Avatar: The Twins

by jkmrsy

What if Aang wasn't the last airbender? What if he had a twin sister that managed to survive for a hundred years? And more importantly, what if the were the world's first dual avatars?

1. The Boy in the Iceberg

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its creatures or characters! I only own the people that come out of my head. Get it? Got it? Good!

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Katara's P.O.V.
Katara and her brother, Sokka, were floating gently in their canoe in the waters of the South Pole. She was rolling her eyes at his latest attempt at fishing. Did he never learn? He had his spear held slightly above his head while he stared at the water.

"It's not getting away from me this time. Watch and learn Katara. This is how you catch a fish," he said.

Katara stared at him, giving his back a clear look that said 'yeah right'. Then a fish swam by her. She took off one of her gloves and sighed, looking nervously at the fish. She concentrated on what she had taught herself and the fish was lifted into the air in a bubble of water. "Sokka, look!" she said in surprise as she bended the water bubble around.

"Shh! Katara, you're gonna scare it away! I can already smell it cooking..." he whispered to her. She continued bending it above their heads. "But Sokka, I caught one!" she said. Of course, the idiot ignored her and raised his spear anyway, effectively popping the bubble. The water splashed down on his head and Katara's fish flopped back down into the icy water.

"Hey!" she yelled. "Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" Sokka asked in frustration.

Katara sighed. He was so annoying. Especially when he called it magic. "It's not magic! It's waterbending and it's-" "Yeah, yeah, yeah. An ancient art, unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had your powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself," he said, cutting his sister off. "You're calling me weird?" she asked. "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water."

Then he put his arm down and covered it back up, frowning at her. He was about to say something when the canoe lurched. They had gotten caught in a current and were headed straight through a bunch of ice floes. "Go left! Go left!" Katara shouted at Sokka. He seemed to be trying his best, but the boat went right and into a crevice between two ice floes. Both of the siblings bailed out of the boat just before it was crushed. Now they were stranded. Great.

"You call that left?" Katara asked, sitting up. "You don't like my steering?" Sokka retorted. "Well, maybe you should have just waterbended us out of the ice." "So it's my fault?" Katara asked, standing up. "I knew I should have left you home! Leave it to a girl to screw things up!" Sokka huffed.

And that was the last straw. He had been getting on her nerves all day, but that was just it. "You are the most sexist, immature, nutbrained-!" She yelled, throwing her arms up. "I'm embarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!" Her arms flew with every sentence.

Sokka cringed. Good. He should be scared. "Uhh, Katara?" he squeaked.

"I even wash all of the clothes!" she yelled. "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you! Not pleasant!" Katara threw her arms up and behind herself.

"Katara! Settle down!" Sokka warned her.

"No! That's it! I'm done helping you! From now on you're on your own!" she screamed.

Then Sokka gasped, looking over her shoulder. She turned around to see what he was looking at. The ice berg behind her fell apart and crumbled into the sea. She dropped to the ground as the waves produced by the falling ice pushed their ice floe back. Sokka held her close to him so she wouldn't fall off. As soon as the ice stopped, Sokka let her go and they both sat up.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish Katara," he said. "You mean I did that?" the waterbender asked in amazement. "Yup. Congratulations," he said.

Then the water underneath them started to glow blue and bubble. The small circle of light grew. The siblings got up and stepped back. Seconds later, a huge spherical iceberg burst out of the water causing them to step back. Sokka stayed back as Katara took a step forward and looked at a dark spot in the ice. As her eyes focused, she noticed that the dark spot was a body! And there were glowing blue arrows on its head and hands. The person's eyes opened and they were glowing too!

"He's alive!" Katara said as she stumbled back. She immediately grabbed Sokka's club off of his back. "We have to help!" she said, running forward.

"Katara! Get back here!" Sokka yelled after her. "We don't know what that thing is!"

She ignored him and jumped across a few small ice floes to get to the iceberg. As soon as she got to the spot the body was at, she started beating at the ice. After hitting it a few times, a huge gust of air blew out of the hole and pushed her into her brother's arms. A crack formed from the hole and it ran up the iceberg. Then a huge beam of light flew into the sky.

Zuko's P.O.V.
Zuko was watching in amazement as a beam of light rose into the sky. "Finally," he said under his breath. "Uncle! Do you realize what this means?" he said louder, gesturing to the light beam.

"I won't get to finish my game?" he asked, holding a card in the air before placing it on the small table in front of him. Stupid old man. "It means my search is about to come to an end," Zuko clarified. His uncle sighed.

"That light came from an incredibly powerful source! It has to be him!" the banished prince yelled.

"Or it's just the celestial lights," his uncle said, gesturing to the sky with a card in his hand. "We've been down this road before Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing," he continued, placing the card. "Please sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?"

"I don't need any calming tea!" Zuko yelled. Couldn't he just stop with the food and tea for once in his life? "I need to capture the Avatar! Helmsman! Head a course for the light!" he said pointing toward the beam.

Katara's P.O.V.
The airflow stopped and Katara and Sokka unhuddled from each other. She stood and Sokka pointed his spear toward where the beam came from. The body-a young boy near her age-emerged from the top of the iceberg, his eyes and the arrows still glowing. He was bald and wearing a yellow suit with a red-orange belt, cape, and boots.

Sokka pointed his spear directly at him. "Stop!" he warned.

The boy ignored him and stood, the glow disappearing from his eyes and skin to reveal tattoos where the arrows had been. He fell forward and Katara ran up to catch him. She knelt down with him in her arms.

Sokka walked up and started poking at the boy's head with the back of his spear. "Stop it!" Katara said, pushing the spear away. She turned the boy over on his back. He slowly opened his gray eyes and then he gasped.

"I need to ask you something," he whispered. "What?" she asked. "Please, come closer," the boy said. She complied and leaned in a little. "What is it?" Then he got a huge, child-like smile on his face. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" he asked. That took her by surprise. She leaned back to a sitting position. "Uh, sure. I guess," she said, still confused.

He jumped up to his feet, but too slowly to be a jump. The air blew around his clothes. Sokka jumped back and aimed his spear at the boy again. "What's going on here?" the boy asked. Katara got up as he took a look around.

"You tell us!" Sokka yelled. "How'd you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?" he asked, poking him again. The boy absentmindedly shooed the weapon away as he spoke. "I'm not sure," he said. Then he gasped and scrambled up the iceberg to where he had emerged. Katara and Sokka walked around the other side instead of hiking up.

She heard the boy speaking to someone. "Appa! Are you alright? Wake up buddy!" he was saying. A few moments later she heard him laugh. "You're okay!" Then the two siblings made it around the iceberg. There was a huge furry animal of some kind that the boy was with. "What is that thing?" Sokka asked in shock.

The boy pet the beast as he talked. "This is Appa, my flying bison," he explained. "Right," Sokka said skeptically. Then he pointed to her. "And this is Katara, my flying sister," He was horrible with the sarcasm. And jokes for that matter.

Then the bison sneezed and the boy ducked. Sokka on the other hand didn't move at all and ended up covered in snot. He started making various 'ew' type noises as he attempted to wipe himself off with his gloves and in the snow. Right, that seemed to be working... "Don't worry, it'll wash out," the boy said. Apparently Sokka wasn't the first person to have this problem. He just held his glove from his face, with snot connecting the two.

"So, do you guys live around here?" the boy asked. Sokka pointed his spear at him again. "Don't answer that!" he warned. "Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy," he said, getting up. "Oh yeah I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye," Katara said sarcastically. The boy smiled very innocently.

"The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name," she said. "I'm ahh, ahhh-" the boy started. The two stared at him. He sneezed toward the ground and then he blasted upwards into the air! A few seconds later he slid back down the side of the iceberg to his previous spot. "I'm Aang!" he said. Then he rubbed his nose with his finger and smiled like nothing happened.

"You just sneezed," Sokka said pointing up, "and flew ten feet in the air!" "Really?" Aang asked looking up. "It felt higher than that," It all clicked together in the waterbender's head and she gasped in shock. "You're an airbender!" she said. "Sure am," Aang said. "Giant light beams, flying bison, airbenders. I think I've go midnight sun madness," Sokka said before walking away. "I'm going home to where stuff makes sense," he said. Then he made it to the edge of the iceberg and realized that the sea was in the way.

"Well if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift," Aang said, jumping on Appa's head. "We'd love a ride!" Katara said. "Thanks!" "Oh no. I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster," Sokka protested.

Aang was helping Katara up onto Appa's back and into the saddle. Right. Well then, he could stay there and freeze. But he was her brother-a good reason to leave him-and she decided to let him know the situation. Sort of. "Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home? You know, before you freeze to death?" she asked.

He stared at Appa and lifted his hand. He began to respond, but couldn't come up with anything and sighed. He trumped over to the bison and scrambled up. He flopped over in the saddle and then scooted to the back and crossed his arms. Well, he was clearly unhappy. She smiled-mostly due to excitement.

"Okay first time flyers hold on tight! Appa, yip yip!" Aang said. He snapped the reigns. Appa jumped up, and slowly crested the top of it. That slow crest gave her butterflies. Then, he fell forward and landed with a splash in the water. "Come on Appa, yip yip," Aang said again, snapping the reigns. Katara crawled forward to him.

"Wow, that was truly amazing..." Sokka said sarcastically. He was obviously bored and skeptical.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky," Aang said making a flying kind of motion with his hand. "You'll see."

Katara was sure that she would eventually see the bison fly. She started to turn around to crawl back into the saddle, when she noticed Aang smiling. It was a little creepy that he wouldn't stop. "Why are you smiling at me?" she asked. He stopped. "Oh, I was smiling?" he asked. Sokka groaned in the back.

Aang's P.O.V.
Aang was lying on Appa's head as he floated through the frigid waters, headed toward Sokka's and Katara's village. He had a lot of things on his mind for a twelve year old boy. A few minutes later Katara crawled up to him from Appa's saddle.

"Hey," she said. "Hi. Whatcha thinking about?" he asked her. "I guess I was wondering, you being an airbender and all if you had any idea what happened to the avatar?" she asked. That hit him like a bucket of cold water. He hoped the shock didn't show on his face. "Uhh, no," he said. "I didn't know him. I mean I knew people that knew him but I didn't. Sorry." "Okay. Just curious. Night," she said. "Sleep tight," he replied as she retreated into the saddle again.

The young airbender turned over and frowned. If only she knew. Hell, he knew the avatar better than anyone else. That's why he didn't tell her that he knew him. For one, the avatar didn't want to be who he was in the first place. Soon, Aang fell asleep to troubling thoughts.

That wasn't a good idea. He woke up in a dream. It was that night that he fell into the ocean. He was sleeping in Appa's saddle with his staff across his chest. A flash of lightning and the loud roar of thunder startled him out of his sleep. He sat bolt upright and gasped. Sometime in the night, he and Appa had gotten caught in a huge storm!

Aang yelled as he tried to steer the bison out of the area, but against his will, they ended up crashing into the water. The boy tried to hold his head above water, but he felt the current grab him and pull him under again. It was a lot for him. He were losing consciousness fast. Then his eyes and tattoos started to glow and he threw his fists together. A huge air bubble formed around him and Appa and the water froze around it, turning into the iceberg Katara and Sokka found them in.

"Aang!" a voice came. "Aang wake up!" He jumped awake and gasped. "It's okay. We're in the village now," Katara said, pointing behind her. "Come on get ready. Everyone's waiting to meet you."

She turned to leave, so Aang got up and grabbed his shirt. Man, it was freezing! He quickly pulled his shirt on and just as he got it over his head, Katara was tugging on his wrist and pulling him out of the tent. Then they came to a standstill. "Aang, this is the entire village," the girl said, gesturing to a group of about twenty people. "Entire village, Aang."

Wow. The airbender had really expected the Southern Water Tribe to be bigger. And have more men...It was mostly women and children. The only older boy was Sokka, and he was still kind of young. Aang bowed to the group and was confused when they acted like they were scared.

"Uh, why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?" Aang asked, voicing his confusion as he checked himself over. No. No snot. What was it then?

An older woman stepped out of the group and came forward. "Well no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you," she said. "Extinct?" the airbender asked, now extremely confused. These people were either really secluded, or they had been living out in the cold for too long.

"Aang, this is my grandmother," Katara said, interrupting his thoughts. "Call me Gran Gran," the old woman said.

Then Sokka walked up to him and took the staff from him. "What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this," he said. Aang pulled the staff back using his airbending. "It's not for stabbing. It's for airbending," he explained, opening his glider which made Sokka flinch. A child from the tribe jumped up and clapped. "Magic trick! Do it again!" the child cheered. "Not magic; airbending," Aang said. "It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly!"

"You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly," Sokka said skeptically. Well then, this would be fun. As it always was when people haven't seen an airbender fly before.

"Check again!" the young monk said to Sokka as he put the glider on his back and took off. He flew around doing loops and various tricks, showing off for the people. They were all staring at him, pointing and marveling. He was smiling so much that his face was starting to hurt. Flying always lifted his spirits like that.

Then he flew headfirst into a snow tower. Damn! That was colder than the air! He quickly tried to dislodge himself. It took a few tries, but he was able to pull his head out and he and his glider fell to the ground in a pile of snow.

Katara ran up to him and Sokka gasped. "My watch tower!" he whined. "That was amazing!" Katara said as she helped Aang up. Sokka ran up to the pile of snow and started inspecting the tower before a heap of snow fell on him. "Great. You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender. Together you can just waste time all day long," he said, getting up and walking off.

"You're a waterbender!" the airbender said to Katara in excitement. "Well, sort of. Not yet," she said modestly.

Then Katara's grandmother walked up to lead her away. "All right. No more playing. Come on Katara, you have chores," she said.

Then the two walked away and the kids ran up. They kept begging him to do something cool again. He knew how to make them laugh and as cold as it was, he had the perfect thing. Aang held his tongue out and licked his staff. It effectively got stuck. "See? now my tongue is stuck to my staff!" he said around the appendage. The children laughed and then one grabbed and pulled. Well, that hurt...

Zuko's P.O.V.
The Fire Nation prince was holding his ground against two guards as his uncle watched the scene. "Again," Iroh said.

Zuko shot two balls of fire at the guards. One of them jumped while the other moved and retaliated. Zuko ducked out of the way of the attack. The other guard fired and jumped and twisted, as the prince sent flames at one of the guards with his fist and the other with his foot. Both of them dodged. Then it all stopped. The old man sighed and got up. What was it now?

"No. Power in firebending comes from the breath, not the muscles," he said, making gestures. "The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire," he continued as he firebended right in front of the teenager's face. "Get it right this time."

"Enough," Zuko said in defiance. "I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set. I'm more than ready."

"No, you're impatient. You have yet to master your basics," his uncle said. He sat back down in his previous spot. "Drill it again!" he said, louder.

Zuko growled in frustration and then decided to take his anger out on one of his guards. He pulled off a firebending move in the opposite direction, hitting the guard. He turned back to his uncle. "The sages tell us that the avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!" he yelled at him.

"Very well," he agreed. Finally! "But first I must finish my roast duck," he said as he began eating. Oh, of course!

Sokka's P.O.V.
Sokka was giving the boys of the tribe a lesson in battle. "Now men, it's important that you show no fear when you face a firebender. The Water Tribe: we fight to the last man standing," he said, raising one of his favorite weapons. "But without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" he asked.

One of the children raised his hand. "I gotta pee!" he said. Why did they have to be like that. "Listen! Until your fathers return from the war they're counting on you to be the men of this tribe, and that means no potty breaks!" Sokka snapped. "But I really gotta go!" he complained. Sokka sighed. "Okay, who else has to go?" he asked. All of the other boys raised their hands. Of course...He slapped his face as the kids walked off to the bathroom.

Katara walked up to him then. "Have you seen Aang? Gran Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago," she said confusedly. Good. The warrior hoped he wouldn't come back. But, his wish wasn't meant to be. The little annoyance walked out of the bathroom, holding his pants like he had just pulled them up. "Wow, everything freezes in there!" he said, making the boys laugh. "Ugh! Katara, get him out of here! This lesson is for warriors only!" Sokka yelled.

"Wee!" he heard a boy shout. He turned to see the kid slide off of that bison's tail and fly over his spear-resting sideways-and into a pile of snow. He immediately ran up to them.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" he yelled at the airbender as the kids ran past. "What's wrong with you?! We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on!" he yelled. Did he seriously think that he could just waste time all day like that? The Fire Nation could attack at any moment! Katara walked up as he slid off of the bison.

"What war? What are you talking about?" he asked. "You're kidding right?" Sokka asked him in disbelief. Then the kid got this huge smile on his face. "PENGUIN!" he yelled. Then he was gone. "He's kidding, right?" Sokka asked his sister.

Aang's P.O.V.
After chasing the penguin down Aang found that it had led him to a whole flock of them! Now he just had to catch one.

"Aang?" Katara's voice came. The boy laughed as he walked after one of the penguins. "Hey come on little guy! Wanna go sledding?" he asked, jumping at a penguin. He missed and landed in the snow. Then he rolled himself over and airbended himself up. "I have a way with animals," he said to Katara. Then he walked after one of the penguins, pretending to be one.

Katara laughed at him. "Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me waterbending," she said. Aang let go of the penguin that he was being dragged around by. "You got a deal! Just one little problem," he said, airbending himself up. "I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?" he asked.

Katara turned away from him with a sad look on her face. "No. You're looking at the only waterbender in the whole South Pole," she said sadly.

"This isn't right. A waterbender needs to master water," he said. Then he had a thought. "What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there right? Maybe they have waterbenders who can teach you," he said.

"Maybe. But we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly turn right at the second glacier. It's on the other side of the world," she said.

"But you forget, I have a flying bison," the airbender said as he pointed to yourself. "Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole. Katara, we're gonna find you a master!" "That's-I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before," she said, unsure of herself. "Well, you think about it. But in the meantime, can you teach me to catch one of these penguins?" Aang asked her.

"Okay, listen closely my young pupil," she said, bowing. "Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art. Observe," she pulled a fish out of her coat and threw it to him. He caught it and he was being swarmed by penguins before he knew it. He was laughing as the penguins crawled on top of him.

Minutes later, he and Katara had penguins and they were on their way downhill. Aang flew over a ledge and landed on a slope to continue his descent. He saw a ramp in the snow and went up and into the air. Katara went by on the ground and Aang flew over her and landed on the slope of the next ledge. Katara went over it and landed next to him, laughing.

"I haven't done this since I was a kid!" she yelled. "You still are a kid!" the airbender said to her.

He continued downhill and into a natural tunnel. The two of them swerved left and right to go up the sides. Aang airbended behind himself, making his penguin spiral around the tunnel and out, past Katara. She exited the tunnel behind him and the penguins slowed to a stop. The two got off of their penguins and walked up to the object that was there, casting a shadow.

"Whoa. What's that?" Aang asked, looking at the giant ship that was raised up in ice. "A Fire Navy ship. A very bad memory for my people," Katara explained.

He took a few steps toward it. "Aang stop! We're not allowed to go near it. The ship could be booby trapped," she warned. He turned around to look at her. "If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear," he said. Katara seemed to agree, seeing as she walked up to him. He smiled and continued forward, letting the waterbender follow him.

They climbed up the ice and Aang helped Katara into a break in the ship's hull. They were walking through the ship, exploring the different rooms. Then Aang stopped at room full of weapons and went in to explore. Katara followed him in. "This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks," she said.

"Okay, back up. I have friends all over the world. Even in the Fire Nation," he said, picking up a random weapon to examine it. "I've never seen any war." This was all so confusing. Why was everyone talking about a war? And why did Katara's grandmother say that airbenders were extinct? Aang had left home only a couple of days ago.

"Aang, how long were you in that iceberg?" Katara asked, interrupting his thoughts. He put the weapon back where he found it. "I don't know. A few days maybe," he said. "I think it was more like a hundred years!" she said in amazement. "What? That's impossible! Do I look like a hundred-twelve year old man to you?" the young airbender asked, turning to face Katara.

"Think about it," she said. "The war is a century old. You don't know about it because you were in there that whole time. It's the only explanation." Aang was horrified. It must have been true. It actually made sense! He grabbed his head and sat down. "A hundred years! I can't believe it," he said in despair.

Katara put her arm around him. "I'm sorry Aang. Maybe somehow there's a bright side to all this," she said. "I did get to meet you," he said, smiling slightly. She smiled back. "Come on. Let's get outta here," she said, helping him up.

They walked through the rest of the ship for the next couple of hours. "Aang, let's head back. This place is creepy," she said when the two of them walked into the highest room in the ship. "Huh?" Aang said. His foot had caught on a wire hidden in the snow. A grate to fell over the door they just came in. They ran to the door and grabbed the grate. "What's that you said about booby traps?" he asked.

A mechanism went off, sending a flare hundreds of feet into the air. He ran to the window to look. That was bad. "Uh-oh," he said. He looked up to see a hole in the roof. "Hold on tight!" he said. Then he grabbed Katara and leapt through the hole.

Zuko's P.O.V.
Zuko was looking through a telescope when he saw a red light. It was a flare from an old Fire Navy ship. He quickly moved the direction of the telescope downward to see one figure carrying another out of the top of the ship. He was leaping down in a fashion that only an airbender could.

"The last airbender. Quite agile for his old age," the prince said to himself. He turned and pointed to a soldier. "Wake my uncle!" he yelled. "Tell him I've found the avatar," he said, quieter.

He looked back into the telescope to see the avatar put the other person down. Then they started running. He turned the telescope in the direction they were moving. He saw something and then turned it back. A village..."As well as his hiding place" he said.