AN: This is a gift story for a friend of mine on deviantART. This Gavla is NOT the female shadow Matoran. If you really want more backstory, go visit ComicGavla on deviantART instead of hounding me with questions. Thanks!
Gavla Clone 2.0 and Cynidonix © ComicGavla on deviantART
Story © me
Everything else © TLG.
2.0 Loves Her
Nerdgirl-Hime
Gali's eyes widened as she watched Cynidonix cling to Tahu's arm from behind. Cynidonix talked, laughed, and stroked Tahu's arm, back, and shoulder as she, Gali, Tahu, and Gavla Clone 2.0 walked through the eternal mess that was a Le-Metru side street. A small frown tugged at Gali's lips as her chin crinkled behind her mask and her eyes grew hot with tears.
She had no standing when it came to the game of love. She had been dealt a bad hand, with her shyness and indecisiveness, whereas Cynidonix had been dealt a royal flush--She was sweet, bubbly, beautiful, and sexy. On top of that, her element was air, she was compatible with Tahu in many ways. But there was one thing Gali had: willpower. She would not give up on this unrequited love.
"Tahu..." She began. Tahu cut off a laugh and turned to look at the water Toa.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"How far are we supposed to go in Le-Metru--"
"Tahu! Tahu!" Cynidonix took Tahu's hand and dragged him up the street before he could answer.
Gavla watched this scene unfold from next to Gali. He could see her bite her lip and he could see her golden water-rimmed eyes close in defeat. Gently, he placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. Without even noticing the deep concern housed in his gaze, Gali kicked some debris away and she and the clone walked on, tailing behind their teammates.
The group arrived at their destination: An abandoned airship hangar. The launching pad room was open, the retractable ceiling jammed. Rubble was gathered at the base of several holes in the wall. Sunlight shone on the debris from the green-tinted sky.
Gali thought it disgustingly matched Cynidonix perfectly.
"This place is huge!" Cynidonix cheered, with a hand on the small of Tahu's back. Everyone nodded.
"Turaga Matau told us that we need to clean up this place so we can make it functional again." Gavla offered. He walked over to a pile of debris to pick some of it up. The others followed suit.
Gavla threw a chunk of protodermis the size of his head into the pile they were making in the center of the field. He and his team weren't allowed to destroy anything, all the rubble would be sent to Ta-Metru for reuse and reclamation. He stopped to watch Gali struggle with a piece as big as herself which probably weighed three times as much, and after a few seconds, strode over to help.
"I'll take one end and you take the other." He said, picking up one end of the protodermis. Gali nodded and lifted the other end. The two of them dumped it into the pile they made in the lot near the hangar.
"Thanks," Gali said, wiping sweat off her brow. "I can't believe they're using us, their Toa, for brunt work." She commented.
Gavla nodded. "It doesn't seem fair. But, I understand why, because they want to reuse all this junk."
Gali smiled softly, glancing at Tahu and Cynidonix. "I'm just glad that you and Cynidonix came to help us out on Metru Nui. Nine Toa are better than seven."
"You're welcome." Gavla replied. He walked back to the rubble piles and tossed a few more blocks into the pile. Gali leaned against a lightstone post, staring at Cynidonix and Tahu. She remembered how close she had been with Tahu on Mata Nui, and even when they were trying to retrieve the Ignika on Voya Nui.
When Cynidonix and Gavla had arrived, she and Tahu had lost their connection. He began to spend more time with Cynidonix, who by now almost had him in her grasp by easily overshadowing Gali's shyness with her own spunk. Gali grit her teeth. She would not let that happen. She would overcome her shyness and reconnect with the Toa of Fire. Her decision was made.
Cynidonix left Tahu working to take a quick break. Gali saw her chance and ran over to the Fire Toa.
"Tahu!"
Gavla, from afar, watched Gali run to Tahu. He felt the butterflies in his stomach do a mad dance as she struck up conversation and looked at Tahu in the way Gavla wished she'd look at him.
Then he saw her disposition change abruptly. Her shoulders slumped, and her face held a look of sadness he had never seen, yet could understand fully. She walked away, her pace quickening into a run and disappearing behind the airship hangar. Gavla knew it, Tahu had rejected her and gone back to his work.
Gali sat on a pile of rubble and cradled her head in her hands. She hadn't expected it to end up this way, especially after all the effort it took to muster the courage to confess to him today! She closed her eyes, squeezing the tears out. The scene kept playing behind her eyelids.
"Tahu!"
"Yeah, Gali?"
"I've got something I need to tell you."
"Sure, what?"
Gali's stomach did backflips, but she managed to get the words out.
"I love you. I've loved you for a long time."
Silence. Gali watched Tahu's expression change, from his usual boastful smile to a guilty look she had never seen before.
"Sorry... I can't..." Tahu said softly. "Another woman...
"...Has caught my eye."
Cynidonix, that bitch! Gali thought bitterly. Everything was fine until she came along.
Gavla had his back against the wall right around the corner. He could hear Gali's wracking sobs. Gali, who he loved dearly since he had set foot on Metru Nui and set eyes on her. Gali, who, in her normal disposition, paid attention to everybody and every single thing she saw and heard of. Gali, like the element she commanded, was calm and peaceful. It was unsettling seeing her this way, and he wanted to fix it, make everything better somehow.
But I can't do anything, He thought miserably. If I approach her when she's like this, she would hate me. Then I would probably hate myself for the rest of my life, too. He trudged back to work on cleaning out the hangar as the Toa of his affection experienced the shattering sensation of blatant rejection.
Night rolled around, and the group decided that they had done enough for the day. At the local chute station, everyone hitched a ride to their own Metru. Gavla and Gali picked up a passenger ship heading for Ga-Metru, while Cynidonix followed Tahu to Ta-Metru. Gali was distraught.
She sat in a crumpled heap at one end of the ship. Lightvines embedded in the walls left dancing shines on her armor as her body moved with her soft sobs and hiccups. The woosh of liquid protodermis and buzz of the electromagnetic shield of the chute were the only noises as the ship zipped to its destination.
Gavla bit his knuckles. He wanted to say something comforting Gali, but couldn't even bring himself to touch her in the delicate state she was in, especially after she had pulled away from him earlier. The lightvines only provided dim illumination and Gali's muffled sobs echoing in the closed space started to scare him a little.
Like that they rode back to Ga-Metru. Him stewing in his own boiling mixture of fear, compassion, grief, jealousy, and love, and her under a wet blanket of her own rejection.
Upon arriving at Ga-Metru, Gali ran through the darkened streets to a squat, alabaster building. Effortlessly scaling it with her aqua axes, she reached the top where there was a little pool of water rimmed by smoothened chunks of alabaster. The pool was high enough so nobody could get a good look at anyone bathing in it, and low enough to have a beautiful view of the Metru from the top. Gali waded into the pool, doffing her Nuva armor for comfort. Turning around, she could see the white buildings faintly glow in the dim light. The canals shimmered, reflecting the stars in the sky. Gali sighed and felt the warm water wash her day's troubles away.
Gavla was surprised to see someone in the secluded rooftop pool he frequented. He couldn't get a good look, but they were across the pool looking over the district. It was obvious they couldn't see Gavla. However, that azure back held some familiarity to him...
Gali smiled as she felt her troubles dispel. Cynidonix, Tahu, and her rejection were forgotten and the warm water was the only thing she could feel. Tahu's guilty face faded away from her mind, replaced by the shining waters of the canals. She scooped up some water and let it drizzle down her back. It felt so relaxing.
Her eyes widened. She sensed a disturbance in the water, as if someone else was there with her. Whipping around, she saw that the intruder was Gavla, standing in the waist-deep pool.
"No! Gali! I can explain!" He cried, backing away from the nimbus of water swirling in Gali's hands.
"You've got ten seconds to explain!" Gali yelled back, the water blast increasing in intensity.
"Okay, okay!" Gavla replied. "I saw some things I didn't want to see today, and I just need to clear my head!"
Gali cut off the blast and lowered her hands. "I know how you feel." She said, turning away. "Things strong enough..."
"...To break your heart." Gavla finished. He waded through the water and stood behind Gali.
"But sometimes we just have to get over them." She whispered.
"This is something I can't get over." Gavla wrapped his arms around the water Toa's waist from behind.
"Maybe we just have to get over it together." Gali murmured. She raised her arm and rested it behind Gavla's head.
The stress of the day bubbled up and erupted back out of her. Images of Tahu's guilty face and Cynidonix's flirtations, coated in the feelings of her own rejection, poured out of her, in her sobs, as tears mixed into the clean water of the pool. Oblivious as she was to Gavla's own predicament, she thought their suffering was worlds apart.
Gavla knew it wasn't. But he didn't want to say. It was relief for both of them just standing there, together.
End