Lightning flashed, followed closely by the boom of thunder. Aya sat on her bed, watching the rain pelt the ground below. The wind coming in from her open window pushed her hair from her grey eyes, and Aya smiled, loving the adrenaline that came from something as simple as hearing thunder crackling.

Aya tore her eyes away from the dark window at the sound of a knock on her door. Who would need her so late? Before she could get up, the door opened itself. Monk Gyatso stood in her doorway, eyes wide with terror, something Aya had never seen before - he had always been calm, composed.

"Aya, its Aang!" Gyatso said before she had the chance to greet him. "He is gone."

Aya felt as if someone had taken the air from her lungs. "Gone?" She choked out, heart pounding in her ears. Her best friend - why did he leave her? Leave Gyatso? Everyone he'd ever known?

"Yes, he overheard the monks discussing sending him away earlier today and now he's ran away!"

"We have to find him." Aya whispered, picking up her staff from where it laid on the floor, opening it and staring outside into the storm. She could withstand the rain for Aang - she would do anything for her best friend.

"Aya, no!" Gyatso cried, reaching out for her, but his voice died in the wind as she jumped from the window and into the stormy night.

She could barely see through the rain, but she kept going and going and going until the dark night dawned to a cloudy morning and still, Aya found no sign of her friend over the choppy ocean. Sighing and blinking tears from her eyes, she landed on a small island and closed her glider. The sea around her was vast and slowly, Aya fell to her knees and began to sob hopelessly. She was exhausted, tired, and terrified and the only thing that appealed to her was sleep.

So she did, only instead of the slow relaxation sleep usually brings, Aya's world turned black almost instantly and her body hit the sand, unconscious.

When Aya opened her eyes, it was neither day nor night and she was not in the same place she fell asleep. The sky was plain grey, but filled with twinkling stars and a moon in the west, sun in the east.

She stood in still, shallow water, so shallow she could see the sand and rocks below the surface and the tiny sea creatures that crawled over them. She took a moment to admire a hermit crab scuttling over a rock by her feet. It reminded her of the ones that resided near the beaches back at the Southern Air Temple.

Aya didn't usually talk to herself, and she laughed at Aang when he talked to the lemurs that scampered around the temples, but something in her seemed to change as she reached down into the water, letting the hermit crab climb onto her hand.

She knew it wouldn't reply, but talking to an animal rather than the air seemed less silly. "Where are we?"

Suddenly, the clear, clean air turned foggy and humid and a figure swirled to life in front of her: an older man wearing the traditional clothing and topknot of the Fire Nation. The fog man stared at Aya for a moment before speaking.

"I am Avatar Roku, and you are in the Spirit World." Aya stared at him blankly and looked around in wonder. She'd heard stories of this place from the monks, but no words could capture its beauty.

Aya bowed to him. "Why am I in the Spirit World, Avatar Roku?"

"Avatar Aang is in trouble."

Aya quickly became frustrated. "I know that! That's why I came after him, to find him and bring him back to the Temple! They can't take him away!"

"Do not worry, young airbender. I can see you are troubled, but you must stay in the Spirit World. Aang has put himself in a position I cannot get him out of. Your destinies are intertwined, and until Aang is ready to face the world you must stay here, where you will not age. You will be able to leave when Aang is ready. If you leave, you will die long before Aang returns. You balance him."

"Balance him?" Aya repeated, confused.

Roku smiled at the fourteen year old. "Look at your bracelets, Ayana." She touched the four silver chains that never left her wrist. Each bracelet had the symbol of a different element engraved. "You have one for each element. The elements balance each other. Fire is life, destructive, burning. Water is cool, collective, and calming. They are balanced. Air is freedom and limitless. Earth is disciplined and grounded. They are also balanced. Aang is filled with childish wonder, curiosity, and extraversion. You are cool, determined, detached, introverted, and you hold all the traits Aang does not. You balance like earth balances air and water balances fire."

"But I'm just as childish and curious as Aang is. I'm not detached or introverted or anything you said!"

"It will come with time, Ayana. Do not worry, the Spirit World is a beautiful place and I'm sure you will enjoy it here."

Aya's eyes flashed dangerously. "And if I don't want to stay?"

But the fog was clearing, and Roku was gone moments later. Aya held up the hand the hermit crab rested on, and it seemed to stare at her in the same way Roku had. "I guess I'm stuck here, huh?" She mumbled, sighing and walking out of the river.

She already hated it here.

Time was hard to tell in the spirit world. The sun, moon, and stars were eternally out and Aya never got tired enough for sleep like she normally would. She couldn't decide if it had been days or weeks or months or even years but Roku never returned, which was okay. She didn't expect him to.

Aya slowly became bitter. Of course, the Spirit World was beautiful. There were so many different and exciting places to explore - her favorite being a tall mountain that reminded her of the mountains the air temples were built on. She would hop from place to place, sometimes speaking to friendly spirits.

Once, she came across a spirit who told her bending wouldn't work in the Spirit World, which was strange because Aya's worked just fine. The spirit said it was because she was forced here instead of coming by meditation or portal.

It was another day - or maybe night, Aya couldn't tell - when the vision came. A boy, maybe a little older than she, and a girl around her age standing with a very familiar looking kid dressed in the same red and yellow clothes Aya had on. Then the image faded and Aya waited - Roku did say that she could leave as soon as Aang was ready. Didn't this mean he was ready? Nothing happened.

The visions kept coming: Aang with the two others, in different locations at a time. They would only last a few moments, but that was enough for Aya. She became hopeful.

Finally, finally, there was one vision while Aya stood by the river she first came to the Spirit World in. Aang was meditating in front of a pond with two fish swimming in it. The image faded, but Aang did not. Aya blinked, and he did not disappear, only stared directly into her eyes - then, she heard his voice for the first time in what felt like decades.

"Aya?"

"Aang?"

"What are you doing here?" They asked in sync, then burst out laughing. It felt wonderful to laugh.

Aang explained about the crisis at the North Pole, and Aya told him about her imprisonment. But something was wrong - why was the Fire Nation attacking the Northern Tribe? Aya had friends who lived there...where were they? Exactly how long had she been in the Spirit World? Questions began to swirl around her mind, but her words came out stuttered and confused. She searched for the first question to ask.

"Aang, why -"

"There's no time!" Aang interrupted her. "I need to find the Ocean and Moon spirits, and then I'll explain."

"I can show you where Koh is; he knows where they are. But you must not show any facial expression at all - or he will steal your face." Aya warned, turning to lead Aang up the river to Koh's tree. But Aang reached forward and grabbed her arm before she could start walking, and he hugged her. She relaxed into his arms and they stood like that for a long time until Aya pulled away and smiled at him.

They walked in silence along the riverbank until Aya pointed to the tree Koh resided in. "I can't come with you. Good luck." Aang nodded, and Aya waited. It was nothing compared to the long time she waited to Aang to get himself out of his predicament, whatever it had been.

Aya let out a breath when Aang exited the tree with his face intact.

"I know what I have to do, and I have to go. Thank you, Aya." Then he looked her directly in the eyes. He looked the same as he did the day he ran away. "I will find a way to free you from the Spirit World. I promise."

Note:

This is my first fic on this website and for this fandom. I'm open to constructive criticism - I'm not perfect. If there's anything that seems wrong/off/could be better, please let me know and if you read this, thank you! :)