Maldea: Lol I made Aang unlikable. But as an adult even in Korra, I disliked him. How he turned out to be a bad father and all...

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One more chapter after this one! Enjoy~


Ace landed in the courtyard, and started to cry. Marco and Thatch were waiting for him to return, and were worried, asking what was wrong. "He's forc-ing me to go ba-ck to the spir-it world. And I can't st-ay here," Ace cried, unable to stop. He had a life and future here, all planned out and everything!

"WHAT?!" Thatch and Marco raged. "He's not taking you, that prick! It's his fault this happened, why should you be punished?!" Ace regretted calling him. "You just got back, too!" Ace nodded, and wiped his eyes. It wasn't long later that Zuko and Aang came back. Marco brought out his water and aimed spikes at Aang's neck.

"You're not taking Ace," he snarled.

Aang sighed. "It's what's best. You can both visit him in the spirit world."

"So, since you detached yourself from other worldly things, we have to, too? I don't see you unattached to Katara. Is it because you're the 'Avatar'?" Thatch snapped. "That gives you special privileges, doesn't it?" He was furious. Yue and Neha were out, too, having come from the yelling, and looked unhappy with the decision. "I'm not letting Ace leave all on his own, he stays here or we all go." Ace looked confused. "We're never letting him go again. So, you'll be killing two people and banishing a good person." Aang was startled, and Zuko sighed. He knew what Thatch was referencing. Giving up their physical bodies to reside in the spirit world indefinitely.

Ace said, "You guys can't do that over me. You're not even thirty yet!" He didn't want to be the reason they left this world prematurely, it wasn't fair. Aang asked what they were talking abut, and Marco shortly explained their plan. They wouldn't be separated by Ace, Avatar interference or not.

Zuko said, hesitantly, that they could meditate to see him every day while not giving their lives up. Ace was sour, he didn't want to wait on their every visit. They had lives. Why would they do so much for Ace when he was only with them a year, and then gone for the previous nine? Why did they do so much, go so far, for him?

But he didn't ask such a personal question in front of Aang. "We'll do what we can to stay together. And you know you're taking away Zuko's good friend too, right?" Marco asked. Zuko did indeed look very sad, but wasn't arguing, so he didn't care as much as Thatch and Marco, it seemed.

The Avatar didn't like this, but didn't budge. "I'm not going back to the spirit world permanently. And you can't stop me. You may be able to close the spirit portal again, but you won't stop me," Ace said, finally gaining his voice and hardening his resolve. He knew the other spirits would be annoyed, but Ace would promise to get the next Avatar to open the portals in a few decades.

"You have to! The worlds have to be kept separate in balance!"

"And has the world been ending those 19 years before the missing years?" Ace snapped, hating this guy, now. He used to like him, but now he despised him with everything he had. Ever fiber of his being hated this man. Avatar or not. Aang said the spirit portal had been ripped open, so it must have been being damaged with Ace being there. "Or maybe it's from the 100 years of no upkeep! But yes, a couple months of me going in and out is definitely the root cause!" Ace said in annoyance.

The older man, originally younger, was frustrated and didn't know how to get Ace to go along with this. But he then asked if he wanted to alienate himself from other spirits by still going out when the others couldn't. But the majority of the spirits would understand Ace's feelings and why he wanted to stay.

He had connections to people in the human world that would die while he was away. He'd gotten more than one apology from a sympathetic spirit about his friends in the human world passing before him. They all knew it was temporary. But how temporary? And he'd been keeping the forest clean of dark spirits last time he was here.

Those nine years made his credibility tank, it seemed. He was ashamed of his time away, and being back and now causing a fuss. Yue was watching with Tonraq back inside so he didn't heart all the shouting. "Please, Ace. Do it for all the humans and spirits who want to live fairly."

"Have you forgotten everything I've done for this place, not to mention helping out to end the war?"

"The world has been doing alright since you left. You don't need to worry about the human world." Ace said he was mostly worried about his friends and family. "I understand that. Truly. I'm really sorry, but this has to happen, Ace. you must return with the other spirits to keep balance. That's why you brought me, right? How is it fair to force the other spirits back inside with you staying outside? It isn't. It would be me playing favorites, which the Avatar can't do," Aang explained.

Ace harshly said, "Then return Katara to the south pole and do your work without her. Is that not playing favorites? I thought Avatars needed to abandon their earthly attachments?" Aang frowned at this being pointed out.

"I'd like to resolve this peacefully with both sides being okay, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. You must go to the spirit world, Ace. You wanted me here to fix it, but now that you leaving will be part of fixing it, you've changed your stance," Aang said in slight frustration and annoyance. He didn't address Ace's jab about Katara, though.

The spirit crossed his arms, and nobody knew how to resolve this problem. "Ace, this is for the best. To keep balance. I want you to stay, too, but it has to be all or nothing."

"And how would you know that? What experience do you have with the spirit world?" Ace snapped to the Fire Lord. He frowned and admitted he had little experience with the spirit world. None at all, nearly. But he did thinK that separating them would be for the best. And Ace had been on that opinion too, until it affected him personally.

"Don't you think it's a bit selfish and unfair to force the other spirits to stay in their world - your world - while you live out here? With the spirit portals closed tighter, there shouldn't be anymore leaks, right? No reason to guard the forest?"

Ace argued that it still needed to be looked after regardless. "Then have some others do that." And how would they get there? The distance is long and dangerous. There was nobody else who could tend to the forest. "You've been gone ten years and it's been alright."

"No it hasn't! It was over run by dark, miserable spirits! That's not 'alright'!"

"And that would stop if the spirit portals were tightly shut, right? It would be for the sake of your own fellow spirits that we all close the two portals tightly. For now, at least. The world isn't ready for spirits to be added. There's already too much going on, Ace. Humans can't handle this, and you know and think that as well," Aang pointed out. It made Ace feel guilty. He was being selfish by putting himself and his human life before his own kind.

Tears were down his cheeks, and they all took this look, the gritted teeth, squinted eyes full of tears, as resignation. "You can't do this!" Thatch raged. "He only just came back!"

"Then… it should be easier for everybody to say goodbye," Aang said softly. Ace got on his kees and started to sob in front of all of them, the confident sun spirit crushed at the loss he had to endure. And the guilt of his brothers dying to stay with him when they hadn't even turned thirty yet.

Why did Ace cause them so much pain?

-x-

"When I see you again, you'll be all old and wrinkly," Ace said to Tonraq, trying to not let his despair rub off on the toddler. "Here, keep this for a bit to remember me by," he said handing him the little flame. Ace knew it would probably go out while he was in the spirit world, but it was better than nothing.

He hugged Yue goodbye, knowing he might not ever see her again. "Thank you for all you've done for me," Ace said sincerely. Yue was crying, unable to help it. Ace hoped Aang felt terrible guilt when he saw the state Ace was leaving the people in. He shook Neha's hand, telling him to take care of his brothers while they were there.

He had a deal with them that they wouldn't come to the spirit world until they grew older and only came when they felt their lives were going downhill quickly. They still promised to meet him again, and would visit him after a few months of separation to make it easier on all three of them.

Ace walked outside, and everyone he'd been close to, his students and friends, neighbors, were all there to see him off. Many of them would never see Ace again. Many were very upset, and bowed to him as he changed into dragon form. "Thank you all, for giving me a home. I'm sorry I didn't get to enjoy it longer," he said sincerely, voice surprisingly strong.

Before he went to the spirit portal, where his brothers were waiting, Ace said goodbye to Tui and La. They helped him so much, but they couldn't reply as koi without swimming up to him before then resuming their dance. Ace flew up from there, and did a once over of his home once again. His home for a short time that felt so right.

Flying back to the forest with a backpack full of trinkets and gifts from humans, he arrived at the outskirts of the forest, taking a deep breath before walking inside and to the light beam. His brothers were waiting there, looking empty and blank. He walked up to the portal and tossed the bag into the rip.

He looked at Marco and Thatch, and his face crumbled into one of despair. He hugged them both, all three of them a mess. Thatch and Marco finally reunited with Ace, and getting to spend less than six months there again. He'd been there so short, but they got so attached, only for it to cause such pain later. They held his hands as he walked to the portal. Zuko shook his hand and then hugged him. Ace hugged him back, knowing he'd most likely be dead, too. That's what he thought of everybody.

Ace didn't spare a glance at Aang, that asshole. "We love you, and will visit," Marco said with a watery smile. Thatch gave him some cookies in a bag, and Ace thanked him. He couldn't make eye contact before he gave them one smile.

"Make sure you don't leave me for good," he said firmly. Marco promised, no matter what, they'd meet there again and stay together forever. Ace wanted them to, just not so soon. He wanted to be with the both of them, together forever. He gave one last lingering look, before he climbed into the rip, landing in the spirit world, outside the portals.

He fell to his knees and sobbed his heart out, punching the ground, tearing it up with his dragon claws as he watched the portal close over, completely solid again. Trying to go through it, it was impossible. Ace didn't want to turn dark, so he fled the place where Vaatu laughed at him, and landed in the field of flowers, laying on his stomach and just letting out all his pain. He missed them dearly already.

Some spirits came over, but he walked away from them. It was their faults he had to say goodbye for who knows how long. They were hurt with him leaving them, ignoring their attempts to comfort him. He just wanted some alone time, to try and learn to forgive his fellow spirits. Even though it was their stubbornness that made Ace lose his other life and family that he'd treasured.

He went to Time, under control, and stood in front of him. "Looks like saying goodbye wasn't very pleasant." Ace's face crumpled before he composed himself. "I won't speed up time for you, Sun - Ace." He no longer called him world jumper. Ace asked why. "It would do you some good to stay here longer. Reconnect with what you really are. The human version of you is not here any longer."

Ace wasn't in human form, and wouldn't be. He didn't want a painful reminder of what he'd probably lost. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep our deal. I ruined the forest with my absence."

"You saved those spirits, Ace. Without you, they would have festered a long time. But you must forgive your own kind or you will be all alone but for the visits of your human friends. You may have been okay with solidarity before, but that won't be the case now," Time explained, sounding unusually sympathetic.

Ace said, "It's their faults I had to leave. If they'd just stayed in the spirit world, this wouldn't have happened!"

"And what makes you so special? You're a spirit, just like they are. You had fun in the human world, it was emotionally rewarding for you. Why wouldn't they want to try it out like you when they had the chance? You can't fault them for feeling the way you did." Ace sighed and nodded. He was right. Ace didn't want to make other spirits sad. But he wouldn't be able to not compare them to his brothers.

Was it wrong? That he was so attached to them after so little time? Or was it only natural because of the nature of their relationship, and how it flourished? With them helping Ace be happy, not so scared. They were there for him when he was inconvenient. Wonderful people that he didn't get to grow up with.

Why did he have to disappear for nine years? He hated himself for that, deeply. He left Time, and found Iroh's tea shop, and ordered some tea. His hands clenched on the table, and he did his best to enjoy his tea until Iroh came over himself, and sat across from him. "I am sorry for your loss, but they will come back. You and I both know it."

"Until then, I'll miss them. Even when they visit, it will never be the same that way. This is my home, but with them was also home. Why did they care about me so much? It… doesn't make any sense," Ace said honestly. Iroh replied that some people just clicked, and there was nothing to do about it.

Ace nodded, and returned to the spirits he'd shrugged off and ran away from. They looked at him sadly, and asked if he was mad. "Yeah. I'll try not to be, though."

"Nobody meant to hurt you."

"I know. But it doesn't mean it didn't hurt," Ace said honestly. "I'll try and be how I used to be, but I will be mourning a loss for awhile. I lost a life I could have had for a long time. I can't help but blame everyone for it, and I know that's not fair. I will try my best, promise."

"We're sorry!" they cried in guilt. "We didn't mean to hurt you! Or make you sad! We-re so-sorry!" the little spirits cried in guilt and anguish over hurting a fellow spirit so fully. Ace felt bad for making them cry, but they made him miserable first. But he knew they didn't mean to, and that was how Ace would try to see it.

He pat their heads, and said he accepted their apologies. "But I'm still hurt. Just know I accept your sincere apologies." It attracted more spirits, the feeling of sadness, and soon there was a mass gathering of upset spirits, feeling guilt over taking away Ace's smile. He accepted their apologies, and promised to try to move on.

"It will be hard for me a bit, so please be understanding about my feelings," he said, surprised there were no tears. They all promised to do their best for his sake. After the spirits dispersed, Ace found the best place, dug a hole, and stuffed himself inside to sleep until his brothers returned.

It was just running away from his problems, but he needed to do that for a bit. It was just what he needed to learn to move on, he knew. Move on to the fact that he couldn't visit them, they had to visit him, and he had no way to watch over them from there. He had no way to keep up with their lives or anything of the sort.

Ace had wanted to see Tonraq grow up and tell him all sorts of stories. He would probably not remember Ace anyways, since he was so young. At least he wouldn't miss him. He lost so much stuff. But he wouldn't go back for at least another 60 or so years. He had to deal wit that and remember it was a blip in time, even if it was a blip he wanted to live to the fullest.

-x-

A week later, Ace was feeling better, but he'd also been sleeping most of it. So it was hard when Marco and Thatch appeared there, and ran to him, hugging him. Ace hugged them back, though he was in dragon form. Time said his human body was not to use there or bad things might happen. He was much bigger than his two brothers, but that was fine. They met him in this size the first time. They were both so happy and tearful to see him.

"We miss you already, but are so glad we can visit like this," Thatch said. They couldn't bring anything with them into the spirit world, and the portal was closed, so the only way they could see Ace was through meditation. Ace nodded, and said he'd been doing his best to forgive the spirits that he blamed a bit.

But he blamed Aang the most. "How is everyone?" he asked, wondering if they were still upset. He'd only returned for a couple of weeks, they could have moved on by then, possibly. Marco explained that Yue was very sad, and Tonraq was getting upset over him missing. "Well, he'll move on quickly and won't remember me."

"He will, through you book about yourself," Marco replied. They were all sitting in the flower field Ace would take them to often. "It's lucky you wrote all of that, they will be treasured and used far into the future to monitor the portals' safety." Ace was glad he'd written them as well. Hopefully the future did remember him through those books.

He laid next to his brothers, his head in their laps, since he was much bigger. "We'll visit often, okay? And tell you news about the world and our lives so you can keep up," Thatch said, his voice choking a bit at the end. Ace didn't cry, thankfully. He'd done that between deep sleeps. It was so often he didn't really notice when they started, even if it had only been a week. This would be hard.

They left after a few hours of staying with him, most of it being silent and just in one another's' company. When they left, Ace sat there for a bit before he returned to his sleeping place, and went to nap the sadness away, avoiding his feelings expertly, though cowardly. Well, he had a lot of time to heal, and maybe the visits would help, making him know they weren't gone for good.

His brothers would visit him periodically. Ace knew that. And they could visit from anywhere! Not just through the spirit portal. The sun spirit wished them to have a happy and fulfilling life, and was glad he was not a real burden, and they did not need to stay in one place to see and reaffirm their love for him, even as time passed.