#n i alr wrote the barebones of the nart au down before so i figured i'd get this done n out w first

[zentriii]

non-avatar aang au where the reason aang survived wasn't bc of the avatar state [which he shouldn't have been able to access anyways iirc bc he wasn't a master of all four elements at that point. so yay past avatars/spirit interference isn't far fetched] but bc someone had to survive to teach the avatar airbending n they had to be a master to do it ofc

so normal set up katara's temper explodes -> they find aang -> zuko tries to capture the avatar -> aang denies being the avatar, but this time, he's telling the truth.

aang's just a 12 year old kid fully unaware of the war. like he'll refuse to believe his people are killed all the same but i think katara will still seize the opportunity to possibly make it to the north pole via appa to find a waterbending teacher [n because if aang's not the avatar, then he'll have to go to the north to teach the avatar airbending. sokka figures the avatar could be in any nation by now but he can't let katara go by herself either so off they go!]

smt smt aang being the last of his people n when he truly takes this in, he has a choice. live in hiding, yk, the thing that spared him alone [ooh survivor's guilt exploration] or set aside the nomad way of nonviolence [what else does he has left of his people?] to end the war. and he has to grapple w that from the start instead of re: killing ozai or not. n mayb he's not the avatar mayb he doesn't have destiny to tie his hands w duty but he has the shame of abandoning his people in their time of need. he can't cast that aside now can he?

(unlike avatar aang. he can't even talk to yangchen, the previous nomad avatar. it's just him left)

but he can't break down forever. katara has to go to the north pole to get a waterbending teacher bc isn't the south pole just like the southern air temples?? their benders are down to just one and while their people live on, katara too has to bare the weight of her people's bending living on through herself. and unlike aang, there are people who can teach her.

so mayb he's still figuring shit out, but he can do this at least.

the avatar isn't in the northern tribe.

things still play out roughly according to main canon events but now katara's determined to find the avatar n for aang to teach them airbending. [aang makes peace with having to do something, even if only fighting non-lethally and teaching the avatar to airbend. it's the perfect solution! surely the feelings he buried to come to it aren't something he still has to work through. surely.]

now the earth kingdom's big ! but eventually they still end up in ba sing se, surely the place the fire nation lead a siege against, desperate to break through to, is important? perhaps the avatar is being protected here [cue sokka grumbling abt how the avatar is meant to be the one doing the protecting]

they pick toph up on the way before this ofc. and if aang lies saying it's bc he's the avatar n needs an earthbending teacher while still being honest abt airbending. well i think that's good enough for toph to run away over in this au [ofc she immediately confronts them abt it after joining up]. everyone assumes aang's the avatar anyways. i mean come on, air benders don't just pop out of thin air these days.

ozai is still defeated in the end bc they've run out of time n who even knows how old the current avatar is or what nation they're from. they've got to fight n while it goes down differently and aang still doesn't kill ozai or unlock his fancy bender-bending. he still fights.

what happened to his people can never happen to others again. he doesn't run away this time.

anyways regarding who the avatar themselves is i propose ty lee. like there are quite a few avatar zuko/azula/lu ten takes [w the cycle going back to fire] n a few of airbender/descendant of air nomads ty lee takes [i mean look at her. her eyes are grey n her nose looks like tenzin's kids'] but i've never seen an avatar ty lee one?? this au doesn't need her to be the avatar necessarily but i think it's fun if u have zuko hunting the avatar [aang], the gaang looking for the avatar [could be anyone] n azula + friends hunting the avatar [aang]. meanwhile one of said friends is the avatar all along.

[man everyone's stealing zuko's thing n hunting down the avatar these days]

if ty lee is really a descendant of air nomads, her first element could be air instead of fire, hence the nonbender label. smt smt if the fire sages have become sell outs n the past avatar spirits trapped aang in a block of ice, it's not impossible to think they'd hide her avatar status from the sages for abandoning their ways.

anyways they don't exactly figure this out until after the war. possibly a celebration dinner turned silly food fight turned ty lee trapping a plate of food flying towards her midair. bumi style :)