Author's Note: In the future, all notes will be at the end of the chapter, but for now, all disclaimers apply. I don't own these wonderful characters.

Chapter One: Divergence, Part One

"Now, look at all the guilt which burdens you so. What do you blame yourself for?"

"I ran away. I hurt all those people."
"Accept the reality that these things happened, but do not let them cloud and poison your energy. If you are to be a positive influence on the world, you need to forgive yourself."

Aang and Guru Pathik- The Guru

Dawn's soft light filtered through the clouds, bathing the harsh and wild land that was the South Pole in in soft pink and golden hues. The ice and snow sparkled like millions of little diamonds scattered across the sea as the light grew ever brighter, the floating landscape subtly changing as it drifted lazily in the stillness of the morning. A small fleet of umiak drifted along the current with the icebergs, the blue sails and the tanned tiger-sealskin hulls also lit up with the dawn's sleepy glow as well as the lanterns that hung at the very bow of each craft. At the head of them all was Chief Hakoda's umiak, and standing at the bow was the chief himself. Hakoda surveyed the surrounding sea with excitement.

Today was the last day of their hunt, and tomorrow they were free to go home.

Going home was always a highlight for him; never mind the return feast that would be waiting for them (though he always enjoyed it), it was his beautiful wife Kya waiting for him with a smile and a kiss that made the term 'coming home' far more meaningful and appropriate. His young son Sokka would also be there to greet him with babbling joy, and Kanna would be there with a wry smile and a bony finger jabbing his side, proclaiming that he was wasting away with hunting camp cooking only and that it was a good thing there was going to be a feast. However, his anxiousness today also stemmed from not knowing if Kya was alright.

When he and his fellow warriors had left last month, she was round as the moon with their next child.

The sounds of footsteps behind him interrupted his worry about Kya (and his unborn baby's) well being, and he turned to see Bato regarding him with a mildly amused look. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"That thing where you randomly space out." Bato huffed, ignoring the annoyed glance Hakoda threw his way, "Kya will be fine."

"How do you know I'm thinking about her?" Hakoda asked peevishly, forgetting his standing as chief in the presence of his childhood friend and dropping all formal pretenses. "I could be thinking about stewed sea prunes for all you know."

Bato smirked. He knew Hakoda well enough by now to know that the lovestruck look whenever his friend started to think about Kya was nothing like the look he reserved for stewed sea prunes. "Sure, whatever you say." He walked over and snuffed out the lantern as he changed the subject. "Today is our last day, and we have plenty to bring back home. Should we head out early, or try for the walrus whale again?"

The walrus whale was the largest of all the animals in the South Pole, on either land or sea. Catching and killing the ten ton beast earned one about the same esteem as bringing down a polar leopard or a polar bear dog, but with the added bonus of valuable meat, blubber, and bone that would help the village substantially throughout the long dark months that marked high summer. The elongated tusks that curved out from it's maw were used by the women to make carvings that were of the most intricate, delicate variety. Those would be traded during the Spring and Autumn Trades, when they would be exchanged with Earth Kingdom merchants for necessities that couldn't be found in Polar regions- everything from cloth and rope to rare herbal remedies and fruit. Hakoda had never caught a walrus whale himself, but he desperately wanted to. "We still have today, Bato. I think as long as the others are willing, we should go for it."

Bato grinned. "I'll sound the signal and get the others ready."

Hakoda nodded at his friend's retreating form before looking out over the ice filled ocean once more. He wasn't sure why, but he felt as if this time his hunt would be different- it was as if the wind held a promise of something mysterious and great, and he hoped that it was the Spirits giving him their blessing for whatever the day would bring.

The hunt didn't go quite as Hakoda planned.

It had seemed to be going quite well at first. He had led his men to a known rout that walrus whales used this time of year, and lo and behold after a good portion of the morning passed he had found an entire pod traveling along the invisible path through the water. Finding them, however, turned out to be the easiest part.

They had managed to separate one handsome brown male from the group and were now in the process of tracking it as it sped through the water, the wide ribbons of blood marking an easy trail even if they couldn't see the wild thrashing as it tried fruitlessly to shake off the harpoons and inflated turtle seal skin drogues. It was putting up a furious fight; after three hours of swimming it seemed ready to keep on going without tiring, and it was headed into an area of water that was crammed with ice floes and icebergs. This was a problem. If the drogues weren't slowing the beast down enough to let them get close and land a killing blow right now, the walrus whale might use the surrounding ice to pull the harpoons and drogues free, and the tribe would be short a whale and Hakoda would go home with wounded pride.

With that thought spurring him on, Hakoda made the life changing decision to follow the walrus whale into dangerous territory.

Later on, the remembrance of details after that were admittedly fuzzy- Bato always said that he tried to talk Hakoda out of such an idiotic thing, but Hakoda (try as he might) would never be able to recall his friend's wise caution. All Hakoda would recall was the sheer urge of stop the walrus whale, as it had managed to snag one of the drogues on a tall spire shaped piece of ice and was thrashing and flailing in a panic as two more also got stuck and entangled. The ice began to split and crack with the animal's frantic struggling, and before Hakoda could sail any closer, the whale pulled free.

With an almighty crack that split the air the ice split down the middle, sending a wave that upset the umiak's rapid approach and effectively giving the wounded whale a cover to escape.

It was the next few moments however that were strongly remembered by every man who was close enough to witness it- as soon as the ice cracked and split, a strange, bubbling glow appeared in the water where the spire once floated. Bato, Hakoda, and every warrior in the chief's umiak raced to the bow and peered at the water with equal parts trepidation and awe. For one horrifying instant, Hakoda wondered if they had somehow offended Sedna and this was the prelude before a murderous rage as the light grew brighter and the bubbles raced up towards the surface even more rapidly. Just as he was about to straighten up and tell the men to back away from it, the bubbling ceased for a silent moment before a giant, luminous sphere of ice suddenly burst forth from the freezing water, spraying him and his men as the waves sloshed against the umiak's side. The glow emanating from it was intense, and everyone had to shield their eyes momentarily before gaping at the incredible sight.

It took a moment for Hakoda to realize that the ice itself wasn't glowing, it was something in the ice...

or rather, someone in the ice.

The chief gripped his club compulsively, frozen in his horrified wonder for a moment before impulsively jumping off the port side bow and hopping on the ice floes toward the mysterious iceberg. "Hakoda!" Bato cried in alarm, leaping after him in exasperation, "Wait! You don't know what that thing is! What if it's a trap?"

Ah, so the idea of Sedna and her tricks on hunters had also occurred to Bato. "I don't think it is," he replied, by now having reached the iceberg's edge and laying a gloved hand on the brilliant surface. "Look inside!"

By now Bato had caught up to his chief and more men had followed as well. The other umiak in the fleet circled warily around the ice riddled territory, not daring to be as adventurous and risking damage to their hulls but coming as close as they could to get a better look. Bato and the closest men all shared astonished looks as they finally saw what had caught their chief's now unwavering attention.

It was a boy- a glowing young boy in suspended animation, the brilliance coming from the white hot energy shining from the curious looking tattoos and from his (now open) eyes. There was something else in there too, but it was the boy who had Hakoda's undivided attention. Flashes of childhood stories entered the chief's mind; stories of long ago, when the four nations lived together in harmony, when airbenders wandered the skies, and when the Avatar kept balance between the physical and spirit worlds. The last Avatar had vanished nearly a century ago, and according to the stories he or she was an Air Nomad. Is this the long lost Avatar? Hakoda couldn't help but wonder, Am I looking at the last of the Air Nomads?

Hefting his club, he decided there was only one way to find out. Before Bato could stop him, Hakoda found the thinnest looking spot within reach and gave the club a mighty swing- the ice fracturing with the first hit, and the second causing the whole thing to crumble and break. A sudden sharp blast of air nearly toppled him and the men as the light became unbearably bright, the ice cracking from the sheer power of it until the top of the iceberg itself exploded. The beam of light shone for a few blinding seconds before it died down a bit, allowing Hakoda to peek out from behind his upraised arm in amazement and caution.

The boy had emerged from inside, standing at the top lip of the now partially destroyed iceberg and staring down with burning eyes at Hakoda and the men for a long moment before the light flickered and, without warning, died. There was only a split second of clarity in the child's gray eyes before the boy swayed in place and fell, his last breath leaving him in a soft groan just as another child was taking her first.

"...I'm afraid we have much to discuss."

Aang had no idea just how much there really was to discuss.

As soon as the elder finished speaking, the surrounding fog began to rise and swirl, languidly at first but rapidly picking up speed. It soon swallowed the gathering of people before him until he was alone with the fire nation man, the rising fog spinning higher and higher around them both until it enveloped them completely. Aang nervously scrambled to his feet to stand by his mysterious companion's side as he watched the swirling mist pick up speed around them. "Where am I?" He had to raise his voice to be heard, "What's going on?"

"You are in the Spirit World because you have died." The man stated sternly, seemingly unfazed by the now furiously spinning mist as it whipped their clothes and the man's beard about violently. Aang flinched as though struck by the underlying frustration in the man's words. "Your actions, as well as mine, have thrown the world disastrously out of balance, and it may be irreversible if something is not done about it."

Aang was about to ask what balance had to do with any of his questions when abruptly the roaring cyclone of mist dispersed, revealing in it's silent wake something that startled Aang far more than any of the previous events so far.

He was looking at himself.

With a startled cry, he jerked backward and away from the other him, accidentally thumping into his companion's chest in his blind fright. "It's alright Aang," A ghost of a smile graced the elderly man's face for the first time as he gripped the boy's shoulder in reassurance. "You are looking at what happened when you became lost in the storm. You need to understand the past and current events before you understand the implications for the future."

Shaking himself of his fright and steeling himself so he wouldn't seem like a coward again, Aang stared at the scene unfolding before him. He watched as the apparition of himself held onto Appa's reins for dear life, flying blindly through the storm and growing closer and closer to Water Tribe territory. The storm, as Aang already knew, grew to be too much to handle, and it eventually tossed them violently into the raging ocean below. Unconsciously, he leaned forward to get a better look at what he knew would happen next- that strange Avatar thing he had done.

As expected, the other Aang's eyes and tattoos soon burned white with incredible power as he swept his arms together in a sharp motion that commanded both air and water to obey and form a frozen shell around himself and his bison. However, instead of coming out of the Avatar State, he remained in it, suspended in a slowly spinning sphere of white hot energy that enveloped Appa as well. The ice glowed brightly with the ethereal light, making the underwater scene look rather tranquil and beautiful in spite of the raging storm above the surface.

Aang watched in silence for a long moment before turning to his companion with a confused frown. "I don't get it. I saved myself while in the Avatar State- I know that much about Avatar stuff to see what it did for me. So how did I die? How long was I like that?"

"In a moment, Aang." The man nodded over at the scene, prompting Aang to look once more. "During your time in the iceberg, the war that the monks warned you of came to fruition." The scene began to morph and melt from the tranquil light of the underwater ice sphere to an ominous blood red sky that seemed to bleed it's unnatural light onto everything, including the troops of Fire Nation soldiers and the ancient looking Fire Lord who stood before them. Peering at the man intently, Aang realized it was Fire Lord Sozin, the one who was (as far as he knew) currently reigning. "What's going on?" He asked uneasily, a nameless dread hanging heavily over his heart. "Who are they going to fight? Why is the sky like that?"

His companion closed his eyes, bowing his head in anguish as his hands vanished up into the spacious sleeves of his robe. "The year you ran away was the year that the great comet arrived. Fire Lord Sozin had made sure that he had removed me from the picture twelve years before so he could move forward with his plans of conquest without the Avatar's interference."

Aang jerked his head up in surprise at that. Of course, how did I not see it before? He thought, mentally smacking himself. This man was the previous Avatar before him- Monk Gyatso had spent the better part of Aang's last week at the Temple educating him about the history of the Avatar, and he had mentioned the esteemed Avatar Roku on numerous occasions. No one knew what had happened to him, but now Aang had a good idea of what must have transpired. "You fought him, didn't you?" he asked quietly, peeking up at the old Avatar even as the scene before them began to melt and change once again.

Roku nodded. "Once, but I spared his life, thinking that he would listen to my warning. I was wrong, and he took advantage of my mercy." His eyes hardened. "I could have stopped the war Sozin had planned before it even began, had I been more decisive and acted sooner." He grasped Aang's shoulder again as he gestured toward the image before them, calling Aang's attention to the comet that now tore through the sky. "The Avatar holds great power and responsibility, but in the end we are human, and can make mistakes. I am not the first to have failed in his duty..." -a flash of a few different faces appeared in Aang's mind, ones he recognized from the crowd he had met when he arrived. Roku prompted him to turn his attention to the scene before them once more, the Air Temples coming into view. "...Nor am I the last."

Author's note: I'm going to clear up a couple things ahead of time before everyone asks me a bunch of needless questions:

#1: Katara will be the most prominent character, but be patient as I get the preliminary stuff out of the way. She'll show up soon, I promise.

#2: The pacing and writing is under construction as I try to find the flow for this story, so please excuse any flaws and kinks you might find. I'm writing without a beta currently, so if anyone knows of a good one please let me know!

#3: I will be focusing on a lot of cultural stuff, and I'm going to take liberties and use references whenever I see fit. I will be using a mix of Inuit/Yupik, Chinese, and Native American elements in describing the Water Tribes and their way of life, and I will be using a lot of Inuit names for people and objects. As featured in this chapter, whaling was a part of Inuit culture, and the method I had Hakoda practice is more or less the way it was done with smaller whales in real life.

#4: As you can see, Aang doesn't know much about the past Avatars at this point. He will, however, find out during the time of quietly watching Katara grow up. By the time she is ready to go on her adventure Aang will have mentally grown enough to offer plenty of wisdom in regards to the Avatar in general, and will be her spiritual mentor as well as her airbending instructor. He will be the second most important character, even if he's dead.

#5: Aang did not die in the Avatar State. This is important, as Katara (and everyone else after her) can't be the Avatar if that happens. He died seconds after the Avatar Spirit left him, and not a moment before. Appa (as you'll see in part two) still lives because the Avatar Spirit kept him alive, just like canon. The main difference in this fic is that the Avatar Spirit's continuous usage greatly taxed Aang's body and he couldn't live without it's support after a few decades, while Appa was merely under the umbrella of it's sustaining power. Anything else you guys may want to know will eventually be revealed down the road, as Katara will be asking a lot of the same questions as you do, so be patient and read on!