Here it is people! 😭 I told myself I’ll be on a writing hiatus after Book 4: Ash but I cant let my zutara family down! The 1st chapter of Torn Between Two Worlds is up on ao3! I’ve been writing this since the leak and I only came up with two chapters so far 😅 (Its a multichapter fic) I already have a summary and an ending in mind but writing them out is the challenge. The pressure is on! @ambi5 @aquariusshadow @elizzieblack @drunkoncartoons @coffeebeansandmilk @lilyinthevale @blackknight300 @castformbignaturals @ly02170
Here’s a sneak peak with a little add on! 👇🏽
The jinn shoots forward and seizes her wrist with burning-cold fingers.
Katara gasps.
Then both of them are ripped screaming into the vortex.
“Katara!”
Aang lunges.
Zuko lunges harder.
Neither catches her.
The vortex snaps shut.
Silence.
The courtyard falls still.
Aang hits the stone on his knees.
Sokka stares.
Suki covers her mouth.
Even Toph says nothing.
Zuko’s chest heaves as he stands frozen, one hand still outstretched toward empty air.
Gone.
Katara is gone.
Then—
CRACK.
The air splits again.
Everyone jerks up.
Another vortex tears open above the courtyard.
Something comes out.
A woman.
She lands hard in a crouch, palms skidding over stone.
Water Tribe blue flashes—
—but not quite.
Her parka is sleeker, cut with crimson and gold trim.
Her sleeves are embroidered with flame motifs.
Her hair is looped in familiar braids adorned with gold.
And pinned near her temple—
A gleaming Fire Lady crest.
She looks up wildly.
Blue eyes frantic.
Then they land on Zuko.
Her whole face changes.
Relief.
“Zuko!”
Before anyone can react, she runs.
Straight at him.
Zuko barely has time to blink before she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him.
Hard.
Not hesitant.
Not confused.
A desperate, fierce kiss like she thinks she’s lost him.
Zuko makes a strangled sound of pure shock.
Sokka chokes.
Aang freezes.
Suki’s eyes widen.
Toph’s mouth drops open with the sudden shift of heartbeats and movements.
The woman pulls back just enough to breathe—
“You idiot,” she whispers, and keeps kissing his face while clutching his collar. “You could’ve —”
She stops.
Because no one is moving.
No one is speaking.
Her eyes flick to Aang.
Then Sokka.
Then Suki.
Then Toph.
Then back to Zuko.
Zuko’s hands are still half-raised in pure shock when he sees Aang’s face. Immediately his arms shoot up in surrender, palms out. “I didn’t touch her, I swear!” he blurts, voice cracking in a way the Fire Lord hasn’t done since he was sixteen.
“Katara!” Aang’s voice is sharp with something between fear and jealousy. He lunges forward, wrapping an arm around her waist and tugging her back against him possessively.
She stiffens instantly. “Ugh—hey! What’s going on? Why are you being so—” She twists out of his grip with a waterbender’s fluid grace and steps away, brow furrowed in genuine confusion. “Too close, Aang.”
Without thinking, she moves straight to Zuko again, pressing close enough that their arms brush. Zuko doesn’t back away. He just stands there, rigid, golden eyes locked on Aang in silent confusion, but his hands stay carefully at his sides. He doesn’t touch her. Not while the entire room feels like it’s one breath away from exploding.
Suki’s the first to find her voice, fans already half-deployed. “That’s… not Katara.”
Aang’s eyes widen, the jealousy flickering into something rawer. “Who are you?!”
The interdimensional Katara’s head snaps toward the voices, then to the familiar-unfamiliar faces surrounding her—Sokka’s stunned expression, Suki’s wary stance. Then Toph slams her foot down, sending a small ripple through the stone floor.
“She is Katara,” Toph says flatly, arms crossed, blind eyes somehow still cutting through the mess. “Just… different.”
Katara (the one who doesn’t belong here) turns slowly, really looking at them now. At her brother’s older, broader face. At the old and ruined temple courtyard.
“Where am I?” she asks, voice quieter now, the adrenaline fading into dawning unease. “Where are we?”
They can all see the subtle differences. She looks radiant in a way their Katara never quite is. A little more color in her cheeks, a confident set to her shoulders that comes from years of standing openly at a Fire Lord’s side instead of the Avatar’s. The Fire Lady pin in her hair catches the light like a dare.
Hop on over to ao3 and tell me what you think there! 🤗 *UPDATE As of the first week of May I got my messaging back yay! You can now leave comments or questions here or on ao3
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Now we see canon Katara gets spit out in Fire Lady Katara’s world.
I’m two chapters ahead but might take a break for two weeks to be able to craft it better as I write it. Here’s a preview
The grand summit chamber hums with easy laughter.
The crisis is over.
For now.
Massive crimson pillars rise toward the vaulted ceiling, draped in Air Nomad tapestries and Water Tribe banners—a symbol of peace stitched in silk and gold. Firelight flickers across polished stone. Servants weave through the room with trays of tea and sugared fruit.
The six of them linger near the refreshments table.
Aang is in the middle of some ridiculous story.
Sokka is stealing pastries.
Toph is loudly pretending not to care.
Suki is smiling into her tea.
Zuko—
He’s watching Katara laugh.
And Katara—
She’s leaning into him.
Relaxed.
Warm.
Home.
She stands up to get another helping of a fruit tart.
Then the wind changes.
A sudden violent gust tears through the chamber.
The tapestries whip.
Tea cups shatter.
The lantern flames bend sideways.
“What in the—?!” Sokka yelps.
The air splits open.
A portal tears through the center of the room.
Blue-black.
Spinning.
Screaming.
The force slams into them.
And Katara—
Katara is lifted off her feet.
“Uh—guys?!”
Her fingers claw at empty air.
“Zuko!”
He lunges.
“Katara!”
Too late.
The vortex grabs her around the waist and drags her backward.
“Katara!”
His scream is raw.
He launches himself after her—
—but the vortex rejects him.
A blast of force hurls him across the room.
He slams into a pillar hard enough to crack stone.
“Zuko!” Katara cries.
Aang’s eyes widens.
Then glows
His arrows ignite in blue light.
He rises into the air, wind spiraling around him.
“Hold it open!” Zuko shouts as he scrambles to get back into the vortex
The chamber trembles as he fights the pull, both arms outstretched.
Katara is halfway inside now.
Terrified.
Reaching.
“AANG!”
Then—
she’s gone.
The portal shudders violently.
Aang grits his teeth.
“No—!”
Wind screams.
The vortex pulses—
And spits something back out.
A body tumbles onto the polished floor.
A woman.
She lands hard, rolls, and pushes herself upright.
Simple blue tunic.
Fur-lined boots.
Hair in familiar braids.
No crimson.
No gold.
No Fire Lady crest.
She looks—
A little worn…
Not older in years.
But slightly weathered in ways their Katara isn’t.
But still beautiful.
Simpler.
Softer.
Less fire.
“Katara?” Zuko breathes.
She blinks.
Looks around wildly.
At the chamber.
At the banners.
At the polished stone.
At the robes everyone wears.
Then—
She sees Aang.
Relief floods her face.
She runs to him.
Throws her arms around his neck.
Everyone relaxes slightly.
Of course.
She’s just grateful.
Aang hugs her back.
“Katara—are you okay?”
She cups his face in both hands and looks at him with affection.
“Yes, my love.”
The room freezes.
Like? Let me know what you want seen in future chapters. I’ll be posting this in the group so you can leave comments. ‼️‼️‼️UPDATE! NOW YOU CAN LEAVE COMMENTS WOOT WOOT 🙌🏽 Let me know what you want added or do not want to see and we’ll see if it makes it into the fic. I will credit you whether I thought of it already.
Click the link 👉🏽 Chapter 4 Canon Katara in au (Back at the Palace is live!!)
A Preview;
He isn’t surprised.
This is exactly how she looks like the first time he brought her here—the night he gifted this private wing after Lu Ten was born. He repurposed his mother’s old suite and transformed it into a royal lodge within the palace.
At that time, he thought she needed more room than their master suite can offer.
A sanctuary.
Zuko remembers that day with perfect clarity.
The Fire Matriarch Ursa threw herself into the project personally overseeing every detail while helping Zuko keep the entire renovation a secret from Katara. For weeks, the entire east wing of the palace was boarded up and draped in heavy tarps. Katara barely spared it a second glance, assuming it was simply another round of routine maintenance.
He led her through the sunlit corridors with her eyes covered by a strip of deep red silk, her hands clasped tightly in his. Their laughter echoed off the walls as she teased him mercilessly about his “terrible sense of direction” and “obvious scheming.” His heart hammered against his ribs—equal parts excitement and raw nerves. He had spent months planning this, pouring every ounce of love he carried for her into the redesign.
“Ready?” His voice came out softer than he intended. Katara’s smile widened, playful and trusting. “If you make me walk into a wall, I swear I’ll freeze your feet to the floor.”
Zuko let out a shaky laugh, then gently turned her toward the newly revealed wing.
“Now.”
She tugged the blindfold free…
Here you go @frogdisco2021. I credited your meta in this chapter go check it out.
For readers new to this fic, this is about an atla multiverse where the characters’ ages and looks remain the same in the Legend of Aang era. Canon Katara gets sucked into a vortex created by a jinn/trickster that Team Avatar was pursuing, and Fire Lady Katara is spit out in canon universe. 👇🏽
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I won’t be posting the next chapters for a week or two while I prep for the upcoming zk reverse bang event!
It’s where artists create incredible fanart (and some headcanons) and get paired with writers. Y’all, the fanarts are out of this world!!! I’m so excited to be paired with any of my top choices — two of them are even close mutuals 🤗
In your torn between two worlds fic, in the non-Zutara timeline are you going with Dante Bosco’s headcanon that Zuko had a crush on Katara but never did anything about it?
Also, will you be going into detail about Toph and Aang’s relationship in the Zutara timeline?
Thank you for the ask and the interest 🤗
But you just have to find out. 😉
I’m working on Chapter 8 of Torn Between Two Worlds right now, but I really want to finish Book 4: Ash first. The final chapter of this three-year-in-the-making fic drops this Sunday! 🎉
Torn Between Two Worlds Chapter 3 drops on June 7.
Dont worry, this fic 👆🏽wont take three years teeheeheee.
I told myself I’d focus more on the parallels and the duality between the two universes + the Gaang dynamics, rather than leaning too hard into the myths and world-building. But my imagination got carried away, and now I have to come up with a genuinely compelling reason for why the Jinn did it (and all the etc. that comes with it) 😅
No one wants to collab yet, so y’all are really out here trusting me with this sh— 😂
