Here is The Boy On The Ground. Take two!

Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Avatar: The Last Airbender

Chapter 2

Suki sat by herself, watching the boy. She had been in town the day he had come but Sokka had filled her in pretty well. It had now been two days since he had fallen from the sky and he still hadn't woken up. They had laid him on a soft patch of grass, out of the sun for the most part and not very noticeable.

He was reastless. Always moving in his sleep. Talking, flinching, murmuring, crying. Suki usually hated everything to do with crying. Including the people who did it. So she was always surprised at her feelings when he cried. Even in his sleep he tried to be brave. The few tears he let slip out were tears of frustration and pain.

Another thing that surprised her about him was his sword. It always ended up back in his pocket after about ten minutes. Toph swore up and down that nobody touched him or put it back, and he obviously wasn't going anywhere. It was a mystery.

Suki's suddenly realized she was getting carried away by her thoughts. She was supposed to be watching him. She stood up and walked a little bit away, shaking her shoulders out and stretching her legs.

Before she had gone far, the boy arched his back off the ground and screamed. Without a second thought she was by his side again. He flopped down on the ground and rolled over.

Toph appeared out of nowhere behind Suki.

"He's awake." She announced.

The rest of the gang ran up too.

"We heard a scream, is everything all right?" Sokka asked, panting.

Suki gestured to the boy. "He's awake." She repeated Toph.

The boy finally cracked open his eyes and groaned. He didn't seem too surprised at all the people crowding around him.

"Hello." Aang greeted him softly. "How are you feeling?"

"Can I-" His voice was raspy and rough, he cleared his throat and tried again. "Can I get some water?" He closed his eyes as if the effort to talk was too much, and grimaced.

"Of course." Katara knelt beside him and cradled his head in her lap. Using water bending, she gently gave him a drink of water. "Better?"

"Yes... thank you." His breathing became a little more controlled and they all thought he had fallen asleep again, until he tried to speak. "So who are you? Who do you work for? What are you going to do to me? Kill me? Keep me captive? I don't think I have any information you might want."

Aang looked up, surprised. "We don't work for anyone. And you're not our captive."

"For now." Sokka added.

Percy sighed, he looked confused. "If I'm not your captive... then why am I here?"

"You kinda fell out of the sky and into our camp." Zuko said, grimly.

"The sky?" He asked dubiously.

"Yup." Aang nodded, sitting himself on the ground. "We thought you were going to die."

"Wouldn't be the first time somebody thought that." The boy said quietly. "My name's Percy... by the way."

Everyone looked at Aang.

"Did he fall asleep again?" Katara asked.

Toph nodded.

"Well?" Zuko asked Aang. "What do you make of him?"

"I like him!" Suki put in.

Aang was thinking hard. "Well, he doesn't seem evil. Next time he wakes up we'll get some answers."

Zuko shook his head. "The guy knows less than us. We're not getting any answers from him."

"I guess..." Aang trailed off.

"Come on, Avatar." Zuko said, he pulled Aang off the ground. "We have to practice fire bending."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming."

Katara gave him an encouraging smile as he slumped off behind the young fire bending prince.

"I'll go watch." Sokka said, Momo settled himself on his shoulders "You girls should watch him." He waved his hand at Percy. "You know, incase he wakes up again."

****************LINE BREAK*************************

The young avatar was hard at work, in the middle of the court yard. The sun beat down on him and he tried to remember the teachings of the old fire bender out-law that had trained him, only a few months ago yet it seemed a life time. A large ball of fire flew up into the air, but quickly dispersed.

Aang stood, drenched in sweat, trying desperating to make the fire bigger, hotter, and more dangerous.

"You're holding back." Zuko shouted. "Don't do that!"

"I know, Zuko." Aang snapped.

Sokka looked up from where he was petting Momo. "Aang?"

"I'm fine, Sokka."

Zuko looked back and forth between the two boys but didn't say anything. "From the top?"

Aang groaned. "Fine."

"Wait!" Sokka commanded. He stood up and looked over Aang and Zuko towards the beach. "Is that Percy?" He asked in disbelief.

Aang and Zuko turned around and gazed towards the beach, a lone figure was stumbling and tripping its way to the water.

"I think it is." Aang said, reaching for his staff "Weren't the girls watching him?"

Sokka shrugged. "Come on. We have to go get him." He took off running. "If he gets to the water, his bending might be able to take us."

"Ha!" Zuko scoffed. "I doubt that."

The boys neared the struggling figure, Aang was ahead of the others, making good use of his air bending.

"Hey." Aang said casually as he reached Percy. "Where do you think you're going?" He was walking backwards, facing Percy, who at the moment was crawling.

"Water." He gasped out, "Thought... you said I... wasn't, prisoner."

"You're not." Sokka and Zuko finally arrived. "As long as you don't attack."

Percy gave Sokka a 'duh' look. "Not attacking... Just... need the wa... water."

Aang held out his arms to stop Zuko and Sokka. He watched carefully as Percy reached the water and slowly eased himself in.

His whole body shuddered and Aang thought it was from the cold, but looking closer realized it was from pure pleasure. The water rippled as if it was enjoying it too.

Percy suddenly straightened himself out and dove into the water. He just disappeared without a trace.

"Where did he go?" Sokka asked.

Aand shrugged. The three of the took a stance, ready for a fight, but as the minutes ticked on, they started to get nervous.

Aang was making himself almost sick. "Where could he be?" He thought. "Even a water bender has to come up at some point, right?"

"Aang?" Zuko said, still gazing out at the water. "I think you should go in after him."

"What? Why me?"

Zuko rolled his eyes. "Why do you think you, Avatar?"

Aang pouted and traced a line on the fine sand with his toe. There was silence as he quickly laid out his options in his head. "Fine. I'll go." He took a few steps back and than ran for the water, just before he reached the edge he launched himself in the air with earth bending and dove into the waves with barley a ripple.

"Show off." Sokka muttered.

Seconds after he disappeared, Katara and Suki ran down the beach, the sand flying up behind them.

"Hey!" Katara said. "Did Toph tell you we lost Percy?"

"Yeah." Sokka replied. "He went underwater like, ten minutes ago. We just sent Aang down there to check on him."

"By himself?" The girls yelled in unison.

Sokka took a step back, he and Zuko glanced at each other in the corner of their eyes. Sokka put a hand on the back of his neck. "Umm."

Suki slapped her forehead and groaned.

"You're not angry at me, are you Suki?" Sokka looked pleadingly at his girlfriend. She glanced at Katara's burning face and nodded solemnly at him.

"Sorry, Sokka." She said. "But that was a stupid move."

Sokka looked dejected, until he saw her flash him a small wink.

"Well, I guess I'm going in after Aang, now." Katara fumed. She slipped off her shoes and followed the two boys into the water.

"And then there were four." Toph sighed.

*******LINE BREAK*******

Under the water, Aang swam about in silence. So far there was no sign of Percy. He sighed. It was relaxing down here though. No sounds and way less distractions then up on land. It was kind of like flying. It would be a good place to meditate, Aang thought.

A large fish passed under Aang, he jumped a little and shrugged to himself. Well, no sign of Percy down here. Might as well report back to Zuko and Sokka now.

Aang was just about to begin swimming up when he noticed a large clump of small fish, surrounding something. More and more fish came to swim in mad little circels around whatever it was.

Deciding to give it a look, Aang blew the air bubble around him a little bit bigger and made his way over. But before he made it over, the fish suddenly dispersed. Leaving Aang decidedly alone.

"Who are you and what do you think you're doing here?" A deep voice demanded.

Aang whirled around as fast as he could underwater and look at the owner of the voice.

"Percy?" He asked in disbelief.

It was indeed Percy, but not the one he had been expecting. This Percy stood tall, arms folded across his chest. His muscles stood out more than they had before. His face was full and awake, eyes alert and bright. This was not the boy Aang had watched cry in his sleep. This was a leader, a warrior.

"Do I know you?" Percy peered at Aang under his dark eye lashes. "Oh, hold on! You're that kid!"

"That's me!" Aang grinned, getting over his shock. "The kid!"

"You know what I mean." Percy said. "You told the other's not to leave me on the beach. Thanks."

"No problem." Aang said. "How much do you remember, exactly? You were out for a long time."

"Two days, right? Not that long."

"How did you know that?"

"I've been knocked out a lot." Percy said, he still seemed guarded, and prepared to defend himself. "So, you're not my enemy. At least that's what you and the other guy said. I don't really remember much."

"Nope! No enemies here! We're all friends."

"In that case..." Percy held out his hand. "Hey, I'm Percy." He grinned at Aang.

The two shook hands but the second Aang touched Percy he recoiled. "You're dry!" He exclaimed.

A panicked look came on Percy's face, the water started churning slightly and the current changed, pushing Aang away from Percy.

"Hey! Wait!" Aang cried out, reaching out for Percy. Out of nowhere, Katara appeared. She grabbed Aang's arm and pulled him close to her. She angrily thrust her arms at Percy, the water swirled and bubbled around them.

The fish were everywhere, making it even harder to see. Water caved in Aang's air bubble. Saltwater filled his eyes and mouth. He couldn't see or even think, if he could've, he would have gone into the Avatar State.

Percy covered his ears in agony. "I know! I know! SHUT UP! I'll fix it!" He yelled. Without warning, the water stopped moving. The bubble Katara had made around her own head caved in and she grabbed at her face in panic. Aang quickly made the air bubble around him expand to Katara but before they could recover, the water seemed to wrap it's self around them and push them out of the ocean.

The two were shot from the surface and started falling towards the beach. Aang wrapped his arms around Katara and used air bending to soften their landing. As soon as Katara's feet touched dry ground she shoved Aang away.

"What the heck was that?" She demanded furiously, water dripped off her face.

"What happened?" Sokka asked, he grabbed Katara's elbow. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine, Sokka." She grunted, wrenching her arm away.

"We found Percy." Aang offered.

"And?" Suki asked. "Where is he?"

"Still in the ocean." Katara seethed. She water bended her hair dry. "He did something to the water. Overridded my bending or something. I could bend around him." She took a deep breath and tried to calm down. She covered her face with her hands and took another shaky breath.

"Katara?" Aang asked softly.

She pulled her hands away and gave a brave smile. She pulled Aang into a hug. "I'm sorry, Aang. I overreacted and it really freaked me out when I couldn't bend."

"Oh..." Aang blushed and awkwardly hugged her back. Physical touch had been rare between them since the night they went to see the Amber Island Players. "It's okay."

"Let's get back to camp." Zuko suggested. "Forget about Percy. I say he's not our problem anymore."

Sokka threw his arm around Suki's shoulders and started leading the way.

"Race you?" Toph suggested to the couple. The nodded and took off running. "You too, Sparky!" Toph grabbed Zuko's arm and dragged him away.

"Coming?" Katara asked Aang.

"Yeah.. Just a minute." Aang sqinted at the ocean. "Is that Percy?"

Katara sighed and looked. A figure broke though the surface of the water and dived back in without so much as a ripple. No effort in his movements. They came as naturally as breathing. "Who is this guy?" She breathed. She shook her head."Let's go. It won't help if we just sit here obsessing over him, will it?"

"Guess not." Aang tore his eyes away and turned to follow Katara.

The walked up a little bit until they reached a small cliff above the water. Aang couldn't resist the urge to look out again.

"I don't think he's a water bender." He blurted out.

Katara turned to face him in shock. "Not a water-" She was cut off by Percy bursting out of the water. He started running towards them and grabbed each of their wrists as he ran past.

"Run. Run. Run. Run. Run." He said quickly.

And run they did. The instincts took over and soon all three were back at camp.

Zuko groaned when he saw Percy again.

Aang and Katara weren't that effected by the short run, but Percy was bent over double, wheezing.

"He's not steady on his feet." Toph noted.

"Haven't run like that in a while." He joked half-heartedly.

"He's going to faint!" Toph yelled.

Aang and Katara reached for Percy as he stumbled forwards. All of the power and energy Aang and Katara had seen underwater was one, drained out of him.

"No. No. Nope." He said, he put both hands out to steady himself. "I'm fine. I've got it."

"I think you need to go to bed." Katara told him gently.

Percy shook his head, trying to clear it. His face was a sickly ashen colour. "Do you promise not to kill me in my sleep?" He asked.

"Promise." Aang smiled up at him.

"I like you, kid." Percy said. "I'll just... go to sleep then." He awkwardly started lowering himself down on the ground.

"Oh no, you don't!" Katara grabbed is arm and hoisted him back up. "You can sleep in Sokka's tent."

"Hey!" Sokka protested. Suki poked him in the back. She winked at him and nodded towards her own tent.

"Really, I'm fine on the ground. I don't want to take anyone's... tent." Percy said weakly.

"Oh no!" Sokka said heartily. "I insist!" He threw his arm around Percy's broad shoulders and started leading the way. "I just need to grab a few things and it's all yours."

"No, I honestly-"

"Just shut up and go to sleep already." Toph snapped. "You're making me dizzy."

Percy gave her a confused look. He shook it off and tried to follow Sokka.

"I really don't understand him." Aang decided.

My family watched the Last Airbender movie last night and made me watch too. It was traumatic. I hate that movie so much .