Dedicated to FallenMidnightAngel ~ CHIBI ZOE/THIRA <3

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Chapter 37 - Breaking Point

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After Discord and his posse of Elites had been 'kicked to the curb' as Kione kept saying, Athira retreated to her room to mediate and get her colour back to a level where it wasn't trying to lift the couch off the floor when she walked by. 

She went into meditation with something like hope, only to have it crushed. Talon remained missing. She couldn't find a single quill of evidence anywhere, despite her certainty he was nearby more than once. She wandered the mindscape, calling for him... but he never showed. 

Talon wasn't the only one missing from the picture. Rathe was also nowhere to be seen. Though it was something, it was poor compensation for her friend's absence. By the time she resigned herself to lulling her colour to a controllable level, despair gripped her. She started wondering if Talon would even consider her a friend anymore. She missed him more than she cared to admit. 

What did I do to him?

The thought weighed heavier than anything gravity could claim as she returned to the physical world. Athira couldn't find the will to stand up, let alone move, so she sat there, hoping that Talon would somehow surface in her thoughts if she waited long enough. 

That was when Zoe had taken matters into her own hands and dragged Athira into the kitchen for adventures in cookie experimentation. 

Zoe could be stubborn sometimes.  Athira had just forgotten how much so. 

Sitting on the floor now in Zoe's colourfully decorated room, under strict orders from the woman herself not to move unless she wanted her hair dyed pink, Athira was grateful for Zoe's stubbornness. 'No' or 'leave me alone' hadn't been an acceptable answer for Zoe... even if that box she'd produced containing various ribbons and clips was making Athira regret not resisting harder. 

The threat of pink hair kept her in place as Zoe scooted over, pulling the box with her. 

"Any preferences?" asked Zoe. 

Athira really didn't like the look of that box. "Preferences for... what, exactly?" 

Zoe ran her fingers through the contents of the box, letting them trickle through in a disorganised rainbow of colour. "Ribbons, clips? Any colour?" Seeing Athira's blank look, she added, "I'm doing your hair, Thira. No refusals!" 

Athira lifted a hand to touch her hair, pulling a strand or two taut. As far as she was concerned, it was fine just the way it was. Clean and devoid of the multicoloured ribbons Zoe was eyeing. 

She sighed and dropped the hand into her lap. She knew how this discussion was going to end. "As long as you're not actually going to dye it pink."

"Only if you resist me!" said Zoe happily, bundling up Athira's cloak and banishing it to the corner. 

Athira held the shins of her crossed legs as Zoe set to work with the brush. 

At least mine's short, Athira thought, eyeing Zoe's platinum lengths. If it was as long as Zoe's, we'd be here all week. 

"So," said Zoe. From the corner of her eye, Athira saw her bite her bottom lip before a smile broke the hold. "You and Shift, hey?" 

Athira considered sinking into the ground before she imagined pink locks edging her vision. "No idea what you're talking about. I just needed his help because he could borrow my colour."

Zoe snorted. "Oh come on, Thira. I know you too well, and I saw the way you were when he was hurt. I just worry about whoever did it to him. You've never been exactly... easy on the revenge front."

The memory of the Elite she'd left blindfolded and bound in a hired cell of the Underground's came unwanted to Athira's thoughts. He'd screamed at her, begging to be let go, that he was sorry, telling her that he had a girlfriend all while refusing any attempts of hers to feed him. She'd wasted about fifteen minutes before leaving the food on the ground, telling the jailer not to let the idiot die and leaving. 

"Thira?" asked Zoe, brush pausing in her hands. "You okay?" 

Athira blinked herself out of it. She was supposed to be having happy fun times with Zoe, not remniscing over the black moral ground she'd trod in the last two weeks. 

She nodded the affirmative. "Just when Shift was hurt... I didn't know if I'd lost him or not." It was the truth, just not the one relevant to the conversation. "He's a brat most of the time, but..."

Zoe tried--and failed--to suppress her smile. "Buuuuut you like him, right?" 

Athira threw her head back, resting her head on Zoe's shoulder and effectively putting them back behind square one with the hair situation. She found Zoe's eyes from the awkward angle. 

"If I just agree, will you drop the issue?" 

"Nope," said Zoe. 

"Well--"

The door slid open. 

"Not interrupting any pillow fights, am I?" asked Shift. 

Athira lifted her head and reached out to him. "Help, I'm being held against my will."

Shift smiled and continued like he hadn't heard her. "Can I get you girls anything? Drinks, more cookies, a repair bill for the kitchen after you ruined it?" He eyed the ribbon box and brush and his smile transformed into a flat out grin. "Talia's straightener, perhaps?" 

Zoe pushed Athira off. "We didn't ruin anything, Shift! I'm fairly certain that was you when you tried to cook an apple in the microwave with the spoon and--"

"Okay, okay, we don't need a complete damage report until tomorrow," said Shift. "But seriously, need anything?" 

Athira considered it. "A milkshake doesn't sound too bad right now, especially if you're the one making it, slave boy." 

"I think that'd be a thing that qualifies as 'bad'," whispered Zoe. She brightened at Shift. "Two chocolate milkshakes, please! And now that you mention it, Talia's straightener would actually be useful right now."

"I can straighten it myself," grumbled Athira. 

"Too bad," said Zoe. "I'm doing it for you." She clapped her hands at Shift, who looked on the verge of laughter standing in the door frame still dressed in his colour suit. "Hup two, slave!" 

Shift pushed off the frame and rolled his eyes. "Yes ma'am!"

"So you listen to her," Athira said as he saluted and disappeared back down the hall. 

Zoe hummed to herself as she smoothed out Athira's hair for the second time. There was something about the tune that made Athira suspect Zoe really, really wanted to say something. 

Athira bounced her knee for a full minute before she caved. "What?" 

"You two are just so cute together!" said Zoe. 

"Oh come on! It's not even a thing!" 

"Uh huh, suuuure it isn't, Thira." Zoe dropped the brush and sectioned off the front part of Athira's hair. Her fingers expertly coerced the strands into what Athira assumed was a plait. "Besides, according to the net, it's definitely a thing. Shifthira has broken many fangirl hearts in the last fortnight--"

"Wait, what--"  

"And when we're done with you, Shift's not going to be able to resist!" 

Athira narrowed her eyes. "Is that what this is about?" she asked, gesturing to the box. 

"'Course not," said Zoe, tying off the plait and swapping sides. "That's just an added bonus. This is about you and me catching up, and you not brooding in your room by yourself like you have been for the last few weeks." She paused for a second. "It's not your fault someone took up the Owl persona, you know. Impersonation happens all the time. You should see the cosplays that happen at Colour conventions, some of them look more like me than I do." 

 And there goes happy fun times, thought Athira. 

"Zo," began Athira. "About the Owl thing, I--"

Rapid footsteps halted her words as the air around her seemed to freeze. 

Shift's fingers pulled his head into view, no drinks in sight. He glanced behind him, worry drawing his brow towards his nose. 

His eyes didn't leave the hallway behind him as he spoke. "I think there's something wrong."

Zoe frowned. "What do you mean?" 

Shift clicked his teeth together, eyes flicking back and forth. "I'm not sure. Kione went down to answer the door when it buzzed. I was in the kitchen. He hasn't come back up. Raph's at the top of the stairwell, trying to get a latch on the cameras or Kione's communicator, but they've been cut off. I think we're under attack." 

Athira's colour found her feet in a second. "Any idea how many?" 

Shift glanced at her. "No idea, but they might be after Zoe. They might be Wardens." 

Zoe paled. "What? Wardens?"

"They think a Spectrum is under threat, right?" asked Shift, giving Zoe an apologetic glance. "That was the whole reason behind Discord's visit this morning. They're not going to leave her if they think the Herald's after her. Even if they're not Wardens, if they're working for the other side, they're still probably after her."

"The Herald?" said Zoe. "The hell are you on about, Shift? Why would they think I'm in danger if--" She stopped, realisation wiping her features. "You lied. You both lied."

Athira felt the world crashing down around her with the spreading anger on Zoe's face. She reached for Zoe's shoulder. "Zo--"

Zoe slapped her hand away. Her glare stabbed in Athira's chest though it was directed at her face. "Don't 'Zo' me, Athira! There isn't an Owl impersonator, is there? Is there!" 

"We couldn't tell you in front of Talia and the cameras, Zoe," said Shift. "There's too much--"

"You had the whole damned day!" cried Zoe, throwing the brush to the ground. "And you just didn't! What else haven't you told me? Told us!"

Athira was trying to formulate a reply when a familiar scream flung through her ear drums at heart-wrenching speed. 

"Raph," whispered Zoe. 

Shift swore. "They're in the common room. They'll be here soo--Zoe!" 

Zoe ducked under Shift's arms as he grabbed for her and bolted into the corridor, heading straight for Raph. 

"Thira, you have to get her out of here," said Shift. "I'll hold them off, give you time, but you have to get her--"

Zoe's cry was the only thing Athira could hear as instinct triggered her legs and sent her body forward. 

Feet pounding, colour the furthest thought from her mind Athira slammed into the wall as she rounded the corner. She wasn't angry. Rathe had no control. 

Athira was terrified that she was about to lose Zoe. 

She leapt down the steps leading into the common room in one bound, planting her feet against the broad shoulders of a white-dressed man at the bottom. He pitched forward, hands out to catch himself even as Athira took his wrists to the side with colour and drove his face straight into the ground.  

He wasn't the only intruder. At least eleven figures stood around the room, each dressed in the same pure white suit and grey mask that covered the entirety of their face. Nothing except their height and shape differentiated them. They were faceless, nameless and something Athira had never dreamed existed. 

Her fingers flexed. Too bad for them. I'm not supposed to exist either.

A flash of yellow light followed by cries for release lured Athira's attention to the right hand corner. 

Two of the whites had Zoe cornered while a third burly female had her in a bear hug from behind. She'd managed to restrain Zoe's wrists in front of them both and was attempting to keep them steady as Zoe thrashed inside her arms. Beams of light shot off in random directions as another white stepped forward, colour cuffs in hand, preparing to encase Zoe's light in metal bindings. 

Athira raised her hand. No.

The cuffs turned black and went flying at the wall. The female had about a second for confusion to set in before Athira picked her up to follow the direction of the cuffs, albeit harder and higher. 

Free, the light on Zoe's hands gained strength. The yellow brilliance illuminated the fury on her face, streaking her near white hair in shades of gold. She thrust her hands forward with a yell, releasing two budding beams of light in rapid succession at those in front of her. 

The first white avoided it. The second stood there and took it square to the chest. 

With the width of the beam, they should have been knocked off their feet. Hell, they should have at least staggered a few steps as far as Athira was concerned, showed some kind of indication they'd just been blasted, but the white apparently disagreed and continued to stand there. 

His blatant disregard for her made Zoe's impulsive attack evolve into a series of lazers determined to bring him down. Though it seemed he could take her attacks, he couldn't move while doing so, standing there with a strained look on his face. 

Zoe curled her fingers and pointed her side-by-side knuckles at the white. 

"Get the hell out of our tower!" she screamed, releasing the colour. 

Even that white wasn't willing to brave the result of that, leaping to the side as the lazer scorched the opposite wall. 

The burly woman was back on her feet and once more closing in on Zoe from the side, but she wasn't their only problem. The other whites in the room had taken an interest in the commotion and were slowly moving over with the exception of one. They knelt by the top of the stairwell, hands moving by something on the ground.

Athira's heart sank as she identified the mass of dark hair. Raph.

She wasn't the only one who'd seen him. Zoe's tunnel vision had faded and her fists were clenched so hard they were shaking. 

"Raph!" Nothing. "Raphael!"

Zoe didn't notice the whites eating the distance between them as she continued to call his name. 

Athira dashed forward, colour in hand as she ducked under the swing of one approaching white and brought her elbow to slam their jaw in the direction of the ceiling. With the same movement she stepped around the falling body, grabbing the ankle of the lazer-absorbing white with her colour and jerking it from under them. 

A lazer might not have moved him, but not having a leg to stand on most certainly convinced him of gravity. 

With that, Athira was beside Zoe. She placed herself in front of the burly woman, daring her forward with her eyes. She took the challenge and was quickly reunited with the wall. 

"Zoe!" Athira tried to take her hand and lead her back towards the bedroom corridor. She had no idea where Shift was at this point, but he was capable. Or he'd damn well better be because she couldn't be in two places at once. "Zoe, we have to go!" 

For the second time, Zoe ripped her hand from Athira's. "I'm not leaving Raph with them!"

Shift's voice reached Athira as she picked up an upturned chair and launched it at an approaching white. "We gotta go now! There's too many!" 

Athira's initial count of eleven whites had grown. There were at least another five, if not more figures coming up the stairwell that Athira was completely clueless about. 

She grit her teeth. Screw it. 

"I'll get Raph," said Athira. "You and Shift get out." Zoe hestiated, so Athira picked her up by her waist with colour and threw her at Shift, hoping he'd catch her.

The action cost her. One of the whites took advantage of her momentary distraction and charged at her, a strange red colour-formed object in his hands. It clipped Athira on the back and she stumbled forward, redirecting the motion with a twist around back at him. 

Where her colour-coated fist should have connected, it found only air as the white slipped around to her left. Athira went to retreat a step to find a white at her back and another two in the place of the first, effectively boxing her into a one metre square room with people for walls.

"First and only chance to surrender quietly," said the first white. "Accept the cuffs or--"

A witty reply was on Athira's tongue when she saw several whites disappear into the corridor after Zoe and Shift. The short answer became so much more appealing. 

"Nope." 

Athira grabbed ahold of the first white's chest with her colour and rammed his body into the one beside him. Hands grabbed her from behind, trying to force her wrists behind her as they had with Zoe before trying to cuff her. 

They almost succeeded, as they had with Zoe. Athira wasn't strong enough to break the restraining grip without going Owl mode on them. 

The difference between situations was that Zoe couldn't fly. 

The metal edges grazed the skin of her forearms as Athira kicked off the ground. The grip on her arms tightened as she'd expected. It didn't matter. The important thing was that her legs were now within range. 

She twisted her body around and drove her knee into the arms of the white holding her, thigh just long enough to make the strike connect. The white cried out in pain, and to their credit, they didn't let her go either. Athira just didn't need much to wrench her hands free and shoot backwards, increasing the distance between her and the four whites even further with a well placed blast of colour. 

Even the one who'd stood against Zoe's first lazers staggered at that. 

It wasn't enough to keep any of them down for long and Athira's runes were starting to burn. She knew this was only delaying them like this. If she was going to win this fight and get Zoe out of here, she needed to be the Owl. 

The Owl wanted to come out, too. She was bubbling just below the surface of the seal, waiting for her moment. Athira was just reluctant to let her out. 

Two Wardens, a facility, a dozen Elites and this entire situation now. That's what the Owl had cost her last time. If she'd kept it contained, these white-garbed figures wouldn't have come. Wouldn't have knocked out Raph and most likely Kione. Shift and Zoe wouldn't be running through the corridors praying they didn't get cornered. 

Fix bad with worse, she thought as she deflected blows from two whites. She crossed her forearms and pushed back against them, yielding ground. That's what this comes down to. 

Shouts came from down the corridors. She was losing time, time she needed to find Zoe and Shift and get them out. 

Means I have to get to Raph. Now. 

Athira scored a hit on a throat and the soft part of another white's stomach, though some kind of armour underneath the suit's exterior protected them from a complete winding. 

She seized the opening when her attackers backed off a step. 

A faked step forward with colour at her hands forced them back, placing enough distance between them for Athira to grab the nearby table and throw it at their heads. They scattered. Athira released another burst of colour in their direction before vaulting over the couch where Raph now lay, having been moved sometime during her fight from the stairwell's mouth. 

The white watching over him yelled in surprise as Athira's feet crashed into the side of their face and sent them sprawling.  When they went to get up, Athira coated a nearby decorative vase with colour and smashed it over their head. They didn't move after that. 

She turned to Raph's still form lying on the couch, figuring she had about five seconds to assess him before the whites from before were back on her. 

Indigo's leader was unconscious, eyes closed and no sign of injury except a bead of blood indicating a puncture wound to the neck. 

Needle. She found his pulse. Slow but steady. Alive. They've drugged him. 

Athira knew she could get him out. Enough of her colour had surfaced from the fighting now that her runes were ablaze on her covered arms. Push past the whites between her and the edge of the room with a colour-wrapped Raph in hand, slip through the wall 

Yet she hesitated, eyes flicking up to meet the whites who had stopped moving a few metres from the couch. 

It worried her that they were content to simply watch her, even if they thought the doors were covered and believed her surrounded with no escape. It was like they were waiting to see what she'd do, that nothing they'd done so far was anywhere near an effort. Their entire stance, their actions and lack of offense too casual to suggest they were currently taking any of this seriously. 

"Anyone feel like explaining why you're attacking the base of a colour team, by any chance?" asked Athira. 

She recieved more of a response than she'd expected when one folded her arms. 

They haven't used colour this entire time, realised Athira. Unless they're all colourless, but that doesn't explain how they can take such hits and still be standing, let alone calm about it. Something isn't right. They're not trying. 

Athira steeled herself. She'd been underestimated before. Every single one had paid the price. Whoever these white clad figures thought they were, they would be no different.

She stood, keeping her eyes trained on the whites in case they moved against her. One hand raised to keep them at bay, she used the other to coat Raph in colour, intending to levitate him to the wall as she had with Shift the other night. 

Except the colour wouldn't stick. 

As soon as her colour touch Raph, it lost its cohesion--if that was even possible for colour to do--and slipped off, disappearing into nothing. Athira tried again, watching it this time, focusing on holding it together but it refused to grip to Raph as she wanted it to. She grabbed Raph's wrist, hoping the direct contact would fix the problem but nothing changed. 

The whites had known it wouldn't. 

Watching her colour fall off him for fifth time, Athira stared. What the hell have they done to him? 

"Having trouble?" came the muffled words behind the mask of a nearby white. 

So they can talk. 

If she couldn't pick him up with colour, she'd have to carry him physically. The wall wasn't too far away from the couch. She'd drag him across the room by his wrists if she had to, and then--

Athira swore. She couldn't take Raph through the wall. Her hells be damned colour wouldn't stick to him. And as if she didn't have enough to deal with, another three whites appeared from the stairwell.

"Building secured!" they called. "Gas released!" 

Gas?

The whites around her touched a hand to their masks, faint clicking sounds following the action. The faint smell of vanilla grew stronger in Athira's head with every traitorous breath her lungs demanded. The air around her began to take on a bluish tinge. 

It can't hurt you, she told herself. The colour won't let it. If it's gas to kill, the colour will stop it. You can stop it from getting Raph--oh god. 

Her colour wouldn't stop the gas from getting to Raph.  

One option. 

Athira flung herself at the nearest white and pulled at the mask covering  his face with her colour. It slipped off easily, leaving the white clutching his mouth with bulging eyes the black-coated mask reached her hands. With her prize obtained, Athira turned to Raph. 

The movement was too fast. Too sudden. She swayed on the spot, nearly dropping the mask as she blinked for control. Her thoughts felt slow, feet stuttering out to the side, trying to keep her upright against the spinning of the room but it was futile. 

The vanilla scent of the gas hit her consciousness and Athira's body gave in. 

Her legs folded beneath her. Sharp pain spiked up her hip as she crashed to the ground. Her head snapped forward as she managed to catch her falling torso on shaking arms for a brief moment before they too collapsed, trapping her hands under the dead weight of her chest. 

A crash soon after said the white whose mask she'd taken had met the same fate. 

Footsteps approached. Athira tried to form her colour into something useful, tried to sink through the floor, anything, but nothing more than a few flecks. Her colour remained dormant. As far as it was concerned, she was simply falling asleep. There was no threat. She'd spent her life training it to behave as such, and the one time she needed it to rebel, it wasn't. 

A white crouched beside her, masked face tilted in thought. 

"You're a little more trouble than we anticipated," he said. "Been a while since someone lasted that long." Then, a little louder, "can we get some cuffs here?" 

He rolled her over as another white came into view. Athira's unresisting forearms were held parallel while their glinting metal prison was clipped into place. The silver surface changed at the click, the runes inscribed into the metal flaring a deep blue, thinly edged in a brighter teal hue. 

"Colour won't do you much good with those on," said the white. "But you're certainly welcome to try. I'm impressed you can even summon enough colour to activate those runes with the gas affecting you."

From her position on the ground, Athira gathered enough will to glare at him. It was all she seemed to be able to do. The gas was taking control, covering the parts of her that wanted to resist and fight back. The anger, the hate, all of it disappeared under the soothing vanilla scent. 

And then Zoe's shout echoed through her emptying skull. 

Athira's foot scraped the floor, trying to find the traction to push herself up. It was an effort, fighting against the blanket of gas that wanted her to lie down, but Zoe needed her. Athira had lost her light once already. She'd possibly lost it again with the lies, but at least the light would be safe. Zoe would be safe, protected from darkness even while it was darkness that guarded her. 

Somehow, she managed to stand. Athira planted her feet on the ground and told them not to move. This was her body and no person, gas or intergalactic entity was going to tell her what to do with it. 

She stepped forward. Muffled words came behind her but they weren't important. Nothing was important except reaching that corridor. The corridor that led to Zoe. Zoe and Shift. They needed her. 

Movement in the corridor caught what remained of Athira's awareness. She fixated on it, breath loud in her ears and staring with unfocused eyes at the whites filtering down the steps. Two figures she dimly recognised were being carried with them. One cradled, the other restrained as she struggled in their arms. 

Zoe, Shift. No, please--

"Got her! The green one gave us a bit of trouble, used Nine's own colour against him so we had to use force, but we managed to get the girl injected unharmed. There's a little..."  

The last of Athira's rallied strength faded with the sight of Shift, blood matting his dark blonde hair in the arms of the burly female white from before. He wasn't moving, neck supported only by the female's bicep with one arm dangling towards the ground since they hadn't bothered cuffing him.

The world wasn't just spinning any more. It'd just fallen apart, shattered to a million pieces like the pillars inside her mindscape to the melody of Zoe's cries. 

Instead of hitting the floor for a second time, Athira was caught under the arms by the white who'd rolled her over. With her arms in the crook of his elbows she was leant back against his chest, one hand on her forehead to stop her head from rolling about. 

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you?" he said. 

Something stung the side of her neck but she was too far gone to care. The whites continued talking, the meaning of their words fading into oblivion as Athira succumbed to the empty abyss she knew only in sleep. 

In the last light before her vision faded, one thought remained with her. 

It was only a matter of time before she woke once more and gave her reply to the situation. Her colour would ensure that she had her chance. 

Rathe stirred in her mindscape. 

The only question was if she'd be mounting a rescue, or extracting her revenge. 

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A/N - Please don't kill me. LOOK AT THE ADORABLE CHIBI ZOE/THIRA BY @FallenMidnightAngel

Vote or comment (preferably both) if you wish, it's appreciated and inspires me to write faster. I'll be over in the corner with a bowl of icecream.