Hey! Don't worry, this won't take very long. Just wanted to say a few things:

1st, I am soo sorry this took so long! Life gets in the way, you know? But the extra time just means I put a lot more work into this episode than most.

2nd, THANK YOU ALL MY LOVELIES. Over the past month, this one story has gotten over 2,000 views! go ahead. Clap for yourself, from me(:

Now onto the new chapter! ~~AgentAva

Disclaimer: All I own are my OC's. Big whoop.

Book 1 ¼: Between the Earth and Sky

Chapter 6: Promises to Repay

Earth. Fire. Air. Water. 70 years ago, my grandfather, Avatar Aang, master of all four elements, ended the 100-year war against the Fire Nation. With help from Firelord Zuko he created Republic City, my home. According to my father, Republic City is at war. Amon, the Equalists, and the non-benders of our city have begun a rebellion against all benders. They think we have repressed them because of their inability to bend an element.

Avatar Aang has long since passed, but the new Avatar is here—Korra. She will find a way to bring light to the darkness. She has to.

...

The dry air of his prison cell was suddenly wick with moisture and heat; the walls felt like they were closing in on Skoochy, suffocating him. The bender gulped down and tried to act smoother, calmer then he felt. Images of Liu swept through the floodgates of his rock-solid memory, causing the boy to be swept away.

Rain pounded against Skoochy's frail frame as he stumbled into the nearest alley for some cover, his father's hat shielding his auburn eyes from the dark streets of Republic City. Shivering, the young boy bended up a small lean-to against one of the buildings and collapsed inside. His body began to rack with tears. Skoochy had no idea where he was—the downtown area of Republic City was unfamiliar to the 8-year-old. The rain bounced off the wall of his lean-to, making loud, sharp sounds, like daggers against a bull's-eye.

The earthbender had left his father's boat at the pier, the knot lazy and forgotten in the continuing storm. The next time Skoochy went back to the dock, the boat wouldn't be waiting for him. Just like his father.

Skoochy felt a hand on his head, the warmth penetrating his father's soaking hat. He looked up, his face streaming with tears, and asked in a broken voice, "Are-are you…?"

The right side of Liu's mouth twitched, causing droplets of water to fall from his moustache, and into the licking ball of flame in his hand, sizzling as the elements grazed each other. Extinguishing the light, he used both hands settled his damp gray coat on Skoochy's shoulders and helped him up. "Come on. Let's get you inside," Liu murmured, and led the boy into a nearby office. Gleaming over the mantle was the symbol of the Triple Threat Triad. There, Skoochy was dried and shut away in the janitor's closet for an empty night of downpour and pain. In the morning, Liu introduced the small earthbender to a fellow small earthbender by the name of Bolin. Before he left, Liu told Skoochy that one day the boy would have to repay him.

He just didn't think that that day would be today.

"So…I don't think you're here to catch up over a cup of tea, are you?" the usually sly dealer-of-secrets asked The Lieutenant lazily. Skoochy's best chance of getting out was acting casual, uninterested in anything Liu had to say.

"Unfortunately not today. But you are going to do something for me." The Lieutenant's deep voice echoed through the chamber. He leaned forward a little, so that his forehead just touched the bars of Skoochy's cell, and looked straight into the 12-year-old's eyes. Skoochy sat in the middle of the cell, nervously waiting for his fate to be served to him, via an old ally. "You are going to find Avatar Korra and tell her that Tenzin and the others got away."

The earthbender's eyes widened in confusion. He glanced into Liu's eyes. "What? I mean, now why would I do that?" He couldn't let down his guard now.

The Lieutenant's icy eyes narrowed at the boy, and he growled back, "Because she doesn't need to worry about them anymore." He stood quickly, and unlocked the padlock on Skoochy's cell. The earthbender scrambled up, not wanting the possibility of escape pass him by. As he passed Liu to exit, the man's hand grasped onto his shoulder and gripped tightly. "And if you don't, I will kill the rest of your little…family."

Skoochy's heart almost stopped cold. Imagining Mikah and Rai and Sage, lying on the ground, their bodies cold and unmoving—

No. He looked up into Liu's bitter eyes. "That's right, Skoochy. I know where they are. Don't think you could hide your weakness from me," he added when he saw the leader's face. "I know. And if you fail this small little task, well. Let's just say you don't want to know what'll happen to that tiny boy, or poor little princess Mikah." The man scoffed.

The street urchin's fists tightened. He looked up at Liu and focused his auburn eyes on the piece of material in-between his goggles. "She may act like one, yeah. But she. Is not. A princess." He muttered through clenched teeth.

"No. No, of course not." The Lieutenant complied mockingly, and released Skoochy from his grasp. "Little Mikah, from the Northern Water Tribe, isn't a princess. Just a runaway nobleman's daughter. Not a spoiled princess at all."

Nothing in Liu's voice or body language told Skoochy if he was lying, so that meant that he had to be telling the truth. Mikah? A noble water tribe girl? Is that why…the earthbender shook off the thought angrily. Liu was just trying to distract Skoochy from what was really going on.

And what was really going on was that the boy was stuck between the two things driving him. If Skoochy were to really find Mako and the Avatar again, then he and his crew were free, but Jinora and her family would end up getting hurt. Skoochy's stomach seized. He couldn't even bear to imagine Jinora getting hurt. But if Skoochy decided to save Jinora, then he wouldn't have any family to come back to when he fled the scene of the crime. The boy didn't want that to happen ever again. Instead, he looked up at Liu, a new tactic the reason behind the gleam in his eyes.

"May I speak with a friend before I go?"

"Would this friend be your airbending girlfriend?" The Lieutenant asked sarcastically.

"She's not my—"

"Fine. You can talk to her." Liu walked down the shadowed hall, Skoochy tentatively following behind, glancing around for any sort of escape route that could help him in any way. The only thing the boy found were different kind of jail cells—instead of the bars Skoochy had, these had metal doors and at least three different locks; obviously their tenants were more important than the street urchin. From the small windows on the doors, Skoochy walked passed Tenzin, alone in his cell, knocked out cold; across from him, Jinora's mother and a small bundle Skoochy assumed to be the new baby were lying quite still on the only cot. Next to Pema, Jinora's sister and the small bald boy sat, barely awake, in one corner, Ikki's arms wrapped around Meelo protectively.

Finally, Liu reached the remaining airbender's cell, and plucked a key from the ring on his belt. The Lieutenant swung the door open and glanced over at Skoochy, not a hint of emotion playing upon his face. "You've got five minutes."

With that, Skoochy rushed into the room, and knelt next to Jinora's cot. He heard the door swing shut behind him, and a single lock was turned. Focusing back to the other bender, Skoochy found that she was lying with her back facing the earthbender. "Jinora." Skoochy whispered.

...

In an instant she threw the boy against the wall with the force of a gust of wind. She bended herself up and stood over him with a horrific glare, her hair falling out of its bun and slight lavender bags sitting under her eyes. She was about to attack her intruder again, her fist coiled and ready to be sprung, when she stopped. "What? Skoochy?"

Her trespasser looked up through his bangs and rubbed the back of his head. "Jeez, Genie! It's only me."

"Oh spirits!" The airbender kneeled down next to Skoochy and wrapped her arms around him, tears leering behind her eyelids, her heart skipping a beat (or two) when he held onto her in return, as if she was his support, and he was hers. Oh, thank the spirits he's okay. "The rest of them," she murmured into his hair, her breath hot against his ear. She couldn't see it, but Skoochy was beginning to sprout a bright color red. "Are they alright?"

Skoochy, trying to release himself from Jinora's lingering hug, nodded and muttered back, "They're all fine. But we have a problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"I…" For a moment, looking into Skoochy's auburn eyes, she could almost see how Skoochy felt, how he wasn't so sure that he really wanted to go and perform the task thrown upon him. He thought that maybe he and the airbender could figure out a way to break out, to turn the rest of them loose, and skip free before The Lieutenant or Amon could find out what happened. They could wander the streets of Republic City, free, just like Skoochy and Rai used to do before—

Rai. Mikah. Sage. The emotion in his eyes shifted, the cloud cover of the people he cared for showing her the truth. He finally looked at Jinora, and blinked. "I have to go and tell Korra that you're all alright."

"But we're not!" she exclaimed, causing Skoochy to clamp a hand over her mouth.

"I know." He whispered urgently. "I know. But if I don't tell her that, then Liu…then The Lieutenant will kill Rai and the others, and I can't have that happen."

Jinora sat for a moment, her focus lingering on the ground, mulling over what was going on. If Skoochy did as he was told, and she was left here with the others, then Amon would surely take their bending away until there really were no more airbenders left. But if Skoochy stayed with her, then all of his friends she had met just a few days ago would be gone forever.

There, sitting on the dirty floor, littered with scrapes from past occupants and spirits know what else, Jinora made the decision for Skoochy, despite her having to be left behind and all of her heart telling her no.

"Go." The earthbender looked up, astonishment written upon his face. "Go. Tell Korra that we're alright. We will be."

Skoochy managed a nod.

"But promise me that if you leave, you'll come back for us." Jinora pleaded.

The Lieutenant swung the door open, the metal clanging against the wall. "Times up." His deep voice seemed to vibrate through the walls.

Starting to rise, the airbender reached up and grabbed onto her friend's hand, registering that his hand was so cold, but pushing the thought off as quick as it had come. "Promise!" she whispered, her entire body trembling for an answer.

The boy just looked down into her eyes, and peeled her grasp away, replacing his once astonished face with an unemotional one. "I promise." He mouthed back, turned and left the cell without a sound.

Jinora watched him go, anguish and relief fighting each other for space on her face. Her wide brown eyes watered as the door was shut and locked, leaving the young girl in darkness once more.

But she was not alone. The airbender had her questions to keep her company; only one stood out.

It might have been the right thing to do, but was it the right thing to let him go? Because Jinora had a horrid gut-feeling that Skoochy wasn't coming back.

...

The misty midday light fell down from the open skylight above Mikah when she awoke. She tensed and glanced around the cottage on the outskirts of Republic City. Most of apprehension had come from another spirit dream Mikah had been lost in, causing the girl to clutch onto her hooked dagger in her sleep.

Sage had taken the morning watch, so she was stationed outside on the porch. Yawning, Mikah pulled her puffy hair into a ponytail and looked around the graying 1 bedroom/1 bath. Her gaze fell upon the equally gray lump on the couch. Her heart sank.

Mikah squatted down next to Rai, and touched a cold palm to his hot, sweaty forehead. The small boy hadn't woken up since the bomb exploded underneath him, and the temporary leader was getting nervous. What if he never woke up? It was, after all, her fault that Rai was lying on the loveseat, unconscious and hurt.

Using her ability to mimic voices, Mikah had yelled those foul things about Amon, and she had been cut short when she heard the racing tick of the time bomb being catapulted from the blimp towards Rai. The non-bender couldn't bear to think about living in a world without her pranking companion, especially if his absence was her fault. The boy's long, shuddering breath reassured the water tribe girl that he was still alive, and she placed the cooling cloth back on Rai's forehead from where it had fallen the night before.

Wanting a little comedic relief from the attacks two days ago, Skoochy's non-existent return, Rai, and her dream world, Mikah melted into the shadows of the couch and reappeared in the dark of the porch, just behind Sage. Careful to not make a sound while exiting, the shadow-runner reached out to touch her friend when she paused. Mikah was going to use her ability to scare Sage, but with it being the cause of something so grief inducing, the nobleman's daughter instead grabbed onto the younger girl's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Boo."

The cloaked girl jumped, and slammed her notebook shut in her lap. She looked back at Mikah, who looked happy to be laughing hysterically as she moved from the wall to lean against the porch railing. "That's not funny," Sage muttered.

"Oh, come on, you have to admit. It's pretty funny." Mikah rubbed the top of Sage's head affectionately as the younger slipped her notebook back into her cloak. As she smiled at her friend, Mikah shoved aside her angst; there was no point in harboring it around Sage. The secret-keeper had abandoned her quiet demeanor, seeing as how there were technically only the girls left. Mikah was the only one Sage felt comfortable talking around.

The cloaked one stood, and stepped into the cottage. "So who did you see this time?" she cut right to the chase; Sage knew that the only time Mikah tried to scare her was when she had a particularly rough visit to the home of the spirits.

This was Mikah cue to suddenly get very quiet. She closed the door behind her, undid her ponytail and redid it to keep herself occupied. Sage knew her well, but maybe not well enough. They had been trapped together for two days in the dusty cottage, but the shadow-runner hadn't told her about her constant remind of her guilt, and had a feeling she wasn't going to. Mikah's blue eyes latched onto the dusty wood floor. "I…remember Avatar Kuruk? He was the last waterbending Avatar before Korra. Anyways one of his most epic battles was between—"

"Mikah." Sage's voice cut through her chatter. The older looked up.

"Alright. Fine." With a huff, Mikah sat on top of the back of the armchair, and fell back onto the cushion so that her head fell backwards and her feet dangled aimlessly in the air. She peeked over at her confidant taking up the rest of the couch; Rai only took up half of the loveseat. "I saw Kuruk's lover meet Koh, and…I saw it take her face." Mikah shuddered. "It was…horrific."

"Do you wanna—"

"No. I really don't." Silence began to corrupt the flow of the conversation, causing it to halt completely except for the (thankfully) even breathing pattern of a certain street urchin. Suddenly, Mikah's ears twitched, something she had picked up from her times as a child prisoner of the spirit world. The sound of an engine, something up above, made the leader jump into action. She jumped up and took Rai in her arms, no longer concerned about the cloth she had placed upon his forehead not so long ago.

Sage instantly stood up after her. "What is it?"

The temporary leader closed her eyes and tried to focus. "It's…something in the sky. Something that can fly. But it's not an animal." If Mikah knew Sage like Sage knew the City's secrets, she knew the younger girl would know what it was.

"A dirigible?"

"No." Mikah closed her eyes tighter and tried to match something to the sound. It sounded a lot like…a Satomobile engine!

The shadow runner's eyes flew open. "It sounds like a Satomobile engine. But in the sky."

Sage ripped open her notebook and flipped through the pages of numerous secrets. "It's called a 'biplane.' It can fly."

"I can see that!" Mikah responded sarcastically. Instantly Sage's face showed a mixture of annoyance and hurt. Moving Rai to one arm, Mikah reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, something she had learned from her father before she was taken. "Look, I'm sorry. But we need to get out of here, and we don't have much time. If they can see everything from an aerial view, then they can probably see the cottage right now." She switched her gaze over to Sage and readjusted Rai once more so that he was on one hip. His head lolled about until it finally rested on her shoulder, his burning hot nose just touching the cool skin of Mikah's neck. "Leave Skoochy a note. Tell him we're headed towards our default meeting place, and to get his butt over there ASAP. No matter what, we are leaving tomorrow night."

"Default place, butts, leaving. Got it." Sage reported. She ripped the page of her notebook she had been scribbling on out, and set it on the coffee table. She stepped over to Mikah, who grabbed onto the girl's shoulder, pulled her into the shadows and disappeared, leaving only the jagged-edge piece of paper in the empty cottage.

...

"So they got away, is that right?" Mako repeated back to Skoochy, his voice oozing with suspicion. Bolin and the Avatar stood behind him, both imitating Mako's frown and raised eyebrow.

"Yeah. Jinora's father told her to tell me to tell you that they're fine. Tenzin is probably dropping off the kids and Penny at the South Pole right now." Skoochy flashed the best convincing smile he could muster and pulled his cap down further over his face.

"You mean Pema?" Korra corrected the boy.

"Oh. Yeah, Pema." Skoochy revised. He pulled his father's cap even further down, to hide the liar's sweat bubbling up on his forehead.

This seemed to convince the Avatar, seeing as she backed down a little. But the fabulous bending brothers weren't so easily convinced. "And why exactly were you sent to deliver the message?" Mako demanded.

Skoochy had been taken from the clutches of The Lieutenant by two chi-blockers that promised to stick with the kid until he had found and delivered his message to the Avatar. The smart street urchin figured out that one of the chi-blockers was Mako way before The Lieutenant had even left the room. Liu had never been known for being a genius. Mako and Korra had brought the young boy back to the sewers, where they were hiding out until Tenzin sent word that he was coming back.

The nervous street urchin was that word—at least a fake one. He hated to lie to his buddies, especially Mako and Bolin, since they seemed to know when he was lying. Skoochy only hoped that he could get away before the boys caught on.

"Then what were you doing with The Lieutenant?" Bolin asked, jabbing a finger lightly into Skoochy's chest. Skoochy, annoyed, bended up a wall between the two earthbenders, causing Bolin's finger to be crushed. The older screamed, and started to suckle on the throbbing finger. In return, he thrusted his heel into the ground, causing a rock pillar to erupt from the floor and into Skoochy's jaw.

Enraged, the younger boy rubbed his chin and stepped into a ready fighting stance. "You wanna go?"

Bolin took the finger from his mouth. "Yeah? Let's rock!" He assumed a stance similar to Skoochy's and bended up a chunk of earth larger than Skoochy's head into the air.

"BOYS!" Korra shouted. Both earthbenders looked over. "Can we focus on Tenzin and the children? Please?"

The older bender complied the first. He stood up straight and grinned at his friend. "Right! Of course. I'm just…gonna go check on Asami and the General." he nodded his head sheepishly, and stepped off and away, his fire ferret not far behind.

"So what were you doing with The Lieutenant?" Korra shuddered, and turned her attention back to Skoochy. "That creep." She muttered under her breath.

"Well, after I watched Tenzin go, I started…looking for you, to tell you the news, but I sort of ran into some Equalist trouble with a side of The Lieutenant." The informant scratched the back of his neck, trying to come off as sheepish. "He threatened to shock me if I didn't tell him who I was looking for, so I said I was looking for…Gommu. Yeah, Gommu." The old kook. Skoochy hoped that that would be enough of a cover-up for him to get out of the sewers and meet up with Mikah and the others.

"But I thought The Lieutenant said you had a message for the Avatar." Mako said, his voice gaining a suspicious tone with every word.

Skoochy faked a grin and started to back up. "No he didn't! He said Gommu—I'm sure of it."

There was a long pause as Mako just narrowed his eyes at Skoochy. The younger boy gulped. He needed to convince these two that he was telling the truth—the lives of the ones he was closest to depended on it.

Finally, Mako released a breath and smiled down at his old buddy. "Okay, you're right. I remember that he said Gommu. Sorry, Skooch."

The remaining earthbender grinned back and exhaled a breath he had no idea he had been holding in. "That's alright. Now, I would charge you for this information, but since it's important…I'll let it slide." Skoochy looked up through his bangs slyly.

"Oh thank you. I wasn't sure I had enough on me to pay for the message." Mako played along. Skoochy figured that secretly, his old friend was thankful for something to laugh about during such dark times.

"Well, I'd best be off. I need to catch up with the rest of them before Mikah cuts my head off." Skoochy saluted Korra and Mako with two fingers, turned, and left the sewer complex. Walking out of the now not-so-secret entrance, he pulled his hat down over his eyes at the sight of a familiar shadow hiding in the bushes as a sudden wind storm began to rack through the City. "It's done." Skoochy muttered, his voice broken. He refused to look over.

"You are free to go." The earthbender could almost imagine Liu grinning in that evil way of his. It made him shudder just thinking about it.

As Skoochy ran off down the street, careful to keep his cap firmly on his head, he couldn't help but hold back the feeling that he had severed the ties he might need later in his life. But the boy knew it had to be done, and kept running.

...

Pushing the door to the cottage open, Skoochy slammed the door to the arctic midnight air behind him and collapsed on the couch, exhausted from his non-stop run from Republic City to the cottage on its outskirts. His hat flopped down over his face, blocking the earthbender's view of the graying room. "Oh spirits, you guys. That was exhausting."

No response.

Skoochy sat up, and his cap fell from his face. He glanced around. The cottage was empty. "No…" the boy's eyes widened in horror. He jumped up and looked around the entire cottage, just to confirm that he was still alone. Finally, Skoochy's eyes caught on to the torn-up piece of paper of the table. He picked it up and cussed out loud. How could Sage forget that he couldn't read?

After an hour of broken reading and spelling it out, Skoochy finally got the main points. "Go default meet ASAP. We leave…tomorrow night. Butts." Skoochy ripped his gaze from the paper and onto the window, where just through the dust he could see the faint glow of Republic City.

Getting up, Skoochy tucked the paper into his vest, tidied up the borrowed cottage a little bit, and closed the door behind him. For a moment, the earthbender just stood on the porch, staring blankly out at Republic City as he thought hard about his next decision.

If he didn't go now, he would miss Mikah and the others at their next meeting place. But what about his promise to Jinora? Skoochy's heart ached a little at the thought of her. He hadn't been thinking of her at all during any of the day's events. The street urchin had made a promise, and a promise is a promise. But what about the rest of his family? He couldn't just abandon them like he had the day before. Or maybe, was it two days ago? Skoochy wasn't sure. All he was sure of was what he was going to do.

A single tear trailed from Skoochy's auburn eyes as he looked back out at Republic City. "I'm sorry, Jinora."

He turned away from the City, and began hiking his way towards the next meeting place. It took all of his self-control to keep from looking back.

Soooo? What did you think? Aangsty Skooch and Mikah...so much dramatizing fun...AND BOLIN!~

Oh my glob I hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

(And next episode, we get to meet Mikah's father and get a background on the princess ;P)

HEY I JUST MET YOU REVIEW PLEASE? -haha, not exactly the songwriting type, sorry c: