Chapter 5: The Cave of Two Lovers
Proto stood next to Appa and watched from the bank of a river as Katara and Aang practiced their water bending by a natural arch. Around them, steep rock faces enclosed the river. On the water, Sokka relaxed in a leaf with Momo resting on his abdomen, though Sokka was becoming rather restless.
"You guys are gonna be done soon, right? We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today," Sokka said while tilting his head towards Katara who slumped forward and sighed in irritation. It seemed this was a rather common exchange, and it was, as Sokka had all warned them not to get too comfortable before moving on.
Katara turned to face Sokka. "What, like you're ready to go right now, naked guy? The only person who's ready to leave now is Proto. And he doesn't know how to relax," Katara challenged. If Proto took any offense to the comment it did not show.
"I could be ready in two minutes. Seriously. Whenever," Sokka shot back.
Aang, eager to return to his training spoke up. "So, you were showing me the octopus form," he said.
"Right," said Katara, getting back on track. "Let me see your stance."
Aang took a practiced stance while Katara looked on in contemplation, her hand resting on her chin. After a moment she walked forward and closed the gap between her and Aang.
"Your arms are too far apart," Katara said while moving behind Aang and guiding his arms to the correct position. "See, if you move them closer together, you protect your center. You got it?" She asked while Aang developed a heavy blush.
"Oh. Yeah. Thanks," Aang responded trying forcefully push through the awkwardness he was feeling. Katara walked back, re-establishing the distance they had while practicing.
"Ok, let's see what you got," Katara said, adopting a stance. Aang gathered water, pulling it on invisible strings of energy into a mound in front of him. Aang flared his arms out and the water responded in kind, forming eight distinct structures, reminiscent of the tentacles of an octopus. Adopting the stance he had been shown, the tentacles began to wave around. Katara shot an icicle at high speed which Aang caught with one of the tentacles before throwing onto the riverbank behind him. Another icicle was launched at Aang, which he countered by smacking it away into a nearby rockface with fluid movement from his arms. Another icicle received similar treatment. Katara pressed forward, firing a triplet of icicles, all three of which Aang allowed to pass through the tentacles forcing him to sidestep causing them to sail harmlessly into the riverbank, but the moment allowed him to use the tentacles offensively rather than keeping them occupied with defense. One of the tentacles wound around Katara's forward leg as she prepared a follow-up. Katara dropped her stance, seeing that the match had been decided.
"You make a fine octopus, pupil Aang," Katara said with a smile. Aang had encased himself in water, forming the "head" of the octopus, and began to dance around.
Proto heard music, and a moment later so did Momo, as he perked up from Sokka's abdomen. Sokka sat up and parted Momo's ears to see what had gotten his attention. Proto turned, his arm on his hip heady to grab the glaive on his back at any moment. A few people walked towards them, playing music. A man in front was carrying a stringed instrument and was robed in blue with a necklace of flowers. The woman next to him had a flute and was robed in brown and orange. A single large flower adorned her headpiece. The final man on the side opposite the woman was robed in pink and had a drum. The man in front was humming, before breaking into song.
"Don't fall in love with a traveling girl,"
"She'll leave you broke and broken-hearted"
Sokka, with as much grace and subtlety as a Cabal legionary, fell off of his leaf and into the water causing Momo to take off and the people to stop their music and take notice of them.
"Hey, hey! River people," The man in front greeted them with a lazy movement of his arm, probably a wave.
"We're not river people," Katara said as Sokka came back up out of the water, Momo landing on his head.
"You're not? Well, then what kind of people are you?" The man in blue asked.
"Just people," Aang responded.
"Aren't we all brother? Hoo!" The man responded. Proto was suddenly struck with the mental image of a certain rogue light-bearer.
"Who are you?" Sokka asked with an accusing finger as he walked up to the people who were now at the bank of the river.
"I'm Chong," he said. "And this is my wife, Lily. We're nomads. Happy to go wherever the winds take us," Chong said as if he was quoting some catchphrase. He then began to play wildly and randomly on his instrument while making accompanying noise.
"You guys are Nomads!?" Aang said in near disbelief. "That's great! I'm a nomad!"
"Hey! Me too!" Chong responded with enthusiasm.
Aang's prior enthusiasm quickly departed. "I know. You just said that," Aang said with a look.
"Oh," Chong replied, seemingly unbothered by his short-term memory loss. "Nice underwear," he said, turning his attention to Sokka who used Momo as a coverup before excusing himself to change. Katara followed her brother's example and so did Aang when the Nomads turned to face Proto.
"Wow, you my good fellow, are definitely a nomad. Those robes look like they were designed to be more durable than ironwood!" Chong said while walking towards Proto who only grunted.
"I bet you're a long way from home," Chong said.
"You have no idea," Proto deadpanned as Aang walked back towards him and Appa. Lily found herself atop Appa, braiding his long fur while Aang began to chat idly with Chong as Katara made her approach. These nomads had been to a number of places throughout the Earth Kingdom. Chong had just finished a story about someplace called "The Oasis" near the Si Wong desert when Sokka finally joined them. Proto supposed it would take longer to dry yourself off if you couldn't manipulate water.
"Hey, Sokka, you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere," Aang said animatedly while Chong resumed idly strumming his instrument. Proto noticed Aang now sported a flower crown.
"Well, not everywhere, little arrowhead, but where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs," Chong said. Sokka raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler," Aang said, excitement in his voice. Proto didn't know what a night crawler was, but it was probably bad news if he had to guess.
The man in pink spoke up. "On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow!" He said while gesturing with his arms. Sokka did not share any of the enthusiasm that the nomads had.
"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara is busy I guess it's up to me," he said earning an irritated glare from Katara.
"We need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms, and definitely no rainbows," Sokka said, listing off each item on one hand and then raising a finger towards the drum-bearing nomad.
"Whoa! Sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever. Heh. You worry too much about where you're going," Chong said.
"You gotta focus less on the where and more on the going," Lily said in agreement. Sokka wasn't very receptive to this line of reasoning.
"O. Ma. Shu!"
"Sokka's right. We need to find King Bumi so Aang can learn Earthbending somewhere safe," Katara said backing up her brother.
"Well, sounds like you're headed to Omashu," Chong pointed out. Sokka's hand quickly found its way to his forehead.
"There's an old story about a secret pass… Right through the mountains," Chong continued unphased.
"Is this real or a legend?" Katara asked. Proto found himself agreeing with her skepticism.
"Oh, it's a real legend. And it's as old as Earthbending itself" Chong answered Katara confidently, completely missing her point. He then began to strum a tune.
"Two lovers"
The other nomads had joined the musical number now, and Katara and Aang were swaying with the time of the music. Smiles plastered on their faces.
"Forbidden from one another"
Sokka was visibly annoyed.
"A war divides their people"
"And a mountain divides them apart"
"Built a path to be together"
The music died off. "Yeah, I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes…" With renewed vigor, the music came back in full.
"SECRET TUNNEL"
"SECRET TUNNEL"
"THROUGH THE MOUNTAIN"
"SECRET, SECRET, SECRET, SECRET TUNNEEEEEL"
The song finished with light applause from Katara and Aang, as well as the other nomads for Chong's vocal performance.
"I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before We'll be fine," Sokka said with a raised eyebrow. His skepticism about the validity of this tunnel burning a hole through the song the Proto was secretly somewhat enjoying. If for nothing but the effort put into it (or perhaps lack thereof).
"Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground. And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable," Aang offered.
Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Proto all clambered on board Appa. Not even ten minutes off the ground did they come under fire. The volume of projectiles proved to be too great. As Appa did his best dodging, flaming hunks of rock sailed just inches away from his fur, staining it and all occupants with soot. In order to cover their retreat back down into the forest canopy, Proto was slinging glacial grenades left and right at any rocks arced to intercept their retreat.
"Secret love tunnel, let's go," Sokka said, utterly drained as the four walked by the nomads.
A few hours later and the terrain had changed. There was less vegetation and rock faces were taller. Ruined structures dotted the well-trodden path the group was walking.
"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked Chong.
"Actually, it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth," Chong answered, immediately getting Sokka's panic.
"Labyrinth!?"
"I'm sure we'll figure it out," Chong reassured.
"All you need to do is trust in love, according to the curse," Lily explained. Sokka stopped in his tracks at that, allowing everyone to overtake him.
"Curse!?" Sokka groaned in frustration.
"Hey, hey! We're here!" Chong said. Before the group was a massive cavern opening in the rockface, statues lining either side of the entrance. Above the apex of the arch was vertical script that Proto couldn't decipher.
"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked as the large group approached the entrance that easily dwarfed them.
"The curse says that only those that trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in the forever," Chong explained.
"And die," Lily added with nonchalance.
"Oh yeah, and die… Hey! I just remembered the rest of that song," Chong said approaching the enormous mouth of the cave.
"And die"
"That's it! There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!" Sokka exclaimed.
"This hole's pretty tame if you ask me," Proto said off-handedly.
"What, you've been to a more cursed hole, thing?" Sokka challenged, spinning around to face him.
"The Hellmouth," Proto offered.
"The who?" Aang asked.
"Hey! Someone's making a big campfire!" Moku said, his pink and beige robe shifting as he pointed it out over the surrounding cliffs.
"That's no campfire, Moku," Katara said while looking on. A mix of worry and grim determination etched into her features.
"It's Fire Nation. They're tracking us," Sokka said in a similar tone.
"So all you need to do is trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang asked Chong.
"That is correct, master arrowhead," Chong confirmed.
Aang looked back towards Katara who still had her sapphire gaze fixed on the rising smoke. "We can make it," he said with determination.
"Everyone into the hole," Sokka said, accepting their new course.
Appa groaned, his displeasure made apparent, but he willed himself forward. Proto rested a few fingers just behind Appa's eye and traced light circles in the fur which calmed him a little.
As they walked deeper in Proto could hear what sounded like compressed air and chains. A sudden rumbling filled the air as chunks of rocks began to close the entrance behind them. Suddenly, they were plunged into darkness. After a moment something was dragged across the cave floor. Chong had struck a torch. With the new source of light, appa turned around and began pawing at the mound of packed rubble.
"It's okay Appa, we'll be fine. I hope," Katara tried reassuring him and herself.
"We will be fine. All we need is a plan," Sokka said, though he didn't sound convincing. "Chong, how long do those torches last?" Sokka asked.
"Uhhh. About two hours each," Chong answered.
"And we have five torches, so that makes ten hours!" Lily said moving to light them, but Proto was faster.
"Not if they're all lit at the same time!" Proto growled out while immobilizing Lily's arms.
"Oh right," Lily said as Proto released her arms.
Sokka climbed up to Appa's saddle and began rummaging around.
"I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through," he said while preparing a stick with a piece of charcoal and paper. Sokka soon took the lead and the whole group began to move.
About half an hour of travel later, Katara was starting to get fed up.
"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us to," She said, irritation clear.
"This doesn't make any sense. We already came through this way," Sokka said, turning his in-progress map in his hands.
"It's not his fault," Proto said, earning quizzical looks from everyone. "I've been keeping track too. The tunnels are changing," An ominous rumble followed his statement.
Chong immediately panicked. "The tunnels… they're a-changing. It must be the curse. I knew we shouldn't have come down here!"
Sokka glared at Chong. "Right. if only we'd listened to you," Sokka said with sarcastic ire.
"Everyone be quiet," Katara said suddenly. "Listen!"
A sound, like air rushing mixed with a creature's lowing bounced throughout the space. Momo retreated from his perch on Sokka's shoulder to hide with Aang. Sokka held out his torch into the darkness. With a snarl, a large, winged creature lunged. Its scarlet eyes gleamed like fresh blood in the orange torchlight. Sokka fell down with fright as the creature trotted to a stop before facing the group with a snarl.
"It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong exclaimed.
"No! It's a wolf bat!" Moku yelled.
The wolf-bat lunged again, hopping between large rocks that made up the cavern. Sokka swung at it with his torch. While Sokka was successful in driving off the wolf-bat's assault, he lost his grip on the torch, which landed on Appa's foot. Appa now spooked, anxious, and in pain, panicked. Running around and smashing into the walls. Rocks began to fall to the cavern floor, and the entire space shook. Proto and Aang reacted at the same time, bumping into each other in the middle as rocks rained down like hellish hail. Aang moved first, blasting air around Proto to push Sokka and the nomads out from under the rocks. Proto then picked up Aang and threw him toward Katara. Proto's entire body shifted as something hit his shoulder from above.
SERVO ERR: CHCK LFT ARM
Looking down, Proto noticed that a falling rock had in fact relieved him of his arm in its entirety. Another rock smashed into his torso, knocking him onto his back.
COOLNT PUMP FAIL
REACTR EMER. SHUT-OFF
BUS UNDRVOLT
Proto's vision failed, though he could still feel rocks hammering down around him. Soon those vibrations began to fade, though they weren't lessening in frequency. Proto was dying, again. The sensation felt so familiar to him, it was almost comforting in a sense. Despite his sudden reminder of mortality, Proto was hardly worried. Guardians could certainly be killed. They just had a problem staying dead.
AREA NOT CLEAR
TRANSMAT ARMED. STANDBY
TRANSMAT COMPLETE
AREA CLEAR
INIT COMPLETE
CAPACTRS PRIMED
STANDBY
SYSTEM START IN 3
2
1
Proto's vision flared, lines of text rapidly scrolled by, impossibly fast for any living creature to interpret, reporting the integrity of various systems. Only one readable message flared over the entirety of Proto's vision at the very end.
SYSTEM OK
Proto stood quickly. "Light," he said. Themis materialized, casting a beam of light into the empty cavern in front of them both.
"A simple "thank you" would suffice, you know," Themis said.
Proto chose to ignore this advice, in favor of beginning a deep-sight ritual to see if he could group up with someone. As the swirling black and white energy washed over Proto's head, he saw a faint trail of footprints. Resting his hand on one, he heard Aang's voice. Without a word, Proto followed the fading trail. Proto followed this trail through twists and turns. Throughout it, he saw moments where Aang and the person he was with paused and paced. As he came upon one last bend, he spoke up.
"Thank you, Themis," Proto said softly without altering his course.
"That was a joke. You know that, right?" Themis asked.
Proto didn't verbally respond as he walked to the light spilling through a large archway, on the other side he heard two familiar voices.
"I thought he was with you! He wasn't with us!"
"No, he was supposed to be with you! He pushed Aang towards me at the last minute. Oh my god, we left-"
"Proto! You're okay!" Aang shouted as Proto stepped out of the exit. Aang used his airbending abilities to zip over to Proto.
"What happened? Where were you?" Aang asked.
Proto looked out past Aang and into the sky
"Well, that's just lazy writing," he said.
"Uh, Proto? Are you okay?" Aang asked uncertainly.
"Some of the rocks rattled my head, but I'm fine now," Proto assured upon seeing Katara reach for her pouch.
"Proto you really should let me have a look. I didn't learn the healing arts willingly, but I won't deny their usefulness," Katara insisted.
"Really, I'm fine. Let's head for Omashu," Proto said evasively. Katara, while still looking uncertain, relented and let her arms drop.
So they did just that and within the hour they were coming upon the overlook.
"The journey was long and annoying," Sokka began. "But now you get to see what it's really about- the destination. I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O- Oh no!"
Before them was what Proto assumed was the city of Omashu, but now it seemed to be under Fire Nation control if the giant banner out front was anything to go by.
AN: Finally done. Things have been crazy lately. I'm really sorry this chapter took so long. Thank you for reading and I hope to have the next chapter finished in a more timely manner as things calm down.