A/N: I hate making excuses. As I have told some of you. So I'm just gonna say it's all my fault and I'm so so so so so so so so unbelievably sorry for how late this is. I hope I still have readers. :( So, I tried to make this one a bit longer to make up for the lateness. It worked, to an extent. Enjoy!

Rewrite: 7-6-10: Ahh, the trial and error of updating quickly. Memories. Hopefully I get better with that on the sequel. ^_^ Not a lot to fix here plot wise, just mostly grammar. Hope you likey! :D

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Chapter 13: Traitors

Sokka's glare was unsettling on her back. She could feel it boring into her. But, alas, she walked continuously forward, not admitting defeat in their silent battle of wills. She would not give in and admit how his steady gaze was affecting her so much. It felt like a laser-beam was coming out from his eyes, burning a hole into her back, although not so much painful as it was irritating.

He didn't trust her. Well, that was to be expected seeing as she had come from the Fire-Nation. And she had beaten him. Twice. Or was it three times?

His hand was even hovering over his sword, as if he expected her to jump out and attack at any given moment. Kiara mentally laughed. Even if she did attack, which she didn't plan on doing, he wouldn't stand a chance against her. Even if she didn't use her bending.

Aang and Toph were walking a few yards in front of them. Kiara insisted on walking behind them all, for no apparent reason, and Sokka had been skeptical. He further insisted that he walk behind her, obviously to make sure she didn't try any funny business.

Lost in her thoughts, Kiara missed her footing a little and stumbled over the ground. She caught herself before falling, but Sokka was still on guard. He had his sword half-way out, his eyes wide, and his glare turned on high.

Kiara 'tsked' and started to walk again. This was getting ridiculous. The other two seemed to trust her just fine. Why was he any different? The glare was directed at her back again, and she was just about ready to crack.

So she decided to speak.

"Listen, for the hundredth time, I'm not going to randomly attack you. So you can relax, alright?" She glanced at Sokka over her shoulder. "And stop staring at my back like you're going to kill me. It's kind of annoying." She scowled a bit.

For a split second, Sokka looked embarrassed. As soon as it came it disappeared, and an emotionless mask seemed to wash over his face. He looked Kiara in the eyes. "Whatever," he mumbled, "Just keep walking." He started forward and pushed past her, slightly bumping her sideways.

Kiara stood still, shocked into silence for a few seconds. What happened? Had she said something wrong? Her first impression of him was a hyper guy who thought he was all that - but really wasn't – and one who was – obviously – dead set on 'exposing' her Fire-Nation ways (although she had none). Not some . . . emotionless, closed-up, almost-depressed looking guy.

She was yet again knocked out of her thoughts, but this time by a voice. She spun around to face Sokka as he spoke. His back was to her, looking towards the town with his head held high. A small wisp of black smoke was easily visible against the bright blue background of sky.

"I swear, if your little Fire-Nation friends did anything to harm my sister… I don't care if you and Aang are the only two Air-Benders left… I'll make it one again." And with that said, he jogged up closer to the others.

So, that's why he's so quiet and distant. His sister is one of the ones fighting Azula and Raven. For my sake, and his sanity, I hope she's all right. Kiara smiled sadly, and jogged in front of Sokka.

She glanced over her shoulder, taking in his confused look.

"What? You've got to keep an eye on me so I don't do anything funny. Right? Well, in order for you to do that, I have to stay in front of you."

After a few seconds of silence, Sokka huffed and shook his head in a 'You're crazy' manner. But when Kiara caught his eyes again, she saw his gaze had softened a bit. What had been a glare was now just a . . . intense stare.

'Well I suppose I can live with that for now.' She smiled to herself and walked on.

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Katara immediately opened her mouth to say something, but was just as quickly cut off by Azula's screech of pure anger.

"You!" She screeched. "You little backstabbing, traitorous . . . Ohhhh," She grumbled. "I should have known you wouldn't kill him. I should've known you wouldn't even lay a finger on my pathetic brother. ARG! You're going to wish you stayed on the winning side, girl. For when victory finally comes," She looked triumphantly to the skies, "This land will proper. And all the little traitors will be punished. And, as of now, you two," She glared at Raven and Zuko, "are traitors at their best."

If looks could kill, Raven would have dropped dead on the ground within seconds of Azula's menacing glare. Katara was shocked at the pure hatred shining through that gaze, but Raven seemed unfazed. She shrugged nonchalantly as if saying none of what Azula had said mattered to her.

"I just moved to the winning side, Princess. I think you need some serious sense knocked into that head of yours. You know, you really aren't as smart as you think you are."

A vein popped in Azula's forehead.

Raven got into a fire-bending stance, pointing her hand towards Azula. "Zuko, I can handle your sister for a while. Go help your girlfriend." And with that said, she shot a ball of fire at Azula, gave Zuko a quick smile, and ran off. Azula growled, obviously getting very mad, and followed Raven without a second thought.

Zuko slightly frowned at Raven's back before walking to Katara's side. He grabbed her arm and gently helped her to her feet.

"I'm all right, really." She spoke slowly as she wobbled to her feet. "Just a little fall." A violent tremor went through her whole body. It was clearly visible to Zuko.

"Yeah. You're just cold." He replied matter-of-factly.

"I—" Another shudder cut off her speech. "I . . . Well I suppose I was frozen to the wall for quite a while." She cast her eyes downwards towards the ground and gave a small smile.

Zuko smiled back at her. "Yeah, and you're shivering like you were just in the South Pole or something. But . . . shouldn't you be used to the cold? You grew up there didn't you?"

Katara gave a short laugh. "It's been a while since I've been home. And besides, we wear big winter jackets and stuff." She looked Zuko in the eyes. "We should probably go help your friend."

"Nah, she can handle herself for a while. What about your brother? Do you think he found his way back to Aang and Toph? We have been out here a while now."

"He's probably just fine." Another harsh shudder racked Katara's body.

"You're still shivering. Here." Zuko, who was still holding Katara's arm, pulled her forward into a hug.

She tensed. "W-what are you…?"

"You're cold. We might as well try to warm you up a bit." After a few more seconds of tense silence, Zuko loosened his arms, thinking Katara was uncomfortable. "Sorry… I didn't mean to—"

But instead of backing away, Katara stepped forward farther and wrapped her arms back around Zuko. "It's alright. Just unexpected, that's all." Her small smile was hidden in Zuko's chest.

After a minute or so, both had the same thought going through their heads.

'I could get used to this.'

Katara was no longer cold, and they were comfortable in each other's arms until a large BOOM resounded and a building a few feet away burst into blue flames.

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They had been walking for while in silence. Either they really had nothing to say, or they were too nervous as to what Katara and Zuko were up to.

Finally, they stepped foot in the village. Everything seemed normal from here, but as they walked around a few more blocks, they saw just how wrong they were.

"What the heck happened?" Aang shouted.

He was staring at one of the many shops that sat in the middle of the village. It had been crumpled and destroyed, burnt to ashes. Only small pieces of it remained. Sokka walked over to it. There was a tiny fire struggling to survive, barely burning on one of the broken-off boards.

"Either Zuko got pretty pissed off, or something even worse happened." Sokka told the others. "Whatever it was that did this, it was a Fire-bender. No doubt about it. Do you think Azula really got to them?" He looked very shaken and worried.

The perfect image of a protective older brother. Kiara thought to herself, getting a look of Sokka's face. "Azula is here. And knowing her as well as I do, she had to have found your sister and her companion."

Kiara turned away from the mangled shop and continued on the road. She spotted a large fountain that marked the exact center of the village. She walked up to the edge and glanced into the water at her reflection. She gave herself a small smile and moved to walk on, when something caught the corner of her eye. It was shiny and reflective, the sun bouncing off of it and slightly blinding her. It was on the opposite side of the fountain, so she maneuvered around it to look. Once she was able to see the whole thing, she gasped.

"Ty-Lee?" Kiara inspected the ice in which Ty-Lee was trapped. It didn't seem to be melting at all, even in the sweltering heat of the sun that day. Frowning in confusion, Kiara checked Ty-Lee's pulse. Faint, but still there. She went to catch Ty-Lee's eyes, only to gasp once more. She was completely blue! Hypothermia must have been setting in, for Ty-Lee's face was not only freezing to the touch, but a bright blue color as well.

Kiara lit a small fire in her hand and put it up to the ice, hoping to melt it away and free Ty-Lee. But her efforts proved worthless. The ice was as strong as could be. Thinking quickly, she did the first thing that came to her mind.

"Aang!" She yelled.

The person she called was by her side within a minute.

"What is— is that Ty-Lee? What happened to her? "

"I'm not sure. But, can you water-bend and get her out of there? Hypothermia will set in very soon, and she'll freeze to death." Kiara practically begged the avatar.

"Uh… well…"

Two sets of footsteps came up behind the two. Sokka and Toph both asked the same question as Aang had. And Kiara answered the same way.

"Why would we help her live? Do you know how many times she's tried to kill us?" Sokka retorted, exasperated. "We should just let her die. One less person to deal with, right?"

"Do you have any idea what you're saying you insolent little brat? How dare you cast out any human life like that? Everyone deserves to live! I'm not a big fan of hers either, but I still don't think she should die." Kiara shot back at him, furious.

"This is just all part of your little plan! You let someone fake-freeze her to the ground and pretend like she's dying of hypothermia, just so that we'll save her. And then when she's revived both of you will attack us, catching us off guard. Just when we think we've got you, more of your soldiers will come running at us with swords and Azula will pop out of the shadows and KILL US ALL!" Sokka ended his rant in a yell.

Kiara just stared at him blankly. "Do you have any idea how stupid you sound? She's blue. And unconscious. Even if she did regain consciousness, it would take days for her to even be able to fight as she was once able to. And besides, if I had wanted to kill you, I would have done it earlier." She gave him a slight frown and turned back to Aang. "Please? Just, try?"

"How come you don't just melt the ice with your Fire-bending?" Toph asked.

"I tried that. The ice didn't budge. It's like it's resistant to heat or something."

"Then alright, I'll try." Aang's efforts proved to be a lot more useful than Kiara's attempts. Ty-Lee was free from the ice within seconds. Kiara gently laid her on the ground.

"Well, at least she won't freeze to death, now. Here in the sun, it's a possibility that she'll warm up… I suppose there's nothing much more we can do for her."

"And at least my sister got rid of one for now. Now Ty-Lee and Mai are out of the picture." Sokka said.

"Your sister? She's a waterbender?" Kiara asked.

"Yep."

"Just a plain old, regular waterbender?"

"Yes…"

"Well then the one that froze Ty-Lee wouldn't have been your sister. If she was a normal waterbender than my firebending would have been able to melt it."

"So what are you saying? That there's another waterbender with us?" Toph asked.

"Not with you. With Azula. Her name is Raven. But it just doesn't add up. She came with Azula, so why did she attack Ty-Lee? They should have been working together…" Kiara trailed off, thinking to herself.

"Maybe this Raven girl is like you? Maybe she doesn't really like the Fire Nation, and so she decided to help the Avatar?" Toph suggested.

"It's a possibility… I guess." Kiara mumbled.

"You don't sound so sure." Aang mumbled back.

"I'm not sure. That girl is…different. I'm not sure about her ties to Azula or the Fire-Nation. She didn't kill Ty-Lee straight out, so there's a small possibility that she's just tricking your sister. That could mean big trouble for your friends." Kiara mumbled still, half to herself.

"Well then let's go find them." Sokka yelled.

"I hope she's alright…" Aang mumbled. He cast his eyes downwards as a sad look crossed his face.

Kiara managed to catch the mumbled words and the facial expression. "You really care about this girl don't you, Aang?" She asked him quietly.

Aang's eyes widened a bit before nodding his head slightly.

Kiara smiled brightly, patted him on the back, and caught up to Sokka, who was already walking forward.

Toph walked slowly past Aang. She had a sad look on her face as she stopped in front and turned to look at him over her shoulder. "We better keep up. We need to find them soon. Night is coming." She met his eyes for a split second before turning and continuing on.

Aang didn't miss the sadness in her usually non-expressive eyes. What's gotten into her? She doesn't care about Katara that much… I thought they hated each other. He stared at Toph's back confusingly. Whatever. Katara, here I come! I'm going to save you and then you'll be so grateful that you'll fall in love with me!

Toph walked in complete silence. Her thoughts, on the other hand, were very loud indeed. 'What the heck is WRONG with that boy?' Her thoughts screamed. Sugar Queen THIS, Sugar Queen THAT! Is she really ALL he EVER thinks of?

A whoosh of air passed her as Aang rushed by, a determined look on his face.

Will he ever care for me that way? Her thoughts whispered.

She gently shook her head in a half-hearted attempt to shut up her thoughts. It was a failed attempt though, as they continued to rant about how stupid Aang was for choosing Katara over her.

But then, abruptly, they stopped. Something else was pushing through her senses, trying to get to her full attention. It was something, all right. And it was big.

"Guys!" She yelled. But it was too late.

A loud BOOM shook the area around them.

And a big ball of fire engulfed the area in flames and smoke galore.

The area in front of her.

The area in which Aang had just been standing.

A/N: Holy crap. It's finished.

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