So I'm starting this on the same day I uploaded chapter two because I knew how I wanted this chapter to begin.
PrincePacman47: Don't worry about bothering me; I just don't ship them. As for Pythor getting a knife to the heart by Morro or Autumn, just you wait.
"This is absolutely crazy! I mean, I knew you must have been hiding something about your family, but I never expected this!" A sixteen-year-old girl with pale skin, freckles, pixie cut red hair, and violet eyes was pacing back and forth in the monastery courtyard.
"Cass."
"I thought you were just joking when you brought me here! I was thinking, 'No way. Autumn doesn't actually live here.' But low and behold, your twin is the green ninja!"
"Cassie~."
"I swear, Autumn! I didn't take you as someone who could keep big secrets hidden so well, but wow!! This one you kept really good! What else could you be hiding from me?"
"Cassie!"
The red-headed girl froze and looked at Autumn. Everyone was in the courtyard as well, perplexed by this random girl Autumn brought over.
"Sorry, I'm just shell shocked. How could you not tell me all this, Autumn?" she asked.
"You didn't tell me your little family secret for six months after we met," Autumn said. The redhead blinked a few times and shrugged.
"Touché."
"Ahem. Um, Autumn, who is this girl?" Cole asked.
"Oh right. Everyone, this is Cassie. Cassie, this is everyone. Cassie was the first girl I ever able to make friends with. She is also the person I said I think might know what's going on with Morro," Autumn said.
"Umm, okay? Why do you think she can help with just a weird dream?" Morro asked. Autumn smirked and looked at Cassie.
"You brought your book, right?" Cassie nodded.
"Yep. It's in my bag, which is by the gate. Give me a sec." Cassie lifted her hand, and a sparkling purple aura surrounded her hand. Her bag unzipped by itself, and a book, also covered by the same purple aura, flew out and came to her. She caught it in mid-air, the purple aura fading, and she started flipping through the pages.
"Okay, I'm going to need a description of this dream so I can pinpoint exactly what was going on. If I recognize what it is, I'll be able to sort through what it means. So let's get started." She looked up from her book; a sweet smile spread across her freckled cheeks, only met with several confused and shocked expressions.
"Autumn, did you say anything to them?" Cassie asked.
"Oh right, forgot. Okay, everyone, Cassie's actually a witch. Y'know, magic and stuff," Autumn explained.
"Hey Autumn can we talk for a sec," Lloyd said. He walked towards Autumn before she could respond and pulled her inside the monastery.
"What was that all about?" Autumn asked.
"Okay, you didn't know, so it's fine. But Dad hates magic," Lloyd said.
"Uh, why?" Autumn asked.
"Long story short, Dad knew someone back when Chen was his sensei, and they didn't get along. He was a 'master of dark arts' or something like that, and he caused a lot of problems for Dad."
"Well, if Dad's worried about someone who uses 'dark magic', he's got nothing to worry about with Cassie. She's literally one of the sweetest people I've ever met. Let's just go back out, and I'll explain everything else," Autumn said. Lloyd nodded, and the twins went back out to the courtyard.
"Autumn, you can't abandon me with people I don't know! You know I'm not good at talking with people!" Cassie said.
"Sorry, Cass. I was just informed of something." Autumn turned to her family and friends. "So, Dad, Lloyd told me you don't like magic. I'm not going to ask questions, but trust me when I say that Cassie isn't anything like this 'master of dark arts'."
"Oh! Mr. Garmadon, if that's what you're worried about, my family doesn't allow the use of any form of dark magic. I'm what's called a Blood Witch. My magic is strictly inherited. I got it from my dad, and my dad got it from my grandma, so on and so forth. Witches that don't inherit their magic have to corrupt their genetic makeup even to use magic. And they have to do that by using dark magic. My family doesn't have to do that since magic is already a part of our DNA," Cassie explained.
"It's alright. You seem like a very nice young girl. And it's nice to see that my little girl was able to connect with another girl so well. She told me that she has never been that great at talking with other girls," Garmadon said. Cassie smiled.
"Thank you, Mr. Garmadon."
"Just Garmadon is fine, sweetheart. You're Autumn's friend, so there's no need for formalities."
"Okay. So back to the task at hand, I need-"
"So if your magic is a genetic trait, does that just make you an elemental master of magic or something?" Kai asked. Autumn snapped her head in Kai's direction and gave him a death stare.
"Don't call her magic an elemental power! They are not the same, and we will stand here for three hours listening to her explain why they aren't the same thing!" Everyone went silent and stared at Autumn.
"Well, I'm glad she took care of that, but no. My magic and your powers aren't the same. Now can I continue?" Everyone nodded. "Okay. So as I was saying, I need Morro to explain his dream so I can pinpoint if this was something up my alley." Morro stepped forward.
"So, I remember hearing my-"
"Wow, you're shorter than I thought you'd be," Cassie said. A few chuckles were heard from the group of ninja.
"I'm 5'6" for the record. Anyways, I was in a forest when I heard my mom's voice. I followed it, and I found my dad bleeding out. He told me to find my mom, and I continued following her voice. I found her cornered by an assailant, and she saw me. It looked like there was some form of recognition in her eyes, the same thing with my dad. My mom tried running to me, but the assailant got to her and stabbed her. I ran in the opposite direction, but they caught up to me too."
Cassie thought for a moment and started flipping through the pages of her book.
"You said you saw recognition?" Morro nodded. She continued looking through the book before stopping on a page.
"Okay, I don't want to make you freak out, but I think you saw recognition in your parents because this wasn't a dream. It was most likely one of four spells cast by another witch for your parents," Cassie said. Morro froze and started at Cassie for a moment.
"What do you mean?" Morro asked.
"It was a form of a psychic connection spell. Living to dead, dead to living, dead to dead, or living to living. We can knock out the living to dead and living to living spells because your parents were the starting point of the spell and your parents are dead. That leaves dead to dead and dead to living. Now, if this were a dead to living focused spell, then you would have been taking to a place where you have fond memories of, and you would've been able to speak to your parents like we are right now.
"But, that didn't happen. Your mind took a negative memory and put your parents' connection into it. That shouldn't have happened if it was a dead to living spell. That means that your parents had a witch perform a dead to dead focused spell." Cassie explained.
"But Morro's not dead. Why would his parents want a dead to dead spell if Morro was alive?" Skylor asked.
"Because likely, his parents don't know he's alive. They must've asked for the dead-to-dead connection because they knew he was dead. But he's alive, so the spell was performed wrong. Now, even if the connection is wrong, it will still perform like it's supposed to. The connection will still occur, but it won't latch onto positive memories, but negatives ones."
"So, what you're saying is that my parents were actually trying to connect to me, but because they thought I was dead, the spell was wrong and didn't work properly. But still had some elements of the right spell, which is why I say recognition in my parents," Morro said. Cassie nodded. Morro started to feel short of breath. He started taking deeper breaths and has to sit down on the steps.
"Morro, if you let me, I can perform the right spell so you can know why your parents asked for the spell to be performed in the first place," Cassie said. Morro nodded. Cassie knelt down in front of Morro and placed her pointer, middle, and ring fingers on Morro's forehead.
"Okay, what are your parents' names. First and surnames," she said.
"Bonnie and Wyatt Vincent."
"And the date they died?"
"December 10, 1966."
Cassie nodded and started reciting her spell. Her hand started glowing the purple aura, and it flowed through Morro's forehead and down to his eyes. His eyes gained a purple ring around the irises and began to droop. His vision began to blur, and his eyes slowly closed. Cassie removed her fingers from his forehead, a purple imprint of where they once were remaining.
"How long will this take?" Cole asked.
"For us, five minutes. For him, as long as he needs," Cassie said, standing up.
"All we can do is wait."
Morro woke up to the sound of a crackling fire. He looked around and saw a small fireplace against the back wall. He was in a small living room, lying on a couch. The small fire only warmed the room. He pushed himself up and stood up, walking towards the fire. He sat down, looking at the blazing inferno. The fire glowed bright oranges, yellows, and occasional blues. The smell of the wood-burning fire filled his nose, and the glow was the only thing lighting the room. Morro looked around the room as he sat.
There was an oil lamp on the side table next to the couch, a small kitchen to the left, and three doors to the right. A table with three chairs, one with large books stacked on the seat, sat in the corner of the room, windows on either side of the fireplace with thin teal curtains, a back door next to the window to the right of the fireplace, a soft grey rug on the ground, and three hand-knitted stockings hanging on the mantle.
Lastly, a calendar hung on the wall by the front door. The date December 9, 1966. A day when everything was still good, and there was nothing for Morro to worry about. He remembered this day like it was yesterday.
He helped his dad make chocolate chip cookies and ended up making a huge mess with the flour. His mom let him play out in the snow and make a snowman. It started snowing while he played, and it felt like a winter wonderland. Then, after playing in the cold snow, his mom made a warm stew with carrots, potatoes, venison (common for the time and location he lived in), mushrooms, and a tomato-based broth.
His dad said they could go stargazing that night and look for constellations. His dad always promised him that one day, they would go north so Morro could see the northern lights.
They finished the day by cozying up by the lit fireplace with warm hot cocoa. He remembered falling asleep in his mother's arms.
He remembered how happy he was. A five-year-old child with everything he could've wanted. Not a worry in the world. Even now, he could still smell the stew cooking on the stove and hear the whistle of the kettle.
Actually, he really could smell the stew. He sniffed the air and could smell the tomato and venison. He didn't know if it was just a factor to create a warm and homey atmosphere or real, but it was making him hungry.
Even with the fire roaring, he still felt a chill. Homes at the time didn't have proper heating, so they could only rely on fires. And in the middle of the cold winter, an all-day fire was even more critical.
Morro looked around and spotted a blanket draped over the couch. He stood up, walked over to the couch, and wrapped the blanket around himself. He sat back in front of the fire and closed his eyes, listening to the crackling.
His mind drifted from the world surrounding him and into a state of calm. It had been so long since he had been able to relax. And this was the first time in over fifty years since he had been in his childhood home.
He heard some shuffling from the kitchen but didn't think much of it. He had almost completely forgotten why he was here in the first place.
"M-Morro..."
Morro turned in the direction of the kitchen and froze. A man and a woman in their early to mid-thirties stood in the doorway of the kitchen.
The woman had dark auburn hair that fell down her back with two braids on either side and connected at the back of her head. She also had a widow's peak, as Morro did. She had a pale complexion with grey-green eyes. She wore a long light green kimono with a darker green sash and details. It wasn't very fancy, but it was still beautiful.
The man had black hair that was slightly shorter than Morro's with green streaks all throughout. His eyes were a dusty light brown, and he had a light complexion like the woman. He also wore a kimono in a light blue color with a dark grey sash around his waist. He wore dark brown pants and black lace-up boots.
Lastly, the man and woman each wore a ring on their left hands.
The man and women were staring at Morro with tear-filled eyes. Morro's eyes started filling up with tears as well. He couldn't look away from the pair.
He knew them.
He missed them.
He loved them.
"M-Mom... D-Dad..."
So I was really in a writing mood. This chapter is a bit shorter than the previous two, but I'll make up for that with the next chapter being much longer.
Also, I changed some details, like Morro's height, from my previous story because I didn't think they fit very well anymore.