AN: This story is going to radically alter the avatar universe, Be warned! It will contain only memories of avatar characters. Even Zuko will be a memory of himself until he can find himself again. This story will contain not only bending but also magic. The story also has no sexual themes, nor are any planned thus far. This story has a poorly written prequel that does deal with the how everything came to be in the story! 6.7/10 would recommend! Check it out on my account, or don't. Continue reading the following story in absolute decision or continue not at all.

My life closed twice before its close;
It yet remains to see
If Immortality unveil
A third event to me,
So huge, so hopeless to conceive,
As these that twice befell.
Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell.

- Emily Dickinson

Chapter 1.

It was the same pain he felt all those months ago, and many times since. Only this time he thought it was real. This was the only time he had experienced the pain in the same agony as the first time. But Zuko didn't cry out as he had last time; there was nothing left in him that cared anymore. He didn't understand how it worked, but Zuko knew the pain was because one of his family had died. It felt the same way when he plunged his sword into Azula, in what felt like another lifetime, but he knew was probably less than a year. It was probably uncle, Zuko thought detached. He had heard reports of Iroh's alcoholism before he left the Earth Kingdom, and had expected this for some time. Zuko was about to surrender himself to his pessimistic musings when he saw Tai stir from his nap. The kid was the only barrier between Zuko and the pit of blackness and misery that threatened to swallow him his every moment. Since leaving the Earth Kingdom by canoe into the unknown east, they had spent every moment together, mostly because there was nowhere to get away out at sea. Even after expanding their canoe to a raft the size of his old river steamer and putting up walls, there was still no privacy. Zuko didn't much care because there wasn't much to do that he needed to hide. Zuko felt a pang of guilt thinking of Tai, his life had been, to put it gently, worse than Zuko's.

Tai's early childhood and family were a mystery. Zuko had rescued him from a village ravaged from fire, both of what Zuko presumed were Tai's parents were dead, as well as everyone else. Zuko shivered at the thought, the memory of searching the charred village for survivors was burned into his brain as surely as the fire had burned through the lives of all save one in the village. After being rescued, Tai had remained unconscious for several nights and woke on the brink of death. While Tai had a speedy physical recovery, he had another problem: his memory had been damaged. As far as Zuko knew, this was not entirely uncommon in Earth kingdom, when houses burned, smoke-poison fills up the poorly ventilated stone houses, often killing those inside. And so Tai remembered nothing of his past life, and he struggled to remember new information. Zuko sighed as Tai stirred again. Zuko had tried to take Tai to Ba Sing Se where he would be safe, but before Tai left on the ferries, Zuko had felt a stir of energy in the boy, and knew that Tai had to be a firebender. All the signs had been there. So Zuko set off to the closest respectable fire colony, New Ozai, where he knew Tai would be safe. Zuko had been particularly agitated the day they arrived, and inadvertently got them arrested for unruly behavior. He didn't really care that he was arrested until he found out Azula was in New Ozai too. Zuko knew Azula would torture Tai, because Azula always destroyed things he cared about. So, he broke out of prison to find and distract Azula for a long enough time for Tai to get away, but when he found Azula, she had just slain the avatar, Aang. Believe it or not, it was important to not kill Aang because the next Avatar would not be a pacifist. Azula being in new Ozai was too much for Zuko to handle and blind fury overcame him. He slew her in that very moment. But in doing so he abandoned everything. Zuko would never be able to see Iroh, or the Fire Nation again. Every decision and action in his life was in vain at the moment his blade struck Azula's heart. Every action except for saving Tai, who now would have been killed on charge of being a firebender or associating with Zuko. So Zuko found Tai, and they fled together as fugitives of every nation. They were alone. And soon they ran out of places to run, and Zuko's mind was closing in on him. I killed my own sister. It was of little consultation that Azula would gladly have done the same for him. So Zuko decided he had to leave civilization all together and Tai had decided to join him, for they were family at that point. But about a moon cycle after setting out, Tai became horribly ill and lost all ability to speak, even after recovering from the illness. Now to communicate Tai had use hand signals, which were good for basic communication, but for more complex ideas, Tai wrote in sand that Zuko had brought up from the ocean. They now spent most of their time sleeping, fishing, or Zuko would try to educate Tai, which turned out to be frustratingly difficult due to Tai's memory problems. As time went on they expanded their canoe into a raft using driftwood and wood from uninhabited islets and cays.

After these months, with no contact to outside civilization, the (painful) reminder that people still exist outside him and Tai was strange. Zuko was beginning to wonder if the sages were wrong about the size of the world, which he had learned, was round. As Zuko was pondering such things, the quiet lapping of the wrinkled sea crescendoed into the steady oscillations of large rolling waves. At first, they were no taller than his forearm, but as the familiar royal blue transitioned to a steely green cobalt, the swells slowly tripled in sized. The waves' paths converged, obviating their direction.

Zuko got up to wake Tai; the increasing size in waves could mean two things: a storm was coming, or they were nearing land. Tai needed to be awake for both events. By the time Tai was up, the raft was turning parallel to the waves, which would tear it apart or capsize it. So Zuko and Tai used makeshift oars to steer the boat back into the waves. Between their oaring and the waves' movement, they were cruising much faster than they ever had on their raft. After nearly an hour, both Zuko and Tai were exhausted from rowing, but the currents finally changed. They were now heading perpendicular to the waves from before. Zuko had a realization dawn upon him we are in a longshore current... that means there's Land! Suddenly reinvigorated with new energy, he told Tai to keep rowing, but now against the current.

The ordeal was exhausting for both of them, but soon enough, the water was only up to his knees, and Zuko got into the water and dragged their raft. At some point, land came into view, and Tai clapped once and beamed happily. He got off the raft to help Zuko drag it, and more and more land came into view. It was much larger than any of the land they'd found before. As they got closer, features of the landscape came out. The land was greener than Earth Kingdom Lands had been, but not the same deep green of the Fire Nation. The land was also covered in foothills.

When they finally reached the shore, Tai wrote in the sand that he needed rest. Zuko to needed to rest, but he would keep watch because they had no clue what to expect from this new land. Not only that, but the sensation of being on land was so strange and the world was rocking underneath him. As Tai began drifting off, a high-pitched grating sound came from their raft startling Zuko and waking Tai…

AN: What, Who will they find on the new land? What is the high-pitched screeching that wakes poor Tai from his nap? Is coming from mice or something only slightly alluded to in one line the prequel story, and made so insignificant that even if someone were to read the prequel story, they would probably miss it? How will the story have more dialog if one of the major characters is mute? Will Tai ever learn to firebend? Will Zuko overcome his generally nihilistic view of life? Find out next time (Ok some of those questions will take more time to answer.) Just as a note to keep myself accountable, the next chapter will be from Tai's POV. Review Please!