Reconnecting the Silver Cord
Jet took one final, shuddering breath… and opened his eyes. Before him stretched endless orange land, with purple skies flowing above. Although he did not know it, this was were souls were 'processed' – the traumas and memories wiped away from their past lives, their innocence levels topped up, and maybe a bit of re-wiring, before they were sent back down to earth to inhabit new born babies.
Some souls screamed as if they were still dying, others stood in aimless lines, waiting for someone to tell them what to do, whilst others begged and pleaded with empty air for their lives back. Six shadowy figures stood at six different points, and every now and then they would touch a person, and that soul would disappear with a muted crack.
All except for one figure. One girl, almost a woman, was standing in front of one of the shadowy figures, and giving it orders. Or at least attempting to. Attracted by the sound of a confident voice, Jet wandered towards her. She was dressed in formal, thick green garb, that one moment seemed perfectly intact, and the next flickered into a charred, bloodied mess.
"Firebenders," Jet said to himself, and was surprised at the lack of hatred in his voice. Perhaps it had been because he had discovered, rather too late, that even his own side could be inhuman. A part of him dimly registered that he was no longer in pain.
The girl-woman looked around at him, and he saw her face was hidden behind thick warrior make-up. That would explain the outfit then. And her death. Kyoshi warriors were famous throughout the earth kingdom for their grace, quickness, and lethality.
Obviously she just hadn't been quick enough. Just like him.
Her face, from what he could judge beneath the makeup, was pretty, and young. He felt a habitual smirk rise to his lips, before her face flickered to a black and red thing. He had seen corpses look like that, when the firenation destroyed his home. She had been burnt almost to a cinder.
Then her human, alive face was back again, and she was frowning at him. Her glance summed him up, found him irrelevant, and lost interest. She turned back to the shadowy figure.
"I'm telling you, I can't die yet! I need to tell the Avatar where Appa is! I need to help the Avatar!"
"You mean Aang?" Jet burst out before he could help himself, "I was just with him. He's looking for Appa in Lake Laogai! Or he was." The girl looked at him again, this time more searchingly, as if she were trying to gauge his worth in a fight. Jet had used that same stare on others before, and was surprised at how disconcerting it was to be on the receiving end. A metallic fan flickered into being in the girl's right hand, as if she had suddenly remembered it should be there.
"Can you fight?" She asked.
He suddenly felt cold steel form itself in his hands, as his hook blades remembered their existence.
"Yes."
"The shadow people have the secret to returning to earth. They refuse to share it with me." She said, gracefully getting into a fighting position.
"Then we'll just have to 'persuade' them to give it to us." Jet grinned, and felt a strand of straw between his lips.
The way she grinned savagely at him made his probably non-existent blood sizzle, and even though there might be no hope of returning to their lives, he once again felt the thrill of the fight. The shadowy figure in front of them shifted, as if uneasy about the situation that had developed.
He was already dead, what worse could happen to him?
Besides, he had always liked strong women.
And so together, in perfect harmony, they struck.