Katara and Sokka shared a look.

"Danny… Sam, Tucker. We're sorry. We know that it's hard to lose people to the Fire nation. We lost our mom during a raid," Katara offered. Sam and Tucker nodded mutely in thanks. Danny shook his head.

"It's not the same, is it Aang?" Danny retorted, meeting Aang's gaze.

"What are you talking about?" Sokka demanded.

"He means, you guys weren't the reason your mom died. It was terrible but it wasn't your fault," Aang realised. Danny nodded slowly. Katara swallowed down her tears. She hadn't told Sokka, Toph or even Aang that it was because of her that their mother had been killed. Their mother had died to protect Katara from being taken and killed by the fire-benders.

"So what happened next?" Toph asked loudly. Danny smirked at her.

"We began to travel through the Earth kingdom. I heard the spirits as we went and resolved their issues. Anyone we met and thought I was the avatar, I told them I wasn't. At least that was until last winter," Danny answered. Toph frowned.

"Why? What happened last winter that changed that?" Toph inquired. Danny looked at Aang.

"The avatar returned," Danny replied. Aang blinked in surprise.

"You knew…" Aang trailed off. Danny nodded.

"Because of my connection to the spirit world, I knew instantly. Just like I knew that the Fire nation killed Tui and Princess Yue sacrificed herself to return balance," Danny confirmed.

"You felt that too!" Katara exclaimed. Danny nodded.

"He really scared us. He cried out all of a sudden and woke us all up during the night," Tucker interjected.

"Anyway, I knew that the avatar had returned. So, I began to make use of my astral projection to spy on Fire nation soldiers. The minute I heard that they were hunting you Aang, I stopped correcting people as readily about me not being the avatar," Danny continued. Aang frowned.

"Why did you do that?" he inquired. Danny smiled grimly.

"It's harder to track down the real thing when there's stories of a second avatar on the other side of the Earth kingdom coming in. You were keeping a low profile. Only had a few Fire nation soldiers following your trail. I wasn't. I was trying to protect you. I'm not important, not like you Aang. You were crucial to stopping the war. I was just a stand in for the spirits," Danny explained.

"But wasn't that dangerous," Katara pointed out. Danny nodded.

"It was. Hence why Tucker and Sam are always with me. I've been attacked by a lot of people while travelling. Fire nation soldiers and villagers. Some villages thought that I was pretending to be the avatar, like you did Sokka, even though I was the one that corrected them. They were angry with me and did try to punish me," Danny answered.

"But you were," Sokka pointed out. Sam, Tucker and Danny scowled at him.

"That was before Aang returned Sokka," Sam informed him. Sokka blinked.

"So, to keep you safe, I kept a close eye on how you were doing. Where you travelled and asked a lot of spirits for updates on what you'd done. When I heard through the gossipers that the avatar had been killed in Ba Sing Se, I asked the spirits and they told me what had happened. I went into hiding as well. I knew that you were pretending to be dead for a reason and I didn't want to endanger that," Danny continued. Aang glanced at Katara and Sokka. The whole pretend to be dead thing hadn't been his idea but it had paid off.

"Then I learned that you had revealed that you were alive, so I returned to being active and tried to help you that way again. Dunno if I did or not since you were seen in the Fire nation and I never left the Earth kingdom. But after the war ended, spirits have been even more vocal and destructive. So I've been trying to stop them getting out of control. So, I never tried to take your job Aang, it was just given to me and I tried to make the best of it," Danny finished.

"That doesn't explain why all the spirits are angry at Aang," Toph pointed out. Aang blinked in surprise. He'd forgotten that fact. Danny shook his head.

"Not all the spirits are angry. Just some. Those spirits are angry with Aang because he disappeared before the war began. They blame him for what happened. They believe that if Aang hadn't disappeared then the avatar could have prevented the war. The spirit here seems to be particularly angry but then again, it does feed on anger so it's to be expected," Danny explained.

Aang swallowed down his unease. The spirits were right. If Aang hadn't run away from the air temple and almost drowned in that storm, then he would have been around to try and stop the war. And if he couldn't then the avatar would have been reborn into the water tribe and the next avatar in the cycle might have resolved the war. Aang shook those thoughts out of his mind. He couldn't think like that. He's here now and he stopped the war, albeit a hundred years later.

"It isn't Aang's fault!" Katara growled defensively. Danny held up his hands to calm her.

"Easy Katara, I never said that I felt that way. I don't. But that's how a lot of spirits feel. Now that Aang understands that, then I dunno, maybe he can go into the spirit world and try and set the record straight," Danny replied.

"Yeah, great idea. Except Aang can't get into the spirit world," Sokka retorted, picking at his teeth.

"Sokka!" Aang hissed.

"What?" Sokka responded, with a confused frown. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Really?" he inquired. Aang scowled angrily at Sokka before nodding sadly to Danny.

"Yeah, ever since Ba Sing Se. I've managed to speak with Roku but he came to me not the other way around, and even then he did it on the anniversary of his death," Aang explained.

Danny looked thoughtful.

"Well, death anniversaries are powerful days for spirits. But if you can energy-bend then you should be able to enter the spirit world. Hmm, unless… that might be it," Danny muttered softly to himself. Aang frowned at him.

"What? Do you know why I can't get into the spirit world?" Aang prompted. Danny bit his lip and nodded.

"I have an idea. It could be one of two things. Because the spirits are so angry at you, Raava might be protecting you and preventing you entering the spirit world, or it might be because the spirits are so angry at you that they've banished your spirit until you fix everything. Either way, I have an idea to fix it. But I need you to mediate and try to get into the spirit world for it to work," Danny answered.

Aang blinked in surprise and nodded.

"Sure, tell me where I'm going wrong," Aang requested. Danny shook his head.

"If you've met Koh, you can get into the spirit world by yourself. You just need a little push to break that barrier. Something I'll provide. So when you're ready," Danny explained. Aang bit his lip and nodded. He took a deep breath and folded his legs and held his hands at his navel. Danny then copied Aang and took a deep breath and as his eyes pulsed green, closed his eyes.

So a few more explanations and more back story.

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Until the next chapter