A/N: Hey hey hey! In my opinion, this chapter is based off of the best episode of ATLA. I had a really fun time writing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I liked writing it! This episode holds a special place in my heart, as it was the first episode of Avatar I've watched.(Fun fact: today is the seven month anniversary of the first time I watched ATLA) Thank you all for your continued support, it means so much to me :))
Response from chapter 12:
Vapor23: Thank you for your review! Im glad you think I did good with my writing, as I actually wrote that episode at 5:00am on a Monday, loll! I have noticed that Akira's been talking more and involving herself into the group more as I reread. That's a mixture of me stealing other characters lines and giving her some of her own. I'm glad that you like her dynamic with Aang, as it's one of my favorite parts of this story as well. You have to wait no longer for the next chapter :) Sorry for the late review by the way, I have to stay at school until 5:30 every day this week as the date of the play inches closer.
I awoke to Momo jumping onto my chest. I sprung up, getting into a fighting position as I looked out for any danger. Instead, I saw a terrified looking Aang, a confused Katara, and a tired Sokka.
"Huh, what's going on?" He groggily asked, "Did we get captured again?"
"It's nothing, I just had a bad dream," Aang replied, "Go back to sleep," I sat back down and looked at my brother. Sweat was dripping down his face and he looked paler than usual. I figured that his dream had been more than bad.
"You don't have to tell me that twice," Sokka stated, laying back down in his sleeping bag. I gave him an exasperated look, then looked over to Aang, who was laying scrunched up faced away from me.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I'm okay, Kiri, just go back to sleep," He replied uneasily.
"You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately," Katara chimed in, "You wanna tell us about it?"
"I think I just need some rest," Aang stated.
"You guys wanna hear about my dream?" Sokka asked with much more energy than he had prior. Katara gave him an annoyed look as I lie back down.
"That's okay," He responded to our silence, "I didn't wanna talk about it anyway," I closed my eyes, thoughts of worry for my brother swarming through my head as I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.
The next morning…
Appa grumbled. We were packing up our things from camping the night before, and my worried thoughts about Aang had not seemed to go away. I decided I would talk to him about it later that day, when we got some time alone.
"He'll tell me what's up, right?" I thought, "I'm his sister, he can trust me,"
"Look at those clear skies, buddy," Aang said to Appa, "Should be some smooth flying," Katara looked through our food bag, making a disappointed face when she saw that there was nothing inside.
"Well, we'd better smoothly fly ourselves to a market, because we're out of food," she said. I hopped onto Appa's saddle, still thinking about how to confront Aang.
"Guys, wait, this was in my dream," Sokka announced worriedly, snapping me back to reality, "We shouldn't go to the market," I gave him a puzzled look, wondering what was in his dream.
"What happened in your dream?" I asked.
"Food eats people!" He exclaimed. I gave him an exasperated expression.
"Also, Momo could talk," Sokka added, "You said some very unkind things," I snorted as I imagined the lemur saying rude things to everyone in our group.
We were at the market, looking for food. We had come across a fruit stand, and Katara was intently shaking a watermelon.
"It's good, it's perfect, I'm telling you," The lady at the counter argued. Katara continued shaking the watermelon, and a swishing noise came out of it.
"I don't know if I like the sound of that swishing," She said uneasily.
"Swishing means it's ripe," Counter lady retorted, "It's the ripe juices swishing around, huh?"
"I think it's true, Katara," Aang said, "Swishing means it's ripe,"
"I just realized we're out of money, anyway," Katara stated, setting the watermelon down. The counter lady made an annoyed grunt before snatching the basket of fruits from Sokka's hand. As we walked away, she proceeded to kick the Water Tribe boy on the butt.
"Out of food and out of money," Sokka sighed, rubbing his sore butt with his hand, "Now what are we supposed to do?" I started to think of ideas on what to do, some of them including a long journey that would definitely take more time than getting to the North Pole.
"You could get a job, smart guy," Katara said.
"Why didn't I think of that?" I thought.
"We shouldn't go out there, please! The fish can wait," An old woman said, making us all turn to her. She was talking to an old man not too far away from us, and their argument intrigued me.
"There's going to be a terrible storm!" She exclaimed. I looked up at the clear, blue sky, and wondered why anyone would think there could possibly be a storm coming.
"Ah, you're crazy, it's a nice day," the old man retorted, "No clouds, no wind, no nothing, so quit your nagging, woman,"
"Maybe we should find some shelter," Aang suggested shakily. I turned and looked at him, a confused look etched on my features.
"Why?" I asked, "It's completely clear out," I didn't get a response, though, because the two old people began to argue again.
"My joints say there's going to be a storm, a bad one," The old woman argued.
"Well, it's your joints against my brain," The old man replied.
"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul that fish," The old woman said coldly, "Cause I ain't coming!"
"Then I'll find a new fish hauler and pay him double what you get," The old man stated, "How do you like that?" Sokka, apparently taking this as a job opportunity, walked up to the pair.
"I'll go," he announced.
"You're hired," The old man said. Aang, Katara, and I all stared Sokka.
"What? You said get a job," he responded to our stares, "And he's paying double,"
"Double? Who told you that nonsense?" The old man asked angrily.
A few minutes later, I began to see why the old woman had said there was a storm coming. Dark gray clouds began to form in the once clear sky, and worry etched across my face as I thought about Sokka getting caught in the storm.
"Sokka, maybe this isn't such a good idea," Aang said hesitantly as he looked up, "Look at the sky,"
"Yeah, those clouds don't look very good for sailing," I added.
"I said I was gonna do this job, I can't back out just because of some bad weather," Sokka contradicted. Aang looked up worriedly at the sky. He had seemed so off put and scared since last night, and I yearned for a time to get to talk to him alone about his nightmare.
"The boy with the tattoos and his sister have some sense," The old woman stated, "You should listen to them,"
"Boy with tattoos?" The old man asked, "Airbender tattoos,"
"Well, I'll be a hog monkey's uncle," The old man swore, walking up to my brother, "You're the avatar, ain't you?" I looked over to Aang, whose expression was…sad? I so badly wanted to know what had been going on with him. The worried thoughts once again swarmed in my head. I was suddenly snapped back to reality when Katara spoke.
"That's right," She said happily. Aang smiled at this, and a wave of relief washed over my worry.
"Well, don't be so smiley about it," The old man said coldly, causing Aang to frown, "The avatar disappeared for a hundred years! You turned your back on the world," He pointed his finger into my brother's chest, and anger began to seep into me.
"Leave him alone!" I retorted.
"Aang would never turn his back on anyone," Katara added, walking up to us angrily.
"Oh, he wouldn't, huh?" The old man asked mockingly, "Then I guess I must have imagined the last hundred years of war and suffering," My brow furrowed and my eyes narrowed as I stared at the old man in hatred and disgust.
"My brother is the bravest person I know," I snapped, disgust evident in my tone, "You're just a dumb old fart that has no idea what you're talking about,"
"Aang has done nothing but help people and save lives since I met him," Katara chimed in. Since Katara was dealing with Old Fishy, I looked over to see that Aang was slowly backing away, and feared what would happen next.
"What's wrong?" Katara asked, pausing from her argument with Old Fishy. Without a word, my brother took off into the sky on his glider, and I quickly followed him.
I watched as Aang headed into a cave, and I followed him inside. I slowly walked into the entrance of the cave, not even noticing the small rain droplets that were coming from the sky. The cave was dark. It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. I couldn't exactly pinpoint where in the cave Aang was, but I heard quiet sobbing, so I figured that was the direction he was in. I walked towards the sobs, they got louder as I took small steps. At some point, I almost tripped over something, I didn't know what.
"Ow!" Aang exclaimed.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry," I said quickly.
"Kiri?" Aang asked into the darkness.
"Yep," I replied.
"What are you doing here?" My brother asked.
"I followed you," I explained blankly. As my eyes finally fully adjusted to the dim lighting of the cave, I noticed the tears stained on Aang's cheeks.
"There's something I've wanted to talk to you about since last night," I began, my voice steady despite my sadness and worry, "What was your nightmare?" Aang sighed and clicked his tongue, looking to the side as he fidgeted with his hands. I gave him as sympathetic look, cocking my head to the side. I knew that when my brother was nervous to say something, he would act this way.
"Come on, you can tell me," I said, speaking softly as Aang did when he comforted me.
"I-um…" He began nervously, "I- I was on Appa, with you, Katara was on a giant version of Momo, and Sokka was on my glider," I nodded, beckoning for him to continue.
"We were flying together, and Katara said that she needed me, and I said I needed her too," Aang continued, "But then a bunch of storm clouds came, and I tried to warn you guys, but you weren't there,"
"So that's why he was so afraid of the storm today…" I thought.
"Then, Gyatso appeared, he asked me why I disappeared, and I said I didn't know," Aang explained, "But I know why I disappeared, I disappeared because I was afraid, because I was a coward," My expression softened as I took in the words he had said.
"No, Aang, you're not a coward," I said reassuringly, "You had every right to be scared, the monks were going to separate you from Gyatso, from me," I reached out and put my hand on his knee, and he looked up with a small smile.
"But that's not all," Aang said, his expression hardening, "The storm clouds started to get closer, and then you, Sokka, Katara, and Gyatso all started chanting, 'We need you, Aang, we need you'" I gave him a concerned and sincere look, a frown replacing where my smile used to be.
"Then, I was brought back to the storm we got caught in before the iceberg, and then it ended," My brother finished. I nodded, recalling the numerous times that night had appeared in my own nightmares.
"That storm comes up in my nightmares, too," I said, looking down at the ground with a stony expression on my face, "I genuinely thought I was gonna die," I suddenly felt a gentle hand on my shoulder, and looked up to see Aang smiling sadly at me.
"I did too," He admitted, "But we're here now, aren't we?"
"Yeah," I said, feeling a pang of sadness come over me. I pulled Aang into a hug, to which he quickly responded with wrapping his arms around me.
"Aang? Akira?" Katara's voice asked into the darkness. We pulled away from each other and stood up, walking out of the dark part of the cave.
"There you guys are," Katara said happily, "I'm so glad that you're safe," looking behind her, I noticed that the small drizzle that I had felt had developed into a full on downpour.
"I'm sorry for running away," Aang said sadly, looking down at the ground.
"It's okay, that fisherman was way out of line," Katara replied.
"Actually, he wasn't," Aang stated.
"What do you mean?" Katara asked worriedly.
"I don't wanna talk about it," My brother replied, his voice breaking as he turned away from Katara.
"It has to do with your dream, doesn't it?" Katara asked, walking up to him, "Talk to me,"
"Well, it's kind of a long story," Aang admitted. Suddenly, Appa and Momo came into the cave, startling us. Appa pressed his nose up against Aang, who smiled softly in response.
"I'm going to try and get a little fire going," Katara stated, walking away. Aang dropped to his knees and I did so as well. He began to pet Appa's wet fur.
Katara had gotten the fire started. We were now sitting around it. Aang had Momo in his lap, he was looking down sadly with his eyes closed.
"I'll never forget the day the monks told me I was the avatar…" He began, pain evident in his voice, "I was playing with some other kids just outside the South wall, I was trying to teach them how to l the air scooter,"
"Then, the monks called for me to speak with them," Aang explained, "They sat me down and told me I was the avatar, then they showed me some old toys I liked when I was little, they said they were relics of the past avatars, my past lives,"
"Gyatso said that they normally would wait to tell me until I was sixteen, but apparently, they feared something bad was going to happen, so they decided to tell me earlier," He continued. The memories of what seemed like not too long ago swirled in my mind.
"So you were upset that you were the avatar?" Katara asked, "Why wouldn't you be excited about it?"
"Well, I didn't know how to feel about it," Aang admitted, "All I knew was that after I found out, everything began changing,"
"A few days after I was told I was the avatar, I went outside to play with my friends," He said, "They had gotten pretty good at the air scooter, and had made up a game with it, when I tried to join in, they stopped playing,"
"They said that since I was the avatar, I would have an unfair advantage," My brother continued, sadness in his storm gray eyes. I remembered the weird shaped head kid telling me that they didn't let Aang play with them, and I felt a pang of anger towards those kids.
"Then, just when I was starting to feel better, something worse happened," Aang explained, the pain and sadness overflowing his tone, "I was sitting on top of the roof of one of the rooms, when I heard the monks talking about sending me away to the Eastern Air Temple,"
"That's awful, Aang," Katara said sadly as she gave my brother a sympathetic look, "I don't know what to say," My sad expression soon turned to that of surprise when I saw Aang get up and stomp away angrily.
"How could they do that to me?" He asked, his voice raising, "They wanted to take away everything I knew and everyone I loved!" I gasped as I saw his tattoos glow pure white, and the air around him spin rapidly. The fire grew immensely, and I was worried Katara and I would get burnt. I knew my brother wasn't perfect with his temper, but I had never seen him get so mad over just a memory.
"Woah! Calm down!" I exclaimed, waving away the hot cinders with airbending.
"I'm sorry I got so mad," Aang apologized, visibly calming down. I smiled as I noticed he was taking deep breaths.
"You have a right to be angry after the monks sent you away like that," Katara said.
"Well, that's not exactly what happened," Aang began, "I was afraid and confused, I didn't know what to do,"
"I went to Kiri's room and told her we were going to run away, and that night, we did,"
"I never saw Gyatso again," Aang said sadly, tears slowly dropping down his cheeks. Memories of that night flashed in my mind, and I felt tears dropping down my own cheeks, too. I scooted closer to Aang, my heart heavy as the guilt of running away rested on my shoulders.
"We got caught in a storm, a big wave crashed over us and I lost consciousness," He said, "Next thing I knew, I was waking up in your arms after you found me in the iceberg,"
"We ran away, and then the Fire Nation attacked our temple," Aang sighed, "My people needed me, and I wasn't there to help,"
"You don't know what would have-" Katara began, trying to reassure my brother.
"The world needed me and I wasn't there to help!" Aang exclaimed, his temper rising again.
"Aang-" I started, pain evident in my tone.
"The fisherman was right, I did turn my back on the world," Aang said curtly.
"You're being too hard on yourself," Katara said, "Even if you did run away, I think it was meant to be,"
"If you had stayed, you would have been killed along with all the other airbenders," She stated.
"You don't know that," Aang replied, a mixture of anger and guilt heavy in his voice.
"I know it's meant to be this way," Katara stated, "The world needs you now, you give people hope," Aang looked up, a genuine smile on his face. My eyes brightened when I looked at him, and I watched as Momo ran over to him.
"Are you feeling better?" I asked.
"Yeah, I think I am," Aang replied as he scraped behind Momo's ear, that same genuine smile still on his face.
"I'm glad," I said with a grin, pulling my brother in for a hug. Katara joined in, and we spent the next few minutes in silence, just taking in each other's company. Suddenly, our peace was interrupted by the sound of the old woman's voice.
"Help! Oh, please, help!" She yelled into the cave. We all pulled out of the hug, and Katara ran over to her.
"It's okay, you're safe," She said, grabbing the old woman by her arm and helping her inside.
"But my husband isn't," The old woman stated.
"What do you mean?" Katara asked worriedly, "Where's Sokka?"
"They haven't returned," The old lady replied as they walked over to the campfire, "They should have been back by now, and this strom is becoming a typhoon," Worry washed over me as I wondered if Sokka was okay.
"They're caught out at sea!" The old woman exclaimed.
"I'm going to find them," Aang stated, standing up.
"I'm coming with you," I said.
"Me too," Katara added.
"I'm staying here," The old woman announced, sitting down.
"We'll be back soon, I promise," Aang said to the old woman when we were about to leave. We took off on Appa.
I looked around, searching for the sailboat Sokka and the old man had left on.
"Where are they?" Katara asked. I was going to answer, but stopped when I saw a giant wave coming towards us. I gasped, my heart pounding in my chest as sweat dripped down my forehead. I clung onto the saddle, shutting my eyes tight as images of the night Aang and I had gotten caught in the iceberg flashed through my mind.
"I DON'T WANNA DIE, AANG!" My own voice echoed in my head, "I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Tears streamed down my face as I shut my eyes tighter.
"NO, NO, NO, NO," I repeated, my breath hitching.
"Come on, Appa!" I heard Aang exclaim. I slightly opened my eyes, seeing that the wave was getting closer and closer. I shut my eyes again, bracing for impact, but there was none. I opened my eyes again, and gasped when I saw we had somehow made it through the wave.
"I-I'm alive," I said shakily, putting my hand on my chest. I could feel my heart rapidly beating as I breathed heavily in and out.
"The boat! There!" Aang called out, pointing to Sokka and the old man's boat in the distance. The boat became larger in my view as we approached it. Appa swooped down towards the boat, and Aang quickly hopped off of him. A strike of lighting came down, I shrieked as I realized it had hit a pole on the boat. Aang gasped before bending the water that had puddled on the boat's dock, and the pole split in between Sokka and the old man.
"Hang onto the rope!" Aang commanded, handing rope to the pair. He then hopped back onto Appa. The bison moved his head, causing the fisherman and Sokka to go flying into the saddle. The gave embarrassed smiles, blush forming on their cheeks. I almost laughed at the two of them, but I suddenly saw a huge wave behind them, and gasped in pure fear. I backed up on the saddle, my heart pounding again as I struggled to catch my breath. This wave was big, bigger than the one we had gone through before, and maybe even bigger than the one that had trapped Aang and I in an iceberg.
"I can't die," My swirling thoughts said, "Not now! I have so much to do! I have a whole life to live!" The huge wave crashed into us, and I tried my hardest to keep consciousness. It worked. I opened my eyes slightly, seeing nothing but a blur of blue and white. I noticed I had drifted away from Appa, and quickly swam to grab the saddle. I couldn't hold my breath for much longer, and I was slipping in and out of consciousness. I saw a flash of blue light, then everything went dark.
When I awoke next, we were out of the water. I sputtered and coughed. As we were flying out of the storm, I saw scar boy and his ship in the water. I then noticed that Aang was making intense eye contact with him. I turned over to Katara, who seemed to be collecting herself from the intense past few hours.
"Now that she knows Aang and I ran away, our bond will be stronger than ever," I thought happily, a smile on my face.
"Oh, you're alive!" The old woman exclaimed, hugging the old man. We had gotten back to the cave, and the old woman had been overjoyed to see her husband.
"You owe this boy an apology," She said, pointing to Aang.
"He doesn't have to apologize," my brother stated.
"What if, instead of an apology, I give him a free fish and call it even?" The old man suggested.
"Actually, I don't eat meat," Aang said.
"Fish ain't meat," The old man argued. I resisted the urge to smack my forehead.
"Seriously, you're still gonna pay me, right?" Sokka asked, walking up to the old man. The old man then proceeded to slap a fish into his hand, causing Sokka to yelp.
"Katara, I think you were right before, I'm done dwelling on the past," Aang stated. I looked over at him.
"Really?" Katara asked.
"I can't make guesses about how thing would have turned out if I hadn't run away," My brother explained, "I'm here now, and I'm going to make the most of it,"
"I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore," Katara stated.
"If you weren't here now, well, I guess I wouldn't be, either," The old man said, "Thank you for saving my life, avatar," He put his hand on Aang's shoulder, and my brother gave him a grateful smile. I then noticed that the sound of rain outside of the cave was gone.
"Do you hear that?" I asked, "It stopped raining," Everybody walked outside of the cave, looking at the beautiful view after the some. Suddenly, the peace was interrupted by Appa shaking the water off his fur, making everyone yell and step back.
"Appa!" Aang whined.
A/N: Another chapter down, and many more to go! Make sure to review and see you next week!