A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the world building and rescue operation in the last chapter. Now we head back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Loved writing this chapter. It's so dialogue driven, which made it easy to write.

I've been skimping on the Kataang a little, so Kataang fans will be in for some more of their favorites here.

Unfortunately, your lovely reviews are all unreadable to me right now, courtesy of whatever technical issue is here on FFN, but I will try to address them all by the Monday update if I can! Also, this is a ridiculously long chapter, even for me (the A/N usually makes it longer with review responses, but because there are none of those here, you can already imagine that this chapter is pretty full.

Anyway, read and enjoy!

Chapter XVII: The Last Airbender

Aang couldn't believe the size of the waves. They towered like icebergs in the sea, yet they were not frozen. They flowed and raged, as if possessed by powerful spirit, as the ocean shook to and fro inside an inadequate container. It was all he could do to not be swallowed up by the abyss.

Lightning crashed all around him, as the fury of the sea raged against the umbrage of the sky. Heaven and Ocean danced together in a deadly embrace, each striking the other in an eternal dance, seeking dominance but never achieving it, leaving only tempest in their wake.

The waves were now much too high, and the lightning much too furious. He could not hold on any longer; Appa could not hold on any longer. A titanic wave, more monstrous than all the others they had somehow managed to crest, loomed ahead, bringing the promise of a watery grave.

It struck Appa and dragged the Sky Bison and its rider down, pulling them to the depths…

And then all Aang knew was power, and light.

When next he opened his eyes, he saw beautiful blue ones, staring back down at him.

x*x*x*x*x

Aang blinked as the last vestiges of sleep left him, and found himself staring at those same beautiful eyes he'd just dreamed about, as the sky whizzed past behind her at a leisurely pace. For a split second, he felt that it must be a continuation of the dream, but he blinked again and knew that it was reality. A small smile broke out across his face, mirroring the one of the girl who was tenderly caressing the light patch of fuzzy hair that had grown out on his forehead, slightly obscuring his tattoo.

"Hello," she whispered at him, sweetly.

"Hi. Did I miss the penguin sledding?" he asked with a weak voice.

She shook her head no, still beaming at him. "We weren't going to start without you."

Another pair of blue eyes peered down at him, with an equally wide smile. Sokka held out his hand, and Aang clasped it in a brotherly handshake.

"Good to see you awake, buddy. We were all a little worried when you did the freaky light-show thing again. You know you conjured up a waterspout and bitch-slapped the hell out of some firebenders, right?" Sokka said, laughing.

"H-huh?" responded Aang, clearly confused. "I did what? And you guys were worried?"

"Even Azula," said Sokka, pointing a thumb in the Princess's direction. Aang craned his neck a little to see the firebender woman, who was perched at the nape of Appa's neck, holding the reins. She looked back with an annoyed expression at Sokka, but Aang was heartened to see that her scowl lifted a little when they locked eyes.

"I wasn't worried," the Princess said haughtily. "But all the same, I am pleased to see you recovered, Avatar."

Aang laughed away the Princess's formal language. "Good to see you too, Princess. Say, I didn't know you knew how to fly Appa."

The Princess made a face, but Katara interjected. "Don't let Azula's expressions throw you off, Aang. Appa's growing on her."

Aang chuckled, letting Katara's hand travel over the short fuzz that marred his once clean scalp. "Have I been growing hair for a while?" he murmured.

Sokka shook his head no. "Nah, you were pretty much like this when I got you out of your cell. You wanna shave it? Katara, did Gran-Gran put a knife or a razor in the pack?"

"I could just singe it off for you," Azula added helpfully, her back turned to the group. Aang grimaced, unsure if the offer was real or not, but Katara's smirk and Sokka's suppressed laugh told him that it wasn't.

"Azula's cracking jokes now. Weird, I know," said Katara, shaking her head. "Though spirits only know if that offer was real or not."

Katara's use of the Princess's name caused a guilty thought to flash through his mind, and his smile turned into a hint of a frown. "Guess you know her secret identity now, huh? Are you mad at me for not telling you?"

"Not at all. Well, if I'm being honest, at first, yeah. But Azula pointed out to me that she didn't want you to, and since you were honoring her wishes... it's okay Aang. It was her secret to tell."

"Still, I don't like keeping secrets from you," he muttered.

She smiled even more brightly at him, and he couldn't resist grinning in return. "Good, keep that attitude in the future. It'll serve you well."

"Take it from someone who's known her since she was born. Tick her off and be prepared for a pile of snow in your face," Sokka quipped with a wink and a tussle of Katara's hair, as he walked towards the Princess and took his seat next to her at Appa's head. Aang didn't have to be a detective to notice the slight lean in the pair, even though they weren't touching much; Sokka tilted to her just a little less than imperceptibly, and the Princess's ramrod-straight back relaxed just a little, her shoulders no longer taut and ready for battle.

"So... is that a thing?" Aang whispered weakly. "Sokka does know what he's getting into, right?"

Katara laughed, a bubbling, gentle sound that lifted Aang's spirits like the air in his glider, and reminded him of the mountain springs of his home. He loved that noise from the Waterbender's mouth - it was more freeing than his own bending abilities.

"I think he does. Azula's... actually nice, once you get past the shell. And she cares about Sokka more than anything else, I think."

"I know she does, I was with them in Heart's Hollow when she lit the candle with her blue fire. But... it's a strange pair, to me, anyway."

Katara's brow furrowed in thought. "I'm not sure that it is, to be honest. Think about it; she's a princess who's been raised in a big palace, with servants, a terrible father, and neglectful family. All anyone has ever wanted out of her has been for their own benefit - power or wealth for suitors, or the use of her abilities for her father. Sokka might be the only person who looks at her and sees... well... a person. Not a princess or a firebender. If you talk to her enough, you'll start to see the person inside too."

Aang looked at the two some more - Sokka's lean was even more pronounced now, and even the Princess had a little tilt of her own towards the Water Tribesman. "Which one of them do you think will crack first?"

Katara scoffed. "Well, they're already eating face like carnivorous tiger seals out in public, but I don't think they've ever really sat down to talk about their feelings that much. They finally caved in on the night of the feast, and then after that... well..." Katara gulped, thinking of her time in the Prince's captivity.

Aang sat up, leaning against the side of the saddle against Katara's protestations. He put his hand over hers and smiled softly. "I'll be alright, Katara. Sitting up won't hurt me." His grey eyes looked at her gently. "Are you okay? I never got a chance to talk to you after... you know."

Blue eyes looked faraway. "I think I am. If I'm being honest, the captivity wasn't the worst thing by itself. The Prince more or less threw me into a cell and left me there without bothering me for the rest of the night. It was the feeling of helplessness when I realized I was so tied up that I couldn't bend myself out of the cell. I've never felt so..."

"Powerless?" Aang finished.

"Yeah," she said, nodding.

His hand reached out to touch her shoulder. "First of all, you're an incredible waterbender, Sifu Katara." The laugh he got in response made his heart leap. "You know, when Zuko made you run back to the battle lines, your brother charged off without a second thought after you, even though he knew he'd be stuck in no man's land."

"That I did," Sokka interjected from the front. Katara whipped around and looked at him, not aware that he was eavesdropping into their conversation. "Don't worry, Kat, the lovey-dovey stuff is in one ear and out the other, but he's right about that part. You did leave out the part where you tore down the hill at the same time as me, though, Aang. Kat, you wouldn't have made it without him."

Aang stammered. "Well... I just... would have..." eliciting a laugh from Sokka, clearly pleased to make things awkward for the younger man.

"Kat, he did the glowy thing when you got hurt too. It was pretty intense."

"That it was," Azula muttered in agreement, loud enough for all of them to hear. "Take it from a powerful bender-" Sokka rolled his eyes at the display of humility from the Princess "-that kind of power is overwhelming. Though the Avatar would have died if Sokka hadn't thrown a spear to kill the archer who had a clean shot at him."

Aang looked at him with surprise. "You did that?"

Sokka nodded. "You don't really remember anything from when you become all glowy, do you?"

Aang shook his head. "Not really. It's like something else takes over me. I black out... or glow out, as it were."

"Well, it was hard to shake you out of it. I wasn't sure how long you could keep it up, and honestly, knowing that you get wiped out after it, I'm glad I was able to pull you out of it."

The Airbender felt a stab of surprise at that. "Pull me out of it? How'd you-?"

Sokka laughed with embarrassment, rubbing the back of his head. "Ah... told you that Katara needed you."

A blush crept over Aang's cheeks, but he felt a twinge of satisfaction to see that Katara was blushing similarly. The Waterbender squeezed his hand and gave him a peck on the cheek. Sokka groaned loudly.

"Shut up, Sokka. You don't hear me bitch when you and the Princess shove your tongues-" Her retort was cut short when Azula whipped around with a fiery glare that actually made Aang believe looks could kill.

"Not another word, snow girl," she hissed. But the fury in her eyes dissipated a little when Katara laughed disarmingly, and Aang could have sworn he saw the slightest curl upwards in the Princess's lips.

"Say, Princess... where are we going, exactly?"

Sokka answered for her. "There's a Air Temple nearby, I think. We're just going to stop, take stock of our supplies, and plan our next move. And... well, I've got some stuff I need to share with all of you. Turns out when I was held captive by Scarface on his ship, I found us an unlikely ally."

Aang gasped. "The Southern Air Temple?"

"Are there any other air temples in the south? If not, I suppose that's the one."

"That's my home," Aang said brightly. "Maybe... survivors? More sky bison?"

Sokka's normally cheerful face darkened a little. "I don't know, Aang. It's not like the Patola Mountains are uninhabited, and we've never heard of any Airbenders recently. Though I suppose if they were there, they'd probably be in complete hiding."

Katara squeezed his hand again, and Aang let himself bask in the flare of hope that rose in his chest.

XXXXX

Azula looked at Sokka with a perfect eyebrow raised. "You'll be sharing the information with me now, peasant. This unlikely ally of yours?"

Sokka gave her a small smile. "No patience?"

"Oh, I have patience in spades. But I've got something on you, so spill it. Now." It was a growled command, and even though Sokka flipped his fingers at her authority, their changed relationship made him want to obey her nonetheless. He fished in his pocket, pulling out a pai sho tile.

Azula groaned. "Please don't tell me you're talking about Uncle. Did that doddering fool imprint his love of useless board games and tea on you? Please say no, because if you say yes, I may never speak to you again."

"Then I'll say no."

She scowled at him. "Really, Sokka, you just had to take on the most irritating aspects of Uncle's personality?"

The Water Tribesman laughed, a deep throaty hum that vibrated from his chest and into her from the contact of their arms. She liked how it sounded... not that she'd ever tell him.

"It's more than just that. See this tile?" He held it up for her.

"A white lotus. And it's significance, beyond a petty gambit that even a beginner should be able to counter?"

Sokka winced. "Hey, I had your uncle on the rocks until he pulled a White Lotus on me."

Azula scoffed, but her smile was warm. "Amateur."

He laughed again, the same vibrating affair that warmed her soul. "Have you ever heard of the Order of the White Lotus?"

Azula furrowed her brow. "Yes. Although the Fire Nation education I received had little good to say about it. According to the what I learned, they were a rebel cell of bleeding hearts responsible for a great deal of upheaval in the latter portion of my great grandfather Sozin's reign after the initial invasions after Sozin's comet."

Sokka nodded. "Well, it's not actually too far from the truth, although-"

"It's utter propaganda? Yes, Sokka, don't look at me incredulously. Part of being a ruler means not believing the propaganda you use to mollify the ruled. If I believed every press clipping about the Fire Nation, I would be a moron unfit to rule."

"You're telling me you don't believe in the unshakeable superiority of the Fire Nation and it's people?"

Azula breathed in sharply. "I believe in my Firebending, and I wouldn't trade it for anything else in the world. And perhaps I do believe that Firebending is more powerful than the other forms of elemental manipulation, but I don't buy that it imparts any inherent greatness or superiority in a person. As for the greatness of the Fire Nation... I'm proud of my nation's achievements, but not the carnage in its wake."

"Well, I'll take 'smug, overconfident princess' over 'bigoted maniac' anyday," he chuckled, leaning into her shoulder playfully. "But... uh... you might not like what you hear next. I don't think this part is common knowledge in your history textbooks."

"What is it?"

Sokka looked back at Aang, who was lost in discussion with Katara. He lowered his voice so that only he and the Princess could hear. "I learned that not all the Airbenders were killed in the initial attacks."

"That's not news to me, Sokka. I doubted that we killed everyone in four battles. They were called the Air Nomads after all..."

"Yeah, but that's not the end of it. Have you ever heard of a person named Zarrok Qin, or the Temple of the Sacred Flame?"

Azula shook her head. "Should I have? Though Qin... there was supposedly a War Minister in my great grandfather's cabinet surnamed Qin. It says he died during the unrest caused by the Order of the White Lotus. He put down that organization and was killed by a rogue survivor."

Sokka nodded. "He was assassinated by the Order, but that's not all. He wasn't just a war minister - he oversaw the Air Nomad genocide. Azula... they didn't just kill everyone in the initial attacks. They rounded up every survivor and threw them into death camps. Your uncle told me about them. Just whole places meant for nothing other than the extermination of an entire race." Sokka shivered, and Azula put a hand on his knee. "I don't know how people can be capable of such... evil. Iroh said that the Fire Nation bought into Qin and the Temple's ideology, that the Fire Nation was racially superior over all others and deserved to subjugate or conquer the other nations."

Azula frowned. "This is news to me. I was always told that attacking the Airbenders was a strategic concern, due to the Avatar."

"Maybe, but it wasn't the only reason. Zarrok Qin exterminated an entire race of people, Azula. Do you understand what I'm saying? When we get to this temple, I'm not sure what we're going to see."

Azula's eyes widened for just a second. "Frankly, I was considering the same thing, but without your background knowledge. And you know this all because of Uncle?"

"Not just Iroh, though he was the messenger of all this news. 'Zula... the Order is real."

"What do you mean?" she asked sharply.

"They're real. Your uncle is a member. They exist to uphold the balance between the nations, and to defend knowledge and the helpless. They want me to join."

"You're kidding me."

Sokka shook his head. "Is it really all that hard to believe? If organizations like the Temple and the Order have existed before, there's nothing saying they won't exist now. Your uncle implied to me that there were quite a few members other than himself, although I may be one of the first in years. They exist to help the Avatar in his mission, you see, and the last two Avatars didn't take advantage of their services at all. And the upheaval you mentioned at the end of Sozin's reign? That was them, waging a shadow war against the Temple and Zarrok Qin in the absence of the Avatar. Your uncle told me they won, but at the cost of all their strength."

Azula chewed on this information for a few moments. She didn't like that there was a secret society operating in the world, without her knowledge. She was well aware of certain organizations, like the Dai Li, and their actual function in the world, but she'd never considered the Order of the White Lotus to be a real one - at least, not anymore. The thought disturbed her a little. "Uncle helped you escape." It was a statement and a question, though she already knew the answer, given the message Sokka had passed on for him.

"Yes. And he wants me to join. He initiated me." Sokka grinned. "The Pai Sho has a purpose, after all. But I like the tea just for the tea. Have you ever had masala chai? And the biscuits, spirits..."

Azula rolled her eyes. "Leave it to you to tell me about the existence of a secret society and then focus on the food right after."

The Water Tribesman stole a kiss, lips against her cheek. "You like it."

She didn't respond for fear of stoking the flames of his ego - the only fire she was ever afraid of.

"And so... what else did Uncle tell you?"

"Nothing other than I needed to go to Shu Jing if I got the opportunity to meet a master. He said he could turn me into a Knight of the Order. And that it was my duty to accompany Aang on his travels, help him gain mastery over the elements, and build a coalition to topple your father."

"Openly discussing your plots against my dynasty?" she asked him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Mmh." He kissed her on the little tender spot at the base of her neck this time, nuzzling it. "If your father is overthrown, who inherits the throne?"

"It would be me, obviously," she said dismissively, but Agni, the way his mouth touched her skin sent lightning down to her toes.

"What if I like Zuko more?"

"Zuko must be an excellent kisser, then." Sokka blushed at this, and Azula cheered her little mental victory.

"Alright, alright, you got me. Zuko's wolf-batshit nuts and can't come into the throne, and I get the feeling Iroh doesn't want to. That leaves you, Princess."

Azula laughed sardonically. "And you think I would be better than my father?"

Sokka's mirth disappeared, and he looked at her deadly serious. "Yes. With all my heart, yes."

Azula couldn't look at him for the intensity of his azure eyes. "You put too much faith in people."

"No, not people," he whispered. "You, I can believe in all day long."

"And what makes you think I would be a good ruler? You don't know the strings of politics I puppeteered back in my father's court."

"It was your father's court. If you didn't, maybe you wouldn't have survived that vipers' nest."

"Sokka," she said tiredly. "I'm not a good person. A powerful Fire Lord? I knew I could always be that. But a benevolent one?"

"Neither am I, Princess. But your uncle asked me if I wanted to be something more than a person. He asked me if I wanted to devote myself to an ideal, and I do. Do you?"

"Power was always my ideal."

"Was?"

She looked at him, a hint of weariness in her eyes. "The way your people treated you... I see how people treat my father. They worship him out of fear. But your people, they worshiped you out of love. The sway you held over them was something else entirely. It was a different kind of power, one I'd always been raised to believe was lesser to that of fear."

"You would be a thousand times the Fire Lord your father is, that all your ancestors were. I saw the goodness in you when you saved my life on that pirate ship. I saw it when you were living among my people. You took to it like a turtleduck takes to water, even though you're a spoiled princess who's used to living in a big castle with a thousand servants at her beck and call," he said with a playful push. Azula grimaced at the simile - turtleducks were a sore subject for her. "You don't have to be a pushover, but you can be both firm and fair at the same time."

Azula looked at him, though the disbelief was evident in her eyes. "Why do you believe in me so easily? I don't get it, Sokka, I really don't. I think you're blinded."

Sokka shook his head. "No, just the opposite. I think I'm the only person who sees you at all, Azula." His words made her inner fire roar, warming her exquisitely. "You've never had problems believing in your power. I know that about you - that's not something you've ever been worried about, have you? But if there's one thing I'll change, it'll be your ability to believe in yourself."

She snorted. "I believe in myself plenty."

"No. You're not just your bending or your fighting skill. You believe in that. I just need you to believe in the rest." She finally looked at him, and the sincerity in his eyes set her ablaze.

They were quiet for a moment, but their eyes never left each other. Eventually Azula found her words. "So... that's the quest? You become a knight, Aang becomes a fully realized Avatar, and I become the benevolent monarch?"

"That's not a bad summary," Sokka said, his eyes twinkling.

Azula looked down. "I know it's wrong, given everything you've managed to pry out of me, but I still feel like a traitor to my father."

Sokka touched her chin with his hand, pushing her gaze up gently.

"You owe him nothing, 'Zula. Nothing."

Oh, how she wanted to believe him. The voices told her differently.

XXXXX

It was mid-afternoon when they arrived at the temple. As they approached, the regal appearance of the temple took Sokka's breath away. It was beautiful in an unreal, airy way. A small winding path led up a mountain, cutting in zig zags against the rocky face and leading up to a small gate that stood amid a number of airy spires jutting into the clear sky of the Patola Mountains. The towers themselves were gorgeous ivory, crested with shockingly cerulean roofs and spires that made him feel weightless. The regal sun crowned everything in a shade of yellow that made the entire place look like a palace from the heavens rather than anything earthly. In a way, that felt right - the Airbenders were not of the ground, but of the sky. Looking at Aang, he realized how much this place reflected its people - this seemed like a place the Airbender could have gladly called home. Aang, for his part, had a glimmer in his eyes as he beheld his home for the first time in over a hundred years.

Sokka and Azula leapt off Appa's neck after they landed in the main courtyard gracing the front of the tallest central spire, and Sokka gave the Sky Bison an affectionate rub, which Appa returned with a contented huff of breath on the Water Tribesman.

"You're a hell of a pal, Appa," he whispered. "Don't tell Aang, but I think I like you more." His reward was another huff from the intelligent creature, making him laugh. "Welcome home, bud."

He turned around and expressed the same to Aang, but his eyes met Azula's and he tensed. He knew they were thinking the same thing. The Princess's eyes flickered towards Katara, and her message was clear. You need to tell her, just in case we find the worst here. He nodded in response.

Aang laughed. "It's good to be back." He took in his surroundings, basking in the glow of happy memories, but Sokka was busy scanning the surroundings for any danger... or any signs of massacre. He left Aang's side, walking towards Katara, who was unloading their packs from Appa's back.

"Sis, I need to talk to you," he muttered.

Katara gave him a strange look, but slid down from Appa after unloading the last pack, wiping her hands against one another. "What's up?" she asked, quizzically.

"I can't tell you the whole thing right now, but Aang's people... they're gone. They're all dead. And I know I should prepare him for the worst, I can't bring myself to do it right now." He shortened the tale, but told her what Iroh had told him about the demise of the Air Nomads.

Katara's eyes widened, and she looked at Aang. "I can't keep this secret from him, Sokka. He needs to know!"

Sokka shook his head. "Katara no-" but his sister had already pushed past him, fixing him with a cold glare. "Katara..." he said warningly, rubbing his face with his hand. This wouldn't end well.

Katara strode up to him, and from the exchange, Sokka could tell she told him everything except the camps. That might have been too much even for her to share. He could also tell from Aang's reaction, however, that he didn't believe her. His smile dropped a little, but there was still that steady stream of optimism in him that Sokka found himself envying.

In the midst of his thoughts, he didn't notice Azula draw closer to him. "She's telling him, isn't she?" she asked idly.

"Yes."

"He won't believe her."

"You're probably right."

"If he sees anything... I wouldn't count out the Avatar fury we've grown accustomed to seeing."

"I know."

They were both quiet for a second, watching Aang give Katara a tour. He led her to a field of wood pillars and began to teach her the basics of an airbender game, one that Katara tried and failed to play without any airbending prowess. When she changed the rules to suit her waterbending abilities, the two of them began to laugh in earnest, as they started a new variation of the sport.

It was another minute before Sokka gave sound to the unspoken concern.

"You think he may take it out on you." Sokka offered it more as a statement than a question.

"Do you see any other Firebenders nearby?" Azula muttered. "Pity Zuko isn't here when we actually need him."

"You weren't responsible for the genocide."

"Responsible? No. The direct beneficiary of? Yes."

"You haven't gotten anything out of the genocide."

"No? No benefits at all, such as being born into the royal family that derives all its power and wealth from control of the nation that inflicted such an atrocity?"

"And yet you're here with us, not with your father. You acknowledge that it was a wrong."

"If you hadn't blown up my ship, I'd still be serving my father happily. Still believing in my nation happily."

"Not happily. Nothing that comes before the word 'but' or after the word 'if' is worth a pile of ostrich-horseshit, Princess. What matters is what is."

"Sokka..."

"Stop it." He fixed Azula with a cold glare. "Your nation might have done a despicable thing, but I don't want you to start thinking you deserve whatever atonement or rage Aang might inflict on you. Might being the operative term, Azula. Look at him. The kid has an infinite capacity for forgiveness."

She barked out a disbelieving laugh. "Forgiveness for a personal wrong and forgiveness for the decimation of his people are two different things."

"You didn't have a hand in it. And if you were out there, still fighting for your nation, still fighting for your father, maybe we could talk about apportionment of blame. But you're here trying to right a wrong, and that makes you different. The guilt doesn't have to be yours, but the absolution can be."

She shook her head. "You're a moron. You were wiping out Fire Nation soldiers for the wrongs we inflicted on your family. You think Aang wouldn't be justified in turning Caldera City into a glass crater for what we did to his people?"

"Not 'we', Azula. They. You're with us, not with them. And besides... I was going about it the wrong way. Indulging myself in vengeance and spilling enough blood to fill a river did nothing for me. Vengeance is a pit you can keep feeding, but it only grows hungrier."

"Hmph. But who would blame you for what you did?" Azula wondered.

"Saira would have. She never would have wanted me to become what I became."

"She was a better woman than I," said Azula.

"You aren't a glutton for violence yourself, Princess. It wasn't until I began to thaw that you started looking at me different."

Azula's breath hitched, but she suppressed the outpouring of feeling in her heart, fixing Sokka with a expressionless look.

"And you know that how...?"

"I'm a water savage, not an idiot," he said, a lightness in his eyes that lifted some of the weight from her chest. "Besides, I can tell you that my wit and sarcasm are your favorite qualities of mine." She only rolled her eyes at that. It wasn't true. She knew she loved his heart more than anything else.

The voices came screaming back, railing against the weakness of love, but with Sokka by her side, she could suppress them.

"Something Iroh said to me stuck with me on the ship. He said I could be a knight, known for all the right reasons, not as a mindless murderer. Your uncle himself was flawed. He led armies in a war of conquest before he found his mission in life. And you were born a princess to the worst man in the world, but you don't have to let that define you. It's not what you did before that counts. It's what you choose to do now, knowing what you know. Every day is a chance for redemption."

"Do you really believe that?"

"I have to. I have to earn my own redemption, Azula. If we can find yours along the way, even better."

Azula leaned against him, just a little. "I hate this new White Lotus Sokka, I just want to make that clear. You've become a little too wise for your own good." She looked at him, gratefulness in the amber-yellow of her eyes made into molten gold by the mid-afternoon sun.

"Are you acknowledging the wisdom of peasants now?" Sokka asked in mock disbelief.

"You're no peasant anymore, Sokka, Warchief of the South. You're a knight in shining armor," she said, making mockery of his titles. "Hmph. 'Noble warriors.' We have them in the Fire Nation - each great house has hundreds of sworn retainers called Azwaran in our old speech. The Earth Kingdom has them too, under a different name. They were supposed to be defenders of the courtly ways, gentlemen warriors. What they are are thugs for the great families, enforcers, money collectors. Scum who call themselves noblemen."

"I seem to remember a discussion we had about bloodlines," Sokka quipped cheekily.

"This hardly applies. Anyone with wealth enough to buy armor and a mount can become Azwaran, as long as the lord is willing to take on their service. How anyone can take vows of honor seriously when knighthood is something for sale is beyond me."

"Sometimes I think you should have been born a Water Tribeswoman, Azula. We don't operate under pretenses. We have no warriors with codes. We have Tarrak. In the old Wolftongue, it means 'shadow'," Sokka said. "Our best warriors are ghosts."

"The Water Tribe was a famed raider culture once, so I suppose it fits well. Wouldn't you rather be a shadow than a knight?" Azula asked.

Sokka smiled wryly. "I've fought a war from the shadows long enough, Princess. I don't know if I can fight for a better world while staying part of the shit one we're trying to leave behind."

"Very noble of you indeed, Sokka," she said, teasingly. "Just remember the pecking order. Princesses come first, before upjumped knights."

"Yes they do." He leaned in to kiss the tip of her nose, and then her lips, gently and warmly. It was a little too chaste for Azula's liking, and he sensed that.

"As much as I want to sweep you off your feet, something about this place makes it feel wrong," he said with a chuckle.

She frowned. "Monk-like prudishness suits Aang more than it suits you."

He laughed again. "Alright, you comedian," he said, slipping his hand into hers. "There'll be plenty of time for all of that, we've got a world to explore and a quest to embark on. C'mon, let's have a look around." He led her away from the center of the courtyard, up a set of stairs and to an elevated verandah overlooking the central yard. There was small shrine in the middle, with a statue of an old monk whose tattoos resembled Aang's. The statue monk had a string of beads around his neck, ending with a large central medallion with three swirling lines.

Two sets of footsteps echoed behind them. "Guys..." began Aang, his voice brimming with a mixture of pride and sadness, "I'd like you to meet somebody. This is Monk Gyatso, the greatest Airbender in the world." Aang approached the statue and bowed. "He taught me everything I know."

"Come on, guys. There's someone I'm ready to meet." The Airbender took the lead of the group, marching into the temple. He led them past deserted hallways, which were quiet save for the voice of of the wind, whispering softly through the holes in the stones. They came upon a large wooden door, guarding an inner sanctuary. There was a system of metal tubes on the front door, but no obvious handle or keyhole.

"I don't suppose you have a key," said Sokka inquisitively.

Aang chuckled. "The key is Airbending." Stepping up to the metal contraption, he put two hands near the two tubular holes and blasted gentle streams of air into them. Steam hissed through the tubes, turning three blue circular locks, and lifting a large metal bar in the middle of the door. Of their own volition, the doors swung ominously inwards, leading into a pitch black chamber. Sokka looked at Azula, who returned his expression with a stone face. He pulled out torches from the pack and handed one to each member of the party, as Azula set them alight with her blue flame.

They stepped into the room, entering a large, oval chamber with a spiral that led upwards. There was no one living in the room, but there were hundreds of figures arranged in a similar spiral on the ground. The spiral of statues led upwards, continuing in alcoves that dotted the inside of the spire in a cycle that looked endless, reaching all the way to the heavens. Their torches were not bright enough to see where it led, but it seemed like the statues went on for eternity.

Each of the statues was different, and there was a mix of in their appearance - some were clearly clad in Water Tribe clothes, while others wore outfits similar to what Azula had worn when Sokka first saw her. Others yet still were garbed like Aang, and more wore the eclectic outfits common to the Earth Kingdom.

"That's it? Statues?" Sokka said. The room was impressive, still, but a let-down. Or perhaps not... he'd half expected to find corpses everywhere. He wasn't sure that this was worse.

"It feels like I know them somehow..." Aang muttered. "I'm not sure who they are, but they seem familiar."

"They're lined up in a pattern," remarked Azula. "Fire, Air, Water, and Earth, and then it repeats."

"The Avatar cycle," Katara breathed. "When the Avatar dies, the next one is reincarnated in the next nation."

Aang found himself drawn to the latest statue in the spiral. It was of a tall man, regal in appearance, with a flowing beard and robes that stretched to his feet. Azula found herself drawn to this same statue, too. The two approached it, each oblivious to the closeness of the other.

Without realizing it, they both said, in unison, "Roku."

"Uh... that was a little creepy, guys, I won't lie." Sokka looked at the two warily. Aang and Azula seemed not to notice, sucked into the eyes of the statue. Katara approached Aang quickly, noticing his trance.

"Aang, snap out of it." Katara grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him gently.

"Huh?" Aang blinked, looking around as if he woke up from a deep sleep. Azula was still staring intently at the statue.

"This was you, wasn't it? In your past life?" Katara asked him.

"Yeah. Avatar Roku. I was a firebender," he murmured, looking once again at the statue. Sokka drew closer now, too, putting a hand on Azula's shoulder.

"Hey Princess. You alright?"

Azula, at least, seemed less entranced by it. She glanced at Sokka, and nodded. "Yes... I don't know what came over me. It's just strange to think that the last Avatar was one of us..."

"You mean, Aang was one of you." The thought sent a shiver down Azula's spine, if for no other reason than the irony of what had befallen Aang's current people.

Aang gave the princess a playful tap on the shoulder. "Hey, we may have more in common than we originally thought," he said, with a chuckle. Azula smiled, but her face hid the troubled emotions swirling inside.

A noise interrupted their thoughts. They heard a little chirp come from the doorway they'd entered, and Sokka saw the great shadow cast by the creature. On pure instinct, he yanked his boomerang and threw it at the thing, which only shrieked and leapt up into the air. As Boomerang returned to his hand, he drew closer, only to see...

"LEMUR!" shouted Aang, happy to see the first living thing from his past in the temple.

Sokka looked at it askance. It was a wiry thing, but fairly large, with a long tail and two gigantic pointed ears, with clever green eyes. A little gamey, perhaps. "Looks like a meal to me."

"Ugh, do you ever stop thinking about food?" groaned Katara.

Aang chased towards the creature. "You're gonna be my pet!" But the lemur clearly had a different idea in mind, as the creature chirped again and bounded away from Aang, down the hallway from whence they came.

Sokka grinned and looked back at his sister and the Princess. "You ladies check out the creepy statue room. I'm going to make sure he doesn't get lost." He took off after the excitable Avatar and his erstwhile pet. "Come back, lemur! I'm hungry!" he shouted.

Katara looked at the Princess in disbelief. "How are you even attracted to him?"

Azula looked shocked, as if considering for the first time exactly the person she'd developed feelings for. The two girls looked at each other for a while, before a silly giggle escaped Katara, and Azula could no longer suppress an infectious smile.

XXXXX

For fun's sake, Aang didn't use any of his Airbending to pick up speed. He was more than speedy enough to catch the lemur with his own feet, and he knew it would be more fun to let Sokka catch up and join the chase. The lemur led him on a merry hunt, bounding up the stairs and down, running around the courtyard and along the railings, before it led him through yet another tunnel and into a large chamber surrounded by drapes. He stopped at the entrance, remembering the layout of the temple - the lemur was likely cornered. The though of having a pet of his own to accompany him on his journey, as a reminder of home, lit a small warmth in his chest.

Whatever warmth he'd felt was extinguished when he pushed back the drapes and walked into the room. The torch lit everything in a flickering blue light, but there was enough natural light coming from a crack in the ceiling that he no longer needed it, so he blew it out.

Surrounding him were nothing but corpses. They lay in haphazard piles, some decayed, some well mummified by the mountain surroundings and the coldness of the heights. They were clad in black and red, wearing obscenely large shoulder pads and helmets with spikes. They looked only a little different, but Aang knew them well enough to know that these were Fire Nation troops. And there were so many of them, so many dead...

But that wasn't all. There were orange robed corpses too - some of old, wizened men, some of those that were barely children. They were all dead, all their faces contorted in states of horror. The large chamber was filled with them, strewn about. A long hallway extended from the chamber, down to where Aang knew the sleeping quarters to be, and even in the dim light of the fading afternoon, he could see that there were more bodies, Fire Nation and Air Nomad, strewn about.

There was nothing here but death.

In the center of the chamber was the largest amalgamation of corpses, almost all Fire Nation, stacked so high that the pile was almost as tall as Aang. But in the center of all of them, above them, lying in a coat of freshly fallen snow, was a familiar figure. Though he was naught but bone and dust now, the robe and medallion that graced his once great figure was unmistakable.

"Gyatso..." Aang whispered, dropping to his knees, as despair overtook him.

Sokka breathlessly caught up to Aang, but the pounding of his own blood in his ears made him deaf to the soft sobbing noises coming from the chamber.

"Hey Aang, find my dinner yet?" he said, jokingly. But he received no response.

As he pushed through the drapes, he ran up to Aang, only to stop in his tracks when he noticed the mountain of death all around him.

"Oh no..." his voice trailed off. It was not his own people, he knew that, but the sight made his heart heavy nonetheless. He became acutely aware of Aang's sobbing now, the soft noises of misery tearing through his own heart. He put his hand on the Airbender's shoulder.

"Come on, Aang. You don't have to be here. Come with me, bud. It'll be alright." But no sooner had he done so, Aang's tattoos began to glow a familiar, frightening shade of white. Sokka stepped back, removing his hand as if it'd been burned, and gasped.

Shit.

Inside the Avatar chamber, Katara milled about, looking at the different statues, particularly the Water Tribe ones, while Azula stood looking at Roku, still somewhat transfixed. Katara caught up to her, still wondering what it was about this particular firebending Avatar that caught the Princess's attention so - after all, Roku wasn't the only firebender in the chamber; he was simply one among dozens.

Then, startling both the women, Roku's eyes began to glow a frightening blue. He wasn't the only one. Like a set of dominos falling one after another, blue light sprang forth from the eyes of each Avatar before Roku, in succession, traveling in the spiral and up the alcoves along the walls, lighting the tower up as the beams traveled endlessly, past their line of sight, to the top of the spire.

"Aang!" shouted Katara. She spun around, taking off where the boys had run, and Azula bounded after her.

Unknown to all of them, the sages of all the nations saw what they saw, reflected in their own temples, shrines, and holy places. Blue light blazed forth from the consecrated murals and statues, and the steeples of their temples lit ablaze with a blue light, signalling the return of the Avatar.

Inside the chamber of death, Sokka did his best to calm the angry spirit down. He pleaded with Aang, trying to make him come outside, but the airbender only stood up, hunched over, and drew the air around him into a ball, spinning everything into a cyclone of energy that threatened to toss Sokka off his feet and into the sky. He struggled to keep his footing, as debris flew all around them, but it was too much. In a furious explosion of blue light and energy, the chamber blew up, tossing smoke and blue light into the sky with a deafening boom, tossing Sokka far out and into the grass of the central courtyard. He struggled to get up, taking cover from the windstorm behind a pillar, where Katara and Azula caught up to him.

"What happened?!" Katara shouted frantically, straining to make her voice heard above the din.

"He found out," Sokka replied grimly. He shared a worried look with the Princess.

"It must be his Avatar spirit. I'm going to go calm him down," Katara said, a look of determination on her face.

Sokka nodded. "Do it now, or else he'll blow us all off the mountain."

Katara struggled closer and closer to the hunched figure of Aang, blazing with blue light amid a maelstrom of fury. "Aang, you have to listen to me! Aang!"

The Avatar spun around, but his eyes didn't return to normal. They still blazed furious blue-white, with his tattoos matching him in a frightening show of power. His brow furrowed, and for a moment fear shot through Katara before she realized he wasn't looking at her. She turned around to follow his gaze, and her breath caught in her throat when she realized that he was staring dead on at Azula instead.

With the fury of a hundred voices, Aang spoke. "You."

It was a targeting. The spirit of the Avatar sought vengeance only.

"Aang, no!" Katara pleaded with him, to no avail.

Moving so fast that none of them had time to react, Aang closed on the Princess, lifting her by the neck and choking the air out of her. She had no ability to breathe, and no ability to channel her firebending, but even then she could have fought against him with her fists and legs. She didn't.

Sokka tried to pry Aang's arm off, but it was useless. The grip was far too strong, and it was as if Aang didn't even feel it.

"Aang, please, listen to me. This isn't the way. It won't make you feel any better. It won't bring them back. You know she had nothing to do with what happened here. Don't do this, Aang. You're better than this. You're better than me!" Sokka pleaded.

Katara had now made her way to them, too, and she embraced Aang, holding him tight. "Aang, please, listen to us. We know how hard it is to lose the ones we love. We've all lost them - I lost my mom, and so did Azula. Sokka lost Saira. Monk Gyatso and the other Airbenders... they may be gone, but you still have a family, and we won't let anything happen to you," she cried, tearfully. "All of us. Me, Sokka, and Azula too. We're your family."

There was a shift in the air. Aang dropped Azula, letting go of her neck. She collapsed on the floor, breathing heavily. Sokka knelt by her, cradling her head in his lap and stroking her hair protectively. The maelstrom around them dissipated, and Aang's glowing eyes and tattoos slowly began to lose their shine, turning into their familiar greys and blues, respectively. He collapsed into Katara's arms, blinking softly and wearily. When he caught sight of the Princess, his eyes began to brim with horrified tears.

"Azula, spirits... I'm so sorry," he said, haltingly, as another set of sobs overtook him. "Oh spirits, what have I done?"

Though she could barely choke forth the words, she tried anyway. "No... Aang... I'm... sorry." She held out her hand, and Aang clasped it, as if trying to radiate all his regret and apology through their contact. "You... not... your fault," she gasped. Sokka held her tenderly, massaging her hair and her neck, which was now bruising a deep purple.

He was afraid to meet Sokka's eyes, but when he did, he didn't find the cold rage he was expecting, the one he'd seen overtake his friend when they were in battle. Instead, there was only sorrow and understanding. He nodded at him, as if to say I forgive you.

When Azula was able to breathe better, she sat upright, supported by Sokka, but she didn't let go of Aang's hand. The Airbender helped her to her feet, and wrapped her in an apologetic embrace. He broke down again, the full weight of the sorrow in his heart overtaking him.

"I really am the last Airbender," he wept, in between heaves of pain and tears. Azula, never one for this kind of touch, didn't complain. She needed the comfort as much as the rest of them.

Katara joined the embrace, and Sokka did too. Their newfound family held each other, trying as best they could to bear the ghosts of Aang's past together so that he would not suffer alone.

A/N: This was always a rough scene for me in the show, but I made it a little more brutal, because I didn't think that there would be only Gyatso and some dead Firebenders. This was supposed to be a massacre. There would be bodies all along the living quarters of the temple, more than just Gyatso's.