Author Note: I was rewatching ATLA and reading some fics when I was struck with this idea. I've decided to write it to get it out of my this and one where Hama ends up young in Legend of Korra but I decided to write this I'll write that other idea someday.

"You're going to be locked away forever."

No no no no no nononononon-

"My work is done." Hama said in a rasping voice. Hiding her fear at those words. She refused to beg or plead, nor did she tremble as these monsters grabbed her arms.

She stopped after just a few steps and surprisingly her new captors allowed it. Hama could feel the eyes of Katara and the others on her back. The old waterbender used her decades of control to keep herself from falling to pieces completely.

Without putting much thought into it, she whipped her head around and looked at Katara. Not even really seeing the girl's friends. She stared into those oh so familiar blue eyes that reminded her of someone she'd never get to see again now. Thanks to the Fire Nation.

"Congratulations, Katara." Hama said with a wide grin. Trying to appear as manic as possible to hide the fear. "You're a bloodbender."

She watched as tears rolled down the girl's face, as she closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her hand.

As if she had the right to cry.

Hama laughed and laughed. A croaky laugh that sounded like it came from an old insane swamp witch. An insane laugh to stop the old woman from breaking down.

The Fire Nation butchers yanked her forward but her captors had only led her a few more steps forward before freezing.

The old waterbender stumbled forward unexpectedly as the hold on her bony biceps was released.

What struck here was the silence. How quiet everything around her had become. Hama glanced to the left and saw that one of her new captor's was frozen mid step, like he was standing still on one leg yet..

"What are you fools waiting for? Don't you want to get me under lock and key before I manage to escape?" She asked with a mocking voice but received no reply from anyone. The man continued to remain mid stride, didn't even look at her. The old woman slowly turned her head to the right, gray eyes widening a fraction as her other new captor also appeared frozen.

"Katara?" Hama questioned as she slowly turned around, wondering if the girl she'd trained was having second thoughts and had now used her new found gift to hold the two men in place. Instead she was greeted with a strange sight. The rest of the people that had arrived here to take her away were all also frozen where they were standing. Not moving, they didn't even appear to be breathing. Gray eyes locked onto her fellow Southern Water Tribe waterbender and found her still in the position she was in just a few moments ago. Crying, hand covering her mouth.

Her companions were also frozen in place.

A twig snapped behind Hama.

The old woman whirled around as fast as she could and took in the form of a strange man wearing clothes she had never seen before, the strangeness of the situation rose more as he smiled at her. He wore a long black coat that seemed to go down to just past his knees, dark blue trousers made of a foreign fabric to her. A shirt that was mostly black like the coat but had a strange pattern on it, light blue with what looked like a man leaned up against something with two black birds on either side. The man's skin was pale, his eyes were blue, and hair that reached his shoulders and was the color of fire.

He looked so different than anyone she had ever seen before.

"Evening ma'am." The man said with an accent she couldn't place.

"Good evening young man." Hama's voice was filled with uncertainty. This whole situation felt wrong, unnatural. Everyone and everything seemed frozen in time except her and this stranger. She caught his lips quirk up briefly at her greeting.

"It is an honor to meet you, Hama of the Southern Water Tribe." The man honestly bowed to her of all things leaving the old woman speechless for a moment.

"How do you know my name?" She asked, trying to buy time and wrap her head around what in the name of the Moon was going on.

The man lifted his arms up and held them out at his sides as if to say 'really' before giving her another smile as he asked a question of his own, "Does it matter?"

Hama grunted in response. Eyes narrowing. "You have me at a disadvantage. You know my name but I do not know yours."

"Ah where are my manners?" He asked the air and chuckled, "My name is Vanuk." The man said with another bow. "At your service."

'Vanuk.' She repeated the name in her mind. Finding it to be true and false at the same time.

"Is that your real name?" Hama's right eyebrow raised as she questioned 'Vanuk'. "The world is a large place and I am not very well traveled, but I know that is a Water Tribe name and you look nothing..." She was cut off (rather rudely in her opinion).

"Nothing like a member of the Water Tribes?" He finished her statement for her and once again he chuckled. "I have had many names over the years, Hama of the Southern Water Tribe.."

Right before her eyes the man's form began to change, a gasp escaped Hama as she took a few steps back in a mixture of shock and fear.

The transformation seemed to last forever while at the same time only taking a few seconds.

Now standing before Hama was a man that looked Water Tribe from head to toe. His black hair was no longer touching his shoulders, replaced with a warrior's wolf tail. His pale skin had seemingly tanned and now resembled a light brown like Sokka and Katara. His clothing was no longer the odd foreign attire from before, replaced with the wolf armor that made Hama's heart ache for home just like when she learned Katara's origins. The familiar navy blue trimmed with white fur, a bright blue waning crescent moon stitched onto the chest area. A brown leather belt around his waist with two dark colored waterskins rested on each of his sides. Vanuk's face was covered in the traditional Southern Water Tribe warpaint. The eyes however had remained the same shade of blue. The only thing missing from the outfit was the helmet.

"H-how.. w-what..?!" Hama sputtered, trying not to shriek. The old woman noticeably paled. She almost looked like a ghost.

"As I said.. Hama.. I have had many names." Vanuk's voice was quiet and yet Hama heard him clearly. "I have walked in your world many times for I have had a fondness for it since I was a child." His gaze suddenly seemed far away as he reminisced about something Hama did not understand.

"Walked in my world?" Hama was growing tired of being lost in this confusion. "Speak plainly! I grow tired of this game. Who are you? What have you done to the others around us?" While Hama had no love or care in her heart for the Fire Nation monsters standing around her, she did feel for Katara and didn't want anything to happen to her even if the girl had stabbed her in the back.

"So demanding." Vanuk's voice dripped with amusement. "Very well, I shall answer your questions to the best of my ability. Who am I?" He pointed to himself, smiling. He knew to most the smile would look unnerving thanks to the warpaint but the tough old woman across from him no longer showed anything aside from annoyance which shined in those gray eyes like a beacon. "A traveler. Hmm. Think of me like a spirit, its not entirely true but its an easy description." He shrugged his shoulders. "What have I done to those around us? Nothing. I've simply stopped time so we could have this chat."

Hama's knees felt weak at that last bit of information. Stopped time? She had no idea such a thing was possible. He called himself a traveler, a spirit. Spirits were powerful things, it was an apt description as far as she was concerned. If anything could do what he is claiming, a spirit was the most likely candidate and yet she had a feeling there was more to it than that but she decided to refrain from further questions on that particular topic.

Instead, she decided to ask the most pressing question in her mind.

"Why?" Hama croaked before clearing her throat the best she could and repeating the question in a firmer tone. "Why?"

"Maybe I didn't want to see a lovely woman like yourself get carted off to yet another Fire Nation prison." He answered her with a teasing edge in his voice but that didn't mean he was being untruthful.

However, Hama gave him an unimpressed stare at being called a 'lovely woman'.

Vanuk held up his hands in mock surrender. "I speak the truth Hama. I don't want to see you go back to prison which is exactly where you would be going had I not decided to intervene here." So many parallel worlds, so many options. So many where this poor broken woman ends up back in prison. Maybe she deserves it, maybe not.

"Why would a spirit like you care?" Hama questioned. She watched him closely, wondering if he had chosen the warpaint to hide his facial expressions from her. His gaze remained locked with hers as she tried to pick apart his body language, to try and find deceptions from this man. This spirit.

She was not expecting him to start closing the distance between them, taking slow deliberate steps. Vanuk's eyes narrowed and his face twisted with a grimace. "I do not fully know what horrors you suffered under the tender mercies of the Fire Nation. I do know that you were once a girl that did her best to protect her home. Who fought, who resisted for as long as you could. Until you alone stood against an army and facing down those impossible odds you did the right thing to protect your people at that time. You surrendered. How they must have feared you, Hama of the Southern Water Trible. How many men surrounded you that day?" His voice boomed in the still quiet night and the intensity behind it caused Hama's shoulders to shake and tears to form in her eyes as the memories of that day came charging through her mind like a rampaging beast.

"I.." Hama tried to speak but her voice escaped her. The memory flashed in her mind. She was all alone, the only waterbender left. Surrounded by three rows of firebenders. Like she was a wild animal they needed to contain.

It didn't take long for him to reach her, he raised his hands and then rested them on her shoulders. He could feel how bony they were under his palms.

Hama tilted her head back, tear filled gray orbs met angry blue. The anger was not directed at her.

"I've always wondered why you simply stayed in the village and used your blood bending on the villagers instead of sneakily fighting the Fire Nation military. You don't have to tell me, I'm not going to judge you for what you've done Hama." His voice had become softer. "Many have but I'm not going too."

She was far too emotional to even begin guessing to what he meant by 'many have'. The old woman's gaze dropped to the ground as the tears fell. She began to tug at her wrists in the cuffs, trying to break free of them. Her breathing picked up as the memory of her first capture repeated on loop in her mind. The cuffs on her now reminded her of the chains on her then. A flash of tear filled blue eyes darted through her mind.

Hama screamed.

And screamed.

"Kanna!" Hama screamed as she roughly tried to free her hands from the cuffs. "I should've drowned us all! I should've never let them taken me alive!"

It must've looked like quite the sight, it seemed as if fresh life had been poured into the short old woman as she screamed and cried. Rambling about how she should've defied them till the end, taken the ice right out from underneath all of them. Plunged herself and those Fire Nation monsters into the icy depths.

Vanuk moved his hands from her shoulders and wrapped his strong arms around the crying woman, gazing down at the top of her head.

The old woman shuddered as the sobs tore through her, she had buried those memories deep in her mind and now they were at the center of her thoughts once again.

"Kanna.." She mumbled her friend's name once again, into the spirit, into Vanuk's armor. How many times in her cell had she dreamed of her friend? Longed to see her, to hug her, to hear her voice. Kanna had been one of the few things to keep her strong in that prison.

Tear filled blue eyes.

Tear filled blue eyes.

Hama froze and with strength she didn't know her old bones still possessed she wrenched herself out of the comforting embrace and whirled around to look at Katara.

Vanuk let his arms fall to his sides and took a small step back, his gaze on the back of Hama's head.

"Is.. is she..?" Hama managed to rasp out, her emotions all over the place. She couldn't even fully form her question but she didn't need too.

For he knew, what she was asking him.

"Yes." Vanuk said and watched as his answer caused the short waterbending master to seemingly curl in on herself.

She slowly sank to her knees, the dewy grass folding under her. Her gaze on Katara before slowly focusing on Sokka. They were siblings which meant she had almost.. she had..

"I hurt Kanna's grandchildren." Hama said after a long silence. She felt almost lifeless in this moment. "I almost made her grandson kill the Avatar. I made her granddaughter blood bend when she..." Clearly hadn't wanted too.

"Remember when I said I wasn't here to judge you, Hama? I stand by that." He reached down and placed his right hand on her shoulder.

Hama felt her age all of a sudden, she didn't think she'd be able to stand again after this revelation. Perhaps it would be best if she just laid here on the ground and died.

"Now would you like to hear my offer?" Vanuk asked the waterbending master.

"...Offer?" She asked in a near inaudible whisper.

Though her back was to Vanuk, Hama just knew that smile was back on his face.

"The way I see it you were robbed of a life and my wish is to give you a new one." Vanuk's gaze lifted from the old waterbender to gaze at the gang. "I intend to send you back in time."

'Back.. back in time?' Such a thing didn't sound possible to Hama but then again neither did freezing everyone and everything. Perhaps such a thing was within Vanuk's power. She lifted her arms up and wiped her face as best she could, trying to remove the tears from her cheeks. Not as easy as she would like with the cuffs surrounding her wrists. Then right before her eyes she watched the cuffs pop open all on their own and drop to the ground.

"Forgive me, I had meant to take those off of you the second I made myself known but I got caught up in the moment." Vanuk said apologetically.

She didn't even bother to question how he did it.

"Thank you." Hama said while rubbing her wrists and rising to her feet. "Where do I even begin with your offer? I do not doubt your ability to do so and I do not wish to sound ungrateful but I can't help but ask, what good would that do? Instead of getting captured I'll just kill myself along with the men who surrounded me that day. It would be nice to see Kanna again but.."

"Why would I send you into a hopeless situation where death is your only escape?" Vanuk moved around Hama, making sure there were several feet between them. He now stood in front of her, arms at his side and a playful smile on his face. "What would be the point in that?"

"I've heard plenty of stories with cruel spirits who offer someone what they want but twist it into such a way that it leaves the person wishing they'd never met the spirit to begin with at least." Hama's voice had taken on a cynical tone, her gaze meeting his.

The smile remained on his face as his right hand began to glow, covered in a bright blue energy. The sight made Hama tense and almost shift into a waterbending stance, though she doubted it would do any good. The sudden shift was unmistakable, she could tell that this interaction was coming to an end.

"Have some faith, Hama of the Southern Water Tribe." Vanuk said with the same playful smile on his face. "And enjoy this gift. Perhaps we will speak again."

In the blink of an eye Vanuk crossed the distance between them, his glowing blue hand shooting forward. He delivered an palm strike to the old woman's chest and for just a brief moment Hama stared at him with wide eyes.

Then she was flying.

Hama's eyes widened even further than before as she saw Vanuk standing in front of her body, her hands outstretched. Reaching for something she couldn't possibly grab as she was flying backwards, away from them. She watched as her aged hands began to lose their wrinkles, not just her hands but her arms too. All around her the landscape seemed to slowly vanish, she was no longer in the dark forest that had only been lit by the light of the full moon. No it now seemed she was over the ocean and yet she could not look around to check, only see what appeared to be water at the lower end of her vision. Her gaze mainly remained on the sight n the distance, that glowing blue light. The light from Vanuk's hand. She must have been miles upon miles away from that spirit by now and yet the light remained a permanent fixture. Overwhelmed by all that was happening she opened her mouth to scream, yet no sound came.

Hama blacked out.

Cold.

How long had it been since Hama was truly cold? A cold that you couldn't really get in the Fire Nation. Not at night, not during the winter.

Slowly her eyes fluttered open, she felt weak. Weak as a sick child. As her blurry vision focused all she could see was white. It took a moment more to realize she was on the ground, face down. Summoning her strength she slowly pushed herself up onto all fours. That is when she realized that the white that had been all encompassing in her vision was in fact snow. Snow.

Snow.

She almost started crying at the sight of it.

Hama ignored the icy bite in her bare hands as she dug them deeper into the ground, it had been sixty something years since she had seen snow. Had touched snow. With a child like glee she swung her hands left and right making small clearing that would likely be covered with fresh snow sooner rather than later. She brought her hands out of the snow, flexing her fingers as she did so. Hama knew that she'd have to find a way to cover her hands and dry them off soon or else the biting wind would likely take them from her.

Gray eyes took in her wrinkle less hands.

"It wasn't a cruel nightmare..." She muttered to herself then glanced down at her body, gone was the clothing she had worn in the Fire Nation. Replaced with what looked very similar to her old parka she'd had on all those years ago when they finally gotten her. Though there was a nice layer of snow covering the front so she couldn't tell for certain if it was an exact copy or not. The memory of them taking it from her on the ship flickered at the edge of her vision but she clenched her teeth and shoved the memory away.

The master waterbender didn't want to think about that, not now. Now she just wanted to bask in this gift for a while longer.

She brought her hands to her face, despite the stinging cold her lips formed the widest smile she had sported in decades. Her escape from that prison, her acts of vengeance, neither could compare to this feeling. This feeling of the cold of home.

'Now he didn't drop me off in the middle of nowhere did he?' Hama questioned in her mind. She lifted her gaze from the snow covered front of her parka to gaze ahead.

It nearly sent her falling backwards in shock and horror.

The tiny village in front of her. With such a pitiful wall up around it for defense.

Gone were the large walls around her home, walls that had been crafted by the benders and non-benders of the Southern Water Tribe working together.

The shock and horror were quickly joined by sorrow, which was replaced sooner after by white hot rage.

It was not enough for those MONSTERS to steal her and her fellow waterbenders away. No..

Hama got to her feet swiftly, in the back of her mind she was thankful that her old bones were gone as there was no twinge in her knees, and she made her way towards the village. She could make out kids hanging around the entrance. Needing to see that her people were not completely extinct, she stumbled a little in the snow as she tried to run. It seemed that skill had been lost to time.

Surprisingly it didn't take long for her to be noticed, she could see one of the young children that was playing near the entrance to the village spot her and take off further inside screaming their little head off.

It was almost cute.

Of course before anyone could arrive to meet her, she was already clearing the entrance and now she could freely see what remained of her home.

Several tents, seven or eight, and one igloo.

The current state of her tribe nearly caused her to collapse in grief.

Hama's gaze swept the village once more. Taking in the stunned expressions that met her, her own expression must've been quite the sight. A mix mash of horror, sorrow, and relief. Still, even though her emotions were swirling inside of her, she was still able to take stock of the situation. All of the adults that she could see were women. There were boys among the children but none of the adults she saw were men. The thought that they were out fishing or hunting briefly blimped through her mind but before she could weigh the odds of that, her gaze locked onto two figures exiting the igloo.

And though it had been sixty long years.

Though she looked so different, gray haired. Wrinkled face, shorten stature.

Her eyes were still the same.

Blue met gray.

Hama watched as Kanna's eyes widened and she seemed to lose all her color. Kanna clutched the arm of the person next to her with both hands, as if needing an anchor to help her stay upright. A brief glance to Kanna's left revealed another familiar face.

'Katara..' Hama thought the girl looked better in Water Tribe blue than Fire Nation red.

"Gran Gran what's wrong?!" Katara's panicked voice filled the silence that had fallen over the village.

"Hama?" It was faint but she could hear Kanna's choked voice.

This moment was far different than how it would go in her dreams. In her dreams Kanna was as she had been, like the last time Hama had seen her.

Hama's feet moved on their own accord, she was clearing the distance between her and her old friend. There was no force on the planet that could stop her from reaching Kanna, not anymore.

It didn't take long to reach the pair, she threw her arms around her old friend while falling to her knees. Hiding her face in Kanna's parka, hiding her tears.

When she felt those familiar arms wrap around her in return...

'Home.' Hama thought while feeling Kanna squeezing her tightly. 'I'm home..'

End Author Note: I personally always felt sorry for Hama. The shirt he/me is wearing is Sabaton's the War to End All Wars shirt.