[Fic]: Crimson Moon
Title: Crimson Moon
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Character: Ty Lee
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: "Where were you when the moon turned red and died?" Ty Lee was fifty feet in the air.
Notes: Originally written for atlaland's Red Moon/Dead Moon challenge, where it tied for second place.
Ty Lee grinned and threw herself onto the tightrope to begin her act. This was what she lived for, this was what she wanted out of life -- to be noticeable and to be noticed, to stand out. She had the talent, the skill, the training, and her six identical sisters were nowhere in sight.
It was a good night for a performance, too -- there were no empty seats in the entire tent. Winter helped to pack in the onlookers, of course; planting and harvest were past, and the tent wasn't sweltering like it did in the summer. Ty Lee was in heaven, surrounded by people and their auras, their admiration for her skill.
And then the world twisted.
Ty Lee fumbled her landing, grabbed frantically for the rope, and missed. She plummeted fifty feet to the safety net below. She curled up, clutching her head and trying not to scream.
Something was wrong, the world had turned and the previously-soothing auras were raking at her with sharp claws.
Somebody screamed about the spirits, that the spirits were punishing them, but that was wrong, it wasn't the spirits, it--
Ringmaster Kyokuba drew her off the net, cradling her in his arms like she was his daughter. "Ty Lee! Are you all right?" he asked, worried. "You're not hurt?" She flinched from his aura, normally a rich brown with red edges, but now clawed white scraping against her.
"Something's wrong," she gasped. "I need to-- outside--" And she tried to lunge free.
Kyokuba's hold was too tight for her to easily free herself, but he carried her outside. The world had flooded red, and Ty Lee moaned, looking up at the crimson moon.
No.
Not crimson, something was covering it--
"What madness have the spirits wrought?" Kyokuba asked, pale.
"Not the spirits," Ty Lee corrected him, trembling in his arms. She reached for the cover, trying to tear it loose, but it was too far, too high. "This was done by man."
The cover was suddenly pulled away, and her world normalised once more. The white claws on every aura around her vanished as if they'd never been, and Ty Lee relaxed. That had been the worst experience of her life.
"Well," said Kyokuba. "That was certainly--"
The moon went out.
Ty Lee fainted.
Fandom: Avatar: the Last Airbender
Character: Ty Lee
Rating: PG/K+
Summary: "Where were you when the moon turned red and died?" Ty Lee was fifty feet in the air.
Notes: Originally written for atlaland's Red Moon/Dead Moon challenge, where it tied for second place.
Ty Lee grinned and threw herself onto the tightrope to begin her act. This was what she lived for, this was what she wanted out of life -- to be noticeable and to be noticed, to stand out. She had the talent, the skill, the training, and her six identical sisters were nowhere in sight.
It was a good night for a performance, too -- there were no empty seats in the entire tent. Winter helped to pack in the onlookers, of course; planting and harvest were past, and the tent wasn't sweltering like it did in the summer. Ty Lee was in heaven, surrounded by people and their auras, their admiration for her skill.
And then the world twisted.
Ty Lee fumbled her landing, grabbed frantically for the rope, and missed. She plummeted fifty feet to the safety net below. She curled up, clutching her head and trying not to scream.
Something was wrong, the world had turned and the previously-soothing auras were raking at her with sharp claws.
Somebody screamed about the spirits, that the spirits were punishing them, but that was wrong, it wasn't the spirits, it--
Ringmaster Kyokuba drew her off the net, cradling her in his arms like she was his daughter. "Ty Lee! Are you all right?" he asked, worried. "You're not hurt?" She flinched from his aura, normally a rich brown with red edges, but now clawed white scraping against her.
"Something's wrong," she gasped. "I need to-- outside--" And she tried to lunge free.
Kyokuba's hold was too tight for her to easily free herself, but he carried her outside. The world had flooded red, and Ty Lee moaned, looking up at the crimson moon.
No.
Not crimson, something was covering it--
"What madness have the spirits wrought?" Kyokuba asked, pale.
"Not the spirits," Ty Lee corrected him, trembling in his arms. She reached for the cover, trying to tear it loose, but it was too far, too high. "This was done by man."
The cover was suddenly pulled away, and her world normalised once more. The white claws on every aura around her vanished as if they'd never been, and Ty Lee relaxed. That had been the worst experience of her life.
"Well," said Kyokuba. "That was certainly--"
The moon went out.
Ty Lee fainted.