Water...

                       Earth...

                                                              Fire...

                                                                                               Air...

Long ago the Four Nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar and the Defender, both masters of all four elements could stop them. But when the World needed them most, they vanished.

A hundred years have passed and my brother, Sokka and I discovered the new Avatar, an Airbender named Aang. Although his air bending skills were great, he had a lot to learn before he was ready to save anyone. But with his sister's help, Iris, the Defender, they mastered all four elements together.

From the day I first met them, I believed that Aang and Iris would both save the World.

And you know what?

I was right.

With the help of their friends, Aang and Iris defeated Fire Lord Ozai and ended the Hundred Year War. Zuko, Ozai's son and our ally, became the new Fire Lord.

Together with Earth King Kuei, Aang, Iris and Zuko promised to restore the Four Nations to Harmony.

Earth King Kuei planned a celebration where he would announce the Harmony Restoration Movement. Before the festivities began, we decided to visit the Jasmine Dragon, a tea shop owned by Zuko's Uncle, Iroh.

There, Aang and I... we figured out what we meant to each other. Or we were about to, anyway, before my stupid brother interrupted...

"Hey guys –Ah!" Sokka tried to say as he walked towards them on the balcony. Only to see them kissing and that sudden sight made him leave a cry of alarm out.

"Nothing! We're not doing anything out here!" Aang said immediately as the two of them pulled from each other, and his cheeks turned bright red.

"Haven't you heard of knocking, Sokka?!" Katara exclaimed angrily pointing accursedly at her brother.

Iris came walking from behind and smacked Sokka's shoulder "Jerk! Leave those two alone for a second!" she lectured him.

"I didn't do anything!" Sokka said innocently raising his hands in surrender and then he turned at his sister saying "...First of all, you're supposed to knock before you go inside not before you go outside! And second, as my sister, you really shouldn't be kissing anyone in front of me! It's your sisterly duty to avoid giving me the Oogies!" Sokka said.

Iris face-palmed her forehead "With the 'Oogies' again," she said muttered.

"Oogies'?! Aargh!" Katara growled "...You are so immature sometimes! What about you and Suki?!"

The two siblings started another long wrangling. Iris sighed as her brother tried kindly to stop them.

"Uh, Sokka?" He asked.

"Sokka!" Iris snapped at them.

"What is it, Iris?!" Sokka asked angrily.

"Remind me the reason we're out here, I forgot it," Iris said crossing her arms trying to make Sokka tell them.

Sokka took a deep breath and he stopped his sister's protests "Time out!" he said raising his hand and then he turned at Aang.

"What'd you come out here to tell us?" Aang asked.

"Oh, right! We're about to head out," Sokka answered.

"But the Earth King's celebration doesn't start for a couple of more hours," Aang said looking confusedly at his sister and Sokka.

"I know. We wanted to take Appa out for a ride first," Sokka said.

~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~

"Ha ha! Let's go again!" Aang said excitedly as Appa maneuvered around.

Toph had wrapped Iris arm in arm, practically hating not being able to see anything being on the air. But the other four seemed to enjoy it. Iris looked at Zuko at the front of the saddle. He'd been down all day. She somehow knew what troubled him... the same thing that troubled her.

But she tried to at least look like she enjoyed that day, mostly for her brother.

"Wait, guys, the fireworks are starting!" Suki said and she pointed on the sky.

And indeed, it was amazing to watch from up close. The loud 'Booms' didn't annoy them much as after every explosion, a new color would erupt in the dark sky of the night.

"Wow, the view is amazing!" Katara said in awe.

"It is, thanks buddy," Aang said caressing Appa's head and Appa roared in response.

They passed above the crowd of people that were gathered in the Palace. Thousands of cheers and claps could be heard. "Sounds like the Earth King just announced the Harmony Restoration Movement," Iris said.

"Hey, wanna know what fireworks are like for me?" Close your eyes," Toph said and Sokka nodded closing his eyes. Then Toph unleashed a large loud "BOOM!"

Sokka left a cry of alarm and he fell down with his hands on his painful ears. Iris started laughing mockingly pointing at Sokka.

"Oh, Toph! Don't be such a grump! You're out with friends on a beautiful night, celebrating the fact that we saved the world," Katara said pulling Toph in a tight hug.

Toph smirked "True,"

Sokka was still wincing and Iris with Suki tried to suppress their laughter. Iris sat back at the saddle and she crossed her arms. Her attention turned back at her brother who spoke to Zuko.

"You, too, your new Majesty Fire Lord Zuko, sir! Turn that frown upside down, it's happy time!" Aang said smiling widely at Zuko.

Zuko turned and looked at him seriously, his gaze meeting up with Iris once again. His expression softened when he looked at her. Iris gave him a smile.

"Zuko?" Aang asked confusedly.

"I visited my father in prison the other day... I've been meaning to ask you two for a favor," Zuko said darkly.

"Sure," Iris said dryly.

"Anything," Aang agreed.

"If you ever see me turning into my father, I want you to... I want you to end me," Zuko said hesitantly.

"What?!" Iris and Aang asked in unison.

"Even now, after everything that's happened, my family's legacy is still a part of me. That's why my duty is to heal the scars the Fire Nation has left on the world. But the Fire Lord's throne comes with a lot of pressures, and if I'm honest with myself I need a safety net. That's what I need you two to be, the safety net," Zuko said darkly.

"I can't do that, Zuko," Iris said.

"Iris, you have to understand that-" Zuko tried to say but Iris cut him.

"I can't... I'm sorry but I can't, I-" love you... She cut herself just in time chewing on her lip briefly before saying "...I care about you,"

Zuko looked sadly away. He knew, in the first place, Iris wouldn't agree to that.

"Zuko, you're not your dad, and you're our friend. How can you expect us to-" Aang tried to say but Zuko cut him.

"As your friend, I'm asking you –if you ever see me go bad, end me. Promise me, Aang," Zuko said.

Aang frowned not knowing what to answer. He looked at Katara, searching for a second opinion and she nodded.

"Fine, I promise," Aang said bending over his head.

Iris growled angrily and she jumped off Appa, to continue the rest of the flight on her own. Everyone gathered to watch from the saddle at what direction she was heading.

"I hate it when she does that!" Sokka complained.

"She just jumped from twenty meters, and that's your reaction?!" Suki asked incredulously.

"What?! She's an air bender, the skies are her thing!"

~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~

One Year Later,

The night's darkness fell everywhere. Everything was silent, his bed at the most secured tower of the Fire Nation Palace. The most trusted and skilled guards protecting the Fire Lord's room. He still couldn't sleep. There had been many attempts for his life, all failed, and he was moved at the most secure place in the Palace.

He still couldn't sleep. He didn't know if it was because of missing her... of missing his friends, because of the throne's pressure. It's been a year. A whole year he hadn't seen her face.

Zuko hadn't seen Iris since the war ended. He had missed her a lot. Sometimes he wondered how she was. What she was doing, how she felt about this sudden change of things. If she felt hurt as he did for breaking their relationship. He loved her, he could never stop loving her.

Hanging around with Mai was... boring. They made such a miserable couple. It was hard to act loving someone else.

Zuko cautiously snapped off his bed gasping.

"Who's there?!" He walked out of his room opening the door coming face to face with his guards. "Someone's here! Someone's trying to assassinate me!'

"Fire Lord, please. Go back to sleep, we're in the most secure tower in the entire Palace," One of the guards said. "No one will get to you tonight, I assure you,"

"Just like no one got you last night, or the night before that, or the night before that..." The other guard muttered nervously and giving cautious looks around the place.

Zuko growled angrily wrapping the guard from his napkin and drifting him close "Do not mock me! There have already been attempts on my life since I took the throne!" Zuko shouted angrily.

"And that's why we moved you here! Please, you have to trust-" The other guard tried to say, but before he finished something hit both the guards' heads making them fall down unconsciously.

Zuko immediately got in his stance and he shot a fire blast at the shadowy hall. "Show yourself!" he demanded.

A masked woman came out shouting "Down with the traitor! Down with the Fire Lord who betrays his own people!" and she immediately attacked bending a rock that was wrapped on a chain.

She shot the rock down at his feet and Zuko immediately jumped avoiding it. Zuko shot a fire blast which she dodged She shot the rock again under his feet which got to hit him and knocking him down.

Zuko woke up immediately and he started shooting fire blasts trying to reach close to her. One of the moves Iris had taught him. Reaching closer to his opponent and strike when finding an opening. Even surviving was all about her. He just couldn't forget her.

Zuko finally got to take the scarf she had tied around to cover her face.

"Convince me not to take your life!" Zuko said threateningly.

"Go ahead! My family has been loyal to yours for generations! By getting rid of me, you would simply complete your betrayal!" The girl shouted.

"Your family?" Zuko asked.

"My father is the Mayor of Yu Dao," The girl answered.

"Yu Dao... the first of the Fire Nation Colonies," Zuko said.

"Yes, my home! And now you, the Avatar and the Defender are going to destroy it with your precious Harmony Restoration Movement!" She shouted angrily...

~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~

Off the coast of the Fire Nation. Team Avatar, except Toph, had all gathered to help moving the Fire Nation Colonies from the Earth Kingdom back to the Fire Nation. It had taken a lot of effort, but the entire year they had gotten to move a big number of them.

Iris tried most of the time to ignore everything that happened. There had been sometimes she'd talked with Gershwin and she was trying to figure out this whole telepath thing. Hearing everyone's thoughts wasn't easy at first, but she had taken some control of it.

"Don't worry, Mayor Nishi!" Aang said turning at the Mayor on the saddle on Appa.

Iris kept her gaze pilled in the horizon, hearing to her brother's efforts of showing the colonials, his big knowledge in Fire Nation dances.

"...my team and I have helped dozens of Fire Nation Colonies move back to your homeland already. They've all loved coming back," Aang said smiling widely.

"Those Colonies were young. Their people had no roots in the Earth Kingdom," Mayor Nishi said.

"Things are different in the Fire Nation now, you'll see! Fire Lord Zuko's reintroducing classic Fire nation culture to his people. You'll learn so much about your past by living there. And you'll have fun, too!" Aang said excitedly and he woke up and started dancing "...check it out –This is a Fire Nation dance from over a hundred years ago, how fun is that?!"

Iris shoved him back down beside her on Appa's head and she said "Look, I know you're excited about your job, bro, but Mayor Nishi is right,"

"I'm just trying to lighten the mood up," Aang said and then he grinned at her thinking "You're still grumpy as always,"

"You know why!" Iris exclaimed irritatingly hearing his thoughts.

Of course, he knew. It wasn't something that happened a year ago and they could just forget it. But he had almost forgotten that Iris could now read his mind and he should watch out his thoughts.

Aang took her arm in his "Katara's working on a solution, everything will work out, I promise," and he gave her a smile.

She placed her other hand on her abdomen looking away sadly "This isn't something, we can solve, Aang," she said hopelessly.

Aang turned at her cupping his sister's face "There is nothing we can't solve," he said giving her a consoling smile.

Iris smiled back at him and then she turned away with her smile fading...

When they reached one of the harbors of the Fire Nation, they started unloading. Aang and Iris used their air bending to unload all these stuff.

"Stop! Stop unloading!" They heard a voice and they turned around to see who talked. It was a soldier "You're colonials?" He asked Mayor Nishi.

"Yes," She answered.

"Return to the Earth Kingdom, by order of Fire Lord Zuko," He said.

"What?!" Aang and Iris asked in unison exclaiming.

"Fire Lord Zuko has officially withdrawn his support of the Harmony Restoration Movement!"

Everyone gasped and their eyes widened.

~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~

Aang had been meditating on their way back to the Earth Kingdom. While they flew above Yu Dao, they noticed someone landing on the saddle. When they turned around they saw Toph.

"Hey, guys!" Toph said and she moved closer to her friends.

"Toph!" They all exclaimed happily hugging their friend tightly.

"I can't believe how long it's been!" Katara said.

"I missed you too," Toph said smiling.

As they pulled back Sokka asked "Hey, I heard you started a Metal Bending School!"

"The Beifong Metal bending Academy! You guys just flew over it. I heard Appa, so I had to come up and say 'hi'," Toph said and then she punched Iris's shoulder "Why didn't you come, drama-queen?! Still trying to escape from training?!"

Iris rubbed her painful shoulder "No, I've been training my butt off in Defender's powers," Iris said smiling nervously.

"Yeah, yeah, you can fool all the others but you can't fool me. Still relationship issues?" Toph said sarcastically "Have you not gotten over it yet?" Toph asked boringly.

"Do you even believe in love, Toph?!" Iris asked irritated.

"Sure, do, just never felt it yet," Toph said boringly and then she asked "Hey, where's Twinkle Toes, anyway?" when she realized that he was sitting on Appa's head, she said "Oh, there he is,"

"Zuko's changed his mind about the Harmony Restoration Movement," Katara said.

"You're kidding," Toph said frowning. "What is this idiot doing, again? He's gonna start another war. Damn you, Zuko!" Toph thought and Iris shot her a cold glare listening to her thoughts.

"He's holed himself up in Yu Dao with a bunch of his soldiers. He won't let anyone in or out," Sokka said.

"That's where we're headed," Iris said.

"So that's what's going on! The Lily Livers –I mean- my students were talking about it. Zuko's starting to act like his old man Ozai, then," Toph said.

"No, we don't know that yet," Sokka said immediately.

"Aang's meditating on what he might have to do... because of the promise he made," Katara said.

Which I hope he never fulfills... Iris thought bitterly looking away.

~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~0~o~

Here it is! I know it's not satisfying, it was supposed to fit the entire 1st Part of the Promise. But it turned out to be really big so I had to cut it in the middle!

I hope you liked it! I'll update the next chapter today! :)