Friendship time

Drums blared loudly in the streets, and the music reverberated throughout the north, announcing to everyone that the Avatar had returned. People laughed and drank wine, celebrating that they finally had a chance to win this long war.

But that wasn't the only reason for the celebration, with a meal from Captain Smollett, Yue's sixteenth birthday was truly a big deal. Considering how much provisions were on the ship, there was enough food for everyone. Smollett was, of course, upset that more provisions didn't reach the "bad" areas, but Arnook - the head of the Tribe - promised that pretty soon all of his men wouldn't be working to the bone just to get scraps.

Sokka, Katara and Aang celebrated with everyone because they knew that the chances of Michael already being at the North Pole were very slim. But the fact that their friend wasn't with them left a bad taste in their mouths.

The twin brothers Han and Khan, who spotted the Avatar, decided to find out if their new friend was actually part of Gaang.

Michael, meanwhile, was sitting under the covers in the hotel room, his eye twitching with every beat of the drum. This week he really rested, just lying in bed and reading books that he stole during his little trip. A couple of those books were shameless smut, but he didn't complain, they were at least some kind of entertainment.

"What's going on there anyway? I don't remember any holidays in the North besides the princess's birthday... Oh crap, is it today?" He muttered, looking at the ceiling. "No... there was something else." Knowing that he would not be able to remember anything important, Michael took out earplugs made from the wool of a strange mutant rabbit and went to bed. Today was the last day of his week-long vacation, after all, and he intended to spend it sleeping.

But the universe decided otherwise and Michael heard three pairs of legs running up the stairs towards his room. He groaned loudly and reached for his knife, but decided that using Waterbending would be easier. He waved his hand and the door became part of the icy floor and wall, leaving only a wooden doorknob as evidence that there was once a passage. Three people stopped outside his room, and the ice holding the door in place melted, causing Michael to groan even louder.

The door opened and he began to speak before anyone else could open their mouths. "Listen, if someone accuses me of some shit, then I didn't do it. Blame it on Cthulhu-" Three loud shouts of "Michael!" interrupted his speech, and Katara, Sokka, Aang and Momo all jumped onto him in a group hug.

Michael blinked a couple of times and looked at the three crying teenagers who all tried to say something to him, but kept interrupting each other - not that he considered himself an adult, but he certainly had the right to call himself one - only Momo, who stuck to his head, remained silent.

"-we thought you died! But-" "-to the Spirit World, how did-" "-Sokka got so serious, it was scary! I thought it was impossible!-" "-I met a Spirit lady who said that you were fine, even Iroh said so-" "-d'you know how worried we were?! I-" "-rivers of tears-" "-an Air Nomad Temple full of people-" "-Admiral Zhao got so pissed-" "-Bato told us-" "-Aunt Wu was creepy-" "-Eathbender broke his arms-" "-Jet is a bitch-" "-and the pirates!"

Michael gave them a couple of minutes to let their emotions out, but eventually he got tired and clapped his hands sharply, silencing his three friends. "All good? Nobody died?" The three shook their heads in unison and Michael relaxed. "Great, I can end my vacation week early and walk around today's festival with you lot. I think we should trade stories." He looked at his blanket and frowned. "But first, shoo. I need to get dressed."

Momo stayed with Michael in the room, but Aang, Sokka and Katara went out the door. They were happy to know that their friend survived and that they were reunited, but they had so many questions! Aang was jumping up and down trying to contain his interest, Sokka almost vibrated in place with excitement.

"How much do you want to bet that he will tell you something incredible?" Katara asked Sokka with a smirk.

"Sucker's bet. He was sucked into the Spirit World, naturally something incredible happened to him." He muttered in response.

-=-=-=-=-=-

The Gaang went outside and told Michael about their adventures. He heard what he expected, not noticing big changes in the canon, but a couple of things bothered him.

"Yeah, Zhao was scarred badly. Very resently too..." That was the first flag.

"Aunt Wu told us our future, but everything was too strange. I don't even remember what she said, except for talking about a huge battle that turned into a small obstacle." Second flag.

"Spirit lady? Yes, I saw a woman with a face hidden behind a veil. She didn't give her name, but she said you were fine..." With these words, Michael turned into an alleyway and screamed his soul into the snow. He knew it was the Nameless Goddess, but he just couldn't understand why would she do what she does.

"What happened to you?" Four pairs of eyes looked at him with interest and Michael began to speak.

"Well, first I was stolen by some silver Spirit who wanted to drown me in the lake. But I talked to Iroh, good man, by the way." Sokka tilted his head, as if taking advice from an unseen companion, deciding something about Iroh. "I had to go through the jungle for several days, and then swim for several days on the sea with the Spirit of Air - a kind girl, name is Sylphy." Aang looked at Michael as if he had grown a second head. "Oh, yes, I also saw a Water Spirit that looked like an octopus. Then I ended up on an island with several Air Spirits, from where I passed through the portal to the Earth Kingdom. That's where I snuck into the Circus, where the lead acrobat dragged me on a date." Katara was looking at him strangely now too, but Sokka was still listening to his story with interest.

"I got drunk and forgot what happened that night, but now a man named Zabuza is wanted in the territory of the Fire Nation." Sokka made a note in the notebook that came out of nowhere, silencing Michael for a second. "After that, I joined Smollett's voyage and sailed with his crew to the North. Everything was fine if we don't count the huge Spirit that rose from the Sea and made dozens of holes in my body. I think I even died a little, but then I would have seen Jasmine." Michael gazed dreamily at the sunset. "The perfect woman, to be honest."

Sokka slammed his notebook shut, drawing attention to himself. "Now I understand what always seemed strange about you. I tried to unravel your secrets from the very beginning, but finally I have a suitable theory!"

Aang and Katara looked at Sokka like he was crazy. In the past few weeks, he's taken up a new hobby: finding new conspiracy theories. "We've already talked about this, you can't just-"

"I can, and I will!" Sokka interrupted her words and tucked his book into his belt. He turned dramatically to Michael and pointed at him with a wooden pointer taken from the same place as the book. "You, my dear friend, are actually an alcoholic Spirit who came into this world to bring chaos! To end wars! To eat the scariest sea monsters!"

There was a chuckle from the left of their group, and Michael finally noticed Princess Yue's silver hair. Sokka immediately stiffened like a statue and his cheeks turned red, Michael could understand why. If he was interested in princesses, he would definitely want to date Yue.

"A Spirit that came to eat sea monsters? I haven't heard anything like this before." Yue looked at Sokka with interest and he regained his confidence, but didn't have time to say anything because Michael beat him to it.

"To be honest, I think that theory might be true. At least the alcoholic part." He sipped something thoughtfully from his flask.

Aang snatched the flask from him and shook it near his ear. His brows furrowed for a moment, but in the next second, his entire face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Hey! I know this wine, it's even older than me!"

Katara took the flask from Aang and sniffed at the wine, but winced as the smell hit her nose. "Where did you even get it?"

Michael opened his mouth to answer, but closed it without making a sound. He turned to Yue, who was talking to Sokka, and waved in her direction. "Hey, if I confess to stealing from the Fire Nation, will I get in trouble here?"

Yue thought about it, but ended up shaking her head. "As long as you don't steal from our territory, you'll be fine." Her eyes narrowed on Michael's clothes, specifically his Northern Tribe sweatshirt under the black trench coat. "You didn't steal anything from here, did you?" No matter what anyone said about the soft nature of the princess, Yue could pass judgment when needed.

"Oh, look at the time!" Michael turned sharply on the spot, and quickly walked into the alleys. "Time for me to fuck off as far as possible!"