Burn My Dread FES
By Iain R. Lewis
Disclaimer: Characters and concepts belong to Nickelodeon, some of the concepts are similarly inspired by Persona 3 and Persona 4, property of ATLUS games.
"When stars're smiling at moon, wonder how they look in your eyes. If I could ever tell you that, wouldn't I feel so weak -- pray in the heart."
- When the Moon's Reaching Out the Stars - Reincarnation-
Yumi Kawamura
Chapter 15: From Darkness
"He's gone."
A shiver ran down Azula's spine, the air in here seemed colder than before. Their surroundings didn't seem affected, but somehow things felt strange. He should be here, they saw him going this way.
"He was so close," Katara continued.
She could see the shadows playing off his face, she could even make out that silly headband he always wore. They'd been feet away and he disappeared, again! Why was he being so elusive? Could he just not face them? Face her?
Or was there something else beneath the surface?
Sokka lay Toph down on the couch and stretched his back out, splaying his hands in the air while yawning. "Okay, we're back, so now what?" The door rattled a bit, and Zuko grunted as he tried with even more force to pull it open. "No luck?"
Zuko shook his head.
"Great,"
"We need to rest up," Azula said, tiredly, "We've been going non-stop through a garden, a desert, and an old water resevoir. Despite the unusual circumstances, I think it's probably best if we all go to our own rooms and try and get some sleep."
"No objections here," Katara said, a yawn still lingering on her lips, "I'm still stinging from where Toph shot me."
Yue spoke up, voice tiny, "What should I do?"
"Oh, that's right, you don't have a room. Wait a second," Katara said, ducking behind the desk, "We've still got the keys to the other rooms for another day before we have to turn them over to the school."
"Turn them over? Why?" Yue gasped. "Are they forcing you out?"
"Yeah, a certain hotheaded delinquent CEO decided it's not really worth keeping this place open next semester. What a jerk, right?"
"Sokka!"
"Why would you do that, Zuko! After all this place has been through!" Yue sounded resolute, and it took Zuko aback. He wasn't used to seeing that sort of fire in her eyes.
"Relax, Yue," Katara said, "Sokka's just being an idiot like usual. Zuko and Sokka are graduating, so it'd be just Toph and me next semester, and two people don't really make up a dorm room."
"But it would be Azula as well," Yue said, weakly.
"Some memories are best off forgotten," Katara added. Azula furrowed her brow. Perhaps this invisible chill came from the feeling of loneliness the boxed up corridors gave off. "We've got the place for one more day, anyway, and now that you've joined us, the party here's finally complete."
Almost, Azula silently amended.
"Yeah, but right now," Sokka rubbed his shoulder, "I think I need to lie down."
"Agreed." Azula started up the stairs. "When everyone is rested we'll figure out our next action." The others seemed to agree and dispersed. The momentary respite, while welcome, seemed strange.
She approached her door and just as her hands touched the knob, she heard a creak. She looked behind her, and saw Katara and Yue opening one of the vacant rooms. The creaking continued even as they stood still.
"Something wrong, Azula?" Katara asked as she headed across the way to her room.
"No. I just thought I heard something."
"Oh."
An awkward pause only made the more-so by the seemingly hallucinatory creaks that were increasing in frequency. "Azula, about earlier."
"What are you talking about?"
"Earlier, in the desert, before the flood and everything," Katara hesitated, "I feel really weird about how blase we're getting over this sort of thing, you know." She laughed, weakly, and Azula exchanged a faltering smile in return.
When her laughter finally ended its brief and pathetic existence, she turned serious. "I said some things earlier that you didn't deserve."
"Whatever are you babbling about," Azula said, narrowing her eyes. "Are you trying to apologize to me for something?"
"I just don't know why Aang chose you for this. We -- I mean, after all we've been through together I thought for certain if he could trust anyone with that, it would be me. After the things you've done, I can't imagine why he chose you."
Azula shook her head, "I don't suppose that's meant to come across as a 'I forgive you' knowing you."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped.
Azula brought her hands up, and shook her head, "Exactly that. Katara, I'm surprised no one ever mentioned that you hold a grudge far too long for your own good. Ten years you blamed the Phoenix Group for what happened to your mother and never once listened to what we had to say."
"You didn't exactly earn our trust by what happened," Katara retorted.
"Maybe, maybe not."
"Every single time I started to trust you, you proved to me that I was an idiot for even thinking that. Azula," their steely gazes met, "Don't make me regret this."
Azula had no answer.
Thankfully, she didn't need to give one. Katara took a breath to compose herself and turned around, "Get some sleep, Azula. You'll need it."
Maybe she would when the creaking finally stopped. As soon as Katara closed her door, the creaks stopped, replaced by a loud crash and some shouts from inside her room. Her eyes widened. What sort of creature would have infiltrated her dorm room? All of her suspicions were boiling to the surface.
She threw open her door and saw Xiao amongst a pile of her things that were thrown into disarray. She looked at her bed and then back at Xiao. Muscles spasmed around her left eye, twitching erratically.
"Hi!"
She closed the door and marched towards the small girl, whose smile never once dimmed.
"Is something wrong?"
"What are you doing here!"
Even though she was sure she looked like some sort of demon, hair in a mess, eye twitching rapidly, and her hands barely kept from clenching tight into fists, Xiao did not even seemed phased by her appearance, "I waited here, since it's your room. I wanted to see it!"
"Isn't that precious," Azula muttered. The mysteries surrounding Xiao weren't ones she'd openly discuss with the others, but she couldn't fully explain why. Besides the suspicions abotu her sanity, there was something about her that compelled her to keep silent.
But, if Azula were honest with herself, finding XIao here wasn't much of a surprise. In fact, not seeing her here would have been more unusual. "Your bed's bouncy!"
"I heard," Azula said, literally cracking a smile across her face, "Why are you hopping on my bed, again?"
"Because I could?" she offered, weakly. "But! But I came to talk to you! It's mega-important, okay? So you have to listen to me now."
"All right," and really, what choice did she have? It seemed like the girl was omni-present.
She straightened her black dress and smiled a brilliant white smile, "Good! Okay, now what was it I was supposed to tell you?" She tapped her pursed lips, looking thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Oh! I remember now! It's about the maze. You need to be mega-careful in there now."
As if they hadn't already, but she couldn't exactly say that aloud. The girl was easily upset and if she did have valuable information, she needed to keep her happy. "I will be."
"You don't understand! Those spirits before now were just push-overs. The real thing is deep inside the maze, just waiting to burst out of the darkness, and the closer you get to the heart of the maze, the closer you get to him!"
Him?
"Who do you mean?"
Xiao paused, and looked down, "I can't tell you that. He'll hurt me if he finds out."
"He won't find out," Azula said. She was certain this was it, the first real break she had in figuring out what was going on. "Who is this man?"
"He doesn't have a name," she answered, looking at the blackened windows, "He's like a part of the darkness. When he can reach as far as he can reach, everything will end just like I told you. Before I didn't mind, but now that I've met you, I'm scared of it."
"Is he the one who made this maze?" She needed answers.
"I don't know! But everywhere you go in the maze he'll find you. So you need to be mega-careful. If even a teensy tiny piece of him sees you, you run, okay? Promise me! Promise!"
She held out her pinky, just like a little girl. Azula hesitated and extended hers. Xiao reached up and wrapped their pinky fingers and shook them, "I'll run if things get too rough, Xiao. I promise."
"Yay! I knew I could count on you. You're the best!"
It was strange how they couldn't even see out the windows. It was almost like the building itself was pulled deep into the maze, now. She shut the blinds, unable to look out and sat at her desk. Xiao leaned over her shoulder and looked at the various things on the desk.
"Oooh, who's that?"
"My father."
"He looks strong!"
"He was, once," she responded without thinkng. "He isn't around anymore."
"Oh, that's too bad." The way she said it caused Azula to look over her shoulder at the girl. The rehearsed, unfeeling manner almost reminded her of someone, but who it was she couldn't place. "Who's that?"
"That is from the prom," Azula responded. She turned it over, face down, "That's all I want to say about that."
"Why?"
"Xiao, some things are personal. You shouldn't simply ask people about them and expect them to tell you."
"Was that your boyfriend?"
"I don't have a boyfriend," Azula answered.
"Why not?" Azula stared at Xiao, who smiled right back. Something about the way she smiled, it oozed out insincerity. No, it was more than that. Something far more off-putting, and even a little frightening.
"Why are you asking me that?" Azula continued, level, unfazed by her epiphany.
"No reason! So! When are we going back into the maze?"
"Soon. I need some rest."
"Okay!"
Azula pushed herself out of her chair and walked over to the bed. She stopped when she saw that Xiao rushed ahead of her and leapt into the bed herself. "What are you doing, Xiao?"
"I wanna rest too!"
Azula groaned. "Xiao. That's my bed."
"And since it's yours, I want to sleep in it!" She stared at Azula with bright, copper eyes. "Is it okay, pretty please?"
Azula saw where this was headed. She couldn't refuse. The illusion of choice in the matter was present, but as soon as she refused, that would change and the complex net of conditional scenarios that would ultimately lead to Azula relenting.
It worked wonders on Zuko growing up, but she wouldn't fall for that. "All right." Xiao gave a tired cheer before yawning loudly and closing her eyes.
"Night, night, Azula. I'm glad you're here, I really am."
Her eyelids felt heavy, too, she came to realize, and she rested her head on the bed, her eyelids drooping and finally surrendering to sleep.
Toph awoke.
Toph waking in the morning was a documented source of seismic activity, as she stamped her feet against the ground happily taking in the little shockwaves as her sight returned to her. Her unique means of seeing the world around her, how she'd missed it.
She could see the little coffee table near the sofa, and the divider between the main hall and the small lounge, and the door and even, if she concentrated really hard and sent a ripple powerful enough, the broken lock in the door.
Like second nature, she observed her surroundings and found them mostly like she remembered them. A bunch of boxes cluttered the halls, but that was okay, she remembered putting them there. She couldn't even sense a giant maze attached to the basement, which was more puzzling than comforting at this point.
Along with her bending returning she felt a feeling of, well, the best word she could think of was relief. Just like she'd finally cast off her book bag after a long day at school. All of the doubts and insecurities she carried but never felt suddenly became all the more obvious because of their absence.
She wasn't feeling tired anymore. Actually, she wanted to hit something. And since she wasn't dumb enough to charge headlong into the maze alone, Sokka would have to do in the interim. The downstairs foyer was empty, so she'd bet they went to their rooms.
Charging up the stairs like a bolt, she found Sokka's room easily enough -- it was the one with the snoring for one thing -- and banged against the door loudly. "Sokka wake up!" she shouted in one long breath.
This did not appear to do anything but cause a momentary pause in the rhythmic saw-sounds coming from behind the door, and that left Toph feeling more than a little frustrated. Well, she could break down the door, but first, she wanted to check something.
The knob turned easy enough.
Saved her having to hear it from Zuko about the dorm property not belonging to her, at least. Good old Sokka, absent minded about pretty much everything. In a couple of months, she'd bet a lot of people at his university would be very interested to know that he doesn't remember to lock his door.
The room is a cluttered mess, but she's able to navigate it with no problems, tossing aside a few of the fluffier and lighter things -- like the Omashu Sabre-Moose Lion mascot doll that constantly found its way to the ground from Sokka's bed from the constant turning -- and coming to the foot of his bed.
Now, how to proceed? Toph had options, she knew. She could obviously do more yelling and banging. She could find some water and splash him. She could locate his CD player in this mess and put on some of his avante garde hipster music on full-bore right in his ear. She could even kiss sleeping beauty to awake him.
Except for the possibly catastrophic repercussions should it actually work, Toph lingered on the last one for longer than she'd care to admit. In the end, she went with the direct approach.
She jumped on his stomach. "Wake up!"
He made a face as he jumped upright in shock and nearly threw Toph tumbling to the floor. "Whoa who what's happening why am I here I was paying attention!"
"Whoa, whoa," Toph said with a laugh, "It's just me, Snoozles. Was bored. Wanted to hit something."
"Was that what that was about?" He rubbed his stomach, "My poor tummy. First it's starved and then it's stomped on."
"Suck it up!"
"Hey, what are you implying!"
"Absolutely nothing!" Toph grinned in an altogether malevolent fashion. "Come on! Let's wrestle!"
"What got into you?" he asked, rubbing out the sleep from his eyes from behind a yawn, "You look like you've got enough energy to power Ba SIng Se for, like, a week."
"Feels like it!" Toph answered, "Come on, too chicken to wrestle me?"
"Yes, dreadfully chicken," Sokka deadpanned his response, laying back down, "Now I am going to sleep until I can match your energy. Good night."
"Sleeping is boring!" Toph said, in a huff.
"Sorry."
"If you were sorry you'd wrestle with me."
"Sorry."
"You're not funny," Toph mumbled. "Come on, I really just want to do something."
"Go bug Katara. I bet she'll wrestle you."
"Nah, she's too girly." Toph crossed her arms and Sokka choked back a guffaw. "What?"
"Katara can be girly, sure, but she can beat me in a wrestling match nine times out of ten. Don't tell her I admitted that, by the way, masculine pride, you know how it goes."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Toph sneered, bristling under insinuation.
"I don't know. Just that you're one of the guys? I'm tired, I'm talking crazy and I think my mushroom friend has decided to go and rendezvous with some circle birds from Katara's little desert maze and we're all expected for tea at Missus Jiji's at four."
"Okay, you're talking too much crazy for even me to stand. Get to bed," Toph grumbled, stomping on the floor.
"Nighty night, Toph," Sokka said dreamily before resuming his snoring. Toph's frustration rose. She needed some way to channel that energy. Her atetntion turned to Aang's room on the far side of the hall. A devilish grin played on her face.
She stomped over and pulled at the door.
It didn't budge.
She could have sworn they left it unlocked, to move the rest of his things out. Not that anyone went in there at all -- only Momo was brave enough to venture into the room up until now. She pounded at it, and still not even a jangle from the handle.
That was not normal.
She bolted downstairs. She knew where Katara kept the set of keys, and rummaged around behind the desk. Despite going through every cabinet, she couldn't find them. She charged up the stairs, still brimming with energy and slammed her fists on Katara's door. "Open up!"
The door opened after a second and a disheveled and wild-eyed Katara opened the door, "Toph? What's wrong?"
"Where are the keys?"
Katara yawned and slouched over, "Toph, why do you need them?"
"Aang's room is locked!"
She seemed to be processing things slowly, and once she finally came to a conclusion, she just stretched and turned around, "I'm going back to bed, Toph."
"Hey! Gimme the keys at least!"
"Good night, Toph."
"Don't try and ignore me! I can stay here all day if I have to!"
Katara turned around slowly, "First off, Aang's door isn't locked, second, I don't trust you with these keys after earlier when you kept locking my door, and lastly, why do you even want to go in there?"
"All excellent points," Toph said, "But I'm serious."
Katara grabbed the keys and stomped out of the room, "Let's make this quick." Toph smiled and leisurely strolled over to the stairs. "Very funny."
"You first, Sweetness."
Katara stared at Toph for a minute before walking down the stairs to the boys' floor. It was still a mess, with Sokka's boxes littered across the floor haphazardly. She'd have to tell him to clean that up once this was over with.
Aang's room shouldn't have been locked. They planned to clean it out, at least, Sokka and Zuko volunteered to do it, since Katara still couldn't bear to enter that room. She was certain she could now, but she still didn't feel it was time.
Toph on the other hand strolled behind, hands behind her head, a big grin on her face, "Come on, weren't we making this quick?"
Of course, Toph couldn't tell her everything about the door.
"Toph, wake up everyone."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
What was wrong? The door! It was covered with shadows.
She was getting tired of this.
"Can't I just rest my eyes without you popping up?" she said with a yawn.
It was that room again, the one with the indigo shade and the dreamlike quality. It looked maybe only a slight bit different than last time she'd been there, but she couldn't be so certain, since the things around them seemed almost like they blurred together in her memory.
"Sorry!"
Sorry wasn't going to cut it, "Let me guess, you have some sort of helpful hint for me to proceed deeper into the maze."
"Well, yeah," he said, his mask's smile never dimming. "Sort of, I guess. The spirits in the maze are getting restless. They're stuck just like you are, and it's driving them crazy. The longer they're in there, the more this place is affecting them."
"So we'll have to be extra careful?"
"Well, yes," Azula rolled her eyes at his response. He was far too late with that helpful tidbit. "But the important thing is that you remember that something is drawing them in here. It's like some kind of black hole, just consuming everything that it can find."
"So, whatever this thing is, we need to find it and kill it?" Azula yawned, "Well, that's good to know."
"Azula."
"What?"
"Are you feeling okay?" he tilted his head, "I don't know if what's affecting the spirits is having an effect on you, too. All of you could be in great danger the longer you spend here."
"I'm fine. I've never felt better."
"And what about that girl you mentioned, the one who had you sign that contract?" he asked, "Has she appeared to you lately?"
She frowned, "I don't know why I should tell you."
"I don't think you should trust her. Only very few people could have given you a contract like that, and many aren't to be trusted."
"Like you?"
Lee hesitated, before answering, "I know, I know. I wish I could do more than just tell you all of this stuff, but I can't leave this place. I'm putting all my trust in you, Azula. Please, be careful in there."
She frowned. "Tell me, why is Aang running away from us?
"Aang?" Lee sounded shocked, caught completely unawares. "Why is Aang running from you? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever!"
"That's what I thought. I thought he was leading us somewhere, but why wouldn't he just tell us that?"
Lee shook his head, "I don't know what this Aang is up to, but be careful, Azula. Nothing in this maze is what it seems."
"Like I needed you to tell me that." She brushed her hair back, "Is the maze still expanding like before?"
"Yes, at a much faster rate. I'm a little worried, but you're almost there! As far as I can tell, there's only two more of those strange doors that you've been through, but once you've gone through them, you should be near the center of the maze."
"And that's where we want to go, is it?"
"Whatever made this maze should be there, wouldn't you think?" he said, cheerily.
She couldn't exactly disagree with that logic. It was her suspicion as well. "So two more. Sokka and Zuko, I'd think."
"Or maybe one of them is yours," he suggested. She scoffed. She was much more in touch with herself than the others. She didn't create any illusions in her mind about who she was. "It's still a possibility, no matter how weird it may sound."
"I'll keep that in mind."
There was a banging noise.
"You're waking up," Lee said. "Soon, we'll meet outside of these dreams, I think. I can't wait! But, be careful until then, okay, Azula?"
"I'll try,' she said, yawning, "I'll try."
Reality came into focus as the words left her lips. She was laying her head against the bed and her neck felt like it'd been twisted at an odd angle, and no matter how she rolled her neck, it didn't seem to help any.
She looked at the pillow. No one was sleeping in the bed, and it almost looked as though no one had slept in it at all.
She looked at the door, the source of the banging, "Azula! Hurry up! We gotta go!"
"What's happening?"
"Something's funny about Aang's room, so hurry up!"
She sat up and stretched. What could she be talking about, anyway? She brushed her hair out of her face and retied it into its perfectly styled look almost compulsively, and set down the stairs as fast as her feet could carry her.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Toph said once she joined them. "This isn't good, is it?"
She looked at the door and frowned. "Most certainly not." She put her hand to the door. The shadows seemed to let her pass, but when she tried to open the door they held hard and tight, not budging in the slightest, "A barrier."
"Yeah, that's what we thought," Sokka added. "I think the question is who made the barrier."
Azula frowned. Something waiting in the darkness, a darkness that pervaded everything inside the maze, that's what did this. But for the first time the thought crossed her mind that perhaps it was more than simply a force, but instead a being with thought and presence, one that was following their every move in the maze.
"It has to be whatever created the maze," Azula said.
"But why a maze?" Katara asked, "And why seal this door? Is there something on the other side?"
"Well, maybe, let's say, it's like the basement door now, and it leads inside the maze instead of Aang's room," Sokka said. "That's what I thought anyway."
"That makes sense, but that still doesn't explain why make a maze."
"Yeah, that's kind of confusing to me, too," Sokka admitted.
"Lots of things are confusing to you, Sokka," Toph quipped.
Sokka rolled his eyes and dryly laughed, "Very funny, Toph." He closed his eyes and shurgged his shoulders, "Don't know what's with the maze. A tunnel would have made more sense."
The group shuffled their feets while an awkward silence fell on them. "Well this has been a spectacular waste of time," Azula commented. "I suppose we should be ready to move. We don't want to linger in this maze too long, do we?"
A collective shake of heads followed.
"Get yourselves ready quickly. Any last minute preparations, get them out of the way. Sokka, Zuko, you better do some soul searching because there are at least two more of those doors and the quickest way to the center is through them."
The boys met her steely gaze and nodded slowly.
"If there aren't any objections?"
"Why can't we just find our way through the maze?" Katara asked, looking over at her brother with a worried expression, "Toph's other self nearly killed us! If they keep getting stronger --"
"We can handle it, Sweetness," Toph answered before Azula could intercede. "Snoozles and Matchstick aren't going to be half as bad as mine." She grinned, "I'm just that awesome."
"Right," Azula muttered in response, "Regardless, my woman's intuition is telling me that the spirits inside the maze are more deadly than those inside those strange pocket worlds. And so far, we've come out the stronger for our ordeals, wouldn't you agree, Katara? Or would you prefer to be without your bending right now?"
"I guess you're right," she answered, "But it's still dangerous."
"I can handle this, Katara, don't worry."
"I know, Sokka," she sighed, "Let's just be careful, everyone, And let's be positive, too!"
Positive thinking would be of great help right around now, Azula thought. The idea that something lurked in that maze, something born in darkness, just sent a shiver down her spine. She remembered how Sokka described their encounter with Agni.
Sometimes, the darkness that invaded her memories frightened her.
"Zuko?" Azula looked over as Yue approached Zuko, her head bowed just slightly, "Thank you for earlier. I'm sorry if I didn't react fast enough."
He grunted in response. Typical Zuko, too busy with his own internal monologue to pay attention to any dialogue he'd be dragged into.
"And I just wanted to say I'll be more careful in the future."
He nodded. She fretted.
"Yue, with me," Azula said, "I have some things we need to discuss."
"Coming, Azula," she bowed again to Zuko, "Thank you once again," before she rushed after Azula up the stairs. Azula opened the door to her room and started to rummage about the boxes. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
'"Sokka and Zuko, do you think their other selves will be as dangerous as the ones we fought before?"
"I don't see why they wouldn't be," Yue said, "Everyone represses some things. I'm not a psychologist, however."
"Do you think we'll lose?" she asked, more pointedly.
"Oh, heavens no! Not with Katara, Toph, and yourself. I think we're finally coming back together as a team. Everything feels so much less tense than it did when you first found me. Even Katara seems to be opening up to you," Yue smiled brightly, "And I knew you could do it."
"Do what?"
"Come back. I always thought you would. I know the others don't want to admit it, but we were so worried about you when the Tower was destroyed. I never lost faith, and neither did Aang."
Azula winced. "I don't particularly need to know that, do I?"
"I suppose not, but he would want you to know, I think."
Azula winced again. She didn't want to know that he cared. It made things complicated and while she wasn't usually one to shy away from a few complications, they were definitely unwanted in this regard. "Do you think that boy we followed was Aang?"
"I think so," Yue answered, "But I don't understand it. He isn't acting like himself at all."
That was a recurring thread here, Azula observed. She furrowed her brow. So many mysteries, so few answers. "I think whatever we're facing here is dangerous, far more dangerous than any spirit I've ever encountered before."
Yue nodded, "It certainly seems so."
"Any ideas?"
Yue hesitated, before answering slowly, "I trusted Aang to get us through our fight with Agni, and he came through for us then. I trust you will know what to do when the time comes, as well, or else the Avatar Spirit would have chosen someone else."
Doubt was something she didn't need. Of course that was the case. She did not need to wallow over what-ifs and other possible scenarios. She would know what to do because that is who she is. "Thank you, Yue, you're absolutely right."
"But."
Azula's hairs stood on end. She would not contradict the certainty of being Azula. She could not.
"I think all the same, you shouldn't be so distant from everyone. Aang trusted in all of you when the time came, and you gave him strength."
"I'll keep that in mind," she replied, icily.
"If that's all you needed me for."
"That was all." Azula stared at Yue as she exitted the room, closing the door gently behind her. Relying on others for strength was as good as admitting weakness. Her father would never approve of something like that.
And yet, where was her father now?
These doubts born in darkness bubbled under the surface. She turned back to the boxes and pocketed some ammunition when she found it. She would not be unprepared and she wouldn't doubt herself when the time came.
Zuko stared at the entrance to the maze, his eyes flickering with some buried emotion. He seemed to be stuck in place, his swords sheathed and slung over his jacket. Moments like this seemed to be more troubling on Katara than they were on him, however.
She couldn't quite place when it happened, when he started to withdraw from everyone in the group. It must have been a month after Aang's -- sleep took hold, she thought, but the change started gradually.
"Zuko?" He looked over at her, the introspective mist in his eyes dispersing as he did. She was certain even he didn't realize he was doing it, regressing to how she first knew him. "Are you all right?"
"Fine."
"You seem out of it." He shook his head. It wasn't unexpected. He always seemed like an oyster-clam, shutting everyone out whenever anyone asked anything remotely personal. "Is it what Azula said, about having to go through more of those things?"
He didn't answer, which she took to mean she'd hit the nail on the head.
"Don't make me do this all over again. I'm not sure I've got the patience to befriend you a third time, Zuko," she said, teasingly. He looked over at her, surprised. "You're acting like we're not here, again."
"I don't mean to," he answered, casting his eyes down like a scolded school boy. "I've just got a lot of things I'm dealing with. The company runs itself, mostly, but people expect me to know what's happening where."
"You are going to university, right?"
He nodded.
"What for?"
He answered, blandly, "Business."
"Oh."
"Someone needs to make sure the company is still running. My family built it up from nothing, I can't just let it fall to pieces because --"
And there, a moment of the Zuko she knew popping out, ended just as suddenly as he realized what he was saying. "Go on," she urged, knowing that it was futile.
"No, never mind. It's nothing."
"Zuko --"
"Everyone!" Azula's shout echoed through the building, "We're moving now."
"Ready, Katara?" Zuko asked, looking up at her. She sighed and let her shoulders slump.
"As I'll ever be, I guess." She looked at the entrance to the maze, the cold stone statues looked misshapen and eroded now, hideous monstrosities that the darkness just made more revolting. "Wonder what else this place can throw at us."
A lonesome howl was her only answer.
.... It was the first time I really thought about what lie in wait for us in the future. Up until that point, the only thing I worried about was surviving from one turn to the next until we found out way out. The idea that something, someone aware and alert enough to trap us in this labyrinth -- it was terriftying. If I were any less of a person, I think I would have hid in my room.
Unfortunately there were more immediate concerns waiting inside that maze. The spirits -- or whatever monsters they'd become -- grew more and more deadly with each passing hour, and those doorways lead us into greater and greater danger each time. Even with Toph back on the front lines, I didn't feel very optimistic about what would face us.
It's funny, though, that the very moment I stopped thinking of this as a game, things landed us into more and more game-like situations. What we would find behind the next door made me believe we had finally lost our senses....
To be continued.