Danny, Sam and Aang walked through the forest, Aang occasionally jumping up a tree to make sure they were heading the right way. After about thirty minutes of walking, Sam broke the silence.
"How did you know those soldiers were attacking me?" Sam wondered aloud. Danny smiled at her.
"Toph. She must have felt the fight or something because she knew. She led us to you," Danny answered. Sam nodded.
"How did they find you anyway?" Aang inquired. Sam bit her lip.
"Well, I was still angry. I might have been a little vocal about my thoughts while cleaning the dishes. Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by fire-benders. Luckily, I was able to make a wall of stone to protect myself before I got burned by their attacks," Sam answered softly.
"I don't get why you were so angry though. Danny didn't go alone when he went to get firewood," Aang pointed out. Sam nodded.
"I know, but Tucker isn't much of a body guard. Don't get me wrong, he's great and a good friend and everything but not much of a fighter. And I guess I panicked when I saw that Danny wasn't in camp," Sam replied quietly. Danny glanced at her before clearing his throat awkwardly.
"Sam, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that. Honest. But I can't wait around at camp all the time. And you don't have to worry about me all the time," Danny apologised. Sam smiled at Danny and nodded.
"I know. But sometimes I feel like you don't care about yourself. You take stupid risks and throw yourself into dangerous situations. I mean, I get that you made sure that a lot of people saw you during the war to protect Aang, but I still don't get why you always insisted on waiting until the last minute to move on. I feel like you don't care if you get killed," Sam whispered sadly. Danny looked away, avoiding Sam's eye.
"Hey! Isn't that our camp?" Danny announced a few minutes later. Aang and Sam turned to where Danny was pointing and nodded.
"Yeah, wow. That wasn't so hard," Sam remarked. Aang grinned and ran forward.
"I wonder if we got here first," Aang called over his shoulder as he ran into the clearing. Then Danny frowned. The fire couldn't have been that strong after almost an hour without any fresh fuel. And yet, it was throwing out smoke above the treetops. Then Danny's eyes widened in realisation. It was a trap! The soldiers found their camp and kept the fire going to lure them all there.
Danny darted forwards and pushed Aang to the ground and rushed in front of Sam as the first volley of arrows were loosed. Danny fell to the ground, arrows imbedded in his arms and torso. One had punctured his heart and three had pierced his lungs.
"Danny!" Sam screamed. Aang scrambled to his feet and saw Danny bleeding on the ground and Sam bent over him, completely at a loss as to how to help him. Aang scowled angrily at the soldiers who ran out of their hiding places to charge at them.
Aang's fury blossomed into power and his tattoos began to glow as he entered the avatar state. Within minutes the forty soldiers that had ambushed them lay defeated around him, most severely injured. Aang closed his eyes and relaxed his muscles as his tattoos faded and he returned to his usual self. He ran to Danny's side.
"Danny! Please! Hold on! Hold on for me! Katara!" Sam begged and screamed. Aang knelt down on Danny's opposite side.
"Aang… did you… stop them?" Danny wheezed, hardly able to breathe. Aang nodded.
"Yeah," Aang answered, voice catching in his throat. Danny gave Aang a half-smile as he gasped for air, coughing up flecks of blood between breaths.
"Aang! Sam! What happened?" Katara shouted as she ran into the clearing, already opening her water bag. Sokka ran after her and gasped at Danny.
"Katara! You have to heal Danny! You have to save him!" Sam pleaded. Katara fell down to her knees beside the injured teen, her hands already coated in water. Danny shook his head and weakly stopped Katara.
"It's alright. It's alright," Danny muttered before he closed his eyes.
"You… can't save… me anyway," he whispered as his face went slack and his gasping for air stopped.
Everyone froze for a second in shock.
"Danny! No! You can't just… just give up! Come back! Come back!" Sam shouted frantically, tears building in her eyes. Aang glanced at Katara. She also had tears in her eyes.
"Guys, what's with all the shouting?" Tucker called as he and Toph ran into the clearing. Sam turned to him.
"Danny… Danny got shot. He's unconscious. Yeah! He's just gone into the spirit world! Katara, heal him. He'll come back. I know he will!" Sam explained. Katara glanced at Aang before hovering her hands over his body. The water did nothing.
"Why isn't it working?" Sam demanded. Katara bit her lip and swallowed down her sadness.
"Because, I can't heal the dead," Katara answered. Sam shook her head furiously.
"He's just in the spirit world. He'll be fine!" Sam insisted. Aang got up as Tucker joined Sam, trying to comfort her.
"Is he alive?" Aang whispered to Toph. Toph shook her head.
"He's not breathing and there's no heartbeat. He's gone," Toph answered quietly. Aang nodded slowly and watched as Tucker slowly brought Sam away from Danny's body and whispered reassuring things in her ear, crying silently. Sam shouted and screamed that Danny was alive, that he'd come back in a few hours and laugh about the misunderstanding. But everyone knew that there wasn't a misunderstanding. Danny was dead.
Nothing really to say…
Until the next chapter.