Thursday, October 5, 2006

This was inspired by the rather disturbing episode, "City Of Walls And Secrets", and it's from Jets whole point of view as he is brainwashed by the Dai Li. Even though I don't excuse his past actions, I have to agree that for such a fanatically dedicated fighter for freedom, a fate of ignorant bliss is especially tragic.

There Is No War

A drabble inspired by "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

By Karen

I am dragged struggling and screaming into the dimly lit room by the Earth Kingdom soldiers. I have to get them to believe me!. That old man and his nephew are Fire Nation spies and they won't stop until they win the war and conquer the whole world!. For all we know, the Fire Nation could be laying in wait right outside the outer city walls right now!.

They tell me to calm down, that everything is all right, that there is no war. What in the world is wrong with these people?. If there is no war, then where do they think all the refugees are coming from?. If there is no war, then why was my village wiped out and my family murdered before my eyes?. If there is no war, then why were all my freedom fighters except for Longshot and Smellerbee arrested or killed?. How long do they think they can keep something like this a secret from everyone?.

I am pushed into a chair and strapped in, still trying to make them see reason but to no avail... Suddenly, I see eerily glowing lamps circling around me… They go round and around the room almost hypnotically without stopping…

I am gagged and my head is firmly held in place so that I am forced to look at the swirling lamps… My eyes widen in realization at what is happening… I am going to be hypnotized! Brainwashed!. They are going to make me forget everything and everybody!. They are going to make me believe their lies about there being no war!.

I had come to Ba-Sing-Se to start a better life where my friends and I would no longer have to struggle and fight for our safety and survival, but I hadn't expected it would turn out this way!. How could I forget what happened to my family, or to my friends and comrades who were not so fortunate to make it to this city?.

I was born in a peaceful village in the Earth Kingdom. My parents were farmers, like most. We were never so wealthy that we had money to spare but we never went hungry, and we were happy with our lives.

Then those Fire Nation devils ruined my life forever. I was only eight years old when they marched into our village and burned down all our homes. In their red and black armor and pointed helmets with their skull-like masks they really did look like demons, soldiers from Hell. I guess that's why to this day I can only see that Hellish face whenever I look at anyone from the Fire Nation, civilian or not.

I remember, I woke that night to find our village being invaded and our home set on fire. As scared as I was, I just barely managed to climb out my bedroom window to safety, wrongfully believing my parents had also gotten out… Even now I still have nightmares of my mom and dads screams coming from our burning house…

I was on my own for quite some time after that, but eventually I met and befriended several other kids like me, kids whose homes, families and lives had also been destroyed by the Fire Nation; There was Longshot whose whole town had been burned down by the Fire Nation, traumatizing him so badly that he lost his ability to speak. There was Smellerbee who often dressed and acted like a boy for protection because of what she had seen the Fire Nation do to her mother and sisters. Then there was The Duke, the youngest of the gang, who we'd found scrounging around our camp for food. We didn't think he'd ever had a home or a family before us.

Having nowhere else to go, us kids bonded together. We built hideouts in the treetops of the forest, we taught ourselves to hunt and fight and began doing everything we could to fight back against the Fire Nation in our area. Not being old enough to enlist and fight in the Earth Kingdom armies, we had to resort to guerilla tactics, ambushing their troops, cutting off their supplies, doing everything we could to mess with them in hopes of ridding our land of those devils.

I will never understand why those traitors, Katara, her brother Sokka and the Avatar, turned against us and our plan to rid that valley of the Fire Nation like that. They called me a monster, they said I was the traitor because I'd stopped protecting innocent people, but all the people in that valley town were Fire Nation on Earth Kingdom land! They were not innocent!. Forget about the Fire Nation civilians for a moment and think of the innocent Earth Kingdom civilians who were driven out or killed to make room for them!.

If we had succeeded, the Earth Kingdom would have been able to reclaim and re-inhabit that valley before the Fire Nation had a chance to react and that would have taken us one step closer to winning the war, but no!. Instead, thanks to those turncoats, that valley town is still in Fire Nation hands and those demons were able to find our hideout and capture and kill every one of our group except for Smellerbee, Longshot and I!. The Duke wasn't even ten years old yet! But he, Sneers, Pipsqueak and the others, were all killed on the spot or dragged away to be executed as examples!.

Had Sokka, Katara and the Avatar completely forgotten who was responsible for this war in the first place?. Had those Water Tribe siblings forgotten who raided the South Pole and murdered their mother and their tribesman?. Had that airbender forgotten who raided all the air temples and wiped out his whole nation?. Not long before Smellerbee, Longshot and I decided to go to Ba-Sing-Se we heard how the Avatar and his group were able to wipe out the whole Fire Nation navy to save the Northern Water Tribe!. Those damned hypocrites!. It was okay for them to drive the Fire Nation away, but it was wrong of us to do the same?.

True, I've lied to them, I've used them, but that's because they proved that none of them understood the demands of war like we did, that we couldn't win without making sacrifices. Besides, didn't that Firebending spy, Lee, and his uncle lie to us about who he was and what his intentions were?. Somebody has to see the truth and stop them before they threaten the safety of the city!.

Even though I was angry with them at first, now I'm glad that Longshot and Smellerbee didn't come with me when I confronted those Firebenders, otherwise they would be bound and gagged in this chair too, forced to watch those lamps swirl around the room as it wiped their minds clean…

"Calm down, you're safe now…"

"There's no war in Ba-Sing-Se…"

"There is no war within the walls… Here we're safe… Here we are free…"

Suddenly, I find it hard to remember things, anything that happened before I came to this beautiful, peaceful city… I try to remember if I had any home, any family or friends, but all I saw were faces, just blank faces… Perhaps that was all just a dream and I had always lived here in peace, happiness and freedom…

The lamps eventually stop swirling around me… I smile widely, happy and at peace... Even though I can't recall anything about my life before coming to this wonderful city, and even though I don't know where the Earth Kingdom soldiers are dragging me to next, I know everything will be all right… I'm in Ba-Sing-Se now. I am safe here and I am free, because there is no war…

The End

"Avatar; The Last Airbender" © 2005 Nickelodeon