Full Summary:

Aang tried to take away Ozai's ability to bend but he failed…miserably. Now, he is left with no ability to bend after the Phoenix King has stolen his bending. Ozai is already showing signs of being able to airbend, and things can only get worse. The world is crumbling after they accomplished so much, and the group begins to wonder if hope will ever reenter their hearts.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I did enjoy the television show and had a spark of inspiration after watching the last two episodes of the show today.

I hope that you enjoy the story. I would like to hear your opinion. Should I continue this? I left it short, but the chapters will be longer later, if you enjoy the plot.

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Katara stiffened when she heard the news. Zuko was standing next to her, rubbing his eyes and contemplating what they were going to do. They were trapped in the Fire Nation right after they had taken it back from Azula's harsh fist. There were signs of joy that the war was finally over, but the news that they had just received brought about a rebellion which pushed Katara and Zuko into hiding in the catacombs beneath the palace with a grumpy Appa at their side. Aang could no longer bend and the Phoenix King was showing signs of being able to airbend.

"What happened? What could Aang have done to cause him to lose his bending?" Katara asked in a low voice.

Zuko shook his head. "We won't know until we take Appa back to the camp near Ba Sing Se. That is the rendezvous point that we agreed on if something went wrong."

Katara nodded and opened her water pouch. Zuko was still in pain and the least she could do was attempt to heal him again after they had fled in such a rush. Katara pursed her lips as she worked. She wanted to see Aang. What did he do? The question still stung her mind.

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Aang huffed out deep breaths as he hid from the Phoenix King. The lionturtle said that he had to have a pure heart in order to take away bending or else evil would take over. He shuddered as he tried to perform his favorite airbending trick and found that he couldn't. His mind was working frantically because Sokka, Toph, and Suki were still in the aircrafts and unable to escape without causing a scene. Katara and Zuko were still taking back the Fire Nation, and there was no word on their rate of success.

Aang could hear callous laughs and the sound of rushing wind. He held closer to the tree behind him as the wind tugged at his clothing, urging him out of his hiding spot. Ozai had stolen his bending.

Everything was going wrong! His mind was attacking himself. He could see Ozai before him, cowering after he had just caught the lightening. He redirected it into the air! Why didn't he just end Ozai's life? The lionturtle had told him that there could be a risk and he thought that simply removing the man's bending would be the better option. He shivered while he was thinking. What would happen to Toph, Sokka, Suki, Katara and Zuko? He had failed them.

He darted through the trees, still running away from the beckoning flames that were destroying the foliage around him. They would have to rendezvous at the camp near Ba Sing Se.

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"What happened?" Suki said with a tinge of fear in her voice. "Aang disappeared after that flash of red light."

Sokka stared off of the top of the craft. He frowned and squinted his eyes to get accustomed to the distance. "Something is wrong. The Fire Lord is…moving air?" he whispered. He opened his eyes wider at the sight of the Fire Lord creating a large and out of control tornado. "We have to get out of here. Katara and Zuko will get the news shortly. We have to get to the rendezvous point in order to regroup and get the whole story. Hopefully, Aang is not hurt."

Toph grabbed for Suki's hand and they entered the aircraft in order to get off of the top. They ran through hallways unnoticed, but found it difficult to escape while high in the air. They entered the control room and took over thanks to Toph's metalbending. They landed the aircraft and escaped without being caught.

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"What did you say?" Iroh asked, deeply in shock of the news he had just heard.

Jeong Jeong stared for a short while and then cleared his throat. They were sitting in the palace of the Earth Kingdom capital of Ba Sing Se and had just received the terrible news. He reread the letter from Zuko which had just arrived moments ago via messenger hawk. "Phoenix King Ozai has defeated Aang and is showing signs of being able to airbend." He looked at Iroh, his eyes hardened from years of bad news. "We must come up with another plan. The Avatar…" his eyes turned to face the ground. He knew that having hope in a child was trivial. He looked back up at Iroh, "has failed."

Bumi snorted in the background. "I know Aang. He could not have failed."

Iroh looked at all of his White Lotus companions. "We will find out eventually. Katara and Zuko are coming back to Ba Sing Se. Since Aang has…" he paused, "failed us, we can only wait for their return. We were victorious in recapturing Ba Sing Se. And from the beginning of the letter, Zuko said that he had taken back the Fire Nation."

Jeong Jeong started to breathe heavy. "We can only wait now."

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You have reached the end of this chapter. I hope that you enjoyed it and are begging for more. I came up with this story after watching the last couple of episodes in the third book and wondered… "hmmm, what would have happened if…"

Those types of questions can get you in trouble, but I was still curious after a couple of hours, so I hope that you enjoyed this.

Please review and tell me where you think this should lead to, what I should improve, etc.

Thank you for reading.