CH 17 | Ask Me Anything

They all heard the trap door shut upstairs before Aang appeared, skirting lithely down the banister. His clothes were still a bit windswept from having just flown in, and it appeared that he hadn't shaved since he'd left more than a week ago. His head now sported a fingertip crop of black hair and a darkening beard shadow on his face.

His friends looked as haggard as he felt. Toph sat on the floor, her knees drawn up to her chin, waiting. She was rested and perhaps the most put together of the group, but her body language spoke a story of anxiety and deeply seated stress. She made no motion to acknowledge Aang's appearance.

Katara did attempt to smile up at him, however. It was a pained face with large, wet eyes as she leaned cross-legged against the beanbag chair. Though her sleepless purple eye-bags did not stand out against her mocha skin as contrastingly as Aang's, it was still out of character enough seeing the remnants of her swollen, sleepless face that his heart fell further into his stomach.

Sokka was un-Sokka in every sense. He hadn't acknowledged Aang's appearance in the living room, but instead laid on the floor staring at the ceiling, a half-empty bottle of moon-peach vodka clutched in one hand.

"Guys…I'm so sorry." Aang wasn't sure how to start. It had been a very long night the last time they'd all sat in this room. Tonight would be even longer.

"How much have you heard?" Katara asked him. Her voice was raw.

"Just what the news is reporting…" Aang confessed. He'd been tracking tabs on his phone since Sokka's message.

"Terror at Yu Dao Tech: Extremists Attack Campus"

"Anti-Nationalists Attack Peace-Making Police"

"It Was Planned: Non-Citizen Weapons Trainers at YDT"

"Four Coaches Removed at YDT Amid Anti-Nationalist Speculation"

"Non-Citizen Curfew in Effect for Southeast Yu Dao"

"So, what really happened?" Aang asked her. "I honestly don't know how everything shifted…" Katara murmured. "It started peaceful. We had a protest permit; we weren't on campus. There was a police blockade keeping us in one location, and even that was fine. Then they pulled a guy off the platform and they…it wasn't even an arrest Aang." Katara wiped her eyes with the meat of her palm. "They were whipping him. I could smell all the blood…I don't even know if he—" He scooted next to Katara and put an arm around her, and she leaned gratefully into his shoulder and wept. They all sat silent for a while before she sniffed and resumed her explanation. "And then the crowd, we all just lost it. People were shoving, bending at the police. They were burning protesters…once I found Haru we got out of there as fast as we could."

Aang turned to Sokka, who hadn't moved but to bring the vodka back to his lips for another deep swig. "Any word from Suki? Is she…" Aang couldn't bear to finish the sentence. "She's alive, if that's what you're asking" muttered Sokka thickly. "They call it a "re-education camp…the official explanation is that these are humane alternatives to prison where dissidents are "rehabilitated" before being restored to the general populace."

Toph shuddered violently. The White Lotus already had some intelligence on the current (and possible future) of these "re-education camps" and had already decided it was something that wouldn't be shared until further notice. Let's just focus on getting her out. Toph thought.

"Well, we're all here now. We can talk about how to get her out." Toph said. "Sit up, Sokka. In fact, order some pizza. We're going to be up late tonight."

00000OO00000

An intermission of shuffling where everyone prepared to buckle in for the night took over. Sokka remained unresponsive on the floor, so Katara ordered pizzas and settled Momo down for the night (he'd apparently claimed the beanbag chair as his permanent bed). Toph rolled out a flax mat and staged all the liquor in the house, including her private stash of 20-year whiskey. She knew they'd need it before the end. Aang retreated for a quick wash to dissolve at least some of the bison smell. He'd returned in his characteristic orange sweats and white T-shirt combo, cleanly shaven, hands trembling.

An Avatar sitting on the floor, trembling in his pajamas like a child. He cursed himself savagely.

It wasn't that his trip to the temple had been fruitless. He HAD made a lot of progress unlocking his chakras, accepting his role, having his feelings, and letting them flow down the creek. But vessel for the eternal being be damned, he was also an 18 year old boy who was positive he was about to lose his fledgling family. He poured himself the first shot.

Toph seated herself close to Sokka with a bucket. Not her first rodeo.

Katara sat next to Aang, letting her fingers stray a bit along his hand. Even with the subdued air, he could feel his ears heat a bit, wanting to take hold of her hand in full. Instead, he let his fingers linger around hers, their barely-touching dance a welcome distraction.

"So. We promised you the come-to-Hei-Bai moment. The good news is it's going to help us plan how we take out that camp." Toph started. Sokka attempted to bolt upright, but he mostly slurred crookedly. "You can't be serious. You don't have a death wish."

"I don't need a death wish. Now shut up. Aang needs to tell everyone some stuff. You need to just listen before you freak out. And we should all take a drink before we start." Sokka acquiesced immediately.

The other three filled their shot glasses and drained them without cheers.

"Okay. Here we go." He said quietly. "I'm just…I haven't said this stuff out loud. I'm just gonna…I'm just going to say it and then you guys can ask me anything, okay?"

Katara slipped her hand into his and gave a supporting squeeze. Aang threw her a grateful gaze before squeezing her hand and closing his eyes.

"106 years ago, I ran away from my temple and got stuck in an iceberg. I escaped the Air Nomad genocide and it's the reason why I'm the last Air Bender. Azula was trying to capture some sort of arctic lightning thing and blew me up. I'm the Avatar and I hate it. The world seemed kind of okay six years ago, so I decided not to come forward. But now it's not so I'm going to start training and go public."

The words blurted out with breathless anxiety followed by ear-splitting silence. Aang opened his eyes to Toph upturning the whiskey bottle into her open maw. Katara gaped at him, uncomprehendingly. Sokka vomited into his bucket.

"Ask me anything." He said softly.

"Can you just…I'm not understanding what you just said." Katara murmured while Toph rubbed Sokka's back "better out than in…then you can soak up the rest with some pizza." The sentiment drew a larger hurl from the drunken tribesman. Aang waited until he'd finished and resurfaced with vague comprehension dawning on his face.

After a third shot Aang was starting to feel warmer and less inhibited. "I'm the Avatar."

"You're an Air Nation Avatar. You're the Air Nation Avatar that the Fire Nation hunted a century ago. You're the Air Nation Avatar that the Fire Nation destroyed an entire elemental culture to kill, who the entire world thought must have perished during the genocide because no Avatar has re-surfaced. And you're 118 years old and alive because—"

"—because Appa and I got stuck in a storm, triggering the Avatar state and freezing us in a giant glacier ball. Until Azula accidentally blew it up." Aang agreed.

Katara took another shot and a deep breath. She had withdrawn her hand from his. Aang's heart started to pound harder, feeling the shifting emotions among his friends that he'd so dreaded.

Realizing I escaped because I ran away.

Realizing I didn't come forward.

Realizing I'm a coward.

"I'm so sorry…" was all he could say. He was staring up at the ceiling now, afraid to meet everyone's eyeline.

Katara's phone chimed. "Pizza's here" she said softly, standing. The dichotomy of retrieving pizza while processing such bizarre information was an immediate headache. When she returned Sokka was still glaring at Aang from across the room. Toph had mercifully removed the vomit bucket (and Sokka's vodka bottle).

"You're angry." Aang said, not asked.

"Yes. Yes, Aang. I am angry" responded Sokka menacingly.

Toph came back, wiping her hands on her pants. "pfff. We aren't even done here. Now it's my turn."