What was even happening?
Azula rolled to the side to avoid another dart of blue flame. It impacted the ground where she'd just stood, it's intense blue rapidly cooling to a more subdued but still hot orange-yellow.
That same blue fire she'd managed to temporarily conjure when the team first escaped from Sokka. Her opponent on the other hand, seemed to summon it with ease, as of it were as simple as breathing...
This other Azula, wearing what looked to be the Palace's royal armor (father would never let her wear that!) and her hair done in a topknot that she hadn't worn since mother's disappearance, stepped almost leisurely through the now damaged wall. That half-smile remained, and she looked as if she saw Azula as some entertaining performer.
Azula scowled.
"This must be the dragons' doing," Azula surmised raising her arms in an advanced stance. Her lead arm outstretched in front of her with a closed fist save for two fingers pointed toward the impostor. Her other arm was chambered by her waist. "A test of some sort."
"Does it really matter?" the doppelganger said with an uncaring shrug, even folding her hands behind herself as she came to a stop an arm's length from Azula. "The only thing that matters is that only one of us will be getting out of here alive."
Azula swallowed but didn't rise to the obvious attempt at intimidation. She responded with a thrust of her rear arm, launching a fireball at her opponent.
Other Azula's smirk only deepened, and she made just the smallest step to the side. The fireball careened harmlessly past, colliding with the far wall into the hallway. The sound of tearing fabric signalled that one of the drapes was hit. The sound of burning fabric echoed from the hallway and back into the room.
"I see you haven't mastered blue flame," she commented, briefly examining the direction the attack landed. She looked again at Azula, fake concern on her face. "You're more pathetic than I thought."
"It doesn't matter if its blue or not!" Azula retorted with a raised voice. This time she launched a barrage of Fire, using both hands now, intent on rushing down the strange reflection. Other Azula easily evaded, using those same small movements as if she was conserving energy.
A small step there, a tilt of the head here.
Azula kicked forward, launching a larger blast. Other Azula still stood in front of the hole in the wall, and she wouldn't be able to dodge this one. Instead, she chopped her hand in a sideways motion, cutting through the middle of the fire with a blue flame of her own. She smiled knowingly. And then she went on her own offensive.
Azula was forced to sidestep as swarms of those blue flames, shaped like ethereal knives flew past her. Even from their small size, she could feel the heat from them more intensely than her own fire.
As she evaded, the darts of fire collided with the bed behind her, immediately igniting it. The flames seemed unsatisfied with leaving it at that, quickly enveloping the mattress. The flames then cooled to orange and the remains of the bed crackled, the flames having cast flickering shadows all over the room.
Azula grunted with effort and kicked out another blast of flame at the impostor, trying to draw out that blue fire she seemed unable to summon. Other Azula thrusted her palm forward, dissipating it.
"You want to know what you're problem is?" the armored girl questioned with the same tone as if talking about the weather.
Azula didn't respond verbally. She swiped her hand towards her, only for Other Azula to lazily duck under it and stand up again.
"You lack focus. Your thoughts are all over the place."
"I'm as focused as I need to be," Azula quipped. She charged at her doppelganger, tensing her wrists. Knives of fire burst out from under her fists as if held by some invisible grip. With two quick steps, she closed the distance, intent on skewering her counterpart. But Other Azula seemed intent on mocking her. She evaded every swing as if Azula were a rookie who had no experience with a weapon. After one of Azula's swings went wide, Other Azula seized her wrist, twisting her right arm just enough to pull a cry from her and reflexively open her hand.
Azula found herself being tossed like discarded trash through the hole in the wall, her back having collided with the wall of the hallway.
Azula struggled to get back up. She gingerly held her right wrist. It wasn't broken, but it felt tender and painful to the touch.
Why was she feeling pain? Wasn't this some illusiory test by the Sun Warriors?
Other Azula slowly stepped through the hole in the wall, idly brushing specks of dust off her armour's shoulder plates.
"Do you finally get it now?" She asked again. She looked down her nose at her. "You were always weak. You just don't wan't to admit it."
"Shut up!" Azula cried, punching toward the clone with another blast of fire. Her doppelganger made a show of hiding a yawn while lazily deflecting the blast with a flick of her wrist.
"I'll show you what real power looks like."
Other Azula bent her knees slightly in some sort of horse stance and spread her arms apart. As she began the motions of bringing them back together, Azula was confused as to what was going on, until the smell of burnt ozone wafted past her nose.
But she'd only seen Father and Uncle ever do that before!
An alien sense of dread and panic crept into her chest as visible trails of sparks chased after her twin's fingers.
If this person was her, how was she able to do that? How was she able to generate lightning? She didn't know how to do that- None of it made sense!
Operating on the first thought that came to her mind, she kicked to the side, using the fire generated to propel herself through the hallway, albeit wildly and with no sense of control. It was good timing too, as a lance of electricity slammed into the wall that she'd been sitting in front of.
Azula watched the smoldering pint-sized crater now embedded into the wall, and belatedly realized, after forcing her breaths to even out, that she'd been hyperventilating.
"Where am I?"
Aang slowly looked around himself, seeing nothing but a void. Oddly, it didn't encourage any feelings of claustrophobia. Just...emptiness. His surroundings weren't a pure white, either. It looked as if he were standing on peach covered clouds that seemed to stretch out in every direction for miles. Maybe that was why he still felt a vague sense of security. This was an airbender's element and it felt like home.
"It is good to finally meet you, Aang."
Aang started, turning quickly to his right.
As if he had been standing there the entire time, a tall, elderly man regarded him with piercing golden eyes. Although he looked intimidating at first glance, Aang could tell this man meant no harm. His face had almost a regal bearing to it, and he had long, gray hair with a topknot that was affixed a with a hairpiece.
"Roku," Aang greeted, not entirely sure how he knew the man's name. Then a spark of realization struck him. "You're the one I'm supposed to meet!" he cried out. Memories of visiting the Western Air Temple with Zuko and Azula flitted by his mind's eye. The aftermath of that visit almost served to immediately sober his excitement.
Roku nodded slowly. "Yes, Aang," he confirmed. "Under normal circumstances, we wouldn't have been able to meet until the Summer Solstice."
"But that would take months, at minimum," Aang replied. He counted his fingers, trying to wrap his mind around it.
"Well, I guess there's no time like the present," Aang conceded. Roku smiled upon hearing the phrase before it dropped as his face fell into what looked like introspection.
"Aang, I am sure you understand why I have contacted you."
"It has something to do with the Water tribes-" Aang paused, frowning. "Zuko and Azula says they're called the Water Clan now."
"Yes," Roku answered. He turned his back to Aang with a sigh.
"A long time ago, when I was still among the living, the four nations lived in harmony."
Aang found himself listening intently to him.
"The Fire Lord from that time, Sozin, was an old friend of mine. I was able to stop him from making a terrible mistake," he continued. He closed his eyes, remembering something, and sighed.
"But it seems this war was destined to happen one way or another."
Aang blinked at the mention of Sozin. "What do you mean the war was 'destined'?" he asked.
"In the beginning, Sozin would have declared war on the rest of the world, but he chose not to," Roku replied, his eyes looking distant. "But the damage had already been done." He turned to face Aang again.
"With the establishment of the Fire Nation colonies, it had already disturbed the peace between the nations, and it reached a breaking point with the Water Tribes."
There was the mention of the Water Clan again. Aang swallowed. "What happened?"
"While major conflict was able to be avoided with the Earth Kingdoms, it was the control of the sea that disrupted the peace between the Fire Nation and the Water Tribes."
Aang could guess the context. The Fire Nation suddenly encroaching on Water Tribe territory could be seen as an aggressive action.
"But how would that have been enough to cause a whole war?"
"I am not sure of the whole reason," Roku admitted apologetically. "But I was not able to convince Sozin fast enough to prevent the colonies from being created. Even though the Fire Nation capital stopped their war before it gained momentum, not everyone was of the same mind."
"I hadn't thought of that," Aang quietly conceded.
He just assumed the Water Clan were the bad guys and that was it. Did that mean there were bad guys in all the nations? Why was the war still even happening? These were questions that he felt he needed answers to. It didn't seem as simple as just 'defeat the Water Clan chief' anymore. Things seem to have gotten more complicated.
"Against Sozin's orders, an invasion had been attempted on the Northern Water Tribe, with the use of a comet that appears once every 100 years," Roku explained, crossing his arms. Aang was curious about the mention of a comet, but Roku didn't elaborate on that.
"The invasion failed, but what happened after is what may have set the stage for the war."
Roku exhaled, closing his eyes. "With a total lunar eclipse, the entire invading force was destroyed with ease. After that, the Fire Nation and Water Tribes retaliated against each other for years, and it only escalated," he continued. "You must defeat the Water Clan Chief before the next total lunar eclipse."
A jolt of fear ran through Aang's mind but he ignored it. "Well, I still have time, right?"
Eclipses weren't very common, he reasoned. Those had to only happen once every few years or so.
"A total lunar eclipse occurs twice, every 3 years."
That was way too frequent to be a rare occurence! "But I haven't even mastered any other element besides Air!" Aang cried.
That distant feeling of fear crawled it's way back near the front of his subconscious.
"You must master the elements before then, or the Water Clan may do irreparable damage to the rest of the world."
"Do...do you know when the next one is?"
Roku's face conveyed sympathy. "I do not, Aang. Your best source of information would be a waterbender."
But how could he get a waterbender to tell him when the next total lunar eclipse was? It was like asking a moose lion how to defend against it. Briefly, he thought of Sokka, but rid himself of the thought. He barely knew him, and he was a Prince, or whatever the Water Clan equivalent to one was. He wouldn't sell out his own people.
Aang found a comforting hand rest on his shoulder.
"Remember, you are the current in a long line of past lives, Aang."
"Past lives?"
Roku nodded. "You must find a way to contact another past life, a waterbender named Kuruk."
"Kuruk," Aang repeated the name, and already it had that vague sense of familiarity that Roku's name shared.
"How can I talk to him?"
"In the North and Southern Poles, both tribes contain a Temple dedicated to Avatar Kuruk. From there you should be able to contact him."
Aang could tell from the open ended suggestion that it was up to him to decided which direction to go. North or South.
But was he able to go straight for Moose-Lion's den when he was so underprepared? It was then that he was reminded of something that had been nagging him.
"Am I able to learn the elements out of order?"
Roku was silent for a moment, as if considering his question.
"The elements are learned in a specific order because of the philosophy behind each." He looked pensive as he regarded the young boy. "But you may not have the luxury to do so."
Aang looked crestfallen. So even Roku was unsure.
"Your next element should be water, but the enemy is the Water Tribes..." Roku grunted in thought and turned to face him again.
"Regrettably, I cannot help you here. It is imperative that you master all four as soon as you can."
Aang gulped, not comfortable with the added pressure of having to defeat the Water Tribe before some unexplained powerup and now the unknown consequences of learning the elements out of order.
"I'll try," Aang said, not feeling as brave as he sounded.
"I know it is not something you wanted to hear," Roku said knowingly. "But take comfort that you've mastered the elements a thousand lifetimes before, and you will do it again," he said with a certainty. Roku's confidence even extended to Aang, and he found himself smiling.
"Thanks, Roku."
Their surrounding seemed to seem it fit that their conversation conclude, because now the clouds seemed to go out of focus, as well as Roku himself.
"How will I contact you?" Aang cried urgently. He grasped the sleeve of Roku's robe as if it would at the very least, slow down whatever was happening.
"I am a part of you, Aang. You will find a way."
With those cryptic words, his surroundings seem to increase in brightness until it resembled a white void.
And then, everything began to come back into focus.
He first could feel the ground under him, and realized a simple rug had been placed under him. As his eyes cleared up, he saw several faces hovering over him, as well as a massive one that belonged to one of the dragons.
One of the faces, the Chief, spoke up. "What was all that? You're tattoos started glowing suddenly."
"I spoke to my past life, Avatar Roku," Aang answered, slowly getting up.
"Avatar Roku, hm?" The chief said quietly in thought.
Aang had assumed he would be sore somewhere, but he was completely fine. He patted dust off himself, and stood up straight, looking for his friends.
"Where's Azula and Zuko?" Aang asked rhetorically. After a cursory survey, he spotted said siblings lying prone on the ground on similar rugs as he'd waken up on.
Zuko's expression looked uncomfortable, like he was having a bad dream.
Azula on the other hand...
She looked like she was having a nightmare. Occasionally, her head would move side to side as of trying to avoid something, and her hands would grasp at air.
"What's wrong with her?" Aang shouted, kneeling beside her.
The chief approached the children. "It is part of Ran and Shaw's trial," he explained. "To truly master Fire bending, which comes from passion, they must first overcome what hinders true passion," he said. He kneeled down beside Aang.
"What would that be?" Aang asked, morbidly curious.
"Pride, and it's source, Shame," he answered. "What then, is their source of shame?" the Chief asked rhetorically.
Aang thought back on the time at Kyoshi Island, when Azula seemed to act out of character, and more testy than normal.
Almost isn't good enough.
Did her father have something to do with whatever was bothering her? He was becoming less and less enthusiastic of meeting her father. He knew nothing about him and he was starting to make him uneasy.
"How come I didn't go through any kind of trial?" Aang asked, not really caring about the answer. He just wanted a change of subject. He watched Azula, wishing he could help somehow, but it seemed like this was a mental battle.
To Aang's question, the Chief shrugged. "How would I know?" he retorted lazily. "Maybe it's Avatar stuff?"
A/N: Thanks for the reviews so far. This update is a little late, but I haven't given up on it.I recently bout Clip Studio Paint for my tablet, so it makes it a lot easier to get my artwork out quicker on Social Media, and I've been working on that.The story is fleshing out a bit more, and there's still more to reveal.