Chapter Text
When Morro came back to life, or more accurately; had his soul stuffed into a statue, he was confused and then annoyed.
The rush of sensations, even muted as they are in his ghostly form, was a nauseating one. If he was alive, he would say it makes his skin prick painfully.
Not only that, he was stuck in a room full of idiots.
They blabbered and argued with each other so loudly Morro wanted to tell them to just shut up. It almost reminded him of the ninja but even they had been more tolerable, which is not something he thought he would ever say.
Then the idiot named Chen crashed into a wall and Morro wondered just why he had to be brought back for this. When the Preeminent dragged him down with her, into the watery depths that spelled a final death something clicked for him.
Watching Sensei Wu reach out for him, desperately trying to save him, after all he’d done, he realized exactly where he had gone wrong. Why he died the first time.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, all this time, all the people he had hurt, for….nothing really.
So he stopped fighting the Preeminent unbreakable hold, said his goodbyes to his old sensei and let the water carry him away. He just wanted to rest his ghostly bones, he had found a place for himself in the departed realm.
So standing here again, in Ninjago, was plain annoying.
While the others continued to argue he had caught sight of a portrait of a man he recognized. It was the Airjitzu Master, the one who the ninja had stolen the scroll from and the one who had turned the earth ninja into a ghost.
Being a ghost gives you, or at least Morro, an inherent ability to recognize other ghosts so the second he locks onto the portrait, he knows someone is watching.
And he’s right. When he floats over and brings attention to it, Master Yang distorts the painting, as if he’s trying to escape it.
Then he says he can bring them to life, permanently, and despite himself there's a part of Morro that twitches in interest. That part of him withers and dies with the next words Yang speaks.
“My magic has brought you from the departed realm to Ninjago but you can only remain for the duration of the eclipse, unless…”
“Unless?”
“unless you destroy the ninja who destroyed you. Use your departed blades and you will take their place among the living.”
He tells them to take revenge. And while he cheers with the rest of the subpar villains he’s surrounded by, internally he feels nothing but apathy to the idea.
Morro is tired of revenge and when he ventures back to the feeling he had possessing Lloyd he just feels regret. What’s the point of living if it just takes more of what Morro got himself killed trying to do?
Morro is not stupid, Yang has a reason he wants the ninja destroyed, like they all do, and they’re just a means to an end. He doesn’t want a part of it but he figures the least he could do is warn the ninja, warn Wu.
He tries to do just that. As everyone clambers over who to choose, who to kill, he picks his poison. Wu, he’s the only one who would ever listen to him. Briefly he considers Lloyd but he knows how that would end.
It’s all for naught though. The second the words left his mouth, Yang's eyes locked onto him. His creepy, painted eyes seemed darker than night and colder than ice. Morro returns his gaze.
It was a mistake, because the next second he’s sighing theatrically.
“I see it was a mistake to bring you here Morro, to give you a chance,” he says, nothing about his face is apologetic. Annoyed, maybe, mocking definitely, but nowhere near apologetic.
“...Do you really think I would pass up the chance to end things? Once and for all?” Morro says.
“I do,” Yang smiles, “I don’t see any anger in your eyes.”
Morro’s smirk drops.
“And I,” he continues, “don’t have time to deal with you.”
Then his eyes glow briefly and Morro feels his soul detach. He vaguely hears the sound of his statue falling to the ground.
Then he opens his eyes in the departed realm and hopes the ninja can make it out of this one alone.