Gaang POV:

Matthew was cooking breakfast again, this morning. This of course meant that everyone was waking up early, in hopes of getting to the blond's positively divine pancakes, first. Everyone converged on the table as if it were a race, only to find one of their number missing.

Sokka looked around. "Where's Aang? I'd swear I saw him go into his room when we went to bed."

As if answering his question, there was a loud groan from outside, followed closely by cheery laughter.

Katara smiled a knowing, almost motherly smile. "He must've gone out to be with Appa at some point last night...I think they really missed each other."

Toph was still rubbing the sleep from her eyes, though she also seemed glad at the prospect. "He hasn't laughed like that in a while. He actually feels more like himself again."

Alfred, who'd been idly observing the airbender and his animal companion through the window, snapped his head towards the kitchen just as Matthew joined them with a large serving plate of fluffy goodness.

The moment the plate hit the table, everyone lunged forward to serve themselves. Matthew then moved to the window and called out to the otherwise occupied airbender, "Breakfast is ready!" He returned to his place at the table and sat down just as a yellow and orange blur rushed inside and plopped onto the ground with them as well.

"Now tha' you'ff finally join'd ush," Sokka said through half-chewed pancake, "We c'n…" He trailed off and took another bite. "We c'n pl'n howe we're gitt'ng 'n phe palass!"

Everyone looked at him oddly, unable to decipher his speech.

"What I think my brother is trying to say," Katara announced with a roll of her eyes, "is that now we can plan." She took a dainty bite of her own before continuing. "We need to find a way into the sewers that is close to the palace, but still far enough away where it won't be suspicious."

"Are we splitting up again?" Toph queried. "We could cover more ground and find a manhole faster, that way."

Matthew shook his head. "I disagree. We should stay together so that when we actually find the entrance, we can use it right away."

Alfred smiled mischievously, hand inching towards Matthew's plate…

"Yeah, we don't want to get held up waiting for each other," Sokka said practically, his plate already cleared. "We need to see the Earth King today. We've lost enough precious time as it is, and we need to start planning soon if we're going to use the eclipse."

Smack!

"Ouch!"

Toph climbed to her feet, recently emptied plate in hand. "Then we should really get going as soon as possible."

"Maaaaaattiiiiiieeeee!"

Smack!

This was apparently enough for the more rambunctious of the two to feel like he could reasonably retaliate. Alfred loosed a garbled battle cry, and pounced onto his exasperated brother's shoulders. The twins began rolling around on the ground, wrestling.

Aang rocked back and laughed out loud. "Come on, Matthew, you can take him!"

Matthew managed to pin his brother to the ground, and began tickling him. Alfred squirmed for a moment, and did an odd twisting move that somehow ended with his brother in an unrelenting headlock. "Ha!"

The usually calm twin released a set of foreign expletives as he tried in vain to free himself. He eventually gave up, and reached around to poke the firebender in the ribs. Alfred yelped, releasing his brother and falling backward. He collided into Katara, who let out an affronted gasp as her drink spilled all over her.

Just as the two blonds set into each other again, Katara stood up with her hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. "If you two are done acting like a bunch of children?"

The twins quickly separated at her tone. Alfred's expression was unrepentant, but Matthew seemed rather bashful. "Er…Sorry."

"Oh, don't be such a nag," Sokka said dismissively. "It's a guy thing. A little bit of rough-housing won't hurt."

"They can do guy things later, when we get the Earth King on our side!" Katara snapped. Curiously enough though, the full force of her glare was directed only at Alfred. "You do want to get home, right?"

Alfred, though he didn't understand her words, clearly understood her look as he childishly stuck his tongue out at her. He stood up, said something to his brother, and quickly vacated the house.

Matthew readjusted his crooked spectacles with a sigh. "He said that he'd wait outside for us, and that Katara really needs to…" He paused, and seem to think better of it. "Er…Never mind."

The waterbender huffed, and streamed the spilled liquid from her dress to render it dry. Toph smiled a bit ruefully as she commented, "If only he spoke Common Language…I wanna hear his unedited criticism."

Aang frowned at the thought. "If that ever happens, then they'll never get along."

Iroh POV:

He gently shook his ailing charge's shoulder. "Nephew."

Zuko groaned and tried to burrow deeper into his pillow. He pulled his blanket closer around his frame. "No…too cold."

"This will help," Iroh reassured gently. "You need to eat."

The scarred teen grunted, and sat up-with his Uncle's help, of course. He accepted the bowl of warm broth and took a few sips before setting it down.

"A few more sips, Nephew," the older firebender insisted. "Trust me, something warm in your belly will do you good."

Zuko shook his head slowly, as if the movement pained him. "No more."

Iroh bit back a sigh. "You won't be able to fight this off without more sustenance."

A grimace, but no further protests as Zuko lifted the bowl to his lips once again.

"You'll make it through this," the ex-general promised, placing a hand on his Nephew's forehead as he took the broth back. "I know you can."

'He's still cold…too cold for a firebender. Whatever happened in Lake Laogai…it made him think. And now he's waging war with himself over it.'

Zuko was asleep again, his breathing evening out. Though his twitching fingers indicated another nightmare.

'I wish I could have been there to help.'

Gaang POV:

They'd found an entrance into the sewers easily enough. Toph had verified that it ran straight under the Earth Kingdom palace. The problem, was that it was only ten yards from the front gate, which was very heavily guarded.

"I don't get it," Aang said confusedly as they hid themselves from sight behind a building. "Why can't we just walk up and open the manhole? It's not really illegal, so…"

Sokka adopted a cheerful falsetto. "Hello, scary palace guards! Oh, don't mind us. Just the Avatar and his eclectic group of friends going into a sewer. Nothing suspicious about that at all!"

The airbender blinked as if it hadn't occurred to him. "I see your point."

Toph crossed her arms. "Okay, genius. How are we getting into the sewer, then?"

The Water Tribe teen thought about it, studying the guards ahead. He looked back at his friends-specifically the twins-and smiled. "I have an idea."

Alfred & Matthew POV:

"A distraction, huh?" Alfred asked loudly in English, stepping out into the middle of the street with his arms akimbo. "I think we can do that…What do you think, Mattie?"

"You're better at that kind of thing," Matthew answered, emerging from behind the building as well. "But this should be easy enough, all things considered."

The palace guards were glaring at them suspiciously, now. Probably trying to figure out who they were and what they were saying.

Alfred laughed. "Totally, I mean, we're just talking and it looks like they're already trying to decide on the best way to stab us."

Matthew struck upon an idea. "Al…make like you're attacking me."

"Why?" the American questioned dubiously.

The violet-eyed twin smirked. "To make this distraction more distracting." He streamed water out of his pack. "Don't worry, I'll go easy on you."

Alfred scoffed playfully, shifting into a sparring stance. "Oh, bring it on, Pretty Boy!"

Gaang POV:

"I've gotta admit," Katara said, "They're very distracting."

The twins appeared to be sparring, Matthew throwing ice at his brother, who would break the projectiles with his bare knuckles as he advanced and threw punches of his own-all of which were deftly dodged. They were yelling things at each other, as if it were an actual brawl. But a closer look at their expressions showed that this was all just harmless fun.

Aang, for some reason, didn't look all that comfortable with her statement. "Yeah…I suppose they are…"

"They aren't looking!" Sokka exclaimed, in reference to the guards. "Let's go!"

The four made a break for the manhole cover. In a moment of foresight, Toph threw up a large dust cloud that concealed them and the fighting twins. "Come on!"

The sounds of brawling stopped abruptly, and both blonds quickly found their way to the sewer entrance. Alfred lifted the heavy manhole cover, ushered everyone down the ladder, and replaced it in its rightful spot behind him. They were in.

Zuko POV:

He woke up to find Uncle gone from his bedside. But there was a cooled cup of tea sitting on the low table next to him. He was almost as thirsty as he was cold. He took the cup in his hands, and focused his erratic breathing.

And then he frowned. The fire was there, just…weaker, and hardly in his control. This was most certainly not normal. He suddenly felt a flare of intense pain in his chest that caused him to drop the cup onto the floor.

He began to panic. 'Uncle hinted at this illness being a spiritual thing. What if my firebending is at risk?' "U-uncle!"

There was the sound of quick footsteps on wood, and Iroh pushed the door open with a fearfully concerned expression. "Zuko! What's wrong?"

"I-I…" The scarred teen swallowed his fears with an intense effort. "I tried to heat my tea, but…I can hardly firebend. Uncle, it hurts to firebend!" Notes of panic were creeping their way back into his voice. "What if I…" The world spun, and he had to fall back onto his pillow.

"Don't strain yourself," Iroh said gently. "Your chi is uneven, which is affecting your firebending."

"But what if-"

"Shhh…It won't do to work yourself up. Just avoid any bending until this passes. I promise it is only temporary."

Zuko saw darkness at the edges of his vision. Iroh pushed the blanket up to his shoulders, and then he saw no more.

Yaaaaay, I finished another chapter! Celebrate! Rejoice! Etcetera! Took forever, I know.

Thank you all for the favs, follows, and reviews! They're wonderful…they really are. Sooooooo tell me how this chapter was in a review?

Later dudes. ^J^