Dutiful Destruction

by Joey245

Three months after the defeat of Makuta and Team RWBY's return to Remnant, a new foe emerges with one goal: to eradicate everything on the island of Mata Nui. With Salem casting her shadow on Vacuo and tensions mounting among the refugees of Atlas, Ruby and her friends may find themselves strained as they fight for the worlds of Man, Matoran, and more. (Sequel to Destiny's Divide.)

20. Burning the Candle

(A/N): Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! Welcome back to Dutiful Destruction, the fic where everybody needs therapy and nobody's okay. This was going to be the chapter that was supposed to follow Penny's Xia trip, but I liked Oscar's space adventure so much I decided to end the hiatus with that one instead. Not that this one isn't important, of course - I just wanted to kick things off with a bang.

Anyway, time for a brief return to Mata Nui and Metru Nui, to get an overall look at how everyone's doing. (Spoiler alert: generally not well, but getting better.) Hope you enjoy it!

---

A high-pitched drilling sound echoed through Onu-Koro, waking Ruby from a fitful sleep. She groaned and slapped one hand over her ear in a vain attempt to block out hell's worst alarm, pressing the other side of her head deeper into a porous stone pillow to no avail. Gods. Her head hurt, her arms felt numb, and she shivered even in the warm cavern air. There were definitely worse ways to start a morning - was it even morning if there was no sunlight? - but she was hard-pressed to think of any right now.

Not like she was about to complain about the hospitality of her subterranean hosts. There hadn't been much left of Onu-Koro after the Gahlok attack yesterday, but a precious few items had survived the flood - some mining equipment, a handful of intact lightstones, and a few beds lined with sediment. Following yesterday's battle, after the Onu-Matoran had returned and all the shock wore off, Whenua had ordered several of those Matoran-sized mattresses be pushed together so that Ruby could crash for a few hours and get some much-needed rest. She appreciated the gesture, she really did, but now she was feeling the consequences of her choice. Humans were not meant to sleep on stone, no matter how soft it looked.

With another groan she willed her bleary eyes to open and take in the sight of the ruined village, which was looking only slightly less of a wreck than it had the day before. The cavern itself still stood strong, giving firm walls and a sturdy ceiling to Matoran who desperately needed it, but the same couldn't be said of all the huts and fixtures that had been lost in the flood. Turaga Whenua was using his drill-tipped staff to dig new channels into the ground, draining the many pools of water that remained in the uneven cave floor - which explained why she'd woken up, if nothing else.

Onepu and Taipu were gathering up any usable salvage and depositing their items into piles, which Nuparu and other engineers were quick to disassemble and strip for material. Miners worked to carefully reassemble shattered lightstones, recreating amber gems that shone with a fraction of the brightness they had before. Traders from other villages freely gave out whatever wares they still had, understanding that Unity took precedence over personal wealth. Even Zemya opened the vaults within his ruined dwellings, passing out tools and protodermis globs and other stockpiled resources to anyone in need.

There was a solemn determination in the air, the grim aura of people working to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Ruby understood that feeling a little too well.

She was about to get up and help the Onu-Matoran in their sobering task when she noticed a strong pair of bare arms around her waist keeping her from doing so. At first she wondered when Weiss had gotten here…but the butterflies in her stomach turned back into caterpillars as she noticed a familiar weave of lightning-bolt-shaped scars all along the skin. A glance back over her shoulder revealed a head of short carrot-orange hair and aquamarine eyes squeezed shut, confirming that Nora had indeed crawled into the makeshift bed and snuggled up to her in her sleep. And while the other Huntress hadn't been woken up by the reconstruction noises - not surprising, the girl could nap through a thunderstorm - her sleep was clearly anything but restful.

"No…" whimpered the thunderous teenager, her grip tightening around Ruby's trunk. "Please don't go…I'm sorry…"

Whether those words were for her or for whoever Nora dreamed about, Ruby's heart shattered all the same. She twisted around and returned the hug, consigning herself to cuddle with her friend and give her the comfort she clearly needed. Not like there was much else she could do, especially with the death grip around her waist.

Her mind, as it did so many times before, thought back to the days when Beacon still stood, back to when her biggest concerns were homework and tests and staying awake during Grimm Studies lectures. Of the many relationships between herself and her friends, Ren and Nora's had seemed the most straightforward to anyone looking in - they were best friends from childhood who clearly loved each other, even if they weren't officially "together-together" as Nora would often proclaim. But what had once been a simple bond between the two had become muddled lately, cracks in the foundation formed in Atlas that three months in Vacuo had turned into a rift.

While Ruby had no doubt they still loved each other, neither was in a good mindset to be the partner the other needed right now. Nora had seemingly put her quest to find herself on hold, to don the same carefree, happy-go-lucky mask she'd worn back at Beacon. Ren, on the other hand, pushed everyone away and bottled up all his feelings, a stark contrast to the patient young man she knew and trusted.

It was messy, and frustrating, but what wasn't these days?

"You and him'll figure it out," she whispered reassuringly, stroking unruly ginger hair as she spoke. "If me and Weiss can make it work, I'm positive that the two of you can. Ren cares about you so much, I know he does, even if he's a little distant these days. He's a good person, he's just…going through a rough time right now…"

He and Qrow have that in common, at least.

Ruby's brow furrowed as she pulled out her Scroll, opting to check in and review all the messages that'd come in while she was sleeping restlessly. There was an update from Neopolitan about how her burns were slowly healing, some project notes from Pietro, experimental messages from the other Toa giving their Scrolls a try, an interview request from Takua asking to meet up in a few days, and about a dozen flirty messages from Weiss (as well as pictures of her with what appeared to be baby Muaka, which brought a smile and a blush to her face). To her surprise, there was also a message from Gali about how she'd gone to investigate the sea tunnels that the Gahlok had dug, and that if all went well she would contact Ruby if she found anything in the ocean's darkness.

So she's diving deeper than I can handle without a way to breathe underwater, she thought to herself with a frown. Great. What I wouldn't give to have those stupid mask powers back, so I can finally stop being useless…

Shaking her head to banish that thought yet again, she returned her focus to the original task of checking in. The only ones who hadn't tried to reach her were the two Huntsmen currently on Mata Nui; Ren continued to be silent across all forms of communication, while Qrow hadn't done so much as shoot her a message asking if she was okay. Ruby had actually expected to wake up to walls of text from her uncle, sternly and laboriously admonishing her for being too reckless and careless and dumb, but somehow the silent treatment felt worse than the usual lecture.

What was Qrow doing over in Ta-Wahi, that was more important than needling his niece?

---

There were times in Qrow Branwen's life when he actually enjoyed being able to magically turn into a bird.

This wasn't one of those times.

He flitted and flapped his way through the ash-gray sky, banking and diving to avoid the chunks of stone careening towards him. His Aura may have kept its full strength even while he was in crow form, but birds were still a lot more frail than humans - and rocks flung at high speeds from the Pahrak trio flying behind him were very good at breaking hollow little bones, soul armor be damned. The Bohrok chasing him had their legs tucked against their curved bodies and their arms locked at their sides, handshields aglow as they continually generated elemental projectiles and flew in formation. So it was his best bet to use his smaller size and agility to his advantage, weaving between the salvos of stones like an ace pilot in a Great War film.

Aerial dogfighting, as it turned out, was a lot less fun than the old movies made them look.

I know Oz was being all thematic and dramatic when he gave me some of his magic way back when, he thought for what felt like the hundredth time in his life, but I still think he should've picked a bird with a little more bulk and a lot more bite. Like a falcon, maybe. Or a snowy owl. Hell, even a hawk would've been better. Least that way I'd have some half-decent talons.

At least his non-magic-animal form didn't have the same problem.

One Pahrak flying behind him got a little too sure of itself, fully rolling up into a sphere and rocketing forward like a cannonball. Qrow climbed as much as he could in the short amount of time he had, just barely clearing the anticipated path of the surging Bohrok. When it zoomed underneath him he transformed back into his usual good-looking (at least according to some) self, snapped Harbinger's blade into a curved scythe edge, then hooked his half-transformed sword onto the rolling robot - making it continue its flight with him in tow.

The Bohrok made its feelings about the sudden passenger known quite loudly.

CHIKT-CHIKT-CHIKT-CHIKT-CHIKT!

"Ah, shut up already," Qrow grumbled as he dug his sword tip under the edge of a glassy faceplate. "Here, lemme make this easier on both of us."

It took a bit of pulling and a lot of elbow grease - not helped by the Bohrok continually trying to throw him off - but eventually he managed to pry open the glassy dome and expose the squirming Krana to the rushing wind. Its empty eye sockets seemed to stare wrathfully up at him, its rubbery flesh twitched and pulsated in lieu of a beating heart, and a low snarl from an nonexistent mouth was aimed at the hitchhiking Huntsman. Qrow didn't even pause long enough to be revolted, instead grabbing the ugly little thing by the bridge of its "nose" and yanking it free with one more powerful tug. The tentacles were ripped right out of their sockets, still lodged deep in the guts of the machine they'd been controlling.

Good news was that the Pahrak was deactivated.

Bad news was that his ride was no longer flying.

Worse news was that another Pahrak was swooping in to ram him. Well…worse news for the Bohrok, at least.

Qrow leapt and flipped off the falling robot and out of the way of the flying one, letting the Pahrak crash into its inert buddy instead. He lashed out with Harbinger fully extended, hooking the edge of his scythe around its shoulder to break his fall. A quick swing around the joint and a pull of his weapon's trigger gave him the push he needed to mount his newest ride, with the added bonus of cleaving one arm off the momentarily-stunned Bohrok. Once he touched down lightly on the glassy faceplate, he sliced the other arm off with a swift slash of his scythe.

"Guessing your buddy down there's the only one here with a working brain. Speaking of which…" Qrow took a moment to key his Scroll. "Tahu? Got one more for the collection up here - managed to de-brain one of the flyers."

The Toa's voice crackled through a static-laced speaker. "You have acquired a Krana Vu? Excellent!" His words were punctuated by the sounds of grunts and shattering stones. "Now we need only claim our prize from this Pahrak Xa, and our part of the task will be complete!"

"Uh huh, yeah, that's great," said the Huntsman with all the enthusiasm he could muster, unceremoniously stuffing the Krana into one of his coat pockets. "I'll mop up the flyers and keep them off your back - you keep the swarm commander locked down. If that thing gets away, it'll be a pain in the ass to hunt it down again."

"Understood. Come, beast! Your stone shall melt before the mighty blazes of - "

Qrow toggled off his Scroll before his partner Toa could launch into another monologue. Even so, Tahu was shouting loudly enough that the air carried his words, belted from the top of his lungs as he smashed through columns of rock with flaming fists far below. Just his luck that he got paired up with a chatty, proud, over-enthusiastic partner. Hopefully this one would turn out better than the last one…

He shook his head to clear it, turning his attention off the ghost on his back and onto the armless Bohrok thrashing around beneath him. It cried and pleaded for mercy - at least, he assumed that's what its angry chittering meant - but he just raised his scythe and aimed its tip at the Krana beneath the faceplate. They only needed one of these things, and he'd already stuffed his earlier prize into the pocket of his trench coat, meaning he felt no remorse about giving this one an impromptu lobotomy.

Unfortunately, Qrow realized too late that the Pahrak wasn't screaming for no reason.

It was calling its friend.

He craned his neck just in time to see the last flying Bohrok silhouetted in the shrouded sun, slamming its shields together and willing a larger-than-usual chunk of stone into existence. His eyes widened as he prepared to leap off, but the Pahrak underneath him twisted around and wrapped its legs around his waist, keeping him pinned against its underside while its swarm-mate summoned a boulder as big as an exercise ball. Qrow thrashed and struggled and tried to slash the appendages trapping him, but by the time he had enough slack to do so, the bronze bug above had finished channeling its power - and was now firing that rock like an artillery shell right at him.

WHAMMM!

The rock crashed into the Pahrak and blasted it to bits, Bohrok and boulder shattering into shards of shrapnel. Qrow had managed to twist away at the last possible second, but the impact force still rattled him and sent him flying like a concussed rag doll. It took him a minute to even register that he was still falling, a minute spent trying to clear the stars from his vision…and that was a minute too late, as the ground came rushing faster. Too fast for him to transform and fly away. At this speed, his bird form would be smashed against the ash-covered hills, and his human form would fare only slightly better - in that he would still be alive. Probably.

He squeezed his eyes shut and focused on his Aura, bracing himself for the painful landing that never ended up coming. Instead he felt a pair of metallic hands grab him as something else flew fast enough to match his falling speed, gradually slowing down until he hovered inches off the ground. Relief quickly shifted into worry that the third Bohrok had grabbed him to torment him more, only to twist around and see something even worse had caught him: Tahu, the Toa of Fire, was grinning like an idiot behind his golden mask as flames poured out of his boots.

"Are you well, Qrow?"

That worry burned up in the face of his annoyance real fast.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" snapped the Huntsman as he jumped out of the Toa's grip and landed on the soot below.

Tahu made a face behind his mask as though he'd been slapped. "I am…saving you? I noticed your fall while I was fighting the Pahrak Xa, and so I -"

"Let it get away like a dumbass to save me?"

Now the Toa was getting frustrated. "Would you rather I let you fall?"

"If it meant getting that thing's brain, then yes!" He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "You said it yourself, it had the last one we needed! Swarm commanders aren't exactly the most common kinds of Bohrok out here, and we spent a whole damn week just trying to track this one down! Now, knowing our luck, it's gonna run away and lead us on a wild goose chase around half the volcanoes here!"

Naturally, that wasn't what happened at all.

The ground shaking was the first hint that something was wrong. The second was the massive shadow falling over them. The third was the sight of two Pahrak - one carrying the other as it raised its glowing shields - sailing through the sky above them, bronze specks barely visible against the mountain of black and gray that loomed ever closer. Toa and Huntsman alike turned and watched, jaws agape, as the swarm commander flung its payload at the ground below.

Directly at them.

"…or it'll hitch a ride on its flying buddy and throw a gods-damned mountain at us." Qrow groaned. "Somehow that's even worse."

Tahu didn't seem deterred as he twisted around, still hovering off the ground on jets of flame. "Yet even this presents us with an opportunity! I will melt a path through the stone - if you transform and follow closely, we can still finish this battle together!"

He almost balked. "You don't want that. I told you, being too close to me is bad luck -"

"I do not believe in luck!" roared the Toa of Fire above the sound of rumbling rushing stone, eyes narrowing into daggers and fire pooling into his palms. "I believe in Destiny! Now follow, Qrow, unless you wish to be crushed!"

And with that he took off like a burning red rocket, shooting straight at the massive hill that had been ripped from the surrounding landscape. With no other arguments except a frustrated snarl, the grizzled Huntsman willed his body to transform and take flight once more, keeping himself at a normal-sized-arm's length behind the fiery Toa and his four streaks of elemental power. The huge chunk of stone came closer with each passing second, feeling as big as the moon and twice as deadly, yet Tahu didn't even flinch as the surface was just feet away. What he did do was let out a mighty yell and pour power into the fires around his palms, bathing the rock in flames so hot they seemed to evaporate a pathway through the meteor.

It was a good thing Qrow couldn't speak in bird form, because otherwise he'd have screamed every curse word he knew at the top of his lungs.

As it was, he just followed the crazy Toa into the tunnel he was blasting away, doing his best to avoid colliding with either the molten slag left behind or the narrow walls. It wasn't a huge opening - only a few yards in diameter at its widest, not that he'd break out a tape measure right now - but it was enough for both of them to burrow through the boulder like a strange flying earthworm. Tahu had to keep changing direction to compensate for the rock's slight spin, and the heat inside the tunnel made Qrow wonder idly if he'd be a well-done crow roast before they hit the halfway point. But through either Tahu's perseverance or sheer dumb luck, Toa and transformed Huntsman eventually emerged on the other side of the falling mountain, clearing their hastily-made maze just before the huge rock slammed back to earth with a reverberating rumble.

If it was possible for a Bohrok to piss itself in surprise and fear, Qrow suspected the pair of hovering Pahrak were on the verge of doing just that. He'd have to find out another time, as Tahu used the momentum of his flight to crash into the flying Bohrok, hitting it with a fiery shoulder check powerful enough to make it drop its leader and hot enough to burn its Krana alive. Qrow dove down after the other one as it started to fall, once again turning back into a Huntsman and lashing out with Harbinger four times, removing each limb with a slash too fast for the eye to track. He shifted back into a bird and caught a thermal in his wings, banking hard and fast out of the way - and allowing Tahu to come in and rip the Krana free with one hand, using the other to deliver a mighty flaming punch that exploded on impact.

The last bronze insect - now armless, legless, and Krana-less - crashed down to earth hard enough to leave a crater around its impact point.

"There, you see?" growled Tahu as he hovered on withering jets of flame, keeping a tight grip on the writhing Krana in his hand. "We not only survived that encounter, but emerged victorious - in both our battle and our task. Not because we are fortunate, but because we are warriors who fight together against a common foe. It would serve you well to remember that, sullen one. We can either stand united…or fall divided."

Despite the fact that birds couldn't roll their eyes, Qrow somehow did exactly that.

---

Hewkii narrowed his optics behind his mask as he once again stared down the stubborn Ruki fish, who was taunting him just below the water's sparkling surface. He shifted his footing on the edge of a great green deck, tightened his grip on the bio-long shaft of steel, and aimed the clawed net in anticipation. The best fisherwomen in the coastal village of Ga-Koro had tried to teach him - and many of his brothers - how best to use these strange tools to catch food and materials from the ocean, but there was only so much they could do for Matoran who were better suited to sand and stone instead of sea and salt. Still, he was determined not to be useless. He was determined to do something to help, even if it meant making a fool of himself.

"C'mon, little fish…" he muttered under his breath. "Let's make this a nice, easy, early morning catch. Don't make me come in after you - I promise, it'd be humiliating for both of us."

His smug prey didn't seem to have many thoughts of sympathy behind its glowing black-red optics…or any kind of thoughts, really. Confident in the fish's complacency, Hewkii made his move and thrust his net-scoop into the water. A loud splash preceded the struggle that lasted only a few seconds, as the athlete and the aquatic Rahi battled for supremacy and the right to survive.

Sadly, the fish won yet again.

The Koli champion found himself flat on his mask once more at the edge of the platform, watching as his opponent made its escape - this time with half the net in its maw.

"Well, there's another catcher that needs fixing…" growled Hewkii with a sigh, looking down at his ruined staff. "These things should really have something heavy on the other end as a counterweight. Maybe a nice, big hammer head for beating the stupid fish into submission."

"You'll have to talk to Kailani about adding something like that."

The voice of his bond-mate forced him back onto his feet with a small jump and an attempt to look cool, despite knowing in his heartstone that Macku had seen everything. Like most Ga-Matoran she was blue from mask to toe, with lighter shades that matched the sky along her torso and arms. Her mask, which was in the shape of a Noble Huna, gave plenty of room for her yellow optics to shine brighter than her sisters, especially in his presence.

"Oh, hey there!" He rested the net-scoop against the ground and tried to casually lean on it, only to almost topple over as a wave crashed against the deck. "Hah…fancy seeing you around this neck of the island."

Macku giggled, a noise that made his heartstone skip a few vibrations. "Hewkii. I live here."

"So you do," he said with an awkward laugh, scratching a non-existent dent on the back of his head. Jeez. Wasn't pair-bonding with a Matoran you liked supposed to make you less nervous around them? "Uh…think I'd better get a new chore. Fishing's not for me."

"Obviously. A pity - it was cute, watching you try and grapple with that Ruki. Maybe a lightfish would be a better opponent for you?"

Any indignation he felt melted at the sight of Macku's smile, hidden behind a mask as it was. "Nah, knowing me I'd flop into the sea again trying to grab it," he said with a shrug. "Then you'd have to fish me out. Again."

Another laugh from Macku. "True…we really need to find time for your swimming lessons."

Much as he liked the idea of splashing around with his bond-mate, he hated the idea of drowning even more. He vehemently shook his head. "Let's go see Turaga Nokama. Maybe she's got something better suited for my skill set, like kicking rocks or cracking sea shells. Anything that keeps me away from those scheming little net thieves."

She nodded in understanding, then beckoned him to follow her across narrow leafy pathways that connected the round structures. The village of Ga-Koro was ordinarily terrifying to someone like him - huts made of plants instead of stone, that floated on the surface of Mata Nui's oceans? In any other circumstance, no Po-Matoran would willingly come here. It was damp, it was unstable, and it was surrounded by stone's greatest weakness. But right now it wasn't being targeted by the Bohrok, and that put it leagues above his own melted home in terms of safety and security.

It was a feat few villages these days could claim.

Le-Koro's already fallen to these damned Bohrok, mused Hewkii as he followed Macku, mostly to keep the lapping waves out of his mind. Ta-Koro managed to survive their assault, if only just. We had to flee Po-Koro just a few days ago. And according to the Turaga, Onu-Koro was attacked yesterday. The only villages left untouched so far are this one and Ko-Koro…but how long will that last? If the Bohrok come here, will we be able to fight them off? Or will we just be dead weight in every sense of the word, unable to do anything but watch as another home is lost?...

"You're getting better at crossing these paths," noted Macku, bringing him back out of his own thoughts. "Used to be that you were so petrified of the walkways, I had to carry you between the lily pads."

"Don't remind me," he groaned. "That was a long time ago."

"That was three days ago."

"Again, don't remind me."

Once they were on solid-ish ground once more, Macku turned and faced him. "I mean it, Hewkii. It means a lot to me that you're here, and that you're adapting to our way of life so quickly. Living on top of the ocean isn't easy, especially for people of stone."

"Eh, Ga-Koro's not that bad once you get used to the crashing waves and the salty air," he said with a shrug before prodding the floating platform under his feet. "Although…seriously, I don't know how you all manage to walk around on these…plant things…all the time. Haven't been this nauseous since Makuta tried poisoning the whole village."

"Hey, you never heard me complaining about Po-Wahi," retorted Macku with a soft giggle. "You guys have sand that gets everywhere."

"I know, wasn't it great?" Hewkii barked a laugh. "At least you guys have plenty of that along the shore. Perfect for Po-Matoran with…weaker constitutions."

His gaze trailed over to a temporary camp that Turaga Onewa had set up along the sandy shores of Lake Naho, which mostly consisted of boulders hastily rolled into rows to form walls. A handful of his fellow villagers (who looked more green than bronze) were doing their best in their assigned tasks, whether it was carving stone or patrolling the treeline or even keeping the Husi flocks from drinking seawater. They all found about as much success in their chores as Hewkii had during his stint as a fisherman.

Macku stepped over and took his hand in her own, yellow optics glowing in empathy. "I know our village isn't kind to your people," she said softly, "and so does everyone else here. These are trying times for everyone, even the Toa and the Huntresses, so we all understand…and we want to do everything we can to help you adjust, even if that means some chores don't get done. No one will think less of you if you put your own safety and comfort before Duty, Hewkii. Just this once."

Hewkii shook his head even as he squeezed her blue-plated palm. "I might be out of my element, but I'm still a Matoran. If our heroes can carry the burden of stopping these bugs, then surely I can handle a little bit of discomfort. I won't sit back and spend my Bohrok-induced exile from the desert being useless. Not without at least trying to pull my own weight."

His bond-mate sighed, though he could tell she was smiling behind her ocean-blue Huna. "I know…just remember that you don't have to be strong alone, y'know?"

"Oh believe me, I know." He reached forward and touched his copper-brown Kakama to the crest of her mask. "After all, Macku…I've got all the strength I need, with you by my side."

Unlike those odd humans, Matoran faces didn't change colors when they were embarrassed or flustered or charmed by a pair-bonded partner. He could've sworn he saw Macku go a little bit red in the mask all the same.

---

"…I see. So the secret of the 'pancake' is to properly balance the amounts of sugar, water, and…flowers?"

Nora giggled as she raised Magnhild over her head, then grunted as she slammed its sharpened maul point down like a pickaxe. Stone split and cracked under the weight of her blow, widening the channel she was digging and allowing more of the knee-deep water around her to flow into the diverting path. The last few days had been spent draining the tunnels around Onu-Koro that were still partially flooded, which ended up being brutal work even for strong Huntresses and not-quite-robot-people. Unpleasant, too; her toes were freezing, her socks were damp, and she was pretty sure her boots would never smell right again. Yet all that was a small price to pay to see the Gahlok's damage undone, and to see the miners smile just at the sight of her helping. One Matoran with a black mask and tan arms - Taipu, if she remembered the names right - seemed to keep smiling at her as he worked, wading through the sludge despite it coming up to his chin.

Of course, having the Toa of Earth working alongside the tunnel team was a morale boost for everyone. Herself included.

"Not flowers," corrected Nora, "flour. It's a ground-up powder like sugar, but it's dustier and thicker and tastes awful. I tried eating a bag of flour once. Not fun, would not recommend it."

Onua hummed in complete lack of understanding. "If it is inedible, why do humans eat it?"

"Well, we don't eat it raw," she clarified, breaking another rock as she gathered her thoughts. "We bake it in heat and water, along with other ingredients, to turn it into something soft and spongy and delicious. It's used for all kinds of things, like bread and cakes and dumplings."

"And pancakes."

Another laugh rang out from her. "Yeah, and pancakes. The best food that Remnant ever invented."

The Toa of Earth hummed thoughtfully as he drove his claws through the earth once more, cleaving more rock and rubble in one stroke as she had in an hour of working. She tried not to let that thought get her down. She tried not to let anything get her down. So far, she was having mixed success.

"And these…pancakes," Onua said again after clearing another channel, "can they be made anywhere?"

"Pretty much! All you need is a pan and a good fire, with a bit of oil to keep the batter from sticking." Nora grinned. "Me, Ruby, and Jaune pretty much ate our weight in pancakes while we were hiking through Anima - for some reason, Ren never seemed to run out of ingredients, and his hand was the steadiest for frying and flipping them. Then again, he did have a lot of practice making 'em when we were growing up in the wilds…"

Her words trailed off as a familiar hollowness settled into her heart, accompanied by the usual lead weight in her belly. Things had seemed so much simpler back then…so much easier. It wasn't easy at all, of course - her and Ren's days in the wilderness before Beacon were marred by the usual struggles of survival, and the trek that Team RNJR took after the Vytal Festival was tinged bittersweet by the loss of a dear friend. But things were stable in a way, almost predictable. Those days lasted long enough for a status quo to form, which was more than what she could say about their stressful few weeks in Atlas and those unpredictable months in Vacuo.

Was it wrong to be nostalgic for that crazy trip through Anima? To miss the days when it was just her, Ruby, Jaune and Ren? When she knew where she stood with all of them, and knew them better than she did herself? When it was enough for her to just be strong and hit stuff without feeling useless?…

Nora slammed Magnhild down, and for a moment she didn't think she was strong enough to pick her back up again. Onua must have noticed this, because he abandoned his own channel and walked over to kneel next to her. The other miners suddenly seemed a lot more interested in the work happening on the other end of the tunnel, wading away through the water to give Toa and Huntress a moment of privacy.

"Sorry, I just…" She wiped a tear budding at the corner of her eye. "Hah…jeez. I'm usually a lot better at holding these back."

"Shed them if you must," intoned Onua with a soft rumble. "It is no weakness to show emotion, to let others see how your soul aches."

"I know," said Nora, choking back a sob. "Guess I'm just so used to hiding it with a smile or a laugh. Y'know, make everyone else think I'm fine so they don't gotta worry about me." She looked back at the glowing green optics. "But I guess I couldn't fool you, huh?"

The Toa of Earth shook his head. "Laughter and cheer do not need to be masks for sorrow and shame, Nora. They can be as genuine as the rest of your feelings, as real as the emotions you try so hard to bury. Having a high spirit in the face of adversity is not the same as deflecting - it only becomes that if you try to conceal what lies beneath. Embrace such emotions, express them, and trust your friends to let them see your sorrow. It will make your genuine smile all the more wonderful, in their eyes."

A few more tears dripped down her face, leaving a smudge when she wiped them away. "You sound like you've got some experience with folks like me."

"To some degree, yes." Onua reached over and gently laid a claw on her shoulder. "Your habit of putting on a false smile to make others at ease…it reminds me greatly of my brother, Lewa."

"He's the green guy, right? The one with Ren?"

A slow nod. "Time was, he too used humor and confidence to mask his fears and worries, until we nearly lost him to Makuta's darkness. Even after being liberated from that evil, it took him time to accept that he was not alone, that his burden was the same as ours…and that it was not one meant to be carried alone. Yet even then I knew he also possessed - and still possesses - a strong sense of justice and a caring spirit, a desire to protect those important to him with all his strength and will. In that, too, you and him are very much alike."

Being compared to a Toa - someone who'd saved the island and helped Team RWBY out of their despair - made her heart swell with pride. Nora leaned her head against the tip of Onua's claw, feeling warmth and comfort from the otherwise-cold metal. "Do…do you really think I can learn to do that, too? That I can do more than just be strong and hit stuff and make stupid jokes when I'm hurting? Y'know, preferably without getting brainwashed for a few days."

Onua chuckled softly as he gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. "I believe that you can do anything you set your mind to, Nora Valkyrie. You are stronger than you say you are, and braver than you believe yourself to be. Even from only knowing you for a short time, it is enough to see that this…"

His other claw came down and pointed at her heart.

"…has always been your greatest strength."

Nora hugged herself and nuzzled against Onua's patient grasp until she stopped crying, until the weight of Magnhild felt bearable again, until she felt strong enough to resume digging and draining the tunnel. As she worked, the Toa of Earth's words of wisdom echoed in her mind, soothing her like cool water on scorching burns. It wasn't a perfect salve, of course, and it wasn't the end of her journey to find herself. She still had to figure that part out on her own.

But like the ditches she was making right now, maybe it was the start of a new path.

---

"You finished with that report yet?"

Johmak looked up from the slate she was balancing on her shield, azure eyes narrowing behind her sweeping ebony helmet. She focused on the multi-armed titan pacing around their camp at a jungle's edge, agitation apparent in his every movement and step. The black flames generated by the nearby Maxilos unit's sword didn't give much heat or light to the gathered Order agents, but that was by design - it was discrete enough to go unnoticed by enemy scouts, while still warm enough to bring the barest level of comfort to the trio of cold Energy Hounds. It was also just bright enough for her to see every detail of Nazara, no matter how much she wished that wasn't the case.

Of all the assignments she'd been given over the last few thousand years, this was definitely one of the worst.

"These things take time to carve out, Nazara," she said in a voice almost as sharp as her crystallized finger, "especially when the local materials are this tough to work." Her glassy crest flowed as she shook her head. "Damn this island...even the stone here feels wrong. Why can't the stuff up here be made of protodermis, like everything else down below?"

"Doesn't seem to give the Bohrok too much trouble," snarled Nazara. "They tear through this stuff like soft tissue. You could learn a thing or two from them."

Annoyance burned within her. "Well then maybe you can go ask them to write a report if you're so impatient."

The titan huffed. "It's not my patience you should worry about. It's his."

An old Ko-Matoran looked up from the Energy Hound laying its head across his lap. "Nazara, stop antagonizing someone that can turn into glass and tear you apart from the inside out. If you're so worried about pissing off our resident Caryxon, feel free to write the report yourself - I'm sure he'll only rip off a few of your limbs if he doesn't like it, and you have plenty to spare. Otherwise, let Johmak do her job in peace. The Order knew there'd be complications with this mission. That's why they sent us."

Nazara glared daggers at Mazeka, as if he was wondering if it'd be worth it to crush him like an annoying little protodite, then thought the better of it. Considering the Matoran had been in the Order longer than him and Johmak put together, and that he was sitting next to the three fierce (if tired) Energy Hounds, it was probably a wise decision. Likely the first one the brute had made in a long time.

"'Complications' sure is one word for this whole mess," he groused instead, folding all four of his arms across his chest. "The Bohrok keep getting thrashed and routed by the Toa Mata and those disgusting human things. Jerbraz got sick from drinking that ocean water. One of the Maxilos units broke down after just a few days of patrolling that desert. We lost an Energy Hound because it picked a fight with an ash bear in a bad mood. And you couldn't even do the one thing our boss sent your sorry mask up here to do."

"I told you, I'm not at fault for that last one," said Mazeka. "If what that Penny human said is true, which I have reason to believe is the case, then the Matoran have lived up here for a thousand years in isolation - to the point where they believe they are the only Matoran in existence. My appearance out of nowhere would hardly go unnoticed, and it would raise questions…questions that, for now at least, would be better left unasked."

"I still don't know why those idiot Turaga are so dead set on keeping their Matoran in the dark." The titan huffed. "Why don't they just pack up everything and go home, now that it's not a complete sludge-show down there?"

"They can't, remember?" Johmak sighed as she scratched a few more letters into her tablet. "We checked the whole island ourselves first thing when we got here. The only natural path back down to Metru Nui from here is down in Mangaia, locked behind a protosteel door so big and heavy it makes you look like a stone rat. There's only one person that can unlock it, and that's the same one who sealed it in the first place - the same Kraata-spawn who's sitting nice and ugly behind a Toa Seal. So unless the Toa Mata can be convinced to let the Nameless Makuta out of his cage, which is just as impossible as convincing him to open the way willingly, the Matoran up here aren't going anywhere." The crystalline agent chipped away more stone with a sharp sound. "Honestly, Nazara, we've told you all this before. Did you trade your short-term memory for more arms? Or were you just created to be this stupid?"

Nazara growled as he turned his gaze on her once more. "At least I was made for more than just sitting pretty in some Vortixx private gallery," he muttered under his breath.

Swiiiiish.

The air rattled with the sound of clinking crystals as Johmak dissolved into pieces, reforming right in front of the brute until she was face-to-maw with the Order's ugliest warrior. She knew that Nazara was just bored, that he was picking at her past to get a reaction out of her, and that she was giving him exactly what she wanted. She still narrowed her eyes and willed the material in her hands to partially transform, lining her fists with glass spikes sharp enough to punch through steel. Literally.

"Say that again, freak," snarled Johmak. "I dare you."

Nazara clearly looked like he wanted to, but a harsh stare from Mazeka (and growls from the Energy Hounds) made him hold his tongue. He just scoffed and walked away, snatching up his axes as he stomped back to the treeline.

"I'm going out on patrol again," he growled. "Finish writing that report, or I really will just go ask a Bohrok to do your job. Unlike you, they don't complain."

And with that, Nazara stormed off into the darkness.

Mazeka leveled his ancient stare at her next. "You were out of line, Johmak."

"So was he," she protested even as she relaxed her hands, letting the crystals retract and reform to their usual solid state. "He's been a pain in the Kanohi ever since we got here, and I don't even have one of those."

"Nazara is an old soldier sent someplace where there's no war to fight," said the old Matoran as he calmed the Energy Hounds with soft pats. "Imagine if you knew there was an entire world of knowledge out there, yet you were never allowed to learn it. Wouldn't you walk the edge of Madness, too?"

Johmak didn't need to imagine - she'd lived that kind of life for far too long, and never wanted to go back. "He could still be less of a Kraata-face about it."

"No argument there." Mazeka smiled a wry smile. "Still, it could be worse. You could be forced to work with Devastator again."

The thought of the huge, prideful, arrogant Dark Hunter obsessed with her made her crystals crawl. "Ugh. Don't even joke about that."

"Just saying, it can always be worse."

"You don't need to tell me that, Mazeka." She fell apart with a sigh and reappeared back in her seat, sharp jewel already in hand and ready to chisel more words into her stone slate. "Hopefully the Toa Mata and these humans get the hint and stand down soon," she mused while carving out some new letters. "They're putting everyone in danger with their heroics, and now they're even getting the Matoran riled up and fighting back. The longer they drag this out, the longer the Great Spirit suffers in slumber… and worse than that, the more of these stupid things I have to write."

"It's almost impressive that they've only let the Bohrok destroy forty percent of the island so far."

Johmak shot a glare that was somehow colder than the Ko-Matoran himself.

"What? I said 'almost,'" said Mazeka with a defensive shrug.

"I heard you, still judging you." The crystalline scholar sighed yet again. "Did you and Jerbraz learn anything new about the humans since our last report?"

"Only that one of them had a hand in building a machine from Bohrok parts a few days ago," reported Mazeka. "The one in red, with a power like yours. Since then, this human has also worked with some Onu-Matoran to make more copies of the machine, along with a few…other weapons."

Great. So now they were inventing new problems, too. It was all Johmak could do but pray that soon enough, these humans went back to wherever they came from. That they'd stop causing problems for a universe already falling apart at the seams. That they'd realize this stupid world had enough issues without them making things worse.

But for now, all she could do was write these damn reports and fill the night air with sullen scratching sounds.

Someone had to chronicle the chaos, after all.

---

Takua let out a nervous yelp as he took one shaky step after another, stretching out his arms in some attempt to keep his balance. While he wanted to say it was the messy half-flooded terrain of Onu-Koro that kept tripping him up, in reality he only had himself and his lackluster piloting skills to blame. Then again, what else did he expect? For all of Nuparu's boasting that his machine was intuitive and easy to control, he didn't account for the fact that the Chronicler taking it out for a test run had never driven anything more complex than a lavaboard.

"Don't lean so much to the left, Takua!" called Ruby from her makeshift workbench. "Let the momentum and weight worry about themselves! You're about halfway there!"

Halfway? He'd only gotten halfway through his lap around the village? The Chronicler puffed a sigh and looked over the side of his blue-plated mech as he kept running, watching somewhat enviously as Jaller maneuvered a Boxor of his own far ahead of him. Unlike his own clumsy piloting attempts, the other machine ran at a full sprint towards the original prototype, rearing up an electrified punch that Nuparu easily caught and countered. They were still trading punches like feral Tarakava by the time he finally joined both of them, swinging and missing and almost falling out of his cockpit.

Pewku trilled in alarm and shot back to her feet, while next to her Ruby winced. "Okay…" hissed the silver-eyed Huntress, sucking in a breath through her teeth. "I, uh, think that's enough of a test run with the new suits. Go ahead and bring them back over here, then power 'em down."

A few bios away from the temporary work area, Takua brought his Boxor into a crouching position and popped open the cockpit. After making sure he followed the engineer's instructions, he finally crawled shakily out of the machine and back onto solid ground - and regained his own natural footing just in time for Pewku to tackle him affectionately. Nuparu and Jaller exchanged a few more test blows before they did the same, powering down and stepping out of their own Boxor units. While the latter remained stony-faced behind his mask, Takua could tell that his oldest friend was happier than a Matoran on their Naming Day.

Ruby's grin was equal parts proud and hopeful. "Well? Whaddya think?"

"It's impressive tech, to be sure," said the Chronicler as he sat up. "But I think I'll stick to Pewku as my ride of choice, if it's all the same to you."

His favorite Ussal crab trilled in joy, especially when he scratched her between the eyestalks.

"Heh, fair enough!" She turned to Jaller. "How about it, Captain? Think your Guards will be able to pilot these?"

"If it's a weapon, they can learn how to wield it well." He turned to Nuparu. "This…Boxor…I can easily see it turning the tide of this battle, though that obviously relies on getting enough of them made. You say these can be assembled with as few as three Bohrok wrecks?"

"Two for the frame, and one for auxiliary components," confirmed Nuparu. "We've only built them from Gahlok and Nuhvok parts so far, but it should work with pieces from all the other breeds."

"Good." Jaller nodded tersely. "To think that their swarming would be a boon to us, for once. With the number of Bohrok on the field, any battle will yield plenty of salvage for new Boxor units."

"That's not the only thing we can use them for!" chirped Ruby. "We came up with a few other weapon ideas after fighting the Gahlok. Maybe they can be useful to Matoran who can't use the Boxor, or for terrain where they won't work very well. Nuparu, would you do the honors?"

Nuparu's eyes lit up behind his orange Pakari. "I thought you'd never ask, my friend. Captain, Chronicler, prepare to be amazed yet again!"

The engineer gestured to a nearby stone table, which currently had a half-dozen silver swords stacked somewhat neatly in piles. Each blade was curved much like Takua's own Chronicler Staff, but the edges were even sharper and the flat sides had what looked like gray wires running down its length, weaving a web of cabling until it met a yellow-gold crystal slotted into the base. The padded hilt was capped off with a pale white fang that came to a pick-like point at the pommel's front side, one that seemed sharp enough to put out an optic just from looking at it.

"Ruby gave us some of her Lightning Dust to help make these Electro-Blades -"

"Shock Swords!" The Huntress shot a mock pout at her partner. "You said we could call 'em Shock Swords…"

"Right, sorry." Nuparu chuckled. "As the name implies, these Shock Swords can deliver a potent electric charge to anything the blade touches. There's a button on the hilt to activate the electric effect, and a safety switch at the back so you don't accidentally shock yourself. Just mind how much power's in the crystal at the base - even with the protodermis core acting as filler material, that Dust won't last forever, though you can always swap in a new one if you have spares."

"Or you can just use it like a regular sword at that point," added Ruby. "It's sharp enough to cut through Bohrok armor in a few slices, especially if you can get the drop on them. That pick at the pommel is actually one of their fangs - one hit from that in the right place can shatter their faceplates, making it easy to get their Krana."

Jaller picked up a Shock Sword with a curious hum, giving it a few test swings before nodding in approval. "Could be useful in close quarters, though I doubt most Matoran are brave or desperate enough to fight those things on foot. Got anything with a bit more reach? A ranged weapon, perhaps?"

Nuparu seemed glad he'd asked. "Think we've got just the thing. Behold!"

Takua watched as the eager engineer grabbed a boxy tube and hefted it onto his shoulder, one hand gripping a handle along the bottom while the other held onto a lever on the side. A metal circle halfway down its length had a cross in the middle, which he recognized as a crude recreation of the "scopes" or "iron sights" often found on Remnant weapons. (Most of what the Chronicler had learned about guns came from Penny, and often not by choice.) And attached to the back of the device was the same marble canister used to contain a heatstone, albeit with glowing blue paint running down the sides.

"This is a portable version of the mining laser we plan to equip on each Boxor unit," explained Nuparu as he fiddled with some switches. "It doesn't have the same amount of power as its mounted counterpart, mostly for safety reasons, but the principle is largely the same. It draws power from a protodermis-Dust core at the back, focusing light into lasers through a series of internal lenses - "

"We don't need a lecture on the science behind it," chided Jaller. "We just need to know what it does."

"Right! Of course. Perhaps a demonstration is in order, then." Nuparu pushed the side lever all the way forward, then twisted it around so that both hands held the weapon from underneath. "Well, it has two different firing modes, which can easily be switched depending on what you need. When the charging handle is like this, it can fire multiple lasers in short bursts…"

Tsew tsew tsew tsew tsew! An array of red streaks shot from the device as soon as a button was pressed, impacting a distant stalagmite and making its gray stone heat up to a glowing orange. Satisfied, Nuparu twisted the front handle again, this time positioning it so that it was being held from above. With another push of that same button the boxy tip of the weapon began to hum and whine, blue light gathering in a corona that made Takua's mask rattle in its magnetic socket.

"…and when the handle's in the top position, it can be charged for a single very powerful blast. Hold the firing stud, take aim, and when you're ready…release it!"

BWOOOOOOM!

Takua almost went blind as a sky-blue beam of light cut through the cavern, melting that stalagmite into a fresh pile of lava. That certainly got Jaller's interest.

"I can see our artillery forces in the Guard getting a lot of use out of these," mused the Captain. "They're quite used to operating lava launchers and magma mortars while we were still fighting Rahi, and would certainly appreciate something that cuts through Bohrok armor. Is there a name for this weapon yet? Or are you two still fighting over that, too?"

Ruby grinned. "We actually pretty much agreed on that right away for this one. Since it uses weaponized light, and shines like its own little sun wherever it's used, we thought it should be called…"

"…the Skyblaster," finished Nuparu with a smirk of his own.

Pewku trilled in fascination. Jaller nodded in approval. Ruby looked like she was about to explode into a shower of excited petals.

"Shock Swords, Skyblasters, and Boxor units," mused the Chronicler. "If nothing else, we can strike fear in the hearts of the Bohrok with intimidating invention names."

The engineer chortled. "Oh, we'll be able to do more than that. We'll have to field test these other weapons in a proper battle, but I have a feeling that they'll be able to keep the Bohrok out of the villages at the very least. As long as we can hold out until the Toa and their allies finish their quest and stop this menace at the core, that's a success in my eyes."

There was just the slightest dip in Ruby's smile at that last comment, which she likely took as a reminder of the work she was tinkering with Nuparu to escape from. Jaller seemed to notice it too, because he turned to Takua and gave a small nod. He understood the signal and pulled Penny's Scroll out of his rucksack, passing it to the Captain before turning and addressing the engineer.

"Nuparu, why don't you and Jaller go call Doctor Polendina?" he offered. "I'm sure he's got some ideas on how to efficiently make more of these things, if he's not too busy with other projects. Maybe you, him, and Onepu can even coordinate supply lines from here to Ta-Koro? There's still plenty of Pahrak and Kohrak wrecks from the initial attack lying around, and no one knows what to do with them."

"We've also got the biggest source of lava on the island, perfect for forging into new parts," added Jaller. "Lava-farming's been slow since the invasion started, but I'm sure someone as smart as you can find a use for whatever our village has pulled from the Lake of Fire." He smiled wryly. "Maybe you can even invent something to pick up the slack."

Predictably, Nuparu took the bait, and practically skipped away from his workbench to follow Jaller. Takua didn't follow; instead, he walked over to that same table Ruby had returned to, and watched her tinker for a little longer. There were dark bags under her eyes and a shakiness in her hands, which Penny had told him were all signs of stress in humans. She gave him a thankful look all the same, along with the faintest of smiles before throwing herself back into her little project with a tight frown.

Compared to how bubbly and excitable she usually was over new technology, silence from Ruby Rose was unsettling.

I haven't seen her this down since the Tarakava attack on Ga-Koro, thought the Chronicler. She must've spent the last few days building stuff with Nuparu, to make so many of these new weapons and even two more Boxor suits…is that her way of coping? Did she get enough sleep? Has she even eaten? Oh, Penny…if only you could see just how miserable Ruby is without you. How miserable we all are…

He didn't know if Jaller's theory on someone kidnapping the Maiden of Mata Nui was right or not, but he was starting to resent this mysterious actor more and more.

"How're you holding up, Takua?" asked Ruby, breaking the silence with a surprisingly hoarse whisper. "I imagine that all this can't be easy."

The Chronicler was tempted to huff and roll his eyes, but kept his sarcasm in check and let out a sigh. He was surprised that even in the midst of her own struggles, Ruby wanted to make sure he was doing okay…and then he was surprised that he was even surprised at all. She cared about people. Maybe more than she cared about herself.

"It's…really not," he muttered quietly after a moment. "I mean, look at what's happening right now. My best friend is missing when we need her most…"

He could see her lip tremble, much as she tried to hide it.

"…my home village is half in ruins, and the whole island's being destroyed by robot bugs. And I can't do anything to help with any of those, except wander the island and take notes after each battle." Takua shrugged. "Honestly, I'm keeping it together a lot better than I expected. If this had happened a few centuries earlier, I'd probably be finding the biggest rock to hide under by this point."

That got something of a laugh from Ruby. Even that sounded hollow.

"How about you, Ruby?" asked Takua pointedly, even leaning over the table to force her gaze to match his. "Are you okay?"

Ruby's silver eyes seemed eager to look anywhere except at him. "…yeah. No. I mean…I don't know, Takua. Gali went back to the sea a few days ago, and she had to leave me here again. Nora and Onua already left to go help in the tunnels, and to go after any Gahlok still in Onu-Wahi. Everyone else is busy with their own hunts. I can't ask them to drop everything and come see me just because I'm lonely. There's too much at stake now for that. Sure, I can call and talk to them, but…it's not the same…"

Her hands trembled, almost dropping the ball of metallic twine she was trying to spool. She threw it down in frustration, then leaned over the table and pressed her palms against its surface. Takua just kept looking at her, kept quiet, let her take the lead in venting her problems.

"These Bohrok…whenever we've beaten them, it's always been by a hair, but it was even closer this time. We barely got everyone out before the floods hit - it's a miracle nobody died, and I'm glad the Matoran are safe, but look around you. It's a mess. I almost drowned trying to save Nuparu, and then we got stuck in a collapsed cave with no way out. If we didn't have the stuff we needed to build the Boxor, if we hadn't finished it when we did, then I wouldn't…I might not even…"

Ruby bit her lips and squeezed her eyes shut, tears pooling at their corners. She didn't finish that thought, and Takua didn't want her to. Pewku trilled and laid down next to her, eyestalks quivering with comfort. The Huntress choked a laugh that sounded a little less forced, then reached down to pat her carapace with one hand.

"I just…feel like I could be doing more," choked Ruby, using her other palm to wipe her face. "Like I should be doing more. Me, my friends, the Toa…we're all burning ourselves out just putting out fires, just stopping individual Bohrok attacks when they happen. Even these weapons are…well, you heard Nuparu. He thinks they'll be able to slow them down, not stop them. That's what they need the Toa for. That's what they need us for. I know that. I know everyone's counting on us. I know we have to keep collecting these Krana if we want to stop them for good, but…"

She finally hung her head. "…it still doesn't feel like enough. It never does."

Takua frowned and stepped around the table to lay a hand on her leg, the only part of her that he could comfortably reach without seeming inappropriate. The touch seemed to stir something in Ruby, compelling her to turn and kneel down until she met him eye-to-optic. Taking that act as permission, he reached out and hugged the Huntress around the shoulders with a firm squeeze, a gesture that was returned with a small sniffle. It wasn't quite the same experience as embracing Penny - Ruby was smaller and gentler and less likely to suddenly shoot off into the sky - but it still warmed his heartstone all the same. Based on how much Ruby shook and shuddered in his arms, he had a feeling it did the same for her.

He wanted to say that she was doing plenty. That Ruby had personally seen to the defense of half the villages of Mata Nui, and that she'd had a hand in building machines that could protect the rest. That it was okay to be lonely. That she was doing way more than he was. But right now there was no need for words. Just a hug between the misfortune-prone Matoran and the hurting human said plenty on its own, and gave comfort enough for both.

Eventually, after she stopped shaking and sniffling, Ruby pulled away and wiped her eyes dry. "Snff…thanks, Takua. I…didn't realize how much I needed that." She gave a wet little chuckle as she sat down across from him. "You give good hugs."

"I had the best teacher," he said with a small yet proud smile. "I had someone there when I was down on myself, too. Someone who believed in me, even when I didn't want to believe in myself." Takua reached out and laid a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Someone who'd be extremely proud of you, just like she always is. And someone who's gonna find her way back to us, no matter what."

Another sniffle escaped Ruby's throat as she leaned her head against the metallic hand, giving a tired little smile of her own. Pewku trilled and joined the cuddle pile with a chirp and a scuttle of her six legs, reaching out with a long sinewy tongue to lick away the lingering tears. That finally made a laugh - a real one - ring out from the Huntress as she squirmed and tried pushing away the eager little Ussal crab, who only took her protests as further permission to deliver some much-needed kisses.

"Ack! Pewku! Hehe, no! Not the face! Not the faaaaace!"

Takua watched it all unfold with a smile behind his own mask, and a glow in his heartstone he thought had completely disappeared.

There was no way he could replace the warmth and joy that Penny always seemed to bring to everyone around her. But that didn't mean he couldn't carry it forward, when others needed it most.

---

Hmm…this goes here…that goes there…no, this should be there…

Penny hummed as her hands glided over the pale olive-green steel of the Moto-Hub central control room, wires of light wrapped around her fingertips and manipulating the hidden parts within. She carefully stepped over the carpet of garbage and debris along the floor of the dome-shaped room, circling around a ring of huge mechanisms that connected to a pillar-like cluster of metal pipes. Occasionally she stole a glance out through panes of translucent metal built into the walls, checking to make sure that the tangled snarl of massive dust-gray tubes outside had not moved or shifted during her work. Thankfully, they had not. They remained exactly where they had been for a thousand years.

For most people, repairing over a dozen twenty-foot-tall turbines and rewiring their control consoles would have been a daunting task, even with replacements for the necessary parts. But for someone like her, for someone that could rearrange mechanical pieces with nothing more than a thought, it was simple enough. Relaxing, almost.

If only the same could have been said for the journey to get those parts.

Breathe, she reminded herself at the first warning sign of another oncoming panic attack. You are safe now. You are fine. Nobody in Metru Nui wishes to harm you. Nobody here is as unpleasant as Roodaka, or Zaktan, or the other Dark Hunters.

"Ah, human, there you are. Have you finished the Moto-Hub repairs yet?"

Her face tightened without realizing it. Well…almost nobody, she mentally corrected.

She counted to a very high number in her head before turning around and putting on her best smile, half-hoping to find Kualus or Bomonga or Pouks coming to see her again. But to her dismay it was indeed the crimson-robed Turaga that strolled into sight, casting a critical eye on the Moto-Hub as he entered. Dume had been quite thorny towards the Maiden ever since she had arrived in Metru Nui; judging by the current expression behind his mask, he had not grown any friendlier since the last time they spoke. If anything, he somehow seemed more disdainful.

Well, at least she could speak openly about the Order around Dume. Not that she even wanted to think about her "benefactors" right now.

"I have almost finished installing the parts that Axonn and I purchased from Xia," reported the Maiden. "The quality of metal within them was poor and corroded, but Pyrrha was able to use her elemental power to anodize and reform them into a more usable state. From there it was a matter of -"

Dume cut her off with a wave of his hand. "Save the details for a Chronicler. How much longer do you think the task will take?"

"Not much longer." Penny pointed to the console in front of her, then to the turbine it connected to. "This is the last of the control panels that require repairs. Once I have finished it, the chute network will hopefully be back online."

The Turaga gave a dissatisfied hum as he gestured to the waist-high carpet of scattered metal, which had been cleared away just enough to access the panels. "And then I suppose you will finally finish sweeping this place up?"

Her confidence faltered. "Um…Axonn told me not to worry about the mess, that I should just focus on fixing the turbines and the consoles -"

"Axonn is not the one in charge of this city, human," snapped Dume with a harsh glare. "I am. Now clear it away at once. The Moto-Hub is meant to be the nerve center of the entire chute network, and thus it must be kept tidy and orderly. You would not want such clutter in your internal systems, would you?"

Penny furrowed her brow, mentally counted to an even higher number, and stepped away from the console while redirecting the Aura flowing through her palms. It was not difficult to clear out the wreckage - thanks to her Semblance and a few well-placed bursts of wind - but it still annoyed her that she needed to do this all the same. Then again, there was logic in the Turaga's demand; Atlesian installations and offices had been ruthlessly efficient in part because they were so well-maintained and kept clean, so surely someplace as important as the Metru Nui's transit control center should be run the same way. Dume had a good reason to ask this of her, and that annoyed Penny more than anything else.

Five minutes later, she had turned the sea of scrap into piles of protodermis, arranging the junk into mounds that lined the curved walls of the control room. The Turaga stared at it for a moment longer, and Penny briefly began to wonder if he was going to demand that she lay out a carpet for him to walk on. Thankfully such a ridiculous request went unasked, and Dume eventually hobbled forward while casting a critical eye on the trash he passed by.

He stopped by one particular towering pile during his approach, glaring at several broken, lanky figures with angular heads that poked out of the sides. Some of them had broken disk launchers for mouths, while others still held onto strange staves. And all of them stared right back with lifeless, diamond-like eyes that Penny found unsettling. Clearly the Turaga felt the same way, because he gave one drooping arm a kick before he kept walking.

"Ugh…Vahki," drawled Dume with a shake of his head. "I never did like those infernal things. They did more harm than good with their binary protocols, and our reliance on them made it far easier for that Nameless Makuta to take my place and rule my city with fear." He sighed. "Robotic, mindless enforcers of law and order, with no free will of their own to make true judgments…I never should have accepted Nuparu's proposal to mass-produce them."

Biting back a comment about how she used to be one such robotic enforcer, Penny did her best to remain positive and friendly. "Wait. You mean that Nuparu built these?" A smile that was almost genuine crept onto her lips. "I have worked with Nuparu on Mata Nui!"

"Oh you have, have you?" The Turaga gave her a doubtful look. "Interesting…he must be having the time of his life up on that surface island you keep talking about. Tell me, is he still cobbling together mindless death machines that never do as they're programmed?"

Penny's eyes widened. "What? No, of course not. He builds mechanisms that help the Matoran in their daily life -"

"Color me shocked. Perhaps he dabbles in destruction when no one is looking."

Her brow furrowed yet again. "I know my friend, Turaga. Nuparu would not design anything that would harm a Matoran - I am certain of it."

Dume scoffed. "Of course. Because clearly you know more about the Matoran - my Matoran - after living with them for a few moons, compared to the fifteen millennia that I spent as their Turaga. How foolish of me to think otherwise."

The Maiden of Mata Nui had no response, save for turning away with a small sigh and getting back to work on the last chute control console. Arguing with Dume would be pointless. Making a scene would be pointless. All she could do was focus on the task ahead of her, on making sure each part fit and that each wire was properly connected. Even when the Turaga finally moved to stand behind her and look over her shoulder - metaphorically, of course - she kept her mind and her Semblance locked onto her repairs.

Even that was a challenge, though.

Her thoughts, as they so often had in the last few days, returned to that Xia excursion. What should have been a simple, if risky, shopping trip had turned into one of the toughest battles in Penny's relatively short life - and that life had almost been cut even shorter by the sheer power of the Dark Hunters that had attacked them. Even now that she was safe in Metru Nui, with fresh bandages and a replenished Aura and all the Vuata Maca berries she could ever eat, the shock of yet another near-death experience had not worn off. Her hands still felt numb and stiff, her thigh still ached, and her head still pounded like an egg about to crack. Despite being assured by Axonn that there would be no lingering effects from Hakann's mental blasts, the migraine refused to relent.

Worse than all that, though, was the hollowing feeling in her heart that seemed inescapable. Knowing what had happened to the Rahaga - what Roodaka had done to them - recontextualized much of what they had told her about their past. Though she did her best not to let that knowledge taint her interactions with the kindly caretakers since her return, a gnawing guilt weighed her down all the same. She tried to see them as they were, and not as shadows of the Toa they had once been, but it was difficult to even look them in the eyes without crying. Could she have bartered with Roodaka to turn them back, had she known at the time? Penny did not know if the Vortixx woman would do such a thing, but she would have traded all her hair to find out. But it was too late now, and the Maiden suspected she would not be welcomed back onto Xia for a very long time. Which was fine enough, since she had no desire to ever go back.

And Pyrrha…poor Pyrrha. The incident had made her wary of Brutaka and Axonn, shattering whatever trust had been built between the titans and herself during her time on Voya Nui. Was it anger at them for failing to keep Penny safe, despite Axonn's promise? Indignation that they'd do business with someone like Roodaka? Rage at herself for not being quick enough to keep her friend from being hurt? Whatever it was, it clearly ate away at the Toa of Iron, prompting her to withdraw into herself and do her repairs alone most of the time. Oh, she still helped Penny when asked, and spent time with her whenever she needed a break, and smiled and laughed and gave lots of hugs when she was feeling sad…but everyone else was kept at an arm's length, and even those moments of happiness felt forced on Pyrrha's part.

Despite everything that had happened to her on Remnant, it seemed Pyrrha Nikos still consigned herself to carry the weight of the world.

It was all Penny could do but hope neither of them collapsed under their burdens.

A tear slipped out of her eye, carefully caught before it could splash against the control panel. Water did not belong in circuitry, after all, and Dume would only yell at her if she ruined wires that were likely older than human civilization itself. She finished her repairs, connected the last heat exchanger, and closed the console before she could fully start crying.

"I believe that the system is in an operational state now," said Penny as she faced the Turaga behind her. "All that is required to restart the chute network is an administrator's key."

"Then stand aside and allow me," said Dume as he shuffled forward, chisel in hand. Under his breath, he muttered to himself, "To think Botar dragged me all the way here just to turn a damned switch…impatient brute, he knows I hate his way of traveling."

For once, Penny actually agreed with Dume. Not that she said as much, of course - she was more intrigued by what the old Turaga was doing at the panel. His chisel slid into a keyed slot and locked into place with a magnetic thump, at which point Dume twisted and turned his tool back and forth with a complex series of rotations.

All at once the room - no, the entire building - began to rumble and shudder, ancient mechanisms groaning and straining against centuries of disuse and decay. The air felt laced with static as electrical couplings came alive in showers of sparks, arcs of lightning jumping from one conduit to another and bidding massive wheels to spin. Pistons pumped and drove the heavy turbines with grinding gears, the screeching of metal eventually giving way to the roar of industrial machines at work. And beyond the transparent steel windows of the control room, Penny saw those old cables of stagnant fluid brighten and shift in color, gaining a silver-blue tinge to them as new protodermis flowed beneath the magnetic fields.

"It works!" Penny exclaimed excitedly, grinning as she watched the high-speed fluid travel to parts unknown. "The chutes are working again! Sensational!"

She cast a jubilant smile at Dume, only for her joy to falter as the Turaga failed to reflect her enthusiasm. "…right?" asked the Maiden. "It is sensational, yes?"

Dume just cast his gaze on the network for a moment longer, then sighed. "This ruined city is many things, human. 'Sensational' is not one of them."

Penny was so sorely tempted to lash out. To shout at the curmudgeonly old Turaga that refused to smile no matter what she fixed. To demand some measure of appreciation for all the work she had done so far. But there was something so very tired within those glowing yellow optics, a pain that so sharply mirrored her own, and the anger abated almost instantly when she recognized it for what it was.

"…the Great Cataclysm was not your fault, Turaga."

That finally got Dume to look at her, confusion and intrigue in his stare.

"The Makuta did this to Metru Nui," she said, louder and more emphatically this time. "He did this to the Great Spirit. To the Matoran. It was nothing that you did -"

"Yet it was my mask he wore to steal away my city," countered Dume, cutting her off with a hardened expression. "If my people remember me at all, then they surely only know me as a dictator who ruled them with an iron fist, who openly worked with Dark Hunters and branded their saviors as enemies of the state."

"You cannot know that for certain," said Penny pointedly. "Vakama and the others must surely remember you for the ruler you were. They started as Matoran under your charge, after all, and their fight as Toa was with the Makuta - not with you."

"Have they spoken of me in any of their tales up on the surface?"

She frowned. "Well, no, but -"

"Then I doubt they see me in a favorable light, either, even before the Makuta's treachery." Dume rolled his optics, then settled his gaze into the distance. "Not that I can blame them…I know every mistake I made, every failure that paved the path to tragedy. I have had plenty of time for introspection, after all - not much else to do when ruling a dead city. All my attempts during my reign to create order, to keep every Matoran tuned solely to their Duty above all else, to ensure that disagreements were settled with machines instead of minds…it created an atmosphere of fear and paranoia. A city where doubt and free will were aggressively stamped out, where Unity was replaced with uniformity and Destiny with endless drudgery."

His hand shook as withered muscles strained to form a fist. "My policies and orders were never questioned or examined, even when an imposter stood in my place. What does that say about my rule, then, when it was indistinguishable from a Makuta's?"

Penny did not have an answer. At least, not an answer either of them wanted to hear. Taking the silence as a cue to go on, the old Turaga heaved a smoky sigh as his fist relaxed.

"This city was my home, human. My entire world. My sole responsibility above all else. And with its fall the entire Matoran Universe lies in ruin and chaos, plagued by shadows as the light continues to fade. Makuta…the Brotherhood…the Dark Hunters…their influence grows because I failed Metru Nui. As a Toa. As a Turaga. As a leader."

Dume finally fell silent after his tirade, giving the Maiden time to ponder and process his words. An entire millennium spent stewing in guilt and self-hatred, with nothing but reminders of failure as far as the eye could see…Penny could not even begin to imagine living with that kind of heartbreak and shame for so long. Was it any wonder that this Turaga was so cynical and bitter, after a thousand years of living in the shattered pieces of his own dream? Surely anyone would have fallen into such despair and exhaustion, had they been trapped in such a negative spiral.

And yet…Takua had spent a thousand years on Mata Nui being a restless, wanderlust-prone outsider worried only about himself. And now he was the Chronicler who had summoned the Toa Mata to the island, brought Penny back to life, and proven himself a hero time and again.

If one Matoran could change, surely a Turaga could do the same?

"You sound like a very good friend of mine," she said after a moment's pause, walking closer to Dume with a soft gaze. "Ruby Rose…a Huntress, a leader, and my world's greatest warrior. She has been through much - not as much as you, obviously, due to a much shorter lifespan - and it has weighed on her heavily. Every mistake made by herself, by her team, even by humanity itself…she carries it, fairly or not, and it has nearly broken her many times. Yet still she continues. Yet still she fights. Yet still she keeps moving forward. It is…inspirational. She is inspirational. To me, and to so many others."

Penny took a knee next to the Turaga, who surprisingly did not back away.

"I…I know how it feels, to watch your home crumble away." Her words were softer now. Less confident. More vulnerable. "To know that you played a part in its fall. To see your people leave and find refuge in a land they are not prepared for…a land where you cannot follow them. It hurts deeper than any blade, any wound, any pain. And no matter how much time passes, it is one scar that never heals."

Her fingers instinctively traced the claw marks beneath the fabric of her dress. The gashes left behind by those talons that pierced her chest and brought her story on Remnant to a messy, unsatisfying conclusion.

"My life ended, in more ways than one, on the day that Atlas fell. Even though I still live, there is still a part of myself that I will never get back…a part of myself that was lost among the ashes of a ruined Kingdom." A small smile spread as she continued speaking. "But it is because I live that I follow Ruby's example. That I mourn for the past, yet look ahead to the future. That I use this new chance granted to me by the Great Spirit Mata Nui, and live a better life than the ones I did before."

Gathering her courage, Penny dared to reach out and lay a hand on Dume's metallic shoulder.

"If the Matoran come back to Metru Nui…when they come back…you will have another chance too, Turaga Dume. And like Ruby and myself, you will not be alone."

The old Turaga said nothing for a long moment, long enough for Penny to worry she had crossed some unspoken social boundary. Thankfully Dume assuaged that fear by letting out another small sigh as he stepped away, though this time there was a flicker of something in his optics. Not quite a smile, not quite a look of approval…but a small amount of gratitude, all the same.

"That is…bold of you to say, and a kind enough sentiment." He hummed thoughtfully. "Perhaps one day I may actually believe such a notion, but for now it brings some small comfort to at least hear such things. Thank you, I suppose. Your enthusiasm and appreciation for this city is as clear as the twin suns themselves. I shall leave the remaining repairs, and the Destiny of Metru Nui, in your capable hands…Penny."

And with that, Dume finally turned and hobbled back out of the Moto-Hub, leaving Penny behind with only the humming of magnetized protodermis to fill the silence. It occurred to her that her words were the nicest thing the old Turaga had heard from anyone - himself included - in well over a thousand years, if not longer. That made the slight relief in his voice all the more precious, made the warmth in her heart feel all the more welcome. If even a bitter, jaded elder could have his heartstone softened, then perhaps Penny was not as alone as she thought she was.

Still, what she would have given to be on Mata Nui, to feel the warmth of sunlight on herself once again.

But for now, it would seem that she would need to shine brighter for a universe in darkness.

---

(A/N): Well, would ya look at that? Looks like Dume has a heart after all! (He's just as surprised as you, really.)

Next chapter's gonna be a lot lighter and a lot fluffier, as we see just what a newly-reconnected Remnant looks like. Expect plenty of cameos and charm!

Also, shout out to BionicleChicken's comic "Sand and Glass", which was where a lot of the characterization for Johmak came from. We might see more of those Order members in the future, we might not, depends on how swamped I get with keeping all the other plates spinning for this fic haha.