So now that I'm getting into the flow of this story, I'm loving it so far!

Enjoy chapter 3! :D

The sun shone brightly in the morning sky, a light fog covered the surface of the massive body of water. Somewhere in the distance, a Cardinal-Parrot chirped happily.

The Day of Black Sun had arrived.

On the cliffs overlooking this very scene, the gaang busied themselves with preparations for the arrival of the water tribe siblings' father, Chief Hakoda. With him he would be bringing an invasion force; several water tribe warriors, small resistance groups from around the Earth Kingdom and even some of the nomads from the Northern Air Temple and the waterbenders from the swamp.

"How many people do you think are going to be part of this?" Toph asked Katara from her spot on Appa's tail.

Katara shrugged and Aang answered, "Hopefully a lot of people will show up! Then we can all ambush the fire nation and they won't ever see it coming!"

Toph rolled her sightless eyes and immediately regretted asking the question. Just like Aang to always expect people to do what's right in the middle of the war. Toph was not stupid. People would stay silent and stay alive rather than do what's right and chance their death. Self preservation- it was human nature.

Suddenly Sokka jumped to his feet. "You guys!" he said happily. "Look at all that fog, it has to be dad coming!" he exclaimed.

"I'm so excited," Katara admitted. "I haven't seen dad in so long..."

"It's alright Katara." Sokka said putting an arm on her shoulder. "He's coming."

….

"Make sure the guards in the towers have plenty of ammunition. And is the bunker open and ready for us to descend?" Firelord Ozai stared down at the guards from his throne in the war room.

"Yes my lord." one guard said. "We've made arrangements for extra supplies to be on hand at all times. As for the bunker, it's in perfect condition and prepared for your liking."

"Good." Ozai said with grim satisfaction. "Now go and tell Princess Azula to report here immediately." when the guard bowed and turned on his heel, Ozai addressed the rest of his guard. "Listen carefully. Today the avatar thinks he will kill me and gain control of the fire nation. This will not happen. I expect you all to dispose of anyone who stands in the way of victory for the Fire Nation. Including the avatar himself."

The most senior member of the guard stepped forward. "Of course my lord. We will not disappoint."

Ozai's mouth upturned in a sneer at the man's words. "I expect no less of you. And if you shall fail to protect our borders, I will deal with you each personally. Dismissed."

And with a final bow, they all turned and exited the war room as the princess entered.

"Father," she said with a crisp bow. "is everything set in motion?"

"Everything is going according to plan. The avatar and his so called army will not know what hit them."

Azula balled her fist with an evil grin. "Good. It's almost too bad that I might not be the one to end the child."

Ozai nodded at his daughter. She was his favorite. She was as merciless as he was and her strategic skills were most impressive. "Where is your brother?" Ozai asked.

Azula scowled. "He's been holing up in the library. Hiding his face from the public."

The Firelord raised an eyebrow. "Hiding his face?"

"Now that the scar is gone, it's drawn more attention to him. He can't go anywhere without people recounting the day he got the scar and comparing the events. He's embarrassed."

"Your brother is weak." Ozai snarled. "He's a fool to think he'll ever be Firelord of this country."

This pleased Azula more than anything else. Hearing her father speak those words put the biggest smile on her face.

….

"Sokka, do you think all those clouds will mess up our invasion plan?" Katara asked, looking out the fog gathering in the distance.

Sokka stood up, a thoughtful look on his face. Suddenly, he broke into a grin. "That's not fog, that is the invasion!"

The gaang all whooped and cheered and Aang grabbed Toph and twirled her around. There were a lot of ships coming in. They quickly made four docks for the ships into. For Toph it was easy work, but Aang wasn't exactly the best earthbender.

When Hakoda stepped off of the ship, he was ambushed immediately by Katara and Sokka. He had been away from his children that he was shocked when he noticed that Sokka almost stood as tall as him and Katara had grown more like her mother than ever. He had never been so happy.

"Sokka, Katara. I've missed you both so much." he said, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"Dad, it's been so long." Katara said hugging him tightly.

"Too long." Sokka agreed.

Toph and Aang stood on the side while the Water Tribe siblings reunited with their father. Aang watched with shining eyes as the trio hugged and cried. Having never met his parents, he didn't know how it felt to be loved and missed by them. Toph on the other hand, knew what a parents love felt like. She just wished it was the kind that Hakoda gave to his children.

…...

Zuko sat hunched at a desk somewhere amidst the many shelves of books in the palace library. By the light of a slowly dimming flame, he wrote scroll upon scroll and stacked them neatly in a pile in front of him. He was so absorbed in his work that he didn't even blink when Azula dropped down from the top of the shelve behind him. She landed neatly in a crouch.

"Father is looking for you." she said as she straightened her suit.

"What have I done now?" Zuko said without looking up. He paused to reread the line he had just written and then scratched it out, opting to word it differently.

"Well you are still alive." Azula muttered to herself. Zuko rolled his eyes and kept writing.

"I'm working Azula," Zuko said impatiently. "Unless it's of utmost importance, I'd appreciate it if you would dismiss yourself from my presence.

Azula narrowed her eyes into slits. She didn't like Zuko talking to her as if she were inferior to him. "Fine. But for some reason, Father requests that you come with us during the eclipse into the bunker."

Zuko snorted. "I'm not going to hide just because I won't be able to bend for a few minutes. Tell father I'll be just fine and if anyone does gain entrance to the palace I can handle them just fine."

Azula smirked. "Oh Zuko, you never learn." she examined her perfect nails. "You're better off saving yourself the trouble...but if you want to die," she created a vicious blue fireball in her hand, her eyes glinted evilly. "I'll be happy to help."

Zuko flicked his hand at her and her flame diminished. "Don't bother. Just go away."

Azula stuck her nose up haughtily and was about to leave when she noticed the pile of scrolls. Before her brother could stop her, she snatched up a scroll and unrolled it. After a moment she asked, "Who's the Painted Lady?"

Zuko closed his eyes tightly for a moment in agitation. He took a deep breath and continued writing. He chose to ignore Azula instead.

"Have it your way," Azula said with contempt. She threw the scroll down on the floor and turned on her heel and walked away.

When Azula was a safe distance away, Zuko stood up and stretched for what seemed like the first time in days. He reached down and picked up the scroll that his sister had so carelessly thrown down and smoothed it out.

Who knows the Painted Lady? The answer is that

truthfully, few people know of her true greatness

and even less know of her absolute beauty and

grace. To some people, she is merely a myth, not

real. A child's bedtime story. To those who have

witnessed her astonishing powers, it is truly a

most miraculous thing to see. The Painted Lady

represents healing, and beauty and most importantly,

hope...

Zuko stopped reading the words he had written. After all, he knew them by heart. Very carefully, he rolled the scroll back up and placed it with the others. He took the candle off of the table and set it on the floor before sitting down lotus style in front of it. He closed his eyes and picturing her beautiful face, began to meditate.

…...

"...today, this war ends!" Hakoda said proudly to the many warriors who had come to fight alongside the avatar.

Everyone clapped and cheered as they reveled in the fact that today could possibly be the day when all the chaos ended.

An hour or so later, they had all boarded the ships and set sail. Unlike Sokka, Katara didn't mingle with the other people aboard. Instead she kept to herself mostly and practiced her bending. No one really paid her much attention seeing as there was much work to be done. A certain blind earthbender, who was absolutely useless on a wooden ship on water, sought out Katara with great difficulty and stuck to her like glue.

"So, what's got you down Sugar Queen?" Toph asked while picking her toes. "You aren't usually this quiet."

Distracted, Katara replied, "Oh, I'm fine. Just...you know, worried I guess."

Toph snorted. "You're always worried." she flicked the fluff from her fingers. "What are you worrying about now?"

Katara bit her lip and said the first thing that came to mind. "Aang."

Toph rolled her sightless eyes. "You're such a bad liar Sugar Queen."

"But I'm serious." and to a certain extent, she was. But not as much as she was about the upcoming fight. "I mean, last time he fought he was killed in the Avatar State. I don't have any water left from the Spirit Oasis so I won't be able to heal him if he gets hurt badly again."

Toph thought for a moment. "Well, you aren't lying about that, but that's not the big thing is it? Come on, tell me."

Katara heaved a great sigh. She wondered how in Tui's name she would explain this to Toph. "Toph, do you remember back when we stayed at that fishing village?"

"You mean the place where you pretended to be the Painted Lady?" Toph said with a look.

Katara smiled a bit. "That's the one."

"What about it?"

"Well, while we were there, I...did something I'm not sure was good or bad."

Instead of pressing her for details, Toph sat silently and pondered Katara's words for a minute. Then she asked. "Did you think it was a good idea when you did it?"

Katara shrugged. "I guess. Maybe I was wrong though. I mean, Jet was going to burn down an entire village because he thought it was the right thing to do."

"The big difference is that you usually do what's right." Toph said kindly. "I'm positive you would never do anything that would cause harm to anyone. At least not on purpose. It's not who you are."

Katara sighed and slumped down. She pulled her bag close to her and opened it enough for her to see the white and blue water demon mask hidden inside. She touched it gently, remembering that nights like it had happened only moments ago.

…...

Zuko had been meditating for nearly an hour when he heard the first sounds of the invasion. There were loud bangs that could be heard from the beaches. He wondered vaguely what sort of resistance his father's troops were meeting. One thing he knew for sure, the Avatar did not give up easily.

One thing he wasn't so certain about was his father's plan. He would go on for hours about how he wanted to be the one to end the avatar's life and yet, one time when the avatar willingly comes and picks a fight with him, he's hiding in a bunker? To Zuko it didn't make any sense.

To take his mind off of his worries, he returned to his writing. In a matter of minutes, he was completely absorbed in his work.

Not long after he had finished a scroll, did he sense something different in the air around him.

He felt a presence. Someone was in the library with him.

Very carefully he put down his brush and put away the scroll. He got to his feet slowly and squared his shoulders. He turned to face her as she emerged from the shadows.

She stopped in her tracks and he paused as well. Standing mere feet apart, the two benders stood silently, each waiting for the next to make the first move.

"Lady," he said with a slight nod of his head. Here was the girl he had been writing about for days on in. Somehow, it seemed like his words did not do her justice. She was even more beautiful than ever at that moment.

"Spirit," she said quietly, sadness leaking through her voice. Being no stranger to pain, Zuko heard the emotion.

"You're distraught." he said. "I wonder why?"

Katara's felt tears in the corner of her eyes. "I promised that I would heal you. And I did. But you're still here, fighting against us. I wonder why?"

Zuko felt his shoulders slump. She still thought of him as the enemy. "No. Not fighting."

"Then why are you here Zuko?" She countered back. "Why are you standing by why your father destroys everything that matters to anyone?"

"That's not what I'm trying to do," he managed to say. "I'm not fighting with him."

"And you standing here, spending every waking minute in this palace is helping?"

At that moment, a bomb landed near the palace, the whole place shook. Zuko's neatly stacked scrolls toppled down off of the table. They rolled every which way. Carefully, Katara bent down and picked up one that had stopped by the tip of her foot. She unrolled it slowly and began to read:

"None could rival that of the Painted Lady. She moved with such

grace and her movements were as fluent as the water she commanded.

On that night she rid me of a mark that owned me, how I longed to

be in her good graces. She was power and strength, and beauty, and

royalty and hope all pieced together to create the lovely and most

perfect portrait of revenue. She took the mask away from me forever

and it was then I knew that she must be of the gods to possess the ability

to draw Fire to Water in such a way. It was when I looked into her eyes

that rivaled the ocean that I knew-"

Katara broke off in mid sentence. Zuko watched as her eyes read the rest of the sentence. "Go on." he told her. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, but continued on:

"It was when I looked into her eyes that rivaled the ocean that I knew,

I would love and devote myself to this lovely one until the day of

my death. Her voice is like music to me and when I hear it, I envision

myself the one she dances with. It is the Painted Lady that I admire,

and the woman behind her that I love and adore. After all this time

she had kept her promise- she had healed me, in more ways than one."

When Katara lowered the scroll from her face, her breath hitched when she saw that Zuko was so close. She could feel the heat that radiated off of him, she willed herself to not be drawn into him.

"Zuko, I-" she began but he broke her mid sentence with a finger to her lips.

"I've been waiting for you, Katara." he said softly, looking into her deep blue eyes. "I've been helping myself, writing about you."

She shook her head. He dropped his finger. "You don't mean that Zuko. This isn't real." tears fell from her eyes, down her cheeks, and dropped to the floor between them.

"I do," he said with a nod. "every word. I won't lie to you. Not again."

Surprising both herself and Zuko, Katara reached up and placed her hand right over the spot where his scar once was, her thumb resting right on his lips. Zuko closed his eyes and welcomed the coolness of her hand.

"I'll follow you anywhere Katara." he whispered. "I promise I won't be far behind you."

He didn't pull away. Neither did she.

A/N

and that's that chapter.

I hate that I update so infrequently

and I can't apologize enough

so please, please, PLEASE

bear with me if the next update isn't

until a week's time.

I really need to prioritize a bit better.

I enjoy your reviews and I would

love to see some feedback.

-kye :}}}