Kindling

It was strange being the watcher in an incursion and not a fighter scrambling to muster and bug out, but it was also interesting to see how it was different now and how Hashirama lead differently from Hagoromo had in Madara’s day as the Senju scrambled out two UNITs (and shit, back when he was here as a fighter Kenshin and Runa had been just babies not allowed to run incursions and yet here they were, even now at seventeen and sixteen respectively they were still on the young side - unless they were prodigies the way he and Tobirama had been when they last flew together, gods Tobirama had been such a baby at the time, though well blooded by then – fucking Butsuma). Two UNITs against two incoming ZETSU seemed like a bit much but Madara wasn’t going to say anything, not with all the ears in the room and his own distance over the years, but Mito it seemed didn’t have the same qualm as she softly murmured to Hashirama- quietly enough the rest of the room would strain to hear- “Two UINTs for such a small force? Is that really-“ but uncharacteristically Hashirama cut her off in a grim voice, completely focused on the sweep of the screens at the front of the room tracking the movement of the moon gate and the lunching UNITs, “That’s not just two ZETSU, it’s never just two anymore.” Then he raised his voice a bit and called out to the room “Tobirama, what are we looking at?” there was a long pause and just when Madara was getting worried a soft, modulated male tone drifted out of the speakers normally reserved for UNIT pilots in Tsukuyomi “Six ZETSU incoming, two running fore and four hiding in the backdraft, one lingers at the gate on guard” and Madara felt his blood run cold as he spun to Hashirama.

“Hiding?!” he snapped “ZETSU don’t hide” but Hashirama just shook his head grimly, “They do now. Hikaku, how are the other UNITs?” at another console the Uchiha looked up with a dark look, “Not good, Naginata is still down as is Doton and Raiton and Hayami is off base and can’t scramble Byakugan; all we have is Doton but they’re still not back to full strength” “And Warg?” “Ǫrvar Hatake isn’t ready to pilot them yet was last update, next week maybe but this one is a no go” there was a long pause and Madara tried to wrap his head around ZETSU that disguised their numbers and Tobirama somehow knowing as Hashirama thought it over and then sighed deeply “Tobirama how many black ZETSU?” “One” there was an almost pulpable sense of relief after that proclamation as Madara tried not to reel again (they went up against black ZETSU a lot? And more than one at a time?!). Finally Hashirama said  “Send up Doton and scramble Ǫrvar, he might just have to do the last bit of learning on the job unless- Tobi?” another pause and then an ascent “I will guide him” and Hashirama breathed a relived sigh, “Belay that last, scramble Doton and send up Warg, Tobirama will show Ǫrvar the ropes through Tsukuyomi”.

Agreement swirled around even as the computer started calling out closing numbers on the UNITs already in the sky, visuals from the great robot frames filling either side of the control screens while leaving the center for the layout screen as Madara struggled to get over the reflexive horror at what was going on here- sending up an unready UINT pilot? That was all but suicide!- and the idea that Tobirama was somehow already in Tsukuyomi even though he hadn’t entered a UNIT and wasn’t talking like someone in retrograde with the tell-tale echoed speech pattern. What was going on here and how long had it been going on? How had things gotten this bad without word reaching the rest of the world and why if they were fighting so much was the media not all over this? To be fighting enough that several UNITs were down for repairs at once when an attack happened was just…insane.

On the screens Katon engaged and for a moment Madara thought Tobirama had been wrong and it was just two pale white, organic looking ZETSU but then the other four fanned out around from behind, out of apparently nowhere and Madara’s blood ran cold, wondering how terrifying it must have been to be in the air alone the first time that happened. “Ǫrvar entering Tsukuyomi” Hikaku called out “Tsukuyomi successful!” and the room breathed a sigh of relief as a pinched faced Hashirama called out “Ok in there Ǫrvar?” and the nineteen year old answered in a shaky but determined voice that echoed with retrograde time – the slightly strange speech pattern of the Tsukuyomi coming through the speakers as an echo as it should, “Yes Hashirama-sama, oh! Hello Tobirama-sama,” but that was different and apparently Tobirama could speak in Tsukuyomi as he murmured in response “Hello Ǫrvar, welcome to Tsukuyomi, you are now in retrograde to preserve your strength and prevent mental fatigue as you phase with your UNIT; however today I will be keeping an eye on you and lending you a hand if things get too out of control so don’t worry alright?”

“Yessir” the Hatake said in a firmer voice and – but a massive explosion on Fuuton’s screen and a sharp yell from Runa as she piloted pulled Madara’s attention away in time to see her view swinging wildly before “Breathe Fuuton, I will stabilize your left thrusters, breath through the pain” and Madara couldn’t help his jaw dropping as Tobirama’s voice spilled out of the speakers – overlapping with his voice talking the Hatake teen through racing to the skirmish at top speed. “Right” Runa grit out and her hands came briefly in view before dropping out again as the hiss of high percentage Ox filled her cockpit to offset what must be a high altitude puncture amongst other damage she was dealing with admirably – and rather more casually than Madara liked, did this happen often? How bad was the money here and how did he fix it – preferably without getting the media involved, though that might not be a choice he had the way things were looking. On screen Katon cut down a second ZETSU and Fuuton got there just in time to stop Kenshin losing his head but no matter how hard they tried they couldn’t make more headway than that and also stay any level of safe when the hulking black ZETSU decided to engage and for a heart stopping second Runa’s screen went back as it got her in its hold, and it was only Tobirama’s calm, even voice coaching her through safety measures that kept any of them sane until  - wham!

Warg slammed into the black ZETSU at top speed and his view moved to half with Runa’s screen as his momentum ripped her free and sent her spinning into a white ZETSU that she grabbed and heaved at Katon to shoot out of the sky as Tobirama walked Ǫrvar through stabilizing Warg and pulling back out of the black ZETSU’s range to let the more experienced Katon deal with the black while he worked on the remaining three- ah, two whites. It was a good strategy and Madara was just nodding with Hashirama when Runa swore bitterly and snarled out “I’m losing power fast, I have to pull out or I’ll be dead in the water” and Hashirama was already telling her to get out even as she finished her sentence, nodding in a pleased way when Runa used a fast decent to slam into a white ZETSU and tore it to earth with her, her ebony hands coming up again to tighten her flight suit and Ox as she dropped at breakneck speed before Madara’s eyes were pulled back to the other screens just as Ǫrvar finally started to panic and his control started slipping, letting the white he was on get a shot in at Katon which just made the panic worse and Madara knew, viscerally how panic felt in Tsukuyomi and how quickly it multiplied and they were going to lose him-! But then in a wavering voice the Hatake said “Is it true? Is the slipout real?” and there was a held breath pause before Hashirama opened his mouth – only for Tobirama to interrupt him “Yes” and Ǫrvar yelped “Hiraishin!” and several things happened at once.

In a instant a small box popped up on Hashirama’s screen with a new set of vitals that didn’t match any of the pilots Hikaku was monitoring and at the same time Warg stabilized and then twisted, throwing off the white on it’s back and spinning with truly shocking grace to shoot the damn thing in its non-existent face before kicking it off and twisting at shocking speed to slam a metal appendage into the side of the black’s head-ish thing, knives and blows falling at a rate and in a style Madara was very familiar with (had fought with and against often in his time) and even as he watched the black ZETSU go down Madara stared at the strange coffin, wondering. Swearing beside him pulled his attention back to Hashirama where the man was looking at the new vitals that were spiking alarmingly and for a second Madara didn’t put it together until Hashirama whispered “Hurry up Tobi, get out of there, get out of there” and he realized with a sick jolt that the heart rate now topping 180 and the plummeting blood pressure belonged to Tobirama as he somehow piloted Warg from inside the Tower to save a young man from his fear (and they must have known in the control room what what must be essentially a safe word for the pilots would do, because no one was making a fuss about the vitals other than looking grim and worried; they all knew and it happened anyway).

Just then the black exploded as Katon got a good shot in on it and Hashirama hissed a grateful “yes” before saying louder “Ǫrvar can you take it?” and his voice was a clear threat that he had better take it, but the teen was agreeing immediately and there was a subtly hitch as Warg passed over and Madara had to force himself not to run to the coffin shaped machine to check on Tobirama as Hashirama guided them through checking the breach and then called them back, his brother frighteningly quiet. It was only after everything was wrapped up and the machines were set on standby to cool down as the UNITs all checked in that Madara let himself go to the machine that was holding the one thing he had really returned for and lean over the coffin shaped reclining chair where Tobirama was laying, eyes closed and hair dark with sweat at his temples. For a long moment nothing happened and then Hashirama put through the all clear and Tobirama’s fingers twitched; with a hiss the wires retracted out of his skin and he took a deep breath as the lid cracked open with a woosh, Madara already reaching into the machine- ignoring the startled exclamations around him as he did- and smoothing a hand through the sweat darkened hair as the only pace he thought he could touch that wouldn’t hurt.

Frosty lashes fluttered and Madara marveled that Tobirama had some how gotten more lovely over the years as he smiled down at the albino, shoving down his concern as a medic bustled up and hesitantly took Tobirama’s arm to check his vitals as the chair rose up and tilted to make getting out easier. “Hey” Madara murmured, “been a while, pet” and to his delight Tobirama rolled his pretty red eyes at the old nickname even as a faint smile curled his thin too-pale lips; “Hello ‘dara.” He rasped, voice fond and nostalgic and everything Madara had hoped for.