a/n So I know it's been a while…, but here it is! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who showed me some love by reviewing, following, and favorit-ing the last chapter! You motivated me to get writin', so again, thank you!
I want to put in a quick shout out to the wonderful people who write transcripts for AtLA episodes at the Avatar Wikia site. This chapter tries to reestablish the timeline of how everything fits into the last few episodes of Book 3, so there is some dialog that is taken from the actual episodes. That being said I'd like to reiterate that I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or the characters/locations/creatures within. And without further ado here is chapter 11! Enjoy!

Chapter 11 ~Unknown~

-Toph-

Wow. He was kissing her. It really surprised her at first, but Agni did she get used to it. Somewhere, seemingly far away, she heard what could be footsteps

and a door opening, but she wanted to ignore the sounds. He however broke off the kiss turned away, towards the noise. She felt him jump back in surprise.

Agni we have an audience she thought.

"What? Zuko! Katara! I…We…-" Aang quickly stammered. Oh? she thought, I was right. When she had left them on the beach, she could tell things were

probably going to get a little… heated between them. Now here they were, practically caught in the act. Then again, she was just got caught kissing Aang…

She pushed herself away from the wall to stand at her full height.

"Aang, relax," Katara sounded delighted. Odd.

"But uhm… you're not mad? I know I kissed you at the invasion but…" Everyone pretty much knew that Aang had a puppy crush on Katara. At first, it seemed

like Katara was humoring him, never affirming, or denying her feelings. But ever since Zuko joined them and the whole Southern Raiders incident happened,

Katara seemed to gravitate towards Zuko.

Just earlier Toph nonchalantly tried to warn Aang about Zuko and Katara, but she had never been very good with the touchy-feely junk. Now she was a little

worried about how he was taking discovering their relationship so suddenly.

"'Mad?' Why would I be mad?" Katara sounded confused now. Of course, she's not mad, Twinkle Toes. She just spent the night getting lovey dove-y with her new

boyfriend.

"Oh, well… " Aang moved closer to Toph and put his arm gently around her waist, "good." There was a short silence until Zuko spoke.

"Why aren't you training?" he asked angrily. Captain Angry at your service she thought.

"Um…um…," Aang awkwardly scratched his back, "you weren't up so…" he hopped from foot to foot a little, clearly not wanting to talk exactly about why Zuko

was still asleep. Or at least busy…

"Oh…" Zuko paused and she smirked a little. I guess Zuko doesn't want to talk about it either she thought. "Well, go warm up in the courtyard. I'll be right there."

She felt Aang nod and he turned to leave, pulling her along with his hand still on her waist. Finally we're getting away from those two… she didn't need to have

functioning eyes to know when they looked at each other. Their heartbeats were a loud testament.

-Katara-

"Doesn't it seem kind of weird that we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?" she asked from where she sat on the ground. Toph sat beside her, but

definitely farther away than she normally would have. Katara was actually quite happy that Toph and Aang were into each other. It made her budding

relationship with Zuko seem less hurtful (plus Toph and Aang were so cute together).

"I told you," Zuko answered, wiping the sweat off his face with his left hand, "my father hasn't come here since our family was actually happy. And that was a

long time ago. It's the last place anyone would think to look for us." He re-crossed his arms and turned his attention back to Aang who was still practicing.

"More ferocious!" Zuko yelled at him. Aang tried the move again. His face scrunched up in concentration. "Imagine striking through your opponent's heart."

Zuko encouraged. Aang firebended a torrent of fire, but then he threw his arms up in the air with a look of frustration.

"Ugh! I'm trying." He said earnestly. Zuko made a small grunt-scoff sound.

"Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo!" He ordered. Aang turned and stretched his arms and roared. The resulting fire from his hands and mouth was

hardly brighter than a candle. He grinned sheepishly at his weak attempt.

"That sounded pathetic! I said roar!" Zuko's voice rang throughout the courtyard. Aang frowned at first, clearly offended, but then he roared even louder and

three large bursts of fire came out of his hands and mouth. His face quickly turned to Zuko's, looking for approval. The only praise Aang got was a stiff nod.

"You guys are not going to believe this!" Sokka said as his Fire Nation red figure walked into the courtyard with a rolled up piece of paper and Suki (also in Fire

Nation red) by his side, "There's a play about us!" Katara and Toph got up to join the rest of the Gaang nearer to Zuko and Aang.

"We were just in town and we found this poster." Suki explained while Sokka unrolled the flyer. Sure enough, the entire Aang's, Sokka's, Zuko's, and her face

were plastered in the background.

"What? How is that possible?" she asked, snatching at the poster, but Sokka held it away from her.

"Listen to this..." Sokka turned to read from the flyer, "'The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright P-'"

"Okay, thanks for the news Sokka. Now, why do we care?" barked Zuko. This was not the sweet/sensitive Zuko she knew last night. I wonder where he's gone?

She asked herself warily.

"Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky, time-wasting, nonsense I've been missing!" Sokka's face lit up.

"We can NOT go to that play."

"Why not? What's wrong with you?" She asked, wondering why he had become so hostile.

"It even says it is 'Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players.'" Chirped Suki, but Zuko just groaned and ran his hands through his hair—a

clear sign of agitation.

"Well, besides butchering Love Amongst the Dragons every year, we do not have time to go to some stupid play! What's wrong with all of you? Sozin's Comet is

only four days away!" Everyone stared at Zuko. I thought you knew. She thought. "Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?" he asked, taking a small step

back from everyone. Aang gave Zuko a sheepish shrug and absently scratched his back.

"About Sozin's Comet… I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came."

"After?" Zuko's shock was undeniable. Aang sighed before he began to explain.

"I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending."

"And frankly," Toph put in, "your earthbending could still use some work too." Aang gave her a funny look, but then quickly focused back on Zuko.

"So, you all knew Aang was going to wait?"

"Honestly," Sokka said, "if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord now, he's going to lose…. No offense, Aang." It was then time for her to add in her opinion; hopefully

Zuko would just accept their conclusion…but she doubted it.

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the Comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the War, but they pretty much won the War when they

took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse." Katara explained.

"You're wrong." Zuko's shoulders tensed and he turned from them. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine. The day before the eclipse, my father

asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back… At the meeting, a

General Shinu reported to my father that Ba Sing Se is still under Fire Nation control. However, earthbender rebellions have prevented them from achieving

total victory in the Earth Kingdom. Shinu recommended that once the eclipse is over and the invasion is defeated, they should transfer more domestic forces

into the Earth Kingdom." Zuko paused.

"And…?" she asked softly, "What did the Fire Lord think of the General's idea?" She stared at the back of his head, willing him to turn around, but he didn't.

"My father asked for my opinion… I wasn't sure what to say…except for the truth. I told him that the people of the Earth Kingdom are proud and strong. That

they can endure anything, as long as they have hope." Zuko turned around. His motion was so graceful she momentarily forgot what they were talking about.

He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he had to say next. Everyone waited silently. "The Fire Lord didn't exactly see my point… He said that the Fire

Nation needs to destroy the people of the Earth Kingdom's hope." His sad expression turned angry and his hands turned to fists. "Azula, being the psycho that

she is, completely agreed with him. And took it a step farther by saying the Fire Nation should take their hope and the rest of their land and burn it all to the

ground. The history refresh my father gave us—how when the comet last came, my great-grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, used it to wipe out the Air Nomads—lead

into the grand unveiling of his plan. On the day of Sozin's Comet, the Fire Nation will rain fire from their airships and use the power of the comet to end the

Earth Kingdom... permanently." Zuko's shoulders were slumped and his eyes cast down. "I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan, but I'm ashamed

to say I didn't. My whole life, I struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance, but once I had it, I realized I'd lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I

was." She sunk to her knees.

"I can't believe this…" her voice was barely a whisper.

"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just pure evil." Sokka said, shaking his head. Her gaze turned to Aang who looked defeated.

"What am I going to do?" he asked. Zuko took a few steps closer to him and put his hand on Aang's shoulder.

"I know you're scared, and I know you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a world to

save anymore." Aang shook off Zuko's hand and started to back away.

"Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?" Aang's eyes were wide and he held his hands up as if Zuko might attack him.

"I didn't think I had to. I assumed you were still going to fight him before the comet. No one told me you decided to wait." Aang just shook his head, grabbed

his head (If he had hair, he'd be raking his hand through it she thought), and sunk down to his knees.

"This is bad. This is really, really bad." She was about to go closer to him and console him, but Toph beat her to it.

"Come on Twinkle Toes, like we'd let you do this alone." Toph gave him a gentle punch in the shoulder, "If we all fight the Fire Lord together, we got a shot at

taking him down." Katara smiled as she stood up and moved closer. Sokka and Suki moved closer to Aang (and Toph) too. Sokka broke the tense seconds.

"Alright, Team Avatar is back! With: Water, Earth, Fire, and Fan and Sword!" Sokka had shoved leaves into Suki's arm to make up a fan and he held out a long

leaf proudly as a sword. Aang smiled reluctantly.

"Fighting the Fire Lord is going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together, but I wouldn't want to do it any other way." Everyone except Zuko smiled

and pressed together for a group hug. She noticed his absence and turned to look at him.

"Get over here, Zuko," she smiled at him, "Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs." He rolled his amber eyes, but went to stand beside

her and Aang.

"Please tell me that's all of your father's evil plan?" Toph asked as the hug broke up. Katara noticed how everyone clung to their certain someones a little

longer than necessary (of course that included her holding on to Zuko, so she didn't mention it). Everyone turned to stare at Zuko who looked a little sheepish

actually.

"Zuko?" She prompted. What was he hiding?

"Well…" Zuko scratched the back of his head, "There was the part about a new world being born out of the Earth Kingdom's ashes that would have all the

lands ruled by the Fire Nation… and Ozai would be the supreme ruler of everything…"

"Wow," grinned Toph, "No offense, Zuko, but your dad is crazy."

-Zuko-

After the evening meal was eaten and cleaned away, everyone milled around quietly for a while. But the whole while Sokka and Suki shared conspicuous looks

and soon they excused themselves and flitted away towards Sokka's bedroom. It was disgustingly obvious what they wanted to do… Perhaps they would say

the same thing about Katara and me he thought. It was Aang and Toph that surprised him. They went off hand in hand to 'practice earthbending.' Zuko smirked

a little. At least he seems over the whole Melon Lord thing… he quickly shook his head to stop the train of thought. He didn't want to think about Aang's monk

teachings right now. Right now, he was alone in the courtyard with Katara.

He stepped closer towards her, but he saw her stiffen.

"What's wrong?" he asked softly. And he tucked a loose strand of hair. He liked her hair like this, wilder, freer, and out of her (as Sokka called them) hair

loopies. Her beautiful face turned rigid and distant, but her voice betrayed her.

"I have-I have stuff to do." She said huskily, turned away from him, and walked away. He just stood there, dumbfounded.

Agni, when did things get so complicated? He thought to himself. The sun was setting outside into the ocean as he sat crisscrossed at the end of the dock

trying to meditate. It wasn't working. His mind was too clouded. So he just let his mind wander. The day had been one surprise after another and for the most

part, they had been bad surprises. However, the whole day hadn't been a disaster. He thought of the morning when Katara was asleep in his arms and he

smiled. Of course, that was short lived since today of all days Aang actually got up with the sun. Then there was the awkward group hug… but it felt sort of nice

in away, being a part of a family (that wasn't full of complete whack-jobs). For a sliver of a moment, he had actually felt like they could win this war against his

father, but that feeling was dashed away with one of Sokka's 'brilliant' ideas. He groaned just thinking about it and pinched the bridge of his nose. Just when

Sokka's Melon Lord Idea seemed to be working it all crumbled apart. Aang just said he couldn't kill the Melon Lord. It was a melon for Agni's sake! He screamed

in his head. Actually, Aang's exact words were, "I'm sorry, but it just didn't feel right. I didn't feel like myself."

'What-Ifs' swirled through his mind and he couldn't shake them. What if Aang decides he can't kill the Fire Lord? What if Aang dies in the avatar state and the cycle

is broken forever? What if the Earth Kingdom is burned to nothingness? What if Azula takes control? He let out a deep breath. The ocean air did little to calm him.

Out of all of the horrible scenarios that played through his mind, the last ones would completely crush him if any proved true. What if I die and I can never hold

her again? What if she dies…? What if she decides she doesn't love me? He didn't know what any of that would do to him if it happened. But if there was one thing

he did know: just like almost everyone else from the Fire Nation, he had a deep seeded fear of the unknown.

a/n SO WHAT DID YOU THINK? Was it a Bad or Good (or Ugly) way to end the chapter? Please leave me a review so I know what YOU think! Thanks for reading!