The Firebender

Chapter 12: A New Story

Water, Earth, Fire, Air

Long ago the four nations lived together in harmony. Then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the avatar master of all four elements could stop them but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my cousin and I discovered the new avatar. An airbender named, Steven. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Steven can save the world.

August 20, 1245

Ugh, my handwriting is so sloppy today, I can barely read it. I should slow down but I don't have much time and I'm far too excited. The thing is, Ruby has been feeling really bad about the whole thing with Pearl hating her and wants to do something to ease the tension (I for one think that Ruby has done nothing wrong but Ruby is just that kind of person).

So Ruby mentioned this place in the firenation slums that, despite the gross location, has amazing airbending artifacts from the northern airtemple. These valuable items were taken during the firenation raid and Sapphire has heard stories from Pearl about the raids and how she lost something important that her parents gave to her before Pearl was taken to the earth kingdom.

Getting there is easy, the only problem is—Pearl doesn't really know that Ruby is the one guiding us there…

"Absolutely not," Pearl exclaimed, literally glaring down at the waterbender. "I don't trust that firenation scum to lead me into a far village, what if she is just waiting to get me alone before she gets rid of me!"

Connie softly closed her book, wincing at the yelling that was heard clearly from the courtyard outside her window. She quickly placed her journal in its usual place before looking out the window where Pearl was arguing with Sapphire, a very dejected looking Ruby awkwardly picking at the loose fabric on her shirt.

"It's not like you're going to be alone," Sapphire said calmly, honestly tired of this senseless conversation.

Connie took her cue and gracefully jumped out the window, she stood up. "Yeah, I'll be with you!"

Pearl rolled her eyes. "No."

"Yes," Sapphire said. "If you want your priceless item back then you are going to have to make a compromise, and luckily Ruby knows where it is and is being nice enough to lead you there. Connie and I trust her, you should learn how too,"

Pearl opened her mouth to speak but Sapphire pointed to the sky. "It'll be dark soon, do you really want Ruby to have you two out that late? So late at night that she could get rid of you easily—"

"Fine, whatever," Pearl fussed, snatching Connie's hand and dragging her in the direction of the city.

Ruby, eyes wide, looked towards the waterbender. "Why'd you say that? Now she's even more untrusting of me,"

Sapphire shrugged, smiling softly. "One, it was the only way to convince her and two; it was fun to see her crawl,"

Ruby chuckled, opening her mouth to say something but was stopped by Pearl.

"Are you going to take us or not?"

Sapphire waved playfully. "Have fun,"

"Yeah, fun," Ruby groaned, running over to the pair and stepping in front of them; leading them in the right direction.

Pearl shoved another branch out of her way, glaring at the two in front who were laughing. "Maybe if you were more focused on where we were going, we wouldn't be lost! But instead you're telling jokes,"

Ruby wiped the tears from her eyes, grinning softly. "Sorry, Connie that was a good joke,"

"I try," Connie shrugged, looking around the woods as she calmed down. "I thought we were supposed to be going to a village, why are we in the woods?"

Ruby pointed to the dirt road before them, it was far but there was surely a light at the end of it. "They live in the slums of the firenation, not really a prosperous village. They hunt for food out here, sleep in tents made of leafs and drink from the swamps," The firebender smiled softly. "A friend of mine lived in the slums before her family became rich off of her inventions,"

Connie raised an eyebrow. "Really? But weren't you royalty, wouldn't your mother put a stop to it?"

"Nah, Peridot and her family had already made a big name for themselves—"

Connie gaped. "You were bestfriends with Peridot! She tried to kill us like a thousand times,"

"We weren't bestfriends," Ruby scratched the back of her neck nervously. "…I promised Sapphire I wouldn't tell this story without her hearing it—"

Pearl shoved past the two, glaring. "Can we stop with the storytelling; I want to get there before dark,"

"…about that," Ruby stuttered, tugging on her curly hair nervously. "It's actually getting really dark and my flames can guide us but I wouldn't be able to tell apart quicksand and it could cost us our lives. And it's too late to turn back, so—"

Connie cheered. "Camping! I'll make a tent, I used to do this all the time back home! But with ice," The thirteen year old immediately began collecting large leafs and sticks. "Ruby you start the fire,"

Pearl stomped her foot, leaving a print in the murky ground. "Absolutely not, I did not sign up for this; there is no way I am sharing a tent with her!" She thrust her finger in Ruby's direction, causing the firebender to flinch.

Connie, not liking the airbenders tone, tossed two big leafs at Pearl's feet; speaking monotone (something Sapphire taught her). "Then you can make your own tent, Ruby and I can share,"

Pearl huffed, glaring at the equally shocked firebender. "Fine, as long as I'm far away from you; but in the morning, you better get me to the stupid village and back to our camp." She slapped at her face, growling. "Stupid bugs! Stupid firenation, stupid quicksand, stupid…" She trailed off as she began gathering supplies for her tent.

Ruby sighed, snatching firewood from the ground.

"This fish is really good," Connie complemented, swallowing the last bit of her food. "How'd you learn to cook fish so well, miss 'I have maids to help me do everything'?"

Ruby snickered, poking the fire with a stick. "My dad taught me a lot when my mother was off being a dictator," She glanced at Pearl who had a small fire that would surely go out soon, she looked cold. "…maybe we should give her some of our food—"

Connie frowned. "Why are you always doing this?"

"Huh?" Ruby raised an eyebrow, caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean?"

Connie shrugged. "No matter how mean Pearl and I are to you, you're always thinking of our needs somehow. You lied to Steven just to save my friendship with him and you're doing all of this to make Pearl get the closure she never had,"

"So why do you do it?" The swordsmen asked.

Ruby leaned her face into her palm, sighing. "We're not going to be able to stop my mother if we all hate each other, nothing is going to get accomplished. I don't care if you guys hate me now or even after we end this war, I just want to make sure that my mother doesn't tear apart another nation,"

Connie groaned. "See, you're so humble! Why can't Pearl see this, how come we can't make her—"

"You can't change what's inside people's hearts Connie," Ruby offered softly, the flickering fire reflecting in her eyes. "…trust me, I've tried,"

Connie, feeling a story coming along, grabbed another piece of fish and began nibbling on it.

"…go on,"

The large doors to the firelord's temple was pushed open by thirteen year old Ruby. The young teen was dressed in the appropriate royal silk robes; under that she wore a loose fitted red shirt with the firenation symbol on the front and black sweatpants that fell nicely over her bare-feet. Her curly hair was untamed, the headband was there but couldn't stop thick curls from spilling into her face.

Yellow Diamond sighed, rubbing her temples. "Ruby, you are a soon to be queen, can you not at least brush your hair?"

Ruby swallowed, bowing before her mother. "Forgive me mother, I was sleeping when the maids awoke me and told me how you wanted to see me as soon as possible. I didn't have time to—"

Her mother waved her off. "It's fine,"

Ruby nodded, standing back up as her fingers itched at her side.

It has been three months since she beat Jasper in a dual before the entire royal family and their nation. If you were to ask her how she did it, she wouldn't be able to tell you; even she thought it was luck. Yep, it just happened to be luck that she knew how to redirect lightening after her father taught her how a few years ago before his death.

Jasper had been too busy learning how to make blue flames to learn how to redirect the most powerful form of fire. If they were still on good terms Ruby would have made a joke to her about it, but she feared Jasper would take her life if she mentioned it.

After Ruby won her mother had began to favor her once more and had started inviting her to meetings that Jasper used to attend. So she didn't have time to try out Peridot's new inventions or go to ember island players with Lapis to laugh at their awful skits anymore.

No, she was now first in line of receiving the firelord's title.

"I called you here to ask if you took care of our little problem," Her mother said, looking down at her from her high throne. "You can recall, the incident of those pesky airbenders west from here,"

Ruby stilled, nodding. "Um, I can recall yes. I have not taken care of it yet, and I just…I'm sorry," She sighed. "Why am I supposed to send our best troops over to kill them off? They haven't done anything—"

"Because I said so," Yellow Diamond said, quickly losing her temper. "Listen, I can understand that you're nervous about your first raid; Jasper was too when she was your age. But here's the thing, the avatar has been missing for years and therefore the world is ours for the taking,"

"We are in the process of becoming the most powerful nation," She grinned. "And to become strong, you must crush those beneath you. So, I'll ask again,"

Yellow Diamond glared at her, the fire around them wiping around wildly. "Do you recall?"

"Yes, I recall," Ruby nodded, understanding fully. "…I'll take care of it tonight,"

Yellow Diamond nodded. "You're well on your way to becoming like me one day,"

"…am I?" Ruby asked, not giving her mother a chance to respond before she walked out of the room.

The fire jumped as she passed.

Connie frowned. "So you led the invasion?"

"Of course not," Ruby huffed, glaring at the fire. "I left that night, there wasn't really anything left for me. My father had already passed last year, Jasper hated me and Lapis and Peridot…I could do without them," She finished softly. "Sometimes you have to leave everything behind in order to do what's right,"

She looked at Connie. "I could accept leaving my friends but I couldn't live with the thought of millions of people's blood on my hands," She shook her head. "…how could I sleep at night after doing something like that?"

Connie shook her head. "I thought you were banished, that's what the posters—"

"My mother cares too much about her image and probably knew I would back out and made up that lie," Ruby explained. "I could have done it and then became firelord after my mother passed, but how would I look? Killing people for glory during my teenage years but them talking about equality during my adult years, it would have been foolish,"

Connie's eyes brightened. "That means, the very thing that Pearl is upset about you with…you didn't even take part in it! We have to—"

"I told you, Connie," Ruby muttered. "You can't change the way people see you. We can argue about how I didn't do it but at the end of the day I still knew about it, I could have prevented it but instead I saved myself and ran. I'm a coward—"

"You're the bravest person I've ever met," Connie stopped her, smiling. "You stood up for what was right, no matter how you look at it,"

Ruby gave a thankful smile, glancing at the dark sky. "We should get some sleep," She poked at the fire once more before rising to her feet; she offered the swordsmen a hand. "Come on kiddo,"

Connie accepted the hand without a second thought, grinning. "I'm not a kid, I'm a preteen!"

Pearl watched from her hidden spot behind the tree that was a few feet from the two who had now retired to their sizeable tent. The fire flickered softly in the night, the left over fish taunting her from the leaf that was used as a plate.

She sighed. "…"

Ruby bowed once more. "Thanks again,"

"Stop thanking me Ruby," The old lady scowled. "Any friend of Peridot's is like family to me, so take the stupid blanket and leave before I change my mind and rat you out for a profit!" Her words were harsh but the soft smile on her lips showed her true intentions.

Ruby scratched the back of her neck, chuckling. "Of course,"

"Don't forget us," The woman said, more seriously. "When you become firelord,"

Ruby nodded. "I won't, I'll be different than she is; I promise,"

Pearl, hugging her blanket close, watched the older woman smile brighter. Her eyes trailed over the other village folk who, despite hiding in their tents, also smiled honorably toward the firebender.

"Ruby used to hang out here all the time," Connie said, almost scaring the graceful airbender.

Pearl made a face. "B-but, these are the slums of the firenation. Royalty has no place here—"

"She doesn't care about stupid titles Pearl," Connie said, smiling softly as she watched Ruby hand over whatever money she had left to the older woman. "She wants equality just as much as we do. She gave up her title just to fight for what's right,"

Ruby walked over to them when she was finished, she sighed. "Alright, we should be home early if we leave now. Are you guys ready?"

Connie grinned, pulling the firebender by the arm and dragging her towards the road. "Yeah, how about another story while we walk?"

Ruby chuckled nervously. "How about you tell me a story this time?"

"Mhm," Connie hummed. "I have this funny one about Sapphire's first time waterbending. She nearly fell into a bank of water, it was hilarious!"

Ruby perked up, eyebrows raised. "…I'm listening,"

Pearl walked behind them slowly, listening to the stories they told from afar.

Steven floated down from where he had been talking to Sapphire on the roof, he grinned. "What took you guys so long?" His question was made irrelevant when he saw Pearl holding something. "Ooo, what'd you get?"

Pearl, smiling softly, held up the hand stitched quilt. "My mother knitted it,"

"What is it again?" Connie asked, confused.

Ruby crossed her arms, examining the fine craftsmanship. "It's a quilt, but this one tells a story," She noticed, pointing to the stitching. "…interesting,"

Steven perked up. "What story is it telling?"

Pearl bit her lower lip sheepishly. "About how my mother and father lived in the air temples peacefully before they had to send me away. They have a few panels about my life growing up and how they met each other," She smiled softly, holding back tears.

Connie pointed to the blank spots, frowning. "They didn't finish it,"

"I think they wanted Pearl to finish it," Sapphire commented as she joined the group, standing beside the firebender. "So she can tell her own story for the future generation,"

Steven grinned. "Cool, what are you going to write, or, stitch about?"

Pearl glanced at Ruby, smiling softly. "…about how a lot has changed from a few years ago and how some people aren't as bad as you thought they were." She looked back to the intrigued teens. "How about you two help me?"

Connie and Steven cheered, quickly dragging Pearl inside where they searched for a needle and thread, ready to add more to the quilt.

Sapphire hummed. "I'm guessing the trip went well?"

Ruby shook her head. "Not really, we had to sleep in the woods for a night. I was sure she hated me a few hours ago,"

"Did you tell her another story?" Sapphire suggested.

"No, I just told Connie—" Ruby frowned. "…unless,"

Sapphire smirked. "I don't know wither to be angry at Pearl for ease dropping or at you for telling another story without me."

Ruby shrugged. "I'll tell you about it another time, but Connie did tell me about your first waterbending fail."

"I'm never going to hear the end of this, am I?" Sapphire groaned.

"No," Ruby grinned. "No you aren't,"

I know I make a lot of them in this story but man, I love flashbacks. I'm thinking of Sapphire having one next chapter, any objections?