The Mysterious Traveler
Just managed to get this one completed. And in case if you're wondering, this will complete everything involving the Winter Solstice episodes from the show.
Funny thing, I originally meant for Severus to journey with the Gaang for the Fire Temple and get stuck in the Spirit World when he is forced into the Sanctuary with Aang. However, I had a hard time trying to figure out how he would have his run-in with the Dark Hooded Figures (yes, they do have another name, but that won't be revealed until much later) and get back to the group in a short amount of time. So I reworked the plot and decided to make it happen during the events with Hei Bai instead.
Thank you guys for the amazing reviews once again! It means so much! Keep 'em coming!
Here's Chapter 13! Enjoy reading! ;)
Chapter Thirteen:
A Warning To Bare
Zuko stood before Sokka and Katara, glaring at them as they tried to avoid looking into his eyes in defiance.
"Where is Alexander Blackwater?" he shouted.
They held their tongues, staring at the ground instead.
Sighing in frustration, he waved them off, "Doesn't matter! Once I capture the Avatar and deliver him to my father, I will get my honor back and have the resources to hunt him down later."
He walked over to Fire Sage Shyu, who was on his knees, surrounded by the other four Sages.
"Why did you help the Avatar?!" the Fire Prince demanded.
Looking into the young man's eyes, Shyu sighed and replied, "Because we have lost our way. And I don't just mean the Sages and their forgotten duty, but the Fire Nation as well. We've become what many Avatars before have stopped in order to bring peace. It was once the Sage's duty to help the Avatar keep the world safe and allow for harmony to reign. As it is still our duty to do so now."
Suddenly, the sound of slow clapping could be heard from afar, echoing off the walls of the large hallway.
Turning towards its source, they saw Commander Zhao and a large group of his own Fire Nation soldiers.
"What a moving and heartfelt performance," said Zhao. "I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him."
"Commander Zhao," exclaimed one of the Sages as they all bowed, with the exception of Zuko.
Shyu looked up at the high ranking officer and replied, "Doing what is right is worth the price of any punishment, even if its the accusation of betrayal."
"Well spoken," Zhao smiled, before turning his attention towards the Fire Prince. "And Prince Zuko, it was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work." He nodded towards his men. "Two traitors in one day. The Fire Lord will be pleased."
Two of Zhao's men marched forward and grabbed Zuko by his arms, bounding him.
"You're too late, Zhao!" he yelled. "The Avatar's inside, and the doors are sealed!"
"No matter," Zhao spoke confidently. "Sooner or later, he has to come out."
The two soldiers then dragged him towards one of the pillars and tied him up to it in chains.
Meanwhile, both Katara and Sokka looked at each other with fear in their eyes, wondering how they would get out of this situation. Shyu was soon tied up against the same pillar with them, as Zhao and his men prepared for Aang to exit the Sanctuary.
As Aang looked up towards Avatar Roku, he saw something change in his eyes. A mix of fear, worry and hope.
"I have something very important to tell you Aang," he spoke with a serious tone. "That is why when you were in the Spirit World, I sent my dragon to find you."
"It is about that vision?" Aang asked. "The one of the comet I got when your dragon brought me to the Fire Temple in spirit form?"
"Yes!" Roku nodded. "The vision is a warning of something terrible that is coming soon."
"What is it?" fear ran through the Airbender's body and soul.
"One hundred years ago, Fire Lord Sozen used that comet to begin the war. After my death, he began massing an army in secret and waited for the comet to arrive. And on the day it came, he and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations. Since then, the comet had been named after Sozen himself."
"So the comet made Firebenders stronger?"
"Yes, stronger than you could even imagine."
"But you said that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with the war now?"
"Listen carefully, Aang. Sozen's Comet will return by the end of this summer, and Fire Lord Ozai plans to use its power to deliver one more blow to the world that will end the war, once and for all. And like what Sozen did to your people, Ozai will do the same to the Earth Kingdom."
Suddenly, a vision of a muscular man standing in the middle of a fiery inferno appeared, shouting out as fire burst from his mouth and fists. His monstrous cry sent chills down Aang's spine.
"If he succeeds, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world." He paused. "Aang, you must defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives."
Aang shook his head, afraid of the task that had been set on him, "But I haven't even started learning waterbending, not to mention earth and fire."
"Mastering the elements takes years of discipline and practice, but if the world is to survive... you must do it by summer's end."
The fear and doubt doubled within him, "But what if I can't master all the elements in time? What if I fail?"
Roku smiled, "I know you can do it, Aang. For you have done it before."
The confidence made the Airbender smile a little bit.
The Firebender Master looked up towards the sky, seeing the sun get lower.
"The Solstice is ending," he declared. "We must go our separate ways for now."
Aang suddenly remembered the other reason why he had come to the temple.
"Wait, before you go, I need to ask you for help on something else."
"If it's within my power to do so, I will help you," Roku nodded.
"Before I came here, my friends and I had an encounter with Hei Bai, the Black and White Spirit. He was terrorizing a village and we attempted to resolve the situation. However, the spirit took two of my friends and only gave one back after I calmed him. I was wondering if you could locate my other friend and bring him back."
Roku rubbed his beard, "I can send my dragon to Hei Bai's lair and try to track your friend from there. But I can't make any promises, Aang. If your friend had been separated from Hei Bai before he was brought to his home, then it will be very hard to for my dragon to follow his scent in the Spirit World. What is his name?"
"Alexander Blackwater."
The Firebender raised an eyebrow, "Odd name."
Aang giggled, "Trust me, everyone's said that."
"Very well," Roku's eyes lit up and a dragon appeared a few seconds later. Communicating with the spirit creature in silence, the dragon nodded and flew away.
"If he finds your friend, he'll bring him back to you."
"Thank you, Avatar Roku," Aang bowed. "Also, how will I be able to contact you? I won't be able to return to this temple. I need to be able to talk to you if I have questions. And I do have a lot of 'em."
"I am a part of you. The Avatar Spirit is connected to your past lives and you have the ability to access them, but it will take practice of meditation to do so. When you reach the Northern Water Tribe, find a place known as the Spirit Oasis. There you will be able to talk to me."
Roku closed his eyes and showed a vision to Aang of what was happening back at the Fire Temple.
"A great danger awaits you at the temple. I can help you face the threat, but only if you are ready."
Closing his eyes as well, Aang took a breath and his tattoos began to glow. The moment he opened them again, his eyes and mouth were glowing as well, "I'm ready!"
Running as fast they could across the purple pathway, Severus tried casting spells at their pursuers, hoping to slow them down. However, every attempt ended in failure. Magic didn't affect these things, except for knocking them down. Not to mention they were fast as well.
As they neared the end of the pathway, the spirit grabbed ahold of him.
"Once we're out of the Infinite Waters territory and into the forest, I'm teleporting us out of here."
"Why didn't you just do that before?!" Severus shouted at him, irritated.
"Because I can't risk it anywhere in this area," the spirit explained. "If I teleport I could end up sending us to a different world, maybe even a different Multiverse. Cosmic energy is connected to everything and everywhere."
"Multiverse?"
"Escape now, questions later!"
Just as they reached the end of the pathway, they both suddenly found themselves being tackled by the two dark hooded figures, falling to ground.
Seeing the other one attempt to stab the spirit with its knife, Severus aimed his wand and casted a Stupefy, making the cloaked figure fly across the ground. However, the one on top of him immediately knocked his wand out of his hand and leveled its knife at his throat, making sure the steel was against his flesh.
Looking up towards his attacker, he saw those blue, purplish eyes again.
As it leaned forward, it snarled and spoke in a dark, low voice, "Why is it that there is always a Severus Snape getting in the way of things?"
Severus frowned, taken back by his words.
Suddenly, something tackled the cloaked figure and freed him of its grasp. Looking up, he saw the spirit wrestle with the dark figure, only to find itself pinned down in retaliation. The moment the figure raised its knife in the air to strike, Severus immediately searched for his wand, desperate to find it.
The spirit's eyes widened as the knife was brought down with force behind it, heading directly for its liguid-like body.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A green light came from the side and struck the figure, making it fall over. The knife fell to the ground, with the body of its owner lying right next to it.
Frozen from a state of shock of his actions, Severus started to pant as he lowered his wand and continued to stare directly at the unmoving body. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide, and a facial expression of mixed emotions was present. He felt shock, guilt, shame, fear, all rushing through him at once.
Did I... kill him?
The spirit quickly recovered and got up, looking down on his now-deceased attacker.
"Guess their weapons aren't the only thing that can kill them," he said, turning towards his savior. "Thank you."
Though still in a state of paralysis, he heard something move behind him, but couldn't find the will to move.
The spirit's eyes widened at the sight of the other dark hooded figure as it got up, making a run for Severus as he continued to lay on the ground. But before it could reach him, a large creature came roaring out of the sky and struck the figure with its tail, sending it over the edge and towards the abyss of stars below. The creature landed and moved towards them.
Slowly regaining his senses, Severus looked up to meet the head of a dragon. Or at least a blue one for the matter.
"Avatar Roku's animal guide!" the spirit gasped. "He's come to take you back."
"You can hear him?" Severus asked.
"I can hear his thoughts. Roku sent him to deliver you back to your friends."
"But what about the Guardian?" everything slowly started to come back to him as he used his Occlumency walls to push his emotions aside, helping with the shock.
The spirit shook his head, "We have no idea what's happening back at the Infinite Waters. And I, for one, am not taking the risk of seeing who won. Not with them involved."
"But how will I be able to get back to... my world? Can't I just find a way back to the Infinite Waters again later?"
The spirit's eyes rolled, "Do you have any idea how many locations I had to teleport us just to get to this spot. Finding a way to the Infinite Waters is hard, not to mention very far to travel. So many worlds to travel between, without getting lost or causing any trouble that would upset the Guardians. You got lucky with me, but I'm not doing that again. Sorry."
"But is there another way?"
The spirit stared at him, having a silent debate with itself before sighing, "I shouldn't be telling you this, but... there is one other way."
"How?" Severus pleaded.
Taking a moment, the spirit answered, "Other than the Infinite Waters, an Infinity Orb is another way to travel between worlds. Every world within every Multiverse has one, as does mine. If you can locate it and learn how to use it, you'll be able to return to your world."
"What does it look like?"
"It's round and glows the color of yellow, sometimes gold."
Severus's eyes widened as he recognized the description, but kept the information to himself.
"And where can I find one on your world?" he pressed.
"I don't know. I've only seen a picture of it in Wan Shi Tong's Library once before."
Severus noted down the library's name, memorizing it in his head.
"Do you know where this library is?" he asked, hoping for an answer.
The spirit shook its head, "Last I heard, it was in the Human World, but I only accessed it through the portals of the Spirit World. But if I had to hazard a guess, it would most likely be in an isolated place. Somewhere that challenges those to seek it, but only few could ever find it."
Severus rolled his eyes, Of course it is!
Turning towards the dragon as it waited patiently for him, he looked back towards the spirit and said, "I guess this is where our paths end. I appreciate your help."
The spirit bowed, "I hope you find your way back home. And look out for more of... them. I don't know why they were after you, but you've made yourself a target. Good luck."
Waving goodbye, the spirit disappeared from sight.
Sighing, Severus got up from the ground and approached the dragon. However, as he attempted to touch it, he found that his hand went right through it. During his surprise of this, the dragon opened its mouth and a light appeared, shining directly on him. Holding up his arms, the light engulfed him and he disappeared from where he stood.
Commander Zhao and his men prepared themselves as the doors lit up and began to open.
"Ready..." Zhao ordered.
As the doors opened, a pair of glowing eyes could be seen in the darkness of the room.
"No, Aang!" Katara screamed, while Sokka struggled to escape from the chains that bounded them.
"FIRE!" Zhao yelled, shooting fire directly at the doorway.
The soldiers did the same, adding to the attack as fire engulfed the entire doorway.
However, as the fire settled, it revealed Avatar Roku instead, who was deflecting the attack with ease.
"Avatar Roku!" exclaimed Shyu.
Embracing all of the fire around him, Roku unleashed its power and sent everyone falling backwards. The fire specifically turned the chains into ash, freeing every single person who was bound to them.
The moment Zuko found himself free, he dashed forward, using his firebending to smash a hole in the wall. Sliding down the roofs of the temple, he reached the ground and made a run for his spare ship, keeping clear of the lava that was near.
Meanwhile, Zhao order a full retreat, making sure to take Shyu as a prisoner as they all made a run for the main staircase, heading down towards the exit.
Avatar Roku began to use his power to cause magma to rush up from the bottom of the temple and consume the building. And as the Solstice officially came to an end, the smoke circled around him and then parted, revealing Aang as he fell to an knee.
Sokka and Katara rushed forward to take him by each arm, helping him walk.
"We got your back," Sokka told him.
"Thanks," Aang replied. "Where's Shyu?"
Katara lowered her head, "Zhao took him."
"We need to go after him!" the Airbender declared, despite still weak. "We can't just leave him."
"We've got no choice," Sokka countered. "First we must escape this place and then get ourselves out of Fire Nation waters. The longer we stay, the quicker we'll end up roasted."
Though he wanted to protest, he felt too weak to do so. And as the temple began to collapse, they found themselves trapped, feeling the building begin to fall on its side.
"What are we going to do?!" Katara gasped.
At first seeing only light, Severus lowered his arms to find himself on an island with volcanic lava all around him.
Thanks for the assistance, stupid dragon! he mentally shouted.
Hearing a grunt from behind, he turned to find Appa. Both surprised to see each other
"Appa!" he exclaimed. "Where are the others?"
You're talking to an animal, you dumb idiot!
Hearing a purring sound, he looked up to see Momo flying towards them, wearing a Fire Nation helmet. Landing on Appa's head, the lemur made a sound, almost as if they were communicating with each other.
Appa turned his way and growled.
Realizing that the bison was about to take flight, Severus ran forward and boarded him, just seconds before the animal immediately began flying into the air. Looking towards where he was going, he saw a large temple collapsing. Once getting close, he saw a large hole in the top floor, his eyes widening the moment he saw Aang, Sokka and Katara.
As the bison got within range, the three jumped onto the saddle, just in time as the temple began to fall faster into the lava landscape, disappearing in smoke and fire.
"Alex!" all three of them exclaimed, rushing forward to give him a group hug, which he was too late to avoid.
Though he felt like he was being violated of his privacy rights, he allowed it to happen for just that one time.
"We thought we would never see you again!" said Katara, which made Severus roll his eyes.
"I see Roku's dragon found you," Aang smiled. "I'm happy you're back."
"Actually, where have you been this whole time?" Sokka asked, his eyes glaring at him with suspicion.
Remembering the events that had happened earlier, Severus immediately put up his Occlumency walls to keep his expression neutral and the memories at the back of his mind.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "But it's over now. Lets just get back on our journey for the North Pole. In fact, where are we?" He studied them over, raising an eyebrow. "And what happened while I was gone?"
The Airbender's expression turned from happy to sad as he remembered something.
"Long story," he said quietly, moving away from them to be alone on the other side of the saddle. Both Sokka and Katara looked at him with sad expression, while Severus turned away, understanding his need for privacy.
Taking control of Appa, Sokka set a course for Nort, heading back for the coast of the Earth Kingdom.
Watching the temple collapse on his warship, Zhao turned angrily towards the five Fire Sages before him, his face red.
"No prince, no Avatar! Apparently the only thing I do have is five traitors!"
All of the Sages, with the exception of Shyu, gasped.
"But Command Zhao, only Shyu helped the Avatar," one of the Sages pleaded.
"Save your stories for the Fire Lord! As far as I'm concerned, you are all guilty!" Zhao waved them off, walking towards Shyu. "I hope you found some sort of peace from this, because it will be the last thing you will ever do as a Sage."
Shyu looked the commander in the eyes and smiled, "More than you will ever know."
Growling, Zhao turned his back on them and began walking away, "Take them to the prison hold!"
As Appa flew over the vast ocean, with the full moon high in the sky, Aang continued to sit alone, a silence taking over that worried both Sokka and Katara. Soon enough, the two siblings gathered around him, along with Momo as well. Without saying anything, they sat together, comforting one another.
Meanwhile, Severus sat on the other side of the saddle, lost in his own thoughts as he sorted through the memories in his mind. He tried making sense of the past couple of days, with all of the information he had just learned. But despite all of that, he couldn't get the memory of him using the Killing Curse for the very first time out of his head. The very thought sent shivers down his spine as he thought about it.
He could describe every little detail, right down to how the body of the... thing... fell to the ground. He remembered how quickly he shouted the name of one of the Unforgivables. How he sorted to taking a life in order to save one. But he couldn't but question if he really did do it out of fear for another life, or if it was just an excuse to take one. The very question itself scared him. Not wanting to know the answer.
He always knew that one day he would perform one, if not all, of the Unforgivable Curses, especially considering his desire for the study of Dark Arts. But he never thought it would feel like this.
'Avada Kedavra!'
His body shook as he remembered the ordeal, tears almost forming in his eyes. He quickly resorted to bringing up his Occlumency walls, hiding from the pain as he allowed himself to fall asleep.
But he was quickly reminded that even in the world of dreams, there was no escape from his pain. Nor his memories.
Sorry for the last few chapters being short. I originally meant for all of this to just be one chapter long, but it got way too big the more I wrote. When I realized the extra chapter was going to be too big as well, I knew that the 13th chapter would have be a sorta Part 3 (technically 4) to this.
As for other news, I've come to an important decision about a possible love-interest for Severus. While I figured that there would be those of you who would agree that Severus shouldn't get together with Lily (as I've come to believe myself), I still struggled with the decision on who Severus could get with, and if I should even do a romance pairing at all. I won't reveal my decision on either answer, but just know that I've come to a conclusion and that I'm sticking to it (100%).
I hope you guys are enjoying the story and the direction it is heading in. :)
Also, I highly recommend checking out my other story, Redemption, the first installment to my Severus Snape Trilogy, if you're interested. But I only recommend it to those who can handle dark, disturbing stories (because it goes in directions that definitely aren't for kids).
Oh, I almost forgot, I've finally decided on what the third installment of my Trilogy is going to be. I'm still working through the plot of the story and some other details, but the title of it is going to be 'The Infiltrator'. Just to be clear, this is not going to be a continuation of Redemption or The Mysterious Traveler. The premise is also going to be a little different from these two installments, unlike what I originally said at the beginning of this current story.
Once again, thank you to those who are leaving reviews. Don't stop! ;)
See you in Chapter 14!