I do not own ATLA
"Right behind you Avatar" Hissed a cold voice. And what is Katara doing here?
"Oh no" Katara and Aang both gasped. Together they turned around and caught sight of Zuko and his firebenders.
"Run" Katara yelled pushing Aang through the trees. "You can not let him catch you Aang" they ran until they thought they would drop from exhaustion. "Where are we?" they were lost
"This way, i remember now" Aang took the lead and grabbed Katara's hand pulling her through the bushes towards the village. Running up a well worn path they came into the village.
"Sokka, I have your sister" Aang called desperately towards the Kyoshi warriors training hut. Sokka tumbled out of the door in his green dress. Happiness was written all over his face but with a fair bit of confusion; after all, his sister had been lost in a blizzard and ended up in Kyoshi Island. He thought Katara was dead by now, just seeing her face (even though it was extremely flushed) was almost enough for him to break down and cry. Why is she here right now?
Sokka stopped wondering about that as soon as Zuko crashed through the woods on his rhino. "And Zuko found us" Aang yelled as an afterthought. Pushing Katara and Sokka towards Appa he turned to face the firebender.
"You will not escape this time Avatar" Zuko snarled punching fire at Aang through his fist. Aang dodged the fireball and sent a gust of wind at Zuko forcing him back. Sweeping the ground with his foot Zuko sent a wall of bright orange flames at the boy. Aang twirled his staff around avoiding the flames and ran at Zuko. Seeing the young boy running at him Zuko ran at the Avatar creating fire blades in his hands. With a huge bound Aang jumped over Zuko and turned and blasted air into Zuko's back before the Prince could react.
Zuko was propelled forward into a tree hitting his head and slumping down.
"Quick get on Appa" Aang yelled as the other firebenders approached, Sokka ran up Appa's tail and Aang used his airbending to jump into the saddle with Katara in his arms "Appa yip yip!" Aang yelled. Appa groaned and took off into the sky and flew from Kyoshi Island.
"Uh not again" Zuko groaned as he stood up shakily. "Follow them" he ordered his men who hurried back to the ship to leave again. Just then he realised that Katara was with the Avatar and maybe for the briefest time in his life Zuko felt some remorse. But like all Zuko's other emotions except for anger it was pushed to the back of his mind and his mission became his priority.
Zuko rode up the ramp shouting orders to follow the avatar once more, Iroh stood to the side and shook his head quite sadly.
Appa flew through the sky with the Avatar and the two newly reunited water tribe siblings together once more. Aang sat at the front on Appa's head, occasionally looking back at his new friends.
"I am so sorry I ignored you and was mean to you Katara" babbled Sokka "I promised dad I would look after you and now I have failed" Sokka said sadly. Katara was his only sister if she didn't forgive him he didn't know what he would do.
"It wasn't your fault I got lost in that blizzard Sokka; I got frustrated and ran away" Katara admitted solemnly, looking down into her lap.
"It's okay now, you're back, you can learn waterbending with Aang at the North Pole because he is the Avatar"
"I know, After I found a cave to rest in when the blizzard came, I fell asleep and woke up in Zuko's arms. I think he saved me, I'm actually not sure but…"
"WHAT?" yelled Sokka "You were sleeping in the enemies arms? I can't believe this!" said Sokka waving his arms with a flourish.
"Sokka just listen" Katara pleaded. "I woke up and I was in his arms and then he captured me and held me prisoner. He was going to use me as bait to find out where the Avatar was, but then you came willingly Aang" Katara said turning to Aang. "I saw you escape just as I escaped from my room, but Zuko kept on holding me prisoner, I don't know why".
"You were asleep in his arms?" Sokka gaped dramatically. Katara slapped her forehead with her hand in a very Sokka like way.
"Yes Sokka I think we have established that by now" said a frustrated Katara. "I don't think he is that bad, he was actually nice to me on the ship. He did save me from dieing in the cold" she huffed.
"But still, he is a firebender" Sokka argued. Katara just glared at him; obviously this conversation was at a close. "Anyway, after Zuko invaded our tribe and took Aang away, I rescued him on Appa" Sokka said a bit smugly.
"Sokka all you had to say was 'yip yip'" Aang stated, which got him a death glare. "Not that I'm not grateful..." he said rubbing the back of his neck guiltily.
"It's ok Aang, he is always a bit grumpy when he hasn't eaten for 5 minutes" Katara teased. Aang turned away quickly before she could see the blush staining his cheeks. "Where are we going now?" Katara asked.
"Well we need to get to the Northern water tribe so you guys can master waterbending" Sokka announced. "And no more leisure stops Aang" Sokka scolded the younger boy. Aang pouted but agreed, because after all he really did need to get a move on if he wanted to save the world.
"Ok, But lets stop for the night, it is getting late". And sure enough the sun was just about to set out on the horizon. Katara smiled and nodded in agreement causing Aang to blush once more and turn away Katara is very pretty he thought.
Appa began to descend to the ground in a clearing near a small Earth Kingdom town. Everybody jumped out of Appa's saddle; Katara a bit wobbly after her first time flying. "Ok guys this looks good" Sokka said taking on the role of the leader. Katara rolled her eyes and ignored him and started helping Aang bring down the luggage from the saddle.
Sokka sat down looking bored watching Aang and Katara do all the work. "Sokka make yourself useful and go use your warrior skills to find us some food" Katara huffed, a bit peeved that he was acting normal again. Sokka groaned and got up from the ground and glared at Katara and then sighed and walked moodily off in the search of a decent dinner.
Aang noticed Sokka in his bad mood "What's wrong with him" he asked concerned. Katara just looked at him and started laughing for some reason.
"He is always like that Aang when he hasn't eaten" she chuckled. Aang looked very confused, and scratched his head pointedly.
"But he just ate about 10 minutes ago" the young Avatar said. Katara laughed again at the young boy's confusion.
"I know" she said "But that was only nuts, he can't go without meat for more than 1 hour" she chuckled again. Aang just looked at the spot of trees where Sokka disappeared into.
"Have people changed since the last 100 years" he asked jokingly. He realised he shouldn't have said that as soon as he saw Katara's face fall into a frown.
"Sadly Aang they have" she whispered. "Ever since the Fire Nation attacked nobody is the same" Aang looked down guiltily "It is not your fault" she said turning motherly at his guilt. "You didn't know this would happen, you're just a kid" she said patting him on the head.
"Yeah just a kid" Aang repeated sadly watching her walk away with her swaying form. He was about to tell Katara how he felt about her when Sokka waltzed in looking quite pleased with himself.
"Ta da" he shouted "Food" he said happily shoving his catch into Katara's face. Katara hit him on the head "Ow" Sokka whined and lowered his hands to a more convenient height.
"Sokka you idiot" Katara huffed looking at his catch "You found some stones, a few leaves and a tiny lizard for use to eat" Katara exclaimed in a screech. Sokka looked severely wounded at this statement.
"They are not stones, they're nuts" said Sokka moodily "And you can eat the lizard"
Katara huffed impatiently "If you look closer Sokka you will see that your nuts are actually rocks and that lizard is barely the size of my thumb, we can't eat that" Katara grumbled. Sokka looked closer examining his nuts (not to be taken the wrong way right now readers, keep a clean mind), a look of realisation crossed his face.
"Damn" he muttered impatiently. "Well what did you catch" he demanded of Katara.
"Nothing" Katara answered angrily. "It was your job to find food since you are the 'leader' and warrior of this group Sokka" she scolded. "Aang and I have been setting up camp all this time" And sure enough the whole camp had been set up; sleeping bags out, cooking utensils prepared and a fire all ready to cook the food that Sokka caught for them. Sokka looked a little guilty after taking all this in.
"We could eat Momo" he volunteered. Katara looked at him in confusion "Momo is a flying lemur we found at the Southern Air Temple before we stopped at Kyoshi Island" Sokka explained. All of a sudden Momo leapt off of Appa from where he had been sleeping unnoticed by the group and Katara. Climbing on to Sokka's shoulder he bit his ear. "Ah stupid lemur, get it off, get it off" he yelled jumping up and down; much to the amusement of Katara. "I'm not really going to eat you" he yelled, Momo finally jumped off when Sokka ran into a tree and didn't get up again.
"Don't worry about him Katara" Aang said when he saw Katara getting worried for her brother "This has happened before" Katara just smiled at him making him blush. Clearing his throat awkwardly he said "Anyway while you two were fighting, I got us some berries" he said embarrassed.
Katara smiled fondly at him "Thankyou very much Aang" she said "These will have to do for our dinner tonight"; smiling Katara took the berries out of Aang's hands and put them in bowls for the three of them. Just has she and Aang sat down to eat Sokka stirred and looked around awkwardly.
Getting up and moving painfully towards the pair he sat down without a word and enjoyed his portion of berries without noticing the amused glances Katara and Aang were throwing at him. After finishing their meal the three lay down and let sleep take over.
Katara's last thoughts for some reason went back to Zuko I wonder were he is? She asked herself finding that she missed him and his uncle the tiniest bit. Rolling over to a more comfortable position, sleep took hold of her and her dreams began.
Zuko paced his room over and over again, planning his next move to capture the Avatar. As much as he tried to fight it, his thoughts turned to Katara. "Stop thinking about her" he grumbled to himself, just as his uncle walked in. Being the kind old man that he was he didn't mention what he had just heard.
"I think it is time you slept now Prince Zuko, it is quite late" Iroh said calmly after not getting an answer he walked out with a sigh, but not before he said in a stage whisper to himself. "If only that girl was here right now", the sly old man walked out and closed the door just before Zuko whirled around surprised and ready to confront his uncle.
Zuko stood looking at the door, considering for a moment that his uncle was right. Shaking that thought off he resumed his pacing.
That night Aang's tattoos glowed brightly, illuminating the came site in an unearthly white light. His companions did not notice as Aang slipped into the spirit world. Aang tossed and turned in his sleep, confronted by wild visions.
Aang sat up suddenly "I need to talk to Roku on the solstice" he shouted. Katara stirred a bit and sat up but Sokka turned over and went back to drooling on his pillow.
"What's wrong Aang" she asked concerned worried about the frightened look in his eyes.
"I went to the spirit world Katara" he explained to her worried face. "I need to speak to Roku on the winter solstice"
Katara started to understand "The previous avatar?" she questioned with a nod from Aang. "But the solstice is tomorrow" she said.
"I know" Aang admitted. "And I have to go the Fire Nation" Katara gasped looking at Aang with worry.
"We support you Aang, Sokka and I will both come with you tomorrow to the Fire Nation" Katara said with a small smile. Aang looked thankful and was about to say something until Katara shushed him and sent him to bed. "I'll tell Sokka tomorrow, we will leave first thing in the morning" Katara said reassuringly.
"Thanks Katara" Aang whispered before drifting back into sleep but this time without being interrupted by the spirits.
Katara smiled fondly at the young boy. He was becoming more and more like a little brother to her, although she had a suspicion that he didn't think of her as a sister but something more. To tired to keep on thinking Katara lay back down and drifted to sleep.
Thankyou for reading, please review so I know what to do better in this story this chapter had been changed a little bit.