Extraordinary: Fanning the Flames
Summary: The word 'extra' is defined in the dictionary as something additional to what was expected. In the story we all know, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. He popped out of an iceberg, and the balance was restored, through blood and loss and trial. In this story, he has something a little… extra on his side. Zuko/OC
If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. - Maya Angelou
Chapter Three: These Times, They Change (revised)
"Gran-Gran," Katara began nervously, "This… Is the Avatar. His name is Aang."
Kanna, now an old woman, was sometimes prone to bad hearing. It was not something she advertised – she chastised her grandchildren whenever they 'mumbled' – but it was the truth.
"What did you say, Katara?" Kanna demanded. "Who is this boy?"
"He says he's the Avatar, Gran-Gran," Sokka jumped in. "I don't believe him. His story is stupid, for one thing."
"We found him in the ice," Katara said stubbornly. "We were in the fishing boat, and there was a great light, and we saw him climb out of an iceberg!"
"Maybe he's a Fire-bender," Sokka proclaimed.
"He has a flying bison, Gran, and he can bend air! Look!" Katara insisted, pointing at the grinning boy. He can't be more than thirteen, Kanna thinks. Now that she squinted, she could tell he looked the way the Avatar should look – if he were alive. Kanna didn't know how much she could trust Akari's notes. The Avatar's sister had claimed, in the scroll Hama had left behind, that she suspected her brother was not dead. Kanna knew freezing a person in ice was possible, considering Akari was still a few dozen miles off the coast, and several dozen feet beneath the ice.
"Show me," Kanna demanded. "Bend the air, boy."
"Sure thing," the boy chirped. And just like that – as though he doesn't know all the problems he could be causing, all the things that could change by his existence – the boy spins together a ball of air, and jumps on it. "I call this the 'Air Scooter'!" he said cheerfully, maneuvering the ball so it floats midair, so it glides along unseen currents. "What do you think?" he grinned.
"I think," Kanna said, steeling herself, "That it is time I told you a secret, Sokka, Katara."
"Here's the box you wanted, Gran-Gran," Katara said, a question in her tone. Kanna has never allowed the children near this box, a precious thing for all that it is only made of wood. She showed it to her son, and to her son's wife – but now, it is high time her grandchildren knew.
"Open it, Sokka," Kanna said.
Her grandson – clumsy, perhaps, but he means well – slid the clasp open, and lifts the box's cover. There is a small, thick scroll inside, and she instructed him to read it aloud.
"Akari lives," Sokka began. Kanna heard the Avatar's sharp intake of breath, and closed her eyes. "She is frozen 36 feet beneath the old seal enclosure. She came to me and asked me to do this, because the Fire Nation knows she is alive. After practicing on hundreds of sea-weeds and a little over a dozen seals, I encased her in ice. You will need a Waterbender to unfreeze her. Do this when the people are ready to fight."
"If you have returned to us, Avatar," Kanna began, turning to the boy, "Then perhaps it is time we awoke your sister."
"I… Why would she be here?" Aang asked quietly. "In the South Pole? She's supposed to be at the Western Air Temple. And why would she ask to be frozen in ice? I don't understand."
Katara and Sokka exchanged glances.
"You do not know of the War?" Kanna asked in disbelief.
"What war?" Aang asked, eyes wide.
"Oh," the Avatar said, subdued. "I… A hundred years…"
"I cannot believe you escaped," Kanna shook her head, hair loops moving slowly. "Akari always believed so. But that you did not even know of the attack…"
"I… I need my sister," Aang said shakily. "I…" The boy cut himself off with a blast of air, wooden glider opening in mid-air as he flew off. He soared through the air, circling, as though he was looking for something; and then he took a sharp dive Eastward, towards the old seal enclosure.
"You two must go after him," Kanna said gravely. "Katara, I do not believe you are strong enough to bring Akari back. And in this case, the Avatar may do more harm than good."
"We'll go straight away, Gran-Gran," Sokka said seriously. He took his sister, who still could not speak, by the hand, dragging her out of the tent.
Children… How quickly they grew, Kanna reflected. And how quickly the young grew to have children, and then grandchildren! It felt like just yesterday she had lost Hama, and then Kya… Shaking her head, Kanna forced those thoughts away. No more loss; today was a day of finding.
"Aang!" Katara called out desperately.
"Kid!" Sokka shouted. "Come on! Where are you?!"
The two siblings didn't have to paddle for much longer, before they found the Avatar. A few miles off the old seal enclosure, there was a vicious storm; Aang was, presumably, in the middle of it. Gales of wind flung ice and water around, and a cold fog had filled the air. The boat was pushed back by strong waves. It was only by Sokka's rapid oar skills and a bit of Katara's Waterbending (at least, she hoped it had helped) that they stayed still.
At the center of the foggy tornado was Aang, who had dived into the ocean's depths to find his sister. True to the scroll, he found the ice she was enclosed in, a few meters wide and several more high. The ice was strong, and her reflection clear as crystal.
"Akari," Aang whispered, the name floating into the air sphere he dove down in. It hung in the enclosed air, like a string of tension waiting to snap – and then it snapped. Aang's eyes blinked into bright, unseeing blue, and the sphere of air he'd formed began to spin. The shield became a vortex, and Aang screamed.
Deep beneath the torrent, the ice began to crack.
"How are we supposed to get past this?!" Sokka yelled, raising a hand to shield his face from flying shards of ice. The storm had picked up, and picked up bits of the arctic landscape in the process. The result was a snowstorm greater than Sokka had ever seen before.
Before Katara could come up with a reply, the storm stopped. Snow hung as frozen in motion as it was frozen, and the wind paused to take a breath. There was a burst of light, a beacon thrust up into the air from deep under the ocean; the light parted the storm, and the waters calmed.
"What are you waiting for, Sokka? Come on!" Waving her shaking hands in the air, Katara began trying to propel the boat forward.
"Come on, she says," Sokka shook his head, but began paddling with newfound zest.
"Akari?" Aang called hesitantly. The Avatar's storm had left him floating on a large ice floe, along with a slowly cracking iceberg. Perhaps that was a stretch – it was only a little bigger than Aang was.
There was no light emitted from the ice, not like when Aang had woken. Instead, there was a low hiss of wind, that grew louder and steadier as the ice cracks spread. Finally, with a loud fission of sound, the ice split into three – a block of ice on the left and right, and Akari, covered from head-to-toe in blubber.
"Aang!" Katara shouted. She and Sokka had disembarked from the canoe, and were now running towards the Avatar. "Be careful1"
"Akari," Aang whispered, taking a hesitant step forward; nothing happened, his sister was still. He grew more confident, bending the air beneath him so he landed beside her. He let himself poke her shoulder; his finger came away covered in white grease.
"Ew," he muttered.
"Is that her?" Sokka asked in disbelief.
"Is she… Normally that glossy?" Katara asked.
"She's oily," Aang said, mystified. "Look," he added, showing them his grease-coated finger.
"Huh," Sokka said, moving closer to smell. "It almost smells like… Seal fat," he frowned.
"Blubber," Katara's eyes widened. "To keep her insulated!"
"Should we wipe it off?" Aang frowned. "I could maybe air blast it – "
"No!" Sokka said hurriedly. "It's too cold here, she could get the Blues. We should bring her back to the village, give her some urchin stew."
"And a hot bath," Katara agreed.
"All right then," Aang shrugged. "I don't feel cold, though, and she's wearing furs like you guys are."
"Maybe it's an Avatar thing," Sokka said nonchalantly, even as he lifted Akari onto his back. Katara had already started walking back to their boat.
"Maybe I'm just too cool for the South Pole," Aang said cheekily. Air-bending himself out of the way before Sokka could retaliate, he let out a laugh. Sure, he'd just found out he'd slept through a hundred-year war, and most everyone he knew was gone.
But… He had his sister back.
Author's Note: What do you guys think? Questions, complaints, all is welcome. Even flames, as they add to review count. (Heh... Fanning the flames.)
If anyone thought Aang was too calm - he's very emotional in canon, isn't he? I'd put forward the argument that when he found out then, he didn't have anyone from the past with him. He was facing this brand new world alone, with nobody he loved. This time he has his sister to help him out. Just one person can make a huge difference to loneliness and to hope, and that's what I'm going for here. Not that Akari's a savior sue or anything - she's got a ton of emotional problems on her own, and that'll be a problem with Aang later - but having someone who can relate to you is fantastic. And Aang didn't have that the first time around, neverind how cool Sokka and Katara were.
PS: Call for beta is still open.