Avatar 03

Author Notes: My take on what might happen in Season 3. This is another one of those fics that is made to kill waiting time for Book 3's premiere. I'm not a shipper so yes, this is not a shipping story but I'll be writing things according to what we've seen in the previews (Comic Con panel, comic, commercial, etc.). This includes the "leak" so if you haven't seen them and you don't want to be spoiled, I recommend you to not even go past this paragraph.

Disclaimer: All Avatar: The Last Airbender characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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Episode 1 - Once Again

It's been almost one week since he has returned home. One week and two days since he has last seen his tea loving uncle. Four days and he barely got any sleep. Within one day and a half, he heard that his father requests an audience with him. So now, here he is, sitting in his bedroom that he can barely recognize anymore. Two years being gone and you come home expecting everything to be the same.

Except, it never did to begin with.

Prince Zuko sighed as he stared sadly at himself at his parlor mirror that was next to his bed. His outfit consisted of a royal military suit and matching boots much like the one he use to wear. Only, a bit more upgraded. His hair was neatly combed and tied into his formal hair bun held by a heirloom clip. Blinking at it, he could barely even recognize himself looking so neat and clean compared to his rugged life-style not too long ago. Shaking his head slowly, he starts again to question why. For once, he went with Azula and was surprised that what she said has been true. His honor seems to have been restored in a way that he's home again and no longer a wanted fugitive.

Yet…, why was his heart tugging at his own soul? Why does he not feel at ease at all of this? He should be happy. He can finally face his father and tell him that he's honored not to be seen as some traitor but as a…

Suddenly, knocking could be heard coming from somewhere interrupting Zuko's wandering thoughts.

"Excuse me, your highness?" a servant's voice drifted through his door. "The Princess's speech is about to begin."

Trying his best to hide most of his emotion, Zuko answered back in a rough tone without looking up, "I'll be right there." As soon as he heard the servant's echoing footsteps walk away, he stood up and faced the closed door. His eyes narrowed at the fleeting memory of his own sister.

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'No!' Aang's thoughts were running as he saw Katara getting cornered by the Dai Li. He knew, he had to do it. Forming a rock barrier around himself, he quickly went into the Avatar State. He remembered reaching his final destination and becoming one with his ultimate Avatar powers. He could feel the surge of energy roaring up within him. Then, suddenly, something went wrong. He felt himself falling. And falling.

Until…

"Ugh," light were pouring through his eyelids. He felt his body laying on something. Something cold. Then, with as much of his energy as he could muster, he started to open his eyes little by little. A bright red insignia was burning into his eyesight. As he opened his eyes wider, a sickening feeling came over him. He quickly sat up and gazed to his right side to see exactly where he was. It was a basic steel cell with no windows. Four torch lights were on both sides of the cell making the cell's lighting somewhat dim. Still, even through some of the patches that the light never touched, he could see a familiar girl dressed in blue staring back at him in surprise.

"Aang, you're awake!" Katara's voice enthusiastically cried out. Her hands were cupping her mouth as a reflex reaction.

"Katara, where are we? This looks like a Fire Nation cell," Aang looked at her still with a puzzled expression. He then looked down at himself and noticed all he was wearing were yellow pants. The top part of his body was covered in bandages. "I remember that I was able to go into my Avatar state. Everything after that is a blank. Where's Sokka? Where's Appa? Where's everyone else?"

"So you don't remember," Katara lowered her hands and looked down at the floor sadly. "You may not like what you're about to hear, but hopefully, we can get out of this mess just like usual."

Aang stared at her suspiciously before looking back to his left where at the huge red banner bearing the red flame was hanging on the wall. Quickly, he scooted away while still watching it with wide eyes. He then headed over to Katara obediently. She was sitting along the wall on her knees. Her eyes were shifting from Aang to the floor a couple of times.

"So, tell me. What happened?" Aang sat down in front of her on his knees as well. Anxiety was building up in his heart. He had to know.

Katara slowly looked back up and peered into his anxious face, "Alright, after you went into the Avatar state, Azula shot you with her lightning. You fell and I had to quickly catch you. We were about to be cornered if it wasn't for Iroh to come and save us. He used himself as a distraction while I got us out using waterbending. Once outside, I found everyone waiting for us. Even the Earth King and his pet bear! Appa flew us as far as possible from the fallen Ba Sing Se. After some time, I used the water from the spirit oasis to heal you of your ailing wound. You opened your eyes and smiled at me just like the first day we met."

At the sound of this, Aang smiled but it vanished as quickly as it came, "So Iroh is…?"

"Most likely, a prisoner of the Fire Nation just like us now."

"Ah…," Aang stared at her dumbfounded.

Katara ignored Aang's expression and continued with her story, "So after you were awake briefly, you fell back unconscious. We assumed that the healing water was working in your system so I had to move it around your body every few hours. My father and his men were waiting for us down by the water so we made Appa to drop us into his boats. We traveled to Chameleon Bay for shelter. The Fire Nation were surely on our tracks but we didn't think they'd catch up quickly so we held camp there.

"Sokka, Dad and some of his men went hunting for food. Toph and I helped out around the camp. Appa and Momo stuck around like usual. The Earth King and his bear…well… nevermind. Anyways, after camping in the bay for two weeks, we went traveling inland through the forest. We believed that it was the best course of action towards hiding ourselves further from the Fire Nation."

"So" Aang said slowly, "what happened? Wasn't that good enough?"

"Apparently, not so," Katara replied, "The Fire Nation has managed to get to Chameleon Bay as we were able to see their ash raining from the sky. We tried moving quicker inland. Then, it happened. We saw this immense collection of fire coming right at us. We had to immediately evacuate the area. Yet, by the time we could actually go anywhere, we were cornered and over-powered. One of the soldiers managed to grab you from under our protection so that forced us to surrender easily. My Father and his men were captured by one set of troops. Another set got the rest of us. Momo and Appa were the only ones who managed to get away.

So, here we are. Stuck captive on a Fire Nation ship heading straight for the Fire Nation."

"WHAT!?" this got Aang's attention fully, "We're going to the Fire Nation?"

"Yeah. Incredible, right?" Katara said it with a lot of disdain before asking Aang to turn around. Aang obeyed without any objections. He was already feeling angry by the minute. Katara gently placed both of her hands on his back and light began to emit upon contact. Moving with grace, Katara lifted her hands up into the air as the healing water smoothly flowed out of Aang's back. She then bended the healing water into its proper container. "Now that you're fully healed, you won't need the water anymore."

Aang stood up and walked back to where the Fire Nation banner was hanging high against the wall. He glared at it before sitting down again. His gaze was now focused on the floor with a dejected look. "It's my fault. I should've gone into the Avatar state earlier but because of my stubbornness, I let everyone down by doing it last minute."

"It's not your fault, Aang. I know it must've been hard for you to commit yourself to it fully," Katara got to her feet and watched him with a worried look. Her left hand was resting against her chest in a squeezed tight ball formation.

"You won't understand," he said with bitterness. "I'm fine with it being my fault. I let you guys down. I let Ba Sing Se down. Now I know, I can't let anyone else get hurt. I must be the one to face the Fire Lord by myself."

"No Aang," Katara said softly. "Don't think like that. You're not alone in this fight against the Fire Lord. I know it may look painful now, but, I'm sure everything will be al----."

"NO IT WON'T!" Aang swiveled his body around to look at Katara. His eyes brimming with anger. He never felt so humiliated in his life. Katara stared sadly at him before sighing.

"Look, we can discuss more on this later. I think it's more important to find a way out, ok?" Katara tried her best to change the subject. She didn't like it when Aang lost his temper just like when they lost Appa to a bunch of sandbending thieves.

Aang's glowered look softened before Aang turned around again to face the wall baring the banner, "You're right. I'm sorry. We should focus on getting out of here." In an instant, Aang bended air to blow himself up onto his feet.

"Toph's been telling me how she was able to manipulate metal when we were in Ba Sing Se," Katara said as she walked up to their cell door and touched it.

"Hmmm. This is steel though," Aang walked up besides Katara and placed both hands on the cell door. He closed his shut tight and began to concentrate. Several minutes later, Aang collapsed in frustration. "No good. I can't seem to bend the door."

"It's alright. You just woke up after being unconscious for days. You probably haven't recovered all of your strength yet," Katara smiled slightly and placed a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly, they heard some loud noise from the other side of the door. Some kind of commotion was going on.

"Hey! You! What are you--!?" a voice shouted before a huge "klang" cut off the voice's sentence.

"Uh, sorry!" apologized a familiar voice as it sounded to get closer and closer towards where Katara and Aang were. "Hey, are you alright, Katara!? Can you even hear me?"

"Sokka! You guys escaped?"

"Yep, Toph finally was able to bend the steel after many failed attempts. Guess she needed me for stamina or something--ow!" Sokka's sentence was also cut off. Aang and Katara could hear a loud bang hit against their door.

"Excuse me blabber mouth. I just couldn't stand hearing your voice so much in that room that I wanted to get out of there," Toph's grumpy voiced flowed through the door. "Now, stand back. I'm about to bend you out of there."

"Wait, why not use this?" Again, Aang and Katara heard some shuffling through the door, then some twinkling noise and then a click. The door then began to slowly swing open…..

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Zuko was standing on a high platform overlooking thousands of Fire Nation soldiers standing in rows. His expression hasn't really changed much from when he was in his bedroom. He was still looking sad and solemn as usual. To his far right was his sister who was standing on a much higher platform and was dressed in a similar outfit to his. Azula's arms were behind her back in a her usual commanding stance. Her eyes were looking hungrily down at the soldiers.

"This is the day we've been all waiting for! We've crushed down the outer and inner walls of Ba Sing Se. We've out-run the Earth King of his throne and taken control of the city. And above all, we have successfully captured a traitor. Someone who doesn't deserve the title of Dragon-of-the-West," Azula said with a sneer. At the mention of Iroh's nickname, Zuko looked away. Azula continued on with her glory speech. "It's such a pity that someone of my own blood ends up going against everything we've worked for. Thankfully, my dear brother over there hasn't fallen into the same fate. I thought we lost him and turned treacherous on us, but I was wrong."

Zuko snapped his head position back to facing down at the soldiers as soon as he heard the word "brother". He could feel Azula's eyes running up and down on him like a hawk. Azula then turned her attention back on the soldiers.

"Furthermore, I want to commend each and every one of you for your job well-done on the war. We still haven't fully won the battle yet, but I can guarantee you that the Fire Nation will be victorious against those who stand in our way. So are you with me?" Azula raised her voice a bit higher on her final sentence. In response to her question, the rows of soldiers roared and cheered back in a chorus of voices. Zuko looked up toward the sky and wished for the event to be over with. The knot in his stomach was getting stronger every second as his most anticipated visit was next.

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The prison door was wide open to reveal a guy, dressed all in red, and a girl, dressed in green, standing on the other side. The guy's eyes were very wide as he couldn't believe who he was seeing from the other side of the prison door.

"Aang, you're awake!?" asked a surprised Sokka who was staring back at Aang in shock. Aang was also staring at Sokka in shock.

"Sokka, you're wearing a Fire Nation's soldier outfit?" As soon as Aang asked this question, Sokka froze and looked down at himself.

"Well, yeah. After we got ourselves out, we managed to knock down a couple of the guards. I stole their clothing. Easiest way to get around, don't you think?"

Katara grinned and patted Sokka's back on her way out of the cell. "Good thinking, big brother."

Sokka smiled with an approving face. Toph gagged from hearing the scene before returning her concentration on feeling the floor for any vibrations from the guards. Katara walked along the cell hall before pausing before a brown colored tapestry hanging on the wall. Sokka turned to her with a suspicious look on his face. "And what do you think you're doing?"

Katara carefully took off the tapestry and brought it back to her companions. She held it out towards Aang who was leaning against the cell's door frame. "Here, put this on at once or you'll catch a cold wearing nothing but those bandages." Aang blushed a little as he took the tapestry and wrapped it around him.

"Thanks Katara."

"Ah-hem! I can feel Fire Nation soldiers coming in at close proximity," piped up Toph who was standing behind Sokka with her arms at her side. Everyone looked at each other in deep thought before Aang stepped out of the cell.

"Well then, we better leave before they can throw us back in! Let's go!" Aang charged right through the narrow hallway passing both Sokka and Toph. Eventually, everyone was following behind his tail. They turned corners and went through many passages throughout the hallways. Then finally, they managed to get to the door that leads them to the outside. Sokka licked his lips before turning his head towards Toph.

"Are you sure they're coming after us still? I thought this was too…. EASY!!" Sokka immediately raised his voice on his final word as a ball of flame flew past his head and hit the door. Thankfully, everyone else saw it so they ducked ahead of time. They turned around to find six soldiers walking up their hallway. Aang used his airbending to knock the soldiers off their feet and then, used another blast of air on the burning fire that was guarding the door. That only gave them some time to try to figure out how to open the door.

"Sokka, push down! Not pull up!" Katara's voice cried out as she watched her brother shove himself against the door. Toph flexed her arms before pushing Sokka to the side.

"Let me do it my way," Toph said as she placed both hands on the door. Soon, the door was able to bang open and they were free. Free that is, until they were greeted with more Fire Nation soldiers who were scattered on the ship's deck.

"It's the Avatar! They've escaped! Catch them!" someone among the soldiers shouted. At the voice's command, the soldiers dropped whatever they were doing and formed a ring around the Aang gang. Aang put his hands up in a defense pose. Toph was clenching her hands hard in mid-air as she glared back at the soldiers. Katara readied a water whip from the body of water that was rocking the ship. Sokka also placed himself in a defense position.

They weren't ready to give up just yet.

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The room was still the same from how he remembered it. It was vastly cold and dark except for the back part of the room which was engulfed in flame. A row of flame was burning from a long wall stretching from one side of the room to the other guarding a shadowed figure seated in the middle of it. Another man dressed in a long deep red outfit, was standing right beside the wall of fire and had his arms to his side as he looked out toward nothing in front of him.

"My Lord. Prince Zuko has come to see you upon your request," the man said in a humble voice. There was a brief moment of silence before the voice behind the fiery curtain spoke.

"So, my son," said the shadow figure in a disappointing tone, "you have come back to me. Empty handed without the Avatar just like your fore-fathers. Only, you brought back that traitorous brother of mine."

Zuko stared low to the floor. He was sitting on his legs at the center of the cold part of the room facing the shadowed figure who was covered by the flames. The man who addressed his presence earlier was still standing besides the wall of fire. This time, he had his arms behind his back. Zuko's father continued to speak.

"You are lucky enough that your sister allowed you to come back home. Any further mistakes and you would have been banished completely. Do I make myself clear?" The second brief moment of silence came and passed quickly. Zuko looked up towards the shadowed figure before returning his gaze towards the floor.

"Yes, Father."

"Good. Now, I have word that the Avatar has been captured. He should be arriving in less than a few days from now. I'm leaving you in charge of watching over him. Do not disappointment me again. Now go," Ozai ended his sentence with a dreary tone. Zuko stood up and made a small bow towards the shadowed figure. He turned around and kept staring at the floor. His expression was filled with disappointment of its own. This wasn't what he was expecting at all.

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Fire roared into the air as it pummeled towards the Aang gang. Katara whipped water at it to form a shield and then, it happened all too quickly. They were all split up focusing on different areas of the ship. Katara was brought farther towards the opposite end of the ship. Sokka was off to the side while Toph and Aang were left to defend themselves in the middle.

Katara managed to hold off majority of the soldiers sending them over-board. Realization hit her as she noticed the rest of the soldiers were all in the hull's area. Sokka was watching in panic since he didn't have any weapon with him. Aang, without his staff, relied solely on waterbending. The soldiers started sending fire out towards him and Toph. At the same time, they took the opportunity to walk closer to them. Aang stepped in front of Toph and bended the water to freeze making some of the soldiers to slip on it. It wasn't enough to keep the soldiers at bay. Those who were still standing started to attack again.

Three of the soldiers managed to make a combined fireball shot out at Toph and Aang. Katara's voice rang out from somewhere. "Watch out!"

Aang quickly used his firebending to catch the huge fireball and send it back towards the soldiers. The soldiers ducked as the incoming flame went right into the hull part that's sticking out. A huge explosion emitted from the impact. Huge dark clouds of smoke began billowing from the broken part of the hull. Toph's eyes narrowed as she began feeling the floor. "They're still there but.. I feel something else now. Something below us!"

Aang looked at her with a surprised face. "What?"

"Uh, guys? A little help over here!" Sokka exclaimed as he noticed a big muscular Fire Nation soldier standing several feet away from him. His expression was rather menacing. Sokka panicked as he looked both ways to find something that he could use to fend off the soldier. The soldier bared his teeth and moved his hands into a position that was to form a fire ball.

A loud bubbling sound started to rise in volume in the water behind Sokka. He was too scared to look over the ship to see what it was so he continued to focus his attention on the soldier. All of a sudden, boom! The water exploded upward toward the sky. Sokka's eyes were bulging as he stood rooted on his spot. The serpent's head and part of its body was looming over him. Its mouth was wide open staring at the smoking Fire Nation ship. A single roar came out.

"Ahhhh! Everyone, abandon ship!" hollered one of the Fire Nation soldiers. At once, people started to scatter and run in all different directions. The serpent roared again as it watched with interest at all the scared humans. Some of the soldiers went inside the ship's smoking hull. Others jumped overboard thinking they have a better chance trying to swim to safety. The Aang gang stood their ground among all the soldiers running past them.

"We must be in the Serpent's Pass!" shouted Aang as he saw the serpent ready to strike the ship with its long body. Katara wasted no time in trying her best to shoot water up at the serpent's belly. The serpent got splashed but it didn't go back down into the water. It only looked back at the Aang gang with angry eyes.

"Well, is that the best you can come up with?" Sokka said almost sarcastically as he couldn't let go of his stare on the serpent. Aang decided to waterbend a huge jet of water to push the serpent away. Katara joined Aang in his water wall attempt. Then, out of nowhere, everyone could hear a new noise joining the action. Another familiar loud roar coming from the sky. Aang stared up with a smile on his face.

"Appa!" Upon the moment of shouting his name, Appa appeared along with Momo as the two dashed towards the serpent. The serpent turned and stared in surprise at the flying sky bison. It roared at Appa who only roared back with a louder roar. The serpent blinked before quickly diving into the water never to be seen again. The Aang gang were stunned at what happened. Especially Sokka, whose mouth dropped pretty low.

"That's it!? That's how easy it is to scare the great ferocious serpent? Well, we should've rescued Appa much much earlier! What were we thinking leaving Appa in the hands of a bunch of sandbenders?" Sokka said a lot of this more to himself as he flailed his arms in the air. As soon as Appa and Momo landed on the ship, the magic wore off and everyone was happy enough that Appa was there to save them.

"Thank you," Aang hugged Appa's head before letting go. Appa grunted a little as he stared up at his long time companion before opening his mouth and lash out a giant lick onto Aang's face. "Hahahaha! It's been a long time haven't it?" Momo landed on Aang's shoulder as soon as Appa's licking was done. "I miss you too, Momo!" Aang rubbed Momo's head light-heartedly. Suddenly, reality hit him and the smile that he once had on vanished completely. Momo chirped before jumping off of Aang.

Meanwhile, Katara was on Appa's saddle rummaging through their supplies that they left there before being cornered by the Fire Nation guards. "Ah good. They're still here!" Katara said happily she took out four dark brownish-red cloaks from a sack. Carefully, she slid down from Appa's back and headed toward her companions. She handed out the cloaks to Sokka and Toph, but when she got to Aang, he simply shook his head in refusal.

"Aang, please take it. You'll need this when we get into the Fire Nation," Katara said as she balanced holding the additional cloak while putting one onto her self. Aang was once again wearing his bitter expression.

"No. I won't go into hiding. I'll let the Fire Nation capture me once you guys are safe and well-hidden."

"Aang, you're talking suicide!" Sokka exaggerated as he clumsily got the cloak over his head. "Besides, we won't let you go down without a fight. We're a team you know!"

"Yeah, twinkle toes!" Toph said as she punched Aang's arm. "I didn't train you to fight by yourself! You still haven't fully mastered earth yet, either." She took a huge step back as she felt another presence come closer to Aang.

"They're right, Aang. I understand that you think it's still your fault that this has happened but no one is blaming you. Toph made an excellent point as well. You didn't fully master the elements yet. That's why you still need us," Katara said with assurance. She watched as the young boy placed a hand across his chest through his tapestry cloak. His face was still absent of that usual carefree look. Katara smiled and decided to change the subject for the second time today. "I like your hair."

"I have hair!?" Aang exclaimed with widened eyes and he reached up to touch his head. He could feel the soft bristles on his head and stood there in amazement for a few seconds. "It feels sort of weird."

"Well, have no fear of being weird! Let Sokka, the hair master, teach you all about maintaining a nice eloquent style. Just-like-me," the water tribe boy pointed to his hair-do with a dignified look. Toph began to laugh as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Dignified? Hair master? Please! If I could see, I bet it looks like a bush rather than anything fancy!"

"Actually, she's right. It looks simply like a bush," Katara stared at Sokka's hair with one eyebrow up.

"Hey, don't make fun of my warrior wolf tail!" Sokka said in a defending manner as he placed both hands on his hair. Everyone else started to laugh. Surprisingly, Aang joined in with them. As soon as the laughter died down, Aang looked at his friends solemnly.

"Um… I guess you're right. I can't work by myself. If it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have made it this far."

"Yes, now you're thinking in the right direction," Katara said calmly. "Didn't we all agree that we were a family?" She and Aang looked around to see heads nodding. Aang smiled in response. Sokka walked over to where Appa was and stood in front of his face.

"Everyone, group hug time!" as soon as he said that, everyone moved towards him. Katara to his right. Toph to his left feeling for their shoulders. Aang was across from him. Momo came out of nowhere and jumped back onto Aang's head. They squeezed tightly against each other as if, their bond could never be broken. A sense of peace fell over despite the sky's dark outlook.

They had a long journey ahead of them. That's for sure.

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Zuko was wistfully watching the far distance of the kingdom from on top of one of the palace's walls. His hair was no longer in its smooth clean state and tied up with the royal heirloom clip. It was now in its unkempt style that he bared when he was in Ba Sing Se. A dark muddy red cloak was draped over his royal military outfit. The sky, itself, matched his feelings pretty well. It was dark and dismal. Not a single patch in the sky. His thoughts were zooming in and out of his head as memories, themselves, encircled his confusion. Nothing felt right to him anymore.

"What's the matter?" came a worried sounding voice from behind him. Zuko didn't look up to see who it was as there was no need to do so. He felt an almost completely covered black glove touch his cheek as the source of the voice came up close in front of him. "You know you can tell me anything that's troubling your heart." Mai smiled as she edged her face closer to his. Her fingers were cold as ice as they rubbed slowly back and forth on his cheek.

Zuko stared dead ahead with his sad expression. At this moment, he couldn't feel anything. He didn't feel like doing anything. He wished he wasn't there at all. Soon, he felt Mai's lips meeting his and his eyes closed slowly further into his own despair….

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To Be Continued….

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A.N. Reminder: Please do not kill me anti-Maiko people! Remember, I am not a shipper. I am doing things according to what's been seen so far! There are "ulterior motives" at stake which you'll find sooner or later.

Side Note: I have not forgotten my Dream Saga fic but Avatar has fully captured my attention at this moment.