Resonant Spirits: Chapter Two
Title: Resonant Spirits (Chapter Two)
Fandom: The Rabbithole (Fray/A:TLA)
Characters: Loo, Hana and Iroh Fray, Sokka.
Word Count: 1,060
Rating: U
Author's notes: Chapter Two of the fic that ate my brain, also known as Frays Go Home.
Chapter One
They asked him if he wanted to come; he was still in the prime of manhood, after all, not like he was old and incapable. But he said four people would mess with the transfer, and he wanted to stay behind to keep an eye on Eden; routine maintenance and helping to send newcomers home. That didn't stop him from giving each of them a long and extremely rambling lecture on staying out of the rain and kill any Magog you see and this is how you kill lurks. This last one had earned him a withering look from Hana, who had helped herself to her mother's old bandoleer of throwing stakes.
"Un-cle," she said, rolling her golden eyes up and pulling a leather biker jacket over the bandoleer. "I know how to kill lurks. I'm born for it, remember?"
Little Hana, who at seventeen had a woman's figure but had failed to actually reach five foot in height, had inherited talents from her mother that her siblings hadn't, but which she'd only acquired : strength and endurance beyond anyone in Eden, along with extras that Melaka had never hinted at: subconscious knowledge of a thousand different fighting styles, and regular dreams of a thousand girls before her chosen to fight the forces of darkness. It was a calling that had picked Melaka out first, and when she died, had passed to one of her daughters. Louise was never sure if she envied her twin or not; sometimes it was a wrench to see how easily Hana picked up the bending moves Louise had to practise for weeks to master, and to be constantly outmatched by someone who put in no effort at all. But on the other hand... Hana couldn't bend as well as her or their brother, and she acted sometimes like she wasn't going to live to see thirty. She bore it as a duty, not a gift, like they all treated their bending. Louise had many fond memories of their mother, but she couldn't remember the same sense of inevitability Hana carried sometimes.
Sokka smirked fondly and batted the head of his super-strong niece. "You're born to keep your uncle company in his old age, and don't you forget it. Take care of your brother, OK?"
"Bending prodigy?" Louise cut in. They had been told to prepare for dull and cold weather in Apocalyptica, so had all chosen coats and layers as appropriate. Louise's was a leather trench coat, which should have been mid calf length, but actually came closer to her ankles; she was taller than Hana, but not by much. The coat was cut to the waist, though, and allowed her father's dao swords to be hung at her hip without restricting movement. "He should be protecting us. Hell, I'm not even sure why you've got us all kitted out. He'll defend our honour and everything."
For a moment she thought her uncle was going to give her a tired lecture about how she should be watching him, but instead he just shook his head. "Remind me why I want you back again?"
"Because you love us." Louise had to stand on tiptoes to persuade Sokka to bend down and let him kiss her on the cheek, which became a hug before she had time to react. "We'll be fine, Uncle Sokka. It'll only be a few days, then we'll be back annoying you again."
She could have sworn her uncle's eyes were wet when he pulled back just enough to grab a mildly protesting Hana into the same embrace, holding them both tightly until they were interrupted by Iroh clearing his throat loudly.
"I think I got it tuned to your frequency," he said, stepping away from the complex apparatus, and handing the handle to Louise. "Ready?"
Think?
Pulling away from her uncle, Louise glanced quickly at him, before turning to her brother. Neither Sokka nor Hana appeared to have noticed. Iroh never doubted himself. But to mention it would just worry them. Well, Louise trusted her genius brother even if he didn't.
"Yeah," she said, smiling reassuringly and squeezing his hand. "You ready, Brainiac?"
Sokka let go of the girls just enough to free a hand enough to pull on Iroh's wolftail. "Hey, warrior buddy," he said. "Defend your sisters' honour, OK?" He said it with a smirk, and Iroh's answering sarcastic laugh was enough to make Hana bark out a wordless objection and Louise push her brother's arm.
"We're outa here," Hana said, detaching herself rudely from her uncle and resting a hand on Iroh's elbow. Louise caught a wink between them, though, and Sokka passed Hana a folded envelope which she tucked in her jeans pocket.
"Just in case she's still around, OK?"
Eden - the entire world the children had known their entire life - consisted basically of one single street. Not one of them had ever been more than half a mile away from their home, before. By the time he was their age, Sokka had been from one end of his world to the other. Louise wondered, as he gave them all a final kiss, if he was thinking how the first time they ever left home, they were going on a quick excursion to another world.
It was, as their mother would have said, spun.
Louise couldn't help a shiver of excitement run through her as she watched Sokka flip the switch. Then the shiver was a full bodied vibration that made her teeth hurt, and Iroh's hand tightened against hers, shaking in the same way. Her vision began to blur as if her eyes were shaking in their sockets, and she shut them tightly. Then something burned hot and bright against her lids.
This was it.
The light faded, and Louise lost all sensation, except her brother's hand hot even against her own. Even the handle disappeared. Even the ground under her feet stopped being hard, but with no sensation of falling.
And then her back hit something hard and painful, and she lost Iroh's hand. There was the muted sound of something crashing around her ears and all she could feel was an overwhelming pressure from all sides. Opening her eyes, Louise saw nothing but a misty darkness, and she realised rather belatedly that she was underwater, and she'd lost her brother and sister.