Chapter 21: Can Spirits Lightning Bend?
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC.
Zuko stands alone on a balcony of the palace under a cloudless, star-filled sky, looking out over the city beyond. Liling opens the door behind him. "Ty Lee has just informed me that the Kyoshi Warriors have finished their nightly rounds. Everything's secure."
Turning away from the vista to face her, Zuko appreciatively remarks, "Thank you, Liling."
Smiling at him, she asks, "Want some company?"
Smiling back, Zuko replies, "Sure," before denoting for her to fill in any of the empty space around him.
She joins him as he falls silent, his expression fading into sadness. Liling notices and assures him, "We'll find Tom-Tom. I know we will."
"Yeah. . . But it isn't just about finding him. A couple of months after we had started dating, Mai and I took Tom-Tom on a picnic with us. I think his mom had errands to run? I don't really remember." He turns to look at Liling, pausing briefly before he continues, "At first, I was kind of annoyed. I was hoping to get some alone time, just Mai and me, you know?" He turns back and resumes looking over the vista. "But then, I remember him watching him run after this glow moth. He was so happy. I don't remember ever being that happy. Mai ever tell you what happened to Tom-Tom in Omashu?"
"Yeah," Liling says with a sigh, remembering how little she had liked the story at the time she was told.
"So you know. For a little guy, he's been through a lot. But he could still get so much joy from chasing a flying bug." He turns to face Liling again, his face worried and unsure. "If we. . . When we find him, will he still be the same kid? Will he be able to be that happy ever again?" As he finishes speaking, the shot zooms over Zuko's left shoulder, focusing on the building behind him, where thick smoke has begun to pour from an open window. Turning away from Liling, Zuko notices the smoke, and his expression instantly morphs into absolute horror. "No!"
Immediately, Zuko and Liling make for the door, sprinting through corridors. "What's wrong?" Liling asks in alarm as she chases after Zuko.
Not slowing his pace to explain, Zuko simply shouts, "Smoke! From Kiyi's room!"
This was explanation enough. Both Zuko and Liling race towards Kiyi's room, Zuko regretting ever giving her a room separate from her parent's.
Moments later, the two reach Kiyi's room, only to find her bed empty. While they stare in disbelief, Aang, Azula, and Ty Lee run into the room.
"No, no, no!" Zuko shouts in utter fury, dismantling the bed in search of any signs of life.
"Zuko?" Aang asks in alarm as he skids to a stop by Zuko. Aang notices the open window behind Zuko. As he and Zuko look out onto the roof, they find Kiyi's abductors, three apparent Kemurikage, one of whom holds the sleeping Kiyi, right in front of them.
With one foot already on the windowsill, Zuko demands, "Put her down! Now!"
As they vault over the windowsill, Zuko, Liling, Azula, and Aang all firebend at the nearest cloaked figure. It deftly dodges their blasts, and the one holding Kiyi flies swiftly at Aang, planting a foot solidly in his chest. He grunts and staggers back to the edge of the roof as Ty Lee accosts the figure.
Gasping for breath, Aang grunts, "That definitely felt like a human foot to me! Try chi blocking 'em, Ty Lee!"
Already attempting to paralyze her opponent, to no effect, Ty Lee swears, "I'm trying, I'm trying!"
Suddenly, Liling body-slams the figure holding Kiyi from behind. "I don't think so!" she shouts.
Managing to free itself, the figure tosses the sleeping child in its arms to one of its compatriots, who are watching the altercation from a higher ledge of the roof. The figure who caught Kiyi immediately flees across the roof, while the one who threw Kiyi stays behind to detain its attackers. The third figure simply watches from the nearby higher edge of the roof.
"After them!" Zuko desperately calls, already setting chase.
Before they can follow, the figure nearest them begins producing smoke. As it rapidly begins to obscure their vision, Liling, Azula, Ty Lee, and Zuko begin to cough and choke. As they cover their mouths and shut their eyes against it, there is a great blast of wind, which immediately dispels the smoke. Opening their eyes, they turn to see that Aang, standing upright and having fully recovered from his kick to the chest, has airbent all the smoke away. He points to the last visible cloaked figure, who is fleeing across the same roof the others used for their escapes. "There!"
Zuko sends a well-aimed blast of fire at the figure, which catches the figure's cloak, who has its back to its pursuers, in the side. Letting out an audible groan, the figure tumbles and falls from the rooftops to the courtyard below, landing in a heap. In mere seconds, Zuko and Aang are standing over it, with Azula, Liling, and Ty Lee just behind them.
"That's it! It's over! Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide!" Spreading his arms, Zuko threateningly brandishes flames above his upturned palms. "Where'd your friends take my sister? The same place you took the other kids? Answer me!" He leers over the downed figure, his flames coming dangerously close.
Suddenly, the figure raises its left hand, electricity crackling from two of its fingertips. Without warning, the spirit rounds on its five attackers and unleashes a blast of lightning on them. The five recoil, shielding themselves from the blinding light as the energy surges past them, failing to strike them. As the lightning's roaring thunder fades, a remnant of electricity dancing on the figure's outstretched fingers, Zuko gazes at it, a mixture of surprise and terror on his face, knowing exactly who it was that was behind all of this.
"Ozai."