A.N. Sorry that it's been so long...we didn't have much time to write this and only recently finished it and this is the first chance that we've had to post it...and we're going to finish this story on fanfiction, but we're probably going to post the sequel somewhere else...and you'll have to notify us if you want to read it...well, we've probably bored you enough with our babble so here is chapter 15!
Disclaimer: Refer to previous chapter
Chapter 15
:Jess's POV:
I never passed out, but I didn't move a muscle until we landed two hours later to make camp and give Appa a rest. Too tired to talk, let alone make a pallet, I curled up underneath the branches of a tree and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the ground with Faithful curled against my chest.
:Morning:
"Jess...," someone dared call.
I rolled over and opened one eye. "What?" I grumbled in my what-the-fuck-do-you-want voice. Faithful hissed meanly.
"We need to get moving," the voice and face infront of me became clear as the fog of sleep drifted away. It was Aang, the brave one.
"Ah," was all I deemed important to say.
"Now," he ventured. I remember wondering if he wanted to die. I didn't say anything, just rubbed my eyes and sat up. Everyone was looking at me, waiting it seemed. Appa roared and Momo jumped on my shoulder and licked my ear. I giggled and stood up, fully awake.
"Okay!" I said happily, but when I raised my arm to punch the air, my muscles protested the sharp movement.
"Ouch! That hurts," I muttered through gritted teeth.
"I was thinking maybe I could train you in the art of airbending in my free time so you won't tire out as quickly," Aang offered, ever the optimist.
"Yeah...I planned on asking."
"You'll have to give up meat and become less...violent?"
It was then that I knew Aang had a death wish.
"Right...and pigs will fly..."
"But pigs do fly!" Katara added, as we climbed on top of Appa.
"Yeah, but not nearly as well as Appa," Sokka said, then gave into a vicious fit of coughing.
'Oh no! The blue spirit!' my thoughts crossed over miles of land and ocean and clicked with Leah almost at once. 'What do I do?! Tomorrow's the day Aang gets captured by the monkey man!'
:Leah's POV:
My eyes flew open, I'd been trying to meditate again, 'The blue spirit episode! And I don't know...either of us going would be major interference...'
'Screw trying not to interfere! We've already done a lot of it, why stop now?' Jess replied.
'Valid point, but what if we keep Aang from saving the world?' I was still hesitant.
'Aang is destined to save the world...if our being here would jeopardize, why are we here?' Jess rationalized.
'An even better point! OK! Interference here we come!' I gave up and exclaimed.
'Great. I'll see you there,' Jess replied before breaking the connection.
:Next Day:
I was sitting on the deck of the ship cross-legged while listening to my now recharged iPod. The song playing was "Who I Am" by Jessica Andrews.
Of course my nice calm day had to be interrupted by one of Zhao's ships pulling up alongside Zuko's ship. The size difference in the boats was rather noticeable.
'It seems Zhao is compensating for something,' I thought with a laugh.
Some men boarded the boat, so I took out my earphones and hid the iPod from view.
"Where is Prince Zuko?" one asked.
I merely pointed to where Zuko, Iroh , and several other crew members were. Once they disappeared from view I decided to go read a book.
:Jess's POV:
"Ew! Don't sneeze on me!" I winced and wiped Sokka snot off my arm. 'Gross!' I complained in my mind. Normally, it wouldn't bother me, but seeing someone I admired becoming a sniffling bag of bones was really sad.
"Sorry," he grumbled as he reached for the last bit of water I offered him. I leaned his head forward so he wouldn't choke. When he finished I let him lay back down in his sleeping bag. I grimaced an I handed the empty pouch back to Katara, remembering that they would be without water while I followed Aang to the monkey man's Fortress of Despair and Evil.
"Both of them are becoming sick," Aang said worriedly when Katara coughed for the twentieth time in the last ten minutes. Being one who lacked a great amount of tolerance for such things, I had run out of it eight minutes ago.
"Maybe you should go find some medicine while Faithful and I stay here and take care of them?" I suggested with my head turned away so he couldn't see the knowing look in my eyes.
"Great idea!" he turned around as the words tumbled from his lips that turned upside down when he noticed the clouds in the sky. With one last look at his friends, he leaned the glider against a stone column and raced off.
'Leah? You there?' I smiled as I realized the irony of my question. Who wasn't in their own mind? If someone could do it, it would be her.
'Duh,' she snapped, 'Where else would I be?'
'Dunno. Anyway, Aang just left and the sick siblings are cozy with Appa and Momo. Faithful and I are ready to go. How far along are you?'
'Monkey man's men have arrived and I am in hiding...for now.'
I grinned and carefully tied up my hair in the same scarf I used before. In this dimension red hair brought more attention than it was worth. 'Good, I suppose,' I reached for the glider, 'Let's hope I don't run into trouble.'
'Yeah, don't want you getting hurt!'
'Who said anything about me getting hurt?'
The last thing I heard before breaking the connection was Leah's startled laugh.
The glider felt odd in my hands. I'd never used it before and I felt unsure.
'Can I fly this thing?:I wondered. I turned it over in my hands and flipped it open. Glancing at the clouds uneasily, I took proper stance and ran towards the stairs in front of the ruin. My first attempt at flight had me laying at the bottom of the stairs (trying not to squash Faithful) in the feetle position, whimpering. The second try was the charm. During the first few minutes I felt like I'd hit harsh turbulence as I swerved in all directions, but I got into the hang of it after I flew a few miles. Not nearly as majestically as Aang, but it was a start.
Almost absently, I sent a mental picture of my bird's eye view to Leah while I gradually lowered myself to the ground to avoid lightning and being spotted.
"Ah, hell!" I muttered under my breath as I watched Aang get captured a few miles away. "I guess the only way to know which way to go is to follow them, then wait for backup." The approaching storm rumbled in response and split the sky with an angry bolt of lightning.
"Just what I needed," I scowled, "Mother Nature on PMS!" Faithful meowed from inside my shirt in response, as if she agreed.
:Leah's POV:
"Why can't we just fly in?" Jessica asked from her hiding place beside me.
"Because we'd be shot down, you moron," I replied.
"Don't call me a moron, you moron," Jessica snapped back.
"I only called you a moron because you are a moron, you moron," I argued.
Thus, the arguing began.
A firebending guard walked by with his partner and asked, "What's that noise?"
"I don't know," the other replied while holding out his lantern to illuminate the area Jess and I were in.
Once the light reached us I stopped talking to Jessica and said, "Oh shit."
Jess, being the sensible one, realized the need to attack them and proceeded to do so.
I, being the lazy one, sat there and watched her kick their ass.
"Good job," I commended her on her accomplishment.
"You could've helped," Jess complained before doing a little dance while singing her 'I just kicked firebender ass' song.
"We should probably get going," I replied while looking at the two unconscious soldiers, "And I'm not undressing them."
"They probably have padding or something under the armor, and the armor's all we need anyway," Jess shook her head at my childishness.
"But what if they don't," I said while looking at the soldiers with disgust.
"Grow up," Jess rolled her eyes at me.
After getting dressed
"It figured that the one I got wears ladies undergarments," I laughed quietly at the still unconscious soldier.
"Well, it's better than him not wearing anything underneath the armor," Jess replied, having gotten a non-crossdressing soldier.
:Jess's POV:
The armor fit like...well armor.
"I feel as if I've jumped into the medieval ages and not the Avaverse," I joked.
"The Ava-what?" Leah asked, her voice echoing inside her helmet.
"The avaverse, it's short for Avatar Universe," I replied as I slipped the helmet over my scarf cover head. To keep our hair from peeking out from under the helmets, we braided our hair and covered our heads with scarfs.
"Since when?"
"Since I said so," I retorted and before she could say anything else, I started toward the fort-like building in the direction the soldiers we knocked out had come from.
"I feel stupid wearing this and it rubs me the wrong way," Leah whined as she tugged on the armor. I had to bite my lower lip to keep from making a smart remark. Leah is considerably shorter than me, but luckily one of the soldiers was about her size. Being unusually tall for a girl, I wore the armor pretty well. The helmet slid over my eyes every time I moved my head though. To keep it up I had to walk like I had a stick up my ass.
"Hey! That is a good impression of a firebender walk!" Leah called from behind me.
Do I really need to say anything?
"Okay! I have Faithful hidden deep inside my armor and...," I trailed off as a man up in a tower started yelling down at us.
"Hey, you two! Get your asses up here! I need you to clean the kitchens!"
"What! I have to do dishes!" Leah hissed from somewhere to my right.
"Well, at least we look convincing from about...fifty feet above our heads," I muttered.
"What did you say?" the man yelled.
"I'd really like to wring the Avatar's neck, then burn his bitches!" I covered for Leah.
I never heard what the man said back, but the doors to the fort opened and a man in an apron swung a giant spoon at me. The wood made my helmet ring and ding around my ears. Ow, Ow, OW! To keep from losing my cool I gritted my teeth and stood up straight, thanking higher forces that no one could see my face.
"You! You're late! In the kitchens now!" He spat then pointed at Leah, "And you! Get your sorry ass down to the dungeons! The Avatar needs his supper." His fat lips turned upward in a sneer and I knew supper wouldn't be appetizing.
"Move it! Bunch of scum...," he grumbled and stomped off.
"What a nice fellow," I sneered.
:Leah's POV:
"He has such a...," I paused, "charming personality, does he not?"
"And here I thought I was the sarcastic one," Jess replied as we both began to follow
the bitchy cook.
I sent a mental message to her once we were in hearing distance of the guy, 'We'll have to talk this way so they don't hear our voices.'
'Well duh,' she replied.
We were now in the kitchens. From now on I need to remember to never eat food prepared at a fire nation army base, 'This is horribly unsanitary.'
'Yeah, even by this dimension's standards,' Jess replied.
'So...do you think I should release the Avatar or deliver his food and wait for Zuko there?' I asked her.
Before she could answer I accidentally severed the mental connection when a tray of food was shoved roughly into my hands.
I grimaced as I looked down at the unappetizing meal. It appeared to be stew and I automatically knew Aang wouldn't eat this even if it didn't have meat in it (which it did).
"Take that to the Avatar. He's in the 3rd prison holding and the password is erif," the cook ordered.
I merely nodded and turned and left the kitchens.
The armor clanked and rubbed against me in a very uncomfortable manner.
:Outside the Avatar's cell:
"Password?" one of Aang's guards asked.
"Erif," I said in the lowest voice I could manage.
"Enter," he said as he opened the door for me.
I tried to act as if I didn't care and didn't rush into the room, but let out a huge breath when the door closed behind me.
"Who are you?" Aang asked me.
I looked around and made sure the room was empty before taking off my helmet and saying, "Hi Aang, remember me?"
"Leah!" Aang seemed to think I was here to rescue him.
"Shh...or I'll be caught," I hushed him, "I was sent to bring you our dinner, but even I wouldn't eat this junk."
"You're here to bring me food?" Aang's eyebrows furrowed.
"And to spy on the person who's gonna rescue you," I grinned.
"Someone's gonna rescue me?" Aang asked.
"Yes, yes," I said as I brought the food over to him, "Are you going to eat this? I feel obliged to ask."
"No," he replied so I just left it at his feet and hid myself in a conveniently placed, shadowy corner full of stuff to hide behind.
:Jess's POV:
"You!" the cook spat. "Get your ass over here and clean the stew pot."
I didn't respond and hustled over. Without talking, the cook shoved a brush and a bucket of water into my hands. Before I could ask a single question, he ran off and started yelling at another guy.
Not that I am a man or anything. Let alone fire nation scum. But he didn't need to know that.
As I scrubbed away, I secretly cursed Leah to hell and back. She didn't have to clean god knows what!
'What do these people eat!' I gagged and breathed heavily through my mouth. The slime that encrusted the inside of the pot smelled like gym socks and uncleaned toilets. The bucket of water wasn't nearly enough to rinse it. After a while, I threw the brush at the back of an innocent bystander's head. He grunted and looked around stupidly. I acted as if nothing happened, a perfect picture of innocence.
'Leah...where are you?' I mind melded as I kicked the pot. It didn't budge and I was rewarded for my efforts with a stubbed toe.
'With Aang. I am hiding behind stuff. What are you doing?' she responded. The voice in my head was in a whisper, as if the guards might hear her thoughts. I wasn't surprised that they hadn't gone looking for her. Idiots.
As the cook leered at me, I sent a mental picture of the pot to Leah.
'Ew. Sorry,' she giggled.
"Hey! What are you doing! I told you to clean the pot!" the cook's face turned cherry red and veins pulsed at his neck. He obviously didn't like me.
"So?" I said smartly and pretended not to pay attention. This only made the cook more angry.
'Here we go,' I muttered to Leah as the cook came at me with a knife, 'I made a new friend!'
I jumped back when he lunged at me and knocked the pot down at his feet. The fool tripped over it and landed on his face. He lost the grip on the knife and it skittered across the floor. I laughed down at him and put my foot on his back as he slipped into unconsciousness.
"You idiot," I sneered, "You should have stuck to chopping vegetables instead of thinking you could best me."
The sound of a wagon jerked me out of my victory dance and brought me to attention.
'Yo, Leah,' I called.
'What?' she asked, the voice in my head sounded irritated. I didn't bother to ask why. I knew she was tired of waiting.
'Good news. Your man is coming your way. Bad news. Time to stir these lazy bastards.'
'We can't fly out. Maybe we should sneak out and get the glider to go back.'
'You can do that..oh! I forgot, you can't airbend.'
'Smartass. I am being practical.'
'Being practical never bruised faces.'
'Didn't Aang tell you not to be so violent?'
'Ugh! I've been suppressing my anger for so long it feels good to kick ass.' I punched the air and walked away from the fallen cook incase he decided to wake up and charge me again.
'We could get hurt,' Leah rationalized.
'You don't have to fight. You can wait for me in the forest.'
A.N.: Sorry it took so long to update.