Death...death...death...death...
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants." -Sir Isaac Newton
AVATAR
The Celestial Sailors
BOOK THREE: DEATH
32: On the Shoulders of Giants
na...
ko...
nako...
Minako...
Minako...
"Minako!"
She gasped, startled out of her stupor as Ami shouted at her. Her entire body felt numb, her mouth dry, her chest cold and hollow. She was experiencing total shock, and would have trembled if she had any strength to move. Ami took her by the shoulders, blue fire dancing desperately in the bright light.
"We have to move! Iblis is moving further inland and he's sent a whole swarm of..." Ami paused, suddenly realizing what was happening. Minako was dead in all things save the body, standing not upon will but by paralyzing disbelief that locked her bones into a living rigor mortis. A chill ran across Ami's skin as she attempted to penetrate this haze.
"Minako, what's wrong? Talk to me!"
"He's gone," was all she got, after a long silence. The words barely mumbled their way out, "I saw him. He's gone."
"Who's gone?" Ami pressed. Minako was forced to reenact her memory.
"My fath... Daddy. Sifu dad..." Her mind snapped; she broke down; tears gushed, and she wailed. Ami's love crumbled right before her eyes and there was nothing she could do for her. There would not be any comfort to find on the battlefield.
"Minako, we have to keep moving. We still have to fight! Here, put your arm around my..."
"I saw him die. One minute he was there, and the next... Gone. Evaporated."
"I know!" Ami exclaimed, pushing aside her own sorrow. If she had witnessed her own mother torn apart, she would have been no less horrified—but they didn't have the luxury of grieving now. "But we can't stop," she managed, perhaps cruelly. "We need to finish this! Come on, I can't do this alone. We need to meet up with—"
"How could you be so insensitive?!" Minako screamed, thrusting herself off, glaring like a wild animal with teeth bared. Ami weathered her fury as only a clinical doctor could—as only a friend, lover, and trusted companion could.
"Because lots of people are dying," she stated with rigid resolve. "And the longer we take, the more lives will be lost. The barrier is down and Iblis is vulnerable...and I'm fairly certain I saw Hotaru on the battlefield. If we can pierce through this last wave and catch up to Iblis with Usagi, we can end this. We can't do it without you, Mina. If you want to avenge your father, you're going to have to snap out of it and—"
Minako nearly slapped Ami, but she didn't budge. She didn't even flinch. Her eyes burned with a fire nobody had ever seen before. Minako may as well have tried swatting away a mountain. She froze, her hand raised, halfway between Right and Wrong. Tears gushed forth again, and she trembled.
Ami gently took her into her arms and whispered, softly:
"Please, Mina. Mourn later. Fight now."
She had to squeeze tight to keep the other girl from shaking uncontrollably. She keened softly, almost sinking to her knees. Ami kept whispering please, please, please, until Minako stood. As she stared out at the battlefield, she had the eyes of a dead woman.
"He's heading northeast," she stated, her voice raspy and worn. "He's taking a portion of his army with him. I'll go call Haruka to help us. If anyone's fast enough to catch up to Iblis, it's her."
"Good," Ami said, relaxing her shoulders as she issued a sigh. "I'll see if anyone needs some healing before we move on. We took a bit of a nasty fall when Iblis destroyed that giant." Minako nodded mutely, then turned away, building an orb of air to ride on. She zoomed off without another word.
"Just hang on," Ami whispered. "I swear we'll make him pay for this."
…...
Kotono extinguished one more Lightbringer before realizing she was out of arrows. She cursed and discarded her bow and quiver, falling back on a handful of throwing knives. Rather than spend them, however, she took up a threadbare Fire Nation flag and standard. She waved it in the air, commanding her troops to retreat and regroup, tossing knives at any Lightbringer that got too close. Scores of fire-benders withdrew, keeping their formation tight as artillery covered them; Oboro himself led the retreat, his spear broken in half and his face covered in blood. He locked eyes with Kotono for a moment and grinned.
"Situation under control," he reported. "Minor casualties on our side. I can't feel my right arm, but thank Agni I've got a spare." A steady trickle of blood poured down the limp appendage; Kotono paled as she saw it but tried not to let it affect her.
"Well done! What about my brother and the others?"
"They all fought wonderfully, your highness. Your brother has his ancestors' fighting spirit! He'll make a good...WATCH OUT!" Oboro threw himself at Kotono, shoving her aside as a Lightbringer plunged its burning arm at her. One victim was spared in exchange for another, but he held firm, his broken spear unerringly plunged through. The enemy faded, and with it, the light in Oboro's eyes. Kotono caught him as he fell, and held his hand until it was over.
"No regrets," Oboro whispered. "Gotta say, it'll be good to see Kalkin again. I think he...owes me a...drink or two, the...cheapskate. Kotono...it was...an honor to..." He sighed, and that was it. Kotono gave him the same number of tears she shed for Jaedite before calling for assistance. Four strong men bore Oboro's body away on a bier, leaving her standing with blood and dirt and tears on her face. Kotono's eyes burned, and she continued to be the beacon for her people, waving the Fire Nation's flag all the fiercer.
Kartta and Keya stayed behind to cover the others. A herd of Thunderhorns were cutting off the majority of the enemy from the Fire Nation, but some Lightbringers still slipped through. Their light stood little chance against the twin swords of Damascus steel and Lemurian art; their fire was useless against the merciless bite of honed edges and decades of relentless training. The ancient Fire Nation goddess Karttakeya grinned triumphantly as her namesakes stemmed the slaughter, an impenetrable vanguard of swift death and pealing destruction.
One of the Thunderhorns was overcome, though, swarmed by countless Lightbringers. It took them a moment to realize Salamander was perched on it, and though they rushed to her aid, they came to the rescue too late, as soon all that remained were her screams. Suo and Ku Sheng barreled in on a dragon, avenging her loss by laying waste to the legion, and they smiled at each other in a moment of peace. Another Thunderhorn went berserk as a titan attacked it, and charged blindly into the fray, leveling friend and foe alike. Captain Mathena thrust her spear into its skull before it could needlessly trample any more allies, and Lightbringers blanketed it like ants on a kill. It toppled over, casting a shadow upon Ku Sheng and Suo, giving them no time to retreat—
But with all of her might, Ku Sheng held up the behemoth before it could collapse, sparing herself and Suo—for the moment.
"Too...heavy," she gargled, her teeth gnashing so tightly that the enamel started to crack. Every muscle strained, every bone shuddered, with Suo too astonished to do anything. "Ya...need...to...run!"
"My lady, I cannot leave y—" Her foot lashed out at him as he objected, kicking him away from the mammoth as it collapsed. Suo gave a cry but there was no saving her now. Kartta and Keya stood with steadfast reverence, taking a moment to honor the passing of their comrade. One sister dragged Suo to safety while the other kept the Lightbringers at bay. They learned to fear her wrath.
A wall of arrows, javelins, and flame pushed the enemy back, giving her space to run. Lark stood triumphant upon a terrifying Thunderhorn, the King of them all, the two fighting as one. Ittou was by his side, raining down righteous fury. The Fire Nation hobbled away to heal its wounds, the flash of a blade signaling that all was well. Kartta nodded and ran for it...
Froze.
Looked down.
Saw the beam of fiery light penetrate her abdomen.
Felt the numbing flame.
Tasted her own blood.
Watched as darkness overcame her.
She turned around, threw her scabbard away, and with the last of her strength, plunged the sword her sister had forged for her into the enemy's breast. She collapsed face-first in the ground and never moved again.
Screams. Screams. The survivor ran to cradle her sister. Buried her face in her cold chest. Clung tight. Wept openly and wailed as the twin suns beamed down bitterly. Refused to leave her. Had to be dragged away. Lark retaliated. The Thunderhorns charged into the thick of the enemy, away from safety, their eyes burning, intent on obliterating everything. Ittou twirled and danced like a dragon, glowing with the fury that had once checked a djinn, a righteousness to avenge a friend, heedless of the outcome. One by one the Thunderhorns fell. Hundreds by hundreds their foes were destroyed. Nothing mattered now except settling debts and ending this blasphemy of light. Fire. Fire. Fire, fire, fire.
"Ittou?"
He stopped, long abandoned from his surroundings. The boy he had fallen in love with, his closest friend, his happiness in times of sorrow, was crying. He tried to speak, to reach out, to join with him again, and fight side by side, unstoppable and glorious. Blood pooled out of his eyes, overcoming his tears, and he fell down with a sigh, into the prince's arms.
"Lark," Ittou whispered, oblivious to everything else. "Lark...Lark...Lark..."
His own tears washed the blood from the boy's unresponsive face. The enemy surrounded him, thousands of them. Prince Ittou of the Fire Nation let out an inhuman scream that pierced the light itself, and was consumed by fire. He grabbed Kartta's fallen sword and became a demon that no enemy could possibly withstand.
…...
Haruka and Michiru were still a force to be reckoned with even as they supported each other. There was something satisfying knowing that if one fell, they would both die; their attention was diverted only for a moment as they saw the Death-Bender on a bison, heading for them, an unmistakable mass of darkness in a world overflowing with light. They might have even welcomed such a grim customer at this point, but she was heading for Iblis instead, and scaled up his colossal bulk as a shadow climbs a mountain in twilight.
"Do you think she can do it?" Michiru wondered aloud. Haruka grimaced.
"If anyone can... Though to be honest, I doubt it." Michiru was coldly silent for a moment.
"I wish Setsuna were still here," she murmured. Haruka's expression changed to one of cautious optimism.
"She's here, Michi. Trust me: she's here." The two stared at each other, arms draped over shoulders, fatigued and filthy and too stubborn to know better. Before they could brace themselves for another desperate stand, the wind picked up, sending a frightening ghoul of a woman their way. Minako was nearly unrecognizable as she hopped off her air-transport: the bright blue sparkle in her eyes was dim and distant, and she had the look of one who could no longer distinguish life and death.
"We're making a final assault and we could use your help," she announced flatly. She pointed to Iblis, and added, before they could say anything, "We need to clear a path for the Avatar. Once she's in range, she'll scale up the enemy and finish the job."
"Um, are you all right?" Michiru said. Minako immediately hopped onto her air-transport.
"Hurry, we're wasting time." She sped off, leaving the other women concerned. Haruka sighed.
"That's worrisome. What happened that made her act like that?"
"It doesn't matter now," Michiru said: "She's right. We need to end this. Can you move?"
"I can if you can." The smile returned, and Michiru mirrored it. They shelved their injuries to be nursed another day and called forth the wind to guide them. The Avatar and her friends were already piercing through the enemy's ranks, with Tellurians and Mamoru as a vanguard.
"Let us be your sword, Avatar!" Reika announced, waving an Earth Nation standard. Stone projectiles rained down; iron walls erupted; the ground quaked and ruptured. Titans stomped in the distance; Minako's eyes glinted.
"This ends NOW!" Drawing upon her rage and grief, she sent a hurricane after them, knocking the massive giants around. A great firebird screeched as Rei caressed the sky.
"We're with you, Usagi! Team Avatar never backs down!"
Roots broke out of the ground and coiled around the enemy, drawing them deep into the tombs of the earth. Trees groaned, bent, shivered, their branches vengeful fingers clawing and crushing. Makoto hopped from trunk to trunk, radiating like a Queen.
"The earth defies this unnatural light!"
"The rains shall cleanse this land of evil!" Ami twirled and wove water in rivulets, washing the remnants away. Just then Haruka and Michiru finally caught up.
"Hey, don't think you're gonna hog all the glory, bun-head!" She winked and called down crushing atmospheres; Michiru soared in on waves, cleaving Lightbringers apart.
"For lives old and new, for new friendships and love..."
"Too cornball!" cried a voice. Michiru looked up and saw Suen, Nabu, Nergal, Marduk, and Ishtar riding on a massive stone pillar. Fireballs and icy stalactites shot out; static charges scattered the Sentinels. Suen grinned and saluted.
"Don't forget about us!" Ishtar squealed.
"INCOMING!" The pillar crashed into a massive group of Lightbringers, issuing five bright lights glimmering in the sun. Four of them shot massive waves of fire, water, air, earth, while the fifth slammed her bare palm against a Lightbringer's head, dissipating it.
"Hey, I didn't know you could fight them bare-handed," Haruka observed. Suen glared.
"Never mind that, just get going! We'll cover you!"
"Show em' what you're made of!" Nergal cheered.
"Dinner's on me when this is over," Marduk promised. Nabu nodded, even smiling.
"Good luck."
"Hey Rei, we should do a concert together sometime!" Ishtar squealed. The other four girls grumbled.
"Ugh, could you please focus!"
"Sorry!" she yelped, quickly fanning away another swarm. Usagi smiled and thanked them as her team pressed forward. Soon they were matching pace with Iblis himself, but couldn't gain on him, as there were still countless Lightbringers barring their way. Minako, no longer caring whether she lived or died, announced that she would distract the horde and dove in without hesitation. Rei yelled at her and ran off, which caused Ami to run after her, which caused Makoto to follow. Usagi tried calling them back, but Haruka, and Michiru urged her to keep going.
"The only thing that matters right now is stopping Iblis, and the only one who can do that is you!"
"Even if we all die, as long as you're alive to finish the job..."
"But there's no way I can do that without my friends!" she insisted. "I can't just abandon them now, not after all we've been through!"
"All you've been through will amount to nothing if you don't—oh!" Haruka jerked back as Mamoru scooped Usagi into his arms.
"I'll see her to the end no matter what! Just keep them off our backs!" They nodded and watched as the king rode off, a squalling and protesting Avatar in tow. Michiru's fingers found themselves entwined with Haruka's.
"Do you think any of us will make it?" Haruka lowered her head, closing her eyes.
"I couldn't say. I only know that life is all the more precious for not knowing. Michiru..."
"You don't need to say it," she assured her, smiling warmly. They embraced all the same.
"I love you. I wanted to say it anyway."
"That's good," she whispered, trembling and weeping with happiness. "I love you too."
They looked at each other one last time before joining their friends in their doom.
…...
Usagi's feet had barely touched the ground before she took a shot at Mamoru.
"You weasel! What the heck were you thinking?!"
"That you needed to press on." Before Usagi could say another word, Mamoru shouted boldly, "Don't let their sacrifice be for nothing! Hurry up! You can make it if you run."
"But I..." Usagi trembled, tears falling down her face. Mamoru stared at the woman he loved for an instant longer before facing away from her, towards the battlefield. People were killing and dying every instant, and there didn't seem to be an end to it.
"You can either go forward or go back," he stated, as plainly as he could. "And the woman I fell in love with...the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with would never turn back. If you love me, Usagi, you'll run." She opened her mouth to object—this wasn't fair, this wasn't right—but the words caught in her throat. Mamoru silently began erecting stone walls, building traps and creating projectiles out of the ground. She hesitated only for a moment.
"I still think you're a weasel," she called, casting golden pigtails to the breeze as she sprinted away. Mamoru closed his eyes in solitude.
She paid little heed to the Lightbringers in her path—a wave of fire here, a burst of air there—she just ran, burdened with wounds and weariness and the exponential dread that her friends could die before she reached the end. She struggled to put all that aside and barreled forward, nearly colliding into a group of Sentinels. They repulsed her and formed an amalgamation of themselves, faces and hands protruding everywhere, breathing their searing light. Usagi was stunned, she put up a token resistance, flinched as their curling fingers grasped and the light overcame her...
But this light was different. The pallor of Iblis was oppressive, burdensome, and stifling; this was a cool breeze, a garden, gentle waves caressing bare feet, and it blew the enemy away as though they were sparks on a wick. Usagi's eyes opened to find a face smiling back at her, the source of the new light, wisdom and kindness twinkling behind the eyes of the ancient Mariner. She had no words.
"What is the matter, my dear?" said Vainamoinen. For a moment, Usagi was too stunned and happy to speak. Behind him, she could see Iblis, close enough to reach, eclipsing the sky with his indomitable mass.
"Uh...Mariner, I...I left my friends to..."
He waited patiently for the words to form. She thought to complain, but her complaints had faltered against her will. She thought to ask why, but her questions had deadened once she embraced her destiny. She feared for her friends, but the love that had taken her from the immature daughter of a wartime correspondent to a world-saving Avatar of Raava told her there was nothing to fear. She despised the thought of killing, but knew this was the only way. So: her words were caught.
"I guess I owe Mamoru an apology." Vainamoinen simply smiled.
"He has already forgiven you."
"And I...I never thanked you for..."
He humbly waved her away. "Seeing you here is thanks enough."
"Can you help me? I, uh..." She craned her head back, unable to see even halfway up the Lion-Turtle's mountainous body. "I don't think I can make it on my own."
"My dear Avatar," Vainamoinen sighed wistfully, "you have never been alone. You know that." His eyes twinkled once more, and in his place stood four people that Usagi knew very intimately. Tears streamed down her face as they surrounded her on all side.
"Climb on," Kung Ming said, offering his hands as a step-stool.
"Don't mind us," Kalkin said, as she mounted their shoulders. "That's the way."
"Hang on tight, dear," Kiyone said, smiling sweetly. Bitasu grinned and flashed a thumbs-up.
"Yippe kai-yay!" Kalkin sprang up as an immense pillar of earth shot them off the ground; jets of water, fire, and air burst forth, propelling them higher. Usagi's stomach lurched but she bellowed for joy and triumph, pausing only once as the four Avatars faded. There was no cause for alarm, though, as a stone protrusion jutted out, courtesy of Avatar Han. He tipped his cap and launched her; Avatar Makoto sent her flying with a fiery explosion; Avatar Ou P'eng caught her and soared high in his glider; Avatar Almasafir provided sandy stepping-stones; Avatar Sulemain lifted her on a geyser. More and more of Usagi's past selves appeared to help her climb the Lion Turtle: Setanta with his great strength threw her skyward; Xuanzang carried her up on his famous flying cloud; Kurma pushed her up an ice slide; Vamana took a huge leap with her in his arms; Veruna shot her up on a geyser; Nami had Usagi grab the end of her naginata and hurled her; Sung Chiang himself held onto her, bowing, before sending her off on an opportunistic rain. Countless unknown and forgotten Avatars each helped Usagi scale the colossus, until she was so close to the summit that her fingers could brush up against it. She reached out, hovering in midair, falling for just an instant...
Avatar Wan reached out, took her hand, and lifted her until she was on solid ground.
Usagi was so high up that it was difficult to breathe. She could see the entire island of Meru now, and even a few slivers of the ocean. The sun beat down on her mercilessly; she couldn't tell if it was the real one or the false. Most Lion-Turtles have ecosystems growing on their backs: tropical forests, seas of conifer and beech, seaweed and kelp, even cacti and fungus. Iblis's shell was teeming with luminescent writhing masses that looked more like tentacles than plants. There were bulbous growths that seemed to be mushrooms, glowing with a soft bluish hue, and strange anemones with small stalks of glowing yellowy orbs extending out. There were formations that looked like coral and shimmered with every spectrum of color, mosses exhaling pollen clouds, and lichens that wriggled on the trunks of strange trees, themselves bent and knotted. There were a few creatures floating about: dragonflies with huge sacs bloated with air, bluish-white bats with four wings, creatures that hid inside the coral as Usagi passed, and...shapes of things Usagi couldn't even guess, vaguely humanoid like the Lightbringers, but rounded, transparent, with two small white eyes peering out. They were like ghosts, and Usagi avoided them as much as she could.
There was one other resident besides the plants and animals, one more burden for Iblis to bear. In a world blanketed with everlasting light, she stood there in impenetrable shadow, a black haze surrounding her, death in her eyes and patience in her countenance. The Death-Bender pierced Usagi with her stare as she approached.
"Avatar, you know why I'm here. You know I have to kill him. I ask one last time: will you help me?"
Without any hesitation, Usagi nodded.
The End of "On the Shoulders of Giants"
Next time: "For the Balance"