Meet: Haru... or not - E

Team Avatar landed at a small clearing in the forest, they decided to try to find food and rest before moving on. The trees around were no different from what they had seen a couple of days ago, but Michael still tried to enjoy the greenery as much as possible. He knew that sooner or later he would have to leave this world and he would never see even a glimpse of light from here again.

Aang and Katara were checking the group's supplies when Sokka went into the forest in search of food. Michael just lay next to Appa and changed the air density in different places. He trained this ability to control flashes of fire in the future - Roy Mustang style. He also used Airbending to simulate telekinesis: minimum visible air currents, maximum movement.

It was his old dream, telekinesis - he decided to play with the new Waterbending techniques later when he has water nearby - so he spent quite a lot of time on this technique. Ten minutes later, several sticks were flying in front of Michael that imitated the movements of swords and daggers. Considering how many knives are hidden on Michael's body, it was only natural.

'Where are we in the canon timeline? Meeting Haru? If that's the case then I'll go to jail, I can't leave Katara alone in that place. It's a real world with real people, no chance I'll let her go there alone. I'll let them catch me doing some "Earthbending" and quickly throw some fire Nazis overboard.'

Nodding in satisfaction, Michael picked up his things, got up from his seat, and walked around the perimeter looking for something interesting.

The Earth Kingdom was quite a diverse place, it was either peaceful or overrun by enemy forces. The Fire Nation broke the spirits of many people in the Earth Kingdom and took over their land, but the war still went on.

Michael knew how terrible the war was in this world - just as terrible as in the rest of the worlds. Death was terrible everywhere, after all. He could only hope that the funny show about the Avatar from his childhood would not become his nightmare. But after he buried about a hundred people in the Air Nomads temple, he wasn't so sure anymore.

'I hope Jasmine sends me to a calmer world after this. Or she's not the one who controls travel in the multiverse? Food for thought.'

Unfortunately, there was nothing interesting around, except for the dried-up river.

Michael heard the distant pounding of earth on earth, so in his mind, the meeting with Haru would be like in the canon. Not knowing what else to do, he started watching the Earthbender. He was at the level of a beginner, but his movements were still unfamiliar to Michael.

But the differences in Bending have always been clear to Michael.

Bending was an interesting art. Those who do not try to achieve more drown in stagnation, and those who train to the bloody bone rise above everyone. Talent was very important here, but hard work was much more important.

Air is the element of freedom. The Air Nomads were quite nihilistic about... well, everything. Airbending is notable for being almost purely defensive, as well as the most dynamic of the four bending arts. It's a style of dodging, counterattacking, "the path of least resistance" as Iroh once said.

'Or was it not him? Hmm...'

But because of their pacifistic nature, Airbenders didn't use large finishing moves, something that would put the enemy in the ground. Fortunately for Michael, he had enough imagination to create new techniques - and enough balls to use the existing ones.

Water is the element of change. The fighting style of Waterbending is mostly fluid and graceful, acting in concert with the environment. Even when Waterbender do take an attack stance, their moves always appear to flow from one to the other, mimicking the flow of the water they bend.

It meant almost nothing to Michael. While his style was influenced by both Waterbenders and Airbenders, he generally preferred to deal with enemies with small, precise, and stealthy attacks. He didn't care how strong he was, he needed only a needle to kill a man - in theory, of course.

Earth is the element of substance, while the people of the Earth Kingdom are diverse, strong, and enduring. The key to Earthbending is utilizing neutral Jing, which involves waiting and listening for the right moment to strike and, when that moment comes, acting decisively. In other words, Earthbenders generally endure their enemies' attacks until the right opportunity to counterattack reveals itself.

No matter how much Michael thought about it, Earthbending was badass. It was no wonder that his favorite character from ATLA was Toph.

'She's a badass with a nice ass... At least she was - will be? - in flashbacks in The Legend of Korra. I wonder what happens if I give her the gun ahead of time?'

Fire is the element of power, consisting of overpowering force tempered by the unflinching will to accomplish tasks and desires. However, during the Hundred Year War, a militaristic Fire Nation twisted this into Firebending being fueled by rage, hatred, and anger. Firebending draws its power from the sun, and the first human Firebenders derived their Firebending techniques from the dragons. Not many Firebenders play defense, at least not for long.

But back to Haru. The kid was not bad considering what he had achieved without a teacher AND under the oppression of the Fire Nation. Of course, he couldn't move mountains, not everyone could be as talented as Toph, but even so, he was capable. At least he knew what he was doing.

Adjusting his green shirt stolen from Kyoshi Island, Michael sat down on a fairly large piece of driftwood and waited for the sounds to attract his friends. He could almost see it, how the scene played out in the show.

He leaned against the tree behind him and put his left hand behind his head. Lying on his right arm wasn't comfortable, even if he was wearing a thick leather glove.

Suddenly, he felt a gust of cold wind, as if something was flying past him at high speed. Michael frowned and wanted to get up to look around, but something grabbed his shoulder. Thin cold fingers dug into his flesh with enough force to draw blood.

The teenager hadn't felt fear for a long time, but now he was terrified. He didn't even feel that thing creep up behind him - he was sure that it wasn't human.

Thin silver fingers dripping with cold metal, the sound of heavy breathing in his ears and the primal fear that gripped his heart. Oh yes, it wasn't human.

Michael didn't even have time to think about turning around, as his body was thrown into the forest like a ragdoll. He thought that at such a speed he would crash into a tree and break his back, but instead, he felt like he was going through some kind of a barrier.

He flew out the other side of the barrier at bullet speed if the air in his ears was any indication. Michael tried using Airbending to create more air resistance and stop his flight, but to his dismay, he couldn't feel the air moving to his will. His body hit the surface of the water like a stone thrown by a child - where did the water come from? - and only after that, did he crash into the ground with a sickening crunch.

Feeling that his left arm was broken like a twig didn't help to calm the cold horror that clawed under his skin. His right shoulder was bleeding, his left forearm was broken, and his entire body was covered in bruises and cuts. In short, he was hurt. Badly.

Michael could hardly sit up and take in his surroundings. In front of him was a huge lake of silver water - or mercury - which was surrounded by trees with the same silver flow-y water leaves. But the grass was oddly green with a few flowers here and there.

Above the middle of the lake hung what could only be described as a transparent film barrier. If not for the light of the sun, Michael would never have noticed this strange thing. The film slowly stretched and broke, releasing a very thin, almost skeletal hand from the inside, which tore the barrier even further, allowing Michael to see the source of his horror.

His way back has just been destroyed.

The creature had a strange body similar to the body of a horse on which a silver liquid flowed. Four legs landed on the surface of the lake and melted in it, creating the illusion that the creature was one with the liquid. The creature had no head or neck, its eyes and ears sticking out right where a normal horse's neck would begin. But the strangest thing was the pair of skeletal arms protruding next to the eyes.

When Michael thought his life couldn't get any worse, the creature spoke. Without any mouth to talk with.

"I've been looking for someone like you for a long time, human. No, no, calling you human would be wrong, you're not. No, no, you're not."

The creature's voice was too high to be normal. With each word, Michael felt as if someone were running their fingernails across the board with a terrible squeak.

"You don't belong here. You shouldn't be here, you shouldn't even breathe here, but yet you are. That means the rules set for me at the beginning of time don't apply to you!"

Even without seeing the mouth, Michael could tell that the creature was grinning. Its voice was coming from somewhere below the lake, but right now he couldn't think about it, he needed to get back on his feet.

"No, no, they don't. I can finally quench the lake's thirst. Don't move, Sparrow, your end will be swift."

Several silver whips rose above the surface of the lake and quickly began to move towards Michael. The teenager could only grab his staff with his right hand and prepare for battle. He wasn't going to die today.