"Hmm," Aang yawned as he got up, he took a second to look around. The group had settled down in a mountainous terrain, which was honestly perfect for earthbending training. Aang was particularly looking forward to learning that particular type of bending. He had seen all sorts of earthbending tricks from various benders, including his old friend Bumi, and he was more than ready to try them himself. With a grin, he jumped to his feet and looked around, the rest of the team appeared to be sleeping. Katara and Sokka were both in their sleeping bags, and Toph's earth tent was still up as well. Harry was also in his own sleeping bag on top of Appa's saddle and appeared to have just woken up, judging by the way he sat up and rubbed his eyes.
Aang's good mood died down a bit at the memory of what had recently happened. He knew that Harry was a complicated guy, you'd have to be to go against all of the teachings that you've lived with your whole life. Aang couldn't imagine himself going against everything that the monks had taught him. But Harry had done it, risking his own happiness to do so. From what Aang understood, Harry could have had a really cosy life in the Fire Nation and had given that up to do what he thought was right. And if that wasn't enough then he was also engaged to the Fire Lord's daughter, used to be friends with the Fire Lord's son and had broken his relationship with his biological parents. It was obvious to Aang that there was more than what he knew going on, but he knew that Harry didn't want to talk about it, and he didn't want to push and hurt Harry.
To be fair, he also didn't want to risk the fire blasts that would be coming after him as well.
Still, Aang hoped dearly that Harry was wrong about how the war would end, he didn't want to lose his friend. Because that's what he considered Harry to be, a friend. One that he could end up losing if he didn't do something about it.
Aang shook his head and tried to focus on learning earthbending, his mood slowly getting better as he thought about all the earthbending moves he would be able to do. Like the rock slide, the boulder spinner or even the shattered stone shower! His smile slowly reappeared on his face and it grew even wider when Toph's earthbending tent exploded outwards, sending all three parts flying in different directions, waking up Katara and Sokka.
"Goooooodddddd moooorrrnnniinngggg earthbending students!" Toph yelled with a big grin.
"Morning," Harry said dryly before hopping off of Appa and landing on the ground, he gave Appa a pat on the side before walking over.
"Was it absolutely necessary to wake us up like that?" Sokka complained from inside of his sleeping bag. "Some of us need our beauty sleep, you know."
"Some more than others," Katara muttered as she extracted herself from her bag. "Sokka, we slept all night,"
"And real sleep also includes half of the morning as well," Sokka stated in a matter-of-fact voice.
"Oh, sorry sleeping beauty, we'll be really, really quiet," Toph said in an amused voice before slamming her foot hard into the ground. Sokka screamed as he was shot up into the air and landed on his back. He immediately hopped up, still in his sleeping bag and hopped over to Toph, he growled and cursed under his breath before facing Aang and doing the same. He then tried the same with Harry which didn't go well since the firebender decided to push on Sokka's forehead and send him back onto the ground.
"So, what are you going to teach me first?!" Aang asked Toph in an excited voice while Sokka valiantly tried to wrestle himself out of his sleeping bag. "Rock-a-lanche? The Trembler? Oh, maybe I could learn to make a whirlpool out of land!"
"Let's start with moving a rock," Toph said mildly.
"Excellent!" Aang said, just as excited as before.
"I fear the day when you discover coffee," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Okay," Toph said as she stood next to Harry and Aang. In front of them were three large rocks that were a few feet taller than Harry himself. Katara stood at the side, giving Aang and Harry an encouraging thumbs-up. "So I know that you know a bit of earthbending," She said to Harry who nodded in confirmation. "Whilst you know diddly squat about it," She added to Aang who also nodded in confirmation. "Let me tell you a trick then, the secret to earthbending is your stance. You've got to be steady and strong, like a rock. Earth is a stubborn element and it ain't going to yield to no weak-kneed pussy," She stated in a matter-of-fact voice. "Now, if you're going to move it then you got to be like the element. You got to be like a rock."
"Be like a rock," Aang muttered to himself. "Got it," He told Toph with a grin.
"Cool, so the movement itself is pretty simple," Toph said before she turned to the rock and slammed it hard enough to send it flying towards a canyon wall a short distance away.
"Whoa!" Aang gasped and Harry clapped his hands in a show of applause.
"Thanks," Toph grinned. "You two try,"
"I'll give it a go," Harry shrugged before stepping in front of the rock. Taking in a deep breath, he stepped forward and did the same move Toph did with exactly the same results. "That's fun," Harry stated with a smile.
"My turn!" Aang said excitedly before stepping in front of his rock. He took in a deep breath, stepped forward and slammed into the rock the same way that Toph and Harry did, only to end up flying back and hitting a different canyon wall.
"Aang!" Katara gasped. "Are you okay?!"
"I've had worse," He said, getting up to his feet and walking towards the rock whilst staring at it like it was a particularly confusing puzzle.
"I don't understand," Katara said, walking over and stopping next to Toph. "Aang did the same thing that you and Harry did, right? His stance was nearly identical, what did he do wrong?"
"Maybe I need to come at it from a different angle," Aang said thoughtfully.
"No," Toph cut in quickly. "That's the problem, Twinkle-toes. You've got to stop thinking like an airbender. There's no different angle, no clever solution, no trickety-trick that's going to move that rock. You've got to face it head-on. And when I say head-on, I mean like this." She jumped and smashed the rock into dozens of tiny pieces. "See?" She said, turning back to face a stunned Aang. "You have to be stubborn."
"It'll be the same when you start learning firebending," Harry told him. "You do not let the element do what it wants, you control it. If you can control the earth then you can surely handle fire,"
"So I have to face the problems head-on?"
"Sometimes that's the only way," Harry nodded sadly.
Aang frowned, realising that Harry wasn't simply talking about earthbending. He was talking about himself, as far as Harry was concerned, he had to face his problems head-on. But that couldn't be the only way to solve a problem. Surely there was something else, right?
"You look happy," Zuko said in a dry voice as he entered Azula's room, ignoring the giant painting of Harry on the wall. He found Azula sitting at a desk, looking over a scroll with a frown. She turned around and gave him a look that would have sent the average Fire Nation soldier running for the hills.
"Don't you ever knock, Zu-Zu?" She said in an annoyed voice.
"For people who don't annoy me, yes," Zuko nodded as he closed the door behind him and walked over. "Any luck on your front?"
"Father's reply is short and succinct as always," She huffed. "He refuses to tell me anything about Akito and Rio and has forbidden any of us from asking them anything."
"Hmm," Zuko hummed thoughtfully. "That's...concerning."
"You're a master of understatement, as usual," Azula said in a dry and unimpressed voice.
"Shut it," Zuko told her. "The girls have been following and spying on them, but neither of them has heard anything yet."
"Damn," Azula sighed deeply. "Those two are good. If they've not found anything then -"
"Just give them time," Zuko cut in. "Akito and Rio have only been here for a while, they'll still be on guard. They'll ease up, eventually."
"Yes, but when?" Azula huffed as she stood up and began pacing back and forth. "We're constantly tracking Harry and the Avatar, it's only a matter of time before we find them again. What then? Harry's parents might just have ruined any chance we had of capturing the bratty little airbender or getting Harry back. At the very least, they've delayed our plans."
"I know," Zuko said in a patient voice. "But it serves no one if we don't think about this calmly. Uncle Iroh says that -"
"Rocking a boat doesn't make it go faster," Azula cut him off with a groan. "I know. I'll admit that the man is a genius but his constant insistence on handing out proverbs gets old, fast."
"Tell me about it," Zuko snorted. "Still, he's often right."
"As irritating as that is," Azula huffed as she stopped pacing and crossed her arms. "Things are being kept from us, Zu-Zu, important things, things we'll need to know if we want to succeed in this mission."
"We will," Zuko said in a determined voice. "We will get Harry back, Azula, have faith."
"I have very little of that left in me," She sighed.
"Knees high, twinkle-toes!" Toph yelled as Aang continued walking with a giant boulder on his back, it was not made any easier by Toph causing giant pillars to rise up and down around Aang. Aang managed to trip over one and fell to the side, his boulder rolled all the way to Harry who was doing push-ups with a boulder of his own on his back. Harry paused at the top of the push-up and lifted up one hand to stop the boulder in its track, with a push, the boulder went flying back to Aang who yelped and jumped over it right before Toph smashed the boulder into pieces with a grin.
"See, that's the way you do it!" Toph laughed loudly. "Nice job, Harry!" She said before turning back to Aang and giving him a light punch on the arm. "See that, he didn't move, rock-like! That's what you need to be if you want to have any hope of earthbending properly, baldy."
A couple of minutes later, Harry watched as Sokka tried and laughably failed to get his club back from Toph who held him away easily with one arm. The girl was small but she was definitely not lacking in strength. Once Sokka had given up hope and stalked off, Toph had the two of them take turns being blindfolded and they would then try and smash rock pillars that Toph would bring up. She insisted that they do it barefoot to help them develop the same seismic sense that she possessed. That was a large part of why Toph never wore any sort of footwear if she didn't have to, for her it was like being more blind than she already was.
Harry didn't fancy not wearing footwear twenty-four/seven though, while Toph might be used to it, he wasn't. Not to mention that it was entirely possible for them to stumble upon roads that would be less than ideal for those without footwear. Already, Harry was considering etching some runes into his shoes to allow him to feel the ground without taking them off, something that he thought could be handy. Toph's seismic sense technique was very useful and he could see it coming in handy on more than one occasion. Part of him felt it was remarkably similar to feeling his own magic, feeling that energy inside of you and feeling it leave your body as you change reality to your will, just like bending.
After several more rounds of that, Toph finally decided that the two could do with a breather, so the three sat down together with Katara who had been watching the whole thing.
"You're good, probably because you already have some earthbending experience," Toph told Harry. "But I'd hardly say that you're a master at it, you need to be more experienced with it. Keep practising. You at least have the basic idea of it down." She added before turning to Aang. "You, on the other hand, need a lot of work."
"I'm sorry," Aang said despondently. "I just don't...get it, you know, airbending is natural to me. I didn't really have any problems with water."
"Earth is the opposite of air," Katara said softly. "You're working on the opposite of your natural element, it's natural for you to hit some bumps on the way."
"And if you want to get rid of those bumps then master earthbending," Toph said bluntly. "Air is about being all fancy and smart and whatever,"
"Well, it's not exactly like that," Aang frowned.
"Whatever," Toph repeated. "But earthbending is completely different, you have to be direct and strong. Don't avoid the problems, face them head-on. If you don't then you're a pussy and earth bending isn't for pussys!"
"I think we need to discuss your choice of language with HR," Harry said lightly before turning to Katara. "Yes, I do mean you,"
A.N: Hi guys, hope you liked the chapter. A few people have complained about Harry expecting to die, one guest review used the words 'edgy bullshit'.
I will respectfully disagree on that front, as I think it makes perfect sense. You're taking an abused child who suffered through unimaginable horrors during a war that only officially started when he was fifteen, a boy who had been tortured in a graveyard by the murderer of his parents, and then after dealing with a wizarding war he is reborn in another world where he suffers more through events that will be revealed later in the story and is forced to become the ultimate weapon in a new war that he doesn't want to be a part of. This person is then forced to kill large quantities of men and women that he never wanted to kill until he reaches his breaking point and runs away.
If I even accidentily killed someone in real life then I like to think that I would submit myself to the proper authorities and await judgement (I can't say for sure because I've not actually done anything like that yet, maybe in 2026), could you imagine if you had a body count like Harry's? Not to mention if the person in question is also so dangerous and powerful that the authorities doubt they can hold him? I think it's totally reasonable for him to expect to die.