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 sixth chapter to be rewritten as of July 16, 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 6: The Loner, the Tortured, and the Betrayed

/. /. / SOUTHERN AIR TEMPLE

Aang quietly entered the Air Temple, his old home. His light brown boots padded softly across the stone floor. He hadn't changed much in the last three years. Even though he'd mastered all the bending elements and defeated the Firelord, he'd managed to maintain his wide innocent eyes, a goofy smile, and a happy, peace loving demeanor. He was still rather short for his age, only about 5'4 and gangly thin. He could be described as funny or maybe cute, but never quite handsome. It was too big a word for him.

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

"I don't know how you got up here, Jet, but I told you I wanted to be left alone…" The voice echoed from the library down the dark and dusty corridors of the once bright temple.

"I'm not Jet. My name's Aang. I'm the Avatar." He cautiously approached the library. "Are you Kelyin?"

"Did he send you up here to get me? I'm not doing anything wrong. I just want to be by myself!"

"No one sent me," he entered the library, "I just wanted to meet you." Shelf upon shelf of ancient books and scrolls rose high up to the domed ceiling, which was painted with the precious, and now forgotten, history of the Airbenders. Long windows were cut into the stone of the walls, close to the ceiling, between the shelving. Aang could just barely make out a slight silhouette against the bright sunlight, where Kelyin sat in the window. "Jet said you were an Airbender… like me…"

She gave a short, sarcastic laugh. "Yeah, well Jet says a lot of things."

"Are you?" He asked softly, squinting up at her brilliant silhouette, trying hard to see her.

"I only know the basics of Airbending. My father died before he could teach me anymore than that. I'm no good at it anyway. So sorry to disappoint the great Avatar." Her voice had an edge of anger to it, but Aang also sensed a lonely bitterness to it as well.

She leapt down from the window, landing gracefully on the ground in front of Aang. Her features were hidden by the white and black face paint that the Outcasts sometimes wore, though it was usually reserved for battle, or when returning to a homeland that you hoped to remain unrecognizable in. She was about 5'0, and average build for a 13 year old girl. She wore the typical black loose fitting pants of the renegade tribe as well as a sleeveless black tunic, the hood of which hid her hair. Metal and black leather were combined to make a sleeve that covered her entire right arm, finger tip to shoulder. The same material made a gauntlet on her other arm, wrist to elbow. "Just leave me alone, okay? I want to study up here," she walked past him, "on my own! I'll come down when I'm ready."

Aang stood, speechless, as she walked away from him, out through the arched doorway and into the darkness of the hall. All the hope he had built up in himself crashed down as the echo of her footsteps faded.

/. /. / SOUTHERN AIR TEMPLE

Kelyin made sure to get as far from the intruding boy as possible before sitting down on the dusty stone floor, spreading the ancient scrolls she had hidden under her tunic on the floor before her. She took a deep breath and attempted the motions for the hundredth time. A tiny wisp of air formed a brief circle in between her hands before evaporating. She let out a growl of frustration and tried again… and again. A voice issued softly from the doorway.

"I can teach you how to Airbend. It's really hard to learn from still drawings. I can show you the fluent motions, if you want me too. I'm a good teacher, I promise." Kelyin kept her back to Aang as she gathered up the scrolls.

"I can teach myself, just leave me alone!" She started to walk past him, but he caught her arm.

"Why do you want to be alone so bad? I've been alone for four years now, what I thought was the last Airbender when a girl and her brother broke open the ice I was frozen in. It's awful to be the last one. But here you are, an Airbender like me, somehow able to survive in the Outcasts, safe from the Fire Nations slaughter of our people. Whether good or bad at the art of bending, we are the same. I just want to help you." She yanked her arm away.

"I don't need any help!" She yelled before running from him. "We will never be the same!" He heard her yell echo back behind her as she ran into the darkness of the abandoned tower.

/. /. / BEI FONG ESTATE

They reached the gate and hid behind the high walls. The quiet one quickly mounted his ostrich horse. He helped Toph up, sitting her behind himself. The female speaker laid her hand on Toph's shoulder. "My friend here, your riding partner, is Longshot. He doesn't talk much. You can just call me B. We met a few years ago in Bai Sing Sei, but we were never really properly introduced.

"If we ride quickly, we'll make it to the cliffs still under the cover of night. Our friend, Ren, will be waiting there with Appa. We'll make it to Kyoshi by noon, where we'll rest for a bit before making the longer trip to the Southern Air Temple, the Outcasts current location. Your parents will never be able to find you there." Toph smiled at the thought.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Longshot made sure Toph was holding onto him securely before he heeled the ostrich horse in the side, taking off at full speed toward the far off cliffs.

/. /. / FIRELORD'S PALACE; THREE YEARS AGO

He struggled against the thick shackles that bound him thin wrists to the cold stone floor. The chains were short, forcing him to remain in an uncomfortable kneeling position. The damp chill was seeping slowly into his knees, making the joints ache. The heavy iron door swung open and Azula entered, flanked as always by Mai and an oddly scared looking Ty Lee. His face contorted in rage as his curses were turned to muffled nothings by the gag tied tighly over his mouth.

"Zuzu, how far you've fallen." Azula leaned down before him and sank her fingers deep into his longish black hair, yanking his head back sharply, looking him directly in the eyes. She smiled cruelly. "I've grown bored as of late, Zuzu. I need a new toy to relieve the stress of fathers death and the Fire Nations fall. You see, you are too weak to do anything by yourself. You've proven that in many ways, many times, which means that all responsibility for this nation, our once feared nation, falls squarely on my shoulders. You are a disgrace, my brother. A disgrace to all that this family stands for, just like Uncle Iroh. Oh! That reminds me, I forgot to tell you last week…"

/. /. /KYOSHI ISLAND

His good eye snapped open and he looked around, forgetting where he was or how he'd gotten there. A cold sweat had broken over him. "Hey…" He was breathing heavily, panic closing his senses. "Silent?" He tried to get up when two gentle hand grasped his face. "It's okay. You're alright. It was just a dream." He looked up into the clear blue eyes of Kara. She smiled at him. "Are you okay now?" He sighed and gave a small nod. "Good. I have an idea on how to heal your burns. I heard of it once when I was a child. Only the greatest benders are capable of it, but I can try." She helped him sit up. "It's called a Cocoon. If I can do it, the majority of your wounds will be healed at once. The remaining ones will be the oldest ones, but I can take those on one at a time." He looked down. On one hand the thought of healing was overwhelmingly craved by every pore of his body. But then again, these wounds were a punishment. A constant reminder of his pathetic weakness.

As he looked away from her, Katara could sense a war within his conscience. The true Zuko against the exiled prince he was forced to become. She slowly reached forward, softly touching his arm. "Silent… I may be wrong in thinking this, but perhaps you feel that you deserve this pain for whatever reason. No one deserves this." His eyes met hers. "Please, let me try this… let me heal you." She gave a small smile.

She watched as he looked down at the four healed fingers and wiggled them, reveling in the absence of agony. His face flinched in pain as he barely moved the still burnt thumb, undoubtedly sending torment screaming up his arm. He looked up at her again, slowly nodding yes. She smiled. "Alright then, let's get started.

/. /. / FIRELORD'S PALACE

Azula stormed down the dank hall, her long blood red robes billowing out behind her with every brisk, angry step. Though she'd grown several inches over the years, her general appearance really hadn't changed that much. Her hair was swept up in a topknot with the Golden Fire crown piece pierced through it. Her face, once spiteful and unwillingly pretty was now cruel and savage, aged with both her own rage and the incredible responsibility laid upon her after her father's death. "Open the cell! Now!" She yelled to the guards at the end of the hall who were posted in front of a heavy iron door marked 'DISGRACE'.

"I should just kill you know for what you've done!" Azula bellowed as she entered the dark, cold cell. The petit little woman shackled to the floor whimpered as Azula descended upon her. "My entire north fleet is gone! Do you hear me? Gone! Destroyed by those damned Outcasts!" She grabbed the woman by the long waist length braid and yanked her head back. Large terrified grey eyes met cold golden ones. "And if that's not bad enough, I find out it's you that sent out the note as to where the fleet was hidden and the easiest way to get to them. Why am I surprised! You always have been the stupid one! Were you not there to see Iroh's execution? Because I was there, and I distinctly remember you cringing at my side during his final pathetic moments. I know you saw what I did to half of the guards and palace workers after Mai's betrayal. And do you not remember attending many of Zuko's sessions? I remember you being there, always looking like you were going to cry. I would have thought you'd at least be smart enough to not tempt my wrath!" She backhanded the girl hard across the face. "Congratulations, Ty Lee, you will now be taking the place of that worthless corpse, Zuko. Don't you just feel so proud?"

/. /. / BASE OF SOUTHERN AIR TEMPLE

Mai found Aang hidden away in a small alcove of trees at the base of the temple's mountain. He was seated on a rock with his legs curled up against his chest and his chin resting on his knees. Momo was curled up on the ground, beside his staff, one big green eye cracked open to watch her approach.

"Aang?" She stood beside him, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He stayed silent for a long moment before slowly shaking his head no. "I got so excited that she was an Airbender, I guess I was hoping she'd be excited too. I never thought she'd be so angry… I just don't understand why…"

Mai sat on the rock beside Aang. "She was learning bending from her father. They were Outcasts, traveling in a small group. Their camp was discover and captured by the Fire Nation. They were all taken prisoner. Kelyin was one of only a few that survived, but she was tortured in front of her father in the hopes that he would tell them the whereabouts of the Outcasts to save his daughter. She lost an arm. The right one. The whole thing." Aang stared at Mai in horror. "She's never been able to bend more than a tiny breeze since then." Mai looked up at the temple, just out of site, hidden by the soft white clouds. "Can't really blame her for feeling bitter…"

/. /. / POST SCRIPT AUTHORS NOTE:

P.S.A.N.: Again, I just want to thank all of you for your patience. I know it's taken a ridiculously long time to get this story going again. I really loved working on this story and I've had the thing planned out in its entirety since I started it. I used to work in a photo lab and I could sit at the desk and write when we weren't busy, which meant I pretty much got to write all the time. In October of 2008 the photo lab closed and I became a cashier. No time to write in a busy grocery store. That is no excuse, but between work, and just starting college in January of 2009, time did slip away from me.

Like in the originally written chapter, I still want to thank GangsterGandi here on for catching my original mistake about the age difference between Zuko and Azula. I had had Azula say "… disgrace little brother." He's actually her older brother. I knew that, but because she is so much more ruthless and sinister than he is, it almost seems like she should be the older one. So thank you again!

In this rewrite, 87 words were added.