Chapter Text
Chapter 1 – A Garden Without Weeds
When Aang heard noises, sounds that resembled human voices from the nearby hallway, he felt like he was struck by something powerful – Sokka’s eyebrows furrowed while Katara just looked confused. The Water Tribe boy took out his trusty boomerang, Aang gripped his hand’s fingers on the staff – yesterday, he saw Gyatso’s grave – someone buried him, but on the grave was lying his mentor’s necklace. It wasn’t too hard to connect the dots and the last airbender connected easily to the Spirits – Katara and Sokka were able to calm him down but the pain still lingered the next day. The twelve year old just couldn’t wrap his head around it – his people, culture and even bending were all wiped out, with Aang being an exception to that rule. Everything he ever had was all but lost, it was all snuffed out in a single night like a blown out flame on the candle.
They all followed the source of the noises, with Sokka leading them and Katara closing the group’s end – the eldest boy reached out of the wall and his eyes widened – not in recognition but from shock. He slightly lowered his weapon but his movements remained vigilant, his eyes focused and guarded against external threats. Aang couldn’t see anything past Sokka, so he chose another route – he entered the hall from the hidden entrance – no one noticed anything due to his light steps, characteristic for airbenders. He sat under the column, gripped his staff tight and glanced beyond the stone cold pillar.
There was a group sitting there, in a circle – a girl around his age in a brown poncho that covered the rosy pink tunic, beige loose pants and black boots – she had her raven black hair cut to her shoulders, tan skin tone and dark brown eye, one which was covered by her hair and piece of hazelnut material. On her back, she had a glinting katana in leather sheath and a small plain pouch lying on her knees.
On her right was a boy, Sokka’s age – he had short dark brown hair that was roughly cut, pale skin and narrow golden eyes. On his right cheek he bore a healed mark that resembled a cut from a knife or a sword – it began around the corner of his mouth and ended at the end of his head’s temple. He wore a brown – gray simple tunic with long sleeves, fastened with a belt, baggy pants in shade of mellowed out green tea and long knee length shoes.
What also Aang noticed were the awful scars that littered his left hands fingers and wrist – those were marks from all kinds of wounds. Burn injuries, poison or knife wounds were covering his knuckles, and also the protected side of his palm of his hand. The boy had twin swords lying on his back, slightly shaking under his slightest movements and a slim leather bag wrapped around his torso.
On the girl’s left was a man, most of his head was covered by a black balaclava helmet and the same coloured connected hood, only his blue eyes were visible out of his small white mask – the guy was obviously packed, muscles were to be noticed from underneath his yellow sand sleeveless tunic and plain cool gray haori along with loose dark red pants – unlike the other two, he wasn’t carrying any weapons. What the young Airbender saw instead were heavy gauntlets that were lying near the campfire.
On the girl’s opposite was also sitting a man, in an airy tree brown sleeveless shirt with a top of it, lampart skin coat on his shoulders. He had medium length black hair, slight facial hair on his face and hazy cocoa brown eyes along with pale skin – on his lap was resting an orange cat and his other one, a wooden bat with steely blades carved into it.
“There’s so much food here, Terry – and out of all of it, you just had to choose some fuckass berries?” – the girl said annoyed
“Look, I was trying to hunt three snakes at once” – Terry tried to defend himself –”And at least I emerged with those berries. And they’re quite tasty, Buddy”.
“Berries won’t keep you sumptuous for long, shithead”
“Alright, that’s enough. Next morning we’re all going fishing” – the golden eyed boy chimed in –”I’ll pick up some veggies and we’re going to have grilled fish with some tasty plants. How does it sound?”
“Everything sounds good except for those shitty berries” – Buddy snarled
“As long as it’s tasty and eatable” – Terry said
“I-It’s g-good, Zuko” – the masked man stuttered out
“How long are we going to stay inside this…I don’t know…this place?” – the girl asked, visibly irritated with the change of the topic
“For a couple of weeks, this temple is a good place to crash out. We’ll gather enough supplies and then start our journey to Ba Sing Se” – Zuko explained calmly
“I thought we were going to hunt Zhao down” — Buddy questioned with eyebrows furrowed —“That fucker almost cooked us alive in that forest”
Aang noticed Sokka’s expression on the other side of the hallway — his face was grim but his eyes remained focused. Now they knew — those people were after Zhao, who almost killed them.
“And what are you going to do with him? Impale his head on a wooden spike or break his back so he would never move again?” — Terry stated half serious half joking
“No, I want to stab his eyes out and then amputate his left leg. Then he would be someone that looks like out of some weird legend” — Buddy replied coolly
Aang almost vomited on the spot — the girl talked about harming someone else so severely and easily, like she did for years with lots of experience to back up with. The young monk noticed Katara’s horrified expression, her skin tone a shade paler and Sokka’s darkened look with revelations.
“Look guys, I would also love to roast Zhao alive or behead him and then feed his body to the pigs but survival is the biggest priority” — Zuko held his hand up to stop all the killing fantasies —“We buy and gather as much supplies as we can, and in two weeks we hit the road. And please don’t threaten thugs with permanently crippling them”
Aang wanted to breathe a sigh of relief — there was someone inside the group (outside the quiet bulky guy) who was reasonable and didn’t have the obvious murderous intentions.
That was until the airbender heard Zuko’s next sentence in his usual snarky voice.
“We cannot run around and decapitate thugs. Not only we will have bounties on our heads but also it’s too much trouble the clean up the killing scenes” — the golden eyed teenager added calmly
“It’s so fucking weird here” — Buddy huffed
“It’s only weird because we were stuck in that shithole of Olathe” — Zuko scoffed — “Things aren’t that hopeless here. Here we have clean water, food and clothes. And most of the people are not actively trying to painfully kill you or on how to invent a time reversing machine from a half melted trash can”
“I-It’s really different h-here” — the muscled guy spoke up —“S-so many f-forests and p-plants and p-people”
“I know, there are so many villages here full with different people” — Zuko nodded —“It’s different from what I remembered, the war is coming to an end and it’s going to commence violently. Which is why we need to get to Ba Sing Se before Fire Nation kills us first”
The teenager grabbed a handful of berries and threw them into his mouth. Aang spared the group a long last look before silently disappearing behind the hidden entrance — on quiet steps, the young airbender ran towards Katara and Sokka who retreated from the hidden location.
“We need to get out of here fast, Aang!” — the Water Tribe boy exclaimed
“How dare they talk like that?!” — Katara furiously scoffed
“We can’t, I cannot allow them inside the temple!” — Aang talked back to Sokka, not realizing that he started yelling —“I…I’m the Avatar, I need to do something!”
Sokka crossed his arms on his chest with a furious huff, a hand on the handle of his favourite boomerang.
“Don’t you get it, Aang?! We don’t know how strong those guys are! We even die, they’re not afraid to kill” — the blue eyed boy snapped —“I get that they’re nuts and bad but I prefer to stay with limbs intact and without a severed neck”
Amidst the argument, Katara turned away on her foot only to be met with sharp golden irises and sharply cut messy dark brown hair. She yelped but it was too late — the hilt of the twin sword hit her in the back of her neck. Katara was barely conscious due to Zuko's intent — he didn’t want to knock her out.
Moments later the katana-wielding girl and a masked muscular man appeared near Aang and Sokka. In seconds Katara’s family were rendered unconscious and their wrists bound with a piece of an old cloth.
“What do you want from us, Water Tribe girl?”
“You’re wasting your time, Zuko” – Buddy snarled with her arms crossed on her chest –”She won’t fucking talk, for fuck sake, they could be sent after us by those Northern Water Tribe shitheads”.
Aang stirred inside the bounds – he slowly opened his eyelids, noticing that it already went dark outside. Appa was sleeping peacefully near the main entrance to the hallway, with few moonpeaches close to his jaw.
“Looks like the airbender is awake” – Terry spoke up while polishing his wooden bat with blades –”Zuko, Buddy one kid just woke up”
The girl snapped her head towards Aang’s direction – her katana was unsheathed, slowly waking with an expression like it was carved in ice and immovable like a rock. Her cool gaze swept through the young monk, the edge of her sword near Aang’s neck vein – the bald boy gulped loudly, stirring inside his bounds. Zuko, the golden eyed teen raised his eyebrows seeing Aang’s attempts to escape and then he shook his head in disapproval.
“It’s no use, you have multiple layers of ropes and chains on your wrists and ankles” – the boy spoke up curtly –”The other Water Tribe kid should wake up any minute now – by the way, you took your sweet time, you were unconscious for half a day”.
Buddy crouched down to his level and looked him in the eye.
“Who are you? Why are you here?” – the girl demanded
“Don’t answer her, Aang!” – Katara yelled while being bound with ropes to another column on the other side of the hallway
“It’s good to know your name, Airbender ” – Zuko immediately chimed in with a small grin, much to the waterbender's frustration and worry –”You revealed your cards too easily, Water Tribe girl. What did you expect? You’re the one who is held captive not the other way around”
“Are you going to answer me or you will be just another annoyance to us, like your nuisance of a friend?” – Buddy pressed on, Aang sweated at the thought of what that katana could do, on which he slowly nodded –”Good, then let me ask you one last time. Why. are. you. here?”
“It is…it was my home. I was raised here” – the monk honestly revealed
“Lies. Air Nomads were wiped out of the map many centuries ago during the Sozin’s Comet” – Zuko hissed irritated –”Tell her the truth, you better be honest”.
“H-He’s t-telling t-the truth” – the bulky masked guy suddenly spoke up, stuttering almost every word –”I-I c-can s-see it”.
“You sure, Rando?” – the edge in Zuko’s voice significantly dropped down but his eyes remained sharp and vigilant, assessing every Aang’s move –”It sounds more like some kind of weird story thing rather like an actual real life scenario”.
Rando nodded firmly – Buddy sighed and dropped her katana down but didn’t hide her sword inside her sheath on her back.
“Now that we know who you are, Airbender and why are you here…here’s my last question” – Zuko took the initiative from now quiet Buddy –”We know from the Water Tribe girl that all three of you eavesdropped on our talk around the campfire. After hearing what we said, what did you want to do with us?”
“Answer him properly and honestly” – the black haired girl warned him with a scoff and a snarl on her face –”If you lie, I won’t hesitate to break your leg or twist your ankle”.
“B-Buddy, d-don’t d-do t-that” – Rando chimed in softly but with unusual firmness in his voice
“Alright, then we’ll just knock them all out unconscious and take their supplies away” – the girl reasoned while rolling her eyes
Aang observed the word exchange with a pale face and a shiver going through his back – he sweatdropped, multiple bad scenarios rushing through his terrified mind. He glanced at Katara who was horrified but also furious, anger twisting her face – Sokka was still unconscious while Appa was sleeping with a few moonpeaches lying near the sky bison.
“So? What did you want to do with us?” – Zuko cut in, going back to the topic with a sharp voice
“I…I don’t know” – Aang sighed defeated –”Look, monks raised me to value all life, which is why I’m a vegetarian. I cannot bring myself to kill and when I heard talking about killing so casually, I didn’t know how to react”.
“What the fuck is a vegetarian? Another fancy word?” – Buddy scoffed
“It’s a person who doesn’t eat meat – they don’t even consume fish meat” – Zuko explained with his eyebrows furrowed –”When a person decides to become a vegetarian, it’s connected to their way of thinking. Anyways – all three of you will remain tied, with exception for food and pee breaks. Your fate will be decided tomorrow morning. Rando, keep an eye on them, we’ll discuss what to do next”.
The muscled masked man nodded firmly while the other members of the group stood up and walked out of the hallway through the main entrance, out on the courtyard shrouded in the veil of the night.
Buddy leaned on the stone fence, her eyes wandering around the landscape around her. It had so many mountains filled with trees and fresh green flora. Compared to the hot wasteland of Olathe, it was stunning and endearing – especially for Buddy who spent her entire life either only inside her dug – out dwelling with Brad and his pals or seeing sandy deserted land filled with Joy Mutants and ruthless killers, out for Buddy due to the bounty or to pleasure their own twisted desires.
“So, what are we going to do with them?” – Zuko addressed the obvious elephant in the room with his arms crossed on his chest
“If it was up to me, I would break one leg for each member of their group, steal their supplies and get the hell out of here” – Buddy spoke her mind bluntly, no hiding from her intents –”Zuko, they could be one of those fucking snakes sent after us by the Northern Water Tribe. Leaving them unharmed poses danger to us”.
“If we hurt them, then we’ll have another enemy to deal with in the future” – Terry noticed –”Rumors circle that Zhao is after the bald kid – if we let them go unscathed then they could become our allies. The enemy of my enemy is my friend kind of thing. It will only benefit us in the future”.
Zuko tapped his foot against the cold stone floor, his eyes squinted and his eyebrows furrowed heavily, implying that he was thinking through all the options – both Buddy and Terry had their points. Rando would probably vouch for letting them go, knowing his true nature and future goals.
“We can combine both of your solutions” – Zuko decided after a few minutes of intense thinking –”We can force them to cooperate with us – we’ll let them go unscathed but under specific conditions. They’ll aid us in taking out Zhao and his crew out of the picture and deal with the soldiers that Northern Water Tribe keeps sending after us”.
Terry nodded, seeing Zuko’s reasoning.
“It can work but we have to play our cards right” – the black haired man replied –”But what if they refuse our deal?”
“Then we go along with Buddy’s plan” – the golden eyed teen said coldly –”We knock them out unconscious, steal their remaining supplies and get the hell out of there. Besides the Water Tribe girl heavily implied that they’re going North, it’s a small chance that we’ll meet again. How does that sound?”
Buddy lazily shrugged, meaning that she didn’t hate the idea and Terry slowly nodded albeit it seemed that he liked Zuko’s plan.
“Alright. I’ll talk with Rando and then we’ll deal with them in the morning”
Buddy kicked the nearby pebble and went back to the hallway – Katara kept sending her furious glances which the scarred girl returned with an icy, acute glare which made the waterbender look away in different directions. Aang however was more curious rather than angry or terrified of her – Buddy grabbed the nearby bag and took out a bottle green sleeping bag along with an additional pillow. She didn’t need another blanket, Brad’s poncho was doing its job well.
When Terry returned, Zuko took out Rando on the courtyard. Their talk however was taking forever – Buddy didn’t hear everything, since they kept whispering – in the end Rando nodded but remained outside. He was watching the starry sky from behind the mask, his big hands on stone reeling.
For Aang, it hinted that they weren’t all cruel and disregarding human life – no…it seemed like it was a taught behaviour. Shaped by experience and made to protect the group – but the young couldn’t help but wonder. What caused this?
“Wake up” – a gruff feminine voice spoke up
Aang opened his eyes only to see the hallway shrouded in faint sunlight of the morning – he yawned and glanced at angry, frustrated Water Tribe siblings. Rando took them out separately on the pee breaks while Zuko gave them some food for supper before going to bed – he pretty much shoved it right into their mouths, but it was better than a painful empty stomach.
“Good, all of the three of you are awake” – Buddy nodded but not quite satisfied –”We have a proposal to make, Zuko here will explain the whole deal”
Aang’s ears perked up – so they were willing to negotiate. Katara scoffed disgustedly while Sokka just groaned, like he was sensing some kind of bad omen. The golden eyed teen emerged from the right entrance, his hair wet probably from the morning shower.
“Like Buddy said, we offer all three of you a proposal” – Zuko stated calmly –”We heard that Zhao is after you, Airbender. We can work with that – that damned Admiral almost burned us alive, we want him out of the picture. So here is our deal – we’ll let you unharmed and in exchange you and your friends will help us to deal with Zhao and Northern Water Tribe troops. We don’t ask to kill them, but to simply convince them to let us go, given your authority as a probable Avatar”.
“And if we refuse?” – Katara snarled
“Then we knock you out, take all of your supplies and leave your group to fend for yourself without your important stuff” – Buddy chimed in curtly
Everybody went silent, waiting for the deal to commence (or not).
“We…we agree” – Aang replied quietly
“WHAT?!” – Katara and Sokka both yelled in unison