HELLO EVERYONE!
I wanted to explore the story of Avatar but in a way where it takes place during the final battle. I felt this would be a pivotal place to start the new timeline and the way things will deviate from how we originally saw them. I wanted to explore Toph and Sokka as well as Katara and Zuko had they taken different love interests. This will NOT be a retelling of the series, but will merely start from this point and develop onwards into its own story. This is going to be a slow burn, so I hope you all enjoy and thank you for reading!
KATARA
"I can handle Azula," responded Zuko, a look of fierce confidence in his eyes as he glanced towards his uncle Iroh, who was seated beside him.
"Not alone," Iroh warned. "You'll need help."
"You're right…" Zuko admitted, his once-confident tone quickly shifting to a disappointed admission. Without a moment's hesitation, he turned to her and continued speaking as if he already knew what to do.
"Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?" Zuko's copper eyes locked onto hers, only highlighting the powerful visage behind them.
Katara had a score to settle with that fire-breathing witch, and payback was long overdue. The events at Ba Sing Se had etched themselves into her nightmares. What had nearly happened to Aang haunted her dreams. Everything they had fought for had almost ended that day, especially Aang. Had Master Pakku not given her the waters of the sacred pools, Aang would be dead, and with him, the last flicker of hope would have been extinguished forever. Though Zuko had played a significant role in how that day ended, she had meant her words to him: "…but I am ready to forgive you." She remembered throwing herself into an embrace with him, a sudden action she hadn't realized until it happened. What am I doing?! she asked herself, her face feeling flush, not from anger this time. Their journey together had given her a sense of peace she hadn't felt since she was eight years old. While Zuko hadn't provided her with true peace, nothing ever would; he had shown her it was time to move forward. She wasn't about to let him face Azula alone.
"It would be my pleasure!" she replied with a grin.
Katara was about to inquire about Zuko's plan to take down Azula when Sokka joined them. They continued talking as her brother questioned the retired former general Iroh about their destinies. Iroh smiled warmly and gave a genuine response that made Sokka reflect inwardly. Despite his outward determination, she knew he was afraid. They all were. Up to this point, luck and a bit of strategy had gotten them through everything, but mostly luck. To complicate matters, Aang was still missing, his whereabouts unknown. Yet, she was certain he would be there when the time came. She had never doubted him since they first met and didn't plan to start now. She only prayed to the ocean spirit that he would be ready to face the Fire Lord and that their training would prove more than just a way to vent their anxieties and fears.
Later that afternoon, Sokka, Toph, and Suki departed, setting out to intercept the Fire Nation airships but not before Sokka spun around and joked.
"Fire Lord, Shmire-lord. Aang isn't the only thing he has coming his way. Bet he hasn't thought about how to fight against…space sword!" he exclaimed, motioning to his newly crafted weapon while bearing an incredibly toothy open-mouthed smile; his eyebrows raised high. Katara tried to laugh but couldn't. She then saw her brother's expression turn somber. Sokka always used humor to make light of any situation and honestly, she could not imagine how she would have gotten by without it, despite how much grief and teasing she gave him for it.
"Hurry up already!" Toph called out impatiently, her arms waving outwardly in an exaggerated way.
"Alright, alright!" Sokka shouted back. He turned to Katara with a serious look and gave her a short, firm hug. "We'll be back, Katara... I'll be back. Don't worry." He turned his back from her and walked towards his friends.
And with those words, her brother mounted the animal, and they disappeared, leaving Katara to face the gust of wind that sent her wavy brown hair into a frenzy. Katara's eyes felt dry, hot, and stung but she refused to blink and headed back towards the camp.
TOPH
UGH! Riding Appa these last few months on their journey was already challenging enough as it was. She hated the motion sickness and the feeling of spider-moths in her stomach whenever Appa took a sharp turn, and worst of all, she hated how helpless and, well – blind she felt while in the sky. Aside from the oversized saddle, their belongings, and everyone else, Toph couldn't see anything. Her sense of sight, or what she knew as sight, was completely cut off. To her, the entire world and its vastness were merely a small floating island - albeit a hairy, shedding, and growling one. She didn't make too much of a fuss about it as she was too proud to whine, unlike Sokka, who felt the need to constantly complain. Big baby – she thought.
Of course, though, this was different. Sokka's master, that old man Piandao, called it a giant eel hound. Toph contorted her face with a shudder when her legs and bare feet made contact with the scaly, slimy thing. She placed her small hands on the back of Sokka's shoulders and dug her fingers into the fabric of his battle-tunic. This beast was hard, and emitted residue from between its tightly wound scales. Whatever residue it had come with a stench to it as well. Worse was that the slime was completely covering her heels. Toph had really wished to be wearing shoes right now.
The animal was fast, and although Toph was not able to use her earthbending senses while riding, she could hear the terrain passing by them. Grassy hills, the sounds of oak trees rustling, and the occasional stream or river somewhere in the distance. If she tried hard enough, she could even pick up on sparrow-doves singing occasionally. The average person would have been unable to pick up on these as it would have been invisible to their senses, but Toph's hearing was so sharp she could hear a pin drop amidst a room full of conversation - and from another room. Not to brag, well, she did want to brag – being the greatest earthbender in the world had its perks.
Toph pulled herself out of her sporadic thoughts and felt the breeze tickling past her ears and through the front of her bangs. Her eyes could feel the wind sifting through them, which would've felt unpleasant, she imagined, if she could see, but it felt kind of nice, she admitted. Still, she did not like having her feet off the ground and could not wait for this ride to be over. It suddenly occurred to her that once the ride was over, they were going to be taking on their greatest challenge: getting rid of those Fire Nation airships. Great, she thought. From one thing to the other. She just was not able to catch a break today but found herself mentally laughing at the situation. Call it dark humor that they were in a war, (well, about to end one) and all she could think about was her feet.
It had been a few hours already, and everyone was tired, including her. Suki, who was seated behind her, kept squirming around. She didn't blame her. This wasn't exactly comfortable.
"Now all we have to do is get across and we're home free!" Sokka spouted out when they had finally slowed down.
"Good! I could use a stretch myself!" added in Suki with some excitement in her voice. Toph wasn't sure what was going on really, so she turned around towards Suki and asked, "Across what?".
"Just a bit of water, Toph, but it's okay. We're close. I can feel it," Sokka answered.
"Ah. Great," Toph replied. She hadn't exactly had the best swimming experience last time when the Unagi attacked them at the Serpent's Pass. Well, technically she couldn't swim at all, which was the problem.
"This time I've got you. I won't let you fall in. Just grab on tight, okay?" Sokka told her in a deeper voice than normal.
Toph's chest felt like bursting open, and her breathing became erratic. Her lips trembled slightly, and her head started to spin a little. The last time she had fallen into the ocean, Suki pulled her out, but she thought and wanted so badly for it to be Sokka. She had even kissed Suki on the cheek, thinking it was him. She was so mortified, but Suki never mentioned anything more of it. Although she did consider "slipping" off into the water to properly thank him as she was robbed of her chance before. She almost did but decided against it. Instead, she remained with her arms around his waist, his muscular body not at all something Toph had a problem with.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," Toph replied, trying to sound full of herself. Although her real response, the one she wanted to reply with, was different.
"It's weird to say, but the comet actually looks beautiful," Suki said in a calm and soothing tone. Toph of course could not see the comet, much less anything else for that matter, but figured something that passed by every hundred years had to be remarkable.
"Too bad the Fire lord is about to use it to destroy the world," Toph said rather dimly. She kicked her heels softly against the sides of the eel hound trying to see if she could reach the water enough to wash off whatever slime seeped out of its skin.
After some time, the warm day grew cooler, and Toph had been certain they had been swimming for a while now. She could hear the ripples in the water around them almost rhythmically as they trudged on. Toph had kept her arms around Sokka the entire time since entering the water… just for safe measure, of course.
ZUKO
The sky above them was glowing in a bright crimson red and the clouds were scattered about, which only revealed more of the unusual hue that was brought on by Sozin's comet. The flight to the fire nation capital, to the palace was not one full of many words exchanged between him and Katara. Zuko's thoughts drifted towards his sister. Why had things ended up this way? During his brief time back as the returned prince, Zuko had come to recognize what could have, no - what should have been a bond between himself and Azula. She had demanded that the servants work double the normal pace to ensure Zuko's return to royalty was nothing but perfect. Zuko had barely had a chance to visit all the parts of his old home before his sister had the best tailors and dressers meet Zuko and immediately begin taking measurements to create for him "proper attire" she called it. It didn't end there; she had his hair attended to by the royal artists who soaked it in different blends of herbs and tonics until it shone and carried a scent of smoky wood and rich plum sake.
Azula had even scheduled a session with the royal painter, but Zuko had furiously refused this regardless of her insistence.
"Make sure they get your good side," really pissed him off and with that he had enough of her. Zuko was aware that Azula was merely keeping up appearances mostly rather than just making him feel at home, but somehow, he did sense something there that wasn't just malicious. It was small, almost non-existent, but it was there.
Even at ember island, when Zuko had stormed off and ended up at his family's once summer home, she was the only one who either cared to look for him or knew him well enough where to. It may have been very brief before he "betrayed" his country and took off to help Aang defeat his father, but Zuko was hurt. He had seen a small glimmer of good in his sister but knew it wouldn't be enough to avoid the inevitable confrontation there would be between them. Unlike Aang who was in denial about having to take the Fire lord's life, Zuko was aware this would be the last time him and his sister would look at one another in this lifetime. That was what hurt the most.
Zuko descended towards the royal courtyard where he spotted Azula slumped forward wrapped in the ceremonial cloak worn only during the royal coronation. The advisory council stood behind her with one man at the center holding out the fiery crown above Azula's head. He had arrived just in time somehow.
Appa landed with a low growl and loud thud onto the courtyard while Zuko threw the reigns off to the side and stood up.
"Sorry, but you're not gonna become Firelord today," he jumped off the bison and onto the courtyard grounds. "I am."
Azula sneered and went into a series of mocking laughter. Her hair was unusually wild. It almost seemed as if it had been cut mistakenly somehow. Even stranger was Azula never donned clothing with so much as a single wrinkle, even casual robes. Her tunic was tilted awkwardly at the shoulders and her sleeves were creased everywhere. She wasn't poorly dressed by any means, but her outfit was simply not perfect. Zuko did not fail to notice what looked like dark circles under her slightly bloodshot eyes as well. Her lip coloring was also incredibly smeared and uneven.
"You're hilarious." His sister retorted arrogantly while making a rude gesture towards them. Her right eye widened in a glare not met by her other eye, which kept its normal size.
Zuko heard a breath of fury behind him as Katara was already off the bison herself stepping forward.
"And you're going down." Katara boldly called out, her hands clenched into tightly wound fists. Her knuckles losing some of their natural deep tan and turning reddish brown.
Azula rose from her prone position and smacked away the hands still holding the fiery crown.
"Wait. You want to be Firelord?" She stepped forward to the edge of the top of the stairs looking down at them. Her eyes menacingly fixed onto Katara for just a moment before looking towards him. "Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother, the showdown that was always meant to be—Agni Kai!" Her eyes widened but looked off into the distance.
Zuko examined his sister and knew something was out of place here. Something was wrong, but he also sensed his sister was more dangerous now than ever. He didn't have time to dwell on it any longer.
"You're on." He agreed. Azula seemed pleased and amused. She knew he wouldn't refuse a duel ever again. That lesson was taught to him early on and his honor was in standing his ground. Never again would he back down from a challenge, no matter who it was challenging him.
"What are you doing?" Katara called out towards him. She stared at him with such confusion and frustration all at once. "She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both so she's trying to separate us."
"I know, but I can take her this time." Zuko responded still not taking his gaze off his sister who stood at the top of the staircase at the end of the courtyard right ahead of them. She looked so sure of herself, so eager like a predator savoring the stillness before the catch.
Katara continued to voice herself "But even you admitted to your uncle that you would need help facing Azula".
Zuko couldn't have agreed more. She was right. Uncle was right. Despite Katara's bravery, even if they both faced off against her, it was likely they would lose anyway. Zuko felt Katara knew that too, but neither of them showed cracks in their courageous façade up to this point. However, something had changed here. Yes, Azula seemed more dangerous now than ever before, but her bloodlust had come at a cost and Zuko sensed it. Her precision, her mental rigidity, her calculated efficiency was not as it always was. They truly did stand a chance. He stood a chance.
"There's something off about her. I can't explain it, but she's slipping." Zuko turned towards her. Katara showed nothing but concern. The crimson sky reflected in her deep blue eyes. "…And this way, no one has to get hurt."
Katara nodded.
Their childhood had played itself out in segmented pieces in his mind. He wondered how their lives would been if they had been born commoners, had been born in another nation, or had been born with a different father. His mother's face then came to him as she turned and walked away.
Zuko got up from the kneeling position he was in, and so did Azula. He turned towards his sister who tossed the ceremonial coronation robe off to the side.
"I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother." Azula, placing heavy emphasis on that last part, twisted her face into something truly awful.
Zuko felt indescribable sorrow, yet stood undaunted and took his stance "No, you're not".
To Be Continued...
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Avatar The Last Airbender nor the characters depicted. Avatar was created by Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko. All characters and settings are based off their world and is purely fan fiction made simply to entertain people as passionate about what they have created as I am.