A/N: I may come back and edit this further later, but for now, I hope you enjoy the chapter. -Sitend
CITY LIMITS
It's pretty much nighttime now.
Suro sits in the back of the truck, looking out the window. Brott and his group went into the building hours ago to get the refugee passports. A tinge of worry goes through Suro as he wonders if his new allies had been arrested.
Suro narrows his eyes in thought. How did they get caught then? If they were part of such a powerful organization, wouldn't they be highly trained fighters? Still, no matter their skill, four runaways up against an entire organization wouldn't stand a chance, and fighting to the end isn't every man's last resort.
Suro wonders whether or not giving up might be the best choice before a fight even breaks out.
He considers himself more thoughtful than active, with the taste of defeat still lingering in his mouth. Analyzing the environment didn't help him get beat up any less, but rather, he was saved by his sheer luck that someone was there.
Suro gets a sour feeling somewhere in the back of his mind. Before he can think of something else, the doors of the building swing open, and Brott files out. He is carrying a few small booklets in his arms and his entourage soon follows. As soon as Brott finds himself entering the truck, he starts babbling.
"Can't believe how boring it was in there! Bet you no one working at the desks wanted to be there either. And don't get me started on the lines!"
Brott turns to Suro. "Suro! Did'ya know that makeup powder comes in portable kits these days? Well neither did I, until this fat woman started to choke out half of the line with her perfume. Literally a scented boulder, I tell you..."
Brott settles into the driver's seat and slides down out of exhaustion. After calming down, he hands the small pile of booklets that he was clutching to Suro.
"Well Suro, we got the passports. We're now all officially refugees of the Republic! You even get a nice, shiny little holographic sticker on the front since you're a minor. Isn't that neat?"
Suro sorts through the booklets, flipping each page. Each booklet only contains a sparse amount of biographical data and a serial number in heavy dark brown ink at the bottom. Next to the number, a small stamp with the refugee symbol resides. After flipping through two such booklets, he finds his, noticing the small holographic sticker with an earth symbol on it. A small text below the sticker reads: "Upon attaining the age of 20, this citizen is to be redirected to the nearest immigration authority office to confirm identity and claim official immigration status."
Thanks Brott, but your kind nature doesn't exactly translate well into you being an entertainer. He presented it like he was talking to a little kid.
Sighing just quietly enough for Brott not to hear, Suro says, "Interesting," and hands the passport booklets back to Brott. Brott smiles as he packs the stack into the dashboard. His eyes show a kind of awkward relief.
Brott turns the ignition and the rumbling engine starts up again. Suro leans back. Only a bit longer to go; they're right at the border, so they should cross into Republic territory pretty soon.
The truck pulls out of the small lot next to the plain red-brick office building and merges into the road. The one story building soon fades out of rear window view.
There are a lot of trees around here. This place is so green, it almost hurts.
Suro is still amazed at how vast everything seems all around him. In between each tree, there are more trees of varying distances away, and between those, even more. The border town is long gone, lying farther back past the office.
Bored from staring at virtually the same trees over and over again, Suro turns back around and leans against the window. Turning his head, he sees Brott's posse sleeping all over the place. The two in the seats next to him sleep leaning against each other, and the one in the seat next to Brott is also in dreamland somewhere.
They went out like lights, huh? Brott himself seems to be a little sleepy. He isn't moving much, even in spite of the fact that he is driving on a perfectly straight road. There's nothing to do.
Suro, for the first time since his arrival to this new world, feels true boredom. He feels regret for not appreciating everything he has at the moment, but the novelty of freedom seems to dry out pretty quickly. The road behind seems endless, just like the relatively plain road ahead.
The night sky has fewer stars than when they were travelling the desert. The headlights of Satomobiles and the few and far between lamps seem to hold off the entirety of the night sky as they shine. The stars, scared off, retreat. Only the bravest shine through, becoming the brightest amongst the sparse clouds and the deep purple darkness.
Earlier, his worry seemed to soak up the time, but now that he is surrounded by those closest to him, he feels that the newness of everything around him is blunted. At the same time, however, he thinks that he is missing out on some kind of experience. Suro feels that his thoughts are of a plain, true nature, tied to his current feelings rather than his memory.
Suro wishes for a nice house like Araji's one day, and maybe some clothes of his own that fit him. He wants to have his own possessions some day. It will be interesting to find out what having a private place to live will feel like. Although Brott is akin to family now, Suro would still like some privacy and solitude. Despite a couple brief dips in ponds, Suro feels that he has not had adequate opportunity to wash himself nor have his companions.
Sometimes close is just too close.
Things could be worse, though. Things could always be much worse. In fact, they were just a day ago, let alone several. Life is looking up.
"Guys, we're nearly there." Brott quietly says as the truck whizzes by a large green sign to the right.
"They're all asleep." Suro says with the same care as not to wake them.
"Oh, okay."
Suro sees a somewhat-large structure looming in the distance, stretching across the road. The closer the truck gets to it, the more it reminds Suro of a defensive wall. Sparse light shines from the truck, barely illuminating the smooth, concrete sides. Approaching closer, Brott slows down and stops when he reaches a small booth in the center of the road. Pulling up beside the booth causes the metal grates covering the sides of the booth to roll up, revealing a man sitting behind a desk through the window.
The man is wearing a mostly grey coat, buttoned up to the neck. Atop his head is a grey circular uniform cap, with a red band around it. His hand is twiddling a pen around idly. He looks at Brott through the glass and motions in a circle for Brott to lower the window. Brott does so, and a voice comes in through a small circular speaker installed in the glass.
"Hand over your passports and prepare to be searched for contraband at the station ahead."
Brott opens the dashboard and hands the man the stack cautiously. Scrunching up his brows for a moment, the man flips through the passports, licking his finger periodically to flip pages. Out from under his desk he withdraws a stamp and a small scanner. He runs it over the serial numbers of the passports and stamps each one as the scanner beeps repeatedly.
"Proceed up ahead," he says, handing the passports back to Brott.
Brott slowly drives forward. Past the booth, the headlights only show the grey wall. Suddenly, the ground starts lowering and the truck starts moving downwards. Suro and Brott, being the only ones awake, look around to try to find out what is happening. The truck is lowered until it is in a well-lit chamber. Two guards, dressed in the same grey coats that the man in the booth had, approach the truck from either side. In front of the truck is a closed stable door.
Looking around, it is clear that the truck is now in some kind of subterranean checkpoint. The walls to either side are white with grey lines horizontally, stretching out forwards following a tunnel. This chamber and the tunnel leading out of it are lit by bright white lights. The men place their hands on the sides of the vehicle and lower their heads. Their faces are scrunched, seemingly focused on feeling the truck. Suro is reminded of Oji's sixth sense back at Araji's house.
After a few seconds, they nod and step away. The stable door in front of the truck swings open and Brott starts to drive through.
The tunnel stretches wide and far, having the capacity to fit maybe four or five lanes of trucks like Brott's side by side. Behind the truck, the chamber seals itself off as the platform of road on which the truck was lowered is raised up with a thrust of the guard's arms.
The tunnel's walls and road look freshly painted and paved respectively. Despite the fresh look, the tunnel is occupied by the lone presence of the green truck rolling along the black and yellow-marked asphalt.
There isn't much to see, so Suro attempts to sleep.
Suro jolts awake as his body lunges forward, pressing him against his seat belt. Screeching tires and screaming male voices drown out Suro's whimper as Suro comes to.
Brott is frantically gripping the steering wheel and swerving the car left and right. The view from the windows around Suro are a blur of green. Brott's accomplices are sticking themselves halfway out the windows of the truck and swinging their arms, raising rock walls around the sides of the truck as Suro sees the green and brown extent descending steeply below them.
"BROTT WHAT'S HAPPENING?!" Suro yells, attempting to shout over the rumbling frame of the truck and the squeal of the brakes.
"I NEARLY HIT A DEER-MULE AND WE CRASHED OFF OF THE SIDE OF THE ROAD! ARE YOU OKAY?" Brott replies at the same volume.
"YEAH, BUT WHERE DOES THIS MOUNTAIN END?!"
"SOMEWHERE AROUND 5,000 FEET DOWN FROM HERE!"
"WHAT?!"
"YEAH, I KNOW RIGHT?!"
Suro presses himself against the back of his seat and tucks his knees to his chest as tightly as possible. In front of the car, a large looming rectangular shape draws nearer through the thick fog and meager amount of dawnlight.
"HANG ON SURO, WE'RE GOING TOO FAST!" Brott yells out.
The truck keeps racing down, narrowly swerving between trees and skidding past large rocks bent out of the way by Brott's friends. The building emerges from behind the fog, standing many multitudes of stories tall. It stands at the edge of what appears to be a large spa deck. Small pools of water and mud come into view, with one in particular seemingly right in the crash course of the truck.
Suro is shaking and wide-eyed. He feels like he can't move. Right as the truck is about to ramp off the mountainside into the mudpool up ahead, Suro is ripped from his seatbelt. He momentarily finds himself airborne somehow, his vision in a blur.
Brott holds Suro around the waist with one arm as he flips around in the air. Brott makes a fist with his free hand, rigidly pumps his arm to his side, and thrusts his arm upwards, summoning a large rock pillar from the deck below him.
He lands heavily onto the pillar, nearly dropping Suro from his grip as he receives the shock of impact. He rotates his arm so that his fist faces below and thrusts his arm downwards, lowering the pillar to the ground level of the concrete deck.
Brott puts Suro down and helps him to his feet. A large crowd of people dressed in bathing suits and sauna towels gathers around the crash site.
Brott's friends jump off of their own pillars and walk over to the edge of the mudpool. The mud is draining fast and the truck has seemingly fallen right through the bottom of the pool. Crunching and smashing noises can be heard below the deck.
"Suro!" A familiar voice calls out from the crowd behind him.
Suro turns around and sees a similarly familiar face making its way through the crowd.
Araji!
She steps out of the screaming crowd wearing a light green summer dress with a yellow floral pattern.
"Suro, what are you doing here?"
"What are you doing here?"
"I stopped here with my parents for some relaxation before they dropped me off at Republic City. I meant, what are you doing here crashing a truck through a spa resort?"
Suro turns to Brott, "Brott, how about you explain this."
Brott crosses his arms, "Well how else was I supposed to avoid crashing into that deer-mule?!"
Araji shook her head. "So, how are you doing?"
"Fine. Other than what's happening now, it's literally been a day since I last saw you."
"Right."
An explosion rocks the deck from below.
"Suro, I don't think this is the time for small talk." Brott worriedly calls out.
"You don't say," Araji replies.
The deck rumbles again, throwing Suro and Araji off balance. Araji's eyes widen. She whips around to face the crowd and commands.
"EVACUATE! NOW!"
At the very least, the crowd of resort-goers were already panicking from the crash and were halfway towards the hotel by the time Araji warned them. Brott and his friends follow the crowd.
"Stay calm! We are here to help you evacuate," Brott calls after the crowd.
"I mean, you DID just crash your truck into the sauna!" Araji yells.
She sighs and turns back to Suro, "Suro, we need to clear the building. Follow me."
Araji takes off running towards the Hotel and Suro follows suit. "You know how to earthbend Suro?"
"I think so!"
"What do you mean, you 'think so?'"
"...Nevermind."
"Whatever. Follow me into the lobby, we need to take the stairs and clear the floors!"
The building looms more than ten stories above Suro and Araji. The duo approach the large glass-covered main hall of the hotel. Suro and Araji enter through two open doors into the temperature-controlled cool air of the hotel interior.
Suro follows Araji past ornately decorated red and green walls with golden foil caricatures of mythical creatures and past brown leather lounge chairs and sofas. When they reach the desk in the center of the main lobby, Araji sharply turns left and then darts left once more shortly afterwards, disappearing into a stairwell. Suro nearly trips when trying to turn after her and quickly catches himself on the floor with his palms, then darts forward to try and keep up.
Suro and Araji rush up a flight of stairs and past evacuating vacationers. When they rush out into the second floor hallway, they see all the doors to every room swung open. Araji runs back and forth, peeking inside of rooms.
"All empty on this floor!" Araji calls out, breathing heavily, "Suro, check the floor above us! We'll alternate floors until we meet at the roof!"
Suro takes a moment to reel from the intense physical exercise he just went through. He heaves and wheezes from long-since untrained lungs. Rest won't do him good now.
He must keep going.
Suro tails his companion and floor by floor, Araji and Suro get occupants moving and clear out every room systematically. After finishing his sixth floor or so, Suro's legs are aching and buckling, but he pushes on towards the last few steps leading up to the roof.
Suro turns the handle and swings his body sideways into the door, causing him to fall to his knees out on the rooftop as the door crashes outwards. The sun has fully peaked over the horizon and now shines brightly, beating down on the back of Suro's neck. Below the roof level, the fog of the mountainside obscures the view in every direction.
Suro pants and gulps in air, his chest lowering and raising rapidly. Araji's pitter-patter of footsteps echo out of the stairwell behind him, and before long, he sees the shadow of her dress and legs rush past his peripheral vision.
"Hey you kids, get away from there! You need to evacuate right now!"
Suro looks up and sees Araij moving towards two small children playing around on the ledge of the rooftop. Just as Suro lunges forward and stumbles to his feet, the roof begins to rumble yet again. Araji leaps over to the two kids and grabs them, slinging the both of them over her shoulders.
"Suro, grab one, I can't carry them all!" Araji commands, her voice strained and dry.
Suro rapidly shuffles over and Araji places one of the children piggyback onto Suro, then positions the other child similarly onto her own back. He holds on tight to the child's right leg with his good arm.
"Let's move!"
Suro tiredly nods.
The two set off down the stairs. Although they are heaving and shakily bounce between every step on their way down, each step Suro takes jolts him forward. Suro can feel the soreness in his lungs, the feeling of every layer of alveoli stripped of their moisture and forced to absorb dry, cold air from the stairwell that becomes insufferably hot once drawn into his throat.
After endless steps, the duo exhaustedly make it to the lobby, where Araji turns left at the desk and bounds out of the front door with Suro. The deck shakes one last time as they reach the stable solid ground on the paved road in front of the hotel. The road leads off steeply downwards to the left and curves back to the right, disappearing below the curve of the mountain.
Araji and Suro peer over the road barrier and see a crowded black parking lot far below at the base of the mountain. Araji sets down the child from her back, and motions for Suro to do the same. She points down the road.
"Run, get to your parents in the parking lot!"
The kids take off screaming as their exhausted rescuers collapse onto the road barrier. Araji and Suro take turns coughing and looking blankly at each other. Their hair is slicked back with sweat, their clothes heavy and stuck to their backs.
Their tortured expressions savor the moment of peace before the resort behind them belows a loud metallic creaking roar. Araji grabs Suro by his right arm, dives over the edge of the road barrier, and down the steep mountainside. She raises her free hand palm with curled fingers and strikes upwards, bringing a flat stone slab out of the dirt below.
She barely catches her balance as she lands on the board with Suro's weight pressing down on her. She rotates her right ankle sharply and creates a foothold in the slab as she begins the descent. Suro limply leans against Araji's back, passed out. Araji sweeps left and right, weaving in between trees and roots. The rock board begins to crack beneath Araji's feet. Every swerve results in part of the slab chipping off around the edges and crumbling. Air whips Araji's long black hair in tendril-like trails behind her.
She spots a ridge in the mountainside below her. It's too wide to dodge. She braces for impact.
The board ramps off the ridge, sending Araji and Suro's limp body flying. Araji quickly summons another slab below her and lands. She spots Suro's body fly out much farther into the treeline below.
"Suro!" Araji screams out.
Suro hears a voice call out for him. The darkness behind his closed eyes peels away to reveal a starry sky that he had seen in a vision prior. The blue-clad woman has returned.
"You did well, Suro. I'm not sure I've seen many people power through that much physical punishment before. Reminds me of my past."
Suro realizes his body in his mind and comes into being.
"What's happening?"
"You're unconscious and falling down a mountain."
"..."
"You need help, and I know you haven't had much practice, but I need you to do something."
"Okay."
"Think back to those people you saw behind me. Try to remember them."
Suro pauses and focuses his mind. The greyed out figures appear behind the woman once more.
"Now what?"
"Call out to them. Ask them for their guidance."
"Help!"
"Think it!" the woman rushedly exclaims.
Suro imagines himself yelling to the crowd of people, pleading for their guidance and wisdom. Momentarily, their downcast expressions flick upwards and stare at Suro with white glowing eyes.
The starry sky and the woman flash out of Suro's mind and everything goes to black.
Araji squints at the treeline ahead of her, trying to catch a glimpse of Suro. As she focuses on the drop below her, a body rises upwards through the fog. Although the details of the form are hidden behind a veil of grey, bright white glowing eyes pierce the fog staring straight back at her. The form rises up into the air and strikes its arms to its sides, pushing the fog away in a radiating sphere away from itself.
Araji can now see that it is Suro, floating within a spherical vortex. Araji passes below Suro and stops a short distance past him, her heels first breaking through her rock board and digging into the mountainside dirt. The massive hotel has fallen over the side of the mountain along with its deck foundation and is now heading straight down the mountain at Suro. Araji glances over her shoulder and back.
It's going to fall on the parking lot. There's nothing she can do to stop it. Large chunks of asphalt hurl downwards straight towards her. Araji leaps from side to side while pushing the debris as far from her sides as she can, attempting to deflect it away from the crowded lot some distance below. After she does all she can, she stands staring at Suro.
Suro's body moves on its own once more. Encased in a sphere of air floating above the treeline, his body begins to swing its arms carefully and deliberately in a figure-eight pattern. The roar of the falling building echoes off the mountain and the building comes into view, followed by a cloud of dust throwing the fog off behind it. Suro's body clenches its fists and strikes its arms upwards, forearms bent.
A massive shelf of rock emerges from the mountainside in front Suro and begins to block out Araji's view of the falling building. Suro's body flies towards the rock wall and presses against it with its right shoulder as its left arm remains raised. The rock wall continues to climb in height as the building impacts the wall. Suro pushes against the force, but is forced out of the air and lands on the steep slope, digging his feet into the ground. Araji snaps out of her stupor and quickly summons a rock board, then begins swiftly making her way down to the parking lot.
The building crashes continuously into the rock wall, bits and pieces of concrete managing to get flung over the crest of the perpendicular shelf in the mountainside. Suro digs in further and further into the ground, slowing down the falling building. Araji finally makes it down to the lot, where colorful cars and clothed guests stand staring upwards at the mountain. Araji turns back and looks up. The building begins to greatly slow its descent, however the pieces that have been falling off begin to draw near the base of the mountain.
Araji set herself into a heavy defensive stance and prepares to smash away the approaching debris. One chunk of rock flies at her and she swats her left arm upward with a fist, snapping her arm into a vertical position. In response, the rock is deflected off of its course and flies to Araji's left. Another hunk of rock flies at her, followed by yet a third one. Araji pushes forward open-palmed in her right hand and moves her left arm to her right until it crosses over her right forearm. The rocks halt and are flung to the right.
Araji quickly sets her fists down to the blacktop, falling to one knee, then jumps upwards with one fist raised into the air with the other arm swiping diagonally at an angle perpendicular to the mountainside only a few feet in front of her. A small rock wall about twice Araji's height and once her body thickness rises from the ground and begins to take impacts from other hunks of rock falling down the slope. Araji jumps back from the wall and repeats the process to form a secondary barrier and catch any pieces that break away from the larger pieces of debris.
She lands after the second jump, and collapses backwards onto her elbows on the asphalt. She looks up at the mountain and sees that the building and rock shelf are much farther down that they were the last time she got a chance to look, no more than a hundred feet from the parking lot up the mountain. The rock wall is still and the building is no longer moving, but rather rests hanging partially over the edge of the shelf.
Araji sees Suro dug about waist deep into the mountainside, his lower half surrounded by a rock casing. She wearily raises herself off the ground. Suro is unmoving, still leaning on the wall. People behind her begin to whisper and mumble. Araji hears someone mention the Avatar.
"Suro!" she calls out worriedly.
Araji bounds past the border of the black top and begins scrambling up the mountainside towards Suro. Her muscles ache and her energy is drained, but she presses on. The shadow of the rock wall covers Araji as she approaches him.
When she reaches Suro, she sees that he is unconscious. As she draws near, she sees the faint white glow in his eyes dim and go out. Suro is breathing, but his chest movements are weak and he is rasping quietly. Araji kicks away the rock around Suro's waist and stomps her foot, causing Suro to spring up out of the ground. Araji swipes her arm weakly to her side and catches Suro with a wide rock slab before he can hit the ground and roll down the mountain.
Exhausted, Araji falls flat onto the slab as well. She closes her eyes and takes in the fresh air, heaving with every breath as her mind goes blank.
Minutes pass.
Her breathing has calmed, but her exhales are raspy. Her slow and deep sighs sound out in dissonance with Suro's shallower, quicker breaths. The air condenses around her and misty droplets form on her skin, combining with droplets of sweat and running off of her body onto the rock.
She shivers and promptly releases a dry cough. Araji opens her eyes and looks to her left at Suro, who hasn't moved and still steadily wheezes out light breaths. She gets up onto her elbows shakily and pushes herself up from the slab, falling on the ground onto her palms. She stands and balances her leg on the slanted slab. Araji leans forward and examines Suro for injuries.
Suro's damaged arm is missing all of the wrappings that Araji had placed the night before. The arm has deep cuts and scrapes packed with dirt. His body and loaned clothes are caked in patches of grime as well, and his legs are completely covered in mud.
Araji pulls Suro onto her back and begins descending back towards the lot. Vehicles had already begun leaving the parking lot, however a small crowd awaits the pair. Once she gets to ground level, the crowd begins cheering wildly, various voices overlapping and mentioning the Avatar. Brott and Oji step out of the cheering mass and run over to Araji. Brott moves to her side and takes Suro off of her back, cradling him in his arms.
Araji's eyes widen at the sight of her father and she collapses onto him, hugging on as tightly as she can. The crowd quiets down.
"You saved everyone Araji. I'm so proud." he says quietly into her ear.
Oji looks over at Brott and asks.
"I'm Oji, are you the boy's father?"
"Yes, my name is Brott and we were just making our way to Republic City when we got into an accident."
"He came by last night to ask for directions. I never imagined that that refugee boy could be the second Avatar. That glow, that power, it's unmistakable. "
"...Second, you say?" Brott mumbles almost inaudibly.
"Come, I will take you the rest of the way to Republic City. You must bring him to the White Lotus at once."
"Yes, if that's what must be done. Thank you." Brott says, hiding his gritted teeth.
Araji listens to the conversation, but barely registers what is being said. The crowd has cleared and the people continue to drive away. Oji holds his daughter up by the shoulder as she walks along, dragging her feet. Brott's friends remain in place where the crowd was and they follow him as he walks past.
Oji pulls out car keys from his robe and a sienna-colored minivan in front of him lights up. His wife, sitting in the passenger seat, waves to the group. Oji slides open the rear door, revealing two additional rows of seats. Araji, Suro, and Brott take the middle row while Fihr, Lei, and Seok take the back row.
"Republic City is a few hours away, so get comfortable." Oji says.
Brott nods and looks over at Suro. He's fast asleep.
Good, get some rest young Suro. There's much to do, and I fear that the distance between us may grow larger than I anticipated.