The Mysterious Traveler
Sorry for the long delay in updating. Been very busy with stuff and have been working out the plot for future chapters. All is going well and I'm hoping to get back into a weekly schedule of posting more chapters.
Thank you to everyone who has left a review for the story. It really means a lot to me. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Avatar: The Last Airbender!
Anyway, enjoy chapter twenty-one!
Chapter Twenty-One:
Dreams & Nightmares
The fire from the barrel created shadows of the five men sitting around it, reflecting off of the metal walls around them, dancing around like as if they were spirits. Everyone was staring in shock at the old man as he told his tale about their captain.
"When Prince Zuko saw that it was his father who had come to duel him, he begged for mercy," Iroh sadly explained.
Zuko stared in horror at his father as he approached him, taking his time with each step. And like a growing darkness, the Fire Lord's shadow got bigger, threatening to consume him.
Zuko struggled to hold back the tears in his eyes, hoping that this was all a nightmare and that he would wake up soon.
"Please, father!" he begged. "I only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart! I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!"
The Fire Lord continued to approach, his face hidden in the shade of his shadow, "You will fight for your honor!"
He fell to his knees, "I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son."
"Rise and fight, Prince Zuko!" the Fire Lord's voice grew heavy with anger and impatience.
"I won't fight you," Zuko's voice was filled with fear and shame.
Standing before him, the Fire Lord's shadow completely covered him, his angry eyes focused on him, "You will learn respect! Even if it must mean that suffering will be your teacher!"
Shaking with fear and sorrow, he looked up to his father, tears sliding down his face.
A second later, the young prince's cry of agony echoed off the walls as a ball of fire lit up the entire duel room.
Everyone who was watching either smiled or withheld any emotion. A young girl amongst them smiled the biggest, taking enjoyment at the sight before her eyes. And the man beside her turned away in shame and sorrow, unable to look any longer.
Iroh closed his eyes as the boy's cries echoed in his ears, like a series of sounds from a long tunnel.
"I looked away," he finished.
The four Fire Nation soldiers staring at the general, unable to believe what they had just heard.
"I... always thought that Prince Zuko was in a training accident," one of them said, lowering his head.
"It was no accident!" Iroh acclaimed as he opened his eyes. "After the duel, the Fire Lord declared that by refusing to fight, Zuko had shown shameful weakness. As punishment, he was banished and was sent to capture the Avatar. Only then could he return with his honor."
Realization dawned on all of them.
"So that's why he's so obsessed," a soldier exclaimed. "Capturing the Avatar is the only chance he has of things returning to normal."
"Things will never return to normal," said Iroh. "But the important thing to Zuko is this, the Avatar is what gives him hope."
"But... what about... the Mysterious Traveler?" another soldier asked.
Iroh rubbed his beard, "I do not know what it is that drives Zuko to hunt him as well. It's only the Avatar that he needs to capture. But, if I had to hazard a guess, I think Zuko sees this mysterious person as a challenge. Someone who interests him. After all, he has foiled almost every attempt Zuko has made, but... I also believe that there is more to this person than even Zuko realizes. I saw him up close and personal only once, and from what I've observed... his attitude and presence remind me very much of Zuko."
As silence fell, Iroh closed his eyes again, sighing.
A few floors up, Zuko sat on his knees before a small table, looking directly at a picture that was surrounded by two candles. He continued to stare at it, lost in thought. Not once in several hours had he moved a muscle, or even blink.
The pain was endless.
Even in his dreams, he felt it everywhere. It made him want to cry out, to beg for it to stop. To do anything to make it go away, but he felt powerless.
All he saw was darkness. Covering everything and everywhere. He became fearful as he desperately tried to remember what happened. But the pain refused for him to concentrate or think clearly.
After what felt like an eternity, he soon saw a glimpse of light, growing bigger with time. He slowly realized that the source was only coming from the right side, while the left was left in darkness. Even as the blurriness became more focused and clear, he found that only his right eye could see properly.
As his sense came back, despite the pain he was feeling, he recognized the comfort of his bedsheets beneath him. Leaning up, he looked around, seeing no one there. In fact, all of his belongings were gone, even the closet was empty.
Moving his hands to his face, he felt something on the left side of his face, instantly reviving his fear.
Throwing the covers to the side, he leaped off the bed and ran to the bathroom. The moment he saw his face in the mirror, his right eye widened at the sight and his body began to shake. Tears began to form as his body became rigid.
Bandages were wrapped around the left side of his face, covering up the skin that lied on the other side.
Touching the surface of the bandages with his left hand, his heart pounded in his chest as realization settled in, proving to him that this was no dream or illusion. He began to grab at the ends of the bandages, peeling them off with force. Despite the added pain, he managed to pull the thick pieces of cloth off of his face and threw them to the ground, looking directly into the mirror to see why they were there in the first.
Tears began to run down his face as he slowly backed away from the mirror, his heart racing at the sight before him.
'No! No, no, no, no, no!' he mentally shouted as his mouth refused to obey.
In the reflection of the mirror, he saw that half of his face had been scarred, burnt almost to the bone. It traveled from the side of his nose to his ear, just beneath the eye-brow and mid part of his cheek. His face was two different halves now, making him wish he had kept the bandages on instead.
Letting out a small gasp, he fell to his knees and began to cry uncontrollably, his tears hitting the hard ground beneath him. Supporting himself on the palms of his hands, he shook his head in disbelief, unable to come to terms with this revelation. His panting grew louder, as well as his heartbeats.
After what seemed like hours, Zuko felt a hand slowly touch his shoulder, giving it a small squeeze.
Zuko continued to stare at the picture on the small table, not once removing his eyes off of it.
On the painted piece of parchment, a young man smiled in the midst of a beautiful valley, with hints of the ocean in the long distance behind him. A man stood right next to him, with a hand on his shoulder. Sadly, the man's face was accidentally left out, due to a tear in the painting, leaving only the smiling boy.
A knock came from his door, making him turn to see his uncle enter his chambers.
"Zuko, I'm off with some of the men to a local tavern. Would you like to join us?"
The Fire Prince shook his head, turning his attention back to the painting.
"I'm fine."
Iroh stared at him for a few moments, wondering if he should try to convince him or just leave him be. With a sigh, he decided to go for a third option that respected both and knelt down next to him.
"Zuko, if you're going to continue to brood in solitude, then please take this time to consider your options."
"Options?" Zuko looked at him.
Iroh nodded, "Capturing the Avatar maybe an option you are fully invested in, but it isn't the only option available to you. You can abandon this search to settle down here, in the colonies."
Zuko's expression hardened.
"You can sell the ship, including everything we won't need, and open a tea shop in one of the establishments. You can meet a nice Fire Nation girl, marry, have kids and live a peaceful life. There is no shame in pursuing something more than glory and wealth."
"Peace was never an option for me, uncle! You should know that better than anyone!" Zuko glared at him, his voice full of anger. "I won't waste the remainder of my life wondering if I could have succeeded where others have failed! If I could have reclaimed my honor! Capturing the Avatar is the only option I have! Anything else is just a distraction!"
Iroh closed his eyes and sighed, getting up to his feet as he walked towards the exit.
"If you change your mind, you're more than welcomed to join us."
The door shut behind him as Zuko huffed and turned his eyes back to the painting, staring at the boy who smiled with ease.
Closing his eyes, he heard a silence whisper echo in his mind.
Suffering will be your teacher...
As the rain started to become lighter outside, Katara remained up for a little while longer, sitting next to the campfire. Her thoughts drifted to Aang and his story, feeling an overwhelming sadness for the Airbender. She had spent a long while holding him in her arms, just as he did with her. Their embrace was warmer than the fire next to them.
After Aang had gone back to sleep, Katara found herself unable to do the same, thanks to stirred up emotions that had awakened in her. She sat with her kness against her chest, her chin on resting on top of them as she stared into the flames. Enchanted, she lost herself in her thoughts.
Turning her attention to Severus, she began to wonder if he was cold and decided to bring him a blanket.
Approaching his sleeping figure as silently as she could, she unraveled the blue blanket she got from Appa's saddle and carefully laid it over him. However, her fingers gently brushed against his cheek, feeling the coldness of his skin. And before she knew what was happening, she found herself in a green room of some sorts, surrounded by several figures.
"Did you see the look on her face?" one boy laughed. "I can't believe that actually worked!"
Katara shrieked at the sound of the boy's voice, not liking his tone or smile. Looking around, she recognized none of the boys until her eyes settled onto Severus.
"Alex?"
When he didn't respond, she quickly approached him, "Alex! What's going on? Who are these people?"
Trying to touch his shoulder, her eyes widened when her hand went right through him as if she was some kind of ghost.
"Better yet," another boy spoke, laughing with the others. "I think we should enjoy the fact that we actually got Mr. Broody over here to actually smile." The boy smacked Severus's shoulder, earning a glare from him. "Admit it, Snape! You enjoyed watching Mulciber prank her with that Dark Spell."
"Snape?" Katara frowned.
Severus sneered, turning away as his face lit up red with embarrassment, "Shut up!"
"Don't feel bad, Snapey!" the same boy laughed. "She was only a Mudblood anyway. And besides, she didn't seem to mind laughing at what Potter did to you. Now you both are even."
"Who's Potter?" Katara asked, forgetting that no one seemed to hear or notice her.
Severus snarled as he quickly walked away from them, leaving Katara to chase after him. But before she could see where he was going, the room changed and she was suddenly in a dark tunnel, hearing a loud howl that sent chills down her spine.
Turning towards the source, she saw Severus at the end of the tunnel, frozen with fear. Running up to him, she covered her mouth at the sight he was looking at, watching as a deformed boy began changing into something monstrous. Fur covered its entire body, bones and body parts expanded, with claws and large teeth growing at a rapid rate. Worse was the cries of agony it made, with howls that resembled a wolfbat.
As the creature began to settle on its hybrid-like form, its eyes turned to Severus and began to crawl towards him, eventually managing to get into a running position.
"Alex, run!" Katara cried, only for the environment to change once again.
"How am I to blame?!" she heard Severus demand, taken back by the hurt in his voice. "He nearly got me killed!"
Turning to who he was talking to, she saw an old man with a white beard, standing on the other side of a desk. Though he had a sense of composure, his eyes and voice hinted at an anger behind them.
"Mister Snape, you clearly were in the wrong of going out past curfew," he spoke with authority. "Mister Black may have been the one to tempt you into going down there, but it was you who went through with it."
"But he sent me in there to die, sir!" Katara's heart almost broke at seeing the hurt in his eyes, almost as if his faith was breaking. "And I wasn't the only one out past curfew! Potter-"
"Mister Potter saved your life and I think it would be wrong to punish him for doing something so noble as saving his enemy from death."
"SAVING ME?!" Severus's voice echoed through the room, making the Waterbender flinch at his outburst. "So Black gets off on trying to commit murder because someone else was out past curfew, and Potter is free from being punished because he just so happened to save my life?!" He began to laugh, shaking his head as tears formed around his eyelids. "Gryffindors really are your favorites, aren't they? Doesn't matter what they do, they always get a free pass!"
"Enough!" the old man interrupted him, his face hardening. "For the rest of week, you will be serving detention with Professor Slughorn. Also, you will swear an Unbreakable Vow to keep Mister Lupin's secret."
"And what about Black?!" he demanded.
"What about Mister Black? If I punish him without giving a good reason, Lupin's secret would be at risk."
Severus opened his mouth to protest, but stopped at the last second, lowering his head in defeat.
Katara could only watch in sadness as the room changed, hating she couldn't help him in any way.
This time they were outside, under a tree that was near a lake. A castle stood behind them as the sun rose high in the sky, filled with people who dressed in weird clothing that resembled what Severus wore. At first caught by beauty and peacefulness of the environment, Katara's attention was caught by the sound of laughter and cheering.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" a girl's voice cried out.
Turning around, the Waterbender's mouth dropped at the sight of Severus being bullied by two boys, who each held a stick that was like the one he used. She watched as a redheaded girl approached them, demanding that they stop harassing him.
'Finally', she thought, feeling a sense of relief for her friend. 'At least someone here is willing to do something.'
Suddenly, the scene started to change at a fast pace, while still remaining in the same location. One moment Severus was on the ground, the next he was in the air, with the same girl demanding once again that they stop. And the next, he was on the ground again, trying to retaliate against his attackers. And then he was back in the air again, being held up by an invisible force field.
Katara heard laughter from the crowd as Severus's robes fell in midair, revealing his undergarments to everyone.
"What is wrong with all of you?!" she cried out to them, not caring if they couldn't hear her. "Is this how you treat others?!" She turned her attention to the redhead and walked up to her, "What are you doing? Help him! Do something!"
Seeing the lake ahead, she tried to use her waterbending, but was shocked to see that it had no effect.
Turning back to the redhead, she what was about to beg for her help until what she saw made her anger change into shock and disgust.
The girl's angry glare turned into a smile of delight as she looked up at Severus. It was only for a second, but she saw it with her own two eyes. Even as she turned her attention back to the two boys and angrily told them off, Katara stared at her with wide eyes, unable to comprehend the smile she had just witnessed.
The scene changed and Severus was back on his feet.
"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"
Everyone went silent, even the two boys and the redhead, who stared at Severus with hurt and sadness in her eyes. Katara didn't know what to make of the moment, not knowing what exactly he said that managed to shut them all up. But she did feel a sense of pride in seeing the redhead hurt after watching her take enjoyment in his humiliation.
"Fine. I won't bother in the future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, Snivellus."
The area changed and Katara found herself in front of a portrait of a corridor, watching as Severus tried apologizing to the redhead, who was dressed in a nightgown and her eyes were clearly red from crying.
"No- listen, I didn't mean-"
"-to call me Mudblood? But you call everyone of my birth Mudblood, Severus. Why should I be any different?
Whatever was going to be said next was interrupted as the conversation jumped ahead, leaving out the context of the argument.
"I'm done, Severus!" she declared. "You've chosen your way and I've chosen mine. It's over!" She turned her back to him and whispered something to the portrait, which came to life and opened up, much to Katara's shock and amusement.
"Goodbye, Severus," the redhead whispered as she disappeared inside.
Katara stared at the back of Severus's head, watching with sadness as he hung his head low and turned around, walking straight through her as everything changed again.
Feeling the wind suddenly pick up around her in a large room with overturned chairs and tables, the Waterbender watched as Severus placed his hand on a strange glowing orb. The redhead was right next to him, rubbing her hand as she was hugged by the same boy who was tormenting Severus from earlier. An argument broke out between Severus and an older man, only for the orb to push the three away, except for her and him. She shook her head in disgust when the three of them ran out of the room, leaving Severus alone.
As the floor began to rumble and the wind got stronger, Katara was about to run to him until something caught her eye. Turning to the source, she saw a dark hooded figure in the front of the room, concealed by the darkness. Her eyes widened the moment she met its blue, purplish eyes, almost as if they were looking directly into her soul.
Suddenly, everything around her went white and silent.
As Katara snapped back to reality, her eyes met Severus's, who was staring at her with confusion. Her fingers were still brushing against his cheek, making her blush as she removed her hand away from him. But her eyes continued to stare directly into his, unable to look away.
"Alex..." she barely managed to speak from the shock she was still under. "What was that?"
Severus frowned at her, only for his expression to change to worry.
"Who were those people? And why did they call you Snape? And who was the redhead-"
Before she knew it, Severus was already on his feet, almost knocking her over in the process. He began to back away from her, his eyes wide with shock and embarrassment.
"What did you see?!" he demanded, pointing directly at her. "What did you see and how did you see them?!"
With her mouth wide open, she looked away and shook her head, trying to make sense of it all.
"I... I don't... know..."
Severus's body started to shake as he lowered his hand, "Whatever you saw... forget it! Don't ever mention it!"
Taking a moment to breathe and calm herself, Katara looked back at him, "I saw you being held in midair, upside. There were others there too... they were laughing..."
His eyes grew wider with every detail she mentioned, feeling his heart pounding widely in his chest, "Stop!"
"And there was this redhead girl... she smiled at what those two boys were dong... and you..."
"ENOUGH!" he shouted as his face lit up red with anger.
His outburst woke up nearly everyone around them, but he didn't notice or care.
"Alex..." Katara was on the verge of tears. "Were those dreams real?"
Severus turned and ran, ignoring her pleas for him to stay as he ran out into the rain, not caring if he got soaked. Climbing down the ruins of the city, he pushed himself to go further, just far enough to escape the pit that had opened up deep within his chest. Not even the realization that he had left his wand behind made him stop.
Katara watched as he disappeared into the rainy night, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang leaned up from where he was laying, yawning. "Who was doing the yelling?"
Sokka shoot up from his sleeping bag, wielding his boomerang as his tired eyes looked around, "What? Did we get captured again?"
Others began to awake as well, along with Jet and the Freedom Fighters.
Upon seeing Katara's sad expression, Aang was on his feet and by her side, "Katara, what's the matter?"
Unable to control herself, she turned and leaned into the Airbender's shoulder, sobbing as she let her sadness run free.
Sokka was quickly by her side as well, pulling the two into a tight embrace as others began to circle them, quietly asking each other what was going on.
As Katara continued to cry, her thoughts focused on what she had seen from Severus and the kind of life she had just got a glimpse of. So many questions rose from the experience and a few answers were gain, leaving her to wonder just how much more there really was. But for right now, all she could do was cry for her friend.
Hopefully, this will make things more interesting.
Oh, I should mention one of the reasons for my delay in updating is because I've been rewriting the chapters and making certain changes. One of the biggest changes (and please read this, because it is very important) is that Severus will no longer be going under the alias of Alexander Blackwater. Instead, it will just be Alexander. Reason being is because I've had people contact me about the last name being too mugglish and I actually agree with them. So instead of having Blackwater, it'll just be Alexander.
I'm still currently working on rewriting the chapters, so if you still see Severus under the old name in some of the chapters it's because I haven't gotten to them yet.
Also, some of you have posted about Severus being out of character and I actually agree with that issue as well. So, as part of the rewriting process, I've been redoing the dialogue for Severus and trying to make him more within the character of the books. At least, in a younger version of himself.
Just to point this out, my writing isn't really all that good (as some have pointed out in the review section), so I highly advise you to go into this knowing that. I will try to make corrections and rewrite chapters to make them better, but please know that I am not some George R.R. Martin/J.K. Rowling master. I'm trying to get better, but that takes practice.
Oh, almost forgot, I want to ask you guys something really quick. I've been redoing the plotline for the future course of the series and I've been having second thoughts about having a romance for Severus. On one hand, I like the idea of him getting with someone new and experiencing love from someone who can help him be a better person. But on the other hand, I also kinda have this desire to see Severus get together with Lily and finally get the girl of his dreams. I totally get both sides when it comes to Lily, but there is this burning desire though.
I don't know, what do you guys think? Should I stick with my original plan or go with Lily? Please let me know.
Anyway, thank you to everyone for leaving a review and for the support.
See you guys in Chapter 22!