AN: It's October! Which means it's time for the stores to put out all their Christmas stuff!
But in all seriousness, I think you all know what it means. There is not a single person I have EVER talked to that hasn't at least HEARD of Halloween.
And since it's Halloween time, it's also time for Halloween stories! Like this little series (Which I may or may not still right come November.)
And now for the boring part you all hate: Rules. (Because everything needs some sort of rule)
These oneshots will be posted as T to be safe, but if I find one to gruesome, I'll post it under M.
Some of my friends have let me use their ocs to use in my stories, and those ocs will appear in these stories. (Celeste and Kasai courtesy of Fire and Chaos, Ataika courtesy of Maypl Bougher.)
Don't ever rely on me to write anything canon.
Ever.
And finally: Read, review (especially review) and tell me what you think! Believe it or not, I encourage hateful flames!
WHAT?!
For a few reasons. One, it adds more reviews. And who doesn't loooove more reviews? Two, it tells me (and everyone who reads my story) EXACTLY who to block so they lose all power! It's an anti-troll machine!
One last note! I will be writing this series (and other holiday stuff) year round. Why? Because why not? I don't have much time before Halloween approaches, and I'm kinda obsessed with Halloween. I get that from my grandparents. Some of my friends say it's a bit of an unhealthy obsession, but whatever!
Anyways, I hope you all enjoy. I've written about three hundred words and the story hasn't even started.
Ba Sing Se
Fall, 101 AG
Celeste's POV
My name is Celeste and believe it or not, me and my best friend Kasai have had a CRAZY life! We're both 'Split Avatars' the guardians of the Avatar who can bend two elements. I can bend air and water, while Kasai has earth and fire.
But that's not even the craziest part. Me and Kasai are actually from ANOTHER WORLD! We were somehow transported here, where our destinies as Split Avatars were revealed, and we helped Aang save the world.
At the age of sixteen, I have waist light brown hair and blue eyes. My best friend, Kasai, has shoulder length brown hair with brown eyes. She's about a year older than me.
In our travels, we met another girl, named Ataika. She's a firebender with some sort of bladed chain and it's the most EPIC thing I've ever seen in my entire life! Ataika has dark skin, night black hair normally in a pony tail, and bronze eyes.
Freakiest eyes I've ever seen in my entire life.
"Who are you talking to?" Toph asks. She's laying upside down on a sofa in our house in Ba Sing Se.
'What?' I ask.
"You were just talking to someone, saying "Ataika has the freakiest eyes I've ever seen."
"WHAT?" Ataika hisses. She leaps up, ready to fight me, but Toph stops her.
"Eyes there, Metal Tiger." She says. "I might just be going crazy."
"Hmh." Ataika says.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Kasai whines. "I wish we could go around, knocking heads together! I miss the old days!"
"I'm sure we all do, Kasai." Aang says. "But it's better that the world is at peace. There won't be as much fear or suffering in the world anymore."
"But we shouldn't sit arooound all daaaaay!" Kasai goes on. "Let's go outside and cause some mischief!"
"Not a good idea, Kasai." Katara says. "Look outside." She opens a window to show a rainy day in Ba Sing Se. And if I said rainy, I would be the biggest liar in history. It's a torrential downpour that makes the rain during Noah's Ark look like a light drizzle.
"How long has this been going on?' Kasai asks, rubbing her eyes all of a sudden.
"Three days." Katara says. "You've been asleep for three days, and you haven't heard the rain once?"
"Nope."
We all hear a knocking sound come from the door. A few people look up, and Momo perks his ears.
"Who is it?" Katara asks Toph. The blind girl rolls her and jumps off her cozy couch to identify the knocker. She stands there for a moment, not saying anything.
"Um, To-" Sokka starts. Toph's finger purses his lips and he begins blushing.
"Shhh! I'm trying to figure it out!" That's when the knocking starts getting more intense. Toph's eyes widen when she realizes something.
"There's no one there."
"WHAT?" Everyone says.
"You heard me! There was never a person at the door! I would've felt their vibrations!"
The knocking gets louder.
"She's gotta be messing with us," Kasai concludes. "It's not like the wind can knock on our door louder and louder."
"Look, I'll walk over to the door, open the door, and make a blind gesture to introduce you to my invisible cousin named Carl!" Toph groans. She marches to the door, everyone close behind. Then she kicks down the door, making her point that no one is there.
And Toph's right. If there really was someone at the door, they wouldn't have the time to escape before it crushed them, due to the fact there was still knocking when she busted down the door.
"What is it?" Toph whines, jumping up and down like she's trying to get a better look. "I can't see!"
"It's…." Ataika begins. "A… letter."
"A letter?" Katara asks in disbelief.
"Yes. A letter. There's an envelope with a seal marked on it sitting where our door used to be." Ataika reaches down. "It's not even wet."
"Speaking of wet," I ask. "Where'd the storm go?"
We all look to the sky to see it perfectly sunny, not a cloud in the sky.
"Weird…" Aang says, and quickly scoops it up and begins walking and reading.
"You gonna tell me what that thing says, Twinkle Toes?" Toph demands.
"Oh, right…" Aang says. "Sorry. It says 'The anniversary of Avatar Aang's release from the iceberg is approaching. To celebrate, I am inviting everyone in Team Avatar to a dinner party five days from now at 8:00 at these coordinates.' "
"And what are these coordinates?" Kasai asks.
"I'm not sure." Aang says. "Maybe if we ask a government official, they'll know where this house is."
Me, Aang, Toph and Ataika leave the house to head up to the Royal Palace. After a while of walking in silence, we arrive at the base of the large stairs. Instead of chucking giant badgermole statues at us like last time, the guards just look at us. Some even bow as we walk by. A few guards take us up the stairs on a moving platform, then open the doors when we arrive at the top.
We step into the large entryway, which is even bigger than I remember. The pillars are higher and jewel encrusted, and the floor seems to be made out of gold. I reach down to touch it, but a guard slaps me.
"Touch anything with your hands and you're a dead woman." He says. "I don't care if you saved the world."
"Fine…" I grumble. He escorts us to the Earth King's chambers, where he rises when we approach the throne.
"Ah, Team Avatar!" He says. "So good to see you!"
We bow for a minute, Aang says, "Thank you, your majesty."
"Is there something you needed?" Kuei asks. "Surely you didn't come for just a friendly visit."
"You guessed right." Ataika says. "We need to speak with one of the government officials to locate something."
His Earthiness tilts his head. "I'm sorry, but there are no government officials."
"What?" Aang asks. "What about your advisors and people like that?"
"They no longer have jobs," Kuei says. He folds his hands and lowers his head into them. "After you revealed the Dai Li conspiracy to me, I realized how little power I actually had. So I removed everyone from office except military leaders, treasurers, and people who work with housing. Now I have complete control over the Earth Kingdom."
"You're an Absolute Monarch!" I realize.
Kuei nods his head. "Yes. Now, what is it that I can help you with?"
The four of us look at each other, then Toph says, "Actually, I think it would be best if we talk to the person in charge of housing. We're looking for a particular house."
"Then my guards will show you to her chambers." Kuei says. Several guards approach us and begin to lead us through the palace. It all looks the same- lots of jewels, rare earth minerals and gold. There are also lots of paintings of the king.
"When he said he had taken complete control," Ataika whispers to me. "He wasn't kidding."
"Yep." I say.
The guards lead us into a room with a normal sized set of doors and step out. We walk into a room that is lit only by a small green fire, slowly dying away.
"This looks like Long Feng's office…" Aang whispers.
"It was." Someone says. A figure steps out of the shadows- one who is all too familiar.
"Joo Dee!" We all say in sync.
The creepy lady with a plastered smile tilts her head. "Yes. It is me. The real me. My actual name was Joo Dee before I was captured by the Dai Li. Now, I assist the Earth King with the citizens by helping them find homes. We have many war veterans who need places to live."
We don't say anything, we have plastered looks of anger on our face.
Joo Dee's smile fades. "What is wrong, my friends?"
"What's wrong," I say. "Is that you tricked us when we were first here! We needed to tell the Earth King about the eclipse, but you listened to Long Feng instead! That nearly cost us the war!"
"I'm sorry!" She says. "I was just following orders. The king really had no power, but now he has all the power. Any Dai Li member who is found guilty of treason or was found interacting with Long Feng is now executed for their crimes."
"What about Long Feng himself?" Ataika asks.
"He was beheaded for his crimes as soon as the war ended." Joo Dee answers. "There are still people who support him, even in death. They call him a martyr, but he does not deserve such a name."
We all turn to Toph, who nods her head.
"All right," Aang says. "You're not lying. We need your help."
Joo Dee's smile returns, this time, it's a real smile. "I would be honored to assist you! What do you need help with?"
"The Earth King tells us you're head of housing, correct?" I ask. Joo Dee nods. "Good. We need your help finding this house." Ataika lays down the note on a desk, where Joo Dee picks it up and reads it.
"Let me check the city records." She says, folding the note up. Joo Dee lays the invitation on her desk and steps into a backroom.
"So, who do you think is hosting the party?" Toph asks.
"Who knows." Aang says. "There's a lot of people in Ba Sing Se. It could be lots of people."
"It could be someone we don't know, but just wanted to be nice." Toph says.
After what feels like hours, Joo Dee returns.
"That house does not exist in the city." She says. "But I do know where it is." She lays down a map of the Earth Kingdom. She points to the Yu Dao province that we recently dealt with.
"There is a large estate there," She says. Her smile again fades, this time replaced with confusion and worry. "But, there haven't been any documented residents there since before the war began."
"Great." Ataika mumbles. 'An ancient, creaky house filled with spirits knows what!"
"Many people don't have any money because of the war," Joo Dee continues. "so they move into houses or build some in secret. Perhaps that's what's going on."
"Maybe." I say.
"Thank you for the assistance." Aang says. We bow (neck bow, of course) and step out of the room.
We return to the house, where Aang explains the location of the house.
"A creepy old house that hasn't had any residents in over a century?" Sokka asks. "Uh-uh!"
"Come on, Sokka!" Katara says. "There's gotta be someone who lives in there. How else would they send us the letter?"
"What if it's an Ozai sympathizer?" Sokka asks.
"I highly doubt it," Aang answers. "The only reason most people followed Ozai was because they were forced to show absolute loyalty to the Fire Lord. Most of the soldiers were drafted against their will."
"Okay then, what if it's something else?" Sokka goes on. "Like a ghost or something?"
"Sokka, there's no such things as ghosts." Ataika says.
"What about the spirits, hmhhh?"
"That's different. Most spirits are peaceful unless something is out of balance. And they aren't even on earth. They can come here from the spirit world only during the solstices. Ghosts are supposedly the souls of humans who either refuse to move on, or they don't know they're dead. But I don't believe in ghosts."
"So what are we doing, Aang?" Katara asks. "Are we going to the party?"
"Of course we are!" Aang says. "It would be rude not to." He looks around for a minute and then says, "We should get packing. We're going to have a long few days ahead of us."
We disperse and begin packing various things we would need (Clothes, extra food for the trip to and from, etc). After we finish, we rendezvous at Appa and take off.
AN: Sorry nothing really happened, but this was more of a prologue chapter.
Anyways, I want to make a few announcements.
I recently had an issue with a guest over "copyrighted material" and was forced to delete several stories, including "The Gaang and the Gang, Rise of the Avatar, and In another world.)
However, I will be bringing these stories back soon, with some changes. (Only to The Gaang and the Gang.)
For "In another world", I need people to submit OCs to replace every character in TLA show. (Except Aang and minor characters who appear in few episodes. I'll leave minor characters and I'm doing Aang's replacement.) I will give you credit for the character at the end of the chapter they debut in. Currently, I have a form for Katara.
I hope you all pm me your characters so I can get started, and continue to read and review.
Thanks again, everyone!
