Avatar Rose: Dusk

Ch.72: Nathan

The girl's bloodcurdling screams halt, but the damage has already been done. Dozens of eyes meet mine, and Xander takes a small step back as he notices the killing intent held in all of them. My grip on the firebender's vocal chords seems to tremble. The dark shadows of the townspeople tower above us like demonic murderers in broad daylight.

Evan is unfazed, but instead he acts quickly. His gun is on her temple and his voice shrills a command loud and clear, and it echoes throughout the square. Piercing the silence with undeniable authority, all the attention goes straight to his gun. "Move a muscle and she dies!"

For a moment it's silent and I can't help but get jealous of my brother's calm composure.

Then the first shout breaks the spell.

"It's the Avatar bitch- the fucking Fire Nation freak!"

"She killed 254 soldiers at Ganshan!"

The earth rumbles with the townspeople's hatred. "She'll regret she ever messed with our brotherhood!"

A bullet whips through the fire nation's girl's shoulder. The entire square hears the shot, but the louder sound comes from Cho's scream. She collapses to the ground, writhing in agony. I feel her blood splatter on my ankle. Friend and foe- everyone's in a state of shock.

Except Evan. "Lemme tell you something about this girl," he says calmly to the crowd, his hand pinning her throat to the ground, his other hand clutching a knife pointed directly between Cho's terrified eyes.

I need to help. Focus.

Concentrated, I grip as many people I possibly can throughout the spectators, pushing them all to their knees...

"Nathan, don't!" My brother seems to snap.

My grip comes undone. "What now?!"

Through gritted teeth, he mutters "We need to show them we're on their side." He shoots a look at Liesel. "If things get bad, give Rose your glider."

She nods.

Rose looks agitated. "I can jet myself up with fire- I'll be fine."

Luna bellows in agreement beside her. At her demonstration of power, the hateful expressions seem to falter.

"As I said, I need to tell you something about this girl." He looks the surrounding crowds over, but his focus never sways from Cho, who's writhing like a snake on fire. "Her name is Cho. She's a spy for the fire nation."

As expected it provokes quite a reaction. The townspeople are furious. Chaos breaks loose.

A couple experienced earthbenders step forward and start chucking boulders at us. Gwen rushes forward to defend. "Evan, get me ammo!"

He sends her a ton, and she accepts it with ease. "Defense only, Gwendolyn!" Evan yells after her. As he says it, a tomato thrown by an angry bystander squares him in his jaw.
In the split-second that he raises his head from the blow, I see something flash in his eyes. Tomato seeds drip down his chin and into Cho's pool of blood. Evan roughly pulls her up. "We're taking her with us to interrogate!" he yells. "We'll drop her off at the gate of your village tonight!"

"Xander! Rowan!" Liesel yells. "Jump on my glider!"

"Nathan!" Gwen calls. She's spiralling above me, leaping from lampposts with her water arms. Her brown hair streams in the air, and her ocean eyes flash with the sunlight. I pull water from my satchel and follow suite after her. From up high, I see Evan's smoke bomb nearly clearing. In a flash of fire, Rose flies from the smoke, Evan on her back and a lumped figure in his sack. Stewart is perched, his claws digging into her golden hair. On ground, Luna trails after us, her dark paws scraping at the pavement below. Further ahead is Liesel on her glider. Xander is on one knee, balancing on top of the glider without stumbling or tilting one way or the other. Rather, he remains extremely composed and calm. His two arms cut the wind on either side of him, and his battle axe stays strapped to his back. Unlike him, Rowan stays almost dangling to one of Liesel's handles, and he's clawing for dear life.

Not bad, Xander, I think as I swing from building to building. I grab some extra water from a couple of vines growing atop a rooftop garden. Perhaps I underestimated you.

We leave the outskirts if the town and escape deep into the wilderness. Branches scratch at my face and tear at my arms through the water. When Liesel finally gets to a spot she deems reasonable, even Gwen is gasping for air. Rowan quickly puts up a tent of earth and Gwen collapses into it for a nap. Evan drags a silent Cho out of the bag. She's passed out from the pain. Liesel pulls out some crackers and passes them around. I grab a handful and lean back on a stump.

Evan pulls up Cho and takes her into the woods. "I'll finish interrogation," he says. He scans all our weary frames. His eyes linger on Rose, who's glugging down water bottle after bottle. As if it reminds him, he gingerly twists the lid of his flask off and takes a long sip. "Nathan," he says once he's finished his drink. "Come help. Bring along some paper."

Evan's quite a natural. Once he squeezes all the info out of her, he slits her throat, taking her out of her misery and closes her eyes. I don't look away. I've seen enough death to get used to it.

I've recorded all the info. Looking down, it's not even that much. We take her still body and lay it at the village gates. Rest in peace, fire nation spy.