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The Gaang had hardly packed up their camp from the night before, and loaded it on Appa, when a bright light appeared out of nowhere, knocking them all back. As Aang blinked his eyes against the bright light, they widened to see the ghostly form of Avatar Roku staring back at him. But what was even more surprising, was to see the rest of his friends, staring in shock at Avatar Roku.
"I have a way for you to stop Firelord Ozai for good, Aang." Avatar Roku told him.
Aang stared back in shock. "What is it?"
"I can send all of you back in time." Avatar Roku informed them. "But you must be careful not to interact with your past selves. It could cause ripples in the time line that could have unimaginable consequences."
Aang nodded. "I understand."
Avatar Roku nodded sagely to him, and for the second time in a few minutes, Aang's vision was flooded with a bright light.
When Katara came to, she groaned, as pain flooded her whole body. Sitting up, she opened her eyes, blinking away the bright light, before looking around in shock. All around, the world was white, ice and snow as far as the eye can see, instead of the forests and green foliage she had been accustomed of seeing, after traveling for months in what used to be the Earth Kingdom.
"Aang, what did you do?" Sokka demanded, sitting up.
Aang looked around in shock. "I think we're back to when you and Katara found me in the ice."
"Ugh, I hate the South Pole." Toph groaned. "All this ice, I can't see a thing."
Zuko glanced down at their outfits. "We probably should get moving. If one of the members of the Southern Water Tribe spots us, it will be hard to explain our Fire Nation clothes away."
"Come on." Katara said, hopping onto one of the floating icebergs. "Since we don't have Appa with us, Aang and I can waterbend our way out of here."
Shrugging, the rest of the Gaang hopped onto the iceberg alongside Katara, and Aang and Katara began to waterbend, swiftly moving the group through the water, faster then they could in a canoe, although not as fast as Appa.
And unbeknownst to them, around one hundred feet away, two young Southern Water Tribe siblings pulled an unconscious Air Nomad boy out of the ice, unaware of the events that would be set off, due to this act.
Two days later...
"How much longer?" Toph groaned, laying down on her back on the iceberg. "I'm sick of all this ice, and just want to get back to solid earth. Also, I've eaten way too many fish to last a lifetime, even if they are cooked.
Zuko looked up from where he was cooking one of the fish that Sokka had caught with his firebending. "Well, at least we have food."
"I think we're almost there!" Sokka, who had taken position as a lookout for the group, announced excitedly, pointing towards the rocky shore. "Come on, just a little longer."
Aang and Katara increased their waterbending, from the leisurely pace to conserve energy that they had been doing before, swiftly moving their makeshift boat towards the land, where it bumped up against the rocky shore, about two minutes later.
Toph quickly scrambled off the lifeboat, slipping and sliding, before collapsing onto the dirt. "Land, sweet land." She cried. "How I missed you."
"We really need to get going." Suki said, shaking her head as she nimbly hopped off the iceberg. "We may not be wanted fugitives right now, but there are still another Aang, Katara, and Sokka out there, that we really don't want to run into, and another Zuko, who we know is actively pursuing Aang."
Katara nodded, helping Aang off of the iceberg. "Suki's right. If we're going to make a change this time, we need to get going, and maybe find a nearby village so we can get some ostrich horses."
"We need to get some supplies too." Aang agreed. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere, with no supplies, no transportation, and a Fire Nation Prince on our trail. It's not a good idea to stay in any one place for long."
Nodding, the Gaang set out, blissfully unaware that their plans would fall apart, in a matter of hours.
Several hours later...
"I think we should stop here." Aang decided, coming to a stop alongside a river, with a nice clearing in the middle of the woods.
Toph, Sokka, Zuko, and Suki, who had been walking behind Aang and Katara, collapsed onto the ground in relief.
Shaking her head at the others, Katara turned to Aang. "That's a good idea. We could use some rest before we continue on. Sokka, how about you come with Aang and I to go hunting."
"Sure, why not." Sokka said, grabbing his sword and boomerang from where they had fallen on the ground next to him. "We've been walking for hours, but I'll come and hunt. Why not."
As the three of them left to go hunting, Suki, Toph, and Zuko got to work, setting up their makeshift camp up.
"I really miss having Appa, and the rest of our supplies right now." Zuko admitted, as he lit a collection of sticks alight with his firebending, quickly building up a decent fire.
Toph looked over from where she had been creating tents using her earthbending. "I know what you mean. We could have left that ice a long time ago if we had Appa, and I would have been able to see a lot sooner."
"Well, it's a small price to pay for the ability to finally save the world from Firelord Ozai." Suki pointed out, turning around from her job gathering berries from some nearby bushes.
Before the other two could say anything, three eerily familiar figures appeared over the ridge, staring down at them in shock.
"Fire Nation soldiers!" Past Sokka cried, charging down the hill, Past Aang and Past Katara, not far behind him.
Toph groaned, regretting once again that they hadn't been able to find suitable clothes to change out of their Fire Nation garments into, and knowing this would come back to bite them, before earthbending all three of them into prisons of rock.
"You're an earthbender!" Past Katara said in surprise.
Past Sokka glared at them. "If you're an earthbender, why are you helping the Fire Nation?" He demanded.
"We're not Fire Nation." Toph insisted, staring straight at Past Sokka.
Past Sokka frowned at her. "Zuko is a Fire Nation Prince, and you're wearing Fire Nation clothes."
"Fine, we're not Fire Nation, except for Zuko, no matter what clothes we're wearing." Toph amended.
Suki shrugged. "That's pretty accurate."
"How do you prove you're not Fire Nation?" Past Sokka asked, scowling at them.
It was at that moment that Katara, Aang, and Sokka came down the hill behind them, Sokka carrying their catch over his shoulder, and looking at the captured versions of their past selves in surprise.
"We just had to run into them already." Sokka groaned, looking past Toph at the younger version of himself, incased in rock.
Katara looked among them all. "What should we do with them? They already saw Suki, Toph, and Zuko, who knows what will happen."
"I think we should tell them who were are." Aang suggested, causing the rest of the Gaang to look at him in shock.
Sokka stared at him. "Isn't that exactly what Avatar Roku told us not to do?"
"I know it is." Aang admitted. "But they've already seen Suki, Toph, and Zuko. What if they run into the other Zuko and ask him about Toph or Suki? Who knows what kind of consequences that could have."
Katara looked around at them. "But how do we tell them?"
Aang grinned. "I have a plan."
"We know how to convince you that we aren't Fire Nation." Toph said, walking back down the hill towards the still restrained Past Katara, Sokka, and Aang, this time with Katara and Sokka, as well as Suki and Zuko.
Past Sokka glared at her. "And how exactly are you going to do that? We've seen you earthbend, it's the reason we're stuck here. So if your plan is to earthbend to prove you're not with the Fire Nation, then it won't work."
"Oh, that's not our plan." Suki said, grinning.
Aang, who had taken a spot in a nearby tree, swooped out, his glider taking him most of the way. But before he could make a smooth and graceful landing, rip off his bandana, and proclaim himself as Aang from the future, Appa, who they all had forgotten was even there, let out a large bellow and slapped his tail, sending a large gust of wind, which knocked Aang out of the air, and blew Suki, Zuko, Sokka, and Katara backwards.
Toph used her earthbending to bend a large shield of earth, and mainly stayed where she was standing. The large gust of wind instead knocked Sokka's hat off of his head, and blew Suki and Katara's hair in their faces.
"My hat!" Sokka cried, chasing after it and promoting odd looks from Past Katara, Aang, and Sokka.
Aang flipped backwards from the gust of wind from his sky bison, the gust of air knocking his own bandana off of his head, and causing his glider to falter. Quickly snapping it shut, Aang waterbended the river into a icy slide, slipping down the slick service, before using his earthbending to bend a large piece of rock that he could stable himself on. When he finally looked up, Past Sokka, Katara, and Aang were looking at him in shock from within their rock prison, Appa was staring at him oddly, Toph was emerging from her rock shield, Zuko was picking himself up from where he had been blown, Suki and Katara were trying to get their hair out of their faces, and Sokka was still chasing after his hat.
"I'm sure you have a lot of questions." Aang said, rubbing the pack of his head.
The three past versions in their rock prisons nodded in sync. "Can you first let us loose?" Past Sokka asked.
"Oh, sorry." Aang blushed sheepishly, before earthbending the three of them out of their prison.
Past Katara looked at him in shock, eyes wide. "How did you do that? Only the Avatar can bend all four elements."
The Gaang glanced at each other, unsure of who would break the news to Past Katara, Aang, and Sokka. Finally, Aang spoke up. "I am the Avatar, and we're you, from the future."
"Why did you come back?" Past Sokka asked, who was taking this surprisingly well, for the little he believed in anything otherworldly at this time. "What are you doing here?"
Katara sighed. "That, is a long story."
Suddenly, for the third time that week, a bright light filled the Gaang's vision. When the light finally cleared, their past versions were gone, and in their place was Avatar Roku.
"I told you to avoid yourself at all costs, Aang." Avatar Roku reprimanded.
Aang smiled sheepishly. "Well, it wasn't our fault."
"And how did you come to that conclusion?" Avatar Roku asked, eyebrow raised.
Aang cleared his throat. "Well, that's kinda a long story."
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