Chapter Two

Flattening himself against the wall, Aang tried to meld in with his surroundings. His eyes searched for a quick escaped. An uneasy smile crossed his face. Sorte matched his smile with a much brighter one. Shoving the door aside, Lady Luck- or was it Fate?- walked in. Maybe he should just call her the smoker. She wreaked of it.

The smoker strolled up to the young man. He tried to stand on his toes, yet even with the extra height he gained he only reached Sorte's shoulder. Grabbing the headband, the smoker ripped it off. His hands clasped over his forehead.

"Finally," said Sorte. "I found the avatar!"

"I'm not the avatar," proclaimed Aang, "And you got my name wrong. It's Dawa."

Grabbing the teen by the hands, Sorte pulled them away to revel the blue arrow underneath. "Nope. You're the last airbender. Either that or one of the bravest"- with one hand she added quotation marks- "men in the world."

The avatar chuckled uneasily. "Look, if you're here to free me then that's great. Don't want the guards catching up." He forced a smile. It grew tighter as those silver orbs stabbed into his forehead.

"Let me guess. You have some memories of me?"

"What? You're a pretty lady and all and it would be nice dreams, but we've never met."

"Not in this timeline." Lady Luck stare went straight to Aang's heart. He tried to inch away, but Sorte used her fingers to push his head back into place. "You don't want to believe me. Considering your success during this time line, I can't blame you. Too bad that I have to scatter that faint hope."

With that said Sorte's finger started to glow a dark blue. Aang's eyes widen as another lifetime filled his head. Thawing about, he tried pulling away. Silent screams escaped his mouth. His body went limp and he reclined back on the wall.

The smoker set the avatar down onto the floor. Stepping back, she crossed her arms and waited. Aang gazed off in the distance, while his lips fought to smile or to scowl. After a long minute he rose to his feet and settled intense eyes on the smoker.

"You better have a good reason for being late."

Pouting, the smoker placed a hand over her heart. "No fair. It only took me ten years."

"Hey," shouted a voice outside the room, "what happened here?"

"Explain later." Turning around, the young man held the shackles to the smoker. "Get these off."

"Give me a sec." Stepping back, Sorte raised her left hand. She whipped it down and brushed her fingers against the steel. It hissed as rust spread across the cuff. Aang felt the weight dissolved away. With a tug of his hands the cuff broke away.

"Metal blending?" asked the avatar. "No, it can't do this. At least… what's her name can't do that."

The whine of the door drew both their attentions. Soldiers dressed in earth bending clothing stepped in. Yet the symbol on their hats and their armor deemed them of the Fire Nation. The usual deep green and brown replaced by black and red. Shaking his head, Aang grumbled about his new memories.

Darting to her feet, the smoker assumed her stance, snapped her fingers, and launched a stream of fire. The earthbender scrambled away while shutting the door. Sorte stormed over and tugged at the handle. It refused to budge.

With a roll of the eyes she brush her left hand upon the door. Sounds of surprise came from the other side. Within seconds the entire door became a dark reddish-brown. Grabbing the handle, Sorte tugged and with a gritty rip it pulled open.

"Ready?" While the smoker did her work, Aang pulled on his boot. He tied on his headband with a wide smile on his face.

"Let go."

yanked the door back. A boulder flew through. The airbender leapt clear over it, with the roof skimming his head. Upon landing he lunged forward and slammed the earthbender into the wall. Just as he pulled away an earth wall flanked him.

Another tried to seal him in but he lunged forward. As he corkscrewed through the air he gathered the winds. He sighted an earthbender summoning many smaller pebbles around him. Considering the narrow hallway and the wall to his back, Aang held the wind until the barrage shot forward.

The earthbender yelped as his element pelted him. Landing, the airbender glanced backward. He sighed as the earth wall crumpled to dust. Lady Luck waved a hand as she stepped through. Then he noticed the several earthbenders unconscious on the ground.

"They're alive," stated Sorte, "though they'll be waking up with headaches. Ready to leave."

"Lead the…" When the airbender looked back Sorte became the air itself. "Really?"

The ripping of rock reminded him of his current problem. Powered by the wind he darted forward. A boulder shot at him, but he went into a slide and sailed past it. The earthbender tried stepping in his way.

Aang leapt over, bending his body into an L to clear it. Before the earthbender could turn, a blast of air made him kneeled. Air once again propelled Aang's sprint.

"It's the avatar!" shouted the earthbender. His voice echoed down the passageway. "Kill him!"

The earth crashed down in walls and spikes. Laughing, the avatar contorted his body this way and that. The obstacles proved somewhat of a good playground. Reaching a set of stairs, the avatar doubled his effort. At the top a pair of men moved to close the metal door.

With a yell Aang lunged forward after a wave of air. Screams erupted. Landing on paved stone, the avatar scanned the area. He offered the dozen of bender, a mixture of earthbenders and firebenders, around him a smile.

"Hey guys." Aang waved at the wall that enclosed the yard. "Thanks for the inn, but I got to get going. I heard that the Harvest Day is coming up and I got to see the performance."

His answer came with earthbender stomping their feet. Coins embedded in the earth rose up. In union they attacked. Aang ducked under the first coin while twirling away from the second. Two firebenders rushed in launching their flames.

Aang evaded the attack to his left while using winds to dispelled the second incoming flames. A firebender launched at him, but Aang weaved around and shoved him to the ground. Leaping over a second coin, he noticed a large shadow below him.

Glancing up, the avatar caught his twirling staff. A sky bison flew through the air. Sitting in the saddle, Sorte waved at her. With a grin the avatar darted forward. Fire and earth rained down, but he weaved through without pause.

The avatar leapt onto the wall. He pushed down on a button of the stuff and the glider wings sprung open. Throwing it forward, he followed as flames licked at his feet. He grabbed hold as the device flew off the cliff and into the air.

Shots followed the airbender but the air currents carried the glider out of range. Higher and higher he went until he flew right beside the bison. He looked to the saddle. Lying on her side, Sorte smoked a cigar. A lazy hand waved at him.

"Follow me," Aang ordered. Appa did as told.

For some time they soared through the air. Growing bored at staring at nothing, the smoker crawled up to the front of the saddle. She rested on its rim and stared down at the land. Seas of gray ash surrounded the green mountains.

"Ten years," muttered Sorte, "and the land had yet to talk again."

The group settled down on a green mountain. Right after landing, a flying lemur climbed up on the Aang's shoulder. Laughing, he scratched him under the chin. Sorte jumped off the bison. She stared at the cloth tent within the enclave of trees. The conifer offered little view of the skies.

"Welcome to my home," said Aang. With that said the group entered the trees.

Getting beside the avatar, Sorte hummed. "You know, I'm kind of surprise how well you're taking this." She pressed a hand to her chest. "I mean, I am the person who pretty much wreaked your life."

"Don't get me wrong." Aang shrugged. "I'm mad alright, but shouting isn't going to help."

"That's wise."

"It's fact."

Momo climbed down from his master's shoulder to scurry over to the fire pit and group of pots. Appa went off to graze on grass. Sorta sat down while Aang went to gather wood. Legs crossed the smoker stare into the fire pit.

Silence ruled for a long while. Sorte watched Aang, a finger tapping away at her knee. The air bender felt little need to talk.

The smoker sighed. "Avoiding me isn't going make me disappear."

"Who are you?" Aang kept picking up wood.

"I told you in another lifetime."

"Fate, or was it Lady Luck."

"Well…" Sorte took the cigar out. With its end still hot, she rubbed it across the log to create stick figures. "I want to be known as Lady Luck. Fate made me sound like I'm a controlling spirit."

That stopped Aang in his traces. "You're a spirit?" His voice did little to hide his disbelief.

"Forgot that the moon and the sea are here to?"

"They're fish."

Sorte laughed. "It would be hard to meet people with fin and gills."

"Okay." Returning to pit, Aang dropped the sticks. "And why did you change my life?"

The spirit examined the end of her tip of her cigar. Seeing that it was still lit, she placed it into her mouth and gave life to the burning sparks. "I was bored."

"Appa." The air bender started for the tent. "We're leaving."

Two- head vipers would envy the spring in Sorte's step. She grabbed the avatar by the ears and yanked him back. Yelping, the avatar tried to pull away. The pain convinced him to sit down on the ground.

Arms crossed Sorte pouted. "I'm not crazy. It had been awhile since I obscured a person's fate."

"But you're a spirit." Aang thrust his arms at the spirt. "Don't you guys want the world to be in balance?" Chuckling, Sorte blew out a large gust of smoke.

"Yeah, my colleagues would love that. Too bad for them somebody has to be there to direct peoples movement. That person being someone who doesn't believe in controlling others. I'm more of the 'start a person down the path and see what happen' kind of gal."

Sorte waited for a response. All she got was a cold stare. Sighing, the spirit slumped. Her eyes went to the wood.

"Care staring a fire?" asked the smoker.

Aang did as asked. With flint and stone he gave birth to heat.

"You can't firebend?" asked Sorte.

"Only air," whispered the avatar. Nodding, the spirit watched the flames devour the wood.

"I get it," said Sorte, "you're angry at me for screwing everything up. Compared to your old life this one suck."

I killed the Fire Lord," grumbled Aang. Momo perched on his shoulder and tried getting his attention. Yet his eyes refused to leave the ground.

"Yeah." Sorte nodded. "I remember that. If I heard correctly you lost control of your avatar state." More silence followed. Growling, Sorte stood up and glared at Aang. "Stop sulking. For your information I'm here to set everything straight."

"What?"

Leaning down, Sorte got right in Aang's face. "I don't enjoy pointless suffering and the Fire Nation has caused enough." She stood tall and proud. "And I, Lady Luck, swore to fix it."

"Then why the hell hadn't you?" That received confused blinking. Throwing his hands up, Aang growled. "You've done it once before! Just change my fate so that everything go back as it should be."

"That isn't possible."

Darting to his feet, Aang got in Sorte's face. "And why not!"

Lady Luck offered a silly smile. "Figure it out for yourself. You already got the memories to do so." Sorte then sat down and smoked happily away on her cigar. For a tense moment Aang glared at the spirit. Several nasty thoughts crossed his minds.

Yet he sat down with legs cross and hands resting on his knees, eyes closed as he focused on his new gained memories. Gripping them proved to be difficult. To focus on one thing would blur it into several other related events. Aang countered by setting up a mental net and allowed certain memories to be caught.

"Don't worry," said Sorte, "after a couple of days your memories should separate out with your current ones. Just try not to strain too much."

"It sounds like you did this before." Aang earn an expression that said what's- with-the-stupid- questions. A good half hour passed. Sorte kept herself amused by throwing random stuff into the flames.

Coming out of meditative form, the avatar sighed. "This is pointless."

"What is?"

"Your game." Opening his eyes, Aang rubbed them, "It hard to make out, but I think I got the general details. I never killed the Fire Lord. I traveled the worlds with a group of friends who taught me to bend. My adventures helped a lot of people, though I had almost failed at times." He winced. "Certainly after some familiar looking woman shot me with lightning."

"And?"

wasn't sure why he played along. Maybe he felt a little grateful for this spirit to bother saving him. After a sigh he continued.

"What seems to be the problem is that I never meet these friends? There was some waterbender I liked for some reason. A silly boy with a boomerang and a scarred man come to mind. There was a blind girl who was an amazing earthbender."

"Why didn't you meet the waterbender."

Aang frowned, yet the smoker's kept a steady gaze. "Because I never did."

"Why?"

"Because…" Closing his eyes, Aang searched for the topics related to the waterbender. Cheeks burned red as more… intimate thoughts of her popped into mind. Yet as he sorted it out he narrowed her down to the South Pole, her home being in the village.

Aang frowned in puzzlement. "The first thing I saw after walking up from the glacier was her, but that's impossible. I woke up on the beach of the Earth Nation." Looking to the spirit, his eyes asked why.

"I changed the course of the glacier." Sorte yawned. "The reason why I can't undo that is because… It's so messed up. If I were to meet with my past self time itself would reject the universe. If I try to change the glaciers course then well..." A sheepish smile formed as she looked to the skies. "My knowledge on water currents starts and end with me making whirlpools in my tea."

"Okay." Aang voice grew tense against his will.

The smoker waved the daggers away. "Look, for the first few years I thought you would be okay. I mean,"- she waved his hands around him- "you're more or less the chosen one. You were supposed to save the world in some other fashion."

"As you can see," said Aang, "you were wrong. And the other years."

"Murderous spirits." Gesturing to the sky, Sorte stared. "Time works differently in the spirit world. So when I first made the changes no one noticed too much. Then the former avatars started asking why everything was different and they put two and two together."

Sorte clapped a hand over her face. "So while I was searching for you I had the ocean try to drown me. Lava tried to melt me on a dead volcano. Several animal spirits and plants wanted me as fertilizer."

"I get it."

"So." Sorte gave a wide smile. "It took me a while, but I'm here now. Until the world is back in shape I'm at the avatar disposals."

"Then pray that the next avatar shows up when I'm gone." With that said Aang stood. "Care for something to eat."

Sorte remained silent. Her body had frozen in place. Just as Aang reached the door a pair of hands gripped his shoulder. With a yelp he spun around and came face to face with a grin mismatched with a venomous gaze.

"Oh avatar," cooed the spirit. Fingers dug into his shoulders. "I think I heard…"

"I'm not the avatar anymore," stated Aang. "I'm just a hermit who comes down from the mountain to get supplies. The Fire Nation caught me while I was shopping." With that said he tried pulling away. Those fingers were starting to draw blood.

"Oh no, no, no. I didn't waste ten years of my life to find a wussy who forgot his job description."

"I never asked to be Avatar."

"Nobody asked to be born." Sorte shrugged. "Yet here we are."

Tearing away, he shook his head. "I have some fruit, beans, and vegetables. Consider it a thank you for getting me out of that jail."

"I'll be delighted and make plans for two in the morning. I need to rest up before leaving. Oh, and do you have any meat?"

The avatar filled his lungs with the thin air. Sighing in pleasure, he glanced at Appa's side. The morning sun peaked out from the horizon, its red glow separating the brunt earth from the night sky. A part of him wished he left earlier to avoid this sight.

"So Aang." The voice caused him to cringe. "How is it that the Fire Nation caught you this time around?"

Reclined back on the avatar's pack the angel stared up at the cloud's bottom. Wisps of her smoke joined their puffy neighbor's body. Momo stood beside her and tried snatching the smoke. For a brief moment Aang thought of flipping the bison upside down.

"Didn't I tell you to leave?"

"And I told you that I'm not going anywhere?" Taking out her cigar, Sorte flicked it in his direction. "I already invested ten years of my life into you. Not long for a spirit, but you human's life span are short. I'll eat a slug- beetle first before leaving." Sorte stretches her arms. "That and I'll probably live longer off the ground."

On all four she crawled over to the front edge of the saddle. Dangling her arm over it, she stared down at the hairy head. She patted it.

"So why were you in jail? Did you save a village or crack a few skulls?"

"I bumped into an officer and he fell into a wall," said Aang.

"Really? Boring."

"I'm not the avatar anymore."

Pressing a hand to her chest, Sorte laughed. "Sure. And my skin turned green when wet it and I can fire potato out of my butt."

"Now that would be amazing." Aang looked up with a twinkle in his eye. It disappeared as Sorte knocked on his head.

"You're the avatar!" proclaimed the spirit. "It doesn't matter if you tear out your heart. It's…"

"Was my duty to keep balance of the spirit and psychical world." He pointed to the earth. "You see how well that went."

"Yeah, letting half of the earth kingdom burn was bad." She lifted a hand into the air. "But hey, you still managed to stop them. You did better than a quarter of your lifetimes did." That got her a questioning stare. "You'll be surprised how many past avatars were wiped out due to being completely incompetent."

"Nice to know."

"Where are we going?"

"To a nearby village. Thanks to those benders I didn't get to finish shopping. If I'm lucky the Fire soldiers won't be around."

Huffing, Sorte pulled away and flopped onto her back. Arms sprawled out she stared up at the earth's flimsy, shifting ceiling. She looked away only when the ground below shook. The clouds were hundreds of feet away.

"We're here," declared Aang.

Sitting up, the smoker stared at the blackened trees. The skeleton forest surrounded them on all side. Sliding down Appa's side, she landed on the ash-covered ground. The fine particulars tried to reach her nose, but a dry wind carried it away.

"Where is the village?" asked the smoker.

"Up there." With an arm Aang gestured to the small mountain in front of them. Forest blanket climbed to the top of its peak. Yet on the right side of the mountain, terraces led up to the heavens. "We're leaving Appa here to draw less attention."

"Aw," moaned the angel, "that means we have to walk."

Walking into the lush green forest, the avatar glanced to his stalker. "Why not do that teleporting thing?"

"Only works if I have a clear image of a place in my head," said Sorte. "Call it an anchor point."

"What about bending then?"

"I already told you avatar," said Sorte, "I can't bend the four elements."

"Then how the hell did you beat me?"

"By bending energy." That got a snort. Taking out her burnt cigar, she threw it to the ground. Her foot slammed into it and ground the sparks into the firm soil. "I'm serious. I bend energy."

"If I remember correctly," said the avatar. "You can only bend peoples' inner energy."

Huffing, the smoker flicked Aang on the back of the head. "What do those giant loin- turtles know? They float around in the ocean and are the size of an island. When do they ever need to bend?"

"Okay." Leaping up into the air, Aang bended a ball of wind under him and sat upon it. "Sound interesting?"

"There energy in everything." Sorte's spread her arms. "The wind in the air, our own flesh, trees planted into the earth,"- she stomped her feet-"even the rocks under our feet hold energy. All I do is control that energy and used it in battle."

"But all bending requires energy," noted the avatar.

Sorte jabbed a finger at Aang. "Exactly. Though it has it limits." A sly smile formed. "Care to learn more?"

"Not if it means fighting people."

"Being the avatar doesn't have to be cracking a few heads."

"So talking will fix all this. Wish I knew that sooner."

The spirit sighed and reached into her pocket. Feeling it was empty, she sighed and kept following the airbender.

Forest broke away to reveal a decent sized village made from wood and stone. The buildings sat upon flattened out areas. Down on the terrace the farmers planted the crop. As they entered the village several people paused from their work to examine the two.

When Aang asked where the shop was, a villager pointed the way and rushed to his business. Sorte paused at the door to stare at a paper posted on it. Tearing it free from its nail, she read it.

"Miss," said a villager, "please put that back."

"Why?" asked Sorte. "It's only a Fire Nation recruitment sheet. I can use this for kindling. Geeze, only ten copper a day. Don't let anyone here join for that much. Your fire nation "kin" make five times more."

Jamming the paper into her pocket, Sorte stepped out of the way of the avatar. She peered at the bag the avatar brought out.

Geeze boy," said Sorte, "no meat."

"I don't eat meat."

"That's a cruel life."

Shaking his head, Aang started off. Shouts of surprise drew their attention. The avatar started to walk away, but Sorte grabbed him by the shoulder. His heels tried to summon help from the earth, but the spirit dragged him anywhere.

"Come on boy," said Sorte. "This might be exciting."

"Stop calling me boy! I'm twenty-two!"

"And I'm older than dirt!" declared the spirit with a great grin.

They approached the edge of the village marked off by a terrace. Sorte jabbed a finger downward. Aang's gaze followed to a dust cloud tearing up the mountainside. Farmer ran out of the way. Chucks of earth twirled through the air.

As the dust cloud neared the avatar spotted three men in all. All of them wore earthbender soldier armor with the cone helmets. Two of them worked the earth. The third, the leader he assumed, stood in the middle of the platform.

"Let's go," said Aang.

"Wait a moment," said Sorte. Leaning dangerously over the edge, she stared at the platform. "That guy in the middle. He looks… familiar somehow."

Shaking his head, the avatar peered down at the leader. With each second he got a better detail. He was tall and of average built. Long, dark brown hair highlighted his lighter skin. His light green eyes surveyed the area with cold indifference. Yet the mustaches and the small fuzz under the lip stood out the most.

"Mustache," muttered the avatar.

"That's a lot of work being wasted," noted Sorte.

"Mustache."

"What about it?"

"Don't know," said Aang. The moving platform met up with the village elevation. The fire nation benders started for the village. Their leader felt a gaze and looked in Aang's direction.

Humming, Sorte said, "Did he always have the stache?"

That shot fireworks in the airbender's head. His eyes widened as he focused on the leader's face. Yet a younger man, teen in all honestly, replaced it. One that a waterbender helped to save from an island of iron.

"No way," said Aang, "what is he doing here!"