Chap. 27

The Past

Bosque led Azula into the jungle, the trees and bushes growing more and more dense as they went in. But nothing blocked their path, as the foliage actually parted for them as they went through. Finally, they reached a large, squat tree that sat in the full brunt of the moonlight. The tree had died a long while ago, it's wide trunk growing open and hollow. The space inside was wide enough for at least three people.

"Ladies first?" Bosque asked, gesturing to the tree.

"Are you serious?" Azula asked back.

"Come on, it's safe." Bosque said, as he walked inside the tree and sat inside the stump. Reaching over, he pulled out a large red fruit and took a bite. Azula licked her lip at the sight of the plump fruit, and after a moment, her hunger overcame her hesitation. She walked inside and sat down next to the squirrel.

"Puniberry. Your favorite right?" Bosque asked, handing her a fruit.

"I haven't had one since I was a child." Azula said, looking over the fruit. Slowly, she brought it to her mouth and took a bite. She chewed carefully, letting the pulp and juices swirl around in her mouth. Then, with a smile, she took another, larger bite and began to eat with more relish. Bosque said nothing, but just watched as she ate. When Azula finished, he asked, "When did you last have one of those?"

"It was before Mother died. She used to make these little fruit pastries for Zuko and me. I remember, we asked for them at every royal feast." Azula replied, a melancholy look growing in her eyes.

"Did you miss her when she passed?" Bosque asked.

"I…. Not at first. I was sad, but I couldn't show it with my father around. I had to wait for him to leave the palace to cry."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Bosque said.

"I think I started to hate him a little that day." Azula said. "I never showed it, but I really did care about Mom. But Dad was so much more…… I just couldn't get out of his influence."

"I can imagine. But why can't you do it now?"

Azula turned at that, and asked, "Did you and the bat plan this out? I don't need another lecture from you."

"We didn't do a thing. I'm just asking you a question as a person. If you don't want to answer, you don't have to." Bosque said. "But it is worth thinking about."

"I suppose." Azula replied. "But I…. I can't talk about it with anyone. Zuko won't listen, and the bat's like talking to a wall."

"You just have to know the right way to talk to him." Bosque said.

"He hates me. He talks about knowing the dark, but he hates me for my darkness. He won't accept the concept that I've had hardships too."

"Osc hasn't had an easy life." Bosque explained. "None of us have, really."

"What's so bad about it?" Azula asked. "You all have power beyond what anyone can imagine. You command all the power in the skies and the earth. You even have power over the human heart. You can't die. What could possibly be so hard about it?"

"Everything you just said." Bosque answered with a sad smile. "Azula, let me tell the story of how we Elementals came to be."

"Thanks, but I've already heard it." Azula said.

"Not this version." Bosque replied. "All the ones they tell down here are altered because of the limits of man's perceptions and his storytelling abilities. So let me tell you the true story."

"Almost six hundred years ago, the Architects of Creation, the beings you people call gods, looked down upon their works and were sickened by what they saw. Most of the people they had created had given in to their base desires- their greed, their lust, and their gluttony. They had forgotten the task they had been given, to balance out the good and evil in their lives and in the world. And because of that, the world and those who had not forgotten themselves was suffering. The Architects were faced with a difficult prospect. They were not allowed to directly interfere with the goings-on of the mortal world, unless it affected the balance of good and evil. But they could not leave their posts unguarded, for then the very elements themselves would be at risk from chaotic forces beyond time and imagining."

"The chaos demon." Azula commented.

"Yes. And more like it. The Architects talked with each other, and decided that the only way they could aid their creation was to form beings who would act as their voices upon the mortal plane and be gifted with their awesome powers. They first selected a human who had managed to stay true to the goal of the Architects, and gave him the choice of being the first voice- the first Elemental Knight. He accepted the position, and was crowned Lightrider, Voice of Ralin."

"But how is that possible? Luz is the Knight of Light." Azula argued.

"I'll get to that in due time." Bosque said. "After Lightrider was given his power, he was sent back to Earth, to find bodies for those who would be his Knightly brothers. Those bodies would have to be those of animals, for the Knights would represent all those of the Architects' creation, not man alone. While he searched, Rastla, Architect of Shadow, journeyed to the land of the dead, and selected nine human souls. When Lightrider brought the animals, and piece of volcanic rock, back to the Architects, they used their power to fuse together the souls with the animals, to create a hybrid that would have the guileless, aware nature of an animal, tempered with the intelligence and sense of duty that existed in man. Once that was done, the Knights were given their powers, armor, and weapons."

Bosque paused here, and looked over at Azula, who had put down her puniberry as she'd listened to the story. She looked at Bosque with an expression of almost shocked curiosity, then opened her mouth and asked, "You said human souls. You were a human once?"

"Yes." Bosque answered. "But I don't remember it. The souls taken that day were taken from limbo, a place populated by those who forfeited the light and the dark. Mostly, it is filled by those who did not fulfill their lives' great destiny, the task that would define their souls and decide their place of rest. Some were not able to complete their task because of outside forces; others simply did not see it coming. But others, Azula, saw their destiny and tossed it aside. That is what we did. In our human lives, we gave up on our destinies and earned a place in limbo. That is why we were selected; because we, more then any other soul, cry out for redemption. When we were reborn, our memories of our lives were wiped out, so that we could go about our redemption unheeded."

"How long do you have to wait for your redemption to come?" Azula asked.

Bosque gave that sad smile again and said, "Eternity. Our redemption Azula, is keeping the balance of good and evil on the mortal plane until those forces no longer matter. We are immune to time; it's our curse and our strength. It lets us help many friends, but it also means that we will eventually stand and toss dirt on their graves, staying unchanged no matter what happens. We have done worldly battle a hundred times over, and we will do them a hundred times again. But we don't do it for ourselves, out of some need to use our abilities. Power means nothing to us, Azula. We do it because we are so very jealous of the people we help. Every Elemental, including me, would give it all up in a second, for a single day of human life."

"Why?"

"Because you can do one thing we can't- you can die. And as another immortal once said, to die would be an awfully big adventure."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Azula asked.

"Because I want you to understand just who we are, Azula." Bosque said. "Because understanding the Elementals will help you understand Oscuridad, and yourself, and why one of the Knights in my story is no longer with us. "

"The human Light Knight." Azula said. "What did happen? Why did Luz take his place?"

"It happened about five years after we'd been created." Bosque said. "The Architects had been sending us out on missions every now again, but always returning us to their plane of existence. Eventually, they decided that we needed to really understand man, and that meant living among humankind. We were split up and placed in different cities. That's where Osc met Luz, back when she was human. I remember, he said she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen, physically and mentally. He was nervous as hell, but he finally managed to ask her out and things went from there. Eventually, the stress of dealing with two lives became too much and he told everything. She was shocked, but she accepted it. A few months later, they got married. We were so happy for him. Then they came."

"Who?"

"The chaos demons. They started escaping their prison and coming to Earth. Somehow, they found about us and made a plan to go after the Knights of Shadow and Light. They injured Lightrider and broke Osc in the worst possible way- they killed Luz right in front of him. After that, he just shut down. He renounced everything and starting traveling around, never really going anywhere. Eventually, he did come back to us, but it was more to kill the chaos demon then anything else. Afterwards, I think he stuck around out of a sense of duty, but he was down in a dark hole and we didn't know how to bring him out."

"Meanwhile, Lightrider had been given a sort of…. cosmic promotion and he wasn't working with us directly anymore. He started to feel that his light power was being wasted, and he and Ralin decided to find a successor for him. I'm guessing you can figure how that all ended up."

"So that's how Luz got her powers." Azula said thoughtfully. "Tell me, does she remember her old life?"

"Yep. She's the only one. But all of that hardened Osc quite a bit. He's a lot less likely to give up his heart, and he plays things a lot closer to the vest. It's also a lot harder to earn his trust."

"I know that much." Azula said, rubbing her neck. "But tell me, why do I seem to have your trust? No has been has been this nice to me the whole time I've been here."

"Truthfully?" Bosque asked. He thought a minute, then replied, "I guess because I see a lot of myself in you. You remind me of how I used to be, and I wanna help you."

"You were like me once?" Azula asked.

"Yes. You think you got time for another story?"

"Where else am I going to go?"

"Good point." Bosque said. With that, he cleared his throat and began his final tale.

"When the Elementals first started, we weren't really humans, but we were closer then people think. We grew up in a lot of the same ways, except we had demons to fight. And we were scared as hell at first. But the more we won, the more confident we grew. Especially me. I was the most arrogant little S.O.B. you'd ever met after awhile. I thought that I was a god among men when we were with the humans. After all, I was a chosen of the gods, gifted with powers beyond imagining. I had control of the forest itself. I was immune to disease, injury, and old age. There was nothing that could kill me, and no foe I could not defeat. I had a rooster's strut and I didn't take any foe seriously."

"That does sound like me." Azula said. "What changed your mind?"

"The day some lunatic let loose the Four Horsemen." Bosque answered.

"Who?"

"I don't think you have a name for them here. In our world, the Horsemen are the four evils that will bring about the Apocalypse and the end of humanity. They are Famine, War, Pestilence, and Death. Most think of them as a myth, but they do exist, and when the time is right, they will be released and end the world. But this guy we were fighting somehow let them out early. And once the Horsemen are released, it is impossible to return them, unless the hand of the High-God is with you. Thankfully it was with us."

"My brothers and I scattered across the globe, dealing the Horsemen and returning them to their resting places. I was sent with Agua and Tierra to fight Pestilence, because we all represented life. But this was a strong Horseman and though we fought well, we weren't able to defeat him. Tierra and Agua retreated to form a plan. But I wasn't ready to give up. I leapt out at Pestilence, thinking I could force him back. I wrapped in vines, a symbol of life, even as they died and withered at his touch. But I didn't let up, not until….."

"Until what?" Azula asked, as Bosque paused. He took a deep breath, then continued.

"We did eventually lock Pestilence up again. But he left his mark on all of us. Especially me."

With that, Bosque raised his hands to the sides of his face. Placing them on his cheeks, he began to pull, stretching the flesh. As Azula watched, she suddenly saw holes beginning to appear on the squirrel's face that grew as he pulled. The flesh itself was also changing; it was now a dark greenish brown, and gaining a rough texture.

What on Earth… Azula thought in rapt fascination, as Bosque continued to pull. Suddenly, the holes in his flesh began to form a pattern of holes, as the skin finished it's transformation.

By all the heavens. Azula thought, as Bosque gave out a yell and finally pulled away the last of his face. That wasn't flesh. Those…. Those were roots! Whatever that was…. It had grown over his face!

"Not pleasant, is it?" Bosque said through his rapid breaths, his face now partially hidden in the shadows. "Still, I ask you to look at me Azula. And maybe then, you'll understand."

With that, Bosque turned towards Azula, bringing his face out of the shadows. Azula took a single look at him, and for the first time in her life, had to cover her mouth to muffle the scream. The left side of Bosque's face was unaltered. But the right…. One blind, yellow eye gazed out stupidly from the remnants of a long scar that ran up his face. His flesh was devoid of fur, black, and seemed to be rotting. His lips and the surrounding flesh had been stripped away; his teeth were clearly visible.

"The touch of Pestilence can do a lot." He said, as Azula looked on in horror. "None of the Architects could heal me. The power of the Horsemen was too much for even them to overcome. The best they could do was give me this," he said, holding a simple wooden mask, "to give me the look of my old face. But I never forgot what I really was, Azula. And now you can never forget."

"I-I won't." Azula stammered.

"Good. Because this is the mark of my arrogance. This is what that headstrong, selfish attitude cost me. So remember it well Azula. Because if you can't overcome your own demons, you'll have your own price to pay, your own mark. And you won't get the help I did. I don't want that to happen. I'm sorry you had to see this, but I needed you to understand."

"I-I think I do." Azula said, as she rubbed her own face. "Thank you."

"Good. But I'm not the only one you have to prove it to." Bosque said, as he placed the wooden mask back onto his face. There was a brief sensation of movement from the mask, and then Bosque appeared normal again. He got up to his feet, and then looked down at Azula. Offering her his hand, he said, "We should probably go back to camp, before Zuko sets everyone on high alert."

Azula nodded, and took the squirrel's hand. As she got up and they turned back towards the camp, she looked at him and asked, "You really wanted to help me, after everything I did?"

"Not at first. I hate to say it, but you were kind of a bitch then." Bosque replied. "But I've come to understand you a little better now, and it wasn't completely your fault. Besides, I was pretty sure I would've killed you after a while."

"Yeah right." Azula said back, smirking. "You know how easily wood burns?"

"True." Bosque said. "But I did fight with one of the forerunners of the Apocalypse and win."

"Yeah, even you did have to wear that ugly mask afterwards." Azula said with a smile. Bosque raised an eyebrow, and then laughed as they continued to walk. A few minutes later, for the first time in years, Azula laughed too.