Dedicated to strawberryxoxo123 for amazing detective work.

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Chapter 39 - Two in One

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Athira squeezed her fingers inside the cuffs. 

Spectrum? Me? 

She pressed her lips together. Stop it. Your colour has always been black, idiot, even before the merge. Rathe's always been there. That's what Trian told you. That's why he had your colour bound, because you couldn't control it. The merge didn't do anything except almost get everyone near you killed so stop turning it into an excuse. 

The door slid open once more. Athira was too caught up in her thoughts to care who it was. 

You're not a light. You're a shadow lurking at their edges. 

Karma stood and moved to greet the newcomer. "Pyha, what is it?" 

The name caught Athira's interest and she spared them a glance.  

The older male Elite that'd been with Karma and Discord at Indigo base stood in the doorway. He handed Karma a glowing aqua rune in silence. Karma closed her fist over it, squeezing blue light through her fingers that when opened again a second later, were revealed empty. 

"Ah," she said, rubbing the residues of colour from her fingers. "I see. This makes things infinitely more interesting."

"You could say that," said Pyha indifferently. "I'm still fascinated with this whole situation to be honest. Even the rainbow stalking can't keep my attention from it."

With that, he walked away, door closing smoothly after him. 

Karma returned to Athira. She moved behind her chair, elegant fingers caressing the back of its metal frame. 

She stood there so long, doing nothing but studying Athira's face with an expression she couldn't read that Athira felt inclined to give her a nudge. 

"Care to share?" she asked.

"Care to share indeed," said Karma, pursing her lips. She regarded Athira like she'd just sprouted a horn. "The words from your mantra, may I ask where they're from?" 

Red flags went up at the tone in her voice. 

"I don't remember," lied Athira. 

Karma leaned forward. "I think you do." She paused for a second and Athira's heart stopped with her. "I seem to recall you telling your friends as much not too long ago, if I'm correct? And before that, how you've already spent your entire life dedicated to preventing him breaking through, anointed yourself a guardian one could say?" Karma tilted her head. "So, what do you know about him, exactly?" 

"Why the hell would I know anything about Rathe?" said Athira. "Aren't the Wardens supposed to know everything about him already?" 

The Warden folded her arms, one corner of her lips raising above the other. "I don't believe I've said his name once, Athira. Why indeed would you know anything about Rathe?"

Athira froze. "I--"

"Care to share," said Karma slowly, "how you came by such information so early in your life? You seem to know a lot more than we ever suspected about this situation."

Athira went on the defensive. She was already caught with her leg in the jaws of a bear trap, it was time to convince the bear she wasn't worth the effort. "Rather not, to be honest." 

Karma sighed. "This can be easy, or it can be difficult, Athira."

"I'm good at being difficult. You can see it several times in your video, like when your Edges needed gas to take me seven on one."

"They were ordered to be gentle, ensure minimum damage to the team," said Karma. "But you can see other things rather well in that same video, such as how attached you are to the yellow Spectrum."

The meaning was implied. The bands were the only thing holding Athira from lunging at the Warden before her. If the runed cuffs hadn't been holding her colour so tight, more than the first few millimetres of her stomach would have made it through the colour neglected bands. 

"You wouldn't dare touch her," she hissed.

The smile was back. "Her? No. We can't risk any damage to our Spectrum, which, until it's otherwise confirmed, includes you. However I don't think Zoe's the only one we could persuade your tongue with."

The video flickered back on, no longer of the Edge attack on Indigo. Instead it showed a dark blonde haired male alone on the ground in a small cell. With the way her eyes were sucking in every pixel of detail, Athira couldn't miss the blood still dried into his hair despite an attempt to clean it up. 

Shift.

Athira's breath came faster as someone entered the cell and stood over him. There was no way Shift could defend himself, assuming he wasn't drugged up to begin with. From neck to feet, Shift was covered in a strange variation of the Warden's cuffs she assumed had been designed specifically to stop him from shifting colour. 

The person moved closer to him. Karma's gaze held steady. Athira's control snapped. 

"Get away from him," she growled, straining against the bands holding back her arms. The one around her stomach sank into her skin, kept separate only by flickering fragments of instinctive colour she barely noticed. No trace of silver remained on the cuffs as their entire surface lit blue. "Get the hell away from him or I will bring this place to the ground before you can blink!" 

Karma remained back in her chair, arms folded. The video continued as someone nudged Shift with a foot. He remained still.

"We were hoping to have new recruits from two you, but he isn't necessary by any means. Something we're willing to expend for a greater purpose. Or information, if you so force us."

That was it. Athira was done. 

She called her colour, ordering it to eat through the runes on the cuffs so she could take them apart. The colour heard her, rushing to meet her call with an eagerness achieved only by the Owl. The only problem was how it seemed to avoid her hands and subsequently, the runes she needed to break. 

The runes, she realised. They're redirecting the colour instead of stopping it.

It was a problem. If they redirected it, it'd be infinitely harder to break than ones demanding it simply stop. Like the ones on her arms, they could last years if properly inscribed. If the Wardens were a sub group of the monks, Athira didn't want to think about what that meant for her chances of getting out. 

Even so, the runes were so bright it hurt to look directly at them, almost as much as it pained Athira to witness the expression on Karma's face. 

The Warden was fascinated. Her face took in the cuffs with a fierce delight. 

"This is amazing," she breathed. "I've never seen them so stressed! Not even with the experiments on our own Spectrum! They won't break, of course, but your colour! How much potential there is locked away inside you, waiting to come out!"

Athira glared at her. "You wouldn't believe how much potential I'm about to show you."

Karma glanced up. "Oh, I'm sure. Without your hands, however, you're fairly safe. You'll come around to us even if it's for the sake of Shift, although I feel you're already considering what I've said. The chance for control? You crave it, I can see that."

"Or I can tell you I'll join so you'll let me out, and then I march straight out of here and disappear into the city."

Karma tapped the tattoos across her face. "We have ways to ensure our members don't stray from out cause, Athira. You'll be no different. And we don't plan to let you out of those cuffs quite yet, not until you've been tamed a little more." 

On the screen, Shift still hadn't moved. Instead, the person inside his cell had picked him up and thrown him over a careless shoulder. 

Athira's heart leapt. She had to get out of these cuffs before they could touch him further. Simply waiting for her colour to build was no longer going to be enough. 

It was time for plan Talon's-going-to-kill-me-later. 

The Owl fluttered from where she'd pushed it back. Her mindscape flared, the colour in her capillaries rising from a simmering heat into the eternal inferno of Rathe.

"One problem with that," said Athira. 

Karma glanced up. 

"When I'm pissed off enough, I don't need hands to use my colour."

The world went black, details alive in an outline of white as Athira willed the visible world to bend around her. She picked up Karma with her gaze and sent her back through the window without breaking the reinforced glass. The figures on the other side jumped up, heading for the door. Athira broke the lock and sealed the edges said door, effectively trapping them. She could deal with them later, preferably slowly. 

Athira pulled herself through the silver bands holding her to the chair and stood up. She turned her attention to the cuffs, quickly finding she couldn't pull her hands through the molecules. Any colour used from the inside was redirected by the runes, even if she couldn't see them in this state. 

So it has to be from the outside. 

She surrounded the almost flawless metalwork that composed the cuffs, driving her colour into the invisible cracks. It was a simple matter of pulling the pieces apart from there, widening the gap enough for her to remove her hands the way everyone else did. 

Athira let the cuffs fall to the ground. The room returned to its usual colouring of grey, grey and more grey, the Wardens on the other side of the window reduced from outlines to scrabbling noises Athira didn't care about. She'd half expected them to coat the outer side of the cuffs in the anti-colour that'd given her problems with Raph. 

Guess that's the price you pay for having runed cuffs. 

Athira stretched out her arms, letting her fingers flex for the first time since the Wardens had decided it was a good idea to kidnap her. The pain of the cramps was pitiful when the sheer volume of colour flooding her body right now was threatening to tear her apart. 

Too bad, she thought, stepping towards the door. I don't have time to--

A...Athira?

Athira froze. The colour inside her drained. Talon?

Athira!

All thoughts of Wardens, colour, Rathe and anything else that wasn't Talon related were shut out. 

Talon! Are you okay? What happened? Why can I hear you even though the amulet is--

Woah woah, one at a time! said Talon. 

Utter relief had her chest struggling for air. Athira could do little more than stand there, arms wrapped around her stomach as she clung to the melody of his voice. 

When the Sleeper gas was released, your colour... it went haywire. Completely off the charts from anything we've seen before except when Rathe took hold of you when Shift was here. The mindscape caught fire and it was all I could do to not be burned alive in here. I had to retreat to your colour seal and... well, I think I got sucked in to your colour... source... thing. 

    By the time I'd regained my wits, there were some pain in the tail feathers runes in the way and I couldn't reach you.All in all, I'm not actually too sure what happened, it was a little fast and frankly I'm just happy to be back. 

Tal, does that mean you're part of me now? If we don't need the amulet to communicate? asked Athira. As in, permanently? 

Possibly, who knows with your colour, eh? 

Athira could read between the lines. She'd almost killed him, still might in his fragile position, and he'd had to do something drastic to survive the side effects of her wrath. 

Thira, will you stop it? said Talon. I've been back two seconds and you're already moping. It wasn't you, it was the sleeper gas, whatever it was--

Another Sin, said Athira. She steadied her breathing and walked out into the hall. Whatever the Wardens are messing with inside Thols, it's another Sin like Rathe. One of the things the Titans locked away. 

Huh,  said Talon. Didn't see that one coming, but it makes sense. Explains why ol' Rathe gets so excited in here when anything Sleeper related rocks up. Speaking of which, he's rather active right now. You didn't give him caffeine while I was out, did you? 

Not exactly, said Athira, peeking out to the corridor. So far, the Warden's she had locked up hadn't called for back up. Perhaps they didn't have the means to. They seemed overconfident enough to make such an oversight. 

What exactly, then? 

Athira had no idea where she was. There were no signs, no indications of where Shift was or anything else remotely useful. Just hundreds upon hundreds of those infernal grey tiles lining the halls, the walls, the ceiling and probably the underpants of every Warden in a ten mile radius. 

They took the amulet, she said. I didn't realise at first and I got a little worked up. Then they threatened Zoe and Shift and well... I may have done the eye thing to get out of those cuffs they had me in. 

Thiraaa you know the eye thing wakes him up, said Talon, exasperated. She could almost see his indignant fluffing of feathers. Every time! You're lucky I'm not still in that amulet or I wouldn't have been able to help!

We have bigger problems right now bird brain, said Athira. They've kidnapped the entirety of Indigo and they're threatening to use Shift against me. 

Can't turtle boy just hide in his shell until we come save him?

They won't wait that long, said Athira. They'll use him against me if I give them half a chance. 

Have they figured out your feathered identity? asked Talon. 

Worse. They think I'm Spectrum. Indigo and violet combined. 

Talon took a second to reply. Well, I can honestly say I didn't see that one coming either.

Neither did I. But judging their dedication to claiming Zoe, I can't imagine they'd suddenly go easy on someone they think could be a duo Spectrum. 

Any possibility there's some truth in their theory? asked Talon hopefully. 

Athira glanced at her hands and the black flecks rolling from them. Someone could have punched her in the gut. No. Or I hope not, else we're all screwed because Rathe's had two colours of Spectrum for the last twenty odd years. 

And we're back to the moping, said Talon. 

Footsteps caught her attention, sounding like they were walking at a brisk pace. Athira pressed herself to the wall, considering going through it to avoid notice before Talon piped up.

Y'no, this person probably knows the layout better than you, he said. He might even know where we are! 

Athira pulled her fingers out of the tiles. You do have a point. Question is, how do I make them co-operate?

Talon seemed amused. Use that charming personality of yours, of course. 

Athira took his advice and straightened, slowing her steps to the level of uncertainty. 

A female Warden rounded the corner, green by the colour of her suit. She seemed so intent on her task that she walked straight past Athira, who had to turn around and stop her. 

"Uh, excuse me?" called Athira. "Warden?" 

The Warden's head jerked around, eyes focusing like she was seeing Athira for the first time. She frowned. 

"Yes?" 

Athira took a few steps towards her. "My name's Athira, I'm a new recruit, I guess you could say."

The Warden raised an eyebrow at that. "I don't think you'll find many who don't know who you are in our ranks. Why are you alone?" 

Athira did her best to look nervous. It wasn't a look she had practiced but it seemed to work well enough. "Warden Karma was called away for something and she left me with Warden Pyha, asking him to take me to see Indigo but..."

The Warden sighed, raising her eyes to the heavens. "He wandered off, didn't he?" She rubbed her head. "Brilliant man, exceptional runer, but I swear his mind is permanently stuck inside his colour. Did you need me to take you to Indigo?"

"No, no," said Athira quickly, shaking her head. "You're busy and I don't wish to waste any more of your time. If you could just give me directions, perhaps? This whole place is like a maze."

A nest of kidnappers and liars. 

The Warden walked over, leading Athira up a corridor on her left and stopping at the end. 

"Go up there," she said, indicating, "turn right at the first chance, there should be a ramp leading into a hallway. From there, continue right and you should come across a room with a few options. You want to go through the left hand door. Middle leads out into Elite HQ and right goes down into the depths where the prisoners for the project are currently being held. Got it?"

"I think so," said Athira, already moving away. "Thank you, Warden!"

She waited until she'd rounded the corner to drop the innocent mask. 

I didn't know you had it in you, said Talon dryly. Being all humble like that.

I'm surprised she bought it. How long do you think we have until she realises there's a bunch of Wardens trapped inside a room just down the hall?

You'd better kick it up, said Talon as Athira was already launching off the floor, speeding through the air of the corridors while using the walls as boosting blocks.

How's the colour? asked Talon. It's strange being in the middle of it. I feel more alive, somehow. Like when I used to free fall in the sky, waiting until the last moment to bring out my wings.

Athira clenched her fist before stretching it out. The colour flickered with a freedom she usually tried to keep from it. The runes on her arms weren't a reliable indicators at the moment as they seemed to be permanently lit. The blue colour was pushing through the suit covering her arms. 

 It's loose, she said finally. 

Talon considered that for a moment. We need to think about everything we're doing. Without the amulet, you're down one safety net. 

I don't need safety nets, growled Athira. I need to find Zoe, Shift and the rest of Indigo before the Wardens decide to torture them. If that means enduring this colour, then so be it. 

You don't know what you're saying, Athira, said Talon. Rathe's awake! Do you even remember what that means? Usually it's all stops out, meditate ASAP so we can--

All it means, said Athira. Is that some Wardens are going to get their asses kicked if they get in my way. If Rathe wants to join them, he's more than welcome. 

She made it to the room with the three corridors. Distracted by her conversation with Talon, she didn't see the Warden at the desk until it was too late. 

"Can I help you?" he asked, standing. 

"Just trying to find the Indigo colour team," said Athira. "Warden Karma expects me to meet her there. She wants me to talk to Shift, the green colour." 

The Warden's face said he didn't buy it. He moved to stand in front of her, arms folded and a less than impressed look on his face. 

"Is that so?" he said. "Funny, I swore I could have seen Warden Froyst with Indigo's green colour not five minutes ago, under orders from Karma to bring him to interrogation. To deal with you, nonetheless." 

Athira sighed. "Well, you can't say I didn't try to avoid this, Tal." 

She picked up the Warden and threw him against the wall. Though no tendril linked the colour on her hand to the colour holding the Warden, she felt the impact up her arm as he hit the tiles near the ceiling. 

It felt good. 

She dropped him. He fell to the tiles below with a groan as she moved to stand over him. 

Thira, warned Talon. 

Calm down. "Where's interrogation?" 

He ignored her, trying to push himself up. Athira placed a foot on his side and knocked him back down. 

"I asked where interrogation was, Warden." 

The Warden tried to look up at her. "Force won't do anything to--"

Athira gripped him with her colour, more completely this time. She reached deep into his being, searching for that part of the person where their colour lay. The one flicker inside her shroud over their body that remained burning like a beacon. The source. 

"Last chance before I take your colour," said Athira dryly. "I'm guessing you've heard how the Owl took two Warden's colours?" The sudden wariness confirmed her guess. "The Owl has nothing on what I can do. Where's the interrogation room?"

The Warden raised a hand to the door on the right. The prison depths. 

"Thank you so much," said Athira. She squeezed on his consciousness and the Warden went limp. 

The hell was that threat? asked Talon.

New trick I figured out. 

Athira ignored the rest of Talon's questions, promising to answer them at a more convenient time. 

We have to get to Shift, she told him. Question time after.

What about the rest of Indigo? 

Unless you can be in two places at once, there's not much we can do. He's under direct threat. 

The door was locked via several different means. Instead of simply pushing the door open as she had a million times before, Athira found herself craving the same high of power that'd come with throwing the Warden around like a rag doll not a minute ago. 

A smile growing on her face, she threw a blast of colour at the thick metal sheet. 

Thira, what--

Talon's voice cut short as the colour left her fingers, knocking the door several metres clear from the frame. 

Athira felt the impact through her arm as she flung the door free but it wasn't what she'd expected. It came with the feeling of utter helplessness as a tsunami of colour literally knocked her off her feet and had her brain forgetting it had lungs to operate as she staggered around trying to blink the sudden tears from her eyes. 

"Thira?" 

The familiar voice tunnel visioned her sight ahead as she managed to lift her chin. When she caught sight, she knew she'd finally lost it. Hallucinations were the last straw. 

A raven, nearly three times the regular size was in the frame of the door, kept afloat by the rhythmic beat of his wings. Delicate white detailings etched the feathers into his ebony body, the elegant head embroidered with dark, gleaming eyes regarding her in the way she'd only ever seen in two things, Zoe, and--

"Tal... Talon?" she managed through her teeth. 

Talon's head swiveled around as he looked for a place to land. Athira offered him an arm. It took everything she had to keep it out, clenching her muscles to try and hide the lack of control she had on their currently molten state.  

His claws curved around her arm and the skin-coated magma solidified within once more. She could breathe, her lungs weren't embers trying to burn out through her ribs. 

"I'm... I'm  me?" said Talon, lifting a wing to inspect it. "How did this happen?"

Athira wiped the beading sweat on her shoulder before Talon could spot it. "Side effect of you living in my colour, you can now hold a physical manifestation?" She brushed her fingers against his scaled foot. "It's some kind of halfway mix of colour and reality. A bridge between the two."

His touch soothed whatever had gone wrong before though aftershocks of pain still echoed through her body. Peace wrapped around her watching his simple, sharp movements, taking in the world around him with a beaded black eye. 

As she watched Talon run his beak through a sleek black wing, Athira realised what she had to do. She just had no idea how she was going to manage it given what she'd felt a minute ago. 

"We need to split up," she said. 

Talon stopped preening and cocked his head at her. "What?" 

"I'll get Shift. You find Indigo, lead them back to me. Since you're part of my colour, you should be able to sense me or something, right?" 

"Bit of a long shot to be honest," said Talon. "And I think my time outside the 'scape is limited. Sorta like a battery, except if I run out of juice I don't think plugging me into the wall is going to help."

"Your obsession with ancient tech," said Athira, "never ceases to amaze me, but we don't have time to sit here and figure it out. You're a bird, you have wings. I'd bet you can go through walls. Take this and go find Raph."

She sent her colour to her arm, rushing up the point of contact where Talon perched. His outline rippled as the colour infused him. Athira figured he liked it, considering the way he fluffed his feathers happily before settling them again. 

"Now go," said Athira, throwing him off her arm and into the air. Once more, the loss of Talon had her atoms feeling like they would lose cohesion and simply melt into a puddle on th floor. "Find... find Raph. And Kione. Anyone..."

Athira trailed off, clutching her head as she staggered to the side. 

"Thira, if it's too much for you we can take it slow," said Talon. He hovered nearby, obviously looking for a place to sit on her again. "We can't risk Rathe--"

"Just... just the shock losing you so suddenly," said Athira. She managed to straighten, the coppery taste of blood spilling on her tongue right before the colour rushed to heal it. "I wasn't expecting it. Just strange. Promise."

Talon hovered in the air  for another three wingbeats before he made progress towards the door the first Warden had told them Indigo was. 

"I'll be back soon, Thira. Just hold on until then."

Athira held on to her composure until Talon was out of sight. 

As the tip of his tail disappeared around the corner, her body seized up. She crashed into the wall, releasing herself into the shuddering convulsions forcing her to the ground blind. Her teeth buried themselves so far into her lip she swore she could feel them touch through the flesh. 

Another few moments were all she could take. The agonised scream ripped from her throat as her colour charred her insides to a husk. Every pore was filled with barbed wire sawing through, every nerve alight with the tip of the devil's pitchfork. 

Through it all, there was only one voice to comfort her through the pain. One hand that closed around her thoughts, engulfing them in his all-consuming conflagration as colour took her body. 

Mine. 

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A/N - Technically part two of the previous chapter, technically not, who cares! Yay Talon! 

As a heads up, if you ever see anything of mine (unlikely, but possible) up on another site, please let me know ^.^ I found out that one of my short stories had been stolen a few days ago with someone claiming it as hers on youtube, but was able to get it taken down due to the amazing detective work of strawberryxoxo123. 11/10 my friend, have all the cookies that are thrown <3

Vote/comment, lemme know what you think! Wew!