I wrote this for a very dear friend of mine, sakunade. Today's her birthday. So, I figured I'd write some Aang gen' for her. Different; a bit out of my comfort-zone... but I wanted to give it a try.
Disclaimer: I make no claim on the characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender. They belong solely to their creators, and I garner no profit from their usage.
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When the spirits grant him the serenity he can only find in respite, he pictures himself in solitude.
Whether it be standing on a mountaintop in silent reflection, soaring through the skies on the back of his cherished bison, journeying to the furthest reaches of the globe to settle petty disputes between quarreling factions, or simply reclining against a tree, staff in hand... he's always alone in his visions.
Is this a hero's destiny? To face the world alone? When all is said and done, will he have nothing to claim as his own? No one with which to share the glory; his personal victories; his ever-surging love for humanity?
Is an unshakeable sense of emptiness his reward for selfless martyrdom?
No... that can't be it. He's more than just the Avatar – he's a human being, entitled to the pursuit of happiness and all it entails.
He has feelings; honest feelings. The people he's touched, and that have touched him... those faces can't be forgotten; won't be pushed aside; shouldn't amount to a mere footnote in his own personal history.
Katara... Sokka... Toph. His closest confidants; the brave souls who threw themselves headlong into his predetermined mission, knowing that their own lives would be forever altered by their choice to aid him.
He knew he would one day watch all of them die. Die of disease, old age, or from the tragedy of battles unseen.
He told himself it wasn't fair... that there was more to life than this. For how could one truly live with nothing to look forward to?
The dreams were nagging; haunting, but he swore he would live every day to the fullest. He would hold his relationships close and savor every waking moment.
Sozin's Comet was due any day now, and he would meet the challenge head-on, the undeterred will of all his past lives behind him. He commanded his friends, with a firmness he never realized he had 'til then, to stay behind – it was simply too dangerous. He wouldn't watch them die in a needless sacrifice.
But each one stepped forward, that unmistakable gleam of determination in their eyes, and he knew... right then and there... that he was never alone, and he never will be alone.