GIPP'S POV
That morning came to me like a slap in the face. For more than one reason. First of all, this dream I had kept me up all night, causing me to have deep purble bags under my eyelids, and making me stumble around like a zombie.
Second of all, I woke up -after only sleeping for only a couple of hours- to a gigantic sing-fest by Koron and Azon. And they weren't the best of singers, so that gave me a splitting headache.
And last of all came right to breakfast, with non-stop 'catching up' by the two long-lost best friends.
"More homemade waffles, Azon?" Koron asked givingly as he passed Azon a plate full of the golden dough smothered with burgandy syrup.
"I'm feeling pretty full, but one more can't hurt," Azon took one and started cutting it up with her knife.
All five of us -Koron, Azon, Roko, Teo, and I- were sitting at a rectangular, wooden table, filled with all kinds of delectable breakfast foods.
I was sitting next to Teo on one side, and -go figure- Azon and Koron were together on the other. Azon was across from me, so you'd think she'd have to look my way at some point, right?
Wrong.
The only thing she's looked at the whole time we've been here is Koron. I mean, don't get me wrong. He's very generous to let us stay here, and I deeply respect him for that.
But it's almost as if he is mockingly keeping her away from me. And it's really starting to flip my lid. I glared at him angrily for a while, but he didn't even notice. He was to lost in her eyes. Her beautiful, golden eyes... That only I should have the privelage of staring in. Not him.
So anyways, Roko was at the end next to Koron and Teo, minding his own business and not saying a single word. He figured his kid must've been quite the charmer, because Roko let him butter Azon up with compliments and heroic stories for far too long.
The only person I spoke to that morning was my brother, Teo. Except one time when I asked Azon to pass the milk. She ignored me like I wasn't there and listened to one of Koron's stories about how he heroically saved someone's life, her mind clearly engrossed into his cool voice.
Teo was kinda off in La-La Land the whole time. He spoke hardly at all, zoned out at everything I said, and stared breathlessly into his eggs while ignoring me.
"Bro, what's up?" I asked apprehensively, shaking his shoulder from side to side.
He finally shook his head quickly and sat up straight. As if someone were going to sense something was wrong. Clearly enough, something was on his mind that he couldn't figure out.
"What? Nothing!" Teo answered feverishly, rapidly scarfing down his pancake. The thing was, he didn't even need to. Roko had gone and Azon was still ogling over pretty-boy.
"Really? You look jittery. Something's up, I know it." I finished eating what was left on my plate and got up to rinse it off in the sink. "I mean, I felt as though a I got less then an hour of sleep last night but you don't see me staring off into space like some-"
"You couldn't sleep either?" Teo interrupted me. I looked up from my plate and gazed my eyes at him. He was watching me for the first time today, and I realized he looked like a train wreck, just like I do.
"Yeah," I continued washing my plate as I talked. "But it's no big deal, just this weird dream I had."
"Really?" My twin asked questionably. "What was it about?"
"Oh, nothing. Just these four adults simultaneously spoke to me. They said, 'The spirit is in you' or something like that." I finished rinsing and peered my head at Teo, who's eyes had widened and was staring at me like I had sprouted an extra head.
He got up and walked over to me, grabbing my shoulders and looking into my eyes. "I had... That exact same dream."
Our faced mirrored as we stared at one another in complete astonishment. We must've looked like a couple of oddballs because Azon soon came over.
"What's wrong, twidiots?" She whacked both of our heads and we snapped back into reality. Like the twins we were, Teo and I turned to Azon in unison, the same displeased look on our faces.
"We had the same dream last night," I announced, still in shock by me and my twin's overly connected minds.
Azon looked at us like we were crazy. "You guys are twins. Don't they do that sometimes?"
"Do what?" Teo asked.
"Have the same dreams, act like one person with one mind," she replied, and tapped her temple a few times to give her point, "You guys are over-thinking things."
She walked back to Koron and started right back into chatting.
"She's probably right," Teo's eyes shrunk back to normal size. Mine, however, were still adjusting. "It's a twin thing."
"I still think something sketchy is going on."
"Just get over it, it's probably nothing. Come on, lets go practice."
Koron and Roko's house had two, giant, outdoor training rooms, located on the two side ends of their house. You see, this house is really a place where benders of the rebellion used to train in secret.
Each space was surrounded by 7-foot high fences with locked gates. There were also doors on the inside of the house that led to the courtyard.
Inside the training rooms were a massive variety of things, all located in a shed towards the back of the rooms.
Vases of water, earth discs, chairs, spiders, more spiders, torches, rocks, and more, you name it!
A large pond of water at the center -filled with exotic fish, I may add- gave water benders some practice. There were also ten earth discs stacked neatly inside a standing net, which Koron had done for me. The entire area was grass, except a small patio by the door with a single lawn chair.
The other room was exactly like the one I trained in but mirrored. Think of it like bathrooms. The male's is mirrored to the female's.
Koron and I were training together on one side, and Azon and Teo on the other. I haven't a clue why I chose to train with the lady-stealer, but at least it means Azon won't be with him, and I would have a chance to set the record straight about who was really Azon's man.
I took a glance at the dark-skinned teenager. Right now, he was swishing one of the fish from the pond in a water bubble from side to side.
I set the earth discs on either side of me, so I could use five for each arm. Being the best earth bender I could be -which wasn't that great- , I shot out discs at full speed. First I punched with my right hand, then my left, aiming directly at the target.
The discs didn't even reach the net.
"Just keep trying, eventually you will get it," An irritating voice to my left chimed in.
Koron.
"Thanks and all for your 'words of wisdom', but I could do without." I cleverly retorted.
"Just trying to help a friend out, that's all," He replied kindly, not affected by my harsh words.
I threw two more discs and tried to forget about all the words that erupted out of his mouth.
But that didn't last very long.
"Hey what do you think about Azon?" Koron asked right as I flew another disc into the air. Instead of going into the net, I lost my balance and it reared back at me like a boomerang, hitting me square in the stomach.
"Oof!" The rock shoved me back a good five feet before abruptly stopping and landing on my chest, the wind knocked out of me completely.
I got up and wiped the earth bits off my front, all while Koron just stood there...
Laughing his head off.
"What?" I howled at him viciously, stalking towards him. "It's not funny!"
"Oh it's pretty funny," he managed to choke out before taking one look at me and starting all over again.
I walked back to the stack of discs and started training again. Soon, I was actually hitting the net, but not very hard.
I waited until he calmed his arrogant chuckling down before speaking again.
"So, what about Azon?" I looked his way, watching him finish off his hardy laugh by wiping a tear he managed to conjure up, and he went back to training aswell.
"Oh, right," Koron continued gesturing the fish's aqua bubble around in the air. "Well, what do you think of her?"
"I think..." I trailed off, not wanting to give away any personal feelings about the love of my life. "Well what do YOU think?"
"I think..." Koron paused, imitating me. "Well, I think she's the most amazing person in the world. I'd forgotten how much I had missed her when she left, going on some quest at the age of nine. She was so brave, and now I don't think I can ever part with her again. I think I may... love her."
Feeling somewhat touched by his passionate feelings, I decided not to hate him for loving my future wife.
"I feel... The same. I mean I should, because..." I trailed off, knowing of the risks I'm taking by saying these three little words. "She's my girlfriend."
The look in Koron's eyes instantly made me regret my decision of lying. He looked hurt and disappointed, like his heart dropped thirty feet and shattered into a million pieces. He lowered his head in embarrasment.
"What?" His voice quivered slightly, his tone clearly hurt.
Well, there was no backing out now, once you make a lie, you gotta finish it out. "Yeah! It was love at first sight! We are just meant to be," I tried to add excitement and happiness into my tone but it just wouldn't work. It was convincing enough for Koron, though.
"Well I hope you two have a great and happy relationship," but then all of a sudden, all that sadness in him went away. The dark, grey cloud that hung above him melted into delicate snowflakes that sprinkled his body with love and joy. Ear to ear, a smile erupted on his face and all the bad feelings I once contained swept away into a current of forgiveness.
"Let's get back to training, shall we?" Koron began moving the fish once again and I just watched.
The way the water flowed with his movements, the way he and the liquid were one. It reminded me of Teo and I, inseprerable.
I glanced at my blistered hands and longed for a water bending gene, somewhere in my DNA. But I was given earth bending, which is still plenty good, and plenty dangerous.
Though I knew it wasn't real, and was most certainty never going to happen, I raised my hands and pretended to move the water that Koron was moving.
Looking at me mimicking him, Koron surpressed a laugh, then began pretending that he wasn't moving the water and that I was doing all of it. He brought his hands lower and and aimed the water ball more where my hands were facing.
Koron split the bubble in half, and depositied the fish back in the pond, collecting more fishless water while his attention was over there, and joining it with the clear levitating fluid.
Koron stopped, holding a thinking pose for a second, then taking control of the water once again, a smile playing across his face. Gesturing with his hands, he brought the circle of liquid far above my head, holding it threateningly to scare my dry body.
"Don't do it," I nodded my head side to side at Koron, who was giggling and smiling, pulled the water lower. "I swear if you-"
But it was too late. Koron had dropped his hands to his side, and the water was plummeting fast at my skull. I did the most humanly reaction I could do. I put my hands above my head, and closed my eyes.
The water must've been higher then I thought, because I waited for a while. Finally, I opened my eyes and pulled my hands down, very slowly. Koron's mouth hung open, his eyes far wider then I thought was humanly possible. I gave him a weird look, assuming he had bent the water so I would not get wet.
In an exact circle around me was a puddle of water.
But me, not a single drop.
And by the look of his face, Koron had no part of this.
I shot a frightened look at my hands, then looked up to Koron.
"B-But," he stuttered. "You're an earth bender. Unless..." I waisted no time running to the house at full speed. I flung the door open -almost off its hinges- and screamed for my brother.
"Teo?" I ran around frantically in search for him, not slowing down a bit. I remembered he was still training, so I rushed to the other side of the house. The door was in sight, and I was only a few feet away.
TEO'S POV
When Koron and Gipp seperated from Azon and I, I began to wonder what kind of things they were saying to eachother, and if Gipp was behaving himself.
"What's wrong with your brother lately, WS?" Azon brought up the subject I had been dreading on our way to the training facility.
"WS? What's that supposed to mean?" I responded, trying to casually change the awkward subject.
"Weak sauce. I found it an appropriate nickname for you. When I first called you it, I felt as though it would stick pretty well," She answered, grinning to herself while we walked.
"Whatever."
"So about your brother acting so weird..." Azon mentioned just as we reached the double doored entrance to our destination.
"I don't know what's on his mind. He's just confused," I lied.
"Oh, okay then." And the subject was thankfully dropped.
Azon gripped the door handles and yanked them open, causing the hinges to surpress a loud groan. I went through first, and it was certainly beautiful.
The barred fences that surrounded us were coated in vines and ivory, making the clearing look more like a relaxing backyard than a training room. A pond infested with many koi fish centered the area, giving quite a spiritual vibe to the whole place.
"There are some earth discs in the shed over there to practice with," Azon informed me.
Across the courtyard from the shed was a sturdy looking net, where I assumed the earth discs were supposed to target.
I dragged out about twenty of the circular objects, and split them evenly on each side of me. I inhaled a deep breath, and began punching rapidly into the net, hitting my target with accuracy and strength every punch.
Right, Left, Right, Left. Alternating fists every earthdisc. Right, Left, Right, Left.
I ran out of ammo after what seemed like three seconds, and decided to take a small break.
The spot where Azon chose to practice her firebending was near a hand crafted bench, which I gladly took to watch her while I rested.
She first started her positions, shifting stances, kicking her legs, and punching her arms in slow motion without any firepower behind them.
Then she began.
It was like watching a rapid river flow, wild and powerful, but also fluid and controlled at the same time.
She jumped and performed spins, releasing flames from her limbs in waves and waves of scorching heat.
Finally, she stopped, a bead of sweat sticking to her brow, and she shot out two fingers, the same ones that killed Mr. Crazy Cop. Metallic blue lightning exploded across the courtyard into the wooden wall of the house.
"Spirits! I would miss the pole!" She yelled to herself, obviously not hitting her intended target.
I hadn't noticed the charred ground below her, the grass singed to dark grey and crumbling to dust.
Fire was such a devastating element. But that was the thing that made me want it more. I flashed back to when I had seen Okhan in the streets, and all I had done was wish to have the power of fire.
Azon went back to training, and I studied the way she moved with the element, being one with it.
Instinctively my body began imitating her movements, without me even thinking about it.
I bobbed and weaved just like her, but the difference between us was the fact she had scarlet flames swirling with her moves. She finished off with a powerful punch of her fist, the fire obeying it's commands and expelling out before us.
To my shock, when I copied Azon's punch, wild, untamed flames erupted from my fist. I gawked in surprise at my hands. Words struggling to form in my mouth.
"Teo..." Azon breathed.
I didn't get to hear what she had to say. I took off to find my brother. Sprinting at full speed towards the door...
GIPP'S POV
Still at full speed, I prepared to fling the door open and tell my brother what had just happened. But when I was just about to open it, the previously closed doors slammed open by themselves. Well really, someone opened it, and I body slammed into them, hard.
I laid on top of the now injured victim with my eyes closed from the brutal crash. I opened them and found my twin struggling to get out from under my body mass.
My brother let out a grown of uncomfort, so I quickly scrambled off him and pulled him back onto his feet, instantly blurting out my news.
"I have to tell you something!" But I didn't say it alone. Me and Teo said it at the same time, like always.
"Me first!" I eagerly demanded. The words formed by themselves, slipping off my tongue without my intention. "I was practicing earth bending with Koron and he was being funny and tried to pour water on me but he-"
"Get on with it!" Teo interrupted my run-on sentence impatiently.
"I can waterbend!" I yelped.
Teo looked amazed, but I could still tell he had something huge on his mind as well.
"What's your news?" I asked, still jumpy from my new bending ability.
"Gipp," Teo spoke, but not as fast or eager as I did. "I can fire bend!"
Happiness pricked my side and cheeks then sewed me up in stitches. My twin and I can bend more than the sole element of earth, but how?
"How is this possible?" Teo repeated my thoughts, still smiling like a cheetah-dolphin.
"I don't know but... I like it! We may be, like, unique. And we can bend-"
"Wait wait wait..." Teo interrupted me. "You know about the dream we both had? You know, the 'The spirit's inside you' junk?"
"Yeah," I tried to follow on to my brother's breakthrough.
"Well I kind of recognized one of them. The young water bender."
"Yeah, and?" My eagerness shined like the sun.
"I think that was Avatar Korra."
"What? Why would Avatar Korra come to us in a dream?" My eagerness transformed to confusion as we put together this puzzle.
"Because, Gipp," Teo put his hands on my shoulders. I felt something go through me when he did. Electricity, knowledge, power. The spark that started at Teo's fingertips expanded inside my veins and coursed through my body, igniting every bone. My head swirled around in a hurricane while millions of pricks poked at my mouth, my nose, my eyes. Teo's grip tightened on my biceps, so I knew he was experiencing the same feeling.
Then the energy expanded ten-fold when me and Teo looked into each other's eyes. It's the kind of energy that feels good. The kind that wakes you up in the morning, pulls you through the afternoon, and shoves you to bed.
I saw his lips move, and mine reacted almost instantly. It's like we are one cell, working together to maintain proper health. One fish, flowing through the current in the stream. One body, fulfilling our life together. One mind. One person.
But two pairs of lip's speaking as one.
"We are the Avatar."
AN:
Next chapter up soon! :) Review and Follow!
