Book 4 Air
Chapter 46 Colorblind
His vision was blurred as he unsteady stepped his way through the thick branches of bamboo sticks. Tripping over rocks covered with dry sand, Aang felt on top of a solid mantle made of what appeared to be hollowed out wood. Lifting his head up he saw the statue of his former self. The strong woman clad in green armor and geisha make-up. Avatar Kyoshi, the one Avatar Aang didn't approve of. The stubborn woman who did whatever it took to save her people even at the event of ending someone's life.
Lifting himself up, Aang gripped on the chipped wood as he looked at the scene on top of the hillside. Two figures appeared to be fighting, loud cries of struggle and sounds of metal clashing against each other were heard in a fierce battle. Aang stood on his two feet as he made his way up the hill. He had to help, any way he could.
Once he reached the top, his eyes widen am to see the battle in front of him. It was Suki fighting the near insane fire princess, Azula. Aang watch Suki perform her stances and battling techniques against her rival. Quick, swift jabs with her sword as she twirled her body. Her stances were just like an airbender's, supple and graceful. Yet her leg formations were strong and heavy like an earthbender's. Every detail of her fighting skills was Air and Earthen related, it amazed Aang.
Brought out of his small trace, Aang saw Suki was struggling against Azula's attack. Aang quickly ran in to help. Swirling air in a circular motion with his hands, Aang swung his wrist causing a small watermelon size ball of air straight at Azula, knocking her down. Once Azula felt, Aang raced to Suki to help her.
"Aang!" Suki exclaimed. "Hurry! Go help Sokka and the villagers; they're on the outskirts of the village!" Suki ordered the airbender as Aang became hesitant.
"But, what about you?" Aang asked as he saw Azula recovered herself standing up with a growl.
"Don't worry about me, I can handle her. Move, quickly! They may need you!" Suki said as she drew her sword towards the fire princess.
Aang nodded his head as he leaped into the sky on top of one of the roofs then into the forest.
"You were foolish to let the Avatar go…The others will surely kill him." Azula said in a low voice as she gained her footing.
"No…You are foolish for picking a fight with me." Suki said with a smirk as Azula charged at her.
A deep heaviness gripped on her body, as she struggled to breathe. Opening her eyes, Toph cried out. Where was she? Why couldn't she move?
"You are awake?" a voice spoke as Toph jerked her head up.
"Who's there?" Toph asked desperately as she tried to break free from a large coil of scaled flesh pinning her upward uncomfortably.
"You mustn't should any emotion or he will steal your face." The voice said in a serious tone.
Toph opened her eyes then gasped. She saw something she never seen in her whole life. Patches of mysterious light in front of her, she didn't know what it was, and it scared her. Slowly her new vision blurred into an image, drifting into an outline of a person. Blinking her eyes, Toph realized it was the person talking to her, the voice who was telling her frightening things about her face being taken from her.
"Where am I? Who are you? Why can I see?" Toph asked as she looked around her.
Darkness surrounded her with nothing more than a few specks of light shining in from what looked like roots. The person in front of her was in shades of black and white, with bits of gray. It confused Toph…Was this the sight of colors that her friends have described to her so many times in the past? Toph blinked her now fully jade-green eyes as she noticed the woman's appearance. Her features were covered from her long dark brown hair over her face as her hand lifted slightly to her chest.
"Please, tell me…Who are you? Where am I?" Toph pleaded as tears formed at the corners of her eyes.
"My name is Ummi, and you're in Koh's lair…" the woman said frankly.
"Koh? Is he the one who steals faces?" Toph asked quietly.
"Yes…He is the one who has also taken my face…" Ummi said as she turned her head causing her hair to flip to the side revealing her faceless head. Toph's eyes widen as her mouth opened releasing a high-pitched terrified scream.
"Silence yourself! He'll hear you…Remember, show no fear-no emotion at all." The woman whispered as she reached over and covered the petite girl's lips. Toph shut her eyes as tears flowed down her cheeks. The faceless woman gently wiped her tears away and coolly sang a soft song to calm the earthbender down.
"Full moon sways…Gently in the night of one fine day…On my way… Looking for a moment with my dear…" the woman sang softly as she continued to sing with grace. "Full moon waves… Slowly on the surface of the sea…You were there… Smiling in my arms for all those years…" the woman sang quietly as she brushed Toph's loose bangs out of her face.
Toph blinked as she slowly closed her eyes, falling into a light slumber enjoying the woman's sweet voice and protective care.
Walking down the hall, Katara wondered where Zuko went to. Remembering his room was not far off, Katara walked further down the darkening passageway with dimming candle lights guiding the way.
Once in front of the two doors, Katara marveled at the detail of the dragon door handles with two large gold rings looping under their mouths. Reaching out to one of them, Katara lifted the heavy ring then tapped it against the solid oak. Patiently waiting, Katara tapped again. No answer.
Thinking herself quietly, Katara decided to enter the lord's bed chamber. The oak door was seen sliding to the right inside the room, opening its entrance to the girl.
Stepping cautiously inside, Katara called out. "Zuko?"
Looking around Katara noticed a narrow hallway leading to an open room. Once she passes down the hall noting the different paintings and scroll hanging with golden leaf trimmings behind her. The waterbender gasped in awe at the sheer size of Zuko's chamber as she entered into the room. Zuko's bedroom was more like one half of the whole wing of the palace. Turning to her left she saw two large glass doors leading out to a big balcony, long deep red curtains made of velvet that hung down in a pool of fabric with golden tassels pulling back the material.
Looking around Katara saw a small desk with scattered papers with a swan goose feather dipped in an ink box. Noting the small candles spread over the room and huge fur rug on the dark red carpet, Katara turned to her right and saw a massive fire place blazing in the center of the back wall of the room. 'This might be his small office or something…' Katara thought as she saw another opened hallway. Deciding to find out more and find the Fire Lord. Katara walked down the hall wondering what more is hidden in the depths of the lord's chamber.
Leaping and barely touching the ground as Aang raced to the cliff side. Once he entered the clearing, he gasped at the sight. Pirates were brutally beating Oyaji the leader while two bulking men head back Mai who was crying out.
Aang stood his ground as he yelled out, "Stop it!" the Avatar shouted as the men stopped and turned their attention to the boy.
"Ah! It's the Avatar!" one pirate said as he pointed his bony finger to the airbender.
"Heh, he will make quite the bounty for the generals…" another pirate said as he stepped forward with a wicked smirk.
Aang narrowed his eyes, he always thought poorly of these kinds of men and how they choose to live, to rob and hurt others just for their own gain. No good comes out of it.
Forming into a defensive stance, Aang spoke clearly and firmly, "You are to stop and leave this island peacefully. Don't make me hurt you."
Some of the men laughed his warning off while the others took a step back.
"Come on Dev we should go. We don't stand a chance against the Avatar!" one pirate said as he started to head for the boat down the cliff.
"No one is going anywhere!" a voice called out frantically as all heads turned to a panting princess.
"Oh no…" Aang mumbled, "What happened to Suki!" Aang cried out as Azula smirked.
"Come on men, attack the Avatar! I'll reward you with plenty of gold and silver." Azula said ignoring Aang's question.
The men tensed at the mention of a reward, looking back at the airbender. A few men gripped on their weapons then charged at Aang.
The first pirate raised his sword to Aang as he cried out, the airbender swiftly turned to the side as the men fell forward into the dirt. The other two charged swinging their weapons high as one flung a goedendag chained spike towards the Avatar. Aang jumped into the air as he landed behind the two men. Both blinked as they then focused another attack. Aang formed into an earthbending stance as he pulled up his wrists. Blocks of earth rose from the ground as they pinned the two men from their ankles causing them to fall on their faces.
Aang smiled as he turned around facing Azula and the other men.
"No bother…I'll just finish you myself!" Azula yelled out in frustration as she stepped forward.
The other men backed away cowardly as a few ran down the trail to the boat. Shortly after Ty Lee and the other Kyoshi warriors ran into the scene and helped up their leader Oyaji.
Gasping at the sight in front of them, a moment of silence filled the air as Azula narrowed her eyes at the boy.
Quickly forming her fingers, Azula shot out a flame of fire towards Aang. Mai gasped as her eyes widen. 'She…She can produce fire!' Mai thought as she wondered Azula was playing her all along.
Aang spun his arms breaking away the flames as he shot a whirl of air at Azula knocking her off balance.
"Enough of this child's play! I want you dead! You are the one who destroyed my family! Without you, father would still be alive!!!" Azula screamed as she shot another flame out blazing across the air.
Aang's eyes widen at the mention of the previous Fire Lord dead, and the pain that stung in the girl's words.
We are all connected yet we live as if divided…We are all one of the same people…
'That's right…She's no different from any of us. She's hurting just like I did when I found out my people were gone…Like Katara's mother was gone…' Aang thought as he stood down and placed his arms to the side of his waist.
"I won't fight you…Not like this…" Aang said as he closed his eyes.
"Aang what are you doing!" Sokka cried out as he entered the scene hearing the boy's words.
Azula charged blindly at the airbender as tears fell from her eyes. Just as fast as it happened, everything seemed to slow down for an instant. Ty Lee was crying out as Sokka ran to Azula pulling out his sword. Aang took a sharp breathe as he waited for the finally blow.
A loud heart-wrenching scream was heard as the sound of flames flew in the air and a tink sound of metal fell to the ground.
Aang opened his eyes as his pupils contracted in shock.
I know everyone is dying to know what happens. Don't worry I'll update…Just review and leave a nice comment for a quick update. Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed it! Also I know I'm not good on describing battle scenes, hopefully it was interesting enough to understand.
I'll leave everyone to wonder…What happened to Suki? What will Katara find once she sees Zuko? How are Aeron and Cole doing on their journey with Jun? Stay tune and don't forget to review!
Also as another note: I do not own the song I've used for this chapter. I discovered it, as a song used on an anime called Beck. I did only use a small part of it, though I'm not too familiar with the anime but I love the song, it's so lovely… I also changed one part of the song to fit a better description of a water tribe song. Instead of the original lyric for 'lake' I used 'sea'.
Again, thank you all for reading!
