Storm Clouds
Monk Gyatso sat with the Council of Elders of the Southern Air Temple, cross-legged and calm. It had been five years since Aang had disappeared, and Gyatso knew in his heart that he would never see the young Avatar again. His heart ached with the loss of the child, but somehow, he knew Aang was still alive. The Elders gazed up at the sky, as it began to darken to a bloody red. Though normally calm and detached, all of them felt at least a splinter of fear. These were the storm clouds they had warned Aang of so long ago.
Gyatso looked down, to where the children played. They had known a comet was coming, so they didn't bother to look to the sky as it darkened. The five Elders looked at each other, before jumping to the five highest points of the temple. Dread permeated the air. The Universe was trying to warn them, but it could do nothing to help them as it was more a state of mind than a physical object or identity.
And then they saw the intruders. They had machines, which used grappling hooks to pull themselves up, along with high blasts of fire which allowed them to almost fly. Using air to amplify his voice, Gyatso shouted at the children to get inside, get to safety. A grappling hook shot up, lodging itself into the children's play area. "Get inside! Hide!" Gyatso shouted again, before looking at his fellow Elders. In a series of quick, fluid movements, they formed a giant dome of air around the center of the temple, forming a protective barrier.
Firebenders began exiting the large machines, running towards the temple. A couple dozen clashed into the air barrier and were shot back, off the cliff side and to their deaths. Quickly, the remaining began blasting fire at the barrier, quickly knocking through it. The supercharged ferocity of their fire was nothing the Airbenders had ever experienced before, and none had any formal training in an army, while all the Firebenders knew strategic moves where they could combine their power.
Gyatso jumped down from his place on the tower, viciously attacking the Firebenders. A swift cut of air cut many soliders in half, and Gyatso twirled, using a blast of air to knock their remains off the mountain. The other four Elders watched him in shock. They had never thought to use their Bending for murder, but there were children here, ranging from two to eighteen, and there was no way he'd allow them to be murdered, at least not easily.
The four Elders jumped to join him, performing feats that defied their old ages. They twisted and twirled, delivering deadly strikes each time they hit. A flash of fire and a scream turned Gyatso's head, and he saw Pasang burn to death. Now the five Elders were down to four. The four were too busy fighting to save Pasang, as even his bones turned to ash.
Gyatso tucked his hands beneath his chin, then slashing them cleanly outwards, slicing off a dozen of the Firebenders heads.
Swarms of Firebenders kept coming, and all four of them were growing weary. Gyatso worked his way over to Tashi, another Council member. "Go make sure the children are alright! Try to evacuate as many as you can!" Gyatso shouted.
Tashi hurried off and a Firebender ran towards Gyatso, fire blazing. Gyatso blasted out the fire, then delivered a clean shot to the man's neck, completely severing it.
Gyatso tried his best to not shudder as blood splashed onto his face. All this blood and death was going against everything he'd ever believed in, but spirits be damned if he let them kill the children.
At the same time, however, he couldn't allow the children to fight in this, he couldn't let them become killers, as he felt all the deaths already heavy on his soul.
Gyatso crossed his arms in front of his chest, forming an X. With a single quick movement, Gyatso threw back his arms, sending a slicing wind towards the oncoming horde, while thrusting his chest forward to send a solid wall of air as a secondary attack. The slice cut through skin, muscle, and bone while the wall collided with the men, forcing them back while hitting them with hundreds of tons of weight, turning their insides to mush.
A momentary pause allowed Gyatso to take in the scene. When he had sent Tashi away, that had lowered their numbers to three. Looking now, though, he realized the other two had been slain, their bodies cinders. Gyatso turned and ran towards where the kids were being kept.
Tashi stood outside the door of the temple, where the children were huddled.
"There's no way to save any of them! The bison are dead! What are we going to do, Gyatso?" Tashi said. They didn't know how much longer this Comet would hold it's effect. It could be over in the next few seconds, or not until the next few hours, they didn't know.
Gyatso didn't have time to reply, a fire blast knocked the outer doors down. Now all that was left between the ruthless Fire Nation killers and the children were two old, Master Airbenders, and a door.
Tashi and Gyatso continued fighting, it was all they could do. They blocked shots of fire that were likely to kill them, then would turn on the offensive and send a few deadly air slices back, before returning to the defensive.
This dance of death lasted for half an hour, before a fire shot slipped through, incinerating Tashi where he stood. In Gyatso's shock, a small fire blast struck him in the head, knocking him out.
~0~
Gyatso awoke, groggy, his body in pain. He was still where he lay outside the temple. He heard voices, but they were all adults. He didn't hear any children's voice. He forced his head up, looking into the room, and his stomach churned at the sight.
All the children lay in the room, dead. Some were barely recognizable from the burns, while some merely had their throats slit.
"No...!" Gyatso said, forcing himself to a standing position. The Firebenders merely sneered at him as he made his way to one of the younger children, a boy with his throat slit. Gyatso knew this boy to have just turned seven. Gyatso looked around, their bodies scattered the ground.
As he turned to attack the Firebenders, two grabbed his hands, while another knocked him out again.
"Bind him and take him to the tent. We have bodies to dispose of." Gyatso heard a man's voice say as the world went black again.
~0~
Gyatso woke up again, for what would be the last time. His hands were bound behind him. The Firebenders were cheering in front of him, drinks in hand. They were chanting about murdering the Avatar, and insuring the Fire Nation's victory!
"You failed." Gyatso said loudly, and a few nearby soldiers heard him. They hushed everyone, glaring at him.
"We failed? You're the one who's about to die, old man!" A female soldier said nearby, causing everyone to laugh.
"The Avatar left more than five years ago. He's not here." Gyatso said proudly.
"WHAT?" A nearby high-ranking official roared, stomping towards Gyatso.
"The Avatar lives! The Avatar will stop you!" Gyatso said, quickly working his way out of his binds.
What Gyatso did not expect, however, was the knife he received to the stomach. Gyatso coughed up blood, which only mixed with the blood of the people he'd killed. Pain shot up.
"Impossible," the official growled.
"Not...impossible. But I do have one thing more to say..." Gyatso said, glaring at the Fire Nation man.
"What?" He growled.
"You're about to die." Gyatso stated simply. He threw his hands forward, effectly killing everyone but one person, a new recruit on the edge on the crowd.
Gyatso looked at them, then collapsed to the ground. The one survivor ran out, past where they'd burnt the bodies of the dead, and into one of the machines to lower him down, as the Comet finally passed out of the sky.
Gyatso stared up, through a hole in the top of the tent. The blue sky looked wrong, now, but it was beautiful. Gyatso pulled the knife from his stomach, knowing that keeping it in was just prolonging his death.
The other three Air Temples were a sight similar to the Southern one, dead bodies being burnt as the temples too burned. The single survivor would reach the Fire Lord in two months, and tell him the Avatar lived.
Despite feeling his life slip quickly away, Gyatso smiled. Be safe, Aang. You're going to have a War on your hands...wherever you are. Gyatso thought as the world began to go black for the final time. His last thought, was a thank you to the spirits. Thanking them for saving Aang.
As Gyatso died, Aang became the last Airbender.