Chapter 9- Love Never Dies

You stood there in shock, staring at the facial or eyes of your father. You raised hand out, but then shook your head and turned around.
"It's a dream, it's a dream, it's a dream, it's just a dream, he's not there, he's dead, I... I killed him, I... killed..." You looked back once more, seeing him standing there, with his warm smile that always made your day.

"Hey little Pebble," He smiled his usual toothy grin, making you finally let tears fall down and a disbelieving shake of your head.
"Dad!" You took a step to reach out for him again, but then stopped, making Twig to coo at you.
"It's not... dad, I'm so sorry," You choked out, trying to wipe more tears away.

"You... you said that I wasn't old enough... to bend- to bend lava... a-and... I did- I didn't listen!" You hiccuped, feeling vulnerable with your surroundings.
"And- and now... well, now you're gone because of me..." Twig rubbed his head against you to comfort you, purring sadly.
"Dad... I should've been the one to die," Looking up again, you saw what you thought was your dad smile sadly.

"Little pebble... you were always so stubborn... but you have a good heart. Never forget that it was never your fault," His voice echoes through the swamp, and with more fog blocking his sight of him, you didn't want him to leave again.
"Dad!" You ran to grab him, but he disappeared within the fog, making you stand in water and wipe more tears from your face.

"Dammit... I let the swamp get to me... why in Roku would I ever think that he was back..." You spat out, now trying to find a way out of here. Twig's ears twitched and he hissed at something coming, but before you could move, you got tackled by something  and it made you fall on your stomach. You groaned in pain, but noticed familiar red and orange clothing.

"What do you guys think you're doing?! I've been looking all over for you!" Sokka yelled as Twig shook off any mud off of him.
"Well, I've been wandering around looking for you!" Katara argued back.
"I've been getting more lost looking you all!" You shouted back with the half truth.

"I was chasing some girl," Aang piped in, getting up.
"What girl?" You asked with your head tilted.
"I don't know. I heard laughing and I saw some girl in a fancy dress," He explained as you picked up Katara from the ground.
"Well, there must be a tea party here and we just didn't get our invitations!" Sokka said sarcastically.

"I thought I saw mom," Katara mumbled, looking down with sadness. You froze at her words, and hugged yourself.
"I saw my dad..." You sighed, with Twig cooing.
"Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here," Sokka suggested.

"You saw something too?" Katara asked him.
"I thought I saw Yue," He looked away with a frustrated, but sadden look.
"But, that doesn't prove anything. Look, I think about her all the time, and you saw mom, someone you miss a lot. And (Y/N), well, she misses her dad a whole lot too," Sokka explained placing a hand on your shoulder.

"What about me? I didn't know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here." Aang argued back, looking around.
"Okay, so where's here? The middle of the swamp?" Katara asked as you looked up to see where you were standing near, which was one huge tree.

"The center," You said in awe.
"It's the heart of the swamp. It's been calling us here. I knew it," Aang smiled, but Sokka shook his head.
"It's just a tree, it can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magical happening here," As soon as he said that, the swamp water rose quickly and a huge monster with vine arms emerged.

You four hugged each other in fear, screaming as it rose it's arm to attack. You separated to avoid getting caught, but then Sokka was grabbed by the monster. You quickly bend the mud in the water to make it let go. The arm was sliced off and it dropped Sokka, turning to you as it swung its other arm.

You jumped into the water as Twig climbed up the tree to avoid the monster. Your eyes widen as it grew back its arm, taking Sokka again and tried to flee. Aang and Katara bended the water to slice the monster, but it kept regrowing. It swiped at them, which caused Katara to push it back with a huge wave.

It hit against a root and Katara separated the water so she could charge at it, but the monster threw her back, and Aang got thrown back as well. It tried to pull Sokka into itself,  but you kept on slicing it to free him. Aang came back to land a powerful air blast against its back, making a hole in its stomach.

You pulled Sokka out of the cut vines, just as the monster refilled its stomach, and threw Aang into the swamp. Katara ran forward and sends more water to slice through, not letting it regenerate. You then saw something inside the monster, a human?

"Hey!! Someone is inside bending the vines!" You shouted, throwing mud to slice through with Katara. The top part of the monster was cut open, and made the vines to surround you two, but Aang came in to send the vines away from the person.
"Why did you call me here if you just wanted to kill us!?" Aang demanded at the man.

"Wait!!" The man stopped bending and the vines fell on top of him.
"I didn't call you here," He explained, making him drop you and Katara.
"We were flying over and I heard something calling to me, telling me to land," Aang told the man, Twig coming down from the trees to land on your shoulder.

"He's the Avatar, stuff like that happens to us a lot," Sokka shrugged with his machete raised.

"The Avatar? Come with me,"

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"So, who are you then?" Katara asked as you all followed Huu on top of a tree branch.
"I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife," He told you four, with Sokka crossing his arms.
"See, completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it," He shrugged while putting away his machete.

"Oh the swamp is a mystical place all right. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan-grove tree. I heard it calling me, just like you did," Huu smiled as he sat down.
"Sure you did. It seems real chatty," Sokka rolled his eyes, making you elbow him.

"See this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles. Branches spread and sink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world," Huu explained,  making you breathe out a 'woah'.
"I get how the tree is one big thing, but the whole world?" You asked him.

"Sure. You think you're any different from me or your friends or this tree? If you listen hard enough, you can hear every living thing breathing together. You can feel everything growing. We're all living together, even if most folks don't act like it. We all have the same roots and we are all branches of the same tree," He smiled fondly, making Twig make a happy noise.

"But what did our visions mean?" Katara asked.
"In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death," His word made you smile, thinking that your dad is watching over you.

"But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met," Aang asked Huu
"You're the Avatar. You tell me," He raised an eyebrow, which made Aang think.
"Time is an illusion. So, it's someone I will meet," That made Huu nod, and Sokka tapped his foot.
"Sorry to interrupt the lesson, but we still need to find Appa and Momo," He explained to you all.

"I think I know how to find them," Aang crouched down and placed a hand on the roots.
"Everything is connected" The arrow on his hand glowed and he opened his eyes after a few seconds.

"Come on! We've got to hurry!"

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You all found Appa and Momo, which they were being captured by other waterbenders. You rescued the two and the benders were part of Huu's clan in the swamp, which had you four near a campfire with them.

Twig chewed on the meat you gave him, while you ate a bug.
"Well, I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going on here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp," Sokka told you all with his arms raised.

"What about the visions?" Katara raised an eyebrow.
"I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug!" He said, taking a bite of the bug.
"But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?" Aang retorted.
"That's Avatar stuff, that doesn't count," He waved his hand at the boy.
"What about the that sucked us down? Did you do that Huu?" You asked the man.

"I can't do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants," He merely shrugged.
"Well, no accounting for weather. Still, there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp," Sokka shook his head and continued eating.

You looked over your shoulder to see the white bird again, screaming like a human before a branch swatted it away, making your eyes widen a little and smile.

"Nothing mysterious here,"
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