Status: In rage mode, and listening to "Fuck You" by Lily Allen because it expresses my feelings perfectly.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender or any characters thereof. Nickelodeon, and Mike and Bryan the proud owners of the fantastic show, while I am just a High School student and am writing this for my own amusement. I only own my own characters, and/or any plot twists that are caused because of them.

Also, I'm now going to start putting the chapter title below my pointless little author's notes!

The Truth Comes Out

I hate everything.

That was more or less the only thing I could think as we were forced, at spear point, to walk through to forest, getting closer and closer with each step to the last person in the world I wanted to see. My mask, held in one hand, could have shattered into pieces from how hard I was clenching my fists.

Everything. I hate it.

"Will you quit that?!" I snapped, turning around to glare at the man with the spear - the spear that kept poking me in the back. "If you poke me one more time, I swear to Agni I'll rip it from your hands and snap it in half!"

"Calm down, Tora."

"Don't tell me what to do, Katara!"

"Will you stop it? You don't see any of us threatening anyone, do you?" Katara snapped.

"Well, maybe if any of you were going to see the last person in the world you wanted to see, you would be a little on edge!"

At this, Sokka spoke up. "What do you have against… What's-His-Name? You've clearly met him before. What's the deal with this guy?"

Choosing not to answer the question, I faced the front and continued walking. Up ahead of us, Chey was rambling about his "Old Buddy" Lin Yi, who then forced him to keep walking while telling him to shut up and keep moving. Yeah, real friendly relationship there.

I didn't know what time it was, only that it was late when we finally reached That Damn Man's camp. It was nothing more than a little shack on the riverbank. I snorted at the sight, remembering the times I had seen Jeong Jeong back home. When he wasn't wearing the rich blue and white robes of the White Lotus society, he had worn expensive Fire Nation robes and had always looked a bit too smug while wearing them. The idea of him in rags and living in a shack was pleasing.

Chey was shoved forward by Lin Yi, who said, "Go. He sees only you." Chey gave a nervous laugh, and faintly mumbled something about "chatting" later. Aang started forward. "Is that where Jeong Jeong is? I need-"

The Avatar was cut off by two things - the first thing being Lin Yi holding his spear out in front of him, and the second thing being me grabbing him by his collar. "You're not seeing him, Aang." I said firmly. "We're getting out of here as soon as we can. End of discussion."

Lin Yi used his spear to point towards a very small hut, the walls made of both metal and wooden poles. "You wait there. We'll only give you shelter for tonight."

"That's all we need." Sokka said, heading towards our temporary home. I let go of Aang's collar and followed him, gripping my mask tightly in one hand. Once we were inside, I sat down and leaned against the wall, closing my eyes. "Don't get too comfortable. We're leaving as soon as possible."

The sounds of footsteps and shifting came before Aang asked, "Tora, how do you know Jeong Jeong?"

I opened one eye and looked at him. "Not really any of your business." I said coolly. "Let's just say that I don't want to talk about it, and leave it at that."

"Alright, then." Katara said, sighing. "We should get some rest before we leave. It's been a long day."

"I agree." Sokka stretched out across the ground. "I'm going to sleep. Good night!" Not even five seconds later, he was out like an ember. If it weren't for the fact that he was snoring a bit, I would have thought he was dead.

I let out an "hmm" of agreement, and with that, I was in the same state of mind as Sokka.

~~Water~~

How dare he? How dare he?!

To be honest, I was mildly surprised by the fact that I hadn't set the forest on fire in my rage by then, as I stormed down the hill towards That Bastard's home.

Literally seconds before, Chey had come into the hut, looking rather dejected. When Aang had woken up and asked if he was allowed to see Jeong Jeong, Chey said that "the master" wouldn't teach Aang, that he wanted us to leave, and that he was angry with Chey for bringing us here. Now, for most normal people, this would have been a good enough answer. For most normal people, they would have left politely, without bothering Jeong Jeong and his "friends" any longer.

As you may have guessed, none of my friends nor I were considered "normal".

Without a second thought, I had gotten to my feet, and charged right out of that room, ignoring the stares I got from my friends as I did.

So now I was standing outside Jeong Jeong's hut, face to face with the curtain that separated us. In the next couple of seconds, I would see the face of my hated enemy. The person who had helped force my father to force me out of my own home.

Was I ready? Oh, hell, yes.

I shoved past the curtains - and instantly narrowed my eyes.

The room was surprisingly simple. I didn't know what I was expecting - maybe some trinkets from the Fire Nation, armor, weapons? But that wasn't what I found. Instead, the entire room was almost completely bare of anything. The only things in the room besides me was a twisted tree in the back left corner, a ring of lit candles all glowing and flickering softly from where they stood on the floor, and a single figure in the centre of the candles with its back to the door.

Him.

"Get. Out."

He sounded exactly the same as he had two years ago. Same scratchy voice, filled with compressed rage and anger.

"You don't tell me what to do, 'Deserter'." I spat, stepping into the room. I stood with my fists on my hips, scowling at Jeong Jeong's back. "I think I have every right to be here."

"Impudent one," He hissed, still not facing me. "If you've come to force me to train the Avatar, then you are a fool."

Through clenched teeth, I very calmly asked him what he meant by that remark.

"The boy isn't ready!"

"How would you know if he's ready or not?! You don't even know him!"

"I saw him, the way he walked into camp. He practically oozed arrogance - he hasn't mastered water or earth yet! He knows nothing of self-control or discipline!" Jeong Jeong yelled.

"So what if he hasn't?" I yelled back, too upset to care what I was saying. I knew that Aang hadn't mastered water or earth yet, I knew that he shouldn't be learning the elements out of the order of nature - but I didn't care. "This could be his only chance to learn - I can't teach him! I barely know anything myself!" Oh, Spirits, I just admitted that he's a better firebender than me. Goddamnit!

"You - you are a firebender!" He finally turned around. Now I could see his face. He looked… almost the exact same as he had two years ago. The same crazy light burning in his eyes, same scar, same scowl, same scowl lines on his face. The only difference was that two years ago, his hair was often held back into a topknot. Now it stuck out at angles all over his head, giving him a rather insane appearance. "You understand the burden we carry! Yet you want to lay this curse upon him before it's his time?"

"It is not a curse." Because it wasn't - it wasn't! "It's a part of myself, and I accept it as such! Just as I accept my waterbending as part of myself!"

It took me a moment before I realized that I had just more or less told him who I was. Oh no…

Jeong Jeong looked momentarily surprised. "Two elements? Two opposite elements?"

I didn't say a word, instead looking away and crossing my arms, glaring at the wall.

His eyes narrowed. "You… I knew you looked familiar. You're Piandao's daughter. The girl with the ability to bend both fire and water."

I snorted at this. "I would hope you'd remember me. After all, it's not every day you ruin a thirteen year old girl's life forever." I faced him again. "Now, are you or are you not going to teach Aang firebending?"

"I will not!" He roared, the candles flamed up - fortunately not setting anything on fire, but sending sparks flying. I ignored the ones landing on my shirt and skin, as they extinguished the moment they made contact with me, instead choosing to focus more on Jeong Jeong.

"YOU OWE ME!" I screamed, losing all and any control I had. Fire engulfed my clenched fists in fury as I stormed over to Jeong Jeong and leaned down, getting in his face - he didn't flinch, only scowled back at me. "Do you know what you did?! You forced my father to abandon me - if you hadn't been there, he never would have gone through with it! So you owe me - train Aang!"

"You foolish girl! Do you not understand? This has nothing to do with your petty emotions!"

"Then explain it to me, since I'm so foolish!"

"To teach the Avatar firebending would be to lead him to his own destruction! He knows no discipline - how can you expect him to be able to control fire?" My glare must have momentarily given away to confusion or shock or something, because Jeong Jeong then continued, sounding even angrier than before. "Fire is alive! It's a being all its own - it grows! Fire will destroy an entire forest in a day, reduce the mightiest tree to cinders in minutes! It will destroy everything in its path without a bender with the will to control it! You, as a firebender, should know this! You just barely have control - the Avatar has none! He isn't ready!"

The silence that followed his tirade was deafening. The only sound came from the heavy breathing of Jeong Jeong as he stared up at me, not saying a word, but still defying me. I glared down at him, meeting his eyes with my own fiery glare.

"... you forced my father to send me away." I hissed.

"That has absolutely nothing to do with the present. You clearly do not have the ability to let go of anything that caused you grief."

"I'll never let go." I straightened then, lowering my fists, regretting that I hadn't hit him or given him a new scar, like I had wanted to do for so long. "And as I refuse to stand in the same room as you for any longer, Aang can convince you to teach him." Without another word to him, I turned and walked out of the hut.

I passed right by Aang on my way out. "Oh, hey Aang." I said carelessly. He gave me a funny look as I headed back to the room where the others were.

Slipping through the door, I leaned against the wall, sighing deeply as I closed my eyes.

"Tora?" Oh, Katara was still awake. Sokka was too, apparently, as I didn't hear him snoring anymore. "Why'd you storm out like that?"

"No reason. End of story. Good night." I sat down, intending to go to sleep. And it would have been the end of that conversation, had Katara not sat up, forced Sokka to sit up as well, and face me with surprisingly serious expressions.

"Tora. We're your friends. We know when you're hiding something." Sokka said bluntly. "Tell us what's wrong."

"Nothing is wrong." I said, but judging from Sokka's raised eyebrow - just barely visible in the dim light - he didn't believe me. And if Sokka didn't believe me, then Katara wouldn't either. "I promise!"

"What aren't you telling us?" Katara asked, putting a hand on my shoulder. "I know you're upset - it's pretty clear."

"I said, nothing is wrong."

"Tora, talk to us." Katara pleaded.

"Yeah, you can tell us anything."

I was already being in a terrible mood because of Jeong Jeong, it wasn't helping to be pressured into telling my friends something I didn't want them to know. So I snapped. "Okay, fine! You want to know what's wrong? What's wrong is that I'm stuck in a camp with the man that forced my father to abandon me!"

That silenced them.

"Didn't I ever tell you?"

"Uh, no, you didn't." Sokka said, frowning. "I think I would have remembered you telling us something like that."

I paused, thinking back over the years. Katara had told me her mother had been killed, Sokka had told me his dad was off fighting in the war, but I had never told either of them what had happened between me and my father. The only person I had told was Aang, and I hadn't even given him the whole story. "I guess I didn't. I thought I had."

"Well, it doesn't matter whether you told us or not." Katara said, interrupting my train of thought. "Tell us now."

"Okay, okay." I ran my fingers through my hair, pushing it back. "Here it is. I told you both who my father is - Arrluk of the Water Tribe. And you know that my mother was Fire Nation, and they somehow met and fell in love - I don't have any idea how that happened - and my father was banished from the Water Tribe, he went to the Fire Nation, they had me, you both know that part. Well," I crossed my legs. "Two years ago, I was eavesdropping on my father's meeting. He was a part of this secret society that included people from all of the different Nations. The White Lotus Society." It didn't really matter whether or not they knew what the name of the Society was, did it? Well, it didn't matter to me if they knew. It wouldn't harm anything. "The meeting I happened to be eavesdropping on was a meeting that consisted of my father, obviously, Jeong Jeong, and…" I paused, trying to remember. "A few others. I don't remember. I know they were all from the Fire Nation. Anyway, Jeong Jeong and my father were getting into an argument." I took a deep breath. "I don't know what they were arguing about. But I know that it was about me. Because I heard him say my name, and my father said 'my daughter'. I couldn't hear them very well, but after that, my father said 'when's the soonest she can leave?' Whatever Jeong Jeong told him about me, my father agreed with it, and then the next thing I know, he's coming into my room to tell me that I'm going to the South Pole for a 'trip'."

"Your father agreed to send you away?" Katara asked, her blue eyes going wide.

"Yes."

"That's… awful."

"Yes, it was." I agreed. "But what makes me angry about it is the fact that he didn't even have the courage to tell me to my face what was going on. He told me in a letter that I opened on the boat going to the Tribe. The only reason I knew what was happening beforehand was because I had listened in on something I shouldn't have. If I hadn't, I would have had no idea what was happening. I was upset - so I stole his best sword." I had just been so angry, I barely knew what I had been doing. I remembered once I had finished packing up my clothes - not so many, because the temperatures in climates between the Fire Nation and the South Pole were obviously different, so I only packed clothes that I thought would either help me with homesickness or would actually help keep me even the slightest bit warm - I had ran out of my room, headed for the library, and stole three of my favourite scrolls from the shelves. I had tucked them under my shirt, ran back to my room, and stuffed them into my bag. But I still hadn't been satisfied. So I had headed for the room where my dad put all of his weapons. I chose my favourite one - his favourite one as well, his best one. The first and only one we had both made together, no matter how small a part I had in creating it. I thought that if I took it, it would make him feel bad, make him regret his decision.

Sokka looked at me for a moment, then at both of my swords on the ground, then back at me. "The sword you've always had? You stole it?"

I nodded. "Yes. And I don't feel bad about it, I never did and I never will. So don't even try."

"But you said you made it!"

"I did. Or at least, I helped make it. Sort of. I couldn't exactly do much, but what I could do, I did. It was when I was twelve." I couldn't help but grin proudly at the memory. "That was a good moment for me." But then I remembered what the point of this conversation was, and I scowled. "Now do you both understand? I don't want to be here because of him." My tone was thick with disgust, and both of my friends found it clear I was referring to Jeong Jeong. "If it hadn't been for him, I would still be living in the Fire Nation. I wouldn't be considered a traitor by my own people!" I slammed my fist on the ground in frustration.

Katara, not missing a beat, leaned forward and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. She rubbed my back soothingly, and I realized that I had started shaking without knowing it. I clutched the sleeve of her tunic tightly, like a child would, and hid my face in her collarbone. I was acting like a kid, and I knew it, but I couldn't bring myself to care because Katara's actions made it feel like it wasn't such a bad thing.

Not for the first time, I thanked the Spirits for Katara's mother-like compassion.

Sokka rubbed my head calmly, like I had seen him do to Katara when she was upset countless times. I lifted my head slightly, and met his eyes. He was smiling gently, trying in his own way to comfort me. I smiled slightly, not caring whether or not he could see it.

"At the very least, one good thing came out of this." Sokka stated.

"And what would that be?" I asked, lifting my head off of Katara - and in the process, pulling out of her hug, and I wanted to return to it but managed to resist.

"You got to meet me, didn't you?" He asked, grinning in a mockingly arrogant way that made me laugh and Katara roll her eyes but smile at the same time.

"And me." Katara added, elbowing me gently in the ribs.

"Me too!" We all looked up upon hearing Aang's voice. He was standing in the doorway, grinning cheerfully. "What are we talking about?"

I gave Sokka a glance, and saw that his face had taken on a stony look. "Aang, we can't stay here."

Katara nodded. "Sokka's right."

"What?" Aang looked distressed. "But Jeong Jeong actually agreed to teach me firebending! We can't leave now!"

"Aang, Jeong Jeong -" Katara began, before I cut her off.

"No, it's fine. We'll stay here." I rubbed one eye with my fist, sighing. I didn't want to stay - but at the same time, I really, really wanted to. I wanted to prove to Jeong Jeong that Aang could handle fire, that he could control it as well as I - and that I could control it too.

"Tora-"

Without missing a beat, I cut her off again. "Katara, seriously, it's fine. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, or that I've forgiven Jeong Jeong - because I haven't. But he says that Aang can't control fire." I faced Aang, giving him a piercing look. "And you are going to prove to that old fart that you can."

My tone suggested that if he disappointed me, there would be hell to pay.

I feel like I'm destroying everybody's character completely. -.-" Someone tell me if I'm getting everyone - or at least most characters - personality's in character.

I hope that no one was disappointed in this chapter. But, I write what I want to write, not what people think I should write. I liked writing it - especially the beginning. It was fun. :) Family and friendship moments are fun to write. I just love 'em.

Next chapter, we are seeing more of Jeong Jeong and Tora's hatred of each other - at least, on Tora's part. For Jeong Jeong, his feelings for her are mostly irritation.

Question - do any of you ever get the feeling you could be doing more with your life? I get that feeling a lot, but at the same time I'm happy with what I'm doing.