Chapter Twenty Seven
Spelunking
Their single torch flared to life when Katara struck it against the ground. She started trying to move rocks and boulders desperately. Aang groaned from his spot on the cave floor, and Appa did his best to look embarrassed. Momo chittered at him in rebuke for his loss of composure.
"Sokka! We've got to save him! And Chong and the rest of the nomads!" She said, shoveling stones aside with one hand. She looked at the massive pile of broken earth and reality set in: there was no saving anyone, if they had gotten trapped in the cave-in, they were dead.
"They're okay, Katara." Aang placed a hand on her shoulder. "I got everyone clear. Chong, Lily, Miku, Sokka too. Even Azula and her friends; they're all still alive."
"Oh thank goodness!" Katara threw her arms around him when she heard his reassurances. "But that means that Sokka's trapped with Azula and her friends!"
"Uh, no, not quite. He's just with Azula, and Mai and Ty Lee are stuck- I mean Mai and Ty Lee are with Chong and the others." Aang scratched the back of his head, "I didn't have much time, but it's the best I could do. We'll just have to find him in the caves, or wait for him outside of it."
Katara nodded and started walking. Aang and their animal companions followed suit.
"How long will that torch last?" He asked, jogging a few steps to catch up with her.
"I'm not sure, an hour or two? I didn't get a chance to ask before Azula attacked us. How did she even find us here?" Katara asked, not really expecting an answer. Aang furrowed his brow, thinking about the question. How had she found them? They had run into that Fire Nation battalion, but why would she have been with them? And so far south, almost at Omashu.
"Hahn!" Aang spat when the realization dawned on him. "He must've known somehow, or maybe his dad. Laluk was part of Arnook's inner council, so he might have known where we were headed. They probably told Azula, and Zhao too."
Katara stopped walking and he nearly bumped into her. She turned on her heel with her eyes wide. "Do you think they're attacking Omashu?
Aang's breath caught in his chest, and he imagined the city of his friend, the last surviving friend of childhood, under siege or even occupation by the Fire Nation. He put his head in his hands. "Oh no, Bumi! What if something's happened to him, what if he's-"
He couldn't finish the thought. He shook his head and kept walking, and his mind was filled with memories of all those who had lived entire lifetimes while he had been frozen. Katara kept pace with him, and they walked in an anxious silence. They continued on for a long while, before she broke the silence.
"What if they can't get out?"
"What?" Aang asked, jared from his thoughts of his long dead friends, who to him had been children mere months ago.
"Sokka, and the nomads. Azula and them too, I guess. Mai and Ty Lee."
"Oh, I didn't even think of that!" He said, and truthfully the idea hadn't even crossed his mind. "I can't earthbend yet, how would I be able to look for them?!"
"Maybe we can get some earthbenders from Omashu?" Katara suggested.
"Unless it's been conquered by the Fire Lord!"
"We can't say that it has! And why would the Fire Lord go to Omashu personally?"
Aang paused, "Alright, we don't know that it has, and he probably wouldn't go personally." He took a breath to calm himself, "We can wait for Sokka for an hour or two, and if he's not out by then we'll go for help."
Katara agreed with him, and they continued walking. Aang was tugging at his ears anxiously while he considered the fate of Omashu, and Sokka. They hadn't made it another hundred yards when Katara stopped again. "They don't have a torch! They'll just be wandering around in the dark!"
"What? You mean Sokka? He can see in the dark, remember? And even if he doesn't use his spirit powers, Azula's a firebender. She can create light for them."
"That doesn't make me feel better!" Katara exclaimed, and she looked anxiously behind them towards the cave-in. "My brother's trapped with Azula, the evil firebending mad-woman! What if she kills him?! We'll never see him again, Koh owns his soul now!"
"She's not going to- what? Koh has what?"
Katara looked at him, and then quickly looked away. "I guess you had already left when he told us."
"Told you what?" Aang asked, as an entirely new kind of fear began to form in his chest. When Katara spoke again, her voice was small, and quiet.
"After you went into the Avatar State to fight the Fire Navy, Sokka told me what his deal had cost him. When he dies, he won't exist anymore. Koh has his soul now."
"Agh!" Aang cried, his face showing the horror and revulsion he felt. "No. Not if I have any say in the matter! I'll find Koh and make him give Sokka his soul back!"
"I don't know if it works that way, but it would certainly make me feel better. And besides, I have a plan. Sort of." Katara said.
"Really?" Aang asked hopefully.
"Like I said, sort of. Before we left the north pole, I went to ask the Moon Spirit, or Yue, maybe both, -whatever the fish version is- for help. I waited there for hours, and as I was about to leave thinking they couldn't help, La spoke to me."
Aang was silent for a moment, and then asked with apprehension, "What did he say? He didn't ask for your soul in return, did he?"
"No, he said he didn't have the answers I wanted, but he told me who does: Wan Shi Tong. I just wish I knew who he was."
The man in the odd hat lit his torch again, as it had been extinguished during the cave in. Mai took quick stock of her surroundings, noting that it was just her, Ty Lee, and a bunch of strange musicians. She inspected the rocks that blocked the cavern they had been in mere moments earlier. It was totally inaccessible, and she doubted that there was any chance that they could dig their way out.
"So," the man in a pink kimono started awkwardly, "Are you guys going to attack us too?"
"No, I don't think so," Ty Lee said, and asked, "You guys aren't with the Avatar are you?"
"The sword guy is the Avatar?!" Asked the man in the hat, in an astonished voice.
Mai closed her eyes tightly for a second. She was not looking forward to the next few hours, possibly days, of her life.
"No, that's Sokka. The Avatar is the one with the arrows." Ty Lee corrected him.
"Oh," Said the hat-man. He paused, and then looked from Mai to Ty Lee a few times. "Who are you?"
Mai sighed as Ty Lee introduced them to the musicians. Chong, the hat-man, had only met the Avatar a few hours ago, and was evidently not very sharp. Mai considered their options. They could wait where they were, for the army knew where they had gone. They would eventually dig them out of there, but she didn't know how long that would take. The tunnel supposedly went straight through the mountains, so she figured that if they kept going they would eventually make their way out. If this passage was a dead end, they would just have to sit by and wait.
"How long do those torches last?" Ty Lee inquired.
"Oh, about two hours." Chong said, and his wife nodded in agreement. She took the remaining three torches and struck them on the ground. "And we have four torches, so that's eight hours!"
Mai snatched the torches from the woman and put them out. "It's only eight hours if you light them one at a time." She said dryly.
"Ty Lee, let's get moving. We might be able to find a way out of here, and if not then we'll have to wait for someone to dig us out." Mai took the lit torch and started walking as Ty Lee cartwheeled over to her. Chong and his nomads followed suit.
"You know," Ty Lee said to the wanderers, "I used to be in a traveling circus."
"Really? I met my wife in a traveling circus." Moku said, before looking sad. "She's still there, and we haven't seen each other in a while."
"What? Why not?" Ty Lee asked.
"Well, she wanted to stay with them, and I wanted to travel. We decided that I should travel for a while, and then we could meet up again with them."
"But you said it was a traveling circus." Ty Lee said.
"It was," Moku shrugged.
"Why couldn't you travel with them?"
Moku stopped in his tracks, his face awash with realization, and then he laughed. "I didn't even think of that!"
Mai sighed. She was stuck with odd company, and now she had to deal with the illogical thought process of the nomads. Fun. She quickened her pace, hoping to cut the time spent with these people as short as possible. They needed to get out of this tunnel as quickly as possible, and find help. For all she knew, Azula could have been… she decided not to think about that as likely, but knew it was possible. She didn't want to believe that Azula might not survive, yet she wouldn't allow herself to deny the possibility.
Her friend had, up until recently, kept them at a distance. Azula kept her fears and worries close to her chest, although Mai had her suspicions. Now that they were confirmed, and in some ways surpassed, Mai felt a closeness that hadn't been there before.
Originally, Mai had become friends with Azula because Ty Lee did. She hadn't been sure about her originally, and wasn't certain until she met Zuko. That had been when they were children though, and as they grew older Mai found that she genuinely liked spending time with the princess. Getting to see Zuko occasionally was an added bonus.
Now she was torn. They were on a mission to capture Zuko, the Avatar, and General Iroh. She still had feelings for Zuko, but she was equally concerned for Azula's well being. If they couldn't capture Zuko, then the Fire Lord might do something unspeakable to Azula. But could she hand Zuko over to the Fire Lord after learning why he had been banished? After hearing the story of the forty first? And now Zuko had as good as left the Fire Nation, having aided the Water Tribe during the siege.
She didn't know what she would do when the time came, and she hoped that she wouldn't be the one to face Zuko. She would much rather deal with Iroh.
Ching began strumming on his lute, and to Mai's irritation, Ty Lee began to sing. Mai tried her best to ignore the music, she really did. Moku began beating on his drum, Lily began playing her flute, and the two other nomads who had yet to introduce themselves began dancing as they walked. Mai drew in a breath and let it out slowly. They came to a fork, and Mai chose the left hand tunnel. The nomads and Ty Lee followed promptly, still singing. Mai glared sideways at Ty Lee, and saw that one of the dancers had stopped dancing and was putting flowers into the acrobat's hair. Flowers. Where had they even gotten them?
"Don't let the cave-in get you down!" Ty Lee sang, waking closer to Mai, "Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown! When the tunnel seems darkest, that is when you need a clown! Don't let the cave-in get you down, Mai!" Ty Lee drew out the name as she and Chong leaned in towards her.
Mai scowled. "Why shouldn't it? Azula might be dead for all we know!"
"Oh is that why you're so gloomy? Gloomier than usual, I mean."
Mai turned her attention away from Ty Lee. Mai decided that Ty Lee was in denial. There was no other way that the girl wouldn't be in tears at the idea of Azula's possible demise. A concept that felt more and more possible with each minute.
"Azula's fine. The Avatar pushed her into another tunnel when the cave began to collapse. I saw it before Chong's torch went out."
"Oh, so she's just trapped underground by herself, that's fantastic." Mai said. Relief washed through her upon Ty Lee's revelation. Why she hadn't said something an hour ago when they started this blind journey Mai didn't comprehend, and she was secretly jealous of Azula's solitude.
"She's not alone," Ty Lee said, "She's with Sokka." Saying his name with a smirk. Mai stopped walking and turned to Ty Lee.
"What?"
"Azula was blown into a tunnel with Sokka."
Mai's blood began to freeze, and evidently her dismay shone through her expression.
"What?" Ty Lee asked, her smile fading.
"Don't you remember what Iroh told us? Sokka is bound to the Face Stealer! He's dangerous!"
"Wan Shi Tong?" Aang asked, and Katara nodded. Aang smiled broadly and said, "I know who that is! We're already planning on meeting him! He's the knowledge spirit that the spirit library belongs to!"
Katara whipped her head around as she walked. "Seriously!? That's great, we'll be able to ask him about helping Sokka while we learn about the prophecy."
The pair of them walked in silence for a time, and Aang dwelled on the trials ahead of him. He couldn't help but remember his failing in the past. When he learned that he was to be sent to the eastern Air Temple, he had run away. That decision had gotten him trapped in ice, and plunged the world into chaos. A century of war and ruin had followed his choice to shirk his duty, to put himself and his desires first. Again when he had stopped Sokka from killing Zhao, he had put his own beliefs before the needs of the world. And what had that wrought? A battle that killed hundreds of people, Fire Nation and Water Tribe alike.
What would he do the next time he faced a hard choice? Would he put his own desires first? Could he afford to? Could the world? He wondered if he would make the hard decision. Was he even capable? Would he be able to do his duty to the world? Or would he let his own desires cloud his judgment? He wished that he had mastered the ability to let things go, and detach himself from his own selfishness. He was the Avatar, and his was a role of sacrifice. Even if it meant his own happiness.
The torch Katara carried was starting to burn low when they came across a door at the end of the tunnel. Katara ran up to it, and tried to push it open.
"Aang! I think this is the way out!" She said, and Aang ran over to help her push against the door. They heaved with all their might, but the heavy round stone refused to move. They gave up after a few moments, and jumped aside when Appa charged the door.
The bison crashed into the stone, causing it to roll aside. The chamber within, sadly enough for Aang and Katara, was not an exit. In fact, it was a tomb.
"Ughhh!" Aang said in exasperation.
"This isn't the exit." Katara observed. Her voice was shallow, and her disappointment bled through.
"I know, but it looks like there's writing on the walls." Aang answered her, though it wasn't a question. The pair of them squatted down and read. Katara read the story aloud through the light of their dying torch. It was a tale of star crossed lovers, of war, hope, life, love, loss and despair. In the end the man died, and his lover forced the war to an end with her earthbending. The warring clans lived together ever after in the city they built, and named it Omashu.
"That was interesting, but it wasn't very helpful." Katara said, and Aang agreed.
They sat in silence for a time, and their torch grew steadily dimmer. Eventually, Katara broke the silence.
"The legend says that we have to trust in love, or we'll be trapped in here forever."
"Yeah?" Aang said.
"Well, I was thinking, it's a crazy idea actually. Nevermind." Katara blushed slightly and looked away.
"No, what is it? It's better than no idea."
"Well, here it says that love is brightest in the dark," She pointed to the last passage in the wall, "And it has a picture of them kissing."
Aang was confused, so he asked for clarification. "Where are you going with this?"
"Well," Katara began hesitantly, "What if we kissed?"
"You think we should kiss?!" Aang asked in surprise.
"See, I told you it was a crazy idea." Katara said as she looked away.
Aang paused, looking at her. The torch was nearly burnt out, and they were out of time. That, and her suggestion was perhaps the greatest idea he had ever heard. "I don't know, I think it's worth a shot."
Katara looked at him with a soft smile, and they leaned closer to each other. Moments before their lips met, the torch went out. Aang closed his eyes, and Katara gasped and pulled away. Aang opened his eyes and saw the tunnel was illuminated by glowing crystals leading towards the far end of the tomb.
"The crystals must glow in the dark!" Katara cried, "Maybe they will lead to the exit!"
Aang sagged. Of all the times for a miracle, it had to come at the worst moment.
Mai walked with purpose, Ty Lee at her heels. She had indeed forgotten what Iroh had told them about Sokka, and now that she realized that Azula was trapped with a potentially deadly enemy rather than a silly crush, her lighthearted demeanor was forgotten. Now they and the nomads were practically jogging to find an exit. Their strategy so far had been to take the left hand turn at every fork, figuring that it was like a maze. If you keep taking the same turns you will eventually find your way out.
It didn't seem to be working, as they were already on their second torch.
"Do you think she's okay?" Ty Lee asked.
"Who? The waterbender?" Chong asked, uninvited,
"No, Azula. The firebender." Ty Lee corrected.
"Oh, I wouldn't know." Chong said, "You should ask Lady Knife-thrower."
Ty Lee smiled at him. She had been asking Mai, and Chong seemed to be a little slow. Mai didn't understand how the man could have gotten through life without hurting himself, or falling off of a cliff. She decided that the man must be extraordinarily lucky.
"I don't know. It's Azula; she can handle whatever Sokka throws at her, probably, but we don't know what he's capable of. From what I heard, he nearly killed Admiral Zhao, and Zhao only escaped because Hahn and Laluk were there to help."
"Azula's way more powerful than Zhao," Ty Lee said, "But still, he managed to chi-block him."
Mai nodded. "We're just going to have to plan for the worst. She might have been taken prisoner, or maybe…"
Ty Lee shook her head. "No, they wouldn't have done that. Remember when we were interrogating the Avatar? He said they rescued Zuko and brought him back to his ship, so I think they'll probably do the same with Azula, or maybe she'll surprise us and have them all tied up by herself."
Mai exhaled quickly through her nose, "That does seem like something she could do. Then it's just Zuko and Iroh."
The group walked in silence for a while, until Ty Lee spoke again. "What do you think about capturing Zuko?"
"It doesn't matter what I think," Mai answered evenly, "We have a job to do."
"Well, yeah, I know that. But it's just, if Zuko was banished- if he was burned- just for protesting to, well, the thing," Ty Lee said, hesitating before she continued on, "It makes me think, what else might the Fire Lord have done?"
Mai glanced at her friend. This was getting dangerously close to treason. "I'm sure that the Fire Lord has always acted in the Fire Nation's best interest."
"I… Mai, I have to ask you something." Ty Lee said, falling into step to speak quietly to Mai. Mai raised an eyebrow. Ty Lee took a deep breath, and asked, "Are we the bad guys?"
Mai paused, and while considering her friend's question, she heard something. "Ty Lee, did you hear that?"
"What?"
"There's something coming!" Mai said, and Chong and his nomads began to panic. They began to whimper, and backed into the cave wall. Suddenly, a horrible face rushed into the light. A wolf bat darted past their heads, followed by dozens more. The cave began to tremble, and the passage through which they had come was suddenly blocked off by a wall of stone.
Mai grabbed Chong and forced him to hold the torch aloft while she and Ty Lee prepared to fight the earthbenders who had found them. Evidently they knew the two young women were Fire Nation, otherwise they wouldn't have blocked off their escape. Ty Lee waited beside the nomads, while Mai took a position in the shadows of the opposite wall.
They waited, and when a few minutes had passed, the wall behind Mai disappeared. She whirled, and was faced by an enormous animal. Mai jumped back, and the wall that blocked their escape was brought down by another animal. Mai recognized them: badger-moles.
Mai backed away slowly, trying to come up with a plan. None of her weapons were large enough to damage the creature. She took a slow step backwards, and the badger-mole made a motion with its foreleg, causing the ground to shift. Mai fell back, and began to crawl backwards. The badger-mole advanced, and just as Ty Lee began to run to her aid, not that Mai thought she could do much, Mia's hand struck one of the strings of Chong's lute.
A single note split the air, and the badger-mole paused. Mai picked up the lute, and the badger-mol cocked its head curiously. Mai plucked the chord a few more times, and Ty Lee took Moku's drum and started to play.
Aang stepped into the late afternoon light with a sigh. Katara followed him and the two embraced. They laughed in relief, but the relief soon died when Aang saw something not far from them.
It was Azula. She had lost her hair piece at some point, and she was standing over Sokka, holding him up by the shirt front. She had somehow managed to get his hands in cuffs behind his back. Aang saw her giving Sokka a smirk, and the expression left her face the moment she noticed the pair of them.
"Sokka!" Aang shouted, and Katara whipped around.
Katara charged at Azula, yelling as she drew the water from her pouches, "Get away from him!"
She lashed out at Azula, who dodged to the side. She flipped and spun to avoid the attacks, but she didn't use any bending of her own. Aang waited for her to be in the air, and then sent her flying to the side of the cliff with his airbending. Katara froze the princess to the wall, and glared at her.
"I'll watch her, you get Sokka into the saddle."
Aang moved quickly, and in seconds he had Sokka in the saddle with him. "Katara! Let's go!"
Without taking her eye's off of Azula, Katara climbed into the saddle. In moments they were airborne, and Aang broke Sokka out of his cuffs.
"Sokka, are you okay?" Katara asked, and Aang looked back at them. Sokka was rubbing at his wrists, and for the first time in weeks, he spoke.
"That…! Woman…!" He shouted, his face screwed up in anger, "She is conniving! Manipulative, clever, irritating, funny, smart, annoying! She just has to…!"
Sokka crossed his arms. Aang and Katara looked at each other. Sokka had spoked for the first time since leaving the north pole, and the fact that his insults towards Azula had at one point contained compliments did not escape either of them. Aang examined Sokka's face and saw that he had something a dark shade of red smeared on his lips.
"Uh, Sokka, you've got something on your…" He trailed off as he pointed to his mouth. Sokka wiped his own with a hand and then blushed, turning angry again. "I cannot stand that woman, she's so…! She just can't leave well enough alone, she always has to win!"
Katara stared at Sokka. She glanced at Aang, who shrugged. He, for one, was glad that Sokka was at least back to normal, though he didn't know what had happened to him in the tunnel. The irritation was reminiscent of his attitude back on Kyoshi Island, after Suki had caught them. That situation had ended with a kiss… And now Sokka had been captured by Azula, extremely vexed, and had… something on his lips. Did the two of them…?
"Sokka," Katara said, "What happened in that cave?"
Sokka blinked, and then crossed his arms. "I don't want to talk about it."
Mai and Ty Lee rode with Lily and Chong on the back of one badger-mole. They exited the mountain, and immediately spotted Azula, frozen to the cliff and smiling with her eyes closed. The pair of them leapt down, and ran to Azula.
"Azula!" Ty Lee cried out, and Azula's smile immediately vanished as she opened her eyes.
"What happened? How did you get stuck to the cliff?"
"Sokka managed to chi-block me, and his sister and the Avatar froze me to this cliff. My firebending isn't back on yet, so as you can see…" She nodded towards her ice covered torso and arms. "I could use your help getting out of here."
Ty Lee quickly grabbed one of the torches from Chong and lit it. She maneuvered it around Azula to thaw the ice, but stopped soon. Mai noticed the smile on Ty Lee's face, and followed her line of sight to Azula's face. Her lipstick was… smudged. Her hair was down. What had happened in that tunnel?
"Did you have fun?" Ty Lee said, the corners of her lips flying upwards as she resumed thawing out Azual.
"Why would I have had fun?" Azula asked.
"Well, you just spent a little under two hours with Sokka… and your lipstick is smudged." Ty Lee said.
Azula blushed, and denied it. "No it isn't!"
Mai rolled her eyes. She took the torch from Ty Lee, and began thawing out the Princess.
"I'm sure it happened in the fight," Mai said, deciding not to pressure Azula.
"With everything that's happened, we forgot something. Back at the north pole, before Iroh knocked us out, he told us about Sokka."
Azula cocked an eyebrow. "Told you what?"
"Sokka is bound to the Face Stealer. He didn't tell us anything else, but he's dangerous."
"I know about that. He told me in the tunnel." Was Azula's response.
"And you kissed him anyway?" Mai asked flatly. Azula glared at her.
"So what if I did? It's hardly any of your business."
"So you did kiss him!" Ty Lee said, jumping into the air.
"I never said that!" Azula snapped.
"Well, tell us what happened? How did you get out if he chi-blocked you? It was pitch black, you couldn't have seen a thing." Mai asked, deciding that she would in fact pressure Azula.
"He has a magic sword." Azula muttered, glancing away.
"What?" Mai said, not believing what she had heard.
"Hurry up and get me out of here, we have to get back to Omashu."
Author's Note:
Hello, I do hope you've enjoyed this update. The next chapter will contain Sokka/Azula's travel through the tunnel, as well as the advancement of the Zuko plotline.
Please consider reviewing, and if you have any constructive criticism I'd be happy to hear it. I'm trying to limit the head hopping, so hopefully this has less of it.
Watch One Piece.
Also; shoutout to ArachnidsCrawlingInBedsheets for having the absolute creepiest pen name I've ever seen
12/03/2022
