A/N. As I said, this chapter wrote itself, and I had a lot of fun doing it!
It was as if his ears were hearing something he wasn't supposed to hear. The shouts and cries were distant, as if his mind was trying to shut them out. But he felt himself being lifted. There were murmurs around him, but Aang couldn't make out the words.
Suddenly, the air around him changed, from the stuffy smell of inside a room to the clear air of outside. Only he could smell something wrong in the air… There was smoke and ash inside of it, and as he inhaled deeply to recognize it, the airbender felt a sharp stabbing pain in his left lung. Groaning from the pain, he felt fingers gently caressing his cheek before they disappeared, footsteps receding into the distance.
Above him, he heard someone breathing in, hard. As if he or she was labouring to do whatever they were doing. Aang heard a soft cough, and by the sound of it, he judged that whoever was breathing and coughing was a man. Inhaling once more, he gritted his teeth. His eyelids felt like they weighed as much as Appa, and his heart felt the same way.
His fault… His fault… Everything was his…
No.
No.
Gyatso had said it wasn't his fault. That no one blamed him. That the only one to blame was Sozin… And he had to believe that. All his friends said the same. The voices of his loved ones in the mist had been conjurations to torment him… They had not been real. But the fact that he would associate those voice with those words made him shiver. Was nothing of his life to be left in one piece?
"What is happening?" He heard a voice ask, and now the shouts were clearer. He knew that voice… From somewhere deep inside his memories. The voice was male and did seem to come from directly above him.
"She told us. They are burning my home for some reason!" This time, he did recognize the voice that spoke. The female, slightly high voice was that of On Ji…
Wait. What?
"There are shouts all over the town! They are not just burning your home! I need to get to my parents!" the man above him muttered, and for some reason, Aang felt himself nearly fall. Realizing that the man was probably carrying him, he suddenly wanted nothing more than to move. But his eyelids still refused to open, as it felt he was so, so tired…
"Don't drop him you idiot!"
"On Ji! I… I didn't…"
Clearly, the girl walked away, judging by the sound of footsteps going away and the murmurs from far away. The air filled with awkwardness, or at least, it felt like that to Aang.
"Ehm… Why is my daughter angry with you?" Another female voice came from the other side of the man.
"Because… ehm… Well, I did this." Aang felt himself being lifted a few inches, "And… h-how to say… she… ehm… I did something stupid. But if it had not been me, someone else would have done it! Don't they realize how dangerous it is to have the Avatar inside our town?"
"For the moment, the most dangerous thing that has happened it seemed is someone trying to kill another human being inside my home Shoji. Even if that person is the Avatar." The female voice sounded very cold, as if she was trying to convey every sentiment she was feeling in those sentences. And yet once more, footsteps walked away from the young man, joining the murmurs just a few steps away.
Shoji. Furzo had warned him that this person was not a big fan of him, as Avatar or as Kuzon… And now that he had heard the way the young man had spoken to On Ji… And as he recalled the teasing from Toph about how the girl had a crush on him… Well…
"Seriously, why are you here you Air Degenerate? Everything was going so well before you came along." He heard Shoji mutter. Trying to sigh, only a deep exhale came out. Gritting his teeth, Aang tried to open his eyes once more. As he did, he also tried to lift his hand, to feel anything, something! The airbender felt his fingers lift, as the left side of his torso screamed out in pain. His fingertips grazed something rough, something that felt like a rough spun fabric. Forcing two of his fingers together, he managed to grasp it between them, and pulled as hard as he could force himself.
"Oh fuck!" The arms that had supported him fell away, and in an instance, Aang could feel himself fall. This time his eyes flew open, and before hitting the ground, he managed to bend an air cushion beneath him, with his nose just an inch or so above the ground.
As the air underneath him dissolved once more, Aang pushed his knees on the ground, and his hands too. Sitting there, on all fours, he heard the wheezing sound every time he inhaled and exhaled, and the pain that accompanied each laboured breath.
"Y-yo… y-ou…"
Lifting his head, he saw the young man, and immediately recognized him. This was one of the people from the school, one that had helped him… one of those whom he had shown him around with On Ji. The one who had been bullied by that Hide figure… And he saw the fear. The terrible, all consuming fear he had seen every time someone thought he would kill them… The fear that had been on so many soldiers' faces, even in Ozai's eyes when he had taken away his bending…
"Could…" He grimaced at how soft and pained his own voice sounded to himself, "C-could you not drop me? I have felt better to be honest."
Katara.
Katara!
"Where is she?" He tried to stand but the moment he tried to push himself up, blinding pain shot through him and made him shut his eyes in pain.
"Aang!" Her voice. Her beautiful voice. Opening his eyes, his sight was immediately blurred by tears as he saw a whirlwind of red, brown and blue rush towards him. Sitting on his knees, he let out a wet laugh as the blurry image fell down in front of him, and two soft hands grabbed either side of his face. He felt how a forehead was pressed against his own, and his sight sharpened slightly, to reveal two big ocean blue eyes looked into his own, relief and pain mixed with so much joy he could have described it if he had not been feeling the exact same way.
"T-Tara…" He sighed, lifting his own hands to her face. They felt as if they weighed a ton, but he did it all the same, touching her beautiful skin… Katara…
"I have to check your bandages!" Her hands fell away from his cheeks, fumbling along the fabric of his tunic.
"Tara…" He put his own fingers over hers, stopping her, "Are you alright?"
"I should ask you!"
"But I'm asking you first. Katara… Spirits… I love you so much… Are you alright?" At those words, he saw her eyes fill with tears too, but a smile began to form underneath.
"Tui and La, yes!" She laughed aloud, "More than alright now. I wasn't the one that was stabbed." At those words, he felt her hands tug underneath his fingers, trying to continue the examination. Closing his fingers around hers, Aang kept her gaze.
"Tara… She said… She said she had you! And… And… you know what she had threatened during the invasion…"
"Aang. I'm fine, nothing happened! Now, let me look at those." He could hear her sigh in pure relief as he released her fingers. He felt his tunic being moved away from his torso, and how her hands began to prod around the left side of his chest.
"Does this hurt?" She asked as a finger was pushed gently against the upper side of where the bandages were.
"No." Aang whispered back, too stunned by the fact that she was capable of thinking of anything other than the fact that they were talking… He couldn't get enough of looking at her, feeling the soft touch of her skin against his… As Hakoda had said once, all those months ago… Blue eyes, deep as the ocean, but promising the world to whoever took long enough to look at them… He saw the small lines around her nose, those that were always present when she was concentrating.
"And this?"
This time, it hurt, as she touched the part of his chest that was hidden beneath bandages. Hissing, Aang couldn't help but only not as he gritted his teeth together.
"And breathing? How is that? Your lung is working, right?"
"Tara…"
"Aang, answer me."
"Yes, everything works as it is supposed to, I think." He whispered, "Tara, what is happening?"
"I'm examining you, that is happening." He heard the slight strain in her voice.
"You know what I mean." Aang spoke softly, taking her hands away once more from his chest, forcing them down. Looking into her eyes, he could only wish he had a whole lifetime to look at them… To kiss her every waking moment… To love her. To love each other…
"We need to move." On Ji's voice interrupted whatever Katara had wanted to say, and Aang looked slightly past the waterbender, over her shoulder. Behind her, two women were anxiously looking at him. One, the youngest, was On Ji. He still saw the doubt and fear in her eyes that he had seen… Well, the last time he had spoken to her, in the library. How much time had gone by? The other woman, looking a lot like the girl, watched him with a vigilant gaze, as if she was expecting him to burst into flames at any given moment.
"Oh… Yes." Katara spoke, but Aang saw that she didn't move. Her eyes flickered to his, meeting them, and once more he began to lose himself into their depth. Spirits, he had missed her… So, so very much… How had he survived weeks without her?
"Seriously. The town is burning." On Ji's voice sounded ounce more, much more irritated than before. Lifting his eyes, the airbender saw the plumes of smoke in the air, and, much more worrying, there was a heat coming from his right… The building next, the building next to it at least, was burning…
"Yes!" Katara straightened, and Aang felt she pulled him up with her. As his weight came to rest on his feet, he felt himself stagger slightly the moment Katara's hands released him, but he managed to stand upright.
"Pull up your hood. And keep your cloak as closed as possible." She whispered to him, a hand passing over his cheek.
"What is happening?" He asked, ignoring the pain in his side as he saw that Shoji walked past them, glancing into the street from their alley. The older woman kept her eyes on him, as if to judge if she should run and call for help…
"Their home is being burned, and for some reason it sounds like the town is being sacked." Katara explained, as he felt her hand take his own between her fingers, pressing reassuringly. His heart began to beat slightly faster as he realized it was truly her… Safe and in good health… Everything was going to be alright…
"Yeah, our besiegers are being really nice." He heard Shoji muttered, as he glanced to them. Had he stabbed him? Aang couldn't really believe it, but why would they lie?
"We don't know if it is Piandao!" Katara bit back, clearly irritated with the young man. And to be honest… Aang couldn't blame her. If someone had done to her what Shoji had done to him… He would also be slightly irritated.
"Tara… What do we need to do?" He managed to ask as a new spike of pain blinded him for a second, but he managed to press her fingers softly, making it seem as if everything was alright.
"We can't… How did you enter the town?" She asked him, her blue eyes fixing him as if she was seeing that he was in pain. Trying to smile, but feeling it was more of a grimace, Aang pointed his chin northwards.
"I bend a tunnel through the wall. But we need to help these people… Right?" As he said those words, he knew it was a difficult task… She would have thought about it, but knowing her, Katara would also have considered the risks… Alone, she could do a lot, like extinguishing the fires and fight off those who were causing them… But of course, she would also feel responsible for the three people with them… And for him…
"We need to go there… Bring them to safety." Katara nodded towards the small group standing a few yards away from them, looking into the street, "And you. After, we can get the others to try and… well limit what is happening."
"It can't be Piandao. He had no way in, I would have known. And he doesn't know about the tunnel, I told your dad I would jump over the wall. Tara, this isn't Piandao or any of our friends." Just then, he saw the small flash of guilt in her eyes. She knew something.
"Tara… Who is doing this?"
"Azula." She sighed, and Aang felt himself take a step towards the street, only to be stopped by the waterbender, "Don't. Aang, listen to me. You can't."
"I promised Furzo I would not let anything happen to any one of the town. And Tara. She caused all this! We need to put an end to it! She needs to be imprisoned!" He gritted his teeth as his chest felt like it would explode in pain.
"I know Aang. But now, we have to get you to safety." He could hear the irritation bubble into her voice.
"We ran at the invasion! It is all we do! Katara… I can't break another promise… not again…" He felt the emotion that had filled his mind and soul in that mist creep up once more, and it was as if he could hear the voices in the distance…
"Aang." He felt other hand grab his own fingers, so that both his hands were enclosed by hers, "You have never broken a promise. Never. You did everything the world has asked of you! We will help these people, but I can't… I can't… If that means losing you, it would all be for nothing."
For the first time, as he looked at her, the airbender saw the small lines of worry around her eyes, and that her skin looked… well, paler. As if she had not seen sunlight for a while… Of course… Of course she would have worried as much as he had done. Did she know about what had happened outside this town? Did she… Did she even know Ozai was still alive? And in her beautiful ocean deep eyes… He could see the worry, the sorrow and the pain she was feeling… And that she was trying to hide from him…
"Tara…" He began…
"Agni above, you can talk later!" On Ji didn't sound irritated any more, but outright angry, "They are burning my town, and instead of going to find your friends, who may or may not be responsible for it, you two are talking!"
At that, Aang felt slightly bashful… Yeah… He should have waited… But to have Katara in front of him, able to speak to her… Nothing could be more important than knowing she was truly safe.
"You're right, sorry." Katara murmured, speaking to the Fire Nation girl. But the airbender felt her hands press his fingers softly, as if to say that they would talk later… Finally…
"There is no one in the street." He said, as he let his earthbending scan the surroundings. There were people in the courtyard next to the burning building, the courtyard belonging to On Ji's home… Still, that meant they were separated from those people by a furnace.
"How do…" The older woman began to speak, but Aang walked past her, ignoring the pain in his side. As he stepped into the street, he felt one of Katara's hands release his own, and fumbling around his neck. A moment later, the hood of the cloak was pulled over his head.
"Seriously, my love, walking into a town dressed like yourself…" He didn't see her shaking her head, but he knew she was doing it.
"And I would do it again." He spoke softly. Looking from left to right… There was no one, as he had thought. Which would seem weird… He could smell the ash and smoke in the air, and he did hear faint cries of terror…
"Come on."
Aang felt Katara tug his hand, and he knew why she was doing it. She was keeping her fingers around his to make sure he didn't get ideas… Smiling despite himself, he followed her, as did the others. He heard Shoji mutter something, followed by an irritated response from On Ji, or het mother, as the two voices sounded very similar.
"You feel around, right?" Katara spoke softly as they reached a crossroad.
"There are people on the right, but the north is to the left." He whispered back. He could feel soft heartbeats down the street, but they felt… Wrong. Some were clearly weaker than the rest, and several were beating faster than they were supposed to.
"Tara…" He began, but the waterbender had already looked around the corner, and he could see anger in her eyes. Her hand released his own, and she stepped into the street… Looking to the south. To the left.
"Hey!" She shouted, as Aang himself looked past the corner. There were three men, all clad in the red uniform of the Fire Nation, and on the ground lay several people… He felt his stomach turn as the smell hit him, of burned flesh and blood…
Just like the Air Temples…
Pushing that thought down as quickly as he could, he realized that Katara had caught the attention of the three soldiers… And their smiles were everything but reassuring…
"Agni…" He heard Shoji groan, but Aang didn't wait to see what he meant. He stepped into the street too, close to Katara, and saw that the three soldiers faltered for a moment, frowning at his appearance. They had probably expected to be able to easily fight Katara, three against one… But no. He would not let that happen.
"Get back, you are still wounded." He heard her whisper as the three soldiers began to come towards them, "I can manage."
"I know you can." He whispered back but stayed at her side.
"Long live Fire Lord Zuko!" One shouted as he began to run towards them. Fire Lord Zuko? What was this? No way Piandao would have attacked the town… Well… Perhaps he would have, with him missing… He had not told the old sword master about his plan… But perhaps Hakoda had? Or Sokka? Or anyone? And even then, it seemed rather… Well, out of place. Most soldiers didn't seem to like Zuko that much… Why would one shout this?
"Oh, shut up." Katara spoke softly as he watched her pulled water out of the thin air, and with one movement of her hand, freeze the water and throw it right into the man's face. A quite sickening crunch could be heard, and the man dropped to the ground, clearly knocked out by the impact. The two other men, had followed their comrade a few paces behind, stopped death in their tracks, too stunned to even move. They had clearly not expected to be resisted… And surely not by a waterbender.
Before the block of ice hit the ground, it had already melted once more into liquid, and Aang saw how it formed into a whip, hitting one soldier right into his shoulder, sending him flying into a wall. Before that had happened, the tendril of water was already wrapped around the third and last soldier, and he was thrown back into the street… A long, long way into the street.
Both didn't get up, but Aang could feel their heartbeats, so they were not dead. Looking at Katara, he saw how she was stretching her arms and shoulders.
"Tui and La, I'm rusty. No waterbending since being stuck here." She explained, and Aang had to hide a small smile at her self-criticism.
"Rusty? You call that… rusty?" On Ji's voice sounded behind them, and the airbender turned around to see the Fire Nation girl look at them with her mouth wide open, an expression mimicked by her mother and Shoji.
"This is the reason she is my waterbending teacher." He laughed softly, tugging at her hand. As much good this had been, three soldiers were surely not everything that was lurking around… And they needed to get away. He would come back with her, but Katara was right. These people needed to get out of the town, because it was clearly being attacked.
But by whom? No way Piandao would let this happen. He had clearly a good control over his soldiers, and he would never accept such actions. What was true was that Azula was in the town, and that the building burning behind them, the house where On Ji lived… Or rather, had lived, he supposed… Was burning because of that… that… because of Zuko's sister.
"Azula." He groaned, as he understood. He felt Katara's fingers suddenly grip his with much more force than before.
"Where?" Her voice had a bitter, angry tone.
"No, I didn't mean that! She is burning the town!" The pieces of the puzzle fell into place, "This is exactly like her!"
The waterbender's blue eyes fixed on him, before realization hit her too.
"Of course. Burn the town, blame Zuko!" She groaned as they began to walk to the north. Staying close to the walls of the houses on the left side of the street, Aang could see the huge gates in the wall in the distance… Closed.
"What? But… But Kantuno declared for her!" On Ji's mother, he didn't know her name, came to walk beside them, a confused look in her eyes.
"You did hear that bastard. He was with her at your home! The soldiers she brought, they weren't reinforcements… They were her weapon." Katara began to explain, and Aang had to add what he suspected.
"Fire Nationals are honourable to a fault. No Fire Lord would even think about sacking a town in his own country… If you did that, you would be… Well, not fit to rule."
"She can't get over the fact she lost, can she?" Katara muttered darkly as they heard a loud crash behind them, and, looking over his shoulder, Aang could see that a great plume of smoke hung above the town, coming from where the house had stood. The roof had probably just caved in…
"She won't be there anymore." He pointed his head towards the smoke, and Katara nodded.
"She wouldn't want to be associated to it… But Orsu must have irritated her enough to be deserving of having his home burned by her personally." She sighed, "Orsu was supposed to be at a council meeting… But I doubt…" She began, but stopped as she glanced to the woman next to them.
"You doubt Orsu is alive." The woman sighed, clearly pained, "I know he is alive… But I also know what he would want me to do." Aang saw her glance back to On Ji, the unspoken words clear on the woman's face. Bring On Ji to safety first, then worry about him.
"We'll look for him… After I bring Aang to the camp." Katara answered softly.
"You are not going back alone!" The airbender objected. No way!
"I'll take the others with me, don't worry! But you are wounded!"
"So is Sokka!" he objected.
"What!"
Oh… yeah…
"He broke his leg during the fight at Wulong, and it hasn't healed quite alright…" Aang confessed, seeing worry fill the ocean blue eyes, "Everyone is fine otherwise!" He quickly added.
He shouldn't have said all that… Of course, she was going to worry…
"He could walk when I saw him yesterday!" On Ji interjected, sounding a lot like Toph when she had teased them about not being able to take their eyes off each other. A mixture of irritation and amusement at the sight. Feeling a slight blush creep up on his cheeks, Aang could feel his heart begin to beat slightly faster at the idea of having all his loved ones so close…
Nodding, they began to walk in silence, as normally as humanly possible. As the northern gates began to grow in size as they approached, Aang could feel the heat of the fire slowly creeping northwards too, a slow, all destroying consuming beast… The pain in his side, however, was very clearly seeping all his energy. Aang knew he couldn't show it to Katara, otherwise she would have yet one more thing to worry about… But feeling his energy go down with an alarming rate, Aang judged that firebending or earthbending would not be a very good idea. Waterbending, he could probably manage… And airbending would be easy enough, for those two bending arts were more moving energy, whereas the other two were putting energy into the element…
"Tara." As the building he had seen when infiltrating the town came into view on his right, he stopped, feeling his heartbeat faster than absolutely necessary… A foreign, contracting feeling pressed his chest, and he suspected that it was what Sokka called out of breath…
"Yes?" Aang could hear the worry in her voice, because he could see it too. A lot of soldiers were guarding the gate...
"To the right, into that alley. I bend a tunnel through the wall." He gestured towards it, but saw that their presence had been noted by a few of the soldiers, who began to turn towards them… Clearly with the goal of stopping them, as two or three pulled on a sword belt…
"Come on. Now!" Katara waved the others to duck into the alley, and as he followed the two women and the young man in their care, he heard the first screams that sounded close. Very close…
"We must get to the others." He whispered to Katara as she took her place beside him as they moved towards the wall through the alley. This was it… But he didn't see the tunnel. It had not been the biggest one he could have made… But still, the exit… Or in this case, the entrance… Should have been visible…
"Tell me you hid it." Katara groaned, clearly noting the same absence as he was doing.
"No."
"So, they found it?"
That was the only logical explanation…
"Azula could have Dai Li with her… Maybe?" Zuko had mentioned, on the ship bringing them to Fire Fountain all those weeks ago, that the Palace servants had suggested that Azula had banished the Dai Li for some reason… But perhaps that was a lie, and they were still with her? He had not thought about it…
"You made it… Can't you make it again?" On Ji had clearly followed their whispered conversation and was standing beside him. Aang could feel the eyes of the others on him as he tried to summon enough energy to even attempt it, but he knew that it wasn't good…
He shook his head, glancing at Katara.
"I… I don't have the strength to bend a tunnel…" He whispered, glancing down. They needed him for one thing… And even that, he couldn't do…
"What are you doing there?" A soldier called into the alley, and as Aang turned his head towards the man, he knew that they would have to fight their way out of here… The tunnel was gone, and the alley was a dead end…
"Aang… I think…"
"I know… No hiding, right?"
"Right…" She sighed, pulling water from a puddle towards her hands.
Ignoring the pain in his chest, he pulled off the cloak, letting it fall to the ground. Looking down, he was surprised to see his half tunic stained with old brown blood… And his chest was covered with bandages, making him recall the first few days after his coma…
Shaking off the ill feeling the bandages gave him, he looked up at the soldiers. And what did they see? A bloodstained airbender, his tattoos fully visible, and next to him, a woman matching the description of the waterbender that accompanied the Avatar almost everywhere… Yeah, it would have been difficult not to make the logical conclusion…
The first thing he saw in the soldier's eyes was fear, for which he was sorry. He didn't want anyone to fear him, but in this case, perhaps it was better… Please run… Don't fight…
As the man was hesitating what to do, Aang felt a shudder go through the ground… And a noise sounded from the other side of the wall. Was it his imagination, or did it sound like a whole lot of people running towards them?
