Hello, Everyone! Just as a warning. There is definitely character death in this story, as stated in the summary, so if you don't like that kind of thing, I suggest you don't read.

Anyway, I got the idea for this story when I heard that Andrew Francis, Morro's voice actor, would be the new voice of Cole. "What if Cole and Morro were friends?" was the first question I asked, and that's how this story was born.

I hope you all like it.

Cole remembered his fateful day like it had happened just yesterday. He and Kai were on a mission, just the two of them, to find a man by the name of Rema. They didn't know much about him, but what they did know was scary. Rema was a Shintaran with something huge against the royal family. Makes sense after everything Vangelis did. Who knows what kind of horrors he had committed against Rema. Unfortunately, he wanted Vania to pay for her father's actions. That's how the ninja got involved. Cole saved Vania's life, and Rema left a pretty bad scar on Cole's arm. A couple weeks later, Zane found out that Rema was heading to Jumanikai Village. Cole knew that Rema would be a hard man to beat, but boy did they underestimate him. They thought that two would be enough. That as long as one ninja had the proper teammate then Rema wouldn't be that big of a problem. That's why when Kai said he was going to face him, Cole was the only one to go along with him. Cole never regretted making that decision, but he felt horrible that Kai was most likely regretting his own decision to go every day. That Kai had to watch him die and go home by himself to tell the others. Every time he imagined the scene, his heart broke for his friends.

The two were fighting Rema together, but they weren't doing too well. Kai was on the ground, barely able to move. His body curled up in a ball as a way to protect himself while enduring a painful beating from Rema. He was practically stuck in this position even after Rema left Kai. His eyes were closed, and his face covered in drying blood, but he was definitely alive, awake, and breathing steadily. Cole was the one who was currently getting the treatment. His eyes never left this brother as he begged himself to get the strength to help him, but the more Rema hit him across the head with the back of his knife, the more he began losing the strength to even stay on his feet. At this point, he was mostly relying on Rema's grip on his shoulder to keep him up. He most likely had about three or four concussions and was fighting back as hard as he could.

"Oh, Cole. Where has your power gone when you need it most?" Rema taunted. "How I long to control the mountain I lived on all those years. Just imagine what I could do to the queen with such a power."

Cole took in a shaky breath before he used the last of his strength to summon his earth punch and punch Rema square in the jaw, knocking him back and causing Cole to fall to the ground.

"Th-that's your p-plan?" Cole asked. "Even if you kill me you'll n-never get my power."

"That's not what I heard," Rema answered, "and when I get your power I'm going to burn Shintaro to the ground!"

Cole hardly had any time to react before Rema's knife was lodged into his stomach. Cole's body immediately went limp and fell to the ground with a thud as Rema dropped him. He then took the knife back out as quickly as he put it in and turned his back on the earth ninja. As he was leaving, he kicked the fire ninja in the chin so Kai could see what he had just done.

"I suggest you say your goodbyes," Rema told him before walking away.

Kai gasped when he saw the state his friend was in. He managed to slowly crawl over to Cole and place a hand on his abdomen as if that would stop the bleeding.

"C-Cole?" Kai asked.

Cole felt the blood rush from his face as he turned to face his brother. He smiled, trying to tell his brother that everything would be okay.

"Cole, we're gonna get you out of here, okay? I promise!" Kai yelled, panic and desperation clear in his voice. He pressed a button on the inside of his glove to send the others their coordinates, but Cole knew it was already too late.

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Cole replied as his breath grew more and more shallow. "Don't let him get to Vania."

The last thing Cole heard may have been the most painful sound he'd ever heard. As everything went dark, he heard the beginnings of a pain filled cry fill his ears. The pain from losing a friend that he never heard the end of, and Cole wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the ending.

And he was ashamed to admit that he forgot the scream a couple moments later. When he woke up, he felt a strong sense of calm. He didn't want to open his eyes. He felt so relaxed where he was lying. And was that lilies he smelled. That was his favorite flower. Finally, Cole opened his eyes to see a beautiful, bright, blue sky above. He sighed as he felt the lush, green grass surround him as a comfortable bed. He felt he could lay there forever. Except there was a voice. A voice he hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Cole?" the voice asked. It was barely above a whisper.

Cole shot up from the grass so he was now standing in front of her. She looked the same as when he lost her, except healthy. The glow in her cheeks had returned, the shimmer in her eyes was not clouded by the fear of what the next day held, her smile was real.

"Mom?" Cole asked.

"Hi, Honey," Lilly said. A look of fondness in her eyes.

"Mom!" Cole exclaimed as he ran towards her and gave her the tightest hug he could muster. He couldn't believe it. She was really here.

"It's alright, Baby. You're home now," Lilly replied as she stroked her hand through her son's hair.

"Yeah. Home," Cole replied as he sank deeper into her arms.

It had been nearly a full year since his arrival to the Departed Realm. He thought about his friends every day. Some days he got selfish and wished they were with him. Other days all he'd think about was how grateful he was that they weren't there, and they were still alive. Some days were filled with immense guilt over how his friends might be feeling and some days he was too busy to even give a single thought to Ninjago. As much as he hated to admit it, those were his favorite days. The days where he'd actually be at peace. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. Today was one of his guilt ridden days.

Every day Cole would begin by walking with his mother on a path in the most gorgeous woods anyone had ever seen. It was almost indescribable (but I'll try my best). There was a constant glow in the woods that gave off a nice, fuzzy feeling and the animals around were the cutest and friendliest. If you ever wanted to hold one, they'd let you do it. If you wanted them to leave you alone, they'd do that too. It was strange how they were all both so comfortable and respectful. The path in the woods was clear, and there were red leaves surrounding it that never turned brown. The wind through the path was so calming too. Especially to one of Cole's new friends/old foes, Morro.

"Is something wrong, Cole? You don't seem to enjoy the walk like you normally do," Lilly noticed during one of their walks.

"I just miss my friends. That's all," Cole replied with a shrug. As he looked up at the trees, he sighed and said, "Vania would've loved this."

"Vania?" Lilly asked.

"What? I never told you about Vania?" Cole tried to come off as sounding surprised, but the truth was, he never told his mom about her because he was embarrassed.

Lilly merely shook her head.

"Oh, well. She's-" Cole sighed. "She's the Queen of Shintaro."

"Vangelis's daughter?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah. Although, Vangelis turned out to be a bit of a jerk. You see, we were invited to the palace for Vania's birthday," Cole started. He then retold the whole story of meeting Vania and the journey below the mountain. How he helped her face her fears about facing her father and him doing the Spinjitzu Burst for the first time to defeat him. Lilly listened to the whole story in awe and admiration for her son.

"We kept in touch after that," Cole said once he finished the part where she became queen. "Back and forth letters, visits to the kingdom."

"You liked her?" Lilly asked.

Cole's smile went away as he nodded.

"I-uh-" Cole cleared his throat before continuing. "I bought this pin for her, but I-She never got it."

The two stopped walking as Cole began staring off into the distance. He really missed Vania. After he met his mom again, he met the First Spinjitzu Master so he could chose someone to give his power to. Vania was at the top of his list for a couple reasons. The first was that she was the most trustworthy person he could think of. She was kind and generous and a great queen. His power could benefit her kingdom in many ways. Which was the second reason he chose her. Finally, there was Rema. If Rema was going after Vania, then she would need to protect herself. As much as he trusted his friends, he felt that it would be a little safer to give her a means of protecting herself better. And since the earth temple was right underneath of her palace and someone like Wu was there to help, she probably already had the earth punch under control.

Cole was interrupted from his thoughts when his mother grabbed him into a hug.

"I'm sorry you were taken away from Ninjago so soon," she whispered.

"It's fine," Cole replied as he returned the hug.

"No. It's not fine. You obviously miss your friends, and I'm sure they miss you. It's not fair."

Cole pulled away from the hug and said, "Honestly, Mom. I think I'm used to dealing with things that aren't fair."

"I know. And I'm sorry."

"I know you are. Let's just keep going," Cole replied.

As they continued to walk through the woods, Cole began to feel a little better. But all of the sudden, they heard someone running towards them from behind. They turned around to see that it wasn't one but two people. Morro and Harumi.

"Cole!" Harumi called as she and her best friend ran over to him.

"Hey, Guys! Whatcha doin' here?" Cole asked.

"Don't tell me you forgot!" Harumi said.

Cole looked at his mom in confusion to which she just replied with a shrug.

Morro began snickering. He really had forgotten.

"You said you'd meet us at the café," Morro told him.

"That was today?" Cole asked.

Harumi couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't remember you being this forgetful in Ninjago," Harumi told him.

"You hardly looked at me," Cole laughed.

"You still don't seem like the forgetful type," Morro replied.

"He's just having an off-day, Morro. You know, like you have every day," Harumi jabbed.

"That's a low blow, Princess," Morro jabbed back.

Harumi mock gasped before saying in a much lower voice, "You will regret saying anything like that to me!"

"Ha, ha, very funny."

"You guys seem to be having fun on your own. Sure you don't wanna make it a date?" Cole teased. He was almost certain they liked each other if it wasn't one or the other.

"Oh, come on, Cole," Harumi replied. "We were looking forward to hanging out with you."

Although Cole was certain he noticed a slight blush creep on Morro's face.

Cole smirked when he saw this, and Morro immediately went back to his usual serious look.

It wasn't long before the three made it to the café. It was the most popular spot in the Departed Realm. It was a very nice place if you just wanted to hang out and relax. There was a lot of space and a ton of tables. The place needed some new booths, though, after some two year old child decided to demolish everything a couple weeks ago. Now the group had to sit in the most uncomfortable chairs they had ever sat in.

"Ah. This is great," was Cole's sarcastic remark. "Can't they get some better chairs?"

"I'm still confused how we have this place. It makes me think they're lying to us when they say there's no money in this realm," Morro said.

Cole groaned.

"Really, Morro?" Cole asked. "Another conspiracy theory?"

"I'm still perfectly convinced that you all are a figure of my imagination," Morro replied. He hesitated a moment before he looked at Cole and said, "Rumi and I were talking about something the other day, and I was wondering if you had a solution."

"Solution to what?" Cole asked.

"Neither of us were the nicest people around when we died, but somehow we still ended up here. Why do you think that is?" Harumi asked, peeving Morro that he couldn't finish the sentence he started.

Cole thought a moment before he said, "Maybe it was because you wanted to be better. You know about Chen and the Omega, right?"

The two nodded.

"Well they never felt bad for what they did. In fact, they're probably still wishing they could've been the ones to kill me and the others. But you guys wish you never did what you did in the first place. Your final action was one of good to try to make up for it," Cole explained.

"Or maybe someone really hates Lloyd," Morro said, not at all convinced by Cole's theory.

Cole spent the rest of the day thinking about his theory. He really felt like he was onto something, but Morro still hadn't forgiven himself enough to believe it.

Cole was still thinking about it that night as he was working on a new sketch. He had just finished drawing the last person, but he needed to add a lot of details for it to even be close to completion. He was sitting at his desk that was cluttered with so many different pens, pencils, and paint brushes. There was a drawer with nothing but a single folder inside where he kept all his finished sketches. There was a shelf above the desk with all his unfinished sketches as well. He would've have done it the other way round, but he didn't look in his drawer too much. His room was decorated the same way it was in the monastery. A space in the middle of his room just big enough for a workout, a one person bed with black and orange coverings, his dresser with most of his clothes on top of it instead of inside. Just like home.

Cole loved all the little details in his room, and that's why he had to put in as many little details as he could in his sketch. His ability to stick to details was something Cole prided himself in.

He had been working on his sketch for hours, and it was finally starting to come together. He had just started adding the tiniest shuriken into mini Cole's boot when he heard a soft thud coming from his window. That set Cole on high alert. He immediately jumped up from his wood chair and whipped his head around to face this new threat with nothing more than his pencil, that was in desperate need of sharpening, as a weapon.

"You know you can't die in this realm, right?" Morro asked his rather tense friend. Nevertheless, his hands were in the air in a defensive manor.

"How do I know you're not an escaped djin from the Cursed Realm?" Cole asked. "From what I've heard, they're a little nuts."

Morro put his hands down and looked at Cole. The two just stared at each other for a moment, assuring Cole that this was really his friend. A djin would at least find this comical.

Cole placed the pencil back down on his desk before looking back up at Morro and asking, "Why are you in my house?"

"Don't get mad, but I heard what you said to your mother earlier today-"

"What!" Cole exclaimed.

Morro completely ignored this outburst and continued saying, "And I was thinking that you might want another chance."

"'Another chance'?" Cole asked.

"To live in Ninjago and marry Vania," Morro continued.

Cole's face immediately turned red causing Morro to snicker.

"You get to make fun of me and Harumi, I get to make fun of you and Vania."

That's fair Cole thought.

"Anyway, a portal was created when the Cursed and Departed Realms joined. It's at the edge of the Cursed Realm, and it's only gonna be opened for the next two weeks before it closes again, and no one knows when it will open again," Morro continued.

"I'm sorry. You just broke into my house in the middle of the night to tell me that I can go to Ninjago again just because you heard that I missed Vania?" Cole asked. "If this is a joke, it isn't funny, Morro."

"I promise you, it's not a joke. And it's not only because of Vania. I know you miss the rest of your friends too. So do they, and they haven't even managed to defeat Rema yet."

"What!"

"Look, I'm offering you a way back to Ninjago. Are you in or out?"

Cole looked at Morro a moment, still trying to process everything before he said one simple word. "No."

"Why not?" Morro asked.

"There's too much of a risk. One touch from something bad in the Cursed Realm, and we'll be stuck there...forever! I'd rather just wait for my friends to come to me," Cole explained.

"Of course. I understand," Morro said, disappointment laced in his voice. He walked over to the window and jumped out. A moment later, Cole heard a soft thud on the ground before the sound of running footsteps.

Cole rolled his eyes as he continued his sketch. Once he had finally managed to convince himself that he had enough detail in the background, he decided to get some sleep.

A couple minutes later, Cole woke up in a cold sweat. He didn't even remember what had scared him so much. All he remembered was the scream at the end. Kai's scream. He was in pain. From...Why was he in pain?

Suddenly, Cole remembered. He remembered the scream that he had only heard the beginning of. The last thing he ever heard during life. Cole was confused, though. As far as he knew, people didn't have bad dreams in the Departed Realm. Maybe he just assumed it.

Cole lay back down in his bed to go back to sleep, but every time he did, he was interrupted by horrible screams. Finally, at four in the morning, Cole gave up. He quietly moved from his bed, opened his door, and creeped down the stairs. The kitchen was where he stopped. Hoping to get a midnight snack, Cole opened the fridge, but the cake wasn't there.

"Dang it!" Cole exclaimed quietly as he remembered that he just finished the cake yesterday. He closed the fridge in defeat, but that's when he saw his mother.

"Ah!" Cole screamed in fear. "How did you get down here? I didn't even notice you!"

"Wu trained me just as he trained you," Lilly told her son. "Why aren't you asleep? You're usually out until at least 10."

Cole shrugged. "I couldn't sleep."

Lilly nodded, but she continued looking at Cole suspiciously. Cole swore that she could see right through anyone. She decided to drop the matter, though, leaving Cole to have to walk on his eggshells.

"So...where's that cake recipe?" Cole asked.

"Next to the stove," Lilly replied.

Cole went over to the stove to get the recipe and immediately started looking for the ingredients.

After a hour long power struggle with the cake batter, Cole finally asked, "Is it possible to have a bad dream here?"

"I suppose so. Usually if you experience a bad dream here it's trying to tell you something, though," Lilly chose her words as honestly and carefully as she could. She had no idea what kind of dream Cole actually had.

Cole didn't say anything more. He focused on mixing the stubborn batter in front of him, and he thought. All he heard from his dream was the beginning of Kai's scream. Why was that what he heard? Was it telling him that he should go back? That the others still weren't feeling right? Or was it just that Cole needed to fix something about himself?

"How are you supposed to know what it means?" Cole asked.

Lilly sighed. She put an arm around Cole and said, "I think that's something you have to figure out on your own."

Cole thought about what could be the answer to his question until the sun rose. Finally, he had an idea, but he wasn't sure how great of an idea it was.

"Hey, Mom?" Cole asked after eating his second piece of cake.

"Yes, Cole?" Lilly asked.

"Did you know there's a way back to Ninjago?"

Lilly's eyes widened. She knew exactly where this was going.

"The Cursed Realm is a dangerous place, Cole. If you go there, you might never escape," her voice was firm.

"Yeah, but what if I had help?" Cole suggested.

"From who?"

"Morro."

"You can't drag him down with you."

"Yes, I can. Because he offered to take me down there. Besides, he's already escaped from that place before. If anyone can lead me through, it's him."

Lilly sighed. She didn't want to lose her son to the Cursed Realm, but the reward at the end definitely seemed worth it to him.

"You really want to do this?" Lilly asked.

Cole hesitated just a moment before looking his mother in the eyes and nodding. If what Morro said was true and Rema still hadn't been defeated, he had to at least help his friends do that.

"Alright then," Lilly said as she gave her son a hug. "Just make sure you're careful."

"I will, Mom. I promise," Cole said as he returned the hug.

Morro was startled awake by loud knocking on his door.

The former wind master shot up from his bed and looked towards his door. He got up from his bed, walked across the room, opened the door, and was very surprised to see his friend standing in the doorway.

"Cole?" Morro asked. He was never up and about this early in the morning. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought about what you said last night, and...I'm in."

Hope you guys liked that! I would really appreciate it if you left a review, but you don't have to.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead