Chapter 127 - Chapter 129

A few hours later on top of Amell's mountain, Aang opened his eyes as he rested on the cold and hard surface. He felt dizzy and his mind didn't have full clarity. It took a few seconds of cloud gazing to get his memories in order, and he finally sat up in a panic.

A hand came from behind and forced him to stay in place, "Calm down, Aang, getting upset will not help you now." Amell's familiar strict voice entered his ear and the boy turned around and was greeted with the sight of someone he also thought was dead.

"Amell!" Aang said and jumped up and gave the man a bear hug. The feeling of sorrow started to disappear a little, the happiness of seeing someone he grew up around helped immensely.

"How are you here?" Aang asked genuinely shocked because Katara and Sokka had told him multiple times that almost a hundred years had passed since he was frozen in the ocean.

"You have your secrets and I have mine," Amell said and gave Aang a teasing smile.

"Where are Katara and Sokka?" He looked behind Amell but saw no one there. And Amell just smiled cheekily and pointed at the place next to Aang.

"WOW!" Aang looked behind him and right next to where he had been laid Katara. And Sokka was a bit further away from them and sleeping against Appa, Aang's flying bison.

"Yeah, she was so worried about you she could barely sleep. She laid there half the night and just stared at your face." Amell was almost in tears as he laughed while telling Aang about Katara's behaviour.

"And the funny thing is that she tried and hide it. She was pretending not to look, only to sneak a peek a second later, it was absolutely adorable." Amell said and continued his hysterical laughter.

"ANYWAY! Have you been up here for a hundred years, master?" Aang asked with a completely red face.

"No, I have not. I have only been here for the last few years while waiting for you to show up again. I knew you weren't dead so I waited and waited, and here you are," Amell said and smiled.

"Why would you wait for me?" Aang asked with a curious yet cautious tone. He was still apprehensive towards his responsibility as the Avatar so he didn't want any lectures on what responsibilities now lies on his shoulders alone.

"There is a war Aang, one I could stop, and have been able to stop for years. I could have stopped it a hundred years ago. But I can't do that. This world relies heavily on the balance of all things. And the Avatar exists for only one purpose, to restore and protect that balance. So I can't directly interfere in the war, because I have no place in this world any longer. Your duty, Aang, is to stop the war and bring back balance to this world."

"I-I can't do that! Why can't you just do it, what's stopping you?!" Aang was starting to become agitated because duty this and duty that, everyone kept telling him all of this, but he understood none of it.

"Universal law. Something not even I can fight against, yet. But you will understand in time, Aang. I only ask that you do this for Gyatso. And for everyone that has died or will die in this war. There is a pressure to being the Avatar, and it will not be easy, but the world chose you because you were the bravest and most powerful air bender of your time." Amell said and Aang just stared at the ground, completely lost in thought.

"You can think about this more as you rest up. You will be completely safe here, but I need to go now. Unfortunately, I don't have time to teach you anything. My time in this world is almost over, and before I leave, I have a few things to do." Amell said and it completely alarmed Aang.

"What!? You can't die!" Aang said and looked up in a panic.

"Aang, everyone has a time where they need to go. But leaving doesn't always mean goodbye forever. If you ever have doubts about anything at all, come and meditate upon this mountain." Amell said and smiled. And he started to disappear very slowly.

"Wait! I have more questions! What do you mean your time is up? Where are you going and what are you going to do?" Aang said and sat up on all four and looked at Amell with a pleading look.

"I thought once I met you, I would find my place in your story. And I was right, unfortunately. I noticed that the longer I stay in this world, the more unbalanced it becomes because of my presence in it. You can always come here and meditate because my spirit will always watch over this place." Amell's body started to dissipate and turn into light particles.

"What should I do now?! I don't know how to be the Avatar." Aang said with tears in his eyes as he looked at Amell with a pleading look.

Amell walked up, without legs so it looked more like floating than walking, he pressed his forehead against Aang's, "You already are!" He said and right then his body completely transformed into light particles.

"WAAAH!" Aang opened his eyes in a panic and raised his body from the cold ground. He looked at where Amell had been sitting, and it was now nothing but emptiness there. Then he felt a hand placed on his shoulder and he turned around in happiness.

"Aang? What's the matter?" Katara said with a worried tone. She looked at him, concerned about his strange behaviour.

"Master Amell! Where did he go?" Aang said and raised his voice. But Katara looked completely lost at the words.

"Who is that? There is only us here." Katara said and pointed at Appa and Sokka in the distance.

"I-I see..." Aang went back to silence. Confused, but also, he had this warm and cosy feeling inside his chest. Like he felt someone's warm gaze looking over him.

"Never mind that than! I'm just gonna go back to sleep again," Aang said and laid back down with a silly bright smile plastered on his face.

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End