i got woken up because of a grumble, sounding like appa. i rubbed my eyes, seeing aang pushing appa.
"look, i'm sorry, but kazumi, katara and sokka aren't coming to the fire nation with us. if they got hurt, i'd never forgive myself. do get your big butt off the ground and let's go!" he pulled at his reigns. i laughed and stood up, walking up to him with my siblings.
"i think his big butt is trying to tell you something." sokka crossed his arms.
"please don't go, aang. the world can't afford to lose you to the fire nation, especially kazumi." katara smirked at me, making me blush.
"yeah, would be pretty boring without you baldy" i smiled at him, making him blush this time. aang stood up, walking over to us.
"but i have to talk to avatar roku to find out what my vision means. i need to get to the fire temple before the sun sets on the solstice. that's today." aang jumped back on appa's saddle, but sokka and katara both jumped in front of him and i onto appa's saddle.
"we're not letting you go into the fire nation, aang." katara hold her hands up.
"at least not without your friends. we got your back." i hugged him from behind. momo jumped on aang's arm, making us both smile. in that second, appa seemed to have noticed his love for sokka.
"EWWWWW!!" sokka shouted while being licked by appa. katara and sokka got up onto appa's saddle too.
"it's a long journey to the crescent island" the chief handed us some things "you'll have to fly fast to have any chance of making it before sundown. good luck."
"thank you, for your..." aang tried to thank him.
"go!!" the chief shouted, making us all flinch. aang shook appa's reigns "yip yip!"
appa was flying fast, but not fast enough. aang looked over his shoulder, seeing that the sun is rising.
"come on boy! we've got a long way to go, faster!" he shook his reigns again. appa growled and flapped with his tail, making him go faster.
katara, sokka and i grabbed onto appa's saddle.
"he's really going super speed, isn't he?" i laughed, getting a glare from my sister.
"ok, i see you, mrs. unable-to-take-a-joke" i rolled my eyes.
"it's not a time to joke around! this is serious, we're going into the fire nation, do you think this is funny?" she raised her voice.
"actually, yeah, i'm not scared of the fire nation, just their lord" i shrugged with my shoulder, looking at my brother, having his mouth wide open.
"you're- WHAT?!"
"not. scared. if u don't mind, mind your own business right now, m'kay?" i gave them a fake smile, turning away from them.
after a while of flying, i turned around, seeing something i actually didn't want to see.
"zuko." i said, gaining my siblings attention.
"aang, we got trouble!" katara shouted in aang's direction.
"yeah, and it's getting faster!" sokka pointed at zuko's ship, seeing a catapult, loaded with something on fire. i looked at it with wide eyes, turning to aang.
"fire ball!" i shouted to him.
"i'm on it!" aang shook appa's reigns, making him swerve right on time. the fire ball flew over his head. i don't know what it was, but it stank. we all covered our noses with our hands.
"we have to get out of zuko's range before he shoots another hot stinker at us!" katara shouted.
"can't you make appa go any faster?" sokka asked.
"yeah, but there's one little problem" aang pointed at something in front of us. we all looked seeing-
"a blockade!" my siblings and i shouted.
"if we fly north we can go around the fire nation ships and avoid the blockade. it's the only way." aang sighed.
"there's no time." katara said.
"this is exactly why i didn't want you to come. it's too dangerous." aang said a little louder.
"and that's exactly why we're here" i put my hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile.
"let's run this blockade." sokka said from the back.
"appa! yip yip!"
we flew to the blockade, now having a big problem.
"fireballs!!" i screamed, making us all scream together. aang grabbed the reigns tighter, trying everything to avoid these fireballs. a fireball grazed at appa's back, leaving a little fire there. my siblings, momo and i beat the fire out.
"appa are you okay?!" aang and i shouted.
"grrr" he answered. i see this as a yes.
i looked at aang, trying to help appa to avoid the fireball bombardment. we saw 12 fireballs coming at us from the front. aang swerved to his left. more fireballs came at us, making us all scream as appa swerved. appa and aang are really concentrated on not hitting any fireballs. multiple smoke trails are surrounded appa. he avoided a few more fireballs, but then, right in front of him, two fireballs collided. appa growled and reared up to avoid it.
katara and i grabbed tighter on his saddle, but as appa bucked up, sokka fell of his back. katara and i screamed, trying to reach out for him but it was too late. we continued screaming his name, as appa dived down to catch sokka before he hits the ocean. appa dived a little more and i tried to reach out for sokka's hand. we both held out our hands and finally, i got him before he hit the ocean. appa hit the water with his six legs, after a few seconds, he began to fly again.
my siblings and i sat in the saddle as a large pink fish came at sokka, making him fall on his back. i tried not to laugh but i couldn't hold it. i laughed, receiving a glare from sokka this time. the fireballs came at us again, but appa avoided them all. we flew closer and closer into the blockade. then, a single fireball came at us, making us all scream again, except aang, he leaped from appa going into an air bending pose. the fireball came closer and closer but then, aang kicked a burst of air right into the center of the fireball, making it explode.
aang lost his balance and fell back onto appa's shoulders, sokka and i grabbed his arm to steady him. i smiled at him and he gave a smile back. he looked in front of us, raising his left fist.
"we made it!!" he said full of energy.
i had a big smile on my face. "fire nation.." i whispered to myself.
"we got into the fire nation...." he said in pure disbelief "..great..."
we continued flying in the air. we all relaxed on appa, katara and sokka on his back, aang, momo and i on his shoulders. aang had his head on my shoulders, snoring a little. cute.
aang woke up, having a sudden burst of energy.
"there it is! the island roku's dragon took me to!" he pointed in front of us.
"it's beautiful" i said, leaving sokka and katara confused.
"okay, what's it with you being a fan of the fire nation, seriously, are you secretly a fire bender?!" sokka asked, being dead serious.
"yeah, of course!" i joked " because you always see me fire bending, right?"
"i mean, you always used to disappear at night, maybe to improve your fire bending" katara added.
"there's this thing.. what was it called again.. oh! it's called mind your own business. u guys should try it!" i turned around.
"she's definitely hiding something, i don't trust her" i heard sokka whisper.
"i heard that!"
____
appa landed near the temple. we all got off appa and i ran to hug him.
"u did so great out there, i love you so much!!" i hugged him tighter.
"sorry for disturbing your love-moment, but we need to get going" aang came up to me, laughing.
"but i don't want to leave appa" i said with a fake sad voice. aang was now right in front of me, grabbing me by my waist. and now i'm hanging over his shoulders.
"let me down!!" i laughed.
"no, appa gets more affection than me, it's unfair" aang joked a little.
"oh you want affection?" i finally managed to get off his shoulders. i came up to aang's face, only being a few inches away from it. "deserve it"
i walked away from him, leaving him as a blushy mess.
we all walked up to the temple, searching for any guards.
"i don't see any guards" sokka told us.
"the fire nation must have abandoned the temple when avatar roku died." katara pointed out.
"yeahhh, i don't think so" i shrugged with my shoulders.
"it's almost sundown. we'd better hurry." aang leaped over a small wall. we followed him. we all ran trough the temple, but then, we all decided to tip-toe through the center of it. sokka stopped.
"wait... i think i heard something" he hold his arm in front of us. we turned around, seeing five elderly man in robes in front of us.
"we are the fire sages. guardians of the temple of the avatar." one of them spoke.
we all looked confused, but aang stepped forward.
"great! i am the Avatar." he says.
"we know" They began to shoot fire in our direction, making our eyes go wide. aang airbended them away, turning to us "run! i'll hold them off"
we ran down the corridor "you still aren't scared of the fire nation?" sokka asked me mid running.
"nope" popping out the 'p'.
aang was now running in our direction
"follow me" he said.
"do you know where you're going?" sokka asked him.
"nope" Aang disappeared behind the corner, we started to follow him but in this second, he ran back at us "wrong way!"
"come back!" a fire sage shouted at aang.
we didn't stop, we continued to run but there was a dead end. we all didn't know what to do, then a fire sage came.
"i don't want to fight you, i'm a friend" the fire sage said, making me smile.
"firebenders aren't our friends." sokka said, now standing in a fight stance with aang and matara.
"i trust him" i said walking next to him.
sokka rolled his eyes "of course you do"
the sage smiled at me and i smiled back. he walked up in front of aang, now bowing to him.
"i know why you're here, avatar."
aang looked at him surprised "you do?"
"yes" He stood up "you wish to speak to avatar roku. i can take you to him."
aang, katara and sokka looked at him confused.
"how?"
the fire sage walked up to the wall, grabbing the torch and turning it. behind it was a small hole. he takes a deep breath and shot fire through the hole.
"a secret passage" i smiled.
"exactly, this way." the sage gestured towards the passage.
i was about to go in but i looked at my siblings and aang and they still were suspicious about him.
"find them!"
they looked at me with wide eyes but were now walking with me in the passage. the sage turned the torch behind us again, closing the passage.
we walked down the stairs, into a vast and a cavernous system. we continued to walk trough a tunnel with magma at the side of it. i was amazed by its beauty, even if it just was a tunnel.
"avatar Roku once called this temple his home. he formed these secret passages out of the magma." the sage told us.
"did you know avatar roku?" aang asked, making me mentally facepalm. Of course he knows a person that's been dead for over 100 years.
"no. but my grandfather knew him. many generations of fire sages guarded this temple long before me. we all have a strong spiritual connection to this place." he answered him.
"is that how you knew i was coming?"
"a few weeks ago, an amazing thing occurred. the statue of avatar roku, its eyes...began to glow!" the Sage said, making my eyes go wide.
"that's when we were at the air temple. avatar roku's eyes were glowing there too!" i told him with a smile.
"at that moment, we knew you had returned to the world." he smiled at us.
"if this is the avatar's temple, why did the sages attack me?" aang was pretty confused.
"things have changed. in the past, the sages were loyal only to the avatar. when Roku died, the sages eagerly awaited for the next avatar to return. but he never came." the sage looked at us with a sad look in his eyes.
aang paused and leaned against the wall "they were waiting for me."
sokka walked next to aang, putting his arm around his shoulder "hey, don't feel bad. you're only a hundred years late."
i walked up to sokka, giving him a punch in the arm
"ow!!"
"oh don't look at me like you didn't deserve it" i laughed.
"they lost hope the avatar would ever return. when fire lord sozen began the war, my grandfather and the other sages were forced to follow him" he shook his head "i never wanted to serve the fire lord. when i learned you were coming, i knew i would have to betray the other sages."
aang bowed slightly to the sage "thank you for helping me. "
the sage gave him a warm smile. we continued to walk up some stairs.
"we'll follow these stairs to the sanctuary." we all looked at the stairs "once you're inside, wait for the light to hit avatar roku's statue. only then will you be able to speak with him."
we were now at the last steps, seeing the wide hall. the fire sage began to run at the big door.
"NO!" he shouted.
"shyu, what's wrong?" aang asked him.
"the sanctuary doors, they're closed." he looked down.
" an't you just open them with firebending? like you opened that other door?" katara asked him.
"no. only a fully realized avatar is powerful enough to open this door alone. otherwise the sages must open the doors together with five simultaneous fire blasts."
i looked at sokka, seeing him trying to think.
"five fire blasts, huh?" his face lightened up "i think i can help you out."
"woah, are you the fire bender here?" i joked.
"no i still think it's you BUT" sokka filled small sacks "this is a little trick i picked up from my father. i seal the lamp oil inside an animal skin casing, shyu lights the oil soaked twine and tada! fake firebending!"
"you've really outdone yourself this time, sokka." katara smiled at him.
"this might actually work." shyu said.
sokka stuffed the small sacks into the lion mouths at the sanctuary door. he ran in our direction, hiding from it.
"the Sages will hear the explosions, so as soon as they go off, you rush in." shyu said to aang.
i turned towards aang "it's almost sunset. are you ready?"
"definitely" he smiled at me.
shyu shot fire at the door, making sokka's experiments explode. aang stood up, running at the door, trying to open it.
"they're still locked" he still tried to open it.
"it didn't work" shyu looked down.
aang sank to the floor, being defeated. after a few seconds he stood up again, trying to open the door again.
"why won't it open?! ARGHHH" he sounded mad.
i grabbed his arm, trying to calm him down "aang, stop! there's nothing else we can do."
he looked down, trying not to have eye contact with me "i'm sorry i put you through all this for nothing."
i was about to say something when i got interrupted by sokka.
"i don't get it. that blast looked as strong as any firebending i've seen."
"sokka! you're a genius!" katara smiled.
"sokka a- what?" i looked at them confused.
"wait, how is sokka genius? his plan didn't even work." aang was as confused as me.
"come on aang, let her dream." sokka laughed a little.
"you're right. sokka's plan didn't work...but it looks like it did." she told us with small smirk.
"did the definition of "genius" change in the last hundred years?"
"are we sure i wasn't in that iceberg with you"
____
we had a plan that might actually work.
"hurry! the avatar has entered the sanctuary." shyu stood in front of the door.
"how did he get in?" one fire sage asked.
"i don't know. but look at the scorch marks and down there!" shyu lied and pointed to the door.
"he's inside. open the doors immediately before he contacts avatar roku." one fire sage said.
the five fire sages walked up to the door, getting into their stances. they shot five fire blastes into the mouthes of the lions. the door opened slowly, revealing momo, not aang.
"it's the avatar's lemur! he must have crawled through the pipes! we've been tricked!" one fire sage said angrily.
momo jumped into the face of the fire sage, knocking him down. my siblings and i jumped out of our hiding place, pulling the fire sage's clothes over their heads.
"now aang!" shyu shouted.
"aang! now's your chance!" i shouted.
not only aang did appear.
"zuko.." i said angrily.
"the avatar's coming with me!" he shouted, while looking at me with wide eyes. he's one of the only people that know my secret.
my siblings, shyu and i were now tied on a column. we tried to escape but we had no chance. i looked at zuko, pushing aang a little further away from us.
"close the doors! quickly!" he shouted.
i was still looking at aang, seeing him struggle breaks my heart. but in that second, he took the chance and made zuko loose his balance. he kicked him down. he ran towards the doors, which are beginning to close.
"go!" I screamed to him.
aang jumped in the last second through the closing doors, avoiding a few fire blasts. And now, the doors were closed.
"he did it.." i said with a smile.
a bright blueish-white light appeared behind the doors.
four of the fire sages and zuko walked up to the door, trying to open it.
"why isn't it working? it's sealed shut!" zuko shouted.
"won't open for cowards" i said with a smile.
"shut up!" he shouted at me.
"it must have been the light. avatar roku doesn't want us inside." one fire sage answered his question.
zuko grabbed shyu, making him kneel in front of him.
"why did you help the avatar??" zuko asked.
"because it was once the sages' duty. it is still our duty." shyu answered, making me smile.
out of nowhere, some other guy came out, wearing something like zuko and having fire nation troops with him.
"what a moving and heartfelt performance. i'm certain the fire lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him." the man said.
the fire sages all began to bow "commander zhao..."
"and prince zuko, it was a noble effort. but your little smoke screen didn't work. two traitors, in one day, the fire lord will be pleased." zhao said with a smirk.
one of the soldiers grabbed zuko, who was struggling to get out of that grip.
"you're too late, zhao. the avatar's inside and the doors are sealed."
"no matter. sooner or later, he has to come out. and if that doesn't work, i have a backup plan. bring the girl to me"
one soldier pulled me out of the chains, having me in a grip no one could escape. "hey, let me go?!" i started kicking him but that didn't work.
"stop! why kazumi?!" katara shouted at zhao but i knew exactly why.
"oh, not even your siblings know, scared will leave you? shouldn't we expose your little secret right now" zhao laughed while the soldier hold me tight.
"i will kill you" i said with a glare.
"that isn't what the monks always told, right?" he whispered in my ear, making my eyes go wide.
the soldier tied me on a other column, out of sight of the others.
"you will stay here, am i clear?" he said while holding his hands in front of my eyes.
"yes of course" i smiled at him. he started to walk away, making me roll my eyes.
"as if, stupid" i airbended myself out of the chains and started running in the direction the soldier walked. i got a little lost and i looked around, not recognising anything.
"fire!!"
i started running towards the hall where i heard that shout from. it was the right way. i saw the the soldiers, and sanctuary doors, that were open. when i saw something else i was shocked.
"avatar roku?!" i said to myself, but i needed to look for my siblings and shyu.
the floor began to rumble and to break, so i decided to ran to the doors, searching for aang. i saw my siblings running towards the door too, making me smile. i arrived first, seeing aang's eyes still glowing. i gave him a big hug, sinking with him to the floor.
"kazumi!! aang!!" katara shouted, running towards us with sokka.
"we got your back." sokka said to aang.
"thanks" he smiled at him, looking around.
"where's shyu?" aang and i asked at the same time.
"i don't know" she said.
the temple began to sink, giving us the sign to start running. we ran towards the stairs, seeing the lava has reached the top of the stairs. we looked at each other with worried eyes, realising that we're trapped.
aang grabbed my hand and began to run. I looked around, seeing appa and momo flying towards us. We slid down on some peaks of the temple. we jumped onto appa's saddle. i laid myself in the saddle, trying to get a clear mind after what happened.
after a while i looked at aang, seeing him looking like a mess. i walked up to him, putting my arm around his shoulders. after that sokka and katara did the same too, having now a big group hug.
"i know it's hard for you to process everything what happened but we're here for you" i smiled at him.
"thanks" he looked in my eyes, making my heart melt.
"hey, what was that about with Zhao? what secret is he talking about?" sokka asked curious.
"the secret part was just to scare me, which worked, imma be honest. and the other part.. i think because i'm the closest to aang and so he thought it would make him go nuts if he sees me captured.. again" i smiled at them, them giving me strange looks.
"may? he would go into avatar state and blow that ship up!" katara laughed, making me blush.
"katara!"