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A phone rings loudly through the monastery, combatting the sound of soft moans. Nya sighs deeply and turns her head towards the noise, away from the ninja below her, of which she holds a soft but firm grip on his hair.
“It's Kai…”
She removes her hand from Jay’s head and picks up the phone, her voice light and breathy as she speaks.
“Hello? Kai?”
“NYA! ARE YOU AND JAY FREE?”
She winces at the volume of the voice on the end of the line and quickly turns the volume down on her device.
She looks down at an exasperated Jay struggling to keep himself quiet and groans, “We… can be..?”
“That's great! Boy am I glad you answered, I tried calling Jay first but I guess he doesn't have his phone on him..?”
Nya hums in sarcastic agreement as both her and Jay look to the other side of the bed, to the [Two new missed calls] message displaying on Jay's always silenced phone sitting idle on the bedside table.
“What were you two doing anyway? You're not too busy are you?”
“No! We were just… ah…” Nya’s voice shakes, “Training! Yeah training… Anyway, what is it this time? Fire snakes? Rouge arcade game AI? An evil King? That wouldn't be the first time…”
Kai sighs at Nya's rambling, “No time. Just meet us on the bounty in five, I’ll explain everything then.”
The phone beeps as Kai hangs up the call.
Nya exhales deeply and lifts her lower body, placing a gentle kiss on Jay's forehead. She sits herself down on the side of the bed, grabbing the duvet off the floor it had been hastily pushed over to and chucking it at Jay before standing up to put on her clothes.
Jay’s muffled laugh is soft as he pushes himself up from his bed.
“We really can’t get any alone time, huh Nya…”, He coos as he rips the corner of the blanket from his face.
~ ~ ~
Kai slides his phone back in his pocket.
“I’m glad we finally got a hold of them, they'll be really useful for this.”
“Didn't Nya seem a bit out of breath tho…” Cole retorts with a smirk as he turns to the monitor of the bounty.
“Well duh? She said they were training.”
Kai replies as he looks down to the empty monastery training course.
The earth ninja chuckles, “That was so obviously a lie and you know it.”
Kai peers back to Cole, “Well sure, but what else would they be doing?”
Cole turns to Kai with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Uh, ew? That's my sister!” The fire ninja raises his voice in disgust.
“Whaaat? I said nothing!” Cole teases.
Just as Kai raises a fiery fist to the black haired ninja, The monastery doors slam open, and his head jolts towards the sound. Cole rushes over and the pair peer over the ship walls to see a messy haired Jay and scruffy gi-ed Nya.
“Oh they were definitely fucking.” Cole states, matter-of-fact-ly.
Kai sighs.
“I hate you so much.” he groans under his breath as he lowers the ship's anchor.
The couple climb the chains and with the help of their spinjitzu, they eventually get to the top.
“So…” Jay folds over and huffs as he lands on the ship, “What'd you need us for?”
“There's a big fire in the city and the Firefighters Department is currently out of commission so we were called to help put it out.” Cole gestures over to the screen showing the location of the fire.
Nya turns and stares at her brother in disbelief, “This is what you called us for? The thing you had ‘no time’ to explain..?”
“Well I just figured your water would make quick work of this.” Kai shrugged.
Cole chimes in, “We already asked Zane but he said him and Pixel were busy.”
Nya lets out a long groan before setting the bounty on autopilot towards the city fire and storming down to the bunks underneath the deck of the ship.
Jay smiles sheepishly at Cole and Kai before disappearing after her.
~ ~ ~
“Nyaa–!?”
“Oh where did you go…” Jay mumbles.
The lightning ninja stumbles down the corridor of doors below the Bounty's deck, peering into each one until he finally reaches the very last door. And there Nya was, slouching over on one of the bottom bunk beds.
“There you are!” Jay rushes over and perches himself next to his partner, “What's on your mind?”
Nya looks down and grips the edge of the mattress, kicking her feet as she speaks, “You were right about us not being able to get any alone time. Trouble is always right around the corner. We never get any rest from it, just constant chaos. It just feels like time is running out for us.”
“Nya I…”
Jay stops, a frown growing on his face before he starts again.
“I don't know if these are the right words… but there's a reason you're my yin. You're my other half. No matter what happens that will always be the case. Even if we don't get much time to ourselves I cherish the time we do get, you know that.”
Jay places his right hand firmly over Nya's left.
Nya smiles sadly, “I do… and I cherish it too. I feel like I don't show that enough. We've just been so caught up in evil mastermind after evil mastermind, with no time for peace between all of this chaos.”
“Well, then we'll make time.” Jay smirks, “Say, after this mission is over, wanna go to dinner?”
The woman raises an eyebrow, “Jay… love the idea, but I don't think we've ever once had a successful date.”
“Okay yes, we somehow have the world record for least successful date nights in all of Ninjago history, but that doesn't need to be a bad thing, that's just something we can laugh about when we're older.”
Nya exhales, a smile growing again on her face.
“I guess you're right.”
“Hey uh guys? we're there!” Kai yells down the corridor.
Jay gently places a hand on Nya's shoulder.
“Nya, you're up, get out there and do what you do best. I'll be cheering you on from back here like I always do. I love you.
“I love you too, Jay… I feel like I don't say it back enough…”
The two take each other's hands and share a sweet, brief kiss before Nya leaves towards the door.
She stops just as she’s about to leave and peers back at her Yang, “By the way, if this date later is successful, I'll make up for earlier.” She winks cheekily.
“So it's a date?” Jay asks excitedly, waving his arms in the air in front of him.
“When is it not?” Nya giggles and slips away through the door.
~ ~ ~
Nya lays awake in her monastery bedroom and sighs longingly, the darkness of the night consuming her vision. After reality set in that Her Jay really was gone, lost in the merge, she hasn't been able to sleep.
But she knew one thing. Whoever created the yin yang philosophy was horrifically accurate. One side can't exist without the other. And Nya was suffocating. She no longer felt whole.
She was right back then. The couple were running out of time. She just wished, after her second chance, after returning from the sea's grasp, maybe, just maybe, she'd be able to gain that lost time back. But time went on without her. She was never able to have her cake and eat it too. And now that cake is gone forever, and she can only long for a chance to find it.
Her only hope is that Jay gets his memories back, but what are the chances of that?