Chapter Text
Without warning, Zane had jumped from ninja to ninja, grabbing hold of the golden armored ribcage of the Golden Master. Ice and snow blasted in all directions, a blizzard where you couldn't see very far, maybe only a few meters away. Jay stood, staring at the glowing white light surrounding his friend and enemy. Part of him wishes he was there instead of Zane, feeling betrayed by his former girlfriend and best friend. He felt that maybe it would be better if he was just taken out of the picture, both the people he love would find more happiness together than they ever could with him involved. He felt the panic at seeing his friend give his life to save the others, and the feeling was certainly strong, but instead of rushing up to stop Zane, Jay just stood there, in awe, as the glow slowly increased in brightness.
The Serpentine had crawled out of the sewers to take the civilians below ground. It was certainly a much safer place to be in than anywhere in the surface. The ninja and Wu were helping escort everyone, not noticing Jay staring at the sky behind them. The rush to get everyone to safety was putting too much focus away from the main event, so Jay was left unbothered. Cole was carrying an old woman into the bunker, trying to make it before the blizzard takes the lives of everyone in the vicinity. Nya, Kai, Lloyd, and Wu were all pushing everyone into the sewers. Making sure they can get everyone inside as fast as possible, Lloyd and Kai jumped down to the bottom to catch all the civilians as they jumped down from the surface. Nya was getting everyone to jump, which it wasn't difficult to do as the chaos is scaring the people more than the fear of dropping down from a potentially far height, so they all jumped into the hole as fast as they could go.
Jay watched Zane, almost hypnotized. He remembered how committed Zane was to being part of the ninja team. Despite being a robot, Zane felt more human than even some actual humans. Jay remembered coining the term "nindroid". A funny name he gave to the soon to be savior of the world. Now the "weird", unconventional ninja was giving his life, or whatever you would call a robot's life, to save person he could. Built to protect those who cannot protect themselves, he would often say. Jay wonders if he could ever actually be like that, or if it's a fantasy that he would only be able to achieve in his dreams.
As the last civilians jumped into the manhole, the serpentine slipped inside and Wu jumped in. Cole followed suit.
"Nya, come on!" he said as he stood on the ladder, holding the lid of the manhole, getting ready to shut it the moment she jumped inside.
Nya turned to him and ran towards him. She felt weird about it. Not too long ago she was told that he was her perfect match. Yet, Nya didn't feel the same crush on Cole as she felt when she first met Jay. Was this normal? Maybe she had just gotten used to the feeling of having a crush on someone, and that would explain why she felt a little more hollow in her crush on the Earth Ninja. Surely the matchmaking machine was right... right? It's made by Cyrus Borg after all, so it should be the most accurate reflection of her heart, right? Nya wasn't completely sure, but her confusion could be put aside for later. Zane was risking everything just for the chance that all his friends could live, and Nya wasn't going to take his sacrifice for granted. She ran towards the hole as fast as she could. Whatever she had between Jay and Cole could be put on hold, there was always time to figure things out later. Little did she know, time wasn't on her side, yet she wouldn't suffer the brunt of the consequences.
Nya climbed down the ladder, ready to help Cole shut the lid. She looked down, seeing all her friends at the bottom of the hole. But something was missing. Most notably, there was a severe lack of a blue gi at the bottom of the hole. Nya quickly realized that Jay wasn't there. As Cole began pulling the lid down, Nya frantically pushed it back up, resisting Cole's strength.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?", Cole shouted in panic, "WE HAVE TO SHUT THE LID".
Nya ignored him and quickly looked back to see Jay standing, staring at the glow of the blizzard's core. The glow had grown even stronger, almost a blinding light. Jay stood with his back turned, his gi flailing in the strong wind. He wasn't even shivering from the cold, just standing there, still as a statue.
"JAY!" Nya shouted as loudly as she could. She didn't know what Jay was doing. Had he gone crazy? She was going to make sure to beat him on the head for doing such a reckless move. Did he even help with the evacuation? There was no time to wonder about that. She could barrage him with complaints and anger all she wanted when he was safe and sound.
"JAY! JAYY!" Nya shouted in desperation. Jay finally broke out his trance and his head flicked to the sounds of Nya's shouting. He realized what was happening and that he didn't have time left. His heart felt a strong hesitation to run towards both Nya and Cole. But he had to, or else he wouldn't survive. As soon as he gathered the will to overcome his hesitation, he darted to the opened manhole cover.
Too late.
A strong gust of wind overwhelmed Cole and Nya, shutting the lid shut with strong force, knocking both the ninja off the ladder. The lid immediately froze. Jay reached it and tried to open it, but there was nothing to grab onto. The entire lid was encased in ice. The glow surged with huge force. Jay was pushed by the gust with immense strength, and blinded by the explosion of ice, everything faded to white.
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Nya fell off the ladder she was standing on as the lid shut above them. Cole fell first, and Nya landed on him shortly after. She winced in pain, after all, the stone armor wasn't a soft cushion to land on. But that didn't snap her out of her panicked mindset. In fact, things only got worse. Jay was on the other side, in direct danger. If she didn't get to the lid and let Jay inside, then Zane wouldn't be the only ninja to die. Tears flooded her eyes as she frantically climbed up the ladder, pushing the lid as hard as she could. It didn't budge. She was too late.
"Jay"
Her voice weak, her breathe hitched at the last letter of his name. She shut her eyes and wiped the tears away. Jay was fine. He was okay. He was probably just encased in ice. It would be a fitting punishment for such a reckless move. Kai could melt him out of it and they could laugh about how ridiculous he looked. There was nothing to panic about.
But no matter how many excuses and hopes Nya thought about in her head, her heart was beating way too fast to be considered healthy. Her body was in a state of panic while her mind was trying with all her might to remain calm.
Cole opened his eyes and looked up at Nya pushing the lid. He saw Jay rush towards them, but he didn't make it inside. He'll be fine though, right? He survived Zane freezing him over before. He remembers when Zane's true potential backfired on the ninja and froze them all in front of Pythor at Mega Monster amusement park. That's what's going to happen to Jay, right? He'll be on the other side when they open the lid. Probably encased in ice. Nothing Kai can't help fix.
"Where's Jay?" said the aforementioned ninja. Kai assumed Jay was already in the bunker when he jumped in, not noticing that he wasn't there the entire time. He looked up at Nya pushing the manhole cover, trying to get it open.
"Is... is he outside?" Lloyd asked with much worry in his voice.
"He... didn't make it inside" Cole responded, a sad and worried tone in his voice. "He should be fine though. We were frozen before too, remember? Jay is probably just encased in ice". The confidence in his voice waned. Zane blasted the Overlord with immense force. There really was no telling if Jay would actually be frozen when the opened the cover. But Cole wasn't going to let his mind dwell on that. He'd rather keep up hope that Jay was okay on the other side of lid.
Nya stood there on the ladder, still trying to push the lid open. Cole started up the ladder to start opening the cover. He listened to hear the roaring winds first. Nothing. Dead silence. He activated his elemental power and pushed the cover with all his might. It popped open with the sound of ice shattering. Nya quickly rushed out as soon as the lid was opened.
The sky was calm. Too calm. A stark contrast to the chaos of the blizzard from a minute ago. The roads and buildings around them frozen. Ice was everywhere. It's like it covered every surface like plastic wrap. The Golden Master's helmet lay nearby on the frozen ground. Cole spotted a skin-colored object in the distance. He ran over to see half of Zane's face plate, the portion that belonged to the left side of his face. Grief struck all the ninja who stood there. And to make things worse, Jay was nowhere to be seen. Not a single soul lay around. No body. No blue fabric. Not even a chunk of the stone armor Jay was wearing. He had vanished, alongside Zane.
The tears Nya had been holding back, the worry that she held in her heart, quickly overwhelmed her at the realization. She immediately began sobbing, leaning on Cole for support. Not because of love, but because he was the nearest shoulder she could lean on. Kai's face fell to the floor, along with Wu's. Lloyd fell to his knees, too overwhelmed to cry, too stricken by grief to blink. What was panic and fear for the life of just one ninja had disastrously turned into grief for the loss of two. The team was absolutely shattered.
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Jay felt warm. That's... abnormal. Jay shouldn't be feeling warm. He should be feeling cold, freezing even. He weakly opened his eyes, and found himself lying on sand. Was he blasted to the Ninjago desert? Was the wind really that strong?
The sun was baking his face. He felt really hot. He got up and before taking in his surroundings, he desperately looked for any shade to sit in. Luckily there was a really strange looking tree with reddish-purple leaves nearby. He crawled over to the shade with all the strength he could muster before widening his eyes to better adjust to the bright sunlight.
His eyes widened from shock. He wasn't in the Ninjago desert. He could tell because there were many volcanoes in the distant horizon. In fact, he wasn't in the desert at all. He sat upon a sand patch of dirt on a high cliff. Or was it even a cliff? From where he stood, he felt like he could be sitting on a floating island. The lands on the horizon were very different from Ninjago. He could see forests, volcanic regions, many ravines, and 1 giant island floating in the sky.
He wasn't in Ninjago anymore. Somehow, the giant explosion of light transported Jay to a completely new place. He assumed it worked similarly to how Garmadon used the power of the 4 Golden Weapons to create a portal and escape The Underworld. After all, the Golden Weapons were involved in the final battle with the Golden Master.
Jay stood up, taking in the breathtaking sight. He realized he was all alone. He forced his panic down as his mind immediately took action to get his priorities straight. He had no time to wonder about this place. His top priority is finding a way back to Ninjago, back to his friends, as fast as possible.
Jay didn't realize this place was going to become his newfound home.