Not much to say but here's an AU version of Cave of Two Lovers, adding Tyler and the 58th. Sorry if it isn't humorous, I tried to make it so. All well, there will be some episode rewrites. But the heart of the episode is still there.

Please review!

~Soldier78~

The Epic of Tyler

ch.10: Trusting Love

Col. Morgan and the rest of the 58th were well on their way shortly after the sun rose a couple of mornings after seeing my Uncle. As soldiers, we were expected to be at the city by tomorrow. Col. Morgan had it rumored that we were going to fight some Johnny Rebs.

Pvt. Jeremiah, who hadn't been really on my case lately, was a bit anxious for another fight. He boasted about how he would lick the Rebs without batting an eye. I only marched on, the rifle leaning on my shoulder and remaining undisturbed by the obnoxious lad.

We were walking through a canyon. Lt. McLyle had us silent as we marched, cautiously. He was believing the rumors from Col. Morgan and I wouldn't be judgmental of that. I twitched my fingers and shifted my hand a little bit to make a little more comforting.

I heard a low rumble and I looked up, seeing my Uncle flying ahead. It was quite a sight for the soldiers. They looked in awe and I smiled, feeling pride. Though, my pride was short-lived when a chorus of gunfire sang to us.

Almost the entire front line of the regiment fell either dead or wounded. I heard a couple of horses ride up and down and the officers order a formation. A few of us stood on the rocks of the small canyon, getting better aim but making them more vulnerable to get shot.

At first, the Col. had us fire at the same time but we were downing the Rebs fast enough to reload all together so he ordered a fire-at-will command and we complied, fiercely. I was glad Col. Morgan did not order a charge because it would've been like suicide. I couldn't see through the thick smoke and I coughed violently, I imaged my lungs starting to blacken.

I squeezed one eye shot as I aimed and fired. I was so used to the drawback of my gun that I just reloaded my gun without a single pause. After I fired my third to last shot, I heard a shout coming from the other end.

"Charge!"

"Bayonets! Bayonets!" Lt. McLyle screamed, frantically. Capt. Brown begun doing the same and we quickly drew out our gun knives and attached them to our muzzles as they ran like wild hogs towards us. I was starting to panic on the inside, I watched two men drop their guns and run in fear. Sgt. Hanes would name them cowards. I twisted my knife and heard it lock into place just before the Rebs knocked into our lines.

My bayonet plunged into a back and I swiftly pulled it out and swung the butt of my rifle into someone's head. I was knocked to the ground by a cruel upper cut to my jaw by a musket. I furiously fought for my life in that fight. I stabbed the man who hit me without remorse and moved on to my next target. I fired a shot and I was scraped by another bayonet.

Col. Morgan ordered a retreat and I finished the Rebs life and ran as fast as I could, picking my hat off of the ground, foolishly and leaving the canyon. I looked over my shoulder to see if the Rebs were following us but they only cheered.

As we walked in defeat, I found my Uncle and his friends leaving a pool of water with a bunch of funny looking nomads with weird instruments that looked completely foreign. Aang had noticed our presence and quickly approached us.

"Tyler!"

Our entire regiment stopped upon Capt. Brown's order and I silently asked the Col., who was looking at me at the time, for permission to talk to my relative. The Col. nodded for me and I exited the line.

"What happened, Tyler?"

"We met the Rebs over that canyon over there." I revealed to him. "It's impossible to get to Omashu through that way."

"The Nomads told us there is another way to go."

Capt. Brown stepped forward.

"Tell us this way," Capt. Brown requested.

"There's a cave," Aang explained. "It's a good shortcut to Omashu."

"I reckon we can sneak passed the Rebs." Pvt. Jones convinced. We looked over at Col. Morgan who thought for a moment. He rode his horse up to the Avatar.

"How far is it from the other end of that cave?" Morgan asked.

"I think only a day's walk."

"Sir," Capt. Brown said to the officer. "I think we should consider this. We don't have many options left."

Col. Morgan thought again and nodded his head, firmly.

"Very well. We move at once." Col. Morgan declared. He turned to the rest of the regiment and I looked at Aang and his friends.

"Are you okay, Tyler?" Aang asked me.

"I'm fine." I answered.

"But you have a cut." Aang said, picking up his hand and touching my cheek.

"It's nothing." I replied. "I need to join the others."

I retreated back into the formation and hoisted the gun onto my shoulder. Upon command of Col. Morgan, we followed our leaders to the cave.

"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka had asked, impatiently.

"Actually, it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth." proclaimed the leader of the nomads, I think his name was Chong.

"Labyrinth !" Sokka cried. I blinked a couple of times. That couldn't be good. Corp. Hawthorne muttered something under his breath.

"I'm sure we'll figure it out." Chong had assured.

"All you need to do is trust in love. According to the curse." replied Chong's apparent wife.

"Curse!" Sokka said, stomping his feet. I was starting to wonder if he'd throw a tantrum.

Once there, I looked at the handiwork of this thing. Surely this cave was intentional and there had to be a story behind it. I looked up at an engraving on the stone overhead in some weird pictograph message. , the one who knew all this stuff, read it aloud.

"Cave of Two Lovers."

Interesting name. We stopped marching.

"What exactly is this curse ?" Sokka asked. Beside our lines, Col. Morgan was discussing with his Maj. who remained nameless to me.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever."

"And die." added the lady nomad.

"No way am I goin' into that!" Jeremiah roared.

"Quiet!" Lt. McLyle shouted, about time he said something. I was starting to miss his yelling.

After Chong said something about the end of a song, he strummed loudly on his little guitar thing-y and in a deep voice, he sang 'and die' and I raised a brow. As soldiers, we were supposed to remain emotionless, professional but we kept looking at each other at the strange group.

"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" Sokka cried. Sokka, probably one of the few who are still sane here.

A fat nomad with a drum to his hip, pointed to something along the horizon. We all turned our heads.

"Hey, someone's making a big campfire!"

"That's no campfire, Moku." Katara revealed. Damn right, Rebs were probably on our tail now.

"That's Fire Nation. They're tracking us." Sokka safely informed.

"So all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves ?" Aang asked Chong. I looked at him.

"That is correct, Master Arrowhead." Chong affirmed with a foolish grin. Aang glanced at me then at Katara who was still facing the smoke. I was ready to shout to go inside before we get attacked.

"We can make it." Aang informed turning to Chong.

"Everyone into the hole!" Sokka shouted to us.

"Forward!" roared Col. Morgan.

We all started to follow the others into the cave. We got everyone inside by the time the Fire Nation arrived in these vehicle like things that blew out smoke. We were so deep in the cave they couldn't see us but we could see them.

We heard a rumble and watched the walls of the cave crumble to the point where our exit is completely blocked.

Appa, the flying bison, started to freak out and patted the fallen rocks. Soldiers were muttering to each other, a few were cussing and the rest were silent.

"It's okay, Appa. We'll be fine." Katara had stated. Then it appeared she lost confidence. "...I hope."

"We will be fine." Sokka assured. "All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last ?"

I glanced at the torch Chong was carrying.

"Eh, about two hours each." He had answered casually.

"And we have five torches so that's…" Chong's wife trailed. She skillfully pulled out a group of torches and scraped them against the rocky ground, igniting them. "Ten hours."

Sokka hurriedly threw them on the ground and stomped them out to preserve them.

"It doesn't work like that if they're all lit at the same time!" Sokka interjected. Pvt. Jones and I exchanged aggravated looks.

"Oh right." She agreed. I rolled my eyes. Pvt. Jeremiah mumbled something incoherently and I noticed Lt. McLyle getting a little restless.

"We need to be pushin' forward." McLyle said to them all.

"I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been." Sokka said as he hopped onto a calmer Appa's back and dug through the saddle to find some parchment and paper. "Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."

It was a pretty good plan.

"Alright, everyone stay together!" shouted Col. Morgan.

We pressed forward and followed Sokka who led us through the tunnel.

"I can see this backfiring on us." Jeremiah murmured. I rolled my eyes.

It was a lot of trials and errors. Sokka marked off of the dead ends down but according to Corp. Hawthorne, we were going around in circles.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to." Katara pointed out, annoyed. Sokka twisted and turned the map back and forth.

"This doesn't make any sense; we already came through this way." Sokka determined, reading his map.

"We don't need a map. We just need love." Chong said as he plucked a string. He pointed a finger to my Uncle. "The little guy knows it."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map, also." Aang had responded. I rolled my eyes.

"How can you not read your own map?" I heard Pvt. Jeremiah blurt out.

"There's something strange here." Sokka determined, more said to himself. He lowered his map. "There's only one explanation. The tunnels are changing."

Worried looks glanced around the perimeters. Pvt. Jeremiah yelled out a cuss or two. Lt. McLyle hushed him immediately.

"The tunnels… they're a-changin'. Ah, it must be the curse. I knew we shouldn't have come down here." Chong stressed. I rolled my eyes.

"Right. If only we listened to you." Sokka sarcastically agreed.

"Everyone be quiet." Katara hushed. "Listen."

The lemur thing on top of Sokka's shoulder jumped and flew into the depths. We heard sounds and as a habit of defense, we heightened our guns towards the sounds. Something burst out of the darkness and flew around us. Col. Morgan ordered us not to fire but it was hard with a thing with teeth fluttered around you.

"It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong shouted, obviously freaked out.

"No, it's a wolf-bat!" cried Moku.

"Hold, boys." Col. Morgan ordered us.

Sokka took a swing at the bat with the torches. We remained huddled as Jeremiah shouted something.

"Can't we just shoot it down?"

"Save your ammo boy, this ain't the Rebs." Sgt. Stevens advised.

Flames danced onto Appa's fur and he started roaring and panicking, throwing himself into the wall long after the flames died away. I felt the entire cave shake and so did the boys behind me.

"It's cavin' in!" cried a private. Ceiling rocks began falling and our entire formation split apart to avoid getting crushed. I was underneath a loosening rock.

"James!" shouted Hawthorne. I looked up and found the rock detach itself from right above and I jumped back, but not in enough time to go unhurt. The rock landed on my ankle and I shouted in pain.

"God dammit!"

It was chaos and I felt excoriating pain as I tried to remove the boulder from my squishing ankle. I stabbed the bayonet in between the ground and the rock and used it as a lever. Hawthorne came running over to me and called for Pvt. Jones.

"C'mon, help me out here!" shouted Hawthorne.

"On three!" I shouted at them. "One..."

"Two..."

"Three!"

They lifted the rock and I slid out and they dropped it. Hawthorne helped me up.

"C'mon, we've gotta get a safer side."

I noticed Aang running over to Katara and I looked up, another wall of rocks unhinging themselves.

"Get back!" I shouted, grabbing my gun. I took a lot of steps back and soon ran. My ankle was hissing in pain but I kept running. I turned around and found the entire tunnel collapsed, no sign of Hawthorne or Jones. "God dammit!"

Aang, Katara and Appa where on my side and I couldn't hear anything from the other. I leaned against my rifle and used it as a crutch.

"Now what do we do?" Aang asked as he kicked a rock.

"Can't you earthbend or somethin'?" I asked my uncle.

"I can't Tyler, I haven't learned." Aang answered.

"We need to find a way out." Katara devised. Katara looked at me. "Tyler can you walk?"

I took one step and nearly toppled over. Aang rushed over to catch me.

"C'mon, I got you." He told me. "Just put your arm around me."

I swung my arm over his shoulders and he had one around my waist and we walked together. I hopped on one leg while Katara led us through. Fortunately, we had one of the torches so we had only two hours to find our damn exit.

As minutes slowly went by, I started to use my injured leg slightly. I clutched onto the rifle with my free hand as Aang guided me through.

"Aang, Tyler, look!" Katara called. I noticed her pointing to something. There was a round, decorated door that could possibly an exit.

"We found the exit!" Aang jeered, happily. I felt elated. Aang looked over at me. "How are you doing?"

"I-I'm fine." I stammered, wincing in pain as my bruised foot touched the ground even at its most gentle. "I'll be alright."

He brought me up to the door and as I braved my foot, I dug it into the ground and assisted Aang and Katara in pushing the door. We had no success and my ankle was smarting me. I groaned and I heard a moan that caught all of ours' attention. There we saw Appa, pawing and snorting, ready to launch himself forward. We all looked and each other and right as he bounded forward, we jumped out of the way. Probably not smart for my hurt ankle but I rather be wounded than crushed.

Aang helped straighten me up as Katara went forwards.

"This isn't the exit." Katara informed us. Aang and I joined her.

"No...it's a tomb." Aang affirmed.

"Tomb? A tomb for what?" I questioned as I inspected the crypt. We walked down a ramp, well I more liked limped and hopped, and we approached a carving of two people kissing.

"It must be the two lovers from the legend. That's who's buried here. " Aang announced. I raised a brow and found those weird pictographic things written on panels that were also artistically painted to tell a story.

"These pictures tell their story." Katara said on the dais and so she began to narrate the story. The plot had a sort of Romeo and Juliet thing going on. Two lovers from enemy villages met on top of a hill and fell instantly in love. Deciding they couldn't live without the other, they learned earthbending from the Badgermoles which I had no clue to what they were and they created a cave where they could meet in secret. One day, the boy, Shu, didn't return and was revealed to be a casualty. And the girl, Oma, unleashed her devastating power but before she could wreak havoc, she declared the war over and they built the mighty city of Omashu, named after the two lovers respectively.

I looked up at the sculpture.

"Well, all be." I lauded. I heard the shifting of feet and Katara walked over to an adorned plaque on the ground.

"Love is brightest in the dark." She read aloud.

"This still doesn't help us." I finally spoke up. After a moment, Aang spoke up, a bit dreadfully.

"How are we gonna find our ways out of these tunnels?" he said.

"Didn't that crazy hippie say something about love breaking some curse?" I interjected. "And Katara here found something that read 'love is brightest in the dark'"

"I have a crazy idea." Katara spoke up.

"What?" both Aang and I asked.

"Never mind, it's too crazy." Katara dejected.

"I'd rather take a crazy idea instead of giving up and dying." I exclaimed. Aang glared at me then softened his eyes at the girl.

"Katara, what is it?"

"I was thinking… the curse says we'll be trapped in here forever unless we trust in love." Katara began.

"Right."

"Aye."

"And here it says 'love is brightest in the dark' and..." Katara didn't not look Aang in the eye when she was speaking. "And, it has a picture of them kissing."

"Where are you going with this?"

Lad, where do you think she's going with this? Katara, Just say it dammit, the torch is starting to run out.

"Well… what if we kissed ." Katara suggested to Aang. Aang froze, I felt it and I looked at my Uncle. Both were blushing mad and they were looking at each other, this was turning into an awkward moment.

"Us? Kissing?" Aang stammered out. I chuckled.

"See, it was a crazy idea." Katara said, rejecting the 'atrocity' and turning her back around. Aang looked onwards, in a dream state.

"Us...kissing.."

Katara, awkwardly trying to laugh it off, added more rejection and it only made me more sick and wanting to slap some sense into both of them, even if there was a girl. I'd kiss Rose in a heartbeat if we were in a predicament like this.

"Us kissing. What was I thinking Can you imagine that ?" Katara scoffed. Aang turned to her, beating around the bush as well.

"Yeah, heh, heh, I definitely wouldn't want to kiss you." Aang emphasized. His eyes widened at what he said and I slapped my free hand to my forehead. We are so never getting out of here.

"Oh, well I didn't realize it was such a horrible option." Katara snarled. She leaned towards us, offended and angered. "Sorry I suggested it!"

"No, no, I mean… if there was a choice between kissing you and dying…" Aang trailed. Katara scoffed noisily at that. I groaned in irritation.

"What I'm saying I'd rather kiss you than die." Aang added, quickly. Good start, boy. "That's a compliment."

"Well I'm not sure which I would rather do!" Katara hollered as she angrily stomped away.

"What is wrong with me?" Aang asked.

"You're an idiot." I bluntly replied.

"Tyler..."

"You can't say the right things ever to a girl, can ya?" I responded.

"Shut it, Tyler or you can just walk on your own."

"Oh, you wouldn't do that to your poor, wounded nephew would you?"

He took my arm and walked away from it. I would've toppled over if I hadn't had dug the heel of my rifle into the ground and lean on it.

"I'm sorry, Aang!" I surrendered, limping as fast as I could to catch up. "Oi! Aang!"

As things settled down and I started to walk on my own, still nursing my hurt ankle, it was a miracle that it wasn't broken or horribly squished, I found that our light was dimming and we were running out of time.

"We're gonna run out of light any second now, aren't we ?" Aang asked in a depressed state as he looked at the torch Katara had threw in his arms as he tried to resolve the argument. Damn she was a stubborn, cheeky lass.

"I think so." Katara said, now just as gloom.

"Well, we've gotta do something." I interjected.

"Then what are we gonna do ?" Aang elaborated.

"What can we do?" Katara asked, doubtfully. She slowly turned to him and lowered the torch and stared into his eyes. They were not moving and when I witnessed the light completely die, I couldn't see their faces anymore and my eyes tried to adjust.

Another light faded in and we looked. Green-blue crystals hugged the ceiling and trailed on and on to what looked like an exit.

"It's made of some kind of crystals. They must only light up in the dark!" Aang observed. Katara pointed her finger.

"That must be the way out!" She jeered, happily. I almost celebrated despite my wounded ankle. They hugged and Aang looked at her with uncertainty but Katara shouted for us.

"Come on!"

Aang turned to me.

"C'mon," Aang said, taking my arm back and slinging it around my neck. "Let's go."

I smiled, relieved and we exited the cave. I took a fresh breath of that open air as Aang sat me down on a rock outside of the cave. Appa celebrated by falling onto his back and basking in the sun. I took off my hat and leaned forward, resting my elbow that contained my hat, on my knee. My gun leaned against the wall of the tunnel.

Aang looked at Katara with a bit of worry.

"What about Sokka ?"

As if totally planned, I felt the earth beneath rumble and I looked to the right, before I knew, the rocks of the wall exploded and I quickly hopped up and maneuvered out of the way, wincing as I stepped on my weak ankle.

I squinted my eyes to see through the thick trail of dust that swirled the air. It settled and I noticed coming out of two tunnels where these gigantic beasts. As they moved out to the open, I noticed a lot of blue coming out of the darkness. I smiled to myself as I picked up my gun and limped over to my regiment to rejoin the ranks.

"Good to see you, James." greeted Capt. Brown and I gave him a firm nod.

"We thought you was crushed by the boulders." Pvt. Jones said as he slapped my back. I flinched as the force made me put pressure on my ankle.

"Careful with him Pvt." Hawthorne scolded.

"Yes, sir."

Hawthorne looked at me.

"How're you feelin' lad?" he asked me. "It doesn't look like its broken."

"It ain't." I replied. Behind me, my uncle and his friends were bidding the nomads a fond farewell. I glanced quickly there and then to my comrades. "How was it bein' stuck with those people?"

"They're crazy." Pvt. Jeremiah responded. "Nothin' but singing lunatics."

I laughed.

"Form your ranks! We're moving out!" cried Lt. McLyle as he noisily tromped passed. He gave me a look of stern and kind of menacing glare that got me nerved enough to fall between Pvt. Jones and Jeremiah. Hawthorne joined us too and we started marching as Aang, Katara and Sokka both led us forward, this time on foot.

My mess wanted to know how I got out and I regaled them as quietly as I could before McLyle could scorn me. I was interrupted when we heard Col. Morgan's voice.

"Halt!"

Everyone was staring at something, a few had worn looks of astonishment and others had the look of dismay. My eyes carefully joined their sight and I almost staggered in surprise.

The wall of Omashu brandished a flag from the Fire Nation. I bowed my head.

To be continued.

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