Sorry for the late update, but I find it difficult to write all of a sudden. It'll hopefully get back to me.
Chapter 11: Cave of two lovers
After having flown for 2 days straight, Aang decided Appa should have some rest. So they stopped at a river going through the mountains that crossed a walking path. Katara and Aang saw this as the opportune moment to practice their waterbending as their first teacher-pupil lesson.
Mako believed this to be a great idea and went to practice a little further away on his own. When they were practicing for a while, Mako took a little break and decided to watch Katara teaching Aang. She only had her bindings on, which was why Mako couldn't concentrate properly and said he'd practice alone.
Seeing the avatar trying the octopus stance, Mako watched as Katara went over to him to correct his stance. While she stood behind him moving him in the right position, Mako saw the avatar's blush. Immediately his muscles tensed up and a frown appeared on his face. While he stood there watching, ice was forming around his feet and spread quickly in a massive circle. He was snapped out of his jealous gaze, when Sokka was trapped in the ice.
"Hey, Mako! You froze my butt in place! I can't get out!" he was grunting while he tried to free his ass out of the ice.
Mako looked at the ice and apologized quickly. "Oh sorry Sokka. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing."
Even with all the commotion, Katara and Aang didn't notice what went on on the other side of the river. Aang got the hang of the octopus form, while Katara was shooting icicles at him.
Suddenly they heard singing come from the forest, accompanied by a guitar-like instrument. There were a group of people coming out of the forest path, heading over to where they were.
"He-hey, river people!" The singer said when they stopped in front of the Gaang.
"We're not river people." Katara looked confused when she answered the singer.
The nomads with the flute and guitar introduced themselves as Chong and Lily. They had a vague look on their face, looking as if he was somewhere else with his mind. Aang was excited when they told him they were nomads, being a nomad himself and all.
Sokka wasn't looking very happy when Chong commented on his underwear, scooting away embarrassed with Momo covering the view of his underpants.
Some time later, the 2 groups mingled and were all sharing stories or braiding their hair. Mako was talking to Moku, who was telling him about a beautiful waterfall that created a never-ending rainbow.
Sokka came marching up to them, telling the other they needed to get going and head to Omashu. He facepalmed when Chong said something about Omashu, and a secret tunnel leading to the city. Intrigued by the information, Mako asked what he knew about that tunnel. Chong started to sing a nice song, telling about 2 lovers and a tunnel. The Gaang, minus Sokka, clapped when he finished.
Sokka thought best to keep travelling on Appa, seeing it would make the giant beast uncomfortable to go underground.
Not much later, the Gaang was back with the nomads. Seeing Chong's inquisitive look, Mako decided he should explain why they were back already. "The flying thing didn't take off well with the Fire nation." He gestured at his clothes, which were severely burned.
The group went on to find that tunnel so they could go around the Fire nation's backs and reach Omashu. While they were nearing the entrance, Lily said that the only way you would be able to get out of the cursed tunnel was if you believe in love. Upon hearing that the cave was cursed, Sokka stopped walking and made some weird noises and hand gestures. "Curse?" he said in a whiny voice.
"What exactly is this curse?" he went on, back to using his regular voice.
"The curse says that only those who trust in love are able to get out of the caves. Otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever." Chong explained to Sokka what the curse was.
Sokka got all wide eyed and was quick to dismiss the tunnels. "Oh no, we're not going through some cursed hole!"
Moku saw a big plume of smoke coming from the horizon behind them and mistook it for a big campfire. Katara saw it and quickly realized that the Fire nation were hot on their tale. The group realized that the fire nation would be too much too handle, so they took their chances in the caves.
While they were heading inside the cave, they heard a big rumbling sound coming from the entrance. The light that poured in from it disappeared, and Appa started to panic because they were trapped.
"Don't worry Appa, we'll be alright… I hope." Katara tried to reassure the beast and calm it down.
They kept walking further and further into the tunnel, always coming up to a dead end. Sokka had no clue how, but he guessed that the tunnels changed after a while. He tried to make a map of the caves, but it would be useless if the caves never stayed the same.
Suddenly there was a cry coming from the dark end of the cave, sounding like something ferocious. Out of nowhere, a wolfbat appeared and attacked the group. Sokka tried to scare it away with fire from the torches, but accidentally hit Appa's foot in the process. Appa got scared and trashed around in the cave. Mako wanted to protect Katara, so he went over to her and made sure that she wouldn't get hurt.
When Appa hit a big pillar, the ceiling began to crumble threatening to fall on top of the whole Gaang. Aang saw this and tackled the nomads to safety using airbending, while Mako broke out into a sprint to try and save Katara from the falling rocks. He made it just in time, they both fell down near the pile of rocks that composed the ceiling just seconds ago.
Looking over Katara, he didn't see any serious wounds but decided to ask anyway. "Are you hurt?"
"No I'm alright…" Katara was recovering from the impact, when she noticed something red on Mako's back. "…But you aren't!"
Mako didn't know what she was referring to, so he looked at her quizzically. "Huh, what are you talking about?"
"Your back! It's bleeding…" Katara worried that it would be a serious wound which would be hard to treat when they were stuck in a cave.
Mako started to go up and down his back with his hands, when he felt something wet. "That's not my blood… I think it was that wolfbat."
Katara was instantly relieved that Mako wasn't seriously hurt, so she looked around for a way back to the rest of the group. "We should try and find the group." she said, worry creeping in again.
"We will, but we need to get going. We don't have much light left." Mako noticed the torch was burned halfway through.
Katara nodded, and gestured for him to take the lead.
While they were walking through the tunnels, Appa grew increasingly more growly. The light was slowly going out, so they should hurry and find an exit soon.
"Appa is scared." Mako stated the obvious. But before Katara could react, he went on. "…Are you?"
Katara hated to admit it, but she was kind of scared not being able to get out of this situation. "A little." She was looking away, she didn't want him to see her embarrassment.
Mako saw this and let a small smile appear on his face. "It's okay, you know…" he decreased the distance between them, and took her hand in his. "… I am too."
When she felt Mako's hand holding hers, she felt butterflies in her stomach. "Good to know I'm not alone on this." She blushingly looked at their entwining fingers, and went off into the dark.
They walked for 5 minutes until they saw a big round door. They both thought it could be a possible exit, so they quickly made their way over there.
"It could be the exit." Mako said what they both thought.
"But how do we get it open?" Katara finished, discovering the problem at hand.
Suddenly they heard a deep growl coming from behind them. When they both turned around, they saw Appa ready to charge for the door. Looking back at each other with giant eyes, they jumped backwards so that Appa wouldn't crush them.
With a loud thump, Appa managed to get the door open. Katara and Mako stepped through and nothing but darkness greeted them. "Great, apparently it's just another tunnel." Mako was disappointed that they weren't out of the caves already.
Katara held the torch up high, and noticed that it wasn't a cave but more like a room. "This isn't a tunnel…" she looked down and could barely make out 2 tombs in the middle of the room. "…it's a tomb."
They made their way down to the 2 graves, and came up to a massive stone sarcophagus. Mako remembered the song from the nomads and realized who was lying in front of them. "These must be the 2 lovers from the legend…." He looked at the 2 graves and noticed that there were drawings carved on them. "… these pictures must tell their story."
Katara came over to where Mako was standing, when she looked in awe at the story that was shown on the tombs. Katara decided that she should read out loud for the both of them so the story would come alive more.
When Katara finished the story, she turned around to a giant statue of 2 people kissing each other. "Love is brightest in the dark."
Mako thought the story was beautiful, and would like to experience that kind of all-conquering love as well. But getting out of these tunnels was priority right now, so he wondered if Katara came up with an idea. "How are we gonna find our way out of these tunnels?"
Katara was still thinking about the story about Oma and Shu, when she heard Mako's question. She came up with an idea, but was kind of embarrassed to say it. "I have an idea…" she turned around when she said it, so Mako wouldn't see her blush.
Mako got hopeful when he heard Katara's response. "What?"
"Never mind, it's too crazy." She quickly regretted bringing up the idea.
Mako wasn't sure why she acted so strange, but he wanted to get out of these caves. "Katara, what is it?"
After his insistence, Katara decided to hesitantly explain her idea. "I was thinking… the curse says we'll be trapped in here forever, unless we trust in love…" she stopped for a second to hear Mako's confirmation he was listening.
"Right…" he already knew this, so he gestured for her to go on.
"…And here it says, love is brightest in the dark. There's even a picture with 2 people kissing…" she looked at her feet again.
Mako thought he knew what she was implying. "Katara, where are you going with this?"
She went on with an even bigger blush, and told him her idea. "So… what if we kissed?" she was nearly as red as a tomato, when she finished. She looked back up and saw joy in his eyes.
Mako already hoped she would say that, so he was quick to approve of the idea. "That may work…" he stepped closer to her, feeling anticipation and butterflies in his stomach.
Katara was relieved that Mako didn't shoot her idea down, so she kept looking back at him with the same heated gaze.
When Mako reached Katara, he gently placed a hand on her face and the other on her waist. He came closer to her lips, when he suddenly felt Katara pulling at his clothes. The two of them shared a chaste kiss, not unlike the one at the north pole.
When they pulled away, nothing happened. They were still in the same dark tomb.
"Well that didn't work out." Mako was disappointed that nothing happened. He looked at Katara and saw the same disappointed look on her face.
"Yeah… we better move on and find that exit." The torch was running really low, they only had about half an hour.
When they were back in the cave system, the torch started to flicker. "Katara, we don't have much time left…" Mako was being realistic, and believed he would die here with Katara.
Katara thought the same thing, so she turned to Mako. "Yeah…" she looked up into Mako's eyes and was falling into those deep blue eyes. "… if we die here…", she was unable to finish her sentence because Mako took her in his arms and hugged her.
"Shhhh, don't say such thing.", Mako didn't want to hear her say it, so he shushed her.
When they loosened the hug, they look back into each other's eyes and both noticed the glazing with one another. With the torch fighting to stay lit, the two crept closer, and kissed as if they were thirsty and found the others mouth to be their oasis. First they just kissed on the lips, but it got more intense when Mako began to suck on her lower lip.
He requested entrance to her mouth by licking her lips with his tongue. She soon complied by opening her mouth just a little bit, immediately feeling Mako's tongue darting through and exploring it. Katara met his tongue with her own, and started a ferocious battle with both not wanting to relent.
While they were kissing passionately, they didn't notice the crystals on the ceiling lighting up. They were still exploring each other's mouths, moans coming from the both of them. But when Mako moved away from her mouth and went down her neck she arched her head back and finally opened her eyes.
She looked at the crystals that were lighting the way through the tunnels. She realized that it showed them where the exit was. "Mako… the crys… oh Tui!" she couldn't think straight with Mako sucking her earlobe, and licking the spot that connected her shoulder and neck.
Mako was smiling, feeling happy that he could make her stutter and moan like that. He came back up from her neck and rested his forehead against hers. "What is it, Katara?" he asked in a husky voice.
Katara was somewhat disappointed, but also happy that she could think properly again. "Look at the ceiling."
Mako looked up and, for the first time, noticed the green hue that was coming from the crystals. He didn't understand why the crystals were lighting up now, but not when they kissed half an hour ago. He didn't want to question it, but rather wanted to get the hell out of this place.
They kept following the light of the crystals and, not long after, found the exit of the labyrinth. They were so extatic that they jumped into each other's arms, and kissed for the third time today. While they were eating each other's mouths, Katara remembered that Aang and Sokka were still in the caves. She quickly broke the kiss, hearing an annoyed and whining Mako.
"Sokka and Aang are still in there!" she said in an exasperated voice.
Mako realized that the rest was still trapped in the cave system, and berated himself for his stupidity of not thinking of it sooner. "Damn… Now that we know how to get out, we can go back and find them?" he tried to see what she'd think of that.
She didn't get a chance to give her opinion of the matter, because there was a loud rumbling coming from the cave's exit. Suddenly two giant badgermoles came from both sides of the exit. They instantaneously bent into a defensive stance, wanting to protect the other.
When they took a better look at the animals, they saw people sitting on top of them. One was waving at them, dressed in a blue attire. "Sokka!" Katara recognized the boy sitting on top of the badgermole.
Sokka slid of the giant animal and ran over to the two waterbenders. "How did you guys get out?" he said in a very excited voice.
"Just like the legend says, we let love lead the way…" Mako looked at Katara smiling, with Katara blushing as she didn't dare look at him.
Sokka didn't notice what was going on between the 2 before them, "Really? We let giant ferocious beasts lead our way."
The badgermoles were going back into the mountain with Sokka and Aang waving them off.
The Gaang realized that they should say goodbye to the nomads, because they weren't going to Omashu. Chong embraced an embarrassed Sokka, and joined the retreating nomads while singing his love song. Even if you're lost, you can't lose the love because it's in your heart. Aaaah ah aaaaah.
Mako and Katara were standing behind Sokka and Aang, who were waving at the nomads. When they heard the song, Mako reached for Katara's hand. Katara started to blush when she felt Mako's fingers entwine with hers.
The group headed off towards the top of the mountain, which overlooked the city of Omashu. Sokka took the lead, while the rest trailed after him. "Ladies and gentlemen, let me present to you: the city of O…" he saw the plumes of smoke and the giant Fire nation flag hanging from the outer wall. "… oh no."
The rest of the Gaang went up the hill, running to see what the problem was. When they reached the top, they couldn't believe their eyes.
Omashu was conquered.
AN: Motivate me by reviewing! Thanks for reading.