The Calm

Aaron took slow deep breaths as he completed another repetition of the handstand pushup. His shoulder, chest, and triceps shivered, but he relished the pain but shunted it to one of his parallel minds and concentrated on keeping his form perfect while he completed repetition after repetition.

He didn't stop until he hit 100. Then he moved on to Pistol squats, static exercises, and holds that tested his flexibility and strength. All the while he put himself through hellish training, he had a portion of his main mind and his last sub-mind maintaining spirit concealment and One-With-The-World.

It'd been over a month since he'd started training, and he'd long since blown past all of his previous physical limits. A healthy diet of food, Chi-healing, and manic training had rehabilitated his body and reforged it to something fine-tuned for violence.

Aaron was almost ready to go after him. He just needed to test one last thing, and his hunt could finally begin.

Aaron spent another hour exercising before a familiar voice called out to him.

"Ready to go, young master?" Xing said. He had dark intense eyes and scars that ran up and down his body, most of which were hidden by his new ghost fatigues, but Aaron remembered the bounty hunter well.

"I told you to stop calling me that."

Xing shrugged. "The other ghosts are content kissing your ass, I just thought I'd step in line and do the same."

Aaron shook his head as he settled into the traditional feather fist stance. "I don't want you kissing up to me or going easy when we're sparring. You know my snake of a student won't do the same."

"Well, if you insist," Xing shrugged, unsheathing his daggers. He'd joined the ghosts when Aaron was asleep. His memories of bounty hunter had been his ticket in. And in the month Aaron was asleep, Xing had made Captain. Many ghosts silently cried favoritism, but Aaron knew the man was just that good.

He'd been sparring with him for nearly half a month to polish his feather fist style as well as learn a thing or two from him. The bounty hunter was a master of 6 martial art styles. Without occasionally using his bending and chi abilities, Aaron would have fallen behind. But he still maintained the handicap because he needed to be quicker, faster, and better than Mark. He could no longer trust his blades or anything remotely metal in the coming fight. So, he had to go back to the basics.

"Ready when you are," Aaron called out, but Xing hesitated, lowering his knife.

"Master Ren made me promise to keep this myself," Xing said, "but if it was me, I'd want to know."

"What are you talking about?"

Xing sighed. "They found him and will probably have him back here before the week runs out."

Aaron's heart went still for a moment, and his arms lowered. "I…don't understand."

"The fight you've been training for all this while is probably not going to happen."

Aaron's mind spun with ideas, fears, and speculations. His body jerked into motion before his mind recovered.

He passed little Phantoms in training, other ghosts, and even offered a mute wave to an old friend, before he found himself at Misha's door. They'd grown closer than ever since her rescue, and Peta's smile always brought a smile to his face.

A giggle greeted him when he entered the room. It was Peta. He was bouncing on his mother's lap, and she smiled as she fussed over him. He was dodging his bottle with the grace of a future Phantom.

"I swear he can sense when you're in the room," Misha laughed. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think he likes you more than me."

Aaron smiled a bright toothy smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Of course, he does. That's because I am the fun uncle that brings him treats and let him do what he wants, and you're the serious mom who looks after him and cares for him. Clearly, he knows who's more important."

Misha rolled her eyes. "Well, he's entirely too young to be picking favorites." Then, she looked into Peta's deep blue eyes with mock outrage. "But if you insist on picking somebody, just remember that I am your mother, and you have no choice."

Aaron chuckled. "It's great to see you smile again. After what happened I thought…"

"That'd I'd remain a vegetable forever?" Misha asked, while briefly meeting Aaron's eyes. "I'm not where I want to be, but I'm getting better every day," she said and kissed Peta on the cheek. "This little guy makes me want to try."

"Maybe one day we'll get you out of this room yet. Find out who's the better bender, once and for all." Aaron was confident he'd win by a landslide, but you neverk know. Two months ago, he'd have said the same thing about Mark.

"Don't hold your breath," Misha muttered, then shook her head. "I still can't believe you're up and ready to fight. You were just in a coma."

"It's been a month, and I might not get the fight I was hoping for after all." Aaron's smile finally cracked.

"They found him," Misha stated.

"How did you--"

Misha rolled her eyes. "Come on. Mother told me."

Aaron pursed his lips and then sighed. "I'm the last to know aren't I?"

"I knew that Xing couldn't keep a secret. He's quite chatty for a ghost," she muttered.

"Since when has that been a problem? I thought you liked them chatty."

Misha pursed her lips. "I like them honest and predictable."

"Ah." Aaron clenched his jaw at her words. Whatever Samir had done to her, it'd changed Misha forever. He could hardly recognize her on most days. Aaron had sworn he'd wring out both Samir and Mark's necks, but he was beginning to realize that it might not happen.

"What will you do now?" Misha asked.

Aaron shrugged. "Let grandfather and the other elders handle it?"

"Is that a question or your answer?"

"I don't know."

Misha sighed, and Aaron felt her gather Chi. Slowly, he felt the ever-lingering presence of his grandfather evaporate. Aaron's eyes bulged at the development.

"You didn't tell me you know how to hide from Grandfather."

"So can you," She scoffed. "I learned mine from Uncle Wang, where did yours come from?" she narrowed her eyes. "And why is it so much better than mine."

"Talent, I guess," Aaron shrugged, and Misha huffed.

"Keep your secrets then. It's why we both use the technique in the first place. If we're being honest, he probably knows we're avoiding him. I think he chalks it up to teenage rebellion in your case. In my case, I just think he's giving me space. After all, I am the mother to his grandchild."

I raise a brow. "It's funny that you think he has the capacity for that? The last time I avoided him, he called me over to the spirit world and threatened me into taking back his parasite."

Misha got up on her feet with Peta in her arms and set him down in his playpen across the room.

"Parasite?" Misha wrinkled her mouth. "I suppose I understand why you'd think that. But back to the topic at hand, tell me how you feel about Mark."

Aaron met her gaze. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Misha rolled her eyes. "Typical." Then, she looked out the window. "I think you know how I feel. I mean, I want to flay him for what he did to me. Spirits, it feels me up with so much rage just thinking about it," she balled her fist, and there was a long pause before she continued. "But I'm afraid that If I dare step out of this room, I'll never come back. And I could never do that to Peta."

Aaron wrapped her in a hug. "That must've been hard."

Misha sniffed and stepped back from him. "Yeah, it was. But, it's your turn."

"He tried to kill me," Aaron muttered. "I mean, at some point in the fight, I tried to do the same to him, but deep down, I didn't want to fail again. I already caused the death of One disciple, I didn't want to be responsible for another. Between the two of us, we could've figured something out, put an end to all of this before it even started, but he was too fucking afraid and convinced that I wasn't on his side and never truly listened."

"But were you ever on this side?"

Aaron chewed his lip. "I'd like to think I was towards the end. We had an agreement, hunted together, and even learned techniques that should've been impossible. I could've convinced Grandfather. We had so much more to gain from keeping him than giving him up to the fucking Fire Nation."You don't believe that, do you?" Misha touched his shoulder. "When has anyone ever convinced grandfather to do anything he didn't want to?"

Aaron let out a long sigh. "The man is like a mountain when he makes up his mind. You can only adapt and make the most of the situation."

"So, what are you going to do now?" She finally asked.

"Make the most of the situation," Aaron said with another heavy sigh. After a long pause, he spoke. "I'm late for a meeting."

"Going to finally see Grandfather?"

"I'm afraid I can't delay any longer."