Ok so Aang is my favorite character in the series. Like I love him so much. So this should tell you how much I hate my self for what I wrote in this page. I actually cried while reading it back and yeah.. I hope you guys don't skip over it or else you'll be confused. Again I don't own ATLA or almost of the characters. Try to enjoy this chapter.
"When you picture yourself in 40 years from now do you not see me by your side?"
"Aang, I don't know."
Those words kept repeating themselves in Aang's dreams.
Suddenly he opened his eyes to find himself chained to two large rocks. He looked around and realized he was in a cave. His head hurt like crazy and he couldn't stand up straight.
He then began to use his airbender breath to try to get himself out of the chains. But it was helpless.
"Help!" he yelled out hoping that somehow he would get an answer. He now began to breath out fire and shook his chains but it was pointless.
"Screaming won't help you," a deep voice answered his calls. Then out of the shadows a man came towards him with his hands behind his back.
"Who are you? Where are we? And why did you bring me here?" the airbender interrogated.
"My name is Chang. We are in a deep cave in the middle of nowhere. Trust me, no one if going to find you. And as for why you are here, let's just say you are responsible for the hell that is my life" The waterbender responded with smite in his voice.
The young avatar looked at him with confusion. "How could I possibly have ruined your life? I don't even know you!"
Chang felt anger taking over but he decided to remain calm as he remembered what was about to come to his enemy. "You ran away. You could've ended the war but you chose to be selfish and because of that, you're the only airbender left in this world. There's no balance now, and because of you I lost my father."
Aang looked down and a single tear dropped from his eyes. He couldn't help but think that Chang was right. Maybe if he hadn't ran away the war would've ended much sooner, and his people might still be alive. But how could anyone be sure of that. He promised Katara once that he wouldn't dwell on the past or a memory of what could've been. And he intended to keep that promise.
"You have every right to hate me. But I won't allow you to keep me here any longer." Aang declared and began to enter the avatar state. "Oh you see I wouldn't do that if I were you. First of all it's impossible to get out of those chains, and even if you somehow manage to get out of them and don't allow me to do what I have to do. I will make sure your precious waterbender takes her last breath."
Aang slowly came out of the avatar state after much attempt to get out of the chains. He turned to look at Chang with much anger in face. "You lay a hair on her and it will be your breath you'll have to worry about." He yelled as he tried to get out of the chains by force.
"Well then I guess you should cooperate, we don't want my men to kill her now do we?" This was lie, he didn't have anyone else but Azula.
The avatar knew that Katara was strong but he didn't know how many people followed Chang. Even if he managed to get out of there, it was most likely that Chang would order for his men to go after her. And he wouldn't let the one person he cares for most in this world get hurt because of him. Aang sighed deeply and looked directly into Chang's eyes, "What do you want me with me?"
Chang gave a small evil grin, "As I said before, because of you I lost my father. And I intend to get him back."
"That's impossible! No human can resurrect someone from the dead," the airbender stated with confusion in his face. "That is correct. No human, but spirits can. Or at least the ones that want you gone just as much as I do. You see Avatar Aang, when you made the decision to bend Firelord Ozai's energy you created fear in dark spirits' minds. So I made a deal with them, your soul for my father's."
"Chang, I'm the avatar. If I die I will just be reincarnated into another person who will have the same skills as me. You can't trade my life for someone else's." Aang had a small smile when he taught that this guy might actually just be an idiot who didn't think things through.
"And who said anything about you dying? No, no. What I'm going to do is far worse than death. I am going to rip your soul right out of you, and your body will stay here in the physical world. Then the spirits will put my father's soul in your body and he will live. And as for you, you will be imprisoned in the dark side of the spirit world as a spirit. And you shall stay there, forever."
Aang's eyes widened at the taught of this and fear infected his face.
Azula then walked in from the shadows and stood next to Chang. "I believe we're ready to begin the process." Chang told her.
"Oh, can't you just let me torture him a bit?" she asked.
"This is going to be my father's body, Azula."
"I'm not going to leave him with anything that's too permanent," she turned to face the airbender and grew a wicked smile.
"Fine, but don't do anything that can get him killed. We need him alive remember?" The waterbender stated.
Azula nodded and then began to gather lighting to shoot the avatar with. She had learned of the key points to strike someone without killing them or leaving much permanent damage but still manage to cause much pain.
Aang began to scream from the pain. Everytime he began to feel the smallest feeling of relief, he would get struck again with what felt twice the power compared to the last strike. Tears flew down his face and he began to sweat from all parts of his body. His pupils became smaller as fear ran through his face. He tried thinking of something good to make him feel better and all he could think of, was Katara. He pictured her breathtaking face, her peaceful ocean eyes, her angelic laugh. But he then remembered their last conversation, how much she broke his heart with her words. And he could feel his heart aching from pain once again. He was then struck once more with what felt like the most painful strike yet. Blood began to flow from his eyes. His vision became blurry, and all he felt in this moment was alone.
"I believe that's enough," Chang declared when he saw the airbender began to loose conscious. Azula stopped attacking and stood up straight.
Chang then got a small box from his bag. It was shaped like a cube, it was of dark brown color with gold on the edges, and a glowing purple gem in the top. "What is that?" The fire princess asked with curiosity.
"This is a box created by the darkest of spirits. It has the ability to hold someone's soul. I am going to use it to store the avatar's soul." The water bender explained.
Chang walked over and stood infront of the avatar. He then began to open the box. Dark light then crawled out and began to stick to the airbender's body. This now woke Aang from his sleep. He yelled out as he felt getting pulled from his own body. The pain was unimaginable. Chang then closed the box and looked over to the avatar's soulless body.
He got water from a wineskin and began to heal the wounds caused by him and Azula. Once he healed them all he sat down on the floor of the cave and got in lotus position.
Chang entered the spirit world and opened his eyes to find the dark spirit of souls, Seth.
"Do you have what I need?" The dark spirit answered with a deep voice. Chang nodded as he got the box out of his bag. "Very good."
Seth turned the other way and began to walk away from Chang. "Wait! What about my father?" The dark spirit turned and grew an evil grin to his monstrous face. "You didn't really believe that I could bring someone back from the dead?"
Chang's eyes widened to the dark spirit's words. "You have done what I needed. Now, you're no use to me," Seth stated.
"What? No! We had a de-" Chang was cutoff by the dark spirit slitting his throat. Seth walked away and left the waterbender on the ground bleeding to death.
Back in the physical world, Azula sat on the floors of the cave awaiting Chang's return. When suddenly, his body collapsed to the floor. Azula looked up, "Chang?" she asked the unconscious body. She went over to him to feel his heartbeat but didn't find one. She gasped and a single tear fell from her eyes while she kept a straight face.
They tricked him. They were never planning on bringing his father back to life. This was all about the avatar. They couldn't risk anyone else finding out so they killed him. Azula taught in her mind. Her eyes then widened to the realization. If it was that easy for them to get rid of the him then what the hell are they gonna do to me? I have to get out of here, she said to herself.
The fire princess got up and walked towards the exit of the cave. She turned around to look at the soulless body of the avatar, that was now unchained and laying on the floor. The firebender at least got what she wanted. The avatar was basically dead now, her friend Mai who betrayed her was now dead along with the baby she carried within her, and because of that her brother was now miserable. Azula got her revenge, but something was still missing. She should be happy now but she wasn't. She felt worse than ever and didn't even know why.
She walked out of the cave and began to run as far away as possible. The princess needed to hide so that no one would ever find her.