Chapter 5:

The Ghost That's Haunting You

Team Avatar set a course for Ba Sing-Se to meet with Zuko's uncle, Iroh, at his tea shop, The Jasmine Dragon. Zuko deduced from the silence that echoed throughout the ship and Aang not being around the rest of his friends that the avatar was forced to kill his father. Sokka confirmed his suspicions, then showed Zuko the body.

"At least its over now" Zuko said showing nether sadness nor joy, before going to go see Aang.

He'd reach the bunks where he was laying and was met with Katara at his defense.

"Aang, how are you feeling?" He'd ask sympathetically.

"Leave him alone for now Zuko-" Katara retorted defensively.

"I just want to make sure he's okay…" he hardly finished his sentence.

'OKAY?! DOES HE LOOK OKAY? HE JUST KILLED A MAN" her words like venom, she spat at Zuko, but he was unaffected by her explosion. "FOR ALL WE KNOW HER MAY NEVER BE 'OKAY'!" She started crying.

"I understand that… he's my friend too, and I want to help" Zuko replied, obviously trying to keep his composure. Then his complexion changed. His voice went dark, "And remember, that man he killed… was my father". Katara's eyes widened as she remembered that difficult fact.

"No matter how much I hated him, he's still my family. I've learned a lot about family from you guys" he'd finish, sounding almost sad.

He began walking away, then Aang shot upright and began muttering incoherently. Zuko ran back in to see Katara trying to hold Aang down, trying to comfort back into a state of normalcy. She was unsuccessful. His blue arrow tattoos began to glow their ghastly white, which meant only one thing; he was in the Avatar State.

Zuko grabbed Aang's other arm and helped Katara in restraining him but to no avail. With a powerful air blast, the two went flying back, Katara hitting her head on a bedpost, knocking her unconscious. Without her to console Aang back to a lucid state, everyone was in untold amounts of danger.

Aang began to levitate himself, and would gravitate towards the body of Ozai. He seemed unaware that he was deceased. He used the materials around him to create yet another pike, as if to kill Ozai once again.

"AANG! CALM DOWN! HE'S ALREADY DEAD! THE WAR IS OVER!" Zuko yelled out to him.

Aang responded only with another air blast to push Zuko away from him. He continued his "mission" without hesitating. Sokka ran in.

"Hey, what's with all the- AANG!" he'd exclaim in a panic. He saw both Katara and Zuko lying, neither responsive. He really got scared.

He ran back to the bridge and got Suki, in hopes that she could help him.

Aang was off. His tattoos were flickering like an old neon sign. Zuko regained consciousness and watched in awe. A moment ago, he was lying there, unable to move and now, he was fighting off the Avatar State.

He began yelling out, as if having an argument with himself.

"You have to do it Aang, only justice will bring peace" he said before replying to his own statement. "I can't, he's still a human being". As time went on, the argument became more rational. "Aang you must be decisive, the world depends on it" he said, then replying, in tears; "I did it though.. I ended it already".

After the internal power struggle, his tattoos went back to their light blue and Aang fell to the floor, caught by Zuko and Sokka. He apologized to Zuko, turning his head away from Zuko, ashamed.

"I'm sorry." was all he said.

Zuko and Sokka helped Aang back into his bunk, then carried Katara into the bunk with him.

"Get some rest buddy, we all need it" Zuko told him.

"Yea, try to get some sleep." Sokka reinforced.

Aang slowly closed his eyes and fell back asleep and the two walked back while Suki stayed with them for comfort.

"I'll stay with them, you two go fly" she said. Sokka hugged her.

The remainder of the flight was quiet, nobody had anything to say.

A/N: MUAHAHAHHAA chapter 6 is here, i hope yall enjoyed this one as much as i enjoyed writing it! dont have too many thing to say for these except for thank you for the continued support on this story, it means so much! ALSO if you havent seen, im working on another fic, one called Avatar: World Tour and the prologue to that is up now, give it a look, (or not, choice is urs :) ). Chapter 6 coming soon...