Disclaimer: If I owned Avatar, or had any say in Nick Studios, I wouldn't wait 'till July to show the movie, and I wouldn't cancel Danny Phantom. Nor do I own Evanescence, because I would have had them release another album ages ago if I did.

AN: I won't be here for a while, since I'm going to be out of town for a few weeks. This is my last prewritten chapter for this story, so I need suggestions, comments, criticism, whatever you can throw at me. Hopefully this little vacation will cure me of my writer's block. But I hope that this satisfies you for a while, at least.

Without the Mask...Where will you hide?

Can't find yourself--Lost in your lies;

I know the Truth now

I know who you are

And I don't love you anymore

It never was and never will be

You're not real and you can't save me

And somehow now you're everybody's fool...

XIII

Tsune sat at Zuko's side, not looking up as Iroh approached. She wore black hair and brown eyes, no feature at all remarkable. Yet as Iroh stepped closer, he was intrigued: it was not her body, but her expression that seemed unnatural. The Spirit looked...sad. Almost grief stricken as she watched Zuko sleep, guarding him against all the dangers of the night. She had disappeared again after the young man had revealed himself to Katara, and nearly a week had passed in her absence.

"Is something wrong?" Iroh asked, his voice low. Tsune did not look up.

"Humans are confusing," she said wearily. The old man sat down beside her.

"That is high praise, coming from Chaos," he said. She sniffed in the beaten mockery of a laugh, her lips raised in what might once have been a bitter smile.

"Yeah..." Several moments passed in crushing silence before she continued: "How can he love somebody who hates him?"

Iroh turned his gaze to the Spirit. She meant Katara, of course. And yet... "You spoke to Ozai?" he said softly.

"I didn't need to," she spat, anger rising into her voice. "I was planning on it, but listening to him talk..." She heaved a sigh. "Why is this so important to Zuko? Why is it so essential that he return to...to that?" She reached out, as though to touch the young man. Her hand hovered over the burn scar, hardly brushing it, and she withdrew her hand once more.

"He is stronger than you give him credit for, Tsune," Iroh said quietly.

"But he shouldn't have to be," she said, finally looking up. Her eyes seemed strangely full of emotion. Heartbreak.

"Do you intend to continue helping him?" he asked. She nodded solemnly.

"I'll do what I can," she said. "But that won't be enough, will it?"

"Who can say?" Iroh said wearily. He put one hand on the Spirit's shoulder, and both bowed their heads, returning their eyes to the sleeping Prince.

"You're still here, I notice," Tsune said finally.

"Katara has not told her companions yet."

"Humans," she shook her head again. "I thought it might be better if I wasn't here in the middle of such a conflict."

"Oh?" Iroh asked.

"Zuko's fought the Avatar before. That's something he's used to, something he can handle. But if I were to interfere...The Avatar will recognize me if I try to fight him. It's happened before, and I don't doubt it will happen again. Brokenhearted, that wouldn't be a problem. But healthy, whole...he would only end up retreating into the Avatar State and killing us all."

"So you left," Irohsaid calmly.

"And I thought...if there was a loophole. If he didn't need the Avatar to get back home..." Tsune shook her head. "You do realize that this counts as one of those important omissions."

"Does that change anything?" the old man asked.

"No. To back out now would end in disaster. This plan can't go halfway, Iroh. Either we win or we retreat."

Zuko's every nerve was on edge, but he did not move—only the muscles in his hand twitched, scratching his 'cat' behind her ears. Katara had barely looked at him at all in the past week. The fact that she was deliberately approaching him—and doing so alone—was ominous. Memories flashed before his eyes, of past battles between the two benders. She had matured incredibly as a Waterbender, and he wasn't looking forward to fighting her at this level. Or fighting her at all.

Scenarios wove through the unoccupied parts of his mind—would he fight back? Try to talk to her? Do nothing? Any ideas that ended happily were discarded as fantasy. There was no escape.

"Zuko," she said, her arms crossed in front of her. He looked up at her—into her face, not her eyes, and not at her lethal hands—and continued scratching Tsune.

"Katara," was his reply, and an odd brush of familiarity unsettled him. After a week of debate, he still had no idea what to say to her. She looked him up and down, most likely summing up how quickly he could fight back if she chose to strike him. Long moments of silence passed.

"I want the truth," she said, her tone icy. He found himself looking down.

"You're still every bit the warrior I remember," he said.

"I'm serious!" she snapped, her arms parting slightly, her stance more aggressive than before. He spared himself a cleansing breath before continuing.

"And I'm not lying. You want the truth, Katara. That's all I can give you." She shook slightly—the Waterbender seemed to be somewhere between irritation and rage. Zuko kept his eyes on the ground.

"What are you doing?" she demanded. He looked up slightly, examining himself.

"I'm scratching Tsune's ears," he said finally.

Katara opened her mouth to rebuke him again, and then stopped.

Remove the disguise, Tsune.

She's not really a cat.

That's enough, Tsune!

"Tsune," she echoed, backing up slightly. "That...demon...from before...?"

"Spirit," Zuko corrected. "She's a Spirit." Katara grimaced slightly at the thought of such a monstrous creature being so close.

"So you have a...Spirit...as a pet?" she asked.

"She thinks it's the other way around," he said casually. It took an effort for her not to smile. There was still some trace of Kuzon left in him.

"How long have you been running around with a Spirit?" she said, forcing herself to focus. He thought for a moment.

"A few months," he said at last.

"You know, you don't have to tell her everything, dear," a plain looking woman said casually, sitting exactly where the cat had been a moment before. Katara jerked involuntarily. Zuko took his hand from the woman's head, replacing it at his side. The Spirit pouted at this, completely ignoring the Waterbender.

"My head still itches," she said.

"Though it seems longer," Zuko continued, ignoring Tsune's meaningful stare. Finally the Spirit grimaced and reached up to scratch herself behind the ears, muttering to herself.

"Does...it...do that very much?" Katara said, still unsettled by the display. Zuko nodded with a shrug. "And you're...okay with that?"

"You get used to it."

"You could say I'm the type that grows on you," Tsune said, showing off a fanged grin as she threw an arm around Zuko's neck, and the skin there shimmered, taking on the veined green of young leaves. Katara grimaced. Zuko shot the Spirit a sidelong glance.

"Stop it, Tsune," he said wearily, pushing her away.

"So she's the one making the disguises," Katara concluded. Zuko nodded.

"I noticed you haven't told your brother about me," he said evenly. "Or Aang." He could see every muscle in her body tense slightly.

"Not yet," she said.

"Why?"

"I'll...tell them when I feel like it," she said, grating out the words almost like a child. Zuko manage to disguise a small smile. He asked no further questions.

Though she still didn't approach him with her brother and the Avatar, Katara no longer fled when 'Kuzon' entered a room. She continued interrogating him whenever she could get him alone—and preferably without Tsune, though that was far more difficult than it seemed. But his willingness to answer her questions did not expiate him. She began every interrogation guarded, her eyes the chips of ice he had long associated with war and hostility.

Oddly enough, Zuko decided that chips of ice looked considerably better when in her eyes. Not that he intended to mention this observation to Tsune, of course.

Even more odd was the fact that, despite her glowering looks and cold voice, Zuko felt far better than he had in weeks. Relieved, perhaps. She was speaking to him now. Him—not some imaginary alias.

Katara walked quietly. She felt guilty about keeping 'Kuzon's' identity from Sokka and Aang, but...she couldn't make herself do it. Not just yet. After all, Aang still needed to learn Firebending. and Iroh was as good a teacher as any. Better, in fact, since he was on the run, and was too kind to turn them in to the Fire Lord anyway.

At least, that's what she told herself.

"You're wasting your time," an icy voice muttered. Katara spun on her heel. Leaning against a nearby tree, staring into the heavens, was an older woman, her skin inky and her hair pale. The Waterbender's eyes narrowed.

"You're Tsune, aren't you?" she said quietly. She still couldn't figure out how Zuko could identify the shapeshifter so easily.

"Clever girl," the Spirit shrugged. "But that won't do you any good. You are going to fail."

"What are you talking about?" Katara demanded, balling her hands into fists.

"Do you think you can actually change anything? Do you seriously expect that you can end this war?" the Spirit laughed, the sound cold and final. "Your people have been fighting for a century. Do you honestly believe that they will all forget a hundred years of hatred and murder just because the Fire Lord is killed? He has successors. The War will last as long as his Dynasty. Or...do you think they'll all quit, just because you tell them to? Are you so arrogant, little girl?"

"I never said any of that," the Waterbender snapped, sounding more confident than she felt. "Stop putting words in my mouth." Tsune flashed a cool, sharp toothed grin.

"A war won't end just because you add one more body to the death toll. Peace is impossible."

"That isn't true," Katara said defiantly.

"Isn't it?" the Spirit drawled. "Face facts: you humans are born and bred solely to kill each other. Every story, every song, every word is just another piece of propaganda, twisting each others minds until the Enemy can't even be considered human anymore. They have no problem fighting each other. Never have, never will. It's peace that's painful."

"You're lying," the Waterbender growled, too stubborn to run away, too uneasy of the Spirit's powers to risk a fight.

"Am I?" Tsune straightened, striding closer. "And what about you? You are no different from the rest of them."

"What are you talking about?" Katara demanded again, fighting not to give the Spirit the satisfaction of retreat.

"How is it," it asked, its voice and features shifting liquidly. "That you adored your dear Kuzon—fawned over him...almost even loved him. And yet," Katara swallowed as the Spirit's form settled, its face now Zuko's, though its voice was still eerily different. "And yet, the moment you discover his real name, you run away. You flinch when you see his face. You flee at the sound of his voice. You can only stand to be in the same room with him if he is under interrogation, if he is under your absolute power. He exposed himself to you, Katara. He entrusted you with the only thing he had the power to give, he gave you the truth that you had been denied all this time...and you reward his faith with scorn."

"He's my enemy!" Katara cried, feeling cold. Her entire body seemed to numb beneath the weight of the Spirit's words. "He's trying to capture Ang, he's--"

"You're pathetic," Tsune growled, returning to a more generic shape. "Just like the rest of your people." The Spirit turned away anddisappearedinto the shadows, leaving only its voice behind: "Face it, Katara. You're nothing but a hypocrite. How can you save anyone?"

And in the cold solitude of the trees, Katara wasn't sure she could argue.