#zutaraverse

[stardust948]

Beyond the Zutara-verse

based on this meme

[itech432]

I NEED HELP FINDING A FIC

all i remember is it's called like "jin-verse" or smt and it's bc it's like jin is always there during zutara moments and it's basically set in s2 and in ba sing se but then obvs after the fall of ba sing se it moves along n stuff and it's still got the betrayal and i think it's a series of either 2 or 3 books and the most recent book (when i say book i mean fic btw) isnt completed. and it's basically like jin knows katara and she knows "lee" (zuko) and when she's on a date w lee they see katara and katara sees them so now jin makes it her mission to make them get tgt and like its so cutesy and stuff but YK THERES STILL ZUKOS BETRAYAL OH AND zuko like when he escapes (i cant remember if he acc escapes from the fire nation or like js swiftly after the fall of ba sing se) and he meets HAKODA and thats how he meets up w the gaang again and its also lwk like enemies w benefits but then its an acc relationship AND PLS WHATS THE NAME IM BEGGING U😭🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

i read it like ages ago i feel like i might hv made half of this up or merged two different fics tgt???? but i vividly remember there was a scene (in the uncompleted book that like suki and toph are in a closet eavesdropping on zuko and katara and jin and jin talking abt how theyre not dating anymore AND WHYYY YOU WERE SO INLOVEEEE and then they come bursting out and suki's ready to kill zuko like i love that scene sosososos much u dont understand. OH AND ZUKO CALLS KATARA 'TARA LIKE EEEEKKKKK

idk who to tag but i feel like @zutaraverse might be able to help? (sorry if u cant and ive tagged u for no reason😭)

[zutaras-where-its-at]

I love love love these aus! I really want people to claim them and write them in full!!! -zutaraverse

Real talk, these AUs are all up for grabs for anyone to expand on! If anyone is inspired to write something, just mention me in a comment or something so I can read them too ;)

[zutaraverse]

Arranged Marriage

Day 8  @zutaramonth TO BE CONTINUED PROBABLY

Katara finds herself in an arranged marriage with Haan of the Northern Water Tribe... luckily Zuko is there to help her get out of it.

So. this turned into something longer that I'd like to go back to and continue at some point if people like it! I would probably rewrite this taking my time over some of the events and then obviously playing everything out... so what do you think?

AO3  |  FF - Worldcrawler

Chief-Daughter Katara had been promised to Haan of the Northern Water Tribe.

She couldn’t believe it.

And the Council of the Tribes had been told in no uncertain terms exactly how she felt about it. But, as Chief Hakoda had told her, Sokka would be taking over the South and if she was in the North it would spell and era of peace and regrowth for the sister tribes.

So she silently had to deal with her arranged marriage, mere weeks after leaving Aang. In her silence, her rage stewed and grew into an angry monster lying in wait to rear its ugly head.

Finally the day had arrived that she was to board a sturdy Southern ship and make the long journey to the North. She expected tears from her family. Her father hugged her and let his tears fall, and although she was furious with him she did accept that politically it made sense…

But when she got to her GranGran and Gran-Pakku, they merely smiled at her.

“You have a song spirit, Katara,” said GranGran, brushing her cheek, “you can still stop them breaking it. You remind me so much of myself…” She winked and handed a very confused Katara to her brother.

Sokka, too, didn’t seem to torn up about seeing her leave either, even though he felt keenly that the situation was unfair. Not to mention his utter dislike of his old enemy Haan. However, he, too smiled, and hugged her tightly.

“Be careful, and be safe. There are friends along the way,” he told her.

Katara felt a pang of hurt cut down her defiance at their seeming indifference to her ordeal.

It was not until she arrived to her room on the ship that she found the scroll written in Sokka’s hand in her pocket, or that she realised his beloved Hawky had been granted space in her quarters.

Dear Katara,

This is stupid. You can’t marry Haan, but neither can the South be seen to break the arrangement. So we’ll have to play the game.

I’ve spoken to Zuko and he is also going up to the North. Yue told me that they do not like people doing the DEED before their marriage so you and Zuko are going to pretend to have done exactly that. I know, ew right! Anyway you just need to drop some hints and the like and they will try to break the marriage themselves.

Zuko is going to find ways to stay until he’s sure they will annul the whole thing. See I put a sneaky thing in the contract - whoever breaks the betrothal will have to pay penance to the other tribe!

I know, genius mastermind right here!

IMPORTANT: If they directly ask you if you’ve done the do, don’t say yes or no! Try to avoid it as much as possible ok?Just, trust me!

After which, I would suggest maybe staying away from the Tribes for a bit - go do those things you never had time to do with Aang and let me know where you’re going so I can make sure you have friends there. It will all blow over soon enough.

Take good care of Hawky!

Sokka.

P.s. Burn this.

Katara had tears in her eyes when she finished reading, but a smirk grew on her lips. Yes, that angry monster that had been incubating in her gut was finally going to get a chance to be let loose. An old fire of defiance had been lit from the embers of the letter burning on her hearth. She would make GranGran and Sokka proud.

When Katara’s ship pulled up in the North she was greeted with much formality - which she found quite frankly sickening. Now that the South was back together and stronger she had settled into the informalities of her people, the warmth of their laughs and the generosity of their hearts. She already knew from experience that the North, holed up behind their high walls and imposing structures, lead lives of icy stiffness just like their surroundings. The thought of spending the rest of her life there was sickening to the core, and she almost physically threw up when she spotted Haan dressed as Water Tribe royalty and with his own escort of guards. She could not believe Chief Arnook had taken the odious boy under his wing after Yue had left them.

However, her eyes skimmed over the Chief and landed on Zuko. He, too, was dressed in Water Tribe dress, but his clothes were a different shade to the dark blue of the North; his dye had been mixed with red to create a deep purple, and the fur he wore was exclusively from red fox so had a deep orange tint. On his head he wore his Fire Prince Crown, and his retinue were at ease behind him, signalling no threat from the approaching ship.

As Katara drew closer she found herself thinking that he looked good dressed in Water Tribe. She felt her cheeks blush. Well, it would help the charade if she was at least a little attracted to him. And if she was willing to admit things to herself she would need to acknowledge she had always found him attractive.

As she descended from the ship she decided to forego the North’s formal structure when it came to her crew and instructed her men to act as Southerners; there was no danger, and they could be seen to talk to her and share jokes. She smirked in satisfaction at the frown of distaste on her betrothed’s mouth at her familiarity with the rest of her tribe.

However, when addressing her future family, she would upload the highest decorum, as she knew they expected. Firstly, she bowed to Chief Arnook in Southern Water Tribe style and then in Northern style, appropriately lower than the Chief. That garnered her a half smile of approval. Next, she was expected to bow to her betrothed, but instead she turned to Zuko and again gave him a Southern Water Tribe greeting, offering her arm out to him as equals which he took with a warm smile and a mischievous glint in his eye. She noticed how much more sure of himself he was now, how he seemed relaxed in his position. She offered him the smallest of smiles while bowing Fire Nation style, before moving on to a bristling Haan.

To him she bowed once again in Southern Style, but did not reach out her hand as equals, and hardly bent when greeting him in Northern style. This signalled her expectation that he bow lower than her. She could hear Zuko’s soft cough as he covered a laugh but held her face steady.

The Southern Tribe did not have a royal family as they did in the North, but if they did recognise it as such, she would out rank Haan.

“Princess Katara,” started the Chief softly, “Haan is recognised as my son-in-law here…”

“Oh, apologies, I did not realise. As if he had married Princess Yue?” she asked innocently, but made sure to talk to the Chief and not Haan.

“Yes, indeed. He had been trained to be the next Chief already,” explained Arnook, looking uncomfortable but keeping a confident posture about him.

“Then I am to be his second wife?” She asked sweetly, cocking her head to one side.

Arnook’s lips thinned but he nodded.

Katara turned back to Haan and instead greeted him as an equal. He did not look impressed.

“Sweet Princess Katara, I have made this for you,” he announced, in a well rehearsed voice, lifting two fingers and calling a guard over. The guard opened a box with a betrothal necklace in it.

“That is much appreciated Prince Haan. Noret? Could you please put Prince Haan’s beautiful present with my things?” she called, smiling warmly to one of her guards, who easily bounded over and took the proffered box.

“It is tradition in the North that the betrothed wear her necklace,” Haan told her, steel in his voice.

“And when I become part of the Northern Water Tribe I will see to abide by their traditions,” answered Katara. “It has been a pleasure to meet you again Prince Haan, I congratulate you on your… rise in fortunes…” she said sweetly before moving past him to follow the Chief. She could feel his cold stare boring into her back.

That evening there was an elaborate banquet held in her honour. She sat between Haan and Zuko, since they were all of the same social status according to the Northern Tribe. Her conversations with Haan were polite and short, but those with Zuko were warm, full of laughter and merriment. Katara found that her friend had only grown more into himself during their time apart, and he filled his skin nicely. She had never seen him chuckle so much, and the light in his eyes that she had only ever glimpsed in the latter part of their time together during the war was out in full force. It softened his whole face, allowing him to become as warm as his element.

“Prince Zuko,” started Haan when there was a lull in their conversation, and making sure Chief Arnook could hear them. “Didn’t you visit the Northern Tribe during the war? Were you not here during the invasion?” He said it conversationally, but it was meant to cut.

“Indeed,” replied Zuko, keeping his anger under check but thinning his lips. Katara was impressed at the lack of outburst.

“And didn’t you take the Avatar on that occasion too?” Haan added.

“That is so,” answered Zuko again.

“Prince Zuko,” interrupted Katara, “I do seem to remember this! I believe we sparred quite fiercely while I was protecting the spirit pond. Where were you at that point Haan - forgive me for not remembering?”

“You were a formidable opponent,” said Zuko, smiling at her.

“I-uh-believe… I must have been…” started Haan, looking embarrassed.

“And I think, Prince Zuko, correct me if I’m wrong, that you and your Uncle, the Fire Lord, punished Admiral Zhao for his transgressions on our spirits?” Katara cut across, looking him dead in the eye and telling him silently to not deny it, not tell them it was the Spirit’s own doing through Aang that took Zhao to the depths.

“Indeed what occurred was disastrous, and Zhao had no honour in him,” he murmured in agreement.

“And then, did you not teach the Avatar fire bending while also bringing the plans of the Earth Kingdom invasion?”

“Yes.”

“And I believe you fought against your family for the good of the world, helping to end the hundred year war?”

“Not without the help of some very talented friends,” he replied, looking happier again.

“It is good to talk about the old days, is it not Prince Haan?” asked Katara, turning towards him with a smile and light words but with a warning in her eyes. “It is so fortunate we are all here, three peoples at a table and being able to move forward to more peaceful times,” she added, nodding to Arnook, who was watching them carefully.

“I believe there are only two peoples here, Princess Katara,” said Haan through gritted teeth.

“Perhaps soon. There is much to rebuild between our two peoples, and as it stands we have grown into very different places,” she said sweetly, and turned to the food that had just been laid out in front of her, closing the conversation.

“Where did you learn courtly manner? You basically cut that boy to shreds with your words!” asked Zuko through a laugh later that evening. Both being guests they shared a wing of the palace, and so had a communal area to sit together.

“Aang didn’t like fighting or water bending when we went on diplomatic missions. I needed to get certain things done anyway though, so I sharpened my words instead,” Katara told him, bitterly.

“You would do well in an Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation court.”

They sat in amicable silence for a while.

“So… Sokka told you about his plan?” started Zuko, a light blush spreading over his good cheek.

“Yes. Lets get this over with as quickly as we can, alright?”

“Of course, of course. Wouldn’t want to be pretending for too long… I mean not that it is unpleasant… to pretend… or you… I just meant … lets get out of this place as soon as we can!” Zuko stumbled over his words, blushing as he spoke.

Katara laughed.

“I agree!”

“But, Katara, and I hope you’ll forgive me asking, but why isn’t Aang here doing this? I mean you were together for a while so it is far more…credible?”

“Oh! Um we didn’t actually ever… so you see Aang has a bit of an issue lying… and its still bit strange between us… so I guess Sokka couldn’t convince him to …” she mumbled, looking into the fire burning low in the room. She had gone over this in her mind a thousand times on her ship - why not Aang? She knew things would be odd when she left him but even for merely her friendship’s sake he could help her out!

“Hah! Aang’s a fool!” muttered Zuko. “He should still help you out! But really, you didn’t…”

“No.”

“I thought both the air benders and the Southern Tribe were alright with…”

“They are. We just weren’t ready alright!?” snapped Katara, feeling colour rise up to her cheeks.

“Hey, that’s fine! I didn’t mean to say otherwise, I was just curious! I guess its not my place to be curious…” Zuko suddenly looked unsure of himself like he used to.

“I’d just rather not talk about it alright? And we’re the ones who are supposed to have done it so we should probably get a sort of story straight we can hint at.”

“I’ve got a few ideas,” he said, nodding and shuffling to the edge of his seat.

A thrill wound its way up Katara’s spine as she realised he must have already thought about the two of them… together… like that. She would be lying if she said she hadn’t too.

[stardust948]

Beyond the Zutaraverse.

Zuko explains to all the other Kataras that he's flattered, but he only has eyes for HIS Katara. Meanwhile all the AU Zukos are building Katara a giant statue.

Haha!

What's one more giant Katara statue for the collection ^_^

[zutaraverse]

Lord and Lady

Day 5 @zutaramonth : Li and Lo tell Katara about the past Fire Ladies - or the lack of them in order to prepare her for her wedding and coronation! That, however, does not deter her, and gains their respect.

Please read the short speech of Lo and Li as continuous, so they are finishing one another’s sentences as they do in the series!

AO3  |  FF   -Worldcrawler

“There is a curse on Fire Ladies,”

“Indeed we have not had one for decades.” Came Lo and Li’s voices. Or was it Li and Lo?

After taking up the position of Fire Lord, Zuko had been forced to seek their advice on various matters of tradition. He considered them a two-headed snake, full of poison, and hated having them around. But nobody else knew the Fire Nation traditions or the Fire Nation history as they did, and Zuko needed to appease traditionalists as well as futurists at his public events.

Now he had found himself seeking their advice once more, but unfortunately he’d had to introduce them to Katara. Their marriage was approaching, and simultaneously her coronation. ‘When a Fire Lord marries, Prince Zuko, he is sharing all his responsibilities with his spouse, for the two must rule as equals always’.

Of course this didn’t sit well with the general populous, who thought of it as giving away half the Nation to the Water Tribes. That’s why he needed to present Katara to his people as following Fire Nation traditions. And the only ones who knew how to pull that off were, annoyingly, Li and Lo. Aside from their experience, they had a flare for the dramatic and had been the master minds of rallying the people to Ozai’s - or any - cause. Zuko needed to put that genius to good use, even though he knew they had played no small part in driving his sister completely insane.

“What curse?” said Katara, brows furrowing in worry.

“There is no curse! Don’t listen to them!” bit out a disgruntled Zuko. The outburst did not change the twins’ expression or posture at all. The perfect picture of humble servants.

“But you just told me to listen to them!” protested Katara. “What curse?” she asked again, turning to the two women.

“Fire Princess Azula,”

“Was challenged and lost the throne to her brother,”

“Fire Lord Zuko.”

“Fire Lord Ozai,”

“Banished Fire Princess Ursa,

“Before taking the crown.”

“And Fire Prince Iroh,”

“Would have ruled alone,”

“Since Fire Princess Otsa,”

“Died in childbirth,”

“Had his father not passed the crown,”

“To his brother.”

“Fire Lord Azulon,”

“Lost Fire Princess Zela in sickness,”

“After Fire Prince Ozai was born,

“Before becoming Fire Lord.”

“Fire Lord Sozin,”

“Ah that is a tale,”

“It is time to be truthful sister!”

“Yes yes. Fire Lord Sozin had a Fire Lady,”

“Fire Lady Mira,”

“Arranged,”

“Of course,”

“Ascended to the throne with him,”

“But upon the passing of the comet,”

“She took her own life.”

“And so you see,”

“There are no Fire Ladies our people remember,”

“And the power,”

“Since the start of the war,”

“Has always been the Fire Lord’s,”

“Alone.”

The two quietened when they had told their tale.

“So no Fire Lady has ruled alongside her husband since the start of the war?” asked Katara, glancing at Zuko.

“You would be,”

“The first.”

“The others are gone,”

“In Agni Kais,”

“Or banishment”

“Childbirth,”

“Sickness,”

“Or by their own hand.”

Katara was silent for a long time, thinking through this information. Zuko was balling and unballing his fists, silently praying to Agni that she wouldn’t leave him.

“I will break the curse,” she said finally, “I am a Master Healer, no wound or sickness will take me, a Master Waterbender so no assassin will best me, I cannot be banished without starting another war, nor challenged now the Sages have declared the marriage lawful, and I will not sit by and allow my husband to drive me to suicide.”

Lo and Li simultaneously bowed their heads.

“You are brave, Master Katara,”

“You must be prepared for your role.”

“We will train you,”

“You will be stronger,”

“You will be better,”

“You will occupy the people’s minds,”

“And kidnap their hearts,”

“So that you and Fire Lord Zuko,”

“May break the curse,”

“And the Fire Nation may have,”

“Once more,”

“A Lord and Lady.”

[zutaraverse]

Constellations

Day 6 @zutaramonth : After the war, Sokka and Katara are travelling through Makapu village, and Katara tracks down Aunt Wu to ask more about her powerful bender, now that she and Aang are not together anymore. What she doesn't expect is for the answer to be written in the stars.

AO3  |  FF  - Worldcralwer

“Remind me again why we are back here??” groaned Sokka, dragging his feet through the streets of Makapu, delaying the inevitable.

“Because, Sokka, Aang turned out to not be my ‘powerful bender’ after all and I want to ask more questions!” snapped an exasperated Katara. Things had ended amicably with Aang and she was sure she wouldn’t end up with him now… but she wanted to know who she would end up with! And there was only one person who could tell her: Aunt Wu.

Sokka huffed but continued walking in silence. They were headed to Kyoshi next and he just needed to focus on that to get through this ordeal.

A while later, Katara was being served tea between a flurry of questions about Aang from Aunt Wu’s assistant, Meng. She had grown up a little since last time they had met but was just as fascinated - and just as much of a chatterbox - as she had been back then. This time, Katara wondered whether they wouldn’t make a bad couple at all…

“It is interesting you come to me on this day,” said Aunt Wu as she swept into the room and took as seat opposite Katara, linking her arms inside her large sleeves.

Katara opened her mouth to reply but Aunt Wu held up a hand to stop her.

“You want to know about your powerful bender? The Avatar was not the powerful bender for you?”

Katara nodded in wide eyed awe of the older woman.

“And you have chosen this, the day of alignment to come to ask me?”

“What is the day of alignment?”

“The planets dear. They move throughout the year, didn’t you know? And today they align to link two of our most powerful constellations! Meng! Bring us the star maps!” she called.

Little footsteps were heard retreating from outside the room and then approaching again, as Meng reappeared, clutching a scroll to her chest. She reverently handed it to Aunt Wu with both hands and scurried out of the room once more.

Aunt Wu unraveled it and spread it across the table between them.

“As you can see,” she started, “This is the sky map for tonight. These are our two constellations and the planets will position themselves to form a straight line between the two. It happens once every hundred years, my dear.”

Katara awed and ahed at the intricate map laid before her. Fleetingly she remembered the three dimensional version they had used in the Wan Xi Tong desert to predict the solar eclipse. Sokka would have probably enjoyed this!

“What does it mean? When they align?”

“What do you notice about these two constellations? If I cover up the planets?”

Katara looked at them hard. She knew very little about these stars, having been brought up with a different sky in the South Pole. These ones were at the edge of her vision back home and she had never learned about them.

“Um…this one,” she started uncertainly, pointing at the bottom of the two, “looks a bit… like a chair? And the other a bit like a waterfall? Or an upside down cup?” she blushed at how silly she sounded under Aunt Wu’s unwavering gaze.

Aunt Wu chuckled. “An upside down cup indeed! Well we must forgive you for your lack of knowledge about the stars, although you would do well to learn them. And what do you see now?” she asked, taking her hand away from the planets and allowing the two constellations to become one.

Katara took a deep breath before looking back down at the chart, determined to see something a little better than a chair and an upside down cup!

As soon as her eyes travelled over the map she had the strangest sensation of familiarity, but try as she might she could not place what their shape reminded her of.

“I’m sorry Aunt Wu, I do not know!” she admitted finally.

“Then perhaps I judged wrong, and you are not ready to know who your powerful bender is. I am sorry. You had chosen this day to ask, this day to wonder, so I assumed the stars would reveal the importance of your discovery. But perhaps you do not know your heart well enough… I am sorry I could not help more.”

She stood, bowed, and brushed past Katara who was trying desperately to study the sky map with a sad look upon her face.

That night, Katara was restless.

“You know there’s a really cool thing happening with the planets tonight?” she told Sokka over dinner.

“Who told you that? Aunt Wu?” he asked, his mouth full of dumplings.

“She had a map of the sky - a bit like the ones we saw in The Library. All the planets form a straight line tonight. I was wondering whether you wanted to go see it?”

Sokka looked at her over his meal, shrugged and nodded, wolfing down the rest of his meal.

Long after dusk, when the stars were out, they trekked out of the village and away from the lights. Finally the stars all came into view, and with them a line of brightly shining planets, all in a perfectly neat row.

Katara gasped.

Lightning!

The shape, the familiar shape, it was a bolt of lightening, spreading out to the tips of both constellations!

Automatically, Katara’s hand flew to her chest, to the exact place somebody else had a scar - because of her.

She smiled, blinking away tears, unable to explain the joy blooming in her chest - something she had not even admitted to herself was possible… and yet there is was, written into the stars…

“So, did Crazy Lady tell you who your Powerful Bender was?” asked Sokka when he finished sketching the stars and they wondered back into town. He was trying to dispel the extremely odd silence that had fallen over his sister at the sight of the stars. They were pretty - but not that pretty!

“Oh, no, she didn’t tell me,” replied Katara, unable to wipe the grin from her face.

“See? I told you! Absolute fake!” said Sokka smugly, although a little irked by the fact Katara wasn’t disappointed.

“You were right Sokka. After Kyoshi, I think we will be needed in the Fire Nation…”

[zutaraverse]

Forbidden

Day 7 @zutaramonth IM SO BEHIND OMG!!! And I’ve also got carried away with arranged marriage which may turn into an actual fic... 

Anyway this is loosely based on adam and eve... 

AO3  |  FF  -Worldcrawler

When the first humans were created they were kept in a spirit garden. The spirit created four humans and kept them in the garden under the one condition: that they do not manipulate any of the elements.

And they did not, for their hearts were full of joy and there was no need to touch the elements. Toph, the blind girl would be lead around by her spirit friends and rejoiced in her freedom. Aang, the excitable boy would climb and jump in the trees all day. Katara, the motherly girl would enjoy most diving into the waterfalls. And Zuko, the quiet boy would relish the sunlight on his skin.

However, one day Raava lost her hold on Vaatu, and he planted evil throughout the spirit world. He snuck into the beautiful garden and sowed fear into the heart of the humans.

The blind girl heard screaming and no matter how fast she ran she could not reach her human friend. Her spirit guides had abandoned her, and out of fear she planted one foot on the ground and willed it to move, to help her friend.

The excitable boy heard screaming and snapping branches, hearing one of his friends falling from one of the impossibly high trees. Knowing full well they would not survive the fall, his fear pushed him to leap into the air and use it to boost himself over to the tree to catch them.

The motherly girl saw one of her friends trapped by a rock under a pool of water, struggling to get free. As much as she swam downwards, a current always brought her up. Her fear caused her to sweep the water out of her way.

The quiet boy heard screams of a friend and saw their shadow trapped in a raging forest fire. He willed the fire to move out of his way as he ran into the flames.

But as each one reached their friend, the person they held in their arms turned into an evil spirit and disappeared.

“You have bent the elements,” boomed the spirit voice, “it is forbidden! For your crimes you will no longer be allowed to reside in this spirit garden, and will hereafter be banished to the physical world!”

“What were we supposed to do?” cried the motherly girl, now more fierce and strong than she had ever been.

“Just let them die?” joined the quiet boy, now more vocal and more righteous than ever before.

“Oh great spirit, you cannot blame us for saving one another! All life is sacred,” chimed in the excitable boy, suddenly in earnest and wise.

“It doesn’t matter,” said the blind girl quietly, “If Vaatu was able to treat us so, we are of no use.” She had become able to see far more than where her next step was.

And it was so that through fear the first humans condemned all of mankind to live in the material world, full of hardships and forever destined to try to recreate the perfection of the spirit garden.