I decided to finish up the second chapter even though I really should be working on my manuscript for class. A poor decision on my part but at least you guys got a chapter out of it. I don't own anything. Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to... god, I still don't know. Nick? Bryke? I'll say both; one of them has to be right. Anyway, enjoy!
The Avatar Returns
Celina's lungs were burning from the amount of running she had done but the village was in sight. Everyone had gathered around outside the village and she could hear Sokka shouting as she approached. "I knew it! You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?" Sokka demanded. Celina paused, there was no way. She couldn't believe that Aang would do something like that, especially after what the Fire Nation had done to his people.
"No, it has to be a mistake," she thought to herself. "He's been frozen in an iceberg for Spirits sake! He wouldn't have anything to do with the Fire Nation." She continued to make her way over towards the group and got there just in time to here Aang say that it was his fault that he and Katara were at the ship.
"Aha! The traitor confesses!" Sokka shouted.
"He's not a traitor," Celina argued back, slamming the basket of fish to the ground. She stood next to Aang and Katara, clearly taking sides. "He's an airbender Sokka, Aang wouldn't alert the Fire Nation after what they did."
"Did what?" Aang questioned confused.
But Sokka didn't let anyone answer him. "It doesn't matter if he's an airbender or not. He signaled the Fire Navy, Celina. And for that, he is banned from our village!"
"Sokka, you're making a mistake!" Katara said angrily.
"No! I'm keeping my promise to Dad. I'm protecting you and Celina from threats like him!" Sokka told her.
"Aang is not our enemy!" Celina said frustrated.
"Don't you see? Aang brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun," Katara explained.
"Fun? We can't fight firebenders with fun!" Sokka stated.
"You should try it sometime," Aang suggested earnestly. Celina almost groaned at his response.
"You're not helping your case, Aang," she muttered to the airbender.
"Get out of our village. Now!" Sokka ordered.
"Then we're banished too!" Katara shouted grabbing Aang and Celina's hand and began to drag them towards Appa, who waited several feet away from the villagers. "C'mon, guys, let's go!"
"Uh, Katara? Where would we go?" Celina asked confused.
"To find a waterbender. Aang is taking me to the North Pole and I want you to come with me. Until Aang came along you were the only one to encourage me to practice my waterbending. I want you to be there when I master it," Katara explained. Celina winced a bit. She was touched that Katara wanted her to be there for her but it didn't stop the guilt Celina had for not telling them about her own waterbending.
"Katara! Celina! Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?" Sokka questioned. Katara paused, not knowing what to do. Celina was torn a bit as well. Would she choose Aang over her tribe? Yes, Aang would mean adventure, Aang would mean freedom from the eyes that stared at her and saw her as an outcast. But her family? She loved Sokka and Gran Gran but this was her chance to be free, they would understand that. Wouldn't they? Celina was going to move forward, towards Appa but Sokka had come up and dragged her back towards the villagers. She stared at him shocked, ignoring everything else that was going on around him. Sokka refused to meet her eyes. Celina snapped out of it when Gran Gran went over to Katara as everyone else wandered back inside the village walls.
"Katara, you'll feel better after you –" Gran Gran tried to reassure her.
"You happy now? There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!" Katara snapped and stormed off. Gran Gran turned and looked at Celina.
"He…he was my chance. I'm never going to be able to leave this village," Celina said sadly. She took one look at Gran Gran before picking up the basket of fish and sulking back into the village, feeling defeated.
o
Celina stood next to Katara as everyone waited. No one could seem to do anything productive except for Sokka who had prepared for battle and was on watch on top of the village walls. She looked over at her younger sister who was still mad about earlier before looking down at her hands. Celina had thought it over. With everything that had happened, she believed that she should tell Katara about her waterbending. It wasn't fair that Katara would never get to learn from a real trained waterbender and decided that she would teach her as much as she could. Hopefully, Katara wouldn't hate her for keeping that from her.
"Hey, Katara?" Celina spoke up.
"Yes," Katara asked.
"I…I want to tell you something…something that I've been keeping a secret for a while because I was scared that everyone would mock me even more. But I feel like you have the right to know," Celina told her nervously.
"What is it?" Katara asked curious.
"I'm…" But Celina didn't get to finish as the ground began to shake. The walls crumbled and the villagers started running around in a panic. In the distance, Celina saw the approaching Fire Navy ship. As the bow appeared Celina saw how much it dwarfed her brother who was still standing out front. The ice began to split as the ship came through and Celina and Katara sent out to get the children out of the way. Celina might not have liked the villagers but that didn't mean she wanted to see them hurt. Glancing up Celina saw that Sokka was still stood where he was as the ship continued straight for him. He was going to get crushed if he remained there.
"Sokka, get out of the way!" Celina called out to him. Sokka had refused to move but luckily for him, the ship had caused the wall to break, sending a wave of snow and ice that pushed him further into the village and away from the ship. As quickly as it arrived the ship stopped. Everyone stared at the ship as the bowsprit of the boat opened and unfolded down onto the ice, the hot air from inside the ship mixed with the chill air of the South Pole and created steam. As the steam cleared Fire Nation soldiers walked down.
Celina focused on the boy leading them and the large scar taking up the majority of the left side of his face. "He looks like he's my age," she noted. Her attention was drawn to Sokka however as he foolishly ran up to the teenager, ready to attack him, only to be kicked off into the snowbank. The villagers drew back and gasped at the violence. The boy walked forward and looked over the village.
"Where are you hiding him?" he asked. There was no response and in a flash, he had grabbed Gran Gran. "He'd be about this age? Master of all elements?"
"Master of all elements?" Celina thought confused. "The Avatar's not here. He disappeared a hundred years ago how could the Avatar be here?" As Celina continued to think about the cogs started turning. Her eyes widened in shock. "Aang?! Aang's the Avatar?!" It made sense. Aang was the last airbender, people who were thought to be extinct, and the Avatar was an airbender. He must have been frozen in that iceberg for a hundred years. Celina was brought out of her thoughts as he threw Gran Gran back to Katara and the teenager sent a burst of fire above everyone's heads, causing the villagers to cower in fear.
Behind him, Sokka had gotten back up and charged at him again. The boy dodged all of Sokka's attacks and flipped him over his head before sending a blast of fire at him. Celina breathed out a sigh of relief as Sokka rolled out of the way and threw his boomerang at the teen. It barely missed him and the teen turned back and glared at Sokka. One of Sokka's little warrior trainees threw him his spear and Sokka charged yet again. Celina really wished that he would stop that tactic as the Fire Nation teen dodged every time. The teenager managed to take the spear from Sokka and break it into pieces, bonking him in the head and causing him to fall to the ground. As the Fire Nation boy turned to Sokka, Sokka's boomerang came back and slammed into the back of his head. This only made the Fire Nation boy even madder as he glared at Sokka, spitting fire out of his hands and ready to attack.
"Leave him alone!" Celina spoke out, scared for her brother. Golden eyes met blue as the two stared at each other, his eyes fierce with anger and hers swimming with fear. It seemed that he was going to switch over his attack towards her when Aang appeared riding on a penguin, throwing the prince off balance when he passed by. The kids cheered and Celina let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding.
"Hey, Katara. Hey, Celina. Hey, Sokka," Aang greeted.
"Hi,…Aang. Thanks for comin'," Sokka responded dryly. Turning around Aang saw that he was surrounded by the Fire Nation boy and his soldiers. When they began to close in on him Aang shot a blast of air, sending the men backward. The teenager, however, stood his ground.
"Looking for me?" Aang asked.
"You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" the Fire Nation teen asked, finding it hard to believe. Everyone gasped in surprise except for Celina who had already figured it out. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating. You're just a child!"
"Well, you're just a teenager," Aang shot back. Celina chuckled, finding Aang comment funny, but that quickly seized as said teenager sent a blast out towards Aang. The airbender twirled his staff to dissipate the blast but some of the remaining fire reached towards the villagers. Celina pulled a child out of the way of the flames, shielding them.
Aang, seeing the terror the village was under stopped and looked back at the Fire Nation boy. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" Aang asked. Celina's eyes widened. Aang was just giving himself up? He couldn't, if the Fire Lord got hold of him then there was no hope left of ending the war. But the Fire Nation boy agreed and soon soldiers were leading Aang up onto the ship.
"Aang, no, please," Celina begged him.
"Don't do this," Katara pleaded.
"Don't worry it'll be okay. Take care of Appa for me until I get back," Aang tried to reassure the girls as the ship's bowsprit rose back up. Except Celina knew that wasn't going to be the case. Nothing would be okay and the Fire Nation would never let Aang come back. They would keep him in their prisons or kill him like they did with all the other airbenders and then the war, the killing and destruction, would only continue until the Fire Nation took over the world.
"No," Celina muttered to herself. She couldn't let that happen, she was tired of the war and she finally found someone who could end it. Celina needed to save Aang, but she would need some help in doing so. Katara and Sokka stared after Celina confused as she ran out into the tundra with a determined look on her face.
o
Celina couldn't understand how she hadn't stumbled upon a gigantic furry bison in the open artic. She had been wandering around for a while, calling out for Appa, hoping that he would respond. Letting out a groan of frustration she looked all around her and let out a shriek when her polar bear dog friend appeared in front of her.
"Sorry, you scared me there," Celina apologized. The polar bear dog responded by grabbing the hem of Celina's coat sleeve in its mouth and began to drag her over towards an iceberg. "I can't play with you at the moment. I'm trying to find someone." She tried to pull her sleeve but the polar bear dog had a great hold on her and continued to pull Celina towards the iceberg. When they arrived over there Celina gasped at what she saw and then smiled.
"Appa!" she called out excited. The bison let out a welcoming rumble when he noticed Celina. She went to turn and thank her polar bear dog friend only to find that they had already left. Shrugging it off, she turned her attention back to Appa, running up to the flying bison and gave him a quick hug. "Aang's in trouble boy and we're going to save him. We just need to pick up some people along the way." Appa let out another rumble and Celina hopped on, sitting on top of Appa's head where Aang would sit, as they began to head towards the village.
The two made it back to see Katara, Sokka, and Gran Gran standing next to a canoe. "There's no way we're gonna catch a warship with a canoe," Katara noted.
"Hey, guys!" Celina shouted. "Need a ride?" A large grin spread across Katara's face as she ran up to her and the bison.
"So I see you plan on leaving as well," Gran Gran stated as she and Sokka walked up to Celina as well.
Celina nodded. "I've never felt like I've belonged here. Aang's my chance at freedom, he's the world's chance at freedom," she explained. "I'm tired of this war Gran Gran, so I'm gonna help him stop it."
"My brave girl," Gran Gran cooed. "I've always had a feeling that you were special and I am sure this is the reason why. Your destiny has been intertwined with Aang's just like it has with your brother and sister. Look after each other."
"Will do, Gran Gran," Celina smiled down at her. Sokka and Katara in the meantime had loaded Appa's saddle with their supplies and were ready to go.
"You ready, Celina?" Katara asked.
"Yeah," Celina answered before talking to the flying bison. "Alright, Appa, let's go find Aang. Yip Yip!" The large creature grumbled before flapping his massive tail and with a mighty heave took off into the sky.
o
It didn't take them long until Appa caught up with the Fire Nation ship. Just in time too as they arrived to see the Fire Nation boy attacking Aang on the deck. He had just used his staff to block a blast of fire when he ended up on the edge of the ship. The Fire Nation teen sent more fireballs towards the airbender, knocking him overboard and into the water.
"Aang! No!" Katara cried out in hysterics. The young girl kept calling after him as Celina and Sokka waited nervously to see what would happen. A familiar glow appeared in the water and soon Aang shot up, a tornado of water propelling him up as his eyes and arrow tattoos glowed. Celina gasped, it was just like what happened in her dream but instead of Aang glaring at her the boy's eyes turned towards the ship. Landing on the ship Aang took the water and bent it towards the Fire Nation boy and his men, knocking them overboard.
"Did you see what he just did?" Katara asked amazed.
"Now that was some waterbending!" Sokka exclaimed impressed. Katara and Celina shot him a glare. Celina hurriedly landed Appa on the deck of the ship after Aang fell to his knees. Katara was the first to run towards him with Sokka and Celina following after her. Celina stayed alert, watching out for Fire Nation soldiers.
"Aang, are you okay?" Katara asked worried as she held the boy in her arms.
"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Hey, Celina. Thanks for coming," Aang thanked them tiredly.
"Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory," Sokka admitted.
"Let's get you out of here," Celina said.
"I dropped my staff," Aang told them.
"Got it!" Sokka volunteered. As he ran to pick up the staff the Fire Nation boy grabbed in from the other end. In a great moment of karma, Sokka bumped the teens head like he had his earlier, sending him falling back towards the water below. "Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!" The guards who had been washed away by Aang earlier had managed to make their way back up onto the ship and were now preparing to attack. Katara picked up a stream of water and tried to water wipe them but it backfired and instead froze Sokka's feet to the deck.
"Katara!" Sokka yelled annoyed as he started to chip away at the ice with his boomerang.
"Get Aang to Appa, I'll take care of them," Celina told Katara.
"But…" Katara tried to protest.
"Go!" Celina ordered. Katara stalled at first, surprised by Celina ordering her to do something, but nodded and headed up onto Appa with Aang. Celina herself turned her attention towards the guards who had moved towards her. Taking a deep breath Celina unfroze the water that Katara had frozen on deck and gathered it up. Swiftly she bent it towards the soldiers and quickly turned the water into ice, freezing the soldiers in place. Katara and Sokka stared at her in shock.
"Hurry up, Sokka," Celina said. Noticing that her brother wasn't moving she grabbed her hand and ran towards Appa. Running up his tail Celina dropped Sokka off in the saddle with Katara and Aang as she continued on towards the reins, grabbing hold of them. "Yip yip!"
Appa took off, gaining more and more altitude but the Fire Nation teenager and an older gentleman who had just appears launched a joined fireball towards them. Aang got up and sent a gale of air towards the fireball with his staff, sending it towards a cliff. The fireball exploded on impact, causing a huge amount of ice and snow to fall onto the ship below. Celina let out a sigh of relief as they fell away.
They had flown a good amount away before someone spoke. "Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" Katara asked Aang.
"Because…I never wanted to be," Aang admitted.
"But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and put an end to this war," Katara said.
"He probably didn't know, Katara," Celina pointed out. "He was frozen in that iceberg for a hundred years." Their attention turned to Celina once she spoke up, reminding Katara and Sokka about the waterbending she had done back on the ship.
"Okay, so that's his excuse, what's yours? Why didn't you tell us that you could waterbend?" Sokka questioned.
"I was just taking your advice and keeping my weirdness to myself," Celina shot back, referring to what he said to Katara the other day. This quickly shut him up and made him feel bad. Celina sighed, feeling a bit guilty. "Sorry…I didn't mean to snap. It's just that…well, I didn't want to add another thing people mocked me for. So I kept it a secret."
"Is that what you were going to tell me earlier at the village? That you were a waterbender?" Katara asked.
"Yeah. After Sokka banished Aang I thought that it wasn't fair that you would never get a chance to properly learn waterbending. I was going to tell you and offer to help you learn. I hope you forgive me," Celina explained. Katara didn't answer her at first and Celina could clearly see the hurt in her eyes. What surprised her was when Katara hugged her.
"Of course I forgive you. Sure I'm hurt you didn't tell us but you're our sister. I'll always forgive you," Katara reassured her. Celina smiled into her shoulder, looking behind Katara Sokka gave her a smile, showing that he forgave her. Giving Katara a good squeeze she let go. "Promise to teach me some waterbending moves?"
Celina laughed. "I'll try my best. You too Aang, I'll try my best to teach you some waterbending though I still suggest we find a waterbending master."
"We can go to the North Pole and learn together," Aang smiled at Celina and Katara. "And Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."
"I'd like that," Sokka admitted.
"All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to," Aang said excited. Pulling out a map he pointed to several different places. "Here we'll ride the hopping llamas. The way over here we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish. Then back over here we'll ride the hog-monkeys. They don't like people riding them, but that's what makes it fun."
A large smile spread across Celina's face. "Sounds like a perfect adventure."
Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave me a review and a crazy "So Tell Me About Yourself" answer.
"So Tell Me About Yourself" is an inside joke between me and my friends which started from my one friend's hatred for the typical getting-to-know-you question "So tell me about yourself". She, being so annoyed with the phrase, gave a silly answer that she murdered people in their sleep. When she brought it back to me and my other friend we both gave a silly answer. That is where the idea for my account name came from.
