A/N: Hahahaaa! I did it! The next chapter! Hopefully you guys won't find this too weird to stop reading...and once again OMG I LOVE YOU GIUZ YOU GUYS YOU'RE ALL THE BEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD FOR BELIEVING IN ME AND SHIT OMG IMMA CRY RIGHT NOW...

Disclaimer: don't own. ESKJKLSDJFKDJFKSL WHHHYYYY

A Date With Disaster

Chapter Three: Disaster's Secret

"Did you just say what I think you just said or am I hallucinating again?" Sokka rubbed his head.

"Did you just say half-fish?" Aang cried in disbelief.

"I know it sounds crazy…but that's what I saw…" Toph frowned.

"Half-fish?" Aang stared.

"Look guys if you're really going to freak out about this—"

"Half-fish?"

"Did someone give me cactus juice again? It was YOU Aang, wasn't it?" Sokka pointed accusingly.

"Half-fish?"

"Or maybe…it was YOU Toph!"

"GUYS." Toph stamped her foot, sending both boys flying onto the floor. "Do I have to remind you that we're in the middle of the forest in the Fire Nation with a psycho Sugar Queen on our hands? Pull yourself together you idiots!"

Aang ruffled his hair, trying to soothe the pain at the back of his head. "But…half-fish? How does that make any sense?" he exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air.

"Actually—it does." Sokka surprisingly said.

Toph and Aang stared at him, beckoning to carry on.

He started: "When we were young we used to have story-time with other kids in the village. Katara was too young to remember at the time, there was this onestory I remember that everyone was really crazy about. It was about a creature that wasn't fully human and lived underwater…argh, what were they called again? Mors? Marians? Meer—something? Argh, I can't think." He scrambled his head for a moment, he cried out, "Oh yeah! They were called Mermaids!"

Toph's eyes widened, "Mermaids. It makes sense now. My grandma used to tell me about them all the time!"

"What are mermaids?" Aang asked, befuddled.

"Mythical creatures, everyone thinks that they don't exist. That they're just fairytales. Mermaids are hybrids of human and fish. They're supposed to be very beautiful and really dangerous. They hypnotize sailors with their voices to lure them into the sea, and when you're in their mercy…they devour the essence of a human soul so that they could stay young forever." Sokka explained, "No wonder Katara's acting so crazy! His voice alone is making her do stupid things!"

"Then what are we waiting for? We have to get out of here!" Aang panicked.

"No! We can't! Just think about it Aang, how many girls has this guy killed? And how many more of them are roaming around in this town? We can't just leave—not until we find out what's happening."

"Who knew Snoozles had some Sugar Queen in him this whole time?" Toph joked, lightly punching on him the shoulder.

Sokka smiled slightly, "She is my sister. Are you sure that he was half-fish? Completely?"

"My feet don't lie."

"Well then, looks like we got a soul-stealing mermaid to catch…I'd never have thought that I would ever say something like that." Sokka shook his head.

"What happened to running away from Zuko?" Aang bemused.

"And fangirls?" Sokka smirked.

"You were chased by fangirls?" Toph raised an eyebrow.

"Long story. Doesn't matter. What are we gonna do about Katara? We can't let her go near him again!"

"Actually Aang, I think we might have to." Sokka said uneasily.

"What?"

"If we let him know that we know he's…you know, not human, at least not fully—he'll surely grab his fish buddies and split. Or worse, hurt Katara."

"But she'll be in danger!"

"Not if you follow them around." Toph pointed out, suspiciously smirking.

"What do you mean?"

"It's perfect!" Sokka cried, "Aang follows them around acting jealous! They'll never suspect a thing!"

Aang waved his hands frantically, "Wait, wait wait wait. You want me to spy on Katara? But I got in so much trouble last time; she'll never forgive me when she finds out!"

Toph smirked wider, "You mean if she finds out."

"I can't spy on her!"

"You did it last time!" Sokka argued.

"Yeah! But—that's different!"

"How's it different!"

"I…uh, I mean…Katara trusts me not to!"

"Pfft, it doesn't matter!"

"I can't do that Sokka, her trust means a lot to me!"

"Aang, there are lives at stake here! There are countless of girls that have or will be killed by him if we don't do this. Trust me; Katara will understand when all this is over."

Aang paused, a frown on his features. "I really don't like this. Besides, why do I have to follow them around and pretend to be jealous? Why can't you or Toph?"

Toph burst out laughing, "Uh, because Twinkle Toes, you are jealous?"

Aang blushed, "What! No! She's my…uh…friend? I don't want her to…be hurt…"

"Yeah." Toph smirked.

Aang tried to change the subject, still red-faced, "What are we even going to do anyway? If he really is a mermaid? Do any of you even know how to kill a mythical creature?"

He was greeted by silence.

"You don't?" Aang cried in disbelief.

"Hey! It's not they would tell us how to kill things that aren't real to a bunch of six-year-olds!" Sokka said defensively.

Toph face-palmed, "Oh, this is great. We've got a psycho Sugar Queen going gaga over a Fire Nation boy who might possibly be a mermaid of all things, ready to devour her soul. Which, by the way, we actually have no proof of even knowing if he actually is a mermaid. On top of that we've got get to the invasion site across the Fire Nation to take over the palace and end a Hundred-Year-War which we can't do until we clear up this mermaid pile of dung…ugh…this was not what I signed up for when I wanted to travel with you guys."

"When you say it like that of course it sounds unbelievable." Sokka grumbled.

Toph sighed. "This is so not going to be fun."

They stood in tense silence, each silently battling with their thoughts, and the reality of the situation was scaring them terribly. The fact that they were facing a creature out of this world was terrifying enough, but facing with no idea how to kill it? With a friend in clear range? The thought was energy-consuming.

Aang looked up to Sokka and Toph with scared eyes, "Guys…what are we going to do?" his voice shook.

Sokka's lips pursed, he blew a breath of air from his lips, "Let's not ahead of ourselves. First, we find out if he really is a mermaid."

Both nodded, relieved that they were finally able to do something.

"How do find out if someone's a mermaid?" Aang asked.

Toph rubbed her chin, "Well…my grandma used to say mermaids hated fire. Which is why living in the Fire Nation would be the perfect hide-out, no one would ever think a mermaid would live willingly with firebenders."

"But I can't firebend yet." Aang spoke hopelessly.

"We could create fake fire, like at Roku's temple." Sokka suggested.

Toph mulled it over. "That could work."

"Yeah, but random firebending in the street? No, we'll be arrested." Aang interjected, "I know! We'll invite him to go cave exploring with us, and then we'll ask him to hold a torch!"

"Not bad." Sokka sounded impressed, "so what happens to mermaids when they're around fire?"

Toph paused, "I don't know. They just react violently to it. Worth a shot."

"Agreed. Now let's get some sleep before Katara wakes up." Sokka yawned and started heading back to the campsite.

"Did I hear you right?" Katara rubbed her ears in disbelief. "You want me to invite Zen to go cave exploring?"

Sokka smiled unconvincingly, "Yeah. I might as well see what the big deal about this guy is anyway. I mean, the last time you wanted to leave the group was because of Aang and we all know how that turned out. Can't a big brother be curious about the type of boy his sister dates without her assuming he's going to do something terrible? Pfft. Like seriously Katara, pfft. That's stupid. Pfft."

Katara stared at him oddly, "You just want to scare him for dating me, don't you?"

"…yeah."

"Fine. Okay. Just don't do anything really embarrassing okay? I really like him and I still don't think he's recovered from the last time something happened."

Aang smiled sheepishly under her look. Toph rolled her eyes; couldn't he be any more obvious? He was practically waving a sign saying, I like you! in her face and she still couldn't see it—probably as much as Twinkle Toes didn't see Katara flaunting herself at him. Even under evil mermaid mind control the two acted as oblivious as ever.

After mildly awkward introductions had passed, the team (plus one) journeyed towards the waterfall. They found out from Zen, who wouldn't refrain himself from talking, that it was nicknamed "The Rainbow" for its spectacular affect during the winter nights—most festivities and weddings were held during that time of year.

As he yammered on, Aang snuck a look back at them. Katara was holding his hand and was amazingly absorbed into his story, hanging on his every word—gasping and laughing at the right parts, both being sickeningly sweet and adorable around each other.

It made him feel sick, like he was going to throw up. This wasn't her.

Toph punched his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Stop moping Twinkle Toes. He's a mermaid, we'll catch him and then you two can go back to being all oblivious and icky-lovey-dovey around each other in no time."

Aang smiled, "Thanks Toph."

In her own way, she was trying to make him feel better.

Which, by far, was much better than what Sokka was trying to do.

Sokka, angry because technically Katara was dating a Fire Nation boy, was trailing behind the group—stopping to come in between Katara and Zen whenever they got 'too close' or coughing loudly when their conversations turned intimate. In his own way as well, he was being a protective older brother and making sure that Zen wouldn't harm her physically. He was a mermaid! Devouring her soul would be the worst and last thing Sokka wanted—but come on, he was still a boy. And Sokka promised to look out for sister with both boys and evil guys.

Not that she knew (the boys part that is).

"We're here." Toph said.

"How do you know that?" Zen asked rudely.

"Mind your own beeswax pretty boy."

"Toph!" Katara scolded. "Don't be rude."

"Settle down Sugar Queen. It's not like I asked him to slit his own throat, did I?" she ventured into the cave, completely ignoring the rest of the group.

An awkward silence descended upon the group. Toph's blindness was something the group had gotten accustomed to. But the arrival of someone new poking at her blindness was something tender, embarrassing, and cringe-worthy. They were used to treating her like a normal person—just not used to not telling someone that her brashness, blindness and earthbending were all tangled with each other.

"I'm sorry, she's just like that." Katara apologized.

"No, no it's okay. That was none of my business to ask; with her being blind...it probably wasn't the right thing to say."

"You know she'll kill you if she heard you say that, right? She's not some baby just because she's blind. She's the toughest out of all of us." Sokka indignantly butted in.

With that said, he ran into the cave after Toph, wanting nothing more than this day to be over. He knew the day was going to be difficult—he just never expected it to be this hard. The torch in his hand was lit, leaving a soft glow on the cave's ceiling. By then, it was apparent that Toph and Sokka were onto this guy. They were clearly not going to treat him any better than any random Fire Nation soldier.

It was also obvious by Katara's lack of anger that she wasn't expecting Toph or Sokka to act reasonably to Zen at all; which was why Aang once again cursed the fact he was raised as an honourable and kind monk. That, and Katara was the one he was in love with...

"Sorry Zen, our friends are...hesitant to new...people." Aang muttered lamely, the jealousy in his stomach increasing when Katara smiled at him and then shot an adorable grin towards Zen.

After Zen bounded his way into the cave, Katara turned back and thanked him for being mature about meeting Zen—unlike her brother and Toph. Swallowing the lump in his throat couldn't have been any harder—considering the fact that he was still expected to follow Katara around until they flushed out Zen's secret hybrid DNA.

Aang could already tell; this day was not going to be a pretty one.

The cave was small, just about wide enough to fit two people at a time. Dejectedly, Aang was at the back. Trailing after them and staring intensely at the intertwining fingers of Katara and Zen—hating himself for never making a move after the failure of Ba Sing Se. Would it have worked out between them? Would they still be in the same predicament if Aang made his move months ago? Would they?

Would it have worked?

The questions never seemed to stop swirling and popping in his head. In his state of mind, he never stopped to properly notice all the strange flowers and colourful rocks that they stumbled upon. The only people that actually seemed interested in 'cave exploring' were Zen and Katara, Toph tried to blocked their incessant chatter from her head and Sokka tried to focus on other subjects that didn't include her sister dating, the thought alone was making him uncomfortable.

Aang on the other hand was brimming with jealousy, oddly wishing that he had a girl friend to laugh and talk with.

It was only until the group reached a little rock pool in the cave did Sokka decide for their little plan to take action, "Hey Zen, hold this for a second I need to look at something." Sokka held out his torch, the fire burning furiously at the tip.

Zen looked uncomfortable, "I, uh, don't think that's a good idea."

"And why's that?"

"I'm super clumsy and it might fall into the pool. I don't want to risk the light going out." He lied smoothly.

"Don't worry. Kuzon's a firebender." Sokka said sweetly.

"Wait—what?"

Katara looked at Aang with questions in her eyes. What was Sokka trying to play at?

"You can firebend?" Zen asked a little panicked.

"Yeah. Is that a problem?"

"No." He said a little too quickly.

"Then can you hold the fire please?" Sokka said impatiently. "We haven't got all day."

"I'll hold it." Katara came forward and grabbed the torch.

Zen immediately dropped her hand as if it was on fire, he backed away slowly.

"Zen? Are you alright?" Katara tried coming closer to him but Zen sprinted to the other side of the cave. "Zen?"

"I'm sorry but I—" his eyes darted to the torch, the furious flame coming closer and closer with every step Katara took. His eyes seemed a little glow-ish and watery, "I'm claustrophobic!" he hissed, his lips pulling back to reveal his bright teeth.

With that said, he ran back towards the cave entrance, running as if his life depended on it. Katara obviously hurt and concerned about him, shoved the torch in Aang's hands and ran after him, yelling his name and asking him to stop repeatedly.

"Looks like we found our answer..." Sokka said grimly.

"At least I can beat him up for a reason this time." Toph shrugged.

"Not like it stopped you before..." Sokka mused.

"True."

"Of all the things we had to come across—a mermaid." Aang groaned.

Toph juggled a few small rocks with her earthbending, weaving them in and around her fingers, lazily lying back on a smooth rock by the spring. The three had snuck away from the camp again, a little excited and terrified by what they had found. The night was cool again, the spring lightly bubbled in the silent night.

Toph was the first to break the calm silence, "So now that we know Pretty Boy's a mermaid, what are we going to do about it?"

Sokka rubbed his eyes, staring at the dotted stars with hopelessness, "Honestly? I don't know. I don't know what to do—I've never faced anything like this before."

Aang was huddled on a rock, hugging his knees to his chest. The result of the afternoon was still replaying in his head—jealously, concern and anger thrumming through his system. This was just so...strange. A mythical creature wasn't something the gang had gone up against before, it's so unbelievable!

Suddenly, Sokka's eyes lit up, "Wait a minute, Aang, didn't you say that Katara was acting normal yesterday? When you guys came back to camp? What happened?"

Snapping out of his reverie, Aang answered with no gusto, "Oh...she was just angry I followed her, she wouldn't believe me when I said I was looking for Momo. She got really upset and she was really disappointed in me so I told her that I was afraid of losing her...and she hugged me...and for a second...she was Katara again."

"That's it!" Sokka exclaimed, a grin cracking his face.

"What is?" Aang turned around with confusion.

"You!"

"Me?"

"Yes you!"

"I don't get it..."

"You're what snapped her out of mermaid mind-control! You're the only one that could do it!"

"Do what?"

"It makes sense." Toph added, "Sugar Queen listens to you all the time anyway, why wouldn't she now?"

"Do what?"

"You're the only one that can snap her out of evil mermaid mind-control!"

"What?"

Ignoring Aang's outburst, Sokka started pacing, muttering under his breath, "We have to find a way to get rid of Zen and get Aang to talk her out of it. But the trick is getting Katara to leave him alone for a second; she's hangs onto him like lemur-monkey..."

"But...how do I snap her out of it?" Aang tried to interject to the conversation.

"You could hang out with Zen to 'get to know him' and Twinkle Toes could ask Sugar Queen to do that splashy thing they do." Toph suggested.

Sokka visibly deflated, "Do I have to?"

"Oh stop complaining."

"You're not even doing anything!"

"Sure I am. I'm going to go with you."

"Guys—" Aang tried.

"Wha—why?"

"Do you want to entertain Mr Blabber alone?"

"No but I don't want to hang around him. He's annoying!"

"Guys—"

"Pfft, tough. Now you know how I feel."

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Guys—" Aang started getting annoyed.

"Oh Snoozles you know what I mean."

"Like you're any better!"

"GUYS." Aang yelled, "if you'd stop arguing for a second, I'd like to know how to snap someone out of mind-control? It's not like I can just kiss her and hope that it works!" Aang said exasperated.

"...why don't you?" Toph smirked deviously.

"WHAT?" Sokka cried. Aang burned bright red and wished he just let Sokka and Toph argue the night away. Him and his big fat mouth.

Open mouth. Insert foot.

Toph rolled her eyes, "Like you don't want to."

"No I don't! I—don't...you—stop..."

"You are NOT kissing my sister!" Sokka cried, pointing at Aang threateningly.

"No! I don't! Toph...she—just—"

"Why don't you try it? It'll really give her the shock of her life. Much faster than talking."

"But she..."

"Katara's my sister!"

"SO? She's going to get her soul eaten by a friggin' mermaid! Would you rather that than Twinkle Toes kissing her? And don't tell me you weren't expecting this day to come." Toph shouted, ending both boys' blabber immediately. "So here's how we do it: we get Pretty Boy away from Sugar Queen and Twinkle Toes kisses her out of mind-control. End of discussion. Now let's get a move on before he eats her soul!"

She stomped away, leaving both boys surprised and completely embarrassed at the turn of the conversation the night has taken them to. In the awkward silence, Sokka turned around to Aang, glaring.

"No tongue." Sokka hissed.

Aang wished the ground would swallow him up right then and kill him before Sokka said anything else.

"So?"

"The whelp can firebend."

Hissing. "Tomorrow. Then we leave."

"Yes master."

A splash of glistening scales disappeared into the calm shores of Tula Beach.

A/N: Soooo? How was it? DID YOU LIKE IT? DID YOU. I TRIED HUMOUR. I SWEAR I DID-I TRIED MY BEST BUT I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO. REVIEW? REVIEW BECAUSE I'LL PEE MY PANTS IF YOU DON'T. (and you can beat up Zen justsayin' as an added bonus)

PhantomPotterGirl