A/N. I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender
It was taking too long! Way too long!
Yesterday evening, Katara had surprised them all by saying that she wanted to come with Toph and go to scam people! No, that was not right. She wanted to pull off the greatest scam of all time.
Get the reward money for Toph, then break her out… Yeah, first she said they shouldn't attract too much attention, and then she goes blowing up the prison! Sure, great plan! But Aang had not said anything, because he was more than happy to see the two actually plan the thing without fighting or screaming… He and Sokka had looked at the two, surprised by this development…
Sure, they had taken Toph to that outcrop to discuss some things, and it had helped, because Toph had wanted to apologize. But where did Katara's actions come from? How, in the name of the Spirits, had she changed her mind? Katara didn't change her mind, or at least, not in these kinds of cases. If it was a small matter, sure, she could see the other side of the story. But in these kinds of things, no way.
As Aang was walking from one side of the camp to the other, he looked up to the sky, in the direction of the city. If something happened, they would surely notice, no? A plume of smoke, an explosion, shouts and cries… Anything! But not that silence that reigned over the valley…
"It is taking too long!" The airbender couldn't help but repeat for the hundredth time to Sokka, who was sitting next to Momo and Hawky.
"Yeah, I was just wondering the same thing…" Sokka answered. Well, finally! The whole morning, he had said that the two girls could handle themselves! And now, he was suddenly agreeing!
"We'd better check it out, who know…" Aang heard the concern in his friend's voice. It was unreasonable of him to think that Sokka didn't care… Of course, he did. Katara was his sister, and Toph was his friend.
Aang grabbed the headband that lay on the ground, dusted off the fine sand particles that had got on it, and bound it around his head, as Sokka was talking to the animals, about how Appa was in charge. The airbender tried not to laugh. Putting his bison in charge of something was like asking for trouble… But when it was really necessary, Appa could be very mature! And very strict.
"Ready?" The water tribe boy asked.
Aang nodded, feeling a bit sick. It had been too long. The girls were supposed to be back two hours ago… It was too long for just a little hiccough. No, something had happened! As they made their way towards the city, the airbender felt his stomach tighten even more.
"Sokka… The walk to town is an hour! That is too long!" He exasperated.
"I know! I can't change that!' Sokka sighed, walking as fast as possible without running.
But Aang could… Would the water tribe boy's pride allow for his plan? And would it be… Dangerous?
"Hop on my back." The airbender ordered and crouched.
"In La's name, why?"
"I can run faster by airbending the currents around me. I will stop once we are approaching the city. But it will save time."
Aang cast a look over his shoulder, and saw the expression on Sokka's face. It was a mixture between concern, overthinking and… amusement?
"I always wondered what it would be like to go that fast…" his friend mused.
"Well, come on then for fuck's sake!" Aang surprised himself. He never cursed, at least out loud! And when he did, he always masked it with another kind of word like Monkeyfeathers. And Sokka eyes widened at the words, so he was probably also surprised.
Aang felt the water tribe boy's arms around his neck, and he extended his arms in a way Sokka could hook his legs over the airbender's hips. It would be awkward, but who cared? Sokka was over his moment of doubt about being a non-bender, and Aang could only see this way to go faster. Nothing against his friend, but he was slow!
"You are sure about this? It won't tire you out? Because, if something happened… We may need you to fight…" Sokka began, while he put his weight on Aang's back.
"I walk around with boulder on my back every morning Sokka. I will manage." Aang said through gritted teeth. Spirits he was heavy. How could anyone be so heavy! But that was not fair of him. He was used to his own weight, that probably was lessened by airbending…
As Aang straightened, with Sokka on his back, he heard the water tribe boy chuckle.
"What?" It sounded too angry… But he was just too stressed.
"The world from your point of view. It feels like you are hovering, it is fun!" Sokka laughed.
"Alright… If you want to discuss that kind of thing, you'll have to wait. Grab on tight, I don't want you to fall off."
"Sure, I wil- AANG!"
Okay, maybe he had started to run before Sokka finished his sentence, but what could he do? On the one hand, Katara and Toph could be in danger while they discussed how he hovered. On the other hand, terrifying Sokka would be fun.
Aang made sur the air currents behind him pushed him towards the city, all the while removing the pressure in front of him. The only downside was that he couldn't hear a thing anymore. Maybe better, for the airbender was sure he was getting the lecture of a lifetime from Sokka. The fields and hills went past them in a blur, and Aang tried to concentrate of the thick smoke coming from the city. That as not surprising, as it was an industrial city. But he checked if there wasn't a column of smoke that seemed out of place… Nothing… Why were the girls late?
Why was Katara late… She was rather precise. If she said they would be back around midday, they would have been back. But they were not. Spirits what if something happened to her… Please Spirits no, everything but that…
And Toph, of course. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if something happened to her either…
Aang stopped as soon as the wall of the city came into view. Crouching once again, he felt Sokka slide off his back, and turned around. The water tribe boy seemed a bit disoriented, as if he had just stepped into another place from one second to the next.
"Are you alright?" The airbender asked, putting a hand on Sokka's shoulder.
His friend nodded, looking a bit green around his nose, and didn't say anything. After a minute, Sokka straighten up, and looked at him.
"As handy as that was… let's not do it again… Please."
"Deal!" Aang couldn't help but chuckle.
They walked the last part, as not to arouse suspicion with the guards. But… There were no guard at the gates…
"Where is everyone?" He asked Sokka as they entered a deserted main street. The cobbles were deserted, and the stall seemed to have been abandoned in a hurry. There were baskets full of goods thrown on the street, their contents spilled over the stones… It was not logical… Why would a city of this magnitude be deserted?
They entered the main plaza, the one with Ozai's statue in the middle. The fire coming out of its hands and mouth sounded a lot louder than the last time they had been here when it was drowned by the mass of stalls and sellers…
Planting his food down, as Toph had taught him, Aang reached out. He was not as good as the blind girl was, who could probably feel the smallest creature in a mile radius, but he could only discern general shapes and guess what it was. There were masses inside the buildings, softly shuffling from one place to the next…
People?
Concentrating even more, he tried to reach out, not only to the ground, but also to the buildings. And on own stood something heavy… No, not heavy. At one moment he felt like a man, then, something like a… like a….
"SOKKA!" Aang shouted, pulling the older boy behind the statue. And not a second too late! There was a whistling sound, and suddenly, the plaza where they had just stood a second ago exploded. Through the spoke, Aang saw the shape of a man standing on top of one of the roofs.
"It's Sparky-Sparky Boom Man!" He shouted into Sokka's ear, who groaned so hard that it could even be heard above the sound of the fires from the statue and the falling cobblestones. Sure, it was a ridiculous name, but the water tribe boy had given it, and they had not found a better name…
"You know, I am beginning to think the name doesn't quite fit… It sounds too nice." Sokka spoke up, and Aang felt a chuckle come up. Was that the most important thing now? If their attacker was here, that meant they had just found the reason why Katara and Toph hadn't come back. He had done something…
No…
Another bolt of… Well, what was it exactly… Flew just over their heads, and Aang could smell singed hair. His? Oh spirits, if it had burned away too much… That was not good. Quickly feeling his head, the airbender felt that there was nothing to worry about. But the bolt flew past them, and hit one of the houses. Shouts and screams came from inside.
"He is blowing everything up!" Sokka shouted, but Aang couldn't help but look towards the explosions… There were people behind the flames that began to lick the walls… Spirits no… But what could he do… There was a canal not far from the square, but that would give him away as a waterbender, which would already be suspicious… But if he had to earthbend or airbend to save himself or Sokka, or anyone… Well, then it would really be a horrible situation.
"You can't help them Aang!" Sokka shouted in his ear, pulling him away from the statue, just as another explosion sounded, and more cries…
The airbender let himself be pulled away, towards one of the streets. He couldn't help these people… He could do nothing, and it hurt.
Another explosion… At least another life being swept away just because of the recklessness of one person… Spirits, they needed to stop him! Suddenly, the force of yet another explosion pushed Aang against the ground further along the street, and he heard Sokka shout, probably being subjected to the same treatment.
There was a cart! Aang quickly scrambled towards it and saw Sokka sit behind it.
"This guy is too good! He shoots ire from his brain!" The water tribe boy shouted, as they heard a hard clink of metal against stone. The man had probably come down from the roof…
"We should split up! He can't chase both of us!" He didn't wait for an answer, knowing Sokka would see the logic in this choice. Jumping up to a roof, thanks to some airbending, Aang began to run back towards the plaza. Maybe the man wouldn't notice him through the smoke, and just try his luck in the maze of alleys underneath him?
Suddenly, Aang heard a grunt from the street below him, and the smoke cleared just long enough to see the metallic man, turned towards him… Well. Shit.
The explosion nearly hit him, but Aang managed to project himself just enough with his airbending to escape the worst of the blast. Unfortunately, the force of the explosion, combined with his airbending, projected him into the air.
At one moment, Aang saw the ground, and a split second later the sky. This was not good! But he couldn't use too much airbending, not with all these people around… But maybe, just to stabilize a bit?
That was a bad idea, for the moment he managed to look straight ahead, the airbender only saw a bronze nipple. A second later, he hit the statue of Ozai. Aang felt his nose explode from the pain, and the bang against his head would surely give him a headache for at least a day… Oh, what joy!
Sliding against the bronze muscles of Ozai's stomach, Aang fell to the ground, groaning and shaking his head. Spirits, that hurt. Hopefully, the real Ozai wouldn't be so painful.
Suddenly, a shadow crossed his blurry vision. Blinking rapidly, he finally managed to see clearly.
Ah. Sparky Sparky Boom Man. Just great.
The man smiled. An evil, joyless smile, that managed to get one message across : Finally. Now, you die.
For the first time, Aang got a really good look at the man. His right arm was mostly covered in a tight-fitting iron glove, much like his right leg. The face of the man was covered by a wild beard, clearly unkept for several days, but the rest of his head was bald. There was only a tattoo of an eye in the middle of his forehead.
Oh… Not those… A century ago, there had been a debate in the Fire Nation about these kinds of benders. Some of the nobility had thought it was unnatural, and another part had wanted to make them some kind of assassins. So, that part of the nobility had probably won. Or this man was just angry about something with him? Highly unlikely…
Suddenly, an icy caging appeared around the man's head. The weight made it so that the man had to bow down towards the ground, gripping the sides of the ice with his hands.
Spirits… Katara. Only one person in the whole Fire Nation could do that. Katara… Spirits, thank you.
"Come on Aang, get up!" Her voice, her beautiful voice… Lifting his head towards the sound, he saw her, Toph and Sokka running from the alley that he and the water tribe boy had sought shelter in. She looked unharmed, at the exception of a rather nasty bruise around her arm… But there were no other signs of a struggle or something… Thank the spirits!
"Come on, get up!" She shouted, and the waterbender extended her hands for him to get up. Grabbing one of her hands, he pulled himself up. Spirits, everything hurt… But there was no time to think about that. Not now.
Katara kept her fingers around his hand, and pulled him towards the streets in the west of the city. Behind him, Toph bend a boulder towards the man, but it exploded in the middle of the plaza. Some of the debris must have hit him, because the explosions stopped behind them, and there was to pursuit.
Thank the Spirits… At least, they would be safe for the time being.
"What happened to you?" He managed to say through painful lips.
"Not here, I'll explain later!" Katara shouted back, still holding his hand. Running past the gates, he heard Sokka and Toph argue about the new nickname the water tribe boy had found. Combustion Man. Well, it would be easier to pronounce than Sparky Sparky Boom Man. But still… Spirits his face and head hurt.
It took them more than an hour to reach the camp. Toph could have created a sort of slide, but they had decided against it in case someone would investigate what happened here today, and would stumble on earthbending.
Katara only released his hand as their camp came into view, and she quickly ran towards the bags. Yeah, they should probably go far away from here… But the hour of running, the fight and the unfortunate meeting between himself and Ozai's chest made him hesitate between breaking up camp as fast as possible, and just fall down on Appa and sleep for at least a day.
He opted for sitting.
"Toph, keep him awake!" He heard Katara shout as she was throwing her sleeping bag on Appa's saddle.
The blind girl walked over and sat down next to him, hitting him hard against the arm.
"Spirits Toph… Why…" He groaned as yet another painful place was added to his body.
"Oh shit, sorry! Force of habit! How are you feeling Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, as she just padded him on the shoulder.
"Horrible. Like a whole herd of Sky Bisons ran over me…" He managed to say. Yeah, everything hurt…
"Yeah… But hey, who can say that they touched the Fire Lord inappropriately?" the blind girl chuckled.
"Yay, at least I will be known to history as the Avatar who molested a statue… Yay." Spirits his head hurt.
"Oh, at least your humour is still working! That is good news!"
"So, what happened to you two?" That was what he wanted to know…
"Well, at first, everything went well! I got captured, as we planned. Katara went to get the reward money, and I was supposed to escape as soon as she left the building. The only problem was that the prison was made of wood! How was I expected to get out of that? So I waited, hoping that Katara would figure out that something went wrong." Toph stopped talking, as Aang tried to digest all this information. Alright. So, there had been a problem, but not a major one… That was good… But how had Katara got that bruise on her arm?
"But after maybe an hour, Katara got thrown inside the same cell. That freak had found her, and the authorities were afraid of him, so they locked her up with me. As we had neither earth nor water, we couldn't bend our way out of there. Finally, the cell began the shake from the explosion, so we guessed that you two were out there. Katara manage to get us out by bending her own sweat! It was so… Well, cool!" Toph grinned, and Aang couldn't help but do the same.
Yeah… She was cool!
"Alright, go pack your stuff Toph, I'll heal Aang, in the meantime!" Katara interrupted them, and the blind girl stood up, walking over to the bags and chest full of money.
"Are you alright?" He asked as the waterbender sat down next to him, pulling one of his eyelids up and looking into his eye.
"I should be asking you that Aang. You may have a concussion!" She protested as she began to feel around his head with the tips of her fingers. Feeling the soft touch, he relaxed under it.
"What is the bruise, Tara?" He asked. The airbender didn't care about himself…
"Oh, nothing, the metal man grabbed my arm with his metal hand, and kind of pinched really hard. But that is all Aang. Nothing else happened." She smiled, moving her fingers from his head to his nose. As soon as she approached it, Aang felt heat radiate from it as the pain amplified.
"You broke it…" Katara shook her head.
"Well, those flawless muscles of a certain Fire Lord are rock hard… I can't help that my nose just had to make contact with them…" He felt the corner of his mouth go upwards.
"I'll have to have a word with him then. Breaking your nose should be a capital offence." Katara smiled, as she suddenly grabbed his nose and straighten it. Oh, spirits that hurt.
"Could… Could you… warn me next time?" He groaned as he felt the blood come out of his nostrils. Oh that hurt so much…
"Next time? Aang, there won't be a next time I hope." The waterbender spoke as she pulled water to her hands, and began to massage the sides of his head. The pain that had begun to build up in there soon disappeared, and after a few minutes, Aang felt nearly his old self.
"Thank you… And… I love you." He spoke softly, as he watched the other two finish breaking up their camp.
"You are welcome, and… I love you too!"
Yeah… Everything was going to be alright! There was nothing to worry about. Their attacker would surely not bother them again after the debacle of today, his nose felt a lot better, Katara didn't seem angry with him anymore… Yeah, things were looking up. Maybe, just maybe… They could find a place to sneak off one night. He would like that…
Answers :
Jjsmith103 : Yeah, it was really one of the conversation that surprised me as a kid, and still do. The raw emotion coming from Sokka is just too real! And indeed, Katara is really the one that held everything together, and not enough people seem to realize that!
Rak : The whole Runaway episode is very complicated, because for a kid, it is a normal thing to see friends fight, but as an adult, you begin to understand the underlaying problems here : they are kids on who immense pressure is being put, and Katara and Toph are the first to crack, with Aang later and finally Sokkawhen he talks to Azula! And indeed Toph and Aang's conversations are always so much fun to write, because they tease in a very friendly manner!