Long Time No See (Ninjago post-Rebooted AU)

Chapter 20

This chapter takes place a week after the previous one.

In the timeline of this story, we're approaching Hallowe'en (or Day of the Departed in Ninjago). I have a costume for Abby in mind, but if you have any other suggestions, please tell me in a comment.

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Chapter 20 (Jay)

Six years ago, the day of the funeral, Ed & Edna's Scrap N Junk

I enter my old room and, with a little sigh, quietly close the door behind me. I drop my bag on the ground before I throw myself onto my freshly made bed, burying my face in my pillow.

It smells like home.

I really wish that I could stay for longer than just one night, but I'm not going to risk my so-called friends turning up here, wanting to talk to me.

This may sound very un-Jay-like, but just for once, I feel that talking is not going to solve anything.

But if I'm going to get away for a bit, I need to make sure I have everything I'll need. I sit up on my bed and reach for my bag,

Luckily, it is already packed, and even mostly with clean clothes. I unzip it to take out only a few pieces of dirty laundry that I've brought for my mum to wash. My dirty – and rather smelly – gi has stayed back at school.

Unfortunately, I don't have anything to fill up the space. Most of my belongings are still at the school, but I guess they'll have to stay there. There isn't really anything there anyway that cannot be replaced, except maybe for my beloved old teddy bear, Mr Cuddlywoomps, and the tool box that my parents gave for for my fifteenth birthday, a few months before I left home and eventually became a Ninja.

There is still something though that I actually need to leave behind me.

From my bag, I take my wallet. I open it and remove the picture of Nya and I which was taken on our second date. As I look at it, I briefly consider tearing it into pieces, just like she has shattered my heart. But... I just cannot bring myself to do it.

I get up and slowly walk over to my desk. It still doesn't take me very long, for the room is tiny. I plop down into the swivel chair and open the drawer.

Inside, there is a huge mess of pencils, erasers, sharpeners, markers (which are probably all dried out by now) all jumbled together – exactly the way I left it when I moved out.

I take one last look at the picture, before I carefully slide it under my stationary collection. With a sigh, I close the drawer and rejoin my parents in the sitting room.

Present Day, Saturday late morning, Temple of Airjitzu

After I have parked my metallic blue racer – as I was driving on my own again today, I could take my favourite sports car, I just had to send the registration number to Nya – at the usual coordinates and grabbed my bag from the boot, I create my Elemental Dragon to fly up to the temple island.

I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with my old friends and especially with my little girl.

During the week, I wasn't able to leave early (or even on time) to meet Abby or Nya outside of school. As today is the first day of the mid-term break, we've had a rather busy time at school, finishing up for the holidays.

But luckily, it has been a peaceful week for Ninjago in general, so that Nya was able to collect our daughter early from school herself. Abby has still continued to visit me in my workshop though; even when I had to correct some tests, she would just sit there next to me and draw. And, as true Walkers, we are both able to talk and work at the same time.