Hey there, Sokka's Fan-Lawyer here! Finally, chapter 3 is done! (if a little short) Sorry it took awhile, but creativity and inspiration are in short supply this days and school is killing all my free time (hence my two on hiatus stories). Anywho, I hope you enjoy it!
DISCLAIMER: I don't even own volume 1 of Death Note or Avatar, much less the copyrights.
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Avatar State
The brush slowly and carefully slid over the piece of canvas, leaving a slick, black trail as it went. S did nothing outside of controlling the brush's directions, staring intently at the "master piece" that he was creating. Ever since he had learned this particular art from Piandao, he had painted many paintings so far, each one dedicated to a case he had solved in the past. He smirked slightly as he remembered when he had first got into the detective business…whatever happened to the bubble pipe he had used back then? Well, no matter as now he could easy acquire another if the need arouse….
His current hotel suite was very dimly lit; with a rather fancy decorative layout…however, this particular fact was unless to S, so he simply ignored it and immersed himself into his work. After a few more strokes, he stopped and set the brush aside; he then looked at his work. He had painted a fierce battle with himself wielding a wicked black blade, pitting himself against a figure armed with a staff, with their eyes covered by their bangs. Sighing, he got out of the chair and left the painting there, planning to get back to it once he had wrapped this case.
The detective then began to wander the hotel suite, looking out the one way glass windows upon the sleeping city below, searching for inspiration. S stared, biting his thumb as he tried to figure out this "Avatar". At first, he had figured that this was probably a student due to the odd time of deaths…however, ever since he had shared this information with the task force, the deaths began to occur every hour on the hour. Did this mean that he had been purposefully mislead? No, he shook his head, that is not the issue at hand; what's more important is that Avatar had learned of his suspicions, which meant he had had access to the task force's information. So, chances are, he was either a task force member or a relative of theirs…but how to learn of who he could trust?
He gave up on looking out the window and continued to walk down the hallway…and tripped over something. While the tan boy cursed, he quickly grabbed hold of the offending object, only to see that it was one of his previous works. The image was that of a Chinese looking woman with dark hair glaring at him with a dark haired young man by her. Oh yes! Of course, how could he have forgotten? These were the two people who helped him solve the BB Murder Cases..... The woman was Mai, one of the best Dai Lee agents out there; the other was one of his protégés, Zuko Sozin (who S "affectionally" deemed Mello)…what a minute! That was it!
The world's greatest detective hurried back to his laptop and turned on the microphone, and then spoke into it, "Piandao? It's me. When you have a moment, get away from the task force and connect me with the head of the Dai Lee…" he whispered, and then sat back, and went back to staring out the window and hoped that this worked out….
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Aang Gyatso was lying on his side in his bed and was staring out the window. Koh just sat back and watched, waiting to see if the teen would do anything. After a few more minutes, he began to get slightly concerned. "Something wrong?" he asked.
The boy didn't answer at first, and then he said, "What am I becoming, Koh?" This surprised the death god.
He didn't know how to respond, but then Aang began to talk even more, "I mean, I just want the criminals of the world to die, you know? Since they hurt people and probably wouldn't hesitate to do so again…but when that detective challenged me like that…I don't know why I tried to kill him like that, you know? I was just suddenly filled with this deep hatred of him since he was questioning my judgment…I don't even know where it came from. I'm…afraid of myself." He whispered.
Koh was silent, letting the words float in the air for awhile and then said, "Well, you don't look any different to me…so how about getting me an apple?" he asked eagerly. The teen groaned slightly and sat up.
"Fine, fine, I'll get you your apple." He grabbed his jacket and sneakers, covering his khaki pants and red shirt. "We're all out, so we'll need to go get one from the vendor…satisfied?" He shot Koh a look, who hurriedly nodded. Together, they walked down the stairs and out the front door. After that, Aang expertly walked down the sidewalk, now having the apple vendor's route memorized, with Koh floating close behind. It took awhile, but he eventually found him in the local park, serving little kids some caramel apples.
"Ah, you're back again, eh?" the tan, goateed man asked as the Avatar approached. "Same as usual?" The boy nodded.
"Yeah, well, you know what they say, 'an apple a day keeps the soul eating monsters away'." The apple vendor looked confused.
"What do apples have to do with lawyers?" Then he laughed at his own joke while Aang just chuckled halfheartedly. He quickly bought the apple and left. After heading out a ways, he stopped and tossed the fruit to Koh, who caught it in his mouth, whole. After crunching on the apple, he out a content grunt. Aang took that as a sign that he could begin to head home.
However, after only walking a few feet, he felt a strange chill crawling up his spine. He immediately turned around, but couldn't see anyone. Aang then turned around again, and began to walk again, this time looking casually over his shoulder at times, trying to spot who had been watching him. "I was wondering when you'd notice that you were being followed." Koh remarked as he floated around to the front of the teen.
"You knew?!"
"Well, yeah. But seeing that I'm not on your side or S's for that matter, I figured that I wouldn't tell you before we got home." Aang shot the invisible being a glare, but tried to keep his pace normal. After reaching his front door, he hurriedly unlocked, shut, and locked the door behind him. There was no one else home yet, as Aang's mom and sister, Ty lee, were currently shopping and his dad was working on the case. The genius ran up the stairs and locked the door to his room behind him. Immediately, he began to pace up and down his floor, thinking.
"If someone was tailing me, chances are that they're from S, and he's figured out that I'm getting information from someone on the task force…but if he did that, then he wouldn't have told the task force, much less have them tell possible suspects…. So who could he have used?" He spoke quickly as the pieces began to rapidly line up in his head. "What am I going to do about this stalker guy anyway?"
"Kill him." Said a voice that Aang didn't recognize. He quickly looked around.
"Koh? What did you say?" Koh was confused and only shrugged. Just as Aang was about to question the death god more, the voice spoke again,
"Over here." There was a growing chill making its way down the boy's back as he turned towards the direction of the voice; when he saw it, his mouth dropped and his eyes widened. The figure was sitting on his bed and…was him! Except for the glowing eyes and bald head, it was a dead ringer! He had every little scar and even the arrow tattoo he had had on his back and arms since he was born; even his adoptive parents didn't know about them! And…they were glowing? His mouth refused to work as he tried to make the words he was dying to ask.
"'Who are you'?" The version of him supplied; Aang could only nod. "I'm you…or, to be more specific, I'm your true self." He got off the bed and walked over to Aang. "I'm the god who will rid this world of crime and hold judgment over it!" Aang quickly backed up at the force of the being's voice, and then he realized something.
"You! You're the one that made me try to kill S!" The Avatar was silent for a second, and then spoke.
"Yes, of course I did. He not only questioned our judgment, but he challenged us! We need to prove to the world that they can not stand up to us, otherwise they will rebel against us."
"But they're just guys doing their jobs! They're innocent of any crime! They are just standing up for what they believe in!"
"It doesn't matter if they're innocent or not; they chose to stand up to Avatar and thus, they have to die. If they are trying to stop the purging of evil from this world, then they must be evil themselves." The Avatar spoke, putting even more energy into his voice. Aang just shook his head.
"No! We can't kill people just for that! I agree that we need to destroy evil, but going around killing people who get in our way isn't the way to do it! How does that prove anything?! Aren't we just committing the same crimes that we are trying to get rid of?" Aang argued angrily. The glow in his other half became more intense and he narrowed his glowing eyes.
"In every worth while crusade, there are sacrifices to make the world a better place! To ensure the world's survival, we have to kill evil once and for all, no matter who would try and stop us! Now, about this stalker, we have got to kill him otherwise, he may find some evidence against us. We have to move now, before then."
Aang just shook his head and stood his ground, "No." he spoke softly but fiercely. He glared at his other half. "I hate to even think that we are the same person! I refuse to kill an innocent person, damn it!"
The Avatar said nothing for a few minutes, and then said, "Very well then." He then suddenly disappeared, and reappeared right in front of Aang. Before he could react, the other Aang gripped his neck and Aang soon found himself being overwhelmed. "I deem you unworthy of being our main consciousness." Aang began to choke and tried to scream, but soon found himself unable to control his mouth. He could only stare at his other self as he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
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Koh was at this point, concerned. Not only did Aang look completely freaked out, but he was talking and arguing with himself and had been doing so for the past few minutes. Suddenly, the teen stiffened and seemed to be choking. The death god hurried to his side, worried that his fun was about to be ruined so early in the game. "Aang? You okay?" The boy then relaxed and lifted his head, staring Koh right in the eyes.
The death god was surprised by the change in the boy's eyes. Before, there had been some light and softness to him, but now, they were cold and calculating. What could have happened, Koh wondered as Aang began to examine himself, lifting his arms and such. Suddenly he smirked and began to chuckle to himself. Now, Koh was confused. While Aang laughed and had even giggled on occasion, he had never chuckled before.
"Something funny?" He asked. Aang shook his head.
"No, I've just figured out how to find out the identity of my "mysterious stalker"." He hurried over to his desk and grabbed the Death Note and turned on his computer.
"Why, are you going to kill him?" Koh asked, wondering at this sudden change of heart. The boy sensed the unasked question and smirked over at the death god.
"Yes, I am. I'm going to send a message to the people that would rise up against the Avatar."
"So, you've accepted the title now?" While this was an incredibly odd turn of events, it did a lot to increase the death god's amusement.
"Yeah, I've guess I've entered…the Avatar State or something." He laughed and then went back to his planning, all the while feeling the tug of deep regret in the back of his mind.
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And that's a wrap! I hope that at least some of you were surprised when I had Aang's glowing 'alter ego' show up. And no, it's not a cop out just to make Aang not go nuts, it's just that…well, Aang hates to kill, much less innocents, but all his past lives pressured him to do so, so I figured the same could work here. Thanks for reading!
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