Chapter Text
The shitty purple pencil that had the words ‘you got this!’ in big, bold letters– courtesy of Thomas –snapped under the weight of the man’s fist, letting lead dust fall all over the table and in his third coffee that night. He cursed and brushed them away, leaving pencil smudges everywhere.
It was 12:19 in the morning and Fluixon was working on a stupid speech that he was due to present the next day for Luminara. He couldn't focus. He swore he’d write until the ice ran out but the ice hadn’t even started melting. His brain kept wandering away from the paper in front of him thinking about his enemy instead.
Every five minutes, he had to blink himself back to reality to check the sky, only for the clouds to have moved two feet. A feeling in his chest formulated every time he thought about a certain white haired boy, but he pushed it aside every time.
He did what he had to do. He had to choose between betraying one person, or letting a thousand die.
The choice was easy. The choice should’ve been easy.
Flux shook his head. It was easy. He made the right decision, even though it ached sometimes.
He didn’t know where his former friend had been since he escaped his own execution. Frankly, he didn’t care. He put a bounty on his head; someone was bound to find him and bring him eventually.
What was he going to do once that happened? He didn’t know yet. He decided to think about that if the time comes. No, the time will come. He was sure of it.
Flux then found himself thinking about when they had first met up on Island Two by coincidence. Saparata had told his friend that he was just going to stay out of politics this time around and build his vacation home on a hill, overlooking the seaside and the sunset. He invited Flux to stay with him, but Flux declined and told him his one goal was to protect the island and become leader of Luminara. Saps just smiled and wished him the best of luck, and he’d be cheering him on from afar.
There was a subtle ache when he had turned around, back into his vacation home and disappeared.
The door creaked open just as Flux yelled and slammed his head against the table, spewing papers onto the ground and cracked his stupid pencil in half. Thomas peaked in and cleared his throat. Flux groaned for a moment and didn’t move. Then, he looked up with a glare.
“Fluixon, we have sightings on Saparata,” Thomas began. As soon as Saparata those words came out, Flux straightened up, his eyes widened for a split second before narrowing them.
“You came to tell me that and won’t even tell me where? Jackass, leave.” Flux pointed to the door and Thomas rolled his eyes.
“You didn’t let me finish. Some citizens of Westhelm who had seen the bounty sent a letter. He is somewhere in Island One. Gotoga and Snowbird are about to leave to look. I was wondering if you wanted to join. Some also mentioned he was with the Covenant.”
Flux thought for a moment before shaking his head and sighed. “No. Tell them to go alone. I’ll go in a couple days once I finish this paperwork and convince Luminara to elect me and not Legacy.” Thomas nodded hesitantly.
“You’re going to wear yourself out doing this. I’m sure Luminara can wait–” he was immediately shut up by a glare from the raven haired. “–nevermind. I’ll go tell the others.” Thomas turned to leave.
“Tell them… tell them to bring Saps– Saparata back alive no matter what.” Thomas furrowed his eyebrows before Flux continued. “Saparata wants death. I’m not going to give him what he wants.”
“Then why didn’t he just let himself get executed?”
“Don’t question me.” Thomas nodded and left Flux alone with his thoughts once again. He picked up another clean piece of paper. He grabbed his pencil, swearing once he saw it broken, then picking up another one and started writing.
To Luminara,
No. That’s dumb. That’s like a letter, and this was a speech.
My dearest citizens of this wonderful nation Luminara–
He scribbled that out immediately. He didn’t care about the citizens, he just wanted to win. It sounded selfish, sounded like the opposite of what his original goal was. He didn’t care. The bridge was already almost done. His original goal had gone in the trash as soon as all the leaders voted against him in the first meeting.
Flux didn’t want to kill 3Below, he didn’t. But only if he had died in the dripstone like he was supposed to, then he didn’t have to.
He dragged his hands down his face as his thoughts wandered again. He couldn’t focus. If only Saps was here, he was always good at keeping Flux on track. Fuck. Why did his brain keep thinking about that criminal? He can focus just fine by himself.
Flux’s fingers slowly crawled to the drawer in his desk before grasping the gold handle and opening it. He dug through countless stacks of paper with nonsense scribbled on it before his hand felt the exact thing he was looking for.
Flux pulled it out and traced his fingers on the purple wax seal that was keeping the envelope closed. On the front, his name neatly written with a smiley face on it. He could recognize the handwriting anywhere. With gentle fingers, he opened the envelope for the first time, careful to not rip it.
It’s funny, he got this letter a couple months ago, before the world turned upside down. He was busy so he shoved it in the bottom of his drawer, and once he remembered it, he hated Saparata enough to swear to never open it. Flux unfolded the letter, the neat handwriting taking up the page.
Dear Flux, I miss you. I finished my vacation home! Thank you for you and your friends’ help, it really moved it along. I’m really grateful–
Oh. He was thanking him for the house help. The one he put traps in the roof of, killing many island leaders, making it look like Saparata did it himself.
–it helped a lot! Please tell your friends I say thanks.
I went around the island to gather leaders for the meeting tomorrow.
Everyone is devastated by Jophiel’s death, as expected. I myself am as well. I couldn’t believe that her own right hand man would eventually… murder her. Why? I don’t know the motive.
Anyway. Everyone will meet at my newly finished (thank you!) vacation home. Isn’t that kind of cool? They all get to see the project I’ve been working on! Cass decided she wouldn’t attend, wary, because of the murder on Friday. That’s okay, I understand.
I miss you. Maybe soon you can come down, or I can come up to Luminara? I heard it was coming along great, and I want to see the shops and stuff. Hey, I also have a surprise for you:)
I’m really proud of you, Flux. I know you can become the leader one day! I’ll be cheering you on, no matter our stance on our relationship at that point. I know that is a big goal of yours. Even if you hate me, I’m cheering you on.
Thank you for always being beside me and helping me become the person I am, for loving me in your own way when I felt like giving up. I don’t think I want to give up anymore as long as you’re by my side.
Sorry that was so sappy (haha, get it?), and I know you don’t like acknowledging emotions, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you how much I appreciate you. I appreciate you. I love you. Write me back soon or I’ll hunt you down and unfriend you.
Just kidding, maybe.
Love, Saparata (Saps)
Flux stared at the letter for what felt like forever, the words swimming around.
He never knew that his enemy had felt this way. What was he thinking? He didn’t give a shit about Saparata anymore. Fluixon betrayed him, and he would do it over and over again. He rolled his eyes and tossed it in the trash along with his stupid speech paper.
The chair squeaked as he stood up, tightening his metal arm, and throwing on his jacket, slamming the door open before locking it and calling out for Snowbird and Gotoga.