42. Pat on the back

Climbing through the darkness, Mani felt chills on his back. Inside of the pyramid was dark and silent. As they climbed, their footsteps echoed off the distant walls that they knew were there, but could not see. Even when he was descending from orbit in the tightly closed capsule, there were always some sounds to be heard. Here, there was nothing.

They were holding tallow lamps, made of their unneeded helmets and animal fat. When used to light up their cabins they were enough, yet in this place they only made them more aware of pitch dark eternal night of pyramid without electricity.

Yax was up, at the front, and they followed him one by one up the stairs. Jone walked this path daily before, but now he felt it was endless. Lack of sound made him aware how used he became to constant murmur of water, leaves, bugs, birds and all the other things that permeated his daily routine for past four months.

Abundance of life outside contrasted sterile environment inside of the pyramid too much, it made Echo wonder if he would ever be able to live inside of it again. Perhaps he could talk Blaze into staying in the camp under the waterfall with him?

They passed through lower and middle levels, then came to the upper area. Still silent and dark. They took a look into the throne room, then continued towards the area where dormitories were. As they passed by the lounge, door suddenly opened and Rudra came out, yawning and scratching his belly while holding a small hand torch.

He froze when noticing them, same as they froze when seeing him.

"Gods above, you scared me."

Rudra just wanted to take a leak, almost got scared to death by shadows in trembling light.

"We thought the wrong pyramid flew over, why did you turn off the lights?" Yax pulled Rudra into a hug.

"What's going on out there?" Veles appeared in the doorway, checking out the noise.

"Oh it's you guys." He patted Blaze on the back, scanning them all then yelling back into the lounge.

"Away team is back!"

They all entered the lounge, adding lights of their helmet candles to the lanterns already there. Floreo looked around at the improvised beds on the floor and laughed.

"What's this? Camping night?" Then he saw his brother Wuo pressing half asleep Dagda behind himself against the wall and frowned.

Lights were unstable, yes, but it seemed that his brother was not all that stable either.

He quickly looked around and spotted Hama lounging next to Tzol, 'What is this idiot doing?' flashed through his head and he felt Echo appearing by his side.

Yax just got pulled into a hug by his dad when he saw a stranger smiling at him from his dad's bed.

"Who is that?" He asked in confusion then got hit with a pillow by annoyed Ah Kin.

Dagda laughed at that from behind Wuo, and then got pressed back so suddenly that his head hit the wall.

"Ouch! What are you doing?" He was sandwiched between Wuo's back and the wall and it was not comfortable at all.

"Jone." Echo said, surprising everyone who never heard him talk before.

Jone was not surprised by Echo talking, but was by Wuo's appearance.

"He was fine yesterday." Hama said, but Floreo did not buy it.

Of all the quadra brothers he was the stable one, Echo was silent one, Hama was easy going one, and Wuo was troubled one. Hama was supposed to keep eye on him, not roll in the sheets with some ancient relic. Tzol of all people?

Dagda knew them well enough, so when he saw twins faces he figured Wuo was not well.

He had some experience with mental crashes, he saw it when Zed fell and when Mone burned out. But he did not expect that recent disagreements the two of them had would affect Wuo so deeply.

He gently pressed his palms at Wuo's shoulders "Look at me."

Wuo did not move. His body was tensed and muscles locked into position he was in when pressing Dagda back.

"Everyone out," Yax said and grabbed Ah Kin's arm, pulling him up.

His team saw Ivory crash, so they pulled others out of the lounge and took them to throne room.

Echo even pulled Hama out, leaving only Floreo with Jone. Cid stayed as well, half in the shadows, ready to assist if needed. Wuo was not a soldier, but with his body it was not that much difference.

Floreo crouched down and looked into his brothers clouded eyes.

"Talk to me, my other self."

Wuo blinked, his field of vision was blurred, ears filled with his own heart beat. Voices raised and fell in back of his mind, giving contradicting instructions that he did not want to follow.

Floreo's voice briefly entered his muddled consciousness, pulling out fleeting pictures of his childhood memories. They were not one, they were four. They were never alone. He was never meant to be alone.

He was not alone. He felt Dagda's heat on his back and fingers gently pressed on his shoulders. He took a deep breath and silenced the murmurs in his mind.

"He is mine." Wuo whispered after a long stretch of silence.

Behind him, Dagda's face darkened a bit, as he understood the issue right away. He saw Jone mixing the neural stabilizer powder and Floreo glancing at him, questions in his eyes.

He leaned his forehead on Wuo and chuckled. "There is really no need to be so dramatic about it."

Floreo tilted his head, then stretched his arm towards Cid and grabbed him "And this one is mine."

Cid figured it out at that moment "Hello, brother-in-law," he said and Wuo looked up at him, his eyes regaining focus and clarity.

Floreo stood up and leaned against Cid "Caught him fair and square," knocking his knuckles on Cid's chest he added "not sharing with you no matter how you beg."

Wuo snorted, then looked towards the door.

"Echo got lucky as well. Got himself a whole mountain called Blaze." Then he frowned.

"Will you snap out of it and explain to me what's up with Hama and that old mummy?"

Dagda snorted with his face still pressed against Wuo. He slid his arms around the wide torso and felt rapid heart beats under his palm. He was supposed to be the older and wiser one, yet he managed to fail to bring his feelings across to the person who mattered the most to him. Again.

Jone placed freshly made cup of tea on the ground and pushed it slowly toward Wuo "Drink. Doctors orders."

***

In the throne room, helmet candles were placed on the oval desk and their flames danced, creating an unstable bubble of light in which people greeted each other, bumping fists and exchanging hugs.

Yax got crushed between Xul and Ah Kin, then freed himself and pulled Mani for introductions.

"Father," he started, then looked at Ah Kin, still flabbergasted by his youthful appearance "dad," he added in the end, facts were facts.

Mani was stiff as a block of wood in his hands, so he hurried to finish the introduction "this is your new son-in-law, Mani."

"Oh." Xul looked at the shy youth, torn between congratulating them, or holding a lecture about age of consent to Yax.

Ivory was feeling antsy about leaving Jone behind with unstable Wuo, so he grabbed Echo and shook him.

"Will they be all right there?"

Blaze gently got him off and shielded Echo with his powerful arms "Cid's there, it will all be fine."

Hama stared at his brother silently accepting the smothering.

"Hey get off of him, are you not ashamed of bullying someone smaller than you?"

That got him a stink eye from Echo so he shut his mouth abruptly.

'What's this?' Tzol looked between Yax and Mani on the left, then Echo and Blaze on the right. 'Did they go to a mission or romantic getaway?'

"Is anyone here able to explain why we moved to here, yet power still got cut out?"

Everyone looked at Olaf, who stood on the side with his maintenance crew, not looking impressed by all the sentimentality thrown around.

"Long story," said Yax, "better talk about it when we are all together."

"But it's a fact?" Xul asked, nevertheless, having an inkling that his assumption about their station being shut down for good was right on point.

"Yes," Mani said "move did not solve the issue power plant had."

"But don't panic" Ivory said while still feeling a bit panicky about Jone's situation, "we have options outside to chose from."

"Well then, let's sit down and wait for Jone to solve situation over there. Hama, what's up with your brother there?" Ah Kin asked while sitting down at the table.

Hama shrugged.

"He and Dagda hooked up a few months ago. I thought it to be just a fling at first, but it seems not, or they just had different expectations?"

He tried to talk with Wuo about it, but no luck there.

"I guess they need to agree on the ground rules of their relationship that would make them both satisfied."

Rudra snorted "Wuo is just annoyed that being with Dagda makes him his own brothers stepdad."

Echo rolled his eyes "That was all in Dagda's head anyway."

Everyone now looked at him, so he slid behind Blaze who just laughed.

"I don't mind to be called either, brother-in-law or son-in-law." He was youngest of them all anyway.

'Should you not first ask me for my consent?' Echo pinched his domesticated teddy bear as his face flushed hot.

Xul laughed and plopped down in a chair next to Ah Kin "It seems we all have things to report and make a full update on both, the outside and the inside situation."

"First thing first" Yax said seriously "is there any proper food at hand?"