Aki dropped the man and looked to where he pointed. The smoke was bellowing from the west, the sign of fire and coal. She gasped, hiding her pet within her sleeve and holding her stomach slightly. The teacher looked at the Dai-Li agent and bent shackles from the metal he wore in his outfit. Aki pointed a finger at him, instructing him menally to stay while she stared at her fuzzy ocealweasel. "I must warn the others!"

Kagura huffed slightly upon rushing to the beginning of the field, seeing the gathering crowd against a twilight sunset. She held her chest with a great sigh, gratefully that nothing had happened. Jet almost started to bawl at the sight of Katara in her wedding dress, leaning upwards to kiss her new husband. Teo rolled in with goggles strapped on and a great smile. Not far behind the other Freedom Fighters, Phoenix and Ursa gathered in a army-like line looking at the far away scene. It was so peaceful now but Jet spotted the black ash beginning to fall. "Come on. Let's get in there."

Katara blushed intensely as Aang began to pick her up but the sounds of Aki's yelling ceased the noise to a point of pure silence. Haru blinked and gathered with the crowd to listen up. Finally the earthbender slumped over and gave a brief gasp of air. "The Karasu! Everyone the pirates are going to attack us?"

Whispers of confusion filled the air. Toph could hear the desperation in her voice and gasped as she began to feel vibrations. There were people, a massive army coming towards them. Aki rubbed her scars in anticipation and begged on her knees, "Please we must assist everyone out or else…" as she was starting to preach once more, Haru caught the glimpse of ice forming in the atmosphere that sharpened to a deadly point just behind her. He titled his fist and launched his wife into his arms just as the deadly ice punctured the steel chair she previously stood on. People began to gasp as a man in the crowd rose his arms, the water swirling around from the now dead grass beginning to form thousands of deadly needles. He wore what looked like a robe made of potato sacks and with tons of patches. As he began to bend even more weapons from the ice, Aki shouted, "Everyone stay still!"

It seemed as if time had come to a slow as she went back-to-back with her student Toph and created a huge earth barrier just as the needles were flying into the air. The two waited until the vibrations left and when they lowered it, they saw hundreds of people in similar robes to the rouge waterbender now standing behind four people in front. All the benders stood at the ready, Aang and Katara even prepared. Zuko was concerned as he prepared his deadly fists, now possessing the strength to create lightning. Mai stood close behind, holding a sleeping Lina in one hand with a knife in the other.

The robed figure in the near center stepped out with a hand extended and lifted the robe off her head. The group wasn't that surprised to see it was Azula who stood there, hair down and parted. She didn't look insane but calmed and happy almost sinister. A glare was set in her eyes unlike any other. She chuckled a bit at them all and whisked about her hair, "Well isn't this an inspiring sight? The Avatar and all his little friends coming to try and stop our crew. Patehtic."

Zuko was the first to talk, "Azula! Why have you returned? Who are these people?"

"My aren't we full of questions today?' She simply sneered, "We are the Karasu. Gathered from the banished members of the Four Nations."

Hearing the Aang looked closely and saw blue arrowed tattoos on the forehead on one of the members. He gasped slightly and began to yell, "Why are you here?"

"I have come to make this place for the better. We know true suffering and know that these lands are full of it. We have come to take back what is ours. And we won't let anyone, not even the Avatar get in our way!" Azula conjured a fireball within her hand and threw it at him. But a gust of air took it away from the path, leaving it to dissapate in the dead grass. Aang looked over and smiled at Kagura who landed and folded in her staff. Jet was close behind and with toothpick in mouth, he pointed the duel swords at the leaders. "Charge!!"

Everybody followed suit, benders clashing against one another. Toph and Aki found themselves suited against two scrawny-looking earthbenders. The two enemy ones tried to make them trip but Toph kicked up dust into their eyes and Aki pinned them both down with steel from the chairs. The two gave each other a high-five but the celebration did not last. Five more were coming from either side.

Aang parried with some of the firebenders alongside Zuko who broke the ankle of one of the attackers. He twisted them around to either side and both punched the noses of their opponents. With a satisfying smirk the two continued to fend one another. Aang used his earthbending to trip some of the crowd and followed up by using a huge gust of wind to knock them down. While the army was kissing the ground, the two ran off and started to help the others. Katara rose her skills and made others attack their own as she also bent away harmful spikes into calm mist. Sokka and Haru stood back-to-back fists pared. The waterbender warrior attacked the closer pirates where as Aki's husband knocked the ones that were approaching from afar.

The Freedom fighters were fending off the ones without bending abilities, Smellerbee dropped down upon them after being launched into the air by Pipsqueak. Longshot was right behind her, silently knocked each down upon their feet. She cringed silently watching as one fell before her eyes with arrow stuck in his forehead. Despite the weird feeling, she gave a thumbs-up to her love and looked above to Teo who was circling the area. The boy focused on Kagura below surrounded by fiends. He dropped three bombs covering the ground in smoke. She launched herself into the skies and surfed upon her staff giving him a satisfied glare. Mentally she instructed him to drop upon the enemies around Jet who was knocking them out left and right. Teo threw his wheelchair upon a mass in the lower left and Kagura landed next to him. For a few minutes the two fought in synch and there was this similarity in their fighting style. In the fight she caught a slight glimpse of his eyes and saw how focused they were. Those eyes, they almost made her stop. As she paused thinking about this, a waterbender took advantage of the situation and covered her in liquid. Suddenly the whole block froze up and Jet dropped his toothpick in awe. Growling, he threw the bender onto his feet and began to chink away at the ice. Her frozen expression was desperate for the skies, reaching up towards them. Mai was close to them, holding Lina close with knives in each of her fingers. The closert they approached her the more she threatened until they were at an unreasonable distance and she flung them in all directions. Rows of men and women were felled at her hands, she ran over the bodies relieved that the baby had not awakened. Blood was starting to make the grass red.

Seeing as their troops were diminishing, Azula shot a flare of blue fire into the air. The pirates in the tattered robes all stopped attacking and so did the group. Azula shouted at the top of her lungs, "Troops! Retreat! We're outnumbered!" under her baited breath in pain holding her rips she whispered with a giggle looking to the Airbenders, "Only for now. Once those two see what I have done with their people they will surely surrender."

Zuko came over to where Jet was chipping off ice and told him to stand back. A huff of smoke came from his nostrils and he placed it on either side of the cube, instantly melting it. She dropped into the King's arms and shivered aloud, unable to move. Teo looked at her blue lips concerned but didn't come over. His wheels were stuck in the ground from the previous attack. He watched with envy as she was handed to Jet who gulped upon feeling the temperature of her body. The clouds were turning dark blue in the beginning of the evening, the pale moon rising. It hovered and glowed over Sokka who stared up at it silently with sadness enveloping his soul. He stooped down and handed the slightly shivering Kagura tea, huddled underneath thick blankets next to Jet. The group was resting in the small war zone; the wedding scene had completely disappeared. Aang sighed holding his bride. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her. The waterbender shrugged, "It's no big deal. Besides we are technically married now."

Aang rubbed his temples as he watched the others gather. Bruises collected on Aki's skin, Haru tenderly trying to make sure she was okay. Blood finely trickled down Smellerbee's face, smearing her war paint slightly. Longshot was patting a cloth against it. Sokka and Toph were holding onto one each other close, reunited after the seemingly short fight. And Zuko finally had a chance to speak with his mother, tears finely running down his face as he held his daughter within his arms. The chaos was ensuing even then, a threat of war screaming towards them. Aang watched Kagura shiver and held his face within his hands. "It's not only her. There's more airbenders but…they've become the opposite of what they have been taught. What the heck am I supposed to do about these pirates?"

"Well you are the avatar but just because of that fact doesn't mean you need help."

Aki overhead this and limped into the scene with her own husband. She titled her head towards Toph and Sokka. "We could go talk to the king and assemble the troops. We have to look out for spies."

"Agreed. But what about…" Aang's eyes lowered to her barely noticeable womb, hardly looking like it grew at all. She held her hand up and smirked, "I am still a warrior of the Earth Nation."

Katara placed her hands in her lap, "I can get the warriors of our clan together. I'm sure my father wouldn't mind helping out."

Just as they were beginning to discuss the subject, a huge burst of flame caught on two of the retreating ships. The pirates scrambled to the other ones and watched as the bird-shaped flares landed onto the wedding field. It dissipated and revealed the figure of Phoenix, looking stern as ever. She approached Aang and said in a silent tone, "I shall assist you in every way I can."

"I can see that." He chuckled a bit as the ships were sinking, smoke bellowing into the skies. Confidence began to flow into his veins as tents were made by Toph to shelter the wounded that evening. The stars were sparkling and meteors burnt in the atmosphere. He made a wish deep and true that this situation would be solved.

Teo slept soundlessly in Ursa's tent while she talked with her son about the state of the nations. Toph cracked her knuckles as she and Aki stood together, placing their hats on and looking to the west. Haru would stay with Sokka to speak with him and wait for their wives to return since the two were certified members of the Earth King's army. With wishful kissing goodbyes, they parted ways in the dead of the bloodied field.

Kagura sat on a secluded hill just a few miles away from the tents and bonfires. She smiled at them talking and sharing stories, Sokka was making faces in the glare of the giant fire, dancing and telling of his travels. A sigh found its way past her lips, now pink once more. A star caught her eye and she placed her hands together. Opening her eyes she heard footsteps coming in. Under the moonlit wave she saw Jet approaching her. He hesitated and pointed next to her. "Is it okay for me to talk with you?"

"Yeah." She said with a tiny giggle, "Why would you ask that?"

"I'm not sure. It's been…tough." He gave a similar sigh and sat close to her right side. The two looked up into space, watching the burning stars sparkle and glow. She looked over at him and gripped the sides of her blanket. "It's a weird time of your life isn't it? Trying to find out what to do."

"Well…my parents were killed by the fire nation."

"Lucky."

"What?" He looked almost appalled about to get mad but her sad expression made him melt.

She almost cried upon saying, "I never knew my parents. My mom died in childbirth and my dad…well they didn't allow males into the Western Air Temple usually."

He stuck even close to her and tried to sit up but found his hand slipped and found way to hers. The two gave each other slight mumbles but somehow their fingers became interlocked. The stars reflected a deep passion, and Kagura could see the suffering he'd been through. He was pained.

"You can't let revenge power your actions."

"It's not revenge now. That's what it used to be."

She was confused, "Then what is it now?"

He found himself redden with anger and curse destiny. "Jealousy. Someone has taken something well many things away from me that I feel as if I can never reach."

She punched a fist into the air with a clumsy smile smacked upon her face, "Well then get it back from them! That's all you can do. Even though your parents are gone, their spirits are still around. They can still guard and protect you. Love goes beyond life."

It was silent when she said this, the two still holding hands. She found her palms sweating and heart beating wildly. Why was she feeling like this? She had Teo already…but yet this was happening. She'd never felt like this before, breath becoming shallow as they nudged slightly. "We should get back…to…camp." Kagura whispered as they came closer and closer…noses starting to touch and suddenly he opened his eyes and bit his lip. She looked at him with sadness as he let her get up and released their hands. "You should go."

"Can't we talk?"

"Maybe tomorrow. I've gotta figure this out on my own. And so do you."

The teen gave a smile but quickly stooped down and lightly pecked him on the cheek. As he gave a surprised blank expression he watched as she unfolded her staff and glided back down to her tent. The blank straight mouth became a happy smile as he grasped the cheek in one hand. "Thanks…" He whispered, looking to the skies feeling not so alone.