http://jesushasayak.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] jesushasayak.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] trans_92010-03-14 11:47 pm

The Other Gods -- The World Spirit

The effects of the Nightmare King have faded, the battlefield is gone. Stacy is rebooting her systems, and will be online again soon. It's over, it's finally over at last. They've won. They're all alive!

Except that it's not over.

Through the city, a wave of destruction spreads out from where a teenage boy rockets out of what's left of Escherville and floats in the air. A shockwave of air shatters the glass in nearby buildings; the stone foundation that serves as the overlay of Stacy's flesh that most of the city rests on cracks where he passes over it. Eyes and tattoos glowing, long hair whipped around by the winds he's creating, Aang is a force to be reckoned with--and not one to be reasoned with.

This is the Avatar in his full fury, angrier than his comrades have ever seen him, nearly thoughtlessly so.

He's overwhelmed by such senseless rage, the world breaks down around him--at the whims of the elemental forces under his control--stone cracking, water condensing out of the air and freezing over surfaces, wind whipping rubble around in a deadly, gouging tumult, fire crackling through the air.

Aang's voice is many voices, old and young, thousands of them all intermingled, as he cries out:

"WHERE ARE THEY, STACY? WHERE IS THE CREW? ANSWER ME!"

Stacy tries to reason with him. Some of her systems are damaged, she is awake and aware, but her security measures are not back up yet. And even when they are, what then? She can't hold him down forever. In this state, he needs to be calmed, and the AI knows that's something she is incapable of.

So she tries reason. ||Avatar Aang, the original crew is dead. Only refugees from podsleep are awake--||

A building is swallowed up by a sinkhole that appears in the stone.

"YOU'RE LYING!"

He doesn't remember what Leon and the others told him in the dreams, about the original crew being dead. His consciousness had been separated from his body for a very long time, and to have it snap back so suddenly to a physical form at the height of an adrenaline surge, that had been trapped in the Avatar State for more than a year...

A whole year trapped as he had been is enough to unsettle his mind, to make him angry. Now that he's free, everything contained over that time--kept stuffed inside so that he could maintain composure--is bursting free in a frenzied maelstrom of emotion and destruction.

Not that most of the crew will know this--for all they know, if they didn't hear his words, he could be the Nightmare King.

"THEY'RE NOT DEAD! THEY ABANDONED US! THEY LEFT US TO HIM! WHERE ARE THEY?!"

||They are dead. Avatar Aang, you must calm yourself. You have been forced to endure a tremendous physiological and psychological strain--||

She isn't answering the way he wants. She isn't telling him where they are, so Aang reacts by destroying her city. A wave of his arms and there's a blast of air that destroys a temple. He's going to continue until he finds them, finds someone to direct his rage at, or until something manages to calm him down first. The latter is entirely possible, given some time--but at what cost?

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:01 am (UTC)(link)
The two stared at each other a moment. Katara saw the danger Aang had in his hands, but she would brave that. The air currents rippled over her skin, and parts of her was raw and bleeding but none of that mattered. She'd seen the compassionate person Aang had been, always was even now. She could see in his eyes the betrayal and torture he'd felt, could see why that anger would cause him to almost strike at her now. She wasn't going to back away because she knew in her heart he would see her, see that she was here, that she would always be here. The people down there saw a threat that needed to be put down, a risk to the crew, but Katara had always seen what was there: Aang, the last airbender, the air nomad who had defeated he firelord on HIS terms. She saw the harbinger of peace, saw they had twisted him, and it hurt her heart.

But it was Aang, it was always Aang to her no matter how you looked at it. She continued moving toward him, not minding whatever pain came her way. She would protect him. She would always do whatever she could.

"Please Aang," she said. "We're here and we're safe. No one is going to harm you again. I know you're angry and you're hurt, but we are all here, Toph, Sokka, Zuko, even Mai. They and people on the crew all helped to get you out because they cared about you, and they wanted to help you. Don't destroy any more things. You're better than that."
governmentninja: (SERIOUS BUSINESS)

Re: The Avatar's Love

[personal profile] governmentninja 2010-03-15 06:05 am (UTC)(link)
Leon hadn't been standing by idly. He'd mostly been repositioning anyone in the area so they could get a decent shot. Now they at least had an opening. Leon lined up his shot, and instructed others to do the same.

«All units, acquire target and take aim. Hold until my command.»

You better pull this off Katara.
whyarewehere: (.Firefight!)

Re: The Avatar's Love

[personal profile] whyarewehere 2010-03-15 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
Dexter Grif has had a very long, very bad day.

He's been through zombies and flaming bats and a reenactment of World War II with tyrannosaurs and giant sand worms. He's been running and shooting and managing to avoid being killed, and he is royally sick of it.

And this city-breaking glowy man is clearly behind all of it. He's smashing all this stuff, fighting the rest of the crew...

This is that Nightmare King guy everyone's been going on about, right? Nothing else should be getting all destructive down here or he'd know about it, he's sure.

He'd know differently if only, if only he'd worn his comm ring. Why wear something that just makes it easier for people to yell at you anyway? That's really stupid.

Someone needs to do something about the Nightmare King, anyway. It looks like his guard is down. And Grif is tired and annoyed enough to be that someone.

He raises his rifle, sights in on the monster, and fires.

The shot echos in the sudden silence.

And a voice, tired and hoarse but triumphant, cries out "Got him!"

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:24 am (UTC)(link)
And she could see the reason coming back into his eyes. She could see the Aang she knew, that Aang that was there, and she found that her reeled back emotions could settle now. She could see him taking the step towards her, and it was as if time had stopped now, and the two of them mattered. Leon would see now that it was all right that he hadn't gone and shot immediately: he would see the person that had held the Nightmare King back. The step he took she matched, and her heart felt like it would burst. She wouldn't let him go again, not for anything.

"Yes, its me Aang," she said, smiling. It was just like when Aang first woke up, when the

BLAM!

And that thought faded to the nightmare, the WORST nightmare, when Azula had shot Aang with lightening in the Avatar state. Her eyes misted, everything stood on end, and all she could do was stare in open mouthed horror at the blood pooling on the front on his robe.

"N-no," she almost whimpered, and that whimper turned to the harshest, pain filled shriek Katara had ever made. "NO! NOT AGAIN!"

And she ran to her man now, took him in her arms, her hands already at his chest to heal. The anger would wait, the pain would wait, EVERYTHING was second to healing him, to giving him every ounce of strength and power she ever had. She wouldn't relive this again!

He would live!

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] theregularguy.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
Sokka had slumped over against a building in relief. Had finally, finally started to relax. It was over. Aang was safe. The ship was safe. The crew was safe. And then everything had turned upside down again. The sharp report of the rifle jerked his head around, first for the source of the shot, then over at his sister as she screamed. No. Not him. Not Aang. He couldn't. Not now. Not after everything they had been through. A cry ripped from deep inside his chest.

"NO!" And then came the rage. The deep, horrible anger that someone would shoot the noblest, bravest, kindest person Sokka had ever met. He whipped his head back in the direction the shot had come from and broke into a shambling run, sword in a white-knuckled grip.

Someone was going to answer for this.

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] metalbent.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:33 am (UTC)(link)
She hadn't seen it in time; the shot came from too far away and her vision was still slightly blurry.

"Let's find whoever did that, Sokka." She gripped his elbow firmly and did her best to steady him. "Which way did he go? I can't see too well."

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] theregularguy.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:39 am (UTC)(link)
"That way, I think." He tugged Toph off with him in the direction he thought the shot and the shout had come from. He wasn't exactly sure though, what with his own near-death experience and being tired as all hell.

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] metalbent.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:42 am (UTC)(link)
"Alright." She pauses for the briefest of moments. "You alright?"

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] theregularguy.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:44 am (UTC)(link)
"I feel like I was trampled by a herd of moose-lions, I haven't slept in weeks, I got zapped by whatever was gonna kill Aang and I really just want to go sleep for a week. So not really." Sokka grumbled.

Re: The Avatar's Love

[identity profile] metalbent.livejournal.com 2010-03-15 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Wow. No sarcasm. You must be unwell. So tell me what I'm looking for. What's his shape like?"

She'd probably be able to feel the shooter via the ground before Sokka could see him.

Doubly so if the assailant was hiding.
whyarewehere: (.What's that over there?)

Re: The Avatar's Love

[personal profile] whyarewehere 2010-03-15 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Grif is peering out from his hiding place around the corner of what might well be a mechanic's garage, trying to figure out why everyone's scrambling around like that.

What are they doing over there?