::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN

1.8

Training Montage is a Go

Rue had a feeling Godo was a master of the 'angry-face', as she and Yuffie liked to call it. The man had been glaring at her across the room for a good five minutes now, seemingly waiting for her to say something. Or possibly break down again. Considering that Godo had been practically avoiding her since her initial break down, the latter was more likely. With a sigh and a small shake of her head Rue quirked an eyebrow at him with a well practised look on her face.

"I'm fine Godo, stop glaring and talk about what you came here to talk about, I won't break this time, I'm cool," she told him in a tone that matched the flat look on her face. The man blinked and then grimaced before pushing off the wall he'd been leaning against.

"You can hardly blame me, after your reaction the last time we talked," he pointed out gruffly. Rue did not resist the urge to roll her eyes skyward in exasperation. The man seriously never listened.

"I reacted that way because someone threw me into a battle slash war situation that I had never been exposed to before the night you kidnapped me," Rue raised her voice slightly with every word. Her ire with the man remembered. "I reacted that way, because I had never killed anyone before, because I had never had to fight for my life before, or been shot at or blown up! I reacted that way because YOU tossed me into a war zone with no training whatsoever and expected me to be okay with that!" she was yelling by the time she reached the end. She had not yet reached the end of her little rant yet. "I reacted that way, because I am a twenty five year old in a sixteen year olds body and you are treating me like a fucking war veteran!" Rue was breathing hard by the time she was done. Her glare had pinned the Emperor of Wutai in place while she'd yelled at him and now he looked a little edgy. It was very likely that he was glad she'd had no formal bending training yet, if she had the room would likely have been on fire by now.

"I-"

"No." Rue wasn't going to let the blasted man get back on his high horse. Not after the crap she'd already gone through because of him and his war. There was a large vase in one corner of her room that she'd had Yuffie fill with water, after assuring the girl she wasn't going to cause any real harm to her father, just a practical joke really, that Godo didn't know about. Drawing back the covers on her blankets Rue carefully got out of the futon and pushed herself to her feet. "You don't get to make excuses," she told him in a much quieter tone than the rage filled one of a few moments ago. "Not after that bullshit you pulled to get me into that battle," facing him calmly Rue focused on the simple forms Korra and the others had been drilling her with the last few days. Sliding one foot back slightly Rue leveled the Emperor with a steady and determined look before snapping her hands out and bending the water in the vase across the room out to arc around her shoulders and over her arms in preparation for an attack stance. This was the only stance Rue had managed to get down reasonably quickly, typically though, it was a neutral stance, one used before attacking or defending. Rue had found that frustrating, but Korra and Aang specifically had assured her that being able to go into that stance easily was a good thing and would, hopefully, make her more versatile later on in her training.

Godo had gone remarkably still when he'd seen the water in the vase rise at her direction and now he seemed to be reassessing her with dark eyes that were now watching her appraisingly. While the heat in Rue's gaze hadn't really abated it was now tempered with concentration as she focused on the task at hand. "Now that I have your attention," she commented heatedly. With a flick of her wrists, a few rather clumsy steps forward and a sweeping motion with her arms Godo quickly found himself unceremoniously frozen to the wall behind him; and then Rue was in his face, her eyes wide and glowing white, a furious look on her face. "What do you want from me?" the combined voices of generations of Avatars demanded an answer from the stunned leader.

Rue couldn't help the smallest amount of satisfaction she felt at the small amount of fear that had wriggled onto Godo's face upon coming face to face with an angry Avatar in the Avatar State. The others had assured her that no harm would come to the man, but they all agreed that he needed to be reminded of who he was dealing with. What had happened in the forest would not be happening again if they had anything to say about it. The last thing this world needed was another hero slash guardian with PTSD. Rue would be properly trained before going on any more missions for Godo and that was that.

She had to admit, it was still weird, seeing and feeling her body moving but not being in the drivers seat. Aang had assured her that control would come with time, she was still young and untrained, so for now, the others worked in unison guide her body's actions while the Avatar state was active.

'Hey guys, when am I gonna meet Raava?' she asked while they intimidated Godo.

'When you're ready,' was the answer she was awarded. Snorting Rue rolled her eyes, trust Aang to be annoyingly vague.

"I want you to win me this war," Godo bit out angrily at the girl that had had the audacity to pin him to the wall. With ice no less. He tried to convince himself that his hands were shaking from the cold rather than the aura of immense power radiating from the girl. No. He had to remember who and what she was. The Avatar. This was the Avatar and not just some unassuming teenage girl that had won his daughter over with ease. She was dangerous and, when her eyes glowed at lease, was stronger than the Silver Demon that plagued his troops. Not to mention those other two. Thinking about those three teenagers made Godo want to grind his teeth in frustration. He had to win. He had to beat Shinra. A snort got his attention, the Avatar looked, of all things, amused at his admittance.

"You are a fool," the Avatar told him flatly. Then her eyes stopped glowing and with an unimpressed look the young Avatar returned the ice holding him to the wall to it's liquid state and with a few careful movements, that would undoubtedly become less clumsy and awkward with training, she moved the water back to the vase from which it had come. "The Avatar is supposed to be a neutral party, the one who stops the fighting and, you know, other peace-y things," she told him flatly. That tone was starting to aggravate him, no-one talked to him like that. He was the Emperor. "Or maybe you just didn't get that memo?" she added with a smirk. Glaring at her Godo straightened himself surreptitiously trying to get a better read on her. The girl was getting stronger, in more ways than one, and it wouldn't do to underestimate her again. He had to wonder if antagonising her in the beginning had been a horrible mistake.

The others were right, Godo was an idiot if he thought that she would want to win his war for him. Let alone fight in it. Sure Shinra was the enemy, in a way, but it was an enemy that controlled the majority of civilised Gaia and, thus, the economy pretty much depended on the company to stay stable. Without it, civilisation was likely to completely collapse rather suddenly. People relied on it, and Mako energy, far too much and it would only get worse before it got better. It would take something big, like a Meteor crashing into the Planet, for things to start changing. Rue knew this for fact, even if Godo didn't.

"Then you're going back on our arrangement?" Godo asked after he'd gathered himself after her little display. Rue just snorted in amusement again, it seemed to be her thing for the day, and shook her head as she watched the man.

"No, but that 'arrangement' as you call it, was made under unfair circumstances and you and your buddies used bullying tactics on me. I don't appreciate being bullied by a bunch of idiots who think they they're better than me, particularly when I'm the one you want a favour from," she watched Godo frown at her. He really needed to trim those eyebrows of his. They were starting to look like a pair of hideously hairy caterpillars that were ready to just crawl right off his face and leave him eyebrowless. Rue's mouth twitched at the thought.

"I take it you have conditions for any further aid," he grimaced at his own words.

"I do," Rue admitted after a moment. Resisting the urge to fold her arms over her chest defensively Rue instead placed her hands on her hips and squared her shoulders. If Godo wanted a verbal spar she would give him one, she wasn't going to stand for any more of his bullying. She was an adult after all, even if she didn't look it. Or act it. Crap. What was she getting herself into?

"Name them," surprisingly Godo did cross his arms. Perhaps her assertiveness had thrown him off balance more than she thought it would, that, or he didn't know as much psychology or body language as much as Rue had assumed he would. But wasn't he some super awesome Warrior slash Emperor thingamajig? Someone like him should know that crap. On the other hand, maybe Yuffie had been exaggerating or something after all.

"Firstly, no further missions until I've had proper training. What you had me do the other day was reckless at best and suicidal at worst. I could have been killed and I don't know about you, but for me, that's considered bad." One of Rue's hands waved about her as she spoke unconsciously. A habit she'd never been able to kick, not that she'd ever really tried. "Secondly, you try any more of those bullying tactics on me again, and I'll walk right on out of here and if you or anyone else tries to stop me I'll stomp them before they can even blink," Rue didn't even need to try to keep her face smooth for that delivery. She was very serious about that one, Rue was more than done with bullies. "And thirdly," Rue smiled sweetly at Godo now, "if you try and throw me at Sephiroth, whom I consider an acquaintance if not a tentative friend, I will turn on you faster than you can say Avatar and help him kick your arse," there was no fucking way in hell she was getting on the wrong end of Masamune if she could avoid it. Besides, non-crazy Sephiroth had been cool, stoic and somewhat awkward, but cool. A bit teenagery too, the more she thought about it.

"I-I see," Godo was breathing carefully. It was painfully obvious he was trying to hold his own temper in check after hearing her conditions, but it wasn't like she'd been unreasonable. Avatar did not equate to living weapon and that was likely how Godo had been seeing her. Rue only hoped she could change that preconception of his with time. "Your, conditions, are acceptable, Avatar. I will inform your trainers you are much stronger and call for the doctor to have a look at you, with luck you should be beginning your training within a few days," Godo told her evenly. There was an edge in his voice and eyes that rubbed Rue the wrong way, and honestly, she suspected that they would never see eye to eye completely. He would use her, bribe her with training and information to keep her on side, but in the end, he wouldn't respect her or even like her. Avatar Rue, was a weapon that he could throw at Shinra's army, and that was as far as it would likely go with the man. It wouldn't matter in the end though, Rue knew how that dance would end.

"Thank you, I look forward to it,"

AN: So this chapter kind of just poured out of me after finishing the last one. Figured I'd make up for all the waiting around for the last few you guys did. Yes, it's rather short compared to previous chapters, but I needed to get this Godo chapter out of the way and he didn't fit with the actual Training Montage so here we are.

As for said montage, I'm thinking there will be two chapters covering roughly three months each. Once that's done, I'll be throwing us right back into the action. Seriously. I've been looking forward to the next all-out action sequence for months now. I've been tempted to draw a spoiler, just because.

Another note on the Romance in this fic, I've already mentioned this will be...subtle...as in...I'm going to try to make it not be obvious until it's outright stated. Much later on. As such...I may or may not add in red herrings as we go along just to make it even less obvious when we get to that point. It's mainly just an exercise for me to see if I can do subtle, sneaky-sneak romance stuff.
That being said, I encourage any speculation in reviews so I can see how my sneaky-romance-plan is working on my readers.

Reviews, Faves and Alerts are, as always, appreciated beyond words.

See you soon!
RLK