The Second Avatar: Part 6 - Time Change
Katara looked over the side of Appa's saddle with a huge smilie, but as she saw the ground before her it faded to a frown. She put her hand to her mouth and slowly sat up straight. Aang looked at her with worry, "Katara, what's wrong?" He got up and joined her on the side of the saddle. When he looked over he gasped.
There were no buildings, streets, or people. Just a baren field with small ruins and short trees. Katara looked over at Sokka and cocked an eyebrow. "Are you sure this is the right place?"
Sokka had his map out. He help it upside down and scratched his head. "The map says this is the place." He turned back to the upright position. "I followed it perfectly, I made no wrong turns or anything."
Sakura was laying at the back of the saddle with her hands behind her head. She opened her eyes and sat up. "What's wrong, guys?"
"Ba Cing Cei is gone..." Katara replied.
"Yeah, it's been gone for at least twenty years. Fire Lord Zuko finally gained the oppertunity to take it over. Then he died, probably too much excitement. Now his son is ruling, Fire Lord Shunghai. And he sent his son in search of the Avatar. That's who attacked my village when you guys were there." She crawled over to Aang and Katara.
Sokka landed Appa and walked to their group.
"What? The fire lord is Ozai, not Shunghai. And Zuko is still the banished prince in search of Aang. And Ba Cing Cei was fine a week ago, it looks like it's been burned down for... 20 years..." Katara looked down in shock.
"That was a hundred years ago. Zuko killed Aang while trying to take him to Ozai. Ozai died and Zuko retook the throne. You guys don't know that you're spirits? I thought Aang was here to help master the elements. I've been waiting to talk to him for years." She hopped off of Appa and stretched her back.
"I'm not a spirit. If I was a spirit then I'd be blue and half see through. And Katara or Sokka wouldn't be able to see me." Aang Airbended himself to the ground. "Somehow I think we..." he paused and looked at Katara and Sokka. "Traveled 100 years to the future..."
"What? How in the heck could we have done that? I don't remember stepping through a magic portal that said, 'You will now be taken 100 years into the future.' Do you?" Sokka grunted.
"Sokka, Aang is making sense. Just think about it. The Avatar is reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle after 100 years. Sakura is a waterbender and water is the next nation. This wouldn've happened if it hasn't been 100 years." Katara looked at her hands, sort of checking if they fit Aang's 'spirit' description.
"Well then how do we get back to our time? I don't want to age 100 years later than I'm supposed to. There's too many new things I have to remember now, and I don't think my brain can hold it all."
"So are there are still Waterbenders and Earthbenders, right? I mean the Fire Nation didn't kill them all?" Katara jumped off of Appa and walked over to Sakura.
"There are still many Earthbenders. The Fire Lord finds them very useful, but as far I know my village was the last one of Waterbenders. Both tribes at the poles were completely destroyed."
Katara's heart sank as she heard those words, "Both tribes at the poles were completely destroyed." She fell to her knees without any control and started to feel warm tears roll down her cheeks.
Sakura looked at her with worried eyes, "Katara what's wrong?"
"Me and Sokka live in the South Pole..." she choaked. "And now you're telling me that everyone is gone..."
Sakura kneeled beside her, "I'm sorry... I never should've said anything..."
Sokka came over and helped Katara to her feet. "Well we should get going and try to find a place where we can get some supplies and camp out."
Sakura and Aang nodded. Sakura hopped on Appa and laid in the back of the saddle once again. Sokka sat on Appa's head and took the reins. "Yip-yip."
Appa acended into the sky letting out small grunts and roars.