Balance | Old Version

Chapter 17

Elua's POV.

Katara and I had fallen asleep while we were waiting for Sokka and Aang. I jerk awake as someone touches my shoulder, I quickly stand up and get ready to attack whoever it is.
"Wait, wait, wait! It's me!" Sokka whispers as he holds up his hands in defense before I have a chance to bend at him, I sigh in relief.
"Don't do that!" I whisper-shout to him. I look over to Katara and see Aang had already woke her up, they lead us to the edge of the ship.

"Your 12 hours are up, where's Haru? We've got to get out of here." Sokka tells us as they hop off the edge and onto Appa. Sokka holds his hand out to me, I sigh as I look behind me where all the people are imprisoned, I look back at him.
"...We can't," I tell him, he looks confused.
"Yes, you can. We don't have much time, there are guards everywhere. Get on." Sokka orders.
"What's wrong?" Aang asks Katara and I.

"We're not leaving. We're not giving up on these people." Katara tells them.
"What do you mean you're not leaving!?" Sokka whisper-shouts.
"We can't abandon these people," I state. "There has to be a way to help them," I say.
"Maybe she's right. What do you say, Sokka?" Aang asks as he turns around.
"I say you're all crazy!" Sokka states, suddenly the searchlight turns on. "Last chance, we need to leave now!" He tells us, I shake my head.

"No." Katara and I say sternly.
"I hate when you both get like this," Sokka mumbles. "Come on, we better hide," He says as we jump off the platform we were standing on, we find some boxes and hide behind them.
"We don't have much time. What are we gonna do?" Sokka asks us.
"I wish I knew how to make a hurricane. The Warden would run away and we'd steal his keys!" Aang says, we look at him confused.

"Wouldn't he just take his keys with him?" Sokka asks confused.
"I'm just tossing ideas around," Aang says as he shrugs.
"I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work. If there was just a way to help them help themselves." Katara says, trying to think.
"For that, they'd need some kind of earth or some rock...something they can bend," I state.

"But, this entire place is made of metal," Katara says sadly.
"No, it's not. Look at the smoke. I bet they're burning coal, In other words, earth." Aang says pointing up, we look up and see black smoke flying up into the sky. After we form a plan Katara, Sokka and I walk back in the prisoner deck where Katara gave her speech. We look down into an immense ventilation shaft which is capped by grating similar to the ones earlier near the mine where Katara and I got arrested.

Third Person POV.

"There's a huge deposit of coal at the base of the silo, and the whole system is ventilated. Aang closed off all the vents except one. When he does his airbending, the coal only has one place to go, right back here." Sokka explains. Suddenly they are surrounded by six Fire Nation soldiers pointing their spears at them and the prisoners, including Tyro and Haru.
"There's the intruders!" A soldier shouts.

"Stay back, I'm warning you!" Sokka yells as he takes out his boomerang.
"Katara stop! You can't win this fight!" Tyro shouts.
"Listen to him well, child. You're one mistake away from dying where you stand." The Warden tells Katara. Suddenly a living river of coal erupts from the grate, the eruption of coal shoots high into the air over the deck. The coal lands in a massive pile between the earthbenders and the firebenders, the prisoners look at the pile of earth.

Aang lands on the deck, covered in coal dust. Katara runs up to the top of the coal.
"Here's your chance, earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" She shouts as she picks up a piece of coal and holds it in the air. None of the prisoners move.
"Foolish girl! You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh? But you still believe in them? How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You've failed." The Warden says laughing. Katara's shoulders slump.

The Warden turns to walk back into the rig. But Haru throws a piece of coal at him, hitting the Warden in the head. He turns around in anger and sees prisoners standing behind Haru. Haru twirls some lumps of coal above his raised left hand. The Warden launches a blast of fire at Haru. The gout of fire is about to engulf Haru, but it is blocked by a wall of coal, made by Tyro, who has clearly stepped forward to protect his son.

"Show no mercy!" The Warden orders his men. The soldiers listen and start throwing fire at all of them.
"For the Earth Kingdom, attack!" Tyro shouts as he slams the palms of his fists on the deck throwing the wall of coal forward towards the Fire Nation line. The Fire Soldiers deflect some of the rocks with flame. Overhead the prisoners all have joined the rebellion and have assumed earthbending stances. One on one the earthbenders block fire attacks with coal shields and knock out firebender by striking them with huge lumps of coal thrown at high speed.

Heaps of burning coal now litter the deck. On the middle of the deck Katara, Sokka, Elua, and Aang rush forward. A Fire Nation soldier runs at them, but Sokka cuts off the head of his spear with his boomerang and throws the spearhead with a small shaft still attached to it to Momo who is flying close overhead. Momo then collects spears as they are thrown by Fire Nation soldiers, rendering them harmless. Tyro and Haru are in front of the coal dump. They raise a huge amount of coal and then mash it between them to create a boulder.

Haru and Tyro throw the boulder at the door into the rig. Blasting a boulder shaped hole in the door.
"Get to the ship! We'll hold them off!" Tyro tells everyone.
"Do not let them escape!" The Warden orders. The Warden rallies a few of his troops and they begin to barrage the exit with flame. Aang, Katara, Elua, and Sokka are trying to exit when they see the flames hit the wall in front of them, they turn and Aang and Elua airbend a small tornado into existence, the end of which is aimed at the firebenders.

"Guys, throw us some coal!" Aang shouts. Sokka and Katara start dropping chunks of coal into the top of the little whirlwind, which accelerates down the wind tube and exits at high speed towards the Warden's men, knocking them down. Tyro and two other earthbenders are earthbending the entire coal dump, with the Warden and all his men on it, out of over the open water.
"No, please! I can't swim!" The Warden begs.

"Don't worry, I hear cowards float," Tyro says as he drops them all into the ocean below. There are several Fire Nation ships, now under the command of the former prisoners, steaming away from the rig. Appa with Sokka and Aang swim next to the point ship. Katara, Elua, Tyro, and Haru are on the deck of the point ship. Katara beams, looking back at the prison as they leave it behind.

Elua's POV.

"I want to thank you for saving me. For saving us." Haru says to Katara and I.
"All it took was a little coal," Katara tells him with a smile.
"It wasn't the coal, Katara, it was you," Haru tells her.
"Thank you for helping me find my courage, Katara, of the water tribe. My family and everyone here owes you much." Tyro says.
"So, I guess you're going home now?" Katara asks him, Tyro smiles and nods.

"Yes, to take back my village. To take back ALL of our villages! The Fire Nation will regret the day they set foot on our land!" Tyro says raising his voice so all the prisoners can hear, they all begin to cheer.
"Come with us," Haru says to Katara, she gives him a smile.
"I can't. Your mission is to take back your home. Mine is to get Aang and Elua to the North Pole." Katara tells him, Haru smiles at her.
"That's really him, isn't it? The Avatar," Haru says as he looks over to Aang, who sits on Appa with Sokka.

We both nod as we look over to him with a smile.
"Katara, thank you for bringing my father back to me. I never thought I'd see him again. I only wish there was some way-" Haru starts to say but, Katara interrupts.
"I know." She says. After we bid goodbye to Haru, we jump on Appa and take off into the sky.
"You did a good job Katara," I tell her with a smile.
"Thank you." She says as she touches her neck, her eyes go wide. "My mother's necklace! It's gone!"