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A loud shriek came out of nowhere. It was awfully distant and vague as well. There was a woman, and she was crying. She was holding a child in her hands, a really young one. The kid was probably five or six years old and not more. The small child was shivering and sobbing just as hard as her mother was. The mother wasn’t looking at the people coming for her, but the child was. Her brown eyes, round and full of fear , yet there was something feisty like a burning fire and desire to live in them as well. She raised her small fist, with tears dwelling in her eyes and said. “Don’t touch us. Leave us alone.” Her voice was solid and stern, and her words sounded like a demand and an order, yet her small fist was shaking. She opened it and rocks from different sides of the room flew straight at the men coming for them. The attack of the small girl didn’t stop the men as they shook off the rocks with fire. Her mother’s eyes twitched in horror, all she could do was whisper in a hoarse voice full of fear. “Firebenders….” That didn’t stop the men to walk even closer to her, all they had left to do was to breach past the small water barrier that the girl formed around herself and her trembling mother who was holding the girl close to her chest. She was too young to know how to properly use her waterbending powers, so the shield was formed completely out of desire to live. “Stop it Yin Yue, you won’t be able to fight them, no one will help us anyway.” She whispered into her daughter’s ear. The girl looked into her mother’s eyes and shook her head. “Mommy… we need to survive.” She said and turned around to face the criminals yet again. She raised both of her hands and hit the floor with her foot , making the ground open up and swallow two of the men wholly. Her actions did not stop the rest though. The other’s quickly moved from one side of the room to another looking like gracious panthers dancing through fire. Took them seconds to reach and break the small barrier of water with a forceful blow of fire. Now the mother and her child were unarmored and bare for the firebenders to kill them. The woman quickly raised her palm to her daughter’s face, and caressing her cheek tenderly said. “You did all you could Yue...I am sorry I couldn’t protect you, if I was born a bender just like your father maybe I would have helped us to escape from this place.” she said before leaning in to kiss her daughter’s cheek.” I love you my girl and always will.” The girl started to cry and hit her mother’s shoulder with her small fists making the surface near her tremble. The firebenders exchanged worried looks and nodded to each other. “Take her out quickly until she didn’t go into full Avatar State. We don’t need another Era of an Avatar coming from Earth Kingdom. Fire Nation shall have the next gem and raise them a real soldier.” said one of them. The other man quickly took the child out of her mother’s hands and with the knife in his hands did the job. The blood was oozing everywhere. The metallic stench spread in the small house like wildfire. The girl not only died, but took the lives of the both men standing closely to her, the only person alive in the room was her mother, who crept closer to her daughter’s body and hugged it close to her chest again not feeling the heartbeat of the child anymore. Her hands all covered in blood , she brought one up and put it on the young Avatar’s cheek. “My beautiful girl Yue…” was all she could whisper, before breaking into messy crying and screams. No one heard and no one came to help. The house was way too far from the city, it wasn’t even in a small town for people to hear the woman’s loud cries and come to help her collect the bodies. The girl was buried the next day and her mother disappeared from the kingdom altogether. . . . A flash was seen all around the world. It was bright, just as bright as the sun. People knew what it meant. Everyone knew. The current Avatar was dead and the new one was reborn in another beautiful soul. This time in the Fire Kingdom. It was a normal process, yet abnormal at the same time. The current Avatar was too young to die. The child squirmed in his mother’s hands while trying to hold onto his mother’s finger, which was way too big for his small hand and grip. It made him annoyed and he started to cry. His mother was quick enough to calm him down while his father walked to them and putting a protective hand over the woman’s shoulder smiled. The kid yawned and slowly closed his eyes. “He is so beautiful.” said a female voice, and walked towards the small and pretty cheap looking crib. She put the child down and smiled at him, while tucking into the blankets , making the child look like a pretty well wrapped burrito. “What shall we name him? I have something in mind actually.” she said before being stopped by her husband. “You were never good with names Krolia. You literally named our dog Quanisha.I won’t let that happen to our son. “ he said while shaking his head and putting his hand on the crib to rock it back and forth slightly. “How about we name him Keith?” he said and looked at Krolia. “Sounds fine by me.” She turned her attention back to the child and said. “Greatness will await you my child.” and kissing boy’s forehead she whispered. “Keith….”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Keith....Keith...wake up." He heard a distant voice. It was really close, yet so far at the same time. His mind was rejecting the fact that he was ready to open his eyes and greet the burning light coming from the other side of the room. His roommate opened the curtains. Keith never liked mornings, they brought responsibilities to his life right after the moment he opened his eyes. He hoped that this day would spare him at least. The young man cracked an eye open. He brought his hand up and closed the light that was shining right into his eye with his hand. The person , who was shaking him up stepped closer, making it even more comfortable for Keith to slowly adjust to the awful light. He was glad at that moment that his roommate had a huge body. He granted and yawned while slowly pulled the covers aside, slowly putting his bare feet on the cold hard ground. It felt unusual considering the fact that his body always felt like it was burning, hot and constantly on flames. Well, that was party understandable after all he was born a Firebender. He sighed and rubbing his hands over his face looked up at his roommate and mumbled.“What is it this time Ryan?” He doubted that he would get a long reply out of that mouth. Kinkade, aka the same Ryan was known for being extremely silent. His silence was probably one of the reasons he rarely got in trouble and was always the best student in his classes. Keith couldn’t say he was sure of that since he was five years younger than the other male but he heard many people speak about the other’s firebending skills and fights that he won in the academy. He sighed and looked up at him. Kinkade was standing and looking at him with the same stern look that he always wore.“It’s past morning time.” was all he mumbled before turning around and striding back to the kitchen. Another thing that Kinkade was good at, or more likely wasn’t as miserable as Keith was in it was cooking. He managed to make food taste great and not burn it down like Keith usually did. He mumbled something under his nose as his hand went to the side of the bed where usually a nightstand should be but instead was a small creaky chair on which were his clothes, his hairband and small stuff that was needed during the day. Quickly tying his hair into a small ponytail he put on his sleepers and walked straight to the kitchen while yawning on his way. Kinkade always compared Keith to a koala, he said if given the opportunity Keith would sleep all day long without even moving one limb. What he saw in the kitchen looked quite satisfying yet simple at the same time. The breakfast was neatly set on the table waiting for both him and Kinkade. That was probably the reason why his roommate made him wake up, being fed up waiting for him to do so by himself. He cleared his throat and quickly made himself comfortable on another creaky chair. In all honesty, they were poor. Not dirt poor since they always had their share of food on their table but they weren’t rich either. Simply said the house they shared was quite old. The rooms were designed in a pretty weird way and didn’t even look like an architect from the Fire Nation worked on those but instead a simple person like them built it. Their rooms more like beds and personal space were not separated from each other but were on other sides of the room just to make sure they had their privacy. If none of them wasn’t single it would get quite awkward and annoying at some point probably. The kitchen and the bathroom were the only rooms that had proper doors, yet the furniture wasn’t the best either. The water worked only in the bathroom for some days now and they had to wash the dishes there as well. Kinkade was waiting for his salary so he could ask a master to come and fix it. Bless his soul, Keith was way too broke to even afford the upcoming month’s salary. He sighed while forking his eggs absentmindedly. Ryan raised his eyebrow and cleared his throat.“There is something on your mind.” he said quietly. Keith just groaned. It seemed like he was an open book to his friend. He just shook his head and took a bite from the bacon. He slowly chewed on it before answering him.“Not really…” he lied.“Is it about the academy? Don’t you want to go back? I remember you telling me you wanted to join the forces..” Kinkade hummed. Keith nodded. He really did. It was his passion. He loved firebending, and he was exceptionally good at it. He wouldn’t even lie if he told he was the best in his class. Well there was still the asshole James Griffin, but still. He just shook his head clearing his head from the stuff that was flooding in and was bothering him to think straight. He ate the last bits of his breakfast and cleaning the sides of his mouth said. “My power, more like powers are getting out of control nowadays. It’s too risky for me to continue the training, I don’t want anyone to find out about me being the Avatar.” He said in a raspy breath. Everything was spinning around, he couldn’t concentrate on Kinkade’s face as he heard Ryan speak.“It’s getting near you know, right? Sooner or later the new Avatar will be announced and you won’t have any place to run away to. Better continue then risk everything you have with.” It was the most Keith heard Kinkade ever speak and he didn’t like any sentence of what he said. His temper was starting to get the best of him as he got up from his place in an abrupt way, his chair falling behind his back as he started to shout. It was pretty childish of him considering the fact that he was the only person to ever know about Keith’s awful powers. He knew that Keith was the Avatar and he helped Keith hide that fact for quite long. He stood for Keith no matter what, took the blame on himself many times when Keith crushed things or hurt people without any intentions on doing so, and now Keith was shouting at the only person who ever supported him no matter what. He didn’t even notice as the leaking water in sink started to leak faster and faster, the flow becoming stronger and the stove starting to slowly burn up.“I know it will be soon!! I fucking know that!! That’s the problem here, and don’t you say I am running away,” he said pointing his finger at himself than Ryan. “I don’t have anywhere to run, nor I have anything to lose. I am just an orphan left behind, no one ever needed me and no one will ever need me in the future as well!!” He said bitterly. His eyes were stinging with tears but nothing was flowing down his cheek, he was just angry, angry at Ryan at himself and everyone in the world. He didn’t even wait for Ryan’s reply as he run out of the house, slamming the door behind himself. Some people greeted him from the sides but he was not listening to them he was just running down the road till he reached the central square. He was just standing there and trying to control his breath. He was panicking way too hard and he had to stop till something wasn’t ruined by him in the nearby shop or place.The voices were too loud though. Something was going on there, something grand which made Keith to slowly come back to this reality and react to it. He looked up to see banners everywhere. People around him laughing and speaking and enjoying themselves. It wasn’t even past 3 o’clock in the afternoon and yet there were too many people in that damned squared. He scratched behind his neck, making his ponytail get slightly loose and hair fall from the sides and looked even more attentively at the banners.
“The Avatar of The Fire Nation.”
He didn’t have to read the rest of the text as he already knew what it meant. They were announcing the next Avatar. They were announcing him being the Avatar. He looked up again , getting closer to one of the banners and read the date. The announcement was set to be tomorrow.
Fuck.
That was like a brutal blow in his guts. He never felt anything like that in his life, nor when James Griffin kicked him hard during the trainings and even when his father died he wasn’t as crest broken and lost as he was now. He didn’t even know what to do, so he did what his legs told him to. Run back to his small house not far from the center , collect all his belongings and disappear into thin air. Like he was never born and was never in the city to begin with. He was breathless when someone bumped into him. James Griffin. Why now? Were the only words that crossed Keith’s mind at that moment. He took a breath and said. “Move.”James cocked his eyebrow and smirked. He was not going to move and Keith knew it. So he just did it himself, gripping James’ arm and spinning him around making the other fall on the hard ground with a loud tud. James was in utter shock which was visible from his face. That expression made Keith smirk in victory. He quickly remembered about the other problems that he had on his mind and turned around when a harsh kick was throwing at him. That made Keith fall on his back. He grunted loudly but got up from his place in no time, standing in the stance that meant he was ready for the fight.“You are not getting away with this Kogane.” Said Griffin as the flames started to go straight at Keith from his hands. Keith didn’t take his time to answer back with mind blowing attacks. People around them started to run, crossing the street as quick as they could so suddenly a careless attack wouldn’t hit them. It was getting out of hand and Keith knew it pretty well, two more attacks and he would lose it. Luckily to him they were stopped. It was Kinkade again, who grabbed Keith’s collar from behind like he was some kind of lost puppy who he needed to take back home. He shot James a disapproving look and hawled Keith back towards their house. Keith was ready to fight him back but something told him that it wasn’t the best thing to do at that moment, and he was right. Finally he did something right in his life. When they reached the house Kinkade kicked the door open and made Keith walk in first.“What was that about?” he growled, sounding pretty angry. That was new even for Keith. Ryan rarely showed any emotions, anger wasn’t something he has ever seen on the other’s face.“I have to leave.” Keith spat as he shot from his place and looked around trying to see what he needed to take with himself. He heard Kinkade sigh which made him turn around and look at him in pure shock. “ You have seen those banners right?” Kinkade nodded. Keith couldn’t answer back. He just shook his head and took the only bag he had in his hands and fumbled with the strings of it. “I have to leave. They will use me you know that right? They only want power and I am what will give them power.”Kinkade just nodded again which was making Keith again, but before he could start shouting again he heard the male speak as he said.“If you are leaving, I am leaving as well.”Keith didn’t know at that time, that this adventure would lead him to many things. Love, fear, grief , lose and all the emotions he had never experienced before, but all he could think at that moment was to get out of the city as soon as he could. He looked at Kinkade and smiled weakly before nodding and starting to pack his things.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It was hot. Really hot. He was tempted to take off his dark red jacket, but his bag was too full to put something else into it as well. All he could do, is wipe the sweat away from his forehead and wait till his bag becomes a little lighter after their dinner. Him and Kinkade were out in the forest far from their city, which more seemed like a desert full of sand and high temperature but not trees and water for sure. Keith was still shocked that Ryan agreed to join him in his lame attempt of running away. Not that he regretted though, not at all. He didn’t even look back at the city while leaving it with a lame excuse of wanting to go and hunt in the forest when the guards asked him where he was heading. His and Kinkade’s bags didn’t look like hunting bags at all, nor did they have any weapons with themselves. Their bags were full of two weeks worth of food. Maybe less, maybe more but they packed anything they had in their house and bought some stuff on their way to the main gates. He still remembered how his hands were shaking when he was packing his stuff and it was Ryan again who calmed him down telling that it will be okay. He was not sure whether it will be okay or not but being far from the city already made him calm enough to ignore the awful weather. A moan left his lips as he crouched in front of the river and soaking his hands in the cold water sighed in relief. This felt perfect , even the water tasted good. He washed his face as well and looked to his right to see Kinkade filling the water bottle with the same crystal white water. He looked at Keith and just nodded. Kinkade was silent. That was a pretty normal thing and a good sign as well. Ryan passed the bottle to Keith, on which Keith raised his eyebrow as in asking why was he doing that. The other male sighed and pointed on Keith’s bag which was resting under the tree, the front part of it open.
Oh.
He quickly took the bottle back and walked back to his bag. Putting it in the bag was a nightmare. He just couldn’t adjust the bottle in the right position so it wouldn’t smash and squeeze their freshly bought fruits. He succeeded though, which made him really proud of himself. Settling the bag on his shoulder he looked at Kinkade who was all ready and waiting for him. He felt quite refreshed after the stop. Full of energy and determination he didn’t have minutes ago. Keith didn’t know where they were heading but Kinkade was sure they were on the right path. If he knew the road then it meant they were going to some kind of a camp place where travellers and warriors stopped by to have a rest and later continue their roads. Keith bambered him with questions whether they will be any Fire Nation Warriors there or a place were he could rest. Turned out Ryan was way too patient for his own good and to all of those ridiculous questions asked by Keith, Ryan just gave a short answer of “You will see yourself when we arrive there.”That made the young Avatar pout in a quite childish way, as he crossed his arms across his chest but didn’t say anything in return. He knew it was useless at this point since Ryan was not talkative at all. Back when they still were in the city the silence was soothing and comforting since Keith always had something to think about, a way to survive and make sure no one finds out that he was the Avatar, but now when they were stuck in a deserted forest all alone with all of his old problems left behind, Keith didn’t have anything new to think about and hence the mood to talk about something even more like anything with Ryan.He just sighed and fixed his ponytail while looking back at the road. The city was long gone. They were far enough for Keith to already feel a wobbling pain that was forming in his legs. He was getting tired. The sun was slowly going down, and Kinkade was still silent which was getting tad bit of annoying at this point. He cleared his throat and asked the question which was on the tip of his tongue for the past three or four hours since their last stop.“When are we going to reach that place Ryan?” His voice sounded quite calm, yet the undertone of it which didn’t mask his annoyance gave him away. Ryan turned around and looked at Keith. He always walked in front. Not that Keith had anything against it, he didn’t know the path so Kinkade was his free guide through the forest. The firebender calmly raised his hands to fix his own coat and said.“I think we are going to be there less than in an hour.”
Oh god hallelujah.
Relief washed over Keith when he heard those words. He quickly felt the energy which nearly left his body at this point come back. He gathered his last bits of power and giving a tired smile said.“We better hurry up. The sun has already set down after all.”~*~*~He felt his eyelids getting heavy each second. It was kind of weird since Keith endured nearly everything pretty well without any problems. He was one of the few students whose endurance got a checkmark at the end of each semester. Most of the other kids failed with that. In short he was shocked with himself since it was just nearly a day since they left and he was already tired and felt like falling asleep any walking second. He was lucky enough that the sinful trail of his was cut short by Kinkade, raising his hand and announcing that they were quite near the gate. Keith looked up immediately. The lights which weren’t visible minutes ago were now visible so much that he could even see some of the houses behind the gates in the small village. That made him all excited, yet somehow afraid at the same time for no apparent reason. He quickened his pace and was now walking near Kinkade who made his way towards the gates. He was examining the wooden surface of the gates when he noticed Kinkade walk to one of the officers standing there. The officer absolutely looked like he was a warrior from the Fire Nation army. Keith was right. He noticed the emblem on his uniform when the other man turned around and the lights coming from the city landed on him. He made his way closer just to make sure to hear what Ryan was talking about with the man. He had one of his hands protectively on his bag and the other in his pocket. Ryan seemed pretty relaxed.“Call the General.” He heard Kinkade say. General? Why did they even need to meet the general in the first place. Another question popped in his mind, to which he absolutely wanted an immediate answer. How the actual fuck did Kinkade know the general, and which general was that and how did he know that the general was here. Well not one question but many. He just gripped the side of his bag even tighter as he heard the soldier answer.“Can’t Sir. He is busy. You can rest in the village and try to wait for him. He will be less busier in the morning.” The man sounded stern, but the look on Ryan’s face made Keith understand that he was not satisfied with that reply. Ryan cleared his throat. When he spoke, his voice sounded like a commander’s and it surely was giving an order to the man this time. Keith gulped. What the hell was going on?“I am Ryan Kinkade. Gerald Kinkade’s son. I must meet the general right now. Go and inform him right this instant.”
What the actual fuck?
Keith looked at him with his eyes so wide that he thought he forgot to blink for a second. The soldier didn’t forget to blink though. His blink was spaceless as he just stood straight and gave a salute to Ryan and run inside the village as Ryan slowly followed him from behind, making his way to the nearest tent. Keith hurried his steps as he gulped down the saliva which was bothering him quite a lot at this point and finally spoke.“You are a general’s son?”“Yes.” He said. It sounded way too simple coming from his lips, which made Keith squint his eyes and cross his hands over his chest in a disapproving manner.“And I get to know about it just now?”“Sorry, I didn’t really want to bother you. You had and still have your share of problems to deal with. My father is just a good warrior and that’s it.”It explained a lot. Actually way too much. Now he understood why Kinkade was so good at anything he did. He just wasn’t a poor peasant like Keith but was coming from a high class family. He still couldn’t understand why Kinkade lived with him for so long. Their house was bad for a person like him and Keith was a bad influence for him as well. Well those were all questions that he was going to ask Ryan for sure. Maybe not right now, but tomorrow for sure. The soldier came back with a man dressed in a nice tunic which made him look like a royalty His hair was long as he nodded to Kinkade, to which Ryan greeted him in a formal way.“Your father is waiting for you Sir.” The said man addressed him. Seconds later he cast his gaze on Keith and said. “Sadly your companion is not allowed to join us at the moment, but he will be given one of the best tents here.” The man seemed indifferent. Like all of the words he said were pretty much just something he told by heart with no emotion. Keith of course was curious to meet Kinkade’s father, but he was tired more than curious for sure so he just shrugged and looking up at Kinkade said.“I will wait for you in the tent.” Kinkade nodded and left with the nameless man to the furthest side of the village. Keith looked up at the soldier and said. “You can leave as well, just tell me which tent it is.” The soldier seemed pretty relieved when Keith said those words and quickly pointing with his digit finger on one of the dark blue tents, bowed to him and quickly left. Keith just sighed and made his way towards it. His mind was swirling. He had too many questions in mind and was not sure whether he will get answers to all of those. Plus he was tired. Too tired to even look up and check whether it was the right tent he was walking in. Well he will see. He slowly turned the curtain to the side and walked into the quite bright room, looking up he saw a naked person. A male with skin darker than his but not as dark as Kinkade’s and awfully fluffy brown hair. He noticed the Water Tribe clothes in his hands, the slim waist which was soon going to have those clothes on it, and the nice butt clad in bright blue underwear. Keith didn’t even make a single step to back away, he was in deep trans. Luckily the guy turned around , otherwise Keith wouldn’t stop ogling him. The first thing he knew was the water from the nearest vase flying right into his face.“You pervert!!!” shouted the guy. His voice was way too loud. That made Keith blink once, then twice before he turned around and hurriedly left the wrong tent while blushing like a madman. His face all hot, awfully wet and red he finally opened the curtains to the right tent and walked in while panting hard. Well this was awkward.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It took him some time to realise what actually happened, and before it finally hit him Kinkade was back in the room settling on the tufon near his. He sighed in relief and looked over to him before finally asking.“Want to talk about it?” turning around to his friend he propped up on his elbow and asked. That was a good thing to do, since Ryan rarely shared any of his problems with anyone. He just wanted to make sure his friend was fine, and more importantly he was extremely curious to ask him about his father. It was not everyday that you find out that your roommate who you have been living with for almost five years has a father and more importantly a father who is a general on some kind of an important mission. Ryan shook his head. Probably no talking for now.“There is nothing to talk about, really. Haven’t seen him since he left. Got some letters from time to time but nothing more.” He answered. His voice sounded bitter, more like it had a bitter undertone to it which Kinkade was trying to hide from Keith, but knowing the guy for five years made Keith understand all the small voice changes and gestures of his. He sighed and just shook his head to himself. Walking to the nearest bed which was not yet occupied by Ryan he lay down on it, closed his eyes with his hands and rubbed them carefully. The whole situation was fucking messed up. He was lost in his thoughts and the embarrassment that happened minutes ago. With his cheeks slowly heating up he turned around to face Kinkade who gave him a questionable look. Keith sighed and cracked a nervous laughter."I walked on a waterbender.” He admitted. “And?” Kinkade muttered, trying to make Keith talk closer to the point. “He was undressed.” Keith said feeling his cheeks and ears starting to burn up. It was quite rare to see Kinkade laugh so hard, which made it harder for Keith to calm his furious blush down. He was probably going to have really ‘sweet’ dreams now. With a heavy sigh leaving his lips, he turned to the other side of his pretty uncomfortable bed and facing the wall closed his eyes and let himself be taken by the almighty Morpheus. ----- Water. Water was everywhere. He turned around to search for something that was not water and failed. Turned around again and saw the same, and finally looking down saw that he was standing on the same exact water. It was slightly wavy yet calm from inside. He felt the cold sensation under his feet and felt a shiver go up and down his spine. It felt pretty weird and realistic at the same time. Keith wasn’t a person to get curious over any supernatural stuff, being the Avatar made him understand that supernatural shit happens and it happens quite a lot, especially if he was around. This time though, he was curious where he was and why was he standing on that cold water. Feeling his feet getting colder and colder he looked around once again, just in case before finally speaking.“Hello? Is anyone out there? Where am I?” He asked. Keith felt pretty stupid considering the fact that he was there all alone and no one would answer him for sure. At that exact moment something that made sure to decline his thoughts came up. It was a short wave at first, which became bigger and bigger and was coming right up. Keith already braced himself expecting the blow since running away from water while standing on it would be a stupid move for sure. He just looked at the wave , at how bigger and stronger it got by each second and sighed. This was the end, when actually it wasn’t. The wave started to gain a certain form, slowly making itself to humanlike. When it was already near Keith he could hundred percent tell that it was a transparent human being made of water. The shape of its body reminded him of the waterbender male he walked on. The wave turned from one side to another, as if it was examining its own body and look. Keith chuckled. It seemed weird to him that he felt awfully relaxed near the gigantic wave. He looked up to notice all the human like features on and the questionable look that the wave was giving him. He just shrugged himself before clearing his throat and asking.“Who are you?” The wave didn’t answer, instead it showed him a picture. A picture of the Southern Water Tribe. He saw it in his mind for a second before it disappeared into thin air. The next question was.“What are you doing here? Why am I here with you?” Each question was getting harder and harder, but Keith needed answers and he needed them now. The wave didn’t answer again and Keith understood that he will either see more pictures with no dialogues or will not get any answers at all. It took a stance. A stance which was used during fights. A stance which any waterbender knew and to his own irony Keith knew it as well. He shook his head understanding what the wave was getting to.“No. I don’t want to learn waterbending. I don’t even have a teacher for that.” He said quietly. It was true that he was afraid of his powers and it was true as well that he hated them but still deep down in his heart he always wanted to master all the elements and do good jobs for people. Keep them all safe and alive from evil. He shook his head and groaned. The wave was making him hallucinate at this point. A picture appeared again which made all of his absurd thoughts go away and open a room for more absurd ones. A blush crept to his face when he saw the tan skinned waterender he had just met a night ago. He was smiling while splashing water all around himself. The scene in front of him looked utterly beautiful, with the boy being surrounded all by beautiful trees it made it even more beautiful. That was the art of waterbending.He sighed again and shook his head. Now he understood why the wave resembled the stranger who considered him to be a pervert so much.“He probably hates me though, he said I am a pervert.” He told the wave, while starting to pace from one side to another , making himself ignore the itching cold under his feet. The wave panicked for a second and started to shake its hands while making water splash everywhere and even on Keith. Shaking his head, Keith made all the unnecessary droplets drop, still leaving his hair quite dump and messy. He examined the state the wave was in and squeezing his eyes shut for a second, crossed his hands on his chest and snapped his eyes back open.“He won’t agree.” He stated to which he got another splash right on his face. The wave disagreed. Keith sighed. He was tired of running away, even though he just run away from all of his responsibilities back in the fire nation, well more like from it. He at least had to learn how to waterbend, since that was the second element he had learnt how to control. He had to grip his hands tight and ask the guy for a help since the gigantic wave looked pretty sure of its statement about the guy being his tutor. He was not sure whether the guy was good or not but he had to try, and with that he looked up at the gigantic wave which was standing right in front of him and waiting for his answer and said.“I will try.” And yet again it was funny at how soothing and calm he felt with his statement and how good he felt when the wave nodded approvingly at him. He still was shocked with himself for talking with the gigantic wave but he didn’t care about anything at that point. Keith kicked the cold water under his feet and repeated the words again. “I will try” And looking up at the wave he saw something that looked like a smile before the wave slowly raised its hand and splashed him with the strongest water force he has ever experienced in his life. Seconds later he was up and panting in his uncomfortable bed in that small inn. ----- “I am going to talk with that guy.” He stated during his and Kinkade’s shared breakfast. “Going to apologize first and then ask him the favour.” Keith told Ryan about his ridiculous dream and to his own amusement Ryan wasn’t even shocked, he just nodded his head and told that it was probably normal to see someone guide him from inside, after all he was the Avatar for god’s sake.
Oh how perfect.
“I am sure he will not agree, but I will still try. I want you to be present though. I need some serious moral support.” Keith said with a light chuckle leaving his lips as he shoved the last sausage in his mouth. He carefully chewed on it before getting up and tugging on Kinkade’s hand. “Please.”It took them less than ten minutes to find the tan waterbender. They were told he was near the river which was right near the small village as well. Kinkade strode right behind Keith as they made their way towards the shore. He turned from one side to another , missing the branches which were closing his way. He noticed a tunic near the shore sprayed over a big rock, but the guy was nowhere to be found. With a frustrated sigh Keith made his way towards the water. He didn’t even notice how Kinkade came and sat near him with his already bare feet touching the slow waves.“It’s quite here.” He said before slowly sinking his hand in the cold surface as well. He enjoyed the sensation against his skin and felt awfully relaxed. With another sigh, this one being the most relaxed so far, leaving his lips he looked up yet once again to see the same guy, standing shirtless in front of him with his back facing the firebenders. His skin was wet, and the droplets of water were falling down from everywhere. With a graceful move the guy combed his short hair back, making them look like they were jelled many times before settling so as he turned around. It was a slow motion process, both him and Ryan quietly looking as he turned around exposing his tan and flat belly. Ryan raised his eyebrow and Keith felt his cheeks becoming dark red again. All he knew was that the guy was shouting in no time again, the same words that he has heard yesterday but now they were aimed at Kinkade as well. A massive splash followed his voice and both him and Kinkade were wet in no time, being gripped by a massive hand made from water. The hand was squeezing them hard, leaving no room to breath. Keith choked on his own breath as he managed to wiggle his hand out and cut the hand made out of water in two , making Ryan fall to his right side and the guy looking at him with his big oval blue eyes full of shock and maybe even fear.“Aren’t you a firebender???” He shouted at Keith. Keith shook his head and got up from his place. He walked towards the tunic which was on the rock and taking it in his hands walked towards the guy. He didn’t care about getting wet since he was wet from head to toe anyways. Passing the tunic to the male, which the boy snatched from his hands with an aggressive scowl leaving his lips, Keith answered.“I am, and I have a small favor to ask you. Well maybe not that small but important enough to save the whole world maybe.” Funny right? He was standing in the middle of a river asking a waterbender to teach him how to waterbend while searching for a god who could take his Avatar powers away. Yep, Keith was pretty confused with himself, and maybe learning something new would make him understand what he wanted from this life at all. “Teach me how to waterbend properly, please.”"You serious???” He heard the guy say, and Kinkade laugh in the background before another big wave was thrown right into his face. Feisty.