Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Chapter 6: Dirt and Decay

The date was set. The next full moon was in two weeks and on that day the occupants of the western Air Temple would attack the Fire Lord's palace. Katara's ability to bloodbend made most of the participants a little less nervous about their chances to survive.

Katara herself had become more detached from the rest of the group. She often lost herself in thought and got distracted easily. It was obvious that she was upset with her decision to bloodbend again.

Zuko watched Katara rhythmically stirring a pot of stew for their dinner that night. He sighed. He had two options. He could either go over there, try to comfort her, and get yelled at for the umpteenth time or he could do nothing and continue to watch her sulk. He stood up and preparing himself for the worst made his way to the young waterbender.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked kneeling down next to Katara. She started and looked back at him with a surprised expression. He must have caught her off guard. That shocked look quickly disappeared however when she realized who was behind her.

"Doing what?" she said bitterly. "Making dinner?" she turned back to the pot as if disgusted by the very sight of Zuko's scarred face.

"Why are you forcing yourself to bloodbend when you so obviously hate it?" He tried to ignore her bitter tone.

"Well Zuko," she turned to face the firebender, "some people put other people's needs before their own. Some people actually care about the general public and the innocent lives that the Fire Nation is destroying." With a smirk she turned back to the boiling pot.

"What is your deal?!" Zuko stood up angrily. All his pent up anger rose to the surface as he started shouting at the waterbender. "I've been nothing but nice to you since I joined your group! I left my family and home to help you guys defeat my father and bring peace to this world! Sure I've done some things in the past, but that's just it! The past is the past! I can't turn back time!"

"Well I suggest you figure it out because that's the only way I will be able to forgive you." Katara bent some water onto the fire and began to serve the stew into separate bowls.

"Listen-" Zuko began before he was promptly cut off by,

"Guys?!" Toph's voice cut through the air and brought the rest of the residents of the Temple running to the place where Zuko and Katara had been arguing just a short time before. Toph entered shortly after to a chorus of questions like "What happened?" "What's wrong?" Her response was simply,

"Someone's coming."

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I ran as fast as I could and as far as I could. I entered a seemingly deserted village and stopped in an alley to catch my breath. I slid down the alley wall and dropped to the cold stone ground. My breath came out in gasps as I tried to think.

I had no idea where my family had been hidden. I just had to trust that they were safe and figure out what to do next. I looked at the arm that had been scorched by Azula's flames and grit my teeth. While I was running I hadn't been able to feel the pain because I had been too busy trying to get as far away from the palace as I could. Now however, the pain came back in full blast.

I clutched my arm to my chest and focused on steadying my breathing. I closed my eyes and thought. What should I do now? I was finally free from Azula but now what? Was I supposed to stay in hiding until the Fire Nation was defeated? At the rate that was going it would be for the rest of my life.

Then I remembered something. I remembered Azula talking about the Avatar and how he was currently hiding in the Western Air Temple. Hadn't Zuko gone to join the Avatar? If anyone had any hope of defeating the Fire Lord the Avatar did. Instead of hiding for the rest of my life wouldn't it be more beneficial to everyone if I helped to bring down the Fire Lord?

I stood up. All those times I had thought about the horrible things the Fire Nation had done and the things I had done for them. Now I had a chance to do something about it. I stepped out of the alley and began heading to my new destination, the Western Air Temple.

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It was a good thing I grew up as an air nomad. They taught us a lot about our lost temple, including where they are and how to find them. It took me about two days to reach the base of the Western Air Temple. I had traveled all day and had decided to wait until the morning to climb to the top. Another thing I had learned from the nomads was that there was a secluded stair way that led to the portion of the temple occupied by non-benders.

I closed my eyes and tried to block out the pain in my arm and stomach. I had found some fruits and nuts here and there but not enough to sustain my hunger. It was in situations like this when you realize just how much you eat. I always took food for granted, but now I realized you don't always get handed a plate of food. My stomach growled and I groaned.

After what seemed like forever I finally fell asleep and dreamed of food. The next morning I woke up hungry and stiff. The pain in my arm had gone down in my travels and had become an ever present throbbing.

I got up stretched and began looking for the entrance to the stairway. I tested the ground and sides at the base of the temple. As the sun rose over the mountains I searched for a hole or door of some type. I grew tired and leaned against the base to take a few deep breaths before I continued.

I heard a loud cracking sound as the vines and wall behind me gave way, and I found myself falling backwards. I landed in a pile of debris and pieces of vegetation that had grown on the temple in the many of years of abandonment. Coughing, I pushed myself up and looked around.

By the dim light coming in from the hole I had made I saw the other side of the cracked walls. They looked sturdier then I had expected after 100 years. It the center of the small, circular room was a set of stairs climbing steeply upward into darkness. They were cracked and a few were missing, but they too were in pretty good shape considering how long it had been since anyone had used them.

Taking a deep breath, I lit a small fire on my palm and began to ascend the long staircase ahead of me.

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The climb was long and hard. A few times I had to jump over holes in the stairway where stairs had fallen or broken down. I had to tread carefully so as not to loosen any more stairs. My path was often blocked by rocks or low hanging vines especially as I climbed higher. Dust swirled around my face making it hard to see or breath. I found myself coughing quite a bit.

After a long while I reached the top of the staircase which ended at a dirt wall. I brushed aside the thin layer of dirt which covered an old door. I heard the hinges snap easily as I pushed my shoulder against the old structure.

Dirt and dust fell from the doorway as the sun broke through into the stairway. I blinked in the sunlight and stepped out into the ground of the Western Air Temple right into the tip of the blade pointed at my chest.