PARADOX

Chapter five: Temple Troubles

I woke to the sound of a feminine scream. I peeled my heavy eyelids up, my head ached with my pulse and I struggled to sit up. I saw an angry Sokka trying to struggle out of his blue sleeping bag. I was propped against Appa's side and I had obviously been there for some time.

I groaned weakly.

"She's awake!" Aang cheered excitedly as he rushed over to my side.

I struggled to rise into a sitting position only to fall back against Appa exhausted. Why did I hurt so much? That right I had hit the metal of the railing really hard. I'm lucky I woke up in the first place. Sleeping with a concussion was a bad idea.

Aang leaned down beside me cradling my shoulders with his arm as he pulled me into a sitting position.

I grunted at the pain, trying to sit on my own only to collapse back into Aang.

"Sorry." I mutter tiredly.

"Its okay." Aang assured me before lifting me up into his arms easily and jumping backwards up onto Appa's back.

"You can sleep on the way. It will take about a hour to reach the Southern Air Temple." Aang said comfortingly. Sokka and Katara walked up Appa's tail like it was a ramp. Katara sat beside me and I leaned against her shoulder trying to stay awake.

"Go ahead and sleep." Katara whispered. I nodded reluctantly and fell into a light sleep.

Dream

"Kovu! Kovu where are you?" I was surrounded by a dense mist. I couldn't see a foot in front of me. Kovu who had been by my side had suddenly disappeared. Now I was alone in the cold, wet, mist.

"Kovu!" I yelled worried and scared. This place made shivers go down my spine.

"He's not here." A strict but still kind voice said from behind me. I whirled around and stared in shock at the man. He was Fire Nation that was for sure. His hair was up in the traditional phoenix tail and he wore long formal robes. He had a thick white beard that matched the rest of his hair. His eyes were the traditional gold of the Fire Nation royals.

"Avatar Roku?" I asked in shock. How was he here talking to me. I was just a waterbender. Not the Avatar, I had no special link to the Spirit world. So how was he here?

"Very good, Shannen. Or should I call you Kiara?" He asked as he came closer. The mist around us moved back some so we were in the only clear spot in the mist.

"How...?" I trailed off, I wasn't sure which question I wanted to ask. How was he here? How did he know my name? How was I able to communicate with him?

He seemed to realize my dilemma.

"You are here because I brought you to this world six years ago. I am able to talk to you because I used part of my spirit to bring you here and keep you here. A piece of me is inside of you anchoring you to this world. You are here because you were never appreciated at you home. You were the oldest child in a house full of children. Your grades, even though they were superb didn't get you recognition. Your singing didn't get you recognition. Nothing you did was ever really appreciated. You aced a test? Well your brothers did something stupid and your parents are too busy reprimanding them." Roku explained.

I winced as the truth of his words hit me. I loved my parents, I really did but they were always too busy with the boys. Sometimes I wished I had asked my parents for a puppy instead of "someone to play with.". Of course they took that to mean a little sibling. Just my luck I get two for the price of one.

"You are also here because you need to know about what will happen due to you housing a piece of my soul." Roku continued.

I shuddered slightly at the sound of that. It sounded like a Horcrux from Harry Potter.

"Its nothing malicious." Roku assured seeming to read my thoughts. "You will begin to gain the powers of an Avatar. They will be to a lower degree than Aang's powers but they will still be present. Unlike the true Avatar you will not be able to master all of the elements. You could probably manage two but you will never master them all." Roku explained.

Well I had always loved challenges. And what's more of a challenge than doing the impossible. But just in case I would choose my two favorite elements to master. Water and Air.

"I see you are going to attempt to master them all anyway. Very well. I wish you luck. You may tell your traveling companions of your origin and this conversation. It wouldn't do for them to grow suspicious of you." Roku said.

"And now its time for you to wake up." Roku said even as the mist swirled away like tub water with the plug pulled.

End Dream

I sat up wide eyed. The rest of the Gaang was looking at me oddly. "Are you alright, Kiara?" Aang asked worried. I nodded before shaking my head.

"I had a dream. Roku was in it." I muttered softly.

"Whose Roku?" Sokka asked instantly suspicious.

"The Avatar before me/Aang." Both Aang and I chorused.

"No offense but if he was the Avatar before Aang he's dead." Sokka said trying to burst our bubble.

"Of course he is." I agreed easily. "I think he pulled me into the spirit world so he could talk to me." I explained.

Katara and Sokka looked sceptical. "Why would the past Avatar want to you?" Katara asked mistrustfully.

"Because he's the reason I'm here." I stated then launched into an explanation before they could interrupt.

An hour later after I finished my tale the group looked at me with shock.

"Let me get this straight. You're actually a twenty-four year old stuck in a thirteen year old body, you've come from a different universe and you will have some Avatar abilities." Sokka summed up.

"That's about it." I agreed.

There was a speechless silence before a large mountain range appeared out of the clouds. "The Patola Mountain Range! We're almost there!" Aang exclaimed.

"Aang, before we get there I want to warn you. The firebenders are ruthless, they killed my mother, they could've done the same to your people." Katara warned trying to warn Aang ahead of time.

"Just because no one has seen an airbender doesn't mean there isn't any. They probably got away." Aang told Katara cheerfully.

We landed at the base of the temple and followed a long winding road up to the actual building.

Sokka grumbled about his hunger and Katara scolded him for not being more appriciative of the scenery.

"So there's where my friends and I would play airball. And there's where the bison would sleep. And..." Aang trailed off with a sigh. He had pointed to a field filled with poles first then a flat area then just dropped his hand as he sighed.

"What's wrong, Aang?" Katara asked.

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison, now its just a bunch of weeds." Aang said in a depressed tone.

"I can't believe how much things have changed." He finished.

"So how do you play this airball game." I asked before Sokka could get the chance.

Aang grinned and led us down to the field. Sokka and I stood at one end and Aang stood at the other. We were balanced precariously on the poles. Aang had the ball in his hand and showed off making it spin around his body with the air currents.

Aang threw the ball up in the air closing his eyes and opening them just a tad to peek as he spun around and kicked the ball towards us. It ricocheted off of the poles as it continued to come at us. I took a deep breath and kicked at the ball knocking it back towards Aang. It bounced much slower against the poles than Aang's had but it still returned to him.

Aang kicked it back and this time it hit Sokka in the gut and knocked him through the 'goal'. Ouch. I thought to myself watching him hit a mound of snow. "Aang:7, Sokka and Kiara:0!" Aang cheered joyfully.

I saw the siblings squabbling and then Katara used waterbending to hide something under the snow, after calling Aang over.

"What?" Aang asked.

"Just a new waterbending move I wanted you to see." Katara lied.

"Cool, but enough practicing, there's a whole temple to see." Aang said cheerfully as he led us away.

Sokka hissed something under his breath at Katara and she hissed something in return. I ignored them and followed Aang closely.

"Hey guys! I want you to meet somebody." Aang said standing in front of a wooden statue of a man in a meditation pose.

"Whose that?" Katara asked.

"This is Monk Gyatso, the greatest airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Aang said cheerfully before drifting off in a memory no one but himself could see. His face fell in a longing and sad look.

"You must miss him." Katara said.

"Yeah." Aang said as he started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Katara asked following me.

"The air temple sanctuary. There's somebody I'm ready to meet." Aang said.

"No one could survive in there for a hundred years." Katara protested.

"Its not impossible. I survived in the iceberg for that long."

"Good point."

"Whoever is in there might be able to help me with this Avatar thing." Aang said eagerly.

"And whoever is in there might have a medley of delicious cured meats." Sokka said eagerly running into the door.

"You're missing an important point." I told Sokka blandly.

"What?" Sokka asked.

"This temple belonged to monks." I told him, "monks treasure all life, they don't eat meat." I finished when I saw he didn't get it.

"No meat?" Sokka yelled incredulously.

Aang had meanwhile opened the door. The door whistled with the air running through it.

We walked into the room and was greeted with the sight of hundreds of statues. Aang walked to the latest one in the line and stared in its eyes. The statue's eyes flashed blue along with Aang's eyes.

"Aang!" Katara yelled shaking his shoulder.

"Huh, what?" Aang asked coming back to himself.

"Who's that?" Katara asked.

"That's avatar Roku. The avatar before me." Aang answered.

A long shadow cast into the room.

"Firebender!" Sokka hissed as we hid behind the statue. Sokka held his club up and then a lemur was revealed in the light.

"Lemur!" Aang shouted excitedly.

"Dinner!" Sokka yelled.

"Don't listen to him you're going to be my new pet." Aang said.

"Not if I get him first." Sokka countered as both boys rushed out to follow the lemur. I followed quickly. Katara stayed behind to stare at the statues.

I made it to the bottom of the mountain just as Aang entered the Avatar state. I dropped to my stomach and crawled towards him to avoid being blown off the mountain by the wind. I stood up as soon as I reached Aang and held onto his waist tightly. Katara soon joined me and we got Aang to stop hovering.

"I know you're upset. I know it hurts to lose the ones you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mother. But you're not alone. Me, Sokka and Kiara, we're your family now." Aang collapsed into our arms.

"They really were here. I really am the last airbender." Aang said sadly.

"No you're not. I can learn airbending too. Then we'll only be the second to last airbenders." I tried to encourage him.

Aang smiled gratefully.

A while later we had Appa packed up and Sokka had gotten some fruit given to him by Momo, Aang's new pet.

We were flying away when I realized that I was happy. I was completely content. That hadn't happened in such a long time I almost didn't recognize the feeling.

I leaned back in the saddle and drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.