Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender because if I did, the artists wouldn't have gotten so lazy for the second season.

A/N, Pt. I: I am aware that since I last updated, the new season has started and there are drastic changes in the lives of all of our favorite characters. I've been trying to make this story as canon as possible but alas, I suppose now it deviates from the show's timeline. Nonetheless, I am pouring all of my energies into the rest of the fic, so please readers, bear all this in mind. Onward!

Chapter 7: The Epiphany

The fire flickered in the light breeze, throwing shadows across the two figures standing over it, across from each other. The night was cool and clear, and from their vantage point on the summit of a mountain, the two could see what seemed like the entire world. Above, the stars glimmered and the moon was nearing its full quarter, illuminating the landscape in a pearlescent glow. The whiteness of the moon didn't seem to touch the pair, however. They were washed in the auburn red of the fire between them, as if they chose to turn their backs on the watery light of the moon and find redemption in another element instead. As if they had to.

Aang gazed through the flames to into the huge eyes of his animal guardian. Appa looked back steadily, refusing to waver. "Appa," Aang said in the barest whisper, "You know that you are my closest and oldest friend and I'm only doing what I'll be doing because we have to, right?"

Unnnngh. Appa knew what his human meant. He was still a little scared.

Aang frowned. He knew exactly what his steed was thinking of. The two were not new to the purification ritual of the Air Nomads, although the only time they had been a part of it (as witnesses and not participants, thank Dalai) was over a century ago, only a few weeks after they had Bonded.

The transgressor was a former monk who had rebelled from the temples and left to live a life of crime. He was finally caught after killing a monk in a botched burglary of a shrine. As the Law decreed, those who harmed or took any sentient life were to be submitted to a purification ritual. The ritual would vary according to the nationality of the victim, and the man had killed an Air monk.

Aang watched the man hauled into the center courtyard of the Southern temple, bound to prevent escape. Someone read the charges, and one of the senior monks had stepped forward. He began to Bend, forming a massive sphere of wind in the courtyard. Before the defendant realized it, he was encased in a miniaturized tempest. Aang's eyes widened in horror as he stood on the sidelines watching the poor man being buffeted and pummeled by the howling gales within the invisible cage. The monks and other spectators began chanting as the storm continued, and the hand on Aang's shoulder suddenly gripped tightly. Aang looked up and saw Monk Gyatso, tears streaming from the old man's eyes and teeth clenched so that the words forming in the monk's throat could just barely slip out: From the deep oceans, life is given. From the solid earth, life is given. From the roaring fire, life is given. From the high skies, life is given. A sin on one is a sin on all. Life is given. Life is holy. A sin on one is a sin on all.

Frightened by the scene before him and the hollow chanting of the people, Aang reached out and felt for comfort from the huge, furry ear next to him. Appa looked up and moaned softly, as clearly disturbed by the unfolding drama as Aang was. They stood together as the chanting escalated and white light shone from within the sphere of wind. With a loud boom, the sphere broke at the peak of the crowd's frenzied recital. The man that was inside lay on the cold flagstones, completely still. Silence fell as the presiding monk knelt and felt for a pulse. Slowly, the monk stood and in an awful, empty voice, announced, "He refused to honor life. He would not be purified."

As the memory ended, Aang reminded himself that the man had died because he had no respect for life; Appa was very different. Still, looking into the sad, trusting eyes of his friend, Aang could only remember the eternal void in the open eyes of the dead man, and he could still hear Monk Gyatso weeping quietly for his lost nephew.

"What's taking them?" Zuko demanded from his lookout post in the crown of the tree.

"Ahh, who knows," Sokka drawled lazily, "Aang's a mystery. A mystery wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce."

"What?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Well don't you think we should at least be ready for when they get back? Maybe packed up, or at least with shirts on?" Zuko suggested, pointing at the blue tunic hanging from a lower branch.

"Hey," Sokka protested, "If you want to stay all pasty-pale like that, good for you. Me, I gotta take advantage of this sunshine! The ladies love a tanned and toned body."

Zuko turned his eyes back up into the sky. "Since when did you know about what 'ladies love,' anyways," he called, "Seeing as how Katara told me the last one you met ran away crying and the one before that trounced you in hand-to-hand combat in about two seconds."

"She said what?"

Zuko laughed heartily as Sokka blushed, sputtered, and jumped off the wide branch he had been lying on, but stopped when Sokka began shaking the tree trunk so hard that the top of the tree swayed sickeningly. "Hey, cut that out!"

Sokka grinned crazily as he continued shaking down the stranded prince. He still disliked and distrusted Zuko, but rare moments like these made him wish he had a brother or a male friend closer to his age. Aang was a great friend, sure, but it got difficult to relate sometimes due to their age difference and the whole I'm-the-Avatar-and-I-Must-Save-The-World complex. Sokka hated to admit it, but Zuko was better company sometimes. So long as he stays away from Katara.

High up in the tree, Zuko wasn't contemplating the joys of friendship and brotherly camaraderie. Hanging on to dear life and eyes fixed on the sky above, he muttered to himself, "Just don't look down. Don't look down."

"Sokka! What are you doing?" Katara's voice split the air.

Zuko's gaze instinctively snapped downwards to find her. He instantly regretted it. A wave of nausea crashed over him, and screwing up his eyes he let out a guttural roar. Fire spewed from his mouth and sluiced down his body and the entire tree, setting it ablaze.

Below, Sokka was defending his actions against his sister when the bark he was resting his hand against burst into flame. He looked up just in time to see more rushing madly towards him. "Wha-oh-oh-OHHHHH!"

The Water boy scrambled back from the burning tree and hit the ground, cowering. Startled but still possessing some sense, Katara quickly Bent a nearby bucket of water up the tree, but before she reached even halfway, the flames died down as quickly as they had arisen. She turned upwards, confused. "Hmm?"

Zuko felt better. He looked down – the entire tree was a charred mess. Gingerly, he began climbing down. He felt bad for burning such a big tree; it must have taken decades for it to grow that tall. He reached the bottom and sheepishly apologized, "Sorry. I got kinda sick."

The siblings gaped at him. "You…you get sick," ventured Katara, "And you throw up fire?"

"I guess, yeah."

"I am so glad I'm not from the Fire Nation," Sokka squeaked.

An awkward silence fell over the trio, and Katara shifted her weight from foot to foot. "Well uh, unique gag responses aside, breakfast is ready. I caught some fish and we still have some of the berries that Momo and Sokka found. Will you help me with the fish, Sokka?"

Sokka gladly scooted to the campfire and the waiting food. "Weirdo," he mumbled under his breath.

Katara frowned and levitated a small handful of water, dumping it on her brother's head.

"HEY!"

She turned back to Zuko, who was looking up, down, to the sides – anywhere but directly at her. Katara smiled, despite the fluttering in her chest. He's really rather cute, in an awkward way. "Zuko, I was thinking," she began hesitantly.

Sokka's head whipped around to scowl at his sister's back, and then at Zuko, who noticed. The message was clear: stay away from her.

The amnesiac Fire Prince wanted to smirk at the Water boy's obvious displeasure, but kept his face impassive. Hey, she started talking to me first.

"…sometime?" Katara finished, in a rather meek voice.

Puzzled, Zuko asked, "What? Sorry, I didn't get that."

Agh! It was hard enough asking the first time around, and he didn't listen? Men. "I was thinking, that maybe you'd like to, um, that is, we, could ah, um…spar sometime?" Katara repeated.

"Oh." Zuko blushed lightly and scratched his head. He caught a glimpse of Sokka, behind Katara, who was shooting death glares at him. Well, what can I do? It's not proper to refuse a lady. "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that," he said, grinning at both Katara's offer and Sokka's unhappiness.

"Great! How about tonight, after Aang gets back?"

"Uh, yeah okay," Zuko muttered. Aang. Aang, Aang, always Aang.

Katara flashed him one last smile and went to join her brother cleaning and gutting fish. She felt light-headed and dizzy. Did I just arrange a date with Zuko? Ohhh…what am I doing?

"What are you DOING?" Sokka hissed as she reached his side. "You're spending time with him? You can't trust him! He'll do…things."

"Things?" Katara shot back. "He doesn't remember who we are, right? He's not going to hurt me. And what, just because I'm a girl he'll be able to overpower me? Remember Suki? I thought you learned that lesson."

"Yes. But he's still dangerous. I don't trust him."

"Well thank you dear brother, but I can take care of myself. Besides, you and Aang will be there. Now come off it and let's fry these beauties."

Sokka opened his mouth to argue further but stopped when he heard a triumphant call from the sky.

"Hey guys! Katara! Sokka! Zuko."

"It's Aang and Appa!" Katara jumped to her feet.

Appa landed heavily and Katara let out a gasp at the sight of the Avatar and his steed. "What HAPPENED?"

The pair was covered in soot and Appa's lustrous coat was nearly gone, shorn off. Aang had a scrape on his cheek, but was smiling as if nothing had happened. The smell of burnt fur lingered on Aang's clothing. Katara got ready to heal him, but Aang waved her off. "Don't, it's supposed to be like this."

"What, bloody and burnt?" Sokka blurted.

"No, the ritual of purification and redemption requires that the participants let any injuries that happen heal naturally. It's our way of showing repentance."

"Oookay. So what, did you two roll around in a forest fire?" Sokka crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"No, I Firebent."

Zuko, Katara, and Sokka simultaneously exclaimed, "WHAT?"

Aang rubbed his hand over his face and sighed, "Firebent."

Appa nosed Aang, who smiled at his friend's comfort. Mmmwwg.

"How did you do it?" Katara asked excitedly.

"I don't know…I just did it. I mean, I had to, because the ritual has to reflect the person that Appa hurt, so I figured since it was Zuko, I should use fire. It was hard for a while because I didn't know how, not really, but I tried using what Jeong Jeong taught me and it got…kinda out of control."

"Wow, Aang, that's great! You can Firebend!" Katara exulted.

Aang returned her smile, but when he turned to the other two boys, his grin faltered and vanished. "What's wrong?"

Zuko said slowly, "You…can Firebend." He looked up and there was a tinge of anger in his eyes. "You are expected to Firebend."

Katara whispered, "Uh oh."

Zuko continued, "You can bend water, air, and fire. I'm betting you can do earth too." With sudden force, he burst out, "You're the Avatar!"

Sokka shrieked and scurried under Appa's massive chin, cowering. "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!"

Katara could feel Aang tense up beside her. I knew this wouldn't last long. "Now Zuko," she said calmly, holding her hands out but ready at any moment to attack.

Zuko advanced on her, a strange light glittering in his amber eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"Uhh well," Aang stammered, "I...I didn't know?"

Zuko whipped around and fixed Aang with a long stare. "Don't be stupid. You knew. And you," he glared at Sokka, "Lied to me. You didn't tell me he was the Avatar! I knew it; I knew there was something special about you, Aang."

A flaming hand flashed out and gripped Katara tightly on the arm. She cried out in alarm and Sokka and Aang yelled in worry and fear, but she soon realized that Zuko wasn't hurting her. "Whoa, hey. It's not burning. How are you doing that?"

Zuko looked a little confused. "I don't know. I didn't get burned when I flamed up that tree or when I Firebend, so I guess I can control who I want to burn or not. And," he paused uncomfortably, "I don't want you burned."

Surprised, Katara looked up into his face. He didn't want to hurt her? He was angry, of course, but there was still no hostility. On the contrary, he seemed…excited. Exuberant, almost. "What," she said hesitantly, "Do you want, then?"

Zuko faltered. "I want, I want – "

FLASH!

"The Avatar! Don't let him escape!"

"Get him! He's getting away!"

Big gray eyes looking solemnly into his own gold ones. "Do you think, if things had been different, we could have been friends?"

Katara felt and saw Zuko slump and steadied him. He brought a trembling hand to his temple and grimaced. "I want the Avatar. I want you to tell me…the truth!"

Sokka emerged from his hiding spot, boomerang in hand, and snarled, "You have the truth! You can't have Aang though! And get away from Katara!"

Katara held up her hand and Sokka stopped his advance. She could still feel that Zuko wasn't an immediate danger. "The truth, Zuko?" she prodded gently, trying to lead him away from the topic of Aang.

"Yes, the truth. You definitely aren't who you say you are. And, I've met you before. I've been looking for you," Zuko studied Aang.

"Where did you meet him?" Katara led him on, although a tiny voice in the back of her mind was slightly cross that he hadn't remembered her.

"I don't know. But I've been looking for you. And look, I've found you! Do you know what this means?"

"Uhh, doom?" Aang guessed.

Zuko gave him a puzzled frown. "No! It means that the war could be over!"

Upon receiving three very blank looks, he continued, "Think about it: the war's been going on for so long."

"How do you know about the war?" Katara asked. "You don't remember your own life."

"I don't know. It's like I can remember general facts and history, but not my own. Unfortunately." A cloud crossed Zuko's face, but he continued on. "The war's been going on, and the only one who can stop it is the Avatar, right? I've probably been looking for you all this time to so something could be done about the war."

Sokka rolled his eyes. Not quite, but that's okay. We're not dead yet, then.

"Now I've found you, and you can come with me and we can stop all the fighting!" Zuko finished happily.

"Um, okay," Katara said. "One second here. First of all, follow you where?"

Zuko's face fell. "Oh. Right. I don't know that one."

"And second of all," Katara continued, "He still doesn't have fire and earth mastered. How can he fix the war without those?"

"I hadn't thought of that."

The Water master smiled. "You had the right intentions. You're right, we didn't tell you everything." She shot a nasty look at her brother, who looked resolutely at a very interesting pine cone at his feet. "Aang is the Avatar, and we're trying to get to Omashu so he can learn Earthbending. You've been following us and have been, shall we say, very insistent on Aang coming with you."

Sokka muttered, "That's one way to put it."

"But he couldn't come with me, he hadn't finished mastering the other elements," Zuko said thoughtfully. "Why didn't I think of that?"

Katara grimaced. "We've always wondered that." She forced a smile on her face. "You must have finally pushed Appa over the edge, and he attacked you. We found you unconscious and didn't want you to keep on harassing Aang, so told you something different. We're sorry we lied."

Aang and Sokka looked at her in surprise at her fib. She refused to return their stares. "So now you realize how important it is for us to get to Omashu?"

"Yes."

"Will you help us?"

Zuko looked thoughtful. Something still seemed off, but the facts seemed much better this time around. He trusted Katara to be honest with him, anyways, although the idea that she might not be niggled annoyingly in his mind. He pushed it out of the way. She wouldn't lie to me, right? "I'd be happy to."

A relieved smile crossed Katara's face. She had just thwarted a crisis, although she felt terrible for lying to Zuko again. At least it's not as bad or stupid as Sokka's.

Zuko dashed for the luggage, manic glee barely suppressed. The sooner Aang helped stop the war, the more lives could be saved! "Let's get going, then!"

Sokka came up next to his sister and the two watched the Fire Prince throw things into Appa's saddle with reckless abandon. "I can't believe you lied to him, after giving me all that grief earlier," Sokka said lowly to Katara.

"I don't want to talk about it." She turned away and began helping Zuko.

Aang stood with Appa, who whuffed and snuffled at the monk boy. "Hmm? Oh yeah. I guess he's a part of our group now. Can you accept that buddy?"

The bison snorted. He would accept it, but he didn't have to like it.

Aang sighed and rubbed Appa's nose. "I guess so, but this fixes a lot of things. Come on. Feel like flying today?"

A/N, Part II: Eee. Things are falling apart, things are falling apart! That, and Fire-barf. Heh. Well, it's another slightly slower chapter, but I have some better bits in store in the next few chapters, and things will start picking up, both plot and Zutara-wise. I hope I have time to get at least another post out by the end of the week, but we'll have to see. I can promise some fun OCs though.

I've been having random bouts of nausea. Let's hope I'm not dying.

For those of you with an LiveJournal account, check out the community baaaaabyanimals. It's featured on the LJ homepage, and it's just deathly cute. I think my heart is going to explode.