Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Episode 7 - Always Tomorrow

It was cleanup time in the TARDIS. Becoming a Time Lord had not helped my habit of allowing assorted books and other things to just lay around after use while my Companions were making up for years of slavery by being as laid back, even lazy, as they could get away with.

So as we worked through the library, I found something that looked a bit out of place. It was an armband of various blues and white in a pattern, one I recognized after a moment. I looked up to where Camilla was stacking books while Janias, being a show off, was using the Force to move around a broom and dust pan. "Korra left one of her armbands," I said.

Camilla looked to me. "Really?"

I held it up to her. She walked up and took it in her hand. "She must have misplaced it when getting into her swimsuit."

"Ah, so that's where she was while Harry and I were doing the hard work in preparing for the meeting with the White Council," I surmised. "Having fun in the swimming pool."

"A lot of fun," Camilla agreed, with a wide grin.

And it occurs to me that there are mental images coming to your heads right now about the situation. Some are going further than others. I would kindly ask you to stop. Not that it'll work, I know you shippers, you will defiantly cling to your vessels even as they sink under the weight of contradiction. I've seen the Zutara shippers, after all. Persistent little buggers.

To get away from my tangent, I sighed. "I'm surprised you three didn't cause most of my books to be soaked." I could already imagine how badly the "splashing" could get between Janias' Force power and Korra's Water-bending.

"Oh, well... it turns out waterbenders can clean up a lot," Camilla offered. "Honestly, Doctor, she needed the relaxation."

"Oh, I'm not criticizing..." I held the armband in my hand and stared at it. It had been quite a while for me since I'd said my goodbyes to the young Avatar. My thoughts went to that conversation. She had taken the outcome of our unplanned sojourn very poorly.

I hadn't been happy myself. A Time Lord brain meant I could recall with perfectly clarity the pained soul of young Dustin, or that blank look on his face before he threw himself into Warden Morgan's blade, convinced he would become a monster if he didn't. There were times I still burned with indignation and pondered going back to the White Council to give them a piece of my mind. Thankfully I was not so stupid as to do that given the sheer power at the Senior Council's command.

But while I had been upset, Korra had been crushed. She had never suffered a setback like that before. I'd given her reassurances that bad days happened and you had to move on but I knew it'd take more than that.

Yes. It would, wouldn't it?

A thought bubbled to the surface of my mind at that point. I stood and let it develop, neglecting my cleanup chores for the moment until the girls noticed I'd stopped and did so as well. "Doctor, I'm not doing this alone," Janias warned with a smirk.

I heard her words but kept thinking, making calculations in my head, pondering what had popped into my head.

"Doctor?" Camilla walked up. "Are you..."

"...okay? Yes," I abruptly said. I took off to the nearest opening, following the path through the TARDIS to the control room. I was at the controls in a moment, pulling and twisting knobs. By the time the girls were standing behind me and watching I'd finished. "Just doing a little research." I pulled the lever and shifted the TARDIS.

I won't bore you with the research. It actually took me a couple of days and five time jumps to get all the materials i needed to understand what happened and to plan. But the idea took form in my head, something wonderful I could do without altering a major point in the timeline.

When I was ready, I had the girls' attention as I shifted the TARDIS once more. Our destination?

Air Acolyte Island.

For Korra and the others, not a lot of time had passed. It was, in fact, the next day. I stepped out of the TARDIS with Janias and Camilla behind me to find Korra practicing Airbending with Tenzin and his children, wearing the orange and yellow of an Air Acolyte instead of her usual Water Tribe outfit. My arrival had clearly interrupted them. I tossed the armband to her. "Sorry, took me a while to find it."

Korra looked at the armband. "So I did leave it in the TARDIS."

"Yes. It took me a while to decide to do some spring cleaning." I smirked. "Remember, time traveler. It's been quite a while for me while for you it's not even been a full day."

"So are we all gonna get box rides this time?!", Ikki inquired with childish enthusiasm.

"I'll leave that up to your parents, Ikki."

"Yes, I would hope so." Tenzin looked only slightly perturbed at my interruption of his training lesson. "You're always welcome on Air Acolyte Island, Doctor. Did you come by just to bring the armband?"

"Well, not entirely. The armband merely reminded me of something." I stepped up to Korra. I knew my eyes were glistening; I was bubbling over to tell her what I was planning. "Korra, do you remember what I told you last night?"

"That we had a bad day," she answered. "And that I couldn't let it get to me."

"Yes. And, to be frank, I've had a few bad ones since." I winked. "Not that I'm here to mention them. Instead, I wanted to ask... do you remember the last thing I said?"

I could see her blue eyes twinkle as she thought back to it, a bit of hope showing through. "That there was always tomorrow."

"Exactly!", I agreed. "There's always tomorrow. Which, for you, was yesterday."

A smile crossed her face. "Yeah."

"My dear Korra..." I rubbed my hands together with anticipation. "It's tomorrow now. Let's go save the Air Nomads!"





Okay, first thing. Yes, yes, I know, fixed point. Allow me my dramatic license, people. My plan was not nearly as sweeping as you may have thought from what I said. Saving the Air Nomads doesn't mean saving all of them, just saving enough to ensure their culture could be preserved in the Republic City era.

For what it's worth, my proclamation won me the immediate attention of even Tenzin, who's response was "What? How?!" while Korra did nothing but stare with a growing smile on her face.

"Well, it'll be a might bit tricky," I conceded. "We can't let the Fire Nation see us, at least not as a group. History must record no survivors, after all. We're bringing them here, to your time. Otherwise we'd be altering a fixed point and, well, that usually involves fun little things like all of history happening at once before time decays."

"Still... I mean, this is great!" Korra grabbed my arms. "What do I need to do?!"

"Get your friends. We're going to need some help for this one," I explained.

Ikki was quick to jump on board. "Yay! Let's save the Air Nomads!"

"This risks unraveling everything that shaped our world," Tenzin pointed out. "How can you risk such a thing?"

"How can I not? How can I leave children to be burned alive or crushed by Sozin's armies when I know I can save them?", I countered. "I'm talking about saving your father's culture, Tenzin. I can't save them all, I won't try. But I can save some, and the timeline won't be affected. Imagine what that would mean for you in the here and now."

I saw his eyes tighten. The weight of being the only adult Airbender of this time, of being the embodiment of all of his father's hopes and dreams, was a great one on his shoulders. "I will go with you and make sure you don't go too far," he finally answered.

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Looking back I was a bit bitter in that statement and I shouldn't have been. I remember that sense of irritation profoundly; I had just offered Tenzin the restoration of his father's culture, a removal of some of his burden, and he didn't seem the least bit grateful.

Maybe I didn't like the fact that he was reminding me of the tremendous risk we were taking.

It was a risk. A part of my mind weighed that and still wondered if this was smart. But the gains from that risk... this was the kind of thing I was meant to do.

"I'll be back when you gave the others present," I said, stepping back toward the TARDIS. "We're going to need some help for this one."

And I knew just where to get it.




When I brought back the TARDIS the whole of "Team Korra" had assembled in the courtyard of the temple, all dressed and ready for action. I stepped out and was followed by the help I had acquired.

Molly Carpenter stepped up beside me and whistled. She'd re-dyed her hair to blue and red at this point and was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt with the emblem of a heavy metal band I didn't recognize, not to forget her ripped up jeans. "Hey Korra. So this is your place, huh?"

A whistle came from behind me. "I miss the smog." Where Molly went, so did Harry Dresden, given he was her instructor and all. It was a package deal. As you might expect, Mouse was also part of the package.

The unexpected part of that package stepped out next. We had been entering the TARDIS when Michael Carpenter had driven up. I knew enough about how these things worked that I said nothing about bringing Michael with us. He stood with us now, in his full battle armor and with Amoracchius in its scabbard.

Bolin was staring intently at Molly with a look that I figured to be half confusion, half infatuation. "Wow. You look... great. Kinda weird, but great. And... why is your hair...?"

"Thankfully for Tenzin, this world doesn't have hair dye yet," I answered. "Michael, this is Korra, and may I introduce..."

As the introductions finished my other two recruits emerged. "May I introduce Doctor Lucca Ashtear and Mami Tomoe," I said. "Lucca has been studying the information we have to help me formulate a plan. Mami will provide us with an extra option should fighting commence."

Asami's hand went up. "Doctor, Korra said you were talking about saving the Air Nomads. But wouldn't that completely alter our history?"

"Good question," I said. "The answer is that there is a certain flexibility allowed to us by the nature of fixed points. We cannot contradict what the visible result of that point was. So, yes, the Air Temples must burn, and many Airbenders must die. We can't save the entire population. What we can do is save those who were not directly observed. I went over the Fire Nation records. They used siege weapons and magnified Firebending attacks on entire buildings full of people in their purge. Those were deaths not directly observed."

"Which means that we can remove those people from their time and bring them to yours," Lucca finished for me. "It's basic causality exception."

Bolin glanced from Lucca to Molly and back to Lucca. "So what, everyone in other worlds colors their hair or something?"

"I want pink hair!", Ikki shouted. She bounced in front of her father. "Can I have pink hair, Daddy?! Please?!"

Tenzin let out a sigh that spoke of a father's aggravation warring with his affection. The moment was interrupted by Mami bowing respectfully to him. "Master Tenzin," she said quietly.

"Miss Tomoe." He returned the bow.

It was a good moment, establishing Mami's politeness and Tenzin's preference for it.

"Everyone who is coming, please enter the TARDIS. I've set aside a space in the library where we can sit and discuss the plan."

"A library?!" I had apparently grabbed Jinora's full attention with that.

I looked to Tenzin. "I can let them stay in the TARDIS, they'd be fine."

"But we wanna help!", Ikki shouted.

I looked down at her. "You would be, little one. I need someone to watch the TARDIS so the bad guys don't sneak into it."

"Fine," Tenzin said, sighing. I think he knew as well as I did that there would be no end to his kids demanding a TARDIS ride otherwise. And they could take care of themselves fairly well.

I moved up to him and lowered my voice to a whisper. "Camilla will keep an eye on them," I promised. "She's good with kids."

That got me a nod.




I'd taken the precaution of covering the swimming pool; in fact, the ground that covered it held the table on which I had laid out maps I had... borrowed from Fire Nation sources on the battle plans for each Temple attack. "The TARDIS will go to each location and deposit a team to secure our departure point and to begin the evacuation." I pointed to various buildings at each Air Temple. "Each of these structures was demolished in the attack. We'll use them as departure points."

"Do you think we can get in and out without fighting?", Harry asked.

"That's the big question, Harry. The Air Nomads were not fighters and the attacks were very chaotic. Some squads of Firebenders could break through."

"The Western Air Temple was never directly assaulted," Tenzin pointed out. "The Fire Nation bombarded it until all had perished."

"They created a firestorm, yes. Best way to deal with a temple hanging underneath a cliffside in those days before airships. We'll go there first." I looked to Lucca. "How's the fire magic coming?"

"I've gotten some of it back."

"Good. You, Harry, and Mako will take point there. We fight fire with fire."

Lucca understood immediately. "You mean we use our fire to disrupt theirs?"

"Exactly. Breakfires to keep theirs out of the structure until we can get all we can out. Now, with the Northern Temple..."

We laid our plans out meticulously, a clockwise pattern around the globe with the Southern Temple saved for last. "Sozin's forces were heaviest here," Tenzin pointed out. "They broke through the Temple defenses in seconds. Unless we leave before the attack we're going to be fighting."

"Yes. That's why it's last. Molly will go out under her veil again; Korra, Mako, and Janias will accompany her. The rest of us will keep her escape lane open. Korra." I looked toward her. "Do not use anything but waterbending. If you show your Avatar powers off it's going to have an adverse effect on history."

"Okay," she answered.

"This is going to be difficult, I know. But we're saving an entire culture here," I said to everyone. "Stay safe. Don't do anything to undermine the timeline. For God's sake don't get lost. Is everyone ready? Any questions as to the plans?"

There were only shaking heads to that inquiry.

"Then we're ready to go."




You know that saying that plans never survive first contact with the enemy?

Sometimes they don't survive first contact with a friend.

We had arrived at the Western Air Temple about an hour before I projected the first attack by Fire Nation forces. An hour would leave us plenty of time for evacuations of dependents and caretakers. Except, as it turned out, the Air Nomads' response was stunned disbelief and utter refusal to go anywhere. One of their number, a thin and wispy-bearded old man named Master Lungtok, was stepping in and around the TARDIS while my fellows and I waited impatiently. "This is a doorway into the Spirit World," he insisted.

"It's a pocket dimension," I retorted. "I use it to travel space and time."

"You would have us enter the Spirit World physically?"

Before I opened my mouth, Jinora suddenly spoke from the side of the TARDIS. "The TARDIS is like the Spirit World," she said, her direction on Lungtok. "But it is not the Spirit World."

I shook my head. "Young lady, it's not..."

"You said its size on the inside can change. It can go anywhere in time and space. It has a spirit living within it. It is like the Spirit World, Doctor," Jinora answered.

I opened my mouth to disagree and stopped myself. Jinora was, after all, very in tune with the Spirits. And she was having an effect on the assembled Airbenders.

A couple of teenage Airbenders landed nearby, huffing and puffing. "Master Lungtok! There's a Fire Nation army coming this way!"

Lungtok looked from the boys to me. I looked up to the sky and tried to see if the Comet was in sight, but there was no sign of it. "We still have time, Master Lungtok," I urged. "Get your children, your caretakers, together, and we can take them to safety."

"By your own words you say we are to be annihilated today," Lungtok said. "What will be the consequence of your change of history?"

"I'm not," I insisted. "I'm working within the confines of history."

"Are you?" Lungtok shook his head. "I will not forbid those who have heard from boarding your craft, but I will not call for evacuation. Now excuse me, I must be ready to meet with the Fire Nation leader."

"Master Lungtok, please, you go to your death," Tenzin pointed out.

He looked over to Tenzin and his eyes tightened. "Perhaps so. But I will go regardless."

And that was all that was said. All we could do was try to persuade. A few did so but many stayed firm in their adherence to Lungtok. As we waited I looked to where Korra was glaring at the cliffside, trembling in frustration and rage. "This is supposed to go better," she insisted. "but it's not going to, is it Doctor?"

"I told you we can't save them all," I said. "But we can save enough. Give them time. Lungtok will think it over."

The next time we saw him, Lungtok was using his hang glider to fly to the opposite cliffside. The angle was not very good to see beyond the edge. We could all see him standing there, motionless and content.

Above us, the sky turned red. "Uh, why's the sky doing that?", Bolin asked nervously.

"Sozin's Comet is here," I replied.

I had a feeling about the next few moments. I put a hand on my sonic disruptor. "Make sure the children are in the TARDIS," I murmured.

He had barely gotten them in when, at the periphery of my hearing, I heard Lungtok's death scream. It faded as his form was consumed by flame so intense it incinerated his remains.

"And so it begins," I murmured.

The scream was heard enough that the pace of parents and children increased. As it did I felt the temple shake and the heat come through the tunnels. The bombardment had begun.

Our three official fire-wielders stepped out onto a balcony. Harry lifted his blasting rod and was the first to fire. It was... a rather larger blast of flame than I think he intended, big enough that it went straight through the Fire Nation attack and struck the cliffside. "Harry!", I shouted.

"That wasn't me!", he retorted.

"The comet must be effecting all fire magic," Janias suggested.

I grumbled. Thankfully, the flame was wide enough that it could have easily been interpreted as an Airbender blowing the flames back in the opposite direction.

And, indeed, many Airbenders were moving into positions to do the same. I swallowed at the sight. These men and women knew they were going to die. They were buying time for others to flee.

A single voice cut through the confusion. "Everyone in, now!", Korra screamed. It was enough to get attention from the uncertain, and she used it. In a series of moves she displayed the other bending styles, the ones I told her not to. "I'm the next Avatar in the cycle. Now get in! I won't leave you behind!"

The display worked, I have to admit. Thankfully it wasn't in sight of the Fire Nation forces.

Our fire breakers kept their work up while I returned to my proper station; the TARDIS controls. From that vantage point I could only make out the children and Camilla guiding our refugees into a room I had set up specifically for them. External sensors showed the exterior heating up.

I swallowed. I knew more could come. But I knew we had to leave now. "Get Lucca, Harry, and Mako back in here," I said to Janias.

"Doctor, there are still some..."

"I know, Janias," I answered. "But we can't do any more."

At that moment a teenage Airbender came in, rushing past Janias and up to me. He was holding a scroll. "Master Lungtok instructed me to give this to you," he said. "If the Fire Nation actually attacked."

I took it. With the Gift of the TARDIS I could read the fine calligraphy; it was a plea to the other Temples to let me evacuate their dependents, asserting that I was telling the truth. I let out a sigh and put the scroll in my inner jacket pocket. "Stay here," I ordered the boy.

The others came in, Mako the last because he was dragging Korra with him. "There's still more!", she protested.

"I know." I swallowed. "But we can't save everyone, Korra. You know that. Besides, you need to save your strength." I shifted a knob and reached for the lever. "We've still got three more Temples."




The next stop was the Northern Air Temple. Lungtok's scroll made it an easier job and the evacuation was well underway when the first Fire Nation fire blasts struck the walls. The adult Airbenders rushed to hold them and fought as best as they could, but pacifist monks versus a disciplined army rarely ended well.

Standing just outside the structure we had the TARDIS in, I witnessed streaks of flame from above. "Clever buggers," I murmured. "They're coming from the air!"

"I'm on it!" Mami leaped into the air, firearms materializing in each arm.

"Woh, she can fly," I heard Molly gasp.

"Back to the evacuation Molly, now," Harry ordered.

Molly nodded and veiled herself and Bolin, the very power I'd recruited her for. With the walls about to be breached, I needed her available to get refugees to the TARDIS without getting them attacked by the Fire Nation's soldiers.

In the air the Firebenders, no doubt expecting Airbender resistance to their around-the-back attack, were suddenly facing a whirlwind of magical bullets. Mami, with actual guided flight, was perfectly fit for dealing with Firebenders using the power boost of Sozin's comet to keep themselfs aloft with intense and constant flame. She twisted and turned, one-shot rifles appearing from within her suit at whim. I didn't think too hard about the prone figures falling to their deaths from her attacks; they had come this day to do great evil and I was mourning their victims already.

The sound of a man running in armor brought my attention to Michael Carpenter. He had a wounded boy slung over his back and an Airbender girl in his arms. "I found them near the wall," he explained.

"Get them into the TARDIS, Camilla has the first aid kits handy."

"Of course." Michael's expression was grim. "The wall is almost lost, Doctor. This place cannot be defended any longer unless we attack directly."

"Then we've done all we can." I looked to Janias. "Can you feel Molly's mind? We need her to come back, now, with whomever she has found. It's time to go."

I returned to the TARDIS at that point. I remember feeling upset with myself; I had brought these people into a war that was not theirs and here I was, retreating to the TARDIS as the fighting loomed close. That it was necessary didn't make it feel right.

Tenzin loomed close. "The survivors from the two temples have settled in. The Eastern Air Temple will be more difficult."

"We need to hold at least one bridge on either side open as long as we can," i remarked.

"Historically the Fire Nation took nearly the entire run of the Comet to bring the Temple down," Tenzin pointed out.

"I know. That may give us some extra time, but that's all." I put a hand to my head. "When we're done in the East we'll drop the survivors off and take a breather. We'll need all of our energy for the South."




The Eastern Air Temple was surprisingly easy. Lungtok's scroll again proved vital to getting people to listen to us. Children and mothers went first, caretakers with them, and the other Airbenders - already warned of the Fire Nation's advance by the appearance of their ships in the nearby waters -set up defensive positions.

My allies spread out to do what they could, encouraging the evacuation, but the orders stood: no direct engagements where the Fire Nation could record their presence. I watched the fight from one of the terraces leading to where I'd parked the TARDIS. The only incident of note was a blast of fire blowing loose some of the rock below me. A small rockslide started to come down just to stop in mid-air, held aloft until it was thrown over the side. For a brief moment I saw a veil part; Molly was pressing her lips to Bolin's cheek in a thank you kiss, causing a deep red blush on the young Earthbender's face. That made me chuckle to myself.

When we were done we returned briefly to Air Acolyte Island. I timed our return just long enough for Pema to get things prepared; entire swaths of the island were converted to living space and by her report half of the Acolytes were out in the city buying up extra food. Everyone took a meal. "See?" I looked up from a plate of Pema's fine cooking to look at Harry. "Much better than Burger King."

"What did I tell you about dissing the King?", Harry grumbled. "So, how is this going to work? You're altering how this world's history is supposed to go."

"No, only how it might have. Time travel involves a lot of... quantum... wibbly-wobbly stuff," I answered. "It's why your White Council has the Sixth Law. Playing with time should be left to the professionals."

"You're not exactly a professional," Harry pointed out. "I don't care how much info was crammed into your brain to make you a Time Lord."

I shook my head and sighed.

Harry was, of course, perfectly right. I knew things, but... it was only now coming from experience. You can cram the knowledge to be an engineer into someone's mind, but they won't become a professional engineer because of it. They still have to practice their craft, learn how it operates.

I was still doing that.