Chapter 24: Questions

Jay swaggered in tiredly. Everyone sighed. I'm sick of Jay, thought Aang to himself. I'm sick of this Robert stuff. It used to be at least a bit fun, even though I hate these new guys, but now it's just repetitive…. Repetitive. His eyes widened with realization. Oh no. That explains…. oh no.

Elbowing his way into the throng of people around Jet (some of whom were fans, some of whom were the main protagonists), he began to shout above the noise.

"WHY ARE WE HERE, JUST TO SUFFER?"

Everyone turned to look at him, confused. Not confused by Aang yelling, because he did that all the time, but confused by his tone. It wasn't his normal whiny tone, the only tone the new people had ever heard him use, nor was it his old cheerful voice that Katara and Sokka knew so well.

"Aang, what is it? Can't you see we're fawning over Jets phat ass?" Sokka snapped irritably.

"Yes, I know you are, and that's the problem. Can't you see-"

"See how magnificent he is, and how you're interrupting? Yes, Aang, we can!"

Aang screeched quietly with frustration. He felt himself going into the Gamer State, and knew he would soon slaughter everyone around him if he didn't get his point across.

"Listen! You're just proving my point: we're wasting time with Jet!"

"Obviously. He's the human equivalent to clickbait, of course he's-"

"No, you still don't get it! This is pointless, all this Jet stuff and Jay stuff. The real problem is Robert, and we've been wasting our time. It's almost like we're just… puppets. Meaningless entertainment, a silly puppet show. Veronica, Jet, Jay, all this weird stuff that keeps happening to throw us off track… and how we haven't even tried to find Robert? Why? Why didn't we go back to Zuko's beach house, come up with a new plan, and try again? Something is wrong here. Not to mention the way everyone's been acting. Zuko and his weird ZINKO thing? That's completely out of character for him, and Zuko, can you even think of why you did that?"

Zuko looked at Aang, scowling.

"It's, its none of your buisness! I could ask you the same about, about your gaming-"

"Exactly!" Aang cut him off.

"My gaming thing. Why was I so into Fortnite? I don't even know what that is! Has anyone even heard of that before?!"

The group stood, thinking about this. No one said anything. Eventually, Kakyoin stepped forward hesitantly.

"You have a point… and what about Avdol and Polnareff? Polnareff never acted like he did before. He didn't even have an accent, but when we got here, all of a sudden he did. And Avdol was a good person, but he wasn't that good. Aang, I have to hand it to you. I thought you were actually pretty dumb, but you may be getting at something."

"And when did you learn magic?" Jotaro interjected. "Kakyoin, you never did anything even close to magic before, and yet all of a sudden you're breaking into my head to unlock memories! Memories that now, I'm not sure were even real!"

The tension in the air was palpable. Something was very wrong, and our suddenly more self aware protagonists were getting very suspicious.

"I think we should consult my Tarot cards-" Katara suggested, before being interrupted by Aang.

"Katara, think! You were never into Tarot cards before, or so obsessed with having a boyfriend! When did this start? When did this all start?"

There was another long pause. Everyone knew exactly when it had started: that day at the Ember Island Playhouse.

"So what should we do?" Katara said quietly. "We've all had weird personality changes, or something, but who's causing it? Robert?"

Aang nodding slowly.

"I think so. I think we should get out of here and go back to the Boiling Rock… We lost the first time because we didn't realize we were being influenced. Sokka… I'm sorry for what I did."

Sokka looked away, over the dusty street. Bending down to pick up a pebble, he held it for a second, before using his Godly Powers to shift it into a frog. Then an eye, then a flame, a fly, a mirror, and back to a pebble.

"Sokka?"

He looked up from the pebble.

"Aang…" he said slowly, as if considering his words very carefully.

"I know you're… unsettled by everything. That's understandable. But do you really believe we're being influenced? Aang… you have to consider all the factors."

Aang narrowed his eyes with annoyance.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Sokka sighed, and put a hand on Aang's shoulder. Aang made a small motion as if to draw away, but then stayed.

"Aang, it's no secret that you've had trouble adjusting to the change… all of the changes, really. I don't think you really believe what your saying, do you?"

Aang stepped back, pushing Sokkas hand from his shoulder.

"Don't try to change my mind! I know I'm right, Sokka, just look at how everyone's been acting, and-"

"And what, Aang? I'm sorry, but you're just repeating old ideas! You never liked change, and now your trying to explain away the fact that people grow and change by some crazy theory that we're being influenced or something-"

"What?!" Aangs voice was getting louder. "Sokka, I'm not making this up! Everyone else knows it to, now that I've told them, and your just to stuck in your ways to see it! Something, probably Robert, is affecting our personalities so we're unable to function as a team and take him down-"

"AANG!" Now Sokka shouted, seeming to tower above Aang, as the God grew angry. Aang shrank back.

"Aang, drop it! You just can't deal with people changing as they get older, because you're some eternal child! You've been twelve for the past hundred years!"

Aang opened his mouth, but then shut it again. Looking at the ground, he mumbled quietly,

"I… I guess you're right. Nevermind."

The group was silent, looking at Aang, then Sokka, then back to Aang. The street was absolutely silent. Even the unemployed seemed to have vanished.

Looking around at his quiet friends, Sokka clapped his hands together.

"Well? Are we goin back to Jays house, or what?"

Jay smiled uncomfortably.

"I mean, it's not that big a house, so some of you will have to share a room for the night, but it should work."

Sokka's smile slackened.

"Ok guys, try not to kill each other while sharing a room, ok? We really can't have any more deaths on the team. Aang, don't kill anyone. Katara, don't marry anyone. Alright?"

The group nodded quiet assent, and went inside. The sleeping arrangements were soon revealed to be terrible: there was only one massive bed. Jay insisted they all sleep in loaned pajamas, because it was 'tradition'. But surprisingly, no one got into any physical fights. The night was quiet. The only sound was Sokka, commmuning wit A. After several hours of lying awake, staring at the dark ceiling, our protagonists fell into an uneasy sleep.