Toph and Katara were sitting outside lazily while Aang and Zuko trained. Sokka and Suki had gone out earlier to get some food because they didn't have time to pack before the attack. Rei had been playing with Momo inside the house for a while but was on her way to the courtyard with a sleeping Momo in her arms.
"Hey guys." She said with a smile. A grunt was her response. Rei laughed slightly and walked into the courtyard, where Aang and Zuko were just finishing training. Momo stirring distracted Rei , which kept her from seeing the small rock in her path.
"Woah!" She exclaimed in surprise as she tripped and fell straight towards the stone ground. Momo squealed and jumped out of the girl's arms just as her body contacted with the ground…at least it should have hit the ground. Rei simply fell through the solid stone and disappeared. Everyone around her tensed up and quickly looked around, waiting for her to reappear. Suddenly, a white head began to grow from the ground near Katara; then the shoulders, waist, legs, and feet.
"Oops." The group relaxed instantly and Aang and Zuko bowed to each other, ending their training session. They grabbed towels to wipe the sweat off and Zuko sat on the fountain ledge.
"Hey Rei." Toph started. "What does it feel like to, you know, walk through stuff?" Rei put her hand to her chin in thought before answering.
"It's kind of like…a soft warmth that fills your entire body. It's a very pleasant feeling. But it's nothing compared to a spirit world vision. You can never get used to those…"
"I know what you mean." Aang agreed with a shudder.
"What are the visions like?" Zuko asked as he stretched his arms.
"They are like a tiny shock that pulls you out of your body. You can't get used to them because you never know when one is going to happen. You instantly forget where you are when one comes and it is very hard to get out of one before it has run its course."
"I've never actually been pulled from a vision before." Aang told her as he bent over to stretch.
"An outside force has to do something completely shocking to you." She explained to him and the others. "Say if Aang got a vision during a fight, he would be totally hindered until his opponent attacked him or the vision ended."
"Wow, that doesn't seem very helpful…" Toph said as she laid back down.
"They can sometimes be a bother but they are very useful to have. Only," She glanced at Aang, "It appears that if either I or Aang were to get one and we would happen to touch each other, we would both be lost in it for quite some time. Which could prove problematic in certain situations…" Aang caught her gaze and the two shuddered together and then laughed.
"Isn't it kind of weird that we are hiding from the fire lord in his own house?" Katara asked after a few minutes had passed. She sounded like she didn't really care, but just wanted to bring it up.
"I told you," Zuko said as he wiped off his neck. "My father hasn't come here since our family was actually happy…And that was a long time ago." Rei felt a sudden sadness for Zuko, but she turned her face away, not wanting to bother him. "It's the last place anyone would look."
"You guys aren't gonna believe this!" Sokka yelled as he burst into the yard with Suki following him. In his hand was a rolled up piece of paper. "There's a play about us!" He showed them the unrolled poster which had a drawing of Aang, Katara, Sokka and something that looked like Zuko's face. The two had discovered the poster while they were in town.
"How is that possible?" Katara asked in astonishment. Rei took a closer look at the paper.
"It says that the man who wrote it has been following the Avatar all over the world. And his sources include pirates, singing vagabonds, and a very knowledgeable cabbage merchant." She read to them.
"Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players." Suki finished, earning a groan from Zuko.
"My mother used to make us go see them. They butchered 'Love Amongst The Dragons' every year." Rei laughed at Zuko's obvious dislike of the players.
"But do you really think that it's a good idea to go to a play…about ourselves?" Katara asked her older brother. He smiled hugely and looked around at his friends.
"Come on! A day at the theatre is just the kind of wacky, time wasting nonsense that I've been missing!"
"I agree with Sokka! We should go." Aang said with a huge grin.
"It would be kinda cool to see ourselves on stage…" Katara admitted sheepishly. "What do you think Rei?" The white haired girl snapped to attention when she was addressed. Rei looked at her friends cautiously.
"It would be interesting to see your previous adventures with my own eyes…"
"Then it's settled!" Sokka said triumphantly. The group broke into mummers of excitement while they walked back into the house. It was lunch time and Rei was taking Katara's duty for a change. No one was too happy about the vegetarian theme, but Katara was very happy with the break, so she silenced everyone else from their complaints. As Rei finished her food, the others sat around a large rectangular table. Using a little dark bending, Rei was able to get her dishes to the table with out a problem. Rei sat in between Zuko and Aang and Waited for the others to dig in.
"Well, there it is!" She said excitedly with a smile. The smile quickly fell as she looked around at the faces of her friends. They all looked highly disgusted. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No, no Rei!" Katara said kindly, "It's just that…" She stopped, at a loss for what to say.
"This food looks…" Suki attempted to help. "Unique…" Rei smiled again before gasping.
"I forgot the tea!" She nimbly ran over to the fire. As soon as she was out of ear range, the group frantically argued.
"What are we gonna do?" Suki asked.
"We can't eat this!" Zuko whispered.
"It looks…toxic…"
"Even I can see it! I'm not putting that in my mouth." Toph refused.
"Well, we have to do something!" Katara reprimanded. Suddenly, Aang snapped.
"Just pretend to eat it! Bend it away before she comes back! That way, we won't hurt her feelings!!" The very wise child explained causing the others to sigh in relief. Katara and Zuko quickly destroyed their plates while Toph and Aang made a deep hole in the stone floor. Just as everyone was about to fill the hole, Rei bounded in with her eyes closed.
"Ok, the tea is read-EEPPP!" Rei screamed as she fell towards the table. She had tripped over the new hole and flew stomach down onto the table and into the food. The tea pot flew out of her hands and straight at Aang, who caught it just before it would have taken his head off. Silence fell as Rei attempted to lift herself off of the table. She was covered in food from head to toe.
"Oops…" Laughter erupted around the table as the others wiped the food from their faces and clothes. Rei stood from the table and offered everyone cups for tea, which was now the only thing not ruined. They took it hesitantly, not one of them wanted to sample it. But after looking at Rei's sad and food covered face, Zuko decided to be brave. Lifting the cup to his lips, he took the tiniest of sips.
"Wow!" He exclaimed before taking a bigger gulp, even though it was very hot. "This is very good Rei!" She burst into smiles at the compliment before taking a drink of her tea as well. Following the lead, the others sampled their own lea.
"Rei, this tea is amazing." Katara said earnestly. Sokka drained his cup and filled it again.
"Yeah it is! And I don't even like tea." He told her. Rei began to blush harshly at their compliments.
"Please, it's just tea. It's an ancient recipe from the spirit world, nothing special."
"Was all of this…food…from the spirit world also?" Suki asked, motioning to the ruined table and splattered mess. Rei nodded with another embarrassed smile.
"Yes, it was impossible to get all of the supplies that I needed from this world, but I made due. Too bad it's ruined." She finished sadly.
"Yeah… It's too bad." Toph added, fighting to filter the sarcasm out.
"I could attempt to make more…" Rei suggested, causing a few to choke on their tea.
"No!" Aang interjected. "Umm, that is to say… you don't need to work that hard for us!"
"Yeah," Katara continued. "Besides, umm…you should get ready for the play. You can't go if you're covered in food." She ended with a couple awkward laughs and Rei looked down at her stained clothes.
"But, I have no extra clothes…What should I do?"
"First thing is a bath." Suki told her. "Getting that…stuff out of your hair is going to be tough."
"Zuko, does Azula have any extra clothes around here?" Katara asked him.
"I'm not going anywhere near Azula's room. Or her clothes." He said with a hard expression.
"Well, is there anything else she could use? She can't go naked!"
"Well," A blush threatened to form on Zuko's cheeks, so he cleared his throat. "My mother should have some extra clothes in the attic. Rei can use those."
A-A-A-A-A-A-A
After Rei had scrubbed and re-scrubbed her body, she threw on a long robe and followed Zuko through the large house. The others were at the beach until it was time to attend the play, so Zuko and Rei were alone. They walked into a small square room that had closets instead of walls. There was a tall mirror next to the only door in the room and a chair next to that. A folding screen was open opposite the mirror, covering up one of the closets. Zuko marched through the tiny room and slid one of the closets open. Rei stood behind him as he rummaged through the stack of fabric.
"I used to hide in here when I was little, usually from Azula. It still smells like the flower perfume my mother used to always wear." Zuko said absentmindedly as he pulled out different piles of clothes, each in a different shade of red.
"Honey, lilies, and jasmine?" Rei asked, causing Zuko to pause and turn to look at her, astonished.
"Yeah…How…did you know?" She smiled and tilted her head.
"That's what it smells like in here." Zuko took a big sniff and coughed.
"All I smell is mold and moth-fly balls." Rei laughed and walked toward him. With grace, she placed her hands over his eyes, which he allowed with a small reluctance.
"Now try." Zuko took a small sniff. And then a big one.
"Wow." He exclaimed before taking Rei's wrists and pulling them excitedly. "I can really smell it!" She smiled at his apparent joy as he took several more sniffs. They locked gazes and silence filled the tiny space. Zuko still held onto Rei.
"Oh, ah! Here!" He stammered before shoving a ball of fabric into her gut. He then raced out of the room. It was several moments before Rei cracked a small smile and proceeded to put on her new clothes.
"Ummm…Zuko?" Rei tentatively called for the prince. Zuko entered and stared at Rei for a few moments before he burst out laughing. The top of her white head was visible from a hole on the side of the dress, while one of her hands stuck out awkwardly from another. "Could I get some help please?" she begged in a muffled voice. With another chuckle, Zuko crossed the room and reached Rei.
"Couldn't you just…you know…walk through the dress." He suggested while he attempted to find Rei's other hand.
"I'm afraid I'll rip it." Was the muffled reply. It was several minutes before Rei's face surfaced, but when it did and everything was right, Zuko had to keep himself from gasping in shock.
Simply, Rei looked beautiful. The dress had two different layers, the bottom one being a deep blood color and the lighter one being a soft ruby. The top part of the dress was a classic open tunic with golden trim and short sleeves. There was also a pink ribbon that tied below the chest and ended around the knees. The lighter red dress ended with a v cut and gold trim. Underneath the first one was a longer second dress that fell to the floor and covered Rei's shoes. Her white hair was now dry and completely straight. It was very soft looking and fell to her waist.
"Do I look all right?" She asked after a few minutes. Zuko blushed slightly before he took a step away from her.
"You look…" He struggled to keep himself in check. "Fire nation. But you'll have to fix that tattoo. Not many young girls in the fire nation have markings like that." Rei gracefully hopped to the mirror and looked at herself. She then attempted to fix her hair to cover her marking, but no matter what she did, her hair would always fall back to being perfectly straight. With a chuckle Zuko walked over to a small chest and opened it with a tiny amount of fire bending. After rummaging through the box he pulled a glistening object out and closed the lid.
"Here. This is my mothers from when she was a girl." He showed her a very beautiful golden headband. She stared at it for several minutes before her eyes found his.
"Umm, what does it do?" She asked in confusion. Zuko sighed before he turned Rei so that she was looking at the mirror. Then he took the golden object delicately in both hands and brought it above Rei's head. Her eyes widened in realization as Zuko brought the object down to rest on the crown of her head. A thick ribbon of gold cascaded over Rei's forehead and ended a few inches above the bridge of her nose. The thick gold covered Rei's tattoo perfectly and it made her look very exotic. Rei carefully touched the headband and a smile fell across her lips.
"Do you like it?" Zuko asked, his hands still hovering near Rei's back. Rei looked as if she were about to speak but she swiftly turned around and threw her arms around Zuko, who was shocked still.
"Thank you so much Zuko. I do not deserve such kindness." With a gulp Zuko awkwardly patted Rei's back and then she pulled away with a smile. They stood there, semi-in each others arms, staring at each other.
"HEY! IT'S TIME TO GO!!" Sokka's loud voice yelled through the house. He was obviously very excited to go. Rei's smile widened and her eyes lit up. With great skill and grace Rei grabbed Zuko's hand in one of hers while she gathered her dress up with the other. Then she bolted from the room, almost dragging Zuko behind her.
A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A
"Worst. Play. EVER." Sokka announced to his friends as they walked through the streets of the small town. Everyone but Rei groaned in agreement. Although it wasn't accurate and the actors were very off in their portrayals, Rei learned a lot about her friends. It saddened her to see actorZuko being so cruel to actorIroh but when she overheard Katara asking Zuko about it and then later Toph, her heart grew. For kids, her friends were very wise.
"If I had to pick a favorite part, it would be the actorSokka. He was great!" Sokka said in response to someone's question.
"What about you Rei?" Aang asked without glancing at her. They were now walking through an ally to get to the beach. When Rei didn't answer, Aang turned to look at her. "Uh, guys?!" He stopped walking, which caused the entire group to stop. They all followed Aang's gaze and Katara gasped.
Rei was standing frozen still, her arms to her sides and mouth open slightly. She had taken off Zuko's mothers crown when they left the theatre, afraid that she would hurt it. Her tattoo was now, along with her eyes, glowing white light. It illuminated the darkness in the ally and shocked the group. Rei was getting a vision in the middle of a fire nation town at night.
"Oh no!" Suki exclaimed. Katara quickly grabbed Aang's hand and ran away from the glowing girl.
"I'm getting Aang out of here. Suki and Sokka, come with me. Toph and Zuko, get Rei out of that vision!" In a flash, Katara pulling Aang, and Sokka with Suki disappeared.
"But I cant-!" Toph attempted to yell at the fleeting teens. "See her…" Zuko's eyes widened in shock.
"You can't see her?! Why not?" Toph shrugged her shoulders.
"It's probably because she isn't on the earth now…She's more or less in the spirit world." Zuko groaned at Toph's explanation.
"Just go to the end of the ally and be our lookout…or whatever." He added after he saw Toph's eyebrow rise at the work lookout. She technically couldn't look…
"Ok." She slid on the ground over to the ally exit, where the others had disappeared through. Zuko turned back to Rei, who hadn't moved an inch.
"Ok…ummm…Rei?" He harshly whispered, getting no response. He then tried to poke, shake, and nudge her; but Rei was like stone. "Something shocking, something shocking…" He repeated to himself, remembering what Rei had said before.
"It's coming from over here!"
"The ally!"
"Come on!" Zuko jumped in shock. It was the sound of fire nation guards. And they were coming into the ally using the entrance opposite Toph. Zuko cursed under his breath as he rushed to put the headband back on Rei's head. It covered up the tattoo, but her eyes were still glowing.
"Come on Rei! Snap out of it!" The soldier's were suddenly at the mouth of the ally. They began to slowly walk towards the group.
"You there! What are you doing?" The leader yelled. Zuko quickly pulled his cloak up to cover his scar.
"Something shocking, something shocking…"
"Stay where you are!" Another guard yelled.
"Something…" Zuko looked at Rei's face. The glow of her eyes was soft and bright, her cheeks were pale and chalky but her lips were very pink and slightly moist. The guards were getting closer every second and Toph quickly hid inside of a box in the ally. Zuko gazed at Rei's face for a few short moments before placing his hand on the back of her neck and his lips on top of hers.
Rei took a quick intake of air in her shock before melting into the kiss. Her eyes slipped closed and the glow disappeared as Rei's hands clutched onto Zuko's cloak. Zuko's free hand slipped to rest on the small of Rei's back.
"Oh Ho! What have we here?" Rei and Zuko broke away from each other and Zuko noticed that her eyes were her normal pale color. Her cheeks were also a fire red, matching Zuko's own color.
"Well, well, well. Look's like we got a couple of love birds on our hands!" The leader said. "What are you two doing out this late?" Rei's blush deepened and she remained silent.
"Uh, me and my…girlfriend…were just walking home. We just saw 'The Boy In the Ice Burg'."
"No kidding? What did you think of it?" A guard asked.
"It was…great…"
"Well, I'll have to see it. I love what they do to 'Love Amongst the Dragons'!" The leader said as he turned. They began to walk away and Zuko let out a huge breath. Quickly grabbing Rei's hand, He ran to the ally exit and grabbed Toph. Then all three ran towards the beach house.
"Zuko, what happened? I couldn't see anything."
"Fire nation soldiers. But they didn't do anything."
"And how did you snap out of it?" Toph asked Rei, who kept her head down as the three entered the house. Zuko and Rei glanced at each other and then quickly looked away, blushing profusely. "Well?"
"Something shocking." Rei explained quietly to her small friend as they entered the living area, where the others were waiting. Toph quickly explained to them what happened.
"So Rei, what did your vision tell you?" Aang asked after a while. Rei, who hadn't said a word the entire night, gasped in shock when Aang addressed her.
"Oh! Ummm… It was about…jello squids…" She awkwardly said.
"Are you serious?" Suki asked.
"That doesn't seem very useful."
"You must be joking."
"Jello Squids?"
"YES!" Rei yelled as she jumped to her feet. "I'm the only one here from the spirit world so I think I know what I'm talking about!" They others stared at her in shock. "I'm sorry. I'm just very tired. I'm going to bed now." She then left the room, stealing a quick glance at Zuko before she disappeared through the wall.
"What's with her?" Sokka asked. Zuko stood up and walked towards his room.
"Good night." He said dryly before he too disappeared.
"What's with him?"
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SORRY SORRY SORRY THAT THIS TOOK SO LONG!!
Anyway, no her vision wasn't really about jello squid, but you'll find out later!!
Please Read and REVIEW!! I Hope I didn't mess anything up!
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