I do not own ATLA, but Rai, Uo, and Satchi are original charaters.
Rai choked back more tears. The pain felt like a thousand, steaming hot daggers slashing at her insides. She wanted to cry out, but she couldn't let her friends know how much pain she was in. Pain. The very word held an entirely new meaning to Rai, at least, ever since she had fallen ill a few days before.
Her only company was her two best friends, the people she trusted most. Like her, they were firebenders. Uo twisted her hair in knots anxiously. She couldn't bear to see Rai so weak and hurt. Satchi kept checking Rai's forehead and was fighting a lost battle in keeping her friend's fever down. She kept on sending Uo off to do errands.
"Come on Rai…fight it. You've always been healthy until now," Satchi muttered as she fumbled with another wet rag. She soaked it in the last of the water and pressed it to Rai's forehead, which was damp with beads of sweat. "Uo, could you go get more water?" she asked. She handed the nearly empty wooden pail to her right without lifting her eyes from Rai.
Uo reluctantly headed off to the well outside the house and came back a few minutes later. "The water's warming up. Too much sun is shining on the well," she said, her voice cowering with unease. The well's roof had collapsed a month or two ago, and no one had bothered to repair it.
"Then put some ice in it, cover it with leaves, anything to keep it cold!" Satchi snapped back. There was only one thing that annoyed her about Uo. It that she could only see the glass half empty, but never did anything about it. She suddenly felt bad for being mean to her friend, but when she turned around to apologize she was alone with Rai. Uo had already left.
She sighed and tested the water. It was warmer than it had been earlier, just as Uo said.
Rai clenched her teeth to hold back another cry of pain. Satchi admired how strong she could be. She wished she could stand up to her fears with the same confidence Rai did.
Uo walked back into the room and sat down next to Rai's head. "No! Don't sit there!" said Satchi in a panicked voice. Uo sprung up.
"Wh-what's gotten into you?" she stammered.
"I read a story once, about how if you saw death sitting at the head of a sick person, it was too late to save them…" Satchi's voice trailed off.
"So are you comparing me to Death itself?" Uo replied with a twinge of anger in her voice.
"No! I-I'm not! It's just—"
"Just what?"
"Just nothing! You're over reacting!"
"I'm over reacting? You're the one who won't even let me sit near the top of Rai's bed just because of a stupid story!"
"I want Rai to get better as soon as possible! So do you! I can't help it if I get superstitious or paranoid!"
"G-guys… Stop fighting," cracked Rai's frail voice. She didn't want her friends fighting because of her.
"Rai! Don't talk if it hurts! Do you need more water?" Both Uo and Satchi forgot their feud and turned their attention back to Rai.
"No…no thanks…" was the muttered response. It always was. Her friends gave her some anyway. They always did.
"I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier Uo," said Satchi softly.
"Yeah...me too," was Uo's response.
Suddenly, Rai trembled as the first screech of pain to escape her lips made itself known. She bolted upright and clutched her stomach. Her skin felt as if it were on fire. Uo and Satchi rushed to her side, but she pushed them back. She cried out again, but as her mouth opened tongues of fire snaked out.
Rai's skin steadily turned black-ish like burning parchment. She scratched madly at her arms until they were glowing bright red! All her friends could do was watch helplessly.
Rai's hands stopped clawing at her flesh and rushed up to her skull as she grimaced with pain. Her arms continued to glow bright red until they burst into scarlet flame! Her shrieks turned inhuman as the flames danced on her skin, jumping from shoulder to shoulder. Her body was the color of charcoal, and her hair had begun to burn near the roots. The flames quickly traveled down to the ends.
She tried to bunch up in a tense ball, but kept flinching and spreading her limbs wildly about like a mad person. Fire erupted from her neck and rushed to meet her hands and ankles. The cries had been inhuman before, but now they were unbearable. Finally, the fire died down and Rai's body collapsed like a rag doll made from twigs and leaves.
Uo and Satchi could only stare in a mixture of emotions. Fear. Bewilderment. Sorrow. Many more of these feelings were crowding their minds, making their expressions neither afraid nor astonished.
All they could do was look at the smoldering pile of humanoid remains that used to be their friend, unable to break their gaze.
I have no idea where I'm going with this :)
Constructive critisism, please.