Sokka turned around to see where his friend was looking. When he saw Aang, his eyes widened and he shook his head.

"The Avatar? He couldn't be. He was in an iceberg until we found him last night."

"Then, that's how he survived for so long," Zuko awed. "He has airbender tattoos. It would explain why no one's been able to find him for all this time if he's been trapped in ice for almost a hundred years."

Hearing this, Aang stumbled back. He then went over to the two, eyes filled with horror.

"It couldn't have been that long," he insisted. "It's only been a few days."

"Wait," Sokka said, lifting an eyebrow. "You're not denying the part about being the Avatar?"

The airbender hesitated, unsure what to do. As he did, Sokka's eyes widened more.

"You're really the Avatar? I've got to tell the others!"

Before Aang could say anything, the Water Tribe boy ran off for the tribe. He found Hakoda speaking with some of the warriors. Noticing the look on his son's face, the chief stopped to turn to him.

"What happened?"

"Aang's the Avatar."

"He couldn't be."

"But he is! I'm going to tell Katara."

Again, Sokka sped off and went to their hut, finding his sister and Gran Gran there. While he relayed the news, Zuko kept staring at the newcomer. He had a troubled frown on his face.

"How did you escape the attack?"

"What attack?"

The prince blinked in confusion at him. "What's the last thing you remember before coming here?"

Aang got quiet for a moment before no longer meeting the other bender's gaze. "Um, nothing much. I was with the monks and other kids, then decided to go for a flight."

"That's it?"

"That's it," the boy answered. He began feeling his heartbeat becoming faster as anxiety took hold of him. "What attack are you talking about? Are the others okay?"

Zuko could not respond before Sokka returned with Katara. She had a surprised look on her face as she regarded Aang with the new information in mind.

"You didn't tell us that you were the Avatar," she mentioned quietly.

"I wasn't going to."

"Why not?" Sokka asked. "This changes everything."

"And that's exactly why I didn't want to say anything," Aang admitted miserably. "Everything changes when people find out I'm the Avatar. I just want to be Aang."

"Well, you're Aang and the Avatar," Sokka pointed out.

The smaller boy let out a soft sigh and looked down at the snow. After a moment, Katara approached him and held his hands. He blushed slightly when she did, but the warm expression on her face made it fade.

"I heard that there have been a lot of Avatars in the world. From the stories, each one made a unique impact because of who they were outside of just being able to bend all four elements. I bet you'll be the same. Being the Avatar is just one part of who you are, but it's not the most important part. The world's been in chaos because of everything being out of balance. With you back, that can change."

The airbender still looked uncertain, but he gave a tiny nod of his head. "I don't know if I'll be able to fix everything in the world, but I can try."

"You don't have to do it alone," Katara assured him. "You need to learn waterbending next. So do I. If you fly to the Northern Water Tribe, I could go with you."

"What?" Sokka asked, quickly beginning to frown. "No, you can't. There's no way Dad's going to allow that."

"You can come too."

"Of course I'd be coming too, but that doesn't change anything. Dad doesn't even want us around here to fight against the soldiers. Do you really think he's going to let us fly to another tribe that we haven't had contact with in years with some stranger even if he is the Avatar? Not to mention the fact that the Northern Tribe will be a warzone soon. Back me up on this, Zuko."

The prince still had a pensive look on his face. He jolted a little when he heard his name called.

"He's right," he confirmed. "Fleets will be there by the time you arrive. They might be there already. It would be too dangerous."

"But Aang has to learn waterbending. How else would he? We don't have anybody here who could teach him."

"It's too dangerous," Zuko repeated, stern. "The main reason they were sent there was to find the Avatar. At least if he's here or anywhere else, they won't be able to capture him no matter how thoroughly they search. If you go, you'll be giving them just what they want."

"We'll be able to fend them off once we learn from a master," Katara argued.

"You're not going to be able to fend off an entire navy," Sokka protested.

A pause came as both sides weighed their arguments. Eventually, Aang spoke up.

"Before I go anywhere else, I need to return to the Southern Air Temple."

Another silence came that made a pit form in the boy's stomach.

"Why does everyone keep acting weird when I talk about the other Air Nomads?"

The three children looked at one another and Katara approached the airbender.

"Aang," she said quietly, "I'm so sorry, but…"

The girl felt herself getting choked up, thinking of how it would make the young monk feel. Seeing this, Sokka went over and finished for her. His own face was just as sympathetic as his sister's.

"There are no other airbenders or Air Nomads."

Aang stepped back. "That can't be true."

"I'm really sorry," Zuko said sincerely, feeling as though he had been personally responsible. "The Fire Nation attacked to be sure that the Avatar was dead. That's why you can't go to the Northern Water Tribe. So many innocent people were already killed to strengthen the nation."

Sokka nodded as his expression became more firm. "They won't care if you haven't done anything to them or if you're a kid. They will see you as just the Avatar and that'll be enough of a reason for them to kill you."

Katara wanted to offer a different viewpoint, but she was not even sure if she had one. She knew the Fire Nation could be brutal and that they would do anything for a chance to get more power. To break her heart even more, she saw tears in the airbender's eyes. Pain was clear on his face and the tears soon fell.

"I'm really the last one?" he asked, desperately hoping this was some nightmare and he was actually still stuck in the ice.

When Aang saw the looks on the other people's faces, a sob escaped his throat. He did not want to believe them. His friends, his mentors, his culture. They were all gone. The boy felt like he had to see it for himself to believe it, but he also felt like he did not want to get that confirmation. Aang thought that the world was falling down around him. Reality seemed to break apart as his blurred vision refused to show him what was actually there. Things got even stranger as he started to sense other presences. There were a lot of them. He had only felt this way one other time. Aang was sensing the spirits of past Avatars. In a combination of shock and fear, the other children watched his gray eyes turn completely white and his tattoos begin to glow.

"What's he doing?" Sokka asked nervously.

"He's entering the Avatar state," Zuko explained.

"Isn't that just for attacking people?"

"It can happen during extreme emotions too."

"What do we do?"

Zuko did not have an answer for this question as the snow began blowing, turning into a fog and causing visibility to be reduced. A sphere of air was around Aang. It spun and combined with more air to create a bigger blizzard. As chunks of ice deep beneath layers of snow broke up and flew towards the trio, the prince created a ring of fire to protect them. Zuko was not sure what else to do, so he continued doing this until noticing that the winds were dying down. Cautiously, the boy let the fire fade out. When he did, he saw that Hakoda and Gran Gran had approached them. The grandmother was hugging Aang, tears forming in her own eyes for the child as his flowed down his face.

The woman had experience with grieving children. She had embraced her young son after his father was killed. She had embraced her grandchildren after their mother was killed. She had done the same for so many orphaned children who currently fought alongside her son as fellow warriors. She hated being experienced with this, but for the time being, she was glad only for the fact that she could offer some comfort to the small airbender.

"After the battle here, I'll go," Aang said when his breathing had calmed down.

"No one's expecting you to do that after what you just found out," Sokka said.

The other boy had a determined look on his face and got out of the hug. "That's why I have to go. You said that the Fire Nation would do anything to get stronger. That means it would do this to more nations." He paused, taking a shaky breath. "I won't let them kill any other group. I'll make sure the rest of the world can be safe. I'm the last airbender and my people are the last to go."

Aang took out a staff, revealing it to be a glider and used his airbending to blast off the ground. He began heading to Appa. He needed the bison's company. Appa seemed to know this as well and let out a sad roar as his friend hugged him.

"We're the only ones left, Appa," the boy said pitifully, face buried in fur. "Everyone else is gone. We shouldn't have left them."

Back near the shipwreck, Katara looked at Sokka with a worried expression. "I know you don't want us to go, but if he's determined to, I want to go with him. He'll need us."

"He will," Hakoda agreed, surprising the children. "He can't do this alone."

"But what can we really do, Dad?" Sokka asked.

"If nothing else, he'll need emotional support. We can provide that."

"The tribe will need you," Katara commented. "Even after the fight, they won't know what to do if you aren't here. They rely on you. If Sokka and I go, nothing will change."

"She's right," the boy begrudgingly admitted. "If we go, it's got to just be the two of us. You'd be able to keep Gran Gran safe too if you stayed."

Hakoda began frowning. "I'm not comfortable with you two being so far from home."

"It'll be weird, but if Aang goes alone and gets caught, then the danger we might face in the Northern Water Tribe would seem like nothing compared to what the Fire Nation does next," Sokka added.

Gran Gran had a pensive look on her face before speaking. "In my youth, I knew someone by the name of Pakku. He was a skilled waterbender. If you ask for him and tell him that you're my grandchildren, he might be able to train you and keep you safe until your work there is complete."

Katara and Sokka glanced at Hakoda. He looked conflicted, but he finally nodded his head. They went over to embrace their father, making him regret that he had just given them permission to leave. When Hakoda let go, he walked over to Zuko.

"Will you tell anyone what you learned here today?"

The boy shook his head. "The only people I'd want to know just found out with me."

Hakoda was not sure if he believed this, but he returned to the hut with his mother and daughter. Sokka approached Zuko whose expression was looking troubled again.

"You'll really be leaving?"

"I have to. I don't think Aang will be able to do it alone and I'm definitely not leaving Katara to go alone." Sokka stopped talking for a moment. "I remember what you said about your father wanting you to get the Avatar. It means a lot that you aren't telling him."

"I couldn't do something like that," Zuko said, shaking his head. "He'd be unstoppable. At least this way, I'll know that Aang will be with a skilled swordsman."

The younger boy beamed and got into his usual sword fighting stance. "Absolutely! When we're done, I might even have a sword of my own to show off."

His friend gave him a small smile. "I'll miss you while you're gone."

This made Sokka's grin fade and he stood back to his normal height. "I'll miss you too. It'll be weird not coming out here anymore to hang out. I hope we'll be able to come back before too long."

"Honestly, after the attack, I'm not too sure when the next time we'd see each other again would be anyway. No letter from here would make it to the Fire Nation. So, I guess we'd be saying goodbye that day no matter what. Now, you get to go on an adventure at least."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Sokka admitted, feeling glum that this was true.

Both were feeling down, but with it getting later in the day, Zuko knew he could not stay much longer.

"I have to head back. The soldiers and nobles in the settlements are watching me more closely now. They still don't know about these talks, so I have to keep it that way."

"It'll be tomorrow," Sokka blurted out. "The attack will be tomorrow."

"Oh. That's good. It won't give the soldiers any time to find the Avatar before you leave." Zuko looked resolute. "I'm looking forward to fighting with you then."

"I'm looking forward to that too. I couldn't think of a better battle buddy."

Sadly, the two boys went their own ways. Zuko got on board the ship again. It seemed so different since he was in line for the throne. The people who would look past or through him suddenly bowed deeply just as they saw him out of the corner of their eyes. They thought that he had power, but he knew better. He had so much less than they assumed. The boy's thoughts went to Hakoda hugging Sokka and Katara. They appeared truly loving.

"Maybe if I…" Zuko stopped himself from completing the thought. "Nothing would change. Father wouldn't think any differently about me and he wouldn't spare Sokka and his family either. The only thing that would be different is that he'd have the Avatar in his clutches. Still," he thought ruefully, "it would be nice if there was something I could do that would make him feel about me the same way the chief thinks about Sokka. It's dumb to think that, though. The nobles and soldiers think things are better, but I know they aren't. Things will only change for the better after the attack. Things will only improve after tomorrow."