Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA or any of it's characters. The only thing I own is my OC.
The Six Rules:
Rule Number One: Alec won't warn the Gaang about things in advance or solve their problems for them, with a few rare exceptions.
Rule Number Two: Only Alec has the right to tell people his true origins, and he will mostly limit this to group members. He will tell new group members his secret as soon as they join the Gaang.
Rule Number Three: There are some changes Alec wants to make, and he will use his knowledge of the future to make those changes.
Rule Number Four: Sometimes, to make a change, Alec will act in a way that doesn't make sense. If that's necessary, he'll tell the Gaang "I need you to absolutely trust me." After he says that, the Gaang has to either do whatever he asks or leave him to do what he needs to do.
Rule Number Five: After a change happens, Alec will tell the Gaang what happened in the original story, in the interest of transparency.
Rule Number Six: If a major change happens that Alec doesn't expect, the Gaang will have a meeting ASAP. In this meeting, Alec will break Rule One and tell them all relevant information that will help them figure out how to respond to the change.
Chapter 10:
The Storm, the Sickness and the Stranger
Alec POV
I fucking hated the Great Divide. Well, to be fair, the canyon itself was nice to look at. It was the people that sucked. The Gan Jin and Zhang tribes were the most stubborn, idiotic people I've ever met in my life. Seriously, the canyon guide told them not to bring food because it would attract predators. Did they listen? NO! Both tribes took food into the canyon, and we almost got killed. And then both tribes had the balls to blame each other, when they were both equally guilty.
I didn't blame the canyon guide when he quit his job after we got the tribes through the canyon. I'd worked in customer service a few times in my life, so I completely understood his frustration. I mean, really, the tribes hated each other for such a flimsy reason that Aang was able to resolve it with a simple lie.
It also annoyed me that to get to the Great Divide, we had to fly southeast. South. Fucking. East. This was different from before, when Aang made all those pit stops to ride hopping llamas, hog monkeys, and elephant koi. He didn't know about the comet when he did that. Now, he knew he had a deadline to save the world. He needed to get to the North Pole, and he spent almost a week flying southeast?!
I was also irritated because I wasn't sleeping well. I'd have nightmares every few nights about Jet torturing me. While he cut me, he taunted me, telling me that even if I tried to make the world better, I'd only make it worse. That my death was his fault, and my plans would fail. I woke up in a cold sweat more than once in the past week.
I breathed a sigh of relief when we flew northwest, away from that accursed canyon.
"That was a total waste of time." Sokka grumbled.
"I know!" I exclaimed in exasperation.
"If you knew, why didn't you stop us?" Katara asked pointedly.
"If we hadn't gone, the canyon guide would've died." I explained. "I didn't want his death on my conscience."
"What about the tribes?" Aang asked from his position on Appa's head. "They would've died, too." He pointed out.
"What about the tribes?" I asked rhetorically. Everyone looked at me, aghast. "I'm kidding." I laughed. "I won't let someone die just because they annoy me."
Sokka and Katara laughed. Aang just turned around. My humor was a little dark for him, sometimes.
We made camp along a river close to a harbor town. We used up the last of our food at dinner. After I put out the fire, we all got in our sleeping bags and drifted off. I didn't have a nightmare this time. Instead, Momo woke me up by jumping on my stomach. I sat up with a start. I took a look around and saw that I wasn't the only one awake. The others were awake as well. Aang and Katara were alert, but Sokka was still groggy. He held his boomerang in one hand and his knife in the other. Did he sleep with those things in his sleeping bag?
"What's going on?" He asked tiredly. "Did we get captured again?"
"It's nothing." Aang replied evasively. "I just had a bad dream. Go back to sleep." He lay back down on the ground.
"Don't have to tell me twice." Sokka agreed. He put down his weapons and lay back down.
Katara and I remained upright. My sister looked at the airbender. "Are you alright, Aang?" She inquired kindly.
"I'm okay." Aang responded. I knew he was lying.
"You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately. Alec is too." She looked me in the eyes. "Do either of you want to tell me about it?"
Aang didn't move. "I think I just need some rest."
"Mine just come and go." I said. "I think I'll get over them eventually." That was probably wishful thinking on my part.
Sokka sat up again. "Do you guys want to hear about my dream?" He offered. Katara and I just shot him a glare. He got the message. "That's okay. I didn't want to talk about it anyway."
We went back to sleep.
We broke camp the following morning. Sokka and I rearranged our stuff in Appa's saddle. Aang stood on the bison's head, tying the reins to Appa's horns. Katara was still on the ground, gathering up our sleeping bags. It looked like a beautiful day, with no visible clouds. Not yet, anyway.
"Look at those clear skies, buddy." Aang announced happily to Appa while looking up at a flock of birds overhead. "Should be some smooth flying."
Katara shook the crumbs out of our food bag, which Momo was quick to pounce on. "Well, we'd better smoothly fly ourselves to a market, because we're out of food." She stated, walking up Appa's tail to the saddle.
Sokka suddenly started. "Guys, wait. This was in my dream, we shouldn't go to the market!" He told us urgently.
All of us looked at him, including Momo. "What happened in your dream?" Katara questioned curiously.
"Food eats people!" Sokka said, completely scared. I facepalmed. Katara shook her head. Aang resumed tying up the reins.
"Also, Momo could talk." Sokka added while pointing to the lemur. "You said some very unkind things." He accused. Momo's ears drooped.
I decided to have a little fun. "Guys, wait." I said with the most serious tone I could muster. "There's something important I need to warn you about the future." Everyone turned towards me. "I just need to warn you…" I trailed off, letting the anticipation build. "Food never eats people in the future. You can rest easy Sokka." I deadpanned.
Aang and Katara burst out laughing. Sokka groaned and went back to his task.
I smirked. Messing with people was fun.
We flew to the harbor, and left Appa floating in the dock like a boat. I guess the water wasn't that cold. We made our way to a fruit stand. I quickly filled a basket with some fruit. My sister held up a melon and examined it.
The woman behind the stand tried to sell it to us. "It's good. It's perfect, I'm telling you." She insisted.
Katara shook the melon and we heard a swishing noise. "I don't know if I like the sound of that swishing." She replied nervously.
The woman walked around the stand and came face-to-face with her. "Swishing means it's ripe. It's the ripe juices swishing around."
"I think it's true, Katara." Aang interjected.
I shook my head. "It's not. That means it's way past ripe and starting to rot."
Katara put the melon back. "I just realized we're out of money, anyway."
The woman frowned and grabbed the basket from me. As we walked past her, I noticed movement in my peripheral vision. She was going to attack me from behind! Memories of Jet flashed in front of me. I would not be attacked from behind again! I dodged her kick and then tackled her to the ground, making her drop the basket. "Don't…touch…me" I growled. Her eyes went wide with terror and…recognition?
"Alec!" Katara yelled, her voice full of concern. "It's okay, let her go." She said gently.
I blinked. I realized what I'd done. I scrambled off the woman and quickly helped her to her feet. "I'm so sorry!" I apologized sincerely, giving her a deep bow.
"Someone hurt you, didn't they?" She realized, her previously harsh and insistent voice filled with understanding.
"How did you know?" I asked quietly.
"My husband fought in the war, and he came home injured." She explained. "His spirit was also wounded. He had horrible nightmares, and would sometimes lash out over the littlest thing."
I nodded sadly. It made sense. The war had gone on for a hundred years. There had to be plenty of PTSD to go around.
"I'm sorry I attacked you." I said.
"I'm sorry someone so young has felt such pain." She replied. She picked up the basket, and filled it with fresh fruit. "Take this, child. I hope your pain eases with time." She handed me the basket.
I bowed deeply. "Thank you for your kindness."
I walked over to the group. Aang put his hand on my shoulder to comfort me. Katara gave me a hug. Sokka grabbed the fruit basket, clearly thinking about other things.
"Sweet!" Sokka exclaimed. "Did you get any meat?"
I rolled my eyes. Sokka had a one-track mind when he was hungry. "It's a fruit stand, so no."
"Great, we don't have meat or money. What are we supposed to do?" He whined.
Katara put her hands on her hips. "You could get a job, smart guy."
I saw an old man in green and an old woman in lilac walking down the dock. The woman grabbed the man and turned him to face her. "We shouldn't go out there. Please! The fish can wait." She said urgently. "There's going to be a terrible storm."
"Aw, you're crazy, it's a nice day." The fisherman replied dismissively. He held up his hands to the sky. "No clouds, no wind, no nothing." He put a finger in his wife's face. "So quit your nagging, woman."
"Maybe we should find some shelter." Aang said hesitantly.
Sokka looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Are you kidding? Shelter from what?"
The fisherman's wife spoke. "My joints say there's going to be a storm, a bad one." Was the old 'A storm is coming, I can feel it in my bones' trope a real thing? Honestly, I knew there was a storm coming from the story, but if I didn't know it was coming, I never would've guessed. The sky, at the moment, looked perfect.
"Well, it's your joints against my brain." The fisherman argued.
"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul that fish, because I ain't coming!" She bit back.
"Then I'll find a new fish hauler and pay him double what you get! How do you like that?" He retorted.
I grabbed my brother by the shoulder before he could volunteer. "Sokka, don't volunteer." I said lowly. "The pay isn't worth it, and she's right, a storm is coming."
Sokka turned to me with pleading eyes. "Then what will we do for meat?" He asked sadly.
I rolled my eyes. "You can go without meat for one day. It's better than catching a cold."
"We should find shelter." Aang said.
The fisherman's wife overheard us. "The boy with the tattoos has some sense." She said to her husband. "You should listen to him."
The fisherman turned towards Aang. "Boy with tattoos?" He studied Aang. "Airbender tattoos." He realized. "Well, I'll be a hog monkey's uncle, you're the Avatar, ain't you?"
Katara nodded and smiled. "That's right."
The fisherman frowned. "Well, don't be so smiley about it." Aang and Katara's faces fell. "The Avatar disappeared for a hundred years!" He yelled, getting in Aang's face. "You turned your back on the world."
"Don't yell at him!" Katara said sharply. "Aang would never turn his back on anyone!"
"Oh, he wouldn't huh. Then I guess I must've imagined the last hundred years of war and suffering." He said venomously.
"Aang is the bravest person I know." Katara insisted. "He has done nothing but help people and save lives since I met him." Aang started backing away slowly.
"It's not his fault he disappeared, right Aang?" Katara asked, turning towards the airbender. She noticed his guilty expression. "Aang, what's wrong?" She asked. Aang deployed his glider and took off, flying out of the village.
"That's right. Keep flying!" The fisherman taunted Aang's retreating form.
Katara rounded on him. "You're a horrible old man!" She and Sokka ran towards Appa.
I looked the fisherman in the eye. "You weren't there a hundred years ago. So keep your mouth shut about things you don't understand." I said coldly. He just ignored me. I joined my siblings on Appa and we took off after Aang.
By the time we got in the air, the storm had arrived. Rain poured down on us. I kept myself warm with breath of fire. Sokka noticed the foot-long jets of flame coming out of my mouth at regular intervals.
"What are you doing?" He queried.
"I'm using my firebending to keep myself warm." I explained. "I don't want to catch a cold."
He raised his eyebrows. "You can do that?"
I nodded. "Firebenders can do it. Airbenders can do something similar. Haven't you noticed that Aang never wears a heavy coat, even when he was in the South Pole?"
Sokka blinked. "Huh, I guess you're right."
"Over there!" Katara bellowed. She made Appa descend, and we found ourselves outside of a cave. We ran inside, and found Aang kneeling on the ground. Luckily, the cave was big enough that Appa could fit through the entrance. Katara used her waterbending to pull all the moisture out of our clothes.
"I'm sorry for running away." Aang said quietly.
"It's okay." Katara assured him. "That fisherman was way out of line."
"Actually, he wasn't." Aang admitted.
Sokka was confused. "What do you mean?"
Aang looked over his shoulder. "I don't want to talk about it."
Katara walked over and knelt down next to him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "It has to do with your dream, doesn't it?" She asked gently. I had to hand it to her, she could be very perceptive. "Talk to me."
"Well, it's kind of a long story." He admitted. "And it's hard for me to talk about. I'd feel better if Alec told it."
"No." I said with a firm, but kind tone. "I'm not letting you avoid this. You need to tell them yourself."
He was silent for a long time. Then he nodded. "I'll get a fire going." I offered.
We sat around the fire. Momo sat in Aang's lap, comforting the sad airbender. My siblings and I patiently waited for Aang to speak.
"I'll never forget the day the monks told me I was the Avatar." Aang began. "I was playing with some other kids just outside the south wall. I was trying to teach them how to do the air scooter. Monk Gyatso and the other elders told me they needed to speak to me. They took me to a room and told me I was the Avatar."
"Wait, how did they know?" Sokka asked.
"They showed me my four favorite toys from when I was little." Aang explained. "It turns out those toys were the four Avatar Relics, and belonged to previous Avatars. I chose them out of thousands of toys when I was a kid. That's how they knew."
Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
Aang nodded. "The monks told me that they normally would wait to tell me I was the Avatar until I turned sixteen, but they said there were troubling signs, and they were afraid war was coming." He looked down sadly. "I guess they were right."
"Were you upset that you were the Avatar?" Katara asked.
"I didn't know how to feel about it." Aang said. "All I knew was that after I found out, everything began changing. All the monks except Gyatso forced me to do more training, and the other kids wouldn't let me play games with them anymore, because they said being the Avatar gave me an unfair advantage."
"Even though nothing had changed." I pointed out.
Aang nodded sadly. "Yeah."
"What training did you still need?" I asked, genuinely curious. "You already earned your tattoos, hadn't you mastered airbending already?"
"Not well enough for the monks, I guess." Aang shrugged. "They just had me practice moves that I already knew."
"So, they told you early, but even though you had mastered airbending, they still kept you training airbending at the Southern Air Temple instead of sending you to the Water Tribe to start waterbending?" I asked, pointedly. I didn't want to speak ill of the dead, but that seemed pretty fucking stupid and pointless. Didn't the monks tell Aang a war was coming? Shouldn't that have inspired them to move quickly?
"Yeah." Aang confirmed.
I nearly facepalmed, but I held myself back. "Sorry for interrupting, please continue."
"Gyatso tried to comfort me. He tried to help me come to terms with my role as the Avatar." Aang continued. "He played Pai Sho with me and helped me feel better." Aang smiled at the memory for a moment, but then his face fell. "Then, just when I was starting to feel better, something worse happened. I overheard a meeting between Gyatso and the other monks. The monks told Gyatso that he should stop playing games with me and focus on my training. Gyatso told them that I should still be a normal boy, and have freedom and fun in my life. The monks refused to listen, and told him that they would separate me from him, and send me to the Eastern Air Temple to complete my training."
Katara was sad for him. "That's awful, Aang! I don't know what to say." She reached over in an attempt to comfort him, but Aang jumped up in anger.
"How could they do that to me?!" He clenched his fists. A small wind current formed around him. "They wanted to take away everything I knew and everyone I loved!" He shouted. His eyes and tattoos glowed white for a brief moment, and a few cinders escaped the fire.
"Easy, Aang!" I shouted, dodging the embers.
He went back to normal. "I'm sorry I got so mad." He apologized. He sat back down by the fire.
"You have a right to be angry after the monks sent you away like that." Katara pointed out.
"Well, that's not exactly what happened." Aang confessed, averting his eyes. "I left Gyatso a note, then I took Appa and flew away in the middle of the night. We got caught in a storm and pulled under the water in the middle of the ocean. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in your arms after you found me in the iceberg."
"You ran away." Katara realized. Her tone wasn't one of judgment, but understanding.
"And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple." Aang said guiltily. "My people needed me, and I wasn't there to help."
Katara tried to reassure him "You don't know what would have-"
"The world needed me and I wasn't there to help." Aang interrupted. "The fisherman was right, I did turn my back on the world." He turned his head and looked away.
"You're being to hard on yourself." Katara said. "Even if you did run away, I think it was meant to be. If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with all the other airbenders." She pointed out.
Aang didn't even look at her. "You don't know that."
"But I do." I stated firmly. Aang looked at me in the eye. "Aang, I know exactly how powerful Sozin's Comet makes firebenders. Even with the Avatar State, you'd have been killed, and the Air Nomads would be gone for good."
"I know it's meant to be this way." Katara said kindly. "The world needs you now. You give people hope."
Aang looked up at her and gave a small smile.
"Help! Oh, please, help!" A voice shouted from the mouth of the cave. We turned and saw the fisherman's wife standing at the cave entrance.
Katara pulled her into the cave. "It's okay, you're safe."
"But my husband isn't." The woman replied urgently.
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.
"He hasn't returned, he should have been back by now. And this storm is becoming a typhoon! He's caught out at sea!"
Aang stood up with a determined expression. "I'm going to find him."
"I'm going with you." Katara replied.
"Count me in." Sokka nodded.
"I'm coming too." I added.
The woman sat down by the fire. "I'm staying here!"
We quickly boarded Appa and took off. I made sure to keep my breath of fire going. I wasn't going to get sick from this storm if I could help it. The flight was treacherous. We had to fly low to avoid getting struck by lightning. I cursed myself for not practicing the lightning redirection technique. I knew the movements from the show, but I hadn't been practicing them. I really should get on that.
At one point, we nearly crashed into a massive wave, but Aang blasted a hole through the wave with airbending. We eventually found the fisherman's boat, picked up the old codger and pulled him into the saddle. Before we could take off, we noticed a massive wave coming behind us. We couldn't get away in time, and got pulled underwater. I held onto the saddle for dear life. Seconds passed by slowly. Suddenly, I could breathe again. Aang had entered the Avatar State and bent a bubble of air around us. We broke through the surface of the water. Luckily, we surfaced in the eye of the storm, so Aang was able to fly through it to the clouds above, away from the storm. I turned away from the fisherman so he wouldn't see my breath of fire. Katara bent the water out of our clothes, drying them quickly.
We made it back to the cave quickly. The fisherman's wife was relieved to see her husband alive. She pointed to Aang. "You owe this boy an apology."
"He doesn't have to apologize." Aang replied.
The fisherman stroked his beard. "What if, instead of an apology, I give him a free fish and we call it even?" He offered.
"Actually, I don't eat meat." Aang informed him.
"Fish ain't meat." The fisherman replied. I don't know whether or not he was serious.
Aang turned to my sister. "Katara, I think you were right before." He said. "I'm done dwelling on the past. I can't make guesses about how things would've turned out if I hadn't run away." He smiled. "I'm here now, and I'm going to make the most of it."
Katara returned his smile. "I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore."
The fisherman spoke up. "If you weren't here now, well, I guess I wouldn't be either." He admitted. "Thank you for saving my life, Avatar." Aang bowed his head in gratitude.
Once the rain stopped, we flew the fisherman and his wife back to the harbor, then we moved on to our next adventure.
Two Days Later
We camped out in the ruins of Taku, an Earth Kingdom city that was destroyed early in the war. Most of the stone work was in ruins, but a few buildings provided enough shelter from the weather. We had another problem, though. Despite my best efforts to limit our exposure to the storm, Sokka was sick. He was huddled up in his sleeping bag, resting on Appa's leg. He had a terrible cough, fever, and runny nose. Also, he was delirious. Aang had gone searching for ginger root to make some tea for Sokka. I tended the fire, while Katara held a cold cloth to his forehead. "Here, this should bring your fever down." She said.
"You know what I love about Appa the most?" Sokka asked with his congested voice. "His sense of humor."
"That's nice, I'll tell him." Katara said gently. Appa groaned. Sokka laughed out loud. "Classic Appa."
Aang returned from his travels, holding some kind of scroll in his hand. "How's Sokka doing?" He asked.
"Not so good." Katara replied. "Being out in that storm really did a number on him."
"I couldn't find any ginger root for the tea, but I found a map." Aang said, holding up the scroll. He put it down on the ground and unraveled it. "There's an herbalist institute on the top of that mountain." He pointed outside our shelter. "We could probably find a cure for Sokka there."
"Aang, he's in no condition to travel." Katara insisted. "He just needs more rest. I'm sure he'll be better by tomorrow." Suddenly, she started coughing.
"That doesn't sound good." I observed.
"Not you, too." Aang said, his voice full of worry.
Katara tried to wave it off. "Relax, it was just a little cough. I'm fine." She started coughing again.
"That's how Sokka started yesterday." Aang said. "Now look at him!"
"Yeah," I added. "He's acting like an idiot. Well, more of an idiot."
"He thinks he's an earthbender." Aang pointed out.
Sokka swung his fists at the air. "Take that, you rock!"
"A few more hours and you'll be talking nonsense too. And Alec might be next!" Aang finished urgently.
I shook my head. "You don't have to worry about me. I used firebending to keep myself warm. I should be fine."
Aang stood up. "Maybe, but I'm going to find some medicine for them." He walked to the entrance and was just about to take off on his glider when lightning struck in the distance. He paused. "Uh, maybe it's safer if I go on foot." He set his glider down and turned to me. "Keep an eye on them."
I nodded. "You got it."
A few hours later, Katara was already weak with a fever. I hated seeing my siblings like this. I tried to keep them from getting sick, but it wasn't enough. Would anything I ever did be enough to make a difference? Did I even matter in this world? How many more mistakes would I make? I snapped myself out of it.
"Alec? We're out of water." Katara said weakly. "Could you go get some?"
I stood up, and grabbed Katara's water pouch. "I'll take Momo with me and go to the river. I'll be back soon." I put on my hooded cloak. Momo jumped on my shoulder.
I left the campsite.
I was lost. I knew the river was to the west, but I didn't know which way west was. Normally, I would use the Sun to figure that out, but the clouds were so thick that I couldn't see it. I made my way through the woods, and found a small dirt road. Perfect. I just had to follow this to a village and get directions to the nearest river. Now, which way do I go? Left or right?
"Hello!" I heard a bright, chipper voice say from my left. I turned to face the source. It was a girl, who seemed to be a few inches shorter than me, wearing a similar cloak to mine, except it was red. The cloak covered up most of her body, down to below her knees. The hood and the shadows obscured much of her face, but I could tell she was smiling. She seemed familiar…
Lightning struck about a hundred feet away from us, interrupting my thoughts. We both jumped. "We need to take cover." I said urgently. "Do you know where any caves are nearby?"
She nodded and pointed over her shoulder. "There's one less than a mile that way."
We ran as fast as we could. She was fast, and dodged branches and tree roots like they were nothing. I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew this girl from somewhere. We found the cave. I took a look inside. The last thing I needed was to piss off a platypus bear or something. Once we knew for certain that the cave was empty, we entered.
"Thanks for taking me here." I said to her earnestly. "I don't want to get struck by lightning."
She laughed. "You're welcome!" The bright, chipper tone to her voice had returned. She noticed Momo. "Who's this little guy?" She asked cutely, scratching the lemur behind the ears. Momo chittered happily.
"That's Momo. He's our pet flying lemur." I explained.
"Our?" She questioned.
"Mine, my siblings', and my friend's." I clarified.
"So, where are they?" She inquired.
"That's why I'm here." I confessed. "We got caught in a storm a few days ago. My brother and sister got sick. Our friend left to get them some medicine. I was headed to the river to get them some water."
"I'm sorry they're not feeling well." She replied. "I can show you where the river is once the storm passes!" She offered.
I bowed. "Thank you for your kindness…" I trailed off. "I'm sorry, I just realized, I don't even know your name." I said apologetically. I took off my hood to introduce myself properly. "My name's Alec."
She took off her cloak entirely, revealing a person that I knew very well. "My name's Ty Lee, it's nice to meet you!" She said with a warm smile.
My eyes went wide. I wasn't expecting Ty Lee to be here! There's no way Azula would be after us so soon, right? Shit, I needed to figure this out, fast! I needed to…
Wow. Just…wow!
Ty Lee was breathtakingly beautiful. I thought she was kind of cute in the cartoon, but in real life, she was gorgeous! Her braided hair was a rich shade of brown that reminded me of chocolate. Her eyes were large, compared to the average person, but they fit her heart-shaped face perfectly. Also, instead of being brownish-gray like they were in the show, they were silver. Not gray, like Aang's, but silver. They reminded me of moonlight, almost. She had a cute button nose, and her mouth was set in a happy smile. Her skin was flawless, despite the fact that she wasn't wearing makeup.
And her figure…dear spirits, her figure. This girl was only fourteen and had a body most full-grown women would kill for. Her perfect hourglass of a waist and her slightly wide hips were highlighted by her midriff-exposing outfit. Her top didn't display any cleavage, but it was tight enough around her chest to draw attention to her perfect breasts. I felt heat rising in my cheeks.
She tilted her head to the side cutely, a quizzical look in her silver eyes. "Are you okay?"
I blinked and snapped out of it. I had been staring at her like an idiot. I needed to figure out what she was doing here. But first I needed an excuse. I blurted out the first thing I could think of. "Sorry, you're just really beautiful."
Why did I say that?! What the fuck was I thinking?! Luckily for me, she blushed slightly and giggled. "Thanks! You're kinda cute, too."
I rubbed the back of my head, embarrassed. I didn't have much experience being hit on by women in my world. I was always so focused on work that I didn't make time for a relationship. I could probably count on two hands the number of times I'd been hit on in my life, and a few of those times were drunk gay guys who didn't know I was straight. I shook it off. I didn't have time for this right now. I needed to figure out why she was here.
"So, Ty Lee, what brings you out here?" I inquired.
"I'm part of the circus. We're on our way to Yu Dao." She explained. "I was just going for a walk away from our camp when I found you."
That was a relief. The timeline hadn't changed. I could let my guard down, but it would still be a bad idea to mention Aang specifically. "The circus, huh? That's neat!" I said. "Let me guess, you're an acrobat?" Shit! Why did I give that away?! What was it about her that made her so easy to talk to?!
She nodded brightly and did a quick cartwheel. "How did you know?"
I quickly thought of an excuse. "It was the way you moved when we ran here. I almost tripped over rocks and tree roots a few times, but you just avoided them like they weren't even there." I explained.
She looked thoughtful for a few seconds, then she smiled. "That makes sense."
We sat down and made small talk for a few minutes. Momo sat in Ty Lee's lap, and she scratched him behind the ears. She was easy to talk to. I had to remind myself constantly not to give anything away about Aang. She was still Fire Nation, after all. After a little while, I noticed the clouds had parted and the lightning was gone. I stood up.
"It looks like the storm has passed." I observed. "How close is the river?"
She got up and put on her cloak. "Not far, you should be back to your family before nightfall."
Momo hopped on my shoulder, and we left the cave.
She was right. I could actually hear the river as soon as we left the cave. We walked at a casual pace, talking all the while. She regaled me with stories of places she'd been with the circus. She'd been all over the western Earth Kingdom, including some places that the Fire Nation hadn't conquered yet. I noticed she was looking at me the entire time, curiosity in her eyes.
When we reached the river, I filled up Katara's pouch with clean water. I needed to get back to my siblings. I couldn't let anything bad happen to them.
"Are you feeling okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I responded evasively.
She shook her head. "You're lying. Your aura's black. You're stressed about something."
Huh, I guess all that aura stuff she said in the show wasn't made up. Interesting. "It's complicated." I admitted.
She moved in front of me and stared me down with a pleading look in her eyes. "Please, tell me about it. Talking might make you feel better."
There was something so earnest and pure about her that made it impossible to refuse her. "Well, a while ago, we were traveling through a forest." I began. "We found a group of kids living there."
She nodded, urging me to continue.
"I'm a firebender, but I was trying to keep it secret from that group of kids." I continued. Ty Lee didn't react to that. Of course she didn't, being Fire Nation and all. "They found out, and their leader, Jet, captured me in the middle of the night. He tortured me."
Her eyes went wide. I kept going. "I escaped, and after my group and I confronted Jet, we tried to leave. Jet tackled me to the ground and tried to strangle me. I picked up a knife from the ground, and then…" I swallowed at the memory. "I killed him in self-defense." I finished. I waited for her to yell at me to leave her, that I was some kind of monster. Someone as kind and sweet as Ty Lee probably would hate me for killing someone, even under those circumstances.
She did something I didn't expect. She threw her arms around me in a tight hug, and put her head on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry that happened." She whispered in my ear. I was shocked for a second, then I returned the hug. It felt so nice.
She pulled back from the hug and looked me in the eye again. "That's not the only thing bothering you, though, is it?" She observed. Despite Ty Lee's reputation as a bit of an airhead in the show, she understood people very well.
"You're right." I admitted. "I keep thinking that I could've done a better job hiding my firebending from Jet. Maybe he'd still be alive. I keep wondering if my choices are helping, or just making things worse. I keep worrying about what the future will bring."
She shook her head. "You can't think like that." She stated firmly. "If you keep second-guessing yourself, you'll never make any decisions at all."
I looked down. "It's not that simple." I said sadly.
"Yes it is." She replied kindly. "You're just overthinking things. You just need to do the best you can with what you have. Nobody's perfect. And you're not responsible for Jet's death. He's the one who attacked you."
Maybe she was right. I did fail once, but that didn't mean I'd fail again. And even though Jet died, we still saved Gaipan from destruction. I couldn't expect myself to be perfect all the time. That made me feel better. I smiled at her. "Thank you. I have to get back to my siblings. They're probably pretty thirsty by now."
She smiled back. "It was nice meeting you. I hope we see each other again!"
I nodded. "I think we will." We went our separate ways, and I made my way back to Taku.
I got back to camp just after sunset. I immediately ran over to my brother and sister. "I got water." I announced. "I'm sorry it took so long."
Katara looked at me with half-lidded eyes. "It's okay. As long as you're here, now." I rushed over and gave both her and Sokka a drink.
"Alec, how was your trip? Did you make any new friends?" Sokka asked deliriously.
I smiled. "Yeah, I think I did."
I stayed up for a few more hours, taking care of my sick siblings. After a while, I put out the fire and went to sleep.
The nightmares didn't come for me that night. And they never came for me again.
It was mid-morning the next day when Aang returned to camp. He was exhausted, and his clothes had several tears in them. He shoved a frozen frog in Sokka's mouth. "Suck on these." He said tiredly, putting one in Katara's mouth as well. "It'll make you feel better." He trudged over to Appa's tail and lay down.
"Aang, how was your trip?" Sokka inquired between sucks, repeating the question he asked me yesterday. "Did you make any new friends?"
"No." Aang replied, tired and sad. "I don't think I did."
He looked so sad, that I felt compelled to cheer him up. I tried to remember the one-sided conversation he had with Zuko in the woods.
"If we knew each other back then, do you think we could have been friends, too?"
"Aang," I said softly, "I think you two could have been great friends."
He looked at me with slight surprise, then he gave me a small smile.
A few hours later, Katara and Sokka still had the frogs in their mouths. I watched closely. I wasn't about to miss this.
"Mmm, this is tasty!" Sokka declared. I snickered. A few seconds later, the ice melted completely, and the frogs began wiggling in their mouths. Sokka spat his out in disgust. Katara cried out in horror when her frog hopped away. My siblings retched and desperately tried to wipe any trace of frog off their tongues. Momo chased after the frogs in an attempt to eat them. Aang was still asleep.
As for me, I couldn't breathe, because I was laughing so hard.
AN: Bet you weren't expecting to see Ty Lee so soon, huh? I didn't want to wait until Book Two to introduce her, so I decided to do that here. I also broke my usual one episode per chapter rule here, because even with Ty Lee, The Blue Spirit chapter would have been really short.
Now, before any of you say "Ty Lee isn't where she's supposed to be! Why didn't Alec use Rule Six?!", Alec figured out that Ty Lee wasn't looking for the Avatar, yet. Ty Lee's still with the circus, so everything is still proceeding as normal in the story, except for Jet's death, of course. If Ty Lee said "I'm with my friends, and we're hunting a fugitive.", then Alec would've used Rule Six.
