Bang.

Aang stood there in horror as the man with the mask stood up, his father dead on the floor. The man looked at Aang through the mask. He lifted his hand to his face. In a slow motion the man removed the mask. And the face under it was… Aang's.

"I'm sorry!" Aang screamed, waking from his nightmare, "I'm sorry…"

He sighed and wiped his tears as he realized it was only a dream. He hated this. He couldn't sleep without being tormented by his memories. He longed for a deep dreamless sleep, something he hadn't been able to experience since before his parents died a month ago. He was exhausted. Every night he could only achieve a few hours at sleep. And that was if he was lucky.

He looked at the alarm clock which read 5:30 PM. His sleep schedule is so messed up. With a grunt he pushed himself into a sitting position and surveyed his room. It was mess with clothes and dishes scattered on the floor. It had been this way since all of his possessions were moved to his grandmother's after she had gained custody of him. He simply didn't care about the state of his room.

He switched on the small TV in the room and sighed again as he watched some nature documentary. He would've changed the channel but he didn't feel up to it. That is until the scene changed to two parent elephants and their child.

He turned the TV off immediately. He didn't want to cry. He was so tired of crying.

Knock, knock, knock.

"Come in, grandma," he said to the door.

She entered and looked disappointed at the messy room. "Aang, you can't live like this, sweetie," she said as she started to pick up clothes and put them in the hamper.

"What is it you wanted Grandma?" he said, wanting her to leave.

"Sweetie, listen. You can't just stay up here like a recluse. You'll never heal if you stay up here and obsess over it all day, every day," she said concernedly

"What am I supposed to do, then?"

"Well, whatever happened to your piano playing? Or your writing? Or drawings?"

"Yeah, well, I don't feel like any of that." He said dismissively

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because the only things I can think of to play, write, or draw, depress the shit out of me!" he exclaimed.

"Honey, please don't use that language!"

"Whatever."

Yangchen sighed. "Well, what about those neighbor kids?"

"What about them?" he said sarcastically.

"You should go make friends with them."

"Grandma… I'm not ready to do something like that," he said, serious now.

"You'll never be ready, Aang. But you have to go out into the world anyway. Otherwise you'll never move on. Please, Aang, for me."

Aang felt a tear begin to roll down his cheek. He rushed to wipe it away. He was so fucking tired of crying all the time.

"Okay… I'll go and… and talk to them," he said in a shaky voice.

Yangchen smiled, "Thank you sweetie. Now fix yourself up. You're a mess."

As Aang got up to gather clothes Yangchen brought him into an embrace. "I love you, Aang," she said and kissed his forehead.

"I love you too Grandma."

She smiled again and left the room as Aang picked up some folded clothes in the rocking chair. Then he walked into the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. He'd have to shave before he went as his face was scraggly with 5 0'clock shadow. His hair was shaggy as well. He'd just run a brush through it.

For some reason, as he stood there looking at himself, he tried to smile. It was... difficult. And when he had done it, it looked bad; fake. He sighed and stepped into the shower. He hoped his neighbors would make him feel better. He hoped anything would make him feel better.

-0-0-0-0-0-

His feet went splat, splat, splat, as he walked on the wet ground. He pulled his hood up to shield his head from the rain and shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets. Once he crossed the street he rang the doorbell. After a few moments the door opened and a boy who looked to be just a little older than Aang came into view.

"Oh," he said, "you're the kid whose parrr-… uhh…" He was about to say 'whose parents died', it was incredibly obvious.

"Yeah," was Aang's reply.

"Uhhh… what's up?"

"I just thought I'd introduce myself to my neighbors, and stuff. You know." Aang said.

Just then, past the boy at the door and down the hall, Katara rounded the corner and saw Aang. "Oh, hey!" she said. She walked over past the boy and up to Aang.

"You're Aang, right?"

"Mhm."

"Here, come in. It's pouring outside."

She pushed then boy down the short hallway and motioned for Aang to follow. Once they got into the living room she said, "This is my brother Sokka."

"Hi, Sokka," Aang said.

"Hey," he said and smiled at Aang. He tried to return the smile, but he didn't know how convincing it looked.

"So, Aang, why'd you come over?" she asked.

"Oh, you know, just needed to get out of the house," he said, trying to sound cheery.

"Cool," she said with a smile, "We're about to have dinner, do you want to join us?" she said sweetly.

"Sure. I mean if it's okay."

"No, it's fine. I always make extra for left-overs. Come on," she said and guided him into the kitchen. "Hey, Dad," she said to Hakoda who was standing by the stove, "Aang, our neighbor, came over," Hakoda immediately looked up at Aang's name, "He's gonna have dinner with us, is that okay?"

Hakoda's face grew soft when he looked at Aang, "Yeah, yeah! That'll be great."

"Hey, Dad, can you take him to the dining room? You don't have to watch the stove for me anymore, I got it," Katara said.

"Yeah, sure, come on Aang. You're gonna love Katara's cooking," Hakoda said as he guided him into the other room.

Sokka was already seated with a plate in from of him. When they sat down there was an awkward silence. But thankfully that didn't last long as soon Katara came in with steaks and baked potatoes. She set it on the table then everybody got their food. Aang old got a small steak and half a potato as he wasn't really hungry.

"Now these aren't grilled," Hakoda said as he took a huge bite, "but Katara knows how to make them real good anyways."

When Aang took a bite he had to agree. "It's good," he said after he swallowed.

'Thank you," Katara said.

There was silence for most of the meal as Hakoda and Sokka stuffed their faces, but as they were all close to finishing Katara said, "I'm sorry about my brother and dad's messy eating, Aang."

"Eesh nawt thot bad Katawa," Sokka said through his last mouthful of food.

"Yeah, it kind of is," Katara said.

Hakoda laughed while the strangest thing happened to Aang. He smiled. He genuinely smiled. Without thinking about, without forcing it, it just happened. He smiled again at the thought of it. But, all good things come to an end. The weight that was momentarily lifted came crashing down again, and his depression came back over him.

They chatted for a little after dinner about various things like school starting in a month, but when they started to all get up, Aang decided he should go.

"Thank you for dinner. I think I'm gonna head home now," he said.

"Oh, okay, thanks for coming over Aang," Hakoda said.

"Yeah, cool seeing you man," Sokka said.

Aang nodded and headed for the door. He knew it was probably rude to eat and run, but he really just wanted to go home. Or go to his grandmother's home at least.

As he neared the door he heard "Wait," from behind him. He turned to see Katara walking quickly up to him.

"I just wanted to say that you're welcome to come over at any time. And that it's good seeing you."

"Thanks," he said and smiled the second real smile that night.

She smiled back at him and waved as he opened the door. "Katara," turned around and said to her, "I'm sorry I wasn't the best guest by not talking that much and stuff, but… you know, I just…" he trailed off.

"It's fine, Aang. I understand," she smiled at him again.

"Thanks. See you," he said.

"See you."

When he got back to his grandma's house she asked him, "How was it? Did you make new friends?"

"Yeah… I think I did."

-Token