Here's Chapter 2! Enjoy!
The young Avatar flopped around the yard with his newly "obtained" wings, yelling in absolute panic and confusion.
The wings were white, clean and big- when completely stretched out, they were bigger than Aang himself. Of course, it was hard to measure from far away, especially when he wouldn't stop moving.
As the boy kept thrashing about, running and falling, still yelping, his friends snapped out of their trance. Sokka got up, his eyes wide in shock and awe.
"Aang!" Katara called out for him, trying to reach for the sprinting boyfriend.
"What is going on?!" he yelled in response, "Aaaa-!" he ran into a tree and fell down on his back, wings spread apart on the ground. "Ooof!"
The four friends ran to him, staring at his new… "appearance".
Katara was fascinated but terrified of the change of Aang's anatomy, but didn't just sit and gawk at him.
"You okay?" she asked, kneeling down and supporting him. She tried to ignore the floating feathers.
"Y-Yeah," Aang sat up, his wings folding together. "I don't know what happened. W-Why I have these-" he looked at his new limbs. "all of a sudden." he looked up to his friends for any response, now that he had calmed down.
Sokka's face was still frozen; his mouth and eyes wide open, not making a single sound.
Katara put her arms around Aang, hugging him; trying to give him comfort. Also because they hadn't seen eachother for a couple of days. She gave a quick kiss on his cheek, making him blush.
"Maybe it's a disease?" Toph offered an explanation. "Like an epidemic or something?"
"You're not helping, Toph." Katara said sternly after seeing Aang's frightened reaction.
"Hey, just a guess." she shrugged.
"Well, it's very likely got to do with spirits," Suki eyed the Avatar. She asked for permission to touch his wings, which Aang had no problem with. "they look very un-natural, as in, they don't quite look like the wings animals have."
The Kyoshi warrior made a fair point. The feathers seemed very ominous and other-wordly. Sure, you could compare them to most bird-like wings; they were covered in silky feathers, but something about them were out of place, and not because they were a part of Aang now.
Toph sat down next to Aang and touched his wings, without his permission, though, "You're right. No animal here has these kind of wings." she plucked a feather out, making Aang wince. "Yep, totally spirit-stuff."
Aang looked at Katara with a concerned look. He was still in shock and couldn't really find a reason for all of this. The young waterbender felt helpless, she was just as confused as Aang was.
"Well, they look like they could be of good use." she gave him a comforting smile, "You can get to places much faster now. Plus, you look very elegant with them."
Aang blushed lightly, feeling a bit better.
"I don't know," Toph chewed on the plucked feather. "they aren't exactly what people have these days. He's going to look like a freak, to be honest."
Katara frowned, "Toph, you can't exactly 'see' him like we do. He looks-..." she couldn't think of a nice way of saying 'different'. The Avatar noticed her struggle.
Aang placed his hand on her shoulder, "It's okay, Katara. You don't have to find a way to make me feel better." he stood up.
The Avatar folded his wings together, and now they didn't seem as big, but very noticeable, still. He looked at his new limbs, feeling every muscle in them as he fluttered them.
"I know I look… strange." he said, his eyes at his friends, who all still looked a bit scared and confused. "But I don't feel any different. It's certainly not some kind of an illness or a disease. I'm still the old Aang"
He stared down, thinking.
"Before I do anything, I should ask Roku. If they are somehow related to spirits, he should know the reason behind them." he sighed, releasing the negative energy from his breath.
"I-I'll go...meditate. Sorry for waking you guys up." he perked his head up and started walking back to his room.
The four watched him leave, not being able to keep their eyes from him.
Aang felt them stare. He picked up the pace but lost his balance and stumbled.
"Ooof!" he fell flat on his stomach. Katara gasped and wanted to go help him, but he stood up before she could start moving. "I'm okay!" he exclaimed and walked it off.
"We should, um…" Suki broke the silence. "...leave it to Aang, to figure out, the wings, I mean, heh…". It was still hard to believe what just happened. Nothing like that has happened before, and this seemed very out of place for anyone to grasp.
"Yeah, this is probably some weird spirit jumbo," Toph said, being the least taken back from all of this. Maybe it was because she didn't quite 'see' the deal. She played around with some of the floating feathers.
Katara still felt worried for Aang, "I just hope it's nothing too serious."
Aang deserves a good rest, and she really wanted to spend time with him. Not when he's got more issues to deal with and they might cause him more stress. She also really hoped to go on another date with him, but she knew she shouldn't ask before the whole wings-thing is sorted out.
"Y'know," Toph coughed. "If we hurry, we might still do that surprise-meal-thing you guys wanted to do while he's meditating." she pointed out.
Suki and Katara looked at eachother and remembered their initial plan for this morning. Like lightning, they grabbed the unwilling (and regretful) earthbender and ran for the house.
Suki stopped halfway, "Honey, come on! You have to help, too!" she told Sokka, who had been frozen this whole time.
"H-H-He has wings!" he shouted, then turned around and ran with Suki to the kitchen. "Wings! Aang has w-wings!?". It seemed like he wasn't going to recover any time soon.
Aang had cleaned and fixed his feather-filled room. He put on his daily clothes, which looked almost exactly like the ones he had that got burned during the fight with Ozai.
He took a small pillow and placed it on the ground, sitting on it in a meditative pose, breathing very slowly, so he could relax. He noticed his wings were a bit annoying when they were just lazily on the ground, hanging from his back, so he tightened his muscles and made them folded. Aang noticed that they were rather light for their size, not like it bothered him.
He closed his eyes continued breathing slowly, concentrating on contacting Roku.
A few moments later, he heard a familiar voice, "Aang, you have called for me." The man's body or image was nowhere to be found. The airbender didn't mind that, as long as he could hear him.
"Avatar Roku, this morning I woke up with…" he paused for a second. "...wings."
"I was wondering if you knew the reason why. Does it have something to do with the spirit world?" he added quickly.
"Ah, of course. I didn't want to disturb you in your sleep, I would've told you earlier." Roku said calmly.
"Aang, you defeated the Fire Lord and brought peace to this world, along with the spirit world. You ended the hundred-year war that had torn the nations apart." he said. Aang listened carefully.
"You showed passion, strength,intelligence and kindness," Roku added. "you mastered the elements in such a short period of time, and you're so young. You also found out a way to defeat the Fire Lord without killing him."
Aang waited patiently.
"After many battles and obstacles you faced, you managed to keep balance in yourself and fulfill your duty, even though you still have many duties ahead."
"Thank you. I couldn't have done it without my friends." Aang smiled, remembering all of the adventures.
"The Spirits were very pleased by your success," Roku chuckled. "thrilled, infact. So, they decided to give you something in return for saving the worlds. A gift, as they said."
Aang raised his eyebrow. He understood what he said, of course, but was still a bit confused.
"So they gave me these? How come?" Aang asked.
"They presumed you'd love wings," Roku answered. "they are great for flying, spiritual connection and perhaps even special appeal for the young Avatar."
Aang smiled. Now that he thinks about it, wings were amazing to have. He imagined flying carelessly in the sky, and they certainly added heavenly features to his appearance.
"Thank you, Avatar Roku. I accept this gift. Please send the spirits my thanks." he said.
"Until we meet again, Aang." Roku said before disconnecting with the boy's mind.
Aang opened his eyes and breathed out happily. He stretched his wing muscles, analysing the white feathers and features.
'This isn't so bad, at all! Heh, not bad at all.' he thought to himself, a smile coming to his face. 'Ah, I should tell others, now.'
Aang went out of his room and started making his way down the hall. He stretched and yawned, feeling his wings lift up and down with his back. It felt very odd and new, but Aang figured that he'd get used to it sooner than he realizes.
'Ah, dang it… I should ask Katara out today. I was supposed to do it this morning...' Aang thought to himself, feeling a bit embarrassed of his performance earlier.
'I hope she hasn't got much planned for today…' he made it to the main room. He glanced around to notice any of his friends, but they were nowhere to be found. He figured they went back to bed. After all, it was rather early.
"A-Aang! Hey!" the boy heard a voice from behind. Sokka had suddenly appeared from the kitchen, looking a bit nervous.
"Oh, good morning, Sokka," Aang greeted happily. "Are the others up, too?"
"Erm…" the Water Tribe boy was lost for words, scratching the back of his head. "Well, um…"
Aang looked at his friend with confusion, "What's wrong"
"You know what you need?" the warrior shot up. "A morning walk! Let's go!" he pushed Aang towards the main entrance, trying not to squish his wings too hard.
"Oh, okay?" Aang shrugged it off. He has seen Sokka acting weirder before, and perhaps the whole wings-thing just got to his head and he couldn't sleep.
"Ugh, finally!" Toph came out from her hiding place, the back of the couch. She slumped onto one of the chairs and continued napping.
"Looks like she's not going to bother with helping." Suki said, pointing her head out of the kitchen. "I guess it's just the two of us."
Katara sighed. She was afraid that Aang would appear sooner than they had hoped, so they had to get Sokka to distract him to buy them some time. Toph couldn't really help, anyway.
"We should hurry. They can be back any minute." she said, continuing where she was at with the meal.
The two boys made their way down a quiet street, walking side by side.
"So," Sokka tried to break the silence, and to make the walk as long as possible. "...what did you, uhh… find out about the wings?" he stared at the back of Aang, his graceful-looking features swinging from side to side.
"Well, Roku said that it was a gift from the spirits," he noticed his friend raise a confused eyebrow. Aang chuckled, giving Sokka a warm smile, "he said they were very happy with me defeating the Fire Lord and ending the war."
Sokka's face didn't change much.
"I mean, how we ended the war." Aang corrected, earning a smile from the tribe boy. The young airbender knew very well he wouldn't have achieved anything without his friends. "So, they gave me, well…" he stopped for a second and flapped his wings. "these, as a token for their appreciation."
"Oh, well, I guess that explains it." Sokka said, "Do you… um, like them? The wings, I mean."
"Hm, yeah." Aang answered. "I think they're great for flying, and perhaps even airbending. I'm sure I can find a good use for them." he smiled.
Sokka sighed, "Always with the optimism."
"Besides, I think I look pretty cool with these." Aang stretched his feathers out proudly. "Don't you think?"
"Ehh, you look like even more of an airhead." Sokka replied. The two shared a laugh.
Sokka talked about his father's strategies and plans related to the Water Tribes. Aang saw much enthusiasm and pride in his friend's eyes. The young warrior was certainly happy to spend time with his father, helping out with the Tribes and always being by his side.
Aang shared some of the plans the council has suggested and put into action. Sokka was amazed how Aang still wanted to travel the world and help small villages, even that the war was over and smaller troops could do it for him.
'It's one of Avatar's responsibilities, I guess.' Sokka thought.
He made sure to kept the conversation going, and to ignore shortcuts and make as many circles as possible along the road.
"Hey, shouldn't we head back?" Aang asked. "I'm sure the girls are up."
Sokka stopped on his tracks, "Erm," he knew he can't make Aang walk more, they'd been out for about an hour now. "Yeah. Sure." he answered nervously.
"You allright? You look a bit pale." Aang asked, concerned for his good friend.
"Yeah, I'm good, just uhh…" Sokka tried to think of something whilst looking at the ground. "I want to see Suki, that's all." he grinned, hoping that he sounded legit.
"Ah, I see." Aang chuckled and nudged him on the side. "You wanna smoochie-smoochie with the Kyoshi warrior, don't cha?" he teased.
Sokka's face turned red, but the thought of kissing Suki was pleasant.
"H-Hey!" he nudged back. "I better not see you smoochie-smoochie with my sister! Oogies!" he exclaimed.
Aang blushed and chuckled some more. Sokka couldn't help but to smile, too. He admired the young Avatar, who had stolen his sibling's heart. Even if seeing the two contact lips made him gross out, he wouldn't trust anyone else with his sister.
They turned around and started making their way back.
'I can only hope they've finished cooking… or else, I'm going to get so much cold water bended onto my face!'
Sorry, this one's rather short! I just wanted to update, and to ensure others myself that I still want to continue the story, heh.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a review, if you can! I'd love to hear some feedback.