A beautiful young woman looked down on him, her blue eyes full of concern. Someone was hugging him and crying.

"Stop it Aang," Sokka said weakly. "It's not manly."

Aang took a step back. "I thought you were dead."

Teo was here, so was Ty Lee, and most of the Tribe as well. But not his ole' man. Not Katara.

"Is she gone?" Sokka asked.

Everyone grew quiet. They knew who he was talking about.

"Yes," said Gran-Gran.

His vision got blurry. He was crying. Why? Because his, because his tribe had abandoned him.

Teo patted his shoulder.

No. No, his tribe was right here. All he needed was right here. Katara had chosen to leave them. If she ever wanted to return, she could, but she'd made her decision.

"The Armada?"

"They left sir," said Hahn. "The Firelord said that we have earned our independence. Our champion beat their champion."

"I thought that the Chief…"

"Not Chief Bato sir," said Hahn. "Katara."

So his sister had given them one last gift before leaving them forever. Sokka would make the most of it.

"Good," said Sokka. "Can you get me my bag Hahn?"

Hahn brought it to him, and Sokka ruffled through his things. He found the old map, the one he'd scribbled over while visiting the temple. His first invention. He laid it out over the bed, and brought out his prototype.

"I'd like to start mass manufacturing these new weapons," said Sokka. He was the Chief now. The protection of the Tribe was his duty. "These will allow a child to take on an Avatar. They will change the world."

"Seems easy enough." Hahn looked over the blueprints. "Looks like a miniature cannon."

"Actually, I'd like to call it something else. Something special." Sokka shared a look with Teo. "We're thinking of calling them guns."

Author's Note: Sokka lives! The reason I decided Sokka ultimately had to die was because I felt it invalidated Katara's decision made at the end of the story. While I like the battlelines of Katara vs Aang on the bending side and Ozai vs Sokka tactically I just didn't think it worked with the rest of the story to save Sokka last second.

Guns were always going to work their way into the story. Katara was always going to be set up to be Ozai's successor. This was always meant to be a Dark Avatar origin story. Spoilers if I ever decide to write a sequel:

The Dark Avatar cannot bend multiple element themselves, but they can steal bending and gift one or more people the ability to bend multiple elements. This is why Azula can bend water, because Iroh stole Hama's waterbending. After killing Chief Hakoda, Iroh was forced to admit his own villainy. Being Vattu's champion makes it difficult to feel empathy, and makes feelings of glory much stronger. He knew he couldn't overcome his demons himself, but he refused to pass them onto his son and nephew and niece. He ultimately struck a deal with Vattu, and saved a baby Katara from hypothermia by gifting her with the majority of his firebending. The boon was that Vattu leave the younger members of Fire Nation royalty alone. The cost was that Vattu would haunt a pair of siblings. Iroh knew about Katara, but never realized that Sokka was also haunted. More than anyone. Vattu does not like bending, and favored Sokka as his final champion for destruction of humanity. While he tried to subtly whisper to Katara to bend, he screamed at Sokka that bending was evil. Vattu's goal is the destruction of humanity.

Not through bending, but through technology. Not through his doing, not through Ravva's, but his ultimate goal is for humanity to use their ultimate gift, intelligence, to destroy themselves.

Ultimately I decided that Teo could fulfill Sokka's role. He is also better able to resist Vattu than Sokka would be. His father invented mustard gas. After its use, Teo's mother protested, ran to the Northern Air Temple and disappeared. Rather than console Teo, the Chemist went on another gas run the next day, leaving his son to grieve the loss of his mother alone. You can imagine the story if you'd like. Can Teo overcome his desire to get revenge on his father, and in the process destroy the world, or can Aang convince him to let it go?

More notes...

The Dark Avatar, similarly to the Avatar, passes on after the death of one Dark Avatar. To whoever murdered them. That's why Ozai is so bullish about being able to kill a loved one. Whoever he chooses as a successor will eventually have to kill him.

Let me know if you've got any ideas for a sequel, or even just another story idea involving Avatar. Thanks for reading!

And that's all folks!