I don't own BIONICLE, but I do own Xirrea, Kyra, Izerix, Socah, Zerrafitz, Krix, Drehx and Ro'Dae as well as some other not so important characters.

Enjoy, and pleasereview!

Chapter 4 – New Friends, Depression, Memories

Xirrea awoke with a start. She was no longer floating in the sea, instead, she was perfectly dry and in a big, comfy bed.

Oh, great. I died and went to heaven. I wonder if Kyra is about. For a moment she didn't move, she simply tried her best to repress the memories of what had happened, but to no avail. Oh, Kyra, I'm so sorry! I've abandoned our people! The Hunters must have massacred them all by now.

She looked around her. The hut was Toa-sized, and the contents of the room seemed to indicate that he hut belonged to a Toa of Magnetism, but Xirrea was not known for her skills of deduction.

A silver and black Toa walked in. "Oh, finally! You're awake!" he said, kindly. He was a handsome Toa, tall, well defined features, breathtakingly beautiful blue eyes.

Xirrea still thought she was dead. An angel, perhaps? He's handsome enough.

He looked at her quizzically, "Hmm, looks like the engine is on but no-one's behind the controls. Didn't knock your head, did you?"

Xirrea realised she was staring gormlessly at him; she shook her head as if shaking away her blankness.

"No, no I'm all here. Where is here, by the way?" she asked him. He smiled at her.

"Welcome, sister, to Kisa Nui!"

Not heaven, then.

"My name is Izerix, Toa of Magnetism; might I ask what your name is?" Xirrea also smiled.

"Xirrea, Toa of Lightning. How long have I been out, by the way?"

Izerix scratched his chin and looked up in thought, "Um… at least three days, I think. Anyway, how about I show you around the island? Are your legs up to a little walk?" Xirrea noticed his rain-covered cloak draped over his shoulders.

"I don't really do very well in the rain."

"It stopped about ten minutes ago, I had come back to hang this thing up," he gestured to his cloak, "and I thought I'd check on you whilst I was here. So, shall we?" He offered her his arm, which she took, giggling slightly. For some reason, this Toa made her forget all of her worries, allowing her to just have a little "Xirrea time".

Izerix took her all over the island, the mines, the woods, the grassy plains, the bay. The island was a strange curved shape, meaning that the entire eastern side formed one large bay. After that he took her to meet his two brothers, Ro'Dae and Krix. Ro'Dae was almost entirely silent, apart from a quiet "Nice to meet you, Xirrea", but Krix was very loud and lively, wanting to know how she felt, where she came from and what had happened to her. Xirrea simply said that she was fine, and that she didn't want to talk about what had happened just yet. Krix pouted but didn't push her into telling.

The three male Toa then showed her the village. It was home to about two hundred Matoran of more elements than Xirrea had ever seen. They all wanted to know if she was ok, and that she could ask them for anything she needed and not to worry about paying them back for anything, despite the fact that Xirrea tried to stress the point that she would return any favours.

Xirrea spent the whole day amongst the Matoran, hearing stories of times past and being told of ancient traditions amongst other things. It was the middle of the night before Izerix had to intervene.

"Come on, Xirrea. You should probably get back to your rest now."

"Oh, but I'm having such fun talking to your Matoran, they're all so lovely!" she said so they could all hear. They all giggled bashfully. But, Xirrea knew she should rest, so she followed Izerix back to his hut after saying goodbye to all the Matoran.

"If I'm in here, where are you planning to sleep?" Xirrea asked her host.

"Oh, don't worry about me. There are a couple of spare huts around the square," he told her. "If you need anything, I'm just over there." He pointed to one hut in particular.

The village was beautiful. The roads were carefully paved with limestone slabs, and all the huts were built out of pale grey bricks with brown slate roofs. They were very well made, much better than those of Xirrea's island.

Each of the Toa had his own hut which was placed in the village square an equal distance away from the next. A large bell sat in the centre of the square. Large walls surrounded the village as a line of defence from attackers. Xirrea couldn't help but wonder who would attack this island.

The next morning, Xirrea looked out of the window by the bed and began to look at the town. She looked at the larger Toa huts and realised that there were five.

Odd, she thought, two huts more than the number of Toa. She assumed one or both of the huts must belong to Toa that had been called to war, like Socah, so she didn't spend much time thinking about it.

Life was like this for a few more days. Xirrea grew to know the three Toa very well, and enjoyed their company. Izerix showed her all of his favourite places on the island and the Matoran spent hours talking to her about herself. After about a week she felt entirely at home there. Izerix said that she could take one of the two spare huts as her own, but when Xirrea asked why they were empty, Izerix instantly changed the subject.

After Xirrea had been on the island for a whole month, she found herself as being very fond of the Magnetism Toa. Whenever he appeared, her heart would skip a beat, whenever he offered her his arm, she'd stop breathing briefly and whenever she looked into those eyes, those deep pools of celestial blue, she'd go dizzy.

Izerix noticed her go dizzy one day, and asked her what was wrong.

"Oh, nothing," she laughed at herself, "I'm just not a morning person. I fell asleep on my feet once some time ago and it'll probably happen again before long." Izerix smiled at her.

"I want to show you one little spot. No-one 'cept me knows about it, so I'm afraid I'm going to have to blindfold you on the way," he told her quietly so no-one could hear.

Xirrea looked a little surprised, but allowed him to lead her to the woods and then blindfolded her.

After a small walk, Izerix removed the blindfold. "We're here," he whispered to her, softly. Xirrea opened her eyes, and gasped.

Izerix had taken her to a good sized clearing in the middle of the woods. It was full of the most breathtakingly beautiful flowers she'd ever seen, most of which hung down in vines over the trees and rocks, like waterfalls cascading down from high above. There was a spring in the middle of the clearing, lined with perfectly round pebbles. It was quite wide and deep enough for Xirrea to swim in easily. There were a few fish that Xirrea had never seen before in there, too. The clearing was lined with tall oak trees that reached for the sky. One had a homely-looking tree house amongst its branches. Xirrea couldn't help but walk towards the flowers and start smelling them, than walking over to the spring to get a better look at the fish. She looked at everything in great detail, taking in every little detail and storing it away in her mind.

Izerix saw her and smiled and laughed at her behaviour, "You like it then?"
"Izerix… it's beautiful!" she exclaimed.
A lot like you, Izerix thought to himself. "This is where I come when I'm feeling alone, or if I'm worried or scared." He turned to her, "And I'm worried about you," he added.

Xirrea refused to look at him; instead she looked at the ground and said "I'm fine."

"Krix said he'd heard you crying last night, he was going to check on you but you stopped before he left his hut."

"I'm fine," she insisted, "To be honest, I'm worried about you! You always change the subject when I ask you about the empty huts. You always look sad and turn away from me. Izerix, I want to know! What happened here before I arrived?"

Izerix stayed calm, but his voice carried a slight hint of anger, "Why should I tell you? You've never told me anything about where you came from, who you knew, about your loved ones, who you lost… who you gained." Xirrea looked a little surprised at the last two things he listed.

"I'll tell you, if you tell me," she said. Izerix looked at her, sadness in his eyes.

"Fine. When the war was declared, our eldest brother, Zerrafitz, was called to aid in the fight. We begged him not to go, but he did anyway. Then, merely a day or two later, the Dark Hunters came. We tried to fight them off but the second youngest of us, Drehx, was taken. We tried to save him, but the Hunters would not leave without him. So he surrendered and left, just to save our lives. He never did care about himself, only others. And then, a week later, you arrived, half drowned and floating around in the sea on a piece of damp wood." He turned to her. "You turn, Sparky." He'd taken to calling her that for some reason.

"Fine, Silver," she called him that whenever he called her "Sparky", "Similar story. My brother, Socah, was called to war, a day or two later, Dark Hunter attack, I try to save my Toa-child sister, I get captured, she follows and calls her pet Kavinika to help, Hunters get confused as the wolf charges in, follow it to us, one guard shoots Kyra dead, Kavinika shoves me out, I make my escape and totally abandon my island. Some time later I wind up here, find a new friend and have the best month of my life." She looked down, tears welling up in her eyes, "I didn't even try to protect the island, just Kyra. And now they're probably all dead… thanks to me." She let the tears fall.

Izerix looked at her for a moment, but then hugged her tightly. "I'm so sorry. I never had to see Drehx die; it must have been awful for you, especially seeing as she was one so young."

"So, you're not going to hate me for leaving my island to defend itself?" she said bitterly.

"You were in a state of panic. I probably would have done the same in you place."

"Yeah, but you have more Toa here."

"So? I'd still have been heart broken, I am really, because I know he's dead or in more pain then I could imagine right now." He let a tear or two of his own fall.

They stood together, embracing, for a few moments more, before the alarm bell rang.

"Damn it. Come on, Sparky, we need to get to the others." Izerix put the blindfold back over her eyes and lifted her onto his back (to save time leading her through the trees), and ran back to the village.

***

"For Mata Nui's sake, whadda these idiots want now?" Krix cried as he slashed a Hunter across his chest, spraying blood all over him. "Oh, brilliant!" he said sarcastically as he looked at himself.

"Krix, we need to get the Matoran into the caves! They'll be safer up there!" Ro'Dae told his brother as he parried the attacks of two Hunters mounted on Rahi neither of them had seen before.

"How? We're up to our eyes in protosteel here!"

"I don't know!" Ro'Dae yelled. Izerix and Xirrea appeared then.

"Ah, perfect timing, love birds!" Krix teased, both Toa blushed.

"Izerix, we need to get the Matoran into the caves!" Ro'Dae called out to him.

"Ok!" He turned to Xirrea, "Tell the Matoran to head through the passages – they'll know what you mean – and go with them. Follow them to the mines and they'll hide in the caves – tiny gaps in the rock face. There should be one or two big enough to fit you in. Stay with them, Sparky, keep them safe."

"But, Silver-" she began, but he cut her off.

"You've wanted to pay them back, right? Well, this will more than make up for what they have done for you." Xirrea nodded, and then left to help the Matoran.

She found them, all two hundred and twelve, huddled together in a quiet corner of the village. She walked up to them slowly so they wouldn't be startled.

"Come on," she said. She relayed to them the instructions Izerix had given her, and off they went. She followed behind them closely, looking around constantly so she could make sure no Dark Hunters were following.

The Matoran walked to the wall of the village, where a grate blocked the way into an underground river bed. The river had dried up centuries ago. A pair of Iron Matoran stepped forwards and lifted the grate out with ease, allowing everyone to pass through until only they were left. They stepped inside and replaced the grate.

Xirrea continued to follow through the twisting and turning passages. They seemed to go on for hours. Then, just when Xirrea began to think that they were lost, they came to a second grate. The Iron Matoran stepped forwards again and removed it. Everyone passed through and Xirrea saw that they had arrived at the mines to the southern end of the island. She heard a small "clunk" behind her and she turned to see the second grate had been replaced, so she followed for a third time.

The caves were hard to find for someone who didn't know the island, so Xirrea was thankful that she had the Matoran to follow. The Matoran disappeared into the caves and one Water Matoran kindly showed Xirrea to a spot where she could hide, before vanishing herself.

Xirrea sat in the tiny gap, wondering if Izerix, Krix and Ro'Dae would be alright.