Cole was still unsatisfied with his half uncovered truth. He had a few ideas about how to learn more, some of which weren't particularly ethical. Well to start off with, the first one was pretty mild.
"Hey, Zane, can I ask you something?"
Zane was sitting at the control panel, monitoring something or other. Cole wasn't really sure what.
"Of course." says Zane, turning his attention towards Cole. "How can I assist?"
"Um, well, I was wondering if you knew anything about Misfortune's Keep?"
He carefully scans Zane's face for a reaction, but there was nothing dramatic that would indicate he was in on this strange secret.
Zane calmly turns back to the computer terminal. "We recently got a data update from Borg industries. Let me see… Misfortune's Keep was an old pirate ship captained by Nadakhan the Djinn."
"Old? How old?"
"Before our lifetime. He was defeated by Captain Soto of all people, and trapped in the teapot of tyran."
"Wait, did you say Djinn, like grants magical wishes Djinn? They're real?"
Zane continues tapping away at the console. "It says he was a visitor from a different realm. Djinn are not native to Ninjago, he may be the only one here."
"But we have the realm crystal right?"
Zane cocks his head. "I am not sure I follow. Crossing realms is dangerous, and we have no need of a Djinn. Why the sudden interest?"
Cole pauses, before giving a nonchalant shrug. "I just heard the name somewhere, wasn't sure what it meant."
"Where?"
"I can't remember, maybe I overheard it in town while I was shopping?" Zane frowns. "Look, it's nothing ok? Just forget about it."
Cole walks off before giving Zane a chance to question him further.
The next stage of Cole's plan involved waiting for Jay to have a nightmare. He was going to pretend Jay had been sleep talking, and ask him directly what is Misfortune's Keep? However Jay had miraculously slept soundly for 2 nights in a row. Sometimes waking early, but never in such a state that he would need comfort from others.
Cole is laying on his bunk, keeping an eye on Jay as he sleeps, when he hears the creaky floorboards of someone passing by in the hall. He goes out to investigate and finds Nya making a cup of herbal tea in the galley.
"Hey, you're up late." he says gently, taking a seat at the counter.
Nya sighs, light lines of worry creasing her face. "Yeah, couldn't sleep." she admits.
"Hmm, wonder what that's like."
Nya glances at him with pity. "Sorry."
Jay would have seen it for the joke it was. Cole sighs, examining Nya as she lets the teabag steep. He wasn't getting anywhere with Jay. Maybe he could try his luck with Nya?
"Are you ok?"
Nya shrugs, "Yeah, just fine. Just a little restless I guess."
The lie was so obvious. She isn't fine, she hadn't been since the day on the rooftop.
"I know about Misfortune's Keep." says Cole. Carefully selecting his words. He watches as her body freezes, breath hitching as she turns to face him. Staring at him with a delicate fear.
"He-he told you?" she whispers.
Cole pauses, Zane was a he, and had told him information about Misfortune's Keep. "Yeah." He replies, desperately hoping she will fill in the gaps.
Her shoulders sag as she lets out a deep sigh of exhaustion. "Oh thank goodness. I've been so worried, he needs to talk to someone about it. I don't know what to do Cole." She pauses, clutching at her chest. "How, how much do you know?"
Cole really didn't like misleading her, but he was so close, so close to figuring it out, and he just wanted to understand so he could help. At least that is what he told himself. He makes a stab in the dark. "He didn't tell me everything, but I know about Nadakhan."
She flinches at hearing the name, then nods in understanding. "When we rescued him, it was bad Cole. His eye was swollen shut, at least a couple ribs cracked, bruises everywhere, and a few cuts that needed stitches. He was dehydrated and I don't think they gave him much food… They had him in a vengestone cuff the whole time, I just can't believe we left him there for over 2 weeks." She finally lifts her eyes up from the counter to look at Cole, catching sight of his horrified face.
"He was tortured, alone, for two weeks?" Cole's voice trembles, he wasn't sure what he expected Nya to say, but this wasn't it.
Nya blinks at him confused. "You said he told you?" Cole looks down guiltily. "Cole?" Fear trembles in her voice.
"Zane told me Nadakhan was the captain of Misfortune's Keep, because I asked him about it, after I overheard you mention the name. Jay hasn't told me shit."
Nya sinks to the floor, back sliding against the cabinets. "He's going to kill me." she mutters, clutching one hand to her chest and the other in her hair.
Cole phases through the counter, kneels down in front of Nya, and reaches for the hand in her hair. Focusing on making his solid, so he can gently pull it away. "Nya, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have deceived you like that, but you're not ok, Jay's not ok. And none of us can help if we don't know what's going on."
Nya is staring right through him, eyes focused on something far away.
"You said you didn't know what to do, so let me help. Ok?" She gives a small nod so Cole continues. "Zane said Nadakhan was captain of Misfortune's Keep a long time ago. Did you two go back in time again? Something happened on the hospital rooftop, didn't it? I had the strangest sense of deja vu."
Nya's eyes finally focus on his own. "Yeah, the rooftop… We were meant to be going after Clouse, remember?" Cole nods. "He found Nadakhan's teapot. Let him out. Things went poorly… but we fixed it. Jay used his last wish to undo it all. To wish that no one could ever find the teapot. Time unravelled back to that point. For some reason only me and Jay remember."
Cole sighs, he had it backwards. They hadn't gone to the past, they had undone the future. "Why didn't you tell us?" His tone isn't accusatory,
Nya grimaces. "We were going to, eventually. But it's just… a lot…" she turns away again.
Cole shifts, sitting down beside her, trying to process this new info. It had been the future, which means they had all been there, he just couldn't remember it. They had all been there, battling a wish granting Djinn. He holds up one of his ghostly hands, pieces clicking together.
"Djinn grant wishes…" but Jay's wish would have undone them all "Did I make any wishes?"
Nya looks at him with mild surprise, not the question she had been expecting. "Yeah, we all did, used up all three."
Cole sighs. "So that's why you didn't tell me. You didn't want me to think it was Jay's fault I'm still a ghost."
Nya frowns, looking at him with confusion. "Cole, you didn't wish for that."
Cole blinks. "What do you mean I didn't wish for that? It's the first thing I would wish for! How could I possibly wish for anything else?"
Nya reaches out to his hand. "Nadakhan's wishes aren't good. He twists them, makes them bad, I can't even imagine what would have happened if you wished for that. He would have given you the body of a 100 year old man, or one full of cancer." She sighs. "When you made your wishes, it was more of a combat wish or die type situation, so options were a little limited."
Cole looks down at her hand, unsure if this makes him feel any better. But Jay hadn't robbed him of that at least. Either way he was destined to still be a ghost.
"Even Jay's final wish, he twisted it, letting us remember, it isn't good, it's awful. Knowing it, remembering it is awful. That's why we haven't told anyone."
Cole lets out a sigh. "We're pretty strong you know, it might be awful, but we can take it. When you're ready."
Nya nods, small tears running down her face. Cole rests an arm around her shoulders, hoping it is comforting, knowing it probably isn't warm like it used to be. Missing his real body more than ever.
"But what do I do Cole? How can I help him?"
Cole pulls his arm away, leaning back against the cupboards, brow furrowed as he tries to think.
"Cole?"
"Give me a minute." Says Cole, cocking his head to the side. Jay was ridiculously stubborn when it came to accepting help or admitting any weakness. "He used to have these meds…" Cole remembers how terrible he had been at hiding them when they were first living together at the monastery.
"Meds?" Asks Nya.
"Yeah, for his anxiety I think? He stopped using them ages ago." Or suddenly got really good at hiding it. "I think you need to make him see a doctor. Trick him into going if you have to." Nya nods. Looking determined, slightly more calm with a plan of attack. Cole sighs. "I'll keep an eye on him. Do some one on one sparring, he can't hurt me, right?" Cole gives a hollow laugh as he passes his arm through the cupboards.
"And you won't tell the others?" Nya asks, voice small and full of fear.
Cole sighs. "No. Not yet. But you should."
"When we're ready." Says Nya. She's clutching her shirt again. Cole still doesn't know what that's about. He wants to ask, because something had to have happened to her too, but he's already put her through way too much this evening.
"And I'm always here if you need to talk, about Jay, about Nadakhan, whatever you need."
"Thanks Cole." She nods before pushing herself up, going back to what she had been doing before. "Damn, this tea is way too strong…"