Chapter 9: If only…

"Why do they want me?" I immediately asked. This was too creepy and bizarre for anything that's happened to me before. Well, I guess not every 12-year-old gets zapped into an anime, but still… this was so strange. In a way, I didn't want to know. This was such a serious moment; I wanted to burst out laughing, but that would make me seem more immature than I already am. I was so worried, I almost felt like throwing up, seriously.

"You know about the comet that the Fire Nation is going to use to finish the war, right?" Katara asked. I shook my head, no. I was sure this was another sure way that I wasn't with the Fire Nation. I had that feeling it was. Of course I knew, but as you all know, I just can't say, 'Yeah, I do. It's cool because they're going to absorb its power and destroy everyone and everything and rule the world!'

Katara quickly explained to me what it was and I nodded dumbly to show I had a slight grasp of what she had said. BUT, I knew the whole story almost by heart. I'm not as entirely dumb as I let off.

"Okay, from what we heard…"

Did I really want to know this?

"—you were…"

Do I really want to know this?

"You're going to be used as a sacrifice to harness the comet's powers."

No, I didn't. I was silent, letting it all soak in. I didn't want it to, but I did. The truth of why I came here was told. This feeling of just being here to be sacrificed; it didn't feel nice.

"Well," I started, my shoulders shaking a little, "I guess I couldn't say this is the best thing ever. Actually, this sucks. This really, really sucks, but I just wanted you all to know I thought that!"

I brought my knees to my chest and rested my eye sockets on my knees. This sucks… really bad. I mean, I wanted to be happy meeting the Avatar and Katara and everyone, but I didn't want this. The wrong move and I'm here to be sacrificed. Looking up, I forced a bright smile. "Well, we can't have them catch either of us, right, Aang?"

Haru placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it a bit. I'm really glad they all were here. "Hey, Haru, I'm fine! I mean, I just avoid them and that's it, right?"

"Yeah, right," Haru replied looking away. He was hurting too. OH PSH, this drama has to stop. I'm gonna be fine! If I don't get home before I can see all my friends again, someone's going to be hurt so badly, their mom will feel it.

"Let's get moving then!" I exclaimed. "Maybe, we can talk sense into someone, right? Power isn't anything and nobody ever thinks they're the bad guy! The Fire Nation has a reason for this and I want to find out… through Zuko."

Everyone looked up like I was crazy. I motioned for everyone to get up. "C'mon, c'mon! I promise, Zuko will know!"

"But, he's looking for—"

"Aang, I know," I finished, interrupting Katara. I did a quick thumbs-up. I won't be sacrificed. I refuse to be and I want to know why all this is happening anyway. "C'mon, it won't hurt to be chasing for someone! Let's be the creepy stalkers!"

"Are you okay, Sammy?" Sokka asked, cocking his head to the side. I nodded, most enthusiastically. I twirled around.

"Never been better!"

"What about—"

"I'm gonna be fine, Haru! I promise! Really. If you really want to make sure, maybe you can come too, but we barely have any money to feed ourselves."

"I can help with that," Haru replied with a small smirk.

"Sure, you can," I answered, waving my hand. We both grinned at each other. I looked to Aang to see if he could actually come along.

"I guess it's alright," Aang replied like a stressed mother. Without much wasting anymore time, we all hauled ourselves and our stuff, though I had none, and left the village. Looking back, I wanted to ask Haru if he'd miss everyone there, but I'm sure it'd hurt his feelings, so I kept it to myself. Sokka had been awfully quiet this whole time. It made me wonder what had happened to make him so quiet.

"Ugh… too much food," Sokka said, falling backwards. "And right before the fight too."

Oh, that did it. We all laughed. Well, Haru's cooking was good, no doubt. Finally, the serious talk was coming. Katara, Aang and even Haru, not Sokka, had their serious face on. I knew I was about to be interrogated, in a friendly sort of way.

"Sammy, what can you do with your powers so far?" Katara asked as Appa lifted off with Aang's 'yip-yip.' Pausing before I spoke, I thought it over. What could I do?

"I guess," I started, cautiously, "I can use a medium in which to support my bending so I may attack—err, I mean, through an item, I can use it to send out shockwaves, which is my attack so far. I can also create a barrier, I'm not sure how yet. And, I can create large balls of sound where I hurl them and it explodes."

"Anything else?"

"My scream is like a bomb too, when I say it with enough emotion, I guess… I guess everything around me blows up," I replied, thinking of anymore I had gone through. Nothing came to mind yet, so I sat there silently. Haru came next.

"How do you feel about having to be sacrificed?" Haru asked. I grinned, almost childishly to show how much I cared. I didn't care. I'm fine with being a target. C'mon, everyone gets this feeling nowadays… okay, not really, but I was fine.

"I'm fine about it," I replied simply. Winking cutely at him, I watched him blush a bright, bright red. He's so cute sometimes.

"If only… I had known about this earlier though," I started, and shook my head. I waved frantically to the others, worrying they might've thought I thought it was their fault. Sighing, I thought of all the things that have happened so far, from meeting Aang, Katara and Sokka to going into a battle with newfound bending skills. It was very… strange, you could say. "I hope that I won't be sacrificed because…"

I smiled brightly. "I would hate to die to save the enemy."

"Yeah, we'd miss you too," Sokka admitted, looking the other way. That dork would miss me too, that's cool. I felt so happy, I could barely breathe. C'mon, when Sokka admits he'd miss you too is as rare as Zuko being nice. OH yeah, admit it! I speak the truth!

I heard something flying towards us. Appa swung to the right, barely dodging a Fire Nation cannonball. OH, great, he's back. Well, I guess I could say I missed him a little, but I don't. I could see Zuko's ship below and I waved a quick goodbye to the group.

"I'll stalk him for you!" I said. Haru grabbed my hand before I could jump off. Squeezing my hand a little, he looked a little worried for me. I grinned to assure him I'd be all right. What could Zuko do to me anyway? Rhetorical question. Just to see Haru's cute little smile, I hugged him and whispered in his ear, "Well, don't get lost, okay?"

I left the embrace and saw him blush about 200 million shades of red at once. He's so cute! Katara smiled softly at me and nodded. They'd lead the chase on and I'd find out information, we'd meet in the middle. Haru seemed a little hesitant still.

"What about your bending sickness?"

"I'll be safe! I promise!" I said. I braced myself, timed my fall, and jumped. I took the sound all around me, mostly the wind that passed me that made a roaring sound, and created a sound barrier around me and crashed onto Zuko's ship without a scratch on me. Although the crash was a bit hard that it left me with my conscience fading. I felt Zuko pick me up by the back collar of my neck and yell at Iroh for him to take me to my room.

"Hey Zuko, sweetie," I said, before blacking out with a small grin on my face. I was thinking of how red Zuko's face would be seeing how all of his men were around him. Hah, my revenge was done. Now to get to business.

End of Chapter 9: If only...

Author's Note: Jeez, that took awhile to write and it's not even that long. Anyway, just to tell you all, I got my site back up and everything. Phew, I'm glad I did it. The next chapter will probably be about well... me and Zuko. Yippee, fun, fun. Let's see what I can do to him now. I guess I'm going to get it from Zuko for calling him 'Sweetie' HAH. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon and maybe start another story also, but it may not be about Avatar, just so you all know.