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NOTICE: You guys should check out Aj Rain's new Avatar Story. It's about the original Gaang and it's pretty awesome! Check it here: s/8962977/1/Immortal-Avatar
The First Avatar: Legend of the Star
Book 3: Heaven
Chapter 1: Kyora, Three Years Later
OXOXOXO
14thth Day of Autumn 194ACS
OXOXOXO
Three years… that was how much time had passed since the events of Ember Island. Many things had changed and few for the better.
The war still raged on and it had become more dangerous than ever. Tensa raised an army of thralls in the same way Necros had, gathering them around the locations in which the Pillars were located, yet the man himself had not been seen in all the three years, hiding from Kye, who mercilessly hunted him. Tekari and Akuan had kept out of the fighting as well, though they had still continued their war, the Lightbenders had captured 40% of the Earth Kingdom, including the City of Omashu while the Shadowbenders had successfully captured the entire southern Water Tribe and was working on the north. Team Avatar now worked almost exclusively out of the Western Air Temple, as most of the World Council was permanently based there now, and every member of their families had moved there as well.
After Yanos' funeral, many of Team Avatar did their best to honour him and move on, recognising that there was nothing more they could do, but one person couldn't get even slightly better…
Kyora had changed much…she was now almost thirteen years old but had grown so little, she looked like a very skinny ten year old. Most days, she would refuse to eat and after a while, Jinora and Virgo were forced to hold her down and force feed her just so she didn't waste away entirely. The girl also said very little and rarely did anything besides sit in her room and stare blankly at the sky. At her best, she was sobbing and mourning Yanos but at her worse, she was effectively a living shell. Breathing and existing but not truly alive. Kirok and Maruka still tried as hard as they could to get her to play with them again but after the first year, Kirok recognised that it simply wasn't going to happen and nothing he could say or do would save her, so he watched from a far as a person he truly cared about destroyed herself, simply because it was too painful to watch from beside her. Maruka stayed and after a while, she began to deteriorate as well, eating less and spending almost all her time trying to help Jinora get her friend to eat or bathe or sleep.
Will had also become worse…seeing the people around him slip into destructive patterns had left him on the verge of entering a perpetual Necros State and it was beginning to worry Ophi and Libra as well as Team Avatar, who not only feared for their friend, but feared the return of the monster known as Necros. And on top of all this, there was little over a year until Ragnarok's pillars shattered.
After two long months of tracking Tensa, Kye was forced to return to the Western Air Temple to resupply, where she met the usual air of sorrow that encompassed the place.
"I'm back!" she yelled. Joewe, who had grown up a fair bit in the last few years, came walking out onto the Kami/Soul Link Dormitory (each faction had been given a wing of the dormitories to use for themselves and the acolytes were relocated to new buildings on the other side of the ravine) courtyard to meet her master, bringing Maruka and Kyora with her. Kye grimaced at the sight of the girls; both Maruka and Joewe looked like normal pre-teen girls, wearing bigger but mostly unchanged outfits, but Kyora had only gained an inch or two in height and was a lot shorter than either of her friends, and she was little more than skin and bones.
Kye put on a smile and kneelt down to greet her apprentice and Maruka before turning to Kyo. "Hey kiddo. How are you?"
"I'm okay." Kyo whispered, her voice sounding hoarse. She rarely spoke unless absolutely necessary, but she was always sure to speak to Kye at least a little, since she only saw her once every few months.
"It's your birthday soon…did you want anything specific? I'll be gone from tomorrow until then so I will be able to find pretty much anything." Kye said, giving a big smile.
Kyo whimpered a bit but managed to hide it with a small cough. Her birthday was always a bad subject…the last three attempts at a party had gone badly as Kyo felt like she was unworthy. Silver said she was likely resenting the day she was born, as if she hadn't, Yanos would not have died…and no amount of talking would convince her this wasn't true.
"Please don't trouble yourself. I don't really deserve anything." The little girl said quietly.
"Don't say that Kyo! You know you're a good person." Maka said, trying to defend the girl.
"I'm sorry…" Kyo whispered before turning and running off. After she was gone, Maruka buckled to her knees and began sobbing.
"She's getting even worse! She won't read or paint or dance or sing like she used to…it's…it's like she died that day along with Yanos!" Maka sobbed.
Joewe put her arm around the girl, growing used to comforting the girl after she breaks down, which was often. Maka was always careful not to cry around Kyo, not wanting to make the girl feel sad for that as well. It was something Jinora and Virgo had also done. The people it had affected most, Yanos' parents had changed quite a bit as well, with Ikki no longer as cheerful as she had been and Pisces almost as stoic as Will, though they both tried their best to be kind to Kyora. They didn't want to see Kyo fall as well, but nothing they did or said made her feel better.
"Now now, Kyo became really close to Yanos in those last few days, it's understandable. She was always delicate and had a fragile mind, we just have to hope she comes back to us." Kye said, patting the girl on the head.
"But what about Tensa? He snapped and look what he did! We all thought he was fine again but he turned around and betrayed us! If he hadn't have left when he did, Kyo might still be happy! She might be able to function again!" Maka argued.
"She has a point. We needed everyone to help, maybe we should have ignored what he did until Kyo was in a position to accept it" Joewe added.
Kye looked down angrily, "I didn't intend to chase him off. He is immortal so all we have to do is find him and catch him. So long as we bring him back alive, he can still help with Kyo. What about Sequa or the Valkyries? Any changes with them over the last few months?" Kye asked.
"No. Taza is still here, watching Kyo and one of the other Valkyrie Captains is staying here to represent them. Mikuru refuses to go anywhere near an Air Temple…" Joewe informed her master.
"Damn…even her? I can understand how terrible this is but we are at war! Many more will die if we don't all try to work together!" Kye said, becoming more distressed.
"As much as I hate it, I think we should leave Team Avatar to themselves from now on…we can go fight the Paragons and stop Tensa. Even if Tekari or Akuan take over the world, neither can complete their plan until Kyora is back to her old self anyway." Joewe said. In the time she had spent with Team Avatar, Joewe had gone from a rather quiet and private little girl to a more outspoken ally, who's energybending was pretty good for someone her age. But with age also came wisdom and while Joewe hated the idea of leaving Kyo, she recognised that she may be needed for the more immediate threat.
"I think…we should have a proper talk with her. All of us, together, including Sequa and Mikuru. We've all tried to talk to her separately and it always results in her shutting us out, but with all of us, maybe she'll see that none of us blames her! It's hurting Ikki and Pisces more to think that their son's death has destroyed another child's life." Maruka said, calming down from her crying.
Kye nodded in agreement and went to go speak with the other leaders of Team Avatar, hoping that Maka's last ditch idea would bring Kyora back to them so that they could finally put an end to all the suffering. They would still mourn Yanos and miss him, but it would help them truly lay him to rest…
Elsewhere in the Temple, the veil of the Spirit World, was becoming thinner and a malevolent presence, leaked through.
Kirok, who had been studying in the library, put his books back and walked out the door, heading for the garden terrace connected to Jinora's home in the temple. Kyora spent much of her time there, staring at the sky or the rose bushes, when they were in bloom. Sadly, because it was autumn now, the roses wilted which made her even sadder.
Shaking that thought out of his mind, Kirok kept walking. It was almost time for dinner and Kirok always spent the time up to dinner talking with Kyo, telling her anything interesting he read. She seemed to enjoy his company, seemed to like hearing him speak, but still it felt horrible for him to see her like that. Sometimes, if she was having a good day, Kyo would talk back and the two would almost chat like everything was fine again, but other times, when she was having a bad day…it was like she didn't even know he was there.
Kirok walked past Kye on the way up, giving her a false smile and a small hello before pressing on. When he got to the top floor, he knocked on the door to the Matriarch's home, and Jinora quickly opened it.
"Hello Kirok. How are you today?" she asked, looking tired. Kirok's heart sank…when Jinora looked that tired, it meant Kyora had been having a bad day…
The two exchanged a little bit of small talk before Kirok went out to the garden terrace, spotting Kyora sitting on the floor and staring at her rose bush while Joewe and Maruka sat nearby, talking to each other and Kyora, who seemed to be unaware anyone was there. When the two girls saw Kirok, they stood up and came to speak with him. Kirok had grown more than any of the other children, being only thirteen but passable as a fifteen year old or maybe even sixteen! But this only served to sadden him more when he looked at the girl he cared so much about…she was so tiny and thin compared to him now, his training had helped tone his body, making him both slender and muscular. Despite being a couple of years younger than Regulus, he was almost the same height!
"We're going to go wash up for dinner. We'll see you and Kyo down there." Maka said, smiling wearily. Kirok nodded and patted his team mate on the shoulder as she passed him before going to sit next to Kyo.
"Hey Kyora. I'm afraid you won't see that rose bush bloom again until next spring. Did you remember to but one of the flowers in a book to press it, like I told you to do last year?" he asked.
Kyo continued to stare blankly at the bush's withering branches, like all the answers for her troubles were somehow trapped in the gnarled mess of a plant. Regardless, Kirok kept talking, telling her of the things he had read that day until Jinora came over to take Kyo to get cleaned up for dinner. Since Kyora went without a fuss, at least they knew she would eat tonight.
The waterbender followed after her before heading off alone, walking down the long stair case. He passed by an open door to a long, dark corridor and almost instantly, he felt like his veins had turned to ice. He could feel a pair of pale blue orbs watching him from the darkness and almost instinctively, he bent a dagger made of ice out of his hidden water skin.
"You have good instincts." A suave and terrifying voice said. Kirok became even more afraid when a figure he recognised from old photographs came walking towards him from the shadows, glowing a pale blue.
"Do you know who I am boy?" the man asked.
"Yes I do." Kirok choked out.
"And who am I?"
"Tarrlok."
OXOXOXO
Avatar Trivia:
Book 3 Chapter 1
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Spirit Tarrlok is back! Does this guy ever rest?
The overwhelming majority of votes was for a depressed Kyora (as you can see). I suppose it's more realistic, considering her character, but I thought people would be more interested in a Dark Kyora or Strong one.
Book 3 will introduce two new characters, not massively important to the story as a whole but one of them does have a pretty important story arc.
A big extra thank you to KorraSpanko, that awesome pervert. He's a friend from my collage class and is reading my old TFA. He's reading like twenty chapters at a time and since he's reviewing them all, TFA may be the first LOK fic to crack 1000 reviews! Another big thanks to all my reviewers from the first to the last, I love all of you 3
Next chapter will have some emotional bits.
Thanks for reading. Those of you who voted for different out comes, please don't be disappointed.
Hope you enjoyed, please review
