Sworn Vengeance

So We Meet Again

The sun was burning, sweat dripping off my face continuously. My legs felt sore and my eyes drooped every second, causing me to sway forward rather than walking. My rice balls had crumbled apart in the heat and the apples didn't last long either, leaving me with my Waterbend-water. I almost gave up and let me fall flat on the ground out of exhaustion when I saw a small village in the distance. Hope for food and rest flamed up and I found the strength to set the last steps, stumbling inside and receiving weird glances from some people that were standing outside. 

I dragged myself towards the first vendor and asked for some water to drink and something to eat, handing him the money I believed it would cost. He gave me a sympathetic look and went to the bag to get my order. When he came back he handed me two water canteens that were re-fillable and palm-leaf box with rice triangles and some cooked meat. I thanked him and sat down against the wall next to his little shop and wolfed down the rice and meat and then I rinsed my mouth with fresh water. I sighed contently and leaned my head back against the wooden wall of the vendor's house, closing my eyes to try and take a nap.

My attempt at napping was interrupted by someone wolf-whistling. I cracked open my right eye, observing the group of Earthbenders walking towards me with a demeanour that didn't promise any good. By now I had gotten up and felt quite regenerated. One of the men, the one with hammers hanging on either side of him, stepped forward. 

"Well, well... What do we have here? Haven't seen you here before. Who are you?", a cocky smile plastered on his ugly face. The way the other people send scared and worried glances at the gang I knew that they were not trying to be nice in any way. 

"I'm None'ya... None'ya Business." I retorted and turned my back at them, praising myself for making good use of that witty remark. Apparently they didn't think of it as funny and the hammer-guy, probably their leader, stepped closer. 

"Oh, so you wanna play hard to get, huh?" Darn it! This is turning into something worse! I turned around, emotions wiped from my face. 

"No. I would just like scum like you to stop trying to get advantage on little helpless girls." and turned around again, proceeding walking. But hammer-guy, as I nick-named him, grabbed my arm and dragged me into an alleyway and pushed me up against the wall. 

"Listen closely, 'little girl'. If you don't do what we say bad things will happen to you. Do you understand?" he threatened. I decided to play the 'helpless little girl' he thinks I am and nodded, acting scared. He laughed at my response and pushed me to the side. I 'stumbled' and fell, making the men laugh at my 'pathetic state'. I pushed myself up, now leaning on all fours. One of the men was about to attack me when I pushed myself on my hind legs and raising my hands in front of me in a matter of seconds. The man, thinking I was trying to shield myself laughed as his spear came closer, but suddenly he became rigid. The spear fell out of his hands and he was pushed to the ground by an unknown force... In their eyes. What they didn't know was that it was me, bloodbending. I grinned viciously and stood up straight, hands held in front of me, still controlling the man who was writhing on the ground, pleading 'the force' to stop. The others, now realizing it was me doing this to the guy, went pale and quickly scurried off, the man I was controlling slowly getting up, but as I took a threatening step forward he, as fast as he could, ran after the others too. I smiled contently as I watched them run off, proud of myself for making the men pay for what they were about to do. I wondered if they did this to all citizens that lived here...

I felt someone tug at my pants and reflexively turned around in fighting stance. The little boy stumbled back and fell on his but, a scared look on his face. I recognized him immediately; it was Lee, from back in the Earthbending arena. He had sat beside me rambling to me about the match. I relaxed and helped Lee get up. 

"I'm sorry, Lee. Thought you were someone else..." I apologized, laughing sheepishly. He grinned back and said "Nah, doesn't matter! But you were really awesome, fighting those 'soldiers'." he air-quoted the word soldiers. 

"Who were they exactly?" I asked him crouching down to his level. He came closer and whispered in a cute seven-year-old-way. 

"Those soldiers are supposed to protect us from the Fire Nation. But all they do is steal our food 'in the name of the Earth Kingdom Army' and bullying me and my friends. They are just a bunch of thugs". I nodded understandingly and got up. 

"Hey, Lee. Do you, by any chance, know a place where I can rest?" I asked, feeling the need to lay back down, especially after that encounter I just had with the 'thugs'. Lee nodded hastily, grinning broadly. 

"I know, I know! You could come with me! I'm sure mom and dad won't mind another guest!". 'Another guest?' I wondered, but smiled and nodded anyway, glad to have found a place to finally rest for the night and letting Lee drag me to where he lived.

~~~

So. This chapter was written 6 years ago. I was 16 years old back then and in my last year of high school, prepping for my final exams :) 

I recently returned to Wattpad to blow some thick dust off my stories (and returning after 6 years was not a fun experience, I might add... It really is not the same it was back when I first discovered the world of fanfiction and Wattpad in 2012... *cough*adssubscriptionscommercialised*cough*)

I rediscovered this story, and upon re-reading it I realized I never uploaded this chapter...

On the last chapter, there were two people who very enthusiastically asked me to pleasepleaseplease~ update, and to those two I want to sincerely apologise for not doing so. 

On that note; this story will end here. I know, it's abrupt. But what do you expect after 6 years of being on ice... 

I do, however, want to keep this story on here as a sign that I've left a mark on the internet, and so someone out there may gain some inspiration from reading this. So feel free to message me if you want to borrow any of my ideas incorporated into this story :)

There is a slimslimslim chance I'll upload one more chapter with the outline I had planned for this story, to give any future readers (like you ;) ) some semblance of closure. But when and how I still don't know.

Once again; thank you for reading, and if I ever decide to write something again, it will be on fanfiction.net

bye bye, love you!

xx Yuurei

Dear Internet,

It is the year 2021, we're in a pistachio, and wattpad now costs money.

I'm publishing my drafts, so that they may be the gravestone of a brighter time, of a time when wattpad was still as creatively free as fanfiction.net or ao3 are still to this day.

Goodbye wattpad, I won't miss you (haven't for the past 5 years).

xx Yuurei