A/N: Okay, so this is my first real attempt at my own fic. I love reading everyone else's so i figured its time to try my hand. Please let me know if its any good, iv got the second half fully written and ready to upload if this ones ok! :)
As the years progressed, he had found that being the Avatar had its good sides. He was offered free lodgings and food wherever he went on official "Avatar duty" as Sokka had started to put it. Unknown to those who gave it, though, he would always leave at least a few silver pieces behind after he left, feeling the need to compensate those who's hospitality had been so readily offered. There was the satisfaction in feeling his obligations fulfilled, his part played in the grand scheme of things, doing his duty to the world he still felt he had abandoned all those years ago. And there were the fan girls. Oh, the fan girls...
However, it clearly brought about its downsides as well. No matter how much he travelled, how much he gave, how much he invested of himself, there was still something not quite right. World council meetings descended into plain bickering and squabbling, with lame threats being handed out left, right and centre, with no actual progress on the rebuilding of the world. That, and the fact that the constant travelling all over the world had eventually driven his friends from him.
Zuko's duty was with the Fire Nation, trapped in the palace and seemingly unable to help at the council meetings, constantly being undermined by his aides and advisors who seemed hell-bent on seizing what little power they had been granted.
Toph had returned to the Earth Kingdom, not back to her family, but with old Iroh in his Jasmine Dragon, in the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se. Unknown to her however, when she returned to Gaoling to fight in the Earth Rumble tournaments which had become world famous as a challenge to the might of the Blind Bandit, her parents were present at every fight, cheering their voices hoarse for their little princess Toph.
And of course, the most painful separation. Sokka and Katara had been duty bound to return to the Southern Water Tribe, to begin the long process of healing, rebuilding, and restoring the tribe to a glory to match its sister. Much to his annoyance, he still could not bring himself to write to them. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because it hurt too much to think of her. Gone.
It took five years. Five years of constant bickering, arguing, and bitter slanging matches before the Avatar had had enough. Enough of the petty, childish game of politics, and he was filled with a desire to put an end to the squabbling.
Months it took him. First, the consultations with his previous lives. Roku told him it was necessary. Kyoshi told him it was nothing unlike what she herself had done to create her eponymous island. Kuruk told him he had done exactly the same thing hundreds of years ago, faced with the same issues, not from the world leaders necessarily, but from those who sought to undermine the balance brought to the world by having this council.
Next came the preparation. Invitations were sent out, to every world leader, to every one of his aides and advisors, to all the people who were rich and powerful enough to possibly turn one nations head away from the desire for peace. And no-one, not a single soul, was brave enough to reject a direct request from the Avatar that they convene in one place, at one time.
The day came, and hundreds of people were milling restlessly about in a relatively remote area of the Earth kingdom, when a huge wall of rock suddenly disappeared from one side of them. Only Toph, who could feel the source of the commotion through her feet, smiled as she realised who had just collapsed an entire rock wall without even raising his heartbeat.
"It's been a long time Twinkletoes," she whispered to herself.
"COME!" The voice boomed out through the dust, the authority of a thousand lives coursing through the swirling remains of rock, which promptly vanished, flattened to the floor and forming a path through the gap which every person present immediately followed.
What they saw, astounded them.
Four huge metal stands, bended to accommodate every person he had invited, surrounded a huge earthbended pit surrounded by torches and huge troughs of water. Wordlessly, and without thinking to segregate into nations, the stands were slowly filled, and darkness took over the sky. Standing on top of the rock wall, Aang smiled with content.
He was going to put on a show they would never forget. Ever.
He dropped down, earthbending himself into the floor and below the people above him, surfacing again in the middle of the floor as if swimming. It was too dark for him to be seen yet, and using airbending, he raised his voice till it seemed the words came from the gods themselves.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN OF THE WORLD." His still childish at heart nature almost stopped him in a fit of giggles when he felt the effect of the words through his feet, the way Toph had taught him all those years ago.
"I have gathered you here tonight for one reason. Five years ago, I returned from my accidental self-imprisonment. The world was in a state of chaos. Fire Lord Ozai had nearly completed his grandfathers mission – to take over the entire world. I returned, and promised people a time of peace unlike any ever seen before, where the pain, loss and suffering of a hundred years of war would be slowly soothed and healed until the nations could live as one world once more."
He paused here, his voice gathering a sombre tone.
"Yet still, in these three monthly councils, I hear voices of dissent, of disrespect for other nations, of a desire for revenge, for war, for blood. This is not what I promised this land. For five years, I have tried to stop these lustful desires for power. I was taught by the monks to covet nothing, to love freely, and to guard nothing with jealousy. So I stand here before you to tell you."
He gathered his breath once again.
"I WILL, NOT, TOLERATE THIS!"
A howling wind rushed through the crowd, chilling them to their very bones with the thought of what was to come. A huge fireball lit the sky, some screamed, some purely stared as a raging spout of air punctured the fireball, splitting it into one hundred tiny fragments which dropped down towards the crowd.
Several cowered in fear as the flames grew nearly, only for them to land perfectly on the torches arranged around the pit. The sudden light revealed him.
Avatar Aang. The boy who had defeated one of the most powerful non-Avatar firebenders ever seen, during the presence of Sozin's comet. Only, he was no longer a boy. Shirtless, he stood atop a tower of air, bowed in the gesture of respect. Eighteen years of age, the youngest, and most powerful fully realised Avatar in the history of all his past lives. Hard muscles had slightly bulked out his once skinny frame. Several of the girls in the stands blushed, but no-one could dare to raise even a cat-call.
The wind suddenly vanished, and he dropped down to the uneven rocks of the pit below, landing soundlessly like the lemur companion that had become one of his trademarks.
"I have mastered every bending discipline there has ever been.
Airbending, taught to me by the Air Nomads. I was the youngest master they ever trained.
Waterbending, taught to me by Master Pakku and the Lady Katara.
Earthbending, taught to me by the greatest earthbender in this world, Toph Bei Fong.
Firebending, taught to me by Fire Lord Zuko, and the dragons of the Sun Warriors.
Sandbending, taught to me by the sandbenders of the Si Wong desert and Toph Bei Fong
Bloodbending, taught to me by the Lady Katara.
Metalbending, taught to me by Toph Bei Fong.
Lightning, taught to me by General Iroh, Dragon of the West.
And energybending...."
The deliberate vagueness of the last sentence was lost on those who had truly forgotten the power of an Avatar.
And Aang began his show.
Let me know if you like and second half will be up!