When Worlds Collide: Book One, Water

All of the Avatars. The room was massive, and all of the statues gave me a weird feeling.
Like I didn’t belong. And, I guess in a way, I didn’t. I was an outsider to this world, and totally didn’t belong.
Everyone went ahead, but I froze in the doorway, my feet unwilling to go any further.
“Well come on,” Sokka said, noticing my hesitation and looking at me weird.
I took a step back, shaking my head. “I-I can’t,” I told him. “I have no right being here.” Of course, I didn’t mean here, in this room, I meant here in general.
Sokka furrowed his brow.
Even if he was a couple years younger than me, I couldn’t help but notice he was cute. Wait, what? No. He had Sukki. Besides, I didn’t even like him. I just meant that he was... well, cute I guess, but that’s it. I swear.
And what with Cody and all...
Yea, no more boys for a while.
“Sam...?” Sokka said. “Are you okay?”
“What? Oh, yea, totally fine. I just... I mean...” I faltered. How do I finish that sentence? Yea, I just got into a car accident and somehow I ended up in a completely different world? Cause that makes perfect sense...
“Sam...?”
I sighed. Since I’m here, and I have no clue how to get back... “Actually, no. I’m not okay. There’s something that I need to tell you...”
“...they’re you’re past lives!” we heard Katara say, and I silently thanked her.
Sokka rolled his eyes and walked over to her. “Past lives? Come on, do you really believe in that stuff Katara?”
While the others where admiring the statue of Avatar Rokku, I quietly snuck away, choosing to walk around the courtyard. I sat down on the ground, looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful blue, with few clouds in the sky.
Next thing I know, a lemur, Momo I realized, ran past me, Aang hot on his trail. I jumped up, knowing what would follow. I started to reach out for him, but stopped myself. you can’t stop it I told myself. It had to happen. I waited for Sokka to come by, and followed him.
He stuck his head threw the grass curtain and-before I could stop him- said, “Hey Aang, have you found my dinner yet?”jokingly.
I gasped when I saw Aang kneeling on the ground, his head in his hands.
“Aang, I really wasn’t going to-“ I nudged him and pointed to all the Fire Nation armor sitting on the cold ground. “Oh man...,” he said. “Come on Aang,” he said putting a hand on the monks shoulder, “let’s get out of here.”
Before either of us could do anything, Aangs tattoos started to glow. The wind started to pick up, and I knew that we had to find cover. Before I could say or do anything, a ball of air surrounded Aang and Sokka and I were thrown back.
“What happened?” Katara’s voice was behind us, and I could tell that she was yelling just to be heard.
Sokka and Katara exchanged a few words that I couldn’t hear. Next thing I know, Katara started to make her way to Aang.
My hair whipped into my eyes, and I could just barely make out the comforting words Katara was saying to Aang. He started lowering to the ground, and I sighed in relief.
“We’re not gonna let anything happen to you,” Sokka said, “promise.”
Katara took Aangs hand, he collapsed.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and sighed. “I really am the last Airbender.”

Later, Aang went back into the Avatar room, while Sokka, Katara and I started to pack things up. After we were done, Katara went to go get Aang.
“Sam...,” Sokka started, while I was finishing tying one of the sleeping bags onto Appa.
“Yea?” I asked.
“Earlier... in the Avatar room... you were going to say something,” he said, looking at me. I sighed, looking down.
Finally I looked up at him. “I will tell you. Not now, when the other two get back. But I promise I’ll tell you.”
He pressed his lips together, but nodded. “Okay.”
We both turned when Aang and Katara started walking towards us. I watched as Sokka went to meet his sister, and Aang went over to Appa. I quietly slipped off to the side, letting everyone speak to their loved ones. I went over to a rock and sat down on it, thinking.
Why was I here? Was I really a water bender? Were my grandparents okay? Why was I here?
Minutes later, Aang called me over. “Meet our newest family member, Momo!” he announced.
I smiled at the adorable creature sitting on Aangs shoulder. I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped me when the lemur stole Sokka’s food, and then we were off.
Once we were high in the air, Sokka turned to me. “So...,” he trailed off, and I sighed.
“I guess I kinda have to tell you now,” I muttered, ignoring the stares that the water and air bender were giving me.
“I... I kinda have something to confess. A lot of things actually,” I told them. “I’m... not from Kangaroo island, to start off with. And second, the reason why I was on Zuko’s ship is not because I was prisoner. I-“ I was cut off by Sokka.
“Please tell me that you’re not a spy,” he said, looking hurt.
“No! Of course not!” I rushed. “I just meant, that he happened to save me from drowning, and that was how I got on his ship... you see, I’m... I’m kinda from a different... world.”
I paused, and studied their reactions. At first, shocked silence. Then, Sokka jumped up and attacked me.
“I knew it! You are a traitor!” he said. He straddled me so I couldn’t get up.
“How could you do this to us?” Katara looked at me with hurt in her eyes.
“No, I didn’t! I swear! I was with my grandparents, in the car, and then a truck hit us, and I was falling, and-“
“I believe you.”
Three words. Those three words killed the next words on my tongue, and time froze.
“What?” Sokka and Katara said in unison.
Since Sokka had me pinned to the ground, I couldn’t see Aang from where I was.
“Once... the monks told me of different realms. That we weren’t alone. I thought they were stories, but... I believe you.” Aang said.
I sighed in relief. They would believe me. I didn’t have to lie anymore. I could-
“Prove it.” Sokka said.
“What?” I asked.
“Prove it,” he repeated, and from the corner of my eye, I saw Katara nod in agreement.
I sighed. “How?” I asked.
“Um...,” Sokka turned to the other two. I saw Katara shrug, but I still couldn’t see Aang.
I rolled my eyes. “Well? What do you want me to do? Tell you a story? Tell you about cell phones?” I snorted. “Zuko about flipped when I mentioned a truck to him and he had no clue what they were.”
“Ooh!” I heard Aang yell. “I want to hear a story!”
Sokka rolled his eyes. “A story won’t prove anything.”
“What if the story was about you? And your guys future?” I said.
Sokka narrowed his gaze at me.
Crap. What did I just do?! No, no, no! I widened my eyes. “Never mind. Forget I said that! I was kidding, um, you know, hahaha. It’s what us teenagers do in the 21st century,” I was rambling. “You know, you guys do it too, I mean, Sokka, you’re big on sarcasm, yea? So is my friend Ali. She’s always being a joker, you know, I just-“
“Sam!” Katara shouted, shutting me up.
I chewed on my lip. “Sorry,” I muttered. “But really. How can I prove to you? And Sokka. We’re thousands of feet up. I really don’t think that its even possible for me to even try to escape. Not that I would of course.”
He blushed, realizing that he still had me pinned to the ground. He quickly got off of me, and I sat up.
“You know... the monks told me a story one time. They said that only people from the other realm knew of it,” he said. “If you can tell us the story, that would be enough proof.”
I raised my eyebrow. “You know how many stories we tell a day? We have thousands of fairytales, millions of books. I could tell you every story I know, but that would take a long time.”
“This one was a fairytale I think,” he said, looking at me. “It was about a girl lived with an evil step mother and step sisters. And she-“
“Did all of the chores, and everything. One day, there was a ball,” I started to tell the story of Cinderella. I smiled as I told the story, and my voice was filled with energy. Cinderella was my favorite story of all time. “And then, the clock struck twelve. The beautiful carriage was once again a pumpkin, and the horses became her little mice friends again. She made it home with plenty of time to spare, and waited for her step mother and step sisters to come home.
The next day, a man came to her home. He had one of Cinderella’s slippers that she had lost. The slipper didn’t fit on any of her step sisters, and then it was finally her turn. It fit perfectly. She was then whisked off to the palace and her and the prince got married. They then lived happily ever after,” I finished.
Katara looked dazed, like she was in the story book. Aang was smiling, and Sokka looked slightly confused, but happy all the same.
“So...,” I started, looking at Aang, “did I pass my test?”
He grinned. “Definitely.”