Hey there! Thank you for making it until Chapter 2 :) Please continue reading, I have establish A LOT OF BORING STUFF for the story to make sense, please just read through it, THERE WILL BE TAANG IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! Please. Bear with me here. Writing introductions isn't the most exciting thing ever either.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Chapter 2 - Rejection

Bang!

The whole palace shook.

"What was that?!" Katara screamed from her room.

"An explosion! We're under attack!" Zuko yelled back. "Get out! Now!"

Everyone jumped out of their bed quickly. Down the hallway, a huge fire was blazing and quickly nearing their rooms. They had about a minute and half before it hit the closest rooms - Zuko and Aang's. Toph, Zuko, and Aang were ale to jump out without hurting themselves, using their bending, since they were several stories high, but there wasn't any water around for Katara and Sokka was a non-bender. By this time, the fire started tearing away at Katara's door.

"Help!" she cried.

"Me too! I can't get out!" Sokka added.

"Just jump!" Aang called back! I'll try to break your fall with airbending!"

So they did. Both Katara and Sokka were merely inches away from being smashed flat, but Aang stopped their fall well enough that they were just a bit bruised and sore.

"Ow," Sokka moaned. He and Katara were having trouble getting up.

"Guys, get up," Aang said. "We don't have enough time to wait for you. We have to leave. Now."

The siblings rose to their feet. "This way!" Aang yelled, pointing towards the stables. "Get onto Appa!"

FIre was pouring out of the building now. It covered almost the entire palace. Far up, they saw an air ship with a dozen firebenders shooting fire down at the palace.

Toph felt lost and helpless, a feeling she couldn't stand - she couldn't see where the fire was coming from, so she wasn't able to dodge. She reached for Sokka's hand, as a lifeline like from a few days ago, when Sokka was the only thing she could sense in the world. But before she could take his hand, Aang took hers. "Come," he said quietly. "I'll help you dodge the fire."

The gang got onto Appa quickly. "Yip-yip!" Aang said quickly, and Appa ran out of the stables and soared into the sky. Luckily the stables were pretty far away from the palace, so by the time they were spotted, they were too far to get shot at.

"I guess we're back to old times," Sokka commented ten minutes later.

"Yeah," Toph replied. "But... what was that?"
"Ozai followers," Zuko answered. "People who want my father to keep ruling, and me assassinated. It's why you came here. I knew I shouldn't have let Aang bring you. You could have been all killed."
Katara wanted to answer, but she still wasn't over their conversation earlier. She couldn't stand talking to him, yet she also couldn't stand not talking to him.

"Zuko," Aang said. "We won't let you be in danger without helping. We're a team. We stick together, no matter what. I'll take us somewhere safe - our launching point for the Day of Black Sun. You can't be spotted by anyone right now, so we'll have to hide out from civilization for the next little while."

"Then who will rule the Fire Nation?" Zuko asked.

"Still you," Sokka replied. "You never resigned. You're still the Firelord."
"But Aang was right about something he told me yesterday - if I leave, the Fire Nation will only hate me more."
"We'll only hide out for a while," Katara forgot that she was supposed to be mad at Zuko. "Until we find another way for you to rule the Fire Nation without people knowing your whereabouts."

"I guess I'll do that."

Sokka noticed Toph just staring bankly at her feet. "Toph, do you have anything to say about this? You're being really quiet."

"Oh, um, yeah, sure. Sounds great." Everyone was baffled at Toph's unusual awkwardness.

By dawn, they reached the spot where they hid out from the Day of Black Sun. No one bothered to set up camp - everyone was exhausted. They fell asleep on Appa's back.

"Sokka," Toph started. "I, um, well, I really like you, and, now we'll have to go our separate ways, but... I don't really want to... because, I uh, I... kind of... like you.. but... more than that... like... love..."

"Toph," Sokka said, confused. "What are saying?"

"Sokka... I... I love you, Sokka."

"But... I'm with Suki."

"I know! But... I still do. I can't help it. Please. Say something."

"I'm sorry, Toph, but... I love Suki, not you. You're just a friend to me. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too."

Toph was shaken from her memory from yesterday as Sokka said, "Toph, do you have anything to say about this?" She'd gotten lost in thought as they were on flying away on Appa - the memory from the night before was raw and hurtful in many degrees. She'd confessed her love to Sokka, and he'd rejected her. Without a second though.

"Oh, um, yeah, sure. Sounds great."

Everyone set up camp the next morning. Zuko and Toph left in search of food and firewood, Sokka set up their sleeping area, and Katara and Aang went to get the water.

When they were far away from everyone else, Aang said, "Katara, we need to talk."

"About what?"
"Us."

"Us?"

"Yeah. You know... how I feel. And I need to know how you feel back."

"Look, Aang, I'm sorry. But... no. You're like a brother to me. Not a partner."

Tears sprung up as Katara answered his question so easily, and not with the answer he'd wanted to hear.

"Why not? After everything we've been through?"

"Aang, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but... there's somebody else."

"Who? Someone who deserves you more?"

"Aang!"
There was only one person that Aang thought it could be. Someone who Katara had been unusually close to since they'd fought Azula: Zuko. "It's Zuko, isn't it. Well, he is already with Mai, so why don't you stop screwing around with other people's feelings!" Aang stormed off, into the woods. There were tears streaming down his, a lot of them. He hadn't cried this hard since he'd found Gyatso's body.

Katara. Katara, the beautiful, lovely, caring girl, that Aang wanted to spend his life with, doesn't feel the same way back. Not even a little bit. After everything they'd gone through - everything, and she didn't feel the least bit of love to him the way he did to her. It was too hard to comprehend.

Aang sat down at the trunk of an old, dark tree, and cried. Cried over his lost love.

He didn't come back until the next morning.
***

Zuko and Toph returned very quickly. Searching for stuff is pretty easy when you have a blind girl by your side that can sense everything around her.

"I'm going to go practice my firebending. I need to be at the top of my game for fighting the Supporters."

Zuko left and went over to an open area far away, and out of earshot. Toph seized her chance to have a moment alone with Sokka.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"About what?" Sokka turned around, confused.

"About me, meathead. You don't have any feelings at all for me? At all?"

"I'm sorry, Toph, but you and I aren't mean to be. My soulmate is Suki. I'm sure yours it out there, waiting for you. You'll find him soon, I know it."

"Why are you so calm about this?"

"I - I don't know, Toph."

"Because I thought that you did like me, Sokka. I thought that you were giving me messages. But you just squashed all of the hope! I thought that there was someone out there who'd love me! And I thought that person was you."

"Toph..."

"Just leave me alone. I'm used to that feeling enough already."

That night, Sokka asked, "Where's Aang?"

"Oh boy, did Twinkle Toes disappear again?"

"He's in the woods," Katara muttered, a mix of anger and sadness in her voice. Did Aang really love her that much? Would he ever talk to him again? It had all happened too fast - she didn't have time to think things over.

"Why?" Zuko asked. "He upset about something?"

"No," Katara lied. SH couldn't tell them how horrible she'd been to him yet. "There's just been a lot of craziness going on. He wanted a break."

No one seemed too convinced at Katara's response, but no one asked anymore questions. She was pretty sure Zuko, Toph and Sokka knew that Aang was upset and why, and she was right.

And while Team Avatar, minus the Avatar, ate their dinner in silence, problems were brewing in the hearts of five teenagers:

Two broken hearted, lonely people

Two siblings who didn't love back,

And one confused Firelord in the midst of a revolution.

The rejection was just the beginning.