Bab 42: Ice, Ice, Baby
Michael stared at the city with empty eyes. He occasionally looked down at his own clothes and blinked his eyes to keep the tears from coming out of the corners of his eyes. Khan, who was standing next to him, looked at his friend in confusion, not understanding what exactly was happening to him.
"Umm... Dude? Is everything all right?" He finally asked hesitantly.
Michael was silent for a couple of minutes, just watching the ship approach the huge ice gates leading into the city. "I just realized that my life is probably a shitty story written by an idiot. My parents died when I was seven and the world turned against me, literally. Fast forward three years, and one of the nearby gang's superiors picked me up and raised me as his own son, even teaching me everything he knew."
Khan looked like he had the better places to be, but decided to listen to what Michael had to say.
"Then, at thirteen, I rank as one of the best thieves in the gang, at fifteen, I start my training as an interrogator. At seventeen, some shit happens to me and I lose most of my memories and end up in the Air Nomads temple. Then the Avatar picks me up on a fucking flying Bizon and helps me down the mountain."
"What? The Avatar is actually alive?!"
Michael turned to look at Haan and nodded furiously. "Yes! Now you get what I mean? Some strange shit happens to me all the time, sometimes even inexplicable!" Michael got so far into his rant, that he haven't noticed when he swithed to Russian. "For example, I sneaked past the security of the traveling circus and met a girl from the troupe. But instead of hitting me in the balls and calling security, I went on a date with her! Even for empty-headed people, this is too strange! Who in their right mind would go drinking with a dude who most likely came to steal shit?! It all feels like someone is manipulating the events around me."
While Khan was trying to understand at least something from the words of his friend, somewhere in heaven, one Nameless Goddess sneezed. "Someone's talking behind my back...?"
Michael, meanwhile, continued to grumble and curse. "And did you see what I'm wearing?! Holy crap, I look more like a girl with eighth grade syndrome's wet dream than a man!"
Khan grabbed Michael by the shoulders and headbutted him in the nose, shutting him up. Michael looked at Khan in shock, not even trying to stop the trickle of blood that was running down his face.
"Better?" Khan asked.
Michael blinked a couple of times and set back his broken nose with a crunch. The blood on his face abruptly dried up and fell off, turning to dust in the wind, both Waterbenders stared at the disappearing blood with shock in their eyes.
"Huh. I thought I couldn't do that." Michael shook Han's hands off his shoulders and nodded. "But yeah, I'm better. Do it again and I'll switch your arms with your legs."
Khan laughed, but fell silent when he noticed the seriousness in Michael's eyes. "This is a joke, right?"
The ship touched the dock and a couple of sailors lowered the bar, on which workers immediately began to climb to help unload the provisions. Michael turned around and went to the ship's hold to help. "Michael? Please tell me it was a joke!"
-=-=-=-=-=-
The Nameless Goddess frowned and looked at the crystal ball in her hands, where the picture of Michael's face showed. "Ah... He already noticed my interfearence. Could be better, but I can still work with that."
She got up from her seat and stretched. After the Goddess was fired from the Divine Office, she had too much free time. Losing a name seemed like a small price to pay for such freedom. But when the Big Guy gave her a new task - to monitor the soul that is looking for its own universe - she decided to... help her new ward a little.
A mental push here, an acceleration of time there, and things are already going a little differently! Oh, how happy she was when Ty Lee dragged Michael to see the city! She even helped the Russian to get so drunk that he didn't remember what happened last night! It was the perfect chance, and she missed it.
The Nameless Goddess knew Michael's attraction to Ty Lee, so she wanted to bring them together. That he was interested in Toph was not a problem, she had enough ideas to get the three of them together.
One such idea was to destroy the Fire Nation armory so that Ty Lee would be accused of aiding Michael and kicked out of the circus, but the plan failed. Azo said that the innocent Ty Lee was with her all this time, and gave her an alibi! The cheeky girl has delayed the sailing of her ship by several months!
Sighing heavily, the Nameless Goddess looked at the time stream of the world where Michael was. She saw many lines leading to his death, and even more lines where he lost his right arm, for some reason. There were only a few paths that led him to the Word Gate, and she was sure she could guide him on the right path.
"Hmm... The seige of the North..." Blood gushed on the screen before her eyes and her frown deepened. "I need to avoid that."
After all, Michael wanted to leave worlds much better than he found them, no?
-=-=-=-=-=-
The North Pole was not at all what Michael imagined it to be. In the canon, this place was shown as one of the few forts that could survive the onslaught of the Fire Nation army. People in places like this would be hardened like soldiers from Briggs, where the survival of the people isn't a rule, it's a way to live. Even the uncanny resemblence between the two places should've turned every inhabitant of the North Pole into a warrior ready to tear the throats of enemies.
Instead, Michael entered one of the most peaceful and lively cities in all of the Elemental Nations.
'People in Ba Sing Se have been jailed and brainwashed for just mentioning the war, and thus maintaining the illusion of utopia. Here everyone prefers to count on the Fire Nation to give up and leave them alone? I don't even remember what the reason was in the show, but it's just absurd.' Michael thought as he looked at the sleeping guards.
"Oh well, not my problem." He turned and followed Smollett, who was leading him to the merchants' hotel-thingy - he wasn't listening, so he missed how the place was called. According to the Captan, it was one of the tolerable establishments where no one sang their Nation's anthems at night, so Michael decided to stay there until the Gaang arrived.
After a short conversation with the owner, Michael got himself a lodging for the night and decided not to leave the room for several days just to rest. Loki knew he needed rest.
Smollett and his crew took food to the poor, and decided to sail again in a week, knowing that the North would soon need more food. At least they could sail knowing that Brer'yuth would lick his wounds for a long time to come.
Michael spent his first three days in the North sitting in his room and thinking about his choice of clothes. Aside from his black coat - which was completely unsuitable for the current era - he only had clothes that would look good on the Young Master of the Peng Family. He didn't like it, but unfortunately Michael had no choice, if he wants to blend in with his surroundings, he will either have to endure or steal more clothes.
"Should I spit on the canon and just start looking for the World Gates?" Michael muttered. "I certainly want the story to end better this time and Aang not die at forty, but is it worth it?"
For a long time, Michael just stared at the ceiling and thought about the future, waiting for Gaang to arrive so he could finally continue traveling.
'I can kill Ozai and throw the consequences on Aang. Or I can have a bloodbath during the eclipse, but that would take too long. Сука, how complicated.' Michael pulled the covers over himself and closed his eyes. 'I'll sleep on it. All this will be a problem for tomorrow's me.'
-=-=-=-=-=-
Momo's ear twitched and he turned towards the new sound. The lemur jumped onto Katara's shoulder and tilted his head to look at the glaciers in the sea. "Momo? Buddy, what's wrong?"
Momo raised his finger and pointed somewhere far away, but what he pointed to was hidden behind the clouds. Katara crawled over to Aang and patted him on the shoulder. "Get down a little, Momo wants to show us something."
"Sure thing!" Aang led Appa down with a smile and the three Gaang members gasped when they saw what Momo was pointing at. "We've arrived! The North Pole, at last!"
As Katara and Aang rejoiced that their journey for the time being was over, Sokka gazed up at the city walls. Something deep in his gut told him that this wall would not last long.
"Why do I feel so uncomfortable?" He shuddered, remembering the words of a fortune teller they met in a village near a volcano.
~Ho... Your destiny is to be a support for your friends, but this path is full of blood. Such a great life, for such a naive boy. Well... the world has special ways to eradicate your innocence.~
Sokka, despite his stupidity, didn't consider himself naive. He knew how cruel the world could be, and the fact that the world could be even worse... the thought scared him.
"Wow! I didn't know the North Pole had such ships! The thing's huge!"
Hearing Aang's words, he smiled. Even if his life would be filled with blood, he was ready to live it for the sake of his family and friends.
"That's what she said!" He added, only to get slapped by Katara. "Worth it!"
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Simple_Russian_Boi
Simple_Russian_Boi This chapter is all over the place.
Michael finally begins to understand that something isn't right, and we finally get to see the North Pole!
What unholy plans does our Goddes has for Michael? Why is he dressed like a dumbass?
Well, the last one is on me, I was aiming more at the John Constantin look, but I got a dude who's dressed like a cosplayer on a smoke brake.
Anyway, find the answers for these questions on the next episode of- what am I writing, again? A harem-multiverse story? Oh, dear.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone