Chap. 15

Jealousy of the Avatar Part 2

The winds whipped around the marketplace with the force of a full-fledged hurricane. People screamed in terror as carts and stands flew against the buildings, shattering with devasting force. They cowered behind whatever shelter they could find by the walls of the buildings, and tried to avoid the debris. Hakin's cages flew as well, splintering against the wall and freeing the animals inside. The animals however, quickly ran from the scene, having enough sense to know that staying was insanity.

It was this madness that hit Zuko and Oscuridad as they approached the scene. Almost instantly, the winds blasted them hard, pushing them back like a battering ram. But they gritted their teeth and pressed forth, each step feeling like a step through quicksand. More then once, they stumbled, but managed to get back up their feet without losing too much ground. Finally, when they reached the center of the area, Oscuridad drew his sword, and with all the strength he could muster, drove it into the ground. Grabbing Zuko's hand, he brought the boy over to the makeshift anchor and both of them gripped it with all the strength they had.

"How do we turn him off?" Zuko yelled over the winds, as he motioned to the figure of Aang, who hovered before them in an air vortex, his back to them.

"I don't know!" Oscuridad yelled back. "We need some way to calm him down, and I don't think he'll listen to either of us right now! But I think I have an idea! Put your hand of the stone in the sword's pommel. Concentrate on Agua and it will do the do the rest."

Zuko nodded, and he slowly pulled his hand away from the hilt and moved down to the stone in the pommel. Pressing against it, the boy concetrated on the image of Agua, as the stone began to glow under his fingers…..

"Agua, look!" Katara said, pointing to the trident on the cat's back. Agua turned his head to see that the stone in it's center was glowing.

"Looks like somebody found something." He said, as he pulled the weapon out and held the weapon out in front of them. Slowly, he waved his hand over it, activating the link between himself and whichever Knight was contacting him. "Hello? Who's there?" the cat said into the stone. But his only response was the hiss of angry winds and crashes.

"What's going on over there?" Katara asked with fear in her voice.

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Agua answered, the same fear in his own voice. Regadless, the cat tried again. "Whoever's there, say something!"

This time, there was a response, as Oscuridad's voice came through the stone. "Agua, we need help!"

"What's going on, bro?" the Water Knight asked in reply.

"Aang's gone into the Avatar State! He's made a whirlwind and he's destroying everything around us! You have to get Katara here so she can calm him down!"

"But I don't know if that'll work." Katara said back. "Aang is angry at me remember?"

"It's the best shot we have! I don't want to attack him when he's like this; it'll just cause more damage or we might hurt him! So just get here; we're on the western side of the market. You won't be able to miss it; there's a damn tornado over it!"

"We're on our way, just hold on." Agua said, as he broke off communication. Turning to Katara, he asked, "You ready?"

"But I don't know if Aang is going to listen to me." Katara protested. "He was so hurt before…… I just don't know."

"We have to try Katara. The only other chance is to fight him, and I know you don't want to see that happen." Agua argued. "You have to at least try, for his sake and everyone else's."

Katara was quiet a moment, then nodded. "All right, I'll try. I don't want to see him get hurt."

"Good. Now let's get moving." The cat said, as he reattached the trident to his back. The two of them turned in the direction of the western market and began running.

"They're on their way!" Oscuridad yelled, as the stone in his sword went dark.

"Great, but what are we supposed to do?" Zuko yelled back, as the two of them struggled to hold onto the sword. "We can't do anything to help him ourselves!"

"Then we have to do the next best thing; make sure Aang doesn't hurt anyone!" Oscuridad said. "We need to get the people here to safety!"

Zuko nodded at that, and strained his eyes to see some shelter they could use through the winds. Finally, the young Firebender saw a large building on the right side with an open door that the winds seemed to be streaming past instead striking.

"Over there!" he yelled over to Oscuridad. The bat saw the spot, and nodded his approval. "We've got to do this carefully. I'll take the right, you take the left. Be careful!" he yelled back. Zuko nodded, and prepared to move, readying his body like a sprinter about to make a dash, though he kept one hand on the hilt of the sword. Oscuridad took the same pose, and began to count down. "Three, two,…. ONE!"

With that, the two of them both released their grip on the sword and dashed for the opposite walls. Zuko hit first, and began inching his way forward, trying to reach the people trapped behind the wreckage of the carts and stands of the marketplace. The people turned at the sound of Zuko's grunts as he strained against the winds and debris, and quickly moved to help him. Once he was in range, they reached out and pulled him into their ranks.

Once there, Zuko immdiately took charge. "Listen, I know a way to get you all to safety. But you have to trust me." Zuko expected to have a few people protest and demand another way; his experience in Lee's village had made him somewhat disillusioned about the trust of strangers. But the people immdiately nodded and one of the men asked, "What did you have planned?"

Surprised, Zuko answered, "There's an open building on the other side of the street. If we hurry, we can get into it."

"How, by walking across?" another man spat out. "We'll be torn to shreds!"

"And what have you come up with, Kinyo?" a young woman asked the man angrily. "We can't stay here; the wreckage isn't going to last much longer under the winds. If this stranger can get us to safety, I say we let him try."

Kinyo gave the woman an angry look, but kept silent. Seeing that, Zuko said, "I'll go out first, the women and children second. Once you're out, move as fast as you can to the doorway. A friend is helping people on the other side, so he should be able to help you find it." The people listened intently to Zuko's plan, making sure they knew what he needed them to do. Once he finished, Zuko motioned for the women and children to come forward. Once they were ready, the former prince looked out into the winds, to see if it was 'safe' for them to move. The winds were still moving swiftly, but the debris seemed to have lessened. Plus, he saw Oscuridad began to move his own people out, so Zuko felt that it was safe, and he motioned for the people to start moving out.

The former prince quickly moved out to the sword and grabbing it, stood steadfast as the women and children satrted moving across the street to the open building. The first six or seven got across with no problem, but then things got difficult. As a young woman and her daughter started to move across, the girl suddenly let out a yell and pointed to something in front of her. The mother and Zuko turned to see one of the large animal cages coming flying towards them.

The mother cried out in fear, but Zuko kept calm. Letting go of the sword, he leapt forward and pushed them to the ground. But in the struggle, the mother lost her grip on her daughter and the child was caught in the winds. Zuko tried to reach up and grab her, but she moved too fast him to catch and she flew backwards right into the path of the cage. The two of them crashed onto the ground, the cage crunching and rattling forward before it was finally stopped by a large pile of wreckage.

"NOOO!" the mother creamed as she ran for the cage. "Keep moving!" Zuko yelled to the others, as he followed the mother. The two of them reached the wreckage of the cage quickly, and quickly checked for the girl. Thankfully, they found inside the wreckage of the cage, brusied, but alive.

"Where's the door?" the mother asked frantically, as she looked over the cage.

"Over here!" Zuko answered, as he noticed a twisted lock nearby. Grabbing it, he tried to pull it open, but the door had been damaged in the fall, and was now twisted shut.

"I can't open it. Is there any way she can crawl out of?" Zuko asked. "No, there's nothing big enough." The woman replied.

Hearing that, Zuko looked over at the girl again, as she whimpered inside the cage. He saw the expression of fear and love of her mother's face. For a second, Zuko thought of Ursa, and then he knew what he had to do. He would likely be feared and hated afterwards, despite the goodwill behind it. But he had no choice. "Both of you, move away from the bars." He said. Both mother and daughter did so immdiately.

Zuko came forward and placed his hands around two of the bars. As the mother wacthed, Zuko concentrated on the energy inside him. Slowly, his hands began to glow, as the fire melted away the iron bars. Within a minute, the two bars had melted enough to allow the girl to crawl out. And once Zuko pulled his hands away, she did so immdiately, going straight for her mother. The two embraced, though the mother looked at Zuko with an expression of apprehension.

But the former prince ignored it, and said, "Come on, we have to get inside." The mother nodding hesitatingly, and the three of them pushed their way threw the winds into the building, as the last of them managed to get in. Once the last person was inside, Oscuridad shut the door and deadlocked it. "Is that everybody?" the bat asked, as he looked over crowd.

"I think so." One of the men said, as he moved to embrace the woman that Zuko had brought in. "Thank you both." He said, with much gratitude.

"Not a problem." Oscuridad replied, while Zuko nodded his reply. As the small family reunited, the bat whispered, "Zuko, I saw what happened. How did you get the girl out of the cage?"

"I melted the bars." The Firebender replied.

"Did they see you?"

"Yes. There wasn't anything I could do about it."

"It may be better for us to get back out there now, just the same."

Zuko nodded, and the two of them began to make their way towards the door. But before they reached, they heard a voice cry out, "Wait!" Turning, they saw the mother Zuko had helped standing behind them.

"You're not going back out there, are you?" she asked.

"We think we know how to stop this. We have to try." Oscuridad answered.

"How?" she asked.

"It's complicated. But we'll be ok." The bat reassured her. The woman was quiet a moment, then looked over at Zuko. The former prince expected a replay of Lee's village, but instead, she said, "Thank you. I didn't think that… people could be like that."

Visibly surprised, Zuko needed a minute to compose himself, but replied, "I'm glad I could prove you wrong." With that, he and Oscuridad turned and left the building.

The winds outside were as strong as ever. The two of them had to immdiately shiled their eyes against the punishing blows, and slowly inched their way back to the anchor of the sword. Grabbing onto it, they managed to open their eyes long enough to look up at the still hovering form of Aang.

"Why doesn't he stop!" Zuko yelled over the roar of the winds.

"I don't know! He's never been this angry before!" Oscuridad yelled. "I can feel it rolling off him in waves! We need Katara here or he's gonna wreck the whole market!"

"I think your prayers just got answered then!" Zuko said, as he pointed to something in the winds. Squinting, Oscuridad manged to make out the hint of blue clothing, and a long blue cape flapping in the winds. Smiling under his mask, he cried out, "Guys, over here!" The blue forms paused, changed direction, and slowly inched their way to the sword. Once they were close enough, Agua drew out his trident and drove it into the ground, creating a second anchor for Katara and himself.

"How long has he been going!" Katara yelled over the winds.

"Almost twenty minutes! You've got to get in there and calm him down!" Zuko cried out.

"Do you think you can make it?" Agua yelled to the girl.

"I'll have to try." Katara answered. Slowly, she released her grip on the trident, and began to inch her way to Aang, just like she had done at the Southern Air Temple. She moved with almost painful care, making each step as quick as she could for fear of being blown away or struck by debris. But more then once, she seemed to lose her footing or was struck by something, as the others watched in suspense and fear. But each time, she managed to right herself and press on, until she was finally able to reach the hovering form of Aang.

As he floated there, ignorant of the world around him, Katara reached up and grabbed his arm, as she had in the desert. And just like in the desert, Aang turned to face her. For a minute, both Katara and the others thought that the worst was over, as she started to pull him down.

But they were wrong. As Katara pulled on Aang's arm, he didn't give way. Surprised, Katara looked up to see his face, ripe with anger. She gasped in shock, sering the gentle features of her friend twisted by such rage. She released her grip, and before she could even move away, Aang drew up his arm, and then, shocking everyone, fired off the air at Katara, shooting her through the air. She landed next to the others, and as she pulled herself up, she gazed up at Aang with a shocked expression, that Zuko, Oscuridad, and Agua all shared.