CHAPTER RATING: M (Language, Sexually Suggestive Situations, Sexually Suggestive Dialogue, Suggestions of Sexual Abuse)
WARNING: ALLUSIONS / HINTS / SUGGESTIONS TO NON-CONSENSUAL SEXUAL ABUSE
A/N: If you are uncomfortable with this type of content, then I urge you to skip this chapter. See end Author's Note for more information.
Chapter 9: Visions and Nightmares
"Aang! Wake up!" Sokka's voice pierced his ears. He shot up from his bed in a panic.
"What's wrong?!" He answered.
"Fire Nation! They're-" An explosion rocked the temple. Debris from the ancient structure fell, creating a thick, gray cloud that rushed into their eyes and lungs.
"We've got to hurry!" Sokka coughed through the smoke. Aang formed a sphere in his hands and released it, clearing away the smoke. At the entrance of the temple, Team Avatar was facing off against multiple squads of Fire Nation soldiers.
A stream of flames shot towards them. Toph stomped her foot on the ground, and raised her hands up. A giant wall of stone appeared, and with her command, began to encroach upon them.
The heat from their flames burned their eyes, pushing them back. Even through the steel-plated helmets, they felt the pain searing through to their skin. The wall pushed them farther, until they were on the edge of the cliff. They screamed as they fell into the infinite white mist.
More soldiers appeared from the ash-black zeppelin. They threw forth chains attached to round metal anchors.
Toph cried out as the chain wrapped around her, and brought her to the ground.
"Damn it!" She screamed. "Someone get me outta here!" The cold steel continued to wrap around her, it began to pull her away.
Grappling hooks shot from the mist, that pulled up the soldiers who had fallen off of the cliff. They threw fireballs toward the blind earthbender.
A stream of fire came from the halls, interrupting the attack.
"I've got you, Toph!" Katara shouted, she froze the chains, the abrasive liquid began to rust the metal, and broke it with her command.
"Go! I'll cover you!" Zuko shouted. He turned, and shot a wide stream of fire that struck each one of them.
"We'll be back!" Katara replied as she helped Toph to her feet.
Aang ran up to the sound of Katara's voice and found Zuko facing unfavorable odds. He looked towards the exiled Fire Nation Prince and nodded.
Twisting his staff, Aang created a vortex that grew by the second. It began to pull in the soldiers. Zuko nodded back, and shot a ball of flame into the eye of the tornado. The wind embraced the flame, and presented the feeble soldiers with a giant cyclone of fire.
When the smoke cleared, the firebenders had vanished. Aang and Zuko heard the sound of an even louder engine begin to roar. A massive zeppelin began rising towards the cliff.
"Go! Back into the Temple!" Aang instructed. They turned, and rushed into the structure. A whirling of chains flooded their ears, and Aang felt his arms constrict around him.
"Grab my hand!" Zuko cried. Aang attempted to bring his hand up.
"I can't! Just go!" He shouted with determination. The force pulling him back became heavier, and soon, he knew that it would be useless.
Zuko turned into the dark halls of the Western Air Temple. Aang caught a glance of Katara's blue robe. Tears stained the stone doors as he muttered his final command.
"Take care of Katara..." He took a deep breath, and let it out. A wind pushed them back, into the Western Air Temple, and the same wind pushed him back, towards the Fire Nation zeppelins.
...
Katara hovered her hands over his chest, a blue glow illuminating the mass of water she brought to him.
"How's he doing?" Zuko's voice came from behind her.
"Not good." She placed a wet towel over his forehead, and ran the back of her hand against his cheek. "He's got a fever." Her eyes shifted down at him. He jerked in pain, his closed eyes expressing anguish.
"Aang?" She called out to him.
No response.
"Aang?!" She held his arms and shook him.
No response.
Instead he struggled in deeper pain. Zuko looked towards the healer as she attended to her patient, he placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You can't help him." His weak voice made it to her ears. She shot him with eyes of disdain that forced him back.
"Don't you dare say that!" Her hand smashed against his chest, forcing him to the ground..
"T-That's not what I meant!" He defended. "This isn't just any kind of illness. This is something that is going on in his mind. Not just his body." Zuko looked towards the Avatar. "He has to bring himself back to us. All we can do, is wait."
...
How long have I been here...? Aang's weary eyes scanned the room he was in. The steel-gray walls seemed to become darker every time he opened his eyes. In this small room, he stood, hands bound, outstretched to his sides. His fingers restricted into tight fists. His legs, restrained in steel cuffs. Around his mouth, a mask that allowed him to speak, but little else.
Please...Please be safe, Katara. His eyelids became heavy as the hope crossed his mind. The monumental door that was in front of him began to creak, and then roared as it crashed open. The sound jolted him awake from his short slumber.
"So this is the Avatar." A deep voice mocked. Aang looked up to see the face of Fire Lord Ozai. "What a pathetic child." He spat near the Avatar's feet. "You are weak." Aang felt a fist strike him, a burning, scorching pain seared through his torso.
A liquid ran down his chest, creating small droplets of scarlet on the stone floor.
"You've failed. Avatar." Ozai's low tone rang. "Sozin's comet has passed. And I rule supreme." Aang glared at him, defiant.
"The Avatar cycle is broken." Ozai's smug grin brought to him a realization. "That's right, Avatar." Ozai raised a fist and struck his face. Aang felt the red liquid roll down his chin, tasting the iron in his blood.
"Oh wait...That was a lie." Ozai's grin widened. "There's still one waterbender left in this world."
…
"What's happening to him?" Katara whispered in concern.
"I don't know exactly." Zuko answered. "But it happened to me before."
Aang began to twitch. His muscles began to tighten, and he held himself still. His breathing became erratic. The scar on his chest began to deepen again, becoming a dark crimson.
"Wait!" Zuko grabbed Katara's wrist. "Don't interfere." Blood began to stream out of the wound. "I know that you're worried about him. But…" He took a deep breath. "Trust me."
Katara stopped. She watched with restrained tears as the wound became larger.
"I know. But he has to deal with this. We can't help him anymore. This is his fight, and he has to do it alone."
Aang convulsed in pain, and before their eyes, began to cough blood that coated the air with a red mist.
...
"Bring her here." They dragged her by the neck on a long chain. "I thought I'd give you the last look at the whore known as the last waterbender before I ended her." Still dressed in her robe, scars ran across her body. The flames had ripped through the cloth, revealing dark burns. The scars were purple with bruises, showing deep wounds; Aang saw the look in her eyes, an empty gaze, with no emotion, and no life.
Katara… Ozai's crazed laugh broke his thoughts.
"I'll consider sparing her if you bow down to me." He smirked. "Although, it seems like she herself doesn't find life worth living anymore." Ozai placed a hand on Katara's cheek, caressing it with perverse intent, she gave no sign of hesitation or resistance. "Perhaps she will give birth to my child, the New Avatar."
"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!" Aang shouted through the leather mask that obstructed his breath. "Don't…touch…Katara." His anger subsided, and soon turned into sobs. "Anything." He submitted. "Anything. Just let her…"
"Bow down, Avatar. Bow down to me." The chains that held his hands loosened, and he bowed his head.
"Lower." Ozai's rough voice commanded. Aang fell to his knees. "LOWER!" The Firelord's foot stomped down on the back of his neck, forcing his head to touch the floor. His bonds began to rip his muscles, and break his bones. "That's better."
The pressure moved away from his neck, and he heard the voice again.
"Now…One. Last. Look." Aang brought his eyes to Katara. Her spirit gone. Her mind, broken. Ozai lifted a hand, with two fingers extended, lightning shot forth, and struck her.
Tears rained from his eyes, as he saw Katara fall. She was now as lifeless as her eyes had been. His arms pulled back, his eyes closed, and the tears that fell from his eyes cut into the stone below.
"Leave him." Ozai instructed as he turned to the other guards. "We'll keep him imprisoned for another one-hundred years."
"Meditate on what attaches you to this World…Now, let all of those attachments go. Let them flow down the river. Forgotten."
"Learn to let her go…Learn. To. Let. Her. Go."
Now, she's gone.
His tattoos. His eyes. His Aura. Began to glow in a brilliant, white light. Ozai turned to see the elements swirling around him. Fire from the flames, Earth from the stone, Wind from his breath, Water from his tears.
His chains broke. His binds shattered. His hands shot forth, and summoned the tears that fell from his eyes into the helmets of the two guards.
They fell, pools of blood gathered by their shattered masks.
Ozai turned, his eyes widened in fear as he glared at the Avatar. A crackle of lightning escaped his fingers, only to meet all four elements in the circular shield that surrounded Aang.
Ozai ran as fast as he could towards the exit. Aang's hands opened to his sides, he pulled them together as if they were still bound, and slammed his palms together.
The magnificent doors collided, closing off the exit.
He lifted his hands, and brought them down. The wall collapsed onto the doors, crushing them with an impenetrable force. Ozai attacked him in a panic, but his attempts crashed into the spherical shield that surrounded the Avatar.
Aang opened his palm. A sphere of water appeared from the air, he brought it forth, and restrained Ozai's hands, freezing them to the wall.
"What are you going to do?!" Ozai taunted.
Aang did not answer.
Drawing forth fire, He heard the sizzling of flesh, as the scorching steam burned Ozai's hands.
Ozai's screams were a soft song of revenge to Aang's ears. He called to the stone, which wrapped around Ozai's legs, and began to close.
More screams came from Ozai's voice, the grey stone began to crush his limbs. They closed around his legs, moving by the millimeter, every bone, pulverized into a fine dust.
The silent Avatar offered no words for the screams of terror from the Firelord.
Commanding the air, Aang began to pull away from Ozai. The Firelord watched his own breath exit his lungs. A sphere began to form around his head, and as Aang's fist tightened, he could feel his breath pull away.
For hours, Aang watched him struggle for a single breath, in a slow, agonizing fate.
He fell lifeless, and Aang turned to the woman that he loved more than anyone else. He knelt next to her, held her in his arms, and closed her eyes with two fingers.
I'm…Sorry, Katara. I couldn't protect you.
...
The blood from Aang's scar gathered onto the stone bed, soaking into the fabric that he laid on. Katara watched, helpless as he bled onto the sheets. He coughed up more blood and convulsed in agony. She watched, holding back tears while watching him writhe in pain.
She lost control when his tears began to mix with his blood. The clear liquid from his eyes flowed down the side of his temples, and merged with the pools of scarlet below.
Her own tears began to stream down her face as Zuko held her back.
"I know it's painful to watch, but he'll pull through it. I know he-"
Aang's tattoos began to beam; the bright lights reflecting off of the crystals bathed the room in a white glow. A gust of wind began to manifest, and a vortex began to form around him.
Katara broke from Zuko's grasp, and rushed to Aang. She wrapped her arms around him, and sat him up.
The vortex began to subside just as she embraced him. The glow seemed to gleam out of his eyelids, wanting to escape to see the light of day.
But they didn't open.
His breathing was faint, tears still rolled down his eyes. She felt him return her embrace, and heard his voice.
"Anything. I will do anything to protect you, Katara."
PUBLISHED ON: 8/12/2014
A/N:
I wrote this chapter because of a story I came across recently. It is one of the more well written pieces of literature on Fanfiction that's still being updated. It is so well written that I couldn't get the disturbing, yet engrossing scenario out of my mind. And I wrote this as a sort of "response" to the scenario that the author originally came up with, to try and bring myself closure.
I don't want to publicly name the author, but if you'd like to know what the story is, you can PM me for the details.
Last time I was joking, but I'm sincere this time when I say this.
I am sorry for presenting this for you to read.
I'll see you…whenever the next chapter is ready.
Peace,
-WanderingRurouni