Date: Monday, May 14, 2012
CHAPTER TEN
After a few days, Li was all better after Katara treated his injuries along with the medicine. He can finally get up with no one having to support him or watch out if he falls. He looked around the ship and observed the engines and every part looking interested. He didn't try to interact and just watched them.
"Hey, Sparky. Enjoying the ship?"
"Yeah, I can't remember exactly but I think I've been to a ship before besides the one that brought us to Ba Sing Se. This is so much bigger and better, I think."
"Anything still troubling you?"
He paused in silence.
"There is, isn't it?"
"There was that girl, Azula. She said she was my sister. It doesn't make sense since it feels like she's telling the truth yet I can't even remember. Is she?"
"Do you want me to lie or tell the truth?"
"It's not good to lie. Uncle would often tell me that."
"I miss him too," she said understanding him somehow despite no exact words being said. She somehow missed her parents as well.
"Well... is she?"
"She is your sister," she said bluntly and didn't try to prolong it.
"But how? She's a fire bender," he defended.
Hearing that, she wanted to almost laugh since he was one as well but she didn't. She noticed there was something to his voice that sounded like uncertainty. She decided to play it out and find out.
"So? Does it matter?"
"She did seem upset when I couldn't remember her," he admitted. "Although she tried to hide it with anger like how I do," he added.
"That's a similar trait between you and... anyone would get angry, Sparky. If we were siblings, no matter how much we hated each other, you just can't forget about me," said Toph then gave him a really hard punch when he finally relaxed.
"Ow. What was that for?" he said while rubbing the possibly bruised area.
"That's how I show affection," she merely said while smiling.
"You are like a little sister disregarding that."
"Hey, no pushing it, Sparky but I guess it's fine. You make a good older brother even if you're that bad with socializing and can get really awkward."
"I'm not that bad," he protested.
"And grumpy," she added with a glum look.
"Toph!"
She just laughed at him and he laughed back.
Aang woke up feeling confused. The first thing he saw was the metal ceiling. He sat up feeling the pain from his injuries. He looked around with surprise and worry. The fire nation insignia was everywhere. He was in a fire nation ship.
He walked out slowly using his staff as a support along with the walls. He saw fire nation soldiers and used air bending to keep them away. He ran outside into the open. His legs gave out making him fall. His eyes see the lemur.
"Momo?"
"Twinkle toes," said Toph with glee after hearing his voice. "That's gotta be you."
They all came towards the air bender.
"Aang, you're awake," said Katara with so much relief since he had been out for days.
"Are you sure? I feel like I'm dreaming," said Aang while rubbing his eyes.
"You're not dreaming. You're finally awake," said Katara while hugging him.
"Aang, good to see you back with the living, buddy," said Sokka who was wearing a fire nation armor.
"Sokka?" said Aang while finally dazing out.
"Uh-oh, somebody catch him. He's gonna-" said Toph as Aang fell but did not hit the ground.
Hands and arms of a scarred teen caught him in time.
"Zu- Li, we..." said Katara still feeling unsure around the fire nation prince. Seeing him always makes her want to beat him up but right now he's different which makes things really weird. She stopped, thinking what she should say.
"I'll carry him back," he said.
"No. I'll handle that, buddy," said Sokka while adding, "You shouldn't strain yourself after just recovering or else you'll end up like him."
"Sure," said Li while handing the air bender to Sokka.
"You come with me, Sparky," said Toph. Despite not seeing, she knew that the others held concerned looks. They don't exactly trust the fire nation prince yet despite him not acting like an enemy.
"Okay," he said while following her.
"I heard that the avatar escaped along with his friends. I'm not sure but I think Li's with them," said Jin. "Who would have thought Li would be with them?"
"They're safe for now," said the old man while putting down the tea he had drunk. He stood up and walked towards the basement where his things were.
"Where are you going, Mushi?" asked Jin curiously knowing that he isn't just going there to retrieve things.
"Thank you for everything. I need to be elsewhere," he said giving her a smile.
"Okay. Just be careful. I'm going to be missing your tea. You better come visit when things get better," said Jin while smiling as cheerfully as she can. Her sister's smile is much brighter though.
"Yes, I'll come visit and maybe invite you to my tea shop when I have one of my own."
"That would be lovely. I'll be your number one customer again."
"Indeed, that would be nice."
"Why are we on a fire nation ship? Why is everyone dressed this way? And why am I the only one who is completely out of it? Even Zuko seems relaxed. Did we really bring him along?" asked Aang with a confused look.
"You need to take it easy, okay? You got hurt pretty bad," said Katara encouragingly.
"I was the one that brought Sparky here, Twinkle toes," said Toph who passed by and went to the other side of the ship.
"I like your hair," said Katara while smiling to lighten the mood but only earned a shocked look from the air bender.
"I have hair?" he asked while holding his head to check. There really was hair. "How long was I out?"
"A few weeks," said Katara.
"Everything okay?" asked Hakoda who walked towards them.
"We're fine, dad," said Katara trying not to show her irritation.
"I am Hakoda, Katara and Sokka's father."
"He knows who you are. I just called you dad, didn't I?" said the water bender irritated.
"I guess you're right."
"Nice to finally meet you, Chief Hakoda," said Aang taking his hand to shake.
"It's an honor to meet you," said the man shaking the hand back.
"After what happened in Ba Sing Se. We had to get you back to safety. We flew back to Chameleon bay where we found our father and water tribe men. The earth king decided to travel the world in disguise so he set off alone. Well not completely alone.
The bay had been over run with fire nation ships. Rather than fight them all our dad and the others captured a single ship and made it their disguise. We arrived after and joined them. Since then, we've been traveling west. We passed in the serpent's pass a few days ago. We've seen a few fire nation ships but none had bothered us," said Sokka proudly while pointing the directions on the map he held.
"So what now?"
"We've been working on a modified version of the invasion plan," said Hakoda.
"It's Sokka's invasion plan," said Katara with slight bitterness that she didn't try to show.
"Yes, Sokka's plan," said Hakoda in agreement. "We won't be able to mount an invasion without the earth king's armies but the solar eclipse will still leave the fire nation vulnerable."
"So we're planning a smaller invasion. Just a rag-tag team of our friends and allies from around the earth kingdom. We already ran into Pipsqeak and The Duke," said Sokka with the usual cheerfulness to his tone.
"Good to see you again, Aang," said Pipsqeak.
"And there's Li. He's really good with the swords and knows a lot of useful things."
"Hey, I didn't exactly say yes, you know? You left me with no choice bringing me here," said Li in a complaining tone but still agreed nevertheless
"Just shut up, Sparky," said Toph while hitting him earning a pained sound form the scarred teen along with a glare which she just laughed at.
The others were staring at the unusual happening but looked away and continued eating as Sokka continued.
"And the best part is... The eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage. We have a secret. You."
"Me?" Aand asked confused. How can he be a secret and a big advantage?
"Yup. The whole world thinks you're dead. Isn't that great?"
"The world thinks I'm dead? How is that good news? That's terrible," said Aang looking horrified.
"No, it's great. It means the fire nation won't be hunting us anymore. And even better, they won't be expecting you on the day of the black sun"
"No no no no no. You have no idea. This is so messed up," said Aang looking so frantic and may lose it any moment.
"Hey, you're not the only one," complained the scarred teen.
"Just shut up, Sparky."
"You shut up."
"I wasn't even talking."
The two bickered at each other while Aang was in his own world looking so frantic.
Within the earth kingdom palace, the day after they got back from the crystal catacomb, blue flames burst everywhere.
"Azula, won't you please calm down?" asked Ty Lee while dodging the flames. A smile still adorns her face despite the danger she is facing.
"I am calm!" said Azula in anger while letting out more flames into the air.
"Sure, you're calm. Want to take a rest though? You've been going at it for hours," said Ty Lee while trying to lighten the mood only to end up worsening it.
"Will you give it a rest? Big deal, your brother forgot about you and all of us. This is so boring. I'm going," said Mai with not much change in her tone while standing up to leave. She hid the sad feeling about Zuko not remembering her. It had been years so it shouldn't really matter.
"He forgot! That is a problem. He shouldn't!" Azula said in frustration not noticing how much she is revealing. She is losing her composure when she shouldn't. She is supposed to have control. She is in control yet at that moment, she isn't.
"Sure, Azula. Do we go after them?" asked Ty Lee after dodging another flame. The palace was really lucky that Azula didn't think of using any lightning yet. Things would be worse than it already is.
"No. We need to report to father. I'll make him remember and come back. I have a plan," she said while finally stopping and sitting down.
Johari: Hello! Hope you like this one. Opinions are generally welcome. Constructive criticisms are appreciated for further improvement of writing. Please do tell me what you think of it. I would be really grateful and thankful if you did.
doglover500, Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad that you think so but I'll accept who volunteers just in case. Thank you :) Hope you like this.
dragonwitch250, Thanks for reviewing :) Hope you like this one.
ArrayePL, Thank you :) Katara is still wary of him but she doesn't distrust him exactly. Thanks for reviewing.
CrazyDyslexicNerd, Thank you. Indeed it would be fun and interesting if Azula and Toph had interacted in the show. Thanks for reviewing :)
Thanks everyone, have a nice day or night depending on the time your reading this. ^_^