Finding Jay ⚡️

Chapter 21- Do I know you?

      "There's distress signals coming from the Mountain Monastery," Zane informed the assembled team in the control room of the Bounty over the monitor. "Your group is closest to the monastery, so this one's for you."
      "The place me and Jay got kicked out of that one time we went looking for Master Wu?" Cole asked, smiling at the memory. Him and Jay's bickering had made all the monks break their vow of silence.
      "Yes," Zane confirmed. "There are three intruders attempting to break through the monks' defenses."
      "Okay," Nya replied, "Setting course right now."
      "According to the monks' description, we may be dealing with Jordana and Cinder," Zane informed them gravely.
      "Ras," Kai growled. "We have to get there fast before he gets whatever he came for. Knowing him, it can't be anything good."
      "Who's the third?" Arin asked.
      "The third assailant hasn't been identified. Just proceed with caution and come back to the monastery once you guys wrap this up. We need to discuss what Lord Ras could be planning." Zane's picture faded from the screen, and Nya turned the boosters as high as they would go in an attempt to get there faster. She, Kai, Cole, and Arin had been on another scouting mission, looking for signs of trouble throughout Ninjago. Things had been oddly quiet since the Blood Moon, which gave the entire team an uneasy feeling. They knew Lord Ras was planning something. Nya had been looking for signs for Jay too. It had been three months since his escape from the Administration, and his trail had gone cold. She tried not to think about what that meant. If he had escaped, wouldn't he have come looking for her by now?
       "We're here," Kai declared, jarring Nya from her thoughts.
       "Okay, be careful guys," Nya warned them. "Don't get overconfident just because we've beat them before."
       "Me? Overconfident?" Kai smirked. "Never." Nya rolled her eyes and the four of them set off towards the monastery. Reaching the monastery's gates, Nya could see they had been blasted open. Monks littered the courtyard, unconscious but seemingly unhurt.
       "Who did this?" Nya whispered. "It barely took us fifteen minutes to get here."
       "I don't know, maybe Jordana learned some blasting spell," Cole mused. "Let's hope they're still inside." They made their way into the monastery, stepping over slumbering monks. They heard clashes of weapons as they drew closer to the monastery's main chamber.
      "Jordana, knock them out!" Cinder's voice commanded.
      "I'm out of sleeping powder," she whined. "If somebody would just let me hit some monks on the head, this wouldn't be a problem." Nya heard an annoyed huff before her group burst into the room. About fifteen monks were fighting to defend a disk in the center of the room, with dozens more slumped to the side. Jordana whipped around to face them, her eyes widening and her face turning pale when she realized who it was. The third figure was facing away from the ninja and battling with the monks. He noticed Jordana's reaction and turned to see the cause of her concern.
     Nya stopped breathing. It felt as though all the oxygen in the room had been sucked out, and her vision tunneled until it was just her and him. The man she loved more than anything else in the world stood twenty feet away from her. He had changed so much. His hair had grown out, falling into his eyes, and his face had lost some of its boyishness, the lines of his jaw and cheeks becoming deeper and more defined. He had grown almost as strong as Cole, his muscles bigger after months of hard training and work. He was wearing a hood that almost concealed his entire face. Even with all these changes, Nya knew it was him as soon as she saw his face. Jay was standing right in front of her for the first time in five long years. She dropped her spear, ignoring the conflict raging all around them and began to run towards him. Jay's face flickered as if he was in pain as Nya launched herself into his arms, bringing them both down.
      "Jay!" she screamed. She started sobbing into his chest, squeezing him as tightly as she could, as if worried he would disappear if she let go. For a minute, Nya's world was beautiful, happy, and right again. She was in the arms of the love of her life. She had found him after all this time. Then the minute passed, and she realized he wasn't hugging her back. Nya looked up at him through tears of joy, confused at his lack of a response. Her look of confusion was mirrored in his face, his eyebrows furrowed and a concerned look on his handsome features. He gently pushed her off of him, rising slowly to his feet.
      "Do I know you?" he asked carefully, as if talking to a scared animal. Nya stood up as well and punched him in the arm.
      "Not funny, idiot," she laughed, rolling her eyes. When his look of confusion stayed firmly planted on his face, a sinking sensation began in Nya's stomach.
      "I think you have the wrong person," he told her gently.
     No. No No. This is not happening, Nya thought, her heart thudding wildly, fear creeping up her spine. He's just kidding, like he always does.
       Jay shot her a look of sympathy that shattered her heart. It was a look reserved for crazy strangers that launched themselves onto you and sobbed uncontrollably, not the girl that you loved. Nya began to shake, tears blurring her vision again, and this time they weren't happy. She was back in that horrible Phantasm Cave, where she had to face her worst fear in order to be deemed worthy of learning the Dragon's Rising technique. Nya had immediately figured out her fear was just a vision, because it had been of Jay, forgetting her. She knew he would never forget her. He promised he would never forget her. But there he was, looking at her with confusion and pity as she collapsed to the ground and began to sob. She could feel her heart breaking, shattering into thousands of little pieces and this time she didn't know if she'd be strong enough to pick them back up.
       "Jay!" She heard someone call from across the room, but she didn't care enough to find out who. Her world was falling apart in front of her, the love of her life slowly inching away from her like she was a crazy person. Through her tears, she could make out Jay's form as he snagged the disk in the center of the room. Jordana and Cinder fought their way to his side, blocking blows from the ninja. When Cole and Kai saw Jay's face, they froze in shock.
      "Jordana, portal!" Jay demanded, his voice low and commanding. Jordana muttered some words and a portal appeared, bright and blinding.
       "Wait, Jay!" Cole cried, launching himself towards the portal just as it closed, Jay and the others blinking out of existence. The monastery was suddenly quiet. The monks were all knocked out, and there were no more sounds of fighting. The only noise was Nya's sobs, echoing off the walls. Kai rushed to his sister's side, wrapping her in his arms. He tried to calm her down, smoothing her hair down and wiping her tears away, but she was inconsolable. Kai scooped her up into his arms and carried her back to the Bounty, the others trailing behind numbly.
       "What happened?" Cole asked gently once she had calmed down enough to speak.
       "He didn't remember me," Nya whispered. That sat there in stunned silence, wondering what to do next.