Sorry for the such long delay! Its been a hectic two weeks and I pushed aside this more then I would have liked. I'm starting a new format for writing my stories from now on, I'm taking a lot more time and researching more, as well as structuring it differently. Should be nicer, hopefully!
Book 4 Chapter 10 - changes
PREVIOUSLY: Toph struggles with her metal ending school, a paranoid Zuko forms an elite fighting force that take orders from Aang, Sokka and Katara get a gift for Aang's upcoming 15th birthday. Meanwhile Aang is warned by Hakoda about what could go wrong with harmonic convergence which he ignored, although it prompts him to speak to Avatar Wan. We also got our first glimpse of the main villain.
Aang picked up the pace as he created a path through the roaring flames. Tower blocks were falling all around him as he chased after him. He didn't know who he was or how he became so powerful that he was able to cause this much disruption. The figure suddenly stopped, "Who are you and what do you want!" Aang angrily called out, the figure slowly turned around, pulling down his hood...
Aang jolted awake, trying to not wake the still sleeping Katara he slid out of bed. This attempt was futile however, Katara was a rather light sleeper, "Aang? What's wrong?"
"It's just another nightmare, I keep seeing these same people with these long black hoods destroying temples and cities and stuff, but this time he turned around and took his hood off, and it... It was all like... deformed and, inhuman... I..." Katara stopped him with a passionate kiss on his forehead, "Shh, go back to sleep, talk to me in the morning."
He tried as best as he could to go back to sleep but his mind was constantly racing, it couldn't just be a coincidence that he dreamed about the same people three nights in a row, is someone trying to warn me? Figuring it was useless trying to get some sleep, he made his way outside into the cold, "I see I'm not the only one struggling to sleep," "Huh?" Hakoda stepped out from the cover of darkness, "I think we both have a lot on our minds, don't we?"
"It feels like before the day of black sun, I'm seriously unprepared and unlike last time with Ozai, I have to do this on my own,"
"Aang you are a good kid, but you need to learn to believe in yourself, at times you are your own worst enemy. By doubting your own abilities, you make your life even harder. I am no guru, but even I can see that you are at war with yourself," Aang opened his mouth to protest but was quickly shut down,
"It's not open for discussion. Sokka told me a lot about what has been happening the past 2 months, you may think that you need to spend the next few weeks practicing and practicing, but if you go into this without a completely clear head then there is no point in turning up at all, the nightmares that Katara has been mentioning to me about will probably be largely down to this. Take yourself, Sokka and Katara away for a few days, no agenda, no practicing, does that seem fair to you?"
"But chief the problem is I know what my failures are but I can never seem to get the better of them, and for me to do this I must be able to overcome these,"
"Everyone has their failures Aang, it is what makes us human. To be a better person you don't need to overcome your weaknesses, you instead need to use them to your advantage. What you need to do Aang is to work out how to work out this battle within yourself and use those strong emotions that stem from this to your advantage, the last thing any of us wants is for you to change into someone your not,"
"Thanks Hakoda, I really mean it,"
"Now go back to sleep, think over what I said in the morning and ask Sokka and Katara, goodnight."
Aang overslept yet again, Much to the dismay of Katara, "Aang will you stop being so lazy!" as she splashed the water from the vase onto him for the second morning in a row.
"Aah, that's cold!" he yelped, Katara waterbended the water back towards her and made it into a water whip, "you know what's going to happen if you don't get out of bed," prompting Aang to literally leap from under the sheets, it was at this point that Sokka burst into the room,
"Sokka! Privacy!" yelled an embarrassed Aang, who was standing in the middle of the room with only a pair of boxers on. The sight of a barely dressed Aang and Katara holding a water whip led to Sokka getting a very wrong idea of what was going on. Sokka's look of mortification prompted Katara to respond, "Don't worry, I was threatening him with it to get him out of bed,"
"Yeah of course, I totally believe that..."
"Now will you please get out so I can get dressed?"
Sokka backed as slowly as possible out of the door, Aang sped this up by airbending him into the wall of the hallway before slamming the door shut with a firm gust of air.
"Aang, why did you get so embarrassed? It isn't as if Sokka is a female?"
"I'm just a bit conscious of how I'm changing that's all," Katara walked up to him and gently squeezed Aang's biceps, "You're going to turn into a handsome young man, don't sweat it," Aang blushed and turned away, hastily putting on the clothes from the day before, "And not into that dirty stuff either," as she grabbed another robe from the drawer.
"Hakoda gave me a good idea last night, he suggested that me, you and Sokka go somewhere peaceful, he thinks that I'm over training like back before the day of black sun, maybe a little while away from everything will do us all good,"
"I've been wondering about the same idea actually, I think it's what you need, let's go see what Sokka says,"
"DOES THAT MEAN WE ARE GOING TO THE Beach!? But wait, I've got to spend it with you two lovebirds!" Aang replied by kissing Katara on the lips in front of a rather disgusted Sokka "it's either the beach or here,"
"I'll think about it..."
"We are leaving now so are you coming or not?"
Grumbling, Sokka made his way towards an already prepped Appa, just as Aang was about to shout Yip Yip, he noticed one of those hooded figures standing off in the distance, when he noticed Aang looking at him he turned away and walked off," What's wrong sweetie?"
"Uh nothing, Yip Yip!"
They had chosen a small uninhabited island south of the Earth Kingdom, Katara thought that being away from all kinds of distractions would be a good thing for everyone, this however didn't set well with the grumpy one sitting on his own in the corner.
"What's the fun in sitting alone doing absolutely nothing with nobody around!"
"The whole point is that you have a break from civilization, by not being in contact with anyone we can all relax,"
"But what if something major happens and we are needed?" Mentioned Aang, who was always the pessimistic of the group, the sighting of the hooded figure was still playing on his mind, "Don't worry Aang, I've let the leaders of all 3 kingdoms to send a hawk to this island and only if it is absolutely urgent."
They landed later that night in a small opening. The majority of the island was a thick luscious forest, with occasional clearings on the coast and along several lakes like the one they landed next to. Aang and Katara unpacked leaving Sokka who was still fast asleep on top of Appa, who was disgusted at having to sleep with the harness on.
For the first time in a long while Katara and Aang were finally alone, Aang firebended a lovely campfire and they sat huddled against the harsh winds coming off from the shore, "Its unusual for you to want to cut yourself away from your avatar duties?"
"The night before I can to you with this idea I had a long conversation with your father outside, neither of us could sleep due to everything that was going on. We are both in the same bot you see, and he said one thing which will probably stick with me for the rest of my life, that often my greatest enemy is myself..."
"I can see where he is coming from, you are constantly doubting yourself and you often make life much harder for yourself,"
"Hey! I'm not Sokka!"
"Anyway, you still haven't answered my question?"
"Oh yes, he suggested that we should go on this trip to detach ourselves for a bit, maybe it will be good for all of us?"
"Probably not for the snoring antisocial over there," They both chuckled.
Aang motioned for them to lay down, it was a beautiful starry night, "Just imagine what could be out there? The monks taught us that each one of those bright lights is a star just like ours, and each one has the potential to harbour life like ours," Katara was amazed at this, "There was an observatory in the northern air temple that monitored the stars, not long before everything went pear-shaped they discovered an unfamiliar object flying towards our solar system, they were unable to decipher what it exactly it was. Do you think there really is another civilisation out there?"
Authors Note : This is allowing for a future book, that craft is in fact voyager II, a spacecraft we sent out that a few decades ago which has just passed the edge of the solar system, as this is set millenia after present day that *craft* has ended up here. More to come in a focused one-shot soon
"I think that even if we did find other people, it would be practically impossible to communicate and visit them, it would be awesome however, I wonder if they have bending or stuff like that,"
"yeah, just imagine that, come on let's get some sleep"
"Don't need to ask me twice Aang" and the two dosed off in each others arms under the moonlight