Prologue. Kai POV.

I could feel his presence as I stared up at the ceiling, the air cold and thin as I blinked silently.

I was contemplating on what Jay and Nya had just announced to us a few hours earlier, about the genie-guy who trapped us all and nearly took over Ninjago with his Sky Pirates or whatever. Apparently I was one of the first to go. I wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not, but I was glad they had fixed things up for good. This got me thinking about the wishes; I didn't like the guilt that lay at the pit of my stomach, but it stayed there for a very long time.

I could've wished for anything I wanted! We all could've!

I could've wished for him.

I sighed and shifted my weight slightly, feeling the Bounty rock peacefully on the ocean's surface. Nya had said we were heading to Chen's to meet up with everyone else who wanted an explanation to the rumours, which was quite nice seeing as I hadn't seen Skylar in a while. Hopefully she was still as caring and sympathetic as she was before. Then again, she was extremely shocked at the news of another lost team member.

My brows narrowed slightly as the light buzzed quiet and flickered on and off for a moment, before returning back to normal; Jay really needed to check that out at some time.

The grieving was hard. I hadn't realised he was cold, unmoving, lifeless until Jay's distressed screams and sobs woke me up. It was awful watching him collapse on the floor, his best friend's bruised and bloodied corpse cradled in his shaking arms as everyone else flooded in the small room. Zane and I gladly owned up to our crimes in the next month, but, because we were ninja, they only gave us a stern lecture about assult and rape. I was disgusted; you can't just let a guilty rapist, who had taken full responsibility for the assualts, back out onto the streets because of his status in society. Heck, I was willing to pay for my sins and show Cole's soul some redemption and respect, even if he was no longer with us.

But, of course, Zane was instantly let off the hook, because of 'complications in his programming and wiring' — what a load of bullcrap. Thankfully, though, Pixal was jammed back into his system, to keep check on his behaviour and mental functionality forever more. I guess it was lucky that we weren't charged, seeing as Morro showed up a month later and Lloyd nearly died. So that was fun!

Jay had gotten annoyed with everything because he wanted to see Cole's ghost and see his friend again, but fortunately Cole hadn't been sent to the Cursed Realm, which was assuring due to Nya and her tsunami-of-a-full-potential. Cole would've loved to witness that amazing moment, he really would've.

Lloyd had considered getting a Spirit Board, to try and contact the late Earth Master, but Sensei was having none of it because apparently they were "dangerous". We had literally fought an entire army of ghosts and an entire Realm! Nya could just shoot them up with water if they got harmful; it was logic.

I suddenly straightened my posture as I sat up in my bed, the loud bang sound perking my senses. Irritably I shuffled off the bed and wandered over to the desk in the far corner of my room, grunting as I noticed what had fallen off its place. The spiked collar stared back at me as I slowly picked it up, careful not to damage it even more. Smiling softly, it was layed back down on the right side of the desk, next to my portable speaker and earphones, letting the untouched silver spikes glint soothingly in the dim light of my bedroom.

"Very funny, Cole." I muttered to myself, knowing that he couldn't hear me, my words simply signs of a wasted breath. Sighing once more, I pivoted calmly on my heel and turned to the door, meeting the intruder's level gaze and sympathetic frown. Nya tilted her head slightly as she entered the room, furrowing her brow with minor distress.

She spoke slowly to me, pursing her lips worriedly as her smooth hand caressed my cheek comfortingly. "Oh Kai… You need to stop this… Cole is gone, and he is never coming back, okay? You can't keep pretending like he is still alive… Its not good for your health~"

I chewed my lip in slight anger, wanting to prove her wrong. "You don't understand, Nya-"

"I do, Kai. I really do, trust me on that. But you need to realise that, although you may think that Cole is still with us, here, in this room, you are wrong." She was beginning to sound desperate, as if I was going insane or something. "You are so, so wrong! And if he were here, with us now, in this room, listening to our conversation, then he would at least give us some sort of sign of his presence-"

The lightbulb shattered.

The room pitch black.