Hey guys, sorry for taking so long to update. This cold i got has really been kicking me in the ass lately. it's gone from school to homework to sleep, repeat, no time for writing. i managed to get most of this done over the weekend, but not all of it, so i just needed a couple more days to pull it all together. AP Lit has been picking up a little with the reading, and SAT's are coming up, so my updating is going to be really slowed until after october 4. i'll try to update as much as i can between now and then, but don't hold your hopes up too high. So, here's the next chap, i'll update again as soon as i can

Disclaimer: Of course i don't own Avatar, if i did, this would be in production and i would be teasing you with misleading trailers.

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Everything ISN'T Perfect

Chapter 12: Dark News

Aang, Katara, and Sokka, all went to the main hall for a quick lunch with Chief Arnook before the left back to Ba Sing Se. They sat down and ate quickly, chatting and being generally leisure and merry.

In the midst of Chief Arnook telling a particularly hilarious joke about Master Paku and a new student who was stubborn and ended up learning water bending the hard way, when a messenger barged through the door and called, "Avatar Aang, urgent message from Omashu!"

"Bumi?" Aang asked as his head quirked to the side.

"Yes sir," The messenger replied as he handed Aang the scroll. Aang tore it open with curiosity and began to read. The table grew hushed as Aang read quietly and digested the information. Well, as hushed as you could get with Sokka shoveling his mouth, the effects of the spirit bending having worn off.

Sokka glanced up at the messenger who was still standing there, curiously eyeing the scroll. "What are you doing? Go on, shoo," Sokka muttered as he waved the man away rudely.

Katara whispered angrily at Sokka and muttered, "Was there any reason for that?"

"He doesn't need to know secret Avatar stuff. I didn't trust him, he could be a spy," Sokka growled indignantly as he took a very large bight from a moose-lion leg chop.

"That poor man was just doing his job and waiting for another instruction, is there really a reason to-!" Katara began to shout before Aang cut her off.

"Guys, important letter here, let's focus," He muttered and made a gesture to the paper in his hand.

"Right sorry…so what's it say Aang," Katara asked as she blushed a little from embarrassment.

"Bumi says he needs an urgent meeting with me, about something secret, he wouldn't write it down in the letter," Aang replied quickly as he finished it and rolled it up. He stood up just as quickly and began to walk faster then normal to the stables as he called, "We need to go, I'll get Appa ready."

"Is it just me, or did he seem in a rush?" Sokka asked quietly while he finished eating the last bits off the meal. Neither responded, but Katara's brow was weighed heavy with worry at Aang's odd reaction, something just didn't sit right in her gut…

In less then fifteen minutes Katara was outside helping Aang finish packing their provisions, waiting for Sokka. They finished and sat in the saddle waiting in silence. Aang stared off into the distance, his face dark and his usual smile that Katara had grown to love wasn't there, which worried her even more. She knew something was wrong when she scooted closer to him and he didn't respond to her leaning on him.

"Aang, what wrong?" Katara asked as she looked up at him from the crook of his neck, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Aang!" Katara shouted, and Aang snapped out of his little trance.

"Right here!" He called as he jumped a little, before noticing Katara was right next to him, and he wrapped his arm around her.

"Aang, what's going on, you seem really troubled?" Katara asked worriedly.

"Nothing, everything's fine," He replied with a smile that was so fake and forced it almost hurt to look at as much as his frown.

"You guys gonna help me down here!" Sokka called as he walked out to the stables.

Aang jumped up and shouted, "Sure Sokka!" very pleased to have a reason to leave Katara before she started asking more questions. He grabbed his bags and packed them while Sokka got situated.

Aang then jumped from the back of the saddle to Appa's head in one swift motion and yelled, "Yip yip!"

Soon they were soaring through the air, waving to the Northern Water Tribe as they flew south to Omashu. After a while, they all settled into their usual routines of do nothing and lounging, until Katara pulled Sokka over. She whispered into his ear and muttered, "Go talk to Aang about the letter, he's been acting weird."

Sokka glanced over the rim of the saddle at the back of Aang's head and muttered, "Seems fine to me."

Katara gave him a look of half contempt half annoyance and Sokka muttered in reply, "Why don't you go talk to him then?"

Katara continued her glare and Sokka threw his hands in the air and shouted, "Fine, I'll do it!"

He got up and walked to the front of the saddle, near where Aang stood and muttered, "So Aang, how's it going?"

"Everything's fine, going good," he muttered as lounged on Appa's head, half dozing.

"So, I was wondering, could I see that letter?" Sokka asked with mild interest.

Aang instantly jumped to attention and began to steer as he called back, "Not now Sokka, busy flying. We haven't been here for a while, don't quite know where to go."

Sokka raised his eyebrow and inch, but decided to not push the subject and walked back to Katara and his boomerang that needed polishing. "See, he's fine," Sokka muttered quietly as he began to rub his boomerang with the cloth.

Katara hit him in the shoulder in anger as Sokka yelped and called, "What was that for?!" Katara decided not to answer, and strutted back in a huff to her usual spot near the front of the saddle by Aang. She knew that Aang had a great sense of direction, and that he was doing absolutely nothing a second ago. She was still puzzled with his strange behavior; it was so unlike him.

As the sun began to set, Aang pulled down to a nice clearing near the river for the night. There had been no conversation for the rest of the day. Sokka had cleaned his weapons twice before deciding to doze off, and Katara was still reading her book she got in Ba Sing Se. Aang sat quietly on Appa, stopping his fake steering after half an hour, decided to scratch Momo's head and watch the clouds fly by.

As the trio pulled their stuff down to set up in silence, Aang wandered off into the forest to go find some fruit he said, but Katara could tell it was a lie. There was plenty of fruit on Appa that they brought with them, and she knew Aang was hiding something from her, and it wouldn't stop nagging her while she packed.

Sokka set up the tents while Katara got the fire and dinner ready. After an hour, the two had made their tents, and dinner was almost ready. Sokka had caught and cooked some fish for himself and Katara, and Katara made a vegetarian stew for everyone, but as the soup reached completion, she began to grow angry and shouted at Sokka, "Where's Aang?! I make him this great dinner and he's still not back. That's it, I'm going to find him, make sure this keeps simmering, and that's it."

With that final command, Katara went searching through the woods for Aang. She had no idea where he had gone, but she started searching. But as she walked in circles and circles, looking for him, she couldn't find a hint of him. After ten minutes, she began to worry and run through the woods. She ran and ran, until she reached a small clearing near a river, where there was still no sign of him. She began to despair and yelled out in desperation, "Aang!"

"Yea?" She heard from behind her. She turned around and found Aang sitting in a tree. His left leg was hanging lazily from the tree, the right was curled up near his head, with his arms wrapped around and head resting on it so she couldn't see his face.

"Where have you been, I've been worried," Katara asked as she approached the base of the tree, still unable to see his face.

"Thinking," Aang replied simply, hiding his face still, but Katara was still not eased. There was something off in his tone, some bad and unnerving.

"What about?" Katara asked as she grabbed the bottom branch and pulled herself up, starting to ascend the tree.

"Stuff," He answered simply if that could even be considered an answer. But Katara kept her calm as she grabbed the fourth branch, only a couple away from getting near Aang.

"Like what?" Katara asked, refusing to drop the subject as she pulled herself up to a branch next to Aang's, but he had turned away so all she could see was his hunched over back and legs dangling over the side.

Aang refused to answer or face Katara, but she still would not let it go. She leaned over and rested her arm on his shoulder and muttered, "Talk to me Aang, you've been acting weird ever since you read that letter. What's going on?"

Aang turned his body sideways along the branch and craned his head to Katara, and Katara gasped a little in shock. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot, tear tracks running down his cheek, his face depressed and broken. He stared Katara right in the eye, as tears begin to well once more from his admission, "Bumi's dying."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Zuko stepped into the meeting room to find everyone there again, waiting for him. He took a seat in the temporary throne, until they could remove the curtain of fire, which was at the head of the table, a simple, elegant chair. He took a seat and the others say down on the floor, ready to discuss the new news they had received. To his left was an Earth Kingdom ambassador who was leading the spy task force, straight across from him was Hakoda, and to his right was the Master of Intelligence of the Fire Nation, Shi Lin. Shi Lin had served under his father, but Zuko found him to be very trustworthy. He was already opposing the war silently, all to aware of what was really going on behind the lies that the Fire Nation was "spreading their prosperity". He saw the reports, and dealt with the real atrocities of war, and was thoroughly thankful to Zuko and the Avatar for ending it.

"So," Zuko started, "What's this report I caught wind of?"

"Where's Mai?" Hakoda asked curiously, knowing that she would never miss a meeting about Azula.

"I had her sit this one out, can we please continue," Zuko asked.

"It came from a small Earth Kingdom town Lu Shin, near where the war balloon was found. Apparently, Azula had to go see the doctor for something unknown, but the current assumption is she hurt herself when she landed the balloon. We don't know what happened, but the doctor was found dead in a secret apartment in his house." Shi Lin muttered.

"What about this person who meet Azula I heard about?" Zuko asked curiously.

"I was just getting to that. Apparently, after she killed the doctor, she came back to a peasant house, where she stayed with until she could sneak off with supplies. But the death of the doctor was discovered, and she killed the family, then ran off with the supplies she needed."

"Who heard of this if the entire family was dead?" Zuko inquired.

"The daughter of the house, Seya, ten years old, was alive. She told all of this information to our spy willingly," Hakoda replied this time.

"Wait, did Azula just miss her, or couldn't find her?" Zuko asked, something seeming off.

"No, and this was the strange part of the report. Apparently, after Azula had killed the family, she was going to kill her, but stopped before she did, began yelling at nothing, and then destroyed the house, leaving Seya alone with the corpses of her family."

"That isn't like Azula, she wouldn't leave a trail. Any ideas?" Zuko continued.

"My theory is that she is trying to bait us into a trap," Shi Lin muttered grimly.

"I would agree, but what resources would she have to make this trap? Even still, the information is perplexing," Zuko muttered darkly while he rested his chin on the top of his interwoven hands and looked down.

"What if she's just losing it?" The Earth Kingdom ambassador asked to the group.

"She wasn't exactly of her right mind when she went into prison, so it's possible," Hakoda answered while he looked to the rest of the group for assurance, and everyone seemed to agree.

Zuko remained silence at the last remark, trying to mull everything over. He looked up and stared at everyone in the group individually while they watched him back before sighing and asking, "This Seya girl, she meet Azula, could she provide some insight into her behavior, it may help us plan our next move."

"Our informant tried, but he said she was very traumatized by the experience, and wouldn't willingly give up a lot of information, and what she did was a little vague," Shi Lin answered, scanning over the report once again.

"Did she give us any insight as to where she might be heading?" Zuko asked darkly, trying to take in all the information he could.

"No, and the trail died at the town, we have no idea where she's going," Hakoda muttered darkly, upset by this unsettling bit of information.

"What do we do my lord?" Shi Lin asked.

"I recommend that we fan out from that town. She could have only gotten at most a three day head start on us, we can catch up to her," Zuko answered while he scanned the map in the center, trying to figure out which way she would have gone.

"Are you sure we should spread our forces out so thin?" Hakoda asked cautiously, realizing how small the spy task forces would be at that point, going down to one or two man squads, no match for Azula.

"We don't have a choice, we can't afford to have her slip through a crack," The Earth ambassador assured while also studying the map closely.

"I agree, but I say we focus our spare forces on the south, my bet would be she would want some distance between herself and Ba Sing Se until the heat dies down," Shi Lin said, while looking around at the others.

Everyone nodded in agreement, but one thing still troubled Zuko, "So, this Seya girl, where is she now?"

"I thought you may want to know that, so my spy told me she was already living in the allies of the town when they got there. It seemed her grandparents were already dead, and she has no relatives. She is the only one in her family, and no one wants to take her in, for fear that she may bring the same tragedy again, so she is begging in the streets as we speak," Hakoda replied darkly, staring at Lu Shin on the map, his heart going out to the poor girl.

"Unacceptable. I want her brought here immediately. No one who gave us so much valuable information and could potentially provide us with more is going to live on the streets while I am Fire Lord," Zuko commanded in a tone that drew no question. He was also thinking to himself that maybe, if he could get her alone, he may be able to get more information from her about his sister's behavior.

The meeting was about to disband when Hakoda gestured everyone to stay while he whispered, "One last thing I thought you may wish to see." He glanced down darkly at a small stack of papers next to him.

"What is it?" Zuko asked, worried by his expressions.

"It's a summary of the damage she did in the town. I thought you may want to read some of the more important bits of information in there," Hakoda whispered grimly, something in the tone of his voice extremely unsettling as he passed out the copies of the papers.

"Why could you not just read it to us?" The ambassador asked while he took a copy from the stack and passed it on.

"Because I could only stand to read it once before I sent to have it copied," Hakoda answered grimly while staring darkly at the map once more, something very apprehensive about Lu Shin, like it was dark and tainted.

The three read silently the report about Azula, and what she had done to the house of Seya's family, the family itself, and the doctor. The Earth Ambassador paled and started breathing heavily while he set the papers down, first to finish reading. Next was Shi Lin, who seemed very calm and composed, but could not stop his hands from shaking.

The three turned to see Zuko's reaction, and where a little troubled by what they saw. Zuko grasped the papers tightly as he drew the end of the page, and couldn't stop his hands from shaking. He hunched over, trying to maintain his control as he felt his blood pump harder and teeth clench. It was a valiant effort, but useless as he unconsciously ignited the paper in his hands. He stood up and roared with rage, a billowing pillar of fire spraying from his mouth and simultaneously igniting the curtain of fire. The pillar rose so high, that it seared the ceiling beams a little.

He flung the papers over his shoulders as he headed for the curtain, trying to calm himself, as steam trickled slowly still from his mouth and nostrils while he breathed deep. He stormed out, still in the midst of his rage as he yelled over his shoulder, "Find her!" The other three sat there in shock from his reaction, until Shi Lin gained control and excused himself, followed swiftly by the Earth ambassador.

Hakoda sat in the room, staring about idly, and yet not really seeing anything. Ever since he had meet the Fire Nation prince, he had been nothing short of kind and wise, making very thought out and educated decisions despite his age. He was so perfect Hakoda had begun to wonder if he really came from the same evil Fire Lords of past that wanted to destroy everything. And yet, he thought now that he had seen that side of him that darker side that was locked up inside, and it scared him a little. He didn't think the image of Zuko's shadow against the intensity of the flame would ever leave his memory. The curtain of fire slowly began to die down, oddly ironic of the fire Zuko kept locked inside himself.

Zuko walked slowly down the corridors, but not really going anywhere. After minutes of aimless wandering, he rested and his emotions finally caught up with him, as if he had been unconsciously running from them. He leaned and slumped down as his vision began to blur. He leaned against the wall, his legs curled into his chest, with his arms resting on top, while he stared at the ceiling, trying to get a grip, but failing miserably.

He looked down and stared at his hands in disgust. It never ended, the blood on his hands for letting her escape. He didn't think she could hurt anyone in her fragile state…how wrong he had been. That poor little girl, she was alone now and it was his fault. Zuko buried his eyes in his palms as his fingers went through the tips of his hair.

"Zuko?" Came a quiet and monotone voice from next to him down the hall. He looked up and glanced to his left, and there was Mai, standing there holding a basket of fruit and a book. She watched for a second worriedly before walking over next to him. She sat down next to him with her legs curled to the side as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a soft embrace as she asked, "What's wrong, was it the meeting?"

Zuko pulled her close as he rested his head against hers and muttered softly, "How many more people have to die because of my mistake?"

Mai pulled him tighter and muttered forcefully into his ear, "This isn't your fault Zuko, how many times must I say it. None of this is your fault."

"How is this not my fault? I had a chance to stop her permanently, and I didn't! Add that to the fact that my own nation is falling into poverty and homelessness and overpopulation, and I have no idea how to fix it!" Zuko yelled as he buried his head into her hair and felt tears sting his eyes.

Mai wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him close, while he just muttered, "I wonder if I'm even cut out for this."

Mai instantly pulled away and stared Zuko straight in the eye and muttered in her usual monotone, but with a slight fluctuation of trying to pour on the emotion, "Don't you say that, don't ever say that. You did a better job then I could have ever imagined. If it wasn't for you, the Fire Nation would have already slipped into chaos."

Zuko smiled a little at her comment and stood up, gathering his composure again while wiping away the sole tear that fell. He wrapped his right arm around her shoulder, and she wrapped her left arm around his waist, and they walked back to his room. Mai leaned into his shoulder and muttered, "So, what happened in that meeting?"

Zuko explained to her while they walked down the halls about Seya, her family, and what Azula had done. Mai's face remained in her usual calm expression, but her hand shook at his waist. Weather it was from Azula's evil deed or sympathy for Seya, Zuko didn't know. When he finished up with his demand to bring Seya here and the reading of the bodies, She muttered quietly, "See, the Zuko I used to know would have never offered that little girl shelter, but you've changed, for the better."

Zuko smiled a little as he sat with Mai on the banister of the balcony of his room, watching the people of the capital busy about on their business. He looked at her blank fast, watching the people, and pulled her close as he muttered, "What are you thinking?"

"About these people…our people," Mai replied softly, her mask letting up for a second revealing a small glimpse of a smile and happiness in her eyes.

Zuko smiled as he pulled her too his lips and whispered, "I love you."

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Awwww, what a cute ending. i know, this one was a little short on the Aang side of the story, but i couldn't fit that much in after i explained what they did during the morning in the last chapter. Besides, i needed to give some more info on Zuko's side of the story, get caught up on him a little. What's happening to Bumi, we don't know, read and find out! All will be revealed in the next chapter, and all you need to do to get that up faster is review!

Every review i get supercharges me like that energizer bunny, and i can type even faster. You want to know what's going to happen, ask me, and i'll think about answering you questions!...but probably won't