( I would like to say that this fanfic is one that's been hanging around my subconscious since the 5th grade. Don't believe me? You really must not know me! )
Author's P.O.V.
The Southern Air Temple: 103 years prior to date
"Aang, c'mon! We'll get in trouble if we're late again!", the girl struggled to keep up, running as fast as her tawny legs could carry her.
"Our being late or not depends on you, Aadita! You have to do it!", upon his air scooter, Aang circled the next to exhausted girl twice, laughing carelessly at her enraged expression. "We only have a few minutes left before dinner...!"
"But I can't do it! You know I'm terrible at Airbending!"
"You can do it! I know you can! You just have to relax and let go. Believe that you can do it and you will.", the young Air Nomad laughed again grasping the girls hand to give her a head start. She was still running at full speed, but the minute he grabbed her hand her feet left the ground and she was accelerated further and faster than before. Just as terror gripped her heart at the speed she was going and the risk of falling caught her breath-she felt something begin within her...joy. Before she even knew it, and had all but let go off her hand. Aadita was almost floating on her very own. "You're doing it! You're doing it! Now focus that energy into a sphere beneath you!"
Following his instructions carefully, she reluctantly let go of his hand and swiveled her body around to gather the surrounding air into the desired form. She felt her breath coming more easily now, her lungs relaxing and expanding as she felt wind begin to cycle between her splayed hands and redirect itself into an endless cycle as it expanded. And then, as she placed her body in that familiar position above it, not fully sitting or standing, her to resting on the sphere of pure air...she smiled.
"I knew you could do it, Aadi! You did it perfectly! You just had to let go and believe in yourself." Aang flashed her a dazzling smile, which she returned eagerly as she rode her air scooter over to him. In her happiness she threw herself at him in a bear hug, knocking him off of his scooter kissing his cheeks repeatedly and thanking him over and over again for everything. Once they both had stopped laughing, they noticed how low the sun had sunk behind the clouds. "We'd better get out of here. Fast."
"Hey, Aang."
"Yeah?"
"Not bad for a Waterbender, huh?", she smirked.
They both summoned up their air vehicles and set off toward the main Air Temple.
The Southern Air Temple Entrance:102 years prior to date
"Aang where are you going? It's not the end of the world that you're the A-" She rushed after him, struggling to keep up with his long strides.
He turned on his heel suddenly and faced her with an expression of pure malice, one she'd never before seen on her dear friend's face. "You knew, didn't you?!"
"What? I don't-"
"You knew that I was the Avatar all along and never told me! I thought you were my friend, Aadita! I thought that I could always trust you!"
Tears threatened to fill her eyes as his words cut her heart. "Aang, I knew, but it never changed how I felt about you. They told me not to tell you for your own good."
"So you hid this from me all my life and lied to my face! You're worse than them!", he balled his fists, his body trembling with anger.
"It wasn't my place to tell you! And despite that fact I have never, ever treated you any different! You are the dearest person to my heart. I'd never hurt you!", she reached a hand out toward him, not at all expecting him to pull away."Aang, please understand. I was powerless to do anything."
"You're the only person I could count on..." Tears filled those grey eyes that she adored, making her heart break more than his words could. "And now the entire world will be counting on me...! I can't do it alone! I'm only a kid!"
Before she could stop herself, she threw her arms around him, tears filling her Amber eyes as his arms slowly closed around her back and clutched onto her. The sobbed heavily against her, his entire body trembling with a kind of oncoming terror that he'd never before experienced in his young life. The sky had long since gone dark and the sky overhead soon began to become cloaked in clouds, a storm not far off.
"I can't...I can't stay here, Aadita. I'll come back soon enough but...I just need to get out of here. Now. It feel like I can't breath!"
"It will be alright, Aang. I promise you that. And I'm not objecting to your decisions...but I insist on coming with you. I don't want you to be alone out there."
The young monk looked at her for a long time, searching her eyes for something. Finally, instead of giving her an answer, he offered a hand and helped her up onto Appa's back before mounting the beast as well.
"Yip yip!"
He almost didn't notice when she gripped his clammy hand tightly with her own.
Unknown Seas
"Aang?"
"Hmmm?" Half asleep but roused by her voice, he turned over in his spot in Appa's saddle to look at her.
"I-...um..."
"What is it?" She had his full attention now.
"I...wanted to...t-to ask you something." She was looking off at the water below, gently manipulating the rise and fall of the waves.
"What is it? Is something wrong?" She wouldn't allow him to meet her gaze, something that she never did.
Eventually, she stopped her bending and looked over at him, the silky waves of her ebony locks dancing about her shoulders in the wind as she fixed him with an amber stare. The setting sun behind her lit her features ablaze, her brown skin becoming an alarming shade of gold and her hair taking on a reddish hue. He tried not to stare.
"What am I to you, Aang?", she finally said, the waves crashing almost drowning out her voice.
"What? What do you mean?", he asked.
"What do I mean to you, truly?"
"Aadi...you mean the world to me. You're my best friend. You're the closest thing to family I h-"
"No. Not as family. Not as a friend. I mean more." Her tone was pointing toward something else, something that he couldn't quite fathom.
"What are...I don't know what you mean."
She flushed, looking away for a moment and biting her lip before looking at him again. "Do you think of me in a different kind of way...something more like a lover?"
"A...lover?" His face had become something like a tomato at this point and he was suddenly unable to look at her either. "Why would you think that?"
His words threatened to break her heart, but she wasn't about to give up until she had a sure answer. "Yes, a lover. I want to know if you cared for me in that way."
"I...I don't know." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I've never thought about you in that way."
He was lying.
"Well now that you have the thought in your head, I'd like to know how you feel." She could feel her chest tightening around the next words. "Do you have those kinds of feelings for me, Aang?"
"I-I don't know."
He was still lying.
"You need to know now Aang. I need to know."
"I...I mean, I do care abou you. A lot. More than anything in my life. And you're so nice, and smart, and the best Waterbender I've ever met. And your eyes are so weird, but that's why I like them. And I have the best time when we spar together. You fight really good. And you're...-" He swallowed. "-...pretty. Really pretty. It's...breathtaking at times. And you're my best friend, someone that I can always come to for anything and you always make me feel better...and you're always there for me no matter what. And..."
She come closer since he'd began, causing his heart to beat a little faster.
"And...you love me."
She gently grasped his hand, the wind strengthening and whipping her hair and gown about her body, the air and ocean seeming to be caught in the intensity of the moment. His blush was fading, as hers had, their fingers slowly intertwining as they locked eyes once more. She edged closer, her knees meeting his as her other hand grasped the one she was already holding.
"You...love me, Aadita..."
She looked away momentarily, looking back at him, her gaze burning with honest surrender. His heart swelled with an unknown emotion at this realization, her cool hands around his own sending warmth into his chest. The girl leaned closer, squeezing his hand gently without breaking her gaze. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she decided on what she was about to do next.
"Aang..."
Amber eyes flickered down to a pair of lips and back up again.
"Aadi...?"
Coal orbs widened at what was about to come.
"I...want you to feel what I feel."
Tawny hands began to tremble.
"I want...I want that too."
A young Airbender leaned forward to meet her.
"Don't...don't hurt me. Don't break my heart."
A pale hand met a sun kissed cheek.
"I would never."
Rain drops began to fall all around, caught in the wind as they rushed past the two. The bliss of warm lips melding together was something beyond the two's imaginations. Comfort and understanding, connection and the beginnings of something new and pure and good, all these things combined with an uninhibited joy that blossomed in the place of uncertainty and self preservation. In this moment, everything was perfect. A young monk found a happiness and acceptance he'd never before known, slipping his hands from her and her cheek to softly grip her upper arms. And his dearest friend had found what she'd hoped to have but never thought possible, her own hands finding his shoulders and willing him closer.
Neither of them even realized they were soaked to the bone with rain, the heat of their bodies repelling the chill. And as they broke apart for a much needed breath, eyes meeting seemingly for the very first time, a world of promise seemed to open before the, like a jasmine blossom in season, flourishing with a beauty incomparable to everything surrounding it in existence.
And then a crash of lightning broke the euphoria.
Appa bellowed loudly, swerving between waves that seemed to have risen in height and power. Springing into action and taking the reigns, Aang pulled Appa as high as possible into the sky. Aadita took it upon herself to tie down any loose items before joining Aang at the reigns. The young Airbender pulled the reigns as hards as he could, Appa responding by flying as high as possible, but the turbulence was almost as threatening as the enormous waves, one of which might have snatched them on the way to the sky if Aadita hadn't swung her arm and dashed it just moments before. The wind swung them round without remorse, Appa barely able to remain vertical...and then a sudden crash of thunder and lightning accompanied by a gust with the force of a tornado sent them all sprawling into the waters below.
Everything around them all was a mass of turbulent white and darkness, the water so forceful that they two weren't able to keep a hold of Appa's reigns, their entwined hands slipping apart as they were thrown into the depths.
And then a blinding light overcame them all.
Ba Sing Se:101 years later present day
"I don't know how you find these places, Toph! This food is insane!", Sokka exclaimed, vigorously slurping the remains of his and Katara's noodles down his gullet before shoving several buns into his mouth.
"Well, when ya can't see, your other senses lead you to all sorts of places. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Iroh sent me a flyer for this place since the owner's sons grow his tea leaves.", the Earthbending master said, picking her teeth with a tooth pick as she reclined onto some cushions.
"Imjustgladthatitsabuffet!", and said through a mouth full of food, chewing happily.
"Aang, don't chew with your mouth full!", Katara chided, using her napkin to dab at his mouth. "Honestly, the Avatar shouldn't be eating like a pig."
"It'sfineIcandoit!" He swallowed his food, rolling his eyes at her comment. He got up to go use the restroom, slipping Momo a few lecchi nuts under the table.
"Bring back more buns...mmmf!" Sokka said, snatching one from a pouting Katara.
The Avatar walked to around the rear of the restaurant. Not seeing the sign saying "Restroom", Aang spotted a waitress putting tea and a bowl of nuts on some arriving customers' table. He walked over to her to ask where the restroom was located and for more buns for his table, when something strange made him stop in his tracks. Something about her...something familiar made him both afraid and hopeful for something he couldn't fathom. And when she turned and her amber eyes met his, she too stopped short and stared back at him, her face a mixture of emotions. A wave of memories and feelings crept up over the two-
-and then she was in his arms, their lips together in a passionate embrace as they felt the world around them melt away-
"Aang, what are you doing?"
Reality crashed back around the Air Nomad as he broke the kiss, looking over at a dumbfounded Katara with a just as shocked expression.
Just how was a man supposed to explain that the long since deceased love of his life was back to his current girlfriend?
He managed a single phrase.
"This is Aadita and she's an Airbender too."
(If you think that was it, you have another thing coming...yes, I'm aloud to make jokes! Lolz please let me know what you think.)