A/N Thanks to all of my loverly reviewers, and I'm sorry I didn't update yesterday, I wouldhave, but I had homework, and a cold. I still have homework and a cold. Why do teachers believe that weekends should get extra homework, just because there's an extra day? We have weekends for a reason, you know! Sigh. Colds should be destroyed. I will flame my cold! Bwahahahahahahaha! Enjoy the show.
"This is absolutely insane," muttered Sokka. "I can't believe that we're reading this."
"You think I can?" demanded Zuko.
"Shut up," snapped Aang. "Both of you."
Sokka and Zuko stared at him, slightly surprised at this out-of-character demand. Iroh drank some tea, while Momo ate a bug.
Katara closed the book with a sigh, marking her place with a piece of moss.
"We're all a little uptight," she explained. "And acting differently than we normally do. It's the curse of the Sues. This particular curse is called 'Out Of Character," also known as OOC."
"Oh," Sokka said. "I thought it seemed a little odd for Aang to be snapping at us like that."
Aang winced. "Sorry about that," he apologized. "I didn't mean to."
"Not your fault," Sokka waved it away.
"Can we get this over with," demanded Zuko, "or are you two going to spend the rest of the day being polite to each other?"
"That would be a welcome change," muttered Katara.
"Just keep reading," snapped Zuko.
"We're all annoyed," Iroh told him. "But you have to remember it's because of the OOC."
"Actually, I think he's very in character," grumbled Sokka. That might have opened a great debate, but Zuko didn't hear him, and Katara started reading again.
Zuko stepped out of the bushes.
"Hello," he said.
"Hello?" asked Sokka. "'Hello?' He steps out of the bushes, scares the… scares them, and he's a Fire Bender, and all he can say is 'hello'?"
"What does being a Fire Bender have to do with anything?" demanded Zuko.
"Uhh, hello? Fire Benders started a war on the rest of the world. They are evil!"
"No we're not!" protested Zuko.
"Stop it!" exclaimed Aang. The pair shut up and looked at him.
"We're all tired, and grumpy, and OOC," he began. "And we all are from Nations that are at war against each other. But right now, the war is not the problem we're facing. We're facing the Sues, who won't stop their evil no matter what happens with the war. They are the ones we have to fight, not each other. We can't worry about Fire Nation or Water Tribe anymore. Not when we have to face beutyinthemoonlight19. Either we fight her together, or we go our separate ways and let her control our world with forces beyond us!"
"Could she really do that?" asked Sokka skeptically.
"Actually," Katara put in. "She could. If a Sue gets powerful enough, with no flames or concrit, all good reviews from other Sues… If she is strong and experienced enough, if she is a full Sue with no tinge of goodness in her… Then she might actually have the power to control the world as we know it. And nobody, nobody could stop her. No force in this world would be able to stand up to her. We would be eternally locked in Sueishness."
"We would not want that," Iroh shuddered.
"No," Katara said solemnly. "We wouldn't."
"Let's get back to the story," Aang suggested, sounding tired.
Katara opened the book and began to read.
"What do you want," Belle said. She was brave, because Katara was afraid.
"Someone else's fear isn't what makes you brave," Zuko pointed out.
"And the 'said' thing again!" agreed Sokka.
"How about we don't count the 'said thing'," suggested Aang. "I think she's going to do it forever."
"I want the Avatar," Zuko said.
"That's a little obvious," Sokka pointed out.
"And it has very… odd implications," added Iroh.
"Uncle!" exclaimed Zuko. "That's disgusting!"
"What?" asked Aang innocently. 'What did he say?"
"Nothing," Zuko told him vehemently. "Absolutely nothing."
"Prince Zuko," Iroh said. "It was a joke."
"Oh." Zuko turned red. "I knew that."
"You won't get him," Belle said.
"You know, that's sweet and all," Aang pointed out, "but I'd like to know why she's suddenly so defensive of someone she just met."
Katara found her courage, which had been lost.
"Excuse me?"
"Katara! Keep reading!"
"Yeah," Katara said.
"Sorry, but that's just a little… cliché," Zuko said.
"And I can't imagine Katara just saying 'yeah' to something like that. She'd have an entire speech ready, and by the time she was done, Zuko wouldn't know what hit him," laughed Sokka.
"Excuse me?" asked Zuko, sounding exactly like Katara had a minute ago.
"Where is he?" Zuko said.
"He is not here," Belle said.
"I would think that's a little obvious," Sokka pointed out.
"And also, I'd bet she only said that because she wants to make sure nobody forgets her character is there," Aang added.
"Naturally, anyone reading a Sue story for this long must have a very short attention span," muttered Zuko. "Or else they would notice all the inconsistencies."
"Not necessarily," Katara reminded him. "Some people might be reading it out of sheer boredom, although I can't imagine what kind of boredom would be worse than a Sue. And some might read it just like we do, to conquer the Mary-Sue."
"Than I will take you two instead," Zuko said.
"I don't think he'd do that," Aang mused. "I mean, he would probably at least ask where I was, wouldn't he?"
"Definitely," Zuko said, agreeing with Aang for once in his life.
"You will never take us alive," Belle said. She was brave.
"They could have said, 'Belle said bravely', instead of that," Sokka pointed out. "It would have made for sentence fluency and all that, rather than sounding like a four-year-old wrote it."
"I've seen four-year-olds write better stories than this," snorted Zuko.
"Really?" asked Iroh interestedly. "When?"
"Guards," Zuko said. "Take them," he said.
The guards grabbed the girls' arms. They had no choice but to follow.
"Do not worry, Belle," Katara said. She had seen that her friend was sad. "Aang will rescue us."
"Uhh, what about Sokka?" asked Sokka. "Aang's not the only one around to rescue you, Katara!"
"I know that," protested Katara. "I didn't write this story, blame beutyinthemoonlight19!"
"Also," Aang added, "If the guards grabbed their arms, technically, they wouldn't be following them."
"They might be following me!" Zuko complained.
"That is not what I am afraid of," Belle said.
"What?" asked Katara, seeing that Sokka was laughing silently.
"She's thinks that you think that she's afraid of Aang rescuing her!" he guffawed.
"Than what is it?" Katara said.
"I am sad," Belle said. "I am sad because I could not fight the Fire Nation."
"She didn't have to say that she was sad once, much less twice," Aang pointed out. "They said that Katara had already noticed it."
"It is alright," Katara said. "There was nothing we could do."
"Excuse me?" asked Katara for the second time that night. "I think I could have taken two Fire Nation guards. Or, at least, I would have tried!"
Zuko snorted. "Hmph. Any Fire Bender could take a Water Bender with one hand tied behind his back!"
"Let's get back to reading, shall we," suggested Aang hastily, not wanting another confrontation.
"You were brave," Katara said.
"I know," Belle said. "But I wish I had been a Bender. If I had been a Bender, I could have done something. It is very tragic."
"I don't even know where to begin with what's wrong with that one!"