Avatar 03

Author Notes: I guess, this fic can be continued to now kill the waiting time for (Chapter 11, episode 312) "The Western Air Temple" since that won't come out for awhile. This chapter marks this fic becoming more like fan fiction (craziness), finally!

Hm, as for what to expect to happen in 312. Zuko begs for forgiveness, the Aang gang are reluctant to let him in first, and we will probably still find out some things that were never known before. I keep getting a feeling that there has to be something beyond just an empty temple. Oh, and it'll be interesting to see a dual sword vs. broad sword fight between Zuko and Sokka. Too bad, the second half of Book 3 are only a few episodes before everyone has to get serious again in the finale of the "eclipse".

Disclaimer: All Avatar: The Last Airbender characters belong to Bryan and Mike, Nickelodeon, and (sighs) Viacom. All Rights Are Reserved.

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Episode 3 - Suspicion

Aang sighed as he forced himself to snuggle against Appa's soft fur. He tried many times to sleep but the slumber would not come. It was all due to him not being able answer to Katara and his fellow friends. Why couldn't he answer? If he was heck-bent before of going off to the Fire Nation, why was he not feeling confident now?

After a few more tosses and turns, Aang gently pushed himself away from Appa. He airbended himself to his two feet and walked over to the shore. Before making it to the shore though, he paused briefly to look sadly at Katara, who was snoozing peacefully in her sleeping bag as usual. Sokka had his mouth open with trickles of saliva coming out, while Momo was sleeping on his chest. Toph, was sleeping on the ground without anything over or under her.

Once Aang was on the beach, he quietly took off his shoes and let his toes sink into the cool sand. The beach was definitely soothing his spirit. He hasn't felt this relaxed since before the invasion of Ba Sing Se and its downfall. At the thoughts and memories of that once grand city, Aang instantly clenched his fists. Images of his and Katara's showdown with Azula and her brother flashed quickly through his mind for probably the umpteenth time. He didn't even know what to think of Zuko anymore. Zuko's uncle, Iroh, told them that there was good inside him but Sokka made an excellent point as well.

Aang snorted that thought of Zuko out in anger and let himself fall backwards flat out onto the sand. His hands were now supporting the back of his head as his eyes were now gazing up at the night sky. Then, the realization hit him as he quickly caught sight of a shooting star.

If he failed going into the Avatar State, doesn't that mean he won't be able to defeat the Fire Lord's comet? Is that why he's so nervous? If they failed the invasion during the Day of Black Sun….

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Iroh was no longer reeling in shock of the event that just happened a few hours ago. It was as if, it was pure magic and perhaps, Agni's own miracle. He shifted his legs on the cold cell floor until he found them to be in another comfortable position. He was now facing the cell bars staring at the very spot where his nephew use to stand. Correction. "Part" of his nephew.

Well, whatever just happened, this was an obvious advantage to his special little break-out-of-prison plan. The former Dragon-of-the-West chuckled a bit to himself. If his nephew was this capable of being this compassionate, he surely wouldn't be surprised as to the events that were to follow.

Iroh grunted slightly as he suddenly heard someone approaching the prison cell hallway main door. He instantly fell flat on his belly and quickly tried to mess up his hair a bit. His mouth began to drool a little saliva as his eyes followed the sounds of the prison door opening, closing, and heavy boots hitting the floor.

Step. Step. Step. Clang! A guard was now standing at the edge of his cell bars holding a tray. His eyes bared down coldly on his former respected general. "You are fortunate that no punishment was to be latched on your retched soul for what you did to His Highness."

Iroh grunted in reply as he crawled himself towards the bar doors. His right hand was out-stretched towards the guard as if he was in a pleading for mercy. As soon as Iroh's hand wrapped itself around a bar, the guard pinned his boot against Iroh's fingers. Iroh tried his best to suppress a painful yelp but he could not hold back his expression. The guard smiled to himself in satisfaction as he continued to increase his pressure on Iroh's fingers.

"Please…." Iroh moaned, "…I'm….sorry…." His teeth were beginning to grit but he made sure not to let the guard see them.

"Good," the guard eventually let his boot off of Iroh's now sore deep red fingers. "I would hate to see the Dragon-of-the-West lose those nice fingers of his. He would no longer have any ability to pick up a fancy tea cup. Isn't that a pity?" The guard grinned sinisterly at Iroh before dropping the tray that he was holding onto the floor. Its contents spilling out all over. "Your dinner," those were his final words before walking out of the prison cell hallway laughing to himself. He definitely did not forget to slam the prison door hard after he went through it. The door's slamming vibration echoed back throughout the cell bars.

Iroh rubbed his sore hand as he glanced at the spilt food with a stern look. Hopefully, his wait was all worth the pain and misery that followed this cruel prison system.

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"Hey sleepyhead! You awake?" Sokka's voice penetrated through the younger boy's earlobes while light was pouring through his eyelids.

"Just give me a few more minutes," Aang said sleepily as he turned so his back was facing Sokka. The water tribe boy stood straight up from his bending position and called for Toph to come over towards them. Once she was by Sokka's side, the older boy whispered his request through Toph's ear. She nodded before placing one leg out and had her arms bended back. Her hands were in a diagonal position pointing downward. Then, it happened. Aang was sinking into the sand.

The airbender's eyes slowly opened before they could fully pop open, "huh?" He tried to look down but all he met in his field of vision was sand. "Wait. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY BODY!?" With an instant reaction, Aang urged his earthbending to push himself out through the sand.

"Twinkletoes, that was classic!" grinned Toph trying hard not to laugh. 'What happened to my body!?' Sheesh, didn't think you were that paranoid of loosing it. Thought you'd be use to it after you go through all those out of body experiences into the spirit world."

Aang was brushing the sand off of his body but froze when he heard her mention the "spirit world". He didn't want to remember anything that is involved, or related to, the Avatar Spirit. "So, what do we have planned for today?" he hesitatingly asked trying to change the subject.

"Well, we plan to fly over to the Northern Air Temple first, and see if we can get the Mechanist's help," Sokka said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Great! I'm going to get some breakfast before getting Appa ready for the trip then! Thanks for waking me up!" Aang said in an excited tone and headed back to their camp. Toph lifted her head silently at Aang's direction.

"What is it?" Sokka asked noticing concern spreading across the earthbender's face. She blindly stared in surprise of her own discovery too.

"Aang's heartbeat went pretty fast when he asked what we were going to do today." That quote of hers got the full undivided attention of Sokka. He too started to look at Aang's, now small, figure in the distance and wondered exactly what was going on.

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Azula was leaning against the wall with her arms cross. She was right across from her brother's bedroom. A bored expression was painted across her face. Soon, she was joined by a girl all dressed in pink.

"What are you doing, Azula?" Ty Lee smiled when asking and leaned herself against the wall next to the Fire Nation princess.

"Waiting for my foolish brother to wake up. He's been unconscious ever since they found him laying on the floor in front of Uncle's cell. Can you believe that? I thought they were chummy with each other. Suppose, I was wrong about that," Azula said as she looked to the side before returning her gaze to the door.

"Hmmm. Are you sure they aren't trying to trick you or anything?" Ty Lee asked in an innocent sounding voice. Azula rolled her eyes in response.

"Please, my brother isn't even capable of lying well in front of me."

"That's true…."

"Although, now that you mentioned it. It could still be a possibility," Azula expressed her usual devious smile when saying this. Her brother may be a bad planner but it's not the first time he's ever tried to fool her. Of course, many of the attempts that he tried to do so, they all failed in her eyes.

"Your Highness!!" shouted a guard as he came dashing right up to where Azula and Ty Lee were. He bowed before Azula before continuing on. "There has been news from the inner palace city!"

"News? What news?" Azula asked sounding half interested in what the guard has to say.

"A-apparently, there was an incident in the market area between a commoner family and a merchant. The family were outside visitors but didn't have enough money to pay the vendor. They were short by a few coins so they tried to bargain with the vendor. The vendor refused any of their offers so they were about to leave, but it was their younger son who caused trouble. He was caught trying to steal from the vendor."

"And why exactly should I be concerned about this news? This is common in our city is it not?"

"But before the city guards could do anything about the little thief, that young boy was saved by someone."

"Oh dear. How exciting," Azula said now in a sarcastic tone of voice. "You don't suppose he'd be wearing a cape and carrying around a dashing sword?"

"How dreamy sounding," Ty Lee placed her two hands at her cheeks as she, herself, had on a dreamy expression. The guard shook his head in reply to Azula.

"Actually, he was wearing a black cloak and hood so no one were able to see who he was exactly. His fighting technique was unlike anything the guards saw."

"Enlighten me," said Azula as she cocked her head a little.

"Well, he didn't use any bending but he didn't use any weapon either. He just used himself to fight against our guards."

"And the guards lost. Thus, loosing sight of this mysterious savior and the family am I right?"

"Uh…precisely," the guard sheepishly confirmed.

"Sigh. Never expected our city to have such a lousy guard system. Are you here to get my approval for some kind of warrant against this 'savior' who defied the guards?

"…..Well, no. Not exactly, because we did so already but we have suspicions that it could be the Blue Spirit."

"Really now. I heard of this so-called 'spirit' but what made you think it would be him?"

"Some of the guards reported seeing a mask under the stranger's hood. Yet, it wasn't the color blue. They thought the color looked to be copper or something like that."

"I thought you said no one could see his face?"

"That's right though, your Highness. 'His face' but not his 'true face', if you get what I mean."

"Do you think he's a threat to my father?"

"We….we don't really know. We just know that he means trouble for us, guards, so we have to apprehend him at all cost. He was the one who, after all, helped the Avatar to escape once. Thought you'd be interested in that."

"Uh-huh. So why is the Blue Spirit in our city, may I ask? Have you ever pondered as to why he's here?"

"We have not gotten to that yet, your Highness. We just assumed that he snuck in as his true self while going through the border control and the city's entrance," the guard ended his sentence with a serious note.

Azula began to rub her chin in deep thought. She eyed her brother's door just for a moment. It would make sense if her brother was the Blue Spirit. Admiral Zhao would never dare hand over the Avatar over to the Prince so of course, her brother had to formulate a way to get the Avatar back. Then again, it did not make sense for her brother to be doing this kind of thing here. Sneaking out of the palace without getting caught and going out of his way just to save a bunch of peasants? Impossible. There was no way that would happen. He was unconscious so he wouldn't even have a chance to get out there.

Azula looked up at the guard with a serious look, "Is that all you have to report to me? You may be dismissed if so." The guard silently bowed low before leaving Azula and Ty Lee alone once again. Ty Lee looked up at her friend with a questionable look. Azula had her head lowered as she began to think of what to do next, and whether she should involve herself in the Blue Spirit issue or not.

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The Aang gang were now on Appa's back once again. Their journey to the Northern Air Temple was probably going to take them another day or so.

"Wow, it feels like a long time since we last saw them," Katara said as she couldn't believe it herself that it was only less than four months since they were there.

"Yeah….," Aang agreed solemnly from his sitting position at the front of Appa. There was little to talk about now. Sokka was laying on his back but couldn't help but to give a few glances towards Aang's back every so often. Toph was sitting casually compared to yesterday where she was clinging badly to Appa's saddle. Apparently, a stop on land was what she needed to help her calm her air sickness.

"Hey" Aang said all of a sudden breaking the group's silence, "what happens if a firebender joined our group?"

"Say what!?" this got Sokka on his knees and his hands were planted directly on the saddle. His eyes were staring wide-eyed at Aang's back.

"Well," Aang began to fiddle with Appa's reign a little as he continued with his idea, "the Avatar is suppose to master the four elements. Jeong Jeong only taught me a little bit. I think, I would need a more permanent master to teach me if I ever do decide to use firebending in the future."

"Aang, you will have to learn it eventually. There's no point in trying to run away from it," Katara said in a direct voice.

"I know, I can't just run away from it but, what I did to you…. I can't forget it," Aang said as his voice got quieter at the end. His voice went back to its normal tone by what he had to say next. "Firebending is dangerous. I don't have the confidence of being able to control it very well."

"Feh. Who needs fire bending? Water is definitely better than fire!" Sokka said proudly falling back on the saddle and rolled onto his back. Aang didn't know how to respond towards that so he decided to remain quiet for the rest of the trip. Soon, a bit of squabble was taking place behind him.

"Oh yeah? You could say water is better than fire but… EARTH is better than any of them!" Toph's voice rang loud.

"Prove it," Sokka said in a lax tone of voice as he shrugged off Toph's statement like it was empty air. Toph bared her teeth as she managed to crawl, feel, and punched Sokka on the arm.

"You're not helping….," she grumbled.

"What?" Sokka didn't understand exactly what the earthbender was trying to accomplish.

"Are you guys scheming up something behind Aang's back?" Katara asked out of the blue. Her eyes were looking at Sokka and Toph suspiciously.

"What do you think it looks like we're doing?" Toph asked like it was pretty clear. "Of course we're scheming up something behind Aang. We are trying to get Aang to speak out more than his fear!"

"We are?" Sokka asked looking bewildered. He looked from his sister to Toph to Aang, and then back again to Toph.

"And what's wrong with Aang? Shouldn't you leave him alone and wait until he's ready to talk?" Katara's voice was beginning to rise.

"Well, what if I don't want to wait because I'm getting tired of seeing him mope like that!" Toph raised her voice even higher and pointed towards Aang. "Back on land, I could easily feel that something wasn't right with him. He wasn't acting himself lately."

"That's because he's going through a lot right now. Wouldn't you do the same thing if you were in his position?"

"Of course not! I'd tell someone about my problem as long as I know I can trust that person completely!" Toph words stunned everyone knowing that she was right in that sense. Aang was hit the hardest but he still didn't say anything. Another period of silence followed suit. Katara and Toph decided to give themselves some breathing room before facing each other with apologies. Sokka was lying on his back again watching each cloud pass by them but have finally decided what to do once they reached the temple.

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"Not again," Zuko said staring in horror as he was standing in a pool of water. He was dressed in a long white gown but that didn't bother him one bit. What bothered him was what was in front of him. Images of what happened in Ba Sing Se were constantly appearing before him. "Go…. Go away!!" he screamed at the projections.

"I cannot make them go away," said a new voice. It sounded like a disembodied voice of a child and yet, this voice sounded familiar to him. Very familiar.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Zuko whipped his head all around him.

"I am here," the voice said again and this time, a bit more concrete sounding. Zuko glared hard at every direction he could find.

"Where's 'here'!? What do you mean by that?"

"You still don't get it. Look down." Zuko, as much as he realized what he was going to be looking at next, did what the voice told him to do. He saw his reflection staring back up at him. Wavering and moving with the flow of the water. Then, the unthinkable happened. His reflection began to speak, "I told you already. I cannot make those images go away. You are the one who's suppose to do that, remember?"

Prince Zuko quickly shot himself up from his bed and fell right onto his floor. He could feel his heart beating every second. Running a hand through his mossy hair, he sighed in relief that it was all just a dream. He didn't know whether it was a nightmare or not, but he was just glad to be out of it. Then, a new realization fell over him. He wasn't in the prison cell hallway anymore. He was in his bedroom and was even wearing his royal pajamas.

Zuko heard voices outside his room so he walked towards his door and quickly yanked it open. His sudden appearance surprised Azula and Ty Lee that their voices were immediately stilled. Azula quickly regained her composure and took a few steps towards her brother. "Why Zuzu, good morning. Hope you had a pleasant sleep thanks to our no good for nothing uncle."

"What are you talking about? I just need to know what happened," he demanded straight on at his sibling. "And don't tell me stories either." Azula smiled at her brother's accusation but didn't mind one bit about it.

"Well, all I know is that you disobeyed an order, went to see Uncle, and the next thing I hear, you were knocked out unconscious in front of his cell. Don't you think by now that Uncle doesn't like you anymore? You're no longer like him. An outcast of the Fire Nation has regained his honor and his place."

"That's not true. Uncle would never do anything to hurt me."

"Oh yeah? Well, what do you last remember in that hallway?" Zuko began to think back trying to stir his memory. A half of a minute passed before he could speak it out.

"Uncle gave me the silent treatment and I was about to leave. Then, I felt a pain at the back of my head and that's the last thing I could remember."

"See, it wasn't so hard. You're such a smart Zuzu," Azula said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Anyways, how else were you suppose to fall down unconscious? It had to be by physical force. There's no other way possible."

"……I still don't believe you about Uncle," Zuko said stubbornly before marching back to his room.

"Suit yourself," Azula said while looking up at the ceiling before moving her eyesight back to focus on her brother's retreating figure. "Oh yes, if you haven't jogged the rest of your memory yet, you left Mai waiting for you at the turtleduck pond for an entire day. How ungentlemanly of you do so." This got Zuko to pause right as he got to his door before closing it quickly behind him. The teenager dashed right away to his royal wardrobe and began to dress himself quickly.

In several minutes, he was fully dressed and ready to go to Mai's house to apologize. He stormed out of his bedroom door only to stop again just for a bit in surprise to see Azula and Ty Lee still standing there in front of his room. "I did not ask for you to spy on me."

"Oh, were we spying? Oh no. We're just here because we wanted to make sure you were ok," Azula gave her brother the most innocent look she could fake. Ty Lee nodded in agreement with Azula.

Zuko, of course, didn't look anywhere beyond being convinced of it. "Since when did you start to care, Azula?" and in the next second, he was down the hall in a mad dash.

"Finally, time to see what we can find in his room, shall we?" Azula pushed herself away from the wall and headed into Zuko's room. Ty Lee followed suit with excitement etched all over her face.

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To Be Continued….

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A.N.: Shorter chapter than the last two. Probably one of the most fun ones that I've typed out so far. Poor Uncle. And for anyone getting a little confused with Zuko's random black outs. Eh, that'll be explained sometime later.