Wishfull-star: If that happens again, where the shift doesn't make sense, please tell me so I know to fix it. I've had it happen before and nobody has said anything about it for a long time. So please feel free to tell me if it seems like something is off.
Ace stood on the wall in the front of the main city, arms crossed, waiting for what was inevitable. There was an earth quake not far from there. He could hear it easily. As a dragon, his senses were better, but as a human, they were mostly how normal human's were, if not a little bit better. Mostly his sense of smell.
But he'd heard the noise, and was ready for what was probably going to come. Someone asked what he was doing from below, sounding like he thought Ace was strange. He looked down with a grin. "Protecting my home. That's my job, isn't it?"
"From what?" the guy asked, though he did sound nervous now. Ace said it might be nothing he wasn't sure. He was just being cautious since there was a big earthquake in the Earth Kingdom across from them. It didn't take long for his assumption to come true, and a huge wave, carrying ice bergs with it, rushed towards the city.
People were screaming until Ace lifted an arm, and sent a blast of fire so hot that the wave immediately turned into a huge blast of steam, the water evaporated, along with any threat it caused. He waited a bit if there was a second, but there was none, and he dropped off of the wall and headed home.
People who didn't see what happened, but heard the explosion of steam looked confused. Ace didn't brag about it, word would get around. He'd been living there for six months now, and was indeed the guardian of basically the whole north pole. The spirit forest was visited every two days, with the fire still burning as a fence to keep animals or people out.
He went into the spirit world sometimes while he was there to catch up with friends who were interested in the human world, even if they had no desire to go see for themselves. So, he balanced two lives easily. And he had proof that his body was changing, and was not stagnant when he started to have to shave his face.
Having a beard or stubble just wasn't for him. Thatch had one, saying he wanted to look "older" and "more mature". Marco had slight stubble he was on the fence about keeping. But they were all happy with Ace's body that continued to age. He wasn't stuck in one appearance due to any of his abilities or what he was. Nobody was happier than Ace.
When he was about to leave to do his check on the forest, the chief saw him and called him over. Ace approached him, and waited for him to speak. "I want you to take a break. I know you're the guardian here, but you're overworking yourself. You visit the forest every couple of days, while you're still teaching chi blocking, as well as going around the city and making sure everything is 'okay'."
"But, I'm fine doing all of that-"
"But you need breaks. Maybe take some time for yourself in the spirit world longer than a few hours. We were safe and fine before you came, we can handle a few days with you not here. We were an impenetrable city before, and we still are. Only once was that broken, and it won't happen again."
Ace didn't really feel he needed a break, but staying longer in the spirit world might be nice. He agreed to do it, and when Arnook saw his worried face, he assured him that they'd be just fine while he was away. So, he agreed to take a little vacation. He just had to tell his family first. They weren't home, so he looked at the usual places, but didn't find them.
So, to make things quicker, he turned into a dragon and searched from above. He found Marco at the spirit oasis. He landed on the fencing as a human and asked what Marco was doing there. "Oh, hey, Ace. I'm just… meditating."
"Your eyes were wide open, and you're not in a meditating position," Ace pointed out, and dropped down, looking concerned. The koi spirits continued to circle. What a boring life they had for all that time that the moon and ocean had been around. He sat down next to Marco, who looked almost ashamed. "What's wrong?" Ace asked softly in concern.
He wouldn't make eye contact, but did answer. "I feel like it was wrong to kill Zhao, and the others, too. I did it to protect you, but I still feel bad about using my waterbending to kill somebody. I'm a healer with my water, not a killer. At least, I was." Ace frowned, and said he understood how he felt.
Ace had never wanted to use fire as a weapon. He did it to protect everyone, and killed a lot of people with his fire. "We were desperate. It's the only thing we could do. We have to move on and not focus on it."
"Still, that's hard. Every time I waterbend, I think of how I used it to hurt somebody - kill them. I've been working more in the healing center to try and forget, or try and make some stupid balance. If I do more good than I did bad, then maybe I'm not a bad person. That's my thinking," Marco explained quietly.
The younger/older didn't know how to help him. He was many milenia older than Marco, but he was only 18 in how he knew how to deal with humans. He leaned his head against Marco's shoulder, honestly saying he wasn't sure how to help other than being there for him. And Thatch was there, too.
"I know. I don't know what to do either. Maybe I'll get better with time, I don't know. Nobody else knows, either. I'm worried they'd be disgusted with me for using waterbending in that way." Ace said there were probably worse ways of waterbending than defending somebody you care for.
"You saved my life. I don't mean my life, but the life I have here, and my happiness. Zhao could have gotten away somehow and everyone I don't want to know would know I'm here. And that could have hurt everyone else more," Ace said quietly. Marco sighed and nodded. "Wanna go on a trip with me?" he asked suddenly.
Marco asked where. Ace stood up and went to the pond, he sat down and put only his feet in. "What are you doing?"
"I'll try and bring you to the spirit world for a visit," Ace said simply. Marco's eyes widened, but he looked excited. "I don't know if it'll work, but if it does, you have to stay with me. Don't want you getting lost." Marco promised he wouldn't wander off, and took Ace's hand. He instructed Marco to clear his mind, think of nothing. It was hard, so he told Marco to picture a dark room, empty. As if nothing was there. "Think of the dark behind your eyes as being somewhere else, where nothing is inside, and there is nothing at all to do. Breathe in and out, slowly."
Ace easily passed into the spirit world. They'd be gone short enough to not worry anybody. He turned and saw Marco had been able to cross over, too! The human stood up and looked at the colorful world with wide eyes. "What'dya bring a human here for?" a mushroom spirit in the forest asked. Ace said it was his brother, and they were going on a short expedition.
Ace took Marco's hand, and they walked through the forest, and then out on a great plain, a field of green grass and spring flowers. "I don't remember the last time I really saw grass. Or flowers," Marco said in awe. Ace nodded. The tundra was pretty barren. "Though there's the grass of the spirit oasis."
There was a gust of wind that sent all the flowers flying into the air, coming alive like butterflies. Marco was in complete awe of his surroundings. "Is it all this beautiful?"
"Ha! Absolutely not. There are some really scary places. Like where Koh lives. A creepy, dark forest. I just am showing you the best parts." Marco wished he could see the worst parts. "Wanna have your face stolen?"
"Ah, no."
"Then we stick to the pretty parts. Spirits don't harm one another, so if you're a spirit here, you're safer than you'd be anywhere in the human world. I like visiting here, but I kind of like a monochromatic setting. And cozy clothes."
Marco smiled. "Yeah, I guess ice is pretty nice. I do wonder what the rest of the world looks like. Too bad you can't fly us all there." But he didn't sound too upset. He respected that Ace had sworn to protect both the Northern Water Tribe and the spirit forest. They both knew how important they were to keep safe and healthy.
A damaged spirit portal was not something to take lightly at all. It was closed but for the strongest. When his brothers had asked who else there were, Ace had not said, not wanting to expose them. He knew that the spirit of the earth left long ago as some sort of animal. Ace did not know what they were, and so would probably not recognize them. As they wouldn't for him.
The only other one Ace knew about having left was something that was created with Mother's actions. One of the first things, like the sun and planets. Energy. But Ace had never actually seen them, as they seemed invisible to anything they didn't approve of seeing them. That spirt was arguably the strongest thing out of all spirits but for the universe, Mother, and Time.
So, Ace was one of the few out of millions of spirits that had crossed over and chose to live in the human world, all of them doing different things, unconnected.
Ace offered to take him on a tour from above, which he was excited about. Ace shifted into his dragon form, the original one he now used exclusively, the black one gone for good, and had his brother climb onto his back, and flew him around the nearest places. Over the green and blue ocean, full of sea spirits, the water glistening and beautiful.
"A human? What's a human doing here, Sun?" a flying spirit asked, sitting on his head as they flew.
"This human is someone very important to me. They were having a bad day, so I brought them here for a bit to cheer up," Ace explained. Marco was shocked into silence at the strange, unknown creature.
"Oh. Well, I hope you feel better soon, human," it said, and glided away. Marco sighed, and told Ace this was amazing.
"You've definitely cheered me up," Marco said with a smile thick in his voice. Ace said it was time to go back, since nobody knew where they were, and if they found their bodies, they'd freak out. So, they went back to where they'd arrived, and were sent back to their world, Marco waking up on his own while Ace stepped back into his human body.
Marco was smiling brightly, and said, "That was the most amazing experience I've ever had." Ace thanked the moon and ocean spirits for allowing their presence, and the two left, with Marco gushing about how beautiful it had been. Ace was happy that he was in a much better mood, now. Maybe he could take him and Thatch with him sometimes. But not tell people or they'd want to, too, and Ace would give them all a resounding "no".
"I'm glad you liked it," Ace said with a smile. "Would you ever want to live there?"
"Can humans live there?" Ace shrugged. Humans don't always end up in the best places there. "Then no. Do you miss it?" The younger/older pointed out he'd left it for the human world, so he didn't have much hesitation about leaving it. But he knew he would eventually go back. "What did you think of the rest of the world? Compared to home?"
Ace shrugged. He hadn't seen much of it, to be honest. And what places he did see were all associated and tainted with terrified emotions and a unstable mental state. After all, it was right after he escaped his cage. He didn't especially want to travel anywhere else. He was content to live in the cold and then do the exploring in the spirit world. Not that he hadn't explored all of it already. Billions of years was a lot of time to map it all out.
Traveling just didn't appeal to him, and even he wanted to, he was locked to the north pole by Time's condition. To watch over the spirit portal and keep the forest housing it healthy. "If you ever go to travel, send me letters," Ace said to his brother with a smile. Marco promised he would. But he'd never explore alone. "You could make new friends."
"That's true, but nobody would replace you and Thatch." They went back home, and Marco told Thatch all about their adventure, which promptly made Thatch furious that they'd left him out. Ace promised to take him, too, next time.
"You better!" Thatch said firmly. Marco was laughing, and Ace just found the perfect way to cheer him up, help him relax. A tour of the spirit world for every day of doubt and sadness, guilt and regret. Marco felt it strongly about killing Zhao. Was Ace heartless for not feeling like he'd killed individual people because it was all at once, and he saw none of it?
Marco watched and listened as he drowned a threatening enemy who could do more harm that he had. It was the right thing to do at the time to make sure to get rid of him. Well, Ace didn't want to think about that anymore.
The next day, Marco bought drawing supplies, and was content to try and replicate what he'd seen there. Ace was so happy he helped him by doing that. He'd made a good decision to share his world at a vulnerable moment. Could have gone the other way, but it went just according to plan! Well, what Ace had hoped would happen.
-x-
"I kind of think he found somebody else," Thatch said, two months after Ace's first trip to the spirit world with Marco. He went on them weekly with both brothers, always at the spirit oasis late at night so nobody saw them going in and out. Was it abusing the spirit pool, to use its power to go on field trips with his brothers?
The koi were never disturbed, and sometimes Ace brought them bits of fish flowers from the spirit world. Flowers that floated on the foamy lake with tons of colorful fish spirits. And they ate them, never got sick. It was a thank you for their pool and presence helping them out.
"Why would he pass up learning from the sun? The literal fire spirit who taught the first Avatar?" Marco asked in disbelief while he worked on healing a broken bone of their neighbor.
"I wouldn't give up on him, he's young," the old woman Marco was treating interjected. "Or perhaps he found another firebender to teach him." Thatch didn't know how he'd find one better than Ace. "Well, maybe he made a friend. Or he's dead."
"Jeez, grama. That went south really fast."
"We have Ace here, so I don't feel threatened by the Fire Nation anymore," she said bluntly, her bone back in place. Ace hoped not everyone felt that way. Ace could make mistakes, the world needed the Fire Nation stopped. Even those protected by Ace's presence, they should want the whole world fixed, too.
But he did admit that the old woman's points were right. Aang could have found somebody he had a connection with, or he was unable to come back for an infinite amount of reasons. Ace did hope he was okay, even if he chose to learn from somebody else. Because he had to learn, and Ace didn't regret turning him away when he was there. Learning earth and water first was the best route to being able to control fire effectively.
He wasn't angry if he wasn't the one to train him, he just hoped he found somebody who taught him well. Taught him how to respect and fear fire and its potential devastating consequences if misused. Sometimes he also thought about Zuko, and what he was doing. Hoping he wasn't alone, hoping he found someplace nice for himself. Though Ursa was always loving towards him.
Ace wondered what she would think of the current Ace. She didn't like Ace human 1.0 while Ace human 2.0 was much better in his opinion.
Brought back to the subject Hahn approached them, and mocked Ace for not being the Avatar's firebending teacher. Marco and Thatch scowled at him. "That's okay, as long as he finds somebody responsible to teach him," Ace said smoothly, not letting him get to him like the guy wanted to.
Hahn just glared. Ace knew why he was so sour towards Ace. Because it had gotten out by somebody that Ace had been asked to be Yue's husband, but he turned her down, and Hahn was taken from the option once Arnook compared him to somebody nice and respectful. So, because of Ace being a good person, it made him look terrible and he lost the chance to become chief.
It was good, because Hahn would make a terrible, selfish leader, and no doubt would target Ace specifically. He talked with the other warriors behind his back, though none seemed to sour on him and still went to his training classes. Ace could teach much better than his first wave of students, now.
It wasn't only everyone learning from him, he learned how to wield some weapons, only so he could teach the warriors how the could use a weapon and chi blocking at the same time. But with nobody to defend against, and nobody to attack, they never used their training in action for real. Never tested it on enemies.
But that was good, wasn't it? No enemies meant peace and quiet to the city. Ace had no idea if it was because word spread about the terrible defeat of the fleet and its general or not. He didn't know how word would spread but for Zuko and Iroh telling somebody after they got out of the area.
Ace had checked, and there were no frozen corpses out there, so the two had gotten away or were eaten by elephant leopard seals. He hoped it was the former option.
He went to check on the spirit forest later that day, and found something alarming. He brought down the flame wall, and saw some of the trees were dying, as if they were diseased. He was worried now. Approaching the tree showed the wood was very damaged, and it was soggy, almost. Before, they were strong and firm.
What caused them to be soggy? It wasn't like it was raining excessively. He looked at his fingers once he pulled them away from the trunk, and saw there was black gunk on it. Searching deeper, he saw the black gunk was spreading between trees based on their physical contact. The soggy ones were clearly dying or sick, or both.
It was time to make some tough decisions. He couldn't let the entire spirit forest die, it was his duty to do this. So, he separated the sick trees from the healthy, burning the damaged trees. With his fire, though, it didn't leave smoke, but golden dust as the sick tree met a painless end. He bowed in respect and apology for each tree lost.
Once the many sick trees were disposed up, Ace hand dug out the roots and burnt the soil to get rid of any lingering sickness. He did a deep cleansing by burning through the root system until it met a healthy root. This process took him nine hours until he felt the forest was healthy again.
Ace had no idea where that kind of tree disease had come from, as it was the only cluster of plants in the surrounding area. Thinking it was possible that the fire had harmed it, he created a new fence, only this time, it wasn't burning the hard ground. It was elevated just enough to not touch the ground, even if it was supposed to do no damage.
When he left, he felt sad, but also proud. He wondered how the forest had survived without someone to look after it if its trees could get sick. But then, when he was flying away, he heard something inside, and cautiously went back. It was an angry spirit that had managed to come out?!
Ace watched it, and recognized it from long, long ago. He stepped out into its view, and asked, "Why are you angry?" in a calm voice.
"Cut down my tree!" it shrieked.
"I'm sorry, but the trees were poisoning the forest. I needed to stop the sickness from spreading further. I'm sorry that I hurt your home, truly. What can I do to make it up for you?"
"Feel bad! Help!" it said, voice strained as if forcing the words out. Ace bit his lip before he let out small flames that consumed it, only he didn't allow the flames to have any temperature other than a warm one, as if a cup of tea had been sitting out a few minutes. The spirit didn't shriek in pain or fear, but after the flames left, it turned a bright orange, and walked back into the portal leisurely.
He smiled in relief and entered the portal just to make sure it got back safely. "You saved me!" it shouted, small as if the size of a cat, not a terrifying, large monster. Ace smiled, glad he could help. Then he left, feeling even more fulfilled, and went home. But he worried about a spirit getting out that turned dark.
Nobody had harmed the forest, and Ace knew that what he'd done was the right thing since the trees had not been burnt and damaged, but cleansed. He didn't see his actions as being the reason the spirit was angry. It was true that there were still decades left until the Harmonic Convergence. But in 10,000 years, a few decades, was that that much?
When he landed, he was stopped by Master Pakku and Shanks. "Oh, is something wrong?"
Shanks said nothing was wrong, but they had a question, out of curiosity. He said to go ahead and ask. They went to the nearest tea shop in the more business area of the city. "What is your opinion on the Hundred Year War?" Shanks asked.
"I think it's terrible and a waste of time. The four nations were getting along fine before the Fire Nation decided to change things. It's a waste of life and effort. I don't think there will ever be true peace in the human world, but its clear the Fire Nation doesn't want that. I may have originated there, but I in no way agree with their 'ideals'," Ace explained in detail.
"Would you fight to keep that peace?" Pakku asked, sipping his tea. Ace said he'd fight to keep this place safe from anybody. "You would no go out onto the front lines to help in the war?"
Ace knew his answer would disappoint. "I'm sorry, but I won't. I don't want to use my fire for destruction. If I did go, it wouldn't be to use my fire. But I can't for another reason. I'm tasked by Time with keeping watch over the spirit forest, the price if I want to be able to stay in the same human body after I grow too old. And I'm concerned with something I found, too. I can't help out on the font lines," Ace said.
Both men didn't look disappointed, but Shanks looked concerned, and asked what the problem was. "Some of the trees were sick and dying, so I had to uproot them and destroy them so they didn't infect the forest. But a dark spirit came out, and I had to coax it back into the spirit world. I didn't think that time was coming yet, but it might be starting early."
"What time?"
"Harmonic Convergence. It's a long story, but its the fight against darkness every 10,000 years. The few years before that date, spirits grow more stressed and fearful, and that creates negative aspects of them. Whoever becomes the next Avatar will be in that fight against darkness. It's a really big deal for all worlds."
Pakku said, "Then you seem to have your hands full, here."
"Yes."
"Thank you for answering our questions," Shanks said, and finished his tea. As they were leaving, Ace wished them good luck with what they were plotting, a genuine wish for them to be well. He finished his tea and cookie, and then went home to explain his day to his brothers, and then go on a run.
Keeping busy was nice. Busy and productive days were the best.
