Work Text:
16 BSC (Before Sozin's Comet)
In the Spirit World, two sisters flank by a large table, little sparks of energy floating in and around them. Some flash colors of blue, green, and red. Others display no colors at all.
One sister stares at the tiny souls: the water souls, the fire, and the earth. Thousands of specks dash around aimlessly, some shining brighter than the others.
The other sister focuses on one soul in particular, one that happens to be of water.
Fate turns to her sister. She asks, “Who will it be?”
Destiny sets a finger to her lips, eyebrows scrunched. “I’m not sure yet,” she says. “It has to be someone special, for a soul like hers.”
Fate rounds the table of little specks, lives that float in between the siblings. "She's the last waterbender in the South, right?" She frowns. "If so, we are definitely not pairing her up with another water soul."
"Agreed." The sisters stray away from the azure spots, moving towards the ones that bleed jade.
She points at one spot, who shines differently than the others, an array of colors surrounding it. “This one, maybe?”
Destiny looks over for a moment, before shaking her head. “No. That one will be needed for much more. That one is the next avatar.”
“What’s wrong with a little avatar love?” Fate smirks.
“He will give this one an adventure, I’m sure,” Destiny muses. “But that soul was meant for a different time. and you know it.”
Fate ponders over this, before nodding slowly. “You’re right. It can’t be the one. There must be another…” She pauses. “Wait, when are we waking up the avatar soul, by any chance?”
“In due time, Fate.” her sister answers. “The heroes have to be borne first.”
“Well, this soul will be one of those ‘heroes,’” Fate says, tapping the floating light. “But it needs someone grand, someone that not even the avatar can compete with.”
The sisters round the table again, searching for the perfect soul. Fate passes one that spills passion and desire, but also a hint of despair & vengeance waiting beneath.
“Not that one,” Destiny says, “That one will tarnish & play her. It will be a catalyst to open her eyes.”
“I bet it’ll be cute.” Fate muses. She touches the colorless soul. A nonbender, but nonetheless destined to meet this water soul during her journey. “Oh yeah, this one will be a lady killer.”
“He will also be the first person to betray her.”
“Oh, now that’s harsh.”
“It will teach her,” Destiny crosses her arms, giving her sister a look. “It will help her learn to guard her heart carefully. Much like the rest of these passionate water souls need to do.”
Fate stares at the colorless soul for another moment, before turning away. They resume their walk around the table of souls.
Destiny catches a soul that embodies strength and peacefulness. One that screams earth.
“Oh, no, not that one, either,” Fate quickly rushes to her sister, taking the jade-colored speck away. “It’s too peaceful. Too bland.”
“Maybe that’s what she needs.”
“You want this poor waterbender to settle for bland? Have a little heart, Destiny!” Fate throws the earth soul back to the clump of spots. “This one is going to help change the world. I refuse to let her fall to just being a background character in a story yet to be written.”
“If you say so, Fate.”
“What she needs is fire.” Fate pauses for a moment, deep in thought. Suddenly, she shifts over to the souls that burn a deep red. “She needs a soul of fire.”
“Why so?”
“Because she is the embodiment of water.” Fate narrows her eyes at each little light, studying them closely. “And it needs an opposite, for balance.”
“Balance.” Destiny repeats.
She mingles over to Fate’s side, scrutinizing the fiery souls before them.
But each soul either has too much inferno or too little. The one for her has to be just like her in essence--as in, the embodiment of fire.
After a long observation, Destiny’s eyes widen.
“That one.”
She reaches to her right and grabs a light that burns so bright it almost blinds the both of them. It shines differently than the one of the avatar, but nevertheless carries the same kind of importance.
“That one?” Fate sputters. “But that one is going to be–”
“The most important soul in fire nation history? Yes.” Destiny carries it over to the water soul.
“He’s going to be the crown prince! The one who gets the boo boo on his face & the one who’ll have to find–”
“Fate, you’re spoiling it.”
“But–you really want to put these two together?” Fate crosses a blank. “They’re going to be legends. Heroes.”
“They will tame each other.” Destiny explains. “They will listen to each other. Protect each other. Understand each other. They will experience the same things in a different way. They will even care about each other, but not before the hardships they must face first.”
Fate holds her breath. Destiny is saying a prophecy, and she doesn’t even know it yet.
“These two will help end the coming war with the help of the avatar soul,” Destiny decrees, “And they will bring peace to the four nations.
“They will fall in love, in a way that is different from the romance in historic scrolls. It will be ground-breaking. It will be a story that the new souls here will tell to the next souls. It will be reckless, and beautiful.
“They will be each other’s soul mates.”
Fate walks up to Destiny and takes the soul of water (the master waterbender) and the soul of fire (the savior of a nation). She recoils her arms and slowly mends the two together, Destiny watching with adept determination.
“Now these two are definitely going to change the world. I can feel it.”
Destiny takes the bonded souls back and slowly separates them. A single strand keeps them connected, and she unravels the string until it falls to the floor. She then lifts the fire soul in the air, and lets it enter the cosmic unknown above them. The soul disappears, along with the crimson strand.
“Soon,” she whispers to the soul of water, “Your time will come as well.”
“Your destiny awaits.”