A/N: Meh, not much to say. I'm trying to update this story as often as I can, so look forward to that!

Vanille Strawberry: Don't we all wish Aang became a puppy. He'd be so frickin' cute! And your wait is over!

DemonicBrat13: Well, for the most part, he's going to stay a pup. Like Fluke, he'll grow up of course. And yes, he'll see Katara and Sokka again as a pup. Things will be clearer as the story goes on, I promise!

kataangfan22: Of course Aang is always adorable! It won't end exactly like Fluke, but I plan on having the cemetery scene or something like it in there. But my ending will be different, don't worry!

ironhide11: And it will get even better!

Another exhausting day of play fighting with his brothers and sisters passed by, and now Aang was curled up in his warm, cozy den with his family. All of them were sleeping dreamlessly.

Except Aang.

Every night now, for the past week, the young tiger wolf had been having mysterious dreams about a life that wasn't his. They all involved Katara (he knew her name easily by now) and sometimes her brother. Toph was there sometimes, too. All of the dreams seemed like flashbacks of his previous life…

ooo

All was darkness and cold. Aang had never known it was possible to be this cold. It seemed like he was trapped in a deep sleep that he couldn't wake up from.

Ice was all around him, he knew it. But how had it gotten there? Everything was so confusing, so surreal. It all seemed like an illusion.

Suddenly, he felt an unknown force seem to wake him from his sleep. He couldn't exactly see what it was, but he knew it was there. What only seemed like a few moments later, the ice disappeared, and he was free. But the glow was still there, the glow that made his vision fuzzy, that prevented him from seeing who had freed him.

His body seemed to take action on it's own accord, forcing him to walk up the edge of this seemingly endless wall of ice. Everything was still fuzzy, the glow was still there. He stood upright, preparing to walk down…

"Stop!"

A voice broke through his conscious, and suddenly, the glow faded, but Aang was falling, and he didn't have any control over it.

He hardly remembered the next few minutes, but he remembered looking up at the face of a beautiful Water Tribe girl, who was holding him in her arms, and speaking a sentence that seemed familiar to his ears…

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"

ooo

A noise sounded outside the den, waking Aang from his sleep and prompting him out of his dream.

He remembered that now, what had happened in his dream. Aang remembered it all, as if it had happened yesterday. That fateful day when Katara and Sokka discovered him in the iceberg and freed him. His life was coming back to him, piece by piece –

And suddenly the noise sounded again, followed by the sound of gruff voices.

"Over there," they said. "There's a den. Maybe they're still in there."

"Let's hope so," another voice added. "We're being paid good money for this. We don't want our efforts wasted."

Aang pricked his ears as he listened, his heart speeding up in alarm. What were those guys out there planning?

Wasting no time, Aang got up and made his way over to his mother. Gently but firmly, he shook her awake with his forepaws.

"Mama, wake up," he said softly but urgently. "I heard something outside."

Gradually, Aang's mother clambered to her paws and stepped sleepily over to the mouth of the den. Her tail stood straight out behind her and her fur on her shoulders stood up in alarm. Within a heartbeat, she was back in the den and waking her pups, telling them to stay quiet.

A few moments of tense silence passed before a man clad in Earth Kingdom winter clothes stood outside the den. He bent over to look inside, and was met with a very angry tiger wolf mother standing protectively over he pups, her teeth bared viciously and the fur on her shoulders raised.

"Over here!" the Earth Kingdom man called over his shoulders. "A tiger wolf with pups! We've struck gold, boys!"

Aang crouched fearfully under his mother, whimpering in fear as the Earth Kingdom man disappeared for a moment, before returning with a noose-like rope in his hands.

"You won't let them get us, will you mama?" one of Aang's sisters asked.

"Never," their mother answered, a growl to her voice.

Never…

That sounded familiar to Aang, too. He remembered hearing that, from Sokka when Aang was dying. It scared and comforted him at the same time.

"C'mon little missy," the Earth Kingdom man coaxed

Aang's mother responded with a vicious snarl and a snap to his hand.

"Leave them alone!" she growled.

The Earth Kingdom man shook his hand and hissed in pain. He could even feel the powerful bite through his heavy gloves.

"Why you little…Come here, you!" his tone was harsh as he slid the noose around her neck and pulled her out of the den.

Aang's mother fought viciously, twisting her head and rearing up on her hind paws. But her strength and her battle for freedom was for nothing, for she was soon lifted into a metal cage in the back of a wagon-like sled.

Another man came back, lifting the frightened tiger wolf pups out of their den, one by one. As the back of the wagon was opened, Aang smelled the stench of blood, and caught a look inside the sled.

Dead animals! He thought, feeling sick, And pelts! They're going to kill us for our pelts!

And at last Aang was the only pup left in the den, watching in terror as the Earth Kingdom man reach for him.

But Aang wouldn't be caught.

Summoning up his courage, Aang bared his teeth and bit the man hard on his fingers. While the man was distracted in his pain, Aang bolted out the den between his legs and towards the wagon, leaping up the back. He reached his mother's cage first.

"Hang on, mama," he barked determinedly, "I'll get you out! I'll definitely get you out!"

He bit at the catch holding her cage shut, chewing on it desperately. He couldn't leave them to die, he just couldn't.

"It's no use," she told him. She looked up, seeing the Earth Kingdom man and his companions racing towards them.

"Get out of here, quickly!" Aang's mother told him desperately, "Or you'll be caught too!"

"I won't leave you!" Aang countered. "I can't let you die!"

"We'll be fine," she assured him, "But you must go. Now!"

"But mama…" Aang whimpered. If he was human, he was sure he would be crying, or about to cry.

His mother's eyes held infinite wisdom and promise. She knew what was about to happen to her and the rest of her pups, but she stayed brave for Aang's sake

"Please," she pleaded, "Go now, and save yourself. We will meet again in the next life, my son. I'll always be with you."

With a final look at his mother and his siblings and the only family he had ever known, Aang turned and fled, dodging the men who were trying to catch him. He ran until their cruel voices faded away, until his lungs felt they were about to burst, until the smell of blood and fear left his nose.

Until everything he had ever known was left behind.