Avatar: The Last Airbender: Double Trouble

Prologue

I groan when I feel someone shaking me and push them away. There is no way it's morning. I don't care which monk wants what. I am not getting up. Hands grab me again and shake harder.

   "Ling, wake up," my twin brother's voice breaks through the fog in my mind and I frown at how upset he sounds. I crack an eye and look up at him. His face shows clear distress and he looks like he's about to cry. I immediately sit up. He rarely called me by my actual name, preferring Lin or any other number a cutesy pie nicknames. Something is definitely wrong.

   "Aang? What's wrong?" I ask, pulling him to sit down next to me. 

   "I don't want to talk about it yet. Can we go for a ride?" I glance out the window of my room. I can see dark clouds in the distance and gnaw on my lip. The air was heavy with the impending storm. I glance back at his face and see the pleading look and sigh.

   "It's going to storm soon. Lets just make sure to make it back before it starts to rain." He nods and we both use airbending to lift up off the bed and onto our feet. I grab my glider and we quietly make our way to flying bison pins. 

   Once we're up in the air, I glance over at him from where I'm perched on Olla. "You gonna tell me what has you so rattled?" I call over. He's sitting on Appa's back, knees to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs. He doesn't look up at me for a moment and I don't push. After a few minutes of silence, I sigh and leap over onto Appa's back. I don't have to worry about Olla veering off course because not only are they tied together by a rope, but Olla is smart enough to stay with Appa. I grab Appa's reins and send him lower so that he's flying just over the water. 

   "Come here. I want to show you something I learned from my trip to the Northern Water Tribe." I'm not technically a monk, I'm only allowed to stay at the temple because when they tried separating Aang and I we both went into a state of depression that only lifted after we'd been together again for a few months and knew we wouldn't be separated again, so I'm able to go nearly wherever I want without complaint from the monks. I like to go to places where there are a lot of benders so that I can study their movements and practice them later when I'm on my own. I haven't made any progress with Earth or Fire, but I'm doing semi okay with water.

   Aang eagerly crawls over to me as I levitate a ball of water in the air, then add two more and start to juggle them, concentrating on my movements and not loosing control of the water. Aang laughs, instantly breaking my concentration and we both get soaked as the water comes down over our heads. We stare at each other for a moment before we both bust out laughing, falling onto our backs. 

   When we finally calm down, we let out twin sighs and stare up at the night sky. This time the silence is more comfortable, not so rigid.

   "The other monks think that Monk Gyatso is coddling me. They decided to send me - us - to the Eastern Air Temple to complete my training. They say I have to be separated from Monk Gyatso," Aang finally tells me after a few minutes. I stare over at him in surprise. After how Aang and I reacted to being separated, I don't understand why they would risk it with Monk Gyatso. They're almost as close as Aang and I are.  

   "Oh, Aang, I'm sorry." I shift to lay my head on his shoulder and wrap an arm around his waist. I'm not particularly close to anyone besides Aang, but Gyatso is like a father to Aang and I know the thought of leaving him is killing Aang inside. He sighs and doesn't look at me. 

   "I guess it's for the best. I need to take my training more seriously, but I just can't imagine it without Monk Gyatso." I struggle to find the right words to soothe the ache I know he's feeling, but I don't know what to say. So I just squeeze him tighter and hope he understands. 

   Eventually, sleep starts tugging me under again and I yawn. I feel Aang kiss the top of my head. 

   "Go to sleep, Lin, I'll take us back home." I nod and curl up in a ball as he takes the reins. I quickly fall asleep. 

   I wake up to lightning and rain pelting down on me. I jerk awake and look around. Aang is pulling on Appa's reins, trying to keep control. I flinch when lighting strikes through the sky again and scramble to my hands and knees. 

   "Aang!" I scream as we suddenly dip. I vaguely hear him call my name as I go flying into the water and everything goes black.