A.N.: I am truly ashamed that I let two years slip by without updating this! I thank you all so much if you're reading this for the first time, rereading it to get reacquainted, or have left reviews or added it to your favorites. I really do appreciate it! If you are rereading this, I have begun to rewrite this, to extend the details, and work out some errors that I made in the original form. I will be not only updating what is already here, but I will be adding new chapters, and concluding this story by the end of the year. Thank you again for your patience and I hope you are all still interested! This is the 3rd chapter to be entirely rewritten as of July 9, 2010.

Of course I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of the characters except for Kelyin, Ren, Shaya, and the Outcasts. Though you will later find out, I'll make it clear now that everyone is 3 years older. Zuko was 16, now 19, Katara 14/17, Sokka 15/18, Aang 12/15, Toph 12/15. Also, the events of this story were written after the second season, so please disregard all events from the final season of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

/. /. / CHAPTER 3: The Cleansing

/. /. / KYOSHI ISLAND VILLAGE

"Hey, Water Boy, are you going to get ready or not?" Sokka looked to the training grounds to see Suki, in full Water Tribe war paint and the simple training clothes of a warrior, grinning. His eyes widened and a goofy smile spread across his face. She came over to him.

"I can't, Suki… I have to help Katara…" The words actually hurt to say. She looked absolutely incredible as a warrior.

"Is everything alright? She's not hurt or anything, is she?" Her grey/green eyes filled with worry.

"No, no. Everything's fine. She just needs help moving something at her camp." Suki smiled at his frustrated expression and the lust in his brilliant blue eyes.

"Go help your sister, Sokka. Family always comes first. We'll do this tomorrow." She kissed his cheek, leaving a black and white lipstick mark.

"And you'll put on the make-up again?" He grinned. She laughed.

"This actually turns you on, doesn't it?"

"… Maybe…"

"Go help Katara, warrior-boy." She gave him a playful shove.

/. /. / KYOSHI ISLAND VILLAGE

Katara quickly packed her bag with the items she had purchased from the shops. Soap, bandages, some clothes she hoped would fit him, dried meat, bread, and a large canteen of cooled broth that she would warm over the fire later on. Lastly, she tossed in the packets of tea leaves. She threw the back over her shoulder and went to the training ground where Sokka was to meet her. He stood at her approach, picking up the blankets and tucking them under his arm.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes." She said as she walked past him, leading him into the forest. "You have lipstick on your cheek."

"Suki's." He said dreamily.

/. /. / KYOSHI ISLAND

"Why did you have to camp so far away from the village? It's long walks like these that make me miss Appa."

"Stop whining, Sokka, we're almost there. Just up the stream."

"Remember, you're Kara, and I'm Boomer."

"Yeah, Boomer." She laughed. "So original and inventive."

"… Do you want my help or not, Kara? Keep up the comments and I can just go back to Suk-" She stopped and put her arm out to stop Sokka.

"There he is." She pointed to the curled up mass of scars among the small plants, leaves, and grass. Sokka approached him slowly, his features suddenly serious.

"Uh… Kara, are you sure we should move him? He looks dead already." Sokka poked the prisoner in the shoulder. A small moan escaped him and Sokka jumped away.

"Don't be so rude! He's obviously in great pain." She took a blanket from Sokka and kneeled beside the man, carefully laying it over him. "It's going to take a lot of time and energy, but I know I can do it." She looked up at Sokka. "They left him out here to die, bleeding and broken. The Fire Nation is still just as heartless as ever." She looked back to the man. "I want to give him his life back." She stared at him a moment longer before standing. "I need you to be as careful as possible when you lift him." Katara took the other two blankets from Sokka and he slid one arm under the prisoners knees and the other around his shoulders, scooping the frail body into his arms. The prisoner let out a strangled cry of pain as his stiff and sore body was lifted. Sokka followed Katara, looking down at a face distorted by torture.

"They really did a number on you, didn't they? Kara's an incredible healer, the greatest many have ever seen. She can erase your pain. Heal you as if none of this ever happened.

"We're almost there." Katara put her bag and the blankets down, folding one of the blankets as a pillow and laying it on the dry stone shore by the water. She approached Sokka, speaking softly to the prisoner. "I need to wash your wounds and clean away the blood, dirt and infections so I can see how bad the injuries really are. The stream is very shallow and cool. The water will sting your wounds, but the pain will be brief. So-," her brother eyed her viciously, "Boomer, lay him down in the water with his head on the blanket cushion."

Sokka kneeled in the shallow water, the dark green pants he wore turned black at the knees as the water soaked in. A hoarse scream erupted from the disfigured man as Sokka lowered him in the stream. The water soaked through the blanket, burning his raw flesh. She kneeled beside him, holding his legs down as he made an attempt to curl them up against his chest, out of the water. "The cleansing and healing will be soothing, you just have to get over the initial shock." After a moment, he stopped thrashing and lay still. Carefully, Katara opened the blanket, exposing his naked, destroyed flesh. She took a small section of bandage out of her bag along with the soap, then she carefully began to wash the blood from his face. "Boomer, would you mind starting on his legs and feet? It'll speed up the process and allow me to save energy for the first healing." Sokka broke the soap in half with a dagger hidden in the gold fabric at his waist. He silently began to clean the mans feet. Katara looked at him in shock. "No argument? No whining?"

"You seem really determined to help this guy. If you are, then so am I."

/. /. /KYOSHI ISLAND

Zuko couldn't help but lay there motionless as the two strangers washed him as they would a child. He felt so weak and pathetic, being handled like he was a baby, unable to wash and take care of himself. A cool damp cloth was laid over his aching eyes. "This will help with the swelling." That voice… it was so soft and calming, yet somewhere in the back of his mind he knew it. He'd heard it before, years ago. The sweet sensitivity in it reminded his of his mother… but this person was younger… stronger…

/. /. / KYOSHI ISLAND

The siblings stood, staring at the scarred man. Every inch of him was covered by a burn or scar. "You've really got your work cut out for you, Kara. Are you sure it wouldn't be better just to take him to the village medic?

"I'm going to heal him. It may take weeks, even months, but I will do it." She sat in the water and carefully pulled him up and held him close, resting her hip against his and laying his chin on her shoulder. Water wrapped around her hand, forming the glowing healing glove. She looked at his back with tears in her eyes. The flesh of his back was shredded from what looked like a steep tip whip. She pressed her hand to one of the deepest stripes and whispered softly in his ear. "Whoever did this to you was cruel, heartless, and soulless. I will make this right, my silent friend, no matter how long it takes…" Slowly, she moved her water wrapped hand along the deep cut.

"I'm staying here with you tonight, Kara. I don't feel safe leaving you out here alone with him." She opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. "Not because I'm worried about him attacking you, but what if the Fire Nation comes back for some odd reason? What if they decide they want him back? Or what if they bring more prisoners? I'm staying here tonight, no matter what you say." They both stayed silent for a moment. The only sound was the water as Katara healed two more slashes from the whip. As the wound closed, it was replaced by burnt flesh. The injuries came in layers. Once one was healed, another appeared.

"Thanks, Boomer." She smiled at him, her face already looked tired. "I think this is going to be harder than I thought. The scars are so deep, and they won't go away easily." She ran her hand over another whip slash. Only two remained. "There are so many of them…"

"Kara… don't overwork yourself. Take it one at a time."

"I know. I don't want him to be in pain anymore." Another slash was healed. "I'll be okay, really." She looked to the sky while sliding her palm slowly over the final whip wound. "It's going to get dark soon, can you start the fire?" Sokka nodded and began arranging the sticks that Katara had gathered earlier.

"Forgive me, my silent guest. I cannot do anymore today…" She whispered softly in his ear. "Scars are the most difficult things to heal after broken bones, and though I am a strong healer, your wounds drain me quickly. I promise I will do more tomorrow after I rest tonight." She looked at his back, relieved to see the shredded flesh whole again, but dreading how long it would take to erase the thick burn scars. The healing glove dissolved from her hand and without a word, Sokka carefully picked the man up and carried him away from Katara, laying him on a dry blanket and wrapping him up just outside the tent. He returned to his sisters side and found her passed out, half in the water, half out in a deep exhausted sleep. He picked her up and laid her in her tent.

He sighed. "I think you bit off more than you could chew." She mumbled something in her sleep that sounded like it might have been an insult, then curled up on her side. He pulled a blanket over her and went back out to finish building the fire.

/. /. / POST SCRIPT AUTHORS NOTE:

P.S.A.N.: Not a whole lot of new material was added in this chapter in the rewrite, a mere 56 words, but an addition all the same. I found it stood pretty well on its own.