In the mists of memories
Summary: onehsot. Some time after defeating Fire Lord Ozai, Aang wanders around in the statue chamber of the Southern Air Temple.
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Aang remembered standing in front of these doors. The first time had been shortly after he had been told he was the next incarnation of the Avatar in this world. That was so long ago, both in his memory and in actual time and it almost felt like a different life. He had not been inside the room then, having been told he would meet someone there that would help him once he reached his sixteenth birthday. The second time he had been in front of the doors, he had only found out days ago he had been missing for a hundred years and that the world had been engulfed in war in his absence. Since then, he had done everything in his power to stop that war.
He sighed and closed his eyes. The war was over now. He had long doubted himself and if he would be any good as the Avatar, but in the end, he had brought peace to the world at last. He knew he couldn't have done it without the help of his friends and all the people that had supported him in the past year. Katara. Sokka. Toph. Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors. Bumi. The people of the Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom. General Iroh and all the members of the White Lotus. Most surprisingly, Zuko, who had been his enemy for so long, but in the short time he had been on Aang's side, was one of the best friends he thought he would ever have.
He opened his eyes again and he knew there were more people he couldn't have prevailed without. He shifted on his feet and raised his arms, sending a breeze forth into the two large pipes on the doors. The wind traveled throught the pipes, unlocking the doors in the process. They swung open and revealed a large, dark room full of life sized statues. The statues were set in spiraling pattern starting from the middle of the chamber, to the wall and then into an aisle that circled all the way up to the dark ceiling of the room.
Aang wandered to the centre of the room first, looking up to the statue of the man that had been his predecessor and his guide on many occasions: Avatar Roku. He had been shown Roku's past and his achievements as well as his ultimate failure to stop his friend Sozin from starting a global war. Rather than remembering the vision he'd been shown, Aang recalled Roku's life as if it was part of his own life. In a sense, it had been his own life, in a different body and as a different person, but as a part of one mind nonetheless. Sozin had truly been his friend and the pain and guilt he felt was still real, even if it came to him through a shroud of memories and times long gone. There was little to no point in dwelling on the past, unless you could learn from it. Aang was glad this severed friendship was given a second chance through him and Sozin's great grandson.
He tore his eyes away from Roku's statue and looked at the next one: Avatar Kyoshi. She had been dealing with her own problems in her own time and they had not been any easier or harder than his or Roku's. She had restored balance to the world through her defeat of Chin the Conquerer. Aang remembered Chin to be a heartless and arrogant man and he couldn't help but scowl a little, even if Chin was long gone.
The next statue was of Avatar Kuruk, originally from the Water Tribe. Aang didn't know much of his work directly, but he remembered Kuruk had lived a relatively calm and peacefull life, until certain events had forced him to step in. Conflicts between groups in the Earth Kingdom. Spiritual upheaval that had been ignored for too long. Kuruk had lost his wife in the end – Aang suddenly recalled her name to be Sia and that he had loved her more than anything in the world – to the chaotic and ruthless Spirit Koh the Face Stealer.
Saddened, Aang turned away to look at the next statue. Avatar Yangcheng had been an Air Nomad just like him and he immideatly felt his connection to her run deeper than just the fact she was one of his past lives. He knew there was another statue of her at the Eastern Air Temple and when he still lived here in the Southern Air Temple, Yangcheng had been revered by the Airbenders. He recalled her life to be long and peacefull. Dispite her great mastery of the elements, she had always prefered diplomacy and compromise over the display of her strenght.
Aang looked further. He had never spoken to any of the previous Avatars after Yangcheng directly, but their names and impressions of their lives and achievements came to him as he walked past and looked at their faces carved in stone.
Avatar Yasuo, who had always believed his role was to be active, so that the people of the world would always have someone to turn to and to believe in. Avatar Huang, who had reunited several parts of the Earth Kingdom and whose prowess with earthbending had been so great, he had speculated metalbending could be possible if a truly talented bender would set their mind to it. Avatar Annuk, who had resolved conflicts between the two leaders of the Water Tribes in that time. Avatar Gyeng, who had been a peacekeeper and a great leader of the Air Nomads for a long time. Avatar Ayoko, who had prevented the Fire Nation from being destroyed from the inside out after assassins had killed the Fire Lord and there had been a huge fight over who was the rightfull ruler of the nation.
Aang walked further down the spiral and started climbing up into the aisle. As he progressed, the memories of his predecessors didn't come to him so easily anymore, but he always remembered their names and there was always a set of emotions he felt whenever he set eyes on one of the statues.
Avatar Meilin... Avatar Furik... Avatar Yosung... Avatar Siun... Avatar Tuyan... Avatar Chen...
He had been counting the statues, just out of curiosity, but he lost track pretty quickly as the names and impressions and emotions of his past lives washed over his mind like a wave. They had all known great struggle, but they had all achieved great things in the end. The longer he spent walking, the more he realized he truly deserved a place among them and that there was no shame in failure as long as you had the courage to set things right.
Avatar Hosun... Avatar Shang... Avatar Kinnah... Avatar Quiang... Avatar Fu Li... Avatar Juon...
The light that spilt throught the open doors and illuminated the bottom of the room faded as Aang walked higher and higher, just like his recollection of memories of his past lives faded as he went back into the past. He decided to create a small flame in his hand to light his way, in case he tripped over his own feet. The fire in his hand lit the statues, but not his memory. Aang sneezed a few times as his feet stirred up dust that looked like it hadn't been disturbed for years. The statues were covered in it and it didn't look like anyone had bothered to keep the place clean, at least no since the airbenders had lived in the Temple.
Avatar Kilah... Avatar Huan... Avatar Niuzo... Avatar Ganjin... Avatar Pyang... Avatar Bohen...
Aang rounded what looked to be the last corner, because he could see the ceiling of the chamber at last. His heart sped up a little as he realized he was devling deeper into his past lives than he had ever imagined. He could almost see the final statue at the end of the aisle. He slowed down a bit dispite his anxiety and looked at the faces of the first Avatars that had ever walked the earth. The atmosphere was heavy and Aang had the feeling no one had been up here for centuries.
Avatar Wei... Avatar Koda... Avatar Yulin... Avatar...
Aang blinked a few times after setting eyes on the statue of the very first Avatar that had ever lived. He was positive there had been no one else before, simply because he couldn't recall anything even if he didn't have any visual input. The statue was also quite different from all the others. First of all, it was carved out of wood instead of stone and it was very old. The features of the statue's face had long faded and it was broken and chipped in many places and it even missed its hands. Dispite the poor condition the statue was in, its most prominent attribute, a tall, kite like shape elaboratly carved around and behind the human figure, seemed to be preserved relatively well. So well, in fact, Aang could vaguely make out a pattern painted on the kite like shape and he guessed the paint must have been blue at one point. He had no idea why the statue was carved like this. The first Avatar had lived so long ago Aang could only recall his name.
Avatar Wan.
Dozens of questions rose in Aang's mind. How had this person mastered all four elements to become the first Avatar? Why? What had he been like? What was that shape he was depicted with? He had the feeling he knew the answer, but he would have to look deep inside himself for a long time if he wanted to know for sure. He closed his eyes for a moment, in an attempt to get at least a glimpse of the life of Avatar Wan. It was as if he tried to look past shrouds of mist, millenia old. For some reason, he felt much the same way like when he had been speaking with the great Lion Turtle that had taught him how to stop Fire Lord Ozai. He tried to focus and he could almost make out a face. The kite like shape swirled past his vision, glowing white. The face became clearer and turned out to belong to a rather serious looking man with brown eyes and messy hair.
Who were you?
"Aang?"
His eyes flew open and the moment was gone. Aang turned around to look down into the chamber and he could see Katara stand in the doorway. She called his name again.
"I'm up here!" he shouted back and waved. She waved back.
"What are you doing all the way up there?" she asked.
"Just looking at the statues." he answered.
"Dinner's almost ready." Katara said. "You'll need to be fast if you want anything. I swear Sokka's apitite is getting more out of control by the day."
Her tone was serious but Aang knew her well enough to know she was joking. Now that she mentioned dinner, he did notice he felt pretty hungry. He started to walk back down the spiraling aisle. Just as he was about to round the corner again, he looked over his shoulder to the wooden statue at the end of the chamber. There was a sense of peace and hope in his mind as he turned around again and made his way back down. Maybe someday he would find out more about Avatar Wan and his life, but for now, Aang was satisfied just knowing the man had exsisted.
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AN: so this idea popped into my head and so I wrote it down. I know I should probably try to finish chapter 12 for 'Beginning of Legends', but I don't have alot of time around the holidays and I also seem to be suffering from the mother of all writer's blocks (at least for that story). Anyway, here's a little something to enjoy while you wait, or at least I hope you've enjoyed.
If you've stumbled across this (I've put it in the 'Avatar: the Las Airbender' section instead of the crossover section since it centers around Aang the most and Wan only has this small cameo of sorts) and don't know what 'Beginning of Legends' is, why are you still reading this? Go to my profile page and find out! Hey, no pressure.
Enjoy the holidays and I wish you all the best for the new year. And if you're not celebrating anything in particular, I wish you a healthy and happy life anyway.