I own only my OC's.
Please Read and Review.
And of course please enjoy and thank you all for your feedback.
Ch. 21 A Snowball's Chance in Hell
A couple of hours had passed since the Firenation soldiers had retreated. Kana had fallen asleep from emotional exhaustion after confronting her father. Zuko, Azula, Ty Lee, Aang, and Suki were exhausted from all the flying and fighting and were currently on the edge of falling asleep. Zane had sat down next to a post and had quickly fallen asleep himself. This left Kimiko who was fueled by the full moon to brief everyone on their plans as she sat with Sokka, Katara, Hakoda, Bato, and Pakku around a bonfire.
"After we found out the reason for your little stunt up at Asgard Lady Ursa ordered Zane to load up the Fire of the Skies and to take a dragon full of people to catch up to you guys, Zane reaction was 'I'm sorry I didn't hear you my lady I was busy loading up the Fire of the Skies and forming a team to chase after them'" Kimiko began.
"So he was already two steps ahead of Zuko's mom?" Katara asked.
"Pretty much" Kimiko answered.
"The Fire of the Skies?" Pakku asked.
"It's an airship the Firenation was planning to use to finish off our tribe" Katara explained.
"So that means that we need to just stay alive for three more days till it gets here right?" Sokka asked.
"That's correct" Kimiko answered "I can't see it taking any longer than that."
"Is there any reason it could take longer?" Sokka asked confused.
"Well the Dragons of the East are technically in charge of the ship till it gets here" Kimiko began "the good news is that the crew is made up entirely of my brother's men so there really shouldn't be any problems; it's just that I…"
"…don't trust Lo and Li" Katara added and Kimiko nodded.
"But still considering the size of the enemy force and our own fighting strength we only have…" Hakoda began only to be cut off by Kimiko.
"…a snowball's chance in hell" Kimiko finished as everyone seemed shocked at how calm she was "the good news is that's all Zane needs to win this fight."
"Is he that good?" Pakku asked.
Kimiko raised an eyebrow and said "come on grandpa have more faith in your grandson."
Pakku was silent as he was not yet used to his grandchildren.
"Do you have any idea who's in charge of the enemy forces?" Bato asked as mustered up the courage to ask the psychotic woman a question.
"Afraid not" Kimiko began "when Katara knocked that guy out with her waterbending she smeared that information right off the scroll."
"Does it really matter who the commander is?" Sokka asked.
"Yes it does" Kimiko began "my brother has studied most of the admirals and generals in Ozai's army, so if we know who the commander is he'll have an easier time predicting what they'll do next."
Katara suddenly had a suspicion as she said "let me guess, you guys had someone sneak into the enemy forces during all the commotion to find out didn't you, and if that's true knowing you two you probably chose Riku to do it."
Kimiko smiled as she pulled her pupil into a headlock and rubbed her fist in her head playfully while saying "I'm proud of you my young pupil, you really are starting to catch on a lot faster than most."
"Why Riku though?" Sokka asked confused.
"Simple unlike everyone else in our little dragon ride, Riku does not have any sort of physically remarkable traits; he doesn't have blue, gold, or green eyes, no burn scar on the side of his face, and his face isn't on a wanted poster; so really he was the best choice, and besides he was once part of the Fire Navy so he knows how to not stick out" Kimiko replied.
"Well then I guess that should do it for this meeting, if you ask me we should rest up for their next strike" Hakoda said and everyone got up to go their own ways. Kimiko and Katara were heading towards the White Lotus members when Pakku rushed up to them.
"Can I talk to you for a minute Kimiko?" Pakku asked.
"Sure why not?" Kimiko replied.
"It's about your mother I was wondering" Pakku said.
"My advice is to stay the hell away from her for a while" Kimiko answered.
"But" Pakku tried to begin only to be cut off.
"Grandpa when mom was a little girl she never saw you give grandma Water Tribe the time of day, when grandma Water Tribe died she never saw you shed so much as single tear for her, as she got older and started to develop her bending talents you refused to so much as help her learn how to defend herself, when she spoke her mind about the treatment of women in the Northern Water Tribe you tried to silence her, and of course when she was sixteen you tried to marry her off to the man who was likely the biggest douche in the entire village" Kimiko said as she used her fingers to count the reasons and Pakku just looked down in shame "I'm sorry grandpa but in her eyes you're an ass."
"Kimiko" Katara said in shock at her treatment of her own blood.
"Katara I'm just stating it as it is" Kimiko replied as Pakku thought in regret at his actions.
Katara and Kimiko were about to resume walking when Pakku asked "what about your father?"
"His name was Rin, she met him during the last raid on the Northern Water Tribe over 20 years ago; the Fire Nation was trying to wipe you guys out by poisoning the fish you count on for food" Pakku's eyes shot open in shock "he was a member of the Order of the White Lotus just like me, Zane, and mom; he was there to help stop them, thankfully he succeeded, mom joined the order immediately afterward, he and mom married about two years later and had us about a year after that" Kimiko smiled as she recalled her father. "He was a rather light hearted man, a skilled firebender, and he was willing to take any risk to protect us and he would take any mission no matter how dangerous to help with our cause" Kimiko continued "and as a father he would always have time to help me and Zane; this one time when we were about eight Zane started to think that he was cursed to have been born a firebender and not a waterbender" she said with a slight chuckle at the end.
"What did he do?" Katara asked seeing as she never expected her master to open up so much.
"Well he took Zane on a trip to see the sun warriors just like Aang and Zuko did; I went along out of curiosity, though I had to cheat and use a torch since I'm not a firebender to take part in the ritual; the dragons Ran and Cha deemed us both worthy and shared with us the true meaning of firebending, after that Dad gave Zane some words of wisdom and ever since I don't believe he's thought of himself as being anything except completely and utterly blessed to be a firebender, that's just the kind of man he was full of humor, kindness, love, wisdom, and it was always amusing to see how mom would keep him on such a short leash and he would just laugh."
"Was?" Pakku asked.
"Yeah our dad died trying to prevent the last raid on this village four years ago, it was very difficult for all of us especially my brother" Kimiko replied.
"Because he lost his girlfriend as well?" Katara asked.
"That's correct, Aiko was a sweet girl and all that but she just wasn't as close to me or mom as she was to Zane" Kimiko answered as her eyes traveled over to Zuko as he gave Fang some fish "in retrospect imagine if Zuko had lost Iroh on the same day that Mai died, can you even imagine what kind of suffering that would've brought him?"
"No I can't" Katara said as he remembered how sad and angry Zuko was that day.
"Well my brother went through that hell when we were only 14 years old" Kimiko said as she looked at her brother as he slept peacefully and Aiko's locket shined from around his neck "hopefully when this mission is over he'll be able to lay some of his inner demons to rest once and for all."
Katara and Kimiko resumed their walk as Pakku walked off solemnly to clear his head of all he had just learned. They turned just in time to see Raine trying to slam an ice-sickle the size of a child down on Zane, the ice-sickle caused a large amount of snow to erupt into the air. Raine looked to see that she had only hit the ground and that the Firebender she was trying to kill had disappeared.
"What the?!" she spat out.
"Hell of a way to thank a guy for saving your life" Zane said tiredly as Raine turned to see him standing about fifteen feet away "I mean you try impaling me while I'm sleeping, what kind of rules do you play by anyway?"
"Shut up you filthy firebender!!" Raine shouted as she sent a surge of water towards him only to have it diverted by Kimiko and Kana.
"What are you doing?!" Raine asked angrily as she saw the two waterbenders stand in front of Zane.
"I doubt some hell spawn like yourself could understand" Kana said as she felt Zane place a hand on her shoulder.
"Actually I want you to let me deal with her" Zane said as he took out his portion of Iroh's special tea and thawed it out.
"But Zane" Kana said as he drank it and felt like he had just woken up after a three year sleep.
"Remember what Grandpa said about her when I brought her here?" Zane asked.
"Her parents were both killed during the Firenation attack on our tribe a few months ago…" raced through Kana and Kimiko's memories.
"I see, your right if anyone can save this girl it's you Zane" Kana said as she and Kimiko stood aside "everyone if you know what's good for you stay out of the way."
"Ha a firebender's going to help me?" Raine asked sarcastically.
"Well I'm going to try, the problem is that saving people is right up there with dying on the list of things I am not good at; the good news is all I have to do is beat some sense into you and chew your ass off, that I am good at" Zane said as a small smile crossed his face.
"Don't make me laugh, your element is only good for spreading death and destruction and your nation is only bent on conquering the world and waging war" Raine shouted angrily as she thought about her parents' death.
"Wow she's completely disillusioned about my element wouldn't you say sis?" Zane replied.
"Not to mention half our heritage brother" Kimiko replied as most of the villagers gathered around to see what was going on.
"Shut it!!" Raine shouted as she tried to snatch Zane by the torso with her bending. Zane disappeared again.
"You know it's a shame, such a pretty face and yet you're so angry" Zane said about twenty feet from her side.
"Damn you" Raine shouted as she spun her tentacle around in an attempt to bludgeon him.
Zane ducked and sent a fireball towards her.
"Useless" Raine said as she blocked it easily with her bending.
"Yeah I guess you're right" Zane calmly stated as he looked up at the sky "during the full moon you have me completely out-classed in both offense and defense."
"Then why the Hell are you so cocky?" Raine asked as she tried to crush him.
Zane disappeared before the water hit the ground and appeared right in front of Raine. Raine tried to impale him with a spear of water however Zane disappeared again.
"Now where the hell is he?" Raine asked just before a fireball caught her in the side dropping her to the ground.
"Even if you have me beat on offense and defense thanks to this technique Zuko developed I'll always have a speed advantage over you no matter the time of the day" Zane said "now knock this crap off already will you."
"As if" Raine spat out as she began to heal the wound on her side "I'm an avenger and I won't stop until I've killed every last firebender" she then tried to snatch Zane's feet from under him. Zane disappeared again. Raine looked around for her target to no avail.
"An Avenger aye?" Zane asked right behind her. Raine turned and tried to strike him with an ice-sickle she formed in her hand and again Zane disappeared. "I think you're confused" Zane said as he appeared about twenty feet in front of her.
"What the hell did you just say?" Raine asked hotly as she started breathing heavily.
"I said 'I think you're confused'" Zane replied.
"Enlighten me" Raine said sarcastically.
"Well how should I put it?" Zane asked just before another wave came his way and he disappeared again reappearing about 20 feet to her right. "An avenger is someone who vows to kill the person or persons who wronged them" Zane began and she turned her head in a near instant "however they don't vent their frustration out on strangers who did them no harm just because they have something in common with the people who did wrong them." Raine sent a vertical wave of water towards him which he dodged by stepping to the side "so by that line of thinking you're more of a mass murder want-a-be then an avenger."
"Why you son of a bitch!!" Raine shouted as she launched several ice-sickles from her fingers which Zane melted by enflaming his hands "If you could, you'd kill me right now!!" she shouted as she tried once more to grab him with her bending, Zane jumped to the side to avoid it and shot a bolt of lightning into the sky "What the hell?" Raine asked as she saw it race off into the heavens and Zane disappeared again.
Rain felt two fingers poke her in the back. She saw Zane standing right next to her and he said "If I wanted to I could've killed you just now; by the way never underestimate a guy who can use lightning" Zane then jumped back several feet.
"Why didn't you kill me?" Raine asked as she turned towards her target.
"Simple I didn't feel like it" Zane stated.
"Liar, why would a firebender not want to kill someone?" Raine responded.
"Maybe said Firebender wishes to save you" Zane answered.
"And why the hell would he do that?" Raine asked as she lashed out at Zane with a water whip.
Zane disappeared and reappeared right next to Raine, she turned her gaze towards him in terror. "Because you remind me of myself" was all Zane said before he vanished and reappeared fifteen feet away.
At this Raine's blood came to a boil and a tear started to roll down her face only to frozen on her cheek. "How dare you…" Raine said as she turned her gaze towards Zane "…how the hell could you ever hope to understand what I'm going through?!" she shouted as she tried to bring a stream of water down on him and he dodged by jumping to the side. "I lost both my parents because of this damn war, I've been stuck in a living hell since that day!!"
"And now you want to condemn countless innocent men, women, and children to that same fate is that it?" Zane asked as her eyes popped open "because if you follow through with your ambition that's exactly what you'll be doing and I won't allow it."
"Why you" Raine said just before several fireballs came her way. She blocked them by bringing up a wave of water but it was much harder then it should've been "What's going on this shouldn't be so difficult?" she thought.
All the spectators were curious about where this fight was going and most of the waterbenders were perplexed by the lack of power in Raine's bending. Pakku looked up and saw that the moon was still hanging in the sky and that it would still be hours before the sun came up. He looked at his grandson who was just standing calmly to his pupil and saw that she was breathing heavily "I see then that leaves only one explanation" Pakku thought as he looked at Zane and thought "he's won if I'm right."
"You have to move forward Raine" Zane said as he started to walk towards her. Raine panicked and cracked a water whip at him, Zane neutralized it by using a flaming whip causing Raine's attack to turn to steam "just fighting and killing for its own sake only causes more death and destruction; it's completely pointless."
"You bastard!!" Raine shouted as she sent a barrage of ice-sickles at him and he melted them with a small wave of fire "damn it."
"You need to stop this madness Raine" Zane continued "because no matter how much you want them to, no matter how much you pray for them, and no matter how painful it is the dead never come back" vision of Rin and Aiko flashed through Zane's mind as he looked at Raine and saw not an angry water bender bent on killing him but an angry fourteen year old version of himself.
"Why you" Raine shouted as the sent a disk of ice towards Zane and he dodged by dropping on his stomach.
Zane stood up as he eyed Raine with a resolute expression in his eyes and he said "and now you're trying to destroy the future as well, is that it?!"
Raine's expression was a mixture of shock and rage as she shouted "shut the hell up!!" and she sent a tentacle of water with a sharp ice point on the end towards Zane.
Zane slammed his feet into the ground and sent a large fireball through the tentacle evaporating it as it forced it's way through. Elsewhere Katara looked towards Kimiko and asked "how is this possible it's still another ten hours before sunrise?"
"This Raine girls been using large amounts of energy to attack Zane ever since this fight began, while Zane's only used small amounts so he could dodge her attacks" Kimiko began "even during a full moon we waterbenders have our limits and Raine has come to hers…it's over Zane's won this fight."
Zane locked his eyes with Raine's and said "when you went to my grandfather for training is that what you wanted to do with your gift spread more war, more ignorance, more hatred, and more horrible tragedies; is that why you chose to seek power?"
Raine's eyes opened widely as she thought of her parents and cried out "it's not the same" as she sent a one last wave towards Zane.
Zane disappeared again and for the last time appeared right behind Raine. He locked his left arm around her waist and used his right hand to hold a dagger to her neck. "Please Raine stop this for your parent's sake if nothing else" Zane said as he lowered the knife and thawed her frozen tears with his hand "I can tell by these tears you're not cut out to be a killer, you're far too kind for that kind of life."
Raine was beyond confused at the moment, she cried for a few seconds before she asked "why would you go so far?"
Zane was silent for a few seconds before he said "because I'm a damn idiot it would seem." At his words Raine collapsed on the ground as she continued to cry, Zane un buckled his cloak and placed it around her, he then held onto the golden locket around his neck with one hand and thought "how'd I do Aiko?"
"Well I see you guys are doing alright" a voice called out.
Everyone turned to see a man dressed like the order crew walking towards them.
"Riku" Kimiko said happily as she hugged him nearly chocking him to death in the process.
"So what did you find out?" Zane asked as he and Raine looked towards him.
"I learned who's commanding the enemy forces" Riku said as Kimiko released him and he took on a more serious expression.
"Who is it?" Zane asked.
"It's him Zane" Riku answered.
"You mean?!" Zane asked.
"Yes" Riku responded.
Zane was silent for a few moments before he turned his gaze towards Zuko and said "Zuko I'm transferring command of this operation over to you, I also advise you to consider my mother, my sister, and especially me as a liability."
Zuko saw that all three of them had very angry and hurt expressions on their faces. Zuko went out on a limb and said "let me guess by 'him' you mean…"
"That's right" Zane answered back "Muzan."
And that's chapter 21 ladies and gentlemen. I'm pretty sure you all can guess what question will be answered next chapter. Until then please leave a review and tell me what you think. And as always next chapter will be up ASAP.