The next morning dawned early for Katara, who was usually the first one awake among her tribe despite her age. She opened her eyes and frowned, wondering why her bed furs felt more restrictive than usual. Then the events of the past days came to the forefront of her mind, and she smiled to herself.

Finding Aang in the Iceberg, getting attacked by the Fire Nation, joining Sun with her brother to rescue Aang and attack the Fire Nation back, and going off on a journey to help the Avatar master the elements, and find a Master for herself.

Katara sighed to herself, smiling into her furs. Quietly, she slipped a hand under her pillow and retrieved something she'd slept with since she got it days ago. The flower made of ice that Sun had made for her, that despite being made of frozen water, hadn't melted or lost its' shape at all and was still cool.

She cradled it against her chest, remembering how she received it. 'A pretty snow flower for a pretty snow flower.' Had he meant it? She wondered, touching the rigid petals. She didn't have much experience with boys beyond her brother, and definitely not in the way she was wondering.

The cheerful blond man had flirted with her more than once during their stay at the South Pole, and she wasn't sure if he was flirting with her seriously or playfully.

Shaking her head, she stored the flower away and got up. Katara would wait and see how things developed between them before doing anything. Sitting up, she turned and paused, seeing Sun standing near the fire. On one hand. Staying perfectly still.

"Um, Sun? What are you doing?" She asked tentatively.

"Trying to meditate while upside down." He answered shortly, his voice sounding strained. "To help with my concentration."

Katara thought for a second. "Is it actually helping?"

Sun grunted, shaking slightly. "Nope! The pounding in my ears is really distracting."

He gave up and flopped to the ground with a thump, sighing as his face slowly regained the normal coloring. She busied herself by rolling up her sleeping bag and storing it away on Appa's saddle, before grabbing the remains of last night's dinner and starting to make breakfast out of it.

Sun joined her eventually, and the two sat in companionable silence for few minutes before Aang shot off of the ground and sailed ten feet in the air, whooping excitedly. They traded amused and wary looks as the young Airbender floated back to the ground with a wide smile.

"We're going to the Southern Air Temple today!" He cheered, appearing behind the two older benders in a blur of speed, throwing his arms around their shoulders. "I can't wait for you guys to see everything!"

Sun balked slightly. "Uh, I don't think it'll be the way you remember it, Aang. A lot can change in a hundred years." Like the betrayal and near-extinction of a people.

"I know, but I want to see it for myself," He informed them, taking a bowl of food from Katara.

Sokka continued to sleep, wrapped up in his sleeping bag as they ate breakfast and packed their camping gear away. Aang, having grown tired of waiting for the Water Tribe warrior to wake, decided to move things along. "Come on, Sokka, wake up! Air Temple time!"

Sokka grunted sleepily and lazily opened an eye, slowly rolling it up to look at the excitable Airbender. "Sleep now…temple…later." Then he closed his eyes and started snoring.

Aang blinked in surprise, frowning a little. A mischievous grin spread across his lips as he picked up a stick and started poking the sleeping bag with it. "Oh no! Look out, Sokka, a prickle-snake is in your sleeping bag!" He called out with fake worry.

Snapping awake, the boomerang-wielding warrior panicked and hopped around the broken-down campsite in his sleeping bag, screeching and yelling before he tripped and sprawled on the ground, realizing he'd been had by the irritated expression on his face.

Sun and Katara laughed at the sight as Aang poked Sokka in the back of the head with his stick. "Great, you're awake! Now we can finally go!" He exclaimed happily, leaping onto Appa's head.

He grumbled in annoyance and rolled his bag up slowly. "Hey Sokka, hurry up or you won't get any breakfast!" Sun called from the saddle, watching in amusement as the younger man hurriedly packed his things and scrambled in the saddle with a hungry gleam in his eyes.

Aang took them up into the air as Sokka chowed down on a bowl of food, while Katara bent a small orb of water into different shaped and turned them to ice and back and Sun created a spinning orb of wind that he passed from hand-to-hand and finger-to-finger.

After about an hour of flying, the Airbender announced, "The Batola mountain range! We're getting really close!"

The young Waterbender shuffled around the saddle to talk to Aang without the wind carrying away her words. "Before we get there, we should talk about the Airbenders." She started slowly.

He turned around on Appa's head to peer at her with a questioning face. "What about 'em?"

Worriedly, she glanced at Sun, who shared an uneasy look with her. "Well…you should be prepared for what you find there. The Fire Nation is ruthless. They killed my mother and they might've done the same to your people." She replied, trying to be gentle.

Aang shrugged, looking optimistic. "Just because no one has seen any Airbenders for a long time doesn't mean the Fire Nation got to them. I bet they escaped!" He stated easily.

Katara gulped, licking her lips nervously. "Aang, I know it's hard to accept…"

"You don't understand, Katara." He cut across, not unkindly. "The only way to get to an Airbender temple is by flying, and I really doubt the Fire Nation has any sky-bison."

Sun sighed heavily and beckoned the younger Waterbender over, leaning in to whisper in her ear. "I think this is something he has to see for himself," He said quietly, mood somber. "I don't like this, but he won't accept it without proof."

"But that 'proof' is the dead bodies of his people." She whispered back anxiously. "It could really damage him." Katara rubbed her arms, looking worried.

The blond man put his arm around her and gave her a comforting squeeze. "He's the Avatar, Katara. He was never destined for an easy life, but we are here for him, to help him deal with things like that. I doubt it'll ever be easy, though." He murmured sadly.

They fell silent as they flew through the air, gripping each other when Aang sharply steered them around a mountain. As they passed the rocky face, a new view was presented to them, of the top of another mountain, this one with blue and white towers with rods on the roofs that jutted into the sky like spears. The central building was much taller and wider than the others and was placed between two rock spires.

Looking over the mountain, Sun spotted several trails and paths that could lead straight to the top if taken by a relatively experienced climber with the right equipment. Aang really is in denial. He thought sadly.

"There it is! The Southern Air Temple!" Aang announced grandly, a wide smile on his face.

"Wow, Aang, it's amazing!" Katara said in an awed voice.

"Yeah, it looks really good, despite not being cared-for in a long time." Sun agreed, scanning the mountain top for any signs of life. And not finding any.

"I know!" The young Airbender said, turning to look back in the saddle, frowning. "Why are you guys sitting so close together?"

Both of the older benders hadn't moved after their whispered conversation, and thus Sun still had his arm around Katara, who was snuggled into his side. Coughing lightly and casually removing his arm, the blond bender replied, "You took that last mountain kinda sharp, buddy, we nearly tumbled out of the saddle. Warn us next time, please?"

Katara, inwardly missing the warmth provided by the blond, nodded in agreement. "I know you're excited, but not all of us are as experienced in riding a sky-bison like you, Aang."

Smiling ruefully, Aang rubbed the back of his bald head sheepishly. "Sorry guys! Alright, we're coming in to land!" He brought Appa down on a worn stone landing pad and the group dismounted, looking up at the winding rocky path that was covered with a layer of snow in trepidation.

Well, except for Aang, who raced ahead of them, whooping. "Man, where does a guy get something to eat around here?" Sokka complained, rubbing his stomach.

"It's the middle of winter on top of a wind-swept mountain, Sokka." Sun retorted dryly, "Where do you think you can get food?"

The Water Tribe warrior paused in thought before speaking up. "…In the ground?"

The blond shrugged. "Maybe."

Katara crossed her arms as they climbed the path. "You're lucky enough to be one of the first outsiders to set foot on this mountain in a hundred years, and all you can think about is food?" She asked with annoyance.

Sokka shrugged simply. "Everybody has needs, sister of mine, and one of those is food."

"You had breakfast," Sun pointed out as they got closer to Aang, who had stopped to look down at something.

"Yeah, but that was just one bowl!"

The young Airbender pointed down at a parapet cut into the face of the mountain, which had a small, densely-packed field of sticks of varying heights, with two goal on either side of it. "That's where my friends and I used to play airball!"

His finger swings over to an empty, dilapidated pen with troughs nearby. "And that…the bison would sleep over there…" His voice trailed off into the empty air, and he sighed lightly.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked, though she had an idea.

"This place used to be full of monks and lemurs and bison, but now…it's empty and covered in weeds." Aang slumped sadly, and the older ones of the group traded looks.

"What's this airball game you mentioned?" Sun asked quickly, changing the subject.

Aang smiled and perked up. "Come on, I'll show you!" He jumped down to the field and quickly found a ball while the others climbed down.

He began to explain the rules excitedly, making Sun blank out. By the time he came back, Sokka was standing unsteadily on some of the sticks in front of one of the goals, while Aang stood easily in front of his, spinning a ball around his body with his bending.

Sun took that time to watch how Sokka reacted to the game. His footing was becoming more sure with every second, and despite the speed with which the ball bounced through the sticks, his focused blue eyes never lost track of it.

His reaction time…was not the best, however, and neither was his strength, though the ball was being bent at him very quickly.

After seeing Sokka get plowed into the snow by the ball, again, the blond decided to intervene. "Alright, my turn! Let an actual Airbender try it out, would ya?" He jumped up in front of the goal and took a pose.

"Oh, right! This should be awesome!" Aang said happily, retrieving the ball. He spun it around him and bent it into the field, sending it bouncing through the sticks at Sun.

The blond did his best to keep it in sight, and as it rocketed towards him, he bent a crescent wave of air in front of him.

The ball deflected off of the air and bounced back into the sticks, heading towards Aang, who was smiling widely. He flipped over the ball and redirected the current around it, spinning and hurling it back at Sun.

The blond bender kept track of the ball and hopped from one platform to another, but the ball bounced off of smaller stick and hurtled through the goal. "Alright!" Aang cheered with his hands up. "One for me!"

Sun smiled at the happiness in Aang's voice and retrieved the ball by bending a small cyclone between him and it. "Best three out of five!"

They played for a while longer, ending up tied at two-to-two. The ball ricocheted around the field, and as it headed straight for the blond's feet, Sun quickly back-flipped and bent the ball high up into air. As it came down, he crouched and flipped forward, heavily kicking the ball straight at Aang's chest.

The younger Airbender yelped and ducked, the ball just sailing over his head and through the goal, embedding deeply into the rock wall. "Oops?" Sun said sheepishly as the force of the impact dislodged some of the snow on the parapet.

"That was cool!" Aang shouted excitedly, not caring that he had just lost. "But I think that's enough playing. We have a whole temple to see!"

They hopped down from the field and started climbing back up the pathway, with Aang running ahead again. They caught up to him quickly, as he hadn't gone far before stopping in front of a stature of a monk, who seemed to radiate kindness and wisdom even through a stone copy.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet someone," Aang said happily, motioning towards the statue.

"Who's that?" Katara asked carefully, examining the piece.

The young Airbender smiled slightly. "Monk Gyatso, the greatest Airbender in the world. He taught me everything I know." Clasping his hands, he respectfully bowed to the statue and stayed still for a few minutes, lost in thought.

Katara approached Aang and laid a kind hand on his shoulder. "You must miss him."

Aang straightened up and looked passed the statue, into the depths of the Air Temple. "Yeah," He replied softly, walking around it.

"Where are you going now?" Sokka asked, following behind the young Airbender.

As they moved into the temple proper, Sun hung back and looked up into the face of Monk Gyatso and bowed deeply, paying his respects to the long-dead man that taught Aang how to Airbend. "I swear to you, I will protect and guide your student to the best of my ability." He promised quietly, glancing up at the statue.

Sun jerked back in shock as a blue haze that looked exactly like the old man gave him a kind smile and light bow. He blinked, and whatever he had seen was gone.

Shaking his head, the blond man started to follow the others, and found them beyond a pair of heavy doors in large room that was covered in detailed statues arranged in a long spiral.

"They're lined up in a pattern," Katara reasoned, looking at the statues carefully. "Air, water, earth and fire."

"The Avatar Cycle." Sun stated calmly.

"Right! These are the past Avatars." She agreed, stepping back from one. "All these people are your past lives, Aang."

Sokka poked the statue of a burly Earthbender with a serious face. "You really believe that stuff, Katara? Past lives, Avatar cycles and whatever?"

Sun nudged the younger man with his elbow. "When the Avatar dies, they're reincarnated into the next nation of the cycle, to master the elements and bring balance back to the world. Or in some lucky cases, maintain it."

The two siblings shot questioning glances at each other. They had known Sun for awhile, and while they knew he wasn't stupid, to hear him speak with measures of seriousness and respect was rather odd.

Katara noticed that Aang had stopped in front of a statue that depicted a stately-looking Firebender, and was staring up into its eyes with a glazed look. She took him by the shoulders and shook him gently. "Aang, are you alright?"

"Huh?" Shaken out of his reverie, the young Airbender glanced at the older bender confusedly.

"Who is that?" She questioned, gesturing at the statue.

"Oh, that's Avatar Roku, the Avatar before me."

Sokka arched an eyebrow at the statue of a very obviously Fire Nation man. "You were a Firebender? No wonder I didn't trust you."

"Sokka," Sun cut in seriously, looking at the other man with a piercing gaze. "Show some respect. He was against the war before it even started, and if he hadn't died when he had, the war might not have even happened. He was one of most powerful Avatars in history, and only betrayal ended his life."

"Geez, sorry." Sokka apologized sarcastically.

Sun had nothing but respect for the previous Avatar. When the Spirits had been deciding his fate and his Master had intervened with his idea, they had called on Roku to decide. The dead Avatar had pondered the situation for a minute before accepting, his own fate obviously weighing in on his decision.

"Sun, hide!" Coming back from his thoughts, the blond bender blinked in surprise, finding that the others had hid themselves and were motioning for him to do the same, pointing at the doorway. "Firebender!"

Glancing at the shadow advancing on the door, Sun quirked an eyebrow. "That's not a Firebender," He replied, watching as the ears on the shadow's head bounced. "Firebenders don't have big, floppy ears…"

They peeked around the statues they had been hiding behind and looked at the source of the shadow, which was a small, white-furred animal with brown markings around its wide eyes.

"…Nor are they lemurs."

Aang's eyes went wide and sparkly somehow, his gaze fixed on the lemur. "A lemur!" He announced happily, moving from behind the statue.

Sokka did the same, those his intent was very different. "Dinner…" He muttered, drooling.

"Don't listen to that guy, little buddy!" The young Airbender said soothingly, slowly approaching the small animal. "You're going to be my new pet!"

Sokka, who had been creeping up on the lemur, loudly called, "Not if I get my hands on him first!"

The lemur was startled, his fur puffing out as he screeched and ran away from the two boys chasing after him. Aang and Sokka disappeared down the hallway, calling for the lemur, leaving Katara and Sun behind.

They traded amused looks before bursting out into laughter and following after the two. "You'd never guess that Sokka is supposed to be the older one." Katara said with a smile as they walked down the hallway.

Sun made to reply but stopped when he looked ahead. Sitting in the middle of the otherwise bare wall was a small stone gargoyle, shaped like a monkey holding something out. "…Was that there before?" He asked Katara, approaching the gargoyle.

"No…no, it wasn't." She replied confusedly. "How did it get there?"

The blond bender looked up at the stone monkey, his gaze falling to the object it was presenting. Sitting in the small furry stone hands was a small leather pouch with a character sewn onto it with black thread.

Reaching out, Sun carefully took the pouch away and held it in his hands. It was very light, almost like a feather. The sound of creaking brought their eyes back to the small statue, which was no longer a statue. The suddenly living monkey winked at them before fading away, leaving behind a single orange hair. That faded into dust, leaving only the pouch and a lot of questions.

"What…was that?" Katara asked, shocked by the strange turn of events.

"That…was my Master." Sun replied distantly, turning the pouch over in his hands. "He wanted me to have whatever's in this thing. Though it seems empty."

The younger Waterbender wisely backed up as he pulled the pouch open. With a loud pop, something emerged from the pouch at great speed, hitting Sun in the face and sending him to the ground while whatever it was gently floated to rest on the floor.

Katara reached out gingerly and poked the mass of wispy golden fluff, her eyes going wide. "This is a cloud!" She announced in disbelief, poking the cloud. "And it's solid!"

Sun sat up, rubbing his forehead, and laid a hand on the golden cloud. "What the…this shouldn't be physically possible," He mumbled before slapping his forehead. "Right, it's from my Master, so it came from the Spirit World. What does it do, though?"

"Maybe it's a bed?" Katara wondered, feeling the soft texture of the oddly solid cloud.

Sun shook his head, "Nah, it's too small for that…Maybe you sit on it?" They traded shrugs and carefully planted their rears on the golden cloud, finding it to be a comfortable seat, though the space was kind of cramped, forcing them to sit very closely on it; not that either of them particularly minded.

"So…what does this thing do?" She questioned as they sat on cloud.

Sun shrugged. "I don't know, maybe it-"

The cloud shuddered lightly, and that was all the warning they got before the cloud lifted up and shot out of the temple in a blur of gold, leaving behind a trail of golden mist and their surprised screams, both of which faded shortly.

Wind whipped into their faces as they flew at break-neck speeds, soaring and swooping through the mountains. Katara had her arms tightly wrapped around Sun's middle, both of them leaning back from the speed with their hair blowing in the wind, screaming as the cloud flew through the sky.

Sun was smacking at the solid cloud underneath him, shouting, "Stop!" repeatedly. It flipped over in response, drawing a panicked cry from both of them; but instead of falling off as they should've, they remained stuck to the cloud as it flew, dipping their heads into a freezing cloud and freezing their hair in place with a layer of frost.

It eventually slowed down, allowing the two benders to open their eyes and see that they had been carried above the clouds. The sun shone off of the fluffy white masses, with the tallest mountains peeking through the blanket of clouds.

"Wow…" Katara murmured, taking in the sight. "This is beautiful…"

"Yeah." Sun whispered, gazing at the view laid before them, his hand unconsciously moving to Katara's around his middle.

Becoming aware of the contact, they blushed heavily and coughed, with Sun moving his hands down to the cloud. "Okay, let's try to steer this thing." He muttered, pulling on part of the golden mist.

They leaned to the left and the cloud responded by beginning a long, curling loop on the golden trail it left behind, leading back to the Southern Air Temple. They soared through the sky, passing over the blanket of clouds and mountain spires as they made their way back to the Temple, quietly enjoying the view and contact between them.

"It's just like my Master to send a gift that pranks me first." Sun said to Katara, who looked up from resting her chin on his shoulder.

"Really? Does he pull pranks like this a lot?" She asked, silently wondering how she hadn't seen the armor under his torso clothing and why it was so warm.

Sun snorted in a mix rueful and amusement. "All the time. He's a master prankster; part of my training with him would be avoiding a gauntlet of pranks and traps that he set around my bedroom, most of the time without telling me. I actually used to be more of prankster myself, but after spending so much time around my Master, I kind of settled down on them."

Katara snickered quietly, remembering the sight of her brother with a face covered in sea-prune jelly or mashed seaweed. "He sounds like a handful." She commented lightly.

"Oh, he is." Sun replied with a small smile. "I really didn't like him for a while, but I grew out of it and I'm grateful for the skills he gave me."

They fell back into silence as the spire from the Air Temple poked out of the clouds, and they moved through the white bank and descended on the mountain top, though something was wrong.

A plume of smoke and dust wafted through the air, coming from an area next to the temple, and the base of it was glowing a bright, incandescent blue. "Aang." Sun muttered, recognizing the color of Spirit Energy.

He steered the cloud down to the mountain, landing next to a sprawled-out Sokka, who was shielding his face from the swirling wind. "What happened?!" Katara shouted over the screeching air.

"He found out that Firebenders killed Gyatso!" Her brother shouted back.

The cloud, despite the wind, sat still on the mountain top as Sun started making his way to Aang, floating and glowing in a chaotically spinning sphere of air. "It's the Avatar State!" He called to the Water siblings. "It activates in times of danger and pain! We need to calm him down before he shreds the Temple and us!"

"Aang!" Katara shouted desperately, "I know you're upset! We would be, too! We were! We know how hard it is to lose someone you love! The Fire Nation took our mother away, just like they did with the Airbenders and you! But it's okay, Aang, we're you're family, now!"

The self-contained storm began to die, and Aang slowly descended to the ground in front of the untouched skeleton wearing tattered monk robes and a battered wooden amulet, his arrows glowing softly.

The trio quickly approached the young man and swept him up into the center of a group hug. "We're all here for you, Aang," Sokka said softly.

"We aren't going to let anything happen to you." Sun muttered as the sobbing boy was wrapped in their blanket of arms. "Promise."

Aang sniffled tiredly. "I'm sorry, guys…"

"It wasn't your fault," Katara said comfortingly, squeezing him. "It's okay."

"You were right," The Last Airbender said forlornly, "The Fire Nation did find this temple…and if they found this one, that means they found all of the others, too…"

He bowed his head. "I really am the last of my people."

They back away just a little as Sun raises his hand, air coalescing in his palm to form a swirling sphere. "Not entirely the last, Aang." The Second-to-Last Airbender said with a small smile. "You know, I've never been formally taught how to Airbend…if only there was someone who could teach me…"

Aang gave a watery smile as he scrubbed at his eyes. "That's right. I am a Master Airbender…that means you have to call me 'Sifu'." He said with a light chuckle.

They joined him, the somber mood lifting slightly, and left for the temple.

Sokka sighed as he watched Katara talking to Aang, who was looking up at the statue of Avatar Roku. "What I want to know is, how did the Fire Nation find the Air Temples?" He asked quietly.

Sun's face became like stone. "This is a war, Sokka," He muttered tonelessly. "And every war has sides…and every side has its' traitors."

The younger man frowned, before his eyes went wide in dismay. "Wait, you're saying that there were Airbenders who betrayed the others and led the Fire Nation to the temples?"

The blond man nodded shortly, causing Sokka to lean against a wall. "Why do you think that?" He finally asked, looking disturbed.

Sun sighed heavily and turned away from the room, his words drifting back to Sokka like an icy breeze, the forewarning of a blizzard closing in. "In war, every side has its' traitors…in every war. And war…"

"…War never changes."

The rasp metal and heavy cloth echoed through the opulent red halls of the Fire Nation Palace as a cloaked man strode smoothly through the corridors, his heavy black and red cape dragging across the clean floor.

He approached a door guarded by two men in full armor, holding ornamental spears made from gold, their heads shaped like fire. The guards froze as the man walked passed them, pausing in front of the heavy doors they guarded.

Sweat began to bead on their brows as a stifling silence echoed like a death knell. It was broken by the light clinking of metal on wood as two gold pieces bounced on the ground.

"You didn't see anyone." The man rasped through a mask of some sort that covered everything from his nose to his chin in dull red material. Sulfurous yellow-red eyes peered above the edge of the mask, and below the beaked peak of his hood, daring the two men to give him anything less than a satisfactory answer.

The two men nodded quickly. "Good."The cloaked man slipped through the doors, the absence of his presence making the guards sigh in relief before retrieving the coins on the floor.

The cloaked man stopped before a throne made of four red pillars decorated with golden dragons, elevated above the floor with a line of fire separating it from the rest of the room. A man sat on the throne, gazing imperiously down at the other, a dark smirk on his lips, his smooth amber eyes gleaming with ambition.

"You've arrived exactly when I was thinking of sending for you, like always." The Fire Lord proclaimed, his smooth, dark voice echoing through the room and above the crackling flames.

"I had the feeling you would be in need of my services." The cloaked man replied simply.

The Fire Lord nodded. "I do. My Sages have just become aware that the Avatar has come back from whatever hole he was hiding in."

The other man crossed his arms. "You want me to hunt the Avatar." It was not a question.

"Yes, I do. I want him brought before me, so that I can look him in the eyes while I burn him from the inside out. But, barring that, I want him dead and out of the way of my ambitions." He replied, the fire in front of him flaring in response to his anger.

"Double my usual price." The cloaked man retorted quickly.

The Fire Lord smirked. "I was prepared to offer you more than triple."

"This will be the greatest hunt of my career…the greatest target I could imagine." He replied softly, clenching his hands into fists. "For that alone, I would do it for free…but money is necessary. I will need half of it now, and a loose time line."

"Oh?" The Fire Lord questioned smoothly. "And why is that?"

The other man shifted. "Every Avatar has some method of getting around quickly…and this one is from the Air Nomads, which mean he has a sky-bison…and those are very hard to track."

The Fire Lord snapped his fingers, and a servant scurried from the shadows and presented a simple wooden chest to the cloaked man. He took the chest and slipped it into his cloak, nodding slowly. "Very well. The Hunt is on…don't disappoint me, Hawk."

Hawk chuckled darkly. "When have I ever, Ozai?"

As the cloaked man left silently, Fire Lord Ozai tilted his head back, a deep laugh emerging from his throat, building in volume until it echoed through the palace, sending fearful shivers down the spines of those who heard the satisfied, insane sound.

One person ignored the laughter, an ornamental brush forgotten as a missive was clutched between sharp nails painted crimson. Long ebony hair fell down her back, her amber eyes scanning the words on the paper.

As she finished reading, Princess Azula stroked the ink depicting the name Naruto. "I always knew…"

Fallout 4!

Ahem, I mean,

A/N: Well that ending was rather dark, wasn't it? And mysterious, can't forget that.

Now, Questions I Know Will Be Frequently Asked, aka QIKWBFA….WTFBBQ:

Q: What's the relationship going to be between Sun and Katara, I mean, there was the ice flower, the saddle-cuddle, the private conversations, the cloud-flying and snuggling and touching?

A: Still not telling. Pbbbbt. But I was listening to Daft Punk, the song 'Something About Us' as I was writing the cloud scene. Take that as you will. I'm just not going to reveal any of the pairings until I feel like it.

Q: Da fug is up with the golden cloud? And what armor is Naruto wearing?

A: The Golden Cloud is the Kintoun, which Sun Wukong used to ride around on when he wasn't flipping a thousand freaking miles. And if you don't know..somehow, Son Goku's staff and cloud were based on Sun Wukong's staff and cloud. Pretty obvious, actually. As for the armor, I lifted it pretty much directly from the Sun Wukong DLC for Sleeping Dogs, which is a fucking awesome game. Minus the thigh and chest armor. For now.

Q: Who da fuq is Hawk?

A: Not telling! Suspense, ho! But the look is mostly based off of Erron Black from MKX, with the hood from Assassin's Creed. When I write him, I even imagine his voice as Erron Black. Because Troy Baker is awesome.

I had someone ask how Katara and Sokka were so close together age-wise. Correct me if I'm wrong, but there's about a year difference in their ages in canon. They're just older here. I'd imagine their parents doing a lot of canoodling, given the war going on.

The chapters from the show will be compressed a bit, though right now I'm trying to build up their different dynamics now that Sun is there, as it differs wildly from canon. Next up is Kyoshi Island, which will definitely be different.

I'm also loving the reviews, follows and favorites. It's pretty sweet.

Stay Awesome.

~Soleneus

P.S.: Fun Fact, I listen to a lot of music while I write. With this story, Daft Punk seems to be the soundtrack I'm down for writing with. For Still Not A Hero (which is a story you should also read and review if you like Mass Effect and me.), it's mostly rock, like Shinedown, some Infected Mushroom, some Foo Fighters, and just a bunch of stuff. For Dare To Wander (another one of my stories that you should totally read and review if you like Fallout 3 and sneaky sniping characters.), it seems to be mostly Atreyu, namely Lead Sails Paper Anchor, and some Korn. Man, I'm kind of weird. Ah well.

Shameless Self-Promotion, Ho!

Stay Awesome Some More, especially if you read all the way down to here.

~still Soleneus