A/N: Yay! Do the happy dance (cue six flags music)! Second chapter! Second chapter! Second chapter! (And I run in circles until I fall over, the end.)

Last time: What Sokka and Zuko call "Demon Plants from Hades" pull the two groups apart. Aang sees a girl in a white dress (cough, TOPH, cough), Appa and Momo are being hunted, and Sokka's getting beaten up by vines. Katara is being attacked and Zuko is talking to himself. Oh yeah! And Iroh found a tea buddy.

Oh. Boy.

o0oOo0o

Aang kept running after the mysterious girl for at least an hour. Her pace had not slowed much, but the Avatar was finally beginning to tire. His lungs were on fire despite his efforts to breathe as if he were firebending. His legs were burning and growing heavier with each leap. Sweat glistened across his flushed face. Aang wished he could stop but he wanted so badly to know who the girl was. He was drawn to her.

Up ahead, she stopped, turning to look at him. Aang was about twenty yards behind. "You're no fun." she mocked. Her tongue stuck out and she gave a little wave before she ducked behind a tree trunk. Her pet boar followed suit. Aang managed to quicken his pace until he reached the tree. Thinking she was still there, he peered around it.

Needless to say, he was surprised she wasn't. The airbender's gray eyes widened. He looked up. No girl. Where was she? He scanned the nearby trees. No girl. He went around the other side of a tree. No girl. Defeated, Aang slipped down on a thick branch for a well deserved break. Who was she? Aang asked himself. And where did she go? It's like she vanished into thin air! An eerie tingle crept up his spine.

Aang glanced around. Maybe it was his imagination, but he felt like he was being watched.

o0oOo0o

Sokka finally dragged himself to his feet, forcing himself to put one foot in front of the other. The dirt and grime didn't bother him but the plants were absolutely horrible! He wished he could just plow down the entire swamp (A/N: and in the twenty-first century, the swamp became a mall. The end! Ha!). He swung his machete half-heartedly.

Sokka's eyes were half lidded. Gods was he bored! His persistent stomach gave a lurch and gurgled. And was he ever hungry! As he tried to lift his foot from the ground, he found he couldn't. The water tribe boy grumbled and knelt down to pull his shoe from the mud.

"Stupid mud! Stupid swamp! Stupid water! Stupid possessed demon plants!" Sokka growled to himself. He fell out of his shoe, landing face first in the mud. "Great." Wiping his face with his sleeve, he pulled his shoe from its prison and dumped the mud out of it. He hated to admit it but he really wanted a bath right now. Sokka stood and turned. His shoe fell back into the mud but he didn't care. His eyes were wide as he gawked at the sight before him. He found his hand reaching out. "Yue?"

Sure enough, it was Yue. She floated above the ground, clad in white flowing skirts and shawls. A strange white light seemed to surround her. Sokka took a step forward but snapped back into position as she spoke. "You didn't protect me." she said. Her voice was filled with hurt and her eyes wavered. The water tribe warrior felt an ache in his heart.

"I--"

"You didn't protect me. You promised you would." She hovered closer to him. He stepped back, tripping on a root. When he sat up, Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe was nowhere to be seen. Sokka felt his eyes water.

o0oOo0o

"It's a lemu!" one of the men said. He held up a burlap sack triumphantly. Inside it was a catch that was wriggling and chattering. Appa looked over his shoulder to see his little friend in the sack. He wanted to turn back and help Momo, but at the same time those scraggly bearded men would catch him too. The bison could easily take a small group out but this time was different. They were doing things with the water; moving it and controlling it like Katara did. Aang's Spirit Guide didn't want to be caught in that storm.

With a reassuring grunt to Momo, Appa turned and ran as fast as he could.

o0oOo0o

Katara sat on a tree branch, head on her hands. Is it gone yet? She thought. The waterbender peered over the edge. Nope. Sighing, she sat back and waited some more. Beneath the tree was the cause of her scream: a crocodile. The reptile was just sitting there, jaws open and expecting. Because you can so clearly see I'm going to dive into your mouth. Katara said to herself. An hour of sitting in a hard tree was not on her list of things to do.

Yet here she was.

She wished the thing would just float—

"Ugh!" Katara smacked herself in the forehead. Float away! She was a waterbender! Why hadn't she thought of that before? Here she was sitting in a tree to get away from a stupid crocodile when she could be fending it off and then continuing to search for her friends! But there was no use beating herself up over the incident. With a quick movement of her arms, Katara summoned nearby water and washed the predator away. It lay unconscious in the water from the impact. Knowing it wouldn't be knocked out for long, she ran off into the forest.

Twigs and vines pulled at her limbs and clothes, but the bender hurried onward. She ran until her legs were wobbly and her lungs screamed for a break. Sticky sweat covered her, making her clothes stick to her body. The first thing she'd do once she got out of here, she'd decided, was take a nice long bath. And she'd buy a bar of soap from the next marketplace. She couldn't forget the soap. With a disgruntled sigh, she continued on into the woods.

"Aang! Sokka! Can you here me?" she yelled. That was what she called every three minutes or so, hoping someone would answer her. An hour came and went but it seemed to take forever.

The silence was drowning the waterbender. A tingle shot up her spine and she looked around. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she felt like she was being watched. And then she heard it. Crying. It sounded like someone was crying. Katara listened closer, following the noise to a small clearing. The crying was growing ever louder.

In the clearing, sitting on a pile of leaves, with her head in her hands was a little girl. The waterbender moved closer to her, carefully. The girl didn't look much older than four or five. She was clad in a purple kimono with blue flowers covering it. Not a nation color… Katara thought. Her belt was deep red and her hair was brown, similar to Katara's. The girl's small body shook with sobs.

"Are you alright?" the waterbender asked warily. The girl didn't look up.

"I want my mommy." the girl cried. "I want her back." Katara felt a pang in her heart. The poor girl was all alone, tiny, and helpless. The girl's hands eased away from her face, long bangs covering her eyes. She clutched what appeared to be a ribbon in her hand, navy colored silk.

"Where did you last see her?"

"In the swamp. The Fire Nation took her." The girl sniffed. Katara felt a wave of panic wash over her. Fire Nation troops were here? "And I want her back."

"Do you want to come with me?" the waterbender asked. "I'll take care of you."

"Really?" The girl's voice was filled with hope.

"Yes--" Katara stopped when she caught sight of the girl's eyes. They were copper. Like the Fire Nation. She fell backward with a cry of shock. When she sat up, the girl was nowhere to be seen.

o0o0Oo0o

Zuko pushed past the brush of the trees, muttering under his breath. The water was up to his knees and his shoes grew heavy with water. He came to the bank and kicked a plant off of his boot. He glared daggers at it as if it was the source of all his problems. He whipped around and trudged on, shoving twigs, leaves, and vines out of his way. "Uncle!" he yelled, cupping his hands to his face. In the back of his mind, he knew it was rather dim to yell. What if someone else heard him? He'd be on his way to a prison in the Fire Nation, that's what. Stupid old man. The firebender said to himself. He's saying his uncle is stupid, but deep down we all know Zuko loves Iroh (cue group "aaawwwww.").

Suddenly, the exiled prince froze. He listened intently, barely breathing. His golden eyes narrowed. He could have sworn… He kept walking. And he heard the noise again. He listened closely. Was that…was that someone crying…? Curious, Zuko followed the noise. He pushed back a final leaf and found the source.

On a pile of leaves sat a small girl, not much older than five. The sunlight shone threw the trees on her spot. The girl had her head in her hands and her little body wracked with sobs. Her kimono, Zuko noticed, was purple—not a nation color and her belt deep red. The flowers on her kimono were red, too; they looked like Fire Lilies from Zuko's home. She didn't seem to notice the newcomer.

Zuko wondered what such a small girl was doing all alone in the forest. Where were her parents? Was that why she was crying? What nation was she from? The bender edged closer. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. He had always had a soft spot for children, no matter how strange it seemed. The girl looked up, eyes puffy from crying. The first thing Zuko noticed was her eyes were golden- like his. Fire Nation. He said to himself. His instincts told him to back away; he didn't want the girl to tell someone about him. But he couldn't ignore her. She was a defenseless little girl!

"No." she said, sniffing. "I want my mommy. I want her back." Zuko felt a pang in his chest. He swallowed. He remembered his mother leaving. He never saw her again. "The Fire Nation took her away. She told me to hide so I climbed a tree." The girl's eyes fell. "She didn't even put up a fight." Zuko knelt in front of the girl.

"When?"

"This morning." The scarred boy's eyes widened. How hadn't he been caught yet? Where were the soldiers? The girl looked down; fingering what looked like a ribbon of blue silk. She clutched it in the middle so that her fingers were nearly white. Zuko stared at the girl for a moment before making up his mind.

"Do you want to come with me?"

"Really?" The girl smiled from ear to ear. Zuko nodded.

"Come on." He stood and turned, walking out of the clearing. When he heard no footsteps behind him, he turned. The girl was not there.

o0o0Oo0o

A/N: Hi people! How was the chappie? I hope you liked it!

Oh, and FYI: this fic is gonna be pretty short; maybe only two or three more chapters. Just to let you know…

Lol. I'll be lucky if I get to that. I only had four reviews for the first chappie. (tears)