Avatar Crossroads: Winter: Part 2 Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Aimee’s Lost Days

My vision was blurred, for the first while… I saw nothing. All I could hear was the rhythmic beating of a ship’s engines. I was so exhausted, I could barely move. My muscles ached, and I just couldn’t stay awake. My fingers fidgeted, spasming uncontrollably…
“You poor thing…” a male voice uttered, eying me while I remained there, “Sacrificing your freedom… for love.” It was different from Maya’s voice, it was sympathetic. “I’d hate to be you right now.”
It was heartbreaking, seeing Shiro at that Arena, and not doing anything about it. He didn’t recognize me, he just fought… and so did I.
“No doubt the public will blame us for this, she does lead Crest’s task force”-
“We don’t need to worry about Crest.” Suddenly a voice replied, it was Maya’s, “The public doesn’t know what they just saw… we can have Khan giving out the details that it was the strikers who caught her.”
“Naturally…”
“Kh-khan?” I whispered, weakly… I was ignored, as the man sighed.
“What about the Phantom? Just up and disappeared.”
“We don’t need to worry about her,” I raised an eyebrow at that, the Phantom was a woman? “She’ll come crawling back, eventually.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I know her, better than she knows herself.” Finally the voices stopped while I quietly passed out. I still was aware of my surroundings, I felt the ship engines as they lowered into some sort of hole… I couldn’t see, but I noticed darkness. It was then I was picked up, and eventually brought to something…
Some sort of train.

I finally woke up, discovering myself in an oddly bright room. My vision was hazy, and my body still ached. It felt like when we were captured by Ronin, but instead… it was just me. I noticed oddly enough that my boots had been taken, but I was too tired to care. For the longest time I simply closed my eyes, trying to sleep… imagining this was a bad dream, that I was in bed, the day before we went to the probending game.
…I was wrong. Slowly I began to dream.
We were at a village in the northern part of the earth kingdom… called Su Hiron. My friends and I were staying for the night before going on to the Water Tribe the next day (hopefully). The others were at the campsite while I found myself walking around the town with Shiro. The village was a mix between a traditional earth kingdom village, and a fishing village… we saw a collection of people here, mostly earth kingdom, but a lot were also water tribe. Shiro and I were doing our usual couple thing, where we’d just walk around… maybe talk a bit, but mostly we liked to enjoy each other’s company. We walked by a fish vendor, with a man offering up a fish.
“Pretty fish for the pretty lady?” He asked, Shiro and I stared at him, while I frowned.
“I’m a vegetarian.” I added.
“Yeah, so am I… all I eat is fish.” He grinned, Shiro quietly pulled me away, muttering.
“Okay…” I found myself smirking as we kept walking, “I don’t blame you, I hate fish.” I rolled my eyes at that.
“You hate anything that doesn’t have a face… besides fish.” Shiro rolled his eyes.
“Eating meat is natural, when we were all living in caves there was nothing wrong with eating red meat.” I nodded to that with a smirk.
“Oh sure there’s nothing wrong with it, until you get hunted by a bear and realize how much it sucks to be prey.”
“That sounds oddly specific,” I simply smirked.
“My uncle Feiko once talked about getting chased by a Polar-Bear-Dog when my dad’s family visited a zoo, I like to keep that in mind.” My uncle always got into trouble like that, it was always hilarious. Shiro seemed surprised by that story, shrugging.
“It’s called survival of the fittest Aimee, if you’re not the hunter you’ll be the hunted.” My boyfriend explained, I shrugged.
“You sound just like Aria.” Or like how Aria would have sounded… before the Shen Jing.
“And may I re-iterate, Aria eats meat.” I rolled my eyes at that. We eventually found our way to a bridge going over some water, I sat down at the bridge, pulling my boots off, putting my feet in the water. Shiro seemed more fidgety, crossing his legs. In my hand was a stick I used to begin tapping at the water.
“I ate meat too once,” I shrugged, “I just kinda stopped because my grandmother started telling me how airbenders are vegetarians… how they’re at peace with the world… they don’t feed into the circle of life, they bypass it.”
“So, they separate themselves.”
“It’s called enlightenment,” I explained, “We don’t seek control, we simply seek balance.” Shiro nodded, taking that in.
“Balance, so they solve the equation by removing themselves from it.” I quickly smiled.
“Exactly… we don’t interfere with the circle, we just live with it.” I explained, eying a fish in the stream.
“And yet you call us savages for eating animals.” I shrugged.
“I do that to be funny… give you guys a hard time, and honestly you need more fiber in your diet.” Shiro pouted immensely at that.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that,” I shrugged.
“Your loss.” I looked away. “Still… it’s a peaceful cycle, when everything is the way it is…”
“Sounds like it’s not going the way it is,” Shiro replied, I turned, “With airbenders out working to save the world.”
“I don’t blame them… I’ve kinda been doing some heroics myself.” I replied, “But the time I’ve spent you guys, just travelling… seeing new places… it’s really opened my eyes, you know?” I replied, Shiro eyed me at that.
“I think I do.” I smiled, before nudging forward and pressing my lips to his. I liked kissing him, it felt… warm, soft…
Almost impossible to explain.
“I might understand,” Shiro replied as we parted, I was leaning on his shoulder, “But I think it still sounds more like an excuse to be a grass-eating-wimp.” I pouted immediately, smacking weakly at his knee.
“You grumpy jerk.” Shiro just smiled. For a moment I continued pouting, before looking away, eying the water. I could see a reflection of us, we looked happy.
I knew I was happy… as long as he was around.
“I love you Shiro.” I wished the moment would never end… but I couldn’t control that, no matter how hard I tried.

DAY ONE:

When I finally came to, I was still on the bed in a closed room, feeling an aching in the back of my head.
“Hey there, sleepy-head.” A familiar voice began,
“Shiro…” I mumbled incoherently.
“No, not him… you saved him, remember?”
“…”
“Though I doubt he’s grateful… that’s the fickle thing about love… you can fall out of it just as easily as you fall in.” I still hadn’t fully noticed the person in my room, so it continued, “I was in love once… didn’t really work out.” It was then I felt an odd ringing in my ears, as I looked dup finally to see a woman sitting a chair, facing me, likely five feet away.
She wore a black uniform, a lot like the regular OWL uniform, but smaller, denser… not as pompous. She had a young looking face, sort of like Sonya’s, her eyes were two icy gray bowls, focused on me. It was then I noticed her trademarked quality, fiery orange hair, falling down neatly onto a pony-tail.
Maya Alrick.
And immediately I knew this was no dream.
“Where am I?” I asked, Maya shrugged.
“Your new home… it’s been set up just for you.” I looked away from her, studying it. it was a room surrounded with metal, and windows everywhere… I doubted they could be broken by anything I could do. “Don’t even think about trying to escape, it’s a prison fit for an airbender.” I looked back to Maya, scowling.
“Why did you take me here? I did nothing to”-
“Oh you did,” Maya replied, “You have been quite the nuisance… between me killing Sonya, your Aunt, to even your boyfriend… just the worse.”
“Aunt?” Since when did Maya try to kill Maka or Cecil?
“Oh right, you don’t know,” Maya relied, smirking, “Oops, it’s just stuff I noticed in her record, but… no problem.” She had this odd cheerful quality…
I knew she was trying to mess with me.
“That’s the thing with us airbenders… we tend to let our mouths run.”
“Us airbenders?”
“But that’s the thing, you see I’ve never been around other airbenders before,” She turned, “You’re the first one… and I just couldn’t be happier”-
“So you kidnapped me because you were lonely?”
“If only,” Maya replied, “Sadly I’m not that stupid… and I didn’t kidnap you… that would implicate you were a child, and I nabbed you away… when instead you are an adult, and you handed yourself off to me freely.”
“I was protecting Shiro”-
“Oh right, that boy who doesn’t love you anymore.” I cringed at that, “You might have saved him yesterday, but believe me when I say giving him maybe three more days doesn’t constitute as ‘saving him’.”
“I gave him more time, my friends more time”-
“More time to sit like a turtle-duck, oblivious to what’s going to happen.”
“If you do anything to them, I’ll… I’ll”- Maya grinned.
“How can you expect to save him, how can you expect to save any of them? You can’t even save yourself.”
“…” I looked down at that.
“They might have saved you in Shaylim… or the Shen Jing” I looked up at that, how did she know about that? “But they can’t save you here.” She grinned.
“…Why are you doing this?”
“Because I can.” She then replied, looking away. “You can have the day to yourself, but then tomorrow is when we start to really have fun.” She began walking away from me, I wanted to get up, attack her.
But I knew I was in no condition to pick a fight, especially against her.
As she exited, she also said,
“It’s breakfast time.” I cringed at that, looking to the side to see a slot open and a tray with a glass of water and a bowl of rice coming out.
And then there was silence… I waited there fearfully, before finally standing up, scowling at a pain in my leg, and quickly reaching the bowl, thankfully they left chop-sticks. I was about to dig into the bowl when I then smelled something…
Meat.
I scowled, seeing in the bowl there were rooster-hen dumplings among the rice.
For the next five minutes, I found myself picking out pieces of meat and setting them on the tray. I might have been Maya’s prisoner, but I was not doing this… no matter how good it smelled.
I finished, and began eating the rice, scowling at the bland flavor… after a few bites, I stood up and began to eye my accommodations.
It was a reasonable space, a cot I was sleeping on was set up against a wall, and the chair was sitting in looked like it could be moved around. There was also a table, and a few blankets. There was also a toiletry area which I assumed worked, I wasn’t going to dwell on that… and finally there was a mirror. I frowned eying myself, I looked terrible.
My eyes looked sullen, with hairs falling out of my bunt. I could see a few tears in my clothes, and bruises around my right arm…
I found a sink in the bathroom area, which turned out to have running water, I quickly began to wipe at my face press the liquid over my arms, though I scowled, realizing it was ice cold.
“I’d rather you didn’t waste our water on trivial matters like that,” Maya’s voice replied, I turned, seeing an intercom attached to a wall… nearby it looked to be some sort of black circle… they were all around the room, cameras.
She was watching.
“If necessary you can take a shower tomorrow, it should be ready for you by then.” I frowned.
“Will there… be a camera there watching me too?” I yelled, Maya laughed at that.
“I thought airbenders weren’t supposed to be self-conscious.” And then the voice left.
For the next 24 hours I was left alone, the only thing that would happen was two more trays of food appeared… it was the same stuff they had fed me for breakfast, only with a small piece of celery… I continued picking the dumplings out.
Eventually I finally went to bed around the time the light’s brightness was lowered. Laying there, the only thing I could think was Mika, and my family.
She had to be getting along well without me… Aria would take care of her.
I finally fell asleep, finding myself dreaming again.


“Do you have to go?” I found myself asking as my brother continued packing. I was twenty years old at the time and my brother was moving away to the firenation… Mika was the most distraught by this, hiding in her room. Aki had made it clear he was leaving a week ago, and my parents still didn’t know what to think.
“I have to, Aimee,” Aki frowned, “I just… I can’t stay here.”
“You keep saying that, but why?”
“I just…” He frowned, “I can’t stand mom’s bullshit and… and you know.”
“I know mom can be infuriating, but”-
“You have no idea…” My brother replied, looking back to his bag. He was going to get a ride from a friend of his, reach republic city and take a boat-ride to the firenation. “If you remember the things I’ve seen mom do, you’d definitely understand.” I scowled, he loved rubbing in that he was the oldest, and apparently had these experiences that I didn’t remember…
He refused to tell me about them, instead saying ‘go ask mom about it’.
Aki and our mother did not get along in the least.
“So this is it then, you’re just leaving?” I then asked, as my brother finished packing his bag, he already begun shipping some of his stuff to the firenation, “Where are you even gonna live?”
“Like I said, I’ve been writing our uncle Blaine.” Part of me assumed Aki just ‘made him up,’ but then I asked my dad about him, and he just talked about him being mom’s ‘slacker older brother,’ “He’s all for it.”
“So much that he can’t come himself?”
“He’s busy and has bad history with mom, okay?” Aki replied, “They and… never mind.” At that, Aki stepped out of the room, I followed him.
“What about Mika? She’s been depressed in her room all week.” I stated, “Mina’s tried to help, but…” Aki paused, “If you’re going… you have to make it right with her.” Aki sighed at that, eying me. “Please.”
“…” Aki slowly nodded, I followed him as he approached Mika’s room, knocking on the door… it wasn’t even shut, it just opened. I looked into Mika’s room to see pretty much what I expected, a ridiculously well kept clean room (Mika inherited that from our mom). Her book shelf was tidy and I noticed a collection of waterbending scrolls on her desk. Her bed was up by a window and I noticed a lone solitary figure sitting at her bed, staring out of the window. “Hey there… little goblin.” He smiled weakly, I decided to leave them be, outside the room I noticed my mother standing there, eying me.
“So he’s packed up?”
“He’s saying goodbye to Mika.” I sighed, my mom’s regularly stoic look was on full display here. “He said something about living with Uncle Blaine.”
“…” My mother looked away, scowling, “Figures…” That was the only thing I’d ever hear my mother say on the matter of ‘my uncle Blaine’.
“You know, maybe if you apologize to him”-
“Aki couldn’t care less about what I have to say,” she scowled, I sighed at that.
“So you’re just going to let him go then?”
“I hardly have a choice,” My mom then replied, “If he wants to go, then… he’ll go.” I turned, looking into the room and seeing Mika turning towards our brother, having softened up.
“Will you at least visit?”
“Maybe…” My brother replied, my mother scowled. “I’ll see what I can do.” I then turned again, seeing Mika and my brother hugging, my mom looked back to me.
“You’ll have to be there for her,” we turned back, eying Mika, “Your sister.”
“…” I eyed my mom at that.
“Aki can’t protect her anymore… you’ll have to do it.”
“Mom…”
“Promise me you’ll look out for her.” She then replied, to which I found myself nodding. Aki and Mika finally left the room, with my sister looking chipper. Aki left the room with Mika looking to me.
“I’m going to see him off… you wanna come?” she then asked, I sighed, there had been a car parked outside our house for the past hour… I figured why not? I looked to my mother, seeing her turn.
“You’re not gonna watch?”
“What’s the point?” she then asked, walking off, I frowned at that.
We made it out side to see Aki approaching the Sato-Mobile that was the parked there, a blonde woman my brother’s age (and height) was waiting there, arms crossed. Also outside were my dad, and Mizuki, my grandmother… she looked silent, eying the blonde woman for some odd reason. My brother looked to us, sighing.
“I guess this is goodbye.” He began, we nodded, while my dad sighed. He offered his hand, which Aki shook,
“Take care son.” Aki nodded… before pausing and quickly hugging our dad. He then hugged each one of us, Mika, our grandmother, and then me, whispering:
“You’ll understand some day… when you decide you can’t stay here.” I nodded. The blonde looked to my brother as he approached her, putting his bag in the vehicle.
“Ready to go, Aki?” He sighed, eying us for a moment before nodding.
“Let’s go, Angie.” And like that, they got in the car, and left…
My grandmother entered the house, seemingly distraught, while my sister was already tearing up. I looked to Mika, frowning.
“I’m really sorry Mika…”
“It’s… It’s okay,” she frowned, “I just miss him.”
“I know, I know…” I sighed, before finding myself hugging her,
“Don’t ever go… Aimee.” She then replied, I nodded.
“Don’t worry… I’ll never leave you… little goblin.”
And I kept my promise, two years later when Aria and I were plotting to run away.

DAY TWO:

I woke up from the sound of a sliding tray. I was disappointed by my surroundings.
Still not a dream.
I quickly ate, going through my same routine… I found myself quietly at my table when the door opened, and instead of Maya, I saw a man standing there, a familiar man.
“You’re… Serena’s father.” Ventin Beck nodded.
“Follow me, Maya told us to get you ready.” I noticed some guards around him… clearly they’d be on me at every second.
Beck ignored me every time I asked a question, simply telling me to move… we went through a collection of hallways, with a lot of guards at attention, many trailing weapons on me. Eventually half way through he began giving me rules.
“I’m fairly certain you’re familiar with our three meal system.” I nodded. “You will be served the same meal every day and”-
“By any chance, could I get something without meat?” I then asked,
“That’s not my decision,” he replied, I frowned. “You will not pick fights with our guards”-
“I’m a pacifist.”
“Right.”  He squinted, “If by any chance you do pick fights, you will meal amount will be lessened to two meals for two days.” I nodded at that, “If you attack Maya or any of the other visitors, your meal intake will be one for three day, and your running water will be shut off.”
“Other visitors?”
“Myself, and possibly a few others.”
“Hey, I’m… protected, right?” I then asked, having a thought on my mind that frankly scared me about prison, “From er… advances?” Beck eyed me at that, frowning. “Like unwanted-”
“Yes you are protected… we screen everyone who may visit you, and if an incident does transpire we have cameras there with someone watching them 24 hours a day.”
“Thank you,” I replied, Beck sighed.
“I have a daughter you know, I do know about these dangers.” I frowned at his self-expression.
“Why are you doing this?” I then asked, “You know I did nothing wrong”-
“That’s not up to me… I’m sorry Aimee.” I frowned at that, “If it were me, you wouldn’t even be here.”
“There has to be someone you can tell, my family”-
“I can’t do that, it would breech protocol… the only reason Maya’s having me escort you for this is because I actually know you”-
“You know this is wrong, this is”-
“If I speak out, it wouldn’t just be me in danger it’d be my family, something I can’t risk.” I frowned, “I’m sorry…”
Beck and his men led me to room with a secured shower for prisoners, he put my fears at ease by telling me there was no camera installed, and I didn’t have to worry about anyone peaking... Every day after breakfast he and his men would escort me to the shower (and I’d have nothing to worry about). He then handed me some gray clothing and shoes… instructing me to put them on when I was finished… the clothing I brought with me would be taken away.
The water had a calming effect on me, I quickly noticed… It helped me slow my breathing, gather my bearings. Atleast it was warm… part of me wished I could stand here forever. There wasn’t any shampoo, but I wasn’t about to complain about that, Maya already terrified me. Oddly enough, listening to Beck debunking that shower rumor put my heart at rest… I guess I really was self-conscious.
I remained under the water for at least another few minutes, when it then immediately stopped… I scowled.
They must have had it limited to like five minutes. I wiped at my hair, wrangling it behind my head. Finally I grabbed a towel and pulled it around my frame, stepping towards the clothes Beck gave me. It was underwear, a shirt, and pants all made of the same material, but the socks were cotton, and the shoes were obviously made of harder material. I quickly pulled on the clothes, scowling at how weirdly loose fitting it was. I turned, glancing at myself in the mirror, I had half a mind to create my bunt again, but I decided against it.
I finally reached the shoes, when I then paused, seeing a piece of paper in it… I pulled it out, reading it.
“You are not alone.” I read, I wondered if Beck left it, when I then heard knocking.
“Are you finished?” the man asked, I slipped on the shoes, hurrying while pocketing the note.

FIVE MINUTES LATER

Beck and his men led me to an odd room, it was blue with windows surrounding it… it looked to have multiple purposes. Maya stood there in her uniform, eying me with a smile.
“Awake and ready to take on the day?” I frowned, “Beck, you and your men can go.” The man frowned, he quickly left, with the doors shutting behind us. Maya took a few steps while I stood there. “Aimee,” She called me for the first time, “I truly believe we came off on the wrong step.” I was silent, “I understand this is a change for you, but… I believe we can become acquaintances… maybe even friends.”
“Let me out and I’ll be your bestie.” I then replied, to which Maya simply smiled.
“Tempting, but I’d rather not force it.” She took a few steps, “You being an airbender… I’d like to test you.”
“Like Ronin did?”
“No, not like that… I won’t give you tests meant to push you to your limit, I would find that to be a waste of our time together.” She took a few steps, “Like I said, you are the first other airbender I’ve ever met… and those arrows on your head dictate that you are a master.”
“…”
“So I’d like to you to show me, how an airbending master fights.” I frowned.
“And why would I do that?” Maya shrugged.
“Why wouldn’t you?”
“It’s not… airbenders don’t pick fights,”
“No, air nomads don’t pick fights, not airbenders.” She replied, I paused, “I read up on Air Nomad Philosophy in my free time… I found it incredibly dull.”
“Well I’m an air nomad… and I won’t just fight you.”
“No… good point, but you will protect yourself”-
“Well I”- Immediately I watched as Maya slugged a fist at me, wind shot straight out, blasting me back, I hit a wall hard… cringing, “Agh…”
“I won’t bother trying to break your vows, but if you don’t protect yourself, I may just break your bones.” She shot another blast at me, I edged away, narrowly getting hit and hitting the wall again, my eyes gouged. I groaned in pain, while Maya sighed. “So that’s a yes to broken bones then… good, sounds fun to me”- she was about to punch another blast forward when I cringed and quickly got up to dissipate it, shifting my hands in the way.
I had no choice, I had to protect myself, Maya simply smiled at that.
Alrick was the first to fire back, hands clashing across each other to create swift arcs of air. I kicked forward, blocking the air as I then sent forward another gust. Our winds cracked against each other as Maya simply sidestepped my attack and slashed her hand out.
I was hit, sliding back on the ground, while Maya smiled.
“That all you have?” I gritted my teeth, taking a quick spin to shoot more blasts of wind in her direction. She attempted to circumvent it, but failed, getting blown back.
That was the thing with Maya… she didn’t even bother to learn actual airbending forms, she just applied to the martial arts she likely knew beforehand… the way she fought was reminiscent of an earth or firebender… still dangerous.
She blasted more air in my direction as I immediately jumped to the side, grabbing onto a panel, the room I was in was actually quite large, likely that it went up for a few stories. I could see windows that surrounded us… this was like an arena. She blasted more air in my direction as I kicked off, gripping more wind and blasting it into her as I hit the ground. She slid back before immediately shaking her arms in a wide arcing movement, collecting air as she prepared to blast it at me. I evaded quickly, but not before tripping hard and sliding on the ground. My breathing was heavy.
I had never fought another airbender before… so I honestly didn’t know how to fight her.
She arced her legs again, taking a quick flip away from another stream I fired to shoot me back, I fell back, falling against the wall again. She was about to retaliate when I immediately dove upwards, creating a quick stream to absorb her blow, before arcing it around me and firing it. Maya was hit, growling as she stopped moving. I breathed slowly, wiping at my head.
“Very good…” she breathed, “Aimee.” I remained vigilant, watching as she stood up, “I have much to improve on.” She grinned, I scowled immediately at that.

DAY FOUR:

Each day I went through the same routine, eat, shower… fight Maya, and then return to my cell sometimes with Maya visiting me… my sunny disposition faded immensely.
This fight today was even more difficult than the last, as I evaded more and more of her blows, she became quicker, faster. I couldn’t keep up with her… and so I began wondering if that was because she was faster than me, or because I wasn’t eating enough.
I blasted her back, which she evaded, blasting another stream of air at me… I tripped and fell over, rolling swiftly… shaking.
“You put up a good fight for today,” Maya replied, I looked to see as Beck stepped in to help pick me up, “Maybe you’ll do better tomorrow.” I cringed at that.
Beck finally led me to my room, where I eyed him.
“How can you just… put up with that?” I breathed. “Who gave her the power to do this?”
“Harmonic Convergence”-
“No,” I shook my head, “To tell you people what you do?”
“…” Beck sighed, “The Director,” I eyed him at that, “She’s officially his ‘voice,’.” He explained, sighing, “I shouldn’t explain this to you, but”-
“So she’s allowed to treat you like dirt? To torture me?”
“…I suppose so.” The man sighed. I sighed, before watching him leave,
It was hard to believe that this man was Serena’s dad.
It was hard to believe that I was still here.


“I can’t believe that they’re actually gonna…”
“I know,” Naava replied. “Re-coronation… I didn’t even know that was a thing.” It had been a couple days since we found her and Ronin alive, and Shiloh caved in on itself… over the course of a couple days I had become like a best friend to Naava, as she felt she owed me a lot. “My dad’s really excited.”
“He should be.” I smiled, “I guess you two have a lot of lost time to make up for.” My friend sighed at that… she oddly didn’t wear her usual things, now she was wearing something more traditionally styled after her dad’s and Lune’s clothing, except with a  skirt… she obviously felt out of place wearing this stuff again, but it was nice to see.
I thought she looked beautiful.
“Lost time… I’m not exactly staying.” The raven haired earthbender sighed, I turned, surprised.
“What?”
“The strikers know I’m here… when Ryuu’s gone, they’ll hunt me down… my dad and Lune don’t deserve that, they”- to my side I noticed A girl chasing after a young ten year old boy, laughing.
“Come here you!”
“You’ll never catch me!” Lune yelled as Kokoro chased him… she was just enamored with that child. We had bullied her a little bit, about how Orion should betroth Lune to her, something that just terrified her.
Oddly enough, Kokoro was not very comfortable with getting married.
Lune smiled to us before running off, while Naava sighed.
“You little punk.” I turned more.
“How’s he gonna take it?”
“Pretty well I think… I mean I’ll write and stuff.” I nodded. “Probably write you too.”
“You better,” I smiled, Naava looked away. “So, about the coronation…”
“Yeah, er,” Naava replied, “Since peace and prosperity has been brought back, they’ve really went out of their way to call everyone, all the tribe’s old connections… it’s gonna be a big event.” I smiled.
“You sound nervous.”
“Yeah, I can give a speech in front of a thousand soldiers, thieves, and angry people… but when I see foreign dignitaries I get chills crawling down my spine.”
“Oh you’ll do fine,” I then replied, “Better than fine, probably,” I nodded, “That dress they picked out’s gonna look beautiful on you.” Naava smiled, “I mean you look beautiful in everything, but I rest my case.”
“You just love sucking up.”
“Well we sorta are at your mercy here.” Naava nodded, “You did kinda take out a crazy psychopathic warlord who’s likely cursing your name in the dungeon as we speak.”
“I thought that was more of a team effort,” she replied, “I couldn’t have done anything like that without you.” I found myself beginning to smile at her praise… I needed that.
“Thanks.” She nodded, sitting back,
“Anyways, back in the desert…” I looked up, “When we went to help your friends at Avory… they said something.” I raised an eyebrow, “About… how you guys ran away.”
“…” I sighed at that, looking away,
“I just want to know why.”
“Our parents are difficult,” I conceded… “We needed to go, get out of there.”
“Couldn’t you have tried talking to them?”
“No,” I replied quickly, “My mom doesn’t listen to reason… she’s really protective.”
“Still, I… I don’t think that means to just leave.”
“You did the same thing,” I replied, Naava paused, “You’ve gotta understand”-
“I would understand, but when I left I was thirteen and felt I had nothing here… but when you guys left, you had families and your little sister and”-
“I admit it was a bad choice,” I frowned, “But it was the choice we made.”
“Doesn’t make it right.”
“…” I sighed, “I like to think that… even if it wasn’t the best choice, a lot of good came from it.” Naava sighed, “We wouldn’t have helped you, if we were still at home.”
“And I am thankful for that.” My friend replied. “But if it were me, and I was like how I am now… I would have stayed.” I sighed, slowly nodding.
“…You’re not alone on that.” As I looked away, I saw someone entering, my little sister, with a grin.
“Aimee!” Mika smiled, I turned, while Naava eyed her. “They just showed me the dresses they made for us, for the ceremony.” I found myself smiling at that, “You gotta see it.”
“You had me at Aimee.” I grinned while my sister smiled.
Oddly enough… I had trouble recognizing her face.


DAY FIVE:

I woke up in my usual state… tired, groggy… alone. I went through my usual routine, and it all felt worse than ever… My rice was staler, my shower was colder, and my mood felt grimmer.
Beck seemed sorry to see me like this, the state I was in.
Maya wasn’t around to bully me… instead I was taken back to my cell… and then the strangest thing happened… Beck lingered a little longer in the room… and so I turned to him, curiously.
“Wait, um…” I replied, he paused, “I found a… a note in my shoe on my second day?” he eyed me curiously, “Was that… you?” Beck eyed me for the longest time, before smiling.
“I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking ‘bout…” he then replied, I sighed, slowly his hand reached my shoulder, “Don’t focus on what you see… you just need to buckle down, and be strong.” I frowned. “Aimee, I need you to keep your head up,” he then replied, “Just a little longer.”
“What?”
“Try meditating… or something like that.” He replied, awkwardly stepping away. Before I could even ask what that meant, he was out of the room… I simply stared.
I returned to my bed, trying to sleep.


“This is hard!” I yelled, while my grandmother simply smiled.
“Yes, but it’s also hard work.” She then stated, while I frowned, sitting beside her. I was a child and for the past week she had tried teaching me to meditate. “You need to focus on your surroundings, come to peace with them and meditate.”
“You’re a firebender,” I stated, almost indifferently, “Why would you know anything about meditation?”
“All users of the elements meditate, not just air nomads, Aimee.” I sat forward. “When I was a girl, I had just as much trouble with meditation with you.”
“How’d you get through it?” My grandmother shrugged.
“I just sort of… did.” I nodded at that, looking away, “I worked through it… through diligent practice.”
“I wish I wouldn’t need to practice, to just do it.”
“You remind me of a student I had,” she replied, “Always on the move this one, ‘now, now, now’ he was like, but he never succeeded until he put in the work.” I eyed my grandmother at that, “And he was a hard worker, worked harder than both of us.”
“Is he a fire sage, like you were?” I asked eagerly, my grandmother patted me on the head.
“That’s a story for another time, Aimee… back to work.”
“Okay… Sifu Mizuki.” I replied. I quickly woke up from my dream, frowning.
My grandmother had taught me to meditate to try and come to terms with my problems. I could meditate to calm my mind. I could also do it to enter the spirit world, like I did at the spirit oasis… though I doubted my chances of doing that here.
I found myself crossing my legs, tightening my eyes to focus, to meditate. I found it incredibly difficult, as my eyes were closed and I continued squinting my nose.
‘Come on Aimee, you can do this…’ I thought to myself… I kept twitching, until I began noticing a noise I hadn’t noticed before, the slow searing sound of the electric lights above.
I tried to block it out, focus my breathing… I could hear a voice.
“You are not alone.” It whispered to me, my eyes widened, as I heard it, it felt so real, so… alive.
Was there someone else here, that I didn’t know about?
Another prisoner?
I tried to meditate again, but I couldn’t focus… instead I returned to sleep.

DAY SIX:

I found myself in the room facing off against Maya once more, but it seemed every time we fought, the stronger she got… I quickly recognized that she was learning how to fight me, and exploiting my weaknesses. She was studying me.
I barely evaded another gust of wind, finally shooting it back at her. Instead of even bothering to try and manipulate it, she got close to me, firing her left hand under her right to blast me back from another sudden gust. I tried to anticipate it, but instead I was hit, I hit the ground, rolling.
“You’ll have to try harder.” She then replied, while I squinted, immediately blasting more wind at her. She quickly circumvented it, hitting me against a wall.
“Agh!” I yelled in pain, hitting my head.
“That must have really hurt, Aimee.” Maya replied, in that tone I hated…
Why couldn’t she just have talked down to me like she hated me? Instead I’m getting this tone from her… like she was my friend.
“Maybe I’ll hit LIGHTER next time!” She blasted another gust at me, which I took the chance to evade, sending a blast to slide me away. I swiftly got back up, trying to blast her back, when she jumped out of the way to then grip my air and then throw it back at me… the same trick I used four days ago.
While I spent years to master this technique… she was learning in days.
I fell back, before finally reaching her and taking a spin to try and hit her with wind, but she came up in the opposite direction to clash like it was with blades. She avoided each of my blows while also clashing against mine. I anticipated the next strike, blasting her back. She fell up in the air, but at this point swiftly waived her hands in a circular motion, immediately blasting me down as she slowed her descent. We both stopped moving at the same time, with me breathing heavily… I was exhausted.
“Hm… maybe you’ll do better tomorrow.”
“Why…” I breathed, Maya eyed me, “Why are you an airbender!?” I found myself yelling, “You’re… you’re evil, crazy…”
“Well now I just think you’re trying to make me feel bad”-
“Believe me, I would love to give you a conscience, but I know that’s not possible!” I shook, the woman continued to eye me, “You… you kidnap me, take me away from my friends and my family, make me live in that cell and fight you… you control me, you torture me you”-
“Are you done?”
“Why is it… that when Harmonic Convergence brought back my people… why is it that it made you one of them!?” I begged, eyes on Maya while she simply stared at me, she was everything an airbender was not…
She was a control freak, a psychopath… hell she’s worse than Zaheer.
“Sorry to rain on your parade,” she replied, “but I guess the universe just chose me.” I shook.
“You’re nothing like us, you don’t have a scrap of our doctrines, our ideals, I can’t believe that someone as powerful and evil as you, received airbending!”
“Evil?” She scoffed at that, “Someone has a harsh opinion of me”- I shook my head.
“You control these people, wage a war on this city… say it’s for order but it’s only for yourself!” I yelled, “It’s not right!”
“That’s what this is all about, morality… who’s right and who’s wrong?” The woman than asked, while I cringed. “When has someone being right, ever truly mattered?” She then asked, “For years… as a child I lived in poverty, was that right? Right that I was raised in a ghetto, while Sonya Kalros was born in the lap of luxury?” That sounded oddly personal.
“Sonya Kalros…” the woman with the strikers.
“You’re just like her, born into greatness… born an airbender, not made one… you never worked for a thing in your life.” I breathed slowly at that, looking away. “And you dare to tell me I’m not ‘right’?”
“She was your friend… and you were jealous of her?”
“I didn’t realize it at the time… but she became a valuable stepping stone.” I shook my head.
“You... betrayed your friends, ruined so many lives.”
“And look where it brought me? You might think I’m wrong… but at least I worked for it, I guess you can say the airbending was a gift from the universe, something I earned.”
“Then it was wasted on you.” I replied, “It isn’t right.” She rolled her at that, eying me.
”Ideas and Beliefs don’t determine who’s right… Power, determines who’s right.”
“…”  I shook.
“And I have the power, so I’m right.” She hissed, and I shook. She had clawed her way to where she was… she hurt so many people, and was going to hurt more.
It was that moment I realized saving Shiro was the tip of the iceberg… that if Maya wasn’t stopped, people were going to die.
“Your power is a lie.” The woman sighed at that, looking away,
“I tire of this game,” she snapped her fingers, and then I turned to see the doors open, Beck entered. “Take her away.” She began to leave the room, while Beck slowly picked me up.
“You’re not hurt too bad, are you?”
“Just exhausted…” I panted.
“Gotta say, you had her flustered,” Beck then replied, “Never seen anyone talk to her like that.”
“You know I’m right…” I frowned, “Out of everyone who could have become an airbender… why was it her?” Beck eyed me, “She’s… she’s a monster”- one of his men scowled, picking me up by the arm.
“Come on you, no time for chatter.” I watched Beck as he sighed,
“She is… but she’s also a hero.”
They led me back to my cell, to which I immediately went to my bed, tired out of my mind… I didn’t bother with my food.

DAY SEVEN:

I went through the same routine again… and it was just as bad as the day before… atleast Maya didn’t spend so much of it gloating.
I tried to sleep, but I couldn’t, I had a throbbing headache… I could not focus. Eventually I sat up, sitting down and crossing my legs… attempting to meditate again, to see if I could hear that voice again.
It was all to no avail, it was then Maya entered my cell with a grin on her face.
“Hey there Aimee,” She began, I eyed her, frowning… she had just kicked my ass hours ago. Oddly enough she looked different, like she had just been through a fight or something.
“Leave me alone, Maya.” I replied, trying to continue to meditate.
“You remind me of a friend I had,” she replied, “kept pushing me away… you won’t push me away, right?” she smiled, “You’re a good friend like that, better than Mona ever was.”
Who the hell was Mona? All the time she’d only talk about Sonya.
“What do you want?” I shook, “Just let me go.”
“…Actually a friend of yours showed up, looking for you.” I looked up, “Poor Sifo, just doesn’t know his place.” I haphazardly remembered Sifo’s name, and barely his face.
Faces were becoming more difficult to recognize.
“Sifo was here?”- I asked, she cut me off.
“Your parents are in town, he mentioned them… they’re worried.” She completely broke my concentration. My mom was in town? She and dad were here? But why?
“If you did anything to them, I’ll”-
“Not very airbender like, Aimee, I thought you’re supposed to be ‘above’ all that.” I shook, “I won’t hurt them… as long as they stay out of my way… though with friends like yours, I doubt that.”
“What are you going to do?” I cracked.
“You don’t need to know, it wouldn’t matter to you,” I doubted that, “After all… you can’t stop the future.” The future… what? She began to walk away, while I cringed.
She was going to hurt them, my family, my friends… she was, she was… what was she going to do?
I shakenly stood up, unsure about what I was going to do, when Maya turned to me, grinning.
“You don’t have it in you, Aimee… you really don’t.” It was then I broke, lowering down while she smiled, “Good girl.” And then walked away. I could feel myself tearing up, but I tried to control it.
She was going to hurt them… Hurt Mika… and Josa, Aria, Dai… Tooru, Minami.
Shiro…
And everyone I cared about… and I couldn’t stop them.
To my side I noticed another tray of food being slotted in, I cringed… before going to bed.
I didn’t even touch it.

”All I’m saying Aimee,” Aria replied, “My mom’s getting a lot more aggressive with these suitors.” She explained, we were hanging out at our usual spot… a tree in the woods where we first met. I was climbing it when I appeared in front of Aria who was ‘hunting’. It became our usual spot to hang out and talk, “I almost liked one of them.”
“I recall,” I nodded, Aria sighed, looking away. “I honestly thought it was a good match”-
“That’s beside the point!” Aria yelled, I paused, “Your mom’s doing it to you as well and you don’t seem to care”-
“Well unlike your mom, mine knows that if she forces me to get hitched, I’ll probably move away like Aki did.” That wasn’t very true, all the guys my mother was setting me up with lived in town… it was something I said to try and keep myself calm. Aria sighed.
“Look, we’re adults, and they can’t treat us this way.” I frowned, looking away. “We have to face the facts, the longer we’re here, the longer this will… be all we’ll ever be.” She replied, “I’m going to work at my mom’s restaurant for the rest of my life until I’m eventually married off, you’ll be a… teacher, I think”-
“What’s wrong with that?” I smirked.
“Nothing, but… Minami probably will never get to see a probending game at republic city, and Josa will work at his mother’s grocery for the rest of his life.” I slowly conceded that, “We need to leave Aimee… while we still can.” I paused at that, “You always… kept reading your book on the avatars and other heroes, telling me all about their adventures, but… don’t you think it’s time we have one, of our own?” I looked away at that.
“You know what Aria…” I sighed, “I do, I really do.” My best friend nodded at that.
Little did I know this conversation was probably one of the most important moments of my life.
Because this moment was where it all began.

DAY EIGHT:

I woke up in a rather groggy state, my headache was gone, but my aches will still there, I frowned, sighing. As I sat up… I figured Maya was watching, or something… I shook, looking to my side to see another tray of food added in, while the ones I left alone were gone.
I grabbed for the tray, putting it on my table and trying to eat it, so tired of picking out the dumplings I just ignored them and tried not to even touch them… it was more difficult than I thought, as I cringed trying to eat. I could feel my eyes wavering.
‘You’ll get through this Aimee… you’ll get through it.’ I shook when my mind then replied with-
‘Sure you’ll get through eating so you can get beaten by Maya again’ I tried to ignore the thought, going for my rice… it tasted stale, I kept eating when suddenly I ended up missing and getting a dumpling, putting it in my mouth. I stopped immediately, shaking at the unfamiliar yet familiar taste, I swiftly spat it out, shaking.
I hated this so much… it was torture.
I stood up from the table, shaking, I tried to drink from the glass but it was such a small amount I didn’t realize how fast I drank it. I looked to the sink, walking up to it to quickly refill the glass when my grip on the cup waived and it fell from my hand, under the table. I shook, staring at this, before finally looking at the mirror… staring into it.
For the first time in years… I didn’t recognize myself.
It was then I began to lose it, lowering and finally reaching the floor. I could feel tears slipping… how could something like this happen to me? I finally found myself sneering, eying the camera on the wall.
“You…” I shook, Maya had to be watching, “You probably think this is funny, don’t you?” I breathed, “This is all just… one huge joke!” I shook, “Well then you’re right… it is, and I have no idea what I’m doing.” I choked, feeling tears slip down my neck. “You’re going to hurt everyone I love, and I can’t do a THING!” I shook, “I don’t even know how you’re going to do it, but I know you will, and you’re going to make me watch, aren’t you?” I then asked, there was no answer. “Watch as you take away every person I’ve ever loved!” I breathed, tears dripping at the ground, “Well I… I GIVE UP!” I yelled, “I can’t take this anymore!” I wept, “You might as well kill me now, because I can’t take this… I give up.” I replied, kneeling down. “You win.” I then replied, kneeling there for the longest time. I remained kneeling there, when I noticed the doors opening, Beck and his men entered.
A sad look covered the man’s face… he probably felt so sorry for me.
“Leave me alone.” I began, he sighed,
“Ms. Akira, you need to come with me”-
“No… I want to stay here.” I did not want to face Maya again. Beck sighed at that, before directing his men to grabbing me by the shoulders. I shook, “Don’t touch me, leave me alone!”
“I said you need to”-
“GET AWAY FROM ME!” I then yelled, arms out stretched, suddenly the men around me were blown back. I shook, as one quickly shot a shard of ice in my direction, I quickly avoided as my table was flipped over, and I then kicked forward with air.
The table launched into the man, breaking over him. I was shaking, and then a nonbender man ran towards me, tackling me to the ground, but I was too fast as I hit the ground I kicked up, blasting air from my feet.
The man went up in the air before hitting the ground hard… I shook, absolutely broken. It was then another waterbender tried to get at me, but I avoided and swiftly blasted him into the wall, cracking it slightly.
I had lost all control, all I knew was that I wanted to be here.
It was just Beck, standing there with a scowl. I attempted to blast more air at him, when he avoided, not even trying to use bending.
“Maya isn’t watching Aimee!” he yelled, “She’s asleep!”
“What?” I then asked,
“It’s One in the morning!” My eyes were wide when suddenly a man approached me from behind, quickly chopping at the back of my head. I swiftly passed out, hearing breathing.
“What the hell…” one of Beck’s men mentioned,
“That doesn’t matter, we only have six hours… fix her room while we’re gone.”
“What?” I found myself muttering.
And suddenly everything was quiet… peaceful.

“Nice Night for escaping, don’t you think?”

“Shiro…”
I discovered that I was laying down on something, a bed much like my own. I immediately assumed the fight I was in was either a dream or it actually happened and I was going to be punished. For some reason I felt… at ease, like my mind felt clearer. I sat up in my bed, blinking profusely, trying to make sense of how I was feeling.
“You have a lot of turmoil going through your head, young airbender.” A voice replied, I turned, hearing a familiar voice, “Maya only adds to your troubles.” It was then I noticed him, a man sitting cross legged on the floor, sitting perfectly still. “You poor thing.” He then added, I sat up more. The man had graying black hair, “But perhaps some good has come of it… fate has led you to me.”
His voice sounded familiar… extremely so.
“My… my head feels clearer.”
“I processed some of your memories, improved your mood a little bit… I would assume it’d be clearer.”
“My memories, that’s not possible”-
“It is… if you’ve seen Shiro, which I know you have.” My eyes widened.
“Shiro… that was you, you did that to him?”
“…” he was silent, while I sighed.
“Though… I guess that’s the least of my problems.”
“Quite.”
“But still… that’s not right, looking through my head.” It was a major invasion of privacy.
“I agree, but time is of the essence… you’ll forgive me.”
“…” I eyed him again, frowning. “So Beck brought me to you?”
“Yes… he’s feeding archival footage into the cameras for the both of us… the men you just fought were ones sworn to Beck, loyal to him.”
“No wonder he said I had nothing to worry about.”
“Sadly those are his only guards, if we are to escape… we’ll need a bigger plan.”
“Escape…” I sighed at that. “So you’re a prisoner too?”
“I am.”
“You’re the one who spoke to me… when I was meditating.”
“I was.”
“Hard to believe you haven’t lost your mind… like I did.”
“It’s alright to be scared… you have much to lose, we both do.”
“But how can you keep calm?” the man looked away, smiling at that.
“I remember the techniques my Sifu taught me.”
“Sifu…”
“You know her, a woman named Mizuki Gazu.”
“Mizuki…” I breathed, surprised, “My grandmother.”
“Yes, your mother’s mother. I mentioned her before… in our previous encounter.”
“…” My mind was slowly warming up, figuring out who this man was.
“Do you remember me? It had only been a few weeks ago.”
“Silas, your name is Silas… the man with the green firebending.” The man finally turned, looking to me. He reminded me of someone… for some reason, Shiro. “You attacked me.”
“Yes, I apologize for that.” I frowned slightly, “fate had us once as enemies, but now it has changed.” His eyes were a dark amber color, he looked more grizzled from the last time I saw him, forming the beginnings of a dark gray beard. “I suppose Maya has in a sense united us… you, me… and Ventin.” He referred to the side, I turned, seeing Beck leaning there, waving slightly.
“Hey there.”
“Beck… you were here the whole time?”
“Someone must feel embarrassed now… for picking a fight.” I blushed at that… slowly realizing I could feel embarrassed again. “When we’re out of this, I want a written apology to my men.” Silas’s words slowly dawned on me after seeing Beck.
In a sense… I guess we were united against Maya.
“That can wait,” Silas then replied, looking back to me, “We have much to discuss, young airbender.” I looked back to Silas, “I’m going to need you to listen, this is going to be very difficult to explain, but we only have so much time, so I’m going to need you to keep up.” I slowly nodded, feeling my lips curve and truly smiling for the first time in a week.
“I’m all ears.”