From the darkness, the mask floated forward, and higher like a false sunrise. It was perfect, down to such detail it would look real as life were it not cast in metal. Smooth gold, serene and expressionless, shaped into a face that Raven felt like she knew, but couldn't place. The headdress around it was obscene in its wealth, the long white hairs all painstakingly plucked whiskers from a dozen elder dragons, spilling in a thick mane gilded with ornaments, diamonds and rubies, and too immaculate to be real. Even moreso it looked too heavy to stand upright. Torchlight kissed every edge and turned her into something that demanded kneeling submission.
She stepped right out of the dark. Out of the world of spirits, out of nightmare, and with an oozing wet smack, she was real, leaving a steaming wake of liquid gold.
The dripping sound was magnified on stone, her second not quite smooth step jerked her out of the void like something finally let go, and she by every measure looked to be a puppet held by unseen strings when she moved, only resembling human when still. The gold fluid dripped from under her mask, coating and seamlessly blending in and out of her armor, it oozed from every crack in her thousands of detailed, dragonscale like plates.
Aang's grip on Arzayanagi went numb. He didn't realize he'd stopped breathing until his lungs stabbed him for it, and he did indeed fall to a knee at the mere sight of her.
Raven stood with her palms still braced against the door she'd been trying to close, shoulders tight, jaw clenched so hard the tendons stood out in her neck. She looked like someone trying to hold back a tidal wave with her bare hands, and with one mighty cry she did force the right door shut, but it was too late, the left still almost fully open and Arzaya herself dripping gold to seep into every crack of the temple floor.
Sokka was on his knees beside Katara, one hand shaking at her shoulder, the other hovering uselessly over her chest like he was trying to decide whether he was allowed to touch her there without the universe punishing him.
"Katara," he croaked, voice cracking. "Katara, breathe, come on, please—" A tear in his eye, he shakily called, "Aang, airbend breath into her or something, quick!"
Katara's eyes were half-open. Too glassy. Not seeing or hearing him. Neither was Aang.
The Avatar was pale as a ghost and drowning in awestruck terror at the thing he'd foolishly released upon the world. Arzaya drifted closer, not quite stepping, once again like every movement was mimicry, and he saw she was so unnaturally tall and slender that she'd have to be frail, but... she wasn't. She moved like a conqueror. Like she'd never once in her eternal life failed to seize that which she grasped for.
Looming there above him, he jumped at the sound of that dripping gold, a hair's breath from his knee. He even felt cold—enough to shiver—so rare for his kind. The air itself seemed to obey her without bending, just out of fear.
He already knew what she wanted. Her gold-plated hand, exquisite in detail so fine the human eye could not perceive half of it, was outstretched. She wanted Arzayanagi. He could be free of it. And it was hers... wasn't it? But Aang's will wasn't that easy to crush. He wanted to shout in defiance, but at least he held still, he didn't let her move him, and she was trying.
Raven's lack of impulse control would go down in legend, however, and at the mere sight of Arzaya scaring her new friends to tears, reaching for Aang like a prize... she snapped.
"Don't you dare touch him!" Raven exploded, feet in the air before she realized what she was doing, and the flames seared white hot her righteous fury was so peerless.
But like a puff of winter breath, they vanished. Arzaya's hand lazily wafted them away, easily as lint off her shoulder.
Raven's heart skipped a beat, her breath caught. Arzaya's head turned. Oh fuck. Her scorched dry voice came out again, rattling… but disgustingly calm.
"Heir."
The single word had weight. Not affection. Ownership. Raven's hands trembled as she raised them again to a bending stance. It wasn't fear, it was raw power surging through her like she'd never felt in her life.
"I am eternal. My patience is not," Arzaya stated in an almost disappointed motherly fashion, which snapped them all a little bit out of the paralyzing terror they might be up against a very real god.
It was enough to reignite Raven's hubris. "Don't we help the Avatar?! Those dead sages!" she sharply accused, breathy beyond composure. And she sucked in air, smoke rising for every inch of her, but most of all mixed in her snarl. "Was it all a lie?! Whatever you're doing, I won't let you hurt him!"
Raven forced her breath into another blast—barely practiced and clumsy, but powerful, meant to finish a foe who couldn't dodge anymore, and her incredible surge of power made her feel she could truly do it.
The left door, still about half open, shuddered from the force of the flames as she tried to cook only everything above where Aang was still knelt down low.
But Arzaya's long fingers lifted again, lazy. A gesture you'd use to shoo a fly off your dinner.
Raven's teeth bared, and she seethed breath through them in frustration, clenching her fists at how powerful and weak she felt at the same time.
"My forgiveness has limits, child," Arzaya said, a hot gleam rippling through her armor like unbridled rage, but her parched tone stayed bored and superior, as if addressing a servant who'd taken too long fetching tea. "Even for you."
Aang blinked rapid and realized, suddenly, that he'd dropped to his knees at some point. He was still holding Arzayanagi, the spear's wrapping loose at the bottom of the haft, his bare fingers clenched so tight to the black metal it hurt. He was almost holding it like he was lifting up towards... her.
"GAH! WH-WHAT?! OUTTA MY HEAD!" He blurted in chaotic anger, standing so suddenly even Arzaya reeled back slightly.
But her empty eyes caught his. He couldn't make himself blink. He felt himself wondering what he was shouting about. And he felt a fear, so familiar it felt right to let it in... his grip on the spear loosened as he started to turn it, offer it in on his palms.
"AANG! Back away from her!" Raven screamed in panic.
"NO! DROP THE SPEAR! GET RID OF IT! AANG!" Sokka instead hurled, eclipsing Raven completely.
Aang shuddered again, the spear started to tip in his grip, he faltered, "who a, wha—whoa!" as he batted at the tumbling shaft, trying to remember where he was, and he did indeed stumble back a few steps. It suddenly hit him, his face like he'd found mold. "Get away, stupid thing!" he fussed, sounding almost like there was a wasp in his face, but he awkwardly swat-threw Arzayanagi aside.
The change was instant. His breath was back, his warmth, his mind was clear, and he could bend.
"You're a monster!" Aang declared, and gave it his all. "Back where you CAME FROM!"
A rush of air struck Arzaya like a pent up hurricane. The baubles and ornaments clinked and clattered in a beautiful chaos as she reeled first and then slid back, the golden ooze building up behind her heels.
It was too big. Too fast. Too much for the strange being to handle, and Aang saw with her many silks blown back how old and withered she seemed to be, like everything about her was just hiding her weakness. She was scarcely an inch from falling back into the void.
"ENOUGH!" Arzaya rattled fiercely, and it was so. Something rippled through the air, out from her, and Raven was thrown back. Aang held his footing, but his bending blast would have to be started over. Jerking her gaze back to the darkness, she commanded, "Nagi!" with utter impatience.
Arzaya stepped forward again, confidence and power returned as her silks settled, like she hadn't missed a beat. Aang was happy to let her take the brunt of another blast as he didn't back down, stepping into another unyielding storm to send her back to the pit she crawled out of, but just as it started, Aang saw an outline of gleaming gold teeth in the dark, then that strange and horrible ghost fire like Hei Bai suffered burst forth, and unlike then where it could not touch mortals, it hit him like waves of pure agony.
"Nnngyeeeaaah!" Aang cried out, as he clenched and tensed every part of his body, clawing to escape the intense spike of pain, but then it was gone, and he fell flat on his back, staring bewildered like he'd been utterly reset.
"Stop... that!" Raven gasped to say as she rose again.
Arzaya's head turned slightly, and her voice sharpened just a shade. Not loud. Not quite giving them the satisfaction of making her furious. "Stop what?!"
No one had a word to offer in return for that.
"Why," Arzaya demanded, her deathly dry voice certainly uneven, "are you opposing me? Is this some childish joke?!"
Raven stepped in front of Aang on pure instinct, shoulders squared, still glowing faintly with heat that didn't feel like hers. "Because you're a monster! Why are you attacking the Avatar?!"
Arzaya's glorious masked head tilted sideways ever so slightly. She looked back at the black void, and ahead again where Aang had sat up, and was scrambling to his feet. Even in her unnatural movement, her posture instantly communicated it, but she still rasped, "you attacked me, you traitorous little sneak!"
Raven just blinked, wondering if she actually just attacked Arzaya for no reason, but Sokka made a noise like a laugh that came out wrong. Too sharp. Too thin.
"Oh, gosh, sorry, did you forget you're killing my sister!?" he said, voice trembling but still somehow sarcastic because that was what he had left.
Arzaya paused. Just long enough that every hair on Sokka's arms stood up, like the room pulled in its breath. Her mask angled down toward Katara. It seemed it was the first time she'd noticed the girl laying there slack, half-lidded eyes and chest rising in shudders, and too shallow.
Arzaya barely lifted a finger, and spoke a single word. "Rise."
Katara lifted, but she wasn't getting up. Like a puppet she drifted into the air, feet dangling for a brief moment as her eyes finally blinked fully awake. And she settled on a cushion of air, making her look as though underwater for one serene moment where she looked oddly at peace.
Sokka lunged to catch her, hands frantic, and she made a small sound, more breath than voice. "Katara?!"
"I… I'm… okay," Katara whispered, and it sounded like she was repeating something she'd been told to say.
Arzaya nodded once, satisfied, as if she'd corrected a lamp that had been flickering. "There," she said, flatly, as if it fixed everything. "Now stop fussing. The solstice nears. Hand me the spear, Avatar. WILLINGLY."
"Hold on!" Raven's gaze darted to Katara, horror mixing with fury. "What did you do to her?"
Arzaya's mask faced Raven again. And even her inhuman rattle had a distinctly disapproving tone like she was very tired of all this juvenile nonsense. "Her waterbending is too weak to survive me. So I lent her some strength—enough to withstand mine. It's inconvenient you brought a waterbender, girl."
Sokka clutched Katara tighter, face twisted, but she just seemed happy to get the genuine affection. "She's not an inconvenience!"
"Silence," Arzaya said, and the word dripped contempt, and she glared back to Aang. "Now give me Arzayanagi! You know I don't lie, Avatar. I will deal with that wretched Fire Lord. Don't you want me to destroy him? Isn't that why you're here?"
Aang's gaze flickered to the spear still rocking slightly where it slid loosely on the temple floor. It did feel like that, like Arzaya was making sense, like they had made some kind of deal he'd forgotten, one where he'd already shaken hands with her over it. He almost remembered the feeling of that gold, withered grasp.
"Heh," Aang breathed out, looking down but a grin betrayed him. "You're good at that... whatever that is you're doing, Arzaya." He stood up straight, glaring her in the eye, facing her down. "But I'm the Avatar. And you pretended to be Kyoshi, you lying liar's big ol' fake god of LIES!"
Arzaya's head snapped slightly, and then she laughed. Not loud. Not warm. A dry, rattling cackle that sounded like old bones tapping together. "I never claimed I was Kyoshi," she said, amused. "Your assumption is not my failing."
Aang's mouth twisted, but he faltered. "You still... kind-of lied. That's still bad. Right?"
"I guided," Arzaya corrected, utterly serene. "You were always going to come here. I merely bid you bring along my greatest masterpiece."
Raven's eyes flashed. "You had Shyu murder the sages. I can't get that awful sight out of my head!"
Arzaya's amusement faded. "I told him to clear the way for the Avatar. He chose how to show me his devotion."
"That's not an answer!" Raven hissed.
Arzaya's voice cooled further. "I did not want them dead either. His lack of imagination could spark war before we're ready."
Katara made a small, sick noise, and Sokka's grip tightened until his knuckles went white. "Wait, she's going to go to war with the Fire Lord?" she peeped, like maybe that was a good thing?
Aang stared at her, breath shaking. "She's not our ally."
Arzaya stepped forward again, and the wet sound made Sokka's stomach flip, and it bothered him no one else seemed to notice she was always trying to gain more ground.
"I am not your enemy," Arzaya said, and the words should have sounded comforting, but they landed like a threat. "I want the same end you do."
Aang swallowed. "Yeah, you want Ozai defeated. But you hate him, you hate him so much it's making me sick, you'd... you don't just want to kill him." He gave a very confident look of disgust, and taunted, "yeah, when you get in my head, I get in yours too, you're not as untouchable as you think you are!"
Arzaya's mask tilted, and for the first time there was something like pleasure in her stillness.
"Why do you care what I do with him?! Fire Lord Ozai must suffer my wrath!" she sharply exhaled, rattling and raspy such that her voice went viciously deep. "He won't be your problem anymore, Avatar."
"I will never work with you! I wish I'd never even MET you!" the Avatar declared, and by his word it was as if it was so. Without any bending, his voice alone caused her to reel back, less in fear and more in unbridled offense, like he'd said the one thing she would never forgive. "Get out of my world, and stay out!"
Arzaya's gaze slid to Arzayanagi on the floor. "I will not leave without it," she intoned, venom dripping from each word. "You know I've been restraining myself, Avatar. Do not make an enemy of me. It's MINE."
Arzaya indeed was suddenly off the ground, the dragon's hair wafting from her headdress, her silks fluttering, and the flow of that strange gold fluid going from a trickle to a pour.
She only held out one gauntleted hand, palm up, patient as a guillotine. Clearly a final offer.
Aang's voice rose, desperate and furious. "You almost killed Omashu! Thousands of people could have died! And the sages downstairs are dead, and Katara—you didn't even care enough to notice you were killing her!"
A light was igniting in the darkness, brighter and brighter. They all had noticed it by then, and could imagine. The wraiths... that's what was burning in the distance.
"Wait, that's it." Sokka's voice came out low, tight. "She can't leave far from that door. Not without spear of doom! But like, it's like her weird rules with your dreams Raven, you have to give it to her!"
Raven's head snapped toward him. "I mean, I kinda was figuring something like that," she started, but Sokka boisterously declared over her:
"It means you can use the spear, Raven! She can't just take it from you! You're the one that can resist her getting in our heads, so freaking blow her back through those doors so far we forget she ever existed!"
There was only the briefest nod from Aang that Raven took as permission. She dove across the room, expecting resistance, but safely reached Arzayanagi, and instantly she was holding it aloft in a pose as if to throw it as she rolled to her feet.
Arzaya's voice stayed calm, but the gold dripping from her seemed to gleam hotter. "Nagi, silence them."
Raven leveled the spear at Arzaya, voice shaking with rage that wasn't entirely her own as she circled in a predatory fashion, like she wanted the perfect angle. It felt violent but it also made her smile somehow. "Hey," she taunted with a worrying glee. "I think I can actually use this."
Arzaya stared at her, seeing the white hot flames of one of her own spears pointed at her. Then she threw her head back and laughed again, truly entertained now.
"Oh, princess," she said, almost fond. "Do you think my own power can touch me?"
Raven smirked. "I think it can touch that."
Arzaya's laughter stopped. "What," her gaze darted to where Raven was actually pointing, which was decidedly not Arzaya. She wasn't that blasphemous.
But she hadn't gone to temple for months, honestly. "DON'T YOU DARE!" Arzaya's rattle shrieked in an inhuman wail, her body twisting unnaturally as if to throw herself in the way of the flying spear of fire.
The horrible ghostly fire surged again, showing those massive gleaming teeth, and from the darkness it nearly bellowed, so much depth to it that it would have filled the whole room, but scarcely a lick of it got through as the still half open left door slammed shut in the face of whatever was back there, and instantly a blinding burst of flame heated their faces, but the bursting spear was thankfully just far enough to spare them.
It missed Arzaya by an inch, who skidded to a stop, motionless almost like her strings had been cut but she wouldn't suffer the indignity of falling. Raven cautiously approached her cruel ancestral goddess, Arzayanagi at the ready, in case she had any fight left.
There was just the slightest jerk as the frozen figured hunched forward a bit.
"You…" Arzaya distantly rasped, voice cracking around the word like rust. "…brat."
And she was undone. Like a puff of soot, she was no more. But for her golden masked headdress, which fell unceremoniously to clatter on the floor. As the last of the golden fluid seeped down into the cracks, no other trace of her remained.
They all blinked and stared at it, like it might start rattling around, still haunted, but it just sat there, clearly empty in the decent light.
The sudden peace and silence hit them so hard it almost hurt.
Sokka let out a weak, breathy laugh as he shuffled over to her. "Raven... you just, like... turned on your dark god and saved us!"
Raven stood with Arzayanagi still in her hands, chest heaving, but looking at them like her fingers betrayed her. While others smiled with relief, she looked ready to break down and cry as her voice came out raw, "aw crap..." Then, very softly, very sincerely, almost comically like a normal girl:
"…my dad is going to kill me."
Katara swayed, still dazed, and leaned harder into Sokka's arms. "Hey," she airily stated. "The door's opening again." She informed them like it was no big deal.
Sokka and Aang literally shrieked, flailing incoherently as Raven's skin crawled, but she brought Arzayanagi to bear again. They all froze. A gentle, rather normal light filtered through the crack, and then showed a very fancy but really quite not terrifying room that looked like it actually belonged there. Roku's chamber, Aang recognized.
Except Katara, they let out a combined sigh of relief. She instead politely asked, "Oh um, and... can someone please tell me what the—excuse my language—but what the holy shit fuck just happened?" And she nodded cutely with her hands folded at her waist.
They all recalled instantly that she'd just been out cold for that whole ordeal, so could only nervously laugh, and indeed her language was excused, just this once.