Disclaimer: I don't own.
..▲.. chapter one ..▽..
Zuko snuck in a couple hours worth of sleep before the rising sun stirred him awake, warming his inner fire and smoothing away the fitful remnants of a nightmare. He allowed himself an hour of stretching and quiet meditation, breathing evenly in front of a gentle candlelit flame, before leaving to awaken the Avatar for firebending practice. Even though he knew he had to be tough on the kid — Sozin's Comet was nearing, too soon for comfort, and failure was not an option — letting him sleep an extra hour wouldn't hurt anyone. He hoped.
Surprisingly, when he joined the sleeping group at the base of the fountain, the Avatar was already awake, his young face tinted orange from the heady glow of sunlight. "Hi Sifu Hotman," he greeted in a loud whisper, and Zuko winced, looking at the rest of the teenagers curled up in their sleeping bags. Toph snored loudly and Sokka snuffled. Momo curled back into Appa's fur, lime-green eyes closing after Aang set an apple in front of the bison and a pile of red berries were loosely collected for the lemur.
"You said sunrise," Aang reminded him as they walked to another area of the Air Temple, giving space for their sleeping companions.
"Yeah."
Aang peered up at him, beaming mischievously. "But I actually did just wake up. So thanks for letting me sleep in, Sifu Hotman!"
"Stop calling me that!" Zuko grumbled instead, his face warming. He crossed his arms over his chest. "You needed your sleep for the exercises we're going to be practicing today."
"Uh huh," Aang said, reaching the open clearing first. The sun had risen enough that the dirt tiles were warm under his palm, smooth and chalky-white. "Are we doing the Dancing Dragon again?"
"No," Zuko smirked. Aang's own smile faltered. Maybe Zuko hadn't been kidding about needing his sleep for today's lessons. Aw man, he shouldn't have said anything.
Easing into position, Aang easily mirrored Zuko's nimble pose. "Prepare yourself," the ex-prince warned gruffly, his golden eyes bright and fierce.
Aang grinned boyishly, bouncing on his heels, "Ready!"
Their fire twisted and twirled and transformed, rainbow strands threaded inside and out. Bursts of heat followed, sudden and hot, yet not ever scorching. As they worked, the sun rose in the sky, brilliantly bright.
[▹▸▷]
The sunrise over Titans Tower and Jump City tinted the clouds pink and purple and the early morning chill seeped into her bones. Raven pulled her hood over her head, drawing her cloak closer.
"Can I join you?" someone asked behind her, hesitating before closing the door behind himself.
Raven sighed, pulling her eyes from crashing waves to her young leader. Robin's mask was raised in a question, the black of his cape pulled over his shoulders as the wind battered his scruffy hair. He waited patiently, not making any indication of coming closer until she gave the all clear.
"Sure," she finally said, shifting backwards a space so Robin could join her at the ledge. The teenage hero smiled at her silent acceptance and was by her side in a few quick strides. She studied his masked face, but when he only looked out to the growing sunlight, she turned her thoughts back to her visions, settling into a peaceful meditation.
What could have been hours, or maybe minutes, she heard Robin get up and stretch, the cracks popping satisfactorily as he lithely leaned backward and then stretched his arms across his body.
"Breakfast?" he asked hopefully once he realized her eyes were on him. He leaned down to touch his toes instead of waiting for an answer, and she considered the offer. She knew her friends were worried about her; Beast Boy had stopped by her room again before going to bed sometime after midnight (likely finished watching a movie with the others), but he had left when she hadn't answered him. Maybe she could let up on the whispering voices and foggy thoughts this morning. She didn't sense any danger, not really... it was just, well, confusing. She didn't understand what she was seeing, or why. It was bothering her.
"Okay," she said, standing up and turning to walk back into the Tower. Robin's answering smile blinded her brighter than the sun ever could. She rolled her eyes, following him inside, but her mouth was softened in a smile.
She heard her friends laughing uproariously before she saw them, clustered around the kitchen counter, when the steel doors opened to let the remaining two Titans into the Ops/Living Room.
Cyborg was the first one to see her, and his joking scowl transformed into a watery grin before her eyes. "Raven!" he shouted, dropping Beast Boy onto the floor and ignoring the disgruntled "oomph!" as he quickly transformed into a green turtle. His shell cushioned the small impact, and then he was becoming human and upright again, looking over at Raven like she was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
"Raven! You've returned to us!" Starfire squealed, shooting into the air in a blur of green and purple, landing before her goth friend and swamping her into a suffocating hug. Robin chuckled at her groaning pain, the traitor, and when Cyborg and Beast Boy glommed on without shame, Robin gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze to finish the deal.
"Okay, I get it, you missed me," Raven intoned, struggling to escape.
"I am very much gladdened to see you, my friend," Starfire told her sweetly.
Raven sighed, reaching out a hand to pat her alien friend's back. "Thanks," she said, the smile in her voice. "Sooo... what's for breakfast?"
[◃◂◁]
Another argument about breakfast, it seemed.
Tired, sweaty, and hungry, the two firebenders trudged back to the campsite. Aang perked up when he heard Sokka and Toph's voices carried by the cooling wind, but Zuko just shook his head.
"Toph," Sokka yelped, struggling to climb over an impromptu wall of earth that jutted up from the floor and was formed precariously close to the water fountain. "Give me back my sealjerky!"
"Hi Katara," Aang greeted cheerfully, zooming up to the waterbender and making a cloud of dust in his wake. Katara stopped massaging her forehead to smile gently at the younger boy.
"Hi Aang."
As the two talked, Zuko made his way around the unnatural earth border, watching as the Water Tribe teenager shouted a fed up, "That is it, Toph! Eat this!" and threw his boomerang at the blind twelve-year-old.
Toph didn't seem to care all that much, pulling at the jerky with her teeth and smiling viciously, calling his bluff. He heard Katara loudly sigh again from behind the earth wall. The boomerang spun in a flashing arc back towards the group, and Sokka grabbed it before it could find its original target. "Can I just have one piece?" he pleaded desperately.
She thought about it, easily sidestepping an obvious lunge from the older boy, and then held out a single piece like a peace offering. Sokka snatched it faster than the speed of light.
Zuko walked to the side of the platform. Teo and Haru glanced at him, but didn't say anything. The Duke was too busy cheering them on.
"So," he said carefully, quiet so the rest of the Avatar's team wouldn't hear him and go flying into a fit, "are we out of food or something?"
They had had porridge for the last couple days. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The others had lightly grumbled about it, but accepted it well enough. If bland porridge was what was keeping them from starving, so be it. Even though Zuko was a prince, he knew what it was like to have nothing.
Sokka ambled to his side before they had a chance to answer, giving him a squinty-eyed smile. "This was the last of it," he confirmed, finishing the strip of sealjerky and then staring forlornly at his empty hands. Zuko frowned at him, then looked over to the bison and lemur. Sokka followed his gaze and added, "They finished off the fruit this morning too."
"Oh."
"Yeah," Sokka added, a little more awkward. The silence stretched thin.
"So we should probably—"
"Do you want to—"
Zuko coughed, and Sokka laughed uncomfortably. "Go ahead," Zuko said quickly, before Sokka could offer the same to him, "What were you saying?"
"Ah," Sokka started, looking like he was regretting coming over here in the first place. Haru and Teo shared a knowing look, and The Duke ignored them all to shuffle over to Toph and ask for a piece of the food she was hoarding. "Well, since we're out of food, we need to go hunting and scavenging. Y'know, since Aang and Appa are also vegetarian."
"I know," Zuko answered thoughtlessly, thinking about the recipes he'd copied over for egg custards and vegetable curries some months ago, "I studied the scrolls on Air Nomad culture while I was..."
Sokka was staring at him like he was an idiot. A Fire Nation idiot.
"...hunting you guys," he finished, cringing. His face burned, and he shaded his eyes under his scruffy bangs as he turned his head away, his scar on the boy's side. Agni, should he even try to salvage this conversation? "...I'm just gonna, go..." he finished lamely, beating himself up for ruining the one almost normal conversation he had had with the Water Tribe teen since joining the group.
"Yeah," Sokka said, weirdly not sounding mad, but his tone was slightly strained when he continued, "Or, you could help me go hunting so we can actually eat some real food today."
Zuko looked over to see Sokka scowling at him, but his eyebrow was raised challengingly instead of meanly. "Sure," he said, his mouth dry. Was this an olive branch or was he walking into a trap?
[▹▸▷]
"It's a trap!" Cyborg called out in warning, flying backward from a bubble-gum pink burst of bad luck. Jinx cackled, agilely cartwheeling after the hero.
"Ooh, bad luck," she called out tauntingly, and then grunted, quickly dodging the bursts of green starbolts from the Tamaranean warrior flying overhead. "Scatter," the pink-haired witch yelled to her team of evil-doers. The smallest of the H.I.V.E. Five, Gizmo jetted up to Starfire with his rockets on his back, sticking out his tongue and snarling, "Snot-head!"
"Thanks, Star," Cyborg called, shooting off after the sorcerer. Robin's R-cycle followed them, a comet of red trailing after him.
Starfire gasped, flying in right angles to avoid the explosive bombs the small villain was throwing at her, calling back in outrage, "My head is not made of snot!" Her eyes became encased in green light, and she reached out to throw a beam of light just as a small honey-yellow bomb blinked in front of her face.
Starfire screamed, and Raven quickly encased the bomb in dark energy, throwing it at Gizmo like a pitch on a baseball field. Gizmo shouted as it exploded mid-air, sending him careening over the mansion tops, cursing his head off.
"Eyes on me!" See-More warned her, and Raven rejoined the battle just in time for the green eye to shoot out an entrapment sphere shaped like an eyeball, pulling her inside and forming a squishy bubble around her. She snarled, but the black energy at her fingertips uselessly dispersed into nothing when she tried to throw a nearby limo at the villain. He gave her a dimpled smile.
"Ugh," she returned tonelessly.
"Raven!" Beast Boy shifted into a green triceratops, rumbling aggressively. See-More's eye widened and he eased backwards, frantically looking around. Mammoth answered him by throwing up his hands and then slamming them to the ground, sending out a shockwave that pulled the ground apart in crumbling waves as he laughed uproariously. The fancy cars parked on the street jumped and rolled, alarms going off on every corner.
As Starfire and Beast Boy worked on popping Raven's bubble with their green magic, See-More yelped, scuttling off the sidewalk as a red Mercedes turned on its side, groaning and creaking. Kyd Wykkyd's red eyes glanced over to him at the startled shout, and he jumped over, throwing his black cape around them and disappearing into the black vortex, teleporting behind the gold-gated fence of the mansion that had been burglarized by the H.I.V.E. Five just moments ago. The two stared at each other and then looked through the gilded bars at the three Titans.
Raven's grey bubble popped! in the momentary pause of battle, and the sound restarted the fight like a battle cry.
A couple streets down, Billy Numerous and Jinx were trading places fighting off Cyborg and Robin. The duplicates taunted Robin in an eerie, unnatural echo, only slightly off-center from each other, "O-o-o," they'd start, like a bad recording, saying in stuttered layers with a lilting southern accent, "Over here."
"Grrrrah," Robin kicked off the column, spinning his staff through the air.
"Billy, look out," a Billy called out as the two Billy's fighting Robin ducked, one flying through the air and landing in a crumple against a dragon sculpture. "Billy," the Billys yelled, with various degrees of fake concern. Two more Billys took his place with little regard.
Robin rooted his stance on the trimmed grass, smiling at the challenge. "Careful, it's illegal to divide by zero," he threatened and whipped his staff through the crowd of duplicates, at the same time making a promise as he gracefully bounced from fight to fight.
By his side, Cyborg was twisting out of Jinx's pink-trimmed hexes, avoiding her wayward spells as they landed on golden dragons or tall, precisely shaped hedges. "Running out of luck?" she taunted, waving the stolen object in her hand, too quick for him to get a good look at it, "This is too easy."
Cyborg huffed a laugh, his sonic cannon glowing electric-blue at his command. "No, just—" Jinx didn't let him finish, bounding over in spinning cartwheels. He backpedaled, pushed to the slippery edge of a swimming pool in the middle of the vast lawn. He looked down at the crystal clear water and then back up to the petite gymnast smiling dangerously at him.
"Now!"
In his peripheral vision, he watched Robin leap from the diving board like a professional athlete, spinning into a powerful kick. Jinx shouted, stumbling back, dizzy and seeing stars. The Billys shouted, "Billy, did you see that?"; "Wow, Billy, that was an impressive kick;" "Billy, get Jinx!"; "Which Billy?"; "This Billy?"; "Billy. Billy. Billy."
Jinx snarled, righting herself just as Gizmo landed by her side, the small child giving the Titans an evil eye and only one working rocket sputtering behind him. "Snot-brains!" he hissed, grabbing the treasure before Robin could, jumping out of both the teens' quick grabs.
"See you, assholes!"
"Oh no you don't!" Cyborg lunged for him, his metal fingers grabbing hold of the jetpack and throwing them both back to ground. Gizmo groaned, looking up when a pair of boots stopped by his head. Robin glared down at him, his mask narrowed.
"Looks like you're grounded for bad behavior."
Gizmo growled, glaring at Cyborg and Robin. Faster than they could stop him, he threw the prize over the garden gate. The brat smirked at their disgruntled looks. "Go fetch," he said as it whistled through the air in the general direction of their teams fighting a mansion or two over.
[◃◂◁]
"Catch!"
Zuko deftly caught the empty bag Sokka had carelessly thrown to him, not even looking to the other boy as he shuffled through his stuff for his weapons. Zuko waited patiently, standing with his arms crossed over his chest and his dual blades strapped to his back.
"I think we have some rice left," Katara repeated, on her own search through their small supply of stuff. "You don't have to go hunting with Zuko."
Aang watched her throw a smelly bedroll over her shoulder, followed by a scattering of the knickknacks they had picked up over their travels. Toph, lying on the ground with her feet crossed in the air, sniffed superiorly. "So we can have porridge again? Goodie."
Katara growled, turning to the other girl with a vitriolic glare that went unseen.
"I saw some hermit crabs yesterday," Sokka answered instead, pulling his jawbone dagger free. "Ah hah!"
The waterbender sighed, turning her glare onto their quiet Fire Nation ex-prince. "Zuko," she started warningly, and he straightened attentively, wary for another fight. "Keep my brother safe," she continued, the intense look on her face softening when she turned back to the Water Tribe warrior.
"They're just hermit crabs," Sokka said, smiling easily. "We'll probably be back with food before you and Aang finish splashing around with your magic water."
"And magic earth," Toph rejoined, adding to the Avatar, "You're not an earthbending master yet, chump."
She cracked her knuckles and Aang's enthused expression turned nervous. "Maybe I'll go with you guys! Harvest some airbender flora! There's chayote, chrysanthemum...grass?" He trailed off at their looks. "Fine," he sighed, slumping, and Toph cackled.
"Let's go," Sokka said to Zuko, and then the teenagers were off, walking through the Temple's crumbled arches and jumping across precarious platforms from one end to the other.
It was a quiet affair. Though Zuko didn't have the best track record with hunting and foraging when he was in the Earth Kingdom, with Sokka pointing out old tracks and waving a hand at the poisonous vines encircling broken columns, Zuko thought he was doing mostly okay. They had found an atrium open to the elements, patches of clovers growing in the stream of sunlight. His bag shook from the small treasure of yellow-green peas.
A few broken steps back, Sokka was trapping a family of black and white hermit crabs, quiet like he never usually was. When he finished, he joined Zuko, giving the other boy a tentative smile. Zuko tried to return the favor.
"So," Sokka started as they walked further into the Air Temple, eyeing the fractured cracks on the airbender sculptures with an unhappy twist of his lips. "Are those for show or what?"
"What?" Zuko asked gruffly, looking around. They were stopped in front of a mural of Yangchen, the airbender Avatar before Aang. Air Nomad swirls decorated the four corners of the picture, and Zuko stepped closer to look at the small sketched drawing of a mask along the frame of the design.
"You swords," Sokka answered at his back.
He reached out, tracing the rough lines. This didn't match the airbender aesthetic from the rest of the Temple, looking more modern than the century-old traditional art decorating the mountainside. Small white eyes were sketched around darker shadows, looking like a simpler but creepier version of the Blue Spirit mask.
"They're real," he answered absently, and he smelled the barest hint of burnt grass in the wind.
Ava—tar, he heard without his ears.
"Hey, you good? Zuko? Buddy?"
Min—e.
Zuko immediately pulled his hands back into his lap, peering with narrowed eyes at the wall. "Did you hear that?"
Sokka made a face, looking around and trying to listen for the crunch of footsteps on broken steps or the shuffle of wayward animals. A spiderfly was caught in its own web, and a black centipede was making its way across the floor, all silently. ...There was nothing else, not a single sound. Which was odder, actually. Throughout their work throughout the Temple, they could always hear leaves rustling or the scuttling of hermit crabs. Silence like this was never good.
"We should head back," Sokka said. "We have enough for now."
Zuko stood up. "Yeah."
When nothing happened as the duo made their way back to the campsite, Sokka gave a weak chuckle, waving a hand. "It was probably just a cloud in front of the sun or something," he reasoned.
"Yeah," Zuko said, thinking back to yesterday's late night adventure and not sure he believed it.
"Uh huh," Sokka continued with an easy-going smile, and they finished the trek back to his friends.
His sister smiled at the sight of him, standing in the fountain with water tentacles formed around her. Toph asked if they had found food as Aang dodged three blasts of earth rock and shouted back, "Hi Sokka! Hi Zuko!" At the commotion, Teo rolled over with Haru, The Duke on the older earthbender's shoulders.
Sokka brandished their findings with a flourish. Zuko casually set his bag of greens next to the dinner pot, half-way smiling shyly at the cheers of gratitude in the periphery of the group.
He looked back the way they had come and cautiously assured himself, "It was just a shadow." He could still smell something burning in the wind.
[▹▸▷]
The hedge was on fire, black smoke making the group crouch and sputter as they regrouped farther away. The flames were quickly expanding across the massive manicured lawn.
"You got a fire extinguisher in there?" Robin asked, dodging another pink hex as the giggling teenager danced her way to them, pushing them farther from the pool and towards the large manor. "Cause we really need to dampen this party."
Cyborg charged his blaster, struggling to decide which Billy to aim at as they surrounded him in an echoing circle. "Nah man, just the usual." A blue beam hit its target, and Jinx went flying into a collection of Billys. "Booyah!"
"Then I hate to be the wet blanket here," Robin started and Cyborg groaned at the terrible pun. His leader didn't mind him, smiling at the others viciously, "But this pool party is cancelled."
He flew towards them with acrobatic agility, his staff spinning in a blurring whirlwind. Cyborg quickly hacked into the mansion's security system, dodging fists to his face and chest, and then the sprinkler system was activating, raining down on the heroes, villains, and lawn fire.
"Let me help you dry off," Cyborg called, grinning as his thermal blast sent the Billys into an exhausted pile. The teenaged villain groaned, and his duplicates returned to the original body.
"Nice," Robin complimented, either at the win or the pun, his spiky hair drooping from the water. He vaulted over his friend's shoulder to grab Gizmo and fling him at Jinx, whose hands were raised above her head in preparation, pink at her fingertips. They tumbled into a surprised heap.
On the other side of the mansion, bat-like Kyd Wykkyd was transporting their bags of burglarized riches to the hideout, teleporting back and forth in a swath of his black cape. Starfire lunged with a battle cry, just missing him as another golden-framed portrait vanished. She floated up, her fists haloed in green light, watching carefully for his next appearance.
Meanwhile, a lime-green T-Rex was stomping around Mammoth, leaving dinosaur shaped indents in the broken asphalt as the redheaded teenager grumbled, stumbling on the uneven ground. Raven backed up, her hands full of dark energy as she avoided the creation of large balloon eye, swirls of hypnosis starting to fog her mind. She shook out of it, yelling as she threw the broken hilt of a lamppost at See-More.
"Please stop this," Starfire ordered politely, flashing down as Kyd Wykkyd silently lunged for a sword placed precariously on the edge of the billionaire's three-tiered water fountain. She beat him to it, snatching the cosmic-colored blade free and kicking off the ceramic, spinning with a fist of light at the shadowed teenager. His red eyes widened as he dodged her, disappearing before another starbolt could make contact.
Starfire looked at the sharp sword in her hand, bursts of color designed like nebulas surrounded by the vast blackness of space. She frowned at the weight, studying the hilt more closely. Inside of a triangle of three smooth spirals was an etching of a neutral-looking Noh mask, creepily staring back at her with sunken eyes. She shivered.
"Starfire!" Raven called out in warning, and she turned back to see an encasing eyeball bring her down to the ground, crashing into the grass. She squealed, stretching her hands and legs out for balance, the interior of the ball slippery and cold. The sword went flying, landing blade-first into the dirt by Raven's shoes.
See-More's eye widened as he looked for Kyd Wykkyd. Mammoth stopped wrestling Beast Boy's green-shaped rhino, sharing a nervous look with the other teens on his team. Raven frowned.
"What's the deal with the sword?" She asked no one in particular as Beast Boy turned back into a human. He slipped free from Mammoth's grab, landing next to her and peering at it. He reached for it with a gloved hand, and she smacked his head.
"Ow!"
"What are you doing?"
"You asked what it was!" he defended, rubbing his smarting forehead.
"That doesn't mean you should touch it," she lectured through her teeth. Behind her, Starfire was grunting as her bolts fizzled out, unable to pop the bubble from the inside.
"How else are we going to find out what it is?"
"With careful planning," she started, only to be interrupted by the H.I.V.E. Five members. Mammoth threw a fist to the ground, and the blade shifted in the new crack, Raven struggling to balance herself. Beast Boy yelped, turning into a eagle and flying with a loud "caw!" at the bigger boy. Kyd Wykkyd grabbed his teammate, and then See-More was also gone, back where their pile of stolen goods were bundled.
Another crack of the earth forced Raven backwards, and she felt herself bump the hilt of the whisper-singing sword.
Ava—tar, it said.
A bug-like dark spirit emerged at her accidental touch, bursting alive from a red-tinted cosmic nebula, shadowy in body and spirit. Its centipede legs brushed at her cheeks, not-quite touching, and a white mask smiled at her, wrapping her up in a twisting hold.
Raven screamed, her eyes lighting up white as she threw her hands up, her power surrounding her. "Get away from me! Azarath metrion zinthos!"
The blade cracked.
"Raven!" she heard Robin yell, the T-Car right behind him.
Ra—ven, the thing echoed like wind through a chime. "Mine."
"No," she returned, and the sword's blade fractured in two, splitting decorative constellations and the vague, formless shapes of galaxies. Instead of swirling back inside, the demon's mask smiled wider, disappearing gradually before her eyes, like fog in moonlight.
The ground beneath her rumbled like thunder.
It wasn't over.
[◃◂◁]
"Over here," Toph invited him, pushing Aang into Katara's lap so there was space next to her. The Avatar grunted, and then laughed sheepishly. Katara scooched over to give her friend space, then scowled over at Toph and Zuko, by default. Sokka was too busy shoveling food into his mouth to back her up.
Zuko was holding his bowl of seasoned rice and roasted hermit crab in one hand, already halfway to his room farther inside the Temple, separate from the rest of the team.
"Join us, Sifu Hotman!" Aang welcomed with a smile, his own plate full of foraged greens.
"I don't know, Aang," Zuko said, trying not to look at Katara's icy glare.
"You can keep our fire going while we tell scary stories," he cajoled before turning the beam onto his waterbending master, "Right, Katara?"
Toph snorted, and Zuko knew from the way that Katara softened grumpily he wouldn't be able to meditate quietly in his bedroom tonight. "Alright," he said, and crossed his legs next to the small earthbender and the Avatar he was hunting not even a couple months ago.
"Yay," the monk cheered, throwing his hands up and a gust of wind swirled around them. "Story time!"
They took turns after The Duke went to bed on Appa's side, his helmet placed by his small feet.
The fire at the center crackled and sparked.
Haru told a weak story about an Earth Kingdom serial killer who was never caught, but his knowledge was vague and incongruent, leaving the others more confused than scared. Teo couldn't think of anything, so he instead tried to explain how gliders work. Katara and Sokka shared an old spirit tale they heard in the North.
Zuko tucked his chin into his knees tiredly as Aang bended the air around them, making ghostly "ohhh ohhh ohhh" noises. "And its yellow eyes shined like torchlights in the dark," he explained, going over to the fire and adding a little juice with his bending. Zuko allowed a small smile at the display. "Saying to the airbenders, Come, for I have what you desire most in the world."
The group was transfixed by the story.
"You'll never have her," Aang continued, high-pitched for the female character he was playing.
Ava—tar.
Zuko raised his head, looking around. No one looked like they had heard anything.
Rav—en. Mi—ne. Mine. Mine.
"Mine."
Zuko stood up and Aang turned to look at him, his eyes wide as the narrative flow cut off. "Zuko?" he asked, his voice young and confused. The older boy raised a finger to his lips, and Aang turned to look out over the mountain side. Toph put her hands on the ground.
"I don't feel anything," she told them.
Sokka laughed, a little high pitched, but didn't force Katara from the octupus-monkey grip she had on him. "This is Hama all over again, isn't it?" he asked with a hope for the opposite.
"Hama?" Teo and Haru asked. Zuko didn't bother.
"Quiet," he ordered, picking up his twin swords. "There's something out there."
"..."
"...Or," Sokka said, hugging Katara back, "You're just hearing things. Like the wind. Or hermit crabs."
"No," Zuko said, and there was an echoing "no" repeated back in his voice. Yet, instead of getting slowly quieter, it got louder... and louder... and louder.
"This isn't funny, guys," Toph said, straightening abruptly. She turned a foggy glare in Haru's direction. "Cut it out."
"Me?" Haru asked, pointing at himself dumbly. "What am I doing?"
"Earthbending," Toph said, pointing. The others followed her direction, seeing a cloud of dust and dirt in the distance. Zuko narrowed his eyes at the darkness in front of him, listening to the creepy clacking of many legs on smooth tile.
"MINE!"
The earth broke in half below them. Toph screamed and Zuko lunged for her, grabbing the back of her shirt and gripping the crumbling edge of the floor he had just been standing on moments ago with one hand.
"Toph!" Katara yelled.
"Zuko!" Aang added.
His weak grip slipped and they went plunging down, falling through the inky darkness. Zuko pulled Toph to his chest, hugging her close.
"Nooo!"
Aang had his glider open in seconds, but he never got the chance to use it before Katara yelled, the ground breaking under her. Her quick sheet of ice didn't hold, and then she was gone, screaming, "Aaaaaaaannnnnggggg."
Haru and Teo were on Appa, The Duke wide-awake next to them.
The ground split, cracking and crumbling and convulsing.
[▹▸▷]
The ground split, cracking and crumbling and convulsing.
"Titans, move," Robin shouted over the noise, rushing over to their bubble-trapped alien friend. Starfire shouted as the earthquake rolled her into the street, a car veering to the side to avoid hitting her.
Raven burst into the sky, Beast Boy flapping his wings next to her and giving her a concerned look in his beady eyes.
[◃◂◁]
Sokka didn't need to say anything, grabbing hold of Aang as the Avatar commanded a cold gust of wind from the south, chasing after their fallen friends. "Hang on," Aang yelled, for all of them. "We're coming!"
[▹▸▷]
"I'm coming," Cyborg yelled through the Titans communicator, the blue T-Car speeding over ruptured cracks to pick up his winded friends.
[◃◂◁]
...Blackness.
[▹▸▷][▹▸▷][▹▸▷]
Blackness...
[▹▸▷][▹▸▷][▹▸▷][▹▸▷][▹▸▷]
UPDATE: this was re-written 1/2/23. Happy New Year lol. Here's a new and improved chapter.
Author's Note: Watch this episode: Episode 64, Titans Together. Now look in the crowd. Do you see the Up Dude? The alien with an Up Arrow on his shirt? Tell me in a review if you did. If so, isn't he one of the enemies? Yes? Because that is how all the enemies got unfrozen in my head.