Open Arms || Aang ||
A/n: Parts of Love In Paradise used.
The wind over Air Temple Island was usually gentle.
But tonight...Tonight, it screamed.
Moonlight washed over the stone rooftops in silver, painting the temples in quiet light while the ocean below rolled endlessly against the cliffs. Every lantern had long since been extinguished. The others were asleep. Appa snored somewhere beyond the stables, and Momo had curled into a fluffy ball beside one of the temple statues.
Yet one room remained empty.
You woke with the familiar ache of absence before your eyes had even opened.
The space beside you was cold. "Aang…" Your voice was groggy, the blankets rustled as you sat upright, your heart already sinking. This wasn’t the first time. Since the war had ended, the nightmares came less often than they once had but when they did, they carved through him with frightening precision.
You slipped on a robe and hurried barefoot through the quiet halls.
The night air met you the moment you stepped outside.
There.
A familiar orange-and-yellow silhouette stood at the very edge of the highest balcony overlooking the sea.
Your breath caught.
Aang wasn’t simply standing near the ledge.
His toes hung over it.
The wind whipped his robes around him, the arrows tattooed across his scalp glowing faintly beneath the moonlight as though responding to emotions he couldn’t contain.
His shoulders trembled as he payed you no mind as it was miles away from here.
“…Aang,” you called softly.
He didn’t move.
The sound of crashing waves seemed to melt away until there was only silence…and then.
“No…”
His whisper was almost too quiet to hear.
“They’re gone…”
You approached slowly, every instinct from your years as a trapeze performer returning. Sudden movements startled people. Calm voices grounded them.
Another careful step.
“Aang…”
His breathing became ragged. “They’re burning.” His body still tense as his voice cracked. “The temple…”
You could see it now.
He wasn’t looking at the ocean anymore, no his gray eyes stared through it.
Through the years.
Through every memory.
“Aang,” you said gently, “get away from the ledge.”
Nothing.
He swallowed hard. “You don’t know…”His hands clenched until his knuckles turned white. “You don’t know what I’ve gone through.”
Another shudder ran through him.
“You don’t know what I’ve sacrificed.”
His voice rose, not angry, but broken.
“So many people…”
He squeezed his eyes shut.
“Every comrade I long knew.”
A tear escaped before he even realized he was crying.
“Every friend…”
His breath hitched violently.
“I saw them die.”
The words dissolved into a whisper, as if every previous Avatar was speaking through him.
“And all I hear are screams.”
For one awful heartbeat…
You heard them too.
Not real screams.
Imagined ones.
The echoes trapped inside him.
The laughter of Air Nomad children replaced by roaring fire.
Monks calling his name.
Gyatso.
The smell of smoke.
The impossible silence afterward.
His knees nearly buckled.
You crossed the remaining distance carefully until you were only a few feet behind him.
Not touching.Not yet.
Your old circus instructor had taught you something after terrible falls.
Never grab someone who has lost their balance.
Help them find it.
“It will be fine, dear,” you whispered into the wind.
His breathing remained uneven.
You took another slow step. “Come back inside, dear.”
The ocean breeze lifted strands of your hair across your face.
“You don’t have to stand out here with them.”
Another step.
“You don’t have to carry them alone.”
His shoulders shook harder. “They needed me.”
“You were twelve.”
“I should’ve been there.”
“You were a child.”
“I ran away.”
“You survived.”
“I abandoned them.”
“You lived...you would have died with them Aang, your survival saved so many more.”
His head dropped.The words seemed to strike him harder than any accusation ever could.
Your voice remained impossibly gentle. “Love of my life…” You reached him now, stopping just behind him. “…come back to paradise.”
His breathing hitched again. “I don’t know if I deserve paradise.”
Your heart splintered. "No?"
He gave a tiny shake of his head. “I close my eyes…” he whispered. “And I’m back there.”
The tattoos along his arms shimmered faintly.
“The smoke....The fire.” His fingers curled against the stone railing. “I don’t want to remember anymore.”
His voice became so small it barely reached you.
“Let me close my eyes.”
Slowly…
Carefully…
You reached forward.
Not to pull him.
Not to restrain him.
Instead, your hand settled over his.
Warm.
Steady.
Real.
He startled at first, then looked down as though only just realizing someone else existed in the world.
You laced your fingers between his. “I know your life’s been hard.” Your thumb brushed softly across his knuckles.
“I know there are nights when the war comes back.”
His breathing slowly began to match yours, his shoulders loosened a fraction. The tears continued to fall, but they were quieter now.
“I’ll stay inside your heart,” you murmured. “No matter what memories try to convince you.”
You stepped beside him now instead of behind him, never releasing his hand.
“When they scream…” You lifted your joined hands to your chest. “…listen for me.”
His eyes finally met yours, for just an instant, he wasn’t the Avatar. He wasn’t the hero who ended a hundred-year war.
He was the last little boy from a people who no longer existed.
You cupped his face between your hands. “You are not standing in the Southern Air Temple.”
His breathing steadied another little bit.
“You are not alone....You are home...”
The words broke whatever remained of his composure.
A strangled sob escaped him as he folded forward, burying his face against your shoulder with the desperation of someone who had spent decades pretending to be stronger than he felt.
You wrapped both arms around him without hesitation.
He clung to you.
Not gracefully.
Not proudly.
He held on like someone afraid the earth itself might disappear beneath his feet.
His tears soaked into your robe while the wind continued to dance around the temple.
Neither of you spoke for a long time.
Eventually, the tension drained from his body, the trembling eased.His heartbeat slowed beneath your cheek.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered hoarsely.
You leaned back just enough to kiss his forehead, lingering against the blue arrow there. “You never have to apologize for surviving.”
His eyes closed again, this time, not to escape the memories but because he trusted that when he opened them again he would still find you there.
Hand in hand, you led him away from the cliff and back toward the warm glow of your shared home, where the ghosts of yesterday could not follow as easily, and where paradise, however fragile , waited patiently for the two of you.
I didn’t read the a/n before reading so I spent the entire fic trying to decipher if that was an epic the musical reference or if I was going crazy 💔😭
