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Unusual Circumstances	By : voyager Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Slash - Male/Male > Aang/Zuko Views: 5136 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Nickelodeon, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Koneitzko. I earn no profit from this, other than pure enjoyment

Chapter List
- 6
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Chapter-7

A Spirit-World Journey

As the pair of them walked through the darkened corridors, Zuko created a small flame to light their way. He encouraged Aang to do the same, as a fire-bending exercise. Zuko knew it was relatively easy, if energy intensive, for a fire-bender to create large bursts.

It was much more difficult; and required a great deal more discipline, to create a small, precisely controlled flame. Aang took a deep breath, concentrated, and after a second or two was able to produce a tiny, but bright, wick of fire. Zuko nodded approvingly down at Aang, who was a very gifted student.

Without even realizing where they were going, they found themselves in front of a huge, ornate door. It reminded Zuko of the door to the sanctuary of the Avatar in the fire temple. That door had an elemental lock, meaning only a master fire-bender, or five lesser fire benders could open it. This door had a similar mechanism; designed to open only with air-bending.

Zuko realized that it made sense that they would have those in the temples of the other nations as well. "Is this the temple sanctum, Aang," he ask Aang; who nodded his head. "I've never been inside one, not even in the Fire Nation," Zuko told him; "Do you suppose…" "I could let you see it?" Aang finished his thought. 'He's getting good at that,' Zuko mused, and nodded at his companion.

Motioning for Zuko to take a step back, Aang collected himself, focused, just as he had when he made the flame, and then forced a powerful blast of air through the openings on either side of the door. The two of them heard the tumblers inside the great door turn, and slowly, it began to open.

Zuko stepped inside, and gasped in awe, there were rows upon rows of statues, in concentric circles; all of them were representations of past avatars. The one nearest to the door was that of a tall, austere looking man dressed in the robes of a Fire-nation nobleman. "Avatar Roku," Zuko whispered with reverence.

Aang nodded, confirming that it was indeed, a statue of Roku. "What do you know about him, Zuko?" Aang asked, figuring the prince probably had some good insights into Fire-nation history. "He was my great-grandfather, Aang." "WHAT? I thought Fire-Lord Sozin was your great-grandfather!" "On my father's side, yes he was; but Avatar Roku was my maternal great-grandfather."

Aang's jaw dropped, he had not felt this stunned since he found out he that he was trapped in that iceberg for a hundred years. Zuko continued, "They were friends, who had grown up in the royal court together. Then, after Roku discovered that he was to be the next Avatar, and once Sozin had been crowned as the new Fire Lord, they had a falling out. Sozin tried to spread the Fire Nation's power over the rest of the world, and Roku was forced to stop him."

Aang then jumped in and said, "Many years later, there was a huge volcanic eruption on Roku's home island; Sozin came to help, but then he saw a chance to make his plans a reality," clearly he knew this tale! Zuko nodded and completed the story, "Roku was overcome by toxic gasses, and Sozin left him to die. How do you know about this, Aang? I had to dig through the secret archives in the catacombs beneath the royal palace for hours just to find out."

Aang was not quite sure how he was going to say this, "Well, you see, Avatar Roku himself, told me." Now, it was Zuko's turn to be stunned. "How is that possible?" Zuko asked, incredulous. Aang explained it to him, "Do you remember when you caught me at the North Pole?" "Yeah, kidnapping an unconscious child, it was not exactly one of my shining moments." Zuko replied sullenly. Aang bristled a bit at Zuko's use of the word, 'child', but let it go. "I wasn't unconscious, Zuko; I had crossed over into the spirit realm. When I'm there, I can speak to Roku, Kyoshi, or any of the other previous incarnations of the Avatar."

Zuko thought, 'Once again, Aang has managed to surprise me,' and then said, "I had no idea you could do that, Aang! It must be amazing there; and to be able to experience history through the eyes of the past Avatars would be incredible!" "Some of it can be a little strange and terrifying," Aang told Zuko, remembering his encounter in the spirit-world with Ko, the 'Face Stealer'; "But most of it is incredible!"

Just then, the little Avatar had a flash of inspiration. "Would you like to see it, and meet Roku, Zuko?" "Aang," Zuko reminded him patiently, "you may be able to cross back and forth between the mortal and spirit realms, but I certainly can't." Aang said "I think I may have a way to take you with me," and smiled at the prince.

Zuko sat down on the floor heavily, almost moved to tears; "You would do that, Aang?" he asked in a small voice. Once more, Aang's grey eyes peered deep into Zuko's golden ones. "If it were anyone else, Zuko, probably not; but I will do this for you."

Aang assumed a lotus position, and indicated that Zuko should do the same. Then, Aang took Zuko's right hand in his left hand, and placed his own right hand on the back of Zuko's head. Aang instructed Zuko to take several deep, cleansing breaths, and to relax and release all of his thoughts, worries and fears; they were now irrelevant.

Ordinarily, Zuko would never have been able to make his mind this calm, to quiet the inner turmoil he often felt; but in this place, with Aang at his side, it was possible. Aang's tattoos began to glow, and suddenly his eyes opened wide, revealing a brilliant blue-white light. At that same moment, Zuko felt a surge of energy going from Aang's right hand directly into his mind; and then, going from his right hand into Aang's left hand to complete the circuit. Zuko's own eyes went wide and shone with a golden light as bright as the sun.

At first, Zuko felt as if he was caught in a whirlpool; then as if he were floating in the air, finally it seemed as though he were being pulled apart into millions of tiny pieces and put back together. The environment around them had changed. It looked like the woodland glade where Aang had brought him after he was knocked out during their escape from Zhao's fortress.

The difference was that everything here looked washed out, like faded clothing, or a watercolor painting. He looked down at his hands and body, to make sure he was, in fact, whole. He realized with a shock that he was and, he wasn't! He had form, but he did not seem to have substance! It looked as if he had become translucent, and that he was glowing with a faint reddish-gold light. He turned and saw Aang beside him, in a very similar state, except that his glowing aura was a pale blue-white color.

"Aang," Zuko asked; noting that like his form, his voice had changed. It seemed flat, and, at the same time, had a resonant sound here, "Are we in the spirit world?" "Well, it's a representation of the spirit world." Aang's voice had the same weird tonal qualities as Zuko's did.

"What do you mean?" Zuko asked. "It's different each time I come here," Aang told him; "it sometimes appears to be someplace I have been where I felt safe and comfortable, in the real world; more often, it appears as someplace I have to go to in the real world. I don't think anything here actually has a form as we understand it."

"So how do we find Roku?" Zuko asked. Aang looked at him, smiled wickedly, and said, "You might want to brace yourself, Zuko; Hei-Bai!" Aang shouted into the forest. "Aang, what're you…," Zuko's question was cut off as something huge came crashing towards them through the forest.

Zuko demanded to know "Aang, what is that, who, or what is Hei-Bai?" Suddenly an enormous, six-legged black and white demon reared up above the tree line, breathing blue fire. At least that is what Zuko saw. What Aang saw was also a huge black and white creature, but much more benevolent in nature. It had the appearance of a bear (not a platypus-bear, or a skunk-bear), just a bear.

Instinctively, Zuko shoved Aang behind him, and was about to summon his fire bending to protect them. "Relax, Zuko, it's okay; by the way, bending doesn't work here." Aang said calmly. "Hei-Bai, how's it going, buddy?" "That's Hei-Bai?" Zuko asked him. "What is it…he, whatever?" Zuko asked Aang, nervously. Zuko still saw the creature in its six-legged, demonic form.

"Hei-Bei is the spirit of a forest in the Earth kingdom; he was upset because the forest he protected was burned down, by, uuh;" "By fire-benders," Zuko finished his sentence glumly. "Um, yeah," Aang said awkwardly, "He began attacking a nearby Earth-kingdom town, because he thought they were responsible for the destruction. I was able to convince him that the village wasn't at fault, and that the forest would someday return."

Aang spoke loudly to the creature, "Hei-Bai, I have come to see Roku; this is my friend, Zuko. He's not like the ones who hurt your forest." Aang put one glowing blue hand on the Hei-Bai creature, the other on Zuko's forehead; instantly, Zuko saw the creature in its less threatening, more benign, form. Hei-Bai pointed his snout in the direction they had to go. Then, just as suddenly as he appeared, he vanished. This was quite a surprise to Zuko, but Aang didn't seem fazed by it at all.

"So now what," Zuko asked. Aang pointed in the direction Hei-Bai had indicated, and replied cheerily, "We head that way to Roku, silly!" "Ugh, I don't believe this," Zuko mumbled under his breath. "What was that, Zuko," asked Aang. "Nothing," was the response.
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Unusual Circumstances