Back to Black: Chapter 2

Cole groaned and rubbed his forehead. That was quite a fall, but luckily, there was a patch of trees sitting at the foot of the cliff. However, it didn't break his fall entirely. His arm was twisted, his back was aching, and his legs felt numb – they must've fallen asleep the way down – and his head was throbbing with pain. He felt the slightest bit dizzy.

Climbing down the tree the best he could, Cole realized his scythe was missing. Suddenly, he lost grip and fell, his back hitting the ground, making it hurt even worse.

Cole sat up, cringing as a strip of pain shot straight through him. He managed to stand and then walked as far as he could. Then, he caught a glimpse of his scythe, sitting just a few feet away from him. Moving his feet, Cole reached out and picked it up, staring at his reflection – his face wasn't too badly jacked up.

Hobbling over to a rock, Cole leaned against it and groaned, sliding down, letting the scythe slip from his hand. His arm hurt like crazy. Where was his team? Had they left him down here? Then again… - his thoughts were interrupted by a loud humming coming from the area.

He waited until the stranger stepped into view. He was carrying a basket, full of apples; and, surprisingly, the trees were filled with them. Cole arched a brow.

"Oh, Cole! I didn't see you there!" Dust pretended to laugh and observed the Black Ninja. "Why so ever are you down here?" He managed a smile.

Cole didn't know whether to answer or not. This guy looked happy to see him, and that wasn't a good sign. "I… don't know, I thought my team would come for me. But I guess not." Dust pursed his lips and snapped his fingers – the basket disappeared and Cole's face was fixed up; so was his arm, legs, and back.

"Well, they must've abandoned you. What other reason is there?"

"They could've thought I was dead –"

Dust shushed Cole and pointed up above them from where he fell. "Why, the fall wasn't even that much." Cole looked intensely at where he had fallen. It wasn't that high up from the ground. He ran his fingers through his hair.

"I swear…"

"You should never swear, it's a sign of weak verbal skills," Cole heard Jay's voice say. He looked at Dust who held a tape recorder. Odd.

"How did you get that?"

Dust grinned. "I have my ways…" he wrapped an arm around Cole and snapped his fingers, the scythe levitating off the ground and trailing behind them. "They just left you, Cole! Don't you feel… negativity to them?" Cole squinted. Then, he realized what Dust was trying to do to him.

"Get away from me!" he snapped and backed up, snatching his scythe from the air. Dust was trying to mess with his head, but it wasn't going to work this time… at least, that's what he thought.

"It's all true, Cole. I was there." Dust caught up to him and grinned evilly at the Black Ninja. "I saw everything," Dust's eyes flashed bright, "They didn't need you anymore… its. Over." He whispered in Cole's ear. The Black Ninja shut his eyes.

Just block him out, he thought.

Then again, Dust could be right.

"Oh, give me a break, Cole! You know I'm right!" Cole opened his eyes as they flashed the same shade of purple as Dust's. "That's it… you hate them, don't you?"

"They just left me here, not even bothering to check to see if I was still alive!" he began to fume with anger, "What kind of team does that?" He gritted his teeth and swiped his scythe in front of him. "Revenge… yeah, that's just the thing I'll do…"

Dust's grin widened. Finally, he had tapped into Cole's mind. Now all he needed to do was get the others; soon, tearing apart the team would be easy as cake… and there would be nothing to stop him.

The guys sat around the bounty crying, groaning or punching something. Jay was in the shared bedroom face down crying in his bed. Lloyd was at the bridge groaning like a zombie. Zane leaned against a rail staring down at the same scene for the Bounty wasn't moving. Kai was pulverizing a punching bag throwing thoughts at himself to be better next time.

Sensei Wu was still at the tea shop he owned and decided to give the team a break. They were missing a team leader after all. Sensei Wu sighed and closed the tea shop. He had to be there for the ninja now.

When Sensei Wu came aboard the fire ninja stopped punching looked to him. Kai sighed and leaned his head on the bag of sand. The sand bag leaned from his weight but didn't drop Kai.

"You four should not dwell on the past. Work for the future. Who would like to look for the body?" Kai looked to his Sensei Wu and raised his hand not above his head.

"I would like to join in." Zane said turned to face his Sensei. Lloyd came down to the fire and ice ninja and Sensei.

"I'm in." Lloyd smiled not showing teeth and the others returned a smile.

"I will go ask Jay." Kai said and started to walk off. When he pasted Lloyd and patted his shoulder. Kai walked down the hallway and heard no crying. Kai opened the door and saw Jay lying on his bunk face down. "Jay?"

Jay sat up and his face was red. "W-what?" Jay stuttered and Kai walked into the room more. Kai

"We are going to find the body. Would like to join us?" Kai asked and Jay rubbed his hands against his face.

"I'll think about it." Jay whispered and Kai nodded. Kai didn't move his spot.

"Do you need anything?" Kai questioned and Jay got up from his bed.

"Some time to think." Jay commented and Kai walked out. Kai went back on deck and see the three looking at him.

"So is he coming?" Lloyd asked and Kai shrugged.

"He said he will think about it." Kai said and looked to his Sensei.

Well... here's chapter 2! I actually just decided to update today because... I don't know. I worked on the first half and Leo did the second half. Hope you enjoyed it and just a note: apparently, the skreemers can actually sit over their heads in the sets. I actually saw an image of the back of Master Wu Dragon set showing to put the skreemer on Cole's head. Yaaa...

R&R