Author's Notes: Big thank you to everyone who read, favorited, and commented on this story. Especially to BendyPen whose review inspired this chapter existence. Seriously, the power of a positive review cannot be understated. Go tell other fanfic authors why you like their work. Even if it is as simple as, I liked it, it will make their day.

Outcasts

Alternate Universe. Benders are physically affected by their element and the world fears them for it.

ooOOoo

In the light of the full moon, Katara lay awake listening to her heartbeat. The rhythmic thump, thump, thump echoed steadily in her ears louder than the crickets chirping from the bushes surrounding their Earth Kingdom campsite.

Thump, thump, thump. The sound was calming, familiar, unlike the rest of her body.

She examined her translucent fingers in the pale moonlight with distain. They looked clear, like a puddle of standing water before it rippled. Katara remembered watching in slow horror as her skin thawed when she left the South Pole for warmer climates. Her beautiful frost tinted skin slowly faded day by day like a waning moon that hadn't returned.

But it was worth it to train Aang, she told herself. Right?

Of course. Her lovely ice colored skin would return as soon as she reached the glacier-covered shores of the Southern Water Tribe.

A thrum of current ran beneath her skin, prickling her senses. It kept her from sleeping. No matter how still she stayed her fingertips itched with the desire to bend. The sensation flushed through her skin and hummed through her bones. Every nerve in her body fought to stand and dance in time with the tides. Both the moon and water called to her. Demanding. Shouting.

No.

But the thought lapped at Katara's mind with the same persistence as a wave washing against the ice. Bend while the moon is high and you are strongest. Come, child of the sea.

She struggled against the push and pull of the tides calling to her. It would be so easy to just give in, to waterbend while her brother and friend slept. What was the harm?

A lot, Katara reminded herself. Remember what happened last time? Zuko captured her. Those pirates nearly took Aang too. Katara vowed not to risk their safety again. Instead she focused on her heartbeat, slow and calm. Thump, thump, thump. It felt steady and familiar as waterbending itself.

A second rhythm caught her ear.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Katara's eyes flashed open. She sat up quickly, startled. That wasn't the sound of her heart, now racing, pumping with adrenaline ready to fight. She turned to look for an intruder, the second heartbeat but found no one but her companions. Aang slept curled against both Appa and Momo. Sokka sprawled in his sleep, limbs thrown everywhere.

Reassured they were safe, Katara listened for the second rhythm, closing her eyes to center herself. Her waterbending only called louder. Bend. BEND!

Her own heart calmed, and she felt the blood flow through her body like water coursing through a river. It rushed from her chest, through her limbs to her fingers and feet before pumping back to her heart and across her head.

And there it was: thump-thump. Thump-thump.

Equally loud and as present as her own heartbeat. It wasn't far. At all.

Katara opened her eyes and looked at the source, her brother. Sokka, oblivious to the water's pull, slept heavily. But it was his heartbeat. She was certain. The blood in his body flowed like water, but thicker. And it begged her to bend just as strongly as the water.

Katara reeled back in horror.

ooOOoo

"Stay back!" The waterbender raised her hand, not to summon her element, but to warn her friends from coming closer.

Aang stepped forward with the breeze. His feet left the ground, hovering above it, a movement as natural as breathing. "Katara," he asked gently. "What's wrong?"

Tears slid down her translucent cheeks as she resisted the echo of his heartbeat ringing in her ears. "I can feel the water inside you. Inside all of you. It's calling to me."

Toph stood still, her gut squirming uncomfortably at the thought. Sokka froze. This went beyond her usual freaky water magic. Her element was everywhere. She controlled water in the air, the ocean, inside plants and now, he realized in horror, the human body.

Aang floated in front of his first friend. Close enough to take her water colored hands in his matching ones, but he let his words reach out to her first. "That's okay."

This is what the avatar did: help people. Right now his best friend needed help just as much as the rest of their war torn world.

"No, it's not!" Katara shook her head. "I'm dangerous."

This time Aang's clear fingertips touched hers. Startled, wet blue eyes met his. "Yes it is."Aang reassured. "Because I know you would never hurt any of us."

ooOOoo

"Avatar!" Zuko shouted, desperately before the child flew away again. "Listen to me! Let me take you back to the Fire Nation. You're a powerful bender. A hero. You can win the war for us."

The little monk floated before him, air staff in hand, ready to launch into the sky over the clouds and just out of reach. Always out of Zuko's grasp.

The Avatar scrunched in face in puzzlement. "Why would I do that? I don't want to win a war."

Zuko clenched his fists in frustration, veins of fire along his hands flaring with his temper. If he convinced the ultimate weapon to fight for the Fire Nation he'd be welcomed home with open arms. He had to go home. Zuko. Wanted. To. Just. Go. Home.

No, he had to stay calm, make the boy understand. "Because we're trying to make a place in the world for benders like us."

"No you're not." The Avatar shook his head before Zuko could say more. "Fighting a war isn't going to convince non-benders to like you. Kindness will. There's so much benders can offer the world, but they aren't helping anyone by fighting. Stopping this war is the only way to bring peace to everyone."

"Avatar! Wait!"

Too late, the little airbender took to the sky, leaving Zuko behind. Again.

ooOOoo

Toph cracked her knuckles. "Lesson number one of earthbending: Feet on the ground at all times, Twinkle Toes!"

ooOOoo

Those who were weak deserved to be conquered. And those who couldn't bend had no place in her father's new world.

Azula looked down her nose at the humiliated man before her. Long Feng's life wasn't worth the dust flung by filthy mud-crawling earthbenders. He knew it too judging by the way he hung his head in defeat to Princess of Fire.

Daughter of Dragons

Heiress to the world soon to be reborn in the fires of Sozin's Comet.

And that's why she –– not him –– sat on this rock the Earth Kingdom called a throne.

Blue flames licked at the fabric of the stolen Kyoshi Warrior's uniform until the material melted and fell to ashes at her feet. The white paint of her disguise melted away. Fierce blue fire wreathed itself around her torso and bathed Azula in its familiar warmth. Raging yet controlled, it spread over her arms and rolled down her legs.

The flames purer and hotter than even the Firelord himself could produce.

Long Feng trembled at the display of power. The Dai Li's fear overwhelmed their awe. The palace staff whom had never seen a firebender rightfully cowered.

And though Azula ran hot, she regarded her companions coolly.

Mai and Ty Lee learned not to flinch long ago. But not even they could wipe the disgust from their faces. Lucky for them it amused her.

Azula was born to rule. Her older brother was merely a dying ember. She was an inferno able to destroy the world with her father and rebuild it anew. Better. Stronger.

The time of the ordinary was over. No longer shamed for their power, Firebenders controlled the world. Their ability to control their element was welcomed, praised. Her family's dynasty took control of this backwards nation with the flames in their fists and the manipulations of the lesser.

The rest of the world put up a mild fight, but the war was nearly won. The age of benders had begun. Firebenders.

ooOOoo

Those traitorous non-benders abandoned her! Who did they think they were choosing Zuko over her? Pathetic spineless Zuko!

Despite their useful skills, her friends were never welcome into her inner circle once she became Firelord.. No, they were never her friends! They were tools. Traitors. Traitors! They abandoned her just like Mother did. Cast her aside for someone weaker.

Blue electric sparks jumped wildly from the flames along her skin leaping to engulf the palace tapestries and billowing curtains as she raised the cutting shears to her own hair.

No one trusted monsters. And monsters like her trusted no one.

Fine, she decided madly. Let them burn! LET THEM ALL BURN!

ooOOoo

"What were you thinking, Sokka?" Katara screamed.

"He pointedly ignored her as his frustration boiled over. "So it's okay for you to die in this fight, but not me?"

"Yes!" She shouted, trying to make him understand. "You're normal. No matter what happens to us, you can go home. Don't throw that away."

ooOOoo

"What do I look like?"

"Oh. Um…" Katara paused in thought, unsure of what exactly the younger girl wanted to hear as they walked through the streets of the Lower Ring. Self consciously, Katara pulled her cloak's hood lower over her face as they trudged back to a tiny, shared apartment.

Ba Sing Se was supposed to be a safe haven for everyone. Even benders. According to the slums around her, it was safe from the Fire Nation, technically.

Maybe after spending the entire day together Toph trusted her more. The earthbender's expressionless eyes made it hard to tell.

"You're pretty," Katara began. "Dark hair, green eyes, and well, you're short––"

"That's not what I meant."Toph interrupted in frustration, throwing her head back far enough for her cloak's hood to fall backward. She didn't care who saw her. "I want to know what my skin looks like. Even though I can see through my feet and feel with my fingers, it's not the same as seeing with your eyes."

It was the most humble the Earth Rumble champion had ever been. Katara felt honored to answer and considered her descriptions carefully. "Your skin is pale, like a seashell or a sun bleached bone. Not like ice, which is white, but bluer, like healthy water. The rocks on your skin aren't the boring ordinary stone you and Aang bend. I don't know what they are––"

"Jade." Toph supplied stepping over a questionable puddle with ease.

Katara didn't understand. "What?"

"Jade. That's what they're called: jade." She waved Katara onward with a lazy wave. "Keep going."

Katara hesitated again, but continued as strong as before. "The jade is as smooth, just like a tiger seal hide and ––"

"I don't know what that means. Stop giving me Southern Water Tribe descriptions."

Katara swallowed down the retort on the tip of her tongue and struggled to think of an Earth Kingdom animal. "Smooth like a… a beetle worm?" She hoped Toph wouldn't take offense at the true, but gross, description.

Luckily, Toph smiled. Maybe comparing an earthbenders to animals in the dirt was a compliment. "It's also shiny, like the metal in the swords Sokka drools over. And it's as green as the grass that grows beside a stream. A healthy color that's really unique, even for earthbenders. Does that help?"

Toph nodded curtly and continued walking forward, staring at nothing. The way she chewed on her lip looked like she wanted to say more. Patient, Katara waited.

"I've always been told that I look different." Toph admitted. "It doesn't bother me. I know who I am and that there's things I can't change about myself. Earthbending is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I'm proud of who I am, but I know I'm different than everyone else. And that's not always a good thing."

Insults whispered behind thin walls still haunted her. Usually the words rolled off her porcelain skin the way a pebble tumbles carelessly off a mountain. But stone was not unbreakable, and Toph was no exception. Once in a while those words crept under her remaining skin.

Understanding, Katara smiled sadly.

"For what it's worth I think you are really pretty." Katara reassured. "No other earthbender looks like you. Maybe that's not a bad thing. You wouldn't blend into a crowd even if you tired."

Speckles of jade covering Toph's cheek hid her blush from the waterbender. She punched her friend affectionately.

"Thanks, Katara."

ooOOoo

"What happens if you get wet? Do people in the Fire Nation bathe?"

Zuko growled, clenching his fists as he practiced keeping his temper in check. This was the team the Avatar put together to teach him mastery over the four elements. His team included this idiot?

"I'm just saying, if you fizzle out in water we could have won this war ages ago."

"Leave me alone Sokka."

"So that's a no?" Sokka paused in thought, finger tapping his chin as he muttered to himself. "We're going to have to rethink Aangs battle strategy…"

ooOOoo

"Nice tattoos, Toph!"

The little earthbender grinned manically from her seat on the ground carving the newest metal tattoo into the jade beneath her left knee. Though she was no artist, she etched the angular lines and swirled patterns into the green jade on her body.

Aang wandered closer, purposely dropping to the ground every few steps. Regardless, the sudden gust would have given his presence away. "Wow, that's really detailed work. Does it hurt?"

Toph stopped carving into the green stone of her shin. Precision bending this delicate needed her full attention, which wouldn't happen with her pupil around. Earthbending her own body was different that bending a random rock. She didn't want to bend too deep into her bones.

"Not as long as I'm careful, Twinkle Toes. Watch this!"

With a thrust of her hand the metal tattoos flew off her arms and legs, mixing together in front of her hands. A moldable chunk of metal stretched and twisted beneath her skilled fingers. One she could take everywhere.

"Whoa!" The airbender exclaimed in excitement. He pointed to the new orange mineral growing on his upper arm. "That's so cool Toph. Could you give me a metal tattoo? I can't bend metal yet but it looks amazing!"

"Sorry. Twinkle Toes," Toph grinned, "you've got to earn them first. These tattoos are for metalbenders only."

ooOOoo

"Do you ever get used to it? Watching them, being around so many benders at once?"

From the steps of the Firelord's own vacation home, Suki and Sokka watched Toph bend elaborate shapes into the sand. Meanwhile, Katara blended into the ocean as she splashed with Aang, whose forearms blended in too.

"I'm used to it. Don't get me wrong; it's super weird with the magic rocks and water flying everywhere. Watching it change their bodies. Toph's growing rock out of her skin. Zuko sets himself on fire regularly. Katara –– she's always been weird, but mostly because she's my sister."

Sokka shrugged. "Sometimes it weirds me out. But the thing is, everyone's weird even without bending. You saw Earth Kingdom fashion."

"Suki nodded even though part of her wanted to take offense.

"We kept running into this guy who sold cabbage in different cities." Sokka continued. "A traveling cabbage salesman! This one village celebrated a festival by eating raw dough. All I'm saying there's lots of weird people in the Earth Kingdom, and none of them were benders."

"Hey!" Playfully, she slapped his shoulder.

"It's okay." Sokka teased. "I like you anyway."

He watched his friends a while longer, then stood to stretch his back. "Come on, I think I saw a pair of the Firelord's undies inside. Let's hang them from the roof."

"Those might be Zuko's." Suki pointed out. He was already inside by the time she stood.

"Doesn't matter!"

ooOOoo

The spark of lightning didn't race through Zuko's veins the same way fire curled within his chest. At this point he gave up hope it ever might. Once, it had him shouting in frustration, standing on a mountain, wind and rain whipping his face. Now as he stood on the hanging pagodas of the Western Air Temple, Zuko realized distancing himself from his family may be for the best.

He didn't have to chase after his father's love nor Azula's triumphs.

He was his own person, Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, nephew and son, a refugee of the Earth Kingdom, tea server in Ba Sing Se, and now, most importantly, firebending master to the Avatar. It took a long time, but he had accepted all the parts of his identity.

If only Uncle could see him now.

Zuko closed his eyes and basked in the warmth of the sun, dual swords in hand. Breathing deeply, he moved through his katas, allowing the fire to lick across this skin. The rush of heat flowed down the metal blades and beyond. Controlled. Disciplined, and free in a way he had never allowed himself to feel.

"I didn't know you used swords, Sparky"

Zuko opened his eyes. The bind earthbender, Toph stood safely at a distance in the grass.

"Most benders haven't adapted. They don't feel the need to learn how to use traditional weapons. I didn't want to limit myself."

"That's because I don't need weapons," Toph insisted. "I'm the greatest earthbender in the world!"

He tried to keep the bitterness from his voice. "Lucky you."

She cocked her head to the side, listening to his movement more than his words. It still unnerved him every time.

"You better believe if a tool could make me a better bender I'd use it."

Zuko continued running through the katas, now slower. Drawing the fire away from his swords and back to the core of his body, he kept his vow to never burn her or anyone else ever again. "I don't want to be the best bender, not anymore. Once I wanted that, but there was always someone better. I've accepted that I will never be the best firebender. I may never be the strongest, but I can pass on my knowledge to teach the Avatar."

"It's that wisdom that I was looking for." Toph smiled a wide Cheshire grin at the ground, waving him toward her. "Come on."

Zuko stopped his practice, confused. "Where are we going?"

"I've got a field trip for you."

ooOOoo

Aang took a deep breath and cleared his mind. The cone of rock protected him from Firelord Ozai's attack, but he felt the heat seep through his thick shelter.

No time to worry about that now.

He needed to concentrate. The very world hung in the balance of this battle. If he didn't win the Firelord would destroy it all: Omashu, the Southern and Northern Water Tribes, Kyoshi Island, the tombs of the four Air Temples, and Ba Sing Se.

Aang refused to let that happen.

Blasts of raging fire thudded against the stone walls. Though he tried to clear his thoughts, the faces of his friends appeared in his mind's eye. Memories of learning their elements, goofing off at the beach, even dancing! Swimming with fiercely loyal Katara. Shopping with Sokka. Exploring caves with Toph as she made new tunnels to climb through. Learning about Kyoshi's history from Suki. Discovering the last of the dragons with Zuko, slowly easing the teenager's familial pain with friendship.

If the Avatar lost there wouldn't even be a world left for them. Nor any of the hundreds of people –– benders and non-benders he met in the past year.

Voices of hundreds of past lives whispered encouragement, instructing Aang to let go of his friends. Become the Avatar. Let the Avatar State take over to kill Ozai and end the 100-year war.

Violence beget more violence and killing made him no better than the Firelord. The Avatar stood for peace. How could he earn anyone's trust with blood on his hands? Ending the war was only the first step towards healing the world. He needed to repair the legacy of benders across the remaining three nations.

Drowning out the voices echoing in his mind, Aang focused on his friends. Benders, non-benders, good people from every nation. Monk Gyatso smiling at his pranks. They deserved a true Avatar who cherished diplomacy and peace, not one who conquered by force.

A familiar feeling began to buzz in the back of his mind. Slowly, the Avatar State took over, arrows glowing brightly in the small rock cavern.

For the first time it wasn't the spirits of his past lives taking over his body. They may not agree with his decision to spare Ozai's life, but they trusted his judgment. He controlled their power.

The stone encasement burst as he rose into the air.

The blue glow of his airbending tattoo raced across the pathways of chi along his body. They ran over the rough topaz encasing Aang's upper arms, orange as the robes of his lost people, through the fire crackling from his chest ready to lash forward with in the presence of the comet overhead. It flowed down to the arrows on the back of his translucent hands.

A fully realized Avatar wielding all four elements.