AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hey guys, huge thanks to anyone that's reading this! I want to apologize for any strange formatting issues that may show up. FFN has been fighting me. If you check out my story on AO3 (My username there is Raven6229) you can see the formatting as intended! Still, if you prefer FFN, I hope that everything looks good, and that you're enjoying the story!


Wu had a knack for reading his pupils. He had known them for many years, and each one had habits and foibles that they fell into when they were feeling a certain way.

He hadn't intended to wake them up the morning after the Cloud Kingdom. By the time they had finally gone to bed, it had been nearly three in the morning. Waking them up at sunrise wouldn't be diligent, it'd be unhealthy. In a perfect world, Kai and Jay would have had plenty of time to sleep, while Zane and Cole could use the extra time to recuperate mentally.

However, no plan survives first contact with anxious teenaged ninjas. And Lloyd being gone left a vacuum that tugged at all of their chests. It was a dark morning, courtesy of the storm clouds lingering stubbornly at their ship's cruising altitude. Occasionally, Wu found himself needing to correct his balance as the ground took unexpected pitches- nothing threatening, but noticeable nonetheless. The rain wasn't heavy, but it wasn't light either. Neither a downpour nor a drizzle. That morning, it was simply raining.

Zane and Nya had been discussing the previous day's events as they cooked breakfast. Jay was lying in his bunk, awake but not quite "up" yet. When Wu passed by the barracks, he had been staring at the floor with his arm hanging off his bed.

Kai, however, had always been a light sleeper. He had a chronic case of insomnia when he was anxious. And that habit was presenting itself at the ripe hour of six in the morning. And, with Cole now unable to sleep, that gave him an ally in restlessness.

Normally, the ninja would savor any chance to sleep in late that Wu allowed them. Not so when they were this wound up. A loud thud from the living room told Wu that they were especially active this morning.

Amusingly, the television and couch were in the hallway, making it difficult to even reach the room. The two items practically formed a barricade. Still, that was probably preferable, since the alternative was property damage, and they were far from rich.

"Come on, Kai! I know you got better than that!"

"I don't wanna hear it from the guy that just got kicked in the face!"

"Blow never connected, it doesn't count!"

"You're a ghost!"

As Wu suspected, they were training. He squeezed past the sofa and television just in time for Cole's head to loll out from the wall as Kai sent him phasing through it.

"Oh, morning Master Wu," Cole said with wide eyes. He squirmed onto his side and propped his head on his palm, still half inside the wall. "How's it hanging?"

"I was alerted to a great disturbance in the force," he replied with just enough humor in his voice for Cole to catch on.

He plastered an innocent expression to his ghostly features. "Weird. Must have been the thunder." He winced at an ill-timed crash of some objects from inside the common room. "Definitely the thunder."

Wu just made a small scoffing sound and let himself into the living room. It was, predictably, a mess. Though what was a mess due to Kai and Cole's sparring and what was a mess due to the boat housing six teenagers was anybody's guess.

Kai stood up straight when he saw Wu. "Oh! Good morning, Master. We're uh, just getting some practice in. Did we wake you up?"

"Not any more than the storm did," he replied as he eyed their setup. They had foregone safety equipment, but were at least sparring with wooden replicas of their preferred weapons. Their Aeroblade Sword and Scythe were propped haphazardly against a wall.

It's not as if Cole needs the safety equipment anymore, he mused. And it's difficult to get Kai to use it on a good day.

Cole glanced out the window and winced. The green glow around his body seemed to waver for a moment. Wu felt the pit of sympathy in his stomach yawn a little wider. "Now, Cole, I hope you've been practicing your offensive maneuvers. And Kai, how is your form on defense?"

The two exchanged frustrated looks- they had a bit of a rhythm when practicing: Cole on defense, Kai on offense. And seeing as Cole had been knocked through a wall, they were falling into that rhythm. And what kind of master would he be if he didn't push them?

One that didn't get his pupils killed, whispered a dark, antagonistic voice inside of him.

Kai and Cole took ready positions. Wu stood back against the wall- there really wasn't much space in the common area, but when one of you currently couldn't go outside, you made do. After a brief deadlock, Cole attacked.

All the ninja had distinct fighting styles, save perhaps Nya, who was still finding one to call her own. Zane wasn't the best at complex maneuvers, which he compensated for with raw analytical prowess with which he controlled the fight. Jay excelled at taking advantage of the chaos of large groups, weaving around enemies to cause confusion and avoid getting hit. Cole had always preferred straightforward attacks punctuated with unexpectedly graceful moves. Kai, meanwhile, was perhaps the best one-on-one fighter of them all. He had a penchant for reading a fight and moving his body in any way that was necessary to gain the upper hand. It was that style that Lloyd had mimicked since he first started learning to fight.

Such agility was on full display when Cole charged. Kai took a single step to the side, which Cole was prepared for- he spun on the ground to trip Kai, but the Master of Fire jumped over that and pushed off from the wall back towards Cole. The ghost expected the counterattack and dodged to the left, swiping his scythe where Kai was about to land.

Kai grunted and twisted as he landed, barely avoiding the replica blade. He took a hopping step back on one foot to regain his balance. "You and your charges, I swear."

Cole scoffed. Next, he feigned an attack that he used to provide him with the momentum to swing to Kai's side and kick his stomach- Kai was expecting the feint, but still had to use his sword to block the attack. The wooden weapon made a creaking noise from the force, even though Cole was clearly holding his strength back.

Kai spun the blade and knocked Cole's leg to the side- something about that caused the ghost's concentration to snap, forcing his form to lose its solidity for a brief moment, long enough to phase through the weapon and throw off Kai's balance. "Agh! Sorry!"

Kai stumbled forward, nearly running into the wall before he could stop his momentum "It's fine, but are you sure you don't want to switch weapons?" He asked in a tone that implied he had already asked that same question before. He took a spinning swipe at Cole, a few embers from a barely-initiated Spinjitzu flickering off his body.

"You're on defense, Hothead." Cole caught Kai's arm and threw him over his shoulder- the Master of Fire managed to twist within Cole's grip enough to roll away once free, ultimately regaining momentum even though he looked winded.

"Right… how could I forget," Kai panted.

"And anyway, I need the practice. I'm sick of phasing through stuff."

Their fight lulled for a moment, and Wu allowed it- if only so he could gleen a better understanding of Cole's mental state: since being cursed, the Master of Earth had been very closed off towards Wu.

Kai hummed. "What's that like, anyway? Phasing through stuff."

Cole glanced out the window at the rain. "It feels… weird. I dunno how to describe it. Like everything is breaking apart and reshaping around me, I guess. Except that I'm the one that's breaking. It doesn't hurt, at least, but I don't like it."

"Oh." Kai shuffled where he stood, awkwardly fiddling with his sword. "Sorry, I probably shouldn't have asked."

The ghost sighed. "It's fine. I may as well get used to it."

Wu shook his head and took this moment to speak up. "Cole, there is no shame in finding something distressing. You will have to acclimate, yes, but that is not a process that should be rushed."

Cole was silent for a moment, then just said "I'll try, Sensei." Then, he made a brief stance to alert Kai that the fight was back on.

Oh Cole. You don't believe me, do you?

Wu didn't blame him. With Lloyd missing, clearly it was hard for Cole to take time for himself to process. And he'd heard from Jay that Cole had had difficulties on the mountain. He was very clearly avoiding his feelings.

But it wasn't just that. Cole didn't hide his feelings in the same way Kai or Lloyd did. When they were suppressing their feelings, they buried them deep down and pretended to be fine. Jay would cope with his emotions by using humor. Zane, through quiet contemplation and meditation. Nya had, as of late, been showing signs of anger being her preferred way to deal with her more complex feelings.

Kai ducked and dove out of the way from another strike. Cole stepped back and blocked the counterattack with his scythe.

Cole… didn't really do that. Cole was earnest and wore his heart on his sleeve. He didn't hide his feelings by acting like they weren't there.

Rather, he'd pick another less messy emotion, and express that one earnestly instead, to draw attention away from the bigger problem. Like changing the topic in a conversation. If one persisted, he'd be honest about being hurt, but in an understated way.

He'd been doing that since becoming a ghost. Watching from a distance as he led the team up the mountain with the same eagerness as the day Wu met him had been a bittersweet relief because of that.

"Woah! Ack!" Kai twisted again to avoid another attack. Just as he was recovering, Cole made a spinning swipe with his blade. Kai jumped, and he landed on the blade. Cole was strong enough that this didn't deter the motion, so he used an upward lurch to throw Kai backward.

The Master of Fire fell, this time landing hard. He hissed in pain, and sweat beaded on his face. "Wow, you're relentless. Don't you get tired?" He took Cole's hand and pulled himself to his feet.

That made Cole pause. "I don't think so, actually. I haven't had to sleep. And I haven't really gotten hungry."

Wu was watching closely. Something shifted in Cole's expression.

"So you just have infinite energy?" Kai asked in a somewhat incredulous voice.

"If I do have a limit, I haven't found it," he replied slowly. "It's. It's helpful." Cole's smile was, however, hollow.

"Does seem useful," Kai agreed with a bouncing nod. He held his sword back up and tapped Cole's arm with it. His form held up, due to Cole's own efforts. "Not to mention, most things can't touch you if you don't let them. Would have made fighting the Serpentine or Nindroids a lot easier."

"True," Cole said with a tense nod. "It'll be nice if we ever have to fight, like, pirates. Or another cult. Instead of ghosts."

Thunder rumbled outside. Cole's head snapped to the window, the green around him flickering. "If we have to fight sea monsters, though…"

Kai clapped a hand on Cole's shoulder. "If we ever have to fight sea monsters, I'll wait with you on the shore. Screw that noise." He then poked Cole with the end of his sword. "Now c'mon. I'm not done yet."

For a brief moment, Cole was lost in thought. Only to shake his head and snap himself out of it. "Right. Okay."

Kai frowned, but took a defensive stance anyway. Cole went for another direct attack, letting his scythe clash against Kai's sword. He took a heavy step forward, threatening to break Kai's stance.

This is when things went wrong in a way that, frankly, Wu had hoped was impossible.

The thunder cracked outside the Bounty, lighting the entire room in a single flash. Then Cole shouted.

Then he fell. He fell straight through Kai, his scythe clattering to the deck. Then his foot slipped through the floor, as if he had landed on a pitfall. He screamed, and it sounded like two voices echoing off each other. One afraid, and the other in pain.

"Cole!" Wu rushed to help him. He grabbed the first thing he could- Cole's Aeroblade Scythe- and held it out for the ghost. He was actively sinking through the deck, and flailed frantically for something to grab. His hands landed on the actual blade of the Scythe, and he hissed as his hands dragged against the sharp end of the weapon. A dark green, viscous blood smeared on the blade.

Kai stood, stunned for only a brief moment, and there was a commotion in the hallway. Nya and Zane appeared just in time for Cole to pull himself up and grab onto the actual staff- he weighed nearly nothing, so Wu held the weapon up as Cole hung from it. His right foot, the one that had fallen, was wavering and smoking.

The fuel tank, Wu recalled with a pit of horror yawning inside of him. If he had fallen just a little farther- And underneath that was the ocean.

Zane saw the scene and put two and two together. "Cole!"

"What's going on?" Nya asked as she rushed to Cole.

Kai started talking quickly. "I don't- We were just sparring! Then he fell!" He tried to wrap an arm around Cole's shoulder, but was unable to grasp the ghost.

Still holding the Scythe, Wu turned to the others. "Nya, get us to land immediately." She was pale as a sheet, but didn't waste a single second in running to the helm. He could faintly hear her and Jay exchange frantic words as they ran above deck. "Kai, go get a piece of Deepstone armor for Cole." That was all the command that Kai needed before he rushed out, bounding over the sofa as he went.

Zane rushed to Wu's side and grabbed the other end of the Scythe, helping Wu hold it roughly at chest-level. Cole had draped himself over it and was holding on for dear life.

Thunder cracked again, and Wu could feel the Bounty lurch beneath him, causing a shift in balance. Cole- he whimpered, an alarming noise to hear from him.

"Cole, listen to me," Wu said in a level voice. "We're heading to land now. You'll be okay."

The ghost did not appear to hear him. His form flickered and waned, solid only where he made contact with the Deepstone. He appeared to be both hyperventilating and suffocating at the same time- he took quick, raggedy breaths that offered him no relief as he clutched his chest. His thick green blood smeared onto his gi. He held his eyes shut.

Wu tried to place a hand on Cole's cheek- it phased right through, the ghost too lost in the throws of panic to notice. Zane was watching this with an agonized expression- he looked to Wu for guidance, but Wu could offer none if Cole was unresponsive.

Kai returned a moment later, barrelling down the hall and nearly hitting the doorframe as he held up the Deepstone-embedded undershirt he had worn beneath his own gi- still ripped and battle-stained from the night before. Wu gestured for Kai to take the end of the scythe and pass him the armor.

Slowly, Wu draped it over Cole's shoulders- it caught, firm against his ethereal body, holding him together. Cole's immediate reaction was to writhe in discomfort as the metal in the cloth confined his body. He took a large, shuddering breath, his eyes fluttering open. He tightened his grip on the scythe.

"S-Sensei…" Cole said in a breathless voice, and Wu felt his heart ache.

Still, he kept his voice steady. "Look at me Cole, look at me." He placed a hand on the Deepstone, creating pressure that Cole could sense. His pupil's eyes darted around before finally settling on his master. "We're landing in a few minutes. You'll be okay." Kai and Zane exchanged pained expressions, but kept silent.

"Okay… Okay… Sorry…" was what he got out through grinding teeth and heavy breaths.

"Do not apologize. It is okay. You are okay."

"Okay, okay." Cole stared at the wall for a moment, then slowly lowered himself back to the deck with wide, green eyes. This time, the ground held, though Cole himself looked like he might collapse at any moment. He fumbled with the sleeve on the undershirt for a moment until Kai snapped his head up and held it for the ghost, allowing him to get a single arm through.

Slowly, he unfurled himself. Wu guided the Scythe to the floor of the deck, which Cole leaned on like a cane, grip tight and body shaky. It was like his trembling was dispersing his very body, causing mist to scatter around him before meandering back. His form was so thinly-spread that he looked more like a mirage than a person.

Kai's hands hovered half outstretched towards his brother. Cole tried to push them away, only for his hand to phase straight through. Kai got the message and withdrew, though Cole's hand quickly flew back to the Scythe for support. Step by step, he made his way to the wall, where he pressed his Deepstone-covered back against the wall and slid himself down, still holding the staff, smeared with the blood from his cuts.

Through it all, he was routinely refusing to look them in the eyes. He tipped his head back, partially phasing through the wall to the hallway. "Sorry. Can you guys… can you give me a minute?" He clenched his bleeding palms into a fist.

"Are you sure? I mean, I can stay-" Kai began, but Wu cut him off with a hand on his shoulder. "... Yeah, okay. I'll be in the hall, just shout if you need me?"

Cole nodded, eyes shut. "Sounds good."

Zane and Kai followed Wu out into the hall. Quietly, he shut the door to the common room behind him.

Kai sank into the couch, and spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. "Sensei…" his fiery pupil stared up at him with wet eyes. "Did I say something wrong?"

Zane sat next to Kai and put a hand on his shoulder. "It was an accident. Don't blame yourself."

Kai jerked his shoulder free and grabbed his own elbows. "He fell after I said something, but I don't- First Master, I'm an idiot. I can't believe I asked him that stuff."

Wu shook his head. "Cole is a ghost," he stated plainly. Kai flinched. "And that is not going to change. It is reasonable to want to know the capabilities of your team members." Wu knelt down to Kai's level. "Not to mention, Cole has never avoided answering your questions. Whatever is bothering him goes beyond a simple inquiry."

Zane glanced at the door to the commons room. "What did you ask him?"

Kai shrugged. "What it felt like to phase through stuff, and if he had infinite energy."

The Nindroid put a hand to his chin, but reached no clear conclusion. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Wu heard a commotion from the end of the hall- He decided it'd be best to meet the others there, rather than creating noise where Cole was resting.

Best to give them all time to process, he thought, that incessant despair creeping back through his throat.

"Sensei! How's Cole? Is he okay?!" Jay demanded in soaking-wet pajamas with eyes wide as dinner plates.

Wu thought about his injuries, briefly debating on the phrasing of his assurances. "Cole is… currently resting. He asked for some time to himself."

Ronin was standing just inside the entrance to the hall, barely safe from the rain. "Fine by me, but what the hell happened? It was such a peaceful morning, too."

Nya growled. "Nobody cares about your 'peaceful morning,' Cole could have died!"

"In case you haven't noticed, he's already dead," Ronin replied, callous as ever.

Wu saw it coming a moment too late- by the time he called Nya's name, there was already a flash, a thud, and Ronin nursing his jaw in the rain. Nya towered over him, eyes sparking blue with tears on her cheeks. "You bastard! Cole is not dead! But if he had fallen into the fuel tank, or worse, into the ocean, he would have been!"

Ronin's single visible eye went wide as understanding flashed across his face. "Shit… that's what happened? Why the hell didn't he just float?"

The rain was pouring heavier now. There was a flash of lightning, and this time it was Jay that yelled. "He doesn't know how to float! Because he turned into a ghost less than a week ago! And let me tell you, it's been one shitty thing after another since then! We had to drag him from that temple as he screamed for his life!" Jay started yelling faster, with a hysterical edge to his voice. "Then he had to dust himself off and figure shit out because our baby brother is being tortured by a ghost! Lloyd looks awful, mind you! Like he hasn't slept in years, I'm pretty sure he's barely eaten, and he has more bruises than clear skin!"

Nya gave Jay a sort of horrified look. He kept yelling. Ronin was staring up at the two with an intense look of frustration ringed with several other emotions Wu couldn't identify.

"And then- and then and then he- it starts- On the way back from that, it starts raining what may as well be acid to him!"

Another crack of lightning. The rain seemed to get heavier. Both Nya and Jay were crying, but it was the former's turn to speak. "And then he nearly falls through the floor! Which would have killed him, and you're here making smart remarks and trying to backseat him?! Go get your soul claimed by your lovely debtor before trying that bullshit!"

Ronin, as if snapped from a daze, finally rose to his feet and stared down at the Master of Water. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said. "Going to the cursed realm is nothing like what your unanchored little friend is dealing with. Although frankly, it's a miracle he's-"

This time, it was Misako to interject. Wu hadn't even noticed her in all the chaos. She put a firm hand on Ronin's shoulder. "Ronin," she said in a tone that Wu would dare to call dangerous. "That's enough."

His head snapped up, and he huffed. "Fine by me. I got better things to do than argue with a brat about the semantics of being a ghost." Ronin turned and rounded the bend up to the control room.

Nya scowled and yelled. "Yeah, okay! You know you screwed up, so you're trying to pretend like you're too mature for us, huh?!" She looked like she was about to run after him- Wu grabbed her wrist before she could.

"Nya, arguing will not help Cole."

She turned to face him with a dark expression, but it was Jay to voice her thoughts.

"But… what will? None of us have any clue what we're doing, all we're good for is killing ghosts, not helping them."

Another wave of pain laced through Wu's heart at the expression his pupils wore.

Something snapped in Nya, and her anger melted away into horror in time for another roll of thunder. She held a hand out, feeling the deluge even with the sails of the Bounty offering some meager protection.

Oh, Nya- please do not think such things. Wu desperately hoped she wasn't thinking what he suspected. Such hopes were dashed when she turned back to him with a panicky desperation in her eyes.

"How… how do I stop this rain? I… I made it worse, there's gotta be a way to stop it-" she glanced down the hallway. "It's… it's not fair if Cole has to stay cooped up all day because I got upset."

Wu decided to risk pulling her into an embrace. "Before we can help others, we'd best help ourselves. If you worry too much about Cole right now, you're going to run yourself ragged."

At first, Nya was stiff and rigid as a statue before she finally returned the embrace with a wet sob. "But I made this rain, and it could kill him. There has to be a way to- am I just not good enough?"

Jay, with tears staining his cheeks and hair matted to his face, gasped. "Nya! Don't say that!"

She barked a single dark laugh."It's true though! I can kill a ghost, but I can't help one! You said so yourself!" She buried her head in Wu's chest with a keening whine. He felt an agonizing, twisting jolt in his chest.

"That- that wasn't about you specifically, you know that! We're all- we're all a mess here!" he floundered, placing a hand on her shoulder. "And jerks like Ronin and Fenwick aren't helping!"

She turned to him with a confused look, sobs momentarily halted. "Fenwick?"

Jay crossed his arms and glared at the floor with uncharacteristic vitriol in his eyes. "A useless idiot monk from the Cloud Kingdom. He kept bad-mouthing Cole when he was right there, going on about how ghosts don't belong in Ninjago, and how they're a threat to destiny and stuff." He scowled. "He didn't know what he was talking about."

Nya was silent for a long moment, then she pushed away from Wu. "That's… that's not fair!"

Jay gestured wildly at absolutely nothing. "Exactly!"

"Cole didn't ask for any of this, and yet someone had the gall to- I'm going to kill him-"

"Nya- that kind of anger is only going to lead to darker places," Wu cautioned in a firm voice, reaching back out to her. Her anger, once again, dissolved quickly, replaced with that same simmering frustration as before. She stared out at the downpour.

"Yeah, the kind of places that make things somehow even worse for someone that has the universe against him, all for daring to help his family." She turned to Jay, this time, burying her head in his shoulder. Jay's breath hitched, and suddenly he was sobbing all over again. "It's not fair!"

Jay didn't have any comforting words, just a cry of agreement as they melted into each other's embrace.

And then Kai spoke up from behind them. Wu hadn't even heard him approach. He was sitting with his back to the wall, knees pulled to his chest. Distantly, Wu was aware of Zane watching them from the other end of the hall. "It really isn't. I mean, sure, he gets some cool powers, but really, it's just been one thing after another getting worse and worse for him." He growled, hiding his mouth behind his knees. "And now he can't even trust the floor he's standing on? What the hell…!"

It was like an onslaught from all sides of the worst possible kind- when Lloyd had been taken, Wu had feared these children had been fast approaching some kind of precipice where it all became too overwhelming. He never thought it'd be Cole that'd be the breaking point.

And it wasn't even because of Cole himself, that was the worst part. The things ailing Cole were completely outside his control- water being able to hurt him, the lack of time to process what he was experiencing, the antagonism he was facing from destiny itself, none of that was a teachable moment. He didn't make some big mistake, he didn't have some profound lesson to learn beyond how to cope with the truly awful hand he was dealt.

The only thing Cole was guilty of was going behind his Sensei's back, and of being a little too slow. That deserved a few hours of unfun training as punishment. Not… this.

Kai stared up at him with eyes that reminded him so much of Maya, so much of Ray. "Sensei, isn't there anything we can do to help him? Any way to, I don't know, uncurse him or whatever?"

However, if there was one singular thing Wu knew, it was that the universe was anything but fair.

"The best I can advise is to be there for him," he said slowly, because that was really all he could say. "You all have a way of holding each other up, and he needs that now more than ever."

Something that looked an awful lot like horror flashed across Jay's face. Wu could see what he was thinking, and it was not a happy thought. It was a dark, malevolent one that could chew away at hope itself.

"But… But how long has Morro been in the Cursed Realm? He basically… he looks our age. Is Cole going to look that way forever? Like, forever forever?" He buried his head in his hands. "Oh First Master… What happens when we age?"

Kai and Nya looked like they'd been struck. "Well… there's still Zane," Nya said in a feeble voice. "And besides, that's… that's a long way off." She shook her head, like she was trying to physically dispel the truly horrifying prospect of Cole being alone forever.

Speaking of Zane, he was still watching them from the end of the hall, wearing an agonized expression- the one of a gentle soul that didn't know how to provide any comfort.

Wu liked to think he knew his pupils well, he truly did. He could fill a book about each of them- their foibles, their strengths, their weaknesses, and what exactly made them all so special. Every single thing he loved about them.

And one thing he knew with painful certainty was that when one of them buckled, all of them did. He'd seen it once before, when one of them had gone away. And if Zane hadn't been saved- he didn't know what would have happened.

Cole wasn't dead, not in the same way Zane had been- but he was, in a sense, worlds away, where his family didn't know how to reach him. And that was terrifying to all of them. Lloyd being captured- it was awful, but it had a solution. And this was a group that worked best when they had a goal to work towards- in this case, save Lloyd.

But there really weren't any good answers for how to save Cole. There weren't even good answers for what exactly Cole needed saving from. It was murky waters they were sailing- a rapidly darkening sky.

And yet all they could do was sail onward, ever forward.


Morro was in a bad mood. Lloyd's body had just been refusing to work until it got some rest. So he had found an abandoned building, released Lloyd, and was forced to stare at the entitled brat for several damn hours just to make sure he didn't make a break for it. It was a massive waste of his time, and yet he had no choice.

Evidently, Lloyd really was running on fumes, because he had fallen asleep almost the instant he was released.

Sleep. Can't say I miss it.

Because honestly. Having to lie prone for hours at a time as your head fed you hallucinations? It felt more like a stupid joke than a feature a body actually needed.

And yet, Lloyd's energy dragon had practically dissipated beneath Morro, mid-flight at that. He would have thought it yet another act of belligerence if it weren't for the utter lack of feedback from his usually noisy vessel.

And so, Lloyd had gotten some sleep. Not too much, of course. Morro wasn't stupid- there was a good chance, after a couple hours, that he was faking being asleep just to avoid having to get off his ass.

So, with the sun setting in the distance, and an unpleasant storm just refusing to go away, he possessed Lloyd again. Morro let himself sigh as he slipped back into the annoyingly limited body.

Good morning, he thought as Lloyd momentarily made a panicky grab for control. It didn't take long for him to give up on that, of course.

Morro could taste the disdain Lloyd felt. -Morning. What's on today's ledger? If you need a new army, I'm sad to say that I beat you to the Serpentine. And the Skeletons. And also I think the Anacondrai ghosts are pretty cool with me-

Tch, someone's feeling braggy today, Morro mused, barely sparing Lloyd a second thought. He was all-too-glad to leave that stupid shed behind as he summoned the energy dragon.

Lloyd's body made for a convenient shield from the rain. Even still, Morro couldn't stand the stuff. All wet and sticky, clinging to his vessel and clothes and matting everything to his skin. He was soaked in a matter of minutes.

Still, he'd have to suck it up. Because, thanks to that damn unanchored ghost of a ninja, he was down allies and his sword.

He felt a pang of guilt from Lloyd.

"What do you suppose he's doing right now, Green Ninja? He can't possibly be trying to save you, not in this weather. What a shame, isn't it?" Morro asked out loud as they flew over the bland Ninjago scenery.

-I'm not having this conversation right now-

"We have plenty of time to kill on the way to our next destination. Just like your beloved Black Ninja will when he makes his way to the Cursed Realm with your dear old dad."

Of course, Lloyd took the bait.

-Cole isn't going to the Cursed Realm-

Morro barked a single laugh. "If that helps you sleep at night, then go ahead and believe that. More energy for me to borrow."

He could feel Lloyd seethe, desperate to know what Morro was talking about. Of course, he chose to save that chestnut for the time being. Hell, for all Lloyd knew, Morro was talking out of his ass. And he chose to keep it that way, if only to feel the great and powerful Green Ninja's soul writhe.

Lloyd's feeble attempts at rebellion aside, the flight was uneventful and drawn-out. It was the middle of the night by the time they finally reached where Morro wanted to visit.

He could feel Lloyd's confusion- to him, this was, of course, just a dilapidated old temple in the middle of nowhere.

"Your friends actually gave me this idea. I assure you, they're very familiar with this place.

The temple looked absolutely ancient. And Morro could feel the presence of several spirits within. Cursed, like him, but anchored to something else entirely.

"One in particular, actually."

He could feel the way Lloyd's heart skipped a beat. -Oh. So are you going to turn me into a ghost too?-

Morro shrugged and let himself in through the gaping maw of the temple. "Why should I, when the Preeminent can do that for me when she arrives?"

The temple interior certainly was a decaying mess. Spiderwebs, broken furniture, a thick layer of dust- not to mention the gloomy green lanterns that Yang had kindly lit for him.

It was like a domestic version of the Cursed Realm's ambiance. Even the air was musty and stale.

"You know, you go through all the trouble of keeping your students here, when really it's not any better than the Cursed Realm," Morro told the air. Predictably, it didn't reply. So he took to nosing around.

And this is when it paid off to keep Lloyd in the dark. Because he didn't like to waste his energy when he didn't know what was going on, Morro had eventually come to realize. So he got to enjoy some time of relative peace as he looked for his prize.

He could feel the energy of the place- it felt like the Cursed Realm in more ways than one. The very atmosphere of the place was haunted. And he could sense a malice in the air, directed towards him, of course.

-I guess haunted temples are less scary when you come from the Cursed Realm, huh?- Lloyd mused, though it felt almost casual.

This place is just a slightly tidier and less murderous Cursed Realm. Morro deigned to explain. And its pathetic substitute for a Master knows he can't do anything to me.

-Gotcha. So this place is what turned Cole into a ghost?-

Morro shrugged, even though the gesture was a bit redundant. Most likely. Unless there are other cursed hotspots I don't know about. He opened a wooden wardrobe- perplexingly, all he found was… a metallic feather? Weird.

He felt Lloyd react to the object. A twinge of familiarity.

But based on your reaction, I'd say I'm right on the money.

-Why would they come here?-

To throw their lives away by the looks of it, Morro explained- he tapped a painting of a beached ship in a dry ocean. It felt ever-so-slightly damp.

In actuality, it was most likely that this is where they got a second Airjitzu scroll. Honestly, he had half a mind to burn this place to the ground for that. Yang was lucky that the rain made it slightly more trouble than it was worth.

There was a sting in his eyes, though Lloyd didn't fall so far as to start crying again.

"If it's any comfort, the Preeminent always has a spot in her heart for another cursed ghost."

-I'm not listening to this again-

Morro was about to reply, but that was when the temple finally reacted. He could feel it- the shift in the atmosphere. The differences in the room were not immediate- Morro turned to the garishly large painting of Yang.

"You know, if you have something to say, you can say it to my face and save us both this whole rigmarole."

The painting flickered, and Morro felt a pounding pressure in his skull that was, for once, not Lloyd.

He blinked, and took a staggering step back from the painting. He saw himself, withered and gaunt, facing the gaping entrance of a cavern. He narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not playing these games, Yang. The Preeminent is better at it than you'll ever be."

The very building seemed to speak to him. "Leave this place. You are not welcome here."

"Not until I find what I'm looking for."

There wasn't anything Yang could do except try to scare him, of course. So Morro left the room and that painting behind. The place lapsed back into silence, save for the creaking of the wood under his feet. He ascended a flight of stairs in the foyer.

"I can't help but notice there's an unanchored ghost floating around. One that's using Airjitzu," Morro mused aloud. "You finally let one get free, did you?"

He could feel Yang's presence churn in response to the taunt.

"Why'd you turn him if you were just planning on cutting him loose, huh?" Morro demanded.

"Leave this place. I have no interest in entertaining a petulant child." Yang's voice echoed through the entire building, deep and withered and withered and nothing like the Preeminent's.

Morro jiggled the doorknob of a locked room. It held firm, at least until a gale of wind knocked it off its hinges. "Because if he couldn't handle you, you know he can't handle the Preeminent. Especially now. So it'd be faster if you just gave me what I want so we can get this all over with."

The room was a bedroom. Bland and boring with nothing but cobwebs to interest him. Save perhaps the familiar, ragged form shivering on top of the covers, covered in dirty, green rags. He shook his head violently and moved on.

"You underestimate my student."

Morro scoffed. "Right, because a ghost is just what they needed to fight her. An unanchored one at that."

-You keep saying that, 'unanchored,' what does it mean?- Lloyd asked, and Morro could sense his dread at the answer.

"It means he doesn't have anything holding him down. He's a free spirit," Morro said in a singsong voice. "Wonderful, right?"

Lloyd went quiet for a long, blissfully peaceful moment.

Yang's voice reverberated through the halls as Morro approached the door to what appeared to be a study. "He may not be anchored, but he is still more grounded than you could ever hope to be."

"Right, Master of Earth, wasn't it? Kind of a given." Morro let himself into the study with another gust of wind- decaying books and papers scattered as he did so. It was there that he found his prize.

It was mounted in a glass display case- a bladed black star on a chain with a single green gemstone in the center. It was attached to a matching handle with another gem set in the pommel.

The Yin Blade.

Morro grinned and approached the glass, just as the bell of a clock tolled.

"My student has a strength that you do not."

Something flashed in the glass. Morro's mind reeled as the reflection shifted- instead of the blade, he saw a skeleton, surrounded by stone on all sides. He would have recognized it, even without the green streak of hair that had yet to fall away.

A gust of wind quickly shattered the glass. "Yeah, he doesn't have to deal with your shit anymore."

-That's not it at all- Lloyd remarked with a sternness to his tone. Great. He was feeling talkative again. -He has people that support him, instead of being left alone to rot for all time-

Morro grit his teeth and coiled a fist around the Yin Blade. "You little nothing. I have plenty of allies with this." He could feel the power of the weapon responding to his own cursed soul. With that, he was more than ready to leave this place.

-You know as well as I do that the Soul Archer isn't anything like what Cole has-

"You are doomed to fail, child. My student has brothers that sharpen him more and more by the day."

It was then that Yang actually showed himself- he was a gaunt fossil of a ghost- he glowed a pale light, his anchor to the temple protecting him from the Preeminent's bright, infectious green. He glared at Morro with judgemental condescension.

He barked out a bitter laugh, suddenly slammed by the irony of it all. "Right. Let's see how good that brotherhood serves your little sacrifice once she's here for him."

With that, he rushed out of the damn temple. He wasn't even fully out the window when he summoned the energy dragon. And he made damn sure not to let Lloyd drop this weapon as he looked for a good spot to use it.

Soon enough, he found an alcove shielded from the still-drizzling rain. It would do.

The blade was practically thrumming in his hand- he could feel it reach for his ghostly energy. Finally, he obliged it, and swung it in a circle, cutting a small hole through the air.

It was no Realm Crystal. It couldn't free the Preeminent.

"Welcome back," Morro said as the Soul Archer entered through what was now a vivid green portal.

But it was a step closer to that goal. Towards proving those know-it-alls wrong.

Y̵ò̵̜u̶͐'̵̗̔r̵ė̵ d̵̏o̴͌i̵̽n̸͝g̴̏ w̸͐e̶ll̸, m̶̢̚ẙ̵̥ T̶͑e̷m̴̃ṕ̶est̴̓. K̶̈́e̶e̸ṕ̴ͅ g̸̒ȍ̷i̵͗n̸g̷.̴̒

Yes, Mother.


Thanks to the little "delay" earlier that day, they were behind schedule. They had spent well over an hour on a hillside, accomplishing nothing and wasting time until they felt comfortable enough to fly again- Ronin was fairly certain it wasn't even Cole that had asked them to stay on the ground, seeing as he was wearing Deepstone and at no risk of falling again.

Rather, it was the rest of the team's fretting that had kept them grounded.

So, here they were, at two in the morning, still en route to Steep Wisdom. Personally, Ronin couldn't wait to get paid and get out of here- his jaw was still smarting from where Nya had decked him. His ego was bruised almost as bad as his chin.

After that disaster of a morning, Ronin had opted to sleep most of the day in preparation for his night shift.

Thankfully, they weren't far off now. Which was good, because he was starting to get a headache as he watched Misako pore over her scrolls, eyes darting from the Sword, to a mountain of notes, to her scrolls and back.

"A cave in the deep… A cave in the deep…" she mumbled as she flipped back and forth between two specific, yellowed pages. Then she looked back at the sword, and appeared to reach no conclusion. She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Careful, if you keep making that face, it'll get stuck that way."

Misako glanced in his direction. "You claim to know all of Ninjago. Where do you think the Tomb could be located?"

Ronin shrugged. "There are lots of caves. It's not much to go on. The Caves of Despair, maybe?" Because honestly, how was he supposed to just blind guess which of the ten million caves just happened to contain the undiscovered corpse of the First Master?

Misako shook her head. "That's where Wu originally hid the Scythe of Quakes. I doubt it'd be there."

Damn, the Scythe was there? I missed out.

"Those tunnels stretch on for miles. Plenty of thieves have used them to stow away their goodies. And others have died trying to find said loot. There's more to that place than you'd expect."

A lot more, he thought. Damn gas leak nearly blew his head off last time he visited.

She seemed to consider his answer. "Perhaps. There must be more to it than that, though." She held up a page with three drawings- the ones that had come from Wu's staff. The first was of a vortex, probably Spinjitzu. The second was of a blade pointed upwards, surrounded by clouds. The third was a skull with a crack in it. "The first symbol depicts Spinjitzu. The second symbol was clearly pointing towards the Sword of Sanctuary. And the third seems to imply that it should lead us to the tomb. But how it does so…"

"Why not have one of the twerps do their little dances with the thing?" Ronin asked. Misako blinked once, then twice. He rolled his eyes and repeated himself, but slower and more boring. "Have them use Spinjitzu while holding the Sword of Sanctuary."

She made a small "ah" sound. "I already had both Zane and Wu try that earlier today. It yielded no clues."

"Damn, thought I was onto something."

"It was a good theory."

Thanks for the consolation prize, Mom, he thought.

Ronin lapsed back into silence as Misako returned to her documents. He stared out at the drizzling rain as it skimmed the deck. A thought occurred to him.

"Have you had Cole try?"

Misako frowned. "Why would Cole be any different? Because he's the Master of Earth?"

Ronin meandered over to her setup and gestured to the third symbol- the skull. "What if that symbol isn't just about what it leads to. What if it's about who can find it?"

The older woman drew her lips into a tight line.

"Look, skimming around it ain't gonna change that Cole is dead, and that may be just what you need. What if the tomb will only show itself to a ghost that uses Spinjitzu?"

"Why on earth would that be the key?" she asked.

"Why on earth would the First Master hide his resting spot behind cryptic puzzles and a magic sword? This is hardly a leap in logic."

Misako looked out the window and chewed on her lip. Ronin yawned and stretched. "The kid knows what he is. May as well ask sooner than later, I doubt you'll hurt his feelings."

He watched as she gripped the hilt of the blade. "You speak of preserving feelings after this morning?"

He shrugged and resisted the urge to nurse his sore jaw. "Or put it off and ask him anyway when you don't make any progress. Up to you."

She shook her head. "It doesn't make sense that he'd leave the only hint to his location locked behind being a ghost. Even if he knew this would come to pass, why leave your location vulnerable to enemies?"

He had to admit, that was a good point. Unless the actual, bona-fide, creator of all Ninjago was doing it for shits and giggles, it really didn't make much sense. If he went through all the trouble to hide his resting spot from the "wrong hands," then why limit the knowledge of its whereabouts to ghost hands?

Ronin propped his hands behind his head. "Doesn't hurt to try, though."

Misako gave him a look. "I very much so think it could hurt to try."

First Master, are you kidding me?

"Then lie and tell him it's because he's the Master of Earth, it's not like I care. But you know that tiptoeing around it is only gonna make him feel worse, right?"

"You sound so sure."

"He's dead, not disabled."

The woman shook her head. "You're going to take several years off my life, you know that?" Still, she picked up the sword and took it with her to the control room door. It wasn't like he had anything better to do, so he followed.

The rain and the altitude left a bite in the air. Before he could make his way into the relative cover of the staircase to the lower deck, Misako put a hand on his shoulder.

"Ronin," she said in a stern voice.

"Yes ma'am?" he replied in a sickly drawl, craning his neck to face her.

"Please don't mention anchors around the others."

Oh. That made him stop. He turned around and crossed his arms. "Anchors? I don't know what the big deal is. All sailboats need them."

She gave him a serious expression that told him she wasn't having it one bit. "Ronin."

"Fine, fine. Not like I care," he replied with a wave of his hand. "You'd rather him just find out the hard way, huh?"

"I'd rather not put more of a weight on his shoulders- all of their shoulders- when things are already bad enough. Especially if we don't even know for sure whether it matters. Or whether he's even truly unanchored."

"You're just grasping at straws. The odds of him being hunky-dory are, frankly, slim to none. Why do you think he's been phasing through stuff without meaning to?"

"Because he hasn't practiced holding himself together for more than a few days."

"Uh-huh." To be fair, that was plausible. The problem was that plausible and probable were not the same thing. "Well, you better start looking for a miracle in case you're wrong. 'Cuz as it stands, you know my soul isn't the only one on this ship bound for the Cursed Realm. And all it'd take is an unlucky splash of water to speed him along."

Misako cringed. "I have been searching. But until we know for absolute certain-"

Ronin waved his hand in a circular motion. "Yeah yeah, keep mum about it. I'm not planning on sticking around long enough to spill, regardless. Now come on, it's too damn cold out here."

She didn't protest this time as he made his way to the lower deck's hall.

.

Coincidence of coincidences, Cole was in the hallway. It was a weird sight- a ghost holding a sofa like it was made of air, moving it back into the room he had been sulking in all day.

(Well, he said sulking. But it wasn't like a ghost had a lot of options during a rainy day when on board a flying boat.)

He noticed them when the couch was squeezed halfway through the door. His eyes widened in curiosity, and he set the couch down. "Evening, guys. What's up?" As he drew closer, Ronin noticed he wasn't wearing the fire ninja's Deepstone undershirt Kai had rushed to him.

"How you feelin' Sunshine?" Ronin helped himself to a spot on the half-transported couch.

Cole gave him a disbelieving look. "Really."

"It's late, and some of us still get tired. Now can you help with a thing or not?"

The ghost turned to Misako. "I can try. What do you need?"

Now, Ronin hadn't been there to see what was apparently a harrowing episode. But Cole seemed… fine. If he didn't have the bruise to show for it, he'd never know that Cole had nearly died for real that morning. Ronin glanced past the couch into the common room- the red one's Deepstone undershirt was pinned beneath the Aeroblade Scythe, still smeared with ghost blood. He couldn't help but cringe.

Misako held the sword out to him with a tentative and tender expression. "We have been trying to find some hint as to the Tomb's location. However, we think the Sword of Sanctuary will only react to Spinjitzu performed by you."

Unfortunately for Misako, he did in fact ask the obvious question.

"Why me?" Didn't you already have someone try that?

Ronin decided to answer that one. "One of the hints was of a skull, you do the math."

It took a moment for it to click. "Oh. That's… weird."

"Agreed, but at this rate Misako is going to flip a table if she doesn't get a lead."

She didn't dignify that with a response. "I apologize, but would you be willing to try?"

Cole smiled. "Yeah, sure, can't hurt to try!" He took the sword and stepped over the sofa in the doorway by jumping off the armrest. He was spinning before he even hit the ground.

His "Ninjaaaaa gooo" was a bit less gung-ho than usual, but that was probably because it was ungodly-o-clock. The person-sized vortex was quite the array of colors- it was primarily brown, because duh, earth ninja. But Cole's green glow and a golden hue from the sword seemed to swirl within the energy as well.

After a few seconds, he broke out of the Spinjitzu with wide eyes.

"Did you see anything?" Misako asked, sounding hopeful.

"I… I think I did!" Cole replied, looking bewildered. "It was… it was an ocean, and there was an outcropping of rocks. They seemed to surround me." He glanced at the sword, then his head snapped up. "Want me to draw it for you?"

Misako beamed. "Yes, yes! Come!" she said eagerly, gesturing down the hall.

Cole held up a hand. "One sec. Let me grab an umbrella if we're going to the control room." He ducked through the door to a supply closet.

"Nice one, Mrs. 'Let's-not-make-him-feel-bad-about-being-dead,'" Ronin called from his spot on the couch, lazily waving his hand above him.

Misako's cheeks went red. She pinched the bridge of her nose again. She was just lucky that Cole, in fact, did not seem to care at the moment. He returned a moment later, holding up a red umbrella. "Okay, let's go."

She nodded. "Are you coming, Ronin?"

See, he would have, except that he had a bit of a headache forming, and the couch was honestly pretty comfortable. He waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. "In a bit."

Cole rolled his eyes with a lopsided smile and led the way back to the control room.

It was quiet for a few minutes- or maybe it was longer than that and he nodded off. Honestly, Ronin wasn't sure.

All he knew was that when he heard a familiar voice echoing from his cursed soul, any drowsiness that lingered was dashed to the winds.

-Hello again, Ronin-

He glowered. How the hell did you get out of the Cursed Realm this time?

He could hear the Soul Archer laugh. -That's not for you to worry about. Instead, how would you like a chance to be rid of your debt, all in one go?-

He grinded his teeth. He knew where this was going. What do you want?

-You know exactly what I want-

He should have known things couldn't go too smoothly.


By the time Cole had sketched out a rough diagram of what the Sword of Sanctuary had shown him, and he had actually made some progress with Misako, Zane was awake.

"Good morning Cole. Good morning, Misako. Are you aware that Ronin is sleeping on the sofa in the hall?"

Cole snorted. "Acutely. The night has been way too polite since he crashed."

Zane just seemed to accept that answer and move on. "How did you sleep?" The question was directed at Misako, of course, but Cole was feeling charitable enough to answer that one as well.

"Oh, sleep is for the weak. We've been making progress. Wanna help?"

Zane turned to Misako with some alarm. "Have you been awake all night?"

"Unfortunately, I could not get her to rest," Pixal said from the control panel's speaker, sounding weary herself.

The Nindroid looked concerned. "I'm not sure that's advisable. You need and deserve your rest."

"I'll rest when my son is safe," she replied, not even looking up from her notes. "Pixal has been running scans on these drawings. What do you think?"

He inspected the several sheets of paper depicting the area that had surrounded Cole when he used Spinjitzu with the sword. "These drawings are quite detailed. I sometimes forget what a skilled artist you are," he told Cole. "What is this place?"

"The Sword of Sanctuary showed it to me when I used Spinjitzu. Cool, huh? We think it's where the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master is located."

Zane frowned. "Why did it show to you what it would not show to Master Wu or me?"

"Apparently, to find a dead guy, you have to be a dead guy."

The Nindroid looked nonplussed. "I… see." He looked Cole over again. "How are you feeling, though? I see you aren't wearing the Deepstone under armor anymore."

Cole fidgeted. Yeah, frankly, he probably should have been. But the stuff was just so uncomfortable. It didn't make him feel solid, it made him feel stuck. At least when he was wearing it. Good for when he was having some stupid incorporeal panic attack thing, but bad for just… existing.

"It stinks of Kai."

Zane huffed. "Thankfully, it is his turn to do the laundry." He turned back to the array of drawings, all lined up side-by-side to create a three-sixty view. "What have we narrowed it down to?"

Pixal answered that. "The shrubbery depicted on one of the outcrops is native to the Southern Claw," she explained, displaying a map of Ninjago with the Southwest region highlighted in red. "It appears to be somewhere within the Endless Sea."

Zane looked troubled. "It's underwater? How are we going to reach it?"

Misako spoke as she drew a line across a map with her finger. "We haven't figured that out. First, we'll see if Nya has anything that may help. Failing that, we may yet be more indebted to Ronin."

Cole felt bothered at the very thought. He didn't hate Ronin or anything, even if he probably should. It was his fault Zane ended up in Chen's hands, after all. But honestly, he just couldn't muster the energy for all that right now. And he gave good enough advice. But, ambivalent as he may have felt, Ronin was self-serving to a fault. And the last thing they needed was to owe him more.

But hey, if it got Lloyd back, then that was fine.

"Are we any closer to figuring out what exactly Morro wants from the Tomb?"

Once again, Misako came through. "I have my suspicions. Some of my scrolls tell of an artifact used by the First Master to travel between the sixteen realms. If such an artifact exists, it may be what Morro is after."

"I see," Zane said. "And how may I be of assistance right now?"

"I am currently cross-referencing Cole's drawings with any geographical data I can find," Pixal replied. "However, we are nearly at our destination. Zane, could you prepare the Bounty for landing?"

He nodded. "Of course." He moved to the control panel and began pressing buttons that Cole would never be brave enough to mess with. Thank the First Master, honestly. Cole couldn't wait to be back on the ground.

It was when everyone settled into a routine that Cole realized he kind of didn't have anything to do anymore. He stared at the papers in front of him, trying to look like he was focusing terribly hard.

When that didn't work, he settled for taking Kai's umbrella. "I'll be outside."

Zane stopped what he was doing and turned to him. "Please be careful."

Internally, Cole cringed- Zane was probably picturing that little episode he had back at the library. He definitely had no intention of poking the rain this time. And nearly falling through the Bounty while having a panic attack or whatever that had been hadn't helped his look.

"Yeah, course."

When Cole stepped out into the rain, he couldn't help but sigh. He hadn't- he hadn't entirely lost his sense of smell, but it was way weaker, that was certain. So much so that he couldn't smell the rain- couldn't pretend it was still that harmless soothing thing he had loved to listen to as a kid.

"Whatever, that can't stop me from enjoying you, dammit." he told the rain, firm in his declaration. He settled for sitting under the platform that led to the control room- right next to the stairs to the lower deck. It gave him a good view of the Bounty, and shielded him from most of the water. He crossed his legs, making a meditation pose.

"Just you wait, Lloyd. We're coming."

They were. They'd get to the tomb before Morro, and stop… whatever it was he was doing. If they could just get that artifact first, then they could lay a trap for Morro, and draw him to them. From there, they could free Lloyd.

He pressed his head against the wall, nearly forgetting to make it solid as he did so. "Ugh. Figures it has to be in the ocean." He could now stand firmly with Kai on team "Would rather do anything than go near the sea."

"Still, if that's where it is, then that's where we'll go."

That opened another train of thought. Why was the Tomb underwater if it required a ghost to find it?

Why even did it require a ghost?

Cole felt a twinge of unease. Why did it? His mind looped on the question, tumbling it around to see it from all sides.

The First Spinjitzu Master made the tomb, right? And he left clues to the location in Wu's staff, and with the writers of destiny itself. All so whatever the tomb contained would be safe from the wrong hands.

So why could only he see the location when the First Master's son couldn't?

He flinched as a brief gust of wind flecked a few teeny droplets onto his face.

Now, far be it from Cole to assume that all ghosts were evil. The Anacondrai Serpentine had helped them, even though they came from the Cursed Realm. But then he thought of the other ghosts they knew.

Morro. His henchmen. Chen. Yang and his students.

None of those were exactly the "right hands." The right hands probably didn't come back from the dead, or wind up in the Cursed Realm to begin with.

So that begged the question.

"Why require a ghost?" he mumbled.

Then… Well, he couldn't say the answer hit him. At least, it wasn't some eureka moment of revelation where everything made sense. But it was an answer to his question. Because there was one ghost that was definitely, absolutely, one-hundred-percent on Wu's side.

Cole.

He felt a bit dizzy at the implication. What… what did that even mean? He wasn't supposed to be a ghost. Both Fenwick and Nobu had supported that. They couldn't control the destiny of ghosts.

On the other hand, what was it Fenwick had said?

"You now operate outside our control. That's not to say you don't have a destiny, but it'd take the First Spinjitzu Master himself to see it."

Well, the Sword had belonged to the First Spinjitzu Master. They were going to the Tomb of the First Spinjitzu Master.

But that could only mean one thing.

Y̷ó̷u̶̇ w̷e̴̒r̷e̶̓ a̶͒lre̷̓a̸͑d̸̛y̶͂ d̸oo̷̽m̶̐ed̷̾ ṫ̴o̷̹͂ b̷͛e̴͝c̴̒ȯ̵ḿ̵e̷̒ t̵h̸͛is.

He felt his imitation of breath catch as his mind reeled at the idea. Because surely it couldn't be true.

His head fell back through the wall.

"Shit, no! Not again!" he hissed, determined to not nearly fall again. He needed to be able to control himself.

His fingernails dug into his chest.

"You're just overreacting, Cole. Overthinking things like you always do. Who cares about that destiny bullshit? It's fine."

He could feel himself sinking, like goo through a strainer. The mental image would have made him laugh if it weren't for everything else.

He tried to take a deep breath, but his mind rejected it as the artificial mockery that it was.

He needed to calm down. He needed to focus, to find balance, to-

"Cole? Are you okay?"

His eyes shot open. It was Zane, kneeling in front of him with a very concerned expression.

"Deepstone," Cole muttered through clenched teeth.

Zane just nodded and ran below deck. It was only a matter of seconds until he returned with Kai's shirt. Cole grabbed it and pressed it to his chest- it was like a magnet, sucking him together. He didn't like the feeling, not one bit. But it was better than falling again.

"Thank you," he said- trying not to sound angry. "Sorry."

Zane was silent for several seconds. "May I sit with you?"

Damn, there probably wasn't a good way out of this talk, seeing as it was his third strike with Zane, if he included the time at the library. So he just nodded.

The Nindroid took a seat next to Cole in the same meditation pose. He stared ahead at the rain. Cole knew it was just a matter of waiting until he decided on his words. That was fine. He focused on holding himself solid, of tucking all those thoughts from earlier away to deal with after they got Lloyd back.

"Cole…" he finally began in a gentle voice. "I asked Pixal not to listen in. She's currently managing the Bounty. May I ask that you be honest with me?"

With a sort of numbness to the motion, Cole nodded.

"Does it hurt, being a ghost?"

He thought about it, and was surprised at how quickly an answer came to him.

"Not physically, unless I touch water or cut my hands on Deepstone." He looked down at his palms- there were dark marks on his hands where he had cut them on his scythe.

"What about mentally?"

"I don't know," Cole admitted. "Not exactly. It's… it's complicated."

Because really, it was. It just… it wasn't as simple as hurt.

"Can you elaborate?"

"I dunno," he replied in a single whooshing breath. "I dunno if I have the words for it."

"Then would you mind if I try instead?"

He felt a twinge of confusion. "Uh… sure."

Zane went silent again. Following his eyes, Cole realized he was watching his falcon- the bird was currently perched on top of the crow's nest. "It's not so much pain. It's more of… an ache. you know that your life has changed course permanently. And that isn't all bad. There are things you can do that nobody else can. And you know you don't have to weather the change alone. But at the same time, your future is uncertain in a way that nobody else quite understands. Everything feels off, like the person you were just a moment ago is fighting against what you are now. It's not even about what exactly you are now. It's more about how you can never go back to what you were. It's like a door has closed forever to a room you weren't prepared to leave."

It hit him what exactly Zane meant. "Oh."

"It's… not a feeling I would wish on anybody."

Cole stared up at the sky- he could just barely make out the shape of the clouds as the sky began to brighten. "How did you deal with it?"

"I had you, and Jay, and Kai at my side."

He sighed. "See, I know I have you guys, and I know I would be way worse off without you guys. I don't think I'd have even made it out of the temple. And don't get me wrong, I'm so grateful. But you- you got used to it so quickly. And yet, days later, with Lloyd's life on the line, I can barely control my own body." He clenched his fist tight enough that his wound stung.

"Cole, please. I am begging you, do not think of this as weakness on your part. I know you have a habit of it."

"It's hard not to. I mean, you found out you were a robot and got your True Potential right after."

"No, I didn't."

Cole stared. "What?" He remembered it pretty vividly- being attacked right after leaving the lab, Zane protecting them, Zane unlocking his power- it definitely happened soon after Zane's revelation.

"When I was down there, I found my blueprints. Using them, I was able to recover a cache of memories- memories of my life before meeting you. Memories of my father. Years of them. In that single moment, I realized that this-" he put his hand over the hatch that led to his heart, "-was just a part of who I always was. I've always been this, the only difference was that now I knew."

Years of memories coming back in an instant. Cole couldn't even fathom what that was like.

Zane kept speaking. "But Cole, you were not always a ghost. This was a change made to your body- violent and traumatic."

He winced. Traumatic. He didn't like that word- the weight it carried. He stared down at his misty green body draped in Kai's armor. At the same time, it was getting harder and harder to say that was wrong. Especially after these past twenty-four hours.

"The ache that comes with suddenly feeling different, I really do understand," Zane continued in his gentle voice. He put a hand on Cole's leg. "But the pain of being changed against your will to this extent? None of us expect you to know how to handle it all. And we want to help."

Cole hunched over, feeling himself scatter. "We don't have time for that, though. Not with Morro still out there, hurting Lloyd. Lloyd is slowly dying, and I can't even trust myself to survive the trip to find him."

It was… it was terrifying, he realized. "I mean, I know in my head that it's not my fault, but think about it like this-" he traced the wood of the deck with a finger. "Say we find Morro. And say we get him out of Lloyd's body, but he falls. And I have the chance to catch him, but I'm not able to keep my hand solid." He bit his cheek and clenched his fist. "And he falls, and he dies." He finally broke out of the meditation position in favor of grabbing his knees. "If you were in that position, and Lloyd died due to some sort of stupid mistake you made, how would you live with it? Because I don't think I could."

He felt a phantom pain in his throat, and he was so relieved that he couldn't seem to cry as a ghost.

Zane lapsed back into silence as he considered the idea. "That's… a very vivid picture for something that has not come to pass."

"But what if it does, Zane? What if Lloyd dies because I can't figure out-" he gestured to himself, "this?"

"You're overthinking things, I think."

"It's hard not to."

"Need I remind you that you're the reason we got the Sword of Sanctuary? In the heat of battle, you acted more decisively than any of us. I think you're more reliable than you believe."

It took him a while to come up with a reply to that. "I… I really want to believe you, Zane. I really do. But it's all just… it's all such a mess, and I don't know how I feel half the time. And then I go and nearly fall into the ocean. He leaned back against the wall and pressed his palms against his eyes. "Maybe it would have been better if I'd never left that temple."

He regretted the words as soon as he said them, because Zane looked horrified, and Cole realized how bleak that was a moment after.

"Cole… Are we making you feel like a burden?"

Cole shook his head with all the energy he could muster. "No, no! It's not you guys. Look, you guys treating me like normal- I think I'd go crazy if you all walked on eggshells around me. But also, I was sparring with Kai, then nearly fell into the ocean. It's not fair to you guys- having to worry about me like this. I hate it."

He felt something in his chest bubble over. And the words were coming out before he could stop them. "Hate it. I hate it so much, Zane. I hate that you guys can't trust me not to die just from going outside. I hate not being able to trust my own stupid body. I hate being a ghost!"

The words felt like white-hot metal in his mouth. He was afraid to look at Zane. And yet, they rang painfully true.

He swallowed hard, trying to calm himself down. He squeezed the Deepstone armor tight. "I just… I miss being able to touch stuff without having to focus so hard. I miss being able to feel stuff for real. I miss being able to taste food. I miss being human. And it's only been four days! How am I supposed to deal with this forever?"

He knew full well that Zane understood what he meant by forever.

Zane was right. It was like an ache- a throbbing soreness in his very soul that would never go away. How could it? He'd never be human again. And that was- it was just a fact. Maybe he could ignore it, most of the time. But it'd always be there to torment him when he didn't have enough to distract him. Ready to flare up the next time tragedy struck or when he let his guard down or when the wind blew the wrong way. Ready to mock him every second of every day for the rest of time.

The next thing he knew, there were two metal hands on a location approximating his intangible shoulders. "Cole. I need you to look at me."

So he did- Zane was wearing an expression Cole had never quite seen- one equal parts intense and horrified, and all he could think was that he put that expression on Zane's face.

"Do you trust me?"

He found himself stuttering. "I mean- uh, yeah, of course. With my life." He realized a moment later that it was a poor choice of words, but it was good enough for Zane.

"Then I need you to do your best to trust the words I am about to say."

Cole just nodded.

"It is okay for you to be struggling. You are not weak for being in pain. However, you will not always feel like this. You will not feel like this for the rest of time. Even if it's difficult right now, it will get better. We are not going to leave you to be miserable for the rest of your life. And Cole, please do not forget that you still have a life. You may not have a human body, but you are still a person with a soul, and you deserve as much as any of us to be happy. We all love you very much, Cole. Our lives would be worse with you not in them. My life would be worse if you were not a part of it. There is nothing you can do or say, no mistake you could make or thing you could feel that would change how much we care. We are not going to let you carry on like this forever. It is going to get better. I swear on my father's life, Cole."

Cole… was dumbstruck. Zane's words echoed in his head. He could barely process it all, much less reply. His words weren't his usual, even tone. They were unsteady, almost desperate. He sounded like he was near tears.

"If you don't trust yourself yet, that's okay. But trust me. Trust us. It's going to get better."

It was… an unfounded promise. There wasn't a single hard fact to support that what Zane was saying was even possible. But at the same time, the words resonated- they sparked against the congealing cynicism and dread in his chest.

He wanted to believe them. He wanted to believe Zane so, so badly. Because the thought of always feeling like this was- it was unbearable.

"I… I'll try, Zane."

He gasped as Zane pulled him forward into a hug- an uncommon gesture for the Nindroid to initiate. Cole hadn't even realized he'd solidified. He felt his limbs go slack; he melted into Zane's embrace. If he could, he knew he'd be crying right now.

"That's all any of us can do, Brother."