I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to update this, I promise I haven't forgotten about it! This spring semester has been verrryy busy and I've basically only been focused on school and sleep for the past five months and now that I'm finally finished for the summer I have more time to update everything which is great! I decided to change the story's title because I didn't think the previous one fit where I wanted to go with the plot and put it together last minute before I published it so it wasn't the best title I could have had lol. I'm so excited to show you guys what I have planned for this story though because I have lots of ideas and I can't wait to put them into actual words :). I will be updating once a week, and almost all of the chapters will be long so hopefully I can keep you guys satisfied (ish) until the next update. If I have more time in the week (or if I have a really good plot idea that I can't wait to write), I'll update more! I'm always up for talking to people, so if you need someone to talk to or want a new friend, feel free to PM me!
….
The air around me was frigid as I made my way across the frozen lake, the ice underneath me groaning with the impact of my boots. Pulling my fur-lined jacket tighter around my chest, I squinted to see in the blinding snow, my breaths coming in harsh pants.
"Kaida! Where are you?" I heard someone's voice echo, the frightened sound carrying through the wind.
"I'm here!" I screamed back, my voice hoarse with the effort. A small figure was making its way towards me, their form hunched over, and I started sprinting, trying to reach them. Tears gathered at the edges of my vision as I reached out a hand to the person in front of me, their face obscured by the snow, and I could feel the coldness of their bare skin as they gripped my arm tightly.
"I-I c-can't d-do t-this a-any m-more K-kaida," they said, looking up at me through the haze of the storm, and I gasped as I saw my face staring back at me.
"Who are you?" I breathed as I stepped back, shaking off the person's arm as they stood stiffly, gazing at me with something akin to desperation.
"Please. Remember. You have to remember, Kaida. Please. You have to save him. Save him, Kaida. Save him," she kept repeating, stumbling towards me as I took another step backward, my feet aching to run away.
"I don't know who you're talking about. I don't know why any of this is happening. I have to go, I'm sorry," I said quickly, turning on my heel to run, but the girl's hand latched around my wrist before I could.
"SAVE HIM!" she screamed at me, and I cried out, wrenching away from her.
"What's your problem?" I screeched at her, but when I looked back she was nowhere to be seen, and with dread, I watched as the ice around me began to split.
"No. No, no, no," I whispered as I started racing back from where I had come (wherever that was, I had no clue), but it wasn't enough. With a strangled cry, the ice broke beneath me and I fell into the water, the churning current the last thing I saw before everything went dark.
"NO!" I screamed, waking up in a cold sweat, my sheets twisted around me as I panted, the view of my dark and empty bedroom coming into focus as my breathing evened.
"Ugh, not again," I groaned as I sat up groggily, looking blearily out at the sunlight peeking through the window. The past few weeks I had had nightmares almost every night, and all of them ended up with me falling to my death. None of them made any sense whatsoever, and most of the time some strange people would come up to me and beg me to remember what happened on that accursed hunting trip ten years ago. I would always wake up feeling more lost than I had been before, and this time was no better. I had tried desperately to erase my real name out of my mind but apparently, my brain refused to do that. Kaida was what my parents named me, but after the accident, I felt like that name belonged to someone else, and not me. Now, even my dreams were trying to convince me otherwise, and I hated it.
"Can I not go one night without dreaming of some wacko?" I mumbled as I stood up, sleep no longer seeming appealing, and walked to my dresser to get ready.
Thirty minutes later I was showered, dressed, and almost mentally stable enough to go and meet Lin at the police station. Lin Beifong and I had been best friends since I had first moved to Republic City, helping me with everything from paying taxes to navigating through city grocery stores without losing my mind. She had been the one to save me from a triad that had tried to kidnap me the first week I arrived (that is a story for another time), and ever since then had been my only other good friend except for Resa. Despite our age gap, she treated me like I was her little sister, and I could not have asked for anything better. She was smarter than anyone I knew, and always had a quick solution to anything. If anyone knew of what to do about the anti-bending group, it would be her. Grabbing my purse from the floor by my bed I walked out of my apartment, locking the door behind me and trudging down the many flights of stairs before I reached the first floor. As I walked outside I saw several women giggling at a guy who was showing off his new car; I groaned, trying to ignore the stares some of the other men were giving me.
"Hey lady, you're looking pretty fine. Wanna take a ride with me?" A man standing next to a motorcycle asked as he winked at me, his eyes looking over me like I was a shiny new toy, and I scowled.
"I would rather be run over by a bus, thank you," I replied stiffly as I walked past him, hearing his rather colorful insults behind me as I grinned, chuckling.
As soon as I made it to the police station's front entrance, I steeled myself, preparing to wait in line for hours to talk to Lin, but as I walked inside, there was hardly anyone there. One of the officers was sitting at the front desk as I came up, and his face brightened as soon as he saw me. On the days when I didn't have to work, I would come here and give out food that I had made at home to the officers, and now had formed strong bonds with many of the people here. If anything, it was an easy lesson on how to make friends quickly without having to say much.
"Laira! I haven't seen you here for weeks! Is everything okay?" the officer asked, his face concerned as I shrugged.
"I don't know, to be honest. One of my friends and I were out yesterday and saw this guy with these weird posters with this strange masked man's face on them and she said something about hearing him say something about an anti-bending thing going on? I don't know," I said doubtfully, swallowing a groan as he sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Yeah, I know about that, unfortunately. You just missed a whole bunch of people coming in here asking about it. They were really scared, and I hated the fact that I couldn't help them. No one here really knows about anything concerning that group, and we can't risk any of our metal-bending officers going in there undercover in the rare chance the guy somehow does have the ability to take people's bending. It's all just really up in the air at this point. I'm sorry that that doesn't help matters much," he apologized, and I strained a smile.
"Nah, it's fine. It's probably nothing but some guy who just wants to get fame. If it's okay with you though I'm wanting to meet with Lin to talk to her about it," I told him, and he nodded enthusiastically.
"Yeah! That's good with me. She'll probably be better help than I was," he laughed, and I smiled again, waving to him briefly before I headed in the direction of Lin's office. When I knocked on the door, I heard her grumbling something under her breath before she looked up at me. Her face softened as she waved me in, and I closed the door softly before sitting down in the chair in front of her desk.
"If you ask me about that Amon guy, I swear that will be my last straw, Laira," she growled, and I raised an eyebrow, holding back a laugh.
"So that's what his name is," I said, and Lin glared at me briefly before running a hand over her face tiredly.
"Yeah. At least that's what the word on the street is. Some nerve on him, though; saying he has the power to take away people's bending for good? Sounds like a far-fetched tale to me," she muttered, and I nodded.
"I mean, maybe he's just some nerd who has a flair for the dramatic. That is a theater mask he's wearing, you know," I joked, trying to lighten the mood, but Lin only huffed angrily, shaking her head.
"Not helping," she warned, and I laughed, slouching back in the chair lazily.
"So, what are we gonna do about it?" I asked after a few seconds of tense silence, and Lin shrugged.
"Nothing, for right now. I can't bring any of our bending officers into the fray because on the off chance that Amon can take bending away for good, I don't want them getting hurt. Besides, our other officers are too busy with the rest of the crimes in the city to do anything about it. It's not a huge thing, and until it ever does become something we should be worried about, we're just going to lay low and hope for it all to layover," she told me, and I narrowed my eyes, crossing my arms.
"Wait. So you're just going to ignore all of the terrified people who are currently hiding away in their homes afraid of having their bending snatched from them? Are you kidding me? I may not be a bender right now, but that doesn't mean I don't know what they're going through. I know how it feels to have everything ripped away from you, feeling like something is missing, and having no idea how to get any of it back. If I can do anything to help prevent any of those people from experiencing what I did, then I could live knowing I did everything I possibly could to save them, even if it wasn't much," I snapped at her, ignoring her icy glare.
"Listen. If I could spare anyone to go I would, but I really can't. Things are tight enough, with more triads showing up at every street corner, and I don't want to send people in if there isn't anything to worry about. I'm sorry, Laira. I really am," she apologized, and I sighed, running a hand through my hair.
"Then let me go," I said, and Lin's eyes widened as she shook her head vehemently.
"Absolutely not! You're not even trained to go undercover! If you get found out, I can't do anything to help you. You'll be on your own," she argued, and I rolled my eyes.
"Amon is only interested in benders, Lin. I can go undercover as someone who's interested in the revolution, and if they are convinced enough to make me one of their goonies, I can send you coded information through the newspapers. You did teach me how to do that, at least," I reminded her, and she groaned.
"Laira, please,' she tried, but I only glared at her, refusing to back down. With a disgruntled look, she finally gave in, shaking her head.
"...Fine. But if anything and I mean anything goes wrong, you will stop doing whatever you're doing and come back. Please. I care about you, Laira, and I don't know what I would do if I lost you," she begged, and I grinned, clapping my hands.
"YES! Thank you, Lin! I promise I'll be safe. I did take a course in self-defense last year so if worst comes to worst I know how to protect myself," I reassured her. She didn't look too convinced, but with one last hard look at me, she relented.
"One piece of information that I did find out was that apparently, Amon's next rally is downtown by the harbor tonight at an abandoned warehouse. I don't know which one, so you'll have to figure that out for yourself," she informed me, and I nodded.
"Thank you. I won't let you down, Lin," I promised, and she shook her head.
"I'll hold you to that. Don't let those guys push you around, okay? The guys that I overheard the info from looked pretty rough, so I wouldn't mess around. Just get in, get the info, and don't form any attachments. You're only there for undercover. Remember that," she warned, and I scoffed, putting my hands on my hips.
"I'm not one of those flirty girls, Lin. If anything, I'm the girl no man wants. Men around here look for looks rather than brains, and that's not who I'm looking for," I laughed, and Lin chuckled.
"Just go, alright? Before I change my mind," she teased, and I practically sprinted out the door, hearing her mumble to herself as she slammed the door behind her.
…
The night was calm and cool as I walked steadily through the empty streets, wondering why exactly I was doing this. A few hours ago I had been so sure of what I was doing, but now the reality of the situation was hitting me in the face, and I felt the first nagging feelings of self-doubt inching their way towards my mind.
"No! Stop that! You can do this, Laira. Snap out of it," I chastised myself, forcing myself to put on a bored expression as I saw two burly-looking men standing at the entrance of the warehouse. Looking around, there weren't many people going in, and I felt my nerves raise ever so slightly.
"I'm probably just late," I tried to reassure myself, taking several deep breaths to calm myself.
As I walked up to the door the men, both bald with rather large mustaches, looked down at me with raised eyebrows and I gulped nervously, feeling sweat pool under my arms.
"Hello, uh...sirs. One of my friends told me that there was a rally tonight for the anti-bending revolution thing and I was wondering if this is the place?" I asked, watching the men look at each other quizzically before turning back to me.
"You're early," one of them said gruffly, and I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, trying to make up a convincing lie.
"Yeah, about that. My friend who told me about it said it was in the evening, but they never mentioned the exact time. She's bad with numbers. And remembering things like exact times of where to be at things," I said, making a mental note to punch Lin later. The guards didn't look quite convinced, but they waved me in any way, and I could still feel their cold gazes boring a hole in the back of my neck as I walked inside.
"Okay. Step one complete," I said quietly, wandering into the main room and seeing several people milling about. One of the women saw me instantly, walking up to me and shaking my hand. She was tall and built like a soldier, with muscles twice the size of my arms, and I knew that if she felt like it she could crush me to a pulp with one punch. Her eyes were kind though, and she reached a hand out as I smiled shakily.
"Welcome my sister," she said compassionately, and I smiled, trying to keep the confusion out of my face.
"Hello. My name is Caita. I'm here for the rally, but the guys at the door said I was early. My friend told me about it but she forgot to tell me the exact time," I repeated my mantra from earlier, deciding that going with a fake name was better than exposing myself in case people at the rally knew my real name.
Why I chose the name of my cat who died six years ago, I will never know.
"Hello, Caita. I am Tarah. We welcome you," she said and motioned me over to the others who were standing nearby.
"This isn't creepy at all," I said to myself, seriously wondering if I should just ditch the plan and make a run for it. Just as I contemplated booking it out of there, I saw lots of other people coming in the room and Tarah motioned me to the front, so I followed. A few very awkward minutes later I looked around, seeing everyone's excited faces as they waited for Amon to show up, and I felt a pit of dread begin to form in my stomach. The lights around us dimmed as the stage was lit up, and I watched with horror as Amon stepped onto the stage. He was taller than I thought he would be, and less muscular, though I knew he could still pack a punch if the need arose from the way he held himself. As he stood surveying the crowd briefly, I could practically feel the ego rolling off of him; he stood like he owned everything around him, his hands tightly clasped behind his back and his head lifted in arrogance.
It took everything in me not to spit at him.
Finally, after a heated few seconds, he began to speak, and everyone around me went silent.
"For too long, bending has been the source of fear in Republic City. It has corrupted the hearts and minds of those who wish to use it for their own gain, hurting those we love in the process. Benders steal and destroy everything we love, and the time for us to retaliate against them is now. Non-benders like us live in fear every day, wondering if they will be the next target for ruthless benders, but tonight's demonstration will show you that we no longer have to be afraid. One of the most ruthless bending triads in Republic city has been caught and brought here to show just how weak they really are," he said, his voice effortlessly carrying over the mass of people in the room. Something about his voice seemed familiar to me somehow, but I couldn't place it. I had never even heard it before, yet I felt like something was nagging at me the whole time. Deciding not to spend too much time dwelling on it, I watched instead as three men were brought to the stage, bound and gagged. I had seen them in the article Resa had written, but I hadn't thought much of it until now. One of the men was untied by one of Amon's henchmen, and they immediately shot fire at him but Amon stepped to the side lazily as if he was used to things like this happening. Faster than I could blink Amon had stepped up to the man and pressed his thumb against the man's forehead.
What happened next was seared into my memory forever.
The man's eyes widened suddenly as they stared blankly up at Amon, lightning shooting out of his hands, and then a small burst of flame sputtered and disappeared. As soon as Amon released his hold on the man's neck his eyes rolled back into his head and he fell to the ground almost in slow motion, shaking. I felt tears gather at the edges of my eyes as I watched the rest of the men succumb to the same fate, the henchmen dragging them all off the stage afterward. Amon kept speaking after that, but his words were drowned out by the sound of my blood rushing through my ears. Anger pooled in me like a dam waiting to burst, but I forced it all inside; time for that could wait until later. When Amon finally stepped off the stage I felt like I could finally breathe again, and I waited until the crowd had started to move out so I could leave discreetly. Looking around I could see no guards and Tarah was nowhere to be seen, so I pulled the hood of my jacket over my head so no one would be able to recognize me. Just as I made my way out the entrance of the warehouse, I spotted several people wearing weird masks with goggles over their eyes making their way out of the building into several trucks where motorcycles were parked behind them. I watched as the people opened the door to one of the trucks and deposited something inside, knowing that this was probably my only chance to find out what exactly this group was planning.
"Lin is not going to be happy with me," I hissed softly, deciding against my original plan of going back home. Even though this wasn't the smartest decision I had ever made, it was one that I knew was probably going to get me the most information on the group if I made it to their headquarters without being caught.
"This is not a good idea, This is not a good idea," I whispered as I made my way through the shadows, keeping close to the wall. When I could no longer see anyone outside I dove quickly underneath one of the trucks, pressing myself close to the ground. A few minutes later I heard the back door of the warehouse open and several pairs of footsteps came down the stairs, Amon's light tenor voice making me wince as he stepped closer to where I was hiding.
"Is everything ready?" he asked, sounding slightly annoyed, and another man's voice responded, his husky and gravely voice cutting through the clear night air.
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Then let's go," Amon commanded as he stepped into the truck, slamming the doors behind him. I made sure to even my breathing even though I knew he probably couldn't hear me, but I was still paranoid nonetheless. Once the guards mounted their motorcycles and the trucks' engines roared to life I manoeuvered myself underneath the truck to where I was clinging onto the pipes, my palms sweating from the exertion.
"Hopefully their base isn't too far, or I'm gonna get crushed" I muttered as the truck sped off down the road, my body jostling with every movement. After a while the sounds of the trucks and motorcycles became monotone and I let my mind wander, wondering why on earth I did this.
"You probably wouldn't have had another chance as good as this if you would have run away," the voice in my head said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But still. With my luck, I'll get caught as soon as we get to the base and they'll lock me up and I'll never see any of my friends again," I answered, trying to ignore the stabbing guilt that tore at my brain at the thought that Lin would be worried sick about me.
"You could just sneak in once everyone leaves," My conscience suggested, and I laughed, shaking my head.
"Yeah, like that would work."
"You never know," my brain answered, and I sighed, tightening my grip on the rails as the truck rounded another corner. My mind was reeling with every possible situation that could happen, while my heart was beating furiously, fear growing in me with every passing second. With a groan I shut my eyes tightly, biting my lip anxiously.
What had I gotten myself into?