I do not own PJO or A:TLA

Chapter 26

They all waved goodbye to Kat-lee and Kohaku from Appa's back as they flew away. Sokka had the story about the gods tucked away in his shirt and a hard look in his eyes, already Percy knew this look meant serious business. If Sokka was a child of the gods, Percy thought he'd be a child of Athena for sure.

"Well," Sokka said finally. "It looks like we can't really complete our quest unless Aang can get back into the Avatar state."

"But Sokka, I can't."

"Aren't there other ways to get to the spirit world?" Percy asked. "I mean like, to get to the Underworld you're supposed to literally die but I've been there before... I just went a different way."

"Hmmm." Sokka stroked his chin as he mulled over the idea. "I don't want to die."

Katara rolled her eyes. "We don't have to die. That was just an example."

"Remember what happened when that earth bender general tried to get me into the Avatar state before?" Aang asked, slightly desperately. "I lost control. I hurt all those people and destroyed their homes."

"But-"

"No." Aang said softly but firmly. "I need to enter the Avatar state naturally or not at all. And right now, it's not at all."

Katara reached out and put a hand on Aang shoulder. "We'll figure it out."

"I have a question." Zuko asked. He had been brooding off to the side for a while now but he uncrossed his arms and sat forward, his black hair waving in the soft, summer wind. "What are you planning on doing when you face my father? You're a talented bender, but are you going to fight him without the help of the Avatar state? Especially since Sozin's comet is three days away. He'll be getting stronger by the minute."

The group all hesitated and exchanged guilty looks.

"Well..."

"What? What's going on?"

Percy looked up and stopped tapping a capped Riptide against his legs. This suddenly seemed very serious and tense.

"We... kind of decided to fight the Fire Lord after Sozin comet comes." Aang said finally, shrugging one shoulder, looking around for support. Everyone behind him nodded their heads, looking guiltily at Zuko.

"What?"

"I'm just not ready yet, Zuko." Aang sighed. "I need more time to master fire bending."

"And frankly, your earth bending could use some more work too." Toph added bluntly, eating a bunch of grapes and waving off a chattering Momo.

Aang grimaced.

Percy watched his face closely. He could tell Aang didn't feel good about his decision to wait, but he wasn't about to change his mind. That was the thing about Aang, he wanted to follow through on whatever he decided. He didn't know what god Aang would be the child of, he was too kind to be affiliated with any of them.

"I- you don't- why didn't you tell me?" Zuko sputtered, obviously caught off guard and offended. "Am I not apart of this group? After all this time?"

"You did almost burn my feet off, like, a couple weeks ago." Toph injected.

"I apologized for that!" Zuko spat, anger flashing in his eyes.

Percy could feel everyone getting uneasy. They were all treating Zuko like a little kid that was about to throw a tantrum in the middle of a grocery store. Like a little kid that would start throwing things off the shelf that you would have to pay for later.

"Zuko..."

"No! You all knew Aang was going to wait? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't know." Percy put in, he had tried to sound helpful but Zuko just glared at him.

"Listen," Sokka said, raising his hands up so everyone would look at him. "If Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord now, he'll lose." He glanced back at a dejected looking Aang. "No offense."

Katara put a hand on Sokka's shoulder to get him to stop talking. She gave him an exasperated side-eye before talking.

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War, but they pretty much won the War when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't really get any worse."

Zuko's eyes flashed and Percy's heart sank. He knew that look and something bad was about to happen.

"You're wrong." Zuko turned away from the group. "Things are about to get much, much worse."

As Zuko explained his fathers evil plan to wipe out the Earth Kingdom during Sozin's comet, Percy watched everyone's faces go from disbelief, to horror, to absolute crushing defeat. A coldness growing in his own stomach as he heard the plan to wipe out an entire civilization. It was homicide. It was evil. Titans and monsters could be like this, but the Fire Lord was supposed to be human. Didn't he have any humanity?

"No..." Aang groaned when Zuko finished. He put his head in his hands and slowly slid from Appa's head to the bottom of the saddle. "No, no, no... This is bad. This is so bad."

Even though Pecy had seen so many strong aspects of Aang's personality, this behaviour surprised Percy. He was so small.

"I know you're scared." Zuko slid over and put his arm awkwardly around the small Avatar's shoulders. "And I know you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to save anymore."

"You don't have to do this alone." Katara said, comfortingly, trying to erase the worried look between her eyebrows.

"Yeah!" Sokka jumped in enthusiastically. "We'll fight him together! We have a shot, Aang."

Aang looked up and smiled. Percy's heart swelled inside his chest as he watched Aang's friends rally around him. It reminded him so much of his loyal friends back home. Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, Rachel... All those people that stood by his side at the darkest hour of Olympus.

It made him feel good - invincible, even.

"I'm here too, Aang." He added. "I'm here until you need me, whatever you want me to do. My quest can wait until after you kill the Fire Lord."

Aang grimaced again. "Kill him... right." He took a deep breath and pulled his arms around everyone.

"Come on, Percy." He said, grinning.

Percy felt embarrassed, like he shouldn't be there for such a big moment in their little group. "No, no. I'm good." He had never been good at the touchy-feely part of friendships before anyways.

"Get in here!" Katara yelled. "If you want to be a part of this group, you have to join our group hugs."

"Yeah." Zuko muttered darkly from underneath Sokka and Aang's arms. "If I'm here, you'd better be too."

Katara reached out and pulled Percy in. Her hands were coarse, firm and work-worn, but warm and kind too.

He hugged them and knew in his heart that he wold die for these people, he would protect them the best he could at all costs.

He wondered briefly what would happen to him if he died in this world. Would his spirit be able to cross back over and go to the Underworld? Or would it be stuck here and treated like a soul however they're treated here? Would he never see Annabeth again if he died here? Or his mom?

He didn't know. But he couldn't think about it right now. These people needed him.

After the group hug, Percy kind of awkwardly sat down next to Toph. She had been stony and silent ever since they had left her old home. Now she was viociously eating some grapes and refusing to share with Momo, who wouldn't stop talking her ear off.

"You doing okay?" He asked after sitting quietly for a few minutes.

"Peachy. Why'd you ask?"

"You seemed pretty upset when you thought your parents were working for the Fire Nation..."

"Any one would be upset by that." Toph spat. Then she sighed and messaged her feet with her knuckles. "I knew about the war when I lived with them. When I was fighting as The Blind Bandit, I heard things. But my life had these walls all around it. Ever since I've been with Aang, I've seen it first hand, how terrible and evil the Fire Nation is. If my parents were with them..." Toph dropped her foot and it landed with a dull thud on the leather saddle. "I just don't know if I could forgive them."

Percy nodded. "I know what you mean. During the war back home, there was a lot of problems between the gods and their kids. It was basically the whole reason for the war. Sometimes... sometimes parents do dumb stuff."

"Yeah..." Toph turner he head away and drew up her knees. "Really dumb stuff."

"But!" Percy brightened up and patted her knee cheerfully. "Even if your parents were with the Fire Nation, I think you've done enough to cancel that out. Your awesomeness far outweighs their crappiness as parents."

Toph couldn't help but laugh and Percy thought she was finally letting herself be comforted. "That's true, Sea Legs... I am the greatest earth bender of all time."

It felt good to comfort her. Sometimes kids like this didn't need a great warrior or fighter. Every once in a while they just needed someone to make them laugh.

They flew all night to get back to the summer house. Everyone dosed off except for Aang, who remained siting cross legged on Appa's head with his staff laying across his lap.

Percy couldn't sleep either, flying in the air like this, but he crossed his arms and let his head fall down, hoping to catch some shut eye anyways.

Suddenly, Katara moved beside him. She sat up and slowly moved to be closer to Aang.

Percy pretended he was sleeping.

"Aang?" She said softly. "You don't have to be nervous about facing the Fire Lord. We'll be right behind you the whole time."

The kid turned and looked at Katara with such sad eyes. He was too young to look so old and so sad.

"That's what I'm afraid of." He answered in the same, low voice. "Ever since I woke up on that iceberg in your arms, I've been putting other people in danger. You and Sokka especially. I'm supposed to be the Avatar, I should be able to protect you guys better."

Percy's heart broke inside his chest. How often had he felt that too?

Katara laughed softly. "Aang, we want to help you. Remember that first day when you gave yourself up to Zuko to protect my village? We hardly knew each other then and you were already sacrificing so much for me. Sokka and I came after you. We want to be with you. That's what friends are for."

Peeking out from under his hair, Percy saw that Aang was smiling but still looked sad. He reached out his hand and Katara took it.

Jealousy flashed across Percy mind briefly. Why couldn't he have been that smooth with Annabeth at thirteen years old?

"We're here for you, Aang." She said. "Always. No way we're going to let you do anything alone."

Percy smiled as he closed his eyes and tried his hardest to fall asleep now. As oblivious as every one told him he was, at least he could see this relationship from a mile away.

Heyyyyyy guys.

SO I think I'm almost done this story! I'm gunna cut a big chunk out because I don't want to write out almost the entire finale for Avatar... But I'm still really excited for where this is going!

I hope you guys liked this chapter! It's a little big longer so I hope that's okay that it took so long :P

As always, leave me reviews so I can feel validated.

Jooooooooooooooking.