I have nothing to say.

For now...

Enjoy!

Book 1
Water

Chapter 3
The Southern Air Temple

After I'd asked them what an Avatar was, they'd given me looks of disbelief for about four minutes straight, then happily explained it to me. I wonder how I've never before heard of an all-powerful being that controls all four elements.

When it got dark, we'd landed for the night, and slept on the beach of an island. I didn't have a sleeping bag, but Katara had packed some blankets that she'd let me use.

Now it was morning, and I was told we were going to the Southern Air Temple. Sokka still wasn't awake, but Katara and I were packing up.

"Wait 'til you see it, guys. The Air Temple is one of the most beautiful places in the world," Aang says as he walks across Appa—the name of the big, white, furry thing I'm told is a sky bison—tightening his reigns.

"Aang, I know you're excited, but it's been a hundred years since you've been Home," Katara says gently.

"That's why I'm so excited!"

"It's just that a lot can change in all that time."

"I know, but I need to see it for myself."

He walks over to Sokka, still curled up in his sleeping bag. "Wake up, Sokka! Air Temple, here we come!"

"Sleep now…temple later…" Sokka grumbles, rolling over onto his side.

Aang looks disappointed at first, then his face brightens as if he's got an idea. He picks up a stick, and walks back over to Sokka.

"Sokka, wake up!" he says as he begins to drag the stick across Sokka's sleeping bag. "There's a prickle snake in your sleeping bag!"

"Ah!" Sokka shouts, startled awake. He jumps up and starts hopping around—still inside his bag. "Get it off, get it off! Ah!"

Katara and I laugh at him as he falls over and lands facedown, and he shoots us agitated looks.

"Great, you're awake!" Aang exclaims happily. "Let's go!"

On the way to the Air Temple, Katara and I tried to explain to Aang that it wouldn't be the way he remembered it, but he just kept insisting that "Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all," and "The only way to get to an airbender temple is on a flying bison, and I doubt the Fire Nation has any flying bison."

When we can finally see the air temple, it's breathtaking. It looks like it's been built into a mountain. Long, twisting paths connect everything, and small towers protrude from the sides of the mountain. A huge stone tower seems to poke out from the top of the mountain itself.

"Aang, it's amazing!" Katara yells over the wind.

"We're home, buddy. We're home," Aang murmurs to Appa.

I however, am speechless. I'm getting a weird vibe about this place; like déjà vu, but not quite.

Aang lands Appa in front of the temple, and we all get off. We walk up the pathway, and Aang looks excited to be here. Sokka and Katara are behind us, bickering about being hungry versus being one of the select few non-airbenders allowed into the temple.

"So that's where my friends and I would play airball!" Aang tells me, pointing downward towards a field with dozens of posts inside it and a goalpost at each end. Then he points at a wall of rock with large dens cut out of it. "And...over there would be where the bison would sleep...and..."

He sighs, and a saddened look crosses his face. I hesitantly put my arms around him in a hug, knowing—or at least thinking I know—how horrible he must be feeling to see his home like this; so desolate and abandoned-looking. He smiles sadly at me when I pull away.

"What's wrong?"

Okay, that was just stupidity on her part. What did Katara think was wrong? He just came back home after one hundred years to find it completely deserted, and after being told that everyone he knew and loved was ruthlessly killed by the Fire Nation!

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison. Now there's just a bunch of weeds," Aang explains, motioning dejectedly to the empty temple. "I can't believe how much things have changed."

"So, uh, this airball game. How do you play?" Sokka tries to distract him.

Aang immediately brightens. They walk towards the field as Aang tries to explain the game. Katara and I follow to watch them play.

Twenty minutes later, Sokka comes flying toward us for about the fifth time. Katara and I take a step apart, and Sokka flies right in between us.

"Hahaha! Aang seven, Sokka zero!" Aang laughs from the field.

"Making him feel better is putting me in a world of hurt," Sokka whines. Then he seems to notice something and crawls towards it. "Hey—check this out."

"Fire Nation," Katara mutters darkly.

I look where she's glaring and see an old Fire Nation helmet. I narrow my eyes, and Sokka continues, "We should tell him."

"I don't know…" I begin. I think we should break it to him slowly.

"Aang, there's something you need to see," Katara says anyway. Aang heads toward us, happy as can be, and Katara seems to have a change of heart. She waterbends some snow to cover the helmet, her brother, and the bottom half of me.

"What is it?" Aang asks when he gets closer. Sokka and I brush the snow away from us, careful not to uncover the helmet.

"Uh…just a new waterbending move learned."

"Nice one. But enough practicing," Aang says as he walks away. "We have a whole temple to see!"

"He'll find out sooner or later," I say quietly.

"You can't protect him forever," Sokka agrees.

They start arguing about telling him, and I go catch up with Aang. He's going towards a statue of an airbender monk sitting outside a doorway, a happy look on his face.

"Hey guys," he calls back. "I want you to meet somebody."

"Who's that?" Sokka asks.

"Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know."

Aang bows to the statue, a happy look on his face, like he's recalling a cheerful memory. Something inside me stirs at the mention of his mentor's name, but I ignore it.

"You must miss him," Katara murmurs as Aang stands back up.

"Yeah."

"Where are you going?" I ask when he starts to go inside.

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

I look at Sokka and Katara, wondering if they understand this cryptic statement. They just shrug.

We follow Aang through the temple, until he stops suddenly. I look up to see a huge door with two large horn-like contraptions forming a ring around the three spirals that signify airbending, that can obviously only be opened through airbending.

I freeze; that door is so familiar. Scarily familiar. But I know I've never been here before in my life.

And suddenly I'm seeing black.

A small crowd of about nine monks hurries towards the Air Temple Sanctuary, along with one young woman who is clearly not an airbender. As they approach the Sanctuary, one of the monks hurries everyone inside as screams and explosions shake the whole temple.

"Hurry, Gyatso," the woman shouts over the noise, pushing him inside before shoving the door closed, just as the ceiling crumbles right where he'd been standing just moments before.

"Thank you, Fai," he says softly, stepping away from many of the statues lining the great room.

"You're very welcome."

One of the monks points at Fai, his stubby finger shaking. "This is all your fault! You should have protected us! You were supposed to—"

"Enough, Chintzu!" a different monk demands. "This was not her doing. She couldn't stop them."

"Couldn't stop them?" Chintzu continues. "But she could have! She has the power! She's the—"

"The Fire Nation will destroy us all; every last airbender!" one of the monks inturrupts his accusation desperately.

"Maybe not," says Gyatso calmly.

"What do you mean?" another demands. "How could we possible survive this? They shoot down everyone that tries to escape!"

"There may be another way—"

"Anala? Anala!"

"No!" I cry, sitting straight up. What was he going to say? Were there airbenders hiding away somewhere, waiting until the war was over to return? And that woman…she seemed so familiar. Maybe I know one of her daughters, or even grand-daughters…

"What?"

I look up, and all three of them are staring at me. I realize I've fallen to the floor. My cheeks burn and I shakily get to my feet.

"Sorry," I mutter, embarrassed about…whatever just happened.

"We were just about to go into the Sanctuary," Katara explains, "Aang needs to meet someone here."

"Oh. I'll…I'll wait here," I say quickly. I can't go in there, not after…

"Well, do you want me to wait out here with you?" Sokka asks kindly.

I'm very tempted to accept his offer, but I just need to be alone right now. To think. And plus, after that…vision, if that's what it was, inside the Sanctuary seemed like the safest place for them to be.

So I shake my head. He asks if I'm sure, and I tell him that I'll stand guard, only half-joking. They all go in, and I'm left to think. What just happened? I wonder if this place is so divine that it was trying to give me a message…to tell me something.

I can hear them talking inside the Sanctuary, and I would like to join them, but I just can't go in there.

A small animal silently creeps past me, and into the Sanctuary. I watch it as it walks slowly into the cavernous room, causing a huge shadow to fall across the floor. The talking comes to a sudden halt, and it's completely silent except for the animal's quiet footsteps.

Suddenly, it runs back out, followed by Aang and Sokka. They continue to chase it, pushing each other out of the way as they run down the long hallway and out of sight. But Katara doesn't come out. A few minutes later I almost go in to check on her, but she runs out, tells me to follow her and runs the same way Sokka and Aang went.

We reach a set of abandoned tents, and it seems as if a windstorm is destroying it all. Katara and I look at each other in alarm, and run forward, right into it. I see Aang, hovering in an untouchable ball of wind. His eyes and arrows are glowing again, and I remember what he did last time this occurred.

"What happened?" Katara asks Sokka, who clings to a rock as a strong gale tugs at us.

"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso!"

"Oh no, it's his avatar spirit! He must have triggered it! I'm going to try and calm him down," Katara yells as the wind roars around us.

"Well, do it before he blows us off the mountain!" Sokka shouts back. He turns to me moments later. "Can't you…I don't know, un-airbend what he's airbending?"

"No," I reply, raising my voice against the wind. "Maybe if I was a master, but even then, if he's doing his almighty Avatar thing…"

"Hmm…Point taken."

"Aang, I know you're upset," Katara yells, "And I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka and Anala and I, we're your family now."

"Gyatso wouldn't want this, Aang."

Katara and Sokka look at me curiously, and I shrug. I don't know why I said it; it just kind of slipped out.

Aang slowly lowers to the ground, and the air around us calms.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you," Sokka says solemnly. Katara takes Aang's hand.

His eyes and arrows fade until they're back to normal. Exhausted, he collapses, and Katara gently catches him.

"I'm sorry," he mutters.

"It's okay, it wasn't your fault," Katara reassures him.

"But you were right. And if firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last—well, the second to last, airbender."

We all comfort him, and I suddenly feel extremely guilty for the airbenders' demise. As we walk out of the tent I look back. The skeleton of Gyatso lies peacefully in an almost meditating-like position. I swallow, and my eyes burn. A single tear escapes, and I turn away to catch up with the others.

Hahaha. I love sneaking the title in my stories. It's so...I don't know...dramatic. Or something.

So I've started writing the next few chapters, and I realized tht it's pretty much Avatar: The Last Airbender (which I do not own) plus Anala. I added some new stuff that has to do with Anala, and I tried so summarize some parts, but I want to know what you think. Will y'all get too bored if I do that for a while? Some things will definately be added, like specifically Anala events (coming soon) or parts that weren't shown in the series, and things like that.

Reviews are greatly appreciated :)

Your Pal,

SuperOreoMan