It all started like a normal day. Who knew all it took was a drunk Jay, a lake, and multiple video games?

The Ninja had the day off from training, since it was such a beautiful day and there were no villain attacks. So, to relax, Ninjago's heroes went to a lake that everyone seemed to be going to often to swim. Well, Kai, Cole and Jay weren't swimming. Cole and Kai had obvious reasons- Cole being a ghost and Kai still not a strong enough swimmer to keep himself afloat- but Jay had a completely different reason. Since he had recently reached the age to drink, he had begged the others to let him bring beer while they swam. After about six shots, Jay was already feeling woozy, but that didn't stop him. He should have stopped, though...

Kai was sitting on the dock, his long, scarred, tan legs up to his chest, his muscular arms wrapped around them. He wished he could swim, but until then, he would just watch his sister. She was probably the best swimmer in Ninjago (besides Zane), mostly because she was the Master of Water. Where Kai sat, he could see Cole well away from the shore, under a tree reading a book. He'd always been one to read.

"Hey Kai! Are you sure you don't want to jump in? The water feels so good!" Lloyd waved his arm at Kai.

"No thanks, Lloyd! Not a good swimmer yet!" Kai shook his head at the younger Green Ninja. Sometimes Lloyd just didn't think things through, despite the fact he was the leader.

Jay, slightly swaying to the side, got up and pulled up his trunks. He yelled out to his teammates in the lake. "Hey guys! I'mma gunna jump in! Lemme get a runnin' start!" Jay ran near the tree where Cole was. By then, he had heard what the Lightning Master said and stood up right in front of him.

"Jay, maybe you shouldn't," Cole placed his hands on his shorter brother's shoulders. For a while, they stayed solid.

"An' why can't I go swimmin', Co'e?!" Jay's pale tan skin became flushed with rage.

"Jay, you're frickin' drunk. You are not swimming!" Cole didn't always swear, but he only said cuss words to show that he meant what he was saying. Jay seemed to have forgotten Cole was a ghost, so instead of just grabbing his hands and walking right through him, Jay pushed the ghost down to the ground.

"You can't tell me wha' to do, Co'e! I can do wha' I wan'!" And with that, Jay took off running. Cole rolled over onto his stomach and tried to yell out to Kai, but Jay was literally bolting like lightning; by the time Cole could utter out, "Kai, watch out!", the Fire Ninja already heard Jay's running feet on the dock and turned around to stop Jay. Unfortunately, with his running start, Kai didn't prepare himself enough and Jay rammed his smaller body onto Kai's chest. The moment Kai's body hit the cold water, his brain began to panic! His mind kept yelling over and over, I can't swim! I can't swim! He started to try and dog paddle his way to the surface, but somebody- Kai could just guess it was Jay because 1) he was wearing blue trunks, and 2) he had just let go of his body- started to kick Kai's gut, pushing him deeper in the lake and forcing oxygen out of his body. Kai tried to scream out for help, but he only wasted more air. Finally, just when the water would fully claim him for death, Kai stopped fighting and one thought rushed through his oxygen lacking mind: You shouldn't have done that.

"Jay, what the hell were you thinking?!" Nya began to push Jay out of the water, not realizing her brother was under her boyfriend's feet. "You should know better than to go swimming drunk! Ugh, I should have known better. I never should have let you start drinking it the first place!"

"Aww, Nya! It was nutin'! Nobody got hurt!" Jay flung his arms up in the air like he was riding a rollercoaster, to show that everything, in his perspective, was upsy-daisy. It was only then that Cole started running towards the pair that Nya turned to her right and saw that her brother wasn't on the dock. She frantically started to look around, trying to search for her brother while spinning around so fast that everything started to become a blur.

"Nya! Jay- drunk- rammed- into-" Cole panted, trying to word out the news.

"Cole! Where's my brother!?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell you! Jay rammed into Kai when he was running into the lake!" Cole pointed his accusing finger at Jay, who apparently was trying to count the clouds."Zane, please come out of the damn water!"

Zane gracefully cut through the water and sprinted to his brothers and sister. "What is it?"

"We need you to do a scan around the area. We lost Kai!" Nya shook Zane so hard Cole could hear a bolt bouncing around.

"Okay Nya. P.I.X.A.L., I need your help!" A blue light traveled far from Zane's icy blue eyes as he and P.I.X.A.L. helped scan the area for the red clad Ninja. It was only 10 seconds when Zane saw bubbles rising from a certain spot in the water. Then, a large bubble came up, popped, and...

No more came up. Well, one thing did: Kai's body. Zane, Nya and Cole gasped while Lloyd started swimming to the still, too still body. "Hey Kai! I never knew you could do Dead Man's Float so well! If I didn't know any better-" Lloyd's voice cracked and completely trailed off. He had grabbed Kai's shoulders to lift him up only to realize that his body was much too cold. Lloyd was too scared to look at Kai's face, but he did anyway. What Lloyd saw made him scream. His face look normal for death, but Lloyd didn't like it: his amber eyes with green hues were so cloudy that when Kai drowned, his eyes looked as if they were flooded, fading to a dull grayish orange color with just small hints of blood seeping from the sockets, and blood trickling from one corner of Kai's mouth. His chest and stomach were covered with scratches and bruises and his hair was completely flattened. Lloyd let go of his dead brother's body, pushing it towards the shore. Nya lifted the body from the water with gentle waves; Cole was holding Jay as far away from the body as he can; and Zane covered his eyes, quietly sobbing.

By the time the Ninja got home from funeral home to plan Kai's memorial, Jay had already fallen asleep. Cole grumbled to himself, "Well, at least the drunk one can't cause any trouble now. Hey, did anyone forget something? I think I left my book by that tree."

Zane sighed, who was currently driving home. "We'll come back for it tomorrow. Let's all just get some sleep; we all need it." Zane looked at Nya when he said that. She turned her head towards her window; she didn't want the others seeing her cry.

But the Ninja did forget something- that because evil never rested, neither did they. The same rule applied with Kai's spirit.

Out walked Kai, but he wasn't the same- his hair was slightly still wet when he walked out from the lake, but his face and body were different. His chest was bleeding from the bruises and scratches, which would soon become scars. His mouth had trickles of blood from both corners, his lips, and a little bit of blood on his teeth, which became sharper than the sharpest blade Kai's father ever forged. His eyes had the greatest difference- the white became completely black, even the irises as well, but the pupil, which was black, glowed a menacing, evil red. His body seemed to be crippled, almost as if he were a glitch in a game, from struggling so hard to swim to the surface for the wonderful air. Kai smiled, his sharp, bloodied, white teeth seeming to glow as he whispered coldly in the midnight air, "You will meet a terrible fate." and wrote that down in Cole's book.

The next day, after the memorial, Jay turned on Fist To Face 2, Kai's game. All the files had "KAI Drowned" on top for some reason. Jay just shrugged it off as a prank. Cole must have done it, with help from Lloyd. The Master of Lightning could hear yells from across the Bounty that belonged to Cole; he was going back for his book. Cole walked by the video game room.

"Jay, you better behave. Don't drink anything alcoholic, or you'll face my ghostly wraith," Cole threatened, shaking a transparent fist. Jay didn't even turned around and just stared at the TV screen.

"Yeah yeah, I get it. Don't need to keep reminding me." Jay shook his head annoyingly; he was fed up with the others reminding him it was his fault his best friend (possibly soon to be dead brother-in-law) drowned in the lake. Cole glared at the back of the brunette's head.

"Good. Because we don't need somebody else on our team to be gone." Cole left at that and flew towards the lake's tree. He found his beloved book, but felt some deep lines creased into the inside cover. The ghost ninja opened the book to find a sharp manuscript that read, "You will meet a terrible fate." Cole stared at the writing for so long that he didn't hear the soft rustling behind him until he felt something hit him from behind. It was wet; it was the lake water! It was so sudden that Cole could only gasp in pain. He felt his whole body go numb as he started seeing his entire life flash before his eyes. It took all his strength to turn around, but by then his vision had blurred. All the he saw was a formless combination of red, brown and black. The thing had the most hideous smile that Cole has ever seen- and the last thing he ever saw before his body finally broke down to a green ectoplasm puddle, at the feet of the drowned monster that was Kai.

"So sad how short life is. Not everyone gets a chance to live a long life, like me. Jay... how could you?"

Nya kicked hard at the training dummy. The seams were wearing down from her constant, ire reeking blows. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't let them go. All she could think about was the memorial. It was on the Day of the Departed*. At least Kai would be with their parents, resting in peace. But she couldn't stand it. Not only would her family name end forever, Nya was all alone. She was afraid. She remembered having to face the fear of failure and defeating the Preeminent. Kai had encouraged her and had been in her memories of when she failed. He had taught her how to spin a ball on her finger. Now who would teach her new things? Nya hit the dummy one more time, but this time, her leg went through it. Sand poured out of the hole. Nya growled- just like her brother.

Jay could hear Nya's growling as he played the game. For some odd reason, Jay couldn't find his file in the game and couldn't even create a new one. So he ended up playing one of the "KAI Drowned" files. It started off glitch, and if Jay were paying extreme close attention, he would have seen the menacing, vengeful face of the Master of Fire, with a look of insanity. But Jay didn't see it. Instead, he started playing. Everything looked the same, but it felt off. The atmosphere was gray and one point to another, there were bloody corpses. Although Jay didn't notice, one of the corpses was Cole, lying down in a shapeless position. Then glitches started to happen. Jay's character (which was Kai) began to twist in odd postures -like the back arching forward too far and the neck leaning back as if it were snapped- and the camera kept shifting to look straight towards the screen. The Master of Lightning didn't notice the first few times, but after a prolonged stare, Jay saw that the character was bleeding from his eyes and mouth. The eyes were as if a demon was possessing him. Jay wanted to look away but the stare had entranced him. He could feel himself drained from exhaustion -either from eye strain or from lack of sleep- as if the character was using his energy the longer he looked deep into his soul.

Jay...

A static voice called out the name so softly that Jay almost missed it. The voice said it again more clearly.

Jay... you shouldn't have done it...

He didn't understand what was happening. He couldn't understand. Then he realized it.

Kai was speaking. He didn't rest. But how? Why? It was too much to process.

Jay... if it wasn't for you... Cole wouldn't have died...

Jay inhaled sharply and almost choked. What happened to Cole? Oh, how he wanted to know, but at the same times, so afraid to ask.

Jay... Now you have to pay...

Suddenly, a force cut off Jay's airway and he began to start gasping, like a fish out of water. His face soon turned blue, then red... purple. His eyes rolled to the back of his head. He felt the same force push him down to the ground and a mass sat on top of him as it choked him. It took him seconds to realize it was Kai; the TV screen must have held him* back until now. Jay felt numb as he gasped one last time. His eyes stayed open as Kai got up and looked down at his masterpiece.

"You've met your terrible fate. Good..."

He was gone.

Nya came into the room, where she thought she heard a high pitched scream.

"Jay? Are you okay?" Nya's foot hit something. She looked down.

It was Jay.

Nya covered her mouth with shock, muttering curses and prayers over and over. She let out a blood curdling scream.

"ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The Day of the Departed. May lanterns be lit up and light the night sky, and honor our ancestors and those who have passed. And give respect and peace to those who will not be put to rest.

Just in time for Halloween! :D

I worked so hard on this!

Did you like it? Could I have done better? Please tell me! ^w^

1st *: If you watched Day of the Departed today, you'll understand. Or watch it tomorrow. IT WAS AWESOME! I ALMOST STARTED SCREAMING OVER AND OVER! XD

2nd *: Fucking alliteration. Don't judge meh. X)

Hope you enjoyed!

-KGF

#GodIsLife!