Title: Falling in the Water (part 2 of 7)
Author: Kyra Rivers
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Violence, mild language, allusion to rape, dark themes.
Genre: Horror, Supernatural, Action
Notes: This story takes place during Avatar season 2, sometime after the episode "Bitter Work". Also, I pretty much just assume that the Earth Kingdom equates to China, so all of my original characters will have Chinese names. This story will be Gaang-centric (with extra Toph), and it will also include a few minor OCs. Minor Kataang hints (no more than are already in the series), and uh. Tokka if you squint. Kinda. I can't really see them together at any time in actual canon, to tell the truth, but that doesn't mean I can't allude to it. :) This story can pretty much be assumed to be AU, though it's kinda more like a really dark what-if episode than an actual change to the storyline.
Thanks: Thanks again to He Li Wen and Zhou Li Kai for sound boarding, and super crazy thanks to my very own Remus-tastic beta reader, Countess of Lace, who sparkles with the glittery glow of editing. Like a mofo. Cos, y'know. You can sparkle like a mofo. For realz.
Summary: Aang makes a mistake. Toph pays the price.
PART 2
Toph led them down to a dark, swampy area. As the trees grew thicker, the way grew more and more difficult to manage. Toph, of course, had little trouble and did her best to earthbend an easier path for the others to follow, but Toph couldn't control the crowded plant life around them. After the initial half mile, it was slow going.
"Don't worry," Toph informed them when Katara started to worry out loud about He Li Wen's safety. "I can still feel her, and she's fine." She paused, tilting her head as she felt out the vibrations with her feet, and added, "Hurt, but fine."
Katara was relieved to hear that, especially as the closer they got to the area, the more treacherous the terrain became. Sokka was swearing viciously under his breath, swiping at branches and vines in his way, and Aang was swatting with frustration at the many bugs that swarmed around them all. Katara was annoyed too, but tried to ignore it by focusing on keeping the vines and branches that Toph couldn't see away from her face. Toph was too focused on finding a solid path to say anything more than the occasional direction.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of fighting off bugs and listening to Sokka curse at various plant life, Toph said, "She's just ahead, about fifteen feet to the right of the stream."
And sure enough, Katara could just make out the outline of a young girl in a white dressing gown, who was pinned underneath a dead tree. She was squirming against the trunk, even though Katara could tell that it would be impossible for her to move it. Katara stepped forward, anxious to help get to girl out, and wound up breaking a branch under her feet, hearing it snap with a sharp crack.
He Li Wen heard it too, and she went utterly still, turning her head in their direction. "Is -- is someone there?" she asked hesitantly. Then, desperately, she shouted, "Help me! Please! Someone help me!"
Katara moved to step forward, but Toph grabbed her arm and stopped her. Ignoring the sound of He Li Wen crying out behind them, Toph whispered, "Can you see the Wild Woman?"
"No," Sokka answered, staring over at the poor trapped girl with a pained expression on his face. "There's no one there but the girl."
"She'll be around here," Aang said, looking nervously at the dark trees surrounding them. Katara did the same, but could see nothing but the same unnerving shadows and hanging vines as before.
"I can't feel anything but the girl," Toph confirmed, "but I don't think we should all rush out there." She twisted her foot against the earth as if to test it, and said, "I can get her out with earthbending."
"I'll go out there," Aang said. "If the Wild Woman does come, I'll be able to distract her."
"I'll come with you too," Katara said. She looked over at He Li Wen, who had started to call out even more desperately, straining against the fallen tree. "I can calm her down and tell her what Toph's going to do."
"Sounds good," Sokka said, standing over Toph as she knelt down and steadied her hands against the ground. "Give me a signal so I can tell Toph when to move."
Katara nodded, and then moved behind Aang as they stepped out into the clearing. He Li Wen went abruptly silent when she saw them, but then immediately said, "Oh, thank the land, you found me! Please! Please help me out!"
Katara immediately hurried over to her, leaving Aang to stand anxiously in the middle of the clearing, clutching his staff tightly in one hand. She knelt by He Li Wen and touched her hand, saying, "You're safe now, we're going to get you out."
"It's really heavy," He Li Wen whimpered, pushing again against the dead tree. Now that she was up close, Katara could see that the young girl was a bit older than she was, and was bleeding from various cuts on her body. Her dress was ripped to shreds around her, and she shivered in the cold night air.
"One of my friends is an earthbender," Katara explained quickly. "She's going to get you out as soon as I tell her, but I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine, I'm fine," He Li Wen insisted, her voice cracking and making her sound anything but fine. "Please, just get me out of here!"
"All right, let me just--" Katara turned as she said this, holding up a hand for Sokka to notice. She couldn't make him out through the dim light, but underneath her, the earth began to shift, and Katara imagined Toph had gotten the message. Unfortunately, even as she turned and spoke, Katara felt the air grow cold and bitter; the hair on the back of her arms stood on end, and she felt a rush of goosebumps all the way down her spine. She gasped in surprise, and noticed that she could see her breath in little bursts of fog.
"Oh no," He Li Wen whispered despairingly, noticing the weather change. "Oh, she's coming, oh no..."
"Aang," Katara called out in warning. "Aang, she's coming!" The earth swelled up around Katara as she said it, encasing her and He Li Wen, and Katara shouted, "Toph, stop quick!"
The soil around her froze in place, half covering the two of them, and Katara turned back to Aang, asking, "Can you see her? What's going on?"
Aang was motionless, standing ten feet away and staring up into the trees. Katara could see his how tense shoulders and back were, still bare despite the cold. Around them, the swamp seemed to have grown lifeless; no longer were insects swarming around them, nor were the sounds of owls and frogs to be heard. Instead, a heavy, pressing silence persisted, making the dark cold seem all the more terrifying as they all waited in anticipation.
Aang replied quietly, sounding hesitant, "I can't see her."
No sooner than the words had left his mouth, another voice from behind Katara whispered, "But I can see you, boy."
Katara and Aang both whirled around to face the newcomer, dirt crumbling around Katara as she did so. On the ground beside her, He Li Wen simply closed her eyes tightly and froze, shaking.
The Wild Woman looked nothing like what Katara had imagined, but still everything like what her name implied. The spirit was thin and bony, with long black hair that was mussed and dirty. Her dress was ripped up and practically torn off her person, baring long legs halfway up her thigh. She looked a little older than Katara, but her eyes were sunken and pitch black as she stared over at Aang with a foul little smile on her face.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
The Wild Woman's skin was glowing with a pale luminescence, shining a strange pearl color in the darkness. Standing stark against the pale backdrop were multiple cuts and bruises, deep purples and blues around her neck and all over her exposed skin, and dripping, sharp streams of red from the deep gouges around her wrists and ankles. Crawling around in between her tattered clothes and underneath her skin -- and Katara resisted the urge to gag when she noticed this -- were maggots and flies, squirming and moving along with the spirit as though part of her.
She stood on the muddy ground, glowing unnaturally and almost seeming to float. As she stepped forward, her coal-black eyes locked on Aang, her image appeared to flicker, and Katara felt as though she was blinking rapidly though her eyes stayed wide open. She passed by Katara and He Li Wen without pause, not seeming to notice them in favor of Aang.
"You have entered my forest, boy," the Wild Woman hissed, and her voice was like the shriek of steel against stone, piercing and harsh. Katara hunched down and huddled next to He Li Wen, keeping her warm hands pressed against the young girl's shoulders. He Li Wen leaned into the warmth gratefully, though she kept her eyes tightly shut against the wraith standing just shy of them.
"I," Aang began, stopping short as the Wild Woman approached him slowly. He swallowed, and then continued, "I am the Avatar, Wild Woman. I, uh, I command you to leave this place."
This seemed to give the wraith pause, and she frowned. Her formed flickered a little more rapidly, then calmed. She finally replied, "You banish me?" Her confused expression melted into something cruel and knowing, and she said, "You are a young man. You have love in your heart."
"I am the Avatar," Aang said again, looking a little panicked that she was ignoring him. "I command you to leave these woods!"
The Wild Woman dismissed him, stepping forward at the same excruciatingly slow pace. She continued, hissing bitterly, "You have maidens in your heart. In your twisted, foul little heart."
Aang's eyes went wide at the mention of maidens, and he looked quickly at Katara. Sharply, he ordered, "Katara, get her out of here!"
"But you--" Katara couldn't help but protest, staring in horror as the Wild Woman continued to advance on Aang.
"Leave now!" Aang shouted. Katara felt frozen, torn between staying or leaving, but luckily, Toph made the decision for her. Apparently hearing Aang's last command, Toph moved the earth promptly. The last thing Katara saw before the swamp swallowed her and He Li Wen up was Aang's pale face, staring fearfully at the flickering wraith before him.
As Katara and He Li Wen vanished under a swell of mud, the Wild Woman whipped around and stared at the place they had just been. The cold grew suddenly sharper, and Aang could see frost forming on the grass and trees around him.
"You stole my maiden!" the Wild Woman snarled viciously, whirling back to glare at Aang. "You," she added darkly, her entire form seeming to tremble in anger. "You did this, you foul man, you foul boy, you took your maiden and made her steal mine, you deceitful boy, you took my maiden!"
Aang backed up as she advanced, and though he knew she wasn't actually growing in size, Aang could feel her energy growing as her rage did. The ground crunched under her feet as she glided over the now frozen blades, and she glowered down at Aang with fire in her black, dead eyes.
"You stole that girl!" Aang finally found his voice, whipping around his glider to hold in front of him like a weapon. "You took her from her family! She's not your maiden!"
The Wild Woman sneered at him, hissing, "They are all my maidens! They all belong to me from birth. I am the only one who will teach them the foulness of the world, the bitterness, the despair; I alone will teach them that men, petty, greedy, lying men are not to be trusted." She came even closer to Aang, her voice growing dangerously quiet, and she said, "I kill them for their purity, for their innocence, for their youth. I kill them as a favor, boy, and I do it before you can kill them first!"
Aang stood his ground, less due to bravery than because the Wild Woman was inches away and he felt frozen, her cold eyes keeping him motionless. They stood like that for too long of a moment, her icy anger pinning him in place. Aang could hardly think to breathe.
The Wild Woman smiled a slow, sinuous smirk. "I'll let you have my maiden, boy," she said, crunching a maggot between her teeth as she spoke, "in return for yours."
Then she vanished abruptly, the cold dissipating with her absence, and left Aang standing there in the middle of a dark, empty swamp. Aang could finally breathe, shaking the wake of the wraith's presence. With his first breath, however, the true meaning of the Wild Woman's final, ominous words struck him horribly.
"Katara!" Aang cried out as he whirled around, opening his glider and taking to the sky in one swift movement. His mind was blank with terror, and all he could think about was getting back to her before anything could happen. He took off into the night sky flying as fast as he possibly could, desperate to get to the others before it was too late.
One moment, Sokka was standing over Toph, waiting as he watched Katara run over to the girl pinned under the fallen tree. With the appearance of the Wild Woman, however, he barely had a few moments to register that the disgusting creature was speaking to Aang before the Avatar suddenly shouted at Katara to run. Sokka saw his little sister freeze where she knelt, clearly indecisive, but that was the last he saw, as the next second his vision was blocked by a mound of thick mud.
"Grab onto my waist," instructed Toph calmly. He couldn't see anything, but he knew approximately where she had been kneeling before, and he latched his arms around her tiny form. Immediately, he felt a little more comfortable about being below ground and unable to see. He could feel Toph's arms moving in front of him; from the feel of it, her forearms were completely buried in the thick, swampy earth. He felt Toph jerk her arms sharply back, thrusting herself backward into his chest, but before he could question the reason he heard the rumbling sound of earth approaching.
Not two seconds later, another chasm opened up into theirs, and Sokka felt two warm bodies run into his. It was the two girls, one of whom was breathing rapidly and the other sounding much calmer.
"Katara?" Sokka asked in the direction of the latter girl, not trusting himself to reach out as he could barely tell where either one was.
"Yep," Katara affirmed, adding unnecessarily, "Got He Li Wen here, Toph, we're good."
"Hold on," Toph said in response. From the sound of the earth moving and the sudden feeling of a warm body pressed against his back, Sokka got the impression that Toph had shoved both girls toward them with a push of the mud. "We're gonna be moving fast."
"Wait, wait," He Li Wen gasped worriedly, her breath against Sokka's neck, "You could drop us? Underground?"
"No," Toph replied succinctly, and Sokka resisted a smile as he imagined her irritated expression, "but I figured non-earthbenders would enjoy having someone to hold on to when the ground starts moving beneath you."
"We do, Toph, thanks," Katara assured her quickly, sounding relieved.
With nothing more than a grunt and a quick shift of her arms to signify action, Toph propelled them into motion. After the first gut-wrenching swell of earth underneath their knees, the ride was relatively straight-forward. Sokka didn't feel anything but Toph's form beneath his and He Li Wen's pressed behind him, with the former shifting rapidly in time with the pace of the trip and the latter trembling in fear. He imagined he could feel Katara's arms braced against his sides as well, to support the injured girl between them, but to be honest, he tried not to think too much during the entire journey. It was one thing to know that you were safe with a master Earthbender leading the way underneath the ground, but it was something completely different to actually be shot forward through an utterly black tunnel, with nothing but the people around you to give you bearing. As it was, Sokka clung tightly to Toph's waist, buried his face in between her twisting shoulder blades and just waited for it to be over.
It seemed like forever before they emerged above ground, and they did so with a jolt and an explosion into the air. Sokka managed to hold onto Toph's waist and stay rooted to the earth, but He Li Wen and Katara were flung several feet ahead of them, landing at the base of a tall oak tree. Sokka blinked rapidly in the open air, the darkness of the evening suddenly seeming rather bright in comparison to the tunnel.
"Get off me, you big oaf," Toph mumbled irritably below him, sounding exhausted.
Sokka grinned down at her, unable to contain his relief at being out from beneath the ground. "Aw, but you're so comfy," he teased even as he was standing up, grabbing her shoulders and helping her stand as he did so.
The trip had taken a lot out of Toph, and it showed in that she didn't even bother to comment back, nor did she take issue with being helped up. She wavered a bit upon standing, giving Sokka the impression she was just barely managing to avoid leaning against him.
"Where are we?" Katara asked, but before anyone could respond, they got their answer.
"Li Wen!" a deep male voice called out, and Sokka turned to see the large form of the farmer running up, his slight wife a few paces behind him. They embraced their daughter instantly, looking relieved and tearful.
"Oh, you're safe," the farmer was saying, clutching He Li Wen tightly to his chest. "My baby girl, I'm so glad you're safe."
Sokka felt moved by the reunion in front of him, smiling without thinking about it. But as he saw the rest of the party approaching, he realized that they had made it all the way back to camp; just past the trees, he could see their tents still set up, with Appa and Momo watching over them. (Or, rather, sleeping near them.)
He turned to regard Toph, who hadn't moved since standing. "You got us all the way back to camp?" he asked incredulously.
"Yeah," she murmured, "and if you don't mind, I'm gonna pass out as soon as Baldie gets back."
"Well, I'm impressed," Sokka said simply, patting her on the shoulder. She smiled faintly in return, and ignored him when he left his hand there, trying his best to stabilize her without being obvious about it.
"You defeated the Wild Woman?" asked Lao Mei Ying as she came toward them, her footsteps careful in the dark woods. She and a few other villagers still held brightly lit torches, the light from which seemed shocking after all that time in the dark. Sokka winced against the sudden brightness.
"I'm... not sure," Katara said, looking back the way they had come with an apprehensive expression. "Aang told us to run, and we -- well, He Li Wen was hurt, so..."
"We booked it," Sokka confirmed simply, shrugging. "Aang's the only one who would have been able to lay a hand on that spirit anyway," he added, more for Katara's benefit than anything, because his little sister was starting to look incredibly worried. "I don't think we could have helped. She was so creepy looking, too, ugh."
Toph frowned beside him, asking quietly, "Wait, so you guys actually saw her?"
"Yeah," Sokka answered, confused. "She was gross and all rotted up," he went on, and felt a little bad when he saw He Li Wen bury her face deeper into her father's shoulder and Katara look revolted.
Toph made a face and opened her mouth to say something, but the temperature around them went abruptly cold, sending a sharp chill down Sokka's spine. He clutched his club with his right hand while his left tightened around Toph's shoulder, and he looked around the dark forest nervously.
"Oh no," Katara said, also recognizing the significance. She turned to the villagers and instructed, "Quick, you all need to get out of here. Take He Li Wen and run!"
"What?" Chen Dawei asked, hovering just shy of He Li Wen and her family. "What's going on?"
"The Wild Woman," Sokka explained, eyes darting left and right as he kept a watch on the woods. "She followed us."
"Aang," whispered Katara, and Sokka was suddenly gripped with the realization that if the wraith had followed them, it might mean that it had already taken care of Aang. He forced himself not to consider that possibility and focus on the present, where the grass was already beginning to freeze at their feet.
The torches suddenly went out, shrouding the meadow in darkness, and gasped went up around the cluster of villagers.
"Run by Appa!" Katara shouted, pointing. She jumped forward and shoved at Chen Dawei, gesturing frantically, and finally the villagers got the idea. Lead by Lao Mei Ying, they scattered and ran toward the giant air-bison, He Li Wen still clutched in her father's arms.
Katara, Sokka and Toph were left to stand nervously as the air grew bitter with cold and the grass went white with frost. The wait went on for a few terribly long moments as Katara and Sokka both looked around nervously, waiting for the telltale glow of the wraith. Toph was comparatively still, frowning down at the ground, but Sokka could see her toes flexing in the dirt.
The silence stretched horribly before the Wild Woman finally appeared, and when she did, it was still somehow from behind them. The pearl white shine caught Sokka's eye and he whirled around, standing just in front of Katara. He had slid his left hand down to clutch Toph's, who didn't move other than shifting her stance to a more solid one.
"Is she here?" Toph asked quietly when she felt Sokka jerk. She could probably feel his heartbeat through the earth, Sokka supposed, and Katara's too.
"Yeah," he whispered back. He couldn't take his eyes off the wraith's slowly approaching form, silent and deadly. Her eyes seemed to pin him to the ground, jet black and burning with a cold fire, and all around her feet the earth twisted and squirmed with hundreds of pale maggots. Blood dripped steadily from the gashes on her wrists and ankles. As if she noticed his eyes on the wounds, blood suddenly started to drip from her mouth and eyes as well, dripping onto the many dark purple bruises that were scattered on her body.
Toph took a breath, and then said something that made Sokka's blood grow cold.
"I can't feel her," she murmured. "All I can feel is the temperature. She's not really there."
Sokka really didn't want to think about how they were going to fight something that wasn't really there. He shivered in the cold air and stared back at the wraith silently, waiting for her to do something. If she was able to follow them this far, he didn't imagine that running away would make much of a difference at all.
The Wild Woman regarded them with a dark glare, and then she tilted her head and smiled faintly. "My maiden," she whispered, sounding almost fond, but in a way that made Sokka feel nauseous. "Oh, my maiden, you shouldn't have stolen what was mine."
She glided a step forward, but before she could say anything else, there was a rush of wind from above, and Aang shot down, whipping his glider around and shattering the image of the Wild Woman with a sharp swipe of its retracted form. The Wild Woman vanished from in front of them, leaving Aang to crouch there, breathing heavily.
"Katara!" he cried out, leaping up and grabbing her, pulling her away from the center of the meadow and toward their campsite. "She's after you!" he insisted, eyes wide with panic.
"What?" Sokka shouted, tension radiating from his form.
"She's pissed off we stole her maiden," Aang explained rapidly, giving up on running away with a frustrated sigh and opting to stand in front of Katara with a determined expression on his face instead. He held his staff out like a sword and watched the dark forest with a keen eye. "She said she was going to take mine instead, because we took her."
"Aang," Sokka said, unable to keep the anger out of his voice, "I told you--!"
"I know!" he cried.
"Yell at him later, Sokka," Katara said, sounding irritated. Sokka imagined he would be too if a creepy dead woman was out to kill him, but knowing that didn't help ease any tension.
"Yeah," Toph echoed from beside him, her hand now actively clinging to his. "Now we have to fight a disgusting wraith that I can't even feel."
"At least you don't have to look at her," Sokka shot back.
"Yeah, but I can still smell her," informed Toph, sounding grossed out.
"Aang," Katara said, ignoring their exchange, "don't worry! I still have the charm from before; I'll be safe. We can fight her off."
"Unless--" Sokka began, glancing down at Toph with a sudden, horrible thought, remembering what the Wild Woman had said just moments before Aang's arrival. But before he could voice it, the Wild Woman appeared before them again, looking even more enraged than before as she glared down at Aang. Sokka, who was standing with Toph about five feet behind Aang and Katara, could still feel the wave of intense chill that emanated from the ferocious wraith, which was like being plunged into an icy river in the middle of winter back home. His breath caught with the shock of it.
"You foul boy," she snarled at Aang, hair suddenly rising as though connected to her anger, like a cat. "You will not stop me from taking what is rightfully mine." The last word was screamed piercingly, and Sokka took the moment to yank Toph closer to him. He pulled them both a few steps away from the wraith, staring at the terrifying image she presented. Aang was standing in front of Katara protectively, his stance defensive. Katara had pulled out her bending water sometime in the brief moments before the wraith has appeared again and had it at the ready, but more importantly, she had a glittering jewel around her neck.
The Wild Woman glowered at Aang in the wake of her scream, but slowly, her eyes drifted over to Katara. She looked quizzically at the charm around her neck and pursed her rotted lips. Looking back at Aang, a half-smirk growing on her face, she said, "Those little trinkets burn so badly, little boy."
"You will leave her be," Aang said sharply in return, not moving an inch from his position in front of Katara.
Sokka felt a twist in his stomach for every moment that damned smirk stayed on the Wild Woman's face, certain they were missing something and suspecting with dread what it might be. Before he could say anything, however, the Wild Woman was leaning forward, her mauled, infested face hovering inches away from Aang's. Sokka could see Aang shaking, but the young man stood his ground, his expression tight and determined.
"Let me tell you a secret, you disgusting little boy," she whispered, sounding like the worst imitation of a mother. She inched forward a little more, her lips a scant distance away from Aang's face, and she hissed, "Just a little closer, and I'll tell you, you'll like it, I promise--"
Sokka knew then, before she said anything; he knew what she was planning by the way she stared at Toph over Aang's shoulder.
"The thing is," the Wild Woman cooed, her black eyes staring darkly in Sokka's direction even as she spoke, "you're guarding the wrong maiden."
Abruptly, the Wild Woman flickered and disappeared.
Sokka had seen it coming, had known what the wraith had been planning, and still he felt the next few moments pass as though in slow motion. He whirled around to face Toph, her hand still gripped tightly in his own, but even as he turned he saw the cold, pearl-white glow of the Wild Woman standing behind her.
Toph, who couldn't sense the wraith, uttered a shriek as icy, rotted arms wrapped tightly around her, yanking her up off the ground and pressing her against the maggot-infested remains of the wraith's tattered dress. Sokka clung as tight as he could, but still Toph's hand was ripped from his, and he was left standing there as she was pulled backwards into the Wild Woman's embrace. Grinning foully over Toph's shoulder, the Wild Woman turned her lips against Toph's cheek in a grotesque parody of a warm kiss, ignoring Toph as the young girl struggled in terror against her.
Then they both vanished, leaving Sokka, Aang and Katara alone in the suddenly dark meadow, staring at nothing.
------
END PART 2
WORD COUNT: approx. 5,000
Reviews sparkle like a mofo.