As soon as he saw Nya enter the garden, clearly looking for him, Jay made sure to stay out of her sight. Ducking under hedgerows, hiding behind expertly clipped topiaries, anything to make sure that she didn't see him.

He didn't want to see anybody at that moment. He didn't want to have to talk to a single other soul.

His heart still hammered in his chest, beating against his ribs in an oddly rhythmical pattern, the vibrations of which carried to every inch of his person. Pulsing in his fingertips, pressing at his throat. He couldn't ignore it.

Eventually, Nya had decided that she'd looked enough, and headed back inside. Clearly... she'd thought that he wasn't outside at all. Too bad she didn't consider that maybe, just maybe, Jay was deliberately hiding himself.

It was freezing out there. The wind was relentless, rippling underneath flaps of clothing and chilling him to the bone, yet he still sat in silence, letting the soggy leaf-covered ground seep into the fabric of his jeans. It was gross, and wet, and uncomfortable, though he paid no mind to it. He was to preoccupied, thinking of other matters.

Jay knew that a long time had passed. An hour at very least, since he and Cole argued and he'd found refuge alone in the garden. In that hour, the sky had turned an unpleasant shade of grey. Not too dark, yet not too light either. A sludgy, boring colour, if you could even call it that. There wasn't a single ray of sun, only adding to the miserable mood.

Jay stared into the distance, off the side of the mountain and past the trees. He felt... oddly numb. After such a long time of feeling shattered, and weak, and worthless... it had all filtered away along with his warmth, leaving nought but a shell behind.

Tears still stained his cheeks, new ones still fell occasionally, slipping down his expressionless face and contributing to the ever-growing moisture on his clothing.

He wasn't hungry. He wasn't thirsty. He wasn't angry, or upset, or confused or anything like that. He was just... blank.

Which, somehow... was worse than all of the above combined.

When you felt something, there was always something you could do to, at least attempt to alleviate it. With numbness, all you could do was sit there and hope for some emotion to return to your being. It usually did, after a while.

He'd felt like this before after all. He knew the drill.

Just wait. Something will come back to you eventually.

... hopefully, that is.

Luckily, in Jay's current case, it did. Unluckily... it wasn't anything enjoyable.

It started with a small flicker of concern, then bloomed into a writhing weed of anxiety, encasing and entrapping him in an instant.

He felt sick to the stomach, and had the sudden urge to violently vomit into the foliage, but he resisted, taking deep breaths to avoid a second panic attack.

He needed something to think about, and focus on, lest his brain would wander itself into dangerous territories, which he definitely didn't want to be visiting in his current state.

What to think of though? The happenings of today? Cole's painful words that still stung like a painful insect bite? The past? The present? The future?

'What future?' A little voice in the back of his head teased.

It wasn't completely wrong. At that moment, he did feel as if his future was nonexistent. Everything seemed so meaningless and vapid, so tiny in the grand scheme of existence.

An evil cult was slowly corrupting and taking over the country, he'd already lost Kai as a friend, and now... it seemed, Cole too. The mental health problems he had struggled with for so long had made a huge comeback, after a long period of relative happiness. Nya was being as confusing as ever, Sensei Wu had withdrawn from the entire group... Jay could tell that Zane was getting more and more tied up and stressed, after having to keep the team together, virtually all on his own.

Nothing was going right.

Jay wished that he had a way to look to the future and see what was inevitably going to happen, so that he could at least be prepared for it. He was sick of life throwing things at him with no warning, he wanted to take back at least some control for himself.

Alas... there was no such thing. No magical crystal ball, no musical eight-ball. No fortune telling object to relieve his anxieties...

... or... was there?

Through the midst of his psychological peril, the remembrance of a certain set of caves swam to the front of his mind.

The Crystal Walls in the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master.

Jay shook his head and bit his lip. All the entrances collapsed, they were cut off from the rest of the world.

Though... that couldn't possibly be the case, could it? There must have been another way in. A small passageway, a rupture in the rock, another entrance that had passed under the radar all these many years.

Whether one existed or not, Jay knew that he had to try.

The ice had shown him a future with Nya in the past. A clear future where they were together, happy and content... and he simply could not see that happening. Not a single glimmer of hope for it remained.

Fates could change, couldn't they...?

He pushed himself to his feet, shuddering as he remembered how soaked his jeans were, but pressed on nonetheless. He made his way back inside, closing the back door as quietly as he could, and tip-toeing up to his room, where he shoved on some dry clothes. Instead of making the risky journey through the villa to the front door, Jay decided to leave around the back again, and walk from there to the Bounty.

The smell of pine had only gotten stronger, and the wind was cold and unforgiving. It pressed at him, going against his direction of travel, almost as if it wanted him to stay.

He gritted his teeth and kept walking, reaching the ship with an exasperated sigh.

Back out in the garden, Jay had considered summoning his elemental dragon to make the long journey, however decided against it when he remembered how loud they were. An excessive amount of roaring would most certainly alert the other ninja, and they would very quickly follow him.

He wanted to do this alone, secretly, and without any resistance.

He'd settled on his glider, which he had unfortunately left on the Bounty. As he boarded, all he could do was pray that Sensei wouldn't pay much attention. Hopefully he would just assume that Jay was collecting something to bring up to the house.

There were no run-ins with the old man though, and Jay made his way to the old bedroom he used to share with the other three. He'd left his glider propped up against the wall next to his bunk, a bad move in hindsight.

Alas, everything he needed was in place. He went back outside, and... took a second to consider. Was this... the right thing to do?

Yes. He needed answers. He... really, needed some answers. Being honest, Jay had very little compulsion to keep on trying, to keep on powering through each day in hopes that tomorrow would be better.

The end of this trip would either crush his world, or give him a reason to keep fighting.

With one last bated breath, and a cold shiver down his spine, Jay positioned his glider, and took a running jump off the side of the mountain, adrenaline shooting through his limbs as for a second... he thought he would fall.

His glider stayed true though, and caught the wind in its wings, safely holding him high up in the sky, away from death. At last, the weather was an ally, instead of a hindrance.

Jay sped away from the villa, and turned his mind to the task at hand. The tomb.

———

It was a long and gruelling journey, the constant battle of keeping up speed and maintaining height proved to be a difficult one. Fluctuating between angles, and silently begging for the wind to keep up.

After maybe a couple hours of journeying, the first views of the small mound above the ocean began to show. He landed wobbly, and he could feel too much weight fall onto his ankle, but he didn't pay mind to it.

It didn't take long to find the collapsed entrance. It was exactly where it had been left, filled with broken rocks. Impenetrable.

The search for another entrance began. Jay began to worry that he'd come all this way for nothing.

There wasn't much to search. The rock was reasonably large, but not huge. There were though, many crevices and ledges that made the whole task harder, hiding numerous shadows that could prove to be his saving grace.

He was there for at least half an hour, growing more and more sore and tired as it went on. The sky grew darker, oranges and pinks teasing him in the distance.

The others had probably realised that he was far gone, and not hiding anywhere in the villa by now. The later it got, the harder it would be for him to find anything interesting. Time was almost taunting him, speeding away faster than he could keep track.

Hope was floating away.

Jay was desperate.

Then, as the last glimmers of light began to fade, he seemed to stumble upon something.

A strangely man-made looking crack in the rocks came into his view, snatching his attention in an instant. It seemed to be cut by a sword, neat and intentional, very different to the rest of the imperfections and damages covering the ground.

Jay took a deep breath, then brought his foot down on it, hard. The crack widened, splitting open in a uniform pattern.

... this had to be it.

Jay kicked it again and again, stamping away at the fault until finally, finally, it caved in, rocks splintering away to reveal a small tunnel.

The first metre or so was flat, but then it curved downwards until it was nearly a 180 degree plummet.

Jay would have to get on his hands and knees and crawl in. Once he entered, there would be no going back.

His chest filled up with nerves, as the possibility that this was NOT a proper tunnel arose. What if it was just a hole in the rock, and he would very quickly reach a bottom? What if he was stuck there until his inevitable death?

The other ninja would have no reason to come and look for him in that place, and as the ocean levels rose across the next day, it would undoubtedly fill with water and he'd painfully drown to death. The water level was already lapping at it's entrance.

... though... it was now or never.

Jay took one last breath of outside air, then crawled into the tunnel.

Claustrophobia immediately throttled him, as the tube was much tighter than he'd anticipated. The slope began, and Jay had to use all of his strength to press against each of the walls, preventing himself from shooting downwards like a child on a water slide.

Each side of the tunnel was freezing cold. Jay's hands and feet began to go numb and shake, making staying steady all the more difficult.

It was a terrifying journey. The dim light of the moon and the stars had long worn off, so he was in complete and utter darkness.

Jay's breathing got faster and faster... when was this going to end? How long was this damned tunnel?

He started to shake, as hyperventilation took over. He lost his grip, and there were a few seconds where time stood still, leaving him suspended in the air in abject horror, before he fell.

Wind whistled past his ears, all thoughts left his head.

He wanted to scream, but couldn't.

He wanted to call desperately for help, but knew that nobody would hear.

For a singular moment, Jay thought that it was the end of the road.

It had all been building up to this anticlimactic, lame ending. Fallen to his death. No dramatic goodbyes, no final fight. Just a fall.

Miraculously, however, a gentle and gradual slope caught his fall, and he came to a rolling stop, coughing and spluttering. It felt like dust had coated all the internal surfaces of his lungs.

There was a terrible thundering noise behind him, and Jay opened his eyes and turned back around to see the very tunnel he had entered through begin to collapse on itself, and he leaped out of the way of the falling rocks, catching his breath in safety.

The space was dingy, with an overwhelming smell of must and damp. There was practically no light anywhere, yet it was somehow not pitch black.

Shakily, Jay pulled himself to his feet, and moved onwards, through the much larger passageway he'd found himself in.

He was right. There had been a way inside left available. It was clearly designed to be single use, as it caved in the moment he had left it.

So... perhaps his visit was meant to be.

Despite all the other complications, Jay pressed on, limping now because of his ankle. Landing badly up on top had done more damage than he'd like to admit, and the fall had done nothing to elevate that.

Eyesight distorted, sense of direction crumbled.

Jay found himself in a new cave, much brighter and bluer than the previous.

... he recognised where he was. The Crystal Walls were only just ahead.

Desperate, he broke into a run, rushing forwards and almost slipping over as he forgot the floors were just as frozen as any other surface. The Crystals... it had been a little while.

Memories of Morro and the ghosts flooded back, the clear image of what he saw last time stuck at the front. He and Nya stood side by side, older, together, and content.

He silently prayed as he ran that it would be the same. That vision had given him so much closure and solidarity... all he wanted was to see it again, and be assured once more.

He slid to a stop, almost over balancing but remaining steady on his feet. The walls were right there, surrounding him.

His heart beat up into his throat, and his eyes darted around, as anxious to see as the rest of him.

With bated breath... Jay's vision fell onto the exact same mirror as last time. The shape, the position... it was there. Untouched. Pristine.

With no more patience to spare, he stepped forward and looked directly into his reflection.

His... his brain had to take a moment to process it. A sudden numbness spread across his skin, as a feeling alike the cold trickle of melting ice simultaneously crawled up his back. Lungs stopped knowing how to function, everything... stood... still.

He blinked, wondering if his sight had deceived him in the panic.

It hadn't.

Jay stared directly at his reflection - eyes as wide as they could go - or, at least... where his reflection, should have been.

This was no trick of the light. This was no result of tiredness or delusion. This was his fate.

Jay saw nothing.

Jay saw nothing at all.