The scene that Ayaan came upon was chaotic.

'I thought that the fire nation and the pirates were working together. That's the only way they would have found us that quickly that makes sense.'

But what he saw was the opposite. There was smoke everywhere, the clashing of swords and fists echoing across the sandy field. Men in armor blasted flames, only for them to be blocked, dodged, and parried by the pirates. As far as numbers and strength, they seemed even, which made their battle stall.

All Ayaan cared about was the fact his siblings weren't there. That was both a good and bad thing. If they weren't there, where were they?

"I hear them nearby," Wǔ stated. He hadn't needed to speak loudly since Ayaan was riding on Mei with him.

"Are they in any immediate danger?"

"At the moment I don't believe so. They are calling for you, My Lord."

"Look, look!" Qī's eyes were locked to the north, following something clearly, "They're by a boat! Looks like they secured an escape plan!" Chen leaped from the water, getting in front of his sisters at the behest of his rider, "Come on, follow me!"

They did, and it wasn't long before they could see them. Ayaan let out a sigh of relief when he could see Aang, Katara, and Sokka together and safe.

They were calling out for him. They were worried about him. Normally, that would make him feel warm and happy, knowing that they cared. But right now? It was a blow to him, who was supposed to be protecting them.

They were calling and looking for him. They shouldn't have had to. He was supposed to stay right with them, at all times, keeping them safe. But he couldn't dwell on that now. He'd trained them for things like this, and from the looks of it, they did well.

So while he was angry at himself, he was proud of them. Immensely so.

"Ayaan?! Can you hear me?!"

"Where are you, bro?!"

"Ayaan!?"

They were trying to secure a way to escape, but they couldn't take it without him. They wouldn't take it without him. If they had to, they'd run back into the forest to search for him, pirates and fire nation be damned.

Sokka refused even to entertain the idea, calling for his brother again, "Ayaa-!"

"I'm here."

"AHGDHJSDHF!" Sokka fell flat on his behind at the obvious predator suddenly leaping from the river in front of him with his brother on top of it. He was scared out of his wits before all three of them were overwhelmed with relief.

"Ayaan!" The trio jumped on him in the biggest hug ever, even letting some tears escape them. Before he could blink he was under a pile of siblings.

"I'm so sorry!" Katara practically yelled. "This is all my fault. I-I've been terrible, and I-"

Ayaan simply hugged her tighter, giving her a tired, but genuine smile. "I haven't been great, either." He admitted. He wiped her tears away, "I'm not the best at talking. It's okay, Katara. We'll finish this when it's safer, okay?"

"Okay." There were more hugs given before they all got into the boat. It was only then that they all noticed the trio looking at them in envy.

When would they be close enough to experience the glory of their lord's hugs? No! They were loyal servants, they should not dream of such things.

But their lord's hugs were medicine for the soul.

It was so envious.

"Uh... hi?"

"Hello!" Qī leaped off of his Cheetah Seal, getting into his firmest stance as he prepared to earth bend. "A more formal introduction will have to wait!"

He was followed by Wǔ and Liù who simply bowed and waved at them before doing the same. The pirates and fire nation had realized what they were doing and started coming for them. They'd taken out half of each other's numbers in their scuffle, but there were still a lot of them.

"Get to the ship, we'll take care of them," Liù ordered. "We will meet you at the river's end."

"How will you-" Sokka's question was caught in his throat at what he witnessed next.

Liù stood up on the back of Jia, surfing through the rapids. He shifted his stance, and shards of ice rammed into the bottom of the enemy ship. It created a ramp for him to climb on, his brothers following, while also stopping the ship dead in the water.

When they were on the ship, their prowess shined. Wǔ and Qī were like a well-oiled machine at its prime, back to back as they practically toyed with the enemy. They didn't even use their bending, just pure close-quarters combat.

"Wahaha!" Qī, despite his size, dished out heavy-set blows in painful places. Kneecaps and ankles stood no chance against his precisely aimed hits. They caved immediately, followed by howls of agony.

His pet Chen would then bite them, tossing them like spoiled meat into the rushing tides. They were too busy trying to get to shore to care for the enemy ship they may have passed trying.

"..." Wǔ was quick, jagged. His heated fist caused burns on impact, every sweep knocking the enemy into the path of his beast, Mei. Unlike Chen, she was volatile, letting her anger show with every vicious toss she did. The men in her path squealed like pigs to the slaughter.

They were soon joined by their eldest, whose companion roared with authority as he shouted, "Get off the ship!" Within moments, the brothers were retreating on their cheetah seals, letting their brother come to the forefront.

His hands trembled from the pressure he was controlling, he was doing something massive. No one but his brothers understood, and got back a bit further.

"RAHHH!" Within the next moments, the river froze, and the incoming water rose into flowing spikes. Endlessly, they wreaked havoc on the pirates' ship, which Zuko was horrified to realize was his own.

At the center of it were three phantoms, clad in black. One was washed in purple flames, one with winds of sand, and the third commanded the blades of this icy hell.

"Repent for your sins of hurting our lord!" He said, and the groaning enemies fled in terror as the last of their ship (not theirs) was left in pieces, shredded mercilessly.

The Gaang were able to safely fly away on Appa, stunned by the display they were there long enough to see.

Sure, they perfected the move they'd been working on together, but their child's play was nothing compared to the skill they'd just witnessed. Any debris was kept from hitting them by the ice block that Liù made in the river, and once they were safely on Appa, he melted it, allowing the stuck river to flow naturally again.

"Whoa..."

"Did you see what he just did?!" Katara and Aang's eyes were shining at this point. They'd been watching with wrapped attention at it all, not wanting to leave the phantoms to deal with the pirates alone.

As Ayaan tried to tell them, however, they were not needed. They got to watch three masters instead.

"They were like "bam!" and then like "whoosh!" and "kablow!", it was insane! How did they do that? I wanna learn that." Aang exclaimed. Katara nodded her head beside him, practically vibrating from her spot on the saddle with pure elation.

Sokka looked at the trio, stunned to silence. The amount of seamless teamwork he just witnessed was amazing. They hardly needed any verbal commands, knowing each other so well they were practically speaking with their eyes alone. It spoke years of practice, and they had them as allies.

Devout followers actually, because an "Ayaan" existed.

All Sokka could do was pat his brother's shoulder, "Nice work."

"Excellent work!" Katara followed.

"Great job, Ayaan." And Aang finished.

"Why...? What did I do?" Ayaan tilted his head, confused.

They did not elaborate, guiding Appa to a safer place far down the river. where they agreed to meet the phantoms.

The poor boy was even more confused.

Before he could ask them anything more, a wave of dizziness hit him, "Ugh..."

"Ayaan!" Aang caught him with his speed, followed by Katara and Sokka.

"Are you okay?" Worried glances were shot between their shared gaze. Because of their hurry to get the ship in the water, their joy of being reunited with Ayaan, and the scene they got to witness, they failed to notice that he wasn't completely fine.

Now that they were safe, they could see the bleeding bandages on his wrists. Now that they were holding him, they could feel the trembles in his form. They were much worse than before, along with the bags under his eyes and the tint of red on his lips.

"I'm... fine."

"You're not fine. Who hurt you like this?" Aang confirmed for himself. "It was that Asrani guy, wasn't it?! Is he still around?!"

"Yes it was, he was taken out easily by the phantoms," Ayaan said.

"I'm sorry we weren't there with you. Maybe we could have helped and you wouldn't have gotten hurt!" The boy felt so angry his arrow gave off a faint light. It was a familiar anger. Like he'd failed to do something again.

'Why "again"?'

Could it have been a past life? Could something like this have happened to a "him" before? Aang didn't have answers are a real way to talk to them, even though he was taught that it was possible for Avatars. A feeling of uselessness he didn't have before began to creep into his heart.

"No, I'm glad it was only me," Ayaan assured, patting the airbender's head. "I'm happy you all were better off than me."

For some reason, this line made him feel even worse.

It was so achingly familiar.

"That's not something to be happy for!" Sokka yelled, actually angry at what his brother said, "Be happy when every one of us, including you, is safe." He chastised.

"You are going to rest as soon as we get out of here. No training." Katara followed.

"But I-"

"No, bro. You are resting." Sokka glared at him. He'd learned his glare from Ayaan, and for some reason, the older boy felt immense pride. Why did he feel so proud of his little brother glaring so menacingly?

"O...kay..."

The rest of the group were pleased with that answer, all but Momo. Something was off, something didn't feel right. He warbled at Ayaan, tapping him with his paws gently. The teen looked at him, giving the worried animal a kind, small smile.

Even with his human smiling something felt off. He kept warbling.

"What's wrong, Momo? You hungry?" Sokka asked, noticing the odd behavior.

'They don't notice?' Momo was confused. There was a 'wrong' scent on his human. Something was on the verge of happening, something bad. Something that hadn't happened before. His Ayaan never had this scent before.

'Something is wrong with our human!' He decided to warble his warning to Appa, flying around restlessly. No one could understand lemur speech other than his flying brother, who began roaring in response.

He flew like a bullet through the air, trying to get to the mouth of the river many miles from their previous landing. He could smell it too, his nose much bigger than Momo's.

"Appa? What's wrong buddy?"

The bison wanted to know that himself! He couldn't see on his back, only able to speed up, trying to get to safer land. Unlike Momo, Appa understood that there were some things humans wouldn't pick up, something only they would.

He roared urgently, but no one could understand why the animals were so upset.

But they knew it had something to do with Ayaan, who suddenly stopped responding.

"Ayaan...? Are you okay?"

The boy didn't answer. He didn't look at them, he hardly moved. But they could see his hands, shaking as they held his spear in a vice grip, the knuckles completely white.

"Ayaan?" Something wasn't right, and now, they noticed.

The next second, their question of what was wrong was answered when Ayaan titled over. It all happened in an instant, almost too fast for the others to catch if they weren't in such close proximity. His body shook uncontrollably, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"Ayaan?!" The true side effects of what had happened to him were hitting him all at once. The group didn't know what was happening to him and they were terrified.

"What do we do?! Sokka, what do we do?!" Katara cried.

"I don't know!" The boy was just as scared as she was. This had never happened before, to him or anyone they knew. "Uh, hold him! We can't let him fall off Appa! Aang, get us to the ground!"

"On it!" The Airbender then quickly directed Appa into a sloping dive, directly heading for the mouth of the river where it feed into the open sea. Appa had gotten them there in the nick of time; could this be why both he and Momo were acting strangely moments prior?

That had to be it. They knew something was wrong before it went wrong.

"Hang on, bro!" Sokka helped Katara hold him. "The spear, grab the spear before he stabs us with it!"

"I'm trying! His grip is too strong!" Both of them had to try to rip the spear from his hand, but each time it dangerously swung their way. Sometimes, they were unlucky and got cut by it. Ayaan always kept his spear unspeakably sharp, maintaining the blade religiously.

Eventually, they managed to get it in a brief lapse of movement. It was hard, but they needed to make sure he didn't hurt himself in whatever state this was.

What was this? Sokka panicked, his mind racing. How could he fix this?! His only hope was the phantoms speeding for them, on their trail within moments with their speeding cheetah seals.

All the while, Aang was doing his best to guide Appa safely down. Tears of worry stung his eyes, desperate to figure out what happened. If he felt a subtle change in the air, he was too occupied trying to save his family to truly acknowledge it.

In the chaos, none noticed the faint mark appearing on Ayaan's sweating skin for a blink of a moment.

A strange, black shape where there was none, with a small white dot at its center.

The moment it disappeared, he went still, completely unconscious, and they made it to the ground to the awaiting Phantom Unit.

.

.

Ayaan didn't know where he was. Everything was white, reflecting off of his skin. Snow? He scooped it up in his hands, feeling the biting cold nipping his palms. His body wasn't in pain anymore. Where there had been acid was now soothing ice, cool as it washed over his once overwhelmed senses.

Everything was calm now, every cut and bruise healed as the gently falling snow melted upon his skin.

He found himself walking aimlessly in the snow. He knew not where he was going, but he knew he was going somewhere. Somewhere that felt like 'home'. As he got closer, he could hear something. A silent whisper pleading in the roaring wind. Gentle where everything else was harsh.

"Find..." It said, pleading, longingly. "Me..."

"Where are you?" He asked, yelling into the wind. The closer he felt he got, the more the wind battled him. It pushed his body back, screaming past his ears in a gusted storm. "Where?"

"Please..." He heard it again, louder this time. He pushed forward, his pace less than a snail's in the blizzard winds. "Please..."

It got louder and louder.

The wind pushed harder, as if warning him not to go further.

He ignored it all.

They needed him. Whoever they were, he felt it deep with that they needed him. That they'd been waiting for him. He could not stay where he was, he needed to get to them. Since forever, he needed to get to them. They were there, just beyond the wall of vicious winds.

He will go to them.

And the moment his determination peaked, everything became still. The snow melted into spring within a single area, and the harsh and unyielding gusts became a gentle breeze. At the center of it all was a pond, a tranquil beauty found in its crystal clear waters.

Instantly, Ayaan was on his knees, overwhelmed by the rushing feelings enveloping his everything. This place. He knew this place. He was sure that he knew this place. The lullaby surrounded him, lifting him into its embrace as jubilant laughter echoed freely.

The pond was empty aside from two strange koi. One a sparkling black, it's single white scale shining, and the other the complete opposite, glistening white with a single black scale. They danced with each other in the water, on and on, so gentle and seamless not a ripple could be seen.

But from the center of them, a ripple did come. Like a tear was dropped into a vast sea, creating a wave that grew and grew. It rose, twisting and swaying, until it took form. Whips of water became a silhouette of something so achingly familiar. This was something he should know. This is someone he should have known.

But the vacancy in his memory was clear, and it was painful. It was like picking up pieces of murderous glass, broken in a way you can never touch them. But still, endlessly, he tried to remember, no matter how much his hands bleed.

And just like he was, it was trying to touch, but every time it got close, the wind maliciously attacked it. It was a half of him he didn't know of, a half of him that was missing. No, that was broken.

This being was the mirror, the broken mirror manifested.

This was the part of him that was missing, whatever small, infinitesimal part of it was left. And it had been reaching for him, all of this time, to no avail.

Until now.

There was such a relief in him that he couldn't describe it aside from the subtle tears that fell.

'Home.'

This was not home with his grandmother and their tribe, no. He couldn't smell the scent of the animal skin tents and rugs, the dried meats in the storage. He could hear no other voice but his own as he hiccuped. But this place felt like home. It felt like peace.

For the first time since he could remember, he fully relaxed. He didn't have his spear in his hand, but he wasn't alarmed at all. He instinctively knew he didn't need it here.

"Please." They drifted to him, the head of their figure touching his own. Even with them this close, only one detail was clear about them: their eyes. Endless pools of blue, like the deepest night or the stillest seas. The only thing reflected in them was him, as it was the only thing this being cared for aside from 'home'.

"Please, find me again."

.

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Check out my Linktree at /jhstories101

Hi guys! Merry Christmas!~ I hope you have a wonderful holiday. As for my stories, I'm working on them more as things slowly fall back into rhythm. Thank you for your patience. I wanted to post this once I had the next few chapters ready, but it's Christmas and I didn't want to leave you guys with nothing.

And don't worry, The Jet Arc, followed by the Winter Solstice Arc, is coming soon!

Your Author, Jenna!