A/N: So for those of you that read When the Earth Shifts, this is the next arc in that plot line. WtES Kind of set the stage for the events of Aang's Journey. including Aang's actualy awakening. So, if you find yourself confused at any point, it might be best to go back and read that arc first. It's worth your time, I promise!

Anyway, here is continuation of Aang's adventures.

Aang sat in Appa's saddle, paralyzed by indecision. On the one hand, he was reluctant to run from the only living people he had so far encountered. On the other, he was currently surrounded by evidence that a waterbender village had been brutally destroyed by a group of firebenders. Aang looked out at the ship, still a good ways from shore. He estimated he had about ten minutes before it landed. The sun had sunk below the horizon, soaking everything in the cloudy blue of twilight. Aang made a split second decision.

"C'mon, Appa," he said urgently, and tugged on the reins. He had to hope that Appa's white coat and the dim light had been enough to keep them from being seen.

Aang directed Appa to move behind a large snow drift, and quickly used airbending to swirl it around them, creating a kind of snow fort. He poked a hole in the wall with his staff, and proceeded to watch as the ship came to a halt near the shore. Its prow hatch opened, and two uniformed firebenders came hustling out. Aang managed to catch most of what they were saying.

"…don't know why the captain redirected us down here. It's freezing!"

"It was that light! You didn't see it; you were below decks, but it was crazy! The captain just wanted to investigate."

"But nobody lives down here! The last village was destroyed by Prince Zuko years ago!"

"You know he's not a prince anymore, right? He's probably dead…and anyway, you don't know that. Those waterbender savages are tricky; they could've hid out in those mountains for years without us knowing…"

They moved out of earshot then, and Aang found himself boiling with even more questions. The Southern Water Tribe was gone? But that was impossible…Gyatso had been planning a trip there just a few days before Aang had run away. Aang winced at the thought. The first thing he was doing when he got back was apologizing profusely to his master.

But there was the other thing the one soldier had said. The last village had been destroyed "years ago." Did that mean Aang had been frozen for years? It didn't seem possible…but how could an entire civilization just disappear overnight?

The firebenders returned then, grumbling about not finding anything and the diversion being a total waste of time. They returned to their ship, and the hatch closed behind them. A few minutes later, the ship shoved off, making its way roughly northeast.

Aang waited until he could no longer see the ship before he opened the drift and led Appa back out into the open. They had gone undetected, but Aang now knew he needed to get home as soon as possible. He needed answers.

"Appa, you feeling up to flying?"

Appa groaned an affirmative.

"Good. We're going home. Now."

--

The trip back to the Southern Air Temple was nerve wracking. Aang was sure he'd crest the final ridge and there would be nothing, his home gone as surely as that waterbender village had been. The trip was made worse by the fact that Aang wasn't entirely sure where they were; he ended up going too far north and had to turn back southwest to find the Patolas.

When the first needle sharp peaks came into view, however, Aang couldn't help but feel a rush of familiarity and calm. He knew this place. Everything was going to be just fine. His good feeling was 

buoyed when they came upon the Air Temple, unchanged from the day they had left. Aang smiled. It was good to be home.

--

When they landed, though, Aang felt the creepy sense of danger coming on again. It was eerily quiet. He was used to the chatter of lemurs, the sound of monks and their apprentices practicing on the training grounds, the whoosh of an airball game. Now, it was silent, save for a few birds.

"C'mon, Appa, we gotta find Gyatso…"

They wandered up to the upper levels of the temple, still seeing nobody. If it hadn't been for that ship, Aang would've begun worrying he was the last human being on the planet. The only evidence of Gyatso they passed was a statue of him standing sentinel at the entrance to the highest central tower. Aang bowed deeply to the visage of his master, and then continued inside. Appa lowed after him. Aang turned to see the sky bison looking thoroughly uncomfortable with entering the confined hallway.

"It's okay, Appa. Find someplace to graze. I'll be back soon." Appa grunted and took off.

Aang continued with his exploration, though now a definite destination had presented itself. There was a huge door deep in the central tower, which could only be opened by a master airbender. Gyatso had said that when he was ready, Aang would find someone inside who could give great wisdom. If nothing else, Aang had to meet this person. Maybe they could answer some of the questions burning inside him.

Having only seen the door once, Aang was awed when he came across it, situated about halfway up the tower. It was a massive, imposing thing, wooden, with pipes and tubes snaking across its surface, ending in two large funnels. The locking mechanism consisted of a trio of blue ceramic discs, each one etched with a spiral, arranged so they resembled the Air Temple insignia, like the one engraved on the floor beneath Aang's feet.

Aang took a deep breath in preparation. Beyond this door lie the answers he sought, and hopefully the wisdom to know where to go next. He calmed himself, and sent two great gusts of air into the funnels.

A moment passed where nothing happened, then the air pressure built inside the tubes caused the discs to flip one by one, exposing their red reverse sides. Each one emitted a tone as they flipped, creating an eerie harmony that echoed in the hall.

Aang stopped the air as the door swung open, almost silent despite the fact that Gyatso had said only the Avatar was permitted to enter.

Aang stepped inside slowly; the room was vast, but very dimly lit. In fact, there seemed to be no light inside the room, only that which poured in through the huge doorway.

"Hello…?" Aang called. There was no response. "Hello? Is anyone here? Please, I need to talk to you!"

Still the room remained silent. Aang began getting frustrated. This was ridiculous; Gyatso had said there would be someone inside who could help him. So where was this person?

Aang walked deeper into the room, more purposefully, determined to find the room's occupant. He was so focused that he missed the statue that reared up from the gloom and smacked right into it.

"Ow…" Aang murmured, rubbing his head. He looked up at the statue to see it was of a woman, average height, with long hair and a robe trimmed in fur. A Water Tribe woman, then. Aang realized there were many statues, all of them lined up on the floor. He continued past the woman, noting a man from the Fire Nation, an Air Nomad, and a tall man dressed in the garb of an Earth Kingdom general. Aang realized that the statues weren't just lined up on the floor; they were arranged in a spiral. A glance up to the far 

wall revealed that the spiral continued past the floor, as the statues stood in grooves that wound their way up the room, until they were lost in the darkness above.

Now Aang was annoyed. Statues? This was the big secret behind the big door? How were statues supposed to help him?! He angrily turned and kicked the nearest one, which only resulted in a pain in his foot.

"Stupid statues…stupid Gyatso…what am I supposed to do?!" Aang screamed at the statue he had just kicked, and found his anger evaporating at the sight of its face.

It was a statue of a firebender, tall, regal, with a long beard and hair, and a decorative flame crown in his topknot. His face was stern, and Aang could've sworn he was examining Aang with those stone eyes.

"Avatar Roku…" Aang breathed. He had never seen the statue before, or the man that it depicted. He just knew, the way he knew his own name. He also knew that Avatar Roku was the Avatar before him, though he had no idea how he knew this either. He suddenly felt very foolish for his anger, and embarrassed at having kicked the statue.

"So sorry…" he whispered, backing up slowly. It was time for him to leave. Another thing he was inexplicably sure of.

As he left the room, the doors closed behind him, and it was then that it hit Aang who all those statues were. They were all Avatars, which explained the strange sense of connection he'd felt from them. They were him, in a past life.

--

Aang returned to the temple grounds, finding Appa grazing happily near the longhouse. Noticing the long, low building, Aang realized he hadn't looked in it yet. It was thoroughly beaten, its hide roof torn and its walls cracked, but perhaps it held a clue as to what had happened to everyone.

Aang entered the longhouse and received a shock. Dozens of bodies, most near-skeletal, were piled in the room, all of them dressed in Fire Nation armor. Aang felt his breathing go shallow. Firebenders, here? But if that were true, then…

Aang's gaze drifted up to far end of the room, and his breath caught in his throat. Slumped against the far wall was yet another body, but this one was dressed in monk robes, and wore a wooden pendant around its neck.

The same one Gyatso had worn.

"No…" Aang breathed. "No, no, no…" He sank to his knees, feeling the grief wash over him. His master was dead. And not only him, but all of the monks from the Southern Temple. Aang was alone.

The grief began turning to anger as Aang gazed at the mounds of firebender bodies around him. How could they? What gave them the right? What made them think they were better?! Aang let out an anguished cry.

--

Inside the statue room, Avatar Roku's eyes began to glow. Next to him, the eyes of a tall woman wielding a pair of fans began to glow, too.

--



Aang felt the countless consciousnesses of the Avatar State swarm through him, turning his vision into a hazy glow. His anger boiled inside him, and the elements answered in his rage, the air swirling around him in a violent vortex. He felt the power build, and longed to unleash it…and unleash it he did.

--

When Aang came to, he was lying on the ground. He opened his eyes and gazed up into the starry night sky. He could only vaguely remember what he had done during the Avatar State, but a quick glance around told him all he needed to know.

The Southern Air Temple was in ruins, almost all of it leveled by Aang's power. The tallest remaining part was the bottom third of the central tower, the top part having been destroyed. Aang felt grief grip him again; now his home was gone, too.

Through tear-streaked eyes, Aang caught sight of a red horned helmet lying in the snow. He ran to it, picked it up, and threw it as hard as he could off a nearby precipice. He breathed hard, tears still streaming down his face. Fire Nation. Monsters, all of them. They had killed his master, all his friends, and if they had found this temple, they had surely found the others, which meant they had killed his people.

Aang felt his anger harden into resolve. He would make them pay. Every last one. He would use his power as Avatar to break them, force them to feel every bit of the pain he was feeling now.

"APPA!" Aang called. Appa lowed from nearby, and Aang ran to him, leaping onto his back.

"Let's go. We've got things to do. Yip-yip!"

A/N: There's a little button down in the corner marked review. If you would be so kind as to hit it on the way out...