{Seabound's ending destroyed me, so here ya go!}

It was hard, very hard to even consider a life without her. Ever since she was gone, the monastery went silent. The smiles, the happiness, everything was drained from the gang, and even a lot of citizens of Ninjago.
The ninja didn't know how to move on, if to move on.

Their days were all the same: wake up, force themself to get out of bed, eat, train, and occasionally cry without showing anyone.

Who knew her being gone would make such a huge difference?

"Is he still in his room?" Master Wu asked the ninja and Pixal at the dining table.

Nobody answered, they just looked down at their plates. They all had scrambled eggs with bacon and orange juice at the side of each plate.

Kai let out a sigh. "I'll go check on him."

Then he stood up and walked towards his room. He felt like the corridor was longer than before. With each step he took, his worries grew bigger. He was scared. Scared of the confrontation he had to master without breaking down, himself.

He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. He knocked again, but still no answer. Now he anticipated the worst. Then he slowly opened the door anxiously.

Then he saw him. He was sitting on his bed with his back to the door, his face was unseeable. Kai slowly approached him, not wanting to distress him by running up to him.

"Jay?" Kai asked worriedly. But Jay did not answer. Kai walked towards him, now seeing his face.

Jay wasn't in a good condition. He had bags under his eyes, dried tear stains all around his eyes and cheeks and his view was locked onto a glass of water which was in front of him, sitting on his nightstand. He did not seem to have noticed Kai's presence.

"Hey buddy," Kai said in the softest voice he could muster while putting his hand on Jay's shoulder. He then sat down on his bed right next to him. But still, Jay neither looked at him nor talked to him.

Kai could feel his hurt. He felt it too. Everybody was hit by the sudden loss of their Water Ninja, but it seemed like it hit Jay the most. He went silent, rarely talked to anyone. He stopped eating to the point where someone had to come to his room daily to make sure he at least ate something. Whenever they entered his room, Jay seemed to not even care about anything anymore. It came to the point in which they had to feed him. But feeding him wasn't the only thing they'd enter his room for. At his state, they all assumed that he might really hurt himself.

"You wanna talk about it?" Kai asked worriedly again, also looking at the glass of water. This time though, Jay shook his head slightly. "Alright, but you have to eat something," he insisted.

"Not hungry," Jay murmured quietly. His voice sounded hoarse and displayed his heartbreak well.

"Jay, please. I know this is hard, but you need to stay strong and eat something," Kai tried to sound convincing, but he could feel his own heart breaking more and more just by the look at him.

"What's the point?" Jay's voice sounded numb.

"I know you think that... everything you had is gone, but she's still out there. She wouldn't want you to give up on everything, both you and I know that," Kai said while looking out the window.

Jay slowly turned his head towards Kai. His electric blue eyes stared at Kai's brown ones. A single tear slowly rolled down Jay's cheek which caught his brother's attention. Kai was usually not the type of friend to have physical contact with anyone, but he let that aside and pulled Jay in for a hug.

Jay did not expect that, but hugged him back quickly and started to cry loudly into his shoulder.

"I know, I know it hurts. You can let it all out," Kai said while rubbing Jay's back. He forced himself not to cry to make sure one of them was the 'strong' one.

"I wanna go t-to her," Jay said in between of his sobbing.

"I know, but you have to eat something first. How about we go to the ocean and look for her after you ate?" Kai let go of the hug to look at Jay with a forced smile on his face.

Jay looked at him with tears in his eyes and just nodded.

"Good, is there anything you want to eat or is scrambled eggs with bacon okay?" Kai said with a genuine smile now.

"That's okay," Jay said, trying his best to stop the tears from falling down. He rubbed away them away with his sleeves.

"Alright, I'll be right back," Kai said and walked out of Jay's room.

The Red Ninja walked down the corridor and back into the dining room. He saw the others looking at him. They didn't talk, but their eyes indicated the questions they were asking from the inside.

"He was sitting on his bed and looking at a glass of water. He didn't wanna eat anything, but I could convince him by telling him that... we would... go look for her in the sea on the Bounty."

Kai knew exactly that that was a bad idea because he had little hope of actually finding her, but letting Jay starve himself like that was something he couldn't take anymore.

Cole was the first one to speak up. "You do know that-"

"I know, but I don't want him to starve himself either."

Kai went towards his seat, picked up his own plate, and walked back to Jay's room.

He knocked on the door, but this time Jay answered with a 'Come in'. Kai opened the door and walked inside towards Jay. He pulled the nightstand in front of him and put the plate down. Kai himself didn't eat that much earlier, so the plate was quite full.

Jay looked at Kai, then at the plate, and then back at Kai. Kai simply nodded, indicating for Jay to start eating.

Jay slowly grabbed the fork and started to eat. He ate very slowly, but Kai was proud that he was eating by himself and nobody had to feed him to keep him alive. Jay took about twenty minutes to eat almost half of the plate.

"I'm full," he said, looking at Kai who didn't want him to stop eating, but forcing Jay to eat wouldn't be great either, so he accepted it.

"Alright, come with." Kai took the plate and stood up, waiting for Jay to stand up too.

All of Jay's moves were slow, but Kai didn't mind as long as he kept going on. They walked out of the room together and walked back towards the dining room.

The others were done eating and basically waiting for Kai to come back, hopefully with Jay. They heard footsteps approaching and started to look at the doorframe. Kai was the first one to walk in, with Jay in the back. He didn't look at anyone, but he could feel everyone looking at him.

"Hey there, pal," Cole stood up and walked up to him, putting his hand on Jay's shoulder. Jay looked up from the ground and into Cole's face which had a forced smile in it, he could feel it.

Then he looked at the others who were sitting all around the table. They all were smiling, some forced, some real.

After Kai showed them the half-eaten plate, the forced smiles turned into real ones immediately. They were proud.

Jay forced himself to talk, his mouth slowly opening. "Can- Can we go now?" His voice was weak and tired, sounding like he hadn't slept in days.

Master Wu stood up, a smile formed on his face again. He walked up to Jay, looked at him and looked back at the others at the table. After they nodded in agreement, he turned back to Jay again. "Let's go then!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wind was blowing in the sails, but it was still too weak to keep the Bounty going, so the Ninja steered it themselves. They took turns in being the one to steer. It was currently Zane's turn.

Everyone was inside of the Bounty, everyone except for two Ninja: Zane, who was steering, and Jay. He was leaning over the railing, looking down at the water. He had been doing that ever since they got on the sea.

"He's still looking for her, isn't he?" Cole sighed as he walked over to Zane.

"He has not moved yet," Zane answered while looking at Jay. "Do you really think we'll find her?"

"Honestly, no. But as Kai said, he wasn't ready to eat on his own before he heard about this opportunity," Cole said with no hope whatsoever.

They both went silent and just stared at Jay who was looking down at the ocean. When they arrived in the middle of the ocean, they couldn't see the shore anymore, so Zane turned off the engine and let go of the steering wheel. The Bounty was just floating on the surface now. Cole was just watching Zane turn it off. After Zane was done, Cole looked at him and made a head movement towards Jay, indicating Zane to come with him to Jay.

They walked towards him at a normal pace.
"Seen anything?" Cole asked Jay. Zane and Cole walked up to each side of him and leaned over the railing as well.

Jay just shook his head in disappointment.
Cole sighed and put his hand on Jay's back. A short silence occurred, but it was interrupted by the Green Ninja. "Have you seen anything?"

Zane turned around to see Kai and Lloyd approaching them. He shook his head with a sad look on his face. Both Lloyd and Kai walked towards the railing as well, Lloyd being next to Zane and Kai next to Cole. Everyone was looking down at the water now. Nobody was talking for a while.

Jay sighed heavily. "Do you think she'll come?"

"I don't know, what do you think?" a feminine voice coming up from behind them asked back.

Everyone turned towards the voice, everyone except for Jay. They looked shocked, happy, even some tears of joy were shedded. They were speechless. She was walking up to them, a bright smile on her face. She walked over to Jay, smiling at Cole, wanting him to move to the side a bit to make space for her. He quickly made her some space, having an even brighter smile on his face. She leaned over the railing too, looking at the water. Jay did not even realize she was right next to him.

"I hope so. It's like I can still hear her voice," he chuckled a bit, before his smile went away again.

"I'm sure she'll come, then," she answered.

"Me too," Jay sighed.

Everyone went silent again. The other Ninja just waited for him to realize the person he was looking for was standing right next to him, also waiting for his realization.

Suddenly, his head shot up, his eyes wide open. It hit him like a dart in the face. He opened his mouth while slowly turning his head towards her. After he actually saw her, he just stood there, saying and doing nothing. His brain shut down, he was still trying to process it.

Then he found the ability to speak again. "Nya?!" He held his hands up to his mouth.

She just looked at him with a smile on her face. She had also missed him very much.

He looked her up and down, very well seeing her watery body. Then he started to cry. He didn't even try to hide it, he just let everything out. His hands then covered his whole face.

She concentrated on her body and tensed it up, so that she wouldn't go through him. Then, without any hesitation, she took him into her arms. He quickly took his hands away from his face and hugged her back. Both of his hands were wrapped around her waist, pushing her closer to him. He laid his head on her shoulder and cried into it.

In between of his sobs, he tried to talk. "I've missed y-you s-s-so much!"

He heard her echoey voice, the beautiful voice he was craving to hear for a long time. "I've missed you too, Sparky," she said in a soft voice while going through his light brown, curly hair.

Then he pulled away from the tight hug. He looked into her deep ocean eyes (literally) and put his hand on her cheek, the other hand still resting on her waist. They both were focused on each other's eyes, smiling brightly. She could see one last tear rolling down his cheek.

"I am so sorry to interrupt, but I need to hug my sis too," Kai said while crying his eyes out as well.

She turned around to see Kai right behind her, smiling through the tears. A small chuckle escaped her mouth as her arms went open. He took that opportunity to hug his sister. No matter how much he tried, he still had some tears falling down. He sniffed for a few times before pulling away.

"Umm, we are not your boyfriend or your brother, but could we also get a hug?" Lloyd asked.

She looked over to see Zane, Lloyd and Cole waiting impatiently on the side. She let out a laugh before walking up to them. She hugged them one at a time. The hugs didn't last as long as the hugs she gave Kai and Jay, but they still felt good.

After all of the boys were finally hugged, they started to ask her questions.

"How are you?" Cole asked.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" Kai asked worriedly.

"What is it like being made of water?" Lloyd asked. The others looked at him in confusion. "What? It's a valid question!" Then they kept on asking.

"Can you come back home?" Jay asked.

She turned around to him again, her smile slowly disappearing. Then she walked back to the railing and looked at the ocean.

"I've tried," she began. "I've tried it a lot. But whenever I leave the sea and walk out, I can't last a minute."

"What do you mean?" Kai asked worriedly.

She turned around and looked at them for a second before looking back at the ocean. "Whenever I leave the sea, it starts screaming at me. I don't think that anyone else can hear that, but I surely can. It screams, it screams so loudly that I can't stand hearing it for a long time. That's why I always have to get back into the ocean."

"What does it scream about?" Jay wanted to know.

What they heard shocked them quite a lot. She sighed. "Where are you going? You are the sea! Come back! They are not your family anymore! Come back! You left them, they don't love you! You are alone! Come back! Be who you're meant to be! You cannot escape! Accept your fate! Come back!"

She turned around to see them all looking at her worriedly. Even though she tried so hard to smile through her pain, she couldn't hide it. If she wouldn't have consisted of water already, she would have probably cried by now.

Jay walked right in front of her, took her hand, and looked straight into her eyes. He slowly led her hand to his chest. "Can you feel it?" he asked.

She looked at her hand on his chest and then back at his face. Then she nodded.

"I want you to know that that thing in there is beating for you only. You always have been and always will be the only one to bring my smile back to my face. I love you, Nya. I love you with everything I am. I don't care if we can't see each other that often anymore, but it's moments like these that bring me back to my feet again. Thank you."

His words made her the happiest ever since she turned into liquid state. She was smiling like mad. She couldn't even look into his eyes without feeling her cheeks blushing. Well, they would've blushed, but that wasn't really possible at that time. At least she didn't know if he could see it.

She looked at the hardwood deck and took a few seconds before answering. "I love you too," she said quietly while still smiling. Everyone heard it though.

Jay used his other hand to grab her cheek softly and made her look at him, his other hand was still holding her hand to his chest. He drew some tiny circles with his thumb while looking into her eyes.

He stopped drawing circles with his thumb and slowly led her head towards his. It didn't take long until their lips met with each other's. The kiss was slow and passionate, both were enjoying it a lot. They did not have a chance to do things like these in a long time, even before she had to leave, because of their constant missions.

One of them would usually have asked permission to enter the other's mouth to deepen the kiss by slowly touching the other's lips with their own tongue, but that wasn't really an option at that point in time.

When they pulled apart, Jay had a little water droplet sliding down his lips. They chuckled at that loudly.

The rest of the team just stood on the side and watched them and casually smiled at the couple's cuteness. They didn't want to interrupt their little time together, they were just so happy to see Jay happy again after a long time of silence.

Nya turned back to the ocean again and started talking. "I'm so glad you guys came here for me."

She was relieved to get the confirmation of her family that they did not forget about her. What she didn't see, though, was that something was happening to her.

The boys looked at each other in confusion, then in happiness. They were hoping it was what they thought it was.

She turned back to them, only to see they were all looking at her in shock, most of their mouths were hung open.

"What?" she asked, confused.

Only when Kai pointed at her body, she saw it herself. A lot of water was twirling around her body in a fast pace. It kind of seemed like Spinjitzu, but it wasn't.

The water became more forceful as the seconds passed. Not knowing what to do, she just stood there watching herself.

Suddenly, the water around her rose very high and lifted her quickly. Now it really looked like a Spinjitzu Burst, but it wasn't. The others took a few steps backwards, not looking at any other direction than hers. They watched her spin around like crazy in that tornado until she was completely surrounded by her element and not visible to them anymore. A sudden light shone through the water, seemingly coming from her.
The shine got brighter and brighter, until it popped and the entire tornado flooded down, creating a very small wave, making the Ninja wet.

They all looked back up and saw Nya's body falling to the ground, fast. Jay ran towards her as fast as he could, catching her just in time before her body could hit the ground.

"Nya? Nya!" he shouted, but she was unconscious. The others quickly ran up to the couple, then gasped in sync.

She came back to consciousness. Her eyes slowly opened and took a little while to focus on her surroundings. "What happened?" she asked slowly, looking around. Her eyes stopped when she saw Jay holding her. "Jay? Why are you crying?"

He was indeed crying, but not answering. He was just smiling down at her. "Why does my head hur-"

Her words couldn't come out of her mouth anymore after she put her hand on her head.

Her eyes widened. While she put her hand on her head to just hold it because it hurt, she felt something. It felt weird. It felt like... hair? She then dared to look at her hand. When she saw her hand, she quickly looked at Jay, then back at her hand, then back at Jay, and then at the rest of her body. She started to breathe heavily because of the shock.

"Am I-" She couldn't finish her sentence, but Jay answered with a "Yes." with tears in his eyes and a huge smile.

She put her weight forward, but was still holding onto Jay to keep her balance while trying to stand up. Her legs were wobbly, but she gained her balance eventually. She walked up to the railing once more to look at her reflection.

Then she gasped. It seemed like she had turned back into her actual human form. She was in her scuba suit in which she was transformed in. There were no marks of her being water from like three minutes ago, she was back to her normal self.

She looked back at her family with tears in her eyes. Tears that she couldn't let out for a long time. She smiled while she started to sob with the others who were also crying tears of joy.

Nya couldn't take the silence anymore and ran towards Jay, immediately jumping into his arms. He warmly welcomed her and hugged her as tightly as he could. They were both crying out loud.

The hug lasted for quite some time. Eventually they pulled apart, still looking into each other's eyes while wiping away their tears.

"You're back to normal! But how?!" Kai screamed out at the top of his lungs out of pure happiness.

Then it was time for her to hug them all again, this time because of their little 'reunion'.

"How?!" Nya questioned, very confused.

"I do not know, but I suppose it might have been because of the act of true love, aka the kiss you and Jay exchanged," Zane said.

Nya looked at Zane, then at Jay, and then started to shout. "So you are telling me that everything I needed was a kiss? What is this, a Disney movie?!" She didn't know how to act.

Jay couldn't hold back his jokester side. He chuckled. "So does that mean that... I am the prince saving the beautiful damsel in distress?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Nya said sarcastically while lightly punching him in the shoulder.

"Sis, does that mean that you can come back home?" Kai pouted. Then the other boys pouted along with Kai.

She looked at all of them individually, then rolled her eyes playfully. "Do I have any other choice?"

{edited: 04/11/2022}