Aliyah's POV
After the flare began to go down Sokka turned to me.
"I knew it! You and your brother are liars! You work for the fire nation."
"No we don't, after all we have shown and told you how can you not believe us." I said accusingly.
"Because of that!" Sokka said pointing up at the flare. We noticed everyone gathering together in a group. Sokka scoffed at me, We walked over to join the villagers and noticed that Aang and Katara were walking back. When the kids saw Aang they cheered and ran to him. Sokka then walked forward.
"I knew it! You signalled the fire navy with that flare. You're leading them straight to us aren't you!" He said pointing at Aang.
"Aang didn't do anything, it was an accident." Katara said defensively.
"Yeah, we were on this ship and there was a booby trap, and well we boobied right into to it." Aang said sheepishly.
"Katara. You shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger." Kya said angrily.
"Don't blame Katara. I brought her there. It's my fault." Aang said guilty. I walked up to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.
"A-ha! So the traitor confesses. Warriors away from the enemy. The foreigners are banished from our village." Sokka said. I looked at him in disbelief.
"Sokka you're making a mistake." Katara argues.
"No, I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like them." Sokka said.
"Aang and Aliyah are not our enemies. Don't you see? Aang has brought us something we haven't had in a long time: fun." Katara said. I looked at her a smiled a bit.
"Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun." Sokka said insulted.
"You should try it sometime." Aang said. I looked down at him. My eyes screaming 'now is not the time to speak'.
"Get our of our village. Now." Sokka said.
"Grandmother please. Don't let Sokka do this." Katara tried to reason.
"Katara, you knew going onto that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it's best if the air Nomads leave." Kya said.
"Fine! Then I'm banished too! Come on guys let's go." She said dragging Aang with her. I looked at Kya and the tribe sympathetically.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka yelled at his sister.
"To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole." Katara replied.
"I am? Great!" Aang said happily. I shushed him.
"Katara! Would you really choose him over your own tribe, your family?" Sokka asked. I walked up to her.
"Katara, we can't come between you and your family. Family is everything." I said to her before giving her a quick hug and climbing onto Appa.
"So you're leaving the South Pole? This is goodbye?" Katara said sadly.
"Thanks for penguin sledding with me."
"Where will you go?" Katara asked.
"Guess we'll go back home and look for the airbenders." Aang said hopefully, my heart hurt when I thought of him learning the truth. "Wow we haven't cleaned our rooms in 100 years Liyah. Not looking forward to that." I gave him a sad smile. He then jumped through the air and landed beside me on Appa's head. "It was nice meeting everyone." Aang said.
"Let's see your bison fly now airboy." Sokka said rudely. I shot him a dirty look.
"Come on Appa, you can do it, yip yip." I said. Appa groaned and stood.
"Yeah I thought so." Sokka said. A little girl then ran from the crowd to where Katara was standing and cried.
"Aang Don't go I'll miss you!"
Aang looked at Katara.
"I'll miss you too." I could see the pain on Aang's face.
"Come on boy." I said to Appa softly.
Walking away was painful. They were such nice people, besides Sokka. Especially Katara. I could tell Aang really liked her and I was sad because she was the first friend I ever really had. We walked for a while until Appa let out a groan. I felt his side.
"He's so tired Aang, we have to let him rest more." I said. Aang nodded and we climbed off of Appa. Instantly Aang jumped higher onto the ice where I couldn't reach him. I sighed and sat on Appa's belly. We stayed like this for a bit, just lost in thought, until Aang said,
"Aliyah look! There's a ship headed straight for the village!" He slid down Appa.
"We have to help them." I said determined. He nodded.
"I'll fly over on my glider, you bring Appa and meet me there." He said snapping his glider open.
"Aang!" He turned to me. "Be careful okay?" I said. He gave me a short nod and took off. I nudged Appa. "Appa come on we have to go." I said urgently. I touched his side and I felt his exhaustion still present. "Listen bud you don't have to fly, just run Okay?" He stood up and I climbed on top of him. "Yip yip." I said and we headed for the village.
When we arrived I hopped off of Appa and ran towards the ship. I got to the clearing and saw Aang facing a firebender with a ponytail and a scar alone.
"Looking for me?" Aang said bravely.
"You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" Ponytail said. They glared at each other. I began to walk closer to them. I looked over at Katara and Sokka looking at me for some kind of confirmation. I gave a small nod. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter; training, meditating. You're just a child!" Ponytail said angrily.
"Well you're just a teenager." Aang said. Ponytail then started to throw fire. Aang blocked his blows. One of the flames nearly hit the villagers and Aang paused. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" He said. Ponytail nodded in agreement. Soldiers came and grabbed Aang. I ran towards him.
"No!" I yelled, then I ran forwards and knocked the guards holding Aang to the ground. "He's not going anywhere." I said glaring at Ponytail.
"What's this? Another one of you? You don't even have arrows. How dare you stand before me." He said.
"You're not taking Aang anywhere." I said venomously.
"Aliyah it's fine, I'll be ok." Aang said softly.
"No Aang, you won't. It's my job to protect you and you are not going with Ponytail over here." I said glaring at Ponytail. Ponytail looked at me enraged. He grabbed my arm and I could feel the heat coming from his hand. I focused all my energy on that one spot and then grabbed his arm. I felt the fire move through me and then onto him.
"Ahhh." He yelled and I flew back from him. I panted and Katara came and helped me up. Ponytail looked at me in shock before shaking his head and walking up onto the ship dragging Aang with him. The door began to close and I felt a tear slip down my face. The door slammed shut and the ship pulled away.
My heart began to pound in my chest. My head was banging. I fell to my knees.
"Aliyah are you okay?" Katara said her voice full of concern. I couldn't respond. There was a pressure on my lungs, I could barely breathe.
"He's gone. I failed him." I whispered to myself. "I'm going to get him back." I said and then ran as fast as I could to Appa. I could hear Katara calling me, but I couldn't wait for her. I had to save him. I was in a full on sprint when I got to Appa, I collided into his face. I rested my forehead against his nose. "Don't worry boy, we're going to get him back." I climbed on top of him.
"Okay Appa yip y-" I couldn't finish my sentence because I was pulled into a vision.
Sokka's POV
I stood and watched as Katara called after Aliyah. I don't know why, but a part of me was telling me that she was right, and we had to save him. I walked away and began to start packing stuff for Katara and I. I noticed Katara staring at where the ship had once been.
"We have to go after that ship Sokka. We have to help Aliyah. Aang saved our tribe. Now we have to help her save him."
"Katara, I-" I began to say.
"Why can't you realize that they're on our side? If we don't help him then Aliyah will be doing it alone. I know you don't like either of them, but we owe them and-" I cut her off.
"Katara! Are you gonna talk all day or are you coming with me?" I asked her. She gasped and ran towards me.
"Sokka!" She cried and gave me a hug.
"Get in. We're going to go save your boyfriend." I said smugly.
"He's not my-"
"Whatever." I said brushing it off.
"What do you two think you're doing?" Katara and I turned quickly at the sound of Gran Gran's voice. We smiled at her innocently. "You'll need these." She said pulling a sleeping bag out from behind her. "You have a long journey ahead of you." She said with a smile. Katara and I looked at each other in disbelief. "It's been so long since I've had hope, but you brought it back to life, my little waterbender." She said then pulled Katara into a hug. She then turned to me, "and you my brave warrior, be nice to your sister."
"Yeah, ok, Gran." I said as she embraced me.
"Aang is the avatar. He's the worlds only chance. And based on what I saw earlier, I believe that Aliyah is his Protector. You both found them for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with theirs. Katara and I gave each other a look.
"There's no way we're going to catch a warship with a canoe." Katara pointed out. Just then we heard a growl and saw Appa come over some ice.
"Appa!" Katara said. "Sokka, Aliyah hasn't left yet we can go with her." She said excitedly and ran over to the bison.
"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't you?" I questioned her sarcastically. I grabbed our stuff out of the canoe. I walked over to Appa. "Katara? Where are you? And where's Aliyah?" I asked confused.
"Sokka come quick!" I heard my sister call. I dropped the supplies and ran to the other side of Appa. I saw Katara sitting next to an unconscious Aliyah.
"What happened?"
"I don't know she was like this when I got here. It's like she's asleep, but not at the same time." Katara explained.
"Alright, well let's get on ol' snotty, and maybe she'll wake up on the way, or maybe Aang knows what's going on." I suggested. Katara nodded. The two of us lifted Aliyah onto the saddle and brought our stuff up as well. Appa seemed to understand and started walking towards the water.
"Sokka?" Katara asked me. I looked over at her. "Do you know what Gran Gran meant when she said Aliyah was Aang's Protector?" I looked down at the unconscious girl.
"I don't know, I mean I think I've heard of the avatars Protector before, but I have no clue what it means." I said to her honestly. She went back to the front of the bison while I sat in the back. It was fine for a while, but then we realized we weren't going anywhere and it was taking too long.
"Go. Fly. Soar." I said monotonously. Appa just groaned.
"Please Appa, we need your help. Aang needs your help. Aliyah needs your help." Katara begged.
"Up. Ascend. Elevate." I said dryly. I was getting annoyed. There was no way that this bison could fly.
"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly, but I do, Appa. Come on, don't you want to save Aang?" Katara said rubbing his head. Appa let out another groan. I looked down at Aliyah. Then I remembered that she always said something when she wanted Appa to move.
"What was it she said?" I asked myself. "Yee-ha? Hup-hup? Ya-hoo? Uh, yip yip?" Appa then growled and jumped into the air.
"You did it Sokka!" Katara yelled. This was awesome, we were actually flying!
"He's flying! He's flying! Katara, He's -" I looked over at her to see her giving me a knowing look. "I mean big deal, he's flying." I said brushing it off. We soared even higher into the air in great speed. All was calm until,
"Yip!" Aliyah yelled out of breath.
"Oh my god!" I said clutching my chest. "Why would you do that?!"
Aliyah's POV
I saw Aang being taken below deck. I saw Ponytail walk away with glee. I saw Aang tricking the guards and escaping them. I saw Ponytail slam a door shut. I saw firebenders in a fighting stance. I saw Aang in the avatar state.
"Yip!" I said while sitting up and gasping for air.
"Oh my god!" Sokka said clutching his chest. "Why would you do that?!" He yelled at me. I looked at him in confusion. I looked around and saw Katara on Appa's head looking at me with a smile and clouds surrounding us.
"Katara? Sokka? What's going on? Where are we going?" I asked dazed.
"Well, the firebenders took Aang and then you ran away. Katara and I decided to help you find Aang. Appa came to us and we found you unconscious. Then we got on Appa and we were swimming for a while and then I said "Yip-"" I cut Sokka off by putting my hand over his mouth. He looked at me like I was insane. I pulled my hand back.
"Sorry, I know that you're just trying to explain, but when you say that word twice you're telling Appa that he needs to work harder and right now he doesn't have to." I apologized. "It's just he's so tired and I want him to keep as much strength as possible for when we save Aang." I explained. Sokka nodded. I then climbed over to Katara. "So have you spotted the ship yet?" I asked her. She looked at me in disbelief, I looked at Sokka for an explanation, but he was giving me the same look. "What?" I asked the two.
"Oh uh I don't know why were you unconscious?" Katara said sarcastically.
"Yeah, and what was that thing you did to scar face?" Sokka asked. I sighed.
"Ok I'm not going to fully explain right now because we have to focus on Aang:" they just looked at me expectantly. "As you now know, Aang is the avatar. I am his protector. I am the one that the spirits chose to help keep him safe throughout his journey. Because of this I have some gifts instead of being able to bend elements. What you saw with Ponytail was me allowing his offence to become my own. And I was unconscious because I was having a vision." They both just gawked at me. They both started to ramble at the same time. "Guys! I know you're confused and have a lot of questions, but right now I'm not answering any of them until my brother is safe, ok?" I said. They both nodded.
"Look! There's the ship!" Katara said. We were only a little ways behind it.
"Ok, let's go get my brother." I said determined. As we got closer we saw Aang and Ponytail on deck. Well at least that's one less thing we have to do. Appa let out a growl.
Ponytail and Aang looked up. After a moment Ponytail became more focused and sent fire at Aang. Aang blocked it, but nearly fell overboard in the process. "Yip yip." I said anxiously. The two continued fighting, until Zuko sent one last blast and Aang fell over the edge.
"Aang, no!" Katara cried. Part of me began panicking, while the another got angry. We saw him go under the water.
"Come on Appa, faster!" I said frantically. Katara kept screaming his name. I pushed Appa to go faster. Suddenly a whirlpool shot out of the water. I let out a breathe of relief. Aang was in the avatar state, and began to bend water, knocking Ponytail and his men overboard. We steadied Appa.
"Did you see what he just did?" Katara exclaimed.
"Now that was some waterbending." Sokka said. I saw Aang collapse. I nudged Appa and we landed on the ship.
"Aang are you ok?" Katara called out. The three of us slid off of Appa and ran to him. Katara lifted him up and Sokka and I sat on either side of him. Aang looked up groggily.
"Hey Liyah, hey Katara, hey Sokka. Thanks for coming." He said.
"Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory." Sokka said cheekily. I gave him a quick smile.
"I dropped my staff." Aang said seriously.
"Got it." Sokka said then ran off. I grabbed Aang's hand. He was exhausted, the avatar state had drained him. I began to take his pain. Some colour returned to his face and I began to feel it take its toll on me.
"Aliyah, I will be fine you don't have to do this." Aang said trying to pull my hand away. After a few more seconds I let go.
"Aang, it's my duty to do this for you, plus something tells me you still need your strength." I said.
"Ha! That's from the water tribe!" We heard Sokka say. Katara and Aang helped me onto Appa. Suddenly the men from earlier came back on deck. Aang went to fight some while Katara took the ones by Appa and I. She began to focus and started to bend the water on deck, when she went to strike, the water went behind her and froze Sokka's feet to the ground.
"Katara!" He yelled. Katara then took her stance again facing the other direction and froze the guards to the spot at the last second. She backed away and then climbed onto Appa.
"Hurry up Sokka!" She yelled, as Aang began to climb up too.
"I'm just a guy with a boomerang. I didn't ask for all this flying and magic." He said as he got one foot free, and then the other. He then ran onto Appa. "Yip yip! Yip yip!" He said frantically. Appa took off with a groan. We were almost away when I saw a fireball coming towards us.
"Aang!" I yelled. He got up and sent a blast towards the ball, knocking it off course. We let out a laugh as we escaped.
After flying for a bit I began to get my strength back. I sat in Appa's head as Katara questioned Aang.
"How did you do that with the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen." Katara said in awe.
"I don't know. I just sort of did it." Aang replied truthfully.
"Why didn't you tell us you were the avatar?" Katara asked.
"Because I never wanted to be." Aang said softly, I looked back at him and gave his hand a squeeze, feeling his guilt and sorrow. We sat in silence for a moment, until Katara spoke up.
"But, Aang, the world's been waiting for the avatar to return and finally put an end to this war."
"And how am I going to do that?" He said.
"According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?" Katara asked.
"That's what the monks told Aliyah and I." Aang replied.
"Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can master waterbending." Katara said hopefully.
"We could learn it together!" Aang said excitedly.
"And, Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."
"I'd like that. I really like that." Sokka replied.
"What about you Aliyah? Are you in?" Katara asked me.
"I'm always ready for an adventure." I said cheekily.
"Then we're in this together." She said.
"All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to." Aang said while floating over to Katara and Sokka. I walked over and saw him pull out a map. "Here, here and here." Aang said pointing at various locations on the map. I let out a chuckle.
"What's there?" Katara asked.
"Here we'll ride the hoping llamas, then way over here we'll surf on the back of giant koi fish. Then back over here we'll ride the hog monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun!" Aang said. Katara and Sokka looked at each other.
"Okay, Aang, we've got a long way to go until we get there. How about we start with going home?" I said softly. Aang looked at me and then hugged me. We made camp and decided to go to the southern air temple the next day.
A/N: so that's chapter two! I'm sorry it took so long to write, but this is more or less how long updates are going to take. I will try to take a week max, but you know life is life. Hope you enjoyed! Dec. 22, 2018
