This morning (June 8, 2011) I woke up and had a bizarre drive to write this one shot. I've never written a one shot before, or have even considered the thought for that matter. But something made me write this…
Many of you who have read Acolyte will recognize familiar faces. This one shot is in a completely alternative universe than Acolyte. This will not spoil anything in Acolyte. Please understand this. But I will say, this may prove an interesting follow up to Acolyte… maybe :D
Death,
I believe you have finally caught up with this old bandit and thief. I have dodged you for so long now; pity that you ride on the coattails of the Landing.
I can't believe it's been two years since the Landing. Two years I've been holed up in the old Northern Air Temples. Two years I have watched the sky burn and the people of this world die. Two years of living on nothing but rats and talking with no one but my echoes in the temple…
They took everything from us. And you, Death, walk in to clean up the mess like you had nothing to do with it! I envy you; the eerie calmness at which you stalk and take a human life is without equal. I've sent many lives to your pools over the course of my life; I halfway hoped you would spare me in the end for the work I have done.
But I suppose you have a new pet now. I can't remember when exactly you allowed them to storm our world. Our world. The four nations and nothing else. Do you know they call us Elementals, like we are a plague to this great world they envision? Do you know they slaughter us by day and experiment on us by night? Do you know they took my wife from me?
They came from the edge of the map. Generations of ignorance at our borders finally destroyed our world. How stupid were we to think that there wasn't another world across the Great Ocean? How ignorant were we not to prepare for something like this? The four nations bonded together immediately after half of the Earth Kingdom had fallen to their onslaught. I had watched our Elemental armies finally unite on the battlefield, only to be slain moments later by shreds of metal and sulfur-smelling smoke. Our armies were so small; a military on the Outliers scale was unheard of, unfathomable. Our armies were only comprised of Benders, a small silver of the total population. The Outliers could arm every man, woman and child in their corrupt world with the tools of Death,… We were destined to die.
I fled the North, Death, I pulled my wife with me! I tried to take her to safety, to a haven far from other people, far from a potential target of the Outliers. I knew what they would do with us. They would not give us the honor of killing us immediately; no, we would die a horrible death, a death of torture and experimentation. I couldn't bear to see her emerald eyes tortured or her beautiful tan skin bloodied. I couldn't endure the thought of her soft, wavy hair being shaved to the floor. I would take on a thousand lives of mutilation, Death, before I would let them touch her!
I remember. I remember holding her limp body as blood ran fast from her neck. I remember her hands digging into my cheeks as she struggled to hold herself up, as she struggled to hold on to her life. I remember yelling something, yelling at her, yelling at the world, yelling at you. I remember seeing the life and cunning run dry from her eyes as the flow of blood grew from her neck. I remember weight of her dead body against my chest. I remember few things after that day.
You took her from me. We were so close to the Temples; the ferry was nearly complete. Why did you send an Outlier patrol ship our way? Why did you anger them? Why did you allow them to kill my wife? Why did you do it, Death?
I have heard little of the war since I washed up on the shores of the Temple. I dragged my broken body to the first Temple I could crawl inside and I hid. I know not of Avatar Aang or of his health. Rumors were circulating that Firelord Zuko had been slain in battle when we had left the North. Lady Katara, the world's second best Waterbender, was captured on the eve of the Landing and hasn't been seen since. I fear for their safety. I fear for all of them.
I will die here soon, Death. I am ready to leave this life, ready to reunite with my wife, my friends, my comrades. I will see her again. I will.
…..
…..
…..
end record?
Y
run script
Subject: EBEND001203HP [Elemental]
ID: Aidan surname absent
Affiliation: outlaw
Evidence recovered at scene of termination. Subject was armed and dangerous. Subject had an Earth abnormality.
run linksoft?
Y
Nearest social connection:
Subject: WBEN000086 [Elemental]
ID: Kynthia surname absent
Affiliation: outlaw
Connect: Domestic partner, no evidence of marriage
Status: Terminated. Subject attacked unprovoked patrol vessel in the North Seas. Terminal gunshot wound found at neck.
Picture?
N
close linksoft
end script
Author's Note: If you're confused on who Aidan and Kynthia are, read the Acolyte! If you thought this was a great idea for a possibly longer fic, let me know in a review! If you are just downright baffled by this whole thing (who are the Outliers? why did they Land? did Aidan fight them? why did Kynthia die? *cry*) then leave me a review! I respond to all reviews!