𝑨𝑪𝑻 𝑶𝑵𝑬 ━ 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑭𝑰𝑽𝑬

𝐊𝐘𝐀 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐋𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋, 𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 thoughts were racing right now, and even she could not understand them. They were on their way to the Southern Air Temples, and it would be a while before they got there. Though no one truly complained about the journey, Kya was silent for the most part. 

Kya sat quietly aboard Appa as they journeyed towards the Southern Air Temples, her thoughts clouding her mind. Despite the steady rhythm of the flying bison breaths and the scenery passing below, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling of unease that settled in the pit of her stomach.

The decision to leave their 'home' behind weighed heavily on her mind. She couldn't help but wonder what awaited them at the Southern Air Temples, or even after that and whether they would find the answers to save the world. 

Sokka stirred next to her, the boy had been sleeping for a while now just like the others, though he had been mumbling in his sleep about food and eating, which was no surprise to Kya. 

But now, she could tell he was going to wake up, he had been the first to fall asleep either way, and knowing Sokka, he would wake up hungry. (after all he had been sleep talking about five seaweed flavour soup, and salmon jerky).

Kya sighed, she turned away from him and stared at the ocean below her. Sokka woke up not even two minutes after, he sat up straighter and looked around him with drowsy eyes. 

He turned to Kya and frowned, "Ky."

The girl turned to him and smiled, "Had a good sleep?" she said sadly. 

   "She'll understand, don't worry." replied Sokka, not answering her question.

Kya looked down, and back up to him, "Did you know?" she asked in a small voice, "You didn't seem surprised."

Sokka's expression softened as he thought of Kya's question. He hesitated, unsure of how to respond to her. "Kya," he began, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "I. . . yeah, I knew." 

Kya's eyes widened slightly in surprise, her gaze searching Sokka's face for any sign of deception. 

   "You knew?" she whispered; her voice barely audible. "How? Did you see me? Did Gran Gran tell you, no she wouldn't. How?"

Sokka nodded solemnly, his gaze unwavering as he met Kya's eyes. 

   "I've known for a while, my dad told me before he. . . before he left, he talked about the waterbending and the . . . royal part as well, which to be honest wasn't surprising," he confessed, his voice tinged with regret. "But I never saw you waterbend till now."

   "Why didn't you say anything?" Kya's voice wavered slightly; he knew all this time. "All this time, I thought it was only me and Gran Gran who knew."

Sokka sighed heavily, his shoulders slumping as he struggled to find the right words. "I wanted to, trust me I really did," he admitted, his voice laced with remorse. "But I promised Gran Gran and dad, I would keep your secret."

Kya shook her head, a sad smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "It's okay, Sokka," she replied softly. "You were just trying to protect me."

When only silence followed, Sokka sighed and said in a very serious tone, "I'm proud by the way. I'm proud of you, Kya. You're a really good waterbender, Princess."

Kya looked up at him and smiled, she smiled brightly this time, like all of the sadness she felt was gone, she said in a quite tone, "Thank you, Sokka. I'm proud of you too."

"𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐂𝐇? 𝐁𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐄𝐓, 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓? 𝐈'𝐌 𝐓𝐑𝐘𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐔𝐒 𝐒𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐃." grumbled Sokka for what felt like the hundredth time. They were nearing the Southern Air Temples, and it was safe to say that everyone was awake and hungry. The only food Kya last had was the food from last night, when Aang first came. 

Sokka started to go through the luggage and gets out a bag. He looked at it for a moment while it sways in the wind. With his tongue out of his mouth full anticipation, he sticks his hand in the bag and starts to go through it. 

He looks surprised for a moment, but quickly and with anticipation turns the bag upside down to pour the contents into his hand. Only a few pieces of bread came out, and before he could even try to take a bite, Kya leapt forwards. 

   "Sokka! Wait. Until. We're. At. The. Temples!" grumbled Kya trying to get the bread away from Sokka, who was actively trying to bite the bread in her hand. 

   "I'm hungry! Kya, I'm just a simple guy, with simple needs." said Sokka, throwing his hands in the air, finally giving up.

   "You're a guy. That's it." argued Kya as Appa groans, in some sort of agreement. 

   "Not cool, Appa. Not cool." mumbled Sokka, leaning towards Appa's head.

They were close to the air temples, now going over the numerous mountains and cliffs filled with vegetation. It looked beautiful. As they neared the vicinity of the southern air temples, the landscape began to change. 

Towering mountains and rugged cliffs loomed in the distance, their peaks shrouded in the clouds, they looked darker. There were remnants of small structures everywhere, the statues lay shattered, with debris scattered across the entire area; it showed what the fire nation had done. 

The air was crisp and clean, tinged with the scent of pine and earth, it smelled like home to Aang, even when it had been destroyed 100 years ago. To be honest, he hadn't really thought of it that way, he felt guilty for leaving his people. 

Kya could sense it, she could tell that he wasn't the happiest, but she understood. She had also left her people when in need, but she was much younger, and well, the circumstances were different of course. 

After a while, they landed on one of the temples grounds, well what was left of them. Kya walked slowly behind Sokka, who insisted on going in front of the two girls, with the reasoning of 'there could be danger anywhere.'

Kya could tell that Aang was devasted. He was seeing his home, destroyed after nearly 100 years. 

As they walked through the shattered remains of the once-great temple, Aang looked even worse. His shoulders slumped, and his footsteps were heavy as he navigated the rubble-strewn pathways.

Despite his outward composure, Kya could sense the guilt within him. He couldn't bring himself to think of the pain and suffering his people had gone through, all his friends, his family. Gone.

Aang could see the main temple, he felt forced to go inside. To see what a beautiful place had once been. 

Kya, Sokka and Katara looked at each other and frowned, as they walked after Aang. He walked into the rumbles of the temple and looked around, there was debris everywhere, and a huge hole in the ceiling. 

Aang's heart sank as he walked even further and caught sight of the remnants of someone. Someone he held dear to him, Gyatso. Tears welled in Aang's eyes, as he mumbled, "Gyatso."

The boy started breathing heavily, he looked deep in thought. Kya looked back to Sokka, who shrugged. A harsh sob left Aang as he started trembling slightly, the others looked at him and slowly made their way to him. 

But what they didn't expect was for his tattoos to start glowing and for him to start levitating in the air. Kya took in a breath and came closer to him. 

   "Aang?" asked Katara with little effect on him, the boy just kept going. 

The air around them started moving aggressively and started engulfing him in a tornado like swirl, it was making a huge sphere of gust around him, and as he kept on going higher, he was destroying the temple's ruins. 

   "What's happening? What is he doing?" asked Sokka as Aang went higher and higher in the air. Kya backed up a little, she wouldn't admit it, but she was a little scared of Aang right now. But as the rumbles started to fall onto them, Sokka grabbed both girls by their arms and pulled them away from him. 

    "Aang!" yelled Katara. 

   "Come on!" shouted Sokka trying to pull the girl away. 

When they got outside, the wind has picked up and was now strong, strong enough that Kya was concerned about them. The roof exploded by the force of the tornado, and debris was thrown in the air.

The trio trying to get through to him but were sent back because of the wind force. "Aang!" screamed Katara, trying to get him to hear her. But then, he brought his arms back and flung them upwards, creating an even more powerful gust of wind which knocked all three off their feet.

They all screamed out, Sokka caught a branch and held onto Katara while Kya had been thrown near a pile of cloth, she quickly caught onto a bark nearby and yelled out to the others, "Sokka! Katara!"

   "Aang! Stop this! Please!" yelled Katara. "Aang! Monk Gyatso and the other airbenders may be gone, but you still have a family. Sokka, Kya and me! We're your family now!"

It seemed like her pleas worked because, the wind died down and he slowly lowered himself to the ground, as the three watched from their spots. They watched intently as the scene unfolded before them. Kya's heart broke as she watched Aang. 

The winds started to die down and the air sphere that surrounded Aang disappeared. He slowly lowered himself until he was on his knees. He started weeping, and the others gradually walked closer to him. 

   "Katara, Kya and I aren't going to let anything happen to you. Promise." whispered Sokka, as he got closer to Aang. 

   "We'll always be by your side, Aang." added Kya, and she knew, she knew she meant what she just said. She would be by his side no matter what. "No matter what."

Katara ran to him as the wind died down, the boy was on his knees sobbing silently, and Katara's heart broke with each step she took. As soon as she got to him, she lowered herself and kneeled down next to him, Aang only looked up at her through tears and leaned his head on her shoulder.

He had started weeping even more, and Katara did the only thing she could do. She hugged him and comforted the poor boy. He sobbed even more, before he collapses from exhaustion in Katara's arms.

   "I'm sorry." said Aang in a quiet voice. 

Kya couldn't help but frown and immediately went up to him and crouched down. "It's okay. It wasn't your fault."

𝐁𝐘 𝐍𝐎𝐖, 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓𝐘𝐀𝐑𝐃, the events still fresh in their minds, Kya was more silent that she was before. She couldn't help but feel for Aang.  But right now, everything seemed to be going wrong, first; Katara still wouldn't speak to her, second; Aang's journey just began, and third; she was hungry. 

   "So not to be rude, but what was that?" asked Sokka, rudely. 

   "Really, right now?" whispered Kya as she elbowed him. The latter only yelping and rubbing his stomach. 

   "I don't know." said Aang, sadly. He sat in front of the three. "There's so much I don't know. The monks are gone, and I'm all alone. You were right. And if the firebenders found this temple, that means they found the other ones, too. I really am the last airbender."

    "You know," started Katara as she crouched in front of him. "The thing about losing everything is that that's when you learn how strong you really are. It's when you learn to fight."

Aang looked down to the monk necklace he had in his hands. 

   "They made the ultimate sacrifice for me. I need to make sure their deaths weren't in vain. I need to follow through on what they wanted me to do. Complete my training and master all the other bending skills so I can bring balance back to the world."

   "Oh, is that all?" said Sokka, earning another elbow jab from Kya. Kya looked back at Sokka who merely shrugged and nodded back to Aang.

   "This was my home, and now it's gone. It's only after we've lost something that we realize how much it means to us. . . and how we'd do anything to get it back."

   "Anything." said Aang. "I don't know where this will all lead, and I don't know if I have what it takes, but the one thing I do know is I'm the Avatar, and this is just the beginning."

𝐀𝐀𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐆𝐎𝐍𝐄 𝐓𝐎 the other temples across from the one they had been at. Sokka had insisted on getting his food and Katara had merely wanted to explore a little bit more of the temples. Kya on the other hand, sat still, in the exact same place as they had all been at. 

 She couldn't shake the feeling of unease that had settled over her since they arrived at the Southern Air Temple. She knew it was only the beginning of her worries but still it felt so wrong to be in a place where thousands had been killed.

Kya stood up after a few minutes of just sitting around and decided to go see Appa. Because who wouldn't want to go see Appa. 

As she walked alongside the paths, she hummed to herself. Feeling the cold wind brush against her cheek, she looked up to see Appa sitting near a huge tree.

She simply walked closer to the giant creature who recognized her and groans softly, moving slightly so that she could lay on its huge paw. She gently sat near, careful not to hurt the animal. Appa grunted softly again and went back to laying down. 

After a while, she heard someone walking towards them, and she stood up clearly wanting to know who it was. Katara on the other hand, simply ignored the girl and walked to get the bags Gran Gran had given them.

   "Katara." sighed Kya. "Can we just―."

   "Can we just, what? Kya you lied to me." argued Katara, she was finally letting her anger out. "For eight years? Do you know how I felt thinking I was the only waterbender? But all these years. . ." Her voice cracked towards the end, slowly becoming quieter. 

   "I know. And I'm sorry, I truly am. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you! To teach you the stuff I knew!" said Kya, now standing in front of the younger girl.

   "Katara, I never wanted to hurt you," Kya pleaded, her voice filled with remorse. "It was complicated, and I was just following Gran Gran's advice, keeping me and my waterbending a secret would protect us all."

Katara's anger softened slightly as she looked into Kya's eyes, but then she thought about what she had just said, "Wait. What do you mean you? How would keeping you a secret, protect us?"

   "Katara. I can't." mumbled Kya, not looking in her eyes.

   "Of course you can't. Have you been lying about who are too?" yelled Katara. "Does Sokka know?"

When Kya didn't answer, Katara knew, she had gotten her answer. With that she scoffed and walked away from Kya, who let out a sigh and groaned. She didn't want to keep hurting Katara like that, but even then, she just didn't know how to tell her.

   "I'm truly sorry," Kya mumbled to herself, as she walked back to Appa.

Aang had called all of them to the courtyard, and told everyone he had something to tell them, but as he walked towards the trio, or more of the duo and Katara standing apart. He slowed down and sighed. 

    "Kyoshi Island is only a few hours from here." said Aang as he brought up a notebook with a map and writings on it. "According to this, Avatar Kyoshi was the fiercest of warriors and a master of what they call the Avatar State. Maybe something in her shrine will help me control my power before. . ."

   "You kill someone?" said Sokka, to which Kya just glared at him. 

   "Before it happens again." finished Aang.

Katara could tell that Sokka was going to say something as soon as Aang left them, and she was right, because he had started talking about going back home. How? Kya didn't know but it was Sokka, so it wasn't that big of a surprise. 

   "If the world is gonna have any chance, it's gonna need Aang. And you're right." Katara said after arguing with Sokka. "We do have a duty, and it's to protect the Avatar."

   "Protect him? You wanna protect him?" argued Sokka. Kya had huffed and was about to say something before he finished. "The guy who nearly blew us off the top of this mountain."

   "It's about more than just helping Aang." said Kya, finally speaking up and making all the others look back at her. "Look around, Sokka."

   "Look where we are now. I don't know about you, but I can't go back." added Katara. Kya had hoped that that meant that she had forgiven her but looking at Katara, the girl was simply ignoring her. Sokka felt a pang of sadness looking at Kya. 

But then, Aang who was on the other side, caught something from the corner of his eyes, and called out "Katara, something's wrong with your bag."

A sudden soft grunting noise comes from a brown bag on the floor, as it moved around a bit. The three came running from around the corner and looked at the brown bag. He went to reach for Katara's bag, but something inside it screeches and moved away quickly.

Aang quickly scrambled to stand up straight trying to catch the flying bag and chased it along the ground. The bag went around a corner but was stopped by Katara, who grabbed it and shook it upside down. 

Among the scattered items was the source of the mysterious movement—a winged lemur.

Startled by the sudden commotion, the lemur who had been eating their bread, blinked in confusion before scurrying away, its tail trailing behind it. 

   "Hey! That's our food." yelled Sokka, quickly running towards the bag and getting a piece of bread, pushing the food in his mouth with his two hands. 

   "Looks like you made a new friend Sokka!" said Aang, laughing at the scene. 

Sokka replied with a mouth half full of bread. "Can't talk! Must eat!"

Kya laughed and said, "You only ever eat."

Katara on the other hand asked, "What is that?"

   "A winged lemur!" said Aang enthusiastically. "The sky used to be filled with them."

The flying lemur climbed up onto Aang and hides behind his head, his tail curled around Aang's neck. Aang laughed and said, "Hey, little guy!"

   "Well, his gonna have to have a name. What are you going to name him?" asked Kya. 

   "Momo." said Aang. 

Sokka still stood there, mouth open and hand in front of his mouth, still eating another piece of bread. "Fine. We'll go to Kyoshi Island and see how it goes. But i better get some good food while we're there."

   "Yeah, yeah, we'll see, Lord of Snow and Ice." said Kya giggling at the name.

   "Hey! I told you to stop calling me that!" argued Sokka, pointing at Kya. "You know it's not funny."

   "Well actually, I can find it funny," said Kya, pointing at herself and winking. "You know, royalty and stuff."

Sokka only grumbled and mocked her words as she turned her back to him and walked away towards Appa. While Katara had gone to see Aang.

   "Aang, you ready to leave?" she asked. 

   "There's something I have to do first." he said, turning to the main temple. . .

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❪ ៸ 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄 ━━━━━ ! ﹆◞ ❫
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❪ . . . the fifth chapter for kingdom come everyone!!!! ❫
❪ . . . i love this chapter so muchhhhh and its long so im happy enjoyyyy!!!! ... 3.5k words ❫
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