Chapters will be made longer after this one so that more can happen.


The sky was slowly darkening as the day ended. Iroh had gone off to bed, advising to Zuko that he should do the same. He'd merely shaken his head. The avatar had yet to wake up and he wanted to be wide awake when she did.

"Guard. Has the girl awaken?" he asked his soldier who stood before her cell. The man glanced back at the supine form to double check.

"Not yet Prince Zuko. She's hasn't moved since you captured her."

"Very well. You may leave. I will call for you if you are needed."

The soldier nodded and walked away, Zuko waited until he could no longer hear his footsteps before slumping on the metal bench in front of the cell. He looked in on the sleeping girl. They'd brought in a cot for her and a blanket to make sure she didn't freeze to death. It would be troublesome to go searching for the avatar all over again.

But why hadn't she woken up yet? Zuko had sent down the doctor earlier to make sure she was alive and he'd diagnosed her as being just fine. Aside from the fact that she was asleep of course.

Then a thought passed through the prince's head. A thought that had been floating around but he'd been unwilling to acknowledge. That he'd been afraid to acknowledge.

Was this girl even the avatar? His uncle was right. The avatar was supposed to be over a hundred years old and an airbender. She looked to be neither. Of course the clothes could have been a disguise to set them off. They were definitely odd enough. He'd never seen anything like them. She wore blue pants made of some material he was not familiar with. Her shoes were large and black with some odd curved green check on the side. Then there was her shirt. It was long sleeved and adorned with black and purple strips. Purple was not a color normally seen on clothes, since it didn't represent any of the nations. This shirt also had a silver line going down the front with a small piece of metal at the top of it. A weird bunchy cloth came off the top back of the shirt near her neck. Zuko guessed it was a hood, but he'd never seen one on a shirt before.

But she had to be the avatar. Who else would be capable of falling out of the sky and then landing in the water unharmed? And the glowing eyes. Maybe she came from the spirit world? A ghost? Zuko had heard of people crossing between the two worlds.

Had he been wrong? What would he do if this wasn't the avatar? He had to know!

Zuko stood up and unlocked the door to her cell. Then he quickly entered and went up to her.

"Wake up," he ordered.

The girl didn't stir. He'd have taken her for dead if not for the rising and falling of her chest. He banged the wall hard with his fist, ignoring the throbbing pain.

"WAKE UP!"

Nothing. Was she deaf? Growing impatient the prince grabbed her shoulders and shook her. He didn't shake her hard enough to hurt her, but he sure wasn't gentle. What would it take to make this girl wake up?

Suddenly her eyes popped open. The glowed like they had in the water. Zuko took a startled step back before regaining his composure and grabbing her wrist.

"Are you the avatar?" he asked in a stern voice. He wasn't asking to know, he was demanding to know.

She turned to face him. Her empty glowing eyes glared into him. It made him somewhat uneasy.

Then, her arm rose swiftly and swung forward. Zuko stepped back and took a defensive pose, but she wasn't aiming for him. The ship lurched as it came to an abrupt stop, throwing Zuko off his feet. When he looked up he saw that a giant needle-like shard of ice had pierced the cell wall. Also known as the side of the ship. She dropped her hand and the ice melted back into the ocean, leaving a gaping hole for her to escape through!

Zuko struck a fireball to block her escape but a quick flick of her hand sent a huge wave of air at him, blowing out the fire and crashing him into the wall. When he stood back up she was gone. Zuko's clenched fist started to steam as he realized what had just happened. She was the avatar and he had just allowed her to escape!


"Okay! First time flyers hold on tight!" said Aang cheerfully as he lifted the giant bison's reigns. "Appa Yip Yip!"

The bison emitted a loud groan. It hit its tail against the ground, jumped high into the air…and landed in the water.

"Come on Appa, yip yip!" coaxed the young airbender, moving the reigns up and down. But Appa just floated through the water.

"Wow, that was truly amazing," Sokka commented sarcastically.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky. You'll see," promised Aang.

Katara smiled down at him and started to turn away when she noticed the boy staring at her with a goofy grin plastered onto his face. "Why are you smiling at me like that?"

Aang immediately stopped. "O-oh. I was smiling?"

Sokka groaned as Appa slowly made his way to their home.

The ride was pretty quiet for a while after that. Appa was taking his time and the three were all just laying back and relaxing. At some point in the late evening Katara crawled over to the edge of the saddle and lay her head on it while looking thoughtfully down at Aang.

"Hey."

"Hey," Aang greeted. "Whatcha thinking about?" He smiled calmly in his laid back position.

"I guess I was wondering, you being an airbender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the avatar?" Katara asked.

Aang sat up. "No, I didn't know him. I'd heard of him, but I never actually got to meet him. Sorry."

"Okay, just curious. Good night," Katara turned and went back to sleep.

"Sleep tight," Aang called after her.

Wait, he thought. What happened to the avatar? She made it sound like he'd just disappeared. I don't remember that happening.

Not really sure what to think about this situation Aang lay back down on the soft fur of Appa's head and entered a fitful sleep.

There were loud crashes and booms coming from all around him. Aang cracked open eye. He sat up straight as another bolt of lightning shattered the stormy skies around him. Looking around he found himself alone on Appa flying in the middle of a huge storm. Suddenly he was at the reigns, screaming for his life and he struggled to keep Appa flying. The two crashed into the thrashing seas. Appa's head rose above the water and groaned loudly. But a huge wave crashed upon them and they went under.

'This is it. I'm going to die here,' thought Aang to himself as his hands let go of the reigns and he slowly drifted away from Appa.

Just then, Aang saw something in front of him in the water. A figure. A girl! But her eyes were glowing and staring right at him. Her mouth opened, it glowed too, and spoke something. Aang couldn't hear what she said. He was going to ask her to repeat it when she swiftly moved her hands and did some odd movements. Aang saw the water around him and Appa spin and start to freeze. Then everything went black.


I know this chapter was a bit short, but I plan to make them longer from here on. Now you see that little button below that says review? It's how you get the next chapter! Subcribing/favoriting gets you a virtual cookie too!