I planned to release this chapter with the last three, as a finale package, but I finished it sooner than expected. I dislike letting chapter sit unsubmitted, so I decided to simply post it early. The final three chapters will be published at the same time. Also, reviews are appreciated, as I want to know how well you all are liking the Fanfic so far. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this chapter and all to come.
Tahni and Poe Rha sat on the roof, their legs dangling over the edge as they looked into the rising ocean. The day was calm, but the people on the radio gave the warning of harsh rain later that night. When Tahni looked closer at the sky, he could notice a few pockets of dark gray clouds hiding above the soft white ones.
"Why did you decide to stay, when everyone else left?" Tahni asked.
Poe Rha looked up into the sky, as if he was wondering that himself.
"To be honest, I don't know why I decided to stay. I guess it's just that I've lived in this village for my entire life. Whenever I'd start packing to evacuate with the rest of the village, I felt like I was leaving someone behind. This is my home, has been my family's home for a long… long time," Poe Rha offered as a reply.
Tahni guessed that he could understand Poe Rha a little, but still struggled to truly sympathize with him. He couldn't grasp why someone would be so attached to a location as much as Poe Rha. Perhaps it was because Tahni never had much of a home, and where he lived for most of his life didn't mean much to him. It wasn't a home to him, it was a prison. Tahni started to contemplate in his own mind why he felt like it had been a prison. Obviously, he was shut off from the outside world, without any hope of venturing out. What he had heard about the common people from his caretakers provided a paradox for his understanding of it. They said that the common people could venture into the outside world, but decided to cut themselves off from it, and stay in the safety of their warm houses.
Perhaps, Tahni thought, people only desire and appreciate what they can't or don't have.
"Way to be depressing," Vaatu sighed. "Seriously, I'm supposed to be the spirit of darkness, and I'm being bummed out."
It's not my fault you're the spirit of darkness, Tahni replied in his mind.
"It's not mine either," Vaatu replied, deeply annoyed by Tahni's comment.
What do you mean by-
Poe Rha, unknowingly, interrupted with, "this store, this… place… is all I've ever really had. If I were younger, like you, I'd probably be able to let go and move forward. When you get older, you realize you don't have the time left to start a new life, so you try to cling to the one you already have."
Tahni only heard the second half of Poe Rha's confession, but he heard enough to grasp what Poe Rha was saying.
"I guess I can understand you, when you put it like that," Tahni replied.
Poe Rha took a deep breath, and let it out with a sigh. Tahni could tell that Poe Rha felt pity for himself, thinking that he was old and weak for holding onto his home. On the other hand, Tahni envied the old man, for Tahni didn't have anything to hold on to.
"So what are you planning to do?" Poe Rha asked out of nowhere.
"Excuse me?" Tahni replied, taking off guard.
Poe Rha rephrased the question. "What your plans after the ocean level goes back to normal?"
"The ocean is going to recede?" Tahni asked, knowing close to nothing about the current situation worldwide.
Poe Rha looked at Tahni with a face of surprise, and answered, "Of course it is! Those big scientists in the capital and over in the United Republic of Nations did all the math and such. They say that this supermoon thing happens once every million years, and that it will go back to normal within a few days, as where it took a decade for the ocean to get to where it is. The ocean is going to stop rising within this week, and we'll be back to normal sea-level by the end of this month."
"Well that's a relief," Tahni offered as a response.
"We can simply sit back and wait for this whole situation to end," Poe Rha sighed, a slight smile of relief and content on his face.
Wait? Tahni thought. I can't just stay here, the Avatar, White Lotus, Southern Water Tribe… a lot of people… are looking for me. If I stay here I'll be found.
"Then lie and say that you're going to the Fire Nation capital," Vaatu interjected. "Do I need to spell it out for you? Go to the Fire Nation capital, blend in with the refugees, and just live out the rest of you life rebuilding in this nation."
To be honest, Vaatu, I don't know if you're in my brain, or my brain entirely.
"I'm attached to your spirit, not in your mind, but I can see your point," Vaatu replied.
Tahni turned to Poe Rha, and took a deep breath, and began to think up a lie.
But before he could start talking, Poe Rha asked, "you're going to the Fire Nation capital too, aren't you?"
Tahni sighed, letting out all of the air he had built up, and answered, "yes, I have get there."
"You trying to meet up with family? I thought you were from the Southern Water Tribe," Poe Rha questioned, as politely as possible.
"I… have no family," Tahni admitted.
Poe Rha grimaced and replied, "then why not stay? I could use some help getting this store back up and running once the water recedes. It's not luxury, but it could at least be a home. It's not like I have any family round here anymore to take over the shop once I'm gone, either. It could be a nice life."
Tahni felt both gratitude and rage at this man. How dare he offer him a home, a life, a future, in just one go when Tahni knew that there no chance he would be able to hide here?
"I'm sorry, but I have to keep moving," Tahni stated calmly as he could.
Poe Rha sighed.
"Alright, I guess I could give you one of the two boats that are at the side of building," Poe Rha offered.
Tahni was confused.
"What boats?"
Poe Rha stood up and led Tahni to the other side of the building. He pointed over the edge, straight down at the street. At the bottom of the water were two wooden boats.
"I decided to have a couple boats for when it flooded. Unfortunately though, I wasn't able to keep raising the point at which I tied them to the building, so they sunk to the bottom once the water got inside."
"How am I supposed to use one of those boats?" Tahni asked, perplexed.
Poe Rha looked at Tahni, and smirked.
"You're a waterbender, aren't you?"
The Grand Lotus stared out the large, glass window. The room was dimly lit, like the rest of the main complex. In some places, the walls were metal panels, and in others they were chiseled stone. Behind the glass was the ocean, and in that ocean, was a docked Submarine Carrier.
Funny thing was, while the sole Submarine Carrier was being constructed near the shoreline of what once was the Earth Kingdom, the water was rising. The state that occupied the land hoped that they could complete it before the water disrupted the construction. Their hopes were in vain. They abandoned the nearly completed Submarine Carrier, along with the rest of the facility.
The Red Lotus had masters of every bending art, even air. When the state workers left, the Red Lotus took over the facility. They reinforced the glass windows, completed the Submarine Carrier, and made the site their new head of operations. Some of the high-ranking members of the Red Lotus didn't want to move their headquarters to a former military shipyard facility, but the Grand Lotus used history to his advantage. The facility incorporated an ancient underground temple into its construction, and so, the Grand Lotus was able to convince the Red Lotus leaders to move here for the "sake of reclaiming sacred history."
The Red Lotus brought all of their equipment here, including their sole squadron of Zerofire-Class monoplanes. The monoplanes were acquired via a similar situation as the Submarine Carrier.
The Submarine Carrier could hold a squadron of these Zerofire-Class monoplanes in its dorsal hanger, which made up most of the vessel. It would rise to the surface, and spew out the squadron in rapid speed, leaving its opponents unable to adequately prepare for battle. It was perfect for Operation: Extinguish.
The Grand Lotus smiled as the Submarine Carrier slowly turned away from its docking clamps, and took off. He saw the shadows casted upon the seafloor by the dozen-or-so speed boats equipped with miniaturized spirit cannons. Moments later he saw the shadows of two airships, which were modified similarly, follow them. The mustered force would reach the Fire Nation capital by midnight, and rid the world of the monarchist leaders. Then, Chaos would be able to flourish once more.
Mako slowed the ship down to a halt as they approached a flooded village.
"I'm not sure how deep the water is, but I certain we can't go much further inland before the water gets too shallow," Mako told Korra, who was staring out the front window of the bridge.
"Do you think we'll be able to find him?" Korra asked.
"I don't know," Mako admitted.
"Building ho!" Bolin yelled to them.
"What?" Mako asked.
"There are buildings up ahead instead of land," Bolin answered. "Wait, there are some hills… and trees… and debris… and a person… I'll stop talking."
"Wait... what?!" Korra called back. "There's a person out there?"
"Yeah! On top of the square concrete building!" Bolin yelled back.
Mako squinted his eyes. It was getting dark, and harder to see. To make it worse, a light rain had started, and was only growing in intensity as time went on.
"I see him," he stated as he turned the ship to move alongside it.
Korra walked out onto the deck, and stood beside Bolin.
"Hello!? Person!? Can you seeeeeee meeeee? Can you heeeaaarrr meeee?" Bolin called out, waving his arms in the air.
"YES. I SEE YOU. Unfortunately, I can hear you as well," the man replied, extremely annoyed.
"Do you require assistance?" Korra called out. "Are you stranded?"
"Not at all, young woman. I have all the food I need and a boat to escape if the water gets too high. I had two, but some young man took one," the man replied.
"What young man?" Korra immediately asked.
"His name was Tahni, didn't have a last name, which I found strange-"
"Where did he go?" Korra interrupted.
"The Fire Nation capital, where else?"
Korra ran back to the bridge, and pushed Mako aside to have access to the wheel.
"What are you doing?" Mako exclaimed, nearly falling over.
"Tahni. Fire Nation capital. Boat. No last name," Korra quickly answered as she spun the wheel around.
The man was terribly confused as he watched the ship nearly slow down, then speed up as it turned away.
As the ship quickly sailed away from him, he could faintly hear someone yell happily, " yay! We're going to get to see Opal!"
The man decided it as for the best that he was all alone.