Divorcing Reality To Run Away With Zuko
Hello this is my umpteenth fic on this site (that hasn't been deleted!) As always read, leave a comment if you wish, and I hope you enjoy.
Prologue
"Screw this!"
The pencil danced across the wooden floor until it reached the wall, and rolling back like a wounded soldier, beaten and defeated. At the wake of the commotion, a Scottish Fold entered the room. He trotted over to the pencil, then gaze fell upon the girl sitting in the center of the floor, body twisted into an impossible position surrounded by text books and mountainous notes.
The girl was Lamya Hamming; dark skinned, soulful, and at the moment, bitchy and sour. The cat approached with caution, butting his head against his owner's. Lamyascratched his neck of mass fur, while still looking at the book in front of her, Study of Atoms Vol. One Grade Tenth.
"This sucks Mr. Edgar," she said, drained. "It sucks like hell." The cat mewed comfortingly rubbing his fluffy body on her arm. Lamya sighed. Even if she pulled an all-nighter there'd be no way she'd have the project done by tomorrow and Mr. Dennis had assigned a quiz too, which of course, she was not ready for in the least.
There were few options to remedy the desperate situation. Her parents were out in Atlanta and wouldn't be back until the afternoon, tomorrow. She could skive off her morning classes and finish it, maybe. But then she'd miss her quiz and Mr. Dennis the Diabolical would suck her soul from her head before THAT happened.
Damnable bitch he was, really.
"What I need," Lamya said to the empty house, "is some fresh air." Far from true but who was there to stop her? Certainly not Mr. Dennis and his Dusty Dick from Hell. Lamya grabbed a sweatshirt from the rack, and stepped outside.
The night was starless and terribly dark. The young girl might've gone back, but something was drawing to her to the water, so she went still, under the watchful smile of a Cheshire moon.
The pull leads her to the end of the beach, to the mud pools. There were several small ones scattered across the ends of the beach, like craters on a moon. Lamya walked to the nearest, and looked down.
There, under the clear surface, was a Koi fish—black completely, with one white spot on the small of its back. Jaguar blinked curiously, and dipped her hand into the water. It was warm.
"How did you get in here?" she asked, and almost expected the fish to answer. In a way it did stopping in its mid-frenzy, looking directly at Lamya with its incredibly human eyes. The girl shot up, stepping involuntarily backwards. The night was chilled; not a hint of the winter, but a nip in the air. The water, therefore, should have been cold, too.
The fish still faced her, eyes glowing. It seemed to be asking something and, without realizing it, the question formed in Lamya's head.
Come with me.
Lamya blinked. "Where?"
To where he awaits you.
"Who? Who is he?"
The young or the old—that is your Call. They are both the same in nature but not in heart. One will lead to a path of destruction and demise… pain—and suffering. The other you can save, if you choose wisely.
"And if I don't?"
The loss shall be not yours but his. But the burden of his loss shall be yours.
Lamya looked back. From there she could see the lights of her town glowing like suspended fireflies caught in a black net. Suddenly, she missed it terribly.
The Spirit seemed to understand. You shall return, if you do not falter your Fate.
Lamya laughed. "Crazy," she thought. "I'm having a nervous breakdown."
She turned to leave.
It is time, the fish said. Do not deny your fate.
Lamya stopped, and looked back. The fish was still, and waiting.
What is your choice?
The midwife sat on a mat, her marble eyes gleaming forbiddance in the candlelight.
"You're going to have a child next year. If you play in the water, the monsters are sure to come. Understand?"
The girl on the other side of the mat caught her breath. "But I'm just fourteen!"
The candles dimmed. "No, you're not. How has your health been since then?"
"But I'm just fourteen! Isn't there another way?"
Monsters are bound to get you…
Gasping for air Katara woke up, from a dream that she was sure was not her own.
She looked around, desperately, and was relived to see Sokka and Aang still asleep on the ground next to her.
But the words pressed on…You're having a child next year…