I Do Not Own Avatar or Miraculous.
Ten. The Swamp.
Marinette hated this world. It was official. Sure the people she'd met so far were awesome, but between the war, bending, spirit magic, strange places, and crazy towns that wanted to boil Aang in oil for something his past life did, Marinette began to wish her only problem was Hawkmoth and the Akuma's. The current problem? She was stuck in a swamp with only Tikki for company. How? Well, she blamed Aang and Sokka. Aang had felt something… spirity about the swamp. No one else had wanted to go. They were going to just fly over it. Sadly, mother nature hated them and sent a twister that knocked them out of the sky and separated them from Appa and Momo. Then, Sokka started to cut up branches after everyone had warned him not to. That night, while they'd been sleeping magic vines had wrapped around them and separated the group. Thankfully, Tikki was in her satchel, or the pair would have been separated.
"Sokka just had to upset whatever crazy spirit lived here, didn't he?" Marinette complained.
"To be fair, Sokka doesn't have as much of a spiritual connection as Aang and Katara. He doesn't understand the importance of protecting nature in a world where elements are mankind's to command as much as others. And you have been connected to me for so long, so you are used to weird feelings. The Benders of this world are very special. Their power is spiritual, as if granted to their ancestors by some long forgotten deity. Benders have very special connections to the spirit world of this place. The water benders draw power from the moon spirit. The fire benders from the sun spirit. The earth benders from the Earth Spirit, and the airbenders from a sky spirit. The avatar draws from all sources and shares his mind and body with the spirit of light. Non-benders don't have that connection. They have to work for it if they want to connect to nature and spirit's like some benders do. Sokka doesn't want that. He prefers science. There is nothing wrong with that. He is better at strategic and critical thinking than he is at understanding magic. That is a very useful feature. Now, I do agree, Sokka should have listened to us, but don't be so quick to ridicule him for not believing us. It isn't as simple for him to understand."
"Jeesh. Not being able to Bend in this world must suck." Marinette voiced, "People rely on it so much here."
"They do, but Sokka is a very hard worker. He hasn't allowed his inability to bend to slow him down. He's taught himself to use a boomerang, machete, and club, has he not? He's a better fighter than you are without the Miraculous. Non-benders, in a sense, can be stronger than Benders because they do not rely on bending to accomplish tasks." Tikki explained.
"I guess you're right, but that doesn't make our current situation any less…" Marinette trailed off, staring into the swampy forest with wide eyes at what she saw.
"Marinette?" Tikki asked.
"C-cat?" In front of them was Cat Noir, as injured as the day he vanished. He wore a very sadistic and grim smile. He's eyes glinted in both a sick sense of humor and pain.
"Why didn't you follow me?" He hissed, "Why did you bother to chase after that awful Akuma instead of helping me? We always take out the source to solve the problem. Hawkmoth was the source. The Akmuna was not. Now…" He motioned to his injuries, "I'm like this… because you weren't good enough. You did nothing to save me, Ladybug. I hope you are happy, now I'll never know who you really are!" The normal playfulness in his smile was gone. Only hate was in his voice.
"Cat… please! I'm sorry. Please, let me help you." She said, approaching him slowly. He meowed angrily at her, turning and running into the swamp. Without hesitation, she chased after him, ignoring Tikki's surprised protests and confusion.
"Go away Ladybug! You failed me. You failed Paris. You are nothing to me. A real partner wouldn't let a silly mask separate us. I guess Adrien and your little secrets are more important than me, so why even try?"
"Cat! I'll tell you who I am! I promise! Just don't leave me! I need you! Don't go! You are my partner and I lo-" She froze. Her hand outstretched in attempts to grab his. What was it that she was going to say? She'd suddenly forgotten. He stopped running. Staring at her really seriously.
"You what?" He asked as he suddenly faded from existence. She stared incredulously at the spot he'd been standing. Tikki caught up to her.
"Marinette? What's wrong?" Tikki asked in concern.
"It was an illusion. Aang was right. This place… it is haunting me. I-I saw Cat Noir. I really thought it was him." She whispered. She shook her head, "Tikki, you are right. I've been hiding from Cat Noir for far too long. I need to tell him. I have to tell him." Tikki settled on Marinette's shoulder, giving her a concerned glance. There was the sound of a branch snapping. Aang slammed into her, followed by Sokka and Katara.
"What do you guys think you're doing? I've been looking all over for you!" Sokka cried.
"I've been wandering around looking for you." Katara replied, sitting down with a huff.
"I've been chasing some girl." Aang said in confusion. Everyone stared at him.
"What girl?" Marinette asked.
"I don't know, I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress."
"Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations." Sokka said sarcastically. Katara looked at her feet.
"I thought I saw mom." Katara admitted.
"I saw Cat Noir." Marnette said. Sokka stared at them for a second before shaking his head in disbelief.
"Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out there." He decided.
"You saw something too?" Katara asked in surprise. He looked away with a pained expression. Quickly he hid it before facing his sister again.
"I thought I saw Yue." He admitted, "But, that doesn't prove anything. Look, I think about her all the time, and you saw mom, someone you miss a lot. Rin saw Cat Noir, her missing partner, who has likely been the only thing on her mind lately."
"But what about me? I didn't know the girl I saw, and all of our visions led us right here." Aang pointed out. He looked around for any signs of whatever spiritual force that had led them there.
"So where's here? The middle of the swamp?" Tikki asked. Aang nodded as he spotted a massive tree beside them.
"Yeah, the center… it's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I know it." Aang decided.
"It's just a tree. It can't call anyone. For the last time! There nothing after us and nothing magical going on here." As Sokka said this, a giant swamp monster came up out of the water, startling everyone. Everyone screamed, and Marinette transformed immediately. The creature seemed baffled by her change, but got over it quickly. Immediately, Ladybug knew this was no spirit. A spirit wouldn't have been confused by her transformation. The four split up. The monster went after Sokka first. It reminded Ladybug of the Akuma's and how they often attacked the person that angered them first. The familiarity of the situation was something she definitely could work with. The monster grabbed Sokka, but before it could do anything, Ladybug wrapped her yo-yo around it's massive arm and pulled, severing the seaweed that help Sokka from the rest of the monster. The monster turned its attention from Sokka to her. She smiled, twirling her yo-yo skillful as she blocked all of its sluggish attacks with ease. Aang came to her side while Katara water bends at it. They failed to notice Sokka struggling with the vines behind then, or the column of vines arising behind him. The column grabbed Sokka and pulled the struggling watertribe man into the monster. Everyone noticed a second too late. Katara went to water bend at the arm, but moore vines grew in place of the ones she'd severed. Ladybug had had enough.
"Lucky Charm!" She yelled. A rake fell into her hands. She looked around, realising it was like the Horrificator incident. Whatever was controlling the vines was hidden inside the giant monster. She just had to get the source of the problem out. She ran head first at it, despite everyone's objections, using the rake to block any vines that dared to block her path. In a few swipes from the magic rake, she'd torn the vines at the monster's center out of the way before using her yo-yo to grab the source out. She was surprised to find it was a man. The vines stopped moving as he tried to get out of her unbreakable yo-yo string.
"Why did you call us here if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang growled.
"Wait!" The man said, "I didn't call you here!" Everyone shared a look of confusion.
"We were flying over here and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land."
"He's the Avatar, that stuff happens a lot." Sokka said. The man looked surprised.
"Oh, really! Well then, you should probably come with me. There's something I'd like to show you." The man said in surprise. Ladybug glanced at Aang, who nodded for her to let the man go.
"Spots off." She said. Her costume vanished, replaced with Tikki, who immediately dove into Marinette's satchel for food.
"Nifty magic trick, huh?" The man said in awe.
"It's great to have, yes." The man stood, leading them to the top of the tree.
"Who are you then?" Katara asked.
"I protect the swamp from folks who want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife." The man said, point back at Sokka.
"See, completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it." Sokka said as he put away his machete. The man chuckled.
"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place alright. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan-grove tree. I heard it calling to me, just like you did."
"Sure you did, it seems real chatty." Sokka deadpanned.
"See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink, take roo, and spread some big, living organism. Just like the entire world." The man explained.
"I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?" Aang Asked.
"Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches to the same tree."
"But what do our visions mean?" Marinette asked.
"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us their not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death."
"But what about my vision?" Aang asked, "It was someone I've never even met."
"You're the Avatar. You tell me."
"...Time is an illusion… So it's someone I will meet?" The man nodded.
"I'm sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo." Sokka pointed out.
"I think I know how to find them." Aang said while placing his hand on the tree, "Everything is connected. Come on! We've gotta hurry!" Aang took off into the swamp, Team Avatar trailing close behind him. They came to a river where some swamp benders drifted, hauling Appa behind them.
"Appa!" Aang cried. The monk attacked.
"We are under attack!" A swamp bender cried. He sent a wave of water at Aang and Katara, who promptly stopped it with their bending.
"Hey, you guys are water benders!" Katara said in surprise.
"You too? That means we're kin!?" The swamp bender said, causing Katara to drop her water and make a disgusted face. Marinette laughed at Katara's discomfort, seeing as no one could ever imagine her as a relative to those people. The swamp bender took notice of the man they were with.
"Hey Huu! How ya been?"
"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual." Huu said with a smile. Marinette just shook her head. This world was definitely stranger than hers.