Oh em gee guys, it's not a oneshot! Yeah I know. See... I've had this idea since like... the finale of season two. And I finally started writing it. Yesterday. I'm not sure how long it's going to be. probably seven or eight chapters, if that. But uh... anyway, here's the first one. Guru Pahtik is in it, and I so see him as like... a cross between Dumbledore and Ghandi. Which makes him basically the coolest person ever.
There are some slight spoilers of the season premiere, but they're minor and they don't come up until the next chapter. Speaking of, how BA was the premiere?! Seriously, I was freaking out. Loves it!
The next chapter should be coming up in the next couple of days. Hope you enjoy!
Dislaimer: I do not own Avatar
"Appa, shh, no! Please don't, you'll wake everybody up!"
Appa wasn't really making enough noise to wake anybody, but Katara couldn't be too careful. They were, after all, in the Fire Nation, and the forest they'd hidden the great bison in wasn't too far from the city. Not as far as they would have liked, anyway, but Aang refused to let him be taken any further.
"Look, I know you don't think you should go anywhere without Aang," she whispered, looking at her feet. "But… ever since he woke up, he's been… different." Appa grunted in understanding. "I mean… he's gotten a little better since we got here, but…" She looked up desperately, wringing Appa's reins in her hands. "I need to know what happened at the Eastern Air Temple. I need to know what happened to him."
"Could you take me there, Appa?" she continued quietly. "Please… take me to see the guru." He just grunted again, which Katara took to be a yes. She climbed up onto his head.
"Thanks, Appa," she whispered gratefully. "Yip yip!"
As the sky bison took off into the night sky, Katara took a last look at the city. "I'll be back soon, Aang…"
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
"Aang. Aang. Aang, wake up!"
Aang sat up, looking around wildly. "Whassamatter?" he blurted, confused.
Sokka was pacing back and forth in front of him, waving a scroll around in the air. "The matter? What's the matter?" he ranted, voice high with nerves. "Katara is gone!"
Aang stared. "What?"
"You heard him, Twinkle Toes," Toph growled from across the room where she sat on the floor, back to the wall. "Sweetness took off last night."
Aang shook his head slowly. "No… no, she can't be gone," he said simply, speaking as though he was trying to talk sense into the two of them. "Katara would never leave us."
Sokka strode over to the window and wrenched the curtains apart, gulping down the warm air of the city. Aang sat quite still, eyes wide. Toph, on the other hand, still had some sense.
"Close the curtains, Sokka!" she snapped, pounding a fist to the floor in frustration. "Don't lose your head. Do you want to blow our cover on top of Katara leaving?"
"Katara didn't leave!" Aang shouted suddenly. Toph immediately fell silent and Sokka closed the curtains. Aang was on his feet, staring at them both. "Katara wouldn't… I mean she can't… she would never…"
Sokka silently handed the scroll to Aang. He unrolled it without a word.
Sokka, Toph, and Aang-
I've taken Appa. There's something I need to know. Don't worry, I'll be back in a few days. Sorry I didn't tell anyone. I knew you'd just try to stop me.
Aang, don't worry. I'll bring Appa back safe and sound. He won't leave my sight, I promise.
-Katara
Aang dropped the scroll as if it had burned him. The apartment was silent for nearly a minute.
"See, I told you… she didn't leave," Aang finally said. Sokka and Toph glanced over at him. "She'll be back, right?"
Nobody responded.
"She said she'll be back," Aang continued, talking more to himself than the other two. "She wouldn't say she'd come back if she wasn't going to come back."
Toph just crossed her arms over her chest and Sokka looked at his feet.
"You guys are acting like she died!" Aang burst out. "She hasn't been captured or anything, she's fine! She'll be back."
Aang picked the scroll up off the floor and rolled it up carefully. He placed it on the low table in the middle of the room and looked at Sokka.
"Yeah… you're right," Sokka said finally, nodding and plastering a wide grin on his face. "Positive Sokka is back!"
"Oh good," Toph muttered. "Well, we should probably just go about our daily routine or whatever."
"Right," Aang said cheerfully, tying his headband over his arrow. "Let's get out there and find me a firebending teacher."
Sokka and Toph walked out the door, talking quietly. Aang was about to follow them, but he stopped. He glanced back at the table. Biting his lip, he snatched the scroll and tucked it into his shirt as he ran out the door.
Once they reached the street, Toph fell back to walk beside Aang. "I can tell you're lying," she said quietly.
"What do you mean?" Aang asked lightly.
"You're more worried than Sokka is, Aang," she continued simply. "But you're right, you know. She would never leave you."
"Don't you mean she would never leave us?" Aang replied quietly.
"No, I said what I meant," Toph said with a shrug. Aang glanced at her. "She has to have a good reason for just running off like this, and I'm sure she'll tell us all about it when she gets back."
Aang smiled a little. "Thanks, Toph."
"Whatever, just don't make a big deal out of it," Toph said shortly, speeding up to join Sokka. Aang sighed and looked up at the sky. She would never leave him.
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Katara couldn't contain a gasp. The sun was just beginning to set, and the Eastern Air Temple had suddenly emerged among the clouds and the mountains.
"Wow…" she whispered. "I can see why Aang misses these places so much… they're so beautiful."
Appa picked up his speed in his excitement, and Katara laughed a little. He landed rather roughly on one of the lower landings of the temple. Katara slid off his head and he took off to find food. She turned around and looked up.
"Guru Pahtik?" Katara called. The sound echoed ominously through the otherwise silent temple. "Guru Pahtik, are you there?" There was no response, so she started walking. It was a little daunting, walking through the temple knowing its former inhabitants had been slaughtered within it. For the first time since they had visited the Southern Temple, she began to feel the weight of Aang's loss. Only then did she realize that she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and found herself on a great balcony overlooking the sunset.
And there, sitting on the ground, was a wrinkled old man with a bushy white beard. His back was facing her, and he was completely still. Katara approached him slowly.
"Guru Pahtik?" she asked quietly.
"I thought you might come here," he replied immediately without turning around. "I knew either you would come, or Aang would come. I must say, though, I hoped it would be you."
Katara frowned and moved around in front of him. She sat down on the ground and looked at him carefully.
"You know who I am?" she said.
The guru smiled at her. "You are Katara," he said simply. "Aang spoke of you a great deal. It is nice to be able to put a face to a name, and you are much more beautiful than I had imagined."
Katara blushed a little. "He talked about me?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, he did," the guru sounded amused. "Now, tell me why you have come here."
"It's Aang," Katara sighed, looking down. "He's been different ever since he came back from speaking to you."
"I am not surprised," Guru Pahtik replied. "A great deal happened while he was here."
"Could you… please, will you tell me what happened to Aang while he was here?" she asked, a touch of desperation creeping into her voice.
"I can tell you some, but I will not tell you everything," the guru said, sounding a great deal graver than he had so far.
"I understand," Katara bowed her head respectfully, indicating her thanks.
The guru nodded back, then smiled a little. "Now, what do you know about chakras?"