Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle... Doomtoran of Voya Nui, island of doom! You still have to meet Miko Nui, island of death! Mwahahahahahaha! (everyone: WTF?) Ahem, I wish you a merry christmas, I wish you a merry christmas...

Archive Nightmares

The archives were finally repaired. Whenua could hardly believe it. He had waited years for this moment to arrive, but now that it had come, he was afraid to ruin it.

He stood in front of the entrance, hesitating. Then, he took a deep breath and walked inside... and had to gasp at what he saw.

The Matoran had done an excellent work, the new archives looked just like the ones he knew when he was an archivist himself. Behind him, the door he had come through closed silently, cutting out every sound that came from outside, and plummeting him into a nearly complete silence. He didn't care, he liked it better that way.

It was like traveling back in time. With every step he took, he had the feeling to go further back. Back to the arrival of the Toa Olda. Back to when Onu-Koro had been built. To the awakening of the Matoran. To the Hordika. The Toa Metru, and...

He stopped.

In front of him was something that didn't seem to belong there. An old, dirty mirror, cracked at some points. A quiet, unnatural tune seemed to come from the strange object. Frowning, he stepped closer, projecting his shadow against the glass. Misty swirls of gray danced behind its cracked surface, and the mirror itself seemed surrounded by a cold aura. Something seemed to be missing, but he couldn't quite tell what.

When he finally realized what it was, he jumped back in horror. The mirror didn't reflect his image!

A quiet, scuttling noise caught his attention. Whenua spun around, still under shock because of the missing reflection. Something was crabbling at him through the darkness. Something flat and square. Thanks to his Noble Kanohi, he could see what it was: krana!

A second noise made him turn his head. Another krana was slowly crawling toward him from the right. Another noise, to his left. Another krana!

More and more of the ugly parasites came crawling out of the darkness, crabbling towards him, unstoppable. Whenua gasped. He was surrounded! He tried waving his staff at them, but the krana just kept walking on. A silent army of enslaved parasites. Like in trance, he started backing away. Slowly, step after step, even through he knew it was pointless. He could already feel the mirror's cold aura on his back. Soon he was going to be with his back against it. For some reason, the idea filled him with even more fear.

The tune he had heard before rang in his ears. He knew that this was the Toas' fault. It was their job to make sure the archives were safe! It was only because of their laziness that he was in danger. Because they hadn't listened to him!

The tune became louder, turned into a wordless song. It swept through the air, and hit the krana. Promptly, like it was a signal, the army started to retreat.

Whenua smiled and stepped forward. The song followed him, making the parasites retreat more and more. Whenua could've sworn he could read fear on their expressionless faces. As quickly as they had come, the krana disappeared. Hiding in small cracks in the walls. Hiding from him.

As he walked on, he realized that something was floating in front of him. At first, it looked more like a shadow than anything else, but as he got nearer, it slowly started to take shape. The black blob it had been became round and flat, and a hole appeared at its center. Whenua tried to grab it, but his fingers went through the object as if it was nothing more than what it seemed: shadows. Frowning, he lowered his hand.

The transformation went on. The edges changed from completely round to slightly uneven, and gained texture. Then, all of a sudden, the disc stopped hovering and fell. Whenua caught it. When he looked at what lied in his hand, he saw a round, black stone with a hole in the middle, no larger than his hand. It was glowing of a warm, black light.

At the same time, the song stopped.

A large figure walked out of the hut, where Turaga Whenua was now dreaming peacefully. It made sure no one was looking, then it quickly scuttled up the walls of a nearby building. Still not content, it ran sideways across the wall and into a dark alley, where it mixed with the other shadows. Then, it made its way to its next objective: Nuju.

XXXXX

CRACK!

Hahli jumped as another piece of glass broke under her feet. This had to be at least the seventeenth time it happened, yet she still hadn't gotten used to it. She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She had never been a nervous kind of Matoran. Shy, but not nervous. Why did she suddenly have to be so jumpy?

Maybe it was the the place. The shattered glass, the broken rocks that littered the ground, the chirping of the small cave creatures that lived there... it all combined to form a creepy atmosphere, that gave the place a sense of abandon like she had never felt even on Mata Nui. It was as if the archives had never existed. This place was just wreck.

Or maybe -- but Hahli hoped it wasn't so – it were the shadows.

Hahli had left behind the "safe" area of the archives long ago. She had taken the same tunnel the Toa had walked through that morning, as she knew that it had been there where the creatures had been spotted most often. With her, she had taken only some food and a small lightstone. She had wanted to take along a dagger or something at first, but she wouldn't have known how to use it, so she had left it home. Now, she wished she hadn't. Carrying a weapon would've given her at least a sense of security, even if she couldn't use it. But this way, she felt hopeless and afraid.

She walked out of the tunnel and into a larger, even more wrecked chamber. Three tunnels started from it and went even deeper into the archives. Hahli hesitated. Which one should she take? As far as she knew, the Toa had never gone over this point, so each one was just as good as the other.

In an attempt to get a half idea of where to go, she walked up to the left tunnel. What she saw cleared away all her doubts.

Someone had been in this tunnel. And this someone had stapled the dirt and the stones neatly to the sides, creating a large passageway in the middle, where one could walk through without having to climb over broken rocks and glass shatters. Only a few stones here and there littered the passageway, and they looked as if they had fallen there recently. Her curiousness awakened, Hahli walked inside the tunnel.

On and on she walked. The dark corridor was full of twists and turns, and soon she couldn't tell where she was anymore. Whether she was still on Metru Nui, or whether she was already walking under the silver sea. The twists also seemed to have a distorting effect on time. It seemed to her as if she had been walking for hours, even though she was sure it was only a few minutes. Yet, she wouldn't have been able to say how much time it actually was.

The darkness had increased noticeably since she had entered the tunnel, become more oppressing, as if it was thickening to create an invisible barrier against her. And if her eyes and her mind weren't tricking her, then her lightstone had dimmed, as if the shadows were slowly taking over it. Her nervousness had also increased, turning to fear.

She stopped and looked around, the blackness around her sent a chill down her spine. Quickly, she looked back at her lightstone, determined not to be intimidated by... whatever was out there. She refused to admit what it was that scared her, because she knew that if it was really so, if it were really the shadows that filled her with fear, well...

CRRRACKKK!

Hahli gasped in fright and turned around as the sound of breaking glass echoed through the hall. She had expected the shadows to cut off any sound just like it cut out the light. But she had heard the noise loudly and clearly, as if it came from just around the bend.

And this time, it hadn't been her.

She held up her lightstone and stood very still, listening at the sounds of the tunnel. At first, she couldn't hear anything, just the sound of her own breath and her heart beating. Then after what seemed hours, she heard it.

A loud, thumping noise, distorted by its own echo: footsteps! And they were near, maybe even just behind the bend. Hahli spun around and ran away, down the hall, around a bend, to the right, to the left... the sound followed her, came nearer, distorted and magnified by the echo and the many turns. She could hear it as if the source of the noise was just behind her. Heavy, slow footsteps, of someone who wasn't in a hurry, who knew it was going to get her anyway, no matter how fast she ran.

A small stone made her trip and fall. Her lightstone rolled away and disappeared, swallowed by the darkness. She hit the ground, and when she pushed herself up, the sound was louder than ever before. With a small cry, she jumped up and ran on blindly in the darkness.

Soon she crashed against a wall and fell, losing precious seconds. She looked around frantically, not knowing which way she should go. A thundering sound made her spin around. For a second, the sound of footsteps was not to be heard, then it started again, even louder. Panicking, Hahli ran back toward the wall and started feeling her way along it, running at top speed as she did so.

It didn't take long before her run was blocked away. This time by a tall, flat wall. No matter how much she felt around, all she felt were walls. Rocky walls, smooth walls, crumbling walls, the only free way was the one she had come from, and the footsteps now literally thundered through the hall.

Whining, Hahli frantically looked around, trying to find something that hinted to a way out. A darker zone, a light between the shadows. But all she could spot as she looked upwards was blackness, so complete she wondered whether there actually was something there. She looked back forward, and only casually spotted the soft ray of light that leaked from a tiny fissure at her feet.

Desperate, Hahli dropped to her knees and felt the ground around her. There where the fissure was, it went up straight and formed the smooth wall that had stopped her run before. Except that it wasn't a wall – as she suddenly realized -- it was a door!

A door? What the heck as a door doing down...

The thumping sound of the footsteps brought her abruptly back to reality. With a soft gasp, she started feeling around for a handle. Her fingers moved over the surface frantically, felt every small crack, every bump, but they didn't find the handle. As panic threatened to take over her once again, she raised her hands and felt over her head. The footsteps echoed loudly through the tunnel, and she was sure she could feel the ground vibrating under her feet. She searched faster.

And there, right above her head, was a thick, round ring. She grabbed it and tried to turn it, and to her surprise and relief, it moved under the pressure of her hands. With a soft cry of joy, she turned the ring faster.

Finally, the ring was all the way around, and the door opened just enough for her to dig her fingers in the small fissure that had appeared and pull. The large stone door moved silently for a few millimeters. It was heavier than she had thought, built for Toa, not small Matoran like her. She whined and tugged harder at the door, and this time, she managed to open it wide enough for her to go through. Without hesitating, she slipped through.

After the complete darkness she had experienced in the tunnel, the dim light in the room nearly blinded her. Shading her eyes against it, she looked around just to realize that her situation hadn't become any better.

The door led to a large, rock littered room. The light itself came from what seemed like a very large lightstone in the middle of the room. Yet one vital thing was missing: a way out.

An air movement behind her made her turn around, and she realized that the door was slowly opening. Her follower had reached her.

Without any better idea, she jumped behind the first stone she could find and curled up in a ball behind it, listening carefully. She heard how her follower walked inside the room and mumbled something under his breath. Then, she heard how he or she closed the door and turned the handle, blocking it, and then, incredibly slowly, how they turned around and headed toward the center of the room. She could even hear the sound of their breathing.

Hahli closed her eyes and pleaded for her follower not to find her.

XXXXX

"Toa Pohatu! Toa Pohatu wake up!" a voice interrupted Pohatu's dreaming. The Toa of Stone yawned and looked down at the Matoran who had waked him up.

"Wasizit, Hafu?" he asked, still half sleeping. He had no idea what time it was, but he wanted to sleep.

"Turaga Onewa wants to talk to you! Along with the other Turaga!" said Hafu. Pohatu shot a short glance outside and realized it was still dark. He dug his face in his bed with a groan. Last night he had checked each entrance of the archives situated in his Metru and made sure that each one was locked, and on his way to the last one, he had encountered a couple of Kane Ra bulls that had suddenly decided to charge everything in sight... including him. And since he couldn't risk accidentally hurting one of the many curious Matoran that had gathered around the scene, it had taken him some time to 'get hold of them and get some reason in their horned heads'. Which meant as much as 'beating them up until they couldn't cause anymore harm'. Now, the last thing he wanted was a talk with the Turaga.

"Tell him that if it's about the missing Matoran or that we aren't doing our work properly, then..."

"It is about the other missing Matoran, and it is about you not doing your work properly," interrupted a voice from the hut door. Pohatu turned his head and spotted Turaga Onewa standing on the door frame, looking at him with an annoyed expression. Pohatu growled.

"Tell me, Turaga, what is the point of sending a Matoran to wake me up if you then come personally?"

"Actually, I've been here all the time, I just thought you'd listen to a Matoran rather than me," said the brown Turaga. Pohatu grumbled something and rubbed his eyes. "Anyway, let me tell you that another two Matoran have disappeared last night," continued Onewa. Pohatu suddenly stopped rubbing his eyes and looked around at the Turaga. Every trace of sleepiness had disappeared from his face.

"Who?" he asked.

"Hahli, from Ga-Metru..."

"I know where she..."

"..and Hewkii," Onewa went on, ignoring Pohatu. The Toa of Stone stopped in the middle of the phrase and stared at Turaga Onewa. "Yes, Hewkii," he repeated. "Now, if you would take your Ilsao and follow me to Vakama's hut..."

Pohatu was up in a question of seconds.

XXXXX

The Turaga didn't look very happy when the Toa arrived, especially not Nokama. Pohatu had the feeling that this wasn't going to be a nice talk. He got ready to let half of what the Turaga were saying flow over him, but Vakama's first words made him change his mind.

"I had warned you, Tahu," he said softly. Tahu's face changed from bored to shocked to angry.

"What now?" he asked. "I haven't done anything! Nor have any of the others!"

"That's exactly the point," said Nokama softly. "You didn't do anything. And because of your laziness, two more Matoran have disappeared!"

"Laziness?" asked Pohatu. "Excuse me, but we checked all the archive entrances yesterday and made sure they were locked. I even had to talk sense to a couple of crazed Kane Ra bulls on the way! So if you want to call someone lazy, then..."

"Thanks, Pohatu," said Onewa. "But that's not what we wanted to talk about."

"No?"

"No," agreed Matau. "It's about yesterday. You said you didn't discoveredfound any creature, but no little-less than ten Matoran told us that they had seen-spotted the creatures that day."

"What?" asked Takanuva.

"And," added Whenua. "None of the archivists have seen you go down."

"Well, that doesn't surprise me," said Onua. "There was no one else in the archives apart from us."

"We know," said Lhikan. "They're all afraid of being kidnapped the creatures. They won't even go down there with Vahki escort. Still, no one even saw you enter, the archives."

"You shut up!" hissed the strange voice that Onua had already heard before. "Your word is nothing but lies!"

Onua looked around, but once again, it seemed as if he was the only one to hear it. And once again, there was no one to be seen.

"Well, we were down there!" protested Tahu. "Kopaka and Takanuva even got attacked!"

"Yes, I you already told me," said Vakama. "Except that from what Nuju tells me, Kopaka hasn't mentioned the attack to him. And Takanuva looked fit to me when you returned from your 'mission'."

"Yes, I know, Turaga," said Takanuva with a sigh. "I can't explain it myself, but I swear I really got attacked, and so has Kopaka. By..."

"A thing with purple eyes," finished Lhikan. "We know. Except that Whenua here has never heard of a creature with purple eyes in his whole life."

"But you have, haven't you? You know exactly what that thing is, I can tell!"

Onua once again looked around, but didn't see anything. Was he going crazy?

"But we didn't lie!" protested Takanuva. Kopaka nodded.

"It's true," he said. "We were both attacked... I saw how the creature fell over Takanuva first, and then attacked me."

"Anyway," continued Lhikan, giving no sign that he had heard what the Toa had said. "We have decided that, for the sake of Metru Nui, it's best if you pass on your power to someone else."

"WHAT?" cried the Toa in unison.

"Exactly," said Nuju. The Toa, and even the Turaga, turned around in surprise as they heard him talk. "Dark times lay ahead. We can't permit the defense of Metru Nui to waver."

"But we... we never..." sputtered Tahu. He turned to Vakama. "Turaga, you surely don't think it the same way?"

Onua had been waiting for the voice to speak, and indeed, it came.

"No! Vakama don't!"

"Yes," said Vakama. "And now, Toa, hand us the Ilsao."

-

Okay, so between today and yesterday, I broke about ten personal records. I finished a picture that I had started about two months ago as an extra for last time, did a Christmas card three weeks late and lost it. I finished this chapter at record speed (that i hadn't made since the beginning of HotP) after two weeks i had started it, wrote Christmas e-mails, answered to ALL PMs and put a "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" underneath each of them...

and last, i made it without singing a carol until today! Weeeeeeeeeeee!

So, I wrote this chapter, and hung a little extra that ( if everything goes well) you can find in my profile. It was meant for last time but I found myself having to finish and color it between yesterday, so i didn't get it as dark as i wanted and had the scanner to do it. ( also, i wanted to hang also a Christmas card but lost it. Sorry. If i don't get in in my profile you can find it under maj dot com. Profile name: cat-thef13.

So, all that can be reassumed easily in: I WISH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A NEW YEAR FULL OF CATS!

Feline Freak