Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA or LoK.
Any recognizable dialogue was pulled from 'The Avatar and the Fire Lord.'
CHAPTER 2
Katara awoke with a start from another restless sleep. She blindly reached for Aang, sitting at arm's length in the same position he had been for the last four days. Opening her eyes fully, she looked up into the childlike face of the airbender. The first hints of sunrise bathed his soft features in a dim glow. His eyes remained closed, his mouth parted, his breathing steady. Katara sighed and ruffled his rapidly-growing hair before making her way back to camp.
She had moved her bedroll close to his side the night of the summer solstice when he hadn't returned from his Spirit World journey. Refusing to miss any sign of movement, she had stayed by him each night since despite the discomfort of the basalt cliff on which he perched.
Ever the earliest of the group to rise, Katara decided that this morning she would busy herself with breakfast to take her mind off her uneasiness. She hiked down to the bottom of the cliff to refill her waterskin, examining the horizon for any Fire Nation steam engines until she was satisfied with the lack of black smoke polluting the view. Upon returning to the campsite, she desalinated the water as she bent it into a large pot with rice, embellishing it with some spices she had purchased in Shu Jing a few days prior. It took several minutes of careful angling of her small handheld mirror to nurse a small fire in a pile of lava rocks under her concoction and for a moment, she idly wished their group included a firebender.
To bide her time while the pot heated, she did some stretches and basic waterbending poses. She didn't bother with anything more advanced than that, knowing her mind was far too troubled to garner the proper focus.
As the savory smell of jook wafted through the barren campsite, Sokka wandered over from the shadow of Appa's still-sleeping form, stretching and yawning dramatically as he greeted Katara good morning. He cast a nervous glance at Aang and attempted to lighten the evident mood with a retort about the Avatar getting a sunburn before settling himself down next to the simmering pot.
Sokka had insisted that Aang was perfectly fine for the first two days, citing "Avatar mumbo jumbo" as the cause for his delayed return. However, as the days went on, his optimism waned, and Katara noticed that his eyes shifted to the small figure on the cliff with increasing frequency.
She handed her brother a bowl of the jook before grabbing one for herself. He thanked her, and they ate in peace for several minutes. The sun was now high above the horizon line—Katara hadn't realized how long her morning activities had taken.
Sokka broke her out of her reverie. She hadn't realized she had been staring at Aang again. "I get that you're worried—we all are—but there really isn't anything we can do. Aang will come back when he's ready."
Katara reluctantly turned to him, unconvinced. "There has to be something we can do," she asserted, though she didn't really believe it herself. Sokka frowned and shook his head as he tied his hair into his wolf tail.
Before their conversation could become an argument, Toph chose this time to stagger over to the siblings. "G' morning," she mumbled, then with more volume, "Can Twinkletoes just wake up already so we can leave this depressing pile of ash?"
Sokka, taking this as another opportunity to ease the tension, nodded in agreement. "Yeah, of all places for Aang to decide to leave us hanging. He couldn't have picked an island with a beach?"
The earthbender snickered as she stomped her foot, and a chair shot up from the ground. She plopped down onto it and filled herself a bowl of the savory porridge. Katara looked on in mild disgust as she spat in her hand and ran it through the mess of dark hair on her head to smooth it down. Seemingly satisfied, Toph went on joking around with Sokka while they ate. Momo flew in from wherever he'd been sleeping to perch on her shoulder, attempting to steal some food from her bowl, thinking she wouldn't notice. Of course, she did notice, shouting, "Hey, get your own!" as she shooed the lemur away.
"You seem wholly unconcerned that Aang is not, in fact, waking up," Katara spat, unable to stomach the casualness of the breakfast conversation.
Toph held up her hands in defense before echoing Sokka's thoughts from earlier. "Look, Sweetness, we are all concerned about Aang, but I'm sure whatever he is taking so long to do in the land of the dead will only help us out later. I don't know if you've noticed, but when these types of things happen, they tend to happen for a reason."
As infuriating as their virtually identical responses to her concerns were, Katara knew deep down that they were right. There was nothing to do but wait. She sighed and finally nodded, looking once more at Aang's still form, now a silhouette in the bright light of a day well underway. A hand landed on her shoulder, and she looked up to see Sokka smiling at her reassuringly.
The trio spent the rest of the day watching Aang in shifts while they searched Roku's Island in vain for any sign of food or freshwater.
Sokka had insisted that his sister take the final shift of the afternoon. "Why don't you take a day for yourself? Go surfing or ice hopping, or whatever it is waterbenders do. Maybe you can get us some sea prunes for dinner." At Katara's hesitation, he added, "Don't worry. If Aang wakes up, we'll come to find you first thing."
At this, Katara smiled weakly. Sokka was only trying to help, and the distraction would be beneficial, so she agreed. After giving Aang's body a quick embrace and giving Appa a scratch on the ear, she set off toward the water on the other side of the island, leaving Toph to take the first watch. Sokka headed in the direction of the smaller of the two volcanoes making up the island.
The sun was low on the horizon when Katara began the trek back to the campsite with an armful of ocean kumquats—she hadn't bothered correcting Sokka when he had called them sea prunes earlier.
He had been right about her needing a day for herself. She was able to clear her head enough to get in a grueling bending session and was decidedly more optimistic about Aang. There was still more than a week until the eclipse, and her friends' comforting words from earlier had started to sink in. She smiled to herself and quickened her pace when the campsite and Aang's cross-legged form on the cliff came into view.
That smile quickly faded, however, when the airbender was thrown backward from the ledge as an ear-splitting blast ripped open the cliff he had been sitting on as if it was made of slush.
Katara watched with horror as the energy of the explosion redirected itself into a shot of blinding light straight up, leaving in its wake a beacon that appeared to have carved itself into the sky.
Dropping her haul of kumquats and shielding her eyes from the glare, Katara sprinted for the campsite.
Prince Zuko pushed the scroll he had been reading to the side as he stood sharply and stormed from the Catacombs and out of the palace, into the dim light of the setting sun. He didn't bother calling for a palanquin, instead marching straight through the capital, northwest toward the imposing prison tower set into the crater's side just outside the city's limits.
He knew Uncle had sent him the cryptic note from the night before, launching him on a wild turtle duck chase for useless information. Seething, he nodded curtly to the guards in an unspoken agreement that they never saw him as he made his way to the dark, cramped cell that held General Iroh.
Slamming the steel door behind him, he didn't bother with a greeting. Not even the man's dirty, decrepit appearance could temper Zuko's annoyance. "You sent this, didn't you?" he accused, waving the crumpled scroll around.
Uncle did not answer. He didn't even look at him, which only further fueled his anger. "I found the 'secret' history, which, by the way, should be renamed the 'history most people already know.' The note said I needed to know about my great grandfather's death, but he was still alive in the end!"
At this, the man regarded his nephew, his eyes cold. "No. He wasn't."
Zuko eyed him incredulously. "What are you talking about?"
"You have more than one great grandfather, Prince Zuko. Sozin was your father's grandfather."
And...? He didn't have time for this.
"Your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku."
The prince grit his teeth, good eye widening as the words sunk in. Leave it to Uncle to make him even more confused than he already was; to question his destiny, even after he had already fulfilled it. "Why are you telling me this?"
"Because understanding the struggle between your two great grandfathers can help you better understand the battle within yourself."
Zuko sunk to his knees, gripping his hair with frustration as Uncle's words penetrated him. They were true, of course. Ever since Zuko's arrival in the Fire Nation, something hadn't felt right. As he imagined his limbs being yanked in two different directions, he could feel Uncle's searching eyes burning into the top of his head as he spoke. "Evil and good are always at war inside you, Zuko. It is your nature—your legacy. But, there is a bright side."
Before Iroh could continue, a dull rumble shook the tiny cell as a sound that Zuko could only compare to a large boulder crashing to the ground echoed around the room. It lasted for several seconds.
Zuko whipped his head around in alarm until his eyes once again found his uncle's piercing gaze. The man was unfazed, but Zuko noticed that there was a glint in his eye that had not been there moments ago. Clearly, what Uncle said next was not what he had been about to tell him before the interruption.
"You may already know this about me, Prince Zuko, but five years ago, I found myself at a similar crossroads to what you are facing now. When Lu Ten died," he paused and took a shaky breath, turning his head toward the stone floor. "I journeyed to the Spirit World to find him, on the winter solstice. I searched for what felt to me like many years, to no avail. I never had the chance to say goodbye. Part of me had hoped that if I did cross paths with him, I would be able to live out my days with him in the Spirit World, rather than face what I had done."
Zuko flinched. The grief radiating off the man was nearly palpable.
"As my search continued, I was forced to reexamine the role I had been playing in the destruction of the world. The person I loved most was taken from me, and it was, even if indirectly, because of my actions. I was a lost soul, Zuko. It is my greatest wish that you never know that kind of pain. But more than that, I do not want you to make the same mistakes that I made."
Zuko had never heard Uncle speak of his cousin in this way. He knew that Lu Ten's death caused the General to abandon the siege of Ba Sing Se and give up his claim to the throne, but he had only heard it through the mocking words of his father and sister. He had even heard in passing of Iroh's connection to the Spirit World. Still, he had never received confirmation from the man himself, as he did now.
He could only stare at his uncle as all traces of hostility melted out of him and seeped into the cold floor.
Iroh continued, "The spirits appear to have granted you the same opportunity that I was given those many years ago." He closed his eyes and breathed in as if smelling a sweet aroma. "A spirit portal has just opened, Prince Zuko. Such a gateway between our worlds has not been opened in generations. I think that the answers you are looking for may lie therein."
Zuko balked and wondered how exactly his uncle could know that a spirit portal had just opened—also what exactly a spirit portal was—but instead, he asked, "Didn't you just tell me not to make the same mistakes as you?"
Uncle smiled gently, the old kindness returning to his eyes as he looked upon his nephew. "Though I did not find who I was looking for in the Spirit World, I did discover things about myself that I never would have otherwise; that there are more things worth living for than my nation."
The love and adoration with which his uncle now watched him, despite all of the horrible things he had done to him, made Zuko squirm with discomfort. His chest burned and he broke the eye contact.
"Besides," Iroh added. "You might be luckier than I was. Who better to speak to about the struggle between your great grandfathers than your great grandfathers themselves? The spirit portal was opened on Avatar Roku's island. An interesting coincidence, wouldn't you say?"
Zuko had a feeling that it was not a coincidence at all, and that Uncle knew this.
All that the young firebender had just heard, frankly, scared the hell out of him. But despite that fear, he felt an overwhelming sense of curiosity. Why would a spirit portal open now, after countless years of the gate being sealed? Why on Avatar Roku's island, right after Zuko was informed of their connection? He needed answers.
Seeing the resolve etch itself into his nephew's features, Iroh smiled knowingly. "Good luck, Prince Zuko."
Zuko hesitated, peering at the man in the filthy cell one last time, before steeling himself and nodding. "Thank you, Uncle."
As he bolted back to the palace and through the maze of corridors to his chambers, he thought of nothing but the task at hand. After quickly packing a bag with provisions for the journey, he grabbed his broadswords and snuck out of the palace to head toward the harbor, where an airfield of war balloons waited. He calculated that he could reach Roku's Island before dawn if he left now, giving him the best chance of getting there unseen.
It wasn't until he was halfway to the harbor that he stopped in the middle of the road and remembered that he was no longer a refugee in the Earth Kingdom. He was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation. He thought of Mai. How could he leave her without saying goodbye? His thoughts then flitted to his father, whose respect he finally had after years of disgrace and banishment. Am I willing to throw that away?
No. These were not the same circumstances as the last time he left. This was necessary for both his sake and theirs. The turmoil inside him needed to end. He wouldn't be gone long. I won't be gone long. The words repeated like a mantra in his head as he jogged the rest of the way to the airfield. Deep down, he knew there was a possibility that those words were not true, but there was no going back now.
Katara scrambled up the cliff, skirting as far as possible around the glimmering beam of light that shot up from the ledge.
To her tremendous relief, the campsite and, more importantly, its inhabitants, seemed relatively unscathed. Sokka appeared to have caught Aang after his body had been launched by the blast. Toph arrived on the scene almost precisely at the same time as Katara. Appa looked like he had seen a ghost, but otherwise okay. Momo was latched onto Sokka's head.
"Katara! Did you see that?!" Sokka shrieked as he shot up and closed the distance between them, Momo still wrapped tightly around him.
"I think everyone within a hundred-mile radius saw that. Even I saw it," said Toph breathlessly. Katara only nodded. "Is everyone okay?" She looked around her brother to see where the airbender was propped up against Appa's side, wearing the same peaceful expression as when she left several hours ago.
"Aside from the shock, we're all fine. If Aang was any heavier, we might have had an issue. The kid packs a punch, even when he's sleeping." Sokka was rubbing his stomach as he spoke.
Katara quickly bent the water from her pouch into a glove over her hand and held it over Sokka's midriff. The water glowed, and her brother sighed in contentment as the pain subsided. "Thanks, little sis."
"You're welcome. Now we need to talk about what on earth that is," she replied, gesturing to the light beam.
Toph stepped closer to it. "Whatever it is, I've never felt this amount of concentrated energy before. It drowns out everything else. It's the only thing I can see."
Katara turned to inspect it more closely. It was nearly identical to the light that shot out of the iceberg when she and Sokka had first found Aang, only this one showed no signs of fading. The longer she looked at it, the more she understood Toph's meaning. It was visibly humming with energy—the light blurring and trembling as it attempted to flee the column's confines it had been centralized within.
Hearing Sokka choke out, she half-turned to find him pointing high up the beacon. Something flew out of the light and soared down toward the ocean below. As it got closer to where they stood, it became increasingly clear that this creature was…otherworldly. Katara would have compared it to a flutter bat, only it was bright yellow, had three wings on either side of its round body, and its eyes were a solid, bright purple. It glowed faintly in the dim evening light.
Several more creatures trickled out of the light. Katara realized that the flutter bat was the only one that had been remotely close to ordinary. Shapes and colors she had never seen before materialized in front of her. None showed any sign of concern for the trio of teenagers, the sky bison, and the lemur gawking at them. With trepidation they flew, walked, and rolled in and out of the light beam as if uneasy about leaving the nest.
Suddenly, Momo launched off his perch on Sokka's head and flew straight for the column of light.
Katara and Sokka called after him as Toph demanded to know what was going on. "I can't see anything beyond that stupid ball of light!" No one could explain it to her; the siblings were transfixed on the small animal as he hurled himself toward what Katara felt was certain doom.
The lemur was clearly determined in his curiosity. As quickly as he had taken off, he disappeared into the beam. "Momo!" Katara cried out. She tore her eyes away from the scene to look back at Aang's lifeless form. This is going to crush him. He—
Her thought was interrupted by the sound of Momo's chattering has he reappeared and flew back down to land on Toph's shoulder, completely unharmed. Toph yelled out in surprise before grumbling again about not being able to see.
Sokka looked lost in thought. He looked at the beings filing in and out of the light, then at Momo.
"Do you think that's some kind of gate? To the Spirit World?"
Katara stared at her brother, about to protest, but it strangely made sense. The creatures that emerged from that light could only have been from the Spirit World, based on the stories that Aang told them. Sokka would know, too; Katara had almost forgotten that he was taken to the Spirit World when he was kidnapped by Hei Bai.
Sokka continued, "Do you think Aang opened this to get himself out of the Spirit World?"
Katara considered this for a moment. "Wouldn't he be back by now, if he had? What if he's trapped in there and opened it so we could go get him out?"
She had expected him to argue with her, but after a moment, he nodded. "You might be right, but I think we should wait until morning before anyone goes in there after him. That would give us a chance to get some rest and, more importantly, give Aang a chance to get out of there if he did, in fact, open it for his own escape. Only one of us will be able to go in there since Toph is actually blind right now, and one of us needs to stay and watch Aang."
Reluctantly, Katara nodded. Going in now could do more harm than good. "Okay. In the morning, I'll go in after him. You stay with Toph to watch Aang."
Her brother snorted and patted her on the shoulder. "No, no, little sister. I'm going in. Because I am the only one who has actually been to the Spirit World," he said matter-of-factly.
Before Katara could protest, Toph cut in. "He's right, Sweetness. It only makes sense for him to go in. Plus, don't you want to be the first one to see Twinkletoes wake up?"
She had a point, but the idea of Sokka going to the Spirit World by himself made Katara extremely uncomfortable. "I don't want you to risk yourself. I have my bending, and who knows how effective your sword would be on spirits."
"If I remember correctly, Aang said that bending doesn't work in the Spirit World," inserted Sokka. "I'll be fine, Katara. You and I both know that Aang will want to see your face when he wakes up."
With a huff, Katara relented. Come to think of it, she did remember Aang saying something about that. "Fine," she mumbled.
Sokka helped Katara gather all of the kumquats she had dropped on her way to camp, and they ate dinner in apprehensive silence. Everyone was in agreement that they would go to bed early. They moved Aang and their bedrolls farther away from the spirit portal as they settled in for the night. Toph fell asleep quickly, followed shortly by Sokka, and then the only sounds were the whispers of the spirits as they drifted around the portal.
After what felt like hours of tossing and turning, Katara couldn't take it anymore.
If she left now, she could get Aang out of there and be back in bed before the other two woke up. They would just assume he had gotten out on his own. She halfheartedly debated herself for a moment before making up her mind. However, her mind had really been made up hours ago.
Keeping an eye on Toph, she slowly slipped out of her bedroll. The earthbender's mouth was parted, and she was snoring noisily in her deep sleep. Confident that she would not wake up, Katara tiptoed away from the camp toward the blinding ray of light on the cliffside. She stopped in front of it and took a deep breath, whispering to herself, "I'm coming, Aang."
Gritting her teeth, she stepped slowly into the portal.
Zuko had begun to regret his decision of not waiting until morning for this journey. He found himself slipping in and out of consciousness as he steadily manipulated the fire under the balloon. Above him, the stars winked mockingly.
Maybe he could get some rest upon his arrival, before actually entering the Spirit World.
After several hours of watching the unchanging light from the spirit portal on the horizon, it appeared to get bigger. It was no longer just a mirage in the distance; it was real, and he was close.
His mind wandered once again to his uncle's words. Though I did not find who I was looking for in the Spirit World, I did discover things about myself that I never would have otherwise. He didn't know what awaited him beyond the portal, but Zuko had a distinct feeling that things were about to change.
As he inched ever-closer to Roku's Island, he could make out several shapes in the darkness. He groaned. Someone beat me here. It would be much more challenging to get to the portal without being noticed. Prince Zuko no longer had the advantage of anonymity; whoever was camped near the entrance would know immediately who he was.
Swinging the balloon in a wide arc, he landed on the western side of the island's larger volcano, just on the other side of the small encampment.
Blinking back exhaustion, he unsheathed his broadswords and hiked stealthily towards the portal. Dropping down to a lower ledge of the cliffs, he could just peek over at the scene surrounding the light beam without being seen.
Zuko became aware of two things simultaneously. First, the spirit portal was teeming with activity. The light itself seemed to be alive as it hummed and trembled. The creatures that slipped in and out of it were another matter entirely. He swallowed the nervous lump in his throat. Second, the identity of the camp's inhabitants had become immediately apparent. He glared at the sky bison, and the three sleeping bodies nestled at its feet.
So the Avatar was still alive, and the assassin had not yet succeeded in finishing what Azula started in Ba Sing Se. Zuko, frankly, was not sure how to feel about that. What he was sure of, however, was that he was not here for the Avatar.
Something, or someone, appeared to be missing from the group. Zuko noticed the Avatar immediately, as he was the only one not wrapped in a bedroll. He recognized the girl that was loudly snoring as the blind earthbender. The largest of the three figures could only be the water tribe guy. There was an abandoned bedroll next to him. Where was the waterbender?
His head turned toward the spirit portal. Surely the Avatar opened this portal. Why would she have gone in there without him?
Belatedly, it occurred to Zuko that he had no plan once he entered the portal. His scar tingled slightly at the memory of the girl's gentle touch under Ba Sing Se. Maybe this was a sign that he should look for her. But before he could set his mind to that, the earthbender began to stir. He panicked. No time.
Without thinking, Zuko sprinted for the portal. Ignoring the spirits that flitted out and around it, he closed his eyes dove headfirst.
Not ten seconds later, a small ball of an even brighter light than that of the beacon drifted out of it toward the campsite. The Avatar's tattoos lit up briefly with it before it disappeared, and he slowly opened his eyes.
The glowing column of light on the cliff was snuffed out as the spirit portal snapped shut, just as quickly as it had opened.
AN: Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter and a huge thank you to those who reviewed. I would love any feedback, so keep it coming!