AUTHOR'S NOTE: PLEASE READ
VERY IMPORTANT
So for my followers who have been following me since my first story nearly ten or nine years ago, I'm sorry that I have not been following through with completing the stories I still sought interest in. But see, the problem lied within myself. I made up incredible, convoluted stories, based off of a single idea that I could never take anywhere because that single idea was all I had. It also didn't help that I was using fandoms which I only partially knew about (ex: Yu-Gi-Oh!) and never even finished watching or lost interest in after a few months. Not to mention my main problem of not even knowing where I was planning on taking the plot in any of my non-oneshot stories.
So I will say this, right here, right now. I don't know when, if ever, I will update any of the stories I didn't put up for adoption. If anyone wants to adopt one that doesn't say 'up for adoption', talk to me and we'll work things over. And if anyone wants to make a sequel to any of my oneshots, ask me and we settled the details. Now, on to the main part of my note.
So a couple of weeks ago, I was reading A:TLA fanfiction when an idea just HIT me. I ended up pitching it to my college dorm roommate, and what started out as a few minute telling, turned into a four hour discussion. With their help, I was able to plan out the entirety of my AUs timeline, and the only thing I need to do is write each 'episode' up. Now, I couldn't have done this without their help along the way as a couple of the ideas in this AU came from them. Since I know how each episode will go, vaguely, writing it out will be much simpler. I will also be double posting this story on Ao3 once I get my account up and running, and when I do, I will put my penname here in this story.
For the full summary of this AU, which is my own creation and am claiming creation rights to, go to my profile, the description will be right at the top. Also, give a big thanks to Lex_Perseph0ne on Ao3 as without them, the story would not turn out the way it will.
Disclaimer: I do not own canon Avatar: The Last Airbender, but this AU of it is mine. ALL MINE. With shared ownership with Lex_Perseph0ne.
Water.
Earth.
Fire.
Air.
My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days. A time of peace.
When the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads.
But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.
Only the Avatar mastered all four elements.
Only he could stop the ruthless firebenders.
But when the world needed him most, he vanished.
A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war.
Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation.
Leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe.
Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads. And that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope.
I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.
xXx
White and blue. That is all that can be seen for miles around, but that's not unexpected when you live around the South Pole. All this cold weather does make for difficult living though. Keeping warm, making tents, gathering food-
"It's not getting away from me this time."
-Which is how we come to meet two of the main characters of this story. Let's see, shall we?
"Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish." a young man with brown skin, brown hair and a blue and white parka states as he holds a spear in his left hand, poised above the water next to his canoe where a fish is swimming along.
Behind him in the canoe is his sister, Katara, a girl with similar skin and hair color along with blue eyes to match the boy in front of her. She, too, is wearing a blue and white furred parka like the older boy. She gives a look of indifference to the boy's words towards her and turns her head towards the water. Her eyes widen in surprise as she spots a fish swim by in the water. Shooting a quick glance over towards her brother, she yanks off the glove from her left hand. Holding her arm out with a look of concentration on her face, she takes a deep breath before she waves her hand up and down. Suddenly, a bubble of water with the fish trapped inside rises out of the ocean waters and begins to float through the air as Katara begins to wave both of her arms around now to keep the bubble moving. The fish, now noticing it's prison, tries to swim out, but Katara keeps the bubble moving with it to keep it inside.
"Sokka! Sokka, look at this!" Katara says, happily surprised at her success.
"Shh! What are you trying to do, scare all the fish for the next two icebergs?" Sokka cries in a whisper, not even turning around to look at his sister. His face takes on a look of hunger as his mouth starts to drool. "Mmm, I can just smell it, all cooked and ready to be eaten."
Behind him, his sister is making wide circular movements with her arms to keep the fish in the water. She begins moving the bubble over her brother's head so she can show him. As the bubble raises over him, Sokka rears back his spear to pierce the fish, but ends up piercing the bubble instead. The water, released from Katara's control, rains down on him, soaking his parka.
"Hey! Look what you did!" Katara exclaims indiginantly.
As her brother lets out a gasp of discomfort as the cold water soaks his hair, Katara watches the fish bounce of Sokka's head and back into the icy waters. Sokka turns around and lays the spear down perpendicularly on the canoe's rim as he stares at his sister.
"'Hey', yourself! Why is it that every time you're playing with your freaky magic water, I end up getting completely soaked?!" he clenches his gloves, causing excess water to fall from the soaked items.
"How many times have I told you, Sokka?" Katara answers, annoyance laced in her voice. "It's not magic, or freaky, it's waterbending! And it's part-"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Sokka interjects. "'Part of our culture and an ancient art of our Tribes', blah, blah, blah. You've repeated to me enough of what Gran-Gran has told you. I'm just saying that if I had weird magic powers-" he reaches up and grabs his wolf tail to wringing the water out of it. "-I would at least do my weirdness where no one could get completely soaked by it!"
"You have the gall to call me weird?" Katara asks as she raises an eyebrow, skepticism obvious on her face. "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!" she says with an air of smugness.
Smugness which is justified as her brother has his sleeve rolled up and is flexing his arm at himself with a confidant grin on his face. At her words, though, his happy expression disappears as he pulls his sleeve down and begins to turn around to face her.
Before he can say a word, their canoe shudders and the two scrabble to keep their small boat from tipping over. Sokka turns back towards the front to see the cause of their distress. Their boat is caught up in a rapid current which is pulling their small craft towards a jumble of icebergs, which are blocking the end of their narrow passageway. Sokka grabs a paddle in an attempt to steer their boat clear of the floating chunks of ice. He manages to speed up their craft enough to avoid two icebergs that slam together right behind them. He continues to paddle, steering the boat to avoid ice chunks as the approach their little boat.
"Turn right!" Katara cries from where she is holding on in the back of the canoe as her brother steers them through the current. "Left! Turn left!" she yells.
In front of them the ice is floating closer together, and behind them is another chunk coming right up behind their canoe. The three piece of ice completely crush their boat, but not before Sokka grabs his spear in his right hand, and wraps his left around his sister's waist and throws them both onto one of the floes. Katara nearly falls off the other edge, but is stopped by Sokka's arm still around her waist. The two of them sit up, Sokka stabbing his spear into the ice to keep it from falling away into the ice depths. Katara moves from the rim, towards the middle as she turns towards her brother.
"You call that left?" she asks with a touch of bitterness.
"Well, if you didn't like my steering, then maybe you should have-" he makes exaggerated movements, mocking her. "-waterbended us to safety."
Katara gives an annoyed cry as she turns so her back to towards her brother. "So it's my fault our boat got destroyed?" she asks indigintly.
Sokka turns away from her, muttering. "I KNEW I should have left you at home!" his sister turns to look down at him in anger. "Leave it to a girl to ruin everything!" he says with an air of calm.
Katara's anger quickly turns to righteous fury as she points at him in anger. "You are the most sexist-" she raises her hands above her head and throws them behind her, the ice flow rocking as the water followed her gestures "-immature-" her hands come back to her head "-nut-brained-" she swings her arms back down, making a larger wave this time "-argh, I'm embarrassed to even be related to you!" she throws a hand upward, a small stream of water jets up behind her as well.
She swings both of her hands backwards forcefully once again and, in her unconscious waterbending, hurls a wave directly into the towering iceberg behind her with a loud, air-splitting crack! A split in the ice arcs up its surface and out its side, leaving a spray of ice where it ends. Sokka, who disinterested and not paying any attention to his sister, glances over to see if her tantrum has evaporated yet and looks away; after a short moment he does a double-take looking closely at the iceberg towering over their small figures, his disinterest morphing into terror.
"Katara..." he says, trying to get her attention.
"Ever since Mom died I've been doing all the work around the village while you are off playing soldier!" she emphasizes her words with a sharp down swing of her left hand, the crack in the iceberg deepening behind her.
"Um, hey Katara?" Sokka tries to point behind her.
Katara then shoves her finger in his face. "I even wash all the dirty laundry! Have you ever bothered to smell your socks? Let me tell you something, it's not pleasant!" on the last word she unconsciously waterbends once again, causing more cracks to streak across the iceberg's surface.
"Katara!" Sokka screeches, his eyes wide in terror. "You've got to settle down!"
"NO!" she cries. "That is it, Sokka! I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own!"
Her last movement is her most agitated thus far and it creates a huge wave, when it collides with the iceberg, it sends a number of fissures to snake their way up the icy surface; one of them reaches the top, splitting the iceberg completely in half. Completely petrified, Sokka gasps for air, and seeing his face, Katara finally turns around to look behind her. She gasps as she sees the two halves begin to fall away from each other leaning towards the water. Both halves hit the water, creating a wave larger than any Katara has ever managed and it steams outward towards them and they are thrown down to the ice as it pushes their flow backwards. Sokka pulls Katara close to him with his left arm, using his right to hold onto the spear still lodged in the ice. Once their floe has settled somewhat, Sokka takes the moment to remove his arm and turn towards her.
"Okay, you've officially gone from 'weird' to 'bizarre', Katara!" he states.
"Wait, you mean I did that?" she asks in astonishment. "I've never done anything that large before!"
Sokka gives her a sarcastic smirk. "Yep, you sure did." he pats her on the back. "Congratulations."
Right after he finishes his statement, the water in front of them begins to bubble, quickly followed by a glow with a bright blue hue. The glow quickly gets bigger and Sokka and Katara quickly scramble back in renewed terror towards the center of their floe, and just in time too. A large, roughly spherical iceberg breaks the surface of the water. Once the massive ball of ice is above the water, they realize that it is the source of the blue glow. The crashing waves generated by the iceberg's surfacing push their floe backwards as the hunk of ice bobs to the side, before coming to rest with its rounded dome top exposed to the sky. Completely mesmerized, Katara strays closer and stares at the huge glowing iceberg. Behind her, Sokka halfheartedly stretches out his hand, as if to hold her back, but he too is entranced. The two siblings can only stare, completely in awe of the strange phenomenon before them.
Katara takes a closer look, noticing a humanistic shape within, above it a large indistinguishable mass. She notices the figure is perched in the lotus position, has glowing marks on its hands and head. Raising an eyebrow at the odd sight, Katara takes a closer look. The figures features are illuminated by the light of it's marks, which reveal it to be a young boy. Suddenly, the boy's eyes shoot open, the same light which illuminates his marks igniting them as well. Both siblings gasp in shock.
"I can't believe it!" Katara cries. "He's alive, we have to help!"
Reaching behind her brother, she pulls his machete out of its sheath on his back and runs towards the large chunk of ice, pulling her hood over her head as she runs.
Sokka cries out as she takes his machete. "Hey! Katara, get back here!" he yanks his spear out of the ice and starts racing after her. "We don't even know what that giant thing is!"
Katara hops across the floes, Sokka close behind her. Reaching the iceberg first, Katara begins striking the ice with Sokka's machete. On her fifth strike, the machete breaks the surface and a huge gust of wind escapes from inside, throwing her and and her brother backwards. Cracks quickly coat the surface of the dome and, in a massive outward explosion, the entire orb of lice destroys itself. A beam of the bluish light bursts from the core of the iceberg and shoots into the sky.
xXx
Far away, on a small metal military ship, a young scarred man stands on deck, gazing at the light. His hair in a short top knot, a few loose strands flutter in the wind.
"Well, here goes nothing." he mutters under his breath. He turns around towards a man who is sitting at a small table. "Uncle! Do you realize what this means!?" he asks loudly, carefully managing his voice level.
"I won't get to finish my game?" the old man answers calmly while looking at the card in his hand.
"It means my search," he turns back towards the light. "is finally about to come to an end."
The old man sighs uninterested, still looking at his game. The young man turns back towards the old man and gestures towards the light. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source!" the light slowly disappears. "It has to be him!"
"Or it is just the celestial lights." the old man interjects, still disinterested with an air of skepticism. "We've been through these waters before, Prince Zuko." he looks at the wooden card in his hand, which holds the three swirled symbol of air. "I do not want you to get too excited over nothing." he places the tile on another with the three pronged flame of fire.
A man brings a pot of tea to the old man. "Your tea, General Iroh."
"Thank you." Iroh thanks the man, turning back to Zuko. "Come, please sit. Have a nice cup of calming Jasmine tea with me, nephew."
Taking on a face of exaggerated fury, Zuko turns towards his uncle. "I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!" looking up towards the helm, he spits out orders. "Helmsman! Aim our course for that light!"
xXx
Back near the iceberg, the winds have settled and the water calmed. Katara slowly peeks out from where she was clutched in Sokka's arms to see that the giant ice dome is now a hollowed out shell. The two get to their feet and Sokka points his spear at the ice ready to defend, but lowers it in shock as a figure emerges slowly from the crater in the iceberg.
Holding the spear up in defense once more, Sokka pushes Katara behind him. "Stop!"
The figure erects himself and looks down at them, the two siblings looking back in wonder, awe, and fear. Suddenly, the light from the boys hand and head arrows dissipates, revealing that he is but a child. The young boy groans as the light vanishes and he groans from exhaustion and crumples, falling forward down the snowy slope. Gasping, Katara rushes from behind Sokka and catches him before he can hit the ground. She turns him around and sees just how young he really is, as he can't be any younger than herself. Taking in his appearance, she sees his yellow and orange garb and wonders how he is not freezing. He is also completely bald with blue arrow tattoos on his head and hands where the blue glow came from earlier. Katara stares at him in amazement, having never seen anything like him before. Suddenly, Sokka breaks the moment by poking the bald boy with the blunt end of his spear.
"Stop it, Sokka!" Katara brushes the spear away, annoyed.
She leans the boy up against the base of the crater as he gives a light groan. His eyes slowly open, revealing gray eyes. He gives a small gasp when he sees the Southern Water Tribe girl before him, looking up to meet her blue eyes.
Both their worlds erupt into white.
.
Katara is standing in the middle of a white expanse. She can't see anything for miles. Suddenly color surrounds her and she's in the middle of an expansive city of ice. From the symbol that is everywhere, Katara realizes that it's the Northern Water Tribe, her villages sister tribe. Then a young man catches her eye, as it's like all the other people have blurred and he is the only thing not perfectly clear. She follows him to a separate section of the city and watches him waterbend. She gasps in excitement, she had never seen any actual waterbending before! She watches and tries to memorize the movements he uses, hoping to try them out later when she gets the chance.
"Kuruk!"
Katara turns towards the voice, only to see a blurred person running towards the young man. His name is Kuruk?She gathers as the young man reacts to the voice. Suddenly everything blurs, including the man.
"Wait! No!" Katara cries, trying to keep the image from fading, but she holds no power, and everything fades to black.
.
"-ara! Hey! Why are you staring?!" Katara feels a shaking in her shoulder and realizes that her brother is shaking her shoulder. How long had she been staring at this boy?
Sokka is getting really annoyed with this boy! His sister had just looked into the kid's eyes when they started glowing again along with his tattoos. He was in such shock that he couldn't even move. This went on for about a minute or so before he snap out of it. What if this guy was Fire Nation! He grabs her shoulder and starts shaking her.
"Hey! Katara! Hey! Why are you staring?!" he asks in a loud voice.
He is relieved when his sister starts moving, she and the boy groaning softly his tattoos stop glowing, both shaking their heads. Wait-groaning!? What did this person do to his sister!? He opens his mouth to ask such, but is cut off when the boy stops shaking his head and starts talking.
"Hey, I need to ask you something." he says in a weak, hoarse voice.
Katara stops shaking her head and leans forward, seemingly pushing the odd vision from her mind for now. "What is it?" she asks softly.
Suddenly the boys eyes go wide. "Will you go penguin sledding with me?" his voice is void of its previous condition and is now happy and hopeful.
Confusion spreads across her face as Katara answers awkwardly. "Um... sure, I guess."
Looking around curiously, the boy rises to his feet in one swift motion, which surprise the other two. Katara sits back on her heels in surprise, while Sokka raises his spear towards him. His sister gives him a look that says 'really?'.
The bald boy rubs his head as he asks takes in his surroundings. "What's going on?" he asks.
"You tell us!" Sokka says aggressively. "How did you get in the ice?" he points at the crater next to them. "And how are you not frozen solid?" he asks, poking the boy in the side with his spear.
The boy lazily brushes the spear away, seemingly not worried about the sharp weapon. "I'm not quite sure..." he replies.
Then a low gruff sound fills the air, coming from inside the crater. The boy turns and quickly climbs the ridge and jumps onto the head of a large, white, furry creature with horns and the same arrow-shaped markings as the boy.
"Appa! Are you okay?!" he asks the large creature. "Hey, wake up buddy." he looks down at one of it's eyes, which are still closed.
He tries opening an eyelid manually with his hand, only for it to close once he released it. He jumps down and tries to lift the large head, only to start laughing when a large tongue pokes out and licks the boy, lifting him off his feet. The siblings round the corner to see the large beast licking the boy and Sokka's jaw drops.
"Good to see that you're okay!" the boy cries.
The large creature gets up on, what the siblings can see, six legs and stretches itself out.
"What in Tui's name is that thing?" Sokka asks.
"Oh, this is Appa. He's my flying bison!" the boy explains.
Sokka snorts in disbelief. "Right, then this is Katara, my flying sister." he says sarcastically.
The boy and Katara both shoot him questioning looks, but their attention is directed to Appa as he starts to inhale deeply. Obviously realizing what is going to happen, the boy ducks moments before Appa sneezes and sends a large blast of green snot flying directly into Sokka, who becomes completely covered in it. He squeals in disgust before dropping to his knees and frantically tries to rub it off, his sister watching in amusement.
The boy gives a smile. "Don't worry, it washes out." the siblings groan in disgusts when Sokka pulls a hand away from his face, a trail of the snot dripping down his cheek. "So, do you two live around here?" he asks the two.
He jumps back in surprise when a spear is shoved in his face. "Don't answer that!" Sokka declares, getting to his feet. "Did you see that bright beam of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!"
Katara pushes his spear and turns to address him. "Oh yeah, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy, Sokka. You can just tell by that evil look in his eyes." the boy quickly gives the two an earnest grin. "The paranoid and overly cautious one is my older brother, Sokka. You never told us your name."
Aang smiles. "I'm A-ah-ah ACHOO!" the boy sneezes, only he shoots several feet into the air with a large blast of air. He slides back onto the ground, stopping right in front of the siblings. "I'm Aang!" he states, sniffling a bit.
"You..." Sokka looks at him in disbelief. "You just sneezed! And flew fifteen feet into the air!" he exclaimed while pointing at the sky.
"Really, it felt more like thirty." the newly named Aang stated.
Katara gasps in realization. "You... You're an airbender!"
"Sure am!" Aang nods.
Sokka groans. "Giant beams of light, flying bison, airbenders.." he turns to walk away. "I think I'm coming down with midnight sun madness. I'm going back home where everything makes sense." he stops as he remembers that they're stuck in the middle of nowhere.
"Well..." Aang begins, seeming to realize that they don't have a way home. "If you two need a ride home, Appa and I would be glad to give you a lift." he gives a twirl and airbends himself onto Appa's head and grabs the reins.
Katara smiles. "We'd love a ride! Thank you!" she runs over to the side of the bison.
Sokka turns and points accusingly at the bison. "Oh no! I'm not getting on that large fluffy snot monster!"
Katara looks down at him as Aang helps her into the saddle. "Oh what? Are you hoping some other monster will come around and give you a lift home? You know, some time before you freeze to death?" she asks.
Sokka opens his mouth to retaliate, only to realize that he's got nothing and sighs before bowing his head in defeat. He climbs into the saddle and leans against the pack in the back in a sulk while Katara holds a look of excitement. Aang returns to Appa's head and grabs the reins again before turning to look back at his passengers.
"Okay! First time fliers, hold on tight!" he snaps the reins down. "Appa, yip-yip!"
The sky bison lifts his tail and slaps it up and down and takes a huge jump into the air, only to soar through the air for a few moments before crashing down into the icy waters with a splash. Kataras smile disappears as she climbs to the front of the saddle while Aang tries to get Appa flying again.
"Come on, buddy! You can do it! Yip-yip!" his bison gives a groan in response.
"Wow.." Sokka says sarcastically. "That was truly awe inspiring."
Aang gives a small glare towards the other male. "Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the skies in no time. You'll see." he looks at Katara who smiles, and he returns the gesture. When she turns to crawl back to Sokka, she realizes he's still smiling at her.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?" she asks, feeling uncomfortable.
"Oh. I was smiling?" he asks in confusion, causing Katara to smile again.
Sokka throws back his head and groans and makes a disgusted noise. Katara turns towards him with an angry face.
"Could you at least be quiet if you're going to be rude? He's giving us a ride back to the village, the least you could do is be courteous!" she tells him.
Sokka raises his head to stare at his sister. "I'm only coming to keep an eye on you! You are too trusting, Katara! We don't know why he's here, where he came from, or how he came to be here!" he states. "Not to mention he did something to you when you caught him!"
"No, he didn't!" Katara cries.
"No, I didn't!" Aang cries.
"Then why did you sound like you were in pain after staring at him for, like, over a minute?!" Sokka asks.
Katara grits her teeth. "He didn't hurt me, Sokka!" she looks to the side. "I just saw... something when I looked into his eyes."
"'Something'?" Sokka questions.
"Like a vision. I saw our sister tribe, Sokka. I got to see someone waterbending!" she declares with happiness. "I'm going to try out the moves he did when I get back to the village!"
"What! Katara, that's dangerous!" Sokka cries.
"You're a waterbender?" Aang asks in amazement.
"Well, not yet. I don't have a teacher, so everything I can do is based on what I make up myself." Katara explains.
"Wait, wait, wait! How do you know that what you saw wasn't some sort of hallucination!?" Sokka asks, grabbing Katara and pulling her next to him. "It could have been some sort of drug for a trap by the Fire Nation!"
Katara yanks her arm out of his grip. "Sokka! It wasn't a hallucination! I really saw our sister tribe! And besides!" she gestures to Aang. "does he honestly look like he works for the Fire Nation? Look at him and tell me that he honestly looks like he's Fire Nation."
Sokka grumbles and turns to look at the airbender. Looking at his clothes first, he has to admit that something so bright would not be part of the Fire Nation's clothing regulations, nor would tattoos. He also admits that though he has pale skin, no fire citizen has pale gray eyes.
As his blue eyes connect with those gray eyes, his world explodes into white.
.
Sokka blinks his eyes as he takes in the white expanse before him. Just as he is about to make a sarcastic remark, the world spins into existence. He finds himself surrounded by light browns, greens, and grays and realizes that the greens and browns were trees, and the grays are stone bricks, things his father talked about when he and his men went to the mainland once when he and Katara were little. He looks around and sees a man who has his hair up similar to his father and striking blue eyes, labeling him as Water Tribe, but instead of the classic blue, he's dressed in yellow and orange clothing, similar to what Aang was wearing. He's in a standing position with his hands held together, a peaceful, calm expression on his face. Suddenly he lunges forward with both hands out, a huge gust of wind migrating from his palms.
"Good job, Kuruk." a voice says from behind Sokka.
He quickly turns around to see... a person. Their outline is the only thing visible about him, his voice distinguishing him as male, but everything about him remains blurred. He turns back towards the other man Did he call him Kuruk? and he sees that he can still see him perfectly fine. The man straightens and bows.
"Thanks." he nods at the indistinguishable figure.
"Your airbending has gotten better." the blurred man states.
"Yeah, I think I'm about ready to move on to the spiritual side of all of this." Kuruk states.
"Very well, have fun with that, my friend." the man gives him a bow.
Suddenly everything, even Kuruk, goes blurry and Sokka's vision goes black.
.
"Sokka! Can you hear me?"
.
I didn't think this would happen again. Aang though as he looks at the white everything around him. This is the second time this has happened to him, the first time being when he looked into Katara's eyes earlier. He had seen a vision of Avatar Yangchen, back when she had started her airbending training, he and the other Air Nomads had been taught about her when they were young, just as they had been taught about every airbending Avatar they had recorded in their history scrolls. He jumps slightly as a scenery slowly appears around him, showing an older Avatar Yangchen dressed in a parka, similar to the ones his new friends were wearing, standing on a small chunk of ice in the middle of the ocean. She lashes out her hand, and a wave of water echos out from below her hand outwards
I get it, this is Avatar Yangchen during her waterbending training... he thought with a smile as the air Avatar continued to do elaborate waterbending moves. Maybe I could memorize some of these to show Katara later...
Suddenly all the scenery begins to fade, just like the last time with Katara, and the last thing Aang sees before his vision fades is Avatar Yangchen as she ends her sequence.
.
Katara was completely irritated with Sokka, Aang was obviously not a Fire Nation spy! What reason would they have to send a spy down here to the South Pole? They already sent a raid to exterminate her tribes only glimpse of hope seen in years, her waterbending. And the end result was her dead mother who protected her to keep her gift a secret. She just wants Sokka to look, really look, at Aang and honestly tell her he still thinks he's a spy. She watches as he looks over Aang's clothes first, probably trying to see if there's any hidden weapons or something. Then when he makes eye contact with Aang she freezes in shock when both their eyes start glowing a white glow, Aang's tattoos glowing much they had before when he emerged from the iceberg. She is frozen in shock that she can't even move, then about a minute later she bolts into action and grabs her brother's shoulder.
"Sokka! Can you hear me?" she cries.
She can't withhold a sound of relief when her brother reacts, his eyes stop glowing, a quick glance over to Aang shows that his eyes and tattoo have also ceased their glowing as well. Her brother slumps against her.
"Okay, so he's not a Fire Nation spy." he grumbles. "I still don't trust him."
Katara can only make a 'are you kidding me' sound as they continue floating through the ocean.
xXx
Back on the metal ship, we see Prince Zuko standing at the helm, looking into the distance. His uncle comes up behind him.
"I'm going to bed, nephew." he says with a yawn and stretches. "Yes, a man needs his rest." he withholds a groan when he sees that his veiled suggestions are not being heeded. "Prince Zuko, you need to sleep. Even if your lead is right, and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all searched and failed."
"Because their honor did not ride on them finding the Avatar. Mine DOES. That coward's one hundred years of hiding is finally over."
Iroh only shakes his head and heads back inside to head to bed. Zuko waits for a few moments, making sure his uncle will not make a return appearance before letting out a relived sigh. Resting his hands on the railing, he looks on into the horizon.
"I will find you, and I will get some answers."
xXx
Appa is still swimming through the water, the three humans having gone silent since the odd eye glowing light show, not knowing what to say. Katara decides to try to break the air and crawls to the front. She leans on the front of the saddle and rests her head on her arms.
"Hey." she says and mentally slaps herself.
"Hey. What are ya thinking about?" Aang replies.
"I guess I was just wondering.." she begins. "your being an airbender and all that, if you had any clue who the Avatar was and what happened to them?"
Aang sits up and gives her a weak smile. "Oh, no. I didn't know him. I mean, I knew people that knew him, but I've never met him before myself. Sorry."
"Okay. I was just curious." she relents and smiles at Aang. "Good night."
Aang gives a weak laugh. "Sleep tight." he settles down with an uncomfortable look on his face before closing his eyes.
Aang is sleeping on Appa's saddle while clouds build around and ahead of him. Lightning splits the sky and the rumble of the following thunder awakens him. He shoots up and looks around. It is raining and Aang is sitting on Appa's head again, holding the reigns and screaming at the top of his lungs in terror while they go down. Appa and Aang splash into the waters of the ocean. Appa resurfaces again, growls, but is quickly subdued anew by another wave. Both Aang and Appa sink unconscious into the water. As Aang releases the reigns and drifts off, his eyes and tattoos suddenly start to glow brightly. He slams his fists together, creating a bluish-white sphere that encases Appa and himself. As the air sphere slowly solidifies into an icy globe, a voice permeates the dream.
"Aang! Aang! Wake up!" Aang shoots up, throwing the covers off his body as he looks up to see Katara perching next to him who gets up seeing that he is awake. "Everything's okay, we're in the village now. Now get up! Everyone is waiting to meet you!"
Aang happily jumps out of bed and starts to get dressed, Katara staring in wonder as she sees that his tattoos continue down his back and up to his head. He grabs his staff that was settled against one of the walls. Once he's ready Katara grabs his arm and pulls him from the tent, where Sokka is sitting right outside the flap. He gets up as they pass and follows them towards where a small congregation of villagers have gathered.
"Aang, this is the entirety of the adults of our village. Entire village, Aang." Aang gives a respectful bow to the villagers, who react in fear, putting Aang on edge.
"Um, Katara? Why are they all looking at me like that?" he suddenly looks over his clothes. "Did Appa sneeze on me or something?"
An elderly woman steps forward from the line of villagers. "Well, no one has seen any airbenders for one-hundred years. We all thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you, young airbender."
Aang looks at her in disbelief. "Extinct? Are you serious?"
"Aang, this is my grandmother." Katara introduces.
The old woman looks straight at Aang. "Call me Gran-Gran." she says in a deadpan tone.
Sokka abruptly yanks Aang's staff from his hand and examines it. "What is this? Some kind of weapon? You can't stab anything with this."
Aang laughs and takes the staff back. "It's not for stabbing, it's for airbending!" he opens his staff, turning it into a glider, which startles Sokka.
"Magic trick!" a child calls. "Again! Again!"
"Not magic, airbending!" Aang tells the kids. "It lets me manipulate the air currents around my glider and fly!"
Sokka crosses his arms and tells him in a mocking voice. "Last time anyone checked, humans can't fly, airhead!"
Aang gets a vicious smirk on his face as he pulls his glider behind him. "Well, tell someone to check again!"
He leaps into the air, leaving Sokka and Katara to cover their faces from the sudden wind. The villages stares in awe as Aang soars through the sky and makes loops and does other cool tricks. The children make noises of admiration as he glides around. He does a few more loops before he flies over Katara who is smiling broadly. Wanting to impress her more, he begins to do a more elaborate move, but ends up slamming into a snow watchtower. Katara gasps and starts making her way over to help him.
"My watchtower..." Sokka cries in shock.
Aang is partially covered in snow at the base of the collapsed watchtower when Katara and a few of the children run towards him.
"That was incredible!" Katara states as she holds out her hand.
As she pulls him out, Sokka kneels by the base of the tower, hoping to save it from total collapse. As Aang retracts his glider back into a staff, a large clump of snow falls on top of Sokka. Grumbling as he stands up he looks towards the two of them.
"Great, you're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you can mess up everything all day long!" then he stalks off to go do chores.
Kanna stalks forward and takes Katara by the arm. "Come on, Katara. You have chores." As the both walk away, Katara turns towards her gran in excitement.
"See, Gran-Gran! I told you he was a real airbender! I finally have someone who can teach me how to bend!" she and Sokka had decided to omit any details about their odd visions and glowing eyes to anyone.
"My dear, try not to put all of your hope into this boy." Kanna tells her granddaughter.
"But he's special, Gran-Gran! I can feel it!" she clenches her fists as her eyes fill with hope. "I can sense he's fill with much wisdom!"
She then looks over at the airbender as he sticks his tongue to his staff.
xXx
On the metal deck of his ship, Zuko is going up against two soldiers dressed in the full uniform, compared to him who instead prefers to only wear the grey under cloth of the armor. It makes his uncle uncomfortable whenever he refuses to wear the full armor, so he only wears the full armor when he leaves the ship. Off to the side, his uncle sits down in a small chair watching his training.
"Again." he calls out.
Zuko spreads his arms in the direction of the two firebenders, showering them both with flames. Both soldiers block his attack with ease. Zuko shifts his weight to duck under a return fire from the bender to his left. The firebender to his right jumps forward to throw a blast at his feet. Zuko propels himself out of the way. He twists around in mid-air and directs another fire blast with his hand to the firebender who retaliated first and another with his foot towards the other that aimed for his feet. Both soldiers jump out of the way of his flames. The prince lands and extends his fists so one is facing both adversaries, ready for any attack from either opponent.
Iroh lets out a sigh as he stands to his feet, stepping forward. "No!" his nephew lowers his arms and turns to him. "The power of firebending comes from the breathe, not the muscle! The breathe becomes the energy within the body and extends past your limbs and becomes fire." he says with a demonstration of fire towards Zuko that evaporates before it can hit the young man. "Get it right this time." he orders as he sits back down.
Putting on an exaggerated look of fury, Zuko walks towards his uncle. "Enough! I have been going over this sequence all day! Teach me the next set! I am more than ready to handle it!" he demands.
"No, you are impatient. You have yet to master the basics, Prince Zuko." he yells out his order. "Drill it again!"
Oh uncle, if only I could show you just how much I've mastered. Zuko thinks as he clenches his teeth and turns around abruptly, sending a powerful fire kick towards one of the soldiers, he tries to block but is unable to and is throw back off his feet. Zuko turns back towards his uncle, speaking in a carefully controlled voice.
"The Sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender, and since there haven't been any signs of them being reborn into any of the Water Tribes, or Earth Kingdom, we must assume he is still alive. Which makes him over a hundred years old. He has had a century to master the elements! I'll need more than basic firebending in order to defeat him, uncle. You will teach me the advanced set!" he demands, carefully regulating his voice to sound overly demanding to his uncle.
His uncle takes on a look which tells Zuko that he concedes. "Very well." he quickly picks something up from the ground beside him. "But first, please allow me to finish my roast duck!" he begins to stuff his face full of the hot food.
Zuko gives him a look of dismay, while inside he is relieved he didn't give away his game once more, having to do this for the past three years. Despite being unaware of his uncle's true leanings, it breaks his heart when he has to lie to the old man.
xXx
Back in the Southern Tribe, Sokka is pacing in front of several young male children with a stern expression on his face.
"Now men! It's important that you show no fear when facing a firebender! Here in the Water Tribe, we fight to the last man standing! If we don't have courage, how can we dare call ourselves men?"
A little boy raises his hand. "I gotta go potty!"
"Hey! Until your fathers return from the war, the rest of the village is counting on you to defend the people of our tribe, and that means no potty breaks." Sokka exclaims, making wild gestures with his arms.
"But I gotta go real bad!" the boy cries.
Sokka gives a sigh and calls. "Alright, who else has to go?" he immediately facepalms in frustration when every child raises their hand.
As the children run past to go to the bathroom, Katara comes up to her brother with a worried look on her face. "Have you seen Aang? Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago?"
Sokka just points behind her and she turns to see Aang emerging from the bathroom pulling up his pants. He giggles to the children. "Wow! Everything freezes in there, doesn't it?"
Sokka growls. "Katara! Get him out of here! He is distracting my warriors!" he turns as he hears the sound of laughter. The children are now playing on Appa, using his tail as a slide. Sokka runs over in anger as another child flew down the furry slide. "Stop it! Stop it right now!" the children and Aang stop what they're doing to look at him. "We don't have time to play around with the War going on!"
Aang looks at him in confusion. "What war? What are you talking about?"
Sokka and Katara share a glance before Sokka looks back at him. "You're kidding, right?" he asks.
Aang looks at Sokka questioningly before his attention is diverted to behind him and his expression morphs to excitement as he cries. "Penguin!" and shoots off like a tiger-seal into water.
The siblings look after him before sharing another glance. "He's kidding, right?" Sokka asks.
Katara goes after him, knowing that with his penguin obsession he'll be where they all lay about when they're not feeding. She hears him calling out to the penguins, trying to get one to let him ride them. She giggles as he is dragged through the snow, trying to get on a penguin. He notices her and gives her a smile and a laugh.
"Heh, I have a way with animals." he tells her.
She laughs. "How about this? I'll help you catch a penguin, if you teach me waterbending."
Aang grins at her. "It's a deal!" then his expression morphs into something solemn. "Only one problem, I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. Isn't there someone else in your tribe who can teach you?" he asks.
"No, you're looking at the only waterbender in the entire South Pole." she tells him, shaking her head.
Aang takes on a thinking look. "This isn't right, every bender needs a master to learn from. Hey, what about the North Pole, your sister tribe you called it, right? Maybe a bender there can teach you!"
"Maybe.." she says. "But we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in many decades. It's not as simple as 'over three glaciers, and passed four ice floes'. It's on the other side of the world!"
"But you seem to forget!" Aang says. "I have a sky bison! Appa and I can just give you a ride! Katara, we're going to find you a master!" he states happily.
Katara looks at him unsure. "I don't know. I've never left the pole before."
"Well, while you think on it, can you teach me how to catch one of these guys?" he asks gesturing to the creatures around him.
Katara giggles and reaches into her pocket. "Alright, listen carefully young pupil. Catching of a penguin is a sacred art among our tribe." she states playfully. "Observe." she tosses a fish at him.
He catches the fish, confusion evident on his face, before he grins as he is crowded by the penguins as they try to get the fish.
The two both get on a penguin and go to the top of the nearest hill and get on their penguin and start sledding down. Laughter permeates the air as the two sled down. They slide side by side as they both giggle and laugh.
"I haven't done this since I was a child!" Katara cries.
"You still are one!" Aang cries.
The two slide through a tunnel and over small hills, Katara winding up in the lead. Aang uses his airbending to get ahead of her. As the two come to the bottom of the slope, they come to a large plain, with a large metal ship raised up in the ice. Aang looks over at it curiously, while Katara looks on in trepidation.
"Hey, what is that?" he asks as the two get up and let their penguins walk away.
"A Fire Navy ship. A very bad memory for my people." she tries to stop Aang as he starts to approach the ship. "Hey, wait! We're not suppose to go near it. It could be booby-trapped! No one has been on that ship since it was placed there!"
Aang looked back at her. "Well, first thing about being a bender, you have to let go of your fear."
Katara ponders the reply for a moment before walking with Aang towards the ship, fear still evident on her face. The airbender helps her into the ship as they come to a hole in the hull. The two walk around seeing empty rooms until they come up to a room filled with weapons.
"This ship has haunted my people for decades, around the time my Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks."
Aang held up his hands. "Hold it! I think you're confused. I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation!" he picks up a Guan Dao to inspect it. "I never saw anything that looked like it was leading up to a war."
"Aang.." Katara began. "How long do you think you were in that iceberg for?"
He gives a light shrug. "I don't know, I figured a few days at least."
Katara shook her head. "I think it might be more like a hundred years!"
Aang looks at her like she's crazy for the first time since he met her. "What! That's not possible. Do I look like an hundred and twelve year old guy to you?!"
Katara presses on. "No, think about it. The War is a century old. You have no idea about it because.. somehow, you were in that iceberg that whole time. It's the only way to explain it."
Aang leans against the wall in comprehension. "A hundred years..." he says with a sadden tone. "I can't believe it."
Katara tries to cheer him up. "Come on, Aang! Think on the bright side!"
Aang looks up smiling. "I did get to meet you, if that's what you mean."
She pulls him to his feet and the two leave the room to find the exit. As they enter a new room Aang's foot pulls on a wire, and suddenly metal bars slide down over the entrance, trapping them inside.
"What the?" Aang asks.
The machines in the room suddenly flare to life and overhead, a signal flare is shot into the sky.
"What was that you said about booby-traps?" Aang asks Katara. He then notices a hole in the roof and Aang takes Katara into his arms. "Hold on!" he says before he jumps through the hole and down the ship back to the snowy ground.
xXx
Back with Prince Zuko, who is peering through a telescope, he follows their movements as they jump down the ship. His telescope isn't strong enough to see the details of their figures, but he figures the one in yellow and orange garb has to be the airbender. "Quite agile for an old man." he turns towards a soldier behind him. "Wake my uncle. Tell him, I found my target." he follows the two figures direction and spots a village a few miles ahead. "As well as his hiding spot."
He focuses back on the two figures and watches them as his ship heads for the village. "Hopefully you can give me the answers I need." he says under his breath.
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Author's Notes
So, what did you guys think? I think this beginning chapter is better than any of my other starter chapters from my other stories. Lex_Perseph0ne is also acting as my beta reader, as they also know the whole plot of the story and can help with adding in details I may have missed as well as spelling or grammar.
Anything you might be confused on?
See anything you particularly like?
Comment below. Suggestions and flames are welcomed.
Suggestions because they might add to the overall arc of my story.
Flames because I won't care. If you have a problem with my story, I'm not forcing you to read it.
See you all in the next chapter! And I promise you, THIS TIME, there will be updates.
Uploaded: 11/4/2018