Balance | Old Version

Chapter 7

Elua's POV.

"Hello? Anyone home?" Aang shouts as we walk into the darkroom, the sun dimly shines through the door and alights the room, bringing statues into our sight.
"Statues?! That's it? Where's the meat?" Sokka asks, throwing his arms in the air.
"Who are all these people?" Katara questions as we walk closer to the stone people.
"I'm not sure, but it feels like I know them somehow," Aang says in confusion. "Look! That one's an Airbender!" He says pointing to one of the statues.

"And this one's a waterbender," Katara says pointing to another. "They're lined up in a pattern. Air, water, earth and fire." She states, pointing to each statue.
"That's the Avatar cycle," I say as I look around at the hundreds of statues.
"Of course! They're Avatars. All these people are your past lives, Aang." Katara tells Aang.
"Wow! There's so many!" Aang says in awe.
"Past lives? Katara, you really believe in that stuff?" Sokka asks her, not convinced.

"It's true. When the Avatar dies he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle." I inform Sokka. Aang steps in front of a statue, a firebender Avatar. As he stares he seems to enter a trance-like state. Katara walks over to him and frowns.
"Aang, snap out of it!" Katara says as she shakes his shoulders.
"Huh?" Aang says dazedly.
"Who is that?" Katara asks as she looks at the statute.
"That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me." Aang answers.
"You were a firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you when we first met." Sokka says.

"There's no writing. How do you know his name?" Katara questions.
"I'm not sure...I just know it somehow." Aang says confused.
"You just couldn't get any weirder!" Sokka states. Suddenly, we see a long-eared shadow advances toward us. We quickly huddle behind two of the statues, Aang and Katara behind one on the left and Sokka and I behind one on the right. The shadow advances between the two statues.

"Firebender. Nobody make a sound." Sokka whispers.
"You're making a sound!" Katara whisper-shouts.
"Shh!" We both shush her.
"That firebender won't know what hit 'em," Sokka says as he readies his weapon. The long-eared shadow is now right on top of us. Sokka jumps out from the statue, weapon at the ready. Aang, Katara, and I also come around and see, a Lemur? We all stare at the adorable intruder. The winged lemur looks at us with wide eyes, his long ears flop down on his back as he sees us staring at him.
"Lemur!" Aang exclaims excitedly.

"Dinner," Sokka says drooling. I glare at the boy.
"Don't listen to him! You're going to be my new pet." Aang says as he starts to walk towards the lemur.
"Not if I get him first!" Sokka says as they both lunge at the small animal, making the lemur scurry off in fear.
"Wait! Come back!" Aang shouts as he runs after the lemur.
"I wanna eat you!" Sokka shouts as he follows Aang. Katara and I stare after the two boys.
"Should we follow them?" Katara asks me.

"No, they'll be alright," I tell her as I walk around looking at the statues.
"Did you grow up here? With Aang?" Katara asks as she follows me around.
"Yes, I lived here my whole childhood," I state. "I had been gone for a few months though, before we were frozen in that ice burg," I tell her, she looks interested.
"Oh, Where were you?" She questions. I turn to her and stare for a moment.
"You probably don't want to know that," I tell her. She looks at me confused.

"Why's that?" She pries, I sigh as I look down.
"If I tell you, will you not judge me harshly?" I ask her as I look up, she seems confused but nods in agreement. "I was in the Fire Nation," I tell her. She looks at me with wide eyes.
"Really? Why?" She asks in shock.
"I was visiting a friend," I state as I run my fingers across the statues.
"You were friends with someone in the Fire Nation!?" She asks shocked.
"Yeah, Someone," I say as I smile to myself.

"Who?" She asks curiously. I look over to her and smile.
"Is your and Sokka's father at war?" I ask her, changing the subject.
"...Yeah." She says as she looks down in sadness.
"I'm sorry," I say, giving her a sad smile. She was about to say something but before she could all the statue's eyes begin to glow. We look around and then at each other, the same thing in mind.
"Aang!" We shout at the same time as we rush out of the Sanctuary and begin to run.

Outside.

"What happened?" Katara asks Sokka over the wind as we run over to him, the wind blows and dust is flying everywhere. Aang stands in a tent that has fallen apart, his eyes glowing.
"He found out firebenders killed Gyatso!" Sokka shouts as we see Aang begin to float into the air.
"It's his avatar spirit! He must have triggered it!" I shout, ignoring the feelings of sadness. "I'm gonna try and calm him down," I tell them.
"I'll help!" Katara shouts over the wind.
"Well, do it before he blows us off the mountain!" Sokka shouts. We carefully walk over to Aang.

"Aang, I know you're upset!" I shout so he can hear me. "But, you're not alone," I tell him.
"I know how hard it is to lose the people you love. I went through the same thing when I lost my mom," Katara shouts. "Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. You still have Elua. Sokka and I, we're your family now." She tells him. I take one of Aang's hands in my own and the glow immediately fades from his eyes and arrow markings. He collapses into my arms, a look of grief on his face. I hold him around his shoulders as we kneel on the ground.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Promise." Sokka says gently as he kneels beside me, Katara does the same.
"I'm sorry," Aang says weakly as he leans on me.
"It's alright. It wasn't your fault." I tell him smiling down at him.
"But you were right, Katara," Aang says sadly. "And if firebenders found this temple that means they found the other ones, too," He says as he looks up at me with teary eyes. "We really are the last Airbenders."

Later that day.

We had just gotten done packing everything when I realized that Aang wasn't with us, I look around for a moment before walking over to Katara and Sokka.
"Have you seen Aang?" I ask them. They shake their heads no, Katara gives me a small smile.
"I'll go find him," Katara says as she walks off. I watch as she walks away, I sigh sadly as I walk back over to Appa and finally process what had happened.

"You alright?" Sokka asks me kindly, as I pet Appa's fur.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm alright." I say giving him a smile, He doesn;t seem to believe me. Sokka walks towards me. "Are you going to hug me? Because if you are just so you know, I'm going to cry." I say with a sad laugh as tears are already flooding my eyes.
"Yeah, I am." He says with a smile as he wraps his arms around me and brings me into a hug. I sniff as I hug him back, tears roll down my face.

"Thanks," I whisper as we let go and I wipe my tears away.
"Anytime." He says with a smile as Katara and Aang walk over to us. The lemur from earlier flys over us and drops a few fruits and nuts at Sokka's feet. Sokka looks down at them in huger as he begins to eat the fruits.
"Looks like you made a new friend, Sokka," Aang says smiling.
"Can't talk must eat," Sokka says with a mouth full of food. The lemur flies onto Aang's head.
"Hey, little guy," Aang says smiling happily.

"You, me, Elua, and Appa, We're all that's left of this place. We have to stick together," I hear Aang whisper to the lemur as he moves down to his shoulder. "Everyone, say hello to the newest member of our family," Aang says. I smile at Aang, happy that he's okay.
"What are you going to name him?" Katara asks. Aang thinks for a moment.
"...Momo," Aang informs us.
"Well then, Hello, Momo. Welcome to the family," I say to the lemur, who chatters happily. We all hop on Appa. As we fly away I turn around and look at our home one last time before it's out of sight, we're going to win this war.