A/N: Hello, I am back. Sorry for the delay again. My summer assignment deadlines were looming and I have been wasting away at my computer watching the entire season one of Xena: Warrior Princess off of my dad's Netflix account. I have no excuses, just a soft spot for really back graphics and 'medieval/ greek mythology' series. Sorry it ended up being a tad bit short, but hopefully the action makes up for it. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Last I checked, nothing has changed since the last 30 somewhat chapters.
Previously on Events Unexpected…
Taking the opportunity to speak, Agni moved to stand between the two girls; addressing them both, he announced, "Your firebending was not completely snuffed out because you were still aware of your spark," he pointed at Korra, "Unfortunately, your conflicting obligations and emotions made it difficult for you to utilize her as a fuel source for your inner flame. Accepting her would go against your life's ambition; yet, rejecting her was never an option for you either."
"I thought that touching you would scald your skin."
"I don't feel anything," Korra affirmed.
When Kaji was sufficiently pleased with her firebending capabilities, she motioned to their surroundings before proclaiming, "Not that it isn't grand to just stand around here all day, but do we actually have any notion as to how Korra and I are going to get out of here?"
Aang's voice was level, a teacher about to impart a lesson upon a student, "I have a few hypotheses that I would be willing to try. It will not be simple; the veil is a very delicate thing and one mistake could be catastrophic for both worlds. Koh's magic is one that I have not seen before, something long lost to all but him it would appear. As such-"
"I am Nopperabou Ichi, the firssst of Massster Koh'sss sservantss. Come quietly and neither of you will be hurt, Avatarssss."
Behind it, from the shadows pooling to either side, emerged more grotesque figures. Three to its right and two on the left.
"It appearsss asss though you are the onesss at a disssadvantage," Nopperabou snickered. "Now, last chancssse. Give usss the girl."
Baited breathes steamed the chilled air, mixing with the fog surrounding the small circle of trees, firs and pine, dark as obsidian against the veiled ocean of grass surrounding it. The rock fissure had been a tight fit, barely capable of cloaking them all from sight. The airbender spirit clutched at the entrance of the small dome of stone as he peered 'round it; grey eyes gazed into the mists, willing them to disperse and yet praying that they remained as an aegis from the eyes of the monstrosities coming for them. The waterbending spirit tightened her grip on the firebender's arm; the two girls nestled close against the funneling crevice. Sound seemed to have disappeared from the place, ghostly and ethereal even for the Spirit World. Kaji shivered involuntarily against the dampness that ran down from an opening in the rock and dripped inside of her clothing, trailing along her rigid spine. Korra squeezed ever tighter, breathes mingling in the closeness of their positions. Aang continued tracing the outlines of the distant trees, warped like looming charred spearheads rising out of the soggy ground.
A twig snapped. The three benders froze in place, not daring to shift in any manner and give away their sanctuary. Shadows moved across the corners of their vision, threatening danger and revealing themselves as nothing more than ghosts brought about from tense paranoia.
They had made their desperate flight from Koh's lackeys, crashing through the foliage of the once peaceful spiritual plain. Korra had been more than ready to take her chances and fight off the Faceless with all that she had. Aang, ever the level-headed one, had seen the futility of such a method. Both he and the firebending girl, Kaji, had wrestled the young Avatar from her ready stance and half carried, half dragged the Water Tribeswoman in the direction opposite the demon dolls. Using his bending, the former Avatar was able to propel them forward in a vortex of wind, landing them some leagues away from Nopperabou Ichi and the rest of Koh's goons. Cover had been difficult to find, the leveled grasslands providing nothing for miles. It had been pure good fortune that they had come upon the small oasis of evergreen foliage. Panting, they had convened inside of the sorry little natural shack. There would only be so much time before the Faceless found the only plausible hiding spot and came for them, putting a constant pressure on their hyperactive hearts. Still, the small reprieve, even such an uncertain one, was welcomed.
"What do we do," Kaji hissed. "They will find us eventually."
"We fight them," Korra retorted immediately. "Split them up in the fog and surprise them with an ambush."
"That may work for a few of them," Aang interceded, "but it will do little once the rest become wise to our tactics. Running is the only option until we have them at an advantage, or we are able to send you back to the living world."
"If we run, they will catch us. That is obvious," Korra muttered. She was done cowering from the centipede spirit. She wanted to hurt him, show him that she was not some weakling he had pressed between a rock and a hard place.
"If we fight, we will get caught faster," Kaji cut off her inner tirade. "Aang is right. The only option we have is finding a way out of here. Koh cannot get us in our plain."
"He got you here once didn't he?" Korra argued. "What makes you think he won't try again?"
Bristling, the firebender pulled herself away from the Avatar- or as much away as she could when they were all crammed on top of one another in the claustrophobic space. Her words came out before she had a chance to think clearly, "Well, maybe I'll be a little more careful about accepting gifts from you in the future."
Korra reeled. The guilt of the betrothal necklace stung deeply in her chest, only overcome by the anger born from the low attack. She bit out, "I doubt I would be giving you any more presents after we get back."
"If we get back," came the murmured reply. Golden and sapphire eyes softened with an unspoken apology. Kaji scooted slightly further back into the fissure, coming to lay her head against Korra's arm. They were unnerved, on edge, and holding together through sheer force of will. They could not let the anticipation get to them. Korra especially wrestled with her inner loathing of the wait.
"You will get back," Aang assured, his eyes never leaving the static landscape. "We just need to figure out how."
"You mentioned some ideas…" Korra said, trying to be hopeful.
"Yes, I did," Aang rubbed the back of his neck. "The simplest method would be to obtain the necklace and study its properties. Where there is a path one way, there is usually some manner with which to open a reverse effect. Korra, do you remember what happened to the necklace?"
"N-no," Korra shook her head. "It was gone when I woke up. Kaji?"
The firebender also shook her head in the negative, looking down, forlorn. Aang grimaced, pondering how best to tell the girls that he had no inclination as to any other means of returning a body to the land of the Four Nations once it had been summoned into the Spirit World. In all of his time, he had never even heard of such things occurring, much less having anyone go back. His face was enough to say it all. Kaji's teeth dug into the side of her cheek, hard enough to sting yet keeping the tissue intact.
"I just need some time. Perhaps the other incarnations- wait, hush," Aang moved away from the mouth of the alcove, hands sliding him as far into the shadows as possible without smashing the girls into the rock. A branch quivered, followed by a series of muffled creaks from above and shuffles from below.
Shades flitted across the opening of between the fallen slabs of granite. This time, they were no mere illusions. A hiss echoed through the area, steaming with venomous intent. Korra looked on, over Aang's sloped shoulder, into the grove of pine. The movement had stilled.
The branch cracking under the weight put on it was like a thunderclap shredding the sky to pieces. At first it was subtle, a creak that lasted longer than most. Then came the break; roaring in agony as the wood splintered in half and the limb, no longer held aloft, began its swift descent to the ground underneath. Pine needles and dust erupted from their dormancy in plumes; waves of debris rippling outward in flakes and broken shards. What fell next was more solid. It did not splinter like the wood. It held firm, bending at the waste and knees to brace the impact. A filthy green scarf winding its way around the hidden face and neck was the only garment holding any color on it. The arms on the thing were thicker than Korra's thigh, looking like they could easily break a man's body in two. Hideous ink marks ran along the muscle; images of serpents and spiders crawling along bones and skulls of various species of animal, including a few that were frighteningly human. There was no hair on its head, only a mask that covered the corrupted flesh and ended in a pair of dark, shaded goggles. They might have once been some hue of blue, but were only grey glass now. The steps it took were heavy, lumbering, and loud. Boots with toes and soles of steel crashed through the stilled grove, carrying the behemoth forward. The giant raised its head, lowering the gaudy wrappings from its nose, and took a sharp inhale. Kaji found herself pleading to Agni that her body would cease its perspiring or that a heavenly breeze would carry their scent away. As the skeletal black pores in the center of the giant's head widened to allow entrance to the smells of the tree island, she dejectedly realized that the Sun God held no power over the misted vale. Here, where no ray of light could pierce the thick billows of spectral clouds, there was no hope to be had. The thing's neck twisted sharply in the direction of the rock pile and the three benders knew that they were found.
"You're mine," the thing cackled. Its voice was deep, almost human in its masculinity. A younger victim than the genderless drawl of the messenger and the leading puppet. Even with that assumption, the benders were far from comforted.
Booms followed the goliath as he charged them. Korra barely had enough time to slide open the stone above their heads before the first impact hit them. Disintegrated rock caked them in dust as Aang lightly jumped out, followed by Kaji and then Korra bringing up the rear and closing off the portal. A growl came from under the pile of rubble just as the Faceless fought its way out of the prison it made for itself in the caved in stone. The cloth on its face was tattered and had lost some of its color underneath the layers of dust and debris. A long gash ran along its right arm, starting from the wrist and ending at the shoulder blade. Green liquid oozed from it like swamp slime, pooling in a puddle on the forest floor. Kaji's eyes narrowed to better focus in on the ripped strands of material as the threads wove themselves into a dirty mesh. As the strings rewound themselves in a solid pattern, so too did the skin on the Nameless' arm.
Urgently the firebender turned to her companions, "I have a hunch. Aim your attacks at that scarf!"
No sooner had the words registered in Korra's head and she was gathering the water out of the air and sending it in twin whips toward the giant's neck wrappings. The first was blocked by the massive forearms of the beast, leaving not a scratch, but the second managed to nick the frilled edge. A shrill cry echoed through the mists, bouncing off of the trees and fog in mimicked cries, each growing dimmer and less repulsive until all that was left were whimpers. An enlarged gash ran along the thing's chest, dousing the black, sleeveless vest adorning it in luminescent emerald splashes. The benders stood still, awaiting the next occurrence. And as the fabric reattached itself into a whole once more, so too did the pain end. What was left them was a disappointed air and a very enraged monster. Korra cursed under her breath, wondering why nothing was ever as easy as one strike and done. Kaji, however, was working out a plan at one hundred electrical stimuli a second, her brain whirring through myriads of possibilities. The oncoming giant cut her short as she was flung out of the way by Korra's toned body. They hit the ground in a roll, regaining their footing and quickly moving to face the frustrated centipede's servant. Seeing that over thinking would not garner any results, the Fire Lord shrugged off her inhibitions and decided to simply put her theory into practice.
"Distract him," Kaji murmured in her lover's ear just before flitting to her right.
"It heals itself!" Korra cried out, wondering what the hell the girl had planned.
"I know that, just trust me," Kaji called back.
Korra sighed and centered her eyes back on the dangerous, infuriated bag of muscle preparing to make another charge. Sinking down into a full horse stance, she reached her hands into the ground, finding the familiar strings of chi tying her to the earth around her. Two massive boulders tore out of the ground and hung aloft on either side of her, hovering patiently until she gave the order to fly. And fly they did, rocketing through the air in perfect arcs toward their intended target. The Faceless got out one brief huff of laughter before ramming its fists into to oncoming projectiles. The rocks smashed into pieces, scattering in all directions like miniature meteorites gouging tiny furrows into the ground as they slowly embedded themselves back from whence they came. The scarf of the faceless hid its smile, but Korra was almost certain that it would be there- provided that the thing even had a mouth.
Korra's unsuccessful attack had given Kaji all of the necessary time to position herself behind the walking corpse. Her hands spun in two bright flashes, conjoining in an orb of writhing cerulean and crystal flames. Her feet carried her in a burst of fire, dodging the bits of boulder whizzing past the goliath's shoulders, and flung her into the sky in a leaping somersault. Her flip ended with her hands, wreathed in glowing burning energy, wrapped tightly around the thing's neck. Her entire body burst into light as the fire licked at the power she was affording it. Everything burned under its heat, eradicated without even a trace of ash left to mark it had ever existed. The mossy wool and rotting flesh gave way with ease, and the Faceless was not able to even give off a scream before it fell apart into nothing. When the dust had cleared, Kaji stood among the decaying remains with her left hand on her hip and her right hand holding a single green strand between her thumb and forefinger. With a smile nearing sadistic, she slowly let a small flame engulf the remnants of the creature, eating at it until it too was gone.
Korra and Aang held their breaths, not wishing to count their blessings just yet. The scarf had remade itself before; there was no guarantee that it would not do so again. Kaji, however, stood at ease, safe in the knowledge that there would be no resurrection. She had felt the last of the thing's essence drain away with the demise of the final strand of fabric. There was nothing left to be redone, not a speck or atom to be regenerated. She had perfectly destroyed it all. Once a few moments had passed without anything happening- no enraged spirit bursting from the ground and grinding them into fine sand- Korra and Aang shifted from their low, defensive stances.
"Not so invincible now," Kaji held her signature, self-assured smirk.
"The scarves must be their spirits," Aang thought aloud. "Their bodies were taken from them but their consciousness was preserved in those things. They keep the Faceless more or less… animate."
"Good thing Kaji put two and two together," Korra grinned, coming up to wrap an arm around the beaming firebender. Then, upon seeing the confident glow about the other girl, she added whilst pretending to inflate her head, "Not that she needs another ego boost."
"Are you insinuating something?" the Fire Lord teased, grabbing at Korra's hands as they further expanded away from her skull.
"Children, be quiet," Aang suddenly motioned for them to stop their foolishness. The small victory would not be worth the consequences of lowering their guard when the rest of the enemy had yet to make an appearance.
A ferocious growl from behind them proved his fears correct. Spinning within a mass of his element, the monk wasted no time in asking questions. Aang's pale arms sprang out from his body, funneling a gale of wind with the force of a small tornado toward the sound and the body it had come from. A hard thud indicated the success of the monk's assault even before his grey eyes located the limp body impaled on one of the lower branches of a gnarled fir. A bright yellow shawl fell loosely over the thin shoulders and lithe dark form of another Faceless. This one's physique was far smaller than the giant they had felled moments prior, deceptively masking the strength it held within. Its arms were long and angled, with plumage sticking out of the triceps and back forearms. A beak poked out from under the faded piss-colored scarf, made of faded bronze or brass. The eyes flitted maddeningly from one face to another as it assessed the foes facing it. Letting out a horrendous screech, it yanked itself off of the wood protruding from its chest. Sunbursts of yellow ran along the gash until it closed itself up, just as the wounds of the green giant had done before its demise.
"You know what to do," Aang called to the two girls behind him.
Grinning, Kaji took the first offensive. Her eyes filled with mirth and energy as her hands were once more consumed by her iridescent blue fire. Korra followed suit, burning her own brilliant copper and gold flames along her wrists and fingertips. Together, the girls burst forth, running alongside one another whilst maneuvering toward the demonic corpse. The Faceless raised its hideous arms, releasing a torrent of needlelike feathers in their direction. Kaji pulled ahead, easily vaporizing them with one swipe of her burning chi. The Faceless hissed as the heat hit its festered skin from pure convection. Kaji had dropped back to Korra's side as they neared their intended mark. The blue and yellow flames danced one within the other as they converged into a massive spearhead, illuminating miles of bleak terrain. Their voices rose in a fierce roar of pure power, mingling and becoming one as they unleashed all of their will in a force so strong, it cleared a path through the entire grove of trees and stretched a league beyond; a meteorite trail of destruction.
"Did we get it?" Korra gasped, sweat drops of blue ectoplasm dripping from her forehead.
Kaji scoffed at her, replying in a bored tone, "Nothing could have lived through that."
"Not quite," a call from above sounded before a series of thwack noises echoed from the ground. A sharp intake of breath was heard shortly after. Kaji followed the trail of metallic quills lining the dirt under her feet, tilting her gaze up to find one lodged securely in Korra's left shoulder. The girl's cobalt eyes were wide and her mouth was open in a manner similar to a fish out of water. Ethereal liquid seeped out of the wound, seemingly exaggerated for such a minor wound. Korra herself did not feel the paralytic poison stiffen her body until her legs buckled out from under her and she began to fall. Her descent was shortened by a pair of warm arms entombing her rapidly cooling form. Her eyes searched for an answer as to how the Faceless could have evaded their strike, noticing the harpy alight itself on a mound of displaced dirt still fizzling from the fires that had wrenched it from its resting place. Her eyes burned from the air stealing their moisture, but her eyelids were frozen in place with no intention of closing. The hand that had securely fastened itself around Kaji's protective arm fell limply to hang lifelessly some centimeters off of the ground.
"What did you do?" Kaji growled menacingly. Her voice had changed, growing deeper and darker, matching her eyes that had taken on a blackened amber. She held no intention of having that question answered. Carefully, the firebender placed the stricken Avatar on the ground, praying that Korra was not mortally injured. If the girl so much as scarred from the tiny feathered dart, there would be hell to pay for it.
"It is a creeping toxin," the bird-like puppet lectured, rising into the air until it was at an unreachable distance and yet still able to be heard. "Do not worry about her now. You should be more focused on yourself. She will die eventually… you die now!"
The harpy brought its arms into its body and launched itself into a bombing plummet. Kaji's fists ignited, held ready to carve through sinew and bone alike. Her boots dug into the malleable earth, reaching for a rooted perch. The creature was no more than a few yards away when it opened its arms with a flurry of razor feathers, each deadly and set on burying itself into Kaji's body. The girl didn't even flinch as she brought her arms down in a wave of fire; two wings of cerulean arching outward from her body in a shower of sparks. The left wing broke too close to the Faceless, buffeting it into a spinning careen. It was all the opening that Kaji needed. The soles of her shoes clicked with tiny sparks as she gathered enough momentum to fling herself into the sky and meet the dazed enemy as it attempted to regain control of its motor functions. The firebender had overshot somewhat, gouging out the harpy's eyes instead of grasping at the scarf upon collision. Shrieks from both the monstrosity and the girl were like knives through the quiet region. Kaji blindly grabbed for anything that felt like thick fabric, burning all that came into her grasp. Her flames were too bright to allow her to discern what she was making contact with, but she was also past the point of caring. The cries of the harpy muffled and died out, leaving only the enraged snarls of the Fire Lord as she continued to claw at nothing in particular. It was only when her right shoulder brutally hit the ground that her senses were knocked back into place and she realized that the Faceless was no longer under her. Panting, she shakily brought herself onto her knees, leaning heavily on her left hand while she nursed the tender areas of her right arm.
"Korra," she gasped, wheezing as her ribcage protested the exhalation.
"I'm here," an equally weak reply came from somewhere behind her. A sigh of relief escaped the firebender before she toppled to the ground. Her body felt like it had been beaten by a hundred men with clubs, but hearing Korra's voice- even as low and labored as it was- was enough to make the pain dim significantly.
"You must get up, Fire Lord," Aang's voice came from above her. "There are bound to be more and until Korra has regained her ability to stand, you are the only fire wielder here."
Getting up was the last thing Kaji had any intention of doing. Still, the nagging voice of her grandmother residing in her head was relentless in its agreement. Gritting her teeth, she found her balance and pushed herself slowly into a standing position. Her footing was insecure and she found herself hitting one of the nearby trunks for support. Her mainly undamaged left side complained at the mistreatment, but it was quelled by the other parts of her body seeking equal attention.
"Jusst give up," a familiar drawl came from above them. In a flash of darkness, Nopperabou Ichi fell from the canopy. The darkened scarf flitted in the rush of air that followed, swaying tauntingly. Kaji could almost envision the threads disintegrating between her fingers. "Masster Koh will not be kept waiting."
"Master Koh can go scr-" Kaji started, but was cut off when she was sent spinning by a backhand across her face. A scowling Faceless glared down at her fallen form, its arms folded haughtily over its chest.
"You do not get to speak ill of our Master, human scum," it murmured. The watery silkiness of its pronunciation did little to impede the underlying menace. Kaji only gave it a bloody smile, feeling where the hand had broken the skin of her lower lip.
"Always fight his battles for him, do you?" the firebender mocked. Her sarcasm melted into a scream of pain as her bruised arm was crushed into the ground by the Faceless' heavy booted leg.
"Get away from her!" Korra yelled, scooting herself up from the forest floor. Clinging leaves fell from her pants as her muscled thighs strained to hold up her weight, still partially frozen by the waning venom.
"Don't do anything you are going to regret, girl," another member of Koh's servants stepped forward from the veil, soon joined by the last member of the remaining guard. Red silk and blue wool flitted in the breeze gently caressing the undead and the spirits alike without distinction. The Faceless pressing down on the floored firebender grinned, its mouth a particularly nasty hole in its face, held together by a series of stitches on either side which strained against the skin which each uttered word. The scarf belonging to it was no more than two orange tassels connected by thick intertwining ropes.
"Oh," Korra quietly grimaced, "I really doubt that I'm going to regret doing this."
Her hands shot out from behind her back, plumes of sunset fire streaking out from her palms. The Faceless had no time to dodge it as it hit him square in the face. The gaping mouth unhinged into a frightening abyss as the strings attaching the upper jaw to the lower one melted from the heat. The weight on Kaji's arm lifted, allowing the girl to spring herself off of the ground and kick an arc of her own element at the red and blue scarf wearing puppets before they were able to lunge at the current Avatar. Aang supplemented his airbending to push back the leader of the pack and hold the stunned trio at bay whilst the two girls converged on the still reeling tasseled monster. Kaji, more cautious now, circled the thing until she was behind it. On cue, she jumped onto the creature's back, wrestling it to the foliage below and affording Korra the necessary shot at its exposed neck. The familiar dying scream sounded off, a most beautiful crescendo, before sinking into nothing more than guttural gurgles. Dismayed hisses sounded from the other Faceless. The blue scarf bearing one broke away from Aang's wind cage, propelling itself outward with the force of the gales compressing the others inward. A hooked hand broke through the trunk of a proximal pine; the three fingers embedded in the wood sloped into the menacing talons that had torn the bark asunder. The thing gave a warrior's yell before dislodging itself and coming at Korra and Kaji. The Avatar was the one to meet it head on. Her earthbending shifted the ground from beneath the creature's feet, causing it to slightly lose its balance. The pause was enough for Korra to come at it with a flaming uppercut that sent the puppet's body flying into the tree that had, just seconds prior, broken its fall. Kaji swept around Korra, jettisoning herself to her victim with fire from her feet, directing her sweeping, circular attack with her lowered left hand. The hand was raised in a delicate half-circle as she neared, sending a separate flux of fire from the walls of flame rising behind her. The arch hit the Faceless' neck, severing the head from the body completely. Korra quickly came in to finish the job with a gleaming sphere which she crashed into the smaller portion of the partitioned monster that had the Faceless' soul still wrapped around it.
"I can't hold them much longer," Aang forewarned as his leaden arms slowed in their circles, thus slowing the channeling air imprisoning the remaining Faceless.
"You won't have to," a bodiless boom broke through the wooded area. Korra and Aang paled in recognition of the voice and yet, never had they heard such ferocity and anger lace the slimy insect tone. Their familiarity to the oncoming force had never once beheld the true wrath that could be housed within the massive centipede body of the emerging Spirit. Had that not been frightening enough to send them into a cold sweat, there was also the actual physical appearance of the Stealer of Faces.
The gigantic legs, hundreds upon hundreds of them clacking together in a serenade of metallic scrapes and clangs, unraveled the serpentine body from its coil. The exoskeleton stretched and contracted as the anterior raised itself to loom over all of their heads. The Noh mask was gone, even the firebender whose grimace had always been Koh's visible rage was no longer in place. Instead, where there had always been something, there was now a gaping vortex of blackness. It looked as though some child had gone and used black crayon to wipe away the very existence of anything with a semblance to a discernible facial expression. Instead, the blackness shifted to portray the emotions of the abomination. If Azula's friend Ty Lee had been with them, she would have mentioned a sort of outward transmission of aura, not quite seen but certainly felt by all those in the vicinity.
Kaji, the only one yet to have met the nightmarish entity, was no less stricken by the gruesomeness of its visage. Still, her eyes caught on something else, something much smaller and distractingly white against the black of the main body. Her eyes widened with the knowledge that the small medallion had not be lost to them after all.
Tugging at Korra's shirt in the most inconspicuous manner, she whispered into the other girl's ear, "Look at what he has embedded into his chest plate."
Korra's eyes equally widened as she too caught sight of the bone betrothal necklace.
"I have had enough of this," the centipede shivered, "It is time to end it."
And with that, Koh had arrived.
P.S: Well, I daresay that it will only intensify from here. I cannot promise anything on time, but reviews may be motivation for finshing up the next chapter instead of working on my Environmental Science coursework. And yes, that was a hint to leave a message. I love them, I frame them in my heart forever. Any and all grammatical mistakes are blamed on the Gremlins... not really, just my shoddy revision skills. Again, don't be shy and leave a review. 'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' does not apply here. Flames make me cry, but they also let me know people are reading. Of course, nice reviews are always welcome too! Until next time wonderful readers.