Another gift to a friend :)

The Avatar’s secret

Long ago, before there was the war, Avatar Roku roamed and kept the peace of all the land. His legacy was already astounding. There were few who dared to challenge him, nor anyone who would deny the incredible things he had done. However, there was one thing no one knew. One that would alter the course of destiny…

It all started when his dragon got injured. He set off looking for someone to help, and a kind old magician helped him out. Roku did not like magic, because magic was directly connected to the spirit world. If anyone used magic instead of bending, Roku knew it. That was because Roku was the avatar, and the avatar knew everything about spiritual balance.

Roku’s dark hair flowed and got all over his face as the magician revealed he was an air bender.  Why was it that every time he met an air bender he got air shoved in his face? Resisting the urge to sigh, the young man listened to instructions the magician told him and then proceeded to treat his dragon. It was then the kindness faded off of the man and an evil grin showed up, creeping along his face until the grin seemed to stretch wider than humanly possible…and it did. No human could grin like that.

“He heh heh…Avatar. At last we meet face to face. WRE heh heh heee heh!!!” The crackle that came from the man startled the avatar and he quickly brought out his fire from his hands. The dragon growled, but was too injured to help. A fight broke between the two, but it ended just as quickly as it started. The mysterious thing vanished, and then Avatar Roku blacked out, hit by some unseen force.

Little did he know it, that thing wanted to kill him and was just about to succeed if it wasn’t for Roku’s loyal dragon intervening and stomped the ground hard. The spirit’s spell broken, Roku awoke and the spirit materialized in front of him. The Avatar state kicked in and power unlike anything the spirit ever seen trapped him. He wasn’t going to be sent back into the spirit world that easily. He struggled, tugged, squirmed, but couldn’t get out of the powerful range the Avatar state had. Making a last ditch effort, the spirit swelled up like a balloon and exploded, slamming the avatar into the ground. The spirit disappeared and was about to make the Avatar black out, but it wouldn’t work this time. The Avatar state protected Roku, and the spirit gave up trying to kill him and grudgingly became visible again to be caught and sent back to the spirit world.

“Had enough huh? Your time ends here evil spirit. Go back to where you came!” The voices of dozens of avatars spoke, but the spirit grinned again and replied back in a harsh, deep tone.

“You think this is it? You poor human. You may not have died, but I did something to you that you will not forget soon.” With that the spirit screamed out and the energy the Avatar created sent the evil force back into the world where it came from.

No sooner did the threat disappear did the Avatar state diminish. The hard work done, Roku bent down on the ground and breathed heavily. He had never felt so weak! What had this thing done to him? In an almost immediate reply, his eyes started to droop and his nose felt incredibly sore. His nose had turned about as red as the fire he had used earlier and it was angrily twitching in a way that Roku did not like.

“Heh…aa…AH’sshoo!” Roku covered his nose just in time, but pulled it back in annoyance. To catch a cold at this time? It was stupid. He felt so warm that there was no way a cold could’ve wormed its way in! …wait. He did feel warm. Too warm. Roku put a hand on his forehead and then on his cheek. As he expected, a fever was growing and he knew that this was going to be one heck of a cold. The unfortunate thing was, there was no way he could get out of this place until his dragon was recovered.

Roku felt fire burning within him, and he let out his frustration in a massive fire attack towards the sky. All this did was make him suddenly super chilled. Shivering, his nose sniffled and he put his arms around himself. It was only a matter of time before…
“eh…HEK’ssh! H…hh…Eh’KSSho!” The poor young man felt absolutely miserable, and this time since his sneeze was uncovered, fire had burst out of his nose and singed the ground below. That was the trouble of a fire bender. If you didn’t control your actions, your fire would not do what you wanted. A sneeze was a common but unfortunate loss of control of action.

Roku sat next to his dragon, tired and exhausted. His nose wouldn’t let him sleep, for every time he tried the cold would tickle his nose and his poor red irritated nostrils would get more and more ticklish until a sneeze forced its way out. This was sad. How could he be the avatar when a cold got the best of him?

Speaking of getting the best of him, another sneeze was coming on. “Ehh…hehhh…HE’kSShooo! This sneeze was bigger than before, and unknown to him, something else got out of his nose besides fire and a slight messy sneeze. The evil spirit had caused this illness, and now with each sneeze more and more of the spirit’s trick was being released.  It was in the form of black smoke. Undaunted by time, this trick the spirit pulled lasted for over a hundred years. Floating in the air until someone breathed it in. That someone…

“Uncle!! Please I need your help.” The prince of the fire nation, Prince Zuko, was talking to his uncle who was behind bars. When his uncle didn’t respond, he got angry and left in a huff. As Zuko went to his next destination, he grabbed a hood to hide his identity and went into a creepy, old abandoned factory. As he was going to meet what he hoped would be the one to end the avatar, now Avatar Aang, he felt black smog enter into his throat. It felt terrible! Even for a fire bender, smoke was never a good thing to inhale all at once unless you were aware you were doing so. Zuko gagged, then regained his composure and walked ten more minutes til he met…him. The metal combustion man. His armor and his third eye allowed him to create beams of energy at an opponent and explode that energy whenever he felt like it just by thinking. Zuko spoke out, and his own voice surprised him.

“You sure you weren’t followed?” His voice was totally raspy. It sounded like he was getting sick. All of the stress must’ve finally got to him. Well, he had to not do anything to make himself appear weak in front of this guy.

“I hear you’re good at what you do, and even better at keeping secrets. The Avatar is alive. I want you to find him…and end him.” The man stared at Zuko, full of determination and power. It was then that Zuko felt his nose start to tingle. No! Not now. Not before…

“A…aa…” Putting his hand firmly on his nose, he successfully subdued his sneeze…but as the man walked away, the man surprised him with sneezing himself.

“HUHTCChh!” A few hundred feet away, a part of the factory exploded. Good thing this place was abandoned and no one cared about it anymore. Zuko heard the man sniffle. Boy he sounded way sick! Must’ve been holding in that sneeze for awhile by the sound of it.

Zuko smirked, but then felt his own sneeze grow twice as needy as before. His nose squirmed underneath his hand, but the stubborn prince wouldn’t let this cold get the best of him. Too bad this wasn’t an ordinary cold. The need to sneeze simply grew and grew until Zuko’s mind couldn’t stand for anything but the need to relieve himself of this torturous tickle. Moving his hand just a tiny fraction away from his nose, the air sucked into his nostrils and the sneeze took effect.

“Hhh…aaa…HAsshooo! ATshoo!” Luckily his nose was covered, so the sneeze wasn’t able to send fire out. Zuko looked around him, saw that no one was around, and took his hands completely away from his face and he purposely inhaled as much air as he could to sneeze again to get rid of the rest of the itch that was still in there.

“Haa…aaa…HAaAA’Tssho” Being alone, he was free to sneeze like this. Fire streamed out of his nose and it felt amazing to have all the itch gone. Giving a small smile, Zuko walked out of the factory and back towards the capital where he was staying. It wouldn’t be long before he had to see his father again.

Unfortunately, by the time he got to the capital and into the place he lived, his nose was running, his eyes had darker rings under it than usual, and his nose was a stunning bright red. All what he wanted to do was sleep. Like before, however, the spirit’s trick would not let anyone who was infected sleep. Zuko sneezed again and again, it must have been over 50 times before his father came into his room, looking sternly down his impressive nose to his pathetic son…who looked just as pathetic as Ozai imagined his son to be. Ozai simply shook his head in disgust and walked out of the room, but not before Zuko’s nose decided to take over again.

“Hh…aa…HA’TSShoo! …A…H’MPsh!” Zuko, embarrassed that his own father witnessed him showing so much weakness and loss of control, covered his nose with his elbow. It hurt, but not as much as his pride hurt.

As Ozai walked down the corridor, something strange happened. His own nose started to twitch. Ignoring those early warnings, Ozai continued down the hallway to Azula’s room. Of course she was far better off than Zuko. Her flawless, ruthless personality and her lust for power were obvous for Ozai to know. He used those to his advantage. When Azula saw her father, she actually looked puzzled.

“Father? What…” She stopped talking, but her look of concern was troublesome. Looking right where her eyes were, Ozai noticed that they were looking right at his face.

“Is something wrong Azulaa…haaa? His own breathing was off, and Ozai felt like he was gonna…

“Ahh…haaa…ACHOOO!” Ozai watched as fire engulfed half of Azula’s room. Quickly taking control over the flames, he extinquished them. This was an embarrassment Azula would never let down…however, a few minutes later, Azula herself sneezed and set blue flames across her bed. This was only the beginning. For the next whole week the trick the spirit had set caused Ozai, Azula, and Zuko with miserable chills, sneezes, and total loss of control and energy. It was the worst cold any of them had ever experienced.