unforgiven ➽ a Halilintar-centric fic

34 | i'm not real

According to Murphy's Law, anything that could go wrong will absolutely go wrong.

According to Cahaya's experience, anything that already had gone wrong, can and will absolutely get worse.

Case Study 1: The station exploding Gempa and Taufan to kingdom come, who would then boot them to a man with dubious morality and questionable ethics regarding the extraterrestrial.

Case Study 2: Vargoba attacking Earth, then Cahaya spontaneously develops a curious condition called a nuke, which had him (almost) blowing the city up like a living atomic bomb.

They say good things come in threes, so bad things should follow the same rule of thumb. Which brings them to their current predicament of Case Study 3: where Air gets possessed by a foreign entity, and in their lapse of weakness, he disappeared in a gold clap of lightning, the trail of dust and smoke leading further into the camp.

According to the overwhelming correlation between the previous events, this will serve as a direct causation to a significant outcome that will negatively impact the participants.

An outcome Cahaya was not particularly enthusiastic to witness, much less be involved in.

"What—" Api whispered, holding onto Daun's arm with a bruising vice grip. "What just happened?"

Cahaya's eyes flicked to Daun's charred collar, Api's pale pallor, and burnt grass where Air had stood just a mere moment ago. Physical confirmations that the past twenty seconds had not been a hallucination.

"They—whatever they were, they were looking for someone," Cahaya recalled. "Two people named Tanah and Angin."

Daun frowned. "Who?" he quizzed, more confused than concerned. "I don't know anyone on the station with those names."

Cahaya shook his head. He may not have extensive knowledge on the station's personnel, but these names alluded him in both familiarity and impression. He had never come across them before.

It was then Api's head shot up, eyes widening in realization. "I've seen one of them before," he said. "Angin—that's what Gempa called Taufan back in the infirmary."

Daun gasped. "Then Tanah—"

"—must be Gempa," Cahaya concluded, whipping towards the direction of the medical tent.

The line went dead.

"Anything?"

Taufan closed the call and lowered his phone. "No." He turned to Gempa, who fiddled with his fingers anxiously by the chair beside the bed he was supposed to stay on. "Both of them aren't picking up."

"Maybe they're busy," Gempa offered. "And you know Halilintar never responds."

Taufan groaned. "He should," he insisted. "The only time he called me was when he ended up all the way in Kuala Lumpur in the middle of the night, getting his ass beat by Vargoba. He can't just show up whenever he feels like it!"

The flaps to the tent were thrown open. The pair turned.

"Air?" Taufan evened out his voice. "What's wrong?"

A flash of gold was the only warning they had when a mass collided into Taufan's front the same time a familiar metallic taste flooded his mouth. He gasped, choking on blood as he looked up to meet Air's eyes, heart stopping when a face of sadistic mirth greeted him with gold so bright they were almost yellow.

Stunned, Taufan's gaze wandered below to sizzling flesh and smoke. The guard of a golden sword pressed into his chest, the blade hidden and buried in his flesh. Air's hands were wrapped around the handle, straining with effort as he pushed deeper.