The Avatar State: Part One

Okay, sorry for the wait for the update (somewhat long, if any of you actually cared) I know that its winter break, so I should update more, but during the holiday's I get really lazy and sluggish.

Okay, anyway, disclaimer: If I owned Avatar the Last Airbender do you really think I'd be writing a fanfiction for it? The only thing I own is Tora and her mom. And the idea for the story.

Edit: New version! Changes in the chapter. Watch out for them. Some of them are kinda subtle, so you may not notice them, but they're there.

I was running through the forest, my hair whipping around me. I couldn't see a thing. All I could hear was someone saying the word, "Faster! Faster!" The voice sounded eerily like mine, only louder and shriller.

I tripped over a tree root and fell on my knees. "Ahh!" I quickly got back to my feet, and continued running.

Katara's voice filled the air. "Tora! Help us!"

I came upon a cave. The walls were covered with glowing lights that I realized were jewels. The voice came back again, louder and louder every time. Bouncing off the walls, ringing in my ears, it was everywhere!

"Only one is genuine!"

"Choose!"

"Choose!"

"Choose!"

The word echoed around me, bouncing of the walls.

"Which one? Which one is the right one?" I yelled, rushing up to the wall, attempting to pull out the glowing stones. I saw a glow out of the corner of my eye, and turned around. In the floor was a large glowing red gem. I got to my knees and gently pried out the stone. I lifted it up to my face, and stared at the thing in my hands.

Instead of the gem, there was a small dead brown bird.

I had chosen wrong.

My scream filled the air.

I shot up in my sleeping bag, gasping for breath. Katara and Aang were already awake, and Katara looked over at me.

We had found some "shelter" on an island the day before, an island that none of us had even known was there before. Shelter, meaning a place that had no Fire Nation soldiers. It didn't have much of anything, really. Only a sand dune, some trees, some grass, and enough space for Appa and us humans to stretch out and camp for the night.

"Good night sleep, Tora?" Katara asked me, watching me carefully.

I sucked in a huge gulp of air, and then answered the question. "Yeah, great. Just super!" I gasped.

Katara gave me an unconvinced look, but turned back to Aang when he started talking again. "I can't wait to see it, Katara! I can't wait to see you see it! The Air Temples are the most beautiful places in the world!"

I crawled out of my sleeping bag and rolled it up, before tossing it up into Appa's saddle. I walked around to Appa's head and rubbed his nose affectionately. Despite his slightly scary appearance (how many cows do you see that are that big, furry, and have six legs?), he was just a big gentle giant. "How'd you sleep, Appa?" I cooed. The Sky Bison, as a greeting, groaned and gave me a soft nudge with his nose.

"-can change in all that time."

I looked up at Katara, who seemed concerned about something. Most likely, how excited Aang was about seeing his home. I had to agree with her about that. I mean, it had been a hundred years since he had last been there.

Last night, Katara and Aang had both explained to Sokka and me about how Aang had been frozen in the ice for a hundred years. It had helped both of us – Sokka, because now he knew why Aang didn't know about the Hundred Year War, and me, because now I knew how he had escaped the Air Nomad genocide.

Looking over at Sokka, who was still sleeping like he was dead, I planted my hands on my hips. "Now, how do we wake Captain Snores-a-lot?"

Aang floated off Appa's head, and walked over to Sokka. "Sokka, wake up! It's Air Temple time!"

"Sleep now… Temple later!" Sokka groaned, rolling over.

I walked over to him. "I got this." I said, raising my hand to show Aang I would take care of it. I leaned down next to Sokka and whispered very softly in his ear. "Sokka…"

He groaned. "Sokka…"

He groaned again. "SOKKA WAKE UP, A SEA MONSTER TOOK YOUR BREAKFAST!"

He jumped up in his sleeping bag, and started hopping around. "AHHH! NOT MY BREAKFAST!" Then he tripped over a rock and fell on his face. I straightened up and smiled at him. In return, he rolled over in his sleeping bag and glared at me, showing off his now red forehead.

"Good, you're up!" I said cheerfully. "Now, would someone please give me a lift on Appa?"

~~Water~~

"Uncle, I want repairs made as quickly as possible." Zuko said as he stomped down to the docks. His very much damaged ship was much smaller than all the others in the harbour, something he was painfully aware of. "I don't want to stay too long and risk losing his trail."

Iroh asked his nephew if by "him", he meant the Avatar.

Zuko spun around angrily, and gave his uncle a furious rant – about how his uncle shouldn't have been saying "his" name, as it would bring every able firebender out on "his" trailer, and they would possibly lose their target to another person – something Zuko most definitely did not want. "I don't want anyone getting in my way!"

"Getting in the way of what?"

Zuko and Iroh both turned toward the new voice, and Zuko saw the last person he wanted to see.

Captain Zhao.

"Captain Zhao." He said distastefully.

"Actually, it's Commander now." He turned to Iroh. "General Iroh. The great hero of our Nation." He bowed respectively.

"Retired General." Iroh corrected, though he bowed as well.

"The Fire Lord's relatives are welcomed guests any time." Zhao said, before inquiring what had brought them to his harbour. In response, Iroh gestured to their heavily damaged ship. As he looked at it, Zhao's eyebrow raised slightly. "That's-"

Zuko swiftly interrupted the older man. "Yes, you would not believe what happened." Zuko glanced at Iroh. "Uncle! Tell Commander Zhao what happened." Iroh's eyes went wide

"Uh… yes, alright, I'll tell him. It was incredible… did we crash or something?" He whispered the last part to Zuko.

If Zhao hadn't been in front of them, Zuko would have rolled his eyes. "Yes! We did crash. Right into an Earth Kingdom ship, too. It was terrible."

Zhao raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing them. "Really? Fascinating. Would you join me for a drink? I'd love to hear the details."

"We have to go. Sorry." Zuko said coldly, not sounding sorry at all. He turned around to leave, but Iroh placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Prince Zuko, show Commander Zhao your respect." He turned back to Zhao. "We would be honored to join you. Do you have any ginseng tea? It's my favorite." With that, the retired General and the new Commander walked off together.

Zuko snarled in frustration, and let a flame explode from his hands, but nevertheless turned to follow his Uncle.

~~Water~~

I leaned against the side of the saddle, closing my eyes and trying to at least get a little nap before we reached our destination. We were currently flying over a mountain range, getting closer and closer to the Southern Air Temple.

"Tora?" I opened one eye, and saw Katara staring at me. "What did you dream about last night?"

"What makes you think I dreamed about anything?" I asked, sitting up and crossing my legs.

"Well, for one thing, you haven't said anything sarcastic about anything all morning."

I shifted over onto my side. "Katara, I'm fine, really. Stop worrying."

"Really? You're fine?" She pressed.

I rolled over so I could see her. "Yes, Katara. I really am fine."

"Okay, whatever you say." She sighed, knowing not to press too much. With that, I flipped over onto my side and closed my eyes again.

"Hey, girls, be quiet all right? I'm trying to find me some food!" Sokka said from the other side of the saddle. I heard rustling, and then he called out, "Hey, you guys know what happened to my blubbered seal jerky?"

"Oh, that was food?" Aang asked. "I used it to light the campfire last night."

"Good for you Aang! You found a practical use for that stuff!" I congratulated him, lifting up my fist and giving him a thumbs up with my eyes still closed.

"No wonder the fire smelled so good." Sokka said sadly.

"The Batola mountain range!" Aang suddenly. I opened my eyes and sat up, sighing as I realized my dreams of taking a nap around these guys was next to impossible. "We're almost there!"

Katara looked uneasy. "Aang? Before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders."

"What about 'em?"

"I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless." Katara said. I winced. "They killed my mother. They could have done the same to the Air Nomads as well."

"Hey, can we not talk about how ruthless the Fire Nation is in front of me?" I muttered under my breath. It made me uncomfortable to hear everyone talking about the "evil Fire Nation" when I was standing right there. It was my home – I'm not proud of what they've done, but it was where I was born and raised. I mean, how would they like it if I started talking about the day of the Full Moon Massacre*? When both Water Tribe's slaughtered about a thousand benders for no reason other than them being benders? They wouldn't like it if I just started talking about that, would they?

"Just because no one's seen airbenders for a while, doesn't mean that the Fire Nation killed them all." Aang said, shrugging. "They probably escaped and are in hiding now because of the war."

I sat up. "It's a hard thing to accept, Aang, but-"

"You don't understand, Tora." Aang interrupted, looking at me. "The only way you could get to an Air Temples is on a Flying Bison, like Appa. I doubt the Fire Nation has any Flying Bison. Right, Appa?" He asked Appa, who groaned in agreement.

"There might have been other ways-" I started, but before I could finish, Katara shot me a look, and I closed my mouth.

"Yip-yip!"

Appa flew higher and soared around the mountains, but he was going so fast that we had to cling to the side of the saddle to keep from falling off. We skimmed over the top of some tall pine trees, through the clouds… and there it was. Aang had been right about it – it really was beautiful.

"Beautiful!" I exclaimed in amazement, voicing my thoughts.

"There it is. The Southern Air Temple." Aang said, sounding proud. I couldn't blame him.

"It's amazing!" Katara exclaimed, just as amazed as I was.

Aang stroked Appa's furry arrowed head. "We're home, buddy. We're home."

I felt a twinge of sorrow for the kid. He still had no idea.

~~Water~~

"And by the year's end, the Ba Sing Se will have fallen, the entire Earth Kingdom shall be under our control, and Fire Lord Ozai will have finally won the war." Zhao finished his speech smugly, standing before a map of the world. Zuko was hardly listening, choosing instead to glare at the Commander, and Iroh, having finished his tea, was inspecting the weapons Zhao had in his tent.

"My father is a fool if he believes that the entire world will just follow him willingly." Zuko spat.

"Two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue." Zhao said coolly. After a short pause, he spoke again. "So, how is your search for the Avatar going?"

A large crash filled the room. Both Zuko and Zhao instantly turned to stare at Iroh, who had an array of weapons at his feet.

"My fault entirely." He said as he slowly backed away. Zuko rolled his eyes at his uncle and gave an inwardly sigh.

"We haven't found him yet." Zuko lied as he turned his attention back to the conversation.

"What did you expect? The Avatar died a hundred years ago with the rest of his people." Zhao scoffed. Zuko refused to make eye contact. "Unless you've found evidence the Avatar is alive?"

"No. Nothing." Zuko said shortly.

Zhao rose from his chair. "Prince Zuko. The Avatar is the only thing that could deny the Fire Nation victory in this war. If you have any loyalty at all, you will tell me what you've found out."

"I haven't found anything." Zuko said coldly. "It's like you said: the Avatar most likely with his people a century ago." He stood up and gave Zhao a short nod. "We'll be leaving now."

As Zuko tried to leave the tent, he was stopped by the guards, who crossed their weapons in front of him, blocking the exit. Another guard approached Zhao, and told him the worst thing possible. "Commander Zhao, we interrogated Prince Zuko's crew, as you ordered. They all told us Prince Zuko captured the Avatar, but let him escape."

Zhao smirked. Zuko cursed under his breath.

"And there was something else." The guard continued. Zuko's eyes widened a fraction. "They told us Prince Zuko had taken custody of a girl, a bender of both fire and water."

"Now tell me again…" Zhao approached Zuko from behind and smirked down at the teenager. "How exactly was your ship damaged?"

~~Water~~

A breeze flew through my hair, blowing a few loose strands into my face. I tucked them behind my ear impatiently, knowing they would fall right back again in a matter of seconds.

"So, can we get something to eat here?" Sokka asked loudly as we walked up the pathway to the main square of the Air Temple. I rolled my eyes. Spirits help me.

"You're going to be one of the first outsiders to ever see an Air Temple, and you're thinking about food?" Katara demanded, sounding just as irritated as I felt.

"I'm just a simple guy with simple needs."

I rolled my eyes again. Aang was running up ahead. He stopped at the edge of the path to let us catch up. "So, my friends and I would play airball over there," He said, pointing to a grove of poles sticking out of the ground with a wooden goal looking thing at each end. "And over there, that's where our bisons would sleep! And…" he slowly stopped talking. Then, he did something I had never heard him do before. He sighed.

"What's the matter?" I asked, concerned.

"This place used to be alive. It would be filled with airbenders and Bison's and Flying Lemurs... Now there's just a bunch of weeds." He sat down on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Temple and stared out at his past home, sighing again. "I can't believe how much has changed."

I put a hand on his shoulder as I reached him. He looked up at me sadly, and I gave him a small smile.

"Hey, you know who would love to play airball?" I asked him. "Sokka!"

"Sokka would what?" Sokka asked, blinking wildly.

~~Water~~

In about five minutes, Aang and Sokka were on the airball field. Aang had a wooden ball in his hands, and he airbended air around it to keep it floating and spinning. Suddenly he started handling it with amazing talent. He then threw it very high into the air, and while it was up, he closed his eyes and put his hands behind his back. As the air came back to the ground (or, where Aang was standing on the poles) he blasted air, and sent it rocketing through the poles, bouncing wildly off each other, but it kept on flying toward Sokka at an amazing speed. When it finally reached Sokka (who, I should add, looked completely unprepared for anything) it hit him in the stomach and sent him flying backwards through the goal and into the snow below him.

I burst out laughing as Aang yelled, "Aang seven, Sokka zero!" I gave out a loud "whoop" and punched the air, while Katara gave me an odd look for reasons I didn't and still don't know.

"Katara, you better check this out." Sokka yelled from where he had fallen. Katara ran toward him, while I ran toward Aang to congratulate him.

"Nice job, Aang. I wish I was an airbender." I said, leaning against one of the poles.

"Yeah, it's pretty great." Aang agreed. Katara suddenly yelled for Aang to come over, and I followed. I caught a glimpse of something red in front of Sokka, before Katara suddenly waterbended the snow above them onto both whatever it was and Sokka.

"What is it?" Aang asked. Katara gave him a small smile, before she claimed that she wanted to show us her new waterbending trick. Aang grinned, and complimented her trick, but told her that the time for practicing was over.

"We've got a whole temple to explore!" Aang said before running off.

"You know, you can't protect him forever." Sokka said, as he had freed himself from the snow. I turned to him.

"What did you find?" I asked curiously, though I already had an idea of what it was.

"A Fire Nation soldiers helmet." Sokka said darkly. I gasped in horror, and turned to Katara.

"How could you keep that from him? He deserves to know!"

"I know he does. But he's so happy right now." She said, which made me think, when is he not happy? "If he found out the firebenders were here, it would destroy him."

I opened my mouth, trying to find something to say, but found I couldn't. "Alright. But I do not agree with your decision. And you have to tell him sometime." I said, before running off to catch up with Aang.

When we reached the entrance to the temple, I ran in with Aang, giving Katara and Sokka some alone time to speak. Aang suddenly stopped in front of a statue of an old monk with a moustache and an airbender pendant. It was covered in small cracks, eroded with time.

"Guys! I want you to meet somebody!" Aang yelled at them, and they came over to us.

"Who's that?" Sokka asked bluntly.

"This is Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender of all time." Aang said, gesturing to the statue. "He taught me everything I know." Aang smiled at the statue, and seemed to enter his little Avatar/Airbender imaginary world. He bowed to the statue.

"You miss him." Katara said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah." Aang sighed, before suddenly walking off into the temple.

"Where y' going?" I asked him.

"To the Air Temple Sanctuary. There's someone I'm ready to meet."

A minute later, we were standing in front of a very large door, with some fancy design on it and two giant horns on either side.

"There's no way someone could live in there for a hundred years, Aang." Katara said, trying to reason with him.

"I survived in the iceberg for that long, didn't I?" Aang point.

"Good point." Katara agreed, looking up at the door.

"But that was with the Avatar magic ice all around him!" I said, waving my hands in the air.

Of course, no one listened to me.

"Katara, whoever's in there could help me figure out this whole Avatar thing!" Aang exclaimed, looking up at the door in excitement.

Sokka suddenly appeared out of nowhere, peering around me and staring at the door with wide eyes. "And whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious, cured meats ready for me to eat!" He yelled, before sprinting toward the door.

"Yeah, someone who lived inside there for a hundred years would have a big pile of un-rotten meat for you." I said dryly, watching in amusement as my friend slammed against the door, pushed on it with all his strength, before sliding down the door in defeat.

"So, do you have the key to this door or what?" Sokka asked.

"The key, Sokka, is airbending." Aang said, and he shot air into both horns, and they blew through the tubes, one by one turning over the Air Nomad symbols on the door, showing the maroon side that had been facing the door. When all three of the symbols had been flipped over, we heard some noises from the inside of the temple, and the door slowly opened, to reveal a dark room.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Aang called into the room. When no one answered, the water tribe siblings and me exchanged looks, and we all slowly stepped inside.

Edit: So how'd you guys like this new version? I liked it better than the old version – and I'm not just saying that because the old version could help in getting the story deleted.

Also, you guys – don't worry. If this story is deleted (and I'm working hard to make sure it isn't) I'll change some things around and repost it. So don't you guys worry, alright?

So my plan is to work on a chapter a day. First I'll work on this story, and then I'll move onto my other stories – but I'm going to work on working on both stories very fast.