"Everything exists, Avatar. You just need to know where to look."
Aang whips around, eyes wide and adrenaline pumping. He looks around wildly, trying to locate the source of the voice. The others are just as jumpy as he, straining their ears to hear and pinpoint any new sound.
"Focus, Avatar. You can find me if you try hard enough." The voice rings out again, just as clear as ever. It seems to be teasing Aang. Is he going to find her?
Aang listens to the female voice and concentrates. Sokka glances at him. It looks like Aang is just standing still with his eyes closed, as if he is sleeping standing up. Sokka prayed his friend was coming down with a case of insaneavataritis.
"Aang, just what in the world are you –"
"Hush it Sokka!" Aang shushed him, waving his hand dismissively. He concentrated harder. The lights that danced before his eyes slowly faded away, as was replaced by glowing blue forms. He soon realized that the humanoid figures were his friends. Katara is right next to him, while Sokka, Toph, and Zuko stand off various distances away to his right. But soon he notices a new form; the color is no longer blue, but it's darker this time, almost a midnight blue if one chooses to call it that. It is set off far to his left, and looks as if it is behind some sort of wall. He motions in its direction.
"Guys, check over there. I see something." The group sprints over to where Aang motioned. "Check for anything weird." Zuko had to comment now.
"…anything weird? What would be considered 'weird'?" Aang opens eyes and jogs over to the rest of the team. What would be weird, anyway?
"Think, Avatar. Use your common sense." The voice calls out again, not failing to effectively send shivers down the back of the boy who went bat-shit crazy on the previous fire lord. He squats down and checks the crystal wall. In truth, he doesn't really know what he is looking for.
"Cracks!" Toph cries out. Everyone looks at her as if she's crazy. Not that she can see the looks, anyway. She runs her hand across the seemingly smooth crystal, fingers occasionally stopping over certain spots.
"There are cracks in this wall! If the crystal hadn't been messed with, it would have been virtually flawless. This crystal was the victim of a careless bender." She adds, nodding at her discovery. Aang flashes a lopsided grin.
"So you can break this wall down?" He asks excitedly. Toph gives him a 'no freakin' DUH' look, something that Aang thought a blind girl couldn't do. She waves everyone back. When everyone is a safe distance away, Toph stomps one foot on the ground, hands nearly parallel with her face. She then proceeds to push her arms out to the side, splitting the crystal wall in half and then pushing it into the adjacent wall. As the dust begins to clear, clapping is heard. It's slow and eerie, enough to make Sokka shudder. The dust clears, and the clapping has an owner: it's a teenager, just like Aang described. Physically, she cannot be more than 17, but the look in her eyes suggests an age far beyond her years. Her hair is an inky black, and long enough that it pools on the clear crystal floor beneath her. Even so, it is unkempt: it flies away from her face in what is almost a mane, and it's thick and covered in grime. Her skin is also covered in grime, but the small, rare portion that isn't displays skin so pale it's almost pure white. She is so thin; her face hold a sunken look to it, and the only thing that covers her body is an oversized, dirty tunic that suggests it once held some sort of color to it. Her head tilts a bit to the left, an inquiring look in her eyes. She seems to look each of them in the eyes at the same time.
And that's a bit on the freaky side.
"Guess the non-existent girl really does exist, huh?" Her voice rings out loud and clear despite her condition, and seems to vibrate the very air. Katara suddenly switches into what Sokka correctly dubbed 'protective mother mode' and starts giving orders.
"Zuko, grab her and carry her: she's in no condition to be walking around." She turns to Aang.
"Aang, you go with Sokka and ready Appa. I want to leave this dingy island as soon as possible." They nod as they turn and run back the way they came while Zuko takes the frail girl in his arms; only to nearly drop her at how light she is. She can't be much more than a hundred pounds. He thinks worriedly.
"Toph, close this opening. I have a feeling no one needs to know that we were here." Toph complies and the two panels of crystal slam back together. The group heads back up the stairs, Zuko again lighting up the way with a decent flame. Suddenly, the path is flooded with sunlight as they reach the surface. The girl draws in a breath so fast it could've been mistaken for a hiss, and burrows her face into Zuko's shirt to shield her eyes. Zuko's grip on her tightens reflexively. Soon, they reach Appa, and Zuko hoists the girl gently into the huge, shallow basket on Appa's back. She immediately crawls to a corner and puts her arms over her head to block out as much light as she can. Her discomfort is obvious.
But she nearly screams her head off when Appa takes off to the skies. She grips the sides of the basket for near life. She takes a glance over the sides and nearly has a heart attack at the sight of the ground becoming farther into the background. She plops back on her bottom and decides then and there to never look down again, shutting her eyes tight.
"Sooooo…." One eye opens slightly at the voice. Katara is the one that spoke, her eyes full of concern.
"You have a name?" The girl just gives her a look full of so many conflicting emotions that Katara is left bewildered and terrified at the same time.
"Yu Jie." She says simply, holding her hair back from hitting her in the face. Katara nods. "That's a really pretty name." Yu Jie holds back a scowl. She's sixteen for God's sake, not five.
"Why were you down there in that stink hole?" Toph speaks up. Yu Jie shrugs. "I don't know. Maybe ten, eleven…" The group glances at each with uncertainty.
"Ten, eleven what?" Zuko asks.
"Months? Years?" Katara suggests. Yu Jie just shrugs.
"Maybe twelve." She says, and by the tone of her voice, she wished so say no more on that topic, leaving Team Avatar hopelessly confused.
"What's the reason for you being down there?" Zuko asks, afraid of the same response.
"I'm different." She says only, making Zuko a bit frustrated.
"Different how?" He has to hold himself back from yelling at the teen. "For what? Being a bender?" She nods, stops, and then shakes her head.
"Mostly, though I know being a bender isn't so mystical." She leans back in the basket, her eyes having by now adjusted fully to the sun's harsh light. Her head nods in Zuko's direction, her motion restricted by the hand holding back her hair. "You're a fire bender and the current Fire Lord." She jerks her head in Katara's direction.
"She's a water bender with healing powers." Her free hand waves toward Toph and Aang.
"The blind one is an earth bender and the air nomad steering the flying bison is an air bender. More specifically, the Avatar." Her rant leaves the group momentarily speechless. Zuko speaks up again.
"How can you possible know all of this?" He asks, a demanding tone beginning to edge into his voice.
"I told you already: I'm different," Yu Jie states, trying hard to mask her annoyance at the Fire Lord's ignorance. He shakes his head.
"I'm not understandi – " He outburst is cut off as Yu Jie grabs the front of Zuko's shirt, bringing their faces and disregarding the fact that she is really close to him. So close in fact, that she can feel the heat beat off of him in waves.
"I. Am. Different." She hisses out, her breath tinkling Zuko's face and her deep amethyst eyes boring straight into his amber ones. He doesn't sense it at first, but it starts off weak. It's like energy, something Zuko can't quite describe. It grows until it nearly overwhelms, setting her eyes ablaze with emotion Zuko can't fathom, and nor does he wish to. Then, just as soon as it starts, it ends as Yu Jie lets go of her iron grip on Zuko's shirt and retreats back to her corner. Toph and Katara exchange telepathic glances between each other while Zuko just simply sits, dumbfounded.
Not to mention completely and utterly terrified.
The look Yu Jie gave him fills him with such unspeakable horror that he doesn't know how to react, and simply sits with wide eyes, his heart hammering out a death metal drum solo.
"Yu Jie, you're just gonna love it at the palace!" Katara butts in, her voice laced with feigned excitement.
"I agree with Ms. Mother here," Toph adds, earning a glare from Katara. "The food is fantastic."
"Is food all you think of?" Katara comments, obviously asking for a fight. Toph and Katara commence to an argument about food that somehow includes flowers.
But Zuko is oblivious, all of his attention on the strange girl in front of him. What the hell is she? He thinks. But much to his despair, Yu Jie seems to read his mind and smiles coyly, her answer only one word;
"Different."