Chapter 3: New enemies
Lord Piet looked outside, he was safe on the fortress that his father had built after the first wave of firebenders soldiers tried to take over the Earth Kingdom. Behind his back the captain of guards waited scared.
He could see the forest, untouched by the Fire Nation monsters, but for how long? The avatar was simply untrustworthy, a mere child who choose to have fun on Kyoshi Island instead of helping the Earth Kingdom.
Lord Piet closed his green eyes, he was fifty, slim and very wrinkled, an accident on training had leaved a scar across his nose and a broken leg that never fully healed so he needed a cane, even then the other man in the room, a short and well build earthbender had to suppress the fear he felt when the older one stared at his eyes.
"Alco, have you find him?" Lord Piet asked with his heavy voice.
"No, my lord. But all the other kids are on Olst Village, they are being retrieved now, my Lord" Alco answered, trying to not stutter.
The old man felt sickened by the incompetence of his man to find the lost child, a disgusting firebender who had become necessary for the Plan, at least the boy would amend his people's sins with his death.
"Capture the kids again, this time bring them here and put two guards on their door" the Lord said as he sat on a chair.
"Yes, my Lord!"
"Alco, I give you a week to bring me back the runaway fire boy" Lord Piet knew that the punishment addition was unnecessary, it was unsaid but hanged on the air perfectly.
The guard made a reverence and left the room. He had only one week to show he deserved his life so he had no time to lose. A life for a life was fitting.
.
.
The boy hand was sweaty and Kuvira feel a little scared of letting it go. At least they had found the path of the lovers, but with earth bagdermolders in there changing everything the metalbender didn't like the idea of separating. Even with the green light the place was still a labyrinth with dangerous creatures, it was an unsafe place for the child.
The sound of the creatures was distant, but she still feel weary of them.
"This place isn't as bad once you find those glowing stones, is it?" the boy talked behind her with his high voice.
"It wasn't bad even when we hadn't found them. I am an earthbender" Kuvira said, wanting to appear strong and reliable. Even in the dark.
"Sure you could" the boy said "I wonder how they are named...I like 'glowrock' and 'glownes', what do you think?"
Kuvira halted and looked at the boy who was smiling proudly at the silly names he had come up with. He resembled Bolin a lot in that instant. She wanted to call the stones for their real name to correct the boy, she didn't knew the glowing rocks proper name but his were just so bad to not annoy her. Instead of saying anything she shaked her head at his words as she grimaced.
"I know, those names...they are stupid" the firebender boy said after a little of time in silence "Everyone says I'm bad with jokes" he closed his eyes and turned his head away of Kuvira, he was genuinely ashamed about this. She knew how it feel when proud became shame, and the bitter taste in the tongue with the heaviness of the heart.
"They were decent" she finally said to make him feel better but he refused to face her.
A sound echoed at the distance and she held the boy hand more tightly, she keep walking without fear. The kid was annoying but he was her responsibility until meeting the Avatar. She was busy with that line of tough when a wave of earth pushed them to the ground, and their hands were separated. The place was full of dust and the sounds of a bagdermoler echoed in the walls. Kuvira could even smell its dirty odor. Suddenly the ground beneath her began to fall, and she had to crawl to get away of the forming hole.
"Kuvira!" the boy screamed and began to cough, he was not very far away but the dust made impossible to see him. The animal growlings began to fade away as the kid coughs grow louder, but they weren't as troubling as the sound of earth falling on the new hole.
The earthbender couldn't see anything and felt her eyes teary due the dust, she clenched her teeth and planted her hand on the soil, using seismic sense even if it pained her. The images were blurry but she could visualise the boy hanging only with his hands to the border of the hole, his feet moved loosely at the emptiness below him, his heart beating fastly due his fear. The hole was deep, like if a big chamber was below there. He wouldn't survive the fall.
"Kuvira!" he screamed again between his coughs.
"I'm here! I'm going there" she crawled on the ground as she couldn't see anything yet and couldn't risk falling to the hole.
"I'm fine! Go away!" his heartbeat became terribly slow as he said that, and seconds later one of his hands gave up finally. His breathing went faster and Kuvira felt cuts opening on her palms, but she keep doing seismic sense to get near him safely.
His fingers crawled on the last he could and Kuvira had to dash in order to grab his wrist. He felt heavy but still lighter than a lot of things she had carried. He was nothing like the weight of the colossus, so she could bring him to firm earth with a strong pull.
She falled backwards and the boy landed on her chest. He was quivering a little and his breath sounded ragged.
"Are you fine, Kuvira?" he asked as he sat in front of her, he was not composed yet but he sure wanted to appear as it. The green glow had finally came back after the dust settled so she could see his dirty skin and that he had a nose bleed, letting a dirty trail of blood traveling his lips and chin.
"Yes. Are you fine?" the Great Uniter asked, green eyes still teary because the dust looking at his glassy golden ones. He could have died because he was a kid to proud to ask help, she felt almost mad.
"Yes" he raised himself up with a pained expression and cleaned his mouth with the back of his right hand with a mastery of someone that had dealt with those kind of injuries far too many times.
"Don't do it again!" Kuvira ordered and got up "You are my charge and I don't let harm happen to you. So next time you are on danger ask my help. Understood?"
He looked at her eyes with curiosity and there was a small sad smile on his face.
"You are like ten" the boy whispered, next he frowned and buried his face on his left hand "Just ten...you shouldn't have to..." he began walking again and away of Kuvira. He ignored her command but the Great Uniter didn't have the strength to scream at a little kid on a dangerous place.
Before she could think things further she heard voices, like people singing, and dashed toward the boy. Who knew how many ghosts lurked in there.
After thirty minutes of walking fastly were the light of the sunset welcomed Kuvira, who was still trying to shake the scary shadows of the cave, the boy was facing the sun and was just a few steps in front of her. Behind her, on the darkness of the cave, the sound of steps resounded and the metalbender remembered the odd man that was high. Facing that guy and his comrades was the last thing she wanted, so without a word she grabbed the boy left arm and he followed with a faint fight.
The road of Omashu was desert and incredibly destroyed. It lacked the beauty it did when Kuvira had walked it two years ago. Something was terribly wrong in everything but Kuvira was unable to pinpoint how. Her eyes suddenly found something on a banner on the road. It was illuminated by the twilight light so she could barely read the characters.
"Fire Nation road number..."
Kuvira couldn't quite make out the number, but she still felt sickened by what she read. That was an Earth Kingdom road. That was a road of HER country. She felt as in just in three weeks all her work, everyone sacrifices had been taken over and the sound banished for a few seconds.
"What an odd sign...'Fire Nation road'? Is this a prank?" the boy asked facing Kuvira and making her return to the real world and look again the blury characters until the darkness settled and she couldn't see them.
Kuvira didn't want to think about Baatar or the Earth Kingdom, but being one day away of Omashu and with the big possibilities of finding an acquaintance of the Avatar in there, her old demons resurged on the pitch dark night. And that batner was still nagging on her memory as a grim remainder of everything that was wrong, a new problem she had never thought about.
The people who had sacrificed for the Earth Empire danced on the darkness whispering on her ear words of resentment. "I died for you, for our land, and you gave up?", she closed more tightly her eyes but that didn't stop the enemies and allies ghosts cursing her.
Kuvira curled herself over, hugging her backpack. She was scared of the world and repulsed of her past actions. The trilling of the freedom replaced by the guilt of the past.
"Are you fine, Kuvira?" the boy asked above her, but she didn't want to open her eyes, because the ghosts were too scary and the characters on the banter were still visible under her eyelids.
"Yes" the metalbender answered, saying anything more would open scars and make her break, as she had done in the presence of the Avatar, nothing more than a lost woman crying because the weight of everything had been far too much.
And now, in the safety of nowhere, there was no escape for the weight.
The hours passed but she couldn't sleep thinking about everything and everyone she had betrayed. One person above everyone invaded her mind almost every minute: Baatar. His presence and death weighted on her heart. She loved him and killing him was something unforgiven, considering how she was never a match against the Avatar now she realized how wrong she had acted. She had killed him for her own ego. Done everything for a false sense of self-righteous.
She had ended being a coward that surrender to the Avatar, a betrayer of her people (the ones that were still alive and the ones that died for her cause) and the murdered of the man she loved.
A hand approached her and Kuvira woke up earthbending the attacker. Except it wasn't an enemy, just the kid, who laid on the ground, illuminating his scared and still dirty face with a little flame in his hand.
"Are...Kuvira, are you fine?" he seemed pretty shaken and was fighting a battle against his own fear.
"Stop asking the same thing! It's annoying!" the metalbender snapped at him and took a deep breath trying to control herself the best she could.
"I know" he whispered to himself and Kuvira felt a little guilty, but not enough as to apologize.
The boy let the flame die and sat on the tree, giving his back to Kuvira, but neither went to sleep again.
Freedom tasted too heavy now and Kuvira only could look at the stars without daring to ask them anything, for she feared they would answer the same way that her head did.
Aang curled near Appa and looked at the dark sky and its bright stars. Another day to Omashu, thanks to the badgermolers destroying part of the road back on the cave.
He closed his eyes and began dreaming. In his dream a man in blue flames that danced as water around him was watching two young siblings, both children were clothed in green and grey and were playing near a lake. Aang knew he had to do something, but all that he could do was watch as the man walked towards the kids.
The Avatar opened his eyes, scared, but as he made sense of the shapes of Katara and Sokka, the last of his dream faded away. He lied awake the rest of the night, and as it often happened he wondered how he would stop the Fire Nation or if he was even capable of doing it.
Above him the stars shined without care, free of any mortal concerns and without worrying to help a lost boy in time and place.