Once again, sorry. I miss my beta. I'm sure you all miss her too. I haven't heard anything back, so we'll just resume. I'm about to graduate, so I'm ready to wrap this story up. I'm hoping to finish within another two months. We'll just have to see. Alright, on we go. Forgive me for oversights.

Healed and Hunted

More Than Sorry

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Cafetorium

Lee

He hadn't tried to force a confrontation with her. That would have been stupid, mostly because if she attacked him, he wouldn't defend himself. He wasn't going to fight her. Not with their bending, anyways. He failed to see how that would solve anything. So words were going to have to do.

Except he could hardly get close to her.

When she noticed him around, she left. It was frustrating. He knew she was angry- hell, she'd nearly killed him- but her treatment of him was different than he had expected. He thought she would want the fight out of the way.

Her siblings were no help, either. Neither of them were angry with him and they didn't ostracize him. The fire bending lessons were maintained. There were no hard feelings between the Ava and Lee. Once all had been explained, the tension between the men vanished.

No matter how many times he asked about her, though, he couldn't get a straight answer. After a few times of being stonewalled, he gave up on asking. Kat would come around eventually. And, if she didn't, they still had to sit next to each other on the bus. She couldn't escape then.

He made his way to table SEVEN, unsurprised to find only two other people there. Kat probably had a secret escape tunnel beneath her seat. She had been there moments ago.

The two remaining table-dwellers greeted him warmly. There was little conversation between them, but it wasn't uncomfortable. Still, he missed the sound of her voice.

He didn't really pay attention to the food. It didn't matter anymore. It hadn't in a while, come to think of it. Lee had been so focused on her... the rest of his life seemed unimportant. Now that they were fighting... now that they weren't spending so much time together, he didn't know what to do with himself.

What had his life been like before her?

His heart ached. It was ridiculous. It was just a little fight. A small one they could resolve, if only she would give him the time of day. It was like having to start completely over, except he was already in love with her.

He was going to have to do something spectacular to talk to her. It was going to take planning. Lots of planning. And, probably, a little assistance from the Ava. The last plan hadn't turned out so great. But, this time, things were going to be different.

They had to be. He couldn't accept the way things were. Not without her.

Dorm Room

Toph

"Are you ever going to talk to him?" She wondered. Kat was laying on her bed, probably reading or something. It was too quiet for anything else.

Kat answered quietly, "I don't know what to say. There's nothing to say."

Toph sighed. Kat had some real issues. She needed help, but Toph didn't think she was qualified. And, as part of the guilty party, she doubted anything she said would matter. In truth, Toph thought Kat was being over dramatic. Well, even more than normal.

"He wants to apologize. He doesn't want you to be mad at him anymore," Toph said as carefully as she could. Things were going to take a lot of work.

"I'm not mad at him."

"Could've fooled us all," Toph snorted.

She heard Kat move, probably to stand, "I'm not mad. Not at him."

Progress, Toph thought. Movement, anyways, in the large block that was Kat's self control. All she had to do to break Kat was get her angry enough to yell the truth. Then, after, they could sort through the emotions.

"Then who, me? Aang? What happened had nothing to do with you. You had no business being there," Toph went for a tough-girl approach. It had always annoyed Kat the most.

"Screw you, Toph. You're going to have to try harder than that." Her sister objected. Toph imagined she had crossed her arms.

Toph laughed harshly, "It doesn't concern me. I'm not the one acting like a whiny bitch who can't own up to her problems."

"That isn't fair," Kat complained.

"Fair? Almost killing your boyfriend then ignoring him completely is pretty unfair. Only guy willing to break through your walls and you shove him-"

"Shut up!" Kat yelled, "Shut up, shut up shutupshutup!"

Toph could feel Kat pacing in the room, the metal echoing her steps. Toph figured Kat was waving her arms, the way she did when she got excited.

"Bastard's miserable. But what do you care, right?" Toph continued, over the sound of her sister muttering angrily.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare, Toph." Kat's voice was shaky now.

Toph was still on the offensive, "I guess you were just toying with him. Poor fool. Never even saw you coming. Guess he's lucky to be alive."

"Stop." Kat cried. It was more a request than a demand. The pacing had stopped. Toph didn't know what was going on.

Still, she kept going, "What's your beef? I explained what was going on. You just jealous he's teaching Aang something you can't? Or were you mad that it was a secret?"

Toph let the silence stretch.

"I can't talk to him, Toph. I can't even look at him. I tried to... kill him, Toph. I was suffocating him. I didn't even give him a chance to explain. I was killing him. I love him, and I was killing him. Didn't even flinch." Kat whispered. The sound was quiet. Toph almost missed it.

Then she plopped down on the bed, "So that's it? You're mad...at you?"

She was joined on the bed. Kat leaned on her, finally laying her head down in Toph's lap. The blind girl could feel her sister trembling. Trying not to cry, she thought.

"I was taking his life away." the woman said.

Toph stroked her sister's hair, "You were protecting your family. Like you always have."

"His lips were blue."

She knew what it meant, though of course she had no idea what it looked like. In her mind, blue was cold and calm and smooth like berries. It wasn't a bad thing.

"He didn't even fight me." Kat shuddered.

"Because he didn't want to hurt you," Toph explained.

The girls were quiet again.

"I have to talk to him, don't I?" Kat sounded impossibly young. Quiet and scared. Afraid of messing things up.

Toph nodded, "It would save the rest of us a lot of trouble."

Kat choked a laugh, "I'm sorry. And...thanks."

"Any time, Sugar Queen."

The blind girl was content with her work. It didn't promise much of anything, but at least Kat had gotten over it. It would take more time. The issues were more serious than Toph, or Aang, had realized. It hadn't even occurred to them that she would be...angry at herself.

"And Kat?"

Her sister moved her head and asked, "Yeah?"

"You just said you loved him."

The way Kat jumped from the bed was...comical. Toph wished she could have seen it. She desperately wanted to see the look on her sister's face. As she was blind, she didn't see the pillow until it hit her in the face. She fell backwards.

Ah, she loved her family.

The Library

Aang

It was...fun to play with. Dangerous, too, but fun. The fire lived in his heart. It was protection, in the most basic form. It was protection from the cold and from predators. Lee had done a good job, even if the methods were a little... odd.

"Hey. Ready to go?" Lee asked, walking up to Aang.

The monk thought the Fire-Inheritor looked exhausted. There were bags under his golden eyes and his hair seemed...deflated and dull. His skin seemed tired, as well.

"Are you feeling alright?" Aang questioned. If his teacher was tired, there was really no sense in practicing.

Lee shook his head, "Fine. Just haven't been sleeping all that well. I'll be fine."

"We don't have to practice today."

The other man shook his head, "No. It would... be nice to get lost for a moment. A bit tired of thinking."

"Alright, alright. Let me put these back." Aang lifted the books he'd been studying. All of the fire-books suddenly made sense. Of course he could breathe the fire, feel it. It was alive. Kat had been right, oh so long ago, that it would be easier once he learned.

"So many books. Do you really read them all?" Lee wondered. He sounded appalled by the thought. Like books were some plague.

"Most. Usually just skim. Kat's better at it than me."

Aang was shocked at the way Lee flinched when her name was spoken. As if it wounded him. Or scared him. Either way, Aang made himself a note not to mention her.

"Anyways. This is the first time I've been able to understand them. I was getting angry and fed up with them. It didn't quite make sense. It does, now." Aang continued.

Lee cleared his throat, "I guess I understand. Fire's... pretty temperamental."

They started to walk out together. They were in the back, having to weave in and out of students. It was slow going, and Aang thought the silence was stretching into an awkward zone.

"Lee... I don't know if I said it, but...thank you. I know...that with this thing with Kat may have you regretting it...but... thank you." Aang rubbed the back of his neck.

The scarred man did the same, "I don't. Regret it, that is. It's tough. But... this is important."

The library doors closed behind them, and Aang tried to think of something else to talk about. It was pretty depressing thinking about his sister the whole time. Kat had been down these past few days, as Lee had. If only they knew.

When they rounded the corner, Aang froze. Lee, who was half a step behind him, crashed into his back. The three people in the hall stared at each other. Aang was torn between the other two people's eyes.

"Can I...have a minute?" She asked, looking directly at Aang.

The bald man took a look to Lee, then nodded. He bowed out rather quickly, trying his best not to run in the other direction.

"Kat I-"

"Just, hold on a minute." His sister said.

As soon as he was out of ear shot the mumuring started. He couldn't make out what they were saying, but it was enough that they were talking. He went straight to Toph's room. He didn't knock.

"You're good." He said.

Toph snorted, "You owe me ten bucks."

"Damn. I think...Ah, damn. Put it on my tab?"

They were silent for two seconds.

His fiance then laughed, "Four-hundred and forty, monk."

Aang was going to owe her the moon before they were done gambling. God almighty, he had to stop gambling.