One Destiny   von Aqua111
                                  (Bionicle)
================================================================================
            Kapitel 41: Chapter 41: The only one who ever loved him
            -------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 41: The only one who ever loved him

When Takua finally reached the bottom of the tower again he was already
awaited.
“Jaller! Shouldn’t you stay with the others?”
“Sorry, bro, but waiting would have killed me. I wanted to be first to know
whether the Rahkshi or you was the first one to leave the tower again.
“It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.”
More Takua didn’t want to say. He only wanted to be able to forget about it.
Jaller took a long look at his friend.
“I know”, he finally just said.
On their way back they both were wrapped up in silence. That was one thing why
Takua loved Jaller as a friend. He wasn’t asking too many questions when the
Toa of light didn’t feel like talking at all, he just seemed to understand
without words.

The former council hall now was a kind of hospital. Or at least a place where
the wounded could get some help and rest.
Jaller walked over to the red Matoran guarding the door. Takua’s heart made a
little jump when he recognized him.
“Kapura, have the two water Toa arrived?” Jaller asked.
“Yes, captain, and a Toa I’ve never seen before was with them as well. I
sent them to Tahu as you said.”
“Kapura”, Takua now got closer too, “We haven’t seen each other since
… I hurriedly left the jungle. Do you know something from the others of the
old alliance? Are they alright?”
“They are … okay”, Kapura looked at the floor, “As okay as you can feel
after such a loss”, he looked up again, “But we haven’t given up hope yet.
Not after two missing Toa had come back and a new Toa had been found.”

The hall never had looked emptier although all of the Toa and a few Matoran were
in it but they had all crowded around the same place. Everyone wanted to hear
the story of the two water Toa and take a look at the new Toa who didn’t seem
to be too happy about so much attention at all.
Another melee started when Jaller and Hahli tried to squeeze through the crowd
and finally get into each others arms again.
“Can you all please shut up?” Tahu finally yelled. Takua noticed that his
wounds had healed really fast within the past three days since he last saw him
for real. Only some scars were still remaining and maybe might stay his whole
life.
Slowly it got silent again in the hall.
“Good”, the fire Toa sighed, “now we also have a chance to hear what the
three have to say.”

Hahli and Gali alternated in telling, beginning from their fight with the
Tarakava, up to when they got closer to the city and Tupua finally could
teleport them over the army of creatures.
“Don’t wonder too much about our new friend”, Tahu said after they had
ended and nodded over to Tupua who had silently stared at the floor the whole
time, “He’s as talkative as Kopaka.”
“I’ve just been thinking”, the dark Toa said still staring at the floor.
“When we passed by I noticed that Mata Nui’s body is just spiritual. If we
want to face Makuta we have to enter the body.”
“Enter the body?” Tahu asked bewildered.
“It’s just spiritual. We could jump through it like through mist. There are
two gods inside now, one caught, one free. The only way to win against a god is
when you send another god into battle.”
“But we are no gods”, Tahu said, “And the only other god is a
prisoner.”
“But we are Toa. Mata Nui created us. He lives inside each of us. Have you
never wondered why Makuta never could have killed us even if he was close often
enough? Deep inside his heart he still loves his brother, still wants to protect
him. It’s this love that protects us as well. Maybe I now understand why I
carry the Manawa. I was inside the spiritual body, together with two gods and
for a few seconds I had the chance to look into their hearts. Lewa already
mentioned something back then that Makuta can suck up negative feelings. The
longer this war is going on the stronger he will get and the more creatures he
can create. It’s a circle that can only be stopped by another god.”
“So all Toa have to enter this body…”
“Only if they want. I don’t think it will work if they are forced to. But in
the end it doesn’t really matter because if my thoughts were right Mata Nui
can draw all our power also if only one of us enters but if my thoughts are
wrong it won’t work at all, no matter how many Toa are there and we all would
be killed during a long lasting war. All other plans will fail sooner or later.
This is the only one with at least 50-50.chance.”
For a moment everyone remained silent then Lewa started speaking. “As Makuta
himself said, negative things make him stronger. It would only be logical that
the opposite weakens him. But as he said as well they must concern him otherwise
they will just pass him by without effect. And this would be a positive feeling
concerning him. If we have to choose between certain death and death with a
little chance to survive I would take the second way.”
“So it seems like our decision is made”, Tahu said, “The only question is,
who will come with us?”
There never had been heard more Toa voices the same time. Even some Matoran
started calling.
“I think I speak for all Toa”, Tupua meant, “when I say they all want to
come.”
“It’s make up or break up now”, Pohatu shouted, “Better all of us go
now, than some of us stay back and fight in a lost war if it goes wrong.”
Kopaka lifted up a hand. “I have another question. How will we get closer to
him? Won’t he notice a group of Toa coming closer?”
“We already swam pass him”, Gali explained, “He was too focused on his
swarms and the cities.”
“Let me just concentrate a moment”, Tupua said, “When you all are ready
get around me. I will teleport you over the swarms but no further. Else he will
really notice Toa energy.” He looked into the other’s faces. “Everyone
ready now? Let’s head for the ocean.”

~~~***~~~

The giant god was still standing in the ocean, not too far away from the coast,
at least not for him. The Toa still had to swim a few hundred meters. The ones
who couldn’t swim just let themselves sink down and walked. A quick change of
Kanohi and they all were able to breath under water.
The energy could clearly be felt, an energy that was tingling on the skin.
“We have to touch the energy field”, Tupua said, “I was sucked inside when
I did this the last time.”

Gali could feel someone swimming beside her. She turned her head and saw Kopaka.
The Toa of ice shyly reached out a hand, wrapped his fingers around Gali’s and
returned her gaze. She tried to smile but her face felt like frozen. Her
nervousness was growing with every second.

From afar they would have thought it as a giant rock formation. But now they saw
it was metal and slightly glowing. Farther away something not less giant was
leading up to the surface, one of the god’s legs. They now were close to one
of his feet.
“Let’s all touch it the same time and see what happens”, Tahu said. And
after a short pause, “Gali, why have you never told how strange it feels when
you talk and the same time you know that you’re still under water?”
He drifted closer to Lewa who had started shivering and put an arm around him.
Tahu on the other side never had felt calmer in his life. What should he be
afraid of? He had already faced death and it hadn’t been that bad.
Tupua held his hand closer to the god’s foot. “I hope this works… You all
are ready?” He touched the glowing metal.

It was like a storm was breaking loose around them. They had to hold on to each
other otherwise – as they feared – they would have been dragged apart and
maybe teleported to different parts of the body. Gali felt Kopaka’s hand
slowly slipping out of her won. Her fingers closed tighter. The same time it
also felt as if she was lifted up; she couldn’t feel the floor under her feet
anymore.
And then a shock wave rushed over them, caused them to stumble or fall
backwards. Their eyes were filled with a blinding light.
“Are you … are you okay?” Tahu’s voice sounded louder than normally, as
if he was standing in a giant empty hall. Gali opened her eyes and only saw
white. White with a few Toa in it. As far as she could feel she was lying on the
floor. But when she looked around she wouldn’t have been able to tell the
floor from the ceiling, if there really was a ceiling. Everything was bright
white, there weren’t even shadows.

At first they couldn’t hear him coming. His appearance in light couldn’t
have looked more wrong.
“Oh, you have decided to come too?” The dark spirit was talking with mild
surprise in his voice. As if he had just found out that some of his favourite
relatives were planning to have a tea party at his house. “If I had known
about this I would have made cookies.” Now his voice held a bit more sarcasm.
“So what are you doing here? Tired of your own lives?”
“We are here to directly face our enemy”, Tupua said as calm as possible.
Makuta laughed. “You and which army?”
“We have a god on our side.”
“Have you found a new one or do you talk about my brother? In the second case
I would have to say this is the funniest thing I’ve ever heard. You’re
asking someone for help who has been locked away.”
“He lives inside of us and he’s protecting us”, Tupua calmly explained.
“You can’t destroy him and you won’t be able to destroy us.”
Makuta’s eyes narrowed. The aura around him was getting darker. “And you
really believe that my brother’s love for losers will keep you alive?” he
scoffed.
“It’s the same kind of love that kept you from killing him. His love is
strong, not just because it’s godly. It’s strong because it was able to
survive through all of these years, no matter what you did. A love that would
forgive everything. Makuta, have you never realized that this is a positive
feeling concerning you? A very, very strong feeling.”
For a second Makuta’s eyes widened but then…
“Die!”
A strong blast of dark energy shot through the area covering everything with
darkness, shot through the Toa’s bodies. A feeling as if their insides were
ripped out. And then something different was breaking loose. This force was
slower, not as aggressive as the darkness but still mighty enough to compete
with it. It shielded the Toa, took away some of their pain and filled the area
with a strange mix of light and darkness.
And then all out of sudden the forces were gone. The Toa felt as exhausted as if
they had taken part in a giant battle. They could barley stand straight anymore.
Everything around them was in several shades of grey and black and white. And
only a few meters away two gods were standing; the dark spirit looked barely
conscious and only still stood because Mata Nui was holding him in his arms.
“Don’t worry”, the spirit of light said, “He won’t be any harm
anymore. Even after he has recovered.”
“And that was it?” Tahu finally brought out, “That was all? If we had done
that from the beginning on…”
“It needed a long time until I finally found it out myself”, Mata Nui said,
“and a lot of preparations. None of your fights was useless if it’s that
what you wanted to say. Beside this winter’s war. I wished I could have sent
Tupua back to you faster.”
“What will happen now?” Takua asked, “I mean, this war is over, will we
now change back to Matoran or stay Toa forever and what’s with Matoro? And …
with Tamaru.”
“It’s your decision if you want to change back or stay that way. The danger
from Makuta’s side might be over but who knows what still waits for us. You
have learned to know the Ikuta. It’s always good to keep a few Toa. But you
don’t have to decide right now. Go home, think about it and then call me
again.”
“I’ll stay like that”, Tupua said immediately, “I never felt more
accepted and liked than in this body.”
“So will it be. As for Matoro I can say he will be sent back to his home as
soon I have taken over my body again and the rest of you who doesn’t belong
inside here are transferred back out. But I’m afraid I can’t bring Tamaru
back to life. He was taken by one of Makuta’s sons. What the god of death has
taken not even the god of life can bring back. I’m really sorry.”
Takua looked down at the floor. After this last hope was gone it felt as if he
had lost the Le Matoran twice. Jaller put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“I know”, Takua said, “We have lost many people in this war. At least he
died like a hero after he wished to be one his whole life.”
“We all have to go now”, Mata Nui finally said, “The creatures that have
sieged the cities also will have wandered off by now. I will teleport you back
on the beach. Farewell. For now.”
With that the whole area was bathed in bright light again.

Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)