The village could hear their arrival before they could see them, the mechanical whir of the airships circling overhead until the ground began to shake, every piece of wood in their building cracking against each other, the air smacking everything like an artificial tornado was trying to form from the boulder sized propellers. Clary could hear people shrieking, calling out for their families even before her mind was registering what was happening, the covers pulled up to her throat as she tried to stay asleep. Her mother started to shake her awake, pale, clammy hands yanking on the covers until her daughter was coherent enough to listen. Emerald eyes went wide as she looked at her mom now, who had never looked scared before, seemed to be shaking with terror.
"Clary, come on get up, we have to go." She commanded, this horrible crease between her brows as she turned away, the younger's eyes following her as she started to frantically pack a handmade bag with Clary's essentials. Clothes, some self-care products on the carved dresser, and even a few pairs of sandals lying next to the door- all of them off to the side so she never tripped on them when coming back into her bedroom after a long day.
"What's going on, Mom?" The girl was beginning to feel her frantic emotions too, her aura slipping into Clary's like it was a virus that spread from one victim to the next. "Mom! What is that sound!" She had to start yelling now, that harsh gusting of the air around their home coming to a climax. She sat up further, the multicolored wool covers coming down to her waist, the scratchy hand woven fabric had always made her itch in the morning like she had bed bugs but her mother had worked very hard on it and never could she be willing to trade it for anything else. "Tell me something! What's going on!" Sick of sounding like a broken record she jumped off of her bed, bare feet hitting the cold carpeting, this heavy vibration beginning at the flats of her feet and making her shoulders tremble.
"It's your father, Clary." It wasn't much of an explanation but it made the girl go rigid, a clench in her jaw that made a cracking sound inside her skull, molars rubbing together like a sander on wood. "He found us it's-" there was a sound akin to a heavy weight smacking the ground just outside and Jocelyn dashed to the window, dropping the bag in her hand like it was nothing, favoring instead to shove the curtains aside to get a peak out into the night. Clary followed behind her like a loyal dog, hands gripping her shoulders as she peered over her shoulder to try and gauge how bad it was out there, what could be going on. With the fog of the glass it was hard to see anything but blotches of dark spots, even with her eyes squinted for a better view, yet still she could make out dozens and dozens of people coming out of a heavily armed airship. The metal entrance ramp planted into the ground as they all marched down it in two rows, torches in every hand. It was obviously Fire Nation soilders, invading this small, powerless village. The way they headed forward, shoving anyone in their way aside, it was clear, even to a tired and confused Clary, they were on a mission. Searching for her.
There was an audible gulp that came from the two women, and backing away from the window seemed to be both of their instinct and yet so entirely useless. Fear did not prevent the truth, no matter how much she wanted it to in this moment. "They're here for us, how did they know? How did he-?"
"It doesn't matter, okay? It doesn't matter how we just have to go. Get... get your bag, get Talika ready and we'll go." Despite the plan flowing from her determined lips, the sound of it was cracked and dry, Clary could see underneath the layer of confidence. The mom layer. Her only true family, her protector, the one she loved the most... it was empty and she could not hide that from her daughter. Even Clary wished she could, wished she could believe that they could just escape unscathed.
"Mom all of those people are in danger! We can't just leave them, and what about Simon? I can't leave Simon and his mom here. We have to get them!" Panicked words were accompanied by this reflexive shake of her hands, trying to convey how deeply she felt about not leaving Simon, the only friend she had that knew the truth, who she really was. That her father was the Firelord and that she alone was able to bend all four elements- the Avatar. He had known since they were five years old, Clary playing with him in his sandbox behind his house, making small pikes out of sand to build little houses for their dolls. He asked her how she was a firebender, yet be able to bend the sand like that. She remembered the sun beating down on them, glancing up at him with squinted green eyes and a smile on her chubby face, laughing as she made a little S for Simon in the walls of their brand new sand house. Small, giggly Clary Fray told him that her mother said she was special and he agreed. If she left him now to be captured by the Fire Nation, or even worse tortured for information, she would never be able to forgive herself.
"They're not here for these people, when we leave they'll follow us, I promise you. They'll see us on Talika and follow." Despite the remaining confidence in those words Clary could hear that begging underneath it all, as if she didn't even believe herself but needed her daughter to.
Before being able to protest anymore the rush began again, that bag returning to her grip and once it was stuffed full with clothes, with books and shoes, she shoved it in Clary's arms, demanding she hold it before yanking her forward by the arm and dragging her out of the room. "Hold on! Hold on!" The redhead stepped into a pair of remaining sandals and then they raced off down the hall, burning torch light pouring in from behind the closed drapes, a heavy burlap not even shielding them from the distant flames. The open room was left untouched, her mother having already prepared herself bags while Clary was asleep... or maybe she had them together all along, never prepared to be able to keep Clary hidden away in their village forever. Everyone here a nonbender, all powerless from the Fire Nation's attacks and it fills her to the very brim with this disgusting guilt. These people could never fight them off, would never have stood a chance against them and even still she brought them here. Putting them all in the spotlight if ever discovered. They all knew very well that the Fire Nation was not known for compassion or forgiveness, and now that these people are seen as having harbored Clary for this long... would they be given any mercy or were they traitors in this war now? Did she just kill them all?
"Call for her!" Her mother shouted, this pained look on her face as she scooped her bags up in her hands and flung the door open to the front of their home, sending her daughter harsh glances as she waited for Clary to call her pet- a scaled, flying, giant cat. That breathed fire. She was hatched from a small, black egg just a year after Clary was born, her father giving it to her as gift for her birthday. Her first friend could not speak back to her but she's had many conversations with her pet and now, looking around in the darkness and not seeing her there, it sent a ripple of concern down her body in earth shaking waves.
"Tali!" It was a whisper, this harsh spit of the word out into the night because even though the soldiers had seemed to take a turn towards the other homes for now it wasn't as if they were all exactly far away. "Talika!" She tried once more, desperation coating her throat and making her words sound sticky with it. "I don't know where she went!" She felt this lump, like her stomach was dropping and then shooting all the way up into her neck, trying to suffocate her. The two of them ran around their home, back and forth, passing each other multiple times, sandals hitting the short grass over and over like a pattern and yet every angle they turned, they were met with nothing. Looking out back at the other homes she could see torches lighting up the insides, shadows of people playing on the curtains, many making animated gestures and cradling their family members like this would be last time they would ever get to see them. That sense of death, like you knew it was your last moment, were they living in it right now? Were they whispering words of comfort in each other's ears and singing their children lullabies because the last thing they should ever wish to hear is the beautiful melody of their mother signing to them?
Paralyzed by the guilt, Clary only stood there while her mother called out again and again for their quick getaway, their only hope in being able to escape quickly and untouched... leaving all of these innocents behind like they weren't even alive. Like they didn't matter. "Are you listening? Come on, we have to catch a boat! People have to be escaping!" Her mother's voice came back to her like a dull buzz turning into a loud roar of unintelligible sound, the screams and metal boots clanking around inside just feet away from them drowning out in favor of these clear instructions. She nodded abruptly, their feet hitting the ground like it was flying out from underneath them, the dewy grass sliding out and almost making her slip and lose her balance multiple times. They rounded corner after corner, avoiding every open space and sliding around the backs of houses. She could see not only the port, but Simon's home, no fire inside yet, no burning terror from his mother. She looked away and back at that front door again and again, heavy pants of exercised breath leaving her throbbing chest like she was debating something while also trying to run away from it all. If she owed it to anyone, if she could save just a few innocents, she needed it to be them. She knew these people and they knew her, they knew who she was, who her father was, and leaving them behind during an invasion from the Fire Nation did not seem like anything but the ultimate betrayal.
She groaned loud in an internal battle, her mother looking back at her as she cut away from their path, running out in front of another dark hut and making a line straight for Simon's door, her feet not letting her do anything but go, go, go. "Clary, no!" She heard the elder cry out and start to follow behind her, gaining speed in her blind worry for her impulsive daughter that just needed to save her childhood friend's life. Nothing would stop her. She launched herself at the wooden door, two fists pounding on the dull material, her bag's straps sliding down to her elbow, all of that weight pressing down on her arm making her skin tingle and ache.
"Simon! Simon! Simon, come out!" The Avatar cried out, her knuckles turning red with the constant force she kept smacking the door. Her mom caught up with her, harsh breathing coming up behind her as she yanked on her child's shoulder, trying to pry her away from her mission to get inside of his house. She kept trying though, fighting against those loving hands and only screamed louder, "Simon!"
"Stop, they'll hear you, we have to keep going!"
"Simon's in there I'm not leaving him to die!"
"He won't!"
With just those two words the girl snapped out of blind rage, "You don't know that, or even worse, you do! You know what Valentine will do to these people for protecting me and none of them even knew who I was! I won't leave him here to get killed, so go without me or help me get inside!" She didn't pause, just pivoted and began banging on the door once more, calling out her friends name like it was a mantra she had been working on. "Simon, please!"
And like the Spirits were listening to her struggle, this pained exhale of every breath, they decided to spare her and Simon tugged the door open, this painfully worried look on his face and behind him she could see his mother crying silently, a cup in her hands that was likely containing alcohol- it made Clary sick to see. "Oh, Simon!" She cried out, throwing both of her arms around him and tugging him against her chest against his will. Though he didn't seem to mind, just wrapped her up in return, both of their bodies trembling through the fear. "We have to get out of here, we're going down to the docks to get on a ship, you guys have to come with!" She said this not only to her best friend but to his mother. Her second one.
"We can't leave, they'll only follow us." This came from an eerily calm Mrs. Lewis. Despite that look on her face her voice didn't waver like everyone else's. Clary wondered if it was that liquid courage going down her throat.
"Mom we have to go with them, they'll burn the village." He agreed with Clary, peeling his body off of hers and turning back to face the woman who raised him all alone. They had that in common, for neither of them thought there was anyone better than their mothers, no one else quite as strong or as beautiful. Usually light tones and jokes, Simon had none of that tonight, and when not even he could find humor in a situation then Clary was truly scared.
"Let them." This was all she said, like she was asking the Spirits to strike them all down where they stood.
It did not all happen in slow motion like Clary would have expected, everything began to move ten times faster than normal time, like someone had started to play puppet master with the universe's clock. Clary's mother screamed, torches lighting up behind Clary and when she turned she saw three firebenders, all of them holding the woman who birthed her, down into the ground with unrelenting grips, sand and grass scraping against her face and making her unable to say much but she still looked at Clary. There was nothing that wold haunt her more than what she saw in those eyes, that look of utter defeat, like she was silently trying to say she was done for. Clary could hear the I told you so in the air. Not in her mom's voice but her own, like she was the one to pass the ultimate judgement down on herself. She let out a glass shattering cry, voice reaching a volume she hadn't ever heard coming from herself before and Simon's arms wound around her again, yanking her body backwards and tugging her inside with him, slamming his door shut the moment he was able. "Mom!" Clary was still screaming, hands clinging to her best friend's arms and clawing like he was keeping her from all the sustenance she'd ever get in this life. There was bile piling up in her gut, making her mouth wet with sick and every time she opened it she felt like she was going to topple over and let it out all over Simon's floor.
There was banging on the door as her best friend was trying to pull her from this coma, grab her from despair and pull her back into reality. "Clary, come on!" She paused for only a few seconds more, staring deep into the lines of the door, watching the way it bent under the power of the soldiers fists. It was when she saw it burning, this black ring beginning to grow from the outside in, did she stand back up on her own two feet, following Simon's lead and running to his mother. She watched as he reached for her, trying to pull her up out of her chair. "Mom, please! We have to go! Do it for me, do it for dad!" All she did was stare at the door, waiting for the show and she got one. This blinding ball of flames shot through the thick material, flying past their heads and clashing with the far wall, the wood there too quickly carrying these flames. "Mom! The house is gonna come down! Please!" His voice began to quiver, like he too was bending under the weight of this pressure, just as Clary was, but now it was he who needed a shove to leave his mother behind. Otherwise they couldn't save either of them.
"They'll follow," she began, watching the way one of the soldiers tossed his lit torch inside, a hateful snarl on his lips as he watched the carpeting begin to catch fire and his hand slipped inside the hole in the door, reaching for the handle and pulling it open. "They'll follow us, they'll leave after we do! She'll be okay!" She pleaded with him, giving him the last bit of confidence she had left in her as she echoed the previous words of her mother. Neither of them had the time to spare one last glance at their family, they bolted through the house, rushing towards the back door and kicking it open without bothering to shut it. She could hear Simon crying as they headed for the port, a small line of people that had actually managed to escape in time before they seized the ships following a wooden ramp up into the ship, a man ushering them inside quickly, hand waving obnoxiously fast.
The village was lit up now, many houses caught aflame, the firebenders ruthless in their search and Clary had the inkling that her father had ordered them to be.
"They're okay!" Simon cried out, taking Clary's hand in his own for the rest of the sprint, trying to convince not just Clary but likely himself as well that not only would their mothers be okay but the whole village, all of these people they've grown up around, that all of the memories and happiness that was once here would not burn up in the fires as well. "They'll follow us like you said, they'll leave them alone, right? Right?" His voice was louder than necessary and all Clary could do was nod as quickly as she could manage while they began going at a downhill speed, her hair flying behind her like it's own flame as the port started getting closer and closer and just as their feet hit the wooden dock the last of the terrified people were getting inside, the man at the entrance following after and another gust of panic swallowed Clary up in it's hungry maw.
"Wait!" It seemed futile, as the ramp was folding in on itself, going back inside of the ship. "Wait, please!" She tried again, but they were already there and without a second thought to logistics she leaped, her legs straining and then going out from under her as she successfully smacked against the moving ramp, causing her to fall down on her ass. That crash landing did not dampen her already piss poor mood, for she made it and finally, that was a small victory alone! She looked around to smile at her best friend for the first time tonight but to her dismay Simon had not followed her lead even though she had been holding his hand as she made the impromptu jump. "Come on! Hurry!" She called out to him, moving further and further away as the floor beneath her did so on it's own. He seemed to hesitate out of fear for a moment, glancing back at their home just as he did so, and it made her stand up, ready and willing to jump back onto land with him. She would find another way to get him to safety if he couldn't do this. Just as she stepped forward to return back to the dock he backed up, willing himself to face the fear. After getting a running start he propelled forward, his chest smacking against the very edge of the ramp and he wheezed in pain, beginning to slide off into the water. "Are you okay?" She asked, voice coated in concern as she bent down to grab a hold of his arms and attempt to tug him up onto his feet.
"Oh... yeah. No air, can't breathe. I'm awesome." He coughed, shooting her some sarcasm even though now was certainly not the time.
"Well I told you to hurry!" She sighed, not in the mood to joke around and finally he was standing again, the two of them wiping off his shirt for just a second before they remembered the ground was slowly disappearing beneath them and then jogged to get inside of the ship.
"I didn't know you were just going to jump!"
"What was I supposed to do, there was no where else to go."
"Maybe give me a countdown next time, just saying."
There were only thirteen people besides them on board, all of them were grouped up in what looked to be by family, a mother was holding her two children in her arms as she sobbed and hid her face in her daughters hair. In the far left corner a father was dressing his son for sleep, telling him that in the morning everything would be alright. She hoped that little boy believed him, that he could sleep peacefully tonight because she wouldn't be able to. That black, tar thick slosh of guilt ran through her veins again, looking at all she had caused, every single family she had uprooted and how others didn't even make it on; it made her heart ache. She hadn't even been able to save all of the people closest to her. How would she be able to fix all of this, stop her father, save her mother, if she couldn't even escape properly?
"Hey," Simon broke her out of this uneasy trance, eyes glued to the floor because looking everywhere else hurt too much. "We should find somewhere to sleep." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, tugging her against him in a half-hug. Though it was mean't comfort she didn't feel any better. She sighed, the smell of ash and burning embers still living on all of them like a perfume clung to your skin. The scent made her stomach churn.
"Okay... we'll need our strength." She reasoned aloud with that part of her that said she would never be able to fall asleep tonight and if she did she would only see a nightmare, the way her mother looked on the ground, so broken. The only thing worse than your mind making images up just to scare you was the real life things that came back to haunt you, leaving dirty fingerprints all over your mind.
She and Simon trudged through this lower deck, past sleeping children and protective parents watching them carefully as they walked by. Some of these people Clary had known what seemed to be forever and now they all just stared at each other as if strangers. Clary dropped her bag against a wall, gnawing on her lower lip as she pulled out some thick shawls from the Earth Kingdom for them to cover themselves up with in lieu of blankets. As she handed one off to Simon she began to tear up, this slight hiccup leaving her mouth as she tries to look away before he sees her. "It's so stupid, but..." she began, releasing a slight bitter laugh. "after all that just happened I just wish I brought the blanket my mom made me." She stared longingly into the bag, everything inside of her wishing for that itchy, worn wool thing to appear right now.
He laughed beside her as he pulled his knees up to his chest and draped the shawl over his body, those dark green and brown earthy tones fitting him well. "It's not stupid, I actually miss my mom's horrible pancakes already... it sucks because I won't get to wake up to that, you know?"
She turned back to look at him now, shoving her bag back just a little bit before laying her head down on it, her body curled up as she threw the shawl over her legs. The look on her face was almost pained again, searching his eyes over and over to make sure she caught every fleck of sadness in that light brown. "I'm sorry." She spoke, just barely above a murmur, and if they weren't so close together maybe he wouldn't have heard it at all.
He scoffed, eyebrows drawing together like he was trying to determine what language she was speaking to him in. "Don't apologize to me, Fray. This isn't your fault. We'll fix this... you're the Avatar." He said it like she was a living legend. "You're special remember? You can do this, we can do this. Now go to sleep before you start saying something else crazy and I have to find you a muzzle." He knew how she became when swallowed with guilt and he wasn't going to allow it. She silently thanked the universe for him, for a friend so kind and loyal to her.
"Okay," she smiled, her eye lids drooping just a little bit over and over until she could no longer keep them open, like they started to weigh too much. "We got this..." She repeated quietly, every part of her body becoming lax, because even though she swore up and down she wouldn't be able to fall asleep, all of that running, the combination of raw fear and emotional turmoil, it was like it all completely drained her dry. That night she dreamed of absolutely nothing, her mind a black void, empty of everything including colors and she wondered if that was worse than any nightmare, if maybe her brain being too fried to even conjure up the boogeyman was a sign of something terrible.
The first thing she can hear when she is torn from her thoughtless sleep is the sound of the people on board with her, the only talking that has occurred since they got on last night. There was the slight motion of the waves rocking them, the water licking at the ship and making it echo with the almost calming noise. Simon on the other hand, did not agree. She shot up, blinking rapidly as she looked around for him only to see him crouched in the corner a few feet away from her, his body bending and his face hidden in a bucket so he could easily empty his stomach of whatever had been digesting from the day before. "Are you sea-sick?" she questioned, running a hand through her hair just once before tucking some of it behind her ear. He didn't respond at first, just wrenched, his insides seeming to twist with the vomit rising and spewing in the tin pail. Before she could sit all the way up to make her way towards him he held out his other hand, a single finger raised in warning. He let loose just one more time before he swallowed loudly, shoving the bucket away and letting his head smack against the wall.
"I'm fine." He protested in a way that seemed so out of breath it was like he hadn't stopped running all night. "You-you don't feel that? That rocking?" He asked, his face scrunched up with displeasure as he looked back at his friend.
Clary giggled, shrugging her shoulders but also looking quite sorry for him. "I thought it was calming actually, not sickening."
"Calming? It's like we're gonna tip over."
"It's a pretty big ship, I don't think we'll tip over."
"What do you know?" He asked rhetorically, another groan passing through sick lips as the boat seemed to push forward some more and then halting to a stop, the water protesting with it's movements so it shook, rocking back and forth for a minute or two- long enough for Simon to decide he needed to grab the bucket again, his eyes screwed shut as this next pained noise echoed inside the tin.
"Where are we?" A woman asked the man from last night who had been guiding everyone safely inside except Simon and Clary. He didn't answer right away, just strode towards the opening, where the ramp would likely soon be rolled out again to another dock. "We can't possibly be at the Earth Kingdom's capital yet."
Clary watched the man carefully, deciding right away to stuff her and Simon's shawls back in her bag, "We're not at Ba Sing Se, we're at the southern Water Tribe. We must stop for food here though no one has to get off if they don't wish to. We should only be docked about an hour."
He let the door come open and the ramp roll down onto the small port, just as small as theirs had been at home. It led Clary to believe, with just this momentary glance, that this place couldn't have been much bigger. The man stepped off but no one else made any move to get up, preferring to stay aboard until reaching their destination. "When did they decide we were going to Ba Sing Se?" She asked Simon, though didn't take her eyes from the opening, hoping to see some people or even a home or two.
"Don't know, probably before we got on." He whined, tossing the bucket aside again and sitting down on his butt now to calm down and regain all of his strength.
"Do you want to get off here? I want-"
"Yes, God. Please." He interrupted her, clutching his stomach as he stood up, head hung while he waited rather impatiently for her to join him. She laughed, trying to hide it as she grabbed her bag and the two of them headed out to explore this small Water Tribe.2