Carved In Rock || ATLA

Safe & Sound

Lake Laogai /The Earth King

"I remember tears streaming down your face when I said 'I'll never let you go',  when all those shadows almost killed your light. I remember you said 'Don't leave me here alone', but all that's dead and gone and passed tonight. Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You'll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light you and I'll be safe and sound. Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything's on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on. Hold on to this lullaby, even when the music's gone. Gone." - Taylor Swift

🌊🏔🔥🌪

Six pairs of wide eyes stared back at Aelita Kenshin as if they had seen just seen a ghost. The owners of those eyes were sure that's exactly what was happening.

The sheer, blue-tinted silhouette of Aelita stood before her friends in a run-down apartment she had never stepped foot in before but somehow knew exactly how to find. She noticed the trio of Freedom Fighters crowded around her family and almost questioned their presence out loud but in turn, was distracted by relief. Her friends were okay, even if Jet was too close to Aang for her comfort. 

The sight of Aelita likely hit Sokka the hardest. From where he stood, his girl looked like the mirror image of the very last time he had ever seen Yue and he simply couldn't stand to lose Aelita too. Beside him, his sister didn't know if she should cry out in relief or weep in sorrow and she reached out shakily to grip her brother's hand. Katara's breath hitched in her throat as she waited to see what would happen, too scared to say a word.

Mushu launched himself head first out of Sokka's arms with Momo close behind him, throwing themselves at the familiar human and thoroughly confused when they passed right through her. Determined to get her somehow they began jumping back and forth through her form, only confusing Toph even more.

"Anyone wanna tell the blind girl what the fuck is going on?" She finally spoke up when no one else said anything, shifting her weight back and forth on her feet trying to get a better feel for the silent room, the hair standing on the back of her neck in the suddenly cool air. "Did I hit my head one too many times or did I hear Hot Shot's voice? What are Small and Smaller over here freaking out over? And why does it feel like everyone's got something wrong with their heart all of a sudden? Does anyone feel like spelling it out for me or are we just gonna play a shitty game of charades?"

Slowly a small grin spread across Aang's face as the realization worked through him. "She's not dead." He said bluntly, the majority of the others shuddering at the thought.

"Who?" Toph hooted like an annoyed owl.

"Aelita."

"Well, that's comforting." She snorted.

"How do you know?" Katara dared to ask out loud.

"I just do. It's like back before we had all found each other. Everyone thought the Akira was dead but deep down I always knew she wasn't because I could feel her somewhere out there, and I can feel Aelita now." Aang's slow grin turned into a toothy smile. "You've figured it out, haven't you?"

"Figured what out?" Toph demanded to know, the most confused of all the teens.

"How to bridge our gap," Aelita answered, confirming that Toph was not indeed imagining her voice.

"It's a long story, but Aelita and I have thought for a long time now that we might be able to connect like we can with our past lives but we've never been able to figure it out until now," Aang explained, referring back to the many late nights the duo had spent awake together trying to find a way to defy the laws of the physical world. "When you didn't come back last night we know something was wrong but when I tried to tap into the city's energy it was like you were off somewhere behind some sort of veil and I couldn't pinpoint you anywhere."