Responses to Reviews:
RonaldM40196867: I decide which characters appear in each story on a case by case basis. Sometimes that means characters from prior seasons.
Northern Goshawk: Again, your analysis lines up pretty exactly with my thinking when I was writing it.
Guest One: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Guest Two: An evil avatar is certainly a terrifying thought.
Phieillydinyia: Yes, making Katara evil was not easy, but if it was going to happen it would be then.
Matheus Bezerra de Lima: Like I said, I couldn't imagine Katara being properly evil, but a tragic villain was doable. Also thank you for the recommendations you gave in PMs! I shall have a look at those.
As always, please review, and we join our heroes just after the military catastrophe that was the day of black sun, except something even worse has just happened...
"...Avatar? Avatar! Aang! Wake up!"
The first thing Aang was aware of was a rough grip on his shoulders, shaking him violently. The voice sounded oddly familiar too, but he couldn't quite place it at that moment.
The shaking suddenly stopped, to be replaced by an insistent tapping on one of his cheeks. Aang groaned, and tried to remember what was going on.
The weight of the day's events hit him like one of the Fire Nation's steam vehicles, making him want to curl up. A great many people were now in prison because of him, and their great plan had been a failure, no, a disaster.
The last thing Aang remembered was flying away from the caldera, looking back at the assembled soon-to-be prisoners of war and at the miserable faces of his companions, and then a shout, and a fiery projectile spiralling up towards them-
-and then, nothing.
Aang's eyes shot open, realizing what must have happened, and he found himself staring up into amber eyes, one of which was marred by an ugly burn scar. The Fire Prince Zuko's eyes widened as Aang scrambled backwards in shock, the other boy holding his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
"Avatar! You're awake, thank Agni!"
Aang glared at him. "What do you want? Are you here to capture us again?"
Zuko shook his head. "N-no, actually I was hoping to join you. But that was before..."
His eyes fell to the ground.
"Before what?"
Zuko looked up at him again, giving him a mournful look.
"I saw your bison take a direct hit from artillery," he said.
Aang let himself fall backwards onto the ground for a moment.
That explains why I'm lying here, he thought, but then he scrambled to his feet.
The sight before him made his heart stop.
A deep furrow had been ploughed into the Earth from Appa's impact, and the sky-bison lay there, surrounded by all his friends. They had all been thrown clear of the crash.
None of them were moving.
A chill shot through Aang. This can't be happening, he thought as he raced towards Appa.
The sky-bison still did not move as Aang threw himself at his head and desperately searched for any sign of life, pleading for Appa to wake up.
Zuko stood at a respectful distance with his head bowed, not moving at all.
It remained that way for five minutes, before Zuko finally moved closer. He put a hand on Aang's shoulder.
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do," he said quietly. "They were already gone when I got here."
"No!" Aang shouted, before realising that Zuko had used a plural. Letting go of Appa, only temporarily, he promised himself, he turned to look for Katara.
Unfortunately, he found her. She was lying a few metres away from the downed sky-bison, her limbs splayed and her face contorted with terror. Her eyes stared unseeing up into the sky.
Aang fell to his knees at the sight, unable to deny the reality of what his eyes were telling him any more, and just broke down crying. He had always imagined his own death on this day should things have gone wrong, not that of his friends.
He didn't know how long he stayed there, before he heard a sound behind him. Zuko was standing there awkwardly again.
At the sight of him, a boiling rage filled the Avatar.
"You did this!" He rounded on Zuko, who recoiled in surprise.
"Believe me, I didn't," he began, but Aang was in no mood to hear his lies.
"You killed them!" He screamed. "You've been chasing us all over the world, and now I guess you've finally got what you wanted!"
"I never wanted you dead," Zuko muttered, but Aang didn't hear him. He continued ranting at him, working himself up into more and more of a frenzy of rage as he screamed into the older boy's face. Zuko just looked down and didn't say anything, which if anything enraged the Avatar further.
"You..." Aang finally ran out of words to express the intensity of his grief and rage and pain, and Zuko took that as an opportunity. Awkwardly, he reached towards him, and Aang instinctively interpreted that as a threat and lashed out.
Two Years Later:
The young woman sighed as she trudged into town, toting a bag full of all her worldly possessions. There were not many. It had been a long and exhausting trip, and she still had a long way to go.
Ahead of her, she spotted an inn, and gratefully made her way towards it. It wasn't every night she got to sleep with a roof over her head, and so tonight would be a welcome respite.
The man on the door seemed entirely disinterested in her, but he was interested in her money. She had worked hard enough for it.
The hallway was small, with green decorations and a portrait on one of the walls of a young girl in an earthbending stance. There was something awfully familiar about that girl, she thought; she was sure she had met her, once. It seemed like a lifetime ago though.
"It is a nice painting, don't you think?" A voice came from beside her. She started, and turned to find a man with a thick grey beard admiring it beside her. She wondered how such a large (for there was no other way to describe him) gentleman had managed to sneak up on her so easily. She was getting sloppy, clearly. Just over a year in prison had changed her in ways she didn't entirely understand.
"It is," she said politely, wondering where this was going.
"I met her once," he continued. "I fought with her."
"Oh," she said. "What was it like?"
The man chuckled. "Oh, not fun. My niece burned me."
"Sounds rough," She replied sympathetically.
"It was," the man replied. "My name is Mushi, by the way."
She considered lying, but he seemed so jovial that she couldn't do it.
"Suki," she told him, bowing formally. He returned the gesture.
"Well, pleased to meet you. Would you care to join me for a nice cup of tea?" The old man offered, a hopeful look on his face. Suki only nodded.
"What are you doing all the way out here?" Suki asked as Mushi poured her out a cup. He handed it to her, and she took a sip. It tasted amazing.
"I'm looking for my nephew," he said. "Now tell me, what's a Kyoshi Warrior doing all the way out here?"
Suki's head snapped up as she took in the question.
"How did you know?" She asked sharply. She didn't really mind that he knew but as far as she was aware she carried no indication of her former rank.
"My niece likes to gloat," was all the man said to that.
"Does that mean your niece was... involved, with what happened?" She was careful to keep her statement as vague as possible.
"More than involved. She was directly responsible, for which I can only apologise."
"This niece; dark hair, amber eyes, and a superiority complex?"
"That's her."
"Blue fire?"
Suki thought back to the fight that had started her nightmare; it had been Princess Azula who had beaten her, and Azula certainly fitted the description this man had given of his niece. But if Azula was his niece, that meant his name wasn't Mushi at all.
"I see. When were you going to tell me you were General Iroh?"
"You have to understand, many people here still bear a grudge against the Fire Nation. I know you have much cause to yourself. I am sorry for what my nation did but I don't want it to endanger my safety on the road."
Suki took that in. The man had a good point.
"Alright," she conceded, and took another sip of her tea.
The two of them sat in silence for a while before a question occurred to Suki.
"You say you're looking for your nephew, what happened to him?"
Iroh's eyes looked sad for a moment. "I don't know. The last I heard was two years ago, after the Day of Black Sun, he had gone after the Avatar. But he hasn't been seen since, not by anyone I know of."
Iroh looked up at Suki, and held his hands up.
"You mustn't get the wrong idea!" He said quickly. "My nephew was going to help the Avatar, not capture him!"
"He burned my village chasing him, so I'll have to doubt that," she said, and then more sincerely, "but, I do hope you find him."
Iroh smiled, and took a sip of his tea again. "Thank you. I hope that you find whatever it is you're after as well."
Suki replied with one word. "Home."
Iroh opened his mouth to reply, and then stopped. One eyebrow raised in confusion, and then his face set into a look of determination.
"Get down!" He told Suki, and she did so just as a blast of flame shot over her head, the scorching heat threatening to burn her. Iroh, meanwhile, expertly blocked the attack. He shouted over Suki's shoulder, at something she couldn't see.
"Please, let's not waste each other's time! Instead of fighting, why don't you come out and we can discuss this like gentlemen?"
Suki took advantage of the lull to scramble to her feet. In an instant, a wooden fan was in her hand; a cheap knockoff of her usual weapon, but it would have to do.
There was a long moment of silence as both of them stared into the forest, before there was a rustle of branches and a very familiar figure moved into view. The shock of it caused Suki to lower her fan in surprise.
"Aang?"
The Avatar stood before them, an expression quite unlike any she had seen before on his face. He regarded them with what looked like anger. That couldn't be right, could it? Aang didn't get angry.
"Avatar, this is indeed a rare honour," Iroh chuckled. "I was wondering if you would help me with a problem I've been having."
"No."
"I'm sorry?"
"I said no. Not after what your family did."
"Yes," Iroh tried to explain, "but I am not my family."
"And how do I know that?" Aang countered.
"Remember the South Pole?" Iroh replied quickly.
At that, the Avatar's face tightened. "Yes. You attacked a peaceful city and killed its Princess."
"Zhao did that."
"The Fire Nation did it. And you are Fire Nation."
"I hope we aren't going for collective guilt here," Suki interjected. Aang rounded on her.
"And why not? Isn't that exactly what the Fire Nation did when he destroyed my people? When it deported the waterbenders? Tried to exterminate the Earth Kingdom? When it killed my-"
Aang broke off for a second, gathered himself, and continued.
"The Fire Nation, and especially its leadership has proven that it is a menace to World Peace. It must be destroyed."
He pointed at Iroh. "And today, that means you."
Suki stepped in front of him. "Aang, you can't just go around imposing your own justice on anyone you deem guilty! Your people would not approve of this!"
This was the wrong thing to say.
Aang's face contorted with anger.
"My people are dead," he replied, before launching himself forwards. Suki felt herself being shoved out of the way and she collapsed off to the side, blasts of fire mixing with rushes of air and the crunch of rock being ripped free. She scrambled to her feet to see Iroh engaged in a battle for his life against the Avatar, dodging attacks with impossible agility and using his firebending to obscure Aang's vision.
"Aang!" Suki shouted at him. "Aang, stop! This is madness and you know it!"
The Avatar did not even acknowledge her, continuing to weave between Iroh's fireblasts, though to be fair Iroh didn't seem to be trying too hard to hit him.
"Aang!" Suki tried again, and again she was ignored, so instead she ran forwards and tried to interpose herself between the two combatants.
That got Aang's attention.
"What are you doing? Get out of the way!" He demanded angrily.
"Aang, stop it! You're not thinking straight!"
Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and pushed down just in time to see an enormous jet of flame shoot over her head; its intensity was such that she had to close her eyes and cover her head, but then it faded, and she looked up; Iroh was gone, and Aang was picking himself up off the floor having been forced to take cover himself.
"Where did he go?" He demanded.
"I don't know, but seriously, you need to stop."
"Look, I'm doing this for justice, and that's more justification than I need to give you." Aang surveyed the tree line.
"Really? This isn't justice."
"Then what would you call it?"
"Murder. Pure and simple."
Aang rounded on her. "What right do you have to decide that? I am the Avatar!"
Suki looked around, rather than focussing on the intense anger in those grey eyes.
"Why are you acting like this? And where are the rest of your companions?" She demanded.
Suki could pinpoint the precise moment that the anger vanished from Aang's eyes and was replaced by sadness, and she didn't like it one bit.
"Both questions have the same answer, don't they."
Aang could only nod.
Suki felt a sudden lump in her throat, as she suddenly realised why Sokka had never come for her.
"I'm sorry," she managed.
Aang looked away again.
"I'm going to get justice for them," he promised. "I'll get justice for everyone."
"By murdering hundreds of people?"
"Nobody who doesn't deserve it."
Suki glared at him. "Iroh's nephew, the Prince. You didn't have anything to do with his disappearance did you?"
Aang only smiled, a twisted imitation of the smile Suki remembered. "I only did to him what he had done to do many others. He deserved it."
"You can't decide that yourself."
"Yes I can," he said. "Don't tell me you sympathise with the people who locked you up for months?"
"Of course not, but-"
"There is no 'but.'"
"Yes, there is! Aren't you supposed to be helping the world heal? Not going around inflicting yet more violence."
"I am helping the world heal," Aang defended himself hotly.
"Doesn't seem like it to me. You can't only help three nations."
"Don't tell me how to do my job," the Avatar told her, and before she had a chance to open her mouth to respond he was gone, blasting away into the forest.
Suki sighed, and walked back to pick up her things and go back into town.
And that's it! Becoming the Villain is over! I tried to give Aang a push so that he would take his Avatar duties too far and become vengeful.
I'll probably dive back into writing something a bit less grim next, all this talk of death isn't exactly fun. I hope you enjoyed reading this; and I thank all who reviewed.