@firstbond ♡ ‘d for a lyric starter ! ( prospekt’s march / poppyfields , coldplay )
there is no smoke in the air. no more screams. they’d done their best to evacuate as many as they could, their voice clear & piercing through the din of warfare to the village elders: run to safety. trust me. trust me.
haku is a stranger to these lands, but the elders had stared at them a long moment before ushering the women & children where haku commanded: a small outcropping of caves to the west.
with the village empty, haku turned & faced the march of fire nation soldier with black frost spreading across their palms, a rare outpouring of anger coloring their element as they sprang forward into the fray, a human hurricane possessed by bone-chilling fury.
suffice to say the enemy was woefully unprepared.
but haku had misjudged the time & had not accounted for the villagers’ reactions when they returned. the elders took one look at the black ice coating the ground & backed away in terror. someone started a fire with cleansing herbs. it did not take long for the flames to spread from house to house, burning the curse of haku’s spirit from this place. haku forgives the villagers. these people have been plagued by monsters in human skin for too long. haku is just another beast to run from.
the herb smoke stings their eyes & burns their lungs. haku does not move, not even at the soft sound of footsteps.
❛ Smoke is rising from the houses. ❜
haku stares quietly for a moment at the curling smoke & the discarded fire nation helm resting against their foot.
❛ People are burying their dead. I would ask somebody what the time is, but, ❜ they nudge the helm aside. a child’s doll lays half-crushed in the mud. ❛ Time does not matter to them yet. ❜