This story is an Alternate Ending of my Alternate Ending to Day of the Departed. It was requested by Tex1412, and I thought it would be cool to do, since I was considering something similar to this in the actual Alternate Ending I wrote. Enjoy!

Cole's P.O.V.

The bright light was all I could remember. As I came through, a headache hit me. WIth my eyes closed, I brought a hand to my head and slowly sat up. I heard other voices around me, unable to make out who's and what they were saying. I opening my eyes, hoping to get a look at them. Instead, the shock hit me as I looked at myself. I was human again! I looked up to the top of the Temple, making out where I stood only moments before. Now, I could hear the other voices.

"He can't be gone."

"He would be right here, though."
"Let's look around."

"Admit it, Lloyd. You just don't want to believe he's gone."

"That's not true!"

I pushed myself up, balancing myself on the boulder in front of me.

"He's got to be here somewhere."
That was Lloyd. The others are here.

"He's gone, Lloyd. Just accept it."

That was Misako. Are they referring to me? Do they think I'm dead?

"He can't be. He has to be here."
That was Nya.

"I hate to admit it, but I think Sensei and Misako are right. We would have found him by now."
Kai was giving up on me.

"We all know how hard this will be for you all," Sensei told them.

"I'd just give anything to have him back," Nya sighed.

"Some cake would be pretty good right about now," I say to myself, thinking about something that I would want for them to have me back.

"Cole?" Lloyd's voice questioned.

I climbed up the boulder, then sat on top and smiled at them.

"Hey, guys," I smiled.

"Cole!" Nya, Lloyd, Zane, and Kai cheered.

They all ran towards me as I slid down the boulder to meet them. They pulled me into a group hug, laughing and smiling. I couldn't help but laugh along. It was great to be with them again. Now there was just one thing left to worry about.

"Where's Jay?" Nya asked.

"He's probably in the Temple," Kai said. "Let's go look for him."
Before I could say anything, they were running into the Temple. I sighed, shaking my head. I felt a hand on my shoulder, turning to see Sensei and Misako behind me.

"It's best you follow them," Sensei told me.

I nodded. I started walking towards the Temple. I found the others waiting inside.

"Do you know where he is?" Lloyd asked me.

I simply nodded. I walked ahead of the others, leading them towards the last place I was with him. I stopped at the door, looking at it. I took a deep breath, knowing the others were beginning to worry. I pushed the door open and walked inside. The others all saw Jay on the floor, unmoving. I watched them push past me and run to him.

"Jay!" Nya cried, shaking him. "Wake up, please!"

"Cole, what happened?" Lloyd asked me.

I stayed silent, trying not to break out in tears.

"Nya, it's pointless," Zane said calmly. "He's not coming back."

Nya turned to her brother, who was next to her and collapsed into his arms. I glanced at the siblings over Lloyd's shoulder, feeling my heart shatter. It was all my fault: Jay's death, Nya heartbreak, breaking his whole team, all of it.

"Cole, talk to me," Lloyd said. "What? Happened?"
I couldn't respond. I didn't know what to say to him. Did he just expect me to blurt out that I killed him? That it's all my fault?

"Cole, please," Lloyd pleaded. "Just tell me-"

"I can't!" I shouted at him.

I instantly regretted it because now everyone was looking at me.
"Cole, did you do something?" Kai asked me, still holding his sobbing sister.

I felt myself tense up.

"I...I….I," I stuttered, unable to find words.

"Cole, you can tell us anything," Zane said.

I turned to run from them, but Sensei blocked the door.

"You need to tell us what's wrong, Cole," Sensei told me firmly.

I backed away from Sensei, only stopping when I felt two cold hands tightly grasping my shoulders. I looked over my shoulder and saw Zane holding me in place. Kai was in front of me, making sure Misako was alright with Nya as the two ladies walked out of the room.

"Cole, talk to us," Lloyd said.

"Yeah, it's not good to hold this type of thing in," Kai agreed. "You can tell us anything."

I looked between my brothers, my throat feeling as if it had closed off and wasn't allowing me to speak.

"I think it's best we take him back to the Bounty, and then I will discuss tonight's events with him alone," Sensei told them.

I felt Zane's grasp loosen as he went to speak. I used this as my moment to escape, pulling free from his grasp and bolting for the door. Of course, Lloyd saw my moves well before I could make them and pinned me down well before the door.

"Sorry, Cole," Lloyd mumbled. "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me."

I felt a pinch in my back and realized Lloyd pressure pointed me as my world faded into darkness.

Everyone gather around the table. Kai, Lloyd, Nya, Zane and Sensei stayed silent, unsure of what to say.

"What will we do now?" Kai asked.

"I don't know," Nya sighed. "Cole's broken and Jay-"
Nya choked up, tears in her eyes. Kai rubbed her back as Lloyd spoke.
"He would want us to move on," he said quietly. "We won't forget him, but we can't let the same thing happen to us like when we lost Zane."

"We can't fall apart," Kai concluded.

Lloyd nodded.

"You are all strong," Sensei told them. "You must work together, strengthen your relationships, keep your hopes up and never give up."

"It will be hard, though," Nya sighed. "Jay kept us happy and cheery. His jokes in the face of darkness made us always remember there would be hope."

"We must keep trying," Kai said. "We can't just sit and mope forever."

"Agreed," Zane said. "But Cole will be a different story. I can sense trouble within him."

"I felt it to, Zane," Sensei said. "Lloyd and I will talk to him in private in attempt to calm him and bring him back to himself. Let's go see if he's awake, nephew."

Lloyd nodded. He and Sensei Wu stood and left the other three in silence.

"I don't know if I can handle this," Nya muttered.

"This is hard on all of us," Zane told her.

"We'll all miss Jay, Nya," her brother assured her. "He'll always be remembered."
"Not only that, but Cole might never be the same again," Nya sighed.

"We all change," Zane told her. "We're all different, and we will all handle this in different ways. Cole, I fear, will take this the hardest."

"Meaning we should make sure he knows we're all there for him," Kai said.

"I'll start lunch," Zane said.

"Why don't you go sleep, sis," Kai told Nya. "You look exhausted."

Nya nodded, getting up and making her way to her room. Kai sighed, turning to Zane in the kitchen.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Kai muttered.

"We continue onwards with our heads held high," Zane said. "We will always remember Jay for who he was, nothing more. We'll support those who need it, and work together to keep our spirits high in our times of need."

"You sound a lot like Sensei," Kai smiled.

Zane chuckled.

"Mr. Wise-guy," Zane joked.

Kai and Zane both laughed. The humour would still live on, especially Jay's.

I woke up, looking around. It was quiet and soothing. I tried to stand up, but found a strap around my waist holding me against the wall. I looked up for a key, but couldn't find one in the room. But I did realize who's room I was in. Two people stood near a counter, talking in a hushed tone. One turned and locked eyes with me.

"He's awake," I heard him whispered.

Sensei turned and looked at me. He smiled at me and picked up a tray of tea cups. Sensei walked over to me and set it down in front of me. I looked at it, then up at him.

"What's going on?" I asked quietly.

"Drink," Sensei said calmly, handing a cup to me.

I looked at the cup, then at Sensei as a carefully took it.

"What's going on?" I asked again.

"Drink first," Sensei said. "Then we will talk."
I looked down at the teacup. Knowing Sensei, he would force me to if I didn't. I brought the cup to my mouth and took a small sip.

"The whole thing, Cole," Sensei said, calmly but sternly.

"The whole thing?" I questioned.

He nodded. I sighed.

"Yang tricked me," I muttered. "I brought him the Yin blade, but Jay followed me."

I took a small sip of the tea, looking down at the ground.

"Apparently, when a ghost possesses someone on the Day of the Departed, they can kill them and take over their body," I continued. "Yang forced me to possess Jay and-"
I stopped, unable to continue.

"I see," Sensei said.

"I couldn't save him," I muttered, tears streaming down my cheeks. "I lost him, I killed him."

"You think it's your fault?" Lloyd asked quietly.

"Why wouldn't it be?" I asked. "I wasn't strong enough."

"None of this was your fault, Cole," Sensei told me. "Yang made you bring him the blade, and Jay chose to follow you."
I didn't respond, I didn't want to. They were only going to try to convince me it wasn't my fault, that I had nothing to do with it. Jay was dead, gone, and I did it. He was my best friend, he tried to save me, and I let him die.

"Cole, snap out of it," Lloyd cried.

I looked up, panicked. I could see the fear and worry on Lloyd's face.

"You were flickering in and out of ghost form," Lloyd told me. "What happened?"

"Nothing," I muttered, lying.

"There is something you aren't telling us," Sensei said. "Something else happened while you were at the Temple, and you aren't telling us. What?"
I looked out the window, taking a shaky breath. I bit my lip, tears welling up in my eyes as I thought about him.

"Cole, just tell us, we won't be mad," Lloyd said calmly.

I dropped my head, unable to say it. I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"Let's give him some time alone," Sensei told Lloyd, slowly standing up. "He clearly needs to collect himself."

I listened to Lloyd and Sensei leave, the door closing quietly. I looked up, looking around Sensei's room for the key to free myself. I looked down at the strap around my waist and pulled on it. It didn't take much effort to release myself from it. I slowly stood up, looking around. I walked over to the counter where the tea was.

"Calming tea," I read the tag. "Helps to relax and send one's self into a sense of safety."

I frowned.
"Or to make someone unwilling talk about something," I grumbled. "Sensei purposely made me drink this, knowing it would make me open up."

I growled, looking around the room. The window was open, and I saw that I could try to escape through it. I moved to it and opened it, being as quiet as I could be. I climbed through it, sitting on the ledge and looking at how high up we were on the Bounty.

"Forgot my katana," I heard Lloyd's voice behind me.

I turned, seeing his eyes jump from where I was before to where I am now.
"Cole!" he shouted.

He dropped the katana, running to me. I pushed myself out the window, clinging to the side of the Bounty.

"Cole! What are you doing!" Lloyd shouted to me.

I ignored him, trying to climb along the wall.

"He just jumped out the window!" I heard Lloyd shout to someone.

I looked up, seeing Kai staring at me from the window.

"I'll go after him," Kai said.

I watched Kai carefully climb out the window, moving after me. I climbed, nearly to the deck when I heard Kai scream. I turned, seeing him about to fall.

"Kai!" Lloyd shouted.

I turned the other way, seeing everyone else on the deck now, waiting for us.

"No!"

I turned back, seeing Kai's grip loosen and him start falling through the clouds. I acted without thinking, pushing off after him. I lost one brother, I wasn't losing another. I pushed through the air, getting closer to Kai by the second.

"Kai! Give me your hand!" I called to him.

Kai looked at me and reached towards me. I grabbed his hand, pulling him into me. I looked down, seeing the ocean below us. Kai had yet to learn how to swim, and we were both too terrified to be able to summon our dragons. I focused on keeping myself human, not wanted to be a ghost and impact on the water. I still needed to slow us one way or another. I tried to come up with something, feeling the wind around us. Then I knew what to do. I spun around, breaking into airjitzu. It slowed our fall, but wasn't enough to send us upwards as we crashed into the ocean.

I held my breath, looking for Kai. I saw him, and kicked towards him. He thrashed around, only sinking lower in the water. I wrapped my arms around him, holding him. He relaxed in my arms and I kicked both of us towards the surface. Once our heads came into the air, we both took in as much air as we could. We panted for a moment, I treaded water to keep both Kai and myself above water.

"You saved me," Kai turned to me.

"I wasn't going to lose you like I did Jay," I told him.

Kai smiled at me. We both looked up as the Bounty came down, landing near us. I started swimming towards it, with Kai still in my arms. I saw two splashes near the Bounty, and then two more heads appeared above the water. I watched Lloyd and Zane get closer to us.

"Let me take Kai," Zane told me.

Zane rolled Kai onto his back while Lloyd and I swam next to them.

"Are you two alright?" Lloyd asked Kai and myself.

"Yeah, thanks to Cole," Kai replied.

"What happened?" Zane asked.

I stayed silent. We reached the Bounty, finding Nya and Sensei lowering a rope ladder for us to climb back up. Zane got Kai to go first, then Lloyd had me climb after him. Nya pulled me onto the deck and wrapped a towel around me.

"What were you thinking?" Sensei asked me.

"That I didn't want to talk about anything anymore," I muttered.

Lloyd sat next to me, straining his hair with his hands.

"You know we won't get upset with you," Lloyd told me.
"Maybe it's not that he's worried you'll get mad," Kai spoke up.

"What are you talking about?" Sensei asked, looking at Kai.

"I know that when I've bundled things up before, it wasn't because I was worried about what they would think," Kai spoke softly. "It was because I didn't want to have to think about them. I didn't want to relive everything by trying to tell them."

Kai moved towards me.

"Is that true for you, Cole?" he asked me.

I simply nodded.

"Guys, we already know everything we need to about you-know-who," Nya said. "Trying to get more information out of Cole is only going to torture him and tear him apart."
"Nya's correct," Zane spoke. "Cole should only talk to us when he feels he's read to, never before."

"Thanks, guys," I smiled weakly.

Everyone hugged me, getting Nya soaked too.

"You are all soaked, go change and warm up," Sensei instructed us.

"Not all of us," Lloyd turned to Nya.

"Don't even think about it," Nya glared. "Lloyd!"
We all laughed as Lloyd picked up Nya and dropped her into the water. I jumped up, running over the the edge of the deck, looking over at Nya. She appeared in the water, her dark hair stuck the side of her head as she laugh.

"You turn!"

I spun around as Zane tried to push me over. I cried out, grabbing onto Lloyd and pulling him over with me. He must have grabbed Zane, because the next thing I knew, Nya, Lloyd, Zane and I were all having a splash fight in the water.

"Incoming!"

We looking up, only to be splashed by Kai. We all laughed, seeing the red ninja now in a swimsuit and life vest. We had it for him, so he could swim with us while still learning. It was fun, splashing and playing in the water. All my worries disappeared for awhile, and it's all I needed.

If there is anyone else that has a request for a story, let me know VIA Private Message or review on this one. I'll see what I could do about it. Thanks and I hope you enjoyed!