Chapter 4: The Long Sleep
He was scared when he woke up. He was drawn to this place, but he couldn't remember his before. If he forgot, he must have been forgotten, so he was glad he didn't remember.
That was a lie. He wished he remembered.
But, watching the people helped. They had something. It took him a long time to remember the word love- but he liked watching them. Being so close to love seemed a little bit like being a part of it.
He didn't like watching the old people. They made him sad, and he did not want to be sad.
The white one was fun to watch. He talked to everyone, so accompanying him was like going on a tour. He didn't mean to mess up the cooking. Honestly, he had only been trying to help. It looked fun, and never for a moment did he think he would actually move anything. The white one was the first one to notice he was there, and he tried to talk back, but then he was just so tired and he had to go back into the long sleep.
When he woke up, he was scared again. He was afraid a long time had passed, and that the family would be gone. They were still there, so he went to the green one, who always made him happy. The green one smiled a lot. He was still a little scared though, so he tried to ask for help, for a way to stay with them, for a way to not have to go into the long sleep again. It was then that he learned that the family was missing somebody named Cole, and the green one thought that was him. He wanted to learn more about Cole, but, inevitably, he had to go back into the long sleep.
Less time had passed when he woke up next, and he was happy. The red one was mad, and the girl was trying to help. He liked her for that, because he liked to help too. Then, the red one said they were leaving, they were leaving, and he couldn't help it, because he was so scared, because he wanted to keep being near this family with their love, and they couldn't leave him like his memories had left him, like whoever he'd been before had left him, like those who had loved him had left him, if anybody had ever loved him at all.
He didn't mean to make such a mess, but he couldn't help it. He was scared. Then, the red one promised- he promised- not to leave, and he felt bad for what he'd done. He tried to make it better, and the red one seemed happy even though he was crying. The red one and the girl both called him Cole too, and only then did he start to think a little bit- hope- that maybe he really was this Cole.
The blue one made him sad, but not in the same way the old people made him sad. The blue one cried a lot, and he felt a need that was as essential to him as… well, nothing was really essential to him anymore, besides the urge to protect this fragile creature. He didn't mean to wake him up. He didn't mean to make him cry.
But, the blue one could see him, at least for a second, and started saying things that were never meant for a forgotten ghost like him- I'm sorry, I love you- and he berated himself for ever thinking that he could take these things meant for Cole. But, with time, maybe he could become Cole, be the person this family missed so very much, so he had to know…
"Who's Cole?"
He didn't hear the answer. He had to go back into the long sleep.
"But, Master Wu, he's so lost and scared. You should have seen what he did to Kai's room," Nya begged, holding out the scroll to their sensei once again. The seven present members of the Destiny's Bounty were gathered around the kitchen table for breakfast, where the five ninja had revealed that not only had Cole tried to approach each of them, but that they had a solution to the problem.
Correction: they thought they had a solution.
"No. This Summoning Spell you've found is incredibly dangerous, especially when attempted by amateurs," he answered, stroking his long white beard.
"Then you do it," Kai answered shortly, not seeing the problem. Several days had passed since Jay's encounter with Cole, but finally they had stumbled upon the Summoning Spell, which could call any ghost to them and force it into a visible state for the duration of the ritual. If they could just talk to Cole, find out what they could do to help him...
"I am not skilled enough to pull off the spell either," Wu admitted, fixing Kai with a firm gaze. "Only a master sorcerer, one such as Clouse, could complete the incantation without fear of unforeseen consequences."
"He doesn't know who he is," Jay explained, shovelling another bite of cereal into his mouth. Discovering Cole was here if not all there hadn't eradicated the guilt, not by a long shot, but it helped him focus on something other than self-loathing. He had taken to eating and moving more and had tackled the research with a vengeance. He had already told the story in great detail a multitude of times, but he thought another repetition would stress the severity of the situation to their sensei. "He's broken and confused. He needs us."
"I understand that," Master Wu replied, his tone level. "And, it pains my heart greatly. But, I cannot risk my other students, and very possibly all of Ninjago, to save one. I am sorry." He bowed his head, more upset than he let on, as he stood and left the room.
Misako sighed, "He's right, kids. It's too dangerous. Take comfort in the fact that Cole is here, surrounded by those who love him, instead of alone in the Realm of the Departed." With that, she followed Master Wu out of the room.
The five ninja were silent. No one felt like eating anymore.
Finally, Zane asked, "What are we going to do now?"
Lloyd stood up. "We're going to do the Summoning Spell anyway."
"Okay, I think that should do it," Nya announced, comparing the intricate chalk seal she had drawn on the floor of Cole's bedroom with the example provided on the Summoning Spell scroll for the third time. The circle was wide enough for one person to stand perfectly inside with an outline of arcane symbols and intricate designs. They had done well choosing the perfectionist to copy it down.
"I got his old gi, his comb, and a big rock." Jay announced, entering the room with said items in his possession. Zane followed, carefully holding a tall, excellently iced, decadent chocolate cake. "And, Zane baked his favorite, triple chocolate. Do these things, um, 'embody his earthly essence' enough?"
"A big rock?" Lloyd asked, taking the scroll from Nya to study its instructions for the umpteenth time. Like all things useful but ancient, it was frustratingly vague.
"You know… for earth…?"
Lloyd ruminated on that for a moment before nodding. "Sounds good to me. We have to place each item at the cardinal points. Zane, if you would…?"
"And, done!" Kai exclaimed triumphantly, lighting the final candle in a corner of the room with his aching thumb. "One candle for each year he was alive- er, mortal."
Lloyd finished looking over the scroll. "That's… everything. Except for the incantation." He looked at each of his team members in turn. "Are you guys ready?"
"Lloyd," Nya stepped forward, uncertainly. "What if Master Wu is right? What if we do something wrong and summon… something else instead?"
"The circle should keep whatever spirit we call contained, and us standing around it will help force it in- as long as no one enters the circle. Inside the circle, the ghost can do whatever it wants to you." Lloyd explained, even though he seemed a lot more unsure than he probably would have liked to appear. "The ritual doesn't last long, so we would only have to keep an evil ghost contained for a handful of minutes at most." He sighed. "But that means we don't have long to talk to Cole either, depending on how weak he is."
"My sensors indicate eighty seven percent certainty that we have performed the ritual correctly thus far." Zane offered.
Jay smiled, gesturing at Zane confidently, "See, that's not-"
"Excuse my miscalculation. Fifty seven percent."
Jay pressed his mouth into a thin line. "Well, it's over half…?"
"I don't care if we even summon Morro by accident," Kai declared, crossing his arms. This was a bold claim, considering they all knew the deep hatred the red ninja still harbored for their nemesis. "I'm doing whatever it takes to get Cole back."
"Me too," Jay agreed quietly, dropping his jovial mood in favor of a more serious one. Kai looked at him sharply but said nothing.
"Okay," Lloyd unrolled the scroll completely and held it in both hands. "Everyone stand around the circle. Let's do this."
As the Green Ninja began to recite the incantation, the five of them immediately felt the room drop in temperature. An eerie, unnatural breeze, reminding them unwillingly of Morro, swirled about the room, the candles flickering in response. The room was illuminated only by the candles and the faint amount of moonlight which passed through the window.
As Lloyd approached the end of the spell, the wind evolved into a roar, like they were in the midst of a storm. A loud crack resounded, like the earth itself was splitting open, and the ninja resisted the urge to cover their ears. As the incantation closed with a triumphant flourish, the candles sputtered out simultaneously.
Nothing happened.
Kai scoffed, "Of course-"
The candles relit themselves.
And now, standing within the chalk circle, as solid and visible and present as he ever had been as a ghost, as any ghost could ever dream of being, was Cole.
He peered at his ghostly green hands as if he could not fathom their purpose. The others held their breaths, unable to speak now that they had the ability.
"You summoned me?" Cole whispered. A genuine, heartbreakingly innocent smile spread across his face, and he wrapped his arms around his chest like he was hugging himself. "You can see me!"
Kai took a deep breath but could not bring himself to ask the question that was on everyone's mind- do you know who you are?- so instead he asked, "Do you know me?"
Cole turned to face Kai head on, dropping his arms. "Of course I do!"
They caught their breaths, faces lighting up-
"You're the red one, because you get angry a lot."
Cole's face crumpled in unison with theirs, and he looked at the ground. He grabbed his left elbow with the opposite hand, the very picture of remorse. "I'm sorry I broke your stuff," he whispered, as if afraid they had gone to the trouble of summoning him only to punish him. "I didn't mean to. I was just scared that…," he trailed off.
"It's okay," Kai replied, disappointment evident in his voice.
Quickly, Cole added, "I'm sorry I'm not him."
All five of them looked up in surprise.
"Sorry you're not… who?" Lloyd prompted. Cole turned to face him, but the ghost was constantly glancing at the others, as if he didn't know who to give his attention to.
"I'm sorry I'm not Cole." They all caught their breaths, but he continued. "I know you miss him a lot, and you thought that I… just… sorry."
"You are Cole," Zane asserted, and Cole turned to stare at him in disbelief.
A long moment passed before the ghost was able to speak. "Are you sure?"
"Positive," Zane confirmed, a fond smile touching his lips. "And, you have four brothers and a sister who love you very much."
Cole blinked, looking at each of them in turn like he was gauging their sincerity before staring at his hands again with renewed awe. "So, I wasn't forgotten…,"
"No, you weren't," Nya tried this time, shuffling forward but careful not to touch the chalk circle. "We love you, Cole, and we want to help you. Can you tell us what's wrong? Do you have any idea why you lost your memory? Or why you're so much weaker than you were before?"
He thought a moment, his gaze drifting toward the floor- not in shame this time but maybe… sleepiness?
He slowly raised a hand to his chest, pressing it to where his heart was as if it was causing him physical pain. "I don't know." Already his voice was wispy, fading in and out like he was speaking to them over a comm with a bad connection. "Sometimes I feel like something's missing." The image of his body flickered in and out of view a few times as if to prove his point.
"We're running out of time," Lloyd hissed at the others.
"What does that mean?" Kai demanded, the time limit pressing down on all of them.
"Something's missing…," Cole repeated. He sat down heavily, like his legs could no longer support him, and disappeared momentarily before reappearing again. The others started, wanting to go to him, but stopped upon remembering the circle. "I've already used up too much energy… I'll have to go back into the long sleep after this…"
He looked up and smiled tiredly at them. "But, I'll try to remember when I wake up. That I was Cole, and I wasn't forgotten."
The others panicked, unsure what to do, because they couldn't lose him, not again, not like this, not when they still had no idea what to do, not when, really, they had only made it worse-
Jay dashed into the chalk circle and hugged Cole to his chest.
"Jay, get back!" Lloyd yelled but made no move to interfere. He was sorely lacking in knowledge of ancient rituals and didn't know what would happen now that Jay had entered the circle or what would happen if someone else did. All he could do was watch.
"You need a tether, right? Something here in the physical world?" Jay whispered quickly though everyone could hear. He tightened his grip on his fading brother, held him fast.
"Possess me."
The ninja outside the circle gasped.
"Jay, don't!" Nya warned, but the blue ninja completely ignored her, appeared not to have even heard her.
Cole tilted his head back to study Jay's face with half-lidded eyes. "No."
"What?" Jay recoiled, holding Cole at arm's length so he could look at him better. "Cole, you have to! There's no other choice!"
The ghost shook his head back and forth slowly, his form appearing less and less solid as the seconds went by. "I don't want to hurt you…,"
"I don't care!" Jay shouted, tears rolling down his face. "I don't care what happens to me! I don't care if you possess me for the rest of my life! I don't even care if I have to take your place! I am not losing you again!" He slammed his brother against his chest, as if he could force the possession himself.
"Please, Cole," he begged as the candles flickered and the wind picked up again and the earth split open with that same thunderous roar…
The candles died, plunging the room into near darkness. This time, they did not relight.
When Nya managed to find the light switch, Jay still knelt inside the circle, arms held perfectly still in front of him like he was still holding someone.
No one was there.
"Jay…," Lloyd said, approaching the shell-shocked blue ninja and placing a hand on his shoulder. "It's-"
The second Lloyd made contact with his flesh, Jay suddenly reanimated, scrambling away from the Green Ninja and staring up at him with naked fear.
"No…," Zane stepped forward slowly, and Jay watched him approach with the same terrified expression. The nindroid carefully crouched to the floor and kneeled in front of the blue ninja as the other three watched, enraptured.
"You're Cole, aren't you?"
Ashamed tears filled Jay's eyes but didn't overflow. "I didn't mean to."
Kai, Nya, and Lloyd looked at each other, equal parts ecstatic, shocked, and anxious.
"It's alright," Zane reassured, reaching out his hand. Jay- Cole- flinched away from it, and Zane placed it back at his side.
"I didn't mean to," Cole- Cole in Jay's body- repeated, folding in on himself. "But he wanted me to and I was scared of going back into the long sleep and then- and then-"
Jay's eyes suddenly fluttered shut, and he pitched forward, unconscious. Zane barely managed to catch him before his face slammed into the floor.
No one spoke for a long time.
Finally, Lloyd sighed. "I… Honestly, I don't know what this means for us, guys." He ran a hand through his hair, blowing out a breath in a harsh exhale. "We have Cole, so that's good, but possession is not a solution- I think I would know- so-"
"Let's answer those questions in the morning," Nya finished, wrapping an arm around the shoulders of the Green Ninja, who suddenly seemed much younger. "When Jay- Cole- whoever- is awake, okay?"
Lloyd nodded, exhausted. "Yeah. Let's do that."
Zane attempted to maneuver Jay's body into a position where he could easily lift him- when Kai touched his shoulder.
"Let me," is all Kai said before scooping the blue ninja into his arms. His face was deliberately arranged into a neutral expression, but his movements were undeniably tender as he carried Jay to Cole's bed and pulled the blanket over him.
Kai probably hoped the others were too distracted to notice, but Zane caught him resting a hand on Jay's head for a moment longer than necessary before hastily leaving the room.