At The Village

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

A/N: This is the middle chapter of a Work In Progress therefore certain things will not make sense at all. Let me try to setup the scene. After Zuko becomes the Fire Lord he discovers a set of secret experiments the Fire Nation had been conducting since the start of the war. Namely, they gathered together the strongest benders they could find/capture/hire/etc, and interbred them in an attempt to create their own version of the Avatar. In this WIP the Combustion-Man is one of several offspring that came out of that project. The "Anti-Avatar", who goes by the name of Zara, escaped at the same time that Zuko's mother vanished & since that time he has been living at various places along the world hiding from the Fire Nation. Zuko tells Aang everything he knows and the gang is recruited; they aim to track down and stop the Anti-Avatar before he enacts a plan to dominate the world all by himself. (Did I say it's a WIP? Yup, it's a major WIP.)

**"At The Village"** by **Abraxas** 2009-04-27

It was the dead of night when Zuko's party reached the village. They were at a ridge that looked onto that area of land, flat and featureless, where outcasts gathered into community. They spied the other, jagged peaks that ringed the village yet neither Zuko nor Sokka spotted any trace of activity.

"I found the watchtower," Sokka announced, pointing to a tall, metal structure. "It's empty."

Suki focused a set of binoculars into the valley. The village was a simple, organic cluster of huts gathered tightly together. Motionless. Lifeless. Even their doorways did not sway with the wind. Their straw and stone shapes recalled with their brittle, ashen stillness the layout of a cemetery rather than anything like a settlement. Could it be that its subtlety reflected the subconscious of its dwellers?

"The village doesn't look abandoned," Zuko added.

"I don't know - they could be hiding - it is the village though," he said. Without referencing their map, which he studied intensely the last few days, he knew it was true. The description of the village and its fields and canals was too perfect to be wrong.

The lack of people was a cause of concern. Someway. Somehow. They must have been alerted to the fact that a group of strangers was trying to find their village. And, fearing it could be danger - since they were outcasts tormented by the world - they fled. Or they hid within the forest ready to strike. Or

The three retreated into the jungle deep under a blanket of onyx that nobody could have detected their presence. They were silent, as trained by Suki, so much so that the clamor of grass brushing rock echoed inside of their heads. Meanwhile their eyes gazed with a singular kind of intensity. Maybe they were early. Maybe the Avatar was late. It was a very dangerous situation - with populations of upset, maddened villagers vying to kill - and, worse, he could be there too watching and waiting.

It had been a month since they tracked the motion of the figure known only as Zara. Zuko's hunch that Zara was a pirate proved to be fruitful. Zara, according to informants, was given a set of peculiar and distinctive tattoos. Similar to the eye of the combustion man but not just at the forehead. The hands and the tongue were adorned too. Those tattoos, as reproduced by a sage, were so peculiar that if Zara hoped a chance of anonymity within the world he needed firstly to cover those tattoos with other tattoos and, lastly, to dwell among a people where such a thing was normal.

Captain Li and his crew of pirates were the best - if reluctant - source of information to date. They were taken by Zara's extremely reserved nature and by his sporadic displays of power. Extreme heat and cold did not affect him. He required very little food - as if he were nourished by the air itself - indeed, he avoided meat. He commanded the water which they found baffling since they suspected he was a Fire Nation AWOL. Nevertheless, he erased waves that threatened their ship, he produced tides to sink their enemy and he exhibited a power even over the weather. Such as it was he had been their weapon a great many years.

The man, who they knew as Zarathustra, tended to be silent - natural as it would have been difficult to hide the tattoo along the tongue. He was annoyed with the company of people. He said he was used to a solitary sort of life. Later, as he grew more and more accustomed to people, he seemed to be a complete individual - loving jokes and games especially Paisho after a foray into the Desert. Yet the exact nature of his past remained his mystery.

"I'm going into the village," Zuko announced.

"Are you crazy!" Sokka complained. "If that guy's anything like the combustion man -"

"Look, we can't just stand by, if Aang's in danger," the Fire Lord explained. "Besides, I'm a fire-bender, I'll deal with it. Just keep your eyes open - if it's safe I'll give you the signal."

Sokka and Suki watched as Zuko slithered out of the forest. The side of the hill was steep. It was not wise to run across its face. Instead he crawled like a child on knees and elbows. If Zara was the monster they feared him to be, the one last burden they needed to deal with was an injured - or dead - Fire Lord. But he could not sit by and let Aang take the brunt of yet another Fire Nation abomination. His family was responsible and he felt duty bound to put a stop to it.

Crawling, almost tumbling, eventually he reached the edge of the village. Within the grass that surrounded a hut he paused and waited. Not a stir echoed through the structure. The leaves rained out of the branches and fields rattled driven by the wind. Not a sign of intelligence was revealed by the wilderness. Judging it was safe, he stood and ran toward the next hut nearby. Again nothing seemed to indicate anyone was hiding within the village or its outskirts. Again his running and dodging became blatant. Until at length he walked into the center of the settlement unmolested.

Looking confused and bewildered, he again walked from hut to hut. With a flicker of fire hovering above his palm he looked through each and every doorway. The huts were furnished and showed signs of life yet they were abandoned. It seemed as if the people just vanished.

At the center of the village he took a wrong step and tumbled. Recovering, quickly, he looked about and noticed it. A track, several feet wide and deep, was carved into the earth. The rent had been overwhelmed by grass and masked by midnight. Combing the grass he uncovered another, then, another track - all of which headed toward the taller, opposite ridge - clearly it was the sign of a struggle and the tuft of hair he uncovered sealed the conclusion.

Zuko turned to face the hilltop and signaled to Sokka and Suki. He caught the hint of a spyglass, waited, then turned toward the jagged, distant ridge. Good Gods, he thought, they were late!

The village was the site of a battle. Aang against Zara. But it was not like any kind of battle between benders. There was no collateral damage to speak of. The only evidence of conflict where the tracks carved by Appa's desperate advances.

Zuko found a slope that was smooth and easy to climb. Sokka and Suki were already ambling through the village as he climbed toward the hilltop. It was like eternity, yet, he reached a wall of shrubbery and stepped onto the peak of the ridge.

He was shocked to find the scene was empty.

"Aang!" he shouted hoping the worst did not come to pass.

Frantically he pressed onward. Past a thin strip of forest the hilltop formed a flat, continuous plain that melted into the horizon. It was there, there in the middle of the veldt, that he found the bison. The Avatar rested along its tail.

"Are you OK?" He cradled the boy's head as Appa uttered a low, dull wail.

"Zuko," he said, a trickle of blood forming at the corner of his lips, "Zuko - he was waiting. I'm sorry. He caught me by surprise." He coughed and twisted. Just then Sokka and Suki appeared. "I got into the Avatar state, I figured he couldn't do that, and - and I tried to bend his energy. But I couldn't. Zuko - he's pure. He's the opposite of me yet he's pure."

"Jeez, you're saying he's really pure evil?" Sokka asked with a shiver.

"He fights like a machine," he continued, sitting up, "without a wasted shot."

Suki tended to his hands - his fingers were broken where the bending of energy failed.

"Did you get a good look at him?" Zuko asked.

Aang nodded: "He looks young but he can't be. He's too well practiced."

"Well, he's gone now, I guess," said Sokka trying to reassure the group.

The Avatar shook: "He's the Anti Avatar. He's...there...still. Somewhere. Watching. Waiting. He knew we were coming."

"Don't mean to be a downer," Suki said, "why didn't he kill you? Your injuries aren't fatal but he could have easily "

"He's got his own agenda," Zuko explained. "Whatever it is. Let's get back to Katara. We need to find another tactic. Going head on isn't working."

**END**


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