"And Goodness knows
The Wicked's lives are lonely
Goodness knows
The Wicked die alone
It just shows when you're Wicked
You're left only
On your own"
– "No One Mourns The Wicked"
muted fate, chapter XIII: "some kind of monster" or "no rest for the wicked"
Aang felt his heart would burst with joy. Katara was alive and well – but it was more obvious now she was pregnant by her rounded belly. It wasn't too much but it was a little noticeable.
"Look at this dump," Morningstar said.
He was right in saying so. Every plant was withered and animals laid dead left and right. Fish of all sizes were belly up in ponds and even in the ocean nearby as the current moved them more and more out to sea, no longer having the life energy to fight it.
"What happened here? A blight o' somethin'?" Beelzebub asked.
"No," Iwatansei said, "spirits,"
Several blue, large headed, semi-transparent spirits were crawling around – unnoticed by the people and invisible to their natural eyes. They had dark eyes and whatever they touched was slowly drained of its life, people, plants, and animals included.
"It's that same parasite, the one that was on that woman back in town!" Aang gasped, recognizing the blue parasites.
Those blue parasites were joined by redsnake looking ones with sharp teeth and multiple eyes. The red ones went around snacking on the energies of animals.
"Since all the doorways are open, these things can come from anywhere and to here," Morningstar said, "and they must see this place as a free meal,"
"We have to warn them!" Aang said, "Katara and the others are down there!"
'Relax, young demon,' Iwatansei said, 'Spirits will avoid someone dwelling in as strong a spirit as an Avatar. Even in its dormant state now, it possesses great strength,'
Aang nodded and then said, "Is the Shadow nearby? Can you sense him?"
'Yes, very near,' Iwatansei said, 'but he's masked himself off so his trail is faint. He must have taken on some sort of mortal form,'
"Then let's split up," Aang said, "I'll go with Katara and the others, and the rest of you will take a different section of the village,"
With this said, the four split up and went into different sections.
The fishing port Rain had led them to was very small and there was only one boat left. An older man was lounging in a chair when he saw them coming and jumped up.
"Mari! Fire Nation!" the old man said, "Get me my sword!"
"Uncle!" Rain called. He waved to the man. Ribbon waved as well, "It's me! Your nephew!"
The man looked down at Rain just as an older woman came up from the depths of the boat. She looked at Ribbon and Rain and slowly approached them. She studied their faces and was taken aback as soon as she recognized them.
"Well, I'll be damned! If it isn't Jaenil and Tana's kids!" said the woman. She glared at Zuko and Katara, "And with Firebenders, I bet,"
"We mean you no harm," Katara said, "We've been taking care of your nephew and niece for the past few days. What has happened here?"
The man paused, "A blight struck the land just some weeks ago. All the animals and crops are dying off. Most people have left by now. Some are even getting sick. I managed to have some food in storage so we'll be fine for now,"
"Auntie!" Ribbon said, hugging the older woman.
"Aren't you just sweet?" the woman said, "But where are you parents?"
"There was…an accident," Rain said, "We were the only survivors,"
"Do you know my family?" FourEyes asked Ribbon and Rain's aunt and uncle, "I'm looking for my older sister. She came here to live with my grandfather some years ago to apprentice medicine. Her name is Izumi,"
"Do you mean Izumi?" said Rain's Uncle,"A tall girl with brown hair – wears spectacles? She lived at the edge of town, just head across from here,"
"Thank you," FourEyes said.
"I suppose this is where we part," Rain said to Zuko and Katara. The boy never looked happier, "Thank you for all your help. We'll never forget you both,"
Katara fought back tears as she hugged Rain and Ribbon, "We'll never forget either,"
Rain and Ribbon continued to wave goodbye to them as they walked away from the fishing port. So now the children numbered four.
Above them, Aang flew. He watched Katara, longing to speak to her but then realized she wouldn't even recognize his new demonic self. He then glanced at the pale looking boy, who coughed constantly as he walked.
A dark misty aura was enclosed around him.
'That aura…' Aang thought, '…it's almost like The Shadow's!' Now Aang followed then even more closely.
The group stopped at a house. Katara knocked at the door. There was a few minuets before the door opened. A woman was at it. Her hair was pinned into a bin, spectacles set on her nose.
"Yes, how may I help you?" the woman asked. She then laid eyes on FourEyes, and instantly hugged the boy, "Haru! You're alive!" She looked up at Zuko, Katara, and the others. "Come in, all of you. My home is your home,"
The inside of the house was small and dusty. Izumi served tea, with an overjoyed look on her face. FourEyes was smiling too. Pepper was the only one who wore a frown.
"Grandfather's heart gave out months earlier just as the blight happened, so I became the town's only doctor," Izumi said, "I tried to send a letter to Mom and Dad but when I didn't get a reply, I got worried but I couldn't have left my patients," She smiled. "But the worst is over now. The town is going to get back on it's feet after my treatments,"
"You say you're a doctor," Katara said, "Will you do me a favor, please?"
"Anything! I owe you more than you can imagine for taking care of my little brother!" Izumi said.
"Can you take a look at this little girl?" Katara asked. She took Ashes by the hand, "Her name is Ashes but she doesn't speak, and I think she can hear a bit. Can you figure out what's wrong?"
"Of course I can," Izumi said, "I've dealt with things like this before. A lot of children here didn't speak after they saw their parents or siblings die from the blight,"
While the adults talked, FourEyes and Pepper went outside and had their own talk.
"So I guess this is goodbye," FourEyes said.
"Yeah…" Pepper said, looking down.
FourEyes smiled a little, "Well…who knows? What about your family? Aren't they on the island?"
Pepper nodded, "Yes, my two uncles, but…" Tears formed in her eyes. "I don't know. I don't want to go with them. I want to stay on the ship. I want to be the prince's apprentice," She then added, looking FourEyes, "And I don't want us all to split up," Tears rolled down her cheeks and splashed onto the ground as she sniffed.
"Hey! Don't cry!" FourEyes said. He took Pepper's hand, "Listen, Pepper, it's not fair to your aunts to not go with them just because you don't feel like it. They love you. They're your family and they want to take care of you now that your parents are gone. And don't get upset over me. I'm just one boy. They'll be others like me and who knows? We may see each other again one day,"
Pepper sniffed and nodded, rubbing the tears from her eyes, "Thank you, FourEyes,"
"I'll miss you, Pepper,"
Then FourEyes leaned forward and kissed Pepper on her tear stained cheek. Pepper blinked and then hugged FourEyes. She then kissed him back. Now the two children were hotly blushing and then went back inside of the house.
"Come on, Pepper," Zuko said, "we're going to leave Ashes here for a while with Miss Izumi,"
"'Kay," Pepper sniffled.
"Pepper? What's wrong?" Zuko asked.
"Nothing," Pepper sniffed, rubbing her redden eyes. She then changed the subject, "Where will we go now?"
"To Seyvan's grandmother's house," Zuko said, overjoyed that they were finally getting rid of Seyvan, "Miss Izumi was kind enough to tell us where she lived,"
Izumi and FourEyes waved good-bye to Zuko, Katara, Pepper, and Seyvan. Now the children were just two. They headed towards the woods, where Izumi had said the cottage laid.
Above them, Aang followed but found a demonic aura coming from the direction of where they were headed.
"Kid!" called a voice. Aang turned to see Beelzebub and Morningstar flying towards him. Iwatansei was following.
"You sensed it too?" Aang asked.
"The aura is strong," Morningstar said, "It must be The Shadow,"
"But what's he doing here? Is it a trap?" Aang asked.
'Let us go up ahead and see,' Iwatansei suggested.
The four flew ahead of those on the ground and saw the aura coming from a small cottage. It was an old shack now, that was in a state of decrepitude. On the porch was an old crone, sitting in a rocking chair with stick in her bony hands, probably to support herself when walking.
"There he is!" Aang said, pointing to the crone, "Let's get him while we still can!"
"Hold up, kid," Beelzebub said, "dere's somethin' weird going on here. He should 'ave sensed us by now and he doesn't seem tah care very much. Let's wait and see what happens,"
Down on the ground, Zuko and Katara looked at the shack with distaste. The crone rocked in her chair, glaring at them and something about her made Katara very uneasy with her. She kept as much distance as possible from her.
"What do you want?" the crone asked them. Obviously she didn't like having people bother her.
"We believe this is your grandson," Zuko said, pushing Seyvan forward.
"And it sure is," the crone said, getting off of her chair. She approached Seyvan and took him by the arm, dragging him towards the house, "Thank you for giving me my grandson," And then she went into he shack, shutting the door. Just before the door shut, Seyvan looked at Zuko and Katara, coughing and his eyes in a feverish panic.
"Did we do the right thing?" Katara asked Zuko.
"I'm sure we did," Zuko said, "Seyvan will do much better around his family,"
"That's what I'm afraid of," Katara said, "She didn't seem to be the motherly type,"
"He'll be fine," Zuko said. He looked at Pepper, "I guess you're the only one left, Pepper,"
Pepper nodded and looked down, "..yes…"
"Where does your family live?" Katara asked her.
Pepper sighed, "They're my two uncles and they live nearby here. I once came to see them here a year ago," She pointed towards some smoke rising up from between some tall trees. "There. That's where they are,"
Two adults and one child walked from the cottage towards the smoke. Above them, three demons and an avatar spirit watched the cottage.
"I don't get it!" Aang said, "Katara was right there! He didn't even blink or go after her!"
'Let's take a closer look,' Iwatansei said, 'He may want to kill Katara but he may have a planned ahead for how he's going to go about it,'
The four of them got closer to the cottage and landed on the roof. The tips of Beelzebub's claws heated and burned a hole in the shack rooftop so that they could see a little inside as well hear. The inside of the house was one room, and it was barren.
"Get in here, you little brat!" the crone said to Seyvan. She flung Seyvan into the corner of the room. Seyvan was shivering and coughing, "And if you dare get sick on the floor, I'll beat you within an inch of your life!"
Seyvan coughed even more and the hacked, "…you're a good actor…but you're not…my grandmother…she's…dead…"
"My, my, what a smart little boy you are!" the crone said, cackling. She gripped Seyvan's face in her wrinkly hands, her nails like long claws, "No, little boy, you are not my grandson and I am not your grandmother,"
"Let go of me…you…witch!"
"Insolence!" The crone raked its claws against Seyvan's face, leaving deep bleeding marks in the boy's face. "I just happen to not be your grandmother, or a woman, or mortal at all–"
The crone's voice crackled into a deep, more masculine voice. Her eyes turned red and gave off a glow. Her torso and below became dark mist.
"I am simply a shadow of my former human self," said the crone, now slowly becoming its true shape, "You, my arrogant boy, are my descendant – thanks to those days and nights of sharing my bed with all sorts of whores. That venom I gave you should have made you unconscious by now, but no, you had to keep on fighting it, eh boy?"
Seyvan had a look of fear in his eyes, "What…what are…you?"
"Me? Why I'm your ancestor! You come from my lineage!" it proclaimed, "And I need your body to house my spirit so I can be rid of the bindings of this accursed spell!" The crone cackled. "Oh, I didn't know! Oh I didn't know until I tasted your blood – your tasty wicked blood – the blood of my blood!"
Now the crone was gone and was replaced with the shifting mass of dark mist with glowing red eyes.
"Y-you're…the…rat!" Seyvan choked.
"I am more than that, boy," hissed the dark mist, "I am the rat, the crone, the leviathan, the once reigning king, and the most powerful Bender to exist! I am raw power incarnate! But the accursed binding of this summoning prevents me from accomplishing my true task at hand!"
"What do you want with me?" Seyvan whimpered, ready to cry.
"I have waited and waited for eons and eons for this moment! My moment of revenge! Sit still, boy!"
Seyvan screeched as The Shadow gripped him around the neck by an outstretched dark claw. Seyvan gagged and twisted in the grip of the monstrous spirit.
"If I simply turn your neck the other way, it should just stun you long enough. Of course, the pain will be excruciating for you…" The Shadow hissed.
Seyvan was close to The Shadow that he could actually smell the malevolent entity. It reeked of ancient dried blood and smelled of a decaying corpse in a graveyard on a hot summer night. Seyvan choked – too stunned with fear to move or fight back. All that pent up rage and courage had disappeared in an instant.
Outside, Aang gasped and rose up in the air only to slam down through the ceiling at break neck speed. Beelzebub, Morningstar, and Iwatansei followed him down. Aang looked towards The Shadow as straw and wood fell from the broken ceiling and prepared himself for what he was about to see.
The house that belonged to Pepper's uncles was made of stone and had a solid wooden door. There was no one outside and no animals wandering around, so Katara took it upon herself to knock at the door. She gave three solid knocks and no one came.
"Is there anyone home?" Katara asked.
"They're always home," Pepper said. She approached the doorway and unlocked the door. She stepped into the house calling, "Uncle Jullan? Uncle Syren? It's Pepper! Hello?"
Zuko found candles on the wall and lit them. The room was very simple. There was wooden table and a fireplace going with food in a pot over it. The table had been set up for a simple meal.
"Where are they?" Zuko asked.
"They're usually in the study in the back if they're not out here," Pepper said, "They're scholars and they like to read a lot or something,"
Pepper approached a door in the back and Zuko was about to follow her when he realized Katara was frozen in front of the table.
"Katara? What's wrong?" Zuko asked.
"Zuko, something's very wrong here. Look at this food," Katara said.
Zuko looked at the food laid out the table. Upon closer inspection, it was rotting away and filled with maggots. The cups of wine set out in glasses had a thin layer of dust over the liquid tops.
"It's old," Zuko said, "at least maybe three days or so,"
"Three whole days?" Katara said, "Who would leave food lying here for three whole days?"
"If they were busy all of a sudden and forgot about it, perhaps,"
"Or if they suddenly got sick and–"
Katara and Zuko suddenly looked at each other.
"Oh my gods!" Zuko said, "PEPPER! DON'T GO–"
Zuko rushed to prevent it, but Pepper's sudden scream of terror confirmed the very worse. Pepper was standing in a room filled with books and papers. There in two chairs were two dead men, now shriveled up corpses with their eyes sinking back into the sockets. Their mouths were agape in horror, as if they had been screaming while they died. Their skin was discolored and had black blotches on it. The room smelled of decay.
Pepper was standing there, her young mind frozen in shock from what she was seeing. Tears filled formed into her eyes as she fell onto the ground and began to wail.
"My gods…" Katara breathed, looking at the corpses, "…those poor souls…"
Zuko helped lead Pepper away from the room and out of the house. The little girl was so wracked with grief he had to carry her out of the house. Katara shut the door to the study and hoped no one else would have to go in there.
"What about the house?" Katara asked.
"We'll tell Izumi about it," Zuko said, "If we handled the corpses, we could catch the blight ourselves," He sighed. "It might have been a blessing in disguise. If those two were carrying it, we could have handed Pepper over to them and she would have had it too,"
"Let's just go get Ashes and leave," Katara said.
"What about Pepper?" Zuko asked.
"What about her? She has no family left. She may as well stay with us. And Ashes can't tell us where they are. Pepper once said that she had none left,"
So Zuko and Katara walked away from the house, with Zuko carrying Pepper on his back the entire way. Pepper held onto him tightly, as if she was afraid he would disappear or if he would drop her. He did neither.
They saw The Shadow in all his dark splendor – a wriggling chaotic mass of darkness with glowing crimson eyes, stinking of the dead he had killed in his life past and now. The Shadow dropped Seyvan on the ground, turning his attention to Aang. Seyvan fell to the ground like a limp rag doll – his body frozen from the shock and trauma.
"Well, well, well…" The Shadow said to Aang, laughing, "…if it isn't the disposed of Avatar? You seem to be a little bit more on the demonic side the last time we met,"
"You bastard!" Aang hissed. He sent a gust of air towards The Shadow but The Shadow easily split itself in half to avoid it.
"Sorry to disappoint you, boy," The Shadow said, "but I'm nothing but a branded spirit. You can't lay a finger on me even if you wanted to!"
'Who summoned you?' Iwatansei demanded.
"That's only for my knowledge," The Shadow said in a malicious, yet well guarded tone.
"Den I suppose ya won't mind if we take dis!" Beelzebub said. He flapped over to the other side of the room and grabbed Seyvan
The Shadow spun around, his eyes glowing bright with anger, "You leave my future body alone!"
"Monkey in da middle, kid!" Beelzebub said to Aang, tossing the limp Seyvan into Aang's arms, "Take dat boy away from here before he dies!"
"But–" Aang protested.
Beelzebub let out a screech as The Shadow gripped him by the arm – the mere touch burning his flesh like a strong acid – and flung him into a wall of the cottage.
"Beelzebub!" Aang yelled.
'Save the boy, young Demon!' Iwatansei commanded. He pulled out his sword that had long been by his side since death and slashed at The Shadow. The Shadow didn't have time to evade the attack and yelled in pain as some of his mist was severed.
Seyvan coughed and Aang realized how cold the boy really was. He was fading fast. Aang spread out his wings and flew up high through the broken roof and tried to find Katara. The Shadow was about to pursue him when Morningstar attacked him in a berserk rage for harming Beelzebub. Aang rushed away and tried to find a safe spot among the trees where he laid Seyvan down on the ground and found that his body temperature was dropping.
'He's going to die!' Aang thought.
(He's going to die! He's going to die just like I did! He's going to die so young just because of The Shadow! He's going to die unfulfilled and unhappy!)
"NO!" Aang verbally protested to his thought. He pushed on Seyvan's slowing and tiring heart, urging it to keep on pumping blood, "Live! C'mon, kid! You've got to LIVE!"
"I'm so sorry that you had to find them like that," Izumi said, "Those two were the most intelligent men I had ever met. That is how the blight always was. It struck people suddenly and slowly drained them of their energy until they were gone. I'll make sure to give them a proper burial and burn their belongings,"
Katara and Zuko nodded. They were sitting at the kitchen table with Izumi after telling her the news. Pepper and Ashes were sitting side by side. Pepper was silent, her cheeks wet from tears. She would have cried more but found she had no more tears to cry with. Ashes was as silent as ever.
"As for Ashes," Izumi said, "from what I can see in her throat, it is severely scarred – possibly by smoke or the like. There is significant damage there and it may cause her pain to speak at all, henceforth why she is silent all the time,"
"Ashes' house burned down," Pepper said in a very small voice, "but before that I remember her talking all time,"
Ashes said nothing and she stared into nothing.
"Other than speech, I find Ashes to have a heightened sense of hearing and vision," Izumi continued, "She's probably good at plenty of other things. You should try finding her some sort of hobby and maybe that'll take her mind off of her voice,"
Katara looked out the window, "It's almost sunset. We should get going now,"
"Don't be strangers," Izumi said, waving goodbye. FourEyes waved goodbye as well. Pepper looked at FourEyes and felt a horrible pang at her heart but chose not to cry. She promised herself to be strong and not shed any more painful tears.
"Where have all the others gone?" Uncle asked Zuko and Katara when they arrived back on the ship.
"To their families," Katara sighed, "Pepper and Ashes are the only ones left," She held Ashes' hand and Zuko held Pepper's.
The ship moved away from the docks. Pepper took one last look at Hishigata Island and soon felt the reality of the situation seep in. Tears came to her eyes and slowly rolled down her cheeks.
"Pepper?" Zuko asked. Pepper hugged his waist and began to bawl loudly, "Pepper, what's wrong?"
And Pepper cried. She cried insanely until her eyes were red and she was hiccuping and sniffling.
Seyvan's heart jolted at the pushes and started to function again. Aang was relieved to hear the boy's heart was beating again, but he continuously coughed. He decided to glamouried himself up with human looking skin and glamouried up some stones as well into money. If worst came to worst, he could always find a village to hide in and keep the boy living for at least a little while. Slinging Seyvan over his shoulder, he spread out his winds and took to the air again.
"Hold on, kid!" Aang said, even as Seyvan started to grow cold again. He scanned the village below for any sign of Zuko or Katara but found none. In the distance he could see the familiar Fire Nation ship. It was slowly leaving the shores of the island. Aang murmured a curse and flapped his wings even harder than before. He just had to get there but there was only one chance. ..
Katara looked towards the island as they slowly drifted away from it. Pepper had stopped crying just a few minuets ago and was clinging to Zuko like a lonesome daughter to her father. Ashes stood next to Katara. In the distance, Katara could see something flying towards the ship.
'A bird?' Katara thought, 'No, it's far too big to be a big. What is–'
Aang's eyes saw Katara gazing up at him and he felt a horrible nostalgia wash over him. How he had missed her! He then realized he was going far too fast to land gently and tried to slow down but it was too late. He tumbled onto the deck of the ship – like a star falling from sky – doing his best to make sure Seyvan wasn't hurt.
Aang looked around to realize all eyes were on him, especially Zuko, Katara, and Uncle. He stood up and handed Seyvan to Katara, as calmly as possible.
"I...I found this boy alone in the woods," Aang said, "He is gravely ill and is very close to death,"
Iwatansei swung again at The Shadow. The Shadow took a part of his misty body and formed a sword to clash with Iwatansei's own spirit sword.
'WHY?' Iwatansei demanded.
The Shadow dodged a raging attack from Morningstar and Beelzebub, who had just regained consciousness. He looked Iwatansei straight in the eye and said, "Why? Why do you ask? Why do you even seem to care?"
'I, too, am an Avatar Spirit, Shadow,' Iwatansei said, 'Why would one as yourself continue such evil acts even after your death thousands of years ago? Why not simply redeem yourself?'
For a brief single space in time, The Shadow's eyes molded with a sort of mixture filled with an emotion that others would deem unknown to him – sadness.
"No one mourns the wicked," The Shadow said, "And with that there is no rest for the wicked," He then spoke venomously. "But they'll pay! They'll all pay! I'll bring this realm to it's knees by myself!"
Morningstar swung his own sword through The Shadow but he had already vanished slowly into the air.
"He's gone!" Moringstar said, "We have to go after him!"
"Let 'im go, Morningstar," Beelzebub said, holding Morningstar back. He held up his arm from when The Shadow had touched him. All sorts of magical inscriptions were branded into it, "I think we have other problems and this inscription should give us some clues,"
Iwatansei nodded, 'For once, I am in agreement with you. Let us locate the young Demon and see how he fares,'
Seyvan's condition had worsened. Katara had placed the ill boy on her bed, in her attempts to make him better. He was freezing cold and coughed constantly. Katara now saw something different in Seyvan now that all the barriers of his fierceness and hated were gone – a scared and ill boy who had been through too much for him to truly bear any longer.
"He's been poisoned," said the ship medic, after examining the boy. Seyvan was still coughing and looking pale, "I doubt he'll survive this. It'll only be few hours now,"
"There must be something we can do," Uncle said.
Katara was holding Seyvan's hand. It was almost as cold as ice.
"It's too much in his system by now," answered the medic, "and a severe purging of all of it would kill him even faster than that poison already is. There's nothing we can do,"
Zuko eventually left the room. He went up on deck to catch a breath of fresh air.
'I should have listened to Katara,' Zuko said, 'She could see…she could tell something was wrong!' He let out a sigh and realized that it would all be over for Seyvan soon. 'I know he was a miserable kid but he doesn't deserve to die…'
He then noticed the stranger was sitting on the railing of the ship about six feet away from him. He sat as if he had no fear of being pushed into the water and drowning and had perfect balance while he sat on the railing. The wind was blowing his white hair over his face.
Zuko approached him. "You seem familiar," was the first thing he said to him.
The stranger looked towards him calmly and said, "I do? I could say the same thing to you,"
"Could you now? But tell me something…how did you manage to fly onto my ship?" Zuko asked.
The stranger smiled good humorously, "I jumped from a very high mountain,"
Zuko paused and tried not to show his irritation towards the stranger. He then continued on with the conversation, "What's your name?"
The stranger paused, "It's Suryan,"
Zuko paused again. He could swear he knew him from somewhere, but he couldn't place where, "Thank you, Suryan, for bringing Seyvan back. You're welcome to stay for as long as you like,"
"That's good. I have no where to go," the stranger, now Suryan said.
Zuko nodded and left the deck. The stranger, now alone, and now Aang once again – had been burning to ask where Katara was but he figured that would sound a little odd coming from someone who was supposed to be a complete stranger. He decided it would be best to just follow Zuko down below and see if he could find a way to talk to Katara on his own.
'I sense he's on this ship,' Iwatansei said as he landed on top of the watching point on the Fire Nation ship. Beelzebub and Morningstar landed nearby him. Darkness had fallen and thunder seemed to shake the seas. Lightning crackled and a heavy rain began to fall.
"Maybe we should sneak on board," Morningstar said.
"I've got it covered," Beelzebub said. He spotted two guards walking around on patrol nearby them. Beelzebub quickly pounced on the men and bit into their necks, paralyzing their bodies instantly and making sure their screams were muffled. He then stripped them of their clothes and the tossed the two men overboard. He tossed one of the clothes up to Morningstar, "Suit up. Den we can go below deck,"
Morningstar and Beelzebub quickly change and then headed down below in search of Aang. Iwatansei – being only a spirit – followed them unnoticed by anymore.
Katara still sat beside Seyvan. Uncle had tried to coax her to come away from the boy's side for a little while but Katara wouldn't be budged. She still held onto the boy's hand. Pepper and Ashes were with her. Ashes had fallen asleep in her lap and Pepper was sitting beside the chair she was sitting in. She was slowly starting to nod off into sleep.
"Katara?"
Katara looked towards the door. Zuko was there. She gave a small smile, "Hello, Zuko,"
"You've been in here for over an hour," Zuko said, "You should get up and eat something,"
"I'm fine, really," Katara said, "I'm not all that hungry, actually,"
Zuko sighed, "Suit yourself," and he left her.
A few minuets later, Aang poked his head through the door. Katara heard his footsteps and looked up at him.
"Oh, sorry for interrupting you," Aang said, "I just bought you some water to drink from the kitchen. You probably would like a little water," He gave a nervous laugh.
Katara narrowed her eyes at him, "How did you know that?"
Aang bit his tongue, "Oh, you know…lucky guess…gossip…stuff…"
"You're a horrible liar," Katara said, "but I'd like to thank you for saving Seyvan's life…or what is now left of it,"
'Wow. She's change so much,' Aang thought, 'If I didn't know her from before, she sounds exactly like a noble lady. Then again, she doesn't even look like the Katara I used to know,'
Katara had physically changed over time. She wore the red Fire Nation clothes loosely as to serve as future maternity ware. Her hair was worn loosely now, since she often lacked the energy to braid it. She seemed far older now and wiser. Aang then realized the same could be said for him. He wore regular peasant's clothes and his hair stringy and long enough to obscure his Air Monk tattoo on his head. He now had the body of a 17 year old boy and his voice was deeper as well.
"What is your name?" Katara asked.
"Aa….I mean, Suryan," Aang said.
"You're welcome to stay as long as you like, Seyvan," Katara said.
Aang nodded, "Thank you," He observed Seyvan and said, "How is he doing?"
"Not so well," Katara said, "the doctor said it would only take matter of hours or so before he.." She stopped at this.
Aang paused. He stepped over to Katara, putting his hand on her shoulder. He then whispered into her ear, "You can heal him, Katara,"
Katara looked at him, "How did you–"
"It doesn't matter," Aang said, "I know that if you really try, you can heal him and save him. Please, Katara…you have to believe in yourself, like I believe in you,"
"But I can't…I don't know how…" Katara began.
"Use what you have with you to heal,"
Katara sighed and looked at the cup of water. She focused on the liquid held inside of the clay cup and felt it's moisture and its fluidity. She could slowly see the molecules and she realized that she could push and pull them with her mind.
(come)
Katara felt a strange and foreign force take her body over as she raised her hand and beckoned the water out of the glass. Katara Bended the water to her will and it came out of the cup and towards her. She turned towards Seyvan and gently opened the boy's mouth as the water went down his throat. Seyvan briefly coughed for a few minuets. After a few minuets, he returned to laying still and Katara was suddenly pulled out her trance.
'…what…what happened…?' Katara said. She thought she might have blacked out for a moment but then she realized Seyvan's hand was cold and limp. 'It's finally over,' she realized as she shed a single tear from her eye.
Seyvan suddenly jerked.
Katara looked at the boy and found that he was breathing easy. The color was slowly coming back into his face and he even turned onto his side. Katara smiled, seeing how Seyvan was well again. She took Ashes from her lap and put her on the bed as well as Pepper. All three of them slept peacefully.
"Thank you f–" Katara said.
She then realized Suryan was gone. She smiled a little bit, supposing that he was probably shy of her. Yet, she couldn't help but feel something strange and familiar surrounding the boy.
'He reminds me so much of…' Katara thought. She then dismissed the thought, 'No, that's silly. It can't be him. Even if he did come back he wouldn't be that age or look that way,'
One chapter down, about six or seven more to go. Did I mention this fanfic takes place after "The Storm" episode? I don't think I did. Just to make sure there were no complaints about continuity issues that people are bound to annoy me to death about. Remember, this is sort of an alternate history fanfic Also, I demand feedback about my story, please. It lets me know about what I should and shouldn't do. – ZeroSoul