The third time Wu hears Cole sing, it nearly breaks his heart. He didn't mean to run into any of his previous students– father alive, it still pierces him that they're no longer his– but fate seems to have other plans, and Cole walks into Zane's memorial garden just as Wu is preparing to gather himself and leave.
"Sensei." Cole manages.
"Cole."
Cole sits a little ways away from him, spreading his blanket out on the grass and staring up at Zane. After a moment, he lays fully back.
"Would you like me to leave?" Wu asks. It's not something he wants to do, but as much hurt as may be between him and his students, he still loves and respects them very much, and he wishes Cole as much peace as can possibly be afforded him.
Cole considers the question for a long time, then shakes his head. Wu can't help the relief that sweeps through him like the summer breeze. "It's good to see you again, Master."
"And you, Cole." He doesn't call Cole his student. He's lost his rights to that.
Cole seems to settle in, pulling that achingly familiar track from his pocket. He doesn't bother plugging his headphones in this time– perhaps he thinks Zane will hear, somehow, wherever he is–
And he begins to sing his mother's song.
Wu would be lying if he said he didn't let a few tears escape his stinging eyes as he contemplated the sheer amount of love these kids had for each other. After all, that's all they were, right? Ninja, sure. Leaders. Heroes. But they were still kids, and they'd left everything for this cursed destiny they'd run after with both eyes wide open. Through good times and bad, their family stuck together.
Until it didn't. The hole Zane left had shattered their family into pieces, and the gaping wound of it still bled free in every one of them.
At least, Wu thought, as Cole's voice grew too thick with tears and sorrow to continue, they could share the pain.
He hoped.
—-
The fourth time he hears Cole sing, it isn't Cole at all, but Cole's family, both blood and spirit. They've just broken the news of his fall to Cole's father, Kai stiffly begging them to land for just a moment on their way back to the monastery to prepare for the final battle against the Oni. (And possibly their final battle ever, but Wu refuses to voice what the others are already thinking.) Cole's father seems to be holding back sobs by sheer willpower, and the other ninja have long ceased trying to hide their sorrow. Grief, maybe, is being held back, but the air in the room is so heavy one could drown in it. This isn't what I wanted for them, Wu thinks to whatever's up there, whatever ruled the worlds his father created before they fell to chaos and bloodshed. This can't be their repayment for the sacrifices they've made.
Yet they're here, again, just like before, except this time that gaping hole must be cauterized. They can't afford to feel until the fight has been won. Wu respects their sacrifice, but he wants to scream at the universe– how much more must they take? Must they break before you cease battering them with troubles the size of hurricanes? Must they cry? Must they scream? Must they give up? You know they won't! They'll fight to their dying breath, and you know it, and yet–
Cole's father has produced a guitar from the corner of the room, and he sits with it, glancing at the other ninja. His voice is thick, and in that moment, he sounds so much like Cole it hurts. "I know you're bound by your duties, and you have to fly, but… could you…?"
Kai can't speak, so he nudges Zane, who speaks for them. "Of course we can spare the time, Mr. Brookstone."
The opening chords send Wu up straighter than ever in his seat, setting his cup of tea to the side. Mya's song. The one she sung through battles, through fire, through panic and pain, the one she taught to her son and recorded with her husband. The one Cole used to comfort himself, and taught to Lloyd, all to keep her alive–
And now they're using it to mourn Cole, Wu realizes. He's a fool if he's ever doubted the power of even such a simple melody. Kai starts, roughly at first, pushing out the first few words and starting again in a steadier, if off-key voice. "Ya don't have to be a hero to save the world…" He sings, nudging Lloyd, who's at his feet. Lloyd rolls his eyes, and stares right back up at Kai. " 't doesn't make you a narcissist, to love yourself."
Jay pipes up, singing half to himself, seemingly barely aware of the others. "Feels like nothin' is easy, it'll never be…"
Nya leans into him, her hand on his thigh and her shoulder pressed into his as she fights back her own tears. "That's alright, let it out…"
"Talk to me." Zane finishes, and there's a moment which takes Wu's breath away in which they all look up, glances passing between them, and the realization that they've all had Cole sing to them, time and time again, during late nights and missions when all seemed lost, even when he swore to the public he'd never sing again hits them like a brick to the gut. And they've never sung it back to him.
Well, they are now. Halfway through the song, Cole's father finds his voice to add to the mix of motley melody, and even Wu himself hums along, if quieter than the others.
"We can talk here on the floor, on the phone if you prefer, I'll be here until you're okay." Kai pulled Lloyd close to himself. Zane wrapped his arms around both Kai and Jay, pulling them together like they were weathering a storm. They still couldn't escape the gap between them left by Cole, but… it was good.
"Let your words release your pain, you and I will share the weight, growing stronger day by day. it's so dark outside tonight, so build a fire warm and bright."
Jay looked up at Lloyd, nudging him. They all sang: "The wind, it howls and bites, fight it back with all your might…"
How strange, he thinks, as the sun sets through the window and his students lean together as they sing, tears and hearts united, that such a simple thing could mean so, so much. Nya takes a harmony at one point, taking the hand of the person across from her– because right now they're not ninja, they're friends, family– and they all link hands, Lloyd pressed into Kai and Nya pressed into Jay, Wu's hand on Zane's shoulder and all their legs layered over each others'.
The words are perfect. It's almost as if Mya knew exactly what her children (adopted, obviously, it's what she would want) would go through and wrote exactly what she knew she wouldn't be able to tell them.
Except now they're Cole's words, not hers, and they mean all the more.
The songs ends, and the silence is almost spiritual.
"Cole wouldn't want us to stop fighting." Nya whispers, but her voice is solid as a rock.
Jay agrees, "He'd tell us to suck it up and keep going."
"We're gonna miss him." Kai breathes. It's strange, Wu realizes. He always seems to take personal loss the hardest. Probably some part of him feels responsible. Wu knows the feeling.
Lloyd looks up. "But we'll be alright. We have to be. And we'll win this. For Cole."
"For Cole." Zane echoes, and they all follow him.
"None of us leaves." Kai promises and demands all in one, eyes shining. "Never again."
Lloyd lets out a little sob, and Nya brushes tears from his eyes.
Now the atmosphere has changed. Sure, it's still heavy, but now it's charged with a strength Wu recognizes only comes from one source.
Somehow, even without being here, Cole is still giving them strength. His big heart has only gotten bigger over the years, and he's shouldered the load of leadership with a strength that surprised even Wu. And, despite everything, he's somehow found a way to impart that strength to his brethren. They won't split this time. They'll hurt, sure, of course they will, but instead of breaking they'll bend, and mend back together stronger and more determined than ever.
It's what Cole would've wanted, and Wu couldn't be more proud.
(When he comes back, bursting out of the ground with an easy grin and a joke at the ready, Wu almost wants to punch the brat for making them all live in a world without him for a whole three days. He hopes it never happens again– but at the same time, he knows they're ready if it does. And he thinks Cole knows it too.)
—-
Wu hears Cole sing a lot more after that, and although it hurts him to know that his beloved students are suffering, it heals him even more to know that they have someone to turn to. Cole is constant, steady, grounded– all the factors that make a Master of Earth so difficult to overcome. After the Never Realm, they hear it for nights on end. After the return of Garmadon even more. And when Nya loses herself to the ocean, Wu hears it almost every night, not just from Cole's lips, but from all the ninja. They do split then, sure, but not for long, and when they sing again, all together, finally, when they're all out of Kryptarium and everyone is home, at the monastery, back where they belong, Wu cries from the sheer rightness of it.
And then he hears Kai sing it to Cole one night, and he knows, somehow, that they've found their way home.
A/N: Last chapter! This should have been two but I couldn't figure out how to make that third one any longer without diluting it, so here we go! I'm gonna work on a ghost!Cole recovery fic next (it's gonna be very self-indulgent, dw) I won't be gone for forever this time!