Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC.
Chapter 3:
Origins, Rules, Fire and Air Temples
Alec POV
We were all sitting around a campfire on an island off the coast of the Earth Kingdom, at the edge of a forest. Now was the moment of truth. It was time to reveal my story to them.
"So, I have a lot to tell you all, and you probably won't believe me at first, but I can prove that I'm telling the truth." I began. They all looked like they were willing to listen to me. So far, so good.
"To start off, Katara, Sokka, I didn't tell you the truth when we met." I looked at them apologetically. "I told you I didn't know exactly where I come from. That was a lie."
"Did you come from the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked with his eyes narrowed.
"No." I said shaking my head "I've never set foot in the Fire Nation in my entire life. I don't come from the Fire Nation. I'm from another world." Everyone's eyes went wide.
"Does that mean you come from the Spirit World?" Aang asked, tilting his head in confusion.
"No, I come from a place that is not this world or the Spirit World." I said. "And that's not the most unbelievable part." I took a deep breath. "My world is full of stories and legends. One of my favorite stories is about a boy found in an iceberg by two Water Tribe siblings, and their journey to save the world from the Fire Nation."
Everyone looked floored. Nobody said anything for several seconds. Then Sokka started laughing.
"Alec, are you sure you didn't hit your head on that Fire Nation ship?" he said between giggles.
"I'm telling the truth, Sokka. I know the story of your lives, past and future. I can prove it to you." I said plainly.
"How?" asked Katara with honest curiosity. She seemed to be willing to believe me.
"I can tell Aang something about his past that I can't possibly know unless I'm telling the truth." I turned and looked at the monk.
"Okay, go ahead." he said uncertainly.
"The man who was your mentor and father-figure and taught you everything about airbending was Monk Gyatso." I said looking at him directly in the eye.
Aang's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. He turned to look at Katara and Sokka. "He's telling the truth." Aang whispered.
There was silence…for about five seconds. Then everyone exploded with questions.
"How did you get here?"
"What happens to us?"
"Do we survive?"
"Who are my bending masters?"
"Do I ever get a girlfriend?"
"HOLD IT!" I yelled, quieting everyone.
"Listen, I know you have a lot of questions, and I do want to use my knowledge of the future to help you, but I need to be careful about this." I said to them. "If I tell you too much, it could change events to the point where my knowledge becomes useless. I don't even know how I got here or why I'm here."
"Do you have any ideas?" Aang asked.
"I suspect a spirit was involved, but I don't know for sure." I said. "I was in my home in my world, suddenly it caught fire, I ran for the door, the floor collapsed, and suddenly I was in the South Pole where Sokka found me."
"What makes you think a spirit did it?" Aang asked, his voice full of curiosity.
"The first time I spoke to Sokka and Katara, they asked me how old I was. I was about to tell them twenty-eight, because that's how old I was in my world." I said. "Right when I was about to answer, a voice in my head said I was fifteen, and that it had made me fifteen when it brought me to this world. I asked the voice who it was, but it didn't answer. It just said 'All will be made clear in due time'. That sounds vague and mysterious enough to be a spirit."
"That does sound like a spirit." Aang nodded. "But why would it make you younger?"
"I have no idea. Maybe I'll find out later." I said. "Anyway, about my knowledge of the future, I've thought about how I should use it every day since I arrived at the Southern Water Tribe. I came up with a series of six rules that I think we should follow. Are you all willing to listen to my ideas?"
All three of them nodded.
"Rule Number One: I won't warn you about things in advance or give you all the answers. I'll make a few exceptions, but those will be rare."
Everyone exploded.
"WHAT?!" Sokka yelled.
"WHY?!" Katara and Aang yelled even louder.
"TAKE IT EASY!" I yelled, holding both my hands up in a placating gesture. "I have some very good reasons for this, just please let me explain." Everyone calmed down and waited for me to speak.
"If I give you all the answers to everything, you won't grow as people. You'll just become dependent on me to solve all your problems and you won't make any decisions for yourselves. You guys become strong, amazing people by the end of this story, and I don't want to take that away from you. I might give you a hint about certain enemies that you face to give you a leg up, but I won't tell you exactly how to beat them. I'll fight alongside you in your battles, and I'll aid you in other ways, but I'm not just going to solve your problems for you. You have to do that yourselves."
I looked over them. Aang nodded in understanding. Katara looked slightly disappointed that I wasn't going to tell her everything. Sokka looked thoughtful. It was a weird look for him. I decided to continue.
"Rule Number Two: I decide who we tell my secret to. We tell nobody without my permission."
They all nodded. "That makes sense." Sokka said. "The more people know the secret, the more likely it is that the Fire Nation finds out."
"And the more people that know, the more likely it is that they'll change their behavior and make my knowledge useless." I finished.
"Out of curiosity, do you plan on telling anyone else?" Katara asked.
"The only people I plan on telling are people who join our group, and I'll tell them as soon as they join our group." I replied. "I might tell one or two people outside our traveling group, but no more than that. I plan on having less than a dozen people know my secret, but we have to tell new group members as soon as they join." I looked at Katara and Sokka. "I don't plan on telling Hakoda about this either. I'm sorry." They looked at each other and nodded.
"We don't exactly like it," Sokka said, "But we understand. What do we tell everyone else about your origins? Your original excuse only worked because you had never seen a map or visited anywhere else in the world. We have a map now, so what should we tell people?"
Sokka had a point. I had to think of something. "How about we just say I lived in some hut in the middle of nowhere near the coastline, right about here." I suggested, pointing to a spot on the map, before I continued. "I'll keep my story pretty much the same, and just say that after my home burned down, I salvaged whatever supplies I could and drifted on a small boat for weeks before my boat crashed into some ice just outside of the Southern Water Tribe. I lost everything, but Sokka found me outside the Tribe."
Sokka nodded, but Katara looked at the map and frowned. "Why did you choose a place that far north?" she asked.
"Because that's close to the southernmost point of the Fire Nation colonies in the Earth Kingdom." I explained. "My skin, hair, and eye color don't exactly match any one nation, but there are a lot of mixed marriages in the colonies. If I tell people I'm from there, they'll assume I'm a mix between Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom."
Katara thought about it and nodded. "I guess that makes sense." she admitted.
"Why tell new group members your secret immediately?" Aang asked. "I'm just curious."
"We have to be able to trust each other." I explained. "But there is another reason. I won't spoil anything, but it's impossible to lie to your earthbending teacher. They'll know we're hiding something, so it's best if we tell them as soon as they join us."
"My earthbending teacher sounds amazing." Aang said with a look of awe on his face.
"Believe me, they are." I said with a knowing smirk, thinking of a certain sassy blind girl.
"Rule Number Three: There are some events that I want to change. I will be using my knowledge to make these changes."
"Is that necessary?" Katara questioned. "If everything turns out okay, why change anything?"
"Most of the problems you all face teach you valuable life lessons and help you grow into mature human beings." I said. "However, a few of the problems you face are avoidable, don't teach you anything, and only make you suffer." I thought about Appa's kidnapping, Zuko's betrayal and Aang's temporary death. I was definitely going to change those events, along with a few others. "Those kinds of things are what I want to change."
"I guess that makes sense." Aang admitted "The monks taught me that mistakes can teach you even more than successes, but needless suffering teaches nothing."
"Exactly." I replied with a nod.
"Rule Number Four: Sometimes, to make a change, I'll have to act in a way that doesn't make sense. If I need to do something like that, I'll tell you 'I need you to absolutely trust me.' After I say that, I'll need you to do whatever I ask, or leave me to do whatever I need to do. Is that okay with you?"
Everyone nodded.
"Rule Number Five: Every time a change happens, I'll tell you what happened in the original story, just so you guys can trust that I'm trying to make things better for you."
"That's a relief." Aang said. "Not that I doubt you or anything, It's just that it's really nice of you to trust us like that."
"Trust goes both ways." I said smiling at him. "If I'm asking you to trust me, I need to be able to trust you."
"Finally, Rule Number Six: If something major happens that I don't expect, we'll have a meeting as a group as soon as possible. In this meeting, I'll break Rule One and tell you all the information I have that might help us with our current situation. This is the most serious rule, and I hope I never have to use it. But my presence in this world has already caused some changes, so we need to be prepared."
Everyone looked serious. "Define 'something major'." Sokka said with a frown.
"An attack I didn't see coming, someone showing up in a place where they didn't show up in the original story with no explanation, that kind of thing." I said. "If that happens, it means things are changing outside of my control, which could mean my knowledge is compromised. If that happens, we're all in trouble."
Sokka nodded. Katara had a questioning look on her face.
"What's already changed?" she asked.
"The fight in the village was different." I said. "The guy we were fighting got a lot angrier than he did during the original story. I think the fact that Sokka and I double-teamed him and almost beat him pissed him off. In the original story he didn't even treat Sokka as serious threat." I turned to face my brother. "No offense." I added apologetically.
"None taken." he responded.
"Also," I continued, "Because I wasn't in the original story, I never got captured alongside Aang. The guy just took Aang with him and left."
"Speaking of that guy," Aang said, "Who was he? That old guy with him called him a prince, but is he really a prince?"
I thought about whether or not I should answer his question. I guess there was no harm in it. "The teenager with the scar is Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation." I said, "He's the son of Fire Lord Ozai."
Katara's eyes went wide. "Is he the most dangerous person we face?" she asked.
I snorted with laughter before I could stop myself. Zuko wasn't even the most dangerous person on his own ship. We were just lucky that Iroh wasn't really trying to catch us. Unfortunately, my laugh had already answered their question, so I might as well confirm the answer. "No, he isn't." I said. "I won't give you anymore answers, though. Let's just say that you should try to prepare for anything, and leave it at that."
Katara tried to press further. "Surely, there must be something you can tell us?" she said.
"Learn to dodge fireballs and knives." I deadpanned. Katara got the message and gave up.
"You're really serious about these rules, aren't you?" Aang asked.
I nodded. "I've never been more serious about anything. I won't answer questions about the future, but I will answer some questions about the past, depending on the subject matter."
"But before we do any of that," Sokka interjected, "Let's eat. I'm really hungry."
We ate our dinner in relative silence. I was very hungry. Apparently firebending burned a lot of calories. No wonder Zuko and Ozai were ripped. After we finished, I spoke up.
"If any of you have any questions about the past," I said, "Feel free to ask. I won't answer all of them, but I can tell you a few things."
Aang looked thoughtful. "I actually have a question about your firebending." Aang said. "For most people, their bending shows up when they're a kid. Is it just different in your world?"
I chuckled. "I'd say it's different." I replied. "There aren't any benders in my world. We use technology for everything."
Aang's jaw dropped. "No bending? At all?!" he asked in shock.
"Nope." I said with a shake of my head. "Seven billion people in my world, and not a single bender among them."
"Wait," Katara narrowed her eyes in confusion, "Then how are you a bender?"
I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe whatever brought me to this world gave me bending." I guessed.
Sokka shook his head slowly before looking at me with sympathy. "It kinda sucks that you have the evil element." he said. "Too bad you didn't get one of the nice ones."
I bristled at his comment. I understood where his attitude came from, but I needed to get rid of that misconception quickly. "Firebending isn't evil." I said sharply. "It depends on how the bender uses it."
"But it's hurt so many people!" Katara exclaimed. "It killed our mother!"
"Katara," I said firmly looking at her in the eye, "If someone stabbed you with a knife, would you blame the knife or the person?" I asked her.
Katara opened her mouth as if to respond, before closing it with a thoughtful look on her face. Finally she spoke. "I never thought about it that way." she admitted. "I've just always thought of firebending as evil."
"After everything the Fire Nation has done, I don't blame you." I conceded. "But you have to understand that fire isn't evil." I pointed to our campfire. "It can cook food, light your way through dark places, and save you from the cold. Think about it: if you hadn't lit the fire in the igloo or fed me that hot soup when you found me, I wouldn't be here."
Sokka's eyes widened. "I guess we never thought of it like that because of the Fire Nation." he whispered.
"No bending art is inherently good or evil." I said. "It depends on how it's being used. I will admit that firebending is the one that can get out of control the quickest." I conceded. I knew that if I hit the wrong tree in this world with a fireball, I could burn down an entire forest. This world didn't exactly have firefighters, after all.
"So it's the most dangerous element?" Aang questioned.
I thought about it before I answered. "Not necessarily." I said. "You see, in my world, your story is very well known and loved by many people, and one thing people in my world like to do is discuss different aspects of their favorite stories. One discussion about this story was 'What's the deadliest element?'."
"So, what did people in your world say?" Katara asked.
"That's complicated," I admitted, "You see, where I come from, you can ask ten people the same question and get ten different answers, and people can be very stubborn about their opinions." I explained.
"Okay, then how about this," Sokka suggested, "Based on what you know, what do you think the deadliest element is?"
"Air." I responded simply. Sokka raised an eyebrow. Katara looked confused. Aang's eyes widened in horror.
"What?" the Avatar asked in a small voice. "Why do you think that? The Air Nomads are pacifists. We literally wouldn't hurt a spiderfly. Our beliefs even say that by taking a life, you end up taking your own."
"I know you wouldn't do anything evil." I said placatingly, ignoring the fact that such a contradictory creature existed. Animals in the Avatar world were weird. "When I came up with my answer, I was thinking about the most evil way each element could be used." I explained.
"For example," I said looking into the fire, "Firebending could be used to burn and destroy everything and everyone in its path." Katara winced. I mentally facepalmed. I didn't mean to bring up the memory of Kya's death. I decided to move on quickly.
"Waterbending," I turned to face my sister, "Could be used to flood places or drown people." I explained. "Not to mention bloodbending." I added in my own head. I turned back to the campfire.
"Earthbending," I picked up a rock from the ground. "Can be used to break bones, destroy buildings, and even bury people alive." I said dropping the rock. "Also, lavabending could be even more destructive than firebending." I mused internally.
"Lastly," I turned to face Aang. "We have airbending. To start off, an evil airbender could rapidly change the air pressure around his opponent. Rapid changes in pressure can cause immediate hearing loss and throw someone's sense of balance completely out of whack." I said. Sokka and Katara winced. Aang's eyes were almost as big as Appa's now. I kept going.
"One of the worst-case scenarios," I continued, "Would be if the bender chose to do that with the air inside someone's body. Rapidly increasing the air pressure in someone's lungs could potentially make them explode." I finished with a shudder. That wasn't a pleasant mental image.
All three of their faces were wide-eyed with disgust and horror, especially Aang's. I knew the pacifistic Avatar could never conceive of anything like that.
"Luckily," I said in an attempt to bring the mood back, "The people who could bend the deadliest element in the world were part of the most pacifistic and gentle culture on the planet." I gave Aang a kind smile. "I know how beautiful and peaceful the culture of the Air Nomads was." Aang returned the smile.
"Anyway," I said standing up. "It's getting really late. And we should probably get an early start tomorrow. Aang wants to get to the Southern Air Temple, right?"
The Avatar gave a bright smile. "Yeah!" he said excitedly. "I can't wait."
"I'll put out the fire." Sokka said. I suddenly got an idea.
"Wait." I said. "I want to try something. Everyone stand back."
The three of them each backed away several feet from the campfire. I needed to test something. I remembered what Iroh had said in the show.
"Power in firebending comes from the breath."
I focused on the campfire and started taking slow, deep breaths.
At first, it looked like nothing was happening. But then I noticed something. Every time I inhaled, the fire grew in size, and every time I exhaled, the fire shrunk. I began moving my hands up to shoulder level with each breath in, and bringing them down to waist level with each breath out. I continued breathing for several more seconds to memorize the feeling of what I was doing. Finally I stopped my pattern and exhaled very slowly, and slowly lowering my hands as the breath left my body. When I had finished emptying my lungs and my hands returned to my sides, the fire was completely extinguished.
"I did it!" I said softly with a small amount of pride. The others walked up to me. Katara and Aang looked at me with slight awe. Even Sokka looked a little impressed.
"So," Aang said, "What were you trying to do, exactly?"
"I was trying to put out the fire." I explained. "If I can get faster at this, it'll be safer for all of us. If I set anything on fire by mistake, I want to be able to stop it."
Sokka blinked. "That's actually a smart idea." he admitted. "I guess you're in charge of maintaining campfires from now on." he said with a grin.
I rolled my eyes. "You just want to get out of chores." I said.
"Is it working?"
"Yes."
"Anyway," Aang interjected. "Let's get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow!"
With that, we all climbed into our sleeping bags and went to bed under the stars.
The Next Morning
Katara and I were packing up camp after breakfast and putting our supplies in Appa's Saddle. Aang was securing the reins around the bison's horns. Sokka was still asleep and snoring loudly.
"Wait 'till you see it, you two." Aang said brightly. "The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world."
"Aang, I know you're excited," Katara said in an attempt to prepare Aang for the bad news. "But it's been a hundred years since you've been home."
Aang didn't get the message of her point at all. "That's why I'm so excited!" he said in the same bright tone. I felt a pang of sympathy for the harsh reality check that he was about to get. Katara kept trying to help Aang understand.
"It's just that, a lot can change in all that time." she said quietly.
"I know, but I have to see it for myself." he finished. This poor kid was in extreme denial. He jumped off Appa and floated to the ground. He began the nearly impossible task of trying to wake my brother, while my sister and I kept packing.
"Wake up Sokka!" Aang said. "Air Temple, here we come!"
"Sleep now, temple later." Sokka groaned, before turning over and going back to sleep.
Aang picked up a stick and gently brushed it up and down Sokka's sleeping bag.
"Sokka! Wake up! There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!" Aang yelled with urgency.
The effect was immediate. Sokka shot awake and jumped around in his sleeping bag while screaming "Get it off!" multiple times before falling over. Katara and I laughed at his expense.
"Great!" said Aang to the now wide awake and grumpy form of my brother. "You're awake. Let's go."
We were flying high above the clouds. Both Sokka and his stomach were grumbling. Sokka was hungry, because he slept through breakfast and Aang accidentally used his seal jerky as firewood last night. Suddenly some mountains appeared in front of us.
"The Patola Mountain Range!" Aang exclaimed. "We're almost there!"
Katara decided to try breaking the bad news to Aang again.
"Aang, before we get to the Air Temple," she began gently, "I want to talk to you about the airbenders."
"What about them?" he replied.
"Well," she said haltingly, "I just want you to be prepared for what you might see." She looked down sadly. "The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother, and they could've done the same to your people."
Aang looked down, then put back on an optimistic mask. "Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all." he said. "They probably escaped."
"I know it's hard to accept." Katara said gently, putting her hand on Aang's shoulder.
"You don't understand, Katara," Aang insisted. "The only way to get to an Air Temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison."
"No, they don't," I thought bitterly, "Because the bastards killed all the bison, too."
We flew over one mountain in a steep climb, and the Air Temple suddenly came into view. I thought it was amazing in the show, but seeing it in real life took my breath away. A hodgepodge of towers, windows, and doorways seemed to be carved directly into the mountain. If this place existed where I came from, it would be a shoe-in for the Eighth Wonder of the World.
"There it is." Aang said. "The Southern Air Temple."
"Aang, it's amazing!" Katara exclaimed in wonder.
"We're home, buddy." Aang said to Appa. "We're home."
The four of us left Appa on some kind of landing pad at the lowest level of the temple. Aang ran ahead of us excitedly, while Katara, Sokka, and I opted to remain at a walking pace a dozen feet behind him.
"Alec," Katara said suddenly in a quiet voice so Aang wouldn't overhear, "Could you maybe use your knowledge and tell Aang exactly what happened to his people?" she asked.
I shook my head "Even if I did, he wouldn't believe it." I said sadly. "Aang's an optimist, and more than a little naive. He won't accept the truth until he sees it for himself."
"Is it as bad as I think it is?" she asked.
I looked at her. "Where I come from, the story of this world is called 'Avatar: The Last Airbender'." I said grimly. "It's called that for a reason."
Katara looked down sadly. Suddenly, Sokka decided to speak.
"So where do I get something to eat?" he asked, holding his stomach.
Katara looked at him with disbelief. "You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to ever visit an Air Temple, and all you can think about is food?" she asked.
"I'm just a simple guy with simple needs." Sokka replied. I rolled my eyes.
We caught up with Aang, who was standing at the edge of the road.
"So that's where my friends and I would play airball." he said, pointing to a field with a bunch of wooden poles stood closely together. "And over there is where the bison would sleep." he pointed in a different direction. "And…" he trailed off with a sigh.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked.
"This place used to be full of monks, and lemurs, and bison." he said sadly, "Now there's just a bunch of weeds. I can't believe how much things have changed."
Katara and Sokka looked at each other, almost like they were having a silent conversation.
"So, uh, this airball game, how do you play?" Sokka asked Aang. Aang looked at him brightly.
Sokka got roped into playing airball with Aang. It was completely unfair, because airbending was needed to play. After getting his ass thoroughly kicked. Sokka was launched through the goal a seventh and final time.
"Aang seven, Sokka zero!" Aang said happily. I rolled my eyes.
"Congratulations Aang." I thought sarcastically. "You won against someone who literally can't play the game. What's next, challenging an infant to a footrace?"
"Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt." Sokka complained from his position on the ground. Then he noticed something and crawled over. It was an old, rusted helmet, complete with facemask.
"Katara, Alec, check this out." he said softly. We walked over and examined it.
"Fire Nation." Katara said grimly.
"We should tell him." Sokka said.
Katara turned towards Aang's direction and put her hand to her mouth to enhance her voice. "Aang, theres something you need to see." she said.
"Okay" Aang said, jogging towards us.
Katara looked at the helmet, then back at Aang. I took a step back from the helmet to avoid what was coming. Katara changed her mind at the last second and used her waterbending to cover the helmet with snow. Sokka also got covered.
"What is it?" Aang asked, finally reaching us.
"Uh, just a new waterbending move I learned." Katara lied.
"Nice one." Aang replied. "But enough practicing. We have a whole temple to see." He walked away. Sokka brushed the snow off himself.
"You know, you can't protect him forever." he said to his sister. Katara just walked away. Sokka turned to look at me.
"How did you know to dodge the snow?" he asked. I just gave him a look.
"This is gonna be really annoying for me, isn't it?" he asked. This was one question about the future that I had no problem answering.
"Yes." I said bluntly. "Yes it is."
The four of us walked over to a small courtyard. Aang had gone ahead, while my siblings and I waited outside. Sokka rounded on Katara.
"Katara, firebenders were here." he said. "You can't pretend they weren't."
Katara walked past him. "I can for Aang's sake." she said. "If he finds out that the Fire Nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated."
"Hey, guys!" Aang shouted to get our attention. He was standing in front of a statue of an old man that I recognized quite well from the show. "I want you to meet somebody."
"Who's that?" Sokka asked.
"Monk Gyatso," Aang said, "The greatest airbender in the world. Alec mentioned him to you last night." Aang gave the statue a polite bow. I bowed too. Katara walked up and put a comforting hand on Aang's shoulder.
"You must miss him." she said kindly.
"Yeah." Aang said quietly before walking toward the temple's entrance.
"Where are you going?" Katara asked.
"The Air Temple Sanctuary." he replied. "There's someone I'm ready to meet."
The three of us followed the Avatar into the temple.
We walked through the temple and finally came to a large wooden door. The door had a large system of twisted brass pipes on it that looked a little big like a gigantic french horn. Katara was still trying to understand what Aang had meant earlier.
"But Aang," Katara said, "No one could have survived in there for a hundred years."
"It's not impossible, I survived in the iceberg for that long." Aang pointed out.
"Good point." Katara conceded.
"You're both assuming that he has to meet someone alive." I said. All of them rounded on me.
"What's that mean?" Katara asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You'll see." I said. "Just open the door."
Aang nodded and sent two sustained streams of air into the openings on each side of the door. After a few seconds, the mechanism sprang to life and the door opened, revealing an unlit room. The four of us walked forward into the darkness.
We ended up in a large room with a massive number of statues in them. The statues on the floor were arranged in the spiral-shaped symbol of the Air Nomads. There were even more statues lining the alcoves in the walls. I couldn't see that far up because of the lack of light, but I suspected the entire tower was full of statues.
"Statues?" Sokka asked incredulously. "That's it?"
"Who are all these people?" Katara asked.
"I'm not sure," Aang replied, "But it feels like I know them somehow."
"You should." I said. "These are the statues of the previous Avatars. Every statue represents a past life of yours."
"Wow." Aang said, looking around the room in awe. "There are so many."
"Past lives?" Sokka asked with a raised eyebrow. "You really believe in that stuff?"
I gave him a deadpan look. "Sokka, I literally fell here from another world, and I know your past and future. Is reincarnation really that weird by comparison?"
"Good point." he admitted.
"So, do you know anything about the others besides Aang?" Katara asked.
"I know about the four Avatars that came before Aang." I said with a nod. "I walked up to a statue of an Air Nomad woman. "This is Avatar Yangchen." I said. "She was a pretty good Avatar, but nobody's perfect. She's still revered in parts of the Earth Kingdom to this day."
The next depicted a large, muscular Water Tribesman. "Avatar Kuruk." I said. "He spent most of his time as the Avatar hunting down dark spirits. It took a toll on his body and his spirit. He was only thirty-three when he died."
The next statue depicted a tall Earth Kingdom woman with an elaborate headdress. "This is Avatar Kyoshi." I said with admiration. "One of the greatest Avatars to ever live. The world was in chaos when Avatar Kuruk died so young, and Kyoshi devoted her life to bringing balance back."
I moved on to the final statue. Aang was already staring at it in a daze. Katara came over and shook his shoulder lightly, snapping him out of it.
"Who is that?" Katara asked.
"That's Avatar Roku." Aang said. "The Avatar before me."
"You were a firebender?" Sokka asked. "No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met."
I narrowed my eyes. "Gee, thanks asshole." I grumbled.
"Language." Katara chided. "We're in a temple."
"Yeah," I said with an eye roll, "An empty temple."
"Anyway," Katara turned to the monk, "How do you know his name, Aang? There's no writing on the statue."
"I'm not sure." Aang admitted, not taking his eyes of the statue. "I just know it somehow."
"You just couldn't get any weirder." Sokka grumbled.
Suddenly there was a noise behind us. We all took hiding spots behind the statues. I wracked my brain trying to remember what happened next in the show, but I was drawing a blank.
"Firebender," Sokka whispered, "Nobody make a sound."
"You're making a sound." Katara objected. Aang, Sokka, and I shushed her.
Sokka readied his club. "That firebender won't know what hit him." he said. We all jumped out from behind the statue to face the intruder.
Oh, right. I had forgotten how the Gaang had met this particular member. Standing in front of us was a certain flying lemur with big, rabbit-like ears, huge green eyes, and a monkey-like tail.
"Lemur!" Aang shouted excitedly. My brother, however, had other ideas.
"Dinner." Sokka said hungrily, drool falling from his mouth.
"Don't listen to him," Aang reassured the lemur, "You're gonna be my new pet."
"Not if I get him first!" Sokka yelled. Both of the boys ran towards the small creature. The lemur ran out of the room with Aang and Sokka giving chase.
"Wait! Come back!"
"I wanna eat you!"
Katara and I decided to stay in the sanctuary and keep looking at the statues.
A few minutes later, Katara and I were still looking at the statues, when something happened. The statues' eyes began glowing with white light.
"Oh shit." I whispered.
Katara didn't even bother correcting me. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"We need to find Aang," I said seriously, "Now."
We ran out of the sanctuary and made it outside just in time to see a small ruined building explode. Katara and I ran to it as fast as we could. We found Sokka in the building, taking cover behind a piece of rubble. Aang was inside the room, standing in the center of a maelstrom of wind. His eyes and tattoos were glowing, and he was staring intensely at something in the room. It was a skeleton, dressed in Air Nomad robes, seated in a meditative position. Katara and I ran up to our brother.
"What happened?" Katara asked urgently.
"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso." Sokka explained.
"He's gone into the Avatar State!" I exclaimed.
"Oh no!" Katara yelled. "I have to try to calm him down!"
"Well, do it!" Sokka shouted. "Before he blows us off the mountain!"
Katara walked forward towards Aang, who was now levitating ten feet in the air. It took her a while to get close, because it was hard for her to fight against the wind.
"Aang, I know your upset," Katara said, raising her voice to be heard over the wind, "And I know how hard it is to lose the people you love."
"I went through the same thing when I lost my mom." she continued. "Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka, Alec, and I, we're your family now." she said.
The wind slowly died down, and Aang floated back to the ground. His eyes and tattoos were still glowing, but he was calming down. My siblings and I approached him.
"Katara, Alec, and I aren't gonna let anything happen to you. Promise." Sokka said kindly.
Katara took Aang's hand in hers. The glowing stopped, and Aang collapsed to the ground. Katara caught him.
"I'm sorry." Aang said tiredly.
"It's okay. It wasn't your fault." Katara reassured him.
"But you were right." Aang said. "And if firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender." he realized sadly.
Katara wrapped Aang in a tight hug. Sokka put a hand on the last airbender's shoulder. I dropped my head down in sympathy. This was sad enough when it was just a work of fiction, but the fact that it was now real made it a thousand times worse. Tears started to fill my eyes.
While the others went back to the sanctuary. I stayed in the room to pay my respects to Monk Gyatso. Despite his brief appearance in the show, his personality reminded me so much of my own grandfather that I had a soft spot for him.
Eventually, I heard some footsteps come in from behind me. I turned around and saw Aang walking in with the lemur on his shoulder.
"We're getting ready to leave." he said softly. I nodded.
"By the way, this is the newest member of our group." he said.
I walked up to the lemur and scratched him behind the ears. "Hello Momo." I said. Momo chittered happily.
"How do you know his name?" Aang asked with a confused expression. I gave Aang a meaningful look.
"Oh, right." Aang realized. "I'm still trying to get used to that."
"Don't worry about it." I said dismissively. "It took me a few weeks to come to terms with it." I took a look around the room, and noticed the dozens of firebender skeletons. I knew it would probably be a sore subject, but I had to know.
"Aang, what exactly happened in this room?" I asked as gently as I could.
Aang looked at the firebenders lying on the ground, then at Gyatso's skeleton sitting there almost peacefully. A look of sorrow covered his face.
"Well," he said, "The Air Nomads believed all life is sacred." I nodded, urging him to continue.
"Some of them even believed that if you took a life, you must also take your own as penance." he said gravely. My eyes widened. "You mean…" I trailed off with a whisper.
"He probably bent all the air out of this room and suffocated everyone, including himself." Aang concluded sadly. Tears began filling his eyes. I walked over to him and put my hand on his shoulder.
"Gyatso was a great man." I said kindly. "Even in the face of overwhelming odds, he stayed true to his principles. Not many people can say that."
Aang gave me a sad smile. "Thanks Alec." he said sincerely. "We should probably go."
We were flying away from the temple on Appa. Katara was at the reins, while the rest of us were in the saddle. Sokka was asleep, and Aang was sitting in the back of the saddle, staring sadly at the Southern Air Temple. I crawled over to the Avatar.
"I'm really sorry about your people." I said.
Aang didn't turn around, but he did respond. "Thank you." he said sadly.
"It's just," he continued, "I can't believe I'm the last one, you know? I mean I kind of wish you were an airbender, not a firebender."
"I'm actually glad I'm not an airbender." I admitted. Aang turned and looked at me with a confused expression.
"Why?" he asked. "I thought you told me you admired the Air Nomads."
"I do," I said, "But because of my admiration, if I was an airbender, I would feel a lot of pressure to follow the philosophy of the Air Nomads, and I don't have the strength of character to do that."
"Which parts of our philosophy would you have trouble following?" Aang asked.
"Well, to start off, I don't want any tattoos, and I like meat too much to become a vegetarian." I said jokingly. Aang gave a slight chuckle.
"In all seriousness, though," I said, stopping my laughter, "My biggest problem would be the pacifism. I believe that there are some circumstances where lethal force is necessary. There are some people in the world who cannot be redeemed," my mind flashed to Fire Lord Ozai, "And if you can't incapacitate them in a non-lethal way, that leaves only one option."
Aang's eyes widened. "I hope I never have to do that." he said quietly. I put my hand on his shoulder.
"You won't if I have anything to say about it." I reassured him. "Now come on, let's get some rest."
We crawled into our bags and drifted off to sleep.
AN: The spot Alec pointed to on the map is on the coast, roughly halfway between General Fong's Fortress and Senlin Village.
So, now the cat owl's out of the bag. I don't expect my readers to memorize Alec's six rules, so I'll be listing them in an AN at the beginning of each future chapter for your convenience.
The reason I didn't show any of Zuko's story in this chapter is because his story remained exactly the same during this chapter. The story will be mostly from Alec's POV, but there will be a few other POV's written in certain chapters.
