Chapter Text
“Let’s go home together, yeah?”
***
“I wonder how they’re doing…”
Tanah has paced about a thousand laps around the elementals’ shared space. He’s worried—obviously. The light elemental has only just been unlocked and the battle isn’t going quite as planned. Petir and Api have also left; recently-summoned elementals will gather in another part of the power watch where they can keep track of what’s going on outside, but here where he’s pacing, there’s no way to see.
A realization: Tanah can feel heat. Not the heat of Api’s fire, and even if he did use his flames he wouldn’t cause such a large shift in temperature within the watch.
“Surely not…?” He mumbles.
He hopes not. Petir has given him enough fright for a lifetime, thank you very much. And as icing on the cake, this is Cahaya’s first time.
But, knowing his owner’s recklessness, that might be wishful thinking.
“Tanah, they’re back!” Daun brightens when he spots the yellow silhouette—Petir.
But Angin squints. “Hold on…”
He runs forward to meet the older boy.
In a heartbeat, Tanah’s eyes are blown wide. Petir is approaching swiftly, but his speed is restrained; Cahaya, unconscious and battered, is bouncing on his back.
***
“And that’s… pretty much… everything that happened…”
Everything is going too fast.
Api is struggling to catch his breath. It’s well nigh impossible to keep up with Petir, even without powers involved—blinding speed is just built into him. But Air can’t begrudge Petir when he knows they’re both worried.
Api just related the whole situation between gasps for breath to Air, Daun and Angin, while Tanah and Petir frantically hauled their youngest off to his room. Granted, the boy’s storytelling is worse than his patience, but it gets the point across to Air and Angin. Daun is either too slow or too shocked to catch on.
“Api, can you repeat that?”
Air can feel the imminent explosion radiating from his twin. He and Angin immediately jump to separate the two; Angin leads Api away to calm down while Air patiently retells the whole thing to Daun, despite the suspicion that Daun will be as bad as Api—or worse—once he understands.
***
“I had a feeling something like this might happen…”
Tanah observes the unconscious boy, hovering in midair with his cap and gloves clutched tight in his hands. For some reason, Cahaya is the only one affected by the strange gravity of his room.
The light elemental’s realm is the opposite of what its name would suggest. Tanah had to bring in a lantern for Petir to poke around. The elementals’ spaces aren’t big, but they reflect their owner’s state of mind and body; right now, Tanah feels like he’s standing in a black hole.
The more he dwells on it, the more he worries for Cahaya.
He and Petir discussed the idea of having each elemental lend a portion of their energy to Cahaya. Maybe the boy is just sapped after upgrading to Solar—but there’s no way to check, especially when the two of them are being bested by gravitational anomalies.
Angin cracks the door open behind them. He must have come as soon as he calmed Api down—not an insignificant task, and everyone knows how fearsome Api is under pressure. Setting his own realm aflame is quite enough; they don’t need a wildfire tearing through the watch.
“How is he?”
“Unconscious and floating, and it’s darker than Api’s chocolate-making attempts in here.” Petir leans against the wall, pinching his nose. “Bad news: Boboiboy is in more-or-less the same state, and there’s not much we can do about it. All there is to do is keep watch. Do the others know?”
“Yeah. I was just with Api, and…”
A sound drifts into the dark room. It’s uneven and fragmented, sort of like… sobbing.
“If you can hear that, that’s Daun finding out.”
“So they shouldn’t come in here just yet.”
Tanah sighs. “But we need to keep an eye on Cahaya. Help me round up the others, and we’ll talk outside. Oh, and tell Daun to bring some herbs—the type for treating burns.”
***
“So we’ll take turns taking care of Cahaya?” Air makes to enter the room, but the three oldest elementals shake their heads at him.
“His current condition is… complicated. I don’t want to leave him alone for too long.” Tanah can’t help but glance at the door again. He turns away and pulls out a handkerchief to wipe Daun’s face. “Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll be fine.”
“… Really?”
“‘Course. Cahaya’s the strongest among us, after all.” Angin ruffles Daun’s hair. The older boy seems to get that he needs to stay calm for the rest of them, much to Tanah’s relief.
“Sure, I’m fine with it.” Air circles back to the original topic.
No one else has any objections. It’s decided that they’ll take turns in order of unlocking, for simplicity’s sake, which means that Petir is first.
At first, Angin and Tanah try to trade places with him, since he and Api were so recently summoned. Angin very dramatically portrays how Petir would surely faint while watching Cahaya, and receives a painful knock to the head for his troubles. But eventually the two of them have to cede to Petir’s hardheadedness.
Petir draws them to the side and lowers his voice. “You two need to keep the others in check. They need you more right now.” He glances at the fraying Daun, at Air sportingly taking the brunt of his twin’s stress. “And technically speaking, this is my responsibility. I’m not going to pass out on a mission.”
Tanah grasps his shoulder. “Alright, you win. But if you need anything, or something happens, let us know.”
Petir gives him a thumbs-up like Boboiboy is so fond of doing, the corners of his lips twitching upwards.
“Understood.”