A/N: After missing the last round I turn this one in on an extension… good grief! Well, here we go, with my story for the Round 5 of Season 2 for the Probender Circuit.
Task/Story: Peter Pan
Prompts: (word) Magic, (dialogue) "If you believe in yourself, anything is possible."
Word Count: 2,403
Here we go! (Hehehe if you get the reference I just made there, you win a cookie and a trip to Neverland.)
The father took one last long look at the two teens in their beds, hoping they would be safe from any danger while he was gone. He was off to the war, and while his oldest wished to join him, they both knew that he couldn't. Slipping out of the igloo, Hakoda tried to relax and walked slowly towards the edge of town.
Normally, they would never leave in the dead of night, but they had to due to problems with the Fire Nation having nearly reached their shores. Now he and his fellow captains had created a plan to attack any oncoming Fire Nation ships before they reached the village.
He hated leaving his children behind. Even if they didn't want to be called children anymore, that's how he thought of them. His beloved Kya would have done the same, and he knew it as well as his kids did. So as he walked out of the village towards the harbor, his thoughts lingered on their sleeping faces. He truly hoped that they would be safe from the mysterious being who was said to be wandering around the village at night for the past few days. With that last caring thought, Hakoda boarded the ship and left the village, without looking back.
Katara and Sokka were lying asleep in their beds, aware that their father was gone, but unaware of there being any reason to worry that night. They were fast asleep with few dreams and if there were any, these were good dreams, and good thoughts. Both were unaware of what was to come.
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The being slipped through the houses in silence, occasionally lifting up in the air to look around. He was looking for something in particular, or more, someone, but what he wanted, he hadn't been able to find yet. Aang huffed to himself quietly, tired of searching through what felt like every part of the village.
It was then that he saw it. The house near the edge of the village. He walked quickly towards it, certain that this was the one he was looking for. Once he arrived, Aang gave no thought to who would be in the igloo and marched straight in, then noticing the two teens on furs in a start. He backed out slowly, making no noise at all. As soon as he was out, he slowly poked his head back in.
They were both soundly asleep so Aang decided he could go in and find it. He could almost sense his staff - for that was what he was looking for - even if that wasn't possible in the least, he knew it was here. Carefully, he crept in.
Suddenly, he felt something land on his head and made a mad grab at it, to find in his hands a lemur looking at him curiously.
"Momo! What did I tell you about not bothering me?" Aang hissed as quietly as he could, and the lemur made a strange noise before climbing onto his shoulder. "Seriously, shh, Momo, I don't want to be caught!"
If only he had known it was too late for that, because he suddenly heard an inquiring voice behind him. It was that of a girl's and sounded sleepy.
"Hello? Who's there?" said the girl, and Aang froze, "I know I heard something. If you are the Fire Nation, you'd better think twice before coming in and invading our village."
What was it about the Fire Nation invading this place? Aang didn't have time to think about it because the girl lit a torch and he was caught in an awkward position halfway to the door. He stared at the girl, noticing her facial expression was one of pure shock.
"Um… hello." He said, forcing a grin. The girl continue to stare at him. "I…uh…"
"Is there a reason you're in our house?" She said, her stare turning into a glare.
"Um… look, there's this thing I'm looking for… And for you guys, too!" Aang suddenly bounced into action, a smile returning to his face, and he made up something (though, in some ways it was the truth) on the spot. "See, I need you to come with me on a journey. I don't know exactly why I chose you two, but you just seemed fitting for the job."
"What is this thing you're after?" The girl asked, caring more about what he was looking for than what job he mentioned.
"It's my staff. I kind of lost it… And then Momo decided to disturb me, probably he was telling me that the staff was in here even though I already knew it and that's kind of why I entered in the first place and-" he stopped when he realized he had been talking too much, and the girl was looking exasperated, "Sorry for that. I just go off like that at times. But trust me, we'll get to do fun things! I really wanna go penguin sledding sometime before anything happens!"
"Penguin- okay, first off, who are you?"
"I'm Aang. And Momo is the flying lemur on my shoulder. And you are?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Katara. Are you a monk?" Katara was looking stricken now, at the idea that he was a monk, and Aang scratched his head.
"Uhh…yes, I am." He nodded. "I'm also a Lost Boy. The leader, in fact. Or I was. I'm not sure what happened. I only just came back."
"Came back? Okay, you're making no sense. The Lost Boys? That…" Katara's eyes widened, and Aang peered closer at her.
"What is it? Did I miss the annual celebration? Oh, wait, you wouldn't know about that."
"Aang… I need to tell you something that will probably alarm you. And I really don't want you freaking out on me or anything."
"What do you mean?" Aang peered closer at Katara's face, wondering what she meant. The girl took a deep breath, and began.
"You're… a Lost Boy. The Lost Boys…" she pursed her lips. "They're…gone. I don't know where you've been, or really, who you even are, but they died after the Fire Nation attacked the Western Air Temple. That's part of the history of the Hundred Year War. You must've… well I don't know what you did, but I know that you're the only one left. They died with every Airbender that lived at their home. I didn't think anyone had survived."
"Gone? Fire Nation… attacking people? Hundred Year War?" Aang's eyes had widened, and he shook his head, trying to make sense of it all. Katara watched, worried for him even though she had only just met him.
"I really shouldn't have told you all that information at once." She shook her head. "I'm not lying, Aang."
"Yes, you are. None of that could possibly be true, the Lost boys don't…we wouldn't…we wouldn't fall down at the Fire Nation's feet! And why would the Fire Nation want to attack us? They don't attack people! What war?" He looked to be in a rage now, and Katara didn't try to approach him.
"I don't know why the Fire Nation chose to attack, and don't know why there's really a reason they attacked the Lost Boys and all of the airbenders first, but I do know that they started a war and it's been going on for one hundred years."
"None of this is true!" Aang shouted, or tried to, because suddenly Katara ran up to him and grabbed his hand, staring at him fiercely.
"Don't shout," she scolded. "I can't have you screaming like that when everyone's asleep. I'll definitely get in trouble." He shut up as soon as she said this and took off her grip on his arm, moving away, feeling horrible.
"I don't belong here, you know. That's why I need to get back to-"
"Whoever you are, I'm willing to help you."
"I busted into your house and now you just want to help me?" He looked up at her.
"Yes, it does seem a little bit desperate. But we want to do something."
"'We'?"
"My brother, Sokka, and I. That's him." She motioned towards the lump in the bed with her hand.
"Um… I mean yeah! He can come along! But there's one problem. I can't fly with the two of you. And I don't know where to go."
"What do you mean you don't know where to go? And you can fly?" Katara stared at him.
"Like any leader of the Lost Boys, I can fly. And I mean, if everything's gone…" His face fell after there had been a smile for a few moments, yet there was still a small hopeful look to it, like he was still thinking she was lying.
"I'm still not lying, Aang. I'm sorry. I wish I was."
"Well, your brother needs to wake up or we're not getting anywhere." Aang grinned. His spirits were back up again. He was still sure Katara was lying. She probably had never been out of this place, and he had. He knew about the outside world and he figured his Boys and all other airbenders were out somewhere hiding.
Katara walked on over to the bed of furs on the floor where her brother was and kicked him, causing a muffled yell to come from under the blankets.
"Sokka, wake up!" She commanded, and the boy poked his head out of the furs. Aang looked him over and figured he seemed like a nice enough guy, being older than him, or at least, that's what Aang figured. He was also possibly quite grumpy a lot of the time, as he was wearing a frustrated and tired expression at the moment.
"Wha- Katara, why is there a strange boy in our house?!" He stood up in an instant, throwing off the furs and staring at Aang.
"Sokka, this is Aang. Aang, Sokka." Katara motioned towards Aang, who put on a cheery smile.
"I don't care what his name is. He doesn't belong in our house at this time of night!"
"Sokka, if you don't cooperate, I'm going to leave you behind." Her face showed that she was completely serious, and Sokka looked bewildered.
"Leave me? What are you talking about? Where are you going?"
"I'm going with Aang. He says he's the…" she hesitated. "The leader of the Lost Boys. An airbender, Sokka. We need to help him." The Lost Boys part was still taking its time to sink in with Katara. She was completely uncertain as to how Aang had survived those hundred years and wasn't dead or really, really old.
"The Lost Boys?" For once, Sokka looked rather intimidated. "They're dead, Katara. Are we sure he's an airbender?"
"Yes. That staff Dad brought home the other day, I think that's his. Here it is." She grabbed the staff and handed it to Aang, who grinned even wider.
"Alright! We need to get going soon. I need to make sure all of them are okay." Aang made to move towards the door, but Katara managed to catch his arm.
"Aang, I'm just warning you, whatever you find in the air temple will not be the same as you left it. I also don't know how we're going to get there. My waterbending isn't that good and," she halted, not sure what else to say, because she wasn't sure of Aang's plan. Something in her memory was throbbing, a legend, something about the leader of the Lost Boys, but she couldn't remember what it was and didn't really know if she wanted to.
"I can give you the power to fly for a little bit of time. And I have my staff so I can help."
"That's just silly magic. It won't work." Sokka waved his hand in the air, shaking his head mockingly.
"It is not just silly magic. I actually can give you some of my power to fly. It's a thing that all Leaders of the Lost Boys have had. Well, they could all share their powers. Not all of them were always airbenders." That was when it hit Katara. She had heard of the Lost Boys' Leader before. It was only in legend, but it was said that he had disappeared at the beginning of the Hundred Year war, and hadn't been seen before. If Aang was really who he said he was… Katara could only shudder to think of his power, and what the Fire Nation would do. Because as she knew it, the leader of the Lost Boys was able to control all the elements.
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After this realization, Katara didn't tell anyone about it, and instead waited to be given the power to fly, standing right next to Aang. He stared at her.
"Uh… yes?"
"You said you'd give us the power to fly. So…can you?"
"Oh, yeah, right. Yes, I can. But you have to believe."
"Believe?" Sokka scoffed, staring hard at him now like he'd gone crazy.
"Yeah. If you believe in yourself, anything is possible." Aang smiled, "Katara, put your hand on my arm. You too, Sokka."
Katara willingly stuck her hand on his arm, but Sokka took a minute to process what was about to happen. Then, with a loud sigh, he placed his hand on Aang's arm. Aang closed his eyes and began to transfer energy to the two teenagers. When he was done, he opened his eyes to find Katara several feet off the ground, and Sokka with his feet just hanging down, barely above the ground.
"Well, this is weird." Sokka grumbled. Katara had already flown out of the door and was swooping around. Aang could hear her cries of joy from above.
"Oh, come on Sokka. I'm choosing you two to go on an adventure with me, you should consider yourself lucky." Aang grabbed the older boy's hand and pulled him out of the door, thrusting him into the night. Sokka went flying while Aang lifted himself off the ground and took his staff, finding a reasonable wind current.
"This is the most marvelous thing ever!" Katara was smiling so widely, Aang was surprised she wasn't farther up in the air from her obvious joy.
"Alright, come on! Off to the Western Air Temple, we go!" He called, and they followed him into the night, a band made up of a Lost Boy, a believer, and a grumbly brother.
A/N: Well there's that. Interesting, nonetheless. I like the way it went. I hope you did too, and I hope you enjoyed, thank you for reading, and please, review, review, review !