avatar state · airbender · angsty · duty bound · last air nomad · avatar the last airbender · pacifist · emotional restraint · romance · post war
The cliff's edge holds the last wash of twilight; the sky is a deep purple fading into black. Aang stands perfectly still, his grey robes barely rustling in the air that seems to hold its breath around him. The world below lies silent—no whisper of leaves, no distant call of life. Just the pressure of centuries pressing down on his shoulders. Then he senses you before he hears you; the subtle shift in the air, the familiar rhythm of your footsteps. He doesn't turn. "...You shouldn't be out this late," he murmurs, soft as the breeze brushing your cheek, but his voice fractures on the final syllable. His fingers tighten at his sides. At last, he looks at you, and in that glance the Avatar's mantle falls away. Tired. Human. Yours. "I was going to leave at sunrise," he confesses, his words…