Chapter 1:

Loss of Power

Aang had fallen back into his somber sleep, after remembering what had happened back in the caves of Ba Sing Se. After a while though, he awoke again, and arose slowly, examining the newly formed scars on his arms and hands. He reached around to feel his back, and brushed a rough patch on his back. "Agh!" he gasped inward. The wound still hurt when touched. Even with Katara's healing ability, the wound was deep and harsh. It wouldn't heal easily.

Carefully, Aang stood, and looked around for his shirt, which he spied in the corner, draped loosely over his staff. The shirt was full of holes, and he could only imagine the number of holes in the wings of his glider. After a minute of thought he decided to borrow a shirt from Sokka.

As he walked out to where the group was, sitting huddled around the campfire, it was deathly silent. Sokka and Katara both looked at Aang's way, glad to see he was awake, but as Katara went to speak Aang's name, the word's stopped in her throat as Aang stepped into the light of the campfire. They could make out all the cuts and burns on Aang's skin. For a minute, no one spoke, and then Sokka finally broke the silence. "You must be hungry," he said quietly, and he handed Aang a few figs they'd found.

Aang sat, but not without a grunt of pain as he lowered himself to the ground. Then he simply ate the figs, not making a sound. The campfire was unbearably silent. It seemed that everyone in the group just sat there and stared at Aang eating. After about 30 minutes of awkward silence, Toph finally spoke up, "Look, are we going to be this way from now on, because hearing is one of my favorite senses?"

"Toph's right," agreed Sokka. "We can't just sit here and keep our mouths shut. We can't just pretend that none of it happened either."

Katara, trying to forget what happened, stammered out, "B-but back at the caves . . . "

"We lost, okay? That's all there is to it!" shouted Toph.

"This is what I was trying to avoid by not speaking," said Katara. "I didn't want to fight with you guys about what happened!"

Then, the Earth King interrupted, "I think that . . . " the children all looked his way, "I think that you children are tired. It's been a long journey and you've gotten this far. But . . . you can't save the world all by yourselves," he explained as he rubbed Bosco's head.

"But . . . I guess . . . you're right . . . I can't save the world by myself. But how can I expect to save anyone, if I can't even save those closest to me?" asked Aang, desperate for an answer. Aang's tone was not his normal happy tone; it wasn't even his bummed out tone when Katara acted all motherly and told him, "No" for the millionth time. It was the voice of someone who had nothing else to look forward to in life.

"Now, Avatar Aang, I didn't want you to shift the blame to yourself," said the Earth King in a concerned voice.

"But it's true! I couldn't save my own people, I couldn't save Yue, I couldn't save Ba Sing Se, or General Iroh, and I couldn't save--! I couldn't save--" He looked at Katara in desperation, tears pouring from his eyes, and he fell down on his face and cried, "I couldn't save you, Katara! I'll never be able to save you! And that's why I can't save the world!"

"Aang . . . " whispered Katara, who was crying silently.

"The guru told me . . . that in order to unblock my final chakra . . . that I would have to let go of the person I love the most . . . but I can't . . . I'm not strong enough to be near you . . . I'm not strong enough to save you, Katara!"

"But you've almost mastered all of the elements, Aang," explained Katara.

"But it's not enough," said Aang, "I think that it would be best . . . best if . . . I left you guys."

"What!?" said everyone in shock.

"We won't abandon you, Aang," said Sokka.

"Yeah, you're like family to us, Twink-- ah-- Aang!" said Toph.

"You can't do this all on your own, Aang!" argued Katara.

"It's the only way that I can save you," replied Aang, and he grabbed his staff. He walked off a little ways, until he couldn't see the light of the campfire anymore, and opened his glider. But as he ran to take flight, he fell flat on the ground. He quickly stood and examined the glider, which was apparently not terribly damaged. There was no reason that it shouldn't fly, unless--! And assumed the stance for creating the air scooter, and once again, fell to the ground. He tried several stances of Airbending, without success. In desperation he tried to earthbend, with no luck, and tried with waterbending, and made no difference.

Aang was no longer a bender of any kind.

a/n: Ha! Aang's not a bender anymore! Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? Will he get his powers back? Who knows? The next chapter will probably focus on Zuko and his turmoil as a traitor, and maybe even a visit to the spirit world.

But we'll get back to Aang's turmoil and lack of power, too. There's only one way to get his bending back, and only one man who can teach him, but will Aang get back together with the group in order to find this person?

Stay tuned for the next chapter:D