When Aang and Katara emerged from the greying stone tower that had been the place of rest of Air Nomads of the past, in more ways than one, it was with hands entwined. They followed Sokka, who was in low conversation with a disgruntled Suki, yet even the promise of his questioning to come, and the darkening courtyard that they walked out onto, could not impact upon their good mood. It was something that Toph, leaning with her back against the wall of the dorm, one foot raised to the stone and hands deep in her pockets, didn't miss.
"I did tell you they'd be fine," the earthbender said, as the group started towards the same spot that they had slept the night before.
"Well, forgive me for wanting to check for myself," Sokka replied, still waving his sword about in exasperation. "We don't all have magic feet!"
"Ok Sokka chill out," Suki sighed, dropping down on the floor, looking exhausted. Aang and Katara, still hand in hand, glanced at one another.
"Everything ok?" Aang asked, taking a seat too.
"Oh yeh, it's fine," Suki replied, leaning back onto her hands. "Just a day with Sokka and his plans and paranoia, so you probably get the jist."
Sokka glowered at her.
"So ... how did it go?" Suki aimed the question at Aang and Katara, looking both curious and uneasy. "Was it ... you know ..."
"Oh I'm sure it went better than you'd think it would," Toph said lazily, sitting beside Aang. "But now we've got that little problem out of the way, I think you'll be a bit more mellow now, huh Twinkletoes?"
Aang looked over at her, not missing the smirk on her face. Katara, too, seemed to get her meaning, as she choked on the water she had just downed.
"Uh ... yeh, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be," Aang replied, clearing his throat and trying hard to keep his voice indifferent. At that, Toph leaned forward.
"You hear that, Katara? Not as bad as he thought it would be, that's promising, right?"
"Spirits, Toph, be a bit more candid won't you?" Suki scolded, thankfully still oblivious to the real reason Toph was teasing the pair. "Bad as it could have been or not, I'd never seen anything quite like what was up there ..."
"I've never seen anything."
"Toph!"
"What?" Toph crossed her arms across her chest, scowling. "I don't see why we can't all have a bit of fun today, spirits knows I could do with it."
"Today hasn't gone that bad," Sokka grumbled, reaching into their packs and starting to pull the pots and pans for dinner. With some relief, Aang and Katara glanced at one another, but the respite was quickly ended by Sokka asking, "so, did you go into the Avatar State?"
Aang was taken back by the question, he hadn't truly expected any of them to ask as much, certainly not in such a forward manner. But he could tell by the way Sokka kept his attention on the pots, and Suki looked quickly up into the sky, that it was something they were just as awkward about asking as he was about answer. He looked over at Katara, his first instinct to tell them that he hadn't, but she nodded ever so briefly, reaching out and squeezing his hand.
"Yeh."
Sokka dropped the pan he was holding, and even Toph seemed surprised.
"But ... Tonrar isn't here, is he?" Sokka asked, any discomfort he had had previously abandoned.
"I don't think so," Aang replied, feeling his previous euphoria starting to fade.
"So, what, you can't control it any more?"
"He controlled it fine," Katara said, her voice sharp and harsh. "He's not in the Avatar State any more is he? If you were the Avatar and you found your people like that I think you would have gone into the Avatar State too, don't you?"
Sokka balked, looking guilty, but Aang took Katara's hand now.
"Katara, it's ok."
"No, it is not ok!" Katara continued, glaring at Sokka, Suki, and Toph in turn. "I'm tired of everyone treating you like you're ... you're ... a bomb or something waiting to go off. He went into the Avatar State, but he controlled it, and if Aang wants to talk about it, that's fine, but you don't get to ask about what happened in there."
There was no denying that Katara could, at times, be too over-protective, but Aang felt nothing but gratitude towards her in that moment. Sokka rubbed his arm, looking sheepish, and Toph cleared her throat.
"Sorry, Aang," Sokka said, in a low voice.
"Yeh, what he said," Toph added.
"It's ok," Aang replied. "So, uh, how is the plan coming along?"
At that, Sokka brightened, obviously relieved at the change of subject. "Well, we've worked out a good formation for our attack," he said excitedly, grabbing one of the spoons from the pile of discarded pots and pans and rotating it handle first, dragging it along the dusty floor. "And you know what, I really think it could work! Here-" he drew a circle in the dust, "-so this is the statue room, this is where we'll keep ourselves focused from this point on, and where you will be, Aang."
Aang cocked his head to the side, looking down at the shapes in the dust.
"Why the statue room?"
"It's got the best view of the Temple, plus, the layers of pathways and rocks outside of it? They'll give us a perfect opportunity to ambush them."
"It isn't going to be the most comfortable place for us to start setting up camp," Suki added, leaning forwards. "But it'll be the safest for the mean time."
"Exactly. Chances are they will come from the same direction that we did, from the front here-" Sokka drew a line several inches away from the circle. "Assuming, rightly so, that those spirits that Tonrar summons are there as some form of protection, I'm willing to bet my ponytail that they'll move forward first. Toph will be here-" another circle in front of the tower, "-and she'll be the first one to make an attack. Tonrar knows we're all here, but I want him to think that Toph's the only one on lookout and the only one actually protecting you. She'll draw all of their attention, making as much noise as she can. Mostly she'll be defending herself, because we don't really know just how tough these spirits will be to fight." At that, Toph scoffed, but didn't voice any disagreement. "Whilst they're engaged with Toph, Suki and I will come in around from the sides-" he drew two curves either side of the formation. "Hopefully we'll surprise them, and we can take out some of those spirits, I bet they won't be expecting fan and sword!" He grinned triumphantly at that, and Suki rolled her eyes affectionately. "Anyway ... whilst we're busy with that I'm betting Tonrar will be getting real mad. I'm talking starting to order the spirits around and get involved with the fight, and he'll be too distracted to see Katara emerge from her hiding spot here-" he drew one last circle, just behind the second line. "There's a crevice in the rocks, just big enough for Katara to hide in but too small for Tonrar to notice it. And this is where you come in, Aang." Sokka looked at him now, wooden spoon pressed against his chin. "Katara isn't going to be able to see what's going on, so I need you to watch from the statue room and, when Tonrar is distracted enough by what's going on, give her a signal to attack." He paused, rubbing his chin with the spoon. "See, I was thinking maybe a bird call, something discrete, but I don't know if she'll be able to hear it over the fighting ... maybe-"
Aang raised his hand over the head and blasted a small ball of fire into the air that exploded with a sharp bang and crackled as it hit several feet, making the entire group jump.
"Well, ok, that'll do it, then," Sokka said, rubbing his ear. "I guess it'll give us another distraction as well. More noise and fuss we make, the better a chance Katara has of getting to Tonrar unnoticed and delivering the final blow."
Aang looked across at her, reaching over and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Can you do that?" He asked, his tone serious.
"If I have to," she replied, looking back at him steadily. "He isn't human."
"But, if I can thinking of another way ... some other way of stopping him so that you don't have to-"
"That would be appreciated," she said, with a soft smile. He gave her an encouraging smile in return.
"What do we do after?" Aang asked, looking back over at the warrior. "Assuming that the spirits don't stop fighting just because Tonrar has."
"We whoop their butts," Toph said, simply. "I mean, once Tonrar is taken care of you can swoop in all glowy like and do your Avatar thing."
"Exactly," Sokka said, his eyes blazing. "This is going to work, guys. I can feel it."
It was three whole days before Sokka was finally able to put his plan into action. Three days in which the group would practice their formations over and over again until they knew exactly where they would be standing at any given point, until Aang, in spite of himself, started to think that maybe there was a good chance that they'd be able to pull this off. There was certainly no doubting Sokka's determination, and his natural talent for stragedy had only grown more and more defined in the years after the Hundred Year War, and although they were likely to be vastly out numbered, Sokka's plan put a lot of focus in confusing their enemy as much as they could. Toph, as was to be expected, was a one woman army in herself, though there was perhaps a little less control and more rage in her earthbending, and Aang had begin to wonder again what it was that could have happened between her and Satoru.
For Katara, those three days were spent mostly trying to ready herself for what she was expected to do when her showdown with Tonrar began. She had meant it when she had told the group that she would do what she had to do, and she had repeated to herself over and over when sat in that crevice during practices that the spirit was not human ... she visualized Aang, eyes glowing, in rage and fury and pain, reminding herself that Tonrar was responsible for that. And she would tell herself, once again, that Tonrar was not human. But, no matter how fervently she insisted that she was capable, the more they practiced the more nauseous she felt.
It was on the second day that Katara had excused herself from practice, needing to get some space and a chance to clear her head. Aang had offered to come with her, she was of no doubt that he knew what was bothering her, but she had insisted that she needed a little time to herself, something that she hoped he would understand. Her mindless wanderings as her thoughts raced had lead her straight back to the large central dormitory, in which sat both horrors and memories of dreams. For a time she had simply stood outside of it, looking up, but with a deep breath she had stilled herself before venturing inside.
Being inside of the dorm brought so many mixed thoughts and feelings that she could very well understand why Aang had found it so difficult to enter the place. After all, this was not a bad place. These walls, the people that had lived inside of them, had been helped to make Aang into the man that he was, the optimistic, kind, and passionate one that was slowly coming back to her the longer Tonrar remained absent. These walls held the sacred memories of the first time they had made love, they had been a safe place for her brother, and friends. But these walls also had the memories of the horrors that had taken place over one hundred years back physically scratched into them, and towards the very top the bodies of those who had also found safety here lay. Though Aang had not spoken of what lay at the top of the tower, and Katara had not pressed about the matter, she knew that, perhaps once Tonrar had been taken care of, he would put the remains of his kin at last to rest, but for the time being there was perhaps more than she could learn from them.
She had made her way to the top, using her ice bending to create a walkway over Air Nomad remains so as not to disturb what lay there, and finally she had come to the room that crowned the tower. She presumed, pushing rotting door aside, that whoever had slept in this room had to have been very important among the Air Nomads of the Southern Temple. But where you would find much exuberance in the rooms of the leader of the other three nations, this room lacked anything that could have been classed as personal. This place had been turned over. There were no scorch marks, and a sickening sensation in her stomach told her that the only reason that could have been was if, by that point, there had been no one left to burn, but someone had still searched through the room. The bed was overturned, the desk and its long-dried smashed glass inkwell lay on the ground. Papers on the wall had been torn, and books with molding spines littered the floor. Her first thought had been that perhaps the Fire Nation soldiers had been searching for something, but as she picked up the books, looking at their covers, she came across something that she was sure would not have been left behind if that were the case.
This book was ancient, by all accounts it was amazing that any of it hard survived, but the bamboo sheets and cover had held up well against the test of time. Painted along the front cover was one single word:
Census
Her heart leaped as she read that one word, her thoughts immediately starting to race. If this book was, as its title suggested, a list of of all of the Air Nomads that have lived before and during Aang's time, then it was nothing short of a true treasure. Heart still beating fast, she picked up the heavy book, turning it this way and that to inspect the damage. Some of the bindings between the bamboo had snapped and fallen away, and it was covered in dust, but it seemed remarkably intact for something that had been lying on the stone floor of this wet building for over one hundred years. She carried the book over towards the window, which overlooked the right half of the mile high island, and perched herself on the stone partition. Carefully she blew and brushed the dust from the cover and spine, before she opened it to the very last page. For a moment, she was filled with disappointment when she saw but blank pages, but she flicked back some more and came across a list of names and dates.
Ta Ma, Year of Dragon, 14 Shi Yi Yue 9835, of Lan and Zhang Fa, West
"The year 9835," Katara whispered, her finger pressed on the date. "The year the Fire Nation would have attacked ..."
Spurred by her rising excitement at her discovery, Katara began to flick back through the pages. The census listed not only the Air Nomads that had been both in the Southern Air Temple, but those who had been born in the three others as well. Her eyes skimmed over each of the names and dates, surprised at quite how many Air Nomad children had been born in the years between Aang's birth and the end of the Air Nation. She had known, of course, that there must have been many of them, but somehow it seems strange to imagine that there had ever been quite so many airbenders soaring through the skies at one point in time ... at last, her finger stopped upon a name that was familiar to her, and she made a sharp intake of breath.
Aang, Year of Dragon, 10 Jiu Yue 9823, of Tenzin and Nying, South
She reread the entry several times, mouthing the names of Aang's parents to herself as she did. It was something she had often wondered about, but something that Aang had never, in the entire time she'd known him, mentioned. He had been raised by Gyatso in the Southern Air Temple, and as weird as it seemed to her and her culture, being so family-orientated, she supposed that it was just normal for Aang to not have known his biological parents. But, here they were, written in ink almost one hundred and seventeen years ago. Her curiosity spiked as she looked down at those names, and she began to look back further, searching back, however she soon realised that Tenzin had obviously been a popular name among the Air Nomad's, and Nying appeared more than a few times. It was difficult for her to work out which of those Tenzin's and Nying's born between the twenty and forty years previous to Aang's birth were his parents, and as such to work out how far back Aang's family went.
The further back she looked, she began to see second dates scribbled below the names, dates she suspected were their deaths, and her excitement became melancholy as she realised again that even those names without dates were lost forever. She continued to flick through, her thoughts now drifting towards Aang himself. Was this something that he'd want to see? Would it bring him any happiness to see his history of his people written out on paper, or would the names of his past friends, teachers, parents only bring him more pain? She sighed to herself, she was about two thirds of the way to the beginning now, when she noticed one of the names was written different from the others. No, not written differently ... this name had been crossed out. She squinted, leaning closer and trying to make out what was written under the harsh lines.
Sansetsu, Year of Dog, 28 Qi Yue 6632, of Fenji and Huangse, North
There was no date of death entered, the name had simply been crossed out. Curiously she looked back forward in the census, trying to see if perhaps this Sansetsu had fathered children, but his name was never mentioned again. In fact, as far as she could see, the name Sansetsu was never once used again, as if somehow this man had left such a cursed mark in their history that they would not even use the name. What could this Sansetsu have done to have caused so much upset in a culture of people who lived and breathe forgiveness? She wondered if, perhaps, Aang knew of his story ...
It was with that thought that she heard the voice of Sokka coming in through the window. The warrior wasn't letting anyone out of his sight for very long. She closed the book with a sharp snap, hooking it under her arm as she made her way back down to the bottom of the Tower.
Despite the secrets that it perhaps held, Katara did not mention the book to Aang when she met with him and the others for dinner. She had placed it in her pack, under her clothes and delicates, to wait perhaps for when this sorry time with Tonrar passed. But she still couldn't help but wonder, who was Sansetsu?
That night, everyone retired early, after going through yet another quick rerun of the plans and, just as they had done the night before, Aang and Katara had lay beside one another until they were certain everyone else had fallen asleep. That first night, neither of them had been able to sleep, and they had both gone for a walk to try and clear their heads. However, as was the nature of young lovers, it wasn't long before, finding themselves alone and snuggled up close to one another as they walked to keep warm, their minds drifted to things other than just enjoying the scenery. The second and third nights had been no different. They would sneak away, stealing kisses as they walked until reaching a clear patch of soft grass hidden from the view of all around by overgrown vegetation and thick bushes, their affections becoming more intimate as they enjoyed being close to one another, before falling asleep with the moon light shining over them. The sound of the birds would wake them as dawn broke, and the pair would sneak back to the statue room before anyone else awoke before curling up in each others arms once more, waking along with the others and continuing with their training as if nothing had happened. Still, in that time, Katara kept her secret, waiting for the right time to show him.
However, despite the care they took to keep their night time escapades secret, not everyone had been fooled. On the forth morning, as the red dawn broke over the horizon, and hand in hand Aang and Katara had scaled the hill towards their camp, the pair were confronted by Toph. She had seated herself, arms and legs crossed, quite a way from the entrance of the statue room, but directly in the path that they would have to take to get back, and the amusement that the earthbender had initially shown when realising what they had gotten up to in the Tower was long gone, replaced by a disapproving and stern cold glare.
"Oh!" Aang and Katara stopped in their tracks, the coy smiles they had both worn dropping from their faces immediately. "Uh, hi Toph!" Katara said, awkwardly. "You know, where were ju-"
"I know what you were doing," Toph interrupted, waving her hand irritably and getting to her feet. "I know you sneak of at night. I'm not going to lecture you, that is your business. But what is my business is that you're starting to put everyone else at risk."
"Risk?" Aang said, his face blank. "What are you talking about?"
Toph scowled, walking closer to the pair and hissing in a low voice. "What do you mean what am I talking about? Spirits, you find the birds and scorpion bees and become thick as a turkey duck." At that, she poked Aang hard in the forehead. "What I'm talking about, numbskull, is that we're on alert for an attack at any moment! What are we supposed to do, exactly, if Tonrar turns up and you and Sugar Queen aren't here?"
Aang and Katara glanced guiltily at one another.
"Once all this is over you can do whatever the hell you like, but until then you're just going to have to keep your hands to your damn selves." She growled to herself. "Spirits, Prissy Pants, I sound just like you. And let me tell you I hate it."
"Sorry, Toph," Aang replied, rubbing the back of his head. "I guess- well, we just weren't thinking."
"You don't need to tell me twice," Toph grumbled. "Now you better get back to bed before Sokka wakes up and unleashes a world of hell."
She shook her head, before turning back and making her way back to the statue room. Aang and Katara looked sheepishly at each other.
"She is right," Katara said quietly.
Aang sighed, before taking her hand again and following Toph back up the the camp. She had already lay down and turned her back to them by the time they'd entered the large room, and the tiptoed quietly back to their bed rolls, laying down, still holding hands.
"Night again," he whispered, allowing a smile to brighten his still sheepish expression.
"Night again," she replied.
Before long, the pair had fallen asleep, the early hours of dawn morphing gently into morning. At some point during his dreaming, Aang's subconscious had found himself standing, for the second time, on that strange rocky plane where Tonrar had first infiltrated his dreams. He had turned this way and that, eyes searching in the shadows of the jagged rocks, but on this occasion he was entirely alone. A light breeze brushed past him, pulling pitifully at his robes, and he had sat, feeling frustrated and confused by his minds decision to bring him to such a desolate place. Or, perhaps, it wasn't his mind, perhaps the spirits had brought him here, trying to tell him something ... or maybe they were just having a joke on his behalf.
He had sat, taking in the empty and sickening landscape that now surrounded him, looking up to see that icy river of a sky drifted overhead, slow and languid, yet not in the least bit comforting. He would wake soon, of that he was sure, and until then perhaps something about this place could give him a clue as to what the spirits expected of him, and how he was to defeat Tonrar.
At the very thought of the vile spirits name, everything changed and he felt what he had feared yet known was coming to him. Invisible strings pulled at this skin, his stomach began to churn and convulse into knots, his body began to itch. The view of the rocky plane vanished from view as, in the conscious world, he sat bolt upright, eyes suddenly wide as he looked around the dully lit statue room that he had fallen asleep in. The feeling didn't leave, it felt like there were insect crawling under his skin, burrowing their way deeper and deeper into his body and he wasted no time jumping to his feet, his heart beating a tune of panic as he raced towards the doorway, peering out into the low early morning light.
For a time he stood there, breathing heavily, hands clenched around the stone, searching the skies and stones for signs of the spirit that he knew was coming for him. No matter how hard he looked he could not see Tonrar, could not see his spectral spirits, but there was no doubt in his mind that he would be here. And soon. He drew back into the state room, jumping lightly over sleeping bodies until he came to Sokka.
"Wake up," he hissed, kicking the warrior lightly on the shoulder. Sokka started, sitting up and holding his boomerang aloft, before his bleary gaze fell on Aang.
"Whassup?" He mumbled, dropping his weapon.
"He's coming."
Any remaining weariness in Sokka's eyes faded in that instant, and he quickly jumped to action, shaking Suki laying next to him to wake her. By the time Aang had nudged Katara awake, Sokka had already roused Toph, and quickly the five of them stood in the entrance way of the statue room, peering intently out as they, too, tried to spot the incoming spirit and his servants.
"Are you sure, Aang?" Suki asked at length. "I can't see a thing."
"I'm sure," Aang replied, rubbing his arms. "I can feel him. Maybe not yet, but he will be."
"Ok, well that just means we've got time to prepare," Sokka hissed. "We've planned this to a t, we're as ready as we're ever going to be and now we have a head start." He stepped forward, turning his back on the scene outside of the statue room and looking at them all.
"You all know what you have to do," he said. "And you all know where you need to be. Just follow the plan like we've practiced, and we can do this."
The group looked around at one another, before in turn they all nodded.
"Katara, Toph, you know where you've got to go."
The pair nodded again, and got ready to leave, and Aang felt the growing sensation of panic washing over him only increase as Katara grabbed her ready-filled hip flash from beside her bed. He took her hand so that she would look at him.
"Please, be careful out there," he pleaded. "If it gets to bad, just bail, ok?"
She took his face in her hands and kissed him deeply and passionately, and it was testament to how worried everyone was that Sokka simply looked away rather than mention the oogies. "I promise," she whispered to him. Before he could say another word she turned, running down the pathway, being careful to keep to the edges, looking above her all of the way. He watcher her go with such an aching in his heart that it took all of his will power not to run after her and bring her back.
Toph too walked past them, her expression stoic and determined, and she too descended down the pathway.
"Aang, remember, stay out of sight, and only give the signal when you're sure Tonrar is distracted by us. Got it?"
Aang nodded. "Good luck."
Sokka and Suki then followed Toph, to find their positions for the ambush. Now alone, with the exception of Appa and Momo now sat and watching from inside the state room, the crawling sensation felt even more unbearable, and his rubbed his arms vigorously. He took several steps back, sitting himself in the shadows, so that he could watch without being seen.
The waiting felt like an age. The sun had gone from just kissing the horizon to burning full and bright above them, and Aang wondered just how long his friends could remain in their positions. For him, the waiting was more than just irritating, the constant itching and dull thudding in his head was making it more and more difficult to concentrate, and he couldn't help but wonder whether it was deliberate. Whether Tonrar was just going to wait them out, or at least sit tight until Aang fell into madness. It didn't help that Aang could not see any of his friends from where he was sat, and though he knew where Katara was crouching, there was no way for him to check that she was ok without potentially blowing the whole plan. He wondered just how long they could all keep this up before one of them called it quits. However, as the sun began to roll on from its highest point, the spirit finally came into view.
At first, Aang couldn't understand what he was seeing. Were it not such a clear day, one could be forgiven for thinking a fog was rolling in the North, but the sky was blue and this fog was dark as night, slowly shifting its shape, tendrils breaking free from the original mass and tapering out into nothing. Yet despite so much of the cloud seeming to dissipate, the size of it remained unchanged, its overbearing form getting closer and closer to the edge of the Temple, seeming more fluid as it did so. Aang had seen many strange things in the spirit world ... spirits that would steal faces, creatures the size of houses and bigger, pools that seemed to be full of a cold gas, yet even the Avatar was not prepared for this sight. Everything about this screamed Spirit World to him, and seeing something so obviously spiritual in this mortal world was more unnerving than he could possible explain. The great black cloud billowed and swell, now over the rocks of the Temple and, at last, seeming to grow smaller. Aang realised, with a lump in his throat, that it had just passed over where Katara was hiding, crouching and vulnerable below.
With one final expansion the black viscous cloud hit the plateau below him, before the gases rose and shrank inwards, forming the tall, thin shape of a man. Then, that darkness morphing to its final form, there stood Tonrar. Immediately Aang felt the pain sear in his skin and stomach, and he was forced to draw himself back further into the shadows, heart racing as he stared intently down at Tonrar's form. The spirit stood, draped in black, his wide mouth pulled back into a serpentine grin, the red tattoo's across his forehead blazing in the midday sun. Tonrar spread his arms wide, as if in greeting, surveying the Temple. No one spoke, no one moved even an inch, yet still Tonrar continued to stand there, most certainly expecting them to come out and face him. The waiting had been part of Tonrar's plan, there was no doubt about that, and perhaps he knew very well that they had lay a trap for him.
At last, Aang saw Toph's figure walk purposefully out into the open between he and Tonrar, her body set resolutely and oozing her somewhat cocky confidence. Tonrar seemed to grin only wider, lowering his arms.
"My my, who are we?" The spirit asked, sounding positively jovial.
"The human that's going to kick your butt," Toph repealed with equal bouyance, before she crouched down and grabbed two large boulder either side of her, throwing them with all her might down at the spirit.
It took less than a second. Tonrar raised her arms once more, more black fluid smoke rising from the very ground around him and forming a wall between himself and Toph. This black smoke morphed into more human shapes and, in unison, these shapes shifted their bodies to bring up a wave of earth into which her boulders smashed. Toph, clearly surprised, took a step back. The wall fell, and two spirit-like and blank faced benders stood ready and waiting, she wasted very little time, however, and was soon on the attack once more. She slammed her foot into the ground, the shock wave causing a wave of earth to rush towards the hooded spirits, who only retaliated with equal vigor, creating a crater in the earth that absorbed her shock wave, before slamming shut once again. Aang watched in disbelief, seeing the hooded benders deflecting her attacks with such ease, whilst Tonrar stood still behind them, grinning derisively. It was perhaps then that he should have acted, to put a stop to the plans that he had known deep down were never going to work. But he kept his faith in his friends, his hands now digging grooves into the stone that he gripped below him.
Toph was not to be perturbed, and she continued to chuck hit after hit at them, changing the height of her attacks, the strength and speed, her bending enough to have defeated any enemy she could have faced before, yet failing to get past the two black hooded spirits that stood between her and her prey. The hooded spirits were yet to make even one attack on her, instead sticking entirely on the defense, perhaps hoping to tire the human bender that they faced. Aang was close to yelling their names in frustration when he saw Suki and Sokka come out at their flanks, launching attacks of their own. Quickly, Aang looked back over at Tonrar, who seemed practically indifferent to the additional forces. Suki and Sokka fought well against the spirit benders and it seemed for one wild moment that perhaps they would be able to push them back, the spirits momentarily unable to keep up with the onslaught that was coming from each side. But then, with a simple wave of his hands, two more smokey figures appeared and with a flash of bright light, and a sting of fear in Aang's chest, two spirit firebenders appeared, and they certainly were not interested in remaining on the defense. He watched as they threw fire blasts at Suki and Sokka, who both had to work hard to avoid getting hit, and he had to bite back his yells yet again. Toph was starting to fall back, the earthbenders now approaching onto her, and that itself was enough to fill any of the group with fear ... there could be no one who could push Toph back. No one.
A cold laugh broke through the air, and Tonrar began to move forward. At first, Aang was tempted to call it all off, to charge in there and do what he could, but Sokka's pleading to stick to the plan came to mind, and he realised that there was never going to be a time that Tonrar was going to be more distracted than this. He raised his shaking fist into the air, ready to give the signal. His heart was beating so loud he was convinced Tonrar would hear it, and he looked down at the battle that none of his friends seemed able to win.
"Katara, I'm sorry ..."
He shot a fireball into the air as planned, and it exploded loudly above him. The laughter below stopped, and Tonrar's head snapped sharply to look in his direction and, in that moment, the hooded spirits stopped fighting too, Tonrar had lost control ... in that moment of distraction he had lost control ... But before Aang could wonder upon this revelation, Katara rose from her hiding place from behind, bending the water from out of her flask, twirling on the spot to give her shot the momentum it needed to reach the spirit. The large ice dagger flew straight and true to its target, Tonrar's attention was still on Aang, there was no way that he could defend! Too late, the spirit realised the trap he had been lured into, perhaps the sound of the dagger slicing through the air causing him to turn on the spot, and he raised his arms. Then, all too quick for any of them to see, one of the hooded spirits seemed to morph in front of Tonrar, taking the dagger for itself with arms spread wide. He heard a strange, high, pained scream, Sokka's disbelieved cry, but it all barely registered. The plan hadn't worked, and now Katara was in danger.
"Appa!" He yelled, already on his feet, "fly round, grab them!" The bison roared in agreement, and as Aang looked back to the battlefield the world seemed to fall apart around him. Tonrar had, in the confusion, moved forward, grabbing Katara by the throat and lifting her straight off the ground. For Aang, there was no time to think of a plan, no time to consider what his proximity to Tonrar might result in, no thought other than to get to her.
"No, not her. Not yet."
The words he had heard but could not remember suddenly burned into his mind and he ran and bounded from rock to rock, practically screaming Tonrar's name. The spirit looked around with some satisfaction, but his expression quickly turned to that of alarm as Aang landed heavily in front of him, rocking the earth below them. Tonrar's grip on Katara's throat relaxed, and quick as a flash Aang slammed a foot into the ground, earth puling up like a fist and tightening protectively around Katara's body, before he pulled up another pillar from the ground that hit Tonrar hard in the chest. The spirit flew across the plateu and Aang, teeth gritted against the screaming pain in his body, threw a furious current of air at him, Tonrar's body tumbling like a rag doll to the very edge of the Temple. In the future, he would look back at that moment as the moment he could, perhaps, have put an end to everything, but all he could think and see was Katara, and with another slam of his foot the rock around Katara broke down and she fell to the ground, gasping.
"We leave now!" Aang yelled, grabbing her and pulling her bridal style to his chest, turning to tear back to where his three companions had stood fighting. Appa was roaring and landing beside them, but the three of them were too busy watching the scenes between Aang and Tonrar to notice. With an irritated snarl Aang rose the rock from beneath them, throwing them onto the bison's back, before taking a running leap himself and landing in the saddle. The pain increased, and he knew that Tonrar was up and progressing towards him, perhaps with hands outstretched and face roaring. He let Katara down, and wasn't even at Appa's head before he was yelling, "now, Appa, yip yip!"
The bison wasted no time, taking off into the sky with such force that he blew rock and dust into a smoke cloud around them. Aang was quick to the reins, trying hard not to look back behind him, not to make eye contact with the spirit below. But it seemed to make no difference. Pain exploded in his head and chest, and he cried out, dropping the reins.
"It's Tonrar!" He heard Suki screaming. "He's trying to control him!"
"Sokka grab him!"
He heard Katara's cry, but the pain was so much that he was sure that he was screaming himself, his body on fire, and the world below him seeming to fall away. He felt anger, he felt hatred, he felt pain, he felt all of the feelings that he had tried so hard to fight since Tonrar's first assault on his body, and the desire to tear everything around him apart grew. He felt someone grabbing him roughly around the collar, pulling him upwards and backwards. Soft hands grabbed his face, and blue eyes swam into his vision.
"Look at me, Aang," Katara demanded, her hands firmly grabbing the side of his face. But he growled, gripping her wrists as he tried to tear away from her, eyes starting to glow. The last of him that remained forced his eyes to shut tight. "Look at me!" Katara commanded again, her voice loud and clear. "Open your eyes and look at me!" She pulled him closer, her forehead pressing against his, and his eyes opened, still dimly glowing.
"Katara, hurry!"
He glared at the woman in front of him, every inch of him wanting to explode into a ball of fire, killing her and everyone else. But her eyes bored into him, blue into blue, and perhaps with distance or perhaps with her efforts, his breathing became ragged, his growling lessening.
"Look at me, sweetie," came her voice again, far away and musical. "Look at me."
He felt the pain begin to subside.
"He's not following us!"
The hatred now began to ebb, and his ragged breath became gasps, and he was unable to look away from her. His eyes were no longer glowing, his hands no longer fists around her wrists, but he body felt so very broken.
"Stay with me, sweetie ..."
Voices were yelling in the distance, but he couldn't hold on for any longer, his focus drifting, and he fading to black.