Last Airbender

Aeor turned, claws lifted, the eyes adorning his body looking around frantically, almost trying to tear themselves free, whilst the fibres hanging from his skull merely flapped lifeless as his head twitched and shook like a beast in it's death throes.
"You are eager to die? THEN DIE!" He roared, lunging at like an alligator exploding from water upon it's prey.

Conflicted, Jing-Wei tried to stand her ground as the behemoth came lunging at her, mouth agape. Instead of calling up her fire to attack, however, she panicked, trying to change her form. The garbled memories mixed with panic of encroaching death prevented the transformation as Aeor landed, jaw clenching around her abdomen. She shrieked, though it was cut short as her body snapped in half, blood dripping down onto the ground. With a jerk of its head, Aeor had sent her corpse flying back into the wall.

By the time Aeor had turned back around to Pala, there was a rush of flames, unhindered by a rock pile this time and reaching up toward the expansive ceiling, that lit up the entire room with a white-hot intensity. Once again, Jing-Wei staggered to her feet.

"That hurts!" Somehow that phrase felt so familiar...she had a serious sense of dejavu there. Shaking her head, she glared at the behemoth, lighting her body on fire preemptively this time. Better to be prepared so she wouldn't freeze again.

Summoning up her energy, she let it loose, flames springing up all around Aeor, the water that had still been standing in the room rushing over as well, boiling up into steam as it met with the fires.

Aeor was knocked down to the ground in a collision of explosive fire, smashing the ground around him as he fell. Getting up on all fours, he shrieked.
"I'll kill you over and over until you go insane, whelp!"
Thick black smoke began to pour from his mouth as he approached her.

Jing-Wei whimpered slightly as she backed up away from the black smoke, jolting as her back met the wall. She stared at the smoke as it came toward her, turning her head to the side and closing her eyes, leaving her alone for a moment with her shattered thoughts.

Fate...worse than death. Fear a fate worse than death...

By dying over and over again? She glanced back at the smoke, then beyond it at the other woman. The woman who would be left at this creatures mercy if she couldn't do something here and now. Steeling herself, she concentrated, trying to pick at the strange shards of memory that had dug into her mind, embedding themselves amidst her normal memories after her first death. Powers she hadn't known she had, but apparently had known, trying to find something to do with the situation. In a desperate attempt to buy herself more time, she took off running, climbing her way over debris and away from that monster.

'Bird form...powers are stronger in bird form, or when accessing it...' but how? She had tried to transform earlier, but that hadn't ended so well. '...Magic...' what was magic? Energybending? What could she do with that...she didn't have much time left. Stopping and staring back at the creature, she focused on the ground at his feet. She should be able to do something, she knew it...but what? Something that would help...Jumping to the side, she started running again. She had no idea what to do!

Or maybe she did. Skidding to a halt, she turned to face the demon once more, calling on her powers to heat up the area around her, fires springing up all around Aeor, a wall of flames surrounding him. If she'd managed to melt stone when she resurrected, she should be able to do it now, right? and then when it cooled he'd be trapped!

'Come on...need more...power...' It wasn't getting hot enough. Her body was beginning to strain from the concentrated pull of power. There had to be more! Pushing further, eyes screwed shut, she was about to give up when suddenly it was like a dam broke. Though she couldn't see it, her sclera faded to black as the fires suddenly sprung up higher and hotter, the stone around them beginning to crack, then soften and liquefy around the monster.

She opened an eye and blinked. "I...I did it!"

The coward had melted rock around him! He was tough, but molten rock would sear his flesh.
Letting out a hideous, bestial scream, he let power out through the fire, the black smoke pouring from his maw. It lunged at her, coiling around her like snakes, and began to pull her towards the fire, and Aeor behind it. He would have her, and when he did, she would not even have the release of the grave!

Jing-Wei shrieked in panic as the smoke grabbed a hold of her, dragging her towards the monster. On reflex, the flames began to jump higher and hotter, the air distorting.

"LET ME GO!!!" She thrashed, grabbing onto a rock, but the heat from here body began to melt the stone, causing her to lose her grip. There had to be something she could do. She began to panic more as she got dragged closer and closer, heart racing and powers flaring...and somewhere in there, something clicked into place.

There was a flash and the smoke was grabbing at air where Jing-Wei's body had been. A small bird now hovered between the plumes, dazed for a second before shooting away up to the ceiling, darting around in a panic and chirping wildly.

'What's happening...what just happened...I'm a bird...I'm a bird...what do I do now?'

The smoke was coming for her again. Focusing up in her range of vision, she noticed the softened and dripping ceiling.

'Oh I hope this works...'

Flying up closer to it, she concentrated, letting her powers loose completely around her, turning a large part of the ceiling into a thick liquid that began raining down onto Aeor. Trying to avoid the ooze, Jing-Wei dived out of the way, though some did get onto her, impeding her movements. Crashing into the ground, she dazedly righted herself and turned to watch the results, hopping behind a rock just to be safe.

'Now how do I get turned back?'

Aeor looked up frantically, only to have lava drop down onto his head, and then envelope the rest of his body. There was no noise, no struggle, as the fire consumed him.

Pala had watched the scene unfold down the tunnel, and found herself terrified. She had...it was her fault...she could have almost made angelique do that to her. She felt chilled to the bone...there was a force to be reckoned with....

Upon realizing that the creature wasn't coming after her, Jing-Wei took off out of the room, not sticking around to see the results, especially if it broke free. For now, she had to find that woman. After a couple of attempts she managed to get airborne and flew down the hall, finding the woman not too far away from the room. She landed in front of her and tried to change back.

Nothing.

She tried again, but still nothing happened. Panicking again, she flittered her wings, hopping in agitation.

"Why can't I change...how can I talk!?" She looked stunned, not sure what to do or make of this current turn of events. She glanced up at the woman who was now so much bigger than she was. It would be impossible to arrest her at this rate!

"See!" Pala called. "You're not like any of them! They took you, and made you somebody else. Come with me, i can find the others and get your memory back!" She crawled over to the bird, hoping she'd listen. "You've got to trust me! I'll tell you more then any of those foolish 'earthbenders!'"

Jing-Wei looked torn. "I...don't understand any of this...this shouldn't be happening, it isn't even possible!" She flittered some more in agitation.

She should be more upset about this than she was...she had changed species! But she had to admit that it felt almost...natural being like this. She considered the woman's words from earlier before looking at Pala out of her nearest eye.

"And how could I trust you? I don't know you, but these people...the Dai Li...they took me in, helped me...I've been here for ages!"

Though even as she said them the words didn't sound right. She watched Pala as she moved closer.

"What...do you have to tell me? I'm not saying I'll believe you, but as I have no idea what's happening to me and you are incredibly strange yourself..."

"So far they have only made you fight! You think you can trust them, but that is only because they forced you to think like that. Are you truly happy down here, not quite understand why the way things are? You have your own life, of freedom, not as a servant kept in the dark! You have people depending on you, Angelique..."

"I have a family at home, a village, friends and all. I can't get out without your help, and without Alexis, i will never get home to see them again..."

Jing-Wei looked hesitant again. Was she happy down there? Not really...she missed the sky, the open air...she hated being confined in the dark and under the earth, but what other life did she have? She had unique powers...more and more by the minute, and if she stayed with the Dai Li she could help people. That was what she wanted, wasn't it? Then there were those names again...Angelique...Alexis...something so familiar about both of them.

There was a long silence before she spoke. "You say I can't trust the Dai Li because they've forced me to think something...but if that's even possible, how do I know that you're not the one trying to force me to think something? I'm sure you want to see your loved ones again, but you've caused so much trouble you can't be allowed to leave back into the city...you're a danger..." There was another pause. "Who's Alexis?"

A dark room and a voice, half remembered, speaking, everything blurry, though the words were clear..."Tell me about Alexis..." She didn't know how many times he'd asked her that until she could no longer remember.. Jing-Wei shook her head, a flash of confusion crossing her features.

"How have i caused trouble? I was kidnapped, and now i'm just trying to escape! You hunt down and corner the wild boar, but complain when it gores you whilst trying to escape! Damn it, this is more important then your silly city and silly agents!" She sighed, hand pressed to her forehead. "Alexis is the one we came here with! You know, weird big hair? Purple eyes? Surely she could convince you..."

"You mean Ling?" True she had called her Alexis...but Ling was the only person Jing-Wei knew who had purple eyes. Then again the woman had called her Angelique. She felt uncomfortable thinking it, but perhaps the woman really had met them before? She couldn't remember ever having seen her before, though...

"The only one I know who has purple eyes is Ling and she is a member of the Dai Li as well."

"Ling? By the abyss, they have her as well? You need to bring her here, before something bad happens! The other two will show you what has happened! Seriously, you two are just too different from any of the Dai li, damn, you're nothing like ANYONE on this world! I'm the most normal looking person here compared to the natives, and even i scare the hell out of them!"

She panted, trying to calm her breathing whilst coping with the pain. "Can't you see i'm in pain? Help me!"

"I don't know what bad you think is going to happen...the Dai Li help keep peace in the city of Ba Sing Se," Jing-Wei explained, perched on a rock. She cringed back when the woman began to grow quite upset...and loud.

"I don't have to do anything! We're here by choice! And what do you want me to do, anyway? I can't heal! I'm...I don't even know right now and it's not like I can just take you off somewhere to have your leg looked at when I'm like this! I can't change back!" The air temperature right around her and a few inches out had begun to rise again.

Sitting on the rock, she tried to concentrate, tried to force herself to change back into a human, but nothing happened.

"See? Nothing," she paused. "If I can't even do that how am I supposed to do anything?"

"Then stay here. I'm sure the Dai Li will have a cage for you, little bird. I've got to do something." Pala still had her powers, she could pull herself along with those. She would have done this before, but she had wanted to stay on her feet in case she was attacked. There was little choice this time, and putting use the skills she had practised on the boat, she formed an animal from stone, lifting it up from the ground. Walking it over to her, she climbed on it's back, and made it carry her away from angelique down the tunnel.

Jing-Wei panicked as the other woman left. "Wait!" Hopping into the air, she took off flying after her as fast as her rather miniscule wings would carry her. "This would be so much faster as a human..."

She wasn't entirely sure why she was putting forth so much effort into apprehending her. The obvious reason would that it was her duty, but that just didn't seem to be all there was to it. Still...she could figure that out AFTER she caught the woman.

Coden watched, secretly in pain, as Gale fought and questioned and begged Alexis to be Alexis and not this Ling she deemed she was. 'What did they do her? Hypnosis?' A vague memory made it believable. It burned him. She was hurting Gale. Breaking him apart. The Dai li were breaking his boys heart.
Furious, but calm as stone, Coden starte walking foreward. Letting go of Gale as he approched the girl.
"STOP calling yourself Ling." He began, controlling his rising temper and frustration. "You are NOT Ling. You are not from this world! This...Dai li! You are Alexis. My..Our...Alexandria."
His hand raised, eyes watching the walls. Then carefully pulled away Alexis' hat and tousled her Hair. "We are leaving. Together. And you aren't stopping it." He seemed to say to the wall beyond Alexis. Then tugging at her sleeve, he pulled 'Ling' towards him, walking backwards towards the non-existent door and Gale.

Ling took a few steps forward with her opponent out of sheer confusion, before digging her feet into the ground. Twisting her wrist so that she held onto his hand, pulling a metallic contraption from her pocket. Restraining him in a slim pair of handcuffs, she pulled up on his arms, pinning them behind his back.

“……………I am Ling………… Not Alexis……. You are…..mistaken……. You are not going to kidnap me…. And you are going to give up quietly….. Is that understood.” Ling said in her soft, hollow voice.

The boy looked on, hoping desperately that Coden would get her to come. But he didn't. She cuffed him. The panic came loose, just a little and he rushed forward, blasting power from his feet to give him speed. "NOO," He yelled, voice high and child-like. Yanking at the cuffs, he pulled, weakened them with some power and broke them.

Then he turned to Alexis. He could feel it. Her mind, trapped and subdued. He grabbed her arms, shaking her. He could go in there. He could go in there and get rid of what held her down. He knew he could remove the overlaying and toss it from her mind. But did he? The mind was teh last place of sanctum. It was sacred, in a sense. Did he just barge in and hurt her more?

Suddenly, he shrunk. Or rather, the ground swallowed him up. Looking at his submerged knees, he let out a piercing scream. IT was happening! Overwhelmed by the fears of being crushed by rocks and unable to fly flooded him and he grabbed Alexis and yanked her down with him, knowing she would get them out.

Quickly, he entered her mind, encircling it, looking for the cage. Finding a crack, he slipping in nimbly as his physical body slipped away more and more into the ground. Flying through her mind quickly, shutting out assailing memories, he found a false one. "Ling," Angelique had said.

He followed that stream. More, more... his chest. Was someone tugging on him? Or was that the sound of fighting he vaguely heard? The boy paid no heed. Finally, he was there! There was the door to teh cage, locking the inside shut. Quickly, he grabbed at it, and yanked. But before he could open the door all the way and fully free her, he was struck, and fell away, returning to himself.

golden eyes fluttered open and he saw he was up to his armpits, arms up that had a hold of Alexis. About half a dozen agents had appeared, all stoic and ready to battle. Once more Gale screamed as he sunk, and the ground swallowed him whole.

Arms twisted and cold rings pinched against wrists. He was being cuffed? He would have laughed if this was a whole different situation. Coden tugged back from Alexis as Gale screamed. Surprised at how easily the mental was pulled and broken. Gales trick leaving only minor bruises and scratches on his wrist. The boy launched himself at Alexis and in turn the Dai li showed themselves. Pouring out from the walls and ceiling like roaches into the night.

Gale. Gale wasw...He was doing something to Alexis. She looked distracted. Protect Gale. The rocks came to life beneath his feet, Coden fled the immediate area, rabbiting across the floor to solid ground. Dancing a circle around Gale and Alexis, deflecting harmful debris of stone. A task harder than seemed probable. Catching a ride on a large floating rock, He distracted the attacking Dai li. Making them cast their stones at him. Then jumped away, ultimately causing them to destroy their own weapon. Forcing them to raise more earth and give him precious seconds to race up to a busy bender, grab their cloaks and swing them at another to knock out two more.

Beyond him, Gale screamed. The boy was in the earth up to his waist. Panicked for the child's safety, He raced to pluck him from the ground that dared to swallow him whole. Two steps and his foot caught. Turned to see stone creeping up his ankle. He dropped to his knee, avoiding a boulder to the side of the head. Pulled back his fist and punched the stone at his foot. Crunch and snap, his finger surely broke. Pain throbbed, but he was free. Spun into a half standing stance, kicked and redirected a boulder with brute strength. Scowled and licked the blood from his tarnished knuckles as the nanos rebuilt and healed his wounds. The blood lust raised a notch. Earth rumbled, hesitant Dai li attacked again.

A pillar erupted beneath him, carrying him to another protruding from the ceiling. He let the first vault him through the air as he jumped off the mount. Decimated an oncoming boulder with an flurry of flames and landed atop a dai li agent. Crack. A broken shoulder. He left the solider writhing in pain, his whimpers drowned out by Gales screams once more. The boy was up to his pits. Coden danced across the room again. Ducked beneath a flying fist of stone, cleared a fissure splitting his path. He rounded one Dai li agent, caught him by the neck from behind and used him as a human shield. Casting the unconscious Dai li aside, he ducked again, jumped a Dai li mere yards in front of him. They rolled across the floor, head over heels. Stopped. Feet to his chest, Coden kicked the man across the room and into another Dai li. Gale screamed once more. Just feet across from him, Gale sank deeper into the earth. Coden scrambled to his feet, slid to a stop on his knees. Seconds too late as the boy vanished and the ground became solid again.

Weakness...wekness, he showed too much weakness to them. They took his boy, he took Alexis. They took them all. They had to die now. Had to make them fear. Make them die. Make them pay. Punching the stone Floor, Coden pulled himself to his feet.
"Give them back...", he muttered quietly. stone hands flew across the room. He caught the first and crushed it in a flaming fist. The other he met fist to fist, unflinching to the pain it caused his newly bleeding knuckles. Everything he cared about. It was being taken away. He couldn't let that happen. "I'll just kill them all....Kill them and all the bad will go away." "What?", a hesitant Dai li asked as the gyspus trod across the room, lazily dispelling earth with fire or brute frontal deflections. Coden suddenly darted Across the room, the Dai li abruptly caught in his hands. "You just need to die!", He whispered fiercely, strangling the Dai li and using them as a shield. Dragging the poor fool across the room as Coden brutally let blood lust consume him and his victems. Often demanding for 'Gale' as he killed them.

Ling wasn’t prepared for this… When the dragon boy ran up and blew up the handcuffs, she expected some sort of attack. But he just touched her… He touched her and the world went dark. Her legs gave out, crumpling underneath her as the boy clung to her arms, pulling her down with him. As chaos erupted around her, Ling’s gaze was empty, staring at nothing as she was lost inside her mind with the boy.

She could see the floor and the boy in front of her…. But that meant little a the moment. She felt traces of something foreign inside her, somehow she knew it was the child…. But…. There were other things as well… Layer after layer of things that didn’t feel right, in every direction…. Suffocating her, closing in on her…… She tried to escape it…. But she couldn’t move…. Memories flashed in front of her… To just a few minutes ago, to years ago, when she just arrived her…. But then… Then there were different ones. Ones that she had never seen before…. Yet they felt so familiar…

Racing along through the trees, scenery blazing by too fast to comprehend… Staring up at the night, seeing colors and stars from a different sky than her own…. Of playing a game as a small child…. Of being on the ground, life ebbing away as blood pooled down around her, the man from before covered in her blood as well…. Of curling up next to him, comforted by his presence for reasons she couldn’t comprehend…. Only a few moments in what should have been an entire lifetime…. But it brought up very disturbing questions….

Were these real? Were they part of a trap? Which life was the true life? Who was she to blame? She was snapped back to reality, hands softly brushing the stone where the child was now trapped beneath. A name half remembered or imagined under her breath.

She sat there, frozen for the longest while… She was Ling. She had been born of the only refugees of the genocide of the Air Peoples…. She had sanctuary here in the city of Ba Sing Se, training to help the people of the city….. Right? But now…. She wasn’t so sure… Her thoughts were still muddled, everything felt numb and cold… But there was a small crack. A crack of doubt that was created from the boy’s venture into her mind…. Impossible…. But somehow, some part of her believed it.

Another part of her did as well…. Over the rage and bloodshed around her, a voice called out to her…. It sounded familiar…. Somehow….. What was it? She called back to it, not with her mouth and voice… But her inner voice… And it called back………….

“……………….Wake up…… You gotta wake up…………” It whispered to her.

“……………..Who are you?” Ling asked tentatively.

“…………..I am you……. The true you………. You need to wake up…………. I can help………..” It said, barely audible to her, mentally crawling it’s way up to the surface…………

Ling looked up, eyes focusing on the carnage around her. She rose to her feet, rather unsteadily as she observed the situation around her. Observing the remaining parties…. Until she had a few things straitened out………. Everyone was an enemy.

She raced towards the intruder, grappling with the last surviving Dai Li agent on the floor. Blasting a wall of air between them, forcing the two apart. She went quickly into a fighting stance, giving everyone weary looks…. The metallic man… the agent…. And above them, hidden from mortal sight, the leader of the Dai Li…. Her leader? Her torturer? Long Feng.

“……….Nobody move………..Tell me what’s going on now……… Or EVERYONE is going to get hurt” She said, her volume raised up, though the tone still remained tinny and hallow, trembling with fear and uncertainty.

Trapped underground. Suffocating. The walls weren't closing in, there was no more room in which they could close in on! He tried opening his mouth to scream, but couldn't. Panicking, trying to struggle. Then he dove. Red flared up. There was a sound of silence to Gale. Of stillness. Of a second stretched out beyond its years. Then he could breath again.

Gasping, panting, almost crying, he clawed his way up to the surface. There, he rested on the ground, slowly pulling his legs out of the hole he made. Cracks extended all the way across the floor, reaching the ceiling, as if clawing for the surface like Gale had done.

Bleary golden eyes scanned the cavern. Dead bodies on the floor, Coden covered in blood, Alexis, angry, scared... some man... He looked at Long Feng... some man who needed to die.

Gale groaned, clenching his teeth as he tried to pull himself up. But his body ached and he was tired. How much power did he use to get himself out?

Tucking and rolling to smoothly right himself, Coden pushed his body up form the floor and glowered briefly at Alexis. She seemed...different though. Gale must have achieved something, whatever he'd done, but she was still confused seeming. Wiping a smear of blood from his face, the Gyspus slowly started forward. “Words take too long. Deaths are faster. Easier...” It was always the easier way to get rid of the 'problem'. He didn't get far though. Something in Alexis glare was piercing enough to qualm his blood lust. Just enough to make him think. He stood still. Defensive.

“They took you away. Messed with your head. You weren't always like this. You were never apart of their world. Just yesterday we had our own house...until Angelique caused the accident that burnt it to the ground. That's when they came—“

“Ling!” Long Feng attempted to interrupt. “Ling, don't believe him. He's simply trying to trick you. Your mind is unstable. Don';t let him fool you--”

“SHUT UP! I'm not speaking to you...”, Coden hissed, casting a dangerous, leering glare at Long Feng that seemed to shake the earth he stood upon. Long Feng was stunned into a moment of silence.

“They took you all a way. You and Angel. Took you all and 'tried' to take us. Gale and I. For crimes we never committed. Peaceful 'refugees' under arrest for loosing their temporary home to a common fire?” Coden spat muddied red saliva at a Dai li's feet. “Where is my boy? Dig him up. Dig him up or I'll make you wish You buried yourselves.”

It was then that Gale simply freed himself. Gaping at the child, Coden looked as though he might scramble to help the boy up. He remained planted though; pleased enough to see him still alive. Still here.
“Ling!” Coden turned and Glowered at Long Feng. “Be silent! Your words are not worth the air you breath!”, The Gyspus growled, lunging after the Dai li leader. “Ling....the earth king has invited you to lake Lao Gai,” Long Feng muttered, as Coden came upon him, smirking.