*Hope everyone liked the last chapter! I've had people say something about a fight between Ed and Aang. I'm also playing with that idea, but it will probably be a bit before I work that in. Also, keep in mind that Ed and Aang are about equal strength. It's just that their strengths and weaknesses are opposite, so they're like two sides of the same coin and where one falls short the other can pick up and help out. Okay, now back to the story!

Chapter Six

Ed walks over to Sokka and smacks him across the top of his head. "WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?! I HAD IT ALL UNDER CONTROL BEFORE YOU CAME IN SCREAMING! I had a plan and it was working until you came in!"

"I didn't know you had a plan! I saw my sister climbing up a rope and I was trying to get her attention!" Sokka yelled back at Ed.

"Why the hell did you need her attention? She was escaping! She was getting out safely, which is what you should have been doing! You saw the Spirit chasing me and your sister getting away and the first thing that came to your mind was, 'Oh, I should really yell across the Library to get my sister's attention even if it gets the attention of the giant Spirit who's trying to kill me as well'?! You didn't need her attention, all you needed to do was start climbing!"

"ENOUGH!" Aang yelled, breaking up the argument as he swung his staff down blowing air and sand in their faces as well as pushing them a few feet away from where they were originally standing. "We all made it out alive, and that's what matters, but while you two knuckleheads were standing there arguing, did either of you notice that Appa was missing?"

In fact, neither of them had noticed. They looked around and saw that Appa was indeed nowhere to be seen in the vast desert and that Toph was sitting on the ground hugging her knees.

"There was nothing I could do, Aang…" said Toph. "I'm so sorry...the Sandbenders came, and it was either save you or save Appa…"

"We could have made it out," said Aang. "We would have found a way, but Appa was our only way out of here, and now he's gone!"

"Aang, there's no sense in yelling at her," said Katara, trying to calm him down and be a voice of reason. "Toph did what she could to get us out. She can't do it all, and she helped save our lives."

"She's right, Aang," said Ed. "Being mad about your Bison won't solve anything. It won't get us out of here, it just keeps us here longer. The only thing we can do now is try our best to get the hell out of here. We need to start walking."

"We can't make it without Appa," said Aang. "Even you said that it's the most dangerous desert in the world. Isn't that the whole reason you came along, so that you didn't have to walk it?"

"I didn't like walking it, but I had been in and out of this desert for weeks, so I have that as an advantage. Flying makes things a hell of a lot easier, but it's not impossible to navigate this place on foot."

"Ed is right," said Katara, pulling out a chart from her bag. "It's almost dark out, too. Night will be here soon, and it will make it easier to travel. It won't be as hot and we can use the stars to help point us in the right direction. We can do this."

Aang was reluctant, but he agreed. "Fine, but as soon as we get out of here, finding Appa has to be our first priority."

"Agreed, but we can't make him a priority until we all make it out of here," said Katara.

With that, they all started walking, and the further they walked the cooler it got as the night sky started to come out. The sun was completely down for almost an hour before they stopped.

"Let's rest here," said Katara, giving the entire group permission to collapse onto the sand. "We can rest for a few hours, but we need to get back up and start traveling again while it's still dark out. It'll make it easier on all of us."

Most of what they had was taken with Appa when the sandbenders came, but Ed carried his bag around with him everywhere, so he had some water and a little bit of food.

"Here, share this with everyone here. We all need to try and stay hydrated," he said, giving the water to Sokka who took it and drank before passing it on to the next person.

Sokka looked over at Ed with remorse, who was going through his bag looking for something. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled across the Library like that, and I feel bad for putting all of us in danger while you were trying to get us out of there alive. I should have thought first. What you did down there, putting yourself at risk to save us and then what you did to get rid of the Spirit and push us all out, it was really amazing. You hardly even know us and you put your life on the line like that. You were trying to make sure Katara was safe, and I can't thank you enough for that, so thanks."

Ed let all of it soak in before he responded. "Don't mention it. I'm sorry I yelled at you, too. I'm not the best at controlling my temper. My brother was always the level headed one, and he would always be the one to hold me back. I can understand how you and Katara are and how you would do anything to make sure she was safe from harm. I've paid the ultimate price to do just that."

"You have a brother?" asked Katara. "Is he back in your world?"

Ed didn't respond to her question. He didn't like thinking about it because he truly and honestly had no idea if Alphonse was even alive after what he did.

He went to take off the rest of the shredded cloth on his right sleeve that was torn apart from the fighting as well as transmuting the metal and then found the wrap in his bag and started to wrap it around his automail. He needed to have it wrapped all the way up to the stub in his arm so he could keep the direct sunlight off of it. The heat would be more bearable on his skin that way.

Katara noticed not only his lack of response but also his arm. "So, what happened to your arm?"

Edward finished wrapping it and took a deep breath as he tried to think of a good way to respond. "There are certain things I'd rather not talk about. My brother and my arm are two of them." He then turned to look at her apologetic and empathetic expression. "You should probably get some sleep. Tomorrow's going to be a very long day."

Ed was suddenly back in that room with Rose, dancing for what seemed like no reason whatsoever.

"Rose?" said Ed, looking at the woman before him. "You're okay! Rose, am I home? How did I get here?"

"You've been gone too long, Ed," she responded, continuing the dance.

"Where's Al? Rose, have you seen Alphonse? Is he okay?" Ed asked, breaking away the dance as he looked around the room for Al, but when he turned back around it wasn't Rose who was standing before him. It was Winry.

"Ed, where have you been?" she asked, just standing there with tears coming down her face. "You've been gone too long."

"Winry! What the hell are you doing here?" asked Ed, getting confused. "Wait, wasn't rose just here?"

Then, he took a moment to look behind Winry, where Alphonse's suit of armor lay scattered into pieces.

"Al?" he said, shaking as he grew nervous at the turnout he dreaded to hear. "Alphonse?! Winry, please tell me that's not Alphonse! Did he get his body back?" He was walking closer and closer to Winry now, shaking more and more with every step he took. "Winry, where is Alphonse?!"

Winry was still crying, but calmly said, "You've been gone too long, Ed. You've been gone too long," almost as if she were playing a skipped record.

Ed went up to the armor and saw where the blood seal on the helmet had been damaged, and his heart sunk as he began to cry.

"Alohonse...no...ALPHONSE!"

"Ed, wake up," said Katara, shaking him awake from the obvious nightmare he was having.

Ed came to and sat up, looking as everyone had come around him.

"Dude, are you okay?" asked Sokka, looking at him somewhat confused and somewhat concerned.

Once Ed caught his breath, he looked down and said, "It was nothing. Just a nightmare. Sorry I woke you all."

"Ed, do you wanna talk about it?" asked Katara, putting a hand on his shoulder where she felt the automail connected to his flesh.

"I'm not the talking sort, Katara. Thanks for the concern, but I'll be okay," he said. "Just go back to sleep. I'm sorry I woke everyone up."

Katara nodded her head and let it be, as much as she didn't want to. She was concerned about him, but at the same time she barely knew him and didn't want to push him or seem overbearing.

Ed lay there thinking about his nightmare and though he didn't believe in God, he prayed that his brother was okay as he held back the tear that was trying to escape his eye at the thought of his brother not making it. Afterall, his mother didn't. Who's to say that his brother is even alive? He didn't want to think about it, but every time he had one of those nightmares, he was confronted with that very possibility.

*Okay, that's all for now! PLEASE R&R! I like to know what everyone thinks!