Chapter 2

As the smoke settled, I rubbed my burning eyes and looked out at the smoldering ashes that were left of the balloon. Sokka was sprawled out on the ground, and for a tense moment I was afraid he wouldn't get up. He did, though, and pulling out his sword, he poked at the pile of debris, coughing when a plume of dark sooty smoke billowed up from it. From behind a wall of earth she had constructed spur of the moment, Toph sighed and tapped Aang on the shoulder. Until she did that, he'd been forcefully maintaining a shield of air in front of himself which had saved him from getting even the scent of fire on him.

Just as we all started settling down, there was movement from beneath the rubble. I caught a ragged breath as a dark figure rose from the dust, grunting and coughing violently. No one, not even Sokka, dared to move as we all kept our eyes glued on the tall, lanky frame. But the silence didn't last for long.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" demanded Sokka suddenly, jabbing his sword at the person.

Their feeble response was only more coughing, and I took the opportunity to uncover the face of our intruder. Pulling some water out of a barrel that was resting underneath a pipe which ran up the side of the house to the rain gutters, I drenched the trespasser in cold, cleansing liquid, which set off a whole other fit of coughing. He was clean now, though, and there was a collective gasp as we recognized the teenager.

"Zuko?" I muttered, doubting the audibility of my own voice.

Zuko didn't respond, but I'm pretty sure everyone knew it was him.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka growled.

"I- I- I don't..." His voice trailed off.

"If your trying to capture Aang, just forget about it! Get out of here!" Sokka roared.

"No. That's not why I came here," defended Zuko.

"Then what's the big idea?"

"I want to join your group. I know I-"

"What? Are you crazy?!" laughed Sokka. "We're not stupid, Zuko. I'm not, at least. We all know why you're really here, and I'm going to give you one more chance to leave before we push you over the edge of this cliff."

Even though I knew Sokka wasn't really going to kill Zuko, his comment did seem a little extreme.

"How do you expect me to leave, then?" snarled Zuko. I could tell he was getting angry because his ears were turning red and his fists were beginning to steam.

"I don't really care."

"Wait a minute Sokka. Just let him talk. Why do you want to join us?" asked Aang patiently, turning his shiny gray eyes toward the slightly burnt prince.

Sighing heavily, Zuko shrugged, "I've done a lot of things in my past that I'm not proud of. I realize now that my father was wrong and I just want to make up for everything I've done." Traitor. To hear him talk; he'd already switched sides twice, and Aang was about to let him do it again. I couldn't let this happen.

"Zuko, we don't want you here. You've already done enough. Since it's getting dark, you can stay here for the night, but in the morning Aang and me are taking you back."

"Back where? I don't belong anywhere. I can't go back to the Fire Nation - my father would have me killed. And I'll never be welcome in the Earth Kingdom. Please, I've really changed. You guys are my last chance at doing something right. Just give me one more chance."

"You've had enough chances! Real people don't keep giving people like you more chances! You've proved to all of us you're nothing but a lying traitor, and we have no room for you here. Because we actually want to help people. You're just afraid of being alone." I didn't mean to shout at him, but the very idea of trying to trust him again made me mad. How he thought he could get away with terrorizing us for the last year and then simply begging for 'one more chance' was a mystery to me.

"Katara, calm down. I'm sure Zuko just-"

"Aang, you don't know what you're doing! You can't trust him! Think of everything he's done to you! To all of us! There's a reason the Fire Nation didn't want him and we can't afford any betrayal here. He's just trying to trick you, and you're falling for it! I thought you were stronger than that." That seemed to shut him up, although I felt awful scolding Aang. He looked really hurt, but I couldn't apologize right then.

"Yeah, Aang. Get it together," sniffed Haru dryly. I was pretty sure Haru didn't even know Zuko, but as long as he was sticking up for me, it didn't really matter.

"Fine," Aang surrendered. "Sorry, Zuko."

Of all the times I'd seen the haughty prince, I couldn't remember ever seeing him look this defeated. I was really beginning to regret turning him away so quickly, because I was all for giving people second chances, but I kept telling myself I'd be glad I did it in the end.

"Wait a minute, you guys." When Toph spoke up, I was a bit surprised, and from the look of it, everyone else was, too. "I think he's telling the truth."

"Toph, you're probably just reading it wrong. You've had a pretty exciting day," reassured Sokka, but Toph didn't appear convinced.

"I don't 'read' anything, Sokka. And I really think he's being honest."

"Maybe he's just a good liar like Azula. You remember; you couldn't tell with her," I attempted.

"No; something about him has me pretty convinced he's not as good of a liar as Azula."

"You've got a point, but this is just wrong. Stop being so accepting. Maybe he thinks this is the right thing to do now, but I bet he'll change his mind! You'll see."

"Lets just give him a chance. If he doesn't work out we can always kick him out later."

Aang - always had to be the little peace maker.

"Fine, but I don't want anything to do with him!" I shouted harshly. "And don't expect me to feed him!"

Bedhead: Fun times and super-intense writing craziness...that's what summer's about! lol

Squaw: I can't wait to get some rad letters down in Friday's chapter! It'll be insane word wonder.

Bedhead: That doesn't even make sense. There are no letters in the next chapter.

Squaw: umm? Its all letters?

Bedhead: Oh...lol I thought you meant like notes that you send in the mail. :) My bad...

Squaw: sall goood. P.s im talking gangster speak!

Bedhead: No you're not. But whatever; I think we're done here. See you on Friday, Squaw! Please review, everyone else!!