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Ghosts were cold. Always cold. A perpetual chill that settled deep inside where his bones should have been. He didn't even shiver anymore, simply living inside the frigid plane of existence. Cole felt like he was slightly removed from the world. Behind a veil, almost. Where sounds and sights filtered through a kind of fog, and touch had to be thought about to register. The only thing that broke through the constant numbness was pain, and even that only came from one source anymore.
Water was dangerous. While being a ghost had come with some cool new tricks, it led to one giant weakness. If he got wet, that was it. Poof, gone from Ninjago. He didn't need to sleep anymore – or eat, or breathe, or any of the things that made him human. Cole wondered if this was how Zane had felt after finding out he was a nindroid, but at least he was still, well, Zane.
It had been months. Months of nothing passing by. He'd been fading out of sight of the others more recently. Spending more time accidently invisible, finding it harder to touch objects or people without simply passing through them. He didn't think the others had really noticed, or if they had maybe they just didn't care.
So, on the Day of the Departed, when everyone he knew suddenly forgot about his existence, unable to see him, Cole had simply believe that was the end for him. That whatever had kept his ghostly form tethered to this realm was gone.
Going to Yang's temple had almost been an afterthought – a last-ditch attempt to stay in a world he wasn't sure wanted him anymore. Discovering the plot, stopping Yang, fighting his students – that had all been accidental. But he was still a ninja, even if no one remembered him. He always would be.
Cole closed his eyes, stretching a single moment into a thousand as he hurtled towards the closing rift. He wasn't going to make it, that he knew. But he had stopped Yang, saved his students, and his friends were here. He couldn't tell if they knew he was, but at least he wasn't going to die alone.
The rift enveloped his body, edges folding around him, and imploded. Cole felt energy rip through him, before everything went black.
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Cole jerked awake. Well, that was a surprise. The first thing he realised was everything hurt. Constant low-level pain over his entire body, he looked around for the source of water, scrambling to get away but finding his limbs wouldn't cooperate.
He stopped, staring down at his bare arms. Caramel skin met his eyes, real, human skin. Not the green tinted mist his non-corporeal for had been made of, but flesh and blood. Rushing filled his ears, a constant pounding that increased along with his shock – it was his heartbeat. He hadn't had a heartbeat in months.
Dragging air into his lungs, body reminding him to breathe, he sat still on his knees in the undergrowth of the forest, taking it all in. Every point of contact on his body was overwhelming, months of numbness ripped away to be replaced by constant pressure, even the wind brushing his skin sent ripples of goosebumps over his body.
Everything was so loud. It was the dead of night, in the middle of a forest. There should be near silence. But instead, Cole could hear everything, the fog over the world lifted. Even the sound of his own breathing and heart were deafening to his ears. Bodies were so loud, how had he never noticed it before.
Voices drifted through the trees, catching Cole's fragmented attention. Several sets of footsteps crunched fallen leaves, and he tuned into what they were saying.
"—where's Cole?" Lloyd asked, voice high pitched in distress.
"Oh, no!"
"Did he make it?" Nya questioned, and the group halted.
"He was too late," Jay sounded frantic, "He's gone forever!"
Cole pushed himself to his feet, ignoring the way his body screamed, grabbing a tree trunk as he tipped precariously. He began to walk slowly towards the voices, trying to support himself more as he neared.
"I'd give anything to have him back."
Jay's voice made Cole's heart ache, the younger ninja's voice thick with emotion. He neared the edge of the treeline, bracing himself to stand alone and trying to find his voice.
"Anything?" He called playfully, stepping out into the open, their backs we're turned to him, and Jay replied, not realising who it was speaking.
"Anything."
"Even the Sonic Raider jet?" He vaulted over the fallen tree in front of him, impact of his landing sending waves of pain up his body. Everyone turned to him, and he flashed them his best smile.
"Cole!"
The yell went up from around the team, all five ninja rushing towards him. They gathered around him in a circle, crushing him in a hug. The intense physical contact made his stomach twist as the sensations threatened to overcome him, but he kept smiling for the sake of the team.
"You're back!"
Lloyd stepped back slightly, "You're not a ghost anymore."
"You look good as new," Nya laughed as she spun him to face her, shaking him slightly. The world went grey and he couldn't focus on her face, concentrating on staying upright.
One hand went to his forehead, rubbing at the constant ache there was he blinked his vision clear. He wondered if he had hit his head on the way down, that would explain some things.
"Ah, pretty much," he lowered his hand to her shoulder, "Thank you Nya."
"Speaking of new," Kai gestured at the temple behind them.
All attention turned off him, as Wu began to speak, no doubt imparting some ancient wisdom that Cole was too tired to hear. He swayed slightly on his feet, and a hand came to rest on his back.
He flinched away as the contact brough unexpected pain through his spine, turning to see Zane frowning at him. The nindroid opened his mouth to speak, Cole's eyes flew wide as he shook his head, hoping that Zane would get the idea. He didn't want everyone freaking out over him, he was fine. Zane could check him over later when everyone else wasn't here.
Bright blue eyes narrowed at him, but he closed his mouth. Wu droned on for a few more minutes, Cole becoming seriously worried he might fall over before he finished. His heart was still pounding in his ears, making it difficult to listen to anything that he wasn't explicitly focused on. His body trembled slight, unwilling to listen to his commands to stay upright.
As a ghost, he had been immune to gravity. Now, with his body back, he realised just how much effort it was to coordinate himself to stand, even still. It was a wonder he had managed to get out of the forest.
Everyone started to file back aboard the bounty. Cole forced his legs to move, taking jerky steps, bringing up the rear apart from Zane who remained firmly behind him. The rest of the ninja dispersed, joking and laughing, sharing stories of what happened to them tonight. Only Zane seemed to notice his issues, which he was both grateful for and saddened by.
Maybe it wasn't just the fact he'd been fading from this realm that led to them forgetting him. He blinked, eyes stinging as he entered the deck of the Bounty. He debated trying to slip off to bed, exhaustion weighing him down, but resigned himself to letting Zane check him over first. If he ran off, the nindroid wouldn't hesitate to make it into a thing, bringing the others running.
Cole was shocked from his thoughts as his shoulder slammed into a doorframe, sending him spinning and crashing to the floor.
"Cole!" Zane crouched in front of him, still not touching, "Are you okay?"
Cole blinked at him slightly. That was odd. Oh, right. He couldn't just pass through things anymore. As a ghost he had mostly given up on paying attention to where his body was in a space, only worrying if he needed to hold on to something.
"Uh—yeah," He raised his hand to his forehead again, ache getting stronger, "I—uh—I just forgot I can't walk through things now."
He looked sheepishly up a Zane, whose gaze had risen to his forehead with his hand and was full of concern. Maybe he was more injured there than he thought. Cole pushed himself up again, stumbling. The other boy reached out to stabilise him on instinct, hands grabbing his elbows. He hissed in pain and his arms flashed orange as he pulled away.
The force of his movement nearly pulled Zane over, the ninja only barely catching himself. Cole's eyes widened in shock, staring down at the caramel skin on his arms, wondering if he had imagined it.
Zane waved a hand in front of his face. Cole looked up, and Zane's mouth moved, but he didn't hear what he said.
"What?"
"I said, are you okay," The ninja repeated slowly.
"Yeah—yeah I'm fine." He stared down at his arms again. "I don't know what that was though."
Zane hummed and gestured to the door. This time, Cole managed to walk through and followed Zane's pointing over to the small cot in the centre. He sat heavily, unsure how long he would have lasted staying standing much longer.
The nindroid came to stand immediately opposite Cole, meeting his eyes before beginning, "Cole—I need you to be completely honest with me. Are you injured in anyway."
He shook his head, before adding, "I don't think so. Unless—my head hurts, maybe I hit it when I came out the rift? Otherwise, my senses feel like they're dialled up to eleven but then again being a ghost put them down to like a four, so who knows..."
He trailed off, chuckling slightly before that died out at Zane did not share his amusement. Silence fell for a moment.
"I believe you are correct," Zane started slowly, "I scanned you when you fell, and you do seem to be uninjured apart from exhaustion—"
"Great," Cole moved to stand but an arm blocked him.
"However—I am concerned. Very little is known about the return from the nearly departed, and nothing on how it may affect elemental masters."
Cole paused. He was unique, he knew that. It seemed retaining elemental powers after being cursed was fine, both he and Morro sharing that. But nothing said what would happen to them if he returned to a physical form. Whatever had happened in the corridor certainly felt like his powers, but in a form he had never seen before.
"Sensory sensitivity such as you described is well documented, and should disappear with time and adjustment," Zane continued, "But you head—I am at a loss."
"What about my head?" Cole frowned, feeling the sore area of his face. It felt normal, at least to him. Zane turned and pulled a small hand mirror from one of the cupboards.
He held it up and Cole stared in shock. A jagged scar ran from under his hair line down to nearly his eye. It was green, glowing slightly – it looked like a part of him that remained a ghost.
"It could be due to many things," Zane said gently, "Your proximity to the rift as it closed, a side effect that may fade in time. But—it glowed when your arms did, which leads me to believe it may be related to your powers."
That made him pause. When he became a ghost, he hadn't felt any change in his power at all, the earth calling to him as it always did. They were flying at the moment, but he reached out across the connection, seeking out the strength he found within him.
Something was different. He closed his eyes, frowning as he continued to reach, a barrier larger than one of simply distance coming between them. He pushed past it, feeling strength flood his system, and Zane gasped.
His eyes flew open. Cole's arms were glowing orange again, geometric patterns that reminded him of magma flowing around them up to his elbows. The mirror had fallen slightly, but he could see the edge of the scar glowing the same liquid orange. As quickly as they had come, they vanished. He turned his hands over, flexing and clenching them, feeling ever so slightly more himself.
"That was, weird." He decided. "It's definitely related to my power, but it feels—different. I-I can't explain."
Zane nodded. "Tomorrow, we will ask Wu. He may be able to help us."
The nindroid started forward, raising his hand on instinct to put in on Cole's shoulder, but stopping at the last second. He hovered awkwardly, unsure of what to do.
"You—you should sleep. Come on." Zane motioned his head to the door, unwilling to leave Cole alone. They walked slowly towards the bunkroom. Sleep, Cole hadn't slept since becoming a ghost. The last few weeks he'd barely been in the bunkroom, preferring to spend his lonely nights elsewhere aboard, where he wasn't at risk of disturbing anyone.
Zane opened the door and beckoned Cole inside. Everyone else was there, in various states of disarray. Kai was sprawled out across his bunk, head dangling down to look at Lloyd as they talked in hushed tones – poor kid was probably missing his father, it was the Day of the Departed after all. Cole's heart ached in sympathy, his own mother died long ago, but he still missed her.
Nya and Jay were laying on Jay's bed, whispering quietly. Nya did not sleep in here with the boys, though she had been found in Kai or Jay's bunk on several occasions. Cole was pretty sure she didn't like sleeping alone, and her insomniac tendencies certainly didn't disprove this. He wondered when the others would catch on.
Cole climbed the ladder into his bunk above Jay, pushing back the cover's that hadn't moved in months. Everything was so loud, even though he expected that the room was relatively quiet. Zane moved to sit next to Lloyd on the bed in the centre of the room, pulling an arm around him.
Today was a hard day for all of them, even without the events of tonight. They had lost too many people, too many friends, family. Zane's father, Kai and Nya's parents, Jay's biological parents, his mother, Lloyd's father – the list went on. But they had each other.
Settling deep into his blankets, exhaustion weighing heavily on him, Cole began to drift off. He would learn how to be human again, family around him, they would work it out.