Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar or anything associated with it except my fanfictions.
Everyone sat silently, horror and shame on their faces. "I always thought that Prince Zuko was in a training accident," Jee meekly whispered.
Iroh shook his head. "It was no accident. After the duel, the Fire Lord said that by refusing to fight, Zuko had shown shameful weakness. As punishment, he was banished and sent to capture the Avatar. Only then could he return with his honor."
Jee stared into his tea. "So that's why he's so obsessed. Capturing the Avatar is the only chance he has of things returning to normal."
"No." Everyone stared at Iroh once more. "Things will never return to normal. But the important thing is the Avatar gave Zuko hope."
He had to find the Avatar...
He had to restore his honor...
But he had the Avatar now...
He could restore his honor...
Or search for it from a different source...
What honor did he want?
What path should he take?
What decision should he make?
Zuko's head hurt too much...
Everyone contemplated the story they were told. "Oh man. No wonder the Prince is so angry all the time. I'm surprised he hasn't accidentally blown up his ship in all of three years," said Sokka.
"I think I understand it now," Jee said. "So much sorrow and suffering for such a young, bright, noble man. No wonder he's been so ill lately."
Sokka nodded sagely. "It sucks. That is one crazy dad. No wonder he didn't turn out so well. What do you think Aang?" he turned to the boy next to him. "Aang?"
Never in his life had Aang felt so miserable. To think of the atrocities committed!- and that it was all his fault. He turned his face so the others couldn't see the tears forming in his eyes.
"Aang? Look at me," Sokka shook him. "Look at me!" Aang finally brought his eyes upon the watertribe boy. "I know what you're thinking. But it's not your fault! You weren't in charge of how long you stayed in that iceberg. None of this is your fault! You weren't the one responsible for the last hundred years of war!"
"But the thing is, I was," whispered Aang. And before he could stop himself, he spilled everything that had transpired one hundred years ago...
It was a wonderful day at the Southern Air temple.
The sun, although harsh, was a welcome beam of heat and light to the frigid mountain top on which the Air Nomads resided. The bison were roaming the skies, and were up to their usual antics. There was nary a cloud in sight, and of course, whenever the weather outside was fair enough, there were sure to be Air Nomads frolicking around, children and adults alike.
Two Air Nomad kids were playing "Fire, Earth, Water, Air." For some reason no matter how many times they shot, they always had the same element, something which amused them to no end.
Aang was showing three kids - he gasped in horror for forgetting their names. His mind was still young! How could he have forgotten a part of his tradition, of his people! Long though was his stay in the iceberg, his mind was of a young, spry twelve-year-old! And yet so much had happened to him... - how to play with his air scooter. It was a very fun move, although a bit difficult. But he figured that if he had figured the move out in his free time, then surely his friends could learn it as well.
"First you got to form the ball, then you got to get on quick," Aang said, swirling his hands in a circular motion and creating a sphere of air. He hopped on it, brought two fists together, and balanced on one leg. That was the trickiest part to it. But now...
"Yahoo!" Aang shouted as he flew all over the place. Under the bridge, on the wall, over the bridge, on the railings - he truly felt like a free spirit, tethered to no worldly attachments. Except maybe the ball of air he was on.
One of the boys - a lanky, gangly teenager named... Tenzin. Yes. Tenzin. That was the boy's name, although Aang now realized that even in the past, he rarely spoke to anyone with their names, as it signified attachment to a state of being. "Okay, here goes!" said Tenzin, attempting in vain to copy Aang's flowing movement. He did manage to get the scooter going, although Aang silently pointed out to himself the flaws in his technique. But that didn't matter. The Air Scooter did. Tenzin got on, but didn't hop on one leg and clumsily sat on the ball. He quickly spiraled out of control and collapsed in a awkward heap.
Aang dismounted from the scooter and tried to give some gentle feedback on Tenzin's mistakes. "You kind of have to balance on it like it's a top," Aang said, twirling his fingers around to convey his point.
Another of the boys - Meelo, he remembered - tugged on Aang's shawl. "Where'd you learn that trick, Aang?"
Aang puffed up in pride. "I made it up."
He felt a small feeling of selfish thrill and accomplishment when Meelo spun around in his excitement and exclaimed, "Wow!" with a smile.
However, their fun times - Aang's last moment of innocence - was cut short by Monk Gyatso's gentle voice cutting through the air. "Aang, come with us. We need to speak with you."
The entire Council of Elders had arrived on the steps - something that had not occurred in Aang's lifetime. After casting brief, tentative, almost fearful glances at his friends, he walked up to them, and they escorted him to the Council's meeting room.
"How do you know it's me?" Aang asked with doubt and a mounting sense of dread.
His whole world shattered. To think only a few moments ago he had been a carefree, twelve-year-old boy who had been the youngest to earn his tattoos, teaching his friends the Air Scooter, laughing and talking and joking with them! And now... and now...
"We have known you were the Avatar for some time. Do you remember these?" Monk Tashi brandished a wrapped mat with his airbending, and it unfurled to reveal...
"Hey! Those were some of my favorite toys when I was little!" Aang smiled at the fun times and memories he had with his turtle, his propeller, his hog monkey, and his hand drum. Of course, they were taken away relatively early in life to firmly establish detachment in young Air Nomad boys, but the toys brought him great joy while he had them.
He picked up a propeller, a sense of nostalgia coming to him. Maybe he was more attached to worldly things than he thought, but that didn't discourage him from childishly yanking the string to the propeller and making it fly over the disapproving faces of the monks. Even the serious fronts the monks put on quickly fell to curiosity as they watched the perplexing, playful path of the propeller through the air.
"You chose them from among thousands of toys, Aang. The toys you picked were the four Avatar relics. These items belonged to past Avatars. Your own past lives." Aang nearly dropped the propeller as he digested what the Monk Tashi had said. He chose these? From thousands of toys? How did they even know these toys were the Avatar's? He didn't choose them because he knew them from a past life!
"I just chose them because they seemed fun," he protested feebly, but he knew what was going to come next. Why, oh why, did he have to choose those darned toys?
"You chose them because they were familiar," said Monk Tashi, and Aang was crestfallen. No wonder he mastered airbending so quickly. No wonder everything that others struggled on came to him so easily. He was the Avatar, master of four elements.
Nanny of the world...
Gyatso kindly told Aang, "Normally we would have told you of your identity when you turned sixteen, but there are troubling signs. Storm clouds are gathering." Aang's eyes widened in horror as Monk Pasang confirmed what Aang had heard from Gyatso.
"I fear that war may be upon us, young Avatar." Monk Pasang said with eerie solemnity.
"We need you, Aang," said Gyatso.
At twelve years old, Aang was already hunched over from the crushing weight of responsibility he now knowingly shouldered.
And things only became worse.
"WHAT?" Before he knew it, Aang found himself violently shook by an enraged Sokka, eyes bulging, spit flying. "You found out that you were the all-powerful Avatar, and you HATED it? What kind of person doesn't want that level of mumbo-jumbo element power!" Sokka paused. "Besides you," he grumbled as an afterthought.
Iroh gave his own input. "The Avatar might be all-powerful, but there are responsibilities and other things that go hand-in-hand with being master of the four elements."
Sokka nodded glumly. "Fair. But to think of how much easier my life would be if I had bending power! I could be able to fight my sister every time she shot a snowball at me! - "
Aang stopped Sokka before the Watertribe boy got carried away. "Or you could have your people wiped out and people everywhere trying to either catch you or use you to their advantage. I guess every gift is really a double-edge blade," Aang mused.
"Oh. I guess you're right. But do continue, almighty Avatar."
The Avatar continued on with his recounting. "Anyways, I didn't know how to feel about learning that I was the Avatar. All I knew was that after I found out, everything began changing..."
Aang was exhausted after his extensive training.
After learning he was the Avatar, it was as though he had aged twenty years - and not just from his own perspective. Sure, the weight on his shoulders was great, but seriously, did telling him that he was the Avatar make him age into some sort of adult in other's eyes?
Hence why the monks were making Aang diligently practice and learn airbending all day, every day. It was only today that Aang was finally given a break to do whatever he pleased. He barely even noticed that the sun wasn't as bright, due to the passing of fall, and didn't pay any attention to the clouds floating above and below the temple.
In retrospect, he probably should have.
He went down to the South Wall where he had always played and had fun before... before all this. He was pleasantly surprised to see his friends zooming around and having a great time on their own Air Scooters.
Aang's weariness was quickly replaced with overwhelming excitement and pride. "Hey, not bad! You guys have been practicing!" he complimented the others.
Meelo quickly rushed up to Aang, orbiting the Avatar much like how a planet orbited a star. Like how Sozin's comet orbited the Earth..."Not only that! We made up a game you can play with the air scooters!" he said excitedly, facing Aang the entire time.
Aang immediately brightened. A new way to have fun! "Great!" Aang exclaimed eagerly, making his own Air Scooter. But as he looked around the courtyard, he saw everyone dismounting their air scooters, dispelling the air and floating to the ground. "W-what's going on?" asked a confused Aang.
Tenzin told him. "Now that you're the Avatar, it's kind of an unfair advantage for whichever team you're on."
Aang's eyes widened in shock. They didn't want him to play? Because he was the Avatar? Was that really the reason? He'd understand if they were mad at him for leaving them to play! Well, maybe he wouldn't, but still, even that beat out excluding the Avatar from fun! "But I'm still the same! Nothing's changed! So, what? I can't play?" Aang asked desperately, eyes betraying the hurt he felt inside of himself.
"That's the only fair way," Tenzin informed him regretfully.
"Oh." Aang dismounted from his Air Scooter, putting it out with a blast of air to vent his feelings. "Okay," he said, walking away, not daring to look into the eyes of any of his friends. If they even were still his friends, anyways.
He heard Meelo saying, "Sorry, Aang." He couldn't find it in his heart to forgive them, though, something he still regretted. Once he rounded the, he could hear Tenzin saying, "Okay. Now, who wants Jinju on their team?"
They even let the pig play. He mentally apologized to Jinju for his insult. But still. They were talking about advantages and disadvantages, and they'd let Jinju play?
"How come you didn't protest after they let Jinju play and not you?"
"Because Jinju isn't the Avatar, or anyone special. Granted, he wasn't the most hygienic, and most of the airbenders kept a healthy distance away from him, but he was otherwise normal. Unlike me," Aang sighed, feeling some of the weight coming off of his chest with his confession. Eager to remove this weight, he continued. "Really, the only thing keeping me going was Gyatso..."
It was a sunny day, and Aang wasn't having it.
"But the true secret, is in the gooey center," Aang heard Gyatso say of the fruity dessert in front of him. He heard the rising of the center of the pie done by Gyatso's airbending, and could feel Gyatso's subsequent gaze on Aang's back. The Avatar was moping on the wall, sitting on the railing, cheek resting on his arm resting on his knee. He wasn't in the mood. Forget about the sun. It might as well have been raining that day.
Gyatso placed the pie next to the other three carefully positioned on the railings. "My ancient cake-making technique isn't the only thing on your mind, is it, Aang?" Gyatso asked. Cake, pie. Whatever. It was dessert. And it was pretty tasty, Aang admitted. But it wouldn't snap him out of his funk.
"This whole Avatar thing, m-maybe the monks made a mistake," Aang said desperately, his final attempt to try to make his world right-side up again.
And of course, it was in vain. "The only mistake they made was telling you before you turned sixteen," Gyatso said sympathetically. "But we can't concern ourselves with what was. We must act on what is," he spread his arm theatrically to the wonderful scenery of the world before the war.
The bison were frolicking in the sky, mothers and fathers and calves alike. From his vantage point, he could see all the denizens of the temple maintaining their home, working for sustenance, or just plain having fun. The sun shone brightly on the temple, casting away the darkness of the world.
But not of Aang's heart.
"But Gyatso? How do I know if I'm ready for this?"
"Your questions will be answered when you're old enough to enter the air temple sanctuary. Inside, you will meet someone who will guide you on your journey."
Which Aang had done - one hundred years too late. "Who is it?" he had asked eagerly.
And of course he was let down. "When you are ready, he will reveal himself to you." Aang covered his face with his hands, exasperated that nothing had been right since he had become the Avatar. "Now, are you going to help me with these cakes, or not?" Gyatso said, with a twinkle in his eye that meant one thing, and one thing only.
Those cakes weren't for dessert.
Maybe some things would never change.
Aang smiled back at his mentor. "All right," he said, standing up.
"One!" They brought their right hand up to their chests.
"Two!" Moving their hands in a circular motion, they conjured up balls of whirling air.
"Three!" They sent their balls of air forward. The pies went flying. Higher and higher they went into the sky, until all Aang could see were brightly colored dots. Good thing the sun was behind them. Otherwise the attempt would've gone as poorly as last time.
At last, to his satisfaction, Aang saw the pie-cakes falling down on their targets - the other Council members, doing their daily meditation.
For a fleeting moment, the monks just sat there, stunned at the sudden reversal of events. Where they had planned on retreating from the world to pass their day, they were now assaulted by flying lemurs eager to get a taste of the oozing sweetness of the desserts that rained down on them.
Aang and his mentor laughed at the antics of the monks and the lemurs alike. After settling down, they stepped back, faced each other, and bowed.
"Your aim has improved greatly, my young pupil," Gyatso said with pride and love.
Some things never do change.
"Welp, guess we know where you got your silliness from, Aangy," Sokka said.
Iroh nodded. "This Gyatso seems like a wise man who is not afraid to enjoy life how he wants to live it."
Aang agreed. "He was such a great teacher, and such a great person. He always looked out for me, even after I was declared the Avatar... I was always in a bad mood, but Gyatso could always snap me out of my funk..."
Aang could hear the others laughing and spinning around on their Air Scooters, likely playing their game. He was sitting down, and so could not peer out of the window to spectate.
He reluctantly moved a Pai Sho piece, not caring if it was a smart move, let alone if it was even legal to begin with.
Apparently not, as Gyatso looked down on the board, seeing Aang's move and pondering his own next course of action. "Very interesting move, young one," Gyatso had said.
Aang looked at his mentor. "What do you mean?"
Suddenly, Aang's shawl flipped over his face. When he finally won his struggle with his simple clothing, he looked down on the Pai Sho board to see the Gyatso had used the opportunity to not-so-discretely move two pieces around.
"Hey!" Aang said with mock anger, pointing at the Pai Sho board, shooting an accusing look at Gyatso. They laughed as someone approached the room they were playing in.
"You're playing games with him? The Avatar should be training!" they both turned around to see Monk Tashi in a huff, clearly disappointed in both the Avatar and his mentor.
"Aang has already trained enough for today," Gyatso said. But Tashi wasn't having it.
"Time is short," he responded. Monk Tashi turned to Aang. "Come with me. I must test you on some high level techniques."
Aang sadly made a move to get up, but to his surprise he found an arm barring his way.
"No. As long as I'm his guardian, I will decide when he trains ... and when he gets his butt kicked at Pai Sho," Gyatso said as Aang, smiling, looked with adoration at his guardian and savior.
"Hmph," grumped Tashi as he left master and pupil to their own devices.
Aang's eyes were glazed over, each word coming out more easily than the last as he began to approach the end. His tea sat cold, forgotten in his storytelling. He knew, however, that he had everyone captivated with his history, and his guilt.
Monk Tashi and Gyatso were making their arguments to Monk Pasang.
"Aang needs to have freedom and fun. He needs to grow up as a normal boy."
"You cannot keep protecting him from his destiny."
Pasang, having patiently heard out each side's positions, finally gave his judgment. "Gyatso, I know you mean well, but you are letting your affection for the boy cloud your judgment."
"All I want is what is best for him," Gyatso patiently pleaded.
Pasang, however, would not be moved. "But what we need is what's best for the world. You and Aang must be separated. The Avatar will be sent away to the Eastern Air Temple to complete his training."
The monks bowed to each other and left the room, not noticing the vines above them where Aang had been listening to the entire discussion with growing horror.
Aang tried to get angry at the monks, at himself, at someone, at anyone. But he couldn't, and the words just kept flowing out of his mouth.
It was a stormy night, but Aang had finished packing everything he needed.
Just as he started to fly off on Appa, he looked through his window to see Monk Gyatso inside, reading his letter. It pained his heart to treat his mentor in this matter, but he had no choice. He turned around, having satisfied with this last look on his former life.
The last look he'd ever get of his people and his home.
"I never saw Gyatso again. The next thing I knew, I was looking into Zuko's face - " he realized he said the banished prince's real name. He opened his mouth, but with his story done, he could not form a single word. Everyone was stunned into silence by the traumatic experiences Aang had.
"So you ran away," Jee quietly said.
"And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple. My people needed me and I wasn't there to help. The world needed me and I wasn't there to help!" he shouted, standing up. Sokka rolled his eyes.
"Aang, c'mon. We've been over this a hundred times. This. Is. Not. Your. Fault. Heck, you said you didn't even remember anything happening inside of the iceberg. How the heck were you even gonna break yourself out of it anyways? No Aang, if anything, the world has turned its back on you. War has triumphed over peace, order, and balance. They left you behind. But now," Sokka continued, wrapping his arms around everyone present. "You're awake. You're alive. And all of us, from the prince to the crew to the watertribe boy, we all believe in you, Aang. The world may have forgotten you after a hundred years' time, but now, it's time we showed the world what we left behind."
Aang smiled, grateful for the support of his friends - his new family - through thick and thin. Suddenly, in their moment of camaraderie, they realized their ship wasn't rocking anymore. They went outside, to see -
The most beautiful sky. A kaleidoscope of colors from red to purple to blue to green. It was a majestic panorama of colors, a fitting apology to the typhoon they bore witness to.
And they watched the sky, wondering about the powers above, who had given their worshipers this destiny.
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