"Are we there yet?"
"Not yet, Lewa. Have patience."
"Okay… How about now?" The red-haired man sighed, briefly looking at the fourteen year old beside him.
"Lewa, do you remember what I said about bothering people?" He asked, his tone bored and obviously tired of being questioned on the topic of location.
"Uhm… Don't?" The Toa of Air replied, blinking a few times as he pushed his forest green hair out of his face.
"That's exactly what I said." The boy grinned. "So can you kindly stop asking if we are there yet? There comes a point in time when even the most innocent of questions can be grating on a person's nerves." Lewa's smile vanished.
"Oh… Ever-sorry, Toa-Hero Lhikan. I wasn't mean-trying to bother you." He looked down at the ship deck awkwardly now, fidgeting with the corner of his light green vest sheepishly. After a few moments of silence, he looked up again and asked. "Permission to quick-ask a question?" Lhikan smiled, chuckling quietly as he nodded.
"Permission granted, Lewa." The Toa of Air grinned.
"Are we there yet?" The Toa Mangai twitched. Forcing himself to remain calm, he responded with a question of his own.
"Why don't you go check on the others? I'm sure just standing here is highly boring to you." Lewa shook his head, still grinning at the older Toa.
"I'm not dull-bored. Just wanting to get back home ever-quickly. I miss my family." The Toa Mangai sighed quietly, hesitating a few moments before responding gently.
"I'm sure you all do. It's been six years since we saw anyone from Metru Nui. You left everyone you loved behind so many years ago. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you to do it. But now you will get to see them all again." Lewa nodded excitedly before looking ahead of the ship they were on. Eyes going wide, he let out a cheer of glee, though it sounded more like a girlish squeal.
"Oh my gosh! That's it! We're almost home!" Flailing his arms in a comical manner, the Toa of Air ran off to the ship's cabin area, leaving Lhikan to enjoy the silence that took the place of Lewa's noise as he left.
Lewa arrived in the crew cabin in time to hear Tahu ask, sounding exasperated. "Kopaka, are you afraid of anything anymore?" The Toa Mata of Ice responded without looking up from his book.
"Death." Pohatu, who'd been trying to read over his Brother's shoulder, blinked, and commented.
"You told me it was Tahu's cooking." A vague and faint smile crossed the white haired teen's pale face as he responded coolly.
"Same thing. Eating his cooking is murder." Onua choked on a quiet laugh, Pohatu grinned, and Gali quirked a faint smile. Tahu's face went scarlet as he glared at Kopaka irritably.
"Oh very funny." He snapped, sarcasm heavy in his words. "You're such a comedian."
"Better than a tragedy." Lewa decided to pipe up before anyone could continue the steadily declining situation.
"We're almost there! We're almost home! I sight-saw Metru Nui in the far-distance!" All eyes were on him now, even Kopaka's, who'd put his finger on the page he was reading so he wouldn't lose his place. Gali was the first to speak, sounding very excited.
"Really? We're almost home? Oh I can't wait to tell my family all about the past few years! I've learned so much that I just have to tell them!" Onua laughed quietly as he adjusted his green-tinted glasses.
"Gali, you would share your wisdom and knowledge with a rock if it had ears to hear it. But yes, I am sure they would love to hear everything you've learned." Lewa blinked suddenly, his face paling as a thought came to him.
"Wh-what if they forgot about us? O-or don't recognize us?" He sniffled before wailing out. "I don't want to be lost-forgotten!" Pohatu laughed openly at this and grinned.
"Lewa, you are the sort of person that nobody could forget, even if they wanted to." Tahu snickered, leaning over to Onua and commenting cheekily.
"But is that a good thing, I wonder."
"Hey! That's not kind-nice! I can listen-hear you still you know!" Kopaka rolled his eyes as Onua laughed, poking Tahu lightly. With a jovial grin on his face, the Toa of Earth commented.
"Tahu, my Brother, you just got told off by the youngest person here. I hate to be rude, but to put it plain, he owned you, albeit not very strongly." Kopaka snorted irritably as he closed his book and headed out of the cabin, of to the deck, grumbling about people being too noisy for concentration to be allowed. Gali watched him as he went past, a small smile on her face as she did so. Tahu smirked at him when he noticed it.
"Aww, you like him don't you?" He teased, a cocky gleam in his bright red eyes. The fourteen year old girl blinked, looking flustered and mildly irritated as she replied, frowning somewhat.
"Only as a friend. He's far more mature than you could ever be. And at least he makes it a hobby to read books. You probably haven't read a book this whole time unless Toa Lhikan outright told you to." With that said, she headed outside, Onua and Tahu eventually following her out. Lewa looked at Pohatu now.
"Are you going to come up-out too, Stone-Brother?" The brunette shook his head.
"Nah, I'll stay in here. I get seasick really easily. Probably better for all of us if I stay down here so nobody gets worried about me." Lewa nodded understandingly.
"True-fair enough. I can loud-call you when we get there. Shouldn't be too ever-long now." And with a grin, he headed outside.
When he got there, however, it didn't take long for the Toa of Air to realize there was a problem. The fact alone that everyone was as silent as Kopaka proved this without even needing to look at their faces. Feeling uneasy, Lewa looked around, his gaze falling to the heavy fog that hovered over Metru Nui like a thick blanket of smoke.
"Why is it so fog-heavy?" He asked with obvious discomfort at the present situation. "It was never this way before…" Kopaka frowned, using his scope to get a closer look.
"Fog is normally a sign of heavy condensation in the air." He said grimly. "But like Lewa pointed out, this is far heavier than it normally would be. The fact that it covers the whole of the island, as far as I can tell, only leads me to assume that this was either brought about by severe changes in atmospheric pressure, or that it is exceedingly thick and heavy smoke." He noticed the bewildered expressions on the other four teens' faces, and added.
"To put it simply, fog like this can't be normal, or a good sign." An awkward silence followed, broken only by Toa Lhikan, his tone uncertain and on edge.
"I want all of you to go back in the cabin until I come for you. Is that clear?" The five children nodded. "Good. Head inside right now." He didn't need to tell them twice. Soon they were all huddled up at the small table in the middle of the cabin.
"So…" Pohatu asked awkwardly. "Now what do we do? Why did Toa Lhikan send you back in here anyway?" Onua grimaced as he fidgeted his thumbs.
"There's a really thick fog hanging over Metru Nui." He explained. "He sounded really unhappy about it too. Something's not right, and it's not just the weather. I can feel it." Tahu grumbled irritably, though mild nervousness was visible in his eyes.
"The only thing I feel right now is a little bit hungry. Anyone got a snack they don't want?" Gali shot him a faint scowl.
"This is serious, Tahu. Our island could be in danger. This fog could be a warning of dangers that moved in while we are away. It's been six years since we were here, after all. Anything could have happened while we were gone." Onua nodded his agreement, walking over to his travel chest and taking out a peculiar set of gloves. Sliding them on, he commented sagely.
"I recommend that we arm ourselves. Whatever's going on out there is bound to drag trouble in its wake." Kopaka already had his shield and sword slung across his back, his expression a grim one. Lewa stumbled over to his own trunk, pulling out an ornately designed, single-headed axe.
By the time they were all geared up and ready, their ship had run aground. However, Lhikan never came. Pohatu shuddered a little as he fumbled with his Kolhii ball, looking nervous.
"Shouldn't he have come down here by now?" Tahu frowned, nodding faintly as he quietly walked over to the cabin door, debating if he should go out or not.
"Yeah… Does anyone else thing that something really bad is about to happen?" Kopaka moved closer as well, a small frown on his face.
"About to, or already did." Gali looked uneasy.
"What should we do?" She asked quietly. Her icy Brother glanced at her, his expression grave.
"The only thing we can do. We have to go out there and find out what's wrong." And before anyone could stop him, the white-haired boy vanished from sight, heading out onto the deck.
