This is Rin Bluegold, presenting my first fanfiction post, THE ISLAND!!! It's been stuck in my head for a year and a half now, and I think it's high time I typed it up instead of leaving it to rot away in an old notebook under my bed.

Enjoy!

The sun was just peeking over the eastern horizon when the Avatar and his friends set out for the Southern Water Tribe. They'd spent the past year in the Earth Kingdom, helping to rebuild the cities and villages ravaged by the war. Katara could hardly wait to see her home again. She couldn't sleep at all the night before knowing that she was finally going home again.

They were all going, even Zuko. He wanted to spend the next month winning the villagers' trust and friendship, something that he'd already accomplished in the Earth Kingdom. Peace and unity were to be the foundations of his rule in the Fire Nation, so he needed total cooperation.

Katara knew he was nervous. He wasn't sure how they would receive him, even though Chief Hakoda had promised to convince them of Zuko's integrity and honor. Katara sat beside him on Appa's saddle, watching quietly as Aang and Toph laughed and chattered happily together at the reins. Although she had kissed Aang after Sozin's Comet, their relationship had somehow settled back into its old pace instead of growing into something more. Katara didn't know how or why Aang's feelings for her could have faded so easily, and it left her feeling sad and lonely.

Thinking about it brought back the depression. Katara sighed deeply and leaned back against the saddle.

"What's the matter?" Zuko asked, a bit detached in his anxiety.

"Nothing," Katara replied, trying to give him a reassuring smile but failing miserably. The depression hit harder this time, as it always did when Aang was in view, but worse because of his seemingly innocent interaction with a girl who was not only his own age, but who was little by little becoming more girlish and mature. Toph wore her hair down nowadays; she started doing it out of nowhere a couple of months ago, around the time when Aang began hanging around her more often.

Zuko sensed that Katara wasn't telling the truth, but he didn't press the matter. After a moment's silence, Katara figured she needed to stop worrying about Aang and give a little comfort to Zuko.

"The villagers aren't going to chase you out with spears and ice picks," she told him teasingly.

Zuko fixed his gaze on a flock of pelican-geese floating lazily by. "I'm not worried about that. I....I'm worried that they'll be afraid of me, like all those villagers in the Earth Kingdom."

"They won't be," Katara assured him, "Dad and the other warriors gave you their word that they would handle it. You trust them, don't you?"

"Yes, of course. But that doesn't help my nerves."

They sat there silently after that, but Zuko seemed grateful for Katara's concern.

The ride became boring very quickly. Katara tried to listen to Sokka, who was excitedly educating Suki on Water Tribe customs and all the people he and Katara grown up with, but Katara couldn't keep up. She wondered at how Suki could.

After a while, Katara dozed off. She must have slept for a long time, because when she woke up, the sky was pitch black. She realized that she was almost in Zuko's lap, which made her blush in embarrassment. Zuko didn't notice. He looked troubled.

"There's going to be a bad storm," he murmured to himself.

Katara sat up and looked around. The others were no longer conversing animatedly. The black sky, which she now realized was not caused by nightfall but consisted of heavy storm clouds, cast a shadow of dread over her, for reasons unknown.

As she stared up into the hovering darkness, the rain came.

It started with only a few drops, but rapidly became a stinging torrent. Since Aang was busy steering Appa, Katara stood up and tried to bend the water around them so that everybody would be protected from further soaking.

But something was horribly wrong. She couldn't bend the water.

"My bending's not working!" Katara shouted over a roar of thunder. Lightning struck nearby and temporarily blinded her. She lost her balance and fell back against Zuko. Katara's mumbled apology went unheard as another thunder clap accompanied a bolt of lighting.

She heard Aang's voice cry out, wrought with terror, "Appa, fly! What's wrong, buddy? Fly!"

Appa wasn't just descending - he was falling. Momo peeked his head out of Aang's shirt and screeched, his eyes wide with shock. Aang leaped up and moved his arms in an attempt to bend something, but the horrified look on his face told Katara that he was helpless, too.

"Hold on!" Sokka yelled at the top of his lungs, clutching Suki to him.

Taking his advice, they all grabbed the person nearest to them. Katara held tightly to Zuko, feeling more afraid than she ever had in her entire life.

Without bending, they would all die.

Katara shut her eyes and screamed.