Disclaimer: The following chapter is entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the history of any person living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional, except when specifically noted otherwise in the cast and crew credits. All celebrity voices are impersonated and no celebrities have endorsed any aspect of this fic.
Author's note: I am not dead people, only on the inside (JK, JK, JK, JK. Don't want people thinking I'm emotionally depressed… o.O)
I recently got a review saying that they don't like the new Hiashi. Well, all I want to say is that she's showing the side of her we all didn't know. There are things, MANY, MANY things we do not know about her and although they will be released soon, we must remain vigilant and wonder. Although she is still kind of on the 'Why would you do that' side, well, some aged likings just fuse (LoL, word play!). But just as a major hint, think of the number four. Well, on with the fic!
Chapter thirty-six: Good Soul
'-'
The forest was made of lush green trees and shrubbery, completely incasing the surrounding area. The smell of nothing but greens and wildlife filled the surrounding area. It would have been a gorgeous sight if they weren't lost.
"Do you even know where we are?" Aang groaned, laying sprawled-eagle on Appa, his head hanging off the edge of the saddle.
Tsuchi turned to him. "Like we really need to know," she replied. "Meeting more people will only cause us trouble."
"But I'm hungry!" Aang sighed. "Is there like some kind of town where we can get food?"
"I don't mind stopping," Sokka intervened, stretching his arms and rubbing his stomach. "Food sounds good."
"We have food," Katara said to him. "Why not eat that?"
"Because that would require getting on Appa and then getting the bag in which the food is in. I want the food in front of me." Katara shook her head and kept walking. The four of them would have agreed that it would have made sense to put up camp, but the forest was so thick, there was nowhere to even sit down.
What little light that was in the forest began to diminish, as the night sky slowly took over. The silence of the forest pressed up against their ear, the sound of their hunger becoming apparent. "I missed you darkness!" Sokka whispered, breaking the silence.
"What was that?" Katara said after Sokka made his comment.
"I said I missed-"
"No," Katara hissed. "Another sound…"
The four of them listened to the silence, but heard nothing in the dark forest. "Liar!" Tsuchi hissed.
"No, I seriously heard-" The four of heard rustling within the trees of the green.
"That!" Sokka shouted in triumph. That's what I heard! I'm not hallucinating as much as—"
"Shut up Sokka!" Katara hissed. The rustling, as if aware that their prey knew they were there, suddenly stopped. They heard nothing except for their own breathing…
And several more people…
"I… think… there's… someone… here…" Sokka whispered to the lot of them.
"No… shit…" Tsuchi whispered back.
"Should we run?" Aang asked quietly.
"I think—" Katara began to answer, but before she could complete her sentence, their predators lurched out from the trees.
The attackers moved swiftly thought the trees, almost like Airbenders themselves. The sky was black along with their attackers making it harder to track than flies. They were heard but not seen, inching close to them.
"What do we do?" Sokka shouted over the noise, holding his boomerang in front of him.
"I don't know!" Aang shouted back. "But whatever we do—"
The group of people attacked. Katara went down first with a strike in the head. "Katara!" Aang shouted to her, but he was struck to the ground next followed by Sokka and Tsuchi. All tried to stand, but no one could move.
The tallest of the attackers circled them. He was completely covered in black, no detail in his face except for pure white eyes visible from under his hood. "Well, well," the man laughed, his voice sounding like the inside of a cave. "What do we have here? A wimpy little white boy," he said, kicking Aang in the side, "a gankly lookn' shrimp," he smirked, ramming his heel into Sokka's head, "and the two finest looking creatures I've seen in a long time," he said gesturing to Katara and Tsuchi. Tsuchi snorted.
"You think this is so funny?" he said with such malevolence the air turned to ice.
Tsuchi snorted again, but managed to keep her face straight. "Maybe…" she said shyly. "I was just curious as to how many women will actually come here if a girl like me seems pretty to you. They must be quite ugly."
"Silence you wijfje!" he snarled. The rest of his group laughed with content.
"Sorry," she said sarcastically. "I just think it's hilarious."
"Well my group is very hungry," he said now with a hypnotic sound in his voice. "I was thinking of keeping you two… but now I think otherwise. Men?" The group of them began to enclose them, their icy feeling coming closer at an alarming rate.
"They're cannibals!" Sokka whispered. "Very creepy cannibals!"
"Okay," Aang said. "You eat animals, but it's not okay to eat us?"
"Yes!" Sokka replied. "I don't wanna become someone's dinner— ACK!" One of the men grabbed Sokka by the ponytail, hoisting him up to eye level.
"He looks appeasing," the man hissed. "It makes my mouth water."
"Uh, I'm not very tasty!" he stuttered. "I taste like a penguin! Haha, they're not very good, see? Very salty! I eat a lot of—"
"Silence!" the man shouted, digging what seemed to be claws into his shoulders, thrusting Sokka's head to one side.
"Oww," Sokka laughed nervously. "That sort of hurt."
"Uh, Sokka," Aang said, also in the same bind as him, "we get it."
"I get the pretty one!" one of them hissed, holding Tsuchi. Another held the unconscious Katara, gently playing with her.
"God, you all are sad!" Tsuchi yelled at her captor.
"Shut up!" he snapped, slapping her. Another one of the men ran his finger down her spine.
"So tempting," he laughed. "I get a piece too, right?"
"Be patient, Nesuro," the first man said, sniffing the top of Aang's head. "The first humans to come in a while. We need to keep them as long as we can." He laughed as another one of them walked right next to him.
"But they're so tempting," he cooed, reaching out a hand towards Aang. "It's a feast brought to us!"
"Yes it is, my brothers," the first said. "We certainly have been blessed. So I say to you, my brothers: EAT!" As if a signal, all went in for a bite of their new meal.
"Oww, ack, ack!" Sokka screamed. "What the hell are you doing! I need that!"
But before anything could get worse, a screech erupted from inside the forest. The tall one pulled away from Aang, dropping him to the ground in a heap. "What was that?" he snarled to the group. All pulled away, looking up at the trees as if expecting something to come out.
"Drop them!" a voice shredded through the air. "You will face the consequences you savages!" The lot of them dropped them and within a blink, disappeared.
An orb of violet light came out from the forest, its light bathing itself on the group. As if washed over by warm water, they could move again. Sokka was the first to get up. "I can move again!" he said triumphantly. "No more being eaten by—" He paused, not sure as to what they were.
The orb sighed. "Those were vampires, or those ones were Vetalas. They would have sucked you dry if I hadn't scared them off."
"Wait, wait, wait," Tsuchi interrupted. "They were going to suck us dry? As in…"
"As in," the fairy said, slightly irked, "they were going to suck you— of all your blood. That's how they eat of course. They need blood in order to survive." She paused for a moment. "How did you get here?"
"With that," Aang said, pointing to Sokka's belt. "It allows us to transport to any world we want."
"Cheaters!" she hissed, moving backwards. "How do I know I can trust you? Humans aren't allowed here!"
"Were only here as a detour," Aang said. "We promise we won't do anything."
The orb was quiet. "Well," she said, "those vampires did almost kill you. And you didn't bargain with them… so I guess you're okay. Come with me, I know a place we can fix you humans up."
"Wait," Sokka added, "how did you know that? How long were you just—floating there?"
No one seemed to hear what he had said. Within a few minutes, they were following the orb deep into the forest, Katara riding on Appa's saddle. A few minutes had past when they arrived at the base of a mountain, a door just visible in a niche. "Come on in," the orb said. "Although unfortunately, the white thing must stay outside." Appa groaned.
"It's okay, boy," Aang said reassuringly. "Just be careful." Aang followed the rest of them into the small hut.
"Souixe!" the orb shouted. "Wake up, we need some medical assistance here!" A girl, who appeared to be in her late teens, appeared on the far side of a doorway holding a candlestick. "Liiri," the girl said groggily, "it's late. Why wake me so early?" She brushed a short strand of raven hair behind her, her eyes still adjusting to the light.
"Souixe, these people need help," the orb by the name of Liiri said. "They were bitten by the Vetala and—"
"Say no more," Souixe said, no longer appearing tired. She whisked over to a cabinet and began pulling different bottles from inside. She took a glass and began to mix the ingredients together. The liquid began to sizzle, turning a grayish-reddish-pink color. While the beaker played kaleidoscope, she went back to the cupboard and withdrew a box. She took out a gauze and dipped it in the concoction. She wrung it out and placed in on top of another gauze. "Who wants to go first?" she asked them.
The few of them exchanged glances. "I think Katara should go first," Aang suggested. "After all, she probably got the worst of it." They brought Katara over to her and she applied the gauze to Katara's neck.
"Take her over to the divan," she said. "Let her rest until she regains consciousness. You," she said, pointing to Sokka, "come here." Sokka looked at the others. He walked over to the girl as she was soaking another gauze. "Sit down in that chair," she ordered, pointing to a stool that was set at a table. He brought the chair over and sat down. With no hesitation, she slapped the gauze on his neck.
"OWW! Son of a – ack!" Sokka cringed. "It frikn' burns! What the heck?"
She shook her head. "Of course it does. It's a mixture of garlic, Holy Water and other herbs. It will stop the process of any vampire like symptoms."
"What?" Aang said. "That doesn't make any sense."
"You just don't understand," the girl shrugged. "If they feed from you, you could turn into one of them."
"But why would we want to?" Tsuchi asked, scratching at her bite.
"It's not a matter of wanting to," Souixe sighed. "See, those vampires are the rejected humans that used their magical teachings for evil. In this world, humans are guests. Only people with a pure heart may stay here and if you're lucky, a fairy or one of the other mystics will teach you their skills. But some people just can't handle that. They soon become plagued with greed and use it for reasons it wasn't meant to be used for. Those people who use their powers for evil are banished by the Queen. Of course, no one likes to be banished, so they've gathered together with others that have been banished and try recruiting other humans that happen to pass them by. It's not your fault, it's theirs." She finished patching up Sokka and grabbed another gauze. "Who wants to go next?"
'-'
The hospitality of Souixe and Liiri was what they needed. Liiri, not glowing anymore, sat up on a shelf, snacking on a cookie Souixe gave her. Souixe was bustling around the kitchen again, making tea and snacks for her new brought guest. She sat the plate of pastries on the table along with five warped looking cups and poured the tea out of an ancient kettle. "So, she said, finally sitting down, "who are you exactly? I haven't seen you around here and you need to go through a series of test in order to come here."
"How to explain this—" Tsuchi was about to say before Aang interrupted.
"We have a knife," Aang smiled. "It brings us everywhere! It's like a huge portal thing!"
"Aang!" Sokka and Tsuchi both said.
"Well, how fascinating," Souixe said. "I came here with my grandmami over a few years ago. Liiri trained me in everything she knew. She is really nice… once you get past the rudeness."
Liiri looked up from behind her cookie and violet hairand glared. "Hello," she frowned, "I am right here! I can hear every word you are saying!"
Souixe laughed. "Aye Liiri." She turned back to her guests. "How long do you suppose you will be here?"
Tsuchi shrugged. "About two, three days tops. We need to stay mobile."
"Well, you can stay here," Souixe said. "Our den is very capacious and comfy. I will bring you blankets." She stood up and went out of sight. Liiri was still munching on her cookie, not even paying attention to the lot of them.
"So," Liiri finally said with a mouth full of food, "yu pe-pol luk ff-funny."
"Well, our whole world dresses sort of like this," Aang replied, hoping he had the right idea as to what she said.
Liiri swallowed hard. "Well, no dur, dee dee dee! If you come from there, they're all gonna have the sort of same style of clothes." She took a nibble at her cookie.
"Well, how do you know?" Sokka said. "For all you may know, we all dress differently!"
"I'm smart like that," she sneered. "Look at you, three people, all wearing different colors and yet the outfits are the same. And looking at that sword thingy, there are only four colors on it, perhaps representing some countries… leads me to assume you all dress alike." She took a swig from a small mug that was right beside her.
"I don't like you," Sokka mumbled, shoving three cookies into his mouth.
"And I don't like you either," Liiri smirked. "You're just mad 'cuz I'm smarter than you!" She stuck her tongue out. "See, us fairies have common sense, unlike you humans."
"Hey, I have common sense!" Sokka snapped.
"Common sense is an intelligence mankind rarely uses," Liiri said simply. "You would have used it to fight those vampires, but obviously you didn't."
"I did too!" he argued.
"How long is this gonna take?" Tsuchi mumbled to Aang as Sokka and Liiri went on arguing.
"Ionno," Aang shrugged. "She seems to be Sokka's equal in my opinion. This actually might be fun to watch." And so they did. Although Sokka made many more statements than Liiri, she still seemed to be winning. The bickering only subsided when Souixe returned with an armful of pillows and blankets.
"Whatever," Liiri shrugged, floating away from the cupboard and over to the den. "I already know I won anyways." She settled herself on top of a shelf right next to a dusty jade bottle of Valerian roots.
Sokka was choking on words to say back, but they all seemed to trip on each other as they came out. Aang and Tsuchi laughed at him as they graciously accepted the blankets from Souixe.
"If it gets hot, just open up that window," she said to them before blowing out her candle and retreating back to her own room. Aang sighed loudly and plopped himself down on the pillow.
"How great is this?" he said in a low whisper. "I can't remember the last time we got a real bed and blankets to sleep with."
"Probably about four days ago," Tsuchi answered. "Or if we're going by technicalities, about two months. It gets all confusing. Heck, I don't even know how I do it. It's all weird like."
"Tsuchi," Aang said again, "how long has it been? You know, since we've left?"
Tsuchi was silent. "Well," she said, "let's see… We left sometime before spring… and in reality, we've only been gone for… two weeks… that means… uh…" She became quiet again, trying to figure out the complex quandary. "Probably about four months," she finally answered him. "But don't worry," she reassured, "you still have two months before the ends of summer. It gives you plenty of time."
"That's not why I'm worries," Aang sighed. "I'm more worries because I was back for such a short time and then all of a sudden I disappeared again. I don't think it's fair to everyone else that I just up and leave again. I give people hope and it's not right for me to just keep losing their trust. I shouldn't be doing this."
"Aang," Tsuchi said with remorse, "I haven't told you, but this route I'm planning will lead us right to the heart of the Fire Nation Capital. You've been using your spare time to master the elements and you can do it without worrying about people hunting you. Your only fear is Zuko and my sister, but that's about it, and they usually only come on the last day."
"But doesn't that just cut down my time even more?" he asked.
"Only slightly," she said. "Just calm down. You'll be fine. After help from Arekin and Katara, and with your firebending and earthbending lessons from me, you've got it down quicker. Just breathe and get some rest. We have a long day tomorrow."
"Hello," Sokka mumbled, "people trying to sleep here. I enjoy peace and quiet when I'm doing so."
The two of them giggled. They took Sokka's advice of being quiet and finally retired.
'-'
Yeah, not very interesting, but yeah. I have writer's block and don't know what to put here. I have everything else after this world, but I can't think of anything right now. So if anyone is reading this and has ideas, I deeply appreciate it. Thank you and good day!