Disclaimer: The following chapter is entirely fictitious. Any similarity to the history of any person living or dead is entirely coincidental and unintentional, except when specifically noted otherwise in the cast and crew credits. All celebrity voices are impersonated and no celebrities have endorsed any aspect of this fic.

Author's note: I didn't want to update unnoticed, so I made two chapters. Yeah. I'll let the people read now.

Chapter thirty-five: Death is a gift

'-'

"Sokka, where were you?" Katara snapped as she saw him come up to her. "We've been looking for you! What-"

"I'm fine," he said calmly. "There's no need to exaggerate, okay?"

After a few minutes, the two of them caught up with the others. Tsuchi had a devious grin on her face.

"So why were you mad?" she asked him.

"I solved that," he answered. "Just needed to talk to someone."

"Really?" she simpered. "With who?"

"You don't know her," he said. "I just had some anger issues; I'm fine."

"Anger issues?" Katara asked quite skeptically. "Since when do you admit you have anger issues?"

"Well, if I'm going to be here, might as well," he said irked.

"Wait, you were mad to be here?" Tsuchi frowned. "I thought you thought Dr. Light was hot!"

"Not even!" he snapped at her. "I'm over that," he then mumbled incoherently. "But that's not the point. The point is that we're here, and I'll just make the most of it, right?" He gave them a thumbs up and walked past them. "It's getting…" he thought for a moment, "late, we should… sleep or something." He shook his head and walked over to Appa. Confusion set amongst them.

"Since when did Sokka act like this?" Aang asked Katara.

"I don't know," Katara frowned. "But whoever changed him is a saint."

'-'

The next day, Sokka went looking for Ceria, hoping to see her again. There was something about her that was so interesting, but he didn't know what. He wanted to thank her for her help yesterday. He spent a while looking, not seeing her at all. "It's a small town, he said to himself. "Where can she be?"

"Talking to yourself again?" a voice asked him. He looked up to see the sword shop owner. "And we thought you people were just weird. Sokka looked at him funny.

"Hey, have you seen the girl I was talking to yesterday?" he asked. "Her name was Ceria."

"Kid, I don't know what you're talking about," the man said roughly.

"She was here yesterday!" Sokka nearly shouted. "I was talking to her! She had brown hair kind of pulled back, brown eyes, green dress, shorter than me, come on! You must have seen her!"

"Kid, the only person I remember to that description killed herself a long time ago. Came to this stand a few years back and bought a penknife like this one," he said, holding out a small silver blade. "I don't know where you'd get such a ludicrous statement."

Sokka stared at the man, trying to absorb everything he just said. "What are you talking about?" he said skeptically. "I just talked to her yesterday. She's not dead."

"All I saw was you, talking to yourself," the man shrugged. "I don't lie." He turned around and when to the back of his stand to polish some arrows.

Sokka walked away from the stand slowly. His mind was still trying to figure out what the man had just said. Could Ceria really be dead? No, she had been dead for a while. But how could that be? He walked over to the town's cemetery, which was quite a lovely looking thing. Marble gravestones were scattered about, bright, vibrant flowers everywhere. He looked at every single headstone there, trying to look for some sort of sign. He spent nearly an hour looking when he found it

Ceria

"So it is true," he whispered.

"What is what true?" a voice from behind asked. Sokka screamed and jumped forward.

"What the hell?" He turned around to see Ceria. "What the- but the- and the- I though you- WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?"

"What are you talking about?" she questioned.

"You're dead! Why are you here?"

She laughed at him. "I'm not dead, silly."

"Then how do you explain that?" he shouted, pointing to the tombstone.

"That's just a typo," she said, shifting her eyes.

"Well, what about the guy at the sword stand? He didn't see me with anyone yesterday!"

"Uh, eye stigmatism?" she shrugged.

"You're DEAD!" he shouted again. "Why are you still here?"

"If I was dead, could I do this?" She walked up to him and poked him hard in the arm. She sat down next to him. "Why are you having a mental break down again? What did I say about them? Never when the sun is up."

"You're dead," he kept mumbling to himself. "You're dead, I'm asleep, when I wake up, I will be back at home, and none of this ever happened."

"Too bad it did," she smirked. "Stop having a mental breakdown. Only I can have mental breakdowns."

"You're dead!" he repeated. "Why are you really here?"

"To come back and haunt you!" she said in a cheep imitation of a ghost. "Wooo!"

"This isn't funny," he frowned. "People think I'm crazy now."

"Well what's the fun of being normal when if you do something OOC, it's weird? I say acting weird is the best because then you could do whatever the heck you want and it's never out of character for you. Ain't it great?"

"I wouldn't know," he grumbled.

"Hey, I thought it was fun," she smiled. "Go out there, have fun. Be weird. Eat food. And most importantly, find out why you're here, kay?" she stood up and helped him of the ground. "Well, I's gots to go. Laters, Sokka!" She walked away, disappearing into the forest next to them.

"She's dead!" he shouted again.

'-'

Cruel had become snappier since her encounter with Moonbright. He had ridiculed her when anyone could have missed that shot. "Damn mother fuckers, the target's right there!" she snarled. "An infant can get that? Can't you do anything?"

"You missed the broad side of a barn," a guy retorted. "Cut us some slack!"

She growled inside, still ashamed that she had let something so big slip away. "Get the hell over here, Shyanne."

He walked over to her. "You're not going to be able to shoot me at such a close range. You might miss." The others laughed.

"Really?" she smiled sarcastically. She grabbed his arm, twisted and broke it.

"AHHUGH!" he shrilled. "You crazy bitch!"

"Let that serve as a warning!" she snarled to the lot of them. "Anyone who gets on my bad side will loose a limb. Got it?"

No one answered.

"GOT IT?" she snarled deeply.

"Yes!" the team said.

"Damn straight!" she growled. "And anyone-" Her words were cut of by a flame shooting out from behind. But it wasn't an ordinary flame. It was orange. The team screamed and squealed, running in different directions. Cruel began to shoot at them, but a girl came from behind her and had her by the throat.

"Tell us where he is!" a male voice said from ahead. Cruel's gun had been knocked out of her hand, lying on the floor just a few feet away. She would have tried for something, but the woman holding her had a sword to her neck.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Cruel snarled.

"A monk on a bison came through here just yesterday. Where is he?" the girl asked.

"And why should I—" A barrier of fire surrounded her, but the fire wasn't orange this time, it was black. "What the hell?" Even the man looked at her in confusion.

"Ever been razed by this?" she asked her gingerly. "Not very entertaining in my judgment. Hurts like a bitch."

"Spirit, please," she laughed. "Black fire doesn't even hurt your sight, how can it burn?"

The girl laughed. "Tell me, have you ever felt dry ice? If you gaze at it, it doesn't hurt, if you lay your hand an inch from it, it doesn't feel all that arctic. But… when you touch it," she placed a burning finger on the girl. Her screams filled the empty courtyard, "it burns worse than you could ever imagine. Now tell me again where the bison went and you won't get hurt."

She looked around to the rest of her collaborators. They stood there staring at her, not even flinching. She gritted her teeth, hoping that when she got out of this, she could kill them all. "Fine," she said through clenched teeth. "They went that way" jerking her head in the direction of the border, "into the Light Zone. I swear that's all I know." The man nodded to the girl. She laughed.

"Just to make sure you never speak of this again," she whispered, she pressed down on the blade and slid it across her neck, dropping her body on the floor, now looking like an overgrown chest.

"Hiashi, what the fuck was that for?" he snarled at her as everyone had ran off screaming.

"Save my name for scolding, I see how it is," she smirked. "Get over it." She stepped over the girl's lifeless cadaver and over to the border. "Well, what the hell are you waiting for? You have an Avatar to catch."

'-'

"Well, it's almost time for us to go," Tsuchi sighed. "This has been very delightful, hasn't it?"

"Yeah," Aang smirked. "Full of surprises."

"I said delightful, not surprise-ful."

Aang laughed nervously. "I knew that!" he smiled. "Now when are we leaving?" He hauled a sleeping bag onto Appa, nearly missing Momo. "Can't wait to get to the next world!"

Tsuchi eyed him funny. "Okay, first Sokka and now you. What's going down here? Did I miss the bizarre-o message? What's up, Aang?"

Aang frowned nervously. "Nothing's wrong! Why?" He looked off to her side and spotted the Hora Bud was poking out of his knapsack. "Why don't you sit down?" he said, rushed, stepping in front of the flower. "You've been working so long. You need a break. I'll take it from here." He shoved the flower back into the bag and started putting the bags back onto Appa. Tsuchi eyed him.

"Okay, what's up? I haven't seen this kind of behavior since Mikonko couldn't stop staring at me. What the devil fish is going on?"

"Nothing, stop being paranoid. I'm not paranoid. It's all good, kay?" He flashed his childish grin and continued loading up their stuff. She eyed him again.

"Okay, seriously, what's going down?" she said. "Tell me."

Aang didn't answer right away. "There's nothing wrong," he assured. "Just excited!" He smiled again and continued packing. She glared at him.

"If I find out you're lying, I will beat you with Momo." She turned around and continued putting things in the saddle. Aang let out a sigh of relief.

That was a close one. He turned and looked out at the town. The sun had been beating down on them for the past twenty four hours and he began to feel hot again. He looked out at the people, sad that he'd miss staying here. He was just about to turn around when something dreadful caught his eye. "I should have known," he groaned.

"What?" Tsuchi asked, looking up. She turned to see what he was looking at. "Damn it!" she whispered. "Where're Katara and Sokka?"

'-'

Sokka slowly walked back over to Appa, still trying to decipher what happened. She's dead! he kept telling himself. Not alive, dead! She-is-DEAD! Yet she is solid. But I saw the gravestone! She's dead! Dee-ee-ae-dee. DEAD! Am I hallucinating? I must. This is all a dream and I will wake up… NOW! He looked around, but was still in the same setting. "Damn," he mumbled. He turned on the corner and saw a swarm of people. "Who are the- Zuko!"

'-'

"What the hell was that about?" Zuko snapped at Hiashi when they silently crossed the border into the bright world. You senselessly killed that person. What was that for?"

"It wasn't for you," Hiashi snapped. "She deserved it."

"And the black fire," he added, "where did that come from?"

"No where," she snarled. "God, if you're so erudite on the ways of the Fire Navy's defense tactics, then you'd know, alright?" She walked past him. She was only able to pass him by five feet when a voice shouted:

"Halt! You're crossing the border illegally! Put your hands in the air." The both of them turned to see a guy with brown hair and green attire. He was pointing an arrow at him along with several other people. Hiashi and Zuko stared at him. "I said put your hands up!" he snarled.

"We heard you the first time," Zuko snapped.

"I will shoot if you don't! I'll count to three. One…"

The two of them stared at him.

"Two…"

"Zuko, maybe-"

"Three!" Before he could let the arrow go, Zuko jumped at him, striking him in the chin with his foot. The rest of them fired, but all missing, for the best by Hiashi's standards. She kicked up the dirt from underneath them and knocked down several men at a time. They recovered quickly and attacked her. The guy and Zuko on the other hand, were engaged in a deep battle.

"I'm not here for you," Zuko snarled. "If you let me leave now, you'll leave unscathed."

"Yeah right," the guy sneered. He pushed himself away and grabbed an arrow from his quiver. "Take this!" He pulled his arm back and lunged at Zuko.

Critch!

The lot of them stopped. They turned to the two of them, both staring wide-eyed at each other. Zuko and the guy were breathing heavy, both shocked at what happened. Gasping for air, the guy fell to the ground, blood gushing from his abdomen. Zuko, although having an arrow scratching his shoulder and leaving a pretty deep gash, was still baffled at what he did. When the guy attacked him with his arrow, Zuko drew out his knife and held it out, ultimately stabbing him.

"Oh my…"

"Harris!" the others shouted coming to his aide. Hiashi grabbed Zuko by the good arm and dragged him from the chaos.

'-'

"Where's Katara?" Sokka whispered under his breath. He hadn't stayed long enough to figure out where she had gone. He knew the others were with Appa, but that was as far as it went. He didn't dare call out her name in case Zuko or that girl would hear. But not calling out was harder.

Try the river.

"The river?" he asked himself at the spontaneous note. "Do I even know where the river is?"

Down in the forest, dur.

Not completely knowing why, he went into the forest, where in his surprise, was a river. And conveniently, Katara was at the edge, filling their flask.

"Katara!" he hissed at her. She turned around.

"Sokka, what are you-"

"Shh!" he hissed again. "We can't stay long. Zuko and that one chick are here."

"Really? Where?"

"Right now I don't know, but we need to leave, now!" She quickly sealed the flask and in no time to spare, the two were running back to Appa.

"How did you find me?" she asked him as they raced through the forest. "You left too soon to find out."

Sokka didn't answer right away. He now knew why. "Just a lucky guess."

'-'

"Good one, Zuko," she snarled at him. "Way to waste time."

"You did the same thing!" he snapped. After leaving their little fight, they soon had discovered Aang and the rest of them had long after. Seeing no other recourse, they went back. Both of them agreed that it was a complete waste of their time, but more Hiashi than Zuko. She had something against him. "Mine was accidental; yours was intentional."

"Come off it!" she snapped. "You're taking this worse than I did and you're colder than ice." Zuko didn't answer her right away. He looked back out into the ocean, watching the waves move roughly. He didn't like being inside, especially so late into summer. It got really humid and uncomfortable, so most of the time, he stayed outside, which didn't much ameliorate anything.

"Want to try dry ice?" he said coolly.

"Tee-hee," she laughed sarcastically. "Where the hell is that Fire Nation blood in you? Where's that heartless bastard I know?"

"For your information, Hiashi," he snapped, stressing her name, "I don't believe in senselessly killing people unless there's a good reason behind it."

"So, killing the Avatar has a good reason behind it?" she said sardonically.

"I'm not going to kill him," he said lowly. "If he dies, he'll just be reincarnated again. Then my search would have rendered useless."

Hiashi shook her head. "Get over it," she said, walking towards the ship. "I know I did."

'-'

Yeah, that was kind of lame. I was bored writing it. Well I have good news. Only three more worlds until their journey is over. Then there will be some interesting things that happen and a whole bunch of other things. New characters com in, and my original plot (which was stolen by Nickelodeon) will be executed and all that good stuff. I can't wait for the world after the next one. That's going to be fun. Well, until next time, Signing Off!