AU idea.
Aang eventually quietly passed away in the iceberg and the avatar cycle continued. Sokka is the new avatar. He is, in every other respect, exactly the same as canon Sokka. He didn’t even know he could bend until he found the iceberg and accidentally opened it and he’s still highly suspicious of the whole thing.
Aang is still a character but only Sokka can see and hear him. It’s an avatar thing.
Katara, yelling: please… just Learn the Waterbending Move
Sokka: I cast boomerang.
Also I like to imagine that Zuko shows up and takes Katara prisoner (not without a fight, but still) because clearly, she’s the only bender present and therefore must be the Avatar.
Cue Sokka going avatar state for the first time.
Wait, who will Sokka’s airbending teacher be?
Aang. Wait, no. Appa.
I fucking APPROVE.
Also Sokka learns the elements in the reverse order because who’s gonna tell him no? The other Avatar?? He’s got this flying bison, original master of airbending, right here to teach him. And Katara can cover most waterbending related issues for a little while so it’s not like he needs to learn that right away. And also it turns out that with a little practice airbending can change the trajectory of a boomerang in midair so why not???
They still meet Toph, right? Sokka learns earthbending from Toph?
But of course!
Man I just realized how much Sokka and Zuko are actually perfect foils for one another in so many ways. To wit:
- Both are princes of their respective nations.
- Both are skilled swordsmen trained by Piandao.
- Both want to prove themselves to their fathers, but in Sokka’s case it’s because he’s inspired by his father and wants to live up to his legacy whereas Ozai abuses Zuko and uses the possibility of his approval to string his son along.
- Both lost their families (and especially their mothers) to the fire nation’s imperialism, Sokka through war and Zuko through his family tearing itself apart.
- Sokka and Katara have a realistically bumpy but overall healthy relationship, in contrast to the dysfunctional and at times murderous relationship between Zuko and Azula.
Zuko is literally the tragic anti-villain/hero version of Sokka.
Also this idea is really starting to grow on me and I kind of hate it because that probably means I’ll actually have to write a fic about it at some point.
ok, but with aang dead, who does katara marry?
