One of You

Chapter 1

It has been almost a month since I left the Air Temple to find the Avatar per grandfather's orders, but as of now, I haven't been able to catch up with him. I've been looking mostly in the Earth Kingdom, since it is where the most Avatar sightings have occurred, but luck hasn't been on my side.

I sighed as I watched the ground pass beneath me. The sun was going to set soon, and I had yet to find a new village that could take me in for the night. 

Glancing up, I gasped as I noticed a dark scar on the earth's surface, and I swooped lower, jumping off my air glider as I got closer to the ground. I looked around, my hand moving to cover my mouth in shock. The entire area had been burned to a crisp. 

I shook my head, my face hardening. There was a war going on. Of course the earth would be damaged in the process. It was only natural.

Opening my glider, I took to the skies once more. It seemed I had spent longer than I thought staring out at the scarred earth, for the sun had almost set by the time I finally spotted a town in the distance. 

With a cry of joy, I let myself down right outside the town walls, straightening out my hair and clothing. I couldn't go into the town looking like a slob. My grandfather taught me that much about manners at least. 

I blew a strand of my dark hair out of my face as I strode through the village entrance, only to freeze as I came face to face with a boy about my age, his eyes wide as he immediately got into a fighting stance. I was surprised to say the least, but I got over it quickly and cocked my head to the side.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my expression contorting into one of confusion.

He seemed to have been expecting someone different to come through the entrance, and he glanced over my shoulder to check that there was nobody behind me.

"Hey! Are you gonna answer my question?" I tapped on his forehead to get his attention, "Or are you just gonna stand there looking like a dummy."

He snapped out of his surprise with a shake of his head and rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed. "So... You aren't a spirit are you?"

"Do I look like a spirit to you?" I snorted, standing a bit taller.

The boy grew pink, "Uh, no. I was just expecting a spirit to show up and- LOOK OUT!"

A blast of air shoved me out of the way right as a giant black and white spirit crawled through the town entrance, and I looked up at the boy in surprise. How did I not notice it before? The tattoos and clothing should have been the biggest giveaway I could have asked for! He was the Avatar!

A loud crash startled me, and I leapt up, realizing that the spirit had started to destroy the town buildings. The Avatar ran after the spirit, and I hurried after them. 

"Hey, wait up for me! I can help!"

The Avatar didn't turn around, but that didn't stop me from following him. At least, until I sent an air blast towards the beast, causing it to turn towards me. "Ah, spirits, I screwed up."

I leapt out of the was as it charged me, but it didn't even try to stop me as it destroyed the building behind me. I let out a huff of air, slightly annoyed that destroying buildings was more important than fighting me. 

Unfortunately, the Avatar's attempts to speak with the spirit didn't seem to be working as he followed the spirit, pleading with it to stop destroying buildings. He couldn't even seem to get its attention until his temper broke, and the spirit swatted him away onto a nearby roof.

Suddenly, the doors to the towns largest building were thrown open, and a boy around my age came storming out, a boomerang in his hand. 

"Oh really," I mumbled to myself, "What does he think a boomerang is going to do against a giant angry spirit?"

Dodging another flying rock from the rubble that the spirit was tossing everywhere, I missed what the boy was saying to the spirit, but watched intently as he threw his boomerang at the beast, only to have it bounce off. 

I shook my head at his failure, a sigh escaping my lips as I leapt into the air, sending a blast of air into the creature's face, distracting it, as the other boy ran over to the Avatar. I couldn't hear what was being said, but I continued to shoot air at the spirit until it grew tired of my attacks and swatted me away. 

My back hit a nearby wall with a painful crunch, and I let out a yelp. The spirit swooped up behind the two boys and grabbed the Avatar's friend, stealing him away. 

The Avatar quickly followed the spirit on his glider, and I pushed myself upright again, running after them to the town entrance, before a girl's scream brought me to a halt. 

"Sokka!" she cried, rushing to stand by my side. 

The townspeople came out behind her, and she turned to glance at them with worried eyes before turning back to the forest, her head dropping in defeat. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she turned to look at me, not even realizing that I wasn't one of the townspeople.

"Hey, they'll be okay. The boy from your tribe looked like he has fought some tough battles before and gotten out fine, and the other one is the Avatar, and an airbender at that. We are known to get out of some pretty tight places if our hand is forced."

"Wait," she said, her head shooting up to look at me, "You're an airbender?"

I looked down at my attire and to my glider, which I had yet to put away. "Yeah, I'd say so. One of the last in fact."

Then I folded my glider and crossed my arms, thinking. "Actually, I can't be completely sure. I've never left the Western Air Temple before, so it's not certain that there aren't some hiding around the world."

The girl looked away, slumping to the ground against one of the stone posts of the village wall. "We can worry about whether or not there are more airbenders later. For now, we just need Aang and Sokka to come back safe."

I didn't argue with her. After searching for so long, I finally found the Avatar, only to have him disappear not even moments later. I sat down next to the water tribe girl and began to meditate. Maybe if I reached the spirit world, I would be able to find the Avatar and lead him back to the village. 

Unfortunately, my plan didn't work out as I expected, and my mind slowly started slipping in and out of consciousness, until eventually the world slipped away as I fell asleep on the water tribe girl's shoulder.