Chapter Text
A surge of adrenaline forced Kinich’s senses back into his body the moment the wall facing him snapped. Gathering the last bits of strength he had, he willed his legs to launch him into the air.
His eyes stayed locked on the terrified look on Mualani’s face. His fingers stretched further, burning, when a ragged scream tore out of her throat, tilting Kinich’s world.
His body was aching, but his mind was finally clear; he was so close. The building around him was coming down, the notion far too slow for his rapid heartbeat ringing in his ears. Spider-senses back in full force now, a comfortingly familiar sensation tickled his wrist; a web shot out, closing the distance between the two. But not fast enough.
Her hand reached for his, but the stretch wasn’t enough. The world around them collided, and an invisible barrier formed between them, falling down at a much slower pace than the ground approaching.
He could almost see the concrete’s texture now. The horrified faces of the people standing below were becoming less blurry.
Mualani’s back was dangerously close to the hard pavement. Tears slid out of her eyes and flew past Kinich as he drove forward. They were so close he could see the trembling of her lips - but far too far away for him to grab her.
A sense of dread filled him. The uncanny feeling burned his stomach and flooded his lungs. His own lips parted, giving way to a raw, desperate sound.
He could picture it nearly perfectly, Mualani lying in a pile of red she painted on the impact-
The sound of a clock tower not too far away disrupted his thoughts. The bell shook the ground once, twice - and with the third bang, the web finally latched on to the colorful fabric of Mualani’s sweater. With a frizzling rush bringing his breathing to a halt, he tugged.
He tugged so hard that his shoulder burned in protest. He paid it no mind.
With the ground just a few meters below, he willed their bodies to finally collide. His arm sharply wrapped around the curve of her waist, and within moments, they were both back in safe height.
A new sense of adrenaline washed over them both. Mualani punctuated hers with another scream. The sound was unforgiving to Kinich’s ringing ears.
Nevertheless, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered, just the path now clear in front of him and the grip he had on her. His mind was empty of thoughts, but filled with the leftover rush and panic turned relief. His body followed the rhythm it already knew well - the ups and downs of his swings, the zips and zaps as he let go of one web and shot out another.
The sound of the old clock tower was what it chose to follow. Countless blurred faces turned into nothing but a sea of unimportance beneath them.
When the final hit of the bell finished, Mualani’s frantic yelling subsided alongside it. The rush of the surrounding wind replaced them both. Kinich slowly started to get out of spider-mode, now acutely aware of just who he was holding in his arms.
It was quiet, then. Albeit only for a minute before his feet (shaky and unreliable) landed atop the cold bricks of the clock tower’s top. The bell, just two arms’ lenght away, was still swaying slightly.
The sun was just preparing to set. Not quite doing so, but it rested low enough to cast a bright hue over the opposing side of the platform. The columns were blurred in Kinich’s eyes, the adrenaline fizzling out - and the natural anesthesia with it.
The pounding in his head returned with full force. His shoulder, complaining in the rhythm of his heart, joined in soon, and-
“Malipo?”
Well. Some leftover will to remain calm might’ve been there somewhere, after all. He whipped around, causing himself only more pain.
“Yeah?” Shoot. No time for Kinich's voice, definitely not with his childhood friend.
Mualani stood there, with no trace of her charismatic charm. Her fingers were shaky, fidgeting with the hem of her torn skirt with burned edges. Her hair was a mess atop her head, mascara smudged on her cheeks.
It took her a little while to speak again. In that beat of silence, the sight of her like that, startled with wide eyes, sank in. It managed to bite into Kinich’s brain, the low hum in his mind distorting into a shriek. It was wrong, so wrong, she was never supposed to be there, she was there because he wasn’t fast enough, not cautious enough, oh, Archons-
“Thank you, Malipo. I… I would totally be toast if you hadn’t come up there!” Mualani spoke up at last, halting all of his prickling thoughts. God, what was wrong with him? He was Malipo, not Kinich, for heaven’s sake.
He cleared his throat, fingers digging into the fabric of his suit. “Yep… That’s what I’m here for.”
He could leave.
He didn’t.
Reason?
Unknown.
A… smile returned to Mualani’s face. A cautious one, but it was a smile. Kinich’s heart was going to beat out of his chest under all of these circumstances.
“Thanks, really. I’m repeating myself, I know, but also…” The smallest hint of hesitation crossed her features. Her lips paused for a beat. “Is there any way that you’ve seen this, uh, guy my age? We were supposed to meet up, but...” she trailed off.
Kinich was internally panicking. He was also silently thanking whoever had given him the idea to make a mask for himself.
Mualani continued. “He usually wears hoodies, isn’t much taller than me, black hair with some dyed strands, but I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be able to notice them right away - they’re kind of washed out. Also, his eyes are, like, this very recognizable shade of green. Really pretty, I mean,” she hurled out.
A very recognizable shade of green…
Right. Just focus on being Malipo.
“Y-yes, I think I saw one of my friends taking someone like that to safety, actually. Don’t worry.” His words barely overshadowed the sound of the wind, yet still managed to chase some of the shadows out of Mualani’s face.
A weird, uncomfortable tickling spread in Kinich’s gut in an inconsistent, flashy manner. It reached his cheeks and ears, the skin beneath his mask burning. The silence that hung between them didn’t help one bit. It wasn’t awkward in particular, though, because the only thing Mualani could make awkward was Kinich.
She decided to turn to him all of a sudden, as if sensing his misery. A beaming smile shone brightly on her face, now free of all fear. The tickling turned into a furious flame, but Kinich didn’t have the will to look away. He blamed it on his shaky legs, pounding bruises, wild heart, and blurred vision.
“I owe you one!” were the last words of hers, promptly followed by a characteristic giggle. The weight of the silence shifted afterward, and both of them turned their eyes toward the burning sphere in the sky.
While Mualani simply watched the sky, most likely glad to be alive, a sense of something new filled Kinich.
Mualani’s heart could’ve stopped just moments before. But it didn’t - because Kinich spotted her fast enough. She was almost in the cold arms of death, yet she still found a warm smile for him, despite never having met Malipo before.
As the final leftovers of adrenaline left Kinich’s body, and the silence between the two settled, the tingles in his stomach turned into a pleasant warmth in the cold wind.
Who would’ve known that a traumatic event could serve as a fuel this good? Seriously, the drive Mualani had since that’d been crazy. Even her bandmates seemed to think so.
“Mualani, dude, what’s gotten into you?” Semino asked, slipping his bag over his shoulder. “I could barely keep up with you.”
The bassist, Ruta, joined in. “Yeah, Semino’s right. Do you want to break the drums or something?”
Mualani only let out a chuckle. They were right; her drumming was totally even more energetic than before. There were finally emotions she needed to pour out. She always used drums as a sort of outlet, but her life had been really boring lately. Guess falling down from a building and getting saved by Malipo was enough to change that.
Still… despite her growing fire, her drumming wasn’t the best - and she knew the reason already. That annoying echo in her ear persisted, even though she was convinced she just made it up at first. With every hit, it threw her off more than before, so…
“Hey, you guys go ahead, yeah? I’ll catch up with you at the café. Just need to make sure my solo is flawless!” she beamed, spinning one of her drumsticks between her fingers.
The response was the same as usual - nods and praises -, except the previously hesitant question in Namaka’s eyes was now stubborn in a very Namaka way. Once the doors shut behind the others, she took hold of Mualani’s arm. “Mualani.”
That made Mualani a tad surprised. Namaka was not the one for physical touch. Regardless, she felt none of that show, putting on an even brighter smile instead. “Yes? Is something wrong?”
The other girl frowned. “No, I’m asking you. You’ve been staying behind every practice, even though you’re the best of us all. We all know you fell down from the top of that building, so if there’s-”
“No need,” Mualani cut in, her voice slightly firmer now. “I didn’t fall fall, did I? I’m fine.”
She didn’t want anyone’s pity. She wasn’t a victim - there were real people who got seriously injured in that fire. Her body barely got a few scratches, besides the stress, that is.
Namaka seemed to notice the change in her voice (positive), although she kept the frown. “You sure? You do seem kind of on edge… We wanted to play at the school's fall prom, but weren’t sure because of your new lessons at the labs, and now-”
Immediately, Mualani’s mood transforms. Honestly. “Really?! No way, why didn’t you tell me? I’d love to play there!” Those words were, for once, not exaggerated one bit. The school’s fall prom had been a regular thing back when she was younger, but they stopped holding it because of an incident. She always admired the big kids playing onstage. The thought that she could be in their shoes?!
“Now, I have to practice twice as much!” she topped it all with.
A hint of relief crossed Namaka’s features. “Alright. But you should focus mainly on having fun. Maybe invite someone?” A knowing smirk punctuated her words.
“Yeah, yeah, go away already!” Mualani retorted and playfully shoved her, which finally evoked a laugh. Ah. Good. Within the next minute, it was just her and the vast theater again.
Namaka’s silly words caused an echo in her mind. The school prom, huh… Perhaps it was really time to live the dreams of her past self. She had already succeeded in the good-student part, at least when it came to science. The lessons for young students right AT the Alchemax were a great start. But when it came to her sappy teenage dream…
Well, anyway, there were more important things at the moment. One of them was getting rid of that persistent hum that kept ruining her solo. She wouldn’t be having that.
With determination, Mualani took the second drumstick into her left hand and walked over to the drums. No need to sit now.
She brought them down on the white, used surface, in a regular, simple rhythm. Soon enough, the opponent took the bait.
Dum, dum, boom, dum, dum, boom-
Bang.
Oh. Now, that one was loud.
Mualani whipped around, a thrilling rush crashing down her spine. She stepped forward and finally pulled the red curtain away. Only to find… a whole load of black nothing staring back at her. Laughing in her face, almost.
Huh.
The now-familiar rush gave her the courage, and Mualani entered the backstage area. There was nothing but the black shapes surrounding her. That, and… a strange vibration buzzing at the back of her head. As she walked farther, it grew. The sandwich she had earlier felt too heavy in her stomach all of a sudden.
Ouchies.
She persisted, though, definitely not willing to turn back now. When she entered the part of the building she hadn’t been to before, the buzzing got to a point where she felt it more than her own breathing. There was only darkness and shadows - except that Mualani could see quite well. That was strange, considering there was no light source in sight…
She turned around the corner, where she assumed the lights would be. Her breath hitched as her eyes locked onto what she was seemingly looking for - a metal door, blocked by a whole shelf and a couple of cardboard boxes. It looked nothing but out of place in the old room that no one even used anymore. And with so much dust literally floating in the air, it certainly didn’t appear as though a living being visited recently.
Did Mr. Lumai even know about this room?
A bad feeling began to boil deep in Mualani’s stomach. The hum persisted.
So did she.
With goosebumps covering her arms, she started to drag the boxes away one by one. They weren’t heavy, implying they were empty. All of them dropped to the ground with a dull thud, causing the tense knot in her chest to tighten every time.
The door was a bigger obstacle. It had no apparent knob - just a metal handle across the entire width. A grunt fled Mualani’s lips as she pulled on it. Her arm muscles burned, but the pressure began to subside within a few moments. At least there was no lock, then.
Finally, Mualani pulled the door open enough to see a dimly lit, narrow path behind it. Her heart jumped up into her throat when her ears caught the faint echoes of…
Voices.
So the placement of the boxes was deliberate.
Alright, then. Here went nothing.
Taking a deep breath, Mualani slipped into the narrow path. It struck her as old and unused, although that guess had been ruled out by then. Her heart was doing somersaults in her chest, sending blaring alarms through her limbs where they dissolved into itchy little thrills. The feeling rippled in her fingertips when the voices guided her to another doorway.
This one was open.
With people inside.
The doubt that had previously just dusted her mind now spread like a virus, wrapping around her throat. All she did in response was clench both of her fists.
She’d come too far to back off now. It was probably just a bunch of teenagers being where they shouldn’t, after all. Yeah, she was panicking for no reason.
“We just need to test it out properly now, then?” were the first words Mualani’s ears registered. Their meaning prompted her to finally slip into the room.
It was dim-lit - the only source of light in sight was a flickering lamp. And, well, Mualani couldn’t get a better visual, since the first thing she did was throw herself behind the nearest desk.
The intimidating, tall male and a strict-looking girl in a lab coat might’ve been the main reason for her currently panicked breathing.
She kept her eyes fixed on the papers scattered on the ground, back pressed against the bumpy wood as the young girl replied. “I would hope so. Master kept refusing to let me implement it into our current model, and he also insists that it’s not to be built outside the Dome, says it’s too risky. I think that this theater is nearly the perfect spot, though.”
Footsteps. Mualani clasped a palm over her mouth when she felt them right behind the table. Mother of Archon, please-
“What makes this place only nearly perfect? Nobody knows about these old pathways.”
Knew, because they had a small, non-threatening, totally won’t say anything, intruder in their room full of papers and beeping machines. Also, this did not sound great, hello?
“There’s this drummer.” Oh. “She comes to play more often than the rest of those… musicians.”
Three footsteps. Walking away now. Thank you, Mother of Archon. “The prototype reacts to her playing. I’m not quite sure why. Probably just the vibrations of the drums… It’s sensitive. Definitely counts as a complication just the same.”
Prototype? What prototype? What’s that even supposed to mean? Is that what was causing the humming before? - Mualani’s head was buzzing again, for different reasons now. She slowly shuffled over to the edge of the desk. Now that they were further…
Right after peeking from behind it, the thought “mad scientist?” appeared in her head. Desks, at least two whiteboards, papers everywhere, and machines - those were all the contents. Oh no.
The girl continued, her wild red hair swaying as she started gathering papers in her hands. “This time, it’s going to work. I know he won’t let me try it for real until I have proven there are no issues whatsoever, but now that we have that thing, I don’t think we need to be so careful.”
“He worked way too hard to just stop being careful.”
“Fine, I get that. Why are you here again?”
“The upgrade plans.” His voice was a low rumble, concealed by the mask he wore. Thanks to both their back being turned, Mualani could watch the two figures while relatively safe. The red-haired girl looked pretty tired, especially with the clumsy way she’d been moving around. The man, on the other hand, genuinely made Mualani’s stomach churn. He was tall, dressed in black from head to toe. He was wearing a hood and a mask with purple accents, and his eyes glowed faintly, the same way the odd shape at his mouth did.
Mualani was, however, stopped once again when the girl (scientist?) decided to approach the desk again. Thankfully, the sound of her pulling back at flashing speed wasn’t audible over the machinery.
“I have all you need right here, friend. And no need to be so grumpy all the time,” sheets of paper rustled as she put them on the wood above Mualani’s head. “After all, our new Paradise is closer than ever.”
Oh. Definitely a mad scientist, then.
“Alright. How do we get the Spiders, by the way? They’re-”
“A complication, I know- Geez. Don’t worry about it. My little torture device is right…here,” she mumbled as her footsteps announced her renewed distance. “It’s not fully done yet. After we sent Otto back, it’s been behaving weirdly. I still have a feeling that those two suspicious women are behind it.”
“Master knows what he's doing... Anyway, I should get going. The blueprints are on the desk?” The man’s morphed voice was closer now. The perfect distance for Mualani’s heartbeat to spike up again. Partially because of the knowledge that she was about to be discovered, and…
“Yes. Please tell Master that everything is going according to plan.”
Also partially because she was stupidstupidstupid-
The uncomfortable thrill not only fueled her body as she abruptly got up to her feet, but it also tore a grunt out of her throat. Her eyes barely got to see the man freezing in front of her before her hand snatched the small stash of papers, and she whipped around to run.
Gods, run run run run run!
She’d never run that fast before.
She was probably dying as well - that’s what said the first thought evoked by the sound of heavy boots behind her.
The man was faster; that much was clearer than the clearest weather at the Easybreeze Holiday Resort.
To be fair, Mualani never should’ve gone down that narrow path.
Especially because it appeared twice as long when she ran back.
Her legs burned, everything burned, and there were tears in her eyes, she was definitely dying, stupid stupid stupid girl, everything was blurry all of a sudden and there was a click behind her - despite not giving her any hint as to what deadly weapon it was, the distance between her and the guy chasing her it revelead was anything but comforting.
Because he was right behind her.
She needed to run faster. Like when she surfs. Faster, faster, as if it were a gigantic wave about to crush her. Come on!
Her feet finally flew over the doorstep of the metal door. Without thinking, Mualani’s hands grabbed the nearest object - an old candle holder, or so it looked like - and threw it behind her without a glance.
Apparently, the luck was on her side for once. Her emergency weapon had reached its target with a thud and a low groan coming from the enemy.
The success only fueled her body. Without slowing down, Mualani ran out of the backstage area and jumped down from the podium. As soon as her feet hit the old ground beneath, the red curtains rustled again - she’d never make it to the exit like that.
Except perhaps she could convince the man that she did.
Trying to make the least noise possible, Mualani hit the ground and rolled over, right into the dent in the stage. If she got lucky one more time, he wouldn’t look back. Please just run mindlessly… I’ll be fine without you…
He jumped down, and after not spotting her right away, he slowed down. His head moved from side to side like that of a predator, eyes presumably searching for her.
Mualani shifted in an attempt to tuck herself deeper into the hole, but the only thing she managed to achieve was letting the messy papers slip out of her grasp. The sound cut through the tense air, causing Mualani’s heart to, well, definitely stop working now.
The man paused. In fact, the whole world paused with him.
Footsteps. Mualani’s eyes snapped open. She hadn’t even realized they fluttered shut.
Her pursuer chose to... proceed.
While that was good news, he knew she wasn’t out of the building. That essentially meant that she was…
…trapped.
Mualani might just throw up, sob, and die - at least that was what the knot inside her gut instructed her to do then. She tried shutting it up by taking a deep breath instead.
Step by step.
As the footsteps gradually quieted down, Mualani grasped the opportunity right away. Her fingers gathered the fallen documents. She tried to get the general idea even through the clouds in her brain, but it was all just pointless paragraphs of handwritten text, some printed. All except one sheet, that is. A legitimate-looking… blueprint.
That one’s definitely important, no doubt, whispered the tiny voice in her head.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t the only thing it told her.
A very, very bad type of fog crept into her mind, settling down heavy and dense. Something knowing screeched in her brain, the cold hands of fear clawing at her shoulders.
The world barely resumed breathing a moment ago, only to come to another sudden halt. Silence. Not the kind she’d been wishing for - the one more akin to one before a storm.
Because the footsteps went quiet, too.
And the light falling onto her face was gone.
Slowly, like a statue frozen in time, Mualani lifted her gaze.
Through a glowing mask, he stared right back.
It didn’t even take a second before claws dug into the delicate skin around her neck, undoubtedly leaving proof of the pain that shot through her body like an afterthought.
Mualani’s hearing became muffled before the papers got to fall to the floor. With ease, she was lifted off the ground, feet dangling in the air. Besides that, her brain didn’t get to register much.
Only managed to overwhelm her with panic as she’d never felt before.
The edges of her sight went black in a merciless tunnel vision. Her chest should’ve been expanding, but all it did was tighten around the emptiness of her lungs.
Hands that were probably hers started scratching and pulling back at the man, now blurred in her eyes. Anything they could reach, they clawed at. But all of that was in vain.
Seconds stretched.
Mualani would’ve counted her breaths as she usually does, but her throat suddenly didn’t seem to cooperate. Her lungs cried for air she’d never truly realized the importance of.
Her vocal cords worked, somehow, although she hardly realized the prompt they obeyed.
“Please…”
Dry lips wrapped around the word. It felt heavy, ugly, and wrong in her mouth, weighing down on her tongue before her mouth finally managed to spit it out.
Then, hallucinations came.
Mualani’s eyes fluttered closed, and she could almost feel the grip on her throat loosening. Her mind, still blurry, chose to simulate the feeling of her knees hitting the ground. No pain followed, proving the lie.
It couldn’t take too long now, then.
She was slipping, falling. Not up - not down, either.
Falling, until…
A cough shook through her - shook being probably a word too weak for the spasm lighting her chest on fire. Electricity traveled down her spine and struck her stomach when desperate gasps and pants finally filled the empty space within her with air.
Mualani immediately opened her eyes, coughs still shattering her body into a million pieces. Tears prickled at the edges of her eyes. Yet her hands already found a way to support her weakened body.
It wasn’t hallucinations, was the realization slowly dawning on her.
Blue eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area. Mualani was still in the middle of the theater, lying between the red seats - but alone now.
Well, he took the papers.
Was that really just about the papers?
Why didn’t he just say so?!
Accompanied by a small grunt, Mualani rose on her wobbly legs.
Her head spun a little, mind racing and body desiring nothing more but to collapse, and yet…
There was someone who needed to see that one important-looking paper she tucked into her pocket right before nearly losing her life.
And be assured, she wasn’t gonna get choked just to flee now.
Bustling streets, scorching temperatures, loud merchants, louder costumers and a ton of people; that was the usual composition of Natlan’s streets. In the area around the center, where the old traditional area lay, time was still frozen back when technology was still in diapers.
All of that aside, the three people who looked nothing alike definitely did not blend in.
“Hold that thought,” Kinich jumped in when Furina took a deep breath right after spotting a clothes shop. “Alhaitham, you’re saying… Octavius is gone?”
The questioned man didn’t seem phased at all. “Precisely. He’s presumably back where he belongs.”
“Wait, so you saw two women? What did they say?” Furina chimed in, chewing on the candy she begged for earlier.
“I haven’t talked to them, of course. They were gone before I properly approached- I caught something about how he’s back home, though. Besides, they were wearing suits similar to ours.”
That’d explain Alhaitham’s nonchalance, or so Kinich could guess. For him personally, the thought of more spider-people wasn’t appealing at all.
“We should focus on finding them, then! If they know how to send someone back, I’m sure they can send nous back, too!”
The two males didn’t reply, letting the new findings marinate. To be honest, Kinich didn’t have a very good feeling about them. They possessed almost no facts about them, yes, but having the ability to send someone back? Wouldn’t that also mean… bringing them here in the first place?
However, before the fresh information could properly sink in his brain, his mind latched onto something far more important; just as the group passed a sharp corner, his eyes immediately locked on the painfully familiar blue locks by one of the newspaper stalls.
Mualani.
He froze in his tracks. Not because of the girl herself, but more so because of the frantic way she was speaking and moving her hands at the vendor in front of her. The disheveled state of her hair didn’t paint a nice image, either.
The two of Kinich’s companions paused when noticing his state, just as Mualani’s voice reached his ears.
“Come on, he’s always getting spotted here and there. You sell newspapers, so you must be a better help than anyone. I… don’t have any money on me right now, if that’s what you’re after, but… My parents always buy paper from you. I swear, I’ll pay you if I have to-!”
Her finger was shaky when she pointed it at the confused owner of the stall. “Please, it’s important. Malipo’s in great danger. We all are! He needs to see it!”
Maybe it was the fear in her voice that drove Kinich forward. Without thinking, he took a step toward her - so close to bringing a maskless Malipo to her.
Fortunately, he wasn’t on his own anymore.
Watching Mualani, a sense of dread washed over him as a firm hand landed on his shoulder.
He turned his gaze up to look into Alhaitham’s deep eyes. His voice felt more like a vibration brushing Kinich’s body.
“Mask. You and Furina get to the top of the Central Tower. I’ll bring her there.” A pause, and a glance at the frightened girl. “Something tells me this is only the beginning, and she’s playing the main role.”