Wisps of mist flicker over the steps like creeping moss.

As Aang walks along the path, the wisps begin to string together, forming a blanket that covers the ground and chills him.

His ankles cut through the rising white smoke. The path grows more obscured. Aang listens to his footsteps bury themselves into the growing expanse of white; thuds, to taps until his walk is a muffled silence and the air is clouded.

When he's no longer sure he's moving at all anymore.

He stops.


"Roku?"

There is not a reply, but Aang feels a familiar tug inside of him and so he closes his eyes.

He ponders whether he should ever let Katara know his little secret and then thinks better of it. There is far more at stake than never telling the girl he once loved that he isn't afraid— not entirely; and that he never was.

Aang isn't afraid of the Avatar State.

He knows he should be; knows the damage he can do; knows that the power is a gift not solely his. It would be a lie to say he is not afraid at all. Yet within that fear is a strange sort of bliss. Aang doesn't want to stay in the past — he knows that — he has come to terms with it. But when he is in the Avatar State and a breath away from being a Spirit himself; Aang can almost delude himself into believing he had time to say goodbye.

And then he wakes up.

"Avatar Aang."

He bows. "Avatar Roku."

His mentor looks weary, a feat for any Spirit, as he utters, "Dark Spirits have prevented us from reaching you. I do not know what they want nor how they have been able to interfere in such a manner."

"What do I do to fix this?" interrupts Aang for he is weary as well. It is his destiny to restore and maintain balance, yes, but Aang had viewed balance like a burnt bridge that needed mending, not as a handful of strings, each one twisting, and snapping, and falling as soon as he relaxes his arms for a hairsbreadth.

Roku sighs, the sound as heavy as the surrounding fog, "It is unusual for us to know so little." He softly admits. The wrinkles on his skin deepening at the admission. "The Dark Spirit you defeated is quite an elusive one. We know it uses negative emotions to lure and consume its prey, but we do not know why it decided to merge with a human nor how it was able to use one as a host. However, their deaths do appear to have brought some stability back into the Spirit World."

He looks to Aang thoughtfully. "Perhaps, defeating these Dark Spirits is the key—"

"Hama is dead?"

Roku pauses and in the silence, Aang comes to his own conclusion. "I killed her."

"No."

Roku's mouth twists into a pained expression so characteristically Zuko that Aang can't help but feel comforted even as reality sets into his shoulders.

"Staying bound to a Dark Spirit would be a fate worse than death," continues Roku, putting his hand on Aang's shoulder as if to steady him, "The host would have been consumed. What you did was give her peace."

The hand squeezes around his shoulder. "Hama was dead the moment she agreed to the deal," declares Roku, but his words are less than comforting.

There is a chill around his heart; a cold piece of dread sinking into it like a stone. "There are others. Aren't there," asks Aang in a small voice. He swallows. His throat feels hollow. "How do we defeat them?"

Is there another way? He wants to scream.

Roku removes his hand.

"You defeated the Dark Spirit by countering its nature. Your sympathy created an opening and Hama used it to sever her bond. But it was a very risky maneuver." Roku pauses to let the words sink in, and then with a disapproving air about him he continues, "For the others, you'll have to be more decisive and strike them down before they can trap you."

Anger flashes through Aang's chest. "I don't want to kill anyone!" he screams.

Ire. Salt choking in his throat and staining his tongue; a frothy mixture that fills his mouth. He spews.

"You can't help me! You couldn't help anyone! I fulfilled my duties. I defeated the Fire Lord. All you did was give me problems!"

He huffs. His mentor stays silent and that silent rebuttal makes Aang feel worse.

"You don't even know what causes this," spits Aang, ire turning into bitter shame, "I—"

Roku flings his arms out, striking Aang on the shoulder.

Airbending, Aang belatedly realizes as a gust of wind follows the strike and sends him careening backward, He just used airbending on me!

"Show yourself Spirit!" bellows Roku, his voice tearing through the shrouded clouds.

At first, Aang fears that it is Azula; that she has followed him and is now face to face with the wrath of a fully-fledged Avatar.

Then the terrain warps.

Aang gets up quick—too quick. The veins in his temple pound in protest and he's woozy on his feet so he settles into a more defensive stance and leans on his glider for balance.

He's trying to convince his body that Hama isn't going to bloodbend him again without also acknowledging that she can't because she's dead and he inadvertently killed her when the air around him turns sweltering.

Aang looks to Avatar Roku. The heat, it's coming from him , who wears an expression so emotionless it could belong to a Dai Li agent if it wasn't for the way the air boils around him.

He shuffles closer, ignoring the discomfort. Sozin is staring at Roku with a doleful expression and wrinkles so deep they could have been drawn with chalk.

The Fire Lord rasps, "Old friend—"

"Leave." Avatar Roku drops the word from his tongue like a poison. "You are no friend of mine, or have you forgotten your betrayal? You chose to wage a war marked by death, the first of which being our friendship. Do not dare to call me your friend when you'd much rather have me as a corpse."

"I am here to warn you," sneers Sozin, the allure of friendship dropping like a mask. "The current chaos is of your own doing, Old Friend. "

Roku flicks out his hand and in the blink of an eye, Sozin is swept off his feet.

"Enough," proclaims Roku, turning his back on Sozin.

But the Fire Lord is a stubborn man.

Aang watches as Sozin staggers back to his feet. He turns towards Roku and says, almost reluctantly, "Maybe we should hear what he has to say?"

Roku's lips thin. "Ignore him, Aang."

"Don't!" shouts the Fire Lord. "Young Avatar. You must believe me. In the future, the Avatar Cycle breaks!"

"Lies," cuts off Roku, "More lies from the dishonorable."

Sozin lurches forward and Roku turns away.

"You can feel it. Can't you?" rasps Sozin, his voice growing guttural in desperation. "Your future. Once untethered, the Avatar becomes a tyrant!"


Aang has never been afraid of the Avatar State.

Not fully.

When Roku's eyes glow a blinding white, Aang feels a shiver of fear scurries across his skin like a spiderfly.

He watches his mentor breathe out a sea of flames and extinguishes Sozin's spirit like a candle.

And he says nothing.

He's already dead, thinks Aang, with a strange sort of comfort. I didn't kill him. He's already dead. I killed Hama.

"Sit down next to me," says Roku. His voice solemn yet holding the edges of a heavy sigh breaks Aang out of his thoughts.

Avatar Roku kneels onto the clouded ground.

Aang follows suit. He feels the fog pour over his thighs like cold sand. The moment is calm, but his heart is erratic.

"You are playing with fire, Avatar Aang."

The words strike the air like a whip. Silence settles uncomfortably between them.

Aang grips his knees.

"I'm sorry," he says after a pause, swallowing the remnants of ire like lumps of salt.

"For what?" questions Roku, his tongue striking iron.

Aang looks away. "I don't know." He runs his knuckles through the fog. Internally, he tries to mime the words I'm sorry for yelling at you, but there's a burn down his throat that reminds him that it's not fucking fair.

"How many hosts are there?" he quietly asks, instead.

"Aang. I know you're upset—"

"—But I have to fulfill my duties as the Avatar otherwise the balance will be broken and the Four Nations will never live in harmony." Aang takes a gasp of breath. "I know."

"You're too young."

Aang looks at Roku. His mentor doesn't seem angry at him and that somehow makes him feel worse.

"I'm sorry," he tries again, "I didn't mean to yell at you."

"It's not your fault," sighs Roku, closing his eyes, "I failed my duties as The Avatar when I let my personal attachments interfere with my judgment. My mistake led to death and it placed a burden on you far too soon."

"I'm still alive, aren't I?" says Aang, raising his head. "They didn't get all the airbenders."

"They got enough." Roku frowns into the fog. "Showing empathy towards your opponent may have saved you this time, but it was risky, Aang. I would know."

Aang breathes in. Is this about my soulmate?

"How many people?" he asks.

Roku breathes out. "Hosts. Three more."

"Is there another way?"

Roku doesn't respond. Aang swallows again. "I'm sor—"

"Don't be. I didn't give you enough time." Roku breathes in and Aang makes himself breathe with him. "It is not easy being the Avatar," continues his mentor, "In exchange for balance we sacrifice ourselves. Our lives. Our friendships. Ourselves."

Aang nods.

"Your soulmate. She has Sozin's blood."

"That doesn't mean anything." It's not her blood that makes her dangerous.

"It is a risk," stresses Roku. "And you must be decisive as to which ones you can take."

"I'm sorry," continues Aang. "But I don't want to kill anyone."


Azula finds Aang staring at nothing.

She kicks him.

"I hope you don't think you're bearing this alone."


Aang looks up in half-surprise. "You heard?"

He had expected Azula to hunt him. He hadn't expected her to lay in wait and listen in on their conversation.

"Of course."

"Azula..." Aang considers asking how much she heard but, What would be the point? She's heard enough. He sighs, internally rueing the fact that sound can travel through a fog, and folds his arms. "That wasn't meant for you."

She mirrors the gesture. "And you think it was meant for you?"

What?

"I'm the Avatar," he says, in case she, somehow, forgot.

Azula uncrosses her arms to place a hand daintily on her hip. "And I killed the Avatar. If anything, Roku was using you as a messenger."

"I—" Aang coughs, and clears his throat. Is she trying to comfort me?

"I hadn't considered that," he mumbles, looking her over, and taking in her uncharacteristically stiff stance.

She is.

"Are you underestimating me, Aang?" There is a warning in her tone that tugs at the edges of his lips.

Aang stays quiet only long enough to see the bronzed earth of her eyes flash marigold as they narrow. "No Princess," he says with a smile, "that would be quite foolish."

"Good. Then we're in agreement. You find the hosts and I'll deal with them."

"I can't let you do that," he says, and then, before she can disagree, he adds, "Thank you, but, I need to do this."

She stares at him, her hands trailing back up her arms, absentmindedly brushing against her soulmark. "Not alone. I won't risk inadequacy when the world is at stake."

"It feels wrong," says Aang, taking a sharp breath. "I know people think killing is easy, and in a way it is. It's the easiest thing in the world. But I was taught to bring peace, and I assumed that meant to everyone. If I kill someone, that means I couldn't help them. It means I failed.

"As the Avatar or as Aang?"

Aang winces. "I don't know. Both? Maybe I—" He swallows, not wanting to complete the thought. Maybe I'm wrong?

"It will be a challenge," continues Azula, looking away, "I hope you're up for it. I won't find a peaceful solution and put up with slackers."

"Okay."

Azula blinks at the abrupt response. "Okay?" she echoes.

Aang takes a deep breath and holds it until his heartbeat softens. He looks at her and exhales.

"Okay."


Authors Note:

So you may have noticed that the chapters have been taking more time to update. I'm getting bogged down with real life and I like to write out my chapters before posting so this is a good point for a hiatus.

The fic will be updated! I already have part 2 (and part 3) chapters written out but sadly not in order so there are parts missing in the middle and I'll likely make changes to them. Once I have them ready I'll post.

In the meantime, let me know your thoughts. Likes, dislikes, what you'd like to see in a future chapter, what you'd like to see changed in previous chapters, etc.