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Takanuva’s gaze trails down Jaller’s back. This is the first time he’s gotten the opportunity to really study his friend’s Toa form. He’s replaced his mask back to the one that Turaga Vakama gifted him so long ago now. The Hau sits nobly upon his face, light glinting off of its golden surface. He knows that despite all they have been through they are the same as they were when they were but clueless Matoran.
He finally approaches after a moment, sitting down beside him, overlooking the corpse of their universe.
Jaller looks over at him. So many words unspoken between them. Takanuva feels himself looking away from the intensity in his eyes.
They’re quiet, the two of them, together.
Jaller finally breaks the tension, his fist held out. Takanuva responds, a slight smile upon his face, by bumping his own fist against it. Jaller has a smile of his own. Both unsteady, wavering. They’ve been through so much, he doubts they’ll ever be able to smile as they did on Mata Nui.
“I miss it,” Takanuva admits after a moment.
“It being?” Jaller asks.
“Mata Nui. Not… him, but the island.” he gestures vaguely to both of the robots.
“Yeah,” his friend says, quiet, “me too.”
“I know Metru Nui was technically home but… That’s where I made most of my memories. My new ones.”
“Not a city Toa, huh?”
Takanuva snorts, “No way. There’s not enough to do in cities. Either everything’s industrialized or already explored.”
“And you’re not the kind who can just sit around. How did you survive without me around?”
“I can handle myself just fine, Jaller. I’m wiser now, and not as impulsive.”
“Silver.”
“That was so I could hide from Makuta and you know it.”
“You look better in gold anyways.”
“Thanks.” He rolls his eyes, then sighs. “I also missed this.”
“Yeah,” Jaller says, with stronger conviction this time, “me too.”
“How are you adjusting?”
Jaller lets out a heavy breath and leans back against his hands. “That’s a loaded question.”
“Okay. Simple stuff first then. I know we briefly united but I didn't have the chance to ask how you're taking to being a Toa.”
Jaller hums, a pensive look crossing his face. “It's… hard, honestly. The Toa Nuva always made it look so easy. You too. Like it came naturally to you.”
“You never saw the Toa Nuva before they were a tight team like I saw. And the only time I ever felt like I knew what I was doing was when I fought Makuta… It was like my mask gave me the instructions. After that I was on my own.”
Takanuva would never admit how much of it was an attempt to do what Jaller would have. He still doesn’t really feel like he deserves the title of Toa. Jaller wears it better than him.
“Oh wow. Look at you. Lecturing me. I remember it being the other way around in Ta-Koro…" he pauses, his brief smile fading. "It's just… Being Captain of the Guard was different from leading such a close-knit group... I wasn’t… I wasn't prepared for how difficult it was bringing together people who didn't have the experience I did… I wasn't ready for the loss…”
Takanuva understands. As Matoran, they were often spared the more grueling and dirty tasks the Toa took on. They were spared the horrors. Now they must face those same horrors themselves, head on, without flinching.
And if he knows his friend, he’s probably thinking the same thing as him: Matoro didn't need to die.
“I’ve seen that world, Jaller.” he says with a sigh, “A world where Matoro lived, and Mata Nui died.”
Jaller looks at him with uncertainty.
“He lived for hundreds of years in shame and exile, none of you spoke to each other anymore. Sacrificing himself was a mercy in comparison…”
The Toa of Fire closes his eyes, his shoulders relaxing if only a little. “Sounds like your adventures through the multiverse were… eventful.”
“Oh trust me, they were. I might just become a Chronicler again if only to tell those tales.”
Jaller smiles.
“Do you ever wake up some mornings still thinking you're a Matoran?” Takanuva prompts after a beat.
“Ugh, all the time. Like my brain still hasn't caught up with my body.”
“Next thing you know…”
“You’re flat on your ass.”
They laugh together.
Jaller lays back, his eyes up at the stars. They’re the same as the ones on Mata Nui. “Despite my troubles, being a Toa is fulfilling. It's like…”
The words seem to escape him as his voice trails off, so Takanuva offers help. “Like destiny?”
“It feels right, so not too far off.”
“I understand the feeling intimately… like your body is finally correct … That you’ve been waiting for that transformation your whole life and just didn't know it.” Jaller watches him from where he lies as Takanuva speaks. They both know it was always different for Takanuva. Even on Mata Nui he was considered strange by the other Matoran, and Jaller isn't an exception to that.
At least he knows why, now.
An Av-Matoran in hiding with no recollections of his identity as such. Of course he wouldn't have fit in. (Even then… speaking to the other Av-Matoran who remembered him from back then… He fit in nowhere. He’s always been different.)
“Thank you, Jaller.” he says.
“For what?”
“For being my friend.” he’s honest when he says it. Like it’s something he’s kept close to him for all these years.
“Don't thank me for that .”
“I’m serious, Jaller. You're who I care for most. You're right, I don't know how I’ve managed without you.” Jaller was always a grounding presence in his life. Someone who kept him on the straight and narrow path.
“Takanuva…”
Now that he’s talking, he can’t seem to stop, “Before I went to find the Toa Nuva I was attacked by shadow leeches. I almost lost myself, Jaller. The thought of seeing you again is what kept me going… You kept me on my path, most of the time.”
Jaller sits up, and Takanuva looks away. He’s said too much. “You put up with me when no one else would.”
He hardly registers how quickly his heartlight is flashing. It wasn’t long ago that he was still just Takua, the Chronicler. And right now he feels so much like a Matoran.
Jaller doesn't say anything as he grabs Takanuva by the back of his neck and pulls him close. He butts his mask against his and Takanuva freezes. He quiets.
“I’m not putting up with you, kolhii-head.” says Jaller.
It’s Takanuva’s turn to say nothing.
Jaller sighs, holding him close, “Takanuva, I didn’t die for you just because I was putting up with you. And I didn’t try to find you because of some obligation. I did it because I wanted to and because you’re…”
Uncertainty. He cuts himself off and closes his eyes. He exhales slowly. “Takanuva you’re… you mean everything to me, too.”
“Jaller?” his voice comes out in a whisper.
Jaller moves his other hand, placing it upon his chest, above his heartstone. “You're… like my heartstone.”
Takanuva’s breath catches, his heart racing faster. He swears he can hear it in audio receptors. “You're one to talk.”
Tentatively, he places his hand on Jaller’s own heartstone.
They linger there, not moving, for a few more stolen moments. And then Takanuva smiles, “That was a cliché.”
“I thought you were done being a Chronicler,” his… partner? groans. (Yes... he thinks that what he is now. They'll have plenty of time to talk more about it.)
“You can take the title from me but you can't take the stories. And this is a certified trope.”
Jaller laughs and begins to pull away, but Takanuva stops him, grabbing his hand and keeping it where it was on his chest. “Just because it's a trope, that doesn't mean I dislike it.”
Jaller pauses and keeps his hand where it is as requested. “So… How long?”
“Oh… back when we were still Matoran. I think it was that time we fell into that nest.”
“When we had to crawl through shit? Really?”
“Yeah, yeah. How romantic. I told you, now it's your turn.”
“I think it was since we were Matorans too… but I didn't realize until I was a Toa… It didn't really work out between me and Hahli. After… After Matoro… Too much grief, you know? And then you vanished, and then Makuta, and... well, you know the rest. Also she felt bad for how much I was “obviously pining after Takanuva like a lovesick Rahi.” I don't think it was that obvious.”
“Well,” Takanuva looked to the side, too embarrassed to admit how oblivious he can be to other's feelings. (A fact Jaller is already aware of.)
This familiarity is something he’s been craving far too long, ever since he put on the mask… He can’t help but wonder sometimes if this is all his fault, if it all began with him. The Toa Stones, the Bohrok, and then finally this Mask. Everything was set in motion… But then, they wouldn’t be here now. And he wouldn’t have Jaller’s heartstone in his hands.
Finally moving, Takanuva lets his hand fall, placing it over Jaller’s instead. “It’s late,” he says.
Jaller smiles, and it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.