FicWad

if anybody has an idea on what will happen next or how something should have gone, write it! my hope is to have one story with multiple people's different takes on it - or you could PM the idea to me (or leave it in a review) and if I think I can use it I will (try).

Bored-piper doesn't own TT or A:tla, if he did, he wouldn't be bored.

It was just before dawn when Raven woke up the next morning, she slept nearly a full nine hours; a rare event for Raven when she usually only slept four or five a night. The other girl wasn't in the tent. Without her new acquaintance being present, Raven decided to see if her powers had been affected by the Professor's machine. She levitated the leather pouch off of her wrist. At least my powers still work; I shouldn't be a liability then.

She slowly worked the knot out of the draw strings on the bag, levitating it a few inches off the ground as she did so.

"So where are you really from?"

Startled, Raven tensed, releasing the bag suddenly and letting it fall to the ground.

How did she sneak up on me? Nobody has done that in years.

"Like I said, 'very far away' would be the best way to describe it." Raven said defensively.

"Well that's the thing; we have our world pretty well mapped. I don't know of any place called Jump City. I also know that what you were doing, floating leather, isn't any type of bending.

Shit. Wait, what's bending?

"Well, I'm...not exactly from your dimension."

"My what?"

"Alright, imagine your world, all the stars, all the other planets you know of. Now imagine them in a box, that box is like a barrier, very few can travel past it."

"And I take it your from outside that box?"

"Yes, it was an accident during afight with a criminal."

Holly just stood there, deciding what to make of her.

"Alright, get up, if we don't start walking soon we won't make it to the port by night."

"I...wait, you're still letting me go with you?"

"Yes. The only reason I'm alive is because others took a chance, I'd be a hypocrite if I left you here."

Raven only nodded gratefully and picked up the token that fell out of the leather pouch. It had a flower pattern with eight petals, printed in a cream color on a round piece of wood.

*

"Are you sure we should just leave the shelter as is?" Raven asked as they walked along the dusty road.

"Yea, there's a string of hidden shelters along this road leading to the port. Sort of a tradition to stay in one, and then leave it as it was for the next person who needs it. It was started by refugees escaping their villages."

"Refugees?"

"Oh yea, I forgot you didn't know about the war." She said, "Nearly a century ago the Fire Nation committed genocide on the air nomads. Then proceeded to attack the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom, they've been fighting them for close to the last century."

"A century of war?"

"Yep, but enough of that, so what's the world you come from like?"

"Oh, well aside from the technology, it isn't too different from this" same trees, same air, guess I lucked out again and didn't end up on a toxic planet “Although some of the people have powers, we call them meta-humans."

"So powers like what you were doing earlier?"

"Well, every person's a bit different, like…" I doubt she would understand Cyborg, or Starfire. Beast Boy? Perhaps… she looked at the ground in thought Terra! Surely she could connect to that.

"Well, a former team mate of ours used to be able to control the earth, to an extent."

Holly smiled, "So you have earth benders there."

"Sure, in a sense." Raven said, knowing that the two were probably different, but not wanting to discuss it further.

*

The two continued to familiarize each other to these new worlds for the next few hours, making time seem to pass much faster than it really was. They talked until high noon, where they stopped to rest at a small lake just off the roadside.

"So the group that you're returning to, the Kyoshi Warriors, they've protected the island for the entire war?"

"Much longer than that, ever since the Avatar created the island. Close to three centuries ago."

Raven didn't respond, she rarely talked more than a few sentences at a time back on Earth, and now her throat was almost as dry as the rocks she was leaning against. She walked to the water and kneeled down to sip from the lake.

"I wouldn't drink that."

"Why not?"

"It's not boiled?"

Raven knelt down to drink anyway, her immune system was possibly the only thing she didn't mind about her demonic half. She was still drinking when Holly heard the distinct sound of metal against the tough hide of a komodo rhino. It was a sound she knew far too well.

"Hey Rave, how long can you hold your breath?" her voice a hoarse whisper.

"I'm not sur-" Raven said as she finished quenching her thirst. Holly then quickly shoved her into the water; following behind her as quietly as possible. As Raven tried to surface again, Holly clasped her hand over her mouth and, pinching her nose too, clung onto a few submerged roots while holding Raven down with her.

*

A few moments later and within a stone's throw away…

"Hey Lt., how much longer before our patrol ends?" yelled a soldier to his comrade a couple strides away.

"Didn't I tell you to keep your voice down? We're supposed to be looking for the escapee, not alerting her. We'll turn back after this, I think we already went past our search quadrant anyway." He said, unwrapping some bread from the saddlebag of the komodo rhino that he had tied the reigns to a tree. He sat down on the same rock Raven had been leaning against moments before and began to eat. The other prison guard strode over to the water and sat down. Found great comfort as the cool water rose and fell along his tired legs.
Just below the water, Raven had started to thrash and struggle against Holly; Raven never expected to be pushed into the water and, aside from being very pissed, was quickly running out of oxygen. As her struggling continued, Holly only tightened her grip around Raven's waist. She stopped thrashing when she saw the outline of the soldier above her, with his feet hanging just below the waterline. Now she knew why she was pushed into the water, and what Holly had meant by being "not exactly liked" in this place.

Holly had hoped Raven had taken a breath before being pushed in. But now that she was running out of air faster than she had anticipated, she knew she didn't.

Thinking fast, she turned Raven to face her and pressed her lips hard against the other woman's.

…What in Azar's name…?

Knowing that Raven would be out of air very soon, she forced what air she could into the other woman’s lungs. She led Raven's hand to the roots she was gripping on to stay submerged, released her new friend, and pushed off of the lake's bottom, she propelling herself towards the surface.

Raven, who was still unsure of what had just happened, gripped the roots tightly and thought:

That's suicide, we don't even know how many there are.

Holly had only heard one rhino, which usually meant only two or three men at most. Trusting only what she had heard was a huge gamble to take, for all she knew there could have been a dozen men waiting.

But there wasn't: just the two; and their numbers were quickly halved when Holly dragged the man on the edge of the lake into the water, and rendered him unconscious with an elbow to his temple.

One man left, and no more than a minute before Raven would run out of air again.

A dense blast of fire came at her and she dove back into the water to avoid it. Surprise had been with her at first, but now she was at a disadvantage. The fire bender knew who she was, where she was, and that wherever she surfaced, he could see her and attack. Raven could only look up at the events going on above. She felt more like the audience at the traveling circus she went to once. Not willingly, of course. Beast Boy and Cyborg had gotten Starfire excited about it, and once Star asked you to go somewhere, refusing was not an option.

Dammit, I can't think of that. Not here, not now. She silently scolded herself. Looking up again she could see her friend clinging onto the edge of the rock shelf that ran below the surface.

Well, guess I should prove I'm not a liability.

Raven formed an obsidian sphere in her palm, to ensure again that her magic had not been affected by the past day's events. Satisfied that it hasn't, she looked up again to see the shadow of the attacker. Her eyes were getting irritated by opening them, but she knew she had one chance to hit him. If she missed, he could flee and warn others before Raven would even be able to attack again; probably before she could even catch a needed breath of air. She condensed the sphere to even smaller a size and, placing the outline of the man in the area between her thumb and next finger, she released the sphere and sent it flying towards him.

The leg. That's where she hit him, not a very good aim for where she was hoping, but enough to count. The escapee that the prison guards were searching for was known to be dangerous, but not a bender. The man stumbled back toward his rhino and collapsed to one knee when Raven and Holly surfaced, both gasping for air.

"So that's what you meant by defending yourself." Holly said, ducking quickly to dodge a fireball from the wounded man not far away.

Raven was still gasping for air, but had enough energy to hold back his arms with obsidian ropes. Stumbling over to the man, Holly rendered him unconscious with another blow to the temple.

"C'mon Rave, I think we found a ride." She said as she mounted the rhino and offered a hand to the other woman.

*

It's been close to five hours since the fight. The two were still riding on the backs of the komodo rhino they had recently 'acquired'. Raven was now in front, she had offered to switch a few hours ago when Holly began to drift off to sleep and almost ran them into an irrigation ditch, much to Raven's surprise. With the dried land and desperate heat, it was hard to imagine anything could grow in this region, let alone that there was an ocean nearby. As they rounded the crest of the next hill, Raven could see the port city in the distance.

Raven shifted her weight slightly to make herself a bit more comfortable in the saddle. Holly had fallen asleep leaning forward and resting on Raven's back, but she was reluctant to move her despite being like that for the better part of three hours.

She did save my life after all; although I do wonder why she picked me up to start with. Considering what's already happened, it must've been a great risk for her to take in a complete stranger. In fact if she hadn't picked me up, she probably would already be on a ship heading home. Raven looked back at the girl, her head was turned to the left and resting just below Raven's left shoulder. Her arms had become looped around Raven's waist with a tight grip to keep from being bumped off the rhino. Hmm, I guess I don't mind this, besides - she's kind of cute like that…Wonder why that bandage is on her arm, she didn't seem hurt at all before…

Raven didn't want to wake her when they went into town, but, knowing it was inevitable, she guided the animal to the side of the road. Doubt it's a good idea to ride a stolen animal into the town. She pried Holly's hands apart and dismounted from the rhino, letting the other girl fall forward against the saddle with a soft thud.

"You could've caught me" She said, now very much awake.

Raven gave a brief shrug. “The port is within walking distance; figured we wouldn't want to ride a stolen animal into the town."

"Stolen? If I remember, he let us borrow it."

"Either way, are we going to go into the town tonight, or in the morning?"

"Trying tonight can't hurt, better to stay ahead of the news as much as possible too."

I forgot that most of the news here is carried by messengers, interesting. You could never travel 'ahead' of the news back on Earth. Not in the modern day at least.

*

The two walked into town and, after passing by many closed stores, eventually found a tavern. The lantern above their door did little to light up more than just their sign, which
had an eight pedaled flower on it. The tavern was well worn on the inside and much smaller than it appeared to be. Aside from the bartender there was only one other man, heavier, and probably in his sixties.

"Looking for a drink fellows?" the bartender asked, eyeing the two oddly dressed newcomers.

"Don't suppose you know where I could find a boat to rent tonight?" Holly spoke up, approaching the bar.

"Whew, it'd be tough this time of night. Be easier to wait 'till morning"

"We're in a bit of a situation, can we get one tonight?"

The bartender gave a halfhearted laugh. "You'll probably have to pay double than normal to get one then. But if you really want, there should still be a few workers down at the docks."

“How about the night fishermen? Or-”

“Lady,” he cut her short, “those fishermen won’t do the least for you if it means giving up their catch for tonight. Besides, most of them have already left.”

Holly gave a grunt and Raven followed her out the door.

"You do know we don't have any money to rent a boat, right?" asked Raven as they walked back into the street.

"Yup."

"You meant steal, didn't you?"

"Steal? That's such a harsh term; I prefer 'borrowing indefinitely'"

Raven rolled her eyes and tried to change the subject "Hey, does this have any value?" she asked as she untied the pouch from her belt. "It was tied to me when I woke up, don't know where it came from though."

Holly looked down at the token and, with a grin, turned back and started off toward the tavern again.

"Wait, so it's worth something?" Raven called out, quickening her pace to keep up with her.

Holly had already entered the building and didn't hear her.

"You find your boat that fast?" the bartender said jokingly at the two who had just left moments ago.

"Depends," Holly responded, placing the token on the counter.

The bartender glanced at the elder man at the bar, and received a quick nod in return.

"Ah, the White Lotus." He beaconed for Raven, who was standing by the doorway, to come closer. "It means that you might have a boat tonight; depends where you're going."

"The Southern Seas?"

The bartender looked down, "You'd need a ship for that, not just a boat. Besides, very few will give you a lift into Earth Kingdom."

"It's to Kyoshi, shouldn't be too much of an issue." She responded. Kyoshi had tried very hard to maintain its neutrality throughout the war, officially at least. Although it has been made rather clear that the Fire Nation was not a friend of theirs.

"You mean you haven't heard? The Fire Lord cut ties with that island two weeks ago. A few hours ago some sailors were sayin' that they were going to raid it every week until it falls."

"The more the reason for me to get back."

"Alright, but it's foolish if you ask me." He turned to the other man, "Aren't you and your nephew heading south?"

"Ah yes, there's a rumor going around about Whale Tail Island he wants to check out." The older man said. "Leave midday tomorrow if the repairs are finished."
That voice. I know that voice…

"It would be appreciated, if it's not too much trouble." Holly said.

The older man gave a wide smile. "It's never a trouble to help a friend in need." He stood up and began walking toward the door. "Dock three, by the way. Try to be there sooner than later."

Holly bowed, and motioned for Raven to do the same.

"Good, I'm afraid I can't let you stay here tonight though; neighbors get suspicious easily." The bartender told them.

"Thank you for the help." They said as they walked out.

*

So where do we sleep?" Raven asked, fearing the answer.

"I don't know, pick an ally."

*

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