Another One Book 1: Another One

When the Gaang are at the Southern Air Temple they find out there not alone. A Fire Nation Air Bender named, Alec travels with the Gaang until she is captured by the ruthless Prince Zuko. She must find her way out and find the Gaang to continue there journey.

Book 1

Chapter 1: Another One

"Aang? Before we get to the temple, I want to talk to you about the airbenders." Katara said to her airbending friend. They flew in the sky on a sky bison while trying to reach the Southern Air Temple

"What about 'em?" Aang asked as he looked off in to the sky, trying to find the old temple.

"Well, I just want you to be prepared for what you might see. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother, and they could have done the same to your people." Katara said trying to explain to Aang what the Fire Nation was capable of. She knew that he had all his hopes on seeing his people once again, but she also knew that there were none of his people to see.

"Just because no one has seen an airbender, doesn't mean the Fire Nation killed them all... They probably escaped." He said.

"I know it's hard to accept." With that said, they road the whole way to the temple in silence.

After arriving at the temple, Aang showed Katara and Sokka where he and his friends would play air ball, and where the bison's would sleep. After letting out a heavy sigh, he explained how the temple would be full of monks, and now there were just weeds.

"So this airball game. How do you play?" Sokka asked trying to get Aang to think of something else. Soon Sokka was on a pole trying to keep his balance. He looked intently at Aang, while the young monk also stood on a pole, but more balanced than his friend. Aang balanced the ball on his shoulders, and before Sokka could blink twice, he found himself in a pile of snow. When crawling to get up, he found a Fire Nation helmet. He called for his sister, who quickly buried the helmet under the snow. Then Aang told them they had a whole temple to see. As Aang went ahead, Sokka and Katara walked towards the temple, talking about the Fire Nation.

"Katara, the Fire Nation was here. You can't pretend they weren't." Sokka hissed.

"I can for Aang's sake. If he found out that the Fire Nation did this, he'll be hurt." Katara whispered. She didn't want to lie to Aang, but she didn't want to see him get hurt either. After finding him in the ice burg, she felt that it was her job to look after him. Aang ran ahead, but stopped when he was in front of a hundred year old statue. They stopped their conversation. He quickly explained to them who he was, and told them they were going to the air temple sanctuary. When he opened the door to the sanctuary, they walked in, dazed by the statues. At least Katara and Aang were. Sokka was dazed by the fact that he hadn't eaten any breakfast. Wide eyed, they looked at the statues. They realized that they were past Avatars, and that the one before him, was Avatar Roku.

"You just couldn't get any weirder." Sokka commented, but right after, they heard a noise. Quickly the children hid behind two statues. Sokka then drew out his boomerang. "Firebenders."

Then without warning he jumped from behind the statue ready to attack. He glanced at a child in a long-sleeved red tunic, black pants, wearing a Fire Nation helmet, showing clearly that the child was Fire Nation. Without having time to take a good look at the kid, he took off in the other direction. Sokka was right on his tracks. The Fire Nation child kept running until he was at the balcony. He turned around to see Sokka with his boomerang. In a quick decision he jump off the balcony, which was a fifty feet fall. Stunned Sokka looked over expecting to see a dead body, but to his surprise the child was still running. In a second Aang past Sokka, and jumped off the balcony. He used his airbending to break his fall, and ran after the Fire Nation child. The kid started slowing down from exhaustion, while Aang was still running. The child put his hands on his knees, and panted, not knowing the monk was behind him

"Hey what's your name?" Aang asked, taking the kid by surprise, causing Aang to be blown back ten yards away. The child fell back on the snow, and when trying to get up found that he couldn't. Ice wrapping around the kid's wrists and ankles, preventing any chance of escape. The child looked up to see an angry blue-eyed Waterbender, pointing her hands at her. Struggling was all the child could do until the monk, and blue-eyed warrior were there.

"Who are you?" Sokka snarled, pointing his sharp boomerang at the child. Muffled words came from the helmet in response to the question. Katara bent down and took off the helmet. What they saw was surprising. A pale skinned girl with curly brown hair, and silver gray eyes stared at them. She wasn't a child, but a teenager, and she looked around fourteen years of age. Aang peered at her with big dazzling eyes of wonder.

"Who are you?" Katara asked. The girl struggled more, stubborn and not wanting to give in so easily. With pinched lips, she narrowed her eyes at the trio.

"Alec." The Fire Nation child said.

Alec's POV

I looked up at them as the ice kept holding me down. The blue-eyed warrior looked at me with suspicion while the waterbender, and monk looked at me uneasily. I struggled against the ice as it uncomfortably started biting into my skin.

"You're a bender." The monk said more as a fact than a question. I stared at him wide-eyed.

"No, I'm not." I denied.

"Yeah you are, you just..." The monk began, but the blue-eyed warrior cut him off.

"Aang, she's Fire Nation! What are you doing here?" He asked looking from the monk to me. So that's the monk's name? Aang. I thought. I could easily tell I wasn't going to get along with the blue-eyed warrior. Right when I was about to open my mouth to talk, the monk spoke.

"Sokka. She's not Fire Nation." I snapped my head at him.

"I am too Fire Nation!" I shouted. If the red tunic with the Fire Nation symbol on it didn't make it clear, I wasn't sure what would. I started struggling against the ice again and I wished I was a firebender so I could melt it. Then Aang bent down to bring his face close to mine. He had a smirk on his face, as if he were trying to think of something. Then standing up straight, he put his hand on his chin.

"No, you're not. You have gray eyes. Your hair is brown, and you're an airbender. You can't say you're not. You blew me like twenty feet away." He countered, and I wasn't sure if I liked this kid or not anymore.

I slammed my head into the snow. Why Alec? WHY? I thought. Then an idea struck me. I took a deep breath, held it for a second, and exhaled, sending the kid in front of me thirty feet away. I did the same to the warrior named Sokka. When I turned my head to do it to the waterbender, a gloved hand went over my mouth. The waterbender was a quick learner, and knew what I was planning to do. I looked up at her. Shock, anger – but mostly shock played in her eyes. Then Aang, and Sokka were in front of me.

"I knew you were an airbender!" He exclaimed with pure joy, but he was the only one that was happy. Tears filled my eyes. I wasn't sure if it was from anger, or from the fact that I broke one of the most important promises in my life. The monk looked at me confused. He was no longer excited when he saw the distress on my face.

"She's playing the sympathy card." Sokka snapped. I would have blown him away from his spot if the girl didn't have her hand over my mouth. I turned my head to the waterbender. Her eyes filled with sympathy.

"It's okay. We're not going to hurt you. My brother is just being a jerk." She said, and slowly removed her hand. Then the ice that was wrapped around my wrist and ankles melted. I lay down for a second, not sure what to do until the girl showed me her hand. I took it, and she helped me up.

"You're an airbender." Aang said in a calm voice that barely showed any emotion.

"No, I'm not." I denied again. I've denying it for years. Now people know. I thought. Do you think these people are stupid? They saw you! If you keep denying it there going to think you're crazy. A voice said in the back of my head.

"Okay, I am," Then more tears were streaming down my face. I suddenly became angry for showing such weakness. "But I'm Fire Nation, and proud!"

"I would be ashamed if I were Fire Nation," Sokka challenged.

"What are you doing here?" Katara asked while trying to change the subject.

"Same reason you are." I snapped using the anger that was for Sokka. I didn't even know the reason they were there. We stayed there for a second until we noticed the sun setting in the west.

"To see if there were any more airbenders?" Aang asked.

"Uh, actually yeah." I said, surprised by the conscience. I was more than surprised however; as I for all I knew the airbenders were wiped out a hundred years ago. I guessed there were still some that managed to make it out of the hundred year war.

"Wow, finding two airbenders in one week! That has to be a record." Sokka said sarcastically throwing his arms in the air. I looked at the monk. Furrowing my brow, I studied him. From what I was aware off, his tattoos showed that he was a airbending master, and his balled head showed he was a monk. I thought he was an impersonator at first, some type of history fanatic that would want to play the part.

"You're an airbender?" I asked him. A smile grew at the corners of his mouth for bringing up the topic. He nodded his head up and down frantically. He quickly made a ball of air, and sat on it. Unsure of what to think of it, I stepped back.

"Once you guys stop playing, can we go back to Appa, and try to find food?" Sokka asked, holding his stomach, and moaning something about meat.

"Appa? What's an Appa?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"A flying bison." Aang said, getting off the ball of air. Then without another word he started walking away. Katara pulled me along after him without a word, but the warrior kept eyeing me. I knew he didn't trust me with my Fire Nation tunic, and how I said I was proud about being Fire Nation. A lot of outsiders didn't like the Fire Nation, but that's all they were to me: outsider. I kept following them until we reach a huge animal with an arrow on its head. This must be an Appa. I stayed perfectly still, worried if I moved it would eat me. Aang walked right in font of it, and scratched its huge neck.

"There's no reason to be scared of Appa." The boy assured, but I stayed where I was. Then I heard small footsteps. I looked around to see my flying lemur. He saw me, and flew onto my shoulder. "What's that?"

"MEAT!" Sokka yelled, running at me looking at the lemur. Without thinking, I quickly airbent him away, which left him in a pile of snow. Then I turned back to Aang and the waterbender.

"He's named MoMo." I said gesturing at my pet. MoMo got off of my shoulder, and flew to Aang's. "It means peach, because he likes peaches."

"How long have you been here?" The waterbender asked, petting the lemur.

"Two days." I said. After that Sokka demanded me to tell him where I found food. I told him to say please, and then I would tell him. The blue eyed boy was stubborn, and I smiled mockingly when he finally said the magic word. When he finally came back, it was with fruit, and a dead animal. The girl, Katara, set up a fire, and I stood there like a stranger unsure of what to do, but after a while they told me to sit down. The whole time I made sure I was away from the huge bison. They told me everything about themselves, even when Sokka protested. That Aang was the Avatar, and that they were going to go to the North Pole, but the banished Prince Zuko was chasing them. I sat there and listened. Then they started asking me questions.

"How did you get here?" Aang asked.

"From an old passage," I told him.

"Old passage?" He asked.

"They were used a hundred years ago for machines to get here. They're not safe to use though."

"You're Fire Nation?" Katara asked. I bit in to one of the apples and nodded. "But you're an airbender?" I stopped chewing, and swallowed hard. I knew they wanted me to explain, but I didn't want to.

"Yeah. What of it?" I challenged, taking another violent bite out of the fruit.

"The Fire nation killed all the airbenders." Again I swallowed hard. I knew I couldn't escape explaining. I handed the apple to MoMo who was on my shoulder. Looks like I'm not going to finish that. I thought. Then I cleared my throat.

"Let's say my grandfather chose a good day to visit the Fire Nation." I said.

"How did they not know he was a bender?" Aang asked.

"He was a monk. He wasn't an airbender, but he had it in his blood. The way they didn't find out he was an air nomad was that he wore Fire Nation clothes. Which ever nation he went to, he would where their colors." I explained. "He got lucky and was able to start a family. Lets just say that.

"Do you have a siblings?" Katara asked. I brought my knees close to my chest, and stared into the fire.

"No. My mother died giving birth to my little brother. He didn't live." There was hardly any emotion in my voice as I spoke. I was just explaining something that happened a long time ago. I wasn't going to let it affect me, but then I felt a warm hand on my shoulder. I looked to my right to see Katara. She was different than the other water tribe boy. She, unlike him, actually seemed nice.

"I'm sorry. Me and Sokka lost our mom to..." She started saying but her voice trailed off, and her gaze drifted to the fire.

"To the Fire Nation." Sokka said coldly finishing Katara's unfinished sentence, I glared at him, knowing some of the bitterness was directed at me.

"What about your dad?" Katara asked trying to change the subject.

"My dad is in the Fire Nation Navy. I haven't seen him in three years." I whispered, and looked at them. Aang wasn't sure what to think. Katara looked shocked. Sokka looked angry. He looked about ready to bust. The dislike he had for me was evident on his face, but it was mutually returned. Then he stood up, and took out his boomerang, pointing it straight at me. Me, Aang, and Katara stared at him.

"You're Fire Nation. Your dad is Fire Nation. You're the enemy. This is probably a trap. You're mother is probably not even dead. Why are we so sure you're not playing the sympathy card. You started crying when Aang confronted you as an airbender-" Before he could say more, I stood up and blasted two jets of air at him. He went back into a pile of snow again. I threw more jets of air at him to keep him there. When I was sure he wasn't going to get up I stopped, breathing heavy. I was fine with their company until he had to run on his tangent. Feeling angry now, I couldn't control myself as my silver hues narrowed to thin blades as I pierced him with a fixed glare.

"How dare you!" I announced, "If my nation knew I was a bender they would kill me! My father left to the Navy to put food on the table, my mother," I stopped and threw another jet of air at him. "My mother is dead just like yours is." I drew in calming breaths in and out, and slumped back down. I turned my head to Katara, tears threatening her eyes too. I looked at Aang who looked scared of me. Sokka got out of the snow, and looked at me. I wasn't sure if he was more angry or sad.

"I'm sorry." He said. This surprised me. To think the teenager had it in him to apologize. Sokka carefully sat back down with snow in his hair. The tension was high, and I could feel the uncomfortable silence.

"I accept your apology," I said, feeling like the bigger person to do so. The words were foreign to my lips, but it seemed to calm everything down. After clearing the air of that incident, no one spoke for the rest of the time. When I was done eating I got up, and called MoMo.

"Where are you going?" Aang asked.

"Where ever, I guess." I muttered, shrugging my shoulders. "I'm a traveler now. I go place to place, and do it all over again."

"Why don't you come with us?" He asked with a smile at the corners at his mouth again.

"What?" I stuttered, shocked.

"To the North Pole, remember? We would love for you to come." Katara answered. I looked at her raising an eyebrow. You have nowhere else to go. Go with them. The voice said again. I thought about it for a second, but then started thinking about what my nation would think. They would certainly call me a traitor for siding with the Avatar. He was suppose to be my enemy, but he really wasn't. He seemed like another kid that was just trying to get by with his friends. I don't really have anywhere to go. I thought, and made up my mind.

"Sure. I'll go." I said.

I saw Aang and Katara give two huge smiles, but then I saw Sokka staring at me, his eyes showing suspicion.

Edited by Kya-Waterbender-Avatar 8-11-2012

Edited by 2nd Avatar 12-18-2012

Edited by Alec Garcia 8-22-2017

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the last airbender. That goes to Nick and the Creators of ATLA

Till next time

- Alec