EDIT: THIS CHAPTER WAS REVAMPED. THE WHOLE FIC IS UNDERGOING THE SAME PROCESS, SO PLEASE INGNORE ANY LAPSES IN QUALITY. THANK YOU!

This is my first fanfiction ever, so I would appreciate criticism, whether good or bad.

AU (Alternative Universe), with some swearing, cursing, and themes that might be too deep for younger children. But of course, that is relative to the level of maturity of said reader, so I trust you all to make your own decision.

Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA.

Is it really the end of everything?

Katara was visibly shaking with laughter. A smile was plastered on her face, and her cheeks were starting to hurt, from the happily contorted position in which they had been stuck in for the last couple minutes. This was the first time in many long months that she had laughed with such abandon. The tension that had been plaguing the members of the Gaang was dissolving along with Katara's retenue. All the furious thoughts she had had about Sokka had completely vanished, as by magic. It was rather funny, once you stopped to think about it. The source of all this amusement would have been rather incongruous if it hadn't been tense before. After all, if she hadn't been mad at Sokka, he wouldn't have had to try to mend his own socks. And Katara wouldn't have seen him in a rather…embarrassing, to say the least, position… She had to admit that she was (vaguely), even if she would never admit it to anyone, thankful.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo Flashback oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

It had all started that morning, when Katara had woken up in a terrible mood. She got up and went to the stream close to their camp to start washing the clothes that they had been wearing. This had been her responsibility ever since the beginning of their quest, and no one had ever thought that she would like to have the odd morning off. It was while pondering these thoughts that she came upon a sister's worse nightmare: her brother's dirty socks. And not only were they dirty. They stank, like putrid mounds of decaying cheese. The mere sight of them made her stomach heave.

'Honestly… Why do his feet have to be so stinky? And how does he manage to get all of these umm…unidentifiable substances on his socks, when they're always IN his shoes?! Then, of course, there's no way that he could ever try to clean them the slightest bit before handing them over to me. I just have to deal with these pieces of half-decomposed cloth! He probably doesn't even notice when I clean them, being so used to living in his squalor! He's never thanked me. Not one single time!'

Thoughts and images of Sokka's growing laziness flashed in front of her eyes. This only served to fuel her resentment. Both boys hadn't been of any help, and neither seemed to notice the amount of work that it took her to keep things running smoothly. They obviously seemed to think that it was the "easy" work, and that they were giving her the lightest load of all. Her thoughts thundered on, growing in both anger and force.

'What does he think I am…his slave? Not only does he not offer to help me, he seems to be doing everything to make this harder. As if my being a girl would is an excuse for him being lazy. "No Katara, I won't do that because it's woman's work." Pfff… As if he could do half of what I do on a daily basis! If he hadn't noticed, I keep them fed and clean, which is more than what either one could do in a million years! And then, he gets all protective, and says that he doesn't want me to do the dangerous stuff, like hunting, because I might get hurt, and I'm his little sister, and he goes on and on and on! He's not Dad! No matter what, my actions and I are none of his business!

I'd be twice the hunter he is, and he knows it! Ugh…Why do boys have to be so useless!! Honestly, I could almost save the world alone. Neither one of them could go for a week without food, since they seem to think that women are some kind of cooking machines! And sew mistresses, and maids, all rolled into one! But ask a man to do even a little thing, and he'll blow up on you. Then call you bitchy because you wanted help doing five things at once!

I can't take it anymore. I need at least some kind of break…We-e-e-ell…Neither of them are up yet. And probably won't be for at least a while.' She smiled.

And promptly dropped the sock that she had been glaring at. Sick and tired of the way that both of her traveling companions treated her like a doormat, never questioning why she was the one who ended up doing all the practical things, excluding of course, the "manly" art of hunting. Of course, it wasn't manly to carry three times one's weight in water, but killing animals who had never done anything wrong, that was the exact definition of man power.

It didn't seem to ever have occurred to them that she might be a bit tired of doing everyone's chores, without ever getting a simple "thank you" in return. That getting a fire ready so they could have something to eat wasn't half as much fun as going swimming, jumping off cliffs into pools of water and lazing in the sun. That getting up before the sun to go wash clothes was definitively not the best way to have enough patience to be alert and in perfect shape, day after day, especially after going to sleep long after sunset to clean up after the precedent day's supper.

So she joyously left their clothes, all still soaking wet, on the shore of the river, and walked back to camp, bringing only her own clean, dry and impeccable clothes and personal effects with her. Once she arrived, both boys were awake (unfortunately) and were waiting, half-asleep, for her to make them breakfast. This only made her sharp feeling of resentment grow stronger.

The thought of getting themselves something to eat had obviously not even crossed their small, unresponsive minds. Of course, neither of them had volunteered to go do the laundry, so she couldn't be at two places at the same time, making breakfast and getting them clothes that were in a wearable state. True to their usual, unhelpful selves, they hadn't noticed that Appa couldn't load, feed and groom himself, that their clothes weren't self-cleaning, that food didn't just appear out of nowhere, and that their fire didn't just make wood appear out of nowhere.

With a roll of her eyes, she packed her things into her small, organized bag and pulled out the ingredients for a very simple porridge out of her food pouch. They had just stocked up on grain, so they would be good for a while. She bent some water out of her pouch, and into the pot where she had put the grains. She added a bit of the small bag of sugar they had, and added some logs to the fire. All her actions had a slow, deliberateness about them, as she tried to hide the anger that she could feel start to growl at the back of her head.

But when Sokka told her to hurry up because he was getting hungry, it was the last straw. With a sweeping movement, Katara bent some water out of the steam rising from the porridge, and froze Sokka's mouth in place, with just a bit more strength than necessary. She bent a bowl of porridge for herself out of the pot, doused the fire and walked away, almost steaming. It only served to infuriate her that her own attitude was almost as disgustingly inappropriate as theirs. The two bewildered boys just sat there, looking after her, exchanging from time to time completely bewildered gazes.

She walked for a while, until she arrived at a pool. There, she stripped down to her underclothes, and jumped into the water. It felt so good…Peaceful, undisturbed by whatever moved through it, adapting and accepting everything. Moving on, long after the ones who had visited it had passed on. Streams always made her feel so at peace with herself… The sun was coming out, and the sky was a brilliant blue. A day for reconstructing one's soul. The anger that she had felt earlier had completely seeped out, leaving her in a calm and serene state of mind.

When the sun began to set, she regretfully set back for camp, ready to face the frustrating anger that her companions were surely going to push in her face. After all, they just didn't understand. That didn't mean that she couldn't have revenge, but it did mean that she should probably find something better to get angry about next time, if she wanted another nice and peaceful day off. But the growling of her stomach reminded her that she did need to eat something. 'Well, that gives me a reason to go back!'

And it was as she entered the clearing where they had set up camp that she had seen her brother, lying on the ground, holding her spare bone needle in one hand, and his heaviest socks (that he had evidently ended up finding near the river, probably with Aang's help). From what she could see in the dimming light, he had somehow managed to tie himself up with the heavy string (she supposed that it could almost be considered rope) so tightly that he couldn't even think of moving from his spot on the ground.

Aang was nowhere to be seen, but she was too intent on laughing without bursting her lungs to notice anything out of the ordinary. He obviously couldn't budge. Katara was starting to get lightheaded from the lack of oxygen that her overwhelming laughter had caused. She was breathless, and the expression "side-splitting laughter" was starting to make a bit too much (painful) sense in her opinion. Her laughter eventually dwindled into giggles, as she sank to her knees, weak from her laughing fit. It was such a rare thing, on such a beautiful day, that she was actually considering sewing Sokka's socks up again, just as payment for the entertainment he had provided.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo End of Flashback oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Wiping tears from her eyes, Katara struggled back onto her feet. She then made her way to help her unfortunate brother. She walked across the clearing, laughter slowly dying down. She gasped a couple times, then bent down beside her brother with a smirk covering her face. Then, panic seized her mind. He still hadn't moved. And as far as she could tell, his chest wasn't moving. She could feel her heart beat accelerating at an insane rate, as if it wanted to beat straight out of her chest.

Sokka still wasn't moving. It wasn't like him, to stay so still when she, of all people, was openly mocking him. Something was wrong. Very wrong. She reached down, to try to shake him awake. Her hands froze an inch above his shoulders. She had just glanced towards his face, and had seen his eyes, open, unblinking, staring up blankly at the sky. A jolt went through her heart.

Terrified, she touched his shoulder, hesitantly. She immediately shrunk away in terror. His body was cold. So cold. Lifelessly cold. 'Sokka's… Sokka's dead…' She didn't even have time to process it. A hand closed on her face, blocking her attempt to scream. Something hit her very hard on the head, and she crumpled. Fighting the wave of blackness, she managed to pick, through the pain that was clouding her mind, a couple words.

"The Avatar won't come after her. Bri.. her to the….."

Katara fought desperately, trying to stay awake, to hear what she wasn't supposed to, but she slowly lost her grip on consciousness. The word seemed to blur at the edges, then she slipped into unconsciousness, without a sound.

Well, that was Chapter 1. I hope that you don't want to murder me yet.

Thanks for reading! Please review, since you obviously already did the reading part if you're reading this... XD

xxx Peace out!