Before he even opened his eyes Sokka became aware of one thing; he was cold. He could feel the freezing artic air on his face whereas the back of his head felt as though it were being numbed by snow. The second thing he registered was that his entire body was wet. Not only wet but completely soaked. Heavy clothes clung to him and his shoes felt as though they were still submerged in water. It felt as though he had jumped into the ocean wearing his fur poncho that he only ever wore when he was home in the Water Tribe. Once he finally opened his eyes, and once they adjusted to the darkness of the night, he discovered that this was exactly what happened. Well almost, he fell rather than jumped but the fact still remained that somehow he had ended up lying flat on his back on a snowy sidewalk with his feet still submerged in the water.

With a grunt he sat up and pulled his feet out of the water, now sitting on the sidewalk trying to figure out what happened. One look at his surroundings and he knew that he was in the Northern Water Tribe, which made absolutely no sense at all.

"How did I-!" He couldn't even finish his sentence before clasping both hands over his own mouth at the sound of his voice. He sounded the way he did years ago; then upon looking around it dawned on him that somehow he had been sent back in time.

"Azula what-?" Again he didn't even finish, because Azula was not there.

Azula woke up sweating, bolting upright into a sitting position and finding herself staring at a stone wall with one of the worst stenches she had ever smelt radiating throughout the room.

"What the?" She asked herself as she looked around the room in total confusion, she was in her bedroom. The bedroom she once shared with Cara. How, and more importantly why, had she ended up back here?

She looked around for Mika and Sokka, but she was so dazed and so confused that she barely even worried when she couldn't find either of them; besides if they were at Rafela's house then she may have a lot to answer for but those two would be fine. She decided that, although she dreaded facing either Cara or Rafela after all these years, she better get up and accept her punishment. Then maybe if she were lucky she would get some answers. She was about to get up when she heard two voices and they stopped her cold.

"Would you get out of my way?" A frustrated voice demanded more than asked, Cara's frustrated voice.

The next voice must have been mumbled because Azula couldn't hear it, but after a minute or two Cara said something else that Azula couldn't make out and it was followed by a loud groan.

The groan was that of a child, a little boy, one she had heard before; it was Bao. She kept listening, listening for anything that would prove her right. Anything that would let her know that she hadn't gone back to her former delusional mind; and soon she heard him.

"I'm going outside!" Bao's voice announced.

Her jaw hung open, the sensation of tears just barely beginning to prick at the corners of her eyes and her mind blank. How was any of this possible? Had Bao actually survived all those years ago? But if he had then why did he still have the voice of a child? Was she dead? That was more likely, that she had died and this was some sort of afterlife. But what about Cara? Had she died within the past twelve years? Maybe she had gone insane again, although this was far more convincing than even the hallucinations she once had of her mother. But perhaps this time she had truly gone off the deep end. Or perhaps she was wrong. This was without a doubt her old bedroom, but she had no proof that the little boy she was hearing was Bao. Rafela had been an old woman when they found her and in all honesty was probably dead by now, therefor she most likely would've left the house to Cara. With a small sense of stability Azula decided that the most likely scenario was that Cara must have begun a family of her own by now and the boy she heard was her son, though that still didn't explain how she ended up here. But that could only be explained, not determined. So with shaking legs Azula rose from her old bed, slightly surprised that it was still in the same spot it had been twelve years ago, and walked over to the mirror mounted on the wall to fix her most likely disheveled appearance before she faced her old 'sister'.

The mirror was cracked, always had been and Azula chuckled upon realizing that it clearly always will be. But her smile was soon replaced by a shocked face, complete with wide eyes that blinked once or twice just to see if the reflection before her would change; it didn't. Azula rubbed her eyes but still found herself staring back at a reflection she hadn't seen in a long time. Her hair was in a braid, the way she used to have it when she slept. Thanks to the braid it was hard to see but Azula could tell that her hair was also shorter. She couldn't pinpoint any exact differences but there was something about her face as well, it looked a little younger and nowhere near as haunted. She also noticed her shirt in the mirror, or rather the top of her old nightdress. She looked over at the small wooden bench where she used to store her clothes almost in fear and spotted her old pink pants, red sash like belt, and loose pink shirt. When she changed and found that her old clothes fit as perfectly as they used to she came to her conclusion. It was Bao she heard. Somehow she was twenty years old again; somehow she had gone back in time.

"Was my voice really this high at fifteen?" Sokka muttered to himself as he walked around the sidewalks on the Northern Tribe in search of… well he wasn't sure. He was pretty much just looking for answers and wondering if Azula and Mika were even here. He doubted they were, if going back in time meant your life literally being reset then Mika wasn't even born yet, and Azula was still evil.

"Is this the test Yue was talking about?" He wondered aloud to himself, though he failed to see how visiting a night so far in his past related to Mika in the future.

As he walked down the sidewalk Sokka took notice of the full moon and the nighttime sky which was lit with stars, and the quiet of the city around him. But the blackened snow that covered the ground told him that tonight was not a peaceful night. He was wondering exactly what night it was, as it had taken some time for the black snow to be cleaned up, but then he got his answer. It came in the form of labored breathing and quick footsteps coming from behind him, and his name being called.

"Sokka!" He'd know that voice anywhere.

When he turned around he almost couldn't believe it, Yue was urgently running towards him. She was alive and that was when Sokka knew what night he had been sent back to; tonight was the night that Yue died.

"Yue?" he questioned, just as awestruck as he was a two nights ago when her ghost appeared in his bedroom.

She nearly crashed into him as she reached him, just like she had when this happened the first time, and just like the first time his arms only barely managed to halt her.

"You have to help! Aang, he's being attacked by a Fire Bender! Katara's holding him off but…" she trailed off as she tried to catch her breath.

"Alright catch your breath and let's go," he ordered though instead of catching her breath the princess simply grabbed his wrist and started dragging him in the direction she came from. Sokka ran along with her, his memories of this night flooding back to him. He may not understand why he was sent back to this night; but he did know that he wasn't going to let anything happen to Yue, not this time.

This is insane Azula thought to herself, this is completely and totally insane.

Why, just why, had what she could only assume to have been a spirit sent her back to being twenty years old?

As she thought about this she slipped out the door and cautiously surveyed the kitchen she had walked into. It looked just like she remembered it, covered in dirty dishes and miscellaneous bottles. The smell in the kitchen was even worse than the smell in her bedroom, and Azula knew it was the stench of old medicine being dumped.

Just then Cara came out of the back room, and if Azula wasn't convinced that she was in the past already she definitely was now. Cara looked just as she had the last time they saw each other.

"Hey are you still hanging out with your friends today?" She asked while carefully setting down the glass jars in her arms.

Azula was so stuck in processing her new situation that she didn't even hear the question.

"Azula?" Cara asked, snapping her older sister out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Yeah" she answered, not really sure what she had been asked

"Good, then can you please take Bao with you?" Cara asked, though Azula knew that it was more of an order than a request, so as the younger girl made her return to the back room Azula snapped out of her daze and chased after her.

"Wait" she ordered, grabbing Cara by the shoulder so that she would turn back around, "I don't think that's a good idea" she said, now she knew when she was exactly. Today was the worst day of her life, today was the day she killed her little brother.

"Why?" Cara questioned but when Azula didn't respond she sighed, "please, if he stays here then not only is he going to be in the way but knowing him he'll put something in his mouth and poison himself." She pleaded, Azula desperately wanted to refuse but she didn't want to reveal the truth about what today would hold. So she let Cara continue on her way and looked out the front window where she saw Bao sitting board in front of the house.

Involuntarily her breath hitched in her throat at the sight, and she decided that if she had been given the chance to repeat this awful day then she wasn't going to let anything happen to Bao, not this time.

Sokka was stuck in a trance as he steered Appa through the blizzard looking for Aang and Zuko. He knew this would take all day, and he knew that meant he had a lot of time to just sit here and think. He needed a plan, a plan to stop Zhao before he destroys the moon, and ultimately kills Yue. Zhao would already have the Koi fish in his grasp before they returned, and Sokka knew that he couldn't speed up their search due to the fact that in the blizzard everything looks the same everywhere, trying to steer Appa somewhere based on a nearly twenty year old memory would undoubtedly only make things worse.

But he was also thinking about Mika. Why had he been sent back at all? Never mind to a night so long before his dying girl was ever born. Did the spirit want to see if he could handle the pain of losing her by forcing him to relieve one of the worst nights of his life? Well if so then this was a test he was surely going to fail. He can't stand losing Yue again, and he won't. Zhao released the Koi fish for an instant before killing it in the pond, that's his chance. As soon as that fish his released he'll throw his boomerang and get Zhao away from the water, after that they'll be able to take him.

"You're quiet" a voice snapped him out of his head and he turned to see Yue leaning over the saddle.

"Just worried "he replied with a shrug, he was sure that none of the others would believe him if he told them that he was actually from the future and still had all his memories of said future.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my engagement sooner but-" Yue began however he cut her off.

"It's ok, I understand," he said, he couldn't really remember exactly how this conversation had originally gone but he knew that this wasn't far off. But he remembered that last time when she turned away from him he felt an unbelievable level of guilt, but this time he could only feel relief.

As Sokka tried to figure out why that was her advice from the other night kept ringing in his head do not let your past blind you from your future.

Suddenly it clicked.

He felt relief because he was no longer in love with her. He still loved her, he always would, but now there was someone else in his life who he loves and being with Yue no longer felt right. He would always love Yue but it was always her destiny to become the moon spirit; he never could've saved her and he couldn't even now. She is his past, and Azula is his future.

"I wasn't entirely honest with you either Yue" he confessed, thankful that Katara didn't appear to be listening. But Yue gave him her full attention and he continued. "The truth is there's a girl back home, I know we're young but she was into some bad stuff before and she has a daughter" he was lying just a little bit in order to avoid the whole 'time traveling' topic. "Her and her daughter, they're my whole world. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about her" he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "Like I said she's a had a rough life and I didn't think I could ever trust her at first. But when she looks at her daughter it's like none of that bad ever existed, all that's there is this beautiful and caring woman who is stronger than anyone I've ever met, and I love her." He said but when he opened his eyes Yue was gone. She was gone, Appa was gone, the blizzard was gone, everything was just gone and Sokka was left alone, back to his usual adult self, sitting in the midst of a clearing fog.

Azula still didn't understand what the heck was happening. She was so confused that she was even considering the possibility that the past twelve years could have somehow been a dream. But really, that would be one elaborate dream. Plus there was no way that, even with her elaborate imagination and history of delirium, she could've dreamed up Mika. Everything else she would believe with some convincing, even Bao's death and her situation with Sokka, though maybe not her feelings for him. But Mika is real, her feelings for Sokka are real, and the death of the little boy currently walking beside her was real. But today she would change that.

They were walking out to the field where Azula was set to meet her old, or apparently current, friends. She tried to weasel out of bringing Bao along with her but it was insisted that he come, which in hindsight was almost better than leaving him because since she knows what's going to happen she can prevent it. Had she left him at the house Cara could end up being right for all she knew and he would accidently poison himself. Then his death would be on Cara's head, and that is the last thing Azula wants. Cara's only fourteen and has already been through enough; believing herself responsible for the death of their little brother would shatter her completely. The guilt Azula felt in the last twelve years, it's something she would never wish on anyone, and today it would stop.

"There you are" Jong's impatient voice cut threw her thoughts. She looked up and she saw the whole gang there, including Hariko.

She didn't know why, maybe because she knew the truth about him or maybe it was because she had spent so many years believing he was alive and hoping to just run into him, just hoping that someday she could scold him for the hell he put her through. She knew that today was a day that took place years before they were dating, but she just wanted to run over and hug him. But she knew better, she had already hugged Bao this morning and his reaction was freaked out enough, she didn't need Hariko to think she had gone over the edge again.

"Come on let's go" Jong encouraged as his friend slowly approached their group; he ignored the child trailing behind her.

"Can't, I gotta watch him," she informed casually, nodding down and Bao who was looking up at her with a sudden sadness.

"What?" The little boys asked; he loved watching her practice her bending.

"Never stopped you before" Jong reminded her

"Well it's stopping me today" Azula shot back in a tone that said I don't have to explain myself to you.

"Come on I thought you wanted to fight" Jong continued to pressure but Azula shrugged.

"Plans change," she said and the look on Jong's face was one of absolute confusion.

"Azula come on," he pleaded with her, she was going to tell him "no" one more time, but she never got the chance.

"Think fast" a voice quickly said and Azula snapped her attention to see a huge ball of fire coming her way, courtesy of Xiao.

She tried quickly to dissipate it, she really did, but for whatever reason she wasn't fast enough and the fire burned the little boy at her side. Suddenly her ears were filled with an all too familiar cry of agony. She looked down and she watched Bao crash to the ground and begin rolling around, and just like last time she scooped him up in her arms and sprinted.

Hours later, she sat alone in her room until Cara came in with some bandages for her, her eyes red and still wet with tears.

"I should've left him here" Azula said, her voice cracking with sadness, she had blown it. She was given the most unbelievable second chance and she blew it.

The fog lifted and it left Sokka to realize that he was standing in the base of a canyon and all around him were people, standing as though they were lost in some kind of trance. He looked around for Azula and Mika, and noticed that one of the people standing around looked suspiciously like Admiral Zhao. He avoided that man out of caution and soon found Azula kneeling on the ground.

"Azula!" He exclaimed, rushing to her side. He got down next to her but like all the other's she was in a trance.

He couldn't explain it but he got the feeling that Mika wasn't here; it was just him and Azula. So in the hopes that he was right and looking for Mika here would be pointless, Sokka scooped Azula into his arms bridal style and carried her as he began his walk out of the canyon. Once they emerged from the canyon Sokka noticed that the fog inside of it reappeared and, more importantly, Azula began to stir in his arms.

"What happened?" She asked; he just looked down at her with a smile, partly because he really had no idea.

"It was a test" a gentle voice said, the two humans looked in front of them to see a beautiful woman floating there. Her skin was a ghostly pale and her face, neck, and shoulders were covered in red markings. Her long brown hair flowed out from underneath her hat; it was the painted lady.

"Your child exists in the present day and is dying; I can save her but a child's life is wasted when her parents live their lives in their pasts" she explained and Azula frowned.

"The fog" Sokka said as the realization hit him and he set Azula on her feet. Aang had once mentioned something to him about a spirit prison, The Fog of Lost Souls.

The Painted Lady nodded "it traps you in your darkest memories and only clears when you accept what as happened" she explained.

"So I failed," Azula muttered but The Painted Lady's smile was warm and gentle.

"No" she said simply, both Sokka and Azula looked up at her with a mix of shock, confusion, and just a bit of happiness.

"In the aftermath of your brother's death you did not run, you remained and were willing to answer for what you had done." She further explained. "When you return to the physical world all will be well with your daughter, you have proven that she will have a bright future" the spirit congratulated but while Sokka had a huge grin plastered across his face Azula still seemed confused.

"Wait. Why did you make Sokka suffer through that torture? Biologically he's not Mika's father" Azula asked of the spirit, she hated what she had been forced to relive in that fog, but she really hated that Sokka had been forced to relive some horrid memory for a child that is not even his.

"It only needed to be her father" the spirit replied simply and before another question could be asked she was gone.

When Azula opened her eyes she was back in the clearing where they had blacked out. She sat up only to find that she had been lying right next to Sokka.

"Even when a spirit knocks us out," she commented with a small smile as Sokka awoke, soon returning the smile.

"Mom?" A small voice questioned, the two adults looked ahead to see Mika sit up right at their feet.

"Mika!" Azula exclaimed, throwing her arms around her daughter and embrace her in a hug.

"I saw a spirit lady mommy, she told me that I'm gonna be ok?" Mika said as though it were a question. Her mother pulled out of their embrace and nodded, trying to hide the tears of joy in her eyes.

"I know, she's right," she confirmed.

Sokka beamed as he watched the two of them before he got to his feet and took the chance of ruining the reunion.

"So where to?" He asked; his hopes still set on Hira'a.

Azula seemed to give the question some thought as she and Mika stood up.

"We can still stop in Hira'a for a night" Sokka suggested, this time being much more obvious about what he wanted to do.

"There's one place we need to go first," Azula finally answered.