Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. If I did I would brag, even to people who had never heard of it.
Chapter 1
The two stood. Looking down from their vantage point they saw all. Together they made out multiple spots where it looked as if one warrior was surrounded by many slain, a clear monument to the heart of the rebelion soldiers. There were many of these gaps, most of which contained Firebenders in them, but the ones with Earth or Water benders were larger. The two men, one tall, dark, well muscled and helmeted turned to his friend. He spoke softly, quietly, hoarsely, his parched lips cracked from the heat that seemed to expel itself from the Fire Nation soil.
"Aang," he began, pausing only to run his useless slab of a tongue across his mouth. "so many died for us. For you. We need to check."
The single remaining Airbender nodded, grabbing the Water Tribe warrior by the arm, his fatigues muscles straining as he lifted himself and his best friend up and through the air to the closest of the circles of dead. In the center lied a sixteen year old, whose face was obscured by thick brown hair, matted with dirt and dust. A red liquid could be spotted leaking from his head, and a spear lay not to far away, its butt facing the boys head, bathed in a pool of blood.
Sokka rose, his cumbersome armor doing nothing to slow him down. The turned the body's face so that it was looking up. He gasped in horror at the recognition that filled him. The stone hearted man began to weep, slowly, his shoulders shaking wildly. The tears dripped form his face, forming puddles on the corpse's, slowly running down the lad's cheek, smearing the stockpiled dirt. Two orbs stared upwards, blankly. Dead.
"It's Haru's boy," came another whisper this time, harsh and pain ridden. Sokka could not comment further, for his body began to shake in an even worse frenzied state. The arrows adorning the Avatar's body lit up, dimly. Aang bent down and closed the eyes of the teen, a hissing heard as steam rose from the eyelids. The Avatar's tattoos flared for a few more seconds, winds whipping around the two. Aang's face was calm, his acting as the bridge to the Spirit World a normal activity now. After so much death it was more instinctive than Airbending.
The Avatar sighed. "He lived more in his few years than many do their whole life," he informed his friend, his brow creased to the extremity that the arrow adorning his forehead seemed to end in a linear stump rather than the point that it really did. The man laid the body on the ground again. He lifted an arm to the sky, and blue lightning quickly shot from it, leaping forth, dancing throughout the air, crackling with a liveliness that is unfit for such a depressing occasion. The energy dissipated and the two walked on, knowing that soon many would come and retrieve the teenager.
Countless bodies littered the ground, and Aang and Sokka worked tirelessly, recognizing more faces than they did not. The Duke's son, named Jet in honor of the Freedom Fighter, was among those lying, broken and twisted, as was Zuko and Toph's ten year-old, something that caused great amounts of weeping throughout the squadrons of people. It became apparent that most of the dead on the "good side" were either young, promising benders, or aging, but hardened veterans.
Aang soon left and soared through the air, away from the madness of war. He would later be found sleeping on the floor of the Fire Lord's Throne Room. He was unconsciously sobbing uncontrollably. When the Airbender rose the next day his sole request was to address every citizen within a thirty mile radius of the capital. It took less than a day to gather everyone one. That night there was much celebrating, as well as tears and screaming echoing across the night sky. The air was stained with tears, and sorrow. The night itself appeared to have taken a blue tinge from all of the lightning that had been shot off.
The weary thirty-year old soon made his way up a short flight of stairs, supported by his wife. Standing at the make-shift podium, he began by bellowing, blending his voice evenly and smoothly to every single person who was listening, his muscles straining further in his attempt to Airbend for the entire duration of his speech.
"I have no right to address you as citizens, friends, neighbors, or anything like it. You are free. I know almost none of you. I have no home," he whispered, almost hollowly, his eyes shining radiantly with wetness, "Sozin's comet came and passed roughly seventeen years ago. Fire Lord Ozai passed, but not without redemption. He informed us of a fact we were never aware of: Azula disturbed the balance of it, her lightning largely responsible." he paused, the memory of the large sphere blocking the sun, hovering in the sky etched even into the deepest depths of his everlasting memory.
"We corrected this, although many perished to the wrath of the Crowned Princess, as we attempted to do this. She had been living on the closest point in all the world to it, a mountain I know well. She killed one of my mentors there," Aang briefly paused, an image of the Guru in his mind momentarily, but he instantly moved on. The time for crying had come and passed. He needed to focus on the future. Bleak or otherwise.
"There she had been absorbing much radiation from the comet. Bestowed with powers even I do not understand she fled in a flash of power. The chase for her continued up until five years ago. She needed time to heal, for without her comet she had lost most of her strength. Many people had joined her. Dai Li, former Firebending masters, and even much of our navy. We fought constantly, loosing much more than we ever thought was possible, and many times more than what should have been necessary. There were many massacres, but in the end we won. Peace is officially reigning, and as long as I live shall continue to."
Many applause burst in on the speech at this. The Avatar lowered his hands and those that could see hushed themselves, those that couldn't taking the hints of others.
"I wish to tell you the stories of many of these soldiers. I helped many pass to the Spirit World, and now only request silence as I began the epics that are the lives of the many unnamed soldiers."
A/N: Feel free to R&R, I'd love them. Many of the stories will take up arcs, some only a few chapters. It really depends. Again, I'd love reviews and critiques. I would cry with joy. Really. Ok, not at all. Also sorry for the length. It will get longer.