Chapter 9

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Petir sighed deeply as she stared at the sky outside the glass, a suitcase by her side. This was a painful choice, but it's not like she'd established much of a life here. She was intrigued by Tanah's friends, but she couldn't bring up the courage to be friendly towards them. Not even towards Cahaya, despite the idiot caring for her so much.

Flight 31 will leave in ten minutes. Passengers, please head towards the docking bay.

She tuned away from the scenery ahead. Soon, she'll be out of their lives. With her gone, they would be safe. It would be like she'd never existed.

Dragging her suitcase with her, she followed the crowd of people.

She was leaving for good.

"Sorry! Excuse me!"

Tanah placed his hand on Petir's shoulder, a bag slung over his shoulder. His sister stared at him in surprise, eyes falling onto his luggage.

She frowned. "What are you—"

"I'm not letting you go alone," he interjected. "Especially when you're planning something as big as this."

"You can't leave. You have a life here. I don't." Petir stepped aside and let the people behind her pass. "There's people who depend on you."

"So are you. I'm not letting you down." Tanah's tone held no room for negotiation. "Come on. Time's almost up."

Petir fell silent. Slowly, she turned around and walked into the plane, Tanah following her.

* * *

"They're what?" Cahaya demanded.

The troublemakers glanced at each other hopelessly.

"When we went over to Tanah's house earlier, there was a note left by him saying that he'd left the country." Api handed the genius a note.

The freshly-recovered patient snatched the parchment over and read it like he'd never read before. Even if he'd repeated the process three times, the message that Tanah had left was as clear as night and day.

Cahaya ran a hand through his hair. "He didn't tell me?"

"For the record, you were in a coma." Angin crossed his arms. "Look, maybe it's temporary. We only found out just now. Something must have come up."

"Are you nuts? They were born in Malaysia. They have nothing to do overseas!" Cahaya berated. "This isn't Tanah. I've known him since Petir was in diapers!"

"If she were still here, I'd say she'd kill you," Air murmured.

Everyone turned to the gymnastics pro.

Air shrugged.

"They didn't say where they were going." Cahaya reread the letter. He turned the paper around and gagged. "We're over? Signed Petir?"

"Ow," Api grumbled.

* * *

Petir tried to make herself comfortable on the seat, Tanah seated next to her by the window. This would be a dozen hour flight, so she might as well spend time rethinking her life choices and allow her guilt to eat her inside out.

"Hey," Tanah said.

"Hm?"

"Just so you know, that... thing you can do..." Tanah faltered. "I can do it too. Different, maybe, but it's the same. You're not in this alone. Maybe that's why Bora-ra's after us."

Petir turned to him. She wanted to know what he meant, considering she was at a complete loss when she had passed out after Bora-ra had assailed her. Tanah was the first one to greet her when she woke up, and his expression had said everything. He knew.

Tanah had already plugged in headphones and began to drift off. There were dark circles under his eyes—he must have overworked himself again.

She sighed. She was too selfish and self-centred. As she leaned over to close the curtains for her brother, she saw a figure looming towards them at the speed of a jet.

Bora-ra's minion.

"Incoming!" the passengers frenzied as the plane erupted in a burst of fire.

* * *

Angin sped out for no apparent reason, which confused himself as well as his friends. There were live news regarding the sudden explosion of the plane that had departure, and he was not one to stick around.

What could he do? He's a nobody.

He kicked up his skateboard from the sidewalk. Disappearing into an alley, a sky-blue figure took off into the winds. Witnesses would claim that he was riding the winds with a blue hoverboard.

Despite his maximum speed, he could barely catch up with the falling victims. Most of them were injured, but there were no casualties. He raised his arms, and a solidified—but soft enough—gust of wind caught the falling people. Fortunately, for the way Taufan made it, they thought that they were still falling to their deaths.

Taufan was facing trouble. He might be powerful, but maintaining a certain air pressure and making sure that no debris harmed the people was virtually impossible.

He forced himself past his limit. His face went red with effort. It was like lifting a dumbbell that's past your weight range, but you can't put it down without it crushing you. The only thing you can do is wait for someone to pass by and help lift that dead weight off you.

Indeed, help had arrived.

From nowhere, an ice slide as wide as a house crystalized below them. Studying the origins of the sudden creation, he let the burden down and let the people slide down to safety.

Wiping sweat off his brow, he turned to the tallest building unintentionally.

Dark blue eyes met ice blue ones.

Maybe too coincidental.

* * *

"Don't tell my brother/sister."

They stared at each other in disbelief. It was nearing sundown, and they had yet to return from the skyscraper. They could only gawk in disbelief.

Ais sighed. She powered down into Air. Taufan followed her disarming, returning to the form of Angin.

"How long have you kept this a secret?" Angin said.

Air glanced at the wind manipulator. "As long as I can remember."

"Does Api know? Anyone?"

"No." Air flicked frost off her jacket. "From what you just said, you're not far off, either. Must be hard."

"Yeah," Angin agreed. "With all that's happening... I think I put Api and Tanah in danger. Bora-ra's after me. Since they know me, I think... I don't know. They're targeting them to lure us out. That's all I could assume."

The two blue elementals sighed deeply, burdened with another secret to withhold.

"Keep an eye out for my sister," Angin said.

Air nodded. "Same with my brother."

The moon's silvery glow casted across the city, the stars and moon tainted by the fire and the smoke originating from the destroyed plane.

Nobody noticed a shattered frame among the discarded luggage, a picture of Tanah and Petir when they were still happy. 

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