The Honor of Love (ATLA fanfic)

27: The Awakening

A sense of great peace and quiet was lifting me. Beyond any sound and or chaos. I felt myself leaving my body, towards a bright white light. It was so bright, I had to close my eyes. And so I did, never to open them again and to float bodiless into the light.

With a gasp I woke up. I coughed loudly, blowing away the shallow puddle water I was lying down in. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a kind of swamp. I pushed myself up, and unbuttoned my dress. There was no wound. I looked around and saw some animals walking around.

I did not feel anything. Not any pain or anger. I tried to fire bend, but nothing happened. Again. Nothing.

"You must wonder why I brought you here." An old-sounding voice said from behind me. I froze and I turned around, slowly. I gasped when I saw who it was.

"At least I ended up here," I said relieved, "thank you. It has always been my dying wish to guide spirits and travelers in the Spirit World."
"You are not dead, Istari," Avatar Roku said, "I brought you here to talk to you."
"Why?" I asked confused.
"Although your mission was valiant and brave it is in vain... Aang is still alive." Avatar Roku said. I sighed out of relief and buried my face in my hands. "How? I saw him fall, he did not breathe." I said quickly, shaking my head.

"Neither did you, and still you are here." Roku replied.
"I have to go back, do I?" I asked him slowly, scared of his answer. "If you want you can stay," Avatar Roku said and sighed, "but I'd appreciate your help."
"Will I return to the Spirit World?" I asked hopeful. "Yes, I think you will." Roku replied.
I smiled, hearing those words of comfort. "I will wake up anyway, right? This is just a dream, you are not real." I said, shaking my head.
Avatar Roku smiled. "If you say so." After he said that, smoke rose up around him, and he disappeared. The bright white light came around me again and I experienced the same out of body feeling.

Well, I wasn't completely bodiless, as my chest was hurting. It was hurting a lot. I slowly became aware of the fact that a great many other things hurt as well, but my chest felt like my ribs were exchanged with red-hot bars. At least my chest was there, so should be the rest of my body. When I cracked my eyes open to look, the haze of pain that floated over my chest seemed almost visible, but it might as well be the result of general fuzziness in my head.

"Thank the spirits, you're awake." Said a relieved-sounding voice near my ear. "No, I'm not." I whispered. My voice emerged as a crusted croak, rusty with the taste of iron. I could feel and taste dried blood in my mouth and with difficulty I swallowed it away. I caught a brief glimpse of the silhouette of a woman, who sitting next to me.

"How are you feeling?" The woman asked. "Horrible." I grunted in reply. I was also beginning to get annoyed at being alive, after all, and being required to witness the events that were about to happen. The woman reached for a jug of water on the floor and gave it to me. I drank from it, but coughed deeply, nearly choking on the lukewarm water.

My eyes finally adjusted to my surroundings. It was very dark and it felt like I was rocking back and forth. "How did I end up here?"

"We heard that the Avatar was in Ba Sing Se. But when we arrived we only found you, barely alive. You've almost bled to death." The woman replied breathlessly.
"Why didn't you just let me die?" I asked, wheezing after I coughed again.
"I couldn't live with myself if I did." The woman replied hoarsely. Tears swelled up in my face, and I turned my head around to look at the woman.

"M-mom?" I asked, my voice shaking. The woman nodded slowly. "Oh, Istari," My mom said and her blue eyes filled themselves with tears as she hugged me carefully, "I am so, so, sorry." She cried. I thought I was dreaming again, until I saw the jade necklace around my mother's neck. "Hey, that's mine." I said slowly, narrowing my eyes to see it better. I felt a sharp pain in my chest and quickly I moved my hand towards it, touching the scar. It was bigger than I imagined.