TW (for the fic, not the chapter): nothing explicit, but there are mentions of rape. Violence only slightly above what you would expect in canon.
An icy cold shiver goes up Lloyd's spine as Morro possesses him. He watches in horror as his arms move without him moving them, his head tilting to the side as Morro cracks his neck. He feels the unfamiliar rumble of a cackle gurgle through his throat.
No. Get out!
"That was too easy!"
Lloyd feels sick, it sounds like him, but off, like he's putting on a weird accent. He tries desperately to speak, to call out, to regain control.
Help! Get out! Someone help!
"Oh Lloyd! Aren't you the feisty one? This is going to be fun."
Stop it! Stop talking! That's my voice, my body! Give it back! GET OUT!
Morro ignores his pleas. Having got what he came for, he swiftly exits the building.
"Why don't we pay a little visit to your friends?"
Lloyd pauses his assault. Morro was going to willingly take him to his friends? The exact people who were most likely to be able to help him out of this mess? But Morro had played him like a fiddle, whatever he had in plan for the rest of the ninja couldn't be good.
"Kai? Help me..."
Lloyd had finally managed to take control, if only for a moment his voice was his own.
Kai, help me.
Those could very well be the last words he ever spoke. Morro was being careful about leaving any further openings.
He had recovered the staff and flown them to a shady looking bar. It was late and Lloyd was tired. Body exhausted from the fighting, mind fatigued from all his struggling against Morro. It was also well past the time he normally went to bed, he was starting to think that ghosts didn't need to sleep at all.
Lloyd wasn't very familiar with bars, what with him still being underage, but Morro seemed right at home. He walked them up to the bar and downed a shot of something that burned.
Lloyd coiled in disgust, hating the way it felt as it travelled down his throat.
"Oh, you like that?" Sneers Morro, then more loudly. "Three more."
The barkeep obediently lays out three more shot glasses, filling them to the brim. Morro downs them in quick succession. Lloyd tries to control his reaction, not give Morro the satisfaction, but it tastes awful, he would be gagging if he was in control. Morro lets out a sigh of satisfaction, licking his lips, then walks them over to a pool table, using it to see the symbols on the staff. Lloyd starts to panic as he feels dizzy, the room swimming as Morro examines the chalk.
"Go to sleep Lloyd." Says Morro under his breath. "Damn, you really can't hold your liquor."
Lloyd holds onto consciousness for as long as he can. Not wanting Morro to be left unsupervised in his body. But everything is so hazy, and eventually he just drifts away.
"I'm a ghost." Cole says in disbelief, his voice doesn't sound right, kind of like listening to himself on tape, but with a strange echoey ring. He had literally just faced his fear of ghosts, and now he was one? He holds up the scroll before watching it slip through his fingers and tumble to the ground.
Zane crouches down to pick it up before it blows away. Losing their hard earned prize would mean this was all for nothing, a sacrifice on this scale needed a purpose. Needed to mean something. Jay and Kai stare at Cole with horrified looks.
"Are, are you ok?" Asks Jay earnestly. Jay, the one who would joke about a broken arm and taunt a teammate with a concussion. Jay, looking at him like he'd just lost a friend, and well, maybe he had?
Cole holds up his hands in front of his face, looking through them. Seeing Jay through them. "I'm a ghost?" He says again, still not liking the sound of his voice. This has gotta be a joke? A trick of the light?
"I'm gonna burn this temple to the ground!" Says Kai, angrily lighting up a fist and stepping towards the temple.
Zane steps in front of him. "Wait. Before you do so, we should consult Wu. He may know of a way to undo it. It might require the temple."
Kai puts out his flame. "Fine, then we should head back. Thanks to Cole, we got what we came for."
Kai glares at Cole with pity before storming off, leading the way. Zane follows. Jay turns to Cole, who is still frozen in place. Jay reaches over to tap Cole on the shoulder, but his hand passes right through. "Cole, we need to go."
Cole blinks. It isn't just his voice that sounds weird, his friends sound different too. Echoey, distorted, muffled. Like he's watching them from somewhere else.
"Cole!" Jay's voice cracks with worry.
Cole shakes his head in an attempt to clear it and starts walking after Kai. "Sorry, I'm coming. I'm fine." He adds, answering Jay's earlier question. Which was a lie, but he was yet to figure out exactly how not fine he was, and maybe that would get Jay to stop staring at him with such sincerity.
Jay brings up the rear, suspicious that Cole will zone out and get left behind. He glances at the ground, frowning at the way his friend is leaving no prints. There's no way he believed the hollow 'I'm fine', but pushing the matter right now was unlikely to be helpful.
They trudge through the woods in silence, each with their own reasons. Cole felt like he was dreaming, walking through a thick haze, senses dulled to a deafening numbness. He couldn't feel anything. He saw leaves rustling, but he couldn't feel the breeze. He could barely feel the ground under his feet. There was a sort of pressure when his feet connected with stuff, but it was easy enough to push through. Tree roots, rocks, he didn't need to lift his feet over them. He absent mindedly drags his hand through nearby plants as he passes. Tree trunks, bushes, hanging vines. They all felt exactly the same. Not rough or soft or prickly, just pressure. It wasn't enough. It was like someone had taken his body and was holding him under the surface of an ice cold lake, except for the fact that he wasn't cold, or warm for that matter, sunlight passing right through him. He takes a deep breath to try and settle his nerves, but even that was just for show; air didn't actually make its way into his not-lungs.
He can hear Jay behind him, noisy footsteps, and panting breath, body working hard to keep up with the group. He should also be working up a sweat by now, but he feels exactly the same as when they had started, my heart rate isn't even elevated…
Cole stops suddenly, Jay doesn't notice in time and stumbles right through him. The feeling of pressure flares briefly. Jay shudders before turning back to Cole. "Ahh…" Jay pauses.
A speechless Jay. That was somehow more disconcerting than his sincerity.
"That was… weird. Sorry."
Cole stares at him blankly, clutching one hand to his chest.
"Are you ok? Why'd you stop?"
"I don't have a heartbeat." Says Cole glumly, still hating his voice. He wants to wake up. This can't possibly be happening.
Jay drops his head slightly, sadness filling his eyes. "Yeah, I guess ghosts don't need one huh? It must feel so weird."
Cole nods and starts walking again, otherwise they might lose sight of Zane, otherwise Jay might keep trying to talk to him about feelings he wasn't ready to have. Jay scrambles to get out of the way, not wanting Cole to pass through him again.
By the time they get back to the bounty Cole was dissociating hard. He saw Wu and Misako and Nya and even Ronin. He saw their mouths move, concerned glances, Kai gesturing wildly, Zane holding out the scroll. None of it seemed important. None of it seemed real. Their words passed straight through, he lacked the willpower to even try to decipher them.
There was a pressure on his arm. With great effort he forces himself to look, and sees Jay desperately trying to get his attention, mouthing his name with a worry stricken face.
"I'm going to go lie down for a bit." Says Cole. He doesn't bother looking to see their reactions as he starts heading below deck. It's not like they could stop him anyway, at least one person tries, a fleeting pressure as he passes through.
Finally alone in a cabin, he lays on top of the bed, unable to even huddle under the sheets. He allows his mind to melt into this new static of fuzzy nothingness. Nothing he could do. Nothing to be done. Nothing to be felt. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
Wu had mediated a heated argument between Jay and Kai about what their next move should be; helping Cole, or continuing their pursuit of Morro. In the end he had declared that "Cole is not in immediate danger, so we must remain focused on Lloyd."
He had sent the ninja off to train with the scroll. Learning airjitzu was essential to their mission.
The bounty had a shared bedroom with bunk beds, as well as a few smaller cabins. There wasn't enough cabins for everyone to get their own rooms. Wu had one of course. Nya had used one at first, as she was the only girl, but lately had felt comfortable bunking with the boys as long as she could change elsewhere. There were two unclaimed solo rooms that tended to be used by whoever currently wanted a bit of space, or privacy. It was one of these rooms that Cole was currently holed up in.
Despite telling the team that Cole wasn't in immediate danger, his demeanour when he had returned had Wu concerned. Wu stands outside the door to the cabin, stroking his beard, trying to decide how long to let Cole sulk before checking on him. 2 hours, he decides.
Wu retreats to his room, they had already been researching ghosts thanks to Morro, but more along the lines of how to fight and banish them, not how to resurrect them. He re-reads some of the passages, and tries to find more information on master Yang… before he knows it more than 3 hours have passed. Wu groans in frustration, not having found anything useful, and goes to check on Cole.
Wu knocks on the door, but gets no response. "Cole, I'm coming in." says Wu before slowly opening the door, and slipping into the room. Cole is laying there, on his back, staring at the ceiling with unblinking eyes. He looks like a corpse. Wu shakes his head, trying to dispel that morbid thought.
"Cole, I must speak with you."
Cole doesn't react.
Wu's concern grows as he approaches the black ninja. He reaches for his hand, watching his own pass right on through, a brief cold shiver running up his spine.
"Cole, can you hear me?"
The touch drags Cole out of his thoughts, he blinks, turning to face Wu. "Master?" he croaks, forcing himself to sit up and face him. Wu is staring at him, face full of worry. Cole has no idea how long he had been lying there, it was still so hard to focus, but he couldn't lie there forever, and maybe Wu could help?
"My dear student. The others told me what happened." Wu pauses, "Are, are you ok?"
Cole blinks. "I'm a ghost… Does that seem ok to you?"
Wu's face tenses slightly. "While I appreciate the severity of your situation, what I meant was, how are you physically? Does anything hurt?"
Cole stares at Wu for a moment. "No. Nothing hurts. Should it?"
Wu shakes his head gently. "I wouldn't expect so, I just wanted to make sure. How are you feeling?"
Cole stammers, staring at his hand, "I can't feel anything, I can't hold anything, I don't have a heartbeat, everything sounds fuzzy, everything looks just a little green, I-I…" Cole feels panic rising. How can he possibly explain to Wu just how wrong this all feels?
"Hold my hand." Wu interrupts his thoughts.
"I just said I can't!"
"Yes you can." Says Wu with confidence, holding out a hand to Cole. "We've seen ghosts hold objects before."
Cole reaches out, and his hand passes right through Wu's. "Ugh, see? I can't!"
"Yes you can. Focus." Wu commands.
Cole lets out a sigh, before focusing on making his hand solid, after one more failed attempt he is able to grasp Wu's hand.
Wu grips it reassuringly. "There. See?"
"I did it?" Says Cole with mild surprise, before his hand slips through once more.
"I know this doesn't make everything better. I know you must be freaked out right now, but Lloyd is still in danger, and Morro is still out there." Cole looks up at Wu. "I'm going to try and help you Cole, but right now the team needs you, Lloyd needs you. So I need you to focus on what you can do, instead of what you can't."
Cole's eyes wander to the floor. "I would just slow them down."
Wu sighs. "You still have much to offer Cole, even like this. When you are ready, you should join the others in their training. You retrieved the scroll, it is only fair that you get to learn the technique."
When I'm ready.
Cole sits alone in the cabin. Before he could start training, he needed to get better control of his new body. He sits in the cabin with a mug on a stool, practising trying to hold it, trying to pick it up. It was harder than it looked. He found it was easy enough to feel where the mug was, getting his hand to stop when the pressure increased, but exerting enough force onto it, in order to move it? That was harder. It explained why walking wasn't too difficult, and why he hadn't yet fallen through the floor. He wasn't trying to hold the earth, he was just letting it hold him.
Lift the cup.
He was used to being the strong one, capable of hoisting cars above his head, so his inability to lift something so small was especially frustrating.
Lift the damn cup!
The cup trembles, rim rattling on the stool, for a moment he is holding it, seeing the air gap, but then it slips through again, landing back where it was before.
"Don't feel like training?"
Cole turns to see Nya hovering at the door. He wasn't expecting her to be the next one to come and check on him. He sighs, turning back to the cup, reminding him of his frustration.
"In case you haven't heard, I'm a ghost. And don't tell me we can fix this, cause we can't. This is just who I am now." He lies backwards onto the bed with a sigh. "I don't feel anything anymore." He didn't know how else to explain it. Explain how wrong his not-body felt.
"Sensei told us our paths in life are never a straight line. Take me for instance, I thought I was always destined to be Samurai X, but now I'm training to be the water ninja. No matter how horribly awful I am at that. All I know is, Ninja never quit!" Nya puffs out her chest with confidence. Doing her best to be inspiring.
"But I'm not a ninja anymore, I'm a ghost." Says Cole. Changing specialties was very different to this and they both knew it.
"Then what do you do? I think that's a thing you have to answer on your own."
If only it was that simple, but Cole already had Wu telling him what he should do. Keep fighting, support the team. He just wasn't sure if he could. There was nothing she could say to fix this. Nothing anyone could say, but at least she had tried.
What would I do? What would a ghost do in the living realm? His mind blanks at the idea, because this wasn't living. This was nothing.
Kai comes to the door. Cole is so lost in thought he barely registers Kai is speaking.
"Thank you!" Says Nya, dragging Cole out of the void, reminding him he should be thankful for this offering of an olive branch. Especially from Nya.
Cole looks up to her. "No Nya, thank you." Thank you for not giving up on me. Thank you for trying to help me. Cole tries to hug her, arm floating through her body. He tries again, focusing hard, and feels for her pressure, holding it, letting it hold him. It wasn't enough. He wanted a hug so badly right now. He wanted that warm comforting squeeze of a friend's arms around his. This could not be what all human contact will feel like from now on…
His arm slips through once more as Nya pulls away, giving him a lopsided sympathetic smile before running after Kai.
Cole looks back down at his hands before sinking his head into them. More discouraged than before Nya had arrived.
"Are you coming or what?"
Cole looks up, seeing Nya sticking her head back through the doorway.
"Um, sure." He says, and gets up to follow her out of the room. Too embarrassed to admit that he wasn't listening to what Kai had said. So much for when I'm ready…