Avatar The Last Airbender Fan Fiction ❯ Doppelganger ❯ Questions Asked ( Chapter 2 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. Nickelodeon does.

 

Doppelganger

 

Chapter Two

 

. . .

 

“We can't stop for long. They will send more troops after us; so rest quickly.” The stranger said as the four of them stopped to catch their breath. It must have been almost midnight and there was a near-full moon out, allowing a cool blue glow to filter through the trees. “I'm going to look at the area around us. I'll return momentarily.” With that said, the man scaled a nearby tree.

 

Sokka turned to the dark figures of Aang and Katara and whispered, “Are we sure we can trust this guy? I mean he is obviously a firebender. We can't trust a firebender!”

 

A quieted sneeze sounded from the tree's canopy.

 

“Well, sure he's a firebender… but I don't think he's with the fire nation.” Aang said, looking up at the trees. “And if he's not, maybe he can teach me some firebending!”

 

Katara threw in her two cents. “I agree; I don't think he's with the fire nation either. I mean if he were he wouldn't have helped up escape. And he wouldn't have…” She paled slightly. “Killed those soldiers…” She finished, her voice barely above a whisper.

 

Up until then, they hadn't seen anybody get killed. They had escaped everything they had gone through without killing anybody. And there it happened; they saw somebody get slaughtered right before their eyes.

 

Katara stole a glance at Aang. He was looking at the ground now, as if trying to find an answer to all of his problems in the dirt and leaves. He was what, twelve? He was certainly too young to witness death. Sure he was the Avatar, but all the same, he had been forced into too much at his age.

 

She then looked at her brother. He was a mask devoid of emotion. She could only guess at what he was thinking. She was sure he was shocked the least by it.

 

Her own thoughts, though, were conflicting. She was frightened; there was no denying it. But there was something else there. She couldn't identify it but she knew it was there. This man that they were with, were they going to be same with him? Was he part of the fire nation?

 

In their silence the man had dropped down from the canopy and landed beside Sokka and Katara. Katara let out a stifled “Eep!” and Sokka lurched a few feet to the side. The stranger ignored them.

 

“I say we have about 5 minutes or so before they get close enough to find us here.” He whispered. Looking at the three fire nation heretics, he sighed. ”Do you have any questions at all?”

 

Sokka spoke at once. “Are you fire nation?” He asked with a dead seriousness. Aang and Katara stiffened, waiting for his response.

 

“No. I am not part of the fire nation.” Came the response, with the same seriousness.

 

“But you are a firebender.” Aang queried equally serious.

 

“If you mean that I can firebend… then yes, I am a firebender. Anything else?”

 

The air was quiet for a moment then it was broken.

 

“What is you name?” Katara whispered. She looked strait into the man's eyes, trying to find the answer herself.

 

He was silent for a few seconds before answering. “Kyle. My name is Kyle.”

 

“Why are you helping us Kyle?” Katara finished.

 

Kyle looked at her hard, then turned his gaze to Aang, then Sokka. “I have a personal grudge against the fire nation. I'd rather not say anything more than that. And I suggest you don't ask.” That pretty much ended that subject.

 

After a few seconds Kyle cocked his head to listen. ”Here they come, lets get going.”

”How can you tell?” Sokka asked; he couldn't hear a thing except the slight breeze through leaves.

 

“Trust me.” He smirked slightly and brushed off his duster, standing up. “We'll talk more when we get a good distance away from the fire nation.”

 

Aang spoke up. “We should get to a clearing, I can call Appa. Then he'll pick us up and we can escape.”

 

Kyle cocked his eyebrow. “Appa?”

Aang cracked a grin. “Yea, my flying Bison!”

 

“… You're flying…. Bison… Ok…” He said slowly and shook his head.

 

Sokka laughed. “Yea that's what I thought when I first heard that.”

 

“There they are!” A voice yelled from the darkness, followed by numerous yells.

 

The four travelers set off at a fast jog, as not to catch any footfalls in the darkness. From the sounds following them, Kyle judged that there were two dozen soldiers behind them.

 

“Shit.” He cursed under his breath. How was he going to get out of this one intact? In a matter of speaking, of course. He could actually try, but that would run the risk of being found out. Well one thing was for sure; he wasn't going to let the fire nation kill more people if he could help it. And god as his witness, he was not going to get the Avatar get killed. He then heard a high pitched whistle. He slowed his pace to cover his ears.

 

Aang took the whistle away from his mouth. “Appa should be able to pick us up from here, we just have to wait.” Katara and Sokka caught their breath and began to search the sky for their large furry friend. Kyle joined the group and looked to the direction of the soldiers.

 

“You'd think they'd get tired of chasing after us, huh?” He laughed rather grimly and looked at Aang. “What are we waiting for?”

 

Aang blew the whistle again, making Kyle wince. “We're waiting for Appa. He can hear this Bison whistle.” Kyle sighed and nodded.

 

“Fine then. I'll hold off the soldiers until you Appa gets here.” With that, he disappeared into the trees. Sounds of screams sounded out and bursts of flame shooting in every which way could be seen in the darkness.

 

Aang turned away from the sounds and continued to blow the whistle. Sokka gripped his boomerang so tightly it felt like his cuticles were bleeding. Katara grimaced and felt her insides squirm. She didn't think she would get used to death for a long time. Just who was this person? Something about him made her curious, though.

 

With a soft roar, Appa came souring down from the clear sky and landed in the middle of the clearing. Aang jumped on his head and Katara climbed up followed by Sokka.

 

“Kyle! Come on, were getting out of here!” Katara yelled to the dark trees. A second later The trio saw Kyle's dark figure jump from the trees, his long coat fluttering in his wake, and land on Appa's harness.

 

He cleaned off a uniquely shaped sword he had in his grasp with the tail of his coat, leaving a bloody streak in the fabric, and quickly sheathed the blade in a scabbard attached to his waist. Then he brought his arm to his face and wiped his sleeve across his mouth, cleaning off blood smeared across his mouth and face.

 

With a “Yip! Yip!” Appa jumped up and soared off into the clear indigo sky.

 

Sokka broke the silence. “How did you make that jump? Appa is at least ten feet tall.”

 

Kyle sighed and looked at Sokka. “Apparently, I'm a good jumper.”

 

Sokka growled and fell silent. Things were quiet again for another few minutes.

 

“We should find someplace to set up camp for the rest of the night. I don't know about you guys but I'm tired.” Katara stretched her arms above her head, letting out a soft yawn.

 

Kyle eyed Katara for a second and placed his hand on his shoulder, rubbing it roughly. “Agreed. It is late. I could also use a rest.”

 

The four travelers continued flying through the sky until they reached a small clearing alongside a river. They landed Appa on it and disembarked. After setting up a couple tents, Aang brought a bundle of sticks and branched from the nearby trees. Saka started to spark his boomerang against a rock when Kyle snorted and flicked a tiny flame at a small stick, enflaming it. Soon, the flicker grew to a fire, illuminating the small camp.

 

“Well… that works too.” Sokka sulked and threw the rock into the woods.

 

Surrounding the fire, Aang, Sokka, Katara, and Kyle sat and let out a collective breath.

 

“Well this has been quite the night, hasn't it?” Kyle chuckled. Aang, started to laugh, but it fell flat. He didn't know what to think. What happened to them that night?

 

“Why did you kill those soldiers?” Katara whispered.

 

Kyle stared at Katara; his icy look piercing her soul. She suddenly felt cold. Katara shivered quickly.

 

“Pardon me for a short while. I'm going to clean off my coat.” Kyle stated, standing up. Saying nothing else he walked to the river, stripped off his duster, and dunked it into the near-freezing water. After a minute he pulled the coat out of the water and threw it over a branch, allowing it to dry. Groaning, he saw that some blood had gotten through to his shirt. He pulled the dark brown shirt over his head and pushed it under the water and after a few seconds, he pulled it out and placed it next to his coat.

 

Walking over next to the fire, he unhooked his sword from his waist and placed I next to where he sat, and dropped his knives next to his sword. Now finished unburdening himself, Kyle sat back down next to the fire.

 

“I killed them because they would have killed you if I hadn't. The fire nation has killed too many already. I didn't want to let more die by their hands if I could help it.” He finished his explanation and brushed his bangs out of his eyes.

 

Sokka rested his chin on his hands. “That's not all. You had a good reason for helping us, didn't you?” He was sharp; Kyle gave him that.

 

Katara wasn't even following the conversation. She was staring at Kyle openly. He wasn't wearing a shirt. She couldn't help but stare. He was stunningly built. It must have taken him his whole life to achieve a body like his. Her brother didn't come close. He exercised, sure, but Kyle was… hot. She couldn't think of any other explanation. He was, Katara noted, extremely pale though. She was jolted back to reality when he said the next sentence.

 

“What like that your young friend is the Avatar? I know that.” Kyle smirked. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”

 

“How did you know I am the Avatar?” Aang asked, staring at the ground.

 

“I could tell by the was you walk. I haven't seen anybody else walk and act like you do since…” He shook his head and coughed. “But that was only half the reason. I knew there was a waterbender in your midst as well.” His gaze fell on Katara, who blushed lightly. “I couldn't let two young benders get eliminated by the fire nation.”

 

Sokka laughed. “Young? You aren't much older than us man.”

Kyle sighed. “I'm older than I look, you. Hell, I just realized, I don't even know your names. Well, I've told you mine. Do you mind sharing yours?”

 

“I'm Aang!” Aang said with a grin. “Thanks for saving us, Kyle. That was some awesome bending.”

 

“I thank you, Avatar.” Kyle replied, bowing his head slightly.

 

“Call me Aang” The young monk laughed and poked his pet lemur that just had jumped on his head.

 

“Very well, Aang.” Kyle's mouth slid into a small smile.

 

“I'm Sokka, of the southern water tribe.” Sokka introduced himself and held his hand out, which Kyle took, shaking it.

 

He turned to the young waterbender. “And your name is?” He smiled with his eyes. She realized, in this light, his eyes glowed a light blue. She then couldn't speak. Kyle waited patiently for her to speak.

 

“Um… K-Katara.” She whispered quietly. Kyle smiled and took her hand bowed slightly to her.

 

“It's always a pleasure to meet fellow benders.” He said in a soft tone. “Well, now that names are out of the way, do you have any more questions for me?” He brought his hand up to his face, rubbing his jaw smoothly.

 

“Ok, just who are you?” Sokka asked, curiosity getting the better of him. There was something about Kyle that didn't seem right.

 

Kyle smiled and leaned back on a rock behind him. “Well, lets see… As I said before, my name is Kyle. I don't really have a surname anymore. I'm kind of a wanderer. I've been on my own most my life. I was born in a small town in one of the small islands offshore off the earth kingdom. I believe, if I remember correctly, the name was… Gehlair.”

 

“But you're a firebender. Why weren't you born in the fire nation?” Aang asked, cocking his head to the side.

 

“Ah, that would be true, if my parents were firebenders themselves. But my parents were not of the fire nation. I… didn't have any bending talents when I was born.” He finished hesitantly, not wanting to divulge mush on this subject.

 

“But how can you firebend if you weren't born with the ability?” Katara asked. Nobody could just learn bending. They had to be born with it; like she was, and Aang was.

 

Kyle didn't say anything for a solid minute. He had been through this before. “That is another story for another time. You should make it a point to ask me later.” Sokka, Aang, and Katara looked questioningly at him, but understood and dropped the subject.

 

“Ok, so last question from me…” Aang let out a great sigh. “How long are you going to travel with us?”

 

Kyle smiled. ”As long as you want me too. I'm not a teacher, mind you. But if you want, I can teach you some firebending.” Aang let out a cry and jumped up and down, His pet Momo went gliding out of the way. Kyle laughed and quickly halted, closing his mouth. “I'll remind you, I'm not a teacher. I mostly taught myself stuff. But I'll be glad to help the Avatar.”

 

Katara saw it though. When Kyle had laughed. She was something she almost didn't believe. Two of his teeth were longer than most; like fangs. She shivered again. What did that mean?

 

“Well I think it's time we took a rest. We have to go to the North Pole before the end of the week.” Sokka stood up, and stretched.

 

“The north pole?” Kyle asked, and shifted uncomfortably. “What for?”

 

“We need to find a waterbending master for me to learn from.” Aang replied. He sat on his sleeping bag and slipped inside of it.

 

Kyle twisted his mouth in a grimace. “Ah, alright then. That… makes sense.” He would definitely have to tell them before they got to the North Pole. Things could get ugly if he didn't.

 

The four of them split up and lay down to rest. Except Kyle, he stayed by the fire, staring into its cinders. “I'll keep watch for a while”. He said to his charges. He reached his hand out to the flames. A small stream of fire was pulled from the rest and gathered at Kyle's hand. It rested in his palm for a second or two, then surrounded his hand, making it seem like his hand was made of fire.

 

“That's a cool trick.” Aang mentioned. His face seemed aglow with wonder. ”Can you teach me that?”

 

Kyle released a small smile. “Sure, whatever you want to learn, I will teach.” With that Aang laid his head down and closed his eyes. Kyle let out a small sigh. How does he keep getting himself into these messes?

 

“I still don't trust you completely.” Sokka said, his eyes closed. This made Kyle chuckle and shake his head.

 

“Duly noted.”

 

Kyle looked at Katara, she was staring up at the stars. Her face was emotionless. What was she thinking, or feeling. He could never know what others were thinking. It was never one of his strong points. He mostly just kills people.

 

After a few seconds, he followed her gaze to a particular constellation. “That's the Big Dipper.” He said, looking where she was.

 

“Is that what it's called?” Katara replied. She paled, she almost said, `Why do you have fangs?' What would he have said if that slipped out? God… she didn't know.

 

“I'm sorry if I scared you today. I wasn't aware you where new to killing. I've gotten so used to it I didn't think. You have my apologies.” Kyle said, in a consoling voice.

 

“It… It's alright. It was bound to happen sometime.” Katara replied. Damn it, she was stronger than this. She rolled over, facing away from Kyle, and shut her eyes.

 

Kyle sighed silently and stood up. Shit, he was tired, so very tired. He could never rest, though. He walked over to the water and sat on the bank. He had met the Avatar again. He would help him again. Looking down at the water, he made a circle with his index finger and a tiny stream of liquid floated up and rotated around his hand. The water then flattened out and spread across his hand, coating the hand in a thin layer of water. Smiling, he looked from one hand to the other. Fire… water… one was surrounded in flames, one was lined with water. What fun, indeed.

 

After letting the water glide back into the river, Kyle walked over to the fire and threw more wood into it, stoking it for a longer period of time. He released the fire around his hand back into the blaze and lay back on the dirt, looking up at the lightly clouded sky.

 

. . .

 

The sun shot through a gap in the trees, illuminating the river, sending sparkles glittering through the trees surrounding the water. A water bird landed on a rock in the middle of the river. It searching in the quickly moving water and suddenly, speared its beak in the liquid, pulling out a fish. It flew off as fast as it had come.

 

Katara slowly opened one of her eyes, and closed it quickly. “It's… really… bright…” She groaned.

 

“About time you guys woke up.” Came a voice to the side, shocking Katara.

 

Letting out a quiet yelp, she shot up and, swaying somewhat, fell back down on her backside. With the sudden fall, she remembered all that had happened the night before.

 

“Oh yea… I remember now.” She coughed and sat back up and shook her head, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

 

“What, you remember that I'm still here?” Kyle chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm still here.” He pulled his shirt over his head and straitened in on his torso. “Yay… finally dry.” He touched his coat. “But that's not yet.”

 

Katara stepped out of her bag and folded it up. She then let out a quiet yawn and stretched. “Where are Aang and Sokka?”

 

Kyle pointed to the now-out campfire. “Still fast asleep.” Sure enough, they were out like lights. Sokka was snoring and Aang blew small torrents of air from him mouth.

 

“Ah. Well what time is it?” Katara smiled at the young airbender.

 

Kyle looked at the sun, a pained from upon his face. “Judging from the position of the sun… I'd say it's about six in the morning.” He pulled his sword and attached it to the belt on his hip, followed by his knives. The weapons caught Katara's eye.

 

“So… Where did you get those?” She asked, albeit hesitantly. Kyle looked up in mild surprise.

 

“Get what?” He asked. He knew perfectly well what she meant. He just didn't really want to go into detail. Katara pointed to his sword. It was a little short to be a Katana, and it was more curved as well. “Ah well… I got it from the… person who taught me firebending.” This caught Katara's interest.

 

“Really? What was he like?” She asked, clearly getting into the conversation.

 

 

Kyle frowned slightly. She was just asking out of curiosity. “Well… She was very kind.” He retorted, making Katara look away in embarrassment, mumbling an apology. “She was not part of the fire nation either. She was an excellent swordswoman, as well as a brilliant firebender. When we… parted ways… she gave me her sword to remember her by.” He finished, stroking the scabbard slowly.

 

Katara smiled. “She sounds like a great teacher. What about those?” She pointed to his knives. “Those are odd shapes for knives.” The knives looked like regular daggers but the blades were bent forward, slightly like small sickles. This actually made Kyle smile and he took one out.

 

“These are called `Kukri'. They are exotic blades specially designed for throwing, stabbing and slashing.” He tossed it in the air, catching it expertly by the hilt. He then held it out to Katara, hilt-first. Katara took the blade and examined it. It was a nice, heavy weight and had odd designs carved into the wooden handle. It also had symbols she couldn't figure out chiseled into the blade.

 

“What are these?” She asked, motioning to the symbols.

 

“Those symbols are actually a language from the eastern continents, beyond the Earth Kingdom.” He replied and accepted the blade back from the waterbender. I got it from the person who taught me ear-… er... the person who taught me hand-to-hand combat. She was also a genius at close combat.” He started to feel a little unconvertible with this conversation. “What about you? Where are you from?” He asked, wanting to change the topic.

 

Katara smiled, remembering her home. “My brother and I are from the south water tribe. We were born there.”

 

“When did you find out that you could waterbend?” Kyle asked, flipping his knife around his hand, his fingers flying.

 

Katara laughed quietly, not wanting to wake Sokka or Aang. “When I was about 10 I think. My brother and I were out fishing and he caught something. We never found out what. But he started reeling it in and I was pulling on the line, trying to help him. Just then, the line snapped. I fell back into the boat but Sokka was pulling so hard, he rolled back and out of the boat into the water.”

 

“Ouch.” Kyle winced. Water that cold had to hurt.

 

“Yea. It hurt. So I was yelling his name, as if he could hear me… I was really scared that he would die under the water. I don't really remember what happened, I was like I was watching from somewhere else, but I could see myself wanting the water to bring Sokka back. I wanted my brother to be ok. After a few seconds the water seemed to hear me and it kind of pushed Saka out of the water and dropped in of the boat. I don't remember the details but we returned to the tribe and I told my Grandmother what had happened. She told me about my waterbending heritage and from that moment on I knew. And Sokka was sick for a week after that.” She finished with a laugh.

 

“That's one of the odd things of life. Sometimes when you really want something… life lets us have it. But sometimes it doesn't end up that way.” Kyle ended with a brittle smile. With that he stood up, and saying something about there being a small spring nearby and wanting to wash off the rest of the blood from last night, walked into the woods.

 

After a few minutes, Katara had packed up the spare things from their campsite and by that time, Aang had sat up with a loud yawn.

 

“G'morning, Katara…” He looked around. “Where's Kyle?” He stood up and rolled up his bag.

 

“He said something about washing the rest of the… blood off him. It seems he found a spring nearby.” She replied, drawing a sphere of water out of the river. She manipulated the sphere of water over to her brother's sleeping body and let it hover over him for a moment, then let it fall.

 

The water splashed on Sokka's face and, sputtering and yelling, he jumped out of his bag and writhed on the dirt, yelling, “Where's the fire nation!” Aang and Katara burst out in laughter at Sokka's reaction. “You guys stink.” He said blankly. Looking around, he was about it say something when Katara interrupted him.

 

“He went to take a bath in a nearby spring.” Sokka nodded and shook his head, spraying water everywhere. The action reminded Katara vaguely of a dog. She stifled a giggle and looked at the river. “I'm getting kind of hungry. We should get some food.”

 

“Already taken care of.” Came Kyle's voice as he dropped down from the trees. He landed on the ground and dropped a burlap sack on next to him. He opened it and began to pull things out. There was a couple fish, a few handfuls of berries, some fruit that look kind of like mangoes or pears, and another few handfuls of nuts. “When wandering around for years, you learn to forage quite well.” He explained with a small smile.

 

The travelers dug in and with the help of Kyle to spit-roast the fish, they had the biggest breakfast they had eaten in a week. Katara noticed that Kyle wasn't eating. “Aren't you hungry, Kyle?” He shook his head blankly and walked over to his coat.

 

“Yay… finally dry.” He cheered blankly and pulled it off the branch, twirled it around in an extravagant fashion and pulled his arms through the sleeves. Finally having his coat on, he pulled his arm across his body, emanating a loud `pop' from his shoulder joint.

 

“Hey, I got a question for you.” Sokka asked. Eyeing Kyle's duster suspiciously.

 

“Ask away.” Kyle replied.

 

“Yesterday, when the fire nation officer shot at you, you blocked the flames with your jacket. How come it didn't get destroyed?”

 

Kyle laughed loudly. “Ah, yea. Well I had this jacket made from fire resistant materials. I stayed up in the North Pole for a few years and they made me this to protect me from fire. Its… enchanted by the water spirit.” He finished with a mysterious tone.

 

“You've been to the North Water Tribe?” Katara asked.

 

Kyle nodded. “Yep. This jacket is one of a kind, because the maker is now… deceased.”

 

The four of them were quiet for a while. Then Aang stood up and stretched. “Hey, Kyle, could you teach me some stuff before we go?”

 

Kyle looked at Aang for a few seconds. “Sure, I can start to teach you the basics before we continue.” He stood up and cracked his neck with a quick jerk. “Follow me.”

 

. . .

 

A/N: Lets see how good Kyle really is at firebending… Read and Review plz!