More reviews more happiness for me! (does the happy dance) Also, I just saw the new Avatar episode where Zuko's past was revealed. More Zuko. (pats Zuko on head. Zuko glares but can't do anything because he has a hangover.) I just saw Napoleon Dynamite as well. Another note: these chapters should be updated very fast because school's out and I have no life. - ZeroSoul
muted fate, chapter III: a vessel is found
"What do you want?" Katara hissed as soon as soon as she saw Uncle enter the room.
"I mean no harm to you, young lady," answered Uncle, "as you can see, I've brought no guards with me,"
"I don't care!" Katara growled, "You're a Firebender!"
Uncle sighed, "Just listen to what I must say first," Katara grumbled and folded her arms. "We are all involved in some strange workings here. I know that those two bodies that were buried were your companions and I am sorry for that, but there is something strange about their deaths. Did you notice?"
Katara's face hardened, "…no,"
"The young man's body – who I suspect is your brother since you bear a resemblance to him in face and clothes – had no marks on it," continued Uncle, "to show that he was strangled or stabbed. It looked as if he had just, pardon the phrase, dropped dead al of a sudden,"
"So?"
"Some others also found a dead lemur and a dead bison – both mutilated in the same way with their hearts and eyes removed,"
"Why tell me this!" Katara yelled, standing up from the bed, "Aren't I suffering enough? Isn't it terrible enough that both my brother and friend are dead now?"
Uncle was not shaken. He then continued gently, "Your friends were not killed by normal means and if what I think is true…then we are all in danger, even as we are away from that place," He paused. "Did your friend, the Avatar, did he speak of anything strange before he died?" He studied the girl's face to see if there was truth in her answer.
Katara paused and looked down at her feet.
("…The…Sha…")
Katara's brow wrinkled in concentration.
("…The…Sha…dow…The…Shadow…")
What was this feeling? Was she having a headache? Katara scrunched her face as a dull throb rang into her skull.
("…The…Shadow is …coming…Kit…ara…run…")
Katara let out a yell and she clutched her head with a groan.
("RUN!")
"Young lady, are you alright?" asked Uncle.
Katara had doubled over in pain. It felt like her skull was cracking. Blood dripped down from the middle of her head and she groaned in pain. It felt like something was trying to crush her from the inside. Uncle grabbed her and supported her wait like he did with Zuko.
"Come. I'll take you to the doctor on the ship," said Uncle.
"…no!" Katara said as she pushed away from Uncle. She stumbled and fell back onto the ground. She wouldn't go to a Firebender doctor. She wouldn't.
Uncle looked at the girl and the Katara looked at the Firebender.
"…the…Sha…dow…" Katara gasped.
"…the Shadow?" Uncle said.
She pushed the words out of her: "…the Shadow…is coming…"
Her vision of the Firebender suddenly turned fuzzy and she collapsed onto the floor. As she laid there, her ears still worked and she overheard some things:
"A DOCTOR! I NEED A DOCTOR!"
Aang's spirit had been positioned nearby the disc for some time now (even though time could not be measured in the spirit realm). Eventually, the 52nd Avatar floated over to him and observed the young spirit. He himself did not feel true attachment to any of these other spirits, but this boy spirit was a curious thing. All of them had experienced many things before dying and many of them had left the mortal realm gloriously in battle or at a ripe old age.
But this spirit had not. He was just a bud beginning to blossom in power.
He could have been something great had it not been for death.
'It is dangerous to linger nearby the viewing disc for long, young Avatar,' said the 52nd Avatar, 'It makes you linger for mortal life,'
'I figured that much,' answered Aang. He floated away from the disc and to the 52nd Avatar, 'I'm just worried about my friend Katara, that's all,'
'You may as well forget her,' answered the 52nd Avatar, 'This is your afterlife now. She is deaf and mute to you. She cannot hear or see you now. Our concerns must turn to The Vessel. Have you selected a good one?'
Aang nodded, 'Yes…she will take the role well…' He paused. '…I hope,'
The 52nd Avatar made a face, 'You did not alert her of the choice?'
'I died before I could,'
'That is a...unfortunate wrinkle in our plans, young Avatar. You must learn to think ahead. Many do not wish to become the vessel out of their own reasons. This is very dangerous,'
'I know…but I know that she would be the best for it. She fits all the qualities that are needed – warmth, maturity, understanding, and a hidden, everlasting, love yet to be awakened. She is,' Aang clenched his ghostly fist. 'perfect in every way,'
'Good then. We need a perfect Vessel,'
Aang nodded, 'Thank you…ummm…' He looked up at the 52nd Avatar. '…do you have a name?'
The 52nd Avatar would have smiled if it had been in his nature at hearing this. It had been eons before he had used his name, 'Iwatansei,'
Aang smiled, 'Thank you, Avatar Iwatansei,'
'Your welcome, young Avatar. Now, we must go meet the other Avatars in order to perform the ceremony of the Vessel,'
"She's fine from what I can tell. There is no inflammation in the brain, nor is there any other bleeding except from the head and that has ceased now,"
"So she's okay them?"
"For now at least,"
Katara heard the voices of the doctor and Uncle, but did not see them. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around. She was still in her room. Uncle and the doctor were standing nearby her bed. Katara looked around and said nothing, but the doctor saw that she was awake.
"Katara, can you hear me?" said the doctor.
Katara nodded.
"Can you speak to me?" said the doctor.
"Yes," Katara said.
The doctor showed four fingers, "How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Four,"
The doctor turned from Katara and back to Uncle, "She seems fine to me. All she needs is a little rest and I would advise staying away from stress,"
"Thank you for your help," said Uncle, bowing. The doctor bowed to him and then left the room.
Katara sat up in bed and began to pull at the bandage wrapped around her head.
"What's wrong?" asked Uncle.
"I'd rather die of a hemorrhage then have a Firebender doctor treat me," growled Katara as she pulled at the bandages.
"You know, we Firebenders are now as evil as you think. We are people just like the Waterbenders, Airbenders, and Earthbenders. We eat, we sleep, we love, we have children, we grow up, we grow old, and we die as well,"
"And you wage war and kill people without mercy!" Katara raged.
"That is the workings of our empire and our Fire Lord, not the people!" Uncle yelled back. Katara was silenced by the sudden outburst and Uncle sighed, "Try to understand – I must deal with the judgements of others each and every day and know that my brother is doing things that which to him are good but will taint the names of our people for eons. It is a burden we must bare," Uncle walked away from Katara and to the door and added in a whisper, "and more than you will ever know,"
Katara turned away from the old man and he left her alone in the room. She didn't care. They were Firebenders – with hearts of steel and murder on their minds.
They were monsters. She hated them. She hated them all. They had killed her mother, taken her father, and now…
"THE FIRES!" Katara gasped out loud. She clenched her teeth bitterly at the epiphany. How could she have been so blind? So naïve? So stupid?
The fires that had burned the tent.
The smoke stains on Aang and Sokka's bodies.
"…Firebenders…" Katara hissed through her teeth, "…first Mom, then Dad, now Sokka and Aang…those…bastards…"
All of the spirits of a thousand different Avatars were gathered into one corner of the realm. Aang and Iwatansei took their place in the center of all of the spirits. The spirits formed a sphere around the duo, all looking and speaking to them at the same time. Iwatansei called for silence and silence rung through the realm.
'The Young Avatar Aang has chosen a Vessel,' stated Iwatansei, 'for the next Avatar to be born from. Since the Young Avatar Aang's duties had been left unperformed, this new Avatar must do his duties instead. Now is the time that we must chose The Summoner – the one spirit that will return to the mortal realm for a short length of time and do what must be done to summon the Avatar into it's beginning creation so that it can be reborn,'
Thousands of spirits called out that they should be chosen to be The Summoner.
'I should go!' said the 89th Avatar, 'I am strong and I will do what must be done quickly and not linger on it like some have done in the past!'
'I should go!' said the 5th Avatar, 'I have done it before and I can do it again!'
'You know the rules, old-timer! Only one spirit may be the Summoner and he or she may do it only once!' said Iwatansei, 'I have been here long and I know that each and every one of us has been the Summoner except for the First Avatar!'
Silence came from the spirits. The First Avatar was ancient now and her spirit had grow eccentric and often wandered away from the others and into the infinity of the realm. She was a frail and old spirit, the oldest of them all. Very little of the spirits had actually seen her.
A bright light came from above Aang and Iwatansei. All the spirits looked up and saw a lovely spirit float down from above and in front of Aang and Iwatansei. They all saw that it was The First Avatar and gasped at her sudden appearance. Her hair was long and silver, her face was wrinkled, and she wore long majestic robes the color of sunset. She had the markings of a Airbender as well. Although she was old, her beauty in her youth had not fully left her.
'The First Avatar…' Aang gasped. He bowed to her, 'I am honored,'
'As so am I, young Avatar,' answered the First Avatar, 'I've seen you in the viewing disc and you are an amazing little thing. You remind me of my own descendants,'
'Thank you, ma'am,' Aang said.
'First Avatar,' Iwatansei said, 'would you like the honor of being The Summoner?'
The First Avatar paused. Then she shook her head, 'No, I'm far too old for that game now. I like it here in the spirit realm. It's peaceful and quiet. No, send someone else. Send…' She pointed one gnarled finger to Aang. 'Send this Young Avatar,'
Iwatansei bowed, 'Yes, First Avatar,'
The First Avatar smiled at Aang and then kissed him on the forehead, 'You have a pure heart, young Avatar. May you keep it,'
After she was done, she floated away.
The other spirits angrily protested against sending such a choice back to the mortal realm, but Iwatansei would hear none of it.
'The decision of First Avatar stands!' Iwatansei yelled and all the spirits silenced, 'Young Avatar Aang will be The Summoner! Let the ceremony be performed!'
Grumbling and grousing, the spirits floated away from the sphere shape and formed a triangle around Iwatansei and Aang.
'What's going on?' Aang asked.
'Just the beginning of the ritual,' Iwatansei answered.
'What do I do?' Aang asked.
'Just stay in the center and when I ask for the Vessel's name, you yell it,''That's all?'
'That's all,'Iwatansei then floated away from Aang and left him alone in the center of the spirit triangle. Suddenly the spirits began to concentrate and chant together in a language that Aang couldn't understand. Iwatansei spoke out above the chanting.
'Let it be known to The Great Creatrix that this one soul, this one spirit, has been chosen for the role of The Summoner in this cosmic cycle of ours and let it be known that he will be The Summoner for one mortal night and one mortal night only. The Vessel has been chosen by the last Avatar before he passed into your hand, Great Creatrix, and the Vessel named–'
Aang sensed that this was his moment to speak, 'KATARA!'
'–will be the one to receive The Summoner! Let it begin!'
A beam of light shot down from above Aang and hit him. Aang yelled back in both pain and shock. It felt as if thousands of volts of electricity were flooding his system all at once. He yelled out in pain and light shined out of his eyes and mouth. Finally, light poured out his skin and soon light filled the entire realm.
Then the light receded.
Aang's spirit was gone.
Zuko groaned as he laid on his side. This had been hour five of him being hungover. So far he had (1) drank some water, (2) eaten, (3), tried to sleep, (4) had a nightmare and woke up, (5) thrown up, (6) repeated steps 1-5 for the rest of the time.
At least he had to be through the worst of it now.
The room was still spinning and he felt woozy, but he managed to crawl off of the bed, lean on the wall to gain some support, and clean himself up.
'Gods, I feel terrible,' Zuko thought as his mind slurred to make sense of what was going on. He had so far taken a shower and put on some new clothes, 'but I think it's almost over now and I think I'll never touch wine, or anything else with alcohol in it, after this little experience,'
Zuko stumbled out of the bathroom and fell down. The room was still dizzy and his legs were shaking.
"…this is not my day…" Zuko growled.
Maybe he should just lie there until he got his footing back. That would probably be the best idea.
So, the Fire Prince Zuko laid there on the floor of his bedroom and tried to do his best not to succumb back to the symptoms of his hangover.
Water.
He could defiantly hear water.
He could hear – that was a plus.
Aang's spirit opened his eyes and saw that he was floating above an ocean. He looked around and saw that it was almost sunset.
Time to go to work.
Aang found that he was still a spirit, even back on the mortal realm. He also felt that he wasn't like, like he was sharing his mind with something else, something foreign. The other presence guided him to a ship nearby that was streaming through the ocean. Aang floated down towards the ship and saw that it was Prince Zuko's boat.
'Here?' Aang said aloud to himself, 'Katara is here of all places?'
Aang walked on the top of the ship. None of the people on board took notice of the spirit boy and were going about their business. Aang even passed his hand through one of the men and all he did was shiver a little. He then shrugged and continued on looking for Katara.
The other presence guided him down to the bowels of the ship.
'Are you sure she's here?' Aang said to the other presence, 'Katara wouldn't be caught dead on a Fire Nation ship,'
The other presence assured Aang that Katara was on the ship and that she, thankfully, was not dead.
'Who are you anyways?' asked Aang, 'And what are you doing in my head?'
The other presence introduced itself as the actual spirit of The Summoner and a fraction of the Great Creatrix. It's purpose being as Aang's guide to the Vessel.
'Okay then. Which room is Katara in?' Aang asked The Summoner.
The Summoner said the third door from the right on the fifth floor. But then The Summoner added that Aang needed a body to possess.
'What? Why?'
The Summoner smugly added that Aang wasn't flesh.
'Fine. Any person will do right?'
The Summoner said no. The person had to fit certain requirements – such as age and gender.
'Okay…then who?'
The Summoner said, for starters, it had to be a male.
'Obviously,'
The Summoner then added that it had to a male within the Vessel's age and wasn't sterile or diseased and had to be single. The Summoner then added how Aang only had one night to do this and nightfall had already begun. He had little time to choose.
Aang had to think a little about his choices, '…young…male…not old…not sick…not sterile…'
That eliminated all but one person.
'I think I've figured out who I have to choose…but we're going to have to fool the Vessel,'
The Summoner said that such things had to be necessary in order for the Avatar to be born.
'Okay then. Let's go find our lucky bachelor…'
Aang and The Summoner found the lucky bachelor lying on the floor in his room amongst the current chaos around him. Aang wrinkled his nose at the smell of bile from the room.
'I think I'm having second thoughts…' Aang said.
The Summoner said too bad.
Aang groaned and he felt as though his insides were on fire. He fell to his knees as the intense pain continued.
'Okay! Okay! You win!' Aang growled.
The Summoner said that they were pressed for time and this body will have to do.
'Forgive me, Katara,' Aang said. He laid his spirit down over Zuko's body.
Zuko/Aang's spirit suddenly sat up and took a huge breath. Aang's spirit moved Zuko's fingers around a little – it was strange being in a body again. It made Aang long for his old body again. Aang forced Zuko to stand and found that he couldn't do it easily.
"What has this guy been doing?" Aang said with Zuko's mouth.
Aang's spirit/Zuko then crawled over to the Zuko's bed (avoiding the vomit nearby) and forced Zuko's body to stand. Aang's spirit/Zuko stumbled around the room, trying to walk normally, and made it to the door after some extreme effort.
"I can't wait until this is over," Aang/Zuko said. He opened the door to find that there were some guards. Aang/Zuko closed the door again, "Okay, in order to be Zuko, I have to think like Zuko," Aang then concentrated in thought. 'I'm a big Firebending teenager jerk who's filled with angst and I have a big stupid ponytail and I never smile and I walk funny,'
Aang then nodded and stepped out of the room. Of course, it was a little strange navigated Zuko's body since he was both taller and more muscular than Aang's own body. The guards did stare at him for a second.
"What are you staring at?" Aang/Zuko yelled.
"N-Nothing!" stammered the guards.
Aang/Zuko then turned around with a grumble, trying not to smile at his great performance. He then scanned the hallway and searched for Katara's door.
'Third door from the right…third door from the right…oh, here we are!' Aang's spirit thought.
Aang/Zuko opened the door. Katara was sleeping on the bed. He could hear her soft breathing from the door. Aang/Zuko closed the door behind Zuko's body and approached the bed. Katara was snuggled in the blanket. Aang felt himself flush at her beauty as light shined through the window nearby. Gently, he caressed her face.
The Summoner then chimed in, saying that this was no time for Aang to moon over her.
'Alright, I know,' Aang's spirit said, 'How do we fool her?'
The Summoner answered leave that to him. All Aang had to do was stay in the moonlight coming from the window.
'Okay here goes,' Aang sighed. He looked at Katara, 'I'm really sorry for this, Katara. I really am,'
Aang stood in the moonlight and spoke out:
"Katara,"
Katara sat up, startled. She turned around to see that Zuko was nearby her. She narrowed her eyes and growled, "What are you doing here?"
"Katara, it's me," Zuko said.
Katara's eyes widened as she looked at Zuko. It was Zuko moving his mouth, but another voice was coming out of his mouth.
"…it…it can't be…" Katara whispered. She reached out her hand to Zuko, "..Aang?"
"In the flesh," said Zuko, "or so to speak. It's nice to see you again,"
Katara felt tears well up in her eyes. She tackled Zuko with a loving hug and began to cry into his chest, "Oh, Aang! I thought you were gone forever! I'm the only one left and I have no place to go and I'm stuck here and…"
Zuko's finger pressed to her lips, "I maybe gone now, Katara, but I'll always be watching you from afar. I'll always be with you," He then smiled one of these cheery Aang smiles. "I'm the Avatar remember? I'll always be reborn,"
"But there's only going to be one Aang…" murmured Katara as she held him.
Aang's spirit paused, "I know…" He paused again and took of the bandage around her forehead.
"Aang, what are you…?" Katara said.
Zuko touched the middle of her forehead where she had been bleeding from before, "Sleep,"
Katara's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell onto the bed. Aang was alarmed by her reaction.
"Is…is she…dead…?" Aang/Zuko said.
The Summoner said no. Katara was just in a dreaming state. She was still partially aware of what was going on.
Aang's spirit paused and on the outside Zuko's face-hardened.
The Summoner reminded Aang that they were pressed for time and as Aang's spirit being The Summoner, he had to what had to be done.
"I know," acknowledged Aang/Zuko, "but I'm not proud of it,"
Aang's spirit moved Zuko's body next to Katara's. He breathed in Katara's ear, "…I'm sorry, Katara…I'm so very sorry…"
I know for a fact that most people would expect this little blurb right here to be filled with descriptive and erotic words telling of what happened next. Well…it's NOT. The reasons? Well, would ban me probably and unlike it in the days of yore, it no longer has the NC-17 rating (which makes me sad) and I don't plan on submitting it to or my deviantart site since my family goes there adn they're the religious type (let's leave it at that).
I'm just as disappointed as you are, believe me. Who knows? Maybe in the future when I get something like a livejournal, I'll post it there. - ZeroSoul