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I think an apology is in order...
Sorry I didn't post another chapter like I said I would. You know how parents are "Get off the computer you lazy goof!" and such.
Anyways, sorry for the delay. Enjoy :D
Stranded V
Two guards walked down the hallways of the Gudan, chatting and eating a donut as they went.
"I just can't believe we simply cram them all in a ship and drop them off like some bus. This is the Gudan we're talking about. If she were refitted for war I'm sure we'd rally behind an image of her if it ever sunk. This thing's a beauty!"
The other rolled his eyes, "I think your sea legs are screwed on a little too tight. You've been talking about nothing but ships since you knew we were stationed aboard this ship. The Gudan this, and the Gudan that; lighten up. This voyage is only for a week and a half, and after that you'll be jabbering on about the next ship we patrol on."
"Oh shut up. You just can't appreciate the true wonder of the naval-"
A stark bang resounded through the hallway.
They both stood rock still, waiting for anymore unusual noises.
After about three minutes, "What was that?"
The other looked up and down the hallway, "I'm not sure. We're the only ones scheduled in this area for at least another half-hour."
Another bang, this one further down.
"Come on." he said, motioning for the other to follow.
They crept as silently as they could, which wasn't much at all.
When they had come to a split in the hall, one looked left and the other right.
All was clear.
They stood in thought for a while, looking up and down, on all sides, surveying the walls and ceiling for anything unusual.
Another bang, this time down the left hall.
"Come on!" they ran as fast as they could.
They came across a man dressed in all green, with a hood covering his face in shadows.
"Hey!" the guard screamed, "Stop! What are you doing here?"
The man was tampering with the duct system, pulling off the cover and placing something inside it.
The man clad in green stood and moved on like he wasn't even there.
"Hey you! I am an officer of the Fire Nation Royal Navy! And I am officially putting you under arrest for trespassing on royal property!"
He laughed, "You're going to arrest me? But I have an invitation. Here, let me show you."
His voice was like a snake's, his eyes a strange green, the only skin showing pale as snow.
The officer tensed, "Don't step any closer."
He did.
"I said stop! I am authorized to use deadly force on anyone I see breaking the law aboard this ship!"
He laughed even more at that statement before suddenly stopping and giving a deadly glare, "Then dance red coat."
He rushed forward with so much speed he would almost not be seen moving had you blinked, giving the soldier almost no time to retaliate. His dagger whizzed within his hands, striking vital points in the body with the precision of a trained hunter and the speed of a cheetah.
He finished him off with a quick slash to the throat before giving his accomplice a similar fate.
When he finished, he surveyed his kills.
These will make good tokens. He thought, taking up the few coins in their purses and placing them in his.
He finished his job with time to spare, and decided to finish off the donut one of the guards had left.
He radioed his boss, "Hallways four, six, and eight complete."
"Good, Facemask four, five, and six have completed their jobs, and one, two and seven are almost complete."
"Anything else I need to accomplish before we take our friend and go home?" He asked, hoping extra coin would be in for him if he said yes.
"No, report back to the cargo hold and wait for further orders from Facemask Leader. Over and out."
Damn, he thought to himself, I guess the default payment will have to do.
He strolled back down the hallway, whistling.
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Aang's eyes snapped open.
It was still night, no one was in the room, and there was an odd feeling of silence, one not even interrupted by the engines.
Why were the engines out?
Then, a rumble, a vibration that rocked the entire ship.
What is that?
Again, except larger, more pronounced.
He pushed the covers off his body and moved to stand.
BOOM!
The door to his cabin burst open in a loud explosion, sending debris and fire everywhere.
A shard of metal struck his face, leaving a gash across his chin.
The pain was muted by the adrenaline now coursing through his body and the pure shock of the whole situation.
He went to the doorway, now edged with sharp protrusions of ripped metal and peered outwards, the entire hallway was filled with half a foot of water, and more was pouring in through the hole formed directly across from his room. The most probable cause of his door's explosive death.
Without thinking he immediately froze the hole with waterbending to stop the flow.
A woman's shriek.
Aang turned to see the body of a dead soldier, his legs cut clean off and blood running into the water.
Aang's first reaction was shock. Who would do this?
The woman saw Aang and stopped screaming, who else could help her but him?
"Avatar! Come he-" she never got to finish her sentence.
Another explosion rocked the ship and fire engulfed her, Aang turned away, both to shield his eyes from the bright flame and so he didn't have to see her fate.
He turned slowly to see the damage, but turned back again quickly.
It was too much.
He ran the other way before waterbending a wall of ice to stop the flow of water from getting any more prominent.
He ran through a few hallways he found familiar, before more explosions rocked the ship and more water filled into the hollow can.
He went up a staircase and into the lobby again, where soldiers were grouping the civilians on board.
Someone approached Aang, "Avatar! Thank goodness you're onboard. We have more civilians on the upper floors we need you to-"
"What about the inmates?" Aang asked.
The soldier looked shocked, "Why would you save those-"
More explosions, this time one that could literally make you feel the ship sinking lower from the intake of more water.
"Avatar, don't trouble yourself with those bandits and ruffians, they aren't worth your time."
"They're people, I'm here to help people."
His straightforwardness was not what the guard had heard the Avatar was capable of.
"Well then," the guard said, "Go, do whatever it is you want. I'll save these innocents myself."
Aang ran towards where he thought the prison room was, going through hall after hall, each in a different state of flooding.
He ran into one hallways so fast he nearly fell, except something was wrong.
There was another in the halls, walking casually, as if nothing were happening. He wore green, and his face was covered in shadow from his hood.
"Who are you?" Aang demanded.
"Who are you?" he replied.
His voice was snakelike, filled with an almost imperceptible hissing whenever he spoke.
He was taken aback, "What are you doing here?" Aang asked again.
"Sinking a ship. Nothing really."
What the hell?
"Wait... so-"
"Yep."
Before Aang knew what was happening he was pounced upon, the man running with almost superhuman speed and flashing his dagger.
The cold steel struck into Aang's left shoulder, thankfully missing any major areas, crafting multiple cuts in his flesh that let blood flow into his cloak.
Aang was thrown onto the ground, the water coming up to his ears and the green cloaked man atop him, raising his arm for another blow.
Aang bent the water around him to push him off, and freezing it to keep him from attacking once more.
The cloaked man broke the ice with a grunt and looked back at Aang with eyes ablaze with hate.
Before he could do anything, Aang bent more water to completely surround him before freezing it, locking him in an icy tomb.
He took no time to rest and quickly continued on his path.
Explosions rumbled in different areas of the ship, some near, some far, but all doing their intended purpose.
The door to the prison cells was burst wide open, the two guards brutally mutilated and thrown to the side with the force of the explosion, and possibly escaped prisoners. All the inmates were gone, having ran to try and get to the lifeboats on the top deck. Some had even turned on each other, with blood splatters and a few dead bodies littering the floor.
The water was rising, going from half a foot to a full foot in the time it took Aang to go from his room to the prison quarters.
There was no one to save, they had all got up and ran like the coward were.
He cursed to himself for believing in such false hopes and began to walk the other way, when there was a series of loud knocks.
He stopped, where had that come from?
Another series of knocks, muffled yelling.
Who else could be in here? All the prisoners were gone, and the only one that would have a chance of being here- AZULA.
He swirled around and quickly saw where most of the water was pouring in from, Azula's room. Water was coming in through the cracks of the door, and the window peering into her room showed it halfway filled.
Azula was banging on the doors and shouting, screaming for Aang to help her.
He ran over to the door and looked for the keys, "Where are they?" he shouted.
Her muffled voice came through the door, just barely audible, "I don't know!" she shouted.
He frantically looked around for an answer, before looking back at her.
Her hair was wet and her eyes revealing a look of desperation. The makeup on her face was running from the water, leaving black streaks coming from her eyes.
Aang saw the loss of hope in her, and determination filled within him. With a swift movement, he bent the water around him to the door and froze it, weakening the metal.
However, whenever he would do so, the edges of the door would lock up, letting the water rise much faster inside the room.
The water level in the room started climbing, rising from her waist up her sides.
Aang backed up and bend the water into ice armor around himself, before running as fast as he could into the door, busting off the ice and slightly denting the door.
He tried again, freezing the door and ramming into it with his ice armor. Over, and over, and over, and over.
The door dented in many places, the water coming up to her neck, but it wouldn't budge.
Finally, with one last ounce of effort, Aang tried again.
He froze the door, donned the armor, and used airbending to push himself forward even more.
It wouldn't move.
Aang stumbled back and took a breath. He wasn't getting Azula out anytime soon.
She was having trouble breathing, having to swim to the top for air.
The window was completely filled with water, and the hinges were in place too well.
She looked into Aang's eyes, pleading with him to find a way when there were none.
A tear came to Aang's eye, and he moved close to the window.
"I'm sorry."
A knife cut the air beside his face, landing in the metal of the wall, water spraying from the edges of the hole.
Aang turned to see the green cloaked man once again confronting him, "I don't believe we got off to a good start Avatar." he said the word as if it were a curse.
Then, Aang got an idea.
"No, I don't believe we did."
"Oh, it looks like your girlfriend is going to die. Too bad you couldn't-"
"Girlfriend?" Aang was almost insulted at the word.
Azula rolled her eyes from under the water.
"Oh... was I mistaken?" he asked.
"Yes... very."
"Well then... I'll make this as quick as possible." he sprinted forward.
He lunged with the force of ten men, with the speed of a cheetah, aimed at Aang.
Until he moved out of the way that is.
Aang quickly moved over to the side, hugging the wall with his back.
The man didn't see him move until the last second, and couldn't adjust his course any further.
He slammed into the door.
He fell over, unconscious, his head dripping blood from the impact.
The door's hinges shuttered, and more water began spewing in from the edges.
The window cracked, water spewed from there too.
The cloaked man looked up at the door, it was obvious it would blow anytime now.
He sighed, "Well... I'm screwed."
The door burst.
The hinges were thrown across the room and the door shot out like a bullet, taking the man with it.
The water came like a flood, increasing the water level from one foot to one and a half.
Azula was thrown with the door, washing into open air and landing on her back.
Aang ran over to her and got down on his knees, "Azula! Are you okay?"
She rolled onto her hands and knees, sputtering water and taking in deep gulps of the sweet air.
"I'm alive, is that good enough?"
He sighed with relief, a smile coming onto his face.
More explosions rocked the ship, and muffled screams could be heard through the layers of steel.
"We need to go." Aang said, quickly turning from joy to seriousness.
She sat upright and let her hair fall down.
"Can you walk?"
"You're a picky airbender aren't you?" she said through deep breaths.
Aang ignored the comment, "We need to go now." The water had already risen another half foot.
She tried to stand, and managed to through the grunting, "Well, I can't firebend what with all this water, so I guess I'll have to save killing you for later. That is, if the bombs don't get you first."
He ignored that too, "Do you need help?"
She pushed him out of the way, "I can walk fine."
Though she could walk, she was slow. Aang had to help her out when it came to the long stretches, when she didn't try to get him away.
They were going at a good pace, staying in the hallways with less water, when the lights went out.
They both stopped.
It was quiet. Nothing but the sound of flowing water. It was almost tranquil.
"What's that?" Azula asked.
"What are you-?"
"Sh!" she interrupted.
For a moment they heard nothing, but after a few minutes they could hear it.
A beeping sound, like an alarm clock's, but different.
It was close, almost as if it were in the vent right next to them.
Aang peered through the grate to see a round object blinking with a red light.
"Get down!"
He grabbed Azula and leapt as far as his legs would launch, bending a tight ball of ice around them as they fell to the ground.
The explosion rocked the small shelter he had managed to make and cracked its shell.
The fire melted a hole in the top and debris managed to make it into the semi-circle Aang had managed to make.
When the shockwave stopped, Aang released his control of the ice and let it flow back into water.
He stood and surveyed the damage.
The wall was blasted open, letting the frigid air of the sea waft in.
Azula stood and leaned against the wall. "When will any of this end."
"When the ship sinks."
She let out a small chuckle, "Or we die."
"Or that..."
Aang took some time to stare out at the sea, painted black by the night.
The moon stamped her image on the surface of the water, and gave a dim glow to everything under her gaze.
"We gonna get moving or wait for the water to suffocate us?"
He noticed that the water was rising, no, the ship was sinking.
Quickly.
Half the ship was already consumed and more of it was being dragged under at nearly an inch a second.
"Seriously Tattoos, we need to go."
What was that?
Aang turned, a smile on his face, "What did you call me?"
She sighed and rolled her eyes, "Tattoos. No? You don't get it? The blue arrows and the... never mind."
He chuckled, "Well... we better get going."
"As I've been trying to tell you."
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII
Hai dare!
I was going to expand this to the entirety of the ship's sinking (oh noes! Spoilers! :P) but that would almost double this story's length.
Thanks to everyone who's reading this, if you are, then I guess I can count you as a loyal fan :D
I was gonna have a *blush* scene under the ice shell, but that would be way too soon ;)
Soooo, without further adoo *ahem*
Alert & fav if you think it's worth it, review whenever you get the chance.
(thanks to Black Diamond07 for the clarification on the opposite of war xD)
PEACE