"Cole, I must speak with you." Says Wu.
Cole had been watching a movie with Jay, Nya and Kai. He felt like a school kid being called to the principal's office.
"Sure." He says nervously, immediately getting up.
"Do you want us to pause it?" Asks Jay.
"Nah, it's fine. I've seen this one a few times." This could take a while.
He knew Wu had been researching ghosts, how to change them back into people. If it was good news, he would have said it in front of the others. There was an art to sharing bad news. He'd seen it before, the way the doctor's spoke to his mother. The way his father had spoken to him.
This wasn't good news.
Wu leads him to his study. Cole sits on the ground, kneeling opposite his master.
Wu sighs. "As you know, I have been researching ghosts. Unfortunately I haven't found anything which is likely to help with your situation."
Cole's eyes fall to the floor, his knuckles clenched into fists. "You're saying, there's nothing you can do?"
"I'm saying I want to help train you in mastering your new abilities."
Cole blinks, eyes snapping back up to Wu. "You… you think I'm more useful like this?"
Wu frowns, letting out a sad sigh. "Your wellbeing is of far greater significance than your usefulness. However, I feel it may be easier on your mental state if you could learn to embrace the positive aspects of your predicament."
"The positive aspects? Are you kidding me?"
Wu looks at Cole with concern. "It's ok to be angry about this. Anger is one of the five stages of grief. But when you are ready to move on from anger, I will help you."
"That's it, that's my only option? Be angry and just accept it? You're saying I'm going to be stuck like this forever?"
"I'm saying, all the literature strongly advises against resurrection. The one ritual I found reference to only works on Oni. I don't know if this can be undone."
There's nothing more we can do.
He hated that line. The way the doctor had said it. He knew the hate was misplaced, being unable to fix it wasn't the same as causing it. Wu had likely spent great effort in finding out even this much. He had been holed up in here for weeks, notes and scrolls littered the room. But still, right now he hated him, needed someone to be angry at.
"I don't want to give you false hope."
"How considerate." Snaps Cole bitterly as he gets up to leave.
Two days later Cole is sitting on the deck. They are docked on water, as was often the case. The moon was small tonight, a thin sliver amongst the star filled sky. He had spent the last two days absolutely enraged with the world. Furious with how unfair it was. A ten second delay to grab a scroll was all it took, his friends able to walk away unharmed, but not him.
How is this permanent? I don't deserve this!
He had broken most of the training dummies, possessing them, and then forcing the parts to explode outwards. He had stopped doing that when he saw Lloyd's haunted eyes staring at him in fear. Lloyd was still very obviously uncomfortable around him. Cole knew it was because of Morro, not anything he had done, but it still hurt. Their friendship just another thing this curse had robbed from him.
I need you to focus on what you can do, instead of what you can't.
Wu's old words echo through his head. He hated it, hated that Wu was right. He couldn't stay angry forever. He didn't want to stay angry forever. He wanted to be happy. He wanted to be content. Could he be happy, even like this?
"What can I do?" Mumbles Cole to himself.
"Do you want to help me catch a fish?"
Cole startles, jumping into a fighting stance, and sees Zane standing there with two fishing rods. He blinks a couple times, relaxing his stance. "Zane? What are you doing up?"
Zane cocks his head slightly. "While I need some time to recharge and perform maintenance, I require less sleep than the others. I thought you might appreciate some company."
The nights had been getting lonely. The other ninja had eventually caught on that he wasn't sleeping, at all. "Thanks." Cole says glumly. Not wanting to be an object of pity that needed babysitting each night. Zane puts the fishing rod into his hands, Cole quickly focuses on holding it before Zane lets go. "But, um, I don't know how to fish?"
"Neither do I." Says Zane with a cheery smile. "We can learn together."
He pulls out a book of all things, placing it on a nearby barrel. They fumble through knots for an hour, then manage to cast off, finding special holders for the rods were already installed along the railing. Then they sit and wait, watching the lures bob gently in the water.
"Why fishing?" Asks Cole. He must admit, he had found the whole experience strangely calming.
"Hmm." Zane hums warmly. "Because doing something productive makes it harder to believe in the futility of existence." Cole stares at him with a raised eyebrow. "I thought you might enjoy an activity that can take many hours, but still feel like you are contributing to something."
Cole looks back to the rods. "Focus on what I can do?"
"Exactly."
"And it might be something new."
Zane nods. "Indeed. It can be refreshing to try something new."
Near the end of the night one of the rods starts to move. They both jump up in surprise. "A bite!" Cole feels excitement coursing through him for the first time in a while.
"Go on, reel it in." Encourages Zane.
Cole focuses hard before grabbing the rod out of the holder. He almost loses the rod completely, not expecting the strength of the fish, but Zane steps in, adding one of his hands to the shaft. "I'll hold, you reel."
Cole nods, focusing on the real. It was small and fiddly, but eventually he gets into a rhythm, and is able to complete a few rounds before the pulling stops, line going limp once more.
"Huh, what?" Says Cole, staring out over the calm water.
Zane shrugs. "It was our first attempt at knot tying."
Cole can't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. "Yeah, we can always try again tomorrow right?"
"Right." Says Zane with a smile. Glad his diversion plan seemed to be working in lifting Cole's spirits.
The next day Cole knocks on Wu's door.
"Enter." echoes the voice of his master.
Cole slips through the door, not bothering to open it, and goes to kneel in front of Wu.
"I'm ready for you to train me."
Wu stares at him, examining his determination. "Good. Let's begin."
After a couple of sessions Cole learns to become invisible, and is thrilled to show off his new powers to the rest of the team. Maybe this wasn't so bad. He just needed to focus on what he could do, and learn to ignore what he couldn't.