Well Hello again, fellow FanFictioners :) I have to say, it has been far, far, FAR too long since I last uploaded a story, specfically this one. To be honest, I never thought I would leave this story so abruptly, since I wanted so hard to keep it going and to even write a sequel for it. But being the masochist that I am, I constantly sought out other fics of the same genre to see what I could do better, and all I found were hateful words about Orginal Characters and twisted story plots. I didn't know it then but I was slowly sinking into a pit. I then followed in by reading my early chapters and saw that they were completely horrible (I doubt if any of you think other wise, but it was certainly that way for me). Added to that, I saw myself trying to constantly compete with myself with each and every new chapter. I would try and make them longer and longer, until really, I couldn't keep up with my own writing. I set my standards far too high and when I looked around, it all came crashing down. That's the best way I can describe my leave of this FanFiction.

I do understand that there are people who really did follow this and might have honestly enjoyed it. And I am extremely happy to have been able to brought some intrest to the time of those people :) This Chapter, and the extras that are to follow, will be dedicated to all of you who believed in this story, when I didn't.

I thought I would be one of those who would make it past, but sadly I am not, this story will be discontinued shortly (please don't hate me) but not without a couple more chapters and then a wrap up to tell you of my ideas to finish the story, and some of my ideas for the sequel. If you weren't able to read it the right way, I believe you should all have the chance to know what was supposed to happen :)

My writing style has definitely changed over the past couple of years, but these were put together from peices dug up from my ancient computers's files and then put together, so you will still have my old voice. This has none of my knew style of writing in it, so to me it will still be a little odd and honestly juvenile and childish (yes I know I am hard on myself, but I know this is the truth).

So as I mentioned before, this is for all of you who have waited and hoped and maybe even given up on this story and Katara's answer to Aang's Date question. Please, read and enjoy all you like, or ignore. I know it is what this story and its abandonment deserve, but for those of you who still wish to keep reading or are curious about this old fic's sudden reappeance, please read on and review, if you like :)

Thank you all, and have a good evening :)

Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA

Chapter 21

Katara stood frozen, staring at him, unable to comprehend what he had just asked her. Or perhaps it was the fact that Aang had asked her what she had wanted to hear for so long, okay so it wasn't exactly what she wanted to hear, but it was pretty darn close and good enough to cause near brain damage.

Finally her startled brain managed to ask itself a question. Did he just ask me out?

Her inner self jumped in the air, clasping her hands. YES, HE DID! Now say yes, before it's too late! She scolded the moment she came down.

Aang held Katara's eyes in his own as he watched her ponder over her own thoughts. Please, say yes, please! He silently begged, somehow wishing his plea could be read in his eyes.

Finally, Katara smiled and Aang relaxed, all fear of rejection swept away by one beautifully simple gesture.

"Sure, Aang, I-I'd love too!" Katara mentally kicked herself for stuttering like an idiot in her response. Then, she nodded quickly as she quietly tucked a stray hair behind her ear, drawing as much attention as she could away from the blush that was forming on her cheeks. Keeping her eyes locked with Aang's, she smiled again.

All tension was suddenly washed away when Aang returned her smile. Katara inwardly sighed, I can't believe it, Aang does really like me…

Silver and sapphire remained unmoving. Both relished every moment of being one, and prayed that nothing would break them apart…

SMASH! THUD! CRASH! "Idiots! Leave me alone!"

"Sokka be quiet!"

"Yeah! Shut up!"

"Why would I be quiet!"

"Just… keep quiet okay!"

At the sudden sounds, the couple jerked back shaking their heads as they came out of their somewhat spell. Katara looked away, the light blush her mocha coloured cheeks darkening at the realization of her trance.

A shy colour also claimed Aang's cheeks as he pulled back his arms and rubbed the back neck. "So, is sundown okay with you?" Aang asked.

Katara looked back at him and smiled. "Sundown's great."

Once again the voices interrupted them. "Come on, Sokka!" Toph's voice rang down the halls.

Airis's followed soon after "Yeah, Sokka, you have to come!"

The door burst open and Sokka walked into the kitchen, his shoulders hunched over and his mouth set in an annoyed pout. Aang raised a curious eyebrow as he watched the teenager cross his arms; almost growling at the other girls.

Airis and Toph followed in quickly after him, "It'll be fun" They taunted in sing-song voices that were completely betrayed by the twin maniacal smirks their faces wore.

Sokka turned around and stomped his foot angrily, though neither of the girls flinched. "How can watching a bunch of guys shoot fire at each other be any fun! It's too dangerous!"

Toph smirked, finding a way to trap him in his own game. "You seemed to like the earthbending tournament in Gaoling, and you nearly got yourself killed sitting up so close and I do happen remember that you were the one screaming the loudest. And I think guys shooting flames and guys chucking rocks aren't so far apart. " the ex-tournament fighter pointed out, weighing both facts in her hands.

"That was in the Earth Kingdom! This is in the Fire Nation! If any of you guys remember, the Fire Nation is bad! Evil! Not safe!" Sokka attempted to remind the two benders by failing his arms in the air for dramatic Sokka effect.

Airis smiled, ignoring his protest. "Firebending tournaments are the exact same thing as earthbending tournaments except that there are way more often and it's with firebending. Besides that, it's the exact same thing" the other ex-tournament fighter explained, leaving out the parts about the higher ranks of the tournament being one of the most violent sports she had ever been apart of, but he didn't need to know that…yet.

Sokka smacked his forehead and gritted his teeth. "The key-word there is 'firebending!'" The warrior argued between his teeth, keeping his hand glued to his face

Airis and Toph smirked at each other. "If you go, you'll also be able to study there firebending moves up close…" Airis said.

"Where you would a real chance to learn the weaknesses of firebending…" Toph continued.

"Giving you an upper hand with the invasion strategies" They finished together, nodding at the Water Tribe boy and smirking comfortably at themselves. That was almost sure to get him to come.

Sokka split his fingers apart, giving his eye a small peephole to see the girls. Seeing there confident faces, he sighed; his hand slowly slid off his face. "You guys aren't going to give up until I say yes, aren't you?" He groaned.

Toph and Airis smiled at each and nodded smugly back at Sokka.

"Fine, I'll go, but only to study; strictly for invasion tactics. That's it." He gave in, crossing his arms defiantly, in a sad attempt to protect to save the remaining particles of his dignity.

Toph walked over and punched him in the arm. "Of course, anything you say" she replied, "now come on let's go. It's starting soon!" The blind earthbender said as she grabbed his arm.

"How do you know?" Sokka asked as he pressed his feet into the floor, stopping Toph.

The earthbender smirked "It's called a poster, Snoozles! They're all over the city if you haven't noticed."

"But you're blind." Sokka pointed out, sceptically, for the first time not falling for her blind tricks.

"That doesn't mean Crazy is." she answered letting go of his arm and crossing her arms. "Speaking of Crazy…" Toph slowly turned around and faced the older airbender's vibrations "C'mon! I want to see what a firebending tournament is like. Maybe I could even beat those idiots at there own game." Toph smirked, punching her fist in the palm of her hand as she thought of the prospects of a good fight.

"I'm coming!" Airis replied as she quickly grabbed a large cloak off the wall and turned over to Aang and Katara, who had completely been lost in the argument and nearly forgotten about "Alright so see you guys later! I'll make sure Sokka doesn't kill anybody, so don't worry, Katara" she said running out the door, not giving either of them a chance to reply.

"Katara and Aang aren't coming?" Sokka asked poking his head through the door.

Airis's and Toph's heads followed suit, both rolling their eyes "Katara hates tournaments!" Toph stated before grabbing one of his sleeves

"And Aang needs a break to rest." Airis finished, grabbing Sokka's other sleeve.

"But-" his sentence was cut off when the two girls finally pulled him out the door.

An awkward silence filled the normally bustling air. Katara and Aang stood there; slowly nodding awkwardly at the scene that had already passed before them.

"Okay, I'm not exactly sure what happened but…" Aang said slowly turning to Katara. "Since the others just left, do you want to go now?" He asked.

Katara shrugged, a simple attempt of finding casualty with her bubbling mind. "Why don't we get cleaned up first and meet back here."

"Okay, so we'll meet back here in half an hour…?" Aang offered, keeping his cool as well, but the over exited tone in his voice was clearly audible.

Katara smiled. "Yeah," She said walking toward the hallway. "So, I'll see you later, then?"

Aang blushed a bit, but smiled regardless and nodded.

Katara lowered her eyes as the light blush, that mirrored Aang's own, returned across her face. Katara soon disappeared down the hallway.

Aang listened after her as long as he could. Once he heard the faint sound of her door closing Aang punched the air "Yes! Oh thank you, thank you! Thank you so much whoever is in charge of this love stuff" He prayed quickly to the Spirits, he really didn't want to pause and reflect on which exact Spirit it was that watched over love.

Running down the halls and he skidded into his room. Aang ran as fast as he could, hoping that this would be the quickest half hour of his life. He couldn't wait for the evening to begin.

"I still can't believe I let you talk me into doing this" Sokka sulked as their group of three made their way down some of the secluded streets of the Fire Nation capital. The streets beginning to darken at the last rays of the sun, some of the lamps bordering the streets had already been lit for the night and most of the houses they had passed were boarded and locked shut in preparations for this night's…festivities.

Airis smiled at the warrior. "It'll be fun. I think you might actually really enjoy this, Sokka." She said as she draped the cloak over her shoulders leaving the hood for later.

"What's with the cloak?" Toph asked not moving her sightless eyes away from the ground. She couldn't see the material, but she had sensed its vibrations as it skimmed across the ground when Airis had thrown it on.

"Yeah, about that, there are some people there who don't like me very much and would challenge me to a fight after the tournament. Right now, I just feel like kicking back and watching other people fight instead." Airis explained as she laughed nervously and rubbed her hand against the back of her neck.

"Understandable," Sokka smirked under his breathe.

"Thank you, Sokka" Airis replied, rolling her eyes, along with her head, towards the swordsman.

Sokka crossed his arms and smiled at her gesture; knowing that the girl was ready for a fight to see who could get under the other's skin the fastest. "No problem." He answered back readily.

Unfortunately their fight was not to be tonight. Toph clenched her teeth at their bickering. She was blind, but she certainly wasn't deaf. Though it was at these times she was the latter. "Would you two whiny babies stop it? We're almost there. The arena is right down this street" Toph said stepping in between Sokka and Airis and pointing down a street where a crowd of restless men had gathered and continued to loiter next to a rather large stadium.

Toph threw her arms in the air. "Alright! Let's go watch a bunch of ugly idiots kick each others butts!" she yelled before running toward the crowd.

Airis laughed before throwing the large hood over her head and running to catch up with Toph. Sokka sighed and slowly began to make his way to the girls. Airis ran back to the Water Tribe boy and grabbing his arm as she laughed. "Let's go! You and I both know you want to," Airis taunted.

Sokka's shoulders straightened to put up an argument but sagged when he realized it was useless. Giving in, Sokka mumbled under his breath "Stupid powers" as they moved toward the large crowd of people. The sounds of bets being made and arguments already broiling were almost deafening as Sokka and Airis entered the swarm of men to find where Toph had gone.

Aang pulled at the collar of his shirt as he waited for Katara in the kitchen. Beads of sweat had already begun to form on his forehead. What if he screwed up? Badly. Katara might never want to be near him again. Aang bit his lips staring at the unmoving door. Remembering his training Aang let out a deep breath. He needed to stay positive, relax and have fun tonight. Then the rest would just come… right?

It was just a little date. A festival wasn't major; maybe a little dancing, maybe look some of the shows…no big deal. Aang's eyes darted across the room, as if trying to seek some invisible comfort.

Suddenly, Aang heard the door creak open slowly. His head immediately jerked in that direction. Katara stood there, dressed in her normal disguise, but her hair let down fully except for the top-knot at the crown of her head, some hair stands lovingly placed behind her ears. Her beautiful blue eyes shone like polished sapphires. Aang took in every detail of her like a drug.

Shaking his thoughts out of his head, Aang smiled and walked up to Katara and picked up her hand. "You look beautiful, Katara" He said as he gazed into her face.

Katara smiled, turning her head away shyly, yet still keeping her eyes locked with Aang. "Thanks, you don't look to bad yourself," she replied as an unnoticed soft blush slowly creeped in on her cheeks.

"Well, then let's go to the festival then" Aang said cheerfully, holding his arm out to Katara, trying to mask his nervousness.

Katara giggled as she entwined her arm with his. Nodding and laughing at each other they left the building, wondering what the night would bring. She pushed all the negativities to the back of her mind. She was finally going on a date with Aang, and she was going to enjoy every minute of it. She would make sure of that.

"Hey guys, I found some seats!" Toph called out to her two other companions as she sat down on the stone. Sokka and Airis were searching the higher part of the stadium in search for seats. The place was massive, almost as big as the Earth Kingdom stadium Toph used to fight in. She had taken notice that the fighting platform was not the square shape the Earth Kingdom used but more of a rectangular shape as if each fighter had one place to fight and protect.

So far Toph had caught wind of some of the rules from the betting men situated at all corners, outside the arena. The rules were pretty basic. Just like the ones back in Gaoling. All the fighters had to do was to knock the other guy down and pin him there. For the more advanced competitors, though, they had to burn or even kill their opponent once they had them knocked down, permanently taking away their honour as a fighter if they were not granted the mercy of death. These Fire Nation guys took this honour business way too seriously Toph had decided.

Toph shrugged, hell, this could turn out to be a pretty good night, even if she was stuck with Crazy and Snoozles. It had been awhile since she had seen, not been in, a good fight and she couldn't wait to see this style of fighting, even though she wouldn't be able to see all of it.

Eventually she felt Sokka's vibrations running down the stairway, straight for her.

"Finally some seats!" He said catching his breath. "And they're pretty good, too, nice job, Toph," He remarked, sitting down next to the earthbender.

"And this is coming from the person who had to be dragged here?" Toph questioned raising an eyebrow.

"No comment" Sokka scoffed as he crossing his arms and glaring toward the, so far, unused fighting platform, his hard searched, lighter attitude disappearing immediately after her question. Toph chuckled loudly at her work; it was almost way too easy to annoy the boy.

Airis came skimming down the stone stairs, her feet barely touching the hard surface and her cloak faithfully covering her features. She found the other two with ease and sat down next to the brooding warrior.

The airbender quickly placed her elbows on her knees and her hooded face in the palms of her hands mocking Sokka's position. "Yeah, the thing about these things is that they take forever to start." Airis said her impatient tone almost too obvious. Sokka grunted in response, not removing his face from his hands.

As the waiting continued, Sokka's gaze gradually moved up to the roof of the building in boredom, studying the beams and structure of the place. That's what he had come to do, right? He wasn't here to watch a bunch of Fire Nation guys fight in the name of fun or honour. He was here to study them and find out there weaknesses.

Suddenly, without warning, the lights of the stadium were dimmed away and the constant humming chatter of the crowd froze solid. Sokka's eyes jerked to the center stage where a firebender, the host for the night, had stepped out smirking widely, a single beam of light shone over his body. His deep, loud voice boomed through the stadium.

"Let the games begin!" He declared sending two large flames of fire to each side of the platform, lighting the two cauldrons that bordered the side of platform. Giving the two spaces that were obviously meant for the fights more light and viewing to the crowd

The crowd roared as two male firebenders appeared from either side of the stadium, and crouched down, backs facing each other. The roar grew louder and the two stood up and turned to face each other. The man who had come out first looked at the two scanning their faces before sending a blast of fire into the air, the starting flame of the fight. The host jumped off of the platform the moment he had let the flame loose, as it had sent both men into a wild frenzy of flames against each other.

As the two men clashed and as the crowd cheered and roared for their favoured fighter, Sokka felt tight feeling in his stomach, something like a little bug crawling up inside his chest. The crawling bug feeling pushed the young man to let go of his dignity and cheer as loud as he could with the rest of the crowd.

Sweat began forming on the warrior's forehead as he fought the urge. Sokka bit his lip, trying to choose between the bug feeling and the girls being right. Aww, screw it! Sokka cursed, as he suddenly found himself jumping to his feet and yelling with the crowd; cheering for the one with the more pronounced muscles and the better build.

No point in Toph and Airis having all the fun tonight. He thought as he cheered louder, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. In the corners of his eyes Sokka could see Airis and Toph smirking at him as if telling him he was so busted. He pushed it aside for now and punched the air with his fist as his fighter sent a blast of fire to the other, knocking him down for good.

The sun had completely set by the time Katara and Aang reached the borders of the festival. The groups of people they were passing by were growing larger and larger as the approached the heart of the festival. Katara had no idea what to expect at this particular festival. She had only been to one actual Fire Festival and that had been for about fifteen minutes before Aang had blown his cover with the magician thing. Her heart began to beat faster as the memories if that night ran vivid in her mind.

Katara was brought out of her worries as she felt Aang's hand tightened around her own. She looked towards her date and smiled, tightened her grip around his hand in response. Aang paused for a moment and pointed to a vender that was selling hand carved masks. "We should get some of those if we want to blend in here."

Katara nodded everyone they had past so far had or was purchasing one of the traditional masks. Not wearing them would attract them more attention then her blue eyes.

Katara picked out a white mask with red triangles coming out of the edges. The vender had told her it was of a healing river spirit, native to the Fire Nation. Aang grabbed a mask shaped in the face of a cat-owl, painted with earthy colours.

The two quickly put on their masks. As they giggled at each other's new 'faces' a clear, low music filled the air. The pair looked over a large crowd forming at a street corner.

"There's such a big crowd," Aang remarked, "It must be good" He said as he and Katara moved towards the music.

Katara gulped. She had heard that line before, right before all the soldiers of a village started to chase them. But, they had disguises now and they were in the heart of the Fire Nation, there was no way anyone would recognize them. Aang even had all of his tattoos covered. She shouldn't have to worry about those things, besides she was on a date, she should be having fun, not worrying over being caught by the Fire Nation.

Katara was tugged out of her thoughts as she and Aang reached the center of the crowd. An older man was playing a tsungi horn as a boy, about ten, firebended around him, moving his ever growing flames to the rhythm of the music.

Katara stared in awe as the man paced up the music and the boy sharpened up his movements, expertly keeping the flames away from his audience. At a leap in the music the boy jumped in mid air spinning his body parallel to the ground; the flames surrounding him like a deadly cocoon landing on both feet and sent fire blasts into the night sky.

Finally the old man ended the music and the boy spun on one foot sending the flames in a large sphere around him. When the flames disappeared, the boy fell to his knees, breathing heavily, spreading out his arms for applause.

Katara found herself cheering loudly with the crowd as the boy caught his breath and the old man walked over to him placing a hand on his shoulder and congratulating him on the dance, before moving on to another street corner.

Katara glanced down at Aang who was clapping his hands and whistling encouragingly at the boy. Katara frowned as she remembered that Aang was also a firebender; the peaceful, loving boy she had always known… was he already capable of doing such beautiful and dangerous things? He was the Avatar, but watching him right now, he seemed like a normal kid. Katara sighed. That was one thing she loved about the airbender; he never let his Avatar powers go to his head, well most of the time anyway.

The crowd soon dissolved, moving to other attractions and Katara and Aang returned to there browsing. Seeing through the eye sockets of the mask would take some getting used to, but they were wide enough for Katara to see most of what was in front of her.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Aang said turning around to face her, pointing to a small restaurant at the end of the street.

Katara bit her lip under the cover of the mask, trying to suffocate the giggles that were begging to be set free. It was hard to take him entirely seriously as he wore the cat-owl mask. She nodded regardless, her stomach had begun to complain, but thankfully Aang had yet to notice.

Making there way down the street to the restaurant, Katara suddenly felt a cold chill run down her spine. Stealing a quick glance over her shoulder she could have sworn someone was watching them.

A man turned around in the center of the platform, both fists raised in the air. He was grinning widely and shaking his fists. Sokka sat up in his seat and cheered.

"YES!" He shouted over the constant racket of the crowd, mainly made up of the deep voices of grown men. Sokka turned to Airis, still mostly hidden by the large, dark cloak. "I told you!" He yelled in her face "I knew he would win! You owe me five silver pieces!" Sokka stated as he held out his palm.

Airis smirked in the man-made shadows of her hood, pushing back his hand. "Hold your ostrich-horses! He still needs to beat five more guys without getting burned. He is not going to win! Just look at his form, it's so uncontrolled!" She pointed out gesturing toward the arena.

Sokka smiled and crossed his arms "Of course that's what you're going say" he said smugly. "You're just scared that you're going to lose"

Airis smiled and crossed her arms behind her head, leaning back on the stone seat. "Just wait and see, tough guy, it's all about form."

Toph poked Sokka's arm, joining the conversation. "I'm with Crazy on this one. She's right, I can feel his form and it's just a matter of time before his strategy cracks."

Sokka just scoffed. "It is going to feel so good to beat both of you at the same time" He said sitting down and crossing his arms once again.

"Keep thinking that" Toph and Airis said simultaneously.

"BRING IN THE NEXT FIGHTER!" The host yelled, a large man moved from the challenger doorway and joined the host and Sokka's fighter, whose name, they had learned, was Dragon Thunder. They had all expected some sort of cheap, crappy, clichéd name like that. Toph could remember one of the earthbenders she had fought actually had the name Jungle Rot. Who the hell even wanted that name? Toph huffed at her bangs as she brought herself back to the fight.

Dragon Thunder and his new opponent faced each other, nearly growling in each others faces, before walking off in opposite direction and kneeling low at each ends of the platform, facing, each, a ceremonial cauldron of fire.

Sokka jumped to his feet along with the rest of the crowd "KICK HIM OUT OF THE FIRE NATION!" He called out to the man. Remarkably, his voice was heard over the rest of the crowd.

Toph and Airis just laughed as they watched Sokka discover one of his new favourite past times.

Toph leaned over to Airis and cupped her hand between her mouth and Airis's ear. "And he said he didn't want to come," she said over the sounds of the raging flames and Sokka's constant cheers. Both of them simultaneously agreed. "Busted"

Katara uneasily picked at her noodles. Something was wrong, but she couldn't pin point it. She looked over her shoulders to the other normal looking customers chatting quietly or eating their food. Was someone watching them? She warily eyed her mask that was lying next to her on the table. Now that they had taken their mask off to eat, they would be more easily recognized. Katara shook her head. No, what would anyone want with them? The entire Fire Nation thought Aang was dead.

"Is something wrong, K- uh Xia?" Aang asked putting down his chop-sticks, seeing the obvious worry on her face.

"No, nothing wrong… it's just…" Katara looked over her shoulder before she continued "I kinda have this feeling that we're being watched."

Aang lifted his eyebrow "Why would anyone want to spy on us?"

"You're right, I worrying for no reason. Just forget I said anything." She said quickly before going back to her noodles.

Aang shook his head and reached out to touch her hand. "Maybe it's just because we're in such a big place. We're just not used to being near to so many people this long. We've done nothing but travel for almost six months." He comforted.

Katara smiled. "Yeah, that's probably it. Thanks, A- Kuzon" Aang smiled and grasped her hand in his own as they gazed into each others eyes for a moment. He really did care about her. Katara sighed. He had picked her, he loved her, and out of all of the girls he could have chosen, he picked her.

"Crap! We're going to be late for the dance!" A young man said from the table behind them, his chair scrapping annoyingly across the floor boards.

"I don't see what is so important about a stupid dance; most of us already have girlfriends!" His friend complained dropping a few copper pieces on the table.

"Fine, I'll go by myself and I'll have all the hot ones to myself!" The young man said, turning his back on his friend and heading towards the door.

The other sighed "Alright, I'll go! Not as if Ussuri will care if I dance with some other girl. Besides the only way you'll get girls is if you stop being such an asshole" He said walking up to his friend and shaking his finger at him.

The young man smirked. "I can't help it. I'm naturally an asshole, but all the girls dig that kinda crap. You on the other hand are a gutless pervert. Not really that attractive." He said haughtily, walking out the door.

"Oh, come on! I swear I never saw those sketches in my life! It was my mom's new boyfriend, he planted them there!" He pleaded after his friend, about the private joke.

Katara and Aang snickered at the squabble they had eavesdropped on, after the two had left the building.

Straightening up, Aang cleared his throat and tightened his grip on Katara's hand. "So, do want to go to the dance?" He asked hoping to the Spirits that she would say yes. Nothing would make the night more complete.

Katara smiled. "Alright then, let's go to the dance." she said holding out her hand.

Aang laughed. Picking up her hand, he placed a brief kiss on her knuckles, while dropping some money on the table. Katara giggled as she sat up, her eyes never leaving his until she had to put her festival mask back on. Aang smiled and easily slid on his own mask.

Katara held some sort of comfort in knowing that there faces were covered. The small wooden objects made her feel as though nobody would recognize them and helped lessen the ball of worry that had begun to form in her stomach. But something still just didn't feel right…

Leaving the restaurant Katara looked once more, trying to recognize any of the faces in the room. Not one of them clicked into her memory. Biting her lip, Katara tried to shake off the nagging feeling and enjoy the night. Everything is fine. She thought trying to comfort herself. Nobody's spying on us. Get a hold of yourself Katara! You're on a friggin' date! With Aang! For Spirit's sake stop worrying!

But, the ball of worry had even worked its way around her inner self. Don't you just hate it when you just know those gut feeling's are oh so right? She thought as she shoved the thoughts back into the deepest parts of her subconscious.

Sokka jumped to his feet again, shoving his fists into first Airis' face, then Toph's. "You guys are so going down!" He yelled as he pointed to the stage, where Dragon Thunder stood, his fists were thrown into the air and he was yelling at the top of his deep voice. A smaller man lay in a ball at his feet, his right arm and chest were severally burn and a healer was already tending to him.

"Over-kill" Airis remarked, her voice dull and emotionless as she gazed on at the wounded firebender, ignoring the constant yells of the crowd, the fighter and Sokka.

"Crazy's right, he didn't have to burn that guy so bad, I can feel him tensing from the pain all the way back here" Toph agreed, crossing her arms.

Sokka clutched his head in his hands. "ARGH!" He groaned in frustration. Calming himself he looked toward Airis smiling. "You guys are just saying that because you know NOW he's going to win." He smirked. "He only has to beat three more guys and its official. You guys just didn't see it in the beginning and now you're taking out on me"

Airis ignored his last sentence. "Three highly skilled firebenders who have been doing this for years and have mastered their form and style" Airis rolled her eyes "Yep, if he keeps this up he'll win for sure!" Playful sarcasm hung onto every word.

Toph smiled suddenly. "Hey, old ladies, shut it for a minute, my final bet is on the next person" she said pointing to the arena entrance. Toph had been felling the vibrations of each of the contestants who had come so far and judging from the balance of her natural stance, and her breathing, Toph knew to place her bet on this one "She's going to win for sure." She said planting her bet securely in the ground.

"SHE! But you haven't even seen them yet!" Sokka argued, turning toward the earthbender. "How are you supposed to know how good they are?"

Toph hauled up her bare feet. Shoving it in Sokka's face, she wiggled her toes. "It's called earthbending, moron! And my bet's on the next fighter, who's waiting right outside that door, ready to fight your idiotbender!"

"We'll just see about that!" Sokka said plopping down between Airis and Toph. "BEAT THE NEXT GUY TO A PULP!" Sokka yelled to Dragon Thunder as they waited for the next fighter.

"She's so going to kick your guy's ass." Toph said under her breath. "GO NEW PERSON!" she yelled, joining in on the competitive spirit.

Airis smiled. "These are the types of fights that some of the best" she said to one in particular about the tension forming between Sokka and Toph over their preferred fighters. "When it's not really the fighter's doing the fighting" She chuckled, as the host moved to center stage and the burned fighter was taken out of the ring.

The host smirked as he walked in a circle, looking at the whole crowd. "This is what you've all been waiting for: THE FINAL THREE BATTLES!" He yelled to the audience who roared in agreement.

Satisfied with the response, the host turned toward the closed door, Dragon Thunder standing behind him grinning confidently, waiting for his next opponent.

He held out his hand dramatically to the door and the lights, controlled by firebenders, dimmed in the stadium. In a low voice he chuckled deeply. "Bring out…

The crowd became deathly quiet as they stood at the edge of their seats, waiting for the suspending announcement of the next fighter.

"…Red Death"

The eyes of three people in the crowd widened.

The lively Fire Nation music filled the air as the crowds of people danced around the streets. Aang and Katara stood side by side awing at the magnitude of the festival. The main dance was a block up the road. A large stage was set in the center and for now a band of five was playing their music.

Countless masked faces danced their way past the couple, swinging out their limbs and jumping to the rhythm of the beat. Some smaller children ran through the swamp of legs, giggling to their hearts content, attempting to catch one another, weaving through the fast paced music as fast as they could, before the song stopped and they were caught.

Smiling, Aang looked over to Katara and held out his arm "Do you want to dance?" He asked with a playful formality, his comfortable confidence finally having a lasting effect on his voice.

Katara blushed from behind her mask, taking one last glance at the people lightning up the streets with their constant movement. "Umm, okay…" She finally answered, as she took his arm. Katara smiled, she could have sworn she saw his eyes smiling as he led them out into the streets. The people dancing happily made room for the two new comers.

Katara looked around nervously as the people around her became a reddish blur, the only thing she could focus one was Aang. Biting her lip under the cover of her mask she leaned over to Aang, placing her mouth next to his ear.

"Aang, the thing is I… I don't know how to dance." She admitted, whispering loudly over the music and laughing.

Aang pushed her back and smiled. "That's okay, I'll show you" He said holding both her hands in his. Katara nodded as he took the lead. They started off slowly moving from side to side despite the fast paced song that was playing. Katara gripped onto his hand and waist as he gently moved them around. Soon she began to feel comfortable in the dance. Bravely, she lifting her head up from Aang, and looked around at the other dancers.

Katara was immediately intimidated by the more experienced couples dancing around and around them. Katara stumbled and ended up tripping over her own feet, falling into Aang's arms.

Katara grasped onto his arms as she looked up at him and blushed at her mistake. Aang smiled as he brought her back to her feet. Aang held her close to him, and whispered in her. "Don't worry about them." He pulled back to look into her eyes. "It's just us right now"

Katara's breath caught in her throat as the sincerity of his voice made its full effect. All she could do was nod as the pulled closer together and Aang began to lead again; following the same pattern of their old dance.

Something stirred inside Katara, telling her this dance was just too safe and she stepped away from him keeping her hands on his narrow waist and in his hands. "Why don't we try something else?" she offered.

Aang smiled at her enthusiasm. He took a step back also, holding both her hands in his he made a large circle in-between them. He side-stepped starting a larger circle, the next step he brought them back together. Once he was sure Katara got into the steps he quickened them up. Looking over at Katara, who was smiling ear to ear and laughing, Aang smiled. Perfect he sighed as he enjoyed every moment of their dancing.

Katara easily connected the rhythm of their dance to the rhythm of the music. Suddenly Aang let go of one of her hands and she left their circle spinning and laughing. With a quick sidestep he rejoined her, catching her by the waist before she was lost in the crowd around them.

Suddenly, Katara's back collided with someone and her imbalance at the time caused the sudden push to press herself against Aang, his arms wrapped around her waist and hers draped around his neck. Katara felt the heat rush to her cheeks as she and Aang met each others eyes, and she was thankful the mask was there to hide her heavy blush.

The world around them became a large blur, of lights and people, as the two gazed into each others' eyes. Something inside Katara, something she had never known existed, felt complete. As if it had remained empty for so long it had almost been forgotten, but now simply standing with him made it flourish once more. And for some reason she was sure he felt the same way.

An explosion of applauds tore the couple back from their world. Katara jerked her head towards the crowd, her lips curled up in a menacing growl at the people for taking that moment away from her. Not that it did her any good, she soon realized she had the mask on again, and turned in the direction the crowd was facing. Noticing immediately that during her dancing with Aang they had moved up closer to the stage.

Aang, equally shaken, turned his head in all direction trying to comprehend what was happening. Finally, a voice sounded from the stage in the center of the square. Realizing Katara was already waiting patiently for the man to begin, Aang cleared his throat trying to rid his mind of all the thoughts that had past through his head during their moment. Not all of them particularly ones he would share at this second.

The man on the stage clapped his hands together to gather the already full attention of the crowd. Smiling kindly the man turned to his side. "Now, I present to you Huo-She; the greatest magician in the Fire Nation!" He announced proudly before backing off the stage.

Aang cocked his head and looked over at Katara. "Magician?" He wondered out loud.

Katara shrugged and looked over at the stage again, a young man dressed in a white and red robe with gold trimming and gloves, took center stage. "Ladies and Gentleman, I am Huo-She and I have the honour of entertaining you tonight" His deep voice portrayed louder so all could hear. Smiling he created a small ball of fire next to his hip before pushing it out in front of him to let it grow and burst into a bunch of fire-flies.

The crowd awed at his performance and some of the children who were raised up on their parents shoulder reached out to capture a firefly. Katara's gulped and her eyes widened. "Aang, do you recognize this guy?" She asked nudging him with her elbow.

He nodded. "He's the same magician we ran into in the colonies" Aang said warily, uneasily shifting his mask.

Katara juggled her options carefully in her mind. "Aang, maybe we should go. You know, in case this guy recognizes us" She said going with the choice she felt best with.

Aang touched her hand comfortingly. "No, I don't think we have to. We have our faces covered and we're wearing different masks. And we're in such a big crowd, I doubt he'll even glimpse at us." He reassured.

Katara smiled looking back over to the stage. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We should enjoy ourselves." she said before she was cut off as he sent some small sparks of lightning in the air, causing little claps of thunder.

Over the next fifteen minutes Aang and Katara allowed themselves to be amused with the magician's tricks. Awing and clapping at his unique tactics. So far the night had been great, nobody had recognized the two as the Avatar and his waterbending master, on a date, or even as their aliases, Kuzon and Xia.

The magician walked up to the middle of the stage and looked over his audience, wiping the sweat that had formed from his last trick. "For may last trick…" He began

The audience complained at the loss of their entertainer but Huo-She just smiled and held up his hands to hold back the crowd. "For my last trick…" He repeated "I will need a volunteer. A girl over the age of twelve" He announced scanning the crowd for the perfect girl, his gaze landing on Katara.

Katara flinched. I knew this was going to happen. She scolded herself.

Katara turned away slightly to reduce the risk of being picked once to stand close to Huo-She. He would probably recognize her at that close range.

She grabbed Aang's hand. "Let's go, Aang" she urged, keeping her eyes away from the stage.

Before Aang could answer, the magician announced his choice. "You!" He said pointing at Katara; she shook Aang's hand in hopes to move away from the crowd before much attention spread.

Unfortunately, he was persistent. "Don't be shy. Come on up here, the pretty one with the white mask!" Her description made everyone glance around for a girl with a white mask. Quickly, all of their stares landed on Katara.

She gulped at her problem and shook her head as she backed away. Aang joined her attempting to run into the crowd. Katara hesitated, but that would bring them too much unwanted attention. Looking back up to the stage Katara weighed her options.

Huo-She laughed at her, what he thought was shyness and waved his arm. "She's shy, come on folks bring her up here!" He told his faithful crowd.

Katara making up her mind she continued to back away keeping her hand firmly in Aang's so they wouldn't loose each other. Suddenly someone gently grabbed her by the shoulders and patted them.

"Don't be scared, sweetie. It'll be fun" A foreign, motherly voice said. And, before Katara could shake her head or Aang could object, the woman passed her on to some other people. As she was passed up to the stage she managed to keep her grip on Aang. They finally lost touch when Huo-She grabbed her arm and swung her up on the stage next to him. Katara hugged her arms, feeling like some stupid puppet as he grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him.

Holding up her hand lightly, Huo-She began to speak to the audience again. "My next trick will be called 'The Dragon's Lady'" He turned toward Katara. "You will be our Dragon lady" He said pulling a gold silk scarf out of his sleeve and tying Katara's hands in front of her.

Katara eyes widened as she felt the unknown strength of the silk knot. What was next? Wait a minute, she knew this. Perhaps it would be similar to the trick she had been put through in the colonies. Katara gulped. At least she had somewhat of an idea of what to expect.

Huo-She moved Katara to the center of the stage. Leaving her there he moved up closer to his audience. "I will be her captor!" He said laughing menacingly, for extra drama. Swinging his arms he created a whip of fire, sending it in a circle around Katara.

Her breath caught in her throat as she back away from the flames, only to look over her shoulder and realize she was completely surrounded by his fire.

Huo-She chuckled angrily once more. "Nobody can save you now!" He yelled his acting showing to through his voice as not to scare the young ones too much. He raised the flames into a large dome that consumed Katara completely. Katara instinctively curled herself in order to avoid the ball of fire that surrounded her now. "No!" She heard a group of children yell for her safety as Huo-She made the dome smaller.

Aang himself was having an inner battle. He fingers gripped onto the stage to stop him from doing things to rashly. It's just a trick. It's just a trick. He repeated as Huo-She made the dome so small that if Katara stood up straight she would have been burned.

On the brink of jumping up on the stage and rescuing Katara himself, Aang noticed the magician set a new flame and created a large fire dragon. The beast magically appeared in the air and roared at Huo-She.

Huo-She pretended fear. "No it's the dragon lord!" He yelled as the dragon circled the stage once more and roared at the crowd, before turning to Katara.

Risking a look up through the walls of fire that surrounded her, Katara found herself staring into the intense eyes of a fire dragon. She gulped. Just a trick! Just a trick! This is all magic! This guy knows exactly what he's doing. I bet he's done this a bunch of times before!

Huo-She turned to the audience. "He is here to rescue his lady!" He yelled as the dragon whipped its tail. The creature flew above the audience and turned to face the dome that surrounded Katara. It roared once more, before flying straight at Katara. She flinched, waiting out the impact, her white mask hiding all her fear. Don't come up, Aang! They'll know who you are! She pleaded silently as she cracked her eye open to see Aang at the verge of jumping up on the stage.

The dragon flew into the dome that surrounded her, and in a burst of flames, the dragon and dome disappeared, turning into a flock of cooing doves and colourful confetti. Aang let out an immense sigh of relieve, before he allowed himself to jump up on the stage and run over to Katara. Aang managed to reach her in time to catch her as Katara stumbled out of her shock.

"Are you okay?" He asked helping her stand. Katara nodded, breathing heavily as her fear slowly floated away. Aang smiled weakly at her response as he helped Katara out of her silk cuffs, unknown to both of them that a large shadow had made its way across the festival and was now on the very edge of the magician's crowd. The shadow watched attentively to every movement that the two made. The shadow nodded at something and took the unused allies to move closer to the stage.

Huo-She walked to the center of the stage. "The Dragon's Lady is saved!" He exclaimed clapping at Katara and Aang.

The crowd cheered and whistled as Aang and Katara smiled half-heartedly as Aang held up Katara's hand as she bowed. Huo-She walked over to them, as they stood up. "Let's give another hand for our Dragon Lady!" he said as he stood next to Katara and held her other hand.

As Aang stood on stage gazing over the audience and going over the dangerous event he and Katara had just managed to slip through, he heard a clang of metal against stone. The sound was muffled by the cheers of the happy audience but somehow Aang's hearing had managed to pick it up.

Narrowing his eyes, Aang tried to get a better picture of where the sound was coming from. The airbender only heard it once more, and he jerked his head in the direction of an alley that had been forgotten about during the festivities. The owner of the sound was an immense shadow. Aang tilted his head slightly trying to figure out what in fact the shadow was. The shadow froze as it, what Aang thought, looked him in the eye.

Aang had no time to actually process the shadow, only moments after it had stared him in the face, it pulled back as if taking a deep breath and the thrust its head in the very direction of stage where he, Katara and the magician were standing. Before Aang realized what he was doing, a beam of fire and energy shot right out from his forehead and flew towards them.

TCK. Aang only had moments to register what was happening. Acting only on instinct Aang grabbed Katara by the waist TCK and threw himself off the stage, covering Katara's body with his own as much as he could.

Before they had even touched the ground, the beam of fire-energy had reached the stage, and had exploded it into millions of pieces. The explosions sent the bits and pieces of, what was now, scrap wood flying through the air and wounded several civilians in the crowd. It was only moments before the crowd realized what was going on and began screaming in a frenzied panic at their unknown assailant.

Katara and Aang hit the ground heavily, tumbling over each other with the force of the impact, both of them losing their masks as well. But Aang quickly rose to his feet trying to find the shadow through the dense, terrorized crowd, with no avail.

Katara gasped as she caught her breath and stood to level herself with Aang. "What's going on? What happened?" she yelled over the screams of the crowd. Katara moved into an attack form as she reached back on her hip and grabbed the hilt of her broadswords, thanking herself for bringing them despite her earlier contemplation to leave them at the house.

Despite her efforts, Aang couldn't hear her as he searched for the shadow. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of an irregular glint of metal and a dark, but now, with more focus, the shadow seemed more human shaped. The shadow, once again, hauled back his shoulders for an attack. The thing, person, whatever it was, had spotted them. TCK

The sudden attack gave Aang no time to think once more. Only being able to rely on what the previous attack had been like, Aang pushed against Katara's shoulder, turning her towards a maze of unknown Fire Nation streets.

TCK. Moving past Katara, Aang grabbed her hand and bolted down the street. Barely making a safe enough distance as the fire-energy exploded in the place they were standing in only moments before.

Aang stole a quick glance at Katara. Seeing that she was as confused and lost as he was did nothing to comfort the panic that was starting to rise in his chest, but it set him to get them safely away from whoever or whatever was attacking them.

Breaking through the frenzy of clueless festival goers and running in a random, zigzagging pattern throughout the brightly coloured streets, Aang prayed with all of his might that the manoeuvres would be enough to lose there mysterious attacker.

A low yell, almost a growl, was instantly muffled by the screams of the crowd as Combustion scowled furiously at his missed targets. The kid has noticed him only seconds before he was able to launch both his sudden and aftershock attacks. It was a rare occasion when any of his targets got even a glimpse of him before they were killed, let alone manage to dodge the attack in total. This kid was good.

Combustion nodded at his realization. He would make sure to never underestimate him again. Combustion had never been played for a fool twice, and he wasn't planning on breaking that tonight. The kid was Phoenix's student; Combustion should have expected, even before he had chosen the targets, that she had taught the boy a thing or two by now.

But it seemed as though Phoenix had taught the young firebender nothing about double-sided attacks. Even if Combustion had missed the kids, the open attack did serve another purpose- to flush them out of the festival and out onto their own. And more importantly, to get the obviously new arrivals lost in the city, with no chance of help.

So far, Combustion made no move to relieve himself of his hiding place, yet. It was the perfect place to watch as the two children he had attacked made their attempt to rid themselves of his view. He smirked as the two ran like petrified hamsters in the labyrinth of the city's streets. Combustion had years of assassination and tracking experience under his belt. The basic zigzag trick was nothing new to him. Besides, it was clear that the two had almost no idea where they were going. That would definitely be one of the main keys to their no-so-distant downfall.

Suddenly a menacing smile slithered across Combustion's face as he made the calculations on their zigzag pattern and placed them next to his absolute knowledge of the entire capital. It was almost immediately obvious to Combustion where his targets were heading to; even if the two knew where they were actually going or not.

Perfect.

Finally leaving his hiding spot, he turned quickly and ran toward the estimated rendezvous point. Clenching his jaw and fists, Combustion swore that he wouldn't let those two kids get away. It was already risky enough that he had blown his well needed cover even if it did help him finally capture the two. And his identity would definitely be known to the entire group the second those kids told Phoenix of his type attack.

Of course it would be simple enough to just let them run off and warn her of his presence, but then he would have Phoenix, including the other four to deal with. And he did not like those odds one bit, even with his all of his experience. The only way to assure that he wouldn't regret doing so was to capture the two, giving him only Phoenix, the short one, and the obnoxious teenager to deal with for himself.

Perhaps even to guarantee Phoenix would find them, he would heavily wound one of the two, and then release them as to bring Phoenix straight to him. It would also give her someone to worry about while fighting Combustion. And if things went south he would always have the one he had kept as leverage.

Yes. Combustion grinned. It would all work out just fine, one way or another. It was only a matter of time.