Word Count: 3,825 words
CHAPTER XXIV: 起死回生苦
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"It'd be nice if your Avatar powers could be just a little more specific from time to time."
The night after grabbing Sokka from Chameleon Bay, a few seconds before he was about to board the ship, the continued to Ba Sing Se where they saw Toph running away towards the city as well. Apparently, she was tricked into coming with the Xin guy and her earthbending master because of her father's wishes, "Welcome back."
"Great to be back." Toph clung onto Sokka and Natsuko gave her the nudge, which she returned the favor and almost knocked Natsuko off of Appa, "Toph!"
"Sorry."
The moment they reached the wall, they first went to the palace, asking about where Katara was. The Earth King just told them that she was with the Kyoshi Warriors, "See, Aang? She's with Suki. They're probably back at our apartment right now talking about makeup or something."
Aang looked at Natsuko, nodding before looking at the ground, "Maybe you're right."
They went back to the apartment, only to find Momo and nobody else, not even Katara or Suki, which meant, "Katara is in trouble. I knew it."
"Wait, someone's at the door." Toph pointed at the direction of the door before hearing the knock, "Actually, I know who it is, an old friend of mine."
"Glad to see you're okay."
Toph opened the door and showed to them the Uncle of Prince Zuko, earning different forms of response from the rest of them, "I need your help."
"You guys know each other?" Aang asked before he even saw Natsuko hug Uncle, "Natsuko, he's the enemy."
"I met him in the woods once and knocked him down. Then he gave me tea and some very good advice." Toph explained while Uncle gave them his cheeky smile. Natsuko smiled at the thought, "Does sound like uncle."
"Wait, uncle?" It was Sokka's turn to be surprised at the two girls who were comfortable with the enemy.
Iroh asked them, "May I come in?"
Toph nodded and let Iroh come inside their apartment before she closed the door. He told them the reason why he needed their help, "Princess Azula is here in Ba Sing Se. She has captured my nephew, as well."
"Then we'll work together to fight Azula and save Katara and Zuko." Aang said, crossing his arms which Sokka didn't like one bit, "Woah, there. You lost me at "Zuko"."
"I know how you must feel about my nephew, but believe me when I tell you there is good inside him." the old man's eyes glint with hope when he told them about the good Zuko had but Sokka pushed Iroh's hands away from his shoulders.
"Good inside him isn't enough. Why don't you come back when it's outside him, too, okay?"
The two of them argue before agreeing to help Iroh, knowing that he knew Princess Azula very well and was also a capable fighter. He walked to the door saying, "I brought someone along who might be able to help us."
He opened the door and showed them the captured Dai Li agent. Toph earthbending him tight to his already bounded hands, nearing him to take the cloth muffling his breathing and speech. It didn't take long for them to try and convince him to spill the secrets, already telling them the plans right after his mouth was uncovered, "Azula and Long Feng are plotting a coup. They're going to overthrow the Earth King."
Sokka pointed his machete, "Where are they keeping Katara?"
"In the crystal catacombs of old Ba Sing Se, deep beneath the palace."
After the very easy problem of making him talk, they went to Appa and headed for the palace. All of them talking about if they had to trust the guy even if he was direct to telling them what made sense to them, "We don't even know if there really is a Crystal Catacomb and an old Ba Sing Se."
"There is." Natsuko interjected, "Settlements before any of you were born."
"That's amazing and all but why underground?" Sokka asking before clearing his throat. Natsuko answered, "This wasn't the first war, Sokka, get a little perspective."
In a few seconds, they had landed at the palace. Toph was also amazed by the ancient city, "But it's deep."
She earthbended the ground to create an opening, before splitting up from Aang, Uncle, and Natsuko, "Aang and Natsuko, you go with Iroh to look for Katara and the angry jerk, no offense. And I'll go with Toph to warn the Earth King about Azula's coup."
The two airbenders nodded and led Iroh down to the hole, "Natsuko, a little fire."
Before Natsuko could create one, Iroh had already made a small flame in the shape of his palm. It was a few seconds of silence before Natsuko talked to Iroh, "It's great to see you again, Uncle. Zuko told me that you've been making tea for a living here."
"Ahh, yes, yes." Iroh let out a hearty laugh and his cheeky smile, "I also have my own tea shop now!"
"That's great, Uncle!" Aang was baffled by how cheery Natsuko was around the enemy, remembering that she also travelled with them almost for the remainder of their time of the last year before meeting Jeong Jeong. What baffled him more that she has been talking to Zuko this whole time whilst they were in Ba Sing Se, "I'm glad my nephew has been speaking with you. His cheery mood is something eerie at first but I know you'll like it."
She nudged Aang after earthbending the ground to get down faster. He looked at her with his brows knitted together as if to say "What are you trying to do?" before rubbing his nape to try and strike a conversation with the other old man in the tunnel, "So, Toph thinks you give pretty good advice-- and great tea."
"The key to both is proper aging." Iroh said in his "as a matter of fact" tone, "What's on your mind?"
The other old people earthbended to dig deeper before walking down again, "Well, we met with this Guru who supposed to help me master the Avatar State, and control this great power. But to do it, I had to let go of someone I love and i just couldn't."
"Perfection and power are overrated." Uncle started while Natsuko had already earthbended the pile of rocks, "I think you were very wise to choose happiness and love."
They continued walking down, "What happens if we can't save everyone and beat Azula? Without the Avatar State, what if I'm not powerful enough?"
"I don't know the answer."
Natsuko did, however.
"Sometimes, life is like this dark tunnel. You can't always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving..."
Natsuko placed a hand on his shoulder whilst walking, giving him her version of a smile of encouragement; which was just a smile but given the sentiment, he was grateful for it. They both earthbended the pile of rocks, strong enough to knock wind into the impact and blow the fire Iroh had in his palm.
"... You will come to a better place."
They looked at the five millenium year old city with a pool and a waterfall, clear unlike what most would suspect, "Which way should we go?"
"Your seismic sense is better than mine, you tell us." Natsuko told Aang before he nodded and closed his eyes, pounding his fists to the ground, "That way."
Natsuko had taken down the wall where Aang pointed, blowing off bits of crystals, before muttering a few ow's and hurt her knuckles more than she had intended. When she looked to her left, she heard Katara's voice to her right, calling out to her then her other half. Aang looked looked confused and was happy enough when Katara hugged him and Natsuko, before he shot a glare to Zuko who was confused with his Uncle and the Avatar and Natsuko.
Did she actually just blew the wall to tiny pieces using her airbending? Zuko was already confused from a while ago and was more confused with that and Uncle Iroh rescuing him with the Avatar. When his uncle hugged him, he gave Aang a glare as well, returning the mutual feelings between them.
"Aang, I knew you would come." Aang's visions may be right but it was still a bad idea to have stopped his training to harnessing what could be his downfall. Even if he had believed in the advice Uncle Iroh gave him, Natsuko knew that power may be overrated, but if one already had power on their own, to control it was at least the most he could've tried.
Natsuko had the two have their time together hugging their worry and happiness with each other, smiling at Uncle and Zuko who wasn't grateful with the thought that the Avatar saved him when he could've done it himself, "Uncle, I don't understand. What are you doing with the Avatar?"
"Saving you. That's what." Zuko groaned at Aang's attitude, almost charging towards him before his uncle was able to stop him from doing so, "Zuko, it's time we talked."
"Go help your other friends. We'll catch up with you." Iroh told the Avatar and he bowed to him, Natsuko doing the same which confused Zuko but Zuko is already confused, "You're coming with them?"
The disbelief in his tone was very fluid and clear to everyone's ears, causing the three to stop from moving to the ground levels, Natsuko looked at him with a soft smile on her face before giving him a much more bigger smile.
"I'll see you later, talk, welcome you to the family?" he stayed silent, looking away from her even if she was smiling. His voice was so soft and quiet but it was another tone of his that was clear for their ears to hear, "Don't hurt yourself too much."
She rolled her eyes and ran with the two of them, who she scolded a bit for waiting on her before Aang could even turn the tides to annoy her with that small interaction. Katara was still unnerved with the idea of it, even if she was touching Zuko's scar a few seconds before Natsuko had punched the rock wall. A part of her was really hoping to see the goodness Zuko had within him, just like Iroh who saw the good in everyone else and even if she wasn't there to know that he was also caring for her well being and all.
They ran to where they came from, seeing the pool of crystal water, as well as the luminescent crystals that had guide them back. Katara just pointed out the obvious of finding Sokka and Toph when a wave of blue lightning headed their way. Aang was able to act quick but they were all still blown off by the impact it had to the rock Aang just earthbended.
While Aang and Natsuko was blown away, Katara went from the side to waterbend towards Azula who managed to turn it all to smoke, Natsuko airbending it from the place and was kicked in the stomach by Azula. The blue firebender used her other foot to firebend towards them while Katara and Aang waterbended to keep Natsuko's body that was recovering from the kicking and sliding against the floor.
It was already a hard match for Azula to take on, after almost falling ungracefully from the earthbended destroyed ground pillar and having the enemy from both sides and behind. So when another flame bursted from behind Aang, they assumed it would've been on their side. Seeing it was Zuko, however, turned the battle from a hundred to fifty.
He was in a fighting stance, looking at Azula then to Aang, which Natsuko knew it was so she ran to Aang as Zuko grunted, airbending the fire away from Aang to let him take on Azula with Katara. She took a stance as well, a tinge of unhappiness on her mind when she realized she had to fight Zuko. Aang would be against this, but it wasn't like he'd be able to skip and switch.
"I'm not going to fight you." Zuko shouted to her.
She rolled her eyes, "Too bad."
Natsuko delivered the first blow, already knocking him off his feet and collide to the wall, knowing full well that he was holding himself back. Azula also took notice of that, so she created a fire ring and expanded from within her, knocking everyone else, before fighting Natsuko who has recovered quickly and kept on blowing off the fire and heat coming from Azula's firebending. Using her hands, she pushed her to her feet and earthbended Azula in place, Katara had extended her arm length with the water, using it to block Azula's left arm then her right leg, before Zuko could break her away from the hold.
When Azula was free, she looked at Aang who has fallen down a large hole, groaning and climbing up very slowly. She ran towards him to blast him off, Natsuko sending her off course an continued on airbending her but wasn't enough when Azula had regained her balance and created boosters from her hands and feet to glide her way towards Natsuko.
"Come on, peasant, scared of fire?" she mocked Natsuko and threw from her other hand a small flame that turned bigger with every second. She blocked it with waterbending and seeing Azula swing and miss her face by the tiniest space from the fire. She stomped her foot to the ground, a large chunk of rock plopped out of it and she threw it to her direction, Natsuko airbending Zuko away from Katara just as she collided with her back against the crystals.
Zuko was about to throw more fire towards his attacker when a rumble came from the other side of the cave, Aang coming out from the hole with large pieces of rocks to help him glide faster, just as Toph did escaping her kidnappers. The Fire Nation siblings were beside each other watching Aang come towards them when a Dai Li agent came to view and stopped Aang using earthbending.
Aang was sent flying to the ground, while the Dai Li came from the top, jumping down to surround the Avatar, Katara, and Natsuko. The Spirit ran to Aang as the two firebenders and approximately 5 dozen Dai Li agents were at their aid. If it was just the Dai Li's, it could be better but with Zuko and Azula, to battle against them would be harder.
"I can't do this." Aang muttered for Natsuko's ears only, who was frightened for the Avatar, "There's too many."
"You have to, Aang." she looked at him, "It'll be alright."
He nodded and breathed in, covering himself with crystals to unlock the last chakra, a lot harder if he was under the pressure. She can feel his uneasiness as he tries to calm himself with the fear of someone attacking him before he could even meditate.
"No more tricks up your sleeve, peasant?" Azula's taunting voice echoed against the large walls of Old Ba Sing Se, "How about a bargain? You might like this."
"Leave everything behind, this Water Tribe girl and the other mongrels you have to deal with." she started, aiming the bargain towards the spirit of the Avatar, "And come with us. We could use someone like you in the Fire Nation-- a person who can also bend four elements."
Now that was news to Zuko, not only knowing that she actually could airbend, a long lost art of bending, but all four of them. And she kept it hidden from him the whole time he let her stay on his then ship.
All the more reason for her to be able to stay with him.
Zuko was treading deep waters when he kept on trying to win her over, leaving her friends and family, leaving her significance to help Aang. Azula might have killed Aang but, just what if...
"Natsuko, we could live together." he uttered the same words Natsuko told him a while ago, "Talk, welcome you to the family."
"Exactly." it was hard to distinguish if Natsuko was just hearing Azula in her head, "For as long as she wants to stay."
"You don't know what you're talking about-" Natsuko started but was cut off by Zuko.
"I know what I'm talking about!"
He forgot his stance and all while he flails his arms to explain to her, "If we can convince them to let you live with me and I know it would be hard at first and-"
"There's no convincing needed."
Azula kept going on trying to bring Natsuko to her senses, "As long as you say yes."
"The Fire Nation has everything you need-- power, control, wealth." Azula stopped for a second, smirking at her love stricken brother, "Might find love as well."
"Or would you rather stay with the Avatar-- your other half if you call him." Azula grimaced at the sound of it, "Waste your significance on something that has abandoned the war before it had even started."
Natsuko kept quiet the whole time, seeing Katara silently judging Natsuko for a choice she hasn't done and, in fact, she wouldn't do. The crystals were giving off light from within, the sign she kept on waiting for.
"I'm sorry, Zuko, but you betrayed Iroh. If you could betray the only person who supported you ever since then, who's to say you won't do that to me."
Natsuko wouldn't choose anyone else over the same significance, even if they change every time, or even if they wouldn't acknowledge the hardships of being the spirit. She wasn't going to choose to stay without Aang's safety, so does the rest of the friends they had made during the trip. It would be a lie if she didn't see the possibility of Zuko's desire for things to go back the way it used to be was the route they would take, only wanting to come back home even if it had change for so many years.
"I won't abandon the Avatar even if it meant to lose the battle many times." she told them, without caring about what could happen to her afterwards. Katara nodded at her and also stood by what she said. Aang came out from the tent with great force of air , floating and is within the circle of the last chakra he has to open to him and his world. They all looked at Aang as he rose higher and higher, even Katara had stopped fighting and so did the rest of them.
Natsuko just looked at Zuko while he was cautious about the two benders in front of him, the spirit bending more water to come her way whilst searching for Azula.
Too late when she saw Azula posing a stance with her two fingers pointing at the back of the Avatar, successfully hitting him with a streak of lightning to the back of his heart, three seconds staying there to get through his ribs. A white pain flashed at her back as well, but it didn't stop her much from controlling the water she had around her. She shouted and used the water around her to catch Aang falling to the ground and let out a shout before releasing her waterbending like a pulse from her body, evaporating it into smoke so that Katara and her would be able to check on him for a few seconds.
"Can you hear me, boy?" Natsuko took his hand, "Squeeze if yes."
His hands were already trembling when he tried, a sign that he was about to lose his consciousness. She leaned in and let placed her cheek above his lips, a little gurgling sound could be heard and his breathing was abnormal.
"His losing his heartbeat." Katara told Natsuko while she moved her hands around his chest. Feeling the last tremors on his body as he desperately tried to move his muscles to his will, "What should we do?"
The Water Tribe girl was in tears now then she remembered the water from the Spirit Oasis. Katara quickly tried to grab it from under her shirt when Natsuko told her, "Not yet."
"I'll be able to keep him from going flat." Natsuko pushed Katara's hand to stop her from using the water for now, "After I'm gone, you take Aang and go."
"What?" Katara wasn't keeping up with what Natsuko was telling her, just realizing what she was doing when Natsuko breathed deeply and began glowing as well, lacing her hands to Aang's heart and forehead to give her remaining strength to the Avatar.
"I'll be fine, Katara. I have faith in you." Natsuko smiled at her and once the smoke has cleared off, Katara was the only one left holding Aang.
"Where is she?" Zuko asked the Water Tribe, pertaining to the spirit. A large flame enough to keep them distracted came from a side of the cave, seeing that it was Uncle. The old man jumped down and in front of Aang and Katara telling them, "You've got to get out of here!"
Uncle looked at Katara, "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"
Katara took Aang and sling his arm around her while Iroh attacked the Dai Li and his niece and nephew from the Avatar. Natsuko's body wasn't anywhere in the cave, leaving the last piece of mortal possession she had in her place.
When the waterbender had left the cave with Aang, Iroh stopped from attacking and retired from his stance. Crystals were locking him from bending and moving and his niece and nephew just looked at him as he did, giving Zuko an unreadable expression. The said prince went towards the exact spot where Aang had fallen and Natsuko was left seen to pick up the familiar hair comb as if she had left it there on purpose.
Katara had finally met up with Sokka and the others, seeing that Ba Sing Se has fallen, Toph holding on to the box Natsuko took care of even if she wasn't with them anymore. The waterbender had taken off the pendant that held the water from under her clothing and bent the water inside, swirling to a circular motion before it illuminated. She took Aang who was leaning against Appa and placed the water to Aang's back, seeing it take shape of the wound and seeped to under his skin, as if it didn't work.
She held him and released her sobs, a few seconds after seeing the arrow on his forehead glow and make him sigh. Katara gasped and looked at Aang with a smile, he smiled back before closing his eyes and let the girl's warmth envelop his once cold body.
Successfully-- wake from death and return to life.
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Season 2 done! Possible end of book maybe. (Book 2 at least)
OC has left the mortal world yet again, this time bringing her body along. Is she dead? She just might be. Another plot twist for eternally doomed OC.
Next chapter would be tackling the weeks when Aang is still in a coma, it's shown in one of the canon comics (I think it's Lost Adventures of Avatar Files, somewhere with those two). It's nothing special really but it's written in the OC's point of view (and maybe some from Katara's diary).
Also, guys, I just did some math instead of listening to my head when I said that I planning this in the end of my eighth grade which was April 2015 and now I'm revising it and it makes me happy for character development.
I hope you all are living your lives as well, despite the pandemic and all and even with the smallest achievements you usually do in a day to day basis. Give yourself a pat on the back when you decided to get out of bed, make yourself your favorite meals, let your imagination run wild.
While you all do that, stay safe!
- Amboo