Authors Note: In honor of the finale, this is the next chapter…ATTENTION ALL KATAANGERS: We knew we were right, didn't we ; The last four episodes were awesome! I can't even believe it…KATAANG WON! Hahaha
Chapter 11
.: True Love Conquers All :.
With Sokka and Toph
The harder she stepped, the deeper the mark she made in the dirt. Sokka, Sokka, the town idiot, had found the ring before her. And now, because of her stupid, stupid bet, she was to do anything he wanted.
"You're…your not mad are you?"
Her only response to walk a little faster, and stomp a little harder, she could practically hear the grin break out on his face, "Aww, is somebody throwing a fit cause she didn't get her way?"
Before he knew it, he was face first on the ground, and his mouth was full of sand.
With Ty Lee
Mai was in the bathroom, taking a shower and freshening up for her date with Zuko giving herself time to think. Her date. It didn't really surprise her; they were bound to date eventually. The only thing that was shocking about the whole thing was that Mai was admitting it.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the little group she called family was changing. They had abandoned their old, criminal ways to living in the most ravishing house in the Southern Water Tribe, and as a bonus, they had added two new members to their family. Even the group itself had changed.
Toph had always been as hard as a rock, inside and out. It was hard to get close to her, and even harder to get on her good side. But slowly, she was opening up. She liked to think it was because of the boy, Sokka, that Toph had been spending so much of her time with, but she couldn't know for sure.
Mai and Zuko had changed together, in the same way. There moodiness and hot tempers had gone down quite a bit, and they weren't whining so much anymore. She had to give their good fortune credit for that.
Even Aang had changed. Though it was little, she could admit to that, it still counted. The sparkle he had in his eye shined even more, and the warmth he had in his laugh started to spread. And, it was all due to Katara, obviously.
Speaking of Katara, she hadn't seen her around, maybe she could pay her a visit, get to know her more.
It couldn't hurt.
With Azula, Long Feng, and Li
She slammed her hand down on the table, making Long Feng and Li visibly flinch, "You are both doing a horrible job."
Li's face screwed into a frown, "Well what do you expect Azula! Katara's spent at least a month or two with that boy; she's not going to just forget about him so easily. I need time!" he froze, and he had a look of terror on his face for a second, but he quickly collected himself. Nobody, ever, ever yelled at Azula, and when they did, it came with consequences.
Surprisingly, she just smirked and straightened up, "No. You don't need more time." Her voice took on a chilling tone as she faced the dark, barren wall of the cellar, her back to the two men, "All we need to do is sabotage."
Li and Long Feng shared a look, "What do you mean?" Li asked cautiously.
"Long Feng." She said, it was a command, and he stood up, "Yes, your highness?"
"Which one of the idiot peasants that are staying here can come to our advantage?" She pulled two stray pieces of hair back into place.
He thought for a moment, "Well, the younger boy, with the arrows, is the Avatar. I've seen him train, he's very good. Or maybe the boy with the scar would interest you, he can melt-"
"No!" She turned around and pushed Long Feng back into his chair in one swift motion, but making sure it was hard enough to send him back several steps.
He sat, bewildered, "I don't understand."
"I need somebody, a girl perhaps, that has a big mouth, and is completely oblivious." She watched the smile slowly form on Long Feng's lips.
"I think I know exactly what you're looking for."
With Aang
He woke to soft tongue licking his face, "I don't know how you always find me boy."
Appa barked and wagged his tail, nudging him to wake up again. Aang smiled and sat up, "Morning already?"
Appa barked again and headed towards the entrance, Aang could faintly see the sun setting on the horizon, "It's not even dark yet!"
Appa whined and took another step out of the cave. Aang groaned and got to his feet, "Ok boy, let's go find us some food."
Appa barked and waited for Aang to catch up to him, before setting out towards the town center, looking for some restaurant to eat at. Seeing as it was sunset, a lot of couples were out, and many restaurants were packed. The more people he saw, the more he just wanted to be alone.
He looked down at Appa, "Well boy, looks like we might have to go back home to eat."
"No reason for that."
Aang jumped and looked up; apparently he had wandered into a vacant part of town, and in front of a tea shop. A large, over-weight man was standing at the entrance, his face full of smile lines, "Who are you?"
The man took a step forward and stretched out his hand, "I'm Iroh, the owner of this little tea shop."
Aang smiled and shook his hand, "I'm Aang. Got anything to eat around here?"
Iroh laughed, and patted his stomach, "Of course! Follow me."
Aang laughed too and started to follow him, but stopped when he heard Appa bark, "Oh yeah, I got my dog, wou-"
"No trouble my boy! He can come in too." Iroh smiled and disappeared inside the building. Aang mumbled thanks, and called for Appa to follow him inside.
The teashop was a quaint, cozy place, filled with tons of old pictures. The walls were decorated in crazy patterns and colors, and there were many booths and tables.
"Go ahead, sit down!" Iroh motioned to a table in the center of the room and pulled out a chair to sit down, "Anything you'd like in particular?"
Aang scooted closer to the table, "Anything without meat."
"Ah, a vegetarian, no problem." Iroh disappeared through a door in the back, and Aang took the chance to look around a little. Many of the pictures were of a younger boy, probably around three or four, and an older man in his late twenties. He stopped at one portrait that drew his eye, it was of the same boy and man, sitting in front of an old oak tree, laughing. An old book was sitting at their feet. It reminded him so much of Gyatso…
Flashback
"Come on Gyatso, just one more story!" Aang put on his cutest face and tugged on Gyatso's robe, "Pretty please, with a cherry on top."
Gyatso laughed, leaned against the tree, and patted the ground next to him, "Very well little one. What would you like to hear?"
Aang plopped down on the grass next to him, "How about a love story?"
"Ah, a love story. Ok then, your choice, once upon a time, there was a princess, and a peasant, who were very much in love. No citizen approved of their relationship, and when the king found out, he was furious! He forbid his daughter from ever seeing the peasant again" Gyatso raised his hands in exaggeration.
Aang widened his eyes in amusement, "Whoa. So what did they do?"
"Well, they did the only thing they could do, they protested against everyone, and everything. Anybody who told them it wasn't meant to be they kindly ignored, and anybody who tried to get between them, couldn't succeed. They won in the end." Gyatso smiled while Aang tried to figure out what he meant. Finally, he just gave up.
"What do you mean by that Gyatso?"
"Well Aang," Gyatso faced the tree, and used a sharp rock to start carving an inscription; "If you love somebody hard enough, nothing, and nobody will get in your way."
He pulled his hand back, so Aang could fully read what he carved.
True love conquers all.
End Flashback
"True love conquers all." Aang whispered and set the portrait back on the shelf.
"That it does Aang."
He jumped and turned around to see Iroh setting down a plate of spaghetti for him, and a bowl of meat for Appa, "sorry Iroh, I don't mean to intrude. I was just curious."
Iroh smiled and motioned for him to sit down, "Come eat. You look starving."
Aang cautiously made his way back to the table to sit, and Iroh sat across from him, "So Aang. You look like you're still young. Where's your family?"
He chewed for a long time before answering, "I'm an orphan, and my guardian died a long time ago."
"I'm very sorry to hear that…but surely you must have someone."
He smiled, "Well, I guess I've sort of made my own family. We're not related by blood, but we might as well be."
"Good, good." Iroh took a sip of his tea, "And you seem like a charming young boy, got a girlfriend?"
The smile slipped from his face, "I'm not sure."
Iroh raised an eyebrow, "Not sure?"
"Well, there's this one guy that's after her too, and I don't know who she prefers."
"Sounds complicated."
Aang rolled his eyes, "You don't even know."
Iroh laughed, "Tell me about her"
"Well, she really pretty. More beautiful then any girl I've ever laid eyes on, and she's smarter then any of them too. She taught me how to water bend, but I don't think I could ever be better than her." That warm, familiar, fuzzy feeling was starting to spread throughout his body, "She has sort of a temper, but it just adds to her personality. She makes me wish Gyatso was still alive, I know he'd love her."
"Sounds like true love to me." Iroh grinned.
Aang blushed, "I guess."
"Well, I'm no Gyatso, but if I were to give you advice, I'd say that you should go out and tell her how you feel. It sounds like you really love her, and if she feels the same way about you, well, you said it yourself. True love conquers all." Iroh winked.
Aang swallowed his last bite of spaghetti, "Iroh," he stuck out his hand to shake goodbye, "I think that's exactly what he would have said."
With Mai and Zuko
Mai was actually satisfied with the make-over Ty Lee had given her; it wasn't to bad, just a formal dress and some simple make-up. The way Zuko had gaped at her when he first saw her wasn't so bad either. Now they were walking down the road, and he was being way to quiet for comfort, "Something wrong?"
Zuko snapped his eye's up to look at hers, "No- no nothing"
"Something has to be on your mind." She took hold of his hand, and sighed.
"I was waiting for us to be sitting down and eating before I told you but I uh, I need some advice." He held her hand tighter.
"Advice?" she cocked her head in confusion, "Shoot"
"Well it's about Li. He's not what he seems to be."
"What do you mean? He seems really nice."
"Exactly. He seems nice, but when I was done talking to you earlier today, I past the breakfast room and I heard him and Azula talking. The only reason Li is being as charming as he is, is because he wants to get rid of Hakoda and Sokka, and take over this kingdom." Zuko stole a glance at Mai, only to see she was listening intently.
"Are you sure it was them?"
"Positive."
She nodded in belief, "Ok well, I get how you'd want to tell me Zuko, but what advice can I give you? The only person that can really stop what there doing is Katara, seeing as she's the person who knows Li the best."
Zuko perked up, "Wait, I thought her and Aang had sort of, a thing going on."
Mai shrugged, "Me too."
"So what happened?"
"If I knew I would tell you."
They had made it to the restaurant, but right before they could go in, a big blob burst out and knocked Zuko to his feet, "Appa?"
"Well hello there Aang, we were just talking about you." Mai smirked and put her hands on her hips.
"Umm, good things I hope." Aang laughed and pulled Appa off Zuko, "Sorry Zuko."
He wiped off the spit on his face and gritted his teeth, "No problem."
"Well," Aang offered a hand to help him up, and he took it, "I'm going to get going." He started down the steps, and Appa followed him.
"This is our chance!" Zuko whispered, "We can tell him now!"
"Zuko, I thought this was supposed to be our date." Mai sighed.
He held her hand, "I promise, I'll make it up to you."
She sighed heavily again, "Fine."
With Azula and Li
"Ok Li, this is our chance, everything's all set up start talking, and remember, only say exactly what I told you."
He nodded and cleared his throat, he started in a loud, exaggerated voice, "So Azula, I heard Aang talking to his pet Appa, he's planning to take over this kingdom!"
Azula gasped dramatically, "Are you sure?"
"Positive! Whatever shall we do, we cannot stand for this!" Li pressed his ear to the side of the door, relieved when he found she was still listening.
"I know!" Azula smirked, "We shall tell the King before any of this can start!"
"Good idea." Li smirked along with Azula when he heard the patter of footsteps, running up the stairs, "really good idea."
With Ty Lee and Katara
She knocked on the door softly, "Katara? You in there?"
Katara sat up in her bed, Ty Lee? In the whole two months she had known the group, Ty Lee had never, ever came to visit her, and frankly, she was happy with it staying that way, "Come in." I guess…
Her head popped in the door, "Um, can I talk to you?"
She sat up fully, and made herself comfortable, "Of course, what's on your mind?" This was really weird now.
"I think I may have heard something I wasn't supposed to hear." She sat down on the edge of the bed, "about Aang."
She had her full attention now, "What about him?"
"Well," she diverted her eyes, "It's sort of confusing, but basically I overheard Li saying he overheard Aang saying he wanted to take over this kingdom. Through you."
She stared at her, her face blank with emotion. Finally, after a long moment of silence, she spoke, "You must have been mistaken."
"I'm pretty sure I wasn't."
"Fine then, when Aang comes home tonight, we're going to sort this whole thing out."
With Mai, Zuko, and Aang
"So let me get this straight, Li isn't really trying to marry Katara for love, he just wants the kingdom." Aang stood in determination, "We've got to stop him!"
Zuko grinned, "I'm glad you feel that way. Finally, a little action around here!" he stood alongside Aang."
Mai groaned and put her feet on the table, "You're both idiots."
"What?"
"How?"
She slowly took her feet off the table, "Don't you think he has a plan too? Somebody like that isn't just going to stop."
Aang and Zuko shared a look, "Why not?"
"Ah, just come on."
With Toph and Sokka
"So Snoozles, what idiotic task are you going to have me perform for you?" she rolled her eyes and put her feet up on the table.
"Well, I gave it some thought, and I know I want it to be terribly un-comfortable and horrible for you, so I made my decision." He grinned.
She sighed, "And what would that be?"
"I'm going to take you out on a date!"
With the Author!
I'm so sad for the end of the series, but happy at the same time. All I know is I'm keeping ATLA alive as long as possible. This story is coming to it's end, and I'm going to make it go out with a bang don't worry!