Peace… (Isn't how I thought it would be)
Foreword: Here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but at least this story is original =P
2. The Boy in the Water
Zuko eyed the small town which for the last few months had been the home of the last free people in the world. He smiled scornfully as the village came into focus.
He saw now why they called them the Southern Water Tribe, he smirked. It was nothing more than a primitive collection of small huts and igloos. Perhaps one large tent was the pinnacle of the architecture in the place. It was nothing like the soaring majesty of the Northern Water Tribe he had once 'visited'.
So this is where the fabled Water-Tribe warriors of Carnelian Bay hailed from? He was honestlythat these savages had held the Fire Navy at bay for so long before the fall of Ba Sing Se. If admiral Chan could see them now, he would probably hang himself out of shame.
"Take us in slowly, close behind that iceberg" Zuko pointed at a large broken berg, which was easily distinguished by the large crater in it's surface.
"Yes Sir." The helmsman acknowledged, as he set the ships course. The gargantuan block of ice was right now drifting gently between them and the village, and it would give them cover as they made their approach.
"We'll ghost in and take the Avatar, before Zhao has a chance to mobilize his army."
"Excellent, prince Zuko" his uncle praised. "Play to your strengths. Zhao may have power, but we have speed and surprise on our side."
"Yes." Zuko smiled grimly "The Avatar will be mine."
-A-V-A-T-A-R-
Katara stared out at the body in the water, it was floating about fifty feet away. It stood out against the surrounding water, clothed in a bright and garish yellow robe, of a type Katara had never seen before.
"Katara!" Sokka called "What in the spirits name are you doing?" That was when he saw the body too. His eyes boggled and met hers, and in them he saw her determination in what she was about to do. "Katara… don't" he pleaded.
She hesitated for a moment, looking between the body and her brother. In the end his plea was useless against her resolve. "We have to help"
"It's probably too late already" Sokka said
"What if it isn't?"
"Then it'll be some Fire Nation trick!" Sokka protested, but it was no use "Katara!"
Throwing caution to the suddenly vigorous wind, Katara shed her large parka and dived into the freezing southern ocean. She was a proficient swimmer, coming from having lived her whole life in the icy South Pole, among her element. But even she was struggling in the freezing waters.
Sokka stared helplessly after, but there was nothing he could do now.
Katara continued struggling towards the body, by now she was close enough to make out some of his features. Even floating in the water, she could tell 'he' was little more than a boy, perhaps her age roughly, slight of frame yet well built. A short cropping of hair covered his head, and the rest that she could see of him looked blue from the cold.
Finally after what seemed like hours in the freezing water Katara reached him. She could just make out his laboured breathing, and she felt his fluttering pulse when she grasped his wrist. He was alive, but just barely. Treading water as she held him she couldn't really describe what happened next. His hand suddenly felt soft and warm against hers, despite the cold and his icy skin. She felt something surge inside of her, some part of herself she had long hidden in despair and fear, suddenly awoken now that she had something, someone to hold onto. That small part inside her continued to surge in response, growing and overwhelming her. She didn't know where the power and knowledge from, but she could suddenly feel the ebbing in her blood, like the ocean tide in response to the push and pull of the moon. She felt that she had to let it all go, and in some unknown movement to her, she swept her arm back, behind her, then forwards again, in a flowing motion like a river running to the ocean. She could feel the surge inside her, almost unbearable now. And the Ocean surged in response.
-A-V-A-T-A-R-
Sokka nervously watched from the shore as his sister reached the strange body. He saw her treading in the water beside him, but she was struggling and he knew it. He saw her waving her arm back and forth and thought it was some sort of distress call. He was just about to jump in after her, but never got the chance.
A massive wave reared up from behind his sister seemingly out of nowhere in the relatively calm sea and crashed swiftly into the shore, carrying Katara and the body with it.
Sokka had no time to move out of the way as the wave bore down upon him. A few hectic water filled moments later he found himself swept alongside Katara and the mystery body which he could now see was a young man.
"That's it Katara!" his temper snapped as his fine tunic was soaked, wrecking his warrior make up. "Every time you play around with magic bad stuff happens and I get soaked!"
"But Sokka… I've never done anything like that before…" Katara said in a small voice, still seemingly in awe of what she'd just done.
Sokka looked around and realised the wave had thrown him some twenty feet from where he'd been standing. It would have carried Katara more than double that from where she was in the water. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he glared at her. "That's not the point!" he yelled, his voice cracking as he did so "The point is that whether it's some giant freakish wave or some little – and no less freakish – floating ball of water, whenever you wave your arms aroundI get covered in it! So I'm not splitting hairs between the two!"
"What is your problem!" Katara yelled back at him, equally as angry by his pig headed stubbornness "You want me to give up water bending altogether?"
"Yes!" he spat back at her "It's not like it's done you any good, has it?"
Katara however was no longer paying attention. She suddenly remembered the boy she had just rescued when she heard a ragged gasp from beside her. Her argument with Sokka was pushed out of her mind as she fetched her still dry parka and wrapped it around the shivering and unconscious boy. She forsook wearing the parka herself, knowing that she would survive without it, in the abnormally warm South Pole air. I guess we should thank the fire nation for that she thought sourly.
"Katara, I am trying to have an argument here!" Sokka said, trying to be intimidating. It came off as whiny. "Now leave the Fire Nation spy alone, we need to get back to the tribe. We can talk with dad about whether we come get him then, or leave him to wait for his 'friends'."
"You are such an idiot Sokka! This isn't Fire Nation uniform, It's not even Fire Nation made!"
"Well I know it isn't Water Tribe" he said smugly.
"Great deduction genius" she quipped, and the smile fell from his face. "If he really was a Fire nation spy, wouldn't he be wearing Water Tribe clothing, you know, maybe as a disguise or something?" She pointed out an obvious flaw in his reasoning.
"Well we all know each other in this tribe, and we'd spot a Water Tribe imposter a mile away, so he obviously dressed up as a foreigner 'coz it's the last thing anyone'd suspect."
"But you figured it out, oh master of perception" Katara said with all the sarcasm she could muster.
Sokka being the arrogant fool he was sometimes, completely missed her tone. "Well y'know, I don't like to boast or anything, but-"
"Urgh!" Katara's frustrated groan cut him off, which was followed by a resounding smack to his shoulder.
"Ow!" he yelped
"You are the most self obsessed jerk of a brother, ever!"
Sokka was shocked by her outburst. Where did that come from? He wondered, more confused than insulted. Hadn't she just been giving him a compliment before? "Girls…" he muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Katara growled and whirled around, her face barely an inch from his. Sokka flinched and jumped back from her, tripping over himself on the slippery ice, and landing on his buttocks with a loud 'thump'. "Well are you going to sit there all day? Or maybe you can get off your lazy butt and help me." Katara said glaring, before checking on the boy again. His breath was coming a lot more irregularly now, and his breathing was softer. She knew he wouldn't survive out here much longer, they needed to get him somewhere warm and dry, and that meant back to the village.
"But he's Fire Nation!" Sokka protested once more.
"Right now I don't care, even if he was you I'd still try to save him." She glared at him, but continued before he could protest further. "If we don't get him back to the village soon, he will die.
"Good riddance" Sokka said harshly.
"Sokka, please…" she begged "I can't do this by myself, and I can't let him die."
A long silence ensued, measured only by the boy's laboured breathing. They could hear his breathing growing fainter with ever passing moment, the cold and water were taking their toll.
Finally Sokka made his decision. "Fine, fine. I'll help. But I still don't like this. And I definitely don't trust him."
Katara rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything more to her brother. She just lifted the boy by around his shoulders as Sokka hoisted him by the legs. "We've got you" she whispered softly into his ear "I'm going to save you." Perhaps it was just wishful thinking on her part, but she swore he stirred a little at her words. Together they carried him stretcher like back to the Tribe, all the while the Fire Nation ships slowly closed in, bearing down upon them.
Author's Note: Ok, so hope you enjoy this... Yes it kind of parralels the original series, I guess we'll all see where it ends up =P This stroy is as much a surprise to me as you guys, the muse just pours out whatever it was, I got no control... well maybe a little ;) Anyway, please review, feedback makes me a better writer and in turn gets you a better story!
~BENIGNviewer~
