Broken Hearts: An ATLA Fan-fic adventure
Season 2: Chapter 3
Written by TheHiddenWriter
Based of Nick and Viacom's Avatar: The Last Airbender, all rights reserved to them.
Chapter 3: Lost with the mind/Lost within the soul
--
Shen looked around the burnt parts of the town. He remembered the day when his town went up in flames. The horrors… the pain… the fear. He almost lost his entire world that day, and he almost considered suicide afterwards. He should have been dead; he should have died with the town. But now, he had to be the one to stop all of this. In his mind though, he had doubts that his land could be saved. He left it for far too long. All because of his mission of recording Aang's adventure…
He woke up in the spirit world. He body shivered and he saw the scars from he short meeting with Yuan. He looked around at the spirits.
"Am I dead?"
"No, your time has not yet come."
"I should be dead. Kya is dead. My town is dead. My home should be dead soon too. Kill me. I won't scream in pain, I won't moan or beg for mercy. Kill me."
"Your land isn't dead yet."
"Then it will be soon enough."
"Regardless, you still have an important job to do."
"What job? Saving my land? It's dead, there is no saving it."
"In order for you to save your land, you must first gain the wisdom needed to take down your enemy. We have a task that will do such a thing."
"No task is going to give me the wisdom needed."
"We're giving you a second chance. You'll get to save this land."
"My land is dead, I keep telling you that."
"Not your land… this land…"
"What, this spirit area?'
"You're the only person here who has experienced the things the hero of this land will come to experience. He will see war, he will see death. He will find love, and see it snatched away from him on numerous occasions. He will know the sorrows to lose everything he cares about, but rebuild his life and start a new one."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Two things. You will secretly travel with him, keeping this special book with you at all times. You must also protect him at all costs. You are, until his journey is complete, his guardian. You want to get redemption, and the wisdom needed to save your land? Then I suggest you consider our offer."
"… Who exactly am I protecting?"
--
Katara and Aang followed a path that lead them to a hill that overlooked the town. A giant tree rested on top of it, slightly burned, but slowly recovering after two years of pain. They looked at the town from the hill, and saw how much destruction the town had received.
"This was where Kya and Shen were right when…" Katara couldn't finish the sentence, suddenly feeling sorrow for the couple. Aang nodded. This was the last spot where they were together before they were separated.
"I still can't believe it… they were so close to being married, to being finally together… and this war… it separated them."
Aang sighed. "Kind of like how the war separated us, huh?"
Katara looked at Aang, her face filled with sorrow. "Aang, I was confused…"
"Were you really Katara?"
"Aang… I never meant to hurt you… I just…"
"You were denying your feelings Katara. You had a relationship during this war."
"Jet doesn't count, and we were under less stress then than we were…"
"Really? Then who was it that suggested we wait till after the comet arrived to fight the firelord? Who suggested we wait and relax like normal teens? We could have tested it out then, Katara. You know we could have…"
Katara was silent. She looked down.
"Did you do it to protect me? Keep me on track with fighting Ozai? Did you not want to be hurt by another man after Jet? You never told me why, Katara…"
"I DIDN'T WANT TO HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU, AND THEN YOU END UP DYING! I DIDN'T WANT TO RISK BECOMING VULNERABLE AND THEN LOSING YOU!"
Tears came to her eyes and she shut them hard.
"You told me that your love for your people was reborn into your love for me. I came so close to having my love for my mom become my love for you… and if you died… I almost died on the inside once before… if that love died again…"
Aang walked up to her slowly.
"But you said… you said you believed in me. Was that a lie?"
Katara opened her eyes and looked into his.
"I wanted to be 100 sure you could defeat the firelord… and when azula almost killed you… I discovered two things that day… I need you in my life… but I also realized if you died, and I fell in love with you… I'd have nothing else to live for…"
They were both quiet for a moment. They were feeling ashamed and in sorrow. Eventually, they slowly moved towards each other and embraced. The two of them looked towards the town.
"We really are like Shen and Kya… aren't we?"
--
Back in Omashu, King Bumi was talking to Ty-lee and her fellow warriors.
"I'm curious… your friends with the avatar, right?"
"Well, we never really formally met. But I'm friends with many of his friends."
"Really… well in that case… tell me…"
He looked at the girls strangely.
"How's Momo doing?"
The girls looked confused.
"Umm… who's Momo?" Asked Ty-lee.
"Bah, everyone who knows the avatar knows Momo. If you don't know him, then you don't know the avatar."
"But I just said that…"
"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait for the rest of the rebellion to arrive. Wonder if they know Momo… oh well."
Ty-lee looked even more confused now.
"Ok…."
Bumi sighed.
"You think I'm crazy… which I won't deny… but it still hurts…"
He walked up to his throne and sighed.
"You want to know why I've been alive all these years?"
Ty-lee nodded.
"Aang was my best friend. Back then when I knew him, I was still waiting to learn earthbending. I may have been the crazy idea guy, but if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been able to get half my crazy ideas done."
Bumi sighed again.
"I remember when I heard he was missing. I was so upset. I had just found out I had the power to earthbend, and I wanted to be the one that could take Aang on the crazy adventure this time. I knew I had to go search for him, but I had to finish my earthbending training. It was a few years before I became a master, and then could go and search the world for him. But I couldn't find him. But I learned things during my search, important things. Wisdom, Patience, and Inner Strength. So I went back to Omashu, waiting for the day Aang returned, and I knew he would return. Until the long and terrible war was over, I wasn't going to abandon my friend's fight because of a silly little thing like death."
Ty-lee smiled.
"You were really good friends with him, weren't you?"
Bumi snorted and laughed. "Yep."
Then he stopped. "But I had a feeling that the main conflict wasn't over just yet. Now, this time, I'm going to do what I always wanted to do. I'm going to help you and the rebellion stop Ozai, and I'm going to fight along side my friend. When I do that… I can finally die in peace."
Ty-lee frowned at that thought. Bumi laughed.
"Don't be sad! I haven't kicked the bucket just yet!"
Ty-lee chuckled, and the kyoshi warriors took it as a cue to laugh as well. Bumi smiled.
"You girls really should meet Momo, if you think I'm funny, wait till you guys get a load of him!"
--
Chapter 3 Complete.
Coming up in the next chapter:
-Iroh and the rest of the gang attempt to find a clue about where they should head next.
-Toph's true intentions for asking out the Duke are revealed.
-Kya's escape from the shadow nation proves more difficult than she thought.
- And lastly, Zuko and Sokka attempt to discover the real reason about Yuan and Shen's past, and the one big thing that has haunted Shen since he was little.
You won't want to miss this next chapter! Chapter 4 arrives this Sunday! Stay tune!