95 - Zaraka

On a big water tribe ship sailing in the middle of the ocean

“Levi and Katara I want you to have this,” said Pakku as he pulled out two amulets with a flask hanging from each of them, “They contain water from the spirit oasis and it’s especially good at healing.”

“Thank you master Pakku,” said Katara with a smile as she grabbed one amulet.

Levi gave Pakku node and a smile as he grabbed the second and put it inside his clothes, secretly transferring it into his inventory.

“And for you Aang we have collected dozens of scrolls on water bending that we hope might serve you well in your journey to learn water bending, although I doubt they will be more useful than your companions,” said Pakku looking at Levi and Katara with a smile.

Sokka being the only one left smiled in anticipation as he awaited his gift, Levi thought it was going to be the same as in the canon and he wouldn’t receive anything but he was mistaken.

“And finally Sokka,” said Pakku, “You might not have been blessed with water bending like your siblings, but in the previous battle you’ve proven yourself to be amongst the elite fighters of the water tribe and the four nations as a whole, you showed courage and like none other, you had no obligation to but you fought for our lands risked your life protecting our people.”

“I am ashamed to say I have nothing to give you besides this amulet and sword,” Sokka looked a bit disappointed before he saw the sword and his expression lit up, accepting both gifts.

Levi took a long look at the sword. It's expensive, really expensive, he thought seeing the gleam of the silver sword and its sharp edge.

Observation

 [Ding]

[Zaraka: An ancient Sword Spirit that had crossed from the spirit realm to the physical world centuries ago in search of a worthy wielder. It had only found one so far, one of the previous chiefs of the Northern Water tribe, Akila, it accompanied him from his early life till his death and had been sealed in the Northern Water tribe’s treasury ever since]

“Just like the one your sister wears I made this amulet for your grandma too, unfortunately, she left before I could give it to her, I hope it will bring you good luck and serve as a reminder of what you’re fighting for,” said Pakku as he wrapped the amulet around Sokka’s neck before he picked the sword from the pillow another tribesman was holding.

“This sword belonged to one of the previous chiefs of the water tribe, it is to have given him immense power on the battlefield and aided him to unite and protect our people, I hope it will accompany you in your battles and help you the same as it did him, take care of it, so when the time comes it will take care of you,” said Pakku as he put the sword on a simple wooden sheath and handed him to Sokka.

Levi also used Observation on the wooden sheath but it was just an ordinary one.

Sokka accepted the sword with both hands and gleaming eyes, safe to say really loved his gift.

Why did this change happen while other things didn't? No matter how hard I tried, Levi couldn’t help but think, Is it because it doesn't affect the timeline that much? But an ancient sword spirit is bound to have a major butterfly effect. In the end he couldn’t find an answer and threw it into the back of his mind as they rode on top of Appa.

“Fly straight to the earth kingdom base to the east of here, general Fong will provide you with an escort to Omashu where you will begin your earth-bending training,” said Pakku to Aang.

“Thank you for everything master Pakku, Appa yeep yeep,” said Aang holding Appa’s reins and taking off.

“Say hi to Grann grann for us master Pakku goodbye,” shouted Katara as she waved at Pakku.

***

Who is that? a female’s voice echoed in Levi’s head.

My brother, he replied, he didn’t need to see her point to anyone or mention them specifically to know who she meant, one of the useful perks of communicating via telepathy.

He seems strong, And that?  

That's my sister.

And him?

That’s the Avatar, answered Levi, his annoyed tone obvious even through their telepathic link, unfortunately, Medusa didn’t seem to pick up on it as her questions kept coming.

Whoah, she replied in awe.

What about him?

I told you that’s my brothe…, said Levi before he stopped mid-sentence, he thought she was asking about Sokka before realizing she meant the sword in his hand, That's an ancient sword spirit, I suggest you don’t do anything to piss it off.

Oh! She said but Levi could tell that she wasn’t that impressed, at least not as impressed as she had been with Aang, How about him? He didn’t say anything the entire time.

That's appa and he can’t speak. And the one on top of his head is Momo. And stop asking so many darn questions, Levi finally snapped and the snake’s questions stopped making him sigh in relief.

It only stopped for a moment, that is.

What about him, she said “pointing” to a bird flying to the left of Appa.

Levi didn’t answer her, he chose to ignore her from now on, but Acnologia didn’t.

Will you please shut the fuck up, for the love of god I am trying to sleep over here, his enraged voice sounded louder in Levi’s ears than any of the snake’s previous chatter, but he couldn’t help but smile the sounds finally stopped.

Why did I bond with her in the first place, as if I didn’t have one reptile constantly chatting in my head in the first place, now I have two, thought Levi, the irony of the situation not lost on him.

He took comfort in the fact that Acnologia was suffering more than him, Acnologia’s favorite things were food and sleep, and now he could barely sleep without being interrupted.

“Careful or you might hurt one of us swinging that around," said Levi, his tone sounding annoyed even though he didn’t intend to, the snake was getting on his nerves, and just when he had dealt with her he saw Sokka wildly swinging his sword around.

“What? Oh, sorry,” said Sokka embarrassingly as he put the sword back in its sheath.

Sigh

“Don’t be,” said Levi, sighing, feeling bad at snapping at him, “How about this, I’ll teach you to fight with the sword when we have time.”

“Didn’t you already do that?” sokka asked, confused.

“That was only the basics, I will really teach you how to fight with a sword,” said Levi with a smile making Sokka’s eyes light up.

“Deal.”

***

Three hours later - Thousands of feet in the air - on top of Appa

“Man I can’t believe you also have air bending, I only want one element but I don’t have even that,” said Sokka exasperated.

Aang had brought it up offhandedly half an hour ago, shocking the other two and Sokka hadn’t shut up ever since.

“It's okay Sokka, you're a great fighter,” said Aang with a cheerful smile.

Sigh 

“Thanks, Aang,” replied Sokka, sighing.

“But how is that possible? I thought only the Avatar can have more than one element," asked Katara the question on everyone’s minds.

Levi was about to brush her question aside when it suddenly occurred to him, I could tell them the truth, no, half the truth, it could be helpful to them in the future, when I am not here.

“That is true, to a certain extent that is,” said Levi, making them even more confused.

Sokka who was lying on top of Appa sat straight, “What do you mean by that?” 

“Well for that we will need a little history lesson,” said Levi, getting all of their attention.

“For starters, the humans in their nature can’t bend elements, we have no control over them,” he said, shocking them all.

“Well that would have been cool and all except that they can, only I can’t, well only me and a bunch of other people, but you understand what I mean,” said Sokka.

“Let me rephrase it then, humans didn’t used to be able to bend,” said Levi, “It was given to them so long ago by the lion turtles.” 

“The what?” asked Aang.

“The lion turtles, benevolent spirits that saw the human's helplessness against the spirits and the harshness of the old world and lent us the four elements to help us fend for ourselves.” 

“How could turtles give people bending,” asked Katara skeptically.

“They weren’t just normal turtles, in fact they were so big that humans used to live on their backs, and they lent us bending elements when we ventured outside, and we gave it back when we returned.” Levi could feel that even Acnologia and Medusa were paying attention by now.

“Where are they now,” asked Katara.

“Most of them stayed in the spirit world when the realms were separated, and yes the spirit and physical world used to be one but that is a story for another time, others are still roaming the world right now, although I only know of one, but there may be others.”

“Wait, since they only lent us the elements, why could we still use them to this day,” asked Aang.

Hearing him Levi didn’t know what to say, he didn’t remember that being mentioned in the show, so he just answered with what he felt was right, “I’d like to believe that they pitied us when the two worlds separated and left us the elements to fend for ourselves, but if I am being more realistic it's more likely that we didn’t give the elements back, we stole them,” said Levi shocking all three.

“That’s…terrible,” Said Katara.

“I wouldn’t say that, it is just human nature, you wouldn’t blame a shark for eating a fish or a predator for hunting its prey, it’s just how it is,” said Levi.

“I…I guess so, but it is still horrible nonetheless,” replied Katara.

“How do you know all of this anyhow?” asked Sokka.

“Well, I've spent my fair share of time in the spirit world,” said Levi, even if there were spirits spying on him that he couldn’t detect they wouldn’t find anything wrong with his words, this was just common knowledge in the spirit world and wasn’t that hard to learn.

“So that's how you acquired your bending?” asked Sokka, his eyes shining.

“No, I acquired it another way,” said Levi, leaving all four of them stumped

“Then what was the purpose of this entire story?” asked Sokka, his brow twitching.

But Levi didn’t answer him, he just laid on his back with his hands behind his head leaving Sokka seething.

***

General Fong fortress 

Unconscious or dead earth benders lay everywhere on the square of the fortress, their fate unknown.

A lot of them had slash marks on their bodies and some of them were even missing limbs, Sokka stood on the side beside Katara and Aang holding Zaraka with blood dripping down its edge.

“No…please…I tried to help, I tried…cough…I tried to help the Avatar, we can win this war if we have him at full power,” an earth bender with a terrified look in his eyes laid pleading on the ground looking up at Levi who had an apathetic look on his face.

Ice weapons, hundreds of them blocking out the sky, floated there and pointed at General Fong and his soldiers.

“Levi, I know what he did was wrong, but can…can we please spare him?” Aang’s voice came from behind.

“Spare him? He almost killed my sister,” said Levi, his rage only held back by his Gamer’s mind. He knew that everything would have turned out fine but he still couldn't control himself. He even wanted to turn around and punch Aang for his naivety but he held himself back.

They had been flying for so long that Levi jumped from on top of Appa and crossed to the spirit world for barely three hours only to return and find Katara buried underground by the man lying by his feet, General Fong, all in the hopes that Aang would awaken his Avatar state, and he would have if Levi hadn’t arrived in time.

Taking a deep breath Levi relaxed, he realized he wasn’t angry at General Fong or Aang, he was angry at himself.

I got carless, he thought, he knew this would happen at some point but it slipped his mind, closing his eyes he took a deep breath before exhaling, the ice weapons in the air turned to water before falling into the ground.

General Fong and the still conscious earth bender released audible sighs in relief, but their eyes still held the same terrified look from before.

One moment they had the upper hand and were trying to force the Avatar to enter his Avatar state, the next moment the young man in front of them came and dismantled their highly trained army as if they were nothing but a bunch of kids.

“Let me tell you this, General Fong, if it weren’t for Aang and my siblings being here I would have killed you and everyone in this base in the most gruesome way possible,” said Levi, sending a shudder down General Fong’s spine.

“T…Thank you,” said General Fong, shaking.

“Let’s go,” said Levi as he turned around and jumped on top of Appa, sitting cross-legged and entering meditation to calm his mind and spirit, Aang and his siblings fell soon after and they took off.

Sokka didn’t speak the entire time as he held Zaraka and inspected it closely before putting it back in its sheath.