Alright guys here's the thirteenth chapter of my ATLA story. Anyway, quick things to point out if you haven't noticed.

Text Like this = Someone thinking to themselves

"Text Like this" = A conversation (for those of you who don't know.)

TEXT LIKE THIS = A full on shouting match

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. That goes to the creators of the story Bryan and Mike

Chapter 13: Return

The old man was woken up by noises outside his house. "Who the hell is making all that noise this early in the morning?" Frustrated he went outside looking for the culprit. And there he was. Aang was working on his Lava bending. "Oh, right. I forgot that he was here. Well, I'll let him tire himself out." He grumbled. Heading back inside, he aimed right back to his bedroom.

Minutes later the old man was woken up again. This time he sighed and headed to the Avatar's location. There he saw Aang struggling with the new technique. Synchronizing both elements to create a new one is exhausting him. It seems harder than he imagined.

Aang fell on one knee exhausted from his training. " I guess it's still not nearly enough. The amount of concentration to control is too hard, and 2 hours seems to be my limit... I get the feeling I'll never be able to do this."

"Looks like you finally stopped crying." A voice said.

"..."

"It takes some concentration to form the lava in the first place."

Aang turned around and saw the old man. "It's too much to try to use Earth and Fire bending. And trying to synchronize both of them on top of that."

"Well no one said it was going to be easy. Rome wasn't built in a day."

"Who now?"

"Don't worry about that."

"I don't know… I feel like I can't do it."

"Is that right?"

"..."

The old man saw the look Aang gave him. "You're 10 years too young to be getting this depressed."

"You think so?"

"Yeah you're unusually negative. It's not like you. Is that the Avatar everyone knows so well?"

Aang cast his eyes south. "Who knows?... Maybe it is."

"Why not just drop everything then? You clearly don't seem motivated to continue. So why not quit."

"I can't."

"Why not? Everyone seems to think you're dead anyway. They more than likely moved on already."

"I can't because I feel like I owe it to them. It kills me at night knowing that I could've done more."

"So you're doing this because it haunts you?"

Aang closed his eyes unsure of himself.. " I don't know…"

"Then why are you doing it? There's no point in you doing anything if you're not gonna put your back into it. And don't even get me started with your current state of mind. "

Aang punched the ground in anger. "I'm not doing this because it haunts me… I'm doing this because I want to."

"Is that so?"

"Y-you said it yourself old man... I-if w-we don't like something a-and we can't accept it. We'll have to make something out of it with our own hands." Aang stood up and continued training.

The old man saw a part of himself in Aang and chuckled. "I swear… Am I really that old?" Heading inside he turned to Aang. "Keep at it."

XXXXXXXX

The blazing midday sun shone on the trees as screaming can still be heard.

The old man sat at the entrance looking at his pupil training relentlessly.

Aang dropped to his knees exhaustion running through his body making it seem as the gravity on earth had doubled.

The old man saw this and walked towards his direction. "I swear do you always have to be this dramatic-?" his eyes widened in shock. Lava?

Aang smiles from ear to ear. "What do ya think old man? I think I did pretty good if I do say so myself."

The old man shook his head. "Needs more work."

Aang's jaw dropped. "Huh? What do ya mean old man? I actually managed to lava bend."

The old man nodded. "You did manage to lava bend. However, it was fairly weak.."

Aang's expression did not waver. "HUH?"

The old man shook his head. "Don't you "HUH?" me. Do you really think that pathetic excuse of a technique is going to stop anyone? At most you're going to heat up their tea."

Aang looked away. "Guess not."

The old man turned away from Aang. "That being said, you did something that no other Avatar has ever done-"

"Lava bend?'

"No, blow themselves out of existence and still yap away."

"HEY."

"That big head of yours probably broke your landing."

"Real funny old man."

The old man chuckled. "You should be proud of yourself young Avatar. However, if you want to use your new powers you need to keep training because that technique is going to be a liability on the battlefield." With that final statement he went inside.

"Wait."

"What is it?'

"Can you stay here and keep watch over me?"

"Yeah, no dice kid."

Aang threw a fireball at the old man. "YOU USELESS GEEZER."

The old man created an earthwall and returned the favor by sending a pillar straight at Aang. "You're gonna have to do better than that to land a hit on me." He turned tail and headed inside. This part of your training requires you to improve yourself. If I were to stay I'd just get in the way.

"Stupid geezer." With that being said Aang resumed his training.

XXXXXXXX

The pale crescent moon shone like a silvery claw in the night sky. The old man went to check up on Aang. "So how are we coming along?" He saw Aang on the floor. As he got closer he heard snoring.

He saw the damage in his hands. "Looks like the air head pushed himself past his limit." As he said that he heard groaning.

Aang struggles "Owwww."

"Look who's finally up."

Aang looked confused. "W-what? Where am I?"

"Outside. I believe that's what the locals call it."

Aang groaned as he remembered Toph would say that a lot. "Not you too."

"Anyway it's time to head inside kiddo."

Aang stood up fairly quickly and felt dizzy. "No, I need to keep going. I need to keep training." Finishing that statement he winced in pain.

"No. That's enough. You've gone past your limit. Anymore and you might be doing permanent damage to yourself."

Aang looked at his hands. "You think so?"

The old man nodded. "Yeah. Now come inside already. You need your rest."

Aang followed the old man inside. "Fine."

"I already made some grub, so go ahead and eat."

As Aang ate he remembered something. "Wait does any of this have any meat? Because I'm a vegetarian."

The old man shrugged. "Who knows?"

"YOU SHOULD. YOU'RE THE ONE WHO MADE THE FOOD."

The old man covered his ears. "Jeez kid. Do you have to be so loud?" The old man narrowed his eyes. "Somehow I feel like that Toph girl rubbed off on you."

"Yeah, so what if Toph has rubbed off on me?"

The old man chuckled. "I find it amusing how a woman can change a man. That's all."

Aang's face flushed with embarrassment. "Well that's because I love her."

"Then why didn't you tell her that beforehand?"

Aang looked down, finding the floor much more interesting. "Because… it doesn't matter. Anyway aren't you going to eat?"

"Nah. Old folks like me don't eat as much anymore."

Aang's eyebrow arched. "Well, alright then."

"I will tell you one thing. This is your only life so don't go around keeping things locked up inside."

"What are you talking about now old man?"

"This Toph girl. I can tell that she's changed you." He chuckled. "Whether you want to admit it or not."

Aang put his spoon down. "I know, but I think it's easier if I just keep this to myself."

"Suffering in silence. I suppose that's what you mean?"

"Yeah…"

"Horrible idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Love should never be a secret. If you keep something as complicated and annoying as love stored up inside. It's gonna wreck you." and with that the old man headed to the roof of his house.

Aang quickly finished his food and followed him up to the roof.

"Is there something you need?"

"Yeah I have a question."

The old man kept quiet waiting for the question.

"You said you had a wife right?"

"Yeah? So what about it?"

"How did you meet her?"

"Don't worry about it kid."

"I wanna know what you did to confess your love so easily."

"Oh, I didn't confess right then and there."

Aang's face deadpanned. "Huh? But I thought you said-."

"I never said I did it easily. What's wrong with you?"

"But you just gave a speech telling me that I shouldn't keep love locked up."

"That is true."

"THEN?"

"Then what?"

"Then what's the point of telling me all that if you didn't do it yourself."

"Do as I say not as I do."

"What?"

"Look I told you that so you wouldn't have a hard time dealing with that. You should consider yourself lucky."

"Lucky?"

"Yeah if it wasn't for me you'd still be wallowing about your girlfriend-."

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Same difference."

"I can't believe I'm having this conversation with a bag of bones."

"How do you think I feel? I was minding my own business when an idiot wrecked my roof."

They both stared at each other wanting to kill each other. They bursted out in laughter realizing how stupid they sounded.

"Listen kid being nervous about confessing your feelings to the person you love is normal."

Aang's eyebrow arched. "It is?"

The old man patted Aang's shoulder. "Of course it is. Being nervous about something means you care, doesn't it?"

Aang nodded.

"And if she rejects you… well I don't know what to tell you kid. You should probably swing for the other team."

Aang's eyes narrowed. "Shouldn't you tell me to try again?"

The old man shrugged. "And get your hopes up just so she shoots you down again?"

"You were just giving me some good advice. Why do you have to put me down like that?"

"It's kinda my shtick. My wife used to tell me that as well."

Aang began swinging his legs on the edge of the roof. "Hey… I know I shouldn't ask this, but do you miss your wife?"

The old man chuckled. "Well of course I do. But I realized that not everything goes the way you want it to go. Not really much you can do about it."

Aang sat in there in silence.

"However, if by some miracle I were to restart my life over, I wouldn't change a single thing. Even with all the mistakes I committed in the past. I wouldn't change it."

"Do you not regret anything?"

"At first I did. But then I realized that I did everything I could to the best of my abilities. So, I shouldn't be beating myself up about it. You should do the same young Avatar."

Aang pondered. "I think... I will…"

"Anyway you wanted to know about how my wife got lucky in meeting me right?'

"I think she lost the lottery in that one."

The old man smacked Aang in the head. "You're lucky I'm in high spirits."

Aang rubbed his head remembering how Toph would smack him as well. "Do all Earth benders have to hit with such aggressiveness?"

"Now where were we?"

"Your wife."

"Ah yes… my wife." The old man looked up into the sky, sighing as he closed his eyes. "Where to begin?"

A/N: Well here ya go. Kinda of short one. But you know what they say: Size matters. Or something like that. New chapter after going MIA for a year. The next chapter should be done in two weeks. Crazy how ATLA regained popularity after a certain streaming service got its hands on it. Now would be a great time to capitalize on the resurgence. The next chapter is going to be a flashback. So look forward to that. Or not I don't care. Anyway if you could read and review that would be fantastic. Any type of criticism is fine. I appreciate you guys.