More Than We Were
Galva slowly trudged through the desert. Up ahead, Takanuva was eagerly powering over a dune. He almost seemed to be enjoying himself, as if he didn't know how much she despised him. She clenched her fists, even though it made the vines tighten around her unarmored wrists. She tried to pull the vines back up over her armor, but the rope only seemed to get tighter. She was certain that if she asked Takanuva he would loosen them, but she refused to give him the satisfaction.
The pain around her wrists wasn't the worst of it. That wretched 'Okoto' had convinced Takanuva that it would be too dangerous to let Gavla keep wearing the Mask of Hunger. At first, Gavla had felt alright, but the energy lost from being maskless meant that she was exhausted before they started moving. Now that they were in the desert, each step became twice as difficult as the last. Sand clawed around her feet and seeped into her joints, crunching sharply with every movement of her legs.
'Okoto' brought up the rear, keeping a sharp eye on Gavla. She was almost as bad as Takanuva himself. When Gavla had first seen the Shadow Toa, she had laughed at how delicious it would be to defeat Takanuva with his own corrupted copy. At least Okoto had the good sense to revel in the misery she was inflicting, even if she tried to hide it from Takanuva.
The body of the Great Spirit lay in the distance, mountaintops peaking over its head. The second sun was beginning to hide behind the horizon to her back, and she met with a harsh wind as they crested the top of a dune. Gavla shivered as the heat of the day disappeared. She'd never had to spend a night in a desert before.
The worst part was that their little group had fallen silent. The never-ending loneliness of light made her chest ache, the quiet reminding her just how isolated she was. Her army of Shadow Takanuvas was still out there, but it seemed a distant hope that they might find her. Every one of them was pathetic, violent, and angry, completely given in to the base urges that the power of shadow provided. She didn't know why she seemed exempt from those qualities. Perhaps her heart had long since grown used to lonely shadow and she had grown acclimated to living with it. Perhaps she was just smarter than Takanuva and his dozens of copies.
Regardless, the Shadow Takanuvas had eagerly joined her and Ahkmou, excited at the prospect of indiscriminate violence to satisfy their own twisted desires. And Gavla had loved those all-too-brief hours of commanding, leading, guiding them toward a future that would propel Ahkmou - and herself - back to ruling over the Matoran.
One more step, and then another. Biting rope at her wrists. Sand grabbing her feet. Lightheadedness took her, left and right seemed to become one.
Ahkmou would come for her. Ahkmou needed her.
Her leg gave out beneath her. She feebly tried to break her fall, but sand scratched against her naked face anyway.
"Get up!" Okoto snarled. "We've got a long way to go and you're slowing us down!"
A hand grabbed the back of Gavla's neck and dragged her to her feet.
Takanuva turned around to face them. "She needs a mask, Okoto. She's just going to keep slowing us down."
"You really want her running around with a Mask of Hunger?"
"No, but I don't want to be dragging her back to camp either."
Okoto let go of Gavla's neck, and it took all of Gavla's willpower to not fall right back into the sand.
"I'm not giving her the mask. Forget it."
Takanuva eyes shone with a brazen smile. "Fine. Give her your mask."
"My mask?" Okoto spluttered.
"The Mask of Light won't give her any more abilities than she already has. You can put the Mask of Hunger on now, and take your mask back when we get to camp."
Gavla felt Okoto shuffle behind her, and the shimmering Mask of Light dropped in the sand before her. Gavla let herself drop to her knees, scrambling to pick it up. Almost before the mask snapped over her face, she felt energy begin to radiate through her body. Her legs still ached, but at least they didn't feel like they would collapse under her weight.
"Are you ready now?" asked Okoto impatiently. "Get moving, before your people catch up."
Without a word, Gavla pulled herself back up, wondering how long she could feign exhaustion.
The trio continued their trek through the desert. Her strength returned to her almost immediately. Grit seemed determined to catch in her ankles and knees, grinding into her joints, but Okoto prodded her into keeping a good pace. As Gavla looked behind her, the jungle seemed smaller in their wake. As of yet, she hadn't spotted any Shadow Toa following them, and there were few places for them to hide in the sandy plains.
Despite that, the giant robot in the distance didn't look any closer. It felt like it might take days before they reached it. Stars began to twinkle in the sky.
After some time, Takanuva fell back into step with her. "Do you miss home?"
She felt her muscles contract, tightening her wrists against the rope despite the pain it caused her. How could he not know? "Not for a moment."
"Not even a little? Karda Nui was a beautiful -" Something impacted in the dirt before him, spraying sand in his face. As he moved to shield his eyes, Gavla felt Okoto push her to the side.
"Ambush!" shouted Okoto, pulling her twin staves from her back.
A dozen more explosions of sand kicked up around them. Takanuva grabbed onto her arm and dragged her, half running and half falling, down the side of a dune. Okoto tackled Gavla to the ground as a rubbery object passed overhead.
Takanuva peered over the dune.
"What is it?" Gavla asked.
"A group of… oh, around thirty mean-looking warriors," Takanuva replied.
Okoto glared at Gavla. "Friends of yours?"
"They don't look like quite any species I've ever seen. Maybe they're native to this world, and they think we're intruding on their territory."
"Aren't we invading their territory?" asked Okoto innocently.
"That's not true, we didn't even know they were here, and it's not like there's a sign saying 'keep off the sand'. We were just passing by!" Takanuva poked his head up once more and waved. "Hey there! We didn't realize this was your patch of desert!" He ducked as another round of projectiles struck against the dune. "Guess they don't want to talk. They have launchers and we don't, and I don't particularly want to risk hurting them with light powers. Options?"
"Can't you just use your powers to blind them or something?" asked Gavla.
"I guess I can try," answered Takanuva. He concentrated, peeked up, and aimed with his lance. The horizon over the dune blazed with light. Takanuva ducked back down, shielding his eyes. "They're too far away, and now they know what we're capable of."
Gavla tried to think of something, but she had barely grown accustomed to shadow powers. Light, in comparison, seemed fairly useless unless you needed a room illuminated or a Makuta vaporized. A series of war cries broke her train of thought.
"They're charging us," said Takanuva, panic beginning to enter his voice. "I can create a shield of light but it won't be enough to protect all of us. Any other bright ideas?"
Gavla glanced at Okoto, but neither said anything.
"We could merge!" Takanuva looked at them with an excited gleam in his eyes. "The three of us, we could form a Kaita!"
"A what now?" asked Okoto.
Gavla wasn't sure she heard correctly. "Even if Toa Kaita weren't just legends, there's no way I'd do that with the likes of you. They can rip you limb from limb for all I care."
"Like it or not, they might decide you're just as guilty as we are," said Okoto, turning back to Takanuva. "This sounds crazy. I remember being just a regular villager only yesterday. Since then I've been a legendary warrior of both shadow and light in another world, and you're telling me that three Toa can become one... Mega Toa?"
"I'm sure it will work," answered Takanuva. "With our combined powers we should be able to scare them off. Hopefully."
Okoto grabbed Gavla's hands and cut her bonds, before glancing at Takanuva. "You've done it before?"
"No, but I've seen it done before," he replied.
The cries grew louder, and the sound of a hundred heavy footsteps joined in. They'd be on them in seconds.
"What do we have to do?"
"Just concentrate on what we want to do," said Takanuva. "Focus on unity. Focus on us."
Gavla pulled away and summoned the power of light to her hands. She could take the enemy on by herself if she needed, and she doubted that there was much difference between three Toa of Light and one 'Toa Kaita'. A pair of light beams from her hands melted through the armor of one of the attackers and appeared out the other side. They fell to their knees, the smell of burning metal mixing with cooked flesh.
And they were almost all flesh on the inside. Gavla gagged a little, but felt no remorse at killing something so… disgusting. Muscle and lungs, she understood. She looked up into the eyes of another foe as she blasted his chest open, catching sight of blood and bone and organs she didn't even have names for.
Takanuva thrust out his lance and a wall of searing light separated the natives from them, but they were already moving around it. For all her efforts, she'd only taken down two of them, and now dozens of screaming warriors were only moments away.
"We can't take them all separately!" shouted Takanuva urgently. "Unity is the answer!"
Okoto grasped Takanuva's hand, but Gavla still hesitated. She pulled herself to her knees, preparing more light around her hands.
"You were always talking about how connected to the Makuta you felt when you were a Shadow Toa," whined Okoto. "Connect with us now."
She had a point - besides, combining couldn't be a worse situation than the one she was currently in. Gavla's hand shook, but she reached out to her former underling. Okoto grasped it firmly, and Takanuva reached out to complete the circle. She didn't know how this would work, but she tried to focus on unity instead of how touching Takanuva's hand made her want to crush it in her grip.
Nothing happened. She could see Takanuva's light barrier fade, and Gavla tried to focus harder. She pushed angry thoughts out of her mind. There would be time to plan her revenge later. Gavla concentrated on Okoto, on Takanuva, on how the two had teamed up and laughed and joked together merrily. She clenched her fist in fury, deciding to try a different tactic.
She remembered Makuta Vamprah, and how she granted him the ability to see through her eyes. On how she had been a part of the Makuta's plans. On how she might be able to overcome these foes now, if they could only fight as one.
She began to feel queasy, like her muscle was shriveling up but she couldn't quite feel the pain that it should be producing. Without any further warning, she shattered into pieces. Hands and arms swirled around her head in a mass of metal plates and pistons. Almost before she could react she felt herself being put back together, but it wasn't just her parts. White and gold and sapphire armor swirled around and joined together, and as quickly as her flesh had withered away, it grew to fill in the gaps. Pistons formed elbows and gears reconnected in her shoulders. The world seemed a few notches brighter, everything became sharper, clearer. She felt faster, stronger, better, she was radiating elemental power and it was an effort to keep it in.
Most of all, she felt the essences of the three Toa that made her up, like she had been alone her entire life and only just heard the sweet sound of someone speaking, as if she was being held by a living being for the very first time.
She looked down at her foes and prepared her glaive, ready to counter their attack. A handful of them seemed to pause when they saw what she had become, but the majority charged in anyway. She swung out, striking at one puny foe with the flat of the blade. Three more surrounded her, preparing to lunge. She erected a powerful barrier of hard light to stop two of them and struck the third with a beam of light that shattered his weapon. As she stepped forward into the melee, her intricate dance became a whirlwind of movement, dropping her foes with perfect accuracy, yet holding herself back from making lethal blows..
She concentrated on her considerable power, and it burst forward from her. The glare blinded her opponents, and she felled them as they stumbled around. Her bulky hand reached out to grab the one by the neck.
"Who are you, and why have you attacked me?"
But the fleshy alien could only utter a guttural 'skrall'. She looked to the struggling beings, kicking one down as he lunged at her. Focusing on her mask power, she called on its power to generate peace. But she couldn't be sure if these aliens even understood it.
"My name is Jutalin," she said, knowing it to be true. "I mean you no harm. If you leave me in peace, we can go our separate ways."
Although they had attacked her, it was possible she had encroached on their land. A part of her desired to lash out and crush them beneath her feet, but she would not. It would not be just to deliver vengeance on a people who were likely trying to protect their homes. She let the native down gently.
But the alien's feet had barely touched the ground when he scrambled for his wicked blade, swinging it aggressively. Jutalin took the blow on her shoulder, feeling it slice through between the gaps in her armor. She grunted in pain, spinning to kick him away and backpedaling away.
This conflict was going nowhere. A blinding flash of light covered her movement, ensuring her foes wouldn't be able to catch sight of her as she dived behind a boulder. Once the light disappeared, she created a hologram of three Toa fleeing over the dunes. The natives seemed to fall for the bait, for they cried and waved their weapons in the air before chasing the mirages toward the jungle. By the time they discovered the trick, Jutalin would be long gone.
Knowing her power was no longer needed, she willed herself to break apart into her component forms, despite the fact that a part of her desperately wanted to hold on. Just as suddenly as she had come together, she felt her muscles disappear and her armor split off. Moments later, one had become three.
Gavla's arms seemed short and weak, and she was no longer a powerhouse of light energy. The ever-present emptiness inside of her slowly opened up, but it was smaller and less pressing. The lingering warmth of sharing a mind with two others filled her with an inner strength.
Okoto's eyes scoured the sand. "Takanuva, help me find something to tie Gavla up again."
"What?" asked Takanuva. "We've become one, we're united now. Why would we restrain her?"
Gavla doubted that Okoto would have been able to make a decent restraint even if she had been able to find the vines she had cut, but that she managed to show such distrust of her after they had shared a heartlight crushed Gavla's lifted spirits.
"Good to see I've finally earned your trust," grumbled Gavla. "Perhaps you should worry about yourself. Lost little Kewa chick, how will you find your way home?"
"At least I'm not a power-hungry tyrant," snapped Okoto.
"Come on, this isn't helping," said Takanuva. "We've still got a long way to go. Let's get a move on, before it gets dark."
The cold sand bit against her feet, seemingly determined to suck every ounce of warmth from her. The air grew cold quickly as night set in. Gavla held an intense ball of light, finding some solace in the warmth running through her fingers. She wasn't practiced enough to hold it for long. Her elemental power was fading, and she wondered how long it could possibly take Gali to fly to their camp and back. It was a wide desert, and it seemed likely that she had missed them. It would be a long few days if they had to walk all the way to the Great Spirit with no food.
Gavla didn't know how to describe her feelings. These traitors had given her another taste of being something more than herself. It was everything she loved about being taken by shadow and more. She had become a part of something greater, and she desperately wanted to experience that again. It seemed unlikely that Okoto shared her feelings.
The stars in the sky twinkled brightly, but two stars on the horizon shone brighter than most. One seemed to grow even larger, bringing with it a reverberating thrum. Takanuva ran forward, waving his arms and shouting. The light split into two pinpoints that washed over them. The Jetrax sped by and looped around, before its pilot brought the vehicle to a hover. A lumbering airship followed behind, slowly descending as it found a place to land.
"Are you alright?" Gali climbed out of the Jetrax's cockpit. "I see that Gavla is no longer restrained."
"We came to an understanding," said Takanuva.
"You must have a powerful way with words," said Gali. "Last time I saw her she wasn't so friendly."
The airship's forward hatch swung open, Onua and Jaller standing at the entrance. She'd never paid much heed to the leader of the Toa Mahri. Takanuva and the Toa Nuva had been the focus on her wrath for multiple weeks. Jaller had seemed a minor footnote in comparison, and so she didn't know what to expect from him.
"No danger," called Gali to the airship, turning back to Takanuva. "I was worried you might have run into trouble with the Shadow Toa in the desert, so I brought backup." She gently nudged the Jetrax toward the enormous craft.
"Is that why you took so long to find us?" snapped Gavla.
"Good to see you haven't changed despite this 'understanding'," Gali replied with just a hint of levity. "Unfortunately, airships can't keep up with the Jetrax. Had we known you would come peacefully, I could have just had Pohatu follow me on the Rockoh, or the three of you could try and find room on the Jetrax. The airships are the only craft we had on hand with a hold that could contain a prisoner."
Gavla rolled her eyes. "Didn't get lost, then?"
"Don't worry about that. The Jetrax already has both yours and Takanuva's tracking signatures locked in it's scanners."
"Ah, you've already got a tracker on me," answered Gavla. "Good to see where I stand." She could hardly blame them for not trusting her, but it still stung.
"Are you sure we're safe with her?" Onua gently asked Takanuva as they stepped up to the ramp leading into the airship's hull.
"She's fine," answered Takanuva firmly. "You don't need to worry about her."
The hold was filled to the brim with more objects than she could even name. Tools and storage crates and even vehicles, sheets of metal of various types. Obviously, the airships had been used to return to the Great Spirit for extra supplies. She found a corner made up of two containers to sit in, away from the others but still clearly in sight so they wouldn't have cause to complain.
Once they were ready, the other five Toa pulled storage crates out to sit on. The hull of an airship wasn't exactly designed to carry passengers other than the pilots.
"Everyone, this is Okoto," announced Takanuva. "She's a copy of me from another universe."
Jaller nodded. "I heard from Gali. Now I've got two of you to worry about." He turned to Okoto. "Please don't make me follow you into any lava-filled caves."
"Don't worry," Okoto replied. "I've already learned my lesson about lava-filled anything."
"Well, you're already smarter than Takanuva then. So, how are you two dealing with this situation?"
Takanuva shrugged. "It's not like I haven't met other copies of me before. And this one's less annoying than some of them."
"You can say that again," replied Jaller.
Onua had to stifle a chuckle.
It seemed everyone was warming up to Okoto. Gavla tried to sink further into her corner. No matter what had happened between them today, she realized she'd never truly be accepted by the Toa. She'd done far too much to hurt them. Perhaps it would be in her best interest to return to Ahkmou.
"You might be used to alternate universes and Toa and merging and everything else, but this is still a lot for me to take in," said Okoto. "Your entire world is so strange, and just when I think I've gotten used to it something else comes along to turn it upside down."
"Well, you're taking it in stride," said Jaller, his eyes flicking between the two. You really are just another Takanuva. I guess this means you're teammates or something then."
Takanuva's eyes lit up as he smiled. "I guess this means it does." He glanced at Okoto, and then at Gavla. "The three of us. We're a team. Toa Avoka. The Spirits of Light."
Author's Note
I'm sure some of you realized, Toa Avoka comes from the Matoran prefix 'Av', meaning 'Light', and the suffix 'ka', meaning 'spirit' (as in 'Phantoka' or 'Mistika' - 'spirits of air' and 'spirits of mist' respectively). I added the 'o' for no real reason other than I thought the word sounded more fitting for a Matoran proper noun with an 'o' breaking it up, and I suppose it could be interpreted as 'of' in this case. This is about the deepest I'm ever going to get with custom Matoran words though - as cool as outofgloom's Matoran language resources are.
'Jutalin' comes from 'Justice' and 'Paladin'. I thought this fitting since she is the embodiment of light, often associated with righteousness and justice, and also because I felt that a Toa Kaita should embody a virtue, like how Akamai embodies Valor and Wairuha embodies Wisdom.
It wasn't until well after I had finished the first draft that I realized that Greg has apparently stated that Kaita can only be formed by three Toa of different elements. Well, Jutalin is a vital part of the story so I couldn't exactly cut her, and I don't always adhere to Word of God statements so long as I otherwise maintain continuity with the canon story itself (pre-divergence, of course). Besides, Matoran and Toa of Light and Shadow seem to break the rules applied to other elements anyway so I figure this alteration is justified, although I will refrain from introducing other mono-element Kaita.
Unlike other chapters, this one's title is actually a reference to a fanmade song instead of an official Bionicle work. 'More Than We Were' is an excellent song by the Bionicle Fan Music Team on their Tales of the Amaja album. If you like the soundtracks of the Bionicle films and Mata Nui Online Game, I highly recommend giving their work a look.
