A/N: This is my first fic that I've written in years….. My OTP is Taang and Zutara and since there aren't many serialized Taang fics out there, I have decided to throw mine in and hopefully it turns out alright :D To be honest, I thought Kataang ruined the ending for ATLA that I couldn't stand to watch it again without skipping through to my favourite parts. I do apologize if the characters seem out of….character :P. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

Summary: Slight AU. 6 years after the Hundred Year War. Rebels have broken Ozai and Azula and have overthrown Zuko to continue their world dominance. It's up to the Avatar and his friends to save the world again. Taang

Disclaimer: If I had owned ATLA, I would've changed the pairings.

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Chapter 1

Aang walked quickly through the forest, listening for any Fire Nation soldiers that may be lurking in the forest. His Earthbending teacher and friend, Bumi had said that he would be meeting up with one of the White lotus squads somewhere around here. It had been 6 years since the end of the Hundred Years War, and the era of Peace had finally begin… or so they thought. Zuko, who finally became the Fire Lord had his hands busy with putting down rebellions while trying to bring peace to the colonies and his nation. However, due to the many years of war, the Fire Nation was close to bankruptcy and there began a civil war within the Fire Nation. Some of his generals and officials did not approve of his marriage to Katara of the Southern Water tribe, to bring two nations together, claiming a dilution to the purity of the bloodline. This resulted in the government falling into two different factions, those who supported the Fire Lord Zuko and the purists who wanted Ozai, with or without his bending, back on the throne.

The civil wars reached its peak, when a coup d'etat occurred and Zuko and Katara had barely escaped with their lives with the help of the White Lotus to Omashu where Aang was on his way to meet up with them. He had to leave Appa behind in Ba Sing Se with King Kuei and General Iroh because he was too noticeable on a flying bison. Appa had been injured from one of their encounters with the Fire Nation and the White Lotus and Aang had decided that it was safer for him to travel by foot and was to meet up with one of the squads that was in that area.

He had reached the edge of the forest to a clearing and stopped under one of the trees to unroll his map. The worn map was tattered and a few spots on it looked suspiciously like blood spots, which he chose to ignore. He looked around the area trying to find the squad. It was safer to wait by the edge where he could retreat into the forest if any signs of danger appeared. A clicking noise drew his attention from his map down to the ground.

"Aww, a little fire ferret," he cooed, rolling up his map. "What are you doing here buddy?" he asked squatting down to offer it his hand and some lychee nuts that he pulled from his pocket. The fire ferret sniffed curiously at the offering and took it.

A sudden tremor from the earth made him airbend from the area, snatching the ferret where a rock protruded from its location. He somersaulted backwards, tucking the animal down his dark orange robes to keep it safe. A rock appeared behind him, where he would have landed causing him to kick back and into a crouch, narrowly avoiding the onslaught of rocks that would have peppered him. He tensed in his position and jumped towards the direction where the rocks came from, using his staff to blow away anymore rocks flying towards him. He avoided a pillar of earth that shot from the ground and weaved himself through the pillars that kept on appearing, forcing him out into the grassy clearing. He landed on his feet and raised his palms up, gathering moisture from the plants to make a thick mist, a trick he had learned from Katara. Using that opportunity, he brought up and earth tent as a shield to catch his breath.

The fire ferret wriggled out from his robes and jumped out onto the ground, "No fire ferret! It's dangerous!" he whispered, dropping his tent to grab at the animal. Cursing silently, he followed the ferret that stuck out like a sore thumb in the mist. He stopped when he saw a silhouette that was shorter than him and the ferret running towards the bending figure. Aang saw the ferret climb up the figure, clicking excitedly. Since the figure was not in any threatening pose, he brought down the mist to reveal a soldier dressed in the Earth colours which were under armour that covered their chest. They had the arm and leg bands worn by Earth benders and a navy blue ring with a white lotus flower on their sleeves, showing their allegiance.

"Someone's a little light on their feet," a young feminine voice commented. The animal chittered and started to groom her, drawing his attention to her cloudy green eyes that was unfocused that revealed her blindness, but yet seemed to take in everything at the same time. She brought a hand up, causing him to flinch into a fighting pose. "Relax Fancy Dancer, this is a truce" she chuckled, reaching up to stroke the animal's fur, "I just wanted to see how the great Avatar earthbended."

"The name is Aang," he said straightening up and offered her a hand.

"Whatever, Twinkle Toes," she ignored his hand and turned around and striding across the clearing to the other side of the forest. He trotted after her, pulling up his bag strap that was slightly askew from the confrontation.

They reached the entrance of the forest and she led him deeper into the forest where she brought him deep into a cave. "Guess who's back boys! There better be some meat ready!" she declared into the darkness.

A flame appeared in the dark, illuminating the entire cave that housed 3 other young men plus the firebender that lit the cave up. They all wore different dark coloured uniforms that represented the nations that they came from, with a common navy blue stripe that showed their allegiance. "Grand Master Toph, you brought the Avatar," the firebender greeted them. He transferred his flame to a pile of fire wood that warmed the whole place up.

She nodded at him and stomped on the ground, creating a reclining chair for herself by the fire, which she flopped on. "Lychee found him," she replied tugging at strings from a small pouch. The fire ferret chittered excitedly and climbed around her arm to get closer to its treat.

"More like she used it for bait…" Aang mumbled rubbing his tired muscles.

"My name is Sargeant Yao," the firebender introduced himself. He looked like the oldest one there. His face was scarred with a cut that ran across his whole face. "Healer Thon from the Water Tribes," he pointed to the man in blue, who was throwing herbs into a pot that held their meal, "… and Corporals Ying and Yang from Omashu," he introduced the men as he sat down on an improvised earth stool.

"Did the Grand Master manage to get you?" the Earth nation soldier asked him, leaning forward towards Aang who took a seat on the empty earth stool . "We could feel the vibrations from here."

"Is that how she usually greets people?" Aang asked, accepting a bowl from Thon with a bow from his head.

A small earth stool appeared next to him and the other earth soldier sat next to him. "Grand Master always likes to have all the fun without us," he said forlornly.

"It's only because you lily livers won't be able to keep up with me!" she retorted at them.

Aang had a double take, looking between the two men. Since he was closer to the fire he saw that both Earth soldiers looked identical to each other. "Erm…." He said stupidly, trying to figure out who was who from Yao pointing them out earlier. The soldier that just sighed grinned "I'm Ying, an Earthbender. My brother Yang is a non-bender," he reintroduced himself and offered a hand, which Aang took.

"Don't worry, even our dear mother couldn't tell us a part sometimes," Yang reassured him.

"They like switching their identities around," Yao warned Aang, "only time you know which rascal is which is when one of them has to bend," he informed the Avatar earning identical cheshire grins from the both of them.

"Whenever you dunderheads are done flirting, we need to get bunker down. We leave tonight at moonrise," Toph ordered as she got up from her reclining chair. She walked deeper into the cave and they felt the earth shift as she bended an Earth tent around herself.

The twins groaned, "She's turning us into catowls," Ying muttered. His earth stool got unbended from under him, causing him to fall onto the floor and his twin to laugh. Ying grimaced and brought his foot down, unbending his twin's stool in revenge, making Yang fall with a yelp.

"Hey! Mother said no bending on me!" Yang whined.

Yao sighed bringing his hand down his face, "Children, must we start again?" he asked wearily as the twins began to bicker.

Despite the twin's earlier complains which ended with Yao throwing two streams of flames from the their fire at them, the small group got up in the middle of the night and left the cave for Omashu. The moonlight lit their way as Yao navigated them through the forest. They walked in a single line with Aang and Toph, in the middle.

He was trying to figure out how she was able to get around easily before they left, when she caught him staring at her. "What?" she demanded.

"Oh…er, I was just wondering how you were able to erm… walk around, with you being," he mumbled the last word trying to gesture at her without seeming too rude.

"Spit it out Twinkles! I'm blind, I can't see what you're doing. Use your words" she said sharply earning sniggers from the twins.

"Well…. Being blind," he said a little timidly. He had faced many armies and powerful benders, but this young woman just intimidated him.

"My feet are my eyes. I sense the vibrations in the earth. Now let's get moving," she said briskly walking away from him again.

He trailed behind her in their silent single file, trying to figure her out. As he had noticed earlier yesterday, she was a good head shorter than he was and the other men. Although smaller and younger than the rest of them, she walked with an air of authority that demanded respect from others, which he observed by the way the older men were following her orders. Her hair was braided and coiled into a bun that held back by a green band. Her cloudy green eyes were constantly covered by bangs that obstructed her unneeded sight.

He was surprised by how young she actually was. When Bumi had described the person he was to meet, all he was told that she was an Earthbender that helped to turn the tide on many battles and was considered a veteran. He had expected an older woman, but who was he to judge? He had captured Ozai at the age of twelve, only to have traitors break him and Azula out from their prisons. Azula, thought to be insane was still powerful, but followed her father's orders dutifully. So although Ozai could not firebend anymore, Azula was always on his right side, ready to dole out punishment on her father's behalf. This snapped him back to the present. He needed to get to Omashu to meet up with Zuko, Katara and Sokka to plan a course of attack.

They had been walking for what seemed like hours when Toph called for a halt softly. They crouched down into the bushes and the men gathered around her.

"There is a Fire Nation camp ahead of us," she whispered. Finding a stick, she drew the layout into the ground, showing at least 60 men on the campgrounds.

"They must be heading for Omashu also," Yao whispered with the group agreeing with him. The small group came up with a plan to sneak up to incapacitate the camp without any immediate confrontation. The group split into twos with the Ying and Yao together, Yang and Thon followed by Aang and their leader. They crept up silently around the sentries, who looked like they were dozing off from the lull of the moonlight.

The men worked quickly and efficiently, working like a well-oiled machine. Ying located their food tents and buried the supply underground, covering it up so that when anyone went to get any food, the tent would be empty. While Ying was doing that, Yao cut the ropes of their transport animals and shooed them into the woods. Thon and Ying worked together to drain their water supply by driving it underground. All was done as quietly as possible without alerting the enemy. Once the four were done, they met up with Aang and Toph further down the path they were taking. Together, the two of them shifted the earth to raise a large stone wall around the camp. This woke the army up and the squad could hear yelling and shouting from the soldiers.

Aang stood up from his stance admiring their work. He felt the earth shift some more underneath them as she continued to enclose the walls to form a dome over the Fire army.

"What are you doing?" he asked turning to her. The dome closed off the sounds of shouts and yelling completely, leaving the forest silent again. "They won't be able to breathe in there!"

"Aang, if you haven't noticed, we're at war here!" she said poking a finger at his chest. "We can't afford to have sympathy for the people who want to annihilate the other nations!"

He bristled but deflated, hating the actions that war had on people.

"We need to push on. That should occupy those Matchheads for a while," she said with smirk. "We can rest when we get to the Cave of Two Lovers. We'll be safer in those tunnels now that we have alerted some of the match heads," she announced, making the men groan inwardly.

Once they had arrived at the rubble that the Fire nation had made years ago to block Aang and his friends in the cave, they stopped to take a short break. Toph took the lead and began to bend the rocks away to make a small entrance for them. The team continued onwards with Yang closing up their exit so that no other soldiers could follow them behind. Yao held a flame so that everyone could see and not trip over each other from the rubble and loose earth. By the time they had finally hit the first cavern, there was a collective sigh of relief.

Yang tiredly bended an earth tent for the men and crawled in wearily with his things. His twin followed by other men and Aang followed suit. Toph had already bended her own tent and could be heard snoring slightly from her side. Everyone fell asleep as soon as their head touched their bed rolls.

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Aang felt a furry body curling up around his neck, "Not now Momo…" he mumbled getting a sleepy chitter in reply. He opened his eyes when he realized that Momo wouldn't make those noises. All he received was blackness and he had to blink his few times to confirm that it was just dark and not that he was still sleeping. Bending a small flame on his palm, he saw that the other men were still sleeping in their rolls in their tents. Lulled by the darkness a few of them grumbled when they felt the light. Lowering the flame to make it bright enough but still dim, Aang crawled out of the tent with Lychee burrowing into his robes with a small grumble. He could hear the animal settle down and started its own version of snoring. Shaking his head gently, he turned to survey the cavern when he had to hold back a gasp.

He saw Toph standing by a large badgermole, touching it's nose. The humongous animal turned its head towards Aang, who nodded his head in greeting. The badgermole inclined its head and went back to Toph, who as Aang walked closer to, could hear her humming softly. He had remembered Sokka telling him how the badgermoles liked music and would only calm down when it was played in human presence.

"The badgermoles were the first Earthbender," she spoke softly, stroking the giant.

Aang nodded as he stood next to her, but not touching the animal. "My friends and I met them when I had to go to Bumi to learn how to master Earthbending. We came through this Cave."

"Crazy Hat told me that you all helped to liberate Omashu that day," she replied. "How did you guys manage to get out of the Caves then?"

Aang blushed, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "I…er…. kissed Katara."

"Fire Lady Katara?" she asked her grin grew bigger. "You kissed Sugar Queen?"

"You know Katara and Zuko?" Aang asked looking at her now instead of the badgermole. "They never mentioned you at all," he said.

"Of course they wouldn't, I'm top secret," she said flashing him a grin.

He raised an eyebrow, but then realized that she couldn't see it so he came out with "Huh?"

"If I told you the secret then I wouldn't be a top secret anymore, Twinkles," she chuckled and patted his shoulder. She turned towards the direction of the tent brought the walls down by swiping her hands downwards. "Start a fire will, ya?" she told him. "Rise and shine my little chikadees! Mum and pops here has to get to Omashu, and we got a ride!"

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Hope you like it! I will continue writing anyways lol but thanks for reading the first chapter!