Chapter 29: THE COUNCIL

Katara did not wake up in the field she had gone to sleep in. She was somewhere else: a massive cathedral, full of heavenly golden light and angelic singing. Sitting up, and rubbing her eyes, she felt the dull ache of loss. A feeling she knew well. My brother is gone… Aang is gone… What are we going to do? Katara looked around and pulled Jotaros jacket off of herself. The huge stained glass windows on the walls depicted images of Lions, and there were a couple with Robert on them. That was worrying. Am I… am I dead? Am I in heaven right now…? Mother?

Looking around, Katara saw Jotaro a few feet away, also in the process of waking up. She scooted away from him: he was covered in disgusting mouth-vapour from Star Platinum breathing on him all night long.

Kakyoin was in better condition. He was already awake, pacing around and looking up at the skylight, impossibly high up. Mud (from the hole he had slept in) fell off his green school uniform as he walked, making the elaborately tiled floor look terrible. Almost as if someone had pooped all over the floor. I bet it was Zuko, Katara thought. Kakyoin looked agitated. More than usual.

Katara stood up, checking the huge room for any sign of movement. But there was nothing.

"Kakyoin, where are we?"

"I don't know, honestly. This place is full of magical residue, but I can't tell what sort. But there's a ton of it. It smells like lions. It's taking all my willpower to not burst into flames." He frowned, looking at the muddled heap in the very corner of the cathedral. "Should we wake Zuko up?"

Katara sighed.

"I guess. He's so annoying, though." She compulsively touched the necklace her mother had given her. "My mother gave me this necklace… But yeah, I'm glad I stopped you and Jotaro from killing Zuko, but it doesn't mean I have to like him."

Nodding, Kakyoin took a step towards Katara and snatched the necklace.

"Hey! Give that back, my mother gave me that!"

"Hang on, I'm just looking at it. What's this made of? Anything valuable?"

Katara grabbed the necklace back, only to find that it flew back into Kakyoin's hand with a trail of green sparks. She spat at him.

"Give that back, you snakish inmate."

Kakyoin ignored her, continuing to study the necklace. "Is this made of polyester? That's what it feels like."

"No, it's frozen bone juice. That's what most jewelry is made of, up in the Northern Water Tribe-"

"Ok, great." Kakyoin smiled and held the necklace pendant up to the light. The light refracted, shooting all over the room like some psychopathic disco ball.

"Listen, Katara. You know how I said that I could do a soul exchange, Aang's soul for Zuko's?"

"Yes, and you remember how I said that you shouldn't do that?!"

He waved his hands dismissively. "Yeah, but with this, I wouldn't have to resurrect Aang, I could just swap Zuko's soul out for someone else's. Problem solved!" he grinned, licking the necklace.

Katara stared at him.

"You do realize that the issue here is that Aang is dead, not that Zuko is annoying, right?"

"...That's one issue. We've got a lot of issues, and this would solve the Zuko issue."

"Kakyoin, we can't just lose another group member! We started off with ELEVEN PEOPLE. WE NOW HAVE FOUR. WE CAN'T LOSE ANOTHER PERSON."

Kakyoin winced. "Ok, no need to shout." He looked at Zuko in the corner again. "But you know, we wouldn't be losing a person, we would just be replacing Zuko."

"No. Please. First, we have to figure out where we are…" Katara's voice trailed off as she noticed something. A lump formed in her throat.

"Where… where's Aang?"

"Oh, Aang's dead body? I don't know. But who cares? If his body isn't here that means the people who took us here took care of his burial. Bet they tossed him in a ditch somewhere. Problem solved." Kakyoin said.

Katara sat down on the ground and stared at the floor. Her heart was racing. Where are we? Out of the corner of her eye she could see Jotaro was getting up off the cold, marble floor.

"Ugh, where the freakin' hell are we? The ground is so hard, now my freakin' back is sore as hell. And why am I so damp? Why do I smell like spit?" Jotaro grumbled edgily, making his way over to Katara and Kakyoin.

"What are you, stupid? You literally asked Star Platinum to breathe on you all night." Kakyoin sighed.

"Don't call me stupid, unless you wanna get the crap beat out of you, dumbass," Jotaro grumbled.

"Ugh, you are all so immature and annoying! Can we be quiet and focus?" Katara snapped.
"Yeah, where the hell are we?" Jotaro said.

Katara and Kakyoin shrugged.

"If we don't have anything to do, we can just throw rocks at Zuko. He won't mind, he's asleep." Kakyoin said, pointing at Zuko who was drooling all over the floor. Then he woke up.

"Hey, guys. Oh. My Katara. Are you alright? You must feel horrible. First, you are born into a society where you are the only waterbender. The isolation must have been awful. I could never imagine going through that, being the fire prince and all. And then the death of your mother! At such a young age! Seeing her dead carcass on your living room floor must have been traumatizing, to say the least. Then your father had to leave to go to war! He left you with many responsibilities, making it impossible for you to have a normal childhood. And now your brother AND Aang are both dead. Your life's story has been such a tragedy. But always remember, that I am here for you, no matter what." Zuko said while staring at Katara's blue orbs.

Katara began to cry.

"God Zuko, this really makes me want to pound you." Jotaro shouted. Jotaro was just about to grab Zuko's head and probably do something horrible to it, when A GOLDEN ANGELIC LIGHT BEGAN SHINING! BOLD HEROIC MUSIC BEGAN PLAYING! IT WAS SO THRILLING! KAKYOIN FELT SO MUCH MAGIC HE ALMOST PEED HIS PANTS!

Once the light finally faded, three 10 foot tall, majestic, magical lions stood proudly in front of our heroes! The lions shimmered with earth quaking power that would shatter most mortal spines. When our protagonist looked in their eyes, they saw the beginnings of universes and infinite endings. The cathedral seemed to expand and explode in a single second, but it also stayed completely intact. The Gaang had only experienced this type of power once before, whenever they faced Robert. But the power of these Lions was different. These Lions powered the light, not the dark. Even Zuko was mesmerized by the lions.

WHO ARE THESE MYSTERIOUS LIONS?

"HELLO PETITE MORTALS. WE HAVE LONG AWAITED YOUR ARRIVAL."