Suki looked over the information that the Kyoshi Warriors gathered for her and frowned. Each member of Leaf worked at this point not only to pinpoint Ozai's whereabouts, but also to gather information on members who may sway towards his rule. Many of those whose status had been elevated during Ozai's rule certainly seemed more likely to favor him, or any other corrupt Fire Lord. They were watched as best as possible. Unfortunately, a few had slipped away. Even more disturbing were the few that managed to knock out a few Leaf members on their way out.

"Whatever else you can say about him, he's definitely not stupid," said Sokka, tapping his boomerang on the table. "That's what's so bad about this. If he were stupid, we could probably take him out easily, but he's not. He's hiding his tracks really well, and we can't pinpoint all of the people trying to help him."

"Suki!"

Both Sokka and Suki turned as several of the Kyoshi Warriors ran to her.

"Eh…?" Sokka said eloquently.

"You have to get out of here now!"

"What? What's happened?"

"Men on Komodo Rhinos! They're attacking the village!"

"But how did they get here?" asked Sokka, even as he grabbed his pack.

"They must have managed to bribe someone to get them here along with shipments. You have to leave now!"

Suki could now here the sound of objects breaking outside, and a lot of shouting.

"Through the back!" called Sokka. But Suki hesitated. She felt as if she were abandoning her Warriors again.

"Suki, go! You must protect the Avatar!"

She grit her teeth and ran after Sokka as they fled out of the back of the house.

"Should have figured," mumbled Sokka as they ran as fast as they could towards their own boat.

With a speed that made Suki proud, Sokka dodged an arrow and broke it in midair. They continued to run, but looked back to see a man aiming at them.

"Guess you can bribe anyone with money," mumbled Sokka.

"This is quite horrible!" exclaimed the King of the Earth Kingdom.

"And you've just figured this out now?" asked Toph. Haru began to snicker, but Mai pinched his arm. He glared at her, and she merely raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, well, I wasn't aware that someone would even bother to follow Ozai now that he's lost his bending," said the King, his continence filled with confusion.

"And that is why you don't really rule," mumbled Mai, just under her breath.

"I'm sorry, Lady Mai. I'm afraid I didn't hear what you said."

"I said that he's made us all look like fools."

Haru had to admit he was fairly impressed with Mai's quick thinking. Of course, he had to admit that she did have a point. Not to say that the King was a bad man, but he wasn't always aware of things going on around him.

"He has indeed! Why, I simply won't allow it!"

Silence greeted this statement, and though the king remained entirely oblivious, Haru and Mai noticed the slight shift in stance in a few of the Dai Li members.

"Bother," said Toph, and then the Dai Li attacked.

Zuko watched as Aang paced to one tree, turned on his heel, and then proceeded to another. He was starting to worry that soon enough, Aang would create a hole in the ground. Not that Zuko wasn't worried himself, but at least they had not received any terrible news as of yet.

They had received a message from his uncle, telling them about Azula's appearance. Zuko was not surprised at all. She almost became ruler. Now she had another chance. Still, Zuko was thankful that she had not attacked Iroh. Zuko knew he would not be able to control himself if he got hurt.

But the news seemed to bother Aang far more than the rest of them. His actions, however, seemed to merely increase the agitation.

"Aang! Will you cut it out!" Katara finally snapped.

Abruptly, Aang sat down. For a few seconds, he remained still, and then he began to bounce his feet.

Katara threw her hands in the air, then pointed at Zuko.

"You! Take him away before I strangle him!"

"Me? What am I supposed to do?"

Aang glared at them both. "I'm sitting right here."

"I don't care what you do! Just get him away from here! I want to sleep and he's making me go crazy!"

With a huff, Zuko stood and dragged Aang along with him to a nearby lake.

"Is it wrong of me to worry about everyone?" Aang asked, crossing his arms.

"No, Aang. I'm worried too. I think your constant movement just got on Katara's nerves."

Without any hesitation, Zuko stripped, carelessly dropping his clothes onto the ground before slipping into the water. He hissed as the cold liquid encased him. The thought of warming the water tempted him, but he decided against it. He knew for a fact that eventually he would get used to it.

What he did not expect was the sensation of something caressing his skin, and he tensed. Aang chuckled, and he looked up at the still-clothed Avatar.

"What are you doing?"

Aang shrugged. "I figured that I'd get some practice in."

Zuko shivered. The water touched him gently, like silk caressing his skin. He was only slightly worried that he would never be able to look at a waterbender the same way ever again, but most of his mind remained focused on the sensations.

"Turn around so you're facing me," Aang said.

Shakily, Zuko did as he was told, bracing himself. Aang made sure that Zuko was watching, then very slowly removed his clothes, watching Zuko's reaction.

Aang carefully lowered himself into the water between Zuko's arms, and their lips met as Aang's hand lowered into the water. Zuko would have called out had Aang's lips not covered his. Fingers pushed into his entrance, but Aang used his bending to push water into him as well. Zuko broke the kiss, leaning his head against Aang's shoulder, gasping for breath. Aang didn't give him much time to adjust.

"Do you remember when you saved me from Zhao?" Aang whispered into his ear.

Zuko took several seconds to gather his thoughts as the water added pressure inside of him, causing him to squirm with pleasure. "Y-yes?" he managed to stammer.

"You were amazing, wielding your swords and fighting without any bending. It's funny, looking back and seeing how obsessed you were with me. I guess it's not a surprise that we're together."

Zuko agreed. He just couldn't find the strength to form words.

Carefully, Aang maneuvered Zuko to sit in his lap. The water stretched him far more than he was used to, and Zuko moaned loudly as Aang entered him.

"We should have done this earlier," gasped Aang.

"Yes," hissed Zuko, moving faster. The water rippled with their movement, the soft sound of water lapping against the embankment overshadowed by their voices. And for just a short amount of time, they could forget their worries.

Azula sat still, hoping that perhaps the world would stop spinning. If she turned her head, whether quickly or slowly, the world spun, and she closed her eyes in an attempt to stop it. Unfortunately, the sensation still seemed to linger even with her eyes closed.

Some of her muscles twitched. She hadn't even done any strenuous exercises. If she shifted a bit, the twitching would stop, but then another muscle would start. She couldn't decide if the spinning or the twitching irritated her more.

Worst of all, her emotions kept fluctuating between frustration and sadness. To her, crying equated to weakness. Had she not disgustingly sobbed the day the Water Peasant defeated her? Yet now, she felt ready to break down at any moment. In truth, she began to wonder if her decision had been wise.

She stared at the letter her uncle had given to her, still unopened. Her father had questioned her upon returning, but for some strange reason, she kept the letter a secret. In fact, nobody knew about it.

Azula recognized the handwriting, and wondered what her mother could possibly say to her. Perhaps she'd write about how she always knew her daughter was a complete psychopath and didn't deserve to live? She seemed to recall receiving a few such letters during the first few weeks at Sanctuary. In fact, one of the workers had expressed such sentiments to her as well, and the next day, she discovered that he had been asked to leave. The healers believed that Sanctuary should remain a place of healing for all individuals, no matter their background. Azula thought that they needed a bit of their own treatment.

She reached for the letter and had to pause a second so her head would stop spinning, then carefully opened it. No emotion crossed her face as she read what her mother seemed to have wanted to say. Some of the words didn't surprise her, but the majority did.

Finally, she folded it, and slipped it into an inner pocket of her vest, thinking about the past.

Aang tried to be as happy as Hahn was as the fortress of the Southern Water Tribe grew closer. For some reason, he kept glancing upwards, expecting a cloud to look like a giant skull, or some other bad sign in Aunt Wu's books. However, the clouds looked normal, and so did everything else.

"It's too easy," he mumbled, not for the first time in the last few hours. They received brief messages from the other groups, stating that they had been attacked, and remained vigilant for future attacks. So far, they heard nothing else.

Even as they landed, the feeling of unease seemed only to intensify.

"Be on guard," he said.

"Surely someone would have noticed if one of Ozai's men had infiltrated?" said Hahn, a slight tinge of arrogance appeared to seep into his words.

Everything appeared normal, Aang admitted as they walked through the crowd. And then Aang stopped.

The others continued to walk, but Zuko turned after a few steps, frowning at Aang's sudden pause. It took the others several seconds longer. Aang ignored them, focusing on a lone figure, back towards them and hood covering his head.

"Aang…?" Katara began, but stopped as the figure turned.

"It's good to see you," the hooded figure said. "I suppose you had a pleasant trip?"

Katara and Hahn looked stunned, and Zuko slipped into a fighting stance. Carefully, the hood was lowered to reveal the face of the Dark Avatar.

Aang's heart sped up. It had been one thing to talk to the dark Avatar in his dreams, but completely another to see him here. His dark, pupil-less eyes stared at Aang, a mocking smirk stretched across his face. Were Aang's arrows were blue, the Dark Avatar's were, interestingly enough, white. Otherwise, the two could have been twins.

"What do you want?" said Aang, as people began to notice the oddity of two Avatars, and silence stretched across the town.

"Didn't I tell you that you understand nothing?"

"Yes, but you never did explain that, either."

"Of course not. What would be the point of letting you have the easy way out? Oh no. You'll fight for it."

With a blast that took everyone by surprise, the people nearest to the Avatars were blown to the side, falling into comrades and starting many. Zuko flipped midair so that he landed on his feet. Hahn caught Katara as they both skidded on the ground.

"Manipulating the elements is so boring," the dark Avatar said as Fire Nation traitors seemed to suddenly appear amongst the townsfolk. Aang realized they had hid their identities by wearing similar clothes. "When are you going to learn something new?"

"What the hell are you blabbing about?" Aang spat, feeling his temper rise. The air suddenly felt far warmer than before.

Aang, however, did not receive a verbal reply. The Dark Avatar shifted into a fighting stance, the smirk not leaving his face. Behind him, numerous figures stepped forward. Amongst them were two he hoped never to see again in such circumstances.

"Hello, Zuzu. Happy to see me?" asked Azula.

Aang ignored Azula for now, focusing on the two people that worried him the most. The problem was he wasn't certain if he should be more worried about Ozai, or the dark Avatar.

Next part is the final section of Maelstrom, but it won't be the last, for sure! Thanks to everyone for reading so far! I hope you stay along for the ride!