Hello guys, its Puotters here, but you can just call me Cass. I've been working on this fanfiction for quite a while now, since I got the idea a year back. Its basically an AU where the Fire Nation isn't the so called "evil" in Avatar, and instead it's the Water Tribes. Its a little far-fetched, but lets just say that the Water Tribe had the industrial revolution that the Fire Nation had.

Another thing that has been left to the imagination, the expanse or how powerful the Southern Water Tribe had been before the Fire Nation Raids. When only see the Southern Water Tribe after the raids, but what was it before that? I'm going to say that it would have been as huge as the Northern Water Tribe, so you have two mega civilisations and I'd reckon that between those two cities, it would be a pretty powerful force.

So yes. Here is this AU, I'd say it will be pretty long, so pre warning if you don't like long-winded fics - since I'm trying to convert all the events of the original series to a legitimate story with the Water Tribe being the evil force here.

So here it is. I hope you like it :^)

Ages have been increased one more year. Aang: 12 (biologically) - stuck in iceberg for 101 years Zuko: 17 Azula: 15 Katara: 16 Sokka: 17 Toph: 13

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four Nations lived together in harmony. But then, everything changed when the Water Tribes attacked. And only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them; but when the world needed him most, he vanished. Now, the world lives under the dominion of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, and when rumours of the lost Avatar's return starts to escalate, the Water Tribe leaders grip on their icy throne starts to slip. A story of nations pitted against one, lost hearts trying to find home, and the subsequent blurring of lines of what or who is good, and evil. An Avatar Fanfiction AU.

Chapter 1

100 AG, Summer

31st Day of the 7th Month

"Azula, where are we going?"

The red-and-gold-robed Fire Princess turned around, a scowl forming on her features. "Honestly Zu-zu, how can you not know?" She turned back around, ignoring the groans coming from her brother.

"We've been walking for ages now, and I don't even know why you dragged me along?" Her brother complained, trying to pull back his slouching shoulders and return to his lofty stance. "Next time you bring me on a random walk, you could at least have the courtesy of telling me where we're going?"

Azula laughed. "Well, where's the fun in that?" As she laughed, Zuko could see the faint flickers of fire puff out of her fingertips, a tell-tale sign that his sister was planning something. He a glare in her direction. Azula pouted. "Poor Zu-zu, must be hard being born without a sense of fun in the first place."

Zuko begrudgingly trailed after his sister, grumbling under his breath at every step, wondering what in the Fire Lord's name could Azula be so secretive about. They turned around a bend in the path, and Zuko almost crashed straight into Azula as she stopped abruptly. She stepped aside, motioning towards a large round formation of moss-covered rock which was built into the side of the riverbed. Judging from the height of the sides of the riverbed, if water was present, the surface would have barely covered it, so the top stood out, and looked a bit like a tiny island. Zuko stared at the rock, then moved his gaze to his sister.

"Yeah, a rock. So what?"

"You take a good look at a rock, standing in the middle of a river, which is shaped in a perfect hemisphere, and you say that?" Azula's eyes narrowed. "You really are as dim as you look."

"Yeah, so what?"

"Ugh." Azula rubbed her thumb and her index finger together, evidently irritated by Zuko's nonchalance. "I guess I'll have to spell it out for my poor little brother." She moved towards the rock, and peered into a crack which stretched down its side. "Look."

Zuko squinted down the crack, and almost fell down in surprise. There was a strange blue light coming from deep inside the rock, and outlined by the light, he could barely just see the silhouette of a head. Azula smirked at him. "Has it been hammered into your tiny mind yet?" Zuko nodded slowly. "There's someone inside there, Zuko."

"Then we'll have to get that someone out," Zuko gathered a tiny ball of fire in his hand, and launched it at the rock, a spark of excitement forming in his heart; but was quickly extinguished when the heat barely chipped off a bit of the rocks hard exterior. Azula almost laughed out loud.

"The least you could do is try a little harder."

"If you think its that easy then maybe you should try yourself." Zuko sneered, trying to focus on producing as much fire as he can in his palm for another blow.

Azula formed a spark of blue fire with her fingers, wincing as it extinguished seconds after with a soft gust of wind. "Remember? I'm just as good as you are."

Zuko gritted his teeth. Sometimes he wished Azula was as good as their father. But their father remained stoic, and refused to teach them any Firebending techniques, and barred them from any access to Firebending scrolls or Masters. Firebending was a very dangerous skill, he had said. He didn't want his children to learn the skill just to misuse it. At Zuko's insistence of the honing of the skill, he had launched a wave of fire at him, which almost singed his nose, and stopped him from asking anymore questions. Azula suspected their father was just scared of the two of them overthrowing him by Agni Kai, thus the banning of any Firebending techniques. Luckily their Uncle Iroh had managed to slip them a few moves in the brief moments he was back from fighting at Ba Sing Se. Lu Ten would have helped as well, if he was not dead.

Zuko managed to form a pretty decent piece of fire in the time he was thinking of this, and without hesitation, threw it towards the rock, aiming for the large crack, and successfully hitting his target. There was a huge flash of white light, which threw Azula and him backwards, their hands shielding their eyes from the glare. Zuko could barely see the crack on the side slowly grow, and through the light, he could just see the outline of a person in the shell of rock. Azula got up from her position where she was sprawled on her back, propping herself with one arm, and using the other to shield her eyes from the light. Zuko remained on his side. A pillar of light emitted from the top of the rock for a split second and the rest of the earth splintered away, revealing a large humped figure, then the sharper outline of a child. Zuko brought himself to his feet, and staggered towards the figure, shocked when he saw that instead of eyes, the boys oval eyes were more like beams of light, similar to the arrows of light on his forehead, arms and legs. Azula followed him, and her eyes flashed as the boy fell out of the air, and pushed Zuko forward, so the boy fell straight into his outstretched arms. The humped figure was in fact some fluffy beast, which had similar arrow markings on its cream fur. Its eyes were shut closed, and so were the boys. Azula raised her eyebrows.

"You don't see that every day."

"What should we do with him? Father wouldn't allow him to stay."

Azula scoffed, and without missing a beat, replied, "Since when did we follow what Father said?"

Meanwhile, a guard gawked at the sky, wondering what in the world, was that weird flash of light he had just seen. He later repeated the moment to his fellow guards, who laughed at him, and said that he had imagined it, and in the name of Agni, to stop insisting he hadn't.

Zuko shuffled into his quarters, the boy thrown over his shoulder. Azula stood outside, watching out for any guards. Zuko pulled out the velvet collapsible bed slash chair which stood by his own, and set the boy down there. He and Azula stood back, her hands on her hips, and a small smile playing across her lips. The boy was bald, and light blue tattoos stretched down his forehead, and wove around his hands and legs. His robes were simple; orange and yellow, with some sort of half-cape around his shoulders. His clothes were in no state of disrepair, which was surprising, considering he had been stuck in a rock. Zuko wondered how he even managed to get in there in the first place. "We'll have to get him into Fire Nation clothes. He's so painfully obvious in those colours" Azula muttered, fiddling with her perfectly manicured fingernails. "We wouldn't want Father to suspect anything. We could just say he was a new personal serving boy or something."

"Is that what you have in mind for him?" Zuko hissed.

"It wouldn't hurt to have one more." Azula shrugged.

"He fell out of a rock!"

"I like the tough ones. I don't have to fire them that way."

Zuko threw up his hands in despair. "Whatever. This kid's not going to become a serving boy for the Fire Nation."

"And why not?"

"Because I just…know."

"The last time you said that, Mother never got better."

Zuko resisted the strong urge to cry out and kick his sister out of the palace. She watched his expression with amusement.

"Zu-zu, if theres one thing for you to learn, you should learn not to take me seriously." She said with a devious grin.

He made no reply, and instead watched Azula pull out some clothes from his closet. She selected a simple tunic and pants, paired with red boots and a gold-and-black headband, and threw them up in a pile on Zuko's bed.

"He can wear that. The headband is to cover his arrow. Even the servants will be able to tell he's an imposter if they see it."

Zuko quickly pulled the oversized tunic over the boy's torso, and fitted the pants with a belt over the old ones. He replaced the brown boots with the red Fire Nation ones, but left the headband by the chair. "What about the beast?"

"We can't sneak that thing into the palace. We'll have to leave it there and hope it stays asleep."

"And that no one finds it?" Zuko suggested.

"And that. I wouldn't worry, little brother. That river is far away from the palace, and the guards are too lazy to even walk that far. It's the best hiding place for something so obvious."

"I would't even call it a hiding place. That thing is lying there in full view of anyone who comes past."

"Then thank the spirits that no one comes past!"

"Azula, you-"

Zuko was interrupted by a clang of metal against the floor just behind them, and the shout of surprise as the boy woke up. Azula rushed forwards, but was butted back by a wave of an unknown force. The boy's eyes were wide open, frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings, and the strange people and not to mention, clothes. Zuko advanced, arms brought up to and in front of his chest, palms facing forwards, in some sort of surrendering pose. The boy's hands trembled violently, and Zuko could see the droplets of sweat dripping down his temples from his position. He brandished a candlestick, waving it frantically in both of their faces.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" The boy demanded. "And where am I?" He added as an after note, and a short hesitation.

"I'm Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, and she's Azula, the Princess," Zuko said slowly. "We found you buried in a…er…rock and brought you to the palace." Zuko took a step closer. "There's nothing to be afraid of. We won't hurt you." Azula appeared behind him, hair dishevelled from her harsh landing from the blow. The boy didn't seem impressed, but his hard gaze softened a bit. His grip on the candlestick loosened slightly, and his ramrod straight arms bent in a bit.

"Where's my staff?"

Zuko was stunned. "A staff? There was none." Azula pushed him away.

"It must be back at the riverbed, where we found you." She replied quickly.

"And my bison?" The boy continued.

Your what now? "That fluffy thing? It's still back there. We think…hope it's still asleep."

The boy sprang up from his chair, landing gently on the ground, which Zuko found slightly weird. "I need to go to him." He rushed towards the huge double doors, and was about to swing them open before Azula rushed in front of him.

"Hide your arrow first." She fastened the headband around the boy's forehead, much to his disgust.

"I don't want to hide my arrow." He tried to pull it off, but Azula was insistent.

"Do you want to see your animal or not?" said Azula. "If you do, you'd better wear this headband."

The boy pursed his lips, but conceded, and Azula cracked the door open wide enough to let all three out. The boy and the two Fire Nation royals quickly headed down the long hallways, with Azula leading the way. The boy's eyes were constantly darting back and forth, and his suspicion of the place grew with each quick step. Azula reached a side door, and ushered the both of them out. Zuko instantly recognized the large hill which would lead to the riverbed, and directed the boy there.

"It's through there."

The boy nodded, and suddenly, grasped Zuko and Azula's hands, positioning himself in a strange stance. "Hold on tight." The siblings hardly had any time to react before they were hurtling across the ground, their hair flipping in the wind, and within seconds, they came to a stop, at the crest of the hill. The boy let go of their hands, and offered no explanation, and instead ran with great speed towards the hunched beast, leaving Zuko and Azula to come up with their own explanation to the feat. Zuko regained his balance, and shared a puzzled stare with Azula, then followed the boy, who had uncovered a long staff which was buried under a thin layer of dust and splintered rocks. Zuko was struck even more speechless when the boy gave the staff a sharp shake, and it turned into some kind of glider.

For once, his sister said nothing as the boy launched himself into the air, using the glider to catch the wind and float about the sky. The boy landed lightly on his feet, and at that moment, the huge beast woke. The boy jumped at the animal, hugging the top of its large, furry head with his entire body. "Appa!" He said happily, "I've missed you!"

Azula recovered her ability to speak. "You definitely don't see that everyday."

And Zuko, for once, agreed.

First chapter is up! Hope you liked it ;-) I know Aang's suspicion and him attacking Zuko and Azula was a bit weird, since when he was discovered by Katara and Sokka, he was like "wanna go penguin sledding with me?" but honestly. How would you react if you wake up and Zuko and Azula are standing feet from you arguing?

Tell me your thoughts in the review section. Chapter 1 is not much to go on, but please tell me what you think! Thank you so much, I love you all! Chapter 2 will be up soon.

-Cass