***I've been waiting to write this chapter for a long while <3 Finally, Seliel gets a POV!

Also, I accidentally fulfilled the day's Flumptober prompt (a oneshot including Gayle Gossip or Dareth) by writing this LOL Who would've thought?

But without further adieu, here's your chapter! <3 Next update will most likely come Tuesday, but maybe tomorrow!

Have fun with 4,750 words. I'll try to condense everything better next time LOL***

***(Jay's POV)***

It's been two days since I last saw Nya at school, and the fact that I hurt her that bad is eating me up inside. I feel like Captain Kirk from Star Trek when he's writing his captain's log for one of those times the Enterprise is floating aimlessly in space. You know, the times where he's like, "We've been drifting in space for days, and we have nothing left to live for."

Yeah, well, I need to find a way out of this cycle. It's just depressing.

I roll off my bed and slip on my tennis shoes. My counseling appointment isn't for another hour, but I'm going to go early and see if my therapist can squeeze me in. I just really need to talk this out, and no offense to my parents, but I don't want to tell them I kissed Nya when she was at her weakest. They think I'm a god for coming to stay with them for a while, and I don't want to burst their bubble.

I pop my head out of my room. "Mom?" I call.

She beams at me from the kitchen. "What, honey?"

"Um, I wanted to let you know that I'm heading out, okay?"

"Where are you going?"

"Counseling."

She frowns at the clock. "That's not for another hour. Oh! That's actually a good thing. Sweetie, I need you to drop off some things of Nya's she left at our house all those months ago in February. You haven't been around to return them for so long, they've just been sitting here!"

I blanch. "Um...why can't...you or dad drop them off? I kind of wanted to head to counseling early." And Nya wants space, so that's exactly what I'm giving her.

"Your father's busy, Jay. And I had my driver's license revoked for a year after I left three parking tickets unpaid. Should've made a note to pay those." She hums to herself as she walks into our small living area and grabs a bag off a peg on the wall.

"You lost your license over a parking ticket?" I frown.

"Three parking tickets, honey. And I didn't pay them." She hands me the bag. "These are Nya's. Thanks for being such a dear!" She smooches my cheek, then bustles off to the kitchen again.

I sigh. I'm not even going to look in this bag. Too many memories – of my mom's death, of Nya's horrible internal battle. I was terrified she was going to do something to hurt herself back then, but she remained pretty stable through the whole thing.

I'm the one who wasn't stable. I'm the one who turned into an emotional mess and ruined everything for Nya, my team, my friends, myself.

I swiftly stalk out of the house before my mom finds me crying my eyes out. I don't want her to be worried.

I head for my car and toss Nya's clothes in the passenger seat, listening to the familiar rumble of the engine as I start the vehicle. I guess I'll just drop Nya's stuff off at the monastery. If she doesn't want to see me, I probably shouldn't go to her house.

Gosh, I've messed up so bad. It really hurts to think she'll probably never want to be with me now, but what hurts even more is that she put up with so much the past few months. I hope I haven't ruined her for dating.

Tears prick my eyes all over again. Nya deserves to be with someone who makes her happy. I don't want her to be afraid of romance because of me. I have to fix this somehow.

I'm just so lost as to where to start.

I pull up next to the monastery, not bothering to turn off my car. I just walk up the front steps to the building, then set Nya's clothes on the porch. I'm sure she or one of the others will find them when –

The door opens next to me, and I guiltily look up. It'd better not be Nya, or I'm going to burst into tears.

To my relief – or...disappointment? – it's Cole.

"Hey, buddy," he smiles. "Whatcha doing?"

"Oh, uh, nothing. Just dropping off some things of Nya's that my mom had laying around." I hand him the bag.

He takes it from me, still smiling. "Do you want to come in?"

"I have counseling pretty soon. I had to drive ten minutes out of my way to get here." I sigh. "Um, how's everything going around here?"

"Good. You can drop by and visit sometime, you know."

"Yeah. It's just...I don't want to be here when Nya shows up, since she isn't really intent on seeing me and all." I run a hand through my hair. "Is she doing okay?"

"She's fine, Jay. Quiet and distant sometimes, but she's fine."

"Not anything good, I'm sure." I take a huge breath. "Okay. Um, I'm going to get out of here. Take care of yourself, okay? Tell everyone I said 'hi'." I wave, starting to step off the porch.

"Jay?"

I turn slowly. "Yeah?"

Cole sets Nya's clothes down, then comes to me and gives me a tight hug. "Make sure you tell your counselor what you're really feeling. I think that could be helpful."

I hug him back. "I...I'll try."

"You will." He pulls back. "Have a good night."

"You, too." I walk off to my car, climb inside, and wrestle with my thoughts the whole way to my therapist's office.

I throw the vehicle in park and look up at the sign. "Dealings with Dareth," I muse. "I dareth you to find healing."

What a stupid slogan.

I stuff my hands in my pockets and walk inside the office. The secretary greets me and signs me in for my appointment. As it turns out, Dareth's last client canceled, so I get to see him about ten minutes early.

"Hello, Walker," says my counselor's relaxed voice as I enter his room. He has his feet propped up on his desk as he reclines against his chair.

"Hi, Dareth," I greet, sitting down on the leather sofa. "How are you?"

"Not bad, not bad."

With how nonchalant this guy is, he kind of seems like his brain is burned out on drugs.

I make myself comfortable on the sofa, hugging a throw pillow to my chest. "Um, where do you want to start today?"

"I thought I'd let you do the talking, since you're the one who decided to come in early."

"Oh." Aren't therapists supposed to ask questions? That makes everything so much easier. "Um...so, some things in my life have changed since we met last week."

"How? Did you finally get the girl?"

"No, Dareth," I snap. "I pushed her away. I did something stupid, and she put space between us. And I realized that I'm actually a horrible person who needs to change. I want my life back, Dareth."

"Wow. That was a lot of emotions at once. Powerful." He sits up in his chair. "How are you going to get your life back, Walker?"

"I don't know. You're supposed to help with that." I huff out a breath.

"I am only here to help in the healing process. You need to figure out some of this stuff for yourself." He yawns.

"Can you at least act like you're concerned with what I have to say?" I ask. "Okay, fine. I'm going to get my life back by...not being a jerk anymore."

"Good start."

I glare at him. "You're my counselor. You're not supposed to outright tell me I'm a jerk."

"Sorry. I thought we were emotionally on that level of our relationship. Now, please, go on."

I moan. "What else is there to say? I need to be nicer to my friends. I need new hobbies besides memorizing informational articles on what to do in case of an allergic reaction."

"Yeah, that does sound pretty serious." He scribbles something down on a notepad.

I roll my eyes. "Dareth, do you even have a degree for counseling?"

"I have a gift. Where there are gifts, no college education is needed."

"You know you could get in trouble for pretending to be a therapist without proper licensure, right?" Now I know why he was so cheap.

Dareth hitches a shoulder. "Not in Ninjago City."

"Seriously? Ninjago City must have some weird laws." I shake my head.

"Hey, at least you can talk to someone outside your family and friends about your problems. Now, go on. If we finish your appointment early enough, I'll be able to get the TV on and see Gayle Gossip for her 6 p.m. evening report."

"Dareth, you might need counseling for your obsession with her."

"This is about you right now. Tell me how else you're going to take back control of your life."

Oh, my. This guy is getting on my nerves.

"Um...I'm going to..." Invent. That's when it comes to me – my one hobby that's always helped me when I've been working through problems in the past.

I sit up straight. "Dareth, you're a genius!"

"Thank you. I do take tips." He frowns. "Uh, what, exactly, did I do that was so genius?"

I ignore him. "I'm good at inventing. It's the best kind of therapy for me. So over the next few weeks, I'm going to make something – something really awesome – and it'll be for Nya. She won't have to see me in person for me to start trying to make things up to her; I can get one of the guys to bring her what I made. And even if she doesn't want it, at least I'll have spent time doing something with my own hands and not thinking about ways to get her back." I sigh, full of gratitude.

Dareth coughs. "Uh, Jay, are you sure this isn't about getting her back?"

"I'm sure. Whatever I make doesn't have to be romantic in nature at all; it just needs to be something she'll like."

He shrugs. "If you say so. Why do you keep running after this girl, anyway? She's obviously not interested."

Well, not anymore, at least. Not after what I've done.

"I'm not going to run after Nya anymore," I say resolutely, even as I feel apprehension rising in me. "If she wants me, she can tell me that – I'm not crossing any boundaries. I just want to be her friend, Dareth."

"We both know you still like her."

My heart pangs. "I can't help it. I mean, I had a crush on her two years ago when we first met, but over time...I fell in love with her. And now, I'm just torn: I can't stand the idea of her waking up next to another guy every day of her life, yet at the same time...I just want her to be happy."

"Sounds like a topic for our next session." Dareth pulls out his notepad again.

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. Have a good night. And...thank you." I collect myself off the sofa, then go running outside so I can get home and start a new project.

I finally feel like I have some direction in my life.

***(Seliel's POV)***

I riffle through the mail in my hands, glaring at the letter I see.

"Cole," I yell from my spot at the kitchen table. He'll want to know about this.

"Coming," he calls back. A moment later, he appears in the doorway. He gives me a small smile, then sees my expression and comes to sit down beside me at the table. "What's up, Sel?"

"Social services, that's what." I thrust the letter at him.

He frowns. "Oh. Since you're sixteen, and you don't have a legal guardian right now..."

"Precisely. The police have done a great job holding the city off so far, but...I think our luck may have run out." I sigh.

He runs his finger under the envelope flap, breaking the seal. "The commissioner said it shouldn't be a problem for you to stay with us, given that you don't have any relatives pressing for custody of you. That would be the only rule barring you from living here."

"Rules change." I shake my head. "Dang it. If my dad hadn't gone to prison, I could still live here and technically be under his legal guardianship."

"But your dad was a menace, Sel. And we still don't know who he was working for that he got all that weird tech from." He strokes my hand. "Ready for me to read this letter out loud?"

"No, but do it anyway." A gloomy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach.

Cole scans over the introduction, then begins reading the first paragraph. "'It has come to our awareness, Seliel, that you aren't staying with a legal guardian. We haven't located any living relatives, so we had assumed you'd been integrated into the foster care system. We were surprised to learn that you are staying with friends who have not been registered as a foster family. Neither have these friends made any attempts to adopt you.'"

"Here it comes," I swallow, closing my eyes tightly.

Cole continues, "'The police chief has given us some recommendation that you stay with these friends. However, according to city ordinances, we must insist that your friends register as a foster family and receive proper training and psychological evaluations before you consider this a home. The other alternative would be to have a married couple file for your adoption.

"'Because you have no living relatives, and because the police chief has attested to your wellbeing with these friends, we have decided to allow you to stay with them for the time being. However, they must apply for entry to the foster care system by May 12th.'" Cole looks up from his reading. "That's two days from now."

"Sadly." I shake my head. "But at least they're letting me stay right now."

"We'll get this all worked out, Sel. You'll see." He wraps an arm around my shoulders.

I breathe in his familiar smell, but all I get is a whiff of B.O. "Eww, Cole! How many times do I have to tell you to wear deodorant?!"

He smiles sheepishly. "Sorry. I trained pretty hard during my private time today."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "And you probably didn't wear deodorant in the first place." I lean back into his embrace anyway. I mean, it's not like I haven't gone without antiperspirant in life – I've always been the poor kid.

That is, until I moved in with the ninja. Now, I get to experience the joys of scented shampoo and free access to nail polish and makeup. Plus, I get to spend my days with my sweet hunk of a boyfriend. I love my life here.

And I hope the court will see that.

Cole rises. "Would you like to run an errand with me?"

"What kind of errand?"

"Jay dropped off some things of Nya's about an hour ago, so I thought I'd run them back to her house. Lloyd's working with his mom on finding out which realm Master Wu is trapped in, and Zane is still staying with PIXAL while Borg fixes her, so I decided I'd better find something useful to do, too."

I nod. "Nya and I need to have a conversation, anyway. As long as you've got the spare time, I'd love to spend half an hour talking with her."

"Fine by me."

He watches as I grab my crutches from where they lean against the chair next to me. He knows from experience that helping me will just earn him a snappy attitude. I like to take care of things myself – I lived independently so many years of my life, it just comes naturally.

Once I get my footing, Cole and I walk out to the Earth Drill and climb inside. He turns the radio on to an emo song – he knows I love emo music – and we ride to Nya's and Kai's home in comfortable silence.

It takes us around twenty minutes to arrive, and when we finally get there, I see Nya out on the porch reading. Kai and Skylor sit across from her, probably discussing wedding preparations. They seem to be arguing – they do that a lot – but it ends with Skylor laughing and Kai smirking in a way that says he's pleased with himself.

He either said something absolutely stupid or made an inappropriate comment.

I make my way out of the Earth Drill. "Nya!" I shout in my bossiest voice. "Come get your stuff out of here."

She looks up in surprise. Her eyes flash with mirth for a moment, then she replaces the expression with a scowl.

To everyone else, we're sworn frenemies. To us? We're only frenemies most of the time. We actually get along pretty well.

She sets the book down next to her, taking her sweet time as she folds her page so she doesn't lose her place. Then, she walks down her front steps.

"What the heck are you doing here?" she asks.

Cole joins me at my side, holding out her bag of clothes. "Jay dropped these off at the monastery for you."

She perks up, just a little, and it's obvious to me that she still likes Jay. I mean, she even gets excited when she hears his name in conversation.

However, hurt flashes across her face even as interest lights her eyes. "Thanks." Her tone is guarded.

"You and I are going inside to talk," I inform her, limping up her walkway.

"Since when?" she asks, falling into step with me.

"Since I said so. You've held off this conversation long enough." I look to Cole. "Stall her brother and the fiancée, please."

He gives me a frown, then shrugs. "Fine by me."

I lead Nya inside – she lets me walk in front, knowing full well that I could thwack her in the leg with one of my crutches should she try to beat me there.

The moment we close the door behind us, Nya crosses her arms and eyes me. "Before you start – "

"No," I shake my head. "I'll go first. Nya, you're stupid for wanting to run away."

"I am not stupid!"

"Yes, you are. Now, I don't know everything about why you ran away and came to live with me for a couple of days last month, but I know that you're afraid of hurting people. It's all about failing, isn't it? When things get too hard, you butt out before you can fail and ruin everything. You don't even try."

"Seliel," she growls. "Shut up before I literally kick you out of my house."

"No way. Tell me why you think it's such a bad thing to be human and hurt other people."

She scoffs. "Seliel, have you ever been the reason somebody died?"

"No, but I've been the reason other people have gotten hurt." I gesture to her couch. "I'm sitting down. You can join me, if you want."

She raises an eyebrow, leaning against the door. "I'm fine where I am."

I shrug. "Suit yourself."

After I've arranged myself nicely on the sofa, I continue, "Nya, did I ever tell you about the time my dad pummeled twelve-year-old Cole?"

Her eyes widen. "No."

"Well, that's what happened. It was just after my mom died, and Cole was over at my house. My dad was raging, and he came after me. Cole hid with me in the closet until my dad found us, and then he took the blows for me until the neighbors came to see what was wrong. We escaped to Cole's house while my father was occupied at the door."

Nya shakes her head. "And no one noticed that Cole had obviously been beaten up?"

"His dad was really grieving over Cole's own mom's death at that time, so no. But that's not the point. The point is, if you look at that situation the right way, it's my fault Cole got hurt."

"But it was your dad's fault."

"Exactly. Now, do you judge yourself so impartially?"

"Yes. I put the blame where it belongs."

"Please explain."

She scoffs. "Sel, I'm not about to tell you all the horrible things I've done."

"What if they aren't so horrible?"

She rolls her eyes. "Just stop already. It's none of your business."

"I'm making it my business. Nya, whose fault was it that Jay's bio-mom died? I've heard that you blame yourself for that."

She shakes her head, coming to sit beside me. All her earlier resolve seems to melt away.

"Honestly, you're one of the few people I trust anymore," she confesses. "Promise me you won't tell anyone what happened."

"Okay. Spill."

She inhales. "Back in February, the Sons of Garmadon had a staff that used chronosteel and vengestone to take the powers of elementals and redistribute them to others. That resulted in power withdrawals – negative reactions to one's native element due to the removal of all affinity for that substance from the body."

"That sounded smart as heck." I lie back on the couch, suspending my good leg in the air. "Wanna elaborate?"

***Music Cue***

"I mean that the staff gave people withdrawals from their element if it was stolen. For example, Skylor lost hers, so she had withdrawals whenever she interacted with lots of different stimuli. She was technically allergic to water and ice, but because she also possessed the element of fire, all those negative elemental reactions canceled out. What really got her was the power of mind – her brain attacked itself. However, she went into a coma before much damage could be done, so after a few visits with a specialist, she was deemed cognitively sound."

"Again, with the smart words."

"She was okay," Nya sighs. "The former master of mind...was not so lucky. He died because the Sons of Garmadon took his power. It was Chamille, the master of form, who did it. She's in prison for the next twelve years."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I suddenly realize how much death and heartache the team has experienced while still teenagers. No wonder Nya's messed up.

I soften my tone. "Would you like to tell me more about what happened with Jay's mom?"

Nya nods. "Libby – his mom – thought my power had been stolen, which would have caused withdrawals from water. I even had symptoms of withdrawals – it was like an allergic reaction. When Nadakhan dropped me in water, she broke the staff so she could save me." She sniffs. "The staff was supposed to return powers to the original elemental masters, and it did. The thing was, she'd been accidentally given the power of mind, and when it left her..."

I fill in the blanks. "She had mind withdrawals."

"Precisely."

I frown. "But...she chose to save you, Nya."

"But I didn't need saving." She laughs humorlessly. "Sel, my power was never stolen."

I blink. "You said you had power withdrawals."

"It looked like that. The truth is, I'm allergic to perfume, and I had forgotten to take my medication that morning because I was so stressed. It was the morning after I had broken up with Jay and Lloyd had gone nuts, so I was distracted. And Chamille always used to wear a strong fragrance, so when I came into contact with her that day..."

"You started reacting to her because of your perfume allergy."

"Yeah." She swallows. "And my power couldn't have been stolen because of Ronin. I don't know how, but...I think he must've had some contact with the staff so he could make it so it couldn't absorb my element. I haven't talked to him about it – I never want to bring up that night with him again."

"So...Jay's mom thought you needed saving, when you really didn't." I shake my head. "Does Jay know?"

"No!" Nya exclaims. "I can't ever tell him. He'd hate me."

I nudge her arm. "You'd be surprised."

"Please don't tell him. He's not ready to hear everything yet."

"I'm not going to tell him," I reassure her. "But you consider yourself to blame for that?"

"Who else is there to blame?"

"Lots of people. There's you, but there's also Nadakhan for dropping you in water and Chamille for wearing perfume. I'm sure Harumi was involved, and then there's Jay, your teammate. He should've done a better job keeping you away from Nadakhan," I bait her.

She blanches. "None of that is Jay's fault!"

"Oh? But he has the same amount of fault as you, Nya. You were both under the same impression that your power was gone and that you would die when submersed in water. If you're guilty of murder, so is he."

She sputters.

"We could even blame his mom," I go on. "She's the one who decided to break the staff and have an elemental child in the first place."

"Jay was unplanned! His mom suddenly found herself pregnant, and her parents thought that was a good enough reason to leave her with Jay's bio-dad."

"Doesn't matter. She could've aborted him, but she chose not to. Not that she should've aborted him, but it's her fault she brought him into the world, and therefore, she inadvertently took part in her own death. She wouldn't have been put in the situation that killed her if it weren't for her son, am I correct?"

Nya rolls her eyes. "Seliel, having Jay was the best thing Libby ever did. And stop blaming people who have no fault in her death."

"Then I need you to stop doing the same. What I'm trying to show you, Nya, is that you can blame yourself for everything, but you were in the same place as Jay and his mom. If you're guilty, they're guilty."

"Okay, fine, I see that." Her voice rises with anger. "But you don't know that I also killed my parents! I distracted my dad while he was driving at night, he swerved into the lane of oncoming traffic, we had to swerve back over to avoid being hit by a semi-truck, and we hydroplaned due to the rainy night. We hit a guardrail at top speed, and my mom was killed instantly – the end of the rail impaled our car. My dad could've been saved, but he lost too much blood because no one could cut him out of the car in time. Whose fault is that?" Her face is red with passion and anguish.

I breathe for a moment, letting everything sink in.

"Nya," I finally say, "that one is nobody's fault. You distracted your dad, but he let himself be distracted. Your mom chose to sit in the seat closest to the guardrail."

She stands straight up. "Stop blaming my parents!"

"Then stop blaming yourself, Nya. None of you knew what would happen that night, so you were all at the same disadvantage."

"But – "

"You know it's true, Nya. You know none of that was your fault."

She shakes her head. "If you don't blame me for that, then surely I'm guilty for what happened with your dad."

Wow, she's got the martyr complex bad.

"Please tell," I bid her.

"That night when you came home and he tried to kill you and write it off as suicide – when he tried to make you overdose on meds – he only did that because I figured out he was a criminal. He had to take me out to hide his tracks, and he managed to knock me out with that crazy weaponry he had. Then, since you knew I was staying with you, he waited until you got home and tried to kill you, too. He had to shut us up...because of me."

"Nya, you saved my life."

"But what if I hadn't? It would've been my fault."

"No. It would've been my dad's, for the same reasons as the other incidents you mentioned. You and I were both ignorant, putting us at fault if you look at the situation in a narrow-minded way. But if you really think about it, my dad was the one who intentionally tried to kill me."

She buries her face in her hands. "I don't know what to think."

"But you know what I'm telling you is true." I pat her back. "Just think about what I said, okay? I'm not going to bother you any longer. But sometime soon, you need to come to the monastery – not for training, just to hang out. And you can tell me what you think about all of this, and I can give you an extreme makeover."

That gets a small chuckle out of her. "Whatever."

"You'd better believe I'm going to do it." I stand, grabbing my crutches. "I'll say 'hi' to Jay for you the next time he stops by."

"I didn't ask you to."

"You didn't need to." I toss her a wave, then shuffle out the door.

***I'm excited for these next few chapters. I think you all will like them. I enjoy seeing Jay and Nya find themselves as people <3

Plus, Jaya is finally getting back on track! Now if we can only solve PIXAL's power source issue and Seliel's custody problem, we'll all be okay...right?

Oh, wait. We still have to worry about Nadakhan and whoever he's working for. And a few other plot twists...

*Hopes she isn't booted from Ninjago* ***