"all right. this way kids. come on. land ho."

"Who you calling a kid bro? I'm the future captain of the royal guard! Capturer of the Avatar! Ladies' man!"

Which ladies, Frisk said with her fingers. Your mom and aunt? Sans smirked.

"What did she say? Come on Sans! What did she say? Was she saying how right I am?"

"something like that. come on airheads. we need to take another ship. go with the wind. heh? heh?"

Papyrus grimaced at that pun while Frisk placed her hand over her face.

How much longer must I travel with these lunatics?

"all right. i'd love to sit and check out the babes but we got places to go. hot dogs to sell! come on avatar! avatar?"

"Oh no!" Papyrus started moving his feet about in panic. "Don't tell me the Avatar has run off again!

…

The Avatar had in fact not run off. Well, sure he might have wandered off ahead off the others. But not the same as running!

He had stood at the edge of the boardwalk doing his usual Firebender greeting. "Hotman. Hello Hotman. Flameo hotman!" He didn't seem to notice the odd looks thrown his way. But someone did.

"What do you think you're doing kid? Out here at this time of the day?"

"Staying flamey hotman!"

"What? Listen kid, just for future reference. This is not how you play hooky! Next time, try a bar!"

"A bar? But I don't drink! And what's hooky? Hey, let go!"

That they did not. Instead they dragged him off… to a school?

"Caught a deserter, maam. Out playing by the docks."

"Hmm." The woman behind the desk rose to her feet and walked forward to examine the headbanded boy.

"This child is unknown to me. And that stance. That's not the stance of a proper Fire Nation student. Where did you learn such manners boy?"

"Oh, from my uh… guardian. He said to be loose and free with yourself!"

The classroom was filled with students who clearly didn't know how to respond to that. They stared at each other trying to make sense of it.

"That's preposterous!" The woman looked Aang over from top to bottom. "No proper Fire Nation family would teach such absurd nonsense! You're not from the Fire Nation are you? You're from the colonies, aren't you? Which one? That pitiful Yu Dao?"

"Uh… yeah that's me! An innocent lass from the colonies! That's right! Name's uh…. Kuzon!"

"Well, Kuzon. I hope you're ready for the teaching of a lifetime. Because by the time I'm done with you, you'll be singing, walking, and thinking like a true child of Agni! Do you understand?"

Aang couldn't help but smile. Her face was just too funny scrunched up like that.

…

"Aang! There you are! How'd your walk go? Get any great adventures in? Make any new friends? Impress anyone with your cooking skills?"

"Well, I did impress a couple of schoolkids with my sick history lessons. Does that count?"

Frisk began coughing on the piece of steak in her mouth. Papyrus ever eager to please rushed to her aid.

"Fear not mute friend! Papyrus' hands of salvation will free you from your torment!"

Hands of salvation? Frisk would have retorted but a few good thumps on the back from Sans sent her meal out over the cave floor.

"Frisk! Are you ok? I'm so- Hold on." The Avatar examined her dinner. "Meat? Seriously guys? We're Air Nomads! Vegetarian! We value life!"

"correction kid. you're the air nomad. rest of us? we're just airbenders. do whatever we gotta to survive."

Like not doing stupid things, Frisk said angrily with her fingers. Such as going to school!

"You take that back Frisk! He can't be a virgin! He can't!"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"i think she's saying something about you err… going to school?"

"Yeah! I got mistaken for a student and forcibly taken to a Fire Nation academy! It was great!"

That's… great? Frisk shook her head to make sure she heard right.

"Wow! A Fire Nation school! What was that like? Did they string students to the walls? Whip them with lashes and pluck out their eyebrows? Roast half their face for speaking out against their elders?"

"What? No! That's ridiculous! No one would roast a kid's face for something like that!"

He did not notice the awkward stares between his friends.

"It was actually pretty cool! I got to learn a bunch of things about the Fire Nation! I even got to make a picture of Fire Lord Ozai! Out of noodles!" He whipped out a picture frame covered in noodles. Frisk and Sans smirked while Papyrus' jaw dropped.

"What? What? Avatar. Are you trying to outcompete my cooking?"

"Huh? No! This is a school project! Not food!"

"Don't bother! I get it!" He sighed sadly and turned away. "The Avatar has to be the best, right? Best at everything. Even… Sigh…. The culinary arts. Forgive me Avatar I just…. Damn it. And Undyne worked so hard." With this, he began walking out of the cave to stare at the setting sun.

"Uh…. What just happened."

"papyrus. that's what. gotta say kid. don't see how you of all people can sit in a class filled with the enemy and find it fun."

"They're not the enemy! Not yet anyway! They're just kids. And in that classroom… so am I!"

You don't have time to be a kid, said Frisk. You need to be the avatar! Remember? Comet?

"I know!" Aang quickly caught and steadied himself. "I know. But, still. To just be a kid like that. I never…. I've never really had anything like that. Even before they told me who I was. This. It felt nice. Fun. Normal."

Seeing their hesitance, he quickly wrapped out his ace. AKA lie.

"You know I might have heard about a secret river to the Fire Lord's palace. I think we were going to talk about it tomorrow."

That is such a bad lie, thought Frisk. But Sans seemed to nod.

"well, we've got a ship to head north to the capitol in oh. uh. a week. i think? i guess if you wanna waste your time with school, eh what am i gonna do?"

"Thanks Sans! You're the best! Frisk, what do you think? You wanna go to school?"

Frisk raised her hands in self-defense. Basically saying no.

"You sure? Ok. Flameo hotman!"

Frisk looked at Sans. Flameo? He shrugged with a grin.

"Oh, just you wait Avatar." Papyrus stood outside muttering to himself. "I'll show you. I'll be the best chef this Nation has ever seen!"

…

"All rise for the national anthem. Now!"

The children complied and rose out of their seats and began reciting a bunch of words Aang was not familiar with. Still he tried to follow along.

"Fire Lord. My honor. My nation. Determination. Dah. Dah. Dah"

He got a whack on the back form the teacher's stick for that.

"Since it's apparently hilarious to make fun of our Nation's anthem, we'll take a pop quiz about our glorious history."

The kids grumbled and a few even looked Aang's way with annoyance. One girl looked with interest.

"Question 1. What does EXP stand for? And how did Sozin gather it?"

The Avatar was dumbfounded, but the girl who had looked at him smiling raised her hand.

"Yes Onji?"

"EXP is an acronym. It stands for execution points. When you kill someone, your EXP increases."

Aang's eyes widened, while the teacher nodded satisfied.

"Good. And how did Sozin gain so much?"

The girl paused. "Through the death of the Air Nomads."

The brush snapped in Aang's hands. He felt himself shaking. One of the taller boys in the room noticed the shaking hands and smirked.

"Very good. Now onto our next question. When-"

"I'm sorry? What? Sozin killed my people for points!?"

The whole class stared at him again. This time with shock.

"Excuse me? Your people? Your people are us."

He quickly caught his mistake.

"My apologies. That's what I meant. But still, he killed an entire nation for points? Points!?"

"Of course. Execution points. And why do we fight for execution points? Hide?"

"We fight for love." The boy (who had been smirking at you) looked towards the girl who had also answered and smiled.

"Love?" Aang found himself shaking. Bits of the old him began to resurface. Not good.

"No. Not love. LOVE. Good Agni. What do they teach kids out there?"

Aang paused. "What!?"

Hide winked at Onji, like he was talking to an idiot. Aang noticed and his temper flared.

"LOVE. It's an acronym genius. Level of Violence. The idea is that when you gain enough EXP through the death of others, your LOVE increases as well. Your capacity to hurt. To kill. The ease to do it."

"And the easier it is to obtain power." The teacher nodded. "Fire Lord Sozin recognized the importance of distancing yourself. When we become too attached to others, we lose the will to pursue our goals and the world suffers for it. The more you kill, the more you distance yourself. The more you distance yourself, the less you will hurt. The less you hurt, the more easily you can achieve your passions and right the wrongs of this world!"

With a rise of her hand to the sky, the students also rose up with the same raised hand. Except for Onji who was watching Aang and Aang himself who stared slack jawed.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with you all!?"

Everyone stared. Onji in particular with worry. Her "boyfriend" looked a little different.

"What was that, colony trash? You got a problem with our history? With our forefathers?"

"…."

"Well?" The boy leaned in closer. "Go ahead. You can't just spit something like that out and pretend you didn't do it! Come on! say it."

"Yurdisgace."

"What was that? I couldn't hear you? Did you just mumble something now?"

"I said you're a disgrace! How could you or anyone believe something like that? How could you teach children that? Use that to justify genocide? That's… that's… bullcrap!"

Hide responded to that and tried to sock the airbender in disguise. But Aang with his inner nomad dodged and Hide stumbled over his desk.

Several of the students gasped. Others smiled at seeing tough jock Hide falling. Some like Onji had their eyes fixed more on Aang. Only the teacher responded with words.

"Sit down! Both of you! This is a place of learning!"

"Screw that? I'm going to get EXP! Starting with this brat!"

No matter how many times he swung his fist it didn't connect.

"Enough! One more swing Hide! Take one more swing! I dare you!"

Seeing the seriousness in his teacher's eyes, the jock wiped his shirt looked at Aang aka Kuzon.

"You're the disgrace. Those stupid airheads deserved to burn. Each and every one of them. It's the greatest-"

Aang had tried hard. Damn hard to keep the old him suppressed. It made Gyatso happy. And that made him happy.

But he was still Aang. Not the kind bubbly fun-loving, peaceful nomad. Rather the time bomb of rage.

He barely even noticed his fists letting into the older boy's face or even the teacher and students trying to pull him off. He just felt the blood pulsing through his head and the remains of his master and home flashing before his eyes.

Sometimes it feels good to give in.

…

"Why hello there kind sir. How would you like the honor of aiding the future captain of the guard and expert chief- Oh you're leaving? That's ok. That's fine. You're busy. I get it. that's fine. Good day!"

Can you please let us handle the talking, Frisk said? Not that Papyrus understood.

"I sense you are displaying your happiness with my performance and wish for me to continue engaging in a similar manner?"

"sigh. watch and learn bro. hey mate. know where we can find a school of prestigious little brats?"

"Sure thing bald man! You just- Wait. Are you wearing slippers? Isn't it difficult to walk?"

"eh. whaddaya gonna do?" Sans shrugged.

"Uh. Maybe get new shoes? But anyway. What did you want? Oh right. The school…"

Following the directions, they arrived at the school. They stopped for a moment, to take in its grandeur.

"Wow! This is where Fire kids learn? They don't know how lucky they have it, huh Sans?"

"yeah. all we got was a single classroom. what about you kid? you ever get anything like this?"

Kind of. But a lot smaller than this. She frowned. Crap, she was thinking about the island again.

"hey kids! you see a little bald guy? this high?"

Frisk elbowed him. He has a wig and headband!

"oh right. sorry. little kid with a headband. name kuko? err, kluso. no. kuzon. right. kuzon!"

"Kuzon? You know Kuzon?"

They turned to see a young girl with a ponytail watching them with curiosity.

"yep. that's right. we know him! we're his um…. family?"

"Are you? The way you say that raises questions."

Yes, we are, said Frisk. I'm his sister and these are his two eccentric uncles! Now where is he? Of course, to the girl it only appeared as a bunch of rapid finger signs.

"Uh… is she ok? What's with her fingers?"

"she uh….. she's just wondering where the kid is."

"Oh. Kuzon. Well, I'm sorry but. He uh. He's not here. He… Oh boy. This is awkward."

"Kuzon?"

The boy looked up. His hands were bound in iron. A boy in iron!

"Hi there. Onji was it? Your taste in boyfriends is a little odd."

"Kuzon. What's going on? Why are your hands tied?"

He smirked. "Well apparently defending yourself against the principal's star student gets you sent to the coal mines. I should be setting out within the hour. Fun times."

"Why though? Why did you say all that? Didn't they teach you this stuff in the colonies?"

He looked at her long and hard. She felt herself quivering a bit from the intensity.

"They taught us a lot of crap. But no one has ever taught me that genocide is an act of love. I mean, seriously? Love? Oh sorry. I mean LOVE. You believe that?"

"Well… yeah. I mean it's what our parents told us. Fire Lord Sozin did what he had to do."

"What he had to do!? You mean kill thousands? Innocent people!? Good people!? And you just accept it!? What is wrong with you!?"

She felt herself reeling again. "Kuzon, I don't. That's just… that's just the way things are."

"That's not the way things are! That's not how they should be! That's wrong and disgusting! That's not the kind of world I want to live in! That's not the kind of world anyone should live in!"

Onji was stunned. She had never heard anyone speak like this. Everyone she knew just accepted reality. She didn't know how to respond.

"I'm sorry you feel that way Kuzon. But that's…. That's what we're taught. How we're made to believe. That's the way the world works. At least, I think that's how it works."

He stared even harder. "Is that truly what you believe?"

She paused again. Her eyes began filling up with tears.

"I don't know anymore. I really don't. Hearing you say that… Your anger and pain…. I know you believe it and I don't know….. I know what I've been told…."

"What you've been told is a lie."

Both remained silent for a moment, staring at the other.

"And for stating what you believe… they send you to the coal mines….. I… I…." Her eyes overflowed with tears at the injustice of it all.

"Onji. I have two favors to ask. One: I have err…. Family here. Two bald guys and a mute girl. Can you tell them what's become of me?"

She nodded. "Of course. Of course. I'll let them know. What's the other favor?"

He paused for a moment.

"Think. Just think for yourself. Learn for yourself. Not what they tell you. Find for yourself what the world's about. If you let them decide for you what's right and what's wrong….. You're just a slave. There's a lot more to this war than they tell you… Other sides. Other viewpoints. Please, if you can. Try and see it through their eyes."

She wasn't sure she entirely understood what he meant, but she nodded regardless.

"You know." She leaned in closer. "You're a pretty swell guy for someone from the colonies. If you weren't being sent away… I might ask you out to a dance party." She placed a hand on his cheek. His eyes widened as her own met his. They stared that way for a bit. Until the inevitable footsteps of the angry principal.

"coal mines huh? well that's a bummer."

"A real bummer!" Onji looked at Frisk worried. "You've got to get him back. He was right. I don't know why. But I just know he's right. All that stuff he said… It was incredible. I've never heard anything like it. Please get him back…."

"Of course! As future captain of the Royal guard and culinary chef expert, I Papyrus swear to rescue the Avatar from the clutches of death and cement my place in history!"

"Avatar?"

Frisk nudged Papyrus in the stomach.

"err, he meant airbender. no, airhead! that's right, airhead! you know, because his head is so full of air? heh? heh?"

No laughter.

"you have no appreciation for classics!"