The Return
Prologue
The Mata Nuian sun slowly set on the final day of the matoran civilization. A civil war had erupted because of one matoran—Ahkmou. This civil war had lasted many years and destroyed many lives. The Toa had divided between the sides and only two remained. A Toa of Fire and a Toa of Ice. They had once bitterly split their team apart in the early years of the war, but now were more than just friends.
The Toa of Ice, one of the few females, stood overlooking her final home, the icy landscape of Ko-Wahi on the ancient island of Mata Nui. Her great grandfather once watched over this land, Toa Kopaka Nuva. She came from a very direct line of Toa, Kopaka and Gali being the first known Toa relatives of hers. Often, her long deceased parents would tell of the great deeds that had been done by the Toa Nuva. Remembering these tales brought both joy and sadness.
Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned and saw her friend walking up the slope toward the lone Toa of Ice.
The Toa of Fire had been there at the start of the war, when the Po-Matoran and agent of the Brotherhood of Makuta, Ahkmou, had openly rebelled toward the matoran. Surprisingly, more than half of the matoran had sided with Ahkmou. Within the first decade of the war, the two sides had reduced each other to a very small fraction of what they had been. The Toa Nuva had all sided with the Mata Nui, the group that still believed that the great spirits still existed. Ahkmou's group on the other hand, had lost all faith in the legends, and eventually had succeeded in destroying all but two Toa. The remaining Mata Nui destroyed Ahkmou's followers in a sacrifice that would have been remembered had anyone survived.
"Good evening, Kolana." The Toa of Fire said when he reached her. They caught each others eyes before Kolana turned away.
"Takano…" She said as a tear escaped from her eye. She wore a pearly white Akaku, as did her ancestor, Kopaka. Instead of the traditional design though, she'd had the late Turaga Vakama craft an x-ray visor to replace the three lenses and used the basic shape of a Calix for the design.
"Kolana, my friend, please stop." He spoke softly as he stepped up and put his hand on her shoulder. She turned toward him and looked into his dimmed orange eyes. He saw pain and grief, but also some joy and love. She saw only love and peace.
"You know what we are to do." Kolana said as she looked away and out over the horizon.
"Yes." Takano said as he began to walk to the former site of Ko-Koro. She soon followed as they trudged across the cold, snowy wasteland.
As they entered the ruined gates of the village of ice, an eerie silence fell over them, a silence that had been in the village as long as any matoran could remember.
Tears began flowing from both of Kolana's eyes as she remembered the days of her childhood. She pictured young matoran running across the slippery ground, doing the best that they could to try to make the older Ko-Matoran laugh. Every once in a while they would get a smile, and sometimes they could even get Turaga Nuju to laugh at their antics.
When they reached the entrance to the sanctuary, there was no crystalline ice skylight, but instead there was only the shattered remains and a gaping hole in the ceiling. Takano led her down the abandoned halls to the chamber that held the canisters that the Toa Nuva had arrived on Mata Nui in. The two Toa stepped into the center of the room and looked around before turning to each other.
"Takano." The Toa of Ice spoke softly, fear rattling through her voice.
"What is it, Kolana?" Takano impatiently asked.
Instead of answering, Kolana stepped closer to him, wrapped her arms around his body, and put her lips over his in a passionate kiss. At first the Toa of Fire stiffened up, but relaxed shortly before they pulled away from each other.
"I-I love you, Takano." She said shyly as she began to pace.
The Toa of Fire, for the first time in his life, was speechless. He too loved her, and suspected that she loved him, but had never expected that she would say anything about it. He had nearly given up hope on it when she finally told him.
"Kolana, I love you too." He smiled and sighed.
She laughed when she realized that he had been hoping that she would say something about their unspoken love for each other.
"C'mon. We need to leave before we lose all light." She said as she headed toward the transport with a snowflake carved into the side. He followed her and they exchanged one last kiss before he went to the transport with the flame carved into it. They climbed in and soon the hatches covered them. They could see out of the glass domes built into the hatch. Looking out at each other they both could see tears running down each other's masks. Using the primitive radio-like system to tell each other the one last thing before no communication was available: "'Till Mata-Nui summons us again!"