Chapter Text
The blood on her body began to wash away with the water pouring down. In five years, she hasn't shivered so violently. She was already weeping enough that it would stain her clothes. Powder was gone. Half of the city that ignored her and rendered her soulless was now partially destroyed. Broken rubble and numerous dead bodies littered the streets of Ba Sing Se. The sweet, putrid smell stung more than her tears as she struggled to breathe. If Powder was gone, where was Vander?
Holding her wounded arm, she bent a rock from their small home aching and hollering. He needs to be alive. Please. Please. Blood was streaming from her mouth, and she began to believe she was going to die. Attempting to locate the only man she had left to protect her from the people in the outer ring.
All that was left was one arm.
2 years later.
Food… Vi circled the word four times in the red pen she took from a vendor. She was sure she spelled the words wrong, oh well.
The 16-year-old concluded that it was a sheer coincidence that she had survived so long alone. She'd practiced bending the enormous wall with her hands to bloody them up, so she learned how to wrap them properly.
Today would be just like any other day: steal, run, and repeat tonight. Water was more difficult to find than food; happily, she had prepared for the next weeks. However, the kid did not accomplish it alone. It was with helping some of the other orphans on the street, and she shared whatever scrap she could.
“Vi?” A girl in matted pigtails came to her leg, all Vi could do was smile and it was more than welcoming.
“What's up Piggy?” Vi patted her head while slipping the rucksack on her shoulder. The girl appeared to be around the same age as her sister had been at the time. She shook her head and dropped down to meet her eyes.
“Could you, you know, get me another apple?” Piggy looked down at the dirt-layered ground somewhat ashamed.
Getting apples from the stall she was referring to was always a problem, and they had not one, but three people watching the vendor from every angle. Mylo and Claggor had helped her before, but they had already been happily adopted and gone. It wasn't something she was heartbroken about, but damn it stung.
Why could she not have a happy family again? She kept asking it in her head, but she knew, as did everyone else, that Vi would never be fully happy if Powder was not home. Home with her, wherever they could find a spot. She wasn't concerned about her power. She knew Powder couldn't handle it. It was an accident.
What happened wasn't her fault. I should've been a better sister, this wouldn't have happened if-
“Vi?” Piggy raised her head, helping Vi snap out of her head again, “You don't have to, it's okay, I'll eat what we had from last week.” Something about her voice made Vi want to recoil. It made her nauseous as if food would be safe to eat nearly two weeks from now. She needs to be better.
“I can try, okay?”
Vi gave her a half-smile with resolve in her eyes as she sneaked out the rear of the orphanage, stomping her bare foot on the dirt, revealing her all-too-obvious hidden tunnel to the city center.
It took a few tries, and she was repeatedly struck out by the guards before she got it just accordingly. She took a deep breath while gazing down the black hole and felt the scorching sun on her scalp.
She jumped down.
The city's core was always busy with individuals from all four nations, their pockets full of yuans to take. If they had so much, surely they could share some of it? Vi draped the other strap of her bag across her arm and tucked it closer to her chest. Was she obvious? Was she noticeable? Of course, she was, but in her spot, nobody noticed a sixteen-year-old from the outside ring when wealthy top circle jerks begged to buy their best fruits. Vander would have despised this scheme; it would almost certainly lead to her death. But she has to. She has to.
The thunderous rumbling from all sides of the plaza blurred her eyesight and made her head ring. The rich were always extra loud when talking; it was a competition of who could take up the most space.
Just as Vi was ready to slip into an alley, she noticed a blue-haired girl; she had never seen anyone like her before. Vi did, and she could smell the money leaking out of her like the other folks in the square. But her hair was profoundly different, and she despised the swelling she felt on her chest. Vi was gazing. She appeared otherworldly, more lovely than anyone she had seen before. Her eyes were curled and her nose sharp, yet her features were delicate, and Vi knew they might change someday. Nobody remains innocent forever. The only thing she noticed next was a dark crimson uniform with a black contrast. Ah yes, this again was no fairy tale, Vi could never approach the girl. So, she moved away.
Vi's feet were covered in dried muck, and she could only grumble. Though it made her bend easier and get a better layout, the roughness felt like sandpaper against the hard quartz. She squatted in the shade, scrutinizing every aspect like a hawk as she moved. There was no one near the potato stall, so she approached it. Closer. Just a bit more. She was not breathing.
She quickly stuffed two, three, and five inside her bag, shivering with adrenaline as she heard heavy footsteps approach her.
For a split second, she looked up and saw the girl's eyes from a few moments before. Fire Nation guards surrounded her, and she appeared concerned. Vi simply scowled.
“Hey! What do you think you're doing punk!” A bulky man was sprinting at her, his hands waving frantically in the arm for some sort of help from passersby.
Vi was two steps ahead, taking a small handful of sand and flinging it squarely into his eyes before lunging full force. The man's cries for aid faded away as all she could hear was her burned feet brushing against the earth. It wasn't much, but she had something to eat. The dusty air blew through her long pink mullet as she hopped between barrels and closed gaps. She had a track on her by now, and she'd lose it as soon as she buried herself. It was irritating to have to do this every day, but after a few attempts, it became second nature. Vi was good at this, and it was comfortable in its way.
But she realized a life like this wasn't worth living when the shiny gold structures above her head were a constant reminder of the royals. Fuck them all. She'd never get that; her home was debris, dirt, sweat, and blood. Her appetite remained unquenched. She would murder to survive, whereas they would live to kill.
“Fuck.” Vi muttered to herself shaking off the dirt from her hair and she looked down the alley.
Rows of torches lit up the market, and Vi booked it as soon as she noticed the red-painted signs. Scraps were always the lowest-quality batches. She fiddled around in her bag for the sack of yuans she'd saved (really stolen); the old man only gave her an electric smug look at his possessions.
It was like clockwork, and they all knew her by now, and they'd turned her down many times even if she had the money. However, this old man never appeared to reject it. In response, Vi had never considered stealing from him, not even once.
“You don't happen to have an apple, do you, gramps?” Vi tried giving him a playful smile.
He held his cane as if he were looking for something. His one hair poked up, and Vi noted that his beard was close to the ground.
“Well,” He turned his back to Vi, “I do suppose I could give you one.”
Vi tried hard to mask her joy as she bounced from her tippy toes. She couldn't help but peek around to make sure no one had seen it, and she thanked the heavens that everyone was closed.
“On one condition.” He held his finger to the sky dramatically. “Stop stealing from our stalls, gods help us, we have children and a whole line of our generation to feed, do you hear?”
Vi clinched her jaw knowing it was an understandable agreement, but one she could never embrace. She gazed down at the apple in his trembling hands and thought of Piggy. She will figure something out.
She nodded, took the fruit in her burnt hands, and dashed back into the city's dark areas.
She took a few steps to the edge of the building, which overlooked all of the rings. Many lights illuminated the streets and residences, and when she squinted her eyes, she noticed families. In the outer ring, she spotted children laughing and playing with fireworks, as well as a mother hanging laundry on the line while their father kissed them from behind. Vi sighed, then smiled.
Life was unjust, but there were good moments when you knew where to look. The father was undoubtedly a smuggler, and the mother must have stolen a few items. The children, however, were most likely the worst of all. Vi saw something, though, that the higher-ups never did. A few words about it. Blood, tears, and most importantly, love. Nothing exists without love somewhere.
With the wind blowing in her ear, she couldn't hear the big steps behind her. Two strangers grabbed her arms tightly, and before she could yell for a ghost who would never appear, she was out cold.
“Get up, Vi.” Vander's voice rang out from the musty room. She promised herself, "I'll clean it later." She let out her breath and buried her head in the thin blanket, shivering slightly.
“C'mon, Powder’s got something to show you.”
No.
A dark feeling crept and her chest, pounding through her ribcage, and she could feel it like a hammer. Footsteps were traced near the bed frame. She could hear the water once more.
“Please go.” She whispered out in a cry that left her mouth whimpering. “I don't want to get up.”
Not, again, please don't make me look again.
“You have to, Vi.” Vander tapped his knuckles on the doorframe in a rhythm. “It's the only way you can see her again, you know that.”
Tap. Tap, tap. Tap. Tap, tap. Tap. Tap, tap.
“Okay.” She was defeated.
“That's my girl.”
The horrifying sound of Vi coughing up fluids filled the room and she swirled her head back and forth, seeing nothing but darkness. Her skin rocked against her skin, and she felt hot tears well up in her eyes.
“Powder!” She cried out and hoped for some sort of call back. “Powder, please!” she now whispered.
She could take whispers in the darkness and try to put them into words, but her mind was spiraling like a spring up and down being pulled.
“Sweet, sad girl.”
“You should know…”
“Do you think he'll…”
“I'm sorry.” That is all she had left to say before drifting back to the void.
Vi was awake, and his eyes were tight. She shifted her body as the chains surrounding her squeezed. She attempted to bend by kicking the ground, but nothing happened, and she felt her body remain stationary. She's never been able to stop bending. What happened to her?
“You awake, darling?” A creepy voice from the darkness spoke to her, and she could see what looked like a lighter flickering every 2 seconds.
She stayed silent, hearing more than two footsteps walk around her, she gripped the rope tied at her wrist.
“Powder is gone sweetheart,” His accent was more clear as he now stood by her front feet. “You should say her name, correctly.”
Candlelight swarmed around the space, and it was gripped by the man’s hands and shadowed his face. He had a thick mustache with an eye patch with a blue X drawn thick, and he painted a playful, terrorizing smile.
“You don't talk much?”
She just rolled her eyes, knowing he could see her after receiving a hefty rounded punch to the face. Vi groveled in agony but didn't let him see it in her eyes, her pulse rising as he kept bouncing around the room.
“He told me you'd be easy to catch. Well, and of course he wasn't wrong. But you're a fast one, aren't you? We could use you too. He told me to bring you alive, you know?” The man pulled out a knife and twirled the edge on the side table.
“Vander wouldn't have wanted this, wouldn't he, little lamb?”
“You keep his name out your filthy-”
Before she could finish, another punch collided with her cheek drawing blood as she bit down on her lip. Her head rang even more, no, she needed to stay awake.
“Who is he?” Vi asked.
“That's right, it's easier this way, right?” he boosted his volume getting closer to her again. “He. He who will change the world, my girl. You are just a pawn, I believe. Another step, and he wants you by his side.”
Vi clenched her jaw in pain, blood ran out her mouth like rainwater dripping from the sky. Eyes still squinted at the dirty man, she exhaled. Then she scoffed.
“I asked for a damn name, besides, I don't need to go anywhere and especially not with a freak like whoever the hell you're talking about.” Vi tugged her body against the chains once more trying to get closer to the man.
“Oh sweet, sweet thing.” The three men in the room all laughed. They seemed to pity her as they pouted their lips.
“He has what you want most, you're little sister, Jinx.”
Her whole world stopped. The exhausted laughter that played out in her ears began to fade. Now she was alone, alone with a demon she had created. The man meant nothing but harm; she was sure Powder was in trouble. Jinx. Jinx. Jinx. No, she wasn't. She was still her powder just like then, just like now.
The room was enveloped in the darkness once more.
She blinked and saw her sister again, making ice out of the dirty water when she was bored or helping to heat the stove in the morning.
Powder had fun striking guards with rocks or floating in the air while Vi observed her. Vi smiled while crying, gazing at memories that had never happened in her life. It was all a dream; nothing like this had ever happened.
Before she could see Powder smile once again, the fire was everywhere. It was at Vi's feet. It was in Powder spinning about her body, yet she made no noise. Vi knew it wasn't real, yet she couldn't stop the horrifying screams that came out of her mouth as she remained tied like a dog. However, not all of it was fabricated, for once everything was gone, the chamber was illuminated by the sun and the hot burning stench of flesh. Vi had been here before—a sweet deja vu.
“What.” She trembled watching the bodies of the three men burn in agony.
The fire grew bigger and bigger and for a moment Vi lingered on her mind. If this was it, if she would die here, unable to bend and fight, what does she have left? Powder was gone, she needed to find her.
Powder is gone, she needs to find her.
Her muscles tightened and her throat burned, she wanted to cough. As much as she bent her fingers and pressed her feet flat on the ground, she couldn't even move a pebble. Has she lost her ability? She looked into the fire, the smell now unbearable. At some point, Vi waited for the flame to take her too. But she'd reject it in the end, she wouldn't die here.
Voices watered in her ears. She looked up, the roof gone as she stared up at the sky, motionless.
“Fire!”
“Oh my gods!”
“Someone help!”
“Who is she?”
“Who did this? Where did they go?”
“It was someone from the Fire Nation! I'm sure of it! This is only the beginning!”
“My baby, someone, help my baby!”
“My stall! What am I going to do? I can't feed my family!”
“Who would do something like this?”
“Why is she dressed like that? Is she poor?”
“Maybe that's why she's here, she was late on rent.”
“Get her a healer!”
“I can't be seen here.”
“Get her out!”
The next time Vi woke up, her bones were arching. Her breathing was uneven and her hands shook as she tried to stand up. She was back in the outer ring, her bag was long gone most likely all burned up. Vi pushed on, aware of the disappointment on all the kids' faces she'd see soon. Her stomach growled uncontrollably.
The rats in the streets squeaked their way into trash cans and piles that went into broken homes. VI was desperate enough to knock on one of the doors, but she didn't. She didn't want anyone to see her like this, to ask questions. Her bleeding had stopped, they had nothing to worry about. But Vi, she still couldn't bend. Whatever those men did to her, would stick to her forever.
She looked up, the stars were so bright. She reached up, trying to grab the light that seemed close to her body. Before she could drift into an awful slumber on the cracked brick wall, she felt a push.
“Powder?”
“What, no, Vi, it's me.” Vi looked up, her eyes holding a few burning tears. It was Piggy, and she was giving Vi the biggest smile.
“I, uh, got your apple but-”
“It burned? Yeah, I know, and it's okay.” Piggy sat down next to her.
In the distance, up in the city, there was smoke going up to the starlight sky and Vi clenched her fist. Piggy noticed and went to gently lay her hand on it. Vi twitched at the contact, but let it happen once the feeling died down.
Piggy wasn't her sister, she wasn't Powder. But she was damn near close to her heart, and she let her mind take over once more. It swirled over and over, if Vi went after the man she'd have to leave Piggy. Piggy can't fight, as much as she tries, she's just a little girl. She can't leave her.
“They're closing down the city tomorrow.” Piggy talked softly as they both watched the smoke.
Vi's throat closed at the statement, she knew the explosion would be serious but the city has closed since…yeah, she didn't want to dwell on it.
“The Earth Queen thinks the Fire Nation is gearing up for a war.” Piggy went on. “I mean, it makes sense. Don't freak out but-”
“I know. I'm gonna find her.”
“What!” Piggy exclaimed, covering her mouth right after then going on in a whisper. “You're serious?”
“Don't act all surprised, of course, I am.”
“She didn't escape on her own, you know. I heard the Fire Nation built their enclosure for her, she couldn't bend or anything. Someone higher up must have gotten her out, don't you think?”
Vi ground her teeth, glaring at Piggy. She knew she meant no harm, but hearing all of the talk of the tongue by people who shit from their mouths was not what she needed to hear. It was just rumored.
“Vi, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get carried away.” Piggy played with a small pebble on the ground. “How are you getting through the desert anyways? You don't have enough yuans for a sand bender to get across.”
Vi sighed, laying her head against the wall. Piggy was right, going out without a guide was practically suicide, that is unless you get lucky and find a village close.
“I'll, uh, I'll find a way okay? Don't worry about me.”
“I don't want you to worry about me, Vi. I'm going to be fine.” Piggy reassured her, but Vi still felt guilty.
“I'm sorry that I'm doing this. But I have to, okay?”
“You don't need to explain anything to me, I know already alright? We'll see each other again when the time is right. And don't forget, I'm going to make sure I beat you at arm wrestling too.”
Vi scoffed at that nudging the girl with her shoulder with a small laugh.
“Okay. It's a deal then.”