Work Text:
Okay. So.
Jay has officially decided he hates cleaning.
Not to say he was ever the biggest fan of it before, but boy does being held captive really put a new spin on it! At least when it had been with the other ninja they could make a competition of it, or chat about literally anything other than cleaning.
But no, here he was on a pirate ship and instead of doing anything cool he was just mopping some stupid deck! Why couldn’t he have had a fun pirate adventure, where he got to do a funny pirate voice or help trick out the ship?
Aw- darn it, why did those stupid Cloud Kingdom guys have to get rid of Zane’s pirate voice? It would’ve been perfect for this!
If. Zane were here. And not trapped in a super evil djinn sword.
Heh.. heh… anyway.
Whatever, things could be way worse. Like, they were bad, but it was honestly ridiculous that Nadakhan thought he could get him to give up with a bunch of stupid chores! Does he know anything about ninja?
That said, it sure would be nice if the others got around to saving him before the labor and sun exposure actually killed him? Please ?
He paused, leaning over the nearby bucket and checking his reflection as best he could in the water.
Yeeeeep, his foundation’s wearing off. He could make out his freckles.
Lame.
Okay, maybe not the main thing he should be grumbling about right now, but is it such a crime for a man to want to hide his freckles in peace?!
… ‘a man.’
Actually, come to think of it, weren’t his freckles out in the reflection? Was the future-vision magic stuff not accounting for makeup, or…?
Then again, they really didn’t look too bad in that vision. They looked pretty cute, almost pretty, actually…
He leaned over the bucket again, tilting his head as he tried mulling it over.
It only took the sound of vague footsteps to remember that taking 0.5 seconds to exist without cleaning was grounds for another 5-hour “wish it all away” monologue, which was not something Jay wanted to risk.
He’d much rather spend his cleaning time with more fun things on his mind! Like continuing to figure out every pirate-related quip and insult he can think of for when he gets out of here.
Hehe.. X marks the shock.
-
‘Deep down, you’re scared. You know you’re weak.’
Despite his best efforts, Jay was still thinking about that statement.
Not for the reason Nadakhan was probably hoping, it wasn’t that easy to get under his skin.
It was actually kinda funny, if he thought about the right way. This guy really did think he knew everything, didn’t he? Thought he had him all figured out?
Well, jokes on him! Cause Jay has issues that are way more complicated than that! Hehe!
Heh…
It wasn’t that he was ‘weak’ per-say.
… okay, well maybe sometimes he felt like that, especially now with his powers being drained- but that wasn’t the only thing!!
A lot of things just didn’t feel.. right, with him. Like whoever Jay was, was a lie. Or maybe.. should be a lie.
Look, whoever ‘Jay’ was just didn’t seem good enough!
Okay, well maybe for some people. Maybe for the other ninja.
Maybe for Nya. Inconclusive. Not like he particularly deserved her anyway after the lying and the wish and oh yeah did he mention the lying ?!
Just. Ugh. Sometimes, the person he saw in his reflection didn’t feel like the Jay he wanted to be!
Which was maybe why seeing the reflection in the maze felt so surreal. That was maybe the first time he saw himself and didn’t feel like something was wrong. Almost.. Almost like-
“Cap’n ain’t gonna be too pleased to see you slackin’.”
Ah, Flintlocke, right, he almost forgot he was on the suckiest pirate ship in existence .
Gosh forbid a guy slow down to think.
He didn’t bother looking behind him to check if a gun was being pointed at him. Barely mattered anyway- what, like they were going to forfeit his wish? Pft, yeah right!
Besides, he’d rather not turn around when he doesn’t have to. The ball and chain was actually shockingly light, but it still kinda sucked to move around with.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m on it,” he grumbled with a roll of his eyes.
Eugh, maybe he should go a bit faster if he has to do ‘the bottom of the ship’ after this. Whatever that means.
… he’s gonna try not to think about what that means.
-
‘Too slow, junkyard boy.’
Junkyard boy.
Why was that bothering him so much?
It wasn’t like this was his first time being insulted for it and he literally could not less what some stupid, tyrannical djinn thought of his life. So he should be shrugging this off without much issue.
And yet.
Oh, whatever, he’d worry about that later, whenever he wasn’t being held hostage by pirates!
Or maybe in the morning after he had gotten some actual sleep. Because apparently when you try to electrocute the guy keeping you captive, your schedule suddenly gets pretty full! Great thinking on that one, Jay!
Oh, who was he kidding, it would’ve been so worth it even if it just hit him and did nothing else.
But now he had Dogshank looming over him while Flintlocke went to grab his ball and chain. And it would’ve been the perfect opportunity to try something (being 5 bajillion miles above ground notwithstanding) but he had used up all his energy trying to shock a guy!
… Then again, who said he needed his powers to make progress on an escape?
“You heard all of that, right? The whole marriage plan and the ‘infinite wishes’ thing?” He asked, “I mean, you were standing right there, so you definitely heard it.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” she firmly stated.
Mmmm he was gonna take that as a ‘I absolutely did, but I’m going to pretend I didn’t.’ He could work with that!
“You were literally in the room, I mean, I don’t how you wouldn’t have heard-”
“I was focusing. On playing. My harp,” she insisted, stepping ever closer to him.
“Sure,” he said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m just warning you, if Nadakhan actually gets unlimited wishes, what do you think’s gonna happen to you? Do you really think he’ll keep you around if he doesn’t need you?”
The goliath of a woman took yet another step closer, glowering down at him and for a brief moment he wondered if he might actually be able to get something out of this.
And then he heard a grunt and the sound of vengestone being scrapped across wood. He had gotten pretty dang familiar with that one.
Fiiiiine, he could come back to this later, at least now he could actually sleep-
He completely halted the turn of his head when he saw what Flintlocke had dragged onto the deck.
“Um.. think you grabbed the wrong one there, buddy. Last I checked I didn’t put in an order for super sized.”
It was like half his size!! He was able to hold the last one in his hands, it was just there to keep him from awesomely escaping with his lightning powers! Where did they even get one this stinkin’ big?!
“That was before you tried zappin’ the captain.”
Jay scoffed, “you know, we can’t technically prove that’s what I was trying to do, I mean I didn’t even hit him, maybe I just really hate maps and it was a big misunderstanding-”
“He was definitely aiming for the captain,” Dogshank insisted.
“Oh, oh so that part you’re sure of!”
“Stop complainin’, let's just get this over with.”
He rolled his eyes, but didn’t do much to protest. He was getting pretty tired anyway.
That feeling only multiplied when the dumb thing was chained to his ankle. It's like part of his being just got sucked out of him in a matter of seconds, electricity dissipating throughout his body. Like he was somehow suddenly less than he was before.
He wasn’t gonna let that get him down, though. “This whole thing is just for me , huh? Didn’t know pirates were so scared of storms!”
“ Can it, ‘funny man.’ Captain doesn’t want you tryin’ anything.”
… And there that feeling was again. The same one he had every time Nadakhan called him that. The same one he had when he’d said ‘junkyard boy.’
The same one he didn’t have time to think about.
Junkyard boy and funny man…
He needed to get some sleep.
-
Hehe, wow! Everything hurts!
You know, for all the training and fighting and world threatening situations, Jay wouldn’t be shocked if this was the most pain his body had been in! Ever!
He guessed that made sense- even in the biggest fights he had gotten into, his opponents usually had an active goal in mind- he was just an extremely clever obstacle in their way!
Scrap-N-Tap was not that.
Scrap-N-Tap was a bunch of jerks ganging up on one guy with the collective goal of using him as a punching bag!!
It also did not help that he was at an extreme disadvantage. He knew he could’ve won each and every one of those fights, fair and square! Unfortunately , it's a little hard to hold your own, with minimal space, no powers, and oh yeah did he mention the giant vengestone ball chained to his ankle?? Because that was not helping!
He winced as he remembered it falling on him, a sensation his chest was still screaming at him with. Well join the choir, chest, cause everything else is singing the exact same song!!
He groaned slightly as he heard footsteps approaching his cell. Great , one of the crew coming to him for who knows what.
He heard the creaking of metal before the shadow of the bars above him shifted. “W-Well, you have to eat!” Clancee insisted, dropping a small platter into the cell.
Okay, Clancee, he could live with Clancee existing right now.
“I’m not hungry,” he groaned. Gosh, did his voice actually sound that bad right now? Well, he guessed his jaw was killing him. And his throat, and his lip, and-
“You f-fought really well. You held your own like a real pirate! You should have this- to look the part!”
Jay glanced up again as a piece of.. blue cloth was dropped into his cell.
He made his way closer, picking it up, “an eye patch?”
He put it on, observing his reflection in part of the ‘meal’ he’d been given (and elected not to question what they were feeding him that was reflective ). Oof.. yeah, he was gonna need a lot of foundation to cover up what the crew had done to his face.
Bright side, the patch did a nifty job of covering up his definitely-blackened eye! That’s uh, gotta count for something, hehe!
An eye patch.. “Just like in my future.. It’s all coming true.”
Okay, so good news, he didn’t lose an eye apparently. Or at least, this seemed to confirm as much. He had honestly never been too worried about that element of his future. Eye patches are cool! Why not wear one?
But, looking at himself, all battered and bruised, he couldn’t help but picture, as closely as he could, exactly what he had seen in that reflection back then. Him, with an eye path, visible freckles, longer hair.. It wasn’t even that long, but it felt so different, so new… Almost like-
“Psst. You always talk to yourself?”
Oh, right, pirate hell, he almost forgot about that part.
Oh, boo, he almost forgot about that part! Of course someone had to remind him! Lame!
He gave a sigh, before clambering towards the bars, “only when I thought I was by myself.”
Guess he’d have to save that thought for later.
-
Jay genuinely wasn’t sure when the second game of Scrap-N-Tap had ended. Or how it ended, or how long it had lasted, or really much of anything concrete other than “ow .”
He wasn’t actually sure if he had gotten sleep sleep. Does blacking out count? Cause he’s.. Pretty sure that’s what happened here.
He was still in the room where it had started.. He thinks. His head wasn’t being super cooperative at the whole ‘letting him see’ thing. Actually his body in general wasn’t being super cooperative.
Well, if they were gonna just leave him there.. At least he didn’t have to be cleaning right now? He could sorta just.. Lay there and think?
He was thinking about something before everything fell apart last night, wasn’t he?
… oh. Right.
His future.
He had been trying not to let it rule his actions too much. Clearly, they had all seen what happened when he did that and they had this whole messed up situation to thank for it. He didn’t want to obsess over it too much, not after it had caused him to make two stupid, stupid wishes.
Okay well technically the vision was only responsible for one. The second wish was all natural Jay activities! Hehe-
Ack- okay, update, chuckling hurts now, good to know!
He tried to shift to a more comfortable position, quickly feeling a slight tug from the ball and chain still had. Great. Fiiine, he guesses he’ll sit up to push it.
… Oh gosh, what the heck was he thinking?! Him, a ninja, reduced to not wanting to sit up . Come on, he was smarter than this, he was stronger than this, he was better than-
… How much was he better than this? How much did he believe that?
Okay, well, obviously he was owed some credit, because aches or not, there was nothing that was going to make him use that wish. If nothing else, he was holding up pretty well here, but…
Was it this easy to make him feel.. Powerless, almost?
Lets see here, he’s lost his powers, the mobility to do most martial arts, he hadn’t gotten a single opportunity to even try and put some kind of gadget together, and the one plan he has tried ended up, quite literally, in the worst headache of his life.
That left him with.. What did that leave him with? His quips? Was that seriously it?!
… Actually when he lays it out like that, that’s probably enough of him that he really shouldn’t be choosing now to try and figure out if he even liked himself.
He didn’t want to know what he looked like. He had barely made himself out last night and that was before the second round. He didn’t like the idea. He didn’t like the thought of that being him.
At least he knew there wouldn’t be anything visibly permanent.. Er, on his face at least. Thank you, oh-so useful magical reflection, so glad you’re able to comfort him through the horrific situation you caused!
It.. was comforting, though. Really comforting, oddly. He remembered feeling such warmth at the sight, like.. Like he was seeing something he didn’t know he needed. Which was weird, because he was well aware of how Nya did things to his brain without even trying.
But this was.. Something different. Something he felt even before he saw her stepping next to him. Like the opposite of what this stupid vengestone was doing to him. Like he was feeling the release of something he hadn’t known was even restrained.
Gosh, at first he had honestly been worried that was the puzzle, or at least part of it. Because he.. hehe.. Really hadn’t wanted to step away from that reflection. He didn’t want that to stop being him and he didn’t even know why. There was just..! Something different about seeing himself like that.
He tried to concentrate, to figure out what that ‘something different’ was, but the blinding pain in his head quickly protested. Whatever, it probably isn’t anything too important anyway. Or at least, probably not right now.
… Aaaaaand he still hasn’t sat up. To move the ball and chain.
Ugh! Whatever, whatever, what ever!
He didn’t care! He was tired and aching and he had already spent way too much time focusing on things other than helping his friends kick a stupid Djinn’s butt! So fine, he’d stay on the ground for now, because maybe if he’s ‘still asleep’ they won’t force him to clean and he! Hates! Cleaning!
And he still didn’t know if he had actually gotten sleep!
He’ll worry about it later.
He’ll think about it when his head isn’t screaming and two of his friends aren’t captured and he doesn’t have a stupid boulder stuck to his leg!
Later.
He’ll think about it later.
-
… Well… it was the fabled ‘later.’
The one wherein Jay was meant to think about all the stuff he didn’t have time to worry about during all the pirates, and the buildings being pulled into the sky, and the 500 other things that had happened in very rapid succession.
He finally had time to dwell on it.
… Though, technically, it was actually earlier with all the time shenanigans! Which meant he could save it for a different later- for this timeline’s later! Yeah, hehe, that works!
‘Never leave until tomorrow what could be done today.’
Ugh, why did that have to be the teaching that stuck out in his mind right now?!
Though, come to think of it, if he had heeded that bit of advice when it came to letting the others know what he had done…
Whatever! It had all worked out fine anyway! Well, aside from Nya having to remember all of it. He had a lot of conflicting emotions about that.
But that! Wasn’t what he was going to focus on right now! Because this was his alone time! And he needed to keep his hands busy with some kinda gadget or gizmo before his brain exploded.
He had slinked away into his super-secret, uber-private invention-planning spot! Which was.. mostly filled with blueprints and scraps. And- look, he didn’t want the others getting spoiled on the cool stuff he was making! That’s why they weren’t allowed to look through any of the notebooks or blueprints, no other reason!
There wasn’t anything else in there he didn’t want them seeing, like drawings of himself, or drawing of Nya, or drawings of him and Nya.. holding hands.. with little hearts drawn around them. Heh.. heh...
Man, he has really got to stop sketching on things while he’s brainstorming.
He had started skimming through one of his notebooks, which had mostly been for a refresher on invention ideas, but it was hard to avoid the occasional sketch.
He found one concept for a model train- not an invention, but it was something to build. He couldn’t help but chuckle at a small drawing of himself as a conductor in the corner of the page. What can he say? He enjoys himself a good funny hat.
The giggle caught in his throat as he saw a similar drawing on a different page.
A pirate hat.
There was a pang of disgust that quickly turned almost.. smug? Ah, Jay from two months ago, so young, so innocent. You know what? Screw it, he was determined now, he wouldn’t let this ruin pirates for him. They weren’t doing the gimmick right, anyway!
The gimmick... his gaze landed on the sketched eyepatch.
Silently, he turned to a blank page and did his best to visualize the reflection he had seen in that maze.
And he started drawing.
Lines that appeared in an increasing flow and flurry as the picture began to take form.
He wasn’t the best artist, at least not when it came to people. Inventing requires visualizing a lot of pieces and knowing how they would fit together. Drawing helped with that a lot. And because of that, he had gotten really good at drawing blueprints.
But the people drawings? Those were for fun. Those were private.. for him and him alone.
So when he began drawing his future self, he barely noticed how deeply he got sucked into it. How almost desperate he became to put the visualization to page, to see it in front of him again.
And when he saw that sketchy little version of him, with a big smile and an eyepatch and longer hair, he..
He went to another part of the page. He lost himself in drawing after drawing, attempt after attempt to make it real , to make Jay Walker real . He started doing different outfits- silly, fun, unable to keep himself from smiling-
Until his pencil hovered over the legs of one of the drawings.
He stopped himself. Why had his hand gone there? Why was he wanting to add something, he had just finished that one, he-
… he had gone to draw a skirt, hadn’t he?
He put his pencil down beside the notebook.
Jay Walker. So many times he had lied about who that was. So many times he had said so many things to try to be anyone else.
… This page, these sketches in front of him, they- … they didn’t feel like lies.
For the first time since seeing that reflection, he felt like he was looking at a person he wanted to be. Someone fun and spunky and pretty and-
… pretty.
Junkyard boy. Funny man.
Oh.
The world fell still as the thought sunk in.
Oh…
He- … She took a moment to scan through her drawings.
"Well then," she gave a dry laugh, "This, hehe.. this might change some things."