The Three Must-treat-eers

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***

"Ugh..." Nik slowly opened his eyes. His thoughts were as jumbled as his situation while he wondered what was going on. The white roof looked heavenly, his back felt comforted. He felt warm and cozy while his dry lips parted ever so slightly. He concluded... he was not in heaven. Heaven couldn't possibly be this sensational. He had experience— not of heaven but death— and this wasn't the sensation of dying.

For a few seconds, Nik continued to stare at the white roof with a blank expression. His thoughts were unknown. He was definitely thinking of many things but he simply couldn't focus on any single one of his thoughts, making him unable to recall whatever passed by his mind.

'I... saw Aang there... Was that true? All of it?' Nik tried to move his legs instinctively to lie on his sides but the sharp pain made him shudder as a long but low groan emerged from his lips.

"Hey, he's finally awake!"

A cheerful voice entered his senses as Nik realized his situation didn't even allow him to properly hear those around him without a certain focus. After getting used to enhanced senses, the current feeling of being stifled wasn't preferable at all.

Looking to his side, shifting his gaze from the white of the roof of the igloo, Nik found himself being stared at by a Sokka who had a bruised cheek... both of them, and an Aang who had a bowl of warm soup.

*Slurp*

While keeping their gazes matched, Aang slowly brought the bowl close to his lips and gulped down a mouthful.

There was an extraordinary clarity in their eyes in tandem with a grave question flickering in their gaze as Nik couldn't help but speak up, "Did Katara slap you or something?"

"Katara," Sokka pointed to his right cheek, "Rena," he then added while pointing to his left cheek.

"Understandable," Nik nodded and resumed staring at the roof once again.

"Oh, yeah," Sokka coughed, "Just so you know. We're cool. I forgive you."

Nik frowned for a moment but now that he had his own spiritual experience and adventure, Nik was beginning to understand why Sokka was 'forgiving' him and how Sokka may know the things that Nik didn't want anyone to know.

"... yeah..." Nik replied.

The surroundings fell silent once again.

In fact, Sokka and Aang were sitting on a similar bedding just as Nik over the rug that covered the surface of this cozy residence.

After a few seconds of silence, Aang slurped a mouthful from his bowl once again and inquired innocently, "So? Are you really not from this world, Nik? Oh, can you communicate with Mokshi?"

Sokka smacked his forehead with an obvious grunt while Nik's lips twitched and he closed his eyes. Being the last airbender in the manner of orthodoxy, Aang was the wisest of them all, because he was the only one left but his wisdom lacked too much about the more subtle way of conversing.

"What?" Aang blurted.

"We were having a moment!" Sokka groaned.

"I wouldn't call it a moment," Nik corrected, "More like an understanding... did the two of you tap into some memories, too?" He finally posed something going on within him, "And... what happened?"

Aang and Sokka glanced at each other.

"Well," Aang began, "after you reclaimed the... faces from Koh, the spirit ceased to exist. I was there. It just simply withered away while I barely supported your body from breaking down."

"That was real?" Nik looked at the duo in surprise.

"Oh, yeah," Sokka nodded with a soft hum, "But it's actually boring after that confrontation. The Wolf Spirit led you out of the spirit world from the same channel Koh brought you in. The craziest thing is that my memories are intact whenever Koh... used my face," he shivered, "Felt so creepy."

"So..." Nik mumbled, "Does Suki know?"

Aang and Sokka shook their heads.

"What were we supposed to tell her? That you really are a freak and from another world at that? Really, who even baits an opponent to the point of getting so bloodied?" Sokka grunted, "That's what you don't do in hunting."

"Please, if anything, you're a waste of a brain when I specifically told you to let go... why didn't you?" Nik frowned.

Looking away, Sokka couldn't help but rub the back of his head, "After I got hypnotized back then... I just didn't want to let you guys down. I know how much we have lost strategically by letting them know your ability to make things disappear... and now I know even more... heh, it's kind of funny when you think about it."

"Katara didn't think it was funny. We had to pull her away," Aang mumbled while calmly sipping the contents of the bowl while Sokka flinched.

"Now that I'm a cripple, I'll probably be leaving soon—" Nik sighed softly.

"About that," Aang interrupted, "There is a way to recover your knee. Waterbending healed all your injuries down to the scars but your left knee has two possible options of recovery. The two options were taught me by two Avatars... no, more like, I have hints on what to do but that's all."

Nik blinked and then grew eager. Mokshi... was not a trouble, Nik realized. But a complication instead. If he manages to find an accord with a spirit, his situation would grow exponentially better instead.

"Oh, and after Koh disappeared, it left this—" Aang gulped down the entire soup and turned the 'flat' bowl around to reveal contours of a face. The brown, wooden bowl... was actually a mask. However, Nik's eyes widened as he made a conjecture.

"What the heck? You were drinking soup from Koh's... face?!"

"Huh?" Aang looked down in confusion while Sokka gulped and added, "Aang... if Koh left it... a face-like mask, isn't it possible that this is Koh's face?"

"You knew?!" Aang gasped.

"Within the first five seconds you showed me this mask," Sokka nodded and snorted a chuckle, "And it's hilarious!"

With a disgusted expression, Aang tossed the mask towards Nik who caught it with his left hand as the red mark around the base of his forearm flashed momentarily and it disappeared. He would inspect the spoils later.

"Man... I wish I could have salvaged the cruiser..." Nik sighed, "What about the two methods, Aang?"

*Fwip*

Instead of an icy door, the igloo's entrance was covered with a giant cloth that was pushed open suddenly. Walking in was Rena while she hummed a soft tone but her face looked exhausted and tired nonetheless. In her hands was a light green spiky sphere with bluish tips.

"Hey, look what I found—" She grinned. Nik continued to lie in the same position so it was hard to make out if he had woken up, "A Blue-roe Urchin!"

Rena grinned, "How about it? Want me to treat you well? I really feel bad for slapping you but when I saw Katara doing it, I felt you owed me a slap, too."

"Was he that terrible last night?" Nik inquired curiously.

Rena froze. She slowly looked down to find Nik still waiting for an answer.

"Don't answer that. It's a trick question," Sokka scoffed.

*Stab*

Rena pushed the urchin against Sokka's arm as he yelped in pain while her eyes widened, "It's real?! You're really awake?"

"Sadly..." Aang muttered while still wiping his lips, unable to cope with the fact that he drank soup from a face.

"What the heck, Rena?!" Sokka grumbled while rubbing his arm. Though, he still took the urchin from her hand. These treats were too delicious to pass up.

"Let me call others!" Rena rushed out of the igloo while Nik looked at Sokka and shook his head with a disappointed expression.

"What?" Sokka frowned.

"You were chewed out last night, right?" Nik questioned, "Otherwise, she wouldn't be readying you with so many preparations."

"You really think so?" Sokka gulped.

"A fattened sheep is made to devour," Nik replied and then looked at Aang.

"So, about those two methods—" Nik grew silent. He was beginning to grow more aware of his surroundings once again and he faintly heard rushed footsteps.

"Nik!" Suki barged in without a care. However, instead of jumping into his arms directly, she sat by his side with a complicated expression on her face. Though worried and eager to embrace him, Suki didn't want to accidentally injure his leg further than it already had happened.

"Hey..." Nik managed to smile slightly, "I really should have woken up with the two of you, right?"

"Two?" Sokka inquired.

"Some privacy, please!" Suki glared while Nik blinked. He didn't... well, it was an accident— to reveal that there were two last night, not the act itself.

Sokka raised his hand in a gesture of defeat and looked away, not really willing to get his chewed out in the process of acquiring a gossip, after all.

Aang, meanwhile, blushed slightly and looked down.

"How are you feeling?" Suki whispered while she caressed his hair slightly.

"I feel better now. You?" Nik questioned back.

"I feel better now, too," Suki smiled, "You had us all worried."

"And crazy..." Sokka muttered under his breath.

"Did I? Well, it was nothing, really."

"We found you bloodied and then Aang told us that you were taken away by some creepy spirit who can tear a human as easily as a human tear apart a leaf! How could we not be worried?!" Suki grumbled before smiling, "But I'm glad that you won... my apprentice."

This caused Nik to chuckle slightly as Suki began to giggle, too. But soon, her giggles turned into soft sobs as tears slid down her chin from the corner of her eyes, "I'm... really glad you're alive!"

Aang's and Sokka's expressions turned complicated at this point, too. They were glad, too, but Nik was left broken by Koh even after its demise. At best, it could only be called a pyrrhic victory.

Seeing Suki cry, Nik couldn't help but pat the ground. Although it was painful, Nik still sat himself up by raising a section of ice beneath the rug.

"I'm glad, too," Nik pulled Suki into a hug, "Although, I would understand if you won't teach me more techniques. It's a busted life... as busted as my knee." He cracked a small snort on his own joke but Suki's expression darkened instead, "How could you say something like that?!"

"Exactly, how inconsiderate," Sokka shrugged and Aang nodded.

"It was a joke based on my physical pain... I thought it would work because it's also true..." Nik answered with an amused hum while wiping away the tear stains on Suki's face as she frowned, "You'll get better. Aang said he had two method—"

"Are you alright?" Katara rushed in.

This time even Aang rolled his eyes. He was excited to explain the two methods but it had been interrupted time and time again at this point.

Katara, too, showed more care than before as she sat next to Suki with a worried expression. Her expression was guilty as she instantly apologized, "I'm sorry... I tried healing your knee but my waterbending simply couldn't. Even Hama couldn't do it. I—"

"You know, if you hadn't interrupted, Aang was going to point out how Nik can get himself better," Sokka interjected as Katara's eyes spewed fire.

"And? Is Aang going somewhere? He can reveal his methods five minutes later, too, right?!"

Sokka shrunk his neck instantly.

"Maybe we should leave," Aang replied weakly.

"No, the three of you need to rest after what happened today." Suki shook her head.

"I want to rest with you..." Nik's eyes widened slightly as he glanced at Suki... and Katara for a second as they pursed their lips and rolled their eyes. Although tearful, they simply couldn't help pinch a cheek each tightly as Suki huffed, "Rest—"

"— Here." Katara added concisely.

"Well, well, I considered you dead when I saw your condition."

A cold interruption caused others to look at the arrivals— Mai and Tom-Tom.

"I thought you would have stabbed me just to keep it so," Nik blinked as Mai narrowed her eyes while Suki whispered, "Hey, be nice to her. She's the one who found you and tore her clothes to give you an emergency bandage."

Nik nodded and promptly added, "Thanks."

"I won't accept it," Mai hummed and walked out while Tom-Tom looked towards Aang and waved at him only to be pulled out by Mai.

"Maybe I should show how grateful I am to Michi that her daughter is so kindhearted," Nik muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Suki and Katara to hear as their expressions turned bleak.

---

"Hey, what happened to your cheeks?" Sokka prodded with a grin.

"You were there," Nik lied back once again with his cheeks bruised.

"Left, Katara. Right, Suki." Aang informed.

"Isn't it mighty of you to make such observations, Aang," Nik scoffed and finally inquired now that the trio was alone after everyone had their chance of meeting with Nik even if it was only so because he once saved them and broke them out of prison. Meanwhile, Suki and Katara had to be dragged out by Rena and others.

"What are the two methods?"

To which, Aang replied with a decisive expression.

"Earthbending and Firebending."

***

A/N: I believe that there are going to be a few who wouldn't like Mc's traveling status known without his consent and I get that. But the essence of this novel and the previous one (EHG) wasn't just to travel but for the harem itself. Members like Katara, or even Michi, who have families, would want their families to come alongside them if they do agree to move. This was an oversight from my side the last time as I only wrote about girls leaving but when I thought about it... would Katara leave Sokka? Would Toph leave her family since she does patch things up? Would Ty-Lee leave her sisters?

So, the fact that the mc is a traveller isn't going to be too great of a secret since in many future arcs such as marvel or warlock of the magus world (maybe), or even reverend insanity, there are many 'outsiders.'