TahnoxNova - 'Like A Bolt Of Lightning'

A bolt of lightning, a crackle of thunder. It was like a sonic boom to her well defined ears, she involuntary cringed at the noise. The storm blew in out of nowhere and she was caught in the middle of it. In the middle of a full on typhoon and she just had to be out buying food for Gladiator and herself. Nova sighed and quickened  her pace, trying to get out of the downpour and away from the noises.

"Water…" She thought while lowering her face when a bystander passed her "……how I despise it." It might have been her firebender side talking but she really only knew that water severely irritated her.  This was probably the reason she and the Wolf-bat really didn't get along.  He had that cocky atmosphere, that grin always plastered of his pale face, and just a plain out smart-ass. And of course they clashed, she was cool headed and quiet but brash and bold when she needed to be. Opposites. Fire and water.

"Damn." She cursed out loud as she pulled the grocery bags up higher trying to keep the wind from ripping them from her hands.  "I gotta find a place to stop or this storm is going to take me with it."

She carefully scanned the deserted town square, everyone had already taken shelter. She saw a small over hang that gave the bench below it some dryness; it would work for the time being; just until the storm slacked up.  She paced quickly over to the bench trying to avoid getting any more wet than she already was but in truth there was no use in it. She was drenched.  

When she reach her destination, she noticed a slumped figure occupying one side of the bench. Not wanting any trouble she took the seat farthest away from him. Stretching out, she moved her wet bangs that were plastered to her face, revealing her second birth-mark which was maroon fire-flames outstretching from her right eye. No one had ever seen them because if they did they would know for sure she was the Fire Nation's Shiro-Ken, for they moved. Like an actual fire burning.

"You are the Shiro-Ken." She heard a familiar voice speak, looking to her left she saw someone she had never expected.

"Tahno?" She stated calmly, hiding her internal shock. Someone besides the Avatar now knew she was the Golden Dragon, she wouldn't admit it but she was glad it was him. "What are you doing out here in this?"

He shrugged, "Got evicted from my apartment." He looked over at her, his piercing blue eyes staring in her crimson ones. "I could ask you the same thing."

She stared at him for a moment, taking in his appearance. A wave of remembrance from the night of the tournament flooded back in, 'His bending.' Something she hadn't felt in a long time hit her, guilt. If she was a better pro-bending trainer they wouldn't have had to cheat to get the title.

"Stop it." She whipped her head around to look at him. "Stop blaming yourself for all of this. I know you are, if I wasn't such a douche to you….to everyone….I wouldn't be in this situation. I brought this on myself."  His head hung low in defeat, her scarlet eyes softened at him. No pity, complete understanding. She knew how it felt, to be alone; everyone you ever need letting you down.

"Tahno…."

"I realize that now….I admit to it." His elbows rested on his knees and his hands hung toward the watery ground. The rain still poured, lightning still struck, thunder still roared. She looked up to the sky that sent this disaster down on them. And then back to the man beside her.

"No matter what you did you didn't deserve to have your bending taken away.  No one deserves that."  Comfort wasn't her thing, but if there was any way for her to help him she was going to do it; no matter how much he had pissed her off in the past.
He turned back to her, looking her over. Making sure she wasn't lying, seeing she wasn't he stood a motioned for her to follow him. Confused but willing she picked up her bags and fell in step behind him.
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A few moments later, after being bombarded by rain again, they were under a city bridge. Where, to Nova's delight, there was much less water. She instantly swung her hair over her shoulder and heated it dry, along with her clothes.  Drying the last part of her boot she looked up at Tahno from a crouching position. 'He's so different.'

He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and one leg pressed against the cold cobble stone, staring out at the river that lay just a few feet away; watching the water flow and move on its own with and intense powerful force. She stood and walked to stand beside him, he didn't even notice. He looked captivated, in his own world.

There was no way she could find the right words to say at the moment, not one single word she said would make him feel better. Only make him feel worse. She placed a hand on his shoulder, he turned his head slightly.

"Here" He started to take his dark water-tribe jacket off.  She was only wearing her tank-top like shirt and he could see chill bumps on her tan skin.  Firebender or not she was cold.

"You don't have to do that…" she mumbled as he threw the wet jacket over her shoulders, he left his hands resting on her shoulders. She looked straight in his eyes. He looked so………… hollow.

"I know." He said removing his hands from her shoulders.  "I owe you a lot though."  He turned and went back to his position at the wall, staring back at the rushing river. She pulled the jacket in and started drying it with her body heat.

'Words Nova. Speak words, and not half-assed ones either. Ugh, mortals…..'

"I've tried you know…" His solemn voice cut her internal debate, she watched his expressions ; he still stared on at the canal. "Water-bending……I tried so many times…." His voice was breaking. She was watching him fall apart and it stung. It hurt.

He was always confident, so sure of himself and his bending now he was just tearing at the seams.  She didn't know what this was….this emotion had never been there before. She took a breath and opened and closed her mouth a few times before words actually formed.

"It'll get better….somehow. Don't stay so down and depressed-"

"Well what do you expect me to do Janova?! Run through a field of fucking flowers and say it's fine?!" He  interrupted pushing off the wall, standing in front of her; tears brimming his eyes. She didn't shout back, or show offense to what he had said.  "I can't do that because it's not!"

"I know…" She murmured, not taking her eyes off his. She knew what this emotion was now.

"No! You don't know! Until you have the one thing you've ever loved taken away from you, then-……  you'll know how I feel!"  The tears now fell freely down his weak face.

Understanding. She was somehow sharing, feeling, what he felt inside.  He casted his gaze downward, hiding his now tear-stained cheeks. On impulse she cupped his face with her hand, making him look at her again. Making him actually see what she wanted to tell him.

He saw something different in her crimson eyes, something he never expected to see in Nova. They were burning with understanding and he somehow felt she had lost something she really loved. Someone.

He wasted no time in embracing her, holding her like she was the only thing left that he could actually believe in. He needed an anchor, and that soft look in her eyes told him she had offered to be.

She put her hand on the back of his head as he buried it in the crook of her neck. He was still crying, she could feel the tears roll off his cheeks and onto her neck, silent sobs wracked his body. He gripped his jacket he had placed on her as tight as he could.

"Don't keep it all bottled up……I'll share your pain." No words could have been more perfect at that moment. He knew, deep down, that was all he really wanted.  Someone to be there through the thick and thin, pick him up when he falls, keep him company when he feels desolate; worthless, someone to tell him he's actually worth fighting for and  someone he can be there for too.

He was her azure and she was his scarlet.

And like a bolt of lightning, sudden and  unforeseen she was that single missing puzzle piece in his life. As he was to her.  Complete.

---------------------------------------------------
"You sure about this?" He asked, a sack of clothes thrown over his shoulder. Nova smirked and unlocked her apartment door. They had went by his old apartment to get his things once the storm was over.

"I'm positive about this, now quit acting all fragile and go back to being the smart-ass I know." She glanced back at him over her shoulder, she flashed him a playful smile, pushed the door open, and stepped to the side to let him enter first.  He chuckled lightly and inspected the visible rooms.

"Not too shabby, sweetie." He answered with his old sarcastic edge to his voice.  He walked on and took the up-step into her bedroom.  She glared at his back as he disappeared in her room to go snooping.

"And cue old Tahno comments."  She replied placing the now soggy food on the counter in the kitchen. He returned from his "inspection" and placed his bag on the simple black couch in the middle of the living room.

"You wanted smart-ass me back didn't you?" He threw her smirk from earlier back at her. She rolled her eyes and began prying the ruined food out of the bags.  Gladiator was going to have a field day with this, a lot of extra food for a growing dragon was always good news.  She needed to check on the humble beast, come to think of it.

She grabbed a chunk of meat she had bought her and walked toward the extra door on the other side of the counter, Nova was about to exit when Tahno stopped her.

"We just came out of that damn tsunami, why the hell are you going outside?"  The storm had started picking up again on their way back, she knew she was going to get soaked again but Gladiator needed to be fed and she was a firebender; she could dry herself off in seconds. She turned with the big piece of meat in her right hand and placed the left on her hip while waving the raw red meat around.

"Because ass, I've got to feed Gladiator."  She smirked wickedly, seeing as Gladiator doesn't like strangers……"Want to come with me?"

He raised a questioning eyebrow and stared her down. "Will it eat me?"

"If you provoke her."  He cringed, remembering the Avatar's creature. Animals didn't really take a liking to him but this one might not be a flesh devouring monster. He kept staring the fire nation's Shiro-Ken down.

"What is it?" he asked, not moving. She turned and stepped out the door.

"Get off your lazy butt and see for yourself."  She walked out along the stepping-stone path heading toward a "storage" building that she converted to Gladiator's living quarters, the dragon had taken to it well and had more than enough room to move around. She heard quick footsteps behind her, Just like a cat, giving in to curiosity.
He now strode beside her, the collar of his jacket pulled up high. She looked at him and laughed lightly. 'The old Tahno is back.'

He looked at her in amazement for a mere second, he had never heard her laugh before and never thought he was going to hear it. She always seemed so distant and emotionless, which she was but she had more to her story. He could feel it.

"If you speak her name, don't call her Gladiator." She had her hand on the handle of the double doors when she said this, he sent her a puzzled look and was about to question her further but what he saw left him at a loss for words.

"Gladiator." The icy scaled dragon jumped up from her sleeping position and ran toward her owner, tail wagging and tongue hanging out the side of her mouth much like a dog. Nova threw the chunk of meat in the air, Gladiator instantly reacted and  attacked her meal; chewing only a few times and swallowing the rest whole.

Tahno stood in astonishment, and with complete fear his crystal eyes widened to a new depth. That's when Gladiator noticed his appearance and changed her attitude completely. Her usual laid back spikes flared as she roared earsplittingly at the stranger. He ran for the only cover he knew….Nova.

He grabbed her shoulders from behind and hunkered down behind her. "You have a fucking dragon?!" He half whispered and half screamed, trying not to alarm the growling beast in front of her.

"Yeah." She laughed out at him.

"How??? All of them died off way before Avatar Aang's time." He was trying to keep a cool composure but the way the animal was glaring at him with her void like eyes, he could hardly do that.

"She is a part of me. If I die, she dies. If she dies I die." Now he was confused even more, how could a creature have so much connection with a human? Unless she really was the Shiro-Ken. He was about to ask her when his question was cut short.

Nova moved to the side leaving Tahno out in the open and exposed to the dragon in front of him.

"Let her come to you," The white and maroon haired woman crossed her arms and watched her petrified companion stand stone still, "stick your hand out. And IF she touches you, you'll know what to call her."
  
"N-Nova…I'm not sure about this…..she's gonna eat me."  He nervously glanced back and forth between the firebender and the dragon.  He shakily reach his hand out in front of him and looked away.

Gladiator lowered her jaw spikes and stepped forward, sniffing the air around him and looking him over. She growled lightly and took another step forward, inhaling again and  narrowing her black eyes.  She open and closed her mouth with a snapping noise, then nuzzled her snout into the ex-waterbender's hand.  A bright flash went off in front of his eyes and he saw a group of men and women all dressed in roman togas, in something that looked like an old mansion. They all were gathered at some kind of event. Then it went to one woman, one that looked exactly like Nova but without the scars.

"Nox." He voiced without realizing it. Gladiator turned back into the playful creature he saw Nova interact with, wagging her tail and shaking her large butt end; then licking him on the side of the face.

Nova was the one left speechless now, Gladiator had never taken a liking to anyone but herself. She also had never shown the meaning of Nox to anyone before either. 'He must mean something really important to me for Gladiator to do that.' She shook her head, 'What am I thinking?' The now courteous dragon was nudging the side of his face with her unusual smooth one.

"That's a first." She said walking over and patting Gladiator on the side of the neck. "She usually hates everyone but me."

"So what does this mean then?"  he asked patting the nose of the animal once more.

"I…." She began looking at him, "I'm not sure." There was no way he could be Volturnus, the Moon Warrior died two-hundred years ago and that's not near enough time for him to be reincarnated. So this must mean something else.  'Maybe it's fate.'

"We should go back to the apartment, it's getting late." It was past late, the sun had went down while they were in the building with Gladiator and she hadn't slept a wink last night.
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"So I'll be taking the couch." He stated more than asked, she went to the small wardrobe in her room and grabbed some night clothes.
"I'll be taking the couch, you're taking the bed." She stated walking into the bathroom located in her room. She didn't bother closing the door behind her, actually she really didn't think about it. She stripped herself of her clothing and slipped on a tank top that cut off just before her navel, and some baggy shorts. She looked in the mirror at the wrap around her neck. She had only shown the people she trusts her throat scar. She looked into her bedroom, he was looking at the picture on her night-stand.
A picture of her daughter.

She looked down and then back up into the mirror and removed the wrap around her throat. 'He'll have to know sooner or later'.
She stepped out of the bathroom and into his line of view. "You see the bathroom over there, extra blankets are in the window seat and the fridge is full of food." He just stared at her. He had never seen her with her hair down, he was so use to it being pulled tightly back in a pony-tail at the base or her neck. Her hair down did make her look a lot more feminine and it brought out her scarlet eyes. Then his eyes landed on the scar around her neck and then down to her right arm. 'So many scars.'
"Just don't drink my beer, Curly." She never really drunk it herself anyways, there was no need to.

"Nova."

"You're under age." She ignored her name, she really couldn't tell her life story right now.  Facing her past was something she just wasn't ready to do. There would come a time when she would tell him everything, but now…at this moment….she would breakdown in front of the one person she's letting in if she told him.

She walked out of her room and plopped down on the couch, throwing a thin cover over her scared body.

Tahno peered at her then to the photo in his hands. 'Maybe she did lose the one thing she ever loved….'

"There's a lot more to her than I expected……" his expression changed to one of forlorn as he ran his hand over the baby's face. "A lot more."