Hey guys, I'm back. I wanted to squeeze in some Avatar time before school starts and my work load increases. I bet you guys are as excited as I am that the summer's almost over...sigh. Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer so here's part three. Enjoy.
((Rebecca's P.O.V))
"Brianna, are you okay?" Aang asked, looking back at us. I glanced over at Brianna, who remained silent. She hadn't spoken since she had that little argument with Aang, but that shouldn't have mattered anymore. After all, Aang had already agreed to show Teo the room. We were even on our way there.
"Yeah I'm fine," she muttered. I doubt her answer convinced anyone. I don't even think Teo could have fallen from a lame act like that. She's too easy to read.
"Obviously something's wrong," I stepped into the conversation. "Why don't you just tell us and we can move on? You're being too depressing even for me." She didn't say anything and just stared at me, like she was trying to look into my soul.
"I don't wanna talk about it," she said, finally looking away. Her response just made things worse, the walk there was incredibly awkward and quiet with only the sound of our footsteps echoing in the hallway. I wished Brianna could have at least faked a smile or something, something that could have at least fooled Teo. He was probably the one most affected by her moodiness. Finally we made it too the locked chamber and it didn't feel as awkward anymore.
"I can't believe I'm finally going to see what's inside" Teo said excitingly as Aang got into position. There was a short pause as Aang readied himself to open the door. He extended his arms out and spun them around two times before unleashing a whirlwind of air. The air was sent into the two tubes and traveled through the key lock maze until it reached an opening that flipped one of the blue swirls. Before long each of the three blue swirls flipped to their purple side, unlocking the door. The hallway was filled with the sound of three different flute pitches as the door creaked open. What used to be a room full of Aang's past lives was instead a dark room filled with weapons of mass destruction as far as the eye could see. No corner lay untouched and no weapon gave the impression that it could cause a minor threat. Although the one thing that grabbed my attention was the giant red cloth draped in the center of the room and loomed the room, the Fire Nation's flag.
"This is a nightmare," Aang said, staring into the room. I heard footsteps from behind us and we all turned to see it was Teo's father with Sokka several feet away from him.
"You don't understand," he said, trying to reason with us. Aang's eyes changed from horror to anger.
"You're making weapons for the Fire Nation!" Aang shouted, glaring at him.
"You make weapons for the Fire Nation!" Sokka shouted in disbelief. Teo's father didn't say a word and just remained quiet, unable to deny anything.
"Explain all this, now!" Teo shouted, feeling betrayed. His father looked over at him before he began his explanation.
"It was about a year after we moved here. Fire Nation soldiers found our settlement." He looked back at Teo. "You were too young to remember this. They were going to destroy everything, burn it to the ground. I pleaded with them. I begged them to spare us. They asked what I had to offer. I offered my services." There was a short awkward pause with mixed emotions floating all around. "You must understand I did this for you" he said as if begging his son to forgive him. I turned to look at Teo. It was pretty obvious from the look on his face that he felt betrayed and hurt. He turned himself around, refusing to look at his father any longer. Everyone remained quiet, trying to take all this information in, while Teo's father walked away.
"Teo, are you alright?" I asked him. He didn't respond and kept still. I quietly walked over to his side and placed my hand on his shoulder. Teo closed his eyes and quietly placed his hand over mine, griping my hand like a child. I was glad Teo wasn't bottling up his feelings but it was kind of awkward having the other watch us. Especially Brianna, it felt like she was going to burn a hole in my back.
((OOOO))
"This is bad, very bad!" Sokka said after Aang had finished announcing to us that he had driven the Fire Nation collector away.
"Aang, what are we gonna do? How can we possibly keep them all away?" Katara asked worried.
"I'll tell you how, we have something they don't" Aang pointed up towards the sky at the villagers gliding. "Air power! We control the sky. That' something the Fire Nation can't do, we can win!"
"I want to help," Teo's father said, joining the conversation.
"Good" Aang said with a smile, "we'll need it."
"Alright," Sokka said, stepping beside Teo's father and placed a hand on his shoulder. "We'll go think of a plan. In the mean time Rebecca and Brianna, you guys go and get move familiar with the grounds."
"Sure thing," I said dully. I started walking off towards the temple while I realized Brianna wasn't following me. I turned over and called over to her "You coming?" She didn't respond to me right away and just kept staring into space. What could she be thinking about at a time like this? "Brianna!" I shouted even louder. Finally she snapped out of it, with a lost and confused look on her face. "Let's go."
"Oh yeah…coming" she said after struggling to find her words. I raised an eyebrow but decided to ignore her behavior and focus more on the task at hand. I led the way off the bridge with Brianna slowly following a good distance away from me. While our way down to the rocky mountain path, Brianna made no effort to start a conversation with me. It was really unlike her to not try and talk but I didn't say anything to her unless it was when we were planning strategies. We eventually examined all the necessary ground and I began making my way back up the path.
"Rebecca…" I heard Brianna whisper faintly. I stopped where I was and waited for her to speak. There was a long pause before she continued. "I'm sorry."
"For?" I asked completely lost.
"For technically ignoring you this whole time," Brianna confessed, but it was pretty obvious.
"So it's a technicality?" I joked. She didn't laugh or even make a response. "Wow, I have no idea what you're being so moody about. I must have really pissed you off…"
"No, that's just it" Brianna interrupted. "You didn't do anything wrong. You really did nothing wrong, Rebecca. That's why I'm apologizing to you."
"There's nothing to apologize about," I said as I continued making my way up. "Not like this has been the first time I've been your punching bag."
"No, it's not okay!" Brianna shouted and ran to keep up.
"Well I'm glad you're back to normal," I told her. "Surprisingly, the silent Brianna is creepier than the crazy and hyper you." She glared at me, not liking my choice of wording but her glare was a clear sign she was back to normal. "So you gonna tell me what made you all emo? Or am I going to have to play twenty questions until I find out?" She suddenly got quiet again but I kept walking while I walked for an answer.
"Yeah, I'll tell you" she said, finally making up her mind. I nodded my head as I kept walking ahead, but made sure that she was close behind me. "You really didn't do anything wrong," she repeated. "I just was a bit…jealous."
"Of?" I asked her as we turned a corner.
"I…well umm," she struggled to explain. "I really didn't want to be jealous," she said avoiding the question. "And I know what you did was necessary but I still couldn't help feeling that way."
"This feeling? I did something that was necessary…" I said, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Brianna, I don't get what you're trying to say."
"….It's….Teo" she mumbled after a long silence.
"What about him?" I said, stopping in my tracks. "Oh wait, does this have something to do with the way you were watching us?" She got quiet again and avoided my eyes. "Why do you only have a problem when I'm around him?"
"That's because…" She stopped half way and it looked like she wasn't going to continue. By this time I had given up on getting an answer from her. It honestly felt like a waste of time trying to get an answer out of her.
"Forget it, we better meet up with the others," I said, and started walking back.
"I….lie…hmm" I heard her faint whisper. I stopped again and looked back at her, now getting annoyed.
"What?" I waited again and watched her slowly try to speak.
"I…..I" she said struggling to speak. She took a deep breath and suddenly shouted on the top of her lungs. "I like him!"
"Huh?" My brain was unable to process the thought. "You what?"
"I like him!" she screamed louder. "I really like him! That's why I was jealous of you. That's why I was a bitch to you. It's because I like Teo!" There was another short silence. The two of us didn't know what to say. I didn't even know how to react. I couldn't grasp the fact that Brianna had fallen for a character in a TV series. It just didn't seem logical. She had never shown signs of liking him when we had watched the series. Heck, she didn't even show signs of liking any guy from our world. What could have suddenly changed her opinion on him? Before I knew what had happened I saw Brianna suddenly fall on her face and scramble back to her feet. She didn't give me any time to ask what happened as she turned around and fled for her life. I stood there shocked until I heard someone cough from behind me. I turned and started cracking up when I saw who it was. Only in these types of shows can something like this happen, poor Brianna.
"Hey Teo, do you always have such great timing?"
