This story was written prior to the release of Volume 3, Episode 4 of RWBY, so any continuity problems caused by that or later episodes are, well, not really my fault. This is set between Volumes 2 and 3, but even so.
I would dedicate this to Monty, but to be honest it's mostly Aang's story. Don't worry, though, the girls get some good scenes, so I do hope he would've liked it.
I find the idea of a disclaimer a bit silly when "fanfiction" is in the website's name, but I don't own either of these shows. If you're reading this anywhere besides FFN, then someone has stolen this thievery from me.
For a moment that seemed like an eternity, Aang was sure that he would be crushed by the sheer force of the water pressing down on him as the claw raised him toward the surface. Upon breaching it, air filled his lungs, a welcome embrace from a familiar friend. Locking eyes with the gargantuan face gazing down on him, he finally understood.
"A lion turtle," he said, and he bowed to show his respect for the city-sized, centuries-old being. Recognizing the significance of the encounter, he continued at length. "Maybe you can help me. Everyone, even my own past lives, are expecting me to end someone's life. But I don't know if I can do it."
He felt the creature's voice more than he heard it; a deep, resonant pattern in the air around him. "The true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost. The true heart can tough the poison of hatred without being harmed." Slowly, the ancient one raised his other hand out of the water and moved it toward the Avatar. "Since beginningless time, darkness thrives in the void, but always yields to purifying light." Two enormous claw tips gently touched Aang's forehead and chest. With a slight hum, there was an all-consuming flash of greenish light.
Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony.
Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest
Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test
Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished.
Black the beast descends from shadows
A hundred years passed, and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang - and although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone.
Yellow beauty burns . . . gold
But I believe - Aang can save the world.
紅白黑黃降卋神通
RWBY: The Last Airbender
Thin clouds tempered the orange and red hues of the twilit sky while the water below remained cerulean. Team RWBY occupied the ledge at the perimeter of Beacon's grounds and watched as a few of Ironwood's ships drifted through the air, presumably scanning for leftover Grimm. It was Yang who broke the silence.
"Well . . . we did it."
"We did it," Blake echoed.
"If we don't get extra credit for that, I'm going to be seriously disappointed," Weiss added.
"Weiss, a two-headed snake literally crushed a bakery," Yang shot back. "I wouldn't count on it."
"Plus, I mean," said Ruby, "we didn't solve everything. A lot of people were hurt, and . . . we still don't even know why they did this, or - who that mystery girl was."
"Well . . ." Weiss mused, "not every story has a neat and tidy ending."
"We might not have all of the answers, but we do have a lot of dangerous people behind bars," Blake offered. "And I think that's something we can be proud of."
"Yeah," agreed Ruby. "And if anyone tries something like this again, we'll be there to stop them!"
Yang stretched and laid down backwards, mumbling vague fragments of encouragement in a less than matching tone, and Zwei imitated her maneuver, albeit more enthusiastically, wiggling around on his back as she trailed off. Leaning back up slightly and putting her weight on her arm, Yang asked, "So - what now?"
Weiss responded with, "I'd suggest training for the tournament, but . . . I think we have that covered at this point."
"So then . . ."
"Uhh, time for bed?" Ruby suggested.
All four girls concurred fervently with this notion, unhurriedly rising to begin the last journey of the day, Zwei at their heels. As they ambled back toward the academy with yawns and stretches, the corgi was the first to notice something strange. Freezing in midstride, then barking twice, he slowly drew the team's attention first to himself and then to what held his own. An unearthly ball of greenish light had materialized before them, and was growing in size. When it had expanded to the point where it could have contained a person with the height of Professor Oobleck and the girth of Professor Port, a figure became visible within, although it lacked either attribute - as it became more opaque, it became clear that it was a short, thin individual - thin, but fit - a child, younger perhaps even than Ruby - a boy. A bald boy.
The boy, it seemed, opened his eyes, and the surrounding light somehow shone through them, obscuring any detail. Stranger still, in tandem with the glowing eyes, a downward-pointing arrow shape on the boy's forehead gave off the same light. The glow then began to fade, gradually returning the area to the warm twilight colors it had previously been bathed in. With the greenish glow gone, the boy's eyes looked quite normal - in fact, they were a similar gray to Ruby's - but the arrow had remained printed on his hairless head, now in a solid but pale sort of periwinkle.
The stranger and the group of girls regarded each other with similar curiosity, though something about the boy's expression suggested that he understood more about the situation than they did. Once again, it was Yang who spoke first, although "spoke" might be a bit of an exaggeration.
"Uhhhhh . . ." she inquired, which despite its simplicity captured the mood rather neatly.
"Who . . . are you?" Ruby added, just to be on the safe side.
The newcomer held up a finger and began, "I'm -" but before he could continue, his face began to contort wildly. After a few baffling seconds of this, he let out a sneeze so powerful that it not only rippled Team RWBY's clothing and Zwei's fur, but propelled him well over ten feet into the air. In the time that it took him to return to the ground, the girls exchanged many a perplexed expression; as the boy landed, the air around him seemed somehow to pull at him enough to slow his fall such that he made no more impact than a feather.
"Man, I have to stop doing that," the kid said to himself after landing. Then he looked back up at the team and said, "I'm Aang."
"Aang?" said Yang. "I'm Yang!"
Aang returned her amused grin, held up a hand for a quick wave, and said, "Hi Yang." It was around this point that most of the girls noticed that he had arrow markings on the backs of his hands similar to the one on his head.
Ruby pointed a finger at Aang and asked, "Um - how did you . . . ?"
"Get here?" he completed. "Well, you're not going to believe me, but, a giant lion turtle sent me."
Weiss folded her arms. "A lion - turtle," she repeated in a mocking tone.
"I know," Aang said, holding up his hands. "It sounds crazy." He glanced downward in apparent contemplation. "But I -" Then, looking surprised, he looked down again and began patting his clothing. "Whoa, when did I . . . ?"
With varying efforts to conceal it, the girls appraised his outfit. It had an orange and yellow color scheme and looked somehow like a relic from a bygone age, but it appeared to be comfortable, clean, and appropriately sized, leaving them confused over his confusion. He also appeared to have some kind of wooden staff strapped to his back.
"Huh," Aang shrugged, "must be part of the test."
"What test?" Yang asked.
"Well," said Aang, "I was struggling with a . . . personal dilemma . . . so the lion turtle sent me here, wherever here is. I'm supposed to learn something that might help me, but I don't know what it is."
"Well, if you knew what it was, you wouldn't need to learn it, would you?" Weiss pointed out. Leaning toward Ruby and holding a hand in front of her mouth, she whispered, "Not too bright, is he?"
"Aw, don't worry," said Ruby, pushing Weiss away and holding a finger to the sky, "we'll solve your problem!"
"What happened to sleeping?" Yang whined.
"What happened to common sense?" said Weiss. "This kid's idea of answering questions is naming random animals! What if his 'dilemma' is literally a wild goose chase?" She concluded her protest with a clenched fist.
Stepping over and putting a hand on her shoulder, Blake said, "We should probably just take him to Professor Ozpin."
Weiss's eyes searched Blake's for a second before she replied, "Right. And by 'we,' you mean Ruby, right?"
"Yeah," said Yang, stretching again, "I'm with Ice Queen, I'm going to sleep. Night Sis," she waved at Ruby, and strolled past Aang.
"Why does everyone keep calling me that?!" Weiss huffed as she marched after her.
"What, 'Sis?' " Yang teased. And their arguing remained audible as they continued toward their dormitory.
Blake shook her head, then looked to Ruby. "You alright taking him?"
"Yeah," Ruby said. "No problem. Go have a catnap."
Blake shot a miffed glance between Ruby and Aang before following her departing teammates - at a distance, to avoid the arguing. Zwei barked and chased after her, causing her to quicken her pace. Aang watched the dog pass him and then turned back to Ruby.
"So," he said. "Ruby, is it?"
"Yep," she said. "Ruby Rose."
"Nice to meet you," he said, and performed a particular kind of bow with one closed fist and one flat palm touching one another.
"Riiight . . ." Ruby attempted to imitate the bow, but ended up flailing her hands uncertainly. "So, um, follow me, I guess, if that's okay with you?"
"Sure," Aang shrugged. "I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing here, so, lead the way."
"By the way . . ." Ruby pointed at the staff poking out behind Aang. "Is that your weapon?"
"Huh?" Aang looked over his shoulder. In one quick motion, he pulled out the staff, spun it around once, and somehow caused orange, papery wings to fold out of it, transforming it into a glider.
"Ooh . . . !" Ruby drooled a little. "That's so cool!"
Aang seemed distracted looking at the glider himself.
Ruby snapped herself out of her reverie and reached behind her back. "Wanna see mine?" Without waiting for an answer, she shifted Crescent Rose into its full scythe form, dwarfing her petite body.
"Whoa!" Aang jumped backward and stared, possibly in awe and possibly in horror, either of which Ruby would consider a compliment. She stroked the mechanical blade lovingly.
"Yeah, designed it myself," she said, swinging the weapon around a few times with much more ease than ought to have been possible. "But yours is cool too. Can you actually fly with it?"
The question seemed to quell Aang's unease. "Can I?" he grinned, and took off into the air. Ruby watched, definitely in awe, as he twirled in place, did several backwards loops, and circled all the way around one of Beacon's towers. When he came in for a landing, he retracted the glider's wings and twirled the stick over his head like a helicopter blade for a moment before alighting and stowing it behind him.
"That - is - awesome!" Ruby squealed, starry-eyed. "So is your Semblance some kind of wind power?"
"I resemble a what?" said Aang.
"Your Semblance, you know . . . ?" Ruby gestured in futility.
Aang shook his head. "I don't think I do. I'm an airbender. In fact, uh . . . I'm the Avatar."
"You have a tar what?"
"The Avatar, you know . . . ?" Aang found himself repeating her useless hand movements. The two eyed each other for a long time as they tried to comprehend one another's incomprehension. The twilight had begun to fade, and soon the only remaining lights would be artificial. Unable to reach a conclusion, Aang looked distantly into the sky. After a moment, he registered what he was looking at, and this time there was no doubt that it was horror occupying his face. "Oh no . . ." he breathed.
Turning to find what he was seeing, Ruby saw only the darkening sky. The stars were not quite visible yet, but the moon was out. At the moment it appeared mostly whole, with only a couple of its detached fragments poking around the side. She looked back at Aang and got the curious feeling that he should have been hyperventilating but that the air was somehow making an exception to allow him a normal breathing pattern.
Looking back down at Ruby with a panicked expression, Aang asked, "How far are we from the north pole?"
"Um . . ."
"I have to get there! How did this happen?!" The air billowed around Aang again as he jumped, clearing Ruby's scythe and landing right at the precipice of the ledge that her team had been sitting on. Ruby stowed Crescent Rose and took a few steps closer to the strange boy, who was again staring up at the moon as though it were falling toward him. He then looked down at the water below. Apparently reaching a decision, he first took a deep breath and brought his hands down in an arc in front of him. Then he began making even stranger movements with them, though it all seemed highly coordinated. It looked like he was focusing on the water, so Ruby glanced down, and she did a double take when she realized that a column of water was slowly rising toward them. Its motion flowed with Aang's - he was obviously controlling it. Aang made the pillar sway to one side and then the other, and when he ceased his cryptic dance, it collapsed back into the surface.
Several seconds passed silently, Aang's eyes closed and breath slow. Ruby just stared in wonderment. This kid's air and water abilities were not unlike the powers granted by properly utilized Dust or some of the Semblances that her classmates possessed, but he seemed to operate under different rules than they did. More than that, he had never even heard of their rules, nor she of his. The "lion turtle" comment had been odd, but given what had now occurred, it was almost beginning to look like this boy was from an entirely different -
"I'm sorry," said Aang, turning around. "Something . . . really weird is going on here. Um - weren't you going to take me to someone?"
"Oh - right! Sorry! Um . . . follow me." Ruby headed for Professor Ozpin's office, which occupied Beacon's centermost, tallest tower. Ozpin would know what was going on here. He knew everything, right?
Aang followed the red-cloaked Ruby girl with glazed eyes, his brain working overtime but getting nowhere. At first he had felt reassured knowing that he could take as long as necessary to figure out whatever he needed to learn here - how he knew that, he was less certain, but it seemed that the lion turtle had given him some information along with the bizarre, light-based transportation. He knew that he was in this place to acquire some kind of . . . something that, if utilized correctly, could allow him to end the war without having to end the Fire Lord's life - or else would finally prove to him that no such solution was possible. And he knew, somehow, that when he returned, he would arrive just in time to confront Ozai. He knew that he could trust the lion turtle. What he did not know was what he was supposed to do here, how to do it, how to find out how to do it, how long it would take, or the one that he was currently pondering: Where is this place? Because between Ruby apparently never having heard of the Avatar, and the partially shattered moon that had no adverse effect on his waterbending, it was starting to look like he had been sent to an entirely different -
"Um, here it is," Ruby said. Aang had barely noticed that they had entered some kind of elevator - thinking back on it, the ride had been so smooth that he was beginning to wonder how the machines of this . . . place operated. As if responding to this thought, Ruby touched a portion of the wall and caused it to do something that Aang's eyes did not quite understand - some kind of trick of the light that temporarily gave the appearance of a translucent rectangle hovering slightly out of the wall. At first it seemed to have no effect on anything, but then it produced a male voice inviting them to come in, and the elevator doors opened before them.
They entered. The room reminded Aang somewhat of the planetarium in Wan Shi Tong's library - large metal gears were embedded everywhere, their purpose unclear. Claustrophobia was mitigated by the equally numerous windows and glass ceiling, above which more gears were visible. Matching the room's theme, the table appeared to be a glass surface with gears underneath. The single chair behind the table turned, allowing its occupant to face them.
He was a tall man with gray hair, small shaded glasses, a green scarf, and a white mug in his hand. He sipped from the last of these before speaking.
"Miss Rose. And . . ." His eyes studied Aang. The gaze did not feel threatening, but certainly analytical.
Aang bowed again. "My name is Aang, sir."
"Aang." Ozpin bowed slightly in his seated position. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Aang and Ruby exchanged glances, wondering how to answer the question. Ozpin sipped his beverage again.
"Well you see, Professor Ozpin," Ruby attempted, "Aang here um . . . appeared out of nowhere."
"Well, not exactly nowhere," Aang mumbled.
"And uh, he's never heard of Semblances but he can control air and water and fly around with his glider, and he says he was sent here by a giant tiger turtle -"
"Lion turtle," said Aang, dragging a hand down his face. He was conflicted about whether to blame Ruby for her rendition of the story or admit that nobody could make it sound convincing.
"And -" Ozpin held up a hand, and Ruby fell silent. The professor took another sip, and then a long pause, before speaking.
"That's quite a story. Miss Rose, thank you for bringing this matter to my attention. Would you please excuse us now?"
"Oh uh, yeah. Sorry, sir. Thank you, sir. I'll just be . . ." Ruby pointed at the elevator, laughed hollowly, and in a flash of swirling rose petals she was gone. Aang shielded his face with his arm in response to the resulting air current, but it quickly settled, and he turned back to the professor.
Taking yet another sip from his mug, Ozpin regarded the Avatar with indecipherable eyes.