AN: This chapter is just full of references. Tell me which ones you can spot in the reviews or via PMs.
Chapter 19 The Ember Island Players
It was midday on Ember Island. The sun was high in the sky, and the temporary inhabitants of the Fire Lord's abandoned vacation home were up and about. Most were training in the manor's interior courtyard. Aang was going through his fire bending katas with Azula acting as his instructor. Meanwhile, Connor and Zuko had decided to spar with their blades, (Zuko limiting himself to only one of his two dao,) Katara sitting off to the side in the event someone was accidentally cut, Mai and Toph sitting beside her.
Zuko would never admit it, but he was far more technically skilled with duel swords than he was at fire bending, even still, he found himself completely at a loss when crossing blades with Connor. It wasn't because Connor was actually more skilled than him, far from it, Zuko could tell Connor was closer to a hobbyist than a professional swordsman, but his weapon's manual of arms, or the style Connor preferred to use it in, were so foreign that Zuko needed to quickly adapt. Zuko had always followed Pian Dao's principles of continuous interwoven movements, but Connor was far more conservative. When Zuko would have followed through with an attack in a lead up for the next blow, Connor would make a shorter choppy strike, then pull his blade away, holding it defensively, and stepping back. In all fairness Zuko's sword did have an advantage in reach since it was longer.
"Doesn't it seem kinda weird that we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?" Katara asked.
Zuko sheathed his right dao, before he spoke. "I told you guys already, my father hasn't come here since our family was actually happy."
"Since you were happy Zuzu." Azula corrected. "If you recall, I was too young to go out and play with you, Lu Ten, and Uncle Iroh."
"A long time ago, then." Zuko said with an eye roll. "Either way, it's the last place anyone would come to look for us…" Cautiously Zuko looked over at Mai. "Kozato didn't mention anything about checking here, did he?"
"No he didn't. Then again, he didn't tell me we were going to the Western Air Temple until the night before." Mai said, looking up at nothing. "He played things close to his chest."
The door to the manor opened, and everyone's attention was turned to Sokka and Suki, the young man running up to the group with a grin on his face. "You guys are not gonna' believe this. There's a play about us."
"A play?" Connor asked, resting the flat of his cutlass on his shoulder
"You have those in your world, right?" Katara asked.
"Sorry, I heard the word play, and thought game, instead of a theatrical performance." Connor said. "Continue Sokka."
Suki spoke instead. "We were in town, and found a poster." Sokka pulled the rolled up parchment out from his belt and straightened it for everyone to see.
"How is that even possible?" Katara asked, getting up from her seat under the courtyard's sunshade, and approaching Sokka to read the poster, before he flipped it around to read allowed.
"Listen to this." Sokka said, before clearing his throat. "The Boy In The Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed Earth Kingdom playwright, Pu-On Tim…" Nobody noticed Connor stifling a laugh. "…Who scoured the globe gathering information on The Avatar, from the icey south pole, to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, military reports, insurgents, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbages."
"Wow, Pu-on Tim must have met almost everyone we've run into." Aang said. Connor snickered again.
Suki leaned over to read the paper herself. "Pu-on Tim's production is brought to you by The Ember Island Players."
Connor giggled to himself, and Azula promptly elbowed him. "What?" He asked, grinning. "Poo on Tim. It's funny." He said in english.
"UUUUUGH!" Zuko groaned, letting his head roll back. "Our mother used to take us to see them. They butchered Love Amongst The Dragons every year."
"You used to love that play." Azula said.
"Yeah, before I grew up and realized how bad the actors were." Zuko said, rubbing his face. "You hated it too. The only reason you watched it was so you had an excuse to recreate the final fight scene, and beat me up."
Azula shrugged. "The costumes were always decent."
Katara turned to her brother. "Do you really think it's a good idea to attend a play about ourselves?"
"Hey, I never said we should go see it…" Sokka grinned. "But now that you mention it, a day at the theater is the kind of wacky time wasting nonsense I've been missing."
Katara rolled her eyes.
Connor sighed. "I'll cover the ticket costs."
Ember Island's theater was packed, with a line to enter, stretching off the building's patio and down the hillside stairway, but once the gang, (appropriately disguised,) was inside, they'd paid for a private booth in the theater's back wall.
Everyone took their seats, Connor sitting in the private box's back bench as the tallest person there, pulling his hood up and away from his face. Beside him was Azula to his right on the end, and Smellerbee to his left. Both Suki and Sokka took the far left end of the second bench, with her practically in his lap, thanks to how much seat space Connor occupied. In the front row of the box, from right to left, was Toph, Katara, Zuko, Mai, Yumi and then Aang. "Looks like a full house." Sokka said, as the theater's general admission seating was becoming increasingly less vacant.
"Why are we sitting in the nosebleeds? I can't feel a thing this far from the ground." Toph complained.
"Trust me, you don't want to be down on the floor when you need to use the ladies room." Azula said, leaning over the bench to speak to Toph.
"The acoustics seem good in here too, so you'll be able to hear everything." Connor said.
"Don't worry, I'll tell you about what you can't hear either way." Katara said, patting Toph's shoulder.
Throughout the room, the main gas lamps began to dim, and the reflective stage lamps were lit, before the main curtain was drawn up, revealing two actors, a man and woman, who appeared to be an even lankier version of Sokka and a somewhat pudgy Katara, "rowing" a stage prop boat against an artistic interpretation of the southern sea.
The woman on stage sighed. "Sokka, my only brother! We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas, and yet never do we find anything fulfilling!"
"All I want is a full feeling in my stomach! I'm starving!" The actor playing Sokka said, earning a round of laughter from the crowd. Connor chuckled, but nobody else found the joke funny.
"Is food the only thing on your mind?" The actress on stage asked her "brother."
"Well, I'm trying to get it out of my mind and into my mouth! I'm starving!" Again at the actor's joke, the audience broke into laughter.
Sokka leaned forward in his seat. "This is pathetic, I'm way funnier than this."
"I think he's got you pegged." Toph said, fighting back laughter.
The actress playing Katara stood up in the canoe on stage, before speaking. "Every day, the world awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears!" She held her hands out and clasped them together dramatically. "Still, we cannot give up hope! For hope…" She then began to cry. "Is all we have! And we must never relinquish it, even…" As she sniffled, she sat back in the cano, but not because she wanted to, as it looked like she lost her footing. "Even to our dying breath!"
Katara from her seat in front of Connor, crossed her arms. "Well that's just silly, I don't sound like that."
"Did you used to?" Connor asked.
"Oh, yeah, Katara used to be an emotional wreck before I showed up." Toph said, through her laughter.
On stage, the lighting began to shift in shade to an iridescent blue, as from above an "iceberg" began to descend, a shadow of a person hidden through the transparent material. The actors in the boat stood up, and the lady playing Katara spoke. "It appears to be someone frozen in ice, perhaps for a hundred years."
Actor Sokka gasped. "But who? Who is the boy in the iceberg?"
Aang leaned closer to the stage in his seat, as the actors on stage climbed up onto the prop iceberg. "Waterbend, Hi Ya!" The actress Katara said, making a chopping motion with her arm. The top of the prop split open, and out from the "ice" jumped an actress, clearly meant to portray Aang in his earlier travels across the world. She landed between the actors of Katara and Sokka, winking to the crowd with one hand on her hip. Bald cap done up with fake air bending tattoos, and the baggy orange and yellow mock Air Nomad clothing hiding what curves she may have had, the girl on stage might have been mistaken for a young boy if you weren't paying attention.
Aang's mouth dropped, as the actress on stage portraying Katara asked a question "Who are you, frozen boy?"
The lady portraying Aang giggled, before speaking, her voice in a far higher pitch than the woman playing Katara. "I'm the Avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun!" She leaned toward Katara's actress, laying a finger on her lips, before standing upright and spreading her arms out in a cheery gesture.
Connor chuckled from behind him. "Oh, I see, they had a woman crossdress for the role."
"A woman? I'm not a woman!" Aang said as he stood up in his seat, before a crude costume of Appa, carried by three actors suddenly leapt up from behind the actors on stage. Loud festival music began to play, as the replica of Appa swayed from side to side before jumping off the iceberg prop, landing to it's right, before making a circle around it.
The actress playing Katara gasped. "An airbender! My heart is so full of hope." She clasped her hands before dropping down on one knee. "That it's making me tearbend!" She began to sob once again, grabbing the actress portraying Aang's right leg, just moments before Sokka grabbed her left leg.
"My stomach is so empty, that it's making me tearbend!" The actor Sokka said, as he too began to cry. "I need meat!"
Confused, Connor leaned over the front row bench. "So I take it this isn't exactly what happened?"
Katara groaned. "Outside of the poor script, this is actually almost exactly what happened. Except I just beat the iceberg open with Sokka's club since I wasn't very good at waterbending at the time… Oh and we almost died before we met Aang since Sokka crashed our canoe."
Connor sat back in his seat, as the scene changed, and the actors and props were hurried away. The prop of a ship "sailed" onto center stage and standing on it's deck were two men, one a short, and heavily overweight portrayal of Iroh, the other a tall and skinny impersonation of Zuko, a fake scar mask covering half his face, though on the wrong side.
The actor playing Iroh held up an entire fake cake. "Prince Zuko, you must try this cake!"
The man imitating Zuko turned and looked over his shoulder before shouting. "I don't have time to stuff my face! I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!" He clenched his fist while speaking the second line.
"Nice to know they got you right, Zuzu." Azula said with a giggle, earning a sour look from her brother.
"You were a pretty big buzzkill while you were chasing us." Sokka added, before Zuko slumped in his seat.
The scene changed once more, as the props and background were switched out, depicting the Southern Air Temple now, though with far too much vibrance. A single bush sat on stage and the three actors portraying Aang, Sokka and Katara all appeared, before the woman playing Aang leaned down by the bush. "Hey look, I think I found something!" Actor Sokka scratched his head while Actress Katara shrugged. From behind the bush, Aang's actress picked up a puppet made to look like Momo. "It's a flying rabbit-monkey! I think I'll name him, Momo!" She then used the puppet to speak to the audience, ventriloquism apparently not being one of her stongsuits. "Hi everybody, I love you!"
A backdrop landscape of Kyoshi island, a (incorrectly colored,) green unagi rising out of the island's bay was shown after a quick curtain drop, and retraction. A woman playing Suki and the actor of Sokka were on stage, both dressed as Kyoshi warriors. "Does this dress make my butt look fat?" The actor playing Sokka asked.
In the private booth, Suki laughed, before looking at Sokka. "I thought your butt looked just fine in uniform."
"Thanks, Suki." Sokka said, scratching his neck.
The next few scenes passed, and both Connor and Smellerbee leaned forward. "Did you guys really steal from a bunch of pirates?" Connor asked, rather impressed.
"And is King Bumi actually that buff?" Smellerbee asked, eyebrow raised. "He's as old as Aang."
"Yes, and yes." Katara said, slightly irritated. "But I didn't cry about the scroll we stole, and it was a lot smaller."
"What about Haru, did he actually propose to you in jail?" Yumi asked.
Katara rolled her eyes. "No, but he did throw the first stone in the riot."
"And Aang actually dropped the entire fire temple into the sea?" Azula asked.
"Technically, Roku did that." Aang answered, getting a head nod from Connor.
"And the blue spirit? What was that about?" Katara asked.
"I don't wanna talk about that." Zuko said quickly.
Toph snickered. "Why because he kicked your butt?"
"What?! No! I just wasn't the one who captured Aang." Zuko said.
"Yeah, that was Zhao." Aang said.
Sokka looked confused. "Then who's the blue spirit?"
Everyone remained silent, before Azula hummed. "Probably just some rebel, or Fire Nation traitor." She said with a smirk. Zuko looked over at his sister before she mouthed "you're welcome," to him.
"Uh, no, the traitor was Jeong Jeong." Sokka corrected Azula, without understanding the double meaning to her words.
"Yeah-yeah." Aang stammered. "Besides, that time I got captured happened after we met Jet, not before, and they skipped over our trip through The Great Divide."
Katara crossed her arms. "It's almost like the entire sequence of events is completely pointless in the first act. Like the writer didn't even bother to research them."
"I mean, if you have a good beginning and end to an act, what's it really matter how the middle part plays out?" Connor asked.
The scene changed to a mockup of the Fire Lord's throne room, catching almost everyone by surprise. A man, seated on a throne, meant to be Lord Ozai, though with a far more wrinkled face, smiled. "What's going on?" Aang asked, before a short and far too skinny woman walked onto stage and bowed. Her hair in a top knot, and bangs framing her face.
"Oh, my Agni. That's me!" Azula said.
"Rise, My daughter." Actor Ozai said, holding a hand up high.
"Father, why have you summoned me?" The woman playing Azula asked, her impression nearly spot on.
"Wow, they did a good job casting you. Makeup could use some work, and you look a little older, but that can't be helped." Connor said.
On stage, Azula's double stood up, as her "father" spoke. "The Avatar has returned to the world, and your brother, the banished prince Zuko, is hunting him, attempting to reclaim his place as heir."
"But father." The actress on stage started. "The Avatar is all but invincible."
Actor Ozai smirked. "We have nothing to fear, as The War Ministry has created a new weapon, capable of defeating even The Avatar."
Connor rolled his eyes. "Right, they cut me out of the play." He muttered.
Azula, having heard Connor, put her hand on his shoulder. "Maybe it's for the best. Outside of my casting, this play's done a pretty awful job depicting everyone."
Actress Azula smiled widely, as Ozai's actor cast a hand out, throwing a prop musket down to her. "Go now my dearest heir, bring me The Avatar's head, and your place as future Fire Lord will be secured."
"It will be done father…" The actress said, before she turned to the audience, and spoke in a nearly ominous tone. "Oh, it will be done."
The backdrop of the stage had once more become an icy polar wasteland, and the first few scenes of the original three "Gaang members" had passed. The invasion of the north was played up quite nicely, with a couple small wooden muskets being used on stage that looked and sounded like they had firecrackers taped to the end that went off to simulate gunfire. Sokka was nearly in tears when the actress playing Yue kissed the actor playing Sokka just before her "death" and ascension to become the moon spirit.
"You never told me you kissed the moon spirit." Suki said, before realizing how quiet Sokka had become after the scene began to change, as he had his hands balled together over his mouth. "Was that uncomfortable for you to watch?" She asked. Sokka nodded gently, before Suki hugged him. "It's ok, Sokka, let it out." She said, as Sokka quietly cried.
Looking down on the Earth from on high in the spiritual plane, Yue smiled gently to herself.
"Still spying on your ex?" Tui asked, as she swam around her partner's head. "You know you can't be with him, might as well stop peeping."
Yue rolled her eyes. "I prefer to think of it as living vicariously through Suki and being supportive of their love."
"Alright girl, whatever you need to tell yourself." Tui said, with an eye roll. "Just don't forget we got to pull the tides back later tonight. La ain't doing all the work."
Back in the physical world, the "invasion" on stage was thwarted in the end by the actress playing Aang prancing about on stage in an oversized half ridged costume of La, the ocean spirit. The actress jumped around, and kicked little wooden toy boats around the stage, before she fell over, and the curtain was dropped, signaling the end of the first act.
"Well that was awful." Connor said, before the group all got up and made their way out to one of the theater's many decks, the play's first intermission beginning, as the room's main gas lights turned back on. "And we have a whole other…" He checked the playbill he'd taken on the way in. "Two acts?"
Sokka, who stopped to get food on the way out, sat on the steps leading down to the deck. "Apparently the writer thinks I'm an idiot who makes bad jokes about meat all the time."
Suki, arms crossed, giggled. "Yeah, you tell bad jokes about all kinds of stuff."
"Exactly!" Sokka said.
"At least your actor kinda looks like you." Aang said, hands pulling his floppy cream colored hat closer to his head. "The lady playing me is nothing like me."
Toph shrugged. "I don't know, you are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys."
Aang stood up, and balled his fists, only for Connor to be the voice of reason. "Ah, come off him Toph. And you shouldn't take the show too seriously Aang, a long time ago in my world, there were no actresses, only actors, and they had to play the parts of women on stage."
"Well that's just crazy." Katara said, but rolled her eyes playfully. "Besides, the play's clearly a comedy, not a drama, so the actors aren't playing characters, more like caricatures. I mean, It's not like I'm some overly preachy cry baby who's giving monologues about hope all the time." Almost everyone looked at Katara, not believing her. "What?"
"Yeah, you might not cry all the time, but you are pretty emotional, and you do get preachy." Sokka said.
"Look, you guys." Toph said, facing everyone. "It's pretty obvious the playwright did his research. You might not like it, but what you're seeing up on that stage is the truth."
"A highly desynchronized, and exaggerated truth, though a truth all the same." Azula smirked.
"Oh, just you wait Azula, they'll have you kick a puppy-cat or something and you'll get just as upset." Mai said with a grin.
Azula put a finger to her lips. "A turtle-duck would be more appropriate, but I haven't done that since I was about eleven." She glanced around, seeing everyone staring at her. "I'm not saying it was right, just admitting that I did it."
"Alright, come on, let's get back inside." Toph said. "Or we'll end up missing something."
The gang had, in fact, not missed anything good. They showed up just in time to watch actress Aang fight an incompetent Earth Kingdom General, then travel through a cursed cave, where the only way out was to learn that friendship is magic, and hug their way out. "This is right before we came back to Omashu." Sokka commented to Suki.
Just before the actors playing the gang could enter the earth kingdom city, the scene was changed again, the background showing a picturesque Fire Nation riverside town. A Fire Nation boat prop pulled into "port," with Azula standing at the wheel. "At last I've arrived in the colonies, and can begin my quest to hunt down The Avatar, but I, the princess, can not travel across the vast and dangerous reaches of the Earth Kingdom alone."
"Guess they're cutting out the first time I tried killing you." Azula said to her brother.
On stage, two new actresses entered from stage left, one cartwheeling into a handstand, the other woman, seeming to glide across the floor, her black dress trailing behind her. The first two were easily recognizable as depictions of Ty Lee and Mai, the real life counterpart of the gloomy girl groaning in disgust. Azula's imitation spoke to the two new girls on stage. "You there, commoners of the circus, and the lower nobility of the colonies."
"Who, us, your majesty?" Ty Lee on stage asked, as she came out of her hand stand and landed on her feet.
"I require companionship and guides in my voyage across the land." Azula's actor said. "Only the most loyal of my citizens can aid me."
"We can aid you, princess, for we are most loyal." The Ty Lee actress said, as Azula's actress stepped down from the prop boat onto the ground.
The actress Azula looked over the two, before humming loudly. "You two may be loyal, but I desire more. A local who knows the lands beyond the colonies." Suddenly, the theater's music dramatically shifted in tone. From the orchestra pit, drums began to beat, and the sound of a hulusi could be heard growing louder, almost like a set of pipes to Connor.
"Wait a second…" Connor said.
Loud thudding sounds came from behind the stage, like stomping footsteps. "Is there a volcano erupting somewhere?" Actress Azula asked.
An unseen voice called out. "It's no volcano! It's just me!" The accent sounding somewhat familiar.
"Who goes there?" Actress Azula questioned.
From stage left, a six foot tall and pot bellied man, wearing a wig made of an orange animal's fur, and sheet white paint covering his whole body, walked onto stage. He was high stepping proudly in only his boots and knee shorts, swinging his muscular arms wildly, and with every footstep the loud thunderous sound effects continued. "Holy, shit." Connor said, as he saw the play's portrayal of him.
The actor came to a stop in front of Azula, stiff legged, before he bowed at the waist to her. "I am Kona."
"They really messed up your name, huh?" Smellerbee asked Connor.
"Among other things." Azula muttered.
"Kona…" Actress Azula said, before crossing her arms. "What are you?"
"Kona" Smiled widely, showing off a set of crooked false teeth. "Why I'm a hill person, princess. I'm an earth bender, and a colonial." Kona said, as he kicked a leg up and went "HU AH!" From off stage, a crew member threw a prop rock up into the air.
Actress Azula smirked. "My my my, I did not know there were earth benders loyal to the Fire Nation. Excellent! Come, you three, let us go, and defeat The Avatar." The four actors exited stage left, as the curtain dropped and the scene was changed, to that of Omashu, before the actors of both The Gang, and Azula's crew met, and briefly did battle, the audience cheering the "heroes" on.
"So I'm guessing that Pu-on Tim doesn't know Connor's not actually from the Earth Kingdom?" Aang said.
"Well how could he? It's not like he's gotten anything else right." Sokka said.
Connor stood up out of his seat, and held his hands out towards the stage. "They turned me into an ugly fat bastard!"
"On the one hand, they got your loud personality right." Katara said with a shrug.
While the group talked about how the Omashu fight scene wasn't really long enough, they glossed over the fictionalized events that happened in The Swamp, and Chin village apparently being burned to the ground.
When next they had their attention caught, it was by the actress playing Aang being hooked up to a wire, that allowed the girl to "fly" not just above the stage, but the entire theater floor, getting more than a few ohs and ahs from the audience.
"I flew all over town, but I couldn't find a single earth bending master." The lady playing Aang said.
"Oh, everyone shut the fuck up! This is where I come in." Toph said, as she got out of her seat, and leaned on the private boxes railing.
A booming male voice could be heard coming from the stage, as a trap door opened up beneath a wooden prop meant to look like a boulder, which was lifted out of the way, and thrown by a tall, dark skinned, and broad shouldered bodybuilder, wearing something similar to the sleeveless dress Toph used to. "You can't find an earth bending master in the sky!" The man said. "You have to look underground."
Almost the entire private box broke out into some sort of laughter, as the actress playing Aang approached the large man on stage. "Who are you?" She asked.
The man spit into a bowl left on stage, before he spoke. "My name's Toph, because it sounds like tough, and that's just what I am."
Toph stuck her pinky in her ear. "Ok, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I sound more manly and buff than the dude playing Connor."
"Well Toph, what you're hearing is the truth." Katara said with a smirk. "Hurts doesn't it?"
"Are you kidding me?" Toph asked as she broke into a giant smile. "I wouldn't have cast it any other way! At least it's not a flying bald lady." Aang was visibly upset by that comment.
On stage, The Avatar imposter waved her hand in front of the man playing Toph. "So, you're blind?"
The manish Toph chuckled. "I can see you doing that. I see everything that you see." The man spread his arms out to the audience. "Except I don't "see" like you do. I release a sonic wave from my mouth." Without warning, the man turned to the team avatar on stage, and let out an unholy high pitched scream.
Almost everyone in the room cringed. Aang clapped his hands over his ears. Zuko gripped the railing of the private booth. Suki and Sokka hugged each other in momentary fright. Katara grit her teeth. Connor pursed his lips together in discomfort, as both Smellerbee and Azula sat up straight as an arrow. Mai remained an emotional enigma. And Yumi plugged her ears with her pinkies. Toph was the only one who seemed to actually enjoy the scream.
The actor playing Toph chuckled. "There. I got a pretty good look at you." Toph was the first to clap and cheer, before a majority of the audience began applauding the scream, if only for it's duration and intensity.
The scene had changed twice more, as the play showed Zuko turning away from Iroh, his hair long and unmanageable, before the gang got to see the fight in the old mining town between everyone against Azula, and Connor… However, Kona was not present, and Azula made a flawless escape through a hidden door, after tricking everyone into looking away, avoiding her getting shot, as it seemed no one but the Fire Nation had muskets in the play.
"Hey, that drill set piece is pretty good." Sokka commented, as the curtains were drawn up.
"Aw man, I've been waiting for this part too!" Toph said, bouncing in her seat.
The actresses playing Azula and Aang both snuck into the city, Azula following Aang through a hole in the floor he made with "earthbending." Leaving only buff Toph and Kona on the stage, while the drill moved behind them.
"Wait, where is everyone else?" Katara asked.
"What's going on?" Toph asked.
"The only people on stage right now are you and Connor, they completely left me out." Katara said.
"Shoe on the other foot feels weird doesn't it?" Connor asked, before the actor playing Toph shouted again.
"Oh, wow, you're pretty huge!" The man said, as he flexed his arms, striking a pose.
"That I am!" Kona said, also flexing his arms over his head, the effect somewhat ruined by his stomach.
"And you must have huge guts!... But Ba Sing Se ain't big enough for the two of us." The manish Toph said, pointing at Kona.
"Then I guess we're just going to have to fight for it." Kona said, as he began walking across the stage towards both Toph and the prop wall of Ba Sing Se.
"Oh yeah, this is our big fight where I whooped your butt." Toph said to Connor.
"Oh, but you're approaching me?" The manly Toph asked. "Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?"
"Yes!" Toph said, as she stood up, and grabbed the railing. "I said that!"
"I can't beat the shit out of you without getting closer." Kona said, casually.
"Ho ho." Both Toph and the man playing her laughed. "Then come as close as you like!" The two said, before Kona got just outside of arms reach, and began rapidly punching the air, while the actor playing Toph, began to swing his arms back and forth to slap Kona's "attacks" away.
"Ora ora ora oraoraoraORAORAORA!" Kona shouted, his chanting getting louder and faster.
In return actor Toph began shouting. "Muda muda muda mudamudamudaMUDAMUDAMUDA!"
"Are we just slugging it out?!" Toph asked.
"Yup." Azula confirmed. "Beating the snot of each other like two barbarians… Which might be the point."
"This is awesome!" Toph said, throwing her hands up.
The two actor's hands became a blur, before finally Kona wavered, seeming to catch a "right elbow" from Toph's actor with one final "MUDA!" Kona seemed to go flying back, aided by the actor jumping away, and landing in a heap on his back.
Toph's actor, then with "Earth bending," really the assistance of three other stage crew dressed completely in black lifting it with him, pushed the drill off the ground, and raised it into the air.
"You just picked up the drill." Katara said in confusion.
"SWEET!" Toph shouted.
"That's not what happened at all though." Connor said, holding out a hand.
"Who cares, this is way cooler than what you two really did." Sokka added.
The actor Toph grunted, before yelling "GIANT DRILL ATTACK!" He set the prop back down, hard, as Kona rolled out from under it. A "dust cloud" poofed up, concealing his exit from the stage, before the actor playing Toph clapped dirt off his hands, and gave a hearty laugh. "Remember folks, good exercise and diet goes a long way." The audience burst into cheer, and applause, and with that, the manish Toph walked through the "hole" in Ba Sing se's wall, only for Kona to come out of a trap door, and hold a finger up to his mouth, shushing the audience, creating a round of gasps in the crowd, before he, as well as the actresses for Mai and Ty Lee crept into the city behind the blind bandit.
"Did I just throw the fucking drill at Connor!?" Toph asked as she "looked" around at her friends in excitement, hands holding onto the back of her head.
"Yeah, yeah, you pretty much did." Yumi said.
Toph, grinning from ear to ear trew both her fists in the air. "I don't care how bad he makes the rest of you guys look, this Pu-on Tim guy really knows how to write a fight!"
The play had briefly glossed over Team Avatar's time in Ba Sing Se, a few of the major events surrounding the city's descent into Revolution, Long Feng's corruption, and sprinkled throughout was Azula's actor, quietly influencing other characters while disguised, sending Connor to false flag the gang so they could overthrow the Dai Li together. Jet made a return and… Well his death was rather vague on stage.
In any case, actress Azula had sent Kona to assassinate the Earth King, by way of shooting him from a second story window during a parade with the musket Azula was given by her father, she then assumed control of the city with the assistance of other Earth Kingdom citizens who were loyal to the Fire Nation, having Long Feng executed, before then imprisoned most of the gang as well as her brother who had been (inaccurately) participating in the activities of the revolution. All of which led to an awfully scripted romantic scene between him and actress Katara.
Aang got up and left after the actress Katara had called The Avatar a "brother to her," something that seemingly only Sokka and Connor noticed. Not a second afterwards the two actors on stage shared a quick kiss, which Connor could hear Katara audibly cringing in disgust at.
Mai wrapped her arm around Zuko's waist almost defensively. "I'm guessing this isn't accurate?" She asked.
"Hardly. I would have died before kissing Katara." Zuko said, before glancing right to where the water tribe girl sat. "Uh, no offense."
"Believe me, none taken." Katara said.
The scene had changed, it was now only the actresses playing Aang and Azula sitting across from each other at a table within the Earth King's palace. The woman playing Aang spoke first. "So much has happened in only the three days I was gone. Princess Azula, is it true that you wish to end the war?"
"Wait, what?" Azula asked, sitting up straighter on the bench. "This never happened." She said.
The actress playing Azula scoffed. "Why of course, Avatar. It has been my intention all along, I simply needed to wait for the opportune moment our paths would cross without others interfering."
"I negotiated with The Earth King before Long Feng had him killed." Azula said.
"You tried negotiating peace?" Suki asked, looking at Azula skeptically.
"And we would have had it too, if it wasn't for War Minister Qin invading the city again." Azula huffed, turning her attention back to the play.
"But why would you end the war now that you've taken Ba Sing Se?" Actor Aang asked.
Actress Azula chuckled to herself. "Oh, dear Avatar, how naive of you. The war can not end until my father believes you are dead, and the world is his. But I am tired of war, and would end it if I were Fire Lord. Which is why I've devised a plan."
Actress Aang gasped, before Actress Azula continued. "I and my brother will return to The Fire Nation, and claim to have killed you, only you will not have died. On the day of a coming eclipse, a Water Tribe invasion is expected, as an act of revenge for our invasion of the north. On that day, you can strike, when fire benders become powerless, and kill my father so that I shall rise to the throne. In exchange, I shall give you dominion over the Earth Kingdom."
Actress Aang put a finger to her lips in thought. "An entire kingdom?"
"And so much more." Actress Azula said, spreading her hands out, before putting them behind her back.
"You've got yourself a deal, princess." The actress playing Aang said, before the curtain dropped, and the second act concluded.
"Wha- Aang would never do that." Sokka said.
Azula crossed her arms. "And I wouldn't give up the entire Earth Kingdom like that. This has got to be the worst deal in the history of deals." She said, before getting up as the intermission started, and left the booth with everyone else.
Connor, feeling the need to walk and stretch his legs, stepped out into the hallway and immediately made his way out to the same covered deck that the gang had occupied an hour before, finding Aang leaning over the wooden railing at the deck's edge. "Not enjoying the play either, I take it?" Connor asked, as he made his way over to the deck rail, and leaned on it with his hands, the wood creaking under his weight.
"What gave you that idea?" Aang asked.
"I think it's a shared sentiment." Connor said, the two not turning to look at each other. "But, something tells me it's not just your character being played by a woman that's got you worked up."
Aang glanced over at Connor, and sighed, before the two looked out at the moon. "It's not just the character. It's like this entire play took my life since I've been out of the iceberg and turned it into one giant joke. Every victory is downplayed, every loss is blown out of proportion. Everyone but me has made a difference to the world on stage."
Connor shrugged. "And that's probably the point."
"What?" Aang asked. "How could making fun of me be the point of the play?"
Connor looked at the paybill. "Well for one, this apparently is a comedy, since everyone is a caricature to include Azula and Ozai." Connor started. "And for two, I've got a feeling the playwright might not have been involved in any changes made to his story once the Fire Nation got their hands on the script."
"You think it's just a propaganda piece?" Aang asked.
"I mean, think about it." Connor held a hand up. "You're an emasculated trickster instead of the demi-god I know you to be. Katara's a whiny prat, Sokka's a meat obsessed savage, Toph and I are two stupid thugs from the Earth Kingdom, one loyal and the other not, Zuko's a rude stick in the mud, and Azula's a conniving traitor."
Aang rubbed his neck for a moment. "Well when you put it that way… Still, I can't help but think that maybe the play's right about me being such a fool…" Aang sighed again. "That maybe if I hadn't gone back to Ba Sing Se, and instead unlocked all of my chakras, the war might be over already."
"What do you mean by that?" Connor asked, looking down at the young Avatar.
Aang grunted. "When I left Ba Sing Se, I was on a spiritual journey to master the Avatar state. I'd unlocked every one of my chakras, but the thought chakra, when I had a vision of Katara being… Being hurt. I stopped my journey, and came back to Ba Sing Se. When we fought, I was about to unlock the thought chakra, and master the avatar state… But I messed up, I put myself into a position I couldn't win from, and I failed. When you pierced my heart, you locked my air chakra…"
"Oh..." Connor said. "I... Ty Lee told me about those... Is it as bad as she says it is?"
Aang nodded. "I'm cut off from the Avatar State, and I don't know if I'll be strong enough to defeat the Fire Lord without it… I don't know if I'll be able to protect the ones I love without it."
"You're talking about Katara aren't you?" Connor asked.
"Is it that obvious?" Aang asked in return.
Connor shrugged. "I've seen you steal a glance or two at her when you think no one's looking… Do you know if she loves you?"
Aang hung his head. "I wish I knew… I mean, I kissed her just before the invasion, but we haven't brought it up… She probably brushed it off as one of those "Last time I might ever see you," things though."
"Ah, better than outright rejection, I'd say." Connor shrugged. "I think you're too anxious about the particulars of forming a relationship with her. You've known her for nearly a year, and you've been through all kinds of Hell together, half of it I put you through. And the way she talks about you, it's clear that she at least cares."
"Do you have any real advice then? How did you and Azula end up together?" Aang asked.
Connor chuckled. "Well first we tried to kill each other, so I don't think my experience is going to necessarily help… But, I can give you some advice that I believe works most of the time. Just ask her how she feels when the moment comes, and if she's not interested, well at least you know and can move on."
Behind them, the curtain into the building was pulled aside, and Katara stepped out onto the deck. Connor looked over his shoulder and grinned. "Speak of the devil…" Aang glanced over his shoulder as well, before looking back out to the shoreline. Connor pushed away from the wooden railing, and clapped Aang on the back gently. "If ever there was an opportune moment."
As Katara approached Aang, Connor went back inside, a faint grin still on his face as he passed her. "Are you alright?" She asked, coming to take Connor's place at the railing.
"I am now." Aang said.
"Was Connor teasing you or something?" Katara asked, glancing back at the closed curtain.
"No-no." Aang said, waving a hand, dispelling Katara's worries. "He was just… Giving me some advice."
Katara smiled softly. "Well I'm glad to see you two getting along."
Aang huffed. "You know, as much as I disagree with him on some things, I think that he's actually got a lot of good advice to give sometimes. Maybe it's just because he's a little older than I am in a roundabout sort of way, but he seems kinda like what I imagine having a brother would be like."
"I know how you feel." Katara said with a shrug.
Aang glanced at Katara in the corner of his eye. "Do you… Feel the same way about me?"
"What?" Katara asked in confusion.
"I mean, do you think of me as a brother?" Aang clarified.
"Does this have something to do with the play?" Katara asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I mean, a little, but it was just… Connor said that I should just ask how you feel about us, because I know how I feel, but don't know how you feel." Aang said, turning to face Katara.
Katara stood square to Aang. "Well I don't really know how you feel either, so how am I supposed to answer that?"
"Well I shouldn't feel like your brother!" Aang said, somewhat louder than he was speaking before.
"I mean, obviously I don't think of you like that, I mean you… You kissed me during the invasion." Katara said, slightly blushing.
"I know, and I thought that made it obvious how I feel…" Aang looked down at Katara's feet for a second. "I thought we'd be together afterwards."
Katara forced a breath through her nose. "So you… Do have feelings for me?"
"More than that, Katara, I… I love you." Aang said, avoiding becoming a stamering mess as the two looked into each other's eyes.
"Then why didn't you say something sooner?" Katara asked.
Aang held his hands up. "Because I didn't think you would love me back. And I was right wasn't I?"
Katara looked almost hurt by the accusation. "Wha- Aang I… I care about you, but with how the invasion went, and everything else that's happened since then, I just… We're both too young, and we have a lot going on right now, and I don't think this is the best time to try starting a relationship."
"But you do think that we could try? You do feel the way I feel?" Aang asked.
Katara closed her eyes for a moment. "Aang, you're a wonderful guy… But… We're at war, on the run, and until that changes there's no telling when one of us might die, or be captured, or who knows what else… I just don't want to see something like love be ripped apart because of it."
"I think that's all the more reason we should be willing to try." Aang said, before swallowing a lump in his throat. "Better to try than to never have loved at all."
"That's sweet, Aang… That really is…" Katara took both of Aang's hand's in her own. "I do love you, but until the war's over, we just can't be together, regardless of how we feel…" Leaning in, Katara placed a single light parting kiss on Aang's forehead, before she turned, and left Aang standing on the deck.
Azula returned from the concession stand near the theater entrance, finding her brother, Mai, Toph, Smellerbee and Yumi waiting outside of their private booth. "Where's everyone else?" She asked, before picking a sizzle-crisp flake out of the box she carried, and popping the meat snack in her mouth.
"Sokka and Suki snuck backstage. Connor's on a walk, Aang hasn't come back yet, and Katara just went looking for them." Toph said, from her seat on the floor beside Zuko and Mai.
"Are those sizzle-crisps?" Zuko asked, before Azula held the box out to him, letting him take a handful. "At least the theater has decent food."
"You guys are really torn up about this play, aren't you?" Yumi asked.
"What ever gave you that idea?" Zuko asked rhetorically.
"I'm loving it so far." Toph said with a grin.
"Yeah, well you get a muscly version of yourself, taking down ten bad guys, and making sassy quips the entire time." Zuko said.
"It's great isn't it?" Toph asked, her grin only widening.
"For you maybe, but for everyone else, we're written to look like morons." Azula said.
Mai sighed. "Tell me about it. I don't even have a speaking role."
"It's like every mistake I've made is being thrown back in my face." Zuko said, resting his elbows on his knees.
"You're talking about our uncle?" Azula asked, squatting down to be level with her brother and Toph.
Zuko just looked at his sister from under his hood. "All he's ever been was kind to me, and I repaid him with a knife in his back. It's my greatest regret, and I might never get to redeem myself."
"At least you were in his good graces once upon a time." Azula said. "My first interaction with him after you'd been away for three years was a deception to capture you two."
Toph shrugged, and her grin softened into a thin smile. "I can't speak for you, spice queen, but I know that your uncle cares about you, Zuko. In his eyes you have been redeemed."
"How could you know?" Zuko asked.
"Because I had a long conversation over a pot of tea with him. The only thing he wanted to talk about was you." Toph said, her smile turning into a contemplative pout for a second. "It was actually kind of annoying."
"Oh." Zuko said. "Sorry about that."
"It's fine." Toph waved off Zuko's apology. "Either way, the only thing he wanted for you, and this probably goes for you too, Azula, was to find your own path. I think he'd be proud of you two."
"Ugh." Mai groaned. "This play has everyone so emotional."
"Want to go back in, and finish watching the third act?" Azula asked.
Everyone glanced around at each other before there were mutterings of agreement, just as Connor returned from his walk.
The booth seating hadn't changed, however Katara and Aang arrived later than the others. Noticing his return Sokka leaned over the bench in front of him to whisper to Aang. "You didn't miss a whole bunch. We went to the Fire Nation. Katara was the Painted Lady. I got a sword made out of a volcano fragment that I used to kill Combustion Man, and we fought a witch that I think was supposed to be Hama. Oh, look, the invasion's about to start!"
"Great…" Aang said with an eye roll.
The actresses playing both Katara and Aang were standing on top of a wooden prop submarine, with fake wooden waves shifting in the fore and background. "I just wanted to let you know, Aang, that I'll always love you. Like a brother." The woman playing Katara said.
The actress playing Aang punched the air with a grin, before she spoke. "I wouldn't have it any other way." The two actresses shook hands, before the actress playing Aang extended the wings on her little prop glider, and was pulled up off the stage by the line she was hooked to.
The scene was changed to that of the Royal Port Plaza, where extras wearing old Fire Nation Army uniforms, and mock ups of Water Tribe armor and fur clothing, stood in opposition to each other. The Fire Nation soldiers had no trouble cutting down the advancing actors playing the tribesman with the prop muskets, but broke ranks the moment the actor playing Toph showed up, changing the tide of war. The army was pushed back to the capitol proper, where the four main cast members entered the royal palace, the scene was quickly changed to the building's interior.
The actress Aang, came down from the ceiling on her wire, and landed beside the others. "We finally made it to the royal palace, but nobody's home." She said.
"Actually…" From stage right the actors for Zuko, Kona, and the actress for Azula stepped out from behind the curtain, the lady playing Azula, holding a hand to her side, acting injured. "We're home." The actor Zuko said.
The cast of heroes on stage moved into a defensive posture, as the actress Azula stepped forward. "Our father saw through my plans of usurpation, Avatar. He has fled to the safety of the countryside, and once the eclipse has passed, the palace will no longer be safe."
"We wish to join you." Actor Zuko said.
Actress Aang looked around at her fellow cast for a moment. "Well you know what they say, the more the merrier." With that, everyone quickly ran off stage, and the curtain dropped.
Sokka stood up, and stretched his arms. "Well that's it then. We're caught up to the present."
"Uh, we still have the final scene." Connor said, glancing at the playbill.
"But there's no way the writer could have had enough time to cover everything that's happened since the invasion." Sokka argued. "Unless… This is supposed to be the future." He said, turning to look at Smellerbee.
The curtain was drawn up, and sitting on the throne of the royal palace prop, was the actor portraying Ozai. A paper lantern, with paper flames trailing behind it slowly moved over the stage. The actor Ozai stood up, and spoke. "The Great Comet has arrived… And I sense that The Avatar approaches. The time has come for us to meet. But now that every fire bender is imbued with the power of a hundred suns, not even he can defeat me."
From stage left, the actors and actresses playing Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Zuko, Azula and Kona rushed into the scene, taking up fighting stances as they spread out in front of the prop palace. "But he and his friends can!" The actress playing Aang said, before the actor playing Ozai gave a hearty laugh.
"Foolish Avatar, did you think you could just walk into my palace a second time?" The actor Ozai said, before from the two sides of the stage, extras in old Fire Nation uniforms joined the main cast, prop muskets at the ready. "Guards, dispose of these barbarians, but leave The Avatar, and the traitors to me."
The uniformed extras "fired" and Toph was the first to fall, the actor spinning dramatically holding a hand over his heart. Falling onto his side, he held his hand up before speaking. "From the earth I was born, and so to, I shall return." Laying flat on the stage, the actor had the man playing Sokka rush to his side, before he too was "shot," falling to his knees beside Toph.
"We were far too young." The actor playing Sokka leaned forward onto all fours, before collapsing beside Toph's actor.
The actress playing Katara, had seemingly not been "shot," however dropped to a knee regardless, as she began sobbing. "My brother and best friend lay dead before me, I've not the strength to go on. Zuko, my darling, you must save us." She pleaded to the actor playing Zuko who turned to face her, as she was being detained by the extras.
"Katara, my love!" And with his back turned, actor Ozai threw a blue streamer out from his sleeve, striking the man playing Zuko in the back. He gave a shout of pain, before collapsing.
"Brother! No!" The actress Azula said, as the fake fire lord laughed.
The actor playing Connor, raised his fists, as he stepped towards the palace throne prop. "I shall avenge him for you, princess!" The actor threw a small prop rock up stage at the actor Ozai, who simply leaned out of the way.
Actor Ozai, retorted shortly. "Insolent cur, your earth bending is no match for my fire!" From a trapdoor below Kona, "fire" in the form of a wooden cutout popped up, consuming the actor on stage, who cried out in "agony," while vanishing below stage.
The actresses playing Azula and Aang both attacked, sending a blue streamer and a red streamer each at the actor Ozai, who caught the colored lengths of paper with a hand each, before twirling them overhead, then throwing one after the other at the actress playing Azula. She was able to react to the first red streamer, jumping into a backflip over it, but was struck by the blue one in the chest immediately afterwards. Dramatically, the Azula impersonator put a hand over the left side of her face, discreetly smearing red makeup over her eye as she knelt. Her hand came away, the effect was clearly meant to display a burn.
The actor playing Ozai laughed. "Stand down my daughter, and know your place. You can not stop me!"
"But I can!" The actress playing Aang said, as she jumped into the air with the assistance of the wire she was attached to. The actor Ozai jumped down from his place atop the wooden prop palace, throwing streamer after streamer into the air. The actress Aang landed, and from the prop staff they held, two little blue flags sprung out of either end. The actor Ozai pulled two more streamers out, however these had small weights on the ends, allowing him to spin the cloth around him.
The two stage combatants approached each other, and after several obviously choreographed swings and misses, with their stage weaponry, the actress Aang jumped away, before the actor Ozai thrust both hands out towards him. From stage right, a large orange banner was pulled across the stage by a crew member in a black suit. The banner was handed off to the woman playing Aang, and dramatically, she shouted out her last word. "Nooooooooooooooo!" She said, before laying down on the stage.
Now with the entire main cast either dead or defeated, the actor Ozai stood proudly facing the audience. "At long last, the war is over. I have done it. The dreams of my father, and my father's father, have finally been realized. The world now belongs to the Fire Nation!"
His short monologue was received by a standing ovation from the main crowd, however the Gaang seated up in their private booth were less than impressed. "Well, that ending sucked." Connor said as he stood up.
"Just the ending?" Zuko asked.
"The whole thing sucked." Mai complained.
"You said it." Katara said, as everyone else started to get out of their seats.
"I don't know, I think the drill fight was pretty good." Toph said.
"And the effects were decent." Sokka said with a shrug.
"I give it a four out of ten. It could have been worse." Azula said.
"Seriously? I could hardly watch after the first act." Aang grumbled.
"We weren't even in the play." Yumi said, getting a nod from Smellerbee.
"This writer's a complete hack." Suki said, as they all left the booth.
In the private booth directly beside them, the elderly couple who'd heard the gang throughout the night shared a single glance. "Do you think that's really the Avatar and his friends?" The old lady asked.
Her grumpy husband scoffed. "Probably just some youngsters into that new fangled costume play. The girl had that Toph guy's lines memorized and everything."
The wife rolled her eyes. "Kids these days."
