Water
Fire
Earth
Air
There was a time, when the four nations lived together in harmony,
then, everything changed when the Avatar appeared.
Master of all four elements and corrupted by power,
only the strength of all four nations could stop him.
And, after years of fighting, he was vanquished…
Blinded by hatred, sights were turned to the new Avatar,
a young Air Nomad, who bared the crimes of his predecessor.
Twenty years have passed and the identity of the Avatar
remains shrouded in mystery.
Some say the Avatar died hiding amongst the Air Nomads,
But I believe the Avatar still lives,
waiting to rise from the ashes of the past.
If you were to ask anyone in the Southern Water Tribe about Katsuki Yuuri, you first hear of his kindness. You would hear how Yuuri was always the one to come running when called, always the one to heal wounds, and always the one to wear a smile even when the whole world was crashing down around him. The second praise you would hear about him would be for his determination. You would hear stories of how he would wake with the rising sun, perform his duties, and spend the rest of the day among the icebergs, twisting and turning his body in attempt to bend the tides around him.
Exactly like he was doing now.
Yuuri's only onlooker, and best friend, Phichit Chulanont watched, transfixed, as a single column of water shakily rose above the lip of their canoe. As the column rose, Yuuri could feel a strong tug in his gut and a subtle, yet powerful, surge of energy run through his veins. [GH1] Immediately, Yuuri stilled, palms upward as if carrying an invisible orb, in a desperate attempt to keep the tiny column afloat. Instead, the column fell with a defeated plop, followed quickly by a frustrated huff.
Phichit perked up as Yuuri ran his hands through his onyx hair and turned his attention towards his friend, a small, defeated frown tugging on his lips as he sat down.
"Giving up so soon?" Phichit asked teasingly as Yuuri placed his gloves back on his hands and snuggled his face into fur of his collar.
Yuuri's eyes shot to his friend, a big, playful smile spreading on his face underneath his thick coat.
"Says the almighty fisherman," Yuuri shot back, gesturing towards the long, three-pronged spear perched in Phichit's lap and the painfully empty, hand-woven basket laying neglected at the bottom of the canoe. Yuuri was positive he saw cobwebs forming on the basket's lip.
"Fishing is boring," Phichit complained, throwing his head back and moaning like a small child assigned to do chores.
A sudden, solemn aura blanketed over the waterbender sitting across from him and Phichit could feel a chill wash over him, one that certainly had nothing to do with the icy temperature of their environment.
"And watching me fail at waterbending isn't?" Yuuri asked dejectedly, his eyes downcast in defeat.
Phichit desperately wanted to think that his friend meant it to be a joke, but he couldn't bring himself to believe it. With the proper training, most fifteen-year-old benders with Yuuri's skill would've been Masters, but because Yuuri was the only waterbender in the entire Southern Water Tribe he had to blindly teach himself. An effort that wasn't making much progress.
"You almost had it that time!" Phichit protested, giving him a reassuring smile to salvage the rapidly plummeting mood.
"Sure," Yuuri halfheartedly agreed, his eyes not meeting Phichit's as he cupped his gloved hands together and blew hot air into them to warm himself.
"You just need more practice!" Phichit insisted, setting his spear to his side to officially surrender his attempt at fishing for the day. "You're going to be a great waterbender one day, I know it!"
Yuuri gave his friend a breathless laugh, his brown eyes sparkling with a false amusement. "Thank you, Phichit, but I think this might be the end."
Phichit's stomach dropped at Yuuri's words, "The-the end?"
"Of me coming out here," Yuuri said calmly as the canoe began rocking gently back and forth, as if it were protesting the bender's words of surrender. "Of me trying to master waterbending."
Phichit could feel his body go numb and his shoulders stiffen as Yuuri's statement sent shivers through him. "You can't just give up!"
Yuuri caught his bottom lip between his teeth and shot his friend a sad look. It wasn't as if Yuuri wanted to give up, in fact everything in him was stubbornly screaming to push through the disappointment and persevere. But he felt like he had tried everything short of packing up and traveling to the Northern Water Tribe. He had prayed to the Spirits and received no answer, he had written a lengthy, carefully worded letter to the Northern Water Tribe's bending Masters and received a rather snobbish letter in return[GH2] , he had even asked his parents for advice and received the reassurance that they would support him no matter what his decision. That, of course, didn't help him actually make a decision. He couldn't just leave his family half a world away for something so trivial as him learning waterbending.
"Phichit-"
"No!" Phichit said stubbornly, standing up in the canoe and placing his hands on his hips, "I will march to the Northern Water Tribe and drag someone here if it means finding you a teacher."
"Phichit-"
"Hell, I will drag YOU to the Northern Water Tribe if it means finding you a teacher. But you are, by no means Katsuki Yuuri, allowed to give up on what you want."
"Phichit, I can't leave everyone here just so I can learn waterbending," Yuuri finally cut in. "They need me more than I need waterbending."
Phichit crossed his arms and stuck out his bottom lip, sitting back down on the canoe bench as Yuuri's brown eyes locked onto him. "You can't just give up…"
A sad smile graced Yuuri's face at his friend's insistence, but it was a constant thought that had been incessantly haunting him for a long time. Today was the day that his failures had finally caught up with him and he couldn't see the point in continuing something that seemed so fruitless. His family needed him, his Tribe needed him, and all of the energy he put into his attempt at waterbending was energy he could be using to help his Tribe survive.
Yuuri opened his mouth to say so when the rumbling began.
Small, at first, and low, similar to the rumble of moving earth someone might hear when traveling through the Earth Kingdom. Except Yuuri and Phichit were stuck in the middle of a frozen ocean.
The water underneath the canoe rippled steadily, lapping against the edges of the canoe and rocking the boat back and forth. Phichit and Yuuri's hands flew to the sides of the canoe as the rocking became increasingly violent and more sporadic.
"Woah!" Phichit yelped as a large chunk of ice forcefully slammed into the canoe, throwing both boys to the side as the polished wood cracked and icy water began to pool around their feet.
"Shit," Yuuri cursed, grabbing the cob-webbed fishing bucket and placing it over the crack as another ice chunk rammed into the canoe.
"There!" Yuuri heard Phichit yell. Wide-eyed, Yuuri turned to see Phichit pointing to a large, solid-looking glacier nearby, the only evidence of the sudden rough waters being the polished iced from where the water had lapped up the frost. Yuuri nodded frantically, peeling the bucket away from the crack, dumping the excess water out of the boat, and replacing the bucket as Phichit grabbed a long paddle and began paddling urgently against the rapidly increasing ripples.
"Are you alright?" a winded Phichit asked as they stepped out of the canoe and onto the glacier.
"Yeah, yeah," an equally winded Yuuri replied. Together, the friends pulled the sinking canoe to safety while warily watching more sheets of ice surface from the water.
"What the hell do you think-"
Whatever Phichit was going to say was interrupted by the sound of crashing waves announcing the cresting of an enormous glacier. Yuuri and Phichit watched with wide eyes as a perfectly round glacier rose gracefully from the dark waters, water running down its polished surface to reveal an elegant swirling pattern as it began to bob.
Yuuri would've attributed its round shape and swirling pattern to a beauty of nature, until it began to glow a stunning ethereal blue. Yuuri could feel his eyes widen, but his eyes were glued to the blue light that came from the glacier, something calling to him and refusing to let go. Next to him, he could see Phichit's mouth hanging open in awe, obviously experiencing the same thing.
As the glacier began to settle in the water, the rough waves came to a deadly stand-still, leaving the surface of the inky waters with a mirror-like sheen. When silence overtook the two, nothing moved around them and time seemed to stand still.
For a breathtaking second, the brilliant picture was immortalized and then fractured in a single moment when the light began to gradually dim. As the light of the ethereal glacier slowly died, Yuuri could swear that he could see the dark outline of –
"Is that a person?!" Phichit screeched in disbelief, turning to Yuuri in hopes that his friend would prove him wrong.
He couldn't though.
Because underneath a huge, bulky figure was an eeriely, human-shaped figure. The body was positioned in a meditative stance and long hair was frozen in a halo around them. Yuuri couldn't stop himself from taking a cautious step forward and, as if the figure within could sense the movement, their eyes snapped open, glowing the same fierce blue as the rest of the glacier.
Yuuri could feel his breath leave his body as he turned towards Phichit, "They're alive!"
Phichit looked to stunned to speak, his eyes still wide and his mouth still gaping.
"We have to help!" Yuuri insisted determinedly, making his way back to Phichit and taking his trusted boomerang from the holster on his back. He seemed to snap out of his daze when Yuuri began making his way back to the glacier.
"Yuuri, wait! We don't know who's in there!" Phichit said as Yuuri slammed the blunt end of the instrument into the curved ice.
Without heeding his friend's warning, Yuuri slammed the boomerang into the glacier for the second time. As Yuuri brought the boomerang back for a third hit, the ice cracked with a terrifying hiss and a torrent of cold air washed over the duo as the ice encasing the two shadowy figures cracked open. From the ice, a beam of the same blue light shot into the air and casted ripples in the sky. Yuuri and Phichit both had seen the Celestial Lights that lit up their home during clear winter nights, but this was incredibly different and all the more beautiful.
Yuuri felt Phichit leave his side and rush back to their grounded canoe, only to come back with his forgotten fishing spear. Yuuri, however, couldn't tear his eyes away from the outlined humanoid figure immerging from above the wall of ice left behind. With eyes still glowing, the boy, perhaps a little older than himself, stopped and stood along the peak of the wall, a breeze of air wrapping itself around him and playing lightly with the long, silvery strands of hair that cascaded down his back. The short, red cloak around his shoulders rippled gently from his movement, flashing glimpses of the yellow garments he wore underneath.
Awestruck, Phichit lowered his fishing spear just as the stranger's light died. Before anything could be said, however, the boy's eyes rolled up into his head and he began to fall from the top of the wall. Instinct overtook Yuuri and he dove, catching the stranger in his arms before he could hit the harsh ice below.
Slowly, as if anything faster could hurt the stranger in his arms, Yuuri placed a gloved hand behind his head, allowing the silver strands to slip in between his fingers, and lowered his head away from his body to get a better look at his face.
The stranger was absolutely stunning and, had Yuuri not been holding him in his arms, could've been mistaken for an ethereal spirit. For the second time, Yuuri could feel all the air leave his body as he looked down at the boy's impossibly perfect face. A moment of complete serenity washed over Yuuri as he cradled the stranger in his arms, protectively crouched over him.
The moment was broken when Phichit began poking the stranger with the butt of his spear.
"Phichit!" Yuuri scolded, shooting his friend a warning scowl.
"What?" Phichit asked innocently, retracting his spear before Yuuri could knock it away. "Dude looks dead."
In response, a low, pained moan escaped from the stranger's lips.
Yuuri shot his friend a knowing glare.
And if Yuuri wasn't breathless before, he certainly was after the stranger beneath him opened his eyes. Squinting at first, the stranger's eyes looked like they had been taken from the sky on a clear, bright summer day. And by the Spirits, if that didn't take Yuuri's breath away then nothing would.
"Are you…" the stranger began, his voice smooth, yet tired, "Are you from the Southern Water Tribe?"
Yuuri nodded his head numbly and heard Phichit behind him answer, "Yes."
The stranger flashed a brilliant smile and Yuuri could feel his heart stutter in his chest.
"I made it," he whispered to himself, sounding heartrendingly relieved.
"Are-are you alright?" Yuuri finally managed to say, helping the stranger prop himself up on his forearms, his silver hair swinging to the ice behind him. "We found you…in the ice."
The stranger scrunched his eyebrows as he heard Yuuri's explanation, obviously confused by the situation.
"Umm, yeah," he finally said, his sparkling eyes switching between Yuuri and Phichit before finally settling permanently on Yuuri with awe. "Yeah, my bi-" the stranger's eyes widened, suddenly remembering something important, and he frantically tried to push himself to his feet. A stunned Yuuri allowed him to rise, too taken aback by the change in demeanor to protest. "Makkachin?!" the stranger began to call, walking around the perimeter of ice wall he had fallen off of. "Makka?!"
Yuuri watched the stranger disappear before throwing a questioning glance towards Phichit, who simply shrugged and began to follow the quickly disappearing stranger. Yuuri rose to stand, brushed the frost off of his knees, and followed Phichit and the stranger around the ice wall. As the trio walked the perimeter of the glacier, they came across a dip in the wall. Then, Yuuri and Phichit saw exactly what the large outline in the glacier had been.
In the middle of the glacier remains, laid a gigantic, chocolate colored mammal, the likes of which Yuuri could easily say he had never seen in his life. The creature was sleeping, its six legs curled up underneath it and its flat tail rolled out behind. Occasionally, the beast let out large, warm huffs of air, but otherwise seemed to be undisturbed.
Next to Yuuri, Phichit's jaw hit the ice.
"Makkachin!" the stranger happily cried, launching himself five feet into the air and landing softly on the beast's forehead as a cool breeze licked at Yuuri and Phichit's skin. Yuuri felt his own jaw drop. He was pretty sure no normal human being could jump that high and land as gracefully than the stranger just did. The stranger began to rub the creature's forehead fondly as the creature opened its eyes. "You're okay!"
"You're an airbender," Yuuri whispered reverently, almost not believing his own words.
The stranger turned to him and gave Yuuri and Phichit a dazzling smile as he slipped off the creature's forehead, gave a flourishing turn to slow his decent, and landed gracefully in front of them, "I am!"
"What the heck is that thing?" Phichit blurted out, unable to help himself.
The stranger patted the creature's nose fondly, "This is Makkachin, my flying air bison, though she's more prone to act like a poodle-monkey on her bad days."
"Oooookay," Phichit agreed skeptically, narrowing his eyes at the air bison. Yuuri couldn't blame him. If anyone told him that that giant animal could fly, he'd be skeptical too.
Despite that, Yuuri elbowed him, "Don't be rude, Phichit!"
"I'm not being rude!" Phichit complained. "I'm being suspicious, there's a difference."
"I'm Yuuri," the waterbender said, ignoring his friend and turning to the stranger, "and the suspicious one is my friend, Phichit."
"Sure," he heard Phichit mutter under his breath, "make friends with the magical flying man and his giant poodle-monkey."
The stranger smiled kindly, "It's a pleasure to meet you both. My name's Viktor."
Hello everyone and welcome to my first Yuri! on Ice fic! I'm super excited about starting this story, because it has been in the works for a very long time. I'm a huge fan of both Avatar: The Last Airbender and Yuri! on Ice, so mashing the two together is going to be one heck on an adventure. I'm actually planning on this to be a longer fic, one of the longest I've done so far, so buckle up because the ride is just beginning!
If you want updates on the fics I'm working on, or just want to hang out with me and my fangirlness on Tumblr, you can find me as silverphoenixwrites.
This chapter was beta read/edited by one of my good friends, hamiltontrash456.
I hope you all have a Happy Holiday season and I will see you next time!
