"I'll do it."
Zuko folded his arms. "I dare you to do it."
"I'll do it Zuko!" Sokka screamed.
"I dare you!"
Sokka let go and Zuko plummeted towards the ground.
"Sokka!"
He turned around and saw that Katara was running forward. Shock and anger on her face. "What did you just do?" she demanded.
Sokka shrugged, patted his hands together and walked away, satisfied. "Nothing. Why?"
Katara gawped and looked down the cliff. "You just dropped Zuko!"
He nodded. "I did."
"Sokka!"
"And now I'm going to drop you."
"What?" she was about to turn to face her brother but was cut off with a shriek that escaped her lips when Sokka booted her in the stomach and off the cliff. She fell in a shocked silence.
Standing back, Sokka breathed in. "Alright..." he muttered. "Here goes." Once ready, he ran and leapt off the cliff and fell after them.
For a second there was nothing but the weightless feeling and the consuming, grey fog and then he was suddenly on the floor, face first and surrounded by yellow flowers. Sitting up after sneezing a few times because the pollen had tickled his nose, he looked around. He was in a meadow, filled with the most, bright yellow, pungent wild flowers that stretched as far as the eye could see. The sky above was a deep, blinding blue and there were a few odd trees that were dotted about the meadow. Everything was so unnaturally bright and alive. And it was quiet, as if the land had been stifled.
"Sokka!"
Hearing his name, as if from something muffled, he looked up and saw that between two very high trees, a web of strong vines had been made. Criss-crossing and tangled within each other and in the centre, was Zuko, entangled and trapped.
"Hey Zuko!" Sokka stood up and waved, smiling widely.
He could see Zuko frown and struggle with the bonds. "Ge...m...ow!"
Sokka simply turned his ear towards him. "What was that? I couldn't quite hear!"
"Eh...m...ow!" he screamed even louder, but a thick vine which was crossed over his mouth was stopping him from forming words. The vines had wrapped around his arms and wrists, his legs and then there was a thick one around his middle. He was completely stuck and clearly uncomfortable. One of his arms was twisted behind him and the other in front.
"I don't know Zuko, you look pretty funny there. Where's Katara, you seen her?"
He screamed out in frustration and Sokka just about heard a few swears escape his mouth. He was about to laugh until the sound of loud, ancient creaking cut him off. Glancing around, he realised that the creaks were coming from the two trees which were connected with the vines. Zuko froze, wondering what was going on.
The trees shuddered, creaking and then began pulling outwards on their own. Sokka realised to his horror that at the same time as they were doing that, the vines were being pulled tighter. Zuko must have realised also because he began struggling at the bonds.
Without a word, Sokka ran to one of the trees, climbed up and began hacking away with his sword.
SNAP!
The vines sprang away like lethal whips when he cut them and he was careful not to allow them to smack into him.
"...OKKA!"
He heard Zuko yell. The trees were continuing to lean outwards. Sokka wondered whether the vines should have snapped at the stress.
"I'm going as fast as I can Zuko! Just hold on!"
He yelled out again and Sokka frantically began chopping away.
SNAP! SNAP! SNAP!
He went on relentlessly.
The first bond to release Zuko was the one around his middle which had been the worst. Sokka heard a sigh of relief from him once it was taken away. The next were the ones around his leg, once he removed the one from his arm Sokka glanced up and saw how he was hanging from one arm and from his mouth in the centre of the web, and he was scratching and pulling at the vine clamped around his jaw. It sounded like he wasn't breathing right. That was when Sokka saw one was latched around his neck.
He went on again.
Zuko's arm was released and he dropped a few inches but the one around his mouth and neck still had not been taken off.
Sokka tried again and again, seeing how Zuko began kicking and struggling but he couldn't find the vine.
"Come on!" he screamed out in anguish.
SNAP!
It still wasn't the right one.
SNAP!
No.
He glanced at Zuko, who was clearly frantic for his life. He had begun scratching and tearing at the thick tentacle, but to no affect.
SNAP!
Zuko dropped onto the floor unexpectedly, causing a large gust of pollen to poof upwards.
"ZUKO!"
Sokka ran towards him, crashed onto his knees and threw his sword onto the floor. He wasn't moving.
"Zuko wake up."
Turning him around Zuko suddenly sat up, as if shocked out of a dream and he didn't know where he was. Sokka let out a sigh of relief.
"Huh..." Zuko said. "I'm alive." And then he fell back onto the floor, unconscious.
It took a few minutes for Sokka to wake Zuko up again and once the shock had died down and they hugged each other suddenly in plain relief, they stood up and inspected their surroundings. Looking up they saw that the vined-web was still intact, as if it had never been cut down.
"Man..." Sokka muttered. "I hate the spirit world." Slotting his sword back into the sheath, they began strolling forward to find Katara. Zuko started wobbly at first. The harsh vines had left a motley of mean looking bruises. The ones around his neck and jaw were the most visible.
"Where do you think she is?" Zuko said, although he regretted talking as he clutched his neck. Ouch, it hurt.
Sokka shrugged. "I hope she's okay,"
Yet knowing the spirit world and the way Zuko had ended up, it was unlikely.
"I guess I shouldn't have pushed her in, but she did want to go before."
Zuko nodded once in response.
They soon came across a large tree with roots the size of boulders. They were so large; they twisted and knotted against each other, forming what looked like a large entrance to a cave. They were hesitant at first but stepping in; they knew that that was where Katara was. The spirit world was like that.
"We should've brought Aang."
Zuko shrugged. What had been done, had been done. All they needed was to find that flower and they were out.
It wasn't long before they found Katara but when they did see her, she didn't look like herself.
She wore the most beautiful and large, blue satin dress that flowed onto the floor like a wave of water. Her hair was done up elaborately, tied up into a complex bun on the top of her head with various braids, which were then decorated with blue, white and purple flowers. Her face was smoother than usual so it seemed like carved, stone, it was lighter too and her eyes shone like unnatural sapphires. She was standing so still she seemed like a doll.
Zuko and Sokka glanced at each other, confused.
They were standing behind a wall of roots and when looking out at where she was, they saw she was in an intricate, underground hall, carved with the most patterned wood. It was so large and grand it seemed it belonged to an orchestra, but there was none. In fact, when looking forward, they saw that standing in the middle of the hall was a single person. It looked like a man.
He turned around and automatically, Zuko and Sokka shrank backwards, further into the dark. But he hadn't seen them.
"Katara dear..." he began. His voice was unusually frail but it seemed loud in the hall. He motioned towards her with one of his pale hands. "Come..."
They looked at her and saw that she finally moved, moving out of her trance like state and gliding forward. They saw to their horror her feet were bare and around the ankles, there were clamped shackles that were followed by chains and trailed across the floor. Where the shackles had rubbed her skin, they left bruises and cuts. She was a prisoner.
"Come..." he repeated and she continued to glide forward. Looking ahead as if at nothing. Her eyes were vacant. "Lead me to the other side of the room."
She held his hand and together, like a mysterious pair, they strolled forward.
Once at the other side of the room, he lifted a hand slowly. "Sit..."
She bowed her head down and lowered towards the ground unhurriedly. When she finally sat, she was surrounded by the blue dress as if it was a circular, pool of water.
"Now sing."
"I am afraid I cannot." She whispered.
Zuko and Sokka jumped at her voice. She had been so quiet. As mute as a doll. She looked like one too.
Anger flared within Sokka and he was ready to charge at the man for treating his sister like she was some kind of servant or toy, but Zuko held his arm and gently and shook his head.
Wait for the right moment.
Sokka nodded.
"Sing." The man repeated.
"I cannot."
"Sing or you will never leave this place."
Why would she not just sing, Zuko thought.
It was then he saw that within the walls surrounding the hall, there were faces engrained in them. Horrible faces, contorted in pain as if they were forced into the wood and stuck. They bore some kind of malformed tragedy and sorrow and it was just...horrible. Zuko shrank back and felt someone watching them.
He tugged at Sokka's arm and pointed. He too realised and widened his eyes. It was then they knew that they were not alone. Those things were watching them.
"Dragon."
Something whispered behind them and they froze, hearts pounding.
"Dragon, look at me."
The voice sounded like it belonged to an old woman.
"Dragon."
Who was the dragon? The both of them were confused. All the while the spectre of a man continued to ask Katara to sing, who could not because the faces had threatened her not to.
"Dragon."
Sokka and Zuko didn't dare turn around.
"Dragon, turn around."
"Dragon, see me." Another voice joined in.
"See us dragon."
"Turn around."
"Dragon."
Sokka muttered to him. "I think they mean you."
Zuko glared at him. What made him think that?
"Dragon."
"Dragon, see us."
"Water warrior, turn."
Sokka stared ahead, not daring to turn around. They were calling for him too. What were the two of them going to do, ignore them?
"Warrior of the water...child of the sword...brother of the sister...see us."
A hand grabbed Sokka's shoulder, a bony hand that bore sharp nails and cut through his shirt. With that, he screamed out and ran forward.
"ARGH!"
He jumped out into the hall and Zuko followed, the voices were unbearable.
However, they had then been seen by the mysterious male and Katara. They snapped their heads towards Sokka and Zuko and the man's face, to their horror, had no mouth.
Their jaws dropped.
Then how had he spoken?
"Sokka? Zuko?" Katara spoke out loud. She finally looked like she had life within her when she said their names.
There was nothing for it, they ran towards her and Sokka pulled out his sword, ready to push or hack down Katara's captor.
"Katara! Get up and run!" he yelled to her sister.
"I can't." She motioned towards her chains.
Zuko nodded at Sokka and he understood. Sokka ran towards Katara and Zuko ran towards the man. The man with no mouth. Zuko tried hard not to let that get the better of him.
Nonetheless, before Zuko could even strike a blow or threaten him, he vanished. It was like he had blinked and the man had never even been there. He stood looking around aimlessly for a few moments and then turned to Sokka who had seen the same happen. It didn't make any sense.
But all of that was abandoned when they saw that the faces in the walls had begun to pull themselves out, slowly and painfully and were followed by hands and then bodies. They were escaping.
"Zuko! Help me get Katara out!" Sokka told him and he ran towards the both of them.
A couple of monstrous creatures from the walls had unleashed themselves and grabbed Katara's hair, dragging her back as if to pull her into the wall too.
She screamed. "Sokka!"
Zuko punched a fist onto one of the bony creatures and found they crumbled into dust easily. They let go of her but then there were ones bursting out of the ground, who tore at her dress, tried to drag her back and away from the two of them and so Zuko fought, Sokka clanging his sword at the chains until they broke apart. At one point Katara grabbed one of the grieving heads and pulled at it so it fell apart but then another grabbed her face and scratched her cheek.
"Get off me!"
"Get off her!" Sokka kicked at one.
When she was finally free, Katara stood up and pulled her skirt up so it did not obstruct her feet and with that, they ran forwards, pushing their way through. There was nothing but a cloud of disgusting, putrid dust as they made progress and when finally breaking out and meeting light, they crashed onto the floor together in a heap, scrambling away from the cave's entrance.
"Whew..." Sokka gasped, relieved.
Katara sat by him, panting. "Thank the spirits. I thought I was gonna be trapped in there forever." She hugged her brother and then Zuko, "hey Zuko what's wrong with your neck...and your face...and why aren't you talking?"
"Hey Zuko," Sokka stood up. "This place wasn't like this before was it I mean...it's changed."
Zuko stood next to him and looked around. It had definitely changed.
The flowers were lilac, the sky was grey and there were small frosts of snow in various places.
Katara looked around too. "It's pretty but who cares, let's get out of here."
"We need the flower." Sokka told her.
Slotting her hand into a pouch of her dress, she brought out a small black rose. "I've got the flower." She saw the both of their faces break out into glee and relief. "I found it in the cave. It was growing in a dent in the walls, where there was this tiny crack that let in a sliver of light. I had to hide it though. So how do we get out of here?"
Sokka smiled at that. "We have to die."
Katara and Zuko made a face together, it wasn't going to be pleasant. Zuko pointed at the vines, which had frozen icicles dripping from the corners and shook his head at Sokka. They were not going to get themselves crushed by the tentacles.
Sokka grinned slightly, he seemed nervous. "Don't worry, we're not going near those again. I have a better idea. Come on."
They followed him without question as he made his way to the tallest tree and they climbed. Higher and higher and higher with ease. It was like the tree was helping them make it to the top and when they did reach their destination, they were so high they could the tops of the other trees which were extremely far down. How had that happened?
"I hate the spirit world." Sokka muttered again. The weirdness was just too much.
The three of them held hands and inhaled shakily. They were scared. Katara patted the pocket that bore the black rose and looked at the other two who had their gazes fixed on the unseen ground below. She squeezed Sokka's hand.
"Come on guys. On three."
They nodded and counted together.
"1...2...3!"
They jumped and fell.
It was like they were falling, but they were falling backwards. They were falling upwards and it was by far the strangest sensation they had ever felt. Defying the law of gravity, they were rushing up the cliff in the air until their feet hit solid ground.
Wobbling for a second, steadying themselves and regaining their balance they realised they were back in the physical world, on the cliff they had jumped from, or where Sokka had dropped them.
"We made it!" Katara screamed and they hugged each other briefly. "Come on! We gotta go to the palace and tell everyone and show Toph the flower."
The three of them looked quite a state. One with a lush, satin dress that had been ripped and ruined, the other unable to speak but accompanied by too many bruises to count and the other simply walking along normally, a black space sword and boomerang strapped to his back. They ran towards the palace, joyful and happy they had got the flower and had made it back alive.
They all sat in the dining room of the Fire Nation Palace in the evening after having washed themselves and readied their surprise. Aang had already known where they had been because he of course, had been the one who had directed them and allowed them to enter in the first place. He had been very relieved when they had made it back, even if they had been harmed. At least they were alive and in one piece.
"Zuko," Iroh motioned for him to walk towards him. "Let me see the bruises."
"Uncle," he said quietly. Katara had healed him as best she could although there were still marks on his skin and his throat did hurt a little when he spoke. "Katara said I'm fine."
"You sound like you have a sore throat or something." Suki said to him.
"Thanks Suki."
Iroh lifted his chin up and frowned. "Will you now tell us what had happened and how Katara received that dress?"
They sat down at the table, Sokka beginning the story. When they listened to him tell the story of Zuko being trapped and almost getting killed, they breathed out in relief when Sokka told them how he had been saved.
"Zuko!" Iroh scolded him. "What have I said about the spirit world and yet you just go traipsing into it. You almost got killed!"
"Uncle...it's already gone and I'm fine."
"We all know that Zuko is a survivor." Toph stated.
They all agreed with that. When mentioning the strange man in the cave that had used Katara as his servant, no one knew who he was. Not Aang and not Iroh. He remained a mystery. They then continued to the part where they saw the faces in the walls and how they had called to them.
"They kept calling Zuko 'dragon'." Sokka explained. "Why is that?"
Iroh answered for him. "Possibly because he is a fire bender."
"That makes sense."
"What did they call you?" Mai questioned Sokka.
"Something like...warrior of the water...I'm not making it up!" he said when seeing Mai and Toph's face.
Zuko shook his head. "He's not. They even called him child of the sword."
"And even brother of the sister." Sokka carried on.
"Guess that makes sense." Aang stated. "You're a sword master and you're a brother."
"And you're from the water tribe so..." Katara pitched in.
Carrying on, Katara explained that when she woke up in the spirit world after Sokka had so nicely pushed her off, she was in the cave straight away with the dress and the place had put her in some kind of trance, where she constantly felt scared and threatened and obedient to the man with no mouth.
She shuddered. "It was horrible. I felt like I didn't have my own mind and I wasn't in control of my own body."
Once finishing the story, the table applauded but Mai was the one to come out with the important question.
"So why did you guys go in the first place? The spirit world isn't exactly the best place to have fun unless you have a sick sense of humour."
"For this," Katara pulled out the black rose and pulled forward a basin of water. "It's a black rose and it's for Toph."
"What for?" she questioned her. "To smell? I don't know Katara, I appreciate all the effort you guys went through to get me a rose and everything but really...what kind of present is that?"
The three of them laughed, as did Aang.
"It's not for smelling Toph." Katara said. "In fact, it's more like a medicine."
"Why? I'm not ill."
"Nope. Aang found out that the rose has healing properties, you know like the spirit water back in the North Pole. But the rose is specific for the senses and we were wondering...if you wanted to...whether you'd let me try and heal your eyes."
The table was stunned into a silence. Toph took her time to collect her bearings.
"You mean like..." she started, "...not be blind anymore?"
"That's the idea."
"I don't know...do I get to think about it? It's a lot to take on."
"Of course."
She paused. "Wow, you guys are really the best of friends. I'd give you something back but I don't really have anything to give."
They shook it off.
"What are friends for?" Sokka told her and with that, the group continued chatting into the night, whilst Toph pondered about the possibility of being able to see for the first time in her life.
- FIN -