Chapter 0: Prologue; The Howling

When the wind came, so did the earth. Ripped up from its home under their feet, tangling with the force of his rage. The remaining conscious few were knocked to the crumbled and shaking ground, covering their faces instinctively to shield themselves from the debris. The air whirled around him in such a fury that it caused branches to be torn from the nearby trees. Hovering several feet off the ground, glowing with all the power of his past lives, Aang grit his teeth and clenched his fists, glaring at the accused. The typical peace loving demeanor was gone from the young Avatar. In its place stood an unparalleled malice. With an intake of breath, the fire was summoned. Dancing with the rock and wind, the destructive element invoked deeper fear into the hearts of those around him. The water skin that dependently clung to Katara's hip was trembling. The liquid was pulled from it as she lay there in Sokka's arms. He had her covered, tucked into his chest shielded from the impending wrath that circled his friend.

The four elements were together again, embodied around the Avatar. Sokka looked down at his sister's blank face, brushing her hair away as his lip quivered. He cautiously turned his head to look back at Aang. He had risen a few more feet off the ground. The earth below him had been decimated by either Aang's demand of its involvement or the overpowering force of the wind, save for a few square feet he intended to protect. Sokka tried calling out to him, but the wind cried louder. It screamed in their ears, the desolate cognizant covering the sides of their heads to block out the penetrating call of the air.

"Aang!" Cried Sokka. His voice would never reach him.

Zuko knelt several feet away, his twin broadswords slung around the neck of one of them. His scarred face looked upon his firebending protege. Better than most, Zuko knew what was inside that young boy's mind now. All that was taken, all he had lost. It all showed in the scene around them.

'There isn't any going back from this,' The Fire Lord thought. Some things cannot be undone. The Agni-Kai with his father was proof of that. As he looked toward Aang, his past told him that everything Aang was feeling could be justified.

His present and future, having been influenced by his uncle told him there could still be a higher path to take. Zuko was as helpless as the rest. Aang could not be reached, reasoned with or understood. So he watched. His blades twitched against the neck of his subdued. A slight trail of blood trickled down the sharp steel. Zuko was trained enough to know how much pressure could be applied before skin broke with his own weapon, but angry enough to take advantage of that.

'Anger,' he thought, 'Is that all you have now, Aang? You could never be like I was. You are stronger than me, stronger than all of us.'

A concussive blast of wind knocked several trees over. Sokka protected his unconscious sister, holding her closer.

Zuko looked away and closed his eyes for a moment, letting his captive take the blunt of the force for him. They were knocked out cold from the air pressure hitting them. Zuko removed his swords from their throat as they fell limp in front of him and swiftly combined them into their single form again and sheathed them. He remained knelt down, close to the little ground that Aang hadn't consumed. He glanced over at Sokka and saw that he was sobbing over his younger sister, cradling her face. A heat arose inside Zuko, plucking at his heart. He crawled over to them, ducking out of the way of a few rogue stones.

Sokka looked up from Katara and reached for Zuko, his arm shaking from the wind. Zuko stumbled as he grabbed Sokka's hand, pulling himself into the huddle. He gazed down at her. Her face still retained its color and glow through this trauma. He admired that about her. She had an astounding ability, apart from her bending mastery to always produce a positive outlook toward any dire situation.

"Beautiful." Mumbled Zuko, muted by the howling of the wind. Maybe the natural opposite attraction they had to each other was a dominating factor – fire and water. After the trip to hunt down her mother's killer Yon Rha, they developed a bond with each other that Zuko still had a hard time explaining, and even then... sparing his life proved further that she forever found her way to the light when it was darkest. He found himself thinking about her more often each day. Silent and removed, he would always sit by during their down-time from traveling. From his corner of camp, always strategically chosen, he could watch her without drawing suspicion. Being a firebender, the practices she studied gave him little interest, but the sight would still draw him in. She moved with the water, just like the water itself. Fluid and ever changing. He was happy be around her again. 'Happy,' Zuko processed. A still new sensation for the young Fire Lord. Truly his friends were the pivoting point for his emotional as well as mental breakthrough. A new man was born from the ashes of his own past. Happy was a word furthest from today's events.

Zuko's teeth ground together. The memories flooded his mind. Memories of the times they had and battles they won.

'They won't be the last. You'll make it.'

He put a hand on Sokka's back in assurance. The water tribe warrior trembled, a mix of anger and despair coming from within him.

"Wake up, Katara," he whimpered, "you have to wake up."

"Sokka..." said Zuko, glancing up from the motionless waterbender. Sokka may not have been gifted with the ability to bend water, but all the water in the world seemed to come from his eyes. Drips of his anguish fell on her face, splashing off her cheek. Her rosy cheeks that Zuko could find reddening each time Katara "accidentally" came across him training.

"Mmph..." a noise erupted from her. Her eyelids twitched, still shut tight.

Sokka perked up his head from its depressed lean, "Katara!" he exclaimed, cradling the back of her head. His job was to take care of her. For years it was the two of them against the world. Come what may, Sokka would defend his sister. As she progressed in her waterbending training, more times than he would care to admit, it was Katara saving his skin instead. He felt helpless. What big brother allows this to happen to his sister? His fist clenched next to her head as he watched her squirm.

"Zuko... she might-" Zuko's attention left the reacting waterbender. His gaze found Aang again. The Avatar had descended upon the only renegade that was willed enough to stay awake. Rage was all he could see. Shaking uncontrollably under the weight of Aang's wrath, they brought their arms up in surrender, begging for mercy.

"P-please, Avat-t-tar! Just.. just spare me!" On their knees and with their hands clasped together, all they had left was the determination to survive. The last one left. The pleas were cast aside. No more would they find the Avatar to be gentle and understanding. They left nothing else for him. All Aang held dear was unresponsive, laying on the ground. Zuko knew Aang was still in there, with the minimal influence over his Avatar State. He knew it when he saw her.

The narrow section of earth Aang had left untainted by his destruction still remained.

Bloodied and broken, she lay there protected. Underneath his all powerful state and upon his dedicated slab of rock he saved for her, Toph was untouchable. In a fetal state she stayed, all of the chaos kept away from her by the cyclone of air Aang had formed around the two of them. No sound could be heard within. He created a different world for her inside. No more could be done to her.

Aang's glowing hand raised above his head, commanding the elements to combine into a tower of destruction. Vengeance was birthed at the ends of his fingers. His luminosity intensified as he cast his arm downward in a swift stroke, directing his power toward the accused.

'Protect. Her,' Aang thought internally as his wrathful elemental weapon hurled forward.

The wind blew away the few remaining trees behind him, the water sharpened into a thousand frozen daggers, the earth condensed into unbreakable stones and the fire screamed with savagery.

A/N - Welcome to the first part of our journey. This is what some may call a prologue, others a "flash forward"

I've been out of the game for many years, I'd still love any feedback you kind people have to offer. We have a long way to go to catch up with this chapter. I'm sorry for all the canon lovers in the world, this work of fiction will feature the pairings of Aang/Toph and Zuko/Katara, lovingly referred to as Taang and Zutara. It's good to be back, I hope you accept me. I of course do not own any of these characters. I am only their humble guide.

Zach