Hello People of Fanfication
I'm Back!
We're finally continuing this story, it's been a long time since I've left it on hiatus, but now it's time to finish it
Hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Aang
Flashback
As Aang was sulking in his liquor, proving once again to himself and to the world that he's unfit to be the avatar, at least that's what he thought, as he made it clear to himself that what he had done wasn't going to be taken lightly.
He murdered a human being, could there be an excuse to that? None at all as far as he's concerned, he's breached his air nomad teachings, it's the only thing that differentiates Air nomads from the rest of the world, is he even allowed to call himself an air nomad anymore?
Aang kept mulling it over until Toph and Zuko came by for the seventh time.
"Are you ever going to give up? I told you, I'm not coming out. The world is at peace, there is no need for me right now, I'm never coming out of this until there is a real problem to solve." Aang clearly stated, as he hiccupped which indicated he's intoxicated.
Toph looked at him in disgust, "We came to check on you, Asshole." She snapped.
Aang snorted, "Check on me? Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, whatever…" Aang mumbled, as he took another sip of the bottle.
Zuko came closer, "Aang… what happened a year ago… it's not your fault, but what's going to happen, it's going to be your fault if you let it slide."
That intrigued him, "What's going on?" The Avatar asked.
"Toph said there has been unrest in the earth kingdom, an uprising against Earth King Kuei is bound to happen."
"Oh, you needn't worry. The freedom fighters will handle it."
"Freedom fighters?" Toph asked.
"Yeah, they are *hiccup* friends, they would know what to do." Aang responded.
"Shut the fuck up, I know who they are! You're letting a group of unorganized rebels take your place? What happened to your integrity as the avatar? What happened to 'I'm never coming out of this until there's a real problem to solve'…" Toph said, mocking Aang's voice at the last part, "This is a real problem, and we unfortunately, we need you." She said.
She's always presented the type of tough love that's always worked with Aang, Zuko was too soft with him which wasn't going to work in Aang's current state, uncle Iroh was soft too, but he had enough wisdom to back it up, Toph however was too strict, too blunt and straight forward, she never planned for her words, but it's always struck a chord within Aang.
"I don't wanna… *hiccup*" Aang merely said, as he took another gulp from the bottle of wine.
Toph couldn't take it anymore, she snatched the bottle of wine from his hand and she toss it away violently, completely breaking it into pieces and spelling the wine all around Aang's dorm.
She then held Aang by the collar as she said, "You insolent little brat, who the fuck do you think you are?! You think you've suffered enough?! I've been blind all my life, my own parents thought I was weak and fragile, they kept tossing me around from one guard to the other, thinking that I couldn't protect myself, they even brought along another girl to this world despite essentially planning to have only one, and do you know why? because they think I'm not good enough. You talk about despair?! You talk about the air nomads abandoning you?! Feeling like an outsider? I've been an outsider my entire life!" Toph practically shouted the entire monologue.
She finally let go of his collar and the avatar was too shocked to move, her words crushed him so much that his intoxication seized to exist, he couldn't even hiccup anymore.
Toph stood at the door as she looked at him and said, "I'm not going to come by your door again, Aang. I'm leaving the southern air temple tomorrow, but before that, I just wanted to tell you, that until you man up and take your duties seriously, we're no longer friends." That was the last thing she said before smashing the door behind here, leaving Zuko with Aang alone in the dorm.
Aang told Zuko that he needs time to think, which prompted Zuko to stand up and leave as well.
But Toph's words were too much for Aang to handle that he decided to take his duties seriously, and he went to the earth kingdom to fix things, before he decided to depart again, never to be seen again by Toph until the next year.
He did meet her in Gaoling by the time he finished the job and reconciliated, he then told her that he just needed some time to get back to his right mind, and he told Toph to stay in Gaoling until he comes back to take her so they could roam the world together again, which is something Toph dearly wanted.
But that next meeting never happened until a year later, in her home, as he came to take her to the cursed ceremonies.
End of Flashback
Aang woke up, he finally finished sobbing as he remembered Toph's words, he looked at Guru Pathik who has been looking at him with sympathy.
Aang's facial expression changed to that of determination, "She wouldn't want me to be like that." He said.
The Avatar then took a meditating position once more to unlock the final chakra, Guru Pathik understood what happened and he took on a position again.
"Good. You're passed the most crucial step, what's left is a piece of cake, let's unlock your final chakra together, Avatar Aang." Pathik said.
And the determined look on Aang's face never wavered.
I'm going to prove to you… that I'm worthy of your friendship, Toph. The Avatar thought as he was taking the final steps in redeeming himself.
Kori
Kori walked through the streets of Yu Dao as she was still mourning her dead father, she knew there was foul play behind her father's murder, and she really hoped it wasn't what she thought.
She then stopped dead in her tracks as she felt it, there's someone following her, but where is he located?
She tapped with her foot lightly on the ground as she acquired seismic sense as well, she felt him on the rooftop on her right.
She thought for a couple of seconds, should she attack the person right away? A thought then occurred to her that whoever might be following her might be linked to her father's murder, and so she decided she needs to interrogate this person.
She kept walking slowly and steadily like she's never sensed anything, and she sensed the person following not too close by, she changed course as she decided to lure him to an abandoned area, the person followed still.
Kori then stopped in back alley, as she stood still, the person felt alerted to where they were, and he immediately sensed danger, but before he could act on it, he found that Kori was no longer in the street in front of him, instead, she used her agility to be right on top of him in a second, delivering a spinning kick right to his face, dropping him off the rooftop on his back.
The man yelped, the kick hurt him even more than the fall, apparently, he wasn't aware of the extent of Kori's physical prowess, she's not just a talented earth bender, her punches and kicks are also considered to be lethal weapons, not to mention her agility, she could move very fast which is something uncommon for an earth bender whose moves mostly involve standing still.
But Kori had a different type of training than other earth benders, so she knows how to be agile as well as being strong.
Kori jumped from the rooftop and stood over the man, staring daggers at him, until she realized who she is.
"Sensu?" she asked, her facial expression turned to that of shock, as Sensu being here further proves the suspicion she's been harboring, which nauseated her.
"Kori! Hey… how's it going? *cough* that was intense." He said, as he kept coughing blood.
"Why were you following me, Sensu?" Kori simply asked, secretly wishing never to have this question answered.
"I wasn't following you, Kori… why would you say that?" He asked, completely masking it, another person would have thought him to be sincere from his face that rarely shows any expression.
But Sensu forgets that Kori is a truth seer.
"You're lying." Kori simply said.
Sensu's eyes turned to that of shock as he remembered that Kori is indeed a truth seer,
"I suppose there is no point in lying now, is there?" Sensu simply asked.
He then laid his head back on the ground, "I don't know why I'm bothering myself with this, the coup is happening tomorrow anyways. Yes, I was following you, Kori." Sensu said.
"What coup?" Kori asked.
"We've been on the move for the past couple of months, yes, we left you out of the loop, making you think that we only plotted rescuing Sneers from your father's prison, but our plans were way beyond that, we were planning to make Sneers the new head of Yu Dao, so he could help us raise an army to fight the firenation. Something your late father was too much of a coward to do." Sensu said.
Kori has heard enough, she took a slap of earth from the ground and she pointed it towards Sensu's face.
"If you don't want your face to be skewered like a wild boar, you'd watch your mouth when speaking of my father." Kori said.
Sensu simply raised his hands in defeat.
Kori then continued as she composed herself, "You look like a smart person, Sensu. I'll ask you a question, if you answer, I'll let you live, do we have a deal?" Kori asked.
Sensu was indeed a smart person, and so he decided to take on the opportunity, "What other choice do I have? Ask away." He said.
Kori hesitated before asking, but she decided to do it anyways, "Does Sneers have anything to do with my father's murder?"
Sensu answered right away, "He was the mastermind behind the entire operation." He said.
Kori was surprised by Sensu's straight-forwardness, he's either a really good opportunist, or he's so sure of their plan that he has no issue throwing it away.
That wasn't what occupied Kori's mind at the time though, it was one thing to suspect something, and a totally different thing to have it confirmed.
It was finally confirmed by Sneers' right-hand man that Sneers was the reason behind her father's gruesome death, she didn't know what to do, or how to think, but she decided to clear her mind for the time being and decide to act on her feelings later.
But for the time being, she dropped the slap of rock she was holding over Sensu, she then stomped his face with her leg, making him pass out.
"I said I'd let you live, I never said anything about letting you off the hook, I'll deliver you to the city police, they would know what to do with you."
Kori then shackles Sensu's hands using slaps of earth, and carried him to the police station in silence, all the while thinking of a way to deal with the person who murdered her father.
Who turned out to be her own lover.
Katara
She found Miki sitting on a ledge overlooking the air temple, she decided it was time to speak to this girl who shares her pain over the demise of Pakku and the state of the southern watertribe, their home, which is overrun by dark spirits now.
Katara came closer to Miki, "Hey." Katara greeted.
Miki couldn't help but greet back, "Hey." Miki said.
She didn't say anything about her earlier attitude though, which bothered Katara, as the water bending master made her intentions clear that she wants to make peace with the girl, but she never said as much as a sorry.
Katara decided to brush it off as she wanted to speak to the girl regardless,
"So… I heard you fought the dark spirit in the southern watertribe, what was it like?" Katara asked.
Miki simply shook her head, "I wouldn't say I fought him, I merely got lucky. He wasn't fighting seriously, he was reserving his energy for a greater fight, which is obviously Avatar Aang." Miki said.
"Nonsense, Sokka told me the whole thing, he said your eyes glowed just like Aang's, which means you do have access to Raava's powers."
"I do have access to Raava's powers, but just some of it which is within my spirit, I'm a child of Raava after all, but a child of Raava could only be worthy to fight a child of Vattu and nothing else, it's the avatar's destiny to bring down Vattu once and for all, which is why I was so eager to come to the southern air temple, to speak to Avatar Aang about it, so at least I could be of any assistance, I couldn't protect my tribe, at least I could help liberate it." Miki said, her voice and facial expressions were masking hurt.
As Katara was about to speak, she was interrupted by a boy who intervened as apparently, he was sitting with Miki before they came.
Which is obviously, her boyfriend Kai who was carrying two cups of tea and said, "I brought you the tea…" he was speaking to Miki before he made notice of Katara's presence, "uhm.. hello, Master Katara, how are you doing?" Kai asked.
"I'm doing fine. How about you, Kai?" Katara asked.
"I'm doing fine." Kai said, he looked to be inspecting the situation, making sure that they are not fighting each other, but when he sensed no hostility from both of them and they are just having a friendly chat, he decided to leave them to it, but no before giving them the cups of tea, he gave his cup to Katara.
"I'm going to leave you to it then… see you later, Miki." Kai said.
Katara and Miki smiled at him as he left, although Miki would never admit it, but she wanted this conversation with Katara to continue.
"So, Miki… Sokka said that you sustained injuries during your fight with Vattu, but now you're completely healed. Is that true?" Katara asked.
"Yes, that's true. My water bending abilities are much stronger than the average bender due to my connection with Raava, this reflects on my healing abilities too." Miki said.
"Could you use this on other people too?" Katara asked.
"No, my output when it comes to healing abilities are the same as the average bender, but when I'm using it on myself, it's much stronger."
"Yeah, I get it. That's amazing, you could be a lethal weapon when you want to." Katara asked.
"Yes… because this is all I am, this is all what Petu of the northern water tribe is, this is all what Avatar Aang is… we are weapons." Miki said, looking down sadly.
Katara cringed at her own words the moment she said them, she's been making sure not to deal with Aang as the avatar, and the moment she spoke with someone who has similar abilities, she would fall out of grace.
"I'm sorry, it's not what I meant." Katara said.
"It's okay, Master Katara. I've been made aware of the fact that we are mere weapons for humanity, we don't get to complain, we don't get to strive for what's best for us, only what's best for other people, sure, it made me sick at first, especially when I started to connect with my previous lives and got to feel what they were feeling, but then Master Pakku made it simpler for me, aside from Kai, he was my only friend, from the moment people knew that I had special powers and they are dealing with me as the child of Raava, not Miki, and now Pakku is gone, which means there is one less individual who deal with me as only Miki, one less individual… out of two. I'm starting to miss the times I used to be just a nameless servant in the house of councilors." Miki finished, looking at the ground in sadness.
Katara's heart broke for her, she felt disgusted with herself that she made Miki feel that way, she thought of apologizing but she knew it wouldn't help in her case, so she decided to respond to her with a story,
"You know, when I first met Aang, I didn't know he was the avatar, we kinda bumped into each other in the northern water tribe, and him being stronger, he knocked me off my feet of course, I lashed out at him, and you know why? It's because I had just fought Petu and lost. At the time of course, I didn't know Petu was a child of Raava as well, but I still fought him even though his powers were uncanny, but I never backed down, and so I didn't against Aang as well, he had to back down… I don't know what reminded me of this memory, but it's the fact that I encountered two super natural beings in one day, and I still didn't bother to ask who they were, just dealt with them as regular human beings…" Katara started, Miki was intrigued by the story so she listened without interruption.
Katara continued, "When Aang told me he was the avatar, I don't remember feeling surprised or amazed. I felt sad because he didn't tell me from the beginning, of course, I didn't tell him as well that I was daughter of the chief so I guess that made us even, but the fact that I didn't care that he was the avatar, just that I was sad he lied to me, it made him trust me more, I started to link all the missing pieces together as soon as Aang told me that he likes hanging out with me because I'm one of the few people that make him feel like Aang, not Avatar Aang." Katara finished.
It somehow eased Miki a bit, it made her speak freely, "Among other things of course." Miki said, a hint of teasing to her voice.
Katara was confused, "What?" Katara asked.
"That last part, you said Avatar Aang likes to hang out with you because you make him feel like Aang… I say that's not the only reason he likes to hang out with you. You are a beautiful woman, guys would love hanging out with you regardless." Miki said.
Katara blushed at the compliment, "No, come on… that's not who Aang is." Katara said, her voice sounding very timid.
Miki chuckled, "Oh, Looks like it's not one-sided too. Good for you, Avatar Aang." Miki teased again.
"Well, I'm glad you're getting a kick out of this." Katara said with a pouty face, although in fact she was feeling better that she made Miki laugh.
As soon as the laughter subsided, Miki looked meaningfully at Katara, "I'm sorry I was being such a bitch earlier, I've lost a lot in the past couple of days, from Pakku to the southern water tribe… I hope you could forgive me." Miki said.
"Don't mention it, we're friends now." Katara said.
"Friends?" Miki asked, looking at her with a hint of shock, nobody other than Pakku and Kai wanted to be her friend, even Sokka, although he was being very kind and polite with her, he never offered to be her friend.
"Yeah, if it's no bother to you." Katara said.
Miki looked down with a smile, "Of course not, I would love to be your friend." She said, her voice was very shy, it made Katara question if that was the same person that was speaking all seriously earlier.
Katara smiled at her, but their conversation was interrupted as the doors to the southern air temple were swung open, a huge light coming out of it.
Everyone in the square gathered, all the air benders and the water tribe people, they gathered to witness what's happening.
Miki couldn't believe what she's seen and felt, she was looking with pure shock as he walked out of the temple with his eyes and tattoos glowing, her eyes were glued to him as her spirit was drawn to his, looking at him with admiration and awe, his presence alone made her feel all that.
None however was prouder than Katara, who saw him coming out with the avatar state, looking from a high place at everyone with Guru Pathik standing right beside him with his hands behind his back and a smile on his face as he was witnessing a fully realized avatar at his most powerful.
Sokka, Hakoda and Senge came rapidly as well to witness the full power display, along with Master Tenzin who came close by.
Kai came to stand beside Miki, he looked at her meaningfully, and she looked back at him, her eyes were filled with hope for the first time since Master Pakku's death.
Aang's eyes and tattoos stopped glowing as he tapped out of the avatar state and he looked at the crowd that gathered to watch him.
His eyes were emotionless, but he looked very motivated, it pained Katara to witness what this boy went through, and although she knew he had to overcome a lot of obstacles to get to this place, obstacles that made him change forever, she didn't even know what was the procedure that he went through to regain his avatar state, but judging from his detached eyes, it didn't look like a healthy procedure to his mental state.
But he still managed to get there, which was enough to be proud of him, he regained something he lost since the cursed ceremonies, and now he's ready to fight the ultimate spirit of evil with it, literally.
Maybe, this Aang is what the world needs to survive, the Aang who doesn't have the glint of joy and happiness in his eyes, just pure motivation, focus and sheer force of will.
Aang looked at the crowd, still maintaining his detached look as he addressed them,
"It's time for humanity to fight back." Avatar Aang said, before he went on his way to prepare for the next move with Master Tenzin.
All the people in the crowd had a shared look displayed in their eyes as he was walking past them to get to Master Tenzin.
Hope.
Thank you for reading
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and have a good one :)
