Aana: the other airbender

Book one: water

Chapter three: leaving

A/n here ya go! An extra-long chapter!

Update 8/23/2014- it has been called to my attention that Aana would not have been in the southern air temple due to her gender. I am aware of this fact. I chose to ignore this major plot hole because I am a horrible, HORRIBLE person. If it pleases the readers I will come up with a reason why she is there, but if you are willing to ignore it then by all means please enjoy the story the way it is! Thank you :P

Update to the update (also 8/23/2014)- So, I did some research. Apparently the gender restrictions of the air temples did NOT affect the avatar. This means that if he had had a twin, they may have been allowed to stay together for the sole reason of his status as the avatar. Some people believe that twins share an unusually strong spiritual connection and this may have been especially true within the air nomad society, considering their intense spirituality. So there, the plot hole has been patched :3

There was a signal flare. A very bright one and it woke Aana up with a start. The snow had melted underneath her body while she slept, and without her dreams (or were they memories?) to keep her warm she became chilled by the icy liquid left over from the snow that had previously covered her backside. What had woken her up again? It wasn't the cold…oh yes, it was the flare. The flare that just so happened to be in the same direction as Aang.

Panicking, Aana went to Aang in a desperate run. She had never run so fast, except for maybe that one race with her brother where the loser had to be the winner's slave for a month. Despite her adrenaline-fueled speed, she had not been quick enough. She arrived just in time to see a fire nation ship forcefully parked in the snowy shore. Sokka's makeshift wall was the newest addition to the list of fire nation victims.

"What is the Fire Nation doing here?" Aana asked herself. Vapor came out of her mouth when she talked.

Two men had Aang by the arms, shoving and pulling him onto the ship. The ones that weren't manhandling her brother were either walking beside them or standing by the villagers, terrifying them out of their minds. They all seems to be taking orders from a boy that looked no older than 16.

Aana ran out from behind the igloo that had- up until this moment- served as her super-secret-sneaky hiding place. She flung herself at Aang and his captors. "LET. GO. OF. MY. BROTHER!" She was hoping that her impressive volume would make up for her less intimidating appearance. She crashing into them, creating a pile that was equal parts irritated fire nation goons and hyper-active airbenders.

Aang was quick in crawling out from the wreckage, but the surrounding soldiers were even quicker in seizing him again.

Aana stood up and stepped away from the passed out soldiers. She got into a defensive stance. Multiple men in her immediate range moved in to grab her, but the boy from before raised his hand.

"Stop." He walked up to Aana, coming so close she could smell his breath. There was a burn that covered a good part of the left side of his face. Aana wondered if it still hurt sometimes. "I'll handle this one." She tried backing up but the boy grabbed the front of her shirt and lifted her up off the ground before she could even move two inches.

"Now tell me, who the hell are you?"

"I-I'm Aana a-and that's m-my brother you're trying to capture!" All attempts she made to sound brave failed miserably. She hadn't thought it was possible, but the boys glare became even more intense.

"What do you mean brother? You can't possibly be another airbender."

"I assure you, I most certainly am. Otherwise I've been hallucinating my entire life and that doesn't sound like nearly as much fun." His anger made the air around them warmer. Aana was secretly grateful. He sneered at her.

"Impossible. There's only one airbender left- and it's him!" He thrust an accusing finger at Aang.

"Well I'm an airbender, and he's an airbender, and 1+1=…"

In a fit of rage he threw Aana into the snow, snorting fire and smoke. His hands burst into flames. "I KNOW WHAT ONE PLUS ONE IS!" He turned and marched to the ships entrance. Someone has anger issues, and it's not Aana… "Take them both" he ordered, just before disappearing into the mass of metal.

Aang's staff was ripped away from him, both their hands were tied behind their backs, and they were forced into the ship and down a long hallway. No matter how hard or how long Aana struggled, she could see no way of getting out of this. The guard was careful to keep his grip firm.

Aang however wasted no time in putting his air bending mastery to good use. He always had been good at that…Within a single move Aang had efficiently blown the guard in front of him into a wall, knocking him out, then running up a wall and flipping himself over the other guard, while cutting his ropes in the horns of the helmet. The moment Aana's guard turned to help his fallen comrades; Aana gave him a harsh kick to the back of the knee making him fall over. She was the least flashy of the twins. Aang helped her out of her ropes.

"Thanks"

"Yeah, now RUN!"

Together they bolted down the hallway an up the stairs that led back up to the deck. They were once again greeted by the lovely sight of men out to get them. Aana took control of the air around them and created a wind so strong it knocked several of the men together and they all passed out. Just taking out a few men wasn't enough though. She took a deep breath and guided the air with more force this time. Aang specialized in more controlled air bending, but stormy winds….those were Aana's thing.

When there were just a few men left between Aana and her brother, Aang started running towards a door. "I'm going to go get my glider!" he announced from across the deck. Aana looked around. They were getting closer to her. She was about to tell her to wait, she still needed help, but he was already gone heading to the main cabin.

The man closest to her grabbed her hair. Another one grabbed her wrists. Calm down, she told herself. Calm down and think. What would Aang do? No, that wouldn't help her. All Aang would have to do is sneeze and the men would probably just throw themselves overboard. She guessed that's what it was like when you had mastered air bending- which she had not. She didn't even have the arrows yet. She tried to make another gust, but it proved too challenging with her hands behind her back. Welp, time to resort to what Aana liked to call I-have-antbeetles-in-my-pants in which she squirmed with all her might. It didn't work.

"We got her! We got her! Inform the prince!" The soldier they called to didn't have to go very far, because the prince and Aang came crashing down onto the deck

"Aang!" The yell came from up above, where Katara was soaring on Appa with Sokka. Wow, they have really great timing.

Splash. Aang had fallen overboard. Aana ran to the edge while the guards were distracted to help her brother, however, there was no need. He rose out of the water, his arrows glowing along with his eyes. Water danced around him waiting for his command. Aang landed gracefully on the deck and seemingly without effort made the water sweep the entire area. Aana struggled to hang on, barely managing to stay where she was. The prince was not so lucky.

While Appa came down onto the ship, Aana heard Sokka make some remark about "real" water-bending.

Aang is the avatar.

Sokka retrieved Aang's staff for him, thumping the prince in the head in the process, Katara froze some guards, and then the three of them climbed onto Appa's back.

Aang is the avatar and he didn't tell her.

"Aana, are you coming or not?"

Aang is the avatar and he didn't tell her. He was going to leave without even saying goodbye.

"Aana! Hurry!"

"You're the avatar." Aana wondered if this was what they called shock.

"Aana please come on" he was begging now.

"Why didn't you tell me? You know, I heard you that day."

"What?"

"I heard you tell everyone to keep your secret. That you thought I would freak out if I knew. And you know what? You were right. I am freaking out. I'm freaking out because you were going to leave without saying a word. You told them you wanted to tell me yourself, well you had your chance and you just walked away. You left. I had to find out you were leaving for good from a stupid LETTER! A letter that wasn't even meant for me! In fact- you didn't even mention me." The wind was picking up around her.

"Aana please we can talk about his later."

"No, Aang, we can't. Because I'm not coming." Katara was the only one that seemed to notice the prince and an older man getting into a fire bending position.

"Aang we have to go!"

"Congratulations," Aana said, "you get to do what you do best; leave." She turned so her back faced her brother.

Appa jumped into the air, ready to go.

"I'll be back for you, okay?" he was crying. "I'LL BE BACK!" Katara ordered Appa to fly away right as the prince's attack came at them. Aang deflected it with his staff and slammed it into the cliff causing the snow to cover about half the ship. "I'LL BE BACK!" he sounded farther away now.

Aana fell to her knees, and wept into her hands.