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beautiful boy

Summary:

Aang knew grief like an old friend. In his youth, it had been painful to grapple with the idea that the Air Nomads were gone, that he was truly alone. He knew deep down that no matter what he did, that weight on his shoulders was so heavy it would follow him into his next life. Spirits help his successor.

But this time, it was different. This was new. The emptiness that often accompanied the pit in Aang’s stomach was replaced with something sickening. His body rejected the possibility of Bumi’s death like poison. It wasn’t real. He had to be alive.

OR: When he's 19, Bumi II gets hurt in the United Forces and his family is told he is missing in action. Aang and Katara try to be there for their son and Tenzin and Kya navigate the new dynamic as friends and family rally aorund them. We explore family dynamics, being biracial, trauma, and being okay with being not okay.

(includes cloud baby flashbacks!)

Notes:

hello! this is my first ever multi-chapter fic, and I am so excited!

I've had this idea for a while and I'm so happy to finally be sharing it! I think there is so much to explore with Katara and Aang's family, especially with how they deal with crisis considering their childhood's/adolescence. Plus I love writing Katara and Aang as parents :)

I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: other plans

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”

 

Katara’s first thought, when she saw a man standing with an urgent telegram at her front door, was that something happened with Aang. 

She tried to quell the frustration rising in her as she was handed the telegram, knowing inside was bound to be her husband’s apology along with the announcement would be staying a few more days. Aang rarely went on longer trips, stopping after his children started school and it became clear they all couldn’t follow, but as the Avatar some things were unavoidable. This particular trip was only supposed to be one week, which, to Katara, was already beginning to feel like too long. But this telegram wasn’t from her husband, it was addressed to both of them- Avatar Aang and Master Katara. The only person to have ever sent them both an urgent telegram this late at night, was Zuko- only if everything had gone so incredibly wrong that he had to rally Team Avatar before the sun rose. Katara knew what followed a message like that, there was always danger and fighting and her family being uprooted for the sake of the world, again. But this time, she realized, the message couldn’t have been from Zuko. Aang was with the Fire Lord presently and the telegram didn’t have the royal seal. Her pulse quicken as she unfolded the scroll. There was something else happening. Something was wrong. 

 

02 Shi-gatsu 126 AG

 

Private Bumi, Second Division of the United Forces has been declared missing in action since 2300 HRS 01 Shi-gatsu.

Remaining members of Squadron 5522 were dispatched to Red Sand Island Hospital 0500 HRS 02 Shi-gatsu 126 AG 

If further details or other information are received you will be promptly notified 

 

Condolences, 

General Lee, Second Division of the United Forces

 

Katara’s heart dropped. After all the trials of her youth, she liked to imagine she had experienced the worst things that would ever happen to her. Reading this letter, she decided later, moved to the very top of the list. This moment would not plague her nightmares like the fall of Ba Sing Se, nor would she have visions of the telegram like she did of her mother’s body. She would not be able to feel this moment years later, like she could still taste electricity in the air on the day they won the war. But this, standing in her living room, in a world that was at peace, would become the worst thing she’d ever experience, because it was happening to her son. Her son who could be gone. Dead. He could have left this world not as an old man with a legacy of his own, but as Private Bumi, age 19, Squadron 5522. 

 

  No. 

——————————————————————————————

Toph woke up to the sound of a knock at the front door. She groaned, rolling over and sticking one foot out from beneath the covers to thwap onto the floor. Her guest bedroom was specially made when building the house on Air Temple Island, equipped with stone floors (that extended throughout the bottom floor) and metal fixtures so Toph could get a better read on her surroundings. Once she deduced the person at the door was not a threat, she felt no obligation to intervene, rolling back over and sinking deeper into her blankets. Toph and her girls were staying the night on the island after family dinner turned into an impromptu slumber party, as it often did as the kids got older. When Katara offered Toph could stay over too, she didn’t need much convincing. Toph knew that while she didn’t show it, having two empty spots at her dinner table was weighing on Katara. Ever since Bumi joined the navy, whenever Aang went on a trip, Katara was just a little bit off. She missed her boys. And while Toph couldn’t bring any of those, she reasoned two girls and an extra adult would be more than enough to make the house feel less empty. 

Toph could hear Katara make her way down the steps and open the door, but she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. She sighed and swung both legs off the bed, flexing her soles flat on the floor. The war took its toll on everyone in different ways, and Toph knew her residual anxieties would make it impossible to go back to sleep until she felt Katara go safely back upstairs. 

While waiting, Toph decided to check on her girls. She stretched out a hand, smacking the long metal pole that ran from the floor to the ceiling of her room. Her room was the epicenter of an elaborate metal web that stretched throughout the entire home. With one tap, Toph could “see” her children sleeping peacefully in the rooms above her. To her surprise, none of the teenagers (or Su) were in their rooms, but instead trying to stealthily sneak into the kitchen via the back staircase for what she could only assume was a midnight snack. Amatuers.  

Toph was thinking of all the different pranks she could play on the kids as punishment for being so bad at sneaking around, when Katara’s quickening heart beat pulled her back to reality. Something was wrong.

Toph’s anxieties only grew when Katara didn’t move or shift her weight or do anything to discern she heard her walk into the living room. She was frozen. The only indication of Katara being a living, breathing being to Toph’s feet was her heart racing.   

“Katara? Katara what happened? Your heart’s beating a mile a minute,” Toph asked, putting a careful hand on Katara’s shoulder and guiding her to the sitting room cushions. The movement seemed to be enough to break Katara from her trance. 

“We got a telegram… “ Katara said inattentively, motioning to the paper in her hand. 

“You’re going to have to give me more than that Queenie,” Toph said, hoping her light tone would quell her rising nerves. She, like Katara, knew telegram at this time of night meant only two things: Aang was going to be late, or something was very wrong. Toph prayed that Aang was extending his trip and Katara was just really really upset about it.

Katara barely heard her.

“Bumi… he’s missing in action,” Katara whispered.

“Fuck. Katara I’m so sorry.” Toph winced after she spoke. Katara hated swearing and often chastised her for it, but in the moment Toph didn’t know what else to say. This was not what she was expecting. Bumi, their Bumi, might not be coming home. Fuck.   

“They sent the name of a hospital,” Katara said, smoothing out the telegram she had crumpled under her grip, "I have to go. Tonight.” Toph sighed, placing her steady hands over Katara’s shaking ones. 

“What do you need.”

——————————————————————————————

 

“What are they talking about?” Su whispered from her perch on the kitchen counter. Their original mission of raiding the snack cabinet had been all but abandoned. All four of them stood frozen in the kitchen, unsure of how to proceed without getting caught.

“Let’s just get the snacks and get out of here!” Kya whispered back, shoving a bag of seal jerky in her brother’s hands, which he promptly dropped, the thwap of jerky hitting the stone floor echoing through the room.

“Kya!” Tenzin hissed, “I’m vegetarian!

“Oh please,” Kya scoffed, “you can still touch it you drama queen! You stopped eating meat like three years ago I don’t see the problem-”

“Shhh.” Lin said, gathering the group’s attention. She closed her eyes and pressed both of her hand on the floor, “something’s wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Tenzin said, quickly dropping the fight with his sister.

“It’s their heartbeats,” Lin continued, “both of them are really quick.” Kya took this as enough of an excuse to take action and started marching towards the living room.

“We shouldn’t” Tenzin said, stepping between his sister and the door. Kya rolled her eyes at her younger brother, always the best behaved of his siblings. Even getting him to raid the kitchen with them had taken rather intense peer pressure.

“It could be about dad,” Kya reasoned, attempting to push passed her younger brother. She still had quite a bit of height on her sibling, but he wasn’t moving.

Kya-” Tenzin said in his most dad-like, serious voice.

Tenzin,” Kya retorted, mirroring his tone to mock him. Neither Kya nor Tenizn had gotten used to their new dynamic, even after almost a year of being the only two children regularly in the house. Their fight had taken so much of the attention, none of the teenagers realized that the youngest among them was already opening their door.

“Mom?” Su said, peeking her head through the slat, “what are you guys talking about?” 

——————————————————————————————

Katara felt like she was under water. As soon as she read the first line of the telegram, she was drowning. Toph had been talking to her for quite some time, or maybe not that much time? She hadn’t been paying that close of attention. Pack. Oggi. Ferry. Hospital. Bumi. Bumi. Bumi. Bumi. -

Su.

 Su? Thankfully, Katara’s back was to the kitchen, granting just a few more moments to collect herself before facing her niece. Much to her chagrin, all of the kids were poking their heads out of the slat in the door, their faces riddled with varying degrees of confusion and worry. This was not apart of the plan. 

“Is dad okay?” Kya questioned. Whenever something was wrong, that was always the place their mind’s would go. At sixteen Kya had experienced more than one close call with her dad. 

“Hi babies,” Katara said, motioning with shaky hands to the cushions beside her. “Dad is okay, come sit.” She smiled weakly at her children as they came in, trying her best not to worry them. Lin and Su still stood by the doorframe, unsure of how to proceed, until their mother beckoned them to her side.  As they silently took their seats, Toph squeezed Lin’s shoulder and pulled Su closer in, not taking for granted that all of her children were here. Kya and Tenzin exchanged a glace.

“Should I be scared?” Tenzin questioned. Katara sighed. One of the most important things to Katara as a partent, was that her children’s lives would be as stable as possible. This was, in part, because their father was the Avatar. She knew there were elements of their lives that would always be haphazard, and thus she wanted to capitalize on what she could control. However, the bigger reason was due to her own upbringing. Katara grew up in war, almost nothing in her life was ever secure. She made sure, to the best of her ability, that her children would not grow up the same way. It pained her to tell them like this, in the middle of the night, while she herself was still in shock. Katara did not want to burden her children without more information, without a plan. But here they all were. 

“Kya, Tenzin…” Katara started, looking between them, “Bumi got hurt in the United Forces.” 

“What?” Tenzin said after a beat, “what happened?”

“We don’t know. His squadron got attacked last night,” Katara said gently, gathering both her children’s hands in her own, “I’m really sorry, I know this is scary.”

“Will he be okay?” Kya asked suddenly. 

“Yes he will,” Katara said, although she wasn’t sure if it was for their benefit or her own. “He’s at a hospital at Red Sand Island, I’m going tonight.”

“We’re coming with you,” Kya said definitively. 

“Baby, I really don’t think-”

“We can’t just stay waiting here!” Tenzin stated, raising his voice and matching his sister’s intensity, “he’s our brother.” Katara sighed. This was not the plan. 

“I’ll think about it,” she said, not having the bandwidth to argue, “I need to pack first. Toph? Could you come with me a moment?”

“Of course,” Toph replied, turning to follow Katara up the stairs, “we’ll be right back.”

 

——————————————————————————————

Katara didn’t let herself fall apart until she was alone in her bedroom, far away from her kids. She couldn’t scare them, and this was going to be scary. She fell to the ground, sobs that had been threatening to slip out since she got the telegram were finally racking her chest. Katara couldn’t stop thinking of the night Bumi told her he was joining the navy, it had been their biggest fight ever. She wished now, with all her heart, that she had made him stay. He would hate her, she reasoned, but he would be here, unequivocally alive. No. She thought to herself, Bumi is alive. He’s alive. He’s alive and he needs me. Slowly, she picked herself back off the floor. This was not a time for mourning. 

——————————————————————————————

The children sat in an uncomfortable silence, only broken by the occasional sniffle from Su. Lin wanted so badly to comfort the others, but she wasn’t quite sure how to start. Nobody had spoken since their parents left the room, Tenzin had been reading some piece of paper for the passed few minutes, and Kya was just… staring. Her blank expression must have been to be worrying Su, who was already on the verge of tears, because she climbed into Lin’s arms. Lin couldn’t remember the last time Su opted to sit in her lap over Kya’s, or the last time she wanted her sister in her lap. But tonight she did, and tonight Su chose Lin. She pulled her sister closer, running a hand through Su’s tangled hair.  The air was thick with feelings none of them quite knew how to place. Lin never expected this was how her cousin’s story would go. Bumi was not a stranger to trouble, never shying away from a dare or ridiculous stunt. He was fearless, which earned him more than one broken bone during his childhood. But he always got back up. Bumi never let anyone or anything hold him back. He seemed… untouchable. 

Lin smoothed out the last tangle from Su’s hair and awkwardly kissed the top of her head, her sister had pressed her face into Lin’s chest, visibly upset but otherwise content in her older sister’s lap. Kya and Tenzin hadn’t moved. Kya was mechanically rubbing the bracelet around her wrist, and Tenzin’s eyes still were glued to the small piece of paper. Lin sighed. She would have to do something.

“He’ll be okay,” Lin started, it seemed appropriate and probably factual. Katara had said that, Lin reasoned, even if it felt like she was-

“We don’t know that,” Tenzin said, looking up finally from the note.

“What?” Lin exclaimed, startled at the authority in his voice. 

“Look,” Tenzin said, referencing the piece of paper in his hands. Before he could pass it to Lin, Kya, seemingly back from wherever her mind had gone for the past seven minutes, snatched the note from his hands. Her eyes widened as she read.

“Tenzin’s right, the telegram it says ‘missing in action,’” Kya started, waving the telegram. Out of the corner of her eye Lin could see the full vase by the front door start to teeter. Kya continued, raising her voice, “we don’t even know if he’s-”

“Kya.” Everyone froze. Toph was standing at the base of the stairs, using what Su called her “cop voice” to get their attention. Kya sheepishly sat back down, although Lin couldn’t remember when she had even stood up. Toph walked over to the sitting cushions in silence, none of the kids daring to make a sound. As soon as Toph sat down, Su clambered into her lap and started to cry again. It was clear she didn’t completely understand what was happening, but she knew her favorite big cousin wasn’t okay.  Toph rubbed small circles into her daughter’s back, taking her time before addressing the teenagers,“look… this  is scary, but we aren’t helping Bumi by moping around and reading letters. Here’s what we’re going to do. Lin go upstairs and start packing bags with your sister. Kya and Tenzin get your uncle. He has a radio at his house that can patch to the palace where your dad is.”

“We can take Oogie,” Tenzin offered. He and his sister leaped into action, setting off towards the air bison stables. Lin waved goodbye from the window as her friends set off into the night, heading to the glittering city across the bay.

“Hey why didn’t you send me to Sokka’s?” Lin asked her mother, “I don’t really know what to pack.”

“Whatever happens, these next few days are going to be really hard for the two of them. ” Toph said, moving to the window and placing hand on her daughter’s shoulder, “they need a moment to process the news, together.”

“Katara was lying earlier,” Lin said softly, still looking out the window. Toph’s hand tightened on her shoulder.

“What?”

“When Tenzin asked if he was going to be okay,” Lin explained, “she lied.”

“She doesn’t know Lin,” Toph said gently. 

“Oh.”

“But I do know, that if anyone in the world could help Boom,” Toph said, “it’s Katara.”

Lin could feel she wasn’t lying. 

Notes:

woo hoo first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it!

I'm really excited to be writing this, I already have most of it done, it just needs a LOT of editing haha. I've been wanting to write more fics about Katara and her as a mother especially, and this idea just popped into my head! If you have any critiques or suggestions or anything don't hesitate to let me know!

thank you so so much for reading

- Azalea :)