Chapter Two: Retaliation

After nearly two hours of traveling, Ronan and Aki made it to the town of Shuǐ. During their trip, he tried talking to Aki, but she remained mute. Regardless, he continued talking in hopes that it will relax her. When they entered, it was noticeable that the population of the town was not high in numbers. It looked similar to Aki's home town, just minus the flames and smoke. The wooden buildings were covered in animal skins, and reinforced with added layers of lumber, most likely from repairs from harsh weather. Few people were outside, giving the pair weird looks. Ronan spotted a bar close by.

"Maybe someone there can help me out," he thought to himself. He knelt down so Aki could jump off his back. When they entered into the bar, some sketchy looking people in a booth were sharpening their swords, while others were using bending for their beverages to either warm them or cool them. "Stay close to me," Ronan whispered to Aki as he put his arm around her. She just simply nodded.

As they walked up to the counter, the man behind the it asked, "What'll have? The special today is meat stew." Ronan looked up at the board. It was worth five pieces of copper. He looked into his pack. He has a total of seven. He agreed to the special and had it be split to two bowls. The barkeep yelled into the back for it.

The two sat down at the counter. Ronan leaned towards Aki. "Are you okay?" She didn't react. He scratched his head. "Do you trust me?" She looked down and shrugged her shoulders. He slightly grimaced and looked the other way. The barkeep came back and put the bowls in front of them. Ronan thanked the man as he stepped away. The stew didn't look too bad. It was surely edible. He began to eat, but Aki just stared at it, zoned out. "Do you have any family close by, or anywhere around the world?" Aki snapped out of her daze and turned her head slightly towards Ronan and shook her head. A tear ran down her cheek. She opened her mouth to talk, but couldn't find the strength.

"It's alright," he said, "we can talk later if need be. Eat up for now. This stuff is actually quite delicious." She grasped her spoon, and began nibbling at her food. Soon, she was taking spoonfuls. "Hey barkeep." The man turned to Ronan and raised his head to say he's listening. "Are they any boats or ferries nearby that goes to Earth Kingdom?"

"Yeah, there is. There's a port just North of here. Maybe an hour away by foot."

"Thanks." Ronan leaned to Aki again. "If you don't have anywhere to go, you can come to Republic City with me." She continued eating at a slow pace. He laughed at himself quietly. "I hope she comes around," he thought to himself. After another spoonful of stew, Ronan stepped onto the floor. He felt something a mile away from the town, heading this way. He couldn't quite place what it was, but he had an idea what it was. His fear was realized when someone ran into the bar.

"The Non-Bender Army is heading this way!" The person ran out.

Aki stopped eating and panickedly looked to Ronan. He sighed, and looked to her right in the eyes. "I'm going to go out and see what's going on. I want you to hide here, right in that corner over here, okay?" She began trembling, tears running down her face. "Listen, I will be back for you, okay? I promise you. Now, please, hide." She nodded and sat in the corner, curled up into a ball. Ronan ran fast outside. He could see the smoke coming from the engines, snow kicked up in the sky. He ran towards them, face covered with a scarf.

As he approached, a dozen men took a knee and aimed their guns at him. "Hold your fire!" a voice yelled from behind the men. The man walked through the ranks of the men, revealing himself to be the officer that razed and Aki's village, and the one who called the order to kill her. "Tell me," he said in a raspy voice, "Are you a bender or are their benders in that town you seem to protecting?"

"What does that matter?" Ronan asked in deep voice in hopes that they don't realize who he is.

"Everything!" The man yelled. "All benders deserve to die! Even their precious Avatar! They are the reason why the world has so much conflict!"

"And you aren't causing conflict?"

"We are resolving all future conflicts!"

"By murdering innocent women and children?!" Ronan yelled, infuriated by just thinking those words.

The ground began to tremble at Ronan's anger. The air thickened. The officer went wide eyes, realizing that the Avatar stands before him. "Kill him!"

Ronan could feel the men pulling the triggers with his feet. He could brought up a thick wall of ice that stopped every bullet in its path. He then kicked in and crushed every man in the way. The two tanks the brigade had shot their munitions. Ronan jumped high up into the sky, narrowly avoiding the explosion. He flipped and landed between the two tanks. The outer shell was covered in platinum, having the tanks being unbendable. In response, Ronan kicked hard into the ground creating spires of earth, launching them into the sky. Five men armed with long swords charged. Ronan quickly grabbed his swords and ignited them in flames. He blocked the onslaught of attacks. When the opening came, he countered. He kicked one foe's leg causing him to fall forward into Ronan's flaming scimitar. It went to his chest. He blocked another attack as he pulled his sword out of the man's chest. As soon as it was freed, he slashed and got his attacker across the face. At that time, the tanks came crashing back down, crushing another enemy. The men inside the tanks were in complete disarray from the crash. The last two men still stood their ground. They charged but were met with a wall of flames that came out of the scimitars. They fell down, wounded. The officer was overwhelmed with fear from the result of the attack. In just a mere minute, the Avatar decimated his small brigade of soldiers. He scrambled to one of the transport vehicles and floored it. Ronan acted quickly bended a large mass of air around the vehicle and sent it back towards him. It crashed on its side and rolled over multiple times. The officer slowly crawled out of the wreckage. Ronan stomped over to him and kicked him onto his back.

"Please! Spare me!" the man cried out, pleading for his life.

"No!" Ronan's voice boomed out, "Your sins are too heavy." He kicked him ground, launching the officer into the sky in the same fashion as the tanks. The blow smashed the man's back, taking the air out of his lungs. He began falling down, but before he made it back to the ground, he was met with Ronan's scimitar. It pierced the officer in the gut. He lost all feeling and Ronan lowered his weapon and the officer slid off onto the ground. The officer laid dead.

Ronan turned towards the remaining members of the Non-Bender Army. "Go now, or you will suffer the same fate." They did not waste their time. They quickly piled into the only working vehicle and floored it. When they disappeared from the horizon, Ronan began walking back to the town.

The citizens of Shuǐ were left speechless. Before he turned towards the bar to see Aki, he saw that she was already outside. She witnessed the whole fight. She was trembling. Ronan knelt down to her eye level. "I'm sorry you had to see that."

"...Were those the people who attacked my home?" she asked, finally breaking her silence.

"Yes. Yes they were." he said. "I kinda lost it there."

"...My family... They all died fighting those people. My father, by brother, my uncle... My mother was all I had left, but they still took her from me..." she said in a low manner. "I'm not sorry for what happened to those people." She tired holding back her tears. "I just wish the fighting would stop. I have nobody left!"

Ronan held Aki close and hugged her. "Hey now.. Listen, I know this may sound corny, but you are not alone. I'll be your family now. These people also took my family away and I was too young to even know my parents or the struggle the earth was going through. I'm kicking myself for staying in the Spirit World for so long, but I made sure I was ready to come out to help heal this world. I am truly sorry for what has happened, but I will say it again: you are not alone." He looked her in the eyes, and through the tears, he saw a glimpse of happiness. "It's time for us to continue our journey, okay."

She sniffed away her tears and rubbed her eyes. "Okay... You're not alone either now, right?"

That statement made a lump in Ronan's throat. "Yeah, that's right. From now on, we are each others guardian."

Ronan stood back up and took her hand. She slung his pack around her back.

Someone walked up to them. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say thank you. Those of us here aren't prepared for any sort of encounter."

"Is the world that messed up?" Ronan asked.

"Recently, not really. The war has been calm for at least the past couple of years. We assumed that we were safe here in the south, but obviously we were wrong."

"Hopefully that group of men don't recoup and try to stage another attack, but without their vehicles over there, you should be good. Actually, those two over there should still be functionable. I suggest that this town salvage them."

"We will."

Ronan turned to Aki. "Ready to go?" She nodded.

The townspeople said their thanks as the two walked to their next destination.