A/N: This story is an AU in which Avatar Roku died 4 years earlier, but Sozin's comet arrived at the same time as in the TV show. This means that Aang was born 4 years earlier, and because of this, I have decided to make Team Avatar 4 years older, making Toph 16, Katara 18 and Sokka 19. Also, all of the events that happen in the TV show happen as normal, barring that everyone, and I mean everyone, is four years older, along with minor plot changes to accommodate for the OC. However, apart from a small intro in the Prologue and a summary in Chapter 1, Book 1 is going to be skipped, because it doesn't really involve Toph and my OC.

This prologue is purely for backstory about the OC, and his relationships with Team Avatar. The way the show ships will remain the same, so that means Kataang and Sukka (Even though I think that Taang would have been better). On an important note, I am looking for a Beta reader. Just do whatever you can to contact me, and it will be first in, first served.

Anyway, without further ado, let this story commence!

THE HOMECOMING: PROLOGUE

I was fourteen years old when my parents decided to take me on one of their long business trips.

Leaving my elder brother and young sister behind in Gaoling, I set off with my parents to trade with the Southern Water Tribe. My parents run farms and blacksmiths all around Gaoling province, and thought it would be an excellent idea to trade with the struggling Water Tribe. After 100 years of war, all of the South's natural resources had been depleted, leaving them scattered in a collection of villages, isolated and alone. With very few weapons, and not much in the way on food, the South would have been destroyed if not for my parents. They alone saw how they could make huge profits from trading with the South. After all, seal blubber and furs are highly prised in Ba Sing Se for food, clothing and furniture.

"Yung! Yung, where are you?" My Mother's voice emanated from the passage way leading into the heart of the ship.

My mother and father mean well, but, like so many of the noble families living in Gaoling, tend to be snobbish and set in their ways. A good example of this was an event that happened only a few weeks before we left for the South Pole. My father had met Lee Bei Fong, a rich business man who owned the majority of land-based trade in the Earth Kingdom. After discussing business, Mr Bei Fong brought up the topic of children. After discovering that my father had a son about the age of his daughter, he asked my father if I was married. Seeing where this was going, my father offered me up as a husband for the Bei Fong's daughter. So, after being informed of this, my father took me over to the Bei Fong's estate to meet my new wife. I was none too happy with this turn of events. The only true friend I had at that time was a fourteen blind girl named Toph. When we first met about two years prior, I was on one of my 'escapes' from my parent's estate. Not wanting to scare off a new friend, I said I was from a family of travelling merchants. Toph, who was born into a family of traders based in Gaoling. We began to leave our parents houses more and more, and eventually became romantically involved.

So, you can imagine my disgust and depressed state after being married off for my parent's convenience. I was in a foul mood when we arrived at the Bei Fong estate, and after half an hour of 'pleasantries', I was invited to meet my new wife. A servant guided me to her room, and then left. I took a deep breath, and the opened the door.

My jaw hit the floor.

Standing there, as shocked as I was, was Toph.

I quickly shut the door behind me, and ran up to her.

"Toph, you never told me you were a Bei Fong!"

Toph pushed me away. "And you never told me you were a Mao Ling! What is going on? I thought I was marring some rich snob who was twice my age, but instead, I'm going to marry my boyfriend?" Toph and I both broke down into laughter. Eventually, after the giggles subsided, I placed my arm around Toph. "You have no idea how depressed I was coming here, thinking that I had to leave you behind." Toph smiled and placed her head on my shoulders.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Toph spoke up again. "You know, I never thought I would be happy to marry you Fumble Foot." I winced at my nickname. It had come about on the first day I had met Toph. I was walking down the street, and had tripped over a pothole, and landed in a vat of perfume being sold by some nuns. I had spent the rest of the day being followed by a laughing Toph. Toph laughed at my expression. "You remember why I gave you that name, don't you?" she asked innocently. I sighed, and nodded an affirmative. Just then, a sharp nock on the door, and it opened to reveal Mrs Bei Fong. She smiled as she saw us sitting on Toph's bed, with Toph in my embrace. "Well, I see you two are quite taken with each other. Maybe it's time you two lovebirds come out for dinner, hm?" I could hear Toph's almost inaudible sigh, and we both stood up and followed Mrs Bei Fong to the dinner table. From there, it only took one look at the two of us for the adults to make up their mind. We were to be married on my return from the trade trip. My father noted that there could be some delays, so we might return a little late. Mr Bei Fong nodded, and agreed that any time frame would be acceptable.

That was two weeks ago, and now here I was, on an Earth Kingdom ship, in the freezing arctic temperatures, with my mother calling me to dinner.

I sighed, and walked towards my parent's quarters on the ship.

My father tried to initiate some polite conversation with me, but all I could think of was Toph, and how she bid me farewell.

We had stood in the dark, in one of the back alleys in town, and Toph had whispered to me, "I'll be waiting, when you return." Then, we kissed, and she began to walk back to her estate, and I to mine.

My mother, seeing how down I was, correctly guessed that it was due to Toph, and quieted my father. After finishing dinner, I stood. "I'm going to bed. Mother, Father." The short walk to my room didn't allow me to dwell on Toph any longer, and soon, I was asleep.

Alarms sounded throughout the ship, waking me from my sleep. As I stood up, and discovered my parent's bed empty, I heard the cry that put fear in my bones.

"Fire Nation ship! Port side!"

I quickly ran to the weapons locker, and removed my sword. With no earth for miles, I had to resort to my weapons training. I rushed up to the deck, and saw sailors being cut down by the Fire Nation boarders. I ran to the bridge, and found my parents there. As soon as I entered, my father turned to me, and shouted to two guards. "Take him to a lifeboat! And make sure he gets away safely! The rest of the crew will evacuate soon. "Dad! I can help!" I yelled, but my father and mother both ignored me. Knowing, that in the state, arguing with my parents would get me nowhere, I let my head drop. I had a sinking feeling in my gut, seemingly knowing that this would be the last time that I saw my parents alive. The guards grabbed my arms, and removed me from the bridge. "Come on, let's get to the rear lifeboats!" I followed the guards, and eventually we made it to the lifeboats. There was no Fire Nation soldiers, but there was no crew either. The guards ran to one, and I jumped in. The guards climbed in after me, and the cut the ropes. As the guards rowed away, I looked back on the ship. Excitement seized me.

"Look! The Fire Nation is retreating!"

Then, my parent's ship exploded.

The shock on my face never even came close to the feeling in my heart.

My parents were gone.

We were discovered by a Water Tribe fishing ship ten hours later. The guards had taken turns rowing, and we gladly climbed into the fishing ship. I refused to talk, know that if I did, there would be nothing to stop the tears. The guards and I were freezing, so the fishermen gave us seal fur jackets.

Seal fur. Just like my father's coat.

The tears, when they came, didn't stop. They just fell, and sobs shook my body. I just felt horrible, and hoped for this nightmare to end.

As we pulled into the small Water Tribe village, I had stopped crying, but I was totally exhausted. I was led by the guards to a small hut, where I could rest. I gladly did so, and within minutes, was asleep.

When I woke, I left the tent, to find that all of the Water Tribe ships were leaving. A few of the young boys were crying, and so were the older women. As I left the tent, I realised that the guards were no longer waiting outside. A fourteen year-old girl ran up to me. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and she was sniffing as she talked. "Hi, my name's Ka-Katara. I'm here to help you live in the village. What do you need?" I turned to her, and took a few seconds to compose myself. "Those ships, where are they going?" Katara turned to look at the ships, and answered. "The Earth Kingdom. They are going to help fight in the war." My eyes widened with shock. That's why the guards weren't outside my tent.

They had left with the Water Tribe men.

I started to cry again, and collapsed onto the snow. "Katara, why di-didn't they take m-me with the-them?" Katara's faced cleared, and sat down next to me. "The guards thought that you would be safer here. They were worried that if they came across a Fire Nation ship, you might be hurt or captured." I nodded, and returned to my tent, still crying.

Two years passed, and I began to settle into life at the village. I got to know Sokka, and we became friends. However, after those two years, Sokka, Katara and I went on a fishing trip, that changed everything.

After Katara splashed Sokka with water, Sokka and Katara began to argue, which resulted in us being caught in the rapids, and our canoe was crushed. Sokka then annoyed Katara, who went on a sexist rant, and cracked open a large block of ice. From that ice, rose a sphere with what looked like a boy inside. Katara then began to run along the ice flows, and cracked open the sphere. Inside was something that I had never imagined I'd see in my life.

The Avatar.

Katara and Sokka gave me strange looks as I bowed before him. The Avatar looked distinctly uncomfortable with me doing this, and as I stood up, I turned to Sokka and Katara. "Do you know who this guy is?" I asked. After a negative shake of the head from both of them, I turned back to The Avatar. "He's the Avatar."

Katara and Sokka both became wide-eyed, and then bowed to the Avatar. The Avatar looked at them with a surprised look, then turned to me. "Well, hi there, my name's Aang." I nodded, and then turned to him, with anger and joy both struggling for priority. "Well, just one question Avatar. Where the hell have you been for the past 100 years? People have been dying in droves, and you've spent that time sitting under the ice?" Katara looked at me like I was some kind of demon, but Sokka was nodding along. Aang sighed, and then gestured for us to sit. When none of us did, he sighed again and turned away. Then, the full impact of my words hit him, and suddenly he stood straight. "Wait, 100 YEARS? I… what?..." Aang spluttered, and seemed to be extremely surprised with this turn of events. Aang turned back to us, and then gestured to the back of the ice sphere. "Come on, hop on Appa and I'll tell you everything." As we rounded to the back of the sphere, I saw a giant white… thing. Sokka looked completely shocked. "What… the hell… is THAT?" he yelled. Aang airbended up to Appa's head, and told us to hop on.

Back at the water tribe village, we explained things to Gran-Gran, and after she gave us her blessings, she agreed to let us leave and go to find Aang a waterbending teacher. As we flew away from the village, I looked down at the place that had been my home for the past two years, but then I realised something.

If Aang needed to learn waterbending, he also needed to master the other four elements. That included earthbending.

And there was only one girl for the job.

I smiled as we flew off into the sunset.