Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Avatar: Doomsday ❯ Scarred Reflections ( Chapter 7 )

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story aside from my own original characters and concepts. Avatar: The Last Airbender and all of its characters are property of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I own nothing and make nothing from this work.

Summary: Takes place shortly after The Boiling Rock, Part 2. Ever wonder what happened to Mai and Ty Lee during Sozin's Comet? Prison escapes, chimera monsters, freakish firebenders, secret takeovers, dragons, sibling rivalries, and evil spirits. It's all here.

Blah. It's been way too long since my last update and I apologize. What with college back in full swing and athletics going on I just haven't had time to get all my homework done, let alone write thing. On top of that, I've lost the Avatar bug that was constantly in my ear to write this. Now by no means does this mean that I intend to leave this story but I have a feeling it won't be as easy to write as before. At least not until I pick up Seasons two and three on DVD! So, without further ado…

Enjoy!

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Chapter 7: Scarred Reflection

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Raijin walked soundlessly off the ship, his shadow dancing in the silver moonlight, and the smell of the sea assaulting his nose. A soft breeze ruffled his clothes slightly as he followed Piandao and Bumi to the tents, the girls not more than a step behind him.

“Well, here we are,” Bumi cackled. “Old people camp!”

“Raijin, you will be in this tent here,” Piandao waved a hand at a small tent beside him. “And you ladies shall be in a tent just a bit further down the row. Please follow me,”

Raijin entered his tent and looked around. The furnishings were scarce - a spare throw rug, basic bedding, a tea set and small stove, and unsurprisingly, a pai shÅ set - but he would be able to manage quite easily. Prison was much less accommodating than this, Raijin noted.

Raijin stretched and removed his shirt, tossing it on the ground as he started to prepare for bed. Not more than three seconds later, Ty Lee burst through the cloth doorway. “Rai, we need to…” she took in Raijin's mild state of undress. True, she had seen him in less at Kurosaka but he had been covered in layers of dirt and grime with his face hidden behind an untamed mane of hair. But now all that was gone. Her face flared red she finished her thought. “…talk.”

Raijin cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his bare chest. “You know, generally it's more polite to knock before entering. I mean, what if I had been naked?”

If possible Ty Lee's face grew even redder as she tried to stutter out an answer. Raijin laughed, relishing in the feeling. “Its fine, Ty Lee. Come on in,”

He turned around and bent down and plucked his shirt from the ground. He heard Ty Lee gasp slightly. “Rai, you're back!”

“Huh? What's wrong with it?” He craned his neck to look at it but quickly gave that up as a bad job. “Is there something wrong with it?”

The acrobatic girl shook her head, her blush fading as she became more comfortable. Clothed or not, Raijin was still Raijin and one of her oldest friends. “Not really, it's just those cuts on your back from that monster we fought in prison.”

“Oh,” Raijin relaxed slightly and sat on the bed. “What about them?”

“They look a little infected. Do you want me to look at them?”

“Didn't know you were an acrobat and a doctor all rolled into one.” He chuckled again. “But yeah, it would probably be for the best. Don't suppose you know where a med kit is though, do you?”

The girl shook her head and shrugged. “I don't need one though. I've had more than enough practice patching myself, Mai, and Azula after our fights, so I've learned to carry a little one where ever I go.” The girl pulled out a small box from her pocket and walked around to the other side of the bed, kneeling behind Raijin. “Now let's see here,”

She ran her fingers over the three gashes slightly. The area around the cuts had bruised to a pale mix of yellow and green, which was good, but the cuts themselves were tinged with the milky white color that suggest infection. The infections did not look to deep though so it wasn't much to worry about.

“So,” Raijin prodded. “What was it you wanted to talk about before?”

“Oh,” Ty Lee quickly withdrew her hands and fumbled with the tiny latch on her medical box. “I wanted to talk about earlier, on the ship.”

Raijin remained silent, waiting for her to begin. She pulled a small jar of ointment from the med box. Dipping her fingers in the cool cream she began to talk. “I wanted to apologize about how I acted then.”

Raijin hissed when her fingers made contact with the cuts. “Sting?”

He shook his head. “Nah, whatever you're putting on it is just cold.”

She smiled slightly. “Sorry about that,”

“Don't worry about it, or about the ship thing. I know that Azula's your friend and I shouldn't have said that if front of you. I'm sorry.”

“Don't be,” she carefully massaged the ointment into the cuts. “You were just being honest…and you're probably right.”

Ty Lee felt his tense under her fingertips. “I am?” he asked.

“Me and Mai had a talk while you were with General Iroh. A long time ago, back when the three of us were in the Academy, Azula was one of our closest friends. But after the Academy we all went our separate ways and we started to drift apart more and more. When we met again Azula had…changed. Her aura was more malevolent and dark.” Raijin snorted softly. “Okay, darker than before.

“Instead of being satisfied with being the leader of us, she began to want more. She began to treat us more like soldier than friends…and it hurt. It hurt a lot.” She wiped her slightly damp eyes with her free hand.

“Ty…” Raijin mumbled softly.

“She took me away from the circus, one of the few places that ever felt like a real home to me. I wanted to refuse, I actually did at the beginning, but Azula has ways to influence people into doing what she wants. You seem to be one of the few people that never do what she wants.”

Raijin laughed lowly. “Well that's simple,” he said. “Azula always lies. I'd trust my brother before I trust her.”

Ty Lee sniffed a bit and giggled slightly. “You sure that has nothing to do with her stalking you for a few years?”

Raijin shrugged. “Okay, so she's a creeper too. Even more reason to never trust her.”

Ty Lee wiped her hands on her leggings and pulled a small wrap of white cloth from the med box. Gingerly she began to wrap the gauze around her friend's torso, covering up the wounds. She worked quickly and silently, holding the end of the gauze in place with tight knot. Finished with her work she allowed her eyes scan Raijin for any more injuries.

It was then that it really hit her how many scars her old friend had. They were faint, yes, but the thin white lines weaved all across his body like a roughly put together jigsaw puzzle. As if they had a conscious of their own, her fingers slowly began to trace over the scars softly.

“I must look like a real piece of work, huh?” Raijin asked.

Ty Lee was startled out of her thoughts and she withdrew her hands quickly. “Um…well,” she stumbled over her words.

Raijin chuckled. “Its fine, Ty Lee, I know I look like someone played a dozen games of tic-tac-toe on my body.”

“Well, yeah,” the girl mumbled. A thought stuck her. “Rai, how did you manage to survive so many cuts without dying?”

Raijin's body tensed and his hands closed into fists. He opened his mouth to speak, closed it again and took a shallow breath. He tried again, “My first few months in Kurosaka were absolute nightmares. I was thirteen and I was forced to kill so many people…” he trailed off and took another breath. “But I could deal with that. They were Fire Nation prisoners at first; they deserved to be there: mass murders, sociopaths, rapists, and the like. I could kill them and be okay with it. But…”

“But what, Rai?” Ty Lee asked, gently prodding him along.

“But then they had me fight a prisoner from the Water Tribes. She had done nothing wrong; it was war and her group had attacked Fire Nation ships near the North Pole. They were defending their home…but they were defeated. The men were killed in battle and she was brought to Kurosaka.

“We fought and, though she was no match for me and we both knew it, she fought with a tenacity of a wild beast. Regardless, I defeated her…but I spared her life, and I suffered for it. Seipher had be lashed thirty times with whips and beaten senseless. I shouldn't have been able to move for days afterwards.”

“Rai,” Ty Lee gasped. “I-I had no idea that it was so bad.”

He smirked sadly, “It's the worst prison in the world for a reason, Ty.”

“What, um,” Ty Lee grew frustrated with herself. She never had trouble speaking! “What happened after that?”

“I was just lying in my cell. I could barely move at all and my body looked like it had been ripped to ribbons. But them I felt this wonderful sensation across my back and the pain began to fade. When I opened my eyes I saw that the normal darkness of the room had been vanquished by a soft blue glow.” Raijin chuckled lightly. “And then I realized the smell.”

“What?” Ty Lee asked, clearly confused.

“You've fought a strong waterbender before, haven't you Ty? Waterbenders can heal people with their bending…and the same waterbender who I refused to kill was in the cell next to mine. She was healing me.” Raijin smiled at the memory.

“But where'd she get the water? I doubt the guards would just give her a cup of water and then leave.”

Raijin smirked. “Who said anything about it being water?”

Ty Lee's brow wrinkled. “Huh?”

“It was sweat. She healed my wounds using her own sweat. The prison walls were a bit shoddy back then and there were a few cracks, not a lot but enough for her to bend liquid through. She worked up a good sweat and wove it through the cracks to heal me.”

Realization flooded the acrobat's face. “That's what you meant by the smell! But why did she heal you?”

“She wanted to thank me.” Raijin said quietly, eye glazed slightly in memory. “I'd spared her life and she was grateful for that. She told me about herself, her tribe, her family. Her name was Kira.”

Ty Lee saw that Raijin's aura, normally a twisting mix of navy and silver, had drained to a dark gray. “Like a raincloud,” Ty Lee mumbled. Raijin didn't hear her. Shaking her head, she gently pressed her friend on in his story.

“We grew close after she saved my life. I taught her to fight the best I could; kind of hard to teach someone when you can only hear them. By this time in the prison I was already fighting my father's monsters in the Pit while Kira struggled on against other prisoners. I don't know where she kept finding the strength but she always remained hopeful and strong, never doubting herself.”

Ty Lee saw the older teen's aura flare brightly, now a malevolent black. She reared away from him in shock. Raijin took no notice as his hands clenched into fists.

“I don't know how,” he started. “But Seipher found out that we were close. And when my father's next beast came, it wasn't me who he sent to face it.” He growled.

Ty Lee gasped. “You don't mean…”

“I was pulled from my cell and thrown into the Pit just in time to see the monster swallow her intestines.”

Raijin absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair, fists relaxing slightly. “I lost control completely. I incinerated the damn beast in a matter of seconds. Before I could even begin to go after Seipher I got put down with six arrows, each blunt with a metal weight on the tip. Woke up chained in my cell a few hours later.”

“R-rai…”

He waved her off, his aura descending back down from the sinister black to a pale green, and turned to face her. “Its okay, Ty. I hurt for a long time after that and I doubt I'll ever get completely over it but I can manage. I'll be fin-ugh!” Raijin felt his breath leave him in a rush as Ty Lee slammed into him, clutching his body to hers in a death grip. He numbly patted her back gently.

“T-ty…” Raijin mumbled shock and confused.

“You're not alright.” She muttered against his chest.

“What?”

“You are not alright, I can tell. You're aura…it was so sad and dark. You've got so much guilt and sadness inside you and its poisoning you, Rai. It's scarier than anything I've ever seen come from Azula's aura. It's changing you, making you dark and sick, like a disease.” She visibly shook against his chest as she spoke.

“I know, Ty. I know that it's dark and its evil and it's wrong.” He patted the top of her head lightly, as though she were a child. “But it's what I need to get me through this war. I'm not the same boy you used to know, Ty. I've changed and not all of it has been for the better. I…I have so much hate, so much rage, locked up inside of me that I can barely contain it sometimes.”

Raijin paused and looked down at her smaller frame still crushed against his. Delicately he pulled her away from his chest - which he suddenly remembered was bare causing him to blush for a moment - and forced her to look into his eye.

“Ty, I need this feeling, this darkness right now. I'll need it when I face my brother and my father, when I face Ozai and Azula. I'll need every bit of hate and violence I can muster until everything is all over. And once every this is done then I'll let it all go. Until then, I just have to suffer through it.”

Her chocolate eyes stared into his lone silver eye. “Do you understand?”

She shook her head. “No, I really don't but I trust you, Rai. I trust you to do what you think is best.”

He smiled down at her. “You have no idea how much it means to me to hear someone say that, Ty.”

She smiled brightly at him watching her own neon pink aura glow next to his silver and navy swirls. She pulled him into another strong embrace though this time she also remembered that he was bare-chested as her face burnt scarlet.

“Am I interrupting something?” Mai's monotone voice asked from the doorway.

Startled, Ty Lee and Raijin broke apart hastily. Raijin is his surprise and haste to get away lost his balance and flipped backwards off the bed. Grumbling to himself, he sat up from the floor and looked over the side of the bed at Mai, noting that Ty Lee had managed to spring from the bed to atop the tents wooden dresser.

Raijin blinked at her as he pushed himself to his feet. “I don't even want to know how you did that.” Shaking his head, he snatched his vest off of the ground and slid it back on, casually talking to Mai as he did so. “What's up?”

“We need to go over our plans for tomorrow.” She told him. “All the old guys aren't doing a whole lot tomorrow so it'd be a good time for us to take care of our own business.”

“Sounds good. What did you have in mind?”

Mai ignored Ty Lee as she leapt from the dresser and rolled to her feet behind her. “Ty Lee and I will be returning to the Fire Nation Academy for Girls on Ember Island so that I can get new senbon holders from our old teacher. What about you?”

Raijin rubbed his chin for a moment. “I'm heading the same way as you two. I need to stop at Ember Island, break into my family's beach house, and steal back my swords.”

Ty Lee flipped to her feet from a handstand easily. “Your swords are at your beach house?”

“Yeah, I had them sent out there right after I was arrested. Always pays to have the servants like you more than your father.”

“So it's settled then; we'll all head to Ember Island tomorrow to recover our weapons. I'll go inform General Iroh now. I would suggest you get some sleep.”

Raijin mock saluted. “Yes mam.”

Mai turned to face the pink clad acrobat. “Let's go, Ty Lee,”

Mai pushed the cloth doorway open and disappeared into the night. Ty Lee stopped at the doorway and opened her mouth but shut it quickly.

Raijin raised an eyebrow briefly before shaking his head. “Goodnight Ty Lee,”

“Night Rai,” she said and followed Mai into the darkness.

Raijin watched her go before walking over the dresser and shuffling through it. If he was heading back to the Fire Nation his Earth Kingdom clothes weren't gonna cut it. After a few minutes he came across something.

“…this will work. Stealthy, Fire Nation red, and will go with my sword sheaths. Tomorrow is going to be quite a day.”

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Explanations about...

The Title: The title refers to Raijin's scars and the reflection on his past.

Okay, I fail at life. Not only did I not post quickly at all but this chapter totally took on a life of its own. Originally, the conversation between Ty Lee and Raijin was supposed to be relatively short and the chapter would get them to their adventures on Ember Island. But, as you can see, it took on a life of its own and ended up taking over most of the chapter.

Oh well, since I haven't got to the action yet I figure I'll give you the title of the next chapter.

Chapter 8: Return of the Blue Spirit.

Hopefully I've have that up by the end of the month but I'm not going to make any promises. Now then, please read and review so I know if I'm doing well, okay? Thanks!