"Because things go back the other way. Avatar Roku helped me figure it all out."
More drawing.
"Right now, I'm shielded, but if he gets destroyed or banished, it will hurt me, too."
Liiiike so.
He looks over at Sokka, his expression sad. "I have to stay there as long as he does, so he stays trapped. But the moment he's defeated, I'll die, Sokka. Avatar Roku says we're connected through the seals and all his pain will be my pain in an instant, and since my body's stuck in the Avatar State, it'll hurt the Avatar Spirit itself. Not enough to kill it, but enough that--"
A deep breath.
"Enough that my physical body will probably die just so it's protected. Because the alternative is this."
One last drawing, and despite just being a doodle, it's the most horrifying.
"If it doesn't die, it'll be driven crazy," he sits down on a little mound of snow, clutching his staff in his hands. "I can't let that happen."
He reaches out and slashes decisively at the doodle with his staff, and then looks at the snow, batting the staff back and forth between his hands thoughtfully.
"If it happens anyway, and I go crazy rather than die, I made Seer promise he'd kill me. I don't know if the Avatar Spirit will survive if there's no Waterbender being born for me to reincarnate to, but it would be even worse for the Avatar Spirit to go on a crazy rampage and be insane. And--and I figure even if it's the end of me, it'd be the end of me in a few reincarnations anyway, right? There'd be no Airbenders left for me to reincarnate to. This is just...happening sooner."
Even though he's avoiding Sokka's eyes, he talks about it so casually, the end of an enduring part of their world, of himself. But then their world itself has supposedly ended, hasn't it? What difference does it make now, if the Avatar dies with it?
"All the past Avatars agree with me that it's the right thing to do. We can't destroy life when we've protected it for so long, and if the Avatar itself goes out of balance, it has to end."
Sucking in a deep breath, he finally looks Sokka in the eyes, his gray-eyed gaze calm.
"I'm not scared. I know you'll be okay if you look after each other, and I know you and the others will bring our world back, and make it better without me. There was a time before the Avatar once, and now it just means there'll be a time after me."
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More drawing.
"Right now, I'm shielded, but if he gets destroyed or banished, it will hurt me, too."
Liiiike so.
He looks over at Sokka, his expression sad. "I have to stay there as long as he does, so he stays trapped. But the moment he's defeated, I'll die, Sokka. Avatar Roku says we're connected through the seals and all his pain will be my pain in an instant, and since my body's stuck in the Avatar State, it'll hurt the Avatar Spirit itself. Not enough to kill it, but enough that--"
A deep breath.
"Enough that my physical body will probably die just so it's protected. Because the alternative is this."
One last drawing, and despite just being a doodle, it's the most horrifying.
"If it doesn't die, it'll be driven crazy," he sits down on a little mound of snow, clutching his staff in his hands. "I can't let that happen."
He reaches out and slashes decisively at the doodle with his staff, and then looks at the snow, batting the staff back and forth between his hands thoughtfully.
"If it happens anyway, and I go crazy rather than die, I made Seer promise he'd kill me. I don't know if the Avatar Spirit will survive if there's no Waterbender being born for me to reincarnate to, but it would be even worse for the Avatar Spirit to go on a crazy rampage and be insane. And--and I figure even if it's the end of me, it'd be the end of me in a few reincarnations anyway, right? There'd be no Airbenders left for me to reincarnate to. This is just...happening sooner."
Even though he's avoiding Sokka's eyes, he talks about it so casually, the end of an enduring part of their world, of himself. But then their world itself has supposedly ended, hasn't it? What difference does it make now, if the Avatar dies with it?
"All the past Avatars agree with me that it's the right thing to do. We can't destroy life when we've protected it for so long, and if the Avatar itself goes out of balance, it has to end."
Sucking in a deep breath, he finally looks Sokka in the eyes, his gray-eyed gaze calm.
"I'm not scared. I know you'll be okay if you look after each other, and I know you and the others will bring our world back, and make it better without me. There was a time before the Avatar once, and now it just means there'll be a time after me."