'Presumed dead'.
Those words had repeated in his mind again and again in the last hour. It couldn't be. It was stated that if Kahlee had survived her fall into the sea, by morning she would be dead and there had been no sightings of her on land. After his mother had gone, all he had was Kahlee and Iroh. Now Iroh was locked up in jail and Kahlee was presumed dead. She had always been there for him, she had even gone with him when he was banished, when he was branded a traitor. He had betrayed her again. The look of anger and sadness in her eyes when he wouldn't let her go still haunted him. He thought he was doing the right thing. She was harbouring a traitor, a murderer. He thought he was doing what was best for her…he had been wrong again. He knew Mai felt guilty for what she did, even though she wouldn't admit it. Good, he thought to himself. He may have not been willing to let her help a traitor but he never would have called the guards on her. Suddenly, the doors to his bedchamber opened and Azula marched in, looking angrier than he had ever seen her. Before he could say anything she had slapped him so hard his head spun around. He clutched at his cheek as he felt a sting from a scratch her nails had inflicted.
"This is your fault. You made her hate the Fire Nation. You're turned her against us. And now she's dead" Azula cried.
"She…she might not be…" Zuko trailed off, knowing it wasn't a good argument.
"So what?! If she did survive she'll have joined the Avatar. We'll have to fight against her now! She was my best friend…she…" Azula stuttered, showing more emotion than she probably ever had before.
"Azula, I…I'm sorry" Zuko sighed.
Her face growing dark, she leaned forward and spat in his face, turning away and storming off the way she came.
Why did he destroy everything and everyone around him?
They were all sitting by the fire later that night, not wanting to push Kahlee to tell them what happened but at the same time they couldn't help but be curious.
"I think I can speak for everyone when I say how glad we are that you're okay. When we left Ba Sing Se…we didn't know what would happen to you…" Katara trailed off.
"And then we found out that you were heralded a hero in the Fire Nation and had were being called the Next Avatar…I mean, what's up with that?" Sokka questioned.
"Sokka" Katara nudged him with her elbow.
"It's okay, you guys should know everything that's happened. Once you guys got away safely, Iroh and I decided we needed someone on the inside, I pretended to capture him and bent the knee" Kahlee informed them.
"But you haven't gone dark side…have you?" Sokka inquired.
"No…I felt horrible being called a hero, while Iroh was rotting away in the dungeons…but things got more and more complicated" Kahlee went on.
"What do you mean?" Aang asked.
"I hope what I'm about to tell you doesn't change what you think about me. As you probably know, I'm an orphan, both my parents died when I was very young, I never knew anything about them" Kahlee announced.
"I'm so sorry" Katara said, placing a comforting hand on her arm.
"Ozai knew my mother. She was a…employee of his I guess you could say. She had a gift, she could copy someone's bending" Kahlee confessed.
"Woah, woah. Hold up, what do you mean copy?" Sokka queried, confused.
"She could touch someone and literally copy their bending…but it would only last for a short amount of time. She naturally had the ability to firebend but she wanted more" Kahlee stated.
"She wanted to control the others elements permanently?" Toph guessed.
"Yes. This is probably going to come as a big shock to all of you, but there was another Avatar before Aang" Kahlee told them.
"What?!" They all gasped.
"He was born in the Earth Kingdom and wasn't able to bend when he was born. Then when the war started, he was suddenly able to bend Earth and as time went on he realised he could bend all of the elements. He was able to hide who he was for 80 years when someone started to spread rumours and Ozai tasked my mother to find him" Kahlee explained.
"She thought she could get all the elements" Sokka realised.
"She was pregnant with me when she started to hunt him down, and she eventually found him…and when she did and tried to take his powers, she found that instead of being able to just copy them, she was able to take them…permanently" Kahlee went on.
"But…without his powers…" Aang trailed off.
"I'm sorry…my mother killed the Avatar" Kahlee admitted, tears welling in her eyes, as she looked at their shocked faces.
"I know you all probably think I'm a monster now-" Kahlee started, but was cut off by Aang.
"Wait, you said she was pregnant with you…does that mean you have all the elements? Even Air?" Aang inquired.
"Yes…Aang, I'm so sorry, you must be so angry with me but-" Kahlee was once again cut off.
"This is amazing! You're an airbender! There's another airbender!" Aang cheered.
"Are you missing the part where my mother killed you in another life?" Kahlee questioned.
"What your mother did doesn't define who you are, Kahlee. You're a good person, I know you are" Aang told her.
"We all do" Katara insisted.
"And besides, it will be so great to have another Airbender around!" Aang grinned.
"Yeah about that...I don't actually know how to airbend" Kahlee admitted.
"Of course you don't, you need a teacher. And I think I'm up for the job" Aang stated, as Kahlee smiled back at him.
Author's Notes: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I forgot to say we got to 50 chapters last week, so I'll announce it now! Thanks for all the support guys:) Please leave a review!
