Chapter Text
Death stares silently at the unrecognizable burnt corpse of the 13 year old boy, who died five minutes ago to the inferno of Ozai’s flames.
Golden eyes flicker away from the corpse that’s slowly beginning to turn to ashes in the wind, his gaze easily locates one of the many souls he’d come to this battlefield to collect, his first impression of this soul is that the kid is tiny… Far to small to be carrying the weight of balancing two worlds, and yet nobody old enough to know that children shouldn’t be fighting in an adults war tried to stop the boy whose currently sobbing into the fur of his sky bison’s soul.
All because he’s the Avatar, those complete fools don’t they know that not even pirates would’ve let such young kids fight in their wars without at least trying to train them properly for their own survival, or has the past been forgotten by the turning of time and changing of eras, Death misses the simple days when his crew was alive, when the four seas were vast across this land before the end of days started… But there’s no time to think of the past when there’s so much work to be done.
Appa died the same moment the Airbender did before quickly finding his way back to his companions side even after death, animal companions are stubborn that way they aren’t effected by the same rules normal souls are thus why they don’t have to stay close to their mortal remains, Appa’s gaze locks with his own for what would’ve been several heartbeats before the sky bison blinks slowly while huffing out a strong yet non threatening wind.
Death takes the silent invitation to draw closer to the pair of newly dead souls, gently running his tattooed fingers through soft yet burnt fur that should’ve never been blackened by fire like the rest of his kind had been, even now some of the souls residing at the Air Temples refuse to move on whenever Death visits them, he hopes it won’t be what happens with these two as staying in the mortal world is painful for souls who linger longer than they should’ve after he visits to spirit them away to the afterlife, he doesn’t want to see more ghosts wandering around once the connection between their souls and mortal remains is broken as the corpse decays completely.
Normally he isn’t so kind when dealing with people in general and his previous patients stated his bedside manner was nonexistent, but children are some of the few exceptions, so Death kneels down beside the tiny soul in order to not terrify the already frightened kid who still has his face buried in Appa’s fur “I’m sorry, Aang-Ya” A slight flinch from hearing an unknown adults voice is expected considering their in a war zone, the kid bravely looks him in the eyes even though they both know he’s terrified right now, his hands won’t stop shaking because the kid is still in shock from dying so brutally by his greatest enemies hands.
Yet underneath all that fear there is also curiosity, and awe? Death doesn’t have time to wonder why the kid is awed by the sight of him as he soon finds himself barreled into by a tiny child who hugs him close without a hint of fear remaining, what a strange kid… Smiling slightly despite the situation Death rubs the kids back with soothing circles like he’s done for so many eras, almost barking out a harsh surprised laugh when the child finally speaks.
“Death! Can you please tell me what happened to my family… After I failed them…” The kid trails off burying his face into Death’s chest and soon enough the ancient god kindly ignores the nervous way Aang is tracing the tattoos of his left arm it’s not a conscious reaction nor is it harmful so he lets the kid ground himself with the lines of ink, family not friends huh? Spreading out his observation haki across the rest of the battlefield searching for any signs belonging to the other children who are always the main topic of fond yet curious conversation in the spirit world, so much so that they’ve been titled the Gaang.
Two faint heartbeats that are fading quickly are all that remains of the Gaang, if nothing is done then all of them will be having a heartbreaking reunion in the afterlife… Death doesn’t lie about what he found to the hopeful sunshine kid, who is still held so safely in his arms lightly tracing his tattoos “Aang-Ya, I’m here to guide all of ya to the afterlife” the kid tries to leave his embrace to go searching for his family yet Death doesn’t let the soul go not even as the sky bison huffs out a warning wind to release the boy, Aang starts hitting his tiny fists into his tattooed chest like it’ll make a difference in the painful moment of honesty from the ancient god.
After five minutes of struggling and failing to hit hard enough for Death to release him, Aang buries his face into Death’s chest again wailing broken sobs that are so very familiar to the one who had once been known across all four seas as the Surgeon Of Death, so yeah he’s dealt with mourning loved ones before, and being Death is basically the same job when it comes to situations like this so he returns to rubbing soothing circles into the kids shaking back allowing him to cry for the deaths of his family in safety “It’s… It’s my fault, I wasn’t strong enough to protect them! If I had just killed Firelord Ozai instead of trying to seal his bending…” Rocking the distressed child back and forth grounding him gently in the feeling just like he had with Chopper whenever a crew member didn’t make it despite their best efforts, war is never kind… If ya could call being hunted down one by one by the Marines a war for their connections to Nika, not the same kind of war as this one, theirs was more a war of survival, Death’s tone is razor sharp, and deadly like every scalpel he’s ever used “It’s not ya’r fault Aang-Ya, ya’r a child in a war of Nations between adults who shouldn’t have relied on children to fix the worlds problems nor would’ve hesitated to kill those same children, none of this was ever ya’r fault, it’s Roku’s fault for not doing his job properly during his lifetime, and it’s Ozai’s fault for following the path of destruction lusting for power.” His words are simple yet honest as Aang continues to cry meanwhile Appa has long since curled around them in silent support of his grieving companion.
Three minutes of comfort later Death safely guides the pair to the afterlife knowing they will be safe and sound, then returns to the mortal world to continue his duty of collecting the newly deceased souls, he heads to the wreckage of the airship sending the souls of adults to the afterlife with a flick of his wrist along the way, no comfort nor kind words given to the deceased adult souls no matter if they belong to the Fire Nation or any other Nation fighting in this one sided war, none of these souls are exceptions for gaining anything other than his nonexistent bedside manner, it’s not even that their adults that’s the problem he can be kind to people other than children, but now is not the time nor the place this is an active war zone and right now he’s searching for the the ones that need the side of him that few rarely get the chance to witness, his observation haki finally locates the souls that he’s been searching for while doing his job effectively.
In the heart of the airships wreckage are four souls gathered close together while their mangled bodies are mostly hidden buried beneath the sea of carnage that’s still happening all around them, Momo is curled tightly around Toph’s shoulders as Sokka and Suki try to remain strong while holding her hands, all three of them helping to ground her so she doesn’t panic in their new situation, smart kids… Yet it is still the little Earthbender who is the first to take notice of his approach with her sharp hearing, and snarls viciously baring her teeth ferally her unseeing eyes glare at him surprisingly well for a blind child now lost in the dark without her bending ability “Who the hell are ya! an why can’t I hear ya’r heart beating!” Smart kid noticed he’s not technically alive, besides it’s not his own heart in his chest, hasn’t been since his soulmate declared he belonged to her so bluntly that their crews had been panicking about their change in the newly formed alliance plans when the change had seemed so sudden, the little Earthbenders hissed words gain the sharp attention of the older two children as the pairs body language becomes guarded as well as the lemur whose ears twitch slightly as Momo gazes at the potential danger.
And Death is extremely dangerous he wasn’t called the Surgeon Of Death by being anything other then what he had always been, Dangerous doesn’t even begin to describe how deadly the Heart Stealer had been during his original era, and the only person who had a higher wanted bounty than his own was the Monkey D Luffy the last King of pirates, baring his teeth in a wide Cheshire grin that only a D could manage even though she can’t see the expression Death responds to the feral girls question not bothering to sugar coat the truth, this group doesn’t need sugar they need facts from an adult who won’t lie or try to manipulate them “Death, I’ve come to collect ya’r souls an deliver ya to the afterlife where Aang-Ya is waiting” ever the wild child Toph tries to Earthbend most likely to see by force if he’s actually who the ancient god says he is or if he’s lying only to end up pouting when her attempts fail miserably.
Sokka ever the observant big brother of the Gaang doesn’t hesitate to question him while stepping protectively in front of Toph and Suki as Momo flies circles around them nervously “If you’re really Death tell me something only…” Death doesn’t bother waiting for the young warrior to finish speaking before cutting to the chase his grin hasn’t fallen as his golden eyes lock with serious blue ones “Yue-Ya’s soul was cradled in my arms when Tui-Ya saved her infant life, after Tui-Ya’s death Yue-Ya saved the world’s balance by returning the gift that was freely given thus she became a young moon spirit as a result, anymore questions Sokka-Ya?” The young warrior is standing there with his mouth hanging open from shock, Suki lightly smacks the back of his skull to make him pay attention again as Death closes the distance between the kids and himself as Momo lands upon his shoulders chattering curiously in his ear.
Toph huffs slightly annoyed when he ruffles her hair playfully, he allows her to kick his knee knowing the blind girl is missing the treasured sight that Earthbending had given her during life, maybe he’ll teach her observation haki later on… As there’s no bending in the afterlife either unfortunately which means she’d have no way to see the world around her without learning observation haki “You said Aang was waiting for us… What about my sister Katara and Zuko, are they dead too?” Golden gaze flickering towards the young warrior who has every right to be as fearfully concerned as he looks especially considering that… “No, not yet at least” his words were not meant to be comforting or threatening.
Yet it’s clever Suki who figures out the meaning of his simple response her tone pained yet fierce “they’re still alive and fighting without us aren’t they, even worse there’s nothing we can do to help them” her gaze flickers to the right side of the flaming wreckage where her mangled body lies half hidden beneath the same heavy debris that snapped her spine, Toph might be without sight at the moment but her hearing is still the sharpest in the Gaangs as her hold on the Kyoshi warriors hand tightens in silent support when Suki’s soul beat sky rockets, Death doesn’t bother hiding the truth about the two current remaining survivors of the Gaang “Their heart beats grow weaker every minute that goes by…” Sokka and Toph cut him off at the same time, snarling out their next words “Hurry up and go help them!” “Dammit do what ya came here for an then go save em!” Shaking his head slowly yet careful to not dislodge Momo from his shoulder so the animal companion doesn’t leave he’d rather not use his devil fruit to capture the flying soul, turning his now razor sharp gaze to the two older children who have sight while making certain that Toph can hear how serious the situation is right now especially when they have no clue what they’re asking from the ancient god.
Suki and Sokka both shiver viably in fright at the intensity of his gaze yet neither of them run away like he’s seen thousands of marines do in the far past, meanwhile, Toph takes a challenging step forward unwilling to stand down against his deadly tone she would’ve made a great pirate with her spine of steel and chaotic spirit “None of you would ever see them again if I save them, what you’re asking is for them to become spirits, and it’s their choice alone whether they accept that path or not” Death didn’t get that choice, Sun didn’t get that choice either, their devil fruits made the choice for them and it marked the end of their era after only they were the last two remaining at the end of days, not even their enemies remained and their crew had long since departed to the afterlife during decades of fighting, surviving, and war… Death blinks once as he feels Toph’s scarred rough yet tiny hand holding tightly onto his left hand, Momo’s chattering nervously in his ear, both Sokka and Suki have drawn closer as well while they’re are giving him looks of open concern.
Huh… He must’ve been muttering in his native tongue again or perhaps he wasn’t and the kids understand everything yet don’t know what to make of the situation now, no matter, Death holds Toph’s hand gently as he begins guiding the children into the afterlife, Aang and Appa are waiting not very far away from the clearing they’d been left in earlier, once the kid sees the approaching group Sokka is instantly knocked over by the kid who starts sobbing into the young warriors chest, Toph almost refuses to let Death’s hand go for whatever reason and it takes several head pets before she does so, Momo also reluctantly leaves his shoulders in order to curl around the blind Earthbender’s shoulders instead, a seeing eye lemur that flies and a feral little girl… Honestly Death couldn’t think of a more chaotic combination of companions in this current era of strange animals hybrids and elemental bending.
Two minutes later after making sure that the kids shall be alright he leaves for the mortal world once again heading out to search for the three children he senses farther away, while continuing to send other newly deceased souls to the afterlife, and for once not bothering to chase down the ones who manage to run away from him due to listening to their survival instinct, the heartbeats are growing quieter and he’s oh so curious to see what choice these two shall make when given a chance to decide, plus he can always chase down those wayward souls later on to see if they want to go to the afterlife or become ghosts in the mortal world.
One soul hiding nearby and two nearly dead children, a battlefield of fire and ice that tells a tale of interest as Death stares at the bloody corpse of Azula that’s been impaled by hundreds of needle like ice shards, and the larger icicle made of blood that’s spear length piercing through her heart, this attack is what most likely killed her before the loss of blood could a quick death instead of a slow one, the work of a true healer or one who knows that a slow death wouldn’t serve a purpose in this battle against someone who doesn’t truly deserve the suffering, Katara would’ve made an interesting addition to his crew had she been alive during the four seas era, Zuko would’ve been roped into Lu-ya’s crew or perhaps started his own… No telling what they would’ve done as that era has long since passed, his razor sharp gaze flickering to the two living children laying side by side barely breathing, Katara suffered major fourth degree burns that are mostly centered around her eyes, neck, left shoulder all of which would cause scarring and possibly even blindness in some form if she lives without his help, and the Waterbender most likely spent her remaining energy on killing the threat before attempting to heal her companion, who was hit directly in the chest by lightning near the heart the organ is most definitely burnt from the electricity and it is a medical miracle that he’s even still alive to breathe so poorly, yet against the most interesting odds somehow both of them are still alive for the moment, guess their either lucky or heavy cursed by the other spirits.
Passing by the corpse heading towards the living children whose hearts are slowly beating in sync with each other which would be weird unless they are soulmates or have a similar heart condition… Their almost unconscious while holding hands as they lay dying while war rages around them and the soul of Azula lingers nearby unable to leave the area due to being connected to her mortal remains, she’s tried seven times before given up, Death kneels between the dying children placing his hands on their chests right above their slow hearts his tone is serious yet soothing “Honestly it’s incredible ya’r still alive considering ya were supposed to be dead ten minutes ago, so there’s no time for proper explanations just know ya’r family insisted that I save ya but it’s ya’r choice to become spirits and live on as something else then other humans, yet forever unable to join ya’r family in the afterlife, or ya can die here and join them, ya have two minutes to decide before ya’r hearts stop beating” Katara’s exhausted gaze almost glows in the fire light as Zuko’s grip on her hand tightens silently.
The soul Azula draws closer during the slow seconds of those two minutes, Death ignores her for now listening to the Waterbenders voice which is hoarse from her fire burnt throat “Zu… We have to…” her voice fades to harsh coughing unable to continue speaking from the damage that the Fire Princess caused earlier, Zuko doesn’t need to hear the rest to know what his soulmate wants to say, so it’s with a shaky pained breath that he finishes speaking where she left off “Kat… I know, we have to avenge them by living long enough… To kill that monster and… We need to make sure that the next Avatar won’t have to deal with the consequences of our era’s failure, Aang would’ve done it himself if he could’ve” Death locks eyes with the two stubborn children and waits for them to say it.
Death doesn’t wait long as the pair of rightfully vengeful soulmates speak as one “Help us avenge our family” using his Ope Ope no Mi with practiced ease “Room” within seconds of creating the operating room their slowly beating hearts are held in his tattooed hands, the Surgeon Of Death makes quick clean work of switching their hearts as doing so serves another important purpose for much later on, while continually pouring his spiritual energy directly into their souls, Death’s gaze locks with Sun’s own as he feels his soulmates presence appear from seemingly nowhere as she begins pouring her own energy into the children without ever needing to be asked, Sunshine was always good at surprising people with her special brand of chaos.
Giving his beloved a feral grin which is quickly returned as Sun beams at him with the same sunshine smile that always blinded him during their chaotic lifetime together, Azula is now standing directly behind him most likely going to attack him with something other then fire bending as the elements don’t work after death for souls unless they become a ghost or a spirit, he’s not concerned about his own safety the brat can’t even scratch him or Sun as their not normal spirits, how else could they create new spirits? Being the very first spirits to exist sometimes has its benefits.
Sunshine’s bared teeth her famous D smile as she speaks for the time since arriving to join him in the war zone “Does this mean we’re parents again, Torao?” Death huffs out an amused yet exhausted breath as they finally finish saving the two children now turned spirits “Lu-Ya, we both know ya’r going to adopt them regardless of my answer” his wife’s grin is beautiful as her dark eyes shine with chaos and love while gazing at the unconscious little spirits between them, Azula finally decides to attack him by sending a roundhouse kick towards the back of his skull, the attack never reaches his personal space “Room, amputate!” Screams of terror are heard from the now diced up soul as the Fire Princess realizes that shes in pieces, the screaming stops when his golden gaze locks onto her own for the first time, curiosity, fear, madness and surprise gleam in her golden eyes yet she says nothing about what just happened, Azula’s focus has shifted to Zuko’s unconscious form her tone a vicious snarl of disbelief “What did you do to Zu Zu! Why’s he a tiny version of the Blue Spirit!” Her gaze flickers towards Katara when he doesn’t answer the first two questions “Why is she a tiny Painted Lady! The Waterbender isn’t from the Fire Nation why’s she one of our guardian spirits!” Death doesn’t answer the questions because he has no idea why the pair turned into children versions of their past lives, it’s strange yes but it’s probably fine, plus it’ll be easier to train the new spirits at a younger age.
Now then time to send Azula to the afterlife… Death is about to send the girl on her way, however, Sunshine puts a firm hand on his shoulder her eyes serious as the king of pirates gazed at the Fire Princess whose still in pieces “Why do ya care about ya’r brother now La La? Ya almost succeeded in killing him just twenty minutes ago” Azula snarls again looking surprised at the question as well as the nickname, the girl closes her eyes for several soul beats, her voice is uncertain, slightly fearful but honest “Father… Always hated Zu Zu, he always said that if I was ever nice to him that he’d banish me too, that he’d just start over with a new wife, like Mama, Zu Zu and me never mattered to him, so I lied to my brother, played to roughly with his friends and him, only Mai and Ty Lee knew why but their gone now, Father killed the only people who genuinely loved me, they tried to sneak me out of this final battle Father’s guards caught us…” The girl trails off looking at the pair of ancient gods with wide hallow eyes.
Sighing heavily upon realizing that this child’s mind is broken and has been this way for a very long time, her only real support system is gone killed by the man who broke her in the first place, Death carefully puts her severed pieces back together yet doesn’t release her from his room just in case the soul tries to flee from him, the afterlife is the best place for Azula becoming a ghost wouldn’t help her heal from the trauma that was her life under Ozai’s shitty parenting methods, Ty Lee and Mai will be there as well, stepping into the room and kneeling down to the girls eye level where she’s sitting on the ground he doesn’t touch her not wanting her to react badly to his presence anymore then she already has, he was a doctor and now it seems he’s found himself a new patient for the time being, the souls of the dead need healing sometimes too.
Sun watches from the sidelines beside her newly acquired children as her husband helps the angry girl who reminds her of Ace a little bit for some reason, they talk for a few moments then the girl gives Zu Zu one final look of pained regretful longing that tells the king of pirates she doesn’t want to hurt her brother anymore and Azula was just afraid of being hurt, abandoned or something even worse by the monster she was forced to call Father for so long, maybe if the good adults in her life had realized what was happening sooner then La La would’ve lived a happy life with her friends, but life isn’t fair unfortunately not even in this era, not in any era.
La La takes Deaths hand slowly like she’s afraid he’s gonna change his mind about helping her and leading her to her friends, he wouldn’t, Torao wouldn’t lie to a child, or a patient of his, she watches silently as the two them leave for the afterlife and she waves goodbye to La La who looks surprised by the action, hopefully, the girl will recover once she’s far away from the monster and with her friends again, Sun doesn’t like it when families hurt each other… Sanji’s biological father was a mad monster too, Gramps used to hit her with a haki coated fist alongside her brothers whenever he saw them called it the fist of love, it took several decades before she found out that it was abuse and by then both her brothers were dead, her crew was being hunted, and her wedding was crashed by Gramps leading marines to kill them on the world governments order.
But that was all a long long time ago and Robin would be very upset about the fact that everything they once knew is gone, not even a single piece of evidence left behind after so many eras have passed, nobody remembers the era of pirates or that the world was mostly water, and that the four elements used to be devil fruits until humans started changing with the times, she misses sailing with her family they were so free.
Yet not even being the freest in all the four seas saved them during the end of days, and now Sun sits beside her little children as they sleep off the spirit transformation while her soulmate continues to deal with the souls that war always brings.
Death only releases his light grip on Azula’s shaking hand when they arrive at the small house on the outskirts belonging to one of the many villages in the afterlife, Mai is dressed in a simple black kimono with one of her knives used as a hairpin, and Ty Lee is wearing something similar to her original pink outfit only with a few bells attached, as she does curt wheels while Mei watches from the wooden porch.
Azula let’s go of his tattooed hand leaving Death behind as she shakily walks towards her friends, Ty Lee is the first to notice her slow approach beginning to curt wheel the distance between them quickly as Mei rises from the porch walking towards them at a slightly quick pace, Azula stands frozen in place as her friends gather around her yet when both girls gently tough her cheeks, the Fire Princess falls to her kneels and cry’s as her best friends hold her whispering sweet but soft words of reassurance, that their deaths weren’t her fault and that they would’ve stayed together forever if they could’ve, the trio of girls have each other to depend on now in the afterlife, so Death leaves knowing that his newest patient is in the best hands at the moment.
Sun greats him with a wide Cheshire smile upon his arrival, sitting beside his soulmate as they silently watch their newest children get used to their new spirit bodies, Katara is going through her Waterbending techniques while Zuko does the same with his Firebanding techniques as well, the pair are currently sparring against each other for practice as the tiny Blue Spirit dodges the icicles heading his way, quickly closing the distance between the two little spirits as the tiny Painted Lady uses her bloodbanding to lock her soulmate in place for several seconds before releasing Zuko, the boy laughs proudly at her accomplishment in the duel and she beams brightly in return.
How cute, their flirting already, Luffy leans farther into her husband’s side as they continue watching their children fight, hmm they should probably teach them haki sooner rather than later, Law chuckles as if reading her thoughts so easily, that wouldn’t surprise her at all considering how long they’ve known each other given the eras that have passed them by like sand in a hourglass.
For now all there is to do is train their children so the little spirits have the best chance of avenging their faimily members due to bitch lords bullshit dreams of power, Luffy doesn’t like that the children have refused their help, but sometimes it can’t be helped given the situation, no matter how much the pirate king hates it so, some battles aren’t theirs to fight.
All the two ancient spirits can do is prepare their children for the worst, and hope that it’s enough in the end no matter if it takes ten years or longer, they aren’t humans which means time is irrelevant to them for the most part, yet the little ones prey is a human so time is important for them just this once.
15 Years Later
Ozai watches from the window as the twins feed the turtle-ducks, slender arms wrap around his waist as his wife’s voice rings out softly “another year then they’ll be old enough to begin their FireBending training” waiting until the children were six years old was part of the deal that the married couple agreed to when continuing to try for an heir.
“And should neither of them be able to wield fire?” His simple question doesn’t so much as make the woman holding him flinch, her arms tighten slightly as they continue watching the twins feed the turtle-ducks “we simply try again” it’s to bad they hadn’t met before Ursa had caught his attention all those years ago, it would’ve been preferable really, especially considering Ozai still wonders if Zuko had ever been his blood to begin with, while Azula was definitely his blood it is unfortunate that the girl died during her battle against the traitor and his savage WaterBender.
At least he killed the Avatar so the battle wasn’t a complete loss, it did pave the way for the Fire Nation’s raise to world domination, now he only has to wait one more year to find out if he has an heir or not.
Should neither of the twins end up being FireBenders, his wife wouldn’t hesitate to burn them alive so that they can forget the shame of even possibly having a heir that isn’t able to wield fire, a Non-Bender will never sit upon his throne as successor of their great empire.
Just one more year
Hika and Kahi hold hands while watching the moonless night sky staring at the stars from the rooftop.
Mother and Father never visit them after dinner, none of the guards ever look up so they don’t get caught during their nightly routine of star watching, but is isn’t the first time they’ve been visited by something other then human, as the Painted Lady appears behind the twins gently petting their hair in a silent greeting, the Blue Spirit stands watch over them all like the protective sword that the rumors say the vengeful spirit is said to be, why the two spirits visit once a week Kahi doesn’t know yet Hika suggested that it’s because of Father and Mother’s plans to get rid of them in a year, due to the fact they aren’t FireBenders.
Tonight is different from previous ones as the Blue Spirit kneels down to their golden eye level and removes his mask, revealing golden eyes that match their own and an adult of twenty years old with a horrible burn scarring nearly half his face, his left eye and ear, his long black hair is braided in what used to be easily recognizable as a WaterTribe style before Father’s army’s killed them all just like the AirBenders, only what used to be the Earth Kingdom remains with survivors now Fire Empire citizens.
The Blue Spirit begins speaking for the first time revealing fangs yet his tone is so warm and gentle that the twins relax instinctively “I’m sorry that we didn’t spirit you away sooner, little ones” the twins shake their heads not blaming either spirits for their living situation it’s just how the world is now, it’s what they were born into so how could they know anything else, Painted Lady’s hands are now holding their smaller hands firmly as the male spirit puts his wooden blue dragon mask back on.
He leaps off the rooftop and that’s the last the twins see of the Blue Spirit as heavy mist surrounds them, once it clears Hika blinks once, Kahi blinks twice and they both blink three times in surprised awe at the sight of a village that clearly isn’t in the main capital city, in fact this place seems to be in the former Earth Kingdom, their standing outside of a closed restaurant soon enough the Painted Lady leads them inside the restaurant to a table, she disappears for several seconds before they hear a bell ring out in the darkness, a man’s voice responds a few minutes later sounding amused yet respectful “I’ll be there in a moment, please have a seat for now” the female spirit reappears sitting beside Kahi who giggles at her mysterious antics while Hika smiles silently, soon enough an old man they don’t recognize walks into the room with a tray of tea and snacks that look like rice cakes.
Iroh places the tray on the table with practiced ease even though he’s only got his left arm remaining after so many battles over the years, pouring the jasmine tea into four cups, placing three in front of his unknown late night guests, he serves the rice cakes next even though some spirits don’t eat mortal food, but he does so regardless to be respectful as the spirits enjoy offerings, sitting down across from his guests, it is only then that he grabs the fourth cup of steaming tea to take a small drink.
The surprised yet delighted gasps of children, almost makes Iroh look at the spirits yet he does not as he’s not been given permission, and that could very well be the last mistake he makes in this lifetime… Best to avoid being disrespectful “Uncle Iroh, you can look at me, I have no intentions of cursing you in any manner” Uncle… When was the last time he was addressed by that dear title?
Iroh remembers exactly when moment that was, 15 years ago the day before the battle that decided the tide of the war… It was the last hug that he ever shared with his youngest son, taking another sip of his tea so he doesn’t cry in front of his guests, the tea shop owner finally looks at the spirits across from him “Katara?” The Painted Lady smiles fondly at the older man who easily recognized her even though she is not human any longer, petting the twins hair softly as she cuts to the heart of the matter “Uncle, will you please give those two little ones a home? They’re not long for this world if they remain with Ozai and his new wife” the former general reads underneath her words Locking eyes with her for several moments before nodding his head silently.
“I’ll raise them as my own, please don’t forget to us visit from time to time” the both of you goes without needing to be spoken out loud, Iroh had known that Katara and Zuko were soulmates before they did, it was obvious… The Painted Lady vanishes from the tea shop leaving behind mist and the twins, who are now in the best care with the man will raise them with all the endless love the children deserve.
It was Zuko’s idea after all
Their plan was never meant to be an epic battle, which is why Ozai never wakes up as his throat is opened wide with one of the Blue Spirits blades, the Fire Emperor is dead and his new wife follows quickly after, the corpses lay in bloody pools soaking their bed while the avenging spirit simply stares at the monster that has destroyed so many lives.
His soulmate wraps her arms around his waist while he places his clawed hands upon her own, neither of the spirits speak as they gaze at the one who took so much from them and others, people they can never see again, Painted Lady’s mist surrounds them and they reappear in the spirit world on Sun’s ship knowing full well that the pirate king would be upset if they didn’t stop by for a visit, Ma hates being alone so it makes sense to visit regularly whenever they aren’t helping the mortal realm.
Sensing her adventurous children Sun doesn’t hesitate to fling herself from the crows nest, wrapping her whole body several times around her grown little ones in a loving embrace, Luffy laughs happily at the surprise visit.
Katara and Zuko share fond looks of knowing with each other at their spirit mother’s adorable antics, not hesitating to cuddle with her “~shishishi~ welcome home, I’m proud of you both” the children melt at the easily given affection from the ancient sun goddess, even if she speaks in a language they still haven’t quite learned fully, Japanese Ma and Pa called their native tongue, the younger spirits have several more years before their able to speak fluently.
Now that their family has been avenged with Ozai’s death, and the twins are safe with Uncle Iroh away from their equally monstrous mother, now all they need to do is continue watching over the remaining members of the surviving Elemental Nations, they have a lot of work to do in order to help the next Avatar from suffering the heavy weight that Aang had to endure due to Roku’s failure.
Many spirits are gathered for the wedding, which isn’t shocking considering weddings between spirits are rare and are always to be held in high regard, essentially when soulmates are involved.
Old, young, middle aged, or older then time itself, weddings are always a sacred tradition among the spirits, that doesn’t even count the alcohol or feast usually provided by the the wedding pairs family, by they adopted, blood adopted or by birth, children are always celebrated among the spirits as there are so few of them nowadays, now that the Avatar has once again been missing for a hundred years, even when the boy awakened from his icy slumber Aang did not fully hear the warnings of the spirits, it was rare that the young AirBender ever did yet that is the fault of his AirBender Elders for not teaching him anything useful about the spirits or their world, let alone that they had their own customs, they are worried about humans now that there is no Avatar again, which for the most part especially is seemingly something odd that seems to be an unfortunate running theme in most of the lasted Avatars renunciations.
Freshly tattooed with their wedding runes Katara and Zuko dance in the crowd of the other dancing spirits.
Zuko kisses his soulmate as their marks begin glowing eerily, yet neither of them think anything of the pretty glowing from their soulmate markings, they simply think it’s part of a spirit wedding.
Law holds his wife as Luffy cries when their their children disappear on their wedding day, both the ancient spirits know the universe is cruel the pair had already known that it always shall be, as the universe shall always change seeking a result from their little ones personal promise, Their devil fruits won’t allow them to sleep in peace until the true one piece has been found… Nope, nobody not even Roger knew what awaited on that island.
Hell not even the ancient soulmates could’ve predicted what would happen next, and yet nevertheless the world kept turning even without their children remaining in it, perhaps whatever plan the universe has for the younger spirits won’t end in tragedy.
The Elder Spirits Have Much chaos To Answer For… Especially Considering How Pissed His Soulmate Is Certainly Going To Be.
Blue takes a few deep testing breaths because as a spirit he should not need to breathe, which thankfully he doesn’t or else he’d be extremely worried about whatever his current situation is, some spirits breathe as a reminder that they’d once be human or animal, the spirit world is a crazy place and after so many decades one just gets used to the eternal chaos, which is part of why time travel isn’t a complete shock, to bad it happened on their wedding day of all times.
Three years old.. Why so young, when there were better opportunities to send him back, like when he was he was four before his Mother left Azula and him behind in her escape, why so early…
There’s no scar on his left side, he can see clearly and hear fully, both of which is disturbing to him yet when he tries to activate his FireBending it doesn’t work at all, perhaps it’s due to him being so much younger… He’s currently around three years old it seems yet Zuko remembers Everything the Agni Kai that was a result of him defending their people even though it was unknowingly a complete disrespect to the FireLord, he had not fought his own father during the match, he couldn’t… At the time it seemed so extremely wrong to fight against one’s only remaining parent especially one as powerful as the FireLord himself.
Zuko knows he didn’t fight back and had been burnt horribly then banished within the same flaming breath as Ozai coldly stared down at his curled up burning body, while stating blankly that he would have to have to capture the Avatar and bring the prisoner back in order to regain the honor he’d lost by dishonoring his Father by questioning his leadership in front of the highest ranks of his inner circle.
With a newly banished Iroh as well as very few others as well by his side the former Fire Prince made his original crew, then they spent the next ten years searching for a ghost that couldn’t possibly exist with nothing but anger, pain, and resentment as well as other negative emotions to show for… That was until Zuko’s golden eyes met Her furious blue eyes standing across from each other in middle of the snow covered fiery hell that was Northern WaterTribes only remaining village, ashes from his ship turning the snow into a eerie picture, a painful reminder that he had no idea about until Katara told him everything else during their hunting trip for her Mother’s murder.
The shrill cries of a baby bring Blue out of his deep thoughts, and he silently leaves the nursery belonging to generations of the Fire Nation Royal family behind never once looking back, no guards are aware of his presence as the spirit makes his curious way towards the source of the crying.
Blinking in utter bewilderment at the sight of Azula being so incredibly tiny and defenseless… Blue doesn’t ever recall seeing his sister so vulnerable as the newborn infant cries her little lungs out safe in their exhausted Mothers arms, Ozai is no where to be found which is not surprising considering it’s against their traditions for the father to be present during labor, not even the FireLord is above one of their Nations oldest traditions, it’s for the safety of Mother and children in case the fathers FireBending becomes a danger due to emotional reactions, especially if the children turn out to not be of the fathers blood or are born sickly.
It hurts knowing that Blue cannot stay with his Mother and sister, but Uncle Iroh will look after them in his absence especially when they notice Zuko’s mysterious disappearance, it’ll make his Uncle even more protective of the remaining family members, which is a good thing for when Ozai eventually sits upon the throne in this lifetime.
Hopefully, Blue can manage to save many lives this time, while avenging the ones he couldn’t, with his plans for the momentary future figured out he leaves the palace blending seamlessly with the chilling shadows and not at all surprised when Death joins him as a silent companion, Law grins widely watching the little spirits form slowly beginning to return to that of his adult one, spirits don’t have to age like humans do, and Zuko’s fragile human body was taken completely over by his older spirit after traveling through the time stream so it makes sense that the Blue Spirit doesn’t remain a toddler, even before the legend of The Blue Spirit can begin anew with every life saved or every soul avenged during this moon lit night, time to hunt it seems.
Its only a matter of time before the Painted Lady joins her soulmate in their eternal mission, so for now Death shall keep his son from getting lonely during the nighttime while Sun handles the daytime, they wouldn’t be very good parents leaving their little ones alone in this crazy world.