Rainbow's Gift (Avatar The Last Airbender Fanfic)

58. The Awakening

I walked back and forth as I glanced at the old tree with no leaves that stood in front of me. Vaatu was trapped inside, and I had been wondering who had done it to him.

"Avatar Wan," Vaatu answered my thoughts.

"I told you to stop doing that." I snarled at him.

"I have to make sure that you obey me now." His deep voice thundered.

"I'm pretty sure my physical appearance," I said, referring to my now shoulder-length grey hair and grey eyes," shows you that." I glared at him. "Anyway, is the tree cozy?" I asked, doing my best to keep a straight face.

"What?" I couldn't really tell if Vaatu was at a loss for words. You see, he was a spirit with no human features. He sometimes appeared to me as if he were at the tea party, which was better but also frightening. I hadn't pledged my loyalties to him. A day before, I was so sure I'd do it, but now, I wasn't sure.

When I talked to the dark spirit earlier, he told me that I had woken up for a few minutes from my coma to escape him. Sokka said the same thing, but I didn't really remember what happened when I was awake at that time. Whatever it was, it was important to Sokka. He had brought it up for the past four days. I also didn't understand why Vaatu was telling me that. Was he expecting betrayal?

"I'm asking if the tree is cozy. You have stayed there for 9860-something years."I said calmly.

"Don't make me angry."

"I wasn't planning to," I said sarcastically, and immediately, I couldn't breathe. Fear started to crawl up my spine, and I spat an apology.

"Fire Nation won over Ba Sing Se. I need to cause more death and destruction. What would be better than......" He stopped talking.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Raava," he said angrily, which meant... which meant... It meant Aang was awake! I smiled, something I hadn't done since I woke up. I felt my spirit return to my body. Tears started to form, but I wiped them quickly as I stood from where I was sitting on the deck.

I watched as he stumbled out on the deck and called out each of our names, confused."Someone catch him, he's gonna...."Toph shouted. Faint. He's gonna faint. Sokka caught him just in time before he crashed on the floor. I could hear Vaatu's laugh at the back of my head.

I followed the Water tribe siblings as Sokka carried Aang back to his room. I must have been super quiet because when we reached the room, both Katara and Sokka looked shocked to see me. I rolled my eyes as I followed them inside the room and watched as Sokka placed Aang on the bed.

"Can I talk to you?" Sokka asked, and I nodded as we walked out of the room. I crossed my fingers, hoping he wouldn't ask me about the few minutes that I woke up for the first time that I didn't remember.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to see if you're okay," Sokka said calmly, but I could tell there was a lot of meaning behind those words.

"Well, my burnt shoulder does ache sometimes, and I'm still kinda limping, but besides that, I'm fine," I said as I tried not to think about what caused my burnt shoulder.

"That's... that's good. I guess what I wanted to ask is.... why are you concerned about Aang? You aren't concerned about the rest of us." He looked at me as if he was trying to read my soul through my dull grey eyes.

"I don't think I have to tell you, peasant." I hissed."And why should I be concerned about you? I don't recall us dating or anything." I said as I walked into the room and slammed the door. Katara didn't even glance at me. I sat as close as I could to Aang, beside his bed.