her.

---------------

Pixal carefully rearranges the sets on her shelves.

Nya just stares in awe.

She was gone for so long...

Pixal got  shelves  just for these things. She has so many.

Some are even mounted from the ceiling.

"This is impressive," Nya mumbles, wandering through the bedroom.

"Yes. Do they not look fun?"

"Yeah...you built all of this?"

"I had some help on occasion, usually as a form of emotional bonding."

Nya looks over the small structures and the way Pixal seems to be telling stories with them.

She's kinda rooting for the tiny criminal running with a bag of money, his face looks adorable.

"I require assistance," Pixal chimes across the room.

Nya comes over to see what it is.

"Hold these," Pixal requests as she hands Nya two cars.

Nya watches as Pixal places the apartment complex on the shelf.

Pixal takes the cars back and places them in front of the building.

They're parked on the sidewalk outside of the apartments.

Pixal pops a door open and places a person to look as if they're getting out of the car.

"Wow," is all Nya can verbalize.

---------------

"...And the animation was so pretty and the characters were pretty and the fight scenes. I think you need to see the fight scenes..."

Lloyd rambles to Wu about the movie he saw earlier.

All Wu can do is smile and nod. "Don't forget to eat your food," he says under his breath.

"We baked a better cake!" Cole cheers at the dinner table.

"Yes, this one was cooked perfectly!" Zane follows up as he finishes serving Kai and Nya.

Nya smiles at the way Cole seems so happy for himself.

"Where's Pixal?" Kai asks in a whisper. "Thought you were with her all day."

"She's reorganizing her shelves," Nya answers. She gives Zane a thumbs up to let him know that's enough soup.

"Saw Jay was kinda fucked up this morning. Wish he could've gotten some of this soup," Cole says, leaning back in his chair. "I think he would've loved this."

Nya cracks a weak smile. "I think he would've."

Wu leans over and whispers, "What did you do to my nephew?"

Nya shrugs. "Pixal and I just let him be a kid."

"He's nineteen, he isn't a child-"

"He's a sixteen-year-old in a nineteen-year-old's body who hasn't been treated his age for the last five years. Let him have it," Kai interjects. "It's emotional healing and making up for a lost childhood or whatever."

Kai sounds like he understands that concept all too well.

"What movie was it?" Zane asks.

Lloyd turns to Zane. With a big smile, he restarts his ramble about the movie.

--------------

Jay lays in bed, staring at the ceiling when Nya walks in.

He looks like he's had a long day.

"Got room for one more?" she asks softly.

"You can go to your room, it'sss fine," he mumbles.

"But I wanna be here."

He scoots over with a sigh.

His body language seems limp.

She lays down and stares at the ceiling with him.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so upset about it...but also I should've...and I was...it's a complex issue and I- just- I'm-"

"I'm sssorry," he interrupts. "I ssshouldn't do thingsss like that. I bit you. Don't you sssee the issssssue?"

"I do, but you didn't mean it."

"I'm gonna asssk again becaussse you never anssswered thisss lassst night. Are you ssscared?"

She presses her lips together.

"A little bit, yeah."

"Thought ssso."

He rolls over onto his side, looking away from her.

"I also saw how you're scared of yourself."

"And I ssshould be!"

"No, you shouldn't be. It was an accident."

"Exxxactly. That'sss what I'm capable of on  accccident . Without meaning it."

"But you didn't go out of your way to hurt me."

He starts disappearing under a blanket, curling up until Nya can only see his hair.

Nya pets the boyfriend-shaped lump under the blanket. "Probably not what you wanna hear, but I had the right to be upset. That doesn't make you a bad person though. It's just human emotion."

He lets out some sort of squeaky grunt in response.

"I still love you," she whispers.

He doesn't move much.

"No sexy times for a while though, okay?" she chuckles, trying to lighten the mood.

"Mkay." Jay's voice is muffled by the blankets.

They stay quiet for a moment.

"How'd it go with your parents?"

"They wanted you over for dinner."

"You never told me-"

He pulls the blanket down aggressively, looking at her over his shoulder. "Becaussse after lassst night, why would you want to go?!"

"They're your parents, of course I wouldn't mind-"

"Why would you want to go anywhere with me?!"

She wraps her arms around him, not saying a word.

He pushes her away and sits up. "You're jussst being niccce."

This is...kind of the Jay she's used to seeing. He's screaming and yelling, and she knows it comes from some place of anxiety.

He usually isn't this aggressive though.

"I love you, why would I not want to be around you?" she asks gently.

"You sssaid it yourssself, you're ssscared of me! Even my parentsss looked afraid after I told them what I did and why you weren't around!"

She stares at his face.

Come on do something to lighten the mood anything look for something make a joke find a topic do something to take his mind off of it

She slowly reaches out to boop his nose.

He nips at her hand when he realizes what she's doing.

His eyes get big as he watches her flinch.

He buries his face in his hands. "Jussst go."

She pats him on the back. "I'm not going anywhere."

He runs his hands through his hair, taking a deep breath.

"It's okay, everything's fine. I'm here. No one is mad at you. You just have some...interesting quirks to work on. And once all this is over in a few weeks, you won't have to worry about it again for another year."

" You sssaid you're ssscared! "

She never should've answered that question.

"Yeah, but do you think that'll actually sway me? It just means we have some things to work on-"

Electricity crackles up and down his body.

"I'm asssking you again to pleassse leave. I don't care where you go, jussst leave thisss room."

She sighs. He asked twice. He's sparking. She may as well respect his request.

The weight of the bed shifts as she gets up.

She stops in the doorway.

"If you want me around, just let me know," she says, offering the smallest smile in an attempt to mask her worry.

He can feel his heart sinking as the door closes and her footsteps grow quieter.

----------------

Nya lays in her own bed. Alone.

Her bed feels empty.

When was the last time she slept alone?

This feels ripe for the sea to reach through her window and take her back.

...it's fine. She can use some time away from him anyways. More time apart from him.

Time to gather herself and her thoughts on her own.

Maybe it'll help her be less paranoid in the long run.

She can take Cole's advice and use a pillow to feel less alone.

She moves her pillow to the side, hugging it as she would cuddle her boyfriend.

This  is  nice.

...and kinda lonely.

Maybe Kai was right. There are certain things you shouldn't try to do with a snake person.

What those things are, she's not entirely sure, but  lovemaking  is probably one of them. At least not so long as he's in this particular state.

Her phone goes off.

It's a message from Jay.

Just some silly little meme about fighting squids in aquariums.

She starts typing a response.

What can she even say after all that?

' Lol '

He starts typing.

He stops typing.

He never picks back up typing.

There's a crackle through the house as everything goes out.

Lights, clocks, TV, all of it.

The only light Nya has is her phone and the moonlight through the window.

Her phone doesn't go off again for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

Nya helps Kai get dressed for his date.

She gave him a lot of snide remarks, but she helped.

Not like he spent most of her childhood picking out her clothes...

But sure. She can pick out some clothes for him.

He insists on wearing this bright red windbreaker he bought a while back though. It's a special occasion, time to bring it out.

He stands in front of the mirror explaining how he wants to style his hair. He started putting less gel in it a while back, and now he's suggesting more gel for the date.

"What if you tried showing Skylor how you look without anything in your hair?"

"I don't think I'm ready to let my guard down like that until at least a second date."

She takes the comb to his hair anyways.

They both stare at him in the bathroom mirror.

"Fucking cursed-"

"Absolutely cursed-"

"Gimmie my hair gel."

"On it."

She never wants to see her brother with flat hair again. That's not Kai, that's Kyle.

After about half an hour, he's ready to go.

She's happy for him. He looks happy.

She hopes he actually can form a greater relationship with Skylor. Even if it isn't romantic, she's seen the way he talks to her. Maybe he can walk away with a stronger friendship with her, at least.

Watching him walk off ready to go reminds her of the recent day out she had with Jay.

It's both uplifting and upsetting.

-------------

She knocks on his door.

No response.

She figured as much.

"Jay, can you open the door?"

Still nothing.

He's either asleep, ignoring her, ran off...or he's even more not okay.

Fuck, did he fry himself last night?

Just as she gets up, she can see a shadow under the door.

Followed by a weight sliding against the door.

There's a small thud, followed by some hiss of an obscenity.

And then he goes quiet again.

Good to know he's alive.

Nya stays there for a moment.

"Can I come in?"

No response again.

"Feel free to hit me up if you want me around," she sighs, walking away in defeat.

--------------

On the other side of the door, Jay leans against the door and slides down to the floor.

He wants to answer it. But should he?

His tail thumps against the wall.

Shit. He knows that had to give him away.

He hisses at the limb.

As he debates on whether or not he should open the door, Nya walks away.

Guess that answers that.

Screw it, he'll go after her.

He throws the door open to-

...

...

...

God damnit.

Lloyd was about to knock on his door.

"What do you need?" Jay asks as calmly as possible.

"My uncle's been looking for you," Lloyd answers nonchalantly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. How long will thisss take?"

Lloyd shrugs. "I know he was interested in having some tea with you, at least."

Jay raises an eyebrow. "Okay?"

"I don't know, he just wanted to see you."

Jay gulps at the thought.

-------------

Wu gestures for Jay to sit down on the floor of his room.

Jay can't tell if this feels welcoming or not.

Wu hands him a cup of tea.

"Oh, isss thisss a cure or sssomething?"

Wu gives him this deadpan stare.

"It's chamomille."

"Oh. That'sss niccce too."

Almost all is silent except for the sound of Jay sipping his tea.

"Ssso why am I here? Thisss doesssn't have to do with lassst night'sss power outage, right? I ssswear I didn't caussse that."

He totally caused it.

Wu puts his hand up. "You were afraid of me yesterday?"

Jay doesn't respond.

"I realize I haven't been the kindest to you. And it may be...jarring. The six of you, I care for as if you were my own. But perhaps I have been harsh on you for circumstances beyond your control."

"Complete honesssty, I thought you only cured my ssso you feel comfortable."

"And I am sorry for that. For the way I've treated you over the last year."

"...isss thisss to make yourssself feel better? About how you've treated me?"

Wu's eyebrows knit together. "I just want you to know that I accept you for what you have become. What you are. You've become many things other than a serpentine. You show resilience, and you have matured quite a bit. I'm proud of you."

Jay starts letting his guard down.

Wu seems serious about this.

But then something still nags at the back of Jay's mind.

"Massster, if I were to...if I hurt sssomeone, would you think lessssss of me?"

Time to test fate.

He's honestly not sure what he wants to hear. That it's all okay? Or to be held accountable? Does he even need to be held accountable for what he did to Nya?

"You all hurt each other weekly while sparring, I don't see why I would think less of you."

"Yeah, but thisss wasssn't during training."

"Well, if it was on a mission, surely there was a reason-"

"No, it wasss at home. And it hurt emotionally."

Wu's gaze softens. "I've hurt many people in my lifetime. The best you can do is apologize and try to do better."

"I did that but ssshe- they- alssso wanted to apologize and I ssstill feel bad about it!"

"She?"

He said too much.

Shitshitshitshit

That narrows it down to only two possible people in this house

Fuuuuuuck

Wu watches his pupil freeze. He can see the fear in his eyes. It almost feels as if he's fearing imminent death.

For the first time in a long time, he doesn't feel conflicted.

He sees that fifteen-year-old he found trying to fly on top of a building.

Time is weird to the old man, as six years goes by so fast, yet sometimes his perception is forever stuck at a point in time.

He sees that boy he took in to be a ninja, who's been laughing with his family, who's been through thick and thin with everyone in this house. He doesn't have favorites, but by that same virtue, he shouldn't have a least favorite.

"Might I ask what happened?" Wu tries to sound as gentle as possible so as to not scare him. He didn't need to try.

"Promissse you won't be mad."

"None of my students are dead, so I would assume it's nothing to be mad at."

Jay grips his teacup, trying to savor the warmth. Maybe it'll make this easier to say.

"I hurt Nya. I got sssartled by sssomething and sssome kinda terrible sssnake insssinct kicked in and my jaw sssnapped and...I bit her. I bit my yang."

"It was an accident. All you can do is work on it and make it up to her."

Wu remembers many people he's hurt by accident.

"Why are you ssso okay with that?!"

"When you've lived as long as me, you harm loved ones on accident many times. I still do it, from time to time."

Misako. His brother. Every ninja at different points in time...

Jay puts his teacup down. "I'm not proud of myssself. How can I make myssself feel better? How do I make myssself feel sssafe, how do I make myssself feel like I can't hurt anyone like that again?"

He needs his hoodie. He's not sure why he left his room without it. His claws dig at his scales subconsciously.

"You can't assure you'll never hurt anyone again. You just have to try your best and make the best of it when it happens. A mistake doesn't make you a bad person, it makes you human."

"Yeah, human only ssseventy-five percccent of the time," Jay sneers. "The other twenty-five perccent of the time I'm a...I'm..."

No. He isn't a monster. Nya told him he isn't. Even without that assurance, on some level,  he knows  that. But he wants to tear these scales off so badly...

"Still only human," Wu fills in.

"A human who makesss terrible decccisssionsss."

"How so if it was the purest form of an accident? You didn't do it thinking it'd have a different outcome. You didn't intend to do it at all."

"I don't know!" Jay throws his hands up. "Thisss all started becaussse I wasssn't thinking and ssstabbed myssself of a freaking corpssse! Yearsss ago!"

His tail mimics his hand gestures and knocks the teacup over.

It didn't break, luckily.

There goes the warm tea, though.

He cusses under his breath, trying to clean it with his pant leg.

"I can clean that up," Wu sighs. "Your current state is not your fault. You cannot control this. You can only control your actions while you're in this...form."

"Exxxcccept not really. Freaking sssnake reflexxxesss and inssstinctsss or whatever isss wrong with me."

He hands Wu the teacup.

Wu refills the cup. "Again, all you can do is apologize and do better. You just have to try. Recognizing that you made a mistake and that you wish to fix it means you are not entirely immoral."

He hands the serpent the cup.

Jay sighs.

Actually, he kinda likes that advice.

He takes a sip of his tea.

Wu watches his student consider that advice and slowly come to terms with it. The way he slowly forms a small smile.

"If I wanna fixxx it, I'm not immoral. I like that."

--------------

Kai enters the Noodle House.

He excitedly searches for his date.

His smile drops when he sees her serving customers.

He knew she lived here, she commissioned a small apartment upstairs, but geez.

He catches up to he as she walks back to the kitchen.

"Hey, just give me a minute," she says, picking up her pace.

"I thought we were going on a date," he whispers.

"We are, just let me finish up and clock out and we can go."

"Clock out? You own the place!"

"Just let me take care of this real quick, please."

"Why would you be working on this day when-"

She grabs a few bowls. "Because I like helping my employees." She closes the gate to the kitchen with her hip.

Kai watches her give the customers their food.

He kinda admires her on the clock, watching her talk to customers.

Seems like they're regulars.

She wishes them a good day.

"Alright give me five," she says, walking past Kai. "Stay here."

---------------

Nya watches Lloyd try to fly a kite.

"I don't think I like this," Lloyd mumbles, looking over at Nya. "I wanted to try this as a kid but man. This is boring."

She gets up and grabs the kite. "Well, now we know that doesn't work."

He pulls out his phone and checks that off the list.

"Well. That was a waste of time. Wu's probably gonna need me again in a minute, could've been doing something better."

Nya ruffles his hair. "Nothing's a waste of time here. Consider it rearranged time. You found out you don't like kites. Now we know."

"I guess. Can we watch some cartoons?"

"Sure."

---------------

Jay finds himself holed back up in his room.

He went to grab a sweater before talking to Nya...but then he got sidetracked.

He started thinking over what he'd even say.

She understood it was an accident, right?

She definitely knew, she was the one reassuring him.

But the last interaction he had with her...he snapped at her.

Maybe she needs breathing room.

But she did come to the door to see if he wanted to talk.

...then she walked away because he wouldn't respond. She's probably upset.

Now he's staring at the ceiling, playing out potential interactions in his head.

Why can't he just go and talk to her? Why is this so stressful? Even Wu was understanding, why wouldn't she get it?

His mind can't settle on what to do, leaving his body frozen, stuck to the bed as his fingers play with the blanket, either bunching it up in his hands or patting it flat depending on his train of thought.

It won't hurt to give her an extra day or two, just to be safe, make sure she's over it, right?

-----------------

"A bar? For a first date?" Kai asks.

Skylor puts her hands on her hips. "Why not? There's food, there's games, I dunno."

They both take in the sights.

This place was kinda underground. Not that they didn't like Laughy's, but they didn't want Dareth around for the date. He's like a cringey uncle. He means well but he can be a bit much at times.

So they're here instead.

Where people punch each other over slots and there's a body on the floor (oh god is that person dead)

Kai crosses his arms. "Well. I do keep forgetting that I can legally drink now."

"Damn, you never cracked open a cold one?"

"I don't know when I would've had the time to."

"You've been old enough for it for over a year."

"Yeah. I haven't had time."

With a smirk, she drags him over to the bar.

-------------

Wu called Lloyd to train. Secrets only for a master, things the green ninja may hold over his peers.

(Nya's pretty sure he's just making Lloyd do chores.)

Cole, Zane, and Pixal are doing something together in the kitchen.

(Nya would check in on them but it sounds like dinner caught fire then they took care of it soooo)

Thinking on it, dinner is a good hour or so late.

Nya slept in late. She only got up to help Kai get ready in the afternoon. Then she realized it was late so she tried hanging around Lloyd but then everyone else was suddenly busy so here she is alone with her thoughts-

Deep breath.

She isn't alone.

Most of her family is in this building.

Her only family member not here (ironically the only one bound to her by blood) is out on a date, but that's okay, he deserves the time out of the house.

She stares at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, nothing but her bra and panties on.

Her scars. They're there. That's all. They're there. They aren't ugly. They aren't a sign of a burden. They're just scars to show that she's alive they didn't hurt anyone they aren't a bad omen they're just scars from surviving something difficult it's okay it's okay it's okay

She doesn't wanna have to look at the rest of her scars just yet.

She pulls off the bandage on her neck.

The bite marks aren't entirely scabbed over.

She checks the scratches on her leg.

That is scabbed over.

Something's wrong with the wound on her neck...

But from what she's heard, Cole's wound wasn't nearly this...tame? He hallucinated then passed out for almost a whole day. She didn't experience that. And it doesn't sting. But it isn't healing at a normal pace.

Give it one more day, maybe?

She turns on the shower.

Waiting for it to get hot, she lets it run over her hand.

Water over her flesh.

It's almost as if this was her old body and it's flowing around her.

It's a weird thought.

And yet, this is what she previously was.

Water.

She gets into the shower, letting her hair down.

The water going through her hair and down her back feels like the water is giving her a hug.

Or like it's pulling her.

Tempting her to go back.

She doesn't even have powers anymore, what does it want?

Maybe it wants nothing.

Maybe she wants to go back.

But why would she want to go back?

Why is she even having these thoughts?

Sure, sometimes in the shower she'd kinda chuckle knowing that she was water not too long ago but why is she feeling so strongly about this now?

She spent one day without her boyfriend and now...

Fuck maybe she is clingy. Maybe it  is  all to cope with this, to take her mind off of these things.

Is this codependency?

Fuck fuckfuckfuck fuckity fuck fuck

And it doesn't help that her brother is out of the house and everyone else is busy having fun so why the fuck should she just barge into the kitchen and be like 'hey guys I'm having weird thoughts about my existence and the sea' fuck she's so...

...alone.

How is she alone?

Almost her whole family is under the same roof.

But all these thoughts are stuck within her.

Within...water. Why does she keep feeling like the water can just. Suck her in if she's not careful enough.

She punches the wall underneath the shower head. As if to ward off some weird water monster.

She wants to scream.

She isn't afraid of the water, but it reminds her of an old home that she wants to leave so badly, and she did leave, but at the same time she's trapped in it and some part of her wants to be there and...

None of this makes sense.

The water runs over her as she gathers her thoughts.

Maybe this is a good thing. These thoughts are a tangled mess but at least she can think them, distraction-free, so then she doesn't have to think about them again later.

Hopefully.

The water starts to run cold.

How long was she just standing there, dwelling on this?

She turns off the water and dries off.

She stares at herself in the mirror, wet hair dripping into the sink.

Some fucking water goddess she is.

She doesn't even know what she's feeling or how to unravel what this shit is.

She should get dressed. Give someone else a turn in the shower.

------------------

"Okay, I think you've had enough to drink," Skylor hisses, snatching a glass away from Kai.

Kai rocks back and forth in what she can only assume is meant to be in rhythm with the blaring music.

(He's incredibly out of rhythm if that's the case.)

"Come on baby, we came here to drink and gamble, and I'm sorry but I don't have money to gamble," he slurs.

"We can dance."

"With you?" he looks her up and down. "Hot damn. Mkay."

The bartender looks at them in concern.

"He's fine, it's his first time, I thought he'd just order one drink." She pats Kai on the shoulder. "Anyways come on, let's dance."

As they pull themselves into a corner, Kai tries to start dancing.

Slow dance.

To heavy electronic beats.

It's not even good slow dancing.

She removes his hand from her hip. "I don't think this is the place for that."

"I can break dance a bit."

"You know what, never mind, this was a mistake. Let's just talk. What's on your mind?"

Kai looks her up and down again.

"Y'know, I've been meaning to say this for like, a year or two but like. I always liked skinny women."

"Wow, thaaankssss-"

"No no but like. Like. That's what I thought I wanted. But then I saw you put on weight over the last few years and like. Damn. Just like holy fuck. You look good. And the way you seem so happy. I think that's a part of it. Ever since we left the tournament you've seemed way happier and I think that makes you way hotter."

She claps her hands together. "Thank you, I think you should smile more too." She dramatically bats her lashes and gives him a huge, fake grin.

He smiles, not picking up on her sarcasm. "I'm just glad you're doing good. You're doing that good in life. Back on Chen's island? I know you were happy sometimes, but it doesn't compare to the way you smile now. You actually like your life now. You got a job you want, you dress how you want, you don't have to worry about weight, you just exist! It's great! You look fucking amazing when you like yourself."

"Oh," is all she can respond with. That's actually kinda sweet. He's just butchering his words. Being drunk really doesn't help.

"You know some of this is actually muscle, right?"

She can see his eyes sparkle in the neon lights.

"Holy fuck you are the perfect woman. I thought I knew what I wanted but you..."

"I get the gist of it," she chuckles, patting him on the back.

She feels something brush up against her backside.

That isn't Kai's hand.

It isn't Kai at all.

She moves her elbow back and quickly meets someone's face.

"Man, fuck you, all I did was grab-"

She stares this random man down. "Go on. Finish that sentence. I dare you."

The man holds his jaw. "Why are you mad? Take it as a compliment."

Kai pushes Skylor aside. "Hey, that's my date, and if you don't get why that's wrong and don't wanna listen to her, let a man say it to you: that's depole...deplore...depoll...that's just bad. She didn't con...content...conset...? She didn't say okay to that."

Skylor pulls Kai back. "Thanks, but I can defend myself."

She glares at the man, making sure Kai is within arm's reach. "I didn't consent to that."

"You have a boyfriend? Already? What a slu-"

Before he can even finish his sentence, Skylor's fist met his face.

All eyes are on them.

Kai starts laughing.

Does he even realize what's going on?

"By the way, he's not my boyfriend," she says nervously, patting Kai's arm.

People start closing in.

Looks like they just started a bar fight.

"I'll defend you, m'lady," Kai says, standing in front of her protectively.

Someone tries shoving him aside.

He throws a punch.

A fist rushes towards his face.

Suddenly, his world goes black.

--------------------------

Pizza was for dinner.

There was no conceivable way that Zane, nor Cole, and especially not Pixal, were able to salvage dinner. So they ordered pizza.

Cole left a plate in front of Jay's bedroom door.

Jay still hasn't come back out.

At first, everyone assumed he was just sleeping in, maybe even just a bit insecure, but he didn't come out for dinner?

"So, what's up with that?" Cole asks Nya in a whisper as he comes back to the table.

"Up with what?"

"You know, the reason I just had to leave pizza on the floor across the monastery."

"Ohhh, that. He's just having a bad day, one of those times where he doesn't wanna be seen."

"Really? Been a while since he's had one of those."

"Yup, but he's fine, I'm sure."

She isn't sure that he is fine.

Cole nods, accepting that answer.

"So anyways, you and Lloyd missed the whole dinner debacle." He piles five slices of pizza onto his plate.

Lloyd's smile drops. "That what?"

"They burnt dinner, that's why we're eating pizza," Nya whispers.

"I thought we were having pizza just cuz. What happened now?"

Zane chuckles. "We were cooking rice on the stove. I let Cole try and it came out crunchy. We tried salvaging it but it overcooked and-"

"Also while we tried fixing that we forgot about the chicken in the oven," Cole interjects.

"Luckily nothing was set on fire," Zane says calmly. "However the kitchen does still smell like smoke."

"Just a tiny bit, no big deal," Cole tries brushing it off.

Wu sighs.

These are his students.

The saviors of the world.

At least dinner isn't noodles this time.

-----------------------

Nya lays in bed, searching for things on her phone.

The latest thing she typed in the search engine was  'is it normal to want to go back to the water but also not want to go at all'

No results.

'how to cope with losing powers'

The only results are about power outages.

'i want to hug my bf but should i'

Info on long-distance relationships.

She doesn't expect answers from these searches, in complete honesty. But it feels good to type it out. Feels like she's asking someone, even if she gets no real response.

She wonders where Kai is. Is he having fun, at least? It's late, it's almost midnight, he's probably having fun.

She goes to the search engine again.

'what to do if brother goes miss'

She can't finish typing that, the phone is ringing.

It's Skylor.

Answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hey so heads up, I don't think Kai is coming home tonight."

Nya's heart sinks for a split second. Then she remembers. Kai likes bragging about things, he might just be spending the night. "Why?"

"He's out cold. I mean you can come get him, if you want, but he's sleeping in my bed and I don't have the energy to bring him to you."

"Yeah, no, that's fine, you can keep him," Nya snickers. "You two have fun?"

"...you can say that."

"Okay well, I'm going to sleep. Have fun." Nya fake yawns.

"By-"

End of conversation.

She doesn't wanna be thinking about how her brother is in someone's bed. All it does is make her miss her special someone.

(If only she knew that Kai wasn't having a fun time, was out cold before getting to the apartment, and Skylor is just keeping an eye on him. Incredibly unromantic times.)

She lays back on the empty mattress.

Search engine.

'what to do if missing yin'

A million articles on the topic.

She doesn't even feel like clicking on any of them.

Some of them are more in the vein of 'what to do if your spouse dies'

Did Jay ever look up things like that while she was gone?

She turns off her phone.

She stares at the moon through the window.

They say the moon controls the tide.

Wonder what it'd take for the tide to come for her.

Chapter Text

Kai woke up in an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar bed.

He's still wearing yesterday's clothes.

Wait.

Fuck, no, his nice jacket is gone.

He looks around the room.

Oh. His jacket is on a chair across the room.

He creeps out of the strange bed.

Socks hit the floor.

His shoes are next to the bed. Okay.

He lets out a sigh of relief. All his clothes are there, then.

Why was he even here to begin with? Did he not go home last night?

Where's the light switch.

By the door, duh.

Flick it on.

Ow ouch ouch ouch fuck shit

Nevermind. Turn it off.

Got it. Killer headache.

He turns the doorknob.

It's locked.

...who locked him in here?

He looks at the clothes on the chair.

Oh. It's what Skylor wore on their date yesterday.

Slowly, things click into place.

It's Skylor's apartment.

Welp. He's stuck here.

He throws himself back on the bed and messes around on his phone.

---------------

Nya cleans the wound on her neck.

It still hasn't really healed.

There has to be some way to fix this. She could ask Wu for some tea but that's in limited quantities and she doesn't wanna tell him what Jay did.

Maybe Jay just started producing a bit of venom when he bit but it wasn't at full force yet?

Maybe if she raised her heart rate? Could that get rid of it?

There are so many ways she could do that. Exercise...

Or a kiss.

A kiss would be nice.

And to be held by something other than water.

Maybe if arms wrapped around her instead of her blanket...

No. Give him his space.

Do not bother him. Don't even try. He'll come to you when he's ready.

She can cover it until then, it's fine.

Maybe she can even solve it on her own.

-----------------

Kai drifted back to sleep, sprawled out in the center of Skylor's bed.

The door cracks open.

Skylor smiles, seeing that he's moved.

Then she sees that he put his shoes back on.

"Hey, no shoes on the bed!"

Kai jolts awake at her voice.

He kicks his shoes off.

Then he rolls over, gripping his head.

"I got a headache," he groans.

"You're hung over," she answers flatly. "Oh, also you hit your head pretty bad sooo there's that."

"What happened last night?"

She sits on the bed. "Weeeelllll, you got wasted, some asshole got handsy, it may or may not have turned into a full-on bar fight, some dude punched you  hard , you passed out, and I had to drag you here."

He frowns. "I remember none of that."

"Yeah. Like I said, you got  wasted ."

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad was it?"

"Eight? You could've been worse just it was way too much for your first time."

"Did we have some action together?"

"No. You were out cold. I brought you here, called your sister, watched you for a bit to make sure you stayed alive, ate some noodles because I realized we skipped dinner, then slept for two hours."

He sits up. "Shit, you need some sleep then. You have employees, they won't mind, right?"

"I need to help out. I only employ a handful of people."

"We got into a bar fight!"

"Yeah, and I made that mess, I chose to go there on our date, so why is it on my employees to pick up my slack from my mistake?"

"What if I took up your shift!"

"Didn't you come in here one time because you set your kitchen on fire?"

"I can be a waiter!"

"No, besides, I don't think you're in the best state to do much."

"I'm fine."

He flicks the lights on just to prove it.

He presses his lips together.

He had sunglasses in his jacket pocket, right?

She leans against the wall. "I know you're just trying to show me how big and tough you are. It's fine though. You're fine. Just stay here."

"How about you stay here too then? You're running off of two hours of sleep."

She bites her lip. "I could call in one employee...it's her day off but if I agree to give her another day off this week..."

Within minutes, Skylor finds herself on the phone with this employee while Kai showers.

When he comes out, Skylor is laying in bed in a tank top and shorts.

He can't help but stare. He never got the opportunity to see her tattoo- tattoos, plural actually, she has a lot of purple snakes swirling around her body!

Fuck any preconceptions he had of what his dream wife looked like, she is perfection.

Meanwhile, she stares at his flat hair. She has to hold back her laughter.

She kinda likes it.

He hops on the bed.

"I didn't say you could come up here," she snickers.

He looks around the room.

It's pretty much her bedroom and living room all in one, no couch in sight, just the bed and a chair. The only other room in the apartment is the bathroom.

"Uhhhh..."

"I'm teasing."

They both stare at the ceiling.

"Did you mean what you said last night?" she asks.

He doesn't remember most of the night.

"What did I say?" he chuckles nervously.

"You just got all mushy about how hot you think I am."

Is this it? Is it time to make a move?

"Y-yeah, I wasn't trying to objectify you or anything-"

"You weren't. You think I'm hot because I'm happy with myself?"

His hand creeps close to her hand. "Yeah. Why wouldn't that be sexy?"

She smiles. "Thanks. And you're...you're a lot of things."

He lays on his side to get a good look at her. "So, what are we now?"

She rolls over to look at him. "I still don't know. After seeing you drunk, I mean...I don't know. Last night was shit."

"Maybe we can solve it now." He leans in for a kiss.

She sighs. "I'm not disinterested but I don't know if I'm ready for it. I spent years under my dad's thumb, and with as much freedom as I've had recently, I don't know if I'm ready to give that up just yet."

"Oh," is all Kai can muster, processing what she just said.

"Don't get me wrong, I know a relationship isn't a ball and chain like old people like to say, but...I don't know. To have something holding me down in any capacity, even if it's just a string..."

He nods and closes his eyes.

She stares at him for a while before she can fall asleep herself.

------------------

"You told me this came from an accident with a boomerang," Wu chastizes Nya.

She had bumped into him in the hallway. Seeing her hair move to reveal the bandage on her neck, he remembered something Jay had said yesterday.

"It's just a little scratch," she says, trying to cover the wound up.

She could be logical about this. She knows what she should do, and usually, she wouldn't be so prideful but if this puts Jay at risk over something he couldn't entirely control, she's going to deny it up and down.

"We have to do something about it, it may lead to long-term damage," Wu says calmly.

"Who even told you about it? Was it Pixal? I thought she knew how to keep a secret..."

"Jay told me."

Oh. Shit. Is that why he hasn't come out of his room? Did Wu tear him a new one?

"He...told you? Is he okay?"

"Yes. Now, may I see the bite?"

She hesitantly lifts up the bandage.

"I can make some tea for that."

There has to be some kind of catch, why is he so okay with this?

--------------

Pixal and Zane took Lloyd out to see a movie.

Zane was very into the idea of pretending to be Lloyd's dad. Pixal knew he liked pretending, but at this point, she's pretty sure he's doing it purely to mess with Lloyd.

"Ey sport, need more popcorn?" Zane asks with all the tone of a 1950s father, offering to take the empty popcorn bucket.

Lloyd just stares at Zane.

Zane has a small, innocent but teasing smile.

He means well, he's just putting up this act just in the hopes of making either himself or Lloyd laugh.

Lloyd hands him the bucket.

"Alright. Your mother will keep an eye on ya, champ."

Pixal cracks a grin. She's honestly so close to playing along.

-----------------------

"So you're not mad at him?" Nya asks.

Wu shakes his head as he pours the tea for her. "You, however. You've hidden this for how many days, now?"

"Three days? I think? But look, you can't blame me, I thought you...and him...I didn't want you to hurt him."

He sighs. "So instead you let yourself hurt?"

"It's nothing, really. The stuff going on in my brain hurts more."

"The what now?"

"Nothing, I'm just...a little messed up."

"From Jay biting you?"

"No, from other things and..."

Screw it.

She gulps down her tea.

She jumps up.

"Thanks for the tea, great talking to you, amazing to hear you got over your snake racism, have a good day, the tea's supposed to take effect within a few hours, right? Great."

He couldn't get a word in before his bedroom door slammed shut.

------------------------

Cole sits on Jay's bed holding shoulder pads and a long-sleeved shirt.

He boops Jay on the nose.

Jay sticks his tongue out in response. As usual.

They were trying to make Jay's reflexes less...reflexive. Train him to hold back.

It isn't really working.

He isn't really giving snappy reactions given that he knows what Cole is doing.

And sometimes Cole is just too slow.

He snapped the first time Cole went for his nose and that was it. Every time after, he kinda saw it coming.

"Look, I don't know what you want from me," Cole says, observing Jay's annoyance.

"I don't know either. Maybe I'm the problem."

"No, we just need to surprise you better."

"Yeah, but we need to plan it out but then planning it out ruinsss the sssurprissse so it can't be a sssurprissse and-"

He finds himself lunging forward, teeth bared.

Cole's fist is barely an inch from his face.

No damage done though.

Jay laughs. "I did it, I held back."

Cole nods. A question comes to mind though.

"So, if I land a punch, can we consider that payback for the time you took a chunk out of me?"

"I gue-"

A fist comes rushing for his stomach.

He considers grabbing Cole's fist to stop it but if he does that he'll scrape up his wrist...

Jay lets out a squeak.

Cole pretty much took all the wind out of him.

Jay flops over on the bed, (literally) hissing in pain.

"Good job," he wheezes.

Cole pats him on the shoulder ever so gently, as if to make up for the literal gut punch just now.

"You want a snack?" he offers.

Jay nods silently, his eyes shut tight.

Cole gets up to get snacks.

-------------------

"Does our little sport need anything else today?" Pixal asks Lloyd in a high-pitched, bubbly tone, joining in on the joke.

Lloyd rolls his eyes.

They're walking home.

It's getting dark out.

They just need to climb up the mountain's stairs.

Zane stops at one point on a very specific step.

"Why are we stopping?" Lloyd asks.

Zane hushes him and points to the setting sun.

While a found family doesn't have to be defined by normal family roles and dynamics, it does feel like Lloyd has two parents around at the same time, for once.

It's kinda nice.

The three of them sit on the steps and just watch the sunset.

-------------------------

Kai gets out of bed.

On a scale of "messed up" to "fucked up" he still feels a little messed up, so that's an improvement.

He should get going though.

Got his shoes, his jacket...

He should say goodbye. Plus she needs to lock her door.

"Hey, I'm gonna go," he whispers, shaking Skylor gently.

She yawns and stretches. "You're going? Already?"

"It's seven PM."

"Oh." She looks out the window.

Yup, it's dark out.

"I just need you to let me out," he says.

She gets up.

Damn. It's dark out.

"Hey, I'll do you one better. How about we get some food then you can go home?"

"Oh, sure, what, just from downstairs?"

"I was thinking Laughy's. Make up for last night."

She can see Kai start to put his guard back up. "Laughy's? Really?"

"We don't have to."

He thinks it over. He hasn't eaten since yesterday, has he?

"Screw it, Laughy's it is."

---------------

Nya misses her powers, that much she knew. But she's starting to see how much this is messing with her.

Distraction-free, she can see how she still makes certain gestures when washing her hands, hand gestures she'd make while manipulating her (former) element.

Good news is that her wound is healing, finally.

She can't help but feel a bit embarrassed, seeing it was that easy to fix. She thought if she came to Wu with this it'd be more...explosive?

It'll be okay though. She can go back to her room and sort out her issues, it'll be fine.

--------------

Cole sits next to Jay.

Their time together kinda just devolved into talking about whatever.

Cole claps his hands together. "Okay no but like, if Fritz Donnegan was real, he wouldn't stand a chance against like...anyone."

"Maybe Fugidove."

"Okay, maybe him. I still feel like Fugidove would have a pretty good chance though."

Jay considers it. Then he considers who played Fritz Donnegan. "It would be funny to sssee Fugidove beat him up. The character, I mean, not the actor!"

"...I assumed you meant the character."

"Yeah. I jussst realized maybe that sssounded a bit insssensssitive consssidering hisss actor passssssed away recently."

"Recently? That was like, two-three years ago."

"Wasss it?"

Remembering a timeline that never happened is weird. He remembers when it split off and when it would've happened, but sometimes he forgets. Sometimes he can even still feel the damage done to his eye. Even after it healed it was permanently still just a bit blurry.

Well, it would've been permanent had the timeline not been undone.

Though he swears that sometimes that same eye does something a little funky and goes just a bit out of focus.

It's probably just paranoia.

"You okay, buddy?"

"Yeah, all good, jussst weird to think it'sss been that long."

"I mean, I knew you were a fan of the guy but I didn't think you'd need a whole moment of silence for him. He that inspirational to you?"

"Sssomething like that."

---------------------

Kai and Skylor sit down with a plate of wings.

And Dareth is there too.

"Whatever you do, do not let him order any of your stronger beverages," Skylor whispers to Dareth.

"I'd never serve a ninja any anyways. I've known them since they were like, 15. Makes me feel like an irresponsible uncle."

"I thought you were the cringey but kinda accidentally cool uncle," Kai snickers.

"It's like raising a kid. You don't want to see your kid get drunk!"

"Parents do it all the time. You don't even see us that often!"

"I just don't want you drinking and ninja-ing. Don't abuse substances, kids."

Kai blinks. "This is a bar! That's like half of what you sell!"

"That's not true. We have food and karaoke too. This is a karaoke joint first and foremost."

"You act like you want another hangover," Skylor mumbles.

Kai sighs. "I don't."

She bites some meat off of a wing. "Then don't complain."

"Fiiinnneeee."

---------------------

Pixal pulls Zane aside into the living room while everyone eats dinner.

"You playing pretend made me realize something," she says softly, cradling his hand in hers.

Please do not let this be mental health related he just likes playing pretend he swears hold on let's drag that thought into the trash bin-

Disk memory cleared. Train of thought derailed.

"Go on," he says curiously.

"I think I want children."

He did not expect that. At all.

"But when would we have time for that?"

"I do not know, but I see all of these perfect human families on television with their children and I believe today's activities solidified my desire. I already have the blueprints sketched out."

The thought makes him smile. Yet at the same time, there's something he can't help but think about.

"We do not need children to be human, nor a family, nor in love."

She pulls out her phone and shows him the blueprints.

They're small, square robots. They mostly look like her.

"They have your hair," he coos.

Maybe this isn't a terrible idea, it does seem awfully cute.

"May we start building them?"

"We can build a few." He presses his mouth against her cheek, ever so gently so neither of their faces get scuffed.

They start looking online for parts.

-------------------

Skylor lets Kai go.

He goes towards the stairs to the monastery.

"We're still gonna hang out after this, right?" he asks one last time.

"Totally."

Kai slowly goes up the steps, looking at her over his shoulder.

He doesn't have a girlfriend but that's okay, he had a good time and understands her just a bit better.

He starts sprinting up the stairs, remembering that he can totally brag about getting into a drunken bar fight.

-------------------

Nya's bed is empty once again.

She's glad Kai is home though.

But she still stares out the window, alone. Her back to the door.

She wants to talk to someone, but who? Who would even get this? Cole kinda gets it, that fear of suddenly disappearing, but it still isn't a one to one comparison. When he came back from the dead, he struggled with his powers, but they weren't lost.

Although...every ninja had lost their powers at some point or another...but did they ever have to live with knowing they're just normal people?

There was their brief stint as teachers. And there was a time before their powers were unlocked...

But would they get this? Things always seemed to work out for them in the end. Probably something to do with the elements of creation and destiny and the balance or whatever.

She's pretty sure she's never getting hers back. At all. Entirely removed from the title of elemental master...

Fuck.

The only people she could maybe dump all her thoughts out to are Kai (it's a dick move to do this after he came home from...all that) and Jay (give him space give him space give him space)

Maybe Cole, but that's a firm maybe.

Her phone goes off.

It's Jay.

'You up?'

She types a response.

'Yea'

Her bedroom door cracks open.

She looks over her shoulder. "You can come in," she mumbles, turning back to the window.

Floorboards creak.

He stops by the bed.

"You can get up here."

The bed shakes and the comforter is lifted up.

She can hear a small hiss.

She turns around to look at him.

He looks so cozy.

She strokes his face. "I'm so sorry," she whispers.

"You? I'm sssorry!"

She feels a scaley hand travel up to her hip.

She smiles and pulls him in for a hug.

He lets out a happy little hiss, taking in the warmth of her body, the safeness of her arms, and the strength of her love.

Then he feels the tears. While he shed a few out of joy, hers came like rain. A few drops at first before growing heavy.

"Nya?"

"I don't know what's wrong with me," she sobs.

That night, he listened as she let it all out.

She fell asleep on his chest when he got her to feel completely safe.

She needed that. To cry. To be held. To let all the words out regardless if they actually made sense or not. To be the little spoon. To be told it'll be okay.

He's seen her let her guard down, of course, but to this extent was something new.

He kisses her on the forehead.

She loosens her grip, knowing that he's holding her in place.

Nothing can take her away.

Chapter Text

Days had passed.

Nya would ramble, and Jay would help her untangle the words spilling out of her mouth.

He'd say he's slowly getting her readjusted to interacting with the others...but that's a lie on multiple levels. She never stopped hanging around them. Now she just seems more herself. But he can't tell if it's an act or if she's doing better. Every other night she still needs to sit down to vent.

"You look like you've been crying," Zane remarks gently.

Nya looks up at him. "No? I just yawned."

They were sitting on the couch, watching a movie.

Zane had a lot of downtime lately. He often kept himself busy, but he needed to be ready if Pixal needed assistance building.

"Analyzing your face, the swelling around your eyes seems more in line with crying."

"I  yawned ."

He stares at her with concern.

"Hey, thisss movie'sss pretty funny," Jay chimes.

Nya turns her attention to the screen, crossing her arms. "Yeah."

Truth be told, she was crying at some point in the last twenty-four hours. They were heavy tears. It felt like hours (and it might've been.) But just right now? She's fine.

"You're sure you're alright?" Zane asks.

"I'm  sure ."

Zane slowly returns his gaze to the screen. "Alright."

The movie was okay.

Nya was the first one to leave the room, needing to use the bathroom.

"Is she alright?" Zane asks.

"I don't think that'sss my busssinesss to talk about," Jay answers awkwardly.

"Was she in any sort of pain last night? Did something hurt her?"

"No?"

That's not a lie, technically nothing hurt her physically.

"People do not cry without reason-"

"I feel like ssshe ssshould tell you on her own. Her can of wormsss."

"So she isn't alright?"

"Between you and me? I don't think ssso."

-----------------

"We need to talk," Jay asserts as he enters Nya's room.

She looks up from her phone, giving a small hum.

He sits next to her on the bed.

He glances over at her phone.

She's looking up how to reduce puffiness around eyes.

She shuts the device off. "I'm listening. Body insecurities I take it?"

"No, thisss one isssn't about me."

"Let me guess, you're worried that I'm scared of you-"

He grips her by the shoulders. "No, not even clossse. Thisss is about you. Hearing Zane worry made me realize that you probably need ssseriousss help-"

"I think I'm handling it pretty well, I have you-"

"No. No. Ssstop that. That'sss not healthy. And I don't think I'm enough to help you through thisss."

She brings a hand to his face. "You are enough, you're amazing..."

"Don't change the sssubject! I know I'm enough asss a perssson. You know what I meant. I'm not enough for what you need. You need more help than I can give you. I'm not a therapissst."

She plays with the collar of his shirt, thinking of a way to try changing to subject anyways. "Hey, you want sexy times?"

"Nya-"

She sighs. "What am I supposed to do? What therapist would be prepared for all of this?"

"The point isssn't for the therapissst to know how you feel, they jussst need to understand why you feel like that. Ssscrew therapy even, you jussst need to talk to sssomeone other than me. It'sss not healthy."

"I opened up, isn't that enough?"

"No, it isssn't. If it wasss, you wouldn't be crying like that. I can't help you alone. You need more than thisss."

"I don't-"

His nails dig into her sleeves in a way where while not tearing through, she can feel them through the fabric, sinking into her flesh without breaking a thing.

"Lisssten to me," he growls.

She's heard an assortment of interesting hisses and other (admittedly really cute) noises from him, but a growl in his voice like that was something new.

"I'm only one perssson," his voice gains a slight squeak, as if recoiling from the growl. Or he's ready to cry himself as he softens his voice. "I can't fixxx everything for you. You have other people that love you and-"

"The other people who love me don't get it though. You don't even get it! I trust you and Kai with this stuff, and Kai wasted his childhood taking care of me so why should I bother him? So that leaves you."

Jay kinda wants to cry for her. "No, that's not how you ssshould be thinking."

"It's still where my mind goes. I know it's not great, but at the same time I can't shake it off." She turns away from him, avoiding eye contact.

He holds her tight, resting his head on her shoulder.

"You can only help sssomeone who wantsss to help themssselvesss. You need help."

She presses her face into his shoulder, closing her eyes. "I'm afraid that if I tried to get help, no one would want to help me. That no one  can  help me."

He runs his fingers through her hair. "We can help you if you want help."

"I do but..."

"We can get ssstarted. Baby ssstepsss. Doesssn't hurt to try."

She wants to say there's a chance it absolutely could hurt.

That doesn't make it out of her mouth though.

All she can muster is a small, "...okay."

She'll still stay with him just a little longer.

Just the two of them.

Claws softly trace the swirls on Nya's back.

She almost wants to fall asleep in his arms.

He nuzzles against her face.

She can feel the static that crackles from that gesture. It happens so often that she can't help but associate the feeling with some sort of affection.

It's okay. It'll be okay.

How she can start making things better, she's not sure. But she can try when the answer comes to her.

And she'll try to make sure she has help.

She can try.

Chapter Text

Nya didn't try to fix her problem.

She smiled at Jay and lied through her teeth.

Everything's fine, she got over it!

She still stood by what she told Zane, she just yawned, it's fine.

Jay led her out of her room one day. There was a surprise for her.

She trusted him, gripping his hand tight.

The surprise was probably just time to meet Zane and Pixal's children. She'd been hearing so much about the progress made on them.

Instead, everyone was scattered around the living room, staring at her expectantly.

"Hey...where's the robot babies?" she chuckles, noticing the lack of robo-children.

"They require several more hours of labor," Pixal answers.

"Yes, she's quite far along with them, but not that far," Zane follows up.

The two of them practically made a game out of how much they can make it sound like a pregnancy instead of a construction effort. They did it purely to throw people off, although they quickly got used to it. Every once and a while, though, they would succeed in wording it just the right way to make the others double take.

"Okay. So, what is it? Movie night?" Nya asks.

Lloyd takes a deep breath. "This is an intervention."

Oh, fuck no.

She turns on her heel as quickly as possible.

Cole blocks the exit.

"You're not blocking the exit," she chuckles. "Isn't that kinda cruel?"

"You're hurting," Kai says gravely.

"Who told you that?!"

Slowly, all eyes fall on Jay.

"You! I thought I could tell you everything without-"

He finds himself catching her fist.

"I jussst sssaid I wasss worried about you. I didn't tell them...pretty much everything, actually."

"He only said he was worried because I asked," Zane chimes in. "Your body language has recently indicated-"

"I'm fine," she says through barred teeth.

She takes a deep breath.

"Listen. You can only help those who can help themselves, you can only help those who want help, I don't want help because I don't need it."

Wu's eyebrows knit together. "Nya, please, your family worries. We worry."

"Okay, but I'm fine. What are you gonna do? Force me to tell you lies? To fake break down on the floor and cry about things that don't bother me?"

"Whatever it is, I am sure we can help you," Pixal says, almost more stern than gentle.

"Why won't any of you listen? I'm okay, I promise!" Nervous laughter peppers Nya's voice.

"Jay literally told us he doesn't think you're okay," Cole retorts, crossing his arms as he leans against the door.

"Yes, sleep patterns indicate that the two of you spend almost every night together," Zane adds. "The two of you talk a lot, do you not?"

"Okay, and? I look fine now, don't I? Why are you listening to him, he's a drama queen, I'm the one you're worrying about and I'm saying I'm okay."

"Your tone and body language indicate otherwise," Zane says as he stands up, stepping towards Nya.

She realizes she's acting suspiciously.

With a deep breath, she stands up straight. "Okay. Still. You called me in here because what? Your software, which is years out of date, by the way, picked up something that isn't there? And then Jay confirmed your suspicions? Haven't you ever heard? Never trust a snake?"

Jay can feel something shoot through his heart. She really threw him under the bus like that she loved him he thought she was okay with his current state why would she say that

Zane remains cool. He has been updated recently, notably without her help, thank you very much. But he won't say that. This isn't about him. He can be sassy and he can be a jerk when he wants to be but this isn't the time. Instead, he claps his hands together and inhales deeply- isn't it weird how he still does things like that? He's not sure why he built that habit into this new body but it does help him calm down.

Kai stands between the blue and white ninjas and pats them on their arms. "Nya. Stop. I'm your brother, I'm saying that I've been worried too."

"I'm twenty, I don't need you to worry about me."

Cole considers reaching for Nya but then he remembers his place by the door.

"It isn't just Kai or Jay or Zane. Literally all of us are worried."

"You're one to talk, every time we ask what's wrong you just watch the sunset or whatever!"

"Because I know how to cope with things healthily, there's a difference."

"How do you know I'm not dealing with my issues healthily?"

"I believe your current behaviors are very much in line with the manner in which I acted for a time while you were gone," Pixal answers. "I would often sit around watching television, being considerably unproductive."

"I just spent a year merged with the sea! I need time to recuperate."

Kai stands right in front of Nya. "That's fine, but you've been kinda off. And I get why! But if you have things to talk about, we're here."

"Jay told me you two would fight when I was gone, don't talk to me about opening up or healthy ways to deal with your issues."

"We just want you to be okay. We expect you to not be completely alright, but we can work on it," Cole chimes.

She puts her hand on her hip.

Keep composure keep composure keep composure

"Okay. But you still can't get me to tell you anything."

Jay reaches for her. "Nya, pleassse-"

She swats his hand away. "No! You ratted me out!"

"So you admit to not being alright," Pixal adds.

"Shut up!"

"That kind of language is unnecessary," Zane states sternly.

"Screw off, you're lagging."

Cole finally moves away from the door. "Hey, you don't talk to Zane like that."

She stares up at Cole. "What? I know you're not gonna do anything."

"You don't talk to him like that. He's been nothing but nice to you."

"I don't owe him shit."

"Okay, you're acting kind of irrational," Kai mumbles, grabbing Nya's wrist.

She tears her arm away from him. "Fuck off."

"Little sis-"

"I'm not going to listen! You can't make me talk unless I want to talk, and I don't want to."

"We understand that, but you are acting quite rude-"

"And what does the robot know about that?"

"You know damn well he's not just a robot, he has feelings-"

"And what do you know about feelings? You lost them when you died-"

"Okay, I think you're jussst sssaying offensssive ssshit to everyone in thisss room to deflect, and I get that, but you're cutting way too deep-"

"Oh, like your fangs cut into me?"

"You are stepping over the line, your statements are unwarranted, this is incredibly unusual for you."

"Wow, something isn't in your database and now it's unusual."

"Guys, stop," Lloyd says quietly.

"Sis, whatever the fuck crawled up your ass, you need to get it out and stop talking to everyone like this."

"Leave me alone and I'll stop."

"Stop it," Lloyd tries again.

"But if we leave you alone you'll never try to get better."

"Really? Seems like you fixed all your problems that way."

"Cole is a different person from Nya. Your coping strategies-"

"Don't say shit about my coping strategies when you can literally just turn off your ability to be sad. You can just press a button and make yourself feel better."

" Stop! " Lloyd shouts.

Silence rings through the room for a moment.

With an annoyed grunt, Nya makes a beeline for the door.

The door opens.

The door slams shut.

Everyone exchanges glances, ranging from annoyance to concern.

"I thought this was a bad idea," Lloyd groans, burying his face in his hands. "Why would cornering her in one room make her open up?"

"Ssshe tore into all of usss," Jay mumbles, tugging his hoodie in ways to hide more of his body. "Ssshe pulled the 'never trussst a sssnake' card..."

"Yeah, I mean, I kinda knew her temper was worse than mine, but I didn't know she had it in her to go for our throats like that," Kai says.

"This was overwhelming. Would anyone like tea?" Wu asks.

Zane looks at his mentor. "You suggested that we do this. And yet, you hardly said a thing. You did not break it up. You did not help."

"It was up to you to sort it out."

Cole leans over the back of the couch. "Then why were you here? You don't get a pass just because you're our master."

"I'd like sssome tea though," Jay whispers. "I think I need it."

------------------

"Can I come in?" Jay asks through the door.

"Fine," Nya answers.

"My handsss are full."

She lets out a long sigh as she gets off of her bed. "I'm coming."

Open the door.

Jay offers her a cup of tea.

"Thaaanks."

She tries to shut the door but he sticks his foot out.

"Hold on, we need to talk."

"What, are you sorry for telling on me?"

"Not really, but umm, you sssaid sssomething that wasssn't okay."

"I can say the same thing about you telling everyone my business."

They move over to the bed.

She sits leaning against the wall. "So what'd I say to you again?"

He sits on the bed, his legs hanging off the edge, his tail strewn across the bed. "You sssaid to never trussst a sssnake. C'mon. You know that wasss wrong."

She sips on her tea. "I said that?"

"You know what you sssaid."

She sighs. "It was the heat of the moment. I was upset. I'm sorry."

"You ssshouldn't have sssaid it in the firssst placcce. You could've sssaid ssso many other thingsss but that'sss what you went for." He grips his cup of tea, taking in its warmth.

She reaches for his tail, toying with the tip of it ever so slightly, running her thumb over the scales. "I'm sorry. I won't say that again."

"But that you sssaid it at all hurt. That'sss the type of bullssshit Wu ssspewsss. It isssn't jussst 'not niccce,' it'sss prejudiccced. And you keep telling me you like me like thisss but then you sssaid that and..."

"I said it just to hurt you back. I'm sorry."

"I jussst wanted to let you know that it hurt that you could even sssay a thing like that!"

"How can I make it up to you?"

He shrugs. His tail jerks itself out of her hand, curling away from her.

She puts her mug on the nightstand and crawls over to him, peering over his shoulder.

"Who's my big snakey boyfriend?"

"Ssstop, now it jussst feelsss like you're fetissshizing me."

"Who's my sparky boyfriend?"

"Me."

"You!" She tilts his head to the side and kisses him on the cheek.

He squirms ever so slightly.

"What's wrong?"

"Even putting  my  issssssue with the intervention assside, you're ssso calm. You jussst blew up at everyone in thisss houssse. You were a jerk. And now you're jussst gonna sssmooch on me and pretend none of that happened?"

"I just need you to make me feel better."

"No, I'm a bandaid on a gaping wound that needsss ssstitchesss. What you need isss ssseriousss mental help."

"I don't-"

"I'm not arguing with you on thisss anymore." He stands up.

She looks up at him.

He leans in, his mouth almost meeting hers as he tilts her chin up.

He wants to kiss her, but what she said earlier still rings in his mind.

"I'll be back tonight, but I'm gonna try to ssstop being your bandaid, got it?"

Her eyes lock with his. She can feel his concern.

"Got it."

-------------------

Dinner was long, awkward, and mostly silent.

Usually silences were okay. When you live together for so long, it happens.

That's not what this was.

Nya wouldn't talk.

No one wanted to prod at her.

That was the big event of the day. They all knew what happened.

To talk about anything else is to gloss over the issue.

Yet, someone has to try.

"The children are due for tomorrow," Zane says quietly.

Makes sense. Pixal wasn't at the table- granted, she rarely ever shows up to dinner. Zane is content showing up just to talk, but she is not.

"Congrats," Kai chuckles.

Nya glances over at Jay.

He's busy whispering something to Cole.

Lloyd pokes at his food. "So, the kids getting their own room orrr?"

Ah yes, the important questions.

Zane sits up straight. "They are children. They need to be nurtured and loved. They will not be sleeping alone. Unless they misbehave, in which case they get shut down for the day."

"That sounds like... some sort of parenting," Cole says.

"Yup. That isss the parenting ever," Jay follows up.

Nya smiles. "So we'll meet them tomorrow. That's nice."

All eyes are on her.

"Please be kind to them," is all Zane can say.

Chapter Text

Nya slept next to Jay as always.

He seemed distant, keeping his back turned to her.

He didn't object to her hugging him from behind though.

At some point, through the night she felt him squirm in her arms.

Things popped and squelched until she felt soft skin in her grasp.

He still kept his back turned to her.

She wants to make it up to him. Somehow.

---------------

"Oh thank the master, the snake lisp is gone," Jay sighs happily as he gets up and stretches.

She can see his shirt ride up as he lifts his arms- did he know about the huge scar on his lower back? Right where his tail would be.

"You look great either way," she coos.

He frowns. He doesn't know how to take that. It should be positive but considering what she said recently...

A flat "Thanks," is all he can muster.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" she asks.

His eyes get big.

"The robot babies, shit, we have to be ready for that, they might need gifts or something shitshitshit-"

"...we were supposed to buy them gifts?"

------------------

Cole unwraps a muffin as Jay runs towards him. "Oh hey, you're doing bett-"

Jay grips his arm tight as he runs past, dragging him ever so slightly.

"No time, we need to head into the city asap. All of us."

Despite Jay's small stature, he can make someone budge if he wants to. Cole follows him curiously instead of tearing his arm away.

---------------

"Hey, Nya, look what they brought back!" Kai yells from several aisles away, holding up a box.

They were in a toy store.

They weren't sure if the robot children had or needed clothes and what little bit they had seen hadn't exactly been humanoid.

So they settled on toys.

Nya walks over to Kai.

Baby dolls go off as she walks through the aisles.

Kai holds out the box. "Remember these? You used to beg me for one all the time but we never had the money. Looks like the series got rebooted."

She grabs the box.

It's a pony that could be unfolded into a tank. It had brushable hair but when it unfolded into the tank the hair became a pull mechanism to shoot missiles.

Fuck yeah, she always wanted one. It looks a bit different from the ones she saw as a kid, but she's not sure if that's just them being redesigned, faulty memory, or both. But that's definitely some form of the toy she'd beg for every time they'd visit the city...

"Yeah. I wanted it when I was like, five. To nine. Ish."

"I can buy you one now."

Honestly, it is kind of tempting.

"I don't need it. What would I even do with it? Come on, we need to get something for Pixal and Zane's kids."

Kai watches his sister walk away. She still glances back a few times with a certain longing spark in her eyes.

When he caught up with the others, he slipped it into the cart anyways, hidden under a pack of foam weapons.

-------------

At some point, they had to get something off of a high shelf. So Cole picked Jay up to grab it.

Jay fell into the shopping cart.

After a moment, he decided he kinda liked it there (and he may or may not have fallen in a position where he was kinda stuck without asking for help, and he was feeling too prideful to admit it)

Lloyd offered help but Kai would shush him.

Kai tossed things into the cart with a smirk, pretending Jay wasn't there.

"You coming out of there?" Nya asks playfully, peering into the cart.

"Nah, this is pretty comfy."

Cole grabs a ball. "What do you think? Think they'll like playing ball?"

"...do they even have legs?" Nya asks.

"Good question, I don't think any of us know!" Lloyd answers.

Kai knocks the ball out of Cole's hand and into the cart anyways.

---------------

At some point, they were mostly dicking around and going up and down aisles, checking that they hadn't missed anything.

Every time they passed by a rack of rubber snakes, someone would throw one into the cart. Maybe it was a hint that Jay should get up, but he took them as a badge of pride.

"Behold my terrible army," he says in a spooky voice, waving one of the snakes around.

That gesture seems so familiar to Lloyd, he starts falling behind, trying to hide away in secondhand embarrassment.

"You know we're gonna have to leave all of those at checkout, right?" Cole snickers.

"Didn't you throw some of them in here?" Jay laughs.

"Fair point."

Nya picks up a water gun.

Honestly, she probably could put something like that on her mech. But cooler. And shooty-er. And with a bigger water tank.

...but what would it even be good for?

To give her the satisfaction of feeling like she has powers again?

She aims the water gun at Kai playfully.

She'd never known him to play much, at least not with her, not in their childhood. He was too busy for that most times. Though ever since Wu found them years ago, he did loosen up a lot...but moments like this weren't common.

So she really did not expect him to pick up a toy gun with a small rubber ball tethered to the inside.

They playfully have a standoff.

Lloyd pulls a foam sword off of a rack.

"No, nononono no, we're not doing this," he giggles, gesturing for the siblings to back away from each other.

"You literally bought a knife to a gunfight," Kai snickers, pulling the trigger on the toy gun.

The ball barely goes out a foot in front of him, missing Lloyd by a good yard.

That was underwhelming.

"Hey, I think we should start checking out!" Cole shouts from an aisle away. He slowly backs out so the three of them could see him and Jay.

Jay's arm sticks out of the cart, showing the time on his phone.

------------

Before getting in line, Cole had pulled Jay out of the cart.

Jay stands in line, waving a rubber snake in Nya's face.

She pats it on the head.

Lloyd looks around. There are a lot of small impulse buys near checkout, especially candy.

He sees something on an endcap.

A tiny gumball machine.

It's his now he can't convince anyone otherwise he can pay for it with his own money but it's his now he's sure of it he will not back down he will not let go

He quickly grabs it, holding it tight.

Kai puts the items on the counter.

He remembers the thing for Nya.

She'll say no if she saw it, wouldn't she?

He starts gathering up the rubber snakes. "Nya, Jay, you two wanna run these guys back?"

Nya nods, grabbing a fistful of them.

Jay follows suit, gathering the rest.

As soon as they walk off, Kai finishes putting everything on the counter.

-----------

They tossed the snakes on the rack where they belong.

With their hands empty, Nya offered to hold Jay's hand.

He took it.

They were having fun, giggling at the little snake army they had accidentally created.

Nya considered pulling him in for a kiss, but he gripped her hand and started to guide her back towards the front of the store excitedly.

-----------------

"Oh, where have you been?" Zane asks, sitting on the couch.

"We were out being the coolest uncles these kids will ever have," Kai answers, tossing a bag onto the couch.

"You...did not need to buy presents?"

"It was a nice thing to do though," Jay chimes. "Look, we got them a ball, some foam weapons, some funny hats, some toddler-level brick sets, some plushies, some action figures, and dolls- and they're diverse so they know what the world looks like!"

Kai reaches into a bag and hands Nya her pony-tank abomination.

She seems absolutely dumbfounded and in awe.

"Thank you," she whispers, hugging the box. It's probably just gonna sit on her dresser but still. She finally has it.

Lloyd pokes around the bags. "Also, sorry, we can return a few things because we weren't sure uh, if you were giving the kids limbs? We only had a few glimpses at them."

"I believe they can play with everything here," Zane answers.

"How long until they're ready?" Cole asks.

"Pixal is putting the finishing touches on their programming, it could be any minute-"

Zane's phone goes off.

It's Pixal.

-----------------------

Zane rushes into the hangar.

Pixal gestures for him to come closer.

He sits down on the floor, patting one of three small robots on its head.

"Are you ready?" she asks.

He nods excitedly.

She crouches on the floor next to him, holding out a remote.

Together, their fingers hover over one button.

Click

The three small droids whir to life and lightly propel themselves off of the ground.

They're small and cylindrical, with pixelated screens for faces. One looks vaguely like Pixal. Another looks vaguely like Zane. The third one, which is slightly smaller, lacks distinct characteristics of either.

Pixal gestures for them to come to her.

She hugs one.

Zane puts his hand out for another.

It drifts towards him, landing in his palm.

"Welcome to the world, little one," he coos softly.

"Huh. That supposed to be two point five kids?" Cole asks as he walks in.

Pixal smiles wide. "It is!"

"They're adorable!" Jay shouts.

The small droids seem to flinch and hide away closer to their parents.

"Do not do that, they're sensitive," Zane states sternly.

Kai and Nya carry in the bags of toys for them.

"We all pitched in and got them a few things," Nya says, waving the bags around.

Pixal claps her hands together. "That is nice, I expect them to assist me in the inventing process, but I suppose they would need something to occupy their hands when I am not busy."

Lloyd comes close, looking over the frightened droid children. "I don't get it. They don't have any hands."

All three droids unfold something from their sides.

Arms.

Spindly arms with three fingers.

Lloyd presses his lips together. "I'm not sure if I like that."

The smallest droid starts making a series of small beeps.

Zane gestures for it to come closer.

He hugs it, shushing it until it quiets down.

Wu is the last one to come in. "So what are their names?"

Pixal and Zane exchange glances.

"We are unsure," Zane answers.

"Child One, Child Two, and Child Two Point Five," Pixal follows up, pointing to the one that resembles herself, then the mini-Zane, then the small one, respectively. "And they are genderless. They may choose new names and genders later if they so please, but for now, we will refer to them in gender-neutral terms."

"And how would we know they're ready for a gender? They don't seem to speak," Cole asks.

"Do you not hear Child One saying 'hello world' in binary code?" Pixal responds.

"Aww. Well, hello to you too little fella."

Zane props up Child Two Point Five. "I am your father. And that miracle of engineering if your mother. And those are your uncles, Lloyd, Kai, Cole, and Jay. There's your aunt, Nya. And that's your grandfather, Wu."

The small droid whirs in response. It unfolds one arm and waves.

-------------------

"I don't remember the last time I saw you actually smile like that," Jay says as he gets into his pajamas. "At least a week?"

"Yeah...today was nice," Nya mumbles. "I liked it. A lot."

He jumps onto her bed, sitting on his knees.

She leans into him for a kiss.

"Nya...what if we had kids?"

Never mind no kisses

"What?"

"Zane and Pixal got me thinking. Obviously not now! Or any time soon...but one day? When we've settled down and the world won't need us anymore..."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but let's not forget what happens to you during  the deed . Would that even work?"

"Yeahhh, that's why I'm asking where you stand on it."

"I'm not opposed, I think, I don't know, I just don't know if we could even have kids. On top of your condition, I was water for a year, I don't even know if every part of me made it out okay..."

"I mean, you still have a period, don't you?"

She rubs her arm. "In the time since I've come back...I haven't had one?"

"Oh." Then his eyes get big. "Wait no oh no oh god what if-"

She puts a hand up to quiet him down. "I don't think it's that, I'm pretty sure I'm not pregnant, I think all my organs are a little messed up. Body feels weird sometimes."

"Do we need to take you to a doctor?"

"And say what? 'I was the ocean for a year and now I feel like my heart is still made of water sometimes.'"

He sighs and lays down, offering for her to come lay with him.

She sits on his lap, leaning over him. "Who needs kids anyways? I don't even have an element to pass down anymore."

"...I still do though. But this isn't even about that, I just thought it was worth talking about, screw keeping the elemental bloodline alive or whatever, I think it's an important conversation."

She nods, leaning in for a kiss. "Well, we don't need to be able to have kids to be able to  mess around  for a bit."

His face turns red.

Their lips lock.

His hands creep to the hem of her shirt while she practically tries to tear his shirt off.

He can feel an all too familiar itch creeping across his skin.

"Wait, stop, I just turned back to normal," he gasps, placing his hands over hers. "Can we wait at least one more night before doing  that ?"

"Yeah. It can wait."

The tinges of green on his skin start to fade away as she lays down next to him.

"By the way, what the fuck is that thing on your dresser?" he asks, pointing across the room.

"War Pony. And I can ask you the same about Mister Cuddlywomp sitting in that one chair in your room."

"Hey, he's my childhood plush!"

"Why is there a muzzle on it?"

"His smile's kinda creepy sometimes."

She rolls her eyes playfully and snuggles closer to him.

--------------------------

Zane and Pixal often don't share a bed unless they feel the need to have a long conversation.

While they sleep to feel more human, and they may snuggle when they're awake, they don't see the point of cuddling when they're shut down and unable to fully feel it through the night.

They shared a bed in Zane's room this night though, their three children nestled in between them.

Each child has a stuffed animal caught in their spindly arms.

The robotic couple keeps their fingers laced together as they shut down for the night.

Chapter Text

"You seem to be in far better spirits," Zane notes as he makes breakfast, watching as Nya pulls out syrup for pancakes.

"Yeah, I guess I am."

"Would you like to talk about it? What makes you happy, that is."

"Nah, I think yesterday was just a good day."

She leans against the counter.

"What's with this anyways? I thought you can't eat in this body. Is that it? Or am I misremembering?"

She hasn't had many memory issues since returning, but this one was a bit much for her. He ate at some point, didn't he? But that was before being rebuilt. Right? Or maybe he did eat after being rebuilt...

"You are correct in that assumption. I cannot consume foods or beverages now. I am making breakfast as somewhat of a celebration and a thank you for being supportive yesterday."

Huh. He can't eat. She never thought much of that. And he lacks a nose and ears now. And his skin is no longer a human color. And his hair is one solid metal piece...

"Zane. Do you ever miss being able to eat?"

"Every day, yes. It is especially awful when cooking is one of your passions. I can remember how to cook perfectly, but I must make the food with the knowledge that unless I modify and potentially damage myself, I can never taste it again. I remember what certain things taste like, but I can never experience them again, even if I run a memory file, it is more like the phantom of eating, at best. Why?"

Oh. That was a lot.

"Nothing. I just think I came back  wrong . Like my body isn't complete or something. Thought I'd ask how it feels to be missing something. I didn't think anything of it until last night but ever since I came back, I haven't had a period-"

"This question may be stepping over boundaries, but you are an adult with a partner, thus it may be relevant. May I ask, have you taken a pregnancy test?"

Nya blinks several times. "Stepping into TMI, but yes I've made sure I'm not pregnant. I don't know, it's like I just forgot that I should have a period. Then when I remembered, I realized...everything's been weird! Sometimes my lungs feel like I'm drowning or my heart suddenly speeds up or slows down out of nowhere-"

"Do we need to take you to a doctor?"

"No? I don't know what they could fix. I just think I came back...wrong. Everything is slightly off."

He nods, placing a pancake on a plate. "You can still eat, yes?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"We can talk more about this after breakfast."

------------------

Zane pulls Nya aside to the front steps of the monastery.

"I don't know. I haven't really thought about it, but when I had to say I haven't had a period, I suddenly realized that wait, that's not normal. It also isn't normal to feel like I'm randomly drowning or like my heart might suddenly collapse into liquid or-"

Zane puts up a hand to quiet her down. "You are positive that you do not need a doctor? Alternatively, this may be some form of anxiety. And it does make sense for you to not have a period if you were made out of water, as a malnourished person would be unable to menstruate."

"But I'm not malnourished?"

"No, but you did just spend an entire year not consuming anything. Water became flesh. What nutrients were there other than water?"

"Okay," she sighs. "But I should be able to bounce back eventually, right?"

"Potentially."

She takes a deep breath.

Okay.

Okay.

She's not even sure if she wants kids, even if she got better it might not be an option given Jay's state, but there's something horrifying about realizing that she didn't come back the same. This is deeper than scars etched into the surface of her skin. What else was damaged?

But okay. Anxiety. That might be it. And if she lost her ability to reproduce, it isn't the end of the world, she was on the fence on that topic in the first place and it means no more periods.

Yet she can't shake the uncomfortable feeling that being brought back damaged her regardless. Is she gonna have a normal life span? Elemental masters live longer so she guesses she would be knocked back down to an average human lifespan but oh god what if the damage shortened it even more what if her kidneys gave out what if her heart exploded or something ruptured fuck fuck fuck fuck-

Deep breath.

She's not dead yet.

She's still here.

"How do you do it?" she asks in a gravelly tone, staring off at the sky, trying to hold it together internally.

"Do what?"

"Get used to it."

"Elaborate."

She looks over his shiny metallic face. "You used to be different. You were human. You still are! But you had human body functions. You were capable of hunger and eating and getting tired and sleeping and feeling pain...then one day, it stopped. You rebuilt yourself. And now, you're different. The same person in a different shell, yet at the same time, that had to mess with you, right? That had to fuck you up? Just a bit?"

He gives a small hum. "Again, it is difficult to be enthusiastic while making food sometimes, yes. Everything else? Yes. I miss it quite a bit. It was...strange, to say the least. I do not remember the earliest days of being in this body. One day I regain my memory and I remember all the things I could do and feel. I remember what it feels like, but I can never feel it again. Some nights I would stare at the ceiling, knowing I should be tired, but I was not."

"How did you deal with it?"

"Adapt. Find something close to the feeling while also getting used to what is gone. For example, I still shut down at night. It's how I sleep now. It isn't the same, but it can suffice."

"...what about not looking the same?"

"You look the same though, do you not?"

She looks down at her shirt. "Not everywhere. I have some scars."

He nods. "Well. Quite frankly, my new face was a lesser issue compared to what I can no longer feel but...it did bother me at times, yes. Luckily I can cloak, although I don't feel the need to do it most times. I am content enough like this."

"How did you get used to it?"

"I'm not sure. I suppose the other changes were more drastic in terms of how they affected my quality of life. The new face was the easiest thing to get used to."

"What if all it makes you think of is that your loss hurt people?"

He leans back. "Elaborate?"

"My scars. I look at them and all I think about is the way that I hurt people. I saved people but I hurt all of you. I hurt Kai. I hurt Jay. I hurt you. I hurt everyone. And I talked to Cole about this and he said just think of it as a sign that I'm still alive but...I don't know. You were also 'lost.' Does that ever get to you?"

"Honestly? I try not to think about it. No one wants to tell me what happened while I was gone either. I was happy to be back with my family. I associate the issues with this face more with what I can no longer experience."

She slips her hand under her shirt, her fingers brushing on some of her swirls. "So, what should I do then?"

He pats her on the back. "Find things that work for you. Look for methods that make you feel better. Adapt to the changes. Compromise with your body. Compromise with your mind. Enjoy time with your family. Enjoy time with us."

She smiles weakly.

Actually, maybe that is what she needs to feel better.

Her smile grows in sincerity.

She won't make up for her time gone if she's shut up in her room all the time.

"Will it get better?" she asks.

"Absolutely. I need no visions to know that."

She smiles and gets up.

"Let's go visit the children," he says gently. "I'm sure they would love some time with their aunt."

Even though his face is so different, that smile of his has truly never changed.

Chapter Text

Pixal works on repairing Nya's old mech.

The robo-children help her, passing tools and even handling some things themselves.

"Did you really build kids just so they can do this?" Jay asks, sitting on the floor with some action figures.

"Perhaps."

He can see a smirk tug at her lips.

He gets up and tries handing a figure to Child Two Point Five.

They stare at him curiously for a moment before going back to work.

"Stop that, they are busy at the moment," Pixal chastises.

"Come on, you call them your kids, treat them like kids. I'm sure there's something here about illegal child labor."

"They can play when I am done here."

He crosses his arms. "Fine. I'm just trying to be a cool uncle."

"You can be that when I am done here."

He sighs and walks out, leaving figures strewn across the floor.

--------------

Just spend time with your family just spend time with your family it's significantly better when you're spending time with them and they don't have you cornered in an intervention just spend time with them naturally it'll be fine it'll be okay

It's sparring time.

Nya didn't want to use her spear anymore, but Wu insisted.

She hasn't sparred often since coming back- this had to be maybe the third time?

It's been agreed that her peers will go easy on her.

It's equal parts frustrating and a relief.

No more powers for her.

She read somewhere once that elemental masters are slightly more durable than the average human. Guess that no longer applies to her. (She's noticed. Or is it all in her head?)

Not to mention that while her muscle is still there, her skills are unpolished.

Yet she wants them to fight her full force.

She wants her skills to be polished once more.

In an actual battle, she wouldn't be fighting her brother, there would be no holding back.

Yet here she is.

Dodging slow punches from Cole.

Cole always had to hold back in sparring. They didn't need him to crack the pavement of the courtyard.

But this? This is ridiculous.

Kai wouldn't even use his powers!

Sparring now is basically just being lightly knocked around.

Also a lot of clapping and "good job"s when she'd land a punch.

She'd get frustrated, drop her weapon, and throw a lot of punches.

Unless it's Zane. Don't punch metal.

While everyone would still have their occasional brutal moment to throw her off, Lloyd would always be most gentle.

Doesn't even feel right hitting him back, he did virtually nothing.

She turns away from Lloyd and takes it all out on the punching bag.

Over and over again.

"Hey, you can slow down a bit," Kai suggests.

And punch and punch and punch-

The bag stops moving. Cole grabbed it. "Hey, calm down."

She still punches it, looking Cole right in the eye.

"Stop, your form is sloppy, it is hurting your knuckles," Zane states.

She slows down, then presses her forehead against the punching bag, trying to take steady breaths.

Lloyd approaches her. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," she chokes. "I'm okay."