I'm proud to say that I have finally posted this chapter.


((Rebecca's P.O.V))

"Brianna did you find anything?" I called down from the tree.

"Nope I got nothing. What about you?" Brianna called up to me.

"Sorry, the only things edible I could find are leaves and bugs. I think only Momo could be happy about that." I jumped off the branch onto the small stream under me.

"You the love the fact that you can stand on water don't you?" Brianna asked as she watched me walk back towards camp, still on the water.

"Almost as much as you love children," I told her with a smirk, before running upstream. As I made my way back to the others, I couldn't help but look down at the cool liquid below me. My ability to walk on water was by the coolest power I had, so far that is. A smile would appear every time I practiced, almost making me feel proud. I placed my hand into the water and flicked the water onto nearby plants.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself," I heard Gin tell me from the charm.

"Well I am still a kid am I not?" I told to him as I jumped over some rocks. "Is there a problem if I enjoy myself?" I asked him jokingly.

"No it's just nice to see you smiling. I remember when we first came here you hardly ever smiled." I jumped over some more rocks and tree roots.

"Sorry, I was still a bit too paranoid when we first started off. I was so obsessed to do my job perfectly, so that Aang wouldn't ever get hurt. I never would have thought that my own motives had the exact opposite and ended up hurting his feelings. I don't want to make that mistake again."

"You really care for that boy, don't you?"

"Yeah well, that and it's kind of a habit since I had a younger brother."

"Does he resemble the young master in anyway?" Gin asked referring to Aang.

"No, in fact they couldn't be any more different, but Aang needs me."

"You enjoy the fact that you are needed, don't you?"

"No comment," I said and avoided eye contact with the reflection of the charm. Suddenly I felt the water surface below me start to shake, as I heard loud crashing noises. I stopped, in the middle of the steam, giving Brianna time to catch up to me. "Brianna, we're supposed to be meeting someone today right?"

"Yeah, Haru. This should be when Aang and the others first see Haru's earth bending," Brianna said as she reached my side.

"Wait, doesn't Katara scare him away?" We both looked at each other then made a run towards the sound of crashing rocks. "Damn it, why does being bodyguards have to be so troublesome?" I complained to Brianna as we jumped over obstacles along the way.

"How should I know?" Brianna said as she punched a large boulder, cracking it in half in the process. "I'm still trying to figure out what I can do with my powers!"

"What do you think I've been doing while you guys are asleep, chasing fireflies?" I said as I jumped up to a tree branch and started leaping onto the branches like a ninja. When we finally got to the where Haru was practicing his earth bending, in a deserted cavern, it was already too late.

"Hello there, I'm Katara! What's your name?" Katara shouted out at the earth bender. Brianna and I slapped our foreheads wondering how idiotic the newbie water bender could be thinking that everyone could befriend her, as long as they weren't Fire Nation. After hearing Katara's outburst, Haru ran away from the others and earth bended some rocks, cutting off our view from where he was heading.

"It's nice to meet you!" I heard Aang yell when the long haired teenaged boy had disappeared from sight.

"That girl's lucky that Aang likes her or I would have slapped her across the head just now" I told Brianna as we made our way to the group.

"Yeah well, I would have beaten you to it" Brianna said agreeing with me.

"Oh come on, you know I would have hit her way harder" I said with a smile.

"This is true," Brianna said, not bothering to argue with my logic, but also smiled at my remark. We slid down into the cavern as the three were talking amongst themselves, until Aang finally noticed our presence. His smile widened when he spotted us, making him look even younger. It was no wonder Aang felt like a brother to me, and I knew that Brianna must have felt the same way, but that is where the line is drawn. The way we both treated him were different. Unlike Brianna, I wasn't as hyper and affectionate. This probably had to do with the fact that my experience with kids Aang's age were different. Rather than baby him and react to his crazy standards I would just treat him like an individual.

"Hey there you guys are! You just missed a great earth bending show!" Aang shouted happily as he floated to us.

"If you mean the guy that ran away, then yeah we saw him" I said as I crossed my arms and glanced over at Katara.

"So did you guys find any food?" Katara asked not realizing her mistake.

"Sorry, we could only find food that Momo would like" Brianna said with slight disappointment as she glanced over at the flying lemur.

"Hey, that guy's gotta be running somewhere. Maybe near a village, and I bet that village has a market!" Aang said getting excited at the thought of food.

"Which means no nuts for dinner," Katara exclaimed as she and Aang started to make a run towards the rocks leaving Brianna, Sokka, Momo, and I behind.

"Hey, I worked hard to get those nuts!" Sokka yelled at his little sister, who just ignored him and continued to run to the village. Momo made a low purring noise before he flew off with Brianna, running beside him, after Aang and Katara. "Yeah I hate them too," Sokka said to Momo as he flew past us.

"Sokka," I called his name as we both started walking after the others. He turned his head to me, wondering what I had to say to him. I raised my hand up to him making him stare at me rather confused. "I'll have some of those nuts. You did work hard after all." Sokka gave me a small smile and handed me several nuts from his bag. I started eating them, while Sokka walked beside me with a smug look on his face.

"It's nice to know that I'm appreciated!" he shouted proudly. I rolled my eyes, but luckily he didn't notice. "You know it wouldn't be bad if you were my little sister." After hearing that I felt small pieces of the nut I was chewing go down the wrong pipe, causing me to almost choke.

"What nonsense are you talking now?" I asked, still not completely recovered from my coughing frenzy. Sokka shrugged his shoulders, after trying to hide the fact that he looked worried about my well being.

"What I'm just being honest." I couldn't help but chuckle, seeing as how Sokka was being rather out of character.

"Thanks for the compliment Sokka, but despite my short height I'm a year older than you. That and no offense, but I'm a lot more mature than you, too."

"Are you saying that I'm immature?"

"Maybe," I said in a teasing tone making him frown. "Well I guess you could pass for my big brother since you are taller than me. Only problem is that I don't look anything like you."

"Too bad since I am quite the looker," Sokka said as he started showing off his muscles.

"Right," I said while trying not to make eye contact with him, afraid I might start laughing at his comment. "Katara's not a bad sister; then again she's not a great one either."

"Yeah well, to be honest she's more like a mom to me."

"I can imagine. You guys really don't get along though, well compared to me and my brother anyway."

"Hold on, you have a brother? Does that mean there are more people with abilities like you?"

"Yes Sokka, I do have a brother and his name is Alex. And no he is not like Brianna and I. The situation is just like you and Katara. Even though you're both siblings didn't mean that it would ensure that you both were going to be water benders. The same could be said for the Avatar. If the Avatar had siblings it wouldn't mean that they have special powers or abilities like he does."

"Oh I get what you're saying. You know, you're really good at explaining things."

"Thanks I guess. Oh look we're here," I said when I noticed the small village ahead of us.

"Hey Rebecca, Sokka, hurry up!" Aang shouted to the two of us.

"Well duty calls" I said to Sokka before dashing towards the others.

"Yeah, how dare you make us waste five seconds waiting for you, Rebecca" Brianna said sarcastically. I lightly flicked her forehead leaving a small red imprint. "Ouch, I was kidding!" Brianna yelled as she rubbed the mark.

"Sure you were," I said while looking behind me and saw Sokka running to us. "He sure is slow."

"No, you're just really fast, like me!" Aang said proudly and grinned up at me. I gave him a small smile then saw Sokka finally manage to join us on the small cliff. "About time you got here Sokka. Come on let's get going to the village!" Aang told us excitedly before he started to make a run towards the small rundown town.

"Hey Aang, wait up!" Brianna cried out to the eager monk, who was running ten miles a second. She let out a groan as she started running after him with Katara and Momo following close behind. I chuckled to myself as I watched the three of them running after the trail of dust Aang was leaving. I shook my head, thinking how amusing it was that Aang was still the same, even when Brianna and I changed the story up a bit.

"Ah come on! More running?" Sokka shouted to the sky. I gave Sokka's back a gentle slap.

"Better get in shape or else you'll never be able to catch up to us," I told him as I slapped his arm then dashed after Aang, hoping to catch up to him.

"Hey that's so unfair! I'm the only normal person here!" I heard Sokka scream to us. I fought back my laughter when thinking about several girls in the series that were in better shape than Sokka. One of the girls that popped up was Suki, as I remembered her displaying her amazing agility and fighting skills that surpassed his.

"That might be awkward for him," I muttered but then shrugged my shoulders "Aw well, not my problem."

((OOOO))

"Aang, shouldn't we be trying to save some of the money that King Bumi gave us?" I asked him as he walked over with a straw hat that he got from some merchant.

"No worries, I traded him some of Sokka's nuts for it," he said as he adjusted the hat. I shook my head then spotted the boy from earlier, walk into a building. Before we could stop her, Katara had already followed him. The inside of the building looked to be a shop, but was completely run down. Katara stepped into the room with Sokka and Aang behind her, none of them seeing anything wrong with greeting the boy that had ran away from us.

Light, cast in from the open door, revealed a woman who strongly resembled Haru, standing by the counter. She was wearing plain green robes and her face was worn out and she looked as if her spirit had died.

"Hey, you're that kid! Why did you run away before?" Katara started questioning the earth bender.

"Kid?" I whispered to Brianna. "How old is Haru?" I asked somewhat curious.

"Like Katara's age," Brianna said not completely sure.

"And she still calls him a kid?" I muttered as I looked 'kid' up and down.

"Uh, you must have me confused with some other kid" Haru said, trying to lie his way out of the situation. My right eye started twitching as I covered the lower part of my face.

"And he calls himself a kid too? He can't be serious. Does he have no dignity?" I asked Brianna. She shrugged her shoulders but laughed at my little remark.

"No she doesn't, we saw you earth bending," Aang said trying to back Katara up. Haru and his mother gasped as she closed both the door and window.

"They saw you doing what?" Haru's mother asked horrified.

"They're crazy mom! I mean, look at how they're dressed!" Haru said as he pointed to the five of us. Aang, Katara, and Sokka all looked down at their clothes, wondering what was wrong with their outfits. Since Brianna and I both already knew that we stood out because of outfits, we didn't bother to look down. Although Brianna did seem a little too happy as she did a little dance, completely satisfied with her new look and mine.

"You know how dangerous that is! You know what would happen if they caught you earth bending!" his mother scolded him. Just when she said this I heard banging on the door behind us.

"Open up!" a male voice ordered. Brianna and I glanced at each other both knowing that we had to keep our guard up, just in case something might happen.

"Fire Nation!" Sokka said in a hush whisper "act natural!" The four of them got into some weird positions while Brianna and I just stood there, watching their pathetic attempts to seem normal. I could feel the sweat drop forming over my head as Haru's mom went to open the door.

"What do you want? I've already paid you this week!" I turned my attention from the four idiots after seeing Aang lose his balance and getting his hand inside a barrel of water.

"The tax just doubled. Wouldn't want an accident, would we?" the soldier said in a sarcastic tone. He formed a small ball of fire around his hands and started playing with it a bit, testing the poor woman. "Fire is sometimes so hard to control." Brianna and I both shot the guy glares, but he didn't seem to notice and was too busy watching Haru's mom getting out the money to pay them yet again. The chest she took out was nearly empty with only a few coins inside. She sadly handed the man the money and he took the coins, with a smug smile across his face. "You can keep the copper ones," he said as he tossed the lower ranked coins to the floor before heading out the door.

"Nice guy," Sokka said sarcastically as Haru's mother got up from the floor after picking up the copper coins. "How long has the Fire Nation been here?"

"Five years," she said without even having to think. "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"They're thugs, they steal from us, and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it!" Haru said angrily as he leaned against the desk. He was the only person who seemed to not have given up hope. He was still driven and determined to overcome the Fire Nation's reign of power.

"Quiet, Haru! Don't talk like that," his mother warned him.

"But Haru's an earth bender, he can help!" Katara said trying to think of some way they could solve their problem.

"Earth bending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities" Haru's mom explained to the hopeful girl.

"How can you say that? Haru has a gift! Asking him not to earth bend is like asking me not to water bend. It's a part of who we are."

"You don't understand," the woman tried to explain but was interrupted by Katara.

"I understand that Haru can help you fight back!" Katara told her passionately.

"Katara, you shouldn't voice your opinion without knowing the whole situation" I said trying to stop her before she said something she would regret.

"Oh please. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Katara asked Haru's mother.

"They could take Haru away. Like they took his father," she said as her eyes started to tear up. I let out a heavy sigh and glanced over at Haru, who had his head down staring intensely at the floor. I looked back over at Katara and saw that she instantly regretted not listening to me. She just stared at the two with pain and pity in her eyes. Brianna and I looked at one another, wondering what we could do to break the awkward silence. I let out another small sigh knowing that Brianna didn't feel comfortable speaking up to strangers, leaving me to have to do it.

"Please forgive my friend she's still young and a bit naïve." I said taking a step forward. "Let me introduce ourselves. I'm Rebecca, my partner Brianna, and this is Aang" I said pointing to the two to my right. "The two in blue are our companions Sokka and Katara. We are travelers and were just taking a rest stop. I can ensure you that none of us will reveal the fact that your son, Haru, is an earth bender so you can rest easy."

"Oh no, it's fine. I'm sorry for being so rude. I guess the topic about…."

"There's no need for you to explain, ma'am," I said interrupting her. "It is clear to all of us that you weren't thinking clearly and became emotional because of all that has happened. It's not easy." She gave me a small smile as she wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"Tell me, how old are you?" I was taken aback by the question but dared not show it, not to a stranger at least.

"I just turned sixteen this year," I told her. She gave me another small smile.

"So young yet you are able to talk as if you are an adult, so wise and composed. Your parents must have taught you well." I felt a sting of pain shoot through my chest at the thought of my past. All that had happened to me was because of my parent's decisions, changing me entirely. I couldn't look up at her and just looked to the floor, afraid that I would break down if I made eye contact with her.

"Yeah well kind of, they made me what I am today. It's because of them that I'm like this, I guess. I should feel grateful." I couldn't help but make a fist at that last sentence. Even though all I said wasn't a complete lie, I knew I that I couldn't really feel grateful toward their actions. All the suffering I had gone through had formed my weaknesses. The very thought made me shake. "I'm sorry but I need some air." Before anyone could say anything I turned around and started walking toward the door. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but I didn't dare look back. I couldn't, not if it was just going to make me cry. I hated crying in front of others because it made me feel weak and pathetic. Being so sensitive is one of the weaknesses I have that I despise with a burning passion…