[Discontinued] Unconditional Love

Chapter 11

As Aang and [Y/N] quickly walked past the fountain, Sokka stopped and crossed his arms "Katara, Firebenders were here. You can't pretend they weren't." Her blue eyes never truly left the ground as she walked and responded to her older brother "I can for their sake. If Aang finds out that the fire nation invaded his home, he'll be devastated. I can't even imagine how upset [Y/N] will be, isn't this supposed to be her new home?" Sokka walked beside Katara with his arms at his sides "Yes trust me I know about that but you being the way you are, you know this isn't gonna end well, Katara" Aang's voice called out happily and interrupting Katara and Sokka's conversation "Hey guys!! Come check this out! It's Monk Gyatso, everything I know is because of him!" Aang bows to the statue while [Y/N] has her hands in front of her holding her own hands, her bronze eyes flash with a small hint of sadness, she and Aang knew that he is no longer around but it didn't make either of them any less sad "He was more like a father to Aang than a Teacher and he was way less serious than the other monks, he even taught us how to make his cakes" Aang slowly opened his eyes but didn't speak, Katara put her hand on his shoulder "You must miss him terribly" He stared forward showing no emotion "Yeah..." Aang moved away from Katara and walked past the statue of Gyatso without the word "Where are you going?" Aang turned to her "The air temple sanctuary. There's someone there I am ready to meet." He continues along with Katara behind him.

Sokka turned his attention to [Y/N] who hasn't broken eye contact with the statue, Aang's voice being drowned out by his concern for her "It seems like you had a good connection with him as well, [Y/N]" She nodded gently "Yeah when all of the monks kept telling Aang to not bring me here because I was an 'outsider' he fought against them and finally got them to agree to me coming here to be with Aang, it was before he knew he was the Avatar though. I always questioned how he did it and why he was so determined about me staying here, Aang makes friends super easy as you can tell but yet I was somehow special enough to be allowed into an air temple" She walks past the statue and follows Katara and Aang to the Sanctuary with Sokka not far behind.

The Door to the Sanctuary was magnificent and has a strange mechanism on it with the symbols for Air on it, once the four reached the door Katara spoke up "But, Aang, no one could have survived in there for a hundred years." He looked up at the mechanism with his classic smile "It's not impossible. Me and [Y/N] survived in the iceberg for that long." She brought her finger to her chin "Good point" He turns to her "Katara, whoever's in there might help me figure out this avatar thing." Sokka perked up excitedly "And whoever's in there might have a medley of delicious cured meats!" He rushes with a large goofy grin on his face right into the door face first "OOF!" He turns around and tries to push it to no avail "OHH!" and slumps down onto the ground "I don't suppose you have a key." Aang looked down at him and spoke in a wise tone "The key, Sokka, is Airbending." Aang gestured Sokka to move out of the way.

Aang took a deep breath through his nose and lunges forward with his hands held outwards, flowing air right into the tubes that turn the symbols causing them to exhale the air like horns. The doors creak open loudly to reveal a dark room. Nobody moved an inch while Aang called out "Hello? Anyone home?" the four walk forward into the darkroom quietly and a bit cautiously, [Y/N] couldn't help but stay close to Katara as they walked into the darkroom. What stood in front of the four were a whole bunch of statues forming a spiral up the walls, they seem life-size but towered above the four. 

They walked through the first few rows in front of them, Sokka stopped and looked up at one "Statues? That's it? Where's the meat?" Katara, Aang, and [Y/N] stopped beside each other "Who are all these people?" Aang looked down at the floor "I'm not sure. But it feels like I know them somehow." [Y/N] pointed at one of the statues "LOOK! This one is an Airbender!" Katara looked at the statue next to the Airbender "And this one is a water bender. They're lined up in a pattern. Air, water, earth, and fire." Aang smiles as he stares at some of the statues "That's the avatar cycle" She turned to some of the other statues "Of course. They're avatars. All of these people are your past lives, Aang." He looks around with a face full of wonder "Wow! There's so many" Sokka stood there with his arms crossed as he turned to his sister "Past lives? Katara, you really believe in that stuff?" She turns to him "It's true. When the Avatar dies, he's reincarnated into the next nation in the cycle." Aang stops in front of the last statue and stares deep into his eyes, [Y/N] stands next to him and gently taps his shoulder "Aang? You okay?" he barely moved "AANG! SNAP OUT OF IT!" she grips his shoulders and shakes him which causes his eyes to blink rapidly "Huh?" he looks towards her "Oh sorry [Y/N]" Aang turns back to the statue as she continued to stare at the side of his face "Do you know who this is?" He nodded without blinking "That's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me."