Finding rest that night proved impossible for Vakama. The vision of Mihkoro's plight haunted every corner of his mind, the screams of agony echoing in his ears like the death throes of a man being mauled. Every thought hung off what he had seen, head throbbing as he racked his mind for ideas, or even just half-ideas, that could be used to try and save his darker twin. There had to be something he could do, something to prevent what looked inevitable.
'You seem anxious.' The Hordika commented grimly, as though it weren't obvious.
"Of course I'm anxious." Vakama muttered under his breath, pacing the foyer in solitude while the others tried to sleep. "My brother is going to die if I don't come up with a plan to rescue him."
The Hordika sighed, sounding rather tired of the predicament. 'You demand too much of yourself, Vakama. You seek perfection in a world where none exists.'
"And what's that supposed to mean?" The Toa asked sharply, half hissing it through his teeth. "Now what are you trying to convince me of?"
'Your own weakness, actually.' The voice replied. 'You demand nothing but perfection from yourself, and call yourself a failure when you don't achieve it. You crush yourself with disappointment instead of being thankful for what you accomplish. You fell to my influence because you were too busy hating yourself to defend against Roodaka's lies, and it was your self-loathing that drove me to follow her instead. Hordika have a pack instinct; we follow whoever proves to be strong, and hold loyalty to those who help us. When I took over, it was because Roodaka had the confidence and air of a leader, and the resources to sustain us. While you wallowed in your defeat I was left to my own means of keeping us alive. The only reason I started listening to you was because you finally grew a backbone and said no.'
Vakama wasn't sure if his feral half was trying to insult him, compliment him, or give him a psychology lesson, though as he considered the voice's commentary, it started to – at least somewhat – make sense. But it didn't quite seem to match what the original topic was. "How is any of that relevant to my present problem? Knowing why I lost my mind won't bring my brother back."
'No, but it at least tells you to stop being a perfectionistic and self-loathing idiot.'
There was the insult Vakama had been waiting for. "Then what do you suppose I should do, huh?" He grumbled. "Give up on everything?"
'I said you were an idiot, not useless. If you're that lost then maybe you should give up on saving Mihkoro; an attitude like yours won't save anyone.'
A low, throaty growl rumbled forth as Vakama glared in animosity at the floor, though he didn't respond to the feral in his mind. He had to find a way to save Mihkoro, even if it took all night. There would be no room for mistakes, not with the risk as high as it was. There had to be something, anything, that could turn things in his favor. But what? The Coliseum was virtually impregnable, let alone trying to find, rescue, and escape with, someone who couldn't stand on their own. And that wasn't even taking the Visorak into account. Add those on top of it all and the task seemed hopelessly impossible. Frustration set Vakama into more frenzied pacing, smoke billowing up from his hands as he growled bitterly to himself, running various escape attempts over thoroughly in his mind, desperately trying to calculate the best strategy for success. But try as he might, every plan failed, be it sneaking in, or the actual rescuing.
'Vakama... sometimes you can't save everyone.'
The Hordika's voice was murmuring in the back of his mind, quiet and grim. 'Can you honestly justify sacrificing everything and everyone on a plan that may not even work? Is losing so much worth it?'
Vakama tried to ignore it. He could find a way. He just needed more time.
'You saw what Mihkoro was forced to endure. There's not even a guarantee he would be alive when you found him, even if your plan could work.'
Adamantly he refused to listen. They had Gali and Nokama; they could heal him.
'Not even they could work a miracle like that after the struggle to reach him. It would only hurt them too.'
The arguing continued on for quite some time, the Hordika easily countering all of Vakama's attempts to outmaneuver the feral's rebuttals. In the end, there was no argument, no theory, not even a fool's hope, that he could play. As much as Vakama hated the facts, he simply could not avoid the horrifyingly painful truth. Nothing short of divine intervention could save Mihkoro, and by the time it would be over, it seemed the dark, shadow-hardened warrior would be little more than just one more reason Roodaka had to be defeated.
Tears so hot they steamed began to slide down his scale-ridden cheeks as Vakama finally stopped arguing. "He... he's going to die..." He murmured weakly. "Mihkoro is going to die... I-I can't save him..."
"No, you can't." A soft voice said from nearby, and as the twenty-six year old turned, he would have seen Hlahlu standing there, holding a ragged blanket around herself and watching him with a slightly mournful expression. "But that doesn't mean you can't save everyone else."
Vakama regarded her with bleak curiosity, too saddened by his realization to even feel surprise that she was there. "Unless you know a miracle method to keep everyone safe, find Keetongu, and stop Roodaka, all in one go, I can't see how we're going to make it out of this." He mumbled. "And aren't you supposed to be sleeping?"
The Ga-Matoran shook her head. "Every time I try, I hear a voice telling me how I'm going to lead the Visorak horde if she dies. I... I think Roodaka did something to me... I don't know what though, and it scares me." She shivered and bundled her blanket a little tighter. "I don't remember things I'm supposed to, and sometimes I see something and part of me feels like it shouldn't be there... Earlier I felt like the Great Temple should just be razed, even though I know there is something important about it." The little woman shook her head. "But I do remember something. Something that can help us. It's a long shot in the dark, but... I remember before everything was broken, I had found something here that had clues to finding something important, and... I think it's Keetongu."
A glimmer of hope flickered to life in Vakama's otherwise dreary expression. Could they really have a chance at finding the mythical creature after all? After everything else seemed so hopeless, was there actually a possibility of freedom from the mutation?
He dared to believe it. "Do you know where you found that information, Hlahlu?"
The young woman nodded. "It was hidden in the lower levels of the Great Temple, away from eagerly prying eyes. Actually, I think Tahu opened up a way down there earlier. But..." She trailed off, fidgeting uncomfortably and looking nervous.
"But...?" Vakama had to know what could be in the way this time. So many things always got in the way, always tried to prevent even the smallest of lucky breaks. He would not let something stop this too. "What's wrong, Hlahlu?"
"There's no stairs..." She mumbled, continuing to fumble with her fingers as she thought it over. "And no light... at all..."
That wasn't nearly as bad as the twenty-six year old had thought it may have been. Even just getting Oohnorak to make a web ladder could work as far as getting up and down went. The biggest issue would be the light, but even then he had the answer at his fingertips. A relieved smile curved his lips as he considered it all carefully again. Yes, his idea would definitely work this time. "Don't worry about that, Hlahlu; all we need is our Visorak friend, and a little time."
By the time early morning began to try and show itself through the outside gloom, Vakama's idea was well underway. Oohnorak's ladder was complete and being put in place, whilst the Hordika had managed to scrounge up some materials for torches, and had a few – crudely – assembled. His greatest find, however, was a lightstone stash - holding about ten stones the size of his fist - and some net, which he fashioned into a belt-like creation that Hlahlu could easily tie around her waist. It wasn't nearly enough to illuminate the whole lower chamber, not by a long shot, but it would definitely be enough to allow for safely exploring without any really bad tripping hazards, and as long as she could vaguely remember where she had to go, it would likely be enough.
Sleepiness was nagging at the back of Vakama's mind by the time it was all said and done, though by this point he was consciously refusing the need's demand for attention. Helping Hlahlu find the information about Keetongu was paramount; a boost of morale that huge simply could not wait to be found. Everyone needed this, not only as a boost for morale, but also as a glimmer of hope in an otherwise hopeless dream. A dream of normalcy, of not having to fight for mental dominance as well as survival. A promise that there would be a better tomorrow if they just held on a little longer.
"Toa Vakama?"
The twenty-six year old blinked and focused his gaze on the Matoran before him.
"Are you coming?" She asked, giggling quietly as she idly toyed with her lightstone belt. "Or are you staying up here?"
Realizing he had spaced out while he could have been helping, Vakama gave a mildly sheepish smile and a nod. "I'm coming, sorry. Lost myself in thought."
Hlahlu raised an eyebrow. "You looked more like you fell asleep. You're sure you've got enough energy to do this, right?"
He tried to give her a convincingly reassuring smile, though it was likely just displaying stubborn ignorance of his limits. "Yes, I'm fine. I'll have a nap when we're finished." He struggled back a yawn as he walked over to the ladder, peering into the inky blackness below and giving an involuntary shudder before starting his descent. The climb was slow and felt insecure at best, though soon enough he was at the bottom and watching as Hlahlu climbed down. He smiled as she reached the bottom and looked around. "All set to find those documents?" He asked.
The little woman smiled brightly as she nodded. "Yep! Just gotta figure out which area we came down in, and we'll be all set!" She smiled a little more before setting off to explore, her belt illuminating her like a glowbug, bobbing along in the gloom like a beacon of happiness in an otherwise saddened world.
Vakama couldn't help but smile as he watched her toodle along, slowly wandering after her and yawning as he went. He could feel his eyelids starting to droop, his need for sleep encroaching more fervently on his thought processes. Surely he could just close his eyes for a moment, just to make them stop bothering him. Besides, Hlahlu was just trying to figure out which direction they needed to go in; she wouldn't wander off on her own, especially when she knew she had partial amnesia, among other things.
"Hey Toa Vakama!" Hlahlu practically chirped at him. "You coming?"
"Huh? Oh! Right, yes. Just... just give me a moment."
The Matoran giggled at him. "Alright then, if you say so! Just don't be too long!"
Vakama smiled and nodded, watching her continue poking around for a little while before closing his eyes, letting his mind idly wander off to lala-land as he allowed his eyes to rest...
The next time he opened his eyes, Vakama found himself flat on his back, Hlahlu standing over him and grinning in such a way that it reminded him strongly of Matau. "Sleep well, Toa Vakama? It's almost lunch time, you know; what happened to 'I'll be right there' and 'I'm not too tired to do this', huh?"
At first, the Hordika just stared up at her in bewilderment, though eventually it sunk in and he gasped, eyes widening a little as he pushed himself to his feet. "What? No! It can't be, I just closed my eyes a moment ago!"
"Uh-huh." Hlahlu teased. "You sleep like the dead when you're exhausted; I've been poking you for ten minutes now and I found what we came for before that. And I found an old recipe book I want to play with sometime, but that's not important." She giggled as she turned and headed for the ladder. "Now come on, the others are going to start wondering if you died or something." With that, she turned and set off up the ladder, Vakama just staring after her.
"I'm finally starting to see why she and Matau fell for each other so quickly..." He then shook his head, smiled a bit, and set off up the ladder himself, inwardly thankful that Hlahlu hadn't heckled him any more than she already had.
"Hurry up, slowpoke! You'll miss lunch!"
All Vakama did was sigh.
