Here comes another chapter! This one should be better since I have it all planned out, unlike the first chapter where I only had the beginning planned out and had to make up the rest. I'm really enjoying writing this story, and I'm even more enjoyed to know that you guys like it to! Thanks for all the criticism; it helps me improve, so keep it coming! This is a longer chapter, hope you enjoy
Chapter 4.
Aang had hoped to have a peaceful sleep, but it seemed as if everything was turned against him that day. He had hoped never to be reminded of the Avatar, but to his luck he had to talk about being it the whole day, and ended up with some Avatar State action. He almost should of known that that night wouldn't turn out as much as he hoped it would.
It all started out with him getting hit by an unreasonable sleep spell. When he walked into his room everything seemed to slur together, growing all fuzzy and distant. His eyes felt like they had weights attached to them, making it nearly impossible to undress.
When he finally did make it to his bed it was almost instant sleep. No thoughts ran through his head, no tossing and turning, just sleep. Normally Aang would of thought something was wrong, but something inside of him convinced him that he was fine. He wasn't sure what convinced him, it was like an echoing voice speaking to him.
Moments after he fell asleep he felt himself drifting into a dream. Not a normal dream, one where it comes to you slowly as you enter deep sleep. This one seemed as if it was calling to him, making him go it.
In this dream everything was different. Dreams where supposed to be collections of memories and thoughts being pulled together, right? Not once in his life had he thought about what he was seeing now.
He was in a swamp. But the ground wasn't sticky and mushy it was hard and clean. The water was clear, clearer than any swamp water you would see. Everything seemed alive, and he felt as if he was being watched. The trees seemed to go up and up, never ending. The tops of the trees were to remain unseen since an unearthly mist covered them.
One of the scarier things about this dream - he was beginning to doubt it was a dream - was that he could not bend. He could feel the air moving swiftly around him, but it was stubborn and would not move to his command. The same went for the water, the earth, and fire. He felt defenseless, a first for him.
"Where am I?" He asked to no one in particular. That was when he realized that he was awake. He had regular thoughts and memories in his mind and he was controlling every movement he made. Nothing random was jumping out at him, yet. It was like he was transported to another world. When he looked at his hands he saw a light blue hue to them, they were transparent, almost. Was this his spirit? If it was, how was he here? Most importantly where is he?
"Aang," a deep voice echoed around him making him jump. The voice seemed strangely familiar, somewhere deep within him was repeating, Roku, Roku, Roku. Looking all around him Aang could not see where the voice was coming from.
"Down here, Aang." The voice spoke again, and Aang looked down.
He saw a figure of an older man in the water, almost as if it was his reflection. The man was tall and wore Fire Nation garb. He smiled kindly as Aang looked at him, studying him.
"Who are you?" Aang's voice shook a little; he was nervous and slightly scared.
"I am Avatar Roku, you're past life. I am the Avatar before you, do not be afraid young one." Roku smiled again, remembering his first journey into the Spirit World.
"Where am I?" Aang asked Ro- himself.
"You are in the Spirit World, I am have called you here. It seems you are having trouble with your destiny." Roku frowned, knowing that Aang rejecting the Avatar would not be good for later on in the future.
"The Spirit World?" Aang went deep into thought, before he remembered the Avatar was the bridge between the real world and the Spirit world.
"Young one, why do you run from your destiny?"
"Because I never wanted to be the Avatar," Aang replied and looking away from the Avatar before him.
"This is something you cannot run from. The world needs you; the Fire Nation is leading everyone into self-destruction. You have to stop them, Aang, you need to master the elements, become their Avatar." Roku looked sternly at Aang, his gaze never faltered.
"Why me? Why did they choose me to be the Avatar?" Aang cried out. These very questions have been bugging him every since he learned of his fate.
"Because we knew you are strong enough to do this. You are a gifted child, a prodigy, and the best airbender. You are strong willed and determined. You don't give up. You are compassionate and caring, you put others first. You have the personality of the perfect Avatar. Not many Avatars are as lucky as you are Aang." Roku remembered when he was told that he was the Avatar. It was very shocking and sudden for him. At first he felt excited, but as he realized his responsibilities he started to get depressed, overwhelmed. The Avatar is a tough job, not to be taken lightly.
"I sure don't feel very lucky…" Aang grumbled. Here he was, a simple Monk. He had to master all the elements and defeat the Fire Nation in what? A year?
"Aang, you have disappointed us." Roku sighed; he really hoped he would be able to convince Aang to accept his destiny as the Avatar.
"I know, I know. I'm supposed to be the Avatar. I don't want to!" Aang crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Aang, the world needs you," Roku paused thinking of something that will get through to Aang, "Katara needs you." It worked. Aang looked down, meeting the eyes of Avatar Roku, his face softened.
"She does, doesn't she?" He remembered the distant hope on her face when she talked to him about the Avatar, and how one day he might return to save everyone. He could imagine the look of glee and hope flooding her face when she learned he was the Avatar that he was going to save her.
"Do this for the Air Nomads, for the people you love. What would Monk Gyatso say if he saw you right now, rejecting your fate?" Roku's face softened, he to was a great friend with Gyatso. It was hard for him to know he suffered such a great death.
"Yes, I'm the Avatar. I'm back and the suffering will stop. No one will ever have to end up like the Air Nomads ever again." A look of determination covered his face and he bowed towards Avatar Roku, thanking him.
"Aang, the Fire Nation plan on destroying the Northern Water Tribe, you must go there quickly to prevent that." Roku said sternly, Aang nodded his head.
Roku knew that he had spent most of the night talking to Aang; it was time for him to leave the Spirit World now. "If you ever need guidance from any of you're past lives, just look deep within yourself and we'll be there." Roku's voice faded away as Aang woke up from his dream, if he could call it that.
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Katara leaned over the railing of the boat, watching the glistening ocean water pass beneath her. Aang agreed to meet her for bending practice at dawn; he was a few hours late. Normally she would of gone to wake him up, but she knew he had a hard day and needed his rest.
The boy baffled her at times. He was so confusing and hard to figure out. One moment he was joking around with that goofy smile of his, then the next he was pained and mad, obviously from some kind of memories that kept hitting him.
"Morning Katara," A cheerful voice said from behind her. She turned to find Aang walking towards her.
"Hey Aang, you sleep good?" She looked up at the rising sun.
"Oh, uh, yeah, about that, I ne-" his confession was cut short.
"Do you think it is possible for us to combine water and air? We could make like a cool water/air tornado or something!" She clearly didn't hear him, or else she wouldn't of interrupted.
"Hmm, I'm not sure. Let's try it." Aang replied his nerve to tell her wore off.
Gracefully Katara bended up a small sphere of water as Aang created a little tornado in the palm of his hands. Carefully the two guided their elements together, combining them. Soon as they made contact Aang could feel the water start to fling out of the tornado, which would disappoint Katara in knowing it would work. So he concentrated on keeping the water within the tornado, twirling with it. It was very hard, but it worked.
"Aang! We're doing it! That's so cool! A smile enveloped Katara's face, completely unaware that Aang was the one doing it, not her.
Aang looked up at her, breaking it concentration on the water and suddenly it flew everywhere and the tornado vanished. "We were doing it," Aang corrected with a weak smile.
"Katara?" Aang asked her, he needed a waterbending teacher, maybe Katara could teach him.
"Yes?"
"Are you a master waterbender? Like you could teach someone?" She raised a curious eyebrow at him.
"Yeah I am, I mastered it a year ago," she said proudly. Aang's face lit up, she could teach him! "Why?" She asked, but Aang ignored her.
"Lets get bending! Bet I could beat you with my hands tied behind my back!" Aang joked, his goofy smile returning to his face.
"Oh, it's so on." Katara put her arms straight up, creating a massive wave. Her body quickly twisted, throwing the wave towards Aang.
Aang deflected the blow with a powerful blast of air, then he started to shoot air balls at her. She easily avoided them with a water shield.
The two fought each other for quite some time. Aang closely watched each movement she made, trying to learn from it. Both were enjoying each other, having a good time. It was fun to spar someone who wasn't trying to kill you.
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It was half way through the day and Aang's nerves were getting the best of him. He had attempted to tell Katara many times about him being the Avatar, but each and everyone failed. He wanted to tell Katara first so she could give him support when he told her father and brother. But at the rate things where going it looked like he was never going to tell her. He didn't want her to find out by accident that would be the worst way of letting her know.
By the looks of it his plan wasn't working. Every time he managed to get Katara alone either someone would interrupt, or she would go off on some random topic not allowing him to continue with his many times rehearsed speech.
He was currently sitting at one of the tables in the kitchen, nibbling on a piece of fruit, something that was rare in the South Pole. His thoughts where like a whirlwind, endlessly spinning around his mind making him almost dizzy. If he didn't tell her soon he would go mad.
He sighed, wishing there was an easier way to do this. If only he never hid the fact that he was the Avatar, then he wouldn't be going through this and he could be on his third lesson of waterbending by now.
Ever since his chat with Avatar Roku, he was more aware of the elements around him. He could feel the push and pull of the ocean around him, the stubborn stillness of any earthen objects, and the pulsating heat from sun, and especially from the candle in front of him.
"I wonder…" He mumbled as he set down his apple. Slowly, warily, he moved his hands towards the small flame, feeling its heat work its way through his skin. Ever so slightly he raised his hands upward, asking the flame to rise up with him. It took a few moments, but then slowly the flame obediently rose upward, follow his hands. Every now and then it would fall back into its original small flame, unwilling to move.
After a while of messing with the flame, Aang decided to try something a little more complicated. He held out one hand near the flame, and the other away from it. He felt the heat pulse into his hand, creating a warm sensation. Now Aang tried to reproduce that same feeling into his other hand, the one away from the flame. He closed his eyes, concentrating on creating a flame in his palm, completely ignoring the outside world.
Of course his bad luck just had to play another trick on him right then. While he was completely mesmerized by trying to create a flame, he didn't notice Katara walk into the entrance of the room, staring at him curiously.
She was completely unsure of what he was doing. From her point of view it looked like he held one hand dangerously close to the poorly lit candle and held the other hand away from it. His eyes were shut tightly, as if he was concentrating hard on something. She started to wonder if he was cold, but that thought quickly vanished when she remembered he could control the air temperatures around him due to airbending. Then the least expected happened. A small flame appeared in his hand.
The look of glee on Aang's face was priceless, he felt so proud for accomplishing his little task. Removing his other hand from the flame on the candle, it placed it around his little ball of fire, balancing it in the air between the two hands. He stared at it for a while, with that feeling of self-satisfaction boiling up in his stomach. He decided to get more creative, and moved the fire into various shapes, twirling it around his fingers.
Katara's eyes widened and her mouth was dropped open by this point. Aang was firebending. She didn't know what to make of it. At first she felt fear, hate. All firebenders where the same, they were all evil. But then this was Aang, the giddy airbender. He wasn't evil, he was quite the opposite, and he was more of a peacemaker. If Aang could bend both fire and water then that had to mean one thing. Aang was the Avatar.
"K-Katara?" Aang stuttered as he noticed her presence in the room. Soon as his concentration ended, the flame vanished into a wisp of smoke.
"Aang?" She replied unsure of what to do.
"I, I'm sorry. I tried to tell you sooner, please listen to me," he gave her a pleading look and motioned for her to sit down. She hesitated, but soon she found herself sitting across from him, demanding an explanation.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She said, a little hurt of his secret.
"I never wanted to be the Avatar. It was something that came to me so suddenly. I barely had time to adjust to the name before everyone began to treat me differently. I was excluded from all games because of the unfair advantage I gave the team I was on. I found myself getting no play time and only study time, then they tried to take me away from my only fatherly figure and I couldn't take it, I ran away." Aang confessed, not breaking eye contact from her.
"Do you know how much this world needs you? How much the people need you?" She accused, thinking of what the Fire Nation did to her, her family, and everyone she loved.
"I'm sorry. I only wanted to try to live a normal life, but everywhere I went I was reminded of whom I was. I decided it was time to stop running from my fears and face them. I tried to tell you Katara, I truly did." Aang gave her that pleading look again, a look that melted her heart.
"Aang, I'm disappointed. But I can actually relate to you a little bit. I forgive you." She reached across the table and took his arrow-covered hand, the hand that once held the flame.
"Katara, you do not know how much of a relief you just gave me, thank you." Aang smiled looking at her hand over his.
"By the looks of it you know the elements," she said thinking of him twirling the flame around his hand.
"Well, uh no. I left before I could get any training on being the Avatar. The only thing I know about the other elements is just from me messing around with them. I need to master Water, then Earth, then Fire. I have a limited amount of time; at the end of this year Fire Lord Ozai will use Sozin's Comet to end the world. I must defeat him before the comet comes." Aang looked down, now he felt overwhelmed, buried in an impossible task.
"Well, you need to learn waterbending? Why don't you ask Master Katara, she might be willing to teach you." Katara replied with a sly grin. Aang looked up at her, their eyes meeting once again.
"Well if you see her, tell her I want her to teach me," he replied playing along.
"Aang, I will teach you. Now we need to tell my brother and father about this, I see a long journey ahead of us." Katara stood up, and looked Aang over closely, in new eyes. Now she looked at Avatar Aang, but all she saw was Aang.
Aang exhaled a deep breath and in turn the flame on the candle rose up slightly. Katara's eyes widened, now that would take some getting used to.
"I can't believe I didn't notice sooner." She muttered under her breath. Now she understood how Aang so easily escaped the Fire Nation ship, how the storm was caused, and how the Water and Air twister was made. All because of him, Aang, the Avatar.
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"Sokka? Dad?" Katara knocked on the door gently, watching the two chatting over a game of Pai Sho. They didn't know how to play it so it made watching them play very interesting.
"Yes?" Hakoda looked up to see his beautiful daughter. She reminded him so much of Kya. He didn't know what he would do if he lost her.
"Well… Aang needs to talk to you and brother about something, could we meet out on deck?" She asked him twiddling her thumbs.
"Uh sure?" He was baffled to what Aang would tell them, he sure hoped it was nothing about him and Katara. Sure, Aang was a nice kid, but if he got together with Katara, that would be rushing things too much.
Sokka got up first; he stretched out his muscles and walked over to Katara following her out the door. Hakoda followed them closely from behind.
As they walked over towards the deck, you could see a nervous Avatar pacing along the railing thinking of what to say to make this the least bit of a big deal. In his mind he was rehearsing several speeches, but at the end of each one he would mentally throw it away and try to think of something else. His time was limited, and soon the water tribe siblings and their father were in his presence.
"Katara told me you needed to talk to us," Hakoda remarked, first to speak.
"Yes, yes, I do. You see, I've been hiding something about me, something very important. But please understand my reasons." Aang began, looking over at Katara nervously before continuing on. Hakoda noticeably stiffened, expecting the worst.
"I didn't want to tell you guys because well, I never wanted this. I thought I could run away from it, but instead I kept running into it head on. I only wanted to live a normal life, like an average person. I wanted people to look at me and see Aang, for who I Am. Not what I am." Aang kept avoiding the word Avatar, not wanting to say it, but a scolding look from Katara told me he better say it fast.
"What I'm trying to say is that I'm the Avatar." Aang looked down at the floor, feeling the stare of Sokka and Hakoda bearing into him.
Sokka looked skeptic, while Hakoda looked astonished.
"How do we know your not fibbing?" Sokka folded his arms, looking Aang over once again. Surely he could not be the Avatar.
"I can easily prove it," Aang said as he lifted his arms up, in almost a slow circular pattern. Soon a little bubble of water rose up from the ocean. He decided that if he showed them firebending instead, it would just raise unwanted suspicions.
"You can definitely bend water, and air. You're not lying you really are the Avatar. But why hide that? Why tell us now?" Hakoda asked as Aang dropped the bubble of water back into the ocean.
"Like I said before, I wanted to live a normal life. I don't want to be the Avatar. Everyone looks at me and sees the Avatar master of all elements, not Aang the last airbender. It's also annoying to have people bowing at your feet all day willing you to command them to do something and repeatedly saying what an honor it is to be in my presence. I hate that! I'm just a monk that so happened to be randomly chosen as the Avatar, why does that make me special?" Aang protested and leaned over the railing staring gloomily at the water beneath them.
"It makes you special for being chosen, Aang." Katara placed a caring hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks," Aang turned to face them, slightly worried that Hakoda, or Sokka wouldn't trust him after this, or be mad at him. "I hope you are not mad at me?"
"Well, I am a little irritated that you lied to us the whole time, but I can understand. Besides how could I be mad at the Avatar?" Hakoda said with a smile hoping to lighten the boy up, but his last words where the exact reason why Aang hid his identity.
"See? Suddenly I'm not treated normal! Why does me being the Avatar change if you can be mad at me or not?" He sighed crossing his arms to make a point.
"Aang, why are you so touchy about this?" Katara asked him, wondering if there was a backstory to this. Of course there was.
"Well the Monks had foreseen a great war coming so they decided to tell the Avatar early, at the young age of twelve, rather than when they were supposed to at sixteen." Aang began, the memories of sitting before the Monks while they told him of his destiny.
"They were right about the war," Sokka muttered.
"They were going to separate me and Gyatso, sending me to the northern air temple. Monk Gyatso was the only father figure I had, considering I never knew my parents. Everyone grows attached to their caretakers, but Gyatso really did care about me, he loved me and took me in as a son, I think he always wanted one."
"Oh, Aang, I can understand you being like this now, but you need to leave the past in the past, move on. The world needs you, we need you." Katara replaced her hand on his shoulder, looking into his eyes, trying to soothe him.
"Thanks, you're right. I do need to move on, and I will." Aang said firmly, determined to get over this.
"Dad! This is perfect! We've been looking for a secret weapon in our next invasion. I think the Avatar would be a pretty good weapon. We would actually have a victory!" The plans began to form in Sokka's mind, they would attack normal, and at the end of the fight when everyone was weak and tired, out would come Aang and blow them away. Literally.
"Whoa there, just because I'm the Avatar, it doesn't mean I can be killing people left and right. I'm supposed to bring peace, not death. If I won the war that way then the world would fear the Avatar, not trust me, especially the Fire Nation." Aang held up his hands, refusing to go with this plan.
"I think Aang is right," Katara said looking at Sokka with a slight scowl.
"Besides, I'm not trained in being the Avatar. I only know airbending, and what I do know of the other elements am just me playing with them. I only created my first fireball yesterday, and I can only levitate a small pebble. Water is easier for me, since it is more like airbending, but that is limited as well. I don't even know how to control the Avatar State, not knowing that could be very dangerous. That last severe hurricane was actually made by me when Zuko triggered my Avatar State, I destroyed their whole ship!" Aang ranted breathlessly, suddenly feeling overwhelmed with everything he needed to learn.
"So you ran away before you could even learn how to be the Avatar?" Sokka face palmed, thinking of how stupid that was.
"Uh, yeah. I need to master the elements before anything. Luckily I mastered airbending. Next I need to learn waterbending," Aang glanced over towards Katara.
"I'll teach you, Aang. We can start in the morning." Katara smiled, already thinking of tomorrow's lesson. She also couldn't hide the feeling of pride to be teaching the Avatar waterbending.
"Great! But, I think we should start traveling to the North Pole," Aang said, hoping she could come along with him.
"Why to the North Pole?" Katara asked him confused.
"The Fire Nation plan on taking out the North Water Tribe, they want the last water tribe to be destroyed so all they have left to do is conquer the Earth Kingdom." Aang replied, shuddering at the so far fate for the world.
"Oh no," Sokka whispered, thinking of their brother tribe falling, their fate just the same as the Air Nomads.
"I need to get over there as soon as possible, to warn the tribe and prepare them for battle. I was wondering if Katara could come, she could teach me waterbending along the way." Aang said, looking at Hakoda and Sokka, hoping they would agree, and most importantly, if Katara would agree.
"I agree with Katara coming along, but I think Sokka should come to. Not that I don't trust you, it has nothing to do with that, but I think Sokka is needed more with you guys, helping to win this war." Hakoda said, placing a hand on Sokka's shoulder, knowing he would enjoy going along on this journey.
"Of course! I'd be glad if he could come along, the more the merrier," Aang smiled before turning to look at Katara for her answer.
"Aang, I would be honored to travel with you," She tried a poor attempt at a bow, but it looked jumbled up and stiff. Aang smiled and did a water tribe bow, motioning for her to try it. After a few tries she got the hang of it.
"That was how the water tribe bowed," Aang replied, his heart lurched when he saw her eyes light up with joy. They looked like sparkling blue starbursts, surely the most amazing pair of eyes he had ever seen. Katara was thinking almost exactly the same thing about his eyes.
"Well we must leave right away! Katara get packing, girls take a long time doing those kinds of things." Sokka was trying to be helpful, to save as much time as possible, but instead he just earned a smack across his shoulder from his irritated sister.
"Alright, lets get backing, fighting later." Aang gave Sokka a small shove towards the ladder, and followed shortly after him.
Katara watched them walk away; she turned to look at her father. Her eyes teared up at the thought of leaving him for possibly a few years. Who knew how long this journey would take? After they reached the North Pole and battled there, they would most likely leave to find a earthbender.
"Don't cry, we will see each other soon. Trust me." Hakoda gently said towards his daughter.
"Dad, I'll miss you." Katara lunged into his arms, giving him a hug.
"You don't have to go," Hakoda reminded her, rubbing small circles on her back.
"I know, but I feel as if I am being called to do this. I will go, but it is just hard to say goodbye." She took a deep breath and squeezed him again before pulling away.
"Go, start packing. You must hurry, you have a long journey ahead of you." Hakoda smiled warmly, and patted her head gently.
She ran off, hoping Sokka wouldn't notice her delay in going to unpack.
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The trio where finally all packed up, ready to go. Katara made sure to bring lots of food along, while Sokka packed up a couple cots for them to sleep on. Aang fed Appa, and readied the saddle on him to prepare for flight.
"Bye dad!" The siblings both said in harmony together. Aang smiled and waved. With a snap of the reins and those two simple words, they were up in the air, flying high up in the sky.
"So, where are we going first?" Sokka was lazily leaning against the side of the saddle.
"We're going to the Southern Air Temple, there is someone I'm ready to meet." Aang replied, staring at the sunset before them.
"Aang, no one could possibly survive living a five hundred years." Katara said truthfully.
"I managed," he replied, giving her a sly smile.
"He has a point there," Sokka said.
"He is supposed to help me figure out this Avatar stuff, I believe I know who he is." Aang replied, thinking of his little journey to the spirit world.
"Oh? Who?" Katara asked him, wondering whom it could be.
"Avatar Roku, he was the Avatar before me. He sent me to the spirit world last night, and he conversed with me, knocking some sense into my brain about being the Avatar. He also told me about the Fire Nation planning on destroying the Northern Water Tribe." Aang replied as if what he was talking about was the most normal thing in the world.
Sokka gave him a blank stare; his brain couldn't comprehend what was just said.
"So you went to the spirit world last night and contacted Avatar Roku?" Katara replied in wonder.
"Well, not purposely. He contacted me. Well I guess I contacted myself." He laughed a bit to himself.
"What do you mean?" Sokka was confused of what that was supposed to mean.
"The after a Avatar dies, the Avatar Spirit gets reincarnated into the next person. So technically Roku and I are the same person, yet we each are completely different from each other, if that makes sense." Aang was thinking hard on this, and the more he thought of it, the more confusing it was.
"So wait, you've lived through like a thousand life times?" Sokka's mouth dropped open, thinking of what that would be like.
"Well, the spirit part of me did." Aang agreed.
"Wait, does that mean you've been a girl before?" Katara asked him raising a curious eyebrow.
"Hmm… Actually yes I have! Avatar Kyoshi was a girl, and so was Avatar Yangchen. I bet there was many female avatars." He replied, guess he would never have that thought of 'I wonder what it was like to be a girl.'
"So you've had children, been married, and are like the oldest person on earth, considering all the lifetimes you've been through. That's really freaky, yet cool." Sokka wondered what that must have been like.
"Yeah, I guess so. Weird huh?" The siblings nodded their heads in response.
"That must be a lot of memories," Katara mused, guess he would never get bored since he had a thousand life times of memories to browse through.
"Well I don't actually remember any of the things I did in past life times. Sure, if I met someone that was very close to the previous Avatar, I might remember a small memory the two shared together, but really that's it. I could always ask the Avatars what their life was like and they can show me though." Aang was thinking that he really needed to do that; it would be very cool to learn more about the Avatars before him.
"Interesting." Sokka muttered.
Slowly the conversation died and the trio fell into a peaceful sleep. Each one of them was dreaming about the adventures to come.