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redefineuridentity: I'm so glad that you liked the last chapter. The fact that you could actually "feel the tension" of the scene means so much to me. I always try to bring in as much emotion or feelings as needed into my stories so I'm glad that it came through, and I hope that you like this chapter. :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Ninjago.

Morro's breath quickened as he looked around for his friend. Every thought going through his mind was a worse-case scenario, and none of them were too far off from what could've happened. A ghost came in the middle of the night and took his bike back and Cole with him? But why would he spare Morro if that was what happened? Well, Morro never saw Cole actually lay down to sleep. Maybe the ghost didn't see Morro? Or maybe Cole went on a walk and was taken by one? But that wouldn't explain the bike.

The former wind master began looking around for any signs of a struggle, but there wasn't anything. Even the tree that kept the bike out of any intruder's sight was set carefully aside.

Morro sighed in relief when he realized what had actually happened. Then his stress skyrocketed when he realized what actually happened. Cole sneaked out.

Morro knew exactly what he had to do. He had to find Cole and yell at him for being a complete idiot.

Morro began wandering around the area for any signs of where Cole could've gone. It wasn't long before he spotted the tire tracks from the bike. They were leading in the same direction they had just come from.

Morro wanted to scream. Now he had to go rescue Cole, and there was even more ground to cover now. Thanks a lot, Cole, Morro thought.

Cole felt bad for leaving Morro without saying anything, but he had to go back to the tavern. And it was only an hour drive so he should be back to the camp by morning.

Once Cole made it back to the tavern, he noticed that it was on high alert after his and Morro's little undercover stunt earlier that day. The one and only place that wasn't completely covered in ghosts was the dead tree they hid behind for cover. That was also where Cole's bag happened to still be.

Cole cheered internally at the sight of his bag. He hadn't come for nothing.

The former earth elemental stopped at a reasonable distance away from the tavern. He parked behind another tree to keep it hidden before hopping off. He peered out from behind to make sure that there were no ghosts who could see him before he sprinted over to his bag. As he looked through the bag, he could see the food he packed, the matches, and a folder of his sketches. Cole breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that everything was there.

"Great! Now just to get back before Morro-Ah!" Cole screamed because when he turned around all he saw was three ghosts with their ghostly blades to his neck. One hit from these things, and he'd be stuck in the Cursed Realm forever!

Cole was too scared to even speak, and the ghosts didn't seem to want to speak. They just grabbed him by the arms and dragged him inside the tavern to face none other than the Big Ghost. At least it was better than what Cole originally thought. Unless this was some form of execution. Cole wasn't fully aware of how intruders were punished here.

The Big Ghost was sitting in a huge chair in the center of the room. Almost like a throne. He had to be their leader or boss or something of the sort.

"So, you're the guy in charge?" Cole asked.

"I have been for the last twelve years, and I would prefer not to change that," the Big Ghost answered.

"So you just sit in that chair and drink and call that leading? I would love to have you as my leader," was Cole's sarcastic remark.

"You would do well to fear me, Boy," the Big Ghost told him.

Cole didn't respond. He couldn't think of a good response because if he was being perfectly honest, he was kind of nervous. He didn't know what this guy could or wanted to do to him, but continuing to worry about it wasn't going to help anything. Especially since it was just him and the three ghosts that brought him in. If it came down to fighting, Cole was pretty sure he could handle it. Especially with the dagger from the fight from earlier still in his pocket.

The Big Ghosts seemed to see through Cole's fear, though, and he laughed.

"You seem like the type of guy to put on a face to effect what others around you think. To make me think you aren't afraid, to make your friends think that you know what you're doing. Why do you think that is?"

Cole's response was so quiet. It was almost a whisper.

"I didn't hear you," the Big Ghost replied.

"Someone has to be the responsible one," Cole repeated.

"Cute. Take him!"

Cole's eyes widened when he felt three pairs of cold hands grasp his arms. Panic seeped through his body as he was dragged through the tavern. It was even bigger than Cole had originally thought. They brought him behind the counter and to a secret passageway behind the stairs. This passageway led into a lounge. There was another row of stairs past that, which led to a very long highway. After what felt like forever, he finally saw a door at the end of the hallway, but it was so far away that it was mainly a blur in his sights. The cries from the prisons got so loud during this journey that Cole nearly blacked out more than one time, and he might have once because one moment he was being dragged through a hallway and the next, one of the ghosts were poking him in the side to force his eyes open. His head hurt so much, though.

"Stand there," one of the ghosts ordered as he pointed to an area on the floor. It was marked with a big green "X." It was clearly a trap so Cole didn't move for a moment, causing the ghosts to take their weapons out and push them against his neck.

"Move. Or you will never see the light of the Departed Realm again," one of the ghosts said.

Cole thought about fighting back, but he was too tired and his head was pounding so much that he realized he would never be able to fight the ghosts off if he faced them now.

"Okay, okay. I'm going," the former earth elemental weakly said.

The ghosts took their blades away and Cole began walking forward to the spot they pointed to. The floor immediately caved in when this happened. Cole began screaming as he fell down, but luckily, he grabbed the edge of the floor before he would've been lost to the darkness below. His tired mind thought that the ghosts would think he fell and leave, but they could see his hand hanging onto the floor, and they could hear that his scream never went down far enough. They found him very quickly and stomped on his hand, causing Cole to lose his grip and fall.

Cole screamed as he began falling down, down, down, until he finally landed on the hard concrete below in a cell. As soon as the floor above closed, the crying stopped. Along with every other sound. He couldn't even hear the sound of his own breathing.

Cole groaned, but he didn't hear it. It was like he had gone deaf. Maybe he had. He tried to speak, but no sound came out of his mouth. At least not that he heard.

I really hope Morro can find me, Cole thought.

Without the bike, it took Morro a little less than a day to finally make it back to the tavern. He ran over to the same tree he and Cole had hid behind before but froze when he heard footsteps nearing. After a moment, the footsteps stopped, and Morro could hear voices.

"How long do you think it'll take him to tell us where the portal is?" a voice that sounded a lot like Wrayth's said.

"That room is designed to make people like him suffer," Bansha replied. "He should tell us everything by the crack of dawn."

"Shoot!" Morro exclaimed. He knew exactly where they were talking about. The second area of the Cursed Realm was the cells. It was so silent that you couldn't even hear while inside. Even someone like Morro, who enjoyed the silence more than he knew nearly went insane the few times he was in there. And Cole couldn't stand being alone. Without being able to talk to even himself he'd crack and tell them everything in a matter of minutes!

As Morro tried planning a way to help his friend, he saw how many guards there were surrounding the place. If they really had a ninja in their prisons then security would definitely not be going down as he neared the entrance. That's when Morro remembered something. There was a back entrance to the prisons not too far away. As far as he knew, no one had any idea that the back entrance was even there. That meant no one would be guarding it.

Suddenly, Morro could hear the footsteps start again, and they were coming closer to him. Quickly, he grabbed Cole's bag and ran away without being spotted. He ran through the woods until he couldn't hear the guard's voices nor their footsteps.

Morro stopped a moment. He listened to the powerful wind and the forlorn cries that still caused him a headache even after all the years he had to get used to it. He didn't hear any ghosts, though. Since it seemed that no one was there, Morro turned right. He made his way through the only green part in the entire realm. It wasn't a pretty green like the Spring, though. More like a dark shallow green that gave Morro a depressed feeling. Unfortunately, as Morro ran through this depressing green, he forgot one tiny detail. Because of the green, Morro could not see where he was going, and he eventually fell through a trap door that was created when Morro managed to escape his prison the last time, and now he was falling, falling, falling. Well, more like sliding. He slid down a very rough and dirty slide with many rocks to scrape himself on the way down. Finally, Morro crashed through a stone wall and was in a hallway that led to the prisons.

Morro groaned as he stood back up. "I really should have slowed that thing down."

Morro became fully alert, though, when he heard voices coming towards him. He looked around the prison, but there was nowhere to hide.

Suddenly, Morro got an idea. He began jumping in between the two walls beside him until he made it up to a pole in the ceiling. As three ghosts passed by underneath, Morro held this pole with all his might, hoping that he wouldn't fall. Especially as the three ghosts refused to move from directly underneath of him.

Why won't they just move? Morro thought.

Finally, after what felt like forever, the three ghosts moved out of the way and into the next room. Morro knew for a fact that the door would lock the second it closed so he quickly maneuvered one of his arms to the pocket of Cole's bag and took a ninja star out of it. He then threw the star at the door so it would perfectly wedge in between the door and the frame so that it wouldn't lock. He then jumped down from the pole and took the ninja star back before going into the next room.

Morro sighed as he realized that this side was where the actual cells were. He winced slightly from the lack of noise, but he couldn't hear it. Hang on, Cole. I'm coming.

Cole didn't know how long it had been since he was brought to the dungeon. He didn't even gain his captor's company as they gave him food, which he would've gained during life, but since he didn't technically didn't need to eat, no one ever came. This is worse than anything I could've thought of, Cole thought.

Since he couldn't hear at the moment, Cole found comfort in what he could feel. He traced his hand on the cold concrete he sat on, twisting his finger around every little crack in the ground. If he wasn't internally freaking out at the moment, Cole would've felt content with the beauty. But he was freaking out. He didn't like how he was left with nothing but his thoughts, not even being able to voice his thoughts, and even if Morro managed to get down there, he would never be able to find Cole if he couldn't hear him.

"Aw, why did I decide to come here?" Cole asked himself aloud. Even if it did sound distorted, no one could hear him. "There was no risk of anything bad happening to me back home. I could be happy with his mom, and eventually, my friends and dad would be there. Everything would be just how it was when I was a kid. We could spend endless days just messing around and talking about our past adventures. I'd have a lot to catch up on. Why couldn't I just have been patient?" Cole then thought about what the ghost of Rema's minion told him. How Kai killed him, knowing that it wasn't his right to decide whether the man should live or not. That was the court's job. "Sure, he was a horrible person," Cole told himself, "but there are some criminals that started out right where Kai is now. I have to go back. I have to get out of here somehow."

That's when Cole remembered something Morro told him not too long ago. Anyone outside of the prisons could hear what went on inside even if the captives could not hear a thing. Maybe it would help Morro to find him.

"Help!" Cole could feel his throat strain as he screamed as loud as he could. "Get me outta here!"

It wasn't too long after Cole started calling for help when the ceiling above opened, and the three ghosts that brought him there dropped down. Cole could actually hear the thudding sound they made when they dropped down, but he still couldn't hear a word they said as they angrily yelled at him. After a while of witnessing them wasting their voices on him, Cole just shrugged, indicating that he couldn't hear them, much to the ghosts' dismay.

They ended up grabbing Cole and floating back up to the hallway. The cries came back along with Cole's headache, but at least he could hear something now. This time, Cole didn't even try to fight the headache, though. The transition from absolutely no sound to way too much was so powerful that he blacked out the second he got out of his prison. Next thing he knew, Cole was in a room he had never seen. It was rather small with stone walls and dirty wood floors. There was another throne at the back of the room, the Big Ghost was sitting on it, of course, and there was huge table decorated with delectables. Around the table was many, many ghosts, already digging into the food. The only spot that had not already been taken was one seat right in front of Cole, placed directly across from the Big Ghost's throne.

"Sit!" he ordered.

Cole hesitated just a moment before complying. He sat down at the table but didn't eat. Even if the smell of all the delicious food made his mouth water.

"Eat!" the Big Ghost ordered.

Seeing as Cole was still hesitant, the Big Ghost decided to use another tactic.

"My name is Keeve, and I would really appreciate it if you told me where this portal to Ninjago was," The Big Ghost said.

Cole scoffed. "I don't know where the portal is myself."

"So, you've come here on a blind mission?"

"No. A friend's been leading me through."

Keeve seemed confused for just a moment before he realized something. "Morro."

Cole jerked his head up to look at Keeve. He should've realized that he spotted Morro. Maybe Cole thought there would be more of an uproar at their former leader going against them.

"Morro knows where the portal is," Keeve said. Although it was mostly to himself, "And where's Morro now?" he asked Cole.

"I don't even know how long it's been since I got put in that stupid prison. You think I know where Morro is now?" Cole asked as he picked up a cup of water and took a sip.

Keeve smiled at this.

"Why do you even want to know where the portal is anyway?" Cole asked. "Only someone pure of heart can go through it, which, no offense, I doubt any of you are."

"None taken," Keeve laughed, along with the other ghosts. He stood up from his chair and began walking over to Cole, "but I'm pretty sure I can work around it."

Cole was about to ask Keeve a question when the crying began getting louder once again. It got so loud that Cole gripped his head in pain and screamed. It hurt so much, and the ghosts' laughter didn't help it.

"Quiet," Cole begged before the room was enveloped in darkness.

Morro ran through the rows and rows of prison cells. The prisons were covered in stones. Stone walls, stone floors, stone windows. It made the already cold realm increasingly colder, and the worst part of the whole place was that Morro couldn't hear a thing. He wouldn't even know if someone would have found him so Morro was looking over his shoulder a lot. The experience really didn't help with the suspicious feeling Morro already had.

Morro looked through each and every one and saw a lot of things he wished he didn't. It was painful to see how many ghosts were actually stuck there, and it was even more painful to see each and every one of the ghosts with the same mean scowl they had in life. They really didn't regret anything they did, and it was weird to think that Morro once had the same mindset as them. He really wished that they weren't stuck here, though. That they hadn't done what they did to end up in such a horrible place, that they would change, but they would never do that, and Cole didn't even deserve this place. He had to find him.

The former wind master kept on walking through the prisons, but he stopped when he began to hear again. The tapping of his feet on the concrete, the faint cries of the ghosts, a rather loud conversation going on above him.

"What the-" Morro stopped when he realized that he still couldn't hear himself all too well. He looked around the different cells until he found the source of the very loud conversation. There was a space in the ceiling above one of the cells that was open.

That must be where Cole is. Morro thought.

Morro began running over to the hatch, but right as he tried climbing up, he was grabbed harshly by a ghost above before being thrown back down. He landed hard on the stone below before jumping back up to face this new adversary, but he was already gone.

Suddenly, Morro heard a very slight sound behind him. He immediately whipped his head around and grabbed a fist right before it would've collided with his gut. But as he tried to throw the ghost to the side, he realized that it wasn't possible. This particular ghost was much too strong for him.

He tried punching him in the stomach, but the ghost punched Morro in the chin to knock him off track before the former wind elemental was thrown to the side.

Morro groaned as he lifted his head to face the ghost he was just fighting. He seemed unresponsive now. Bansha was right behind him, nd it looked like she was laughing maniacally.

She said something that Morro couldn't quite hear, but the look on her face told him that it was bad.

"I can't hear you," Morro told her.

Bansha didn't seem to hear what Morro said either so she just looked at him with a confused and extremely annoyed look on her face. Morro just rolled his eyes.

Finally, Bansha decided to do something about this little problem. She grabbed Morro and the other ghost and flew them both up to the hallway above. The other ghost continued standing next to Bansha, unresponsive, but Morro was having a little trouble adjusting to all the noise. He screamed as he grabbed his head and curled up on the floor, trying to make out what was happening.

"I'm so glad you've come to join us, Morro. It will make our pitiful existence all the more meaningful," Bansha said.

"What are you talking about, Bansha?" Morro asked, already annoyed with her.

Bansha merely smiled as she looked at the ghost next to her.

"Take off your mask," she instructed him.

The ghost obeyed to reveal that all of Morro's worst fears had come true. Cole was a ghost.

Sorry to leave you all on that cliffhanger. Next chapter should be out soon, though.

Anyway, I hope you all liked that chapter. Leave a review if you'd like.

Have a great day/night!

#God'sNotDead