A/N: So here it is! The long anticipated chapter of this story! Hopefully you guys would like it better than I do and hopefully, you guys won't kill me. You'll see why soon enough. In advance, I wasn't going to do it-but I couldn't resist-so I'm sorry.

Disclaimer: *DISGUSTING SOBBING* i don't own D:


A Date With Disaster

Chapter Four: Disaster's Puppet


The next morning Aang woke up sweating, goosebumps erupting all over this skin, the previous night's conversation was haunting him—segments of phrases and words were taunting him, making him paranoid, making him wish that he wasn't human—that he wasn't alive. More than enough times something inappropriate flashed his mind and more than enough times he had to resist the urge to bang his head against the nearest tree possible.

kiss…

You are not kissing my sister!

Why not?

no tongue…

Katara's my sister!

The endless words, the endless phrases, the endless questions were making him sick, sick to the core. The indecision of what he was expected to do and what he wanted to do was making him nauseous—kiss Katara? That was…unbelievable. That was a fantasy. It was a fairytale, something out of his reach, something…crazy.

But then again that's what they thought about mermaids…and look where that got them.

He groaned, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. The entire morning Sokka looked like he was going throw up; he kept shooting strange looks at Aang, as if he was expecting Aang to start making out with Katara as soon as he turned his head away. While Toph, on the other hand was smirking and laughing every time his heart sped up at the thought of kissing Katara…

Gah; he needed to do something—something to get his mind off of…everything.

Mediating was a special activity. Mediating was relaxing and time for only himself. It was the one place where Aang could crawl in, sit back and think properly for a second. He found himself there often now, a war wasn't an easy surrounding background to relax in…but he managed it.

Except with this entire mermaid dilemma—his mind was more scrambled and jumpy than usual. He couldn't find it in himself to sit still and think. He couldn't find the one place in his head where he could think about what to do. His mind would barge with obscene images, phrases that didn't want leave his head, and things that made his heart cringe with shame and embarrassment.

He couldn't handle it. He needed closure. He needed to talk to somebody, do something before his head drove him insane with this entire Katara 'kissing' thing.

Which, was why, Sokka found him training in the earliest hours of the morning, when the light of day was just barely peeking through the horizon.

"What are you doing?"

He spoke rapidly, talking as if he was running on high-charged batteries, "Oh nothing just training there is a war going on I mean I gotta now stuff, running around in the Fire Nation who knows what you'll end up facing I mean, psh, we found a mermaid can you get any weirder than that? Hey do you have any rice or cakes because I'm really hungry rice cakes how about rice cakes we should make them sometime they sound really good—"

"Stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. You need to calm down."

"Calm down? Sokka we're in a war and I have to defeat the Fire Lord I don't think I have time to calm down I still don't know firebending yet and my water and earthbending is still rusty are Katara and Toph awake because we could practice both at the same time! I mean if Katara's not too busy with her boyfriend—"

"Aang."

He stopped moving.

"Come here." Sokka ordered.

Hesitating for a moment, Aang wearily trudged himself over to Sokka and planted himself next to him on the dewy grass. His mind was still dizzy, still buzzing from the adrenaline rush prior to the hours he spent running up and down the hills and cliffs to keep himself awake; to keep his mind off of…certain events.

"Look…I know you're scared about this entire…thing and I'm not happy about it either but…just stop freaking out so much for a moment." Sokka tried tactfully.

Aang blinked, "Stop freaking out? Stop freaking out? Sokka, are you crazy how can I not freak out?" he jumped up immediately, pacing and running his hand through his head anxiously. "Katara's my best friend and she's under some freaky mermaid mind-control and…dating a Fire Nation guy who's way cooler than me! How can I compete with that? How! And Toph's all just kiss her! in my face, does she not realize how difficult that is? How? And you want me to just…calm down. I'm not calming down, how can I not freak out over this?"

Sokka, staring with mixed emotions as Aang, sighed heavily. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought. He grabbed the jittery Avatar's elbow lightly and led him once again to the soft grass.

"Cross your legs." Aang obliged. "Take a deep breath and clear your head of everything, all thoughts, and all emotions." He took a deep cleansing breath and immediately Aang felt better.

"Good. Close your eyes. Now—I want you to forget that you're in the Fire Nation. Don't say anything, just do it." Aang shut his mouth. "Imagine yourself in a nicer, quieter—a better place. Are you there? Good. Now—listen. Listen to your surroundings, are you listening?" Aang nodded. "Good. What do you hear?"

He was too in awe to say anything.

The wind was light, breezing over his skin and clothes lightly, teasing him with its warm caress; like a mother taking away the hair from your face and kissing your forehead to sleep. He could hear the smooth waves on the beach below them, silently nurturing the rocks on the cliff-face, singing their bubbly songs in the wind, frothing lightly on the cliff face. He could smell the sweet, freshness of the grass, the salty soothing rolls of the beach—he could imagine the red-orange sky stretching over the horizon, peeking its way through to the top. He could imagine the pink, fluffy clouds and the shapes they create themselves as—he could even feel the soft grass at his feet, dancing with the direction of the wind.

It was beautiful.

Immediately, his racing heart calmed down and he felt as if nothing evil could ever touch him again. It was the most refreshing feeling in the world. He opened his eyes; his imagination didn't do the actual setting justice.

"Whenever Katara and I used to get into fights, Gran-Gran separated us by taking us to separate sides of the village. She would take us over to these low icy cliffs and tell us to listen to our surroundings, sure most of it was ice—but it still helped. I know that you're scared Aang, we all are, but I want you to know that if anyone was going to…you know…I'd rather it be you and some beefy Fire Nation jerk."

"Thanks Sokka." Aang smiled.

Both boys sat in serene silence listening to the wind and its chime-like songs. Who knew the Fire Nation could be beautiful when it wanted to be?

"ARE YOU GIRLS DONE?" Toph yelled from the campsite, startling both boys so much that they fell over on the grass and onto their faces. "We have work to do!"

Aang spit the grass from his mouth, feeling a little miserable. Sokka clapped his back; "At least she didn't throw us off the cliff this time!" he said optimistically—referring to the time when she actually did in fact, threw them off a cliff.

"That makes me feel so much better."


"Hey Katara!"

Said girl turned around frowning, a little frightened from the tone in her brother's voice.

"Hey…"

"So I was wondering…where's Zen?"

Suspiciously: "…why?"

"Because we want to beat—I mean, get to know him better." Toph corrected herself.

She crossed her arms, "What are you guys up to?" she asked accusingly. She'd been in this situation with these two before—more times than she'd care to admit.

"We just want to know the type of guy you're dating…uh, Toph here was thinking of getting a boyfriend…and who better to know than someone who already has one?" Sokka grabbed Toph's shoulder and smiled widely (much to Toph's exclaim of surprise and anger).

"You want a…boyfriend?" Katara stared at Toph nervously.

The earthbender glared at Sokka venomously for a moment before turning to Katara and nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah, sure. Those…things."

"What brought on the change?"

"Boys are…cute." She choked out the word, unable to believe it came from her mouth. She was going to kill Sokka—then feed him to Appa.

"And I want to know what kind of guy he is; you are my sister after all." Sokka said far too happily.

Katara awkwardly stared at the two, unable to describe how awkward the conversation was making her feel. "I think Toph's a little too…much for Zen's friends or his brother. But I guess every girl wants a boyfriend…he told me he was volunteering at the market place today with some cabbage merchant. You'll find him there."

"That's great!" Sokka replied grabbing Toph and skipping his way into town.

When the campsite was well out of their sight, Toph threw Sokka in the air.

"A boyfriend, Sokka?"

"Cute Toph?"

"Shut up." She hissed.


"Hey…Katara."

"Oh hey Aang, what's up?"

"Oh, nothing. Just wondering if you wanted to practice some waterbending…?"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea…" she trailed off.

"Oh, uh it's okay. I was just, uh, you know feeling really bored—no, no wait, I wasn't bored, well I was but that's not why I wanted to waterbend! It's just that I, um, have these days were I just uh, need to bend something because—not because I want someone to show off or something—just that it makes me feel better…about defeating the Fire Lord and stuff…"

She started laughing, "Aang, it's okay. I'll waterbend with you; you don't have to explain why."

He smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, okay."

…...

"Hey!"

"Take that!"

"No fair! You cheated!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"What are you doing?"

"Look at this!"

"No—way—how did you do that?"

"I've been working on this one…wait a minute. One, two three…go!" the sound of crashing waves filled their ears.

Spluttering, "Ha—oh my, pfft, god! That was so cool."

"Thanks!"

"But I have to get you back for that now."

"Wait!—oh my god I can't believe you." Katara's laughter rang through his ears; the sight of her laughing warmed his heart.

Originally, the idea was that the two were going to practice their waterbending moves—five minutes into the lake and the only moves they managed to get down were attacking each other with as many water 'balloons' as possible. Running left and right, dodging, bobbing and weaving, upping one another with as many tricks as possible—practicing moves were completely out of the question. Aang was surprised how much Katara was acting like her normal self (Zen's control on her was strong, her mind was very moody and most of the time everyone stayed clear of her. Her thoughts and emotions were on a haywire, she'd explode with happiness at one point then start sobbing wretchedly the next) and Katara…was more dazed than usual at the amount of sheer wave-power Aang was able to inflict on her.

"You've gotten so good! Keep this up and soon enough you won't need a Sifu anymore." Katara sounded impressed, and she was immensely. She expected him to be a little out of practice considering the amount of time since he was last able to waterbend; amazingly it gave the opposite effect—he was better than ever.

"You'll always be my Sifu, Katara." He protested lightly.

"I guess so. Remember you learned everything from me mister, so I'll always be able to take you in a fight." She joked.

"I don't think I'll last in a fight with you."

"Why not?"

He self-consciously scratched the back of his head, "I don't think that I'd forgive myself if I ever hurt you."

"Hey," she touched his shoulder, "I'm your Sifu remember? Didn't I just say that I could take you in a fight? I won't let you go easy on me."

"You'd kill me before I could."

She laughed, he laughed and all was better in the world.

That is—until he remembered the very reason he asked her to waterbend with him so early in the morning at this particular time. Sokka and Toph couldn't keep Zen away from the camp forever, they could barely stand the thought of him—and they were weighing all their luck on Aang. Stealing a glance at her just made the nervous tingles in his body erupt into flames of indecision and doubt. What if it didn't work? What if she pushed him away? What if she hated him? Or worse—what if she left him? The group? Forever? He tried to stop himself but as soon as the questions started, so did the awful scenarios of complete ridiculousness. He imagined one where she pushed him away, hated him and ran away with Zen in the sunset; another where she kissed him back and they were together forever, more where she usually ended up marrying Zen or ending up dead. There was even one crazy thought where it turned out Zen was the Avatar…

"How do you think the others are doing?" Katara suddenly asked, turning a little dream-like.

He shrugged, "I dunno."

"Do you like Zen?"

The bluntness of her question made him double back in panic—she knew. He stared a little wide-eyed, "Oh uh, yeah. Sure he's…he's great."

"You don't like him do you?"

"Why would you say that? I like everyone."

"But you don't like Zen." It was more a statement than a question.

"No I—"

"Aang." The look in her eyes made him spill it.

"Okay fine no I don't. I don't really like him."

"Why not?" she sounded a little offended. "Why does everyone hate him but me?"

"He's…new."

"New?"

He tried to explain, "Well…we're in the Fire Nation and he's, Fire Nation and there's the invasion thing and the fact we don't know him well enough to trust him—I mean remember what happened with Jet? We sort of trusted him at the spot and he tried to drown an entire town…"

"But he isn't Jet and Jet turned out good in the end anyway…for some reason you guys are being more distant to Zen. I mean, I like him, isn't that enough?"

Aang felt a certain annoyance pang in his chest at her words, "That isn't really a reason to trust him Katara." He said a little bitingly.

"Don't you trust me and my judgement?"

"Yes I do but…" he trailed off unwilling to speak the rest of his thought.

"But…what?" she asked, raising her brow.

"Katara…you like him and that's a reason itself we shouldn't trust him."

She crossed her arms, "What do you mean?"

He knew he was going to regret this, "Well—you like like him. It's better if you don't get attached to him. We're going to leave anyway. It won't really work out between you guys—he doesn't even know you're from the Water Tribe, how do we know he won't stab us in the back as soon as he finds out the truth?"

"Hey!" she shouted indignantly, "I know him better than that, Zen won't betray me!"

"How do you that?"

"Because I know him!"

"That isn't enough."

Her eyes flashed and for a moment Aang thought they were silver, "You're starting to sound like Sokka, always suspicious and untrusting! I know Zen, and we're happy together—why isn't that enough for you? Don't you want me to be happy?"

"Of course I want you to be happy." just not with him, Aang thought bitterly.

"I can't believe you guys! Always treating me like some stupid girl that doesn't know any better. Haven't I proven that I'm not helpless enough times already? Or wasn't saving your life enough?"

"Katara, I think a war's a pretty good excuse for going nuts about your sister having a boyfriend from the enemy Nation." He said, stressing the 'enemy'.

She threw her hands up in aggravation, "There you go again about the Fire Nation thing! It doesn't matter to me where he's from! Just because he's from the Fire Nation doesn't mean he's evil! Think about Zuko's uncle! If it wasn't for him, we'd be dead."

"There are exceptions, I admit that, but not with every single person we come across! I find it seriously unlikely that a teenager would not be all for his own Nation. And why do you care about him so much anyway? You hardly know him!"

She glared acidly, "I love him okay? I love him. And he loves me! It doesn't matter where we're from as long as we love each other!

The words stung him, terribly. He felt as if his heart was ripped straight out of his chest and trampled on—but he tried to remind himself, it was just the mind-control talking. She didn't really love Zen. It was just the mind-control. It was just the mind-control. It was just the mind-control.

It was just the mind-control.

"Katara—listen to yourself, how can you love him? You've barely known him for a week!" he tried reasoning, swallowing the lump in his throat at her words.

"With love it doesn't matter how long!" the water swished around their knees for a sharp moment. He realized he had to be more gentle with her.

"Katara, he doesn't know you. To him, you're just a girl from the Colonies."

"I more to him than just some girl." She snapped. "You don't know a thing about him! He loves me!" she shoved his chest, making him fall over in the water; he could see the steam blow out her ears.

"Katara, try to understand. He—"

"No! You try to understand! You guys are all the same! Cynical and just stubborn. Zen is more than just a boy! I'm more to him than just a girl! Why can't you see that? We love each other! Why isn't that enough for you?" her eyes started flashing silver and the water surrounding their knees started to swirl dangerously, swishing and flying like miniature cyclones.

He realized just then he pushed her too far.

She started screaming, roaring words that were drowned out by the whirlpool of water surrounding her, Aang recoiled with fear. Zen had such a strong hold on her that she wasn't even Katara anymore. He was terrified, if he couldn't get Katara to calm down, he was sure that someone would find them and rat them out to the soldiers. And he wasn't sure that he could wrap his tattoos up in that time.

"Katara! Calm down! Someone might hear us!" he shouted over the water washing all over him.

She ignored his words. The water was swirling dangerously around them now, climbing higher and higher with every passing second. If Aang didn't do something now, they'd surely be captured.

"KATARA!"

He tried grabbing the water out of her control, but she was too angry, too brain-washed, far too gone and powerful to grab the slightest drop out of her grip. He then tried trapping her in an earth dome, but she just cut her way out of it like it was butter—her eyes were clouded silver-blue, like Toph's eyes. She was beautiful but terrifying.

Frighteningly terrifying.

He tried knocking her off her feet—and it worked—for about a minute before she covered her legs in ice, keeping herself grounded quite nicely to the lake's seabed, which had opened all around him like a ring.

"Katara! You have to stop! You need to snap out if it! Someone might find us!"

It was useless. It seemed Katara had gone blind, deaf and mute at exactly the same moment—she didn't do anything but snarl silently, glaring at him with her abnormal cloudy blue eyes.

For a second, Aang gave up. For a second, Aang couldn't do anything but stare hopelessly, the fear and helplessness gnawing his insides out.

For a second, he lost hope.

Then the next second came along and Aang had a crazy idea. He didn't even think of the consequences—later, when he thinks about it, he'd almost believe he'd been possessed to do it.

Staring defiantly, Aang took a deep, slow breath, pushing the sound of rushing water out of his ears and concentrating deeply to his core. Opening his eyes, he raised his arms, parting the water cleanly through the middle. Katara's bending was strong, but he was still the Avatar—he managed to temporarily break through the swirling ring of sharp water Katara had formed around herself. He ran.

He wasted no time sprinting through the path, grabbing Katara's face and crashing his lips on hers.


A/N: DON'T HATE ME. I'M SORRY. PLEASE REVIEW?

PhantomPotterGirl