Nineteen Fics of Various Lengths From Round Five of AtLALand

[attackfish]

Hands of Dancing Stone

The dust churned with every step, and Feng pulled his feet up, hanging on Huang's arm.

His brother jerked down and Feng's feet hit the ground. "Stop that!"

"I'm tired," he sniffled, planting his heels.

Qiu shuffled forward and caught hold of his other hand. "We'll make camp when the sun sets."

Feng rolled his eyes up to the bright blue sky with the sun still high overhead and hung his head with a groan.

"We're never going to get to Ba Sing Se if we stop for the night at lunch time," she told him, in the same long suffering voice their dad used to use. She was the oldest she had said after it happened, she was in charge. But Huang was the oldest son. It was supposed to be his job to lead the family now that...

Dead mother, dead father, and two dead sisters. It was just the three of them left, with his sister's broken engagement, and his brother's broken apprenticeship, because nobody wanted their bad luck.

Feng swallowed and shoved it down. They were both stupid. They had walked so far already in that one morning. They were already so far from home. The world couldn't really be that big. Maybe they had already passed Ba Sing Se and Huang and Qiu had missed it. "I want mom," he whispered.

Qiu's hand tightened around his. She yanked it up until he had to spin around to face her. "You saw her body with the rest of us!" There were tears in her eyes, running down her face, leaving streaks in the road dust covering her skin, and Feng couldn't help it. He bit his lip, but his own tears came anyway.

She let go of his hand. Her eyes were huge for a second before she closed them. "Feng, I'm sorry."

He tucked himself behind Huang and glared at her around his brother's leg.

Kneeling down, Qiu pinched her fingers and lifted her hands, drawing two lines of pebbles from the side of the road up into the air. She opened her fingers, and the pebbles covered her hands like a glove. "Just like dad used to, right?" she asked, the gloves peeling off her hands and coming forward to wipe away Feng's tears.

Huang's eyes narrowed. "Good girls don't bend outside the home."

"Shut up Huang! No one's around to see." The gloves bounced away from Feng's face and balanced on their fingers, walking along the dusty path. Feng hiccupped and swallowed, watching them. Suddenly, they closed into fists and somersaulted away from them, and he followed, breath hitching as he fought to keep from crying. "See?" The Long family started moving again.



Running Every Which Way

The lightning thrummed through Zuko's body. He brought his arm around, guiding the force low, through his belly, and up and out. It arced from him, burning the air like streaks of sunlight. And they hit. As the lightning left him, he forced himself not to drop to the floor, but instead spin around to run.

It was the scream that he heard first, high and strange, the scream that spun him back around to look.

Ozai lay slumped against the floor, the edges of the hole in his robes that the lightning had passed through still smoldering. For a few seconds, his limbs kept twitching, then abruptly, they went limp, falling twisted to the floor. Zuko crept close. He hadn't meant to hit him, just- but with the lightning inside him making the room shake, he-

He had to get out of there.

~*~

They heard the scream reverberate down the tunnel just as Azula felt the firebending rush back into her. The restraints holding her to the wall shattered. She kicked out, fire erupting from her foot straight into the faces of the Avatar's little band. Smoke curled on the air, draping around her, and she darted around their shadowy outlines and down the corridor towards her father's cry.

His bunker throne room was empty when she found it, except for a heap of burning robes and the smell of cooked flesh and sharp, metallic lightning. Her legs shook. Her legs never shook. She bent over and moved her father's hair out of his face. Open eyed, his teeth locked together, he looked like he was fighting her, desperate to get her to stop touching him. But he was completely still.

Azula crouched down and turned the body over. the fire crown slipped out of his hair and bounced off the ground. It was cold when she picked it up, the points hard edged, and so so cold. Not like fire. Dead.

She swallowed, trying to stop herself from panting, and, fingers slick with sweat, she secured the crown in her own hair. She had to. If she wanted to keep the country for herself, out of Zuko's greedy, incompetent, worthless hands, she had to move fast. She had to claim it first. She had-

But how could- Zuko didn't have lightning. No one else did. Just her, Father, and Uncle. Of course, Uncle. She roared. The fire poured out of her mouth, the tears running down her face turning to steam, leaving thin, red lines behind. Then, the fire died away, and time just stopped moving.

There was a hand on her shoulder. There was a hand on her shoulder. No one was supposed to be able to sneak up on her, no one! No one ever touched her. She twisted around, teeth bared, the fire rising into her hands. And when she threw it at him, the little Avatar couldn't do any better than to dodge her, and when she was on her feet and rushing him, he didn't dodge fast enough, and it was her taking him by surprise. It felt like his wrists were about to shatter in the palms of her hands as she pressed him into the wall, breathing sparks through her nose.

The the handle of the boomerang came down on her head, and when she blacked out, she didn't wake up.

~*~

Zuko's steps kept pulling up short and he stumbled on the air in front of him like he had forgotten how to run. He just kept seeing his father's body, convulsing as he screamed, teeth slamming together, and then he saw him fall.

That was what his father wanted to do to him. he pulled his arms in around himself for a second and kept running, barely seeing the cratered and pitted prison walls. He rounded the corner, his legs sliding out on each step.

"Uncle!" But his uncle wasn't in the little cage at the back of the cell. The bars were bent and twisted, split open like bean-pea pods. He grabbed the warden, sprawled on the stone, by his collar and hoisted him into the air. "Where is my Uncle?"

"He's gone. He busted himself out. I... I've never seen anything like it! He was like a one man army!"

Zuko didn't realize he had fallen to his knees until they hit the stone.

~*~

The rumors swept through the capital, Azula killed the Firelord, or Iroh, or the Avatar. Nobody mentioned Zuko. Everybody knew he just wasn't skilled enough. And his stomach churned with every new whisper, and he just wanted to yell that yes, it was him, he had killed him, their new Firelord was a traitor, or at least tell them to shut up.

And he would have if he could figure out what to say.



Lost on her Skin

There was blood mixing with the red ink, and the tattoo man blotted it away. June held her arm out straight, stiff as she could keep it. She looked down at the man, grinning. "So, is it looking good?"

"Looks great," he answered. The steady ratatattat of the wooden needle holder accompanied his words. June fought to keep her teeth from gritting, and her eyes from narrowing to turn her grin into a grimace.

"So when do I get to show it off?" She glanced at it, and her head swam, the pain doubling just because she had seen the source. She flinched, and the needle's tapping faltered for a second.

The tattoo man pulled the needle away and applied more ink. It burned. He looked up. "You're allowed to show pain, you know."

"Yeah, sure," she snorted. She didn't think so. He put the needle back against her skin.



Catch

"You're all a bunch of scaredy little babies," she announced.

"Aw, come on, June," Lee glared. "That shirshu eats kids!"

"Yeah, and have you ever met anybody who got eaten by that shirshu?" She turned around and stuck her feet between the slats of the fence.

Lee was about to shout back a retort, but she was already over the fence and running.

The tongue flicked towards her, and she ducked instinctively to the side. Lee was right, she thought, the thing was going to hit her with that tongue and paralyze her, and eat her alive...

She caught the tongue. It lashed out again, and her hand plucked it out of the air. The shirshu made a whining snuffling sound, and she dropped the tongue. It covered it's mouth and whimpered some more before growling and shuffling back. June smirked. "I have got to get me one of these."



Stupid Smelly Sandal

Yudero pressed into the tangle of students standing in front of the exhibit. It was always the biggest kids, the ones who could see perfectly fine over her head, who hogged the front. It was mean, and it wasn't fair.

"Stop pushing me," one of the bigger kids hissed. He looked down at her like she was a moth-fly.

"I just want to see," she grumbled, sticking out her lip.

"There's nothing to see. Just some dead guy's sandal."

The curator gave them a long, drawn out sigh. "That sandal belonged to General Iroh, the Dragon of the West, Firelord Zuko the Peacemaker's uncle! Zuko himself carried that sandal throughout his journeys to remember him by."

Yudero wrinkled her nose. "Weird."

The big kid put his hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"It proved very useful!" the man tried to justify. "Zuko the Peacemaker used it to track his uncle twice, once to free him from Earth Kingdom soldiers, and once just before Sozin's Comet. It helped win the war!"

"It's a sandal," one of the other big kids said flatly, not bothering to hide her snicker.

"It's an important piece of history!" he sputtered. But the kids were already moving away, to the next exhibit.

Yudero stared at the sandal, determined to find something interesting about it, after having fought to see it in the first place. It blinked at her lazily. She screamed.

As it pulled itself off the pin holding it to the wall, the other kids ran back. It leapt towards her, and she yelped, ducking back.

"Three eyes," it bellowed weedily. "Three eyes, and two teeth!"

The other kids were just staring. Yudero wanted to hide behind them.

When the sandal darted past her again, she caught it by one of the straps. It struggled, pulling against her fingers, and swinging, its one eye narrowed at her. Its teeth swung towards her, and she swung it away, and it stuck its tongue out at her. Yudero stuck her tongue out right back. In retaliation, it licked her. "Eeeewww!" she squealed, and almost dropped it.

The curator swept in and plucked it from her hands. "Nothing to worry about, everything's under control."

Yudero's teacher rounded on him. "Are you telling me one of your exhibits comes alive, and it's under control?"

But Yudero just sighed, relieved just not to be holding the thing anymore. It smelled really bad.

The big kid who had told her there was nothing to see poked her arm. "You're staying in the back of the group from now on," he said.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault," she yelled back, but privately, she decided she was completely okay with that.

~*~

Opening the door and closing it behind her as quickly as she could, Yudero panted, desperate to catch her breath. "How was the trip?" her mother called from the kitchen.

She threw her backpack down and ran to her room. "I'm never going on another field trip again, ever!"



Laughter and Smiles

"What an exquisite performance." Azula walked in with the flowers and faced Ty Lee's reflection like that was all there was to her. "I can't wait to see how you'll top yourself tomorrow."

Ty Lee made her face in the mirror smile. The sick, cold creeping certainty, the despair that Azula always brought with her welled up. Azula would always give her a choice, after she made every other choice impossible. And if she wanted to hear Ty Lee call them friends... "I'm sorry Azula, but unfortunately there won't be a show tomorrow."

"Really?" Azula asked, and Ty Lee sometimes thought she hated her more when her lies were obvious.

"The universe has given me strong hints that it's time for a career change." Ty Lee hung the headdress on it's hook and turned to the princess, painting on a wider smile. "I want to join you on your mission."



Fear is the Path

I would just like to mention that this is complete and total crack that makes no canonical or characterization sense for either of the canons involved. I know this. I don't care.

~*~

It didn't take much to convince the Firelord that he was the man's son, just an old Jedi mind trick. The son, General Iroh, was a little harder, but deep down he had always wanted a brother, so it only took a little push to convince him he had one.

But it was always like they both knew something was just a little wrong. His "father" hated him, and his "brother" avoided him, and he had to keep pouring the story into their heads. Maintaining a cover was always the hardest part, of course, but still.

It was worth it though, to lord it over this little planet, with the strangest Force-users he had ever known, to lounge around gloating with his pretty wife and idiot children, and now that Azulon was dead... Well. There were perks to the Dark Side, he had found, and Luke intended to enjoy them.



Threat Level Orange

"I don't see what the big deal is," Mai drawled, barely hiding a smirk. "I've never had a problem infiltrating the robot legions."

"Well, yeah," Zuko shot back, "But you're special. I mean, people mistake you for a robot when you walk down the street."

Mai's sort-of-there smirk vanished. Zuko smiled nervously and cringed back.

He could kick himself. Their little resistance against High Overqueen Toph and her metal minions was fragile enough as it was without him managing to screw things up every time he turned around, and Mai... He was always screwing that up somehow.

It wouldn't really be as hard as he was afraid it would be, he reasoned weakly, all he would have to do was pretend he couldn't move his face. "You know," he tried, "I think Ty Lee's a secret robot."

"Of course." She rolled her eyes. "Why did I never think of that?"



Cold Kindled Waiting

The White Lotus camp was still. Iroh pulled his blanket around his shoulders and stepped out of his tent. It snapped around his feet like a cape and dragged in the dust, but even in the summer, the fields outside Ba Sing Se's walls left him chilled, and when he found a spot outside the ring of tents, he sat down and drew it tighter.

Lu Ten had been bright, a little piece of sun that had fallen down to earth, and here, outside the walls of Ba Sing Se, he had been snuffed out. Without him, the world was a little colder.

Iroh looked away from the wall and out over the western plains and the desert scrub, dark smudges against the ground under the feeble starlight. The wind hissed and rattled through the twigs and branches, empty of leaves, cold.

The siege of Ba Sing Se had been something for father and son to share. He didn't remember being afraid for his son, only proud that his boy was so brave, and so strong, ready to do his duty. He would grow up to be a great Firelord. Nothing could ever happen to Lu Ten. He was too good. The fates weren't that cruel.

If Lu Ten had been bright sunlight, Zuko was dragon fire, full of so many colors, and flickering on the wind. The one thing about Zuko visiting him in prison every day was that Zuko visited. He could see his nephew. He knew how he was, and there, at he walls of Ba Sing Se, he didn't. He hoped his nephew had found his way again, hoped he chose to do the right thing. Hoped that he wasn't lost and afraid.

But mostly, he just needed Zuko to be alive when it was over.



The following five fics were illustrated by vynessia361. If you enjoy the art, please drop her a line.



Hands Held Up

This fic takes place in the same universe as On Your Trembling Knees and Bow Your Head

~*~



Azula pulled the battered library scroll out of her tunic and smoothed it out on the grass. Glancing around warily, she shifted into a fighting stance and held her arms out in front of her. She shifted her hips awkwardly. It felt wrong, not like a real fighting move, but she brought her hands back and moved the way the scroll said.

The water moved. Halfheartedly, but it moved. Ripples spread to the edge of the pond. She did it again,and again, until the water was as choppy as the ocean, but the water still wouldn't do what the scroll said it should. She yelled furiously and let the water fall.

As she left the garden, she passed Zuko, crouched in the gateway. She started, but recovered quicky. "If you tell anybody what you just saw, I will kill you. I will-"

"I didn't see anything," he said quickly.



Connect




Once, after they had settled into the old royal palace, and aside from the pitiful resistance, Omashu was safely in Fire Nation hands, the circus had come to town. Mai had pulled the notice off the wall, folded it into her pocket and brought it out to stare at it and stare at it until she could gather the courage to drag her parents to it.

Then her mom had found it, and her dad had babbled about how good it would be to see a bit of Fire Nation color. Before she knew what was happening, they had dragged her to the circus. They sat in the best seats, on a raised platform, and Mai could see all of the acrobats' faces.

Of course she knew there was more than one circus in the Fire Nation. It had just never occurred to her that Ty Lee wouldn't be there.



Somewhere to Stay



Toph hated Ba Sing Se. She hated the way people shuffled around with their heads down, and the way the walls kept everyone from speaking to each other. She hated the way with the end of the war, nothing had changed.

The door opened, and the bell ringed. Toph stepped onto the stone tiles, feeling the shapes of the wooden tables standing throughout the room. People were sitting and talking, people from all of the different rings, and there was a stack of passes in the corner for people from the lower rings who wanted to come again. "Hey Uncle!" she shouted.

"Toph!" Iroh set the teapot down on a table and sauntered over to her. "How has your job at the palace been so far?"

Toph threw her arms around his waist. "I never want to go back," she whispered to him, just like yesterday. "I'd rather stay here."



Little Sister




"Shut up, Sokka!" Katara hissed, trying to suck air in through her mouth the way Gran Gran had showed her. "Ow."

"Look, I know I've never given birth to anything, but it always makes you feel better to yell at somebody, and Aang's kind of hiding right now, so..."

Katara closed her eyes and twitched. "Go away."

"I'm not going to leave you all alone with a bunch of Northern Water Tribe healer ladies you barely know." He looked around at the healers clustered around his sister, glaring at him and gulped. "Sorry ladies, I didn't mean it like that."

One of the women sighed, rolling her eyes as they turned away, and Katara groaned. "Come on, Sokka! You should leave the tent before you faint again."

"That was years ago!" Sokka yelped. "Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm here for you."

Katara lifted her head up. "Thanks, Sokka."



Toe the Line




Letting go of the tree trunk, Ty Lee turned back to him. "So you sort of grip the rope with your toes."

The rope was two feet off the ground, tied between two trees. The little Kyoshi Island girls were watching them avidly as he hopped up onto it, next to her. "Like this?"

"Don't swing your arms so much." She grabbed onto the back of his collar. "Hold them out straight."

"This would be so easy if you just let me airbend," he told her, steadying himself.

"Yes, but then you wouldn't be learning anything new," she said cheerfully. "Now, when you walk, you want to spread your toes and pick your foot up like this," she lifted her foot. "So that you don't shake the rope."

"How did you learn all this?" he asked, trying to follow suit.

She looked back at him, puzzled. "Azula wanted me to."



The next five fics are illustrated by crystaldrake. If you like the art, please drop her a line.

Shift Slide




Sometimes La was formless, and they would grab hands, and Yue would pull the ocean as it flowed over the world.

Sometimes La was a man, and she would duck her head politely and stand in the shallow Spirit World lake with him. He would hold his hands behind his back and lean over to talk to her. She would smile up to him, and they would stroll through the water.

Sometimes, La was a woman, and she would take Yue's hand, or put an arm around her shoulder, and they would talk, and laugh, like friends, like sisters. La's eyes got a warm look in them, and Yue would feel guilty for the way she flirted when La was a man.

But more and more, La was a little girl, and they would grab hands and dance the way Yue had when she had been a little girl too.



Reason to Visit




The ground outside the Kyoshi dojo was dusty, and the dirt clung to the hem of Ty Lee's uniform. Toph savored the way it wrapped around her slim little ankles. The crushed rocks in the makeup on her face let Toph see every angle, every soft, sweet curve on Ty Lee's face. "So how you been doing?"

Ty Lee beamed and lifted her arms high into the air. "Great! It's like the circus, except I have friends again."

"Yeah, Sokka's here. I bet he reminds you all about those circus animals," Toph smirked.

Ty Lee let out a little laugh. "I dare you to say that to him."

"Yeah, and if I do, what do I get?"

She quirked her lips, and Toph swallowed. "A kiss."

"Where?" Toph asked eagerly.

Ty Lee took pity on her and smiled. "A real one, on the lips."

"And this is why I visit."



Whisper Down the Lane




Mai kept her hands at her side, as if she couldn't move them. When Katara talked, she kept her face expressionless. "So Mai, I never would have thought you would want to hear so much about a bunch of people you barely know."

Mai shrugged. "Human foibles amuse me."

"Yeah, sure," Katara said, leaning against the temple wall.

"The fact that I don't know you guys just makes it funnier."

Katara raised an eyebrow, and Mai raised both of hers impassively.

Katara let her hand rest on Mai's shoulder. "You know, if you keep listening to all of these stories, you're going to get to know all of us pretty quickly."

Mai snorted.

"So how's Zuko doing?"

Mai's face hardened momentarily with surprise. "He's alright. Working hard."

"Well, tell him I said hi." Katara patted Mai's shoulder. "And that we miss him."

Mai nodded. It was why she came.



Winning



"I don't want to be on Zuko's team." Mai folded her arms. "He always loses."

Zuko shot her a dark look. "That's fine, I'll take Azula. You and Ty Lee can play together."

Azula rolled her eyes. "I'm not playing with you, dumb-dumb. Mai's right, you always lose."

"Yeah, and you always win," Zuko snapped. "You think you're not good enough to win with me?"

"Of course I am," she snarled, and Zuko tasted victory, because it didn't matter if they said there was a game on or not. It was always him against Azula.

Azula changed all the rules, and Mai and Ty Lee lost. Zuko turned to his sister and smiled viciously, but she just glared.

"I'll be on your team next time," Ty Lee assured him, but Azula threw an apple at her. It just wasn't as much fun to win when she couldn't make Zuko lose.



On the House




Sokka walked around the corner and dropped in beside her, which Toph supposed would seem a lot more impressive if she couldn't feel him perfectly well around corners. "Hey Toph."

"Yo, Sokka."

"So how has everything been going? Bend any good rocks lately?" His voice squeaked a little.

She threw an arm around his waist. "You know, I keep trying to bend the rocks in your head, but they're just too hard..."

"Yeah yeah yeah." He pushed her off and she punched him. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."

She punched him again, suddenly worried. "What is it? You need me to bust some heads together, just say the word, and I'm there."

"Nah, it's nothing like that." He glanced around sheepishly. "I was wondering if you could hook me up with some Earth Rumble Eleven tickets."

Toph stomped her foot and pitched him up into the air.