A/N: Just wanted to thank you all for showing so much love for this fic! The topic is so obscure that I was worried about how people would react to the story. So thank each and everyone of you who read, reviewed, favorited, followed, and supported chapter one. Also, a huge thank you to elations for beta-ing this.
"Aang!" Katara smiled, hovering above Avatar's face.
"Katara?" Aang blinked, remembering the time he'd woken up in her arms like this twelve years ago in the iceberg. He sighed, pushing the memory away as he remembered that he hadn't entered the Spirit World normally. "What happened?" Aang asked, sitting up. The rest of his friends were in a loose semi-circle around him, which reminded him he had been sparring with Toph at Zuko's beach house.
"You passed out." Suki frowned.
"I told you guys, he was just scared that I was going to beat him. The fear was too much for him and he passed out." Toph tried to joke around, but her lighthearted tone was forced. Aang rubbed the back of his head, feeling a little embarrassed.
"Are you alright though?" Zuko asked, holding a hand out to help Aang up, which the airbender accepted gratefully.
"I'm fine you guys. I was called into the Spirit World. That's all." Aang smiled, trying to brush it off. When he noticed his friends staring at him he looked away, trying to wipe nonexistent dirt off his pants. He was arguing with himself inside his head. Everything the airbender stood for told him not to lie or leave things out, but he felt a strange responsibility to protect Korra.
"What do you mean 'called into the Spirit World'? I thought you could only go into the Spirit World when you meditated into it." Sokka asked suspiciously, standing and helping his girlfriend up. The others looked at Aang expectantly. The Avatar chewed on his lip, thinking. He still wasn't sure if he should tell his friends about Korra until he met her in person and saw that she was real.
"Raava called me." It wasn't a complete lie. If Korra really was telling the truth then part of the Avatar Spirit, part of Raava, was inside of her too. The three of them were tethered; intertwined in a way nobody else would truly understand.
"Raava?" Katara put her hands on her hips, looking skeptically at her friend. "I've known you for twelve years Aang! Spill! Now!" Aang sighed, there were no secrets between friends on Team Avatar.
"Let's go inside, I have to talk to you all and I don't want anyone else overhearing." The Avatar led his friends into the house and sat at the kitchen table, waiting for them to settle in.
"What's up Twinkle Toes?" Toph asked, propping her feet up on Zuko's dining room table. Aang sighed at the nickname, he was twenty-four years old, a fully realized Avatar, yet Toph still felt the need to call him by the embarrassing name. Aang decided to let it go for now and looked at each of his friends before speaking.
"I wasn't lying. Raava pulled me into the Spirit World."
"Aang you control Raava's spirit, I don't see how that could even be a possibility." Sokka was the one to point out.
"Normally, I'd agree with you." Aang hesitated a little bit, but Zuko pressed him for information.
"What do you mean 'normally'?" Aang sat down at the table, twiddling his thumbs so he wouldn't have to make eye contact.
"I mean… while I was in the Spirit World I met a little girl." Finally the airbender faced his friends.
"She says she's the Avatar."
"Toph, are you sure you didn't hit him in the head with a rock or something?!" Katara looked at Aang like he'd lost it completely. Toph chuckled.
"No, but it would've been funny if I had!" Toph laughed again.
"Hilarious." Sokka shook his head. "Aang, what little girl told you she was the Avatar?" He asked, leaning forward so he wouldn't miss a word.
"Her name is Korra. She's from the Water Tribe and she's twelve years old."
"Well, how could that even be possible? The Avatar is only reborn when the previous one dies. You're not dead." Katara was thinking out loud, not putting the two variables together the way Aang and Korra had.
"Yeah." Suki nodded in agreement. "Besides, I thought only spirits lived in the Spirit World. Not little girls. Maybe it was just a spirit playing games with you."
"Spirits don't play games like that. I think you guys are missing the point. Korra was born twelve years ago, when I died." Aang sighed, about to explain when Zuko spoke up.
"When you died..." Zuko hung his head in shame. "Azula hit you with her lightning twelve years ago while we were fighting with you and Katara." He didn't like thinking back to the fight in the Crystal Catacombs, it was one of the darkest times in his life.
"Wait! What?" Suki was lost, she hadn't been there for the fight that had left Aang lifeless before Katara revived him.
"I sorta… died… in that fight." Aang looked up at Suki sheepishly.
"You really died?!" The shock was clear on her face.
"Katara brought him back. She had some water from the Spirit Oasis at the North Pole that was supposed to have special healing properties." Zuko explained, turning his face away from the others. He was remembering how Katara had almost used the water to heal his scar not long before the fight broke out. Katara hugged his arm, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Quickly she kissed his scar, knowing what he was thinking about and how it hurt him to remember his past.
"Korra and I were talking about it. I'm almost positive she was born during those few minutes that I was dead. It makes sense. Water would've been the next element in the Avatar cycle and Korra's twelve."
"So what you're saying is you think the Avatar Spirit… split?" Katara asked, trying to understand what Aang was trying to get at.
"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Aang smiled, relieved that someone finally had an idea of what he was talking about.
"So what are we going to do about it?" Toph asked, putting her feet down and resting her elbows on the table.
"I told Korra that I would meet her in person so we could figure it out together. She lives in Republic City."
"Well, we're coming with you." Sokka crossed his arms. "You aren't going anywhere near this Korra kid without us."
"Agreed." Toph stood up. "She could be using this as a plot to kill you and claim the Avatar Spirit for herself." Aang's eyes went wide. How could his friends think his new little sister was capable of even thinking such things at twelve years old?
"I don't think Korra's going to hurt me. She thinks I'm her brother…" Aang tried to explain.
"Well it can't hurt to have us there to welcome her to our group." Zuko pointed out, trying to be the voice of reason for a change.
"Zuko's right Aang. How can you be going to meet this little girl without Team Avatar to back you up?" Katara smiled.
"Well… I guess…" Aang sighed, not totally convinced, but he felt like there was nothing he could do otherwise. "I want to leave as soon as possible. Go get ready if you're really coming with me."
About a half an hour later Aang and the rest of Team Avatar were situated in Appa's saddle. Aang commanded him to take to the skies, letting a few minutes go by before he turned to look at his friends.
"Guys… I may have forgotten to tell you a tiny, little detail about Korra." He looked squeamish as the group collectively glared at him. As if a second Avatar wasn't bad enough.
"What could you possibly have left out!?" Zuko yelled, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.
"I may have forgotten to tell you that she never told anyone important that she's the Avatar."
"Oh come on! That's ridiculous!" Sokka yelled, crossing his arms in annoyance. Aang frowned thinking back to how he hadn't told Katara or Sokka that he was the Avatar when they first found him. He sympathized with Korra.
"It's not ridiculous!" Aang yelled. "She's just scared Sokka! You would be too if you were in her shoes!" Aang shook his head, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. After he had regained his composure he went on. "Only four people knew before she told me. Her parents don't even know."
"So we're just going to show up and tell her parents that she's the Avatar?" Katara rolled her eyes. "Aang, the White Lotus would have found her by now and told her parents if she was the Avatar. I'm still not buying it." Katara sighed, leaning back into Zuko's chest. Aang rolled his eyes, frustrated.
"The White Lotus wouldn't have even been looking for her Katara! There was no reason for them to start looking while I'm still alive." A hint of annoyance was starting to settle into the Avatar again. Korra deserved the benefit of the doubt, but his friends didn't seem to agree.
"Twinkle Toes, I don't want to burst your bubble here, but you're the only one who thinks this girl is really the Avatar." Toph closed her eyes, resting against the pile of supplies the group had brought with them.
"Listen up! All of you!" Aang couldn't hide how upset their comments were making him anymore. "You guys aren't going to say another negative thing about Korra until you meet her and can prove to me one way or the other who's right! Until then she's the Avatar and you're going to talk about her the same way you would if it was me! Got it?" Aang took a deep breath, turning back around to face the open sky in front of him. He shook his head, one nagging thought occupying his mind... Please let her be telling the truth.