"Easy Ben, just stay still."
An orange sheen seemed blaze across the Rust Bucket's dirty exterior as it flew through the clouds, still partially covered in swamp guck.
Just past its windows, a massive Banyan Grove Tree the size of a skyscraper could be seen towering below, the center of the swamp which now held so much trauma for Ben
He was now sitting on a stool in the Rust Bucket, his shirt lying on the dining table as Katara went to work, bending water through the wounds he sustained from the Matriarch fleet, her healing skills coming into play.
"Your body's healing faster than anything I've ever seen." Katara murmured as the glum and despondent Ben felt a sting from her pushing water through the pores on his burned scars on his back. "Like normally I'd say these would leave some permanent scars, but its already starting to fade, I take it the Omnitrix can accelerate your healing?"
"Yeah." Ben murmured.
"Good, but even so I'd like to keep an eye on your wounds. Don't make it harder on that watch of yours." said Katara as she began to wrap bandages around Ben's torso. "You really took a ton of punishment this time. I'm not even sure how Ripjaws was able to keep swimming with how much pain you must've been in."
"I'm used to the pain." Ben murmured. "Gwen used to have patch me and Kevin up after a few scrapes-."
He froze up as tears began to well up in his eyes. "Sh-she's dead isn't she? That... that thing is just using her body as a meat puppet.."
Katara bowed her head, she then hugged Ben closely. "I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry."
"Look, the Ladies took a lot of things from us." Sokka said, standing up from the driver's seat of the Rust Bucket. "But the best thing we can do to take revenge right now is to get to Zuko as quick as we can. We have what they need, and that's you Ben. You're our fighting chance!"
"Chance? They took Gwen, they turned her.. she's more powerful than any of you even know.." Ben murmured quietly. "What's even the point? We're doomed. Besides, I'm a failure of a hero, couldn't even save my own cousin."
"Ben that's not true, Ben..?" Katara tried to comfort Ben, but he pulled away from her hug, pulled his shirt back on and flopped down into the bunk bed, pulling the covers over him as he turned to look at the wall.
"Just leave me alone." Ben murmured quietly. "I wanna die."
Katara sighed. "Just rest a little, when you want to talk, we're here okay?"
Katara took Ben's windbreaker off the dining table and made to lay it over Ben like a blanket, but he bat it away with hand.
"I don't want it, that thing belongs to a hero.. I'm not a hero." Ben murmured.
Katara could only look at Ben in mournful silence as he continued to silently stare at the wall in dejection.
Sokka gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I understand how you feel right now Ben, in fact I'd say I've come pretty close to feeling exactly what you're feeling. But I can't give up, and I won't let you give up either, we're sticking to the plan and making a direct course for Zuko! No more landing, no more stops, we're back on the nonstop flight plan!"
"Sokka!" said Katara. "Ben can't stay cooped up in here the entire trip-."
"And we can't delay when hundreds or thousands of girls are being sacrificed to become new body suits for baby Lady people!" said Sokka. "They're killing us so they can procreate, nobody should have the right to do that! Rust Bucket, ready universal Translator."
"Acknowledged." said a computerized voice as Sokka shoved his hand into a nearby drawer.
"What are you doing?" Toph asked.
"Learning to drive this thing manually." said Sokka, pulling out what appeared to be an english manual labeled 'Driving Rust Bucket for Dummies by Max Tennyson.' "Ben's Grandpa made this thing for Ben and um.. Gwen.. yeah so when he started teaching them how to drive a spaceship they could start out with Rust Bucket here. This thing's supposed to be like driving an actual star ship on training wheels, we have no excuse not to have a competent pilot at the wheel. If I can learn how to drive this thing, then we'll be able to get to Zuko in mere hours."
"Sokka, Max Tennyson took 12 years just to learn to drive an easy star ship in Plumbers Academy." said Katara solemnly. "That's not a realistic time table for us."
"Doesn't mean I shouldn't try." said Sokka as he put the book under a scanner near the dining table that began turning all the words on the book to Chinese. "Besides that's just how long the mandatory training was, no telling how long it actually took. And if everyone in the universe can drive a ship to get around then why not me?"
Katara looked at Toph.
She was mostly silent like Ben. She seemed to be hugging her knees. She probably felt immensely worried for Ben, and she wasn't exactly much help in a situation like this.
Katara then looked at Sokka, who was now silently engrossed in the Rust Bucket manual, unwilling to focus on anything else at the moment, then she looked at Ben who was now completely dejected and empty of hope, his eyes looking like they were void of any life..
Even the Omnitrix on his wrist seemed empty, it's green glow gone, as if it sensed its owner's mood and was now feeling dejected itself.
Katara sighed. It was the desert all over again, except Sokka was sane.
Either way she had no intention of leaving it to chance here.
"Well, as long as you're studying that manual Sokka, we're keeping a landing schedule regardless." said Katara, putting her hands on her hips before pulling out a pencil and a piece of paper. "Noon, and Evening, we'll land and everyone's getting fresh air. We can't fight the Matriarch if we're not at least healthy and sane. Okay!?"
"Mmmm.."Sokka muttered without looking up.
"Okay.. I guess.." Toph said.
"What's the point? We're all gonna die." Ben muttered.
Katara clapped her cheeks, willing herself not to lose hope. "Rust Bucket! We're landing now!"
"Designating appropriate landing area." the computer said as the vehicle began to dip through the clouds towards other towns outside the swamp.
"You sure Katara?" Sokka said. "I still think a straight infinite flight path is less risky."
"The Matriarch is still searching the swamp, they don't have anything to indicate we got the Rustbucket working and flying again, and we're immune to their radar as long as we keep autopilot speed." said Katara. "We aren't risking anything by landing now."
"Fine I'll trust you on this." said Sokka. "But what's your plan here?"
"Ben's not the first dejected hero I've ever had to work with." said Katara with a small smile. "Aang's a little bit more in control of his emotions, actually way more in control, but whose else can do this?"
They landed next to a clear lake, and as the day turned to evening, Katara took Ben by the hand and led him out into the water, Ben wearing swimming trunks that had been stored in the Rust Bucket, Katara wearing her breast band which she wore for Water Bending training with Aang from time to time back in the day.
"What are we out here for?" Ben moaned, his eyes like dead fish.
"Water Bending exercises." said Katara as she took a deep breath, the water up to her waist as a few koi fish swam by in the clear mirror-like lake.
"I can't bend.." Ben muttered.
"Just because its water bending doesn't mean it isn't useful for non benders too." said Katara. "Before bending water, your chi needs to be calm and collected. Cool and flowing, changing and shifting. You just endured so many harsh changes, but learning to adjust your chi to change could help you deal with it. Come on, breathe with me."
Ben shrugged. "Guess it can't hurt.."
Katara put her hands in a meditation-like state just below her stomach, making a circular sign. "Do what I do."
"Right-o Shikamaru." Ben grumbled as he copied Katara.
"Now breathe inward, feel how each breath you take subtly changes how your lungs expand, feel your chi expand as your breath shifts and pushes your diaphragm."
Katara and Ben both took a deep breath.
"Good, expand... collapse... expand.." The two of the continued to breathe.
Ben gritted his teeth and punched the water with a fist. "THIS IS POINTLESS!!"
"Ben I know you're grieving, you need to give yourself a little room to heal. Gwen is gone, that is change that you're going to have to deal with." said Katara patiently.
"What if I don't WANT to deal with it!?" Ben snapped. "MOVE ON!? CHANGE!? Are you water benders HEARTLESS!? Should we just completely forget about the people who we cared about!? Pretend they didn't exist!? What about Aang, Katara!? How ready are you to forget him!?"
"Ben calm down."
"NO!" Ben roared. "I refuse to calm down! I can't forget them! I CANT forget ANY OF THEM!! Not Gwen, not Kevin, not Grandpa.. n-not Mom.. or Dad... th-they can't be gone!! WHY AM I THE ONLY ONE LEFT!? WHY DID I HAVE TO BE THE ONE WHO LIVED ON WHILE THE WORLD AGED TO DUST!?"
Ben shook his head, tears streaming down his cheeks. "CHANGE IS EVIL! I hate it.. I don't want to change anymore! I don't want to change! I never want to use the Omnitrix again!!"
"Ben you don't mean that." Katara said.
Ben grabbed the watch on his wrist, fuming. "WATCH ME!! Omnitrix.. Remove! Code 10!!!"
"Removal Access Denied." said the Omnitrix in a female computerized voice.
"ACCESS DENIED!?" Ben exclaimed. "You are locked to my voice!!"
"That function is no longer available" said the Omnitrix.
"Now YOU- a MACHINE- is trying to tell me how I'm supposed to use you!? That's rich!!" Ben roared, grabbing at the Omnitrix and trying to force it off. "GET OFFF... GEEEEEET OOOOFFFFFF!!"
Ben pulled and pulled at his wrist but Katara water bended and a tendril of water grabbed his arm and pulled it away. "Ben you're hurting yourself!!"
"I deserve to be hurt!" Ben snapped. "Look at me, I'm arguing with a girl and an alien watch!!"
"HELLLLLP!!" suddenly a voice screamed into the din.
Ben and Katara froze to see there was what appeared to be an elderly man running towards the lake, waving his arms wildly, followed by a young woman with a baby in her arms.
Behind them was what appeared to be a pack of lions with moose-like heads and antlers, long curved tusk-like fangs elongated from their upper jaws.
"Sabertooth Moose Lions!" exclaimed Katara. "Those people are in danger!"
"I've got it." Ben said simply as he transformed in a flash of green light.
Humungousaur stomped onto the scene, jumping in between the fleeing people and the pack of massive predators.
The lead moose lion looked up at Humungousaur and roared in his face.
Humungousaur scowled deeply and flicked the beast in the forehead with a finger, sending the giant cat-moose thing smashing through several trees in a crash.
The other Moose Lions looked at each other for a moment, then looked at Humungousaur.
Humungousaur let out a roar which was so incredible, it caused the fur on the wild animals to blow back as if an extra powerful hairdryer was being used on them.
The Moose lions ran away, yelping as the lead Moose Lion barely managed to get up and slink away.
There was a flash of green light as Ben reverted back to human form again, and the woman approached Ben, still holding her baby, smiling.
"I.. I don't think I've EVER seen anything that amazing, th-thank you, who ever you are."
"Yeah, whatever." Ben said glumly as he walked back towards the Rust Bucket without even bothering to check out the man and woman were doing.
"Oh.. uh.."
"Sorry, you've caught him during a pretty hard time." said Katara.
"Well I don't blame his attitude, rather I'd think I understand it!" said the elderly man.
"Wait, you do?" said Katara with a blink.
"The Matriarch taking over, women snatched up left and right! Feels like the damn apocalypse you know!!" snapped the elderly man.
"Actually, that is partially why he's down." said Katara. "See he-."
"You should all give up hope! That kid's the smartest one among you! While I'm opposed to being saber tooth moose lion food! I'd love to at least be allowed to DIE already! Naturally!!! There's no use staying in this putrid world!"
"Uhhh.." Katara blinked, looking at the woman as Sokka and Toph came out to meet her.
"My apologies, my grandfather's not been the same since the invasion 2 years ago. We lost my mother, and my husband died trying to protect our eldest daughter, only to fail.. and.."
"AND it's POINTLESS!" growled the old man. "We have nothing left. I have no sons, my daughter and my granddaughter are gone! There is no point to living anymore. I have decided we would travel to find a suitable place to bury our bodies. I've hired some men to help bury me at the top of Yangshen Tree. If I am going to die, I will die with dignity."
"That's just twisted!" said Sokka. "You can't just give up like that."
"We have nothing left." said the woman with a shake of her head. "If he stays in this life, eventually we will be taken by the Ladies for who knows what, and Grandfather will be alone, and he will die alone. I can't allow him to die alone at the least."
"But what about YOU?" Toph asked.
"What about her!? She's bore me no sons!" snapped the elderly man.
"Grandfather.. enough." said woman. "You're shocking these nice people who saved us. Just stay here and behave, and I'll go make a fire."
"What!? A fire!? We're not moving on!?"
"We can't grandfather." said the woman. "It is too dangerous when it is so close to nightfall."
"Tsk it's too dangerous all the time! I told you that we should've used your life savings for bodyguards! But would you listen? No!"
"That money is for Ele's welfare!" said the woman, clutching her child closely.
"That Ele is a bastard's daughter not born by your wedded husband!" roared the man. "Is she truly worth it! Damnit, just come and die with me! And we can all be together again!"
"ENOUGH!" Ben walked out of the Rust Bucket, wearing his normal clothes, shadows under his tired eyes. "I'll take you to the tree. No charge, that okay?"
"How do we know that we can trust you!?" snapped the grandfather, pointing at Ben. "You used some weird Witch magic to transform into a monster."
"Yeah, and that's why I'm perfect. The Ladies, the monsters out here won't dare get in our way." said Ben sourly. "Deal or no deal, I'm feeling generous for only a split second, so choose quickly."
"Do not mind Grandfather, we would be happy for you to help us." said the woman with a bow of her head. "Thank you for your kindness."
"If you can even call it that." Ben murmured. "We leave at first light. So be ready when I wake up."
"BEN!" Katara exclaimed as Ben trudged back into the Rust Bucket. "Excuse us for a moment."
After Katara bowed to the woman and her grandfather, she hurried back into the RV, grabbing Ben's sleeve. "Are you crazy!? You're helping that man commit suicide!"
"Not like he has much to live for anyways." Ben growled sourly. "I can relate. Come to think of it what exactly am I going to do even if we win this war? This world's outlived me, it has an avatar now. It doesn't need me. If it did, it wouldn't keep taking things away. "
"Ben." said Katara. "F-fine you can do this.. just... please we should talk when you come back.."
Ben silently lay in the top bunk of the Rust Bucket and pulled the blankets over his head.
"Ben, you are going to come back? Right?" Katara said.
But she only received silence as a response.
****************
The next morning Ben packed a backpack from the Rust Bucket with Canned Ravioli, fruit rollups, some Mister Smoothie Quick Mix, a fully charged Nintendo Switch and a portable battery packed, shouldered it and stepped out of the Rust Bucket to find Sokka waiting for him.
"I can do this myself, I'll see you in a few days." Ben said quietly.
"I know." said Sokka.
"Then why are you here?"
"Just was wonderin' if you could bring back some meat and also wanted to say that Katara is worried about you."
"Yeah? What's new?" Ben muttered.
"I mean more than usual." said Sokka. "And actually I am too. I've seen Aang act the same way, and it wasn't pretty."
"Right the flying buffalo thing." Ben grunted.
"Well, yeah." said Sokka. "I know how weird that sounds, but Appa was a pretty great bison, very nice you know. Part of the family. If you met him you'd know. He was all Aang had left of his old life over a hundred years ago. He lost the closest thing he had to a father, he lost his entire nation, and Appa was all he had left."
"At least he could get Appa back, at least he was able to spend time with him before-." Ben shook his head. "This doesn't compare Sokka."
"You don't know that, and I think you know that you can't possibly know how it compares, you didn't know Appa the way Aang did. He might as well have been Aang's Gwen." said Sokka. "Thing is Aang did everything you're doing now. He lost his mind, gave up hope, stopped relying on any of us. There was a point Katara was afraid when he flew off into the desert that he wasn't coming back. And well I was high on Cactus Juice at the time, but if I was myself I would've been worried too."
"Why were you high on cactus juice?" Ben muttered. "Since when does cactus juice make you high?"
"Eh, who knows? Point is, it was trippy and actually quite a cool experience." said Sokka.
"Remind me not to let you near Marijuana." Ben said.
"We've gone on a tangent. Thing is Ben, I'm here to tell you that you're not alone. Sure your people may be gone, and Gwen may be gone. But we're still here. We're not related by blood, but to me you're a brother." said Sokka. "Remember that when you go out there today. Whatever you encounter, we're always here for you to come back to."
"I'll keep that in mind." Ben said sourly.
He pushed past Sokka and continued over to the edge of the lake where the Old man and the woman had made camp.
They were already up with the woman stomping out the fire as she held her young baby close.
"Master Tennyson, good morning." said the woman. "I don't believe I offered my name, I am Li Ang, and this is my Grandfather Ping."
"PFff.. going to ask him to father your third child!?" snapped Ping. "Come along, I've been waiting to die long enough!!"
"The pathway to the Tree you indicated on the Rust Bucket's map is a rough one. The route you were planning on is definitely the fastest path, but it's filled with predators. Spend too much time hiding and according to Sokka, you could take weeks." Ben said.
"What does it matter!? That's what you're for right!?" snapped Ping.
"Are you saying its too much to hope to pass through?" asked Li Ang.
"No, I can fight them off no problem." said Ben. "Most of my alien forms are powerful enough to fend them off with little effort. But that doesn't mean fighting them wouldn't take time. So I'll take advantage of my powers. We're taking the shortest of all the paths."
"What shortest path!? There are no other paths!" said Ping.
"Not for ordinary humans, but you have me." Ben said. "Of course I could also try and fly you over, but Jetray and Stinkfly can't carry two people very well, Chromastone could but the Matriarch is monitoring the air space heavily around these parts.
"What is this path?" asked Li Ang as she bounced her quietly sleeping baby.
"This one, an old trade pathway that was used to get Trade from the Fire Nation to Ba Sing Sei centuries ago before the pathway was caved in to the point that even Earth Benders couldn't remove the earth without risk."
"Th-that sounds dangerous." said Li Ang. "If you use that large creature that scared off the Moose-Lions.. "
"We won't use that." Ben said. "I have a form called Big Chill who can pass through solid matter. I'll phase us through the rock and then smooth sailing from there."
"A power like that!? You truly do know witchcraft don't you!?" growled Ping.
"Do you wanna die at that tree or not old man!?" Ben growled back.
Ping scowled closely at Ben then smirked. "I like you. You know the same pain we do don't you? That nothin's gonna change! That things are too bleak for hope! HAHA! You should die at the tree too!"
"I'm not committing suicide if that's what you want." Ben growled.
"You know nothing about the power of that tree child! The Tree is a pathway to the Spirit World! It is governed by the Spirit of Life and Death Bai cherbong!" snapped Ping. "If you meet her, then you can pass on peacefully to meet those you've lost. No fuss."
Ben blinked as he considered this. "Yeah, sure, whatever you say. In any case, we'll shave our journey down by half a week if we take this path. Should make it there in 2 days."
"We trust your guidance Master Tennyson." said Li Ang with a bow as her baby let out a few glubs and tried to grab her mother's necklace of seashells.
It took the group about several hours to reach the entrance to the blocked pathway, a series of massive cliffs whose valley was blocked off by massive boulders.
The boulders were so tremendously large that Ben estimated their size to be close to that of his biggest Alien, Way Big, who could easily move the boulders without harming himself, but the resulting collapsing rock and sand from the edges would probably bury or crush the humans with him, even if they stood on Way Big's shoulders.
Shifting the rock with super strength definitely wasn't an option. This was a job for subtler powers.
In a flash of green light, Ben turned into Big Chill, and held out his ghostly blue and black hands.
"YGGGH! That creature looks dead!" stammered Ping.
"Either trust me, or take the long way around." Big Chill hissed in his ethereal voice.
Ping grumbled something and took Big Chill's hand as Li Ang took the other, using her other arm to clutch her baby.
"Wait! Hold on! If you would be so kind, we'd also like to take advantage of your powers for a bit!"
A voice called out from down the road. A very familiar voice in fact.
Big Chill looked up to see the same old bearded man from back in the village that had been haunted by the spirit Haipa. And this time he wasn't alone.
A young man accompanied him. He had black hair tied into a chinese style knot near the back of his head that was slightly unkempt. His face was handsome, smooth, almost regal, but his most notable feature was the reddish burn scar around one of his eyes that almost looked like a streak of flames.
Both the Old Tea Man and the young man carried packs on their backs and wore large straw hats, the garb of well worn travelers.
"You? It's been a while." said Big Chill, looking the old man up and down. "Quite a coincidence we're meeting here.. but how did you know it was me?"
"Well it's not hard when you're the only one I've ever met who can turn into weird monsters eh?" said the old man with a chuckle. "Oh yes, allow me to introduce my nephew! He's been traveling with me, and while his tea making still requires work, he has been welcome company in my travels. He is like a son to me."
"It's nice to meet you." Big Chill said, nodding at the scarred boy. "Uhh, I know I look weird but-."
"Its fine, Uncle told me quite a bit about you Ben Tennyson." said the young man with a nod. "Granted meeting you looking like that is quite shocking, but shocking seems to be a norm these days."
"Yes yes, with the Matriarch around, the world is quite a bothersome place. " said Li Ang. "Hello sirs, I am Li Ang, and this is my Grandfather Ping. I see you are associates of our guide."
"Yes, you could say we met on the road not too long ago." said the old man, stroking his beard. "I take it you are also both on your way to the Yangshen Tree?"
"Yeah." said Big Chill. "Wait, don't tell me you-."
"We're just passing through don't worry." said the old man with a chuckle. I'm not quite so ready to die yet! There's still so much tea I wish to sample, so many pounds I wish to gain, though I've already gained quite a large amount eheheheh."
"You look fit enough to me Uncle." said the young man with a smile.
"Oh my Nephew likes to throw compliments at me from time to time, though I still remember the days when he always yelled at me. He was quite hot tempered back then." said the old man.
"FOR THE LOVE OF-! Are we going to keep talking like a bunch of idiots or are we GETTING TO THAT TREE!?" Ping roared.
"Ah, my apologies, but meeting friends always has a knack to distract me from the basic goal." said the old man. "So to the point. If you could Ben Tennyson, I take it that the creature you transformed into here has the ability to get us past this collapsed pathway?"
"Yep." said Big Chill. "Want to get through too?"
"It would be grand." said the old man. "After all, we're all headed in the same direction."
"Sure, lets go."
So the Old Man and his Nephew touched hands to Big Chill's back, and together, everyone turned see through as Big Chill walked them into the rock, phasing through solid stone.
After about four minutes of walking through darkness (there's no light inside rock, you're not going to see anything) they emerged on the other side of the collapsed boulders, finding themselves standing inside the craggy valley.
"Now that's grand." said the Old Man. "Now its just a straight shot forward."
"Hmph!" Ping folded his arms as Ben transformed back into a human. "I suppose that's something. Not bad witch boy!"
"Thanks?" Ben muttered.
"Now all we need is a way to make this walk a little more cheery!" said the Old man with a grin as he brought out his instrument. "This little song is a good one! OOOHHHHHHHHH~"
Suddenly the nephew put a hand over the Old Man's mouth. "Uhh, uncle, perhaps we should walk quietly for a moment."
"Right, I guess quiet in itself is its own relaxing soothing melody."
"Tsk, ingrate." grunted Ping. "If he had started singing, I would've strangled him to death."
"Grandfather please!" stammered Li Ang.
"You can 'please' me by bearing some sons for once in your life!" snapped Ping.
Ping walked up the path, going ahead of Ben as Li Ang sighed.
"Your Grandfather seems a little high strung." the Old man. "My apologies if we angered him."
"Don't worry about it. He wasn't always this way. He didn't even mind having nothing but daughters really." said Li Ang. "The Matriarch's invasion has taken a toll on him."
"Anybody would go crazy after everything those monsters did." Ben muttered.
The Old Man and his Nephew looked at each other for a second before frowning at Ben.
Later that night, the group made camp, Ben putting up his own tent roll before sitting at the fire, game system in hand as he turned on Animal Crossing and began chopping up the in game trees.
Ben watched expressionlessly as his character continued to chop tree after tree. He then came across a large lake shaped like a cat's head that Gwen had helped him make the last time she visited his island 10 million years ago.
Ben scowled at the cat as he brought out his terraforming options and began destroying it.
"Hey there."
Ben looked up to see the scarred young man, approaching with a tea pot and a tray of small cups.
"Uncle brewed this, thought you might like some." said the man as he poured Ben a cup of Jasmine Tea.
"It's.. good." Ben murmured, taking a sip. "Thanks. But you're not just here to give me tea, are you?"
"Something tells me our Friend Ping might not be the only one considering the benefits of the Spirit of Yangshen." said the young man.
Ben shrugged. "I'm 10 million years old, it's not really too outlandish when I think about it. I've been here too long. I don't belong in this time period. I'm basically just a caveman from a block of ice."
"I don't know what a cave man is, but I get the feeling. The Avatar wasn't so different." said the man as he sat on the log next to Ben, the fire's light casting shadows on his face, making him seem almost like an old haggard man who had seen too much war, in spite of the fact he only seemed to be in his late teens.
"Everyone keeps comparing me to the Avatar." Ben muttered. "I'm not Aang."
"No, but just because you're not somebody, doesn't mean you can't end up in a similar state." said the Nephew. "You're there right now. You're starting to feel the price of waking up after sleeping too long. It's because I saw the Avatar go through it first hand that I know it isn't easy, and no mere words can ever make things better, especially after what you went through with your cousin."
"How do you-?"
"I've been watching closely." said the Nephew. "I suppose you might already suspect this, but me and my Uncle aren't ordinary travelers. We have a connection to the leader of the faction that stands against the Matriarch. "
"Zuko, you know him?" Ben asked.
"Yeah, could say that." said the Nephew with a wry smile. "Thing is, I can't say I've ever been where you and the Avatar are, but I've seen as much loss as I can carry."
Ben remained silent at these words. Something about the Nephew's voice bore so much memory of pain and hurt, that it was hard not to believe him as he spoke of suffering.
"My father forced my mother into solitude before banishing me and refusing to love me. My Uncle loved me like a son, and yet I threw it in his face and made so many mistakes, my guilt in that regard knows no bounds." said the Nephew. "And the ones I call friends now, I've wronged them more times than I could count. To top it off, my secrets and lies cost me the one woman whom I ever loved."
"My cousin got her body snatched by a psychotic monster alien lady." Ben said. "My girlfriend was killed by my arch enemy. My Grandfather's gone, and my best friend turned into a mutant amalgam of all my aliens and some big disaster that I can't remember happened before I could save him.. and he's also probably dead due to it being 10 millions years later."
"That's rough buddy." said the Nephew with a grin, holding up his cup. "To us survivors am I right?"
Ben smiled slightly and clinked his cup with the Nephew's the two sharing a momentary drink in silence.
"You feel like it would be right to move on. I get it." said the Nephew, breaking the momentary quiet. I don't doubt the Spirit of the Yangshen Tree would be more than happy to grant you a path to the afterlife. Maybe your grandfather's waiting there for you, maybe your cousin too, but have you considered what you're leaving behind?"
Ben shrugged. "I.. I.. I'm not sure."
"You told my Uncle you were willing to do what it took to help this world in the Avatar's absence. I'm not scolding you for giving up on that, it's true enough too that you've earned a rest after all you've done 10 million years ago." said the Nephew. "But if I were to leave, even after all that I have endured, there are things I'd regret leaving behind. The Friends who I wronged, we've become comrades who care enough about each other, that we could definitely call each other family. I trust them, and I will not insult their love of me by leaving them behind. The same could be said about my Uncle, even after all I've done to him."
The Nephew pointed at Ben's chest. "You haven't wronged anybody yet, you have less guilt to lie upon than me."
"Th-that's not true, I failed to save Gwen."
"If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody's around to hear it, then is it anybody's fault it fell?" said the Nephew. "Come on Ben, stop blaming yourself for things that aren't your fault. Instead start considering things that might become your fault. What will happen to Katara if you're gone? To Toph? To Sokka?"
"Uhh, I guess, they'll find some way without me?" Ben said.
"What if they don't?" said the Nephew. "What if this time its Katara who becomes the next Lei Lei?"
Ben gritted his teeth as he imagined Lei Lei's psychotic smirk, but this time wearing it on Katara's face. It made him feel sick to his stomach.
"Ben, the fact that you feel about this means you still have a lot to lose." said the Nephew. "Don't let the grief over your cousin decide the fate of what you haven't lost yet. Because like it or not, me and you both still have a lot to fight for. It is only when we've truly lost everything that hope truly dies.
Ben nodded. "I-I guess you're right. I was thinking so much about how I lost Gwen, that it brought everything else I lost back into light and I couldn't think about anything else. I forgot that.. that.. I still had people that meant something to me."
"You're not the first to ignore that sort of thing. Just don't make the same mistakes I did." said the Nephew. "Now, lets say we have another cup? I think Uncle really outdid himself with this tea."
"Yeah, now that you mention it, it's a lot like how Jin makes it."
The Nephew nearly spat out his tea. "Wh-who?"
"Uh.. Jin.. sh-she's an employee of your Uncle's I think. I met her in a village and we kind of hit it off." Ben began.
"BOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!"
The ground began to shake as Zuko and Ben nearly fell over.
"Wh-what's going on!?" Ben stammered.
"That rumbling! No, I didn't think they had already drilled so far in!" said the Nephew.
"Whose they!?"
Earth suddenly ruptured as parts of the valley were blown apart by a large sleek, black tank-like craft.
Its belted tires raged over the ground as massive spinning plasma drills made of red energy tore their way through with ease, and Matriarch Soldiers leaped out of hatches in its sides, brandishing spears.
And from its top, a hatch opened, as a Lady stepped into the moonlight. She wore a Japanese style Kimono decorated in white spiderweb patterns, a hideous 8 legged spider design etched on her kabuki mask.
"Well well well, here we are mining ore, when our radar picked up what we thought to be a few stray travelers. I don't know how you fools made it through the stones, but this region has long been declared off limits by the Great Mother." said the Spider Lady with a hiss. "The price for trespass is death. But if you offer your woman there to us and her child, we promise we shall let you off with but a warning."
Ben scowled at the Lady, feeling his rage boiling over. He was in no mood for mercy tonight. These monsters would pay for what they did to Gwen.
"Sorry." Ben growled as he and the Nephew stood up quickly. "But the only thing I'm offering is an ass kicking like you wouldn't believe."