Indigo's Owl [Indigo Rewrite]

Chapter 42 - Within the Dark

Shift was working to find a way out of the suppression rune they'd become hopelessly tangled in when Zoe screamed Athira's name and ripped through every bit of focus he'd scraped together.

"Thira!"

Shift heard the fear in it. The pain. The desperation.

It still didn't prepare him for the sight of Karma's dagger in Athira's chest.

His heart dropped, every thought emptying out of his head as dread washed through him.

Because Athira — Athira was bleeding.

"I will end you, Karma!" yelled Zoe, straining against the Blue strands that bound her. Even with the suppression rune binding her Yellow, her glow increased tenfold, forcing Shift to look away or be blinded. "You hear me? Let her go, or I swear to the spirits that I will put a laser through your head!"

Zoe's light was more than just bright now. It was hot — painfully hot — and Shift felt his own copied Yellow healing him as his skin blistered, but her Yellow wasn't just burning him. It was scorching the ground where the suppression rune was etched, and after a few agonising moments, the rune broke.

The Blue strands binding them snapped and vanished. Shift stumbled forward, Zoe with him as they set their sights on Athira. They were free. Now they just had to get to her, to hope there was something they could still do before—

Karma removed the dagger from Athira and stepped back, vanishing in a flicker of Blue.

That was the moment Shift understood.

Karma had never intended to kill Athira.

Athira's gaze turned towards them. Her eyes went from Zoe to Shift, who already knew what was about to happen. Shift turned, grabbing for Zoe's arm to pull her back, knowing that they'd never get far enough to survive.

"Run."

He'd seen the Black heal Athira in the past, sealing cuts and bruises in a flicker of Colour she couldn't stop, even if she tried. She was always grumpy afterwards, because it gave her Black an out and made it harder to keep contained.

But this wasn't a cut. This was a fatal wound, in the presence of Sleepers, without Talon — and there would be no holding it back this time.

Shift did the only thing he could. He braced himself in front of Zoe in the hopes of absorbing enough of the Black to protect her when Zoe stepped one foot forward and went supernova.

Zoe's light split the darkness as it raced towards them in a thick, solid wall. Hands forward, the excruciating brilliance erupted from her palms. It radiated off her hair and skin with a heat so intense it blistered Shift's skin.

Even that wasn't enough to stop the Black entirely. It bit into Zoe, taking chunks out of her arms and sides. The injuries healed in explosions of light that kept her standing, shielding Shift from the worst of it while the buildings and Sleepers around them were disintegrated.

It was maybe ten seconds that felt like an eternity when the darkness finally passed.

The ground beneath them gave way and crumbled. Both Shift and Zoe went tumbling with the pile of rock and broken tiles, landing on the slope of the crater the Black had left behind.

"Please tell me that wasn't your breaking point or Raph's gonna kill me," said Shift, taking a relieved breath as the last of his shifted Yellow healed his burns.

Zoe shook her head. She was still glowing, though nowhere near its previously painful intensity. "My Yellow's just amped up like crazy. With the armband's drain and then the suppression rune, I just didn't realise how much."