𝐀𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐀𝐑 - MCU

III. DEAD OR ALIVE

III. DEAD OR ALIVE
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You could say that Luna was extremely lucky that she ended up with the people she ended up with. First, Shuri and T'Challa took her in no problem and helped her prepare for her journey and now, her past lives were nothing short of kind and helpful. Except Lee, he was kind of a downer. Maybe because he died at seventeen and saw the world he knew get destroyed.

And then there was Derek. Luna's brother. Every time she saw him, it was like the first time; her mind would have to do a double take to make sure he was actually there, that he was actually alive.

Often Luna had dreamed of this day, when Derek would miraculously come home again and take her away from that boring orphanage and tell her all about his journey. And every morning she would wake up with a mournful ache in her chest.

Yet here he was, in front of her, laughing and talking and most importantly, alive. After their first talk, Derek hadn't stopped apologizing for being absent, especially after hearing how Luna had grown up during their parents' deaths and his disappearance. It took a little while, but Luna finally began to understand that it wasn't his fault. She'd met the spirit that was guarding the Wilds, and they weren't one to make empty threats.

The others, all her past lives, were strangely well-adjusted. They had all lived in such a different time, when knowledge of spirits and bending were wildly spread. The four Avatars had appeared in the ruins fifteen years ago, from what they were able to keep track, which could not have been any sort of coincidence. It was with this knowledge that the group settled on a theory:

When Luna was born, Raava had awoken from her thousand-year-long slumber and chosen the young girl to be her Avatar. And with the waking of the most powerful spirit, the spirit world rumbled, and only at the most spiritual place, where the veil between dimensions was the thinnest, could the Avatars cross over.

Aang had taken the entire evening around a campfire to explain it to Luna, who was ecstatic to finally learn more about herself.

The spirit world was invisible to humans; a dimension that mirrored the Earth, except it crawled with spirits and bubbled with energy. There were four spots around the globe where the veil was so thin that even ordinary humans could feel its presence. The four air temples, in each direction. But only at the southern air temple was this crossing possible; it stood smack in the middle of the Wilds, a forest that had come from the spirit world a thousand years ago.

The four had appeared in order of their incarnation: Aang and Korra, followed by Aoma and Lee. Luna had learned that, besides Derek, they weren't actually there. They were all, in fact, very much dead. But the Avatar is the bridge between the spirit world and the human world, being both spirit and human themselves, which allowed their spirits to find eternal peace in the idyllic planes of the spirit world.

Until Luna was born and the veil opened and sucked them through; one Avatar from each nation of Air, Water, Earth and Fire.

Strangely enough, Luna found herself getting along great with her past lives. Most of the time it would take her a while to warm up to new people, or the new people to her, but there seemed to be no barriers holding her back this time. There was something different about it. They had shared certain experiences, went through the same stuff. They had all felt the responsibilities of being the Avatar.

In the days Luna had stayed at the temple, she'd been hearing stories of big heroics, or interesting backstories (like how Aoma was a sand bender smuggler since she was young, or Lee being part of the fire nations' royal family). In return for their stories, they had demanded Luna's. Or more accurately, Derek was forcing her to tell them what happened and how she had gotten there in the first place.

At first, it had made Luna uncomfortable, and a little shy, it was her responsibility to introduce a whole new world to these people. But she'd rather talk about the newest advances in technology than herself. Especially when Korra had freaked out when she learned that she and Derek were siblings.
          
Luna resisted, until Derek didn't stop bothering her for it.