Chapter 6: Kyoshi Island

Michael smiled and tossed the last T-shirt into his bag. He took one last look at the place that had served as his room for the last half-year and sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but it was difficult for him to part with this place, even if he didn’t consider it his home.

He sighed heavily and went toward Appa's resting place. Michael was enjoying the final moments at the Temple; he would not be able to return here and he knew it very well. He would have continued to walk slowly and stare at the sites if not for Momo who jumped on his back. The lemur climbed onto his shoulder and looked closely at Michael's face.

He poked Michael in the cheek. Michael swatted his fingers away. "What?" Momo shook his head and patted him on the head. He just laughed and continued walking forward, no longer slowing his step. "Thanks, buddy, I needed that." He murmured to Momo. The lemur puffed his chest and chittered. Michael chuckled. 

After a couple of minutes, Michael finally stepped into the courtyard where others were waiting for him. Apparently, they got bored while he was packing and found various ways to deal with it. 

Katara was trying to Bend some snow with little success. Aang was cooing at Appa to calm him down, and Sokka was checking the group's supplies for the trip. Michael just stood there and took them in. Seeing the characters from the show he watched as a child as living, breathing people was rather strange, but Michael adapted quickly. Now, this was his life and he accepted it.

He cleared his throat and put on his cockiest smirk. "Hey, little ones! Ready for the ride?" He tossed his bag onto the seat on Appa's back and turned to others.

Aang nodded his head excitingly. "Yep! The North awaits us!" He jumped on Appa’s head and took the ropes that served as reins. Katara sighed heavily and let the snow fall to the ground. She glared at it, huffing. Michael noticed this and decided to talk to her when they were in the air.

Sokka was quite happy, with Michael's help, they were able to collect enough fruit and poultry meat to last at least a week. Michael, on the other hand, was jumpy and looked with apprehension at the birds. He didn't want to piss them off. Feathery bastards. 

The birds didn't care about the death of their kind, but if you did something that really annoyed them, then you were truly fucked. A prime example of this was found in a library, buried under a dune, but that was a story that Michael would take to his grave.

Michael helped Katara climb onto Appa and in one jump was in the seat himself. He leaned forward to rest his chin on Aang’s shoulder. "Where to, captain?" His mood was much better than before so his serious facade began to gradually crack.

Aang snorted and pushed Michael’s face away. “Where the wind will take us! Yip-yip!" He commanded and flicked the ropes lightly. Appa rose gracefully into the air. Michael could hardly restrain himself from screaming from excitement. He had been waiting for this moment for more than six months and he was figuring out that he liked flying! Like, really fucking much.

He gazed at the slowly shrinking temple which had served him as a shelter for a long time until it was gone from his view. Momo nuzzled into his cheek and squeaked, eyes huge and ears up. Michael scratched the lemur behind his ear without taking his eyes off the mountains. "You will come back here someday, don't worry, Momo." He assured. 

Katara heard his words but seemingly decided not to ask about it. Like she knew he was hiding something and was wary to try and ask him about it. Or maybe she just didn’t want to piss him off after his crushing success over Aang. But she wasn’t quiet for long. She cleared her throat and put on a friendly smile. "So, where are you from, Michael? I've never seen clothes like yours."

Michael, who was sprawled on his back, lazily shifted his back under his head to get more comfortable and smirked. "Hmm… The easiest way to put this is that I was not born among other nations. My hometown was pretty big, but for the life of me, I can't recall the name. When I woke up in the Temple, I realized that I don’t have most of my memories. What about you three? Judging by your clothes, you and your brother grew up at the South Pole, and Aang grew up here."

Sokka nodded as he dug into his bag, searching for something. "Yes, we don't have many stories to tell. When you're growing up in a small village, life quickly gets boring." Katara smiled mischievously and glanced at her brother.

"Oh, I don't know. How about that incident with the three penguins?" Sokka immediately dropped everything and looked at Katara with horror.

He pointed his finger at her and hissed. "You swore not to tell anyone about this!" Katara raised her hands as a sign of peace, still smiling. 

"Okay, okay, I won't tell. It’s just proof that life there wasn't that boring." Michael slowly turned his head at Sokka and raised an eyebrow. 

"What have you done to the poor, innocent penguins?" He asked. Sokka threw his hand up. 

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!" He yelled, glaring at them all. Even Momo looked at Sokka dubiously.

Michael snorted. "Sure, you didn't…" Sokka decided to move the topic and save himself from shame. 

"So, what's the deal with your hands? Anger issues?" 

Katara gasped and put her hands on her hips. "Sokka! How can you ask something like that? He will tell you if he's comfortable with it!" She scolded and sent an apologetic look to Michael.

Michael was silent for a couple of minutes while Katara ripped Sokka a new one for his rudeness. When her face started looking a little too red, he interrupted her. "Katara, it's okay, I got used to it a long time ago."

He unwound the bandages on one of his arms and showed everyone the terrible scars that were left on it. It was a little ironic. All his life he received scars, his whole body was covered with them, except for his hand, in fact, precisely because it simply did not exist. And now, it was exactly the opposite. His hand looked like a piece of modern art. Just as creepy and incomprehensible.

Katara stared at it in shock, her hand covering her mouth and trembling slightly. She had seen how terrible the consequences of war could be, but this was the first time she came across something like that. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what could have happened to cause this.

Michael shrugged, poking one of the scars. "I got it at the age of six. I don't remember exactly how I got these scars, but they still hurt sometimes. Zero out of ten, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone." He grimaced.

Sokka leaned closer. "How are you even moving it? It looks like meat paste!" He exclaimed, unconsciously touching his own arm. Michael rolled his eyes and flicked his hand at Sokka, shooting a weak air blast in his face. Sokka’s hair fell from his ponytail and into his face. He spluttered and glared at Michael.

Michael snorted. "A shit-ton of recovery training and direct nerve endings healing. Though, it hurts like a bitch every time I strain it too much." He fisted his hand then slowly relaxed it. Others gave each other side glances, trying to figure out if one of them knew what nerve endings were. Michael noticed it and let out a long breath. “This is going to be a long conversation."

After a long lecture on the biology of the human body, Michael decided to spare his companions and turn the conversation to a more pleasant topic. “Katara, how do you use Waterbending?" She blinked at the unexpected question but quickly gathered herself.

"Well, Gran-Gran tried to teach me the old method of Waterbending from our tribe, but I don't think I understood her correctly. It's best to learn from a Master, and, well, we have none." She said, Michael shook his head and leaned forward.

"That's not what I meant. I can't teach you the technical aspect, so I'll teach you the emotional one. How do you feel when you command water?” He snapped his fingers and a thin line of water appeared. It slowly swirled around his finger. “What are your thoughts?"

Katara gaped a bit, then straightened her shoulders and opened her flask. She began to raise and lower her arms and the water followed her movements. But it was shaky and jerky. She frowned. “I focus on the water, on its condition, on how to control its flow. I think about the times when I used Waterbending before to remember my feelings at that moment." With the last words, Katara's concentration broke and water fell in a huge puddle, splattering everyone around. Michael chuckled and summoned it back, returning it to the flask.

He leaned forward and took it from Katara. "I see a teeny-tiny problem with that." Katara frowned at his words. "It's not that your thinking is completely wrong,” Michael assured, “it just won't work for a beginner Waterbender."

Michael drew more water from the atmosphere around him, making Aang, Sokka, and Katara gape at him. Smirking, Michael let the water fly around them in shiny circles, light reflecting from it and creating tiny rainbows.

Katara reached out to touch it. “How did you do it? Where did it come from?” She asked in obvious awe. A thin line broke from the major circle and wrapped itself around her wrist. Katara giggled, touching the water.

“I just collected the amount that was in the air. The clouds around us are made of water and something else, I don't remember, I slept through that lesson. In any case, I am not trying to command the water, I am directing it. I am not focused, I let my thoughts flow- Okay, this sounds too generic. In short, I keep my mind flexible and I only think about how water can help me in the task at hand. It's almost the same with air, but I'm not going to explain that now."

There was a slight silence in the air which was broken by Aang.

"This is so cool! You should definitely teach us this technique!"

Michael smiled and nodded as he laughed viciously in a dark corner of his mind.

'Avatar Ultra, the first step has been taken.'

---

A few days after Michael's lecture on nerve endings and the human body, Avatar's crew finally began flying towards Kyoshi Island. Of course, only Aang – because he flew there – and Michael knew about it – because he knew what would happen in the future.

They stopped on random islands to collect food and water – this caused Zuko's rage on his ship, but only he and his uncle knew about it… Well, them and Michael.

Katara and Michael were sewing holes in their clothes – Michael accidentally tore his last clean T-shirt – while Sokka and Aang were busy with their own business. The Southern Water Tribe teenager stared at the map in front of him with great doubt as the Avatar stirred Appa in… some direction.

Appa himself was a little dirty after their last pit stop. They were suddenly caught in the rain, so the team had to quickly find cover. Appa was too big to hide in the cave that Katara found, but he didn't care much about the rain.

Finally, Sokka folded the map and looked at the bald Avatar.

"You have no idea where you're going, do you?"

Michael paused for a second, recognizing Sokka's words, but immediately resumed sewing. Aang glanced over his shoulder and smiled brightly at his friend.

"Well… I know it's near water."

Sokka looked down from Appa's back to the sea below them.

"I guess we're getting close then."

"We are."

The siblings looked at Michael, who was not even distracted from his work, in confusion. No one knew how he could hold a thin needle with his right hand (bandages helped him a lot) and no one knew how he knew some things.

"Damn, I'm out of bandages…"

"Okay genius, how do you know this?"

Michael looked at Sokka with confusion.

"I used the last roll after the rain…?"

"No, not that! How do you know we're close?"

Katara decided that this was another time Michael decided to joke around and went back to sewing and trying to steal a glimpse of Michael's bare chest when she thought no one was looking.

"Did I say something about that? I'm pretty sure I was silent."

"You fu- you know what? Forget it."

It should be noted that Michael decided not to restrain himself and swore as much as he wanted, so the Avatar team gradually began to pick up his foul words. Katara was not amused.

Michael decided to follow Katara's lead and continue sewing. Aang, seeing that the girl was not in the best mood, decided to cheer her up and turned to Momo who was sitting on his shoulder.

"Momo, marbles please."

Lemur dived into his T-shirt and appeared with several gray marbles. Aang scratched behind Momo's ear and took the marbles from his paws.

"Hey Katara, check out this Airbending trick!"

The Marbles in his hands began to spin as if caught in a small hurricane. Michael glanced at his attempt to impress Katara and snorted.

'The kid is only twelve, what did I expect?'

Still focused on sewing, Katara didn't even look at Aang.

"That's great, Aang."

The Avatar's shoulders dropped in disappointment.

"You didn't even look…"

Noticing the problem, Katara looked towards Aang and tried to speak with enthusiasm.

"That's great!"

Aang looked like a kicked puppy.

"But I'm not doing it now."

Meanwhile, Michael mentally screamed, he never liked such silly arguments.

'Lord, I'll have to endure this for the next few days. Jasmine, give me strength.'

Michael had almost finished sewing up the hole in his shirt when Sokka decided to show him how to casually shove a shoe in his mouth.

"Stop bugging her, airhead. You need to give girls space when they do their sewing."

Katara and Michael exchanged glances and looked at Sokka.

"I know I'm fucking awesome, but I definitely don't look like a girl."

"And what does being a girl have to do with sewing?" Katara asked irritably.

Sokka did not understand the danger he was bringing with his actions and continued to speak.

"Simple. You, mate, are an exception. Usually, girls are better at fixing pants than guys and guys are better at hunting and fighting and stuff like that." Katara's eye began to twitch in annoyance. "It's just the natural order of things."

Suddenly Katara smiled and put the bone needle back into the leather sewing bag.

"All done with your pants!" She lifted his still torn pants and tossed them at Sokka's head. "And look what a great job I did!"

Sokka nearly fell off the Bison but managed to catch himself in time. He pulled his pants off his face and turned them to look at the hole.

"Wait! I was just kidding. I can't wear these! Katara, please! Michael!"

"Nah, you brought it on yourself, now you have to suffer. Mwuhahahahahahahaha!"

Aang snorted and decided to toss in his five coins in the talk.

"Relax, Sokka. Where we're going, you won't need any pants… And it was a terrible villain laugh."

Michael donned his black shirt – now with oversized Scandinavian embroidery in place of the hole – and turned dramatically towards the young Avatar with his hands behind his back.

"You, sir, have insulted my honor and dignity. Therefore, I will go to the basement and cry until I die of dehydration."

"Mic, we're on a flying bison, we don't have a basement."

"Point."

Michael approached Aang to see that he was leading Appa towards an island full of mountains. The older teenager looked at the island for a couple of seconds and turned to his bald companion.

"Why are we flying to Kyoshi Island?"

Aang shushed him and looked at the siblings making sure they hadn't heard anything.

"We all need to rest, or at this rate, we will all burn out before we get to the North Pole."

Michael sighed heavily and fell back into the seat. He could suggest plotting their route on a map, but then the timeline would be altered too much. With no other choice, Michael just kept going with the flow. Now was not the time to change anything, he understood at least that.

Team Avatar landed on a sandy beach where Aang was immediately shirtless. Michael, meanwhile, was looking at the sea with interest, looking for the tracks of those giant fish.

"We just made a pit stop yesterday. Shouldn't we get a little more flying done before we camp out?"

Katara nodded in thought.

"He's right. At this rate, we won't get to the North Pole until spring."

Aang grinned and pointed at Appa, using him as an excuse.

"But Appa's tired, aren't you boy?"

Appa – to his credit – grunted in confirmation.

"We need to wash him anyway; his fur is in a terrible state. Katara, how about some training at Waterbending?"

While Katara was deep in thought, Aang ran towards the coast, noticing a shadow in the water.

"Look!"

An Elephant Koi jumped out of the sea and fell back, sending huge waves around. It was a truly great being, one of the many leviathans of the seas. Its red-white scales shone in the light of the sun.

Michael licked his lips and began to make a plan for how to get a piece of this giant fish.

"That's why we're here. Elephant koi, and I'm gonna ride it. Katara, you've got to watch me!"

The oldest teenager snorted and went to Appa to brush his fur, but out of the corner of his eye, he continued to stare at the Avatar. He had never seen such a performance before and he once saw a seven-story building falling, hell, he was the one who blew up that building, so it was a rare sight for him.

While Sokka and Katara were cheering on Aang, Michael got down to work. He collected the seawater and pushed the salt into the sea. The Dual Bender tried to remember what happened next in the series. He remembered that the Kyoshi Warriors had captured the Avatar Team, but that was not it. Something else was about to happen and Michael couldn't figure out what.

His thoughts were interrupted by the screams of siblings, these screams not of excitement, but fear.

"Ah, now I remember…" He muttered.

His head snapped towards the sea and he saw a problem. A huge Leviathan, straight from the legends, jumped out of the water and followed Aang who fled for his life. The Underwater Serpent was a truly terrifying creature, but Michael could only think about what the soup with this overgrown snake would taste like.

Seeing that the dragon-like Leviathan was rapidly approaching Aang, Michael pulled his metal staff from his back and sent a huge air blade with a powerful blow. The blade split the water surface in two and hit the Leviathan. Much to everyone's surprise, his attack didn't even leave a scratch on the snake's body. But the confusion of the underwater creature allowed Aang to make it to shore.

Katara looked anxiously at the Leviathan as he plunged into the water.

You are reading story Journey Home – Starting Line at novel35.com

"What is that thing?"

"I don't know." Aang scratched his head and looked thoughtfully at the retreating creature.

Sokka got up off the sand and shook off his hands.

"Well, let's not stick around to find out. Time to hit the road."

Michael was still staring at the sea and didn't move to leave. The three teenagers looked at each other and then at their friend.

"Erm… Michael? We have to go."

"I wonder what it tastes like…"

Katara then shook her head and grabbed Michael by the shoulder to drag him along.

"No, no, and no, you won't hunt a huge underwater serpent just to eat it!"

Cordato rolled his eyes and followed Katara only to stop a second later. He felt several pairs of eyes staring at him.

"Michael?"

His instincts from his time in the gang had always come to his aid. So now, when he was already surrounded, he decided to start negotiations.

"Either you come out of hiding and we speak like civilized people, or I will send your corpses to the sea." So much for negotiating.

Team Avatar immediately stood in a circle and adopted a defensive formation – well, or tried to, they didn’t know how to correctly execute such formations.

Realizing that they had been discovered, several women Warriors in green kimonos came out of the forest. Michael knew that they were only defending their land, but that didn't change that they decided to attack him and his companions – he wasn't ready to call them his friends just yet.

"So, you wanna talk?" Michael gripped his staff with both hands.

The five Kyoshi Warriors glanced at each other and nodded before taking up combat stances.

"I'll take it as a no."

It all happened too quickly for an ordinary person, but in just a dozen seconds, only Michael was left on his feet. Aang was attacked from behind and knocked out faster than he could use Airbending. Katara was able to freeze one of the Warriors, but without water, she was quickly defeated. The Head Warrior – Suki – personally kicked Sokka's ass and laid his face in the sand.

Michael at this time defended himself against two attackers. He ducked over a fan kick from one of the fighters and kicked her in the shins. The girl lost her balance and he quickly hit her in the temple. He froze her arms and legs together for safety and turned to the remaining opponents.

At this point, he thanked his father for teaching him how to handle a shit-ton of different weapons. He collected water from the air around him and discreetly used Airbending to speed up his movements. 

He jumped over a girl who was distracted by her fallen friend and kicked her in the back of the head; she immediately fell to the ground unconscious.

Landing on the ground, he felt a blow in the back, right under his neck. The force of the blow caused him to stumble a couple of steps forward, but he quickly turned around and blocked another blow with his staff and froze the attacking girl's hand. Michael kicked her in the chest and she fell on her back completely without breath.

Hearing the crunch of sand behind him, he twisted the staff around his torso, creating an ice blade at the end of the staff. He stopped his impromptu spear millimeters from the girl's neck and glared.

'I thought that with my warning they would be at least a little useful in a fight. Never mind Katara, she just started to learn Waterbending properly, but Aang! Why can't the fucking Avatar, oh, I don't know, pay attention to his surroundings?! It's still the beginning of the story though, so I can't say anything too rash…'

"Okay, what's next? Will we kill each other or will you finally decide to start talking?"

The masked girl was silent for a couple of seconds, but in the end, she started talking.

"We have your friends, but you are still trying to set conditions for us?"

"What can I say? I'm that fucking awesome."

The girl chuckled and Michael melted the ice tip on the staff. He did not move the weapon behind his back but chose to place it next to him – a compromise that showed that he was still ready to attack at any moment.

The girl took off her mask and showed the slightest smile.

"My name is Suki and I am the head of the Kyoshi Warriors. Welcome to Kyoshi island."

Cordato looked at unconscious people and chuckled.

"An interesting greeting…"

Michael finally put his staff behind his back and went to wake his companions – Fortunately, Kyoshi Warriors had more luck and they all woke up quickly enough. He knew they were unlikely to wake up right away, but he could not leave them lying here. He tried to wake the three of them up, but the siblings were the only ones to react.

Sokka muttered something in his sleep and turned to the side, putting his bag-covered head on the ground more comfortably.

Katara… Well, when he tried to wake her up, the girl froze Michael's lips without even moving so he didn’t try again.

Safe to say, the older teenager got annoyed and threw the unconscious bodies of the three idiots on Appa's back – the Kyoshi Warriors just giggled at his fate while Michael wondered why he chose this world as his first.

The world of the Avatar has been at war for the past hundred years. It all started with the Fire Nation – which was an obvious nod to the Third Reich mixed with some shit from Acient China – where one fuck decided that they should rule the world and started the war.

(Of course, there were many more reasons for starting the war, but Michael was not interested in them. He chose this world and he was not interested in the past, only the future.)

Aang ran away just in time to escape death at the hands of the Fire Nation during the Air Nomads genocide.

Using Sozen's Comet, which amplified the power of Firebending a hundredfold, the Fire Nation was able to take over most of the land on the continents.

All Airbenders were dead – Aang was an Avatar, he doesn't count.

Earthbenders have long been left without the support of their Capital where the puppet King sits on the throne.

Only half of the Waterbenders survived the war. The art of Waterbending from the South Pole was lost forever.

'A world that has been at war for a hundred years… Why did I think this would be a good idea? This is the real world, not a cartoon. People die every day… Although when did I care about strangers before?' He shook his head and took the Appa's reins tighter. 'And also, the belief of everyone that only an Avatar can restore and maintain balance. Although considering that this World coexists with the world of Spirits and other strange shit. Ah, wait a second, isn't there a Spirit of Balance – Raava – in every Avatar? What was the name of the second one? The Dark one? Vaatu, right.'

Suddenly, an interesting thought popped into Cordato's head. 'If I find Vaatu and offer him residence in my body, then I will become the Dark Avatar.'

Michael seriously thought about this thought, but his treacherous brain began to whisper a million problems associated with this choice. 'Yin cannot exist without Yang. As soon as I leave this world, Vaatu will leave it with me. Raava will spawn a new Vaatu just as Vaatu will spawn a new Raava. I can't just bring immortal Spirits to every world I visit. And this is not even mentioning that I'm likely to go crazy.'

So, he decided to shove the knowledge of the prison of one of the oldest Spirits far into the darkest corner of his mind. He doesn't need to remember it in the future, because he does not need it. No sir.

'But I can use Energybending to steal Raava- Stop! That's too much problems for shit results.' The all-too-familiar voice of a long-forgotten father rang in his head.

'It will be pretty good loot though.' 

Michael felt his hands begin to itch.

'Fuck.'

It has been a long time since he felt this itch. In Air Nomads Temple, he could take anything he wanted. There was simply no one to stop him, to say that it was wrong to do something.

And right now, there was something – someone – in front of him that he definitely shouldn't take. And his mind began to accept it as a challenge.

'But wouldn't stealing the Spirit of Chaos and Madness be much more interesting?' The Master Thief muttered in his mind. 'The First Thief that could steal Vaatu and walk away with him unscathed. I think even the Spirit itself will be impressed.'

Michael's hands began to itch even more. His prosthesis began to twitch under the bandages, the knuckles on his good arm began to burn with renewed vigor.

He realized that he had lost at that moment when the rope that he was holding on snapped under the pressure of his hands.

"... Fuck."

He just stared at the snapped rope before tying the torn pieces together. He hadn't decided yet whether he should make deals with spirits or let any of them into his body, but knowing how much trouble these bastards could bring, he decided to stay away from them. After all, how difficult can it be?

---

The Kyoshi Warriors were fed up with the silence, even if they had no chance against this… Michael. He didn't give them his name, but the girl from the Southern Water Tribe called him that. Suki – without looking at the ten-ton Flying Bison behind her back – casually began the conversation.

"What are you doing on Kyoshi Island? We've stayed out of the war so far, and you don't look like merchants."

Michael seemed distracted by something but quickly returned to reality.

"Ha! No, we are definitely not merchants. The bald kid – Aang – decided that we needed to rest after our long journey and chose this island. We do not belong to the Fire Nation in any way, although I still advise you to strengthen your security anyway. Some say that Prince Zuko's ship is swimming nearby."

Suki just nodded. This stranger advised them to increase their security in their first friendly-ish conversation. Was this an insult or advice? Although he said something about Prince Zuko, could they be related somehow? Either way, she will deliver his words to the Elders.

"Don't you want to introduce yourself? You know my name, but I don't know yours."

Michael looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as if doubting her intelligence.

"... You've been following us for hell knows how long and haven't caught our names? Is this a joke?"

Suki openly pouted.

"That's called being polite! It's common sence to ask someone new their name!"

The Dual Bender waved his bandaged hand dismissively.

"Politeness is overrated. Enemies can be terrified when you call them by name, especially when you shouldn't know it." He said with a cruel smile. "So, when you see a familiar face, you can make them fear you with just a name."

Now, Suki hadn't thought of such a thing before. Her job was to guard one relatively small Island. She hadn't even heard of psychological warfare. What Michael told her was the very basics of it.

"Also, a good deterrent technique is the loss of one or more of their senses. Deprive the enemy of Hearing, Sight, Smell and they will start to panic. I can give a couple of tips on how to do this if you have time."

Suki was now high alert. A complete stranger – about whom she only knows the name and that he is a good fighter – wants to teach her something? Nothing happens in the world just like that, she knew it very well. Some might say that she is a naive girl, but some will forget that she became the head of the Kyoshi Warriors at the age of sixteen. This required not only muscles but also brains.

"I will need to discuss this with the other Warriors, but I think they will be interested." Suki suggested.

Michael just smiled. Why not help your future allies? He will help not only Avatar but also his friends. Well, he came into a world full of war, he will – try to – leave the place better than he found it.

Finally, they reached the village, where Michael once again tried to wake up his companions. To his surprise, this time each of them woke up. He decided to wake up Sokka last so that he had less chance of accidentally insulting someone.

While Katara and Aang were coming to their senses, Michael unconsciously approached Sokka and threw water in his face. The teen woke up but did not jump to his feet as Michael expected. Sokka just glared at Cordato with a strange emotion on his face.

"Where does this strange reaction come from?"

Sokka wiped the drops of water from his face and flung his hand towards Katara in annoyance.

"When you live with a Waterbender, who is also your sister, you get used to water in your face. Oh, Spirits, now I have to put up with three of you!"

He clutched his head in horror and accidentally let his hair down. Michael watched, mesmerized, as Sokka changed from a naive-looking idiot to an attractive-looking young man with this simple act.

The Dual Bender approached Katara and turned her towards her brother.

"Tell me you can see it too."

Katara blinked a couple of times to chase away the remnants of sleep and her jaw hit the floor. Sokka didn't look like an idiot!!

"This… What? How?!"

Katara walked over to Sokka and pulled his hair into a ponytail. Now even Aang was looking at how a hairstyle could change a person. Sokka's face returned to the idiot state again, and Katara let go of his hair so that it fell. The sister looked at her brother for a couple of seconds until he broke the silence.

"What?"

"You look better with your hair down." Katara admitted.

Sokka just gave her a weird look but ended up just tying his hair back up in a ponytail. Michael shook his head and handed Appa's reins to Aang. The Avatar looked at the rope in confusion and turned to Cordato.

"What happened to the rope?"

"... Oops?"

---

After Avatar and his team arrived in the village, events went almost like in the canon. Sokka left to learn how to respect women, Aang began his lesson about what great things are expected of him, and Katara learned what popularity can do to a person.

Michael just looked at it and shook his head. If the universe itself decided to conduct these lessons for the Avatar team, then he would not interrupt it.

The one-armed teenager left the village quickly enough to somehow calm his itchy hands. He couldn't stay in a crowd of people and not start stealing. Moreover, now his appearance attracted too much attention, no one in these parts wore completely black clothes.

With these thoughts Michael stole – yes, he couldn't resist, sue him – a dark green kimono and pants. So, while he looked like any other inhabitant of the Elemental Nations, he was still much higher than everyone else.

The problem was not that Micheal was tall – although he was 6"1' – just everyone else was so short! He could count the people who were taller than him on one hand.

And that was the problem. He couldn't steal if he was so noticeable – his mismatched eyes and bandages on his hands didn't help one bit – so for now Michael decided to calm down and relax in the forest. Zuko will be arriving in a couple of days, so he has time for himself and to help his… team.

Michael felt the wind gently push his hair against his right eye. He smiled sadly and left them where they were.

'Maybe I should start wearing an eye patch, that will make me less eye-catching.'

He sat down next to one of the trees and his feet were buried in the snow. The island was covered with snow this time of year, and although it was not so cold around, Michael preferred warmth. Someplace where he couldn't see his breathing.

"Things don't breathe when they sleep in the snow, Michael Cordato."

A chill ran down Michael's spine and he knew for sure that it was not from a simple draft. Someone spoke to him and the Master Thief froze like a statue. The blood in his veins turned to ice and then to fire. Even his scars began to itch, but Michael knew that in his attempts to get rid of this feeling he would only break his nails.

Ignoring the tense state of the teenager, the voice continued to speak as if to itself, without even waiting for an answer.

"How many have you left to sleep in the snow, hmm? How much have you fed to the howling winds?"

The teenager's palms were clenched into fists. He knew what the voice was talking about and knew the answer.

"None." He spat through gritted teeth.

Michael felt something lean in his ear and laughed viciously.

"We both know that this is not true. Neither the wind nor the snow took the lives of your enemies, yes. But your brothers and sisters did. What you cannot do yourself is always done by someone else. We are watching you, young traveler. We hope you give us an unforgettable show."

Cordato snapped, wind and water blades appeared around him, which in the next second tore his surroundings apart. The teenager stood up, breathing heavily and looking around in search of a voice that he whispered in his ear, but found only the destruction that he caused.

Calming himself, Michael began to think.

'The two most obvious options are: I lost my mind and a Spirit spoke to me. In the first case, I'm fucked. In the second case… I'll need to ask Aang how to kill Spirits.'

The only known way for Cordato to kill a Spirit is to destroy its habitat. The second – theoretical – way involves a shit-ton of Energybending, so for now Michael will have to wait a little longer to develop this.

'If one that whispered in my ear has no place to live, then I may have to destroy his body. I just hope this isn't some crazy concept Spirit.'

Spirits came in a wide variety of sizes and colors. Ancient and powerful Spirits controlled the Concepts that existed from the very beginning of time: life and death, time, elements… If something has a concept, then this Concept has a Spirit that controls it.

Also, Spirits could be magical animals, dead people, plants, and more. Take the Lion Turtle, for example. Even with all his strength, Michael was sure that one of these Beasts would tear him apart with just the power of thought.

'As far as I remember, the Spirits were not particularly dangerous on Aang's journey. Only that time I wasn't a part of Avatar's team.'

Cordato slowly calmed down and got to his feet. The ground within a radius of ten meters was cut to bits, he was sure that it would take some power to rebuild this place.

"Fuck, now some fucking Spirit wants to rip off a piece of my soul. Great."

The teenager shook off the dust from his pants and went to look for Aang to find out how to kill a Spirit.

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