Flames of Destiny

19. WAKING UP... CAPTURED?

Yes, this is an update. No, you are not dreaming. Hopefully.

Darkness.

That was the first thing he registered right before the pair of eyelids split open to reveal grey orbs underneath. His vision was hazy, but that wasn't his main concern.

Confused as to why he was lying on something soft, Aang moved to sit upright. The fuzziness was still there, and he felt as though he was floating despite both feet touching the ground. His hand clutched at the side, only to realize that his torso was wrapped in bandages

"What happened?" he asked himself as he shook his head while he tried to recall the cause of his mysterious injury. Nothing came to him, his mind as hazy as his vision that only seemed to see red.

Wait. Red?

Aang snapped his head up, worry taking over him as realized that the entire room had a red theme to it. His blood froze when he turned and saw the large fire-shaped insignia on the red cloth draped over the wall just next to his bed.

"Oh no!" Panic was growing within his chest, but he tried to suppress it with deep breaths. His eyes landed on his glider leaning at the corner of his bed and he made to grab it. Using the staff as a makeshift crutch, he hobbled towards the door and opened it just partially for him to peek with one eye.

The area was clear, or so it seemed. Seeing the chance to silently escape, the airbender exited the room and hobbled down the corridor as he leant heavily onto his staff and the wall for his wobbly legs were unable to support his weight.

So immense Aang was in staying upright just moving that he didn't realize he reached the end of the corridor, his attention only pulled back to reality when he heard a gasp to his right. The Avatar felt his body tense and he snapped his head around to see two figures clad in the red armor of the Fire Nation gawking at him. Both the men's eyes and mouths were opened comically round, yet Aang found no humour from the sight as panic welled within his being. He did the first thing his instincts were screaming at him to do.

Protect himself.

His muscles moved on their own accord as he sent a gust of wind towards the two soldiers. It wasn't strong enough to send them flying back, but it was the distraction Aang needed to turn around and move past the hallway.

"He's awake!"

The announcement from the soldier behind him caused Aang to try and pick up the pace, but his still weak body wasn't able to comply with his racing heart and screaming mind.

"Stop! Wait!"

Climbing the stairs onto the deck while ignoring the order from the soldier that sounded a lot more like a plea, Aang chanced a look behind to see the two Fire Nation men – one a towering figure and the other looking shorter than the Avatar – trying to catch up to him. In his frantic haste, he tripped on the last step of the stairs and found himself falling, losing his grip on the staff which skidded away from him.

Pain shot up his body and the teen closed his eyes shut while his bandaged torso screamed at him for being a clumsy hog-monkey as he heard a chirping sound ahead of him.

Wait.

Curious, the Avatar opened his eyes and looked up to see a very familiar small aninal with large ears perched on a Fire Nation soldier, staring at him with its round yellow eyes.

"Momo?"

The winged lemur darted from the soldier's shoulder upon hearing its name being called and landed right in front of Aang, purring excitedly as it loosely wrapped its tail and winged arms around the airbender's neck as he unsteadily stood up. Before he could make sense of the sight, he heard someone calling out to him.