three years too late

three years ago

katara & Zuko:

When Katara woke up she was laying on an ice sheet. She didn't understand how she got there, or why it felt so familiar.

"Okay, you've gone from weird to freakish, Katara," Sokka said from next to her. He said that line before, she thought, then remembered where. She looked up to see a glowing iceberg shaped like a ball rising from underneath the water to the surface. A figure was in there.

"Aang" she whispered when realization hit. She was back in time, to three years ago when she and her brother found Aang and the madness began.

"Katara, get back here. We don't know what that thing is" her brother called as she got up quickly and waterbent the iceberg open. From the corner of her eye, she could see Sokka's jaw fall open, but she didn't care, her waterbending skills were as good as they were yesterday, three years from now, at the moon festival. Time travel is confusing, she thought. Air swished as Aang was freed from the ice. Light shone into the sky to signal the avatar's return.

In Zuko's ship, he woke up to the light, the light that signaled he was back at the beginning. His eyes widened in awe before he turned to his uncle with a smile.

"helmsman, plan a course to the southern water tribe" he called as he approached his uncle.

"I have a good feeling about this. uncle, can you pour me some tea?" he asked as he sat across from his uncle, who smiled and poured his nephew some jasmine tea.

"you seem to be in a good mood, nephew," he said. Zuko looked at him, his uncle only started to call him nephew when they became fugitives, hiding in the earth kingdom. He also started calling his uncle uncle then.

"do you remember the moon festival..."

"three years from now, yes. It appears the spirit of the moon has sent me back to help you" his uncle stopped Zuko.

"This is great, it would have killed me to treat you so badly for so long again," Zuko said with a smile. The light withered, but the ship was now sailing at a high speed to the home of Sokka and Katara, soon he could see the girl he has been given a second chance with. He thanked Yue in his mind as he drank the tea, for both the chance to see Katara again and having his uncle by his side, the uncle he had with him for the past three years. this time he would do things right, he thought, with both Katara and his uncle.

Back in the iceberg, Aang climbed over the iceberg, Appa was nowhere to be seen.

"stop!" Sokka called and held a spear in one hand and Katara's shoulder in the other. Aang stood up and fell down, Katara caught him, shaking herself from her brother's grasp. Sokka tapped the avatar's head with the blunt end of the spear, Katara frowned and took the spear from Sokka.

"Hey," he said as she threw it a few steps away from them. Sokka went to get his spear back while Katara turned Aang to his back. He opened his eyes and stared at Katara; she could guess what he was about to say.

"We are not going penguin sliding" she blurted out as Sokka got back. Aang's eyes widened in surprise and he sat up.

"How did you know I was going to ask that?" he asked. Katara blushed and looked away.

"I... could tell by your eyes" she eventually said. Aang airbent himself to his feet and Sokka put the sharp end of the spear ahead of him, towards Aang.

"what's going on here?" Aang asked as he looked around at the endless sea and the icebergs, Katara sure missed this part of the world.

"you tell us, how did you get in the ice? Why aren't you frozen?" Sokka asked. Aang pulled the spear from him and looked away.