Hi, y'all. I'm back. Sorry for the unprompted hiatus-my computer crumped. But I'm back now, and will slowly be getting back into the swing of things. This chapter is long, so hopefully that's a bit of a treat. I wasn't planning to write the second half of it at all, but it just ended up happening. Whoops. Hopefully it's not that bad, sorry.

It was dark. Mostly.

That was the first thing he noticed as he struggled to catch his breath.

The second was that there was a dull ache in his chest, the barest phantom of a crushing sensation in his ribs. He winced as he propped himself into a seated position. His left side was oddly stiff, and he glanced down at his chest, finding it bare.

From the faint light of the rising sun and the smoldering fire a few feet away, he could just barely make out the warped edges of a faded wound on his chest.

He frowned. It hadn't been there a moment ago. What had-

And then he remembered-the lady with the crazy blue fire had blasted him.

A shiver ran down his spine.

Things were just getting weirder and weirder.

He rubbed at his arms, glancing around himself. Katara was lying right next to him, snuggled deep into her sleeping bag. Aang was lying on his other side, and Toph was curled up besides Aang, cradling her bag.

A soft, goofy smile spread across his face at the sight of everyone slumbering peacefully around him.

His gaze swept around their little encampment again-and a flash of white caught his eye.

Sokka let out a long-suffering groan. It was the fish again, making tight little circles in the air around the fire. He sprung to his feet, intent on chasing down the fish once and for all-and hit his head on the ceiling of the earth-tent that had been erected around the group.

Sokka let out a squawk of pain, clutching at his head. He shot a glare over to the campfire, only to see that the fish had disappeared.

"Sokka?" a bleary voice asked. The teen whirled around, only to see Toph sitting up, peeing at him with her sightless eyes.

"Hi," Sokka said awkwardly, rubbing at his aching head.

Instantly, Toph burst into motion. She clambered over Aang-kicking the young Avatar in the stomach in the process-and sprung to her feet to give Sokka a hearty punch to the arm.

"You dunderhead! I was worried sick about you!" she snapped, putting her hands on her hips. Sokka chuckled awkwardly, glancing back at the firepit.

The fish was gone.

After a rude awakening-courtesy of Toph-and breakfast, the gang meandered down to the nearby riverbank, where Katara and Aang began to practice their waterbending. Toph and Sokka sat on the bank, feet dangling into the water.

They were silent for a long moment, as Sokka watched the benders and as Toph lazily dragged her legs back and forth through the water.

"Twinkletoes was really scared, you know," Toph said softly. Sokka glanced at her, frowning.

"What-"

"When you got hit. We were all really freaked out-"

"Really. You were freaked out?" he asked sarcastically. Toph punched him in the arm, and he let out a yelp.

"It was weird," Toph admitted softly. "You weren't moving. If it wasn't for your heartbeat, I would've thought you were dead. Twinkletoes sure thought you were. He…"

She trailed off, pursing her lips. "He was really messed up. Katara was, too, but Twinkletoes was...bad."

Sokka's frown deepened, and he turned his gaze towards Aang, who looked as carefree as usual. The young Avatar glanced over at Sokka and waved cheerfully-only to get hit in the back of the head with a water whip by Katara. He stumbled forwards, then spun around to splash Katara in return. A soft smile curled across Sokka's face as he watched the duo bend water at each other, but it was tainted by the worry in his eyes.

"Sokka," Toph murmured, "What happened at the North Pole? Twinkletoes brought it up, but Sugarqueen wouldn't talk about it when I asked."

Sokka sighed, leaning back. He tilted his head up to the sky, considering his next words.

"Sokka?"

"I drowned," Sokka admitted, turning to look at the earthbender. Her brow furrowed with confusion, and he let out a sigh. "Was drowned."

Her face went gaunt. "Oh."

"Yeah."

They were silent for a moment-until Toph punched him in the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?" he whined, clutching his arm. Toph just rolled her eyes before standing up and shouting to Aang.

"Oi! Twinkletoes! Get your ass out here and let's get to earthbending!"

Zuko settled down on the roof of the barn, adjusting his wings so that they were comfortable. He and Iroh had been staying with Li and his family for the past few days, helping them with work in exchange for food. The duo had been planning on leaving sooner, but the family had insisted that Iroh stay for a few nights, and the older man had gratefully accepted.

For the most part, Zuko split his time between helping Iroh as inconspicuously as possible and wandering the area around the family's little farm. Sometimes, Li tagged along, first asking him nearly every question under the sun and then talking about himself when it became clear that he wasn't getting much more out of Zuko than monosyllabic answers.

While the chattiness of the kid was in some ways a welcome change, it also had him pensive. His mind was riddled with thoughts of his life when he'd been Li's age-and thoughts of the Avatar, too. He couldn't be much older than Li, could he?

A gust of wind stirred him out of his thoughts, and he shivered, rubbing his arms. It was a cold night-certainly not the coldest he'd experienced, but cold enough that the chill of the air bit deep into his skin.

It unsettled him.

Ever since the fateful night that the Avatar had left him to freeze up in the North Pole, even the slightest hint of cold made his skin crawl. He didn't know if it had something to do with Bhakshak and the late spirit's affinity with fire-or if it was just that the cold served as a bitter reminder of how he'd slowly frozen to death.

It was still hard for him to process that he'd actually died.

He couldn't remember dying. His time in the tundra had blurred into nothing but a hazy memory of biting, permeating cold and pain and silence. He just remembered closing his eyes for a long moment-and then opening them to nothing but snow and Bhakshak standing before him.

It was even harder for him to process that the Avatar had left him to die.

What had he done?

What had he done to deserve being left to die?

Zuko knew, of course. He'd chased the Avatar and his companions relentlessly across the globe, no matter where they went. He'd attacked them at any moment he could, he'd taken advantage of every opportunity he could to get to them, no matter how underhanded.

But it just wasn't right.

The Avatar was the greatest enemy of the Fire Nation-and yet he was just a kid.

The Avatar was just a kid-but he'd seen fit to essentially murder Zuko.

Zuko had been serving his nation, he'd been doing what he needed to do to redeem himself.

He'd been doing the one thing that he'd known was right.

But the very thing he'd been so sure was right was the most fundamentally wrong thing he'd ever done. He'd done something so wrong that he'd lost whatever scraps of honor he might have had left after the Agni Kai.

All that he'd done to Aang, in the name of his honor, in the name of his country-it was wrong.

It just didn't seem to fit together. How could he have done something that he was so sure to be the right thing and have it actually have been something so wrong?

He didn't know what to think anymore.

Zuko sighed, shutting his eyes and rubbing them with the heels of his hands. Maybe it was for the best that he'd become a spirit. It was cosmic retribution, the backhand of karma tearing him away from everything he'd ever worked for in order to show him all the pain he'd caused, to show him that his attempts to do the right thing had been so very, very wrong.

Was it even the right thing in the first place, kidnapping the Avatar, ensuring that the Fire Nation would win the war? Was it really the right thing to do, when it had led him down the path of becoming a figurative monster, someone who would warrant being left to die by a kid?

When had it become so hard to discern what was right?

He pushed the thought aside.

The sound of the ladder creaking off to the side caught Zuko's attention, and his eyes flickered open to see Li clambering up onto the roof. He sat up, eyeing the younger boy as he solemnly strode over and sat down next to Zuko. Li remained silent, turning his gaze out to the horizon. With a slight sigh, Zuko leant back and returned his gaze to the stars.

The duo sat there in silence for a long moment-until Li let out a sigh and began to speak.

"You kinda remind me of my brother, Sen Su, you know?" he said softly, turning his gaze up to the sky. "He didn't talk much, either, but he was always great to be around."

Zuko glanced over at the young boy, who continued, "He went away a while ago. He's a soldier-but not like Gow and his guys here in town. He's strong, and brave, and really nice, too."

Li paused, turning to face Zuko, his green eyes supernaturally bright in the moonlight. "Do you have a brother?"

"A sister," Zuko said quietly, pressing his lips into a thin line. They were running from her now, ever since she'd tried to capture him and Iroh. A part of him was glad that he hadn't encountered her that night-he knew that, even if she wasn't able to see him, that she would have noticed that something was off, somehow. She was smart-and more than that, she was lucky. Still-he hadn't seen her since the day of his Agni Kai, three years ago. Twisted as she was, she was still his sister. It was strange to think that he'd been so close to a piece of home and still hadn't been able to even see her.

That was his luck, of course.

"Cool!" Li said, grinning broadly. "I've always wondered what it's like to have a sister!"

The kid continued to chatter, while Zuko listened absently, sinking deeper into his tangled thoughts.

"When my dad goes, will you stay?" Li asked quietly, peering sadly up at Zuko. The teen glanced at his uncle, who was speaking with Li's parents, then back at the kid, shaking his head.

"No. We need to move on," he said solemnly. Crestfallen, Li's shoulders slumped.

Zuko paused, then fished out his knife-the one possession he'd had with him when his ship had been attacked, when he'd captured the Avatar, when he'd died.

He stared down at it for a moment, the weight of it's meaning suddenly feeling overwhelming. It was a memory of simpler times-a relic from the time before Lu Ten's death, before his world had slowly begun to fall apart, piece by piece. It was his only possession from that precious time before, imbued with a motto that he'd taken to heart ever since his Agni Kai.

And before he knew what he was doing, he was passing it to the young boy.

"Read the inscription," he said softly. Li unsheathed the knife, peering at it quizzically.

"Made in Earth Kingdom."

"The other one."

"Never give up without a fight."

The heavy feeling in his gut told him that he already had-and it felt wrong.

He'd given up on the Avatar. He'd given up on his honor.

Giving up was wrong-but so was relentlessly chasing a kid across the globe, even if that kid so happened to be the Avatar.

Still, he didn't know what was right.

He remained pensive even after they left the farm. Iroh occasionally tried to pick up a conversation, but after getting little more than monosyllabic answers from his nephew, his attempts dwindled away.

They settled down for lunch a few hours away from the village under the shade of a scraggly tree. Iroh was just opening the meal that Sela had packed for him when An Bai burst out of the tree trunk, startling Zuko and his uncle alike.

"You!" she snapped, pointing accusingly at Zuko. "You gave him that knife, didn't you?"

Zuko narrowed his eyes. "What's going on?"

"He pulled a knife on Gow, and now they're going to try and ship him out to the army. They said that if he's old enough to fight, he's old enough to enlist. You need to stop them."

"Why me?" Zuko snapped. "Aren't you his counterpart?"

"I'm nowhere near strong enough to take down those thugs. I may be a spirit, but not all spirits are equal in power."

Zuko's frown deepened, and he glanced down at his hands. His nails weren't so much nails anymore, but claws. He remembered the bite of Bhakshak's talon-like fingernails-and the tale of the late spirit's power.

It was obvious that he was changing.

It was obvious that he had changed.

He was the Devourer's next incarnation. Could he, too, have that destructive power within him?

"Please," An Bai began again, her voice softer now. "There's nothing I can do. I need your help. He's just a kid."

Zuko swallowed. He glanced at his uncle, who glanced bewilderedly back at him. He returned his gaze to An Bai-then stood solemnly.

"I'll get him back for you."

By the time he got to the village, the sun was setting. He stalled at the village entrance, glancing around. There were a few people milling about-and then there were the soldiers, loitering next to a water tower, where Li was tied up.

Li glanced up, meeting his gaze-and then his face lit up excitedly. He turned to the soldiers, sticking his tongue out at the largest solider.

"See? I told you! One of my spirit friends is here!" he said excitedly. Gow, who he recognized from Li's ranting description, looked around, glanced at Jee, then scoffed.

"Don't make up stories, boy," he snapped, standing up to cuff the side of Li's head. Zuko's eyes narrowed.

He stepped forwards, into the town-and in that instant, something changed.

There were a series of gasps as he strode towards the soldiers, but he didn't glance around. He simply continued forwards, until he was just a few meters away from the soldiers-whose attentions had all turned to him. They had stood up the moment they noticed him; those who didn't look outwardly hostile appeared wary.

"What are you?" one of the soldiers hissed, pointing his spear at Zuko. Zuko's eye narrowed; his wings slowly unfurled.

"I'm his spirit friend," Zuko said coolly. Gow stepped forwards, hand on his hammer. Zuko eyed his weapon with a narrowed gaze. He was unarmed-but if everything that An Bai had said about Bhakshak's power was true...

"Well, spirit," Gow growled, patting his hammer. "I suggest you head on back to wherever you came from."

"Not until you let him go," Zuko said sternly. Gow's eyes narrowed.

"Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?" he snarled.

"His spirit friend," Zuko snapped in response. "Now let him go."

The soldiers remained impassive.

"You don't want Li in your army. You're just sick cowards messing with a family who's already lost one son to the war," Zuko said sternly, his eye narrowing further.

Gow turned to his men. "Are you gonna let this spirit freak stand there and insult you like that?"

The soldiers stalled for a moment, eyeing Zuko. Then, Jee burst forwards with a yell, brandishing his spear.

Zuko dodged the blow with ease, then kicked the man as hard as he could, knocking him into the dirt-but then a second soldier raced forwards before he could react, spear in hand-

And then Zuko's hand closed around the spearhead. White-hot fire sprung forth from his fingers, melting the metal within an instant. It trickled down his hand-but instead of burning him, the molten metal merely felt pleasantly warm against his skin.

The soldier's eyes filled with fear, and he staggered backwards, letting go of his spear-shaft. He let out a noise of fright-then turned tail and ran.

Zuko cast the destroyed spear asides, then returned his glare to the other soldiers. One of the remaining two soldiers standing besides Gow promptly dropped his spear and raced away. The other cast a glance at Gow before steeling himself and charging at Zuko.

He sent a barrage of white flame at the oncoming soldier, forcing him to abruptly stagger backwards to avoid getting burnt. The soldier fell to his rump, and Zuko stepped forwards, his golden gaze tinged with a smoldering orange.

The soldier trembled before him, eyeing the white flames in Zuko's hand.

"Please," he begged.

And suddenly, Zuko was back in the Agni Kai chamber, kneeling before his father.

"Please, Father…"

"You will learn respect."

He swallowed, glancing at the white-hot fire cupped in his palm.

"And suffering will be your teacher."

He snuffed it, feeling sick to his stomach.

"Go," he murmured, stepping back from the terrified man. The soldier peered up at him, fear in his eyes, then nodded frantically as he realized what Zuko had said. He scrambled to his feet and raced away, casting the occasional glance over his shoulder at Zuko.

"Coward!" Gow boomed, turning to yell after the fleeing man. He returned his glower to Zuko, then stepped forwards, drawing his hammers. Zuko shifted his stance once more, eyeing Gow warily. They stood there for a long moment, eyeing each other-and then, without warning, Gow lunged forwards and swung his hammer, sending a spear of earth directly at Zuko.

He acted on instinct, and leapt backwards. His wings unfurled-and suddenly he was airborne.

For a moment, he was frozen, staring down at the soldier before him.

And then he dropped like a stone, landing on top of Gow with a shout of surprise.

The duo crashed to the ground. Zuko extracted himself from the earthbender with frantic speed, then scrambled away from the limp man. Gow let out a groan, stirring slightly, but didn't rise.

Zuko turned his gaze towards Li-who flinched when their eyes met. Zuko's frown deepened, and he glanced down at Gow, only to see that the confiscated knife had fallen besides him. He picked up the knife, and strode over to Li. His gaze was soft when it connected with the child's, but the kid stumbled away from him as his mother untied him.

"Not a step closer," she warned. Li peeked out from behind her-and Zuko offered him the knife once more.

"It's yours. You should have it."

"No!" Li snapped, flinching back behind his mother. "You're a fire spirit. You're like them. I thought you were my friend!"

Zuko's frown returned, and he pocketed his knife. Without another word, he turned and left, ignoring the murmurs of the townsfolk as he vanished once again on his way out of the village.