AN: Hey ya'll, i'm back! And with another drabble. This was originally my second drabble, but whatever. Enjoy!
03. Family
He is running through the immense red-and-gold lined halls. His breathing is heavy and there is sweat running down his face, but he can't stop.
Not until he finds him.
The Avatar—no, Aang, he reminds himself—is not here. He's outside, holding off the Fire Nation army. So here he is, alone, racing through a place he used to call home, though now he barely recognizes it after years of banishment.
The comet is coming. They've seen the soft, unearthly glow illuminating the horizon for days. Time is running out.
He tells himself he is ready to do this. He whispers it to himself as he runs, repeats it over and over until it becomes embedded in his mind. He can do this.
He has killed before, taken another's life without a second thought. He had to, to protect his family.
His family is no longer a scheming, back-stabbing clan of royal blood. For three long years, he suffered and fought to become a true part of that family. He realizes now, too late, that those people had been anything but family.
He has found a family now. It comes in the form of an oversized bison and a lemur, a boomerang-wielding warrior, a boy with unimaginable power, and a blue-eyed girl with a soft face and a will of steel.
He stops in front of a huge, richly embellished door. He remembers this door. He touches his scar and takes a deep breath, and in his mind's eye he sees his family. With new resolve, he opens the door, prepared to fight to the death.
But he walks inside, and the Fire Lord is already on the floor in a puddle of blood.