Thanks to everyone who reviewed since last chapter. I'm sorry to say but things don't get any less confusing here yet. But know that every question will be answered in the end (or I hope at least). Again, I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Enjoy the story and please let me know how I'm doing. Thank you all.

First Awakening

Chapter 4

"I've sent the men ashore." His breath was hot and humid on her neck. "So now it's just you and me. All alone on this big. Empty. Ship."

As if in response the metal hull groaned and creaked with malice. The air down in the hull was rank and fetid and she could feel a bead of sweat trickling slowly down the side of her face. His rough hand grabbed the gag and pulled the dirty rag out of her mouth.

"Tell me. Are you frightened?" His voice quivered with expectation. "You are, aren't you."

"Only about how much I'm gonna enjoy stepping on your face later." She hissed back.

"Good. Keep thinking like that." He ran his hand down the side of her face. "You'll last longer that way."

"Do your worst." She spat in his face. "You. The Phoenix King. The Fire Nation. All of you! You will all regret the day that you attacked the Water Tribe."

"Hmmm. Yes. The Water Tribe. Your people were so weak. And soon they will all bow––" He kicked her legs out from underneath her and caused her to fall forward, her body held up by the chains around her wrists reaching up into the darkness above. He leaned forward and his hot breath filled the shell of her ear as he whispered. "Just as you are bowing now."

"Never!" She yelled as she pulled herself up on the chains to be eye level with him. "We will never stop fighting!"

His eyes glimmered in the faint torchlight. "Your village was destroyed. Your people enslaved. What do you have left to fight for?"

She looked up at him with tears in her eyes as she spat the words, "For the family I lost! For my dead mother. And my dead father. And my dead brother!"

Sokka's head was pounding. He felt like he had a ton of rocks trying to squeeze his brains out. Then he realized the rocks were extremely soft, somewhat shaggy, and smelled of sweaty bison.

"Appa! Roll over!" There was a loud groan as the bison rolled off of them.

"Azula?! Are you okay." And the words felt so odd in his mouth that Sokka had to stop for a second and run them through his head again. Yeah, he had just said that.

"I'm fine." She stood up and wound her arm around to get circulation back into it as she looked around. "Where are we?"

"Well, lucky for you, you are traveling with an expert navigator." Sokka proudly stepped on a rock, only to find out too late that it was a dormant boarqupine.

He was just about to scream his lungs out before Azula's hand clamped down on his mouth. She motioned for him to be quiet as two figures came walking out of the heaps of rocks ahead of them. She pulled him back behind a boulder as he struggled to get out of her hold.

"What about Appa!" He hissed under his breath, "We can't just leave him out in the open exposed like that."

"Hush! They'll hear us!" But it was too late and the two walkers veered towards them and stepped out in the open.

"Hey there strangers." The one chewing on the piece of straw nodded.

Sokka couldn't believe it.

"Jet?!"

There was a quiet sort of pittering in the arching silence of the spirit realm. It was quick and it was steady, except for the times when it would hear a noise other than itself. And it would stop. Alert. Looking around.

"Acorn?" Whispered a small voice next to the pitter pattering spirit's ear.

"Ash!" The spirit squeaked, materializing. "You nearly scared me half to life!"

"Sorry." The other spirit whispered faintly, fading slowly into view. "Is the place?"

"Yes. We should be safe here but still..." Acorn's voice dropped lower. "He could be anywhere."

There was only silence and a small whimper that rose from Ash. Both looked around at the shadows growing darker around them, twisting with menace.

"Did you hear?" Acorn looked back and forth. "He got another one."

"Anyone we knew?" Ash toned and swallowed dryly.

"No. But it's getting out of hand." Acorn frowned, "Somebody should–– wait?! Did you hear that!"

Both spirits faded away and held their breaths as they listened. There had been a definite sound. Like a soft whisper of leaves on the forest floor. Or the hollow rattling of twigs. Acorn reappeared and was about to say something when the rustling started in the shadows next to them.

The rustling moved around them, circling their hiding place. Acorn placed a small hand over Ash's mouth to stop the whimpering that threatened to spill over. The rustling got closer and closer and then it stopped. Neither dared to move a muscle.

"I AM KOH!" Boomed a voice behind them.

Acorn squeaked and reappeared leaping high into the air. Ash just gave a gurgled whimpered and fainted, shimmering into vision on the ground. But instead of hearing the deadly voice of Koh the Face Stealer they heard a high pitched sniggering laugh in the branches above them.

"Hahahah, heeehehehe, oh boy that is rich! That is rich! Wait until I tell everyone! You thought I was him. You thought I was Koh!" The small spirit in the tree was laughing hysterically in that high pitched laugh that sounded like some kind of chattering bird.

"Thorn!" Acorn turned and snapped at him, "Get down here! That was not funny! Just look at what you did to poor Ash!"

"Bahahaha, but the looks on your faces! It was priceless." The chattering laughing spirit hopped down next to them, "Come on Ash, old buddy old pal. See. It was just me. Me and a branch with some leaves. I mean if it was Koh he'd have probably eaten your face of by now."

"Thorn! Not helping!" Acorn helped Ash sit up, "And stop saying his name!"

"What, you think if I say his name old eyelid face is gonna shop up and gobble us up! Ha!" Thorn started another long string of laughter.

"Anyway, if you're here this must be the right place." Acorn said matter of factly. "So now what? Is this all of us?"

From behind them the clearing suddenly lit up with a white light and a soft voice saying, "Yes, you are all here. Hurry, we don't have much time. Koh is coming!"

Zhou stepped out of the room and locked the door behind him. He straightened his armor and dusted off his shoulder pads. That's when he caught sight of it on the back of his glove. A smear of dark red stained the leather.

"That little... " He started to say and then pulled the glove off. "I'll have to make sure the launderer washes it twice. Nothing like filthy peasant blood to make leather stink."

Just then there was the sudden ratatat of soldiers running on the deck above him. He growled as he walked up the stairs on onto the deck, the sun just beginning to paint the evening sky in hues of red. There were two rows of elite firebenders arriving on the deck, running back and forth to secure the deck. A display of this magnitude could only mean one thing.

"Good evening, Admiral Zhou." The Phoenix King was standing on the landing as a guard informed him that the deck was secured. "I've come to see how our little prisoner is doing."

"Your Highness." Zhou said bowing. "If I'd known you were coming I'd have ensured that we be better to receive you."

"Oh dear, that bad is it." The Phoenix King chuckled. "I hope you left some of her alive for me to question."

"Actually, I have good news, Highness." Zhou looked up, his eyes glittering evilly. "She's revealed the location of the resistance."

"Well, done." The Phoenix King stroked his beard thoughtfully, "And what of the Fire Lord and her husband?"

"She says that her forces did in fact kidnap the Fire Lord Azula and her husband Lord Kuzon." Zhou smiled triumphantly. "And she is going to lead us straight to where they are being kept."

"Excellent news Admiral Zhou." The Phoenix King said turning and looking at the sky, "You'd best leave soon then. The moon is still mostly full. Who knows how much of the witch's power could return. The sooner you find the two of them the sooner we can be rid of the girl."

"As you wish, Your Highness." Zhou bowed again. "We will set out right away."

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" Jet frowned as his swords raised a bit higher.

"Yes. No. Kinda." Sokka felt his mouth going dry as a thought was trying to manifest that he wasn't giving any room to. "It's all just really confusing right now. I'm Sokka, this is––"

"Song. My name is Song." Azula said stepped forward with a forced smile. "So where are you two headed?"

"We're going to the Scorpion Horde campsite." Jet grinned. "We're gonna join the Resistance. Gonna kick some firebender butts!"

"Hush, boy." Spoke the man next to Jet. He was extremely tall and covered in armor from head to toe and his voice echoed and boomed.

"Come on. They're obviously resistance fighters dressed to pass as firebenders. No firebender would actually wear expensive clothes like that." Jet mock bowed, "They must have stolen them from traveling merchants or something. Am I right?"

"Yip." Azula was the one speaking up again, "That's us. Couple of resistance fighting highwaymen. So yeah, anyway, we'd better be going."

"What's the rush?" Jet winked at her again, "It's almost dark. Why not camp together and then we can all head out to the Horde camp in the morning."

And because Azula could not think of an excuse, they ended up setting up camp and making a fire. And as odd as Sokka felt about sitting next to Jet around a campfire and as odd as it was that the man in armor still did not remove any of it, not even to sleep, Sokka barely registered any of it. He was thinking. And he was still awake and still thinking when Azula came to him several hours later to wake him so they could sneak off from the other two. They didn't speak until Appa was soaring high over the water, leaving the Desolate Waste and the two sleepers next to the fire.

"Well, it's a good thing neither of them had ever seen our portraits. Otherwise we would have been in serious trouble." Azula was brushing her hair as the bison continued to soar through the star studded night.

"Huh? What?" Sokka said suddenly, "Sorry, I was just thinking."

"Kuzon." She said that name again, "How did you know Jet's name? Have you met him before?"

"Yes." Sokka said, looking over the water, "Not as Kuzon. When I was Sokka. It all feels like so long ago. But yeah he used to be kinda crazy. And then he was brainwashed and we fixed him and he was actually okay. But then... in Ba Sing Se..."

"What happened?" Azula whispered.

By the crackling fire the man in armor sat up and walked nimbly over to the sleeping Jet. He proceeded to kick the young man in the gut.

"Wake up! We have to go." He turned and started kicking sand on the fire. "We have to let the Horde know."

"What? What's going on." Jet groaned as he sat up.

"Those two. I recognized the woman. Her name is not Song." The armored man turned and glared through eye slits at Jet. "She is Fire Lord Azula."

"What!" Jet was immediately on his feet, "Why didn't you say something sooner! We could have caught them!"

"No. We have to get to the camp and let Long Feng know." The armored man looked away. "I will need a special detachment of Earth Benders if I'm going to go after the Fire Lord."

"You're not going with us?" Jet picked his swords up as if he was ready to fight, "The reason I said I'd join you is because you promised that you'd make them pay!"

"And that is why you have to go tell Long Feng." The armor man grabbed blade of the sword and snapped it like it was a twig, "The Scorpion Horde will continue on the attack on the Fire Palace. We have a very special window of opportunity. The Moon Witch attacked the Palace and left one of the walls completely defenseless."

"The Moon Witch? I mean I've heard stories..." Jet seemed to forget all about the Fire Lord and his own broken sword."You mean. She's actually, you know, real?"

The boat was making good progress. Zhou looked back as the last glimmering lights of the city disappeared behind him. Their course was set and he felt certain that this would be it. He would go and he would rescue the Fire Lord and he would prove himself. Maybe the Phoenix King would finally realize that he was a more fit ruler than the Fire Lord. Maybe he would be crowned as Fire Lord instead. He shivered as the thought ran like molten lead down his back.

Deep in the holds of his ship the girl hung between two chains. A bead of sweat trickled down her face. The drop collected more as it went until it reached her chin. But then instead of dripping down the drop stopped. And then slowly, ever so slowly, it began to move up the side of her face. It wound up and slid back behind her and up her arm, slowly going towards the manacle that held her up, gathering more drops as it did.

Her fingers were moving frantically as the water zipped in and out of the lock until finally there was a click and her one hand was free. It took her even less time to do the second manacle. She dropped to the shadow stained floor soundlessly, and took a few steps until she was standing in the waning moon light. And then she raised her hands up and started to reach out and feel for them.

"So, do you wanna talk about it?" She asked taking Sokka's hand.

"It's just. The things in my head. The way I remember them. Jet had died. I was there. I saw it." Sokka sighed, "And if he's still somehow alive. If this is all real. Then that means. No. No, I can't accept it."

"About Avatar Aang?" Azula said and smiled at his surprised face, "I do know you pretty well Kuzon. Even if you can't remember any of it. But listen. You have to accept it. Avatar Aang is dead."

"Not Aang. No." Sokka felt his mouth go dry and suddenly everything he had been holding at bay during the day flooded out, "No! It's a trick! It has to be a trick! Aang can't be dead!"

She placed her hand on his shoulder, "Kuzon––"

"That's not my name!" Sokka pushed her hand away, "And you have to be wrong! Aang can't be dead because who is gonna save the world from the Fire Lord?! Without the Avatar we don't stand a chance to end the War."

"Shhhh. Listen." She pulled him to her, "The War has been over for a very long time now. Remember, we learned about it in school. After the Avatar disappeared our people prospered and our nation spread out. And when he returned the Firelord faced him and the Phoenix King killed him."

"No." Sokka felt a dry heave grip his stomach, "He was just a kid."

"Kuzon, Avatar Aang was almost eighty years old when he faced the Firelord" Azula looked back at the endless desolation behind them. "And in the end, the two of them destroyed each other."

"This is all wrong." Sokka said holding his head. "Wrong, wrong, wrong. Aang can't be dead! I have to find him! It has to be a trick! I have to find him and Toph and... Katara! Katara! Where is my sister!"

"Sir." A deckhand saluted as he came up behind Zhou. "We're approaching the Seaweed Seas. The helmsman wants permission to go around, Sir."

"No. Full steam ahead." Zhou spoke without even looking down.

"But sir... the rumors––" But he didn't get any further before he was flung overboard.

The ship continued on, cutting through the thick seaweed. The sailors looked over the edge cautiously, at the oily black water. Bodies and pieces of broken ship could be seen trapped in the hairlike grasses of the seaweed forest. But even though they all kept glancing down not one of them saw the movement in the water, or the first cold, slimy hand grabbing one of the draglines, or the dead, white eyes rise from the water.

There was a shudder and the call was raised from several parts of the ship at once. Zhou spun around just in time to see the pale, discolored corpses walking along the deck, necks and limbs hanging and dragging like puppets on a string. He sent several thick bursts of fire, sizzling several of them on the spot. And yet more kept advancing. The crew had already jumped overboard. They had all heard the rumours.

"Zhou." She called from behind him, her fingers poised clawlike, the grand puppetmaster manipulating the corpses around him, standing between the flames licking across the deck.

"You! You lied!" He spat, looking around at the corpses.

"Obviously." She glared down at him. "And you took the bait so easily."

"Take this!" Zhou yelled, sending a ring of fire spinning out towards the ring of corpses around him, shooting them all back with tremendous force, before turning towards the girl and preparing to roast her alive, "I will not lose to you, peasant scum!"

But right as he was ready to blast her off the deck, he suddenly felt a cold shiver fill him. And his arms suddenly wouldn't move, his muscles refused to respond. His mouth gaped as he tried to talk but no words could come out. He could only stare at the girl as she moved her hands back and forth, manipulating his body.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you, Zhou. But today you do lose." She made him kneel on the deck as she advanced. "And now, you're going to tell me exactly what you did to Kia and Hakoda! I want to hear you say it!"

"W-who?" He gasped as he suddenly felt his chest tighten.

"The leaders of the Southern Water Tribe!" She yelled, jabbing him into the chest, sending a jolt of electricity through his heart each time. "My parents!"

The room was dark and the incense hung low and purple around the prone body of the boy Avatar. Kazo watched the low-burning and flickering flame, the only sign that the boy was still alive. His breathing was now so shallow that the old monk had almost given up all hope. Kazo's eyes were growing heavy. He was not even aware as his head nodded to his chest, and his eyes shut.

He was standing in a forest clearing. Around him fireflies and balls of light hung in the air, singing softly in the warm evening, perfumed with jasmine. One of the fireflies came closer and as it did, it grew larger and larger until it was as large enough for a person to stand inside. And Kazo didn't know why but he knew he should step into it.

He was surrounded by white light. Deep in the light a soft and sweet voice spoke in echoes all around him.

"I know who you are."

Kazo hung his head. "Of course you do, My Lady. And who do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"I am Yue. The Spirit of the Moon."

Kazo bowed, "I am honored, My Lady."

"And even though I know who you are I also know what you are doing. For the Avatar." And as she said the name the white lady began to glow with a faint blue tinge.

"My Lady, unfortunately the Avatar is growing weak. I am afraid we will lose him." Kazo hung his head, "It is my fault."

"Take heart, sage." And out of the white light a young girl materialized. "I will give you something that will help the Avatar hold on. It will not be enough to awake him yet. He is still too powerful to awake."

"My Lady? Who is?" But she didn't answer and instead placed a ball of light, like a white pearl, into Kazo's hand.

And then he was standing back in the warm meadow and the ball of light was shrinking again. Kazo felt a warm tear slide down his face. And then a terrible creature leapt from the bushes. It had a body like a centipede, and a face like a small weeping child.

"No more escape, Yue!" Koh yelled in victory, grabbing the ball of light between his pinchers.

And then it disappeared and there was just an acorn in it's place. Koh threw it on the ground and spun around, looking back and forth.

"Where are you! How dare you! How dare you trick me!" But there was no trace of anyone anywhere in the clearing of Kazo's dream. Except for Kazo. "Hmmm. You. Human. What did she send to you? Show me. Show me!"

Koh's face inches from his own, teeth bared, when Kazo woke. His heart was beating frantically. His face was covered in sweat. And his right hand hurt. He opened his palm to reveal a small white pearl he had been gripping in his hand. The pearl Yue had given him. It rose from his hand and drifted towards the sleeping Avatar before dissolving into light and settling into the boy. Kazo waited breathlessly.

At first nothing happened. Then suddenly the slow rise and fall changed noticeably. The candle's flame rose higher and steadier and the heartbeat could be heard in the thin chest of the boy asleep on the altar.

"Thank you, My Lady." Kazo said, a tear sliding down his cheek, "Thank you for saving my son."

Sorry I know its a cliffhanger but next chapter will be up soon! I promise. Thank you again for reading and for any reviews, comments, critiques, spell checks, random smiley faces, or anything else anyone has to say about this. It really is only my readers that keep me writing. And the more feedback I get the more inspired I am to write (he said as he blatantly blackmailed his dear readers).