A/N: Hi everyone! Ok I know I can't apologise enough for the lack of updates, I mean I haven't updated in nearly a year! That's bad, that's really bad. I hope you can forgive me; I just had so much work to do it's unbelievable, like university application, controlled assessments and revising for my final year before uni. I hope you guys are still around and that this long chapter will hopefully make up for my absence. Anyway I hope you enjoy.
As I walk towards the elaborate hall, where all the meetings will take place as of today till the end of the week, a sense of dread consumes me. Well to be honest I can't remember the last time when I wasn't filled with this sense of dread, but today that sensation has tripled. I'm going to sit through that meeting while Sokka throws me looks as strong as daggers from his piercing blue eyes, with Toph's and Zuko's presence as well. I swallow with difficulty, the dryness of my throat evident; nearly the whole gang will be present all at once for the first time in years. Just one thought passes through my head as I finally reach the massive doors, 'this is going to be painstakingly awkward.'
Taking one last deep breath to try to ease my nerves, I push open the door. The room is already half full with nobles, representatives for each nation and other important figures. As I move to take my place next to Zuko, I don't need to look up to know nearly, if not all, pairs of eyes are on me. I let my eyes focus on the vast mahogany table before me, praying that they will continue with the conversations they were having before I entered the room. A small movement to my left catches my attention, looking up I see Zuko sending me a reassuring smile, his eyes filled with kindness and concern. I try to return it, but as soon as I do it comes out as a grimace instead; my body still in pain from my latest confrontation, but also the idea of smiling seems almost foreign to me.
I turn my attention back to the table, waiting for the meeting to start. As the agonising minutes tick by of doing absolutely nothing, the Head Councilman finally clears his throat, demanding attention from everyone present and so the chatter dies down immediately.
"Good afternoon. I'm happy to know that everyone invited has showed up to our second meeting of the week. I'll quickly explain to those who weren't present in the morning the layout for the coming week. Each meeting will be approximately 2 hours long with a 30 minute break halfway. There are two meetings each day for a week; which means, if everything goes according to plan, we will be finished in the week. As you all know, this meeting is regarding issues with the Earth Kingdom, more specifically the current issue with an overflow in the population size…" As the Councilman continues with his long winded explanation, I have an internal battle with myself for staying awake and thinking of ways in which we can persuade King Kuei to lend more land to the much needed small united city that Zuko and I have established…
3 hours later…
"So it's settled, Republic City will receive 10 more acres of land and in return we will give £100 000 to the Earth Kingdom. This sum will be paid off over the years, through taxing the people who lives in the City. Anyone who has further issues with this settlement must speak now." The councilman pauses for several minutes, in which silence pursues. Only the raspy breathing of those who were shouting during the entire meeting were clearly heard. Finally he speaks up again. "Now that's out of the way, a document will be sent to all of you sometime this week for your signatures of approval and then we can build on this city in the coming months. I again thank the Avatar's, Firelord's and the Earth King's presence with us today to settle such matters. For now I declare this meeting over."
The Head Councilman stands up, bowing to us all to which we return and strides out of the hall, many others follow his lead and slowly trickle out of the room to probably their beds after such a physically and mentally exhausting meeting. I have a quick glance at the time, seeing it to be nearly 8 o'clock. I place my elbow on the table and put my head in the centre of my palm. I feel my eyes drooping, on the verge of closing, I fight with myself for what has to be the tenth time during the last couple of hours to stop myself from sleep, 'with all these nightmares and assassination attempts, I can't ever get a decent amount of sleep! Once I nearly did nod off, if it wasn't for Zuko elbowing me, I know I would've made a right spectacle of myself, but then again it wouldn't be the first time.'
However, I am rapidly pulled out of my thoughts when a firm hand is placed on my shoulder, having thought I was the only one left in the room I jump from my seat in haste. Inspecting the person to find it to be just Zuko, I release a sigh of relief.
"Hey, are you alright?" I shake my head in an attempt to shake away the drowsy feeling and rub my eyes to clear the sleep dust from them.
"Yeh, feeling great."
"Then what are you still doing here? Everyone cleared out 15 minutes ago." I blink at his statement in surprise, 'guess I was fighting against sleep for longer than I thought.'
"Oh sorry, I guess I nearly dozed off. Well I should go to my room to prepare for tomorrow's meeting." I give my back to him with the full intention of fleeing away, however his hand is still clasped on my shoulder and doesn't seem like he will let go any time soon.
"Aang stop it!" His shout causes me to face him again, with my eyes blinking in confusion, 'what is he on about?'
"Er stop what exactly?"
"Stop pretending that you are alright all the time when you clearly aren't!"
"Oh man, not this again!"
"Look Aang, we need to talk." I open my mouth, ready to argue with him, until he puts a hand out, shooting me with a frustrated glare, letting my words die on my throat. "And don't say that there's nothing wrong, because I know you are lying." I clench my jaws in equal frustration, I shrug his hand off and move away from him, ready to bolt out of the door with the help of my airbending speed.
But in a mere matter of seconds, I feel something hard clamp onto my ankles, pushing me towards one of the walls, causing me to fall onto my knees, and not long after another set of what I could only presume to be metal cuffs come flying at me, pinning my wrists to the wall, immobilising me. All in under a minute. I'm so shocked from the display that my brain stops functioning, unable to do anything for myself. Zuko walks towards me, before stopping a metre away. The very movement seems to be what shakes me out of my frozen state.
"What in the world are you doing?!"
"Not his doing but mine. I doubt Sparky will ever know how to bend metal." From the shadows at the back of the hall I watch as Toph appears from her hiding spot, her face set in a stony manner, her eyes filled with pure dislike and her stance set, as if ready to fight me. I gulp. A brief second later someone else appears, taking up his position by her side…Sokka. My mouth drops momentarily at witnessing the reuniting of my old friends…or rather all those people who once were my friends. 'How did I not sense their presence earlier? I must be more tired than I realise and if that's the case it won't take much longer for those assassins to get me.' Finally some sense is knocked into me and I try to struggle out of these locks, however while doing so I strain my injured arm from the week before, causing me to wince again at the sudden pain, 'it was just getting better,' I mutter to myself.
"Aang stop struggling! We aren't going to hurt you or anything; we just want to talk." Sokka clear his throat loudly.
"You mean you want to talk. I on the other hand don't want to be here at all." I try to ignore the water tribe soldier's comment, as much as it stings, and focus my attention back on Zuko.
"If that's the case then, will you kindly release me?"
"No, you'll just run off." I glower at him, until eventually I tear my eyes away from him and stare absently at the ground before deciding to speak again.
"Fine, tell me what you want so that I can leave. I have tons of other things to be doing."
"Liar." That one word from Toph causes me to snap my head up, 'why has that feeling of dread returned, but increased by tenfold?'
"Right Aang, I'm going to ask you a few questions and all I want in return is honest answers, ok?" I don't reply and I'm going to make sure I keep it that way. "So first thing, why are you tired all the time?" Silence. "Why do you seclude yourself to the temples?" More silence. "Is there something you're hiding?" At my continued silence I can sense his aggravation settling in by the quickening of his heart rate.
"Alright then, want to tell me why those two people jumped you a few days ago?" At this my own heart quickens in pace.
"Finally results." Zuko gives me his back to look at Toph.
"What do you mean?"
"His heart rate jumped at that question." The Firelord nods confidently and turns to face me again.
"Aren't you going to say anything about them?" My eyes remain glued to the floor.
"Ahh this is getting boring. Step aside your majesty and watch how a real pro works." Sokka strides right up to me, less than a foot away, pushing past Zuko in the process. He kneels down on one leg, keeping the other bent. He gazes at me for such a long time, I can literally feel the tension in the air.
Eventually I risk pulling my head up, looking at him in the eye. Allowing me to inspect his appearance; this is the first time I've been up close to him in years. His face has matured, with a small stubble of hair on his chin, light side burns and his eyes revealing a tired but annoyed look. I realise that he too is inspecting me, taking in what I would expect is my dishevelled appearance with black bags under my eyes. Soon he swallows and opens his mouth to speak.
"So the sleep deprivation, are you going to tell me why that is?" I avoid his hard gaze and stare at the wall beside him instead. 'It feels so weird for him to be actually talking to me, after all this time I can actually inhale the same air he is exhaling, it makes me want to reminisce on the times when we were young and got on so well.' "Yeh didn't think so. I mean we aren't friends. Why would you tell me anything? I was just an acquaintance to help end the war right?"
At his bitter words my heart twists painfully deep in my chest. 'He doesn't know how wrong that statement is. He doesn't know that what I'm doing is to protect them, because I care about them so so much. But of course I don't say that.' And so I continue with my silent treatment. He leans a fraction of an inch closer. "Tell me are you having nightmares?" Again I feel my heart thudding madly against my ribcage, 'I forgot that Sokka knows me too well sometimes, then again he was travelling with me for a year.'
"Looks like Snoozles is on the right track." Sokka moves slightly to grin at them with triumph.
"I told you guys I'm a professional." When he looks back at me though, he adopts the mask of coldness once again. I curse myself for letting myself slip like that, 'if he continues this up, they'll find out a lot sooner that I thought.' "These nightmares, do they consist of the affair of the world?" I breathe a quiet sigh of relief at the mistake of the question.
"Gone cold." He scrunches his eyebrows in thought.
"An uprising or war?" A shake from Toph's head proves he is indeed following the wrong end of the stick. "Your position as the Avatar?" I look back at him in shock.
"I've accepted my position ages ago." I respond, finally deciding to speak to him.
"He's telling the truth." I focus my gaze on Toph for a moment, 'why do they keep referring to me as he or him? Did I hurt them so much that they are utterly opposed of saying my name?' The thought makes me even guiltier and sadder than before. Sokka frowns for several moments and looks me up and down before finally choosing to say what is obviously on his mind.
"Are they about us?" He whispers in such a low tone that I almost miss it, but I don't and I can't help but let my heart rate speed up at how spot on his guess is. For the first time during this whole exchange Toph looks directly at me with a mixture of confusion and slight bewilderment before returning to her stony expression once again.
"Correct." Instead of Sokka leaping up with joy at his correct and accurate integrating skills, he appears to be even more confused.
Sokka's POV:
'Aang having nightmares about us? To have a dream or nightmare about someone they have to be on your mind. But he doesn't care about us; we mean absolutely nothing to him. If it wasn't for Toph's acute skills in detection, I wouldn't believe it. I take another look at Aang's appearance. I mean I have barely glanced at him over the three years. From a distance he seems like a strong confident Avatar. But up close with those dark circles under his eyes, his body having lost more weight from his 12 year old self making him stick thin, his eyes slightly bloodshot and what looks like a fading bruise on his check, all tells me that there is indeed something seriously wrong happening in his life. I guess Zuko wasn't exaggerating after all. It makes me want to feel sorry for him, but I catch myself before I do. He hasn't been having an easy few years like the rest of us. I take a moment to ponder my next question, I need to ensure it's one that he least expects me to ask.'
"Do you have nightmares of anything else?" I watch as his eyes widen ever so slightly that anyone else would have missed it if they didn't know him like I do. 'I guess his facial expressions haven't changed over the years.' He looks at me with shock, 'must be surprised of my perception skills.'
"Are you going to tell me what else?" But soon enough his gaze returns back to the floor beneath us. I think back to the times when he used to have nightmares when we were traveling with him. 'Remembering now that he did indeed have nightmares about us, so perhaps it consists of some past fears?' "Maybe failure?" Not a single twitch from him. I think again, 'the only other thing that I know of is the Air Nomads, but he couldn't possibly be having bad dreams about them. He must have got over it…but it's worth trying.' "What about the Air Nomads?" His head lowers even more towards the ground. 'No way! He still feels guilty about it.' But then a sudden thought pops into mind, 'Zuko did say that Aang spends all his time when he's not doing Avatar duties in the Air Temples, alone. He must have been pretty lonely considering the rest of us had places to go to after the war.' I shake my head, 'I need to get this pity out of my mind. I can't afford to feel sorry for him, when he didn't care about us, but then why is he having nightmares about us? This is getting a lot more confusing than I hoped for. I've asked about his sleep deprivation, now onto more complicated matters.'
"So did those guys hurt you?" My question doesn't receive any response. I consider this for a moment, 'maybe I'm asking the questions all wrong.' "So those two guys, do you know them?" I'm surprised when I see a slight shake from the Avatar. "What nation are they from?"
"A different nation from where you and I are from." He responds in a monotone tune. 'A different nation from mine and his, so that leaves the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation, but which one? If he gave me a clue in narrowing down the options why didn't he just tell me which nation specifically, unless…'
"Are they from different nations then?" A slight nod of his head tells me I'm on the right track, but his words sound bizarre. 'Even though there has been much improvement in world peace, there is still much hostility between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, so I find it hard to believe that they worked together in an attempt to…do what exactly? Capture him? Or was it an assassination attempt? That thought unwillingly causes me to wince. 'Are people really that cold towards the Avatar?'
"Can they both bend?" My question receives a startled reaction from him, a look of worry passes through his features, but vanishes almost as quickly as it appeared. 'Now that's bizarre, why would he be worried about whether they can bend or not. He's the Avatar, master of all elements.'
"Do you know what they are after?" I watch as his head lowers even more, as if wanting to be sucked into the ground. This time I can't help but let sympathy envelop me. 'I mean I know how Aang used to behave, he was an optimistic goofball, as annoying as it was, what happened?' I stand up and tower over him and I can't help but inspect him again. This time I see that his sleeves have been slightly hitched down, as his arms are pinned above his head. But what really catches my attention is a red gash. I step closer and pull his sleeve down a little bit more to revel horrible looking cut, crusting around the edges. Aang is so startled that his head snaps up to look at me. His eyes filled with…what, fear or shock?
"Where did you get that?" I ask, concern starting to fill me. 'I knew this would happen. I knew that once I saw and talked with him again, I wouldn't be able to continue being mad at him. He's like the little brother I've never had. This is exactly why I kept away. He has a way to penetrate people's outer shell.'
"It doesn't matter." He mumbles.
"It does matter!" I can't help but shout at him, in which he reacts with a flinch. I sigh and bend down to meet his eyes. "What happened?"
"Why do you care? You've been ignoring me for years. Why don't you just continue with that?" His harsh reply throws me off slightly, but I stand my ground.
"I've been ignoring you?! What about you ignoring me, all of us. After what we've been through, you could have the courtesy to call us your friends rather than deny it in front of thousands of people!" I holler at him, unable to keep my bottled feelings inside anymore. It's three years overdue and it needs to be let out. I watch as he scrunches his eyes shut, as if trying to block out my words. I place my hands on his shoulders and begin shaking him slightly. "What are you hiding from us?" His eyes snaps open and gives me a hard glare.
"I'm not hiding anything!" He shouts.
"He's lying." Toph's voice causes me to spin around. 'I completely forgot that she and Zuko were still here.' I turn back to see Aang once again avoiding my gaze. Suddenly I'm hit with the realisation that 'Aang never really left because Katara didn't end up with him, no that was just an excuse to leave us. Something must have broken him, something got to him to force him to leave us. The big question now is; what was it?'
"Why did you really leave that day? It wasn't because of Katara and Zuko was it? Not really." At my question I hear a loud gulp behind me, I assume it must have come from Zuko…it's still an awkward topic for him.
"Can you just leave me alone? All of you, just leave me alone." The weakness and tiredness of his voice actually makes me step back. He was shouting momentarily ago and now he seems to be on the edge of either passing out or crying. Neither of which I could deal with. Katara was always good with this sort of thing, why didn't she come with us to these meetings? Toph shocks us all when she marshes up to the Airbender and grabs his collar roughly.
"Listen here Avatar. I don't have time for your lies and secrets. You better spill before I hurl you into the wall!" Zuko unfreezes from his shock and steps closer to the group.
"Now Toph you shouldn't…"
"Don't even start Sparky. Don't even start." He gulps again at the menacing tone she uses, but takes another step towards us, ready to pull Toph off, if the need arises. Toph pulls Aang forcefully towards her, in which Aang presses his lips together in an effort to stop his muffled gasp, of what I could only guess to be pain. "Tell us what your deal is?"
"Toph get off!"
"Why? You want to know as much as I do what's got into that thick skull of his. You used to complain, shout and I even caught you crying once. All this pain is his doing!"
"I did not!" I bite back.
"You are only lying to yourself." She shifts her concentration back to the frightened boy, subconsciously tightening her grip. I stalk over to her.
"For goodness sake get off, you're hurting him!" I bellow with such might that everyone jumps, including Toph. I watch as she turns her head to me and then back to Aang. Her face trying to mask the sudden guilt she feels at hurting the young Avatar. She releases her hold on him and takes a step back, away from him.
"It would be easier if he just answered the question." She mumbles half in an accusing manner and half in a sorrowful one. After that no one seems to speak for what seems like an eon. The silence stretches out into tension, filled with hidden mysteries and distrust. Something that I would never have imagined if you asked me four years ago. Finally Aang looks at each of us with a regretful expression.
"Can I go now?" He whispers. This time it's Zuko who moves towards him and stands before the Avatar.
"Aang we only want to help you." The airbender releases a frustrated sigh.
"I really didn't want to do this, but you guys left me no choice…I think it will be wise if you all step back." We all throw puzzled glances at each other, 'what on earth is he talking about?' As this thought flows through our minds, Aang's eyes suddenly take on a piercing white glow, his hands and arms concomitantly take on the bright glow also, his expression serious and stony; leaving us to behold the pure power of the Avatar. We simultaneously move back without hesitation, 'I suppose Toph has been able to figure out when Aang enters the Avatar state without seeing the glow, I'll have to ask her how she manages to do that later.'
I watch in awe as he melts the metal on his wrists, once freed he sends a mighty slice of air breaking the cuffs at his feet. He takes a step forward while twisting his arms together back and forth, making a whirlpool of air in which he jumps on and with another gust of wind breaks the ceiling allowing him to escape. A faint sorry from him could be heard as he exits, leaving us all frozen with shock.
"I can't believe he just destroyed our meeting place!" Zuko shouts in shock and anger, once the Avatar is no longer in sight. I smirk at him and say,
"Well I can't believe you thought you could tie down the mighty Avatar. Of course he could escape, that's what airbenders do best!"
"Would you two just quiet down a moment and piece together what on earth just happened?!"
"Well seems to me Aang can melt metal!"
"Not that! I mean we need to understand the little information we've gained from him and piece together the rest." I sigh, 'goodbye to going to sleep early.'
"This is going to take a while, isn't it?"
A/N: Thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review to let me know whether I should continue with this story or not and whether you liked this chapter. Thank you :)
