1,042 VIEWS?! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Ok, calm down,Twinkletoes. Take deep breaths. Alright, I'm good, but seriously, thank you. You guys are awesome. :) Time for me to respond to reviews!
KingRock 980: Yeah, thanks for understanding about Azula. I have thought up quite a good way to fit her in the plot. I just need to figure out how I'm going to make it happen. This happens a lot to me. I have the big picture, but I don't know how to get there. I think I'm figuring out, though. Thanks for the review! :)
JokerMask18: Awesome, you liked it! I'm glad, as I wasn't quite sure if you guys would like the last chapter. Not much happened. I just thought the scenes needed to be put in the story. Thanks for the review!
prettyshon10: I hope you know that to me, evil genius is a compliment, so thank you! :p Wow, you really want to know what Azula's plan is, don't you? Hehehe, I think I might start an experiment to see how long it takes before you crack from the suspense. Speaking of experiments, YOU'RE A STITCH FAN! YAY, I HAVE BEEN THE ONLY FAN OF STITCH IN A LONG TIME! :) I even have a Stitch voice. Here's your Aang plushie, and thanks for the review! P.S. Do you have a youtube account, cause I saw someone with the same name as you. If so, do you know how to make AMVs? Let me know!
Fire Lord Mowse: Awesome, a new person has reviewed! *does a happy dance* Thank you! So, was it cute or sad? Either way, thank you for the compliment! I hope you continue to enjoy this story! :)
Ahlysha: Ah, so you enjoyed the chapter too! That is a relief. As I said, or rather typed, to Jokermask18, I was worried about the last chapter. I thought you guys might find it boring, but you didn't! I'm so happy you thought it was good. Thanks!
Guest: Well, obviously, I have decided to keep going. I'm glad you're enjoying this. Believe me when I say, I know what it's like to "need more" of a story. Don't all readers? :) Thank you!
Story time!
Disclaimer: I do not own A:TLA. Please don't sue! :)
However hard Aang tried, he could not avoid the new Rebels forever. Eventually, there would be a time when they would have to work together, and that time came about two days after his last unfogging session.
Admiral Khon had called both Aang and "Lee" into his chamber during breakfast that morning. Aang wondered why they'd been called, and if it had anything to do with the problem that had occurred the day of the new Rebels' arrival. He shuffled to Khon's chamber with Lee at his side, trying to fight off yet another headache that the teen had caused.
Zuko, on the other hand, was actually quite nervous to be near the Avatar at the moment. He had been there two days ago. He had witnessed what the Dai Li had done. He had heard Aang agree to hating him.
That was the true reason Zuko was uncomfortable. Aang hated him. The Avatar may not know that "Lee" was actually the one he hated, but it still pained Zuko to know that all Aang felt at the sound of his real name was hate.
Zuko had actually seen evidence of this hatred the day before. He'd seen Aang talking to some other Rebels and decided to join in. It would probably have been better if another member of Team Avatar went to see what was going on.
"So, how much longer are you willing to bet before everyone in the Fire Nation decides that the Rebels are right?" a boy jokingly inquired.
"With that wimp Zuko in charge, it'll probably only be five more seconds before the whole Fire Nation comes crawling to us, begging for help," another one joked back, and that's when Zuko saw it.
At the mere mention of Zuko's name. a look had crossed Aang's face. It was a dark, haunting look. The look on Aang's face was cold and unforgiving. It wasn't a glare. No, that word could not begin to describe the look in Aang's eyes. If there was such a thing as icy fire, it was in Aang's eyes right now. Aang had a look of hatred in his eyes.
Now, as Zuko walked alongside Aang, he wondered what Aang might do to him if he found out his true identity.
They entered Admiral Khon's chamber, curious as to why they had been called in.
"Hello, Aang and Lee," the admiral spoke calmly.
"Hello, sir," Aang responded with a polite bow. Zuko reluctantly did the same.
"Why have you called us here, Admiral Khon?" asked Zuko, refusing to call the man in front of his sir. Khon didn't deserve that respect.
"My, aren't we hasty today! Always straight to the point, are you? Ok, I shall let you know what I need you for," the admiral said. Aang and Zuko listened curiously as he continued, "Phase 2 of my Plan of Revival will commence soon, and I can't wait to get things started! Unfortunately, I don't know much about where we're going. That's where you two come in. I need you to go there and see what we'll be up against."
"Um, I'd love to, Admiral Khon, but I don't even know where we're going. I've never heard the Plan of Revival," Zuko said.
"I can tell you that, Lee. Phase 2 will be at the Boiling Rock Prison," Aang responded promptly. By now, he'd learned the Plan by heart.
"Are we freeing the Rebel prisoners?" Zuko asked.
"Yes, we are, but that's not all. The 'great' Earth King Kuei will be paying the Boiling Rock a visit. We'll be capturing him, and as we do that, other Rebel soldiers will be in Ba Sing Se, taking the place over. Admiral Khon will be the new Earth King," Aang answered, smirking. Zuko hoped sincerely that the Rebels only planned on capturing Kuei, not anything worse.
Azula glared at the hypnotist in front of her.
"What do you mean you can't?" she practically spat at the man.
"It will push him too far. Something at the Rebel base is giving him bad visions, and if I do this, it might break him," Feng replied as calmly as he could. It was hard, as while Azula had pretty much lost her sanity, she hadn't lost her ability to threaten.
"Why should I care if it drives him insane? It's his fault I had to sit around in an asylum surrounded by the insane!"
"Well, Princess Azula, if he becomes mentally unstable, you'll never have a chance to use him to get revenge," Feng answered tactfully.
"I won't get to use him anyway if you don't do as I say!"
Feng considered his options. Should he obey the princess? He knew the consequences of following Azula's orders. Was it worth it?
He could defy Azula. Then again, that wasn't such a good idea either. The fact that Azula was mentally unstable only made her more dangerous. Feng didn't fancy the thought of fighting her.
So, how should he handle this? It was either put Aang at risk, or put himself at risk. Feng was a coward. Of this, he was certain. He didn't want to face Azula's wrath. He wanted to be safe and alive. However, just as he was about to agree with Azula's plan, he began recollecting quite a many things about the boy he was about to sentence to possible madness. One of these memories stuck out quite vividly among the rest.
Feng blinked open his eyes, which seemed to be weighed down. He had heard the quiet pitter-patter of footsteps, and the sound of a door opening and closing. He slowly sat upright in his bed, listening for any other sounds that were out of place.
He then heard footsteps going down the hall outside of his and Aang's room. Feng looked at the bed across the room, only to realize that the boy who normally occupied it was gone. Leaving the warmth and comfort of his bed, he left the room and searched for the boy who he believed to be wandering about the base at night. It didn't take long to locate him.
He was in the Dai Li Hypnotics Chamber. Crouched on the ground, his legs were crossed and his eyes closed. Feng approached him.
"Aang?"
Aang didn't show any sign of hearing the man in front of him.
"Aang?" he tried to get the Avatar's attention again. Aang remained frozen to the spot.
Feng crouched down to the boy's level and gently shook him. Aang gave Feng a startled look.
'F-feng, what are y-you doing here?!" Aang sputtered in shock.
"I could ask you the same thing," replied the hypnotist calmly.
Aang glared at him for a second, and that was when Feng remembered that Aang now hated it when people pried.
"I asked you first," said Aang, most likely in an effort to dodge the question.
"I came here to see why you are down here. Now answer my question."
Aang scratched the back of his head nervously and replied, "You see, well, I, um, sometimescomehereandmeditateonmyvisions."
"Sorry, could you repeat that, this time a little slower?"
"I sometimes come here and meditate on my visions," Aang avoided eye-contact with the earthbender.
"Why?" Feng asked curiously. This could prove to be something which could cause Aang to go mad, and if so, Feng wanted to know about it.
"That's not your business," Aang continued to stare at the floor. Feng didn't push the young airbender. He got comfortable and waited for Aang to be ready to open up. While he did that, Aang went back to his meditating.
Aang and "Lee" were now on their way to the Boiling Rock, an uncomfortable silence having grown between them. Zuko continued to send nervous glances to the boy in front of him. Why did it have to be so awkward? He was Aang's friend, memory or no memory. He shouldn't just sit here and let Aang do things he would later regret. Yet there he was, wasting an entire journey with Aang! He should be trying to bring the old Aang back, not letting the new one take over. What was wrong with him? That was it. He would not wait any longer. He would talk to Aang now, no more awkwardness! Unfortunately, just as Zuko had worked up the courage, his throat dried and his lips went numb.
The whole trip had been this way. Zuko would constantly try to talk to Aang, only to lose his nerve at the last second. Now, as they were traveling by submarine, Zuko had still avoided uttering anything to Aang, not even a simple "hello."
Zuko supposed he knew what the problem was. It was Aang's hating him that caused all this nervousness. Zuko wondered how they could ever have a friendship again when Aang hated him so much.
Zuko had been wrestling with these thoughts for awhile, when to his great shock, Aang was the first to break the silence.
"Lee, have I, er, been rude to you?" Aang asked uncomfortably.
"Huh? What makes you think that?" Zuko answered the question with a question, confused.
"I-it's just, you're being so quiet, and I know I don't hang out with you and the other new recruits much…" Aang trailed off guiltily. He was certain that his avoiding the new recruits was the reason for this awkward silence.
"Honestly," Aang continued, "I don't think I'm a bad person, really, I just-"
"Aang, I am not mad at you, not at all," Zuko interrupted the kid.
"W-what?"
"I'm not mad at you," Zuko assured the monk, well, ex-monk.
"How can you not be mad at me? Why else would you not even talk to me this whole trip?" Aang was clearly baffled. He had to practically jerk the submarine out of the way of a large chunk of coral he'd nearly run into.
"Aang, I don't blame you for avoiding us. You probably have a lot on your mind these days," Zuko explained to his friend.
"Yeah, no kidding…" Aang trailed off for a second, only to realize that he'd been about to spill out his feelings to a person he barely knew. Refusing to let himself slip again, he turned his attention away from Zuko and focused on steering the submarine.
Zuko held back a sigh. He'd been so close to getting Aang to open up! Oh well, at least he'd gotten somewhere. Aang had acted like his old self, if only for a few minutes. Actually, maybe the new Aang and the old Aang weren't as different as everyone thought they were...
Feng had sat with Aang for what felt like hours, and he felt barely awake, but he refused give up. He would sit here and wait for Aang to open up to him as long as it was necessary. He was determined to know why Aang meditated at night, but he knew that pressuring the boy would only make him even more reclusive. Finally, just as Feng had started to lose the battle against, sleep, Aang fulfilled his wish.
"Uh, Feng, are you still awake?" Aang asked, nudging the tired man.
"Yes, Aang, I've been awake since I got here."
"You have? Wow, Feng, I'm impressed!" A smile flickered on Aang's face for a second, but it was almost immediately replaced with a defeated sigh.
"I suppose you still want to know why I come down here at night?" Aang asked, looking at a crack in the floor.
"Only if you are ready to tell me," Feng said. Aang looked up from the floor in shock, and possibly even a little reverence.
"What is it, Aang?"
"I-it's nothing. I'm just so used to people wanting to know everything about me, not even caring about my privacy, but you…" Aang trailed off, and Feng once again thought he detected a bit of reverence in the Avatar's voice.
"Well, everyone deserves a little privacy," Feng smiled at Aang.
"Just because you said that, I think I'll reward you with an answer to your question."
"Really? You don't have to, you know," Feng looked hopefully at Aang.
"Yeah, but I want to," at Feng's nod, he launched into his explanation, "As you know, my visions have gotten a lot worse recently, and they constantly interrupted my sleep. I was a wreck. The visions were always in the back of mind, no matter what I did! That wasn't the worst part, however. It seemed that the more I fought them, the more they fought back! I had headaches all the time, and I think that the visions were even beginning to blend with real life." Feng winced at that last sentence. He hadn't known about the visions blending with reality. It had been much worse than he originally thought.
Aang continued, "Eventually, I wondered what would happen if I actually paid attention to these visions, since ignoring them just made it worse. However, when I tried to pay attention to them, it distracted me from real life too much, and didn't do me any good. I was wondering what to do, when I had a vision of me meditating. That's when i got an idea. Every night, I would meditate on my visions and give them some attention. It worked, and my headaches are nowhere near as bad anymore." Aang finished his tale and awaited a reaction from Feng.
Feng was deep in thought. He was glad that Aang had found a way to combat his headaches, the only problem was how he had chosen to comat them. Feng did not like the idea of Aang sitting around and meditating on his visions. What if he started to revert to his old ways? Sadly, Feng had no choice. He had to prevent Aang from doing this ever again.
"Aang, you know those visions are like poison, don't you?"
"I should've known you would say that!" Aang's temper flared quickly, and Feng knew that Aang had just barely managed to keep his voice at a whisper.
"I'm sorry, Aang, but those visions are bad for you. You can't spend your nights focusing on them," Feng pressed.
Aang had the most hopeless expression in his eyes as he looked at Feng.
"Th-the visions…they're just too much. I can't take it Feng! You don't understand. They're always there, at the back of my mind. Every second of every single day they're there. It's a constant flow of memories that aren't even mine! I'm at war with them all the time, I can't even go to sleep, because they're there too!" Aang was shaking as he finished his rant. It seemed that he had had this on his mind for a long while.
"Aang," Feng began,looking at the airbender, and once again only seeing a helpless boy instead of the Avatar or a project, "I know it's hard now. I've seen many people go through this. It's always hard, though, and I think that you are handling this very well for your age. I've seen men in their thirties handle this worse than you have. You are doing so well, and I know you can pull through. You're strong, and I know you can do it," Feng finished, offering a comforting look to Aang. He watched as Aang looked at him with wide eyes. He could see so many emotions flickering through Aang's gray eyes, but the one that stuck out the most was trust. Aang looked like he would trust Feng with his life.
He would trust me with his life, Feng felt instantly guilty when he remembered the look of trust in his eyes. How could he ever consider betraying that child?
Still, this was the Fire Nation princess. Could he really just disobey her? He didn't want to try, but how else could he save Aang?
Sometimes, it is when we are in the most danger that we think the most clearly, and that is exactly what happened here. As Feng considered what he would have to endure in order to protect Aang, a sudden idea came to him, and what an idea it was.
"Okay, Your Majesty, I will do as you say, but only on one condition…"
Wow, I really like this chapter. I don't mean to brag, but I think that this is definitely one of my better chapters. Well, it's not what I think that matters. What do you think? Let me know in a review!