Exhausted, terrified and alone, Jay was lost to the darkness of his own mind as he faded out, leaving Morro and reality behind.

Morro. No he needed to get back, he couldn't stay here any longer! Maybe he was already dead. Maybe that demon had already eaten him alive, and this- this was the departed realm.

A figure. He spotted a figure standing in the distance. Completely still and unresponsive, Jay slowly began walking towards them, trembling as the cold gripped his skin tighter.

"Hello...?"

No response. Of course there had to be no response. This was like every horror movie Jay had ever seen.

He stepped a little closer, this time the figure twitched, then they turned round, face completely hidden by shadow. Jay tensed up, unable to see the face of whoever this person was.

And the thing that made the hairs on Jay's neck stand up, was the fact that there was no face, but the figure was a shadow. He could visibly see their hair, combed back neatly, but didn't make out any other details except they had a curved, jagged mouth stretched wide into a bone chilling smile and their eyes were glowing a vivid green color that put Jay immediately on edge.

The jagged mouth parted slightly, and the shadow drew a long breath.

Then it spoke, the voice Jay didn't recognise and it was layered with a strange demonic echo.

"It's time to face the truth..."

Before Jay could ask what the shadow meant, his whole world started spinning, before he gave way into dizzying blackness.

He found himself lying on his bed, staring at his phone, he tried to move but soon discovered that he was no longer in control of his actions. Then he remembered the dream, the demon dog, and-

"I thought you were dead!" It was still weird to hear his own voice but now his body was moving upwards, in a sitting position on the edge of the bed.

Yeah...so did I... Jay admitted. Morro allowed him to take control back, and Jay felt his muscles aching and his head throbbing and immediately wished he was still unconscious. He felt terrible.

"Wait," he was confused, "how did we get back here? What happened to that thing? What was that thing?"

Jay could feel Morro's presence shift inside of him, he could feel the ghosts anxieties yet he was unable to hear his thoughts, just a quiet, eerie silence that filled the whole room. Jay sighed, ran a hand through his hair before suddenly he remembered.

He was home, in his room, back in the monastery… That meant-

None of them suspected anything, Morro said almost at once, the water...um Nya told me...well you to go rest, I promise nothing else happened! There was a sort of panic in his tone, Jay knitted his brows together before realizing what he meant.

"Good, I would've killed you anyway." He muttered under his breath, swinging around his aching joints, he winced but soon got used to it as the pain itself started to numb slightly.

Are...are you alright?

Jay pondered this. Other than being exhausted, hurt, most likely sick and emotionally drained he'd say he was not okay. Heck, he was almost killed by a- whatever that thing was! Speaking of which, Morro had clearly wanted to avoid the question and Jay wasn't going to let him.

"I'm fine," he snapped, "can you just tell me what those things are?" He demanded, his voice slightly louder than he meant it to be. Regaining his calm Jay forced himself to breathe, "you said they wouldn't be able to sense you if you were possessing a person, I'm pretty damn sure they sensed you!"

I- Jay listen...I guess I haven't been completely honest with you… Morro said, but you haven't been completely honest with me either!

"Me? Not honest?" Jay almost laughed, "and what do you mean by that?"

Where's Wu?

Jay froze. Oh no. Oh no. How could he tell him? That Sensei Wu was dead? What was he supposed to say? For months Jay had tried his best to avoid several questions about Wu. He didn't want to answer. Losing someone that close to him had hurt, more than anything Jay had ever felt in his entire life. Of course Morro had to notice.

"He's gone"

WHAT? No, no, no! He's not, he can't be-

"He is!" Jay seethed, the venom in his tone as evident as the anger in his eyes, "Wu is gone, probably dead, never coming back. You know the truth, are you happy now?"

Morro was ever silent.

Then the door opened, Jay hadn't even realized it was unlocked in the first place.

"Jay?" It was Kai, "I heard talking, are you alright?" There was a softness to the fire ninja's tone that Jay had never heard before. Honestly, it was quite surprising. No fire, no anger… Just… Calm.

Given the circumstances, Jay guessed why he was so unbelievably patient.

Jay quickly thought up a lie, "I caught my toe on the bed" huh… Smooth Walker, "I'm fine thanks." He added through gritted teeth.

Kai looked at him, Jay couldn't read his gaze but the way his eyes studied him intently, Jay could only guess that… Panic flared, what if Kai suspected? What if he knew? But… How could he know? After all, how could the fire ninja's guess be so specific anyway? Oh yeah Jay, by any chance are you being possessed by a ghost?

"Oh… Nya wanted me to check on you, she's really worried."

Jay bit his lip, ah, Nya. At this point Jay had almost forgotten Nya. He knew she out of all the ninja would suspect something was going on, and Jay really didn't want to go through whatever her reaction would be. Nya would certainly overreact.

"Oh...tell her I'm fine," Jay responded, unable to keep the annoyance out of his tone, Kai gave him a funny look, so he added, "I'm just...tired that's all."

Kai stayed silent for a few moments, then he nodded and started to walk away without another word. Jay heaved a sigh of relief, he hadn't realized in the first place that he'd been holding his breath. He stayed like that for a couple of moments.

"Morro?" He whispered.

Mmh… Came the ghosts simple response.

"I'm...I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Wu…" Jay murmured.

It's fine

"No… I mean I'm sorry, you had a right to know. He was your Sensei too."

It's fine Jay, really, I shoulda… I shoulda guessed, after all, Sensei was everywhere… Morro muttered, I knew he wouldn't like forever… It's just hard to believe he's actually gone.

"I know"

It was silent. Before Jay thought about the family matter more. He wanted to know, he desperately wanted to know why his mother left them, if there was a chance that Cliff Gordon was still alive. He needed the answers, and he would do anything to get them.

He made his decision, he just hoped it was the right one.

"Morro"

Yeah Jay?

"I want to find her," Jay croaked out, "I want to find our mother."

He could almost feel Morro's shock as the ghost suddenly snapped back into reality.

Are you sure? I mean she could be anywhere by now! She could be-

"I just want to know, we're going to look, all over Ninjago!" Jay explained.

What about the others?

Oh sweet spinjitzu… Maybe Jay hadn't completely thought this through. If he so much as told the others that he was leaving, they'd certainly question him! Then he'd have to tell them the truth, that Morro was his brother, that he was looking for a mother he'd never known-

"We won't tell them," Jay replied swiftly, "I'll sneak out tonight when they're all asleep, I'll pack my things and we'll leave the monastery."

They'll notice…

"I know, but we'll be too far gone for them to even find us."

You really want to find her huh? Morro asked.

"Yup!" Jay got to his feet, "and she sure has some explaining to do…"


Whoa is this a new chapter? Huh, strange. After a...kinda short break from this story I'm back! I had a long case of writer's block in the Ninjago fandom for a while, but I'm cured, and I think I'm back to writing Ninjago content! Anyways I'll leave it here and I hope you enjoy chapter seven! ^.^
~Jai