Title: Bao Nian Jie (Remember Jie)
Setting: Beginning starts post-Day of Black Sun, pre-FBM. Most of the story will take place post-FBM. In other words, yes, this is mid season 3. If I finish this story, the third (I'm hoping for this to be a trilogy), will be set after the war.
Formal Summary: After Zuko and Iroh lose their memory in the desert and get sent to Ba Sing Sei via spirit magic, Feng Jie, a wind spirit that accompanied them on their desert travels searches for Zuko, for she realizes that she loves the Fire Prince. However, once she discovers that she and the Avatar are the only airbenders left, she is filled with rage over what the Fire Nation has done and seeks Zuko out not only out of love, but of revenge. Will she be an ally of Zuko and the Avatar as they attempt to complete Aang's training, or will she become lost in her grief when Zuko can't remember her at all?
Blunt Summary: Feng Jie and Zuko developed a relationship previously, and Zuko lost his memory. Feng Jie tries to make him remember, while helping the Avatar to complete his airbending training.
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of it's characters. I do own Feng Jie/Jie, and I reserve the right to be selfish and hog her to myself. :3 Though I don't think I would do that.
Rating: Rated K+ now for smooching and other "adult" situations and mild cursing.
A/N: This is the sequel to Feng Jie the Wind Spirit, and above is a horrible summary. I will probably change it. I love my character Feng Jie very much, and I'm very excited to write a sequel to her desert adventure. Yes, this is a ZukoxOC fic. Maybe a wee bit of Zutara, just to make my dear Jie angry. Please, please, PLEASE read Feng Jie the Wind Spirit first before reading this. It's a short story, so you won't have much trouble finishing it. And please, if you do happen to read it, leave one final review on the last chapter, so I can get a general idea on how many people like this fic. I plan on making this a longer story, but I would like some praise... uh, constructive criticism first. :)
It was irresistibly sunny out on this particular summer's day, with but one lazy cloud in the sky, and a fine breeze tousling the hair of young Yan. Yan was nothing more than a farmer's son, and he was in the fields again today. With Father trying to make a living selling his cabbages in Ba Sing Sei, he was the only one able to work the land, and the plants suffered from it. While the summer sun felt good across his bare back, it parched the poor cabbages.
"Best head to the water," Yan mumbled to himself, standing up straight after breaking the earth to plant more seeds. He picked up a bucket that lay on the grass and lazed over to the watering hole, as he called it. Here in the Earth Kingdom, numerous amounts of animals roamed the fields and plains. He once even saw a Rabaroo, with her little babies poking out of her sack. It was one of the few places left to the area that the fire nation army hadn't scorched. And it was also the only place to retrieve water for his cabbages.
The grass was really tall, and Yan pushed through it. The pool was just as beautiful as ever, with cool blue water sparkling in the sun. Except ripples echoed from one corner, on the other side. Yan squinted against the sunlight, but he couldn't see what creature was sharing his water. Maybe it was a lone platypus bear, judging by the size of the ripples.
Yan was careful to creep forward silently, so as not to scare the beast away. He heard the creature dip its mouth into the water and lap at it eagerly, snuffling with greed. Yan paused here, because the creature sounded very large. Maybe it was dangerous. With one hand around the bucket's handle, he rested the other on his small knife.
The sun was still in his eyes, but he could swear he had to be less than ten feet from the creature. Why didn't it hear him? Most creatures had an excellent sense of hearing. It was at this precise moment that the one cloud in the sky blocked out the sun, and Yan could see what was drinking from the watering hole. And he gasped.
It was magnificent. Was it… a dragon? Weren't they extinct? She -- he felt that it was a she – was leaner than the dragons in story books, with a wolfish muzzle and two long, black, sharp horns gracing her head. A golden mane started above her green eyes and brushed the spine of her long, snaky back, down to her tail. And that tail graced itself with sharp, deadly prongs. That same tail lashed against the ground in what appeared to be shock and anger. The blue, swirling markings that covered her whole white, scaly body seemed to dance as her body rippled into life.
Oh no. Jie, the wind spirit/human, was surprised that this farmer's boy had snuck up on her. She had been so thirsty, and in her rush to drink from the cool pond, she hadn't even bothered to become human once more. The boy seemed just as surprised as she did. She turned her head and thrashed her tail, and a guttural growl pushed past her tongue. This only frightened the boy more, and he tripped over himself trying to back away from her. She felt herself chuckle, and in her glee of stirring such fright in someone, she roared and pranced about. Her tongue lolled about on her lips, and she truly felt comical. But the boy was still scared silly. She paused, and issuing one more snarl, she leaped into the air, and the winds carried her body away, into the glorious sky. The grass surrounding the pool rippled and rustled at her departure, and she felt a guilty glee in frightening the boy.
Yan himself trembled under the sight of the dragon creature. She was a spirit, he was sure. But such ferocity, and she looked so… well, earthly! She was not in any way ghostly, but as solid as the ground. The teeth that flashed in her mouth frightened him the most, and the roar shook his bones. He would never forget the day that he met a spirit and she graced him with her presence. Later in his life, he would build a small shrine by the water pool and burn incense and feel the soft breeze in his hair and remember the wind spirit that graced the land with soft weather.
Jie, however, did not really intend to grace a farmer's boy with anything, but moved on through the Earth Nation, on her way to the Eastern Air Temple. Her search for Zuko was on a brief pause as she pursued her own tribe. In the desert, when the king spirit Bi Shen had interrupted their agonizingly short amount of time in love, Zuko lost all of his memory of her, and was sent to Ba Sing Sei by spirit magic. While at first Jie had searched almost blindly in agony and love, she now knew that finding this prince would be so much harder.
What worried her most was the whisperings she heard throughout her travels about the airbending people being gone. She didn't really believe it, however. How could a whole nation be extinct? It was impossible. And what were the whisperings about the avatar having disappeared, reappeared, and died? Had the whole world gone mad?
Jie elevated her long body higher into the sky, the wind roaring around her pointed ears and caressing her mane. It was a feeling of ultimate freedom, to be flying in this form. Her legs were tucked in around her body, and unlike a dragon, she had no wings and used her airbending to move through the sky like a snake through the grass. This feeling was almost so good as to make her want to stay in her spirit form for the rest of her life. As a wind spirit, she was Feng Jie: Controller of the winds, and freer than the falcons that crisscrossed the sky! She decided where to go and how to do it and when. She was her own master!
But at the same time, she longed to have soft, human skin that glowed in the dusk, and the emotions and senses that created love and hate and happiness. As a human, as Jie, she had Zuko. At least, she did. Now he wouldn't even know her name. If he saw her now, as a wind spirit, she would look like a monster to him. How could she live as Feng Jie when someone she loved, the only person she felt an emotional tie to, thought she was repulsive? High in the air Jie sneezed in agitation. What was she, human or an ethereal spirit? Could she really hold the title of just being Jie, or would she forever be a wind-carried beast?
Jie managed to draw herself out of her own thoughts to notice that the landscape was looking vaguely familiar. The mountains cut the sky into patterns that touched memories, and even the air had a certain scent to it. She was almost at the Eastern Air Temple. She would see some airbenders again! Jie barked in excitement and her body twisted with joy. It would be so good to be with people like her again! For all the years she had lived in her cave in the desert, banished from both the human and spirit worlds, she always drew upon her memories of playing along the walls of the temples.
Jie looked down, and recognized the landscape even more. There was a patch of bare land by a pile of stones in an odd formation. A tree used to be there. That same tree that she had tested her spirit strength on, about two hundred years ago…
There! Oh, she could see the first temple's pointed roof! It was glorious in the afternoon sun!
The Eastern Air Temple mush resembled the Northern and Southern Air Temples, but it was on a much lower elevation. Of them all, the Eastern Air Temple was most prized for its artwork and architecture. While it wasn't upside-down, the detail that went into each building was exquisite.
Jie hurried her pace and whisked through the air. Everything still looked the same. There was the temple in which she and her father had lived. Oh, if only he was still alive, so she could show that sorry man what his only daughter had become.
Jie stretched out her clawed feet and landed gracefully on one of the balconies of the temple. Her claws clicked against the marble, and she found that it was all covered with a film of dirt.
She stretched her limbs, still feeling a rush from flying. She shook her golden mane and shook her body so as to make the golden hair shiver across her spine as well. It was only then did she notice the silence.
Jie stood still, not even daring to breath as her inhuman ears perked and searched for a sound. Any sound. Music, laughter, even a sneeze would be acceptable.
But there was nothing.
Not even a bird sang in one of the trees. It was eerily quiet.
Jie shook her head and yelled "Hello!" as loud as she could, but it came out as a roar. She had forgotten she could not form words as this new spirit form. Before Bi Shen, the Spirit King, had appeared and released her from her banishment, she had taken the form of a miniature version of her current form, one that could shape human vowels. But now nothing came out except a monstrous roar.
Jie closed her eyes and willed herself to change back into a human. It was becoming harder and harder every time to think of human pleasures such as tasting fruit or feeling the warmth of Zuko's breath against her—
It was becoming harder to do, but eventually, after much coaxing, she managed to make her body shift and pop. Her snaky body shrunk and her legs grew longer and her horns disappeared. Her muzzle shortened into a human nose, and eventually she was human again, on all fours. Jie rose to her feet and stretched her fingers. She was lucky that her clothing always melded with her spirit form. She didn't have to worry about ending up naked. Instead, her simple white dress just remained with her always.
"Hello?" she called once more, glad to hear words form again. Her voice was strong against the silence, but it echoed against the dead walls in solitude. She called once more, but a tearing feeling in her heart cut it off. Jie sank to her knees, letting her hair cover her eyes as grief washed over her.
"How c-could it happen?" she moaned, pressing her fingertips against the cold stone floor, as if seeking life within the rock. With a snarl that didn't sound very human, she rose to her bare feet and rushed into the inner halls of the temple. Surely they couldn't all be gone! Small rooms and windows blurred past her as Jie padded through the hallways in a dazed frenzy, urgent to find any sign of life in what used to be her home. Rooms and statues she recognized were covered in moss and dust, a thin coating of age covering everything. Jie rushed through each hall, leaping from one balcony to another to search each building. Even the children's playground was empty, with weeds covering the game field.
Jie let a sob tear from her lips as she sank to the ground once more, tears stinging her cheeks. Could the Fire Nation really have done all of this? And worse, were the other temples like this? Jie rose to feet after a few minutes of heartbreaking tears, vowing to see her old room once more before she left for the other temples.
She let the air carry her through a long jump from one building to another, landing on one temple that was a sort of apartment building. Many families used to share the one building. She and her father had the ground floor.
When she entered the building, the silence only seemed to get louder. She could hear the dull slap of her bare feet hitting the floor echo against the walls. The place was spooky, even. She stopped before a doorway that led into her room. In that room she had been treated like a prisoner by her father, prayed to the spirits for help, and was transformed into a wind spirit. She could only wonder if they had fixed the wall, from when she had broken out.
There was a light coming from underneath the door.
Jie gasped and took a step, staring the glow of a fire that seeped out from inside. Could it be that an airbender was here? She moved to open the stone door, when it exploded into chunks of stone.
Jie was fast, and leaped away from the door before boulders of marble could smash her skull. She leaped into the air and pulled herself into a corner in the ceiling, clinging to vines that had grown through the stone.
Out of the dust emerged a massive man, definitely of the Earth Kingdom, because of his green clothes. He searched the hallways for her, looking this way and that. He was extremely muscular, like many earthbenders, and his dark hair was long and tied up upon his head. He growled, clenching and unclenching his fists, for he didn't find his prey. Jie was glad to see him start going back into her room, when she felt the horrible urge to sneeze. Hold it…she urged herself, lifting her chin in an urge to curb the sneeze.
No such luck. "Cheeyoo!!" Jie spluttered, and the man turned around just as she dropped to the ground. He stomped and moved his hands, and rock pelted itself against the exact spot where Jie had been hiding before. She got ready to run when the man stopped his attack.
"Wait! You are not of the Fire Nation army!" he blurted, dropping his hands in a gesture of peace. Jie snarled, untrusting, but paused where she stood, fingers arched in hooked claws.
"Please, The Boulder means you no harm!" the strange man exclaimed, then bowed apologetically. Jie stood up straight from her crouched, animal-like stance, relaxing slightly.
"What are you doing in the Eastern Air Temple?" she asked quietly, staring up at the giant of a man.
"Hiding, The Boulder is hiding," he mumbled, reaching up to scratch the back of his neck, "from the Fire Nation."
Jie gasped and took a step forward.
"Why? What have you done?" A better question would have been why on earth he called himself "The Boulder".
"I was fighting the Fire Nation on The Day of Black Sun… we failed. I was the only one to escape imprisonment by hiding myself inside the earth. The others weren't so lucky…"
The man, though he had seemed strong and confident at first, obviously was shaken by the events he was talking about. Jie took one step closer, feeling more relaxed around the poor man.
Please, uh, Boulder, tell me what happened… what happened to the airbenders?" she pleaded. The man just looked surprised at the question. He snorted.
"Kid, the airbenders have been gone for about one hundred years now!" he paused long enough to gauge Jie's torn expression. "Only the Avatar remains. Hey uh, why is your hair that color?"
Jie shook her head to clear the despairing thoughts that swam through her mind, but only long enough to answer his question.
"I, uh… I spent way too much time out in the sun when I was young," she quickly lied. While the Boulder seemed nice enough, she didn't trust him to believe her when she said that she had been transformed into a wind spirit by the king of all spirits, and her hair, which used to be very dark, was now her constant reminder of what she was.
The Boulder believed her sad lie. He probably wasn't very bright.
"The Avatar is alive, though?" she asked, keeping the subject away from her hair. "I had heard he was dead…"
The Boulder smiled at the thought, obviously very proud of the Avatar.
"Yes, and in hiding too, I think." Jie looked up at what he said. Where could she find the Avatar, if he was hiding? If a whole nation couldn't find him, how could she?
"You know where?" she asked, turning away from the man curtly. First, all of her kind was gone. Now, the only remaining one besides herself was hiding.
The Boulder thought for a moment, and then shook his head.
"I'm sorry, girl. No."
Jie hissed in displeasure, thinking hard. If she were the Avatar, where would she hide? Almost immediately she gave up. She didn't even know what he looked like. The old codger was probably holing up somewhere in the Earth Kingdom.
When Jie didn't respond, The Boulder leaned against the wall and pressed his forehead into his hands. He never was much for wisdom or deep thinking, but now it all weighed heavily on his mind.
"The Firelord really has us, now, girl. I think he's won…" Jie looked up, staring at the man, with confusion staining her face. How could the world have fallen apart like this? Oh, right… the Avatar disappeared.
"My name is Jie," she said tentatively after a bit of silence. If the man was not going to kill her anymore, she could at least be friendly.
The man stood straighter and smiled broadly, filled with a light of past glories.
"I am The Boulder! I was a pro-fighter back in the earth kingdom… before Ba Sing Sei and all the Earth Kingdom was taken over..." His light died then, and he slumped to the ground.
"I'll never see Ba Sing Sei again…" muttered, running a massive hand through his hair, which had strands falling out of its tail.
Jie sat beside him, and let a small hand rest on his arm.
"I will never see my family again either," she said, attempting to comfort him. She had never been good at it, though.
There was another long pause, in which two lost souls sought comfort in the presence of another human being.
"You can stay here with me, for the night, friend Jie. I will protect you."
Jie smiled slightly. She didn't think she would need much protecting if something bad was to happen. However, she accepted The Boulder's kindness and nodded.
Jie slept in a room different from her old one that night. She had enough nightmares haunting her sleep, and she did not feel the need to add another by remembering the horror of being a captive of her own father.
