Katara P.O.V.

Air, Water, Earth, Fire. My grandmother used to tell me stories of 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 4 elements. Only he could he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But, when the world needed him most, the cycle was broken. 100 years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. 2 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. Most people believe that the spirits have given up on the human world, and that they will not allow the Avatar to be reborn. But I still have hope; I believe that the spirits have some compassion, and that they will bring the Avatar back. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.

My brother and I were sailing in our canoe, trying to find some fish to catch for dinner. While I was looking around every angle, Sokka was staring right in front of us.
"You won't get away this time. Watch and learn Katara, this is how you catch a fish." He said arrogantly. I rolled my eyes, and spotted the fish behind us. I pulled my glove off, and concentrated on the water surrounding the fish. I pulled the water towards me, slowly but surely, with the fish in it. I took a deep breath, and pulled the water up in a bubble, with the fish.
"Sokka! Look!" I exclaimed in excitement.
"Shh! You're gonna scare it away." he hissed back. "But Sokka, I caught one." I protested, but he accidently popped the bubble with his spear, soaking him, and letting the fish go.

"Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" he demanded. I sighed.
"It's not magic, it's waterbending." I corrected.
"And it's-" he cut me off.
"Yeah yeah, an ancient art, unique to our culture, blah blah blah." He said, waving off what I said.
"Look, I'm just saying, if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself." he said, grabbing his spear after he rang out his pony tail.
"Excuse me? I'm weird? I'm not the one who makes muscles to myself every time I see my reflection in the water." I said with a smirk.

Before he could retort, we got caught in a current that was trailing between ice bergs. I kept yelling at him to go left, but he didn't listen. Our canoe got caught in between 2 icebergs, and then destroyed. We managed to jump off onto a flat patch of ice before we fell into the water.
"You call that left?" I asked sarcastically.
"You don't like my steering. Well, maybe you should have 'waterbended' us out of the ice." He retorted.
"So it's my fault?" I asked angrily as I stood up.
"I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to skrew thing up." he said to the air. That pissed me off like you wouldn't believe.
"You are the most sexist, immature nut brain, I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" I yelled at him, waving my arms.

I continued yelling, not realising that I was bending at the same time.
"From now on, you're on your own!" I finished, and the iceberg behind us cracked in half, sending a wave pushing our patch of ice back. After the commotion died down, Sokka was looking at me with a frustrated look.
"OK. You've gone from weird, to freakish Katara." He said.
"I did that?" I asked.
"Yep, congratulations." He said sarcastically. I paid no mind to it, I was still mesmerised by what I could do.
"If I can do that, how powerful am I exactly?" I thought to myself.

As I was deep in my thoughts, a bright red glow appeared in the water in front of us. Before either of us could say anything, a large iceberg, glowing red, emerged. I looked into it, and saw 2 figures. One was human, sitting in a meditative position, and the other was unlike anything I've ever seen. All of a sudden, the human opened his eyes, revealing them to be glowing full red.
"He's alive!" I exclaimed.
"We have to help him!" I grabbed my brother's club, and ran to the iceberg, ignoring my brother's protests. I smashed into the iceberg a few times. I gave an extra hard smash, and a sudden burst of wind pushed me back, as the ice cracked and a bright red beam of light shot up into the sky.

The boy climbed out of the iceberg, and stood up, and I got a good look at him. He was wearing black pants, a black leather cuirass with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath, black boots and a hooded cloak was wrapped around his neck. His shoulder length hair was black as the midnight sky, and his eyes still had that intimidating red glow. He looked to be about my age, maybe a little older.
"Stop!" my brother yelled as he pointed the spear to the boy. The red glow in his eyes faded, revealing forest green, and he fell, passing out. I caught him before he hit the ground.

I blushed when I saw his face. He was a really handsome guy. He groaned and put his hand on his head.
"What happened?" he asked the air as he opened his eyes.
"I was hoping you could answer that." I said. He opened his eyes and sat up.
"Ugh, I've got such a headache." He groaned as I stepped back. He jumped onto his feet.
"What's going on here?" he asked us.
"You tell us! How did you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?" Sokka asked him, poking him with his spear.
"Your guess is as good as mine." The boy responded.

We heard a growl from the iceberg. The boy gasped and climbed back into the iceberg.
"Midnight!" he exclaimed and jumped. Sokka and I circled around and our jaws dropped at what we saw. The boy was hugging a black dragon!
"You're OK!" he exclaimed as the dragon licked his face. The dragon was about the size of a small ship, with long black wings, four legs, a long neck, and neon green eyes. (A/N: Imagine Saphira from Eragon, but black and with green eyes.)
"What is that thing?" Sokka asked.
"This is Midnight, my dragon." The boy responded.
"Right, and this is Katara, my dragon of a sister." Sokka responded sarcastically.

Out of nowhere, the dragon sneezed, spraying mucus all over Sokka. He screamed in disgust and tried to wipe it off.
"Don't worry, it washes out easily." The boy said as he petted the beast.
"So, you guys live around here?" he asked casually.
"Don't answer that, did you see that light? He was probably trying to signal the fire navy!" Sokka said, pointing his spear at the boy.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure. You can see the evil spark in his eye." I said sarcastically.
"The paranoid one is Sokka. You never told us your name." I said.
"Oh! I'm sorry, where are my manners? I'm…" he trailed off. He looked like he was about to sneeze, and did. But, as he sneezed, the force pushed him 50 feet in the air. He landed and sniffed.
"My name is Hunter. Pleased to meet you." He said casually as if the sneeze never happened.

"You just sneezed and flew 10 feet in the air!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Really? It felt higher." Hunter mused. I gasped in realisation.
"You're airbender!" I exclaimed.
"Uh, yeah, sure." Hunter responded.
"Bright lights, dragons, airbenders, I think I got midnight sun madness. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense." Sokka said and walked off. He stopped when he reached the edge, looking into the distance.
"Well, if you guys are stuck, Midnight and I can give you ride." Hunter offered.
"That sounds awesome! Thanks!" I exclaimed as he helped onto the saddle that was on the dragon's back.
"Oh no, I am not getting on that scaly snot monster!" Sokka exclaimed.
"Alright then, see ya." Hunter said as he mounted on Midnight's neck. I giggled when Sokka sighed in defeat and climbed into the saddle.
"Alright, first time flyers hold on tight. Midnight, to the sky!" Hunter said to his dragon.

She made a jump to fly as she extended her wings, but fell into the water.
"Wow that was absolutely amazing." Sokka said sarcastically, earning a whip from Midnight's tail.
"She's just tired. A little rest and she'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see." Hunter said with a smile. I nodded and was about to sit down, but I noticed he was still smiling at me.
"Why are you smiling at me like that?" I asked, a little uncomfortable.
"Oh I was smiling?" he asked. I nodded.
"Well, my parents did raise me to appreciate beauty." He said. I felt my cheeks go red, and he laughed at my reaction.
"You're cute when you're flustered Katara." He said with a grin. I blushed more and sat down, facing Sokka, who had an evil grin on his face. I glared at him.
"Not a word." I hissed at him. He kept quiet, but didn't lose the grin.

After a few hours of sailing on dragon back, a thought occurred to me. I leaned over the front of the saddle to face Hunter.
"Hey." I greeted when I saw him relaxing on Midnight's neck.
"Hey. You got something on your mind?" he asked. I nodded.
"I was just thinking, you being an airbender and all, do you know what happened to the Avatar?" I asked. He developed a forlorn expression.
"I knew him." he responded. I beamed at him.
"He's dead, and he's not coming back." He said. I deflated.
"The reincarnation cycle was broken. The Avatar doesn't exist anymore." He finished. I nodded.
"Thanks anyway." I said. He nodded.
"Sleep tight. You can use my cloak as blanket if you're cold." He said.
"Thanks. Sleep tight." I responded and lay down, not noticing his guilty look.

Hunter P.O.V.

~Hunter's Dream~

I was sitting on the saddle on Midnight's back, relaxing as I enjoyed the view of the blue sky while we flew. Out of nowhere, massive storm clouds appeared and it started raining harder than I had ever seen. I quickly skidded over to Midnight's neck and grabbed her horns to steer, but the wind was too strong. It blew Midnight into the water as it erratically shifted from one direction to the next. As Midnight and I were drowning, I felt a strange instinct take me over. I somehow knew that my eyes were glowing red, and that I had grown fangs. I smashed my fists together, creating a huge bubble of air around us, and then the images faded into nothing.

~Dream End~

I woke up a cold sweat, shirtless, in a tent that Katara led me to last night. As I was breathing heavily, Katara entered.
"Hunter I-" she stopped when she saw me and blushed. "Something wrong?" I asked.
"Uh no, it's just, you're shirtless." She said, blushing a bit more. I apologised and put a shirt on. I heard her gasp, but that was probably because she saw my scars on my back. I clipped my cloak on, garbbed my naginata and she pulled me out of the tent. I was greeted by the sight of about 30 villagers, all of the adults being women, and the oldest child being about a 9 year old boy.

"Hunter, this is the entire village. Entire village, Hunter." She introduced. I bowed with my weapon in my hands. They looked a bit intimidated by me.
"Is something wrong?" I asked. An old lady stepped forward.
"Well, nobody has seen an airbender in 100 years, or a dragon in 20. We thought they were both extinct, until my grandchildren found you and your dark scaled friend." The lady said.
"Extinct?" I asked in horror.
"Hunter, this is my grandmother." "Call me Gran-Gran." The old lady deadpanned.

Sokka walked up and grabbed my naginata.
"What kind of weapon is this? The blade is too short to deal any lethal damage, and it's too edged to stab anything with." he asked. I frowned and airbendeded it back to my hands. I whacked him over the head with the flat of the blade, making the children laugh.
"That's because I made it to do minimal damage." I explained. Sokka glared at me and walked away.
"Weird man smack Sokka. I like him." A girl about 2 years old said and came up to me. I smiled, passed my weapon to Katara, and picked the girl up.
"What's your name?" I asked.
"Kiyara." She replied with a smile.
"A pretty name for a pretty little girl." I said, causing her to giggle. I put her down and she went to her mother.

I looked to my side, and saw Sokka headed towards a tower made of snow. I smirked and nudged Katara. She looked in the direction I was and matched my evil look of mischief. I shot a thin stream of air towards the snow tower, and it fell onto Sokka. The entire village burst out laughing.
"My watch tower." Sokka whispered in horror when he dug himself out.
"Great, you're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you can cause trouble all day long." He said and stomped off.
"You're a waterbender?" I asked her.
"Well, sort of, not yet." She replied with a forlorn expression.

Katara P.O.V.

I was about to ask Hunter if he would help me with my bending, but Gran-Gran cut me off.
"That's enough playing for today. Katara, you have chores to do." She said. I nodded and walked off with her.
"I told you he's the real thing Gran-Gran! I finally found a bender who can help me!" I said to her in excitement.
"Katara, try not to put too much hope into this boy, something is off about him." she said.
"What?" I asked confused.
"He is hiding something. I don't know what, and I don't think it's bad, but there's something he's not telling us." She said with suspicion in her voice.
"Like?" I asked.
"I don't know, but he doesn't seem like an air nomad. They never carried weapons, and they usually wore robes, not cloaks, much less any black clothing." She said. I rolled my eyes.
"That weapon is meant to deal minimal damage, and he just has a different fashion sense, that's all. Besides, I can sense that he has a lot of wisdom." I said, looking at Hunter, who was playing with the children.

After I got all my chores done, I tried to find Hunter, to ask him to help me with my bending. I saw Sokka, looking deflated as the children were walking away from him. Another one of his stupid warrior lessons I guess.
"Hey Sokka, have you seen Hunter? Gran-Gran said he disappeared an hour ago." I asked. He pointed to a tent. I thanked him and entered, finding Hunter meditating, while floating a few feet in the air.
"Hunter?" I called to him. He opened his eyes and smiled at me.
"Need something?" he asked. I nodded and sat in front of him as he floated down to the ground.
"I need a favour." I said.
"Anything you need."
"Can you help me with my bending? I'm terrible at it." I said.
"Sure, but I'm an airbender, not a waterbender. That may present a problem. Is there not a bender in your tribe to teach you?" he asked. I shook my head.
"No, you're looking at the only waterbender in the entire south pole." I explained.
"That's not right. A water bender needs to master water. What of the north pole?" He asked.
"We haven't heard from them in decades. It's not exactly 'turn right at 2nd glacier,' it's across the entire world." I explained. He nodded.
"True, but if you want, I'll fly you on Midnight. She's fast, she'll be there in a month tops."
"I don't know, I've never left home before." He nodded in understanding.
"Well, while you think about it, why don't we have some fun? Penguin sledding?" he offered. I smiled and nodded.

We exited the tent, greeted by Midnight letting kids slide down their tail.
"It's nice to see kids having fun in this time of war." I mused to Hunter.
"There's a war?" he asked.
"You're kidding?" I asked in surprised. We both decided to talk about it later, and headed for the penguins' territory. It wasn't long before we were sledding down an ice hill on penguins. After a long ride, we stopped in front of an old, half frozen Fire Navy ship.

"What is this?" Hunter asked in amazement.
"A Fire Navy ship, and a bad memory for my tribe." I answered. He started walking towards the ship.
"Hunter, stop. The ship is forbidden, it could be swarming with booby traps." I warned.
"The first thing you learn about being a bender, is to conquer your fear." He said and continued walking. I reluctantly followed him. We eventually ended up in a room full of weapons.
"This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl, it was one of the Fire Nation's first attacks." I explained.
"Back up for me here, I have friends all over the world. Firebenders, waterbenders, airbenders and earthbenders. Heck, I'm engaged to a firebender girl, I've never seen any war." He said as he picked up a sword. I don't know why, but I felt sad when I heard he was engaged.

"Hunter, do you know how long you were frozen for?" I asked with a theory forming in my head.
"Could've been weeks, months or even years." He responded.
"Perhaps a century?" I asked.
"That makes zero sense, do I look 117 years old to you?" he asked with raised eyebrow.
"Think about it, the war has been going for 100 years, the only way you couldn't know about it, is if you were frozen all that time. It's the only logical explanation." I said. His eyes widened in horror, and he fell to the ground.
"100 years, my family, my friends, my betrothed, all dead." He whispered. I felt so sorry for him.
"I'm sorry, maybe some good can come out of this." I comforted with a hug.
"I got to meet an astonishingly beautiful waterbender." He said with smile. I smiled back with a small blush.
"How would your betrothed feel if she heard you say that?" I asked as I helped him up.
"She was never worried about me calling other girls beautiful. She saw it as a sign of my gentlemanly nature, and she knew I only had eyes for her." He said sadly as we continued exploring.

"Can we leave now? I'm getting the creeps." I said. He nodded and we turned around, but I unknowingly triggered a tripwire.
"What did you say about booby traps?" he asked as a flare shot out of the ship. He grabbed me bridal style, and jumped out of the ship with me in his arms.
"Let's get back to the village." He said. I nodded in agreement and we ran back to the village.

Zuko P.O.V.

I was looking at an old, frozen Fire Navy ship, which had released a flare, through a telescope. I saw a figure jumping out of the ship, holding someone.
"The Red Firebender." I muttered triumphantly.
"He's quite agile, considering he's over a century old. And given such agility, he must favour airbending." I commented. I turned to my soldiers.
"Wake my uncle; tell him I found the Avatar." I ordered. They nodded and obeyed. I looked again, and shifted the telescope in the direction he was running. I noticed the Southern Water Tribe.
"As well as his hiding place." I added. My chance to finally go home had come.

A/N: So, what do you think? There will be an explanation to Hunter's secrets soon enough, don't worry.