Chapter 2

A/N: alright, here is chapter 2. Aang's back and we are getting close to the main story... Finally. I hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: Still not owning anything, except my little brother at some horse.

Pain.

That was all he could feel.

Aang's mind was reeling as he tried to remember what had caused all of the pain he was feeling. It was everywhere. His head, his chest, his arms, his legs and his back were in the most excruciating pain the airbender had felt in his entire life. Especially his back. He remembered leaving the Eastern Air Temple early to save Katara, finding her with Zuko and then confronting Azula.

Azula!

Aang shot up (which his aching muscles protested furiously) and took in his surroundings. Red. Everything was red. There were fire nation insignias everywhere, the room was made entirely of metal and he could hear the ocean waves crashing somewhere below him. Oh no, he thought, I must have been captured by Azula. She's probably taking me to the fire nation already. What happened to Sokka? Or Toph? Or Momo or Appa or... Katara?

At the thought of Katara, Aang began to head for the door. He noticed that his staff was standing up, leaning on the wall, right next to it. That's odd, why would they leave my staff in my room? he grabbed it and pushed on the door. He was completely surprised when the door creaked open, and he looked down the hall to see two fire nation guards talking a few yards away. "Hey, he's awake!"

Aang thought that the guard's voice sounded eerily familiar, but ignored it and took off I'm the opposite direction as fast as his battered body would allow. He reached the deck and saw Zuko, looking at him with a slightly confused and... relieved expression? Aang didn't think on it much and instead decided to send the banished prince flying into the side of the ship.

Aang opened his glider to fly away when he was hugged tightly by Katara, who had tears in her eyes and was wearing a fire nation soldier's outfit. "Aang, you're awake! I'm so glad you're okay!"

Alright, now Aang was confused. They were definitely on a fire nation ship, but Katara was definitely walking around freely, as was Aang himself. This meant that Aang was definitely... completely and utterly lost. "What's going on? Where are we? Why are we on a fire nation ship?"

Zuko answered in a tone that clearly said Aang's earlier attack was totally uncalled for. "We are heading toward the fire nation to prepare for the invasion. We captured this ship so that we could travel without being detected. And you just dislocated my shoulder."

"Quit being such a princess, Sparky. Glad to have you back, Twinkletoes." Toph was also wearing a soldier's uniform, as was Sokka. Both embraced their still in shock friend. Aang ran a hand through his hair, wondering just how long he had been out. Wait, hair?

"We've been really worried about you, you've been unconscious for two weeks now," Katara started. "We caught up with my dad and the rest of the-"

Katara was cut off by a sickening thud! They turned to see Zuko wincing as Sokka held his newly relocated shoulder. "There you go buddy, all fixed!" Sokka was grinning from ear to ear after having hurt the prince with a legitimate excuse.

"Gee, thanks," Zuko responded in the most sarcastic voice he could possibly muster. Hakoda approached and told them that another ship was approaching and that he and Bato would take care of it. Zuko stayed because he knew fire nation soldiers, and because he refused to be grouped with the "kids"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two men boarded the gaang's captured vessel, and Zuko was deciding between two possible ways to handle the situation. One was to hope that the people coming aboard were very unimportant and intimidate them into running away and apologizing for boarding the ship without his permission. Of course, if one of them was important, they would realize that Zuko was bluffing and know immediately that something was up. The second option was to simply cooperate and risk unintentionally giving them away by saying something incorrect.

He went with the first plan.

"Who exactly do you think you are, wasting our time by stopping our ship? We are on direct orders to get to the fire nation as fast as possible." Zuko tried to sound as confident and imposing as he could, but he didn't know whether the two men had bought it.

"That's odd, I don't remember giving any such orders." Damn! "Who exactly ordered you, I am in charge of all of the ships around here."

"We were given orders from princess Azula herself, sir. Please accept my sincerest apologies for my disrespect." Zuko hoped that the admiral (Zuko figured he was Zhao's replacement) would buy the kiss-up attempt.

"Very well, I'll leave you then." He did. Thank Agni, Zuko thought. He watched the man leave and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"They know!" Toph's voice rang out as she sent the two men falling into the water below by bending the gangplank (A/N I think that's what it's called?) off of the two ships.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sokka had just finished explaining everything to Aang when the fighting had broke out. The world thought that Aang had fallen along with the Earth Kingdom capital, which was supposedly a good thing. Something about the element of surprise, which Aang didn't think was a good enough reason for people to lose all of their hope. The plan was for the gaang plus Zuko (assuming Aang was okay with him as a firebending teacher) to split off and travel through the fire nation on Appa. While they gathered information and trained Aang, Hakoda and the others would travel around and seek out whatever support they could find. Aang was to stay hidden from the world until the invasion so that Ozai would have no idea that he would be facing the avatar.

As soon as Toph had yelled, the enemy hip began to load the catapults. Katara quickly bent as much steam as she possibly could into the air to give them some cover, hoping that the enemy would have no idea where to aim.

Sokka held Aang back when he attempted to join the fray. "You're still injured; we'll take care of this. Stay hidden, we can't let the Fire Nation know you're still alive." Sokka took off to aid the others in their escape. Aang sighed and sat back, hoping that his friends would be alright without his help.

The cover Katara had provided was fading fast and the opposing ship was still far too close for comfort. Katara had begun to bend the ship faster forward to try and gain some ground on their pursuers. As they came out of the foggy cover, Zuko noticed a flaming ball of rock headed straight for the ship. He shot as much fire as he could at the projectile and was able to deflect it off of its course just enough to miss the ship.

He squinted as he tried in vain to see into the mist, but could barely make out the silhouette of the other vessel. His eyes widened as he saw another catapult shot heading toward them. He was about to try to deflect it again when a large sea serpent suddenly rose from the waters below. It was staring the prince directly in the eye, a look of malevolent ferocity on its over-sized face. Its expression changed to one of pain and surprise as the stray shot hit it from behind.

The beast dove underwater only to return moments later to wrap itself around the opposing ship. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as both the sea creature and the enemy ship faded from view. That was insanely lucky, Zuko thought as soon as he was sure that they were no longer in danger.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had finally reached the port where the two groups would split up. Sokka, Toph and Katara had gone into town to get supplies for the journey; (Aang and Zuko were too recognizable) leaving Aang and Zuko to talk about things.

Well this is awkward, Zuko thought as he and the monk sat down in Aang's room. What am I supposed to say? Hey, so, sorry about the whole trying to kill you repeatedly thing. Now I want to travel with you guys to help fight my people and my father, but you don't have to worry. I promise I won't kill you in your sleep or anything, alright? For some reason Zuko couldn't see that working too well.

Luckily, Aang broke the silence. "Sooo... I guess you're, like, good now?" Yep, definitely awkward.

"Um, yeah. Pretty much. I mean yes. Completely. Not pretty much, I'm totally good now." Wow, I feel stupider than Sokka. Aang laughed.

"Good. I think we can be good friends, and I'm sure you'll be a great teacher." Wait, WHAT? There's no way it was that easy. Aang was just going to forgive him, just like that? He hadn't even apologized yet.

"I hope so... Thanks for giving me another chance. And, um... Sorry about, y'know... Everything." That was pathetic.

"Haha, yeah well, everyone deserves a second chance right? Plus, you helped us fight Azula, so you kind of proved that you were on our side."

Zuko decided not to mention the fact that he would fight with anyone against his sister, figuring that it wouldn't help him much. "I'll do my best to help you end this war. I won't let you down." At this Aang showed Zuko a huge smile, and the prince couldn't help but return the gesture (it was more like a quarter-smile, but that's the best anyone got out of Zuko).

"Good, I haven't quite got earthbending down yet, so as soon as I finish that, we can start with the basics. Of course, only if that works for you, Sifu Hotman." Aang thought he would impress Zuko with his knowledge of Fire Nation culture by throwing in the latest slang.

Zuko laughed. Actually laughed. He laughed hard, and for a long time, and Aang soon found himself laughing along with a joke he really didn't get. "What's so funny?"

Zuko was practically in tears when he finally responded. "Did you just call me Sifu Hotman?" Aang nodded, still utterly lost. "No one has said hotman for close to seventy years. I bet you greet people with 'Flameo' too."

Zuko broke down laughing when Aang stayed silent and blushed, looking down at the floor. When the firebender recovered, he saw the monk looking at him with an odd expression. "What are you looking at?"

"You're laughing," was the boy's reply.

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No, I just didn't think it was possible."

"Yeah, I don't blame you. I haven't laughed like that since this one time when my cousin and I went to the beach with my uncle. We spent all day making sandcastles to fight. My cousin and I were gonna take on my uncle, and right as we were about to start, the tide came in. A wave took out our entire castle, and uncle was practically crying because he was laughing so hard. Then a bigger wave hit him, and he ended up face first in the sand with most of his castle in his shorts. He got up with a starfish-snail stuck to his face. It was hilarious."

"What happened to him?"

"I don't know, Azula probably has him."

"I'm sorry." Aang could tell how worried Zuko was about his beloved uncle, even if he refused to admit it.

"It's not your fault. Besides he'll be fine. I think I'm going to go meditate, clear my head a little bit. I'll see you later, Aang."

"Yeah, see ya, Zuko." Aang had a lot to think about as well. He watched his newfound ally (and maybe friend?) leave. He was surprised that Zuko had opened up to him. Aang decided to think about that later on. He needed to address the whole world-thinking-he's-dead issue.

Aang didn't want to hide who he was. He wanted the world to know that he was alive. That there was still hope. That he hadn't failed. Of course, he had failed. He was right there when Ba Sing Se fell, and he hadn't been able to stop it. He needed to fix it. He needed to redeem himself. He wouldn't hide out, wouldn't stay dead to the world. He was the avatar. It was his job to save the world, and he was going to do it. Looking into his mirror, he made up his mind. He picked up his blade and shaved his short black hair off completely, fully revealing his airbending tattoos.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Katara was furious. No, she was beyond furious; she was about two seconds away from strangling her moronic excuse for a brother. She had left him in charge of food while she and Toph went off to find disguises that would allow them all to blend in. When she found her brother, he had spent almost all of their food money. Everything he had bought was, of course, meat.

"Sokka! Where are all the fruits and other things, all you have is meat!"

"All we need is meat! Meat is the best thing ever," came Sokka's idiotic reply.

"You're the only one who could live off meat alone, and Aang doesn't eat meat at all."

She had taken another hour of intense haggling to get all of the necessary food items they would need for their journey. She was just now returning to the ship. Sokka was carrying dinner for Zuko and Aang because the two had stayed behind and had likely not eaten. After loading everything onto Appa and ordering Sokka to take Zuko his dinner, the waterbender headed toward Aang's room. She wanted to work on his back again before she went to bed. She also wanted to be sure that he would be good enough to travel the next morning.

She opened the door to Aang's room and found it completely empty.

A/N: I was re-reading this whole thing and I noticed that I rip on Sokka a lot. I absolutely love his character, but he is such an easy target. Also, I know this is short, so I will try to post chapter three today as well. Anyway, I hope you guys liked chapter 2!