Long Lost

Redbayly: Hey, you know what I just realized? The last chapter I did was chapter 13.

Toph: Whoa, creepy.

Redbayly: Yeah, it really is.

Aang: So, what are we in store for today, Sifu Redbayly?

Redbayly: Aang, I'm not a Sifu. You used the wrong terminology. You should call me the 'Katarite', it's Japanese for storyteller.

Aang: Okay Katarite Redbayly. What's today's chapter?

Redbayly: Well, today we look at the episode in which you have that insomnia problem.

Toph: Ha ha. I'm so glad I'm blind. Because it means I don't get nightmares.

Redbayly: Wait, is that scientifically correct? (Turns to audience) If anyone knows whether or not blind people can dream please let me know.

Toph: Wait, why would you want to know that?

Redbayly:*Evil smile* Oh, no reason.

Toph: That's a lie. You're lying.

Redbayly: Ahem. Aang, please do the disclaimer.

Aang: Okay. Redbayly does not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Redbayly: Oh, and just a reminder, if any of my readers are expecting Kataang, you should just stop reading this story right now.

Aang: Yep, Redbayly is strictly a Taang/Zutara shipper.

Redbayly: And proud of it. So, any Kataang-ness in this or any future episode will be either omitted or replaced with my preferred ships. Oh, and one final thing. I don't own the song "You'll be in my heart."

Nightmares and Daydreams (Because I like the original title)

The four kids, former Fire Nation princess, lemur, and flying-bison all emerged from the bushes.

"This is it," said Sokka, "the official rendezvous point for the invasion force."

"How did you pick this place?" Toph inquired.

"Actually, Ursa was the one who picked it."

"I just happened to know that this island is deserted so no one can sneak up on us, and the cliffs make it perfectly secluded so no Fire Navy ships will sail by the immediate area." The Firebender explained.

"Wow, good choice." Said Katara. "And we're here four days ahead of schedule."

"Wait!" Aang declared. "Four days! The invasion's in four days?"

Sokka gave a yawn.

"Whatever. That's like..four days from now. Let's just calm down and..." He was cut off when he suddenly fell asleep.

"I never thought I'd say this," said Ursa, "but Sokka's got the right idea, Aang. We all need to get or sleep so we'll have lots of energy for the invasion."

"I guess." Aang replied with uncertainty.

Roku hated so much of the formality of the Fire Nation palace. He had lived a life of simplicity and humility, and to suddenly be immersed in a life where your every wish was a command was very confusing for him. Every morning when he woke up, a gang of servants was there to offer him this or that, and it irritated him quite a bit. Roku had never had much of a desire for power, he didn't like telling other people what to do all the time; unless, of course, people were invading his personal space and he told them to leave. Roku looked out his window and saw Zuko going over to Mai's house, Zuko had taken a palanquin even though Mai only lived a few feet from the palace gates. Roku fought his growing jealousy, reminding himself that Mai had made her decision and he had no reason to question it. Roku decided to spend the day practicing his hand-to-hand combat. A few hours passed and the door to the training hall opened.

"Your Highness," a servant spoke, bowing as he did so, "your father has sent for a Firebending Master to train you as he learned that you have not made much progress in your Firebending."

Roku narrowed his eyes. So, Ozai was keeping tabs on him?

"Then you can tell Lord Ozai that I have no interest in learning Firebending, for reasons I would not care to discuss. I am perfectly capable of relying on basic fighting techniques without having to depend on that element. You are dismissed."

Roku swore he would never learn Firebending, but if he ever changed his mind he would only learn it from his mother, she was one of the few people in the world that he trusted.

"Aang, how long have you been up?" Ursa asked with concern as the young Avatar punched away at a tree.

"A couple hours. I've got a lot of skills to refine if I'm going to fight Ozai."

"Aang, there is such a thing as too much training."

Aang gave a final punch to the tree that sent a shockwave through him, causing him to collapse onto his back. Followed by the leaves of the tree falling onto him. Aang then shot up, a stressed look in his eyes.

"You don't get it, do you? My form is bad, I'm sloppy, and I'm still on the basics with my Firebending."

"That's okay, Aang." Sokka said as he looked over the map. "The eclipse will block off all Firebending anyway, you don't need to know any. Plus, it's a stupid element."

"Excuse me?" Ursa said, her eyes narrowing at the young Water Tribe boy.

"Uh, I mean it's stupid when the Fire Nation uses it to conquer other nations. But any other time it's good."

"Thank you, Sokka."

"I still have to work on everything else." Aang pointed out. "I'd better spend the whole day training."

With that, Aang gave them all a quick bow, then zoomed off on an air-scooter.

"Aang, it's the middle of the night. Please, go back to sleep." Ursa said as she watched the young Avatar circling a group of sleeping koala-sheep, for a reason she could not figure out.

"But I forgot my pants and my math test."

Ursa let out an exasperated sigh, and grabbed Aang by his shoulder.

"Aang, sleep. Please."

Aang finally consented and let Ursa lead him back to his sleeping bag.

Everyone was awoken by the sound of Aang's nightmare-induced panic attack. He started rambling about how they all needed to do something to keep from getting killed in the invasion.

"It's like every time I think about how stressed I am, I just end up more stressed. I'm like a big, growing snowball of nerves."

"Of course ya are," Sokka said, "that's 'cause you gotta fight the Fire Lord, the baddest man on the planet. And ya better win or we're all done for."

"Sokka, please, don't help." Ursa said.

"What? It's true. That's the deal, he knows it."

This prompted Katara to thwack Sokka on the head.

The rest of the day consisted of everyone attempting to help Aang get out of his pre-invasion jitters. Katara tried to get Aang to do yoga by a hot spring, but he started to get another panic attack. Sokka tried to give Aang a therapy session, but that was a colossal waste of time. Toph tried to use Earthbending to give Aang a back massage, but it caused him some serious bruising. Finally, it was Ursa's turn to help.

"This is a trick that always helped my children to relax." She placed her fingertips on Aang's temples and gently massaged them. Aang started to feel very sleepy, well, more sleepy than he already was. Ursa then began to sing the lullaby she remembered from her childhood.

"Come, stop your crying, it'll be alright.

Just take my hand, hold it tight.

I will protect you from

all around you.

I will be here, don't you cry.

For one so small, you seem so strong.

My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm.

This bond between us

can't be broken.

I will be here, don't you cry.

'Cause you'll be in my heart.

Yes, you'll be in my heart.

From this day on, now and forever more.

You'll be in my heart, no matter what they say.

You'll be here in my heart, always."

Slowly, Aang drifted off into a peaceful slumber. The others, who had been standing nearby, came over.

"That song was beautiful." Katara said.

"I learned it from my grandmother." Ursa responded. Memories started to surface of her grandmother, Ta-Min, a kind and compassionate woman. Remembering the song also reminded Ursa of her children. She hoped that Roku was alright, that Ozai hadn't done anything to him as he had to their other children.

Meanwhile, at the Fire Nation palace, a certain scarred prince was approaching his twin brother.

"I need to ask you something."

Roku didn't look up, he was in the middle of practicing his fighting forms, and he had had enough interruptions that day.

"I'm kinda in the middle of something."

"It's important. Were you invited to the war meeting that's coming up?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Why is this so important?"

"Because, apparently, I'm not welcome."

Roku sighed with irritation. He had thought that Zuko would have had a change of heart about supporting the Fire Nation after his little revelation about their great-grandfather, but it seemed to not have sunk in yet.

"Of course you're welcome there. You are the Crown Prince after all."

"Then why didn't anyone tell me about it?"

Roku shrugged.

"You're asking the wrong person. If you're so curious, why don't you ask Father?" Zuko tensed. "Unless, you're afraid to."

"I'm not afraid of anything."

"If you say so."

"Ahhhhh!"

"Aang, what is it?" Ursa asked with concern.

"It's the nightmares. They just get worse and worse."

"Looks like it's time for another therapy session." Sokka said, putting on a ridiculous false beard.

"Right, because that worked out so well the first time." Ursa said sarcastically.

"That won't help!" Aang declared. "Nothing helps! There's only one thing I can do! I'm gonna stay awake straight though to the invasion."

Ursa had a bad feeling about this.

Ursa looked over at Aang, who was pacing nervously.

"Invasion. All aboard for the invasion."

"Aang, you do not look well. I think you need at least a little nap."

"I told you, I can't go back to sleep."

"Aang, staying up all night is not good for you. You need sleep. It gives you energy and helps you to focus. Tell me, Aang, who are you fighting for?"

"Huh?"

"You must be fighting for more than just to save the world. You're doing this for someone, aren't you?"

Aang looked down.

"At first I thought I was doing this for Katara. But lately, I've been thinking about someone else."

"Who?"

"I can't. If she ever found out, she'd laugh at me."

"Is it..Toph?"

"Yeah, how did you-?"

Aang then turned and saw Toph standing there. She had the faintest hint of a blush and was nervously rubbing the back of her head.

"You really feel that way about me, Twinkletoes?"

"Yeah, I really do, Toph."

Aang then took Toph by the shoulders and kissed her.

"What are we doing, Twinkletoes?"

"What are hearts have been telling us to do for a long, long time. Baby, you're my forever girl."

Aang closed his eyes and was about to kiss Toph again, when he heard a voice.

"Um, Aang?"

"Huh?" He opened his eyes and saw that Toph wasn't anywhere in the immediate area, and turned to see Ursa looking at him curiously.

"I was just saying that you need some sleep."

"Oh, I guess I kinda drifted off into a daydream."

"What was your dream about?"

Aang shifted his eyes.

"Uh, living...underground."

"Sounds neat."

Aang gave a nervous laugh as Ursa walked off. She stopped right next to a tree where a certain blind Earthbender had been standing by to overhear the conversation.

"He was lying, wasn't he?"

"Yep. What do you think Twinkletoes was actually daydreaming about?"

"I have a theory." A devious smirk emerged on her face.

"Hey, Zuko. Everyone's waiting for you." Roku said to his scarred twin, who had been brooding all day.

"What?"

"Everyone's already at the meeting. Azula, the generals, the admirals, the war ministers,...and Father have already arrived. You're the only one missing, so I volunteered to come get you."

"So, Dad wants me at the meeting?"

"He said that he wouldn't start the meeting until you got there. Believe me, I'm not ill-disposed to keeping a big Fire Nation war meeting from occurring, but since I doubt you share my sympathies..."

"Oh look, another hallucination, an imaginary bed made out of clouds." The exhausted Airbender stated as he inspected the strange, white, fluffy mass.

"Hey, it's real." Toph declared. "We spent hours working on it."

"We made it for ya." Sokka added. "A goodnight's sleep will probably take the crazy away. We hope."

"Look," Aang said, "you guys keep telling me I need to sleep, but I can't. The invasion's tomorrow!"

"Aang-" Katara started.

"No, Katara! There's still so much I haven't learned! I don't need sleep. What I need is practice. Quick, hit me."

"I'm not going to hit you."

"You want me to do it?" Toph inquired, earning her a slight elbow-nudge from Sokka.

"Aang," Ursa spoke up, "listen. You've been training long and hard. You're smart, brave, and strong enough to do this."

"You really think so?"

"We all do." Sokka assured him. "You can do this. You're ready."

"You're the man, Twinkletoes." Toph concluded.

"Thanks, guys." Aang yawned as he lay down on the bed that his friends had made for him. "You know what? I think I am ready." Aang smiled as he slowly drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Roku was sitting in his room, meditating, when he heard the door ease open.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up."

"I can't do this anymore." Zuko said defeated. "You were right. You were right from the beginning. I can't stay here anymore. I need to find the Avatar and help him."

"Well, that's going to be tough, considering the fact that Azula shot him full of lightning."

"He's alive."

Roku turned to Zuko.

"What do you mean?"

"That Waterbender-"

"Katara."

"Right. When Katara and I were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se, she revealed that she had some sort of special water from some kind of Spirit Oasis. She said it had special properties. I think she used it to save the Avatar's life."

Roku pondered this.

"Fine. Tomorrow is the invasion. If I could, I would've sent a message to the rebel force to warn them that their plans have been uncovered. But since that was an impossibility, we may have to join in with the fighting. If Aang is still alive, he will definitely be there for the invasion. As will mom."

Zuko tensed when Roku said that.

"Mom is going to fight?"

"Yes. She did side with the Avatar, in case you've forgotten."

Zuko had not, in fact, forgotten. He remembered the look his mother had given him as she and Katara escaped with the seemingly-dead Avatar, it was a look of complete disappointment, one that Zuko had only ever had from Ozai in the past.

"Tomorrow then." Roku said. "We'd best get ready. When the invasion plan falls through, we may end up having to follow Aang, so we'll need one of those war-balloons. And you might want to work on how you're going to explain yourself to Aang and the others for betraying them in Ba Sing Se."

"Before we leave tomorrow, I have few things I want to say to dad."

Redbayly: Ugh, this took forever to write.

Aang: Well it all paid off, didn't it?

Redbayly: Yep. Once again, I would like to point out that I have decided to alter the events of the story so that it will include Taang/Zutara. Don't like, don't read. I reserve the right to ship whomever I wish.