[A/N: It's so sad that I can't answer to your reviews properly! ; ^ ; You can always ask questions on my tumblr account: Chichinatsu. Well, someone asked if Adrien isn't supposed to be 16 like Zuko. But I've changed everyone's age, because I like those ages more. There would be some scenes what I would feel more comfortable if they are not kids or something. So I changed their ages to kinda 17-20, Plagg being older but not as old as Iroh. Oh and yes, I'm now so hooked up with this fanfiction, I got really great ideas and my friend, also my beta, kittycatinblue also helps me out with it. I will not end it till I will announce it would be my final chapter. xD Also, I really want to thank you so much for such kind reviews! I'm glad that you all like the Avatar!AU idea! :D No further talking now, enjoy reading my lovely readers~]
It was a stormy night, he could feel the strong wind against his skin.
The rain showering down like there's no tomorrow. He tried to calm Wayzz down, but he couldn't. He was also starting to panic as his bison was flying lower, to let the wild waves of the sea touch them.
The waves took them into the ocean, deep down. Nino and Wayzz wanted to get out of the water, but are too weak against the stream of the water.
Both almost drowning to death, feeling like his grip loosened and let go of the reins. As he was drifting off, sinking unconscious into the water, his eyes and arrow tattoos suddenly started to glow brightly.
He slams his fists together, creating a bluish-white sphere that encases Wayzz and himself. As the air sphere slowly solidifies into an icy globe, a voice permeates the dream.
"Hey Nino. Nino, wake up." Nino shoots up, throwing the covers of his body and gasping for air. That dream felt really real, so he can't help but trying to gasp for some air. He looked around and saw Marinette sitting next to him.
"Don't worry, it was just a nightmare. You're safe here, we're at the village now. I will wait for you outside, I want to introduce you to the village." She smiled and get out of the tent. Nino looked around for a while and sighed out of relief, remembering how he got in this village.
The nightmare wasn't a dream actually, it really happened but how could he tell that to his new friend? He got out of the tent, seeing that Tikki was sitting next to the door of the tent. She looked up and smiled at Nino.
"Good morning." Nino smiled back at her and greeted her too. He then walked to Marinette, standing next to her, looking at some people in front of him.
"Nino, this is the entire village. The one standing in the middle is my grandmother. Entire village, this is Nino." Nino bows respectfully toward the villages and then waved at them with a cheerful smile. However, the villagers, mostly the children, cower away in fear. Nino and Marinette were actually surprised to see that and Nino looked at himself. "Do I look that frightening?"
The oldest woman, stepped forward out of the line with a kind smile on her face. "No dear. It's just that no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughters found you. Oh and you can call me Ayi by the way."
"Extinct?" Nino thought shocked and disbelieved it. Wait, she also said in hundred years. How can that even be possible? The last time he remembered about airbenders was in the air Nomads, there were a lot of airbenders like him. Maybe the people on the South Pole just don't go outside in the world? That could be quite possible actually.
He slowly nodded, noticing that Tikki was standing next to him, staring at his staff.
"Is that something you use as weapon or as tool for something related to airbending?" She asked out of curiosity. Nino looked at his staff and smiled brightly at her, opening his staff into a glider. Everyone gasped and looked with wonder at it.
The children got excited and pointed at it. "It's magic! Do it again, mister!" Nino looked at those children with one eyebrow up, while Marinette and Tikki were trying to hide their giggling behind their hands.
"Hey kids, I'm only 18… Well, almost. Anyway, I'm still young like these two ladies. So call me big bro, okay?" He smiled at them, petting the head of a boy.
"Besides, this isn't magic. It's what you call airbending. It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly." He moved his glider around him, visually demonstrating what he was talking about.
The kids got even more excited and surrounded him to get a closer view on the staff what was now a glider.
"Want to see me fly, kids?" He smirked and the children cheered and begged to see it. He chuckled and took a step back, making some space around him.
"Alright, here I go~" Nino grabbed hold of his glider and pushes himself off the ground, making the others cover their faces against the sudden wind. The village stared in awe as Nino made some loops and turns in the sky. Tikki was very impressed by the way he was flying and clapped her hands when he landed in front of them.
"That was amazing, Nino! I never thought I would see someone fly in the sky like that." Nino grinned at her, rubbing the back of his head. "That was nothing, haha." Marinette chuckled and left with her grandmother to do some chores, leaving Tikki and Nino behind.
"So Nino, what are you planning to do now?" Tikki asked after a while, taking her spear and ready to go somewhere. Nino shrugged and looked at Tikki and then at the spear. "You're going somewhere?" She followed his gaze and looked at the spear, waving her hand and smiled.
"No, no. I'm just bringing my spear along. I don't want to leave it behind where the children could play with it. That would be very dangerous. I'm going to teach the girls how to do chores. After that I will teach the boys some basic defend fighting skills. They must protect the ones they love after all, even though they are pretty young. But the earlier you begin, the better you would be in the future. That's what I believe in. It needs to be done when we're in war after all."
Nino hold his hand up, wanting her to stop talking. "Wait, did you just say war? Are we in war? When did this happen?" Tikki looked dumbfounded at Nino, like he's from another planet. Then she thought back about the iceberg.
"How long have you actually been in that iceberg? No, that's a stupid question. I will explain this to you. A hundred years ago, the Fire nation attacked, they started the war. We're still at war, but I think the Fire nation is close to its victory. It's already been hundred years after all…" She sighed sadly and saw that Nino was still trying to get all those information in his head.
"Maybe I should let you think about it for a while, I will go to the girls in that tent. If you need me, you can find me there." She pointed at the big in the middle of the village and walked away.
Of course he needs some time alone, it would come to a big shock to know that he's been in that iceberg for hundred years. So he's basically already 118 years old, that might be a new record. He just sat down and played with his staff, thinking about everything.
"This is all my fault…" He mumbled, realizing that it's because he wasn't there for the world, the world had to suffer hundred years fighting in the war. He looked at the young boys playing with each other. Thinking that hundred years ago, the same boys got older and had to fight in the war against the Fire nation.
And where was he the whole time? He was running away from the Air Nomads and ending up in an iceberg!
"Hey, what's wrong Nino?" He looked up in surprise, not noticing Marinette standing in front of him for who knows how long. He stood up quickly, using his airbending again.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Just thinking that I'm actually 118 years old, pretty old right? I'm already just as old as a turtle should be, besides having any wisdom." He laughed uncomfortably, more like he forced to cheer himself up, Marinette noticed that, not really caring about his age, she did kind of expect that when he was sleeping the iceberg. He still looks like an eighteen years old guy to her and that's all that counts.
She smiled at him, holding her hands behind her back and walked somewhere off. "Hey, you wanted to go penguin sledding right? Follow me." She walked towards a place where a lot of penguins are and Nino was amazed at the sign of it.
"Wow, this is amazing! I want to penguin sled man, that's seems so cool~!" He quickly ran down towards the penguins, making them run away from him. He stopped and looked back at Marinette with an awkward laugh.
"I'm actually good with animals you know." Marinette chuckled hold her hands into her sleeves. "I can see that. Want me to teach you how to catch a penguin?" He looked at her with a happy bright smile and nodded "Hell yeah!"
Marinette let another chuckle slip through her lips and took a fish out of her sleeve. Nino stared at that in wonder and disgust. "Dude… I mean, girl, you had that in your sleeve the whole time?" Marinette blushed and tossed the fish at him.
"N-no, of course not. I put those fishes in…my pocket… Well anyway! With that fish you can win over any penguin~!" She yelled at him cheerfully after seeing him getting surrounded by the penguins after catching the fish.
He laughed as the penguin's swarm over him, pulling him down amidst their ranks.
xxx
Chloé is facing two soldiers dressed in the uniforms of a firebending Fire nation soldier. Another quite old man was standing behind her who looked strictly at her, sighing and shakes his head.
"Again."
Chloé opens the fight by spreading her arms in the direction of the two Firebenders, showering them with flames. Her adversaries block her attack with ease. She shifts her weight to duck under a retaliation blast of the firebender to her left. The firebender to his right jumps forward to am a blast at Chloé's feet. The blond girl propels herself out of the way, glaring at the soldier. She twists around in mid-air and directs another fire blast with her hand to the firebender that retaliated first, and another with her foot to the firebender that aimed for her feet, again.
"Just stop aiming for my feet already!" She screamed as she shot more flames towards them, what made both soldiers jump out of the way. Chloé lands and stretches her fists out towards her adversaries, ready to face another attack.
The old man sighed in disappointment. "No!" Chloé lowered her arms and glared at the man in annoyance. "Power in firebending comes from the breath," he said as his moves his hands up in front of him to emphasize the breathing motion. "Not the muscles." He stretches his left arm out as if he was sending a fire blast. "The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes: fire!" The man who taught Chloé strictly like a teacher does, directs a fire blast at her that evaporates just before it would scorch him. "Get it right this time, Chloé."
Chloé's face was burning, like it was on fire. She stamped with her foot on the ground.
"What right do you have to talk to me like that, you peasant! You're only teaching me because my dad asked you to! But if you only teach me this stupid set, I can't get to catch the Avatar. Teach me the next set already, old man! I'm more than ready!"She screamed, like a little child. Making the old man sigh again. "Stop sighing already! Just teach me the advanced set!"
The man crossed his arms and looked stern at the girl far younger than him. "You should show more respect to me, Chloé. I may not be as important as your father, but I'm his friend and I'm doing his favor for teaching how to master firebending. Stop acting like a little child and stop being so impatient. Also, I also have a title you must call me by and that is not 'old man'."
"Hmpf, fine, lieutenant Roger." She turned around with her arms crossed, suppressing her anger. "But you WILL teach me the advanced set. The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements! In order to defeat him, I need to know more than the basic firebending. I MUST catch the Avatar… My love for Adrien will make me succeed. Then… He would finally see me."
xxx
After catching one, they both slide down on a protruding iceberg. They soar through the air for a moment before landing on the slope and continuing their journey downwards. They race down and Nino uses another iceberg as a ramp to propel him into the air and to soar over and past Marinette.
She in turn uses the next jump to land next Nino again. The two of them laughed and shouted out as they gleefully ride over snowy bumps.
"This is amazing! I haven't done this for such long time~" Marinette laughed happily and Nino agreed with her. "This is better than I thought it would be! This is so cool~!" Even though he could fly in the sky, it's totally different to sort of fly in the sky while riding on top of a penguin,he dreamed since he was a young child that he must do this once in his life.
The two ride through a tunnel of ice. Marinette is in the lead and tries to hold Nino back by constantly changing her direction when he wants to pass her. Nino didn't really want to lose against her, so he increased his speed with airbending, enabling him to race over the ceiling past her. The tunnel levels out on an open plain of ice where the two get off their rides.
The plain itself is dominated by a large metal ship, elevated and held in place by a large protrusion of ice with the bow pointing toward the sky. Nino gazed curiously at it, wondering what that actually is.
"Wow, what is that?"
He pointed at the ship and noticed Marinette narrowing her eyes, holding her left hand on her right elbow. He wondered if he asked something wrong. "That's… A Fire Navy ship. And it also left a very bad memory to my tribe here." Nino began to approach the wreckage, making Marinette grab his arm to stop him.
"Nino, stop! We're not allowed to go near it! The ship could be booby-trapped!" Nino faced Marinette, seeing the anxiety in her eyes. He put his hand on her hand, slowly pushing her hand away.
"Don't worry, Marinette. This thing seems really old, I don't think there are still some booby-traps inside. Besides… I want to know what inside of it." His tone sounded serious, what made Marinette not stop him again. She looked down, not wanting to go inside of it too. Nino looked back at her and smiled gently at her. "You're not coming?"
Marinette shakes her head, holding her hands together. "If… If I get scared, I might use my waterbending to defend myself. However, my waterbending is unpredictable, what if I hurt you or if I do something what will bring harm to the tribe." She remembered how she broke the big iceberg the day before. She's lucky she didn't hurt her sister with her waterbending.
She now was too scared to use it. If she would get too emotional, she might use it unconsciously again. In this case, if she would get surprised of whatever might lay inside of there, she might want to splash it away with water.
Nino walked back to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Cool, you're a waterbender. I actually didn't know that. But hey, don't worry. I'm here you know. Let's just check out, I'm quite curious what's inside." He smiled, trying to cheer her up.
Too be honest, he is actually quite scared. Not that it would be totally creepy inside and he would be scared of that, no wait, that's what he's scared of. Who wouldn't freak out if they would found some skeletons lying around in this ship?
However, he's mostly scared of the truth of the situation hundred years ago, This ship does seem like it was laying in those abandoned place for a very long time.
he's also scared what he will see inside but he really wants to know what he missed in the century he was sleeping in that stupid iceberg.
Nino hold Marinette's hand as they were going inside, Marinette sill with a scared look upon her face.
The two venture closer toward the ship, Nino helps Marinette to climb some of the blocks of ice that lay beside the ship and they crawl through a hole in the hull of the ship.
The two walk through the silent rooms of the shipwreck. Nino doesn't know what, but he saw something small and white roam the deserted ship.
Nino entered a room stocked with weapons in various places, it gave him the chills when he looked at them.
"This ship has haunted my tribe since Wai Po was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks." Marinette said quite softly, not knowing why she would even talk softly as they were the only ones in the room.
But this room really gives her the creeps, somehow wanting her to talk quietly as the room still echoes her voice.
Nino looked at the weapons and sighed out of disbelief.
He had some friends from all over the world, even from the Fire Nation. He never thought this would happen, that there would be a war, he looked at the exit and walked out of the door, making no remarks.
He walked quietly to another room, still thinking about why the Fire Nation even began with this war, while Marinette was on his trail, He was so busy in his mind that he didn't even notice that there was a string just before him and tripped over it.
"Huh?" He looked down, seeing that his feet are pulling some thin string forward, suddenly he heard metal bars sliding downward over the entrance, barring it and trapping them inside.
Panic started to show in both of their eyes and even more when they heard the gears and engines of the shipwreck suddenly power up, beginning to function.
In shock, Marinette and Nino followed the movements of the machines until suddenly, a flare is fired and explodes high in the sky.
Nino rubbed the back of his head and looked really troubled. "Well, this isn't good. Excuse me, LB. I have to carry you for us to get out of here." He looked at the hole in the roof of the ship and takes a surprised Marinette into his arms, he enhances the power of his jump with his airbending to jump several feet into the air through the hole.
xxx
Prince Adrien saw the signal and looked at Plagg with some terror in his eyes "Plagg, does this mean there are others of the Fire Nation here?" He yelled and quickly took out his telescope, peering towards where the fire signal came from.
He noticed two people, he followed every movement the duo makes as the guy, still holding the girl, jumps down the side of the ship.
"That… is the last airbender. Plagg, it's really him! The Avatar!" He said excited and followed where they were going to run when they landed on the ground, he saw through his telescope that not so further away a small village.
"They seem to get out of an old Fire Nation ship." He sighed of relief, only to notice some smoke of the other side of the big wall of iceberg, he looked at it with a bad feeling, knowing deep down whose ship that might be.
The prince walked towards his uncle and ordered the henchman to stop the ship. "Plagg, we're getting off. I don't want 'her' to know that I'm here. Also, I must protect the Avatar from her! She would only bring harm to him."
He walked inside the ship, walking towards his chamber with Plagg following him lazily. "Adrien, as much as I know that you hate to meet her and want to save the Avatar. You would get noticed as someone from the Fire Nation with those clothes, they look like someone from high rank would wear after all."
"That's why I'm going to change my clothes and use this." He pointed to some commoner's clothes and sort of blank paint. Next to that was a black mask with cat ears on it. It would only hide his upper face, still showing a bit of his nose and mouth. "Do you really think you won't get suspicious if you wear that kinda get up? Hey, if you want me to wear those kinda get up, I'm out."
Two guys on a small boat were going towards the small village, the blond one, dressed in black clothes, two swords on his back and wearing a cat like mask on his face used his firebending to sail with more speed towards the village.
The other guy with sort of black paint around his eyes area and also wearing black clothes sat on the boat too, sulking about the stupid get up. "Oh come on Plagg, it's not that bad."
Plagg glared at him and made a fireball with his hand. "Not bad you say? You brat, if you weren't my nephew, I would kill you for getting me wear something so stupid like this! I mean, just wearing commoner clothes, okay. But why do you have to paint on my eyes and what's with all this black! We are totally suspicious! Don't you think they would capture us right away when they see us? And not to mention your stupid mask. Why does your mask even have cat ears? How did you even get that thing!"
Adrien looked at his angry uncle and shrugged. "I thought the mask is cute you know. And I could feel more like myself wearing those clothes. You know I don't want to be some hot prince all the time. It's not like I'm bringing the heat there and don't worry, I won't get too fired up about this."
Plagg sighed and leaned his forehead on his hand. "Did you really made some fire puns just now?" Adrien smiled at Plagg, really that stupid innocent sheepish smile.
"Yup, but I could also burn you with some cat puns. I'm also purr-etty good with them. Cause I'm wearing a cat mask at the mewment." Plagg looked speechless at his nephew, which made Adrien smirk.
"Cat got your tongue?" Plagg groaned, not wanting to hear anymore.
"Stop, just stop. I love puns, but yours are bad and you use it at a bad timing." He sighed, totally not in the mood for it. Adrien just shrugged it off and didn't say another word.
He stopped using his fire when they got closer to the coast, they got out of the boat and run towards the village, using the snow hills to hide themselves.
A crewman said "If they really want to make themselves not easy to spot, they had to wear some white clothes or at least some water tribe clothes, Now they're just looking like some criminals sneaking towards the village."
Meanwhile, Chloé also of course saw the fire signal. She was ordering everyone to get as fast as they could towards the village. Just like Adrien, she used her own telescope to look at the duo jumping of the old shipwreck. "So you tell me that that brown haired kid is the Avatar? Is this some kind of joke? No wait… He looks like someone around my age… However, he doesn't seem to be so strong at all. And if I use someone…" She peered to the village with her telescope and smirked.
"Someone of that village as hostage. He will surely surrender~" She put the telescope away and looked at Sabrina. "Sabrina, get me my clothes! We're going to bring an Avatar back home."
[A/N: For those who wonder why Marinette calls her grandmother not Gran-Gran like in the Avatar. Wai Po means grandmother of the mother side in Chinese. It's mostly used in South-China. And because I still want Marinette to be Asian, I thought of her calling her grandmother that. Also, Ayi means in Chinese Aunt, it's a respective way to call an elderly woman. So I thought she would want Nino to call her that. ^-^]