All Who Wander

Rating: T (for some bad language, general mayhem etc.)

A/N: Throughout Season 5, Morro really grew on me. I hated him in the beginning, but that death scene at the end tho…. (dammit Lego, stop playing with the viewer's feels!). To combat the angst, here's an alternative, second shot at redemption for our ghostly Master of Wind!

Featuring plenty of Kai, Lloyd & Cole friendship (because I LOVE IT) and some JayxNya (because so many of YOU love it!) ;-) Short prologue, future chapters longer.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ninjago.

"Take my hand, Morro! Please!"

In the midst of their struggle above the water, these are the words which make Morro pause. Not because he is actually considering following their directive, but because they are so unexpected and genuine, and he is so undeserving of such a suggestion that he wonders why Sensei would bother saying it aloud in the first place.

He immediately thinks it is another trap; that the Sensei will only take his hand to seize the realm crystal, and then throw Morro to the water below. Given everything Morro has done – to this man, to the man's students, hell, to the entire population of Ninjago- that is the only plausible explanation for Wu's words. Death and betrayal are all Morro deserves, and both men are well aware of that fact.

Except, Morro has spent years training beneath this man, and he can tell when the man is planning and lying, and he is certain that Wu isn't lying now. Those brown eyes are genuine, shining with layers upon layers of old and new pain; pain Morro knows he put there himself.

Those are not the eyes of a man about to deceive and slay a monster.

They are the eyes of a parent who desperately wishes their child would come home.

The man still loves him.

The realisation hits Morro hard, clenching at a ghostly heart which hasn't beaten in years. A heart he had cast aside long ago in the same bitter quest for power and respect that had led him away from Wu.

It's mind-blowing. That after fucking everything that has happened, this man can still care.

("You're all my prized pupils!")

Wu has always cared. He is the man who rescued a cold, starving orphan from Ninjago's back streets and taught him that not only was he unique, but that such uniqueness was to be embraced.

He is the man who protected the orphan from street gangs with a staff and from nightmares with silly stories and hugs.

Now, Sensei Wu is the man who wants to rescue the monster all over again because he still. fucking. cares.

Gods damn him for it.

Morro has fallen too far to deserve a chance at redemption; has hurt so many people he should not even want it. This is the first person who ever showed him kindness (the first person Morro ever betrayed…)… he should be the last person offering Morro a second chance.

"Please, come!"

For a moment, Morro can see fuck all for the ghostly tears suddenly welling in his eyes, and he hastily blinks them away, praying Wu didn't notice his sudden slip in composure.

Why the fuck would he do this?

Morro doesn't deserve his teacher's love (and honestly, he never did, because all he has done is abuse it).

He's a fucking monster.

Good men are supposed to hunt monsters; hunt them and destroy them. Trust Sensei to believe that loving a monster is the way to destroy it- and rescue the soul inside.

(But if the Sensei's looking for souls, this time, he's got the wrong ghost.)

The water creeps closer.

It's far too late for Morro to consider becoming a good man.

(Doesn't mean he can't stop a bloody monster, though).

Morro replaces the hand he has in Wu's (shit, when did that happen?-) with the realm crystal and smiles sadly, choking on his last words, "You can only save those who…" who deserve- "…want to be saved. Goodbye, Sensei." and dies, half wishing he could live and take everything back- if only to remove the heart-clenching pain from his old mentor's eyes.

He does not wake in Hell.

In fact, Morro does not wake at all, just stays in a pool of dark nothing for what could be seconds, hours or centuries. Time does not matter, for it does not exist, and neither does Morro.

At some point, there is water, flowing over his arms, though his hair and pressing against his eyelids.

He hears echoes from conversations he cannot remember having.

(Voices. Kings and thorns. Judgement.)

"You want to live." A voice had said.

Morro hadn't denied it, and the voice had continued. "Death is like life. It is natural and to be accepted when the time is right, yet you and your ghosts have willingly brought chaos upon all worlds. Tell me, Morro… why would a monster like you deserve a second chance at life, when so many are celebrating your final destruction?"

Morro hears echoes of himself snarling, "Because I'm not fucking sorry for what I've done."

Maybe it is time that you are.

…

The water is pushing him upwards, and Morro wonders if this is what death holds for ghosts. Just water, water all over him, controlling him, breaking him, with Death's voice echoing amongst the waves.

It is a fitting fate, for a ghost which has died.

Like a human living in eternal fire.

(But the water feels so real and his eyelids feel so real and the echoes are fading away…)

The ghost of a ghost.

Does that cancel out, or does that make him a whole new monster?

He never answers that question, because suddenly, painfully, there is sunlight, and Morro breaks through the surface, warm and wet and alive.

And alone.