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Absolute Power	By : whirleeq Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Aang/Katara Views: 17984 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
A/N: Sorry for the long wait… hopefully, this chapter will be worth it. It’s a little longer than my usual chapter, and chock full of metaphors ;). Eat up!

~*~

She was alone in the middle of a barren plane. Everything had been burned, destroyed; there was no other sign of life and no water anywhere. It was as if the water had forsaken her. Even the earth was scorched and the air was stagnant because the winds no longer blew.

She tried to lift her feet, to move, to run, to get away from this awful place, but found she couldn’t move. The earth underneath her was covered in slag and she was drowning. Katara cried out for help, suddenly and sharply, seeking anyone, anything that could help her find her way home. She wanted the water again – why did the water leave her? What had she done? And then, just as she thought all hope was gone, she heard the most beautiful sound – the gentle cascade of rushing water.

She pulled her feet out of the slag and slowly made her way towards the sound, each step an effort. As she got closer to the water, the slag was slowly replaced by rich brown earth, and when she finally caught sight of the river bed, a blanket of rich green grass covered the ground, standing out in sharp contrast against the sooty black of the place she had come from.

Katara wasted no time in running to the water. It was bitingly cold, but she did not care. To her, the water was heaven; a small oasis of normalcy in a world of chaos. She cupped her hands and brought the sweet fluid to her mouth, drinking it as if doing so would wash away what she had seen. And for a moment, it did.

And then a playful little breeze carried with it a scent that she had not known for many years. Fragrant and soothing, it was a derivative of arctic flowers and the snow itself. It was an unforgettable scent, very dear to her heart. The water rippled around her as she turned, her heart beating wildly.

“Momma?”

She was standing on the bank, one foot idly stirring the water, creating the ripples. She was a beautiful woman, tall and slender with skin the color of cinnamon. Her face was shaped like a heart and split by a soft, slightly upturned nose, with a set of full, rosy lips and strong cheekbones accentuating her femininity. She was fairly tall with dark, wavy hair the color of ebony pulled back into an elaborate braid, and her slender figure was accented by the simple blue dress that she wore; very similar to Katara’s own.

She opened her arms, the image strangely comforting despite the backdrop of nothingness behind her. Katara ran into her mothers embrace as the tears began to fall from her eyes. She felt safe, loved; even in this godforsaken place and if she could, she would stay there forever.

“You don’t have my necklace anymore.”

The words were painful, filling Katara with guilt and she absently raised her hand to touch the place on her neck where she was used to feeling the slight weight of the stone against her skin.

“I’m sorry Momma! I lost it… I was with Aang, and –“

“Shhh child, it’s not important. What is important is what has happened here. Look around you, my little icicle.”

The endearment caused a wash of pain to flow through Katara’s heart in remembrance. How long has it been since someone had called her that? With her mother dead and her father who knows where… in her mother’s safe arms, she shivered.

Her mother gently patted the back of her head before turning to survey the landscape with a frown.

“Look.” She commanded once more, drawing Katara’s attention to their surroundings.

As she looked around, the young water bender couldn’t suppress a gasp. The river was gone again and they were both now standing in the middle of the slag. The thick scent of burning sulfur permeated the air, making her eyes burn with tears and causing her to wheeze.

A solitary tear fell from her mother’s eyes, and when Katara felt it drop onto her shoulder, she turned to her mother with a shiver.

“How did this happen, momma?”

Her mother turned to her, her expression one of perpetual sadness. She turned her head towards the landscape once again and Katara followed her gaze. This time, the barren desert was gone, replaced with a scene of utter chaos. People were crying, screaming and clawing at each other like animals in their desperation to get away as a maelstrom surrounded them; destroying everyone and everything in its path. The ground was quaking beneath her, ripping apart to expose the molten depths below. The earth itself was dying around her, its cries in the form of thunderous booms. She fell to her knees and clamped her hands over her ears, but it wouldn’t shut it out, didn’t make it go away.

She tried to close her eyes, but opened them again when she felt her mother’s gentle hand on her shoulder. Katara shivered as she continued to watch the world she loved die all around her. To her right, a wall of fire appeared out of nowhere, indiscriminately taking down anyone unlucky enough to be in its path. All around her the ground was covered in blood while the heady, sickly sweet scent of death and burning bodies surrounded them. It made Katara gag, and she fell from her mother’s arms to the scorched earth, losing the contents of her stomach in the process.

Her mother didn’t even seem to notice since her eyes were trained upon a solitary figure in the center of all the chaos.

Katara held one hand over her mouth and nose and followed her mother’s gaze. What she saw caused her to gasp and cry out.

“NO!”

In the middle of all the chaos was a young man, one that she knew all too well, his eyes glowing with a malevolent power as all around him, the elements warred. She couldn’t watch, it was too horrible and she turned away, vaguely aware of her mother’s voice, the softly spoken words echoing through her head much louder than her own screams.

“He did this because of you…”

~*~

She woke with a gasp and shot straight up, her heart thundering in her chest, even as the memory of her dream rapidly faded out of her reach, leaving her with only a vague sense of horror and the knowledge that it had something to do with her. Belatedly, she realized she was not alone and turned to see a pair of startled, grey eyes.

“Aang?”

Her sleep fogged mind didn’t quite understand why exactly he was there, in her bed, so very close.

A pair of arms wrapped around her waist as Aang laid his head upon her shoulder, gently kissing the side of her neck and she shivered.

“Katara? Are you alright? You were shaking…” He asked, rubbing his hands up and down her back in an attempt to comfort her.

“What? Oh… uh… I’m fine, Aang… it was just a bad dream.” Katara answered, shaking minutely as the sound of screaming echoed through her head.

Aang noticed her reaction and gently kissed her, wanting nothing more than to comfort her and at the same time, wondering what it was that she had dreamed about to cause such a reaction. Katara was normally infallible – for her to be this spooked, and from a dream no less, was unfathomable. He parted her lips with his own and softly slipped his tongue into her mouth, wanting both to chase her demons away and share a little of the warmth that she had shown him yesterday.

The action startled her, causing the events of the prior day to slam into her with a vengeance. The warmth of his lips on hers was rapidly replaced by a heavy dose of both shame and guilt. What in the name of the spirits was she thinking yesterday? What had they done? Gods, what where they doing?

She couldn’t let Aang kiss her like this… he was her best friend, and it was wholly inappropriate… for more reasons than one.

Didn’t she tell him that yesterday?

She turned her head and tried to pull back and away, but was once again reminded of her injured ankle. Wincing, she pulled her leg up, brushing Aang to the side in the process as she examined the injury.

It didn’t look quite as bad as yesterday and she could probably walk on it if she were careful and shifted her weight on the other foot as much as possible. However, it was still slightly swollen and would need to remain bandaged.

She frowned as she examined the scraps of fabric that Aang had used to bind it. The perspiration from the canteen as it slowly thawed over the night had soaked through the orange fabric, rendering the binding useless.

Aang apparently saw that it needed to be replaced as well, since he was up and digging through their supplies in no time, trying not to wake Sokka in the process.

Sokka.

She hadn’t even been aware that her brother had returned, nor that he was in the room. A wild, uncontrollable fear gripped her heart as she thought of what happened yesterday. Oh god, what if Sokka had seen Aang in her bed? What would he have thought about that? Her brother may be a goofball most of the time, but he was both viciously protective of her and quick to jump to conclusions. If he had seen them, she highly doubted that he would have let it go, even with it being Aang. She could only presume based on the Avatar’s current state of breathing that Sokka hadn’t even noticed their sleeping arrangements.

With one hand she cleared the sleep out of her bleary eyes, silently watching as Aang carefully unwrapped the ruined makeshift binding on her ankle and painstakingly replaced it with some strips torn from the leftover cloth that she had used to repair Sokka’s pants.

His hands were steady, but he was blushing as he tended to her. The rosy tint traveled from his face all the way down his neck, and for the first time she noticed that he had torn the fabric of his tunic to care for her.

Gently, she lifted a hand to finger the ruined section of his shirt and frowned. It was likely that she wouldn’t be able to repair it, due to the fact that the particular silks and dyes that had been used to make the garment were products of a nation that no longer existed, thus nearly impossible to replace.

“I’m sorry about this.” She apologized, gently rubbing the fabric between her fingers. Her bottom lip pursed outwards into a pout, and she felt guilty that he had ruined his one and only tunic because of her stupidity. “I really am.”

He turned to her, his grey eyes widening a little before softening and the smile he gave her melted a part of her heart.

“It’s okay Katara… I need to get new clothes anyway. I’m tired of dressing like an air monk.”

Startled, she looked at him, wondering exactly what he meant by that, but she didn’t get a chance to ask him before he spoke again, having finished wrapping her ankle.

“Here… that should be good. Hopefully it’s not too tight. Try to move it, Katara.”

She did as he said and found the bandage to be sufficient and she smiled at him, overwhelmed with a sudden burst of affection for the young avatar.

Aang smiled at her and leaned in as if to kiss her. It was enough to snap her out of whatever haze she was in, and she turned her head to the side at the last moment so that his kiss landed on her cheek instead of her lips. Nervously, she lowered her eyes so that he couldn’t read them as she reminded herself of her resolve to stop this before it got out of hand, like it very nearly did last night.

She wanted to let him down gently, to put things back the way that they were, but struggled over the words. It was almost as if she were trying to convince herself and so for a long moment she forced herself to mentally list all the reasons why she couldn’t allow him to love her the way that he did.

She wanted things back to normal because normal was safe and when she felt safe, she didn’t wake up screaming from dreams that she couldn’t even remember. There was also the fact that the hopes and dreams of nearly two thirds the worlds’ population were riding on Aang’s shoulders, and how could he focus on defeating the fire lord if he was distracted by her? Not to mention there was that little thing that Koru had pointed out -- if word got out of Aang’s affection for her, it was likely that she could be used as a weapon against him. There were certainly officers in the fire nation that were less than scrupulous – Admiral Zhao immediately coming to mind. And besides, Aang’s responsibility to the world notwithstanding, they were too young for such an intense emotional bond. Lastly, she wasn’t even sure that as a monk he was allowed to have such a relationship. Weren’t they supposed to be chaste?

Her mind made up, she turned to him.

“Uh… Aang… we need to talk.”

He fell silent, didn’t answer her, and the air between them seemed to grow thicker all of a sudden. When she finally felt brave enough to look at him, she noticed that the color had drained somewhat from his face as if in anticipation of what she was going to say, and he was nervously rapping his fingers on the edge of the bed.

She grabbed one of his hands and pulled it into his own, startling him and he turned to face her. His eyes were filled with apprehension mixed with sadness, and she had to force herself not to turn away.

Somehow, she found the resolve and hardened her heart, trying desperately to relegate him back into safe territory; into the youth who had become her friend as opposed to the one who wanted to become her lover. When she spoke, her voice was commanding and patronizing. Even she winced slightly at the sound of it. But she was committed to what she had to say, so she forced herself to ignore the hurt, broken look that flashed through Aang’s eyes.

“Listen, Aang… about what happened yesterday. We can’t… I mean, I can’t love you like that. You’re the Avatar, you have a responsibility to the whole world. I can’t get in the way of that. “

“But… but I love you Katara! I want us to be more… I want –”

“I can’t give you what you want, Aang! Listen, Koru is an idiot, but he was right, Aang! You need to train, to focus on what you need to do and I can’t let you… can’t let you put me in the way of that!”

Her voice rose in pitch to the point where Sokka across the room mumbled in his sleep. She looked at her brother vacantly. Once again, she had forgotten that he was in the room. Her attention was brought back to Aang when he slowly slipped his hands from hers. He was shaking slightly.

“No. I won’t accept that. I can’t. There is no reason why I can’t be the Avatar and love you at the same time. It doesn’t make sense… it’s not fair… I can’t—“

“I don’t love you like that, Aang.”

Her voice cracked and her hands shook. Everything from her physical reactions to the tone of her voice belied the words that so easily fell from her lips. And she knew that it was a lie, her own heart felt like it was bleeding, but she couldn’t think of anything else to say to get him to realize that the type of relationship he wanted couldn’t happen between them. Not now… most likely, not ever. Not when he has a whole world to answer to.

Aang looked at her, stunned, his heart skipping a whole beat as the hurtful words reverberated in his head.

‘I don’t love you like that, Aang.’

He backed away, slowly, unsure of what to do, his whole world crashing down around him and he silently wished that she never woke him from his hundred year sleep and that he didn’t know the warmth of her arms or the softness of her lips.

She couldn’t possibly mean it! It wasn’t true, she was lying and trying to push him away – but when he finally looked at her, her eyes had hardened, betraying nothing to the contrary.

‘I don’t love you like that, Aang.’

And then he felt numb – completely and utterly numb. He watched Katara avert her eyes, mumbling something under her lips about needing to clean up. His eyes followed her as she grabbed some supplies from her bag and made for the door with a limp, all her weight balanced on her good leg. Absently, he felt concern for her, that she would injure herself again, but the feeling was almost immediately washed away by the cold pain that gripped his heart as the bitter truth of her words hit him like a snowball in the face.

No.

She couldn’t possibly not love him, not after the way she had reacted to him… it was a lie, it had to be a lie. She was trying to protect him in her own way. That had to be it… had to be, because the alternative was too awful for him to bear.

He watched as she opened the door with trembling hands. She turned, and for a fraction of a second, her soul was bare to him in the icy blue depths of her eyes. He saw the truth in them that she couldn’t deny, no matter how hard she tried and the squeezing pain in his chest lessened just a tiny fraction with the knowledge.

“I’m… I’ll see you at breakfast, Aang. Wake Sokka.”

And then the look was gone, replaced by the familiar mask that she always wore. He realized in that moment that she was trying very hard to convince herself that she didn’t love him because that was what she thought was best for the both of them.

But she didn’t know, she couldn’t know. How could she know that she was all he thought about anymore? That last night… holding her in his arms, kissing her like she was the very air he needed to breathe… that it had been everything to him? That he didn’t care one flying frig about the damned fire lord and his stupid war? It wasn’t his war, after all. He didn’t start it, why should he be the one to have to end it?

But Katara wanted him to end it, wanted him to learn the elements and truly take hold of his birthright. He wanted to make her happy, to be whatever she wanted him to be. He wanted to bury the fire lord if he could – for her, all for her. And to do that, he needed her, needed her to return the emotions that burned inside of him.

His eyes hardened as she walked out the door, a sudden surge of anger coursing through him, bringing the fire very near to the surface. Let her deny what had happened. Let her try to deny that she loves him as well when the truth is as clear as the element that serves her.

Let her try to relegate him back into safe territory in her mind.

It wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t let it.

And with that resolve, he took a shaky breath and stepped down, crossing the floor of the hut to wake Sokka, which turned out not to be necessary since the older boy was only feigning sleep and had heard everything.

Sokka looked straight into Aang’s eyes. He saw the pain virtually radiating of the young monk in waves. With a sigh, he sat up and cleared the sleep out of his eyes before addressing the other boy.

“Aang… just give Katara some time, okay? I don’t think she meant what she said. She can say some pretty stupid things sometimes, you know that… remember the waterbending scroll?”

Aang turned his head and nodded… it still hurt, what she had said to him that day. Perhaps Sokka was right.

Sokka watched him carefully, waiting until he saw the hint of resignation in the young monk’s eyes before continuing.

“But she’s right about one thing – you guys need to put this stuff out of your minds right now and focus on learning what you need to learn in order to defeat the fire lord.”

Aang mumbled an assent under his breath, but he really wasn’t listening to the other boy at this point. He didn’t really want to hear the words that Sokka was saying. Katara was all that he had left, and his feelings for her were so strong that there was no way he could bottle them up and deny them until after Ozai was defeated.

In fact, Sokka’s words only hardened his resolve to make Katara understand, to make her see – even if it took taking on the fire lord right now. But then reason stepped in and he sighed, knowing that he wasn’t ready. At least not yet.

But he would be soon enough. And then he would finally be free to love whom he wanted to.

“You’re right, Sokka.” He finally said, his voice soft and devoid of emotion. “I need to focus.”

~*~

“So, can you tell me why that ship has been in port for several days now?”

The tone of his voice spoke of boredom, as if he really didn’t care what her answer was, and she felt her skin bristle. It just confirmed her suspicions that the only reason she had been sent into town to investigate was because he wanted her out of the way. A fierce rage ran through her and she grit her teeth. At the very last second, she decided to keep the knowledge she had gained to herself as a lie fell from her lips with forced cheer.

“Oh, it was nothing – just a supply ship. It’s due to sail out this morning.”

Koru raised one eyebrow and folded his arms.

“Were you able to gain access to the ship?”

Confused, she nodded her head, wondering what he was on about even as she had to fight the overwhelming urge to throttle him. She couldn’t help but turn away, glaring hatefully at the wall, knowing that she couldn’t bring herself to level that gaze towards him.

“And you didn’t even bring us back any new supplies? Juri, I’m disappointed in you. I had more faith in you than that. Surely, the cargo hold of that ship probably held a wealth of items that we could of used – foods, medical supplies… weapons, even. Did it even cross your mind, or were you too occupied to even care?”

She felt her skin burn and she glared hatefully at him. Didn’t he understand what she went through each time he sent her on one of these little missions? Did he even care about her at all or was she just his tool, one that he could discard at any given moment?

”After all, we are going to need more supplies, now that the water bender is going to be staying with us.”

What?

The meaning of his words managed to penetrate her rage clouded mind, causing her to swiftly turn back towards him. The pallor of her skin had increased and her eyes radiated a combination of shock and pain. She wanted to yell, to scream, to throw herself at Koru’s feet and beg him to tell her that it wasn’t true. Yet the only thing that came out of her mouth was a softly spoken ‘Why?’

“Why, to keep her safe of course,” Koru answered as if it were obvious. “Such a delicate young girl should not be trailing after two adolescent boys, one whose sole purpose for living is to put himself directly in the line of King Ozai’s fire. No, she’ll be much safer here.” And then he paused for a moment to grab the bag of mushrooms that he had collected with Katara the day before. He took one of them out of the bag. It was a variety that she knew all too well, considering that she had used it in its powdered form, just the night before.

“She’ll be staying here, where she’s safer… by my side.” Koru continued. His eyes were so focused on the mushroom in his hands that he didn’t even notice that Juri had run out of the hut in her desperation to get out, to get away, to find a way to get rid of that awful water bender and her friends… she needed to set things right.

And then the young monk… the avatar… and the water bender’s brother brushed by her on their way towards the fire where even now, the bane of her existence was assisting Scar with the preparations for the day’s breakfast. She turned, her eyes locked on the back of the Avatar’s head and she remembered the conversation she heard on the fire prince’s ship the night before.

Oh, she knew how to get rid of her problem all right. With a crazed look to her eyes, she turned and made her way into the woods. Juri ran as fast as she could down the path that would take her to the very person who could solve her current problem, all the while hoping with all her might that his ship had not yet left.

~*~

They sat by the fire in relative silence along with Koru’s crew. To Aang’s dismay, Katara sat right next to Koru with a smile, purposely avoiding his eyes as she did so.

He wasn’t a fool, and he knew exactly why she did it. He knew that Katara thought very little of the rebel earth bender, but by sitting next to him she was saying in no uncertain terms that she could do what she pleased and that nothing at all had changed. It bothered him, but he kept his silence, knowing that he’d only have to endure Koru and his rag tag group of followers until after breakfast, and then they’d be off on Appa since the bison was now well enough to take to the air.

The thought that he should probably give Appa one more day to recover passed through his mind, but was quickly disregarded when he caught the almost possessive glance Koru was throwing towards Katara.

He had to force himself to keep his silence. He dug the bottom of his glider into the ground, idly making patterns in the dry earth around the fire pit and whistled under his breath in an attempt to shut them out. It didn’t help his mood much that he was starving, and the only thing that they seemed to be cooking was fish, and that was something that he couldn’t eat.

Peripherally, he noticed Katara leaning over to say something to Koru and then Koru smirking in response as he handed Katara a bag filled with what appeared to be… mushrooms? Against his will, his stomach growled loudly. On the other side of the fire, Katara smiled tenderly towards him, making his stomach do few more flip flops but for an entirely different reason than hunger.

She left Koru’s side and walked around the fire pit to sit next to him. And though it was immature, he couldn’t help the triumphant look he shot towards Koru when she did so. In retrospect, he should have been worried that this only caused the earth bender’s grin to widen even further, but he was too happy that despite their conversation, Katara was by his side where she belonged and he wasn’t going to let the older boy ruin it for him.

She smiled at him softly, taking a few of the largest mushrooms and poking them on the end of a large stick. She gently turned them over the fire a few times before she pulled them off and handed the whole skewer to Aang, still steaming.

“Thanks, Katara!” He said immediately, wasting no time in stuffing the mushrooms into his mouth one after the other. They were delicious, and even more so because she had thought of him enough to ensure that he was provided for. It warmed his heart and for a moment, he allowed himself to forget the harsh words she had so recently spoken. The truth of how she felt about him was present in everything that she did for him, including this, and he knew it.

When he had but one mushroom left, Momo appeared by his side. Thinking that the lemur was looking for food, he offered the last mushroom to the little primate. His little companion sniffed at it briefly, before flattening his ears to the back of his head and turning in a devout refusal to take the pro-offered treat.

“Aww, Momo… that’s not nice. Katara made them special!” Aang said with a small smile, reaching over to scratch the little guy between his ears, at the same time popping the last mushroom in his mouth.

It went unnoticed by Aang that Koru, feigning interest in the conversation he was having on the other side of the fire with Jin, was peripherally watching the avatar as he ate – a slow, confident smile gracing his face when Aang finished.

~*~

Later, Aang began to feel a bit lethargic as they were getting their things together and packing them on Appa’s back. But he wasn’t about to let it get to him – not when Appa was well enough to get them out of this place and more importantly, away from Koru.

Sokka was right there next to him, eager himself to get moving and that gave him the strength to keep going. What concerned him though was that Katara was nowhere in sight.

“Do you know where Katara is?” He asked with a yawn, unable to hide the sleepiness in his voice.

“She was just going to say goodbye – hey, Aang, are you okay?”

Sokka’s voice held a note of panic as the avatar’s eyes slowly fluttered closed and he fell to his knees, as if in a daze.

“Can’t… can’t stay awake. Something’s wrong… get… Kat…”

“Yes, that would be the mushrooms. Quite tasty, but they have a bit of a nasty after effect.” Koru’s amused voice came from behind them, causing Sokka to whip around and glare at the earth bender. Koru was smiling and had one arm around Katara, who had been both bound and gagged.

Enraged, Sokka took out his boomerang and held it out in front of him. He wanted to lop the other boy’s head off, but couldn’t since Katara was in the way. He wouldn’t attack while he was in danger of hitting his sister. And Koru knew it too, because he casually moved Katara in front of him like a shield.

“You might as well put away your little toy. I’m only doing what is in your sister’s best interest. Go on, take the kid and get out of here… Katara is staying with us.”

Sokka looked to Aang for some support, but found that the young avatar’s breathing had evened out and he had fallen into what he now knew was a drugged sleep. He turned back towards the earth bender again, his eyes narrowed into slits and filled with fury.

“You… you bastard! How could leaving her with a treacherous rat like you be what’s in her best interest? Let her go right now, or I’ll kill you.”

In Koru’s arms, Katara’s eyes widened and she started to struggle. Behind her gag, Sokka could see that the girl was moving her mouth up and down as if trying to free herself from it. The little lemur who was sitting by his fallen master had apparently noticed it too, and tried to jump over to Katara where he was repeatedly batted away by Koru.

The motion distracted Koru for just a moment, and with a cry, Sokka charged him – only to find himself flung backwards by a searing punch to the gut, as one of Koru’s groupies – Scar, he reminded himself – jumped in front of his ringleader and Katara as if to protect them. And slowly, from all around him, the rest of Koru’s group appeared, each holding either a ball of earth or a weapon.

Absently, Sokka noticed that Juri was not among them.

And when Koru next spoke, his voice was fierce and commanding, all traces of the personable earth bender who had provided for them over the past few days gone.

“You will take your friend and this piece of – vermin,” Koru began while absently swatting at Momo as the little lemur tried adamantly to get to Katara, “you will get on your beast and you will leave. Without Katara. I will not allow you to drag her on your hopeless quest to get yourselves killed. Too many innocent girls have died for the fire nation – she will not be one of them.”

The look in Koru’s eyes was adamant and slightly crazed. Despite himself, Sokka found himself taking a step backwards in fear and leaning over to pick up the slight air bender who still seemed to be in a deep sleep. He knew he couldn’t win, not when Aang was drugged, not by himself, and not against such odds. The only thing he could do is take Aang and leave for now. Hopefully, Aang would wake soon, and they could come back. He highly doubted that Koru was any match for the Avatar and apparently Koru doubted it as well, otherwise he wouldn’t have drugged the youth.

Koru’s posture seemed to relax somewhat, and he turned his head to speak to one of his men. In the split second that he was distracted, Momo managed to get on Katara’s shoulder and the little primate pulled the gag away from her mouth.

Katara did the only thing she could. She screamed.

The sound of it pierced through the drugged sleep that the young air bender was in. Sokka took a step back as the Avatar slowly rose to his feet, his mouth set in a grim line. Absently he noticed that the blue tattoo on the top of the boy’s head was starting to glow, and when the Avatar finally opened his eyes, they were an incandescent blue.

~*~

A/N: DRUM ROLL YES, it’s a cliffie of the evil variety! Sorry about that people… I will try to be quicker with the next update though. ;)

Congrats to both eeyorecorbie (who incidentally has three of my buddies on her favorite authors lists, so we know she has good taste ;) ) and to Y Sunshine on ffnet for ‘getting’ the whole chapters title thing. Yes, they’re all song titles by NIN. And yes, I am a rabid fan ;). Also, I apologize for the delay on this chapter, but I got sidetracked… fichaven.org :)
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Absolute Power