This just needed to get out of my head

I was gonna put a Michaelangelo reference here but... never mind. It feels silly now.

Anyway saw the series finale of Avatar and this "fan-writing" just needed to get out of my head. Its a narrative version of one of the scenes and the words were demanding to get put on paper. Seriously. I have something like this for Return of the Jedi too. Haha I know, I know, I'm such a freak.

Anyway, since my sister isn't online, I'll paste this here.

***

The lightning charge gave an odd blue cast to Azula’s skin, washing out the dark shadows under her eyes. Her arms circled around her in the familiar form that served to build up the energy. I waited, watching her face carefully as she smiled. Azula’s eyes locked on mine.

… and slid past…

Almost too late, I realized as she threw the bolt, that she wasn’t aiming for me.

“NOOOOOO!”

I ran to catch the wave of lightning that flew past me with ferocious power, and knew I would never be able to make it. So I leaped directly into the path of the charge, shielding Katara, and tried to guide the flow of the energy as my uncle had taught me.

But I was off balance and the jump threw me just slightly out of focus, so that the energy didn’t flow into me.

It exploded into me.

The pain was like nothing I had ever known in my life. I dropped heavily to the courtyard floor and couldn’t even writhe with the agony. I wrestled to control the power inside me as it burned uncontrollably. But I had lost my hold on it and it continued to burn me from the inside out and I knew that if I didn’t find a way to release it, I would die.

Push it out.

It was not how my uncle had taught me.

PUSH!

And the power seemed to erupt out of every pore in my body.

The sky grew bright, briefly, as the lightning found release, carrying with it a strange sound. Then I realized that the sound was my own scream.

***

They had been fighting long and intensely, the air thick with the heat of their fire. It was as frightening and as powerful, I imagined, as it might have been between two dragons duelling. But I knew Zuko was gaining the upper hand when his last attack broke through Azula’s defense to send her spawling across the floor.

I had never seen Azula bested quite so soundly.

And then Zuko taunted her to use lightning, and I understood why. He was taking a calculated risk, a huge risk, that he would be able to redirect Azula’s attack and thus end the match decisively.

“I’LL SHOW YOU LIGHTNING!”

I watched her shape the deadly power with deliberate movements. Brother and sister stood directly in front of each other and I prayed that Zuko’s gamble would work.

And then Azula struck…

… at me…

The lightning came faster than I had time to react, and I felt the power of it even as it was still meters away. And then somehow Zuko was in front of me, shielding me from the lethal strike, and the lightning hit him full force.

He fell, shaking with pain, and I stared in horror as the lightning screamed, uncontrolled, out of his body.

Desperately, I ran toward him.

***

Yeah, this is a show on Nickelodeon. And it's nowhere near Spongebob :)

Debut

I didn't have one of those when I turned 18. Too expensive. But on that day, I woke up to my mother holding peach-gold roses to my face. They were wrapped in newspapers because they were from the palengke.

And I got the following short story from my younger sister and brother....
==============================
page 1.
"We were lucky we were able to pull together that fleet out there. I had to pull more than a few strings for that," Leia told Han nervously. She kept looking out of the window of the room.

"Don't worry about it sweetheart," Han said in an absent-minded though reassuring tone, "everything will turn out okay." He was punching in last minute instructions to the fighters outside. Chewie growled and barked something, and Artoo whistled an agreement.

"No, I checked out all those ships before I came in myself. They're all fine," Luke said confidently.

"I hope General Antilles was able to countercheck the loaded equipment. If any of the materials are left behind, oh, the mission will surely be compromised," Threepio moaned nervously.

Luke's com link buzzed and crackled. "Hey Luke, we're about ready to start."

Luke signalled to the others to start moving out of the room. "Okay Wedge, just wait for my go ahead."

Artoo was first to the door and everyone else followed. Out of the room, out of the building and past a little garden. Chewie led the way to a broad green field and roared at everyone to hurry up.

"I've always hated the running part," Threepio whined as he scurried along. Artoo just made some cheerful twittering comment in reply.

"Wedge better not botch this up," Han said very seriously.

"Go on Luke, give Wedge the signal," Leia said still a little breathless.

All of them stopped in the middle of the field and looked up at the sky. With a big smile on his face, Luke spoke into his com link. "All right Wedge, fire away..."

The screech of fighters filled the air and only seconds later bright explosions and lights in the sky---
==============================
page 2.

==============================
Birthday fireworks from the heroes of the Rebellion! Only the truly devoted (or the truly geek) would have loved it. And I, at 18, was one such creature.

I am still amazed at the amount of effort that must have gone into this. Considering that my sister is such a non-fan! There are so many details here that sit just right. The little ships were done by my brother. You can identify the models. :)

Peach-gold roses. And fireworks in a galaxy, far, far away....

It was a great way to wake up to a birthday!
(No, the picture below was not part of the present. Just felt like sticking it in.)