"LUNA, NO!" Sokka yells in panic while pulling at my arms as hard as he can. His eyes fill with desperation and rage when he sees those disgusting, filthy monsters clawing at my legs.
"Grab my hands, Luna-" as I held his hand tightly, I can feel someone else's hand digging into my legs, "-AND DON'T LET GO!"
I look up at his face above me, bobbing up and down on Appa's saddle, shining in sweat. Pulling as hard as he can, Sokka tries to haul me up. He's afraid of letting me slip and fall from the roof. Afraid of letting them get to me.
Struggling with all my might, I manage to kick one of the soldier's head and his grip on my legs slackens. Just when I think I can finally be free, another pair of hands pulls on my calf, hitting a weak spot, and pain shoots through my body. I watch in horrifying slow-motion as my sweaty palms slip from Sokka's grip.
"NO!" Both of us scream in unison as I literally fall into the demons' clutches.
Katara's face appear at the edge of the saddle, furious yet apologising at the same time. But she couldn't help, I understand. There is Aang to attend to.
Appa hovers awkwardly in mid-air, dodging the fiery balls being shot at him. I fall, knowing that there's no hope. For now, I thought fiercely.
"GO! Just go, Sokka! I'll find a way to escape! Leave and take care of Aang!" I plead. The longer they are here, the more danger they pose to themselves and me.
"I'm so sorry, Luna," Sokka's voice shakes as he whispers. "We'll come get you as soon as we can." He walks to Appa's head and takes up the reign. "Come on buddy, yip yip!"
We're running out of time, I realize as I watch Appa's shadow become smaller and smaller in the moonlight. They will find us eventually. Aang needs all the time we can get. Shaking my head at Appa's leaving back, I shout, "No! Go UP! Don't come back! I-I'll meet you UP there!"
I sincerely hope they get my meaning of 'up'. I mean, it can only mean the North Pole, right?
Sokka looks at me with understanding, his eyes filled with sadness and remorse as he squints through the growing distance between us. Then, something in him seems to change and he no longer looks at a lost. Nodding his head, he gives me a salute before turning around and urging Appa to fly faster.
With the tears streaming down my face, I don't notice the bunch of burly men behind me until one of them pins me down, holding my hands behind my back, pressing my face roughly into the dirt.
With a yelp, I struggle again and again, arms and legs jerking everywhere just to escape this nightmare. The man holding me down grunts in frustration. I'm strong enough to fight, I thought.
Through my screams and cries for help, I dimly hear someone ask, "Shall we put her out? Just for a while?"
The instinct to survive floods through me and adrenaline kicks in, hard and fast. Ignoring the discussions of the men, I flip the guy holding me down over my shoulders with a roar.
I'm feeling so... so bloody pissed.
Straightening myself in a snap, I start airbending in every direction, not even bothering to check my aim. I laugh in sadistic delight when a few crumble from my blows. I guess that they've received orders not to hurt me, because none of them are returning my attacks. Vision flashing red, I take advantage of this and try to take out as many of them as I can, even when I know that there's no point.
The monsters... They have turned me into one, too.
Sweat and tears pour down my face, momentarily blinding my eyes, making me panic even more.
Desperate now, I throw blows after blows at the Fire Nation soldiers, never pausing to catch my breath. But the more I shoot down, the more that appears. Fatigue crawls through my every limb, and my movements slow considerably.
Marching sounds come from behind, and then- "She's an... airbender? But– that's impossible! The Avatar was the only one left..." I stop my attacks to listen clearly, but it's almost impossible to hear anything through the sound of blood roaring behind my ears. "But never mind, she would make a good catch, too."
Gritting my teeth and snarling, I spin around to face a familiar smirking face, so spiteful and full of himself - Zhao. Words cannot describe how much I loathe him for causing the pain of separating me from my friends.
"Not only can I bend air," I smile at him, voice and lips trembling with anger, fear. Newfound energy suddenly flows through my body, this time fueled by irrational rage. I lunge at him, nails extended, screaming, "I bend necks, too!"
But before my hands can even begin to wipe Zhao's smirk off his face, an ear-splitting thud suddenly assaults my ear, leaving it ringing. Without warning, my head explodes in pain, and splashes of bright colours along with stars flash before my eyes.
In shock, I jerk to a sudden stop and raise my arm slowly to touch the crown of my head... only to bring back a bloody hand. My vision becomes blurred and unfocused.
"Y-you... hit me in the... head," I slur with difficulty as the world spins.
Zhao shouting at someone in fury is the last thing I hear before my body finally gives way and collapses onto the ground. I groan in pain, the world around me slowly fading away, leaving only my bleeding head, my aching body and I.
Then my mind goes blank, and I'm falling... falling...
Few hours ago.
It has been more than a day since our escape from Zuko. Since then, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Momo and I have been traveling north as fast as we can on Appa. But even the greatest beast needs its rest, so we were slowly picking our way through a thick leafy forest in a single file, allowing Appa at least some rest before taking off again. Aang and Katara took the opportunity to train my airbending and waterbending skills, to which they find hilarious.
But I managed to master everything they taught within a short time, and their teasing quickly ceased when they found out I can whip their butts within seconds of fighting.
Yeah, I'm good at this, I thought smugly.
Suddenly, a sense of unease prickled my skin, and I felt eyes on our small troop. Spinning around, I swept my eyes all over the place, with a sense that we're being followed.
Watching my unease, Katara asked if I'm alright. "I'm fine," I assured her. "I just got the feeling that someone is watching us."
Sokka, who was in front of me and leading, turned to face me. "You're feeling it, too? And I thought it's just me being paranoid, as usual!"
"Well, if the two of you say so, I guess we better hurry away from this forest. I don't like the feeling of this," Katara told us while shivering from the forest's cool misty air. I watched as Aang took off his orange shawl to wrap around Katara's shaking body. The inner romantic side of me couldn't help but 'aww' at the sight of his chivalry, but Sokka looked ready to pop with disgust. I guess brothers would be brothers after all.
Aang, who was bringing up the rear so he could keep an eye on Appa agreed with Katara, saying we should hurry.
Sokka picked up the pace after hearing Aang, but slowed down almost immediately. Because I was walking close behind, I didn't stop in time and my nose knocked into his stupid boomerang. "Hey watch it, if you wanna slow down, walk behind!" I scolded, rubbing my nose.
Sokka, completely ignoring me, pointed to the front of us. "Look, the forest is thinning out. Maybe we're near a town or something."
"Town? Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get something to eat!" Aang called from behind. But as we stepped out of the forest, there is no town waiting for us, just a signage and some posters on a weird little brick building.
Looking at the posters, Katara said, "This should give us a good idea of what's around us."
"See if you can find a menu, I'm starving," the oh-mighty one instructed. I rolled my eyes at him, and said in a military voice, "Yes, sir. Right away, sir. Anything else, sir?"
Sokka just sticks his tongue out.
"I bet we'll find something to eat here!" Aang exclaimed, pointing to a poster and reading aloud. "Fire Day's Festival. Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians... This would be a great place for me to study some real firebenders!"
I shook my head and walked to where Sokka is studying the back of the little brick building. A sense of nostalgia struck me as I suddenly saw my older brother, Harry standing in the place of Sokka, who was studying the posters intensely with his brows furrowed and a slight frown on his face. Sokka looks like... my brother, I realised.
Shaking my head again at this new discovery, I walked over to study the posters with Sokka, and notice a familiar face smiling cheekily back at me. Aang was in one of the posters.
"You might want to rethink that," Sokka called to Aang. He gestured at the poster. "Look at this."
"Wanted posters," I said softly. Aang walked over and tore the wanted poster of him from the wall. "This is bad."
"I think we better keep moving," Katara said when she has seen the poster.
Aang gave her a pleading look. "I have to learn firebending at some point. This could be my only chance to watch these masters up close."
As Katara considered Aang's suggestion, a bad feeling filled my gut and I looked over my shoulder. We were still being watched.
"No," I stated promptly when Katara opened her mouth to speak. She and the others looked at me immediately, apparently sensing the change in my tone. "We shouldn't go to a Fire Nation place. Bad things will happen. I'm sorry Aang, but I really think that this is a bad idea. I can feel it."
Aang's hopeful face immediately fell, and Katara stared at me. "It wouldn't be a problem if we just wore disguises," she states. But her brother shook his head, too.
"Listen to Luna; I think she's got a point. I mean, you really wanna go to a fiery Fire Nation town, who's all fired up with their... you know, fire? There must be another way to study those firebending masters."
Katara looked at her brother for a long time, then at me. Then she turned her attention back to Aang, who looked at us with puppy eyes.
"I... I suppose you're right, Luna. But we can stay safe by watching from somewhere hidden, then at least Aang has a chance to study firebending," Katara suggested on behalf of Aang.
I scowled, the instinct in my stomach warning of everything that could go wrong if we went. But then again, if we were careful, I guess we can avoid all those possible risks.
"I suppose we can..." I slowly said, mulling over my thoughts.
"GREAT! Let-"
"BUT," I interrupted Aang and he groaned. "There are rules. One, no talking to anyone else - not that anyone will see us - during our exploration. Two, always stick to dark places. Always. You're wanted, Aang. If anyone sees you, we're toasted. No pun intended. Three, when any one of us feels like something or anything is wrong, please speak up and we shall abort mission immediately. No fooling around, no second chances, no nothing. Geddit?"
I stared at everyone seriously to make sure my point gets through. Little did I know that my plan will fail so epically this evening.
Sokka looked impressed at my little speech. "Where'd you learn to talk like that? You almost sound like a leader," he grinned playfully at me.
I shrugged and grinned back. "I guess it's because I have always been the more disciplined one in my group of friends. The stupid things they always get up to!" I smiled fondly at the memories of my friends - in my world - always getting in trouble for vandalism and minor truancy. There was always me to save their butts from trouble.
Meanwhile, Aang and Katara quickly hopped on Appa, who looked ready to take off. Sokka and I rolled our eyes together, and I muttered, "Kids..." before taking off after them, but after giving our area another sweeping glance.
Someone was following us, I was sure of it. I was just not sure who was it nor what they wanted.
*****
The flight to the Fire Nation town advertised in the poster was a short one, and we arrives just as the sun was setting, creating a perfect atmosphere for us to go about unnoticed.
Aang carefully guided Appa to land on the tallest building in town, which happened to be a bell tower. After everyone has got off Appa, he flew off to hide, tailed by Momo. We crouched down behind a particular silo that hid us from view and quietly studied the scene below.
Even when I knew they're the enemy, I couldn't help but be amazed at the Fire Nation town's taste in decoration. The town was beautiful. Giant red lanterns were strung from one end of the town to the other, giving off heat and light to the crowd swarming below. To my surprise, everyone was wearing colourfully decorated masks, some showing monstrous expressions, others showing dramatically happy expressions. The chattering and noise rolled off the crowd in waves, travelling up high to us and to the cloudless night sky. The joy this Fire Festival brought was highly infectious, and we beamed at each other in happiness, despite being in enemy territory.
When the sun has set completely and the town has light up completely, we finally located the place of the firebending performance promised.
Held in the centre of town, this place was a nightmare for claustrophobics. Most of the crowd came to enjoy the firebending performance, and there was hardly space to walk. Despite the cool breeze blowing on the roof, I started sweating from the heat the performance and crowd was giving off. Looking around to make sure we couldn't be spotted, I laid down on my front together with the others to enjoy the show.
But within mere minutes, our show was interrupted when Aang suddenly jumped up and turned around, slicing his glider through the air. "Who's there??!"
Instantly everyone was on their feet and facing the opposite direction of the show, nervously watching for any sign that someone uninvited was here with us. Dread filled my heart when I realised this could be my fault - I was so immersed in the show I didn't notice anything wrong. Now, we might be in danger because of my carelessness. I knew we shouldn't have come.
"Who's there?!" Aang demanded again. He stared into the shadows. "Show yourself!"
Finally, after a few seconds of heart-pounding and palm-sweating, a shadow dislocated itself from the other shadows, and I realized that it was actually a man in black robes. He stepped out into the dim light with his palms up and out, showing that they're empty. A black mask obscured his nose and mouth, but he soon pulled that down, allowing us to study his feature. I understood immediately that he wanted us to know that he meant no harm, but I don't trust easily.
Especially when I knew that this scraggly bearded man was the one stalking us for the past few hours. I didn't know how I came to this conclusion, but I knew I was right.
"Who are you?" I hissed at him, trying to intimidate. "Why have you been stalking us?"
"Oh, so he's the one stalking us?" Sokka asked in annoyance. Then he gasped in horror and pointed at the middle-aged man, "You're a Fire Nation spy!"
I wanted to roll my eyes at that. Sokka's always accusing people being spies of the enemies.
"No!" the man protested loudly. We flinched from the sudden outburst, and he looked apologetic. "No," he repeated in a calmer tone, "I'm not. My name's Chey. Are- are you the Avatar? I've been searching for you." He pointed at Aang in slight awe.
"Chey... Chey..." I muttered to myself, not finding his appearance weird. It was almost like I was expecting him. Where did I hear his name before? Then it hit me.
"You're Chey the explosive guy!" I burst out in excitement. He is... is the guy from...dang it! I couldn't remember anything else about Chey - the mental wall was still there, blocking me. But I've seen him before, I was sure.
The others looked at my happy expression, puzzled. Chey looked taken aback. "How d'cha know?"
"Umm..." I really didn't want to recount my whole story of how I've known him since years ago.
"Never mind that," Sokka came to my rescue, advancing on Chey. "Tell us more about you."
"I... used to serve the Fire Nation army, but I, uh, left. Please come with me. I want to bring Aang to meet someone who can help. That's why I've followed you here." Chey looked at us in earnest. "I'll explain on the way," he promised.
I shrugged and told the others that this man could be trusted, since I know him. However, when I was talking to them, there was a suspicious gleam in Chey's eyes that made me reconsider my words. But when I looked again, the gleam was gone, so I just waved it off as a trick of the light. How I wish I'd listen to my gut then. "It's up to you guys to choose," I told Sokka, Katara and Aang.
To no-one's surprise, Sokka rejected the idea immediately, but Aang agreed to follow Chey. And as usual, we followed Aang's decision.
We climbed back onto the bell tower's roof to wait for Appa to come pick us up. While the others talked among themselves, I switched my attention to the town below. From my position, I could see the firebending show still going on, so I stood on my tiptoes to get a better view. Soon I was absorbed in it.
But that was when everything started to go wrong.
As I was standing on the edge of the roof, Chey suddenly bumped into me and I immediately lost my balance. My body started tumbling down the roof, and no amount of arm-flailing could help me regain my balance.
"Luna!" Aang cried in horror.
Thanks to my quick reflex, I twisted my body around just in time for my hands to grab onto the roof's edge. I managed to swallow my scream, but I realised later that there was no point to it anyway - people were already starting to notice us. Heart in throat, I managed to climb back onto the roof with the help of others. Straightening myself to catch my breath, I noticed Chey has disappeared.
"Where's Ch-"
"LOOK! IT'S THE AVATAR!" Someone from below yelled suddenly.
Crap.
"GET HIM!"
Nearly falling three stories became the least of my worries when soldiers of the Fire Nation army came running to us.
My blood ran cold when flaming balls suddenly flew past me, in the direction of Aang. He expertly dodged the attacks, and quickly spun around to look for Appa.
We were under attack, and all I could think of is how it was all my fault.
Frozen in spot, I watched as Aang puffed on his bison whistle again and started running away from the attacks, leaping from roof to roof of interconnecting buildings. Sokka and Katara were behind me, trying to block all the attacks of the Fire Nation soldiers, who were climbing their way up to us, also using the interconnecting roofs, trying to trap us.
"Come on, Luna!" Sokka's voice snapped me out of my trance and I looked straight ahead to see that Sokka and Katara were already running after Aang. Aang was waving his arms over his head as Appa came into sight, trying to grab his attention though he was still far away.
I sprinted after them immediately, sending a few blasts of air here and there to slow down the soldiers. When I raised my head to watch our progress toward freedom, something darted out from the shadows and knocked into Aang, sending him flying off the roof and onto the ground. Aang seemed to be unconscious as he tumbled down.
It all happened so fast.
Shouting his name, I quickly airbended from behind to cushion Aang's fall. Katara cried out with rage and hopped down from the roof to assist Aang. Sokka and I sprinted furiously toward the shadow who knocked Aang unconscious.
The shadow turns to face us with a huge grin. No, I thought with a pang. Sokka and I skidded to a stop, watching the man in front of us with shock.
Chey grinned at us, his eyes shining with excitement. "They'll forgive me now. They'll take me back," he whispered giddily to us, then spun around and disappeared just as fast as he appeared.
"Chey..." I said softly to myself, still in shock.
"He betrayed us," Sokka bit out in anger.
Pain suddenly struck my head, and I fell to my knees, clutching my head and gasping in surprise. The darned headache has reappeared, tenfold, and it felt as if someone was sawing through my head. Tears appeared at the corner of my eyes.
"Luna! They're closing in!" I heard someone yell through the noise. I glanced up to the source, and saw that Appa was already airborne in front of me with Sokka, Katara and Aang in the saddle.
From the corner of my eyes, I saw the monsters with their shields and spears running toward me, yelling in excitement. "I'm coming!" I replied, then yelped at the sudden stabbing pain in my head. Awful timing, much?
Getting onto my feet, I took a running jump. "Catch me!" I yelled at Sokka, who has already thrown his arms out to me. Leaping, I stretched my arms out to him...
To my relief, Sokka caught me by my arms. But my relief was short-lived because muscular hands that appeared out of nowhere started pulling on my shoes, my ankles, my calves.
I looked down in fright, hoping I was seeing things.
Fire Nation soldiers, coming from every direction, most firebending at Appa, some pulling me down. My body was stretched into agony by their relentless tugging and Sokka's grip.
"LUNA, NO!!!"
*****
I jerk awake with Sokka's voice still echoing softly in my mind, a series of "I'm sorry, Luna, I'm so sorry," repeating itself again and again in my head.
Why was Sokka apologising to me? What happened? Where am I?... I remember getting chased by Fire Nation soldiers, and then... what? Am I captured?
My mind is jumbled and confused as to why I'm... here. I can't make heads or tails of my situation right now, and I'm starting to panic. Taking deep, calming breaths, I try to think of some useful questions to help clear my mind.
Okay, the Rascal's Questions. I've read about these questions somewhere. The three questions...
Where am I?
I think I was captured by the Fire Nation soldiers, so I probably am in some kind of stinky, cold jail right now.
Are there any friends nearby?
I don't... know. But I dimly recall that I've requested Sokka and the others to leave me, so I guess not. I can make new friends though.
Are there any weapons nearby?
I can't tell. The room I'm in is pitch-black, and it feels small. My bending is currently my only weapon. Problem is, I can feel that my hands and feet are bound together, so... nope, no weapons.
I lie on the cold steel floor, breathe in the damp, musty smell of the room. My thoughts chug along sluggishly as I struggle to come up with a plan. I obviously have to get back to the others. But how?
Just when my mind starts to clear a bit and I'm able to formulate my thoughts clearly, a door to my right opens and red light fills the room. I gasp in surprise and squeeze my eyes shut - the light sends a painful shock to my brain, and my headache has come back again. After a while, I open my eyes to see a tall figure standing in front of me, but I can't tell who it is from my position on the floor.
But I can tell he is evil, judging from the way he laughs and kicks me in my stomach. I growl in pain and anger, unable to speak clearly with the blood welling up in my mouth. When he starts to speak though, fear turns my blood ice-cold at the familiarity of his voice.
"You and I need to have a little talk, airbender," Zhao announces coldly to me.
*
A/N:There you go! Finally, an update! I know!
So... how are you guys? What do you think of my story?
Lastly, I wanna thank all of you who voted and commented on my story. Seriously, you guys make me so happy.
So please, continue voting and commenting and being awesome! You guys are cucumber. B)