A/N: I've always imagined that Sokka and Katara would be a lot more furious with Aang...so this is my retake on what happened. Hope you enjoy!
"How could you lie to us? You know how much we wanted to see our father!" Sokka shouts at me, raising his hand but then lets it drop back to his side. Behind him Katara gives me a look which was combined with disappointment and disgust. Suddenly anger rages within me.
"It's not my fault! You lied to me first! You said you guys will come with me to the North Pole." Sokka suddenly jumps on me and pushes me against a tree hitting my head hard in the process.
"OUR FAULT?! You're blaming us? We left everything we had to come with you, isn't that right Katara?" He turns his head slightly to the side to see if his sister was with him. She walks closer to us.
"I can't believe you would do this Aang? I thought I knew you, but it turns out I don't know you at all!"
"You guys didn't have to come with me! Why didn't you stay in that place you call a village? I'm sure you guys had plenty of fun stuff to do there!" I shout at them, 'How dare they try to make me feel guilty, I never forced them to come!" Sokka howls and punches me right in the stomach and then again at my chest. I gasp, my legs buckling underneath me leaving me winded, Sokka lets go of me and I fall face first on to the hard ground.
"What is your problem? We travelled half way around the world for you!" I push myself on all fours and glare at him in the eye.
"Well I don't need you guys! I can learn the elements by myself!" The two siblings gasp at him in shock, Katara gets over it first and steps closer.
"How … How dare you say that?" She opens her water pouch and whips me with full force, right across my face leaving me panting for breath. 'K…K…Katara just h..hit me?' I just stare at her; my eyes portraying hurt. Sokka seems to break from his frozen state and advances towards me and grabs me from my shirt, pulling me up slightly off the ground.
"You selfish, ungrateful kid! We don't need you at all. Learn the elements by yourself, we don't care. We're going to find our dad and I never want to see you again!" He gives me a final punch to the arm and drops me the ground, not giving me a second glance he turns his back on me and packs his stuff. He looks over to Katara who's still giving me an icy glare. "Katara are you coming with me?" She turns to him, giving him a determined nod and walks off with her brother.
I shakily try to get to my knees but end up flopping to the ground, every part of me aches, but the worst ache is in my heart. 'I'm such a horrible person. Wh…why did I say that? I'm no one without them. The one family I had left in the world and I pushed them away from me." Tears start streaming down my face and soon I'm shaking and weeping bitterly, 'How could I say that to them? They will never forgive me. I'm all alone.'
Meanwhile…
"Uncle you are wasting my time! We have no idea where the Avatar is and you are buying useless stuff!" Zuko kicks the monkey statue out of his uncle's hands. Iroh just shakes his head.
"Zuko you should know that what is one man's rubbish, is another man's treasure." The prince just glares at him.
"I don't want to hear your proverbs, I want to get out of here, so I can capture the Avatar and restore my honour!" He yells and stalks off and Iroh hurries to keep in pace with him.
"Prince Zuko you must be patient, you will have the Avatar in good time. You know there's an old proverb saying that patience is bitter but its fruit is sweet." Zuko lets out a low growl 'I'm sick of these proverbs! They won't give me what I need. And what I need is the Avatar.' Iroh looks at his nephew expectantly.
"Fine uncle I'll try it your way!" He takes in a few deep breathes and walks patiently side by side with his uncle, waiting whenever his uncle goes into a shop to have a browse around.
2 Hours later…
The general is holding four baskets of instruments and statues. "I haven't done this much shopping in a long time." Iroh muses while grinning to his nephew, Zuko gives him a forced smile back. "And I'm glad you are learning to be patient Prince Zuko, because patience is a virtue." They continue walking ahead when in the distance they see someone flat on the ground. "I wonder what happened to this poor man." 'Something is familiar about that person' Zuko thinks to himself, he takes out his small telescope and peers through, an evil grin beginning to work his way across his lips. Iroh looks at Zuko worryingly.
"Erm Zuko is everything alright?"
"Everything is better than alright. That's not just any person, that's the Avatar!" He sprints off in the direction of the Avatar. The general sighs to himself and leaves his luggage on the ground and tries to run after him.
"I told you Prince Zuko the fruit of patience is sweet!" He yells after his nephew.
Aang's POV
Suddenly I feel the ground vibrating ever so slightly. I look up slightly 'maybe it's Katara and Sokka?' I squint my eyes, but I see an unpleasant surprise, 'Oh no its Zuko, I've got to get out of here!' I push myself up and I struggle to get on to my feet, I wobble slightly but manage to stand up right. I look to my side, 'Where's my staff? I must have left it with Appa on the other side of the town! How am I going to get out of here?'
"Hello Avatar, long time no see."
"Oh really, I wish it could have been longer." Zuko shouts and sends a burst of fire towards me, I form a small airbending shield causing the fire to disperse into the surrounding. I send a rush of strong wind, which he easily side steps and pumps fire out of his fists, one at a time, making me stumble backwards.
"What's wrong Avatar? Where's your fighting spirit gone?" He kicks some more flames at me which I narrowly dodge. I blow a gust of air at him, but he advance closer to me and grabs my wrist, twisting it behind my back, making me to fall in pain. Iroh comes behind me and ties my arms with rope. I try to struggle and wrestle out of the ropes but can't. "You can't get out of those that easily. Where are your friends? Are they going to come and rescue you?" He bends down looking me up and down, I look down at my lap. "And why do you have bruises?" I continue staring down. "Fine, have it your way, it doesn't bother me, since I now have you in my possession." He drags me on the floor.
Meanwhile…
"I told you Katara he was evil, why you didn't listen to me I will never know. "
"SOKKA I told you I don't want to have this conversation." She yelled, trying to mask her hurt. Sokka examines her and puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Katara I know you are only shouting to hide your hurt. But you know we don't need him. Just forget about him and we can move on, now come o…" He comes to an abrupt stop and pushes Katara into a crouching position, hiding behind a bush.
"What are y…"
"Shh." Sokka places his finger against his lips and peers out behind the bush. 'Is that Zuko?' He squints his eyes to see what Zuko is dragging behind him, his face suddenly pales. "Oh no." Katara looks at her brother's expression, 'what's going on?'
"Sokka…Sokka what's wrong?!" He just shakes his head, placing a hand to his forehead.
"Its…It's Zuko… and he's got Aang with him." She gasps, putting her hand over her mouth.
"This is all my fault…I shouldn't have left him. I should have been there to protect him. He…he couldn't fight Zuko in his condition…" Tears start falling down her face. Sokka takes hold of his sister's shoulders and looks intently into her eyes.
"No don't blame yourself. This is my fault, I'm the one who practically beat him up. Now we need to go and save him." She looks up at him with her teary blue eyes and nods. "Ok this is the plan I have in mind. Next to the ship are two guards, we will attack them and disguise ourselves as soldiers, we get into the ship, find Aang, break him free, make up and voila we are all one big happy family again."
"Ok let's go." Just as she gets to her feet, she finds herself being pulled down again by Sokka.
"Are you insane? Not now, they still haven't got to the ship, the last thing we need is for the guards, Zuko and his uncle to capture us as well. No, we'll wait until sundown that way Aang will already be in a cell and it will just look like we are guarding him. I doubt they will set sail soon, because I see barrels of fuel, and to refuel it takes a while." Katara frowns, unhappy with the idea.
"But…"
"And no buts, we can't risk ourselves being caught as well. No one will get us out." She sighs 'I know Sokka is right, but I can't think of leaving Aang by himself, thinking that no one is coming to rescue him,' she nods at him and watches as Zuko drags Aang into the ship.
Zuko personally takes me into a cell and throws me in. "Now Avatar I think you deserve some punishment. If I had found you earlier I would have restored my honour long ago, but you are the reason why I have been away from home for nearly three years. You are going to pay!" He forms a fire whip and lashes out, luckily I'm able to blow it out. Zuko advances closer to me and puts one foot on my chest and slowly putting his weight on me. "Are you trying to ruin my fun?" He hisses, pressing more deeply, making me feel choked.
He makes another whip and lashes me in the stomach, all the while putting his full weight on me, making me groan. He kicks me to the side and whips me continuously in the back. I grind my teeth together, 'no way am I going to show weakness in front of him… but it hurts… a lot' With each lash comes a more severe pain, 'is he increasing his strength or heat of that whip or what?' Soon the lashes break into my delicate skin, cutting it and bleeding in the process. Eventually he stops and kicks me hard on the side. "That's much better. Have a good sleep because tomorrow we are heading to the Fire Nation!" He turns away and strides out.
'So much pain… I have no one…it's as if everyone is trying to hurt me, first my friends and now my enemy…I'm all alone….' This is my last thought as I slip into an uneasy sleep.
3 Hours Later…
"Psssst." I wake up with a start, 'what was that sound?' I glance to the side and see two guards, 'oh no, not another beating.' What happened next couldn't have surprised me more; one of the guards take his helmet off… it's Sokka! My heart leaps with joy for a moment, but then it takes a backflip when I remember what happened earlier today. "Aang we've come to bust you out." He suddenly fiddles with the lock on the door.
"Why have you come back? Do you want to beat me up again? I thought you didn't want to know me anymore." Sokka stops for a moment and peers at me closely.
"Aang we… we're sorry… I got out of hand. I didn't mean for that to happen." I close my eyes, not wanting to look at him any longer, then I hear a click of the lock and the swinging of the door being opened.
"Aw isn't that sweet, did you guys have a silly petty argument?" Sokka spins round to see Zuko clutching the other guard by the neck. "And who is this I wonder?" He takes off the helmet to reveal Katara; who's trying to kick him, but failing miserably.
"Let go of my sister!"
"Step away from the Avatar." Sokka sighs and takes a side step away from me, Zuko does the same, they keep rotating until Zuko is now in front of my cell and Sokka is now in front of the door for the way out.
"I did what you said, now let my sister go!" Zuko just smirks at him.
"No I don't think I can do that, you both are going to be prisoners. I don't want any more interruptions." 'This is not good' I struggle into a kneeling position and take the biggest deep breath I have ever taken and exhale forcefully out. This knocks Zuko off his feet, letting go of Katara in the process. I slump to the floor in exhaustion, for some reason my chest is really killing me. Katara jumps to her feet and bends the water into a whip.
"Sokka get Aang, I'll deal with Zuko." Sokka runs up to me and cuts the ropes off of my hands, he tries pulling me to my feet but my legs keep buckling underneath me.
"Aang, we've got to go!" Suddenly Sokka slumps to the ground.
"You're not going anywhere!" I look past Zuko and see Katara on the floor as well. I gulp, just as I'm about to attempt to stand up again. Zuko runs to me and shoulder slams me right into the wall. He grabs me by the shirt and punches me in the chest, stomach and face continuously, 'this is like déjà vu all over again!' And instead of Zuko, my mind imagines it being Sokka.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Katara screeches and water whips him to the side and freezes him in place. Sokka stirs, getting up he groans and holds his head.
"Man my head is killing me."
"Come on Sokka get Aang quickly!" He rushes over to my bruised and battered body. He gently picks me up and slings me over his shoulder. Katara blows on a whistle and we sprint outside to find Appa just landing, who's growling and airbending guards into the water with his tail. Soon we are off into the skies away from the ship. Sokka lays me down on the saddle and goes to guide Appa, while Katara moves closer to me.
"Aang…Aang can you hear me?" Before I could answer, I suddenly find it a struggle to breathe, I start coughing violently, my chest feels as if it's getting tighter and tighter. Katara moves to my side, with one hand she pushes my shirt up and with the other she bends water onto her hand, enveloping it and causing it to glow. Her hand moves up and down, from my chest to stomach and back up to my chest. I feel dizzy and my vision begins to blur, before I know it everything turns dark. "AANG!" Sokka appears from being on the reins on Appa's head at the sound of his sister's distressed voice.
"What happened?"
"He slipped into unconsciousness… Sokka … he's broken two ribs, and they are pushing on his lungs. I…I think he's finding it hard to breathe."
"Can you do anything?"
"I…I don't know. I've never healed a broken bone before... I'll try." She focusses her energy into Aang's chest, into the re-joining of bones. After a while Aang splutters and coughs up some blood. "Aang?" He slowly opens his eyes to see Katara's concerned eyes, her eyebrows scrunched together from worry, her hand still on his bare chest. He manages to whisper one word before passing out.
"Sorry." He whispers, so quietly she had to strain her ears to hear it. Tears stream down her face and she pulls his head onto her lap, caressing his hand.
"No I'm sorry." She whispers back, hugging him gently to herself.
2 Days Later….
I stir awake and open my eyes only to close it again from the light. I blink several times to readjust to the lighting. I glance around the room to get my bearings. Suddenly all the events from yesterday hits me hard. I try shifting slightly but it sends a shooting pain in my chest causing me to gasp aloud.
"Aang?!" Katara rushes to my side and kneels down beside my bed. "How are you feeling?" She asks softly. I scrunch up my eyes, waiting for the pain to pass, and eventually it does. But my eyes remain closed, 'I'm not ready to face Katara.' "Aang I know you can hear me." I don't answer, I don't want to. "Aang… I'm sorry…I shouldn't have hurt you, but I did and there aren't any words to describe how sorry I am." I remain silent. "Aang speak to me. Tell me something, anything… I hoped saving you would have mended our friendship."
"Katara please just leave me alone." I open my eyes to see her recoiling, hurt written all over her face, her eyes sad. Just seeing her like that makes the guilt pile up in my stomach.
"Aang I'm…I'm trying to apologise. Can't you just forgive me and Sokka?" I close my eyes and sigh, 'if it was only that simple.'
"Please just leave." I whisper. Katara gets up but lingers at the door, 'we both hurt each other. I forgave him so why can't he forgive me? Doesn't he know how much he's hurting me by pushing me away?' As soon as I hear Katara leave I open my eyes, 'I've got to get out of here. I can't stand the guilt, the betrayal, the hurt, physical and emotional pain, but what hurts the most is the fact Katara physically hit me… I…I…I thought she cared…I thought we were friends.' I push the covers back and struggle to a sitting position, my hands behind me to prevent me from flopping back on the bed. I swing my legs to one side of the bed, only to grind my teeth and forming fists to ignore the sheer agony. I place my feet on the floor and get up, nearly stumbling, but grabbing the side of the bed to prevent me from falling. I walk unsteadily to the window, 'Looks like this is it…I'll have to find a teacher for the rest of the elements on my own.' I look around one more time at my room and take my staff.
"Aang what are you doing?" I jump and turn round to face Sokka, who's frowning with a question in his eyes. I look down at the staff in my hands. He steps closer to me. "Aang you…you can't be thinking…" He breaks off unable to finish his sentence. My eyes start to water and a tear drops from my face. "Aang you don't have to leave! We are sorry, so very sorry." He moves even closer to me, now only a metre away.
"I… have to leave… can't stay here…got to leave" I mumble out, trying with my whole might not to show my emotions, trying not to have a crying meltdown, trying to show them I can do this by myself.
"Aang you DON'T have to leave. We can do it together… we are a team." He reaches his hand out to me, I look up and step away from him, and then I blow a mighty gust of air knocking him into the wall.
"WE ARE NOT A TEAM! If we were… you wouldn't have hurt me." I look at Sokka lying on the floor, I back away from him, 'I just hurt Sokka…I just hurt Sokka… I'm no better… they don't deserve this… I can't stay here, not after what I've done.' Tears start flowing more freely down my face, I push the window open and then open my glider, just as I'm about to get on it, the window is frozen shut and I'm pushed back with water. I catch my footing then frown and turn to look at the source.
"Aang why are you doing this! Can't you see we are sorry? Where is your forgiveness? Where is the loving, forgiving, peaceful 12 year old boy I broke out from the iceberg? Don't you see how much you are hurting us?" I look into Katara's eyes and see the anger, the rage and most strongly the hurt.
Sokka pushes himself into a kneeling position, gazing at me with sadness and sorrow. My chest aches, as I feel the hard pounding of my heart against my ribcage, 'when did I change? These are my friends… the only people who have been with me since I got out of the iceberg.' More tears rolls down my face dropping to the carpet. Their desperate and intense gazes cuts me into two and suddenly it's too much for me, my chest tightens and tightens making it hard to breathe.
"AANG SPEAK TO US! Don't leave us hanging!" Katara yells, glaring at me after the pain I've caused. I break eye contact.
"Please Katara just let me leave."
"Don't even try that! You are not leaving! Why don't you want to forgive us?" I remain silent. "SPEAK!" She screeches causing me to flinch. I take in a deep breath, trying to get air into my starved lungs. 'My head is killing me. All I want to do is leave, why can't they just let me do that.' I start seeing black spots in my vision.
"NO!" I shout, my limits being pushed to the maximum, 'I just want to shout, because I can't take it anymore.' Angry tears drop onto my hand. I blow a weak gust of wind at her, but she doesn't move an inch. Then the dizziness begins.
Katara glares at me, but her expression for some reason changes into a frown, 'that was the weakest gust of air I've ever felt… why has the colour drained from his face? And is it my imagination or is he swaying slightly. I look over to my brother to see he's wearing a concerned expression like me.'
I try to move away from them but instead of stepping away, for some reason I'm moving closer to the ground, and then feeling warm hands around my waist and shoulder. I can feel my body being gently lowered to the ground. My head resting on something soft and warm.
Katara's POV
As soon as I saw Aang swaying more violently I knew he was going to fall. I sprinted as fast as I could from the other side of the room to catch him just before he hits the floor with a thump. I place him on the floor as gently as I could do to avoid any pain and put his head on my lap. 'I can't believe I shouted at him, when he's still ill… no wonder why he wanted to leave… we are… I am horrible to him.'
Aang's POV
I feel my shirt being lifted up and the sudden air on my stomach, then a soft hand on my chest as if feeling the fast beat of my heart, I would have blushed if it wasn't for the intense pain. I vaguely identify the damp feeling of water on me, and the tightening feeling begins to fade slowly away. After what seems like hours I slowly open my eyes to see Katara's tender eyes and concerned face. I close my eyes again, unable to hold that gaze.
"Aang I'm so very sorry. I'm a horrible person and I understand why you want to leave. And as soon as you recover I won't stop you because you deserve to have better friends." She whispers to me tearfully. And suddenly I'm ashamed, 'I took this too far for no reason.' I open my eyes to see her watery eyes.
"Katara please don't cry. I was wrong to be angry with you guys." She looks away from me.
"YOU WEREN'T WRONG! We deserved for you to be mad at us. We hurt you, not only physically but emotionally. I won't hold you back when you want to leave." I weakly lift my hand and put it over hers.
"Katara how can I leave my only family? I can't do anything without you guys." Katara turns back to me with two tear streaks and hugs me lightly. She lets go and gives me a small smile.
"Thanks Aang…it means a lot." I give her a small smile back. "I…I just want to ask a question…" She breaks off.
"Go ahead… I promise I won't be upset."
"Why didn't want to forgive us at first." I sigh hating the question.
"Katara I… I guess I… you've never hit me before… I mean Sokka has pushed me before and stuff so it wasn't unexpected, but you…you always protected and defended me… to have your sole defender to hurt you…it… it tore me apart… I never in my whole life expected…" I break off unable to continue. With her thumb she wipes away some tears that I didn't even realise had leaked out, and bends her head down to give me kiss on the cheek.
"Aang…I didn't realise I meant that much to you… I'm so sorry... I hurt you more than I could have ever realised." Katara hugs me close and we stay that way for several minutes, eventually she releases her hold. "I think we should move you to the bed, because I don't think the floor is very comfy." I smile, 'my thoughts exactly.' She pulls me up with one hand around my shoulders and the other around my waist and we limp over to the bed where Katara lays me down. She sits on the bed beside me and places her hand on my cheek. "Now you've got to promise me that you won't get up by yourself. Your ribs are still weak and can break easily just like it did a while ago." My eyes widen, 'I broke my ribs? Well that explains the difficulty in breathing.'
"What?"
"That's why you blacked out on Appa and nearly blacked out now. Two of your ribs broke and were pressing tightly on your lungs, restricting your breathing." I look at her at shock, 'so I was almost gone…if Katara didn't heal me… wait she managed to kind of fix a broken bone.' I gaze at her in awe.
"Thanks Katara, for everything." She gives me a warm smile. Just then Sokka appears at the door.
"Hey guys is everything ok?" I blink, he must have left when I nearly passed out, 'I didn't even realise.' I grin at him to assure him everything is cool. He hesitantly walks over. "Aang I'm…" I put my hand up.
"Sokka don't bother. I forgive you. I kind of had it coming anyway. I promise I will never be dishonest ever again." Sokka smiles at me.
"And I promise I will never hurt you again, because it was wrong." I grin in content and drift into a pleasant sleep, knowing that my friends and family will always be there when I need them.
A/N: Hi thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Please no flames but comments and suggestions are very much welcomed. Thanks everyone