The Firebender

Chapter 14: Trust

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 25, 1245

I haven't written in my journal for five days, I've just been so busy with training lately. Sapphire started helping me during my sessions, summoning water dummies and sometimes we go against each other one on one; but I've never come close to beating her.

My curiosity got the best of me; I asked her why she had begun hanging out with me lately. Most of the time she's either with Ruby or, no, she's just always with Ruby actually. But she just said something about how close Amethyst and Ruby have been getting, and how she wants to give them room to bond.

She didn't seem upset about it so I dropped the subject. Amethyst, along with Sapphire and Steven, was one of the first people to accept her in our group so it's about time they started hanging out. It also takes a huge load off of Pearl; I haven't heard them bicker in days so maybe this is a good thing?

Besides; what could possibly go wrong?

Connie closed her journal and slid it under her bed quickly as she jumped up and ran out of her room. Her footsteps echoed in the narrow hallway as she ran past the empty rooms that belonged to her other friends; they were probably off doing their own things right now.

Aside from Sapphire who was patiently waiting for her by the lake to begin their daily training exercises, the others were running about in the Northern Air Temple.

Pearl might be walking around to make sure her ancestors temple wasn't being defiled, Steven could be either doing the workouts that Ruby gave to him or on his way to find Connie and show her some cool move he learned, and the other two…

Connie frowned.

"What's with the face?" A cool voice asked from in front of her, the fourteen year old jumped; she had been so lost in her thought that she hadn't noticed that she'd arrived at her destination. "What has you so jumpy?" Sapphire wondered with a slight smirk on her face as she casually bended the water around her with ease.

Connie shifted in her spot, she shrugged. "I don't know, I was just wondering what Amethyst and Ruby do all day. They always come back late at night for dinner and whenever we ask them about it they always shrug it off or make a joke to drive us away from the subject," She crossed her arms. "Don't tell me you aren't just a little bit curious?"

"I respect their privacy," Sapphire simply said, no emotion or care in the world. "Come on, don't you want to practice? A few more weeks from today and we won't have much time,"

Connie huffed. "I want to find out where Amethyst and Ruby go in the afternoons,"

"Connie," Sapphire gave her a look, which most people wouldn't notice past her bangs but being her cousin Connie caught it quickly. "Remember when you thought Ruby was up to no good and decided to follow them to Fire Island, and you almost died?"

The younger girl opened her mouth to protest but her cousin stopped her.

"You're fourteen, going on fifteen in five days," Sapphire dropped her mass of water and walked by her cousin. "You'll learn that sometimes you can't change things in the past, but you can learn from them. Don't make the same mistakes or the same accusations,"

Connie groaned; sick of her cousin always being right. "…fine," She jogged to catch up with the older girl. "…what were we working on last night?"

Sapphire smiled. "Defense,"

Amethyst grinned reassuringly, patting the older teen on the back as they quietly stalked through the woods and towards the nearby campsite. "Don't worry; tomorrow we'll definitely get it right,"

"Yeah," Ruby mumbled under her breath, barely aware that the earthbender was touching her. "There are a few holes in our plan but I think it should work if we add a few more things," She lowered her voice as they got closer to their friends who were at the campfire eating dinner. "…not a word about this, remember,"

"Yeah, of course," Amethyst nodded.

Pearl looked up from her soup; she watched as Amethyst sat beside her while Ruby sat across from them beside a now blushing Sapphire. They both made themselves a bowl and began eating; when it remained quiet Pearl huffed.

"Seriously?" The skinny girl frowned, dropping her bowl into the dirt. "We're all going to ignore the fact that these two come back super late every night with dirt stains and fire burns on their clothes,"

Amethyst frowned. "I was practically born in the dirt,"

"And I'm always burning my clothes when I practice," Ruby mumbled, not looking at the skinny girl; she was used to Pearl's accusations against her. "Did you make this?" Ruby questioned the waterbender, as if she even had to ask.

Sapphire nodded. "Why, do you not like it?"

"It's freaking amazing!" Amethyst said before the firebender could, as she jumped up for seconds.

Pearl huffed. "We're getting off topic. I can't be the only one who is curious to where you two go. We're a team, what happened to not keeping secrets?"

"Privacy is just as important, Pearl," Steven, the all knowing Avatar, said from beside an uneasy Connie. "You have to learn to trust before you can learn to be honest," He mumbled, gaining a soft glance from Ruby before she looked down at her soup.

The firebender stood up. "I'm tired, I'm going to head to my room a little early but I'll see you later,"

"Oh," Amethyst grabbed her bowl, jumping up to follow the firebender. "I'll turn in early too! Later guys,"

Connie groaned, holding onto her legs so she wouldn't be tempted to run after them. She just didn't know how Steven and Sapphire could do it; give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

"They're up to something," Pearl narrowed her eyes. "And I'm going to find out, are you coming with me Connie? They leave right before sun rise so that'll give us time to follow behind them,"

Steven sighed from beside her and Sapphire remained quiet but her lips had moved to form a straight line.

"…I…" Connie groaned, scratching the back of her neck. "…maybe we should just leave them alone?"

Everyone raised an eyebrow, surprised at her confession, even Sapphire seemed shocked.

Connie shifted under their eyes, glaring at the dirt. "Last time we got into a lot of trouble for following Ruby and Steven, we almost lost our lives for being so impulsive. I don't know what they're up to but I do know that they'll think they can't come to us if we keep treating them like criminals,"

"So you're saying we should let th—"

Connie interrupted Pearl, lashing out almost. "I'm saying that they're our teammates and I would keep secrets too if this is how you reacted!" The fourteen year old stood up and ran towards the rooms.

Steven got up to follow, not before giving Pearl a hurt look.

"…what?" Pearl mumbled, leaning her face into her hand as Sapphire began cleaning up. "Aren't you going to yell at me too or give me a dirty look? I probably deserve it,"

Sapphire shrugged. "Yeah, but that wouldn't solve anything. The only thing I can do is offer you a hand and give you some advice on how to apologize to them tomorrow," She smiled.

Pearl nodded, accepting the hand before helping the waterbender cleanup.

It was dinner time once again when Amethyst came running towards the camp fire, alone. The skinny airbender curiously watched as the earthbender whispered something into Sapphire's ear. Pearl swore she had never seen the waterbender jump up so fast or show so much emotion.

Despite the heavy bangs hanging in her face, Pearl could see the impassive girls lips scrunch up and her eye brows curve into a frown.

"I'll be right back," Sapphire said hurriedly over her shoulder, not sparing them another glance as she followed Amethyst away from the camp and towards the woods.

Pearl crossed her arms and looked towards the other two younger teens who were somewhat oblivious. Steven simply continued to eat his noodles and Connie innocently plucked on the stray strands on her sweatpants; she would occasionally glance over her shoulder anxiously, letting Pearl know she was just as curious.

But she wanted to give her friends privacy.

"Really, we're going to pretend that nothing is wrong right now?" Pearl mumbled, glaring at them as they each shrugged and went on with their business. "…alright,"

The skinny woman continued to eat her dinner. "If you're fine with it, I am too," She said sarcastically.

"How did this happen?" Sapphire asked, anxiety in her voice, as she moved a bundle of water over to rest on Ruby's knee to heal the injury. "And don't say you were practicing, there is no way you could have done this much damage,"

The firebender's right knee was gashed right under her knee cap. Large clumps of blood mixed with dirt stained the soon to be infected leg. It seemed as if something had been jammed into it, searching to reach the bone even.

"W-well," Amethyst fiddled with her fingers nervously, straightening up when Sapphire glared at her.

Sapphire paused in her healing to scowl at the younger girl. "Don't lie to me,"

"It isn't her fault," Ruby hissed out, wrapping an arm around Sapphire so she wouldn't pass out from the pain; Sapphire may be an amazing healer but she couldn't numb the pain. "It was my idea…" She mumbled, wiping the sweat off her brow and licking her dry lips.

Sapphire relaxed, noticing Ruby's condition; now was not the time to yell.

"…what happened?" Sapphire asked just above a whisper, watching the bleeding begin to come to a stop slowly. "Does this have anything to do with you two disappearing at night?"

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, it's a crazy idea now that I think about it…I was stupid to think—"

"You're not stupid," Sapphire grumbled angrily, earning a strange look from the firebender. "…I won't judge you, just tell me what you guys were up to,"

Ruby gave her a small nod.

Amethyst, feeling like she didn't belong, walked backwards. "I'll be at the campfire—and you're not listening," She mumbled, watching the older teens talk quietly to each other. "You two really need to just kiss and make out already," She said loudly, not even getting a reaction from the two.

The earthbenders fleeting footsteps didn't reach Ruby's ears as she continued to speak. "I was planning on sneaking my friend, Peridot, out of the firenation and bringing her here. She and I have been writing letters to each other a lot lately,"

"And before you go crazy," Ruby held her hand up in defense. "I mailed them to her family in the fire nation slums where the letters couldn't be traced or wouldn't seem as suspicious. A lot of the guards already know her family lives there so they wouldn't peg it as strange for her to send so many letters their daily,"

Sapphire hummed. "So you and Amethyst have been sneaking out to the slums just to get some mail?"

"No," Ruby shook her head, wincing as the waterbender grabbed some wrapping and begun tying it around her injury tightly. "Er…no, I went to get the mail myself; I got another letter when I was taking Pearl and Connie down there. Peridot said that she's not allowed to leave the royal palace, not even to visit her family, her mom is keeping her on a tight leash lately,"

Sapphire finished wrapping the knee that was slowly swelling. "That's weird, why are they trying to keep her locked up like that?"

"No clue," Ruby shrugged, removing her arm from the taller girl in order to lean back on her hands. "Peridot can't reveal much because the guards read the mail before sending it to other nations,"

The waterbender frowned. "Then why are you trying to sneak her out? It seems like they're doing their best to keep her there and she isn't being treated terrible,"

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Peridot hates living in the firenation; she's completely with me when I talk about not taking innocent lives for corrupt power. She even went as far to suggest she join our side,"

"…can we trust her?"

Ruby grinned. "Peridot has been a close friend of mine for years, she's definitely trust worthy. And if she's on our side, we can put some of her weapons to use," Her grin widened. "Those weapons are so cool, too,"

"Wait, what about all those times she attacked us?" Sapphire frowned, her voice very accusative. "It seemed like she was very pro firenation when she blasted Amethyst in the face with her laser fingers multiple times,"

Ruby scratched the back of her neck. "O-okay, so she's a little bad with first impressions—but! But," She continued when Sapphire gave her a look. "But she's in the same boat with me, understand. If you were living under Yellow Diamonds house with everyone watching you, then you'd do a lot of stuff that you wouldn't want to,"

"My mo—Yellow Diamond," Ruby snarled. "Made a mistake by letting me leave on my own, but she's learned from it. After my betrayal, she's going to make sure that no one else can embarrass her ever again,"

Sapphire was quiet for a few minutes as she tried to take everything in.

Peridot was supposed to be the enemy, how could they just trust her so easily after all the trouble she had caused them. Sapphire glanced over at Ruby who was still giving her a placid look; she was impassive, letting the waterbender know that she wouldn't try to influence her decision.

Peridot was evil, how could they trust her? What if she tricked them and really led the firenation to them?

Everything in Sapphire's mind was telling her to refuse, but her heart.

"…okay," She mumbled, causing Ruby to look up in surprise. "What's the plan?"

If Ruby could change, why couldn't Peridot?

"Are you insane?" Pearl accused. "You want us to break one of our most notorious enemies out of the one nation that has a warrant for our arrest? No, my mistake, they don't have warrants; they just want our heads on a stick!"

Amethyst crossed her arms from where she stood at Ruby's left side. "It's not too crazy of an idea, P. Hell, we've got the Firelord's daughter teaching the Avatar to firebend,"

Steven nodded from his spot on the floor, but remained silent.

Connie frowned, walking up to Ruby and pointing to her leg. "What happened to your knee?"

"I bet Peridot did it to her during the 'rescue' plan," Pearl scoffed.

"It did happen during our rescue plan but it wasn't Peridot," Ruby mumbled, not at all taken back by Pearl's attitude towards her. "I have a clear map of the firenation grounds after years of living there, I wrote to Peridot about getting her near the gates and she tried to warn me about new traps that they had but I didn't listen,"

"I knew there were underground traps which is why I brought Amethyst with me to sense them for me," She gestured to the earthbender. "But then we came across the bank of water, I thought I could manage if I used my flames as a light but I didn't count on there being traps in the water either."

Amethyst flinched at the memory. "They were sensitive to movement, so when she barely grazed it then a metal pipe emerged and jammed her in the knee; but she didn't even scream, that part was cool," She grinned.

Ruby shrugged. "My mother thought it was a sign of weakness to make any sound that resembled pain, I flinch and wince but I never scream."

Sapphire made a mental note to test that theory in the future.

Pearl shivered. "…do we really want another person with terror stories from their childhood with Yellow Diamond to scar us for life?"

"Ooh," Connie jumped up excitedly. "Do you think Peri will tell us some stories?"

Pearl frowned. "We already have nicknames? We don't even know if—no, I am positive that we aren't breaking our necks to get someone who will probably betray us!"

"She won't," Ruby frowned, rubbing her temples in aggravation. "She's a good friend of mine,"

Pearl crossed her arms. "Your definition of good friends include Lapis Lazuli and Peridot; not helping your case,"

"There are too many things that could go wrong," Steven spoke up suddenly, causing everyone to watch as he stood up. "We'll have to change things up," He grinned, earning a small smile from Sapphire and a shocked on from Ruby.

This kid was too nice.

Pearl whined. "Steven, you can't be serious!"

"Ruby's right, if we can get Peridot on our side then we'll have a great advantage for the battle," Steven concluded, hands on his hips. "You couldn't do it alone but together we can pull this off. But don't go off on your own next time, just trust that we've all got your back,"

He nudged Pearl in the stomach.

The skinny airbender straightened up, she cleared her throat. "…I suppose…it wouldn't be awful to have up to date technology on our side,"

Ruby was taken back when Amethyst slapped her on the back, causing her to hop on one leg to avoid further injury to the other; Sapphire glared at the earthbender.

"Let's get to work then!" The chubby girl cheered. "Operation rescue Peri is a go!"

Ruby smiled softly. "This is nice,"

"What?" Sapphire questioned.

Ruby shrugged. "…having somewhat of a family that trusts you and will risk everything to help you, I guess I missed out on that when I was younger."

"…well," Sapphire gave her a soft smile. "Better late than never,"

Ruby grinned. "Yeah,"

Time to bring back Peridot! I'm kind of excited because I've never given her a speaking role, not even through the flashbacks. There will be many flashbacks with Peridot once they get to her, but probably not the next chapter; but definitely after that one.

Hope you liked this Chapter and please review, thanks.