"Are we there yet?"

"No…"

"How 'bout now?"

"No…"

"Now?"

"NO!" Gohan shouted, fed up.

There was a beat of silence. "Now?" TyLee asked again.

Gohan shot her a glare with his one good eye and she shut her mouth. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be prepping for contact or something?" He asked, fidgeting with the sleeve of his Firebender uniform.

They'd converged a few miles from Ba Sing Se with an insane plan to drill through the walls. Granted, it was a big drill—Gargantuan in fact—but the notion that they'd just be able to burst through the walls without anyone noticing just seemed a tad farfetched. "You don't think that this machine could be stopped by few big rocks, do you? Just leave the problems to me." That's what Azula had said.

Somehow, it didn't exactly comfort Gohan, but for now at least, he decided to let it go. He had been meditating until TyLee had barged in and disturbed him. "Nah, Azula said we don't get there for another hour or so." She said with a shrug.

"And with that in mind, why did you ask me if we were there yet?" He asked, annoyed.

She grinned. "I was kind of bored." She said, performing a handstand.

She started pacing back and forth on her hands. "So…What do you remember?"

Gohan shut his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Not much else than when you found me. It seems like every time a vague memory or idea comes to me, when I concentrate on it, it slips away."

Tylee looked in his direction. "Why not stop thinking so hard? Just let it come to you." She advised, lowering herself onto her arms and allowing her legs to dangle above her.

"I guess…" He said skeptically. He looked up at her. "So you came from a circus?" He said, thinking it best to change the subject.

She rested her chin on her fists, legs still hanging over her head. "Mmhmm. Pretty much raised there. No place like it." She said smiling radiantly.

Gohan cocked his head to one side curiously, studying her. "Hm…So why leave that…" He spread his arms out and gestured around him. "For all this…?"

This was probably the closest Gohan had seen TyLee to being upset. She'd dropped her awkward position and sat cross-legged, frowning. For a moment he wondered if he'd offended her. "Azula's…my friend…" She said looking down, as if she were trying to convince herself. She looked up quickly with a self-conscious grin. "And when a friend calls you gotta help them out."

"Well…Sure…"

Her eyes roamed across his bandaged body. 'He looks like a mummy…' She thought curiously. She laid a gentle hand on his bandaged left eye, as if noticing it for the first time. "Was this from those thugs we rescued you from?"

Gohan absorbed the warmth of her hand and kept still, as if afraid that she might remove it. "No. Actually it was before they came. I was fighting an extremely powerful opponent."

"Ooh, tell me more!" TyLee said eagerly, like a child waiting for a new toy.

Gohan smiled too, her happiness becoming infectious. "I'll tell you what I can remember."

She closed her eyes, getting ready to visualize the scene. Just as Gohan was about to speak, Mai walked in. "Hey guys, Azula wants us all up top." She stated without any sense of urgency.

"I thought we had about another hour." Gohan said, casting TyLee a side glance.

"I thought so too." TyLee said, just as surprised.

"Apparently not. Come on, you two can flirt later." Mai said, smirking as she exited the room.

"Hey!" Gohan said indignantly as TyLee's cheeks colored. He stood up and punched in to his open palm. "Well, time to go! TyLee, you comin' or what?" He said, offering his hand.

Instead of taking it, she bent over backwards until her hands found the floor, pulling herself into a handstand. She leapt onto her feet grinning at him. "Race you."

And in another moment he was alone. "Hey, wait! Toph—" He froze as an image of a girl ran through his mind. "What the…" He said with a shake of his head. "Toph…BeiFong…" He mumbled to himself.

He stumbled out of the room slowly, puzzling over the new information.

"I have a feeling we'll be facing more than just Earthbenders. In fact, I'm expecting a rather…unique group of enemies. Since you've lost your memory, I figured it would be best you get reacquainted with them." Azula said, handing him some hand drawn pictures.

"The bald one…He's the Avatar!" Gohan said incredulously. The kid was barely older than him.

"Yes. You will leave him to me."

"And the waterbender?" He said cycling to the picture of a dark skinned girl.

She waved that one away impatiently. "Leave the water tribe peasants to Mai and TyLee."

Gohan stared hard at the last one. "T-Toph?" He whispered.

Azula raised a questioning eyebrow. "Hm?" She leaned in to see the picture. "Oh, the blind Earthbender."

"Why does looking at this picture make me feel so…torn?" He looked from Mai, to TyLee, to Azula, hoping one of them could shed some light on this.

Azula smiled slyly. "Don't you remember? I didn't I expect you to forget the one that broke your heart."

TyLee gasped. "Azula, I don't think…" She started, but a glare from Azula silenced her.

"She...broke my heart?" He repeated disbelievingly.

"We had you spy on them for a while and you seemed…taken with the young bender. The last we heard from you was that you were going to join them to be with her." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "And next we come to find you a bleeding mess in the desert. Tell me, Gohan, do you remember what happened in the desert?"

It took Gohan a few minutes to answer, as he was having trouble accepting this new information. "N-Not much…"

"Then the rest we can only assume. That she lured you into the desert and tried to have you assassinated."

"That…That can't be…" He said, shaking his head.

Azula's eyebrows rose in mock surprise. "You'll defend her, even though you hardly remember anything about her? Interesting, how love can warp your mind like that."

"Azula, please stop!" TyLee begged, stepping to Gohan's side.

"What? I'm just telling him what happened. If he isn't willing to accept it as fact, let that be his problem. We're about to make contact." She said, heading back inside.

TyLee rubbed Gohan's back sympathetically. She glared back at the door Azula had gone through. She looked to Mai. "She's gone too far this time." She hissed.

"You know how Azula is. Anyway the damage is done. Not much we can do about it now."

The acrobat sighed, wishing her friend would at least pretend to care. "It's okay, Gohan. I'd never abandon you."

Gohan didn't look up. "Is it true?"

"What?"

"Is. It. True?" He said through clenched teeth.

Suddenly there was a jarring shake, and Gohan looked around, alert. "Already!"

"I don't think they can damage it before it gets in…"

There was another vicious tremor, and the drill slowed considerably. Azula appeared through the door once more holding a sword in its sheath and an iron mask. "Gohan, go get rid of whatever's slowing us down." Gohan nodded and prepared to jump. "Hold on. Here's a gift." She tossed him the mask and sword and he quickly attached the sword to his belt. "And the mask is for…?" He asked, sliding the bland looking mask over his face.

"In the unlikely event that this plan fails, I want you to scale the wall yourself and meet with someone. His name is Long Feng, head of the Dai Li. Tell them I sent you."

With another curt nod, he jumped over the railing to the sandy ground below.

Toph POV

"This…isn't…working…" I growled, the strain of slowing the drill with my bare hands steadily increasing. Even though I had slowed it down a good bit, it seemed to drag me faster than I would have liked as it bore its way through the wall.

"I expected to find you here." My hands fell to my sides, the sound of his voice making me feel incredibly light-headed. "As one would expect to find an Earthbender, scrounging around in the dirt." His tone was one I couldn't comprehend; a mixture of anger, hurt, and contempt.

I glared at him, forcing all traces of weakness from my outward appearance. "What do you want? Couldn't find anyone else to manipulate?" I snarled over the roaring of the drill.

"I could ask you the same thing!" He snarled back.

"What's that mean!" I asked in exasperation. He really seemed serious, but then again, he seemed serious about us being friends. And that worked out so well.

"I'm asking the questions. What do you mean I manipulated you, when—"

"You betrayed me!" We yelled at each other. "What!" We cried again in unison.

The both of us fell silent, glaring at each other. After the longest time, he spoke again. "You tried to kill me."

My eyes widened disbelievingly. "Why would I—"

"You sent that guy in the weird armor after me and had the Sandbenders finish the job."

"That's insane! I'm twelve years old and blind! What influence do I have over anything?" I said, slapping my forehead as if to emphasize how ridiculous his theory. Then, something struck me as odd. "Wait...guys in armor…? They attacked you?" My hand groped for his face, instead grabbing hold cold metal.

"Get your hands off of me!" Gohan cried, but I made no move to do so. Surprisingly, he didn't stop me either.

I removed his mask, throwing it to the floor, and held his scarred face. "Oh my…" I mouthed, too shocked to speak. I traced my finger along a scar that led to his bandaged eye.

"What did they do to you?" I asked, a sudden rush vengeful rage coursing through me. Suddenly what had been said before was unimportant to me, everything said previously was ancient history.

"I can't remember…" He mumbled quietly.

"What?" I yelled, reminding him he'd need to speak up over the sound of the drill.

"I can't remember anything!" He shouted, pushing my hand away. "And if it weren't for Azula I'd be dead right now!"

Azula. I thought hard on the name, but found nothing remotely recognizable about it. That didn't matter though, because was certain of two things now: One, that he had amnesia, and didn't remember much apart from whatever lies this 'Azula' person had been feeding him. Two was rather obvious. "She's using you."

"Why should I believe you?" He growled, I didn't blame him for being so angry.

Being convinced of one thing and then being told another was frustrating, especially with something this serious. But he needed to hear the truth. "Because we're best friends. Because we've known each other for months. And because you saved my life once. I could go on." I grabbed his heavily bandaged hand. "We don't have time for now, though. But we can—"

"No!" He said, jerking away from me. I felt him bend down, most likely to get his mask. "Just…Stay away from me!" He said and dashed off, leaving me alone.

I looked up at the drill, having pretty much purposely ignored my role. Hearing a creaking emit from its back end, I headed over to investigate. Part 2 of 'My screwed up life' would have to take an intermission.

Gohan POV

I knew I wasn't supposed to leave unless the plan failed, but I didn't care. I just wanted to be as far away from her as possible. I ran up the wall, nearly forgetting to replace my mask as I blew past the Earthbenders. I leaped over the other side, hearing cries of protest as I made my descent. 'They'll probably send someone after me,' I thought, trying to distract myself with something. 'I should get a disguise, at least until I can get to Long Feng.' My eyes darted back and forth as I ran through what seemed to be the poor district of the city. I snagged a shirt and pants off of a clothesline as I kept running, ignoring the strange looks I was getting. Cutting into the alleyways I wove an intricate path as I moved from alley to alley. When I was sure I lost them, I slammed my back against an alley wall, sliding to the floor. "Tired." I mumbled.

And I was. Tired from running, tired of being told who I am, and tired of all the fighting. I just wanted—No, I needed a break from this. I stared at my hands, reviewing my situation carefully. At first, the idea of letting someone else tell me about my past seemed a pretty good idea. I thought it seemed easier than sorting out all by myself. A stupid move. I learned quickly that people can easily lie to you, and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. And now I'm left to the task of sorting out what's true and what's not.

I finally stood, undressing myself and putting on the clothes. As I did, I thought about my encounter with the blind girl I was so allegedly 'in love' with. One second we're both spitting venom at one another, and the next she's examining my wounds like a worried mother. It seemed like…she really did care about me. Which would mean she couldn't have sent them after me. I was half convinced Azula was lying, not that it would be a surprise if this was true. Much as she tried to hide it, Azula carried this conniving look in her eyes; one that suggested you should watch your back, lest she stab it. "Maybe I should hear what she has to say…" I said as I adjusted the sword strap to fit across my chest, then shook my head angrily.

I was too trusting, that was probably what had gotten me into this mess in the first place. 'Though…what if she's telling the truth…?' As I said, Azula definitely wasn't to be trusted. What this girl any less credible than her? I resolved to hear her out and get a second opinion from TyLee. At least I could trust her not to deceive me…I hope.

A/N: I'm not gonna lie. I kind of phoned this one in, so sorry if it...you know, sucks.