I am a horrible person for writing this.

It had been about five months since Cole last contacted his father. No phone calls, no letters, not even a visit face-to-face just to say hello. It worried Lou whenever this happened, and he could only imagine just how dangerous being a ninja could be, but he trusted his son to always come back in one piece. He trusted Cole would be careful enough not to get into too much trouble, trusted that he would not push himself too hard; Lou told him to exercise prudence ever since they had gotten over their differences so long ago.

So why Cole was now deciding to stay out of contact with him made him very suspicious.

Lou certainly had other affairs to attend to every day, now that "The Royal Blacksmiths" were performing regularly every week, but every morning and night he would check the mailbox, the phone, anything for some sign that his son was faring well.

But no such sign came, until one day, when Lou was just getting back from dance rehearsal. He was checking the home phone for what must have been the fifth time that day for any missed messages when the doorbell rang, and an achingly familiar voice sounded from the other side of the door.

"Dad? It's Cole. Can...can I talk to you for a bit?"

Thought his son's voice sounded slightly different to him, Lou felt joy swell in his heart, and he nearly ran to the door to open it. He was smiling as he looked outside, but didn't see Cole anywhere. He couldn't help but wonder if he was just hearing things.

"Cole?" he asked. "Where are you?"

There was no answer, and he would have shut the door in disappointment, but an eerie green mist stopped him short. He watched as it flooded out of the doorbell and to the doorstep, swirling to create the figure of a young man, his back facing him, before his very eyes. He looked identical to Cole, with his black hair and ninja gi, but his skin was a sickly shade of green, with a matching, dimly lit aura surrounding his body from head to toe.

He turned around, and Lou could see it was indeed his son standing before him. Cole's body seemed tense, and his mouth was turned up into a half-hearted smile. "H-hi, dad," he stammered nervously. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Cole...?" he repeated. "Why... What happened to you?"

"A lot of things, to be honest. We defeated an entire army of ghosts and destroyed an alternate realm." He coughed awkwardly before he began to explain. "But I'm gonna guess that's not what you're talking about. You see...to defeat these ghosts, we had to get a scroll to learn a fighting technique called Airjitzu. We lost out on our first chance, so we found another way to get the scroll, but it involved going into this haunted temple. If you didn't make it out before sunrise, you would be turned into a ghost...permanently." Lou noticed Cole's voice cracked on the last word. "We got the scroll, but I...I didn't make it out in time."

Lou stared at his son incredulously, not uttering a single word as Cole stood silent once more. He reached out to rest a hand on his son's shoulder, his heart dropping as it went right through him. "You're...a ghost?"

Cole nodded. "As far as we know, there's nothing that can be done about it. I just...have to deal with being like this now." Before Lou could respond, he quickly added, "B-but that doesn't mean I can't control it! I've been practising using this body, and now I can kind of touch solid objects! I just, y'know, I can't ever touch water, or else I'll..." Though Cole trailed off, he didn't need to finish his sentence for Lou to understand where he was going with it.

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" he demanded. "Why are you just now telling me this, Cole? Do you have any idea how worried I was for you? I haven't heard from you in months, and this is the first thing you tell me?"

Lou continued to stand his ground, even as a look of hurt flashed across Cole's face. "I-I'm sorry, I just never had a chance to tell you," he said. "With the ghosts running rampant all over Ninjago, it was impossible to even catch one break."

"Why couldn't you have been more careful?"

"I didn't have a choice!" Lou's eyes widened at his change in tone, and Cole bowed his head. "I had to do it for the team. The only other option was leaving the scroll behind and never having another chance to get it again. We wouldn't have defeated the ghosts, and the entire world would have been cursed if I didn't get it."

"Cole..."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, dad..." Cole muttered. His voice started to shake as he went on, and his eyes squinted as though he was about to cry, but no tears ever appeared. "I'm sorry I wasn't more careful, I'm sorry I got turned into a ghost... I'm s-sorry, dad..." He wiped at his eyes to clear away any tears, but folded his arms tightly across his chest and looked away when none were found.

Lou's gaze softened as he realized it was virtually impossible for his son to cry, in the traditional sense at least, now that he was a ghost. Now that he's essentially dead, his mind corrected him. First my wife, and now...

"I'm sorry," Cole repeated for the last time. "I shouldn't have come, I'll just go..."

"Cole." He looked up at the sound of his name, and Lou noticed how glassy his eyes looked, as though the tears simply built up in them, unable to ever escape. He sighed, then reached his arms out. "Son, come here."

He didn't hesitate, practically collapsing into Lou's arms. He could just barely feel Cole's hands on his back, gripping the fabric of his sweater tightly as he "cried" into his shoulder. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Cole," he assured gently, trying to place his hands on his son's back to comfort him, only to phase right through him again. Instead, he tried to place them on the outline of his back, just barely registering Cole's presence in his hold that way. "I'm sorry for overreacting. I will do everything I can to help you through this, I promise."

Cole started to sob in his arms, which felt strange considering the lack of tears. As they stood motionless, simply hugging each other by the doorway, Lou still continued to think back to the issues this brought about. Though Cole was here with him, he was still technically dead. He wouldn't age, and he would likely still be "alive" long after Lou had passed on. For that matter, what was stopping Cole from gradually fading away over time, until there was nothing left of him, not even in the memories of anyone?

The mere thought made Lou's vision blur, and he felt a teardrop slip from between his eyelids, landing on Cole's shoulder with a hiss. Upon contact, Cole tensed up and a barely audible gasp of pain was heard. Lou remembered what his son said about water, and he instantly wiped the moisture away from his eyes. I can't cry... It'll only hurt him more...

"Sorry, son," he murmured, forcing back the tears that threatened to spill.

"Y-you don't have anything to apologize for, dad," Cole replied shakily, reflecting his father's words. "This is just who I am now. We both have a lot to get used to..."

So, what if the reason Cole can't see his future is because he'll eventually just fade from existence? I dunno, just a thought.

... Yeah, I'm just gonna go write more oneshots before I get any more sad ideas.