Book One, Air.

"Walking up a several thousand feel high volcano so a bald child can get a flower to hand to his crush. Yep, definitely should have stayed with Appa. At least then I could take a nap." Zuko grumbles to himself as he lags behind Aang who nimbly jumps from rock to rock. "Is it too late to go back to the village now?"

"It's an hour walk back that way if you wanna leave." Sokka says, pointing over his shoulder down the cliff side. "Katara is off bothering Aunt Wu over more fortunes, might be a good idea to go get her out of that coocoo's hair before the crazy rubs off on Katara."

"There's a difference between being skeptical and just being rude Sokka, we don't make fun of you behind your back." Aang says, squatting on one of the rocks before jumping nearly 15ft in the air.

"What do you mean we?" Zuko asks, prompting Sokka to glare at him.

"Well then I don't do it." Aang corrects. "But trust me Sokka, this definitely works. I've seen it happen!"

"We also heard that Aunt Wu said her true love would give her a flower, but she never said it would start their relationship just that it would happen. We're not gonna stick around here very long and they might break up for all we know." Sokka responds as he stabs his sword into a rock to get leverage to pull himself up.

"And you just undermined your argument by saying the word might." Zuko says as he follows suit with Aang, jumping high above the rocks before landing closer to the airbender. "How many times did you see it happen?"

"Just once, and the girl immediately hugged him." Aang answers, turning to face his student. "Why?"

"What makes you think it'll work on Katara?" Zuko's question causes Aang to blush feverishly at the prospect.

"W-what makes you th-think it's Katara?" He questions, trying to dodge the accusation of his crush.

"Because we've been traveling with her as the only girl in our group for the past 3 months and you don't act all like that to either me or Sokka." Zuko responds, grabbing the staff off of Aang's back to offer it down to Sokka to help him up. "Why are you so sure?"

"Because I heard Aunt Wu say that she's going to end up with the person who is the last user of his bending discipline and that's me!" Aang argues now not bothering to deny his feelings.

"While I don't think any of the other bending nations are gonna get wiped off the face of the earth, there's nothing saying that they won't be since that comet thing is coming back by the end of Summer." Sokka says.

"That was dark." Zuko deadpans.

"That's not gonna happen Sokka, Zuko is the avatar and will stop it from happening so that only leaves me." Aang protests, his faith in the avatar's capabilities giving a much needed confidence boost to Zuko.

"Whatever, I think you're jumping the seal-shark on this but if you wanna get the stupid flower then let's get the stupid flower." Sokka says as he walks past the two benders and up towards the crater of the volcano.

"I've seen it in action and trust me it works." Aang says, jumping over Sokka and onto the lip of the crater. "Now just to grab it and go... oh no..." Aang's voice trails off as he freezes looking out at the sea of lava before him that is bubbling up in the volcano. Hearing the dramatic shift in Aang's tone, Zuko jumps up the ledge, meeting the same sight that Aang had.

"Aunt Wu was wrong." Sokka says after finally clambering his way up to the peak of the volcano. The heat radiating off the lava below is astronomical, so much so that Aang and Sokka have to shield their faces after a few moments looking out at the lava. "What do we do?"

"We have to warn them, who knows when this thing can go off?" Aang says, still fearful of the lava below them. The thought of grabbing the panda lily long gone from his mind.

"We need to go, and fast because if the lava is like this, it can erupt at any second. I can't even begin to tell you how much danger we're in right now but we need to go." Zuko firmly states as he turns away from the crater of the volcano. Spinning his hands around himself, he spins an air scooter into existence before jumping on top of it. He leans forwards causing the rotating air currents to begin to move as he rides the air scooter down the side of the volcano leaving the other two to play catch up.

"Sokka, grab on tight." Aang tells him, flipping open his glider staff offering for the water tribesman to grab the top of the glider so that the two can take off.

"If you drop me I'm telling Katara." Sokka warns as the two make a less than graceful run off the edge of the volcano back towards the forest below. Sokka white knuckle gripping the wooden frame of the glider as he rides on the back of the ancient staff as Aang tries to do his best to control their descent.

Meanwhile, Katara had just gotten herself kicked out of the fortune teller's home after continuing to pester Aunt Wu repeatedly about the future of her life. In the time since the others had left to head up the volcano, Katara spent her time perusing the shops around the city square near the gazebo. While Zuko had ended up getting himself captured by Zhao while Aang was taking care of her and her brother, the young airbender had asked Momo to take Katara's water skin to go get them water. While eventually Aang had to throw in the towel and go get it himself, Momo did come back with dozens of different things the little flying lemur could get his hands on. Trinkets, jewelry, money and even a crown were gathered by the little lemur and while Aang wanted to return the items to their owners trying to convince the lemur to return everything he stole wasn't going to work. In the end, reluctantly, they kept Momo's little hoard of trinkets, deciding to sell what they could to help them. With a few dozen gold pieces to their name and a coin purse filled with silver and bronze pieces for the time being they can be comfortable on their journey. It had been just over two hours since the boys left to head up the mountain for some reason but as she debates entering a tea shop Sokka's scared voice echoes through the streets bellowing her name.

"KATARA!!!" Sokka yells prompting the water tribe girl to look up towards where her brother's voice is coming from. Seeing him on top of Aang's glider with Aang himself hanging on the bottom of the glider. By the time she realizes what she's looking at, both Aang and Sokka crash face first into a cabbage cart spilling its contents all over the road.

"Oh my spirits, are you ok?!" Katara shouts seeing the two in a heap on the floor. Aang's staff skewered through several cabbages like a shish kebab. "Why did you try to fly the glider with both of you on it? I thought you would have learned your lesson when you two crashed it into a tree!" Her lecture goes mostly ignored as the two clean themselves off from the cabbage carnage that they're wearing and Aang cleans off his staff.

"We weren't just fooling around Katara." Zuko's voice almost startles her having just gotten there despite getting the head start. "We have a problem and a big one. The volcano is about to blow, the prediction Aunt Wu made about volcanic doom was wrong."

"What?!" Katara shouts before Zuko immediately covers her mouth with his hands in order to keep her reaction contained and shushes her. He didn't want to draw any attention to the situation. As Zuko takes his hands off her mouth she responds in a whisper. "The volcano is gonna blow?! How do you know?"

"Because the crust over the top of the crater is molten, that only happens when it's about to blow. It'll happen within days, if not hours or even minutes." Zuko explains, "I don't know how but we need to convince these people that the volcano is going to blow."

"This might be a bit of a stretch with how superstitious these people are but what if we just talk to Aunt Wu? Couldn't hurt to try and if that fails then maybe you could get a hold of that cloud reading book she has. You and Katara can go up on Appa to airbend and waterbend the clouds into the right shape to warn them." Sokka suggests as the others look around to make sure they're not being followed.

"She'll probably listen to me or Aang, knowing Katara you spent the last hour bothering her about your future. Didn't you?" Zuko asks, causing Katara to blush with embarrassment as Zuko hits the nail right on the head. "Figured, and Sokka is well... Sokka."

"I heard that."

"You were supposed to." Zuko responds. "Aang since you're the most nimble out of us, I want you to sneak in and steal the book."

"Steal?! You want me to steal it?!" Aang asks, alarmed at the very idea.

"We're gonna put it back, but for now yes we need that book. Would you rather borrow it without asking or have a town of several hundred be melted and entombed in lava?" Zuko asks.

"Ffff-fine." Aang responds barely managing to spit out the word.

"While you two do that, we'll go get Appa ready in case you can't convince her." Sokka says as he and his sister immediately take off.

Aang and Zuko nod to each other before quickly making their way to Aunt Wu's home with the airbender banking right down an alley. While Zuko wasn't really superstitious himself, there were moments on the seas where it helped to be. When he was younger in the seas off the coast of the earth kingdom near the western air temple, they heard strange singing one night. One of the men said that it was mermaids trying to lure them to their doom, and while Zuko didn't believe it at the time the strange songlike tone still haunts him. However, given the evidence of the other fortunes that Aunt Wu has foretold have come true, his skepticism about it is a lot less than Sokka's that's for sure. The attendant to Aunt Wu's home is standing guard at the gate like he was earlier and as Zuko approaches the man bows to the young avatar greeting him.

"Hello again Avatar Lee, do you wish to have any more fortunes told by Aunt Wu?" The white haired man asks but Zuko shakes his head no.

"I need to speak with her regarding one of them, not to get a new one." Zuko answers.

"While normally she would take the mid day off so that she can rest and eat something, given your position as the avatar, I believe she may be willing to speak to you." The man responds, moving to his side and opening the door. "However if she asks you to leave then please do so, she is getting older and needs her rest."

"I will, thank you." Zuko responds, the words leaving a strange taste in his mouth. Politeness wasn't ever a major strong suit of his, especially being raised as a prince despite being taught manners.

Entering the room Zuko walks into the same fourier that he and the Gaang had been in earlier. The cushions in the same spots as they were when he originally entered the fortuneteller's home. His footsteps echo slightly in the mostly empty house alerting Aunt Wu to his presence. The older woman walks in and is slightly shocked to see Zuko standing in her home once again but isn't bothered by his presence. "Ah, Avatar Zuko I was wondering when you'd come back here." She greets and the use of his real name immediately alerts the firenation prince. "What do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Young Avatar." Aunt Wu asks as she leads Zuko into the main sitting room where she performs her foresight.

"I came to warn you." Zuko begins. He has never been one to mince words, especially when there is an unknown time limit to impending volcanic doom. "You believe me that I'm probably the closest thing here to an expert on volcanoes right?"

"Ah, is this about the fact our town is at the foot of one? I assure you young avatar, the clouds have told me that the town won't be destroyed by the volcano this year." Aunt Wu responds, attempting to answer the unasked question.

"That's what I was going to talk to you about, Aang and I went up the volcano to look for a panda lily for him. When we got up there we saw something that you need to know. The lava is so built up in the volcano that the crust is now molten." Zuko explains, the words cause Aunt Wu's eyes to widen slightly in shock at what he is saying. "In the firenation, we've had a few eruptions that have incinerated villages and towns in the past and we know the signs of an eruption about to happen."

"But the fortune, it said that our town would be safe." Aunt Wu argues, she stops the conversation for a moment to walk over to grab her cloud book. She ruffles through the pages for a moment to reassure herself.

"All your other fortunes have been right, but all that one said is that the volcano won't destroy the town, not that it won't erupt." Zuko says, using her own fortune to try to convince her further. "Do you want to protect the town?" Zuko asks, his voice now deadly serious.

"What do we even say? If I go back on my word then they won't trust my fortunes anymore. It's the only gift that I have, and I'm much too old to go to a new town." Aunt Wu explains.

"I have an idea," Zuko begins, "Tell them that you noticed a cloud that means that the volcano will erupt. Make it look like you're taking another cloud reading, but also say that there's a cloud that says the town will be safe. From there I'll tell them that for the town to be safe we need to protect it. Dig trenches to channel off all the lava to the ocean and evacuate everyone from the city in case the trenches don't work. Will this work?" Aunt Wu mulls over Zuko's words for a few moments before agreeing to his idea.

Walking outside with Aunt Wu, Zuko meets up with Sokka and Aang with the fortune teller explaining what Zuko had asked her to do. As the small group walks to the small gazebo in the center of the bizarre, the nearby townsfolk gather around. Now, Aunt Wu taking a second cloud reading in the same day is a bit rare but it has happened before. With a small crowd gathering around her Aunt Wu speaks up. "I know it's exceedingly rare for me to take a second cloud reading but during my lunch I noticed an alarming sign in my tea leaves. They told me to take a reading of the clouds once again." While internally she feels terrible about the white lie she knows it's for the best. Opening her book to a random page on the cloud readings she looks up at the sky noticing the partly cloudy day has become laden with dark black clouds emanating up from the volcano. "The volcano is going to erupt..." She says now confirming Zuko's warning to herself but the statement almost immediately causes panic among the townsfolk. "Calm down! Earlier today I saw a cloud that foretold that the town won't be destroyed by the volcano."

"But how will it survive if the volcano erupts?" A local man asks, the woman he had given a panda lily to earlier in the day is clutching his side in fear.

"We make that fortune come true, we need to dig a large trench around the town diverting the lava to the ocean. I need everyone who's an earthbender to go with the avatar, everyone else grab a shovel and come with me." Sokka states, taking charge of the situation, when he asks for the earth benders a pair of twins respond to the call saying that one is a bender and the other isn't.

Hours of strenuous work would drag on as tremors shake the ground beneath them. Though the ground shakes when Zuko and the other benders begin moving the earth, the tremors that came from the volcano were dozens of times stronger than anything the avatar and the other benders were doing. Zuko's meager training with Haru did teach him the basics of moving the earth, the on the job training he got from the other earth benders as they prepare to save their village is the best training he's had. Zuko and a group of benders stomp hard on the ground before shoving their arms and clenched fists forwards driving tons and tons of material backwards and into the ocean. Zuko makes it a point to burn the exposed roots away so that it is easier to move the material. With his help they manage to clear one of the pathways to the ocean much faster than the other allowing the earthbenders to switch gears to the other side where the other villagers are toiling away with shovels and any excavation tool they could get their hands on. Though airbending isn't the most practical element for moving large amounts of dirt, Aang and Appa use Appa's saddle to move large amounts of the dirt away before the earth benders could come to assist them.

Just as Katara runs up to Sokka to ask if what they've done is enough, the ground rumbles before a massive shockwave from the eruption nearly shatters their eardrums. Both siblings immediately reach up to cover their ears from the blast. Looking up, the siblings see the ominous red glow of the firestorm being unleashed by the volcano. Flaming boulders of lava fly down from the top of the volcano slamming into the trees around them. Instinctively both siblings make a run for safety. Thousands and thousands of gallons of lava pour down from the volcano incinerating the landscape. Trees are burnt black in less than a second, the grass incinerated long before the liquid rock ever makes contact with it. It pours into the trenches and almost fills them to the brim immediately.

Standing at the edge of the trench looking over the lava, Aang and Zuko nod to each other before launching their plan into action. The two airbenders slide down the trench back towards the town before turning and sprinting with their airbending up the arched trenches. Getting to the top the two leap dozens of meters into the air, drawing in as many air currents as possible creating two identical cyclones far above the lava. From the town below the villagers see the avatar and his airbending master form small tornadoes of air and ash as they begin to fall back to the ground. Using the vast amounts of air they have collected, Aang and Zuko draw it into their lungs before expelling the air over the lava causing it to splash upwards before cooling extremely quickly forming a large concave shell of basalt and obsidian looming over the town acting like a shield.

"Wow... I never thought I'd see a true airbender in my entire life." Sokka says to himself, "The last airbender, I never realized just how powerful that kid is."

"What did you just say?" Katara asks, watching as the airbender and his apprentice make their way back down from the wall they just created.

"Nothing, just that I never thought I'd see an airbender." Sokka answers, causing his sister to look up at Aang in awe.

"Yeah... I guess you're right." She answers continuing to stare up at the avatar and his master, the last airbender.