"What are you missing?" Metal asked.
Water was still and dark as Metal twirled before her. She dug her nails into her arms, and avoided the gaze.
"My voice," she whispered.
"And where did it go?"
Water stared at the dark Earth beneath her feet and said nothing.
Metal waited for a response. Metal never grew impatient. Indefinitely remaining, maintaining an immutable insistence and a fixed glare, Metal knew Water's patterns, and was always available the moment she emitted conflicting currents within herself.
Water managed only a hoarse offering, barely escaping the lump in her throat.
"It was stolen."
Metal could sense her riptides worsening.
Water turned her face to avoid Metal's eyes.
"Keep looking.... keep trying...."
Air whispered softly to her, though he was so low to the ground, so faint in form, he drifted lazily, and was easily dissipated by deft and brazen Metal, who continued to dance, unblinking and unapologetic.
Water bowed her head, secret tears forming. She tugged at her toes. She said nothing. She thought many thoughts about Metal.
Air had moved on to waft away and beyond, spanning time, place, memory, forgetting ever even encountering Water.
"But you have me now."
Metal grinned wickedly, widely, wildly.
And wasn't that the truth? Water had Metal. She had always had Metal. And she would never be rid of Metal, because Metal always managed to be a surefire relief. So why forfeit that certainty? Why carry on alone? What for?
Why keep looking?
Water wrapped her arms around her shaking legs and buried her face in her knees. In her tests with Metal, she often failed, or at least she viewed herself as a failure whenever she let herself become wrapped up, half-willing and passive, in such a rigid, yet wholly undefined relationship. Even simply considering the hard, calculating Metal swiftly invited a sense of defeat, which writhed wildly, quelling - suffocating - a love, begging to speak.
Metal walked the line between friend and enemy like the most silent serpent.
Metal was more easily vanquished in the old days, when Fire had spent his energy protecting Water. Fire was far less forgiving than Water. Fire held Metal to the same standard as poison.
"What's the MATTER with you-"
"You're never welcome-"
"Get lost-"
"*******-"
And after these, and other violent explosions, like all good volcanoes, Fire cast Metal into hiding. But, like all good volcanoes, Fire burned up so much of his power, and quieted to a small and delicate flame, occasionally flickering lovingly in Water's direction. These days, she couldn't see him through the curtain of her long hair, or the heaviness of her mind. Sometimes she swore she hallucinated him. Sometimes she imagined she had exaggerated his affection, even his existence.
Metal eyed Water greedily, who was now taking less and less space for herself.
"Make a decision."
Panicked and trembling, Water sank lower to the ground until she was curled up in herself, furiously holding back gasps, refusing to reveal her innermost surges of wretched pain and brokenness. She viewed these damages hideously, even though her softest self cradled them delicately like thorns-
"Well? Every moment, you are losing time."
She absorbed Metal's blade-like advice, regarding the certainty of such a cold, serrated tone. She remembered cunning words, trickery, lies she believed-
"Decide."
She felt false comfort. She envisioned the cutting moments before her downfall-
"Decide."
She recalled sharpness, rigid, unspoken rules, draining, unkind words, withheld affection, ripping pain, breathlessness, and the inevitable collapse-
"Enough!"
Water inhaled suddenly, as if she had just remembered how. Her descent slowed.
Metal stopped dancing.
Water placed her palms on the damp, rich soil, and looked down. She felt. She wondered. She inhaled. Earth rarely spoke to her. Earth was very hard to hear, and Water never knew why, considering how suddenly visible Earth was now. Air sang and whistled, Fire roared and radiated, and Metal... Metal stabbed. Metal slashed, sliced, and cut down everything from the outside in. Metal was so easy to hear, to obey...
"Surrender."
Water connected to her palms embedded in the ground.
"Surrender."
Metal stared, glistening, steely, a glint sharpening in eyes like splinters, oblivious to the warm, melodious voice resonating from below....
Or was it within? Water raised her hands and looked into them, uncertain. She placed a muddy palm on her chest and closed her eyes.
"Surrender."
Water was no longer certain if the voice came from within, like a heart current, or if her mind was turning around on its path. She kept her eyes closed, keeping Metal at bay, just out of sight and sound. She let Metal's voice slowly fade from her mind...
She breathed in.
"Surrender? Surrender what? Myself?"
"Surrender your hurt."
Water blinked, her eyes opening slowly. A tear fell.
"Surrender your pain."
Like a fresh spring rain, more tears fell. Water slowly stood up, finding her balance.
"Surrender your heart."
Water lifted her head. She stood. She was face to face with Metal. Metal glared back.
Earth steadied Water's feet. Water harmonized Earth's voice. Together, each offered the other strength and gentleness, ferocity and openness, power and kindness. They fulfilled the resonance we consider to live in all hearts when we are full and whole again.
"Let your love out. And let love back in."
Water lifted her chin. She let tears flow. The lump left her throat. She grew taller. She breathed in, softly and fully, and felt her heart burning.
"Let love out..."
Water locked eyes with Metal, realizing she was looking down. Metal had stopped dancing for awhile now. Metal was losing shine.
"Let love in..."
Water passed her silence to Metal as she took a bold step forward.