Title: The Genius
Rating: T for tidbits of many things
Genre: AU,Supernatural, Romance, Angst
Pairing: Zutara for sure
Summary: We all have one last wish before we die…her wish was so simple and yet…he kept screwing it up.
Disclaimer: I own Nothing
…The Genius…
There Was Once...
I'm sorry…
Katara…her last name was no longer important because she no longer felt like a person.
The examination room she sat in was cold and silent. This was the way an examine room was meant to be. It was important to keep a level of calm and the room betrayed nothing. There were no bright colors to give hope, no matter how much false hope patients wished for. There were also no dark colors to dampen moods. The smell of alcohol was the only scent within the room, the smell of clean. This silent doctor sitting across from her seemed as devoid of hope as the room they were both in.
The CgA test showed heightened levels of protein…
Katara closed her eyes and she heard the doctor leave the room. Her head fell forward as her elbows crashed into her thighs, and she cradled her face. She bit her lower lip as she choked back tears.
The urine test also came back positive with high levels of Hydroxyindole Acectic Acid…
The tears refused to fall. Her mind was going numb and she wondered where the words where coming from if her mind were numb. It was as if this sterile room absorbed the conversation she couldn't process.
The image testing clearly shows abnormalities upon your ovaries and small intestine…
She deeply inhaled the air and choked.
The tumors have reached a size where surgery is not an option…
The dreams she had for the future were slowly going up in smoke.
With proper treatment you could live for another ten years…
What was ten years when she had just turned eighteen? Ten years, she would be dead by the age twenty eight and the years before that would get progressively worse.
Katara felt the tears slide warm trails along her face.
Two Years Later…
Katara was determined. She was a dying woman with a goal. As a human, she knew that she would one day cease to exist, but her time was cut shorter. She had eight years left and she was going to use them unlike her wasted previous two years. Her two years had been spent in constant treatments and surgeries that left her weaker than a newborn child—a newborn could at least breathe without help. She grew sick of waiting. A simple push and the white sheets were off her and there she went, walking out of Ba Sing Se's finest hospital.
The desert was dry and warm, the exact opposite of her memories. Her memories were of cold examine rooms and tears from the pain she felt. The treatment she had been offered would shrink the tumors, but leave her deathly ill. Sliding her hand down to her stomach, her fingers tapped lightly against the exposed brown skin. Her sapphire eyes narrowed as she glanced at the ground, the shade from the rim of her hat shadowed her eyes.
She had made sure to dress appropriately for the desert in the Earth Kingdom. She wore their beige pants that tightly tied at the ankles and hung low at her hips. A small matching tube top covered her chest. The darkness of her skin protected her from the sun, leaving her to worry about the heat. A wave of sand passed by her and she sighed.
"Lady Katara!"
Her attention was snapped back to reality as she raised her gaze to three men. They were dressed in crimson scarves and white bandages that left only their brown eyes exposed.
"We have found a temple."
Katara rushed over to the men to gaze down upon a tower. Her feet clad in bandages sunk slightly into the sand as she came to a halt. The tower that she saw was twisted and carved out metal. She reached out and ran her hand across the cool metal.
"Keep digging," Katara ordered. "I want an entrance found Ivano."
Her gaze turned to the man and he nodded. He was older than the other two men. His hands were bandaged, but uninjured. A quick shout and he and the other two moved towards the tower. They each moved to certain points and dropped into a solid stance. A quick sweep of their arms and more sand was pushed away.
"You know…you could make your mark in a place where the weather is actually nice."
"Sokka," Katara sighed as she turned to her brother.
The said brother, who was special in a way that only a mother could love, was lounging. He had gone to extreme measures to set up an umbrella with a chair where he could relax. He was still dressed
in the clothes of their home and the spots made of sweat proved to Katara that she had made the right choice in clothing.
"All I want is spring weather…fall is nice too," Sokka continued.
"I'm not on vacation and you weren't invited to come," Katara sharply reminded.
Sokka dropped his chin to his chest letting his sunglasses slid down his nose. His own blue eyes met his sister's gaze. Both were giving each other a gaze that showed their annoyance; expect Katara who was able to place her hands upon her hips.
"Face it Katara," Sokka sighed. "There is no library that will reveal the answers to everything."
"Sokka, I have proof!" Katara growled.
"Just because there are a few freaks that can shift sand, make water move, that can make the wind blow, and make sparks is not proof."
Katara threw her hands into the air and quickly crossed the distance to Sokka. What he said was true, the gift of affecting anything upon earth was rare and it was becoming extinct. It was still proof that there might have been a race that could do even greater feats. She wanted to prove that humans were not just limited to science. There had to be something more and when she found something more her life would be complete.
She snatched the glasses off his face and threw them to the ground. Her mouth opened to speak when sand sprayed them. They both closed their eyes and until the sand ceased falling. Katara quickly spun around to see that the tower had been dug out until there was a window in the side.
"We have found an entrance!"
Katara's blue eyes went wide with delight as she rushed toward the stone tower where the men still pushed the remaining sand away. Sokka stopped behind her and blankly gazed at the single structure that was protruding from the grains of earth.
"Is that…?"
"Yep, that's my proof," Katara replied as she glanced upon her literal window of opportunity.
"It's just a hole in a wall," Sokka decided to point out.
Katara scowled and ignored him allowing her temper to get the best of her. She dismissed her protesting commonsense as she slid down the slight hole and towards the window. Sokka called to her and she blockedhis voice from her mind as her hands grasped the side of what seemed like a ledge. The voice of Ivano warning didn't even register in her mind. The ledge groaned as her weight pressed against it.
Within the darkness she could see nothing. It was an inky blackness that brought unease to her stomach, but the excitement that this could be her break overruled her unease. A flicker, almost like a shine caused her to lean forward. The ledge groaned a final time before it crumbled inward. Katara shrieked as she tried to pull back, but the sand had no leverage and she tumbled forward. As she descended into darkness her brother's cries were the loudest. She didn't know when her shrieks ended, but they echoed around her as she continued her descent.
Her hand slapped against a wooden post and she grasped it. Fingernails digging into the wood, she felt something smooth under her fingers. There was no time to swing her other arm up so she lost her grip and continued to fall, this time an object in hand.
'Not today…I just wished to find my mark and I can't die!'
"As you wish."
The voice was so soft that she thought it might have been death's call…but death was never meant to feel warm.
Author's Note:
3/14/08: This chapter has been commented and edited by PFNelly.
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