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Chapter Text

The moon was at its highest point, shining like a diamond while the clouds passed in front of her. Illuminated by its intense light, three solitaire figures, one of them bigger than the other two, walked through a dark forest belonging to the Earth Kingdom. They had been walking for three weeks without rest, the only clothes they had were their crimson red hoods, old and worn by the passage of time. Their food was almost gone and they had nothing to drink. Anyway, they knew they couldn't stop in any town to resupply. It was very dangerous. Furthermore, they were already very close to their destination.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” a two-year black-haired boy named Zuko called her mother, a young woman with black hair and sparkling amber eyes, who was holding his hand while carrying her other kid, the newborn Azula, who was comfortably sleeping, with her other arm.

“I know, sweetie, I know,” Ursa answered looking forward. She managed to perceive a faint light in the distance. “Please, hold on a little. We’re almost there.”

“But where are we going?”

Ursa looked at the light, which was now approaching towards them. “To see an old friend.”

They kept walking towards the light, closing the distance between them until, finally, Ursa came face to face with another brown-haired woman her age, wearing an orange and yellow tunic that also had a blue arrow tattooed on her forehead.

“Ursa.” The woman bowed at her.

“Nyima.” Ursa bowed back at her.

“He’s waiting for you” Nyima stepped aside and extended her arm, pointing the way. “This way, please.”

Ursa tightened the grip she had on her children as they moved forward, following Nyima.

It didn't take them long to reach a clearing in the forest where a small camp was located. There, a small group of people with clothes identical to Nyima's were waiting for them. Everyone made a brief, polite bow as Ursa approached them. The crackling of the campfire and the sound of the night insects was all that could be heard in that place, which helped Ursa, who kept looking everywhere feeling like they were being followed, calm her nerves a little.

One of the men pointed to one of the tents while another opened the entrance slightly for her.

“Zuko, please stay here with your sister. I’ll be right back” Ursa said as she handed the baby she had in her arms to her son.

“Aww, why?” Zuko complained as Ursa entered to the tent.

Once inside, she found a man with his back to her kneeling before an altar dedicated to the image of a plump-looking man who also had a blue arrow engraved on his forehead.

“You're hard to find, old man, you knew that?”

The man, who until then had been praying silently, turned to her and smiled. His eyes, old and tired, seemed to lighten a little when they met hers.

“And still, you did it, little lotus”

Ursa smirked and approached the old monk to hug him. “It’s nice to see you again, Avatar Aang.”

“Please, my dear, call me uncle.”

The two had known each other since she was a child, although they had not seen each other for a long time. She was technically his granddaughter, a descendant of his previous life, Avatar Roku. He used to visit her and her mother Rina a lot to spend time with his predecessor's family, whom he learned to love as if they were his own. In some ways, it already was, but playing dolls with the girl, helping her tend her humble garden, and going to see the plays she and her previous boyfriend put on made it feel even more personal to him. And also, for her.

No wonder she came to him now for help.

“Does your husband know you’re here?” The last thing Aang knew about Ursa before they lost contact was that she was forced by Fire Lord Azulon to marry his youngest son, prince Ozai, and that she was taken away from her home to be taken to live in the Fire Nation Royal Palace. He heard some rumors about her children, but could not confirm them until now.

In fact, this was the first time in three years they had seen each other.

“I see you’ve already met my wife Nyima and some of my friends” Aang served her some tea.

“Oh, yeah, she seems nice.” Ursa drank a sip of tea. “You know, some rumors reached the palace that you also had children…”

“We did” Aang confirmed “But right now, they’re in our hideout. It’s not safe for them to be outside. Not with the Fire Nation lurking around constantly.”

“I see” Ursa left her cup in the ground looking down. “Maybe next time.”

The two were silent for a while.

“Ursa, my dear.” Aang finally spoke. “We both know you shouldn’t be here, much less with your children, far away from Caldera City. So I guess that you need something from me. with desperation.”

“I… yes, I do” Ursa admitted.

 “So tell me” Aang put her cup down and looked into her eyes. “What can your old uncle do for the Fire Lady?”

“It’s my children.” Ursa went straight to the point, clenching her clothes with her fists. “They’re in danger.”

“Your husband?”

Ursa nodded. “You knew that the reason why Fire Lord Azulon committed me to Ozai was because of my lineage?”

“What do you mean?”

“According to the Fire Sages, a marriage between descendants of Sozin and Roku would result in the most powerful firebenders the world has ever seen.” A shiver ran down her spine. “When Zuko was born, we were not sure if he was a firebender or not. Ozai despised him immediately. He almost threw him off a balcony after he failed to produce a single flame a month after he was born. If it weren’t for him coughing a little spark…”

Ursa’s eyes filled with tears and she began to sob. Aang simply offered her a tissue and put a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s okay, little lotus. It’s okay.” Aang’s calm tone managed to comfort her as she stopped sobbing and wiped away her tears with the tissue. “What about the other kid?”

“Azula? It’s even worse with her.”

“Because she’s not a firebender?”

“Because she is” Ursa looked to Aang with saddened eyes. “She lit tinder with her breath in her first few hours of life. She became Ozai’s favorite in no matter of time. He gloated about the great plans he had for her.”

“I see.” Aang said thoughtful. “Being the most hated child of the Fire Prince or being his favorite child. Indeed, it’s hard to see which one is worse.”

“It’s not like I care about that. I only care about getting my children as far as I can from that horrible place.” Ursa replied. “I heard some stories about you and your little crusade to save what remains of the Air Nomads...”

Aang didn’t say anything. For the last seventy-two years, he had been from one place to another, looking for survivors of his culture as well as their descendants, to take them to a safe place only he and a few others from his absolute trust knew about. Despite he knew he had to focus on the war and stopping the Fire Nation expansion over the Earth Kingdom, he decided to pay all his attention in preserving his people’s culture. After all, they were the first ones he failed. He had to make it up to them.

Thanks to him, a small part of the culture that had been wiped out during the Air Nomad Genocide survived the war. But in contrast to that achievement, the Fire Nation did not have any obstacles on expanding over the rest of the world: they obliterated the Water Tribes Navy, eradicated the Southern Water Tribe waterbenders and took over half of the Earth Kingdom lands.

He made it up to his people, but failed the rest of the world.

“…I had a hard time finding someone that could help me reach you. Luckily, my brother-in-law knows a lot of people around the world, including some of your airbenders. So, I grabbed my children and came here, hoping that you could help us hide from Ozai and his forces.” Ursa looked at the old Avatar, imploring. “Please, I need this. They need this.”

Aang looked at the ground, thinking. For a long time, he had been rejecting his Avatar status and the responsibilities that came with it. He knew it, just as he also knew that he didn't have much time left. He would die without having made a substantial change in the world. He would be remembered as the worst Avatar in history. It was too late for him.

But maybe, just maybe, he could save his predecessor’s family. Maybe he could give these kids an opportunity to live, grow, and even set everything right. Restore balance in the world. May they succeed where he failed.

Perhaps, this way, he would be able to give meaning to his survival, when Gyatso and everyone else in the Air Temples died, even if it was at the end.

“I will help you, my dear.” Aang stood up and helped her to stand up. “I’ll get you to our hideout. Tonight.”

Ursa smirked and threw herself into his arms. “Thank you, uncle, thank you.”

“It’s the least I can do to compensate for a part of my failures, in this life and the previous one.” Aang replied, looking at her with a smile. “Now, we will have to…”

Suddenly, the candles inside the tent went out and a cold wind blew through the tent entrance. Aang grabbed her staff and walked outside the tent.

“Uncle?” Ursa called him as she followed him, unaware of what had put his uncle in an apparent state of alert.

It wasn't until he saw the snow fall in the forest that she understood what was happening.

The snow was black.

“They’ve found us” Aang tightened his grip on his staff. Zuko, who was learning to play Pai Sho with one of the nuns, ran towards Ursa, while a monk approached her with Azula in his arms.

“Mom?”

Ursa grabbed her son’s hand and held Azula with her left arm. “It’s okay, sweetie, everything is fine.”

Aang continued looking ahead with half-closed eyes and waited. Suddenly, a series of footsteps broke the silence of the night. They sounded orderly, like a march. And they were getting closer.

“You need to leave, now” Aang turned towards his wife and grabbed her hands. “Take Appa with you, fly away and don't stop until you reach the hideout. Understood?

“I will.” Nyima assured him. “Once I’m done with them, I will come back for you.”

“No, you won’t” Aang replied. “You’ll stay with the children and take care of them. Continue their training and make sure they master the airbending, along with the others.

“Aang!”

“Promise, me, Nyima, promise me that you’ll do it.”

Nyima looked at him, doubtful, but finally nodded and hugged him. “I promise”

Aang looked at the other monks and nuns. Words were insufficient how proud of them he was. He was worried, of course, but he hoped that they would be okay without him. And that one day, they would be able to present themselves to the world as the next generation of Air Nomads.

Sadly, he won’t get to see that.

Ursa took him by the shoulder. “Thank you, uncle, for this, and for everything. How can I pay you?”

Aang looked at baby Azula, who was still sleeping in her mother’s left arm. He smiled. “Live. Now go.”

Ursa put her children on the giant sky bison and climbed onto the animal. She turned around and took one last look at the old Avatar, who was once again looking ahead of him, but this time in a combat stance.

“Don’t worry, uncle. I’ll find you again. One day. I promise.”

As the sky bison and the Air Nomads flew away from the place, Aang grabbed his staff with both hands. And waited. A few seconds. A few minutes. It had been five minutes since the black snow had started to fall when a group of giant fireballs were thrown towards him.

Acting fast, Aang used some waterbending to get rid of them before they could even touch him. Suddenly, a group of soldiers surrounded him and commanded him to surrender. Of course, the Avatar wasn’t doing that. Using his airbending skills, Aang threw gusts of wind at them that made them fly through the air. Then, he imprisoned them using some earthbending skills, immobilizing them from the feet to the neck.

With those men out of the fight, Aang was able to catch a breath before focusing his attention on the rest of the soldiers: a group of at least one hundred soldiers commanded by no one else but Prince Ozai in person.

“Well, well, look what we found” Ozai smiled at Aang with a gesture that denoted the pleasure he felt at having the opportunity to be the one to finish off the Avatar once and for all. “Who would have said, that after all these years looking for you, we would finally find you when we weren’t.

“You should leave while you can, Ozai” Aang said in a calm tone. “There’s nothing here for you”

“For you, Avatar, it’s Prince Ozai of the Fire Nation” Ozai advanced towards the monk. “I’m here for my kids. Tell me where they are, and I’ll kill you quickly.”

“Your weapons, you mean” Aang replied. “I’m not going to let you have them.”

Ozai’s laugh almost made Aang tremble, but he remained firm and calm. “You? You pretend to stop me? Come on, look at you. All this power in your hands, centuries of wisdom at your disposal, and for what? What have you done with such gifts for the world you proclaim to protect? Have you stopped us? We’ve only grown stronger. As you played hide and seek with your precious airbenders around the world, we have almost taken over the rest of the world. We’re even planning to siege Ba Sing Se right now. You failed the world, Avatar. And yet, you think you can take up on me?!

A fire ring surrounded the two of them. Aang could feel the heat of the flames surrounding him as he and his rival began to walk in circles around each other, staring at each other.

“At least I’m not a disgrace to my father.”

Ozai’s smile disappeared. “What?”  

“You know, I heard that Azulon arranged your marriage with Ursa, my granddaughter from my past life” now, it was Aang who smirked at Ozai, making fun of him. “I mean, the so proclaimed strongest firebender in the world doesn’t manage to get a woman to like him at his thirties so his dad has to steal an already committed woman? Even you have to recognize that’s kind of pathetic.”

Ozai looked at him, stunned. Then, enraged, he began to throw bursts of fire at Aang. Despite his advanced age, Aang was still pretty agile. He dodged Ozai’s flames with graceful jumps before he finally started countering. Using some water he had with him, Aang threw some ice projectiles at Ozai as he ran towards him and landed a blow to his chest, knocking the air out of him. The Fire Prince fell to his knees, trying to catch his breath.

“Surrender and leave, Ozai” Aang told him, more a pleading than an order. “You have no chance against me.”

“We’ll see about that…” Wrapping his fists in flames, Ozai started to attack him again, as Aang crouched or deflected his attacks with his arms. Then, raising a stone column, Aang threw it towards Ozai and made him retreat until he used an explosion to destroy the stone and go back to the fight.

But as Aang said, Ozai was no match for him. After a while exchanging blows, Ozai got tired and once again fell to his knees, unable to keep the fight.

However, he wasn’t ready to give up.

“Attack!”

The Fire Nation soldiers started throwing fireballs to the Avatar, who left Ozai aside to focus on them.

Dodging, crouching, using all the bending techniques he had mastered upon the passage of the years, Aang was able to pull up a pretty good fight. It didn’t matter if they were a million soldiers in front of him. No army was match for the power of the Avatar.

But most of the times, numbers aren’t everything.

As Aang frozen a couple of soldiers with his waterbending, a beam of explosive energy went through him. The old Avatar could just feel how intense pain went through his entire body before falling to the ground. He felt like his whole body was shattered as the cold started embracing him…

“Where, are my manners?” Ozai stood next to Aang, who with a lot of effort turned to him, seeing a huge man, dressed in nothing more than a dull brown tunic and pants. He had dull steel prostheses strapped to his right leg and forearm and a third eye carved in his forehead. “Avatar Aang, let me introduce you a friend of our family. He may be a man of a few words, but, as you can see, he’s the best at what he does.”

Aang coughed as he crawled through the ground. Combustionbending, of course, a specialized firebending technique. Yangchen had fought it on her days and won.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t Yangchen.

“So, this is how Avatar Aang’s story comes to an end.” Ozai smirked as he put his foot over the Air Nomad body, immobilizing him. “And just so you know, this won’t end here. Your precious Air Nomads, I’ll slaughter them all, one by one, and I will take back my children after I had calcined their mother.”

Aang’s eyes began to glow.

“You won’t get a chance.”

Wrapped in a sphere made of fire, water, earth and air, Aang raised over them. Ozai covered his face with his hands as the Avatar threw fire from his fists and mouth. He had never seen such power demonstration before.

“It’s their war now, and they will take up on all of your family for your sins” Aang proclaimed in a deep and serious tone of voice. “You’re right, though, this is the end for me. But it isn’t for us. We will find each other in my next life. And I will stop you.”

The soldiers pointed towards him as so did the combustionbender, while Ozai looked at him, wordless and shocked.

“I promise you that.”

Then, a great explosion consumed that part of the forest on a ball of smoke and fire.

From where they were, the Air Nomads along with Ursa and her kids were able to see the explosion. And as they did, they realized that nothing and no one could have survived such thing.

It was over.

The Avatar Aang was gone.

Feeling like her heart squeezed, Ursa turned to see Nyima, who was already looking at her. Aware of their respective postures, both women hugged each other in a silent cry as the Avatar’s sky bison took them away from that place, where now there was nothing else but death and sorrow.

In the Northern Water Tribe, Chief Arnook and his wife Ila welcomed their first child, a beautiful white-haired girl whose crying could be heard throughout the royal palace.

Chapter Text

Sixteen years later...

"Azula, please, I'm begging you..." 

A dark brown haired boy looked at his sister's amber eyes, horrorized, not able to move a muscle. 

"I'm truly sorry, dear brother, but you leave me no choice" The girl answered looking at him mockingly.

"You don't have to do this!"

"Yes I have, Zuzu, and I'm really going to enjoy it..."

The seconds passed as if they were minutes for the poor boy. The decisive look in the girl's eyes horrified him. There was no way out of this situtation and he knew it. He was about to meet his doom at the hands of his own flesh and blood, who once again had shown her superiority over him.

"Goodbye, Zuzu" She smirked.

"Azula, NO!"

And finally...

Azula moved her last tile through the board and put it in the last empty space on Zuko's board side. She then jumped off her seat.

"I win, yeah!" she exclaimed excited, raising her arms in sign of victory before pointing to Zuko. "Now you have to do my shores for the next month."

Upset, Zuko threw a tile over the board, sighing. "You really enojy making me suffer, right?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic, Zuzu" Azula shrugged "It's not my fault that I was born lucky, unlike you."

Zuko was about to reply, but suddenly, an old man with orange and yellow robes entered to the hut where both siblings were playing "Hey, kids, are you busy?"

Azula looked at him "Not at all, Nudan, what's up?" 

"Your mom is looking for you, apparently she needs help to collect some food" Nudan answered.

"Well, seems like we have something better to do now, Zuzu" Azula stood up and took the Pai Sho board. "Let's go"

Zuko stood up and walked towards the door, but then she put her feet and made him fell. 

"Hey!"

"Ladies first, brother!" Azula laughed and ran out of the hut. 

Zuko groaned as he stood up once again and followed her. "Azula!"

Mom had told them once that she had to run away from her home, in the middle of the night, with them in tow. The war had extended almost all over the world, except for that archipielago, which at the beginning it was only inhabited by the few Air Nomads that survived Fire Lord Sozin's attempt to wipe them out from existence, but then, Avatar Aang, the last Avatar known, and his family decided to turn the place into a refugee for anyone who wanted to escape from the clutches of the Fire Nation. That's how Mom and other refugees all of them from the Earth Kingdom arrived to that peaceful (though boring, according to Azula) island in the middle of nowhere, finding a second chance to restart their lives.

Mom never talked to them about their father. They only assumed that he died during the war, since Mom always made a face of pain everytime they mentioned him. Azula was still a newborn when they ran away, and Zuko only had blurred memories from that night and his life before that. After Azula's tenth birthday, they finally stopped asking Mom about their dad, though the curiosity never abandoned them.

The island where they lived had no rulers, and though the Air Nomads numbers were considerably bigger than the rest, everyone followed their own traditions according to their place of origin. Which also mean that everyone ate according to their own tastes.

And for Azula and Zuko, that meant that they had to hunt their own meals.

That day, it was seafood day. Mom had sent them to get some fish, salmon if possible. Now, the two were on top of a canoe, looking for their food before it got dark. Zuko maneuvered the canoe, while Azula held the fishing rod.

"Do you see something?" Zuko asked looking ahead.

"Not yet" Azula rested his cheek on his fist, her sense of irritation growing like a stoked flame when sweat dripped from her bow, bored. Then, she ignited a little flame in her hand to entertain herself playing with it, until Zuko turned around and looked at her.

"Azula!"

"Yeah?" she looked at him and, after a few seconds of silence, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Zuzu! No one is looking right now!"

"How can you be sure about that?" Zuko scolded her. "You know Mom has forbidden us to use our firebending, and you know why!"

Of course she knew. Ever since they were kids and they discovered they were able to throw fire through their hands, Mom had told them that such power was known as firebending, and that they should never use it again. Mom explained them that she knew there was nothing wrong with them having that power, but she also explained them that the rest of the people in the island would not see it that way since the Fire Nation used that same power to burn down their villages and ruin their lifes, and it was most likely that both siblings would be seen with fear and hate if they were discovered igniting fire balls with their hands. Zuko, as the good little boy that he had always been, obeyed her without question. She, on the other hand, was more prone to break that rule every time she could.

"Yes, Zuzu, I know why, I'm not stupid" she said crossing her arms. "But, spirits, this is the most boring trip ever, the heat is unbearable and I'm starting to get hungry. I need to distract myself with something."

"Then find anything else to do" Zuko answered turning ahead again. "I don't want you to get in trouble for your stubbornness"

"Aww, little Zuzu worried for his little sis?" she said in a mock-baby voice. "Hey, foolish, I'm 16, I don't need anyone to look after..."

"And I'm 18, and as you said, I'm the eldest brother here" he turned to her again, hardening his tone and gaze. "I'm responsible for taking care of you, either you like it or not."

Making an exasperated face, Azula grabbed the fishing rod and they continued with their fishing trip, in silence.

But suddenly, the cane seemed to bite something, since the rope tightened, forcing Azula to grab it with both hands. 

"Hey, it seems I bit something" she said in a better mood. "And it seems big!"

"Really? How big?"

Then, the cane rope tightened more and started to get away from the canoe. Fast. Very fast.

Azula widened her eyes terrified. "Very big."

Then, the canoe was swept away through the water at high speed. Zuko almost fell to the water, but he was able to grab something in the last moment and stay over the ship, as Azula grabbed the fishing rod with both hands and placed her feet on the stern.

"What do you think you're doing?! Let it go!" Zuko yelled at her.

"Are you crazy?!" She yelled back at him. "It's the only thing we have bit today, we can't let it go!"

"If you don't do it, you're going to kill us!"

Yet, Azula didn't let go the fishing rod, trying to pull whatever she had catched. They were both taken away from the island and pretty soon, they approached to another one at breakneck speed.

"JUMP!" Zuko grabbed her arm and jumped with her to the water before the canoe crashed against the shore of the island, breaking into pieces.

Then he looked at Azula, annoyed. 

"What?"

"Nice work, little sis. Why didn't you just set fire to the canoe if you were trying to kill us?"

"So it's my fault, now?"

"Well, maybe, and just maybe, if you weren't always trying to brag about your greatness, we would get into a lot less trouble!" he reproached her.

Azula was about to reply, but then she remembered that they were still in the water, and not long ago a giant fish had tried to crash them against the island. And he could still come back to eat them.

"Let's get out of the water"

For the first time that day, both siblings agreed on something. They swam to the shore, and once there they wrung out their clothes and looked around them.

"Can you get us home?" Azula asked, looking nervously towards the horizon. The sun was setting.

"Not without a boat" Zuko was more nervous than her. "What are we gonna do if we can't get back home? Do you think there are any... predators around here?"

Azula snorted. "Come on, are you scared, Zuzu?"

Then, they heard something strange behind them. They turned around. A jungle stretched out behind them, but the previous noise made them go a couple of steps away.

"On the other hand," Azula tried her best to not sound scared "maybe we should not stay here for long and find some way out of here" 

Then, Zuko looked around them and noticed something in the shore. At first, he thought it was the remains of their canoe, but soon he realized that the wood was different.

"Hey, I think there's another canoe there" Zuko said. "And I think it's in good conditions"

Azula looked on the same direction as him, but her countenance was distrustful. "Zuko, I don't think it's a good idea. What if they're from the Fire Navy?"

"Who's scared now, eh?" Zuko mocked at her and started walking towards the canoe.

"Zuko, wait!"

But it was too late. Zuko approached running to the ship and examinated it. He realized that the side of the canoe had carvings of swirls decorating it. The center of the boat had a dark blue cloth draped over both sides to rest oars on as well.

But what really caught his attention was what he found when he leaned over the side of the canoe. "Azula, there's someone here!"

He climbed into the canoe despite his sister's protests and sat down, cradling the person's head.

It was a girl. And not any girl, but probably one of the most beautiful girls Zuko had ever seen or would ever see in his life. White hair, brown skin. She was wearing an ornament on the forehead and a dark blue fur coat.

Azula finally reached them, but before he couls scold Zuko, the white haired girl moaned and started opening her eyes slowly, which were blue as the ocean, Zuko noticed.

Yue's head hurt terribly. Her eyes were closed, and she didn't want to open them yet. She fel so comfortable, and warm. She hadn't felt so comfortable in so long. But then she felt as someone grabbed her and put her head over something. Or someone. 

She slowly started to open her eyes.

The first thing she saw was rather nice. Two golden eyes peering down at her, curiously.

"Thanks..." she mumbled weakily. "Can you... tell me where are we?"

But he didn't seem to understand her. "Excuse me?"

"What is she saying?" another voice, a female one, asked.

"I don't know, she's seems very weak" the boy shushed the girl.

Wait a minute.

Were those... red and gold clothes?

"Fire Nation!"

She suddenly woke up and striked the boy with a water jet that hit on his chest. Then, she descended from the canoe and walked towards the boy. Her movements were still pure reflexes, she still felt confused and dizzy. Yet, she tried to reach the boy, ignoring the screams from the other girl. 

She ignored the fact that the boy looked at her, both confused and scared. She ignored the fact that he wasn't trying to counter her as she grabbed water from she didn't knew where exactly and froze it, forming ice stalactites. She was not going to give the ashmaker a chance to make his movement. If she had to end his life, then...

"Stop!"

The other girl grabbed her and threw her to the ground. Yue tried to get up, but the girl menaced her with her fist.

"Who or whatever you are, don't even think about hurting MY BROTHER!" the girl glared at her with eyes as sharp as hawk's and fist raised high, ready to punch her in the face.

Yue looked at her and then at the other boy, who had already stood up.

"Leave her, Azula. She must have been confused" reluctantly, the other girl stood up and Zuko approached Yue, offering his hand. "Are you okay?"

Yue realized that there was something about this ashmakers that seemed different. Someway, they didn't feel... menacing.

She decided to follow along. For now.

"Eh... yeah" she stood up, looking at them. "I'm... sorry. I... yeah, I was confused. I didn't mean to hurt you."

Azula and Zuko stared at each other, and then he looked at Yue once again.

"Tell us who you are, please" he asked her "That water jet before... Are you a waterbender?"

A metal ship cut through the currents offshore, navigating through the choppy waters of the archipielago with caution and precision. It salid with red masts that had a stylized, teardrop-shaped flame forked into a trident of three tongues that taper upward to a point. The Fire Nation emblem.

A burly man, with long jet black hair tied up with a crown, looked through his telescope, standing on the boat deck.

"Your Highness. Night is about to fall, and the crew is tired" one of his subordinates said. "Wouldn't it be more prudent to stop the search for today and get some rest?"

The man didn't look at him, still looking through his telescope. "No."

"No?" The subordinate looked at him, imploring. "But your Highness, the crew..."

"If they can't bear a sleepless night, then they're not useful to me" the man said coldly. "Tell them to remain in their positions, lieutenant Jee."

"Yes, milord"

"And lieutenant Jee"

The officer looked at the man. "Your Highness?"

"If you try to question my orders once again, you'll be thrown overboard for insubordination and left to drawn, unless a predator reaches you first and devour your flesh slowly and painfully."

The man finally turned to see the young officer, revealing a scar in the left eye, product of a serious burn from the past.

"Do you understand, lieutenant Jee?" he asked in a threatening tone.

"Y-Yes, milord" lieutenant Jee answered, frightened to death. "Excuse, me, milord."

As lieutenant Jee bowed to him and left, Prince Ozai from the Fire Nation turned around and looked once again through his telescope, using his useful eye. 

He didn't care if his crew couldn't keep up with him, or if he had to travel through the whole world again and again. He was going to find the new Avatar incarnation.

And this time, he was going to end him or her all by himself. 

Chapter Text

"Tell us who you are, please" the black haired boy asked her "That water jet before... Are you a waterbender?"

"Uh... yeah" Yue looked at him with curiosity. He really didn't seem menacing at all. And he was... smiling at her? was he ignoring the fact that she had striked him with a water jet just a few seconds ago?

"What were you doing in that boat?" the other girl asked.

"I, uh... I was trying to get to the Earth Kingdom, but I landed here by accident I guess." Yue explained "Speaking of which, by any chance are we close to Omashu?

The boy was about to reply, but the girl stopped him. "Dont answer her! We don't know if we can trust her."

"Azula, I thought you were supposed to be the sharp one" the boy said "Look at her, she is a waterbender, no way she's with the Fire Nation."

"Doesn't matter. We just met her. We don't know what she's doing here." the girl said.

The boy rolled his eyes and looked Yue "Don't listen to her, she likes to mess with people. But no, I don't think we're close to any city or nation. And we haven't ever heard of any Omashu"

"Oh, I see" Yue looked disappointed.

"Anyway, my name's Zuko, and the little gremlin here is my sister Azula, much to my misfortune"

"Shut up, Zuzu. I'm not that little. We're almost the same height"

"I don't think you're any spy or enemy" Zuko said, ignoring Azula. "So, who are you?"

"...Yue, my name is Yue" she finally said.

Azula looked at her with a mix of distrustful and disdain. "Really, Yue? What kind of parents name their daughter after the moon? How presumptuous."  

"Well, nice to meet you, Yue" Azula said with a trace of disgust in her tone. "But as you can see, my and my brother we're tired, hungry and need to go back home. So if you excuse us..."

"Oh, you live near here?" If there was a village near there, she could get some supplies for her trip. "If so, I can take the three of us in my canoe."

"Thanks, but no thanks" Azula replied "We can manage ourselves."

"Azula!" Zuko stared at her annoyed "Yue's offering to take us home! Can't you at least be a little more kind to her?"

Azula looked at him, then to Yue and then to the horizon, where the Sun had practically disappeared. She sighed. "Well, whatever, I don't think we have any other options anyway."

They pushed Yue's canoe and got on it. Using her waterbending, Yue pushed the canoe through the water following Zuko's directions to get to their island.

On the way back to Zuko and Azula island, Yue noticed that the boy didn't take his eyes of her. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, nothing" Zuko's face turned red "It's just that I have never seen a waterbender before"

"Never?"

"Our island is populated only by Earth kingdom people and Air Nomads" Azula explained "Refugees, all of us. Mom and us are the only ones that came from the Fire Nation."

"So you are from the Fire Nation..." It wasn't a question.

"We're not like them, I swear!" Zuko assured, raising his hands "We've never even been in that place before, except when we were kids and we don't even remember how it was like."

"That's right. Mom ran away with us when I was just a newborn." Azula said "We have never been out of this island."

Yue stared at them for a long time before looking ahead "Okay, then."

Zuko and Azula looked each other. She shrugged. 

"Well, good night, guys" Azula laid on her seat and quickly fall asleep.

Zuko turned to Yue. "Maybe you should get yourself some rest. I can take it from here"

"No, thanks" Yue said without turning to him "You rest if you want. I'm fine"

"Oh... if you say so." An awkward slience fell between them before Zuko laid on his seat "Good night."

Yue didn't answer. She kept looking ahead as the canoe moved through the water, pushed by her waterbending as the moon rose above them that peaceful and silent night. She couldn't lie, she liked the peaceful feeling. The days before arriving the island had been...

She shook her head and kept pushing. She liked the feeling, but she had to focus. There was a long trip ahead of her, and not the one that would lead her to Zuko and Azula's island, but to Omashu.

The sooner the next day came, the better.

Lightning illuminated the dark sky and thunders filled the atmosphere as the little wooden canoe tried to stay afloat in the middle of the furious sea. Up the canoe, Yue tried to hold onto anything to stay up her little boat as she looked around her, trying to find any island to disembark. But all she could see were the sea waves rising over each other, trying to sink her. She tried to use her waterbending to push the waves away from her, but that required a lot of effort and she felt unable to focus. 

Finally, one of the waves hit her canoe with such force that made her fall and hit her head, making her feel dizzy and confused.

As everything got dark, Yue could hear someone calling her name.

Yue...

Yue...

"Yue!"

The white haired girl woke up, sweating. Zuko approached her. "Are you okay?"

"Agh... Yeah..." Yue put a hand to her head "I mean, I feel like my head could blow up at any moment, but I'm fine"

"Well, come on then, everyone is wating to meet you, let's go!" Zuko grabbed her hand and pulled her outside of the hut where they were. The sunlight made Yue cover her eyes. "Yue, this is our entire village. Everybody, this is Yue."

She looked at the cluster of people. Most of them weared orange and yellow robes, and some among them had their heads shaved and arrows engraved on their foreheads. Some others weared green and silver robes. And in the middle of them, standing next to Azula, there was a woman wearing red and gold clothes similar to Azula and Zuko's outfit. She didn't need to ask who she was, the resemblance between her and Azula was awesome.

Then, she looked at the village behind them. Most of the homes were made of wodden and stone, unlike her home, where everything was made out of ice. None of them had more than one floor. Some of the roofs were made with wodden, some other with palms. Aside from the plants that hung from the windows of the houses, there seemed to not be so much flora inside the village, but looking beyond she could see part of the forest that surrounded the village. It was quite peaceful. Extremely hot, though. Or maybe it was just her that felt that way because of her heavy fur coat. But since she had no other clothes with her, she would have to go with it.

Turning her attention towards the crow, she realized that they were looking at her closely.

"Eh... do I have something in the face?"

"Not at all, sweetie" Azula's mom approached her with a warm and gentle smile "It's just that no one here has ever seen a waterbender before, including me."

"Yue, this is our cursi mother" Azula informed Yue.

"Call me Ursa, if you want to."

Then, a brown haired girl with a bow in hair and wearing yellow and orange robes approached her "So, Yue, right? My name's Jinora. It's a pleasure to meet you" she bowed respectfully.

"Thanks, Jinora." Yue bowed back.

"I've so many questions for you." Jinora said "I mean, you are from the Water Tribes and that, so I was wondering... do you know what happened to the Avatar? It was supposed to reincarnate among you, didn't?"

Yue became tense and looked away. "Yeah... about that..."

But before she could answer, another girl jumped between them, smiling from ear to ear. "Hi! My name's Ikki! I'm Jinora's younger and cooler sister! So you're a waterbender, aren't you? Can you make it snow here? And then can we make snowmen? And then you can use your waterbending to make them come alive?"

Yue blinked. "Uh... yeah, I guess?"

"Look out!" 

A bald kid fell from the sky, almost hitting Yue, who barely dodged him. He was also wearing yellow and orange robes. As he stood up with his airbending, Jinora growled. "Yue, this, uh, this is my younger brother, Meelo."

Meelo jumped once again in the air before falling right in front of Yue, smiling strangely at her. "Nice to meet you, beautiful girl." he looked at her from hed to toe. "Your hair is weird. Can I have some of it?"

Yue raised an eyebrow. From what she had read and heard during her life, she expected all airbenders to be more like Jinora, not weird and talkative like Meelo or Ikki. 

"Meelo, you don't ask people if they can give you some of their hair" Jinora said in a weary tone.

"Aww" Meelo walked away, crestfallen, but when he came close to Ikki, he poked on his nose and after grabbing something he scrub it on Ikki's robes and ran away, jumping and laughing.

"HEY!!!" Enraged, Ikki formed an air scooter and started chasing him.

Jinora sighed "Sometimes I wish I had been an only child. And by sometimes, I mean always."

"I still don't get why you keep complaining about them." Zuko narrowed his eyes to Azula. "At least none of them has ever put a Spider-Crab under your pillow."

Azula clicked her tongue "You're such a baby, Zuzu."

"I'm not!"

Azula stuck out her tongue at him and pushed him before running away. Zuko got up to chase her.

Ursa shook her head "Kids these days." she looked back at Yue. "Now, Yue, would you mind to have a cup of tea with an old lady? I would love to hear how is the life in the Poles."

Yue grinned. "Of course."

"Does it bother you if I join you?" Jinora asked "I need to get away from my siblings. Very. Far."

Lieutenant Jee stood up in the boat deck as they passed through the unexpected archipielago they had just found by the way. Despite they had spent hours looking for it in maps and letters from other expeditions, the island chain didn't appear on any of those documents. As if it didn't exist. 

Which, according to Ozai, was the reason that place would be a perfect hiding for the Avatar.

"Keep the course ten degrees north, mid speed. I'll inform prince Ozai that we are arriving to the island" the subordinates bowed to him as he left the deck and went inside the boat, towards his superior room.

He found the door ajar and glimpsed inside. Prince Ozai was changing his upper cloaths, leaving his back in sight, where old burn scars could be appreciated. Moving with difficulty, Ozai managed to grab an iron leg prosthesis and put it on the place where his left leg should be, but not anymore.

"Your highness, I beg your pardon for this interruption..."

Ozai turned to face Lieutenant Jee. The young officer felt his blood turning cold as ice.

"What is it?"

"Eh... we've almost arrived to the island, sir." Lieutenant Jee explained "Should we send an exploration party to survey the terrain, sir?"

"Why wait?" Ozai got up, staggering at first but finally standing firmly and adjusting his robe "If the Avatar is here, sending an exploration party will just advertise him or her about our presence and would instantly flee. Prepare the weapons, Lieutenant. Maybe Agni bless us today."

"Yes, sir" Lieutenant Jee bowed him and left the room.

He only hoped that the Avatar was really there and that they managed to catch it. For the sake of every member of the crew.

Yue, Jinora and Ursa spent the next half an hour talking about the life in the North Pole. Despite Yue initially seemed reluctant to talk too much, soon she felt comfortably with the young airbender and the pale woman. 

"Wait, so you live surrounded by a whole sea, and yet you don't know how to swim?" Jinora asked surprised.

"Well, I'll like to see you trying to swim on those waters." Yue replied "They're colder than the icebergs surrounding Agna Qel'a."

"Actually, sounds logic." Jinora said "Hey, by the way, you didn't answer me, before. Do you know what happened to the Avatar?

"Uh... no, I don't." Yue said, settling uncomfortably into her seat. "I mean, if he or she reincarnated in the Water Tribes, it wasn't in the North Pole. I'm sorry."

Jinora stared at her. Yue could feel something strange with the girl. As if she was able to look something else inside of her. Was she able to...? No, Yue thought, that would be ridiculous.

"Okay." Jinora simply said, smiling. 

Yue turned to Ursa "May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What are three Fire Nation citizens doing here, hiding far away from their home?" Yue noticed the trace of contempt in her tone. "I mean, I'm just curious. I grew up alien to the war. I thought that everybody in the Fire Nation was in agreement with the war."

She feared that she may had sound disrespectful or rude. However, Ursa replied still in a gently tone. "I understand. Most people, especially the youth, think that everyone in the Fire Nation is evil, isn't that right?"

"I din't mean to..."

"It's okay, really" Ursa said. "You know, I have always been and I'm always be proud of have been born in the Fire Nation, despite I'm not a firebender myself. But I'm not innocent, nor senseless. I'm perfectly aware of the atrocities the Fire Nation Army has done to the world. This war... everything about it is simply wrong."

Yue narrowed her eyes. For a time before that moment, she felt like anyone whoever said they were proud of being part of the Fire Nation couldn't and shouldn't be trusted. However, Ursa seemed so kind, that she didn't fit at all with Yue's Fire Nation people scheme.

"So, since I never wanted my kids to be part of the war, I took them and ran away here." Ursa said "At least in this place, they'll grow free and in peace"

"But what about...?"

"The clothes? People here think we're just a peasant family that ran away during the Huo Sheng Massacre" Ursa said "I guess they saw us as if we were in the same position as them. And we actually were. So they have no problem with us using our traditional Fire Nation clothes. Even though, I forbid both of them from using their firebending. One can never know..."

"Wait. So, not only you're from the Fire Nation, but also firebenders?" Yue's hand trembled.

"My kids are, not me." Ursa explained "And I would have given up anything for them to not have such power. I know there's nothing wrong about firebending, it's part of their identities not just as Fire Nation people, but as mere people. However, such gifts are now a curse. The Fire Nation would have wanted to exploit them, and the rest of the world would fear them. And sometimes, fear leads people to do some crazy things to get rid of the thing that scares them. That's why I forbid them from practicing it."

"So nobody else knows...?"

"I do, I saw Azula burning Zuko's feet once when he was asleep" Jinora said "However, I promised to keep the secret for them. But yes. No one else, not even my siblings, know."

"How about your parents?"

Jinora looked down. So did Ursa. "My... my parents died a long time ago. An Earth Kingdom refugee family brought a flu along with them and infected half the island. Most people recovered themselves. They didn't."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Jinora smiled "It's been five years since then. And we're actually doing well with the help of the other Air Nomads. It's just... It's not the same without them."

They remained in an awkward silence before Ursa laughed a little bit. "Okay, enough questions and sadness for today. Let's change to something more comfortable, shall we?"

Both girls nodded. Yue was surprised that they hadn't asked her nothing about how she got to that island in the first place.

"So, Yue" Ursa said "Is it true you Water Tribes people go penguin slide every day?"

An hour later, Yue and Jinora came out from Ursa's hut. They had the intention to show each other some of the abilities of their respective bending arts they had mastered to that point. Moving away from the village, both girls started showing their dominion over water and air.

"Wow, you're amazing!" Jinora said after Yue rised herself over a torrent of water. "Waterbending is actually pretty cool."

"Thanks" Yue smiled gently "Your air scooter trick isn't bad either. Honestly, I'm kind of jealous."

"Why would you be? You're surely the greatest waterbender among the Northern Water Tribe!" Jinora exclaimed excited. "You know, this reminds me of my parents. They taught me and my siblings everything about airbending. Did your parents taught you too?"

"Uhm..."

"Hey, girls, what you're doing?" Zuko approached them with a bag and a smile from ear to ear towards Yue.

"Hey, Zuko. We were just practicing our bending styles" Jinora explained. "And you? What's in the bag?"

"Oh, right. Here, Yue" Zuko passed her the bag and she opened it. There were some Earth Kingdom clothes. "I guessed you could use something more according to the weather. Here's not as cold as the Poles, as you can see."

"I do. Thanks."

Jinora looked at both of them before speaking again. "Well, eh.. I'll go make sure Ikki and Meelo don't tear apart the village, if you excuse me."

Once alone, Zuko and Yue started walking in silence before he spoke again. "So, you're leaving soon."

Yue blinked. She had been so comfortable in the last hours, that she had forgotten she still had to go to Omashu. To fulfill her journey. Her mission.

"I guess so."

"Okay" Zuko seemed dissapointed "It's just, why? Can't you stay? I mean, if you're seeking for shelter or something like that, you can stay, don't you?"

"Yeah, but, it's not about that" Yue replied.

"Then what is it?" Zuko asked out of curiosity "What's in that Omashu City that is so important to you?"

But before she could answer, some snow started to fall.

Well, it seemed like snow at first, but when Zuko grabbed a flake, he noticed it was...

"Ashes?"

Yue's eyes widened in horror.

"Fire Army."

Everyone gathered in the middle of the village as soon as they noticed the ashes falling from the sky. The adults tried to calm their kids (and themselves) and some others, out of instinct, grabbed the first thing they saw like a weapon tightly. Yue and Zuko were the last ones to arrive.

"What's happening?!" Meelo asked.

"Is it the Fire Nation?! They found us?! Is this the end?! Has anybody got a plan or something?!" Ikki asked. 

"Zuko!" Ursa ran towards them "I'm so relieved you're here."

"Mom, Azula, what's going on?"

"Don't you see, you fool?" Azula pointed towards the ashes "The Fire Army found the island, that's what's happening!"

"But how?" Zuko asked.

Yue looked away, but Jinora approached her. "They're here because of you, right? They're following you."

Yue looked surprised at her "What?"

"Did you know that airbenders have an special connection with the Spirit World?" Jinora said. "From the moment we met, I realized that your spirit energy was the most intense I had ever felt. And I'm sure your waterbending skills are far beyond any other student of your age. I only heard another case like that, but with an airbender. The youngest airbending master in history. He was my grandfather, the Avatar Aang."

Yue widened her eyes in astonishment "Aang was your grandfather?"

"Yes" Jinora said "And you're his reincarnation, right? You're the Avatar."

Everyone stared at her as she looked down.

"Yue?" Zuko asked, astonished as everyone else.

"I... I..."

"So it's true, then?" Azula approached her with an angry look in her face "They're here looking for you? Because you're the Avatar?"

Yue looked at her "...Yes, it's true. I'm the Avatar"

Azula kept looking at her, more and more angry. "You little... I knew we couldn't trust you!"

"Azula!" Ursa groaned.

Azula ignored her and grabbed Yue "Ever since Aang died, the world has been waiting for his reincarnation to come and stop the Fire Nation, but instead of fighting you just ran away. You're a failure. You're a coward!"

Now enraged as well, Yue pushed her to the ground. "Don't you ever insult me again! You don't know a thing about me!"

"I think I know everything I need to!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Ursa raised her tone, making both girls look at her "Both of you, back up! Now is not the time for this."

Yue eyes widened. How can a small and kind looking woman seem so imposing from one second to another?

"Okay, now listen" Ursa grabbed Yue by her shoulders and looked to her eyes with a serious expression. "We don't have much time before they get here. I don't know how many they can be, but I know that we have to hide you, now."

"How?"

"I... We'll figure out a plan or something, I guess" Ursa said.

Fire Prince Ozai got ready for the battle, expecting the Avatar woudln't go down so easily. However, he wouldn't give up easily either. And he was not going to give the Avatar the chance to strike first once again. He was willing to burn down the whole island if it was necessary.

He outfitted himself in his Fire Nation warrior armor. The men accompanying him wore the same armor, but their helmets covered their faces. His didn't.

He wanted to make sure the Avatar remembered the face of the man who defeated they.

Yue was safely hidden away in Ursa's hut with her and her kids. She was going to be kept their little secret for now. If she fell into the Fire Army's hands, the long term consequences would be disastrous. For her and the rest of the world. The village was emptied as everyone hide behind their doors and windows, getting ready for the arrival of the Fire Army.

Pretty soon, some steps, a march, could be heard approaching the village. Everyone crouched even more from their hidings as the Fire Nation soldiers arrived and started looking over the place, searching their prey.

"Is this where the Avatar has been hiding over the last years?"

"And where's the rest of the village?"

The soldiers looked around, making one question after another before their leader, a scarred man, ordered them to be quiet qith a gesture of his hand.

And from her own hiding, Ursa felt like her heart was going to her feet and the blood disappeared from her face.

It had already been years, more than a decade, but she recognized him.

Even with that horrible scar in his face, she immediately realized who he was.

"Ozai."

Of all the men the Fire Nation could have sent to look after the Avatar, she thought as she grabbed opened one of the drawers of a close cabinet, it had to be the one she feared the most?

Ozai looked around the place two more times before he lost his patience. Weird in him.

"Avatar, I know you're here!" He yelled furiously "Come here and face me! Or are you afraid this might be your end?"

"Now!"

At the order of a woman, the villagers came out of their hidings and pulled bamboo tubes from their pockets, blowing on them as one. Their blow darts launched in a flurry towards the enemy. Many of them missed their target or failed to pierce their armors, but some stuck true. The darts, coated in a posion made from the leaves of a rare flower Ursa knew pretty well, induced heavy sleep just a few seconds after striking.

Azula had to give her mom credit for coming up with such a good plan. Even if it was only the part one.

"You dirty trash..." Ozai lit a fire in his hand, but suddenly, a group of people dressed in orange and yellow robes appeared and attacked him and the remaining soldiers.

Getting out of the hut as quietly and discreetly as possible, Ursa looked at the scene and smirked. Her ex husband must had forgotten that just because Air Nomads didn't like to fight, that didn't mean they didn't know how to pull out a fight if needed.

However, that smirk didn't last long.

Despite the unexpected attack Ozai had no problem to take down half of the Air Nomads that attacked him and his crew and roast their bodies without mercy nor regret. He wouldn't stop to ask himself how could there be any Air Nomads in that island if they were supposedly all extinct. He had an Avatar to chase.

"This is ridiculous. They know they can't defeat us. We overpass them on everything. Unless..."

He turned his look towards the left. A group of four people wearing hoods were leaving one of the huts. One of them was wearing a blue cloak.

"A distraction!"

Enraged, he send a massive explosion around him, pushing both his men and Air Nomads back, before going after the Avatar and the other three.

"Run!" the leader of the little group, a woman wearing a blue demon mask, ordered them and grabbed the hand of one of them before starting to run. But they didn't get much far before a fire whip made them fall.

Ozai grinned. "Where were you going, uh?"

The woman stared at him. What would she be feeling behind that blue demon mask? Fear? Well, if he wanted to discover, he thought as he approached her...

"Leave her alone!" The white haired girl stroke him with a water jet and stood in front of him, standing on a fighting position.

Ozai laughed. "You... You're the Avatar? All these years looking after you, following every rumour that came to me, pushing my body and mind over their limits... only to be faced by a teenager?"

"Well, you're not exactly the kind of big bad guy I was expecting to face, neither" Yue mocked "Jeez, the Fire Army recruits anyone these days."

Ozai's smile disappeared "I'll show you who you're facing, you bratty girl"

He launched some fireballs that she tried to block with some water. Though she did it, she was still pushed to the ground due to the impact. She recovered and attacked him with some water jets. He dodged them easily and striked her with a fire stream. The white haired girl was barely able to dodge it but then he attacked with a fire bomb, pushing her to the ground once again, but this time she felt too weakened to continue.

"Yue" Ozai heard a boy screaming, though he didn't even turned to him. Like he even cared.

"Goodbye, Avatar." Ozai said, forming a fire knife in his hand. "Gotta say, you were a disappointment. Even your predecessor gave me a better fighting than you."

He lowered his hand to stab her, and...

Suddenly, a hand firm as iron stopped him, squeezing his wrist as the girl stood up. Ozai looked at her, and his eyes widened in terror as he looked how the girl's eyes and hair started to glow.

She threw him several meters back as she rised over the ground and the wind began to blow strongly around her. The palm trees shook violently and the roofs of the houses began to fly into the air.

"We have to leave, now!" Azula screamed.

"We're not leaving without Yue!" Zuko replied.

"Then calm her down, now!"

Zuko approached Yue as much as he could, grabbing from everything he could to avoid getting threw into the air by the strong wind.

"Yue, wake up! We gotta leave, now!"

She didn't heard him. As if she was in some sort of trance.

"Please, Yue! I need you to come with me, now! You can't stay here any longer!" Zuko screamed as loud as he could "You're the Avatar! The world needs you! It needs you to get out of this island and save it! And it needs it now!"

Finally, Yue's eyes and hair went out and she fell to the ground, though Zuko was able to catch her before her head hit the ground.

"Don't worry, I got you" he told to an unconscious Yue.

"Guys, over here!"

Riding a flying bison, Jinora and her siblings descended from the air and landed near Ursa and the kids. They quickly brought Yue up to the bison as the soldiers regrouped and prepared to attack them.

"Stop there in the name of the Fire Lord!"

"You want a fight, kids? You got it!" Meelo jumped over three of them and took them down without any problem, as if the soldiers were nothing to him.

"Meelo, get up here now!" Ikki grabbed him and brought him to the bison, despite the kid's efforts to free from her grabbing "Get us out of here! NOW! NOW ! NOW!"

"Oogi, Yip Yip!" Jinora drove the bison over the sky before more Fire Nation soldiers could get to them, barely escaping.

Once they were far away from the island, they could finally sigh in relief.

"That was exciting! Those guys were *pew* *pew* but then the strange girl was like *puff*. It was amazing!" Meelo exclaimed "Can we do that again?!"

"Absolutely... not" Ursa said in an exhausted tone as she took off the mask.

"So... what's next?" Azula asked.

"I guess we can't go back now, right?" Jinora said "They'll follow us wherever we go from now on."

"Yeah..." Ursa stared at the horizon, with a worried expression. "Well, first we find a place to spend the night. Tomorrow, we'll see."

"Does that mean we get to camp in the forest? Awesome!" Ikki said "Can we make a campfire? And tell sppoky stories? Roast a Rabbit-Fowl?"

"Ikki, Air Nomads don't eat meat" Jinora said.

As the two sisters began to discuss again, Zuko turned to Yue, who was still sleeping in his arms.

"Is she okay?" Azula asked "What was that?"

"I don't know, but it seems to have drained all her energy" Zuko said. "But I think she'll be fine"

"Good" Azula looked at her "You know, what I said before the Fire Army attacked us... I was wrong. She may have lied us, but she's not a coward. Not at all"

"Of course she isn't." Zuko smiled at Yue. "She's not just an amazing waterbender, but an amazing Avatar as well."

"Aww. Litle Zuzu has a crush?"

"I DON'T!"

As the fire siblings and the air siblings discussed and the flying bison crossed the sky and the clouds, Ursa looked in front of her, worried. Despite all her efforts to pull Azula and Zuko away from the violence of the war, she hadn't just failed, but now they would be chased down by the last man she would have ever wanted to meet again.

And she had the terrible feeling that it was just the beginning.

Lieutenant Jee ran towards Ozai to help him get up. "Are you okay, your Highness?"

"Get your hands off me!" Ozai yelled and pushed him as he stood up and looked around, enraged.

The Avatar was gone. He had her in his hands and she just flew away, literally.

"Sir, now that we know the Avatar is really back, shouldn't we notify the Fire Lord about it?" Lieutenant Jee asked.

"I guess you're even more stupid than I initially thought" Ozai grabbed him "If the Fire Lord gets to know about this, he'll send his forces and his precious golden boy to hunt down the Avatar and my chance to get her and bring her back to Caldera will be gone!"

"B-But sir, one way or another the Fire Lord will find out about this" Lieutenant Jee said in a scared tone "A-And if we don't inform him before anyone else does and the Fire Lord finds out you deliberately hid such vital information from him, you could be accused of treason and executed. A-And your chance will be gone anyway."

Ozai kept looking at him for a while, before letting him go. "Fine. Send a falcon to Caldera. But don't tell them about this village or what happened here. Those are not relevant details, understand? Just tell them..."

In the Fire Nation Royal Palace, Fire Lord Iroh read the note his brother's subordinate had just send him.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

"Father?" Admiral Lu Ten, in charge of the First Fleet of the Fire Nation Navy, approached Iroh "Is anything wrong?"

"Perhaps, my son, perhaps not" Iroh passed him the note "Look at this"

As Lu Ten readed the note, his eyes widened with a mix of surprise and worry.

"The Avatar has returned."