[EDIT: 2/6/2022]
= Katara =
12:00 PM
Katara woke up with a start.
Drenched in a cold sweat, she gasped in fright as she shot up, breathing heavily.
"*Huff,* *huff,* *huff.*"
Katara couldn't remember the nightmare she had. The only thing she could remember was her running for her life from something, followed by a lot of screaming, and then the infinite cold that consumed her.
She blinked as her hands groped at something soft from underneath her. Now fully awake, she began to really look around her surroundings.
'I'm on...a bed?' Katara thought. 'But I was just outside when we all fell asleep...who could've dragged me in here?'
The idea of unknown people dragging her into this dark room greatly unsettled her. She looked around again, and finally noticed just how dark it was in the room. The only reason why she was able to see her own hands was because of the single candle on the nightstand to her right.
Katara, a little creeped out by the sudden poor lighting in this room, looked forward to see that a closed sliding door was in her way of leaving this room. She sniffed, smelling something in the air.
It smells like...herbal medicine?
'An infirmary.' Katara realized.
"Hello?" Katara asked out loud.
Silence.
"..." Katara swung her legs over the bed, slowly getting off of it. Her face twitching, she let out a rather loud sneeze, her nose irritated from the amount of dust in the room. Standing in the room, she looked behind her, only now just realizing how old the room was. She also saw a window behind her as well…which showed that it was dark as night outside.
"Strange," Katara muttered. A shiver ran up her spine, and she had enough. Grabbing the candleholder, she wasted no time leaving her room, but not after checking it for some supplies.
Finding nothing to her disappointment, she quickly checked her waist for her water pouch, and found it there, much to her relief - and surprise.
"Huh. That's very strange." Katara muttered to herself again. If she was actually captured, she wouldn't still have her water pouch.
Deciding to just be happy that she has water nearby for her to bend, she took one last look in the room before she glanced at the door.
'It doesn't matter right now. My friends are in trouble, and I have to find them, wherever they might be.' She thought with determination.
Sliding open the door, Katara poked her head outside of the room and looked to her left and right. All she could see was pure darkness through each side of the hall, which made her feel a bit uneasy.
'Why is everything so pitch black? Is there no lighting around here?' Katara thought to herself as she cautiously left the room. Upon coming out of it, she noticed two things:
One, the wooden floor she was stepping on was somewhat hollow, meaning that she was definitely above the first floor.
Secondly, to be quite blunt, these halls were a mess. The door across from her looked beaten and dirty, as if some mischievous spirits had banged and thrown dirt at it. And that was just the good one. The rest were either clearly broken and splintered, with some looking like it was kicked down violently, or they were rotten.
From what little lighting her candle offered, she also discovered that the white paint on the walls was peeling. She was no building expert, but she could tell that these walls looked to be at least a century old, with no one around to care for the building.
Katara grimaced. 'Sheesh, this place definitely needs a makeover. This infirmary looks like it hasn't been used in years.'
She then made the mistake of looking at the floors, which did not look much better. Dust, debris, and fluids of unknown origin were splattered across the floor, with dank, black spots becoming quite the norm in the wooden floorboards underneath her feet.
Shaking her head, Katara reminded herself to comment on the poor conditions later, and to put her attention on leaving the filthy area.
"Okay, I'm gonna choose right, because that's the right way…" She sighed at her poor attempt at humor. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I wish Sokka was here right now. He sure knew how to destroy the mood." Glancing at the second hallway for a moment, she began to walk down the right.
If Katara was being completely honest, she was still afraid of the dark. Growing up, she had to eventually conquer that fear, especially when she had to sleep under the stars for a while on her journey with Aang. However, that was with adequate lighting, whether it came from the town/city lights, or whether it came from the moon and the stars way up in the sky. Now, she was surrounded by the infinite darkness, save for the meager amount of lighting that came from her candle, which, in her opinion, was melting a little too quickly for her liking.
'I wonder if this is what Toph sees every day.' She frowned, thinking about her blind friend. 'I wonder if it was ever terrifying for her, before she learned to see with her earthbending.'
CREAK.
The hairs on the back of her neck rose up as she froze, hearing the floorboards groan under the weight of a foreign presence. Trembling, she slowly began to look around, aiming her candle at the dark, as if it would've protected her from whatever was in the unknown.
"H-hello?" Katara asked weakly, feeling quite weak to the knees.
Nothing.
Her lips trembling, she fought the urge to scream as she took another step forward, praying that nothing would start running towards her.
CREAK.
Katara froze again...and then looked down. She realized that the sound was coming from her foot as it touched the rotting floorboards. Upon realizing this, she let out an audible sigh of relief, before she let out a small giggle.
"Oh Spirits, I just scared myself." Katara let out a weak grin. She staggered over to the wall, before sitting down on a piece of a broken wall. "Spirits, I need to calm down."
She placed a hand on her forehead to calm herself, feeling more cold sweat on her face. Letting out a quiet sigh, she rubbed her face to try to relax herself.
'Okay, easy Katara. You're okay. There's nothing out there or in here, it's just all in your head.' She then remembered the Fire Nation soldier, who was babbling nonsense before cutting his own throat. She shivered at that thought, remembering just how much blood there was-
'No, no! Stop thinking about that!' Katara scolded herself. 'Okay, just...relax. Deep breaths.'
Leaving the South Pole to journey the world with Aang has taught her many things, both the good and the ugly. Sure, she never picked up his vegetarian diet, but she did pick up some basic meditation techniques, which she was finally thankful for.
'In...out...in...out.'
After a few minutes of meditation, Katara finally felt relaxed enough to start thinking again.
'Okay, let's go over what just happened. We fell asleep, then we heard those sirens. Then I woke up in the infirmary room, and I think that someone put me there.'
Katara's thoughts paused at the last detail. Something had just occurred to the waterbender.
'Someone dragged me in here. Could Aang and the others be here too?'
CREAK.
Katara quickly straightened her posture and got up from her seat.
'...That was NOT me!' Katara realized in horror.
"H-Hello!?" She called out, keeping her tone leveled as best as she could. While her left hand was holding the candle holder, her right hand slowly traveled to her water pouch, prepared to defend herself if needed.
CREAK.
Katara stood there, waiting for the enemy to make its move first. Her knuckles were turning white as her fists trembled. Her fingers pressed down painfully onto the cold metal of the candle holder, the pain helping her stay focused.
CREAK. CREAK. CREAK. CREAK. CREAK.
A trickle of cold sweat ran down her face. Katara made no movement to wipe it away, fearing that the one second of distraction would cost her her life.
CREAK. CREAK. CREAK. CREAK. CREAK. CREAAAAK.
Katara let out an audible gulp, before composing herself. She decided that instead of letting the fight come to her, she would bravely take the fight to them-or whatever was approaching her. Licking her dry lips, she slowly started to walk into the darkness.
CREAK. CREAK. CREAK.
THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.
The noise kept growing closer, and the waterbender swore that her heart was beating so loudly that even whatever was coming towards her could hear it. Nonetheless, she pushed forward, refusing to turn around and run like prey.
Unfortunately, her courage did nothing to lessen the fear. The closer and closer she got, the footsteps grew louder-
-Until it stopped.
Katara held her breath.
Silence enshrouded the hall.
Feeling lightheaded, Katara had to release her breath, and suddenly, she realized just how terribly loud her breathing was.
'Come on...come out already!' Katara nearly screamed. Her brows tight-knitted, her mind could do nothing but focus on what was coming towards her from the darkness.
A few more seconds passed…
...Then another.
She decided to take a few more cautious steps-then froze when she something within the candle's light.
Her eyes widened.
The candle's light began to dance and flicker as if it enjoyed the young woman's suffering. Suddenly, the candle seemed to be working much better, illuminating more of the hallway than before. As her arm moved to the right, something caught her attention on the right side of the hall.
Sticking out of an opened door frame was a pair of human legs. Twitching, the legs were hardly moving, and to make matters worse, it was bleeding profusely.
Her fear now forgotten, Katara rushed to check on this poor person - and then stopped. Stopping in her tracks, she paused to really look at the legs.
Something was wrong. The legs, while human, just didn't look right. The legs were stark white. Katara initially dismissed it, thinking it was from the blood loss, but upon closer examination, even the legs looked much too white for it to have been from blood loss. No, the legs looked almost...artificial?
"What?" Katara quietly said as she went closer to them.
But that was her first mistake.
The legs suddenly jerked to life as they were lifted up, retreating from her view. Startled, Katara gave out a loud gasp as she almost dropped her candle.
Then what she saw next was something that nobody could've prepared her for.
CREAK. CREAK. CREAK.
Katara heard those same, damned footsteps coming from the room...
And then it came out of the room to reveal itself.
Katara's eyes widened even further, her face contorted in horror.
She screamed.
What stood before her was NOT human. What stood before her was a twisted, mockery of one. Its pale, milky skin glowed like the moonlight, with none of the comfort that it gave. Blood- human, if she was correct, oozed out of its pores and cuts, dripping and plopping on the floor below. This...THING appeared to be made out of flesh, despite its artificial look, as evident by the wounds it sustained. It had one large, nasty cut that ran along its right leg, revealing torn and rotting tissue and muscle, with worms already wriggling within the fleshy hole.
But that honestly wasn't the worst part of this human-like creature. No, it had no head. Actually, it had no upper body at all. This creature was very spider-like, with no visible eyes or head, and with no limbs except for legs. Its upper body was the mirror image of its lower: Just legs.
And they were moving. Both legs were MOVING.
Trembling, Katara began to back away from the monster, only to trip over a broken door.
CRASH!
Katara fell backwards onto the door, the noise echoing loudly in the hall. To her horror, the candle, which was still somehow on fire, rolled towards the monster. It's bottom legs paused as the fire got closer to its foot. The other pair of legs on its top were flailing around, kicking the air fruitlessly as it tried to balance itself.
Seeing that it was distracted, Katara took the chance to strike first. Her hands above her water pouch, she waterbent its contents into a whip, and struck at the monster with a loud CRACK!
It staggered back with an unholy shriek, and landed on its back, still flailing around like it was having a seizure. The waterbender took a step back as it started to spaz out, quite disturbed by its shrieks as it flailed its unnatural limbs uncontrollably.
It was then the creature turned on its 'front' and raised its "arms" at her, snarling like a rabid animal. With a shriek, it charged at her, determined to beat her to death with its limbs.
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
Months of training kicked in as she waterbent a whip to keep the creature at bay, making sure to not lose a single drop of water while she continued her assault. Welts turned into cuts as she began to make progress on damaging the monster.
"HYAH!"
With one fluid stroke, the whip turned into one large icicle, before it flew at the demon, piercing it all the way through its unnatural body. The monster roared in agony, taking some sluggish staggering steps, blood pouring out of the wound.
Katara recoiled. 'Damn it! It's not staying down!'
She moved to bend more water out of her pouch, only to find that she was now out of water.
Almost as if sensing this, the monster hobbled on its four feet, despite the large icicle pierced through its body. If it had a face, Katara was certain that it would be one full of hate, and yet, victory.
FWOOOSH!
Just as Katara had braced herself for the creature to charge at her, a great wave of fire erupted from behind the monster, engulfing the creature in a sea of flames. It shrieked in agony, its unnatural legs flailing about wildly. It went wild, banging on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling in an attempt to flee from the flames.
Katara had to shut her ears and eyes, its human-like screams bringing her back to that day, when she was a small child. The day that she lost her mother…
And suddenly, the screams were over. She opened her eyes and shivered, finally seeing and smelling the result as she gagged.
The creature was dead, its charred, unnatural body still smoking from the ground. It took everything for Katara to keep herself from throwing up from the sight and smell of the creature. Despite the fact that it was obviously trying to kill her, she couldn't help but feel pity for the creature - whatever it might've been.
"Hey! Are you alright?" A new voice called out from the darkness, making Katara jump in fright.
"Huh!?" Katara uttered.
From what little light is emitted from its source, a firebender stood over the creature, staring at the young girl in worry. The person was a man, and was obviously from the Fire Nation, as he wore a red shirt and red pants, along with flat shoes. His hair was short and dark, raven-colored, and his face actually looked quite handsome. Speaking of his face, the firebender expressed a look of alarm and concern, his visage shown thanks to the flame he conjured up in his palm.
"Uh…" Katara didn't know this was friend or foe, so she kept her guard. "Um, yes…"
The man smiled in relief. "That's good." He then began looking around the decaying hallway. When he laid eyes on the burnt dead body of the monster in front of him, his expression... changed somewhat. It looked like it was a mixture of hate and...shame?
"This thing still kept going..." he muttered.
Katara put two and two together, "Wait, were you the one who struck this thing last?"
The man looked up at the young woman, "Oh, um...yes. It looked like this thing didn't go down without a fight though..." He switched topics, "Um...are you alone?"
Katara, still not knowing what to expect from this man, answered, "I think so."
The man nodded. "Okay then…" He looked behind him for a moment to see if anything was there. Once he did that, he said, "My name is Jemusu. What's your name?"
"Um...Katara." The waterbender said with a small bit of caution.
Jemusu nodded with a smile. His demeanor appeared to be peaceful so far, and he didn't seem to give off a dangerous vibe. Katara felt like she could let her guard down, but only a little.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Katara…" Jemusu looked down at the dead creature for a moment, almost like he was studying it. "...Did you use waterbending on this thing?"
Katara looked down at the deceased monster. "I did…" she looked up at Jemusu, "You're a firebender."
Jemusu nodded. "I am. And that means you're a waterbender?"
"Yeah…" She took one last glance at the dead monstrosity. "What is this...thing?"
The firebender looked down at it, and stayed silent for a couple of seconds, until he said, "I...don't know. There were a few that came after me, but...I took care of them."
Katara blanched at this. "There's more of these?"
"...Yeah." Jemusu stood there for only a second, before he looked at Katara and asked, "How did you get here?"
"I...I just woke up in one of these rooms in this hallway." Katara answered.
"Hmm. Same here, actually." Jemusu muttered. "Are you trying to get out of this infirmary?"
"Yeah. Do you know where an exit might be?"
"Well...I think I do."
Katara looked at him oddly. "What do you mean?"
"Well, as I said, I woke up here on this level, but I was in a different hallway. I'm thinking this is the second floor, because when I went down one level, I found a door that may be the way out. However...the door is sealed up by chains."
"Sealed up by chains?" Katara asked questionably.
"Yeah. The door had lots of chains covering it. I tried melting them with my firebending for a while, but…" Jemusu looked a little perturbed. "...the chains remained undamaged."
"They didn't melt off?" Katara asked Jemusu, slightly bewildered at his statement.
"No. I gave it everything I had, but they still remained intact..." Jemusu's words trailed off as he pondered for a moment. "Do you have any water with you?"
"Um, no, that's all I had," Katara told him, looking back at the burnt corpse at their feet. The icicle had long been evaporated, and it would take a while for her to collect the same amount of water from the air.
"Damn," Jemusu mumbled and looked down to think of anything else. "...Follow me to the ground level. I'll show you the door."
Jemusu turned away from her and began walking down the hallway. Katara, not wanting to be left alone in the dark with the burnt corpse, began to walk around the leg monster, but not before she quickly picked up the candle holder and the still-lit candle off the floor. She carefully placed the burning candle on the candle holder, and followed Jemusu down the hallway.
The firebender stopped halfway in his walk to let Katara catch up. Once she did, he said to her, "Keep close and keep your candle aflame. You'll probably need it if we ever split up."
Katara blanched. "Split up?"
She didn't like the sound of that. She didn't want to face any more of these leg monsters since she doesn't have any water…
Seeing her horrified expression, Jemusu reassured her, "But I don't think we have to...at least not yet." he said awkwardly, "But just follow me to the door. It really could be our only way out."
"Okay…" Katara said uneasily. They began to walk again through the hallway, their respective lights glowing from their source of heat.
As they walked, Katara and Jemusu both fell quiet. Not liking the silence, Katara decided to strike up a conversation with this man. "Um...do you live on this island? This town?"
"Hm?" Jemusu turned his head to her as they walked. "Oh, uh, no. I was…"
He stopped walking.
Katara also stopped, wondering why he had done so. She asked a little hesitantly. "You were…?"
Jemusu kept silent for a second, until he asked. "How...uh, how old are you?"
Blinking at that, Katara answered, "I just recently turned fifteen."
"...Hm. Do you live in this town?"
"Um, no. I was here to look for…" Her eyes widened as she made a realization.
A firebender. Clothes that look worn and drab. A person not from this island…
"...I was here to look for someone," Katara said, feeling a bit nervous, but didn't show it.
"Oh...well, you said you woke up here in the infirmary. What were you doing before coming here?" Jemusu asked her.
"I was...looking for that someone with my friends, and then we...started to feel tired all of a sudden. We couldn't stay awake and blacked out. I remembered hearing some sirens, I think." Katara recalled.
"Sirens?" Jemusu turned around to face her with a confused expression. "Well, I remembered being kind of sleepy too. I was...I was with my friends as well. We were sitting on a bench and...we just slept there. I didn't hear any sirens though. And that's when I was in a room in this infirmary."
"Yeah, same for me." Katara then thought about something that he said. "You were with your friends?"
"Yeah. I...consider them as friends." Jemusu said, almost a little hesitantly. "...Were your friends looking for this person as well?"
"Y-Yeah…" Katara felt a little anxious all of a sudden. She's now in a building with a stranger - maybe even an escapee from the prison - and she doesn't know if she said too much.
Jemusu stood there, almost as if he was studying her. "...I'm…" He looked to his left, his mind seemingly in thought as his expression turned unsure.
Katara inaudibly gulped, feeling trapped in this building with not only strange horrifying-looking creatures but a potential enemy. And she has no water source with her.
The man stood there still for a couple of more seconds, until he said softly, "I...might as well confess that I'm...looking for someone as well."
Katara's eyebrows rose in interest. "You are? Who?"
"...My wife." He slightly winced.
Katara blinked in shock. "Oh." She didn't expect that. "You're...married?"
"...Yeah," Jemusu said, frowning with a pained expression.
'I know I shouldn't lie, but I can't risk telling her the truth. I don't even know if she knows where I really came from…'
He then turned his head to look back at Katara, who looked to have an expression that could be a mixture of intrigue and pity.
Either way, Jemusu decided to go along with it. He might as well, what choice does he have? "She...went missing for three days. It was then I…got a letter from her."
Katara's eyes widened in shock. "A letter? We…" She paused for a moment and thought about Zuko's mother.
'Well, we're actually looking for Zuko's mother as well. Hmm...I can use that as a cover on this guy to see if he's who I think he might be. And it's basically the truth...'
"Uh, Katara?" Spoke out Jemusu, breaking out of her thoughts. She sees that he's looking at her now.
"Um, sorry, it's just...well, it's just that we received a letter from the person we're looking for as well," Katara told him
Now Jemusu blinked, his face showing bewilderment. "Wha...really?"
'Wow, it...it worked?' The man thought, baffled.
Katara nodded. "We're looking for my friend's missing mother. She sent him a note from here to meet her on this island."
Jemusu couldn't believe the luck he was having, but he kept his tone even. "Oh...wow. Uh...I, uh, I guess that means we're searching for someone very important then."
"Yeah..." Katara studied him. She could sense the man's uncomfortable stance as he shifted his feet.
Feeling awkward, Jemusu turned his head to look behind him. "Well, um...in that case, we, uh...we should probably get going."
"Yeah...we should." Katara agreed.
They continued to walk through the hallway, until they reached some wooden stairs for them to walk down on. As they reached the first floor, Katara can see that this floor was even filthier than the last floor.
"Ugh. This building's seen better days." Katara muttered.
"Yeah...I don't like infirmaries." Jemusu said out of the blue.
Katara turned her head to Jemusu with a curious glance. "Why's that?"
"...I just...don't," Jemusu said a little cryptically, looking like he was recalling a bad memory that he rather doesn't want to share.
While puzzled and curious for answers, Katara decided to hold her tongue. If he was who she thought he was, then it would be best to not push him to tell her anything else, especially since she had just admitted that she was out of water.
Jemusu glanced at the waterbender and could see that Katara looked confused, so he decided to elaborate. "My...well, my wife was...treated poorly at an infirmary we were once in. She was...sick one time..." He frowned, looking bothered.
"Oh…I'm...I'm sorry." Katara said, feeling a little bad for even mentioning it. Jemusu really looked troubled, his expression contorted into sadness.
Katara frowned in melancholy, and tried to distract herself by turning her head away to look around in the dark hallway from where she's standing, and from what little light they have. "Well…I'll tell you one thing, I don't like this infirmary."
Jemusu lips quirked up as he gave a slight chuckle. "Agreed."
Katara turned her head to look and study him for a moment. From the way he acted, he doesn't seem to act like a convicted felon. In fact, he acted just like any other ordinary person…
But she was still cautious. As she learned from her journey, you can't judge a scroll by its cover.
"Um...is something wrong?" Her thoughts were broken as she realized she was staring at him a little too long.
"Oh, uh, n-nothing!" Katara lied hastily. "So, um, you said your wife was m-missing?"
Jemusu looked taken aback, "Y-Yeah. Her name w-...her name is Mari."
"Mari? That's a beautiful name." Katara complimented.
"Thank you. She-...she's a beautiful woman." Jemusu muttered somewhat solemnly, something that Katara noticed. He looked forward and said, "Up ahead is the exit. Follow me. I'll show you what I mean when I say these chains can't seem to break."
Katara followed Jemusu down another filthy hallway full of patient rooms on each side. Each of their light sources was shining dimly but produced enough light to let them see forward. Once they reached the end of the hallway, the waterbender could see what Jemusu meant.
The large sliding door was, in fact, sealed by a lot of chains. There seemed to be eight chains, all held by eight knobs, of which three knobs were placed on either side of the door, while one was above the door, and the last one was on the floor. The arrangement looked like it formed a star or some sort across the door with a padlock being in the center of the chains. They seem to be held together tightly on each metal knob, basically covering the whole door. Katara couldn't help but stare at the burnt marks that surrounded the chains, which proved the man's words about his efforts to melt it down.
It was certainly odd that there was a door like this, but it was quite evident just from the layout of the floor, that this was their way out of the infirmary.
"Whoa. Someone doesn't want us out." Katara commented as she went closer to inspect the chains. She raised her hand to fully grasp one of the chains and tried to pull it. It didn't budge an inch whatsoever. Katara hummed. "...You said you tried melting these off?"
"Yeah. Watch," Jemusu ignited his other hand, and using both of them, reached out to the padlock to set it aflame. The chains and the padlocks glowed an angry red as Jemusu gave it his all to melt it away. A couple of minutes have passed, and the man finally stopped, now out of breath. The chains and the padlocks glowed a lukewarm orange, but were otherwise undamaged.
Katara's eyes widened as the metal's furious glow quickly died down until the metal was dull again. "Y-Your bending didn't even faze it."
"Yeah," Jemusus grumbled. "I even gave it everything I had. That's why I was hoping that we can use our combined bending to try to cut down these chains...assuming they can be cut, that is."
Choosing to not focus on that pessimistic statement, Katara decided to turn her attention back to the door, hoping to find some clues on how to open them. Cautiously stepping close to them again, she lifted her candle to the knobs to see if there was any particular detail that can guide them on how to remove the chains.
"It's no use. I already tried looking for other ways to unlock it." Jemusu told her. "As of now, it seems that the only way to remove the chains is to find the key to the padlock."
Katara sighed. "Great…" She looked at the chains again. She grabbed onto them and inspected them. Once she tugged a chain to test it one more time, she said, "These chains seem to be made of ordinary iron..." she turned to Jemusu, "And you tried everything?"
"Believe me, I really did," Jemusu confirmed. "These chains could either be made of some strong metal, or…" he groaned, "I just don't know. All I know is that we have to find some key to maybe unlock this thing. It could be the only way out of this filthy hellhole."
Humming in agreement, Katara looked back at the hallway behind them, staring at the seemingly endless number of rooms.
"How about we search for something in these rooms?" Katara suggested. "I'll take the left side, and you take the right side. I mean, chances are, we'll probably find something useful to us. Like food or water or any other supplies really."
"Good idea." Jemusu nodded.
With that, they temporarily parted ways to search inside the dark rooms.
They met back together and showed each other the spoils of their dirty work. Together, the two of them scavenged a rusty pair of scissors, some medicinal herbs, bandages, alcohol, a broken pipe, rusty scalpels, and an ax.
"No key, huh?" Jemusu asked, carrying an ax in his right hand. He put the rusty scalpels in his pocket, along with the bandages.
"No water either." Katara sighed. "I mean, I did find and pocketed some scissors, medical herbs, little bottles of alcohol, and this metal pipe," she raised the pipe in her hand, "Either way, it should help and keep us safe until I find something more effective," she frowned, "Either way, I hope this thing is more durable than it looks."
Jemusu nodded with a small smile. "Well, I can still watch over you if you ever need any help."
Katara looked at the man with a slight blush on her face, which was thankfully masked by the man's fire. "Heh, thanks. I appreciate that."
"No problem." The firebender said, giving a full smile for once. With the flame still hovering above his palm, he moved his hand around to illuminate the walls to see if there was anything to note. Upon lighting up a part of the wall that was a little ways to the left side of the chained door, he frowned and squinted at something in the dark. "Hey...what is that?" Jemusu said as he pointed to it.
Turning to where he was pointing, Katara saw something as well. They walked closer to what he was referring to and eventually discovered that it was a map on the wall.
"It's...a map of the infirmary," Katara mumbled.
While time hadn't been so kind to the map, it was thankfully still intact enough for them to be able to read off of it, as well as to figure out where they were.
"Hmm...there's no glass encasing it...wait," Jemusu said as he looked at the first-floor section. He made sure not to let his flame get too close to the map so it wouldn't burn it.
There was a red 'x' mark on where it said, "You are here" in red lettering over the spot where they were supposedly standing on right now on the first floor. The first-floor diagram had multiple patient rooms, a doctor's office, and a larger room to its left, with that room being dubbed "operation room." There were even diagrams for the second and even a third floor on the map.
However, the most peculiar thing about this map was that there was more written text on the diagram of the first floor. Written in red ink, the words "Get this first." were written in the operation room, along with a red arrow pointing to a space in the area.
Jemusu and Katara blinked.
"'Get this first'?" Katara asked out loud.
"Strange...I wonder who wrote that?" Jemusu asked himself.
"Well... whoever wrote that seems to know something. Do you think we should go to the operation room?" Katara asked with a bemused shrug.
"Well, it's worth a shot" Jemusu shrugged back.
Katara hummed as she glanced at the floor. She then turned her attention to the pipe in her hand. She frowned, feeling helpless without her water to bend and control.
Jemusu noticed that Katara was looking at her metal pipe with a frown and decided to reassure her. "Hey. I meant it. I'll watch over you."
The girl turned to Jemusu. "Oh. Well...I can use it. It's just that I'm not much of a close-range fighter. That's more of my brother's forte."
"Oh, you have a brother?" Jemusu asked in interest.
"Yeah. He's older than me by one year." Katara said with a slight smile but soon turned into a solemn expression. "...I hope he's okay."
"What do you mean?" Jemusu asked.
Startled by the question and silently cursing herself for saying that part out loud, Katara decided to come clean on one fact. "I...I'm split up by my brother. He's probably lost here on this island as well."
"Oh…who, uh...who else is with you?" Jemusu asked her a little uncomfortably.
"Just...well, it's me, my brother, and a few of my friends. We're helping one of our friends on searching for his mother. We came with him because we didn't know what was waiting for us…"
"Oh…I see." Jemusu nodded. "Well...I hope you and your friends find her, for your friend's sake."
Katara looked at him for a moment, until she gave him a smile. "Thanks."
Jemusu smiled back. He then looked behind him and stared down the dark hallway for a couple of seconds. "...Well, we should get moving."
"Right." Katara nodded in resolve. They walked down the path, both flames alit and guard up in case anything came at them.
Both of them were silent as they made their way down the dark hallway. They jumped at every little sound, fearing another monster coming their way.
After two minutes of silence, Katara decided to break the ice yet again. "Those…things that we fought...are they...I mean, do you think they were spirits? They have to be, right?"
Jemusu paused for a moment and glanced down in thought. "...I don't know. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't natural."
"Yeah, you're telling me." Katara muttered. She scrunched up her face at the thought of the leg monster. "It's just so hard to believe it was real, even though we just killed it. I mean - it didn't even have a head! It was just two pairs of legs along with another pair on top!"
"Hm…" Jemusu hummed in agreement. Katara, however, failed to notice the look of slight guilt on his face.
"How many did you kill?" Katara asked him.
Jemusu, startled by her question, shook his head to clear any unwanted thoughts and said, "Um, I think three, the most recent one being the one that attacked you."
"Oh..." Katara was a little impressed. "Um...did you...kill the other two with your firebending?"
"Yeah...well, actually, the first one was still clinging onto life as it was trying to stand, even while it was burning into a crisp. It was still weakened though, so, I kicked it. It fell, and...I had to make sure it stayed dead…" Jemusu grimaced. "...I stomped the thing to death…it…" He closed his eyes, trying to drown out the image altogether. "...It was disgusting."
"Oh." Katara had just realized how careless she was on asking that question. "I'm...I'm sorry."
The man kept his eyes closed as he tried to not throw up again, remembering the gore he spread under his feet when he stomped on the monster.
"...Have you ever had to kill anyone before?"
The waterbender's eyes widened at the sudden question. "What?"
Realizing what he had just said, he cleared his throat. "No, I-I meant anything, not anyone. I mean, not that I'm saying killing is good, but - uh, well...You've been in dangerous conflicts before, right?"
Katara blinked. "Oh, um..."
"I mean, that creature you faced just a while ago might've counted, and you did pierce it with an ice spear, so I guess you would've killed it. But either way, I - I guess that would've counted as a...dangerous encounter…" Jemusu shifted, feeling more awkward with every word that came out of his mouth. "I-I'm sorry, I was - I was just wondering."
Katara said nothing; the young waterbender being lost in her thoughts. She began to look back at her life, remembering all the times that she might've been pushed to kill. She remembered all the times that they fought against the Fire Nation, but not even the encounter with Azula came close to her considering death for her enemy.
Then she remembered the time that she almost took the life of Yon Rha, the man responsible for the death of her mother. She wasn't in any danger, but that man certainly was, with mercy being the only reason why he got to go home to his mother.
"I...well…" She didn't know if she should open up to this man, but...so far, he seemed honest. Besides, it's not like he'll put two and two together and think she's friends with the Fire Lord and the Avatar.
She looked up at Jemusu to answer him. "No. I haven't killed anyone."
Jemusu turned to look at the girl, his facial expression looking somewhat confused, yet intrigued by her hesitant answer.
"I mean, even after everything we've been through, with the 100-Year War and whatnot, I've never felt the need or want to actually take a life, save for the time I met the man that...took my mother's own life. But even then, I couldn't actually bring myself to kill the man."
"...Oh." The firebender stared at her, almost studying her expression as well as her stance when she said that. Either way, he frowned in pity for the girl upon hearing the part about her mother, "I'm...sorry. I didn't know you had to go through all of that."
The waterbender shrugged, "It...It's okay..." she stood there in silence for a moment, until she turned to look at Jemusu again. "I'm just really sorry you have to carry that kind of burden."
Jemusu's eyes widened.
"Well, I-I mean, I was just saying that I, uh, um, I'm sorry that you had to feel like you need to kill in order to survive." Katara quickly added, but seeing as that sounded a little worse, she tried to correct herself, "I-I mean, no, you...y-you don't have to feel...bad about...killing a spirit? I mean..." she realized she was making it worse by trying to correct herself.
Jemusu's expression softened at her words.
Silence filled the air as Katara waited for him to say something, anything, just to make this moment of awkwardness fade away just a little bit...she felt a little uncomfortable now for not only saying what she said to this man, but for revealing a personal part of her life almost.
"Katara..."
The girl's body froze when he called her name. She slowly and warily turned to look at Jemusu, "Y-...Yes?"
The man was looking at her with a blank expression on his face, almost as if he was trying not to show any emotion. However, she thought she saw something in his eyes. It looked like...pain.
"...I…" Jemusu looked down. "...I appreciate you consoling me, but...you don't have to." He winced as if saying the words were poison to his throat.
Katara's eyes softened as well, feeling guilty for even saying anything.
"I-I mean, it's just…" Jemusu sighed. "...You don't have to worry about me. I've... I've made peace with it, really..." He frowned at his choice of words.
The waterbender frowned, regretting she had ever brought it up. "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-" She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes widened as she saw something move in the darkness behind Jemusu.
The firebender caught the alarmed look on her face and turned around swiftly to see what she had seen up ahead. As he quickly turned, the flame in his palm moved around, but it was still kept intact as it lit up a portion of the hallway in front of him. He gripped the ax in his hand, ready to use it whenever necessary.
But there was no one there…
...Until something in the dark moved.
They heard something...footsteps.
They sounded sluggish, like they were being dragged with each step.
Katara tensed as she gripped her metal pipe, raising it in front of her for protection. Jemusu also got ready to fight, his legs spread apart as he went to a firebending stance, the fire still in his left palm, and the ax in his right hand. He made the flame brighter to light up the way forward from where he's standing.
The dragging footsteps grew closer…
"Hello?" Katara nervously called out, squinting into the darkness. She saw a staggering figure hobble towards them, the being making some strange noises…
Jemusu held out his ax arm behind him to keep her back.
SCRATCH-TAP. SCRATCH-TAP. SCRATCH-TAP.
The figure moaned as it stumbled into the light. Jemusu's eyes widened, his mouth dropped in disgust and shock. Katara's eyes widend as well, horrified as her urge to shriek almost held back when she saw this new abomination getting close to them.
The figure dragged and shuffled its feet towards them…
"Dear Spirits…" Katara whispered in shock and disgust.
Jemusu also couldn't look away…
The body of this figure...looked too familiar.
= Toph =
12:00 PM
...Infinite darkness.
It was all she could see.
"Mmph…"
...She was on a bed.
"What the…?" Muttered the little earthbender girl. She slowly sat up from her lying position and held herself by her hands behind her on the bed.
She rubbed her hands against the covers. Feeling something on her hands, she smacked the bed she was laying on, making it erupt a cloud of dust.
"ACK! *Cough*, *Cough*!" She coughed, the dust irritating her nose. "ACHOO! Ugh! Okay, bad idea."
As Toph wiped her nose with her wrist, she realized something else was off.
Reaching from behind her, she felt her hair flowing down her back like water...
Her hair was down.
"Hey, where's my headband!?" Toph exclaimed.
"Ugh...keep it down, will ya?" Said what sounded like a muffled woman's voice.
Toph froze at the voice. She slid to the edge of the bed and placed her feet on the wooden floor. "Hello?" She called out.
Once she put her feet down on the floor, her feet sensed that she was in a small room. A room with a bed…and a closed sliding door in front of the bed.
"Huh? Who...Who's there?" The woman asked, her voice muffled through the wall.
"Hey, can you hear me!?" Toph raised her voice.
"Ugh, yeah...Wait, where am I?" The woman asked in confusion.
Toph slammed her foot to double-check where this woman is. Conveniently enough, the woman was right next to her room. "I think we're in some sort of…inn. Just hold on, I'll be over there in a second!"
Living her whole life as a blind girl taught her that the tone of a person's voice spoke volumes about them. In this case, Toph noticed that she sounded confused and tired, which was understandable, given the situation. However, she also noticed that she was scared, which made her a bit tense.
The little earthbender went to the door and slid it open, going to the other room next to hers. Once she found the door handle, she opened the other room door. There was a gasp emitting from the woman when Toph opened the door swiftly.
"Uh…" The woman was at a loss of words, staring at the young girl in front of her. "You're...a little girl."
Toph raised an eyebrow, "Uh, yeah, and you're a woman. Am I right on that?"
"Uh...y-yeah." The woman was silent, as she looked around the room a bit. "You said...this is an inn?"
"Yeah. And it looks like we're the only ones here." Toph confirmed.
"At the inn?" The woman asked, a little befuddled. "Wait...what...what am I doing here? I was...I was with my...my friends…" She sounded unsure about that.
Toph sensed her uncertainty but thought nothing of it as there were more pressing matters to attend to "Hey, I'm just as confused as why I'm here as well, so I guess we're in the same boat, lady."
The woman looked at the girl in surprise. "What? You mean...wait…" Her eyes narrowed, "What's your story, kid?"
"My story?" Toph blinked her unseeing eyes. "What do you mean? I'm just trying to know where I am, and find my friends on this weird island."
Now the woman blinked. "You mean...you're not in this inn because…?" Her voice died there, not finishing the statement.
"...Because what?" Toph tilted her head at the woman in curiosity.
"Um…" The woman shook her head. "Nothing." She then picked up a candle holder, which was, curiously enough, already lit. She got up from her bed and asked, "What's your name, kid?"
Still a little curious about what she was getting at back there, she decided to just let it go for now. "Toph."
"Hm." The woman nodded. "The name's Meira."
The earthbender nodded back. "So just to get this out of the way, I'm not the only one that was probably dragged anywhere, right?"
Meira looked at her oddly. "Uh…I, um, I guess so, yeah." She then saw that Toph's eyes were a little cloudy and hazy. "Hey...are you...?"
"Blind?" Toph finished her question. "Yep." She waved her hand in front of her face.
"Oh…" Meira frowned. "I...I'm sorry, I didn't-"
"Hey, look, it's not a big deal, Lady. Just treat me like you treat your friends, and we'll be okay, alright?"
Meira's brow arched at Toph's carefree attitude. "Uh...okay..."
Toph nodded. "Good. Now hold on a second." She stomped her foot to see her surroundings.
The woman blinked. "Um…"
"It's how I see," Toph explained without turning her head at her.
"Oh...uh...alright," Meira said, a little confused, but decided to just roll with it.
"Hmm…hold on. Don't say anything for a moment." Toph told her so she can listen with her ears as well. "...Huh, that's weird."
"What's weird?" Meira asked her curiously.
"...There's no one around here," Toph said.
Meira once again blinked. "How can you tell?"
"Really good ears. Also, I can feel the vibrations through my feet. Seismic hearing, if you want to get fancy."
"Oh...wow. That's...wow, that's really something...amazing even," Meira said, her eyes wide with wonder.
Toph couldn't help but smirk. "Yep. I'm the best earthbender in the world."
"You're an earthbender?" Asked Meira dubiously. It was then she finally noticed her green outfit and her porcelain-like skin. "Hey...you are from the Earth Kingdom."
"Yeah." Toph turned her head to the woman. "What of it?"
"Uh...what are you doing out here in Fire Nation territory? I mean, the war is over, but...well, where are your parents?"
The girl frowned at that. "...They're back home."
"Back home?" Meira asked in confusion. "Wait, how...how did you even get here then? This whole place, besides the five residents here, is pretty much abandoned, right? Also, this is an island, so how did…?"
Toph was silent for a moment as she comprehended her words. She blinked as she just realized something.
"...You're not from this island, are you?"
"Um...well, no, I'm...I'm actually not," Meira confirmed.
The young girl's eyes narrowed at the ground.
'Is this lady one of the prisoners?' She asked herself.
"You said that there were five other people who live in this town, right?"
"Um…yeah. You didn't meet them?" Meira asked quizzically.
"No..." She paused for a moment as she devised some form of a lie she can use to mask her identity. "...As for what I'm doing here, me and my friends decided to travel around the world after the war was done with. We were just exploring around some places and...well, we stopped here. We went to see if there was anyone here in this town, but it seemed like it was empty."
"You and your friends were...traveling? After the war?" Meira asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, me and my friends thought it would be a good time," Toph said it like it was no big deal.
Meira looked at the little girl warily. "Who are you and your friends exactly? And where do you live in the Earth Kingdom? And...how did you and your friends even get to this island? By boat?"
'Crap, she's asking too many questions.' Thought Toph as she considered telling the lady to stop asking so many questions, but she held her tongue.
Instead, she decided to go with a mix of both the lie and the truth. "Yeah, by boat. And okay, okay, I'm from a wealthy family, so me and my friends were on my family boat." She didn't feel like this woman was dangerous enough to hurt her thanks to the tone of her voice a while ago. "As for where I live, that ain't none of your business, okay?"
"Okay, okay, just curious," Meira said with her hands up in defense.
"Yeah, I bet you were." Toph rolled her sightless eyes.
Meira, a little offended, frowned at her tone. "Hey, this island is supposed to be abandoned. I'm just asking."
Toph realized that this conversation was quickly turning hostile. "Okay, sorry. I just...learned to not trust a lot of strangers."
She waved at her useless eyes.
Meira's face softened at this. "Well...you're wise on that, kid."
Toph raised an eyebrow, but said nothing and took the compliment. "Thanks." She stood there silent for a second and said, "So, since you asked me where I'm from, where are you from then, Lady? And how did you get to this abandoned island? I doubt you were just kicking it here, unless you really like the quiet."
Upon realizing that she had said a little too much, Meira's eyes widened in surprise. "I-uh-I'm... I'm from Capital City in the Fire Nation, and...I was, uh...um…" She couldn't think of anything on the spot.
'Yep. She's a prisoner. I have to gain her trust though, so I need to keep lying.' Toph mused in her head. She started saying, "Okay, look, never mind. Sorry, I shouldn't ask either. I mean, we're both dragged in by someone, I don't think now's a good time to be getting the lowdown on one another."
Meira blinked at the little girl, but she gladly took the excuse. "Uh, right."
Toph nodded. "Alright then. Now follow me. I know where the exit is."
"You do?" Meira asked in bewilderment. "But...you said-"
"Again, it's how I see. Part of my seismic hearing thing. I can map out certain parts of places with a stomp of my foot. Now come on, let's go!" Toph then walked outside of her room and waited there for Meira to come.
Once again, Meira blinked, and then she chuckled while shaking her head. "You're really something, Kid."
Smirking, Toph said, "Keep complimenting me like that, and we'll get along just fine."
Meira smirked back and walked out of the room, following the blind earthbender through a hallway of rooms that are to their left side.
While the two girls were walking through the hallway, with Meira still holding the candle holder in her hand, Toph began another conversation. "So, you said you were with your friends?"
"Um...yeah, I did," Meira told her. 'Well, they're kind of my friends…'
"Hm. What was the last thing you and your friends were doing before you got dragged here?"
"Well, we were sitting on a bench because we were tired of walking around town, and then...well...we slept there," Meira said, feeling a little silly upon admitting that.
Toph paused in her walk as she slightly turned her head to Meira. "So...you and your friends basically were all conked out?"
"...Uh, yeah. You can say that." Meira muttered a little sheepishly.
"...Me and my friends were tired too before I was dragged here," Toph admitted. "We were in the town as well."
"Really?" Meira asked, a little surprised, but soon turned interested. "You mean you were all here at the eighth hour in the morning?"
Now Toph fully turned to 'look' at Meira oddly. "Eighth hour in the morning? We got here by the eleventh...I think. That's what, uh...one of my friends had said. Either way, we've been walking to find the town for about an hour."
"You got here by the eleventh?" Meira's eyes widened in shock. "Wait, then...what time is it now? That would mean we've been asleep on that bench for three, probably four whole hours!"
Toph blinked. "Okay, first of all, wow, you guys are really heavy sleepers. Secondly, you're asking the wrong person about knowing what time it is. What does it look like now from where you're standing?"
Meira looked around the hall that they were in. She seems to notice that there are circular windows that have a design on them...and outside these windows, there was nothing but pitch blackness. "Wait...it's dark.." She said in surprise. "How...How long have we slept?"
"Hmm…" As Toph was about to muse about that, she then perked up in alarm.
Upon seeing the little earthbender was alert, Meira asked, "What?"
"Shh!" Toph shushed her as she listened in, her ears trying to pick up the source of the sound…
...It sounded like light shuffling, like an animal was nearby. It also sounded like there was a slight heartbeat in the background...
Frowning at the sound of the strange heartbeat, she focused on that one sound.
"...That's...strange," Toph said quietly.
"What is?" Meira spoke quietly as well.
"...I heard something...moving in the next hall in front of us. Specifically in one of the rooms."
Meira looked on ahead with what little light the candle gave, and amongst the darkness, she could see a doorway that did lead to another hallway.
Toph felt a little unsure as she stood there. She listened to the sound again to see if she can pinpoint on what and where it could be.
...SHFFT...SHFFT...SHFFT…
Meira could also soon hear it in the quiet silence.
"I...I can hear that too." Meira said nervously.
Toph stood her ground, but let her right hand touch her meteor arm bracelet that was wrapped around her left bicep, unwrapping it while bending and forming it in her hands to make a medium-sized metal dagger. Meira saw this in the light, and was astounded by what she had just done.
"Whoa, hold on. Was that...was that metal you just bent?" Meira asked with wide eyes.
"Yeah. I can metalbend."
"...Damn, kid, you're impressing me every minute."
'Heh, I'm really starting to like this Meira lady, even if she is a prisoner.' Toph smirked. "Thanks." She then thought of something else to ask her. "Can you bend?"
After a second-long pause, Meira replied despondently. "No. But I can still fight."
"Okay then. Well, just to give you a heads up, there's not exactly a lot of metal and earth here, so I can't really do much with what little I can bend. That means you're going to have to watch my back."
"Um...okay." Meira felt a little unsure.
"Don't worry, I really think the sound is in one of the rooms, a little far to the right. That means we can corner whoever is in there for questioning." Assured Toph.
"Uh, sure...alright then." Meira still felt a little uncertain. "Say, uh...why don't I hold onto that dagger you got there?"
Toph turned her head to Meira to give her a wary look.
Realizing how that sounds, the older woman corrected herself. "I mean, you're the one who can bend, and...I got nothing really. I mean, I'm not good in a fist fight.
"...How about this?" Toph walked back inside of her own room.
CRUNCH! SHRIEK! CRUNCH!
Meira flinched at the sound of metal being torn. Curious, she peeked her head inside, and saw that Toph ripped apart a small metal desk that was next to her bed, and was pounding it into her desired shape.
About half a minute went by, and Toph walked back out with a crude-looking sword.
"Now we're ready," Toph told Meira, who in turn just looked at her new blade and at the little girl, bedazzled.
"...Okay, you're hardcore, kid."
Toph couldn't help but smirk broadly. "You know, I think we're gonna get along just fine."
As soon as they entered the other hallway, the two girls silently made a right and crept through the hall to slowly approach one of the rooms that was one room over near another closed doorway.
Toph's grip on her dagger tightened as they grew closer to the source of the shuffling sounds. The closer they go to the source, the more she was able to better see the source of the noise.
The problem was that the closer they got to the source, the more she began to question her sanity.
For one, the shuffling noises sounded...artificial, in a sense. She didn't notice it before, but the closer they were getting, the more "fake" the shuffling noises sounded. If she had to describe it, it sounded like an entire bed frame was being constantly shifted side to side.
That didn't make much sense, unless…
Toph began to suspect that this may turn out to be a sudden rescue mission. She began to think that maybe someone was tied to the bed, and was desperately trying to get out. The reason why she didn't share this theory, however, was the fact that she couldn't really see if there was somebody on the bed.
This is what made Toph scrunch her face in confusion. There wasn't anyone on the bed, and yet, the bed was doing the moving, and on top of that, the heartbeat seemed to be coming from the bed. It was weird. The facts contradicted themselves-
'Unless the bed IS the source of the heartbeat.' The idea of a bed running towards them made her shiver.
Shaking her head, the little earthbender braced herself as they made it to the front of the door. Behind it lay the source of the noise, and hopefully the answers to the mystery of its confusing existence.
Staying very still, the little girl stood there quietly, listening and feeling for the insides of the room.
...It turned silent all of a sudden. Toph did not like that one bit
'Why would the guy be quiet now?' The blind earthbender thought as the silence dragged on.
Seeing that now would be a better time than any, Toph waved her hand to get Meira's attention. The woman looked at Toph, while the girl gave Meira a hard look, indicating that now would be the time to act. She raised up her free hand to hold five fingers and counted them down.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
Toph grabbed the handle of the sliding door, sliding and pushing it open.
Both girls quickly went inside the one room to see who was inside.
...There was no one there.
"No one's here," Meria said, looking around.
"What!?" Toph whispered harshly in confusion and irritation.
"All I see is just...a dirty-looking bed," Meira said, her voice going back to its normal volume.
Toph's face morphed into bewilderment. "What? You mean…" Her voice was now at her natural tone as well. "No one's really there? Not even like an outline of someone in the sheets?"
"Uh…" Meira glanced at the bed's surface again to see if she can actually spot anyone that looked to be underneath the covers. "Um...no, I don't think so."
Toph looked baffled. "But...someone is here. I can still hear the heartbeat!"
Meira turned her head to the earthbender in uncertainty. "Are you sure?"
"I'm positive. My senses are never wrong." Toph said with determination.
Meira looked back at the bed in hesitation. Looking at the mattress again, it really looked dirty, with all the brown and reddish looking…
'...Something doesn't feel right about this bed.' Meira thought.
That was the understatement of the day. It reminded her of too many unwanted memories...
As she was distracted by those thoughts, Toph, who was still perplexed, stood there thinking, 'There IS a heartbeat in the bed...but then...why would it be?'
Toph took a few steps towards the bed, curiosity getting the better of her.
Upon seeing Toph heading towards it, Meira called out to her. "Wait, kid, I...I don't think you should go near it."
"I can't just leave without knowing what is making this thing have a heartbeat," Toph said as she reached out her hand to touch the bedsheets.
...That soon proved to be a mistake.
Toph's hand retracted as she felt the material of it in revulsion. "Ugh!" She exclaimed in fright and disgust. "What the hell!?"
Meira blinked at her reaction but gave out a small smile. "Heh, yeah, it is pretty dirty-"
"Dirty!?" Toph exclaimed again, sounding horrified. "This...This bed feels like...like skin!"
"Skin?" Meira's eyes widened in surprise.
"W-What is thi-" Toph was about to say when…
The 'bed's covers' started to rise slowly up, but...it looked...wrong. The "covers" looked...organic. Like it was almost rubber looking...and was it morphing into something. The sickening sound of stretched skin and cracking, popping joints filled the room as it rose from the mattress.
The thing began forming an upper body: a torso, arms, hands, and soon, a neck and a face. When the upper body was done with its contortion and formation, it stood there at the edge of the bed, its face staring at the little earthbender girl.
But the most discernible thing that can be noticed about the "face" was there seemed to be none at all.
The lower part of the face has an opening where the mouth is, but that "mouth" looked like it was smothered up with the skin that was being covered with. And the most disturbing thing was...there were no other facial features. No eyes, ears, or a nose. Just a flesh-covered mouth.
Meira, upon seeing the monstrosity through the candlelight, looked at the thing with such shock and horror. She froze, her eyes widened in dread as the morbid-looking creature's upper body began to sway, as if it was trying to gain its bearings after waking up.
It let out a muffled moan as it began to look around the room.
Toph froze at the noise as she looked up at the creature in confusion and mortified wonder.
Meira then began to whisper, "Kid...T-Toph…g-get...get away from it."
Toph didn't appear to hear her as she continued to "stare" at the creature. Never in her life had she encountered something like this. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what was going on.
'What...what the...what is this?' She thought, scared out of her mind.
Then, as the monster kept its stance…
...The upper body lunged at her with its inhuman hands.
"TOPH!" Meira screamed in horror.
End of Chapter 10
So yeah, sorry for taking so long to get back to this, but now we're here for when things finally start to pick up! ;D Now that we know where Katara and Toph are in(as well as the OC's), we'll be going to Zuko and Iroh in the next chapter, so stay tuned for that! 8D
Thanks so much again to Lucius Walker for beta-ing and editing! I really appreciate it! :D
With all that said, give me a review, follow, or fave! Help a writing brother out and tell me how it is! I love to hear what you think of the story so far! X)
Until then, keep on rocking everybody! ^_^
-TSP