Avatar: The Warring Earth
Book Two—Air
By Twins of the Pen
Disclaimer: Avatar in itself belongs to Nickelodeon and Bryan Konietzko/Michael DiMartino. The only things that belong to Twins of the Pen are the original characters.
"Tiki? Is now a good time to talk?"
Tiki paused in the middle of taking her dishes into the kitchen and let out a short huff. Finally, she consented to look over at Kei, whom she had been steadfastly ignoring all through lunch. He hovered by the table, his expression somewhere in between anxious and determined. Clearly, he remembered that she said they could talk later… and now, apparently, later had arrived.
"Sorry, Kei, but I—" Tiki began, being just a little stubborn, when the dishes she was carrying were suddenly lifted out of her hands by her aunt.
"Now Tiki, don't be rude," YinLi scolded, an ominous smile on her face as she pushed her niece away from the kitchen doorframe. "Kei has asked nicely to speak with you, so don't keep him waiting—it's bad manners."
"Aunt Li," Tiki grumbled, but her aunt's sharp gaze had her sighing. She clearly had no choice in this matter.
"Fine," the tiny airbender conceded, albeit bitterly. "Let's talk then, Kei."
"Actually," the nonbender spoke up again, eyeing the Avatar as well, "I'd like to talk to both you and Syaoran… if that's okay?"
Tiki lifted an eyebrow. Kei wanted to speak to Syaoran as well? What was this about?
"…If it's okay with Syaoran, it's okay with me," Tiki decided. If the Avatar didn't want to talk to Kei either, though, she had a legitimate excuse for not speaking to the nonbender: Syaoran was not going to train himself.
Syaoran paused in his trek to carry to the rest of the dishes to the kitchen, looking at Kei in surprise and suspicion. Normally any kind of smoothing over with Kei was a private matter between the two of them. Tiki was the one who was really on Kei's side usually; Syaoran just kind of was ambivalent to the guy, until now. Looking between Tiki and Kei, he twisted his lips, not liking that he was the deciding factor. Syaoran had no honest interest in talking to Kei, but the guy seemed rather determined. And if that meant Tiki wouldn't have to talk to him on her own…
The Avatar went into the kitchen to drop off the dishes in his hands and walked back into the dining room, standing by Tiki with crossed arms. "Okay. Let's talk," he responded. With a nod, Kei turned heel and headed out the front door, Tiki and Syaoran in tow. Whatever it was that Kei wanted to discuss, he clearly did not want to be overheard.
The nonbender paused when they had reached the beach, and then turned to the pair of benders behind him. His jaw worked a little, as if he were chewing on the words he wished to speak. Finally, he sighed. "I just want to say," he began, first meeting Tiki's eyes before locking gazes with Syaoran, "that I'm sorry for the way I behaved earlier. I now realize that not all the horror stories I've heard about benders can be true… not even the ones about the Avatar."
"Apology accepted," Tiki spoke for Syaoran, though her expression was still neutral, her arms folded tightly against her small chest. "That is, as long as you remain open-minded."
"I'll try," Kei promised, looking earnest. His jaw started to work again, and Tiki watched in interest as a myriad of emotions passed across the nonbender's face before he finally spit out what he wanted to say. "Also… I'm sorry if I stepped on anyone's toes the past two days. I didn't know that you two were together, and I definitely didn't mean to come in between you."
It took Tiki a full five seconds to fully comprehend what Kei was saying. After those five seconds, the tiny airbender did the only thing she could do: she burst into hysterics.
"Hahahahahahaha! Syaoran and me? A COUPLE?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, I'm dying!" Tiki cackled, holding her sides and trying hard not to fall onto the floor. That had to be the funniest thing Kei had ever said to her. What on earth made him think she and Syaoran were together? All right, so they spent a lot of time together lately, but that was easily explainable, since she was teaching him how to airbend. There was no way anything else was going on. Was Kei crazy? He clearly did not know them at all.
Syaoran just kind of had a look of disgust on his face. Tiki? Him and… Tiki? For one thing, he definitely still liked ZanYi, even if the Avatar was trying to give her up and stop. But Tiki?
His jade eyes looked over to the airbender as she tried to even breathe in-between her guffawing. Short. Ridiculous. In the middle of a major emotional and personality upheaval. Basically the opposite of everything ZanYi was.
"You're out of your mind, Kei," Syaoran told him earnestly, shaking his head. "Absolutely off your rocker. I appreciate that you are apologizing for thinking I'm suddenly some kind of monster." Then he looked back over to Tiki. The Avatar gagged a little at the thought of being romantically interested in her. "I may need an apology for that assumption, though. I think that was worse."
Tiki quickly sobered up at this jab.
"You might owe me an apology for that assumption too, Kei," she asserted, hands on her hips as she glared up at Syaoran. "After all, I'd never be interested in someone like Syaoran. Have you ever tried to crack a joke with Syaoran? If the guy were any stiffer than he already is, he'd be dead. Besides, I have much better taste in men."
Like Zaron. Or Kei… before he went on his whole 'Benders-Are-Evil' jag.
Kei blinked in surprise, clearly confused. "So, wait… there's nothing going on between you two?" he wanted to verify, looking in between Tiki and Syaoran, as if trying to catch the other lying.
"No," Tiki asserted, crossing her arms once more. "Where would you get such a stupid idea?"
"Well, I just assumed," the nonbender admitted, his brow furrowing. "It's just, the way you two look at each other sometimes…"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Tiki asserted with a huff. "Syaoran and I are just friends… and even that's depending on if he's in a good mood or not."
Honestly, who did Kei think he was, her aunt? Actually scratch that—even her aunt had not tried to fix her up with Syaoran yet. Tiki had a feeling that YinLi knew better than to suggest something so ludicrous.
"Well, I'm usually in a good mood until someone comes along to ruin it," the Avatar grumbled. Syaoran looked down at Tiki, incredulous. "What kind of look would I be giving Tiki, aside from one that told her to bug off?" he asked Kei, but frowning down at the airbender next to him. "This girl knows no limitations, including where obnoxious begins and where annoying ends."
Seriously, she was going to act like something was wrong with him? Tiki was the one who had a split personality, and before that was a maniacal little trickster who didn't know the meaning of the word 'no'.
"I think I'm the one who should be offended here," Syaoran claimed, indignant as he crossed his arms.
Tiki's mouth came open with a pop, highly affronted. How dare he! "Oh, so I'm only obnoxious and annoying when I'm not giving you a massage, is that it, Mr. Fair-Weathered Friend?" she demanded of him, stomping her foot and ignoring the raised eyebrow look Kei was giving the pair of them. "You didn't find me so hard to put up with when I was turning your spine into jelly!"
"Do you two need a minute alone?" Kei interjected, his lips pursed—Tiki had the sneaking suspicion that he was trying hard not to laugh. "You're fighting like an old married couple right now."
"We are not!" they both shouted adamantly at him, and Kei hastily backed away with his hands raised. The last thing he wanted to do was jump in the middle of the many issues Tiki and Syaoran seemed to have with each other.
"Tiki is just a cumbersome child!" Syaoran asserted, then scowling at Tiki, equally irritated. "I didn't see you complaining about my mood when using me a body cushion yesterday!" he growled, turning then to the airbender, his hands on his sides. "Or how about the times I've had to give you piggyback rides? I didn't see you complaining then either!"
Stepping closer, he looked down into Tiki's face, stern. "Call me fair-weathered all you want, but it's not going to change facts at the end of the day. We both know who it's been that has put up with you and been there for you this whole time, and I'll tell you, it hasn't been Shun or Kei!"
"Well if you find it such a pain to put up with me, why do you even bother?!" Tiki shot back, angry tears beginning to pool in her eyes. This frustrated her even more, because she did not want to lose the argument by breaking down. "What, you feel like you have to put up with me just because I'm teaching you airbending? Fine, let me make it easier for you: I QUIT!"
With an angry toss of her hair, Tiki stormed away, muttering under her breath to the effect of, "Can't even produce a puff of air anyway…" Kei watched her go, his mouth slightly ajar. What had just happened?
"…I… that didn't go like I expected…" he muttered, rubbing the back of his head in astonishment. He had no idea Tiki could yell like that. She looked awfully upset too… but somehow, the nonbender felt that there were deeper issues here than the ones Syaoran and Tiki were shouting about.
The earthbender in question turned to give Kei a very detesting look. He hadn't trusted the guy as of late, and now he tried to apologize and make everything even worse. The Avatar officially straight out did not like him. "Way to go," he told the nonbender, heavy with sarcasm. "Thanks a lot." He did not care that he was being rude in this instance—Syaoran was just ticked. When Tiki got mad like this, she even more childish than normal. It was something Syaoran had not missed at all. And now it was back to bite him.
Ignoring anything further Kei would say, Syaoran stormed off back to the house himself. There was no way he was going to be doing any airbending training this afternoon—teacher or not. If ZanYi weren't sick, he'd barge up there and ask for some firebending sparring.
But going to talk to Tiki right now was not happening. No way. Absolutely not…
Syaoran stopped in his trek, scowling quite angrily. As much as Tiki was infuriating him right now, she was probably running off somewhere trying not to cry. Which meant she should be crying. Which meant that she is probably doing exactly what he had been trying to convince her to stop doing: stifling her emotions.
The Avatar couldn't help the roar of exasperation that ripped through him. It made him feel marginally better. Still, Syaoran knew he had to go talk to Tiki now or she would just sulk the rest of the day. He smacked his forehead, but then turned tail to go after Tiki.
"What did I ever do to deserve this?"
Tiki found herself in the dojo once more, heaving deep breaths past the large lump in her throat. She sat next to the boombox with her arms wound tightly around her legs, her face buried in her knees as she fought back the torrent of tears threatening to spill out.
She never should have told Syaoran that she was going to quit being his airbending teacher: she really had no intention of doing so, and it would only cause her to eat her words later. Syaoran had just made her so mad! The conversation had started out with something as ridiculous as them being a couple and escalated out of control into a debate of who was more unsuitable as a boyfriend or girlfriend. Now that Tiki was looking at it objectively, who cared? The fact remained that she and Syaoran were just friends… well, Tiki wasn't even sure if they were even friends anymore after that shouting match.
Tiki truly had been hurt by Syaoran's insinuations that she was just a burden to him, however. The tiny airbender liked to think, after all they had gone through, that Syaoran would be a little more sensitive to her. But maybe that was too much to ask for. Maybe she and Syaoran were too different to even really be friends… did they just call each other friends for lack of a better word? Did Syaoran even really care about her at all?
The door to the dojo creaked open, and Tiki tensed, expecting to hear Syaoran's footsteps, coming to… yell at her some more, probably. But the footsteps did not sound familiar… in fact, there were two pairs of unfamiliar footsteps. Tiki jerked her head up to see two men enter the dojo. They had the worn look of the refugees Tiki often saw around the island, and they swayed slightly, bloodshot eyes fixed on her. Tiki caught a strong whiff of alcohol—were these men drunk? The one with darker hair sneered and stumbled a little closer to her.
"Well, well, well: if it isn't the child of those two airbending traitors," he drawled with a hiccup. A shiver ran down Tiki's spine as she recognized the voice of one of the two men that had insulted her family previously. She slowly rose to her feet as the drunken refugee's friend snickered.
"All alone in your jungle gym, little girl?" he mocked her, puffing on a cigarette, "No one wants to be friends with the blood of traitors, do they?"
"Please leave," Tiki asserted, though her voice shook slightly. "You're trespassing upon a sacred place."
"Oooh, you hear that, Sai? We're trespassing," the first refugee slurred, a nasty grin forming on his face. The man named Sai smirked, tapping ash from his cigarette onto the floor of the dojo.
"I almost forgot, Nero: we're on airbender holy ground. If we don't follow their rules, we could be in big trouble." The two men cackled at this, nearly falling over in their drunken stupors.
Nero and Sai… now Tiki remembered. It was about four years ago when she was visiting that the two men moved to the island, made a spectacle of because their bending had been taken from them by a bloodbender employed with the Neo-Equalists. Tiki remembered them being very bitter, angry men back then as well.
"Leave—now," Tiki commanded again, getting into a defensive stance, "or there will be consequences."
This declaration made Nero and Sai laugh harder, the sound cruel and humorless. It made Tiki's blood run cold.
"Well come on then, little girl," Nero challenged, "hit us with your best shot!"
Their laughter made Tiki feel even worse than before. "You asked for it!" she warned, lunging a hand forward swiftly.
Nothing happened.
Dread causing her throat to close up, Tiki tried again and again, but to no avail—and to more raucous laughter from the drunken men before her. Tiki knew what the problem was, of course: in order to airbend successfully, one had to possess inner peace and tranquility… and right now, Tiki was troubled in her spirit. Of course she wouldn't be able to airbend when she really needed it…
"Not so tough without your airbending, are you, girlie?" Nero's voice said in Tiki's ear, his hot, stinking breath expelled in her face. Tiki jumped—when had he gotten so close?! This was bad: the refugees were impaired in their drunken state—meaning that they were not capable of making good decisions—Tiki was all alone in the dojo, without her airbending at her disposal, and no one knew where she was. Put all of those things together, and she was definitely in deep trouble.
Aiming an elbow at Nero's gut, Tiki tried to slip past Sai, but was grabbed from behind by Nero, the man wrenching her arms painfully behind her back and lifting her up so that her legs dangled off the floor.
"Let me go!" Tiki shrieked, struggling fruitlessly against her captor—he was way too strong.
"You know, I always hated you airbenders," Nero said, as if they were conversing about tonight's weather. "So carefree—where were you when I was having my bending sucked from me, huh? How come you get to keep your lousy island when the rest of us are driven from our homes? I'll tell you why: because your no-good traitor parents sold the rest of us out so you airbenders could live without a care in the world."
"Look at those stupid arrows," Sai chimed in, blowing smoke in Tiki's face. "Who in their right mind would carve markings into their skin like that? It makes you an obvious target, don't you think?"
"Mind your own business!" Tiki spat, still struggling. This was a very bad situation to be in right now, but she was not sure how to get out of it. If only Syaoran were here—
No. Tiki didn't need Syaoran. She could get out of this herself—wouldn't want to make a nuisance of herself for the Avatar. She could handle this on her own.
"She's not screaming for help, Nero," Sai was telling Nero as Tiki's brain was working fast on a plan of action. "This is boring—you said she'd start crying."
"She's just acting tough," Nero said, his voice in Tiki's ear, causing her to shiver with disgust. "If you really want to make her holler, just take that cigarette butt and stick it somewhere."
Tiki's eyes widened. These men were sadistic! She struggled harder than ever, but her energy was wearing away, and Nero's grip on her was tighter than ever. She could only watch in horror as Sai's cigarette butt moved closer and closer to her face, headed right for the blue arrow on her forehead…
"Last chance to call for help, girlie," Sai offered, his grin twisted. "You sure you don't want to cry? I'm sure someone will come to your rescue in a heartbeat, helpless as you are."
Tiki's temper flared, and she spat in Sai's face. The man barely blinked.
"Have it your way," he said, shoving the burning cigarette onto Tiki's blue arrow. Tiki shrieked, unable to help herself—the pain was excruciating, worse than getting her tattoos. And it wasn't going away. She could vaguely hear the men cackling as she screamed, enjoying her pain. They wanted her to suffer as much as they did in their unhappy lives—Tiki would have pitied them, if they weren't hurting her.
Even amongst Tiki's screams, there was a harsh sound of feet drumming against the floor. There was a flash of heat that traveled in front of Tiki's face, scorching the hand that was burning her. Sai stumbled back, clenching his burnt hand. There was another shuffle of quick steps, and Tiki was dropped to the floor as her captor groaned in pain. Nero went sailing past her, thrown into his drunken companion.
Syaoran moved in front of Tiki then, solidly between her and the bitter men. "Get out of here. NOW!" he bellowed before sweeping low into his firebending stances. The Avatar started to blaze a flurry of fire at the inebriated fellows. They kept scurrying back, trying to avoid the unforgiving flames. When they stumbled outside of the dojo, Syaoran lifted his hands with a swift, rigid control. The ground rose up to take their hands, swallowing them whole. Glaring at them, he pushed down, dragging the stone down to the ground and, consequentially, the men to their knees.
"I don't care what problems you have, or about your drunken pity party," Syaoran growled, looking down at the men, "but come around here or bother Tiki again, and I will make sure you don't even get the chance to complain."
Tiki was shaking. She reached a trembling hand up to her forehead, wincing when she felt the burned skin. They were really trying to hurt her. And once again, she had to rely on Syaoran's help. How pathetic could Tiki get?
Taking a deep breath, Tiki forcibly pulled herself together. Syaoran had taken care of the situation, it seemed, so all that was left to do was have the two men be dealt with accordingly. Getting to her feet, the tiny airbender emerged from the dojo, her gray eyes distant as she looked down on the bowed forms of Nero and Sai. "Keep them here. I'll have my aunt deal with them," she told Syaoran without looking at him. She passed by the two men, heading in the direction of her house. Her aunt was always the unofficial mayor of Southern Air Island, so Tiki would let her handle the refugees. Meanwhile, Tiki would have to find Shun to get her burn taken care of. She would just have to hold in her breakdown until things settled down.
Syaoran thought letting her aunt deal with them was too light a punishment, personally, but Tiki seemed to be avoiding the problem at the moment. With one last dark scowl, he moved the stone deeper into the ground, bringing the two men to bang their faces against the ground. But nonetheless, he moved past them to follow after Tiki.
"Tiki," he called out, "wait up."
The Avatar made quick strides and caught up to her at the porch, halting her for a minute. Covering the door with his body, he looked down at the airbender, frowning. "You okay?" he asked. He saw the burn on her forehead—apparently he hadn't been fast enough to stop that. "Did they do anything else to you?"
Tiki frowned up at the Avatar. While she supposed she should be grateful for him at the moment, she was still mad at him over their shouting match earlier. Why did he constantly do such sweet things, only to complain about it later? Tiki just did not understand him. "What do you care?" she mumbled before heaving a sigh, "No, they didn't do anything else to me. They just said a lot of mean things. Happy? Now move."
Tiki could just jump onto the roof and get in through her unlocked window… but without her airbending, such a feat wouldn't be possible. As much as it frustrated the tiny airbender to admit, she would have to wait for Syaoran to move out of the way. So wait she did, her arms crossed as she frowned up at the man before her.
But Syaoran didn't move. "Tiki," he simply said, as if beckoning for her to continue.
Reaching down, Syaoran pushed away her bangs to check out the burn on her arrow. It was good to know that Tiki was only injured on her forehead, though Syaoran wasn't happy about that anyway. Who did they think they were, pulling a stunt like that? Bitter, angry, messed up in the head, or whatever, there was no way they could explain away such an act.
Pulling away, the Avatar crossed his arms, looking down at Tiki. "Shun can take a look at that in a minute, since that's your only injury. But," and his green eyes looked straight into the storm in her gaze, "are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Tiki insisted, though through her teeth. Why was he fussing over her? He wasn't her father—it wasn't his responsibility to take care of her. "Now stop that. You don't have to baby me, all right? It was my fault that I got stuck in that situation, so I'll have to deal with the consequences."
Of course, the consequences could have been a lot worse, if Syaoran hadn't shown up… But Tiki wasn't ready to give him that praise yet.
Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Yes, it's your fault two men got drunk and took their misplaced aggression on you. Completely your fault," he agreed, sardonic as ever. Turning his stare back to Tiki, he gave her a pointed look. "You didn't do anything wrong, Tiki, so don't make this your fault. It was them. They were the idiots."
He moved his hands moved to his sides, a sullen look on his face. "And Tiki, I may do a lot of things, but I don't sugarcoat or baby anyone. We're a team, and we're in this together."
Syaoran leaned back against the door with a sigh. "We are basically family now—all of us. So you can be mad at me, I can be irritated with you, but that doesn't mean we don't care. So yeah, you get on my nerves. But you're also my friend and you believe in me. Therefore I'm doing my best not to let you down."
He lifted an eyebrow at Tiki. "So let me ask again: are you okay?"
Family, huh? If Tiki was thinking about it objectively—and she was beginning to—she supposed it made sense. Families fought, sure, but at the end of the day, they were still family. Nothing could change that, not even a few harshly spoken words.
Tiki peered up at Syaoran, her anger dissolving. "…So you don't just put up with me because I'm the only one who can teach you airbending?" she asked quietly, her insecurity appearing as she fiddled with the ends of her long hair.
Syaoran scoffed a little, tilting his head to peer at her. "No, I do not just put up with you because you teach me airbending. You gave me an option to have another teacher, remember? And I didn't take it."
Could she really believe that he thought of her as a friend? Could she really believe that he cared about her?
Well, why not? If he didn't care, would he have come running when she started screaming? Hardly. It was true that they ticked each other off, but maybe it just came with the territory. Earthbenders and airbenders were pretty different, but it didn't mean they couldn't get along if they tried.
Tiki sniffled, the tears welling up in her eyes again. As much as she wanted to stop being such a crybaby, her body didn't want to listen. But then, her body was not too stubborn to admit what she could not say: she wasn't okay. That encounter with such hateful individuals had scared her; it was a miracle she hadn't sank to her knees and bawled her eyes out already. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes. While a groan threatened to come out of him, Syaoran knew the sound would not do him any favors at the moment. So instead, he reached a hand out to Tiki's head, pulling her into his chest. At least this way he didn't have to watch.
"You can cry now, Tiki. It's okay. You're safe now," the Avatar assured her, patting her little head.
Tiki felt safe, secure in Syaoran's arm. She knew he hated it when she cried, but she also knew that he hated it even worse when she didn't. As it turned out, Tiki did need Syaoran, more than she had expected… she was not, however, about to tell him that. She didn't need to have Syaoran holding that kind of power over her head, after all.
So for now, Tiki allowed Syaoran to comfort her as she cried. Nero and Sai could wait—with what Syaoran had done to them, they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. And they would probably be kicked off the island as well, if Tiki could calm YinLi down enough to talk her out of the 'Fed-To-Sharks' penalty she would surely be pushing for. And Shun would be able to heal her forehead without a pinch, so that could wait too. Tiki just hoped that she could dry up the waterworks just short of soaking Syaoran's shirt all the way through.
Meanwhile, a distance away, Kei watched the pair of benders. How strange—not twenty minutes ago, they were at each other's throats. Now, it appeared Syaoran was comforting Tiki, who was crying about something. What was going on? Kei was tempted to march over there and find out, but it appeared to be an intimate moment—it would be rude of him to just bust in on it… as much as he wanted to.
And Tiki and Syaoran swore nothing was going on? Were they blind? Well, that actually suited Kei just fine: if Tiki was oblivious to her feelings for Syaoran, that meant the nonbender still had a chance with her, if he was able to play his cards right. He would just have to bide his time for now, until the day he could be a source of comfort for Tiki, instead of the Avatar.
A/N from DJ: ...If I had realized that this chappie was short, I would have just combined it with last week's. xP Oh well, can't fix it now. Thankfully all this drama is kind of starting to work itself out as Syaoran pushes himself forward without ZanYi... though maybe with the help of someone else... :3
We didn't even realize how long this arch was until we started posting it, since we probably wrote the last two month's worth of chapters within a handful of days last year xP But good news: things are gonna start changing next week! Back to big chappies! But for now: the acknowledgments!
The-new-Avatar: This week and last week are definitely short, comparatively xD I'm just glad you're still enjoying them, despite the cut in the length! And don't worry about Syaoran! This was a learning experience for him, and that's why we like it!
Same Guest: Then we're doing something right, because airbending should be peaceful and calm! It's the element of freedom! And trust me: I think we're all happy that Syaoran finally let go of ZanYi [I don't think any of those shippers have stayed around xP]. Reality is sinking in for everyone, and they shall deal with it accordingly! Also, every time we get the e-mail that you reviewed, I still giggle at the name xD
Connor Is Tippy Top: Wow! One - that's a long name xD. Two - Thanks so much for EVERYTHING! Thanks for favoriting us, putting an author alert on us, and favoriting Fire! I hope you make it to Air and you can see this soon! All of the massive support is so appreciated! :D
Writingbrick: Hey, acknowledging to us that you had even read it at all is enough for us! Life gets busy and crazy, so we're just happy to know you're still on board with us! Thanks so much for all of your support each week you can! :D
Phew! That was a bit more than normal... THAT'S AWESOME! We really couldn't have done this without you fans. Yeah, we have everything already written, but it means so much more to know that there are people out there willing and wanting to read it. So for everyone still with us: Thank-you. Thank-you so much, and hopefully we'll see you again next week!