Summary: Prince Zuko has joined the trio and vowed his loyalty to the others, Aang has finished waterbender in the North Pole, but has yet to learn earthbending. And now admiral Zhou wants Zuko dead more than Aang, so he can prove to the banished prince that he is a worthless scum with no honor... some romance in later chapters...OoO

Katara has learned waterbending too, so that means I wont have random events were, in the middle of the night she goes off and practices her waterbending, oh no, that's not me. That will be someone else, for a totally different reason. She hasn't gotten her necklace back, but that will come up late rand yadda, yadda, yadda. As for everyone else, well, Aang mastered waterbending, Zuko lightened up and stated having vivid nightmares, and for Sokka, well, he's just Sokka, you know?

"text"- someone talking

text- flashback or dream

(text)- probably me speaking

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or any of the characters, I have new places and a couple random people, those belong to me, the rest... no, I unfortunately don't and never will own that other stuff

Part One: Haunted Memories

The avatar's forehead was grasped by the prince's burning hand and the water peasant's boomerang in the other. They were all in fighting postures and were all about to make their final move, until they overheard Katara scream. The three boys turned their heads to see an admiral's hand come out of the darkness and grab her wrist.

He saw the fear in her Sapphire eyes, the fear his eyes wore when he knew his father turned into a terrible man and left his mark that will never be forgotten. Her hands tumbling as one of the admiral's rough hands gripped her right wrist tightly. She winced in pain, her eyes beginning to fog up, a quite whimper escape her lips before she shut her eyes. Six people... the trio, a banished prince, a retired general and a (rather annoying) admiral were on the dead end of a cliff hanging above the angry sea.

"There is no where to run, my prince, hand over the avatar!" hissed Zhou. "And I suggest you come quietly also, for entering fire nation territory and betraying the fire nation once again"

"And what if I don't, Commander Zhou" he said through his clenched jaw, the mention of his name made ice run through his veins.

The prince's smart remark made Zhou's face ablaze, "That's Admiral to you!.. And if you really need to know..." his grip on Katara tightened, and her skin beneath his fingers began to smoke. "...Others will suffer for your incompetence!"

The water tribe girl shuddered in pain, but refused to show any other signs of weakness to the admiral

Sokka finally spoke up, "HEY! That's not fair! Leave my sister out of this! It's not like this guy is gonna care, I mean rea...", but he was cut off short by a loud thud.

He turned his head slightly to see that Zuko dropped his boomerang on the damp dirt, but Aang was still in his tight grasp.

Zhou's scowl slowly turned into an evil smirk as he surveyed Zuko... he wasn't bluffing, he would give up his soul for another person's life.

"I don't want anymore people to die because of this stupid war." The prince barely whispered, yet everyone could hear him.

"WHAT?" Sokka practically screamed, "What about Aang? Huh? He's going to die!"

"No, you idiot" The prince said flatly, "If the avatar is to die he... or she would just be reincarnated" Even if you didn't know Zuko, you could tell that his voice held all his painful emotions he stored. The feelings he held since his mother died, anger, frustration, sorrow, but mostly... pain. Pain when his mother died, pain when his father wouldn't back down from his own son, pain when the flames of his father's own hand created the scar on his eye... Pain when he was banished for caring for his people, for caring for what he had, and all that he loved. The pain that flowed threw his veins and followed him where ever he went, that made him feel that the whole nation, no... the entire world turned against him.

Rage engulfed Zuko, his eyes widened as he realized if he had that much pain in him, what was the point to live? He understood that the avatar had only been "alive" for two months, and Zuko had been searching for two years. Did his father really not want him?His eyes glassed over and his muscles loosened, his mouth agape. Then slowly, he took his hand off of Aang's forehead and took the twelve year old's wrist. As if in a trance, he took stumbling steps forward, dragging the avatar behind him.

Iroh had a confused look upon his face, he was behind and to the left of Zhou. He looked at the admiral's expression and it was almost as stunned as the retired generals was. But his confusion was not long lived for soon enough, his open mouth turned into another smirk.

"That's right, prince Zuko. You should be happy to die in front of your father, you should be happy that your making everyone's life oh, so much better by your death." Zhou scoffed.

Zuko was only a few steps away from Zhou, when Iroh finally took charge. "Zhou! What would you gain if you killed my nephew?" Zuko stopped in his tracks, he was still in a trance, for his eyes were still paper white and his grip on Aang didn't loosen. Everyone (excluding Zuko) watched Iroh lecture the coward of an admiral. "Huh? No, really Zhou, what is it about pain that brings you pleasure?"

There was silence, the trio thought that admiral Zhou was actually thinking for a moment, but they were wrong. He was taking in the moment. He raised his arm up swiftly to meet the defenseless prince's face. He pointed to Zuko and then stated (not really speaking to anyone exactly), "How about the look of terror upon there face when they know that this could be the last thing they ever do..." He ignited his finger that was placed in between the prince's eyes. He laughed as he let the fire that moved gracefully around his hand sprung to life and flew from his hand and was headed right for Zuko. Before anyone knew what happened, Iroh took the fire that was Zhou's creation and bended it away from Zuko and under his control, and finally, extinguishing it.

Anger took over the proud admiral. His body was engulfed by flames licking his body. His anger growing by the old man's sudden act. "How dare you, HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT THE FIRE LORD!My master would be happy that this is happening!"

"I am not enjoying the pain and suffering my brother is bringing, You lousy excuse of an admiral! I also do not enjoy that you are trying to murder, not only the fire nations prince, but my nephew!"

Something in Iroh's words made something inside Zhou snap. "YOU HAVE GOTTEN IN MY WAY TO MANY TIMES OLD MAN! GOOD BYE YOU DAMNED BASTARD!" and with that, he threw an intense fiery punch at Iroh. The second's turned to minutes and the blaze made something click inside Zuko. He blinked and he regained his sight, fire to Zuko has always been something, he thought like him, dangerous, misunderstood, hated by mostly everything and everyone and... alone. His Eyes widened and he let go of Aang. And then... and Then everything sped up again. The fiery blast finally landed and hit Iroh squarely in the chest. It threw him back... and to Zuko's horror, over the cliff and into the raging sea below.

...Silence...

"UNCLE!"

Zuko shot up from under his blanket. His eyes wide and his body beaded with sweat, he looked down at his hands, they were shaking like mad. He sighed and closed his eyes, "Why must my nightmares haunt me?" he whispered to himself.

"Are you okay Zuko?" Katara whispered, "You've been talking to yourself all night..." She trailed off.

Zuko's eyes darted from place to place, taking in what happened just last night.

"Just be glad that those two are heavy sleepers..." She jabbed a finger into Sokka's head, who was sleeping next to her, "...Or these two would have been on your case forever."

"Yes, I'm fine, It's just that-"

"That you can't stop thinking about last night?.. Look, Zuko, I am SO, so sorry about what happened to your uncle... He seemed like a very kind man, and I bet you loved him very much."

"Yeah I guess I did, I never really thought of it that way, but my uncle was like the father that I never knew..." Zuko look up at the full moon, it reminded him of when his uncle tried to make him appreciate the finer things in life, before he was banished, and before he didn't have a home... a before he didn't have an uncle. Tears started swelling up in his eyes, but he managed to wipe them away before Katara saw his tears.

"But what I don't understand is, after Zhou, um..." Katara looked for the right words to use, "Pushed your uncle, and then you attacked him, but you didn't even, well, hurt him. You just made him back off, and now that he knows that you joined us, that means he'll probably tell your father..." She was caught short by Zuko whispering, "He's not my father, he never was... and never will be."

The water tribe girl thought about what he said then continued from where she stopped before, "Yes, well, he'll probably tell the fire lord that disrespected him and now... wouldn't Zhou want to, um... kill you more than before? I mean, I saw how much he hated you, before and after you knocked him out."

A small sigh was heard from Zuko and Katara took that as a yes. "You should probably get some rest, we have a long day tomorrow, and I don't want another boy sleeping on Appa, she turned her head to face Sokka again. She looked back at Zuko, she could tell from his eyes that he was scared... they were full of anger and pain... just like hers. "please," she almost mouthed, but the prince could hear her, "Please..." she repeated, "Don't let the emotions in you bottle up and destroy you from the inside. I know how you feel, like no one wants you, like you just have no reason to live... but then I found out that's not true, everyone, including Sokka, live for something. You were meant to help the avatar, overthrow the fire lord and call off the war. I know how you feel, but you can't let it get the best of you." she smiled to the prince, "good night" she whispered. Then she turned over and tried to fall asleep.

"Good night" prince Zuko responded. He felt hot tears swell up inside of him, and let them fall freely down his face. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Okay! first chapter... done! okay, okay, I know what you're thinking WTF? You killed Iroh? What the hell's your problem? so no flames, please and for you guys (well for me too, I like Iroh) He didn't really die:) Alright? There, he'll be back in the later chapters, not as a spirit, but as a real live human being