Prompt: "I'm right here, okay? You're all right."
Not set in a specific time, just somewhere after season 12 ~
"Get up. You're going again"
Jay struggled to his feet and weakly raised his fists, but he wasn't fast enough.
A flash of orange. A bo staff coming towards his face. On the ground again.
"You didn't win," a gruff voice chuckled, "Get up."
A glint of silver, mechanized screeching. Jay was on his back yet again in seconds.
His ankle ached. He rubbed his eye, sore and bruised.
Ninja never quit.
Jay stood up before anyone forced him to his feet. "That all you got? Let's go another round, I'm having fun!"
They were happy to oblige, tackling him down. Feet kicking him in the sides, a fist in the face when he tried to stand up.
"H-hey! I thought this was a one-on-one type of game!"
"We don't do so well with rules, they're more guidelines," a new voice replied with malevolent glee, "Unless you'd like to wish for things to be different..."
Jay coughed on the dust and sand lingering in the air. He desperately willed himself to summon his elemental power. The dull pain in his ankle and the weight attached to it reminded him that was impossible. Useless.
"Jay?"
A gentle, feminine voice echoed around him.
Nya.
She lay dying in his arms. First he'd watched his friends disappear one by one. They'd been hunted all across Ninjago, until at last he was all alone. Even then, Jay never gave up. He rallied a new team, saved his friends, come up with a plan to save Nya.. and what had he gotten for all his effort? Failure. As usual, he wasn't strong enough, fast enough, smart enough... the love of his life was dying in his arms and he couldn't stop it. He'd failed to protect her again. Again.
Again.
She lay dying in his arms, again. This time, he couldn't even hold her in his arms properly. She was nothing but an energy cube now. Just like his friends. For the second time, his friends had been picked off and he had been helpless to stop it. For the second time, he had lost the love of his life right before his eyes
"Jay, wake up!"
Jay sat bolt upright and raised a hand charged with lightning. He was seconds away from blowing a hole in the wall before Nya grabbed his arm. She didn't let go, sliding her hand down his sleeve until she grabbed his, interlocking fingers.
"I'm right here, okay? You're all right. You were tossing around a lot and making some pretty sad sounds. Another bad dream?"
"Yeah," Jay nodded and rubbed his eye, "just... memories."
"You can tell me about it," Nya offered gently.
"I... wasn't good enough to protect you. I've failed, and more than once!"
"But you are good enough to protect me," Nya insisted, "I'm still here, aren't I? Not that I need protecting" she added with a smile.
Jay smiled back. "I know. But I almost lost you, failed the whole team, twice! What if I can't save the day next time?"
"Jay," Nya started, shifting to face him and meet his eyes, "You are the strongest ninja."
"What?" Jay raised his eyebrows in a confused expression. "How can you say that? I've come so close to losing you, and I didn't even really beat the bad guys in the end!"
"Exactly. You didn't need to beat them with your elemental powers, you're smarter than that. You beat Nadakhan using your intelligence and creativity to come up with a wish even he couldn't find a way to twist. And you beat Unagami by appealing to his sense of humanity! The AI of a video game, and you convinced him he didn't want to hurt anyone, to talk things out instead of using violence."
"Well, when you put it like that..." Jay's cheeks reddened slightly and he couldn't stop a smile from spreading across his face. "You don't think I've let you down then?"
"I trust you, Jay. If there's only one person I can always count on to look out for me and pull through, it's you."
Jay laid back down, resting his head in the crook of her neck. "Thank you Nya," he murmured, "I love you."
Nya ran her hand through his hair and smiled softly to herself. She could already hear his gentle snores as he drifted off peacefully. "I love you too" she whispered.
~ Finally some Jaya! I love all the characters and there are some other great ships out there, but Jaya gives me life. It's my favorite content to read, so I really hope I did a decent job!
I'm still running behind, I know, but the last two days have been busy for me almost nonstop. Hoping to catch up soon! Next up; the day five prompt; AU - six of the most powerful young elementals in the Empire of the Dragon are summoned by the emperor for a special mission...
