Chapter Text
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The first thing he registered was the dark. It was darker than the departed realm, resembling that of the cursed realm more. Obviously that was impossible though, the preeminent had died, and if she hadn't he would've been the first one to hear about it. The first to be punished. How had he even ended up here? The last thing he remembered was a strange temple, although that was definitely just one of the departed realms illusions. It was meaner in that way than the cursed realm was, showing what could've happened had he picked a different route, but never telling him what to do, just...showing him. But that was besides the point, the point being where he was currently. The only thing he could see was darkness, pitch black spreading all throughout the space. Sighing slightly, Morro stood up and starting walking around, if this was also part of the illusion then maybe there was a light switch somewhere? After walking aimlessly for a few minutes (maybe a few hours? Who knew, time wasn't really a problem for the dead), a small white light started to shine, just a small distance from him. Cautiously, Morro approached the light, which up close resembled a person. The human- humans don't necessarily glow right?, the figure turned around to face him. It looked to be female, ethereally beautiful in the most unhuman way, with green eyes that glowed bright against its skin that was almost as white as the long gown it wore. It was entrancing, it felt...safe? It's eyes finally landed on Morro, and it's black lips curled into an almost warm smile a forced smile, it's eyes softening ever so slightly. It's black hair blended in with the surrounding darkness, it's aura felt familiar, but Morro just couldn't place it. What are you? He had wanted to ask it, but as soon as he thought that, it's face fell into a sad looking smile, and started to talk without opening it's mouth,
"My dear Morro, don't tell me you've already forgotten me?" It's soft voice also sounded eerily familiar, but he just couldn't place where he had heard it before.
"I'm sorry but I don't think I've ever met you before, who are you?" He decided to ask the question again, the thing already knew his name, but he still couldn't recall what (or who) it was.
"You truly don't remember me?" Morro shook his head and the figure looked down at itself, seeming to realise something, "How silly of me, of course you wouldn't recognise me in this form." It (she?) laughed softly and looked Morro directly in his eyes, "Don't worry, my dear, soon you will see me and help to regain my true form," she ruffled his hair and pulled him into a hug, much to his dismay, "My power has already been depleted far too much, I will have to leave your mindscape for now," So that's what this place is "We will see each other soon, my child, I hope by then that you will be able to recognise me, I will come back for you." And with that the strange (and familiar) lady disappeared with a flash of light, leaving only Morro and the darkness of his mind.
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Tuesday, Borg tower, Evening.
The next time Morro opened his eyes, he was no longer surrounded in darkness. It was bright again, so much so that he had to shield his eyes from the light. After allowing his eyes to adjust to the newfound brightness, he decided to sit up and look at his surroundings. He saw that he was on a white mattress in a room full of computers (or at least that's what Ronin had said they were called, although those ones were a lot smaller than these). There seemed to be no one else in the room, that was weird. Even the wind wasn't there, it usually wasn't in the departed realms illusions, but he still felt exposed without it. Just as he was about to stand up, somebody walked into the room. Well, they didn't walk in, they rolled in, but that's besides the point. The man saw Morro sitting up and yelped in surprise, to which Morro raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, I didn't expect you to be awake so soon! So, how are you feeling?" The man with glasses asked, starting again before Morro even had time to process his words, "Oh, where are my manners! I'm Cyrus Borg, its nice to be meeting you," The man, Cyrus, rolled over to where the ex-ghost was sitting on one of his spare mattresses and held his hand out for a handshake, which Morro surprisingly returned.
"My name is-" Wait, should I tell this guy my name so soon? Where even am I? "My name is Mateo," looking around the room once more, Morro decided to just ask his question, "If you don't mind me asking, where exactly am I?" Cyrus looked as if he had just remembered something when Morro asked this and answered his question,
"Oh my, you must think I've kidnapped you! We are in my tower, the ninja dropped you off here after they found you while on a mission, saying they had to go and talk to their sensei about what to do with you. Don't worry Mateo, I'm not going to hurt you, and you're free to do whatever you like apart from leaving the tower until the ninja get back. Feel free to make yourself feel at home, and please do ask me if you need anything," Borg ended his rant with a smile, yet all Morro could feel now was a sense of impending doom. Of course he couldn't just spend his after-afterlife peacefully, he was destinies favourite plaything after all. Trying to smile as to not seem hostile, the ex-ghost nodded and stood up,
"Thanks, is there any actual bed that I could sleep in until they get here?" After being brought back from the dead, he felt more tired than he had ever been in his life, piloting a body that has probably been regenerated and having been a ghost a lot longer than he had been human took its toll on him, as it would anyone. Plus, having a private room could help him make a plan to get out of seeing the ninja, his enemies. To get him out of seeing Wu.
"Of course! I'll just call one of my nindroids to lead you to one of the guest rooms," He pulled out his phone and tapped the screen a few times before a black robot appeared in the doorway of the tech filled room, "You can follow the nindroid Mateo, have a nice rest! If the ninja don't come back before dinner time I'll come wake you up." Morro walked to the nindroid and waved to the overly happy man, before following it to a plain room and immediately crashing onto the bed.
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Tuesday, After discovering the temple in the forest, Morning.
The ninja (plus Morro) walked through the forest, cutting (and in Kais case, burning) a few plants that were in the way here or there. After finding Morro in the weird abandoned resurrection temple that wasn't on any maps, they had decided as a group (and after a long rant from Kai about how they should just send the villain back to where he came from) to first drop the ex-ghost off at Borgs, as he had the most secure building in all of Ninjago, and then to ask their sensei for advice and to ask if Morro was the artefact he originally sent them to find. Most of the walk had been silent so far, with Cole carrying Morro and the rest of the team being unusually quiet after another one of their enemies was brought back from the dead, until Jay decided to speak up,
"Uhm, this may sound really weird but did any of you guys see the paintings on the walls?" The rest of the team nodded, Kai side-eyeing Jay.
"Oh no Jay I didn't see the massive paintings covering every piece of available wall space, what do you think dude?" Kai rolled his eyes, sounding unimpressed.
Jay sighed but responded nonetheless, "No, I meant did you take a second to read them. They had some probably important things written on them." This time Cole stepped forwards to join the conversation,
"I read a few of them before we left, and you're right Jay, they did seem important. There was one about needing a lot of power or energy to complete the ritual, which might help us to find whoever resurrected Morro in the first place, or at the very least give us hints to who they could be." The rest of the team seemed to agree with this and made a mental note to revisit the temple at some point to gather more information.
It stayed mostly silent for the rest of their trip back, apart from a few irrelevant conversations and a small argument between Lloyd and Jay about some character from starfarer, before Nya cut them off and stated that they were both wrong about it, to which Zane backed her up.