8. Calling from Beneath
Hakoda rushed after Arrluk. He could not believe the bad luck they were having.
"What happened?" Hakoda asked his subordinate.
"I was going to give him some food and water, as you ordered, but I found him on the edge of passing out. But that's not everything. He seems… I don't know… something is just wrong with him."
Hakoda couldn't imagine what was going on. The boy seemed fine just an hour ago. Maybe Hakoda did scare him a bit, but there wasn't anything that might have indicated that the boy was sick or had some other problem.
They arrived to the storage room. The youngest member of their crew, Iluq, was standing by the shaking spy on the floor, clearly not knowing what to do. Hakoda sidled to the boy. His eyes looked glassy and unfocused and he was shivering profoundly. He didn't even seem to register the men in the room.
"Give me the water!" he ordered Iluq. He slapped the boy across the face as gently as possible, but with enough force to get his attention. It took a real effort for the boy to focus. Hakoda also noticed that he was burning up, with small sweat drops forming on his forehead. Everything seemed to indicate that their prisoner had a seriously high fever.
"Try to drink this." He put the pouch of water to the boy's lips, but when he tried to swallow he only choked it up.
"It looks like he has a high fever and he can't drink like this. We will have to unbind him." Hakoda couldn't understand how it was possible. It did not make sense. It was unreal to develop such a bad condition in such a short time.
"What if he's faking it? He is a firebender." Hakoda caught a glimpse of despise in the young man's voice, but he also had to consider this possibility. The boy didn't deny during the interrogation that he's able to manipulate his body temperature. But somehow his gut feeling was telling him, that the boy wasn't such a good actor. He looked really out of it, he was probably even hallucinating, as he kept on mumbling something under his breath.
Hakoda tried to get the boys attention again. "Listen, boy. We will lift you up, so don't get startled." The young benders golden eyes remained unfocused, gazing into the nothing.
Hakoda couldn't do much more, so he just grabbed the boy by his shoulder to pull him up. But in the moment he pulled, the boy yowled in such a painful way that he had to let go of him. That certainly wasn't faked.
"Get the keys and unshackle him."
"But…"
"Now!"
The boy at Hakodaʼs feet was taking in short sharp inhales, shaking even more than before. Arrluk got back with keys and handed them to Hakoda. He still didn't look convinced. He even put his hands on the machete at his side. But Hakoda didn't mind them and undid the cuffs on the boy's legs as well as his arms.
In the moment he was free of bindings, the boy curled up and his hand shot up to clench his right shoulder.
"Did something happen to his shoulder?"
"Not that I know of. He was fine when we left, you saw it too. But when I was bringing him food, he laid on the floor looking like this. He was even whispering something for himself. It looked like he went crazy." Arrluk seemed to be honest, but he still didn't dropped his hand from his weapon.
Hakoda couldn't blame him for being confused. He himself felt totally helpless. But he had to act somehow and the instinct, probably parental, did tell him that the boy was suffering and they have to help him as well as they can. But there wasn't a medic on the ship and if they would not be able to help…Hakoda realized that they really have to hurry to a port.
He ordered the two men to take the boy out, into the sleeping cabin. He almost didn't struggle at all, just kept clutching his shoulder. Hakoda decided that he has to take a look on it. The boy must have been injured, that could be the only explanation.
When the teenager was safely put on a mattress, Hakoda tried to make him drink once more.
"Boy, what's your name?" he asked, now with a gentler voice. But he just kept shaking his head. "You don't have to worry, I surely haven't heard it before and I won't mention it to anybody else."
But the boy still did not comply. "Have it your way, I'll keep calling you boy then." Even though, the teenager was barely conscious, Hakoda noticed a hint of annoyance on his face. Hakoda was glad that he was still responsive.
"You have to drink, even if just a bit." The boy did just the opposite – he pushed the offered pouch away with a shaky hand.
"Then I'll take a look on your shoulder. You were injured there, weren't you?" At that the boy have livened up almost completely.
"No! Don't touch me! It's nothing!" The boy sat up and move back from the man, protectively turning the injured shoulder away from them.
It clearly was something, if it made him come back from an almost unconscious state.
"Look, we are three against the sick you, if we want to take a look on it, then we will." Hakoda didn't want to use threats, but the boy wasn't momentarily in his clear mind and he was ready to use force, if it would help the boy.
There wasn't time to waste. He already sensed the increasing waves of the approaching storm. And then he or anybody won't be able to dedicate any time to their prisoner.
The boy hesitated for a moment, but then complied. "It is really nothing. Just a small, healing burn," he said lifting up his shirt to uncover a small bandage on his right shoulder. He tear it down himself before Hakoda could lift his arm.
The burn really was small, but something was off. On a closer look, it did not look like it was healing. Just about the opposite. It was bright red, like he received it just few seconds ago. Even the skin around was red, like if the fever was spreading from this place.
Hakoda could only guess what's wrong. "Maybe, it got infected."
"No, it did not." The boy pulled back down the shirt, keeping the wound out of the men's sight.
"But we should treat it." The boy just kept shaking his head.
"Leave me alone…leave me alone…leave me alone…" he kept repeating it in a silent mantra after he curled up in a ball. There was something really off with the boy's behavior again. It seemed like he wasn't even addressing them.
But he had no time to think about it further, as a strong wave hit the ship. And right after that, the men from the first deck ran down the stairs.
"The stormʼs here. And it doesn't look bright," informed Bato. Hakoda had to give up on the boy and attend to the critical situation outside.
"Iluq, you stay down here, don't let him out of your sight. The rest of you, it's time to ride the waves!"
Bato was right, the weather outside was worse than he imagined. The wind blew so strongly, that it threatened to tear up even the stronger sail they used for storms. Four men had to hold the ropes, what was normally one man's job. But they had to keep the boat from turning broadside to the waves, otherwise they could be easily rolled up by the huge waves that the wind produced.
It took probably less than a minute and all of the men on the deck were completely wet. It seemed like it was lightning all around them- up, around, even under them. Hakoda gave up on giving orders or otherwise speaking to his men, since the thunders and the wind completely overwhelmed his voice.
This storm was like no other they had encountered before. The waves were getting bigger and bigger, they were mounting over the small sailing ships like huge cliffs of water. All of them had to soon give up on the sail and ropes. They had to find the closest thing to cling to.
"Tui, have mercy!" Hakoda couldn't believe, when he saw the wave that just grew in front of them. It was at least twenty meters high. For a moment, he and all of the men had to stop in awe. The scene looked like as if a giant monster was trying to emerge from underwater, but the surface wouldn't let it. The wind brought shrieks and roars that made all hair on his body stand up. The pure horror that creeped into his mind made him unable to move, he could only keep clenching the railing for his dear life as all the other men did.
All the motion seemed like it slowed down, except when he noticed a movement in the corner of his eyes. The spy boy. The feverish look in his eyes even more prevalent. The paleness of his skin even more contrasting to the darkness surrounding them. And in his hand he was holding his scary looking mask.
"What are you doing here?! Get back down!" Actually, all of them needed to go back down, if they didn't want to be washed off the deck by this monstrous storm.
But the boy didn't hear him. His eyes were fixed on the approaching wave, his lips were moving and he kept walking towards the prow of the ship like if nothing was happening, like if he was just strolling down a brick road.
All of the men were now watching the boy, even more awestruck by the bizarreness of the scene than by the impending danger.
The deck started to tilt back and all of them had to brace themselves to not fall off the ship. Except the boy. He was standing on the prow without any support.
"Come back! You'll be pulled into the water!" Hakoda was getting desperate. The scene looked hopeless.
The boy then did the strangest thing. He put on the blue scarily-grinning mask and – "NO! Don't!"
The ship reached the peak of the monstrous wave and the boy leaped. He leaped off.
The world was black and moving. Moving all around him. There was no up or down, only darkness and gloom. It was above him as well as under him. But also anger – a big wave of anger and it was moving towards him and through him. And he could hear it… the loud roar ringing in his ears… he couldn't think.
Then the rage filled his body, seeped into his very soul. It wasn't him, but it was within him. He never felt such uncontrollable pure hating rage. It was like a current he couldn't dodge. It just consumed… consumed…consumed…consumed…there was only black rage…and then it left…slowly, giving him back his self. But not for long. Instead of rage, it was a nauseating feeling of loss… loss of something…. something very important… loss of self…
The silent weeping sounds were alternating with load howling. Maybe it was him who howled, but maybe not. He couldn't tell. The emotions were everywhere in him, around him… moving in the darkness… calling for him to follow… to join them in the never-ending suffering, in the eternal confusion.
The only thing reminding him of his self was the pain… the burning extending from his shoulder to his heart, his core. And burning in his chest or were his lungs should be, if he even still had them. He wasn't sure. He couldn't feel his limbs anymore. There was only the pain floating in confounds of currents. Currents of hate, sadness, rage, sorrow, helplessness, abandonment, complete surrender.
Slowly, but surely, he was losing his ability to think. He wanted to surrender as well. To surrender to the swirls of darkness. After all, there wasn't even much left of him.
But then, a sudden stream of strange sense of recognition shot through him from the darkness. There was coming something towards him from the black void. Something that recognized him or he recognized it. He couldn't tell.
I see you, he heard the thought in his empty mind. And then he heard it from all around him. See you…I see you…you…I see ….you.
It noticed him. The whole presence of the black void concentrated on him. Every current was directed on him. There was everything… all at once, attacking from every direction. And the pain was unbearable. He was on the verge of losing himself to whirlpool of emotions. He couldn't handle it anymore.
That was when a sudden short light stroke through the darkness. There was nothing except the face he recognized floating on a hand's reach in front of his face. He recognized the blue and white of its features. He recognized it from before… from somewhere… he couldn't remember anymore. The light disappeared but the face was there. Still grinning.
And through all the excruciating gloom, he felt a sudden sense of hope. It was the face. He knew it. It needed him. It reached out to him. It wanted him. It was his only chance to get out of the dark. So he allowed it in.
The last thing he sensed before his mind faded into the blackness, was that the pain reaching from his shoulder into his soul changed. The hot burn was replaced by an icy dagger directed straight into his heart.
Mika yawned loudly to Sukiʼs irritation. She wanted to tell the younger girl that she is not the only one who has not fully awakened yet, but morning patrol duty was morning patrol duty. Even if it was still dark. Every girl had to do it, even if they hated it. Herself included. Also she was her senior, so she couldn't show any discouraging signs.
Suki certainly wasn't an early riser, but to be a Kyoshi Warrior she had to get used to many things she did not like. But in the end, it was all worth it. There wasn't anything she was more proud of than becoming the youngest Kyoshi Warrior in their history.
If only the morning patrol would be pushed a half hour later. She glanced at Cho, if she shared their lethargy, but the youngest of the group looked fresh and ready.
"How do you do it?"
"Do what?"
"You're full of energy… at this hour. It's not possible!" Mika complained. "I couldn't get a minute of decent sleep because of that dreadful storm. I thought it was going to blow our house away!"
"I guess, I'm just a good sleeper."
With that, the short conversation died away, Cho leaving the two sleepy girls to their grumpiness.
They walked their routine path to the beach. Not that they had ever encountered anybody besides the locals on their patrol duty. But sometimes, they did get to see some Fire Nation ships faraway on the sea. Suki wondered, if they would find anything on the beach that the storm might have washed up.
There were broken branches everywhere, creating obstacles on their path, so they had to be careful, because the lanterns they brought along were not enough in the cloudy dusk. They even came across a few fallen trees.
Suki wasn't all that surprised. The storm from last night was unusually strong and scary, even if this kind of weather was quite common in this time of the year. Not speaking of the ghost stories about the sea near Kyoshi. Suki really hoped they won't find any parts of ship wreckages on the shore, because those Fire Nation ships were seen quite often on the horizon in the recent times. Or the giant Unagi chipping off such a shipwreck.
It was probably thanks to the giant sea monster, they didn't get many visitors in these parts of the island. To that, Suki was grateful, but she wasn't grateful for the image of Unagi feasting on some Fire Nation sailors that got caught in her mind.
As the three girls came out of the forest, a strong wind from the sea caught their dresses and blew out the candles in their lanterns. The two younger girls looked on Suki with scared faces.
"We'll continue. The sun will rise soon anyway."
The girls walked now closer to each other to be at least somewhat shielded from the still-howling wind. They even quickened their pace.
Just until Suki signaled them to stop.
There was something in the water ahead of them. Something dark, but Suki caught also a glimpse of white. And blue?
She pointed to the shape which was half in the water. The three Kyoshi warriors opened their fighting fans and approached the half-floating black form warily. Half-way there, Suki stopped them again.
"If anything happens, run for help to the village." The two less-experienced fighters nodded and stayed within safe distance.
Suki approached the body on the beach reluctantly, as she already could recognize the human form. The man was most probably dead, but she had to check to be sure. Although she had to convince herself to move. The scary mask the man was wearing did not help in making her less cautious.
She bent down on her knee, holding the fan in a position ready to attack in case of any suspicious movement. But the body looked lifeless, even when she reached for the mask. She pulled it off with a single movement, but she couldn't help but jump away a bit, scaring the two girls behind her.
She signaled them with her arm to stay put, when she bent down again.
To her big surprise, the mask revealed a boy, about her age, with a big scar covering his left eye and cheek. But his face was pale, too pale. Almost, if not blueish.
Suki put the metal fan in front of his lips and was ready to claim him dead, when on a closer examination, she noticed just a slightest bit of moisture on the surface of the fan.
"He's alive!" she sighed with relief. "Cho! Mika! Help me get him out of the water!"
A/N: Hello there, this is probably my quickest update, but it was a chapter I was looking forward to the most, since the plot twist (or turn, or whatever should I call it) was my very first basic idea for this fic. Even though, it turned out to be the shortest one.
I know, poor Zuko, I'm putting him through a bit of a rollercoaster, but I promise, he'll get better (for a time ;)). I hope you enjoyed it anyway, even despite my sorry excuse of a vocabulary. And finally, thanks JinyiWei for her nice reviews, other reviews are also welcome.
