Disclaimer: I don't own 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'
Notes: Book One: Water, Chapters Nineteen and Twenty: The Siege of the North.
Sorry it took me ages to write. I just wanted to word it right, and I didn't have much access to a computer. And woo! I'm introducing another non-canon pairing. Read to find out. ;)
In other news, I have a beta! So big thanks to Everlasting Chemistry!
SMOKE
Smoke... smoke... had to get out of the smoke... suddenly a warm hand gripped onto her wrist tightly. Katara stopped breathing. "Where do you think you're going, water peasant?"
Flowerperson
© 2007
Part XXI: Pseudonym
"Th-The Spirit World…" she whispered. "We're in the Spirit World."…
"What?" Zuko screeched. "What do you mean 'The Spirit World'?"
Overcoming shock, Katara snapped back. "Well it's kind of in the name… you know, with the whole Spirit thing… Haven't you—"
"I know what it is!" he hissed; myths and legends were shared among nations, albeit they might have differed slightly. "But how could we be here? We're not d-de…" Taking in a deep breath, Zuko willed his voice to cease stuttering, and his hands to stop shaking. How can I be here when I have not yet accomplished my destiny? "We're still alive, right?"
Katara wasn't sure. If Zuko's attack had been successful, there was a chance that she might have been—ohGodsI'mherewithmymurderer!ZukokilledmeandAangandSokkaandMomoandAppawon'tbeabletocopewithoutmeandohGodsIcan'tbreathe…
When Katara fainted, it took Zuko less than a split second to catch her, settling her upon the soft grass gently. His heart was pumping wildly (so he was alive); he checked her vital signs (apparently, so was she), brushed an unravelled braid from her forehead and marvelled at the smoothness of her mocha skin. He'd noticed this before, of course, but now she was unconscious, he could continue to admire the smoothness with his rough fingertips. She would never know…
Stop it, he told himself. That was neither enemy-behaviour nor enemy-thoughts. And it certainly wasn't princely either. Not to mention taboo…
"Fire and water do not mix," he muttered to himself as a mantra while pushing himself to his feet, surveying the area. It reminded him of home; the warm climate, the short grass (how he missed grass on his long voyage on the sea) and the lizard crawling up the broad trunk of a nearby tree.
"Oh? What makes you say that, Son of Fire?"
Zuko abruptly spun to face the sound of the deep voice that was undoubtedly masculine and saw a figure cloaked in back leaning upon another tree. In one hand, he was holding a broadsword, tapping it against his thigh; its twin was sheathed upon his back.
And on his face was the mask of the Blue Spirit.
-
"Unconscious," Yugoda confirmed as she pushed herself to her feet. Two motionless bodies were sprawled out before her, preserved in the same position as Sokka had found them, even though he yearned to hug his baby sister and punch his enemy. "No injuries, physically at least. All though I can tell that there's been a fight between a waterbender and a firebender here…" she glanced pointedly at the puddles of water and the scorched tree trunks.
Sokka's eyebrows furrowed deeper. The stress he was suffering was evident; his arms were straight by his sides, his fists were clenched and he would abruptly start and stop pacing.
After Aang had seen the phenomenon, he had rushed back to Sokka. The elder made no hesitation and immediately charged towards the mystical oasis, unaware of the Avatar's suggestions that Appa would be quicker. As it turned out, the love of an older sibling is faster than the love of a besotted Avatar; Sokka was there long before Aang made his arrival.
And it was lucky Aang had appeared when he did; Sokka had found the future leader to his mother's murderers lying just inside the cluster of trees in the centre of the island. What enraged him more was that his head was resting on the bosom of the sister he had sworn to always protect. Not only was he violating her with his evil presence, but also physically…
Just as Sokka's fingers were about to come in contact with Zuko's collar, Aang pushed him away with a gust of wind. When Sokka had questioned what he was doing, Aang had responded in a grave voice: "If you touch them, there's a chance you'll be dragged there too."
"Where's 'there'?" Sokka had asked. "Aang, what is going on?"
Observing the pair on the floor with a forlorn expression, Aang proceeded to explain. As the Avatar, one of his gifts apart from the obvious multi-bending capability was the position as the bridge between the Physical and Spirit World.
However, he could not only enter the Spirit World through meditation, he could also see if the Spirit World was interfering with the Physical World or vice versa. He had picked this up when they had dealt with the enraged bear spirit. Now, it was much clearer—perhaps his 'sight' had evolved, or this strange oasis was amplifying it.
Katara and Prince Zuko's bodies were here, in the Physical World, where they belonged (just like his body had stayed when he visited the Spirit World). But their souls were gone, probably in the other world. Their minds—the connection between their bodies and souls—were partly still in their bodies, yet his 'sight' enabled him to see tendrils from their minds entwine with each other.
Interestingly, the tendrils lead to the small pond of water with two koi fish, where it faded away. It didn't take a genius to gather that the mysterious pond had something to do with their souls' disappearance.
The two decided to find a healer and someone of high authority; the former for Katara and the latter for Zuko. Yugoda was very insistent on being the healer once she was aware that dear Kana's granddaughter was in some sort of danger. Chief Arnook was busy organising the infiltration of a small group of troops onto a Fire Nation ship, so Pakku was brought instead. Princess Yue also accompanied them after learning that Katara was in some sort of trouble.
Sokka did not protest. He was glad for her to be under his watchful eye.
Like Katara should have been, his guilty conscience had taunted.
"This definitely isn't a normal place, is it?" Sokka inquired, turning to Pakku. Their deep frowns matched, although Pakku's looked more intimidating with his wrinkled face.
After a long pause, Pakku responded. "…No."
"Well? Care to elaborate? My baby sister's soul is stuck in the Spirit World, and I wanna know why!" His arms flailed in the air exasperatedly as he hollered in Pakku's face, almost spitting.
The old man did not respond.
Aang finally spoke, sitting on his ankles by the small pond. "It's something to do with this water, isn't it? I can sense this odd feeling about it. And these fish…" He pointed to the black and white koi rotating in a tight circle. "They keep their rotation continuous and perfectly circular. When I let my eyes unfocus, I can see the symbol for harmony. Yin and Yang."
"Aang—" Yue's soft voice interrupted. "I have something to tell you—"
"Hush!" Pakku commanded. "They must not know!"
"Master Pakku, Sokka has proved himself as an honourable and trustworthy warrior of the Southern Water Tribe, has he not? And the Avatar is our one chance against the Hundred-Year War! You may claim we don't need them. This tribe used to ignore that the War was going on. Our belief was that as long as we did not intrude, they would not seek us and aim to destroy our homes.
"But that was foolish! They have sought us, found us and are now trying to… destroy us. He is our one chance – without him we are powerless."
Tears were beginning to form at the corners of her ice-blue eyes.
"But how can we expect him to risk everything for him when we cannot be honest with him? When we refuse to help his friend, a sister of our tribe, your greatest student and the grand-daughter of the woman that you loved and still love?" Pakku's eyes glanced to his left, uncomfortable. She was right; even he could not uphold laws when someone he had grown to care about – as if she was his grand-daughter – was in peril.
She stared at Sokka.
"And I cannot lie to the one I love, especially when his loved one is in danger. Sokka, Aang… I will tell you everything…"
Yue took a deep breath.
"When I was born…"
-
"Th-The Blue Spirit?" Zuko's eyes widened, nervous sweat trickling down his temples. "Wha—what are you doing here? How is it possible?"
It suddenly occurred to him that 'The Blue Spirit' might not have been its name: that nickname had been bestowed upon Zuko's alter ego by the Fire Nation. At first, he had found it unimpressive. 'Blue' was lame (and his least favourite colour… well… it was until he really looked at her eyes…) and the 'spirit' part sounded far too friendly. Why not 'demon', or 'phantom'? Much more intimidating.
But then he realised that the 'spirit' part was very appropriate. He did aid the Avatar's escape—the so-called bridge between humans and spirits—and it was much more mysterious than 'demon', which sounded…
Monstrous. Just like the real Zuko.
He shook the thoughts from his mind (let's not open that door…) and focused on 'The Blue Spirit' before him.
"Is that… your name?"
The spirit chuckled—it sounded frighteningly similar to his own—and sheathed his second sword. "I go by many names. You may call me that if you wish, Son of Fire."
Zuko abandoned his shock and instead settled on suspicion. He took a defensive position, his hands ready to flame up if need be. "What do you want? What are you doing here?"
He imagined the Blue Spirit was smirking wryly behind the mask. "I'm not the one intruding on the resting place of the Spirits, Hothead. It's been a long time since any mortal has dared to venture into the Spirit World… around a decade, I think. Perhaps longer… Or even shorter… Time has no meaning here, in Eternity. I am simply your Guide."
Just as Zuko was about to respond "Guide? Do you mean you can guide us out of here? …And who are you calling a 'Hothead'?", Katara beside him began to stir. She groaned, screwed her eyes tight and blindly pushed herself to a sitting position.
"Ah," the Blue Spirit drawled. "The lady awakes."
"Gnuh?" she blinked sleepily. "Zuko? Where did you get that?" She glanced to the boy standing next to her, and then rooted her gaze back to the masked figure. "Weird… I'm seeing double… but the double is dressed differently…"
Zuko decided to explain the situation as quick as possible, his body tensed to catch her if she fainted again – how typical of a girl. "Katara… this is—"
Quicker than Zuko could blink, the 'guide' had easily stridden over to the confused Katara and knelt before her, her hand clasped in his gloved ones. His mask had been lifted slightly, exposing pale skin and smooth lips. The Fire Prince's jaw gaped; he was fast. "The Blue Spirit," the 'guide' interrupted, placing a gentle kiss upon the back of her hand. He spoke slowly, almost lazily, but it was silky and seductive. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. May I know the name of the beautiful maiden I am enchanted with?"
A dainty pink blush graced her cheeks while she nearly fainted for a reason totally different than before. So overwhelmed with the teenage hormones she was experiencing, she momentarily forgot how to form words. "K-Ka-Katara…" she averted her eyes to the side, embarrassed.
The firebender, meanwhile, was fuming. Katara never behaved this demurely around him – this was not Katara! – She was always fierce and brazen; if she was ever rendered speechless, it was because she was too furious for words. Even Jet had not made her blush so prettily and stutter so cutely. He preferred the bold, opinionated Katara who he could regularly taunt and bicker with than this little girl. She truly was acting like a peasant…
And yet, one part of him yearned for her to blush and stammer because of him.
"Kakakatara?" the Blue Spirit echoed, a gloved finger tapping thoughtfully against his chin; he had repositioned his mask once he had introduced himself. "That's a bit too long, I think. So I'll just settle for 'Beautiful', is that all right with you?"
"Oh yes," Katara sighed dreamily. "That's fine." Zuko could imagine her adding: "You can call me whatever you want!" Humph! She had always protested against the nicknames he gave her. So what if they were insulting? It all mattered on the context… 'Peasant' and 'Water Wench' weren't all that bad… He'd been called much worse…
He forced back the urge to retch, rolling his eyes. "Excuse me, but didn't you say you were our Guide?"
"Indeed I did, Hothead." The Blue Spirit nodded cheerfully, still perched in front of Katara. Zuko fumed at his newly given nickname. He hadn't asked for his permission, had he?
"So…?" the firebender urged exasperatedly. "Aren't you meant to be guiding us out of here?"
"Hmm, well I suppose I should. What do you think, Beautiful?"
Katara looked up to Zuko, finally acknowledging him properly. "Uh… yes. We must get out of here. Who knows what will happen to our bodies while we're gone."
"Right!" Zuko instantly brightened up… well… as much as Zuko could brighten up. Zuko: 1. Blue Spirit: 1. He'd put the scores in his favour soon enough… "Then let's—"
In the corner of his eye, he saw the Blue Spirit lean forward and whisper something in Katara's ear. Her skin turned ten shades redder and she giggled uncontrollably, playfully swatting his arm. Effortlessly, the masked man jumped to his feet and held out his hand to help the waterbender up. Once she was standing, the Blue Spirit offered his arm once more.
"My Lady?"
She gracefully looped her arm with his. "My Lord," she returned with a cheeky grin.
Blue Spirit: 2.
After a few steps, Katara realised that Zuko had still not moved. "You coming, Zuko?"
"Yeah, Hothead. Hurry up before we leave you behind!"
As Zuko finally rushed after them, glaring, he decided that he would not rest until he unmasked the mysterious Blue Spirit and burnt him to a crisp.
-
Haha. A Blutara of a different sort. (Was inspired by the Nick short. WATCH IT.)