Something More: An A:TLA Fan Fiction
Chapter Two: Nightmares
Rating: T for suggestive scenes, mild language, and violence
Word Count: 1,787
A/N: As promised, another chapter! I promise this one will be longer, and a little more eventful. I'll throw in some background information for Katara and Sokka, and a little bit of KatAang (it's only needed for plot development, don't worry). Enjoy!
When I was little, my father used to tell Sokka and me stories of his travels. I would hear about how he and Bato had single-handedly fought off a platypus bear in the wilderness of the Earth Kingdom, or how they had taken a fleet of Fire Nation ships with only a spear and seaweed. Everything was so fantastical and adventurous that I hardly believed them to be true.
Once, my father had spoken of a ship of pirates. He traded with them, but they had tried to fight my father's crew to pillage their ship of fine goods. Of course, my father fought them off and they only got away with a map or two. Sokka had thought it to be a boring story because there were no battle scars or decapitated heads to prove the event. I, myself, had thought the pirates were stupid and weak to have tried to fight my father.
I now had a completely different view of pirates.
Disgusting and vile is what they were. No sense of hygiene or cleanliness; and not the slightest bit of respect. Their eyes shone with a criminal intent, and their hands were rough and calloused.
/
I was carried by those calloused hands into a room that was old and dirty. It was dark and damp, and had a leak in one of the corners. The pirate carelessly dropped me down onto the cold wooden floor, and smirked knowingly.
"You're to stay in here, and not leave. Not that you really have much of a chance escaping," he chuckled as he shut the door behind him. I was alone, now. Being alone meant I had time to think.
Alright, Katara; how can you get out of here? I asked myself. I glanced around the room, looking for some sort of opening. There was none, of course.
Okay, no easy way out. Maybe there's water. I thought. That's exactly what I need; water! I found a pool of it in the corner with a leak. Thank the spirits!
I only knew a few moves, but I could probably manage to break down the door. I focused all of my energy on what I needed to do. "Shift your weight through the stances," I heard Aang's voice echoing in the back of my head. All concentration was broken.
I no longer had Aang with me.
I slumped down onto the ground, curling in myself. Aang was someone I trusted my life in; someone I went to for refuge. Now, I had only my memories to call him by. He was a light, comforting presence to have, and now he was gone.
"I'm going to get out of here," I whispered to myself. I had to. For Aang.
My hands seemed to move of their own accord, gracefully flowing through each movement. I hadn't known that such a form existed. The water from the corner of the room began to quiver, and was soon streaming around me. A thin bead of sweat formed on my brow, and my legs started to shake with the intense power that pulsed through my veins. I – as carefully as I could – moved with the water to the door, and gently started to bend the water through the keyhole. Maybe I could unlock it.
Just as I heard the door begin to creak open, footsteps came from down the hall. I start to panic, and I push open the door, beginning to run out of the room. A pirate who I didn't recognize was passing my room, and caught sight of me. "Hey!" He yelled, chasing me as I raced to some unknown location. I was hoping to find the upper deck, but I had no idea where to go.
Scrambling frantically up a flight of crooked stairs, I found myself at an unlocked, half-open door. The pirate chasing me was right on my back, so I took the risk and entered the room.
/
"Well, hello," an unnerving voice cooed from the back of the room. It was female, with a slight accent of a land I couldn't recognize.
I had mistakenly walked into not the outer deck, but someone's private quarters. I was halfway ashamed and halfway relieved. This was the only girl I had encountered on the ship, and I thought maybe she would help me out of here.
"H-Hello?" I answered timidly. I glanced behind me. The door had shut, and the pirate that had been pursuing me had probably done so.
"You must be the newest recruit to our crew," the voice came slightly nearer, but in the gloom I couldn't see even an inch in front of me. "I am Leyte. I have been travelling with these men ever since I was just a little child." Finally, this mysterious Leyte flicks on some sort of light.
The first thing that I noticed was her eyes. They were as blue as the sea, but also with a strange tint of a color that was almost violet. She wore a green dashiki down to her knees, but it was so mud-caked and torn that I was only assuming the color. Her hair was short and looked as if it was chopped off carelessly, but it still had a lovely chocolate color. It looked recently washed and soft, so she was not in poor hygiene.
Leyte's face may have been what caught me off guard.
She possessed finely sculpted cheekbones and ebony skin, as well as rosy cheeks and a knowing smile. Not a blemish or scar was in sight, and to say the very least, she was absolutely beautiful. I was nearly jealous.
Her hands, which looked delicate and frail at first glance, were actually strong and somewhat calloused; which I found when she reached out and took my hands in hers.
"Oh, child," she fretted. "You have been on a long and winding road that is only beginning." Her voice sounded far away and dreamy, as if she was thinking about something that was happening in her head.
"Ex-Excuse me?" I said, my voice trembling.
"Do not be afraid of me," Leyte said strongly, her accent making it difficult to understand her. "I am what the pirates call a Seer. I help them on their journeys so that they may know what is in store for them."
"A Seer?" I asked to no one in particular. "You mean, sort of like a fortune-teller?"
Leyte laughed; a sound of peeling bells. "Well, maybe it could be put like that. I do not believe anyone has ever referred to me as a 'fortune-teller.'"
I smiled softly, but another question was weighing heavily on my tongue. "How exactly did you get here, Miss Leyte?"
Her expression turned grim and any jovial kindness she had disappeared. "I was taken from my home, dear child. I used to live in the Earth Kingdom; in a smaller town that few people lived in, called Huan-yue. My family had seven children in it, and my parents were always out scything the fields to make enough money to support us. I was the eldest, so I took care of my younger siblings and never finished any education in earthbending, which I once was very good at. Now, however, I forget any forms I had ever been taught.
"It was about noon, and I was fishing at the docks for dinner. My six sisters and brothers were back at out home preparing for the meal, so I was alone. I saw a ship in the distance, and thought I was mistaken, for no ships ever came into port at Huan-yue. I stood up and peered out to the water, and found that a ship actually was on its way into town. My first instinct was to run and protect my sisters and brothers, but I was too in shock to move, and I stayed put. As the ship came closer, I noticed the flag that was flying on the top of the mast," she paused, and seemed to compose herself before going on. "It was the same one they have flying now; a reptile bird with crossed bones underneath it. That was when I started to run back to home, but the ship was close enough to capture me in a net trap that came from a weapon inside. I was their prisoner.
"The weeks and months went by, and at first, I would seek escape whenever possible. Once, I even made it to a Fire Nation shore, but the pirates caught up with me. Then, I began to accept that this is my life, and I will never leave. This ship is my home, and it will have to be yours, too, young waterbender," Leyte said solemnly.
"No!" I shouted. "No; I will not be kept here! I'm getting out, and I'm going back to Aang!" I yelled, more for myself than to Leyte. I sprinted away to the door, expected Leyte to stop me, but she didn't. I flung myself out the door and up another flight of stairs. I was running, running up and down and across corridors and through doors and eventually finding myself dizzy with defeat. That was when I fell unconscious.
/
"Aang?" I called. I was in the middle of a forest, my back aching from lying on the ground. It was dark and cold, and very alone. "Sokka, Aang?" I called again. No answer. A hand grabbed my robes from behind me, and writhing and kicked and screamed until they let me go. When I turned around, Avatar Roku stood there, his eyes glazed over. "R-Roku?" I said timidly. His mouth opened, but out came Leyte's voice.
"Child, you must accept your fate. You will never leave. You will never leave," Roku repeated those words over and over, and he wouldn't stop. You will never leave, you will never leave…
I awoke on a pallet back in the room I had been thrown in earlier that day, my back coated in sweat and my heart racing.
That was the first of many nightmares on that ship.
A/N: Alright, guys! Hope you enjoyed it, and there will be another one up by this time next Friday! Oh, and before I forget, Leyte is supposed to be Jamaican, so her accent is kind of like that. :)