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Blue Mask	By : PatPat Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > AU/AR - Alternate Universe/Alternate Reality > Het- Male/Female Views: 11083 -:- 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
- 8
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- 10
Blue Mask, Two Swords, and Sozin’s Comet
Taming the God’s Javelins
By Pat Squared

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The night was dark.

The moon was hiding behind storm clouds.

The gods threw down their javelins from the heavens to the earth with great enthusiasm.

A deadly series of lightning strikes were hitting the city.

Everyone was inside waiting for the gods to end their little contest.

Everyone, but one man on a quest.

The slate tiles on the roofs of the city were slippery with rain.

One misstep would be his last. One misstep would ensure that the earthbenders will discovered his pulped body on the cobblestones below. The only comfort was the thought that no one would be able to identify his body. His sister, Acid Wench, would be stuck hunting down his spirit.

The thought of his sister wandering around aimlessly in circles for the next sixty years brought a smile to the face behind the mask.

In a way, that quick death would be a relief from the life he despised. He once lived by honor. Now he was nothing but the scum growing in the muddy puddles below.

Perched upon the steeple of the Earth Temple, he admired the interplay between the silent flash and concussive explosion of sound. Tonight the gods gave fitting weather to his mission.

Slowly the dark figure slid his way down the slick walls head first. If he fell, he wanted to ensure that his enemies would never be able to display him alive in a cage.

The Earthbenders are afraid of being away from the bossism of their precious element. As long as I have breath, I am fire. I climb my way up to the heavens knowing that they cannot follow me. I watch as they gnash their teeth in anger and cry in despair. This is why earth can never defeat fire.

As he slid down, he leapt off of the slick wall of the earth temple and landed in crouch among the mist covered headstones.

Two days ago, a regiment of Earth Kingdom troops returned from the front with their dead and wounded. He followed one of the dying wounded that was similar in size and shape to the old banished prince that he once was. He watched the young man’s funereal and resisted the urge to shudder in disgust when they buried him.

Earthbenders want to trap the souls of their loved ones in a stone box and let their own loved one suffer the horrors of decomposing. Tonight, I will set his soul free and allow it to travel upon the wheel once more.

The thief removed a piece of canvas tarp and a wooden shovel from his haversack. He laid down the tarp. Slowly as not to alert others to his predication, he dug into the grave, tossing the grave earth unto the tarp.

"Don’t worry. If you sacrifice your body, I will set your soul free." he whispered to the darkness.

These Earthbenders were too far away from the old Fire Nation to experience the Fire Nations predations of Earth Kingdom graves. Since the Fire Nation burned their dead, generation of Fire Nation healer-apprentices had to make midnight raids to acquire the bodies on which they mastered their medical arts. The only other supply were the bodies of criminals convicted for capital crimes, and those were reserved for the master healers as they would be dissected while still alive.

Unlike the Earth Kingdom cities near the sea, there were no elaborate coffin safes or week long wakes to ensure that a Fire Nation healer’s apprentice did not slip away with the remains of a loved one. Inland, earthbenders never even bothered with the old routine of tossing lime on the bodies to speed decomposition.

This is probably the first time in the history of this city that someone actually robbed a grave.

The fugitive actually felt giddy.

He felt a link to a past that the others in his family would publicly deny.

Kozun was once a healer and did his share of grave robbing while learning the healing arts of the Fire Nation. Tonight was time for the great-grandson of Kozun the Bastard to relive the history that did not make it into the history texts of the Fire Nation.

Just as he was about to remove the lid off of the coffin, the grave robber heard a creak and saw the light of the lantern. With an intake of breath and a slight exhale, the young thief doused the light.

A curse.

The door opened and slammed shut.

He had to work fast.

Using his knife, the young man hacked off the head and right hand of the body. The muscles were tight with rigor mortise. Cutting into the flesh of the dead took a lot more effort than the living.

With great difficulty and dousing the flame of the lantern whenever the watchman cam back out, the grave robber performed his task with relatively few interruptions. With an exhale, a prayer for Agni to keep the Earth Kingdom City Watchmen drunk, the grave robber hid the evidence of his passing.

He climbed up the north spire of the Earth Temple.

He would prepare his prizes for presentation later.

Tonight he would try to dance with the lightning.

Tonight he would risk his life to prove that with determination that he would master the art of channeling such immense power though his body.

Tonight he would succeed.

He extended his hand towards the heavens and the gods rewarded his defiance.

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The pain was too much.

He had channeled the power.

He was still alive.

However, he could not move.

All he felt was pain radiating from his chi paths.

Pain was his teacher.

Pain was the signal that his body learned that it could push itself further than his mind would allow.

Pain was all he needed.

Pain told him that he was not a total failure.

He watched as a spark traveled between his two hands.

He drew in a breath.

His eyes watered.

His mind wanted to leave his body.

His soul wanted to leave his body.

He forced the chi to flow from his body to his fingers.

He directed his finger to the head and hand he harvested.

The pain...The pain is nothing. Lightning has nothing on betrayal. Lightning has nothing compare to hearing the kids taunt the monster. Lightning has nothing compared to living while having a dead soul. Lightning has no power over you as long as you down let the pain tell you what to do.

He pulled in his chi.

The pain built up until his would swear that his eyeballs were bleeding and that his tears were blood. He pushed out his entire chi with a mighty yell.

The explosion of sound deafened him.

The bright arcing blue streak blinded him.

He was knocked unto his back.

The north steeple of the Earth Temple was falling toward the earth.

Deafened by the explosion, he felt the concussion as tons of stone smashed into the earth below.

Tonight, he would have to mediate on what happened.

He had pushed himself and now had to recover so that next time he would push himself further.

However for now, he had to get backto his wagon and tend to his injuries.

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Aang was dreaming of making little airbenders with Toph when she woke up screaming.

She was gibbering incomprehensively as Aang was trying to comfort her and slipped on her pajama top before Katara and Sokka ...

“What’s wrong …” The look on Sokka’s face Aang knew that he would have to do some explaining to his friend about Troph and the fact that he gave up being a celibate monk months ago.

“Toph’s a screamer. Gods Aang, you are a monk. You should have the decency …”

Katana pushed her brother aside.

“Sokka, be quiet you sanctimonious prude! I know about Suki and those extra midnight practices on Kyoshi Island, Chee Hong Kia (Skirt Chaser). An Lan Jiao Tao (Dickhead) do not even get me started on Princess Yue … She told me about your fascination with food and her nipples in between your horizontal exercise sessions.

"When you found happiness and love, I was happy for you. If and when I decide to give away my virtue then you play the future brother in law from hell. However, Aang and Toph deserve the same courteously that Aang and I extended to you or else I will tell Aang about the time you stuck your …

It was Sokka’s turn to be red in the face. He turned around and stomped off towards Appa.

“What’s wrong, Toph?”

“I … I am sorry that I … It can’t be true… It can’t. The gods … have allowed the Broken One to strike down the earth temple at Chongqing.”

Toph started rocking back and forth as she hugged herself to prevent shivering.

Aang hugged her Troph until her teeth cease chattering.

“It’s an ancient prophecy. When my mother’s grandmother was a girl, she was a novice in the temple during her apprenticeship as a scribe. She used to tell me stories and legends she picked up from copying all those scrolls. Once she told me about the prophecy that predicted the destruction of the known world. The sign was the destruction of the ancient Earth Temple at Xide.”

Aang searched his memories.

“There is no Earth Temple at Xide.”

“Wrong Aang, to prevent the prophecy from happening, the town fathers changed the name from Xide to Chongqing thousands of years ago. Please let me be, Katara. Something terrible happened and … I learned the tale in the ancient Earth Temple language. I am going to need time to figure out how to explain it in the trade tongue.”

Toph merely turned her tear stained face into Aang’s chest.

“Aang, I’m sorry, please don’t let me go.”

Katara stepped away from Troph’s and Aang’s tent to start cooking the dinner.

Sokka looked at his sister.

“Sorry. I promise not to tell or get mad, but have you …”

Katara looked at her stunned brother.

“Sokka, there was one boy that took my first kiss. He found my necklace and tied it around my neck. Auntie Wu was so right and so wrong when she said that I would have something special with a powerful bender and that we will be married and have lots of kids.”

“That means you are engaged. Who?”

“It doesn’t matter. He’s not a water tribesman. I doubt that he was aware of our customs and he is gone out of our lives. He now has to make his own way and our paths have split.”

“Who? Jet? Hahn?”

“Never mind, one day I may fall in love and find myself knee deep in children. However, I don’t know when or with whom I am going to love. I have been infatuated about a couple boys. Girls fantasize and I have done my share. But all I ever had was that one kiss. You still have to stick around and pretend to protect my virtue for a while. You start fishing and I will stare preparing breakfast.”

The sun was well above the trees when Troph finally let go of Aang. She kissed him tenderly and slid into her robes. She rummaged through her pack and set aside the package of tea that Katara prepared for her. She put it back and grabbed the package of ginseng tea instead.

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“It was just a legend written down by a scribe that was far too long lost in the great libraries of Ba Sing Sing. The world would face its greatest danger when the descendant of an Avatar and a handmaiden is cast out in hate. He shall sacrifice the soul of a loyal son of the earth god Tu Di Gong to the god of fire Agni. He shall bait the dragoness and steal away her young. He shall steal the javelins of the gods when they war.

“His coming shall spell the end of one world and the birth of another.

“The Broken One is forged by the spirit of Kuan Ti, the War God, in adversity. Lei Kung, the God of Lightning, shall grant his power and one so have no power over him. The Broken One shall descend from a line of followers of P’an Chin Lien, the goddess of prostitutes. He shall be more devious than the great tricksters whose name is never mentioned unless we desire misfortune. The wheel of destiny shall turn the path ordained by fate upon a new path. Heaven and hell shall tremble at his will, for if he steps out of the shadows not even the gods can make him stop.”

Toph sat silently.

“When the Broken One tore down the spire, I lost my ability to feel what was happening. The vibrations are bouncing off one another like echoes in a cave. It’s like when someone hits you and you feel disoriented. I can sense you all, but more than twenty or thirty paces and its all jumbled up. The vibrations make me nauseous. All I know is that Chongqing should be our next destination. However, Chongqing is a city with no loyalties to either Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, only its purse strings."

Toph lifted her face towards the sun. She took in a deep breath.

“It has long been dominated by the ancient Fire Nation merchant houses. All that changed with the war was the Earth Kingdom factors ‘nationalized’ the Fire Nations trade concerns. The problem was that most of them were cousins to the Fire Nation merchant houses so everything is owned by the same families, just the names have changed and any firebenders that pop up in the family tree are hidden much like I was. What used to be the hub of the gem trade is now run by smugglers. Anything can happen in Chongqing.

"I have a confession to make. I lied when I told you my parents allowed me to go with you on this journey. If you feel that I..."

Katara grabbed the blind girl. "You are not being haul back to that cage. I did not travel the world to find my little sister so that her family can hide her from the world.I will turn anyone who tries into frozen saltlicks."

Toph smiled a weak smile.

Katara smiled back, "If some schmuck attempt to paw me, you would fling a stone right were it hurts the most.

Aang and Sokka winced at the thought.

“Unfortunately, I am related to a couple of these ‘loyal’ earth kingdom merchants. Great-Grandpa liberated one of the biggest houses. However, my uncles and most of my cousins will follow my father bidding. So once in town, Aang and I have to lay low. Anything can be bought and sold including slaves in Chongqing if one only has the coin."

"In speaking of coin, we have a problem!"

"What is it?"

"In the Earth Kingdom, Hell is defined as being in Chongqing without money. No coin and they will let your corpse rot in the street where it falls. There is no such thing as generousity or gratitude in Chongqing."
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Blue Mask