It's a beautiful world in its newness, but Vakama knows as well as anyone that the old age has to be relegated to tapestries and tales before they can ever fit in.
He dreads it, most of the time, but when buildings break and voices shriek and accusations are hurled, he allows himself to think, maybe things will be better then, when Matoran meld into Agori like old masks being melted down.
By some sadistic trick of fate, he and his fellows, old as they are, have become new, attending the games of the Agori and Glatorian, solving disputes and gently guiding as they always have. Others are not so lucky, and legends become history.
Toa Tahu goes first, as he was always bound to, in a blaze of fire and flame and recklessness; worthy of the title Fire Toa in a way Vakama has never been.
When his eyes don't reignite, the others are held spellbound by memory for a single second before love becomes rage becomes pain, and five becomes six.
The Turaga of Fire makes a mental note to cover his ears next time, because the scream of a Toa is something metalic and rending and primal in a way that reminds him uneasily of the Hordika.
Gali goes next, not because she's drawn but because she never could stand anyone showing her up, even Tahu. By all rights she should not be alive when they find her, but she is, and she's slain every one of her foes. She gives them a battered, bloody grin fully unfit for a peaceful water guardian, and then the amazon of Ga-Metru goes on her merry way.
There's no screaming after her death, but somehow the hurt, bewildered looks from the remaining Toa Nuva as they realize that maybe they weren't immortal after all, are more painful.
It's quieter, with the two powerhouses gone. Duty becomes routine becomes bland, and so it goes, until one of the Glatorian starts something with Onua he shouldn't have, and the fight ends badly the only way it can, with a dead Glatorian on the ground and Onua calmly accepting responsibility for it.
Most beings are shocked, but Vakama thinks they probably should have seen it coming.
(Murder begets murder, and even though Lewa pleads against justice for all he's worth, even Whenua and Nokama know better than to argue.)
Kopaka and Pohatu, at least, go down defending the peace their brother violated. They keep each other company in the medical huts, and the Toa of Ice talks to the Toa of Stone long after the latter is able to hear him.
Some things are yin and yang, and while those two weren't, they were at the very least a caricature of warp and weft, one useless after the departure of the other.
The disease that sweeps through the medical huts in the following months is almost welcomed.
Lewa stays the longest, serious beyond what any Air Toa is born to be, and often tired. Vakama is astounded that he can still smile, but maybe Lewa has always been the strongest. Indeed, Toa becomes Turaga, and Vakama watches with mixed admiration and pity as Lewa aids Matau with the villagers.
He doesn't question the decision of the younger Turaga of Air to leave the settlement after a while and herd Bohrok, out to the East.
Six is a small price to pay for peace, he supposes. Six is all that's needed, anyways. More Glatorian than Toa now, Jaller and Halhi spar, and coax Nuparu into joining them. Hewki spends his days with Macku, and Kongu talks to Matau more often than not.
Nuju talks to Matoro, but everyone tries their level best to ignore this.
Vakama knows he too will pass eventually, and the Matoran will only grow stronger. He is not bothered by leaving, but he is not opposed to staying, either, and the Toa of Light reminds him of this by blessedly always being somewhere else when you need him, and leaving his Ussal Crab tied up in odd places.