( TOM-TOM BLUES )

To me, freedom is realising that nothing matters and nobody cares. – an idiot

Positive Nihilism never was my cup of tea.

Meaning behind our actions, and a purpose of each individual on this earth were what I believed in. I searched for mine for a long time. I went places you don't want your daughter visiting. I did drugs you had better keep your sticky fingers off of. I had my heart shattered more often than I care to admit.

But the one thing that exhilaration or pure emotion could never hope to match is devotion.

I've experienced it before. My beautiful darling daughter was the centre of my universe. There was nothing I would not do for her. She knew it. She used it shamelessly, and I did not mind it. No, never.

That was, until she was taken from me. Her death was a sudden affair. Painless, I'd been told by the policeman knocking on my door. He'd been regretful, distant and kind to the point that he disgusted me. There is no such thing as a painless death. The hurt of those left behind, those who clean up the mess is potent.

I showed him the door after receiving the details of who to contact about the remains.

Not body, remains.

My family closed ranks about me like they never had before. Losing the reason breath flooded my lungs must have made them fear I would follow her. I hadn't thought it'd matter much to them. I was the embarrassment, after all. The only one who didn't manage to escape the rough neighbourhood's odour. I'd only barely avoided prison. It had been more dumb luck and skin colour than any action taken on my part.

Suicide was, naturally, my intention. However, not here, in this place. Not where any of them would have to clear up my remains. They'd been good to Susie.

I decided to travel to the end of the world, and inconvenience strangers with my dead body.

I daresay, I went above and beyond.

Becoming aware isn't something you do on purpose. You have no control over the brief periods of lucidity and sleep and hunger. The hunger of an infant is that of starvation, of sheer need. There is nothing, nothing at all but the desire to live and therefore eat.

I blame the lack of my ability to grasp my entire being, and that I hadn't wanted to live any longer, on my developing brain. I have no other rational explanation, and it's a scrap I cling to in this maelstrom of near insanity.

Often, I feel that it's not about what I class as sanity and its absence, but what I can't comprehend. It took me a while to understand where exactly I was. I knew I was born into a wealthy family, but it was the words I'd heard spoken while in the grasp of the… enemy… that made me aware. I didn't protest my removal from the family I had previously known. There was little excitement to go around in my life, which was why I'd grabbed the lemur's tail in the first place.

Susie'd been a fan of the cartoon. What could I do but watch it with her?

This Kaito fellow had seemed interesting from the beginning. And when he spoke in a language that I knew… one I hadn't heard in far too long… I wasn't about to let that go easily or without a fuss.

He understood what it meant to be a baby with the knowledge of being an adult. He made things bearable. He always made certain that I could decide what to do. He took my opinion into account, and created an environment where I could speak as part of the group, as an adult, even if my body wasn't.

So, with events taking this strange turn into the clearly dangerous, I worried about him.

We might not have known each other for long, or even at all, but I knew that without him, I was back to being a child. And only that. It had been so good to be able to behave as I would naturally, rather than act the childish countenance my body portrayed.

"Stop staring," I told the newcomer of our group, the one with the metal in his eyebrows, "It's like you've never seen a toddler before."

He did.

...

( Dionu POV )

He was well aware that he didn't really have a leg to stand on, but Dionu thought these people were weird. Beyond that, actually, including the baby. Especially the baby. Creepy little bugger.

Also, they were terrifying.

Gorou… spoke for himself. That Mai woman had some serious skill with her knives and a look about her that told Dionu she wasn't too different from his aunt. Which. Eep.

The other woman was intimidating for the sheer discrepancy between voice and face. No one survived the kind of damage she must have taken without some insane pain tolerance. And a miracle healer. He was willing to bet this Kaito fellow had done her a favour.

Kaito. Well, there was a man of mystery. Skilled bender, shrewdly intelligent and with enough balls to heckle with Marija.

Fon and Ebisu were the kinds of men Dionu liked to keep well awake around and aware of at all times.

The kid, Haruto. He was manic in a way that told Dionu he'd be very dangerous in a few years once he learned how to fight properly. He'd not hesitate, either.

So. They were all weird and terrifying, and they were looking for their leader because he'd gone missing and he was the one this whole thing centred around. Gorou was unwilling to move forward with the plan without him because reasons.

Dionu suspected they had a lot to with Gorou's superstitions. He'd muttered something about "Spirits watching" which… to be fair, Marija had given him two of the guard to go along with them. But he got the feeling they weren't the spirits Gorou'd meant.

So, now he was waiting.

...

Mai

This geezer! Now isn't the time for waiting! They have no idea where Kaito is, and while Mai doesn't really care about the bastard, Tom-Tom does. She doesn't think she can completely believe their story of having already lived lives before these, but how else can Tom-Tom – Peter, he'd asked to be called Peter – and his advanced speech, reasoning, cognitive ability and that language be explained?

So. Kaito is vital for Peter. And so, he is marginally important for Mai. Namely, she needs him alive. She also wants him alive, because she has no idea what they will do if he isn't. She can't return to the Fire Nation. She knows it's too dangerous for her and Peter. She can't be loyal any longer. Not like Ty Lee.

She hates it. Of course she does, and for a moment, when she saw her uncle, she hoped. But Azula is the Princess of the Fire Nation. There's no way that Mai would get to live as she did before. And to think she'd been bored to tears! She hadn't even wanted it then.

"Look," she says to the old man, "We're sort of in a hurry here. We need him with us. Now."

"It is not the time," he replies, puffing more smoke. She hates him.

She makes to speak again, but Gorou catches her eyes. His face is unreadable, but she takes it that he thinks she should let him negotiate. Well. Fine. If he doesn't get results, they can always get violent.

Gorou's voice is deceptively soft as he asks: "When is the time? There shouldn't be any trials going on now. We have need of him at present."

"The time," the old man answers, "Will come when it does. He will be ready when he is ready."

That doesn't make any sense. Trials? Kaito being ready?

Even when caught off guard, Kaito is ready for action.

But… maybe that's not the kind of ready he needs to be? For what, though?

Gorou turns to her and Fon. He shakes his head softly. "We'll have to do as he says. We don't know what kind of trial this is. Interrupting could mean great damage to Kaito, if it's of spiritual nature."

Spirits again. What was it with Kaito and those?

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