Chapter 1: A New Home
Hey guys! I know that it probably isn't a good idea to start on another story, especially when I already have two other ones that I've been trying to work on, but I recently came across "The Unknowns" by SDB and remembered that I had always wanted to try to make my own version. So, that's what I'm doing. For this chapter at least. I'm sorry I haven't been good about keeping up with the other two stories, but once I get this out of my head, I'll do my best to refocus on those. Oh, the title I came up with for the story is pretty lame, so if anyone can think of a better name for it I would be really grateful since I can't think of one for the life of me. Anyway, hope you're all doing well and keeping safe. Thanks for reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
He couldn't believe it. Once again, after having spent most of his life bouncing around from city to city because of his father's work, he found himself relocating to a new home once more. Not that he was the kind of person to complain about such things, as he tried to be grateful for the things in his life, but this was one thing about his life that he wished he could change.
Though he loved his father dearly, oftentimes Aang wished that he could have gotten a job that didn't make them relocate so often. It had been hard for Aang to make friends because of this. Not because people didn't usually like him, but because he knew that he likely wouldn't be sticking around long enough to be able to make lasting friendships that he could maintain once they had moved onto the next location. Needless to say, this had created quite a problem for him.
Of course, he knew that he shouldn't complain. His father's job had provided them with shelter and food for as far back as he could remember, but he couldn't help but wish that they could just pick one place and stay there. No more relocating, no more trying to make new friends, just settling down somewhere they knew they could be comfortable and hopefully find some people to have some good times with. .
Unfortunately, this had not been the case for most of his life, and he feared that it never would be. At least until he graduated high school and moved out on his own. Not that he wanted to leave his father, but he was already two months into his senior year and was transferring to yet another school. Once he was able to, he would go out on his own and get his own place, and he would never allow himself to move around like they had again.
Not that he blamed his father for this. He had done his very best to raise him and care for him on his own, despite having had to do it alone since his mother had died during Aang's birth. He just couldn't take the constant state of being uprooted in his life anymore. Once he was able to, he was going to pick a place and stay there for as long as he could.
Regardless, he had to admit that part of him was glad that he had moved around so much over his childhood. As much as he had wished he could have stayed long enough to make proper friends, he felt as if moving around so much had allowed him to have an opportunity to see different parts of the country, and had fulfilled a desire to know what else the world had to offer.
Now, however, he was ready to finally find a place where he could stay and feel at home, with friends that he could hang out with and an area that he could get used to. The only problem with this was that he wasn't sure if his father would ever get to stop relocating. He wanted to, if nothing else, be able to enjoy what was left of his senior year in one place before he would go out on his own. But, knowing how it had been for so long, he couldn't help but doubt that this would ever happen.
"Aang?"
The familiar sound of his father's voice snapped him out of his thoughts, making him turn to look at his father who was driving. There was a clear look of concern on his face, but Aang decided to ignore it as he replied. "Yeah?"
"Are you alright? You've been quiet ever since we left."
"I'm fine," Aang shrugged simply, but he could tell that Gyatso wasn't buying it as he sighed. "It's just… We've been moving for your work for so long."
A look of guilt came over Gyatso's face as he heard this, a pang of pain filling his heart as he remembered how Aang had suffered from this. "Yes, I know."
"I just… I wish that we could stay in one place for more than a few months for once," Aang decided to continue after a few moments of silence. "Whenever we go somewhere, it seems like we have enough time to get everything unpacked and get comfortable, and then we have to go to a new place." He let out a small sigh. "It would just… be nice if we could find an actual home."
Gyatso remained silent for a few moments, not really sure what to say. "I understand, Aang," he finally decided to say. "More than you know."
"So why do we have to keep moving, dad?" Aang couldn't help but ask. "This new town we're going to, let's just stay here and not move again."
"It's not that simple, Aang," Gyatso reminded him, keeping his eyes on the road as he tried to think of the right words to say. "If it was-"
"I know, I know," Aang interrupted, not trying to be rude, but knowing exactly what he was going to say. "If it was, we would have by now, but there's gotta be a way. Maybe you can find a new job. Or maybe you can talk to your boss about it and tell him you don't want to keep moving anymore."
"Aang-"
Aang let out another sigh, his eyes downcast as he returned his gaze to the window. "I know. Nevermind. Just forget that I brought it up." Gyatso's heart churned as he glanced at his son, but knew there wasn't much he could say to make him feel better. Instead, he just kept his focus on the drive, wondering if his job was really worth making Aang feel like this.
A few hours later, the two pulled into the driveway of their new home. Though Aang had to admit, he was a bit surprised that their latest relocation had taken them to a small town. Up until now, they had moved from city to city, but this would be the first time they would live in a quiet country setting.
Though he had grown used to the crazy atmosphere of big cities, he had to admit that he liked how quiet and calm this place was in comparison to his previous homes. There was just something so peaceful about it. It felt as if he had just taken a breath of fresh air.
He still wasn't happy that he had been forced to move somewhere else, but he couldn't deny how beautiful their new home was. Their new neighborhood was not anything like he was used to. The nearest neighbor was at least a hundred feet away, the different homes being separated by swaths of woods that surrounded the area. He had a feeling that, even if it was only for a little while, he would really come to like this place.
Feeling a bit better with this, Aang stepped out of the moving truck and took a deep breath of the night air. It was as crisp and beautiful as he had thought it would be, and he couldn't help but be taken from the natural beauty of all that lay around him. Even if he knew that he shouldn't get attached to this place, he already knew that he had never felt more at home than he was right now.
"It is beautiful, isn't it?" Gyatso asked as he joined him in partaking in the beauty of their new home, making Aang smile as he nodded in reply. "I thought that you would like it. I especially picked this house for you."
A confused look crossed over Aang's face. "What do you mean by that?" he asked with a raised brow as he looked at his father.
"Well, I know that us moving so much has been bothering you, so for this move I wanted to find something that I knew you would like," Gyatso explained as he gestured to their new home. "Was I wrong?"
Looking back at the house, Aang smiled and shook his head. "Nope. I think you did great with this one, dad."
"Good. I'm glad to hear it," Gyatso smiled as he patted his son on the back. "Now, it's too late to get everything inside tonight, so why don't we just get our air mattresses and our clothes and settle in for the night?"
"Okay. I'll grab them from the back," Aang agreed with a smile before making his way to the back of the truck. Opening it, he began digging his way through their things until he found what he was looking for, slinging their personal bags over his shoulder and holding onto the box that held their air mattresses. Being satisfied with this, he jumped down from the truck and closed the door behind him.
As he turned around, his eyes widened as he noticed something out of the corner of his eye that he hadn't noticed before. Turning to get a better look, he became surprised to see what appeared to be a group of kids his age sitting at a campfire at one of the neighbouring houses, talking idly with each other as they enjoyed the cool autumn breeze.
Though he couldn't help but notice that the group appeared to not look related to each other at all. The only exceptions being two pairs of people sitting next to each other. The first being caramel-skinned teenagers who looked like they could be siblings and the other being pale skinned and grumpy looking. If they were a family, they appeared to be an unconventional one.
Despite knowing he should just forget about them and go inside, he couldn't help but wonder why he felt as if there was something different about them. They looked completely normal. Or as normal as any other person he had seen, anyway, but he felt that there was something… different about them. Something that he couldn't tell just what it was that was different about the group of teenagers.
Getting lost in his thoughts as he tried to figure out why he felt this way about his new neighbours, he became surprised as the caramel colored girl seemed to notice him staring at them, a blush lighting his cheeks as he saw how pretty she was. Even from afar, it was clear that her beauty was unrivaled. To him at least, anyway.
Feeling awkward as the girl kept staring back at him, he put on a friendly smile and waved at her, becoming surprised as she actually smiled and waved back. Though he couldn't tell if he had imagined it or not, her eyes had appeared to glow in the firelight for a second as she waved back at him.
The rest of the group of teenagers, having noticed the girl waving at him, followed her line of sight until their eyes landed on him, making him a bit nervous. There was something unnatural about the way they appeared to be sizing him up, as if they were trying to judge whether he was a threat to them or not. But, after a few moments of silently looking at him, they all seemed to relax and went back to their conversations.
All except for the beautiful girl, who was still smiling at him as she watched him from across the fire. He didn't know whether to be happy that she didn't seem to find him repulsive or wonder why she was still watching him, but he found that he had been there too long, anyway. Now was the time to go inside.
Giving her one last wave, he turned around and began walking back to his new home, not noticing as her eyes followed him until he was out of sight. Once he had closed the door behind him, he couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Despite being glad that he had seen the beautiful girl, he still couldn't help but get the feeling that there was more to those kids than he could figure out. He really didn't know what it was. There was just something… almost inhuman about the way they had looked at him.
But this was crazy. It was likely just him knowing that he wouldn't be able to stick around long enough trying to prevent him from making any friends before he would have to move again. Though he knew this to be a good possibility, he couldn't help but doubt it as well. He had met enough people to know what normal human interaction was like, and the way they had looked at him was almost… animal-like.
Not to mention the way the beautiful girl's eyes had seemed to glow for that one moment. But no. He had to have imagined it. Or it must have been a trick of the firelight shining in her eyes. Either way, there was no way that had actually happened.
Deciding to put these thoughts aside for the moment, Aang brought their stuff upstairs and was not surprised to find that Gyatso was waiting for him. "Ah, good. I see you found our things. What took so long?" he asked curiously.
Opening his mouth to tell him, he remembered the weird things he had seen and decided against it, finding that he wouldn't believe him anyway. "I just saw some of our neighbors and thought I'd say hi to them."
"Well, that was very neighbourly of you!" Gyatso chuckled as he took his bag from him and put it in his room. "Were they nice?"
Aang smiled a little as he remembered the girl who had waved back at him. "One of them was," he answered honestly as he thought about her. "Jury's still out on the rest."
"Maybe after we get settled in, you can go talk to them," Gyatso suggested as he began setting up their air mattresses, not noticing as Aang took on a pensive look.
"Maybe," was all he could think to say, knowing that he probably wouldn't since he knew that he wouldn't be staying there for long anyway. Becoming sad at this thought, he put it aside for the moment and helped get them set up for the night, knowing that it had been a long day and that they would both need some good sleep for tomorrow.
After the two had said their goodnights, Aang lay in his makeshift bed and looked up at the ceiling, remembering the piercing glow of the girl's eyes in the firelight. He had mostly convinced himself that it really had been a trick of the firelight, but he still couldn't get the image out of his mind.
Knowing it wouldn't do him any good to keep pondering on this, he forced himself to empty his mind of these thoughts and closed his eyes, feeling a bit hopeful for what his new home might bring. He knew better than to get his hopes up of staying, but he decided from that point on that he would try to enjoy as much of his new home as he could while he was there, and quickly fell asleep with a hopeful smile on his face.
A few days later, he found himself walking into his new school, being amazed at how different it was compared to the others he had been to. Having been in many big cities prior to now, he had grown used to being in schools that had an average of four hundred kids in each grade, and had not been prepared for this.
Instead of hallways crowded with kids, he found himself to be walking in a far more spacious area where his fellow classmates appeared to be conversing with each other. It was nice not having to worry about bumping into someone else for a change, even if the school itself looked rather old compared to his previous ones.
Finding that he liked this change of pace, he slowly made his way to the Main Office and got his schedule, having been through the drill more times than he could count. With that taken care of, he looked at his schedule and found that his first class was History in room 201.
Luckily for him, the school had great directional signs that showed him where to go, and he made it to his first class with plenty of time to spare. Looking around the classroom, he was surprised to find that most of the kids had already shown up for class. This was definitely a contrast to the other schools he had been to, and couldn't help but be impressed with how different everything was there.
Deciding to ignore these thoughts for the moment being, he looked around for an empty seat and found one on the left side of the classroom. Feeling relieved, he quickly made his way towards it and sat down, setting his stuff down next to him as he looked around.
"Hey, new kid."
Becoming surprised as he heard this, he looked in the direction that the voice was coming from and found that it belonged to a young man sitting in the seat next to him. "Yeah?" he finally replied once he realized he should say something back.
"What's your name?"
"I'm Aang. I just moved here a few days ago."
"Nice to meet ya," the young man nodded to him and stuck out his hand for a handshake. "I'm Shoji."
For the first time that day, Aang smiled and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Shoji." Once the handshake had ended, Aang looked around the classroom again and thought about what he should ask, eventually deciding on. "So, anything I should know about this school?"
"Honestly, there's not much for you to know," Shoji shrugged a little. "This is a nice school and the kids are pretty friendly for the most part." His eyes narrowed a little as they landed on something. Aang, having noticed this, followed his line of sight and became surprised as his eyes landed on the same group of kids he had seen the night he had moved there. "Except for those people. They're… weird."
Aang, being glad that he wasn't the only one who had noticed something off about them, decided to ask. "What do you mean?"
"Well, nobody really knows much about them," Shoji told him as he leaned back in his chair. "They don't really talk to anyone but each other. They're apparently part of some kind of foster family, but other than that, I don't know anything about them." A look of apprehension took over his face. "And they all act… strange."
"What do you mean, strange?" Aang wondered with a tilted head.
Shoji just shrugged again as he looked up at the ceiling. "They don't act like normal kids. They just kinda… do their own thing. Like they think they're a pack or something. As weird as it sounds." After a few moments of thought, he shook his head while Aang stole a look at the group. "My advice? Stay away from them and you'll do just fine."
Aang, not being sure what to think, decided to only nod in reply while keeping his eyes on the group, trying in vain to figure out what felt off about them. But, while he remained deep in thought, the girl from the night before seemed to notice him staring and smiled at him, offering another wave.
Finding that she was even more beautiful up close, he smiled and waved back at her, being distracted by her piercing blue eyes as they bore into his. Before he could think to do anything, the bell finally rang and the teacher walked in.
"Good morning, class!" the teacher greeted them as he set his briefcase down on his desk and faced them, a cheery smile on his face as he looked at them. "Ah! I see we have a new student today! Why don't you come up and introduce yourself?"
He knew that this likely would happen, and despite having done this many times before, still couldn't help but feel a bit of nervousness as he went up and faced the class. "Uh, hi. I'm Aang. I just moved here a few days ago." Looking out at the kids in front of him, he noticed that the girl seemed to be staring at him far more intently than everyone else. "Hopefully I can make some new friends soon."
"Thank you, Aang," the teacher gave him a reassuring smile as he gestured to his seat. "You can take your seat."
Needing no more convincing, Aang quickly made his way back and sat down, stealing a glance in the beautiful girl's direction and being surprised to find that she was still looking at him. Why was she looking at him like that?
Deciding to refocus for the moment, he turned his attention back to the teacher and tried to forget about the many questions going through his mind. But he couldn't help but wonder as he stole another glance at the girl and found her still looking back at him… Who were they?
When the day was finally over, Aang couldn't help but be relieved. It had been a fairly good day, but every first day at each new school had always proved to be a challenge for him, and this had certainly been no exception. Especially with the warning of that group of kids.
So, they were all foster kids, apparently. He hadn't seen any adults at the campfire, but maybe they had turned in for that night and let them have their own time. That still didn't explain the weird feeling he got whenever he saw them, but he supposed it didn't really matter. He doubted he would spend a lot of time talking to them. Even if he wouldn't mind spending some time with the beautiful girl he had seen.
There was something off about her, too. It was one thing to be impressed by kindness, but he had noticed that she had appeared to have taken a special interest in him. Whether that was because she found him attractive as he did her or if for another reason, he had no clue, but the way she had looked at him had not put him at ease.
And even now he still couldn't get that memory of her eyes glowing out of his mind. By now he had fully convinced himself that his mind had played tricks on him, but a small part of him couldn't help but wonder if there was any truth to it.
Shaking these thoughts off, he began walking out the school doors and started making his way home. Due to his father and him moving so often, they had yet to get a car to get around and had resorted to walking or taking the bus. Due to them living in a small town, the bus was no longer an option and meant that they would be walking everywhere.
Not that he minded this. Even in the winter, he had a great tolerance for the cold, and spent much of his childhood outside. Besides, it was especially beautiful out this time of year, and he was happy to be able to enjoy it.
"Hey, new kid!"
Being surprised as he heard this, he turned around quickly to find three people walking up behind him. One appeared to be a short girl who could easily pass for a boy, the other was taller and had a look of stone on his face. The third one, who was quite obviously the leader of their little group, was tall and reminded him of the overly confident jerks he had met before.
Deciding to be polite, he replied. "Yes?"
"Me and my gang wanted to welcome you to our new school," he smirked as a piece of hay twitched in his mouth. "This is Smellerbee," he gestured to the small girl. "Longshot," he continued as he pointed to the other guy with the back of his thumb. "And I'm Jet."
"Nice to meet you," Aang stuck his hand out for a polite shake, but Jet didn't take it. Instead, Jet walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulder.
"So, since you're new here, I thought I'd extend the invite for you to join my gang," he told him as he continued walking, his friends right behind him as he did so.
Aang couldn't help but feel uneasy as he walked with him. Not only did this guy seem super shady and untrustworthy, but Aang knew better than to try to join a gang. Even if said "gang" was only made up of three people.
"Um… I don't know…" Aang began uncertainly, trying to find the most polite way to tell him 'no' without offending them. "I'm not really the gang type."
"Oh, come on. It'll be tons of fun," Jet smirked as he continued walking. "Just run with us for a bit and you'll see."
"Look, I'm sorry, but I'm not joining any gangs," Aang told him with more certainty as he finally removed his arm off of his shoulder and started walking away, being determined to not let this guy walk all over him. "I think you'd be better off finding someone else."
Unfortunately for him, Jet didn't seem pleased with this. "Hey, where do you think you're going?" he yelled at him, making Aang sigh as he yelled back as politely as he could.
"I'm going home! It was nice meeting you!"
Growling in annoyance at this, Jet lost his patience and leapt at him, catching Aang by surprise as he started throwing some punches. While Jet threw his blows, Aang did his best to keep his defense up, not having gotten in any fights before today.
Luckily for him, Jet wasn't as good a fighter as he likely thought that he was, and managed to hold him off. Growling in frustration, Jet dug into his pocket and produced a knife, making Aang's eyes widen in fear as he saw that this had escalated far more than he had thought it would.
"You're dead now!" Jet shouted at him. Aang, never imagining that he would have to deal with someone trying to kill him with a knife, dodged the strikes coming at him and decided that the best thing to do for the moment was run until he could figure out a counter attack.
With this plan in mind, he broke off into a sprint with Jet right behind him, his lackeys deciding to stay out of this since their leader had clearly taken it too far this time. Luckily for him, he was much faster than Jet and managed to stay out of reach of his knife, but he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun him forever.
He knew that he could take him in a fist fight, but a hand to knife fight was hardly fair at all. Especially when this guy clearly had some experience using it. If he could just somehow get the drop on him, maybe he could knock the knife out of his hand and turn the tables in his favor.
For now, all he could think to do was keep running and try to find something to use to his advantage, but there wasn't much he could do. Sure, he could climb up a tree, but he doubted that Jet wouldn't be able to follow him up it. He could also try to get someone to help, but he didn't want to get anyone hurt because of him. All he could do for now was keep running.
Running across the street, he didn't notice the oncoming car until it was too late and just barely managed to jump onto the hood, coming nearly eye to eye with the girl from across the street. Despite feeling bad for having likely dented her hood, he knew that he couldn't stay and scrambled back onto his feet, knowing that Jet was still at his heels as he made his way back into his neighborhood.
After a little while more of running, Aang found himself cornered at his house and knew there wasn't much that he could do than fight. Turning around to face his pursuer, he watched as Jet smirked once again and pressed the attack, trying to swipe at his throat to end this.
Luckily for him, he seemed to be keeping up with dodging the deadly blows that his opponent was trying to deal to him, but he knew his luck wouldn't last forever. After several frustrating minutes of doing this deadly dance, Jet's impatience finally ran out and he kicked the surprised young man back into his garage.
Feeling the wind knocked out of him, Aang knew he wasn't going to be able to defend against his next attack and closed his eyes, prepared for the worst. When nothing happened after a few moments, he opened his eyes and gasped as he saw the girl from earlier standing between them, her hand holding onto the knife that likely would have mortally wounded him had she not intervened.
"Hey!" Jet barked indignantly as he saw that he had been prevented from finishing the job. "Who do you think you are?"
"Leave him alone," was all the girl offered in reply, making Jet squint his eyes at her. Clearly, he did not like having his authority be challenged.
"Look, if you and your family weren't so weird, I'd probably ask you out," he began with a flirty smile, seeing her face remain unchanged as she glared at him. "Just step out of the way and let me finish this."
"No," she refused adamantly. When Jet saw that she really wasn't going to move, he growled again and tried to swipe at her, but yelped in pain as she squeezed the knife out of his hand and cast it aside.
"Ow! What kind of freak are you?!" Jet yelled as he held onto his injured hand, but Katara didn't say a word. She just kept staring him down. Grimacing in pain, Jet whimpered and started walking away, throwing a death glare back at them before he disappeared out of sight.
It took Aang several moments to register in his mind what had just happened, but it wasn't until after the girl had turned around that he snapped back to reality. "Are you okay?" she asked with concern.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you," he told her with a grateful smile, making her smile a little as she nodded. "You really got here in time. I don't think I would have survived if it weren't for you."
Before she could respond, a voice called out. "Katara!" Following the direction of the voice, the two looked to see the rest of her "family" come walking up to her, the voice belonging to the guy who appeared to be her brother.
Another guy, one who had what appeared to be a horrible burn mark over his eye, stepped forward and didn't speak a word. Katara, who Aang assumed must've been the girl who had saved him, seemed to understand the man's unspoken words and looked back at him.
"I have to go. Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure," he assured her with a smile, earning another smile from her before the scarred man cleared his throat pointedly.
Shooting her apparent leader a glare that Aang barely caught, she turned back to him and nodded. "Okay. He won't bother you anymore." And with that she started walking back to her group, sneaking a quick look over her shoulder at him as the group began moving before disappearing out of sight.
Aang's head pounded as he tried to register all that had happened. His first day at his new school and not only had someone attempted to recruit him to their gang, tried to kill him when he refused, but he had also been saved by the girl he had seen the night he had moved there. Not only that, but she had been strong. Much stronger than she appeared to be.
None of this made sense to him, but he supposed it was just going to have to wait. For now, he needed to get inside and collect his thoughts there. Making sure to pick up and throw away the knife that had almost been used to kill him, he made his way back inside and tried not to think about his crazy day, but he couldn't help but wonder… Who exactly were his new neighbors?