A/N: This is the one-shot I wrote for a pairing challenge on the OSR fan forums back... December '06, Jan '07? Anyway, I hope you guys like this or can at least appreciate this, because this fic really was a challenge. And I needed to put in a tiny bit of Eva/Aikka to make this work. Also, reviews are wonderful, concrit is love, flames are ignored and laughed at. (Because don't you have better things to do than to flame a fic? I mean, really. :)
Change of Destiny
With Aikka leading, and Jordan watching our backs, the three of us ventured deeper into the Heart Temple. The darkness pressed on my eyes and made me wish I hadn't dropped my flashlight. Then, as the hallway opened and we came into the central chamber with the pyramid, Aikka ran for a wall nearby. Jordan and I followed as quickly and quietly as possible, then we all crouched onto the ground behind it. Even though I saw no one else, an odd shudder ran through me that made my heart pound.
"Canaletto's already here," Aikka whispered. "Jordan, you and I should go ahead and take a look around for him, try to draw him out so Molly can claim the Avatar's powers."
Jordan nodded and stood up. Without a word, he walked off with his hand cannon pointed out in front of him once more. Aikka pulled his sword from its sheath and held it out.
"Molly, take this," he told me, handing the sword to me. "Should you run into Canaletto, use it on him, and may he feel its royal sting. Good luck."
That said, he pulled out an arrow and loaded it into his bow as he walked off in the opposite direction from Jordan. Now alone in semi-darkness, I clutched the sword to me. My heart was beating wildly and I could feel my blood coursing through me. A second later a startled yell sounded and then a volley of lasers. This was followed soon after by Aikka's voice, activating a magic arrow. I stood up and bolted for the pyramid. Sliding the sword between my back and the waistband of my pants, I sprinted past Jordan, who was still firing away at Canaletto, and Aikka, who was activating another arrow a few yards away.
I was closing in on the glowing pyramid when the boys stopped firing. Then Canaletto appeared out of nowhere, blocking my path. I skidded to a halt and took a step back in shock. A surge of adrenaline swept through me and my stomach became a bottomless pit as I stared up into the dark and terrifying face of Canaletto. It was then I realized he had defeated Aikka and Jordan.
"Eva Wei," he said slowly and silkily. "I finally meet my creation before I reclaim the powers of the Avatar."
"What are you talking about?" I asked in terror. "How do you know my name?"
"I know all about you Eva," he told me. "I've been watching you for a very long time. You see, for ten thousand years I have looked for the perfect person that would be able to win the Great Race of Oban, and then refuse the Avatar's powers. And you were that person.
"What do you mean?" I asked quietly, my voice shaking.
"I mean that I shaped your destiny," Canaletto answered patiently. "I needed you to experience a loss so powerful that it would drive you to want to win the Great Race, so I chose to get rid of your mother and force your father out of the picture for the time being."
"You killed my mother?!" I yelled. "You were the reason my mother died and my father abandoned me in that horrible boarding school?!"
"When I made sure you escaped and rejoined your father as 'Molly' in time to join the Earth Team, I had to make sure you were the pilot," he continued unconcernedly. "So one more had to go."
"You were behind Rick's crash too!" I burst out, my anger rising.
"Of course," he said calmly. "By the time you reached Oban, everything was almost perfect. You had the motivation to bring back your mother with the Ultimate Prize and you were able to race. However, there was one racer I feared would ruin everything, he kept changing the future I had worked so hard to create, so I was forced to dispose of Sul when he wouldn't join me."
My features were contorted in rage. Canaletto had destroyed so many lives in his quest to become the Avatar once more, and he didn't care at all. I reached behind me, grabbed Aikka's sword, and brandished it at him. With a yell I ran at him. Canaletto lifted a hand lazily and sent out a pulse that disintegrated the blade to a dust that slipped through my fingers. I was standing mere feet from him, unarmed. A swift movement from his hand caused me to rise into the air so we were at eye level before I could even move a muscle. A blood red glow surrounded my body, and despite the warmth of the magic, an involuntary shudder and gasp passed through me. A split second later the glow turned purple and brightened to a point of blinding all in the vicinity that were conscious.
When Canaletto used his magic to levitate me, I was upset that Aikka's blade had been destroyed and I thought about how much I loved him. However, in that same instant, Canaletto attempted to deepen the connection he had established, in order to control me. It was through this connection that my feelings for Aikka shot through to Canaletto and then bounced back to me, transformed when the purple light engulfed the room. What happened was a rare occurrence that results in a type of metamorphosis for emotions.
I screamed, squeezing my eyes shut against the light; Canaletto shielded his horrified eyes with his free arm.
"This wasn't supposed to happen!" he yelled over my scream. "What is this madness?!"
The light slowly faded until I was surrounded by crimson light once more. My eyes fluttered open.
"Wha- what happened?" I inquired groggily.
I saw Canaletto and felt my heart beat increase and my face heat up.
What's going on? I thought frantically. I was so pissed off at him a minute ago, and now I feel like I did around Aikka. Oh no, I- I can't like him! I can't!
I looked back at Canaletto with a terrified panic all over my face. His features, though, had softened considerably. He held out an immense and bony hand, which he flew me into.
"What were you thinking of before the purple light appeared?" he asked gently.
"Um… it was… uh… oh yeah, how much I loved Aikka," I answered, distractedly thinking that maybe he had some inner beauty.
"Because you did, your emotions changed through the connection I made with you," he told me. "Your feelings changed, and now they're mine too, my dear. I don't know how I didn't foresee this possibility."
He brought up a gnarled finger and ruffled my hair. A tiny piece of me resented the action, but the rest of my enjoyed it.
"Our destinies have changed, young Eva," he said. "Why don't we share the Avatar's powers? We'll be together for a long, long time."
The tiny part of me that resisted was overpowered by everything else in me which told me to surrender myself to this new found love. What was the point of fighting it?
"Let us share the Avatar's powers...," I echoed slowly, smiling. "I can handle that."
Smiling down at me, Canaletto approached the pyramid. The Creators of Oban came out instantly and began shouting warnings at Canaletto, telling him he'd been a horrible Avatar the first chance he had, to be gone from the temple, and the like.
Jordan, who had been lying on the floor with a slightly injured leg and a bad headache, used a broken stone to help him stand up. He looked up and saw me standing in one of Canaletto's hands as the other warded off the attacks of Oban's Creators.
"Molly," he said quietly, walking around toward Canaletto's side. "Canaletto's controlling you, I just know it."
He spied a towering pillar that had collapsed onto the base of another so it was supported on an angle. Jordan ran for it as fast as his leg would allow, and made it to the top just as Canaletto dispatched of the last Creator into the great glowing orb. He watched as Canaletto brought the hand with me up to his enormous bird-like face. It took all restraint to keep him from yelling out in anguish as his heart broke to pieces as I kissed Canaletto.
There was a wild yell which caused me to break apart from Canaletto. I watched in horror as Jordan flew through the air and then fell rapidly to the ob containing the Avatar's powers.
"No!" Canaletto shouted, but it was to avail.
I watched with my mouth open in shock as Jordan was absorbed into the orb of light. It expanded and brightened, and I watched my love of so short a time begin to disappear from next to and under me. He managed to lower me to the floor before his hands and arms vanished.
"Good bye Eva," he managed to shout. "I love you!"
And then he was gone. I fell to my hands and knees so I was staring at the floor. My vision blurred.
"NO!" I half-sobbed and half-screamed as hot tears began streaming down my face.
"No," I repeated, more softly this time, but still choked with tears. "I love you too."
I gave myself over to tears and heard them splash onto the floor. I didn't bother to wipe them away until I felt a gentle hand rest upon my shoulder. When I looked up I saw it was Aikka.
"He's gone," I told him in a hollow tone. "He's gone and I'll never see him again. I loved him."
"Who? Jordan?" Aikka asked.
I shook my head. "No, Canaletto."
He looked shocked, but managed to recover after studying me for a few minutes. The he began digging in his quiver for something.
"I accidentally pulled this off him in the fight," he told me, holding what could easily have been a ring for Canaletto, but either a headpiece or necklace for me. "Since you do seem to genuinely love him, I guess you should have this."
Immediately, I put it on. It fell over my head to rest on my shoulders. The stone attached to it had the Avatar's- his –symbol on it. I clutched it to my heart, feeling a fresh wave of silent tears cascade down my face.
The remaining time I spent on Oban passed by in one big blur. I hardly remember anything of what happened up until Stan, Koji, my father and I got back to Earth, where we were instructed not to tell a soul about the Great Race of Oban by the president of the Earth Coalition. Then Stan and Koji went back to Miguel's garage and my dad took me home, for the time being.
That night, once he had gone to sleep, I crept outside and lay back in the grass, gazing up at the stars. I just lay still for what felt like an eternity, and then I saw what looked like a comet, soaring slowly across the inky black sky. I stared at the stars that were around it. They appeared to form an eye. It looked like his eye.
Canaletto's Eye, I thought with a sad smile. I don't care if this constellation has a name, it will always be Canaletto's Eye to me.
I wiped a glistening tear from my cheek that I just realized had fallen. I closed my eyes and felt a breeze blow by me. In it, I could hear my lost love whispering in my ears; whispering words of love. Strangely, I realized that our love had always been covered by the veil of darkness.
Love is brightest in the dark, I heard echo in the back of my mind.
I smiled and turned to face the wind with my arms outstretched.
The End
A/N: Quote from 'The Cave of Two Lovers', Avatar the Last Airbender.