Author's Note: Thank you so much for reviewing, guys! I feel so loved! I'm in Tennessee for Thanksgiving, so I'll be working on holiday homework and the final chapter of this story. XD Enjoy!

Disclaimer: (holds machine gun Rambo-style) Let's do this. (shoots at lawyers Matrix-style, but lawyers have some sort of force field around them) Damn! (tries to run, but lawyers swarm and angrily start throwing copyright contracts at her) AHHH! IT BURNS! Alright, alright! I don't own Avatar!!! All I own is the plot and stuff! TAKE THE COPYRIGHHT AWAY, DAMMIT!

Chapter Three:

Earth

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Aang POV

I'm sitting here, in the branches of a tree by the cave, looking at the mouth of it. I could see the glow of the fire within. It seemed evil now, treacherous. Just like that time when I first learned how to fire-bend, right after I had burned Katara. That was an accident, though. That use of bending in Ba Sing Se wasn't.

I sighed, feeling hopeless and cursing my very existence when a rustle of leaves signaled someone had just scaled the tree and was right behind me.

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Katara POV

"Aang, it's okay. It's just me," I said cautiously. I could see the muscles in his jaw tighten when he lowered his hands that had been raised in defense.

"Sorry, Katara," he said, looking at his hands in his lap.

"It's okay, I should have warned you I was coming up instead of surprising you like that," I apologized, trying to keep my tone light-hearted. Aang just sighed. Biting my lip, I finally decided to not beat around the bush. "Listen, I want to know exactly why you have been ignoring me for the past week." Aang said nothing. "Aang. Talk to me. Please."

"I'm sorry, Katara," he said, a strange regret in his tone. Jumping off the branch and landing smoothly on the ground, he headed toward the cave, leaving me wanting to scream in frustration at his callousness. Tears formed in my eyes as I buried my face in my hands, my face screwed up in anger and helplessness. Why won't he let me in?

Finally the emotion subsided, leaving me feeling drained. Sighing, I made my way down the tree and back to the cave as well. It was mostly quiet; save for the momentary gurgling chitters of Momo. Aang still wasn't even looking at me.

It was just before we decided to catch some shut-eye when they came.

There were eight of them. Starving, pathetic-looking people. But all had this hungry, animalistic fire in their eyes and weapons in their hands. Obviously they saw the light from our fire, maybe even smelt the cooking fish we had caught in the creek over it. They began to circle us, slowly pushing us out of the cave.

"Leave all your things behind, and no one gets hurt," hissed the leader of the pack. These people were clearly desperate, so I cautiously spoke.

"We'll give all of you food, sir, if you leave us alone," I said slowly. "We have enough for-"

"Shut up, girl," the leader snapped, brandishing the cruelly sharp knife he had in his hand. "We don't want your pitiful offering. Everything you have can sustain us for quite a while. Step outside or we'll have to make you."

Two of the member of the thieves walked up and slammed their feet simultaneously on the ground, creating a rift in the middle of the cave and making us stumble the last few feet into the open woods. The two Earth-benders then cackled sadistically before getting into a fighting stance. No one moved.

"Very well," the leader sneered. Turning to his gang, he motioned them forward. Out of instinct, it seemed, the four of us got ready for the attack. I drew a long rope of water from the pouch at my side, my eyes narrowed at the two men advancing on me. Snapping it like a whip, I startled the mangy, half-starved men, but it didn't stop them. I then grimly sent shards of ice at the throwing knife one of them aimed at me. One of the larger shards knocked it out of the air before it reached me.

I kind of blocked out what everyone else was doing, but I guessed the other three were fighting two at a time as well.

A pained cry from behind me made me turn. It was Toph. One of the Earth benders had cut her arm badly with a sharpened rock. Her blood dripped freely from the wound as she gritted her teeth and kept fighting. I wanted to go over and heal her, but I had my hands full with the two goons in front of me. It was so strange; I felt so sorry for these exiles, these malnourished people, but it was obvious that they wouldn't shy from killing someone for some food.

Another cry rang through the wooded area; but this time it was not human. As I wrestled out of the grasp of the smaller of the two, I caught a glimpse of Appa being backed into a corner made by the rock of the mountain. A blue-clothed form that lay still by the base of a tree caught my attention. My heart skipped a beat. It was Sokka. The two men that had been fighting him were now brandishing long, rusty swords at the huge bison; one was the leader.

"What a pretty prize, eh, Shinto?" the leader sneered.

"Yeah, this one will sell for hundreds on the black market!" the other said gleefully. Appa bellowed in distress, and stomped his huge feet, desperate to escape the sharp swords pricking his sides as he backed into a corner.

"NO!" a shout resounded frighteningly throughout the forest, startling a few birds out of the trees. It felt that the people in the vicinity could not only hear it with their ears, but it erupted in their minds, vibrating throughout their entire body; freezing them with fear of an awful power. My head whipped toward the source of the cry, already knowing who had said it.

Just as I saw him, Aang had knocked the last of his two assailants out with a good sized rock. His eyes and arrows were already starting to glow as his face twisted into a furious snarl. Aang threw himself at Shinto, who was closest to Appa and took the man's head in both his hands. The sword had been knocked out of Shinto's hand with a sharp gust of wind.

With a sickening crack, Aang snapped the man's neck with the kind of effort one might break a toothpick. The crack echoed ominously throughout the suddenly silent forest.

Without even breaking his momentum, Aang sprang and faced the leader, who was cowering before the Avatar, sword raised, but trembling violently. With only an expression of terrible rage, Aang raised his hand in his direction.

"Aang, no!" I cried, sprinting toward the portentous scene. The air was tingling with the power Aang was about to release. In desperation, I sent as strong a wave of water as I could muster crashing into my friend. Caught off-guard, Aang was sent sprawling to the ground. The leader of the would-be bandits, taking advantage to escape, ran to the trees and left his stunned cohorts behind. But it wasn't he I was concerned with now.

It was the furious Avatar slowly getting to his feet and facing me, the water I sent at him swirling menacingly.

"Aang…?" I said cautiously.

The Avatar said nothing, but the swirling water was growing into a vortex. He was adding water from the river that twisted down the mountain. I began to panic. He couldn't hear me. The other bandits had finally run off in fear.

"Aang, stop it! You're scaring me," I blurted as I backed away, a sick feeling coming to my stomach. Bits of earth, sticks, and rock were being added to the violently swirling water now. Aang was advancing towards me. "I couldn't let you kill anyone else! Aang, please…can't you recognize me? It's me, Kat-"

My words were cut off by a tremendous blow of the cyclone. My breath was knocked out of me, and I felt a few ribs crack. Pain erupted in my chest, and I couldn't breathe; the water had engulfed me. I fell on my elbows, feeling the pain of them being scraped on the rough ground. The rocks and sticks whipping around in the water cut my face and arms.

I fought to raise my hands to cover my face, as well as summon my Water-bending to stop the relentless attack. I didn't know if I could go against the Avatar, but I knew I had to try. The thought of a rock smashing my head and drowning in the swirling water…

But even as this horrifying thought came to me, the water dropped. I took an instinctive, gasping breath, and was instantly punished by the white-hot knives of pain searing through my chest. The breath came out in an agonized cry. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe without tremendous pain unless I took short, shallow breaths, and I could feel a warm liquid streaming down my arms and face; my blood.

But through the pain, I could see Aang running to me, kneeling by my side. I don't know why, but I flinched away from him when he reached out to touch me. The action brought instant hurt and self-loathing to his eyes.

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Aang POV

"Katara…" I whispered, my voice cracking. My hands moved, wanting to touch her face, but I forced them down. God, what have I done?

My eyes, as if moving on their own accord, took in her scraped and bruised arms and face; the obvious pain from every breath she took. I did this to her. I couldn't control myself and I hurt her in return.

I hated myself. I hated being the Avatar. The Avatar was a monster, hurting those I loved. I could have killed her!

Then my eyes moved to the still body of one of the robbers that lay about twenty feet away. I had killed him. Only my love for Katara had stopped me from crossing that threshold before it was too late. And it almost had been.

"Aang," Katara breathed. "You're going…to have to help me…lift up my shirt. I cracked a few ribs and…I need to heal them." My heart was ripping to shreds just hearing the dull agony in her voice. I hesitated, reluctant to touch her with these cursed hands, but I slowly lifted her shirt so that her abdomen and upper ribs were exposed. The skin was already beginning to bruise badly. I flinched when I heard her hiss with pain.

"I'm sorry," I said, eyes down as I backed away and respectively turned around.

"It's okay," she said softly as she Water-bended a ribbon of water to her hands, letting them glow a gentle blue. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Toph slowly walk over, not speaking. She passed me and went over to Katara. I heard the two begin to whisper and decided to help rouse Sokka, who was still knocked out by the tree. Appa had run into the cave.

Probably when he saw I had lost control, I thought sadly as I crouched next to Sokka. He was already stirring, but it took a little coaxing to get him to sit up.

"Are those robbers gone? Did they steal our stuff?" he asked, rubbing his head where the leader had hit him.

"No, they're gone," I said in a monotone. Sokka glanced behind me to where Toph and Katara were. I held my breath.

"Katara!" he cried, getting up and running over to her. My muscles were taut, ready to run when Sokka came at me with a brotherly thirst for revenge. The anger in his eyes like when I had accidentally burned Katara swim in my mind's eye, but now that look would be turned into hate, I knew it.

But the moment didn't come. I heard the now-healed Katara assuring him that the Earth-benders who had hurt her were long gone, chased off by my 'protective instincts'. She even laughed! As if my Avatar state was harmless to all but who threatened my friends. I sat there in shock, shock that even after I almost killed her she didn't want her brother to chase me away, like she knew he would if she told him.

But part of me wanted to be chased away. I couldn't live being a constant threat to the people around me. Even if I could save the world, what use is it if in the process I hurt my friends?

"Aang, let's get some sleep, huh?" Sokka said, patting my shoulder. I almost jumped; I hadn't noticed him walk up to me.

"Yeah…I'll take the first watch," I said absently. Suddenly I remembered something. My eyes flicked to the place where the body of the robber laid.

It was gone.

Trying to keep calm in front of Sokka, I stood up and followed him back to the cave. Like after the tree conversation, I avoided looking at Katara as we got ready for bed. I just sat at the mouth of the cave, my back to the rest of my friends, my staff resting across my lap. I couldn't bear to talk to her now.

Aang, stop it! You're scaring me…

You're scaring me; I couldn't get her frightened voice out of my head. I hadn't stopped. It was like that day in Ba Sing Se; I couldn't stop.

Not even for her.

I sat in silence for hours, feeling empty of all emotion except self-loathing. Usually by now I would wake someone else to keep watch, but I couldn't get myself to move.

"Aang?"

A chill went down my spine. It was Katara.

"May I sit with you?" she asked softly. I couldn't say anything. I could barely breathe, let alone talk. I only nodded. She sat down beside me and pulled her knees to her chest. My gaze fell on her cut and bruised face. A knife of self-disgust tore through my stomach. I looked away. We were both silent for a good while.

"What happened to the body?" I asked softly, staring outside, not wanting to look at her. I couldn't look at her without wanting to inflict on myself the same wounds I had inflicted upon her.

"Toph buried him," Katara replied. She paused. "I don't want Sokka to know what happened."

"I know," I said, my voice barely a whisper. I don't deserve her company. I don't deserve any of this unjustified mercy.

Another long silence.

"Aang, I don't blame you for what happened," Katara said, cutting through the quiet. "I know you can't control the Avatar state when it's-"

"But I should have," I said in a low, spiteful tone. "I should have controlled it. Before I killed Long Feng, before I killed his henchman, before I killed that man, before I almost..." I couldn't bring myself to say it. I gritted my teeth in anger and helplessness. "The point is; I'm dangerous to you, to all of you; friends and enemies alike. I can't go on like this Katara. I don't want to do this anymore."

So many things were unsaid between us, so many unexplainable emotions. Katara sat for maybe another silent minute or so before heading back to her cot. But before she did, she laid a warm hand on mine. The touch stayed even as she left. Tears were forming in my eyes; my chest was tight with emotion. At some point in the night Momo walked up to me, chittering softly, and curled up on my lap.

At least someone isn't afraid to stay near me, I thought, absently stroking his soft fur as the sun began to rise to the cold morning.

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Author's note: Sorry for the long wait, everyone! I know, more angst, but I have one more chapter to go. Wow. This is the closest to finishing a story than I have been in a long time. XD

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! (takes out cage of nice, fat turkeys for reviewers)

Turkeys: (run for their lives)

Me: COME BACK HERE! (chases turkeys with plastic cornucopia)