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"We have them now," says a strange voice that is dangerously close to Katara's ear. "What do we do with th-"
Before the stranger can finish his sentence, Katara's hand blindly juts out, groping for water to bend the person away with. There is water in grass, and with a flick of her hand, she sends the tiny amount onto the person's face hoping to startle him, or at least get him away from her. It is quite for second, sensing a tug on her outstretched hand, Katara rakes her fingernails across the man's skin. His howl has her up out of her sleeping roll, her hands positioned with water she has blindly bended from the grass.
Though it is past midnight, Katara can see fine. It helps when the strangers are Fire Nation soldiers who are also firebenders.
It takes a minute for Katara to gain her bearings. It is two against four. When she finishes scanning their campsite, she corrects her internal statement, it is one againts three. The Blue Spirit, a light sleeper, is already in combat with one of the soldiers, swords against fire. The other soldiers, not representing the brightest the Fire Nation has to offer, were wondering what to do with the Blue Spirit's female companion.
More like, who would have the honor to be able to compromise her first, Katara thinks with a shudder.
Katara shoots an ice spear at the soldier who had woke her up. It pierces his upper thigh, sending him spiraling to the ground with a pained scream, alerting his comrades that Katara is not helpless.
She jumps as a jet of fire is sent towards her feet, trying to disrupt her base. She spreads her hands, lifting all the surrounding water into the air. She takes water from the blades of grass, from sweat on the men, and the water from her bending pouch lying in the ground.
If she looked down, the grass is brown and shriveled, but she doesn't. Katara keeps her focus on the men in front of her.
Katara's eyes widen in a moment of shock, watching the water form a tight shield in front of her. Though her eyes and mouth are wide open, Katara doesn't have the luxury of time to wonder how she was able to extract all of the water from her surroundings.
She sends ice shards in multiple directions, keeping her attackers at bay.
With a momentary glance, Katara notices that the Blue Spirit has won his fight by discarding his swords and punching the soldier in the face, watching him crumple to the ground.
He starts attacking the soldiers Katara tries to hold off. The soldiers pick sides; one attacks the Blue Spirit while the last two start to attack Katara, thinking she is the more dangerous one out of the two of them.
Katara feels more overwhelmed as the two soldiers focus their bending with the sole purpose of bring her down. Her water hisses and steams as it comes in contact with their fire. Katara is on the defence this time, slowly stepping back over her sleeping mat as she loses ground.
Her already tattered dress is scorched in all different areas. Beads of sweat collect on her brow as she defends herself against the one Fire Nation soldier. The other went to help his companion fight the Blue Spirit.
Katara's energy is drained. It takes all her strength to complete a simple bending form of a water whip.
Katara is too drained to prevent what is about to happen next.
Katara is too late.
Her eyes widen in realization of what is about to unfold before her.
A searing heat punches into her stomach; a blinding flash of pain follows. Her vision blurs as she collapses onto her knees. The ground comes up fast as she feels her head falling towards it. Her hair that has escaped her braid, swings in front of her view.
Her cheek hits the soft dirt of the ground; she coughs as dirt collects in her throat. Her cough brings up blood; blood that she lets dribble off of her lip, letting it pool on the ground next to her. She cant stop coughing; she can't stop screaming in pain. She doesn't know what happened.
Her head bumps up and down from the pounding of boots. From her fuzzy viewpoint on the ground, she can see the Fire Nation's red pointed shoes. She can not see the Blue Spirit's boots or his figure.
Her back heats up as a fireball comes dangerously close to charing her clothes and to an extent, burn her skin off of her exposed back.
Her nose receives a whiff of smoke, of burnt flesh. All she can smell around her is burnt flesh, her own flesh.
A screaming flash of pain makes its way into her mind after a slight reprieve. A gurgled cry, mixed with blood, escapes from her mouth.
Katara's name is cried out from the Blue Spirit as she finally closes her eyes, blacking out.
Katara's head swims as she tries to open her eyes. Her only reward is a black fuzz of darkness, and the moon giving her little to no light to see with. Her head turns to the side, not expecting a wave of water to slosh up her nose. Katara opens her mouth to take in a breath of air only to end up sputtering out the water that collects behind her teeth. By this time, she realizes she is floating in a stream big enough to be called a river. Her hair flows behind her, and her clothes are soaked, weighing her down in the river, but not enough for her back to touch the rocky bottom.
Katara can feel a hand under her, resting on her back and one clenching her shoulder, keeping her steady in the water, making sure she doesn't float down stream as the current is strong, strong enough to take her away. She groans as she tries to roll out of the water. The hand tightens its hold on her shoulder, keeping her body, her stomach, submerged in the water of the river. Her head is well clear of the surface, though it is still being splashed by water when ever she tries to roll over, unable to get out of her captor's hold.
Her vision is still shrouded in darkness, only just realizing she has closed her eyes again because a wave of fatigue has washed over her like the river water.
When Katara reopens her eyes, a mask comes into her line of vision. The Blue Spirit. She smiles but is confused as to why he is holding her down.
"You silly goose, what are you doing? Are we playing a game? If we are, you'll lose; I'm surrounded by my element." Her mind is delayed, allowing for whatever she says to come out unfiltered. Katara licks her already dry lips and tries to sit up again only to have the Blue Spirit push her back down with more force. She lets out a giggle, thinking this is part of the game.
"You have to heal yourself." The blue mask spoke.
Katara laughs. "You speak! I thought you were mute. Hehe."
Nails dig into her shoulder as the Blue Spirit loses patience. "Katara, you have to heal yourself, now!"
With the urgency in his voice, Katara traces his line of vision. The cloth around her stomach is burnt, scorched ends are curling and flaking off into the water, washing away with the current. She lifts her head up. Her stomach is charred; no, burnt to a crisp. Most of her flesh is missing, making her wonder if she will be able to see the inside contents of her stomach. Some of her brown skin has turned a deep red from the blood covering every ounce of exposed, unscarred, skin. She can feel light burns on her hands, stinging when she opens and closes her fists. She must have tried to block the fire with her hands.
Blood, from her stomach, trickles into the water, flowing with the current.
Still in her delusion, her mind is slow to catch up. "That must hurt."
Katara lays her hands over the ruined flesh of her stomach, not comprehending the pain she should be feeling. Everything is numb, even her hearing is muffled, and her eyesight is blurring in and out like she is under murky water.
She draws water from the surrounding river, coating her hands in the clear liquid, deciding to heal them first, only moving onto her stomach when her hands turn to their usual brown color and not the blistering pink. Katara moves her hands up and down the injured area of her stomach, allowing the water to hover over the severe parts of her injury. As Katara concentrates on healing, her mind regains clarity. She knows which parts of her injury to heal first, and where and how to stop the blood flow with minimal damage.
The water glows blue with each pass as it heals her skin to a raw pink.
She sighs and lets the water flow back into the river, not noticing how it is easier than it was before to heal. The tension in the Blue Spirit leaves his body as he sees her wound close.
Katara closes her eyes and allows herself to be picked up out of the water. She snuggles against his chest, basking in his radiating body heat that absorbs the coldness she is feeling from her wet clothes and night time air.
"You spoke. I know you..." Katara loses the rest of her sentence to sleep. As she curls into a ball on her sleeping mat, she dreams of golden eyes, one surrounded by a scar.
Think of these first four chapters as like a giant prologue, which probably could have been condensed into two chapters. The next chapter is where the story will really start. I just needed to get to the part where I can finally unmask Zuko. And chapter 6 is where the main story line will start to come into play; I promise that.
I've been hinting at the main part of what the story will revolve around. Any guesses?
Sorry for the short chapter.
I am so proud of America right now! They legalized same sex mariage in every state:)
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