Chapter Text
The old wood of the dock creaked under Kai’s feet. The dark sky threatened of rain, but he didn’t care. Honestly, it was hard to care about anything since Nya… well since she sort of died. In any case, she wasn’t coming back anytime soon. He just felt empty, not in a sad way, just a void kind of way.
He looked out at the sea; it was actually pretty beautiful. It was dark, sure, with the rain clouds overhead, but there was still a bit of tranquility in its anger.
He glanced over at a diverging path and saw Jay sitting at the edge of a pier. Kai hadn’t seen him for at least a few days, and the others were getting worried about him. Is this where he’s been?
Kai walked over, Jay’s head tilted up slightly at the noise, but otherwise, he didn’t move. He stood next to him and spoke, “Hey, man.”
No reply.
He sighed and sat down next to him, “How’s it going? Haven’t seen you in a minute.” He said, trying to read Jay’s expression. His eyes were bloodshot, but his expression was empty. Jay was usually so bright and sarcastic, but now? It’s like all of it just vanished. He hadn’t really realized how much all of this had affected him. Him almost getting sacrificed, then almost drowning, probably almost dying at least 2 other times, all of Ninjago city getting flooded, and Nya. He should have noticed, but he'd just been in his own head lately.
Jay shrugged, still not responding.
“So uh, is this where you’ve been?”
…
“The others are getting a little worried.”
…
“Don’t wanna talk?” Kai asked, though he didn’t expect an answer, “That’s fine. I’m good with just watching the waves.”
The silence stretched on. Then came the rhythmic sound of the water beating the wooden posts that held the pier up, and the wind blowing through the sail of a nearby boat; it felt like an echo chamber. The salty air felt heavy, the storm that wasn’t too far away and a crackle of thunder shot in the distance.
After a while, Jay finally said something. “Do you ever wonder what it would feel like? To fall into the water and not come back up,” He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
Kai didn’t know what to say. How are you supposed to answer that? The only words he could think of wouldn’t help, he knew that. Seconds felt like hours as he tried to think of what to say.
Eventually, he gave up looking for words, and instead, he wrapped his arm around him and gave him a side hug. “Hey, don’t do something stupid, ok?”
Jay closed his eyes and leaned into the hug. He took a deep breath and sighed.
“Ok.”
They both sat there for a moment longer until Kai stood up and offered his hand to Jay, “Come on, Zane’s making dinner back at the monastery.”
Jay took his hand and Kai helped him up. They walked quietly back home as the rain finally began to fall.