Book Three: Fire

Authors' Notes: Glad you guys liked the last chapter. The more reviews we get, the more we write.

Sam81609: Hey, do we own Avatar: The Last Airbender?

ScorpioRed112: No, I'm afraid we don't.

Sam81609: I didn't think so.

Enjoy guys! Be sure to review!

-ScorpioRed112 and Sam81609

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Chapter 2: Aang's Trials

The feeling of power was rushing through his veins…his mind, his body, expanded. It was like nothing he had ever felt before…Nothing…But then…

The pain...it coursed through his body, shut him down…and he was falling…falling... into a pit of darkness and unwanted cold.

"No!" Aang shot up like a bullet, breathing hard. A soft coughing spasm rushed through him until he could barely breathe. The pain of sitting up was unbearable, and after a second he fell back into the soft animal fur behind him. He would usually be against Katara and Sokka's pelts, but he didn't have the energy to argue.

The pain he felt whenever he drew a breath was agonizing. Surely something must have happened to his lungs, if not his spine. He felt loose and spongy, but also edged and inflexible. Carefully he turned to his side.

"Aang!" Katara's voice shattered his odd descriptions of pain. She sounded excited; in nearly an instant she was up and next to him. Aang could only make out the reflection of her deep cerulean eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he turned his head back and closed his eyes. Why was Katara so excited to see him? Aang could not remember, but he was glad that she was concerned for him. "What…what happened?"

"You mean you don't remember?" Katara's voice sounded childish, almost begging him to pull stained memories back from the earlier.

He shook his head.

"Azula," Katara almost spit out the word. "She…she electrocuted you when you went into the Avatar State. We thought you had…" Katara paused, thinking. "You had..."

Her voice drifted off into the midnight silence. After a second Aang inquired, "Then…then how am I still alive?"

"I healed you." Katara pulled out the small vial of water from around her neck. Her eyes shined with pride as she showed Aang it was empty, carefully unscrewing it and turning it upside down. Aang recognized the vial as the one Master Pakku had given her from the Spirit Oasis.

"You used that for me?" He knew he sounded surprised. "But Master Pakku said it was special, that you should save it for something important," Aang paused, trying to pull himself up. "Something special—Katara, you really didn't have to—"

"I did use it for something special," Katara's coy smiled forced a light shade of pink to brush across her cheeks. Timidly, she turned away from him. "I used it for you."

Aang felt his face go warm. Katara thought he was important? Well, in retrospect, he was. After all, he was the Avatar. Of course she would want to save him. She probably wouldn't have bothered otherwise.

Right?

Though it hurt to move, Aang felt himself reach for Katara's hand. "Katara...you..."

As if timed, a grumbling from behind Katara shook them from their trance. Toph was standing up and stretching, her mouth open in a wide yawn. Aang pulled back his hand.

"Good morning, Toph," Katara told the Earthbender, weary of her timing.

"Morning," Aang repeated, feeling the same.

"Have a good nap, Twinkle Toes?" Somehow Toph's sarcastic response had a less of a sharp edge than usual. Aang smiled slightly at her unlikely kindness and peeked his head up to see the horizon. The sun was starting to rise. A thought occurred to him.

"Where's Sokka?" Aang asked, remembering the older boy's habit of sleeping until noon.

"He took the Earth King and Basco back to his father," Toph explained. She walked over to the duo and sat down. "They can't stay with us, it's not safe for anyone else to be around us. Heck, it's not safe for us to be around us!"

Aang chuckled at Toph's witty humor. Katara managed to smile. Things were returning to normal for their makeshift family.

Aang couldn't help but wonder what normal meant to him anymore.

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Zuko was wandering aimlessly through the palace, his head spinning. He was a traitor, he wasn't a traitor, he was a traitor, he wasn't a traitor. The argument swirled around and around in his mind.

For three years he had traveled the world, determined to catch the Avatar and restore his honor. He wanted to prove he was worthy. He wanted his honor back.

And now he had it. He had restored it himself; Azula had said so. Then why did he feel lower than dirt? Why did he want to bury himself alive?

He knew it was because he had betrayed Uncle. Iroh had stood by him through it all, through everything that had happened; and he, Zuko, had selfishly turned his back on everything he had been taught.

You're a terrible person, you know that, always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace. But what do you care. You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and hatred is in your blood…

The words rang in his head—the words of a young Waterbender who had been affected by this war as much as he had, if not more. Katara. But she wasn't like him. She wasn't selfish. She didn't have her honor hinging on a line. She didn't understand the measures he had to take to have things return to normalcy.

He knew that the Fire Nation would have the North Pole in mind; perhaps his father would place him and Azula in charge of that mission. Or maybe he and Azula would just go after the Avatar. Who was to know? His father was unpredictable. His father was evil.

Azula was evil.

Zuko walked into an empty chamber, plunging himself in an empty bunk. The room must've belonged to an Earth Kingdom general, one of the five that had been taken and overthrown.

Unintentionally he found himself in the same room as Mai, who had been quietly reading on a separate bunk closer to the door. Shocked and bewildered, Mai stared at Zuko wide-eyed, her lower lip wedged between her teeth.

"Zu...Zuko!" Mai murmured, as if Zuko had come back from the dead. It was obvious she was getting uncomfortable. Her hand shot up to her forehead. "I...I didn't know you were staying here..."

Here we go again, Zuko thought. Mai was silent, still staring.

After a moment of silence Zuko stood up and headed for the door.

Mai's eyes trembled. In a flash she had left the room, pushing Zuko out of her way, tossing her book randomly on the floor.

Zuko hated Mai. He hated her in a sense that she was too timid and afraid around him. She made him feel guilty for something he did not do. He remembered Azula telling him how much Mai adored him. Azula would constantly tease both of them, and then scold Mai for having such feelings for her brother.

Thus, Zuko was well aware of Mai's turbulent affections. There was no way he could tell if he felt the same. He had always thought of Mai as another limb of Ty-Lee, both of them genderless, squawking shadows. There had never been a time when he thought of Mai as a girl, or now, a young woman.

His quest for his honor, he realized, had actually destroyed any other mood or atmosphere in his mind. Now that he had his honor back, his mind became open, more calm, and perhaps a bit less obsessive.

Zuko picked up the book.

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So much had happened in the last few days, it was hard for Sokka to wrap his mind around it all. He hadn't gotten many details from what had happened with Aang and Katara, only that it had hurt Aang pretty badly. He wondered now how Aang was doing.

Poor kid, he thought sadly, He doesn't deserve this. None of us do.

What he wouldn't give to be back in his village right now, playing the big protector guy and showing off how great he was! But, like Gran-Gran said, his and Katara's destinies were tied with Aang's, and now also with Toph's. Aang was the Avatar. They were his teachers and protectors. There was nothing they could do to change that.

"Sokka?" he looked over his shoulder and saw Hakoda walking towards him. "Are you okay?" his dad asked, confused.

"It's nothing, Dad," he turned back to look out at the water, "Just thinking about what's been happening."

"A lot's happened since I left you, hasn't it?" Hakoda wrapped a protective arm around his son's shoulder. "You've grown up so much in just a few years. I've heard about your adventures with the Avatar, and I'm very proud of you. You've handled yourself like a real man." Hakoda smiled.

Sokka would have given anything to just bask in the glow of the praise his father was providing him with. But now that he'd been given time to think, everything was all hitting him hard. How intense the battles were, how they always seemed to just scrape by, especially in this last battle. It was hard. Harder than he had realized. Sokka knew war was hard. He didn't realize how traumatizing it could be though.

"Thanks Dad," Sokka replied quietly. He knew he'd been forced to act like a real man because of Aang. A child couldn't do nearly a fraction of the job. "I really should be heading back now."

"You're right," Hakoda agreed. "Your sister and friends are probably worried."

Sokka looked at his father. A middle-aged man, firmly built, skin tanned from hard work and war, but a grin that said 'I'm ready for what the world's got. Bring it on.' Sokka stood up. "I'm going to miss you, Dad."

Father and son embraced and retracted, both a bit shaken. "Take care of yourself, Sokka," his father called to him as he made his way to Appa.

"I will Dad, you too."

"And Sokka," Hakoda warned, "be nice to your sister."

Sokka couldn't help but smile. He realized that this might be the last time he saw his father again. He waved from Appa's head. "Dad, be careful out there!"

Hakoda nodded. Sokka and Appa ascended into the sky.

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Aang was rolling side to side, shuddering slightly each time any pressure was applied to his back. He was sick of not being well, he decided, but he knew that it wouldn't do him any good to lie on his back. Everyone was aware that he hadn't recovered fully just yet. Katara had her work cut out for her, and even Toph—from what Aang could sense—was holding back on her "playful" insults.

He knew he had done a terrible thing. He had betrayed Katara. Let her go, just so he could go into the Avatar State. Even after that, she had given it all to save him. She had used her Oasis water on him, and if that didn't show that she cared what did? What had he done?

He had let her go. The Guru had said he had to let everything he cared about go. But hadn't the Guru also said that Aang had to embrace those who cared for him? He shivered slightly and curled up into a loose ball. His thoughts drifted to Monk Gyatso. He imagined his beloved teacher and Katara both on a balance. Which was more important? He imagined the Avatar State and Katara on a balance. What about now?

"Aang?" He sat up carefully and looked around. Katara was sitting next to him, her hair astray, her face pale and worried.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "You were talking in your sleep," she informed him. She curled her knees up beneath her chin as she often did when she was tired or detached. Her eyes remained fixed on his face, waiting for an answer.

Aang hadn't known that he was asleep. "I'm fine," he replied softly, "What was I saying?"

"You just kept saying let go, let go over and over," she looked at him oddly. "It sounded a lot like a chant. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm positive," Aang lied blankly, grinning. "Probably just a bad dream or something."

"Okay." Katara's eyes flashed in Appa's direction. Sokka had arrived not too long ago. He had immediately propped himself on Appa's side and fallen into a deep sleep. So deep he didn't even seem to mind that Toph had taken his sleeping bag, again, and was using his leg as a pillow. Katara smiled at the sight and returned her gaze to Aang. "You know, you never told us what happened with the Guru."

The question he had been dreading. "Oh, you know…" He tried stalling for time so he could think, "lots of boring Avatar stuff, you probably wouldn't understand."

"Probably not." Katara laughed at how easily Aang could associate the word 'boring' with the word 'Avatar.' It was a pure insight into his charming nature. "How about I let you rest for a little bit?"

Katara pulled one of her pelts up to her chin and closed her eyes, leaving Aang to swim in his thoughts.

He knew he needed the Avatar State. It was his only powerful weapon against the Fire Nation. But to fully control it, he needed to let go of the ones he cared about. How could he do that again? Wasn't it enough that he had been isolated in an iceberg for one hundred years?

He wasn't sure how long he was lying there before another voice interrupted his thoughts. "What's up, Twinkle Toes?"

He opened his eyes and saw Toph walking calmly to his resting spot. He watched as she stepped over Katara with precision and accuracy, always amazed that the blind girl could navigate her way around anything. "Hey Toph," he said quietly.

"What? Speak up, I can't hear you," she joked, cupping her hand around her ear. She sat down next to him and blew a strand of hair away from her face. "Seriously," she began, "what did the Guru tell you that you don't want Katara to know?"

Aang stared at her in amazement. Hadn't she been sleeping when that conversation was going on? "How did you—"

"Any blind Earthbender a mile away could tell you were lying to her," she explained, looking past him. "I won't tell her," Toph promised. "I'm not like that, but you have to tell me something that I need to keep secret." She smirked, pleased with her conditions.

He sighed and pulled himself up fully, wincing slightly as he did so. Toph, as an after thought, pushed a small pile of berries towards him. "There isn't much to eat," she said in a surprisingly apologetic tone. "We lost everything we had with the saddle, and there just isn't anything around here."

Aang looked at the berries hungrily, not caring about what they were, just trying to decide which ones to eat first. "So talk," Toph commanded, laying back. "What happened?"

He popped a berry into his mouth, thinking, and finally launched into an explanation of everything the Guru had told him and taught him, right up to the part about Aang having to let go of everything and everyone he loved. Toph sat up when he got to that part, looking interested. "And I just couldn't do it," he said, looking down at his berry-stained hands. He traced the arrow on his right hand with his left index finger. "He was asking too much."

Toph started playing with her hair, turning to face the young Waterbender. She twirled a wisp of her hair around her forefinger, closing her eyes, as if remembering. "You love Katara, don't you?"

Aang choked. "W-What? No, no way, what? Where...? How..."

"You're acting just like my parents did when they talked about each other," Toph explained, chuckling. "They were lovey-dovey, always talking about how they were each other's 'one and only'. I was always kind of disgusted by it, to be honest."

Toph being disgusting by something of that nature was an easy picture to envision.

"Yeah, well…" he tried to think, "I don't love her like that, Toph. I mean, not like...well," Aang propped himself up and set his eyes on Katara's silhouette. What did he feel? "Love, but, I...I don't think I love her."

"Then why couldn't you let go of 'everyone' you cared about?" Toph had him there. She smiled in his general direction and said, "It's no big deal if you love her, even if it is kind of weird for a twelve-year-old to be in love." She stood up and started to walk back towards Appa.

Aang watched Toph walk away. "What would you say if I told you I do love her?" Aang asked, more loudly than he would have wanted to.

Toph paused, pretending to think. "Probably something along the lines of 'gee, no kidding'." She sat down next to Sokka, yawning. "No offense, Twinkle Toes, but...you make it kind of obvious."

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