"We make a fun duo," Krakua says.
"What do you mean?" Takanuva asks.
"Kra and Ta." Krakua says. Her hand taps her chin and then his as she speaks, as she stares with one of her old strange, vacuous, genuine smiles. "I find it a little funny."
Takanuva feels a wave of fear crash into him.
"Sorry," Krakua says with one of her strange, new smiles, "I didn't mean to worry you. I really do find it a little funny, is all."
"Why is it funny?" Takanuva asks. "I'm not mad about what you said. I honestly don't understand."
"Isn't it?" Krakua asks. "I thought it was. We were the same, in a way. Or close to the same at least - names work like that. Like Vakama and Nokama, sort of."
"I still don't understand," Takanuva says.
"In falsehood you were fire and I am shadow," Krakua says. "In truth we are light and sound. That's what I meant."
"Oh," Takanuva says: "Yes, alright, I see what you mean."
"Don't you find it a little funny?" Krakua asks.
"I guess it could be," Takanuva says.
They are sitting by each other.
"Ask," Krakua says.
"I don't have anything to ask," Takanuva says.
"Liar, liar," Krakua says.
"Alright, you've got me," Takanuva says with a roll of his eyes and a huffing smile that doesn't fade but slowly makes itself smaller. "I just thought you would have changed your name, too."
"I don't understand why," Krakua says.
"To change." Takanuva says.
They sit by each other.
"Why?" Krakua asks.
"I told you," Takanuva says, "To change. That's why I changed mine."
"But I haven't changed," Krakua says.
"You have," Takanuva says.
"Hm. Hm, that's true. I meant it differently," Krakua says.
"How did you mean it?" Takanuva asks.
"I'm still Krakua," Krakua says. She tilts her head thoughtfully, collecting her musings like beads carefully strung into a necklace. "I'm still the fake shadow. This body is still mine, and so is this element, and so is this voice and mind. I changed, but I'm not somebody else: I am Krakua."
"Changing doesn't mean becoming someone else," Takanuva says.
"You became the Toa of Light," Krakua says.
"I was always the Toa of Light. Or, well," Takanuva says, leaning his head to the side as a thought, an image, a prophecy that doesn't work comes to his mind, "I always could be the Toa of Light. I wasn't the only one, and I still am not - somebody else, at any point in time, could and can take that role. But I always could be."
"You were a Matoran of Fire," Krakua says.
"I thought I was," Takanuva says: "I'd forgotten I wasn't."
"And then you became someone else?" Krakua asks.
"Hm... No. No, I'm still the same as I was." Takanuva says. "But I feel better like this, and with this name, in a way that I didn't with Takua."
"Better how?" Krakua asks.
"Better... Better. It's a subtle change. I don't have words to explain it," Takanuva says. "It just feels right."
"Ah! Then I understand." Krakua says.
He knows, instinctually, that she really does.
The night moves on.
"We make a fun duo," Krakua says.
"Why is that, now?" Takanuva asks.
"You are something new, and I am something fake." Krakua says. "Both changed but in different directions."
"I don't think you're fake," Takanuva says.
"Oh, it's not an insult. Deception was in me before changing, it came with the job: it's a bit of who I am just as much as newness is a bit of who you are," Krakua says.
"Ah - I see." Takanuva says. "That is a bit funny. Newness, being part of me, when I found out I was the first of us."
"You were a novelty back then," Krakua says.
"I guess I was!" Takanuva says. "When were you made, anyhow?"
"A few months before I became Toa," Krakua says.
"Look at that!" Takanuva says. His laugh is bright, contageous, lights up the both of them. "I would have thought you older!"
"See what a convincing fake I am?" Krakua asks.
"You were right, we make for a fun duo," Takanuva says: "Fake fire and fake shadow, light and sound, Toa for a fraction of my Matoran life and Matoran for a fraction of your Toa life. We would be a perfect comedic pair in a play."
The night crawls on.
"Why did you change?" Krakua asks.
"I needed to," Takanuva says.
"For yourself, or for others?"
"A bit of both. But I needed it. I didn't want it - Great Spirit, I hated the idea so much, I couldn't stop running from it - but I needed it. If I hadn't changed... If I hadn't changed I would have died. I would have never really been myself."
Krakua lets the silence hang between them.
"Why did you change?" Takanuva asks.
"It was an accident," Krakua says.
"An accident?"
"I wasn't female before, I know that. I was the weird one, and the clean boy. I didn't know being female was even an option. But I tried, after... After everything. And I discovered that I wanted it. I want it like I want music. Like I want to live."
He knows, instinctually, what she means.
They sit by each other.
The night crawls on.
"We're completely different."
"Not in the slightest, I think."
"You're right."
"So are you."
They laugh softly, waiting for dawn.
