a/n: hey guys... how long has it been haha? long story short, the past 5 years were a lot of personal pain and family problems so I actually stopped writing. I only started to pick it back up over the past two years. So I apologise for the quality, the length of the chapter - I'm not as good as I used to be.

Disclaimer: don't own.

A Date With Disaster

Chapter 6: Exposing Disaster

It was a simple errand. Go out and buy some fruit. An apple, an orange, anything really—it didn't matter. Just go out and buy some fruit, that was what Sokka officially told him to do. And as soon as he was finished, he was supposed to run as fast as he possibly could to the campsite so the four would hightail out of there before Katara woke up, or Zen found them in the midst of their desperate scrambling. After anxiously updating Sokka and Toph of his horrible afternoon with Katara behaviour, (the kissing, carefully left out; no need to include that now…or...ever) the three concluded it was best to just leave the town before the situation got any worse. They were on borrowed time, and despite the fact that leaving a havoc-raging mermaid running around the Fire Nation meant more zombie-fied innocent girls—they had all come to the compromise that finding a firebending teacher for Aang, so that he could save the world, was slightly higher on the priorities list—besides, they could always come back to him later.

And so, after a lot of arguing, pleading and crying (mostly on Sokka's part) Aang set off to town in order to end their journey in this horrible town. Eager and tired, but nevertheless, happy; Aang was just happy that Katara was going to be safe, and everything was going to be alright again. Just like it was before, before this entire mess had even started.

And what luck did he have, when as soon as his coins were in the stall-owners hand, did a searing fireball hurtle toward him, shattering his fruit and obliterating the stall into a million pieces; fire blazed hot and scorching in his face, his entire right cheek hissed a bright reddish-pink.

A snarling voice hissed at him from across the smoke, "I think you've got something of mine Aang. And I really want it back."

Oh yeah, it was supposed to be a simple errand.

A fireball missed his ear by an inch, and collided with a stone a metre away from his where he was standing. People screamed and scrambled all around them, trying to put out the fires left in their wake.

"WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!" Aang shouted, dodging another onslaught of fiery blasts.

Zen said nothing, opting to rather to speed towards Aang, knocking him back and setting a blast of furious offensive attacks on him while he was momentarily caught off guard. Fire hissed and sizzled, flying from every direction. Aang had a sinking feeling that Zen was here to finish the job.

And nothing was going to stop him.

"Zen!" Aang cried a moment before throwing up his elbow, blocking Zen's. Zen's arm hissed and lit up. They stood elbows locked together, teeth gritted, bones aching, pushing against one another with unnatural force.

"Stop! Why are you doing this?" his voice came out strained.

Zen's eyes gleamed a startling silver, he snarled, teeth pulled back to show a jaw of shark-like teeth. A sharp thrill of fear pulsated through Aang, and then his feet gave out under him. Sand knifed through to his knees, he ground his teeth harder and ignored the terrible sensation of his elbow splitting in two—he couldn't let Zen beat him.

"Zen...stop..." his voice was weak and fading.

Zen replied with a harder push and an animalistic growl. Aang's elbow screamed and his knees shrieked—his eyes were blacking out, blood surging to his ears. And before he could stop himself, his body was snatched from his control.

"I—said—stop!" he scowled, and his tattoos glowed.

A gust of fire flew from his entire being, and Zen was thrown back, crashing into a pack of wooden crates. Aang's mouth twisted in anger as the wind around him steadily grew stronger, inciting shrieks from the innocent bystanders that remained around them. In the small corner of his mind, he could feel the waves of panic trying to break through his consciousness—if anyone took a real good look at him—

He could feel a powerful surge in his veins, centuries of knowledge pouring into his brain and the able-bodied mindset of an experienced soul seep into him. This was bad, so very, very bad. If he didn't stop now, everyone would know the Avatar was still alive—and the horrors of Ba Sing Se could very well happen again…

Ok Aang, think think think, you can stop this. Zen isn't a threat anymore look and see it's alright, no need to go berserk. His eyes slid to the hunched and very unconscious figure slumped over the broken barrage of crates—get out while you still have the chance.

Mustering whatever string of consciousness he had left, Aang leapt into the air, leaving a swirling ring of fire in his wake.

Glad to know that his ethereal self knew better than to start airbending.

"So long story short, Zen attacked me and unleashed the Avatar state but thankfully no one got hurt and I don't think anyone recognised me."

Sokka blinked. Toph froze.

"Are yOU KIDDING ME?" Sokka screamed, "WE WERE LITERALLY ABOUT TO LEAVE. I WAS TWO STEPS AWAY FROM LEAVING—I PACKED MY STUFF, LOOK, DO YOU SEE MY PACKED CRAP—DO YOU SEE MY STUFF, I WAS-LITERALLY—"

Sokka turned around and started screaming in anger, kicking the dust in his furious wake and roaring at the heavens. Toph gave him a look and in deadpan: "Good going Twinkle-Toes. Great. Now we got Princess to worry about, along with Sugar-Queen."

Aang cringed, unable to say anything else. "I'm sorry...?"

"SORRY DOESN'T CUT THE FACT I PACKED MY STUFF AANG—I LITERALLY—OOMPH!"

Sokka groaned from his face-full of dirt as Toph stepped carelessly over him. "Now we got the Princess to shut up, it's high time we actually do something. Where's fish-boy?"

"Taking a very uncomfortable nap." Aang answered quickly.

"So let's leave before he wakes up."

Aang nodded furiously and started to peel Sokka off of the ground. He hastily grabbed his own things, shouted for Momo and went to check on Katara. But when he turned into their little campsite…

Katara was gone.

Uncharacteristically, Aang swore: "Aw fuck."

Katara was pissed.

Her head had a splitting headache and her memory of the last couple days were fuzzy at best. She felt drained, physically and spiritually. There was something wrong with her, she knew it. She could feel it inside of her, and it had been happening for the last couple of days—ever since they came to this little town. Ever since she met Zen. Zen.
She knew she loved him. She knew that she would do anything for him, anything. She loved him. He was everything that she had ever wanted.

But…

Who was he?

When she had met Aang—there was an instinctual feeling about him, a surge of primal desperation that told her that they needed each other. She had known her destiny was intertwined with him the moment she saw the iceberg. She had felt the same way for Toph—she just…knew. But Zen. He was less clear. She knew in her head that she was desperately in love with him.

So why was her heart hurting so much at the thought of it?

She needed to find him. Needed the reassurance of his voice, his smell. She emerged onto the beach where they had their first date—and been untimely interrupted by a nosy Avatar. The sunset was full underway, burnt orange and blushing rose stretched out the horizon. The sand was pearl-white, the ocean clear and crystal blue—it was so beautiful. She found herself soothed by it.

"Katara!"

Katara's heart leapt. Zen. He came running towards her, arms outstretched, his beautiful face concerned; sweeping her off of her feet in a tight grip. He smelt of the bubbling sea and salt. "I was so worried about you! I didn't see you at your campsite earlier and I just couldn't help but feel that something was wrong. I need to tell you something. I know this is sudden. I haven't known you for long, but I need to get this off my chest." He rushed lovingly into her ear.

Heat pooled in her stomach, she breathed: "Zen—I"

"No, no let me be the first to say it." Zen steeled himself and stroked the back of her neck softly. His eyes, brilliantly silver, were boring deep into her own, their faces inches apart. Katara's spine tingled as his smooth voice washed all over her.

"I love you Katara—never leave my arms again." His breath kissed her face softly, lips lightly leaning to touch hers and—

She felt…disgusted.

Like a shower of ice-cold water being dumped on her head, Katara felt as if her head previously swimming through murky fog, was now suddenly brilliantly awake and clear. Zen told her that he loved her. He was kissing her. Their first kiss. And it felt so—wrong.

She loved him. She knew she did. But he felt—cold. Suddenly, his arms were too long and slimy. The smell of the ocean had turned into brine and putrid acid. Her previous feelings completely replaced by horror. He pulled away.

"My love, I want you to meet my friends—my kin. I want to show you my world." Zen peppered kisses over Katara's neck and face.

She felt herself resisting, leaning back. This was—this was wrong. There was something else nagging her…something, no—someone else.

"Will you say something my love? Are you alright?"

A surge of anger. She was sick of this. Something was not right, everything felt wrong. He felt wrong. She felt herself close up in his embrace. She needed to get out, go somewhere quiet and just think. She opened her mouth, ready to ask for him to stop touching her when… she couldn't.

Her voice.

It was gone.

Katara felt a swell of panic, her hands started to shake uncontrollably. She shoved herself out of Zen's embrace; gripping her throat tightly, trying to speak, scream, scratch out any kind of sound. But nothing.

"Katara dear, what's wrong?" His voice was smooth as honey and silk, saturated with worry and concern.

She felt herself turn towards him, desperate, and stilled in horror. Zen's face was now no longer the soft white it had been, but covered in white scales that glinted menacingly in the sunset. His lips pulled back in a hellish smirk, revealing the rows of razor sharp yellowed teeth; and his eyes—the same silver now molten white and clear.

"Oh honey, don't worry. It's only temporary." His voice was now bubbling, hissing like venom. His grin grew impossibly wider, "You won't need your voice where you're going."

Three strangers were now surrounding her. All hellish monsters with the same faces and smiles. Katara's gut wrung with fear, churning itself out. Her heart burst out of her chest, the adrenaline buzzing in her blood. She didn't even hear the others coming, let alone sense their presence.

She gritted her teeth. Calm down Katara. You've been faced with worse odds than this.

She didn't need her voice to fight—she never had.

a/n: please review, let me know what you thought! I know this is a piss-poor length of content for the amount of years I made you guys wait. and I'm not even sure when I'll be able to get another update, but I'm determined to finish this story and the rest of my multi-fic stories that I have on here. so thank you so much to everyone who has stuck around, and to those beautiful reviewers that kept me going all these years, I pushed through for you guys 3

PhantomPotterGirl