A/N:
Hi all! If you're here super early I'm avtually uploading the rest of this book in a minute until Chapter 69! Then the book will be completed!
Enjoy 💗
~*~
Doyoung was unsure.
"I'm glad that you chose the right side,"
Doyoung blinked at the sudden tap on his shoulder from Johnny.
"I'm glad you're here with us." Johnny continued.
Doyoung didn't respond but just stared at the railing that he was gripping so hard on. He managed to escape from The Order of the White Lotus and volunteered to fend off threats that were coming to Ba Sing Se. It was something that was out of his character. All his life he only knew one thing, that was to follow the rules of the Order.
That was what he chose to do.
It wasn't that Doyoung was completely unaware of anything else. He just decided to turn a blind eye to it all. After everything that has happened to the Fire Nation, to his hometown, he wanted to do something that he believed would give him his old life back. He just desperately wanted to believe that what he was doing was the right thing. He was pretending to have hope. Until he met the Avatar herself.
Meeting the Avatar was like an eye-opener to him. Knowing that there were still people out there fighting for his nation outside the Order, was enough to make him realized that he had been on the wrong side all this time.
"We've got company," Kun, the waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, announced.
Doyoung snapped out of his own thoughts and realized there was a sea of strange, dark creatures that was not from his world, coming towards the Outer Wall.
"It seems that there are benders among them too." Johnny said. "Alright," Johnny turned to Doyoung, "my friends and I will go down now and fight them off. You can handle the benders and leave the rest—"
Doyoung pushed away Johnny's hand that was on his shoulder. "I know what I must do."
Johnny pursed his lips, "alright. Good luck to all of us."
Then everyone, Johnny and his pack, Doyoung, and other benders, went down the wall and fought their enemies from infiltrating the great stronghold city of Ba Sing Se.
Doyoung was then sure of what he had to do. He was with the right people, doing the right thing.
~
Rosé didn't really know what to do.
Her friends got cool powers. Freezing things, firebending, waterbending. She felt... useless.
Rosé stared at her friends who were fighting off the monsters that were attacking Kyoshi Island. Her fists curled and her jaw tightened as she watched them from afar.
Everyone has their own part to help, what was hers?
Muffled crying noises caught her attention, which was coming from one of the village houses near her. She went to check into the house and immediately stopped in her tracks after what had come to her sight.
It was one of the witch's soldiers, not a monster this time but a bender. He was wearing an old Fire Army uniform that was described by a general in the briefing before they were sent off to Kyoshi Island.
There was only one of them, Rosé thought. Nothing she couldn't handle.
Rosé cleared her throat, "excuse me, sir." She said with a happy tone. Hoping the man would turn around so she could distract him while the two children sneak away.
The guy turned around. She couldn't help but frown at the sight of his face. He was pale and was drenched in sweat. There were visible dark purple veins on his face, which was the only part of him that wasn't covered up.
He was cursed.
Which means he was controlled by the witch.
Just how powerful the witch really is? Being able to control an army of monsters and also benders to attack the other three nations? Do they even stand a chance against her?
But Rosé didn't dwell on pessimistic thoughts. She was raised to always hope for the best and that's what had her going all this time.
"I don't think you'd wanna do this." Rosé held up her empty hand but was ready to grab her dagger in her boots in case of a sudden attack. "You know you're under her influe—"
"Shut up," the man growled. Heavily panting. "I'm gonna kill you and I'm gonna kill them next." He pointed his spear to the children.
"It doesn't have to end that way." Rosé put more power into her words. "We can help you. We have healers and people who can free you of the curse."
"You— you can do that?" The man's expression softened.
She wasn't lying. They did have people who can lift the witch's curse. She really was trying to help him. While she knew the man's attention was fully on her, she smoothly signaled the two kids to sneak away.
"Yes, we can." She smiled at him. It seemed that her charmspeak was overpowering the curse. The children quietly escaped by a window nearby.
The man suddenly stumbled back, groaned in pain, and held his head. He shook the pain away and glared at her. "I'm sorry."
The man sent a flying boulder, coming off from the ground under the wooden floor breaking it in process, at her but she managed to dodge it while grabbing for her dagger. Rosé was skilled at hand-to-hand combat. But only when she was faced with an opponent. If she was swarmed, she didn't really stand a chance.
Just like that, she was able to get close to the man, caught him off guard, and stabbed her dagger into his heart. The man collapsed and fell to the ground. Not a second later, his body dissolved into ashes leaving a scorched mark on the wooden floor.
Rosé stared at it. She could've saved him. She knew the man wasn't a bad man. For a moment she was able to distract him from his fear of the witch and saw that he just wanted to be free from the curse.
Rosé then knew what she had to do. She made a promise to herself that she would try to save people who were cursed by the with and help them to get cured.
That was her part.
~
Xiaojun was busy sorting all the medicines he was supposed to bring with them. He knew he had everything that they would need on the battlefield, but he was just checking for the nth times because he couldn't afford to screw up.
All his life, he'd been searching for a home.
His entire childhood was spent moving from foster home to another. No family seemed to be able to keep him under control. And he didn't seem to listen to any of them. He was a troubled kid, they said. Always got into all sorts of problems from pulling pranks on others, and got into fights in school. Not a trait that children of Apollo usually have. That was only because he didn't feel like he belonged anywhere, and he never fit in. No one understood him.
That was until he met Yuta, in Camp Half-Blood.
The camp was his home. Yuta was the only one who he could open up to. Everyone might fear the son of the king of the gods. But not him.
Yuta and Xiaojun became closer as time went by. Even when Yuta had to be transferred to the institute, he decided to go there too. He was thankful that he did because he'd found even more people who he could trust. With his life, and they would do the same for him.
"Xiaojun,"
He recognized the voice so he didn't bother to look away from his herbs.
"We're going in a bit." Yuta said.
"I know. I just need to make sure we have everything we'll need."
"You've been sorting it out since last night. I think we are good to go." Yuta placed a hand on his shoulder, which Xiaojun brushed off.
"Can't afford to fuck up. Ten is going to be occupied with you guys to fight. Lucas won't always be in the medic tent to help me either." He mumbled as he continued to check the labels on the containers and vials.
"Aright." Yuta sighed. "See you at the dock." Yuta was about to exit the room but stopped himself. "Xiaojun," he began. "I'm sorry."
That finally made him look up from his herbs. "For what?"
"For everything. And for having you be banished from our dimension."
Xiaojun snickered, "I never liked it there. And you know that. If it weren't for Juli I wouldn't have any reason to step foot in there."
"But you could never see Apoll— you father again."
"It wasn't like he'd always been there for me in the first place either," he said with a very small voice. "I mean, dad and I are good. I haven't heard anything from him since we left, but I've been burning some of my dinner for—" he stopped himself. "It's fine, Yuta. There's nothing valuable I left there. I'm happy with where I am now."
"That is not what people usually say when they're literally about to go to war." Yuta said jokingly.
"A war that would set an entire world free of suffering? Of being oppressed?" He put the last vials into his bag and tied it close. "A war that would give my friends back their home?" He was referring to Jaehyun, Hendery, and of course, Juli. Xiaojun turned around and smirked at his friend. "It's a good day, my friend. I can feel it. Let's go. We have a parasite to get rid of."
Yuta couldn't help but snicker at his bestfriend's comment. He knew that was Xiaojun's idea of a pep talk. He had to admit that it kinda did make the air around him felt lighter.
Xiaojun pushed Yuta out of the room together with him and they walk to the ship together. He never regretted anything he'd done after he knew Yuta and the rest of the 127. As long as they got his back, and he got theirs.
Xiaojun had found where he belonged. He had found his home, with eight other people.
Anywhere he goes with his friends are his home.
~
"Ten!"
Ten, who was walking behind his friends ready to board on the ship, stopped and turned around his heels.
"Fei," Ten answered softly as soon as he recognized who the voice belonged to.
Fei immediately pulled him into a hug when she was close enough. Ten noticed that she was shaking, which was weird since he had never seen her like this all his life. Fei was the type of person who could maintain her calm, composed attitude no matter what. Ten guessed it was because she was a princess, she was trained to be like that.
This was the first time he witnessed Fei being shaken up like this.
"Better get your ass back here as soon as you guys are done," she said, trying to make it sound like a command. But she sounded rather scared. "You go see me the first thing as soon as you get back, yeah?" She continued while tightening her hug.
"Okay, Fei." Ten let out a chuckle to lighten up the mood. "You know I always come back."
Fei paused for a bit, like she wanted to say something but ended up not. "Promise?"
Ten pushed her away, only so he would be able to see her face. He was concerned because Fei was acting so strange. He got it that he was facing a very strong enemy and that she was worried for him, but it was breaking his heart to see her worry like that.
Ten cupped her face with both of his hands, "I will." He said. "I'll meet you right here the first thing." Ten smiled. "I promise."
"Good." Fei said with a shaky voice. "You better." She punched his shoulder a bit too hard.
Ten let out a nervous chuckle, "I'll be fine, Fei." He cupped her face with both of his hands. "Look out for my family while I'm gone, ok?"
Fei felt like if she were to say anything else, she wouldn't be able to hold back her tears from falling. If it weren't visible in her eyes already. She didn't know why she was feeling the way she was. Something didn't feel right, but she decided to shrug it off. Maybe she was just worried because her bestfriend, the person who'd always been there since they both could even remember, was about to face a strong enemy. And she couldn't be by his side.
"I'll talk to the chief and maybe I could go with you guys—"
"Hey," Ten stopped her by grabbing her shoulders gently. "Even if you can, I would never let you do that." He smiled softly. "And unfortunately, you are a princess, and it's your duty to protect your people."
She pressed her lips, "but—"
"Ten, we gotta go,"
He heard Yuta behind him.
"Alright, you heard him." Ten let her go and took a step back. "We got a wedding after all of this anyway. Won't be going anywhere." He let out a cheeky smile.
Fei didn't react to what Ten had just said, her face still plastered with worry.
"See ya, Fei." Ten gave her a smile before turning around to board the ship.
Fei watched as the ship departed. Ten was still locking his eyes with her and she stood there until the ship becoming smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared out of her sight. Yuta also gave her a reassuring smile as they departed, but Fei couldn't care less at that moment. All that she could think of was Ten.
"See ya." Fei finally said but the ship has disappeared into the horizon.
As for Ten, he did not know what was waiting for him. For all of his friends. All that he could do was hope for the best. Like everyone else did.
~*~