Felix lowered himself until his feet were hovering just above the shoreline. He watched Thithíws hold out his hand, where Mello, Whipp and Hushh landed. His friends oohed and awed as they giggled.
Typical Quantic, enjoying the attention.
The shortest of the Natives took Mello while the broad-shouldered one held Whipp. The slightest of the group, with a short but thick braid, motioned to his neck. Hushh nodded and landed on his shoulder.
So Hushh can truly only partner with people who will not speak. Being the Silent hero must be a strange honour.
As his friends became enamoured with the Quantic, Thithíws turned back to the shore, almost as if he could see Felix floating only a few feet away.
But that would be-
"Greetings, stranger."
I-Impossible?!
Felix felt his heart race as Thithíws stepped right up to him, close enough for Felix to make out the light scar on his chin.
"You are like us, are you not?"
"H-How…how is this possible," he said aloud, "how are you communicating with me?!"
"Am I scaring you?"
"No, you're confusing me! There is no way you can be speaking to me. Not only are you dead, since this is a memory of the past, but you're just that – a memory!"
Thithíws gave him a kind-hearted smile and traced his finger along the air between them, like he was drawing a straight line.
"Time is far more complex that you have been taught. It cannot hold the spirit."
"What spirit? What are you talking about?"
"Someday you may come to understand how one can live through the centuries."
"No way. None of us are immortal."
"Perhaps not physically, but who are you to say that one cannot return again and again, living on through others? Who are you to declare that the past must be the past?"
Felix felt a headache coming on again. "You're just a figment of the past."
"The past is never just the past. All things continue forever and must be held in reverence. You hold such power now, but will the Quantic not be passed on eventually? Will it weaken simply because you hand it to a new wielder? Listen to me, boy: Each of us are connected through the Quantic. By carrying its power, you carry all of us who worked before you. We will not die merely because we pass."
Felix stared into the eyes of Thithíws and saw that every word he spoke was true. "…So, nothing ends with you?"
"No, boy. I am simply part of the beginning."
"…How do I cleanse Cheep of the akuma? I don't have that sort of ability."
"Seek it out here in the heart of Cheep. I speak to you through him in your language because we are part of him now, and I can guide you."
"How?" Felix glanced around them and gawked. "Wait," he noted how they were along, "where did your friends go?"
"To try and save their own fellow heroes. Come, we must hurry."
Felix nodded and hovered after Thithíws as he dove into the trees.
Hold on, Cheep. I – we – are coming.
"We heroes do not die…no, we do die, but our spirits live on in others."
"You see the logic, then."
Felix turned to Thithíws. "Starting to. Are we close?"
The duo stood beneath the thick shade of evergreen pines and listened to the birds calling on the wind. Thithíws pricked up his ear and reached into the satchel at his side, pulling out an arrow. "Uh," Felix glanced at his back, "where is your bow?"
"I am the Inventor hero, remember?"
A rustle in the bushes not far to their east drew their attention. A small deer popped its head up and stared at them with big black eyes. Thithíws lowered the arrow and watched as it raced off through the treeline.
"We are close."
"How can you tell?"
"Because she is afraid."
"She?"
"Earth."
A low hum filled the air and sent shivered down Felix's arms and legs. The shade grew darker and darker until it was nearly impossible to see anything in front of him. Slowly his looked up at the sky.
"…Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
A ginormous akuma was hovering like a blimp in the air, blotting out the sun and flapping its wings to hard they created dangerous gusts. Entire branches broke free and swung around before knocking out nests and beehives. Felix heard the deer and squirrels dashing out of the way as the trees around them were ripped from the ground and tossed into each other.
"We have to stop it before Cheep's entire heart is lost to the darkness!"
"You're the one with powers! As long as you're the one with the powers, what can I do?"
"And here I thought you were beginning to understand. We are one while Cheep is with us. No one has taken your powers away, have they?"
Felix felt something warm inside his chest, and in seconds he felt his suit wrap him in comforting heat. He grabbed a dart and aimed at the akuma. "We are one."
"Excellent. Now, let us save our friend!"
The akuma loomed over them, descending, threatening to crush the entire forest.
Felix heard Thithíws make some sort of prayer under his breath.
"Unleash our power, Sparrow!"
Time to give you a taste of your own medicine, father.
Together they unleashed their dart and arrow and called out as one,
"TORNADO!"
Despite the darkness shrouding them, Felix could hear the dual tornados form above their heads and shoot into the air. For a terrifying second, he feared they had missed, until the screech of the akuma shook all his worries away – as well as the ground beneath them. As the light returned he saw the akuma writhing in pain, shaking and twisting as the tornados shot it back into space. No more than a moment was needed for it to be ripped to shreds, freeing the gorgeous butterfly from HawkMoth's control.
…Wish Chat Noir was here to "pound it".
