Twin Scars ~ An ATLA Fanfiction

Chapter 5: Free

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own character and plot.

104 years ago

Lian's POV
I bumped into another kid and fell down as I was sprinting along the slightly empty streets of the Fire Nation's home town. In early mornings, on weekends the city wasn't awake yet.

I groaned and wrapped my newly healed hand around my still hurt and bandaged torso. My wound was slowly healing and leaving a bad looking scar behind. "Can't you watch where you're going?!" I snapped while trying to stand up. "Oh I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." the kid said, trying to stand up too. I looked at him carefully. He was easily three years older than me. He had a shiny bald head and stormy gray eyes. Also, he had a bit more tanned skin than a normal Fire Nation folk should have.
He had weird orange and yellow clothes while I had my bandages, normal grey pants, and slightly large red poncho to change my bandages more easily.

He hovered himself up from the ground using.....airbending??? Wait, what? He was an airbender? What was he doing here? We were in the middle of a hot war for Agni sake! What was he thinking? He would be in serious trouble if he was spotted.

He looked down at me which I was still on the ground, looking at him in awe. I've always wanted to meet an airbender. No. Scratch that, I've always wanted to be an airbender. He tried to help me up but I held up my hand, signaling that I was going to do it myself.

First, I tried to get into a crouching position and fell the ground again with a painful groan. Then I tried to turn sideways and get up but it didn't work. I saw the kid examining my every move. Then his eyes widened "You're hurt." he said. No kidding."Let me help you." I sighed and took his hand. But as soon as I was on my feet I wobbled and stumbled forward. The kid reached me and put his arm under my shoulder for support. We sat in the shadow of the corner of a building.
To break the silence, "You are an airbender." I said, looking up to the older boy. "Yeah, I kinda am," he replied. "But what are you doing here? Don't you know that we are in the middle of a war?" I questioned. He looked away, not meeting my eye. "Well, I came here to visit my friend Kuzon. A stupid war shouldn't separate friends right?" That made me think. I didn't have any friends -except Zuko which he is my brother- until this day. Maybe my first friend would be an air nomad. He could tell me stories about flying bison and flying.

When he realized I wasn't responding, "I'm Aang." he introduced himself. "I'm Lian," I said. "So Lian, what are you doing all alone on the streets away from home this early? Plus you are hurt. Is there something I can help you with?" I sighed "I don't really have a home from now on..." I trailed
"You're a runaway?"
"Yeah"
"Where is your family then?"
"I....my mom disappeared a few weeks ago and my dad wasn't my favorite person. I have a big brother and a big sister." I said. I didn't know why I was talking to a stranger but he seemed like a trustworthy person.
"What are their names?" he questioned. This was starting to get personal.
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because you would hate me. Your my first ever friend and I don't want to mess this up." I said. He looked straight into my eyes. "Lian," he said. "I promise that I will never judge you by your family or what you are. The important thing is who you are and who do you feel yourself like." well that was very wise and it gave me the courage to completely open up to Aang.

I took a few shaky deep breaths and started my tale. I told him about how Ozai trained me, how I never got to live my childhood. I told him about Zuko and Azula, about mom. And finally about Uncle Iroh. How he was a real father figure to me, how he always looked out for me and how he really cared about me. When I was finished, Aang had an angry expression on his face. 'I messed up' I thought. Now that he learned that I'm the son of the person who declared war all around the world, Aang would leave me and I would be all alone again.

But as he spoke, I understood that his anger wasn't directed to me, it was for Ozai. "How could he do something like that to you? You are just a kid. You need to live your life, you need to be happy." I nodded a yes with my head, but it turned into a yelp when pain shot through my spine. "Lian, are you okay?" Aang said, clearly concerned about me. In response, I pulled out of my 'magic powder' and handed it to him. Then I slowly took off my poncho and unwrapped the bandages. I gestured him to apply the solution to my wound. These random shots of pains were really starting to get annoying.
     Aang gasped when he saw the wound but applied it nonetheless. When I was wrapping the bandages again he asked something which threw me completely off guard.
"Hey Lian, would you want to come to the Southern Air Temple with me? It's where I live and maybe it can be your home too. You won't be alone and you'll have friends and family and a place to recover safely." I was delighted with the thought of going to an Air Temple and living there but, soon worried questions started to flow through my head. "I-I don't know Aang. I mean I probably won't be welcomed there. After all, I'm a Fire Nation citizen. What if they hate me? I don't think anyone has been both Fire Nation and an Air Nomad before." I said.

"Then you will be the first," he said confidently. That put a smile on my face. "But, I said what makes you think that I will be a good air nomad?" I said. "Well, as long as I can tell, you don't steal and it seems to me that you have cut your earthly bonds from the word. You'll have to learn a few things more before the progress but I'm sure you'll get over it. You're a pretty strong kid." I smiled "Okay one more question, how are we going to go there? Isn't it like the other side of the world?" I said.

Now it was Aang's turn to smile. "Would you like to meet Appa?" "Who is Appa?"

In response, he grabbed my arm and started to drag me across the street. Another pain shot through my torso and my bandaged knee and I hissed in pain. "Oh sorry! I completely forgot about that." he apologized. He put his arm under my shoulder and we slowly limped for the next thirty minutes.

Turns out Appa was Aang's giant flying bison.

Aang airbent me to Appa's saddle. Then he airbent himself to Appa's head and we took off. I couldn't believe it! My biggest dream was coming true. Even though I wasn't an airbender, I was going to become an air nomad. Maybe I would get to own a bison too. That would be soooo cool.

As much as I was ashamed of myself thinking about it, it felt so good to get out of my own nation. I felt so free, both physically and spiritually when I was flying in the air. Like I was always meant to be an air nomad, an airbender. That's when I remembered Uncle Iroh's pouch. I hadn't told Aang about it yet. I took it off from my bag and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. When I opened it, I was kind of disappointed. There was a White Lotus tie from the Pai Sho game. I took it. In my hands, it felt so smooth and cool. And it smelt just like jasmine tea. It would definitely remind me of Uncle. I put it back to the dark blue pouch and tied it tightly.

Clutching the pouch in my hands, I lay down on Appa's saddle and drifted into a deep sleep while the wind gently licked my hair.