Chapter 3: To Kill or not to Kill

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Katara yawned loudly as she slowly woke. As promised, the three had spent all night making their base suitable for however long they would be there. It wasn't so much the building part of it that required their attention, as their base was pre-made and practically set itself up for them when they pressed a button. Rather what took their attention, and most of their sleep, was the organization of everything inside of it. There were many different items inside of the base, such as a kitchen, planning room, four bedrooms, and even a basement should things go awry. Though Katara supposed that wouldn't be of any help to them since there was little solid ground on this island, so a bunker wouldn't be very effective if they tried to put it underground. At any rate, there were many literal moving pieces of furniture and odds and ends that took most of their night. Even if they hadn't gotten much sleep, Katara was relieved to have it done so quickly. Usually it was just her and Sokka on their missions, and it would take all night for them to finish.

A loud noise came from outside her room, making her both curious and a little fearful. Her dreams had started much the same way, but this didn't appear to be a dream. Though she supposed that her dreams never appeared to be dreams until she had woken up. Regardless, she knew that she had to investigate. Getting up slowly, she made sure she had her water skin with her and her mother's switchblade that had been passed down to her after the funeral. Even if she never used it, she always made sure to have it with her. It was the only real thing she had left of her mother. It almost made it seem like her mother was there with her. Shaking these thoughts from her mind, she walked out of the room and looked around. There was no evidence of a break in, though a master spy wouldn't leave any if they were smart. Another loud noise came from downstairs as she ran down there, ready for a fight, but was surprised to find nothing. No enemy agent, nothing broken or on the floor. Everything looked just as she had left it before she went to bed. So why was she hearing things?

"You decided to show up, did you?" a voice said from behind her. Whipping around quickly, she was not so surprised to see the man who had been haunting her dreams since the night before. "Good," he continued while pulling out his dagger from his back. "That makes my job easier."

Katara was never one to back down from a fight, but there was something about his presence in the room… It seemed to emanate power. Pure power, as if his very being could incinerate her if he wished it. Taking a deep breath, she put away the switchblade in her hand and tried to talk it out. "Look, you're obviously the agent that's been sent after me. I understand that you have orders, but could you at least let me plead my case before you decide whether I should live or not?"

The man was silent, clearly conflicted as was shown on what she could see of his face. Katara understood him well. One thing about being an agent was that on most missions, your sense of duty would usually try to fight against reason, as agents were trained as soldiers: to do as they were ordered with no questions asked. Not that Katara hadn't asked questions about her orders, because she had, much to her Grandfather's disliking. After a few moments of silence, the man finally nodded and sheathed his blade. "Very well. I will hear what you have to say."

Relief, however temporary, flooded over Katara. She hadn't really expected him to be so willing to hear her out, but she was grateful nonetheless. Not wanting to waste any time or to provoke his ire, she began her case with a deep breath. "So," she started slowly. "I'm sure that your Agency has told you about what happened."

"Yes," he responded with a little anger evident in his voice. "They told me that you attacked one of my people. Do you know what happens to those who cross the Winds of Fate?"

Katara gulped and nodded quickly. "Yes, I know. And before you say anything else, I just want to say that I am truly and deeply sorry for attacking your brother," she told him, taking him by surprise at how sincere her words were. Not just because she feared for her life, but because she truly felt bad that she had wrongfully attacked someone. "It was a complete accident. My brother and I… we were on a mission and I felt someone coming up on me. I didn't know who it was, I didn't think to look before I striked, but all the same I did attack them. And I am so sorry that I did."

"'Sorry' doesn't change things," the man decided as he took out his blade again, making Katara's heart pound painfully in her chest. "I'm sorry, but this is how it must be. May you rest in peace." Without another word, he lunged forward and stabbed her in the chest, ending her life as he yanked it out, making her fall to the ground dead at his feet.

Katara gasped as she shot up from her bed breathing heavily. It was just a dream, she thought with a sigh of relief before annoyance overcame her as well. These dreams were really starting to bug her. Even if it was likely she wouldn't survive, she didn't want her last nights to be filled with dreams of her potential death. Taking a deep breath, she got up and changed into her clothes. There was work to be done, and she knew that if she let her brother and their new teammate wake up on their own, it wouldn't happen until at least noon. Making her way out of her room, she decided to wake her brother first, knowing he would likely be the easier of the two to awaken. With a quick knock on the door, she waited not so patiently for him to answer it. To her surprise, he opened up immediately. "What's up, sis?" he asked tiredly.

Still in shock from having him answer the door so quickly, she was silent for another moment before she snapped herself back to normal. "We need to get ready for the day. If we're going to get into the main building, we'll need to do some recon of the defenses and see if we can't figure out a way to get in," she finally told him.

Sokka groaned a little and nodded. "Okay, I'll get ready." He tried to shut the door quickly, but Katara held it open with her hand.

"How are you up so early?" she questioned him. "Usually it takes me at least three times knocking on your door before I have to kick it open to wake you up." A sudden horrible thought crossed her mind. Not wanting to think about it but knowing it was a possibility, she looked over to Toph's room and was disgusted to find out her fear was true. Toph's bedroom door was wide open. "Really, Sokka? You just met her and you're already trying to get in her pants?" she asked, completely horrified at the thought of her brother and their new teammate doing… that.

Sokka smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Who said anything about trying? I do believe that I didn't try anything," he smirked, making Katara groan at her brother.

"You couldn't at least have waited until after the mission was over?" she glared at him. "What if she gets pregnant?"

"Don't worry, that won't be a problem," he assured her. "You see, what we did was-"

Katara raised her hand quickly, not being able to hear any more without spilling her guts out all over the floor. "No, I'm done hearing this. Just get ready and make sure she's ready in an hour. Got it?" she threatened with a finger against his chest. He nodded quickly in response. "Good. And I don't want to hear anything, and I mean anything about what you guys do. Got it?" He nodded again. She stomped off without another word, still in disbelief at her brother. Though she had known he was a young, she didn't think he would be stupid enough to hook up with a girl he had just met. And she was surprised that Toph had agreed to it. From what she had seen of her, she would have thought that Toph would rather beat up Sokka than do… that with him. Shaking her head from these thoughts, she made her way downstairs and started making some breakfast, doing her best to think of anything other than what she had just figured out.

Aang looked over his map of the island as he drank some coffee. He had never had trouble getting up early. Except for his teen years, he supposed, but his team had spent all night getting their base situated. Not that it was a problem, as they had gotten it out quicker than he had expected. Still, he was used to getting his usual eight hours of sleep and was currently running on six, making him a little slower than he usually was. Fortunately for him, all it took was a full cup of coffee and he would be back to himself in no time. As he took another sip, he pondered what he should do first. Obviously the main mission was more important than his hunt for the betrayer, but the betrayer was somewhere on the island. He had hoped to find whoever it was dead in the crashed jet that Zuko had shot down, but the evidence left behind by trailing footprints in the sand proved otherwise that there were survivors. Normally, if things were different he would have followed them and just gotten it over with, but he had to have a serious talk with Zuko.

Not that he wanted to belittle his best friend, but Zuko had done something impulsive that could have easily caused a full on agency war. That was the last thing any of them needed right now. After a long discussion about not acting on impulses and waiting for approval from Aang, Zuko understood and made clear his remorse, much to Aang's relief. He wasn't one to try to boss others around, but he was the leader of this mission, and he had to ensure that nothing like that would happen again. Shaking these thoughts from his mind, he returned his attention to the map and looked to where the footprints likely led. No doubt the tide had washed the footprints away by now, but he could still hazard a guess at where they were headed. As he looked closer at the East part of the island, he noticed a lush green land in the middle of the sector. They wouldn't set up base on the sand, otherwise their base could easily sink into it, he mused in his mind. So they would have to go for that land there. I don't need to find their base, but if I look around in that area, maybe I can find this 'Wave' and complete half of my mission. Satisfied with his plan, he rolled up the map and stuck it in his other jacket pocket, making sure to keep it from his pistol and ammunition. The last thing they needed was to lose their only way of keeping track of the island. Normally, if this was any other place on Earth, the agency would be able to give him a digital map to use, but something was off about this island. Satellites couldn't get a good picture of it, as every time they had tried, something seemed to make it unviewable. No agent dared get close enough to it by aircraft unless they knew they would be there for a while. Other agents had attempted to survey it in their aircrafts, but enemy defenses had shot them down, never allowing any of them to return. It was rather inconvenient, but they had managed to procure a map of the island for them to use on the mission, much to Aang's relief. It was a large island, and he didn't want to try navigating it without some guidance.

"Aang?"

He turned around quickly to see Suki standing there with a plate of breakfast for him. "Oh, thanks," he laughed a little as he took it and started eating. "I didn't even hear you come in."

Suki laughed as well. "Yeah, I could tell when I had to basically yell at you." She sat down on his bed as he continued eating at his desk. "So, are you okay? You seem to be a little out of it," she asked worriedly with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he assured her as he took another sip of his coffee, enjoying the feeling of it flooding through his system. "I'm just tired. Usually I get more sleep than this."

She smiled a little. "What, you can't function well without your usual eight hours of sleep?" she teased.

He chuckled. "Yeah, you could say that," he agreed as he took another sip. "That's why I'm having coffee. Somehow it makes me feel like I got two more hours of sleep just from drinking it."

"Probably because that thing's loaded with caffeine," she grinned as she took it from him and took a sip herself, making Aang give her a weird look. "What? You've never shared coffee before?"

"I have," he admitted before turning back to the map. "But usually I at least pour it out of my mug into another one if I do."

She shrugged and gave it back. "Well at least this way it's one less dish to do." He laughed a little and nodded before looking at the map again. "Come on, Aang. You've been staring at that map for hours. How about you take a break and have some fun?"

Aang gave her a look. "Suki, I already told you-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know what you told me," she cut him off with disappointment evident in her voice. "I'm not talking about that, I'm saying go swimming or something."

He looked at her in disbelief. "Suki, we're on a mission, not vacation. As much as I'd love to, we've got work to do. Or at least I do, anyway."

Suki gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean? We're all in this together, Aang. Whatever you're going to do, we're going with you."

"I know," he amended. "But that doesn't mean I can't go do some things myself while you guys have some fun. Lord knows Zuko would love to have some alone time with you."

"Yeah, he probably would," she agreed with a grin as she thought about it. "But that doesn't mean you should have to go work while we get to have fun."

Aang shook his head. "I'm perfectly okay with it, Suki. I'm used to working on my own, anyway. Besides, it's only going to be for small things. I've just got a few errands to run, it's nothing big," he promised, knowing that she would agree if it wasn't anything that could get him killed.

"Okay," she sighed reluctantly. "If you say so. Just be careful," she almost begged.

"I'll be fine," he assured her as he stood up. "Now why don't you go ask Zuko to hang out while I'm off doing my errands." A question popped into his mind as he thought about the two of his friends. "Why do you keep chasing me? I know that you like Zuko," he bluffed, wanting to see if she would confess or not.

Suki blushed a little and looked away. "Okay… I do like Zuko," she admitted, making him proud of himself he had gotten her to confess. "But I like you too, Aang."

"I know," Aang said simply as he started grabbing his stuff. "But you already know that I think that we're better off as friends. Instead of waiting for me to change my mind, how about you go out with Zuko who practically worships the ground you walk on?" he advised.

She thought about it for a few moments before she nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she reluctantly agreed. "Still, I wish that you would just give me a chance."

Aang patted her on the back with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Suki, but although I do find you attractive, I only think of you as a friend. Besides, I couldn't do that to Zuko. He would do anything to be with you."

"Yeah… he would, wouldn't he?" Suki thought with a smile.

"No doubt about it," Aang chuckled as he put his jacket on. "Just give him a chance, I don't think you'll regret it. Have fun!" he called as he walked out of the room and made his way to the living room where he knew his best friend would be.

Zuko looked up from the TV he was watching and noticed Aang. "Hey, Aang. Where are you going?" he asked curiously.

"I'm running some errands," he responded with a grin. "I'll be back in a little bit."

"Okay," Zuko shrugged before returning his attention to the TV. Aang laughed a little, making Zuko look at him again. "What's so funny?" he asked in confusion.

Aang laughed again and leaned into him. "Let's just say… you owe me big time."

Zuko raised a brow. "Why do I owe you? What did you do?" he asked worriedly, his fear of what might have happened growing with every passing second as he searched his friend's face.

"I may have nudged Suki your way," Aang grinned slyly before walking out. "See ya later, buddy!" Zuko's eyes noticeably widened as he walked out, making him snicker as he made his way to the East side of the island. Should be interesting to see how that works out, he thought to himself as he put his hood on and continued walking. Though he had promised Suki it wouldn't be dangerous, he knew that he may have lied to her. He had no clue whether these other agents would be hostile or not, but considering what he had heard from 'The Wave', he wouldn't be surprised if they attacked him on sight. Aang liked working with his friends, but this was something he had to do on his own. If not for the sake of keeping them alive, for the sake of him being able to sneak around. Because if there was one thing he had learned about his friends, it was that they were not quiet. Sure, they could move stealthily, but they were also very chatty, especially so at the worst of times. For instance, like on a surveillance mission to find a target that Aang had to hunt down. They were great for if he needed a distraction to open up an area, but otherwise he knew they would probably blow their cover if not controlled properly. Shaking these thoughts from his mind, he continued his walk when he heard a crunch behind him. Turning around quickly, he was surprised to see his 'pets' had followed him.

"Hey guys," he smiled at them as he walked over and patted Appa on the head and stroked Momo's head, making them both hum in contentment. "Are you guys here to help me out?"

Appa barked while Momo chirped, making him smile. "Great. Let's get going. We need to see if we can't find the other agents' base." Appa barked again and they all made their way back to the beach where the remains of the jet had crashed, making Aang look at it in amazement. It was almost exactly like his, except with the symbol of the Water Agency on its side. Otherwise it was a complete match. Looking around, he tried to find the footprints that had led to where the Agents had gone, but was not surprised to see that they had indeed been washed by the tide. "Yeah, I thought so," sighed to himself before an idea came to mind. "Appa, do you think you could track their scents back to where they were headed?"

Appa barked and wagged his tail before sniffing around the beach until he found where the trail began. The scent uploaded into his matrix as his scanners revealed the trail the three had left behind. Barking again, he led the way as Aang and Momo followed him to the East side of the island. Before long, they had reached the lush part of the East sector, but was surprised to see nothing there, at least from what Aang could see of it.

"Momo," he turned to his hawk. "Could you go up there and see if you can spot any kind of camp? We need to know where their location is so we can make a plan to get in."

Momo chirped and took off his shoulder into the sky. Searching with his heightened vision, he scanned over the lush area and was surprised to find nothing there. He went quickly back to his master and shook his head.

"You couldn't find anything, huh?" Aang asked him. He chirped sadly and looked down, feeling as if he had failed his master. Aang gave him a reassuring pat on the head and tried to think when an idea came into mind. Looking closely at him, he noticed a button that read "Invisibility cloak sensor". "There we go," he grinned as he pushed it. "Now go check again. You should be able to find something now." Momo chirped again and took off into the sky, coming back a few minutes later with a happy chirp. "Did you find something?"

A projector came out of his chest, displaying a miniature map of the Jungle area. "Let's see," Aang mused as he looked it over and found a large building with large devices on each level. "Those must be what are keeping it invisible. Good job, Momo!" Momo chirped happily as Aang took off into the small Jungle with Appa hot on his tail. Before long, Aang stood twenty feet away from where the invisible building was on the map. "So this is where they're located," he thought aloud as he tried to see if there was any part of the building that was visible, but found none as he continued to look at it. Scanning it over one more time, he noticed what looked like the outline of a door by a tree, making him smile as a plan came to mind. Pressing a button on his ear piece, he called his friends. "Suki, Zuko. I'm sending you guys my location. Make your way over here. I've got a plan…"

Katara sighed impatiently as she waited for her brother and his new, she fake gagged, girlfriend, she supposed she would have to call her now to get ready. She had told them to be ready in an hour, but two hours later, she was still waiting, much to her annoyance. Was it really too much to ask for them to be on time when she asked them to? Couldn't they just act like the adults they were and help her when they had stuff they needed to do? Apparently not, as she was the one who had been ready to go for hours.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Sokka and Toph finally came downstairs, much to Katara's relief. "Finally! What took you guys so long?" she questioned angrily.

Sokka shrugged. "We were trying to get some more sleep since we… stayed up a little longer," he admitted sheepishly, making her groan as she was reminded of what had happened.

"Well you can sleep later," she rolled her eyes. "We've got more important stuff to do right now. You know, like trying to figure out a way to get into a heavily guarded enemy base?"

Toph snorted as she blew some hair out of her face. "Oh relax, Sugar Queen. We've got all day. It's not like we have a deadline or anything."

Katara didn't want to take the focus off the mission, but she couldn't help herself. "Sugar Queen?" she asked incredulously.

"Because most of the time you're sweet as sugar," Toph grinned. "Except right now, when you're kind of acting like a bitch."

Katara gasped. "I am not acting like a-" she cut herself off, knowing if she said one swear word that she would end up cussing Toph out. And the last thing they needed was a divided team for a serious mission like this. "Fine, call me whatever you want, but do not call me anything like that. Okay?"

"Who made you the boss?" Toph shot back.

"My father," Katara responded somewhat angrily, doing her best to keep her temper in check. "He made me the leader, and apparently I'm the only one here who knows that this mission is serious and won't sleep with someone I just met and show up an hour later than was politely asked of!" she felt her temper start to get out of control before she forced herself to take a deep breath. "Look, we can complain about each other all we want later, when this mission is over. Can we at least agree on that?"

Toph was silent for a moment before she let out a long sigh. "Fine. Just don't try to get too bossy with me. Even if you're the leader, I won't let anyone boss me around too much. Got it?"

Katara took another deep breath and nodded in agreement. "Okay, but when it comes to things that are serious, you need to listen to me. It's the only way we're going to make it out of this alive. Got it?" she echoed sarcastically.

Toph was silent again for another moment before she burst out laughing, taking both Katara and Sokka by surprise. After a few moments, Toph settled down and grinned at her. "You know what, Sugar Queen? I like you," she decided and punched her in the arm, making her wince. "You've got the stuff. I'll listen to you."

"Great," Katara sighed in relief before turning to her brother. "Agreed, Sokka?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I think I can wait to complain about you until we're out of here. Though it won't be easy," he snickered, making her roll her eyes.

"Whatever. Grab your gear and meet me by the door," she ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," Toph sarcastically saluted before walking back upstairs to grab her things. Katara looked at her brother who was still laughing.

"You too, Sokka." He stopped laughing and rolled his eyes before going upstairs, leaving Katara wondering how she had gotten such dysfunctional teammates for such a serious mission. A few minutes later, they both came down in their jackets and weapons. "Are you guys ready?"

Toph grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Let's do this thing! I'm ready to smash some skulls in!" she cheered.

Katara rolled her eyes. She had hoped that Toph would be a friend she could talk to about girl stuff, but the more time she spent with her, the more obvious it was that it wouldn't happen. "Okay, let's go," she sighed and put her hood on before opening the door. They all filed out and closed the door behind them, ensuring no one would be able to get in without their say so. Katara turned around to face them. "Okay, so here's the plan. We obviously need to see if there's a way that we can sneak in to get the information we're looking for, so we'll walk along the outskirts of the base and look for any weak entrances that we can slip through. If we find anything, we'll come back here and make a plan to get inside. Sound good?" They both nodded. "Great. Let's get going." Leading the way, she started walking North, looking at various plants and animals along the way.

"It's so hot out here," Sokka complained as he waved his hand over his face. "Do we have to wear these jackets?"

Katara gave him a look. "You know we do, Sword." For some reason, Sokka had insisted that his codename be 'Sword' but it was better than the ones she thought he would have come up with. With that thought in mind, she looked at Toph as they continued walking. "What's your codename?"

"You can just call me Bandit," she shrugged as she fanned herself. "My full title's 'The Blind Bandit', but just Bandit will do while we're on a mission."

"Okay," Katara shrugged simply before returning her attention to where they were walking. A crunch could be heard from behind them, making them all whip around as they prepared themselves for a fight, but saw nothing. "Well that was odd," Katara thought aloud.

A loud shriek could be heard from their left. "What was that?" Sokka asked fearfully as he looked around.

Toph stomped on the ground to get a good 'look' at her surroundings. "Let's see… there's a few animals behind us, a large rock in front of us-"

"HELP!" a woman screamed, making them all jump at the unexpected cry for help. "SOMEBODY HELP US!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

Sokka looked to Katara. "We have to help them! It sounds like they're in danger!" He took off running with Toph right behind him.

"Wait a minute!" she called to them. "It might be a-" she stopped herself as she saw that they were out of sight. "A trap," she finished with a sigh as she started running after them. Knowing they would need back up, she ran as fast as she could after them, but did not find any trace of them as she ran. "Sword! Bandit! Where are you?!" she yelled loudly.

Sokka and Toph kept running, trying to find where the scream had come from. "Can you feel where she is, Bandit?" he asked as he breathed heavily.

Toph nodded. "Yeah, there's two people being cornered by some animals a hundred feet away, but there's something… off about the animals."

"We'll worry about that when we get there," he shook his head. "Right now they need our help."

Toph looked at him in confusion. "I thought Sugar Queen would be the one wanting to help them and you being the pessimistic one?"

Sokka shrugged as they continued running. "She usually is, but when we're on a mission, she knows it's likely a trap."

"So you know that this is probably a trap and you're going to help them anyway?" Toph asked in bewilderment as they finally reached a clearing where two people were surrounded by a tiger and a vulture backing them against a tree, saving him from the embarrassment of having to answer.

"Somebody help!" the woman yelled fearfully as the animals got closer. "Please!"

Sokka finally came running up to the animals and noticed something different about them. Not only were they larger than what he had seen of their kind, they looked almost… metallic. Shaking his head from these thoughts, Toph and him stopped behind the animals and got into a defensive position. "Hey, uh… animals! Look over here!"

The woman smirked ever so slightly, just enough for him to not notice. The animals turned around and pounced on them without giving them a chance to do anything else, holding them down by their throats as the man and woman stood up and grinned at each other. "Told you it would work," she smirked smugly at her companion.

Zuko rolled his eyes but smiled a little as they put their jackets back on. "Yeah, yeah. I got it. So what do I owe you?"

Suki thought about it for a moment before she smiled slyly and put her hood on. "How about a kiss?"

"Uh…" Zuko's eyes widened in surprise with a deep blush as he put his on. "Um, I…"

She just laughed at his nervousness. "It's okay, we'll deal with your payment later," she promised with a wink, making him blush more.

Toph glared at Sokka. "So you led us into a trap knowing it was probably a trap, huh?"

Sokka smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

Suki laughed at them. "Wow, you knew that you were probably walking into a trap and did it anyway? No offense, but that really wasn't smart."

"I'll say," Zuko laughed as he looked down at their captives.

"What are you going to do with us?" Toph questioned angrily as she tried to break free from Momo's grip, but his talons were too close for her to struggle much without getting seriously hurt.

"Oh relax," Suki chuckled. "We're only after your friend. Whatever their name was." She looked to Zuko. "What was it again?"

He thought about it for a moment before he snapped his fingers. "The Wave," he replied as he remembered.

Suki nodded and looked back to them. "Right. This 'Wave' person. Once our leader has… dealt with them, you'll be free to go. I would normally offer to join forces to get the real mission done, but I'm sure that you guys won't want to after your friend is gone."

Sokka snarled and tried to get up, but Appa extended his claws until it was at the base of his throat. "Don't touch my sister!" he yelled furiously.

"It's nothing personal," Suki assured him as she looked at her nails. "The Wind just has orders. What do you expect when she attacked one of his own? The Winds would never let something like that go unanswered."

Sokka struggled a little more, but knew that it wasn't doing him any good. "Please be careful, sis," he whispered to himself as he worried for her.

Katara continued running through the jungle, but still couldn't find anything as she searched for her teammates. After some more running, she ran out of breath and looked around at her surroundings. It was quiet. A little too quiet. A branch snapped from behind her as she whirled around with her switchblade at the ready, but there was no one there.

Finally getting frustrated, she yelled, "Bandit! Sword! Where are you?!" There was no response. Letting out a long sigh, the sound of something dropping came from her left as she noticed something out of place on the jungle ground. Fear settled over her as she wondered if she was being watched. Making sure she had a firm grip on her blade, she slowly walked over to the disturbance and looked down, her breath catching in her throat as she saw a rock with the symbol of the Wind Agency carved into it. Oh no, she thought, but it was too late. Feeling a presence behind her, she quickly turned around and looked up to see a man in a hood jump down from a tree, colliding with her as their blades met, sending a loud clang! throughout the jungle as metal met metal. They fought for dominance as Aang struggled to get the upper hand. Strength was on his side, but Katara was quick and more easily able to move than him.

"Just surrender now and make it quicker!" Aang yelled as he tried to move her blade from her chest. "It would make it a lot easier for both of us!"

Katara's fear was at an all time high with flashes of her nightmares coming back to her, but she knew that she couldn't let it get to her. If she wanted to live, she would have to put it aside. "You know I can't do that," she gritted out through her teeth before rolling them around. After a few more minutes of struggling, they rolled right into a tree and got the air knocked out of their lungs as they flopped onto the ground with her beneath him, their hoods being knocked off as they hit the tree. Aang managed to catch his breath first and pressed his blade against her throat when he saw her face, gasping at how beautiful she was. When Katara had enough oxygen in her system to think, she looked up at him angrily but gasped as well. He was gorgeous.

A few moments of silence passed as they wordlessly stared into each others eyes, wondering what they should do as they found they couldn't take their eyes off of each other. "Just do it," Katara finally decided to speak, not even caring if she died now. Something about him made her feel as if meeting him was all she needed out of her life, and that she would die content from seeing his face. "I understand. But before you do, I want to say I'm sorry."

Aang's eyes widened in surprise. "You're sorry?" he asked in disbelief, completely unable to tear his eyes away from hers.

She nodded once, afraid anything more would slit her throat before she could finish her thoughts. "Yeah. I really am sorry. I never wanted to attack your people. It was an accident," she explained before taking a deep breath. "I just wanted you to know that before you do this." Taking one last long look at him, she smiled a little, no longer fearing her death. "Go ahead. I'm ready. "

Aang was silent as he stared into her beautiful eyes. The part of him that was trained to take orders without question screamed at him to complete his mission, but he couldn't. Seeing her die would likely make him die, too.

"Aang?" Suki called out for him from twenty feet away. "Where are you?"

He quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he feared his friends would see him. As much as he knew he should, he knew that he couldn't go through with this. Getting up quickly, he offered his hand. "Come on, you need to get out of here."

Katara's eyes widened in surprise. "What?"

"There's no time!" Aang whispered as he forced her back up and led her away to another clearing, ensuring that his friends hadn't seen them before he turned back to her. "Go back to your base. I'll tell my friends that you got away and that I'll have to track you down again. And don't worry, I'll make sure your friends are sent back without a scratch."

Katara couldn't believe it. This was the exact opposite of what she thought would happen. "Go!" he ordered as he looked around frantically for his friends who were no doubt looking for him.

Finally snapping out of her surprise, she nodded and started walking away before she looked back at him, not wanting to leave without at least knowing how she could talk to him again. "I-"

"You really need to go!" he whisper-shouted to her. "My friends are almost here! GO!" Knowing he was absolutely serious, she started running back to their base, but not without sneaking one last look at him and saw that he was watching her go.

"Go," he mouthed to her before he put his hood on and took off back into the jungle, leaving her wondering what had just happened… and when she would be able to see him again.