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currentlyunknown · 10 years

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Sorry if I'm too late to jump on the christmas prompt wagon but could I request Lewa getting up to some crazy shit and Onua reluctantly going along for the ride? Merry Holiday and thanks for doing this. Can't wait to read the other prompts! :)

(sorry this is a bit late! It was like 90% done last night and then I started feeling ill, so I had to finish it up this morning. also this mostly concludes this little series of holiday-party-connected drabbles. still others to come, though!)

—————————————————

“We need to do something,” Lewa said.

Onua glanced up for a moment from the stack of reports he’d been paging through. Lewa was sprawled across the single wooden chair Onua had set up in his home, kicking his legs back and forth idly in the air. He looked back to his work. “No, we don’t.”

“You’d rather just sit there and read mining reports?”

“Better that than bring half the city guard down on us. Again.” He flipped over to the next page. Lewa didn’t know how he could stand it; even after months on Spherus Magna, Agori paper still felt strange to him.

A sly grin came to his face. He sighed, stretched out his arms, and made an exaggerated show of standing up. “Oh well. Guess I’ll just have to find some way to quick-pass the time myself.”

He hadn’t made it five steps outside before he heard the door slam shut and his brother’s thunderous footsteps rushing to catch up to him. He tried to tamper his grin down to an innocent smile. “Is something the matter, brother?”

The Toa of Earth sighed as he caught up to him. “If anything can be said for the Makuta, at least they kept you busy. What have you got planned, Lewa?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said airily. “We could go quick-meet those visitors who came in the other day-“

“-Or we could not risk offending another culture so much they’d declare war-“

“-We could go pay our respects to the Ignika, see how our old Great Spirit’s doing-“

“-They’ve posted guards now, you know, after the last time-“

“-Or maybe we should just walk the districts a bit and see what wrongs need righting,” Lewa finished cheerily.

Onua gave a resigned smile. “Well, I suppose I could use a change of scenery. And at least that option doesn’t carry an inherent risk of mass havoc.”

Lewa made a face at his friend. “Such little faith in me, brother! I’m heart-offended.”

“Just the opposite,” Onua said warmly, “I have all the faith in the world in you. I’m quite certain that you will continue to do the most utterly Lewa things better than anyone else ever could.”

“And what,” Lewa replied teasingly, “does that mean?”

Onua’s smile remained firmly in place. “Lead on,” he said.

—————————————————

“So,” Lewa yelled over the roar of the engines, “does this count?”

Onua made no response; he was leaning so far forward in his seat that Lewa was surprised he hadn’t gone straight through the vehicle’s (quite dirty, mostly cracked) windshield. His hands were digging into the rust-metal dash hard enough that if anyone did wind up taking this half-finished bunch of scrap metal off of Berix’s hands permanently, they’d have to invest some time and effort into hammering out ten odd little indentations on the passenger side.

“I said, does this count?”

“Boulder!” Onua yelled. Grinning, Lewa yanked hard on the rambler’s controls – it’s an all-purpose any-weather multi-terrain transport vehicle, Berix had declared, but Lewa had taken one look and declared it a land-rambler – and the vehicle jerked right just in time for a massive globe of stone to slam down where they had been moments before.

Lewa flashed his friend a grin; Onua briefly responded with one of his famous glares. “So does this count?” he asked again.

“As what?” Onua yelled back, still scanning the valley for any new dangers.

“A ‘Lewa’ thing!”

The Toa of Earth let out a weak laugh. “Let’s see. I’m still not entirely sure why we’re doing it, it’s incredibly dangerous, nobody in their right mind would think of it in the first place – yes, brother, you may put this in the pantheon of Lewa things.”

Lewa’s grin only grew wider. “Glad to hear it!” They passed an Agori waving a flag, and Lewa let out a whoop of excitement. “Last lap! Hold on tight!”

At his side, Onua groaned.

—————————————————

By the time Onua managed to talk Lewa out of giving the course another go (Berix’s assertion that their time was absolutely mad, the best he’d ever seen, and all but guaranteed a renewed interest in the sport was both help and hindrance), the sun had started its slow descent for the day. Lewa stretched his limbs again as they made their way back from New Atero’s eastern gate; Po-Matoran and Sand Tribe Agori alike gave the two momentary glances before continuing on with their business.

“So now what?” Lewa asked idly.

Onua let out another resigned sigh. “I suppose it was too much to hope hurtling along at hundreds of kio an hour in a box of scraps would be enough for a day.”

“Of course not!” Lewa shot back cheerfully. “We’ve barely even righted any wrongs, other than helping a down-on-his-luck treasure hunter with his day job.”

“And why do you think there are wrongs out there waiting for us? I thought we were supposed to be at peace now.” Onua’s voice was half-serious, half-teasing.

“Oh, don’t get too full of yourself, brother,” Lewa replied. “Just because we haven’t got a half-dozen Bohrok bearing down on us or a Makuta waiting around the corner doesn’t mean there’s not troubles to be fixed. Maybe someone’s misplaced their favorite fishing rod! Maybe the Mahi herd’s restless. Maybe there’s a long-horn that’s out of tune-“

That was when the explosion happened.

It wasn’t all that nearby – half a district over, at least – and so there wasn’t very much drama to it from the Toa’s point of view. Just a boom, a rumble, a clatter, silence for a moment, and then the screams.

“Maybe not,” Onua said, and as one they turned and took off running.

—————————————————

The once-floating greenhouse was half-submerged in the harbor by the time they got there. Matoran and Agori alike were amassed on the dock; a few brave souls were rushing to grab paddle boats and canoes in the hopes of launching a rescue mission, but Lewa could see no doors above the water line.

A Ga-Matoran Lewa couldn’t recall the name of saw the two Toa approaching and sprinted towards them, her Komau dripping wet. Onua took charge instantly, as always. “What happened?”

“Toa, please – it was an accident, we were installing new floatation tanks under the structure, and – one of them must have ruptured and set off the others, and – there was the fertilizer there, and there must have been a spark, and –“

“Amaya!” Onua put his hands on the Ga-Matoran’s shoulders. “How many are still in there?”

“Half a dozen, at least – it was an Agori crew taking care of the installation, I don’t know them very well, I couldn’t count –“

“We haven’t got time for this, brother,” Lewa cut in. The greenhouse was sinking fast; the number of people inside was about to matter very little aside from the way it mattered more than anything else. “We have to do something!”

Onua looked from him to the sinking structure and grimaced. “We don’t have a good count of the number inside, and it’ll take time to force our way in. Great Spirit, if only Gali or one of the Mahri were here-“

“They’re not,” Lewa snapped back, “and we can’t assume they will be.” This was the problem with Onua – he spent too long planning, too long looking for options. Lewa turned back to the greenhouse. If there was no way to get inside and get the people there out safely, then maybe –

“Come on!” he yelled to Onua, and sprinted for the water’s edge. The Toa of Earth followed at a clip; when Lewa leapt into the water, he did not hesitate in joining him.

“What’s the plan?” Onua yelled.

Lewa tried to ignore the chill of the water around him; he had never been a very strong swimmer. “Our masks! We need to swim under the building. You give us strength to push on it, and I’ll levitate us up and out and handle air supply.”

Onua grimaced. “Brother, if you lose your concentration –“

“I won’t!” he yelled back over the chill’s quiet insistence of yes you will. “Come on!”

If Onua hesitated, Lewa didn’t see it. He dived under the surface, summoning a cocoon of air around him and Onua as he did. The structure was almost totally submerged now, and as Lewa dived past one of its windows he caught a glimpse of what seemed to him dozens of Agori inside, struggling to stay in the air at the top of the structure.

Half a minute later they were below the thing; Lewa felt a familiar rush of strength as Onua activated his mask, and he reached out to take hold of the building’s edge. Across from him, Onua did the same, and nodded to him through the bubbling haze of the bay. Ready?

He nodded back and focused; it was always a balancing act, using his mask with his element, but the time for doubt was past. He urged his Miru to lift them, to carry them through the water as though it were air.

The building’s descent slowed, and then stopped, as Lewa felt the slow pressure of the mask taking effect. Bit by bit, they reversed course, slowly coming to the surface-

In the window in front of him, an Agori gave a final choke and began to sink towards him.

He didn’t think of what happened next – only that they were moving faster, that the surface was closer but still too far, and Lewa threw all his strength into one final push.

He saw the building rocket out of the harbor, and had just enough time to half-humorously, half-worriedly think I hope there’s nobody on that beach before he started choking.

The water rushed into his lungs, an overeager guest, and pain blossomed throughout him. A crush of confusion came over him – hadn’t he created air, wasn’t he supposed to be breathing? – and then vanished in a cascade of panic and instinct. He lashed out wildly, trying to swim, trying to get out even as his body began to burn, and suddenly clear as day his brain managed to think if I don’t have air, what happened to Onua?

He would remember how he felt in the second after that thought later, on nights when dreams of the Bohrok or of a long-gone Nui-Rama hive shook him awake, of that perfect mix of pain and horror and hopelessness that could only be called ‘despair’.

But it only lasted a second, because in the next something strong grabbed him and hauled him upwards, and then they were back on top of the dock, and Lewa was choking on air, not water. A hand slammed against his chest, and more water than he thought possible came retching out of his lungs. He coughed and sputtered, that horrible burning still there but fading bit by bit as a figure at his side grabbed him by the shoulders. “Lewa! Lewa, hold on!”

He spluttered a bit more, gasping in air between the coughs. Bit by bit the world stopped shaking, and when he finally managed a full, clean breath it was paradise. The air soothed his lungs, comforted him, brought him back to where he was meant to be, as though it was welcoming its master home.

Suddenly he was aware that Onua was still yelling his name, and he shook his head and tried to boast, “I’m fine, Onua, it’s just a little water,” but what came out was another hacking cough, and then another, and by the time it was done he had to settle for “I’m fine, Onua.”

The Toa of Earth let out a shaking sigh. “I warned you, brother.”

Lewa gave a weak grin. “When don’t you?”

Onua gave a choked half-laugh and embraced his brother lightly. Lewa returned the gesture for about two seconds before he remembered the important thing. “The greenhouse! The Agori! Are they-“

“They’re fine.” It was the Matoran from before – Amaya, right – her voice still shaky but calmer. “Only a few of them actually got submerged, and they’re alright now.” She glanced behind her. “Can’t say the same for the greenhouse. Or the beachhouse it landed on.”

Lewa relaxed. “Well, that’s to be expected when I’m involved. Just ask Onua! Something about ‘mass havoc’, wasn’t it?”

“Something like that,” Onua agreed, standing and offering his hand to his brother. Lewa took it; pride came second when one’s lungs were still trying to cough themselves out.

“Come on,” said the Toa of Earth. “I think that’s enough quick-passing the time for one day.”

—————————————————

The sun had long since sunk past the horizon. Lewa was dozing in that same wooden chair as Onua finished up the last of the reports for the day. He tucked them away in his desk, the drawer giving a satisfying clunk, and Lewa jolted awake. Onua gave an embarrassed smile, and Lewa grinned back and stretched his arms in response. “Finally done?”

“Until tomorrow.”

Lewa tsked. “I’ll have to think of something new for tomorrow, then. Something double-Leway.”

Onua raised a brow. “Why double?”

“Well, we only got the race in today before things got busy, right? That’s only one ‘Lewa’ thing, then. I figured we’d get at least two done.”

“Really?” His friend’s tone had turned warm. “I counted three.”

“And what were the other two?”

Onua stood and began to leisurely cross the distance between them. “The second was leaping into a harbor, swimming under a sinking building, and sending it rocketing out of the water like a Ta-Koro firework.”

Lewa shrugged. “That’s just a Toa-duty, Onua.”

Onua shook his head. “Incredibly dangerous, nobody in their right mind would think of it“– he rested a hand on Lewa’s shoulder and smiled – “and unspeakably brave. I’d count that as a very ‘Lewa’ thing, brother.”

Lewa shrugged again, but couldn’t hide his smile. “And the third?”

“When I felt our ascent accelerating, when we sent the greenhouse flying, I looked over at you and saw your air bubble had just – vanished.” Onua’s face grew grave. “But mine hadn’t.”

“Huh?”

“You were still protecting me, even when you’d forgotten to guard yourself, even when you’d lost your mind to panic, even when you were“– the word was sour, but had to be said – “dying.” Onua gave a quiet, warm smile. “I can think of nothing more like you.”

Lewa felt a warmth crawling up his throat, and he looked away for a moment. “Well,” he began, and stopped.

For a while they stayed like that, Onua’s hand on his shoulder, the both of them smiling in their own ways.

Lewa took a shuddering breath and snapped back to his usual grin. “Well! Tomorrow I was thinking something a little less havocy. You know, for a change of pace.”

Onua’s smile grew. “I could agree to that. Any ideas?”

“Well,” he said, and glanced out the window. A few flakes of snow were drifting past and melting on the Onu-Atero ground.

In an instant he had it. “You know, those visitors of ours – I was talking to some of them the other day, and they mentioned that when it starts to get snowy, they always have celebrations. Holidays, they call them.”

Onua’s face returned to a resigned smirk. “A party?”

“You heart-know me too well,” Lewa said, rolling his head back to look up at his friend.

Onua sighed and shrugged. “Well, it’s either that or the track again, I suppose.”

“I’d be fine with the track. Bet I could outdo our last time-“

“Party it is.”

#bluest-of-jayys #bionicle #lewa #onua #christmas drabbles #fanfic

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