Your Mistakes Are Yours to Keep (BEING REVISED & REPUBLISHED)

CHAPTER THREE

He grabbed a spare pair of clothes, entered his bathroom and closed the door behind him after throwing Nya one last glance to make sure that she wasn't in any danger. He frowned. Why would she be? She was safe, right?

The small bathroom was attached to his room. The only room upstairs was smaller than the other, including the bathroom. Smaller spaces felt fine. It felt a lot like what life was like in The Sands.

For the first time in a while, he caught a glance of his face in a mirror. He looked quite wan and skinny. He was starting to look like what he did back then, albeit not as dead-looking and terribly wounded. The bags under his eyes did not hide his exhaustion and his hair sticking to his forehead made him look more grungy. A shower was long overdue.

His eye caught something on his left cheek. He leaned on the cold counter to look closer in the mirror. There was a tiny scar under his eye on his left cheek. He recalled that the scar was from the injury to his eye. His eye was fine, however. It felt fine, but the scar he did not notice before sat on his face in the shape of a tiny, white squiggle or lightning bolt shape.

He remembered the injury as being quite severe. His left eye was practically useless and he had been certain that in the end, he probably would end up with only one left rather than two. His wish fixed it. His eye was fine. He was fine, Nya was fine. The image of Nya's corpse made him pinch the bridge of his nose again. He wanted to throw up.

He spent 20 minutes in the shower, not minding the warm water caressing his skin at all. The month of June was always terribly cold and being under warm water was one of the only things he enjoyed about the winter in Ninjago City. After a 20 minute long shower, stepping out of the shower and his feet touching the cold tiles made him want to crawl back into the warmth of the water.

He got dressed in loungewear and ruffled his hair in a towel to attempt to dry it more. It was already taking on its natural form of delicate dark auburn curls. Fuck it. He didn't have the energy to even attempt to straighten it. There was too much on his mind to care about what his hair looked like.

Curly hair and light eyes. Other than one of his eyes being brown and the other blue, one could tell he was from the Sea of Sands. He finally thought of his adoption for the first time since the timeline reversed and he kept himself from crying. He pushed it back into the crevices and corners of his mind. He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to wonder about it and lead his mind into a rabbit hole of questions that will probably stay unanswered.

He stepped out of the bathroom without giving himself a second inspection in the fogged-up mirror. He closed the door behind him with a soft click.

"Jay?"

His head shot up to see Nya sitting upright, rubbing her eyes. Her hair, which was already touching her shoulders - long compared to how she usually kept her hair - resembled a bird's nest. If Jay wasn't slightly startled, he would probably smile at her. He would smile at her sweet, soft face and kind smile.

"Sorry. Did I, uh, wake you?"

She nodded. "Don't worry though. Are you okay?"

He nodded. "Just took a shower."

"Oh."

Silence. And then she smiled.

"Your hair. I didn't know your hair was curly. Does it stay that way when it's dry?"

Jay felt his cheeks heat up and his hands shot up to attempt to flatten his hair.

"N-No, I mean yes. I usually straighten it. It's actually curly." He stuttered. He cringed at the way he was trying to hide his natural hair.