DISCLAIMER: I do not own Avatar, or anything related to Avatar!

Chapter 8

"The Fire Nation?" Ms. Hiran turned pale. I understood completely- the Fire Nation was, nowadays, a country that was greatly feared, a country of destruction and shattered people.

"Yes." I nodded grimly, then, noticing that Ms. Hiran looked like she was about to faint, quickly changed my expression to one of pleading. "Please, Ms. Hiran. I have to do this. T-they killed my parents."

"Oh, honey..." She shook her head slowly, now having the same pleading expression I did on her face. She was a very beautiful old lady, and I only hoped I could age as well as she did, if I made it through this... if. Man, I hate that word.

"Yuki, revenge is not the answer. Please, listen to me. You must stay here. You cannot go to the Fire Nation."

"I-I'm sorry, Ms. Hiran. I have to."

"No, you don't. Please, I am begging you. The Fire Nation are a ruthless people. Who knows what they'll do to you when they see you? Or find out you're from the Air Temples? They'll do the same to you that they did to your family. Please, Yuki. I don't want to lose you to them."

Tears started welling up in my eyes. She was right, but that wasn't going to change my mind.

"I'm sorry." I said once again. "But this is something I need to do. I need to finish the deeds of the dead."

My mind flashed to Aang again. Was he alive? If so, where was he? Was he okay?

Ms. Hiran looked down sadly. "He's going to be okay, Yuki."

I blinked twice. Did she just read my mind, or was it that obvious?

"Aang is the Avatar. He can do things for himself. You need to stop being such a good sister to him. Let him fight his own fights."

I shook my head slowly. "I don't even know if he's alive. I don't want to take any chances. I don't want the destruction to reach here."

Ms. Hiran looked up again, trying to think of something to say. She was going to do everything in her willpower to keep me here, keep me safe, keep me protected...

Protection, that's what this is all about. I couldn't protect my parents, my people, the rest of the nomads, my brother... now I had to do everything I could to protect the rest of the world.

"I'm sorry." I whispered for the last time, biting my lip to hold back the tears. I hugged Ms. Hiran quickly, and then hurried out the door.

I looked behind me and saw the lady's sad, regretful, almost dreading face staring back at me, bidding me farewell.

For the last time.

I stared ahead of me, at the gloomy city. News of the defeat of the Air Temples had spread, causing a black veil to be spread over the sky, almost in mourning. Rain poured down for the second time today, but no lightning, no thunder. Just gloomy rain, heated by the smoke rising from the chimneys of the houses, falling down on my face and mixing with the fresh tears.

I knew I'd never see this town again. But I had to do this. For my family, for my people...

For Aang.

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CHEESY ENDING, YAY! :D Also, WRITER'S BLOCK, YAY! And, last but not least, FILLER CHAPTER, YAY!!

Ahh... I'd been putting this one off for awhile. I'm getting more descriptive of this stuff, I think! Maybe!

Heh, almost had a "Green Day" reference in here... originally, it was "a country that was greatly feared, a country of destruction and broken dreams", but then, the second I typed that, that song got stuck in my head... XD So I changed it to something that made a bit more sense.

And, on a topic completely not related to this story, but more related to Avatar in a way, I found a song called "The Mighty Ride of the Firelord" today while browsing youtube for some writer's-block-destroying songs. And that one proved to be a good one!! I listened to it while writing this chapter, though I don't know why.

Anywho... yeah! Reviews and criticism, please! I love reading your reviews, and take every bit of criticism into consideration!

So click that button down there that says "Review This Story/Chapter"!

*P.S. Long author's note, yay!*