Fire and Aether

Chapter 10: The Storm

   Rose rode on Crystal, a smile on her face as she pet her friend. Beside her, Aang rode Appa, also smiling. Sokka was using Aang flight staff to fly next to Aang. On her other side, Katara rode a giant version of Momo. Rose and Aang rode at the front with the siblings slightly behind as they soared through the pink sky. 
    All of a sudden, the siblings disappeared and Rose was alone with only Aang who looked just as confused as she did. A dark cloud appeared before her and in it, she saw people she loved, people she had betrayed.
    Gyatso.
    Her parents.
    Her brothers and sister by marriage.
    Her old friends. 
    Finally, Aang himself.
    She looked around, only to find him gone. Then the cloud took her, wrapping her up like a caterpillar in a cocoon. 
    Then someone she didn't expect appeared: Zuko. 
    "We need you." The voices called out.
    There was a flash of the Fire Lord and she felt herself falling into the water, drowning in its murky depths.
    Then, she woke up screaming. 
    She scared Aang awake, which woke Momo, who ran over the sibling's sleeping bags, waking them up. Sokka held up his boomerang and a long knife. "What's going on? Did we get captured again?"
     "I'm sorry." Rose said. "It was just a bad dream. Go back to bed."
     "Don't have to tell me twice." Sokka said, laying back down.
     "What's going on?" Katara asked. "You've been having a lot of bad dreams lately."
     Rose got up. "I think I just need some time to think." She walked off in the direction of the beach. 
     Aang looked at Katara and she looked back at him. "I'm gonna go check on her." he said.
     Katara took his hand as he was about to get up. "Make sure she's ok."
     Aang smiled and nodded, following Rose, pausing a moment as he watched Katara lay back down in her sleeping bag, then continuing his path. Rose was wandering the empty beach, letting the water rush over her bare feet, her skirt billowing in the breeze.
     "So what is it?" Aang asked. "The pirates? Jet? Those two tribes that kept on fighting?" He guessed, mentioning some of their recent adventures. She shook her head, her red hair flowing in the breeze. "Zuko?"
     Rose smiled. No, her nightmares almost never included Zuko. Ever since he saved her from pirates that one time, her dreams with him were sweet. He would hold her, whisper sweet nothings in her ear, dance with her. For some reason, she felt different around him now. He, in some way, cared about her. She could sense it. 
     "Not quite." she finally answered. "It's...our past. The night we ran away."
     "Oh." Aang said, understanding. "That wasn't your fault."
     Rose turned her head, sadness in her eyes, her hair flowing around her. "Yes it is."
                        * * * * *
     The next morning, as Team Avatar headed out, so did Zuko and his crew, after getting a new ship.
     Iroh raised his face to the sky. "A storm is coming. A big one too."
     "You're out of your mind, uncle." Zuko said. "The weather is perfect, not a cloud in sight."
     "A storm is approaching from the north. I suggest we alter our course and head southwest."
     "We know the Avatar is heading northward so we will do the same." 
     "Prince Zuko, consider the safety of the crew."
     "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE CREW!" Zuko bellowed. "Finding the Avatar is more important." It didn't help the feelings that kept swirling around in his head. He had to find her! If nothing else, he had to confront why she kept getting inside his head.
     He rushed to the captain's quarters and slammed the door. "He doesn't mean that." Iroh said. "He's just worked up."
     To be honest, he was really getting worried about his nephew. He hadn't been the same since what happened on the winter solstice. What was going on in his head? He wondered.
                    * * * * *
     As the siblings argued about having no money, Rose suggested that maybe they needed to get a temporary job to buy food. That's when they heard an old couple arguing over whether or not to fish. The woman seemed hellbent that a storm was coming although the man didn't listen.
    "She's right." Rose responded, quietly. "I can feel a storm coming."
    "Maybe we should find some shelter?" Aang asked.
    The woman refused to join her husband to go fishing and the husband argued back, declaring he'd pay double to anyone who would go with him. Sokka piped up, agreeing to go.
    Rose had a bad feeling about all of it, warning Sokka that he was making a mistake. The old man finally took notice of Rose and began to accuse her of abandoning everyone in the middle of a war. 
    Rose felt tears pinprick her eyes and she hopped on Crystal, running away. Aang and Katara hopped on Appa and followed her as the old man got Sokka started on loading boxes onto the ship.
    "It's her past." Aang explained as they flew after Rose. "It's the reason we were frozen in a block of ice for 100 years."
    "What happened?"
    "That's her story to tell." Was all he said.
                        * * * * * 
    Zuko belted orders to his men when the lieutenant decided to speak up. "Respect? What do you know about respect when you don't respect anyone? Your hard working crew? Your esteemed uncle? Hell, even the woman you're so obsessed with finding! But what can we expect from a spoiled prince?"
     He'd touched a nerve and Zuko turned, prepared to fight. Iroh broke it up before it could start, suggesting everyone rest and eat some food.
     "I don't need your help keeping order on my ship. I don't need anyone." Zuko fumed. "And I certainly don't need anything from some teenage girl." 
     He shrugged off his uncle's hand and walked off.
                       * * * * *
     They found her hiding in a cave, Crystal beside her. They followed her in and sat beside her, Appa and Momo following too.
     "Rose, you have to tell her."
     Rose sighed. "It all started when I found out I was the Avatar."
     It was a special celebration, one that only occurred once every hundred years. It was the day where the spirits left their home in the Spirit Realm and joined their family back on earth. It was a huge deal.
     I was chatting with family long gone, showing my grandparents and great grandparents some new tricks I had learned. That's when the council appeared, a group of magic users that helped keep peace in the realms. And I found out the truth.
    The council bowed before Rose. "Princess Rosalia, Avatar Rose, it is an honor."
    After the initial shock wore off, King Ryker asked, "How do you know she is the Avatar?"
    "We have discussed it at length, tested her multiple times, and consulted Avatar Roku himself. It is confirmed, sire, she is the Avatar, Roku's heir."
    "Normally, we would've waited until you were of age. But we do not have the time. War is coming and we need you, young one."
     I was whisked away to be taught the other elements. They brought me to the Southern Air Temple to pick a Guardian, the one to be my protector, my companion, my only friend in the world. Aang was young, childish and naïve but he was the one who understood me, the one I believed I could trust. So he became my guardian.
    But darker times lie ahead for us...
                         * * * * * 
    The crew sat below deck, drinking ale and griping about the prince. "I'm tired of taking orders from that prince!" The lieutenant griped. "I'm tired of chasing his Avatar and listening to him deny he likes her when it's obvious he does!"
     "There's a reason for that." Iroh spoke. The crew jumped up to apologize but Iroh waved them away. "It's ok. May I join you?"
     "Of course, sire."
     Iroh sat at their table. "Try to understand, my nephew is a complicated young man. He has been through much."
     Three years ago... 
     Prince Zuko was only 14 at the time. He wanted more than anything to prove he could be a great leader someday. He begged his uncle to join the war talks, wanting to learn whatever he could. Iroh made him promise not to speak.
     The great leaders sat all around the war table, Fire Lord Ozai at its head. One of the men explained his plan to send the new recruits to the Earth Kingdom, that which they would not survive, serving only as a distraction while the advanced recruits would attack from the rear.
     Zuko spoke up, arguing that it was a betrayal to sacrifice warriors.
     He was right but it was not his place to speak out. And there were dire consequences...
                         * * * * *
    "So you were upset you were the Avatar?" Katara asked, trying to understand. "Why wouldn't you be excited about it? And you had Aang. Surely that must have helped."
     "And I love Aang dearly." Rose said, hugging her honorary little brother. "But I wasn't sure how to feel about being the Avatar. All I knew what that everything changed."
     No longer did I have a home or family. I wasn't a kid anymore and I had to grow up fast.
                       * * * * *
    After Zuko's outburst in the meeting, the Fire Lord became very angry with him. He said that Prince Zuko's challenge of the general was an act of complete disrespect. And there was only one way to resolve this.
   Agnai kai. 
   Zuko looked upon the old general he had insulted and declared that he was not afraid.
   But Zuko misunderstood.
   When he turned to face his opponent, he was surprised to see it was not the general. Zuko had spoken out against the general's plan, but, by doing so in the Fire Lord's War Room, it was the Fire Lord whom he had disrespected.
    Zuko would have to duel his own father.
                        * * * * *
    Like I said, worse times were coming.
    Gyatso argued with the bitter old man, claiming that Rose and Aang were children and should be given the chance to be children, while the old man claimed it was their jobs to fulfill their destiny. The head of the monks agreed.
     "You must be separated. Rosalia and Aang will be sent away to the Eastern Air Temple to complete their airbending training before they move on so the Avatar can learn waterbending."
     We were scared to lose everything we loved, everything we knew, so we did something regrettable: we ran away.
     We never saw either of our families again. Well, I saw mine again, but not until much later. But Gyatso, we never saw him again.
     Rose and Aang rode out into the storm, the former on her dragon, the latter on his flying bison. The storm kicked up and Rose panicked. For the first time in her life, she went into the Avatar State.
     The water rose around them and they were stuck inside the iceberg, frozen in time.
    The next thing I knew, we were woken up when you and Sokka found us in the iceberg.
     Finally, Katara spoke. "You ran away."
     "And then the war started." Rose said. "My people needed me and I wasn't there to help."
     "I convinced you to go!" Aang argued.
     "Maybe it's meant to be this way. This way, you both survived. The world needs you now. You give people hope. You both do."
     The group hugged.
                         * * * * *
    When Prince Zuko learned it was his father who had come to duel him, he begged for mercy.
    Prince Zuko bowed to his father. "Father, please, I only had the Fire Nation's best interests at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn."
    "You will fight for your honor."
    "I meant you no disrespect. I am your loyal son."
    "Rise and fight, Prince Zuko." The Fire Lord commanded as he advanced on his only son.
    "I won't fight you."
    "You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher." 
     The young prince looked up, tears flowing from his eyes as his father advanced, Azula and Zhao smiling evilly.
     I looked away.
     Prince Zuko's screams filled the air.
     After the duel, the Fire Lord said that by refusing to fight, Zuko had shown shameful weakness. As punishment, he was banished and sent to capture the Avatar. Only then could he return with his honor.
    The Avatar gives Zuko hope. And, yes, I believe he harbors feelings for her even he doesn't understand. Maybe they are meant to be. I don't know. But I truly hope she brings him some semblance of happiness... whatever it may be.
                        * * * * *
     Rose, Aang, and Katara heard a woman cry for help and ran to comfort her. "You're safe." Katara told her.
    "But my husband isn't."
    "What do you mean? Where's Sokka?"
    "They haven't returned! They should've been back by now!"
    "I'm going to find them." Rose resolved.
    "I'm coming with you." Katara said.
    "Me too." Aang added.
    "I'm staying here." the old lady stated flatly.
    With that, Rose hopped on Crystal, Aang and Katara hopping on Appa, and they took off. 
                  * * * * *
    Meanwhile, Zuko's ship was getting flooded. "Where were we hit?"
    "The helmsman."
    Zuko raced up the ladder, his lieutenant behind him. As lightning attempted to hit the ship, Iroh redirected it. Zuko caught the crew member and swung him down to another. He climbed back down the ladder and noticed Rose and the others. 
     "The Avatar!"
     "What do you want us to do?"
     "Let her go." Zuko decided. He could capture her another day and get his answers then. "Get the ship to safety."
     Iroh grinned with pride.
                        * * * * *
     "I'm too young to die!" Sokka wailed.
     "I'm not but I still don't wanna!"
     Rose went into the Avatar State after falling in the water and saved everyone. The old woman thanked them. Rose decided not to dwell on the past anymore. The old man apologized for his earlier harsh words and thanked her for saving him.
     And, with that, the group headed out again for the great unknown yet again...
Updates galore, my lovelies! And I'm so excited for the next chapter!