Hello out there! Hope you like this story, and I also hope to see reviews.
Disclaimer: The duck goes quack, the cow goes moo. I don't own Avatar, so please don't sue.
Chapter One
The wind blew strong, sending drops of rain hard against Aang's back. Aang looked out into the rough storm and shivered. The next day was definately going to be a long one. The twelve year old boy was standing out on the large, loft-like balcolny of the house that Fire Lord Zuko had had built for Aang and his friends. He always found peace out on the balcolny, and spent a lot of time there. The night was getting colder, and he was about to go inside when the door slid open, followed by a familiar voice.
"Aang?" A hand was gently placed on his shoulder. "You okay?" Aang smiled at the sound of Katara's voice. "Yeah," he said quietly, turning to face his friend. Katara crossed her arms, and leaned against the wooden railing, trying to make a source of warmth for herself. "It's really cold, Aang. You should come inside." Aang didn't mind the cold, but he reasoned with Katara. "Yeah, you're right." They walked through the door into the warm house.
Toph greeted him with a, "Whatcha doin' out there, Twinkle Toes?" "Just...doing some thinking," Aang replied. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, Twinkles, isn't it your turn to make dinner? We're starving." Aang sat down at the kitchen table. "I thought it was Sokka's turn tonight." Toph leaned in and whispered in Aang's ear, "It is, but do you really want to have burned sea prunes again?" Aang shuddered at the thought. "Okay, okay, I'll cook," he said quietly. Toph smiled her reply and leaned back in her chair, hands behind her head.
Aang went to the closet where they kept the pots, pans, etc, and picked out a large pot. He carried it over to the stove, and set it on the counter. He concentrated for a few seconds, then a flame appeared in his hands. He lit the stove, glad to do some firebending. He hadn't done any since his battle with Ozai. Once the stove was running smoothly, he bended some water into the p'ot, and placed it on the stove to boil. He bended the flames so that they would go higher, that way the water would boil quicker, but lost control of the fire. It was accidently bended off of the stove and into the air, and kept spreading and spreading.
Having not firebended for months now, Aang couldn't control it like he normally could. The fire caught onto the wooden kitchen tables, then spread, until the entire room and his clothes were on fire. For some reason his firebending wasn't working with him, and this was bad. Very bad. Then Aang realized Toph, Katara, and Sokka were in the next room, and the fire was still spreading. "Katara!" he yelled, the fire reaching his skin, "Toph! Sokka! Run! Get out! Hurry!" They all hesitated, seeing flames coming from the kitchen, not wanting to leave him behind. But realizing their wasn't much they could do: Sokka was defenseless, Katara had no source of water, and they were inside a house, leaving Toph no earth, they followed Aang's orders and evacuated. On the way out, Momo managed to fly out, landing on Sokka's shoulder once they were outside.
"What if he doesn't make it?" Katara asked worriedly. "He'll be fine, Katara," said Sokka. "After all, he is a firebender." Katara replied, "I know that, Sokka. So since he's a firebender, don't you think he would've been able to stop it by now?" Sokka was about to say something, but was inturrupted by Aang's screams coming from the house, followed by a loud BOOM, and then silence. The fire seemed to have died done a bit since they last looked, and Katara gathered some water to put the rest of it out. The three then ran back into the house, and up to the kitchen where Aang was.
They found Aang laying on the floor, unmoving. His eyes were shut tight, and he was grabbing one of his hands tight with the other. Both were badly burnt, along with just about the rest of him, but the hand he was holding looked the worst. Sokka took a look around the kitchen. "Oh..Man.." he said under his breath, looking over all of the burnt items. Katara raced over to Aang, inspecting each burn. She wasn't sure if Aang was even alive, and if he was, she didn't know if she could heal such bad burns.
As Katara was about to walk away, Aang's eyes opened slowly, he moaned. "Aang!" Katara yelled, hugging him. Aang cried out in pain. She released him, laying him back on the floor. "Sorry." Aang blinked hard once, then replied, "It's okay." Katara took off Aang's shoes, and examined his feet. They were burnt, too, but not as badly. "You don't look so good," she said. Aang said, "Yeah...I know."
"I wish I could heal you," said Katara, "But it might be too bad. And besides that, my waterbending has been acting weird, lately." Aang caught that last part, "Really? My bending has been acting strange, too! That's how..Well, that's how this happened." Sokka chimed in, "That, or you're a really bad cook." Katara barked back with a, "Shut up, Sokka." Sokka fell silent when it reoccured to him that this was important.
"So what are we going to do?" Sokka asked. Katara shrugged, "Take him to the nearest hospital, I guess." Aang sat up, but then layed back down in pain, "Ow...Ow...Wait? The hospital? No way am I going to a hospital! I hate those things!" Sokka laughed, "You're scared of hospitals? Haha.. Too bad you have to go to one." Aang glared at him to the point where Sokka actually got kind of freaked out, then in a deep voice, Aang said, "You take me to that hospital, Sokka, and I swear, I will-" "Enough!" Katara yelled. "Sokka, shut up. Aang, you can stay away from hospitals for now, but if those burns get any worse, that's the first place we'll be going." Aang just gave up, saying, "Deal."
"Sokka," she said, "Go get some water. I'm going to see what I can do with these burns." "Fine..." Sokka said before rushing out with a jug to do as Katara told him. "Toph, go find a towel or cloth or something for him to bite down on..." Aang looked terrified. "Aang, just hold still. I'm not sure if this is going to work or not, but it's worth the try, right?" Aang looked unsure, but he nodded. "Look, I know this is going to hurt. But don't worry about it."
Sokka and Toph both returned from their collections, and handed them to Katara, first the water, then the towel. Katara set the jug of water at her side. "Lay straight on your back, and relax. Try not to move, and here, bite down on this," she said, folding up the small towel and placing it between his teeth. She held her hands over the water, and before she did anything, added one more instruction, "Close your eyes!" She then bended the water out of the jug and onto one of the burns on Aang's stomach. She began trying to heal it, but the water seemed to take control of itself, and was pushing on the burn rather than healing it. Through the towel, you could hear Aang screaming for her to stop, only to be told that she couldn't, the water was doing it. When Katara finally managed to take control of the water, she bended it back into the jug.
Aang's burn looked worse than before, and was in a lot of pain. Katara took the towel back out of his mouth, and through his teeth, he said, "What...Is wrong...With...The elements.."
Yeah, it's short, so what? Anyways, please review!
I hope you like it. Please review. Good or bad, doesn't matter.
And to those of you who read the first version of this and liked it, sorry that it's no longer...Well, it.
Flameo, hotman, Love, The Fire Nation.
Stay cool, Love, The Water Tribes.
Don't forget to feed your lemur, Love, The Air Nomads (AKA Aang)
Watch out for badgermoles, Love, The Earth Kingdom.