Work Text:
The streets of Ninjago city were eerily quiet.
To be fair, it had been like that for the longest time. Jay assumed that the main cause of all... this was the ritual that Harumi had performed just a month earlier to resurrect Garmadon.
Had it really only been a month?
Jay had even recently seen an infected Garmadon walking the streets, which led him to make that conclusion. Previously however, the story was that a garbageman stumbled across some bioweapon in the trash and got infected with "the virus."
Zane and Pixal called it something else, but Jay couldn't even bother to remember the name. After all, what's the worth in remembering the name of the thing that will inevitably kill you? Zane and Pixal would also constantly and consistently told Jay to keep a positive mindset, but it was just so hard.
If there was one thing keeping him from sacrificing himself to the Infected, it was Nya. She would comfort him after he threw up from seeing someone he knew walk around with rotting skin and misplaced organs and limbs. She would be there when he woke up in cold sweats, paranoid that the Infected would break into the warehouse and tear away his family.
Because of her, there was an everlasting and calming sound of ocean waves in his ears.
It was also Nya who offered to accompany him on a rooftop patrol around the city to scout for Survivors. Jay volunteered quite often, as he was trying to keep his hopes up for the future of Ninjago, and it worked.
So far, he had been on around 23 patrols, and he had found 14 people so far. Skylor, Karloff, or Tox would usually be the ones to go with him, as they were more resistant to the virus --- Karloff with his metal skin, Tox with her elemental power of poison, and Skylor with her ability to absorb the other two's powers.
But today, it was Nya who volunteered to tag along.
He wished he'd said no when she asked.
It was a cloudy day. The sun was blocked, giving everything this eerie feeling. Jay didn't like it at all. However, he and Nya were on the rooftops, one of the safest places to patrol. It was also closest to the sky, the source of Jay's element.
Maybe that's why he was drawn to it so much.
The rooftops were generally clear of Infected, but there were occasionally some that managed to get up through the rooftop staircases.
Nya put her arm in front of Jay's chest to stop him from going any further. It wasn't a shock when she pointed to the surface around 8 rooftops ahead, where a figure was just standing. Jay was about to push Nya's hand away and tell her that they'd just go a different way, but when he placed his hand on hers, she pushed harder into his chest.
"Look," she urged. "Look closer. See how they're standing. Infected don't just stand like that, perfectly still." A chill ran down Jay's spine. Now that Nya had pointed it out and he was looking closer at the figure, he too noticed the straight posture and the stilled stance. Nya was right -- Infected shambled.
They didn't watch.
They didn't smile.
Jay stepped back from the roof's edge with wide eyes as the clouds cleared and the sun's rays shone through the cracks in the sky. Light reflected off moon-white hair. What Jay had originally assumed to be a scar from becoming an Infected was a brighter red now -- it was also far more organized than a normal scar should be.
"Harumi..." he whispered, pleading for it not to be true.
But deep down, he already knew the truth.
The former princess was dressed in tattered black clothes, just as she had been the last time Jay had seen her. She raised her hand and gave a slow wave towards the couple. Even though they were probably about a hundred feet apart, Jay could still see the smile she gave; an unsettling, wide and toothy grin.
Nothing changed since he last saw her. She was still as creepy as ever.
He blinked, the cold breeze causing his eyes to water.
And then, just like that, the former Jade princess was gone.
On their way back to the warehouse, Jay tried to calm his nerves. However, his brain was rapid-firing the worst-case scenarios every two seconds.
What if Harumi followed them to the warehouse?
What if she led the Infected to the warehouse?
What if, because Jay and Nya had just stood there instead of doing something, Harumi was the catalyst that caused the entirety of the Ninjago City survivors to be dead by nightfall?
It was too much.
His brain was too cluttered. Too unfocused.
He blamed himself for letting it get out of hand.
The space between the blue and gray ninja noticeably widened. Jay was fatigued and his brain was still going through scenarios like flashcards for a test worth 90% of his grade. He must've looked like absolute shit, because when Nya looked back at him, she automatically started running back to him instead of towards the base.
She only ran faster when Jay collapsed to his knees.
"Hey. Jay, honey," Nya whispered with a worried expression on her face as she cupped her boyfriend's face. "I need you to stay with me, okay? We're almost there. Just hold on for me. Can you move?"
Nya's last words were muffled in Jay's ears, as that was the point where he raised his eyes to meet her gaze, but instead his eyes drifted off to the side of Nya's shoulder. Adrenaline started rushing as his eyes widened and small bits of lightning crackled between his fingers. He raised his own hands to cover Nya's, never once taking his eyes off of the unmoving figure just a few meters away from the two.
He only had so much time to act.
So he said the one thing he could trust Nya to do:
"Run."
Jay saw Nya's face contort into concern, confusion, realization, then finally, defiance. "I'm not running," she replied. That's when she took her hands off of Jay's face, stood up, smiled, then turned around.
He didn't know how it happened.
It was like when you went to the bathroom during a movie and ended up missing one of the biggest plot points.
However, in Jay's situation, he couldn't rewind. He could only replay the start and the end in his head while trying to make sense of it all.
When Nya had turned around, she threw a shuriken faster than Jay's eyes could register the fact that she even threw anything. Apparently neither did Harumi's.
Jay remembered a short scream --- one more angry than hurt --- then the sound and smell of blood hitting the concrete of the rooftop. He remembered hearing Nya's sharp intake of breath, which he later realized was because the blood that came from the wound wasn't red. It was instead a sharp hue of purple.
Harumi was an Infected. But at the same time, she was still human. She still had rational thoughts and could speak in clear and concise sentences.
"You water-spewing bitch," Harumi nearly shouted, but Jay could hear that she was trying her hardest to grit her teeth and suppress a yell. Nya seemed to falter for a second at Harumi's insult, but she stayed firm on her feet.
Nya took a breath and then let out a long one before saying, "You snuck up behind us and expect me to not throw a weapon at you?" Harumi's gaze shifted to looking at the concrete beneath her. "Not to mention the fact that you caused this and are probably grateful the entire apocalypse exists!"
"I didn't mean for this to happen," Harumi muttered, refusing to meet Nya's gaze. The water ninja just crossed her arms.
"Then what're you doing here," Nya asked, still skeptical, "crying to us, your literal enemies, for what I'm assuming is shelter because you don't have one. Pathetic." The last word was said like poison Nya couldn't wait to get out of her mouth. Jay didn't blame her for it. Harumi didn't seem to either.
The former Princess of Ninjago just shrunk in on herself.
"Please, just hear me out," Harumi pleaded, clutching her shoulder with the shuriken wound. "I got bit right when this whole thing started, but it didn't do anything besides just change the color of my blood! Don't you guys have smart Nindroids on your team? Couldn't they figure something out, even from this tiny little bit from someone you distrust completely?" Nya just stared, and honestly? So did Jay.
"I- We could end the apocalypse, Nya." The hope was feverish in the way Jay saw it in Harumi's eyes. The former princess took a step forward, still silently pleading for the two to believe her, when a sharp cry pierced the too-normal silence.
It came from behind Jay.
Harumi's eyes widened and she stepped back, her expression now one of pure fear instead of pleading.
"Well, well, well," Ultra-Violet crooned as she landed on the rooftop a bit away from the group. "What do we have here? I see a deserter, a scaredy-cat, and a stuck-up. What a trio. Too bad I might have to make it a pair."
Nobody really had any time to think as Ultra-Violet launched herself from her position on the rooftop towards the edge.
Towards Harumi.
Towards --- ridiculously enough --- the only hope Ninjago had.
As Jay watched, he saw Harumi's face turn to one of resignation. She knew she was going to die.
And she was fine with it.
He couldn't hate her for what happened next, but he really wants to.
Jay's vision turned into slow-motion. Everything that happened in a few seconds felt like a few minutes to him.
He saw Ultra-Violet draw her knife from the sheath on her belt.
He saw Harumi's body relax and become ready for the pain.
He saw a blue and grey flash push the former jade princess to the side.
He saw Ultra-Violet's knife stab into hand-sewn fabric.
He saw the face of the one he loved contorted in pain.
He saw her eyes harden with smug victory.
He saw her eyes become empty and dead long before she fell.
He saw pure blue water get mixed with sickly hues of purple and violent shades of red.
Yet he felt rage.
He felt skin and fabric clutched in his hands.
He felt his hand grasp onto leather and metal.
He felt his arm swing down.
He felt the vibrations of screaming.
He felt himself stand.
He felt himself fall.