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jay-cult · 3 years

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Crying Over Coconuts

Seabound aftermath. Jay is sad. Zippy is an adorable puppy. ~3k. All you need to know.

Things had been silent back at the monastery, which had only started feeling emptier as a new sun rose the morning after the ceremony. It was clear time wasn't going to heal this wound for anyone. Jay had to move about. Every minute he had itched to do something, to walk through a door or around the monastery walls. Because if he didn't, he would have felt awful just sitting around depressed in the plaster cage that was his room. But maybe he had deserved to lay around feeling awful. Maybe he should have just let his bad thoughts reclaim him. But of course, he had been selfish.

And so, that day, he felt the need to just go somewhere. Wherever his legs would take him, his mind would follow. He strode out the monastery. Nobody said anything to him. They just let him walk out without saying a word. At some point, through some combination of acquiring the fixed up sub speeder and making his way to the docks, he found himself speeding through the sea. He didn't even know why he had decided to use that thing. He hated being in there.

Once he got far enough, Jay had a difficult time trying to navigate. His long, skinny fingers handled the controls on some sort of autopilot to an unknown place. He couldn’t concentrate. Instead, he stared at the sea around him, getting lost in its infinite depths. His 5-foot-6, bone-dominated body laid nicely in the cushioned seat, and it made Jay suddenly wish that he could feel numb. Due to the mechanic team’s efforts, the chair was comfortable, luxurious, even. He felt bad for feeling. He didn’t want to feel. Jay let out a shaky sigh; if only he couldn’t think.

Suddenly, the sea began to rush in harsh currents around him. Loud BOOMS from the sky echoed through the water, and bright purple flashes of light blinked in his vision every few seconds. It appeared his subconscious had taken him to the storm belt- now he knew where he was going. “Ah crap-!” He returned to his senses when a chunk of stone crashed into the waves beside him. He gripped hard back onto his controls, and the fast pace of the fearful moment allowed him to focus on twisting around the dangerous zones. And eventually, finally, he rounded the corner of a wave and his sub splashed out of the storm-protected part of the shore.

Jay’s panicked breathing slowed as he looked out at the familiar calm view of the island of the keepers. He began his course along the coastline, making his way towards the keepers’ village. He now realized just what he wanted, and why he was here.

The sub’s metal body broke the water’s surface as it arrived at the keepers’ dock. Numerous guards rushed up to do their check of the visitor. The boy’s head appeared as the hood creaked open, smiling nervously. He glanced from spear-wielding keeper to keeper. “Hey! Hey, look who’s come to visit! It’s me, Gift of Jay!” He gestured exaggeratingly to himself, grinning.

They lowered their spears and let Jay hop onto the wet wood of the dock. They looked at each other with hesitance in their eyes. One of them stepped forward. “Poultik is not here. He went out with a party of keepers on a sailing voyage to search for the lost storm amulet.”

“Oh, the two-headed guy who really likes me isn’t… here?” His expression started to fall.

“Few days, maybe,” the keeper replied. “But, urhm, we can help you, Gift of Jay! What brings you here?”

Jay smiled a bit, but then his face fell again. “Oh, well, I guess I’m here to bring some news,” he answered, realizing in the moment that they should probably know what happened. They started to look excited, but Jay shook his head. “No, no, bad news. Er, last you heard… The amulet in Shintaro was fake, and Ninjago City was going to be attacked. Well, it was attacked. There were a lot of civilian casualties. I would know, I almost drowned like the rest of them.”

The keepers’ expressions turned into frowns. “Oh, no,” the speaker stepped forward. “Is Ninjago City alright?”

Jay’s heart started feeling cold. “It is alright. We were safe. But we wouldn’t have been… and I wouldn’t be alive… if it wasn’t for Nya. She… she made a sacrifice. She’s gone.”

There was silence among the group, and the only thing that could be heard was the crash of the sea and the cry of a single gull above it. The keeper spoke up again. “Oh… she was your Yang, was she not?”

“Yeah,” Jay choked out simply.

The speaking keeper ordered a guard to bring the information to Chief Mammatus and told the rest to continue on with their duties. He bowed to Jay. “Well, Gift of Jay, if there is anything else you may need, call for Sungker. For now you may rest in the Gift Room until you need anything.”

“Thanks, Sungker.” The boy in blue reached up to give him a pat on the shoulder, and unexpectedly felt a little welcoming static from his skin.

After a ride on the pulley-operated platforms that he felt bad for enjoying, Jay sat on a stiff chair in the room. He had taken a platter filled with exotic foods and drinks and was completely stuffing his face, and as he was doing so, tears fell in dozens down his face. He couldn’t stand himself. Here he had come, selfishly wishing to be treated like a king, and his faithful servant(s?) wasn’t even here to pamper the great gift. And now he was sad about it, and he hated himself for it.

What was he going to do now? How else was he going to make his mind feel numb from pain, so the only thing he felt was uplifted, praised, happy? The League of Jay wasn’t necessarily an option, since they were caught up in their own damages from the city’s fall. Where else could he possibly go- to Murtessa and the Munce? He cringed at the thought. Though he knew he would be treated like royalty among their people, he couldn’t possibly betray Nya by basking in the attention of another woman who liked him. That would be pure cruelty; slander to her name and to their relationship. He chucked a half-eaten fruit at the floor aggressively, and its juice stained the wood. It rolled sadly into a crack.

Jay caught his reflection in the platter and stared at it angrily. His tear-worn face snarled back at him without hesitation, all emotions having been let loose. He stood up and set the platter down gently on the chair. He sniffed and dragged his knuckles across his freckled nose, now a menacing red. “I need to go for a walk,” he expressed shakily.

The inside of the room had been lit with electric lamps after the sky had gone dark. Jay left them going as he made his way to the door and slowly pulled it open. But instead of the view of the jungle he had expected to see from the deck, he was looking into the slitted eyes of a very sweaty beast. Its body pulsed back and forth with a pant, and its light green scales shimmered menacingly in the moonlight. In its huge mouth was a gently gripped, large, brown coconut.

“Oh, Zippy! The hell are you-?” The dragon nudged his snout into Jay's torso, pushing him back with the force. Zippy dropped the slimy fruit on the ground beside him and bowed like a dog.

Jay’s gloved hands picked up the nasty ball. “Not really the time for this right now, bud,” he said with a soft smile, giving Zippy a few pats on the head with the other hand. He reeled back his arm and then sent the coconut flying past their heads and over the railing, leaving bits of slobber behind from the velocity. Jay wiped his hand on his gi as he walked on the deck and around the corner, but once again came face-to-face with the reptile.

“I mean, what did I expect?” Jay sighed, comforted by the presence of the good-hearted creature. He was presented with the coconut once more, and acquired it in his arm before giving Zippy a good scratch under the jaw. This nearly sent the dragon crashing over the rail by the sheer force of his dropping and rolling from the pleasure of the scratching.

The slobber-stained ninja shook his head in amusement after a small bout of startled shock. “Maybe we should play somewhere a little safer, buddy,” he suggested.

Zippy followed Jay like he had a whole cooked chicken. Eventually, Jay was far enough from the village to feel safe from destroying it and, most importantly, to feel alone. He settled himself on a formation that jutted up above the trees, with a singular light blue flower growing on its ledge. He stood so that it was shielded by his legs, as if he were keeping it safe from Zippy’s reckless ruckus. From here he could clearly see the island’s unique sky. The violent storm twisted in a ring around the island’s shores, but in the middle it parted to reveal a sphere of the clear night. Though the stars were pretty, it was the moon that gave the world light, cut into a neat half and half- ironically called a quarter moon. One side light, one side dark as a sea trench.

Jay gave the fruit a good chuck into the trees below, and Zippy rather ungracefully dove into the jungle to give chase. He realized how good it felt to throw something with such great force at the moment. Jay gazed a bit at the hands that had done it all, from the throwing to the fighting. They were settled in flexible gloves cut at the fingers, which had not been washed for days; gloves which had usually gotten such good care when possible.

Zippy returned back with the coconut in due time. “You know,” Jay said, patting Zippy’s nose, “I always wondered why they called it a coconut when botanically, it’s a fruit.”

The dragon tilted his head, confused at the boy’s matter-of-fact tone. But soon enough he forgot and began spinning in circles, begging for the sacred fruit-fetching ritual to continue to take place.

Jay threw again, laughing at his antics. He envied how simply the creature perceived things, with a brain and heart so, well, simple. It must have been easy living simply. All you needed to do was munch the plentiful fruit of the isle, amuse yourself with a ball, and make friends with everyone you came across.

When Zippy returned from a few more tosses, Jay put his hands on his knees, starting to really breathe a bit. “I think that’s enough for me for now,” he said. The beast gave him big puppy eyes, noticing the tire in his tone, but Jay did not relent. He turned to head back to the village, but the dragon settled into the ground quickly in a curve that blocked him. Zippy shifted his head into his claws, seemingly happy to take a break himself.

“Well, I guess I could stay a little while,” Jay decided, plopping himself into a safe spot against the dragon’s body. His thin legs still surrounded the patch of grass that the flower was growing from. He guessed he developed some sort of attachment to the little thing.

The ninja suddenly heard a deep resounding crack beside him, and the grunts of a confused Zippy. “Huh?” He twisted over to see what was happening, and within seconds, he understood. The dragon snorted and began shaking his head and spitting, sending sticky bits of fruit flying from left to right. Zippy hadn’t been paying attention to the pressure he was putting on the coconut while he was resting, and his powerful jaw had crushed the thing to smithereens.

“No, Zippy! But the coconut! It was yours… it’s all gone now!” For reasons inexplicable to him, Jay’s face started suddenly scrunching again, ugly wetness trickling endlessly from his eyes. “Now what are we gonna do? I-” he sniffed- “you broke it!”

Zippy pressed his head against Jay’s side gently, not forcefully careless like before. The dragon sighed slowly, a peaceful sound reminiscent of a comforting whisper. Jay grabbed onto the sides of his face and pressed himself against his forehead, tears seeping into his scaly skin. The boy erupted into full out sobs, letting himself go in the openness of the wild jungle. And nobody saw him except for that simple creature.

After a hefty fifteen minutes, Zippy must have sensed a steady increase of calming from Jay’s crying, and removed his head from against him. He gave Jay a sloppy couple of licks across his face, possibly hoping to make him cleaner.

“I’m- I’m really sorry, boy,” Jay forced out between decreasing sniffs. He placed his hand gently on Zippy’s chin. “I-I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I mean, yeah, I’m going through some stuff, b-but… a coconut?”

The dragon gently pushed the boy onto the ground, and curled himself neatly up around him and the flower. He gave Jay an understanding look, no judgement in his gaze. Just sympathy. His tail flicked gently in the grass, making a nice brushing sound. After being seated, Jay rested one of his hands on Zippy’s nose and rustled the other into a pocket in his gi. He slid out his shiny half of his charm, his Yin promise, and turned it slowly in his hand. He watched the moonlight glint on its surface and flicker at the edges as he moved it.

“I just want her back,” he lamented softly.

The creature raised his scale-touched nose and sniffed the metal charm with his big nostrils. His curious eyes crossed to give it a good look.

“Yeah, I know, it looks like just a thing,” Jay said, “but I tell ya, it’s special. I helped make it. It’s really important…” he started to bittersweetly tell the story of how their Yin-Yang charms were made, and the entire crisis that was the proposal. “I know, I know, on the edge of a battle, right? But I thought I wouldn’t’ve gotten any other chance! Besides, it was cool. Suspenseful. It was like we were in a love story.”

He fell silent again for a moment, listening only to the hum of jungle bugs. He sighed again. “I guess the best love stories do always end in tragedy.”

Zippy let out a sympathetic moan, comforting Jay’s emotional state. Jay shifted his gaze back to the clouds above the sea. “I’m always gonna hold up my end of the promise, though. No matter what. I’m never gonna give up on her, Zippy. Even if things don��t ever go back.”

The dragon grunted his approval.

“Still, though. I just can’t help it. I’m always staring at the water, with super unreasonable expectations. And then I get so hopeful, and then I get let down, until I’m staring hopelessly into a pool of my own tears.” He dug his face into his knees. “It’s abysmal. I’m sorry. You’re the only pers- er, thing- I’ve talked about it with, really.”

Zippy tilted his head affectionately, and tried to nudge Jay’s out of his knees. His eye poked out from above his daily gi’s pants, shining with emotion. “Well, I guess Maya caught me crying once, but that doesn’t count.”

The dragon’s own eyes started to gain a shine, and he shook his head, blinking erratically.

Jay took his body out of its hiding position, wrapping his arms around Zippy’s face to stop his shaking. “It’s okay to cry, boy,” he soothed, and the two cried together into the night until reality faded and they were both asleep beside a perfectly intact, dew-covered flower.

Morning rolled around and Jay said his lighthearted goodbyes to the keepers without eating breakfast. He stood at the edge of their dock, shaking hands with Sungker as a parting exchange.

“Thanks for being so nice, Sungker. I’ll see you again soon.”

Sungker looked to his sides bashfully. “Yes, yes, of course, Gift of Jay. Perhaps next time Poultik will be here to provide more assistance?”

Jay shrugged. “I’d like to see him, but maybe next time he and I can do something a bit more… two-sided, as friends.”

He gave an approving “hmph” to the departing visitor, and waved him off as he climbed back into his sub speeder.

As Jay sped gracefully through the aggressive waves, he came to the realization that he had been needing. Somehow, it wasn’t praise or luxury that had made him forget his sorrow. In fact, it was quite the opposite, a nature-bound therapy session with a gross but loving creature, which had made him feel a lot better.

As Ninjago City rose in the distance, he remembered one more thing.

“Whoops. Forgot to tell them their amulet broke.”

#ns15 #ninjago #seabound #fanfic #jay walker

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