Man, I got so distracted by Voltron coming out that I kinda completely forgot about my stories XD
Anyway, it's a bit short, but hopefully it'll be enough to hold you guys until the next chapter :)
Hiro and Takumi rode on Griffith in silence, the only sounds being the trotting of the puma goat's hooves on the dirt and the quick whistling of the wind as they rushed past trees and bushes. By now, Takumi had stopped fighting against Hiro's grip and sat limply on Griffith's saddle, supported only by one of Hiro's arm. He couldn't purge the sight of it from his mind, Rai falling over the edge of that cliff with two arrows in her chest and her floral gold tunic dyed crimson red with her blood. Every fibre of his being, every bit of his very soul cried out at once. So many emotions flooded and consumed him at once: pain, fear, heartbreak and then anger, anger at someone doing that to his friend, anger towards the one who did it and anger towards the one who pulled him away from it all. But now, he just felt numb. He was so completely disconnected that he hadn't noticed them arriving in the town that they had fled to with the rescued slaves.
Sati, who had remained behind to help the local authorities sort through and take care of the children they rescued while the boys had gone back to retrieve Rai, ran up to greet them. The smile that was always on her face, suddenly disappeared when she noticed a certain blonde was absent. "Wh-where's Rai?" she asked. Hiro climbed off Griffith's saddle while Takumi merely slid off, hanging his head low. Seeing this, Sati's eyebrows furrowed in worry as she asked them once more, "Hiro, Takumi, where's Rai?"
Hiro shook his head sadly and uttered, "She's gone."
"Wh-what do you mean 'she's gone'?" Sati asked, desperately looking for clarification while at the same time dreading their answer.
"I mean, she's gone. Rai's dead," he said, devoid of emotion.
"No!" Takumi cried out, prompting Sati and Hiro to sharply turn around. "She's not dead!" the boy shouted again, running up to Hiro with his fist raised high. However, Hiro quickly caught Takumi's wrist with his hand. The boy raised his other hand in response, but Hiro easily grabbed it as well. Takumi tried with all his might to push against Hiro's strength, but the vigilante was just bigger and stronger than him. "She's not dead…" he whispered tearfully, as if believing that if he kept repeating it enough, it would be true.
"I know it hurts," Hiro said, doing his best to sympathize with the boy. "But you have to let her go. She's gone." Takumi ceased his struggling and Hiro released his grip on the boy, causing him to fall to his knees as tears flowed down his cheeks and onto the stone road.
Sati quickly went to his side and took the sobbing boy in her arms, trying to comfort him as best she could. The airbender looked up at Hiro with sad and fearful eyes. "Are you sure?"
Hiro clenched his fists angrily and kept his back turned to Sati. "We saw it with our own eyes. She took two arrows to the chest and fell into the river below the gorge."
"Is there any way she could have survived?" Sati asked hopefully while still consoling Takumi.
"Even if she managed to survive a fall of that height, she was shot in the chest twice, Sati," Hiro emphasized, shaking his head sadly. "The Avatar may be resilient, but they're not invincible."
"What do we do now?" Sati asked, just barely holding back her own tears, while looking up to Hiro for direction.
Hiro didn't give her an answer and later that night, the trio gathered in the room they had rented at an inn. None of them knew what to do and none of them knew what to say. More or less, Rai was their leader, the one they looked to for direction… and now she was gone. Without her, none of them knew what to do or where to go.
The most powerful being in the world murdered, just like that.
"I still can't believe it," Sati muttered, hugging her knees to her chest as she sat in a chair. "All these years people have been searching for the Avatar, trying to find her… and now she's gone," she whispered tearfully. "No one else will ever know she existed, who she was, how she lived… how she might have shaped the world. Hiro," Sati turned to Hiro, who began putting on his black vigilante outfit while Takumi sat in the corner of the room in complete silence. "What do we do now?" she asked again. "Sh-should we try and find the next Avatar?" Sati asked, completely unsure of her own question.
Hiro finished dressing and held his blades up, inspecting them as they shined in the light, before sheathing them on his back "It wouldn't be the same; it wouldn't be Rai. You… do whatever you want. I know what I'm going to do."
"And what's that?" Sati asked, quickly standing up.
Sheathing his blades, Hiro replied, "I'm going to find every last one of those slavers and I'm going to kill them."
"Hiro, that isn't going to bring Rai back."
"Don't you think I know that!" Hiro snapped. "I didn't start living this life in an effort to bring my family back and I'm not doing this to try and bring her back. I'm doing it to avenge her."
"That's not going to accomplish anything, Hiro."
"It sure as hell will make me feel better knowing that the ones who took her from me will be pushing up daisies… No offence to Daisy."
Sati straightened her back and looked at Hiro with a mix of disappointment and horror. "You sound just like her," she said in an upsetting tone.
Though, Hiro took it as a compliment, responding with a satisfied and determined smirk while remarking, "Good."
"You're going to get yourself killed, Hiro. There's only one of you and tons of them!"
"I've faced worse odds before," he said confidently.
"You can't do this," Sati insisted.
"You know, I would have thought you'd learn this from Rai, but former slaves like us don't like being ordered around. You can do whatever you want, Sati, just don't get in the way of what I want." As Hiro made his way to the door to leave, Sati quickly stepped between him and the door with her arms spread out. "Move," Hiro glared angrily.
"You can't do this," Sati repeated, "Rai wouldn't want this."
Hiro scoffed, "Of course she would! This is exactly what she would want: retribution! That's what Rai always worked for! Getting justice for those who were denied it! Don't presume to know what Rai would have wanted. You didn't know her like I did, you barely knew her at all!"
"That doesn't mean I didn't want what was best for her!" Sati argued.
"Heh, what's best for her? All you ever wanted from her to was become your messiah, your saviour!" he yelled, jabbing Sati's shoulder with his index finger as he spoke. "Newsflash Sati, people aren't always concerned about what other people think is best for them! Sometimes, people do things because it's what they want for themselves, because it's what they feel in their gut. And if you won't honor Rai's memory and get her the vengeance she deserves, then I will."
"Stop it, both of you!" Takumi suddenly shouted, finally speaking up for the first time that night. "I can't believe you two, how quickly you're just giving up on her!"
Hiro and Sati exchanged worried looks before the vigilante sighed in disappointment, "Rai is dead, Takumi. Clinging to her like this now is just going to drag you down further to depths you might not come back from. I've been there."
"No, no she's not. She's alive! I know it!" Takumi shouted with fierce passion and determination.
"Takumi, enough! We both saw the same thing. Avatar or not, no one could survive that."
"Rai could, Rai did. She's strong," Takumi declared. "And if you don't think she survived, then you didn't care about her like I do!"
Suddenly, Hiro delivered a swift punch to Takumi's jaw, knocking the boy onto the floor. "Don't you dare," Hiro muttered before raising his voice and shouting loudly, "Don't you ever dare insinuate that I didn't care for her! I've always loved her! She was the light in my life and now my life is that much darker without her in it. This whole world is that much darker without her; everyone's life is darker now for not having known her. Everyone deals with pain and trauma in their own way, but denial just makes it worse. Trust me, I know. I spent years trying to forget what happened to me and all it did was drive me crazy. I only started to think clearly once I accepted what happened to me and moved on. I know you've built up this idea in your head of Rai being invincible, but it's time to be realistic, Takumi. Nobody thinks someone they love will die until it happens. Rai may be gone, but I won't let what she stood for die too."
Takumi quickly got back up on his feet and stood opposite to Hiro with broad shoulders and puffed up chest. "You might not believe, but I do! I know she's alive!" Takumi shouted, running past Hiro and Sati to the door. He lingered for a moment after opening it and turned his head to say one more thing, "I can't believe you both would just give up so easily." With that, he exited the room and slammed the door shut.
The young archer angrily marched outside the inn and kicked a few small pebbles as he reached the back of the inn where their animals slept peacefully under the starry sky. Still feeling unsatisfied with kicking the small rocks, Takumi tried kicking one of the bigger ones, only to stub his toes right against the solid stone. "Ow!" he hissed, grabbing his foot while hopping on the other. As the pain died down, Takumi noticed Haku awake and away from the other sleeping animals. The eel hound sat on the grass and stared up at the moon and stars above as Takumi stood beside him. "You don't really think she's gone, do you?" he asked the noble beast. He wasn't sure if he was genuinely asking the lizard or if he was just looking for some reassurance. Either way, now more than ever Takumi wished Haku could talk. Haku stood up and nuzzled Takumi's shoulder while letting out a sad groan. Takumi hugged the lizard's head affectionately before the beast pulled back and began walking away.
"W-wait!" Takumi cried, running up and standing in front of Haku. "You still think she's alive, don't you? Somewhere out there…" He wasn't sure what to make of the look of longing the eel hound cast in the distance, but it was mildly reassuring. "Well, do you have to go it alone?" he smiled at Haku as he pat the lizard's large front leg.
Haku responded by pointing to the inn with his nose and gesturing back to Takumi with a gentle push with his snout on the boy's chest. He then walked around Takumi and gently nudged him back towards the inn with his head against the boy's back.
"Oh, no you don't, Haku. You're not getting rid of me that easily." Before Haku could react, Takumi snagged one of the straps of Haku's saddle and hoisted himself up. Haku flinched at this, but Takumi spoke quickly in a calm, yet firm tone. "I'm not giving up on her that easily either, big guy. And if you're going to search for her, then I'm coming with you."
Haku grabbed Takumi by his shirt and plopped him back on the ground, gesturing once more to the inn where his comrades resided, trying to convey that he was needed here
"But, Haku, if she is out there, then we have to find her." Takumi took a moment to look into the sad eyes of Haku and gasped, "You're not even sure that you'll find her, are you? That's why you want me to stay," the boy realized sadly.
Haku exhaled and pressed his head against Takumi's chest. The boy's eyes teared up a bit before he grabbed Haku's head in a tight hug once more. When they pulled away, Takumi turned to look at the inn. "I understand. They've given up hope and I haven't. That's why you want me to stay, right?" Takumi wiped away the forming tears. "Then you do what you have to do, big guy. I'll keep the search strong too. If Rai's as stubborn as you are, which I know she is...then I know she's out there somewhere."
Haku licked Takumi one last time before turning away and dashing off.
Takumi watched as the eel hound disappeared into the distance and whispered to himself with great determination, "I'll never give up, never…" Haku would find Rai and bring her back to them and it was Takumi's job to keep the hope alive.
Downriver, the powerful stream's rapids had split off into a more peaceful and quiet stream. On the shore lay an unconscious girl with loose blonde hair, wet and matted to her face while two arrows stuck out from her chest and shoulder and crimson red dyed her yellow tunic. An old man stood over the unconscious girl and gently poked her with his walking stick. The girl groaned weakly and her face twitched in response, but she did not wake. The old man sighed and set down his stick against the small cart he had with him. Bending down, he gently lifted the girl in his arms and set her as comfortably as he could in the back of his cart. Then, he moved to the front and took a hold of both handles with either hand and began walking, pulling the cart behind him.
Next chapter - Rai Alone: Rai survives thanks to an old hermit but struggles to mentally recover when she cannot recall who shot her.