Earth.
Fire.
Air.
Water.
These are the four elements that surround our world, that bind us all together, humans and spirits alike. Roughly four years ago, Avatar Korra had stopped Chief Unaloq of the northern water tribe, and kept the portals leading into the spirit world open. Uniting our realms together, she was forced to face the consequences of her decision. But we all know that story, the story of how the Avatar restored the air nation, and saved the world again and again.
But now… it's time for a new story.
It all began in a little province of the United Republic of Nations…
Avatar Crossroads
By Ardnemla
Adapted by AgentQV
Chapter 1:
The Arrival
The province was known as He Shui, a burgeoning small town, south east of republic city. A quiet river bisected the town through the center, with bridges erected over the water. A large collection of houses and shops littered this town, with metal train tracks leading south of the town. People would greet one another as they passed each other on the streets.
Many great businesses littered the town, a noodle shop called "Yuriko's noodles" a grocery store called "Matsui Grocers," there was even a decent amount of schools, there was even one meant specifically for benders, known as the IceFire Academy… but what made these places interesting wasn't just how different they were, it was something they all had in common… they were all connected by a friendship between five teenagers.
"Alright, I want you to focus." A warm elderly voice began. The two figures stood there, in front of what looked to be a collection of wooden stumps attached to the ground, there were thirty in all, spread thin across the grass. Each of these stumps protruded out of the ground and were roughly three feet tall. In the background of this 'training site' there was a yellow house of decent size, looking like it had taken in some renovations over the year to house six people.
Both people standing there, facing the stumps were women, one significantly older than the other, a girl with hazel gray eyes, peach skin…
And blue airbender tattoos, covered partly by brown hair, the front of her hair was in a braid.
She wore a yellow tubed top with no sleeves, over flexible orange pants with thin boots covering her legs. The look came together with a red sash over her left arm, falling diagonally across her body into a knot over her right hip.
The girl was an airbender, this much was clear… and she looked as if she had little self-control.
"Focus, focus right…" The old woman sighed at the girl's insistence.
She was very elderly, looking to be in her mid-eighties. Her hair was a bright shade of gray, once looking to have been blonde. Small orange earrings fell from the bottom of her ears, taking the shape of two small orange balls. The old woman was the same height as her pupil, and she wore a hardy red and yellow dress, her eyes mixed well with it, being a bright amber color. Her own sleeves were rolled up, to reveal a thin purple bracelet covering her left hand.
"You've done this before." The old woman than stated, "Go ahead."
The airbender eyes the poles in the ground, before breathing and then jumping upwards, a gust of wind projected her up, helping her to land on one of the poles.
"Remember the rules, you need to touch each pole without falling."
"I know!" she added, quickly jumping to the next pole. The girl moved with an efficient grace that was completely unlike her parents, the old woman simply found herself smiling, watching the display of airbending. Despite the general ease of the girls' technique, she still had some small hiccups, fumbles over some of the wood.
Sometimes it'd be because the wood was slippery, other times it'd be because the girl forgot to eat (she was a vegetarian after all).
"Just like Tenzin had shown you, become like the wind."
"Funny hearing that from someone who isn't an airbender!" the girl complained, while the old woman grinned.
"So good you mentioned that, Aimee." The woman then stated, "Because I think it's time I add a little chalenge." She added, lowering into a stance with her hands stretched outwards. Aimee didn't eye the woman until noticing something, thin fireballs shooting out of the palms of the woman's hands. Immediately Aimee froze, before falling away, clinging straight to the stump fearfully.
"That's not part of the test!"
"Sure it is, just another obstacle." She smiled, hands shooting forward again. Aimee grimaced as she jumped away from the pole, onto another one. The old woman continued her barrage, thin strips of fire shooting outwards.
They were virtually harmless, but were effective in throwing off someone's balance. As Aimee got onto one of the poles, one of the stray blasts of fire ruined her balance, throwing her straight towards the ground.
Almost on instinct, her hands shot forward, and a gust of wind was instantly generated, pushing her upwards and onto another of the poles.
"Very good," the old woman replied, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop." Almost immediately, Aimee jumped from another pole, to avoid more fire, she couldn't help but groan.
"For a nice old lady, this doesn't seem very in character!"
"Focus!" Aimee pouted, jumping from the next pole to the next. She paused, to quickly think fo which poles she's missed, before ducking under another blast. In this crouched position, she jumped away, towards another one. The old woman grinned as she kicked forward, sending two quick swipes towards the airbender. The girl frowned before kicking outwards.
A gust of air shot out of the girl's foot, impacting the fire as Aimee was accidently pushed by the wind off of the pole. She looked outwards, feeling time slow down as she focused on the other poles, and then noticing the one she's missed. She flipped, kicking outwards with air, straight towards the pole. Finally she grappled around it, and landed her right hand directly on the pole, pausing in the air with a smile towards the old woman… who nodded approvingly.
As Aimee finally lowered from the pole, she noticed someone from the side standing urgently at the side of the house. It was a girl wearing blue clothing, her hair was a lighter shade of brown, falling into a thick ponytail, and her skin looked darker. The girl also held a great resemblance to Aimee and the old woman.
It was her little sister, Mika.
The teenager remained by the side of the wall, not wanting to intrude.
The old woman glanced towards Mika, before looking back to her sister… she smiled.
"You've improved a lot. Your great great grandma would be really proud." The old woman stated. Aimee smiled. Her great-great-grandmother was an airbender who escaped the purge with firenation soldier… it was the reason Aimee was an airbender. She didn't receive it from Harmonic Convergence, she always had it…
It was her mother's idea that she stayed out of the lime light, so not that many people knew about it.
The airbender quickly bowed downwards, with a grin.
"Thank you, Sifu Mizuki." The old woman smiled, while the younger girl at the side stared straight towards her sister.
"Hurry up Aimee! We're already late!" she yelled, while Aimee turned.
"I'm coming, Mika!" Mizuki found herself chuckling, glancing back to the girl in blue.
"Nice to see you too Mika." The girl pouted quickly, embarrassed.
"Oh um… hey, grandma." She waived slightly. The old woman looked to the sisters, before focusing on the waterbender girl. "I mean, um… me and Aimee are meeting with our friends, and well"-
"Okay then." Mizuki replied, causing Mika to sigh, she looked to the side, towards her older granddaughter. "I'll let you go Aimee, your friends are waiting." The airbender smiled, nodding her head.
"Gotta go, thank you Gran." She waved, as she and her sister hurried away, leaving their grandmother alone.
"…She's so much like her aunt." Mizuki sighed slowly.
MEANWHILE
The girls quickly made their way into the building, with Mika halting.
"I already got our stuff packed up, just a matter of grabbing it tonight and"-
"Where exactly do you think you two are going?" a rather annoyed voice asked, both girls froze, staring at the owner of the voice. It was their mother, standing there with her arms crossed, and a frown covering her face. She had Mika's hair, though messier, and skin tone. Though she was different from her younger daughter in that her eyes were a clear amber color.
She was also shorter than Mika, though it didn't make her any less intimidating. The sisters both stared straight at their mother, eyes widened with a slight hint of fear... the whole time Aimee was staring straight at her mother, thinking one thought.
'Shit she knows, she knows, she knows, SHE KNOWS!'
The girl tried her best to hide these thoughts, and for the most part she was succeeding.
"Mom, we've told you," Mika began, "We're meeting with our friends at Aria's mom's restaurant." Aimee raised an eyebrow, surprised her sister had set up an alibi…
That was smart of her.
Aimee remained quiet, while their mom simmered down, arms still crossed. Yuriko was her best friend, so she couldn't help but like that their daughters were best friends (all four of them).
"Did you finish your chores in the academy?" The woman then asked, to which Aimee nodded.
"Yes, mom." She had actually finished them rather early in the day.
"So you swept the floors?"
"Yes,"
"Washed the windows,"
"M'hm."
"Prepared the laundry to dry."
"Yes…" Aimee sighed, that was likely the one job she hated, just because they rented out gear to the academy's students… they would never wash it, figuring the school would handle it.
"Fixed that broken earth disk tosser."
"Took me an hour, but yes."
"And fed Yeti?"
"Yes." Aimee groaned, while her mother remained unconvinced. Mika slowly pouted, eying their mother.
"Come on mom, you said we could go!"
"Mika, I had just woken up, You can't expect me to remember"-
"But you promised." Mika added, causing the woman to groan. Before she could say anything, she heard a voice from the side,
"What's wrong?"
They both turned to see a man coming in from the nearby door. He wore blue clothing, meshing well with his eyes. He was much taller than the woman with crossed arms, and he had a nice smile over his face. His hair was relatively short, he looked middle aged.
It was their father.
The man made his way to his wife's side, trying to figure out what this argument was coming from. The mother glanced to her husband, sighing.
"I was just telling Aimee and Mika there's more chores to do, and"-
"Mom said we could go!" Mika protested, "And now she's going back on it."
"I said no such thing," she replied, to which Aimee glanced straight to their father… eyes softening.
"Dad, can we go to Yuriko's noodles?" she begged, Mika quickly nodded, hands raising.
"Please…" their mother scowled at this, while the father was silent, seeing his girls give off their best 'puppy-dog' eyes… he quickly gave in, as usual.
"You can go. Just don't get home too late." He replied, the mother frowned at that, while Mika smiled.
"We won't! Thanks dad!" Aimee as well sighed in relief. And then the two girls were gone, rushing to get out as their mother was about to try and argue. She scowled, eying her husband.
"Really, you're letting them off that easily?" she asked, her husband shrugged.
"Oh come on, the school's not open today, its fine… besides, Aimee did get her chores done." The woman sighed, while her husband smiled. "Besides, shouldn't they have a little break?"
"I guess, but we should atleast discuss it before telling them they could go… I mean come on Kaleb, how many times have they bypassed me by talking to you."
"A lot of times."
"Exactly." The woman groaned, "They won't listen to me… just like Aki." Aki, their older brother was a very sore subject on the mother. He lived in the firenation now with her brother, sick of living in her house, under her rules… Kaleb sighed slowly, before dropping a hand to his wife's shoulder.
"Well Sirisha… next time… you get the final word, is that enough for you?" he asked, Sirisha slowly smirked, eying her husband.
"…Yes."
MEANWHILE
The two girls continued to run from the building containing their parents, going in the direction towards the restaurant known as Yuriko's noodles. They shifted past a lot of people, some waiving to them as they moved.
"Did you bring the map?" Aimee quickly asked, Mika smiled, trying her hardest to keep up with her sister.
"Yes, it's in my bag." Her hand tapped the bag hanging at her hip, making sure it was secure.
"Perfect." Aimee replied, looking forward. The two hurried past a boy their age with what looked to be a sword hanging from his back, he had black hair, Aimee didn't notice him in the least, "We are fleeing tonight!" They finally found their way to the restaurant, titled:
Yuriko's Noodles
Mika was the first to step through the door, while Aimee followed, glancing around the front, trying to make sure they weren't followed.
"Sis, we're fine." Aimee nodded, walking into the building. She still felt unsure, but there wasn't much she could do about that.
Stepping into the Kuroda's restaurant, the first thing Aimee noticed was how 'themed' it was, it looked like a perfect mesh between the earth kingdom and firenation culture. Instead of coloring everything red and green, the walls were actually white, with memorabilia focusing on both cultures. There were even some pictures of famous customers.
Some of the pictures were of probenders, and in some of them, Mika could actually see a bushy haired girl sometimes facing the camera(sometimes it was a child, other times a teenager).
As Aimee stood inside the restaurant, she noticed a theme very focused on flowers, pictures of purple tulips covered the place, mixing well with the other cultural items.
'Wow… Yuriko really likes her flowers' Aimee muttered to herself.
The girls glanced around the restaurant, disappointed by how crowded it was looking. To the side was a short woman serving drinks, her hair was bushy, falling down her neck, the woman smiled.
"Aimee, Mika… what a surprise… Sirisha let you out?" She asked, smriking, both girls smiled, seeing the owner of the restaurant.
"Yeah, took some effort," Mika began, "Do you know where Minami and Aria are? We said we'd meet them here." Yuriko sighed, setting down the platter of drinks, to grab what looked to be a platter of dirty dishes, she turned.
"They're sitting all the way down there, dear." She smiled, pointing her finger down the line, deeper into the restaurant, Aimee smiled.
"Thanks, Yuriko." The woman nodded.
"Also… feel free to order something, that'd be great." She added, nonchalantly. Both girls blinked slowly, before nodding.
"…Okay." Mika muttered.
Aimee and Mika quickly moved down through the restaurant, before seeing a few faces they recognized. Two of them were girls, one with bushy brown hair and amber eyes, while the other had shorter dark brown hair with a green bow, meshing well with her green eyes. The male sat there casually with scratchy facial hair, and orange eyes. He wore a red shirt with a black vest over it.
Aimee and Mika knew this three as:
Minami: The bushy haired girl with amber eyes and a slight jitter to her hand, as if she was ready for a bar fight.
Aria: The shorter short haired girl with the green bow in her hair, with green eyes and slight jitter to her trigger finger, as if she was ready to kill something with a bow and arrow.
And finally…
Josa: The massively tall dark brown haired guy with amber eyes and a black vest over his nice red dress shirt. There was a slight jitter to his eyebrows, as if he was ready to look a random attractive woman in the eye and say "I am pure man."
"You know, I heard there was this sweet hot spring in the northern edge of the republic, maybe we should go there and um…"
"What, scope out the ladies?" Aria asked, sarcastically, Josa grinned slightly at that. "Tell Aimee that, I'm sure she'd love to add it to our itinerary."
"You really think so?" Josa smiled.
"No."
Luckily none of the girls were on Josa's radar, he had been interested in Minami and Aimee briefly, but that fell away when he realized how not into Aimee's culture he was(the tattoos she would get also scared him), and how tough as nails Minami was made him feel insignificant.
Luckily they'd sometimes help him with his exploits… and usually Aria would ruin it. Minami turned, excited.
"We should go to Republic City. I want to see a pro-bending match, Josa." She explained, while Josa rolled his eyes.
"Minami, we know." Aria smirked.
"You've been telling us that ever since we decided to do this."
"I know, but Aimee keeps saying no, because she thinks it's 'violent'." She complained.
"Which it is." Aimee quickly mentioned, walking in on the group, Minami pouted. Mika smiled.
"Hey Mina."
"Miki." Both girls grinned, seeing their respective best friends. Mika quietly sat across from Minami, while Aimee sat beside her and Josa. As they sat down, a waiter who worked for Yuriko immediately walked towards the group, eying Aimee and Mika.
"Welcome to Yuriko's noodles, what would you like to order?" both girls frowned, while Mika sighed.
"I'm not ordering anything, but can I get a glass of water?" the girl asked, the man nodded, Aimee quickly agreed.
"Water for me too, and do you have a salad"-
"No." the waiter replied, quietly walking away. The airbender groaned at that, while Josa smirked.
"Tough luck Akira." He replied, while Aimee pouted.
"I ask them every time if they could make a salad, and every time they keep saying no." Aria shrugged.
"Aimee, not everyone wants to be involved in your culture."
"It's not called my culture, it's called eating healthy!" she complained, yelling. Everyone in the room paused, looking straight at the airbender… scowling.
"Sis." Mika replied, to which Aimee sighed, embarrassed.
"Not that… there's anything wrong with borkupine noodle soup…" she sighed, as everyone slowly looked away. To their side, Aria noticed someone slowly sitting down, it w as boy with messy black hair, and amber eyes, he had a sword attached to his back. Minami also noticed him, smirking.
"You can't carry weapons in here." Aimee and Mika didn't bother to turn, while the boy rolled his eyes, ignoring her as he sat his sword down ontot he ground, leaning it on the table. The waiter quickly sat down the cups at the groups table, which Aimee quickly grabbed. Then the waiter walked to the other table with the boy and quickly took his order, not noticing the sword at all.
Minami pouted at that.
"Anyways…" Aimee began, taking a sip of her water, "Sorry we're late… our mom wouldn't let us come." She explained, Aria sighed.
"Do you think she suspects anything?" Miak shook her head.
"Neh… she's always like that, Aria." From her bag, she quickly pulled out a rolled up piece of paper, "By the way, here's the map." The group quickly moved the dishes out of the way, with Aria glancing out to see whether her mother was there or not… she was too busy taking other people's orders. From there, Mika got the okay, and then unfolded the map, setting it down on the table.
The group stared in excitement, seeing what looked to be a map of their world.
In center of the page were four land forms. In the top (from Aria's view) they saw the first of the forms, the north pole, commonly referred to as the northern water tribe, where the Akira's dad Kaleb came from. In the western side was an island nation, known as the firenation, where the Kuroda's father Ren came from, Josa's parents also came from there. To the south was another nation, known as the southern water tribe, though they had no relatives from there, Kaleb did have a friend from that nation he'd usually write.
Finally, the group noticed the last land body, they knew as the Earth Kingdom.
"It's so big…" Mika found herself muttering, while Aimee sighed.
"Strange to think… what happened years ago with the Red Lotus."
"Well," Aria began, "Atleast it's better."
"Yeah…" Aimee replied. The earth kingdom was where the united republic of nations came from, formerly being firenation colonies during the hundred year war. The republic represented the unity through the entire world… a symbol of the everlasting peace that Avatar Aang created.
None of them would be friends, because of it.
Josa found himself smiling, eying the map.
"I want to see everything!" he grinned, Minami smirked.
"So you're okay with leaving your mom to fend for herself."
"This is my mom we're talking about, she can handle it." Josa explained with a smile.
"Well, she does have your sister to help her out." Aimee replied, Josa nodded.
"Exactly… so is everything ready to go?" Aimee nodded.
"Everything's ready to be loaded onto Yeti." Aria froze.
"Wait… we're flying?" she frowned, while Minami scowled.
"Yes Aria, we're flying."
"…" Aria slowly pouted, looking down, while Josa smiled.
"I'm surprised we're gonna use your bison to run away." Aimee smiled.
"Yeti's been waiting a long time for this." Josa nodded.
"Right well… I gotta finish packing up," He replied, standing up, Minami nodded.
"Fine, just don't forget we're meeting at the river bank, at midnight!" Josa nodded.
"I know, I know." he hurried off, while Aria finally got over the idea of flying, smiling.
"Well… atleast Yeti's fast, we're definitely leaving tonight." Mika smiled.
"I can't wait."
THAT NIGHT
Aimee snuck to the side of the barn at the side of her house casually, Mika was right beside her.
"Are they asleep?" Aimee asked.
"Yeah, mom's snoring a storm, they won't notice a thing." She whispered.
"Good," Aimee replied, they quickly went towards the door, unbarring it from the outside. They heard the soft groan of a skybison, something Mika wasn't fully used too. Aimee quietly opened the door, revealing a large beast standing there, eying her.
He looked like any other skybison, six legs, horns, except this one had large puffy blue earmuffs covering his ears. Aimee liked them, saying they gave him 'personality'.
"Ready to fly, Yeti?" The massive creature simply stared at her, before licking forward. Aimee groaned as the sky bison's spit remained over her. Mika turned, flicking her hands to grip the spit, tossing it away with her bending.
"Thanks."
"No problem… let's just get out of here and"-
"And what… run away from home?" instantly Mika froze at the sound of an older woman's voice, she turned instantly to see a woman standing there, garbed in a red dress with gold trimmings.
IT was their grandmother, Mizuki.
The woman stood there quietly, holding a small ball of flames in her hand. Aimee didn't react, while Mika was completely freaked out.
"Gran-gran, I um… well… this is a complete misunderstanding, I… well"- Mika spattered on, until Aimee sighed.
"Gran-gran already knows." Aimee quickly stated, cutting her sister off. Mika's blue eyes grew massive as she turned towards her grandmother, surprised. The old woman nodded.
"You're sister told me all about how you and your group of friends were leaving tonight to 'explore the world'." Mika froze even more, "Though I wouldn't exactly agree with it… I can understand why you'd both wish to leave." Mika frowned, looking down.
"I'm sorry, gran-gran… it's just this has been our dream."
"Your sister said as much." Mika glanced back to Aimee, who sighed.
She had talked to their grandmother about this a while ago, it seemed.
"A bit of a crazy dream… to explore the world and have adventures… I knew a man who was like you both, wide eyed and excited to see the world with his own friends."
"What was his name?"
"His name doesn't matter… though he got what he wanted… he made many sacrifices for it, lost the people closest to him."
"That's not gonna happen." Aimee replied, Mizuki nodded. Mika raised an eyebrow at that. Mizuki casually nodded.
"But… it's your mother's job to be worried, not mine… so I only have one thing to say." Mizuki then paused, causing the girl to shake with anticipation, fearful of what her grandmother might say.
"Good luck." Mika's eyes shot open, surprised.
"What?"
"I won't say a thing to Kaleb or Sirisha, just stay safe, okay?" the old woman quickly asked, Mika quickly nodded… smiling hesitantly.
"Thank you."
"Thank your sister for convincing me." Mizuki added, Aimee smiled, before sighing.
"Still, gran-gran… you should come with us."
"No, I'm much too old… besides, there's no way in hell you'll get me to sit on that bison."
"You sound just like Aria." Aimee joked.
"Good, Aria's the only one with sense around here." The woman joked. Mika paused, staring expectantly towards her grandmother, who found herself smiling, se dispelled the fire in her hand, now they were only illuminated by moon light. They stood there silently, with Aimee continuing to work on bringing her bison out of the pen. The old woman smiled, looking to her daughter's youngest.
"Well come on… aren't you going to hug your grandma before you run away from home?" Mika hurried forward, shooting her arms around the taller woman. Mizuki smiled, hands on the girl's shoulders.
"I'll miss you." Mika muttered, Mizuki sighed.
"I'll miss you too, Mika." The woman breathed slowly, feeling herself shaking. "You look so much like your mama, you know that?" Mika glanced away, looking back to her grandmother. Aimee stood to the side, smiling with her arms crossed. The old woman looked almost as if she was about to break into tears… seeing Aki leave was hard enough.
"Don't you cry on us, Sifu." Aimee replied, the woman sighed, before nodding.
"Wouldn't want to tip your parents off." She added, looking back to Mika. "Now take good care of your sister, she's an airbender so she needs all the love and kindness you can give her"-
"Hey!" Mika fell away from their grandmother. Before turning towards her sister.
"Well… I'm good to go." She said, Aimee nodded, as their grandmother continued.
"Now you two better get your bison out of here, before he wakes up the neighborhood." She joked, Aimee smiled.
"Oh right." Aimee turned to see that her sister had already climbed into the saddle resting on the Bison's back. Mika had the reigns, to which Aimee raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, he's my bison."
"I thought Air Nomads had no earthly possessions?" Mika then asked, with a smirk, while Aimee pouted slowly. She gripped her bag, about to take it up the bison, when Mizuki stopped her, handing something off to her.
"Gran?"
"I figured… you should probably have this." Aimee's eyes widened, seeing what looked to be an old wooden staff, she had been allowed to use it every now and then, but Mizuki wanted her to take it?
"I can't accept this"-
"Yes you can… I accepted it from my grandmother to take care of… you should accept it from yours."
"Wouldn't mom notice?"
"I'll just say you stole it."
"That would work…" Aimee smiled, while Mika remained on the bison, not noticing this chat.
"Aimee, time's wasting!" she yelled, to which Aimee sneered partially.
"Alright, one second!" she turned back to the old woman, who smiled.
"The airbender's greatest tool is the sky, it's yours." Aimee breathed slowly, before taking the staff in her hand. Her grip of the staff was strong, as she realized how light it felt.
"Gran… thank you. This means a lot."
"Like I said before… Alina would be proud." Aimee couldn't help but smile at that. "bear it with pride… master Aimee Akira."
"Okay." The airbender replied, the old woman smiled towards her, Aimee eyed the staff for a moment, before quickly closing the distance between her and the old woman, wrapping her arms around her. Mizuki sighed, holding the older girl.
"You've grown so strong, Aimee."
"I had a good teacher." Mizuki sighed, before nodding.
"You two need to take care of each other, alright?"
"Yeah." Both girls replied, with Aimee releasing her grip of her grandma. Mizuki smiled, before turning away.
"I hope you find what you're looking for."
"Me too." Aimee nodded as she stepped away, holding the staff evenly. She held her bag at her side, stepping towards Mika, who noticed the staff.
"What's that?"
"An airbending staff."
"You mean like the kind Avatar Aang used to fly?" Aimee nodded.
"Yes," she quickly edged her hand up, tossing the bag up to Mika, who caught it, before pouting, as she fell into the saddle.
The waterbender wasn't exactly that strong.
"So you can… fly, then?"
"I'm capable of it." Aimee replied, proudly, Mika slowly smiled, before quickly scurrying over to the bison's reigns, whipping them.
"Yip-yip!" she yelled, the Bison obeyed, kicking downwards, and so rising up in the air. Aimee's eyes widened at her sister's brashness.
"What are you doing?!" she yelled.
"That's what you get for making me wait! You gotta fly on your own." Mika added, causing Aimee to twitch slightly. She glanced to her grandmother, who simply smiled.
"Best put that staff to good use, right Aimee?" the airbender pouted at that, nodding.
"I love you."
"Love you too, see you soon." Mizuki added, she then watched as the airbender turned her gaze, and finally began to run towards the bison who was hovering in the air, Mika was obviously joking around. Finally Aimee breathed, before jumping, the glider portions of the staff shot out, and she caught wind, blasting straight towards the hovering bison.
Mizuki smiled, watching as the girl landed. She slowly sat down at a nearby chair, breathing slowly.
Her grandkids were all gone, all off in the world now, it was strange feeling to have.
"Seems almost like years ago…when they were all here." She muttered to herself, quietly.
It was only then, that she actually began to feel old.
MEANWHILE
"This is the place, right?" Josa asked, Minami sighed.
"Yes, this is the place." The three of them stood around the river basin. Aria and Minami had taken a decent amount of food with them, food they had been saving for the past month, right under their mother's nose. It was all in a bin, Aria had been very particular to picking out food that pests wouldn't try to steal.
They did not want to try their chances with a rogue hog monkey.
Aria and Minami both looked rather armed, Aria had her bow and arrows prepared, while Minami had a short knife hanging on her arm. Josa eyed the weapons with a slight fear.
What did he have… his winning personality?
Josa stood to the side of the group, a large bag hung from his shoulder, it looked akin to a giant sock… it was covered in patches, looking atleast twenty years old.
"Nice bag." Aria muttered, Josa smiled.
"Thanks, it was my dad's." Aria grew silent, staring at Josa. His dad had died a few years ago, so obviously this was an awkward subject.
"Um… never mind." She replied, In Josa's other hand was a sleeping bag, Minami and Aria had also brought their things.
"What… did you have something to say about my dad's bag?" Josa casually asked, to which Aria sighed.
"No, nothing… nothing at all."
"Right…" almost on cue, the group turned to see small dot in the sky, before looking to see it was growing larger. Minami smiled at the sight of the skybison, while Aria pouted. "Great… it's that furball."
"Someone's a little grumpy."
"Shut up Josa." Aria replied, scowling. The bison landed with a heavy impact, the group eyed the bison slowly, seeing that only Mika was on top of the creature, Aria raised an eyebrow. "Where's Aimee?" Mika then shrugged, raising her hands.
Almost on cue, the group turned at the slight sound of screaming.
"Agh.. agh oh my… too fast… AGH!"
"Sounds like my best friend." Aria replied, despite the darkness, she could see a figure gliding around like a lunatic, like she wasn't used to flying yet.
"I HATE THIS!" Aimee yelled, while Minami sighed. She looked to the others.
"Start getting your stuff on board, I'll deal with Akira." The other three nodded, with Mika releasing the reigns. Yeti settled down, allowing the others to climb up him. Minami sighed, crossing arms at Aimee, who was continuing to flutter around in the sky like a Buzzard Wasp.
"Hey Aimee!" she yelled,
"WHAT?" The airbender asked.
"If you don't get down… we're abandoning you, and you alone can suffer the wrath of your mother for letting your little sister run away."
"…" As Minami predicted, Aimee took back control of her flying, speeding down towards the group, before finally landing at the ground, Minami nodded her head, satisfied.
"Better?"
"…Please don't bring my mother into this." Aimee pouted. Minami smirked. Mika grimaced, looking up from the bin of food they had.
"Hey… Mina can you help me with this?" she quickly asked, Minami nodded, hurrying over to the waterbender, picking up one end of the bin. Mika shook heavily, but did well enough to move the bin with her friend's help. They were preparing to take it up onto the bison, while Josa was securing the sleeping bags, and Aria was busy bringing her own things up onto the bison. Aimee quickly patted at the side of the bison, the beast roared in a sort of yawning fashion.
"I'm sorry buddy… that's what the road is like." Aria eyed the bison, groaning. "Are you still mad about flying?"
"Yeah." Aria replied, arms crossed, Aimee sighed.
"Well… be happy about something."
"Like what?"
"Like how we couldn't have picked a better night to go flying, not a single cloud in the sky." Aimee replied, patting the bison's head. Aria rolled her eyes… then out of nowhere, they heard a new voice.
"Nice night for escaping, don't you think?"
At te sudden sound of that voice, everyone turned, looking to see a teen standing there, with black hair, and a sword hanging from his back. Aimee quickly turned, point her newly acquired staff straight at the teen, getting a close look at him.
AIMEE POV
Who the hell was this? My staff focused right towards the intruder, until I paused, recognizing him partly… had I seen him earlier today? The others were around me, dropping what they were doing to face the stranger.
He didn't look one bit scared of the staff I held towards him, as I pointed it, Minami raised an eyebrow.
"Wait a minute, you were the guy at my restaurant."
"Yeah, and you're the kids talking on and on about how you were 'fleeing tonight'." He added, to which I scowled, focusing my staff even more, he did not look one bit afraid.
"Who are you? what do you want?" I asked, focusing straight on him, while he sighed.
"Relax sugar."
I twitched as he continued.
"My name is Shiro, and I want to join your group." The dirtbag stated, introducing himself. Aria and Josa stood behind me, eying this 'Shiro.'
"Or else what?" Josa then asked, eying him arms crossed.
"Yeah, or else what?" I added, trying for dramatic effect… it was lost on him. Judging this guy, I noticed the proud smile over his face, like he held some sort of trump card over us.
"Take me with you, or else… I'll tell the whole town you are running away."
We all froze at that, staring at him, unsure of what to say.
He was going to reveal us if we didn't give him a ride?
Immediately I was thinking that this guy was bluffing, that he wouldn't just tattle on us… but then I realized I didn't know a damn thing about him. The others each had different expressions over their faces, unsure of what to think… Minami slowly scowled, eying Shiro.
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you need us to take you?" she then asked, I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah." Shiro sighed, arms crossed.
"I need a ride to Yu Dao. Flying would be way faster than going by foot."
I scowled, twitching… he wanted a ride, because it'd be easier for him? We were all silent, staring at him, before Josa sighed.
"Would you give us a minute?" Shiro raised an eyebrow, as we immediately huddled together, hands over eachother talking. Aria was the first.
"We can't travel with a total stranger." Josa sighed.
"I know, but what other choice do we have?" Mika turned, eying us fearfully.
"What is he kills us while we sleep?" I sigh, turning to her.
"Our mom would kill us if he uncovers us." Sure it was BS, and our mom would likely not kill us, but I wasn't about to let us be revealed.
"We can't waste any more time." Minami sighed, Aria turned.
"So it's decided then."
"Well… not like we have much of a choice." I groaned. Our huddle ended, with Shiro eying us, arms crossed, and foot ticking. The others quickly finished packing up, climbing the bison, while I eyed our new… 'Friend.' I lowered my staff, getting close to him.
"You want a ride, FINE. But my skybison, my rules. We will leave you in Yu Dao, and we will never hear from you again… does that work for you?"
"Works for me." He smiled, a playful grin covered his face.
I didn't know why… but I REALLY wanted to hit him. He stared at me as I climbed up the furry rifts of my Bison's fur, landing at his head, with Shiro smirking.
"So how shall I call you? OR do we stick to Water girl, earth girl, firegirl, fireboy and, sugar?" We all groaned at that… before quickly introducing ourselves.
"And I'm Aimee, and this is Yeti." I finished, with Shiro rolling his eyes.
"So Sugar and Fur-ball… got it."
"I hate you." I grimaced, while Shiro simply smiled, lying back on the edge of the skybison, near me. Since none of us trusted him, Mika, Minami, Aria, and Josa all remained at the back, not wanting to touch him. While they slept I kept my eyes open, eying Shiro, making sure he didn't try anything.
I wasn't about to let him pull any moves on my baby sister.
I also needed to make sure I could keep my eyes open so I could fly the bison.
As I sat there, flying the bison through the night sky, a small thought occurred to me, in the back of my head.
This… was the beginning of our journey, and I was not about to let the arrival of this dirt bag ruin it.
For the next few hours I remained awake and vigilant, keeping focus on our new friend.
There was something about the way he slept… I found INFERIATING. I didn't know how to explain it. As I remained focused on the ground bellow us, patting Yeti around the ear every couple minutes, I didn't notice how it slowly changed from night into day… I didn't even notice how cold it was. Sometimes I would glance back to the others, smiling as Aria slept on Josa's shoulder, like he was her big brother, or how Minami was on her side, careful to keep away from the new arrival.
It was then around nine o'clock, that I heard my little sister walk up behind me, she sounded worried.
"You look tired."
"I'm fine… we're making good distance."
"You need some sleep… how about I fly?"
"No… I can handle this." I replied, Mika sighed slowly, she couldn't get past my pride, so she decided not to try that method. Her gloved hand brushed my shoulder, with her other hand pointing.
"Aimee, there's a clearing down there," Mika directed, to which I noticed. "I think we should land there… you and Yeti could use some rest." I turned slightly, eying her, and then seeing a worried look in the blue orbs I knew as her eyes… I sighed, nodding.
"Okay… thanks sis." I replied, drowsy eyed.
The bison landed quietly, I made my way off of Yeti, ignoring the others as I immediately fell down to the ground, absolutely out of it.
I felt myself smiling, asleep, and whispering slowly to myself.
"Bed…" the comfort wouldn't last for long.
NORMAL POV
Shiro eyed the airbender on the ground, rolling his eyes.
"Someone's out of it." Aria growled at that comment.
"She wouldn't be if she wasn't so busy making sure you weren't going to kill us!" Minami, Josa, and Mika both sighed, with Josa eying Aria.
"Hey, we're gonna head out to find some grub and wood."
"We have food." Aria replied.
"Yeah, but…" Mika scowled,
"Josa's been all about telling us we should be 'living off the land'." She groaned, while Aria sighed.
"Alright, go… whatever."
"But sis, aren't you coming with?" Minami asked, Aria shook her head.
"No, someone needs to make sure Stabby here doesn't gut our captain."
"Stabby… really?" Shiro replied, annoyed by easily by the new nickname.
"It's very becoming." Aria sighed, the other three quietly left after that, not wanting to wake up the airbender.
She did earn this time after all.
Aria remained focused on Shiro, bow drawn in hand.
"You gonna point that at someone else?"
"Nope." Aria replied, she couldn't keep an eye off of him. Shiro pouted at that, before staring at Aria, oddly. "…Something wrong, I have something in my teeth?"
"No, you just… you look like someone, someone I knew." He sighed, looking down. Aria raised an eyebrow, confused by that, she decided not to ask about that. The group remained silent for roughly two hours, when they then heard something… a rustling.
"What is that?" Shiro muttered to himself, while Aria looked out, unsure.
"I don't know dirtbag… maybe it's my friends?"
"It sounds like they're sneaking around, then." Shiro replied, "Weird… because I wouldn't point your Josa friend out as a hunter."
"He's not."
"Well Minami"-
"She's not either."
"Well that Mika girl"-
"She wouldn't hurt a fly." Which was actually quite true.
"…Then who is that?" Shiro then asked, Aria was silent. The archer held her bow closely, surveying the area, before instantly turning at what sounded to be like a sort of crashing sound. Shiro stood back up, scowling as he gripped his sword.
The sound woke up Aimee, who groaned, glancing up.
"What was that?" she asked urgently.
"Don't know." Shiro replied, pulling his sword out, while Aimee continued.
"Where are the others?" she asked, noticing her sister, Minami and Josa were gone, Aria sighed.
"They went out for food and wood." Aria quickly focused an arrow, scowling. Aimee gripped her staff, unsure.
It was then almost immediately, the three heard a voice from behind Aimee,
"THERE HE IS!" they heard, all turning to see a man with an eye patch and a short beard, Shiro quickly pushed Aimee behind him, right beside Aria. This man was focused entirely on Shiro, the boy scowled.
"Leave them alone, your problem is with me." He replied, sword pointed at the stranger, who instantly took those as fighting words.
"ATTACK!"
It was then, almost immediately a group of people hiding were running forward, all garbed in different clothes, Aimee's eyes widened.
"Bandits." The one thing she dreaded, while Aria breathed,
"We're surrounded."
There were six in all attacking, two waterbenders, two firebenders, two earthbenders (the man with the eyepatch included). Instantly the three were sprung into action, with Aria kicking outwards. A rock blast out from the ground, shooting into one of the firebenders, blasting him away.
"Take that!" Aria smiled, Shiro turned.
"You're an earthbender?" the girl raised an eyebrow, before watching as Shiro slashed forward with his blade towards the bandit leader, expelling flames from it. The man ducked, using rock, while Aria turned.
"You're a firebender?" As the fight continued, Aimee quickly evaded two swipes of ice from a waterbender, and rock from an earthbender, as she quickly jumped upwards, kicking her legs out into a split.
Wind shot from her legs, blasting into the two attackers, she scowled.
"I'm sorry!" Shiro turned.
"Why are you apologizing? These people are trying to kill us!"
"So?" Aimee then asked, Shiro groaned, before returning his focus to the man with the eyepatch. "Doesn't mean I have to like being a jerk!" Shiro rolled his eyes at that. He avoided a quick flinging of rock, kicking the eye patched man back. Aria was busy firing arrows, oddly excited now.
As the three continued fighting, their friends, Mika, Minami and Josa awkwardly walked in on the scene, watching the fight, surprised.
"…What do we do?" Josa muttered, Minami sighed.
"What do you think?" And with that, Minami hurried forward into the fray, one hand clutching her knife, and the other with what looked to be a fiery dagger. She was running towards one of the waterbenders, eager to join the fight.
Mika sighed slowly, not at all surprised by how excited her best friend was to finally get into a fight. She glanced over to Josa, shrugging as they watched the others fight.
"We should help them… right?"
"I dunno, they seem to have this handled"- Shiro quickly fell back from a sudden barrage of rock.
"Agh!" he groaned, to which Mika sighed.
"Come on." The waterbender stepped forward, hurrying into the fight while Josa groaned.
Minami quickly jumped, shooting down a quick blast of scorching fireballs down upon one of the waterbenders. An earthbender was about to shoot towards Minami, when Mika quickly intercepted the attack, shooting water to the man's face, it froze instantly…
"Thanks." Minami smiled.
Meanwhile Josa quickly came in at Aria's side, punching forward, a sharp blast of fire punctuated from his hand towards one of the firebenders. The man evaded the attack, before twisting and firing it right back, Aria quickly pushed Josa out of the way, before kicking downwards, shielding herself with rock.
Aimee meanwhile avoided the other waterbender, kicking outwards with air in her step, the girl fell back with Aimee turning.
"We can't keep this up!" Shiro rolled his eyes.
"Sure we can, there's six of them, and six of us." Aimee groaned at that.
As the fight continued to roll on and on, oddly enough, Yeti was still sleeping, ignoring the entire fight as he snored loudly.
Shiro slashed with his sword towards the leader of the bandits, who continued evading, before doing a quick landing on the ground, rock rose to quickly shoot him back. As Shiro skidded, Josa caught him, quick to shoot more fire towards the earthbender, blowing him back with soot.
"Thanks." Shiro replied, Josa smiled.
"Don't mention it, buddy." The earthbender groaned, before getting back up and shooting more rock back at the two.
Aimee continued avoiding more swipes from their attackers, suddenly happy that her grandmother had tried to kill her the day before. She turned, noticing Minami was right beside Yeti.
"Mina, wake up Yeti!"
"Why?"
"Just do it!" the airbender replied, to which Minami groaned, before turning to the bison. Her foe was busy dealing with Aria, so she had time.
Minami quickly approached the side of the furry beast, hand tapping towards his face. The skybison groaned wearily, like it was a dream.
"Awe come on, wake up you furball." Minami groaned, tried harder to wake him to no avail. It was then Minami glanced to the side, noticing the earmuffs covering the beast's ears. She quickly went to Yeti's left side, pulling up one of the giant puffy earmuffs, scowling. "WAKE UP!" she yelled.
Instantly the Bison's eyes opened widely, it took in the situation, before quickly breathing in heavily. Everyone heard the bison, pausing as they stared at it. The bandits had no idea what was going on, so Minami crossed her arms, as Mika's hand drew to her waterbending pouch.
"Hold on to something!" she yelled, freezing the water to her feet and the ground. Aria quickly pulled with her arms, bringing rock up to grip her legs. Shiro had no clue what was going on, when suddenly the bison's mouth opened widely, air blasted out in a massive roar.
Everyone instantly fell back from the sudden roaring, like all gravity had disappeared. Shiro stabbed down into the ground with his sword, as the eyepatched man caught his leg, holding on for dear life. Josa was just about to fall away, when Aria shot he rhands forward, rock shot up to grip the firebender.
"Thanks Aria!" he smiled.
"You're welcome." She stated, feeling her hair whip violently with the air.
Minami casually stood beside the bison, watching the display… she felt a sort of pride tinge up inside of her. Aimee wasn't blown away, as she used her staff to push the wind away from her.
Shiro meanwhile was still dealing with the earthbender gripping his foot,
"Let go!"
"You let go!" the man replied, to which Shiro groaned, before kicking outwards, fire expelled from his foot, causing the man to twitch, and fall away. "Agh!" Shiro remained attached to his sword, trying hard to look up towards the bison.
Aimee watched as the bandits fell away, she smiled.
"Good job Yeti!" The bison finally stopped, closing his mouth and panting.
"Ahem, and who woke up Yeti?" Minami then asked, to which Aimee sighed.
"You did good too Mina."
The bandit leader scowled, looking to his people.
"Retreat!" they were quick to start running, Aimee sighed for relief, happy they were escaping, with Aria eying one of the firebenders who was a the back of the group, hovelling.
"You better run faster!" she yelled, hand stretched. The firebender hurried up, fearfully. The others finally calmed down, falling out of combat stances, Mika was quick to refill her sack of water, while Minami continued watching as the bandits escaped… she even noticed one of them was crying.
They really pulled a number on them.
Shiro turned away, putting his sword back into it's scabbard, when Josa crossed his arms, eying him.
"I think you owe us an explanation."
"I'm not in the mood." Shiro answered back, causing Josa to scowl. He was about to get back onto the bison, when Minami stepped in front of him, fist drawn. A sharp fire formed from her right hand, focusing straight at Shiro's neck, he paused.
"Then BE in the mood." She replied, to which Shiro was silent… unsure of what to do. Mika sighed for a moment, before crossing her arms.
"Mina there's no need for that." Minami turned.
"Those chumps attacked us because of this chump, I think there's a need for it."
"But not here." Mika replied, looking to the others, "Maybe we should calm down first."
"Why?"
"Well…" Mika replied, "I'm hungry." Everyone paused at that, "It wouldn't be fun to interrogate this guy on an empty stomach." Everyone glanced at each other, realizing the last time they ate was over twelve hours ago… and right now, they were all starving. Minami looked back to Shiro, finally giving in.
"Fine." The fire disappeared, and Shiro turned, looking gratefully towards Mika, before looking to the others. Who were all busy preparing a camp site.
"So then… what's for lunch?" instantly everyone groaned.
SIX HOURS LATER
For the next couple hours, the group found themselves too busy with other problems then to interrogate the firebender. Aimee kept her eyes on Shiro the whole time, making sure he didn't run… she had went with him to a nearby forest to search for wood. Josa had been busy looking for food, Aria had been hunting, Mika had been preparing water, and Minami was busy whittling a small stick.
They all returned to the camp site for dinner, and sitting around, telling stories and such, trying to ease the tension of what happened six hours ago.
Shiro spent most of the time thinking, unsure of how to explain this predicament. Everyone sat around the fire, stars above them, eying the new arrival.
"I guess I've kept you guys waiting long enough." Shiro sighed, Mika breathed.
"Who were those bandits?"
"They work for a… a certain person I'm trying to find." Shiro explained, "He owes me big time… and I want to take it back… what he owes me." Mika raised an eyebrow.
"What did he do to you?"
Shiro looked away, staring at the fire for a short moment, as if he was thinking about something.
"…It's personal." Before anyone could reply, he turned, "Look… we agreed you'll take me to Yu Dao… and that's it. I never told you we could share our life stories." Minami sighed, crossing her arms.
"If we're being followed because of it… It concerns us." she scowled, while Aria nodded.
"Shiro… we want to help you." Aria replied.
"Why would you?" the firebender then asked, to which Aria sighed. "You don't know who I am… the kind of person I am, the things I could have done… what would you have to gain for helping a total stranger?" Aimee turned towards him, while Shiro stood up.
"Shiro…" he twitched, and the fire shook, embers shot away. Mika quickly shielded herself, while the others stared at him.
"I'm going for more wood." The firebender replied, leaving his sword on the grass as he walked off. The group was silent, while Aimee slowly stood up, eying Mika.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine." The older sister nodded,
"I'll go talk with him."
"You sure about that?" Aria then asked, Aimee turned, "That's the look of someone who wants to be alone."
"Come on Aria… nobody wants to be alone, it'll be fine." Aimee replied, running after the firebender.
SHIRO POV
Who the hell did they think they are? They didn't owe me a thing, I admit that I may have endangered them, but regardless, they didn't know a thing about me, and didn't know anything more.
Walking into the forest, I heard a quick flurry of footsteps behind me, I could tell who it was just by the speed of the steps and their quiet nature.
"Wait… Shiro." Aimee stated, I diddn't turn.
"Leave me alone." I replied, trying more hardest to keep moving.
"Don't be an idiot, we just want to help!" the airbender replied, I found myself turning suddenly. "Just let us"-
"Just let you help me? And what do you even know about me? How can you help me?" I then asked, eyes focused on her hazel eyes. The airbender backed away partly, intimidated by my height over her.
"But… Shiro"-
"Listen to me… Don't keep making me repeat myself." I spat, hand stretching to her neck, I was trying to make this as intimidating as possible. Her eyes looked fearful.
"You're hurting me." She replied, I softened slightly, weakening my grip at her shoulder.
"All you have to do, is take me to Yu Dao… nothing more, nothing less. Don't get interested in stupid things, got it?" As I said that, her had gripped mine strongly.
"No!" Her eyes tensed.
"What?"
"I won't let you treat us like garbage. My friends and I are doing you a favor, you know? You should listen to us, listen to me."
"Who the hell do you think you are? I don't need any of this." I scowled, she remained focused, with an angry glare.
"Maybe that's why you're all alone." I rolled my eyes at that, scowling.
"Alone you say? I didn't know there was an entire population of airbenders… oh wait, there isn't." I spat. I was aware of the other airbenders from harmonic convergence… but I could tell this girl wasn't one of them, she didn't even have the wingsuit. "And where were you, when they were off fixing the earth kingdom? Stuck in some hick yahooh town?"
"How did you"-
"I can tell that was the first actual fight you've ever been in, don't deny it… miss apologize to the bad guys." Aimee scowled, looking away from me… it seemed like I struck a chord, "So think about yourself, before you start judging me." The girl fumed at what I was saying, shaking her hands.
"You are an arrogant, selfish, unhappy person!" I rolled my eyes, walking past her.
"And you are lucky I'm saving my opinion of you." I replied, she crossed her arms, angrily as I walked away.
"Jerk."
UNKNOWN POV
The cave was dark, I found myself standing there, for a while waiting, until I finally heard footsteps, my men had returned. I remained in the dark, while glancing back to see six men and women trudging into the cave, one looked wounded, while the others seemed partly shell shocked.
There fight didn't turn out the way I wanted it to… it was disappointing. But not a complete loss.
"Kor… you're back." I muttered, glancing to see a man with an eye patch quickly kneeling down, disappointed. He wore green clothing, signifying his ethnicity in our group as earth kingdom.
"We're sorry… chief. We failed in capturing that rat. He wasn't alone as you expected." I sighed slowly to that.
"I know, I was watching." I breathed, "But either way… his allies… they were all rookies, how could they beat you?"
"We weren't prepared for that, for them. Riku was badly injured by their earthbender."
"The archer?" Kor nodded, I turned slightly, "She was just a tiny girl… how could"- I pause looking away. "Never mind." I answered back, Kor raised an eyebrow, I held a fist upwards, forming a quick ball of fire, illuminating the area.
"Sir?" Kor asked,
"I'm taking action from now on." I replied, turning back towards the man, "Shiro's new friends won't know what hit them." Kor nodded.
"We'll be ready to attack at dawn… Wolf."
"Good."
THE NEXT DAY
ARIA POV
'Really Aria, this boy worked up so much of a fuss to see you, and you're meeting him dressed like that?'
'I'm just fine mom.'
'You're not leaving this house until you put on something proper, your father and I didn't raise you so you could go out into the woods to hunt animals.'
'Oh right, you raised me so you could marry me off and get rid of me.'
'ARIA KURODA!'
I continued to shake slowly in bed, hearing the sound of rustling beginning to disrupt my dream. My mother as usual was getting angry at me about not preparing for a date she had set up for me and a suitor she had found. I remembered how the next month I ended up leading my sister to setting his pants on fire, didn't see him ever again.
I woke up at the sound of more rustling, sitting up in my sleeping bag to see my younger sister standing over me with her sleeping bag, she was moving it likely to the bison.
"Good morning, Aria." She grinned.
"Hey mop head… keep it down, won't you?" I groaned. "Trying to get some sleep." Minami rolled her eyes at that.
"Fraid not, there's breakfast by the fire, we leave in an hour."
"So early?" I groan, Minami sighed.
"Honestly… we should have left yesterday, but we you know how it is." She shrugged, walking off. Behind her I noticed Mika was busy rolling up her bag.
"Oh… hi, Aria." She muttered awkwardly. I nodded.
"Hi Mika." We both stared at eachother for a brief five seconds, when Mika quickly returned to her sleeping bag.
We never had much of a relationship, I was just best friends with her sister, like she was with mine. I stood up, finding my way to the fire the others had started. I noticed Aimee was sititing there,
"Morning sunshine." I yawned, Aimee smiled, offering me a bowl.
"We thought for a moment you were dead." I chuckled slightly at that, taking the bowl. "Had a good dream?"
"Not really." Aimee sighed.
"Which suitor was it?"
"Number three, the rich boy." Aimee nodded.
"That was a fun one." I smiled, Aimee was there seeing it transpire. "Atleast you won't have to deal with that stuff anymore, being on the road and all." I shrugged. Though I was happy I wouldn't have to deal with my mother trying to marry me off… it still didn't feel right, it was probably worse for Minami. I quickly decided to change the subject, smiling towards my friend.
"You never told me. How did it go yesterday with Shiro?" Aimee pouted immediately at that.
"Don't mention him. He's a jerk who only cares about himself." She pointed out, while I took a quick bite of my rice.
"I thought so. Both of you returned with such grumpy faces… we were kinda afraid to ask." Aimee sighed, nodding. "Still, I don't see him around here, where is he?"
"He went off to the forest with Josa to get supplies."
"Josa's still living off the land?" Aimee chuckled partly, nodding. "Sure we can trust him with Josa?"
"I think the question is whether we can trust Josa with him. I was planning on us ditching him… but we're still too close to home to risk it." I shrugged.
"If you want… I could bury him."
For the next twenty seconds we both found ourselves laughing uncontrollably, Aimee's higher pitched voice twitched at my ears relentlessly, while I tried to ignore it. We finally stopped with Aimee sighing, eying me.
"No really… you should."
NORMAL POV
"So I do the knot like this… right?" Mika asked, sitting on top of the Bison's saddle, Minami looked over her shoulder to nod her head.
"Yeah, just like that." The waterbender sighed, nodding.
Doing this sort of work was not Mika's calling, though she was happy Minami wasn't rude about it.
Sometimes she'd help her with her chores at the academy, so they would awkwardly just sit around, chatting.
"Hey um… Minami?"
"Hm?" She turned.
"Yesterday's attack was a little bit weird, don't you think?" Mika found herself asking, her best friend quickly nodded.
"Of course it was. There's something Shiro isn't telling us." she scowled, "I hate it when people lie to me."
"Trust me, I know." Mika replied hesitantly. "It's like whenever my mom lies about our in laws." She replied, "Still… who's this person Shiro was talking about?" Minami shrugged, glancing back to Mika.
"Maybe he's Shiro's trained assassin ex-boyfriend/lover looking for revenge?" Minami supposed in a joking manner, Mika froze at that.
"What if… what if Shiro is the trained assassin?" she asked, shaking, Minami frowned instantly. "What if this is all a trick, so he can kill us, and take our stuff?" she then asked, Minami shook, hands rising to her head.
"And we just sent Josa with him alone!" almost immediately the two hurried off of Yeti, sliding down to look around the camp site.
"JOSA!" they yelled, hurrying around, while Aimee and Aria stared at them by the camp fire. Mika and Minami kept running around while they sighed.
"When I agreed to be a big sister, I didn't agree to this." Aimee shrugged, Aria smiled.
"You had a choice?"
"Well… kinda, it was either be her big sister, or ignore her, and you can see how difficult that was." Aria quickly found herself chuckling at that.
As the girls ran, they finally saw a group of two walking down from the forest. It was Shiro walking at Josa's side, casually chatting with him. In his hands he held a large bag full of what looked to be apples. Josa was clearly taller than him, he could also be differentiated by the lack of tears in his clothing (Shiro had a lot of holes in his clothes).
Josa smiled, seeing the younger girls hurrying towards him, screaming his name.
"Hey kids, we're back." Almost as he said that, the two girls embraced him, hugging down at his waist. Josa eyed them awkwardly, sighing. "Is everything okay?" he asked, Mika nodded.
"It is now." She replied, satisfied that Josa wasn't murdered. Shiro sighed slowly, eying this… exchange.
"Emm… I'm going to unload these onto the bison." Josa nodded.
"Eh, yeah… thanks, Shiro." As Shiro slowly walked away towards the Bison, Minami paused, eying Mika, slowly releasing her grip on Josa.
"Wait… what if he tries to attack Yeti?"
"OH SPIRITS!" Mika yelled, eyes widened, they both hurried away, while Josa sighed.
"Right… and here I thought you just missed me." It was then… that the strangest thing happened. They all heard a loud booming noise. Everyone shook in a frenzy, trying to figure out what was going on.
"What the hell was that?" Aria asked, Aimee turned, finger stretched.
"LOOK! Over there!" she pointed outwards.
Everyone turned, as smoke enveloped the area for a quick moment. Josa immediately grabbed Mika and Minami, standing in front of them, facing the strange smoke. Aimee wiped at her eyes, trying to see what was inside. Shiro held onto the apples, though his grip began to wane.
He looked into the smoke, seeing someone inside of it, a figure, garbed in a black coat.
"No…" he muttered, dropping the apples to the ground, "It can't be…" everyone stared quietly, at the man in the smoke, he had black hair, and familiar amber eyes… for Shiro it was like looking into a mirror. "Ryuu…" he breathed.
"Hello brother." This 'Ryuu' muttered, smiling as he turned his head facing Shiro and his new allies. Suddenly at that, the entire group was dumbfounded, staring at this stranger and Shiro.
They were perfect twins, in every way possible. The stranger stood up even more, fully facing his brother as the others stared. Ryuu smiled, arrogance littered his entire being.
"Did you miss me?"
(Author Note)
Okay, I'll be quick with this. As many of you know, I discontinued HALO ODST 2 part 2, it was partly because I had lost interest in halo, and because I was busy with other things. Though I am not continuing ODST(maybe someday, I do have a plan in case I do return), I'm gonna explain what I've been doing.
For over the past year, I have been working with the artist Ardnemla on Deviantart to write a fanfiction for our Avatar/Korra characters. Though I am still working hard on those stories, I decided that I should adapt the comic to a sort of 'novel' format. This is a way I'm using to help spread Crossroads to more than just deviantart. And so I hope you all fall in love with these characters just as much as I have. It will also help to fix the problems with the comic's early chapters.
Eventually I'll post my own stories based on this universe that I posted on deviantart, but until then, I think it'd be a good idea to get people caught up on the story. Sadly I can't post the link to the comics this fanfiction is based on, but if you just go to deviantart and search for ardnemla, you'll find the artist… and on deviantart, you can find my account by searching for AgentQV. If you like, you can straight up just read the original fanfictions I've written there.
Anyways, I'm really happy to begin this story, please tell me what I think. I know my writing's a bit iffy at times, but I hope you can look past it. If you wish, I can post more information about the characters… I'll explain one thing.
Crossroads was developed during Korra Season 1, Aimee Akira was created as an airbender character before korra season 2 aired. She's an airbender in that she has a great-great grandmother who survived Sozin's comet and hid. Her mother isn't an airbender, and neither are any of her other relatives. Though with Harmonic Convergence, it damages some aspects from the original comic because now there are airbenders in the world again.
The chapter of the comic this story is based on was created after Korra season 1, and just remember that. The stories will look full on references to the events of Korra season 2-4 until into the later chapters. I myself wrote a story titled "Mirage" in which Aimee's status as an airbender required her to be rare, and this was before Korra season 3 aired… so I did not know new airbenders would be a thing… thank you.