The Invasion | II.

Zero Seconds

 

 

 

 

 

"Who are you and why are you floating around in glowing, emerald ice caps?"

 
Sundi is aware of how ridiculous she sounds but is thoroughly afraid of the boy sitting before her. 
 
He had grabbed her, wrapping a thin arm around her shoulders, and they had emerged from the water in a whirlwind. Once on surface he had collapsed and thus his current position, sitting before her with a borderline creepy grin. 
 
There's a small pause before her question seems to register. The boy's eyebrows knit in confusion while Sundi doesn't move an inch, arms crossed stiffly in front of her chest as her eyes never stray from the boy, on guard.
 
"Um, I'm Seungyeon, the avatar" He beams. 
 
Sundi is slightly perplexed at his introduction and opens to voice her doubt only to let out a startled scream at the sudden appearance of a bison with seemingly glowing strips of fur. 
 
"Can you please stop screaming? You're scaring Joo " Seungyeon  asks politely, rubbing the Bison's fur with gentle  affection.
 
"It's scared of me when I should be scared of it" Sundi scoffs, eying "Joo" wearily.
 
"Please don't refer to him as "it" you're hurting his feelings" Seungyeon chides, scratching Joo's fur gently. 
 
Both the bison and Seungyeon look offended. Sundi rolls her eyes because it's really ridiculous, all of it, she thinks.
 
"You said you were the avatar?" She opts for and Seungyeon grins, nodding vigorously. 
 
"Who's the avatar?"
 
Jongin chooses that opportune moment to come stumbling up, drenched from head to to toe, eying Seungyeon and Joo wearily through his soaked bangs. 
 
"Nice of you to join us" Sundi comments dryly earning a glance from Jongin to which she ignores.
 
Seungyeon glances between the pair, grin still in tact as leans against Joo, choosing to end the brief silence that follows.
 
"I'm the avatar"
 
Jongin laughs as if a joke and it's the funniest thing he's ever heard. It's only when he realizes he's the only one laughing does he stop, in fact, Seungyeon looks rather offended while Sundi just looks plain worried. 
 
"Let's go back now" He mutters, grabbing her hand to make leave. 
 
Leave it to Jongin to want to leave now that there was an actual reason to stay, Sundi thought blandly. 
 
"I don't want to go back just yet" Sundi whines, mocking Jongin's earlier protests, snatching her hand away. 
 
Unaffected by his deadly glare, she just shrugs, meaning they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. 
 
"Look, this kid clearly isn't the avatar-" Jongin starts impatiently, clearly losing his temper, if the furrowing of his eyebrows and crossing of his arms were any indication. 
 
"I'm not a kid and I am the avatar" Seungyeon interrupts, starting to look upset himself. 
 
"Yeah, and I'm an air bender" Jongin adds with the roll of his eyes, but Seungyeon looks genuinely excited. 
 
"You are? Me too!" He exclaims, eyes wide joy.  
 
"Clearly, something is wrong with him" Jongin mumbles sourly. 
 
"Seungyeon, Jongin is not an air bender" Sundi states gently.
 
She was starting to worry. Something was off about Seungyeon surely. 
 
"He's not?"
 
"What? Do you really not know what's going on kid?" Jongin spits, frustration evident in his tone as he runs a hand roughly through his hair. It was always a rather touchy subject for him. 
 
"Why do you say that?" Seungyeon questions, in a mixture of curiosity and dread. 
 
Sundi smiles melancholy, wobbly and miserable, and even Jongin looks slightly remorseful. 
 
"There aren't anymore air benders, Seungyeon. There was a mass genocide of the air tribe. We are in war, Seungyeon"
 
 
 
 
 
____
 
 
 
 
"What if he really was the avatar?"
 
 Sundi asks hours later when the sun has sunken low in the horizon and there they lay in their hut, curled up on the floor mats, the chill lulling them to sleep. 
 
"Don't be ridiculous-" Jongin starts, flipping over on his other side to regard her with annoyance. 
 
"But-" She interjects only to be silenced by Jongin's look of impatience and snarky reply. 
 
"I don't want to hear anymore about that freaky kid" He snaps. 
 
Sundi abruptly quiets as any conversation is fruitless at this point, when Jongin gets like this. Silence envelopes the pair as they drift into states of unconsciousness. 
 
All too soon, Jongin tenses and rolls onto his back. Sundi just barely catches the look he gives her before it dawns on her, but it's already too late. 
 
She hears the shouting before she feels it, the most searing pain in her stomach. It's piercing, excruciating and she rolls onto her side in attempts to alleviate the pain. She's pretty sure her stomach has just been stomped on but doesn't have much time to dwell on it as she crawls forward as best as she can, only to be yanked up by the hood of her coat and tossed out of the hut all together. 
 
By the time she manages to get on her feet the hut is already ablaze. 
 
"Jongin!" She called out, because she wasn't sure if he was still in there or not, but the sound of more footsteps made the decision for her if she should stay or not and she took off toward the front of the village. 
 
The entire village was afire. Every tent, every place Sundi had embedded into her heart since she was a child, her home, was burning down. 
 
There was screaming, yelling, children crying and people scurrying this way, others running that way, pure chaos. The fire benders had them severely outnumbered, it was obvious, but they surely would not go down without a fight. 
 
The sudden attack was puzzling but Sundi didn't really have much time to dwell on it.
 
"Help! Help!" A sobbing woman caught her attention and Sundi hurried over, still clutching her stomach tightly.
 
"My baby is in there!" The woman shrieked , rapidly pointing at a burning hut. 
 
Sundi could hear the little girl's broken whimpers from inside, but that was all she really needed to hear. 
 
She reminded herself to focus as she scrambled to the nearest body of water, with someone's life on the line she needed to act quickly and remain as calm as possible. 
 
She watched the water come to life as she hovered her palm over it. Taking a deep breath she moved quickly to the hut, watching it trail behind her, hastily releasing it on top of the hut. 
 
The fire was soon disbursed and with that task done she rushed into the hut just as the roof collapsed. The smoke filled her lungs just as the charred wood hit her back and she squeezed her eyes shut. She held on tightly to the child, covering her with her body as the hut collapsed. 
 
There was a small pause in which all Sundi could hear was the little girls muffled sobs and all she could feel was the vibrations from her uncontrollable shaking. 
 
The haze was broken by an agonized shriek. 
 
Sundi's heart dropped as she could feel the ash and charred wood being removed quickly. The shriek had belonged to the mother surely. 
 
"Mama" The little girl whimpered and Sundi's heart broke at the watery, crystal blue eyes she could see through her ash covered face. 
 
She had no time to provide comfort however, as the last of the rubble was removed and she was yanked, once again, by the hood of her coat.
 
She was expecting to see the child's mother or another fellow tribe member, Jongin even, not a fire nation soldier. 
 
He was dragging Sundi over the rubble and she could barely register the pain on her lower body as she was dragged away from the little girl who was surely unconscious, slouched in the rubble, and her mother, restrained by another fire bender, in a mixture of sobbing and shrieking. 
 
He was not an ordinary fire bender Sundi noticed. 
 
He was more pristinely put, more immaculate. He walked with his head held high. The boy was pale, a sharp contrast to his dark hair and even darker, sharp eyes. He was of normal height but appeared taller due to his stance. 
 
"You have something I need" The deepness of his  voice didn't quite match the delicacy of his face. 
 
Sundi only realized she hadn't responded when he huffed in frustration, dropping her completely. She winced as she hit the ground, the pain in her back flaring up pain from her, surely bruised, stomach. 
 
She flinched when he dropped to his knees before her, clutching the front of her shirt as he pulled her forward. 
 
There was no more fighting, her people subdued and everyone watched in anticipation of what the exiled prince would do to the helpless water tribe girl. 
 
"Where is the avatar?" 
 
There is a small pause in which Sundi attempts to speak but can't manage to move . Her face is covered with ash and soot, eyes watering, and the pain she is in is causing her to freeze up. That and the flurry of emotions she feels are leaving her momentarily paralyzed.
 
The boy is outraged at her lack of her response and displays it as he grips her shirt tighter. He shoves his other hand in her face and that's when she notices the flames dancing on his palm, a silent threat. He then repeats slowly and quietly. 
 
"I'm only going to ask this once more, where is the avatar?"
 
"That's no way to treat a lady" 
 
A voice speaks up from behind and soon after appears a young man who doesn't seem much older than the boy. He was much taller and thinner than the boy, but his skin was just as pale and his hair just as dark. Whereas the boy had a severity about him, the young man had a much more calmer disposition, that and he was sipping on a cup of tea as if there wasn't an invasion taking place.
 
"Yixing-" Kyungsoo starts, voice thinly veiled with frustration and barely restrained anger.
 
"I'm out of tea. We'll have to take a trip to-" The young man, Yixing, babbles, looking rather thoughtful as he clutched his tea cup delicately. 
 
"I'm busy!" Kyungsoo snarls.
 
"Busy beating up a startled girl who surely isn't the avatar, you mean-" Yixing states calmly despite the others obvious frustrations. He simply took another sip of his tea.  
 
"Surely she knows where he is!" Kyungsoo exclaimed, shaking Sundi like a rag doll and she whimpered weakly as she could feel the heat from the flames in his palm. 
 
"I'm right here" 
 
There was a series of gasps, people stood, eyes wide and mouth open in disbelief. Even the fire benders themselves appeared shocked. 
 
There Seungyeon stood, brows furrowed and lips pursed, clutching his staff tightly. He appeared to be biting back tears and Sundi's felt her heart break as Seungyeon  had probably confirmed for himself the genocide of his fellow air benders. 
 
Yixing's eyes narrowed as he shoved his tea at the nearest person, a fire nation soldier who stumbled and spluttered. 
 
Kyungsoo, on the other hand, smirked, dropping Sundi once more, whom rolled over and curled up in pain. 
 
"Avatar" Is all he says before launching himself at Seungyeon. 
 
 
 
 
___
 
 
 
 

A/N: Uniqs Seungyeon is our avatar! He is very bright and youthful so I figured he'd suite Aang perfectly. Also Yixing is Iroh because I figured he'd suite the role of "tea a addict who has to deal with exiled brat" perfectly (he is not Kyungsoo's uncle though, they are cousins) (Yes Sundi is very weak also)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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MadisonMalaika
#1
Chapter 2: Can I just say that Water Tribe!kai is perfect. If I saw Kai in Inuit clothing, I think I would die. Was not expecting Lay to be Fire Nation but I can imagine it now
MadisonMalaika
#2
Chapter 1: Lay would make a great avatar. Oooh, Tao as toph?? (Don't listen to me lol) i actually really like this already, and I'm suprised because I tend to be very picky. Question: is that nicki Minaj lol? Keep up the good work! Looking forward to the upcoming chapters