There's always that one chapter in the story that gives the most trouble, and this was definitely it. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy!
"Cole?" Morro's voice came out as no more than a whisper. He walked over to his friend, hoping, praying that it wasn't true. That this wasn't Cole.
As soon as he got close enough to almost touch his friend, Bansha put her sword out in Morro's way to stop him from coming any closer.
"What have you done to him?!" Morro yelled. He took his gun out and pointed it at Bansha's head, finger on the trigger.
"Soul Archer created a special drink that subjects you to the Cursed Realm's powers, therefore turning him into a ghost," Bansha explained.
Morro looked at his friend, hoping that Cole would still be the same as he once was, but he wasn't. He was staring at the ground with a blank expression. The only feature that showed any emotion was his eyes, crying for help. Just the sight made Morro's heart scream in rage. He pulled the trigger, shooting a blast of energy out of it, but it didn't hit Bansha. She had already moved out of the way. Morro pointed his gun at Bansha once again, taking a deep breath to try to calm down, but he couldn't. They turned Cole into a ghost!
"Don't worry," Bansha told him. "The effects will wear off, and he will become human again..." Bansha paused a moment as she watched Morro's skeptical look on his face. He knew Bansha better than that. She was never going to let Cole go unless Morro pried him out of her hands. Seeing that Morro didn't believe her she continued anyway saying, "Until then, he will make the perfect vessel to Ninjago. We just need the location of the portal."
"Like I'll ever tell you!" Morro replied.
Bansha couldn't help but chuckle as she began chanting in a language Morro didn't understand. Suddenly, those helpless brown eyes glossed over to become Bansha's evil green eyes. Cole had fallen to the despairing feeling of the Cursed Realm. He couldn't fight her control here.
Cole looked at Morro in a menacing way. He didn't have a weapon or his power, but Morro knew that he was still no match against the former master of earth.
He ran at the former wind master and punched him square in the jaw, sending Morro right into the nearest wall, causing him to land hard against that and fall to the ground, groaning in pain. As he tried standing back up, Cole began punching Morro repeatedly, but Morro could tell that his friend was holding back. He was still in there somewhere.
"Cole, listen to me," Morro began as he started blocking Cole's punches. "Get her out of your head, Cole!"
Cole didn't respond, but he did stop punching him. As he looked at Morro with Bansha's cold, dead eyes he picked him up before spinning him around a few times and threw him a little ways down the hall. Morro coughed a little as he stood back up. Maybe Cole would notice and snap out of it, but the former earth master was now fully under Bansha's control.
Morro didn't know what else he could do so he reached for his blaster, but it wasn't there. He heard Bansha give off an evil laugh through his friend. Morro could feel the color drain from his face as he looked back up at Cole, who was currently pointing Morro's blaster at him.
"Tell me the location of the portal, Morro," Cole ordered, but it was in Bansha's voice.
Morro grunted before he ran at Cole. He managed to barely dodge the shots from the blaster before doing a back flip to kick the blaster out of Cole's hands. He then caught it mid-air before pointing it at Cole to prevent him from making any bad moves.
"Tell me the location of the portal!" Bansha screamed, but Cole had not moved. In fact, he seemed completely inanimate.
"No," Morro replied.
Suddenly, Morro felt sick in the head. All he could hear was this horrible scream. Bansha was already in his head.
"Tell me the location of the portal, or your friend dies a second time," she told him.
"No," Morro said as he shook his head. He tried to get her voice out his head, he tried to get his own mind back, but he couldn't hear anything past her thoughts.
"Tell me where the portal is," she told him.
Morro tried to fight himself as he began wrapping his fingers around the trigger.
"Stop it!" Morro screamed.
"Tell me the location of the portal, or I will make you shoot," Bansha told him.
Morro's eyes went wide as he realized that he couldn't stop her from making him do this. He tried pulling himself away right when he heard her scream "Shoot!" Morro had to obey. He managed to jerk his arm away from Cole so that he shot the wall next to them instead of his friend.
Suddenly, Morro got an idea. Cole would be able to fight against her control easier in Ninjago, and with the help of someone like Kai, it should work. He was the only one to get to Lloyd during his possession.
"Okay. I'll tell you," Morro said.
He immediately felt his body relax as Bansha let go. She took control of Cole once again and looked at Morro with wide eyes.
"Where is it?" she asked through him.
"I'll only tell you on one condition," Morro told him. "You'll let me go through as well."
"Only one person can go through."
"You're a sorcerer, Bansha. I'm sure you can find a way around that."
She seemed hesitant for a moment, so Morro decided to add, "The portal drops you off right where the Preeminent was defeated. You won't be able to make it into Ninjago alive without my wind."
"I'll see what I can do."
The two shook on it, and before long, Bansha had come out of hiding to show Morro her book of spells. There was one in particular, which would allow two people to go back to Ninjago, but if they remained there for twenty-four hours, one would be returned to the Departed Realm, and if Morro had to go through first, it would most likely be Cole. Which meant, Morro had to snap Cole out of it and find a way to return to the Departed Realm in a very short amount of time.
Once this was said and done, Morro began leading his possessed friend to the portal. Back down into the prisons they went. They moved through the rows and rows of cells until they made it to Morro's hole he made all those years ago to escape the desolate.
Morro looked at Cole and pointed at the wall right next to the hole. He looked at the wall in confusion before raising his fist up in the air to ask if he was supposed to break it. Once the former master of wind gave his approval, he punched the wall until all that was left of it was rubble on the ground to reveal a very small yet beautiful room. It was filled with gold glowing lights, the grass was a gorgeous green and there were two living trees creating an archway above the portal, which looked just like a giant purple swirl that wouldn't stop moving.
"This is it?" Morro heard Bansha in his head once again.
Morro nodded before he walked forward. He breathed a in deeply as he walked through, feeling the air encompass his entire body as his power returned to his body. He felt so rejuvenated until his body hit the water, just as he thought. Morro swam back up to the surface and was about to swim to the shore to catch Cole when he came out, but he didn't realize that Bansha would finish the spell so quickly. Suddenly, Cole began falling right towards him. Luckily, Morro had quick reflexes, and he was able to use the wind to bring Cole safely to the shore, right in front of the city of Stixx.
It had been nearly a month since Kai killed one of Rema's minions, and he still felt horrible about it. How could he let himself do that? It wasn't his job to decide whether he should live or not. He just got so angry. Eleven months ago, it was him who was with Cole. It was him who couldn't protect his brother and ended up having to watch him die because of it. It was him who didn't want to lose Skylor too. She was perfectly fine after what happened, though, other than being a little shaken. Whether that was from the hit or her yin brutally murdering someone, though, was anyone's guess.
Kai was still beating the man with his flaming fist long after he went cold. Jay and Nya struggled to pull him off, but once they finally did, Kai could feel the extreme agony in his hands. They were covered in both his own blood and the man's. He went to the hospital shortly after for his hands and then the monastery. The authorities knew what Kai had done, yet they did nothing. They didn't even talk to him about it. Everyone in the monastery were the only ones who ever talked about it, but that was only to tell Kai that he should stop beating himself up about it and that it wouldn't happen again. Sometimes he even started to do as he was told, but every time he looked at his blood-stained gloves, the guilt came rushing back again.
As Kai walked down to breakfast that day, he still didn't feel right. No one truly had since they found Kai and Cole in the woods. It was a horrible sight to see. Kai still beaten up had been found half-dead on top of the young earth master. Kai shuddered as he tried to get the memory of Jay's cry out of his head. If it was the last sound he was going to hear from the lightning ninja, why did it have to be so painful? He had hardly said a word since before they left that day. The only person he ever talked to now was Nya, but she and Zane had buried themselves so deeply in their work that no one ever saw them anymore, and he could never forget how extreme Lloyd's emotions were. Especially his anger. He yelled and screamed at anything and anyone he felt was at fault for anything that went wrong, even if it wasn't that bad. Training equipment was the victim of most of his outbursts, and the fact that the green ninja quit meditating didn't help anything. Pixal was the only one who didn't seem affected, but Zane knew that she was putting up a front in an effort to be strong for the team.
Wu took it the best out of everyone. He had a good cry over it during the first week after taking on the responsibility of telling Lou. Zane went with him, and he nearly cried every time anyone ever asked him about the experience, so they didn't. As soon as Kai was back on his feet, Wu went back to being his strict self, if not worse. Kai wasn't even aware of how the loss of Cole could've affected him until last month.
"Hey, Kai," Skylor greeted as she walked past the fire ninja in the hallway.
"Hey, Skylor," Kai replied before they shared a quick kiss and went to the kitchen. Lloyd, Wu, Jay, and Pixal were already there eating what Zane had made earlier that day.
"Hey, Jay," Skylor said cheerfully as she sat down at the table next to Kai.
Jay looked up at the red head for just a moment to let her know that he heard her before looking back down at whatever his eyes were so fixated on before.
"Do you know if Nya and Zane are going to join us today, Kai?" Pixal asked.
Kai shook his head sadly before saying, "I wouldn't know. I've been in my room all day."
Lloyd groaned before asking in the most pathetically sad voice, "Why don't they ever come?"
Jay didn't even look up as he began rubbing circles on his baby brother's back. "I don't know, Bud," he said quietly enough so that only Lloyd could hear.
"Last I heard, they were planning an attack on Rema's base after you discovered his base last month," Wu said.
"Yeah, well we kind of need them right now," Lloyd began taking on a harsher tone, but he was still too sad to yell at anybody. "We're never gonna pull it off, anyway."
"We must stay positive, Lloyd," Pixal told him. "As long as Vania still manages to come next month, we should be able to 'pull it off', as you say."
"I believe we have more pressing matters on our hands," Zane said as he and Nya came into the room. They seemed frantic and very upset.
"What is it?" Wu asked as he stood up from his seat, followed by the rest of the ninja and Pixal.
Nya tried to respond, but she was so upset she could barely speak. Instead, she just handed her phone to Master Wu while Zane explained what happened. "Gayle Gossip just sent us the most recent news report of an attack in Stixx."
The ninja walked over to Wu to see a single ghost attacking the village. A boy with short brown hair and a black and green ninja suit was fighting him. The ghost's arms suddenly began to glow a bright orange, highlighting the scars he had obtained during life. He turned around to look at the helicopter filming the fight with a creepy blank stare. The ninja could barely tell who it was, but it was right on the tip of their tongue.
"Cole?" Jay finally let it slip.
Everyone looked at him in shock, but when they saw what this ghost could do, they realized it had to be true.
"Tell me this is old footage," Kai begged his sister. That couldn't be Cole. It just couldn't!
Nya shook her head as she said, "That's not all."
Lloyd could barely breath when he found out who the boy fighting him was.
"Cole!" the voice yelled. "Cole, you need to get her out of your head! Cole! Cole!" Morro screamed as the earth master used his power to took some of the rocks from a mountain behind the village and take the helicopter down.
The video ended right before the crash, leaving everyone in shock.
No one spoke for a long while. Because they couldn't. Everyone just stood there, Speechless, trying to wrap their heads around what had happened. Finally, Jay asked, "We're going to have to fight him. Aren't we?"
"As much as this pains me to say, we must stop Cole," was Zane's soft reply.
"But...we can't," Lloyd said in just as soft a tone. "He's our brother."
"He is not himself," Wu replied. "Sometimes, we must fight our friends to save them. Once we have I will put 10X as many leaves as needed in Mystake's Traveler's Tea recipe. If we do that, we should be able to get Cole and Morro back to the Departed Realm safely."
"Look, I don't want to hurt him or anything, but if we're being perfectly honest, all of us combined could barely stop him, and that's when he holds back. Whatever he's under clearly isn't letting him do that," Skylor said.
"Not to mention Morro," Nya added.
"Well, then I guess we can't hold back either," Lloyd replied.
The six ninja ran down to the vehicle bay and to the Land Bounty, but once they made it to the Land Bounty, they didn't see Zane or Nya.
Kai noticed Jay putting his head down in disappointment, and Kai knew he had to say something.
"They're not even coming on the mission?" he complained.
"Do not worry, Kai," Zane's voice come over the intercoms. "We are only getting something special Nya, and I have been working on."
"Really? What is it?" Lloyd asked excitedly.
"You'll see," Nya said as she came in. She tousled her baby brother's hair before sitting down next to Jay while Zane came in soon after and took the wheel.
"Everybody ready?" Lloyd asked.
"No," Jay whispered.
"Yeah. Me neither," Lloyd replied, scaring Jay. He didn't know that anyone had heard him. "Full speed ahead!"
Zane pushed the wheel forward so they would start going. They sped down the mountain, through the city, and parked on a beach by the Ninjago City Gulf. The village of Stixx was right on the other side of the gulf.
"How are we supposed to get across?" Lloyd asked once everyone, minus Zane and Nya, were on the beach.
"By using these," Nya announced as she and Zane moved their newly finished project onto the beach. "We haven't given it a solid name yet, but we call them the Water Striders."
"The Water Striders have enough power to take us all across the entire gulf in a matter of minutes," Zane explained. "Unfortunately, we did not have time to make as many as needed. Jay? Will you help us get the others?"
Jay smiled as he made his way to the Land Bounty to get the striders, but when he did, he saw a very familiar face.
"Hi, Jay!" Vania greeted cheerfully as she made her way into the Land Bounty to help.
Jay smiled when he saw his friend and nodded in greeting saying, "Hello, Vania."
"Queen Vania," Zane smiled as he came into the Land Bounty. "We were not expecting you."
"I tried using my powers earlier, but they weren't there. I was going to come to the monastery to talk to Master Wu about it when I saw the news," Vania told him, now taking on a more serious tone. "We need to get Cole back to the Departed Realm."
"And we will," Zane replied. "As soon as we get all of these onto the water."
Since there were only four water striders, some of the ninja had to share. Jay with Nya, Kai with Skylor, Lloyd and Zane, and Vania on her own.
The striders were incredibly long boards but very skinny. A bit like skateboards for the water, and they were very, very fast. Unfortunately, there was nothing to make sure that they didn't fall off, so Jay spent most of the trip hanging on to Nya for dear life.
Once they made it to Stixx, they were greeted by loud crashing sounds from the fight in the middle of the city.
"That must be where the fight is!" Lloyd said when he saw this. "We have to get over there."
"Wait!" Zane called. "My sensors indicate multiple life-forms still inhabiting the town."
"You mean, not everyone has evacuated?" Skylor asked.
Zane shook his head.
"Alright. Zane, Kai, and Nya. You guys help anyone who hasn't evacuated yet. The rest of us will go help Cole," Lloyd instructed.
"Wait? What?" Kai asked. "But I-"
"I think Kai and I should switch," Skylor put in for her yin.
"You sure?" Lloyd asked.
"Positive."
Lloyd looked to Kai for reassurance, who nodded eagerly. He really wanted to snap Cole out of whatever was causing this.
"Ninja go!" everyone exclaimed before they began running off to their respective jobs.
Once Lloyd, Kai, Jay, and Vania got to the center of the town, they could see how much Morro was struggling against Cole.
After hardly feeling any physical pain in the last forty years, Morro was surprised by how much you could hurt after nearly getting crushed by someone's roof, but it did hurt. It hurt a lot.
"Going easy on me is foolish, Morro. Clearly, you don't have the guts to fight," Cole's voice now had the same creepy echo as Bansha's voice, but it wasn't her's. He was at least conscious now. Maybe he could fight it.
"You're my friend, Cole!" Morro replied. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"Cole!" the two heard the sound of Kai's voice. Morro felt a mix of dread and relief when he heard this. Relief that Kai might be able to better help Cole and dread that Kai might lose it on Morro. He nearly did on Day of the Departed a few years back.
Cole stopped for just a moment as he looked at his friends. Jay, Kai, Lloyd, Vania. His heart softened for just a moment, but he heard that horrid voice screaming into his head to destroy them. It hurt so much; he couldn't fight it. He had to obey. He activated his earth punch and looked at Morro, who had just managed to get up, before he hit him across the face, causing him to fly across the docks and into Lloyd.
"What's going on?" Vania asked as Morro struggled to get up.
"Bansha's taken control of Cole's mind. He can't stop himself from doing this," Morro replied, right before Lloyd pushed the elemental master of wind off of him.
"What do we do?" Lloyd asked as he stood back up.
"Fight against her just as you fought against me," Morro looked directly at Kai when he said this.
Kai nodded before he began walking slowly up to Cole. Almost as if he was coming up to a timid animal.
"Cole?" Kai asked.
The master of earth looked at Kai a moment as if he was trying to fight something, but he lost his war and ended up roundhouse kicking Kai in the gut. The fire master fell to the ground while Jay ran as he ran at Cole. He had deepstone gloves on, which allowed him to grab onto his arm, but it was so cold.
Cole looked back at the lightning master and for just a moment, it seemed like he recognized him. He looked at Jay with the most pained expression, almost as if he was saying sorry before he flipped Jay over onto his back.
Jay was in shock as he lay on his back. He watched as Morro used his wind powers to fly over to Cole and fall right on his head. At least, he would've done that if Cole hadn't caught him mid-flight and shoved him to the ground.
"Cole, stop!" the nindroid's voice rang in Cole's ear as he grabbed onto Cole's shoulders. Cole turned around to face his brother and saw the most pained look on his face. He was looking right into his bright, green eyes and refused to divert his gaze away when he saw the evil glow beginning to fade, but not enough. Cole tried to get Zane to let go, but the nindroid held fast, not saying a word. He couldn't bring himself to. He just looked at him with a pleading gaze.
"I'm sorry...Zane," Cole weakly said before he used his super strength to grab Zane's arms and rip him off of him. He pushed him and kicked him so that he ended up falling to the ground. Just as Cole managed to get his bearings back together, he was met with every ninja and Morro. This included Vania and Skylor.
Everyone ran at Cole, some with more hesitance than others. Many powers went at him at once, and Cole used his earth powers to make a shield of rocks to block the powers. Bansha smiled from the Cursed Realm when she saw how well he fought against them. He prevented himself from getting hurt by using his shield, he caused many of the ninja to stumble with his incredible strength, and he outsmarted most of the rest by stealing their weapons and using them against the ninja. Suddenly, something happened. Bansha gasped when she realized that Cole was knocked off guard by the most powerful of them all. Lloyd. His green energy broke Cole's shield and knocked Cole into a nearby home.
"Cole! You need to fight her!" Lloyd told him.
He used his green energy to knock Cole off balance once again, but Cole was quick to get back on his feet. Seeing this, Lloyd jumped up and kicked Cole back, but this time, he managed to stay on his feet and punch Lloyd in the face with his earth punch. The green ninja stumbled backwards and rubbed his now bleeding nose.
"Cole, please," Lloyd begged.
Cole couldn't help it. He couldn't stop. He looked at his little brother and shook his head sadly before he tried punching him again.
"I'm giving you a chance, Cole," Lloyd said as he grabbed Cole's fist, "I don't want to hurt you."
Cole didn't listen. He tried to punch Lloyd with his other hand, but the green ninja caught that as well. It was a struggle, though.
"I'm sorry, Cole, but I can't go easy on you anymore," Lloyd said.
Lloyd's eyes began glowing a bright green as he used his own strength to push Cole back. He went into a spinjitzu tornado and grabbed Cole before throwing the earth elemental through four different houses.
"Cole! You need to snap out of this!" Lloyd yelled as he stepped through the last house.
Cole tried so hard. He grabbed his head and tried to get her out of it, but he wasn't strong enough. Cole screamed before he ran at Lloyd and tackled him to the ground. Cole was about to punch Lloyd once again, but something inside stopped him. It may have been the way he looked at him, it may have been the way he didn't seem to try to stop it this time. He just stopped.
"I know it hurts, Cole. A lot. But you can't let her control you like this. You're a ninja, Cole, and ninja never quit," Lloyd told him.
"I don't know if I can do this anymore, Bud," Cole said as he grabbed his head and fell to the ground.
"Yes, you can. I know you, Cole. You're stronger than this."
"I can't fight her anymore."
"Anymore?" Lloyd asked.
It wasn't too long before Lloyd realized what his older brother was talking about. Suddenly, Cole's eyes began glowing a bright orange as he allowed more of his power to shine. He jumped up and kicked Lloyd into the air before punching him back to the rest of his friends. Vania barely managed to dodge getting hit by Lloyd, causing Cole to stop a moment.
He looked at Vania, and for just a moment, he forgot to be in pain. He watched cautiously as the ivory skinned beauty walked towards him. He tried backing away from her, but he was stopped by those same titanium hands as earlier. His eyes went wide as he saw her come closer, but all panic left his body when he felt her soft hand caress his cheek. It calmed him, and he couldn't help but like it. Of course, it couldn't last forever. Cole couldn't help but groan in pain when he didn't listen to Bansha right away.
"Destroy them!" she screamed.
Cole shook his head as he started to beg. "No, I don't want to. No."
"Yes, that's it, Cole. Fight it!" Vania encouraged.
Cole began to jerk himself away from Vania, but she wouldn't let him leave. She grabbed onto his head with both hands and looked him in the eyes telling him to fight it.
"I can't," Cole moaned.
"Yes, you can, Cole. You are the strongest, bravest, kindest person I know," Vania said. "Fight it."
Cole began shaking his head. He just wanted the noise to stop, and maybe he voiced this because the next thing he knew, he had something in his hand. It was so smooth and cool. As he felt the edges of it, he realized that it was curved. It wasn't quite a circle, though, although, that was what he originally thought. He knew he had felt this before, though, but his eyesight was clouding with tears, and he couldn't see it. He could feel the intricate designs of it, though. It must've been very beautiful and complex. Being able to feel this thing began to drown Bansha's voice out of his head, and suddenly, he could see again. But as he looked at what was in his hand, his vision began clouding with tears once again. It was his half of the yin-yang pin he never got to give to Vania. She was wearing the other half.
"I'm sorry," Cole whispered when he saw this. He couldn't even bear to look at her.
"It's okay, Cole. You're okay now," Vania told him as she grabbed him into a hug. As Cole wrapped his arms around her, he realized something. He looked at his hand and realized that he was human again.
"What?" Cole asked as the two pulled away. He stared at his hand a moment and smiled. "I'm human."
Suddenly, everyone began cheering as they crowded around Cole. They all hugged him with happy tears in their eyes and everyone began making their way to the monastery. As soon as they got there, Vania took his hand and led him to the couch. Everyone then crowded around the couch to spend as much time with their brother as they could. Wu, Morro, and Kai were the only ones not bombarding Cole with questions. Wu and Morro were watching from the doorway, but Kai disappeared as soon as they walked through the front door.
"I must thank you, Morro," Wu told his former pupil. "Without you, Stixx may have fallen."
"I wouldn't have stood a chance without the others," was Morro's humble response.
"Indeed," Wu agreed before saying, "I'm proud of you, Morro. Since the last time I've seen you, you've grown stronger. You've humbled yourself, realized the power of a team. I feel now I can finally teach you something, and I am saddened that it is now too late."
Morro nodded. "I'm still not there yet."
Cole didn't know whether to laugh or cry by how desperate his friends were to speak to him. It seemed as if they were all fighting for his attention, and Cole was just glad to see them all again. There were some changes he noticed, though. The first, and most obvious, one was that Jay hadn't even spoken yet. At least not to him. He was doing that whispering thing with Nya they used to do right before the first time Cole became a human again. Another change he noticed was Lloyd. The once stoic hero who hardly ever showed vulnerability was clearly in tears only a few moments before. Granted, they were happy tears, but Lloyd seemed to be letting his guard down a lot. The rest seemed mostly the same, but Kai was nowhere to be found. Vania was as great as ever. Her genuine, bubbly personality hardly dwindled at all, but his hand was stuck in some sort of death grip by her's, which he couldn't complain about. There were so many questions from everyone, though.
"Did you see your mom again?"
"How are the Cursed Realm and the Departed Realm separated after I destroyed it?"
"How'd you and Morro meet?"
"How's Harumi?"
"Uh, why do you need to know that?" Morro asked when he heard Lloyd's question.
"I-I don't," Lloyd answered as a slight blush crept on his cheeks.
Cole couldn't help but chuckle at this. Why did everyone have a thing for Harumi?
After a moment of awkward silence, Jay finally asked, "What's the Departed Realm like?"
The room suddenly became very quiet as everyone wanted to know the answer to this particular question.
"It's a beautiful place. You can do certain things you can't do here because you can't die there. You don't need to go to the bathroom, which is a little weird, but it gives you a little more time during the day," Cole explained. "It's cool because you can meet people you've always wanted to meet."
"Like who?" Skylor asked.
"Well, I met my grandfather, who fought during the Serpentine Wars, and the very first elemental master of earth, who fought with the First Spinjitzu Master.
"Do you have jobs there?" Lloyd asked.
"Yeah," Cole replied, "but they're only small ones, and there's no money."
"Then what's the point?" Jay asked.
"We still need food."
"You're a gardener?" Zane asked, causing Cole to begin laughing.
"Did I say something funny?"
"No," Cole replied. "I didn't really want to do that."
"What do you do then?" Pixal asked.
"I babysit."
"Really?" Nya asked.
"Yeah. It's pretty fun. Kind of sad too, though, if you really think about it."
"Does anyone age?" Lloyd asked.
Cole shook his head.
"So if you die old, you go there old?" Jay asked quietly.
"Depends how old. Because that's a sign of you slowly dying so anyone who dies over the age of thirty usually ends up being around that age."
"What about young kids? Like, who you babysit," Nya asked.
"Anyone under the age of fifteen ages just like any normal person until they get there, I think."
"Why fifteen?" Lloyd asked.
"I don't know."
After a moment of silence, Jay asked, "Wait. So are Kai and I older than you now?"
Cole's eyes went wide at the realization, causing everyone to begin laughing.
After a while, Jay asked, "Are there any downsides to it?"
"Yeah," Cole answered.
"Like what?"
"Not being able to live the rest of my life and see you guys anymore," Cole said with a smile.
Wu decided that this was a good note to leave on, so he intervened and said, "We all need to get to bed. Cole and Morro leave first thing in the morning. "I will get your room ready, Cole."
The ninja all groaned as they began making their way to their respective rooms.
"You're with me tonight," Vania whispered to Cole before she kissed his forehead and followed Wu to Cole's old room.
Once everyone was out of earshot, Morro said, "Cole, I need to tell you something."
"I know. Both of us can't stay," he replied.
"How did you know?" Morro asked.
"I was there when Bansha told you, wasn't I?"
Morro nodded.
"What do you want to do about that?" Cole asked.
"What do you mean? We've had the same plan for a while now, haven't we? I'll go back to the Departed Realm, and you'll stay here with your friends and get to live the rest of your life."
"But-" Cole started. He didn't really know how to put it into words, but Morro needed to stay. He was the one who needed a second chance, and he was the one leaving?
"But what?" Morro asked. "This is what we've been working towards, right?"
Cole sighed. He was too tired to put this into words so he just said, "Where will you be sleeping?"
Morro just pointed to the couch.
"You're kidding, right?" Cole asked, but Morro was already asleep on the couch with no blanket. Cole didn't like that at all. He walked over to a nearby shelf to get a folded blanket and covered Morro with it. As he did, he thought about how nonchalant Morro was about going back to the Departed Realm. He seemed to accept that he was never getting a second chance. Did he even want one? Why was he so content on Cole staying and not him?
As Cole thought about these things, he began making his way to his room, but as he was going, he could hear a strange sound coming from Kai's room. He knocked on the door to see what was going on, and the door swung open immediately to reveal a very messed up version of Kai's signature style a very disheartened face look on his face.
"Are you okay, Kai?" Cole asked.
"No. I need to tell you something," Kai replied. He walked over to his bed and sat down. Cole could tell this was something serious, so he closed the door before joining him on the bed.
"What do you need to talk to me about?" Cole asked.
"I-I hurt someone," Kai admitted before he shook his head. "No. It was worse than that. I-I killed him."
"I know," Cole replied.
Kai looked at Cole with wide eyes. How would he know unless he met the guy? Oh, no. He didn't even go to the Cursed Realm! Kai thought.
"H-how?" Kai asked.
"Morro and I disguised ourselves and met him in the Cursed Realm," Cole explained.
Phew, Kai thought, but aloud he said, "I'm sorry."
"Kai, I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that what you did was right, but I do want you to know that you can't go on feeling guilty for the rest of your life. All it does is prevent you from moving on."
That's when the outburst came.
"How can I move on when I let you die!" Kai yelled. He stood up from his bed and began screaming as he said, "I could've done something! I could've used my fire to burn that stupid rope he tied me in, I could've sneaked up to the spot better than we did so he wouldn't have found us, I could've fought for the whole team to come instead of just you and me so we would actually overwhelm him!"
So that's what this is about, Cole thought.
"You did all you could," he said aloud, though.
"No, Cole! I didn't!" Kai yelled. "I was supposed to protect you! It should've been me."
"Since when is that how it worked?" Cole asked, still maintaining his calm demeanor. "Sure I'm strong, but you cause the most laughs with all your teasing, Jay always has some sort of positive thinking going on, as weird as it is to say, Zane's like a parent to us, Nya's always looking out for us, and Lloyd's the chosen one! What am I compared to all that? A friend, yes, but important enough to say that it was supposed to be you?"
"Yes. You're our rock, Cole" Kai told him. "No one could be the things you said we are anymore after you-you-You know. Jay hardly talks anymore, Nya and Zane have buried themselves in work that doesn't need to be done, Lloyd goes through mood swings now, and I can hardly control my anger now. Just like how the team fell apart after you left the monastery when Zane died, the whole team fell apart. Just, Wu didn't let us leave this time, but we're still separated. WE hardly talk to each other anymore."
"I'm sorry, Kai. I thought that everyone might be upset, but I didn't realize it was this bad."
"How could you?" Kai asked. "You weren't here?"
Cole sighed. "I know."
It wasn't too long before Vania and Wu had finally gotten Cole's room back to a livable space, Cole and Vania took turns getting in their pajamas in the bathroom, and once they were done, they got into the bed.
"This is nice," Cole said as Vania leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I wish it could last," Vania told him.
"Maybe it could," Cole replied as he looked at the Shintaran lying next to him.
"What do you mean?" Vania asked as she looked back at him.
"Well, the reason I was captured was because Morro and I were looking for a portal, which allows us to come back to Ninjago."
"For good?"
"For as long as I continue living," Cole laughed.
"That's great!" Vania exclaimed as she hugged him. She noticed that Cole didn't seem very happy, though.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
"Morro and I can't both stay," Cole replied. He had the saddest tone in his voice, which was a little strange to hear. She had read all about the ninjas' adventures. Morro possessing Lloyd was one of them so hearing that Morro couldn't stay in Ninjago was saddening Cole was a little weird, and it made her a little sad too.
"It's just-" Cole started, "every time I asked him if he had any good memories from Ninjago, he said it was when he was training with Wu to be a ninja. He told me that after that, he regretted everything about his life."
"It isn't fair, is it?" Vania said.
"He also complains about whoever running the Departed Realm having a screw loose for letting him in," Cole added.
Vania thought for just a moment before she slowly asked, "Does he want to be here?"
"He seems like he does, but he doesn't talk about it much."
"Maybe you should talk to him first. Before you make a decision."
"Would-would you be okay without me?"
"I'll miss you every day, as I always have. But as long as we know that you're happy, I think we'll be okay."
"What about the others?" Cole asked.
"I'm sure that you've helped enough that they'll get right back on their feet."
"You should know, though. Kai's been rather protective of me ever since you left."
"Yeah?"
"You're fine with that?"
"Of course I am. I asked him to."
Next thing Cole knew, he had a pillow in his face.
"Ow! What was that for?" Cole asked as he rubbed his face.
"I'm not a little girl anymore," Vania stated.
"Rema nearly killed you not that long before! Can you blame me?"
Vania crossed her arms and pouted as she said, "I guess not."
"What?" she asked when she noticed that Cole was trying not to laugh at her.
"Sorry, Queenie, but you're really cute with that pout," Cole laughed.
Vania's frown slowly turned into a smile when she heard this. She then began messing with his mussy hair and said, "I like your hair when it's messy."
"What? Why?"
"Because it makes me want to touch it," she said as she began trying to make it stick up to look like Kai's mess.
Cole just sighed in content as she did this. If only it could last, but he wouldn't feel right if Morro went back to the Departed Realm. Cole had already lived his life. Morro needed his second chance.
Hope you guys liked that. What did you think of this being a longer chapter? Next chapter is the last one, and it'll probably end up being shorter due to how long this one was, but I just couldn't find a good place to stop early enough.
Anyway, leave a review if you like, and have a great day/night!
#God'sNotDead