Stranded IV
Aang awoke and stretched. He had gotten a good night's sleep, besides the occasional guard that would walk by noisily, waking him as he passed.
He yawned and sat there for a moment, basking in the calm nothingness that filled his mind.
A knock at the door.
He sighed and, grumbling all the way, went to answer it.
"Yuchi, what are you doing here so early?"
"Follow me, Avatar."
Aang watched as she started walking down the hall, before noticing that it was his turn to follow.
He ran and stopped beside her, "What's happened? Is something wrong?"
She shook her head, "Azula's state has worsened. I wished to restrict pleasantries so I simply asked you to follow me. We mustn't waste any more time."
They walked much quicker than usual to the metal door, which was still open for them to pass, and quickly half ran, half walked through to the door at the end, ignoring the profanity yelled from the prisoners.
When they had made it to Azula's room, the guards already had their keys in the locks, awaiting for the Avatar's presence. They unlocked the door and opened it quickly.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
This is wrong, something is dreadfully wrong.
She's not here, she is always here, where is she?
The darkness outside has grown to almost unbearable levels. The only solace I have now is to go to her, and she's not here!
The room she is normally in is empty, not a soul (if she even is that).
A voice behind me, her voice.
Thank the Spirits! She's back!
She is, but... something is different.
I turn, and am faced by her, but there's someone else.
She's here, with her cut bangs, deep red eyes, and crazed makeup, but there's another, a boy.
He has shaggy hair, a scar on his... ZUKO.
Why is he here!
He's part of the deal, you have voices in your head dear, don't be surprised if there's more than one.
But, he's-
Your brother? he answered.
Yes, my brother. I scowled.
Calm down, it's not like you can do anything about it. After all, you're the insane one, not us.
What did she just say? But... you're part of this! You're just as crazy as me!
She sighed, No. We're not. We are the voices in your head, you are the one we are speaking to. You're not crazy if you can't hear us, are you? Therefore we exist, the only thing making you crazy is whether you can hear us or not.
Damn their logic. All of this is insane. I'd much rather go back into the darkness than this.
I'm going back. I said.
Go ahead, you'll get torn apart, limb by limb. I won't be surprised if you're not even able to come back, much less see the entrance.
This is my mind! I get to say whether I can do something or not!
Well then, by all means, just tell it to go away. he said.
You... will... DIE!
I swung my right hand and sent a blast of blue flame at his face, something I had envisioned in my mind for years.
The fire struck his face, searing the flesh and burning it black. He was a corpse before he hit the ground.
There, how's your sanity now!
Something tapped my shoulder, What! I spun around.
He was standing right there, as if he had been the whole time.
Him again? But, I just seared his flesh! His dead body is right in front of me!
That was a good shot, I didn't see it coming.
There was someone else with him, the betrayer, the goth, the dullest person I have ever known, Mai...
Hello, you. she said.
No! this is madness! You all shouldn't be in here!
Well of course this is madness, what else would it be?
Her again, And if we shouldn't be in here, why not just leave?
Funny how insanity can make sense where none should exist.
Yes, I left. I foolishly left the one thing keeping me from insanity... well, insane insanity, if there is such a thing.
I went to the door and peeked through the keyhole at the darkness outside, and... went through it.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Aang entered and immediately was hit with an overcoming sense of dread, it was almost as if it were in the air. So thick he could almost smell it and taste it. It was the foulest thing he could think of.
Azula was spasming on her bed, giving short yelps of unbearable pain, while sweat kept the covers clinging to her skin and her hair in a matted mess.
Aang grabbed a chair and brought it up to the cot, sitting on its edge and wondering what to do.
He could contact Roku, but how could he help with such a serious problem, he could find someone in the spirit world... but who knows what could be there.
He felt helpless, and did the only thing he could do, he spoke.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
The blackness gnawed at my legs, chewed my arms untill they bled profusely, but this was just in my mind, so death couldn't take me away from the pain.
It consumed me, became me. The only thoughts that came to mind were of the failures. The sins. The false hopes.
My limbs were being pulled from their sockets, the skin felt as if it were being burned with an iron, chewed by a shark, and twisted into broken pieces, only to find out they were fine, untouched, as they should be. But they would just be torn at again, and again, and again.
I couldn't see anything, everything was dark, shadowy shapes were everywhere, the only break in the blackness the white teeth of the demons killing me, over and over again.
My flame, my soul, was dimmed to almost nothingness, and I knew that if it ever went out, I would die. But not just any death, it would continue, the darkness, the chewing, the raw pain of it all. It would only escalate.
It would make sense why I would be subject to such things, but I wouldn't know where it would come from, it just did.
But something happened. The darkness, the demons, the shadows... left.
In the blink of an eye, it just disappeared.
My limbs stopped burning, my skin felt fine... it was the oddest feeling in the world, finally being alone with your thoughts... except I wasn't.
There was another, golden, a pure white enveloping his body. When he spoke, the sweet taste of honey touched my tongue, but only for a moment.
He was there, his eyes showing solemn pity, his mouth in a weak smile, his head... bald.
Azula? he said.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
She finally woke.
For a moment her spasms stopped, her muscles relaxed, and her face changed from pained to relief.
Her eyes snapped open, her golden irises adjusting to the dim glow from a single candle.
Aang took in a quick breath, observing.
She breathed, focusing on nothing but the feeling of air going through her throat, over and over.
They stayed like that, rock still once more, listening to nothing but her breathing.
Her eyes flickered around the room, first focusing on the ceiling, then across from her bed, at the table with the candle, burning and basking the room in its soft flow.
Then she turned her head to the left, to see the same figure from her mind staring back at her.
Except it was flipped, his robes appeared golden in the light, his blue tattoos appearing more prominent.
Their eyes locked. They stared, each surprised by the other. It felt like hours until someone broke the silence.
"Avatar." she said, in a soft, raspy voice, merely acknowledging his existence.
Aang released his breath, "Yes, I'm here."
She looked around, finally conscious to her surroundings, "Where am I."
"Aboard a ship, heading to a mental facility."
Her eyes betrayed a sense of deep sadness before she once again became under control of her emotions, "Where is this facility?"
"In the Earth Kingdom, a nice place by the beach, you'll like it-"
"No," she interrupted, I won't."
Her interruption came as a surprise to Aang, was she really that sane when he was around her?
"How much longer will I be aboard this ship?" she gave him a rock-hard stare of malice.
"Another week."
"Where are we currently?"
"In the middle of the Mo Ce Sea, between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom."
She sighed and tried to get up out of bed.
"No, don't get up yet." Aang stood up and walked over to her.
"Don't touch me." she said sternly, looking up at him with her golden eyes ablaze with anger.
"You're not ready to stand, lay back down." he said, persistently.
"Do. Not. Tell me. What. To do." her eyes burning even brighter with hatred.
Aang stood his ground, "Lay back down."
"Make me." her right arm was secretly behind her back, prepared for attack.
He sighed, "Please."
Stubborn one isn't he. Azula thought.
A rap at the door.
Aang continued his gaze.
More knocks, more sporadic than the last.
"Better go answer it, Avatar." she said spitefully, "Don't want to keep your fans waiting."
Aang lingered as long as he could, before finally snapping away and stepping to the door.
"I don't want to see you here again." she said.
Aang looked back at her, she was sitting upright, her feet touching the ground, her arms crossed.
"I can't guarantee that." he opened the door and walked off.
Yuchi, of course, was the one who knocked on the door.
"What is it?" Aang asked bluntly.
"You ran over your time limit five minutes ago."
"What? Time limit?"
"No one told you?" she asked, surprised, "You have a fifteen minute time limit with her."
It surely didn't feel like fifteen minutes, "That's ridiculous! How do you expect me to help her if-"
"I don't, that will be my job when we reach our destination."
"You see how well she is with me! She only ever even wakes up when I'm around! I can help her much more than you can."
"Would you like me to remind you of your Avatar duties?"
Aang couldn't respond to that.
"You are responsible for millions of lives around the Earth, and you are proposing to focus on only one. How dare you, in all your selfishness-"
"This is selfishness? Offering to help a soul I've all but destroyed? You've seen her! You've laid eyes on the insanity I've caused, the destruction formed in my wake!"
Yuchi steadily gazed into his eyes, "Do as you wish." before walking away.
Aang stared after her as she went, the anger slowly seeping out of him.
She is the only one who knows a way back... he thought, so he followed her
Thanks for reading! :D
This story is getting crap loads more attention than my others, I guess because it's an actual ship and not an AU.
Well, next chapter will be a big one. The big extravaganza. The reason you're reading this story.
Yes those brigands will be in it, yes you probably already know what's going to happen, but you don't know why yet do you ;)
I realized that when I wrote the beginning chapter to this I featured Momo on his shoulder, and now he's gone. So I made that correction. If you would read the first chapter, you should notice that I completely took away that part of the sentence.
I've also had someone note that Aang could simply fly away on his glider once he got on the island, but you should also note that he doesn't have his glider with him.
Wow this is a long postscript... anyways.
Alert & fav if you think it's worth it, review whenever possible!
The opposite of war!
(PEACE)
By the way, part 5 will be posted in a few minutes, maybe an hour. See you then ;D