Crossing Worlds (Avatar: A Fanfiction)

Chapter 13: A Reunion of All Sorts

"Luna?" Someone calls softly.

And even though the sound was merely above a whisper, the vibrations shock me awake. I jerk into a sitting position while spitting hair out of my mouth. My eyes have just opened when I realise I'm already crouched in a defensive position – a habit I developed in the past week.

There is a girl. She's pretty, with an abundant of white hair framing her heart-shaped face. She looks about my age, maybe older. And she looks scared.

Seeing as I'm probably the cause of scaring her, I ease my stance and smile apologetically. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Once she sees I'm not about to smash her face into the ice wall, she returns the apologetic smile and steps into the room. "It's alright. Sorry for scaring you awake too."

I sniffle a bit, then clear my throat. "It's okay, I was having a nightmare anyway."

The nightmare is the same as the one I had at Bato's - I was on a sickbed, with my parents by me. This time though, my siblings were aside them with the same sad look on their faces. I kept calling out to them, but they couldn't hear. I was about to break down from the frustration and pain when this pretty girl with light grey eyes woke me. Now she's looking at me with concern. "So... What's up?" I ask quickly,trying to dismiss the thought of how much I miss my family it physically hurts.

"It's almost sunrise..." the girl replies. "Katara asked me to wake you up-"

"Crap!" I shout. Memories of what happened last night come flooding back - the truce, snow, Zuko, our promise, breaking down after letting Zuko get caught... and then after that I had something to eat, and fell asleep on the dining table straight after. I look around in bewilderment, but don't remember this room. The room is sparsely furnished with just a chair and a mattress. It's fairly small but bright, the soft blue light seeming to emit from the ice walls itself. Someone must've carried me here.

The girl looks startled at my outburst, but I've no time to care. I just remembered something really important. There's something I need to tell Katara - something I overheard when I was still in the Fire Navy ship.

Dressing quickly, I bound out the door with the girl hot on my trail. "Where's Katara?" I ask while running down the single hallway in front of the room. "Where are we?" I ask impatiently when we come to a junction, where the hallway separates into two.

"Wait!" The girl calls out, panting a bit at having to keep up with my pace. "You're going the wrong direction! It's this way," she says while pointing in the opposite direction of where I came from. A doorway leads outside, where I can see the first rays of sunlight touching the ice.

"Dang!" I curse and start running in the right direction. The girl - what's her name anyway? - follows me until we've exited the building. She points to the opposite wall from where we're standing, where a low wall stretches horizontally across the ice. A curious round wooden door is set right in the middle. I start running to where she's pointing. "Why is she there? Are the others with her? Sokka and-"

BOOM!

A ground-shaking explosion shocks me to a stop. All thoughts fly out of my head when I glance at the direction of the noise.

The Fire Nation has already started their attack on the great walls protecting the city. From this distance, I can see the giant rhinoes they've brought, and the firebenders riding it. Also, a great number of tank-like vehicles are driving in, advancing on the waterbenders, who are trying their best to hold them off. Columns of smoke rise from where the city has been hit by fireballs. People are running everywhere, screaming in terror or shouting words of encouragement. Suddenly, I spot a waterbender fall at the hands of a firebender, his dark red blood a stark contrast against the pure white snow around him.