Avatar Rose: Dusk

Chapter 53: Rose

I stare at the man for about two minutes, eyes wide. What the hell just happened? One minute I'm in front of my home, and then I'm in some alternate world that I've never seen in my life. Naturally, I break into a run the opposite way in which the man was sitting.

Okay, okay, stay calm. This is totally normal! Just some weird avatar hallucination.

The forest I'm sprinting through seems to grow darker the more terror I feel. I don't understand this. The Spirit World isn't real. That's just some stupid myth!

But sure enough, little glowing creatures begin to float by. I even almost step on this little bird. I kneel down to make sure it's okay. It has deep blue feathers and looks completely fine, but pissed.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" It snaps.

I stare at it. It just talked. The bird just talked to me. I'm crazy. I finally snapped, and now I think that birds are talking to me.

"Y- you talked," I splutter.

"Yeah, and you have eyes. Are we done now?" It snaps back before waddling away, leaving me staring at it.

I trudge through the forest for what seems like hours. I jump every snap of a twig and every hoot in the branches. So when a set of fingers grab my shoulders, I scream.

"Hey! Hey! It's okay," the voice coos as I whip my head around.

It's the man I saw earlier, but once I get a better look of him, I'm not exactly scared anymore. It's like I know him, I just don't know where. So I just stare.

"You need to calm down. You see what you've done to this place?" He says gently with a smile. He's tall and looks to be in his forties. As I take deep breaths, the forest becomes bright and almost cheery. Flowers start to bloom from the ground, as well as blossoms on the trees.

He grins. "Better. Now I guess I should explain why I brought you here."

"Th- that's impossible. You're not real. I'm going crazy!" I laugh nervously.

"Rose, ignoring the spiritual side of the world doesn't make it nonexistent. You tell that to yourself because you want to think you're under control."

I glare at him. How does he know my name? Why is he admitting things about me that I refuse to acknowledge myself?

"You're an Avatar," I blurt out.

He nods. "Right. I'm Ling, one of your past lives."

I contain a chuckle at this. "I don't believe in that. The Avatar is just someone who can bend three more elements. That's the only thing that makes them special."

"And that, my dear, is something you don't believe yourself, but say it because you want to be in control."

Yeah, sure Ling, tell me a ton of stuff about myself because YOU TOTALLY KNOW ME BETTER THAN I DO. That was sarcastic, obviously. All I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. You don't see the military getting spiritual guidance from ancestors, so what makes me so different?

But I cooperate anyway. I don't know how to get back home, and I don't think I'll be able to leave until he gets what he wants. So I sit down across from him and listen.

"Are you afraid?" Ling asks.

I raise an eyebrow. "Of what?"

"Your destiny. I can feel it, your chi is tensed and tied up like a twisted tree root. You have friends to help you, you should talk to them."

This makes me angry. I glare at him. "They'll think I'm weak. That's the last thing I need. They won't understand."

"Rose, relying on someone isn't a bad thing."

I pause for a moment, considering his words. Keeping everything in is a survival instinct for me. Before Teacher, I've had to keep my emotions unnoticeable to avoid beatings. But it's tearing me up inside.

"Yeah, okay, whatever. But that's not the problem. I don't know what to do," I murmur, my voice begins to rise in a desperate tone. "I'm so lost, everyone's going to get killed because of me!"

The words spill out almost instantly. The things I've been holding in for a very long time. But saying out loud doesn't seem to help. Nothing will help except getting it over with. Ling just smiles, which kind of pisses me off.

I pause. "So what? Are you going to say anything? Didn't you bring me here to tell me what to do!?"

"No. I brought you here to acknowledge what you're feeling, and to see that the Spiritual Side of the Earth is real," he replies.

"Thanks. Even though I'm still nowhere like before," I snap angrily.

"Nah, you just need to trust someone for once."

The images around me begin to fade, as well as Ling.

"No, wait! You can't just--" I begin to protest, but it's gone. All I see is darkness, and then hear familiar voices.

"Nathan! Get off of her!" I hear Rowan, then feel a hand slap hard across my face.

"Stop!" Liesel gasps. "I told you, she's going to be fine!"

My eyes flutter open, alarmed. Everyone gathers around me and Nathan, who is cradling me with trembling hands. Well, except for Xander, who I don't know where he is.

I rub my cheek and groan. "Ow."

Nathan's eyes are desperate and wild, but seem to be calming down with relief. Everyone else looks worried, but I think it's because of Nathan, not me.

I try to reassure him with a smile. "I'm okay."

"Y- you... Rose..." He begins, his grip tightening on my shoulders.

"Nathan, calm down. I'm sorry I scared you."

"DON'T EVER DO ANYTHING LIKE THAT AGAIN!"

I flinch. Rowan seems like he's about to pull Nathan off of me, while Gwen and Liesel look very alarmed.

My eyes narrow. I shove Nathan off. "It wasn't my fault, okay? D- don't do that."

Nathan has never yelled at me before. I know he was just worried or scared, but he's out of control. I can feel myself shutting down. I ignore the series of questions from everyone, and they eventually leave me alone.

I lock myself inside my closet as I always used to do when I was upset. I begin to cry, something I haven't done in a very long time.