Dear readers, I ran into a bit of writers' block for this chapter, as you can tell by the long delay. I'm really sorry about that! Thank you Die for Pie for reviewing. You are my only reviewer so far so kudos to you, and your feedback is very much appreciated.
PLEASE FORGIVE ME FOR THE DELAY AND PLEASE REVIEW
Chapter 4: The Avatar; Lost, Found, and Lost Again
Bobbi watched as Zuko stormed down the ramp and into the destroyed village, easily disarming the young screaming Water Tribe warrior with a boomerang. Despite the fact that she disliked the prince's brash temper, she had to admit he was skillful in combat.
She watched his ponytail whip in the wind as he assessed the villagers faces. "Where are you hiding him?"
The villagers were scared silent, huddled together, eyes wide with fear. After about five seconds of silence, Zuko reached over, grabbing an older woman by the shoulders. Bobbi felt her eyes widen in fear for the woman. What was Zuko going to do? Use her as a hostage?
She watched as he looked around the village, gesturing to the old woman in his arms, "He should be around this age, master of all elements."
Bobbi shifted uncomfortably at the prince's awkwardness, biting her lip. She caught Iroh's eye from next her, and the older man sighed tiredly. "Diplomacy has always been… difficult… for my nephew," he said. She looked him fully in his amber eyes, they now held a pitying expression.
All she could do was nod in response.
Bobbi sighed and watched as the villagers continued to cower in silent fear of Zuko. The prince, who had grown impatient with their silence, shoved the woman back toward the crowd, letting out a whip of flame in frustration. Bobbi saw the fear in the children's eyes in the crowd, and anger swelled in her chest.
He couldn't just threaten a bunch of little kids!
"Okay, that does it."
Bobbi's legs banged loudly as she stomped down the ramp, knuckles gripping her wand at her belt so hard that they were white. "Hey!" she yelled. "You can't just do that!"
Zuko turned around to glare at her, but was interrupted by the screaming Water Tribe warrior again. Zuko disarmed him once again, breaking the spear with his hands and knocking the other teenager upside the head with blunt end. After the warrior fell the ground, Zuko dropped the broken weapon and turned to glare at Bobbi, edging his face dangerously close to her's.
"I told you-"
WHOOSH!
A flash of orange appeared at the corner of Bobbi's eye, and a strong gust of wind threw her off balance, forcing her to careen into Zuko. The prince lost his balance as well, and the two teenagers landed next to each other in the snow.
The ice soaked Bobbi's robes and created shivers down her spine that caused her to leap to her feet with adrenaline. Zuko stood up as well, staring at something or someone in front of him. Bobbi followed his gaze, and saw that he was staring at a small lithe boy around the age of twelve. The kid was oddly clad in light orange robes, his bald scalp covered in a blue arrow tattoo. His wide gray eyes narrowed as he assessed Zuko and his knuckles tightened defensively around the wooden staff in his hands. "Looking for me?" he asked.
He sounded so young!
"You're the airbender?" Zuko's tone was incredulous. "You're the Avatar?"
"Aang?" a Water Tribe girl maybe a year or two younger than Bobbi asked in surprise. Her blue eyes widened with shock.
"No way," she heard someone mutter in disbelief.
Bobbi stared at Aang and assessed him, staring into his deep gray eyes. There was good in him, most definitely, the pure type of good though. He was still innocent, still naïve…
Next to her, Zuko crouched into a fighting position.
"Wait, Prince Zuko," she said, taking a step in between him and Aang. "You don't have to fight him. You-"
Zuko shoved her a bit too harshly, and Bobbi fell down for the third time that day. She scowled as she attempted to push herself out of the snow, luck was apparently not with her at the moment.
A kind hand lowered its way into her vision, an offering of help. Bobbi looked up into the Water Tribe girl's eyes. She was the one who knew the Avatar's name.
For a moment, gray eyes studied blue, assessing one another, judging, wary, careful. And then Bobbi took her hand, breaking the barrier, allowing the younger woman to haul her to her feet.
"Thank you," Bobbi said, and felt obliged to introduce herself, "My name is Bobbi."
"Katara," the girl said quietly.
"It's nice to meet you," the words felt useless in Bobbi's mouth. What did nice even mean in this situation?
"It's nice to meet you too," Katara echoed, stepping back to stand with the rest of her village. Her expression changed from sympathetic to almost guilty, and Bobbi understood why as she found her position next to one of the Fire Nation Guards. Fate had put them on different sides of a war.
Bobbi forced herself to turn her attention back to Zuko and Aang, watching as the young bald-headed boy edged closer and closer to the crowd of villagers, pushed back by the prince's flames. Abruptly, the boy stopped twirling his staff, standing protectively in front of the Water Tribe villagers. "If I go with you, will you leave everyone else alone?"
The silence was deafening as everyone waited for Zuko's response. After what seemed like years, the prince stepped out of his fighting stance and gave a curt nod. He sent a series of hand signals at one of the guards who stepped forward with piece of rope, tied Aang's hands behind his back, and grabbed the staff.
"No Aang don't do this!" Katara yelled as the guard began to lead the young boy up the ramp.
"Don't worry, Katara," Aang replied, voice innocently confident. "I'll be fine."
Bobbi doubted that Aang believed his own words.
Bobbi found herself following the "child arrest promenade," slowly inching her way up the ramp so she wouldn't slip on her soaked sneakers and fall down into the snow. About halfway up the ramp, however, she lost her grip on the railing, and slipped backwards, bumping against something warm and firm that moved slightly backward at the impact. Someone's chest: Zuko's chest. Following a raspy grunt of frustration, the prince grabbed her around the waist and began to drag her up the ramp like a piece of luggage.
"Let me go!" Bobbi hissed, beginning to squirm.
Zuko was unfazed by her wiggling and only tightened his grip on her waist. He easily dragged her up the rest of the ramp, and after yanking Aang's staff away from the guard, he continued to drag her across the deck. He forced their way down into the cabin of the ship, pulled open a door to a large chamber, which Bobbi could only assume was his room (judging by the bed in the corner), and forcefully shoved her inside.
Bobbi's back hit the wall, and she let out a sharp cry. Her wand was dangerously jostled, loosened from her belt from the sudden movement. Before she could fix it, however, Zuko quickly strode in, slamming the door. His golden eyes were so terrifyingly fierce that she found herself looking away.
"You are not in any position to question my decisions," he whispered, stepping closer, his hot breath hitting her face. "Nor, are you in any position to disobey my orders or interfere with my mission." He leaned in, and Bobbi forced herself to look up at him again. "And if you step out of line one more time. I will order my soldiers to toss you overboard."
Anger rose into Bobbi's veins, overpowering any fear or doubt that was in her heart. "Then why don't you just do it," she hissed.
Her response was stupid in retrospect, and looking back on the incident, Bobbi was surprised that Zuko hadn't decided to just throw her off the ship right then and there. But he just stared at her, his expression unreadable. The silence between them hung thick in the air as silver eyes met gold, and the world seemed to stand still.
Just as the prince opened his mouth to say something, the door flew open, and a quick gust of wind entered the room along with Aang who was riding a ball of air. "My staff!" the young boy exclaimed, zooming the air ball forward and making a grab at where Zuko had placed the staff against the wall.
And then all hell broke loose.
Zuko immediately went on the offensive, punching flame after flame at Aang who dodged all of the prince's attacks expertly. One bout of fire the airbender redirected with a swish of air. It flew straight towards Bobbi and she dove diagonally to the metal floor dodge it, as taught in the safety instruction syllabus for Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Thank Merlin, Bodie had forced her to read it!
"Sorry!" Aang yelled at her, oddly cheery in the midst of battle. His expression turned fearful as Zuko lobbed another stream of fire at him, and he created another airball and zoomed out the door. Zuko ran after him, and Bobbi was left scrambling to her feet to follow them.
Unsure of which direction Aang and Zuko ran, Bobbi ran towards the direction Zuko had dragged her in, back towards the main deck. She ascended the stairs, breath heaving, dodging scrambling Fire Nation soldiers, and emerged into the sunlight, just in time to see Aang jump off the observation deck on some sort of glider. Zuko was close behind him and jumped off as well, grabbing onto the young boy's ankle and dragging them both down onto the deck with a loud thunk!
Both boys rushed to their feet in fighting stances, but something stopped them both in their tracks. Zuko looked forward, expression shocked, Aang looked backwards, expression changing from scared to excited. Bobbi followed their gazes, squinting at the giant fluffy beast flying in towards the ship. Was that… a mutant pegasus?
"Appa!" Aang shouted with glee, staring up at the giant mass of fur flying closer and closer to them.
The exclamation caused Zuko to snap out of his surprise. The prince promptly shot a stream of fire at Aang who fell overboard into the freezing water.
"Aang! No!" a familiar voice called out from above. Appa or whatever the giant beast was called had flown close enough that Bobbi could see its occupants. Katara and the Water Tribe boy from earlier stared wide eyed in horror as their ally was defeated.
Out of instinct, Bobbi ran to the side of the ship, searching for Aang to surface. Panic seized her chest as the seconds ticked by, and right when she was about to give up hope, a blue ball of light began to glow right under the water's surface. A ball of light, just like the one that brought her into this world in the first place…
Water shot upwards, and the ship gave a frightening lurch, and Bobbi found herself gripping the railing tightly to ensure she didn't fall off the ship. She stared, in fear and shock and awe, as Aang rose from the water, tattoos and eyes glowing, controlling a giant tornado made of water.
The Avatar was powerful, immensely powerful, and as he stared down, expression ethereally furious, Bobbi felt her hands tremble with fear. Aang was powerful, so powerful, and she was currently in league with the Fire Nation, his enemies. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend," she murmured to herself, remembering the old No-Maj proverb. "So what is the friend of my enemy?"
Aang raised an arm, summoning a giant wave that towered over the ship. It came crashing down on top of the deck all at once, creating mass entropy. Chaos. As she was swept across the deck of the ship, choking on frigid salt water, Bobbi thought of the answer herself. And as her vision began to blur and her head began to throb from her collision against the railing, the thought echoed in her head in a sporadic rhythm.
Enemy. Enemy. Enemy. Enemy. Enemy. Enemy. Enemy-
"Bobbi," a voice called her name, gravelly and old and soothing and calm. A hand was on her shoulder, shaking her firmly but gently. She opened her eyes and stared into a pair of kind golden ones.
"Iroh."
Opening her mouth welcomed the taste of copper on her tongue. Bobbi's nose was bleeding; her head hurt. She allowed Iroh to help her up and dizzily followed him to a large gap of the ship's railing. She looked down, swaying and saw Zuko hanging onto a thin chain. Iroh reached down and helped his nephew up by one arm. Bobbi heaved up Zuko's other arm, and the prince shakily stood to his feet, staring at something in the distance.
Bobbi turned around, wincing as her bruised neck was strained, and watched as the Avatar and his friends flew away on their giant mutant pegasus.
"Shoot them down!" Zuko yelled. An order that none of his men could follow since they were all covered in a thick layer of ice.
Taking initiative, the boy and his uncle moved in synchronization, shooting large bouts of flame straight at their target-
BOOM!
The fireballs hit the iceburg next to them, large blocks of snow began to fall, roaring louder than dragons or yetis or any terrifying beast. The bow of the ship was decimated, covered in snow and ice.
After staring at the scene for a few seconds, Bobbi patted her waist where her wand was. Still there, not broken, still hidden.
She was safe.
(AN: Thanks guys for reading! I'm opening up an OC challenge now. Create your own Ilvermony OC. I'm not sure how many I'll be accepting yet, but I know I'll need a lot since I'm about to start including Bodie and PJ again in a few chapters. Just put your OC's name, gender, appearance, age, Ilvermony house, hobbies, and personality down in the reviews, and after 2-3 chapters I'll be releasing the chapter with the OC's and Ilvermony :)
