Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A feline raced through the dense bushes on the forest floor while a man chased after it.

Jordan, come on! Something is coming, something big and you need to be there!

Jordan rolled his eyes and ran faster so he could catch up. What is coming?

The spirits of the forest are agitated. I'm not certain what it is but we're near.

M'lady, no offense, but that doesn't explain anything. The cat slowed down and Jordan quickly caught up.

The cat stopped suddenly and looked at something that he couldn't see. The spirits that haunted their forest looked at the cat and pointed into the bush that they all were circling. All of the spirits looked at the cat and said at the same time,

T̼̟ͬͦ̿͢Ȟ͏͖̱̹̩̩̖͚E̛͍̯͔͎̼̙̱ͧͫͦ ̨̜͚̎̇͒͢Aͧ͛҉͎V̥̳̎̉ͮͦA̶̛̬̭̭̘̹͋̊̊̆͟T̸̤̺͙̀̋̿̃ͯͥͪͣA̵̷̞͎͖̠͔͔͔̅̂̽R̳̺̘̱̹̙͚̓̚ͅ

The cat's eyes closed and her whiskers twitched. The Avatar has been found, my Champion. Jordan sighed. It was turning out to be a bad day. First there were wild firebenders in his forest and now the Avatar had appeared.

Ț̦͙͎͙͈̦̺ͩͨḪ̢̳͗̆ͨͥ̍̂E̶̬̙͔̗̰̟͙̞ͪ͆̒̿͂̃ͣ͡͠ ̫̰̙͌͆ͨ͌̃̈́̎̾͘͠Gͩ̅ͦͯͮ͌҉̮̹̘̖͕̜̙ͅI̥̬̪͎̅̈́͐̈́̑̍R̛̪̲̮ͯ͡L̛̼̳͐̈́ͣͫ̈ͨͮ

Must we?

The cat's eyes opened and she swiveled her head towards Jordan. We are the last bastion of balance. We must. She turned back towards the bush that the spirits were circling and leaped into it.

From inside the bush, Jordan heard a man hiss "What?" and then Ianite cried out, "Jordan!" He ran his fingers through his hair and walked into the bush as well.

He could see Ianite perched on top of a woman in traditional airbender attire. "I am so, so sorry. She's not usually like this, I think she just got startled by-" Jordan paused for a second.

That's the Avatar.

He met the woman's eyes and blinked several times. "Uh- why are you hiding, anyways?"

A ginger-haired man in earthbender clothing cut into the conversation with a stressed face. "Do you live near here?" he asked hurriedly.

Jordan shifted. "Yeah, just through the trees down here-"

The woman cut him off. "Can we please hide out at your place, just for a little while? There are some people hunting us down. They say they’re following Dianite, but they aren’t," she explained. "They’re working under the orders of some… third, made up god, I don’t know, but they’re trying to kill us."

"The Darkness," Ianite growled, jumped out of the Avatar's arms, and trotted back to Jordan with her tail stiff in the air. She climbed onto Jordan's shoulders which settled automatically to support her in the most comfortable manner. Her tail brushed against Jordan's ear.

Help them.

Jordan could feel his bone-deep weariness settle around him like a warm blanket. He was tired but for his goddess he would do anything. Jordan looked towards where his home was and then at the group. "Follow me," he said quietly, "but just to let you know- it's quite a walk." He turned around and exited the bush. The rest of the group all looked at each other and shrugged.

"Better than burning alive," said the shorter man in earthbender clothing. He pushed himself off the ground and followed Jordan. The rest of the group also got up and exited the bush.

The man quickly caught up to Jordan and started to walk next to him. "I'm Tom," he said, "figured the man who is helping us not be flambéed should know my name."

He's Dianite's Champion. He radiates with Dianite's energy.

Jordan looked at Tom who was walking next to him and then back at the cat who had moved to be in his arms. "I'm Jordan."

Tom grinned. "Nice to meet you Jordan! The tall glass of water in earth bending clothing as well is Tucker-" Though Jordan couldn't see him, Tucker waved. Ianite squirmed out of Jordan's arms and rested her two front legs and head over his right shoulder. She looked right at Tucker and stuck her tongue out.

Tucker looked incredulous at Jordan's cat. He nudged the woman and nodded with his head towards it. In a voice too low for Jordan or Tom to hear, he asked, "Did that cat just stick its tongue out at me?"

That's Mianite's Champion. He radiates with Mianite's energy but not as bright as Tom radiates Dianite's energy.

Tom kept talking while that was going on. "-and the ginger is Declan. We call him Dec."

Dec was looking at the ground and was watching where he was putting his feet but he looked up when he heard his name. He looked at Ianite and then at Tucker. "Tucker, it's a cat," he said loudly. "If it stuck its tongue out at you it wasn't intentional."

Ianite's tail thrashed back and forth. Fix that pesky gender issue if you would please.

Jordan sighed. "It's she."

Tom looked at Jordan askance. "What?"

Jordan brought two fingers up and rubbed at the bridge of his nose. "My cat is a she," he said louder. The five in the back started smacking each other. After a few hits, the man in airbender clothing spoke up.

"Sorry about that. Lovely cat you got there- I'm James by the way," he said. James paused and tilted his head. "I'm the man in the orange and yellow by the way."

Jordan stopped and turned towards the group. "Nice to meet you James." Tom, when he realized Jordan stopped, stopped as well and quickly introduced the other two.

"The only female is Sonja and the man in the firebender clothes is Karl." Jordan nodded towards both of them and then turned towards a tree for a moment.

M'lady, we're nearly there, correct?

Ianite purred. "Yes." Turn right and we will be there in 2 minutes.

My sense of direction is impeccable. "We're almost to mine. Another minute or two before we have to climb," Jordan said. He turned right and started to walk again.

Tom quickly caught up. "Climb? What do you mean climb?" Jordan looked at him askance.

"This is a forest," Jordan replied.

"And?" Tom asked.

Not the smartest Champion my brother could have picked.

Karl groaned. "For fuck's sake Tom, he's saying he lives in a tree." Tom face-palmed while Sonja, Tucker, and Dec all laughed at him.

That man also radiates Mianite's energy. It's lesser- closer to Tucker's than Tom's.

Could he have two champions?

Improbable but possible. Ianite stuck her tail in Jordan's face. Who knows what those idiots have been doing while I've been gone.

Jordan moved Ianite's tail out of his face and he could see the steps leading up to his tree. He called out to the others, "We're here. We just need to go up these steps," and he pointed to pieces of wood that protruded from the tree.

Dec looked up but he couldn't see the top of the tree. "Better a long climb than burning in a bush I suppose."

Jordan nodded. "Yeah. You can tell me about those people hunting you once we get to the top."

It took about fifteen minutes for all 7 to get to the area where Jordan lived. His tree was taller than all of the other trees in the area so when they looked around, they could see how truely high they had climbed. They could see the tops of the trees and even mountains in the Eastern distance. The sun was starting to set and it's light made it appear that it was setting fire to the trees.

"Smashing view you got bro," Tom said in awe. The other five quickly agreed.

Tucker grinned. "It really is beautiful."

Jordan ducked his head down and hid a smile. "The outside is much better than the inside," he said as he opened the door to the main living space. "It's only me and my cat so there's not a lot of space." He walked in and the others followed. Ianite jumped down and wiggled past Jordan to go sit on a cat tree. She watched as Tucker and Dec had to duck down a bit to enter.

Inside was a fairly spacious one-room treehouse. There was no kitchen area or bathroom but there was a comfortable sitting area and a wooden dining table with some chairs. To one side, a bunch of branches visually blocked an area. Jordan walked over to one of his chairs and sat down.

He crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "So," he started, "want to tell me why you were being hunted?"

Chapter Text

Jordan looked at six guilty faces and then at Ianite.

Are these idiots even going to tell me?

No.

"Well?" Jordan asked.

All six spoke at the same time and spoke over one another.

"Tried to kill a guy," Dec said.

"I ate their cow," Karl said.

"I punched one of them in the face because they're homophobic," Sonja said.

"I stabbed," James said.

"I chi-blocked one of them and they got mad pissed," Tucker said.

"I told them I was allergic to them and when they got close, I threw up on them," Tom said.

Those excuses were terrible. Ianite strolled over to Sonja and jumped on her lap. She stretched out her butt and started to knead one of Sonja's legs. Sonja's arms settled weirdly around Ianite and she looked at the cat with a curious face.

"It's fine if you don't want to tell me. Next time-" Jordan tilted his head and smirked.

Don't blatantly lie? Ianite stuck her tail up Sonja's nose.

Jordan coughed and continued on, "-come up with a unified lie instead of that."

Dec rubbed the back of his head and sheepishly said, "It's not that we think you're a bad guy or anything. It's just-"

"Paranoia." Tom finished Dec's sentence.

Jordan raised up a hand to stop them from talking further and sighed. "I get it, I really do. So I'll stop the questions. There's a little basin of water to wash your face and there's a bunch of blankets in the cupboard by the basin. Help yourself to whatever you need." He walked over to where Sonja was petting Ianite and attempted to pick Ianite up.

"Don't you dare!" Ianite hissed. Jordan rolled his eyes but threw his hands up.

Sonja smiled. "She's okay right here. I'm not allergic." Sonja kept stroking Ianite and Ianite purred.

She's a good Avatar.

You're only saying that because she's petting you.

So?

Tucker had been rummaging through the cupboards and getting out blankets. "Sorry to interrupt," he said, "but quick question- where's the food?"

"I don't keep any food up here," Jordan said. Ianite arched her back and looked at Jordan.

You forgot food is a thing that humans need again, didn't you?"

James looked up from where he was laying down the blankets Tucker had been getting out. He tilted his head and asked,"Why? Don't you get hungry?"

I need a good excuse. "It's a tree," Jordan said. Nailed it. I'm not exactly jonesing to burn it down."

Ianite jumped off of Sonja's lap and strutted over to James. She rubbed against his legs and begged for pets. My Champion, you're an idiot. James reached down and started to pet her.

"Why would you burn it down?" Tom asked.

Jordan rolled his eyes again. I'm going down with this ship I guess. "Cooking. Fire. Tree. Tree on fire," he said shortly.

"Ohhhh," Tom said. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "That makes sense." Tucker, Karl, and Dec all started to laugh. Tom looked so sheepish and Jordan looked so aggravated that the three couldn't help but laugh.

"He's got you there," Karl said in between laughs.

At least Mianite chose those with good humor.

Jordan smiled. "There's vegetables and berry plants on the forest floor. I wouldn't go out now but tomorrow on the way out you can grab some," he said. He walked over to the area with the divider and said, "I am going to try and get some sleep. Good night everyone."

The others took that as a signal to get some rest as well and started to settle down for the night.

When it looked like everyone had fallen asleep, Jordan picked up Ianite and walked out the door to stand on his balcony. Ianite climbed up Jordan's shoulders and wrapped her body around his neck.

You should go with them.

Jordan looked out over the forest. The moon was waning but there was enough light to illuminate the forest in a weak silver light.

Should I? I'm so tired m'lady.

You must.

Jordan sighed. Everything in the past 24 hours had been a 'must' and he was tired. He knew he would have to play his role sooner or later but he was going to miss his isolation.

I'm sorry.

Jordan smiled sadly but shook his head. "I chose my fate," he said aloud. He started to spin his pointer finger around and water started to gather around his hand. He quickly had enough water to coat his whole arm and he stopped spinning his finger.

Eventually, my choices have to catch up with me.

Jordan raised the hand coated in water to the sky. The blue water started to glow bio-luminescent and it's light was even brighter than that of the moon's. Ianite reached out a paw to bat at the glowing light but nothing truly happened.

Jordan was so distracted by what he was doing, he didn't hear the steps behind him. "You're a waterbender," Sonja said. Jordan looked over his shoulder to see Sonja, who walked over to stand next to him.

Jordan lowered his arm but did not let the water relax. "I am," he said.

She looked at him with a serious face. "Will you teach me?" Sonja asked.

Jordan looked her in the eye. "Aren't you an airbender?"

Sonja shook her head. "I haven't told the others but I'm the Avatar." Jordan relaxed the water in his grasp. Sonja paid no heed to his actions and continued speaking. "I need a water bending teacher, please."

Jordan rubbed his forehead. While Ianite had not said anything so far during the exchange, he felt like she was laughing at him on the inside. "Why me?" he asked.

Sonja startled. "You believe me?" she pushed, "So easily?"

Jordan shrugged. "Why wouldn't I?" he said, "It's too difficult to fake being the Avatar and the last known Avatar was a firebender. It makes sense." Ianite thrashed her tail and shoved it in Jordan's face. He started to scratch behind her ears to appease her. "Why ask me though?"

Sonja gave a wry grin. "To be honest," she started, "You're the only waterbender we've encountered." She looked at the moon and then back at Jordan. "I guess something happened and they don't leave the poles much anymore."

They stood in silence for a couple minutes while Jordan thought about it. Even though his mind had already been made up, he still decided to probe for information. "Will you tell me why the third group is hunting you?"

Sonja clasped her hands together and put her chin on her joined hands. "If I tell you," she said hesitantly, "will it change your mind if you come or don't come with us?"

Jordan snorted. "Probably not." He looked at Sonja and saw her pleading face. "I've already made up my mind."

Sonja closed her eyes. She hoped that the strange forest water bender who had not only helped them hide but had offered his home to them as well would be willing to come along. "Tom is Dianite's champion, Tucker and Karl are Mianite's champions, and the third god wants them dead for it." Sonja opened her eyes and stared at Jordan.

Jordan met Sonja's eyes. "You certainly aren't having a calm adventure, are you?" he asked. Sonja opened her mouth but Jordan raised his hand to stop her. "Rhetorical question. I'll go," Jordan looked at the moon and exhaled deeply, "and I'll teach you water bending."

My champion, thank you.

"Thank you," Sonja said. She looked at the moon and smiled. She then turned to Jordan and said, "We should get some rest. Let's go back inside."

Jordan nodded, and with one last look at the moon, the two headed back inside.

Chapter Text

The morning light slowly crept into Jordan's tree and started to wake it's occupants up. Jordan sat up in his bed and stretched. He picked up Ianite from where she was resting by his head, slung her around his shoulders, and walked out past the divider to see everyone else was awake and getting ready to go.

"Jordan no," Ianite meowed. It's too early for this.

"Good morning," Jordan said while he walked over to a cabinet and got out a bag to pack stuff in.

Sonja smiled and waved at the sleepy Ianite. "Morning Jordan." She got up and looked over Jordan's shoulder to see what he was packing. "If you have a bed roll, you should grab it. Sleeping on the ground gets painful after a while."

Jordan looked over his shoulder, past Ianite, and nodded. "I don't care as much but I'll have to make sure I grab her favorite blanket because she's incredibly picky about where she sleeps." Ianite silently hissed and shoved her tail in Jordan's face.

The others looked at each other askance but no one was willing to ask when they became close. A quick and silent game of rock, paper, scissors left Dec in charge of asking all the questions.

"Are you, uh, coming with?" Dec asked.

Sonja rolled her eyes and snorted. "Obviously Dec, why else would he be packing a bag." She turned towards the other boys and crossed her arms. "Is there going to be a problem?"

Oh I really like this Avatar.

You like her because she reminds you of Capsize.

So?

Tucker walked over to Sonja and guided her back to the others. They all huddled in close together and had a quiet discussion that might not have been heard if they weren't in a one-room tree house and the person they were talking about wasn't in the room with them.

"Sonja what the fuck," Tom hissed.

"We're on a special mission from the gods, we can't just be bringing in randos," Tucker added.

"To be fair, Sonja, Dec, and I are all randos who are tagging along," James said reasonably.

"Yeah but we knew Dec before all this shit went down and you guys are our friends now," Karl said.

"He could become our friend if you guys gave him a shot," Sonja shot back.

Jordan quietly sighed and face-palmed. Gods, these idiots aren't quiet at all.

Don't say anything, I want to hear how this goes down.

Tucker leered at Sonja. "What? Did he suck you-"

What an idiot. Ianite leaped off of Jordan's shoulder and strode over to where the others were huddled. She flopped down right on Tucker's feet and lied there. I'm going to claw his ankles the minute this stupid discussion is over.

Sonja glared and cut him off loudly. "Just for that, Jordan is coming along and you get no fucking say."

Dec looked at Tucker with a blank face and then looked back at Sonja and asked, "Sonja, why are you so insistent that Jordan come along?"

Sonja stopped glaring at Tucker and looked at Dec. "He's a waterbender. We don't have a waterbender with us and he's nice, which is more than some people here." Sonja looked back at Tucker and glared. Tucker winced and threw his hands in the air in surrender.

Tom smirked but patted Tucker on the shoulder. He then turned his head to look behind him and said directly at Jordan, "You're a waterbender? Self-taught, right? I didn't know there were any waterbenders outside the poles these days."

The others turned to look at Jordan and he shrugged. "I think there are still a few waterbenders hiding in the swamps a ways away. I haven't been there in a while but they should still be there."

Tom, Tucker, Karl, and Dec all looked at each other and grimaced. None of them said anything and then looked away.

Karl waggled his eyebrows and asked, "Are you skilled?"

Jordan shrugged again. "I like to think I am."

"How about we all get our stuff packed and head back down to the forest floor. Once we find a body of water, Jordan can show us how it's done." James spoke up after having observed for a while.

Everyone nodded in agreement and started to move to pack their things. They were barely a step away from their original spots when Tucker screamed.

"ARRRGGGHHH," Tucker screamed, "DEMON CAT WHAT THE FUCK!" Ianite had her claws out and had started scratching at his legs. His ankles had a bunch of shallow scratch marks on him and Tucker's scream had not deterred Ianite from her new scratching post.

Jordan sighed but rushed over and scooped up the cat. M'lady, real mature.

I never claimed to be mature. "Put me down," Ianite hissed.

Jordan ignored what she said and started swinging her like a baby. He lathered her in kisses and loudly said, "Bad. Cat. We. Don't. Claw. Humans."

Sonja, Karl, and Tom all laughed at Tucker's affronted face and even James and Dec were giggling. "That's karma bitch," Sonja squeaked out while laughing.

Tucker looked up at the ceiling of the tree house and looked like he was praying. Karl quickly confirmed that and said, "Quit being a baby. It's a couple of cat scratches, no need to call on Mianite for something as simple as that."

Ianite finally escaped out of Jordan's grasp. "You're awful," she hissed at him and darted to hide somewhere away from him.

Jordan rolled his eyes and loudly said, "Don't hide so well I can't find you before we leave. I will leave you behind." Tom looked at Sonja and vaguely gestured his confusion. Sonja grimaced and vaguely gestured back that she had no idea.

Two purple eyes creeped out from behind the divider. You wouldn't.

Jordan rolled his eyes. I absolutely would and you know that.

"Fine," Ianite hissed.

Jordan sighed and turned back to Tucker. "I can heal that if you just sit down for a minute or two." Tucker nodded and limped over to one of the chairs by the table. "I just need to grab a waterskin."

He sat down and turned to Dec. "If you all could finish the packing so we can go once I'm healed up, that would be great," he said. Tucker stretched out his legs and grimaced at the sharp pain.

Dec smiled and clapped his hand down on Tucker's shoulder. "No problem, we've got this." Everyone except Jordan busied themselves with the packs while Jordan walked over to Tucker with a waterskin in hand.

Jordan crouched before Tucker and slowly spun his hands around until the skin was empty and his hands were covered in water. He kneaded his palms in the air a few times until the water glowed bright blue. Jordan looked up and smirked. "Let me show you how it's done."

Tucker snorted but he nodded and Jordan placed his hands on Tucker's ankles. The water's glow brightened for a few seconds and then it faded. Jordan stood up, spun his fingers around a couple times, and pulled the water away from his hands into a ball. He then jabbed at the water, not unsimilar to earthbending and it sent the ball of water flying out the window.

Tucker looked down at his ankles and then back at Jordan. "I thought that took longer," he half-asked, half-said.

Jordan grinned. "I live alone," he said, "in a forest that almost no one else ever comes in. If I hurt myself, I would be out of luck. Figuring out how to heal fast was a necessity."

Tucker sympathetically nodded and stood up. He grabbed Jordan and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry I was such a dick."

Jordan let the hug go on for a couple seconds and then pulled away. He raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked at Sonja. "It's not me you need to apologize to. It's Sonja."

Tucker looked down ashamed but nodded. He walked over to a crouching figure in airbending clothing and lightly tapped on their shoulder. "Sonj, I'm really sorry about being a dick. I said some out of line shit and I should have just trusted you. I was insecure and it wasn't fair of me to lash out."

James turned around and looked Tucker awkwardly in the eye. "I'm, uh, not Sonja," James blushed while he said that. Tucker started to blush and buried his face in his palms.

He only pulled his face out of his palms when he felt thin arms wrap around his waist and something pressed against his back. "Thank you for apologizing," Sonja said. "And thank you for being open and explaining your actions." Tucker turned around and wrapped Sonja in a tight hug. "You're forgiven," Sonja said, muffled in Tucker's chest.

Loudly, Tom called out, "Group hug!" and he rushed the hugging pair. Slowly, Karl, James, and Dec joined the group hug. Tom peaked out and called out to Jordan. "Come on, get in on this. You're part of the group now!" Jordan smiled and joined the group hug.

The hug was quickly interrupted by a growling stomach. Everyone pulled away and looked for the perpetrator. Dec's guilty face quickly gave him away and Karl started to laugh at him. "Hell of a stomach there, ey Dec?" he teased.

"I'm hungry, I can't help it!" Dec said indignantly.

Jordan smiled. "There still isn't any food up here but if the bags are all packed, I'll grab my cat and we will head back down to the forest floor."

"The bags are all packed. We didn't have a lot left to do so we're all set," Karl informed Jordan.

"Let me go find m'lady and then we can head out," Jordan replied. M'lady, we are heading out, where are you?

I'm coming. A dark blur darted past the divider and climbed up Jordan. She rested around his neck like a scarf and purred, "A perfect napping spot."

Karl looked at the cat confused but shrugged. "Shall we go?" he asked, "that way Dec's stomach won't eat him alive."

Dec snorted but grabbed his backpack and headed out the door of the tree house. The others all followed and left Jordan the last one in the house.

He looked down at Ianite and gave a sad smile. "Here we go again. Hope this turns out better than the last one." He briefly looked back at the table and then walked out his door.

It will. I swear it, my Champion.