Can you Hear Me- by MUNN. Just another song I was listening to while writing this chapter. Not my song or video all that jazz. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!
-Rose
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Lyra's POV
My lungs were tight, as if I was suffocating, and it seemed impossible to slow my racing heart. Terrifying images flashed in my mind, and I was back in the moment,
the wind was icy around me and I saw my mother's face in a loving smile. I smiled back despite the massive quaking recognition of the scene. My mother's face was blissfully unaware of what was about to happen when a familiar firebender pushed the curtain for the door out of his way. Her face changed in an instant and she pushed me behind her. I screamed for her to run and found that I couldn't control my body, no sound left my lips until Katara was at the door. It was exactly the same as my memory, I jumped to lift a shield and then the familiar smell of smoke left his palms and the torturous pain of the dangerous fire as it burned my eyelashes away, and my skin sizzled. My vision shrunk to nothing and I remained in torturous pain as I heard mom slump, dead on the floor of our home from the blade that cut muscle and bone like seal fat. I knew he had killed taken her, just like he always did. He'd drop her body like it was nothing, and would leave the body to bleed out completely. Dad would move the tent and do a typical traditional burial at sea and give us the jewelryshe would'vegiven us when we got older. Before the calm could happen the pain would continue I'd pass out from the pain, and I would forever hate the color red the same color as the blood that flowed through veins and soaked the snow beneath me. Was that it? I couldn't remember something, was it the joyful shimmer in his eyes as he sent a deadly projectile at a little girl? The sadistic smile? It was like I was there all over again.
Dad would try and heal me for weeks and months. But all it would do is minimize the scarring. The fire that would burn my skin in that single moment, and the smell of acrid smoke would make me suffocate. I would die here, no one would care. Would they? Dad wouldn't make it in time. The fire bender just left me for dead. He must've assumed my injuries were going to kill me.
But as I breathed I realized it wasn't the smell of burning flesh or anything acrid. It smelled of warm spring air tinged with the whisper of smoke. Like a grassy field. The smell broke me from the terrifying images, and traumatic memory in my head.
I opened my clenched eyes, half expecting to see the snowy South Pole I'd grown up in. But I wasn't. I was alive, I forced breathes until it was at a shaky, even pace.
Oddly what greeted the sight of my one eye wasn't just a normal mountain like my memory had brought up. It felt like a richly hot summer, But from the rich heat, golden flowers sprouted from the ground. The edge of the petals were like stardust and burning embers. They actually seemed to omit light, almost like glowing lava. As I finally gained my breathing under control, I noticed the flowers shift in the wind sending the smell of an alteration of Lily of the valley's around. There were also panda lilies at the rim as well, but I was far too drained to notice anything off about the "inactive" volcano.
I yawned, noticing the suns sleepy afternoon rays of light filter through the clouds and I thought back to the legend Aunt Wu had told me of. It lined up coincidentally well with the one I'd been told when I was younger. The thought of childhood stories made me smile nostalgically. We'd been gone for a long time, and I had a feeling it's be a long time before we returned. I hoped Gran Gran was faring well, much had changed. I thought carefully as I tredded down the mountain.
My stomach sunk, I hadn't really thought about home. It was a topic I'd been avoiding, and now it poisoned me with the emotional weight it forced on me.
I walked slowly down the mountain and occasionally kicked rocks, and took notice that the GAang was still at the fortune teller.
My thoughts drifted further and I finally made it in front entrance. The gentleman bowed, and opened the door gracefully then closed it behind me. I realized I walked barefoot. The last person left was Sokka, who sat irritadly, luckily I'd made it back right as Aang finished.
He was practically soaring, I regained my smirk. Someone heard something they liked.
Katara looked like she was about to say something but stopped herself, my tuned hearing caught her chiding herself for not trusting me.
She was still learning, I shrugged in thought.
"Alright, are we ready to go?" Sokka droned dully.
I nodded, followed by Aang's giddy nod, and Katara's.
I heard a familiar hoot from outside, and Appa's impatient groan.
As we left Sokka seemed to jump that his apparent conclusion had been correct,
"Well now you got to see for yourselves that fortune-telling is a big, stupid hoax" Sokka huffed.
His disbelief was like a rock to my stomach, and I hummed thoughtfully.
"You're just saying that, because you're going to make yourself unhappy your whole life!" Katara sassed, making me laugh lightly.
"I mean, she's not wrong" I agreed, with a light-hearted shrug
"You're one to talk" Sokka laughed nonchalantly, "you looked like you'd seen a ghost" he pointed out.
I gritted my teeth hearing the hesitant words in my head again, and tried with little success to shake them off,
"Oh that-" I stopped, "she just said something that scared me a bit, I was being overdramatic." I answered and bit my lip to prevent any further information from leaving its cage.
Katara and Aang nodded with his statement,
"What did she tell you anyways?" Katara asked with interest, and I noticed Aang eyeing me curiously.
"All good stuff-" I gulped, "I just didn't like what she told me would happen with one of my kids.." I avoided the main answer with my uncovered eye looking at the path beneath us with internet.
"Oh, Lyra-" Katara gasped, completely misunderstanding what I meant, and for once I was glad she misunderstood me, "-I'm so sorry! We won't bring it up again" she promised, and did her best with a soothing pat, "won't we?" She growled to the two boys who nodded quickly.
"-Not in a million years!" Aang answered quickly.
"-Nope, never!" Sokka followed smartly.
"See, not to worry, Lyra" she assured me.
Two words,
Too. Late.
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Soooo I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Obviously she didn't look over the lip of the volcano or else she would've seen the lava but the flower was inspired by a glass flower I saw that looked cool. So anyways, I hope you guys stay safe and healthy, and I hope you have a wonderful day! Bye my Bookworms and until next time! Love y'all and I will see you in the next one!
-Rose