Disclaimer: So yep…still don't own nothin but mah mind. I apologize that dis chapter isn't as long and that it took me a while tah update, but I hope ya still like it! Please review! If ya have suggestions or constructive criticism plz tell me. Also, I need an idea and/or topic for another Zutara fic. If you get an idea please share. Until Later mah little French Toast minions!

Avatar MY WAY! Chapter 2: The Spirit World

"Whaaat?" Stef looked completely dumbfounded.

"Air and Fire. Your elements. You are Air and Jenalise is Fire." Marcy tried to explain.

"I don't get it…" I said.

"Of course you don't sweetie. It's okay. Let us explain" Mrs. Gonzalez started. "I am Ametsuchi, the goddess of Earth."

"Like Mother Nature?" Stef asked.

"No, hun. There is no mother nature. There are only the spirits and gods of the elements and then there are mortals. I am the goddess of Earth. Which means I am the ultimate Earth Bender. I taught the badger-moles how to bend rock and in turn they taught the humans. My benders have excelled far in Earth Bending. Those who live in the desert learned to Sand bend and Dirt bend. I even have a bender who learned to metal bend! She is the only known metal bender in the world. But enough of that. I am followed by all Earth people because I am the patron goddess of the Earth Kingdom." She finished with a warm smile. Randy spoke up next.

"First, I'd like to say my real name is Aeris and I am the patron god of Air. I taught the bison how to bend and they showed humans." He stopped and moved his hand in a circular motion. Automatically, a small tornado formed around his hand. Stefania reached out to touch it but before she could he made it vanish. "Unfortunately, all my people have been killed off by the Fire Nation in the devastating war that's occurred for the past one-hundred years. I placed you in the non-bending world to keep you safe. You," He turned to Stef. "…and one other boy, The Avatar, are the only Air Benders left." He choked up a bit but soon regained his composure. "Stef, the picture on your case for your air staff is of a flying bison and of the Western Air Temple where you're originally from. The bison has arrows to show the flow of wind and air. All of my people are given blue arrow tattoos to show they are Air Nomads. Generally, all my people are vegetarians, also. Especially the monks" Stefania growled and I laughed. Randy smirked and added "But since you grew up in the modern human world, you don't have to have tattoos or become either one of those." As he finished, Marcy got excited and declared it her turn.

"And I am one of the patron goddesses of the water tribe. I am the moon spirit. I wasn't originally, though. My real name is Yue, former princess of the Northern Water Tribe. I am actually only 16 years old, not 18. As a baby, I was weak and didn't have strength to survive on my own, so my parents asked the original moon spirit, whom you know as Mr. Stewart to help me. But his real name is La." She paused to cough. "Excuse me. But unfortunately, in a Fire Nation raid on the Northern Water Tribe a few months ago, he was killed in his Earthly form-a white koi fish in the Spirit Oasis-and can no longer exist in the real world. So, I sacrificed myself and am now the moon Spirit. The Avatar and his friends helped save my city from devastation to which we are all eternally grateful. Oh yeah! Almost forgot! My people, Water Benders, learned from the original Moon Spirit how to push and pull and bend water just like he did as the moon. Also, Tui is the other patron god of the Water Nation, he is the ocean spirit. You won't be meeting him because he's busy with rebuilding the Northern Water Tribe and healing the Spirit Oasis."

Agni/Mr. Cuzzone was next in line to talk. "I am the god of Fire and my name is Agni. You, my dear Jenalise, are a Fire Bender. You hold in you great power and passion and I know, with a couple months of training, you will become a master. Anyway, I am basically the sun. I taught the dragons to breathe fire who in turn taught my people how to harness and control their inner flame. The first human Fire Benders were called the Sun Warriors. Fire Benders are able to summon and bend fire to their every command. Unfortunately, Fire Benders nowadays control their fire through fury and fury alone. Not only is that unhealthy for Fire Benders, it is also the cause of destruction, but my people can't see that. They have forgotten the true ways of fire bending. Fire is supposed to burn from passion, not anger. Fire is all colors and all are beautiful. It is beauty itself. It sheds light and provides life, not destroys and causes darkness and sorrow. It's horrific, the hardships and struggles my nation has caused the other nations to endure. I am shamed by them." He finished on a sad note.

Stef and I stared at the four of them still utterly confused. "What the heck is a bender?" We asked in unison.

The man in the red robes with the white beard put a reassuring hand on Agni's shoulder. He then spoke. "Benders can control one of the four elements: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. However, not everyone is a bender. All mortals in the Avatar world are also each from a different nation/group in the world. Water benders and mortals of Water decent are either from the Northern or Southern Water Tribes. Ametsuchi's benders and humans are from the Earth Kingdom; Agni's benders and humans are of the Fire Nation. However, there is one difference with the Air Nomads. Everyone who has Air Nomad blood is or will be an Air Bender. There are no normal mortals, or as we call them 'non-benders', in the Air Temples." He paused when he saw our faces get slightly understanding looks to them, then continued. "There are also Avatars which are born right after the previous passes on. Avatars are benders who are born with the ability to master all the elements, like me. Every time an avatar passes a new one is born into the next nation in the cycle. The cycle goes like this: Air, Water, Earth, then Fire.

"I am Avatar Roku. I was born over 100 years ago, am originally a Fire Bender and was best friends with the Fire Lord at the time: Fire Lord Sozin. Sozin wanted complete power and formed a plan to dictate the world and completely betrayed me. Now the world is in a state of chaos and peril because his bloodline has decided to continue this war. Azulon (Sozin's son), Ozai (Azulon's son), Princess Azula and Prince Zuko (Ozai's children) are continuing the war."

"Wait, so what does dis have tah do wit us?" I asked.

Roku pondered over how to explain it to us. "Well, you see, you two are unbelievably powerful benders. We didn't want such mighty benders to be put into the wrong hands. So when you were young, we brought you into the Spirit World to live and then put you into the Modern Human World to live for the last few years. Those, such as you are born only every once in a while. Benders like you are also very beautiful, physically and mentally, like spirits, and any mortal who sees you will be captured by your radiance. They will not necessarily fall in love with you, but they can't deny your unearthly beauty. This is because you, along with Avatars, are able to communicate with the gods and spirits. Also, you're as good in your one element as an Avatar is in all four. You also have unbelievable combat and warrior skills which means if worst came to worst, you could fight quite easily with hand-to-hand combat and/or weapons."

"Nice. But why are we," I said gesturing between Stef and I. "So powerful? What defines us so that we're different from other benders." Stef nodded in agreement and her eyebrows furrowed.

"You're bloodline."

"Our what?" Stef looked at Avatar Roku.

"You" He pointed at Stefania. "Are a direct descendent of an Air Nation spirit and a human. Your father was a patron spirit of the Air Nation who fell in love with your mother, a human, which is very rare. And you," He pointed at me. "Are a direct descendent of a Fire Nation spirit and a human. Your mother was a goddess of the flame and your father was a mortal." We were still a little confused. "Hmm, let's see...maybe I can show you instead of explaining…" We looked at him like he was insane, then we looked at each other and I knew we were thinking the same thing. Maybe we're insane...considering we are standing in the middle of a glowing-whatever this place is-surrounded by people who are claiming to be gods, saying that people can control the elements and telling us there's different dimensions of time…nahh it's pretty much the usual… I mentally laughed at the sarcasm of my last thought.

Suddenly I got very dizzy. "What the heck? Whas goin on! Errrg mah heeeeaaad…" I turned to see Stef hunched over looking like she was going to barf and she was groaning.

Yue and Ametsuchi ran up to us to help us. Aeris looked extremely worried and irritated. "Roku! What is the meaning of this!" Agni yelled.

"Be patient. I am giving them the information in the form of memories. These memories are not only theirs, but are also the memories of their people as well as other nations' people."

And then suddenly the pain was gone and I was standing outside of what appeared to be a small home carved out of a mountain. I looked around and only saw Stef next to me. She looked just as confused as I as we looked around at the huge stone city and gigantic temple infront of us. The temple was built perfect so the sun was directly above it, shining out across the whole city. The city was full of dragons, tiny, medium and ginormous, and tons of people dressed in some sort of tribal garb with red paint in intricate designs on their faces. The people walking by didn't even seem to notice us as they continued on with their chores. Some of them were talking and I recognized the language. It's Spanish! I thought. I turned to Steph to ask if she recognized it but by the look on her face, I knew that she had.

To the left of us was what looked like a training arena. There was a group of small children, maybe about 3-5 years old, all standing infront of an old man and a dragon. For some reason I wasn't weirded out by this. It felt like...well I didn't know what to call it at the time...but it felt like home. I motioned for Steph to follow me and we walked to the arena. We walked around to the front so we stood on the left side of the man and not near the huge dragon. The man began some movements of which I recognized as the basic, first-level steps of Northern Shaolin Kung Fu from the app on my iPod. The children copied them and as soon as the man saw they got the hang of it…his fists spurted fire! Both of us looked surprised and wore unbelieving expressions. No…I thought. Das not possible!

Stef's head cocked and her eyes widened as the flames were shot out. They looked as if they were aimed to hit her. She moved to the side with an amazing speed neither of us knew she possessed. She barely made it out of the "line of fire." Literally…

"Yo! Guy wit da weird facial paint and da palm-leaf clothing. Could ju tell us where we're at please?" I asked the man who appeared to be instructing the children on how to do…whatever it was he just did. Then, thinking he didn't hear me, I screamed it in Spanish. Nothing. I looked at Stefania who heard me loud and clear and she shrugged. That was when I realized that no one could see or hear us and that nothing in the mortal world could touch us. We were literally spirits. It's like we had walked back in time.

We kept walking. There were fire benders battling one another, I can only expect that they were practicing. And again, as I said before, I wasn't afraid or freaked out. It felt normal. Actually, scratch that. I was freaked out, but not at this whole new world I had just been introduced to all of a sudden. Nope. I was freaked out at the fact that I wasn't scared of all of this weird, almost magic-like stuff. Then, once again, a thought hit me like a ton of bricks and everything came back. Avatar Roku said these were our memories and those of our people. Memories…dat's it! I'm remembering what life in dis city was like before da war they keep talking about all started…these are mah people. These are da memories of mah people. I remember now! I was born a Sun Warrior! I looked around me. Stef noticed I had stopped walking. I remember where everything is. Dat's da bathing hall over there on da right. This is the main street with all the markets and merchants. On that side is the path that leads to the poorer village-like area of the city. Dat's da dragon birth area where baby dragons are born… I blinked and turned my head around to see Stef standing behind me.

She was staring at me with concern in her eyes but I nodded to reassure her that I was fine, that I had a small headache, which wasn't a lie. This was too much to handle. "I bet that stupid pain we got was how they put us here-wherever here is." Stefania said staring at the ground.

I stretched my arms out over my head. I then leisurely laced my fingers behind my neck with my elbows sticking out on the sides. I smirked and began to walk without hurry because I knew exactly where we had to go. "Follow me." I said nodding to her.

The realization hit her. "Ohhhh…these must be your people like Roku said." She blinked in shock. "You're getting memories, huh?"

"OH yeah." I nodded.

She growled. "You probably know where to go and what to do, too." She replied under her breath. I smirked. She hated not knowing stuff, it bugged her big time.

I stopped dead in my tracks to an entrance to a room full of benders and dragons, each doing the same moves at precisely the same moment. There were twenty-six of them, each person had a dragon as a partner so there were thirteen groups. They appeared to be doing a dance of some sort but apparently they were bending moves because fire was bursting from their hands, feet and mouths. Ohhhkay…mouths…that's really not normal…

None of the faces looked familiar. Yet I couldn't help but stare hoping that if I stared a person down long enough, they'd see me and begin to explain what the heck was going on. No such luck.

"Do you know them?" Stef asked nudging me.

I shook my head "I guess not."

I kept moving forward through rocky terrain and dusty paths until we had exited the market area and entered the main part of the city that was full of life; Stef following behind all the while mumbling something about "Stupid, ghetto, know-it-all Puerto Rican chicks." I laughed and smirked. She knew I heard her and squinted her gray eyes at me.

Finally I stopped walking; we had arrived at our destination.My eyes suddenly widened as I looked up at a grand palace. I imagined that the chief or royal family lived there. And dats where I was born! Wait, BORN? WHAT? DIS IS SO WEIRD! I'm REMEMBERING WHEN AND WHERE I WAS BORN! AHHHH! I started spazzing out inside my head. If all dis is actually real and true, then Stef and I are benders! And being born in da palace of the Sun Warriors would mean I was royal! AM I ROYAL? That's why I feel so at home here! EERRG!…dis is maaaad weird yo! I can remember mah birth, which no person ever can, but I can't remember anything after dat or anything about mah family! By this time, I can imagine I was hyperventilating cause Stefania had started pointing and laughing at me. Yeahhh….that's the kind of friendship we have. First, laugh your butt off and point, theeeennn see if your friend is okay…all the while still laughing of course.

Finally, when I had regained my composure, I decided to walk inside the grand stone Sun palace, Stef still following behind. Once we reached the main foyer, I felt something pulling me to walk up the huge stairway leading to right wing of the palace.

"Woahhh…" I heard Stef and I say in unison. The palace was absolutely amazing. Reds, oranges, deep purples and rich blues, bright yellows and shining gold and silver decorated the walls, ceiling and floors. The tapestry was tribal-like and there was pottery and figurines, made of metal and clay, on pedestals all throughout the grand hall. We passed several ornately designed doorways and finally came to three corridors; one going straight and one branching off on either side.

"Which one?" Stef questioned.

I looked toward each hall. I felt a presence pulling me down the left. "This one." I nodded toward my selected hall and began walking once again.

I suddenly heard a baby's cry and came to an abrupt halt right outside out of a room whose gigantic doors were slightly ajar. I motioned for Stef to join me as we peered through the gap.

"There's tons of people in the way." she said. "Come on. Let's go inside." She pushed open the doors to see a massive group of people. Some looked like temple workers, others like servants and the two in the middle appeared to be the chief and his queen. Everyone was staring in awe at the middle of the circle they had made. The royals were in the middle and the queen was holding a small bundle who I could only guess was the newborn heir. I remember this…but I don't at the same time.

"That is nonsense. Why the heck is the baby glowing?" Stef asked.

I looked at the bundle once again to see a blinding, yet incredible and beautiful light burst from the wrappings of the small child. Why is the baby glowing? Who is the baby anyway and why did the spirits send us here? I thought. The baby giggled and burped. Different colored fire came out of its mouth every time it gave a tiny belch. The mass of people suddenly gasped and stared at the child in wonder.

I started moving towards the glowing baby, but then stopped dead in my tracks. The baby's golden eyes, tan skin, Hispanic-looking face and black hair were exactly like mine; it all matched me. The small child suddenly looked right at me. I didn't know if she was looking in my general direction or if she could really see me. But then she smiled. I started looking around and the baby moved her head around. I raised my arm and the baby raised her arm. I kicked my left leg and the child mimicked me. Wow, she's smart and really strong for a baby. Newborn children are not supposed to be able tah do dat! Every single thing that baby did matched me like a twin. The only difference: a twin is a completely different person from their matching sibling, even though they are more alike than normal siblings. This baby was the exact same person as someone in that room…

"Kid," Stef addressed me. "Who is that baby?" Stefania asked pushing her brown curls off to the side.

"It's me." I deadpanned. Stef whipped her head around to look at me. I swear, if she had done it any faster, her head would have separated from her neck. I stared at her with a blank expression and then back at the baby. How can I remember mah birth? Dis is crazy, maaan. Maaaad crazy. Then suddenly the ground shook and the massive headache came again…

Chapter 3 will be in Stef's pov and it will be her memories at the Western Air Temple. Please review this chap! Thanks for reading!