Chapter 8: I Don't Want to go Back
Kai was there first, flipping Jay onto his back and half pulling him into lap. He wasn't moving. He wasn't moving.
"Zane, go get Master Wu!" He heard Lloyd order, but all he could see was the deathly pale face of his brother- brothers- with a line of blood stretching from the corner of his lip down to his chin. He wasn't moving.
Nya was suddenly across from him, touching Jay's face, taking his temperature, testing his heartbeat and his breathing. "He's burning up!" She announced, worry stretching her voice thin.
"Is he breathing?" Lloyd asked breathlessly, hovering over her as if he was desperate to help but with no idea how.
Kai held Jay tighter. Was he breathing?
"Yes, but it's shallow." Her voice caught.
Zane, Master Wu, and Misako rushed into the kitchen then. Master Wu took Nya's place on the other side of Jay, while Zane started… brewing tea?
Master Wu touched Jay's neck and wrist checking for a pulse, then pressed on different areas of his chest. The air was silent and tense.
Finally, Kai couldn't bite his tongue any longer. "Are they-" He was so eager to start the sentence, and yet he couldn't finish it.
Master Wu placed a hand fondly on Jay's forehead before sighing. "Jay will live. For now. Take him to his room."
But, Kai couldn't move. "That's it? But… But what do we do? How do we fix him?"
"The tea is of a special healing brew. It will combat his symptoms… for a short while at least," Master Wu stood. "I feared it would come to this. We were foolish to hope that we could sit idly by. Cole is not whole, and I never should have let Jay shoulder that burden."
"So, you know what's wrong with them?" Nya asked hopefully.
"No. But it must have occurred as a result of Cole's possession. There is no other explanation," he stroked his beard.
"I didn't get sick when Morro possessed me. I mean, sure, I was a little weak and tired, but not…," Lloyd trailed off, biting his lip as he looked down at Jay's fragile, limp body. He seemed so small in Kai's lap.
"As we all know, Cole is a unique type of ghost, more so after coming into contact with water," Master Wu sighed again. "Today, I will leave to visit some old friends who may be able to shed some light on the situation and provide us a solution for Cole's dilemma."
"I'll go with you," Misako offered, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Some of my old museum colleagues may know a thing or two about possession. Perhaps they could help."
Wu considered this, then nodded. "Very well. We'll leave within the hour. The four of you must care for Jay and Cole until we return."
Lloyd nodded solemnly. "We will."
Kai gathered Jay in his arms then, standing with him and carrying him back toward Cole's bedroom while the others discussed. He didn't care about the details. He wanted results. He wanted this to just be over. He wanted both his brothers back at the same time, as whole and alive as they'd always been. Why did everything have to be so hard for them…?
Kai placed Jay in the bed and, grabbing a nearby tissue, cleaned the blood off his face.
He sighed, studying the pale face drawn with pain. "I'm sorry, guys." He wiped at his eyes. "You tried to tell me, Cole. You tried to tell me, and I wasn't there for you…,"
"None of us were," Kai jumped at Nya's sudden appearance. She joined him, wrapping an arm around his waist, and in turn he placed his arm around her shoulders. "But, we're here now. We'll fix this, big brother."
"Yeah," Kai nodded. "We will. We have to."
The next several days passed in a haze for Jay. Whenever he was even remotely conscious, someone was there forcing some sort of tea down his throat. It helped, but only a little bit. Most of his time was spent in gut-wrenching, crimson pain.
I hope Nya doesn't see me like this…
Then he laughed because it seemed weird that he was even worried about that in the first place.
"Jay? Cole?"
Jay opened his eyes. It was nighttime. Hadn't it just been morning? And, where was Cole anyway? Oh, right, he was here. Everything was okay as long as Cole was still here.
"Jay, why didn't you just tell us?" Lloyd asked, pressing a luke-warm ice pack to his face. Because no water. Because Cole. Where was Cole anyway? Oh, right…,
Wait, what was the question again?
"Cole…," he groaned, turning onto his side, away from Lloyd. "Couldn't lose Cole. I won't let you guys take him away."
"Jay, you know we would never do anything to put Cole at risk," Lloyd said, gently turning Jay onto his back and pulling the blanket back up to his chin. Jay whined because he was hot, but Lloyd ignored him. "But, if it's killing you…,"
"No!" Jay grabbed Lloyd's shirt. "I'm the one who killed him, remember? I owe this to him, at least."
"You really think that's what he wants?"
Jay laughed. He didn't know why. It wasn't very funny. Cole didn't think it was funny. But, he laughed.
"I know it's not. But, I can't lose him."
Jay shut his eyes, turning onto his side again. Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, Lloyd sighed and pressed the ice pack to the back of Jay's neck instead. The blue ninja shivered, but he had to admit it felt good.
Just before he fell back asleep, a thought occurred to Jay, and he laughed again without meaning to. It wasn't funny, wasn't funny at all, and Cole's depression was like a crushing weight on his insides, but he laughed.
"I'm going into the long sleep..."
One night- he lost track of how many days had passed- four? Five? The fever had gotten worse and made it hard to think- but on one night, whichever night it may have been, Jay was wrenched out of his sleep by a pain much sharper than the other constant, pulsing pain. This pain was different- in his head, stomach, and entire being.
When he opened his eyes, he saw Nya to his left, slumped over in her chair, asleep. There were dark circles under her eyes, but she was still the most beautiful woman in the world, and Jay felt guilty- for a lot of things lately- but also for putting her, all of them, through this.
To his right was Cole, the ghost Cole, curled up on the bed like a sleeping dog. Jay sighed. It was the third time Cole had tried leaving his body.
"Cole," he whispered, not wanting to wake Nya. "What are you doing, bro?"
"I don't want to go back," he whimpered, covering his head as if trying to protect himself from falling debris. "Don't make me go back."
Jay rubbed his back like he really was a dog. They'd already been through this whole song and dance more than once. "Go back where?"
"Into the long sleep. Into you. Both. I don't know."
"You know it's okay to possess me. You know that."
"But, you're sick."
"And it's not your fault."
It wasn't. Even though Cole's possession was what had caused him to fall ill, it wasn't Cole- the person's- fault. That honor belonged to Jay.
Cole dry-sobbed, and Jay glanced anxiously at Nya. She didn't stir. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"There's nothing to apologize for. Now possess me before you disappear."
Cole stubbornly shook his head against the mattress. "I don't want to go back. Don't make me go back." He took a shuddering breath. "I want to go back to before. When I remembered. When I knew my own name. When I was alive."
Jay swallowed. He'd never heard that part before.
"Your name is Cole," he asserted, tugging on his brother's shoulder. "C'mon, look at me."
Cole unfolded so they were laying side by side in the bed, looking at each other. Cole's eyes were so lost and sad, and Jay wished he could rid his brother's face of that expression for the rest of his life. Actually, Jay wished he had never pushed Cole that day, but nothing ever happened when he wished for that so he learned to stop trying.
"Your name is Cole, and this is not your fault." Jay squeezed his arm. "Possess me."
Cole did. And every time he mentally yelled at Jay for taking advantage of his amnesiac ghost self. And every time he swore that next time he'd leave Jay's body and never return.
He never did.
For the others, those days passed in a flurry of activity. They were brewing tea and watching Jay and getting ice and checking for mail and looking through every single scroll on board for any hint of what they could do to save both brothers…
Five days passed with no word from Master Wu.
Five days passed, and Jay only got worse.
Five days passed, and Cole never spoke to them for the shamefulness of it all.
Five days passed, and they weren't any closer to a solution.
"I thought I could take a turn having Cole possess me, you know, so Jay could have time to get better," Kai said to Zane on the fifth day. They both were "off"- Lloyd was watching Jay and Nya was making tea, so the other two ninja sat uselessly surrounded by scrolls and books they'd already searched a hundred times before. None of them could explain why Cole's possession was killing Jay, let alone how to fix it. "But, the one time I brought it up, he freaked out. I think he's scared of doing the same thing to me."
"I do not think Jay would let you anyway," Zane added, flipping a page. "He seems to think dying as a result of possession will absolve him of all the guilt of pushing Cole into the water in the first place."
"But, what else do we do?" Kai threw his hands in the air, exasperated. "Cole can't survive without a host. After this whole thing, he could go into the 'long sleep' for years! Master Wu obviously has no clue. We're stumbling around in the dark!"
"No clue…," Zane repeated before rifling through their stack of papers, obviously searching for something specific.
Kai raised an eyebrow, drawing a blank. "Yeah, no clue. As in, we're totally lost."
"Yes, you are correct," Zane nodded, grinning when he found what he was looking for and scanning it quickly. "We do not have a clue. The conclusion of all of our efforts is that we do not have enough information to proceed." He held out the scroll to Kai. The red ninja accepted it, but only raised an eyebrow once he realized what it was. "So, what if we spoke to someone who did?"
A long moment passed, and then realization dawned on Kai's face. "This… is a horrible idea," he sighed. "But, it's the only one we got."
"No. Way."
"Lloyd-"
"On what planet is this a good idea?!"
Nya had reacted in much the same way Kai had when Zane shared his idea. Lloyd was proving harder to convince.
"But-"
"No. We wait for Master Wu to get back. That's what he told us to do." Lloyd stated, crossing his arms defiantly.
"We're out of time!" Nya argued, glancing nervously at the shut door over her shoulder. "If we wait any longer, it will be too late. We have to at least try."
"Lloyd." Kai grabbed his shoulders. "You know I wouldn't even consider this if it was anybody else. But, it's Jay and Cole we're talking about. If we don't do something, they will die."
"They would do the same for us," Zane said.
Lloyd pressed his mouth into a line, and they knew they had him.
"Fine." He shook his head. "This is the worst idea I've ever heard, and I just know we're going to find a way to get ourselves killed, but we don't have any other choice. We'll do it tonight."
They were careful in preparing the Summoning Spell, even more careful than when they had summoned Cole. They did it in the black ninja's room once again. Once they had informed Jay and Cole of the plan, they had predictably protested. Realizing there was nothing they could do to stop it, though, they had then insisted on being a part of it, and so the ritual was to be performed in their bed-ridden presence.
Despite all of the precautions, it was harder to be exact. They could only guess at what things "embodied his earthly essence." They were pretty sure they knew the number of years he was alive, but then again, they couldn't be certain.
Lloyd readjusted his grip on the scroll. "Are you guys sure about this?"
He looked at each of them in turn. They all nodded grimly.
He began the incantation.
Immediately, an ice cold wind without origin swept through the cabin, howling and moaning, nearly blowing them off their feet. Thunder crashed around them, like giants were striking the hull of the Destiny's Bounty and tearing it apart board by board. The candles went out all at once as Lloyd concluded his chant. With the new moon outside, the room was plunged into solid darkness. Jay cried out weakly.
And when the candles sparked back to life, Morro, Master of Wind, stood inside the chalk circle, staring directly at Lloyd.
"What, miss me already?"