When Alex opened her eyes she found herself standing in the same clearing, Zuko's body lay still.

She looked at herself and noticed she appeared to be living, but she knew in her heart that she was not.

Taking a step over to his fallen body, she looked behind her and noted with a sick feeling that she did not leave footprints in the ash.

Kneeling beside him she gently touched his skin and was elated to feel the heat returning to his pale face.

He moaned and opened his eyes gently. He was looking at her, but he could not see her. He attempted to sit up but cried out in pain as his arm moved. She winced at his pain but knew she could do nothing.

She wanted so badly to reach out and help him, but if she tried, would she feel him?

He carefully sat up and held his broken arm to his body to support it. Alex absently touched his arm and was surprised when he shuddered. She had been able to feel him, and he had unknowingly felt her presence, even if it was only a spirit.

There were burn marks on his face and his clothing was charred and torn from the fire and his fall from the tree tops.

He rubbed his head with his good hand. He was wondering how it was he was alive, how he had survived. He had been dead, he was sure of it. But he had had the strangest dream. Alex had been here, with him. She had protected him from a fire. But there hadn't been a—

He stopped and stared at the burnt ash and destroyed skeletons of the surrounding area.

Ok, so there had been a fire. But he looked and saw no one. She hadn't been here.

He struggled to stand and was finally able to support himself against a tree trunk as he thought about what he was going to do now. He knew his arm would heal in about a weak, but what would he do now? At this point he was extremely vulnerable to any enemies, and it didn't help that he could barely stand.

Alex tried to move closer, but she could no longer see him.

She blinked and saw an earth kingdom boy her age sitting on a fallen tree. Curious, she approached the lad with great interest. He was sitting with his head bent between his knees, holding a crumpled letter in his hands. Tilting her head she read the name of the boy (which was written on the letter).

Josh

Her heart stopped. Josh? This was Josh?

She knelt in front of him so that she was face to face with him. She almost cried out as she saw his face. It was the boy from the festival, she had been with him the whole time and she had failed to notice it…

Taking a breath she said softly, "Josh…I'm so sorry…" she eyed the letter. He unfolded it again and she went around to read it. It was the letter from Luke.

She turned away; at the time of the letter Luke had falsely thought her dead. But now it was true, there were no more lies.

She looked at her friend, he was distraught beyond belief, and Alex's heart went out to him. She had missed him so, and in finally seeing him again she could neither say or do anything. It was painstakingly awful to watch him.

She reached to touch him but once again the scenery changed. She was now standing in a small village.

Startled, she turned and saw Shakra. Glaring she hissed, "Why can't I roam freely like you said?"

He smiled, "I think you need to see these things first." He tilted his head in the direction behind her.

She turned and surprisingly found Zuko slowly making his way through the town. He was clutching his bleeding and broken arm to his chest. And although this was a friendly town, the residents turned and gave him nasty looks, even though he kept his eyes to the ground.

Alex felt like tearing her heart out when she saw him like that. Every place he passed that could offer assistance turned him away without a word upon seeing he was fire nation.

Alex walked alongside him slowly. Shakra had vanished and had left her to her own devices.

He was now walking through the woods aimlessly, in an attempt to locate shelter. Alex could not bring herself to leave him like this. She wouldn't let him be alone, even if he never knew she was there.

Zuko looked up drearily as he heard "voices". Many times since entering these dense woods he had suspected himself of ludicrous thinking. Of course he was just imagining things once again.

He came to a small clearing, and because his eyes were facing downward he did not notice the actual person who was seated only ten feet away.


Josh looked up sharply as a twig snapped. Jumping to his feet he cried, "Who are you?" he watched the stranger closely. By the looks of his clothes he had been traveling a long time and was definitely fire nation.

Zuko – startled – looked up and thus stumbled upon a root. He braced himself against a tree with his good arm and looked at the boy. He was his age for sure, but something about him was familiar.

Josh, upon seeing the state of the man's arm, hesitantly approached him. The man looked at him carefully, but showed no fear.

Josh eyed the man's arm, "It looks broken."

Zuko grimaced, "believe me, it is."

Josh looked up at him. Something about the stranger struck him as odd, but he dismissed the notion.

Josh motioned for the traveler to follow him. Pulling out a small box he took from it bandage to make a sling.

Zuko sat on one of the overturned trees and eyed the boy. He had not mentioned his name, Zuko, but for some reason the boy was placing all his trust in him.

Josh turned and asked if he could bandage it. Zuko, under normal circumstances, would have charred someone who got that close to him

(Except Alex…)

but he was in too much pain to argue. He nodded his agreement.

Once bandaged he looked at the boy, who was stoking the small fire, "Thank you." He said.

Josh looked up, "No problem, I'd hate to be you right now, so I can help out."

Zuko gave a tiny, grim laugh, "I'd rather be you, yeah. I've been through a lot."

Josh frowned and poked a burning log, "Trust me, you do not want to be going through what I am right now," upon the man's disbelieving look he said quietly, "My friend was killed a few days ago."

Alex, marveling at the irony and fate of it all, sat next to Zuko on the log.

Zuko spoke, "I know how you feel, I thought I lost someone I knew before. Of course, she never died."

Alex wanted to scream and shout at them, to tell them that she was right here next to him. But she knew it would be in vain to do such a matter. She looked wistfully at Josh and wished he could hear her. She wanted to end this, but now that she was dead it was a different issue.

Josh seemed to have lost his train of thought as he looked up suddenly—right where she was sitting.

She stared back at him, but he couldn't see her, right? Maybe it was a longing for some sort of attention that made her silently hope that he could see her in any way, or even sense her in the slightest.

He looked at Zuko, remembering that he had spoken, "I'm sorry,"

Zuko shrugged, "It's obviously not as bad as yours, what was she like?"

Josh seemed taken aback, "how did you know it was a girl?"

Zuko looked at him seriously, "I had a feeling,"

Josh gave a small laugh, a sad laugh, "She was amazing, not from around here though." He seemed to be smiling at the memory of his friend, "I haven't even seen her since we landed in this world," he murmured.

Zuko raised his brows, not saying anything although it was obvious he had heard Josh.

Josh smiled at Zuko and extended a hand, "I'm sorry, where are my manners, my name is Josh."

Zuko shook with his good hand, "Zuko,"

Josh looked away, "Yeah I know." He thought for a moment, torn between what he should do, what he knew was the right thing.

He looked at Zuko with the saddest eyes the prince had ever seen. "She's dead," he whispered.

Zuko was taken aback, "What are you talking about?"

Josh stoked the fire, not looking his visitor in the eyes, "Alex is dead. She died saving you," he said with a hint of resentment in his voice.

Spirit Alex looked at Zuko's face, he knew the boy could not be lying, for there was no way he could make that up, since he had not been in the forest.

He seemed to realize something and spoke, almost remorsefully, "You're Josh, I see now." He looked at the fire, "you knew her, so much better than I."

"I grew up with her," Josh stated, "I've known her my whole life,"

There was a rustling in the trees and Josh, panicked, looked behind Zuko to see Tina emerging from the brush.

She started upon seeing a stranger in their midst, but when he turned to look at her she was filled with rage. Almost leaping at the prince, she shouted at him to get out, and as Josh (who had leapt up to prevent the slaughter of Alex's friend) struggled with her, she yelled at him to let her go. When she had calmed down enough, he let go of her arms and she stared viciously at the teen.

Zuko, alarmed by her anger, stood up in his defense, trying to defend himself the best he could with his unharmed limbs.

Tina looked at Josh, "You're sitting with him? Don't you realize he's our enemy?"

Josh looked at her and placed a hand on her shoulder, looking her in the eyes seriously, "It's alright Tina, he knows—knew Alex."

She pulled away from him, staring at him with such a horrifying look, "what are you talking about, how could he—" she froze, "what do you mean knew her?"

Josh looked over at Zuko for a moment, "She's dead," he said quietly.

Tina swallowed several times, trying to make sense of everything. The world seemed to be spinning around her in a whirl of colors and sounds.

But it was all over soon, when the world went black.

She awoke to see Josh standing over her, a worried look upon his face. As he helped her to sit upright, she saw that Zuko was regarding her carefully. She rubbed her head and thought for a moment. This was real, this was all too real.

Alex was perched on a branch just four feet above the small group. Sighing, she leapt to the ground and paced about, eyeing the odd gathering.

Tina looked at Zuko and saw no fear in his eyes. And as she looked more carefully, she saw such grief, such a scar that it even rivaled the one upon his face. She looked at him, and although she knew she would not like it, she knew what she had to do.

"I guess you can stay—for now," she added dryly, showing her displeasure.

Zuko only blinked slowly and looked up at her. Every emotion had already been washed out of him. It was almost like he didn't care anymore; it was almost like his life had ended so many hours ago.

He remembered his last few moments with Alex, and he was thankful for that. As much as they had bickered, it was a miracle his last words to her weren't harsh or demeaning.

Still, there were so many things he wished he could have done just one last time. He wanted to hold her once more, to feel the comforting warmth of her skin against his, he wanted to feel the soft touch of her lips, and—he wanted to tell her he loved her.

He blinked. Had he really admitted it? Even in his own thoughts he had always shied away from the notion. But now it was apparent that he did in fact—love her. But she would never know, never.


Kyle was walking along one of the many waterways, unaware that Katara was watching him curiously.

He was angry, at everything. Angry at Aang, angry at this messed up world, angry at himself, angry with the world. Nothing seemed to be the same, and it was now more than ever that he wanted to see his friends.

He knew they were coming, it couldn't be much longer. But for some reason he had the strangest feeling that something was wrong; terribly, unfixably wrong.

Angry, he threw his arm out around him, eyes closed in hatred.

Katara gave a small gasp. When his arm had moved, the water had violently moved with it, making a large wave. But he did not notice, for he opened his eyes too late.

She cautiously made her way over to him, and prepared herself to tell him the strangest, most unbelievable thing of his life.