Now, I know I said I wasn't going to do these Author's Notes any more, but this one is important. As you can see, this is going to be my version of Beginnings. That's right! The time to explain the title is at hand as well as a little editing to Wan's character. This way he doesn't seem like an uninformed human. I hope you enjoy!
Forest
Bara had run on ahead carrying Korra.
She kept on repeating a name. "Raava."
Every time she said that name, Bara could swear that he saw that same person with the T shaped arrow and his head would hurt for a split second. For the most part, he ignored it focusing on getting Korra to the old sage.
Temple
Bara ran inside followed by the now panting Sages.
He saw the old sage and said, "We're the Avatars, and she's lost her memory. Please, can you help her."
"Set her here." The old sage simply stated.
Bara sat Korra on the stone dais and backed away as the old sage ran her hands, coated in fire, above Korra.
"A dark energy has infected her. We must purge it before it destroys her spirit."
Location of the Spirit Water
Bara watched as the Sages lowered Korra into the water.
The old Sage said, "Let the water cleanse the darkness that plague your spirit."
Korra touched the water and Bara immediately fell to his knees. He saw that same Air Nomad from before and the same world from before. Bara managed to get to his feet.
The sage asked, "Are you okay?"
Bara stood panting and shook his head. "I'm fine. I-I just need to go meditate."
Bara walked off hoping that Korra would be fine. He walked outside and found a tree that he liked, so he sat down and meditated letting that Air Nomad's image run through his mind.
With Korra
Korra was faced to face with herself as the world was blue around them. "Who are you?"
Her look alike then shifted into a young man who was skinny, had medium length brown hair, and he wore a robe like shirt that was the color orange.
"I am your past life?" The man said.
"Are you Raava?" Korra asked.
He chuckled. "In the end I became as much a part of Raava as she became a part of me. My name is Wan, and I will show you the past."
The world began to fade.
With Bara
Bara soon found himself sitting in an ancient grove. He stood up and walked over to the Air Nomad from his visions. Now he could get a better look at him. He was a young man, around Bara's age, with crimson red pants and a dull orange robe that went around his right side. Along his arms and down to his forehead he had that T shaped arrow.
"Are you one of the past Avatar's?" Bara asked.
The man jumped into the tree and took a seat. "It's actually rather complicated, but in short, your situation is not as unique as you may think. At the beginning of the cycle there were two Avatars just as there is now."
He then thought about it for a moment. "Well, I suppose I was actually before him. Ironic considering his name. Anyways, I have brought you here to share a story with you. The story of Wan and Zagi."
Bara sat down. "Very well. I'm willing to learn if you say it's that important."
A bubble floated before him and remained where it was. Bara looked into the bubble and the whole world gave way to the distant past.
With Wan
Wan was running through the streets of the city upon a Lion Turtle's back. He was carrying a sack of food while being chased for stealing it. Three people all well fed and carrying weapons.
"No one steals from the Chu Brothers." One of three siblings said.
"You guys, always seem to forget who your messing with!" Wan happily shouted behind him.
He ran down the alley way and shot fire blocking the sibling's path. He then saluted to them before turning down the alley way and jumping over the edge of a railing. He grabbed onto the wires, holding laundry, and used them to get to the next level down.
Forest outside of Town, Wan's Home…
Wan walked in to find his friends.
One of them, who was younger than Wan, asked. "Did you steal from the Chu's again?"
He sat the bag down. "Someone has to knock the Chus off their high perch, and the way I see I'm the only one who's willing to."
The young friend caught a roll that was thrown at him. "Yeah, but keep acting up and you'll be banished to the Spirit Wilds."
Wan smiled, "Maybe it's time we consider it."
An old man, who'd been tainted by a spirit entering his body, came out of the shadows. "No, spirits live out there. This lion turtle is safety. Keeps us from getting all corrupted."
Wan handed the man some bread before sitting down and eating himself. "I'm not saying that it would be easy, but I think it would be better than living under the Chu's rule." He then had a spark of inspiration. "We could hunt that treasure the stories speak of."
'You're spouting crazy talk Wan." His friend stated.
Wan stood up. "No. I'm not, I'm thinking clearly for the first time. I'm going to find that treasure, Jaya."
Jaya was shocked, "What's gotten into you?"
Wan smiled, "I'm tired of being all talk. I want to get out there and find the treasure. If I found it, then maybe everyone would see that we can live out there. We could escape the reign of the Chu's. You two could come with me."
"What, you're really doing this?" Jaya asked.
Wan removed a few more items from the bag and sat them down with a sad smile. "Yeah, I am, and it appears you guys don't want to come, right?"
Jaya said, "Wan, would you just take a moment and think."
Wan stood up and slung the bag over his shoulder. "That's the thing Jaya, I've been thinking about what lies beyond the Lion Turtle for too long now." He walked towards the door. "Hopefully I see you guys again someday."
He walked out of the house having left enough food to last his friends a good while.
Chu's Palace
Wan walked up to the gate only to be confronted by the Chu's. He threw the bag before them.
"Here I'm returning your food." Wan stated.
The Elder Chu asked, "What is your game?"
Wan smiled, "The fact is that I'm tired of subsiding on your food. In fact, I'm tired of even being under your rule. That's why I have a proposition for you. Banish me from the village. This way, you never have to deal with me and I never have to deal with you."
The middle Chu smiled, "You do realize that once your banished, you can never return."
"I don't care. I already said my good byes." Wan stated confidently.
"Fine, you are now banished to the Spirit Wilds. Never return or it'll mean your death thief." The Elder Chu firmly stated.
Wan turned and waved. "That's fine by me."
The Chu brothers were left confused.
Spirit Wild's, Night…
Wan was walking through the woods when he heard sounds behind him. He bent fire at it only to hit nothing. He decided to run while flinging fire at the sounds. He was then scoped up by a man-eating plant.
Thinking quickly, he bent the fire around himself until the plant coughed him up. He then continued running until he found a seemingly safe place to rest. Only it turned out that the grass he was laying on wanted to kill him. It tried to suck him into the ground. He burnt the grass and continued running.
"This is insane!" Wan thought.
Day
Wan was so tired. He hadn't been able to rest, and any time he tried he would be attacked. He soon saw some fruit in the trees and went to take a bite only for it to turn into a swarm of bugs that chased him down a hill.
That's when he saw the oasis with lots of actual fruits. He tried to cross the bridge, numerous times, but a spirit always stopping him telling him that he was not welcome because he was a human.
Eventually, more spirits showed up and crossed the bridge, so that gave him the idea to disguise himself using the nearby bush. It works… for about a second. He was hurled into the water.
"Come on, can't you just let me in for a little while?" Wan asked.
Aye-Aye said, "No, now go back to your lion turtle."
Wan firmly said, "I'm not going back. Maybe I will if I could just find the temple I always heard about, but not before that."
"I don't care. Go find some other lion turtle to live on then." Aye-Aye sated.
Wan was shocked. "You mean, there are other lion turtles?"
"Of course, there are. Dozens of them. You humans are so stupid!" Aye-Aye angrily shouted.
Wan stood up. "Fine, if you won't help me, then I'll just help myself."
He left the spirits behind. He soon came upon a trapped cat deer and his stomach growled. He approached the creature ready to cook it with his fire, until it looked at him in a pleading manner. He sighed and assured the animal before climbing into the tree. He was about to free it until the hunter came to take their prize.
"Finally, we caught something. Cut it down." The lead hunter stated.
Wan stepped onto the branch. "Back off."
"Hold on second, you're that kid that left the lion turtle." The hunter stated.
Wan recognized the man as well, "You're that guy recruiting people for the hunt. The hunt for the Chu's."
Wan jumped off the tree using his fire to get their attention. They gave chase after him flinging around their fire. Wan used the forest to his advantage. He swung on a vine avoiding the grass which killed one of the men.
He then threw the beetle fruit at them causing the bugs to take another one away. Wan jumped into the tree only for the lead hunter to hit it with a huge fire ball that toppled the tree. Wan hit the ground and the last two hunters advanced on him.
Aye-Aye appeared and jumped into the lead hunter's last man possessing him for a few moments and scarring the last guy off. He then jumped out leaving the hunter permanently transformed.
Aye-Aye brought Wan to the Spirit Oasis healing him. From there he stays at the Oasis for a while learning how to better wield his fire from a dragon and being dubbed 'Stinky' by Aye-Aye.
His legend grows, and he inspires his friends, and many like them, to leave the lion turtle. He builds a strong bound with the cat dear, and soon his time to continue exploring comes. It's time to set out once more.
Spirit Oasis, A few Years Later…
Wan patted his cat dear and mounter her. "It's time to go Mula."
Aye-Aye asked, "Are you sure you don't wish to stay?"
Wan smiled, "Sorry, but it's time I set out. There's so much I want to do and see. I still have to find that temple to."
Wan sets out to see the world traveling for months. He speaks with spirits tracking down any leads that they may have on a temple until he comes upon a meditating monkey.
"Hello, I was wondering if you've heard anything about a temple that holds a treasure?" Wan asked.
The monkey pointed. "Over that hill. Now leave me be."
Wan smiled. "Really? That's awesome! Thank you!"
"You are still here. I said go." The monkey stated annoyed.
Wan sighed and walked back to Mula. He then rode off.
"That boy is going to doom us all." The monkey said.
With Zagi
Zagi had just finished his meditation, and looked out over the world. For 5 years he's lived among the spirits training to master the 4 elements; however, he has yet to find his purpose.
Zagi sighed, "What am I supposed to do. I tried getting the people to leave the turtles, but so far only the other Air Benders seem open to exploring farther than the turtles. Maybe the last lion turtle will have some people…"
Suddenly Zagi got a weird feeling. "What?" He stood up and looked around until his eyes focused on the temple. "That place feels dark, but I didn't feel anything from it a moment ago."
He bent a cloud of air around himself and rode down to the temple.
With Wan
Wan made his way deep within the temple. He was sure this had to be it. It was the only temple he'd come across, yet he wasn't having any luck finding the treasure that was rumored to be here. It wasn't guarded like he thought it would be either.
Soon he entered a large room that had been cut in half with bars. Behind those bars Wan saw an odd-looking spirit. It was completely black with strange markings and a single eye.
"What are you?" Wan asked.
The spirit turned towards Wan. "Human, if you are a friend to spirits, then please free me. I was sealed in this prison for 10,000 years. I have been tormented all the while."
"10,000 years." Wan stated amazed.
He made up his mind and fire bent at the prison. To his surprise, the whole thing came down freeing the spirit.
"What is that!?" Zagi asked having run into the basement
Vaatu prepared to leave, but not before addressing Wan one last time. "Thank you human. You have performed a great service for the spirits."
He then immediately left as a white spirit, just as large as the black spirit, entered the temple. The spirit frantically looked around before zeroing in on Wan.
"It was you. You released that spirit." The white spirit angrily stated.
Wan narrowed his eyes. "I merely released him from a prison. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, right?"
The spirit sighed, "You do not know anything, do you human?" She pointed at Zagi. "At least he would have known better than to release Vaatu even if he had no idea what was going on."
Zagi stepped in the middle of the man and spirit holding a hand up to the two of them. "Great spirit, I'm sure this man meant no harm. Please inform the two of us who that was, so that we may better understand."
Raava sighed, "I suppose I cannot blame you for being uninformed. My name is Raava a powerful spirit of light and peace. That which you released was a powerful spirit of darkness and chaos known as Vaatu.
Since the beginning of time we have battled over the fate of this world. For the past 10,000 years, Vaatu was sealed inside this temple until you came along and freed him."
Wan was shocked and saddened. "I-I didn't know he was trapped here." He shook his head. "I heard rumors that there was a great treasure locked within here. I'm sorry."
Zagi looked at the man and smiled. "Chin up. You never knew that things would turn out this way, and it's never too late to make up for a mistake."
Wan nodded and turned to Raava determined. "Please, allow me the chance to fix this."
Raava said, "The only one I feel right about fixing this is him."
She pointed to Zagi.
"What? Why me?" Zagi asked confused.
Raava replied, "You are the Avatar. The one the Earth has chosen to protect it. to maintain balance. That is more than enough of a reason for me to ask for your help in capturing Vaatu."
Wan looked at Zagi, "What's she saying?"
Zagi nodded. "That's my calling. That's why I can bend all four elements. Alright, I'll come along with you provided you let this man atone for what he has done."
Raava sighed, "Very well. It is likely that he could be of some help if he's another human that has survived out here like you."
Wan nodded to Zagi and Raava. "I promise not to weigh you down. I feel awful over what I have done."
Lelouch of Zero: Oh the irony of them needing the Fire Nation to stop a war between Water Tribes after the last war.
Quillion9000: I agree. It is rather ironic; however, this is also what Korra was originally doing in the series. Only this time it is Bara who suggest the idea. Don't worry, Iroh will show up plenty in the future.