The sheer numbing truth of what just happened shook Takua to his very core, torn between the fear of seeing who paid the ultimate price and the pure terror of not knowing. If only he had kept his eyes open, maybe he could have seen his savior and tried to stop them. It was a fleeting thought and likely false hope, but it hardly mattered now that the deed was done. The cold and gruesome fact was that someone's fate had been sealed, their life given for his own in a battle that was not theirs to lose. Someone was either dead or going to be, and it was all Takua's fault. Where they came from or how they arrived so suddenly was of little consequence when their destination was a painful and undeserved death. Even in the otherwise suffocating silence, their rattling and desperate breaths foretold that there would be no saving them. There simply wasn't time.
He barely even felt the shadows that held him fade away as his body began to shake; the one thing he tried to stop had come to pass despite his every effort to prevent it. Did he even deserve to open his eyes and see the damage he caused?
"T-Takua…"
No… No, Mata Nui, it couldn't be… Takua opened his eyes, desperate to be proven wrong.
He immediately wished he hadn't.
Jaller's frame was little more than a smoking wreck, his body limp and his torso bearing no less than six deep and jagged gouges, his flesh charred severely and his skin already turning to a sickening and ghostly pale color. Every slight moment, every small twitch of his fingers and every uneasy breath was little more than another small step toward the end, and as he stared up at his friend with pain-flooded eyes it became even clearer that the young guard knew he was in his final moments. The fact that he seemed aware only made it worse, the seventeen year old struggling to try and tug open the now heavily damaged satchel that lay just barely in reach. "T-Takua…" He rasped out again, fingers shaking as he tried to reach up to his life-long friend despite having nowhere near enough strength to do so.
Takua sank to his knees, tears blurring his vision as he caught Jaller's hand in his own. Why did it have to be him? Of all the people on the island, why was it him? "Y-you shouldn't be here…"
The guard coughed out a weak laugh despite the pain it caused. "Heh… g-guess you rubbed off on me… T-took you long enough…"
"Th-this isn't the time for jokes!" Takua said frantically, shaking his head as he reached for Jaller's bag in hopes of there being some sort of medical kit inside. Instead, his fingers found something far different. Something he never wanted to see again. A surge of grief-stricken hate shot through him as Takua dropped the Avohkii and tried to continue his search, only to freeze as he felt Jaller's fingers lightly brush against his. Jaller was reaching for the kanohi that started it all. The accursed, wretched thing that began the chain reaction of events leading up to this very point. "Th-that thing can't help," Takua sputtered frantically. "I need something useful! I won't let you… y-you can't… J-just no!" Surely there was something in the bag he could use; Jaller always had something for every situation!
"T-Takua… l-look at me…"
"N-no, I-I have to fix this!"
"Takua!"
The Chronicler flinched at the tone his friend used, fear-filled sapphire eyes returning to Jaller's. The crimson-haired matoran shook his head weakly and offered a faint smile. "Y-you can't fix th-this… B-but you can stop it f-from happening again…"
"N-no I can't! I failed you and I failed everyone else! Wh-why are you okay with this?!"
Jaller twitched a weak smile despite the situation, coughing quietly before managing to speak again. "You… didn't fail, Takua… Y-you're on the brink of something only you c-can do… But you h-have to keep going…. Need t-to see this through… t-to the end… It's your d… de… Destiny…" Again he tried to pick up the Avohkii, his fingers barely having the strength to curl around its golden edges. "Y-you… always were… a-a little different…"
Takua could only watch in horror and what felt like unending grief as his best friend choked and shuddered, gasping a few more feeble breaths before, with one final exhale, lying completely still, his eyes now vacant as the last glimmers of life faded away. "J-Jaller…?"
There was no answer. No twitch, no smile. The one friend who would willingly follow him to the ends of the planet, the only person Takua ever fully felt was his actual family, was gone. There was no waking up, no taking a couple days to heal. He had watched the light leave Jaller's eyes and heard his final breath. And straight to the end, all the young guard had done was believe in Takua, and in himself. He didn't give up or doubt himself when the going got tough; he dug his heels in and fought back even harder. It didn't matter if the odds were stacked against him; he'd face it head-on and give it his all. He fought for what he believed in.
He died for who he believed in.
The swell of conflicting emotion made Takua feel sick. His best and closest friend was gone, and nothing he did could have stopped it. The one person he always got help and support from regardless of the circumstance had willingly thrown his life away in the name of preserving his brother's. He died to give Takua the chance to end the very demon that slew him, facing the end of his life with the same fearless determination with which he faced everything else. How could a legacy like that be remembered and honored properly?
Takua's eyes strayed back to the Avohkii, glaring at it even as his trembling hands reached out to pick it up. This crown had started it all, plunged everything into chaos and kicked off the most dangerous gukko chase the island had ever seen. Villages were attacked and destroyed for it, and for him. Loyalties were put to the test and strained almost to their absolute limits. Nothing but trouble and pain had been caused in the name of this thing and now it was up to Takua to finish what had been started. All of the turmoil and struggle… and it all led to this. It made him want to scream. How was this fair? How was any of this right? This was the sort of danger that the Toa fought to prevent so innocent people like Jaller didn't have to die, and so families like Jaller's didn't fall as far as his did. This was a Toa's job!
This was his job.
It was as this final conclusion came to him that Takua became aware of the wild wind billowing near him, his grief-stricken eyes widening with shock as he turned and beheld Toa Lewa braced and concentrating, hands held out before him as he fought to contain a veritable cyclone of jet black fire. Even at a distance the Chronicler could see Lewa struggling against the heat, his skin burning and threatening to split as he held the explosion at bay. Another selfless soul putting his life on the line for the island he called home. There was no hesitation, no overarching demand for self-preservation. Only the desire to save those who could not protect themselves. That was the road Takua was to follow; to live for others and lay down his life if that was what it took to keep them safe. That was the path Jaller trod without any power to aid him. If he could do that as a matoran…
Once more Takua's gaze returned to the Avohkii, not with hate this time but with understanding. Jaller reached his Destiny. He was the true herald all along. He carried the Mask of Light until Takua was ready to bear it himself, and when the time came he gave everything he had to make sure it was there for him. Jaller had accepted his Destiny, and as Takua lifted the crown and closed his eyes, he knew it was time for him to do the same. For everyone he cared about, for the island he called home… he would give it all he had and more.
The Seventh Toa was ready to stand.
The surge of energy that washed over him as the Avohkii came to rest on his head was so powerful that Takua nearly collapsed, his eyes flashing open as he stumbled back to his feet. All he could see was pure and radiant light, pulsing and surging over and through him as his every fiber became saturated with power. It was like a dam had been blown open, unleashing a tidal wave of potential that had been waiting purely for this moment. A moment that felt like both an eternity and the blink of an eye all at once, lasting forever and then suddenly got. The new weight of armor meant little as the blinding glow faded; Takua's senses were focused on far darker matters. Now –golden eyes turned back to the pillar of darkness in which he knew Mihkoro knelt, suffering the agony of not only being controlled but also killing his one and only son. Takua could practically see his tortured soul, see the last feeble shreds of light losing their glow as the crushing truth of the matter strangled all sense of hope he had left. Mihkoro was a man with nothing left to lose and no will to survive, yet in his heart Takua could sense a fleeting spark, a miniscule corner of his mind that refused to let go and let darkness claim him. That was something Takua could work with.
Taking a breath and steeling himself, the newly made Toa moved to stand with Lewa and gritting his teeth against the heat as he looked to his older comrade. "Lewa we need to stand clear and let him erupt!"
"What?!" Lewa yelped, his focus on the wind and keeping Mihkoro's explosive reaction contained. "Takua if I let go he'll flameblast everything around him! He'll torchburn it all down!"
"Exactly." Takua agreed, his eyes and crown glowing like stars as he put a hand on Lewa's shoulder. "He's been holding everything back for years, hasn't he? Bottling it up and unable to let it go. He's tearing himself apart and we'll lose him for good if we make him hold back any longer."
Lewa glanced worriedly at him, gasping in alarm when he saw the change that'd come over the seventeen year old as well as the armor he now wore. So great was his shock that he nearly let go of his wind barrier. "T-Takua?!"
"Listen to me!" The blond urged, still holding the older Toa's shoulder as he started to back up. "The only way we'll get out of this is if we let him go!" He thought for a moment before blinking as another thought came to him. "Remember when you were controlled by the krana? Remember how you had to throw every part of yourself into breaking free? That is what Mihkoro is trying to do, but he needs more room!"
That example drew a look of understanding to Lewa's eyes, his uncertainty becoming grim assurance as he gave a small nod. "Right. More roomspace. Hang on tight!" Immediately the Toa of Air turned, catching hold of and pulling Takua along with him as he activated his kanohi, the wind shield behind them shredded under the power radiating from Mihkoro's frame. At once Lewa sent himself along with his new Brother and Jaller's body skyward with a gust of air, narrowly avoiding a tidal wave of jet black fire as it rolled mercilessly over the stonework. Left hovering a fair distance above the flames, all the two Toa could do was watch as Kini Nui was engulfed, the roar of the blaze rivaled only by the blood curdling, emotion-driven scream that rang out loud and unchained from the blast's epicenter. The sheer rage and grief was enough to draw another wave of nausea to rise within Takua, the chaos of the outburst all but overwhelming him as he stared into the life-stealing blackness below. Somewhere in that inferno was a Toa fighting for his life, pushed beyond the brink and teetering on the edge of eternal insanity. "Come on, Mihkoro…" He urged under his breath as he clung to Lewa's arm. "Show me the person Jaller fought to be like… fight the Makuta off!"
A sudden flicker of orange-red surged up from the center of the firestorm, a plume of pure and untainted fire clawing its way to the surface and tearing a swath in the darkness around it.
That small glimmer in his soul was growing stronger.
Another burst of flame shook the air, spilling forth into the shadows and setting them ablaze, a sea of black flaring into an ocean of red as the center of the storm turned bright blue. Takua couldn't help but grin. "It's working… Lewa it's working!"
The Air Toa could only stare in wide-eyed shock as the war raged below them. "H-how did you know…?"
A sad note tainted his grin as the Seventh Toa explained his thoughts. "Because holding things back is like poison; hold it in long enough and it will eventually kill you. But when you can let it out… that's when a person can get the strength back to fight another day."
One final blast of fire erupted from the center of the explosion, surging out as the remaining taint of darkness was burned away and obliterating the last fragments of shadow that tried to linger. As the last of the fire dwindled away and faded, a single figure remained standing in the midst of the destruction and scorched stones. Waves of crimson hair framed his tanned and char-painted face, his scarred torso devoid of any marks or tattoos that once decorated his skin. Blazing rose-gold eyes burned with unending fury as he stood in the midst of the chaos he had unleashed, waves of heat and smoke billowing from his frame in such a thick haze that it seemed to blur everything around him even at a distance.
Chest heaving, skin and hair virtually glowing, Mihkoro turned his gaze skyward, fixing on Lewa and Takua for several long and silent seconds before he collapsed, trembling and lost in the agony of what happened. His mind was finally free, but even as the pair of levitating Toa returned to the scorched ground Takua could tell the battle was not over yet. No, this was just the beginning.
A new beginning for them both, bought with the life of someone who truly knew what Duty meant.