The Legend of Percy: Book 2 - Through Grief

20. The Black Cliffs (Love and War or Something Like That)

A/N: Thank you all for reading so far!! It's been a year of me posting this story and the response and support it's gotten has been awesome! This story is absolutely not going anywhere so I hope you enjoy where I take it :)

Aang didn't know how to start. He'd been both hoping and overly worried about the conversation he wanted to have with Percy. The man who'd literally brought him back from the dead.

How could I ever repay him?

The airbender had already gone out of his way to thank Katara, but she'd made it abundantly clear that without Percy, he wouldn't be there anymore.

The boy trailed the waterbender after the arm had slipped off his shoulder when walking past his other waterbending friend, who was introducing Toph to Haru and his father. He saw Percy gesture to the top of the Black Cliffs and he just nodded mutely in reply.

They were passing one of the ships when there was an explosion on deck. Aang noticed the waterbender's immediate flinching reaction to the explosion, along with a few other ticks that made the Avatar curious as to his experience with things blowing up on ships. But he knew better than to ask. He already had enough trouble in his own past that he wouldn't want brought up.

They both stood silently as the situation was sorted out. It seemed as though they were peanut sauce bombs. Even in his detached state of mind, he did recognise Teo and the Mechanist from the Northern Air Temple. He was very appreciative when the boy in the wheelchair handed him a staff.

The airbender immediately recognised it as a glider, tapping it to the ground and watching the blue fabric open up.

"A new glider, thank you so much. This is amazing." He said.

He felt tears begin to try and push their way out. It wasn't helped when the inventor came up to talk to him about the glider.

"And as a special feature, I added the snack compartment."

The man twisted a little handle thing and it opened up a small slit in the wood. Some snacks came falling out.

"Oh... well I'm sure that'll come in handy." He said awkwardly.

Percy moved beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder once more.

"Never underappreciate the importance of snacking." He patted him slightly. "Although it'd definitely be better with some blue candy."

Aang did a double take at the older boy as he turned to continue their walk to the cliffs. The waterbender walked past his ostrich horse, scratching her behind her head. The Avatar jumped to catch up.

Blue? Why blue? And candy?

Percy began making his way up the side of the cliffs and the airbender looked to follow, before remembering his new staff.

No better way to test out if it works.

He popped it against the ground, bringing out the blue glider in its full majesty. The boy leapt up into the air and began to spiral upwards. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Percy shake his head while he continued climbing.

Once he reached the top, he sat cross-legged meditatively. It was a position he'd found comfort in since his days back in the air temple. After a couple minutes, he heard Percy walk up to him and sit. The satchel he'd seen around the boy's shoulder was placed down on his other side. The waterbender sat with his legs dangling over the edge. Apparently Aang's look of minor worry was obvious because the boy chuckled.

"It's not the tallest nor the most dangerous cliff I've stood near."

The boy also swore he heard the waterbender say something about there being no drama queens in the sky. Again, the airbender had so many questions about this man's life before he'd made his entrance with their group. But there was a much more important thing he wanted to talk about.