ANYTHING BUT; avatar the last airbender

chapter 1

[act two; chapter one     -     another version of me]

    Lian was afraid. She was afraid for Zuko, afraid for herself. She was afraid of what it would mean, what would happen if something went wrong. If something was said. She was right, as were the things that Zuko had said, the topic he had brought to air. She was afraid, and she didn't know how to be anything but.

    She remembers how he had stepped upon that stage. How he had tried so hard to be brave, to not show an ounce of fear that she knew lingered in his bones. She had seen it with her own two eyes, had witnessed how he turned, only to be met with his own father. Not the general, whom he had insulted. The one he had spoken to. No, only his father. His father, whom he had embarrassed, who he had, indirectly, addressed. And for that, Zuko would know the consequences. He would feel them.

    He had begged. He had fallen to his knees, he had pleaded, begged, explained. But it was not enough. It was never enough. Not for Ozai. And, as such, Zuko would face suffering, and it would be his teacher.

    She had looked away, had clapped her hands over her ears as his screams, as his cries, filled the air, surrounding her in his agony. She ached to reach for him, to strike Ozai down. To start a war. She would, yet, she could not. With Iroh's hand on her shoulder, pushing her towards the exit, and his voice in her ear, plaguing her mind.

    "You must go," he had said. "You must leave before they hurt you, too."

    She was gone within the hour.

    "Suffering will be your teacher..."

    A gasp is all that could be heard in the room. A gasp, followed by an aching groan of pain.

    Sokka gasped awake, lurching forward in the chair where he had been sleeping. Immediately, he launched himself towards the bed, slowing just before he reached it. Reaching forward, his hand clasped hers. Held hers. He found himself sitting on his knees, saying, "Lian, you're okay."

    She wasn't. Not really. Bandages had taken residence over her face, covering her left eye, another placed carefully over the bridge of her nose. Gauze and ointment coated her exposed arms and legs, having been wrapped gently by Katara. Her hands shook, just as her chest shuttered. As she opened her mouth to speak, her entire expression crumbling. Her hand, covered in gauze, reached for her chest, and she patted it.

    "What?" Sokka questioned, alarmed. He looked towards the door, shouting, "Katara!"

    "Can't—can't breathe," Lian managed, her hands shaking so harshly that he grabbed them, as gently as possible, holding them like water in his hands.

    Suddenly, Katara came running into the room, pushing herself through the doorway, rushing towards the bed. She hesitated as she reached for Lian, her hands hovering over her arms. She shook her head, asking, "What? What is it?"