All around the perimeter of the stone room were racks upon racks of hand-held weapons: swords, spears, axes, daggers, knives, halberds, and clubs, to name a few, and those were the general categories of each weapon. Even despite the lack of light filtering in through the room (the only light source being small windows that were high on the walls), Aang could see straight swords, broadswords, katanas, blades atop staves, machetes, butterfly swords, even a Water Tribe-styled club. All the available options made his head reel, and he couldn't help but take a few more steps into the room, transfixed on the variety presented to him.

"Whoa," was all Aang could manage as he took in the sight of so many sharp (harmful) weapons.

"I know, right?" There was a hint of pride in Teo's voice, and when Aang looked back at the boy in the wheelchair, he had on a wide grin. "We worked day and night on making these; they turned out pretty nicely, if I do say so myself."

"You made all of these?" Aang grabbed a nearby weapon, which just so happened to be a broadsword, and experimentally swung it around. "Wow, this is so balanced!"

"Yep, a couple of other kids and I worked on all of these weapons you see here." Aang looked back at the boy to see him gesture expansively. "It took us a while to, ah, get it right, hehehe…" Teo rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, as if remembering something embarrassing. "But we eventually figured it all out."

Aang could hear Sokka snort to his left. "Yeah, after you wasted the first fifty tons of metal."

"Hey, it's not like we had anybody else helping us."

Aang tuned out the conversation happening in the background to peer closer at the broadsword in his hands. The sword was nicely balanced and correctly weighted, and it felt right, but… Aang didn't feel it was right for him. Still, there was something about the blade that struck a chord within him, and Aang made a mental note to himself as he hung the sword back to its resting place.

That's when Aang noticed a wooden staff out of the corner of his eye. At first, he brushed it off, reasoning that it was the pole handle for a spear or a blade. But there was something from deep within Aang that was urging him towards the wooden shaft, as though there were strings connecting him to it that were pulling him towards the innocuous object.

Aang wasn't one to ignore his instincts, so he let the strings pull him.

As he drew closer, he saw that there was actually no augmentation on the wooden staff: no spearheads, no blades, not even the slightest glint of sharp metal. Immediately, that feeling of connection strengthened, and Aang couldn't resist as his feet took him the last couple of steps.

"Hey, Teo?" The conversational hum that had been in the background stopped as Aang turned towards the boy in question, staff in his hands. "What's this?"

Teo wheeled up to Aang and peered down at the wooden shaft. "Oh, you found it?" The Earth Kingdom boy sounded surprised. "Normally, people would overlook it and go for the… sharper weapons."

"That's because that"—Sokka gestured towards the staff—"is useless. You can't stab or slash or attack anyone with it. And, honestly, I still don't understand why you put it in the armory."

Teo hummed as he brushed his hand over the wood, but whether or not he did so in agreement is beyond Aang. "Where else would I put it? We still need it for a template for our spear handles, and we might accidentally set it on fire if we put it in the forge."

Sokka thought about it for a moment. "Fair," he conceded. "But still, putting it in the armory might make people think it's a weapon."

"I dunno…" The words were flowing out of Aang's mouth without conscious thought. "I think it could be."

Sokka snorted dubiously. "How? Like I said before, you can't attack anyone with it."

"Use it well, my young pupil."

"Teo," Aang said aloud, shaking away the lingering thoughts, "where did this come from?" He turned towards the boy in the wheelchair. "Did you make this yourself?"

"Oh, no." Teo shook his head. "It was here when we first woke up and started exploring the place."

Aang raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, 'here'?" Either Teo meant that the staff had just happened to end up with them, or…

"That's just what it sounds like." Teo gestured towards the entire room. "It was here. In this building."

In this building? But that meant… "You're saying," Aang began slowly, trying to reconcile what the evidence was telling him, "that the buildings were here when you woke up?"

"Well, yeah." This time, Sokka was the one to speak. "Did you think we built this all by ourselves?"

Aang decided not to dignify that with a response; and anyways, that was beside the point. There were questions that had been nagging Aang at the back of his mind about the staff, and this new bit of information only amplified them. If the buildings were already constructed, and the staff had already been placed in the building before any kids had arrived, then the question remains:

"Who built this place?" Aang glanced over at the other two boys. "And where would the staff have come from?"

Sokka shrugged, clearly not as torn up about these questions as Aang was. "Beats me. No memory, remember?"

"But if you had to take a guess," Aang pressed him, "who do you think would've done all of this?"

Sokka heaved his shoulders up in an exaggerated shrug. "Well, obviously the people who dropped us off here."

Which gives us no leads. Aang suppressed a growl of frustration. "And what about where the staff would've come from?"

Teo shrugged. "We have a lot of schematics on Earth Kingdom, Water Tribe, and Fire Nation weapons. But I've never seen anything on staves."

So… what? What could that mean? Aang had the incessant sense that Teo's words were significant, but he, for the life of him, couldn't discern it; without proper memories, he couldn't address the relentless assault of questions in his brain, bringing him back to square one.

Which irritated him to no end.

Aang heaved a sigh and looked down at the staff resting in his palms. As if on autopilot, his hands righted the staff so that it was vertical, and he began experimentally twirling the wooden shaft.

The way it felt in his hands, how fluid it moved along with his body… it felt right. It was almost like another limb, an extension of himself. Even simply gripping the staff in its vertical position felt achingly, comfortingly familiar. With this wooden shaft in his hands, he felt… whole again, like another puzzle piece that had been clicked in place.

"You seem pretty handy with the staff," Teo observed, startling Aang out of his reverie. Aang looked over at Teo in time to catch the intrigued look on the Earth Kingdom boy's face. "If you want, you can keep it as your weapon of choice," he offered.

Before Aang could reply, Sokka scoffed. "Are you kidding me?" he shot back incredulously. "Like I said before, that thing can't help him fight. He's going to need something that's sharp and durable."

Disappointment washed over Aang, but seeing as how Sokka was technically his superior, he reasoned he had no choice but to comply with the older boy. As he passed the staff over to Teo, his fingers brushed over something on the wood that caught his attention. Before he could investigate it further, it was out of his hands and back on the rack.

Sokka placed a hand on Aang's shoulder. "I think it's time for us to continue the tour," he declared. "Thanks for showing us around, Teo."

Aang smiled at the Earth Kingdom boy. There was something about him that made Aang feel completely relaxed, and he had a good feeling that he could become very good friends with Teo. "It was nice meeting you, Teo," he offered sincerely.

"Likewise, Aang. Oh, Sokka," Teo called when the duo had turned to leave. "I got your AK-47 fixed and ready to go."

Aang's mind scrambled. AK-47… That was a gun! An assault rifle, his brain supplied, that was one of the most widely used types of its kind. But… if they have guns, then why…?

As Aang struggled to grip with his chaotic, swirling thoughts, he registered a professional smile grace Sokka's face, a pale imitation of the genuine smile the older boy had sported before; his eyes were dark and cold. "Thanks, Teo." Sokka reached forward and clapped Teo's forearm with his own. "We gotta get going now, but you're doing awesome work. Keep it up."

Teo must have said something in return; Aang could barely focus, the disorganized mess of his thoughts overriding everything else. It was only when he registers that they're exiting the building and the "sun" hit Aang's face that the chaos all at once settled into a neat, organized pile.

"AK-47," Aang said aloud. He glanced over at the older boy to see Sokka glancing back at him, his expression unreadable. "That's a gun, isn't it?"

The mention of the gun seemed to flip the switch yet again within Sokka: his face twisted, tightening slightly, and his eyes hardened back to ice. Still, he managed a terse, "Yes."

"So then, why…?" At a loss for words, Aang only gestured towards the stone-encased armory, hoping that it would be enough for Sokka to get the hint.

Sokka apparently had. "The guns aren't always effective," he explained. "They're good for long-range accuracy, of course, but when they get up close and personal, we need more reliable close-range weapons that can get us out of a jam." His face darkened, and he patted the boomerang sheath that was hanging by his hip. "You won't believe how many times my boomerang saved my life."

Aang quirked an eyebrow. "'They'?"

Sokka inclined his head towards the metal gate once more. "The enemy," he stated simply. Without another word, he turned and trekked the opposite direction, away from the forge and the copse of trees in which they had found Toph.

Seeing as there was nothing else he could do, Aang followed Sokka, noting that the squad leader hadn't told him who the enemy was.

"And these"—Sokka gestured—"are the training grounds."

The sight of the dusty, barren plot with wooden dummies set up all around it felt jarring to Aang. It was as if it were an anchor to reality amidst a sea of etherealness, and it wasn't until now that Aang realized he was losing himself to the otherworldliness of The Plane. There was something about this place that felt like it toed the line between dreams and reality, but the desert-like plot of land that was before Aang served as his grounding.

And right now, the sandy lot was being kicked up by a group of girls all dressed in camo green outfits and all wielding something that glinted metal in the warm light.

Strangely enough, each girl had on camo cargo pants and camo vests, and underneath the vests were forest green collared shirts with dark-green stripes running each sleeve and a circle of color that interrupted the flow. At first glance, they all seemed to wear the same uniform to Aang, but the longer he stood there, the more he picked out subtle things that made each uniform unique: differently-colored circles on the sleeves; the glint of a wayward pin; even signs of wear and tear.

Positioned in front of the group was a lone girl, probably about Sokka's age, with short auburn hair and golden circles on her sleeves. She was evidently the leader, as she was guiding the other members through the motions; every gesture she made was repeated by the girls behind her.

They were all currently going through motions as though they were fighting against an enemy—a kata, Aang's brain supplied helpfully. The way they moved so gracefully and in sync with each other left no doubt in his mind that they were a singular fighting force, a… what was it that Sokka called them again? A squad.

Aang leaned towards Sokka. "Why do they have uniforms?"

"Hm?" The older Water Tribe boy seemed distracted. Following Sokka's gaze, Aang's eyes landed upon the lead girl, the one with the auburn hair and the gold circle. Glancing back at the older boy, Aang noticed that the lines on Sokka's face were just a little bit less tight, his jaw just a little bit less tense. But, most of all, Aang noticed Sokka's eyes: there was a warmth in them that melted away the last of the iciness that had been prevalent even when they were with Teo and Toph.

Biting back the urge to laugh (since he was pretty sure he knew what caused the change), Aang prodded him, "They're all wearing matching uniforms. Why don't we have those?"

"Oh, we do," Sokka answered, turning his gaze back onto Aang. "Well, they're not really uniforms, more like… combat gear. And anyways, training rules are that you have to have it on at all times; all other times, you can wear your casual clothes. They"—Sokka gestured towards the group of girls—"just so happen to be given these uniforms." He shrugged. "I dunno why."

Given? By whom? Aang wanted to ask. But he knew already; it was only going to be the same answer as when he asked about the staff and the buildings (and it probably would be the same for every other question he had).

(he wondered how many of these differing questions would have the same answer)

"That's because we're special," a female voice teased, snapping Aang out of his reverie. Shaking himself back to reality, he noticed that the leader of the squad had broken away from the rest of the group and was now standing in front of Sokka, giving him a sly smile.

Sokka didn't even skip a beat. "Yeah, well, there's that, too," he shot back, smirking slightly.

As if that were an invitation, the girl closed the last bit of distance between both herself and Sokka and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Sokka reacted by lacing his arms around her lower back and pulling her closer to him. A sigh escaped the older boy's lips, and Aang watched, awed, as Sokka's eyes closed, the harsh lines on his face melting completely into bliss and contentment.

Again, that cold, pervading feeling of not belonging anywhere seeped back into Aang's skin, creeping through his veins and chilling his bones. He began to contemplate just leaving them to their devices, since he was obviously intruding on their space and he was a stranger and he didn't belong—

The girl and Sokka finally broke their hug.

And the chill vanished.

"So, who's this?" The girl's gentle voice drifted melodically through his ears as the older girl looked down at Aang, intrigue dancing across her grayish-blue eyes.

"Suki, this is Aang," Sokka introduced, grasping Aang by the arm and hauling him closer. "Aang, Suki."

"Pleased to meet you," Aang started, but then to his surprise, recognition flashed through the girl's eyes.

"Oh! You're the kid who was in the coma for a week!"

Oh, right. Aang had forgotten all about that slight detail.

"I… guess I am." The statement came out more as a question, and Aang sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, unnerved by the probing gaze of the girl in front of him. To distract himself from it, he turned towards the older boy. "Sokka, just how many people saw me in a coma?"

Sokka tilted his head in serious consideration, holding up his fingers and putting them up while he spoke aloud. "Let's see… there's me… Katara… Toph… Suki, of course"—Sokka inclined his head towards the girl in question—"uh, Azula… Jet… aaand I think that's about it."

Two of those names were familiar; the other two were not. "Who are Azula and Jet?"

Sokka's eyes shadowed for a moment. "Two of the other squad leaders." Then, his tone abruptly eased, immediately setting off alarm bells in Aang's head. "But, with any luck, you won't see them until later."

Suki sharply jabbed Sokka's bicep, earning a yelp from the boy. "You let Azula see Aang?" she hissed, looking mortified. "While he was in a coma?"

"Hey, what else was I supposed to do?" Sokka retorted, rubbing the sore spot on his arm. "When Azula wants to do something, she does it. Besides, I made sure Katara was there to watch over her… not that I needed to tell her," he added under his breath.

"So she wanted to see him?" Suki groaned, rubbing a hand over her face. "That can't be a good sign."

The way they were speaking about this Azula was painting a not-so-pretty image of this girl in Aang's head, but he tried to banish his judgmental thoughts from his mind. Surely she couldn't be that bad of a person, right? And besides, making judgements based on what others say about a person wasn't a very wise choice (says who?). Aang silently resolved to hold back on his own verdict until he meets this Azula and gauge her for himself.

Still, he was curious about what others had to say about her. Couldn't hurt to listen to various sources either…

"It is always wise to listen to other sources, but do not make hasty judgements based solely on what they say; wait until you see them for yourself."

"What's so bad about this Azula?"

Suki scoffed, folding her arms over her chest. "She's a ruthless, psychotic squad leader. Her training regimen is merciless, and she's more merciless in treating her teammates." The girl in the camo gear tossed her hair in an indignant manner. "Honestly, I don't see how anyone would enjoy being in her squad."

Sokka gave a hum of agreement. "She has a mean streak, that's for sure." He turned towards Aang. "When you're around her, you better watch your back, 'cause you can never tell if she's helping you from the goodness of her heart, or if she's doing it to help herself."

Aang frowned, unease crawling up his spine. "Umm… alright," he conceded tentatively. "But… what does that have to do with letting her see me?"

Suki grimaced. "There was an… incident a couple months ago," she began delicately. "She—"

"She burned one of the new kids," Sokka cut in bluntly.

"Sokka!"

Aang stared at them for a moment. "What."

The girl huffed and shook herself before giving Aang a warm smile. "It's fine," she assured him. "Nothing happened to you as far as I can tell." Aang just caught Suki mutter under her breath, "At least Katara has some common sense." She turned back towards him, her voice returning to normal volume. "Anyways, it's nice to meet you, Aang." She took Aang's hand and gave it a firm shake. "I'm the leader of the K Squad."

Aang quirked an eyebrow at that, befuddled. "'K Squad'?"

In response, Suki dangled her dog tag in front of him, and Aang could make out the serial number etched on the smooth surface:

K785

The girl jangled her metal tab a little bit. "Everyone who belongs to my squad all seem to have a K in front of their serial." She shrugged. "It could just be a coincidence. We all work very well together, so I'm not going to complain about it."

Aang glanced up at Sokka, Suki's introduction rattling a question in his brain. "Does every squad have a name?"

"Yes." Sokka scratched his chin thoughtfully as his eyes narrowed in concentration. "Jet's squad is known as Freedom… Azula's is Inferno… um, Haru's is Rig… I don't remember the rest…"

As Sokka continued to ponder in the background, his face contorted comically, Suki turned towards Aang with an amused look on her face and explained, "We have a lot of squads here, so it gets hard to keep track of them all at once."

Aang gave a hum of acknowledgement, still studying the older Water Tribe boy, who seemed far too concentrated on remembering than Aang would've thought he should be. Sokka seemed to resurface from his ruminations and gave Aang a firm nod. "But yeah, those are the ones I can remember." He seemed to ponder further and added, almost as an afterthought, "Oh, and my squad's the Boomerang Squad."

There was a snicker to Aang's left. "Really?" came Suki's dubious yet amused voice. Aang turned to see her regard Sokka appraisingly. "If I remember correctly, Katara and Toph vetoed the name. Multiple times."

"Which is exactly why it should be the squad's name." Sokka nodded as though it made perfect sense.

Suki's expression dropped into a deadpan. "Your powers of logic are astounding," she drawled.

Frankly, Aang had to agree with her. "Why would you name your squad after your boomerang?" he asked, amused.

"Hey." Sokka jabbed a finger towards Aang. "Never underestimate the power of the boomerang."

Although the manner of Sokka's banter was lighthearted, Aang could tell that Sokka was only half-joking; Aang couldn't easily erase the image of Sokka's dark expression as the older boy stroked the sheathed boomerang, nor the grave proclamation of the importance of hand weapons.

Aang let his lips twitch. "I'll be sure not to," he promised, and not just for the sake of bantering.

A giggle from Suki drew the two boys' attention back to her. For a moment, Aang had forgotten that there had been a third member of their party, but Suki didn't look insulted at being left out; if anything, she actually looked amused. "Looks like he'll fit right in with your squad, Sokka," she teased.

Sokka shrugged. "Fits, considering we have an 'Aang' in 'Boomerang,'" he retorted good-naturedly—a pun that was just as awful as it was brilliant. Then Sokka's entire demeanor seemed to sour. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves."

What does he mean by that? Aang glanced over at Sokka, not understanding. He opened his mouth, ready to ask the question perched on the tip of his tongue, when Suki beat him to the punch.

"Oh!" Realization lit up her eyes, and then Aang thought Suki looked almost… embarrassed. "I forgot all about the rotation schedule…"

Oh.

Oh.

Aang had almost completely forgotten one of the very first things Sokka had told him: that the newcomers would rotate through squads and the Council of Squad Leaders would choose for him the squad with whom he would be spending the rest of his time—rules that aggravated Aang for one reason or another, but rules he would follow, nonetheless.

And speaking of which…

"How would my rotation schedule work?" Suki and Sokka looked at Aang, breaking away from what appeared to be banter.

Sokka tapped a finger lightly on his chin. "Each week is a designated time frame for each squad. You spend one week with one squad, and then once the week is over, you switch to a different one. Since you woke up on a bunk bed that was for my squad,"—surprisingly, Sokka didn't sound territorial, as Aang had previously thought; his words were more like a statement of a fact—"we'll be your starting point, and you'll be staying with us for the rest of the week."

"The exception to that rule is, of course, the K Squad," Suki then interjected, looking over at Aang. "We generally don't allow newcomers and especially not boys to train with us, unless the newcomer in question happens to be a bending-less girl who is talented in the way of the steel fans."

Aang tilted his head. There was something nagging him in the back of his mind… something that was churning at the mention of "steel fans." Something that was familiar… but familiar in a different way than Katara or even Teo's mannerisms. It was a feeling that ran deeper than even his bones; it was a reverberation from his very spirit.

"Steel fans?" he echoed aloud.

Evidently, Sokka had interpreted Aang's tone the wrong way. "Never underestimate the power of steel fans either," he warned, shuddering slightly as he rubbed at his forearm. "I learned that the hard way."

"Only because you were being a sexist jerk." Suki smirked slightly, hands on her hips.

Sokka just inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Well, then it's a good thing you were there to set me straight."

Aang would've laughed at the color blooming in Suki's cheeks had he not been so focused on puzzling out the infuriating clues that were being set right in front of him, just out of his reach. As such, he simply turned towards Suki and asked, "May I see one of those fans?"

"Oh." Suki looked surprised for a moment. "Sure." She reached in the side pocket of her cargo pants and grasped a slim, rectangular metal object that Aang hadn't noticed until now. It slipped out of her pockets without much fuss, and she handed it to him.

Aang was surprised to feel how heavy the object was; his hand dipped as soon as Suki deposited it into the palm of his hand. He lifted it up to his face, carefully inspecting the metalwork and (surprisingly) ornamental decorations that were etched along the surface. The nagging in the back of his mind intensified, and Aang had to wonder what exactly his brain was trying to tell him.

With a flick of his wrist, the metal fan snapped out of its folded position. Aang experimentally waved the fan around. The fan was heavy and strained his muscles as he swung it around, but somehow… it felt right. Curious, he began to experiment more, and before he knew it he was laughing and spinning and jumping—

It wasn't until after Aang had finished his experimental play, when he felt sweat dripping off of his head and aching in his muscles, that he realized his body had been instinctually following the motions of the fan, as if repeating a dance it had rehearsed many times over. Somewhere along the way, Aang had lost himself in the impromptu dance he had created, and he hadn't even realized it until his senses sharpened back to clarity when he snapped the fan shut.

Exhaling a heavy breath, Aang turned and was lifting his hand, ready to hand the heavy metal object back to Suki, when he noticed her and Sokka's stricken expressions. He halted, and a coldness that had nothing to do with the sweat trickled down his spine.

"What?" Panic encroached on him as he noticed that Suki and Sokka were looking at him with that expression, the one akin to gazing upon some sort of… alien or something. The same scrutinizing look Katara had worn when she had first met him. The same unabashed stare Teo had given him.

Which was ridiculous! Really, everyone was just… overreacting is all, trying to see something that wasn't there. He wasn't anything but Aang.

But then…

Who is Aang, anyways?

"You're the—"

"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Aang demanded aloud as he struggled to keep his thoughts from breaking down and falling apart.

"You just—" Suki swallowed hard. "You just performed the most difficult kata for the steel fan."

A kata? But—but he was dancing, not fighting! It was a dance…

Wasn't it?

Suki looked awed. "I've never seen anyone, much less a newcomer, perform such a difficult form with such ease." She stretched out her hand, and, taking the cue, Aang handed her the slim metal rectangle, hoping that she wouldn't notice the sweat on the item. As she pocketed the folded fan, she prodded, "Where did you learn it?"

"I…" Aang's mind blanked. Suki was too close, staring at him with those piercing eyes, too much confinement, need space need air—

Luckily, Sokka came to his rescue. "Well, it's not like he can answer," the older boy pointed out, his tone dripping with sarcasm, "considering the whole amnesia thing going on."

"Oh." Suki looked abashed. "Right." She stepped away from Aang, and suddenly he felt like he could breathe again. She cleared her throat and looked away. "Sorry."

Dazed, Aang could only shake his head, trying to will away the anxiety that clung to him. "No, i-it's okay." He attempted a smile while silently cursing himself for stuttering. "Who knows, maybe I learned it a while ago and my muscles still somehow remember it." He faked a laugh.

Suki pursed her lips, still giving him that hawk-like gaze. "Maybe."

An awkward silence descended upon the three of them as they glanced at each other, evidently out of things to talk about. Aang internally begged whatever entity or spirit or whatever that was out there that Sokka and Suki wouldn't bring it up again.

Luckily, his prayers were answered in the form of a girl, still in the camo uniform of the K Squad. "Hey, Suki!" The girl in question turned towards the new arrival. "Are you coming? We're all waiting for you."

"I'll be there in a sec!" Suki called back before turning almost apologetically towards the two boys. "Sorry, duty calls." She jabbed a finger towards where the other girl is waiting.

Aang breathed a silent sigh of relief as he quickly responded, "Oh, it's no problem," while Sokka nodded solemnly, although he looked disappointed.

Suki's eyes glimmered mischievously as she grinned slyly at Sokka. "Don't look too sad about it, Sokka." She winked. "I'll be seeing you at dinner before I have to head out for the night watch."

"Night watch?" Aang had blurted it out without thinking, and Sokka and Suki both turned to look at him. While Suki looked surprised, however, Aang couldn't help but notice how Sokka's face was darkening rapidly, all the previous warmth fleeing from his eyes.

The girl in the military-like uniform turned an uncertain gaze towards Sokka. "You haven't told him yet?" she questioned hesitantly, after a small pause.

Sokka cast his gaze away from the both of them, his eyes shadowing. Suddenly, he wasn't Sokka the teenage boy anymore; he was Sokka the drill sergeant, the one who had bored an icy stare into Aang's skull. "No."

"Tell me what?" Aang couldn't help but question, but a sharp glare thrown towards him from Sokka made him flinch inadvertently. Getting the message, Aang immediately shut his mouth, jaw clamping tightly.

There was an awkward pause. Suki glanced between the two of them uncertainly, as though wondering whether or not she should leave them by themselves. Finally, she sighed, as though making a decision. Stepping up to Sokka, she cupped his face almost tenderly—so different from the warrior girl Aang had gotten to know—and guided his face back towards her.

"He'll be okay, Sokka," she murmured, her eyes looking up at the taller boy. "Not everything will turn out like it did with Yue."

The name—although giving him that familiar twinge of recognition—was foreign to Aang. However, it didn't seem to be the same with Sokka. A sharp breath from the older boy, and Sokka squeezed his eyes shut. "I know," he whispered huskily. "I know, but…" He let out a pain-filled breath before opening his eyes, and Aang noticed how the ice within them had softened with an almost sad light.

Suki offered her own sad, understanding smile. "I miss her too."

Aang wasn't entirely sure what had happened, but in the next instant, the two were lip-locked in a slow, sweet kiss. Aang couldn't help but turn away, the intimacy of the moment both awkward and hollowing. His chest only ached even more, seeing how close these two were, and he wondered if he would ever feel that same deep connection of friendship and trust as Sokka did with Suki and even Toph and Katara.

When he turned back, Suki was already a few paces ahead, trudging towards the other girl in green. She paused only once to wave at them, and then she didn't look back.

Aang turned to Sokka and saw that the contours of Sokka's face were hard, his expression as stony as it had been when Aang first met him—if not even stonier. His intuition told him it was best if he didn't ask the older boy any questions at the moment, and so he kept his mouth shut.

Sokka merely turned towards him. "C'mon," he said curtly, before turning and heading in the direction of the wall with the metal gate.

This time, Aang didn't even hesitate.

From a distance, the wall had seemed enormous, with its high-rising battlements and intimidating metal gate.

Enormous didn't quite cut it.

The wall dwarfed them; it was easily over fifty feet high, and if someone were to tell him that it was a mile high, Aang would've believed them. He gazed up the side of the wall, feeling more like an ant in a house than a person next to a wall.

"Wow," Aang breathed, glancing at Sokka. He cringed away upon seeing the… well, Aang didn't want to describe expression on Sokka as "murderous," exactly, but…

Hm.

Sokka scoffed. "If you're talking about how splendid of a job it does protecting us," he practically snarled, "then darn straight."

Taken aback, Aang could only blink at Sokka, dumbfounded. But something in his gut—perhaps his instincts—screamed at him not to directly confront Sokka. The last thing he wanted to do was to have a murderous Sokka descend into an even fouler mood because of him.

So, instead, Aang decided to skirt around the topic cautiously. Stick to questions that weren't going to rile up the already-unpleased warrior. "These walls are so tall," Aang observed, if somewhat blandly. His mind raced a mile a minute, trying to predict how the conversation is going to play out and which moves would be the right ones to make. It was like a game of Pai Sho: each move must be made deliberately, and one misstep would spell certain doom. "Why is that?" he finally settled on asking.

Wrong move. Definitely the wrong move.

If looks could kill, Aang would be a steaming heap of ash on the ground right now. He fought not to squirm under Sokka's looming glare as the boy towered over him, and for an instant, Aang swore that Sokka was as tall as the walls themselves. Sokka's shadow seemed to stretch over Aang, and the temperature seemed to drop to freezing levels, if the chill running through him was any indication.

Aang wasn't arrogant enough to declare himself unafraid of Sokka, because he was very much afraid.

After a moment, Sokka turned that condemning gaze away from Aang, and the temperature seemed to rise back to normal levels. "'Why?' Well, what do you think?" the older boy snapped, and Aang couldn't hold back the flinch at Sokka's harsh tone. "To protect us from the monsters outside."

Monsters?

"And it does such a nice job, too," Sokka growled, "which is why we have to sit up there"—he jabbed his finger violently towards the battlements—"and wait for them to come traipsing in to eat us!"

What.

WHAT.

Dread and trepidation pooled in Aang's stomach as an icy puddle as his vivid imagination suddenly kicked into overdrive, filled with gruesome images of grotesque creatures and blood and— suddenly, Aang wanted to be sick, but considering that he was on an empty stomach, he could only dry heave.

Nope, nope, nope, not dealing with this, abort, ABORT.

Sokka must've heard Aang's retching, and when he turned to look at Aang, he must've seen the horror painted all over Aang's face because his eyes suddenly softened with something that looked like concern, and he firmly grasped Aang's shoulder. "You good?"

Aang gulped in air, trying to steady his body with deep breaths. Surprisingly, the haze over his mind cleared, bringing his senses back to full clarity, Sokka's hand on his shoulder like an anchor back to reality. Little by little, his dry heaving lessened to heavy panting, and he looked up to see Sokka still looking over him with that concerned gaze. "Yeah, I—" He broke off to gulp in another deep breath. "I'm fine," he finished, looking up to see Sokka's skeptical gaze. "Really, I am," he insisted.

Sokka was still peering at him skeptically, but instead of pressing him, he only breathed out and turned towards the wall again, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Sorry," he muttered. "It's just… these walls…" He exhaled. "I have mixed feelings about them."

Oh." The real question died in the back of Aang's throat before it even had the chance to be voiced aloud: Why?

He didn't need to, anyways. "It's not something I want to talk about," Sokka answered in response to Aang's unspoken inquiry, going back to burning holes in the wall with his eyes.

Aang thought about Sokka's words for a moment. "Does it have something to do with the night watch?"

Sokka didn't turn back towards him, but a heavy sigh indicated the older boy heard him. "Yeah."

"But the walls are so tall. How…?"

"You'll see."

Silence. Sensing that he wouldn't make much headway with Sokka with the direction the conversation was headed, Aang carefully considered a… less dangerous question to ask. "Why is there a gate here?"

He made the right move this time. Sokka's shoulders loosened from their previous tension, and Aang found he could breathe a bit easier now. "Well, we need to find a way to get out of here, don't we?" he retorted, though there was no heat in his voice, as he turned to face Aang. "And since there's no sign of an exit here,"—he gestured expansively to the area within the walls—"we have to go"—he pointed to the metal gates—"out there."

Aang blinked owlishly at Sokka. "You're… trying to find an exit? But…" He scratched his bald head. "How can you know for sure that there is one?"

The older boy snorted derisively. "Newbies had to come from somewhere, didn't they?"

That was true, but… "How do you know that the people who put us here want us to get out?" Aang asked. It was a morbidly pessimistic question, he knew, but he was curious on gauging the progress that the group of kids seemed to make.

Apparently, not very well. Sokka's face fell, and his eyes shadowed. "We don't." He turned towards the gates again. "And I'm beginning to think they don't."

Hey, no— Aang silently cursed himself for posing a question that Sokka had clearly mulled over himself. In a sudden burst of confidence, he laid his hand on Sokka's shoulder. Sokka merely glanced over at him, curiosity glinting in his dark blue eyes. "I'm sure that they wouldn't put us here just to rot," he told the older boy, and his conviction wasn't fake. "There is a way out of here, I know it."

Sokka scoffed, shrugging Aang's hand off. Aang wondered if he ought to be offended, but all he could feel was sympathy for the older boy as he gazed into Sokka's dark, empty eyes. Devoid of that spark of life he'd seen in Katara's eyes. "What do you know?" Sokka grumbled. "You're just a newbie."

"That may be so," Aang conceded, "but that doesn't mean you should give up hope."

Sokka finally turned and looked Aang fully in the face for the first time since they've arrived at the wall. The older boy's expression was appraising as he seemed to scan him, and Aang could see bitter disappointment warring with cautious optimism.

"You're a real piece of work, newbie," Sokka finally said, his tone none the friendlier, "you know that?"

Aang blinked, unsure of how to respond. "Uh… thanks?"

"Don't." Sokka's tone was harsh. That moment of weakness was gone, the optimism fleeing the depths of his steely eyes. "That's gonna be the thing that gets you killed."

Aang blinked again, more than a little bit unnerved by how… intense his guide was being right now. Every muscle and tendon seemed to be pulled taut, setting his face in a stony glare. Those blue eyes (so similar yet so different from the soft-eyed girl that was his sibling) were icy shards, cracked and jagged at the edges. However, through the cracks, Aang saw a flash of something… more. Something deeper.

Suddenly, Aang wondered how long Sokka had been here. Maybe for too long, it seems, too long and with too many things to witness and experience. The shadows thrown over the Water Tribe boy's face made him look haggard, even, dare Aang say, haunted. Untold memories that flickered under the cracking ice of those cold blue eyes and horrors that could be read simply by the darkening of his expression… all of them, all manifested into the boy standing in front of him, made Aang realize, truly realize, for the first time that these people here were kids.

Kids that were being forced to grow up too quickly.

Looks like I'll have to change that. Aang opened his mouth even as he himself wasn't sure what words would come out from his mouth—maybe an encouragement? maybe some sort of attempt at comfort?—when a big, muscular teen suddenly shouldered him roughly as they passed by.

Aang let out a startled oomph; the force of the other person's rough shove was harder than Aang expected it to be. Sokka's eyes immediately zoned in on the teen, who was walking away from them, and he scowled. "Watch it, Zuko!"

That familiar rush of knowing once again burst from within Aang, but for once, he paid it no heed; he was busy watching the other teen as he halted in his tracks before turning menacingly towards Sokka.

Aang couldn't hold back a gasp when he saw the giant burn scar that stretched over the teen's golden, flaxen eyes underneath the shaggy black hair.

Quickly averting his eyes, Aang busied himself with taking note of the scarred teen's attire: a hooded vest with drawstrings and black-and-red blocks that created a jagged pattern on the cloth. Sleek black sleeves extended out from underneath the vest, complete with two red stripes running down the back of each arm, giving it a sports shirt-like look. Completing the set was a pair of dark gray sweatpants and a pair of red-and-gold sneakers.

Automatically, Aang's mind filled in the blanks of this teen's heritage: Fire Nation. As Aang drank in the sight of the newcomer, he felt a flurry of emotions that seemed to flash through his body all at once, too quick for him to properly discern what they were, but it left him feeling a vague sense of unease, so unlike the warmth that was triggered by Katara or even the general amiability of Toph and Sokka (as hard as it was to believe for the latter).

Unease… and something else…

"Why don't you make me, Water Tribe peasant?" the boy named Zuko sneered at Sokka, his pale hands balling into fists. Aang only felt his unease grow at this boy's mannerisms… and at the furious look on Sokka's face.

"You watch your mouth!" Sokka snapped, seething fire as he stared down the other teen. "You forget that I'm a squad leader—"

"Like that even matters," Zuko shot back, scowling as he walked up until he was in Sokka's face. "You may be squad leader by name," Zuko said in a low tone, almost too low for Aang to hear, "but in the end, you're nothing without your team of benders to carry you to victory."

Aang was shaken deeply, but not because of the words themselves; it was their effect on Sokka. The Water Tribe teen, who had acted so tough and cold and level-headed, who had seemed so stoic and expressionless, looked utterly stricken by the Fire Nation boy's words; for all Aang knew, Zuko had run the Water Tribe teen through with a blade, so pained was Sokka's expression. For a moment, the mask slipped, revealing a vulnerable boy underneath it.

Aang fully expected Zuko to press his advantage over Sokka and continue attacking the latter—Aang was already formulating several intervention plans—when, much to his surprise, the scarred teen backed off instead. He glanced over at Aang with hardened golden eyes. Aang, startled, could only stare back at him in utter bewilderment.

Evidently, that was the wrong move. "What are you looking at?" Zuko growled; Aang noticed that his left arm was halfway up to his face, as though it were self-conscious about the scar that marred his facial features.

"Nothing!" Aang's voice cracked at the end, and he cringed in utter horror.

Zuko stared at him for a few moments longer before his sun-gold eyes darted to something just above Aang's eyes. A strange expression flashed across his face for a moment, but it was so fleeting that Aang couldn't register what it was in time, and then it reverted back to its characteristic scowling. Zuko only grunted, roughly shouldering Aang to the side before storming away.

Aang watched him go, a peculiar feeling settling in his stomach. There was something about that boy with the burn scar… something that went far deeper than his rudeness. Aang couldn't deny that anger towards the Fire Nation teen boiled in his stomach as he pictured the helplessness in Sokka's expression, anger and disgust at the haughtiness that permeated from the teen, and yet…

And yet…

There was also something so sad about the Fire Nation teen; the air around him was heavy with something somber, something tragic. Aang didn't know what that meant, nor how he was able to sense it, but that knowledge was enough for his anger to recede, replaced by contemplation for the enigmatic scarred teen.

Aang turned back to Sokka and was startled to find blue fire flickering back at him. It wasn't directed at him, that was for sure, but the sight was still enough for him to take a couple steps back from the boy.

Sokka was seething silently, burning holes into the ground where Zuko had been a moment earlier. Even from a distance, Aang could hear Sokka's hissing breaths as his shoulders heaved, like he was fighting down a tsunami wave of anger.

Abruptly, the older boy turned away. "Follow me," he snapped angrily towards Aang. Aang, taken aback, could only stare; even when Sokka acted so cold to him, Aang had never heard the tone he was using now. It almost sounded as though Sokka… blamed Aang. But for what? What did he do?

A low growl rumbled deep in Sokka's throat. "I said follow me!"

That was enough for Aang to snap out of his haze, fear sharpening every sense until he was hyperaware of every twitch of his muscles, every rustle of his clothes, and every breeze that brushed his skin. He hurried to catch up to Sokka as the other boy marched away, his steps brisk and heavy with fury.

When Aang got within earshot of his guide, he heard Sokka muttering under his breath, venom spilling out his mouth with every word. "Carry me to victory… I'll show him who carries us to victory… show them all…" Abruptly, Sokka's voice rose, becoming much more audible to Aang's ears, and the older boy spared Aang only a sharp, flitting glance. "We'll have to do a fitting to find your gear and head to the armory, too."

"Wha—?" Aang nearly lost his balance at the words flying from Sokka's mouth. But the older boy never faltered in his steps. He was unrelenting, unyielding. Aang was able to regain his footing and rushed to catch up to Sokka, who, in those split seconds, somehow managed to put several strides between them. "Wait—"

"We'll also have to get you adjusted to the training schedule, too." Sokka's voice lowered to a bitter mutter as he added almost to himself, with Aang just barely catching it, "This really throws everything off, but it'll have to do for now."

"Sokka—"

"Toph'll help you around, show you the ropes." Again, Sokka's voice had returned to normal levels. His voice volume was fluctuating wildly, as though he wasn't sure whether or not he was talking to Aang or himself, and it was unnerving. Aang couldn't suppress the panic that was rising from each word that was coming out of Sokka's mouth; Sokka was sounding less and less like the kid Aang knew was in there and more like… an adult taking charge of a situation. "She'll be able to toughen you up in time for your first experience on night watch—"

"Sokka, wait!" Aang was breathless by now, a sensation that felt strangely foreign to him. He struggled to pull in deep gulps of air, trying to keep up to the older boy. Finally, miraculously, Sokka halted in his steps at Aang's plea, although when he turned around, he didn't look so happy.

"What?" Sokka snapped.

"Why?" Aang could only manage. He gestured to the area around him, which he now just registered was the same place they started when they exited the bunker. "Why are you…"

He trailed off as he saw the thunderous look on Sokka's face. His expression was frightening, his eyes a swirling typhoon of ice and snow, and Aang suddenly felt like he was facing a saber-tooth moose lion instead of one of his peers.

How in the world has everything come to this?

Sokka took a couple steps forward until he towered over Aang, his expression never once wavering. He jabbed Aang's chest hard. "I," Sokka began in a low, deceptively calm tone, "am your commanding officer. Whatever command I give you, you must follow it." He leaned into Aang's face, and Aang flinched at the hot breath that hit his cheek; Sokka's eyes were still stormy. "Did I make myself clear?"

He didn't wait for a response. One split second, he was in Aang's face; the next, he was several steps ahead of Aang and quickly making his way back towards the bunker.

This… this couldn't be right. Everything about this was so, so wrong: Katara as the chief medic; Sokka and Suki as squad leaders who were talking about training regimens; the boy named Zuko, who couldn't be much older than any of them and had a burn scar on his face; even Teo, who couldn't even be much older than Aang himself and was forging weapons.

Nothing about this was right. They were just kids!

It was a last-ditch attempt, a plea of desperation, that escaped his lips, but Aang's despair had bubbled up from the icy pits in his stomach to his throat, so there was no stopping the words that flew out of his mouth. "We're just kids!"

Something snapped.

Sokka whirled on him, but rather than look angry, as Aang thought he would've, Sokka only had a grim determination set on his face. "It's time you got it through that thick skull of yours." He marched up to Aang and jabbed his finger back into Aang's chest forcefully. "When you're here, you're a soldier, alright? Out there" —here, Sokka pointed to the metal gate, his eyes not leaving Aang's— "is our enemy. Whatever they are, whatever you want to call them, doesn't matter. They. Will. Kill you. And as long as they are going to try and kill you, you're fighting for your life," —he jabbed at Aang's chest again before making a sweeping motion at the environment around them—"and everyone else's life.

"So let me make this clear." Sokka's eyes hardened to jagged ice. "So long as you're here, you're a soldier. You gotta act like a soldier, you gotta think like a soldier. Because the minute you let down your guard, the minute you stop being a soldier, someone here is going to die. Got it?"

Aang suddenly realized he was trembling. He balled his hands into fists and shoved them into the pockets in his sweatpants, but he couldn't stop shaking. He wondered distantly if he should be feeling something, anything, but all he seemed to feel was an icy numbness that trickled down from his mind, seeping into his limbs and turning them as heavy as stone. He opened his mouth, but the iciness flooded his throat and choked his vocal chords, and so he shut them again.

It didn't matter anyways; Sokka, at that point, was long gone, the door to the bunker slamming shut forcefully. In the back of his mind, Aang realized that perhaps he shouldn't keep Sokka waiting and that he should follow his orders and follow him—

But he was rooted to the ground.

The gentle warm light of The Plane shone down Aang's skin, but for the first time since venturing out onto this land, Aang didn't feel warmed by it at all.

A/N Hnnnn... 8.9k words of expositional stuff.

Add it with the last part, and you geeeeetttttt *drumroll* 16,274 words in total!

Aren't you guys glad I broke it up into 2 parts instead of keeping it as one chapter?

Anyways, we've met Katara, Toph, Teo, Suki, and Zuko, now! Yay! We'll be meeting some other characters in the very next chapter, so fun times all around! (Oh, and we'll be seeing Katara again).

Please review! It makes my day whenever I hear your guys' thoughts!