I am the worst person ever.

I won't feel bad if you agree because it's true. I'm so sorry I've taken so long to update (like, a month?) but I do have a legitimate excuse. Life happened, and my dad signed me up for five different SAT prep courses (soo boring, and they started at eight in the morning!)

But the important thing is that I'm back! I will do my best to update once every two weeks, because school is going to start soon

IMPORTANT: just to clear up any confusion, I know the summary says "four years later"… eventually, there will be a time-skip

Book 4: AIR

By silver-nightstorm

Summary: Four years have passed since the end of the war and the Fire Nation is in despair. Young Fire Lord Zuko is on a mission to find his mother, and seek her political advice. Meanwhile, Aang hunts for remaining airbenders, leaving Katara alone. Zutara. HaruxOC. Taang. Suka. And one-sided ZukoxOC.

Chapter 6: Truths and Nightmares

~Present Day~Fire Nation Capital: Mai's House… Mansion~

Mika tapped her fingers against her cup of tea. Her eyes darted back and forth from the accusing gold eyes of her daughter and the wall. She sighed, closed her eyes, and began.

"You had an older brother. His name was Lee. He was… five years older than you. When he was seven years old, we discovered a horrible secret," Mika sighed, finally meeting her daughters' gaze. Tears leaked out of her eyes. "He was an airbender."

"Ozai found out and…" Mika gulped, her fingers turning white as she gripped her glass. "Well, airbenders don't survive in the fire nation…"

"When you were around Lee's age, I was worried the same thing would happen to you. Thankfully, you were a non-bender. But… When I gave birth to Tom-Tom, you were in the Fire Nation Academy for Girls. That's why you never knew that Tom-Tom had a twin brother. We named him Lu-Ten."

Mai's eyes widened at her mother's story. "What… what happened to him?" she whispered, fearing the answer.

"I don't know…" Mika shook her head, her black bangs falling out of her bun and into her eyes. "When I found out he was an airbender, I gave him to a man selling cabbages… he could be anywhere now…"

Toph spoke for the first time. "Twinkletoes has his orphanage; you think Lu-Ten could have ended up there?"

Mika shook her head, mussing her hair even more. "I dare not hope."

~Present Day~Earth Kingdom: The Avatar's Camp~

Zuko tossed and turned in his sleep. He let out a few whimpers, and a little shout. Aang looked at him worriedly. He considered waking his friend, but he knew it had been a while since the Fire Lord had been able to sleep. Aang left Zuko and settled further into his sleeping bag.

"You have quite the talent for messing things up, Zuzu."

Colors swirled around the Fire Lord, and a familiar figure walked up to him.

"Katara!" he cried, running up to her.

"You fool!" The look on Katara's face was eerily familiar, and her normally sapphire eyes were hard gold. Katara grinned evilly. "Don't you recognize me? You were always slow, dear brother! That's going to be your destruction!"

Zuko stumbled backwards, into waiting arms. He spun around, to find lips locked with his. He pushed the person away, meeting Katara's hurtful face.

"Why, Zuko?" she whispered. "You abandoned me? How could I ever trust you?"

Aang appeared next to Katara, and she wrapped her arms around him, kissing him passionately. Zuko screamed, and Aang's head burst into flames. Katara gasped, falling to the floor.

"What have you done?"

Zuko looked down at his hands, but they weren't his. They were the hands of his father. Zuko looked down to see his reflection in a lake, but his face wasn't his own. His father's cruel grin looked back up at him.

"You really have a knack of screwing things up, don't you?" Ozai grinned cruelly, "My son!"

"Like father, like daughter!" rang Sokka's voice. "How could you just throw my sister away!"

"I really thought you were the good guy, Sparky!" Toph's eyes were filled with tears, "but you burned my feet!"

"You burned down my village," Suki's hurt gaze swam in front of his eyes. "And I still forgave you… why?"

"You can't rule a kingdom!" Mai's loathing voice filled the air. "You can't even stay in a relationship!"

Iroh's face flooded in front of him. "No son of mine would behave this way. You truly are your father's son!"

Marco's voice rang out. "You are still a child! You're incapable of leading anyone, much less a nation! You are a fool!"

"YOU LIED TO ME!"

Aang's voice trumped everyone's, rising above the din surrounding the Fire Lord.

"YOU BETRAYED MY TRUST!"

"No!" Zuko whispered. "I didn't mean to lie! I… I only wanted to find my mother!"

"YOU WERE SELFISH! YOU LIED TO ME! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THE AIRBENDERER WAS DEAD!" Aang's eyes glowed in the Avatar State, and Zuko backed away, shielding his eyes.

"I only did what I thought would be best…I was afraid you wouldn't come with me if you knew the airbender was dead…" his voice trailed off.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"What have you done?"

"What have you done?"

The voices echoed in Zuko's head, and he screamed.

"What have I done?"

Aang jumped away from the Fire Lord. "You lied?" his voice trailed off. Zuko simply stared at the hurt expression in the young boys eyes.

"Why?"

~Present Day~Western Air Temple: Eastern Terrace~

Ty-Lee jumped up and down with joy. "I'm so proud of you, Nala!" she cried. "This is amazing!"

The nine-year-old girl giggled at the acrobat's antics, and joined her in cart-wheeling around. Haru spun around to face Hyun.

"You should finish you sentences before I run off in a panic."

Hyun grinned back at his teacher. "You should listen to me finish my sentences before you run off in a panic, Master!"

Haru laughed, and ruffled the boy's hair. Teo laughed as well. "Wait until we tell Aahhhh!"

Suddenly, the terrace buckled, and Haru was sent flying. He quickly regained his footing bent the stone of the temple into ledges under Ty-Lee and Nala. Hyun was hanging off the ledge Haru had landed on, and the sixteen-year-old pulled the thirteen-year-old up.

Nala's panicked shout caught Haru's attention. "TEO!" she shrieked.

Haru spun around to see Teo's wheelchair smashed against the rocks below. The boy was nowhere in sight.

"What's happening?" he whispered.

Hyun's cry drew his attention to a figure running away from the wheelchair. An unconscious Teo dangled off the figure's shoulder. The figure turned around, and Ty-Lee gasped.

"The Blue Spirit?"

~Present Day~Fire Nation Capital: Katara's Chambers~

Katara rolled from one side of her bed to the other, winding the red sheets completely around her body. Her facial expressions shifted from contented to terrified.

Aang's arms wrapped around her, his lips on hers. But she pushed him away. A child! That's all he was! A child! He was a brother to her!

The hurt in Aang's eyes…

And suddenly, she was in Zuko's arms, perfectly molded against his body. His heated lips were against hers, and lighting traveled between them. His hips ground against hers, and she moaned, pulling his body even closer to her.

"No!"

The heartbroken cry caused her to pull away. Aang stood in front of them, in the avatar state. He ran towards Zuko. Zuko ran towards him. They attacked each other…

"NO!" shouted Katara and she found herself between the two boys. Panic filled their eyes, and their attacks intended for each other crashed into Katara.

"What have I done?" Zuko's voice rang in her head.

Katara woke up, panicked. Her sheets were choking her, and she cried out. But there was no one to hear her. The Avatar and the Fire Lord were gone.

~End Chapter Six~

Sorry the chapter is so short! I just wanted to write something you know? I will try to make a longer chapter for next week! Please review *and sorry for the extreme delay!*