(1) Augmentum | Zuko

Chapter Eighty-One

Rana lays unconscious in Appa's saddle. Aang, Katara, Pikachu, and Sokka surround her. Sokka holds the arrow in his hand, just pulled from Rana. The four of them stare down at Rana's wound. It's not pretty. At all. But more than that. It's not normal. Something is off about this.

"What is that?" Aang asks as the wound oozes dark purple goo.

"Nothing good" Sokka comments staring at it. The goo starts to bubble and spit slightly. "What...? What do we do?" He looks at the others. Hoping one of them will know what to do. He can't think. He can't plan. Seeing his friend in this much pain. Katara opens her water bottle and wraps some water around her hand. It glows white again. Rana groans as she wakes, her side is burning, it's on fire, and agony. It seems to spread through her too. Starting at the wound and just flooding her with every beat of her heart. Sokka touches her shoulder and holds her still. Aang has her head in his lap, his hand stroking at her hair to comfort her.

"Just lay still a little longer," He tells her as Katara touches the wound and Rana cries out. Tears gather in Katara's eyes as she concentrates, trying to ignore that she's hurting her friend. She pulls the water back and leans forward as Sokka does.

"What did it do?" Sokka asks.

"Not as much as I thought it would" Katara complains as she looks over the wound. Something happened with the water, there are patches of skin that aren't as damaged but it still looks angry and painful. Rana is now unconscious against Aang. Sokka takes the crystal ball from her necklace.

"We can send word to Shakra, she'll know what to do" He offers and holds out the ball. "Noi" He begs.

"We can't use it" Aang points out when nothing happens. "It only listens to its master...that's Rah" Sokka closes his eyes and hangs his head, dropping the ball to the saddle. Pikachu picks it up and looks between them all.

"Pika?" It asks. They look at Pikachu whose eyes fill with tears.

"What do we do?" Sokka asks it but it just stares at them.

"I still did something, even if it was just a tiny thing" Katara reminds them. "I just have to keep trying" Her eyes plead with them to believe in her. To believe that she can do this. "I can fix this..." Sokka lets out a breath and then nods.

"I'll wrap the wound for now" He offers. "We should find someone to start a fire, so I can make a compress" He turns and starts going through their bags to make sure they have everything that they need. "Maybe I can draw that stuff out" Aang keeps his eyes on Rana's ears, the way they're pinned back against her head with her pain.

.......

Zuko frowns as he looks around the usual meadow he finds himself in when he dreams. But there is something off about it. Everything is tinged dark purple and there is a thick heat that even he, as a fire-bender, finds uncomfortable. He looks down and finds that Rana is lying in the grass. He frowns down at her, cocking his head. She just lays there. Unmoving. But she's not dead, he's not sure she'd turn up here if she was dead, but more than that, she's still breathing.

"What's wrong with you?" He asks, she lets out a breath and shrugs before cringes. Her image flickering in and out of existence. He doesn't know what that means but this whole thing feels wrong. All of it feels....poisoned. He kneels at her side, grabs her face in his hands and frowns. She's burning up. On fire almost. "Are you sick?" He asks as her eyes flutter and close. "Hey!" He snaps a little and she opens her eyes to look at him.

"Zu" She whispers. He leans closer to her. "I'm sorry" He frowns at her.

"What for?" He asks her, brushing tears from her cheeks. It's clear that she's really not very well. Her skin is pale against his, her ears folded back on her head, her eyes all red and tearful.

"I forgot you" She answers, he nods.

"I forgot you too, it's okay" He assures her as her jaw trembles against his hands. He leans closer to her, letting her wrap her arms around him. Touches his back, clutching at his clothes. He closes his eyes and presses his forehead to hers. When he leans back, she's gone. He touches the ground and then looks around. But he's alone now.

.......

Sokka wrings out a cloth where he's knelt next to Rana. Appa behind them sleeps, resting. They've landed and set up camp for the night. To do this better. He's wrapped Rana's wound, as best as he can. But they are running low on everything. It was a really bad time for her to get injured. She shifts a little as she wakes.

"Zu?" She asks, Sokka looks at her sadly and touches her shoulder.

"No, it's Sokka" Sokka corrects her as he sets a cold cloth to her head. "Zu's not here" She groans and turns her head away from him. His fingers brush her hair back from her neck only for him to drop it and stare at her flesh. "It's spreading" He points out, Aang and Katara leaning over his shoulder to look at the purple veins in her neck. "We have to find a healer"

"I can do it" Katara argues. "I just need more water..." She looks at the river just down the bank.

"We could do with some more supplies" Sokka mumbles to himself as he rubs the back of his hand against his forehead before he stands.

"There's a village down the hill" Katara points out. Sokka nods. "We flew over it"

"I'll get more bandage" Sokka adds taking the coin purse from Rana's bag. "And they'll have herbs..."

"And get stuff for soup" Katara adds, Sokka already walking away, he waves over his shoulder in acknowledgement. Aang looks between them before deciding that he doesn't want to see Rana in pain, so he follows Sokka.

"Pika?" Pikachu asks following after Sokka who then holds out his arm and Pikachu jumps up, climbing up him to get to his shoulder. Katara closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before nodding to herself. She can do this. She has to. Anyone else would see what Rana is and contact the Fire Nation. Going for help puts her at risk. They need to fix this themselves. Katara moves closer to Rana, sets her water skin at her side as she kneels next to her. Rana's fallen back to sleep, but it's not surprising. Katara thinks it would be better to do this with Rana out of it. She undoes the bandaging that Sokka had done. Undoing the cap on the waterskin, she pulls out a string of water and wraps it around her hands, they begin to glow and she holds them over Rana's wound.