a/n: this randomly popped up in my head. blame my plot bunnies.
dedication: to the furry pests that have taken over my brain.
disclaimer: /walks jerkily/ I am an alien…
summary: If the Four Nations didn't get along, what makes you think their gods would be any different? - Spirits!centric.
balance
once upon a time
"Did you just insult my hair?"
"So what if I did? It's like a flamingo-rabbit threw up on it!"
"Oh, and what about yours, Agni? Or should I call you Mr. Pumpkin-squash?"
"That's low, Yang. That's very low."
"You deserve it, O High and Mighty Sun God!"
"Oh Spirits, will you two ever shut up?" Koh rubbed his temples – he could practically feel their animosity. Agni snorted before neatly transitioning into a set of kata, while Yang tossed back her short-cropped pink hair and sent Koh a glare.
Houzi didn't even bother to look up from his meditating – Agni and Yang had practically turned this into a ritual – though, in Yang's defense, Agni had modeled the pumpkin-squash after his hair. Yin was in charge of the flamingo-rabbits and Koh was sure he'd feel his wife's ire later.
Next to him, a short girl with long, black hair nearly brushing the back of her knees, merely shook her head in disdain, "When will they ever learn? We are the Spirits, we're supposed to get along."
"Come on, Laogai, you're not supposed to be so naïve," Jang Hui snorted, delicately rearranging her tattered veil, "Where'd you hear that, anyway?"
"The lion-turtles told me," Laogai said, a brilliant smile lighting up her face and showcasing her innocent features. Koh grinned – he half forgot she was just a kid, though if he heard one more curse cross her lips, he would sew it shut with spidersilk.
"The lion-turtles are notorious liars," La fibbed as he leaned in closer. The grace underlying his posture lent fluidity to his story as he wove a tale of the horrible deceit the lion-turtles had wrecked upon the world before deciding to leave the balance to the Spirits.
"You're a notorious liar, La," Yin said wearily as he came into view, Tui morosely trudging behind him. Both their clothes were in tatters, and Yin's brilliant blue hair hung limply on his frame.
"What happened?" Jang Hui asked, eying their haggard appearance.
"The pterodactyl-raptors started eating the turtle-ducks," Yin informed them, "We had to get rid of them."
They could hear Wan Shi Tong's indignant hoot from the distance, "I told you that they were too aggressive! Yet you insisted on creating them anyway!"
"Hei Bai thought they were cute," Yang said, matter-of-factly, "Who's going to break it to him that they're gone?"
Agni, Tui, La, Laogai and Yin collectively shuddered at the thought of confronting the raging monster that Hei Bai transformed into when he was angry. Koh didn't even bother – nearly ten years after the world's formation had taught him that when the Six Spirits thought of something, they would always have their way.
"Koh, can you do it? Please?" Laogai pouted, a look she knew he couldn't resist.
"Maybe Houzi could…" his feeble attempt at deterring them failed as the monkey spirit pretended to ignore him. Sulking, Koh stomped off into the swamp, dreading the thought of facing the volatile spirit.
Luckily, Hei Bai wasn't upset, and the panda bear spirit explained to Koh that his idea was an experiment – if the Spirits kept on creating mindless animals, they'd be no better than the lion-turtles.
Reluctant as he was to approve another one of Hei Bai's ridiculous plans, Koh did agree that the Six Spirits had too much time on their hands. That's what brought him to his current position – sitting and listening to the six of them squabble like a pack of saber-toothed moose-lions.
They had agreed to resurrect the lion-turtles' original creation: Man. However, for the creature to not repeat its past mistakes, each Spirit decided to add a gift.
Agni, God of the Sun, Creator of Fire, Brother of Dragons – he gave his humans the ability to manipulate the fiery element he commanded.
La, God of the Ocean, Source of Water, the Ice Prince – he provided the cold element of water. His wife, Tui, Goddess of the Moon, Origin of the Tides, the Snow Princess – she gave them the gift of using the liquid her husband controlled.
Laogai, Goddess of the Earth, Destroyer of Stone, Sister of the Badger-moles – she taught them the skills to push and pull the steady and anchored material she ruled over.
Yin and Yang, Light and Dark, Bearers of Spirits, Passive and Aggressive, Parents of the Sky Bison – they gave some humans the power over the very air they breathed.
Koh smiled when it was all well and done – the humans adapted well to their new habitat. Of course, all the humans did not practice bending (it had been Hei Bai's name, and no one wanted to argue with him) but those who did ruled wisely and fairly, bringing peace to their world.
However, a rude awakening came, in the form of Wan Shi Tong. The scholarly owl had been the only one to visit the humans' world, and he and his fox spirits brought sad news.
The humans fought with each other, using the gifts of life, of healing, of strength, of spirituality for all the wrong reasons. They misused the power they took for granted, and in doing so, incurred the wrath of the Spirits that had helped them.
Koh – as was often the case – found himself playing mediator.
"It's Agni's fault, Koh! If his firebenders weren't so volatile –"
"How is it fair that airbenders have an unlimited supply of their element? Waterbenders need to carry water if they're on land –"
"Firebenders might be able to create their flames out of nothing but sheer will, but if they're cut off from the sun, their bending weakens. What about earthbenders, Koh? Unconstrained weapons at their feet – literally!"
"I personally don't approve of this bloodbending nonsense – giving a person total control of a fellow human being is barbaric – we're the Spirits, we need balance."
"What you need is to shut up."
Koh's voice wasn't loud – just the opposite. It was soft and low, but the warning it carried was enough to quiet the arguments between the Six Spirits – even Houzi cracked open an eye.
What most people did not know was that Koh was the oldest spirit – he had been born out of the lion-turtles' grief and he alone knew the suffering the world had undergone before the rest of them came into existence.
Koh had seen his fair share of suffering but this – this was going too far, "We need a peacekeeper. A balance. An Avatar."
They agreed to Koh's plan – when did they not? – and had decided to gift the Avatar all the bending powers. They had even compromised on the order of reincarnation – from the oldest Spirit to the youngest – fire, air, water, earth.
But that was where Koh saw a little snag.
"The first Avatar cannot be born into an established country," the slim, dark-haired, dark-eyed spirit spoke up, watching as Agni's face fell, "He cannot fall prey to the prejudices of his people."
"Then what do you suggest, Koh?" Agni's voice contained an underlying anger from Koh's easy dismantle of his plans.
Koh hesitated and looked from face to face – Agni's resentful scowl, Laogai's mischievous grin, Yang's confused expression, Yin's contemplative pose, Tui's sad look, La's pitying glances, Jang Hui's pinched mouth, Wan Shi Tong's narrowed eyes, Hei Bai's twitching ears and Houzi's alert position.
There was only one way to set things right – Tui, La and Jang Hui had already figured it out. There was only one way to restore balance to the world.
"The first Avatar must be devoid of all prejudices, all familial ties, all friendships. The path he walks will be a hard one, and yet he must never falter. He must remember what the world was like before peace – so he, and every Avatar after him, will work towards a new balance."
Koh stepped forward to the lifelike model of the Avatar they had created, waiting approval before it could be sent down to the humans' world. He gripped his face in his hands, and with a high-pitched keen that reverberated in every ear, he tore his face off and blindly affixed it to the Avatar.
He could feel his body disintegrating as he gave his own spiritual powers to the Avatar, as he unlocked its body to the most destructive and powerful meditative postures in the Spirit World, as he filled its head with the secrets of the lion-turtles, the dragons, the sky bison and the badger-moles.
Koh could feel two pairs of calloused hands – Agni and Laogai – drag him away as a tortured, agonizing scream continued, non-ending, from the blank canvas that moments ago had been a face. He could feel chants in the air – Yin and Yang – and he was aware that his arms were shortening, multiplying, turning pincer-like. He was conscious of the fact that his skin was turning scaly, and a weird clacking sound was replacing the screams.
Days later, when he found himself alone, in a realm that was nothing more than a gilded cage, with a monster for a body, and a collections of faces for a head – a realm that echoed with silence and betrayal, Koh found himself thinking of the lion-turtles that had taught him.
- "A day will come, young one," the wise being murmured, "When you will sacrifice everything for the world. When you will give your blood, your sweat, your tears to see the world live just one more day. When you will sign a contract with the Dark Spirit to make sure the world keeps on spinning."
The lion-turtle paused, and looked Koh right in the eye, before touching two of his chakra points with its majestic claws.
"And the day will come when you are hated for the actions you took." –
Koh kept in his realm, kept far way from the other spirits (except Hei Bai, who still wandered occasionally to graze in his fields). They were determined to turn him into a monster, so that he did – he preyed on lesser spirits and fought those who dared enter his part of the Spirit World.
He never once saw the Six Spirits again, but he still kept a collection of faces in the memory of their deception – faces that showed emotion, anger, love, hate. Faces that did not lie to him, faces that would never betray him.
and that was how Koh became the Face Stealer
le –
Years later, he shook in fury as he saw a young waterbender Avatar ride the waves, flirting with girls and showing off his bending, taking his duties lightly. Avatar Kuruk dishonored everything Koh had worked for, and the carefree waterbender was to be taught a lesson…
- fin
a/n: well, like i said. plot bunny attack! so, tell me if i should write the face-off between koh and kuruk, or just leave it like this.