The Lunar Warrior [ATLA FF]

Book 1: Water | 26 | Training or Punishment? I

Art drawn by me! This is how Ayaan usually sleeps with Appa and Momo. My precious babies.

As promised, they were woken at the crack of dawn the next day. How they were woken up from their dead sleep? Water. Ice cold water being slapped on their sleeping faces. Ayaan had personally chilled it, making sure it was extra cold. The splash of cold water always helped him wake up fully, washing away the grip of the nightmares.

WACK! "Ahh!" Aang shot up, hitting his head on the ceiling.

SLAP! "Eek!" Katara bolted upright, her hair a complete, dripping disaster.

SPLASH! "ASDKAFD—" One doesn't even have to imagine Sokka's misfortune; the poor boy had a reunion with the hard floor, face first, before sitting up with his boomerang thinking they'd been attacked.

"Be ready to leave in five minutes." Ayaan didn't explain anything as he lifted the cold water from their clothes and beds, hiding all evidence that it'd ever happened at all.

"Wh-why did you—?" Before Katara could get angry, Ayaan cut her off.

He wasn't having any of it. "Four minutes," He said, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

All protests in the room died. They noticed that all of their stuff was gone, most likely taken care of by Ayaan way before they had to wake up.

Needless to say, they were ready in three.

When they said their thank-yous and goodbyes to Shiko and the market shopkeepers, they made their way to an empty plaza-like area. Ayaan put something on his wrist and ankles, strange-looking anklets and bracelets. The trio looked at their eldest in confusion, still tired from being woken so early.

He spoke up from his eerie silence, "Put these on." He said, handing them the same strange-looking anklets and bracelets.

"Um, okay...?" Katara was confused by them, but the moment she held them she almost drop them. "Why are these so heavy?!"

"They are weights." He answered. "I asked Mr. Reeds about them while I was shopping. I needed something to upgrade my training and he suggested these. I wasn't planning on using them on you, but," His eyes narrowed, recalling unpleasant things, "things changed. Put them on, all three of you."

All three of them did, Aang voicing his protests first, "Why are mine so much bigger than theirs are?"

"If I don't give you a handicap it will be unfair to them. You run too fast and are too light." He said, giving all three of them a really, really bad feeling. There was this glint in his eyes... It was subtle, but it was there.

Danger.

"Isn't me having a handicap unfair, period?" Aang said. He was surprised by the look Ayaan gave him, it was another new one for his 'Ayaan's Expressions' list: Ayaan looked at him as if he was insane.

"I will phrase it differently: You run faster than the speed of sound without things weighing you down. Besides," His eyes narrowed, that dark aura creeping up behind him, "this was your fault first and foremost," He pointed at Aang, "and then theirs for not stopping you." He pointed at both Katara and Sokka. They all winced.

None of them seemed to understand just how rough that situation was on Ayaan. Nothing too bad happened this time, but what about next time? He was sure there would be a next time with how they acted.

Who would instigate their stupidity then? Would it be Aang again, or Sokka? Heck, maybe it would be Katara, as she'd been growing bolder and bolder with her actions.