Doubled Elements

79| I'm Letting Go

At one time, I had called this mess my friend. She was related to me. We played pranks on each other—attended meetings together. We talked about guys. We destroyed things together and then helped build them up, better. She'd given me advice. I loved her as my sister. Looking at her now hurt me.

I'd fallen into her current, letting her drag me out into the ocean and then leave me there to drown.

"I hate you," I said. "That is all I'm going to say."

Her smile disappeared. Her fists came up, and then I didn't know what was coming from where. Fire smashed into me from all sides, and I cut through a few of them, barely making it out.

"You deserved it," she said as I neared the edge. She came closer. "I thought you were going to stay. I trusted you, in a way I never trusted anyone," she said, her face menacing. Her fingers curled into fists at her sides. "You betrayed me."

And then I tripped. I let out a cry of surprise as I dropped, my foot going through air instead of stepping on solid ground. My fingers scrabbled at the roof of the gondola, desperate to get a firm grip on something. Below me, a voice shouted, "Cut the line!"

I hung from one hand, knowing that this could be the end. With Azula standing above me, there might've been no chance of survival. Zuko . . . Sokka. Help me.

My fingers slipped, and then I was falling.

And then a feminine hand slipped around my wrist, holding me tight.

"Suki," I breathed, a sigh of relief escaping me. I was pulled up, and to my disbelief, Azula stood in front of me. I wanted to say thank you, but I was so shocked that my lips froze, losing their ability to form words.

"You can't die that easily," her smirk returned as she took a few steps back. "I'm not done with you yet." I ducked as her fist connected with the empty air my head head been seconds ago. I grabbed her legs, slamming her onto the ground wrestler-style.

"Azula!" Ty Lee yelled. "They're cutting the line! This thing is going to drop!"

Azula's wide eyes met mine. She flipped me over onto my back and got to her feet. "It's time to go," she said, backing away. The mocking smile hadn't disappeared, which meant she wan't done just yet. And my point was proven when she pointed her fingers at Sokka. Lightning.

She was going to shoot Sokka.

I screamed, "Don't you dare, Azula!"

She smiled over her shoulder. And as it left her body, I did the one thing that I could do at that point. I stretched my hands towards her, and then closed my fists. The sudden movement caused Sokka's reflexes to kick in, and he rolled to the side.

Azula's arms snapped to her sides, and then I brought her to her knees, shaking with anger. She tried to kill Sokka.

She tried to kill Sokka.

The second gondola was about to pass ours. Azula was fighting the power I held over her. I felt so strong, all of a sudden. There was so much emotion in her eyes. She fought against the restraints—the restraints inside her. I could've killed her right there. I could've frozen all the water inside her, and she would've dropped. But seeing Azula so hopeless for the first time in my life brought me back to focus on what I was really doing.

I was bloodbending.

When Hama had taught me this, the first thing I thought was that this was a very, very powerful ability to have, and that I was, in some way, lucky to have learned such a thing. That it would come in handy someday. I wasn't afraid of taking control of someone if my life depended on it.

But while taking Azula down so simply, the anger flooding my veins with every movement I realized, this wasn't a power. This was a hideous loophole; a cheat. That look in Azula's eyes made me wonder who was actually the monster.

I wanted to curl my fingers inwards and crush her soul. "Don't you dare hurt my family again," my voice sounded thunderous. Her face contorted into a look of rage, and I let my fingers loosen, letting go just slightly. She was powerful. She ripped off the invisible strings then, sending a tornado my way; one so strong that it pushed me back as I cut through it. The white hot heat was so close I thought it was freezing my skin instead of burning it.

And then she easily flipped onto the next gondola, her lips pursed in wicked rage. This was definitely not the end of her. Ty Lee stood next to her, cartwheeling to reach her destination.

I looked around me to see Suki and Sokka standing close, their heads together, deep in conversation. Zuko was looking at me with a new kind of wonder. I mean, he'd seen me do it before. But to have somebody on their knees that fast—it scared me at the strength I'd been given. I was a danger.

I collapsed to my knees. "I really hope this thing floats," I said. Zuko set his jaw.

"Both of you, get in right now," he said, pointing at Suki and Sokka. They nodded, following orders. "if this thing falls," Zuko turned to me, "save them. I know you can."

"Oh, it's not going to fall," I said, feeling faint, "Don't ever use this against me, but you have a good taste in girls." I pointed at the scene going on down. The guards were pinned to the wall, and our gondola restarted. Mai had saved our lives, risking her own.

So this is what you do for love.

~~~~~~~

This is actually my favorite episode (2 episodes) in the entire Avatar series just because one day, I sat in front of the television screen and watched this episode. I was around 9, a major, major avatar fan, and that part where Suki acts all amazing and runs up the side of the building, I thought exactly this, "It would look so cool if my character did that." Just randomly. And this was way before I started writing.

And then I started thinking.

"What if my character was special? What if she was could bend two elements, because hey, I love fire and water and I really can't choose so I'll give her both. And she'll be even cooler than Suki, prettier than Suki, because Suki is really special. And Mei has to be special." Yes, I'd named her Mei with an 'e', not Ayame, because I'd always loved the name Mei.

So then I sat down and opened my drawing book and drew a character with a fire nation emblem on her shirt standing in the middle of ice. I wrote her story on the back - all this seven years ago. SEVEN.

And just last year, I wrote my first chapter, naming my character and bringing her to life . . . the way I wanted it to go.

The power of writing is very, very special. Whatever you want, if you're good at it, can be illustrated using words. So I encourage you all to write. No matter if you think you're good, or if you're bad, because if you compare MY first Avatar chapter with my latest chapter, you will see how terrible my writing skills used to be. Practice makes perfect, always rememeber that. I still have a lot of room for improvement. I've only discovered a drop of water in an ocean so far.

Another thing I want to let you all in on - This story is slowly coming to an end. I have very few chapters left to write, and so, this being my favorite (2) episode(s), I extended it into three chapters. The last four episodes of ATLA are basically one long movie, so I'll split it into like three chapters or maybe more, because I really, really love this series and don't want it to end that fast! But at the same time, I want to start my Legend of Korra series and let you all in on more secrets ;) because . . . I don't even know I'm tearing up because how has this story gotten so far already? I mean, a SEQUEL! I didn't even dream about that when I was 9!

Thanks for sticking around.