Running. Running, over hard-packed earth, then stone, then withered tufts of grass. A stick held out, feeling the faint resistance and soft fwapp, fwapp over the roar of blood in his ears as it hit the edges and corners of old buildings he passed. Booner could already taste smoke in the air. Counting silently under his breath until he thought he was roughly right about the number.
About fifteen houses down, then start looking for a way in.
He started feeling along the wall for a door, or busted window perhaps. Finding a door, he reached around for the handle, but it wouldn't budge for all his tugging. Stick held out again, he ran for the next house. This one yielded to him, and he slipped inside.
He could taste dust in the air. The floor was wooden, flimsy and weak with rot. Carefully poking around that first room, and running into nothing with feet, hands, or stick, he moved on to the next room. He found a set of stairs, that he decided against climbing - after the first step broke underfoot and stuck splinters into him - and next found the doorway to what he assumed was once a broom or coat closet. It was empty save for some small skeleton, like a rat-mouse, he guessed.
The last room was much bigger than the others. He found windows, but they were boarded up from the inside. The door was hanging slightly ajar, but he didn't think that would matter to much, either. The rest of the room was practically barren. The floor was more uneven dirt than wood, and the wood broke easily underfoot if he wasn't careful.
He chose a little secluded corner along the front wall, then carefully walked from it to the street-door. Retracing his steps, Booner then walked from the corner to the door that lead to the adjacent rooms. He tried to ignore the shouting outside, recalling earlier instructions.
Find any exits, and make sure that at least two are easy to access from your hiding spot.
He'd just made it back into the corner when the sounds of combat grew closer, a loud fwoosh of air and flame. He flattened himself to the ground, sensing heat and flame high above him.
The house was groaning. Creaking, moaning, cracking as the fire sought out weak points and chewed on them.
It felt spooky, and lonesome. The little ghost house was dying.
And, huddled on the ground, terrified, Booner remembered Lee's quick, quiet promises.
I'll come back for you when the worst is over.
Fire crept in the roof of the building, gnawing at the rafters slowly. The fire in his belly longed to reach out to it. He wouldn't let it, and it ached.
Just run, and hide. I'll find you.
Stalking down, penetrating the walls, reaching out to him. He held fast, pushing his face partially into the ground, and his shirt collar, trying not to breathe in smoke.
Someone else is trying to catch the person I'm after. She's dangerous, and clever, and won't expect me to have a child tagging along.
Creeping closer, taunting him, daring him to bend the flames away. He couldn't; he wouldn't! He had to try. He had to wait.
She's my sister, and if she thought that we knew eachother, she would hurt or threaten you, to get at me.
Coming closer, the blistering heat making it hard to breathe, fire near enough to burn. Smoke stinging his nose, burning his lungs.
Azula has a knack for finding what you love the most, and taking it away .
Thrusting out a fist to force the flames back; an earthbenders move, to deflect oncoming rocks. It worked; fire surged back, and away, giving him more time.
I'll find you when the worst is over.
Smoke still curled around him, but he could breathe easier without the heat so close.
I will find you. Promise. Just stay alive .
He could only guess at what he could sense, not too far off, battling in the streets of the abandoned town. He knew Lee's Inner Fire, as the firebender had called it. He could only guess at who the other two were.
One was powerful, experienced, and on the defensive. The other . . . he shivered to think about it, or even reach out towards it to mark its proximity to his hiding place. The other fire didn't feel warm at all. It was cold, cruel, and calculating. So cold, that when you touched it, it burned fiercely.
He could hear the voices over the crackling flames. It wasn't just Lee, or two other firebenders. There were a few others. He couldn't be sure how many, though.
A cold, spine-chilling crackle. A scream of pain, shouting, pounding footsteps. The freezing firebender had vanished, the other one felt wounded, and Lee. . . Lee's fire was lashing out, angry and scared.
"Hold on, there's someone in here!" he heard someone call. He huddled back into his corner, hearing footsteps as someone entered the burning building. "Hey, kid! This whole place is burning to the ground! Come on!"
Booner shook his head, crying out as earth shifted and moved beneath him. He cringed as the person, he judged a girl around his age by the voice, grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out.
"This isn't the time for hesitating around strangers! We're trying to help!" another voice, male, and older than him.
Booner said nothing in protest, confused and frightened. Even more so when he found himself being hauled up onto something soft, tall, and warm-?!
"It's okay, just calm down." a female voice soothed, helping him climb off of soft fur and into something that felt almost . . . leathery. "You're safe now."
"Yip yip!" another boy, but younger; he couldn't be much older than Booner was. Air swished past him, and then they were moving through the sky.
He gasped and flattened himself to what he guessed was a saddle. There was a chirrup, and something small and soft nudged at his face, tiny hands grabbing at his hair. He reached up and felt at the creature now sitting on his head. Cautiously, he picked it up with one hand and rolled onto his back.
He bumped into someone, which turned out to be the first girl. "Hey, watch it!" she snapped.
"Toph, leave the kid be. He's probably still pretty scared from being a in burning building and later being kidnapped." the older guy cut in.
"Sokka!" the elder girl snapped at him.
"Hey, I'm just saying, Katara. We did kinda drag him out of the village." Sokka replied.
"Well, yeah, but there was no one else there other than Crazy Blue Fire-Lady, Zuko, and that one older guy." the other boy threw in. There was a rumbling bellow in that direction. "Don't worry, Appa, we'll land soon. Promise."
"See? Aang's backing me up!" Sokka exclaimed.
". . . .you all sound like kids." Booner mumbled. The little creature now sitting on his chest chittered. Petting it, he could feel large ears and an odd membrane on it's forelegs.
He did his best to ignore and block out what followed shortly afterwards. He assumed that the gigantic furry monster they were on landed. The other four teens who essentially kidnapped him yawned and curled up in the saddle, drifting off to sleep on either side of him. Leaving him awake, and alone with his thoughts.
They didn't see Lee . . . oh no . . .
"She finds what you love the most, and takes it away."
No, no, it couldn't be true! She didn't know he was there, nor that Lee was the one person he cared the most for now. I have to believe he's alive. I have to.
_[(-)]_ .n.n'U'n.n. _[(-)]_ .n.n'U'n.n. _[(-)]_.n.n'U'n.n._[(-)]_.n.n'U'n.n._[(-)]_
He didn't know how long he'd slept. But when he was nudged awake by a gentle hand, he desperately hoped that the events of yesterday were a dream. A very horrible, scary dream; but still a dream.
"Come on, wake up." a kindly girls voice.
Booners' heart leapt a moment, before realization crashed down. That wasn't his sister. His sister was gone. He'd never see her again.
And he was separated from Lee.
"Is he still asleep?" asked another. Boy, older, but not Lee. Someone else.
Just work with it . . . he thought to himself. Just figure out where you are, and where they keep their food. Then you can get out of here.
_[(-)]_ .n.n'U'n.n. _[(-)]_ .n.n'U'n.n. _[(-)]_.n.n'U'n.n._[(-)]_.n.n'U'n.n._[(-)]_
Katara turned towards Aang a moment, then back to the little boy. As far as she could tell, he had black hair and was wearing earth-kingdom green. But it was hidden under a patchwork layer of gray ash and black soot. Despite how dirty the kid was, Momo was perching comfortably on his back.
"Come on, wake up. We need to get you cleaned up." she tried, making her voice cheerful.
The kid finally pushed himself upright, knocking Momo off, who scolded and chittered. The kid smiled slightly and reached around for the lemur. "Sorry, buddy." he said quietly, hopefully.
Momo considered his grimy hands for a moment before jumping into his lap and nuzzling his chest with a chirp, earning a soft laugh from the boy.
"That's Momo." Aang jumped next to the boy, grinning. "He seems to like you already! I'm Aang." the airbender stuck his hand out to shake.
The boy started and turned towards him, Momo being hugged closer. ". . . .I'm Booner." he finally said, slowly putting his hand out.
Aang took it and shook it a little too enthusiastically, and looked down at it when the kid drew back. "Man, that's a lot of ash."
"Which is why I'm taking him down to the river to get cleaned up while you practice with Toph." Katara interjected, gently taking Booner's hand and pulling the boy up to his feet.
Booner seemed to wince, but nodded. Momo seemed content to be held against the boys chest. "Alright . . ."
It took a little doing, but she helped him climb down from Appa's saddle, and then lead him towards the river. Booner was tentative at first, but walked out into the water with her.
Pulling up a ball of water, Katara streamed it out and splashed it gently over the boy. The child flinched and yelped, coughing as the she diverted the water away, carrying away most of the ash and soot. Momo scolded, pulling himself free from Booners' grasp and gliding back to shore.
"Sorry, I'll make sure to warn you next time." Katara promised.
The boy seemed to stare at her from underneath dripping black bangs. "That was you?!" he yelped out, shocked.
Katara frowned. "I'm a waterbender." she replied, drawing up an orb of river-water and streaming it out in front of her. "See? It's called streaming the water."
The boy frowned, and shrugged. Katara let the water drop with a soft scowl, and the boy flinched when the small wave smacked into his legs.
Katara frowned then, and moved forward to take the boys hand. "Come on, let's get you dried off." he didn't resist as they walked back towards shore. She coaxed the water out of his clothes bit by bit, but he merely shook out his hair and tried to keep his distance when she tried to dry him off further. She decided to give him his space; he was probably startled still by her bending. It would pass soon.
When they returned to camp, Sokka was eating his share of breakfast. Momo flew overhead and alit on the boys shoulder, startling him before he smiled softly and pet the lemur.
"So, Booner," Sokka began, holding out a grilled fish for the boy to take. "What were you doing in that ghost-town anyway?"
The kid was already digging into the offered food like a starving raven-fox, but paused and looked up at them. ". . . . waiting for my brother. He told me to hide, since we had to get through and there was fighting going on." he finally replied. He tore off a bit of fish in his teeth, then offered it to Momo. The lemur sniffed it and screeched, scrambling on top of the boys head. The boy laughed softly and shrugged.
"Why didn't you just wait for the fighting to stop? Or better yet, turn around and leave?" Katara prodded with a frown.
The kid shifted slightly, chewing slowly as he thought on that. He swallowed. ". . . .not sure." he finally said. "Me and my brother were separated for awhile, and when we met back up again, he was already on a . . . quest, you could say." a small shrug. "He told me some of it, but he didn't want anyone in town to know I was there. He didn't want me to get hurt. I'm not very strong. . . ."
Both Sokka and Katara frowned, and shared looks. Booner didn't seem to take any notice, chewing on the fish again.
"You were separated from your brother? What happened? What about your parents?" Sokka asked.
Booner looked to the side. ". . . .We lived near the sea. There was a raid, or something. My brother got away with our uncle. I got swept up by some earthbenders. They . . . . weren't very nice." he winced. "My brother found me, and I've been traveling with him ever since."
Katara reached out and drew the boy closer. "Sounds like someone needs a hug." she told him sweetly. Booner was stiff in her arms, biting his lip. She brushed some of the hair from his face, prepared to soothe him, but couldn't help a small gasp. Bandages were wrapped tightly around his eyes, stained faintly red.
"Katara? What-. . . . oh man." Sokka scooted closer, blinking in surprise at the sight.
Booner tugged away, huddling his limbs in closer.
"Sh, sh, calm down, it's alright." Katara soothed quietly, reaching out and gently touching the trembling boys arm.
Booner flinched and pulled away fearfully.
"I can help. I can heal with my bending." she tried to reassure.
He didn't seem to believe her, but nodded minutely, and followed silently after her, back to the river. He didn't complain or make a single sound as she removed the bandages and set water-gloved hands over his eyes. The water glowed, and the little cuts slowly mended, until it seemed that all the damage was gone.
Booner blinked open dark amber eyes that were masked with small, white scars. He looked one way, then another, eyes never focusing on anything.
He was blind; he would never see again.