Shifthira picture by FallenMidnightAngel <3
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Epilogue - It's the Little Moments
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Shift spread himself over the couch in Indigo's common room, finding bliss in the nothing.
I still preferred the old one, he thought, sinking into the cushions like he'd never left. But this'll do. It just needs a little wearing in.
The Elites had paid for a full refurnishing of any room the Wardens had trashed, along with their full explanation of the Rathe situation and Zoe's involvement. Nothing was new to Indigo, but they'd nodded along with the appropriate actions anyway at Zoe's suggestion. The Elites had tied it up with a neat little 'We believed Zoe to be in danger' at the end but at that point, Shift was pretty sure no one was buying the sympathy act.
Shift lifted his head at the sound of the door opening to find Athira stepping through, using the correct method of door opening for possibly the first time in her life. Her indigo cloak was nowhere to be seen, and she was instead dressed in what Shift strongly suspected were Zoe's jeans and grey singlet.
Athira didn't see him, heading away from the couch towards the kitchen.
Shift waited until she was nearly at the door before he vaulted over the couch and attempted to ambush her. He got close enough to touch her, wrapping his arms around her stomach and pulling her back towards him.
"Got you!" he said, resting his chin on her shoulder.
Athira continued to look straight ahead, a smile tilting her lips. "Oh, did you now?"
It was then that Shift saw the black colour at her hands and realised all too late that there was a book above his head as Athira dropped it.
"Ow," he said, scrunching his nose.
Her shoulders shook with amusement. "You're still too heavy, I can hear you moving a mile away."
"Oh yea?" said Shift, picking her up despite her protest. "Well, I'll get you one day. Statistics say I have to."
"Statistics don't take you into account," said Athira dryly.
Shift caught sight of something glinting in her hands and pinched the familiar shape between his fingers.
"Where'd you get your amulet from?" asked Shift. "Is Talon back in there?"
"He's still in my mindscape," said Athira, taking it back with a raised eyebrow. "And as for the amulet, Nobody stopped by with Tracker last night and gave it to me. Apparently Reader likes regifting. Says it might be useful if we end up binding Talon to the black colour."
"Mysterious as ever."
Athira went silent in thought, her fingers running over the metal surface of the bird engraving.
Shift spun her around to face him. "What's bothering you?"
"Talia left Indigo because of me, didn't she?" said Athira, sucking her lip unhappily.
"Well, technically she hasn't left, she's just taking some personal time--" began Shift.
"I think we all know what that means," said Athira, staring at him. "If I'm staying here, she's not. I ruined your team."
"I'm fairly certain that if you hadn't come along, this team wouldn't be anything but scraps now," argued Shift. "The Elites would have taken Zoe and honestly, she's the heart of this team. It wouldn't have been Indigo without her, not to mention the Wardens probably would have got her killed in the process or ruined her colour entirely."
"I think you're just trying to make me feel better," said Athira. "It's not working, by the way."
"Not even if I remind you that you're now an honoured member of a prestigious Colour team?" poked Shift.
Athira groaned and tried to walk away into the kitchen but he followed her, putting on his best announcer voice.
"Introducing Athira, purple colour of team Indigo! She assisted in deconstructing a catastrophic threat against the Elite HQ earlier this week when disaster struck--"
"I don't even get why they included me," muttered Athira, sticking her head in the fridge to retrieve the juice. "As far as they're concerned, I was passed out in the dungeons the entire time after Reader and the Owl ambushed me."
"It's a team thing," said Shift. "One gets credit, they all get credit. It's when they single you out that you have to worry, it means you're up for Elite promotion."
"I'll be sure to have my suitcases packed in case that ever happens," said Athira, taking a sip.
"Somehow I don't think you'll ever have to worry about that," said Shift. "They usually pick people who don't backchat their team's Elite before they're even part of the team."
Athira smirked and drained the rest of the juice in one gulp. "No, they just promote those ones straight to Warden status and tell them to go fight themselves."
Shift couldn't help it, he laughed at that one. It seemed incredible enough that for all their knowledge, the Warden's hadn't caught on to Athira's alter ego, but then to suggest she take down herself? Even with a Warden in the ranks acting as Rathe's Herald and most likely working to hide her identity from the rest of them, it still sounded ridiculous.
"If anything, they'll probably leave you alone with Zoe on the team now," said Shift, unwrapping an OmNom bar. "They figure you can take the Owl, so if you're here when the Owl comes after Zoe, in their eyes, it's another layer of protection. Or something."
"You," said Athira, shaking her head. "Are strangely optimistic considering how things have worked out for us in the last few weeks."
"Exactly!" said Shift. "We've used all the bad luck, now it's time for the good. Right?"
Athira leant back against the counter. "I don't think that's how it works."
Shift sidled over to her. "What, you mean the other five Spectrum won't just happen upon our doorstep, drawn by the sheer awesome that is Zoe and I? Why ever not?"
"With that humour, they're probably busy running the opposite direction."
"Well then," he said, taking Athira's waist in his hands. "It's a good thing I've got you cornered then, isn't it?"
Athira smiled as he leaned in. "Don't make me go through this counter just to prove a point."
Shift hovered just above her mouth for a moment, feeling her breath against his skin.
"Well, you could," he said softly. "But I think if you were going to, you already would have by now."
"Damn," she said, wrapping her hands around his neck. "You got me."
Athira pulled him down, closing the distance between their lips as she kissed him. Shift held her close as they both vied for control over the other with tongues and gentle nips. This time, Athira yielded to him, a contented sigh escaping her as she let him guide her mouth.
They still weren't entirely sure what they were doing, but Shift didn't particularly mind. He just lost himself in the moment and the feel of Athira's skin.
A giggle from behind interrupted said moment. Shift glanced over his shoulder to find Zoe, phone in hand as the shutter sound of the camera went off and she dashed off into the other room.
Athira chased her out of the room. "Zoe, don't you dare!"
Zoe's excited squeals came from somewhere around the corner. "Ohhh the fangirls are going to love this one! Shifthira confirmed!"
"For the love of colours, Zoe, please! Shift, dammit, help me damage control!"
"Nope! Uploaded in three...two..."
Shift leaned against the door frame in stitches, watching Athira chase Zoe around the couch, trying in vain to get the device back before the photo went live.
"One! Ah ha!" cried Zoe, victoriously holding it above her head as Athira crashed into her and they both tumbled to the floor. "Now, what to tag it with?"
"How about hashtag should-be-working?" suggested Athira. "Or hashtag give me the colours be damned thing before I pull Rathe out of my mindscape!"
Zoe rolled away. "Nope! You did that a few days ago and me and Shift handled that sitch!"
"Sitch?" said Shift. "Zo, even I don't know what you're talking about any more."
"Sitch? As in, situation?" Zoe shrugged when Shift continued to give her a blank look. "I heard it on some cartoon yesterday. Red-head was all, 'what's the sitch'? to her comm-guy!"
"Please no," said Kione, appearing in the doorway. "I already have to put up with Raph's 'Go Go Indigo' every time you're all out on a mission. I don't think I could put up with you having a catch phrase."
"Hey look, first comment!" said Zoe, pausing to tap. "I call Shifthira trending before lunch."
"The priorities of the net will never cease to amazing me," said Kione, wandering into the kitchen. "Elite HQ almost gets blown up and they're more worried about which Colour is dating who and whether they still have a chance."
Shift met Zoe's eyes, seeing the sadness in them.
Their vow had kept, the events at the top of the pillar shared only with breath from their lips. They only had each other to confide in on the matter. Neither was happy about keeping it a secret, but it was necessary. Rathe couldn't find the Prism, not before they were prepared to face him.
Five Spectrum remained to be found. Five people that represented the pure affinity of their colour that to Shift's knowledge, could be anywhere on Thols. The current plan was hoping the Prism would somehow attract them, like it had Zoe and him.
The look passed from Zoe's face as Athira made another lunge at the phone, this time taking it successfully from Zoe's hand.
"Ha!" she said, kicking off the ground to hover in the faraway corner of the ceiling where no one could reach her. "Wait--you locked it? Zoe, how could you!"
Shift resigned himself to a grin and grabbed Athira's legs, shifting some of her colour to join her in the air, albeit a whole lot more unstable. He still hadn't mastered the whole flying thing, and he doubted he ever would.
For now, Rathe could wait. Spectrum was nothing more than a word and a prism an object that split a beam of whitelight into its seven components or joined it, depending on which angle you looked at it from.
Shift had more important things to think about.
Like how exactly he was going to convince Raph to name the new Spectrum training program 'Project: Turtle'.
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THE END
[Information about sequels and the Indigo series and publishing in the next part]
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A/N - Aaaaand with that, Indigo is finished! Boom! Splat! DONE! AND I MADE THE DEADLINE BWAHAHAHA. Apparently I can write 10k words in ~14 hours if I do nothing else. Woo!
VOTE! PLEASE! IF NOT, LEMME KNOW WHY!
Long ass author's note of victory next, please read it! PLEASE! *beg*
ONWARD!
ps Indigo is also being published in april/may of 2016 if you're interested in that keep reading >>