unforgiven ➽ a Halilintar-centric fic

11 | the world is burning

Halilintar massaged his temples, struggling to see past the nauseating sharpness building in his skull.

This has to be a hallucination. He migraine must be getting to him. Damnit, he should've stayed in bed and called in sick.

"This place hasn't changed at all," Gempa marveled, looking around in wonder. "It's like we barely even left!"

Oh, okay. Not a hallucination. On one hand, he should be glad to know he's not to the point of no return (yet). On the other, these two decided that today was a fine time to return to Earth and ruin his day. The cards he was dealt with were atrocious, and it'd come to a scenario where he'd rather not play.

Unfortunately, he was forced to show his hand, lest he be driven to the brink of insanity.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked dryly, not a hint of amusement in his tone.

Taufan giggled. "Glad to see you too!" he greeted him. "In all these years, you've barely changed! You'll scare all the others away."

"Have you healed?" Halilintar ignored him, brow hiking as he gave their conditions a onceover. Through the haze, he could tell that most of the surface injuries have healed, but he can't be sure of their internal ones.

Gempa nodded. "We overshot our estimation by some time," he confessed. "We forgot to take in account of how much our powers matured."

Halilintar ran a hand down his face. Of course, they did. Why is he not surprised?

"Your children are back in the house," he informed them. Thank the gods this circus ended earlier than intended. "Get it over with and leave."

Taufan blinked. "Oh! That's not why we're here."

Halilintar did not like where this was going. "Huh?"

"We're on a vacation, you see," Gempa explained patiently. "We got kicked out of the station and got put on mandatory leave."

Fuck.

Halilintar barely managed to suppress a wince. "So that means—"

"We're home!" Taufan snatched the band aid off a still-bleeding wound, dropping the bomb all at once. "And we're here to stay!"

"For the month," Gempa added. "We can catch up on all our lost time."

With sparkling eyes, they waited for him to match their upbeat auras, to finally shed the loner façade and break into an overly dramatic musical about love and friendship. Then they'd link hands, skip over flower fields and run into the sunset. All's well that ends well!

"We're going to see Tok and check up on the others," Taufan chirped. "See you in a bit, Hali! Man, I can't wait for a steaming cup of cocoa. It's been too long."

He watched the pair fade into the distance, joking around with each other as they made their way back to the house—back to the place where it was once their home.

Tick, tock.

(The world is burning.)

The clock struck 6. A faint melody played from his phone, signaling the end of the day.

"It's been hours." Air laid on the bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. "And they still haven't returned."

Cahaya laid next to him, also staring blankly at the same ceiling. "Odds are they've gotten themselves lost."