"Boy, I can't wait to get off this thing. We've been sailing for days!" Sokka complained, hanging drastically over the side, flopping like a fish so as I walked past, I grabbed him by the back of his stolen fire nation uniform and dragged him back within the ship as he was about to slip over, saving him from a trip into the ocean. "Thanks Thyra."
"No problem Sokka." I answered simply, walking over to Appa who greeted me warmly and licked my face as I hugged him, running my hand over his soft fur. "He'll wake up soon buddy. I promise." I murmured, resting my head against his as he leaned his head down towards me.
"Fire Navy vessel sighted!" One of the crew yelled and instantly we sprang into action. I airbended the large covering over Appa to hide him from sight then quickly ran over towards Toph to crouch down at the ship's side with her, waiting to see what would happen.
We were boarded by the equal sized enemy ship, though its captain was none the wiser as Hakoda greeted him with a salute. There was a brief conversation where Hakoda informed the enemy captain that we were a transporting prisoners and were bound east towards the fire nation. It seemed to work, however as the captain turned to leave, I heard Appa begin to sneeze. "Appa! Try and hold it!" I hissed desperately, biting my lip but the sky bison let out a huge sneeze and the air washed around him, lifting the covering off him completely and instantly he was in full view of the enemy ship.
I slapped a hand to my face in despair. This is not going to be pretty. "Sir, the bison!" One of the crewmen shouted and pointed towards Appa as the covering floated back down over him, hiding him once more but it was too late.
"This ship has been captured, sink it!" The captain ordered and instantly I leaped backwards as Toph slammed out her hands, bending the metal of the enemy ship and ripping a hole in the bough, making me smirk.
"Isn't it great that you invented metalbending? Now we can kick anyone's butts." I said as she smirked.
"Oh yeah. Fire in the hole!" She yelled then punched a block of earth that had been dropped down for her and she rammed it against the ship in quick fire, causing it to tilt the other way as Katara began to bend the water, creating a huge wave which thrust the ship further away from us as our engines were put on full speed ahead.
Standing up I leaped up into the air, flying up to the crow's nest where I watched the ship gradually disappear, having being put on a full stop with severe damage. I hope they have a messenger hawk, otherwise they'll be drifting for a long time in this ocean.
"Hey! Thyra! What can you see up there?! Any land?" Sokka yelled up at me so I tilted backwards then flipped over my head, arms spread out as I fell back towards the deck then at the last moment, drew in my arms to fling them out again, creating a cyclone around my legs which caught me and gently placed me back on the ground.
"No Sokka, it'll be another day until we reach land." I reminded him and he groaned, face planting the deck as he started to drool.
"I miss meat…so much." I chuckled, grabbing the back of his uniform and hoisted him back to his feet then dusted off my hands. We sailed for weeks, Aang never once waking up in that time. His hair was now growing through, a wiry mass of black fuzz that made me smile even as I ran my hand over it whenever I was keeping Aang company.
When he finally awoke, however, I happened to be asleep, resting from a tiring day of airbending practice against Katara and Toph. However when Sokka burst through the door of my room, I threw out a hand and instantly slammed him against the wall, not even opening my eyes. "Ever heard of knocking?" I questioned as I then flicked my fingers upwards and plastered him to the ceiling with a constant rush of air, making him yelp fearfully.
"Uh…yeah sorry about that, I just thought you'd want to know that Aang has woken up. He's out on deck." Sokka informed me and instantly I was wide awake.
"What?!" My concentration broke and Sokka dropped to the floor, face planting it pretty hard but I was already running. I was barefoot and wearing only a kimono shirt of deep burgundy with brown leggings. Skidding over the smooth floors, I ran all the way to the deck then slid to a halt when I saw Katara and Aang sitting by Appa, my eyes widening before clouding over with tears of relief.
Katara saw me first, so she quickly closed Aang's eyes and helped him to stand, turning him around to face me and made him walk towards me. "What's going on? Katara?"
"Just don't open your eyes until I say, okay? We've got a surprise for you." She answered, giving me a smile as I nodded my head gratefully towards her then looked straight at Aang as he leaned dependently on his staff. A hair caught on my lip so I pulled it away as the wind whipped up my mahogany locks, sweeping them around my shoulders as I then wiped my eyes dry. "Okay, now open them."
Aang slowly opened his eyes and looked straight at me. Instantly an unreadable expression fell upon his features. Shock, grief, joy, confusion and all kinds of other emotions as he stared at me, starting to tremble slightly as tears started to slide easily down his cheeks. "Th…Thyra? Is that you? You're not a ghost, are you?" He asked in a whisper. Sokka was about to make a smart comment but Toph elbowed him hard in the gut, effectively silencing him.
"Come closer little brother and I'll show you I'm real." I answered with a quivering smile, struggling to hold myself together as Aang began to move towards me, tears continuing to flow as he then dropped his staff and reached out with one hand. I let him come to me, watching him quietly as he then stopped, almost afraid to touch me so I closed the distance between us.
I put my arms around him and he turned his ear against my chest, hearing my heartbeat and instantly his eyes flew wide open. "Thyra! You're alive!" He cried out then flung his arms around me and I instantly anchored my arms more securely around him, feeling more tears slip through my closed eyes as I smiled.
With a playful smirk towards my brother as his head nestled into my neck, I twirled a foot off the ground and began to lift us gently upward, smiling as Aang didn't notice for a few moments until we'd climbed a fair distance off the deck of the ship and instantly he pulled back with a gasp. "But how? How're we…?" Then he noticed the laugher in my features as I continued to keep us both suspended, still in one another's arms. "You're doing this? You're an airbender?!" He stared in shock and I nodded my head.
"I'm finally awake, and so are you little brother." I told him, gripping his hands then began to spin around, making us both laugh as the air current carried us before finally, I took us back down where Aang hugged my waist again. "I missed you Aang."
"Why didn't you come to find us sooner? Did something happen?" He asked and Katara nodded her head as she and the others approached.
"Thyra lost all her memories after she woke up from the accident. It was actually Iroh and Zuko who pulled her out." I looked away at the mention of his name and tried to not picture his face when I'd first seen him after waking up again. Aunt Wu had been right. He'd lifted me out of the ashes and I'd given him my heart. I bet Sokka would get a kick out of that. Aang was about to speak but then he hunched over in pain, clutching his shoulder and I quickly moved to steady him in case he fell. "Maybe we should go inside, you need a healing session." Katara said and Aang nodded his head feebly in agreement so I lifted my little brother up into my arms and carried him back to his room.
"It's going to be okay now Aang, you'll see." I told him as I put him down then kissed his fluffy head. "Nothing is going to take me away from you again, I promise."
"I'll hold you to that. I lost my sister once, I can't go through it again." Aang told me with a loving smile which I returned before I stepped outside and closed the door to that they could have some privacy.
I could see that my brother was struggling inside himself. He felt like a failure for being struck down by Azula, like he'd let down the entire world and abandoned them again, so I tried to reassure him that he hadn't abandoned them, that there was still hope.
He especially found it difficult when we were attacked by another fire navy ship after they realised that we were not real Fire Nation soldiers, and he was forced to keep out of sight whilst the rest of us handled things. With my new bending abilities, I was able to jump aboard the ship and take out most of the crew as well as one of their catapult machines, helping to do some real damage whilst never actually being seen, as I was also a master of evasion it seemed.
Being able to airbend, I could control the air wherever I was, so I was able to move fast and hover out of sight during the attack before returning as Katara helped us speed away with waterbending, pushing us along before finally, we were safe.
After the fight, I found Aang in his room, lying face down on the bed in a sulk. Momo was perched on my shoulder, however upon seeing Aang he swiftly flew over and began to scamper up and down his body. "Aang? Are you okay?" I asked and his irritated and grumpy voice answered back.
"No I'm not okay. I'm useless! I couldn't even help protect my friends today, they all think I'm weak!" He shouted into his pillow so I walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, resting my hand on his shoulder.
"You're not weak Aang, you're injured. You and I both know that to fight now would cause you more injury, then your recovery would be set back even further. It's for your own good we asked you to keep out of sight, the world needs to think that you're gone so that they don't suspect a counter attack." Despite his struggling against me and protest, I gathered him in my arms and held him close to me. "You're confused and angry at yourself, Aang, I know you are, but please you just have to trust me. Trust your friends. We're only trying to help you." Aang stopped struggling and looked away as I held him in my arms, holding his head against my neck like our mother used to hold us whenever we were upset. "Time is all you need to heal right now, then you'll be as strong as ever." I promised before starting to sing for him.
This sent Aang straight to sleep so once he was completely lax in my arms, I tucked him back in bed and smiled down at him before leaving him to sleep, Momo staying behind to keep him company. I went out on deck and looked up at the stars, taking a deep breath before exhaling. However the moment when all our backs were turned, Aang escaped and tried to go to the Fire Nation himself, and the moment I realised what had happened I berated myself over and over again. I should have known he'd do this. Stupid!
The gang and I all rode on Appa, trying to track Aang down however the storm was getting pretty intense and I couldn't help but feel afraid of the lightning. It had almost killed both myself and my brother, why wouldn't I be scared? When another flash appeared, I let out a sharp scream before clamping my mouth shut. "Ah come on, it's just a little rain and lightning! Man up!" Toph yelled over the torrents that hammered down around us and instantly I turned on her.
"Oh I'm sorry, does my fear of lightning bother you? Well maybe I'm scared of it because it nearly killed both me and my brother!" I thundered and Toph blinked before giving a guilty smile and rubbed the back of her head.
"Yeah…sorry. Forgot about that. Go ahead and scream." She waved a hand at me so I returned to hiding underneath my cloak, keeping the hood pulled up as Sokka guided Appa.
"Where're we even going? How are we supposed to find Aang in this storm?" He demanded to know, yelling over the thunder.
"We follow the wind currents, Aang took his glider and the wind will carry him." I answered, pointing towards the east. "And he'll follow the currents towards the Fire Nation, so east is our best bet." We scoured the world below us, however fate seemed to be on our side as we came across an island with a figure lying on the rocks below and instantly we knew it was Aang.
"Aang! You're okay!" Katara called out with relief as Appa landed. She leaped off his back and ran towards Aang, lifting him up to hug him as the rest of us followed and joined the hug, however Aang turned his head and broke away from the rest of us.
"I have so much to do."
"I know, but you'll have our help." Katara informed him softly, giving him a warm smile.
"You didn't think you could get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation, did you?" Toph questioned, punching Aang playfully on the shoulder and he rubbed the affected spot before looking up at Sokka.
"But what about the invasion?"
"We'll join up with my dad and the invasion force on the day of the eclipse." He shrugged easily as Toph felt something brush against her leg.
"Hey what's…oh. It's your glider." She said as she lifted the broken mess out of the water, completely wrecked by the storm.
"That's okay. If someone saw it, it would give away my identity. It's better for now that no one knows I'm alive." Aang decided then turned around, air jumping to the top of the volcano that he'd managed to wash up on then dropped his staff into the fiery pit. I felt a wave of pride wash over me. He'd brought balance within himself, all on his own.
When Aang returned, Katara pulled him into a hug and then Toph, followed by Sokka before finally, I drew them all into my arms with a smile, hugging them all to me as Momo and Appa then joined in our group hug, the storm clouds finally breaking to reveal a glorious moon and we all bathed in its light, embracing one another like a family.