Chapter 1: The Beginning of the End
(Prologue)
.
.
.
.
.
.
And we may not have brought it here; death, despair and shame.
But I swear to God that in the end, Death will fear our name.
- "Enter(Fear)" by Bruised But Not Broken
.
.
.
.
.
.
They say that it is the creatures that rule the world - not the humans. Destructive forces manifesting in different faces, the creatures plague the lands and the minds of those that live on it. They are the things of nightmares. Symbols of balance gone astray. A chaotic world thrown into darkness. All at the hands of these beings that once lived in harmony with humans.
The North never recovered after the Dragon Wars. Lost too many benders, too many of their proud ice cities buried into the ground with the force of cold breath. The ice itself holds a grudge, never forgetting the way that it's people fought to the last army before fleeing to their Southern cousins' Walls on a handful of ships.
Shame, really. The Northern Cities were always the most beautiful ones. Ice castles shine beautifully underneath the light of the sun and the moons.
While the Ice Dragons claimed the North for their own, the Dark Spirits claimed much of the South. There's a weak spot there, a place where the portal between the human world and the spirit world is weakened. Dark Spirits are nasty things; but they seem content roaming the free ice around the portals, attracted by the light, given strength by the Barbarians that despise the Walls and the benders that protect it.
The Fire Nation suffered their own defeats in the Dragon Wars. Great, large, flaming beasts that used to be so revered had enough of the colonies edging onto their island homes. But after they burned the Capital and the colonies to the ground, they seemed content enough to fly back into their caverns where they continued to be worshiped by the Sun Warriors - more barbarians, but of a different sort than the ones in the South.
Once the Fire Dragons had taken firebenders as riders. But no more - that is a time long past, a distant memory, like the peace that was before this chaos.
No, the Fire Nation, while concerned about the Fire Dragons, had other worries. The Volcano Sprites were a nasty bunch. They take joy in melting villages that use the fertile soil at the base of their homes.
The Earth Kingdom fares no better. Their Rock Demons are handfuls in themselves when tempered with. They rip apart the homes that the Earth Quakes cannot shatter. Many great cities that held against advancing enemy armies have fallen to those demons that work together.
And the Air Nomads. Their islands do not reflect their ideas of peace and harmony. Air Serpents torment their sacred temples; Wind Storms tear their kites into shreds.
No matter what benders and non-benders do, these demons, spirits, and creatures - they cannot be appeased enough. The world is constantly at battle. Humans against the beings that love to torment and delight in chaos. Each tries to dominate, with the humans scarcely coming out the better.
But not all battles are fought with swords, spears, and the elements. Most are fought with words.
And perhaps those battles are the ones that should be given the most concern.
.
.
.
.
.
.
"Think we'll see a Barbarian this time?"
"Not if you stay quiet."
"Do you think Bato was telling the truth?"
"About what?"
"The Barbarians!"
"Will you shut up about the fucking Barbarians?"
"But I really want to see one."
"Why in the five world would you want to see a Barbarian? Are you out of your fucking mind, Sangok?"
"Now that was uncalled for, Katara."
"Oh, bite me."
"A Barbarian would."
"There. Are. No. Barbarians. Around."
"Then why are you still whispering?"
"Because...Because...oh shut it. I swear. If you fuck up this hunting trip with that fucking mouth of yours, I'll - "
"Okay! Jeeze. Next time, I'll let Hahn come outside the walls with you."
Katara huffs and rolls her eyes. Honestly. They're fifteen years old - Sangok should be more concerned with catching the polar bison they'd been tracking for the last fucking hour and a half. Not some damn Barbarians that would slit their throats and bury arrows in their stomachs.
Her radio crackles a bit and she takes it out of her pocket, lifting it to her face. The wind isn't too bad just yet, but word was that a storm was coming in soon - which was the whole point of the hunting trip anyway. If a storm came in, they wouldn't be able to get outside the walls for days.
Gloved-covered fingers flick at the switches as she holds it close to her ear, twisting at a knob on the left to adjust the volume and frequency. At her side, Sangok bounces up and down and handles the spear in his hands like it's a fucking toy and not something that could sprout out lights bursts if he twisted it the right way. She eyes him warily, stepping back a few steps and keeps adjusting the radio.
Nope - nothing. Just static. They're getting a bit too far away from the Towers to pick up much. Fucking great. It was like the polar bison knew they couldn't get out too far. She shoves the radio back into the pocket of her pants and grabs at the spear resting against her side.
She squints her eyes, turning against the sun and towards the east where the three moons are rising. They're getting pretty close to the Frosty Mountains. Towers couldn't see over that way.
Katara shades her brow with her other hand and looks behind them, back towards the Village. They're so far she can barely see the mountain ridge that their Village is built into across the mostly flat valley that winds in between the mountains that surround them. It's going to be one hell of a walk back. Especially since they're empty handed.
"Well?" Sangok looks at her, still bouncing. If only he wasn't so tall. She swears he's a child; something about him doesn't match his age. "What are we doing?"
She bites the inside of her cheek and turns back to the three moons. They're getting pretty high in the sky. Maybe two hours of sunlight left? The night would come in and the walls would close. Nasty things roam the tundra under the cover of night when no hunter would dare leave the safety of the Village - bender or not.
"Back to the Village." Katara stabs the end of her spear through the snow and starts walking, knee-high, sealfur boots sinking a good six inches deep into the ground.
Sangok groans. "But the bison is the other way."
"You're welcome to chase after it yourself. Night is coming soon though and I can't pick up the radio signal." Katara keeps walking and soon enough, Sangok runs to catch up with her.
"We'll be empty-handed. Again. Your brother - "
"I know," she snaps. "But I'm sure he and my father wouldn't mind us coming back empty-handed rather than get stuck out here over night. Unless you want to, then by all means. Be the brave villager all you want. If you survive that is. You might even get to meet your precious Barbarians."
"Why do you want to meet Barbarians so badly anyway?" Katara pauses to check the flat ice in front of her. The spear meets solid ice but she stills steps carefully. "They're not exactly...friendly. We're lucky they haven't attacked the Village in a while."
The wind picks up and her hood falls back. She winces at the stinging chill against her ears and pulls it back up, leaving her hand to cinch the fabric at the neck so it'll stay while her other hand struggles to tighten the string.
Sangok kicks at a block of ice that's fallen from one of the cliffs. "What else are we supposed to do with our training? What other things are we defending the Walls against? Can you just imagine going back to the villages with a necklace of their heads? How amazed everyone would be?"
"We don't have any weapons or armor to go up against something like that. We wouldn't even make it back to the Village to brag."
"But still - "
"Just keep a sharp eye for footprints, okay? I'd like to go back with something, if we can. I'm sure Hahn and Sokka already managed to grab a polarlion."
He snorts. "Sure. If they haven't killed each other yet. Did you hear Hahn in Basic Training the other day? How he had Yue wrapped around his finger? Sokka was pissed."
"Oh, please," Katara scoffs. "Give Yue some credit. I'm sure she can see how big of an ass Hahn is. Besides, should you be paying attention in Basic Training? No wonder I'm always whooping your ass when we spar."
"No. You whoop my ass because your dad's one of the fucking Warrior Chiefs and he's made you and Sokka spar every night since you could walk."
She frowns. "We didn't spar every night - and we only started when I was old enough to enter School!"
"Same thing." Sangok shrugs.
"Is not."
"Is too. Besides, Master Pakku doesn't like me much anyway."
"That's because you're too busy gossiping and not paying attention in Basic and Bending. Hell, I almost hate you too." She cracks a smile.
"Sorry that I like to have fun. No point in learning bending if you can't use it in a fight anyway." Sangok rubs at his knuckles. Katara shakes her head and feels the ice in front of her with the blunt edge of the spear. Still solid.
"It's tradition, Sangok. Part of our heritage."
"Well tradition is boring. I'd rather learn something actually useful...or at least fun."
"Not going to be much fun if you do join the White Lotus and get to use your bending for something. Just because Pakku doesn't like it, doesn't mean that it's wrong. " Underneath her feet, ice cracks a little and she immediately backs off. She feels around with her spear again and shifts to the right where the ice looks a bit stronger.
He gasps. "Is Pakku's favorite student actually talking about using bending as an actual weapon instead of an art?"
Katara scoffs. "You're kind of an ass sometimes, you know?"
"Well of course. It's the only thing I'm good at."
They keep walking, about a mile and half from the Village now and she can see the mountains more clearly. The Village is nestled into western ridges of the Frosty Mountains, right up close to the harbors at the shore. It's safer there than in the middle where the Dark Spirits roam; more secure than on the other side of the Frosty Mountains, where the Barbarians with the light skin and the strange - terrifying, from the stories - live.
The tundra is death with little life. But every nation has their own hell. Their own monsters and demons that plague their realities and their nightmares. But that's what the White Lotus are for. To fight the battles that others cannot.
"Katara, Sangok. There?" The radio in her pocket hums and there's a bit of static. She switches grip on the spear and pulls the bulky, outdated communicator out.
"Yes. Here. On way back to the Village now."
"Storm moving in quickly. Estimated half an hour. In area?"
She glances up at the mountains. They...may make it, if they speed it up. She knows what the Communicator is telling her: if they're not in immediate area to seek shelter in a cave and wait it out. If they survive, they'll send a team out.
But they probably wouldn't. It gets too cold during the night to be out very long and that's without a storm.
Katara looks over at Sangok who nods, face finally serious and he moves to the outskirts of the ice next to her where it's a bit stronger but more curved.
Her thumb presses a button and she holds the radio up to her. "We can make it. Don't close gates until absolutely necessary."
"No promises. But will hold off as long as possible. Any food with you?"
"No. Time ran out." She should have lied - they might have kept the gates open if she said they had food with them. "Is the other team back yet?"
There's a pause on the other end. "Team One made it back just a few moments ago. Took down two polarbuffalo."
Good. At least one of the teams got food, even if it had to be Hahn's. "We're almost there. Hold the gates open."
"No promises." More static. "Hurry back."
She switches her end off and slides the radio into her pocket. Glancing over at Sangok, she nods and the two start walking a bit quicker, almost running. Her spear doesn't get too far ahead of her as she checks the ice beneath their feet.
Katara just has to trust in nature and her mother's spirit that the ice won't shatter under them.
They're silent as the move across the valley. Soon, they make it back onto stable snow. Their boots are made for the ice though, and their pace slows considerable as they have to trudge through the deep inches. Before long, Sangok is panting at her side and Katara starts to feel a low burn in her thighs.
But they're made for this. Trained and lived long enough to develop broad, muscled thighs and calves to push through snow like this while weighed down with layers upon layers of fur and hide.
It's another half-mile before she starts to use her spear as a staff. They need to be careful - Katara remembers Pakku's warnings about exertion when out in the open like this. If they start to sweat...they'll be in trouble.
The snow gets deeper before it lets up, the valley dipping and rising from the recent storms. Her thighs and chest feel tight, calves stinging and she can tell when she looks over at Sangok that he is in worse shape than she is.
"We need to stop," he breathes out, holding a hand up to stop her. "Just...for a moment." He stops without her even saying anything, his hands resting on the tops of his knees and she slows ahead of him.
"C'mon, Sangok. They're going to close the gates if we don't - "
"It'll be fine. Just - let me catch my fucking breath for a moment."
"Sangok - " she steps forward, her voice a plea. They're making decent timing but they can't afford to lose a minute. The Village is about a mile away - a fifteen minute's walk at the pace they're going. They haven't made it out of the valley yet.
His spear drops from where it was propped up at his shoulder and he keeps breathing, not even paying attention as she fidgets. Katara looks over her shoulder towards the mountains that are getting more defined, then back at the boy who looks like he's going to fall over, back to the mountains. Her hands twist around the top end of her spear, away from the joint that would activate the lights.
"Okay, c'mon, we really need to - " A flash of shadow. The glow of purple. "Sangok! Spirit!"
The boy leaps up, not even looking behind him as he stumbles forward, fingers clumsily wrapping around his spear and he races towards her. She lifts her own weapon towards the Spirit that's moving out of the shadows, gliding over the ground and it's small but the eyes are yellow and enough to make her heart sputter as she stares at it.
"Katara." Sangok grabs her arm and she's pulled into a run. She darts around, facing right-ways and runs. Faster than ever before. Faster than she thought possible. Soon, she and Sangok are flying across the snow and she doesn't even notice that her thighs are searing.
She looks over her shoulder, hair stinging when it slaps against her eyes and the purple shape is following them, just as she feared.
And they're still so far from the Village.
Katara's hands tighten around the spear and she snaps around facing it, stopping in her tracks. She twists the spear at the joint, the metal tip glows blue and she snaps it forward - the jolt from the light bullet makes her stumble but her aim was true. The bolt pierced through the purple form and it slows for a brief moment before re-forming and charging again, yellow eyes growing brighter.
"Katara!" Sangok screams somewhere behind her. His own shot flies past her ears and hits the Spirit in the arm. "Let's go!"
She widens her stance like her father taught and jerks the spear forward again. Another bolt flies out, piercing through the Spirit's forehead just between the eyes and it shrieks in anger. Wincing when the sound bombards her ears, she ignores the tremors in her body as she stumbles back, away from the still-advancing Spirit.
It morphs, expanding and flattening and oh it's angry now.
"Let's go! We have to outrun it!"
"Go!" She shoots out another light. Her feet sink deeper into the snow and it's up to her knees now. When she fires another round, her body doesn't move back from the force anymore.
Katara fires again - and then it's too close, right up on her and she has no choice but to fling around and run as fast as she can towards Sangok. She can feel the Spirit Energy radiating against her back from the proximity. It's so close.
Sangok's spear shoots out more lights to get it to slow down. He's wide-eyed and when she stumbles, he screams her name out before she rights herself. Her knees are soaked, thighs inflamed, cheeks burned from the cold but she keeps running.
"Katara! It's in the ground! It fucking disappeared!"
She's almost where he is when something grabs a hold of her ankle. Katara yelps, body suddenly halting and she can't catch herself as she falls face-first into the snow. Something's tugging on her, dragging her deeper into the snow and her hands claw at the loose ice and snow around her, breath coming in fast pants when she can't grip onto anything.
Her foot hits a solid platform - the ice beneath - and she plants herself down on it as she flips onto her back. She's still got her spear in her hands and she twists the joint again and looks down at the hole that her leg has disappeared into.
There's a glowing yellow and purple light. The Spirit.
Grimacing, she holds the spear high above her head and brings it down as hard as she can, slicing through the snow until she can feel the lightpoint stab into the skin. She pushes it down, gritting her teeth as she presses deeper and harder, tearing through the Spirit's flesh.
The shriek is unbearable, ringing in her ears but she can't let up. She has to make it let go because it's claws around her boots are burning and she can feel the white flames lick against the skin. Katara yanks the spear up before she stabs it back down in a new place, feels the morphed flesh give.
The weapon quivers in her hands and she pulls all of her weight against it so that it'll stay in place. The Spirit is trying to apparate, get away but it can't while the lights are in it's body.
Her third stab makes the Spirit let go of her ankle and Sangok's there to grab at the fabric of her parka. She claws, pulls, tugs her way out with his help. Gloved fingers scoop into thick snow and loose chunks of ice until finally - finally - her stomach rests against the flat ground at Sangok's feet and she finally breathes.
Her hood has fallen off her face, brown hair whips across cheeks as she quickly drags out of the hole. Sangok lets go as soon as she's back in the sun and she trembles when she stands. The Spirit still screams deep down in the snow.
Sangok jams his spear down as far as it will go and he fires a few rounds as she catches her breath. Her boot is seared through from where the Spirit grabbed her and the flesh exposed is burned white from the touch.
The screams stop and she freezes, glancing up at Sangok as he slowly pulls his spear out. She grips her own in her left hand, waiting, anticipating another blow. Silence.
"Did we… Did we scare it off?" Sangok whispers as if the creature is listening to them.
"I don't know." Katara's breaths are slow unlike her heart. Her chest rises and falls, and she looks down into the hole. There are no purple and yellow glows. Did it have enough?
Katara waits, pauses in the air as if it'll tell her whether or not the Dark Spirit is truly gone or not. They didn't kill it. It's impossible to kill Spirits even with the light weapons. The tribesmen's light-tipped spears and bolts work better than their bending but it still isn't enough to cause enough damage to kill it.
"We...We…" she swallows, trying to think about what Pakku or her father would tell her to do. Wait and make sure it was gone so that they didn't lead it to the Village? Run now while they have the chance? Sangok looks to her and she tries to push confidence to her eyes as she returns it. "Let's go."
He nods. Katara looks back at the hole where she was just dragged into before she turns and starts running towards the mountains again. Sangok follows her closely. Neither of them loosen their grip on their weapons.
Both send glances over their shoulders every few paces until they've covered a quarter of a mile. With no attack - or signs of any coming - Katara lets her shoulders relax and her grips shifts into a more comfortable one around her spear.
They don't slow their pace though. Not for a second. Sangok doesn't ask to stop and catch his breath again. She wouldn't let him if he did.
The Village's walls come into view and Katara doesn't think that she's ever been more happy to see them. Just two more miles - two more. They can make it. They will make it.
Wind picks up and the tribesman in her senses a storm. It's in the shift in the air, the darkening sky even though the three moons are crawling higher. It's getting noticeably cooler and loose snow is blown across the ground, climbing up their calves.
They can make it.
The radio in her deep pocket crackles with an incoming message. She stumbles just a little, slowing down enough to slide her hand into her pocket to pull out the bulky piece of equipment. But then she's racing back again, catching up to Sangok easily as her fingers twist the knobs.
"Team Two, where are you? Closing walls soon. Storm coming."
"We're right outside the walls," she half-pants, half-shouts into the radio. "Do-Don't close the walls. We can make it!"
The snow starts lapping at their knees. "Five minutes. The towers reporting it will be here any moment."
"Five minutes, Sangok! We can make it!" Katara shouts. She doesn't bother jamming the radio in her pocket. She carries it, one hand with the communicator and the other with the spear.
"We can make it!" Sangok's voice is almost lost in the wind.
Five minutes. They can make it - the walls are right there.
Snow wisps brush against her hips. A tiny ice shard scratches her cheek. The walls are tall now, looming over their heads like the mountain it's built into. The gates are in view. So close.
"Three minutes."
Her run is awkward with the items in her hands. Her thighs cramp and her shoulders ache but she keeps going. Has to. It's right there.She's close and -
Sangok launches forward, body sliding against the snow as he's buried deeper and deeper. What -
She whirls around and there it is - the Dark Spirit that was behind them. Purple haze, yellow eyes. Katara sputters, hands trembling as it lunges for Sangok and she jerks the spear forward, dropping the communicator into the snow as she twists the light-spear at the joint.
"Sangok!" She cries out as she fires off a round. The Spirit halts, flings around to face her and she swears it's eyes narrow. Katara grits her teeth and jerks the spear forward to fire off another light bolt.
The Spirit shrieks. Boy forgotten, the Spirit comes after her, flying across the snow towards her and Katara has the sense to scoop up the radio before she jumps to the left into the snow.
"Dark Spirit attack! Dark Sp - fuck!" The purple being is on her, right above her, and Katara rolls to the left and swipes her spear above her to ward it off. "Fucking Dark Spirit attack! Man down! Send help - now!"
The light bolts fly out of her spear as she twists out of the Spirit's grasp, legs trembling and she can't breathe because - fuck - it chased them all the way to the Wall.
A large, purple hand slaps at her head and Katara ducks before jamming the spear up and straight into the chest of the Dark Spirit. A perfect shot. She'd celebrate if she wasn't in actual danger.
The flying snow is around her waist now. It's getting stronger, the storm closer.
"Sending help." The radio crackles and Katara flings it to the side over by Sangok. She dodges out of the Dark Spirit's snake-like tongue just in time but some of the yellow spit gets on her parka, burning a hole into it that smells as foul as a rotten carcass.
She barely smothers her gag and she twists the spear forward again. Her legs dip into a lunge for support. Body rocks forward and her spear stabs into the air as the Spirit jerks away. She quickly flicks her wrists, rolling her arm to the left to knick the creature's side.
Katara ducks underneath the Spirit's arm. She rotates her hips, pushes up and forward, and the lighted tip slides easily into the creature's armpit.
"They're coming, Sangok!" She screams between grit teeth. The Spirit shrieks, slams forward and she's hit in the chest. Staggering, she forces herself to remain upright and plants her legs into the deep lunge again. "Just fucking stay with me!"
Maybe he can hear her. Surely he can. Hopefully the creature didn't hurt him that much.
Sangok doesn't reply, but then again Katara wasn't listening for one either as she scrambles to the right to avoid another huge blow. She adjusts her grip on the spear, hoisting it over her shoulder and thrusts it down into the Spirit's stomach.
Why. Wasn't. It. Fucking. Giving Up. Already.
"Katara!" Katara knows that voice.
She turns to the Walls instinctively and oh thank Tui. Help. "Dad!"
"Look out - !"
She turns back to the Spirit just in time to see it rise up and take advantage of her diversion. His claws rake across her chest and she's thrown backwards with the force of it's Spirit Energy.
The snow isn't that soft when she lands on it as hard as she does.
Her head swims for a moment and she struggles to keep her eyes open because something black is edging around. She just wants to stay there but her fingers clench around the broken half of her light spear and she grits her teeth, forcing herself upright in the snow pit that she's managed to get buried in.
The flying snow screams around her head and she fights the dizziness, closing her eyes for a second before she opens them again. Not that it does any good. Everything but a few blurred, blue shapes and one vibrant purple and yellow one.
"Katara!"
"I'm here, Sokka!" She glances down at the half of the spear that she does have. It's the light tip. But she can't use it without the rest of the spear. She'll need the other half to activate the light itself. Getting her feet up underneath her, she struggles when she stands but manages it, stepping out of the pit and into the white swirling around them all. The storm.
"C'mon! We have to get inside the walls!" Sokka's all of a sudden there, his hand tugging at her arm and she stumbles before her legs start to obey.
"What about Dad?! Sangok!"
"They're taking care of it." The Dark Spirit shreks and it's almost the only thing she can hear over the noise of the rousing storm. "They're closing the walls as soon as everyone's in so we have to hurry!"
"The radio! I dropped it somewhere - "
"Fucking forget it!"
Her fingers clench around the broken spear. Legs fumbling, she trips through the snow, barely keeps up with her brother as they race towards the wall. Her chests burns but she's scared to look and check the damage from the Spirit's hit because she's already stumbling around. Sokka is practically holding her upright.
The snow envelops the world in white and the wind howls in her ears. She can't see much further past Sokka and the walls blend in with the snow.
A sharp scream cracks through the wind. Agony. Katara twists out of Sokka's grasp, straining her eyes to see into the snow. Was that - ?
"Katara we have to get out of here!" Sokka's hands pull at her arms. She starts to follow him when another scream pierces her ears, this one shrill enough to make her wince, and she throws herself forward. Sokka's grip slips off her body and she's free.
"Dad! Sangok!" She shots into the wind. Where could they - a glimpse of purple and yellow, then blue of her father's parka and she flies through the snow quicker than she thought possible, propelled forward at the sight of her father's light making desperate jabs at the Spirit. "Dad! Sokka - help!"
Her chest and thighs burn from pain and exertion. The Spirit's touch has her ankle and chest screeching in agony as the snow sears where it touches her. But she keeps running towards her father and the Spirit.
On the ground by her father is a tribesman. Sangok is somewhere behind her.
The Spirit's back is to her, and her dad is too focused on fighting off the Spirit that he doesn't notice that she's there. His hits are more sure than hers, his twists more impressive. But he's getting tired and the Spirit only gets angrier.
The purple form makes a lunge that Hakoda clearly isn't prepared for, and Katara doesn't even think when she launches the broken half of her spear through the Spirit's heart.
There isn't any light so there's no harm. But it catches the Spirit's attention.
He spins around, yellow eyes narrowing and it's just the right opportunity for her father to jam his light tip into the back of the Spirit's neck. Eyes widen and the Spirit shrieks in pain, hands flying to swat Hakoda away.
Her father grits his teeth, steps closer to drive the spear further in and a purple arm swipes at his chest, knocking him a good ten feet away where he lands on his side. The spear falls onto the ground at the Spirit's feet. With a vicious scowl, the form turns his full attention to Katara.
Sangok's spear.
She darts around and races for where she thinks Sangok, a lump of darkness in the white. The Spirit is right behind her, close enough that she can feel the energy and she pushes herself faster.
Her fingers grab at the snow in the air desperately and she twists it into compact, hard forms that she blindly throws behind her. Maybe it'll help. Maybe. If Pakku knew what she was doing now -
Sangok is there and his spear is miraculously unbroken by his head. She bends down to grab it, twisting her hips just in time to drive the spear into his chest. Her fingers claw at the wood and she turns the joint. The tip glows bright blue.
Katara's lips are bloody as she bites down. All of her energy is channeled into making sure the spear stays, draining the Spirit of his energy so that he has no choice but to leave them. It screams, thrashing against the weapon and her arms shake but she keeps it there.
One of the Spirit's hands lash out and she can't back up in enough time - the tip of it's hand grazes across the skin of her neck and she tosses her head back and gasps at the burn. But she keeps there - keeps holding the staff into his heart and doesn't back down.
Her arms quiver. Knees sink deeper into the snow. She can't hear anything but the wind and the creature's screams. But the purple is fading and she's winning. It will disappear soon, for good this time. The girl pushes further and further into him like she's up against the walls.
But it works. A few moments later and the purple creature fades, leaving only traces of his form behind.
She collapses against the snow, panting and her chest feels like it's going to cave in. The spear drops from her hands and rolls onto the snow.
"Sangok," Katara's arms are weak but she tries to haul the boy onto his back. Her voice is hoarse, sore and tight from where the Spirit grazed the skin. "We have to get inside the walls. The Spirit is gone, c'mon."
His face turns up to the sky, eyes wide and… Fuck no. No. No. No. No. No!
"Sangok," she whispers, hands brushing across his cheeks. "Sangok?"
He doesn't blink.
"Sangok!" Katara starts to shake his chest. She pats his cheeks, all gentleness gone and she can feel tears form in her eyes, cold against the wind and her loose hair sticks to the wetness on her skin. "Sangok!"
Blue eyes stare through her. Not at her, not above her, through her. No. Please, Tui, no.
She sniffs, looks up into the white snow and hauls him into her lap, cradling his head against her stomach. "Sokka! Sokka! Dad!"
Her shrills blend in with the snow that's blowing more strongly around them. Katara chokes on a sob, forcing down the lump that rises through her stomach and gets stuck in her throat. It's like a fist when she swallows.
"Sangok - please."
Nothing. Empty blue eyes that make her heart squeeze. He can't be dead - he's still warm, she can feel it through his coat. He's still so warm pressed against her stomach that he can't be anything but alive.
"Katara!" Her father's voice is near and she looks up to see two black shapes running towards her. The one that is clearly her father carrie something on his shoulders - the other tribesman.
"Sangok - he's down and I can't get him to wake up but he's alive - I know he is he's just unconscious - Sokka help me."
Her brother kneels down across from her. His eyes see what Katara doesn't and he shakes his head. "He's dead, Katara. I'm sorry but we have to get into the Village. The Walls - "
"He's not dead." Katara bites at him, jerking Sangok away from him and back into her lap. "Help me get him up, please, Sokka."
"Katara, we have to get into the Walls." Her father's voice isn't gentle, urging her forward and she clings to her friend's hair. Her head whips back and forth between her brother and father, quivering as her gloved fingers sink into familiar brown hair.
"No, please - "
And then Sokka is grabbing her. His thick arms circle around her chest and he hauls her up over his shoulder. Katara balances unsteadily, clutching onto the fabric of his parka for support as she gasps. Then, Sokka turns and starts running to the Walls, their father at their side.
"No please, Sokka - " She tries to push herself off of her brother's shoulders. He grips her legs tighter. " - Sangok isn't dead. No - please!"
It's not long before she can't even see Sangok's dark figure in the snow.
The rest of her words die on her lips, eyes frantically scoping the white in front of her, hoping that a black shape will somehow appear, standing tall and very much alive because her brother and father are wrong. Sangok is alive - he's there.
But he doesn't come. There are no dark shapes in the white.
They get inside the walls but Sokka doesn't let her down. All around, people are watching as she starts to heave, gloved fingers tearing into her brother's back and eyes still staring into the white.
When the walls close with a thud, she lets out the scream she'd been holding back.
.
.
.
.
.
.
A/N: So...new story. Heh. despite the similar names, this is not a Gods & Monsters sequel or prequel. this is actually what G&M sort of looked like in the early stages.
As you can tell, this is highly AU. it uses a lot of stuff from canon (ex. politics, dragons, fighting with weapons & bending, discrimination, dark spirits, death, friendships, coping, family structures, political coups, alliances.) This story will contain violence, gore, strong language, mature themes, and sexual content.
There will be several POV shifts (which was a frequent comment I received on G&M so I'm willing to try it out).
Credit where credit is due: this story was originally inspired by "Rise & Fall" by Krewella (Adventure Club remix) and Bruised But Not Broken's EP and Fragmented CDs. I also have an inspo blog where I have tagged and re-blogged some pictures that helped me vision what the creatures and the world really look like. Sort of a soldifier. If you are interested, the link to the inspo blog is on my fandom blog: wannabewonderbender (link is on profile).
This is also semi-inspired by Attack on Titan, general steampunk, and Eon/Eona by Allison Goodman. (but there are more influences from Attack on Titan and the music listed above).
Review question: In your opinion, which is better: swords or spears?