Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter 84 of Sparks Ignite! This chapter contains a lot of action so keep on reading! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. We are still in the beginning stages of this book but it continues to pick up from here! As always, I do not own avatar or its characters. Onto the story!
Fate and Destiny are a funny thing. They are so permanent, but yet can be changed by the smallest thing. It can cause the moon and the sun to collide. Or the most opposite Sparks to Ignite.
Chapter 84: The Betrayal of Brothers
Everyone sprang into action.
Katara bended the water underneath them, using it to move over the crowd. They didn't have the time to push through the people who were hurrying to get away from the battle. They needed to move quickly.
Malina bended an ice wall between them and the attackers, "Maliq, I told you to stay quiet! Get behind them!" she blocked an attack with the wall, but it wouldn't hold for long.
Zuko followed Katara and sent a blast towards one of the troops, "Katara, go get Malina and Maliq! I'll take care of the troops" he sent another blast, not aiming to kill, just to stop. He didn't want to see anyone get hurt. These were still people of her tribe.
Katara moved next to Malina and Maliq and sent a water blast towards a troop that came dangerously close to hitting the siblings with a spear.
"Thank you Katara!" Maliq spoke, who was cowering behind the ice wall. Malina saw her and tried to explain, trying not to break the already dangerous relationship between her and the daughter of the man she was seeing.
But Katara shook her head, "Not now!" she told them. But the distraction was long enough for her to be hit with a snow pillar in the back, knocking her straight to the ground.
Malina called out the girls name, turning to see who was responsible for the attack, and was surprised to see it was her own two guards.
"You idiots!" she yelled, "She was saving us!" the two were never the brightest of folks, but this was a whole new level of stupidity from the two. But as he started to speak, she realized it wasn't exactly unintentional.
"You think you can trust any of these people?!" the tall man spoke, "You and your brother get outta here! We are gonna stay and crack some southern heads!"
Malina stood tall against the two men, "We have to make sure Katara's alright!" she tried to move past them to the girl, but Maliq was behind her, grabbing her arm, "No, we gotta make you're alright! She'll be fine!" then swiftly under his breath, he spoke, "She's used to this kind of brutality down here" but even as lowly as he spoke, it did not fall on deaf ears.
Katara lifted her head, only to see Maliq dragging Malina away, but she could still see the guilt in the woman's eyes.
"So you finally see who the snow rat is hmm?"
Katara turned to see the old man standing over her. It took her a moment to recognize the older man as the one who tried to delay her and her brother from leaving the underground tavern.
She barely remembered his story, but she did slightly remember the talking snow rat.
"They may invite you to their campfire… They may flatter you with pretty words. They may even put together a lovely festival for you…" he paused, his gleeful, scarily inviting smile, turning into a harsh look, cold enough to kill, "But make no mistake… In their eyes, the snow rat… is you"
Katara stood as he spoke, looking away harshly. Even after she tried to save them from the attacks, they left her broken and battered on the ground. They were even the ones who tried to stop her. But still, Malina's guilty eyes echoed in her vision.
"Now do you support Gilak's cause?"
Katara took ahold of her mother's necklace oner throat, reminding herself of her southern roots. But she turned and saw the chaos around her.
She saw her brother, rallying people behind him, moving them into their homes while he showed the men willing to fight, their way to battle. She watched him direct orders to the men, harshly and confident. But then with the woman and children, he graciously showed them the way, protecting their backs, and carrying the children that he could.
She saw Zuko, who fought against the troops, taking on several at a time, and with each blow he made, he aimed to stop, not to harm or to kill. He only wanted the attacks to stop. She even heard him talking to them, telling them that this wasn't the way, even if his fire nation roots did not appease them.
Katara turned back to the old man, "No…"
He let out a sigh and paused, "I believed in you, young Katara, I really did…"
Suddenly, his elderly manner flipped like a switch, his hand darting out towards her throat, "But being away from home for so long has made you forget where your loyalties belong"
She thought his hand was reaching out to choke her, but instead two fingers darted out to press against the spot against her neck, making her fall to the ground.
"You're a chi blocker?!"
Zuko sent blast after blast towards the troops, trying to delay their attacks. It wasn't about killing them, just stopping them, long enough where Gilak could be apprehended. Then the troops would fall, just as their leader did.
He wanted to go after the leader, but his best bet was to leave that to Hakoda. This still wasn't his fight.
Two men tried to grab him from behind, grabbing a hold of his arms, but that didn't stop his bending. Maybe all those lessons where Iroh tied his hands behind his back and made him fight three guards at once were useful after all.
Luckily Katara had learned the same thing, maybe not conventionally the same way, but the same in hindsight. She jumped to the side and used her leg to waterbend the snow, hitting the elderly man just enough to knock him down. Once he was stunned, she froze him in ice.
"Good thing I don't need my arms to waterbend" she said, proudly, her arms hanging loosely by her side.
Guards ran to them, making sure the girl was okay. Zuko was only a few steps behind, "Katara! Your arms!" he yelled. He knew of chi-blocking, he was quite familiar of it actually. But the only one he knew who had this ability was Tylee, but she was far away on Kyoshi island, and he would doubt she would train this elderly man.
"I'm alright, they're already starting to tingle" she told him, "We have to find my Dad!"
A guard next to them was beginning to tie down the old man before he was unfrozen, keeping him detained, "I saw him last by the front gates!"
Katara nodded and looked to Zuko. They didn't even have to speak before they started running for the gates.
As they grew closer, Katara didn't like what she saw.
Malina and Maliq were trapped, held hostage by the southern warriors. Gilak was standing over them, spear in hand. But Hakoda rushed over, stopping him from attacking them.
But her father only moved to push him away from the siblings.
"Gilak, do you remember Whaletail Island?" Hakoda asked him. Gilak was rubbing his arm where Hakoda had grabbed him, and kept his gaze away from him, but he nodded, "Yes, of course, those two fire nation guards got the jump on you…"
"And I almost broke my neck trying to escape…" Hakoda reminded him, "But then you saved me. And we defeated those two guards together… Despite all that's happened in the past couple days, that's how I still think of you. That's who you are to me…"
Hakoda reached out and extended his hand, "So, let's talk this through Gilak, as brothers"
"Yes, you're right…"
"Brother!"
Katara saw red as the knife sliced through his father's abdomen.
"Dad!" she yelled as she ran towards them, sending snow and ice towards Gilak, "What did you do?" she screamed, only seeing red.
The guards saw Katara and Zuko running towards them and tried to make a break for it but Zuko sent a fire blast in front of them, stopping them in their tracks.
Katara immediately ran to her father, "No…"
She kneeled by his side and pulled the water to her hands, wrapping it around her fingertips. She pressed her hands to his stomach, watching as the blood seeped from his wound. She closed her eyes and focused every ounce she had into the wound.
"Please Dad…" she begged. She felt Zuko's presence at her side, but she didn't move to look at him. He lightly pressed his hand to her shoulder, trying to give her comfort.
He knew it wasn't enough, even as her father's face remained lifeless. It still wasn't enough.
Dun DUN DUUUNNNN! Will Hakoda be okay? Stay tuned to next chapter! Until next time!
