A blue Spouse (Ninjago Royalty AU)

CHAPTER 59: Welcome to our humble abode

Ed appeared immovable. His whole body felt like he'd been struck by a lightning bolt. It couldn't be real. He was seeing visions, another one of those made up by the immense yearning he'd been suffering all these weeks. But damn it, that time the mirage was hella convincing! The boy in front of him looked like a fancier version of his son. Ed squeezed his eyes and blinked several times, hoping that whatever was clouding his senses would disappear and let him see reality as it was, but when he focused his gaze again on the young man a few feet away, the vision remained as clear as daylight.

The boy licked his lips and swallowed, taking one small step forward.

"D-Dad... It's... It's me; Jay."

Ed's delusions had talked before, but none had managed to replicate his son's voice so exactly.

"Jay...?" He murmured and the boy nodded while worrying his lower lip, a little habit his child had had since forever. This was too precise to be a mere illusion!

Ed dropped the planks he was holding and ran towards the boy. The kid did the same, they collided halfway, merging into a powerful embrace. Ed hugged him tighter, still amazed at the corporeal experience. All his previous visions had faded into thin air the moment he reached to touch them.

"Dad!" The boy cried and Ed leaned away for a second to stare at his face. There was no doubt; it was Jay!

"Oh, son!" His throat clogged with emotion, very few times in his life had Ed felt lost for words, but this was one of them. He could only repeat Jay's name over and over while both of them cried and pulled each other closer. "Edna! Edna! Come quick!" He suddenly yelled, never letting go of his precious kid.

"What's the matter, Ed?" Said a soft voice coming from the shack behind them. "Did the pile of metal collapse again?"

As soon as his wife was out of the tiny house, Jay lifted his head from his father's shoulder. An exaggerated grin plastered on his face as he spotted the woman and sprinted her way.

"Mom!" Jay shouted, trapping Edna in his arms. The woman got startled and flinched away for a second. The same confusion that had been on Ed's own features earlier was now being repeated on his wife. She looked at the boy with astonishment, her hands reached for the adorable freckled cheeks and stroked them tenderly.

"J-Jaybird? Is that you, honey?"

"Yes..." Jay remarked with a broken voice.

"Oh, sweet lords!" Edna grabbed hard onto Jay's clothes, bringing him closer and melting into tears. "Oh, my little boy! Thanks to the Gods you're alive!"

Ed walked up to them and his family soon made a place for him in the embrace. He couldn't believe they were all together again, it had been two long months since he'd been able to hold the two loves of his life like this. Admittedly, he was still scared that this all would be a dream and he would wake up to the cruel reality of having lost his child so unexpectedly.

"My baby, my sweet little baby! We were so worried about you!" Edna kissed every inch of Jay's face and Ed did the proper as well.

If this was all a product of his imagination in the end, he at least wanted to enjoy it, but the more he kissed and hugged his son and wife, the more he realized about the realness of the moment. His son was there in the flesh, finally!

Edna leaned away for a moment, taking into her son's features when her eyes descended down his body.

"Jay, honey, what happened to you? What's all of this?" She asked touching what looked and felt like a very expensive fabric.

That was when Ed was reminded of his initial thought; this was his son without a shadow of a doubt, but Jay certainly didn't look like himself under that gorgeous blue outfit.