markofthebrave | (no subject)

(no subject)

[Action: Locked to Nephry]
[It makes no sense for a known and proud waterbender to step out of the fountain in the middle of winter and remain soaking wet. But yet, that is exactly what she is doing: getting out of the fountain, her arms wrapped around herself, shivering, and looking both confused and frightened... and younger. About three years younger, to be exact.]

[Open action.]

Katara, properly attired to face the winter thanks to your friendly neighborhood Clothing Shop, can be seen:

a) Stopping and staring at the snow, as if she hasn't seen any in a very, very long time
b) Entering the Welcome Center to get the maps/layout of the place
c) Stalking House 56. She will not enter. She will likely not be seen, as she is administering a frightening amount of skill at sticking to the shadows, but you might catch her as she starts to walk away...
d) Checking out a Community Building for a spare room.

((Katara, returned from her mallynap, is experiencing this AU. Feel free to bump into her anywhere, but don't be too surprised if she doesn't respond to her name. It's been a long time since she's called herself anything Water Tribe.))

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She didn't believe him. "You lost your mother because of her."

Because of me.

He shook his head. "I lost my mother because of the Fire Nation."

Something ugly flashed in Katara's eyes. "Maybe. But that never would have happened if it wasn't for her. Admit it."

It was uncomfortable seeing something so nasty and so self-loathing in his sister's eyes. He wondered if it had been there before, just less noticeable. Less raw.

"Why? It won't prove anything. It won't change anything."

"It will prove that you can tell the truth."

She wanted to hear it. She'd dreaded hearing it for years, and now - here he was. Her brother. Alive and he'd somehow recognized her and... their mother was dead. And it was all her fault.

And he stood there and told her that he didn't hate her?

"Here's the truth. If they had taken my sister, maybe my mother would have lived. But they would have taken that girl and done horrible things. Hurt her. Burned her. Tried to... I don't know. Terrible stuff."

He stopped himself. It was too real. Too emotional. Even though they weren't his own memories, he recalled it so clearly. The little girl, all the burns, the fear in her eyes, the betrayal. She'd vanished, like she never even existed. But he'd never been able to convince himself that she was fake. He could never make himself believe the Malnosso had just tricked him.

Even though he really, really wanted to be able to.

"I wouldn't want that. My dad wouldn't want that. And I know my mom would never want that." Maybe as a kid, Sokka would never be able to make that sacrifice of himself. But he would now. He knew Hakoda would. But it was Kya who did it.

His words hit something raw and hidden and before she knew what she was doing, Katara had turned and stalked towards him. "How do you know that?"

How do you know what they did to me?

More importantly, "--how did you recognize me?"

She'd only been eight when she was taken. If he was her brother, how was it possible that he could know who she was? She didn't understand what he meant when he said 'would have taken' - that didn't make any sense. None of this made any sense!

His eyes widened as he realized something. A hard and nasty truth. It was the dead of winter and there had been nothing suspicious about the way she was dressed. But Sokka was from the Water Tribe. It was cold, but not so cold that every inch of him was covered up.

He remembered the burns, covering nearly every inch of that little girl. He recalled how she had only shown him the small ones, because she wasn't sure she could trust him with the worst ones on her back.

He recalled the only request she ever made of him that entire time. I don't want to go back.

This was her. It had to be her. She did go back. She grew up. And this... this is what she became. His voice choked at first.

"Katara. I'm so sorry." He looked away. At the ground. The snow. Something. "It's who you are. My sister. I'd know you anywhere. You're the only person who's been there for me my entire life." But he wasn't there for hers. He'd broken that one request. She was real.

Katara shook her head, confused and angry. "I haven't seen my brother since -- since I was a child! And you, you have to be at least five years older than me. My brother was only a year older than I am."

"I know it doesn't make sense. I could tell you all about how this place is weird. Time moves differently. I mean, we both have wings on our backs. I know it's confusing. But you have to trust me on this one." Even coming out of his mouth, he knew it sounded ridiculous. So far beyond probable that he probably sounded like some kind of spinster.

Katara shook her head and took a half-step back, "No. I don't have to trust you. I don't even know you. Nothing you're saying makes any sense."

But nothing else explained how he knew her.

He didn't know what he could do to convince her. Desperate, he tried something else. It was a long shot.

"... do you remember being here before? A long time ago, just after you were taken away?"

Katara refused to think about it - being here? She was sure she'd remember a place like this. "I don't know what you're talking about."

...but maybe she did. There was something so familiar about these wings...

"... if you do, you'd barely remember it. It would be like a dream. Are you sure?" He knew she might not. But she replaced his sister twice. So maybe, just maybe, she'd remember. Just like his own counterpart had.

"A lot of things seem like a dream from when I was a kid."

And not a lot of them were particularly nice dreams. Katara frowned suddenly, remembering, "I used to think that maybe the Avatar would come and rescue me. I don't know why. He sure never rescued anyone else. Now I've learned to take care of myself."

He imagined that it wasn't Aang that she was hoping to come find her. It was Kuruk. "How? You were so young when they took you. What happened after they took you to the Fire Nation?"

"That doesn't concern you," Katara snapped. She really, really didn't like to think of that time. "The important thing is that I'm stronger now. And when I get back, I'm going to make sure they can't do it to anyone else, ever again."

"You learned to waterbend." It was an observation, really. That was what he took away from her being 'strong' anyway. But she couldn't have been much older than when they first met Aang. Something doesn't add up though. How would she ever learn? She grew up surrounded by water and was more or less rubbish until she stole that scroll.

"I know you don't trust me. But even if you don't believe me about who I say I am, I want to help. I'll even call you whatever you want me to. And... well, I know a place with some really good food."

No. This place wasn't the Fire Nation, that was profoundly evident, but caution flashed in her eyes at his words.

"You want me to start trusting you? Then you need to learn to be more careful with other people's secrets."

If anybody ever found her...

And this - this was her brother? But... not her brother at the same time. He said he'd been here before? Nothing made sense.

He raised up his hands. "Okay, okay. Exnay on the aterbending-way."

Then he realized she'd have no idea what that meant. "That was uh. Pig Latin. It's for uh. Coded messages."

She gave him a disgusted look that had just enough hardness in it to be distinguishable from Katara's usual responses to his more ridiculous antics. "You really have no concept of what you're talking about, do you. And you're not helping me understand how it could possibly be that you are who you say you are, and that you know who I am. I don't see why I should be wasting my time with you."

She won't let her own weakness deter her.

That stung a little. He realized he should be treating this more delicately. It was just easier to retreat into silliness than to deal with real problems.

"The Malnosso." He said it in a hurry before she started leaving. "The Malnosso are why you're here. Why I'm here. They're powerful. Even more than the spirits back home. When they bring people here, time doesn't matter. I've been here since I was fifteen. You... you just got here. That's why I look so much older."

He realized it wasn't exactly that. It was a simplification to the extreme. Not even touching the fact of what the Malnosso were responsible for, he wasn't going to diminish her life by saying that she was just an experiment that was here only temporarily.

"They brand us when we show up. All of us." He turned his head to the side and lifted up some of the scruffy hair on his neck to show his own barcode. "We all get one. You have one too."

Branded.

Seeing that brand on her brother's - on what she assumed to be her brother's - neck only reminded her of what had happened to her and it set her into a cold fury.

"How are they keeping us here? I don't see any bars."

He pulled his hand away and looked away towards the south.

"It's a big prison. It goes on for miles. Eventually though, you can't go any further. There's a barrier at the far end that can't be crossed. It's invisible too. Which I realize sounds ridiculous. But it's there. I can even prove it to you."

"How?"