A/N: If you didn't notice, or you just hit the "latest chapter" button, I changed the first chapter (and about a sentence of the second chapter, just for continuity change). Go read it. It's completely new.
Edit 3/26: Disregard the A/N, the first chapter is completely gone.
Chapter 2: The Storm
Everything hurts.
That was Rin's first thought as she slowly woke up, even before she had opened her eyes. Every part of her body ached, and it felt like a saber-tooth moose lion was pounding her skull in. As she grew more aware of her surroundings, she realized that she was covered by some sort of blanket. Rin forced her eyes open to see a tarp covering her body. Looking further, she saw that she was in some sort of large saddle. Suddenly, her memories of the fall rushed back to her.
So that's why it hurts so much... at least I survived. But where am I? As Rin looked around, trying to find an answer, a voice came from behind her.
"Hey, you're awake!" said Aang. Rin turned around, seeing the boy sitting on top of the bison's head.
"What happened? What am I doing on your bison?" asked Rin.
"Well, after you fell, you got hurt pretty bad. You took a hit to the head, and the rest of your body got scraped up pretty badly. You were pretty lucky to survive. We brought you onto Appa, and Katara did the best she could to patch you up. Speaking of Katara, here she comes right now!" As Rin followed Aang's gaze, she saw the Water Tribe girl climbing up the bison's tail, an empty sack in hand.
"We should fly to the market today. We're out of - oh, you're awake," said Katara, noticing Rin's struggle to sit up.
"So, how long have I been out?" asked Rin, glancing up at Katara.
"Only a night. We'll probably drop you off at the market today, since you can obviously take care of yourself by stealing from others." It was obvious to Rin that Katara didn't like the thief, most likely due to their first meeting at the Gan Jin camp.
"You know we can't do that, Katara," Aang commented from Appa's head. "Rin's still beat up pretty bad. You were the one that said that it would take a few days before she would be in shape to do anything, remember?"
"I know, but we can't trust her. She's going to steal all of our stuff and run when we aren't looking."
"Hey, she wouldn't do anything like that. Right, Rin?" Aang looked expectantly at Rin, waiting for an answer.
"Uh... no?" Rin said, thinking that an honest answer would get her kicked off the bison.
"I'm still skeptical about bringing her around with us," said Katara, sitting down on the opposite side of the saddle. Rin noticed the Water Tribe boy carrying the group's supplies up the bison's tail and into the saddle.
"Oh, the girl's awake. So what were you all talking about?" asked the boy, throwing the sleeping bags and tent down onto the saddle and sitting down near Katara, eyeing the injured girl briefly.
"Who are you?" Rin asked.
"Sokka, he's my brother," Katara answered, confirming Rin's suspicions. "And Sokka, I don't think it's a good idea to keep Rin with us. She's going to steal something, I know it."
"Don't be too hard on her. It's not like we have anything she would want. We're out of everything," said Sokka, grabbing the empty food sack and shaking it to demonstrate his point. Rin remembered that she still had a few pieces of bread left over in her bag, most of it from the Gan Jins.
"Hey, I have a bit of food if any of you want some. It's not much, but it'll last you until the market," she said, opening the sack and taking out four pieces of bread. Aang and Sokka reached over and took a piece for themselves while Katara sat still at the end of the saddle.
"Go on; take one," Rin urged, extending her hand towards Katara.
"It's probably poisoned or something," Katara muttered.
"Hey, I'm a thief, not a killer. At least, not yet. The bread's fine, see?" Rin took a bite out of her own piece of bread to demonstrate. Reluctantly, Katara took the bread from Rin's fingers and started eating.
"I still don't trust you, but thanks," mumbled Katara, looking away towards their emptied campsite. The four teenagers sat there, munching on their morning snacks in silence.
"So... you're the Avatar?" asked Rin, turning towards Aang.
"Yup! How'd you guess?"
"Well, you're the only airbender around, and I heard that the Avatar had come back as an airbender. Put two and two together, and you're the Avatar." Rin took the tarp that was covering her legs and threw it off, placing it with the other supplies in the saddle without actually standing.
"So, are we going to the market or what?" asked Sokka. In response, Aang jumped up into position, grabbing onto Appa's reigns.
"On it. Appa, yip yip!"
With a groan, Appa flew into the sky, heading towards the nearby port, startling Rin for a moment.
Once the harbor came into sight, Aang signaled Appa to go down, landing the bison in the water next to the dock with a splash.
"We're going to go down to the market to see if we can get some food. You should probably stay put, Rin," said Aang as he and the two Water Tribe siblings jumped down onto the dock.
"I'm fine, what are you saying?" Rin tried to get up to prove her point, but as soon as she stood up, a splitting headache forced her back down into the saddle.
"I think you need to be able to stand up to be fine," Sokka called from the dock. Rin gave out a groan of frustration and lay back down, resting her head.
"Are you sure we should leave her with everything? We hardly know her, and she might take our stuff and run," said Katara to Aang and Sokka.
"Katara, I think you should stop being so paranoid. Everything will be fine," said Aang.
"Yeah, and remember, she could barely stand up. We only need to worry once she gets better," said Sokka. The three headed off into the market leaving Rin alone on top of the bison. Once Rin saw them leave, she crawled over to the corner of the saddle where the group's supplies were, raiding them despite the trio's faith in her.
They've got to have left something good in here, she thought as she rummaged through their supplies. However, true to Sokka's statement back at the campsite, there was nothing that she could steal and hide. The only thing there was a tarp and a few sleeping bags.
You'd think that the Avatar and his friends would have at least something good... Rin thought as she put the supplies back in place. Just as she put everything back the way it was, she saw the group coming back from the market empty handed.
"What happened?" Rin called out to them. "I thought you were going to buy some food!"
"We realized that we were out of money," Sokka shouted back. Rin rolled her eyes, astounded that they would bother going to the market without any money.
"Well, I'm out of food, so I'm not giving you any more!" Rin shouted. She didn't know whether that was true, but she wasn't going to waste any more food on them. She planned on leaving once her injuries healed, and she wanted as much supplies as she could get before she left. Hopefully, the Avatar's little group would get a bit of supplies that Rin could steal or mooch from.
"Well, we're out of food and out of money. Now what?" Katara asked. An old couple passed by behind them as she spoke, arguing about the weather.
"Don't go out there!" shouted the old lady. "There's going to be a giant storm today! My joints tell me so!"
"Relax, it's nice and clear. The fish aren't going to catch themselves, woman," said the old man, pointing out towards the clear skies over the sea.
"Well, you've got to find someone else to help you catch them, because I'm not going out there!"
"Fine! I'll find someone else to haul that fish, and I'll pay them double!" Upon hearing this, Sokka's face lit up.
"I'll go," he called, approaching the old man.
"You're hired," the old man said instantly. As he retreated to his fishing boat, Katara came up to Sokka, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you sure you should go out there? The old lady said that there was going to be a large storm. I think we should take shelter somewhere."
"Are you kidding? Shelter from what, the sun?" asked Sokka, gesturing towards the sky. "Besides, you said we needed money, and he's paying double."
"Double?" the old man shouted, turning around. "Who told you that nonsense?"
"Sokka, I don't think this is such a good idea. Look at the sky," Aang said, looking at the storm clouds pulling in as they all gathered around the ship that the old man owned.
"I said I was going to do this job, Aang. I can't back out just because of some bad weather," Sokka said as he brought a crate below deck.
"I hate to break it to you, but you're airbending friend is right," Rin shouted from Appa's saddle. "That sense of honor is going to get you killed in the storm."
"Airbending friend..." the old man mumbled, turning towards Aang. "Well, I'll be a hog-monkey's uncle. You're the Avatar, ain't ya?"
"That's right!" Aang said gleefully, putting on a large grin.
"Well, don't be so smug about it!" shouted the old man, wiping the smile off Aang's face in an instant. "The Avatar vanished for a hundred years! You turned your back on the world, kid!"
"Stop yelling at him!" Katara said, cutting in front of Aang. "He would never turn his back on anyone!"
"Oh, would he? Then I must have imagined the past hundred years of pain and suffering!"
"Aang is the bravest person I know! He's done nothing but save and help people since I've met him! It's not his fault that he disappeared... right, Aang?"
As Katara turned around, she saw Aang backing off and flying away on his glider, heading out towards the mountains. Shocked seemed to fill Katara's face as Rin watched her look after him.
"Aang!" Katara cried out, trying to chase after him.
"That's right! Run away like you ran away a hundred years ago!" shouted the old man, waving his fist in the air.
"You're a horrible old man," Katara shouted, looking away from Aang and walking past the man and climbing onto Appa's head, grabbing onto the reins.
"Appa, yip yip!"
Rin held onto the side of the saddle, trying to keep herself on the bison as it flew into the air. Once Appa stabilized and started heading towards the mountain, she crawled over to the front of the saddle behind Katara.
"You know, the fisherman was kind of right. If the Avatar hadn't disappeared for a hundred years, things would be a lot different."
"Shut up! Aang wouldn't do something like that deliberately; he's the kindest soul I know!" As Katara spoke, she didn't move her eyes from the terrain in front of her.
"I wouldn't know; he blew me off a cliff."
Katara gave a nasty look towards Rin, then turned around, cutting off any further conversation. Once they reached the mountain, Katara directed Appa around the cliffs, looking for Aang. The clouds had come in, and rain was starting to pour down.
"Hey, water girl, I know you're used to rain, but could you bring us down under some shelter so I don't freeze?"
"Be quiet. If you want to get dry, help me find Aang."
Rin poked her head over the side of the saddle and started scanning the mountain, looking for any sign of Aang. After a few minutes, she spotted a path leading up to a cave.
"I think he went in there," Rin shouted over the rising storm, pointing out the cave to Katara, who steered Appa to the ground. Katara then jumped off, leading Appa, with Rin on his saddle, into the cave.
"Aang?" Katara called into the darkness of the cave. From the saddle, Rin saw a dark outline of the boy in a fetal position sitting in the middle of the cave.
"Oh Aang, I was so worried," said Katara, breathing out a sigh of relief and walking up behind him as she spoke.
"I'm sorry for running away," Aang whispered.
"It's not your fault, Aang. The fisherman was way out of line," said Katara, trying to comfort the boy.
"Actually, he wasn't."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"It has something to do with your dream, doesn't it?" Katara leaned over in front of Aang and put a hand on his shoulder. "Talk to me, Aang."
"It's kind of a long story."
Appa lowered his head to nuzzle Aang, receiving a small hug in return, probably understanding his pain.
"I'm going to try to get a little fire going," said Katara, heading towards the cave entrance. Rin sat up, watching Katara go out into the rain to find firewood. After a few minutes, she came back soaking wet, with a small bundle of firewood in her arms.
"I'm pretty sure you can't build a fire with wet firewood," Rin said snarkily.
"Bring the wood over here," Aang said. Katara put the wood out in front of him and Aang blew a blast of air at the wood, blow-drying it almost instantly. The three sat there for a few seconds in silence.
"So I'm going to assume that you have no fire starters, and that the Avatar can't firebend, since you're just sitting around watching a cold pile of sticks," said Rin. Katara gave out a large sigh before looking up and nodding her head.
"Figures. Use these," Rin said, taking a pair of spark rocks out of her bag and throwing them down to Katara. The Water Tribe girl scraped the rocks together, creating a spark and lighting the bundle of wood. Soon, there was a small fire burning in the middle of the cave.
"So, Aang, tell me what happened," said Katara, feeding a stick into the fire but still glancing at Aang.
"I'll never forget the day the monks told me I was the Avatar..."
"... Next thing I know, I was waking up in your arms after you found me in the iceberg," said Aang, finishing his story.
"You ran away," Katara said, trying to accept Aang's story.
"And the Fire Nation attacked the temple. I wasn't there when my people needed me... when the world needed me!"
"Aang..." Katara reached out to try and comfort the boy, but he turned away.
"The fisherman was right. I did turn my back against the world."
"You're being too hard on yourself, even if you did run away. If you had stayed, you would have been killed with all of the other airbenders."
"You don't know that."
"Maybe I don't... but I feel like it was meant to be this way. The world needs you now. You give people hope."
"Couldn't he have given people hope a hundred years ago?" Rin asked, cutting into the conversation. "Honestly, if the Avatar here hadn't run away, this world might have been a lot better than it is now."
"You don't know that!" Katara shouted. "Besides, Aang was desperate to stay with Gyatso. Every child would want to stay with their parents, and Gyatso was like a father to Aang - even someone like you would know that feeling, the feeling of love and -"
"Actually, I don't," Rin interrupted.
"What?" asked Katara, calming down from her rant against Rin.
"I've never known that feeling," Rin said simply, as though it were obvious.
"You've never had someone you've cared about? No parents, no guardian?" Katara asked.
"Nope. Not even a childhood. Woke up one day in the middle of the forest a few years ago, and then I just went from there, doing what I do."
"Figures," Katara said, getting up from the fire. "Someone like you didn't experience the innocence of being a child."
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Rin asked. However, before she could get an answer, someone ran into the cave.
"Help! Oh please, help!"
As the figure came into the light of the fire, the group saw that it was the wife of the fisherman who had gone out with Sokka. Katara ran over to her, grabbing her by the wrist.
"It's okay. You're safe now," she said, trying to comfort the old lady.
"But my husband isn't! They should have been back by now, and the storm is becoming a typhoon!"
"Oh spirits... Sokka's out there!" said Katara.
"I'm going to find him," Aang declared, jumping onto Appa.
"I'm coming with you!" Katara said, following Aang onto the bison.
"I'm staying here!" shouted the old lady, crossing her arms and sitting down.
"Same," Rin mumbled, crawling down Appa's tail with one of the group's blankets. She was still too weak to stand, and the cold of the storm wasn't doing much to help.
"We'll be back soon, I promise. Appa, yip yip!"
The bison flew out of the cave, leaving Rin and the old lady alone. Rin lay down, covered herself with the blanket, and took a nap, waiting for them to return.
"We're back!" Aang called out into the cave, his loud entrance waking Rin from her nap. She opened her eyes and saw Aang, Katara, Sokka, and the old fisherman climbing down from Appa and walking into the cave. The old lady got up and embraced the fisherman.
"You owe this boy an apology," the old lady said, pointing down towards Aang.
"Eh, how about a free fish?" the fisherman said, holding up a fish he had taken from his now destroyed boat.
"I don't eat meat," Aang said.
"Fish ain't meat!" the fisherman shouted, laughing.
"Uh, so do I still get paid?" Sokka asked, putting his hand out. The fisherman promptly threw the fish in Sokka's hand, earning a look of disgust. Meanwhile, Aang and Katara were talking on the other side of the cave.
"Katara, I think you're right. I should stop thinking about the past."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I don't know what would have happened if I had stayed, but I'm here now. I need to make the most of it."
"That's good, Aang. I don't think you'll have to worry about any more nightmares."
While the fisherman was thanking Aang for saving him, Rin noticed the rain stopping, revealing the sun poking through the thinning clouds. She took her blanket and crawled up Appa's tail and into the saddle, settling herself in the corner of the saddle and waiting for the other three to notice the absence of the rain.
"Hey, look! It stopped raining!" Sokka shouted, prompting everyone to go outside. After looking out over the sea for a few moments, Aang, Sokka, and Katara climbed back onto Appa where Rin was still waiting.
"So, are we heading out now?" Rin asked.
"Yup. We're going to go as far north as we can with the remaining daylight then find somewhere to camp," Aang replied.
"Glad to know you're still hitchhiking with us," Katara growled, giving Rin a glare before looking back at Aang.
"Hey, you guys got me into this state, it's only right for you to care for me until I'm better," Rin said as Appa took off.
"You should be fine enough to walk tomorrow. We'll drop you off somewhere," Katara said.
"Fine with me," Rin replied. The group fell into silence as they flew on towards their next destination, leaving the storm behind.
A/N: It's hard to do much with a backstory episode, but I did what I could so Rin could fit in naturally. Please leave a review, and have a good day.