Hey everyone! This story takes place ten years after the Battle of Sozin's Comet. A narrative starts out explaining what has happened. Hope you enjoy guys!

Memories and Hope

War…how difficult it could be. Yet, in the end, how unrealistic it could be. The tan skinned girl looked out over the ocean spread out in front of her. And how hopeless it all was.

She sat here at the beach remembering the war she fought in ten years ago. It seemed like just yesterday.

The war spread by the Fire Nation was nearing an end. But not in the hopes of peace. Her brother, Sokka, had been with her when they went to visit their father. He had been shocked to find them, but happy that they were safe. He took them with him and the other water tribe warriors that had managed to survive the invasions of both the North and South poles. The benders and warriors, numbered in a few thousand, were hiding in a mountain range located right between the southern and northern territories of the Earth Kingdom.

After a few weeks with them, both of the teenagers had received training. Sokka had followed in their dad's footsteps to become a great warrior and strategist. Katara, on the other hand, had learned how to fight and heal with waterbending. When both had completed their training, they had participated in raids against Fire Navy ships. Each time, they had proven themselves very capable.

Then had come the strange mission. A scout had come back one day reporting they had found a large temple city hidden in one of the mountain sides. He said there were people about it, but not Earth Kingdom or Water Tribe.

Fearing it may be an advance unit of Fire Nation soldiers, they had been sent with their father and several others to try and gather intel on them. When they found the temple, they were amazed. It was actually built into the side of the mountain, nestled in between the formations made by the mountain. But the truly amazing thing was the fact that there were people moving about and flying. They set up an observation post to observe the strange people.

She had spent most of the time up in the post watching the people. Eventually, she and some other teenagers had snuck out to the temple. They were caught and instead of being thrown into a prison had been welcomed as guests. She had sent for her father and brother to come join her. At the banquet, they met some elder who informed them that they were the last of the Air Nomads the Fire Nation had tried to wipe out all those years ago.

The banquet was interrupted by a loud whistling sound. The elder had panicked and ran out of the room. She had followed with everyone else hot on the man's heels to a room where a large sphere had been floating. Inside was a boy whose eyes were glowing. The sphere cracked and a large animal fell out. The boy was floating and spoke in a strange voice. It was the Avatar. He explained how he had been trapped in the sphere of ice, why the spirits had not allowed anyone to break open the sphere, and that there was a coming battle that would call on the destinies of many to intertwine.

After that, the boy had stopped glowing and fell forward. She had stopped his fall and saw his eyes open. He smiled and asked her name. She told him and discovered his name was Aang. Once he was introduced to everyone else, he was brought up to speed on everything that had happened. He was upset and struggled to understand he had been frozen for a hundred years and that there was a war going on.

Once he had calmed down, he spent the next three months learning waterbending. Next he had left with Sokka and her to travel the Earth Kingdom. They had run into new and old friends, made enemies, and found an earth bending teacher for him. Her name was Toph and it was a friendship that would last for an eternity. After bringing her into the team and meeting the Earth King to plan for an invasion of the Fire Nation, the team had gone to their friends and continued to train. But the invasion was stopped when the Fire Princess led a new army onto the shores of the Earth Kingdom. Skirmishes between the vast army and the newly formed allied army, consisting of Earth Kingdom soldiers and benders, the Water Tribe's remaining forces, and the last airbenders, prevented them from launching the invasion when planned.

So they had to face them when the world's greatest fear would come. Sozin's Comet was arriving soon and the Fire Lord was coming to the Earth Kingdom to finish them.

Then, an amazing thing happened. The former Prince of the Fire Nation, Zuko, along with his uncle Iroh had arrived with a few thousand former Fire Nation soldiers. Upon hearing of their prince's decision to join the Avatar's forces, many of the royal guard and the ones who admired/served under Iroh had come to stand with them.

Aang began learning firebending right away from Zuko. She had spent time with Toph and Sokka's girlfriend Suki, trying to get some rest and fun in before the big fight. She remembered those days greatly. Then, as if the universe was trying to throw a wrench into everything, it had to come to an end.

Azula, princess and daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, had overthrown her father and taken command of the Fire Nation Army. The day of the comet arrived and the battle began.

Katara had been on the front lines with her friends…no her family. She remembered having to fight for her life. The battle had been going quite well at first, despite the immense power the firebenders drew from the comet. But then everything had gone badly. Aang had been killed fighting Azula. Her friends, Mai and Ty Lee, had decided to try and help the allied army escape at that point. She stayed rooted in her place, unable to move. Then she saw her friends, allies, and comrades running for their lives.

Aang had died. The allied armies had been routed. She had no idea where her friends were. But then she saw Toph. The young earthbender was wounded pretty badly. Firebenders surrounded her and were going to kill her. She had snapped and sent ice daggers at the soldiers. In a rush of rage, she had broken through their ranks, grabbed Toph, and ran away as fast and far as she could.

Azula conquered the Earth Kingdom and declared herself Supreme Fire Lord of the world. The people of the world were devastated. The allied army had been defeated and sent fleeing across the world. There was no contact between any of them for fear of being discovered.

She had linked up with a small unit and returned to the Central Air Temple where she had found Aang. Since then, they've been hiding there, waiting for some type of hope to come. But none ever arrived.

She was snapped back to reality by someone calling out her name. "Katara!" She turned to see Toph running towards her. The young earthbender was now taller than her by six inches. The loose clothing of green and gold hid most of her features, but her curved muscles still showed along her arms and legs. Her hair was still a little mess, coming down into her eyes just like she had it when they were younger, but instead of a bun at the back of her head she now had a braid similar to what Katara used to wear. She had long since stopped braiding her hair and know wore it down.

"Hey Toph, what's going on?"

"Elder Sanvi asked for me to come and get you. I figured you'd be down here. Even though it's not safe to be here."

Katara nodded. Fire Navy patrol boats made it nearly impossible for her to come down to the small stretch of ocean running through the strait between the north and south Earth Kingdom territories. She stood up and walked over to Toph. Together they made it back to the secret tunnel that ran straight to the hidden temple. Since there were no lights in the tunnel, Katara held onto Toph to guide her.

Toph struggled to remain calm. The waterbender's skin was so soft against her own. Her hair smelt wonderful to her. She was thankful for the darkness of the tunnel. It hid her face which had turned bright red. Ever since Katara had saved her from the firebenders, the two had been pretty much inseparable. Toph had grown to care for her and…even fell in love with her.

Soon they reached the exit and entered a small courtyard. A few of the rebel warriors that resided at the temple were waiting there for them. They nodded to the two girls and moved to let them through. Toph and Katara climbed the steps to the large council chamber. Seated inside were the few rebel leaders that were still in the area. Two airbender elders, three Water Tribe warriors, a firebender captain, and six Earth Kingdom soldiers. Toph and Katara sat down at the circle they created.

"Elders, masters, what did you call us for?" Katara asked.

"There have been some good words received recently." Elder Sanvi answered. The older airbender was gracious and had kept his people alive in secrecy for a whole century. "We discovered where your father is Katara."

"You did!? Where is he? Did you find my brother? Suki? Zuko? Anyone else?" Katara started to interrogate, joy showing on here face.

"Patience Katara." Sanvi said, holding his hand up. "Your father is in the north, gathering other fighters to him. Haru the earthbender is with him and soon they will begin moving this way. It will take them some time to do so however. Zuko has sent word that he found Mai and Ty Lee. He broke them out of a prison they were in as well as several others that had been apart of the allied forces back then. There still hasn't been any word of your brother, but there have been rumors of someone fitting Suki's description in the Fire Nation."

Katara took all of this info in slowly. There hadn't been much news over the years, but she knew that they were still alive. Jet and his Freedom Fighters had arrived over two years ago, saying that the Fire Nation had been getting pretty panicked as of late. Next, some Fire Nation insurgents had shown up led by a woman named Onji. She said that Azula had the Fire Nation military looking for someone.

Now, all of her old friends and family were on the move. Something had to of happened to get things moving again. She looked up to the council here and asked, "What has happened? Why is everyone on the move again?"

The smiles that formed on the elder's face startled her. The rest also shared smiles. "A messenger from Zuko came just this morning. Rumors have been going around that the next Avatar has been revealed."

Katara, Toph, and the few others who hadn't been there for the messenger's arrival dropped their jaws. They were completely stunned by the news. A new Avatar! That could only mean…

"A Water Tribe Avatar has been found?" Toph inquired. Elder Sanvi nodded.

"There have been reports that have come from the Fire Nation. Apparently, a Water Tribe girl was seen practicing water and earth bending in the Fire Nation. Shortly after, Royal firebenders had gone in to capture her. But she managed to escape and run off into the woods. Sightings have been coming in of her moving towards the Earth Kingdom." an earthbender said.

"We need to find her and protect her. There are benders from all nations here that will be able to help train her. But since we have no way of tracking her, we need to ask that you both take a small task force and bring her here to safety." Sanvi finished.

Katara looked at Toph beside her. The earthbender had a grin on her face as she looked to Katara. The look on her face said everything. Katara looked back and nodded. "We're up to it. When should we leave?"

"After then sun has set. Go and prepare your team." Sanvi said. They stood up, bowed, and left the chamber. They proceeded down to the armory/supply and picked out some basic necessities. After that they had six other people show up in the room. There was another waterbender and earthbender plus two firebenders and two airbenders. They informed them of the mission and got them prepared.

They allowed them to go ahead and take care of some last minute things. Toph had stayed in the armory for a few minutes longer before getting over to the meeting place where Katara and a few of the others were waiting. She had asked the smith to make three things for her. Two would be needed later if a war really did break out again. The other was in the hopes of something more.

Once everyone was set, they left the temple along one of the tunnels running off to the west. They exited the tunnel and resealed it. The group waited for Toph and Katara to figure out where to go first.

"Shouldn't we head to the shore? That would be where she's heading."

"But that was a few days ago. My money's on her heading for Sakai Village, the border town between the western Fire Nation Colonies and the conquered Earth Kingdom cities." Katara said.

"Good point let's get going. Come on guys." Toph called out. The group went forward, walking in the direction of the town. It would be three days before they got there. I just hope we can find her before Azula does. Katara thought.

Across the vast land to the shoreline of the western Earth Kingdom territory, a young girl walked back in from the waves. She collapsed on the beach, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from her brow. Once her breath returned, she looked up and noticed a sign leading to a road. She picked her feet up and forced herself to walk over to it. It said that there was a town down the road named Sakai.

"Father, mother, what's happened? The Fire Nation hunted me. I don't know what happened to you. You said I'd find someone who could help me in the Earth Kingdom, but I don't know where to go. And what was that about my aunt? You said she died a long time ago." the girl mumbled to herself.

She slung her bag across her back and trudged down the path. She looked up at the sky. "If my aunt really is alive, she'll know what to do."

So what do you guys think? Read and Review please!