Me: Next Chapter! Woo! I updated pretty quickly if I do say so myself. I would like to thank all my reviewers who give me so much inspiration! You know who ya are! Love ya!
Aang: you'll never guess what is going to happen in the next chapter!
Sokka: Yeah it' so…cool!
Zuko: Yep it' spretty good.
Me: I even updated on my Kingdom Hearts story!
Katara: Good job. Now if you would only finish it.
Me: Get off my back about it already!
Katara: Sorry…DISCLAIMER: I swear, if I have to say it. I'll rip my hair out and stuff down which ever one of you smart alecks out there decides I need to tell you. Seriously you should be afraid. I have like super thick curly hair. FEAR IT!
They pushed their way through the crowd towards a large, ornate building. The building stood tall in the dingy city. At the top of the structure was the Earth Kingdom Symbol delicately carved from marble.
"That's the biggest building here. If Appa is in the city, he's inside that structure." Sokka observed.
The group marched up the stone steps towards the large, jewel-encrusted doors that lead to the inside. Two guards stopped them quickly.
"The King doesn't wish for anybody to enter today." The larger guard said, without looking at the kids.
"He has my flying bison!" Aang said then tried to push his way through.
The guards shoved him backwards, "He isn't seeing anybody." The large guard repeated.
"Aang, you don't know for sure that Appa is even in there." Katara reasoned.
"Oh he has a giant flying bison, yes." The smaller guard with a heavy walrus mustache confirmed.
"Never mind then." Katara mumbled.
"He's mine!"
"How do we know he's really yours little arrow man?" The guard with the mustache asked.
"Because Aang is the Avatar and those are the tattoos of an air bender." Toph said, picking at her fingernails nonchalantly.
"Hmmm." The guards thought then huddled together and discussed what to do.
"The Avatar. Don't you think the King would be pleased?" The guard with the mustache asked his partner.
"Well, he would be pleased but that would mean breaking direct orders. He did say, nobody."
"But the Avatar?" He whispered.
"I know, I know but we can't let him through. Direct orders you know." The large man shrugged.
"But-"
"No."
"Not even-"
"No."
"He's-"
"NO!" He hissed and they turned around to face the kids again. "I'm sorry, but we would really like to help you but His Majesty specifically said not to let anybody in. Not even family."
"But I'm the Avatar!" Aang said exasperatedly.
"I'm sorry." The guard said. "I must ask you to leave now."
The others started to leave but Aang's brow furrowed and he stood his ground. The anger was building up inside him and it was about to escape in the Avatar State.
Katara saw the warning signs of the transition and grabbed his arm just as his tattoos started to glow. "Aang, no! We'll come back tomorrow when the King is seeing people. Calm down Aang!" She shouted.
Sokka pulled Toph to a safe distance and they hid behind some vegetable carts as the wind picked up and started to swirl around Aang. "NO! Aang! Calm Down!" Katara screamed.
Aang's arm swung around and he backhanded her to get her off him. A loud slap was heard and Katara stumbled backwards clutching her pinking cheek. Aang's attention then reverted to the guards and he slowly rose up in the air until Katara's sobs snapped him out of the Avatar State. He slowly touched down on the ground and collapsed. Then he staggered over to Katara.
"Katara, I-I'm…I didn't…I…" He stuttered.
"No! Aang you are getting out of control!" Sokka yelled, jerking Katara away from him and letting her cry into his shoulder while rubbing her back.
"Yeah, Aang. This is the second time in less than a week you have went into the Avatar State." Toph told him.
Aang was confused and upset. "If you would have saved Appa, none of this would have happened!" He accused Toph.
"Oh no! Don't you blame this on me! If I would have saved Appa, you guys would have all died!" She screamed at him. "So it wouldn't have mattered anyway!"
"Aang, I don't know if you have forgot but Toph is blind! She couldn't feel those vibrations in the sand. You know that." Sokka growled.
"How would you have known? You were hallucinating off that cactus juice!" Aang challenged.
"I was sober enough to understand that you went into the Avatar State and almost killed all of us!"
"I couldn't see what was happening when you went into the Avatar State but it still scared me. Mostly because I couldn't see." Toph mumbled.
True, Toph was blind but Aang sometimes forgot because she was so adapt at seeing with vibrations. "I-I'm sorry." Aang told them.
"No Aang. This time, sorry doesn't cut it." Katara said shakily, her face red from getting hit. "You need to learn to control yourself or…or…" she started to cry again.
"Or what?" Aang pleaded, he knew what she was going to say but dreaded it still.
"Or you can travel on your own." Sokka finished for her. "You are becoming a danger to us all."
Aang was suddenly stricken with guilt and heartbreak. He looked from face to face and saw the same stony exterior he had been showing to them for so long. He lowered his head and nodded as they all turned and headed to a small dingy inn called The Rolling Rock. Aang fell to his knees in the middle of the street, his only companion now was Momo who sat beside him and chattered. He let out a wail and started to cry. "What's wrong with me?" he sobbed. Passerby on the street looked at him speculatively them continued on to where ever they were headed.
Aang's heart was broken and he was afraid. Afraid that his friends would leave him, afraid he would never get Appa back, afraid he would hurt one of them. He felt himself being pulled downward into an abyss of nothingness and only one person could pull him out. All his thoughts were revolving around the one girl he loved.
Katara.
He had hurt her. He had hurt her. Of all people, he did it. Not Zuko or Jet or some passerby on the street. He did it. He had hit her and it wasn't the fact that he had hit her, it was the fact he had done while in the Avatar State. He had done it with pure spite and hate in his body. His hands began to tremble and he felt sick to his stomach.
Katara.
All he could think of was her now but for some reason, Toph's face kept drifting into his mind. Wiping the tears away he shook the thought off and started towards the inn where the others had gone. He pushed open the wood door of the inn and stepped up to the desk. A strong woman with green eyes and graying hair was knitting and humming on the other side of the desk. Aang cleared his throat to get the woman's attention.
"Oh hello." She said cheerfully. "What can I do ya for?"
"My friends checked into this inn. I don't know if they saved me a room or what…" his voice trailed off.
"Oh. I your name Aang?" She asked while setting her knitting down and rifling through some papers.
"Yeah." He mumbled.
"Here's your key. Room l10." She handed the key to him then picked up her knitting again. "The stairs are to your left. Enjoy your stay." And she went back to her humming and knitting.
Aang dully walked up the stairs and stuck the key into the lock and turned it. Then he walked in to see Sokka sitting on one of the beds polishing his boomerang. Momo jumped off Aang's shoulder and crawled up to Sokka, watching him polish the weapon.
"We decided that the girls would share a room and we would share a room." Sokka said without looking up.
"Oh." Aang set his pack on the other bed and looked around the room. It was painted a bright green with ivy stretching along the ceiling. There were two twin beds, one by the window, which was Sokka's, and the other closer to the door, Aang's. There was a small dresser in the corner, which currently held Sokka's pack. Then there was a small nightstand beside Aang's bed. A tiny closet was on the opposite wall of Aang, it was closed so Aang assumed Sokka had already put the rest of his pack in there.
"Katara and Toph are in the next room over." Sokka said gruffly.
"Oh. Is she okay?"
"Yes. But I don't think she wants you near her for a while." He paused for a while. "You know, you really hurt her. Not physically but emotionally. I imagine she's still crying."
"Oh." Was all he could say. Leave it to Sokka to make him feel worse.
"Why?" Sokka asked, still not looking at him.
"Huh?"
"Why'd you do it? Hit her I mean."
Aang looked at his feet. Why did he do it? He wasn't angry at her, he was angry at the guards for not letting them in, right? "I don't know…" He mumbled.
Sokka shrugged. "Well, you had better think of something to tell her."
"I know. I think I was just so upset…and I wanted to get Appa back so badly…that…I was kind of crazy about it. I wanted Appa back for us."
"For us? Or You? Make sure you ask yourself that." Sokka told him, looking at him for the first time in about an hour.
"I guess it was kind of for myself. It's just that he was the last thing I have to remind me of what used to be." Momo chattered and waved his arms. "And Momo too. I just didn't think. I just acted." He put his head in his hands. "I'm such and idiot. Look at what I have done."
"I'm glad you understand that now." Sokka went back to polishing. "I think you girls can come out now. He has learned his lesson."
Aang was confused then the closet door slowly opened and there stood Toph and Katara both with smug looks of satisfaction on their faces. "What? This was a setup?"
"Aang, we wanted you to see that there was more to life than just getting Appa back. Although I still am upset that you hit me." Katara told him.
"I'm sorry." He said with forcefulness, pouring all his emotions into it. "I was just so wrapped up in getting Appa and getting what mattered at the time that I forgot what mattered to me most. My family."
Katara and Toph smiled at him. He grinned back. Katara glanced out the window at the sun set. "Well, I think I'm going to get a nice shower then go to bed." She said. "You gonna get one too?" She asked Toph.
"Yeah. That sounds really nice right now. Oh and Aang, we are in the room beside you. Room 108." She told him.
"Alright."
Katara and Toph walked out and into their room. Katara rummaged through their closet and found some clean white towels and some soap The after grabbing herself some clean clothes she asked, "You coming? The showers are down the hall a way." Toph nodded and followed her after gathering some of her own clean clothes.
The showers were very clean well kempt. Katara handed Toph two of the towels and took two for her then they both got into showers that were next to each other. They turned on the hot water and let their emotions wash away and down the drain along with a lot of dirt. Toph finished first and dressed then after telling Katara she was done, left and went back tot the room. Katara finished soon after and followed Toph's lead and went back to the room. She didn't bother to re-braid her hair because it was wet so she just towel dried it and left it down.
Their room was set up just like Sokka's and Aang's but the walls were a pale blue and instead of ivy painted on the ceiling there were moons and stars. Toph was lying in the bed by the window with her arms folded behind her head. Katara sat on her own bed and started to try and dry her hair more. Then playfully, she threw the wet towel onto Toph.
"What was that for?" Toph asked gruffly as she sat up.
"I don't know. I just felt like doing it." She shrugged and grinned.
Toph threw the towel back then laid back down. Katara grabbed her pillow and threw it onto Toph's face. "What are you doing?"
"What? You never had a pillow fight?"
Toph looked confused. "Pillow fight?"
"Yeah, my mother and I used to do it all the time until…never mind. Have you ever done it?"
"No."
"All you do is hit each other with pillows until the other gets to tired or the pillow breaks."
"That's dumb." Toph lay back down and rolled over to face the darkening night.
Katara threw another pillow at her.
"Will you stop it? I don't want to play!" She yelled.
"Alright, alright." Katara yawned. "I'm tired anyway." She gathered up her pillows and turned off the lamp, sending them into instant darkness. She snuggled down into the covers and stared at the ceiling. The pain ton the ceiling glowed and the faint images of stars and moons were present. She stared at them until something attacked her face. She stifled a scream and threw the thing off her then flipped on the light and jumped off the bed. Toph burst out laughing.
Katara looked at her bad and saw one of Toph's pillows laying amongst her own. She threw her a dirty look.
"I couldn't resist." She laughed.
"Oh you asked for it." Katara launched a pillow at her and the war began. They threw pillow at each other for another hour or so until they both were too tired to move. "Truce?" Katara panted.
"Yep." Toph agreed and picked up her pillows and set them on her bed. Katara did the same then they both got into their beds and were asleep seconds after the light was turned off.
Me: That was a long chapter. I think my longest so far. It was kind of boring though and I think the characters were a little OCC. I ran out of ideas for that chapter so I had to think up something really quick for the end.
Sokka: She's just lazy.
Me: And you're not?
Sokka: Hey, I could write a story no problem.
Katara: Uh-huh. You couldn't even write your name for the longest time.
Sokka: Let's just contradict everything I say.
Katara: He doesn't know what he's talking about.
Me: Anyway, the next chapter will be good. Trust me. You won't expect it at all.
Review please!