This will be my second attempt at fanfiction, so I am still very inexperienced with this. I'm sorry for not yet continuing my first story, but I've hit a wall of writer's block. I have the latter portion of the story completely planned out in my mind, but I have no idea how to connect it to the beginning. Hopefully this writing will help me clear my writer's block.
That being said, I am a big fan of Taang, but there are not too many stories out there that have Tanng set in the actual storyline. I will also try to make an even more uncommon element; this story will be Taang without Zutara. I think that Zuko and Mai are very perfect, so I will not be splitting them up. I don't know what to do with Katara; it will probably be either Han or Jet. If you have an opinion, leave a review. It won't be a true poll, but it may influence my decision.
This story will start at the beginning of book three, but there will be a few subtle differences near the end of book two that will be fully explained in my story. There will however, be one large difference between my story and canon. The characters will be three years older so it will be:
Aang: 15
Toph: 15
Katara: 17
Sokka: 18
Zuko: 19
Mei: 18
The rest you can figure out on your own.
Let's get on with the story. I own nothing except the story in my fanfiction. All of the characters and original storyline is property of Nickelodeon.
Chapter 1: The Awakening
Aang woke with a start; gasping for breath, he looked around the room he was laying in. He felt like he had woken from a nightmare, only to find himself in another nightmare. The ceiling was cold, grey, dull metal. He knew this sight; it was exactly what the inside of a fire nation ship looked like.
He closed his eyes again hoping that this was all a dream and he could wake himself up. When he opened them again and the sight greeting him was the ceiling again and he realized that it wasn't just a dream. Keeping himself calm, he tried to think of all the possibilities of where else he could be. When he sat up and looked around, all of his fears were confirmed.
The room was dimly lit by two lamps on the far side of the mostly empty room. But even in the dim light, he could clearly see the fire nation posters that decorated the walls of his room.
He then remembered what had happened in the caverns under Ba Sing Se; Azula had shot him down with lightning while he was in the avatar state. How was he not dead?
'Wow, that would have been bad had she actually killed me, then there would cease to be an avatar,' he thought. He was still amazed that he was alive, but figuring out how he had survived was not his top priority at the moment. Right now he needed to escape quickly, before they realized that he was not dead or no longer asleep.
Quickly looking around the room, he noticed that his glider was placed near his bed. While he was certainly glad that he had his signature weapon and mode of transportation, it was extremely strange. Why would they leave him with such an important tool?
Realizing that now was not the best time to be worrying about why he had his glider, he walked over to the door. After cracking in open and peeking in the hallway outside, he saw that no one was near.
"No guards at the door? Yet another thing to put on the strange list," he thought as he opened the door. He started, hobbling down the hallway until he reached a turn in the corridor. Going around it without thinking about the consequences, he saw two fire nation guards standing around. Quickly hiding back around the corner, he breathed a sigh of relief that the had not seen him.
One of the guards spoke in a deep voice, "You hear something?" Aang realized that it would be only a matter of time before they found where he was so he decided to take the advantage of surprise and decided to attack now. He leaped around the corner and, with the help of his staff, launched a jet of airbending a them.
As he was running in the opposite direction the deep-voiced guard yelled at him, "Stop! Wait!"
Running frantically through the ship with the guards hot on his heels, he eventually came to the stairs leading to the deck of the ship. Stumbling up the steps, he thought he had made his escape, until he tripped on the top step and was sent sprawling onto the floor; his glider flew out of his grasp and landing out of his reach.
He was utterly confused when he looked up from his glider to see Momo. Letting the lemur fly onto his shoulder, he looked around and was surprised at who he saw. Standing over his glider was Toph, and he saw that Momo had been on her shoulder until he flew onto Aang's.
"Aang," she said softly, surprising Aang because she was normally so harsh. "You're awake. you gave us quite the scare."
"Are you sure," he replied. "I think I'm dreaming."
"You not dreaming," she said, launching herself at him in a hug. "You're finally awake . . . I like your hair."
"What I have hair?" Aang spent the next fifteen seconds just rubbing his head vigorously, trying to get used to the novel sensation. "How long was I out?"
"You were out for a few weeks. We got on the ship a few days ago. I'm just glad you're back." She suddenly reddened, not meaning to have said the last part out loud.
She was saved when Katara and a fire nation soldier, or at least someone dressed as fire nation soldier then walked over to him. Aang surmised that they were hiding their identity and that it was actually an ally in the suit of armor.
"Aang, I'm glad you're up and about." Katara said softly.
"Aang, good to see you back with the living buddy," came the voice from the man in the armor. It was very metallic sounding, but he recognized it as Sokka.
"Sokka?" Asked Aang, wanting to confirm his guess. Immediately after he said this, he started to feel faint. He tipped backwards as his strength waned.
Standing next to him, Toph warned everyone else, "Somebody help me catch him, he gonna..." She never got to finish the statement. She had moved behind him to try to catch him, but no one else had tried to stop him from falling over. While she was strong, she was also shorter and surprised, so she couldn't keep Aang from falling over . . . right onto her, knocking her down. She blushed as she realized that Aang was laying on top of her, but thankfully Katara pulled Aang up and off her, all the while shooting her a knowing glance that promised a talk at a later date.
"I'm going to go wake Aang up and continue to heal his wound. It'll be easier now that he's awake and can give me feedback."
Half an hour later, Aang woke up and Katara was standing over him, healing his wound with waterbending. After a little bit of healing, with Aang directing her towards the spot with the most pain, he suddenly had a vision of what had happened when he was hit by Azula's lightning. Unlike his memories, he could see himself after he had been struck; he saw his limp body falling to the ground looking dead; he saw Toph catch him with Earthbending and lead everyone out of the cavern.
"Turning to Katara, he said worriedly, "I didn't just go down did I? It was worse than that. I was gone, but you brought me back."
"I just used the spirit water from the North Pole. I don't know what I did exactly."
"You saved me."
There was a long pause as neither knew what to say. Suddenly both looked up and said, "Katara/Aang, there's something I really need to talk to you about." They both stopped before breaking out laughing. It was comforting to have moments of humor in the harsh world they were in.
Katara got a hold of herself first. "Aang, you go first."
"This may be a bit awkward at first, but please bear with me," She just nodded in reply, signalling to him that it was fair game to continue.
"Okay, for a while, almost the whole journey, but the guru at the eastern air temple and the meditation made me realize my feelings. I really see you as more of a sister. I just wanted to let you know because I think you may have guessed based on my actions."
"Yeah, I realized that pretty early on. I see you as a sibling as well. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to break your heart or anything." At this they hugged, solidifying the sibling dynamic.
Aang continued, "When I woke from the iceberg, and when I saw you for the first time I was stunned. You were very beautiful, and you were also the first girl I had ever seen. After that, it kind of stuck, even though you're more of a sister.
But let's put that aside for now. I think that we need to leave as soon as possible, I'm needed more than ever to help fight the fire nation in the Earth Kingdom. Also, I think I'm ready to learn firebending now. Maybe in my travels I can find Jong Jong again, or another renegade firebender like him. The point is that I need to hurry, the comet is fast approaching, and we're running out of time."
All throughout his little speech Katara was becoming more and more sullen. Aang, having been around her for the past few months, quickly realized that she was sad about something. "Katara, what's wrong."
"It's what I was about to tell you, I don't think I can anymore." A small tear formed in the corner of her eye.
Aang looked her in the eye. "Don't worry. I don't care what you have to say, just tell me. It hurts me to see you so sad."
"Well, I was going to suggest that we spend some more time on the ship. It's just that . . ." Before she could finish her sentence she started to sob. Aang sat down beside her to give her a shoulder to cry on.
She started again, "When my dad left, I was so heartbroken. After so many years of not hearing from him I had to assume he was dead. Then I didn't get to see him at Chameleon Bay, and now, I think I need to spend some time with him. I need to make up some lost time with him.. If I had to leave so soon again . . ." She broke down into tears again. Aang continued to lean against her.
"Don't worry Katara. It's fine. But I really need to go. I've been thinking for a while that I might need to go on my own, but this presents a golden opportunity. Don't try to stop me, I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me. Are we still invading the fire nation on the day of black sun?"
"Yes" she managed to get out through gradually lessening tears. "Sokka and my dad put together a new plan that utilizes all of our allies from around the earth kingdom. We're going to meet at the black cliffs before the invasion of the fire nation. Hopefully you will be ready by then."
"I know I will be. I'm not going to leave just yet. We'll need to find a good time. I can only hope they don't take it the wrong way."
Suddenly the door slammed open and Toph stood in the doorway, visibly hurt and angry. She quickly surveyed the scene. Aang was still sitting next to Katara, and Katara was still leaning in his shoulder. Toph quickly turned and ran before either of them could see the tears in her eyes.
Aang had no idea what was going on and he turned to Katara to see if she had any idea what was wrong with Toph. "I think I know what she's upset about; I'll go talk to her. You just stay here."
Toph ran through the hallways of the ship, tears that could not longer be contained streaming down her face, desperately searching for her room so she could hide from the world that she was hurting on the inside.
When she finally found her room, she leaped onto the bed and put her face into her bed and cried. His words echoed in her mind, driving the pain further into her heart. "We'll need to find a good time. I can only hope they don't take it the wrong way." The whole time he was sitting so close to her with her head on her shoulders; seeing him like that wanted to make her puke.
Drowning in her sorrow, she barely heard the knock at her door. When she didn't respond, Katara opened the door and let herself into the room. Without a word, she sat herself down on the bed next to her and hugged her.
"Let it out. Let it out. Then we'll talk. Okay?" Katara just sat close to the younger girl for moral support.
As soon as Toph got a hold of herself, she jumped away from Katara, "Get away from me. I don't want to see you ever again."
She tried to run out of the room, but Katara blocked her way. "It wasn't what you think, alright. Actually if you would let me explain, I think I have some good news for you." When Toph made no attempt to back down, she decided that she had to take drastic measures. "You're going to listen to me whether you want to or not."
With that as her only warning, Katara bent the water from her satchel and froze Toph to the wall. Without any earth on the ship and without full control of her metalbending powers as she had only discovered the ability recently, there was little that Toph could do to fight back.
"Now you are going to listen to me and you're going to listen well. There is nothing going on between me and Aang. You hear me? Nothing. Can you guess what he originally wanted to talk to me about?" Katara was a little disappointed that nothing she had said seemed to have gotten through to Toph just yet, but she knew her next piece of information would cheer Toph greatly.
"He wanted to tell me that now he thought of me only as a sister, and that he no longer has a crush on me."
Toph's mind was reeling at the implications of this. She, like everyone else in their group was aware that Aang had had a crush on Katara for a long time. It was just another stab to the heart because she had not realized his feelings for Katara until after she realized her feelings for him. Now that this was no longer a factor it felt as though a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She could finally tell him her feelings. But in all her excitement she remembered one thing he had said, "We'll need to find a good time. I can only hope they don't take it the wrong way."
When she asked Katara about it she replied, "There's also some bad news for you. Right now, after finally meeting up with my dad after thinking he was dead for years, I don't think that I or Sokka could leave my father right now. But Aang feels like he needs to help resist the fire nation in the earth kingdom and refine his bending. He going to go off on his own and needs to find a good time to do it. He'll meet us at the black cliffs before the invasion of the fire nation."
At this Toph looked crestfallen. She finally had a chance with Aang, and he had to pick now of all times to leave. She sat deep in thought for a few minutes before her face lit up. "I've got it; I'll go with him."
Katara thought about it for a few moments, "You know, that's actually not a bad idea. You could help him fight and help him with his earthbending and keep him from doing anything stupid. Also, I bet you would like to get off this ship and get your feet on the ground again. But it's not me that you have to convince. Aang feels like he has to go alone so no one will get hurt if he fails."
"That's so stupid and selfish! Why won't he let us help him?"
"Maybe that's his way of being brave. But I think you can convince him. Let's go back up to the deck."
They left Toph's room and made their way through the narrow metal hallways. They passed Aang's room and Katara called for him, saying that they should go back onto the deck.
"Aang, we're going back up, are you coming?" Aang had been worried about what was going on with Toph. She was normally so rough and unfazable that something that had her this upset would have to be something huge.
"Wait a second; I'm coming." They walked in uncomfortable silence for a minute before Aang broke the awkward silence. "Toph, what had you so upset earlier?"
Toph was completely caught off guard. She couldn't tell him, not now and not in this way. But she couldn't just not say anything. She was about to panic when Katara saved her.
"Don't worry about it Aang. It was a girl thing. You wouldn't understand." Aang didn't press further, but he was not placated by Katara's answer. Toph actively tried not to act like a girl, os that was one thing that was fishy about this. Also, Toph was so upset; he wanted to figure out what was wrong so he could help her. He had to wait for a good time, because it seemed that Katara was helping her to hide what was wrong.
They had been on the deck for about half an hour, discussing how they had made it from Ba Sing Se to the ship and the plan for the invasion, when they spotted a fire nation ship headed directly their way.
"I'll handle this, the avatar is back!" As he said this, though, he doubled over in pain.
"Twinkletoes, wait. Remember they don't know we're not fire nation." He collapsed his glider and was accompanied below deck by Toph.
"I hate not being able to do anything," he complained.
"Hopefully you won't have to."
Hakoda and Bato put on their fire nation helmets and met the party that came over from the other ship.
"Commander, why are you off course?" The fire nation commander asked Hakoda. "All western fleet ships are supposed to be heading to Ba Sing Se to support the occupation.
"We're from the eastern fleet; we have orders to deliver some cargo."
"I would have been nice for Admiral Chan to have notified us."
"I'm sure he meant no disrespect."
"I mean how hard is it to write a quick note and send a hawk?"
"Next time we'll send two hawks to be sure." Hakoda quickly bowed and turned. He could see that this was getting away from him. If he didn't stop it soon, they would be easily discovered.
He didn't know that they had already been found out. Toph, with her sense enhanced from her lack of sight, heard what the commander said to his men on the ramp back on to his own ship.
"They know!" She yelled before metalbending the ramp so the would fall off. Katara threw up a huge wall of water between the two ships that gave them some space to try to maneuver away.
The other ship quickly righted itself and started to pursue them. The catapults mounted on the fire nation ship were launching a constant barrage of flaming rocks at their ship. Toph made an offense of their own; Pipsqueak was placing rocks in front of her and she was either blocking their projectiles or launching her own.
It was utter pandemonium, but Aang stayed down. He had been warned that he was their secret weapon. It pained him to stay hidden, but he realized the necessity of the situation. He hated that everyone thought that he was dead and that he had failed, but the reality of the situation was that he had failed. He had failed, and now he had to make up for that failure. Any way that he could increase his chances of repaying the world had to be taken.
After five minutes of fighting, it seemed that they were doomed. Their hull had been hit with a harpoon and a section was missing. Even with Katara waterbending an ice patch to cover the hole, they were still taking on water. She would have done a better job, but she didn't have time in the middle of the fight.
Toph was no longer able to contribute to the fight. A stray flaming rock had destroyed all of her ammunition, leaving her without a way to strike at their ship.
"How we doing?" Toph couldn't really see much of the fight, but she knew they weren't doing too well.
"Things couldn't get much worse." The universe was about to prove Sokka wrong. Just as he said this a giant sea serpent reared its head out of the water, ready to doom their ship. However, they were saved by a stray projectile from the other ship. It stuck the serpent in the head, and consequently, the giant snake dove under the water and swam toward the other ship. Wrapping itself around, hindering it's movement, the enemy ship faded backwards until it was out of sight.
"Thank you, universe." Sokka broke the silence of everyone staring into the distance as the ship faded from view.
The group had arrived in a port, and were going to go out to get some food. Aang had been sulking in his room because of his failure and his inability to do anything in the naval battle.
Katara, Sokka, and Toph knocked on the doorframe and walked into his room."Hey, Aang. We're going out to get some food." Sokka's mind was always on food.
Aang's stomach rumbled. He blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I guess that sounds like a good idea.
Sokka pulled a red fire nation headband out of his pocket. "Here. Take this. It will cover your arrow."
"No. If I have to cover my arrow I'm not going."
"Aang be practical," Sokka said, ever the pragmatist.
"No, it's fine. I'm not really hungry anyways."
Toph could clearly see that he was hungry and was dead-set against concealing his identity. While he made it clear that it was his preference to be alone for the evening, she could surmise that a night of brooding would not be healthy for his psyche. "You guys go ahead without us; I'm not really hungry anyways."
"Okay whatever." Toph couldn't help but think Sokka couldn't particularly understand the nuances of the emotional troubles of Aang, or her for that matter. Katara shot her a knowing glance, signaling that she knew that her reasoning for remaining with Aang was not food, but matters of the heart. Her glance implied that this would be a perfect moment, and Toph couldn't help but agree. Aang definitely had some problems weighing on his heart, and a perfect way to gain the trust with Aang she would need to let her heart out to him. Even if she couldn't tell him now, she could build a bridge of trust with him that could be crossed in the opposite direction if the time ever came.
Katara and Sokka walked out of the room, Katara with one last glance signalled for her go for it. "I think I understand why being a secret bothers you so much. You don't want people to think you failed."
"You're right, I don't. But the problem is, I did fail!"
"Aang, that's not true."
"It is true. I was in Ba Sing Se. I was there! But I lost. And now the Earth Kingdom is fallen for good. I don't want you or anyone else risking your lives to fix my mistakes! I've always known that I would have to face the Fire Lord. But now I know I need to do it alone."
"Aang, please, just let me help."
"Toph, please! Just go... please. I need to redeem myself. I need my honor back."
At this Toph started to panic. This was supposed to help Aang trust her, but he was slipping further and further away from her and everyone else. Calming herself, she decided to revert back to what had worked for her for years.
"Alright, twinkle toes. Listen up. This is not what you need. You need the support of your friends. You know who you sounded like there? You sounded like ZUKO!" By now Aang was looking equal parts afraid and sheepish. "I know you think that you need to go off and help the earth kingdom without us, Katara told me, and while that is actually a good idea, you can't just abandon your friends. So while you will go and help the earth kingdom and master your bending, I'm coming with you!"
Toph couldn't believe her courage. If this worked, and he agreed, it would be a major opportunity, but if it didn't, she would have lost a lot of ground. After a while to think, Aang replied. "I think that would be a good idea, but we need to leave now. I don't think I could work up the courage again without your little speech. We'll leave a note. Katara will explain the rest."
The two companion spent the next hour running around the ship in a frenzy, trying to leave before everyone got back so that their departure would be made easier. When they had finished putting everything together and finished writing the note, they packed everything onto Appa's saddle and with Momo they perched on Aang shoulder they flew off into sky.
They both turned took for one final look at the ship. Toph tentatively put her arm on Aang's shoulder, and he quickly reciprocated, making Toph blush, even if Aang didn't see it.
When she woke up this morning, Toph couldn't have possibly expected things to go so beautifully. First Aang woke up, then he admitted that he no longer liked Katara in the way she liked him, and now, she had a few weeks alone with him.
'Things couldn't get much better,' she thought as she fell into sleep on Aang's shoulder.
Sorry for taking so much straight from canon. I meant for this story to start out like canon, but take a direct turn away from it soon. There will be no more chapters with this much direct from canon.
I'm going to separate the chapters with Zuko and Mai, so they will either be in the next chater or the one after that.
-Until next time