#talk to me about sokka and you will receive a rambling mess like this!!

[steambend]

i love how much you love Sokka because i also love Sokka and i don't see as much appreciation for him. as a kid/first watch through of ATLA i LOVED Zuko by the end of book 2 through the series end. but rewatching ATLA this past summer as an adult, i was absolutely in love with Sokka. i highly identify with Katara and maybe as a kid i couldn't appreciate him as much but Sokka is such a rare soul. there really isn't another character like him

you’re right he is not nearly appreciated as much as he should be!

look, i was exactly like you. zuko was my number one back when i was younger and then when i rewatched it again maybe a year ago i was like,,, my lord….. this precious boy, beautiful sokka, has been in front of my eyes the whole time °˖✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧˖°

and i think it’s true that it’s harder to appreciate his character when you’re younger because on the surface he’s portrayed as the show’s comic relief. but he’s so three-dimensional!! he’s a talented, sassy, sad boy who just wanted the recognition he deserved (and it didn’t help that he was a non-bender,, i do not find those jokes about sokka not being able to fight due to being a non-bender amusing at all - call me a stick in the mud but i’ll fight anyone who jokes about that) and in the end he received that recognition!! (and became a respected, badass councilman bc of it with a goddamn statue and everything)

most of my favourite episodes in atla involved sokka character development including the swordmaster episode, kyoshi warriors, the blind bandit (mainly because he has a heart to heart with toph and it really gives insight on his character and how he felt about his mum’s death. the majority of the show focuses on how katara felt about the southern raid and i think it was nice that we actually got to see sokka’s side of the story and how he was feeling, bc he sure conceals it a whole lot more than katara does)

he really is a rare soul, you are too right and he is clever, quick witted, cherishes his loved ones, is determined and bright and willing to work hard to gain respect

idk about y’all but that’s everything i look for in a quality role model on tv

edit: and!!! he was a deadass sexist at the beginning but when suki called him out he realised he was wrong and worked toward bettering himself!! now that’s character development. he was a motherfucking feminist by the end of the show, he had so much respect for all his female companions. a true champion and a fine example to all males [and females] out there

(this was so much longer than i intended i am so sorry, i have a lot of feelings about sokka)

[bellatrixobsessed1]

The Art Of Remembrance (Part 40)

Honestly, can’t believe I’m at chapter 40. Anyways, I guess this is gonna be one of my final updates for now. Today just so happened to be my designated fic typing day. So I’m gonna post this as well. Of course future chapters will be on Ao3 and Fanfic for while I’m gone. Thanks to everyone who has supported the fic up to this point.

Sokka had expected to take it much harder, but the more he thinks about it, the more he realizes that he might just be happier without her. She is no longer there to argue with him over ridiculous things. And he no longer has to face her problems for her. Perhaps with her is a more truthful statement, but he isn’t ready to embrace the whole truth yet. He isn’t ready to look at things without a degree of resentment. Indeed he thinks that he is better off.

Yet, in the back of his mind he goes back to that night under the auroras. That night where she’d come to him and offered to do something he enjoyed. To the day in the swamp where she’d sat with him and comforted him.

It has been several days since she had fled. The first had been the worst, the most hectic. In a moment of panic Zuko had assumed that she’d simply taken flight again; ran off into the streets. In telling him that she’d mentioned going back to Fire Lake he’d replied with a swift, “what if she decided not to wait for the ship?���

He’d only be settled when Dr. Phang confirmed that she’d left on the ship. Even then he’d found a new thing to fret over, “what if that was a trap? What if she’s on her way back to another Vine Research Facility compound?” He relaxed completely the following day when he’d received a messenger hawk from her.

For Sokka the first day had been nothing but regret. Regret that he’d written her off so quickly. Regret that he’d let anger and hurt and feelings of betrayal overpower love. Regret that he hadn’t come to check on her sooner, before she’d left.

That first day he’d paced about and vented to Katara, to Aang, to Toph, to Zuko, to Appa and Momo, to anyone who would listen really. And soon that regret and hurt turned back into anger and venting became ranting. Rambling about how she is selfish and how she’d stabbed him in the back. How she is a hypocrite for stabbing him in the back when she knows too well how terrible the feeling is.

Now he reclines on a chair in the palace gardens awaiting further news about Long Feng’s whereabouts. So far the man has been keeping his head down, but he doesn’t doubt that once he gets word of Azula’s vulnerability, he will make his move. Whether she knows it or not, she is bait. That hadn’t been his intention. It certainly wasn’t Zuko’s. But she’d probably admire how cunningly and swiftly he was planning on taking advantage of the situation.

Despite it all he still has a touch of worry for the princess. Raava forbid that they actually capture her again. For as much teeth as she is showing, for as much of the old her is back, he can’t imagine her faring well against rekindled traumas.

Sokka’s mind wanders to the night at the compound. The small on his chest. Holding her has she cried softly.

She doesn’t cry anymore, he reminds himself. He catches himself before he accuses her of being unfeeling. Unexpressive is more befitting. He pushes the thoughts out of his head. He doesn’t know why he is having them now after several days of either celebrating Azula’s absence or not thinking of her at all.

He misses her and he is angry that he does. He tells himself that it is for the best. That she isn’t right for him and that she isn’t healthy for him. That she has just been difficult and a pain in the ass from the start; he thinks of her bundled up and shivering, finger freshly claimed by the cold. Alright, maybe not from the start…

.oOo.

It feels terribly odd to be sitting in Dr. Yu-Kang’s office on her own accord. She feels rather awkward. Awkward and almost ashamed to admit that she can’t handle things on her own. That she can’t get a grip on her own thoughts.

“Dr. Phang told me that you asked him to erase your memories again?”

Azula nods. Dr. Yu-Kang waits for her to elaborate. She doesn’t

“Why is that?”

Azula inhales sharply. She has come here to talk so she better talk.

“Do you want to address something different to begin with?”

Azula shakes her head. “I want to talk about this.”

“Whenever you’re ready.” Dr. Yu-Kang offers. “Would you like something to drink.”

She shakes her head again. “I asked him to take my memories again because it’s...they make things feel wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“Like I shouldn’t be talking to Zu-Zu or Mai and Tylee. Like I shouldn’t...love Sokka.”

Dr. Yu-Kang nods. “Well why does this feel wrong to you?”

She shrugs. “Because, before I left they’d have nothing to do with me. If I didn’t lose my memories they wouldn’t have let me in. I don’t think I would have wanted to be let in.”

“But you did lose them.” Dr. Yu-Kang replies. “The universe has a balance. If you weren’t meant to have lost your memories, you wouldn’t have. And if you weren’t meant to be found by Sokka then it wouldn’t have happened.”

“A coincidence, I assure you.” Azula replies.

“You don’t believe in fate?”

“Do I come off to you as the type who would?” She links her hands and rests them atop her knee.

Dr Yu-Kang chuckles. “I suppose that you don’t. You are in charge of your own fate. You like to be in charge of your own fate.”

“Yes, that’s correct.” Azula agrees.

“Then choose it. You can cling to your past and your old memories or you can acknowledge them, leave them in the past, and continue with the life your new memories have begun.” She takes a drink. “That is your choice. That is what you control.”

Azula swallows. “Yes well, that  still doesn’t change that that person wasn't even me. They, Sokka, Zuko, all of them...they like a false version of me.”

Dr. Yu-Kang looks into her teacup for the longest time. Azula is certain that she has outwitted the woman, even if that wasn’t the goal. In fact it is exactly what she had dreaded, that her therapist wouldn’t even have any advice to offer. At last she looks up. “Have you considered that, that simply isn’t true?”

Azula tilts her head.

“I know that you don’t like to be. But you are wrong, princess.”

“Excuse me?” She half sputters, half grumbles.

Again Dr. Yu-Kang gives a slight chuckle. “I know that you have had this discussion before, princess; you lost your memories, you didn’t lose you. Whatever you said and did without your memories, is something within the realm of possibility for you to have done with them. It is nearly impossible to erase a person’s nature entirely. One would have to do a lot of damage to achieve that.” She lets that settle in. “I have spoken with you enough to know that you require proof so I will offer it.”

Azula shifts, switching which leg overlaps the other.

“When we were discussing Yion’s crimes and my…” she coughs “negligence and incompetence, it felt as though you had never lost your memories at all. Your ability to resume firebending with such expertise, your authoritative and intimidating presence, your inclinations to have control, and your intelligence. The things that defined the old you were still there. You had simply acquired new perspectives and sides of yourself.” She pauses again. “That is what this is; there is no new and old you. There is the old you with new goals, desires, and personality facets.”

“New facets…” Azula repeats more to herself.

“Your older personality traits and your new ones aren’t incompatible. And these new feelings and relationships have just as much value as your old ones. I would say that they have more value.”

Her face falls, “I’ve already made a mess of those.”

Dr. Yu-Kang quirks a brow. “This is the first time you’ve been in a relationship, isn’t it?”

Azula’s face colors. Enough so that Dr. Yu-Kang is confident in continuing her line of thought. “Romantic partnership is like any other kind of partnership. There will be fights, I think that you know this. There will be bad fights. But that doesn’t mean that the relationship is over, even if it seems like it is.”

She feels like a fool for not being able to grasp something so simple. She quietly vocalizes as much before she can stop herself.

“Inexperience is different from incompetence. I know enough of your history to know that you haven’t been particularly exposed to love nor a healthy relationship. I don’t think that this will be a problem for you, you are a fast learner.”

Azula swallows. “Yes, I suppose, but I still don’t know how to fix things.”

“I think that you do, you just don’t want to.”

“I do…”

“Then you are going to have to put your pride aside for the moment. And you’re going to have to deal with some discomfort.”

She shifts again, she supposes she already feels plenty uncomfortable, she is almost dizzy with it. “What if Sokka doesn’t want to talk.”

“We can talk about that if it happens. I am not his therapist, but he is around you enough for me to get a little sense of him. He doesn’t strike me as the type to give up on someone.”

Azula flexes her fingers. “Alright.”

“Though I suggest that you ask him why he is upset with you.” She pauses. “It is easy to only think of oneself in an argument. Don’t you think that you might have hurt him too? Usually people don’t lash out if they aren’t hurt in some way.”

“I’ll…” she hesitates. “Keep that in mind.” Empathy,  sympathy, compassion...they had never come easily to her. To the old her… To the person who hadn’t acquired new viewpoints. She thinks, she hopes, that she is able to feel them now. She supposes that she must, if she is even considering apologizing. She practically cringes at the thought of an apology. There is almost nothing she likes less than being wrong.

“Is there anything else you’d like to speak with me about?”

She gathers that she probably shouldn’t resume speaking with Sokka by unloading her anxieties onto him. “I am concerned about Long Feng. I feel like he is going to come for me at any moment and I’m just as alone now as…”

“I don’t mean to cut you off, but you are not alone anymore. And I think that you are perfectly capable of handling him, especially now that you know more or less, what you are facing.”

“Yes, right.” She agrees.

.oOo.

Sokka finds himself looking at the ocean. His feet have carried him to the docks and he can’t say why. The wind tosses his hair as he looks in the general direction of Lake Fire institute.

“You’re thinking about my sister again, aren’t you?” Zuko laughs.

He jumps. “No!” He says too quickly.

He laughs again, “she has this way of just making you dwell upon her even if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah, well I don’t know what to do about her. I just know that she makes me so angry and I don’t even know if she feels bad about it.” He backtracks. “Bad enough to put herself aside, anyways.”

“Yeah, that’s Azula. She is tricky. But at least now she’s trying.”

Sokka rubs the back of his head. He supposes that she wouldn’t have taken herself to Lake Fire if she wasn't trying. At least now she has the sense to admit that she needs help. He runs his fingers through his hairline, feeling as though he should be helping. But it isn’t his job to fix her, he reminds himself.

“How about this?” Zuko offers. “See what she says to you when she comes home and go from there.”

“Do you have my back?”

Zuko hesitates. “I’ll have your back, but I don’t want to give up on her myself.”

He doesn’t want to give up on her either.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

Annie; The Last Titanshifter

Lmao, I’ve been working on this one for days now and it’s finally done. An Avatar/Attack On Titan crossover. A crack AU where everything is basically the same except Katara and Sokka find Annie in her crystal instead of Aang in his iceberg. Annie is doing everything in her power to convince everyone that she is not the Avatar.

A frigid wind of frost carried itself over the sea as two siblings—a boy and a girl—rowed their way through a maze of ice and water. The cool air rustled her parka and made him shiver. But he had a task and he would get it done without question. “It's not getting away from me this time.” He looked over at his sister with a cocky grin. “Watch and learn, Katara. This is how you catch a fish.” He boasted.

 Katara didn’t seem interested in the slightest. She was more intent on watching a fish of her own. As it lazily and blissfully swam alongside their boat, she had deduced that this time she would put her waterbending to good use. She gave her wrist as graceful flick and a twirl, and with some strained effort she had captured the fish. Beaming from ear to ear she called, “Sokka, look at this, look what I did!”

 He hushed her and reminded her that fishing takes patience and quietness.  He watched his fish swim in circles. He would catch it that time. “Mmmm ... I can already smell it cooking.”

 Katara struggled to keep hold of the water, it hovered just over her head and she tried to carefully bring it down. She huffed with the effort and finally musters, “but I already have one!” In her attempt to talk and bend at the same time, the ball of water came to rest over Sokka’s head. But as it was, he still had his mind and eye on his fish. So when he finally got around to making a jab at the fish, he successfully penetrated the bubble leaving his parka soaked through and through. “Sokka!” Katara yelled as her catch flopped free and—in a elegant arc—back in the ocean.

 Sokka balled his fists as the discomforts of drenched underpants started to set in, “Why is it that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?”

 “It's not ‘magic’, it's waterbending! And it's—”

 Sokka cut her off. “Yeah, yeah, ‘an ancient art unique to our culture’, blah, blah, blah. Look, I'm just saying, that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself.” He squeezed his hair and let drips of water fall to the floor of their boat.

 Katara crossed her arms, finally having enough of her brother’s rambling. “You're calling me weird?” She didn’t quite know how to finish, but luckily for her Sokka had given her a free insult. “I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water!” Before he could respond the current took hold of their boat tugging it towards a heap of particularly sharp ice formations. “Watch out! Go left! Go left!” In hast, he steered to the right, successfully catching their canoe on one of the other icebergs. They were helpless to get it free. The pair abandoned ship, lest they themselves have been crushed. “You call that left?” Katara exclaimed.

 “Well, maybe you should have waterbended us out of there, ever think of that?” He scowled, flailing his arms in the poorest imitation of waterbending that Katara had ever seen.

 “Oh so it’s all me again?” She asked. “I’m always the one who messes everything up.” She had her face set in a dead pout.”

 “You know what, yeah. I should have left you at home.” Sokka grumbled, “you can always count on the girl to mess things up.”

 “You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained.” She paused for a moment to come up with a good follow up. When none came, she settled for an aggressive swooping motion and cut right into her next insult. “I'm embarrassed to be related to you!” As she threw her hand up in frustrated a stream of water—that she had yet to notice—sprang up with it. “Ever since mom died, I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!” As her tone increased so did the force of her waterbending and the look of terror on Sokka’s face. This only served to amp her up more.

 Finally, Sokka managed to point behind him at the large cracking iceberg. But Katara still didn’t let up. “I even wash all the clothes! Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you, not pleasant!”

 He tried to calm her down, really, he did. But his best effort was wasted. “You know what? No! I’m done helping you Sokka.” The iceberg shattered.

 “Okay, you’ve just gone from weird to freakish.” Sokka grumbled.

 A confused Katara assessed the damage. “I can’t do that…can I?”

 “Oh you did.” Sokka shrugged. “Congratulations.”

 Katara opened her mouth to speak when a few bubbles broke the surface of the water. From deep below, something large bobbed upward. They could just make out a figure beneath the ice. What kind of figure it was, they had yet to discover. And then it struck Katara, “There’s someone trapped in that iceberg.”

 “That’s one weird looking iceberg.” Sokka muttered. “It looks more like a crystal to me.”

 “Who cares what it is, we have to get them out of there. And I think he is alive!” Katara frowned and despite protests from Sokka she surged forward with his club in hand.

 “Katara, what are you going to do with that?”

 “What do you think I’m going to do?” Before she had a chance to put her plan in action the crystal shattered on its own accord. Katara realized that whoever was inside, had cracked the ice themselves, but for some reason couldn’t be bothered to emerge.

 “He’s totally free now, why is he still in there?” Sokka asked.

 “Maybe he’s shy.” Katara shrugged. She slowly made her way over to the crystal. “Hey, you can come out of there, we’re not going to hurt you.” She received no response.  

 “Is he…dead?” Sokka asked. Katara placed a hand on the surface of the crystal, intent on climbing it. “Whoa, wait, I didn’t say that you should go check.” But it was too late, Katara had already reached the opening.

Instead of the young boy she was expecting, what Katara gazed upon was a girl a few years older than she. And this girl had hair. Blonde hair. For some reason, this bothered Katara, she was expecting her new companion to be bald. That same reason—whatever it was—was also why she was disturbed that this girl didn’t have arrows. She lifted the girl’s hand, no arrows on the palms either. Katara was oddly befuddled.

 “Hey.” She whispered. “You can come out of the iceberg now. You’re free.”

 “Five more minutes.” The girl mumbled without stirring or even opening her eyes.

 “But…” Katara murmured. “You’re free now.”

 “Just five more minutes.” The girl grumbled again, this time more agitated.

 “But you’ve already been sleeping for a long time.”

 The girl sits herself up and shoots Katara with the most wicked death glare. The waterbender couldn’t quite describe what happened next, but there was a flash of light and the crystal shattered completely. Something obscenely large had emerged from it, but before Katara could asses what it was, the weight of the thing had sent it crashing beneath the waves.

 .oOo.

 The same frosty breeze that rustled Katara’s parka was toying with the hair of another boy. He grips the banister of his own ship—a much sturdier, military grade vessel—with a foreign sense of joy. “Finally! Uncle, do you know what this means?”

 The man doesn’t even so much as glance up. Instead he rubbed his chin and moved another game piece, “That I won't get to finish my game?”

 “Yes, exactly.” The teen stops pacing. “Wait, what? No. Well, yes, but that’s not what I mean. What I mean is, that my search is about to come to an end.”

 This elicited a long drawn out sigh from the older man. He has been down this road before and he knew that it was going to end just the same way; with his tea being interrupted and for nothing but a firework display off in the distance.

 The boy wildly gestured in the direction of the flash.  “That light came from an incredibly powerful source, it has to be him!”

 “That is exactly what you said the last time, Prince Zuko. And last time it lead us to a wild firebender trying to invent something called ‘vaping’. Everyone got it, he vaped.” He looked down at his game piece, this one depicted the wings of freedom. “Hmm…I don’t know how this one got here.” He chucked it over the side of the boat and picked up one with the symbol for airbending. “Anyways, I just don't want you to get too excited over nothing.” To his pleasure and surprise, he had time to finish his game. “Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea? We can start a new game.”

Zuko’s teenage angst finally gets the best of him and he explodes, “I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar! Captain, follow that light!” He turned away from his uncle. “Swigity swoogity, I’m comin’ for that Avatar booty.”

 .oOo.

 “What… was that?” Sokka asked as he peered into the water. Secretly he was thankful that whatever it was hadn’t emerged. Clearly, they had just dodged a bullet, the kind of bullet that turn him into an unwilling protagonist.

 “Sokka, get over here and help me. Help us.” Katara called and just like that, his relive vanished.

 He saw a hand grip what remained of their iceberg. Katara helped pull its owner to the surface. Standing before him was probably the shortest girl he’d ever seen. He had no clue what to make of her outfit. He had never seen anything like it; some kind of brown coat over a hoodie covered in belts and straps. She slowly raises to her full height, relatively speaking. Apparently, the effort had taken a lot out of her because immediately after standing up she collapses again, right into Katara’s arms with her head pressed up against the waterbender’s chest.

 “Das gay.” Sokka whispers. As if is remark wasn’t vexing enough, he begins to jab at the unconscious woman’s head with the dull end of his spear.

 “Sokka, stop it!” Katara swats the spear away. With care she propped the girl against the nearest and largest wall of ice she can find. It took a few moments but the girl finally opened her eyes. They were the bluest eyes Katara had ever seen. Katara shook her head wondering where that thought had come from, she is from the Water Tribe, she has seen much bluer eyes. Regardless, there was something about this girl’s eyes that had her intrigued.

 The girl’s mouth opened. At first Katara thinks that she is just panting. She realized that the girl was actually trying to say something to her and she can just make out the words. Her voice is weak, but Katara can now clearly make out, “I need to ask you something—” Her voice trails off.

 “What is it, tell me.”

 “Please.” The stranger hesitates, “come closer.”

 “What is it?” Katara repeated.

 The girl was very quiet for a moment, and then she mumbled, “why is that guy so hideous?” She pointed at Sokka. “He looks like a fucking shoe.”

 “Excuse me!” Sokka lumbered over with his hands clenched into fists.

 “It’s to match his personality… I-I guess.” Katara replied.

 The girl stood herself up right once again. That time she seemed to have her barring. “What's going on here anyways? What is this place?”

 “You tell us.” Sokka demanded, pointing at the ice that the girl had previously broken out of and then broken through. “How did you get in the ice? And why aren't you frozen?” He jabbed her with the spear again, earning himself a swift kick in the shin.

 “I was about to get interrogated by the government so I decided to take a nap instead.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t finished with that nap, by the way.” She looked pointedly at Katara.

 Both siblings expected her to continue but they were met with silence and the sound of the wind picking up.

 “Don’t you want to know anything about us?” Sokka asked. “Like where we live?”

 The girl shrugged and after some more prodding from Sokka rolled her eyes and asked, “do you guys live around here?”

 “Acually, y—”

 Sokka brandished his spear again and jabbed it, pointy end up, towards the girl. “Don’t answer that, Katara! Did you see that crazy bolt of light? She was probably trying to signal turn us in to the Fire Nation.”

 Once again Katara pushed the spear aside. “Oh right, I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy. You can tell by that evil look in his eye.”

 Sokka observed the girl’s expression. Passive. Blank. Uncaring. It was then that he realized she didn’t give a fuck. Not the flying kind and not the grounded kind. Sokka shivered as the wind picked up even more.

  “The dumbass is my brother, Sokka. What’s your name?”

 “I'm A… a-a-a-Achoo!” Upon sneezing, she accidently triggered the gas on her 3D maneuvering gear. That slight trigger was powerful enough to send her some feet into the air. She hadn’t even had time to extend the grappling hook to catch herself. But regardless, she landed in a sturdy stance. “I'm Annie.” She sniffled, her gaze never leaving the ground, and hugged her jacket closer to her body.

 “You just sneezed and flew ten feet in the air!” Sokka threw his hands up.

 Annie looked up. “I don’t think it was that high.”

 “You're an airbender!” Katara exclaimed.

 “I’m a what?”

 “An airbender.” Katara repeats. “That’s how you were able to sneeze yourself that high.”

 “Wh-what?” Annie sputters. “No, my sneeze didn’t do that, it was my—”

 But Sokka wasn’t listening he was much too busy leaping to his own conclusions. “Giant light beams, Olympic level sneezes, airbenders, I think I drank the wrong water today. I'm going home to where stuff makes sense.” He stormed off, only realizing that he was stranded when he reached the edge of the iceberg.

 “How are we going to get home?” Sokka winced.

 The siblings looked hopefully at Annie. She cocked her head and shrugged. Taking their dismal situation as her cue to nap again, Annie found the coziest looking pile of dirt and laid herself down.

 “We’re going to freeze to death and it’s all your fault.” Sokka accused.

 “My fault, you’re the one who wouldn’t look at my fish. The one that I worked hard to catch!”

 Something in their tones led Annie to believe that help wouldn’t be coming anytime soon. “I suppose I can give you guys a ride home.” She looked at her 3D maneuvering gear. She knew that the only way she wouldn’t freeze to death would be to take one of them home. “It’s probably going to take a while though.”

 “That would be great!” Katara smiled.

 For some reason Annie smiled back. Katara turned around to debate with her brother over whether or not they should accept the ride home. When she turned back around, Annie was still smiling.

 “Why are you smiling at me like that?” Katara asked.

  “Oh, I was smiling?” Annie returned the question. It had been such a long time since she had smiled, sometimes she forgets to stop. And just like that, with the embarrassment hanging thickly over her head, she remembered that, that is exactly why she stopped smiling in the first place.

At Annie’s explanation, Katara smiles again.

Sokka smiles too. Iroh smiles. The sealions smile. Somewhere far in the distance Azula and Ozai smile. Everyone smiles. Except for Zuko. Zuko is not smiling.

 .oOo.

Zuko—who is still not smiling—was standing at the helm of his warship, looking furiously at the water rushing beneath the boat. His honor was at stake and if he messed this up his honor would be like the water, quickly rushing passed him.

 Iroh and his balls of steel came to approach the brooding teen, “I'm going to bed now.” He yawned. “Yep, a man needs his rest.” He paused, waiting for the suggestion to sink in. It never does, Zuko was still grumbling about honor. “Prince Zuko, I’m dropping hints like Skrillex drops the bass, go the fuck to sleep. Even if that was the Avatar and not another attempt to make the world’s largest vape cloud, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather and great-grandfather all tried and failed. Our whole family failed. It isn’t just you, we are a family of failures. Your dad only sent you away because he looks like a bigger failure when you’re around, because—while you’re still a failure like the rest of use—you’re less of a failure than he is.”

 “What about Azula? She’s not a failure.” Zuko exploded. Literally. He exploded in rage, but he resurrected himself just in time to hear Iroh sigh.

 Iroh pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to avoid the discussion. “Zuko, you know we’re not supposed to mention her until the last episode.”  

 “She’s not a failure like the rest of us.” Zuko muttered.

 “Oh just you wait.” Iroh replied.

 “It doesn’t matter!” Zuko screams into the night. “Because with the Avatar I have honor to capture. And I will capture it. The Avatar master of all four elements of escapism’s hundred years in hiding are over.” He declared.

 .oOo.

 They had to leave Sokka behind. Annie simply couldn’t carry both siblings at once. And since Sokka was being a pain in the ass, they elected to leave him behind. Even he, with his great mistrust, elected to leave himself behind. With aid from her gear, Annie swiftly moved she and Katara from glacier to glacier. Katara looked completely lost in her own thoughts. Annie can’t help but to be at least a little curious and, for once, started the conversation. “Water… you thinking about?

 Ignoring Annie’s clever pun, Katara answered, “Spiderman.”

 That reminded Annie of why she stopped talking to people. They fell into silence again.

 “Oh, and also,  I guess I was wondering, with you being an airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the Avatar?”

 “What the hell is an Avatar? What’s a Spiderman?” She decided afterward, to remind Katara (again), that she was not an airbender either.

 “If you’re not an airbender than how are you doing this?” Katara indicated to their ability to sail through the air.

 “Oh, this is my 3D—” Distracted by the conversation she nearly slams right into a block of ice. She refused any conversation after that.  She concentrated on getting them to the village safely. After the passage of a few hours they arrived.

 “Now all you have to do is go get Sokka.” Katara took a seat in the snow.

 Annie blinked. She was safe, she no longer needed them. “Why would I risk myself to go get him. A frail maiden like me would probably get lost trying to get back to him anyways.” Literally no one could tell if she was being sarcastic or not.

 “But…” Katara started.

 “To be honest, I don’t even know how you knew your way home. Didn’t you say that you got taken by a current that rushed the two of you, miles away from your original location?”

 Katara hated it when people questioned the logic of things.

 “Send a boat to fetch your brother.” Annie shrugged. She looked at the sky, night was closing in. “I’m going to sleep.”

 “But you just woke up.” Katara whispered to herself.

  As Katara and a pack of Water Tribe folk set out to retrieve Sokka, Annie had a dream. She was with potato girl eating potatoes. But the potatoes were purple and had legs and screamed for help whenever she or Sasha brought them to her lips. Even in the haze of the dream, Annie realized that she didn’t care. She ate things that screamed before. Sasha didn’t seem to notice the terrified shrieks of the potatoes as she mercilessly tore them to shreds. Suddenly Sasha turned around and began yelling at Annie. “Why did you do it? Why did you tell instructor Shadis that I farted?” Annie looked down.

She was not Annie.

She was Mikasa.

Her scarf looked up at her and yelled, “Annie!”

 “Annie! Annie are you okay, are you okay, Annie?!” It was Katara’s voice.

 Annie shot up in bed, tossing the covers to the floor. The last thing she ever wanted to do, was become Mikasa.

 “It's okay.” Katara reassured.

 “It was okay…until you made that joke.” Annie said.

 “Well anyways, get dressed. Everyone's waiting to meet you.”

 Annie’s eyes went wide.

People? Waiting?? To meet her???

She snatched up the covers and hid beneath them. They all wanted to meet her, but she did not want to meet them. But Katara wouldn’t let up. Eventually she grabbed her hoodie, tugged it over her head, and headed for the exit.

 Before Katara herself left, she decided to look back at Annie, even though she had just told her to get changed and knew it was the rude thing to do. She gasped, surprised once more by the lack of arrows on Annie’s arms, legs, and torso. Growing impatient, Katara pulls Annie out of the tent.

The crowd before Annie was small, but her desire to leave continued to grow as they stepped closer. Sokka, the annoying twat, was sitting outside gnawing on a drumstick while sharpening his boomerang.

 “Annie, this is everyone our village.” She motions to the small crowd. “All ten of us.”

 “That’s it?” Annie asked. She was ready to say, ‘my village has been attacked by creatures at least fifteen meters in height and we still have a bustling town, what’s your excuse?’ But decided better of it, they didn’t need to know. Instead she just stood there, her longing to go back inside increasing.

 Frankly, the villagers looked just as horrified to have her standing there as she was to be doing it. “Why are they all looking at me like that, did I accidently titan shift?” She asked.

 An old lady emerged from the crowd. “Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you.”

 “I’m not an airbender. You see, I am able to fly by using my—”

 “Shit!” Sokka yells as he lost hold of his boomerang, it flew out of his grip, nearly clobbering Annie on the head. Reacting quickly, she triggered her 3D maneuvering gear.

 The crowed looked on in awe at her incredible display of airbending.

 Changing the subject, Katara introduced Kanna to Annie.

 “Call me Gran-Gran.” Kanna greeted warmly.

 Sokka stormed up  to Annie and makes a grab for her 3D maneuvering gear. She leapt out of his reach.

  “What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this!” He remarked, a look of puzzlement crossing his face.

 Delighted at the opportunity to finally explain it.  She proudly said, “well, this is my 3D maneuvering gear, it isn’t for stabbing. Not technically anyways. It’s—” She realized with annoyance that no one is listening. Everyone was too busy watching a herd of penguins that decided to waddle by. But Annie was thankful for that, it drew attention away from her. She began to creep back towards the tent, when Katara’s hand tugged at her wrist.

 “Show them how you can fly!”

 Annie sighed and decided to just humor them. It’s just like that time when Eren decided to fight you for slacking, she tried pep talking herself. With nothing sturdy enough to use her grappling hooks on, she dazzled them with a few agile flips and mid-air spins.

 “She's flying!” Yelled one of the youngest village girls.

 Annie did one more flip and landed purposely atop Sokka’s sorry excuse for a watch tower.  The pathetic structure crumbled and she shot him a smirk.

 “My cabbages! I mean, watchtower!”

 “That was amazing!” Katara ran up and hugged Annie, who cringed within her grasp.

 Meanwhile Sokka made a mad dash to recover his watchtower, patting it to no avail. “Great. You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender. Together you can just waste time all day long.” He grumbled.

 “Actually, I’m not an airbender. I have this thing called—” The remaining heap of snow collapsed from the watchtower, right on top of Annie. By the time she shovels it off of her, Sokka had already sulked away. “You're a waterbender?” She asked Katara instead. “What is a waterbender?”

 Being so eager to act on her chance to finally learn waterbending…real waterbending, Katara ignored the second question. “Well, sort of. Not yet. I was hoping that, since you’re the Avatar, you could teach me more of it.”

 “All right, no more playing. Come on, Katara, you have chores.” Kanna interrupted She pulled Katara away from Annie. Frankly, she was growing concerned at her granddaughter’s budding obsession with her.

 Confirming Kanna’s fear, Katara exclaimed, “I told you, she's the real thing Gran-Gran! I finally found a bender to teach me!”

 In that moment, Kanna knew exactly how Iroh felt.  “Katara, try not to put all your hopes in this girl.”

 “But he's special! I know she is, I can just tell that she's filled with much wisdom.” Katara looked over at Annie. Having never actually been in snow that deep, she had gotten herself wedged in a particularly dense patch of snow. With both hands, she tugged on her leg in an attempt to free it. She succeeded in pulling her foot from her boot. The same force that freed her, had landed her on her ass. “I knew I should have stayed in my crystal.” Katara heard her grumble.

 “I swear, she was doing fine before I tried convincing you that she’s an airbending genius.”

 .oOo.

 “No, you are impatient.” Iroh slapped his palm against his forehead. “You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!”

 Zuko clenched his teeth in anger. He picked up his pencil and tried reworking the problem. “Please excuse my dear aunt Sally…” he muttered. Without warning he throws the pencil, lights the paper on fire, and brings his hands to his head. “This doesn’t make any seeeeeeennnnce!” He yelled into the chilly afternoon air “The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender. He must be over a hundred years old by now. He's had a century to master the four algorithms! I'll need more than basic algebra to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced calculus!”

 “Zuko, you are becoming obsessed. You are letting your need to capture the Avatar blend in with your everyday life. You are learning math to…” Iroh paused, trying to find the reason. “Honestly I don’t know why you are trying to learn math right now. This was the scene where you were supposed to practice your firebending.”

 “Oh.” Zuko dropped his pencil that had suddenly been drawn back into the scene. “Right. Firebending, we should get to that, Uncle.”

 .oOo.

 “Have you seen Annie? Gran-Gran said she disappeared over an hour ago.” Katara was growing frantic.

 “Katara, it has been like two minutes.” Sokka rolled his eyes. “Now if you’d excuse me I have an army to train.”  He motioned to a heard of small children.

 “Sokka they’re children.”

 Emerging from the bathroom igloo, Annie remarked, “that’s when I started training.”

 “Oh thank goodness, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!” Katara stated.

 Annie cringed for the second time that day. This girl was getting too clingy and she was getting uncomfortable. She had to get out of there and back to Wall Rose.

 “Katara, get him out of here! This lesson is for warriors only!”

 Annie’s ears perked up and her expression brightens. “I’m a warrior! I was chosen to be one of seven people to inherit the power of one of the founding titans.”

 Once again Sokka and Katara ignored her. Sokka is too busy trying to regain control of his child army and Katara is busy laughing at him. Somehow the pair always found a way to disregard her whenever tried giving useful information about her origins.

“What's wrong with you?! We don't have time for fun and games with the War going on!” Sokka shouted.

 “What war? We’re talking about the Marley Mid-East war right?” Annie frowned to herself, remembering that, that one had actually ended.

 “You're kidding, right?” Sokka asked.

 Annie gave him a baffled look. Her expression warmed at the sight of a penguin slaughtering over to a hillside. “Oh look, it’s my solitude, better go catch that.” Before either could react, Annie made a mad sprint in the direction of the hill. She would deal with the space-invading penguins.

 .oOo.

 Katara found Annie trying to interact with the penguins. Apparently she liked them much better than people.

 “Annie?” Katara called, hoping not to startle her.

 The call met her ears just as she was about to grab a penguin. Unfortunately the sound of Katara’s voice had scared it off. So instead of hugging a penguin, Annie found herself face first in the snow. “This is why I can’t be happy.”

 For some reason, Katara chucked at her apparent misery. “Hey, I’ll help you catch a penguin if you teach me waterbending.”

 This time Annie’s sarcasm was clear. “Oh yeah! Sure, you got a deal! Just one little problem I'm not a waterbender… or an airbender. Isn’t there anyone else who can teach you?”

 “Well, yes. There is this one guy, but apparently, I’m too clingy and I started to scare him or something. So he got a restraining order. Now I’m not allowed to be within fifteen feet of him…which is like half the size of our town. So he moved away. What I’m trying to say is, no. You're looking at the only waterbender in the whole South Pole.”

“Wow, I would have never guessed.” Annie muttered.  “What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have waterbenders who could teach you.”

 “It’s possible, but we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time. It's not exactly ‘turn right at the second glacier’. It's on the other side of the world.” Katara replied.

 “But you forget, we all have the capability to steal a boat and I can personally steal one for you.” Annie offered. At this point she was willing to do anything to get away from this crazed eskimo. If it meant freedom for her, Annie decided, “we're going to find you a master.”

 “That's ... I mean, I don't know. I've never left home before. I don’t exactly like doing that.”

 “That’s funny, I could have sworn I said the same thing this morning, but you made me go outside anyways.” Annie pointed out. “So it’s decided then, we’re going to the north pole so you can be on the opposite side of the world as me.”

 Katara changes the subject again. “Hey look, a plot device.” She pointed at a large cavernous looking metal warship of a clear Fire Nation make. Holding it in place is a huge, penetrating, thick, sexy, heap of ice.

 “What is that?” Annie asked.

 “I just told you.” Katara replied. “It’s a plot device. It’s a Fire Nation navy ship and it was basically just a bad time for everyone.”

 Annie walked towards it.

 “Annie, stop! We're not allowed to go near it! The ship could be booby-trapped!”

 Annie sniffs, “you pussy.”

 “Excuse me!?” Katara stomped passed Annie and boarded the ship.

 Annie came to join her.

 “Great, now that we’re here I can start with the exposition. “This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was a little girl. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks.”

 “You guys keep talking about that but I don’t think you actually know what you’re talking about.”

 “Annie, how long were you in that iceberg?”

 Annie shrugged. “I don’t know how long I’ve been in that crystal. Its kinda hard to tell when you’re in a coma. It’s probably been a month or two though.”

 “A month? I think it was more like a hundred years!” Katara had to be exaggerating.

 “Do I look like a crusty hundred year old woman to you?” She gave her lustrous blonde bangs a flick.

 “Think about it. The War is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you were in there the whole time! It's the only explanation.” Katara declared as if she had just solved all of the world’s mysteries.

 “Yeah, I don’t know about that. I think that somehow I have landed in some crazy parallel universe where people only wear blue and talk about elemental gymnastics more than they should.” Annie laid her theory out.

 “That’s just crazy.” Katara argued. “No, you’re the Avatar and you’ve been stuck in an iceberg for 100 years.”

 “Two problems with that theory. For one thing, it was a crystal. A crystal. For seconds, if I’d been in an iceberg for years my body would probably be waterlogged and useless.”

  “You just don’t want to face the truth.” Katara accuesed.

 “I just want to go back into my coma.” Finally at her wits end, Annie kicked the wall of the boat, triggering a series of the aforementioned booby traps. As if exploding in her face wasn’t enough, the ship sent a flare into the sky. It was a tattletale, just like Mikasa. Reluctantly, Annie scooped Katara up and propelled them to safety.  

 .oOo.

 From a questionably close distance, Zuko peered through his telescope. “I found it!”

 “Oh, quick hand it over.” One of Zuko’s soldiers requested eagerly.

 Zuko ignored him. “Uncle, uncle, I found the last airbender.” He just caught the look of disappointment on the soldier’s face.  “We were just trying to scope out dat ass, when I caught a glimpse of a very particular ass. The Avatar’s ass!” He turned away from Iroh, looks at the soldier, and whispers, “for being so old, he sure has a nice ass.” He looked through the telescope again. He can clearly make out where they are running to. “Uncle, I know where he’s hiding too.”

 As Zuko looks in the direction of the Southern Water Tribe, Iroh wondered how his nephew didn’t realize that he had seen two girls, not a girl and a balding monk. Iroh shook his head as the reason dawned upon him; Zuko had been too busy staring at dat ass. One of these days he was going to push his nephew overboard.