Katara

The North Pole. After Months of travel, we finally make it. The welcome reception is wonderful, but things quickly go wrong the next day. Aang's waterbending master refuses to teach me because I'm a girl, never mind the fact I've been fighting for months now. And then I find out he used to be engaged to my Grandmother, after having my ass handed to me on a silver platter. But once he learns Kanna is my Gran Gran, he agrees to train me. And I dedicate every moment I can to becoming the best water bender I can be, in both healing and combat, and by the end of six weeks I'm the best student in my class, including Aang. I've never felt so proud in my life. But it doesn't last.

Ash starts falling from the sky. Just like before a Fire Nation attack back home. But this time It's not a single ship, it's an entire fleet, with more ships than I can count.

As the North scrambles to ready their defenses and Sokka focuses on guarding Yue, I stay close to Aang as he meditates in the Spirit World. Yue stays with me, and I enjoy the warmth of the Spiritual Oasis. I smile as I see Aang's arrows tattoos glow, meaning he's succeeded in crossing over.

"Maybe we should get some help?" Yue says, and starts to walk off.

"No, He's my friend." I smile at her. "I'm perfectly capable of protecting him."

"Well aren't you a big girl now." I hear a familiar man's voice behind me, sending an anxious rush through my body.

"No." I breath and look towards him.

"Yes." Zuko stalks towards me, scrapes and bruises covering his face, adding an unwelcome sense of concern to my anger, fear, and determination to protect Aang. "Hand him over, and I won't have to hurt you, Katara."

….

Zuko

My stomach drops when I find him. He's in the Spirit World from what I just overheard Katara say, so he won't be fighting back. That makes everything a thousand times easier, except it's Katara guarding him. I knew there'd be a chance I'd have to fight her, but I was holding onto the hope it'd be Sokka instead. I can almost hear the spirits laughing at me. Of course it's her. Of course I can't capture him without hurting her.

"Hand him over, and I won't have to hurt you, Katara." I tell her, knowing she'll never step aside. In response she gets into a defensive stance. I steel my nerves, thinking of everything I'm fighting to get back, and kick fire at her.

She hits me with a blast that throws me in the air then slams me on the ground.

"I see you've learned a new trick." I say and get up, but in less than two seconds she has me backed against the wall and encases me in a dome of ice. Even with Uncle teaching her on my ship, this is a move she never could have figured out on her own. "You little peasant." I spit, my gut wrenching at the word when I used to call her Princess. "You've found a master, haven't you?" I cause an explosion that breaks apart the dome, then get up close to attack. She blocks everything, is clearly no longer a novice. I get so close to the Avatar I grab his collar, but she slams me against the wall with water again, this time freezing me where I can't use my bending.

I stare at her in amazement.

I lost. If I wasn't so furious and desperate, I'd be proud of her and how far she's come. In spite of myself, I am at least a little bit.

"Good luck getting down from there, Zuko." She tells me. But her voice isn't gloating or angry, just sad. "I can't let you take him." She turns around and walks over to Aang, sitting next to him with her hands in her face.

"Just you wait." I say quietly enough she can't hear.

…

It's hours later when the sun finally rises. I feel it's power fill me, waking me from the fitful sleep I was in. Immediately, I snarl, and use my breath to melt the ice around me. Katara's back is to me as she's walking over to Aang, unaware I just got out. I throw a powerful blast at her with both hands, and she hardly has time to pull water up to block it before it hits her, not burning her but still knocking her against the wooden post, knocking her out. My traitor heart clenches, and I run over to check her pulse and breathing. Finding both steady, I sigh with relief.

"You rise with the Moon, Katara." I whisper. "I rise with the sun."

I walk over to where the Avatar is, put him on my back, and climb to the top of the glacier. Now I just need to get back to my ship.

But just my luck, a blizzard starts. And I have to take shelter in a cave just not to die. As I put the Avatar down I bind him just in case he wakes up.

"I finally have you, and now I can't get you home because of this blizzard. There's always something." I say to him, knowing he can't hear. "Not that you would understand. You're like my sister." I think of Azula, and how her being a prodigy always reflected so bad on me. "Everything always came easy to her. She's a fire bending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. He says I was lucky to be born." I remember when he told me that, and the pain is as sharp as ever. "I don't need luck though. I don't want it. I've always had to struggle and fight, and that's made me strong." I close my eyes. "It's made me who I am."