꧁ chapter seven ꧂
the prophecy

✧₊⁎⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁎⁺˳✧༚˚✧₊⁎⁎⁺˳✧༚

MEILUNA LAY WITH her head resting against Katara's shoulder, who was busy studying her waterbending scrolls while Sokka sharpened his machete.

"Hey, you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked Aang, who seemed to pay him no mind,

"Aang! Why are we going down?"

"What? I didn't even notice" Aang said, seeming disoriented.

"Are you noticing now?" Sokka asked while Meiluna sat up, feeling them continue to descend.

"Is something wrong?" Katara questioned as she moved to sit bedside Aang.

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me" Aang said, still in a dazed state.

"Is this an Avatar thing or a you're going crazy thing?" Meiluna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's definitely crazy," Sokka whispered to her quietly before turning to Aang,

"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?"

"I think it wants us to land there" Aang replied.

"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on" Sokka pointed out.

"I don't know. Bumi said that to learn earthbending, I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the Earth. Do you want me to ignore it?" Aang asked.

Sokka, Katara and Momo peered down from Appa's saddle down at the swamp.

Meiluna didn't even have to look to know that she wouldn't be caught dead in a disgusting swamp.

Sokka and Meiluna replied at the same time,

"Yes"

"Pretty much"

"I don't know," Katara looked down apprehensively, "There's something ominous about that place"

Momo moved to hide inside Appa's saddle as the bison groaned.

"See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here" Sokka pointed out.

"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this," Aang looked down at the swamp, "Bye swamp"

He bid farewell before shaking Appa's reins,

"Yip yip!"

Appa groaned yet again before flying upward, away from the swamp.

Meiluna turned around to face behind the group as she heard a noise. Her eyes widened at the sight of a tornado hurtling towards them.

"Uh-" Meiluna started causing Sokka to turn to look at what she was staring at.

"You better throw in an extra 'yip'! We gotta move" Sokka panicked.

Appa began to speed up, attempting to avoid the tornado. It seemed to be gaining speed as it moved closer to the group. The strength of the wind managed to pull Sokka and Meiluna off the bison. Katara rushed over to grab Sokka's hand while Meiluna clung desperately to his leg.

Aang instantly created a shield of air around Appa, letting Sokka and Meiluna quickly clamber back on to safety when one of Appa's legs slipped through the protective barrier, causing it to break and send everyone falling straight into the muddied swamp water.

"Where's Appa and Momo?" Aang frantically questioned as he jumped up to the top of the trees,

"Appa! Momo!"

Meiluna let out a gasp.

"What is it?" Katara asked with concern.

"My hair's all slimy!" Meiluna pouted as she held up strands of her hair, completely coated in the sticky substance.

Katara rolled her eyes before turning back to face her brother,

"Sokka, you've got an elbow leech"

"Where? Where?" Sokka panicked, spinning around, looking for the leech.

"Where do you think?" Katara deadpanned, crossing her arms.

"Why do things keep attaching to me!"

"Yuck!" Meiluna scrunched her nose in disgust, watching as Sokka threw the leech away, "I thought we agreed not to go into the swamp"

"I know!" Sokka shook his head, trudging though the swamp before grabbing Meiluna's hair from behind, trying to wring out the slime.

Aang swung back over to the group on a vine.

"You couldn't find them?" Katara questioned.

"No," Aang replied as he jumped into the muddy water, "And the tornado, it just disappeared"

"We better speed things up" Sokka spoke as he started cutting the vines with his machete.

"Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp" Aang told Sokka.

"Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say please and thank you as I swing my machete back and forth" Sokka asked sarcastically as he continued slashing the vines.

"Maybe you should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels alive" Katara commented.

"It's probably all the gross bugs that live around here" Meiluna grimaced as she trudged through the muddy water. Katara rolled her eyes.

"I'm sure there are lots of things that are alive here and if we don't wanna wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can" Sokka said, continuing to slice the vines in front of him.

Meiluna covered her nose with her sleeve as she saw them approaching a foggier area of the swamp.

"Appa! Momo!" Katara yelled out.

"There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night" Sokka sighed.

As they continued further, a swarm of flies surrounded Sokka, he tried to shoo them away swinging his weapon at them.

Meiluna attempted to evade the flying bugs by walking around Sokka but felt a fly zoom straight into her mouth.

"Ugh!" Meiluna spat out, desperately trying to clean her mouth, while Sokka simply laughed at her.

A huge bubble had risen from the muddy water of the swamp and moved closer to the group of four.

"What was that?" Katara asked.

"Nothing, just swamp gas," Sokka said pointing at the bubble, "Look, there's nothing supernatural going on here"

Everyone groaned as the smell from the swamp bubble entered their nostrils.

"I think we should build a fire" Sokka announced as he rushed off to a nearby tree to chop pieces of wood from its roots.

"Sokka, the longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing that" Aang warned.

"No, I asked the swamp. It said this was fine," Sokka explained as he grabbed a root close by, "Right swamp?" He pretended to ask before putting on a fake voice to answer himself,

"No problem Sokka!"

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"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" Katara asked the group.

"Please, we're all alone out here" Sokka dismissed as he tried to swat a fly away.

The fly then abruptly turned into a big shining ball of light, flying away from the group, illuminating the multiple pairs of eyes staring at them.

"Except for them" Aang said shakily.

Everyone turned to face each other before huddling together for safety.

"Right, except for them" Sokka said, his calm demeanour vanishing.

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"Hey, guys?" Meiluna whispered, still stuck in the same position, with everyone around her asleep.

Meiluna found that following Yue's passing, she would often stay up to keep the moon 'company'. She missed her sister a lot and this way she was able to stay close to Yue, even if it did make her look slightly insane.

Meiluna was taken out of her thoughts when she felt something sliver up her leg, wrapping around her ankles. She let out a screech as the vine yanked her away into the darkness, watching the others get pulled away in different directions.

She looked around frantically, grabbing a fallen branch she passed and used it to hack at the vines constricting her.

Meiluna let out a frustrated growl as she sent one last powerful stab at the plant, finally freeing herself and running away as fast as she could.

"Sokka?" Meiluna called out, "Katara? Aang?"

She continued wandering around trying to locate her friends when she spotted someone slightly ahead.

"Hello? Can you help me?" She asked.

He turned around, revealing his identity.

"Oh, not you again"

Prince Zuko glanced at her for a moment, then quickly took off.

Meiluna shook herself out of her state of shock before running after him. As she approached him, she used her waterbending to attempt to freeze him on the spot when she noticed a light above her.

"Princess Meiluna"

It was the Ocean Spirit.

Meiluna opened her mouth, but no words seemed to come out.

"The spirit world has gifted you with your healing abilities to grace the human world,"

The Spirit moved to float in front of her at her eye level,

"You've been entrusted with this ability. After balance is restored, you must ensure the maintenance of peace between the four nations. You are the only one who can help the Avatar heal the damage done by the Fire Nation"

"What-"

The spirit disappeared in an instant, leaving her alone once again,

All of a sudden, she saw Katara, Aang and Sokka tumble down and land at her feet.

"Finally! There you are!" Meiluna let out a sigh of relief.

"What do you guys think you're doing? I've been looking all over for you!" Sokka exclaimed as he stood up, putting his weapon away.

"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you!" Katara replied back, equally annoyed.

"I was chasing some girl" Aang answered quietly, looking slightly embarrassed.

"What girl?" Katara asked, looking to Aang curiously.

"I don't know," Aang spoke as he walked over to help Katara up, "I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress"

"Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations" Sokka said waving his arms about sarcastically.

"I thought I saw Mom" Katara said quietly, a sadness clouding her eyes.

"Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here" Sokka tried to rationalise.

"You saw something too?" Katara asked in surprise. Sokka looked away for a moment before he spoke,

"I thought I saw Yue"

Meiluna felt her heart clench at the mention of her sister. Why didn't she get to see Yue?

"But that doesn't prove anything. Look, I think about her all the time, and you saw Mom, someone you miss a lot" Sokka carried on.

"I saw someone too," Meiluna spoke up making everyone turn to look at her,

"It was La, the Ocean Spirit, it told me I had to bring the four nations to peace"

Meiluna paused looking up at her friends shocked expressions.

"Not to offend the Spirits, but La isn't exactly someone I miss"

Meiluna was definitely going insane.

"I didn't know the girl I saw either. And all our visions led us right here" Aang said as he started walking around.

"Ok, so where's here? The middle of the swamp?" Katara asked.

Aang took in their surroundings, his eyes landing on a large tree next to him.

"Yeah, the center, it's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here, I knew it!" Aang realised.

"It's just a tree, it can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magical happening here" Sokka vented, raising his voice.

As if on cue, a seaweed monster like creature jumped out from the water. Meiluna let out a squeal as she jumped towards Sokka to hide behind him.

The seaweed monster went after the boy, grabbing him and swinging him around as Meiluna moved out of its way. Aang used his air bending to slice part of the monster's arm off to release Sokka from its hold.

Meiluna saw Sokka fighting the vines that were attacking him as a large column appeared behind him, swiping him from the ground again.

She quickly used her waterbending, attempting to slice the vines, however her efforts were futile as they simply regrew quickly, patching the hole she created. The monster then aimed for Meiluna knocking her back into a tree.

"Luna!" Katara called out for her.

Meiluna recollected herself then rushed over, using her own waterbending to assist Katara, slicing through the vines faster than they could regenerate when she caught a glimpse of a person.

"There's someone in there! He's bending the vines!" Meiluna yelled out.

With a final slice, Katara cut through the mask on the seaweed monster, the whole top half falling off.

Meiluna was about to relax before she saw more vines spring from out of the marsh, capturing Katara and herself.

Aang flew over to the monster then used his airbending to rip apart the vines that held the girls together.

"Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us?" Aang demanded angrily.

"Wait!" A voice cried out, the vines dropped revealing a man wearing nothing but a leaf loincloth, "I didn't call you here"

"We were flying over and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land" Aang said, looking confused.

"He's the Avatar, stuff like that happens to us a lot" Sokka explained.

"The Avatar?" The man questioned, "Come with me"

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"So, who are you then?" Katara asked the man who lead the group to the top of the giant tree.

"I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife" He explained as he bended vines out of his way.

"See, completely reasonable," Sokka said, putting his machete away, "Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it"

"So, you're saying this is all Sokka's fault?" Meiluna teased as she poked Sokka's shoulder.

Sokka jokingly put a hand over the Princess's mouth trying to silence her.

"Oh, the swamp is a mystical place all right. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here, under the banyan-grove tree," The man explained as he sat on the tree, "I heard it calling me, just like you did"

"Sure you did. It seems real chatty" Sokka mocked the man.

"See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world"

"I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?" Aang asked skeptically.

"Sure. You think you're any different from me, or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree" The man spoke profoundly.

The rest of the group had now joined the man, sitting on top of the tree.

"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked.

"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death" The man replied.

Meiluna's mind quickly flashed to her vision of Prince Zuko.

She though it was probably best to just ignore that, and never speak of it again.

"But Aang and I had visions of people we didn't know, what does that mean?" Meiluna said.

The man turned to face Aang,

"You're the Avatar, you tell her" He said.

"Time is an illusion," Aang started as he tried to make sense of all the information he received,

"So, it's someone we will meet?"

The man nodded in approval.

"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo" Sokka cut in.

"I think I know how to find them," Aang said as he knelt down connecting his hand to the tree,

"Everything is connected"

Aang quickly stood up before announcing,

"Come on! We've got to hurry!"

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"Appa!" Aang spotted as he bended a stream of air towards the man holding Momo hostage, sending him into the water.

"We're under attack!" The other man in the boat yelled as he scooped up a puddle of water sending it toward Aang, Meiluna and Katara.

"You guys are waterbenders?" Meiluna asked, looking puzzled.

"You too! That means we're kin" He exclaimed as he stopped his bending.

Katara and Meiluna share a slightly disgusted look.

"Hey Huu, How you been?"

"You know, scared some folks, swung some vines, the usual" Huu answered.

"Huu?" Sokka asked.

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"How do you like that possum chicken?" Due asked Sokka, as everyone sat around the fire.

"Tastes like arctic hen," He answered, "So, why were you guys so interested in eating Appa?" Sokka asked as he gestured to the catgator behind Tho, "You've got plenty of those big things wandering around"

"You want me to eat old Slim? He's like a member of the family!" Due replied, feeling offended.

He pulled a fish off the branch and fed it to the animal,

"Nice Slim"

"Where'd you say you was from?" Tho asked.

"Sokka and I are from the South Pole and Meiluna's from the North Pole" Katara explained.

"Didn't know there was any waterbenders anywhere but here. They got a nice swamp there, do they?" Tho asked the girls.

"No, it's all ice and snow" Meiluna told him.

"Hm, no wonder you left" He replied simply.

"I hope you realise now that nothing strange was going on here," Sokka said as he pointed to the men around the fire, "Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp"

"What about the visions?" Katara asked.

"I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug!" Sokka said holding up the bug and taking a giant bite out of it.

"What about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?" Aang questioned.

"That's Avatar stuff, that doesn't count," Sokka waved off, "The only thing I can't figure out is how you made that tornado that sucked us down"

"I can't do anything like that, I just bend water in the plants" Huu shrugged innocently.

"Well, no accounting for weather. Still, there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp"

"What about when I saw the Ocean Spirit?" Meiluna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Easy. You're just weird Luna"

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