Author's Note: I really haven't updated in a while, have I? Well, here we go, heading towards the Comet. I hope you enjoy this story, and of course, reviews would be appreciated.
The Fire Lord's Beach House, Ember Island, 100 AC
It was a nice and sunny day on the island. In front of the house, Lu Ten trained Aang's firebending, while the rest of the group watched from the steps of the house. With his arms crossed, Lu Ten shook his head disapprovingly at his student, "Focus! You can't be this distracted. Try it again, this time more decisive."
Aang sighed, pouting at the scolding, whiningly he said, "I'm trying."
Again, Lu Ten shook his head, "No, you're distracted. Whatever it is, get it out of your head and focus on what you're doing."
"Okay.", the Air Nomad sighed and repeated the series of punches and kicks, this time producing larger, more focused flames. This time he earnt himself an approving nod from his master. Momo the lemur, who had been sleeping soundly not far away was not that happy about him though. The animal was frightened by being awoken like this and shrieked, quickly hiding behind Lu Ten's legs, clenching on it. Chuckling, the older firebender grabbed it and petted his head, calming the animal down, which in turn, climbed to his shoulder.
Katara came out of the house, holding two halves of a watermelon, "Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?"
Aang visibly brightened up, "Ooh, ooh! Me, me, me!", he exclaimed as he ran up to her, or tried to do so, but was suddenly stopped as Lu Ten held him up in the air by his collar.
"Your training is not over yet.", he said in a cold tone. Zuko watched his cousin from his seat on the stairs. He thought to himself, the others may not notice it, but Lu Ten was becoming stricter and more determined when training Aang. He could feel the tenseness in his cousin's actions and words. He thought, deep inside of him, Lu Ten could feel the cataclysm coming, and he was anxious about what would happen once the comet arrived. Meanwhile, Aang had whined enough to get Lu Ten to a disapproving, "Alright, five minutes break.", Zuko smiled at the airbender, who hastily grabbed one of the watermelon halves and begun to gulp down its juice as quick as he could.
"Don't you think you're a little too strict, Sifu Hotman? Just let him off, what's the big deal?", Suki threw in.
Lu Ten sighed deeply, to Zuko, it was clear how annoyed his cousin was by this question as the older firebender gripped the bridge of his nose for a moment, a habit they both shared. To Zuko's surprise, Lu Ten answered, "Fine. You know what, I'm tired too. Just go ahead and do whatever you want. But please try not to blow our cover.", he sounded defeated as he turned and walked off, away from the house.
Everyone looked at each other, silent for a moment, then Sokka threw his robe away, starting a beach party, to which everyone but Zuko followed. He excused himself and went after his cousin. He needed a while to catch up with him. Finally, he found Lu Ten meditating on a small platform on top of a not very high mountain. Silently, he sat down next to him.
For a long time, nobody said anything, then Lu Ten opened his eyes, almost quietly asking, "Do you think, I'm too strict with him?"
Zuko thought about it for a moment, "No, actually not. At least, you've never gave me five minutes of break, not to speak of a day off."
A small smile crept on both of their faces, "You were different, Baby Cousin. You never asked for a break, only for more training."
"I thought, I needed it.", Zuko shrugged his shoulders.
"And I didn't. At least not as much as you wanted. You just wanted to be better than Azula. And I saw that as unhealthy, but maybe that's normal between siblings.", Lu Ten couldn't help it, but his voice took a sad turn at this, remembering that when he had been a child, he had always wanted a sibling, but it would lead nowhere since his mother died at his birth. He wondered if that was why he cared so much about Zuko.
"That's not all. I also had that legendary hero as a cousin who agreed to teach me firebending, so I wanted to exceed his expectations.", Zuko said with a grin.
Lu Ten laughed briefly at this, he turned to his cousin and ruffled through his hair, then he laid his arm around Zuko's shoulder and pulled him closer, "You did that, Baby Cousin."
"Really?", Zuko asked in disbelief.
Lu Ten chuckled, "In every regard. You were, and you are, more precious to me and I think to my father too, than you imagine."
For some time, they just sat there like this, cuddled against each other in comfortable silence. Zuko thought, how rare these moments had been all the time his cousin was presumed dead. And how naturally, these moments of being a family came back. After a while he spoke up in a more serious tone, "You really care a lot about all of us, don't you? That's why you train Aang so much."
Lu Ten looked at him, a small grin flashing over his face, "You can read me like an open book, Baby Cousin.", he paused for a moment, then added, "Look, I don't know what is going to happen, but the comet is not far away, and I fear that your father is planning something. Whatever it is, we will have to fight him, Aang will need to fight him. And I want him to have the best chances he can have."
Zuko nodded thoughtfully. Then something shot through his mind, "I-I think, I know what my father is planning. Lu Ten, we have to get the others! They need to know about it. We need to stop it.", with that he jumped to his feet and ran towards the beach, leaving a puzzled Lu Ten. The older firebender looked after his cousin for a moment, before hurrying after him.
When he arrived at the beach, he arrived in a scene of chaos. His cousin was trying to make everybody listen to him, but since no one did, he got mad and impatient and had destroyed a sandsculpture with his firebending. The Water Tribe boy seemed to be ready to tackle Zuko, his face contorted in anger.
Before the situation could escalate even further, Lu Ten stepped in between the two, shielding his cousin from the tensed glances the group gave him. He held up his hands defensively, "Hey, everyone, calm down!", he said in a calm, but tense voice, "We need to talk, all of us. Now."
"But he destroyed my sculpture of Suki!", Sokka whined.
Lu Ten looked at him like he would think about how to punish an unruly child, "We meet in five minutes in the courtyard. No discussion."
A few minutes later, everyone gathered at the steps of the courtyard, Lu Ten and Zuko standing in the middle. "So, what do you want to talk about, Sifu Hotman?", Aang asked curiously.
Lu Ten looked around, stopping briefly at every group member, before finally his gaze stayed at the young Avatar. With a tense, serious voice he began to speak, "Throughout the last days, I had a feeling that the arrival of Sozin's Comet would not go unused by my uncle. I was sure that something would be coming at us, I just didn't know what it was going to be. But apparently, Zuko knows. So, we gathered you all here to listen to him and afterwards figure out what we should do about it."
"Whatever it is, I thought we were all clear about waiting for the time after the comet. Aang's not ready yet. If he takes the Fire Lord head on, he'll lose.", Sokka threw in, adding, "No offense, buddy.", the airbender shot him an uneasy glance.
By now, Lu Ten had taken a step back, leaning against a column, leaving just Zuko in the middle of the courtyard, "We cannot wait until the Comet passed. What is about to happen is worse than you can imagine. A day before the day of the eclipse, I was asked to attend to an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back.", Lu Ten looked at his cousin with compassion showing in his amber eyes. He could hear how desperate his cousin had been, and how hurt he still was.
Zuko continued, "At the meeting, my father and Azula came up with a horrifying plan. To truly take over the Earth Kingdom, they thought, they needed to destroy the people's hope and they wanted to achieve that by burning everything down with the comet's power. Today, I'm ashamed that I didn't speak out against this plan. I wanted to, but I felt so conflicted. 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."
Katara covered her mouth with one hand, whispering, "I can't believe this."
"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but this plan is just pure evil.", Sokka added.
Lu Ten looked at the ground, arms crossed, "I can't really say that I'm surprised.", he said dryly.
Aang looked around helplessly, "What am I going to do?"
Zuko went over to him, "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.", Lu Ten's thoughts briefly wandered to his wife and child. If they were still alive, they would be somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. The Earth Kingdom that Ozai wanted to burn down. A cold anger washed over him, and his gaze became more serious and determined than it had ever been. He thought, I'll stop you. Whatever it will take, I won't hesitate.
He was ripped out of his dark thoughts by the young Avatar's voice, "Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?"
"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.", Zuko answered.
Aang sunk to his knees, holding his head in his hands, "This is bad. This is really, really bad."
Lu Ten walked over to the young airbender and knelt down before him, he put a hand on Aang's shoulder and the other under his chin, making the boy look at him, "Aang, look at me. I know, this puts you in a tight place. You, and everybody else in this groups, you are all still children. You shouldn't fight in a war, you shouldn't be required to do so, and such decisions, such pressure shouldn't be put on your shoulders. But we are where we are. We have to take the situation as it is, and act accordingly. We must attack Ozai before he reaches Earth Kingdom shores. We must protect all these people.", he saw that that wasn't exactly helping Aang, so he added, "Hey, you don't have to fight him alone. We will do so together. He can't fight us all at once. For the remaining days, we'll train, we'll plan, and we will be ready to fight him when the comet comes. My great-grandfather started this war, let me help you end it.", with his last words, he stood up and reached out for Aang.
The Avatar stood up, grabbing Lu Ten's hand, "Thanks, Sifu Lu Ten. I'm glad I have you all with me. It's going to be the hardest thing we've ever done together, but I wouldn't want it any other way."
Everybody smiled at him and joined Aang for a group hug, that was, all but Zuko. "Get over here, Zuko. Being part of the group also means being part of group hugs.", Katara called out to him. Searching for help, Zuko looked at his cousin, but Lu Ten just smiled at him and gestured for him to come over. So, with a resigned look on his face, he joined them. A moment later the hug was crushed by the giant bison flying in, knocking them all over.
Over the next hour or so, Lu Ten and Zuko trained Aang's firebending. They put special focus on the lightning-redirecting technique that Iroh had created. Of course, Lu Ten had already thought him the form, but he felt, it would prove most important for the upcoming battle, as his uncle was known for his quick and powerful use of lightning bolts, and with the comet possibly supercharging them, the boy would need to perform the technique flawlessly.
Afterwards, Sokka took over Aang's exercise. He had organized a fake scenario with Toph acting as "Melon Lord". Lu Ten was not included in his plans, and since he didn't see much sense in it either, he left the children to play and meditated in the afternoon sun of the courtyard. After a while, a gloomy looking Aang sat down next to him.
The boy didn't say anything for a few minutes, and Lu Ten had to break the silence at some point, so he asked, "Hey Aang. How did it go?"
Aang's shoulders visibly slumped as he sighed, "It… it didn't went as planned. I just couldn't, I couldn't do it."
Lu Ten raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?", he asked in a calm voice.
Seemingly ashamed Aang looked away, "When the moment came, I couldn't kill him. Not even the mannequin Sokka had put up. It just felt so… wrong to even imagine taking a life, even someone like Ozai.", Lu Ten stayed silent, he was thinking about how he should reply, when Aang asked, "Sifu, you were fighting in the war, I mean at the siege of Ba Sing Se and such. You killed people there, right?"
Lu Ten sighed heavily, his eyes on the ground in front of him he answered, "Yes, Aang, I did kill people. Let me tell you, it's a good thing that you don't want to. Whenever I had to, it would always be a situation of either I kill or be killed, in such a situation you don't think too much. You just want to be the one coming out alive, you want to be the one seeing his family again. In that moment, you don't ask if your opponent just wants the same thing. Such questions come later. But, ah, anyways, I cannot help you and lighten this burden, there is no, and there shouldn't be an easy way, an excuse to go around and end people's lives."
The Avatar let himself fall backwards in a helpless gesture. In a whiny tone he asked, "But what should I do then. I mean, everyone expects me to do it. Everyone says it's my destiny."
Lu Ten looked over to the boy, "But you don't feel right even thinking about it, hm? I can understand that. If you feel like you're only following others' expectations, maybe you shouldn't do it. Maybe your destiny is rather to defeat him, not necessarily to kill him. That is a difference. Or at least, it can be, that depends on you. See, your destiny is what you make of it. The main focus should be on defending the Earth Kingdom and the people there. And I think you have that focus. I'm sure you'll do the right thing."
"But I don't know what to do. How can I defeat him and end the war without killing him? He surely won't agree to a world in peace if he's still in power.", the airbender sounded more depressed than ever.
Lu Ten thought about it for a moment, "What happens after the battle is only secondary, I think. A new world order won't be established in a day anyway. I don't really know a solution to your problem though, I'm sorry. But maybe you'll come up with one if the time comes.", he shrugged his shoulders.
"You sound more confident in me than I am myself.", Aang said with the slightest hint of a smile.
Lu Ten smiled back at him, "Aang, I've thought you for a few months now. Of all the children, maybe even all the people in general, I ever knew, you are one of the wisest. Maybe that's an Avatar thing, but I have faith that you will make the right decision when the time comes."
"Thank you, Sifu Lu Ten.", the monk whispered.
A few hours later everyone had gathered on the steps of the courtyard for dinner. Lu Ten noticed the young Avatar not facing the others even once. The happenings of the day seemingly still weighed hard on him.
After they all finished their meals, the waterbender stood up, holding a scroll in her hands. She announced, "I have a surprise for everyone!"
Before anybody could say or do anything, the blind earthbender called, "I knew it! You did have a secret thing with Haru!", everybody looked at the small girl questioningly.
"Uh, no. I was looking for cooking pots in the attic, and I found this! Look at baby Zuko. Isn't he cute?", she asked mockingly as she unraveled the scroll. It indeed showed a happy infant, cheering at the viewer. Everybody laughed except Zuko and Lu Ten. "Oh, lighten up. I'm just teasing.", Katara tried to lift the sudden tension from the banished prince.
Lu Ten interrupted, "Katara, the thing is, that's not him."
"Huh?", she looked at him questioningly.
"It's my father.", Zuko said dryly. Quickly the girl rolled the scroll back up.
"But he looks so sweet and innocent.", Suki threw in. Lu Ten closed his eyes for a long moment, he felt like he could hear the fuse going off on his cousin's temper.
Zuko almost snapped at the Kyoshi Warrior, "Well, that sweet little kid grew up to be a monster, and the worst father in the history of fathers."
Apparently taking issue with this, Aang stood up, "But he's still a human being."
"You're going to defend him?", Zuko asked, just a hint of anger showing in his voice.
"No, I agree with you. Fire Lord Ozai is a horrible person, and the world would probably be better off without him, but there's got to be another way.", the airbender said decisively. A small smile crept over Lu Ten's face. The whole time he had told him to be more decisive. That was the Aang he was looking for. To himself he thought, if he fights with that fire in his eyes, there's no way Ozai is going to win this battle. The pride of a teacher that finally saw his student understand filled him.
Of course, his cousin had to challenge that though, "Like what?"
"I don't know. Maybe we can make some big pots of glue, and then I can use gluebending to stick his arms and legs together so he can't bend anymore.", it sounded helpless.
Zuko raised an eyebrow, sarcastically, he mocked the airbender, "Yeah, then you can show him his baby pictures, and all those happy memories will make him good again.", which earned him laughter from Sokka and Suki.
Lu Ten turned to his cousin sharply, frowning at him, "Zuko, that's enough.", he didn't raise his voice, but he wasn't far from it. Angrily he shot the Water Tribe boy and his girlfriend a glare that made them stop laughing. "Aang's burden is heavy enough already.", taken aback, Zuko stared at his cousin. It was rare to actually see him snapping at anyone, let alone him.
"Oh, come on, Sifu Hotman. He's the Avatar, I'm sure the universe will forgive him.", Sokka threw in, sounding rather amused than anything else.
Before Lu Ten's temper could flare up, the young Avatar stood up, "This isn't a joke, Sokka! None of you understand the position I'm in."
Katara tried to reason with him, "Aang, we do understand. It's just…"
"Just what, Katara? What?", the airbender snapped at her.
"We're trying to help!", she threw her arms in the air helplessly.
Frustratedly, the Avatar looked at every member of the group, "Then, when you figure out a way for me to beat the Fire Lord without taking his life, I'd love to hear it!", angrily, he stomped away.
"Aang, don't walk away from this.", Katara attempted to walk after him, but was held back by Lu Ten. The firebender just silently shook his head. To prolong this conversation would not gain anything.
Later, Zuko found his cousin in his room, meditating in front of a lone candle. Silently he sat down beside him. After a little while he began, "You're angry with me."
"Hm… no.", Lu Ten didn't open his eyes, no part of his form except for his lips moved.
"Yes, you are.", Zuko insisted. "You think, I shouldn't have said that."
This made the older cousin raise an eyebrow, "Yes. It was rude and unnecessary."
"But he needs to acknowledge that his destiny is to kill my father.", there was a slightly unsure undertone in Zuko's voice.
"Is it? How do you know?", Lu Ten asked with an amused tone. "Nobody knows what the future holds, Zuko."
"But father won't hesitate to kill him! Is that what you want?", the younger prince sounded desperate.
One of the corners of Lu Ten's mouth twitched slightly, "No, of course not.", then he threw a deep breath, "Look, I don't have a solution for Aang's problem. But I can see why he has it, and it's good that he has it. Maybe there is a solution for all of it, even if I don't see it."
"But we can't let the Earth Kingdom burn, just because we're so proud of the Avatar being a good kid. He needs to kill him.", Zuko insisted.
Lu Ten's eyebrows twitched angrily, "Baby Cousin, don't make it sound ridiculous. The Avatar needs to be a good-natured person. Just imagine someone like your father with all of Aang's powers. No, he needs to defeat Ozai. But that doesn't necessarily imply to kill him."
Zuko sighed, "But you would kill him, wouldn't you? I mean, you fought in the war, there you killed people. You have good reason to do so, so why don't you do it in his stead?"
Lu Ten shook his head, then he opened his eyes slightly, looking at the calm flame in front of him, "No, Baby Cousin. You're right that I did kill soldiers on the battlefield. But it is not the same as setting out to kill someone specifically. And don't forget, I was already an adult and out there, I fought for my own survival. Aang is still a child. You are still a child. This war is already asking enough of you. I thought about killing your father myself a few times. You're right, I have reason to. He sent an assassin for me, that one killed my best friend, caused me to be imprisoned for years and my family to go into hiding, he even sent the Rough Rhinos after them once he got knowledge of their existence, and maybe they did what he sent them too, but still, it is Aang's destiny to defeat him. I'll provide him with any help I can, but I think it is not my task to go out and kill your father in cold blood. That would make me be like him, and I don't want to be that way. Besides,", he looked at Zuko, "You also have reason to kill him. And you had the opportunity as well. Why didn't you do it? Why didn't you aim the redirected lightning just a little higher?"
The question took Zuko aback, ashamed he looked to the ground, "I-I couldn't. I know, I probably should have, but I couldn't do it.", he almost whispered.
Smiling, Lu Ten slung his arm around his cousin, pulling him close, "Because you're a good kid too."
The next morning, they were all busy loading their luggage onto Appa's saddle. They wanted to set off to the Earth Kingdom to prepare some kind of defenses against Ozai. "Okay, that's everything.", Sokka concluded from the saddle.
"No, it's not. Where's Aang?", Toph asked. Quickly everyone shot the others a quick glance, wondering how they could have missed this. At once, they ran back into the house, calling for the young airbender. But the only thing they found was Aang's staff, leaning on the porch.
"He left his staff. That's so strange.", , Sokka scratched his head.
Zuko was already by the door, "Aang's not in the house. Let's check on the beach.", on the short way, nobody said anything. They were all overcome with a sudden tenseness that slowly descended into panic.
At the beach, a trail of light footsteps led straight towards the water. "So, Aang went out for a midnight swim and never came back?", Suki asked.
"It doesn't look like there has been any kind of struggle, so I don't think, he has been captured by anybody. Also, I'd think we would've noticed.", Lu Ten threw in, trying to make some sense out of the situation.
"I bet he ran away again.", Toph said, sounding disappointed.
"But he left his glider and Appa behind.", Sokka argued.
That didn't really sit well with the blind earthbender, "Then what do you think happened to him, oh sleuthy one?"
Sokka just shrugged, "It's pretty obvious. Aang mysteriously disappears before an important battle? He's definitely on a Spirit World journey."
"But if he was, wouldn't his body still be here?", Zuko threw in. Lu Ten couldn't deny that logic.
Sokka apparently couldn't either, as his shoulders slumped downwards, "Oh, yeah. Forgot about that."
"Then he's got to be somewhere on Ember Island. Let's split up and look for him.", Katara proposed, and everyone silently agreed. Although Lu Ten thought that maybe he wasn't on the island anymore. The traces led into the water, and there was no sign of a trace coming out of it.
His thoughts were interrupted by Toph, who suddenly clenched to Zuko's arm, making the younger firebender blush wildly as she claimed, "I'm going with Zuko.", as everyone stared at her, she added, "What?! Everyone else went on a life-changing field trip with Zuko. Now it's my turn.", Lu Ten couldn't help but chuckle. Did the preteen develop a crush on his Baby Cousin? The teenager looked at him, his eyes pleading for help, but Lu Ten just smiled at him, waved his hand shortly and went with Sokka. They took Appa to search the shoreline, always cautious not to be spotted.
As they returned to the beach house, they saw everyone waiting already on the front stairs. Jumping off the bison, Sokka assumed, "Judging by the looks on your faces, I'm guessing you guys didn't find Aang either."
Zuko shook his head, "No, it's like he just… disappeared."
"Hey, wait a minute. Has anyone noticed that Momo is missing too?", Toph interrupted.
Melodramatic as the boy sometimes could be, Sokka turned to the bison, "Oh no! I knew it was only a matter of time! Appa ate Momo! Momo, I'm coming for you, buddy.", and really, he started to crawl into the bison's mouth. Lu Ten raised an eyebrow, not knowing if he should laugh or scold the boy.
Fortunately, the boy's sister stepped in, "Sokka, Appa didn't eat Momo. He's probably with Aang.", she sounded annoyed.
"That's just what Appa wants you to think.", he replied from inside the bison.
Annoyed as well, Zuko snapped at his friend, "Get out of the bison's mouth, Sokka. We have a real problem here. Aang is nowhere to be found and the comet is only two days away."
"Then what should we do?", Katara asked. Suddenly everyone looked at Lu Ten.
He sighed, "We have to find Aang. But if we can't find him in a day or so, we'll have to set up our strategy without him. We can't let Ozai burn the Earth Kingdom. With or without Aang. If it comes down to it, I'll fight him.", Zuko stared at his cousin's hard expression, he had never seen him that serious. "But we should search for Aang first."
Everyone went silent, staring at Zuko. "Why are you all staring at me like that?", he asked, unsure of himself.
"Well, you're kind of the expert on tracking Aang.", the waterbender explained.
"Yeah, if anyone's got experience hunting the Avatar… it's you.", Toph added.
A few hours later the sun was setting as they flew towards the Earth Kingdom. A tense silence filled the whole trip, until Sokka asked, "Zuko, I don't want to tell you how to do your job, but why are we heading towards the Earth Kingdom? There's no way Aang's there."
"Just trust me.", Zuko replied, which caused a small smile to appear on Lu Ten's face. He had no idea what his cousin was up to, but he liked that confident side of him.
It was already dark when they approached a shabby looking tavern. Everyone but Zuko wondered what they were doing here. Expressing everyone's thoughts, Katara asked, "And the reason you've brought us to a seedy Earth Kingdom tavern is what now?"
Zuko pointed at a pale woman sitting in the middle of the crowd, casually sipping on her cup. She had black hair that was pulled up into a broad top knot, the lower half hanging free. Her make-up was heavy and dark, her clothing unusual and all but black. "June.", he said simply. Apparently, an acquittance, Lu Ten thought.
One of the other visitors suddenly tried to attack her, but she struck him down, placing her feet on top of him, still holding her drink. "Oh, yeah, that weird bounty hunter with the giant mole.", Sokka seemed to remember.
"Mole? Her skin is flawless.", Suki piped up.
"No, she has a giant mole creature she rides on.", her boyfriend answered quickly.
Zuko nodded, "The shirshu. It's the only animal that can track Aang's scent anywhere in the world. It's the one shot we have of finding him."
Lu Ten bowed his head approvingly, "Good idea, Baby Cousin.", meanwhile, another thug had approached June and she threw her drink up in the air, knocking the thug over a table and caught it again. "Impressive.", Lu Ten raised his eyebrows.
"I don't know who this June lady is, but I like her.", Toph added, while she stepped forward, grinning widely.
"Hey, I remember her! She helped you attack us!", Sokka argued.
But the banished prince just shrugged his shoulders, "Yup. Back in the good old days.", he said as he proceeded towards her.
The bounty hunter raised an eyebrow at the small group. "Oh, great. It's Prince Pouty. Where's your creepy grandpa?"
Slightly offended, Zuko answered, "He's my uncle. And he's not here."
"I see you worked things out with your girlfriend.", she teased again, making Lu Ten chuckle as both teens reacted offended and angry.
Speaking at the same time, they both answered, "He's not my boyfriend!", "She's not my girlfriend!"
"Okay, okay. Sheesh, I was only teasing. So, what do you want? Or do you just want to introduce me to Prince Charming here?", casually she patted Lu Ten's behind, whose eyes went wide in shock at this.
Hastily, Zuko went in between them, "I need your help finding the Avatar."
"Hm, doesn't sound too fun.", she replied, casually sipping her tea.
His temper flaring up, Lu Ten shoved Zuko out of the way, "Does the end of the world sound like more fun?"
A little while later they watched as the shirshu sniffed on Aang's staff, expecting it to run off in any direction at once. But nothing happened. The animal turned around a few times, then it laid down and covered its nose. "Well, what does that mean?", Zuko asked from Appa's head.
"Means your friend's gone.", the bounty hunter replied as she petted the shirshu.
"We know he's gone. That's why we're trying to find him.", Toph piped from Appa's saddle.
"No, I mean he's gone gone. He doesn't exist.", June replied in a serious tone.
"What do you mean Aang, doesn't exist? Do you mean he's… you know, dead?", Sokka asked worriedly.
"Nope. We could find him if he were dead. Wow, it's a real head-scratcher. See you!", she waved a hand and mounted her animal.
"Helpful. Real helpful.", Toph grimaced sarcastically.
Before the bounty hunter could set off, Zuko called out to her, "Wait! I have another idea. There's only one other person in this world who can help us face the Fire Lord. I'll be right back with a smell sample."
He searched for something in their luggage, Lu Ten wondered what it could be. Until Zuko came back holding up a disgustingly smelling sandal. Lu Ten raised an eyebrow at his cousin, "Don't tell me…"
"You saved your uncle's sweaty sandal? Ugh!", Katara said pinching her nose to avoid the smell.
Toph smiled, "I think it's kind of sweet."
Lu Ten shook his head, but smiled as well, "Why am I not surprised that after all of your adventures, this thing survived?", a short while later they were back on Appa, following a hastily running shirshu.