Fire and Water

Summary: Sequel to “Scars of the Past” and “One Sky, One Destiny”. Five years after the defeat of Ozai, four years after the events of “One Sky, One Destiny”. Zuko and Katara have just had their first child, Sokka and Suki has recently married, and Aang and Toph are still together. Zuko is now the Fire Lord, and Azula is still wandering the Fire Nation, a bitter fugitive determined to bring him down.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own “Avatar: The Last Airbender” or anything pertaining to it. The following is based off of characters and concepts from the show. Some quotes, flashbacks, and spoken/reworded flashbacks were directly described and quoted from episodes of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”.

Here ya go, the long awaited sequel to the sequel! Yeah, please make sure you read the prequels, “Scars of the Past” and “One Sky, One Destiny” before you even START reading this. I promise, this’ll make much more sense if you read those.

I wanna give a special thanks to maxmycat, my hundredth reviewer on OSOD (One Sky, One Destiny)! THANK YOU! And thanks, also, to shikamaru's hot honey, who WOULD have been my hundredth reviewer had I not called my best friend, maxmycat, and FORCED her to review.

How many of you think that Zuko will join Aang’s group this season? (raises my hand). AND, in addition to him being the only person who can teach Aang Firebending, I have found out ANOTHER reason why he must join! Aang and Co. have NO idea how to get to the Fire Lord’s Palace…Zuko DOES!

Sokka: Let’s just travel west until we reach the Fire Lord’s house!

Me: Read and review please! Enjoy!

Chapter One

Five Years…

Katara awoke in the early hours of the morning to find that Zuko was still asleep. He was a Firebender. He rose with the sun, and it was a rare occasion when she awoke before he did. Slowly, so as not to wake the sleeping Firebender, Katara slipped from the bed and quietly out of the room, careful not to rouse him.

Katara still wore the traditional blue of the Water Tribes, though she had been the wife of the Fire Lord for over four years now. Four years…Had it really been that long? Five years since the fall of Fire Lord Ozai. It all seemed like only yesterday.

Since then, the world had settled again, and the Avatar, Aang, maintained the peace. Not long ago, Sokka and Suki had gotten married, and were dwelling now in the South Pole. Katara had never been so happy for her brother, just as he had never been happier for her than on her wedding day. Though over four years had passed since then, Sokka was still having trouble grasping the fact that his baby sister was the Queen of the Fire Nation, or even that she was married.

Aang and Toph were most recently in the Earth Kingdom, dwelling with King Bumi in Omashu. Since her last visit, nearly five years ago, Toph had not returned to her hometown of Gaoling, and both Katara and Aang thought it for the best. Toph didn’t belong there anymore. She would travel the world with Aang, a nomad, as he was.

The two benders stopped by the Fire Nation quite frequently, and Katara and Zuko were always glad and pleasantly surprised by their arrival. Less than two weeks ago, Aang and Toph had made one of their unexpected visits, and Katara had, for reasons of her own, never been so glad to see her friend. On the night of their arrival, Katara had drawn Aang aside and, seeking his advice, had shared with him a secret that none but she knew.

Aang’s first reaction was to ask if Zuko knew. Katara had, in a roundabout way, told him that he didn’t.

“Katara, ya need to tell him,” Aang had admonished immediately. Katara’s only argument to this was that she didn’t know how the young Fire Lord would react. Aang was quick to point to out that, sooner or later, he would find out. To this, the Waterbender had no answer.

Katara, standing on the balcony outside their room, folded her arms over the parapet and closed her eyes. The sweet smell of salt-sea air filled her lungs as a breeze blew in from the nearby ocean, fresh and alive, bringing a feeling of hope and promise.

Behind her, inside, Katara could hear that Zuko had awoken, and would soon be joining her. The Waterbender smiled gently to herself as she looked out over the beautiful gardens that lay beneath the balcony, and absently folded her hands over her abdomen. She would tell him today, she promised herself.

I hope you’ll excuse me for this, but when I have a fanfic that starts more than a year later from where the last one left off, I like to have the opening chapter used solely for reflection, to recap on what has happened since. I kinda have a tendency to use Katara for this in Avatar fics.

I can’t wait for Secret of the Fire Nation! Suki’s coming back! And Jet!…I’m kinda afraid about that one. Zuko’s gonna get himself into trouble if he’s not careful. Oh, and that reminds me, the dark, terrible secret that will be revealed in this fic has NOTHING to do with Secret of the Fire Nation. And I don’t care HOW badly the new episodes ruin my plot, I’m stickin’ to it with this one, I’ve had it in the works for TOO long.

Next chapter: Birth of a Prince—Kinda self-explanatory. I have dreaded this chapter for many weeks. I have NO clue whatsoever as to what I’m gonna do with this, so don’t expect this chapter any time soon. I might make it one of those short little blurb-type chapters, cause I got nothin’, but this chapter’s necessary to the story, so I can’t cut it.