music: "The Red" - Chevelle

Aaliyah giggled as her father splashed water at her. "Tell me more about water benders daddy." She demanded and splashed water back at him. The day was hot and the cool water felt great on her sticky skin. "Well, they fight like the ocean moves. Gracefully, and powerfully." He used his arms to splash a wave of water over her head, soaking her dark hair. She laughed again and brushed the water from her eyes, "I already knew that. Tell me something different. Like, what is the original source of their bending?"

He smiled down at her, happy with her thirst for knowledge. "It's something very different from the other three nations. Otherworldly even."

"Is it not an animal?" She asked curiously.

"No, not an animal, but spirits. Two of them." Aaliyah's eyes widened in wonderment. "Which ones?"

"The ocean and the moon spirits. They saw how the moon commanded the tides, and learned how to do so themselves. That's why when the moon is at it's fullest, their bending is more powerful than ever. They become unbeatable."

She smiled at her father. "That's so cool." Her father laughed, his voice deep and comforting. "It is indeed."

Suddenly, the sky overhead darkened and the temperature dropped drastically. The sun had disappeared and she felt the heat and energy draining from her body, causing her to small form to shake. She looked over to her father in panic, and saw that his body was rapidly wasting away. His large muscles were deteriorating and his bones were becoming prominent. His sunken eyes looked at her in panic, silently pleading for help. She screamed and pushed through the water to grab on to him, but when she reached him, her arms closed around thin air.

A piercing scream split the air as Aaliyah jerked upward, rapidly awaking from her dream. Her head was pounding and her cheeks were wet with fresh tears. Breathing heavily, she wrapped her arms around her trembling body. Her limbs felt very weak, and her throat was dry. Just then, Katara walked in with a cup of cold water. She sat down on the bed and silently handed the liquid to Aaliyah.

Katara watched with worried eyes as the fire bender gulped down the cool water. "Thank you", Aaliyah's voice was barely above a whisper. "Are you okay?" Katara finally asked.

Aaliyah shook her head, "No, but I will be." Aaliyah jumped a little when she felt the water bender wrap her small arms around her. "You had us all so worried." Katara whispered.

Slowly, Aaliyah's arms came to wrap around the other girl and she sunk into her embrace. That's how Aang found the two girls when he walked in a few seconds later. "Uh, is every thing okay?" Aaliyah released Katara and smiled at him, motioning for him to join them on her bed.

"I'm so sorry for my behavior earlier. I just…" She stopped and took a deep breath, trying to find the right words to describe her actions.

"When I saw, him, it felt like the pain of the past six years combined inside my body at once. His face was the very embodiment of all that pain and rage, and I felt the need to destroy it. To bury it forever. Then Toph told me that he wasn't lying. That he didn't actually kill my father. And I just…"

"It's okay." Aang interrupted. "I know what you're talking about. When I saw the aftermath of the destruction of my people, I felt exactly what you felt. I turned into something terrifying…" He trailed off.

Aaliyah chuckled. "I'm sure I was pretty terrifying."

Katara spoke up then. "I've never seen anything like it! Your entire body was on fire. It was terrifying, yes. But so very, captivating. It was the purest show of power I've ever seen, other than seeing Aang in the Avatar state of course. Are other fire benders capable of that?"

Aaliyah shrugged. "I'm not sure. So, uh, what happened to the Prince?"

"I told him it was in his best interest to leave." Aang answered. "I wasn't sure what kind of state you would be in when you woke up." He said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.

Aaliyah nodded. "That was probably a good idea."

Aaliyah looked out her window. The sun had set and darkness had fallen over the temple. "You guys must be tired. Why don't you go back to sleep. I think I'm going to do the same."

Aang and Katara said their good nights and left to go to their separate rooms. Once they were gone Aaliyah slid out of bed. She had to balance herself as a wave of vertigo engulfed her. Once it passed, she grabbed her black cloak and disappeared into the night.

Zuko lay under his make-shift shelter, brooding over what had happened earlier. He felt guilty for the pain his actions had caused the girl. It seemed like he could never do anything right. All he wanted was to help play his part in ending the war, but the actions of his past wouldn't allow him to do that.

He sighed and rolled over, closing his eyes as sleep came to him.

He awoke sometime later. He could feel someones presence in the dark forest. Once he heard the nearly silent footsteps he shot up and sent a tongue of flames licking the ground, demanding to know who was in the shadows.

The flames suddenly went in the opposite direction he sent them and a cloaked form stepped out of the bushes. Zuko sat still as stone and watched small, delicate hands come up to remove the hood. The girl who attacked him at the temple revealed her face. Her skin was porcelain, painted pale in the moonlight. Her features were elegant. High cheekbones, full cherry-tinted lips, sharp nose, and wide emerald eyes that no longer burned with hatred. All framed by shiny, silken locks of obsidian hair that fell loosely to her waist.

She was by far the most beautiful girl the Prince had ever seen. If he had not known better, he would have thought she was royalty.

Oh, wait…

"Hello Prince Zuko." Her voice was smooth and sultry, but held a slight hesitation. Like she wasn't so sure she should be there.

"Have you come to kill me?" The burns from earlier were still fresh on his skin. She looked down and smiled slightly. "No, I just want to talk to you." She looked up at him and the Prince studied her eyes closely. When he found no ill intentions hidden in them he invited her to sit down.

She took off her cloak and settled down opposite of him. Zuko watched warily as she sat down, the slit in her tunic rising up to reveal more creamy flesh.

"First," she began. "I want to apologize for, uh, you know, trying to kill you. Seeing your face just sort of triggered something inside of me, and I snapped." She said quietly, staring at the ground.

"Apology accepted. I understand why you did. I can't imagine what you must think of me." She looked up at him then.

"Well, I thought you were a selfish, power-hungry prince who cared for no one else but himself. I believed you to be pure evil. But I'm not so sure anymore. Tell me, Prince Zuko, did you really release my father?"

"I did." Zuko tried to put as much conviction into his voice as possible. "My uncle convinced me that he was not worthy of what would happen to him if we returned him to my father. He told me of all the times the General had saved his life, and that if I never did anything else for him in life than that would be fine, so long as I released his friend. I felt like I owed it to my uncle to do this one thing for him. So I released him. We had only traveled a few miles from the temple. I figured he would have come back here."

"He never came back." Aaliyah said, her eyes shining with unshed tears. "I'm truly sorry. I regret ever taking him in the first place." Zuko said. His deep, raspy voice sounding sincere and full of remorse.

Aaliyah swallowed back her tears and nodded, accepting his apology. Someone else had taken her father, and one day she would figure out who.

"So, why did you come to the temple?" Aaliyah asked, suddenly very curious as to why the Prince would return there.

Zuko chuckled nervously. "Well, it's a long story."

"I have all night" was Aaliyah's reply. So the two fire benders sat across from one another as Zuko told his story from the beginning. He told her of his mother leaving, his banishment, his obsession with regaining his honor. He told her of his uncle and how he had been more of a father to him than his own. Everything up to him figuring out that his destiny was to help end the war, and that's why he had come to find the avatar. Why he told her all of this was still a mystery to him. But something deep inside his gut told him that if he was to going tell his life story to anyone, than this girl was that person.

Aaliyah listened to the boy with rapt fascination. Everything she had previously thought about him had been proved untrue by his story. He wasn't evil. He wasn't power hungry or cold-hearted. He was just a very confused boy who had a very rough upbringing.

"I guess my plans to teach the avatar fire bending are kind of pointless now. He already has his teacher." He looked at Aaliyah pointedly. She smiled slightly and shrugged.

"Well I don't see how they will accept me now." He looked utterly defeated.

"They will if I vouch for you."

Zuko looked up at her, surprised by her words. "You would do that?" he asked incredulously.

"I can tell that you're sincere. You really want to help, and we're going to need all the help we can get." She replied.

Zuko's smile almost split his face in two. The beauty of that radiant smile had shown Aaliyah what she needed to see. Beneath all the mistakes of his past, Prince Zuko was truly a good person inside. He just needed a chance to show it.

Morning had arrived at the temple. Katara hummed a tune as she carried Aaliyah's breakfast to her. The girl needed to get her strength back up to resume Aang's training. Imagine her surprise when she walked in to see the fire benders bed empty.

She quickly went to find Aang, only to find that him and the others had already found her. She had just returned from wherever she went, with Zuko in tow.

"Aaliyah, would you mind telling us what the hell is going on?" Sokka asked, confused and defensive. Zuko's presence made him feel uneasy.

Aaliyah cleared her throat nervously. "Well, you see, last night, after my head had cleared, I thought I should pay a visit to Zuko to figure out what happened to my father. And as you can see, things went fairly well." She poked the Prince's cheek. "See? Still alive." She then smiled cheekily at the group.

"Uh, okay. But, why is he with you right now?" Aang asked, completely baffled by the bizarre change of events.

"Oh, I think he should join our group." Aaliyah stated rather bluntly

A loud chorus of disbelief and defiance rose up among the children. "Hey!" Aaliyah shouted trying to shut them up.

When the crowd did not silence themselves, she decided to use a different approach. She clapped her hands above her head and a wave of bright white flames erupted above the children's heads. They all ducked and the angry chatter ceased.

She smirked at finally shutting them up. "Okay, now, as I was saying. I believe Zuko should join our group. That's the reason he first came to the temple, but uh, I sort of interrupted him before he could explain. Anyway, I think he has a lot to offer. I know you all don't trust him. Hell, I still don't trust him fully. But, we need all the help we can get."

The group stared at her, defiance shining in their eyes. Finally Toph stepped forward, deciding to be the voice of reason. "I agree with her. Zuko may not be our favorite person, but he could prove to be valuable to us. Besides I'm not sensing any lies or false pretenses."

Aang spoke up next. "I don't like it. But I can see the logic in it." Zuko sighed with relief. With the Avatar on board then he might be accepted.

"What do you guys think?" Aang asked, looking back at Sokka and Katara. "I just want to defeat the fire lord, and if you think Zuko can help, then I'm all for it." Aang nodded and looked over to Katara.

Her eyes were hard and cold as she glared at Zuko. She finally sighed and looked at Aang. "I'll go along with whatever you think is best."

Zuko let out another relieved sigh. He was in. He could help now. He looked over at Aaliyah who offered a tight lipped smile before walking off. Now for the truly hard part, he thought. Earning everyone's trust.

A/N: No, Zuko is not planning anything devious. Don't worry though, the hot-blooded, temperamental, bad boy we all love has not disappeared with his new found pure intentions. And yes, Aaliyah now shoots white fire. Why? Cause she's just that good, man. & I thought it was pretty bad ass. Besides, she needs something to set her apart from the other fire benders. And though she may be amazing, she will still get her ass kicked by Zuko later on. I figure it wouldn't be very manly if the girl he liked could kick his butt all the time. Kind of a turn off.

I love, love, love all my reviewers. If it wasn't for your awesome reviews, I probably would have deleted this long ago. So, thank you. (:

As usual, please excuse any spelling/grammatical errors. A beta would be lovely. (:

xInspired