AN
Hello everyone.
Honestly. I'm surprised that this didn't already exist. Both show seem pretty popular on the internet, but strangely enough, only one guy had actually written cross over of these two. As for the story, I think i have that one down pretty tightly, I'm just hoping that can do it justice.
So this story is set in the transitional period between avatar Kyoshi and avatar Roku. Kyoshi only died a year ago, so Roku would just then have been born. Therefore there is no avatar during these event's. Kinda bullshit reasoning, I know, but it ties into the story later on. Also, not everyone of our main characters will be benders. Kinda an treat for myself, cause there if nothing more badass than a non-bender kicking bender ass, but it's based more on the characters than my personal feel for it.
Anyways, I have no idea how long this story will stretch over, but I do know that I have an end in sight. So sit back, relax, lie down, pull out your phone, your tablet, your macbooks or whatever and most off all, enjoy.
Inhale.
Fire lowers.
Exhale.
Fire rises.
"Uh, Yang, the chandelier is on fire"
"Ruby, quiet, I'm trying to concentrate"
"No, I mean literally. I think the metal is starting to become soft"
Yang's eyes shot open, her previous concentration completely broken, as the metal chandelier she had used for practice, started to droop to one side. She quickly waved her hand and extinguished the fire, with a rather sullen expression. She stood up and turned her gaze to the clouds, silent drawing a few deep breaths. Ruby knew what was coming, and she moved away a few paces.
Suddenly, Yang swung her arms into the air, releasing arcs of flame into the sky. She quickly spun on her heel, and performed a high kick, sending another arc of fire into the air. She started to just punch fireballs at the clouds, like they had in some way insulted her family. Her breath started faltering, and about her ninth or tenth punch, she managed to only produce sparks. She stood baffled, breathing heavily. It had just then dawned on her that she had held her breath.
"URGH, this control stuff is impossible! Why do I need it anyway?! I have power greater than most benders my age!" Yang shouted. Ruby ran to her side and held a hand on her shoulder, making sure that she wouldn't faint from exhaustion. Yang's fire might have burned brighter than anyone else's, but she also set the record for quickest loss of stamina.
"It's okay Yang, many great firebenders never had great control either. I'm sure that in time, you'll get the hang of it" Ruby tried to cheer her sister up, and for a moment, her smile seemed innocent and mild, but quickly Ruby noticed the underlying tone of malice.
"Duel. You, me, fire against air. I wanna know that I'm not a total lost cause" Yang proclaimed, startling Ruby. "Uhm, I don't think we should…"
"Ruby, please. Just one sparring match"
"Yang, no. You know how dangerous it's gonna get. I'm not going to" Ruby said, closing the conversation, as she started to walk away from there. C'mon Xiao Long, you can do better than begging Yang's brain practically screamed at her.
"Fine then. I guess I have no other choice." Yang said playfully. Ruby stopped dead in her tracks. She turned to look at her with a face that shouted murder from the rooftops.
"You wouldn't dare"
"I have dared worse things. Wonder how he'll respond to all those drawings in your dairy"
An intensive stare down between the two girls began, neither of them wanting to waver. Ruby held her ground stubbornly, while perusing Yang's face for signs of giving. She knew all too well that her sister wouldn't yield that easily. The evil smile of Yang "Firecracker" Xiao Long had settled, so there was no going back now.
Ruby took her stance, and Yang knowingly did the same. A faint wind swept past, signaling them to begin.
Yang started out with going on the defensive, punching a steady stream of fireballs in the direction of Ruby, who felt the warm air currents and like leaf in the wind, she let it take her and she glided around the fireballs, exerting no unnecessary amount of energy. Yang noticed that her plan wasn't working, so she moved closer, kicking outwards while doing a flip on the way to send a horizontal arc of fire at Ruby. She saw the arc coming and swept wind to her left side, to push it off course. Ruby saw Yang closing the distance at a great speed, so she kept funneling air to the left, while lifting her feet from the ground, sending her flying to the right. Yang, unable to change direction as quickly, kicked a powerful flame to her right, pushing her in the direction of Ruby, allowing her to change course faster than Ruby had anticipated.
"Typical airbending behavior. Run, jump and evade" Yang shouted, to provoke her opponent, as she tried to close the distance, but failed to do so. Catching up to an airbender was never an easy task. Yang tried her best to keep up, but ultimately she had to stop, before her breath was entirely lost. Ruby noticed this and halted her acceleration. They both took their stances once again. The stare down from earlier continued.
"So what, you're just gonna keep running away?" Yang questioned, trying to contain the smile on her face, but ultimately failing. Ruby looked at her. The same type of smile had spread on her lips.
"Until the end of time, my dearest sister" Ruby answered smugly. For all her complaint before, she actually enjoyed these little quarrels that they had. Just goes to show that sisterly love was something else entirely.
"Well, then, I guess there's nothing else to do, but continue!" Yang shouted as she punched a large fireball in the direction of her sister. A little bigger than she had first intended. Okay, maybe a lot bigger than she had intended. Actually, its size might be harmful to Ruby.
Ruby was prepared for fireballs, but she could never prepare for the tidal wave of flame that Yang had accidentally flung at her. She tried to push it or extinguish it with gusts of air, but I wouldn't budge. Realizing that she should have evaded, it was already too late when it hit her.
Yang only heard the scream, as she ran to the side if her sister. She was relieved to see that she was mostly intact, except for some nasty burn wounds on her hands.
"Ruby, I am so sorry, I didn't mean for it to be that big!"
"Yang…"
"I am really, really sorry. This is entirely my fault; I shouldn't have provoked you like that!"
"Yang!" Ruby shouted, tired that she couldn't get a word in.
"It's okay, it's not that bad. But I would kinda like to see a healer pretty soon."
Yang stared at her in silently for a second or two, having to cope with the fact that she had been forgiven so easily. "Oh, right, healer. Yeah, let's get going" Yang almost stuttered as she helped Ruby to her feet and they started walking towards the city.
"Waterbending is about flowing movements. Feel the waters mass, and as it twists and turns, follow its motions. It's less about directly controlling the water, and more about guiding the water. Remember Jaune, the water pushes, and you pull"
Jaunes hands were sweeping around his body, streaming the water, in a neat and thin strip. His eyes were closed, concentrating on following the water and keeping it in its steady stream, making sure not to drop any of it. Coughing slightly his father continued the lesson.
"Like air, water can separate and disperse uncontrollably. Make sure to encompass the entirety of the water."
Jaunes father, Jean, was sitting beside the small pond in their garden, were his and Jaunes training usually took place. He was watching over the training, making sure that he didn't lose his temper, or became distracted. So naturally, he became distracted.
"Jaune, your friends are here. Looks like they need your help" Jaunes mother called from the entrance of the house. The neat stream of water immediately dropped to the ground and he rushed to see what the problem was.
He turned the corner to see Ruby and Yang standing in his entryway. His eyes shot to the burn wounds on Ruby's hands.
"C'mon, follow me into the garden. The pond water will have to do" .He grabbed Ruby's shoulder and dragged her away, before either of them could even say a word. Yang smiled at the boy's decisiveness. He had come a long way from the scared little child that he once was. Yang followed far behind and came out to see Jaune and Ruby on their knees by the pond. Jaune was swirling a small mass of glowing water around Rubys hand, and she watched in awe as the water cleansed and healed, until the wounds were only small pink mark, were the new skin had been formed on her hands.
"There" the boy said, with an exasperated sigh. "That should do for now, but try not to overexert those hands, otherwise, the new skin might tear" .While Ruby was silently listening to his every word, lapping them up, Yang heard an opportunity, and decided to take it.
"I bet she wouldn't have a problem overexerting her hands, if you would volunteer to help her" Yang said smugly, while wiggling her eyebrows.
"Yang!" Ruby exclaimed and hid her blushing face in her hands. Fortunately, Yang knew the boy all too well and she knew that, as his father, while they weren't stupid, were mostly completely oblivious to anything involving romance. Thick, as some might call it. Jaune sat on knees, trying to figure out what Yang had meant.
"Why would I help her ruin her skin?! That doesn't sound very smart" He said, provoking a loud roaring laugh from Yang and a sigh of relief from Ruby. Jaune just sat in confusion while the two girls giggled at him.
"Okay, haha, you've had your fun, now can I get on with my training?" Jaune said, starting to get annoyed by their incessant giggling. Ruby and Yang looked at each other, and in a look, their minds were made up. They grabbed each of Jaunes shoulders and pulled him towards the door.
"Mr. and Mrs. Arc, we would like to borrow your son for the day. Would you perhaps be finished with him, Mr. Arc?" Yang yelled, getting the attention of both of Jaunes parents. They came out into the entryway, and looked to each other. Shared smiles meant a yes, and Yang smirked as she and Ruby kept pulling Jaune out of the door.
"Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Arc. We promise we won't break him…much."
The fields around Tonsai were vast, and largely underpopulated by trees. Most of them had to be cut down or removed, largely due to forest fires (Yangs fault) or accidental hurricanes (Rubys fault). Still, after years, a nice and flat field had been constructed for bending purposes. When the village realized that living in a place surrounded by flammable materials, such as wood, wasn't exactly the brightest of ideas, the de-forestation had begun. Tonsai is still located in the middle of the forest, but now, you could finally see it for the trees.
As old a metaphor as "Seeing the forest for trees" was, it had stuck in the village. They even repurposed the old metaphor, taking inspiration from it to write their own slogan.
"Tonsai. Trees in the distance are much better than a forest fire up close."
Located squarely in the fire nation inland, Tonsai was an agricultural society, providing grain, dairy products and animals for meat. Due to its healthy atmosphere and largely unpolluted air, Tonsai was a great provider of unprocessed food to many of the larger cities in the fire nation, including the capital and its noble's personal stock. Tonsai became quite famous because of that fact and since then the village has expanded with a great residential area for nobleman families, use as summerhouses.
And because it was summer now, the Arcs had decided to spend it in their beautifully large house in Tonsai, partially because of the lovely scenery and partially so that Jaune would have a nice and calming environment for him to practice his waterbending. Turns out that you kinda don't get much peace and quiet when your summer house is located right next the house of the Xiao Longs. In fact, you would have to prepare for a lot of unannounced visits.
"Remind me why you two are dragging me out here again" Jaune asked trying to free himself from their iron grips, although failing spectacularly. He clawed at their hands, but not even a reaction was given. Suddenly his eyes widened in realization "If you two want a duel, you can forget it! I'm not treating anymore wounds today" he said and punctuated his sentence with a final tug of his arms, and the girls finally released him.
"Relax Jaune, we just haven't seen you in a while" Yang said folding her arms and looking mockingly offended. "But we understand if you don't wanna hang out with us. After all you need some strong man friends to do manly things with. You can't do man things with a bunch of girly girls like us" she finished her spiel with a sad sniff, for dramatic effect. Jaunes angry glare turned from confused to a warm and heartfelt smile.
"Okay, I surrender. It's good to get out anyway. Sitting in my room for a week was kinda stuffy" He said while stretching his arms above his head. He released a moan and his arms fell limply to his sides. "So, did you have any plans for bringing me out here, or are we just hanging about?" he asked, looking from Yang to Ruby, totally ignoring Rubys feeble attempt at not looking at him for more than a second. He did however notice the healthy blush on her face, but he decided not to ask about it. Jaune knew that girls were weird from time to time, but these two were in their own league. Best not to go questioning their feelings and such.
"Well, you wanted to get back to your training, so why not let us help you with that?" Yang said spunkily, crossing her arms over her chest and smiling a smile that said "bring it on!"
Jaune had to think for a minute, wondering if he had heard that completely right. He then proceeded to laugh out loud and clutch his stomach. Yang smile quickly turned sour and she gripped tightly at her upper arm. Ruby was still looking very interested in the tree behind Jaune.
"I'm sorry, but you want me to believe that you, a firebender and an airbender in training, will be better teachers than my father, a fully educated waterbending master from the northern water tribe? Y'know, sometimes Yang, your jokes almost get me." He said, wiping away a tear, still chuckling to himself.
"Why do you insist that he is such a good teacher?! He only teaches you really boring healing and stuff like that! Don't you wanna learn how to fight?!" Yang said, huffing with anger. In Yang Xiao Longs world, bending was an art used for fighting, and protecting things. She didn't really know what things, but you never know when something needs protecting.
"Hopefully, I'll never have to fight. We're in a great age of peace and harmony, and something very big has to happen to change that." Jaune said, getting annoyed with her tantrum. While they were two of his greatest friends, sometimes, him and Yang would go off on each other, stew for a couple of days and then make up. It made for some awkward periods, and usually Yang was the one who had to apologies, something she really hated doing. She had gotten better at it, but somewhere down the road, she figure out that it was better not to be wrong than to go on like this.
Yangs shoulders slumped. She knew he was right, but she still didn't want him to be defenseless. She didn't…
"We just don't want to see you get hurt" Ruby blurted out, taking the words right out of Yangs mind and surprising both of her friends. She had her eyes closed; waiting to be told off, but it never came. She opened her eyes hesitantly, and both of them were waiting for her to continue. She gulped, before turning to Jaune and actually looking at him, though for only small periods at a time.
"I-if, you can fight back, Ho-how will w-we know that you won't ge-ge-get hurt by someone ba-bad" she managed to stutter out. Jaunes annoyance quickly subsided and he fell into thought, considering her argument. Yang smiled widely at her sister, grabbing her around the shoulder and ruffling her hair violently. Ruby managed to get free, but not before Yang managed to whisper "Very smooth, Rose" to her.
Jaunes eyes landed on Ruby smiled at her warmly, making her heart skip several beats.
"Okay, if you're both that worried, I guess it won't hurt to learn some offensive waterbending" he gave, making Yang jump in excitement. Neither she nor Ruby had ever actually seen offensive waterbending techniques before, so they were both pretty excited.
But before they could saunter off to the training field, their attentions were caught by a screech from above them. They turned their gazes to the clouds, seeing a small speck of black rapidly approaching. When the figure grew closer they noticed that it was a messenger hawk, and not just any messenger hawk.
When it landed on Jaunes outstretched arm, they two girls quickly noticed the insignia belonging to the Arc family.
Jaune pulled out the message from the tube container on its back read it. His eyes grew bigger as he finished a passage and the two girls watched in tense silence, waiting for him to finish.
When he looked up again his arms slumped to his sides and he looked right past Ruby and Yang, as if they weren't even there. In fact, if Ruby wasn't entirely mistaken, he was looking towards the village.
"Well, what does it say?" Yang asked, starting to get inpatient. Jaune looked at her as if he had just noticed that she was there. He heaved up the letter, looked it over again and looked back at Yang.
"It's from mom, and it's about dad" he mumbled. Ruby knowingly shut up and took a step back to give him some space, while Yang looked confused. Jaune noticed this and further explained.
"His illness is getting worse"