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Chapter 14

The next morning Lizz woke up before the others. She quietly slipped out of her Water Tribe sleeping bag. The sun was just peeking over the tree tops and the birds were just starting to sing. Lizz stumbled over to a large tree trunk and leaned against it for support, wiping the sweat off of her heated face.

"God..." she mumbled as visions of blood and shadow flashed across her sight.

Night number two of that sadistic nightmare. It took all of her resolve not to burst into a fit of sobbing as the still faces of her parents flashed in her mind yet again. She took a deep breath. "Breathe Elizabeth..." she told herself, "Breathe–"

Her throat cut off her voice as the mental sound of a gun ran in her head. Her knees buckled and she hit the dew sprinkled ground. Tears dripped from her sapphire eyes as she took ragged breaths, praying she didn't wake the others. She couldn't do this...She really couldn't...

"Lizz, you look tired." Lizz glanced over at Katara as the firebender loosened the strings of her black boots.

"I'm okay," she answered with a smile. A fake one. Katara gave her a curious look and Lizz feared that she might push for a real answer. Lizz really didn't want to talk about her parents to anyone. Not even to Iroh, who had become a type of father figure to her after all those weeks at sea. She wouldn't tell Katara or Aang, and especially wouldn't talk to Sokka. ...But what about Zuko? Would she...?

She chuckled quietly to herself as she put her hair up into a half ponytail, the type of hairstyle she had chosen for this world. Why in the world would she tell Zuko her sob story? He would probably just roll his blazing amber eyes at her and walk away.

"Are you ready, Lizz?" Aang asked her excitedly as he came out of the trees, "I found a perfect spot! It's a clearing right by the river."

"Let's go then," Lizz answered, pushing her doubtful thoughts away as she stood up and followed the Avatar to his clearing. Katara quickly followed as well as Sokka rolled his eyes and poked the glowing embers of last night's fire with a stick. He had decided to "hold the fort," as he had put it.

Lizz slipped into a bending stance as Aang did the same. She took a deep breath. Why was she doing this? Fighting Aang? This had to be probably the worst idea she had thought of so far. She knew this wasn't a real fight…but still!

"Ready?" Katara asked from her place a few yards away.

"Yeah," Aang said, his eyes not leaving Lizz. Lizz nodded.

"Go!" The minute Katara called out, Aang bending a snake of water from the river. Before Lizz could react the water splashed hard against her, causing her to fall back on her back. She took a deep breath. She had never fought a waterbender before. They were definitely faster than firebenders. Or was it because it was Aang?

Lizz quickly flipped back on her feet. Her dark, now-wet hair smacked her face as she did so. She watched Aang. Studied him. She saw the twitch in his wrist as he bended another splash of water at her. She quickly rolled to the side, dodging the attack.

Before Aang could throw another blow, Lizz got to her feet and ran towards him. As she ran she dodged the bits of bending that was being shot at her. Aang made another snake and whipped it at her face. Her body moved before she really told it too. She slid on her knees and stretched her head back, just missing the whip. She let out a breath as she saw the water snap and recoil back only an inch above her face. She kept sliding towards Aang on the wet, muddy ground as he realized he missed. Lizz turned her body and stretched out her leg to trip him. Her leg smacked against his ankles and he lost his balance. His face hit the mud and Lizz quickly got back up, her whole body slimed with wet mud.

Aang quickly got to his feet as well and she swung a kick at his head, fire trailing her heel. Aang's forearm quickly flew up to block it and with his other hand he conjured up a wave of muddy water Lizz quickly took her foot from Aang and blasted her own wave of fire at the mud. The mud quickly caked as the water evaporated.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aang stumble to the ground to evade the flames. She looked down at his wide eyes.

"You were holding back," Aang breathed. Lizz sighed.

"I was trying not to firebend," she told him, holding out her hand to help him up, the rest was real." Aang took her hand and she helped him stand.

"That was still pretty cool though!" he exclaimed, his surprised expression turning to excitement.

"You need to work on your waterbending," she told him, ignoring his comment. She then heated her body and the water evaporated from the mud on her skin and clothes. As she started to brush off the dirt Katara came over to bend the mud off of Aang.

"She right, Aang," Katara told him, "You still have a long way to go." He shrugged.

"But I have a great teacher," he smiled. Katara smiled back at him.

"We still have a little time before we have to get to the Earth Kingdom base," Katara said, "Why don't we train a bit?"

"Sure," Aang smiled. As Katara started her instruction, Lizz slipped away. Leaving them to their training.

Lizz found another clearing not to far off from camp. She fell into the soft green grass and let out a heavy sigh. Why hadn't she fought Aang with all she had? Instead of firebending like he had expected, she had evaded his attacks and barely used any bending. But the look on his face when she finally did…that one blast of flame to stop that mud wave. His whole face held a bit of fear. He was the Avatar! He shouldn't be feeling fear of someone like her! But she knew he did…she knew the feeling of one of his "friends" being a firebender still made him uncomfortable. She saw it behind Katara's smiles and even in Sokka's glares.

She sighed again and sat up. Was the best thing to do was just leave? If she left them no one around her would know she was a firebender unless she wanted them to. Maybe she could find a way into Ba Sing Se.

Lizz got to her feet and started back to camp. She was going to tell them she was leaving. It was for the best.

By the time Lizz got back to camp, Aang and Katara were packing while Sokka was fastening the packs to Appa's saddle. Lizz noticed her pack and sleeping bag were untouched. She walked over and started to pack as well, thinking over how she should tell them she was leaving. Once her sleeping bag was rolled up she turned to the others.

"I've decided that it would be better if I left you guys," Lizz finally said. There was silence in the air for a moment as all three looked at the firebender.

"What do you mean?" Aang asked, as he hopped off of Appa, breaking the silence. Lizz sighed and stood up.

"I don't want to wear you guys down with my problems." Her words slipped out before she could think.

"What problems?" Katara asked, glancing at Aang. She mentally kicked herself.

Those problems of my parents being murdered before my eyes and I could break down at any moment, that I'm a firebender, and I'm from a world that knows your future. Lizz rubbed the back of her neck. "I..." she trailed off. "I have a lot more problems that could compromise the mission than just being a firebender," she said after clearing her throat, I would be better if I just left."

Katara's eyes widened a bit and she started to say, "Lizz–"

"Let her go," Sokka interrupted his sister, "its better if she's gone anyway."

"Sokka, stop being so rude to her! That's probably why she wants to leave," Katara exclaimed.

"I can deal with Sokka if I had to, Katara," Lizz told the waterbender, "I'm leaving for a lot of reasons besides that."

Aang sighed, causing the attention to turn to him. "Are you sure about this Lizz?" The firebender nodded.

"Absolutely."

"Okay. Be safe." She smiled at him.

"Thank you," Lizz said as she grabbed her pack and swung it on her back.

"Bye Lizz," Katara sighed. Lizz gave her a smile.

"See ya," She told them as she started to walk towards the woods. She stopped by the first tree and looked over her shoulder. "Keep it up, Aang," she said to him, "You are an amazing bender and you're going to be a great Avatar. You're going to win. I know it." Katara smiled as well and glanced at Aang. Even Sokka could hold back a bit of a smile. Aang broke into a huge grin at her.

"Never give up. No matter how bad things get," Lizz added. Aang gave her a curt nod, looking like the little boy he was.

"I won't," he said, still grinning, "Thanks Lizz. I hope to see you again." Lizz smiled and nodded, turning back to the forest.

With a deep breath, she set out into the world she had never dreamed of exploring.

By the way if you want to be awesome you should check out my video I did for Instinct. Um...to be honest it's horrible. I didn't have very good clips and my comp was being stupid at the time. It's really old...but it has epic music and kinda makes you all excited xD well...it made me excited xD

Just go to YouTube and type in "14shadowrose Instinct Trailer" it's the first one :) Thanks!