Word Count: 1,710
but I choose you everyday.
A blinding, bright white light.
The sight before Aang was so harsh on his eyes he felt as though he'd never see again.
But then he saw everything.
It wasn't a white light, it was a spirit. A large, white spirit with tendrils that formed like a kite and blue markings etched into its skin. It was familiar and warm. The spirit spun, circling around Aang before settling before his face, levelling its eye with his. It was an old friend… who had never left.
"Raava," he spoke, as though he knew her like a childhood friend.
But he shouldn't have known her. Or at least, he shouldn't know anything about her.
But he knew everything.
Strange, how that worked.
"Aang," she softly greeted. "I would say it's nice to meet you, but I've known you all your life." She chuckled. "Though I suppose it is your first time meeting me."
He didn't bother trying to take in his surroundings, as both nothing and everything filled that void. Aang just kept his focus on the great spirit before him, enamoured by her beauty. It must've been his teachings or a result of his spiritual connection, but he was in awe of the amount of Light he was feeling. As someone who believed in pacifism and peace, love and kindness, feeling Raava's presence put him at ease. Considering…
He was dead.
"So," he grinned, "a heart attack's a pretty lame way to go as an Avatar, huh?"
Raava guffawed. "Well, considering your first life ended in the heat of battle, I could understand your chagrin," she had no face, but Aang could tell she was smiling at him, "Though I would suggest 'lacklustre' as a kinder blanket term."
Aang chuckled, rubbing his head. "That does sound like a more polite way of describing it," he agreed. He shook his head and sighed. "Toph's gonna be so mad." He facepalmed. "She said the only way she'd accept me dying ahead of her was if I was holding up a mountain collapse with my finger."
"You've just passed into the afterlife and your immediate thought is your wife being upset with how pathetically you died?" Raava mused.
He looked up at her. "Hey, you know how she is."
She snickered. "Indeed I do," she teased as she swirled around Aang. "You're not upset about your time?"
He frowned. "I mean… yeah. I think it's a pretty rare case for someone not to be. An-And it's not like I wasn't ready or wasn't aware." He shrugged. "I just kinda wish I got to say bye to my family. Tenzin was just getting accustomed to being on the City Council, Lin with the Chief of Police, and Suyin starting to travel—I just wanted to see them all one last time."
"Maybe you will," Raava remarked, lowering herself to his level once again. "In your next life."
He smirked. "What do you know about this one?"
"She's a fiery spirit, no doubt," Raava said, "but I suspect she'll also be gifted."
"Weren't we all?" he teased.
"I meant in terms of prowess, though I am never sure of such things."
Aang hesitated a moment. "What are you sure of?"
"Come again?"
"You've… been with us for centuries and no doubt have seen so much out of all our lives," he explained.
"Indeed."
"So… in terms of reincarnation," he looked up at her with a worried look, "what hand did you play there?"
Again, for the lack of a face, he got the impression she was raising a contemplative brow. "You fear your love wasn't genuine?"
He shook his head. "We had three kids and we practically helped create a city together—I know it was genuine."
"Then?"
"Did you play a hand in it?"
Raava chuckled. "You make it sound as though I am playing Pai Sho with your lives."
Aang grinned as he sat down cross legged. "Consider me shooting a theory."
His companion lowered herself once again to match his eye level. "Well, in turn, tell me, Aang: what do you think of your partner as of now?"
He tilted his head. "How do you mean?"
"Do you feel sorrow? Knowing she has to live a longer life without you?"
He frowned, feeling as though that was obvious. "Of course. But… I was aware of my condition long before this," he reminded her, "Downsides of staying in ice for a hundred years apparently."
Raava bristled. "I won't apologize for saving your life."
He laughed. "I wasn't complaining! I found meaning in my suffering," he quickly brushed off. "And I think… I think they will too."
"Your family?"
"My kids," he backtracked, "at the very least." He sadly smiled at the thought. "Tenzin and Lin would employ themselves to do good for the world and Su… she would want to keep true to herself to honour me."
"You certainly know your children well," Raava mused, waving her tail-like tendril around. "Though, you don't give your wife the benefit of the doubt?" she curiously inquired. "Do you not think she's capable of doing the same?"
He laughed. "I know she's stubborn," he fondly stated, "I can only hope my family—everyone, not just my kids—can embrace her in this time of need before she just shuts down." He looked down at his hands. "It's scary how easily we contrast each other because it just plays into our worst flaws sometimes."
"Oh?"
He nodded. "Her stubbornness can enhance my irritation, my patience can hamper her impulsiveness," his cheeks grew wide with a grin, "my affection can be stonewalled sometimes and her humour can fall on Deaf ears." He shook his head, thinking on how the two acted when they were younger. "But we just as easily compliment those contrasts too. Toph's intimacy is something I respond to instantaneously. My passiveness and indecisive moments are made up by her impulses and instinct. I know I can bring out the best in her the same way I can bring out the worst.
"Which is why I fear for how she copes," he worriedly expressed, "She deserves to know how to live on without me to temper her attitude. We completed each other, but… I don't think she was ever ready to do it on her own."
"No one ever is," Raava remarked. "No matter how much they think they've prepared."
Aang gulped. "I worry… because I'm quite possibly the only person that could stand her stubbornness. It'd take all my children to work together just to match my patience," he joked. "But really? I worry my family might give up on her too quickly—let her have her way."
"And you don't want her to have her way?"
He vigorously shook his head. "She'd run away. Or wall herself up. I… I don't want her suffering in silence when she has hands to reach out to." He looked down at his palms. "But I'm all she's ever reached for in life, so how can she stand to that now?"
A pregnant silence settled after that.
Then Raava spoke. "I think you overcomplicate things, Aang." He quizzically looked up at her. "You're confident in her stubbornness, no?" At his nod, she quipped, "Then she shall be stubborn in how she mourns."
He snorted. "That's what I'm worried about."
"I mean it in a positive light too," she countered, eliciting more confusion from the recent Avatar. "Her stubbornness, by all accounts, can be that her grief will not best her. It might be her way of honouring you as her husband. Standing strong and proud. She may seek to conquer it—"
"Because she's Toph," Aang sardonically caught on.
"Because she's Toph," Raava amusedly nodded. "You certainly know how to pick them."
He furrowed a brow. "Me? Or us in particular?"
Raava laughed. "Yes and no I suppose." He rolled his eyes in kind. "It is interesting, I've noticed," she bemused, "how every Avatar who chooses to pursue a partner—romantic or platonic—they seem to balance them with contrast."
Aang blinked. "Really?"
Raava laughed again. "I mean, it's not always as profound as yours. Sometimes it's in more subtle ways, but I realize, it's perhaps poetic in that necessity."
"Necessity?" Aang echoed.
"The Avatar is meant to be capable of compassion, and who better to develop it than someone who contrasts them in beliefs, ideals, passions, etcetera," Raava listed off. "It's as you say with your beloved. One's patience is strengthened by their partner's impulsiveness. One's brute power is honed by their partner's strategy. One's joyous aura is purified by their partner's tenacity.
"It seems as though balance, Yin and Yang, is always a constant within us. A bridge between worlds, a bridge between nations. And in your pursuits of love, a bridge of differences from few and far between." She chuckled. "Why, it's poetry I believe your ancestors would have longed to write about."
Aang giggled. "Anything you say would be something they would have longed to document," he fairly addressed. "But even though you recognize the pattern, you don't ever… sense us through reincarnation? Like, a past lover we once bonded with. You've never given us a nudge in the right direction."
Raava earnestly replied, "All I ensure is the reincarnation of the Avatar cycle, in that you will be reborn upon death outside of the Avatar State. From then on, I can say there is no right direction. Merely just your way of perception."
Aang revelled at that. "So our pursuit of love is entirely on us?" he hopefully clarified, earning a nod. Pride instilled within him as he thought back on his wife. The Swamp, fate, prophecies and fortune tellers—Aang didn't need any of that to know he would choose Toph without universal coincidence telling him too. His own common sense was doing enough of that. He'd be a fool to never pursue it.
"All I know is when the moment happens," Raava smugly stated, "I know they're the one." She sounded fairly amused. "Though, I personally believe that could also be chalked up to a more parental intuition rather than a spiritual one."
In spite of it, he still asked, "Was she the one for me?"
"Do you believe she was?"
"Yes."
"Then she was."
Because that was all that mattered.
A/N: Did I do an eighth day because my rhyming couplet titles were an odd number? Maybe. Did I also want an excuse to write a BIT more ATLA? Definitely. Very much less on the Taang side as a unit and more as a one-sided perspective. I gotta admit, I'm not a fan of soulmate AUs. I think the concept is kinda cheesy and honestly quite limiting in regards to tropes and how it opens itself up to certain avenues. I DO like soulmate AUs that take a spin on the concept by combating it with fighting destiny or having a soulmate that doesn't exist because they've passed. Tangent aside, my point is I DO like the aspect of what Raava suggests toward the spirit of the Avatar.
Setting aside my opinion on how the writers poorly handled a great deal of things for LoK, I thought a good avenue to explore would be Raava interacting with OTHER Avatars. In this case, I wondered how she would engage Aang, a notably free and kind soul who's in tune with his spiritual side. And more interestingly—as we know Avatar spirits are capable of engaging with others even outside of the Avatar itself—I wondered how they would discuss Toph in terms of a romantic partner. I mean, every Avatar has to wonder at some point: "did I fall in love with this person because I loved them? Or because Raava believes we're soulmates?"
Even though this fic discusses it, I don't think Aang would seriously doubt his love for Toph being founded out of his own will. But I do think he'd want to learn something from one of the oldest spirits in the world. Aspects of grief and coping in reference to a spirit of Light? It sounds intriguing. And if the conversation steers to love and romance, then that's just how the cookie crumbles. Sorry if you expected something heavier or larger in scale. I thought a dialogue centric ending was a good note end on in a reflective light. Lemme know what you think!
Fic debriefing/discussion aside, thanks for following me throughout all of Taang Week. Or if you're someone who just decided to read this fic and didn't realize it was part of a ship week—go ahead and read the other seven! If you want to see what else I'm into, follow me on Tumblr! blehblarghblah is my username, so feel free to check in on what I'm up to!
I AM currently in my first sem of my third year at university, so I will be busy until late December. If you want to see fics I have in store, check out my pinned post on my blog! Can't guarantee another Taang fic anytime soon, but I am happy that I participated in this week and got some fics out there, because Taang is in need of some good stories.
And who knows? I might do next year's Taang Week, we'll see! But no promises, sorry. If you want to see some more of these oneshots, perhaps in a twoshot or ongoing collection series lemme know on Tumblr or in the reviews! Again, no promises, but depending on the feedback I might be inclined for CERTAIN oneshots.
Thanks again for reading.
Until next time,
- Bleh