A/n: No 'future chapter' quote this time. Just a bit of information. I do have an Instagram, musiclover_j101, that I am trying to post to more regularly. My drawing tablet is currently broken so no new artwork until I can get a new one. There were some people asking if I had one, and this is my answer! Now, back to the story. Hope you enjoy!

Your Author

-Jenna

Ayaan met Katara on the way there, she had left the sanctuary not long after he did because the statues began to emit light. She had a bad feeling it had something to do with Aang, and she was right. Raging wings pelted them from all sides, making it harder and harder to move forward towards the building, which had long since been totaled by the tornado Aang had formed.

"Are you okay?" Ayaan asked, having to raise his voice so it was heard above the raging winds. Sokka nodded his head, all three of them looking out to Aang as his tattoos were glowing once again. His back was turned to them, so they were unable to see the anger upon his face.

"What happened?" Katara shouted to Sokka. All of them took shelter behind the rock Sokka hid behind, watching the scene with worry and alarm.

"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso!"

"No..." Ayaan said, saddened by the news. Although he wanted Aang to know the truth, this was not how he wanted him to find out. He closed his eyes, opening them again to gaze at the back of their youngest, who he knew was hurting.

Even if they had of told him the truth, it would not have lessened the blow. Ayaan could see the bones littering the ground around them, hordes of firebenders in old, weather-worn armor. On the furthest wall were the bones of a monk. A distinct necklace around his neck that made it clear who he was.

'This man truly was strong, to take out so many enemies alone before he perished.'

"It's his Avatar Spirit! He must have triggered it! I'm going to try and call him down!" Katara began to get up, only to find that Ayaan was already moving, having the same thoughts she did. Protecting his face with his arms, he slowly made his way towards Aang. Aang, who was floating in a sphere of wind that was only visible because of the dust and dirt it carried within it.

"Well, do it! Before he blows us off the mountain!"

Both of them found that no matter what they did, they could get no closer to Aang in that state. The wind was too strong, and they risked flying off the mountain themselves if they got any closer. Ayaan gripped Katara tightly, protecting her from the wind with his body. He'd stabbed his spear down, giving them more to hold.

Ayaan wasn't much of a speaker when it came to empathizing. He had become a person of few words but he knew that Katara and Sokka weren't like that. In moments like this, he knew that Katara could do it. So, he gave her a nod. Katara, understanding what that meant, began to speak for all of them.

"Aang! I know you're upset and I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom. When we almost lost Ayaan." She gave her brother a look, seeing the flicker of sadness that passed his eyes before he closed them to hide it away.

Sokka made his way over to them. The winds were lessening, and they knew that he could hear her words. Ayaan was quick to grab him too, his larger frame shielding both of them as best he could as Katara continued to speak.

"Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka, Ayaan, and I! We're your family now!" Both of her brothers glance at her, agreeing with her words.

The winds died down, the sphere of air disappearing from around him. He touches the ground and the siblings make their way to him, though he was still glowing. Sokka was on his left, Katara on his right, and Ayaan directly behind him.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you," Sokka says, looking towards his older brother, "Promise." He finished. Ayaan let a small smile slip by as he nodded, agreeing with Sokka's statement.

'Promises are not made lightly. We never make promises we won't do everything in our power to keep.'

Katara took Aang's hand, and the moment she did, Aang ceased to glow. He begins to collapse to the ground, being caught by Ayaan who was behind him. He gently lays him down, Katara cradling his form.

"I'm sorry." He says sadly.

"It is fine." Ayaan answers.

"Yeah. It wasn't your fault." Katara adds.

"But you were right." Aang replies to them sadly. "And if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the others, too." He closes his eyes, everything he just realized sinking in. He didn't want to admit it, he didn't want to acknowledge it. But the bones around him were clear for anyone to see.

"I really am the last airbender."

Katara hugs him tightly, Ayaan taking them both into this embrace as Sokka places a hand on Aang's shoulder. Just as Ayaan had said before, they let him know that he wasn't alone. The only thing they could do for him was to be there with him.

They simply sat there with him, letting him cry and mourn his loss until he was ready to leave. They gave Gyatso the best burial they could, not wanting to leave him in the same spot he was forgotten for a hundred years. They gave him their silent prayers, their thanks, and their promises to take care of Aang in his stead.

...

..

.

Ayaan was packing up their things along with Katara. Sokka and Aang were within the sanctuary looking at the statues, though Sokka wasn't really looking at anything, he was daydreaming about food again.

"Everything is packed, it is time to leave." Ayaan said. Katara made her way down from the saddle, now able to do it herself through practice.

"I'll go get them." She said, heading to the sanctuary to get Aang and Sokka. He returned to readying the saddle and reigns, hopping down to give Appa more pats. By now, Ayaan knew all of Appa's favorite spots to get patted, and he weaved his large hands through the bison's fur. Appa grunted, pleased by the affection he was shown.

That's when he hears something from behind him. He turns to the sound, only to see the lemur from before standing a few feet away from him and Appa. It tilted its head as if it was curious, making its way towards them slowly.

"Hello." Ayaan said politely. He knelt down, meeting the lemur on the ground. It was so tiny compared to Appa, but it also seemed to be fluffy. But its fluff seemed to be a lot smoother than Appa's thick fluff. But fluff was fluff, and Ayaan found that he was weak to it.

He reached in his pack, grabbing a piece of fruit he had picked from the variety of trees and bushes he found around the temple. With hundreds of years with no interference, the plants grew abundant. He had made a mental note before he got here to grab as many fruits as he could pack, and he managed to find apples too.

He was sure that Aang and Appa would love food local to their home more than anything else, and he knew that Appa loved apples. That was all the reason he needed to grab as many as he could fit. There were also moon peaches, something he had not seen before. Aang told him that they were really sweet and juicy, and that it was the lemurs' primary food when they weren't eating everything else, including bugs.

"Here." Ayaan sat the peach down in front of him and took a step back. He did not want to scare it. The lemur slowly made its way to the peach, and snatched it with its front paws before biting into it. It seemed to really like it, and then it lifted its head abruptly, like it had an idea.

And just like that, it sped off. Ayaan was surprised when it jumped off the edge of the cliff and flew, a bit like Aang and his glider.

'That must be what his glider was based off of.'

It was only a few minutes later that the others came back. The lemur, to Ayaan's surprise, was on Aang's shoulders and Sokka was stuffing his face with a bunch of fruits and berries.

"He got Sokka some food! Isn't he sweet?" Aang told Ayaan, delighted by the lemur on his shoulder.

Ayaan's eyes widened slightly before returning to their calm as he looked towards the lemur. One could see the pleased expression on his faced as he realized the lemur got the idea to give food to Sokka from their little interaction.

"You have made a friend, Sokka." Ayaan said, his gaze having returned to his brother who was still eating as if he breathed food and not air. Both Katara and Ayaan shake their heads at him as he inhales his food.

"Yeah, the food is great! You want some?" He says, his voice muffled by the food in his mouth still.

"Eat your fill." Ayaan declined. Sokka shrugged, continuing to eat as instructed.

"Don't talk with your mouth full like that!" Katara chastised. Sokka rolled his eyes at her mom-ing, but alas did not try to talk again with his mouth full of food. Couldn't risk losing some of it, right? Food is precious.

Aang goes over to Appa, taking a glance at his home. The winged-lemur perches on his arm, looking at the same sight. "You, me, and Appa: we're all that's left of this place." He looks toward the lemur who glances back with his intelligent green orbs. "We have to stick together. Katara, Sokka, Ayaan," He says, the trio turning to him, "say hello to the newest member of our family."

He comes towards the trio. "What are you going to name him?" Katara asked.

Just at that moment, Sokka was about to take another bite of his moon peach. The lemur sees it, and with quick movements, leaps from Aang's arm towards Sokka and steals it from him. To everyone's surprise, when he returns, he doesn't go back to Aang, but perches himself on Ayaan's shoulder as he eats his claimed peach.

Ayaan smiled just a bit. "He really likes these moon peaches."

'Moon? Mo... Aha!' Aang got it. The perfect name.

"Momo." Aang said, taking inspiration from the fruit the animal, now named Momo, was eating. "He seems to like you a lot too, Ayaan." Aang stated. What he saw next made him smile even more.

Ayaan was already petting Momo.

"Yes, it seems so." He said, probably not even taking notice that his hand was following his innermost desire to pet the cute creature. Did he not know that his eyes seem to shine in the presence of non-hostile, cute creatures? It was like he had this beaming aura around him that just screamed: 'I'm really happy right now even if I'm not actually smiling.'

It was very obvious from this interaction what Ayaan was planning. It had been the same with Appa the moment they first met, though they didn't get to see that expression the first time. The moment Appa let him touch his fur and pet him, and now the same thing was happening with Momo.

'...I'm going to spoil them, aren't I?'

His much larger hand glided over Momo's ears gently, the lemur letting out a contented purr as he continued to eat his fruit. Just as the older boy thought, it was very smooth. 'And very soft.' Ayaan added mentally. Though his hand did hit a bit of a snag. In some places Momo's fur was longer, and since he lived here alone there was no one to care for it properly. But it was still soft. The answer to his question was obvious.

'Yes. I am going to spoil them.'

"Did you pack a brush for lemurs?" Ayaan asked after a moment of enjoyment from petting Momo. Aang checked through their loot and nodded in confirmation that yes, they had all of the tools they would need to care for him.

Yes, they took what they could from the temple. It was not much more than food for the journey, but there were some articles of clothing that Aang could still use and other bits of tools that just needed a bit of touching up. That included a proper brush for Appa's fur, to which Ayaan was delighted to see.

"You really like animals, don't you, Ayaan?" Aang asked as they finished loading all of their luggage onto Appa's saddle. "I'm surprised you didn't have a pet in the South Pole."

"We did have Ako." Ayaan said. Aang took a moment to think of where he heard the name before, before a light bulb went off in his mind.

"Do you mean the polar dog that was in the village? I thought she was someone else's pet." Aang replied, getting into the driver's seat at the base of Appa's neck. Ayaan got into the saddle, his same spot at the back. Momo was still on his shoulders, his tail wrapped around his neck as he'd fallen to sleep.

"She was. But everyone in the village took care of her after her owner left for the war two years ago." Ayaan said nothing else after that, but Aang understood enough with just that. His silence spoke for him.

The War. His home may have been the first to be attacked, the first to be lost to it, but everyone, everywhere, had lost something to it too. Men, fathers, brothers, and friends leaving to fight, lost family members and homes; Aang was sure that he would see more of this type of heartache on his journey.

Being the Avatar, it was his job to end this heartache. He had to end the war. How he was going to do that, he did not know. He didn't know what to expect or how he was going to do it.

'I'm scared. But...'

He looked towards the siblings, Appa, and Momo. A small smile spread across his face.

'I'm not alone. I have them.'

"Yip-Yip" They took off into the sky. The dusk sky began to darken as they got further and further away. He took one last look at his home, his sadness still a fresh wound, as it was slowly obscured by the clouds. He knew he would not see his home for a long time, and that it would never truly be the same again.

But one day, he would return. He'd breathe life into his home again. He didn't know how long that would take, but one day he would get to see his home vibrant and thriving again. It was a long ways off, a very, very long ways off. But one day... One day that dream would come true.

He had hope that it would.

...

..

.

Momo was currently laying across Ayaan's shoulders, securing himself there by wrapping his tail loosely around the older boy's neck. Ayaan, not minding at all, was gently gliding his large fingers atop said lemur's head. Momo let out a contented purr, his round green eyes closed as he enjoyed the feeling.

This human gave him food, brushed his fur, scratched behind his long ears; Momo was literally on top of the world right now. Well, no, he was on this human's, no, his human's shoulders. Yes, this was his, no, their human. He had to share. He and the bison, Appa, made an agreement. When they landed, they both agreed to share in the affection of their humans. The small one, Aang, and this one, Ayaan.

There was the one he stole food from, Sokka, and the nice female, Katara, too. But he liked this human the best.

"Momo reeaally seems to like you, Ayaan." Aang teased. "He hasn't left your shoulders since we left."

"Yes." Ayaan replied simply. Momo practically weighed nothing, so Ayaan did not mind him being there at all. Though he knew that Momo would need to get down so that he could train; they had been flying most of the day so he hadn't gotten to his daily warm-up yet.

They had since made camp by a river again, and the sun was beginning to set. Today, like most days, if not all days, he wanted to practice with his spear.

"Momo." Ayaan called. The lemur lifted his head, recognizing that 'Momo' was his name now. Ayaan gently grabbed the animal. He went over to Aang and placed Momo in his arms. With a final pat on the lemurs little head, he grabbed his spear and left for a more open area. "I'm going to practice a bit. Stay."

Momo, not understanding, went back to Ayaan's shoulders. It was like he had claimed that spot as his and didn't want to give it up.

Ayaan was not upset, instead, he was flattered by the action. But Momo could not stay on his shoulders while he practiced, he did not want to hurt him. Once again, Ayaan gently grabbed him and placed him with Aang. "No. Momo. You must stay for now."

Momo seemed sad, but this time he stayed. Although Momo could not understand humans talk, he was smart enough to figure out that his, no, their human was telling him to stay with the small human.

"Good boy." Ayaan gave him a peach, and the lemur's emerald eyes lit up as he quickly grabbed it from him. And it was like this that Ayaan left to practice. Aang took it upon himself to entertain Momo and Appa along with the others, who were busy preparing the camp for rest. While Ayaan was training with his spear, Aang wanted to train Momo to help him with a few tricks to impress a certain someone.

...

..

.

Ayaan had his shirt off as he usually did while training. He took care of his burn as he always had and re-wrapped it. The bandages wrapped around his torso, his right arm, his neck and encompassed his right side. The only part of the burn that was clearly visible was on his face. After properly taking care of that, he went into his usual stance and began going through the many motions of his spear-form.

He rid himself of all emotion. His grayish blue eyes seemed to glow eerily in the moonlight. Taking a breath, he relaxed in his stance. His spear and body lunged, parried, blocked, attacked, spun, flipped, and then returned to their relaxed stated only to repeat the process. Against one enemy, against two, against three, surrounded, disadvantageous, or even at his mercy, he imagined how these battles would go from the experiences he'd had.

When he went hunting, he did not always return with a kill. Sometimes the animal would escape, sometimes he would be wounded and have to be the one to escape, sometimes the land would be against them both, or maybe some other force would interfere.

He did not win every fight he was in either. When he was Aang's age, freshly healed from his ordeal, he asked for a spar with their accomplished warriors every single day.

He did not win once at that time. Not one time. He would get knocked on his behind time and time again but he didn't stop until he passed out from exhaustion.

When he woke, he did it all again. It was to the point the warriors sometimes flat out refused him unless he rested. Days became weeks and transformed into months. His body matured and strengthened, his mind sharpened. He did not make the same mistakes twice.

He could not afford to make those kinds of mistakes.

Never again.

Again and again and again, he kept sparring. Until one day he won.

And after that, he won more often. Months became years in this fashion. Spar, hunt, help his family, rest, repeat. He still couldn't beat his dad or Bato, and it wasn't like he won every spar between the other warriors. But this was how he grew stronger.

He needed to be stronger.

Much stronger.

He continued to train himself. Familiar movements and stances, familiar memories of many losses and success. He did this everyday, whenever he had the chance. He made sure that he was always ready with his spear.

Why didn't he do this with waterbending? The answer to that was simple.

He did not trust it enough to be his weapon. On that dreadful day, the day he left his spear, waterbending did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Sometimes, he practiced, but that was more so for Katara whenever she asked him about his experience with it. If Katara was not with him, he would most likely abandon the art altogether.

He did not hate it. But he did not love it, either. He stopped his spear, standing up and glancing at his open palm. Even if he did not hate or love it, it was still a skill that he could use. He used it when hunting in the south, during that raid against Zuko, and did his best to try and understand it.

'If it was trained properly, what could I do with it?'

Their destination was the North Pole, where he was sure their would be more waterbenders. How strong were they with their bending? How did they use it? He wasn't sure.

Maybe, if he was taught properly, he wouldn't feel that his waterbending was such a useless skill. He was only able to freeze things and drain water from clothes. It was easy to make little spikes and pitfalls when the ground was constantly covered in layers of thick snow, but he could not do that here.

That other move, which Katara decided to call "streaming the water", was just that. It was simply moving the water around. Completely useless in his opinion. But it was something that Katara wanted to learn, so he practiced it with her whenever she asked him too.

He took a breath. He was thinking about this too negatively. These types of negative thoughts can get one killed in battle, and he could not afford to make that type of mistake. His family depended on him to be strong. Katara, Sokka, and Aang needed a strong Ayaan to protect them.

Taking his spear in hand, he redressed himself and went back to camp. By then, everyone was asleep. Sokka and Katara were in their sleeping bags and Aang was laying on Appa, Momo curled around him closely. The fire was warm and inviting, and the sight brought a smile to his face.

Hesitantly, he found a place by the fire to rest. He did not want to get in his sleeping bag, so he simply grabbed one of the blankets he'd brought and laid on it. Gazing up at the night sky and the waning moon, he let his body relax. Before he could fall asleep, however, he heard a familiar clitter-like sound and felt a tiny weight on his chest.

Huddled on top of him was a familiar lemur. He even used his tiny paws to grab a bit of his shirt as he snuggled in close and curled himself into a ball. One could hear his relaxed breathing, the subtle rise and fall of his back clear evidence that he was asleep.

Ayaan let a small smile slip by as he too began to drift. "Goodnight, Momo."

He found that for the first time in a while, he was able to have a dreamless sleep.