Alrighty! Sorry about not uploading, y'all; I just needed some time to pre-write some chapters and do some planning for how the story is going to progress. And hooo boy: i'm excited, and I hope you guys are too.
The wind howled around him, nearly blinding him with snow. He glanced around-and quickly spotted Sokka and Katara behind him, sitting on Appa.
He glanced out into the distance, and caught a glimpse of a limp form lying in the snow, half-buried.
Zuko.
"Wait, we can't just leave him," Aang cried, turning back to look at his companions.
"Sure we can," Sokka replied flippantly. Aang returned his gaze to the teen lying unconscious in the snow. "Come on, Aang, he's not worth it. Think of how many times he's tried to hurt us."
Aang turned to Katara. She sighed, then glanced out at Zuko's limp form. "Sokka's right. It's for the best if we just leave him."
Aang sighed. Surely it couldn't do that much harm. They weren't too far from the city, and Zuko was a firebender. He'd be able to keep himself warm.
Besides, it was Zuko.
Zuko, who never gave up on trying to capture him, no matter what it took.
He would be fine.
"Okay," Aang murmured. "Appa, yip-yip."
Suddenly, a burst of flame shot towards him, and Aang was no longer on Appa's back but leaping over the burst of flame. He leapt up onto a tree branch, and paused to stare down at the furious, scarred teen below him.
"You killed me!" Zuko shouted. He took a step back, and then, with a swing of his fists, fire burst forth, and-
Aang jolted awake, the strangest feeling roiling in his stomach. He sat up, groaning, rubbing his eyes. He looked up at the sky-it was still dark out.
He sighed, then stood up. It was no use trying to get back to sleep-he'd tried, for weeks, but between nightmares of Sokka being drowned and of leaving Zuko alone in the snow, his sleep was stuttered and short.
He glanced around, and noticed Sokka sitting on the ledge of the small cliff they'd landed on. Aang walked over to his friend, careful to be extra light on his feet while passing Toph so as to not wake her. He sat down next to Sokka, who glanced over at him tiredly.
"Hey," he said quietly. "What's got you up?"
Aang was silent for a moment, staring off into the distance. "Nightmares," he finally admitted.
"Ah."
Sokka was silent for a moment, staring down at his feet. "Wanna...talk about it?"
Aang looked up at the older boy, a little surprised. "Really? You want to hear about my nightmare?"
Sokka scoffed. "No."
Aang deflated, and Sokka sighed. "But, I know that it's important to get this stuff off of your chest, and I doubt Katara would be really pleased if you were to wake her right now."
Aang glanced back at the duo of his sleeping friends, nodding silently. He sighed, turning again to stare out into the distance.
"Come on, Aang-what's bugging you?"
He was silent for a moment-and then the words just spilled right out of him. "Do you think Zuko's dead?"
Sokka blinked, surprised. "I mean...yeah. We left him out in a blizzard, Aang, and we haven't seen him since."
"But that doesn't mean he's dead, right? We didn't…"
"It was in self-defense, Aang. He would've just kept hunting us down if we'd taken him with us. Who knows-he probably would've just..." Sokka broke off, gesturing wildly with his hands for a moment. "When you like, took out the rest of the Fire Nation."
Aang looked down at his feet, seeming distraught.
"Look…" Sokka trailed off, sighing. "It's not sitting easy with me either. Just...try not to think about it."
Aang nodded solemnly. He sighed, and shook his head.
"Why are you awake, Sokka?"
Sokka stiffened. He averted his gaze, his jaw clenching slightly.
"I..I had a nightmare, too."
Aang looked over at him, surprised. "You?"
Sokka chuckled bitterly. "Yep."
"About what?"
As soon as he'd said it, Aang felt guilty. Sokka's knuckles were white, clenched tightly around the edge of the cliff. His dark gaze was focused on something off in the distance, as if he was trying to distract himself.
"About drowning."
Aang bit his lip. Sokka sighed, tilting his head up to the sky.
"I just can't shake it. Most of the time, I'm not even thinking about it, but sometimes, it just...hits me. And I'm right back there, and I can't breathe, and-" he broke off, his breath catching in his throat.
"And I'm going to try and get some more sleep," he sighed, standing up. "Night, Aang."
"Night, Sokka," Aang replied. He stared after the nonbender for a long moment before he turned his gaze back to the ravine below.
"Tell me again," Azula said coldly, crossing her arms. She stared down at the grievously burned soldier distastefully. The man opened his mouth to speak, then promptly winced as his burned skin was tugged upon.
"There…" he rasped, wincing once again. "There was someone behind me. They came up behind me….and melted my helmet in. I didn't see them."
"Before that," Azula sighed annoyedly.
"The Dragon-the Dragon of the West...I'd tackled him, and managed to subdue him. He claimed that he was speaking with...his nephew. There was no one there."
Azula frowned, her eyes narrowing.
As foolish as the old, tea-obsessed old man was, he was certainly no madman. It was possible that Zuko had given the soldier before her the slip-but while her brother was sneaky, he was nowhere near agile enough to have gotten behind a trained soldier without him noticing-even a soldier as incompetent as one who'd thought that merely tackling the Dragon of the West was enough to subdue him.
Something strange was going on.