Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar, but soon, I will own a car! Muahahaha! Sweet, sweet sixteen!
Anyway, I dedicate this chapter to Iroh's voice actor, who died recently. May he rest in peace. Enjoy the chapter!
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Everything in the memory world felt oddly cold, at least for Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Iroh. They were placed in Aang's memory now. They were in a chamber room. The past Aang was chained by the hands and feet with a look of despair on his face. The torches were low and flickering, making the shadows dance around the past Avatar. No one said anything, not even a comment about how to get out of this nightmare.
Even though Aang was always chased, and was fighting against Zuko, he felt depressed. No wonder why he was always chasing after me, no wonder why he was the Blue Spirit Aang thought miserably. Katara put her hand on Aang's shoulder to comfort him.
"When did this happen?" Sokka asked looking around.
"This was when…I um got captured by Zhao." Aang answered slowly. He hadn't told Katara and Sokka about the incident with the Blue Spirit.
"What?" Katara, and Sokka said in unison. Aang shifted uncomfortably.
"Well, it's kind of complicated." Aang tried to explain.
"How complicated?" Sokka inquired raising his eyebrow.
"Pretty complicated. You see I was trying to find a cure when you two got really sick that time after the storm, when I got caught by Zhao. He brought me here in this fort, about to send me to the Fire Lord, when I had some help escaping." Aang quickly explained.
Katara was about to say something when life stirred in the depressing chamber. Aang's eyes widened when he saw him coming to them. Present Aang's heart lightened as he called out. "Zuko!"
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"Where am I?" Zuko pondered out loud. He had no idea where he was, except he was surrounded by doors, and beyond that, darkness. But that wasn't that bad part. What was bad was that he couldn't tell which door he came from which meant basically he was lost. Zuko rubbed his temples to concentrate.
What else can I do? Zuko thought, and he picked a door at random. All of the doors were the same, dark oak, with a golden brass door knob. Zuko opened a door, and instead of seeing his Uncle, or the Avatar, he was facing a hundred foot dragon, covered in blue scales. Behind the dragon, was nothing but ice and snow. It seemed this door had just opened into another world.
Zuko stood there, doing nothing but trying to take in the scenery with a dragon when they were supposed to die out a hundred years ago. He looked in back of him, where doors and darkness was, and looked forward not sure to go into this world. He kept looking back and forth until he just shook his head. I'm not even going to ask…Thought a very confused Prince.
At that moment, the dragon noticed Zuko, and started to stampede towards him. "What the?-" Zuko started to say as the dragon approached him quickly. The dragon opened its jaws and breathed out blue fire straight towards Zuko.
"Oh shit!" Zuko said to himself as he slammed the door closed. He panted heavily as he could hear a faint hissing on the other side of the door where the fire obviously was.
Zuko looked around him and saw five more doors surrounding him in the darkness. This was going to take a while.
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"Zuko!" Aang cried out, but then stopped himself. This was only the past Zuko, not the present. Aang fell quiet as he watched the past Zuko pull out two bronze swords Dao's. He swirled it in his hands skillfully as he cut the past Aang out of his chains. The blue mask stared at all of them.
"Zuko is the Blue Spirit?" Iroh asked surprised.
"Zuko was the one who helped you?" Sokka exclaimed. "Why didn't you just go and jump into the Fire Lord's lap for spirit's sake!" Katara glared at Sokka.
"Who are you?" past Aang asked as the Blue Spirit started to walk away. Aang stood there for a moment, and saw the Blue Spirit beckon him.
Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Iroh watched as Aang, and Zuko worked as a team fighting off the Fire Nation soldiers.
"…We need him alive!" Zhao's voice called out over the noise of the battle. The Blue Spirit suddenly placed his two Dao's at the past Aang's neck. The slowly walked away from the fortress, as Zhao let them pass, but only into his trap.
"Well, that went all right, I guess." Katara said, as she watched past Aang, and her former enemy, walk backwards to safety. Iroh just looked at his nephew. My poor nephew, is this what my brother has drove you to do?
"I don't think so, something doesn't feel right…" Sokka commented as Aang stayed silent. There was no need explanations, they would eventually see it all.
Suddenly, an arrow shot out from the fortress, hitting the Blue Spirit. The Blue Spirit fell backwards as the past Aang gave a look of horror. Aang quickly put up a smoke screen of dirt, while Fire Nation soldiers came after them. The past Aang eagerly took the Blue Mask off, and gaped as he recognized his savior as the Fire Nation Prince. The past Aang almost ran away, but went against it and saved his life.
"Why do you keep saving Zuko?" Sokka asked bewildered.
"He saved my life. I just wanted to pay him back." Aang replied calmly.
The colors swirled around them, and they found themselves at the Southern Temple.
"Looks like we're back home," Aang muttered to himself. He looked around as he found the place that he used to play air ball, and where the bison's would rest and eat. But something was different, but he couldn't place his finger on it.
"Is something wrong Aang?" Katara asked noticing Aang's frown.
"Something's not right…" Aang started to say.
"Oh you mean about the part of having a creepy demon imprison us in this creepy world, our formal enemy just suddenly disappearing. Oh yeah, something is definitely not right!" Sokka said sarcastically.
"I don't think he's talking about that." Iroh said.
"Wait!" Aang said suddenly. "That door! I don't remember a door being there." Aang pointed to a door that was in front of where Monk Gyatso's statue used to be. It was made of dark oak with a golden brass knob.
"Should we open it?" Aang asked starting to step forward but Sokka stopped him.
"It could be a trap!" Sokka said staring at the door suspiciously. Before anyone could do anything else, the door opened suddenly.
Zuko busted out of the door. His clothes were a little singed, but as soon as he ran out the door, he slammed it shut with his back panting heavily. The door rumbled and banged as Zuko tried to keep it closed.
"Why won't you disappear!" Zuko yelled out loud, still not noticing Aang, Katara, Sokka, or his uncle. Meanwhile, the group stared at Zuko in disbelief. Loud scratches and growls could be heard on the other side of the door. Then, to Zuko's wish, door suddenly vanished, and Zuko fell over.
"Wait I didn't mean it!" Zuko cried out in annoyance. He got up, and found himself looking at a shocked group of his uncle, the Avatar, the water bender, and… that peasant guy.
"Zuko?" Iroh called out, hoping to believe.
"Uncle?" Zuko responded, not sure if they were real. In a quick flash, Zuko was pulled into a bear hug by his Uncle.
"Uncle…" Zuko choked as air was crushed from his lungs.
"Oh Zuko, it's really you! I'm so sorry! I thought I lost you for good!" Iroh sobbed, but not noticing that he was hugging too tight.
"Un…cle…can't…breathe!" Zuko croaked, and Iroh lessened his bear hug as Zuko gulped in air.
"Zuko!" Aang cheered as he glided his way toward the other side.
Zuko was then bounded with questions all at once with everyone gathering around him.
"What happened?"
"Are you dead?"
"Are you a spirit?"
"How did you beat the demon?"
"Shut up!" Zuko yelled, and everyone fell silent. "There's not much time, but I know a place where we can go that's safe."
"How?" Aang asked.
"With a little imagination," Zuko said tapping his finger to his forehead, a small grin escaped, making him look crazy.
"Did you bang your head at any point of your life?" Sokka asked.
"Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but I have a little world of mine that we can go to that the Mischief Demon doesn't know about yet. All we got to do is go through a door and we should be all set." Zuko explained.
"What?" Iroh asked, still a little lost.
"You should know Uncle, you told me!" Zuko said expecting his uncle to understand, but Iroh raised an eye brow in confusion. "Um, not you, just my imagination of you… It's too complicated to say, but it's easier to show."
"So you can get us out of here?" Katara asked excitedly.
"I'm not sure. I just know a place that the Mischief Demon can't get us." Zuko answered. "But it's good to see you Uncle…" Zuko said quietly. Iroh smiled, and gave Zuko a hard comforting squeeze on Zuko's shoulder.
"Where are we?" Zuko asked, just noticing the South Air Temple.
"This is my home!" Aang said. "Welcome to the Southern Air Temple!"
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That was a short one, but surprisingly it took a long time to write it. Anyway, next chapter will be Aang's memories, so we are reaching our mid point in the story…I think… oh well, have the nice rest of the summer! (If you live in New York)