unforgiven ➽ a Halilintar-centric fic

04 | a harmless old man

They've barely been here for an hour, and they already got onto Halilintar's bad side.

Air heard a conversation picking up seconds after Halilintar had slammed the door. He was standing on the top of the stairway, accented tones reaching his ears.

"You shouldn't be so harsh with them," said an elderly voice, who Air would assume is Tok, Halilintar's grandfather. "They're only children who've just made a simple mistake."

Halilintar groaned, clearly unwilling to partake in this back-and-forth. "A mistake that could have killed you," he vamped, shutting down the topic entirely. "You should go shower, Tok. I'll finish up dinner by then."

In two sentences, the exchange was finished. Air heard a chair creak, followed by the sight of a hunched old man leaving the kitchen. However, instead of heading upstairs for the bathrooms, he walked past the stairs and out the door, shutting it gently behind him.

Hopefully that would've been the last mess they'd make for the next hour or two—but Air's hopes and dreams for peace and quiet were ruined and Api came bolting out of the room covered in fire, screaming bloody murder.

"He threw us out," Daun whimpered, horrified as he chewed on his own fingernails. "He kicked us out and it's my fault. He doesn't want us because of me. Yaya, I don't want to sleep outside! I—"

Cahaya planted both hands on his shoulder before Daun could ramble himself into insanity. "He. Didn't. Throw. Us. Out," he reiterated, putting emphasis on each word to hammer into Daun's brain. "He just told us to clean up... whatever this is, and we can go back inside."

"Clean up what?" Daun demanded hysterically, bringing up the point Cahaya feared the most. "I don't even know what these things are! Yeah, they're plants, but are they supposed to look like that??"

He gestured to the warzone of an upturned patch, where several unnamed vegetation lay mangled beyond recognition on soil. If he had to make a wild guess, Daun's loss of control may have turned the native plants sentient and mutated them into something that required a thorough and messy extermination. The whole scene surely resembled something worthy of a brutal murder.

Cahaya should have picked Air or Api as his roommate. He and Daun were the last people that should be tossed outside into the local community in hopes of getting them to mingle. He already had enough trouble deciphering the Earthen lingo that Api spewed on the daily.

He was ready to cheat and head back to TAPOPS for quick research regarding Earth vegetation and human habits when the door creaked open, in which they both tensed in fear and prepared for another scolding.

They blinked in confusion when the person standing by the door was an old man, not the psychopath who decided throwing aliens out in the streets and prayed they survived the night was a good idea.

"Hello," said the old man kindly. "We haven't properly met, have we?" He offered the a smile, one strangely reminiscent of one of their mentors. "Well, you can call me Tok Aba."

To their surprise, Halilintar hardly bat an eyelid when Api and Air came to him, even when the former proved to be unable to extinguish his own fire licking at his scalp. The nonchalance reaction was a stark contrast to Daun and Cahaya's reception, giving them whiplash akin to a slap to the face.

Rather than grabbing Api's hair and dragging him across the house, Halilintar merely extended a hand whilst his other continued to stir the stew.

At first, Api hesitated, especially after the Daun Debacle, unwilling to proceed despite having done it once when they first met. The older proved to be unbothered by his reluctance, choosing to taste his stew for seasoning while he continued to wait.

It wasn't until the stove began blasting and bubbles of hot stew splashed on Halilintar's hand that he gave Api an irritated glance, as if daring him to keep wasting time. Fearing for his life, Api took that palm and squeezed his eyes shut, muscles taut.

Describing the feeling of when one broke a fuse was a difficult task. In that period of time, they were aware of everything and nothing all at once. It was as if they were beyond their bodies; weightless and meaningless, looking at the world through the eyes of another. Their minds hovered in the unknown, their mass melting into the great cosmos. Their life essence was leaking through a hole in their soul, bleeding into the rest of the world, escaping their vessels to join the universe.

Api didn't know what happened if they allowed the leak to continue without seeking help from Taufan or Gempa – would they die, or become a hollow shell of who they once were?

And as for the restitution part, however, it was a different experience entirely. Gempa and Taufan never told him how being on the other side felt, and he doubted Halilintar was the type to overshare. Though, Api can confidently retell that while Gempa and Taufan's energies felt like a soothing gel or bandage, Halilintar's felt like duct tape and stitches, forcibly sealing the leak shut instead of allowing it time to heal.

It was a metaphorical slap to the face, like readjusting someone's dislocated limb or broken nose back in place without so much of a warning. This is second time that Halilintar's helped him—and it was not a pleasant experience overall. By the end of it, it left him reeling for air, his mind recoiling as his body refused to move, even after Halilintar had finished, the fires dying down by force.

They had to spend three weeks here. And this was barely the first day.

Api held his hand close to his chest. His palms hands were numb, feeling like he'd plunged it directly into a bucket of ozone. Halilintar could rip an ear clean off his skull and it couldn't compare to the shock he was enduring.

This happened all the while Halilintar was tending to his cooking, completely unaware—or caring—of the distress he'd put Api through.

How are Gempa and Taufan friends with him?

"My name's Daun," Daun introduced himself, unsure whether if Tok Aba were friend or foe. "Nice to meet you...?"

"Oh, don't be afraid of me," Tok Aba chuckled, carrying an electric lantern in his hand to give them light. The garden didn't have much, other than the flickering street lamps by the road. "I'm just a harmless old man."

Cahaya narrowed his eyes. "I was under the impression that humans grow stronger as they age." His lips pressed into a thin line. "Forgive me for my bluntness, but I doubt the credibility of your statement."

"Ha!" Tok Aba laughed. "For youngsters like you, perhaps. Not for an old fossil like me."

He hummed at his joke, but Cahaya and Daun clamped their mouths shut, uncertain of whether to play along or to start running for the hills. Eventually, Tok Aba ceased his humor, coughing into his fist.

"I apologize for Hali," he continued. "He can be emotional, but he means well. I hope you don't hold this against him."

Before they can react, to refute or process what the human was saying, he arched his chin towards the ruined lawn, lips quirked.

"Now, you'd best start cleaning." Tok Aba approached Daun, handing him the lantern. "Even I can't convince Hali to change his mind."

About that.

"Um." Cahaya crossed his arms, clicking his tongue.

"Uh..." Daun trailed off.

Tok Aba raised an eyebrow. "Hm?"