Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or Avatar: The Last Airbender

...

"Natsu, can I speak with you for a moment?" asked Zuko, the banished prince from the Fire Nation trying to get the attention of the wizard from another realm or dimension. Even after all this time they were no closer to figuring out just where the son of Igneel was from other than the fact that he wasn't from this world. No record they had found on the island had any mention of 'Earthland,' though they had never believed they would have found much to begin with. Sokka had made mention that they could potentially find something in Wan Shi Tong's Library before remembering that it was buried beneath tonnes of sand. He had spent the rest of the day moping.

"Sure, what is it?" asked Natsu as he followed Zuko through the halls of the Fire Lord's vacation home. Eventually they stopped in the courtyard, well away from where the rest of the group was currently gathered.

"I know you're looking for a way home, even if you haven't said anything about it," said Zuko as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Whenever Sokka says something about the Southern Water Tribe, or Aang says something about the Air Temples, you get a sense of longing in your eyes if only for a moment. I know the look, I had it in my own eyes the day after I had been banished from the Fire Nation. In those times where I was out of the eyes of my uncle and my crew, in those most private moments I looked into the mirror and gazed hard into my eyes. I wanted to go home, I wanted to be accepted by my father and walk the compound I was born in to."

Natsu said nothing but started fidgeting with the scarf that was ever present around his neck. That was all the notification that Zuko needed to know that he was right on the money. "I know the situations are different but similar at the same time," continued Zuko. "The thing is you are probably the biggest advantage we have in the war to come, even more so than Aang. The rest of them don't know what's coming, I haven't been able to gather the strength to tell them just what they are going to be fighting yet. The reason I haven't thought of telling them is because of you. Natsu, you are more than an asset in the coming battle, you are the person who can win this war!"

Again, Natsu said nothing although he was seething slightly at the idea that Zuko was keeping information away from the rest of the group. He had been on enough missions where he and those he had been with had been without all of the necessary information. The most recent time was Lucy's first mission where the people who had issued the mission had lied about their identity. It was a small deficit in information but the sole fact that in other circumstances a lack of intel could result in terrible consequences. He had heard stories of how solo missions and even teams had been caught unawares and fallen into precarious circumstances.

He did his best to prevent those memories from surfacing to close to the surface. Seeing his friends, his guild, his family, hurt because information had been withheld or blatantly lied about. It didn't sit well with him.

"The Fire Lord had you locked away in such strict conditions for a reason, I was part of his council, even if it was only for a short time yet your name never came up," said Zuko. "Simply put, you didn't exist and even now the bounty posters issued for all of us don't explain just what you are capable of. The average fire nation soldier trying to capture you will be ill informed and unprepared. If they knew that you could eat fire, the backbone of the entire fire nation army! Only ten percent of their forces aren't firebenders and rely on skills with a sword or spear. Ten percent of the largest military force in the world is all that can stand in your way!"

"What's your point?" asked Natsu, sick of Zuko beating around the bush.

"My point," said the former prince, his voice rising slightly. "Is that when the time comes where we stand against the largest army the Elemental world has ever seen, if there is a chance, a single idea that you could potentially return home, would you abandon us and take it?"

Natsu couldn't help but swallow the lump that had formed in his throat at that final comment. As Zuko had pointed out, he wanted to go home so badly but did his best to keep it hidden from the rest of them. They had a world to look after, they were trying to a single nation from ruling over all those who didn't bow down before them. Of course he was willing and ready to fight against such an oppressive force. If, by some chance, a path opened up for him to go back home at the same time, what choice would he make? Considering how long he had chased after the shadow of Igneel across towns and ports where he couldn't possibly be. He'd been chasing a dream then and if the dream of returning home appeared in front of him, despite how unlikely it may be, would he still chase it?

He couldn't answer.

As much as he wanted to, he wanted to tell Zuko that he would still be here with them when the battle began, if only to run rampant through the Fire Nation armies. He loved the thrill of battle, he had fought against the freaking Magic Council's army to try and prevent Jellal from being arrested. Those were impossible odds that would have seen him incarcerated for life but he had challenged them anyway, if only to see Erza happy.

The mere thought of seeing Erza again caused him to pause once more, his answer more insecure than it had ever been. When he had first arrived in this world he had thought more of the how he had gotten here, trying to toss his mind back to just how he had arrived and had thought he would discover the way back that way. Weeks of solitary isolation had driven his thought process away and now all he could remember regarding what happened just before he had found himself in the Elemental Nations was challenging Acnologia. Their assault on the black dragon of destruction was fruitless, their efforts mere insect bites against a being of such power. They had continued their assault however, knowing full well they either left Terujima as a guild, or died as a guild.

Natsu could still see the blast of pure energy large enough to vaporize them and the island they were standing on as he held hands with his family.

"So what'll it be!" shouted Zuko, demanding an answer from their secret weapon.

"This is a mission," said Natsu, conviction resonating in his voice. "Just like the hundreds of missions I've accepted before, I will see this through to the end one way or another. If some way back home does pop up, I can only assume that another one will pop up somewhere along the line. You don't have to worry about my determination to see this through to the end."

Zuko took a few seconds to absorb what Natsu had said before allowing himself to exhale a loud sigh. There was a clear understanding in that one moment where both of them knew that that wasn't the true answer. Only when and if the time came would the true answer to that precarious question be answered.

Thankfully before anymore could be said between the two of them, they were distracted as Aang burst onto the scene, a cloud of smoke and dust behind him showing just what manner of speed he had been achieving. "Guys, Sokka and Suki just found out that there's going to be a play on tonight about us and the journey that's happened since I was unfrozen," declared Aang, basically bouncing from excitement.

"A play?" repeated Zuko.

"Not interested," said Natsu as he started walking away, picking at a bit of gunk in his ear. Aang seemed disheartened at the news but guessed that because Natsu wouldn't feature in much or any of the production he didn't want to see it. "Zuko, I recommend letting them know just what it is that will be coming their way in the war to come. Doesn't have to be today, doesn't have to be tomorrow, but if you don't tell them what you know then it is possible that everyone here will die."

Aang swallowed nervously as he wondered just what kind of conversation he had stumbled across but a glare from Zuko quickly informed him that it would be better to stay quiet on that topic for the moment. "I guess I should go, it should be a good time for me to rebuild whatever relationship that I still have with Mai," said Zuko.

"Let me know how it goes," said Natsu as he started walking off casually, all of the tension that had been present barely a minute earlier either gone or pushed beneath the surface. Zuko made no move to stop him but couldn't help but wonder why when Natsu had been speaking he hadn't told him to tell everyone as opposed to just 'them.'

...

Ty Lee walked along the beach, the waves lapping at the shoreline as her feet glided across the sand leaving footprints awaiting to be consumed by the tide. Unlike the rest of the group, she had not believed that sitting in front of the Ember Island Players (whom she had heard from Mai was a tragic act, hence the reason she likely went) for a couple of hours was entertainment. With the group as big as it was, she was happy to get the time alone.

Last time she had been on this beach during the evening, Zuko had proclaimed tat she was likely destined to spend the rest of her life living inside of the 'Ty Lee' world where, and she quoted, 'everything was great all the time.' She had then gone on to reveal so much of herself, breaking down all of her walls and barriers to finally express what she had truly felt.

It had been exhilarating.

For all of three minutes.

Then, just like that, the barriers were up again. What was spoken on this very beach would likely never get spoken of again. One of those people she had shared those painful thoughts with was now her enemy and she couldn't help but wonder whether Azula would strike at her family in order to get to her. Such a thing would be easy to do, the bigger question though was how would she react to it? She hadn't seen nor spoken to her family for years, she hadn't even thought about them in so long. Did they miss her? Had they tried to find her?

Did it matter?

That final question caused Ty Lee to stop in her tracks as she failed to hesitate to answer. She couldn't help but feel the tears threatening to fall as she wondered how much of her current life she would have to give up just to spend one night embraced by her family. Just one night.

Her thoughts became scrambled as she heard the wailing of Appa, her eyes lighting up as she saw Natsu wrestling with the giant animal. "Come on," grumbled Natsu as he fought with the reigns, his own strength having been enough to drag the flying bison to the beach so far.

"What are you doing?" asked Ty Lee as she ran up to confront the fire eater.

"This isn't what it looks like," said Natsu, his strength waning for a second, resulting in Appa gaining the upper hand and pulling back, Natsu lunging forward and crashing face first into the sand. His head burst from the beach a second later, the pink haired fighter coughing out a mouthful of sand in the process.

"It kind of looks like you're trying to take Appa for a ride and don't know how," said Ty Lee as she crossed her arms.

"And like you know how to," said Natsu as he brushed the sand off of his face.

"As a matter of fact I do, Aang taught me," said Ty Lee recalling the brief lesson that the last Airbender had given her.

"Great, then you'd be able to give me a lift right."

"A lift? Where are you going?" asked Ty Lee wondering where Natsu wanted to go at this time of night. The devilish grin that he sent her way caused shivers to run down her spine as he answered.

"To war."

...

Hours would pass before the performance of 'The Boy in the Iceberg' came to a close, the performance being cringe worthy as Zuko had predicted it would have been. It had been Toph who had first discovered something was wrong, her sense of the world around them alerting them that Appa was nowhere within her range of 'sight.' The group had quickly feared that they had been found out but arriving at their temporary headquarters revealed no members of the Fire Nation Army.

What they did find however was a note.

"'Gone to beat up the Fire Lord, see you soon. Natsu,'" read Katara, the small piece of paper informing everyone of what the out of world warrior had gone and done. There was silence as all the rest of the group questioned what their next move would be.

...

Hope you enjoyed.

Damn it felt so good to get this chapter done and hopefully it won't take as long to bang out the next one (no promises). If you want to keep up to date with my writing/musings/daily life, I do have a twitter you can follow, the link is in my profile.

Til next time.