Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the song 'These Days' from the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants OST.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys. I really, really appreciate it.  Btw, Katara-10, Zuko-12. This is a maybe-AU because… well, you'll see.

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There's four roads to anywhere
Four ways to everything
We were unbreakable
We spoke our destiny
Let's take a moment out
Go where we never go
Let's make a new world now…

The Southern Water Tribe had never been one of the most populated settlements, but on this day the number of people that lined up were innumerable. Many were in dried animal skins that were tainted with dark dye, while some didn't even bother and just went along in their normal clothing.

Katara was dressed in black sealskin, her favorite kind, because it was soft and comfortable and not itchy at all. She held a bundle of shiroi crystals in her hand, eyes averted to the ground. They had been red and puffy from crying when the news had come, but now they were just dry and hard, looking through things but seeing nothing.

"Katara…" Gran-gran looked at her, grief written on every wrinkle on her aged face. "It's starting."

She nodded and wordlessly followed Gran-gran through the crowd, where they, along with her father and Sokka, stood with other families on the front. The ceremony proceeded; at some point her father performed a ritual while Sokka squeezed her shoulder and Gran-gran wept. But Katara wasn't listening, merely clutching onto the bunch of crystals in her fingers until the stems became crooked. When the time came, Sokka clasped her temporarily before she went forward and placed the shiroi crystals on the casket, fashioned from ice, the same time other children did so on other caskets. Through the hazy fog of the ice her mother lay still, hands on her chest and eyes peacefully closed (never to open again); the very image of serenity.

At that, her breath hitched in her throat. She planned to utter a last farewell, but it wasn't happening. She dropped to her knees, hands pressed against the cold, cold ice (Mama felt like this the last time they touched). Gran-gran had to take her in her arms and cuddle her, just like when she was only a baby, as she cried and cried and cried, while her father pushed the hoarfrost coffin unto the freezing ocean, where it wafted farther with the others. A watery mausoleum.

She was vaguely aware of her father carrying her home and tucking her into the covers after the tribal burial, and the final conscious thought she had before she drifted into slumber was her father's pained expression, not looking at her eyes, for they were blue, too blue, so blue, just like Mama's eyes. She dreamed; something she hadn't done since the calamity struck her fragile life.

"What's wrong?" His tone was sympathetic as he knelt down in front of her hunched frame, sobbing silently in her palms.

She didn't bother to respond. Instead of being irked, for he was used to this, he merely drew her into an embrace, and she broke down in the strange warmth of his arms.

For what seemed like a brief eternity, they sat like that, him hugging her while she wetted his tunic with her tears. Suddenly, upon remembering something, she wildly pushed him away, then scampered backwards, putting as much distance between them as possible. His face was a mask of confusion and hurt.

"What did I do?"

She pointed to him, laying blame, mouth set in a mad 'o,' eyes reproachful.

She had been playing with Nevasa and Salene when pandemonium took place, and people were running amok and shouting and there was blazing heat. Nevasa's mother took the three of them and hid in a corner, praying to go unnoticed. After hours of huddling together, they emerged and she immediately ran home, only to find it burned down and still smoking. Mama was on the ground beside the remains of their tent, limbs spread-eagled and a dagger sticking up from her stomach, her blood staining the snow where she was. It was a sight no child of ten (or any other age) should ever see…Everything was still with her in vivid detail: Gran-gran explaining everything to her and Sokka and suppressing tears herself (Fire Nation siege… soldiers wanted refuge, being refused… cruelty), the other women in the tribe preparing the bodies for burial, Mama's blank blue eyes as she stared, dead, into space…

"It was you! Your people did this! The Fire Nation killed my Mama!" She screamed, streams still flowing from her eyes. "It's all your fault!"

The agony didn't leave his face. "But, I didn't…"

"You firebenders are the worst people on the planet! You only care about yourselves! You don't even think when you kill, about the people you kill, about the people they'll leave behind…"

"Please, I…"

"No, no! You don't understand! You don't know anything!" Her words were barely understandable, stifled by her lamenting.

"You don't know what it feels like!" He was shocked; then the realization dawned on her. "My Mama's gone, just like… just like…"

"Mine." He finished, still reaching out for her. He cupped his hands on the balls of her shoulders and made her look straight at him.

"Whatever you're going through, I know. Please remember that. Please. Will you do that for me?"

She only cried more, and he pressed her to him again and rubbed her back evenly, to soothe. Finally the cries were reduced to sniveling.

"Are you better?" He whispered, scared that she might lash out at him again.

"Yes."

They stayed mute for a while, then he went behind her and began to comb her hair with his fingers, undoing the knots she hadn't bothered to untangle herself in the events of the past days. Then he pulled at it firmly, but not too tightly, and unhurriedly braided the russet locks, which were silken beneath his touch.

When he finished, she fingered the plaits of the braid, and asked quietly, "How did you know how to braid hair? The boys in the Water Tribe don't even know how to fix their own." Without a trace of humor in her voice.

"My… mother taught me. I spent a lot of time with her before she… left." He answered just as quietly.

Then the conversation abruptly took on a new topic. "I've always wondered why our dreams overlap like this."

This was something they had both been marveling about since the idea crossed their minds, but none ever said it aloud. Until now.

"Now, I think I know."

She took his face in her hands, palms applying soft pressure to his cheeks. "We've been brought together by destiny," she spoke with wisdom far beyond her years. "Fate knew this would happen, so she gave us each other, because even if the people in our lives come and go, we'll always have us.

"As long as we both keep dreaming, we'll have each other to get us through times… times like these." His fingers gripped her wrists in support as hot tears fell from her eyes yet again.

"So promise me…" She swallowed nervously, tone threatening to break. "Promise me you'll never stop believing, that you'll always keep on dreaming, so we'll be together… whatever happens. Will you promise me that?"

Her cerulean eyes were just like his amber ones now, the eyes of a tragedy. "I'll always be here. I promise."

She released a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. "Thank you. Thankyouthankyouthankyou."

Her tears were more silent this time, and as they held each other, her head to his chest, she felt moisture on her neck and his breaths coming in short stops. He was crying too.

Where we can wear each other for a while
I'll lend you my tears if I could borrow your smile
We'll get through tomorrow somehow today
Happy After
Once upon these days…

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A/N: I hope it wasn't too OOC. And it's a maybe-AU because I don't really know what Katara's age was when her mother died. Anyway, yeah, I hope it wasn't too bad. There's one more chapter coming up, and then an epilogue. But if you wanna see those, you gotta

REVIEW! see.

u'aybe-AU because...t. eling Pants OST.