Yeah, sorry about not keeping a consistent schedule. Again, school can be a pain. Anyways, I hope you like this. Enjoy.

-ApollotheNinja

Kybo's POV

It had been about six hours since I heard the news.

I had failed.

They were dead.

I was the worst Avatar in the world.

How could I protect the world if I couldn't even protect my own parents?

I had heard about how Marcus found my parents, Dad dead for a few days and Mom near death. He had escaped somehow and taken Mom to a nearby hospital, where she died shortly after. Members of the White Lotus is going to the hospital to get Marcus, as well as my parents' bodies and are currently taking them back to our location.

I had spent the first three hours trying to calm down and comfort Joy, who was completely hysterical and was extremely happy about her new third eye tattoo up until this moment.

"I going to go to the training grounds, I want to blow something up." Joy solemnly told me after she had calmed down and her tear ducts ran dry.

After she ran off. I just spent hours in my room, lying face up in my bed until I heard a soft knock on my door.

I was tempted to scream at the person, to tell them to go away, I wanted to demand answers, to storm off like Marcus had done, but I sighed answered. "Come in."

I was glad I didn't turn the person away because the person at the door was Pema, the person I desperately needed to see at the moment.

I sat up.

She didn't say anything, she just ran towards me and hugged me.

"I'm so sorry Kybo." Pema softly whispered in my ear.

I hugged her and buried my face in her golden hair.

"I'm the worst Avatar ever." I whispered in her ear, trying to hold back tears. I was the Avatar, I couldn't cry. I had to be strong, for my friends, for Joy, for Pema.

Pema pulled away from the hug and looked me in the eyes.

"Don't say that, Kybo." Pema told me. "You have more strength, heart, and wit than anyone I've ever met. I can't imagine an Avatar better than you."

Her saying that meant more than anything I've ever heard in the world.

Pema began to speak again.

"Remember, Dante's parents were also killed by the Red Star and he blamed himself."

"But Dante isn't the Avatar." I responded solemnly. "How am I going to face Marcus? The last time I saw him, I basically told him that our parents weren't my first priority. Now they are dead."

"Maybe he'll forgive you. Maybe he won't." Pema told me flatly.

No comforting statement, no reassuring, just the cold hard fact, which, for some reason, made me feel better than any of that.

There was a soft knock on the door.

Pema sat on the bed next to me as Nora cautiously walked in.

"Sorry, but I wanted you to know that Marcus is back." She sheepishly explained.

"With my parents' bodies?" I asked, hopeful.

Nora nodded.

"He's waiting for you."

The two of us stood up and as I walked out of my room, following Nora, Pema kept pace with me, holding my hand.

I finally got to the landing pad, where the airship had landed, Joy was already there, clearly having blown enough objects up, anxiously waiting. Dante was there too, along with Kaze.

I was about fifty feet from the ship when Pema turned towards me.

"Good luck." She told me.

I gave her a soft kiss on the mouth and slowly approached the ship, heart pounding.

With a mechanical hiss, the drawbridge came down and clanked onto the rocky ground.

There he was. Looking exactly the same as before. He had been gone three days, but it felt like three years.

As Marcus disembarked, Joy ran up the drawbridge and tackled him in a hug, almost knocking him down, and began to sob.

Marcus strokes her hair and kissed her on the head, mumbling something to her.

Joy nodded and stood aside as Marcus settled his gaze on me and began to approach.

I could hear my heart pounding as he approached. Was he going to yell at me? Punch me? Just not speak to me?

"Marcus, I..." I began to say as he got closer, until he did something I didn't expect.

He hugged me.

I couldn't hold my tears back anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Marcus." I sobbed as I hugged him back.

"I don't think anything would have changed if you were there." Marcus said, comfortingly. "It was foolish to leave you, especially alone. I'm sorry."

Marcus pulled away.

"You did the responsible thing."

I didn't know what to say, so I was just gapping like a catfish.

Marcus' stomach suddenly let out a growl like a raging sky bison, coaxing a laugh out of the both of us.

"I haven't eaten since last night." Marcus explained, then mustered a smile. "I desperately want to eat something."

I was so relieved that he wasn't mad at me, so I smiled back.

"Sure, how about..."

Kaze quickly interjected.

"Nora will show you to the mess hall." Kaze told Marcus, then turned to me. "Kybo, may I speak to you in private?"

I gazed at Marcus, who looked disappointed, but nodded in my direction and walked off with Nora, patting Dante on the way out, mumbling some kind of apology about about a map.

Kaze led me away from everyone else, walking surprisingly graceful for a man of his years.

"I'm sorry, is there a reason you dragged me away from my brother?" I asked, frustrated.

Kaze nodded.

"It's about Marcus." Kaze told me. "You need to keep an eye on him."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, bewildered.

Kaze looked to see if anyone else was eves dropping, then answered.

"In the base, we discovered a pile of Red Star bodies, no signs of struggle, with snapped necks and no hand marks." Kaze explained.

I furrowed my brow

"Seriously, you think Marcus could have done that?" I asked, quite shocked that he assumed that. "How is someone able to an entire squad of Red Star members?"

Kaze looked at me gravely.

"Bloodbending."

I had heard of bloodbending before. The most horrible form of bending, my parents had explained.

"Can't it only be done in a full moon?" I asked suspiciously.

"In most cases, yes, but some are strong enough to do it without the full moon. The only living person we know that can do that is the Count, the leader of the Triple Threat triad. Even then, he can't do something of that magnitude."

I struggled to find the words to respond to this.

"They deserved it." I finally said.

"Maybe," Kaze responded, "but bloodbending is the only form of bending that can effect norms mind, and if Marcus truly did this, then he might be the most powerful blood bender in history."

"Master Kaze." A voice from behind us made us jump.

We looked and saw that it was Marcus.

Kaze put on a poker face and turned towards him. "Hello Marcus, I forgot to thank you for helping us uncover the Red Star's main base of operations. Anyways, how can I help you?"

"When I was in the Red Star base, I disguised myself as a guard and learned why many of the Red Star members were gone." Marcus explained. "They said it was because they were converging right here. They are planning some kind of attack."

We just can't catch a break, can we?

Kaze strikes his beard for a moment as he was thinking, trying to think of a plan.

"They must be traveling on land, since air travel is too noticeable." Kaze deduced. "They will be here by tomorrow, we need to act now."

Kaze began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I called after him.

"To prepare this base for war."

Again, sorry it took so long to post. I hope you enjoyed. Thank you. Peace.

-ApollotheNinja