Chapter 1.5: The Girl from the Sky

"You just sneezed!" Sokka exclaimed, with a shocked face. "And flew ten feet into the air!"

"Really?" Aang said, scratching his head and looking up into the sky. "It felt higher than that."

Katara gasped and her eyes gleamed. "You're an Air Bender!"

"Sure am!" Aang replied, excitedly.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, air bending; I think I've got midnight sun madness," Sokka said, cradling his head in his hand as he turned around. "I'm going home to where stuff makes sense."

He continued to walk forward to the bank and pulled a face when he looked around, completely forgetting in the madness of the past ten minutes that their canoe was destroyed.

"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang offered with a smile, somersaulting up onto Appa's forehead in a puff of air and promptly took the reins.

"We'd love a ride, thanks!" Katara yelled with glee, running up to Appa and beginning to climb up its legs.

"Oh no," Sokka said with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am not getting on that fluffy snot-monster."

"Oh, are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?" Katara shot back, smirking. "You know, before you freeze to death?

Sokka glared at her, begun mumbling quietly to himself as he grudgingly got on Appa's back; sitting on the seats at the back of the saddle.

"Okay, first-time flyers! Hold on tight!" Aang cracked the reins. "Appa, yip-yip!"

Appa thrashed his tail on the ice and jumped into the air as if to take off, but fell back into the water. "Come on, Appa, yip-yip!" Aang chanted once again, receiving a moan from the large beast.

"Wow. That was truly amazing." Sokka drawled, clapping his hands unenthusiastically.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky!" Aang exclaimed, moving his arm in the air in a soaring motion. "You'll see!"

Katara crawled to the front of the saddle to look over the horizon but stopped in her tracks when she caught Aang staring at her.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked, confused.

"O-Oh, I was smiling?" Aang stuttered, scratching the top of his bald head once again and Sokka could only grunt at their exchange.

The sky had turned a dark blue, with tints of orange filtered through the clouds, the sun setting before them. Zuko stood on the bow, watching it all take shape and disappear. His uncle stood five paces behind him now, after just finishing his game.

"I'm going to bed now." He yawned with a stretch. "Yup. A man needs his rest."

After a few seconds and still no reply from his young nephew, he grew annoyed.

"Prince Zuko, you need your sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is really alive; you won't find him." He said, shaking his head. "Your father, grandfather and even your great-grandfather all tried but failed."

"That's because their honour didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture, mine does." Zuko looked sharply at his uncle. "This coward's hundred years of hiding are over."

The wind picked up over the cliffs, dragging with it a flurry of snow, nature itself attempting to bury her over until nothing was left of her.

Sakura lay rooted in the place where she fell, the snow packed earth breaking her fall significantly earlier on in the day. The flakes that had gathered over her form numbed her bare skin entirely that she could barely feel her toes, never mind trying to gather herself enough to start walking.

She pushed her shaky arms off of the ground, trying to steady her legs enough to stand. Her whole body sluggishly trudged forward, wobbly like jelly on a plate. She heaved with each breath she took, her throat burning as if she had a branding iron forced into her mouth, a whistle filling the air as she continued to breathe in and out.

Her legs begun to shake violently, forcing her knees to buckle forward until she slumped fully onto the ground; a flurry of snow whipping upwards as she landed.

She rolled onto her back slowly, failing to notice how threateningly close she was from the edge of the cliff. She pulled her arms onto her chest, curling her pinkie and ring fingers until they lay flat on the back of her hands, laying her middle and index fingers flat against each other; the hand signal commonly known in the shinobi world as 'Tiger'.

"Release!" She mumbled, her voice cracking as the word rolled off her tongue. Tears began welling in the ducts of her eyelids, rolling down her face but freezing into crystals as they reached her cheeks, as she saw no change around her. "Release! Release! Release! Release! Please, just r-release!"

She choked, words no longer being existent to her as she puffed out clouds of air. Sakura slumped once again and closed her eyes, giving up.

Scenes played out in her head of Sasuke and Naruto facing off at the valley of the end behind her eyes. She worried about Naruto's philosophy about them both dying together, she knew that to that end that yes; she would wake up soon. But would it be worth it upon finding them both dead?

Either way, she would die inside from losing the two people that mean the world to her. Instead of her enlightening dream of her standing at the gates of the Leaf Village, watching as Naruto trundled home with a fairly beaten up Sasuke at his side as he gave her one of his ear to ear grins and exclaiming to her that he finally fulfilled the promise he made to her, seemed nothing but a dream now.

This is what Sasuke wanted though, to take everyone down so no one got in his way to come between his fight to the death with Naruto. He wanted this, he wanted this to be their last battle and it was going to be to the death.

He also knew that it tortured her to not do anything about it either, and the Tsukiyomi he put her under was just another of his games. It broke her heart. He broke her heart.

Before she passed out from the cold and pain she was in, her thoughts were filled with him.

Katara, Sokka and Aang continued floating along the stream upon Appa's back, passing between the massive glaciers around them. Sokka had relaxed against the saddle, already fast asleep and snoring. Aang lay across the back of Appa's large head, curiously looking between the two water tribe members.

A female's voice filled his ears, and he looked to Katara.

"Hey, did you say something?" He asked.

"No." She answered. They remained in silence once more, before Katara shifted her body over to the front of the saddle to lean her arms over the edge. "Hey."

"Hey," Aang replied tiredly. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"I guess I was just wondering, you being an airbender and all, if you knew what happened to the Avatar." Katara answered.

Aang looked surprised and then disappointed. "N-No, I don't know him." He said, sitting up and smiled at her once again. "I mean, I knew people who knew him, but I don't. Sorry."

"No! That's okay, I was just curious." She turned to lie down in the saddle. "Good night Aang, I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep tight, Katara." He called back.

Aang had fallen asleep on Appa's back, soaring through the sky to the Southern Water tribe. Lightning flashed, startling him awake. He looked around, frightened, sitting up and finding the reins wrapped around his hands. Another bolt of lightning struck, rain pounded down upon them and the waves below them high and choppy.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He yelled as they both plummeted towards the monstrous sea. He pulled Appa's reins back, forcing Appa to look up and try to get them flying upwards once again. Appa cried in grief as a large wave hit them, both of them fully submerged underwater; bound to drown.

Both had been knocked unconscious by the force of the wave that had hit them, Aang lost grip of Appa's reins; sinking further and further into the blackened depths.

Aang's mouth twisted into a frown, his eyes and tattoos beginning to illuminate brightly. He snapped into meditation, freezing the water around them in an air bubble he created, securing Appa and himself inside.

"Aang! Aang!" A voice yelled out to him. "Wake up!"

Aang jolted upright in a cold sweat, screaming. Pulling the brown cloth off his form as he did so. He looked over at Katara with a frightened face.

"It's okay." She comforted, standing up once again. "We're in the village now. Come on, get ready! Everyone's waiting to meet you."

Aang turned with his back to her with an excited smile, sliding the sleeves of his tunic over his arms before he pulled the collar over his head. Katara gasped silently, noticing the blue arrows all over his body. She smiled, reaching out to grab his wrist and drag him out of the tent much to his protest.

Grabbing his staff on the way out of the open tent door, Katara continued to drag him until he was standing in front of nineteen women and children. Sokka remained sitting by the tent they had just exited from.

"Aang," Katara said, extending her arm out directly to the people who stood before them. "This is the entire village. Entire village, Aang."

Aang clapped his arms together around his staff, bowing to them. Once he opened his eyes once more, he noticed the women eyeing him warily and grabbing their children.

Aang turned to Katara. "Uh, why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?"

As he looked at his skin, looking for any signs of the bison's snot, an old woman stepped forward.

"Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct. Until my granddaughter and grandson found you." She said monotonously.

"Extinct?" Aang asked, deadpanned.

"Aang," Katara spoke up once again. "This is my grandmother."

"Call me gran gran." She said once again, her face flat.

Sokka marched over, grabbing Aang's staff from his hands. "What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this!"

Aang whisked it out of Sokka's hand with a gust of air from his fingers. "It's not for stabbing," He explained, looking over his staff. "It's for airbending."

The staff whirred as orange fans flitted outwards, causing Sokka to scream like a little girl in fright.

The children giggled in awe, the tiniest little girl in the village stepping forward in excitement.

"Magic trick! Do it again!"

"Not magic, airbending." Aang explained to the little children, guiding his hands with the glider in an upwards motion. "It lets me control the flow of the air currents around my glider and fly!"

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed. "You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly."

Aang's face quirked as he grabbed either end of the sticks holding the fabric together on his glider. "Check again!"

The crouched and pounced until he was up in the air, soaring through the sky as the villagers watched in awe. He flew down low, between them all, and back up into the air again to impress them. He looked back to Katara, whose face lit up seeing him.

Caught up with trying to impress her, instead of concentrating on flying, his head collided with a large building that had been compacted from snow. Upon pulling himself out, he landed back on the ground in a heap of snow. Everyone running over and gathering around him, minus Sokka.

"Uh! My watchtower!" He gasped, running over to begin repairing it.

Katara, in the meantime, extended her hand out to Aang. He gladly took it and rose himself back onto his feet. "That was amazing!"

Aang twirled his glider for effect quickly, and the fans folded back into his staff. The gust from it causing a large heap of snow to topple onto Sokka that everyone else failed to notice.

"Great," Sokka began, gaining the attention of Katara and Aang as he made to get up. "You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you can just waste time all day long."

As Sokka trudged away unhappily, Aang turned back to Katara.

"You're a waterbender!"

"Well, sort of." She said, casting her eyes down. "Not yet."

"Alright, no more playing." Gran Gran spoke up, Katara taking her arm. "Come on, Katara. You have chores."

As they walked away together, Katara looked to Gran Gran in excitement.

"I told you, he's the real thing Gran Gran!" She said, coming to a stop. "I finally found a bender to teach me!"

"Katara," Gran Gran said. "Try not to put all of your hopes in this boy."

Katara flung out her arms. "But he's special, I can tell. I sense he's filled with much wisdom."

As they both looked over to Aang again, they noticed the children standing around him as he held the staff in the air with his tongue.

"See? Now my tongue is stuck to my staff." He said delightedly, screaming when one of the children took the staff and pulled it.

Gran Gran's eyes flashed. "He's special, alright."

Zuko stood defensively at the head of a triangle formation, two of his soldiers facing off against him. His uncle stood nearby, watching Zuko carefully. "Again." He commanded.

Zuko lunged forward, shooting two fireballs from his fists at them. As they blocked him, the soldier on the right shot a fireblast from his fists. Zuko promptly ducked out of the way, turning back just in time to jump over his next attacker that shot his fire from his fist and foot.

While floating in the air momentarily, Zuko took the advantage to shoot a circling fireblast at the first soldier that had attacked him, hoping to put him out of the fight.

The second threw yet another kick of fire in his direction, he twirled himself in the air, the fireblast dispelling.

The soldiers once again returned to their defensive stance, and Zuko stood stationery, looking for his Uncle's input.

"No! Power and firebending come from the breath!" His uncle said, pushing his hands up his chest in demonstration. "Not the muscles."

He extended his arm, his fist clenched. "The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." As he said this, he punched a fireblast that just missed Zuko's face. "Get it right this time."

"Enough." Zuko said, annoyed. Walking towards his uncle. "I've been drilling the sequence all day. Teach me the next set; I'm more than ready."

"No, you are impatient." His uncle countered. "You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!"

Zuko whirled around, growling in anger, sending a fireball directly at one of the soldiers which made him fly back from the impact. Zuko turned back to his uncle.

"The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender." Zuko said. "He must be over a hundred years old by now." He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him."

Zuko leaned in threateningly close to his uncle's face, hoping to intimidate him. "You will teach me the advanced set!"

His uncle stared angrily at him but knew he could not win when Zuko was in one of his moods.

"Very well," He agreed, smiling as he had just remembered something. He sat back down, digging for something beneath his seat. "But first, I must finish my roast duck."

Zuko backed away from him nervously, put off by how quickly his uncle's attitude can change. The old man noisily munched on the slices of roasted duck, happily.

All of the children stared blankly at Sokka, who marched back and forth, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Now men, it's important that you show no fear when facing a firebender." He explained, unclasping his hands and pulling the machete off of his back and waving it around in front of them. "We are the Water Tribe. We fight until the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?"

He raised his fist high, ending his speech to the desired dramatic affect he was going for.

A young boy, around six years old, raised his hand. "I gotta pee!"

"Listen!" Sokka snapped, annoyed. "Until your fathers' return from the war; they're counting on you to be the men of this Tribe! And that means no potty breaks!"

"But I really gotta go." The boy crossed his legs, wiggling around where he sat.

"Okay." Sokka sighed, defeated. "Who else has to go?"

When all of the boys raised their hands, getting up from where they sat to rush over to the igloo bathroom, Sokka slapped himself in the face.

"Have you seen Aang?" Katara asked, walking over to her brother. "Gran Gran said that he disappeared over an hour ago!"

"...Wow." Sokka and Katara look over to the noise, finding that Aang had just emerged from the bathroom. "Everything freezes in there!"

Sokka, upon realising that Aang was now distracting the kids from their lesson, snapped and turned to Katara.

"Uh! Katara, get him out of here!" He cried in anger. "This lesson is for warriors only!"

As he turned to march away, a small "wheeee!" had come from one of the small children.

The young boys were now taking turns to climb onto Appa's back and slide down his tail into a pile of snow, their need for the bathroom obviously forgotten. Katara laughed at the scene, earning her a glare from her brother before he marched over.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" He yelled, grabbing his spear that had been propping Appa's tail upright as the children played before turning on Aang. "What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on!"

Aang slid down Appa's front leg, a look of confusion on his face. "What war? What are you talking about?"

"You're kidding, right?" Sokka asked incredulously, watching as Aang's face turned from confusion to excitement.

"PEEEENGUIIIIIN!" Aang yelled, bouncing up into the air in a gust of wind.

Sokka and Katara turned to look at the tiny creature that had peaked his interest. The otter penguin squeaked and turned around, trying to waddle away as fast as possible.

"He's kidding, right?" Sokka asked, looking at Katara.

Hundreds upon thousands of otter penguins decorated the icy topped hills, falling off of the ledges into the water. All of them squeaked and waddled around, communicating between each other, some even fought with each other over the fish they held in their mouths.

"Aang?" Katara called, looking around for the boy.

"Hey, come on little guy!" A familiar voice laughed. "Wanna go sledging?"

Katara looked over to the noise, laughing as she had just caught Aang diving for one of the penguins resulting in the poor thing sliding away from him on it's stomach.

Aang pulled himself up quickly when he noticed Katara walking over to him. "I have a way with animals." He said, before he waddled after a penguin while trying to imitate it's call.

Katara could only laugh again at the sight. "Aang. I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me Water bending."

"You've got a deal." He answered, finding himself being dragged across the ground as he held onto the penguin's tail. Upon realisation of the deal he had just quickly made out of excitement over the penguins, he lifted himself up into the air until he landed with his feet onto the ground. "There's just one little problem. I'm an Airbender, not a Waterbender. Isn't there someone in your Tribe that could teach you?"

"No," Katara looked away, her eyes downcast. "You're looking at the only Waterbender in the whole South Pole."

"This isn't right." Aang watched her confusedly. "A Waterbender needs to master water."

He stood in thought for a moment. "What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have Waterbenders who can teach you."

"Maybe." She said in doubt, folding her arms over her chest. "But we haven't had contact with our sister Tribe in a long time. It's not exactly 'turn right at the second glacier'." She groaned, with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "It's on the other side of the world!"

"But you forget; I have a flying bison!" He said, a smile returning to his face as he pointed proudly at himself. "Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole! Katara, we're going to find you a master!"

Katara gasped. "That's...I mean...I don't know." She replied, unsure. "I've never left home before."

"Well, you can have a think about it." Aang said, pulling his hands up in front of his face. "But in the meantime, can you teach me how to catch one of these penguins?"

Her face lightened up at his innocence. "Okay, listen closely my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art." She pulled a fish from her pocket and threw it to Aang. "Observe."

Aang caught the fish on the third attempt as it continuously slipped out of his hands, as soon as he had managed to maintain a fair grasp on it, he became swarmed by the penguins around him. He laughed as the penguins toppled over each other to reach him, falling to the ground and becoming lost in the sea of them.

Aang and Katara, now sitting on the backs of their own penguins, flew over the snow covered hill. Both of them yelling excitedly at the adrenaline rush they were currently having.

They landed with a thud and soared down the hill, racing each other. Aang flew over a spiked icy ledge, flying over Katara and landing in front of her. Katara, upon seeing her next opportunity, flew off another ledge and soared through the air just like Aang had done previously and landed right beside each other.

"I haven't done this since I was a kid!" She yelled, laughing.

Aang looked over at her. "You still are a kid!"

They soon entered a dark tunnel, both of them sliding back and forth against the walls until a circle of light finally approached. Upon reaching the other side, their penguins begun to lose momentum and came to a stop. When Aang and Katara dismounted their rides, the penguins got up and casually waddled away as if nothing had happened.

"Whoa." Aang exclaimed, noticing the huge Fire Navy ship that had been lifted into the air by large shards of ice. The marksmanship obviously not a part of natures doing. "What is that?"

"A Fire Navy ship, and a very bad memory for my people." Katara frowned, she grabbed Aang's in panic as he began to make his way to the ship. "Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it. The ship could be booby-trapped!"

"If you want to be a Bender, you have to let go of fear." He concluded, beginning to walk once again towards the shop.

Mustering up her courage in a deep sigh, she followed after him. He helped her to climb up the ice until they reached a hole in the ship, allowing them inside. The peered inside, but the whole corridor was incredibly darkened forcing them to squint their eyes. They continued to walk until they reached the first open room of the ship, noticing that snow had poured in from the hole in the ceiling. The pipes above them were very noticeably rusted and vibrated when the tiny feet of mice scuttled inside of them.

Aang had noticed the weapons that were hung up in racks in the room, different blades, spears and maces lined the wall.

"This ship has haunted my Tribe since Gran Gran was a little girl." Katara answered the question he had not dared to ask. "It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks."

"Okay, back up." Aang said, looking at her. "I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation, and I've never seen any war."

"Aang," Katara started, watching him as he picked up a spear. "How long were you in that iceberg?"

"I don't know, a few days maybe?"

"I think it was more like a hundred years." Katara's face filled of confusion and shock at this realisation.

"What? That's impossible." Aang yelped, putting down the spear and quirking an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like a 112 year old man to you?"

"Think about it," Katara reasoned. "The war is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you were in there that whole time. That's the only explanation."

Aang's eyes widened in shock and then turned to sadness as he held his head and slumped to the floor. "A hundred years...I can't believe it."

Katara watched him sadly, kneeling beside him and rubbing his back. "I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe, somehow, there's a bright side to all of this."

He looked at her again, a tiny smile on his lips. "I did get to meet you."

She smiled back at him, before offering him a hand up. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Seemingly not done with his exploring, Aang continued further away from the way they came.

"Aang, let's head back. This place is creepy." Katara said, folding her arms across her chest. Watching as Aang had started walking into a new room.

"Huh?" Aang mumbled, his foot catching on a wire, as soon as it was pulled; it forced the bar gates down on them. Now trapped in the room, they both gasped. "What's that you said about booby-traps?"

The ship that had been dormant for almost a century was now fully functional it appears, pipes smoked and dials whirred out of control. Tension was building in the pipes, threatening to gas them. They heard a flare fleeing from the ship, screaming holy murder as it went.

"Uh oh..." Aang gasped, scooping Katara up onto his back as he found the hole in the ceiling were the flare broke through. "Hold on tight!"

Using his Airbending, he jumped up and through the hole, catching Katara by surprise. He put her down as they reached the icicles once again, holding her hand as they jumped down them and ran away from the ship all together.

Startled by the sound of the flare, Zuko scooped up a telescope and looked through it. His lens focused on the flare up in the sky, as he directed the scope downwards he noticed the deserted fire navy ship it came from, and the boy and girl who had caused it fleeing from the sight.

"The last Airbender, quite agile for his old age." Zuko commented, mostly to himself. He narrowed his eyes as he turned to face the other crew men who stood to attention.

"Wake my uncle. Tell him I found the Avatar." he yelled at them, before turning back to look through the telescope to ensure he didn't lose the two. He watched the direction where they were running, now looking off to the small village of the Water Tribe. "As well as his hiding place."

He narrowed his eyes again, anticipating the capture of the one he had spent years searching for.

Sakura awoke suddenly, fear shooting through her entire body as she had heard the loud shrieking. Realising that she wasn't in any immediate danger, but her legs still not co-operating with her, she pulled her hand over her chest. Her eyes squinted as she pushed her chakra through the palm of her hand, letting the flow enter her bloodstream in hopes to put her immune system into overdrive to fight off hypothermia and circulate her blood enough to get feeling back into her legs enough to walk.

She noted that it was still going to take a while before she can stand on her two legs again, but this was at least a start.

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