Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Aang found himself to be excited as he and his new friends made their way toward Kyoshi Island. Despite having just recently found out about the loss of his people and that he would have to be the one to save the world, he was finding himself excited to travel and, hopefully, have some fun along the way. And he was going to start with one of his most fun memories from before the iceberg: Riding the giant Koi fish.

Though part of him had been sad ever since he had come out of the Avatar state, as he had been hoping that he would be able to spend some more time with Katara, despite having only known her for a short time. There was just something about her. Of course she was really pretty and sweet, and had defended him from her brother when he had been certain that he was a threat to them.

At any rate, despite knowing that he would likely end up having to fight her in the future, he still wished that they could have gotten to spend more time together. He felt that they could be really good friends, and he couldn't deny that he had acquired a bit of a crush on her. But she and her brother would likely be sent to stop him, so he wasn't sure what the nature of their relationship would become. He had no desire to be her enemy, but the Water Tribes needed to be stopped and balance brought back to the Four Nations, as was his duty.

Deciding to put these thoughts aside for the moment, Aang became surprised as he heard Azula groan in boredom as she asked. "How much longer until we get there? This is boring!"

"We're almost there," Aang called back to them, taking her rudeness in stride and not letting it get to him as he looked over the horizon. "Kyoshi Island is pretty far from the mainland, so just be patient!"

Azula huffed and rolled her eyes, but Zuko just gave her a look and said. "Relax, Azula. We're not here to fix your boredom, we're here to train Aang. The sooner he learns firebending and the other elements, the sooner he can end this war."

"Whatever you say, Zuzu," Azula muttered, turning to look over the edge and her eyes widening as they landed on what appeared to be a small island. Getting excited that they would be landing soon, she exclaimed. "Well, it's about time!"

Aang grinned back at them as he heard this. "See? I told you we were almost there! You guys are going to love the place. It's beautiful!" He decided to leave out the part about the wildlife, given that he would be taking some time to ride the giant fish that were in the nearby waters. Despite not knowing the Fire Nation royals very well, he could already tell that they wouldn't let him have a lot of fun, so he was planning to go when they would be distracted with something else.

Bringing them in for a landing, Appa groaned softly as they touched the ground, Aang jumping off first as he looked over the waters and grinned. Soon, he would have some fun, but for now he supposed that they would need to find a suitable place for them to camp. Turning to his friends, he then said. "Welcome to Kyoshi Island!"

"It's lovely," Azula sarcastically sighed as she gathered what little things she had and jumped down, turning to look at the woods behind them as she said. "We should find a suitable place to make camp. Then, we should start your training."

"Whoa whoa, already?" Aang asked in surprise, clearly not having expected this as he looked between the two. "We just got here! Can't we at least have a little time to… explore?" he asked hopefully, wanting to go ride the Elephant Koi now.

"You need to learn firebending, Aang," Zuko told him as he jumped down as well. "The sooner you master it, the sooner we can stop the Water Tribes from taking over the world."

Taking on a look of disappointment, Aang sighed and reluctantly nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Come on, Appa," he muttered as he began leading the way into the woods, Appa groaning as he followed after him. Zuko and Azula shared another look, but they just shrugged it off before following the airbender as he searched out a suitable place for them to set up camp.

As the group made their way through the woods, they all stopped as they heard the rustling of tree branches around them, making them look at each other in surprise as they tried to figure out where the sound was coming from. They heard another noise and tried to find the source of it, but again had no luck.

"Who's there?!" Zuko demanded as he looked around, hoping to catch whatever was hunting them as they made their way through the woods. "Show yourselves!" he shouted into the air. Then, suddenly, a group of warriors emerged out of nowhere and jumped at them from above, taking them all by surprise as their world quickly went dark. Some time later, the three woke up to find themselves tied to a tree by some rope with some cloth over their eyes.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" a woman's voice demanded, the authority in her voice making it clear that she was in charge.

"That's none of your business, you peasant!" Azula snarled as she struggled to get herself out, apparently forgetting that she could simply burn the ropes that bound them as she continued. "Release us immediately!"

"Not until we get some answers," was the woman's only reply. "Now, who are you, and why have you come here?"

Zuko frowned as he too struggled to get out of his bonds, a challenging tone in his voice as he taunted. "What, are you so afraid of us that you won't even let us see who we're talking to?"

They could hear the smirk in the woman's voice as she replied. "As you wish." Within seconds, all three of the travelers' blindfolds had been removed, revealing their captors to be some women in what appeared to be warrior dresses with heavy face paint on them. "Now, I'm going to say this one last time. Who are you, and why are you here?"

Aang decided that it was high time someone just answered their captor's question and spoke up. "I'm sorry we came here. We were just looking for a safe place away from the Water Tribes where I could train… and so that I could ride the Elephant Koi," he reluctantly admitted, making the two Fire Nation royals' heads turn quickly to look at him as Zuko exclaimed.

"What?! That's why you wanted to come here?!"

Aang took on a sheepish smile, but fortunately for him, he was saved from having to answer as a man stepped forward from the group and stood in front of them. "How do we know you aren't Water Tribe spies?" he questioned them seriously.

"Once I'm free from these ropes, the Water Tribes will be the least of your worries!" Azula growled at them, not noticing as Zuko gave her a look to keep quiet. Not that it would have worked, anyway.

"This one's feisty," the woman smirked as she walked up to Azula and stared her down. "Looks like the Unagi will eat well tonight."

"No!" Aang spoke up suddenly as he realized that his friends could really be hurt because of his decision. "I promise you, we aren't spies. We're just here so I can train."

"But how do we know this is true?" the old man asked once again. "Kyoshi has stayed out of the war so far, and we intend to keep it that way."

Aang knew that the man had a point, and after a few moments of thinking about it, decided that the best way of proving it would be by revealing his identity. Taking a deep breath, he looked up at the old man and said. "Because I'm the Avatar."

Everyone around them took on a look of shock, but it was the woman who had interrogated them prior that responded in clear disbelief. "That's impossible. The last Avatar was an airbender who disappeared a hundred years ago!"

"That's me!" Aang assured them with a bright smile, but became disheartened as he saw that they still didn't believe him.

Apparently having heard enough, the old man turned to the warriors and pointed at Aang and commanded. "Girls, throw the impostor to the Unagi!" The girls brought out their fans and began moving closer to them, and as they did so, Azula glanced over at Aang and whispered. "Hey, nitwit. We could use some airbending right now!"

Realizing that she was right, Aang summoned a quick burst of air and broke the ropes, launching himself into the air as he floated gracefully to the ground while the people around him gasped and murmured among themselves. Watching as the old man himself had become surprised from this, they watched as he finally said. "So, it's true. You are the Avatar!"

"Yes, I am," Aang grinned, reaching into his pocket as he grabbed something from it and held it in his hand as he continued. "Now check this out!" Without another word of warning, Aang began spinning what appeared to be some marbles in a circle with a bit of subtle airbending, making the people around them cheer for him as he continued his little trick.

Zuko, watching this and being amazed that these people found this entertaining, lowered his voice to a whisper and asked. "Where did you get that?"

"They were a gift from… an old friend," Aang answered him as he kept the trick up for a few more moments before putting them back into his pocket.

"Come, young Avatar," the old man put a hand on his shoulder and began guiding him back to the center of their town. "It is an honor to have you here. You and your friends must be hungry." The leader of the village led the three back to town, and Aang found himself excited to see what kind of foods they had to offer. Though he wouldn't impose on them more than necessary, of course. Looking around, he saw the villagers wearing blue robes and felt a pang in his heart as he remembered the waterbender he had met not long ago, and found himself wondering what she was up to now.

"Katara, what are you doing?"

Katara, who had been practicing her waterbending on a training dummy, stopped just as one last slice tore the upper torso off, sweat on her brow as she turned to look at her brother. "What does it look like, Sokka? I'm training."

"You call that training?" Sokka asked incredulously as he looked at what was left of her practice opponent. "I call that mutilation."

Ignoring his comment, Katara got back to training as she said. "What do you want, Sokka?"

"I'm just here to tell you that we know where the Avatar is," Sokka informed her, making her stop her practicing and raise a brow at him as she put her hands on her hips.

"His name is Aang."

"And if he was our friend, I would call him that," Sokka agreed with a shrug. "But he's not, so I won't." Katara didn't argue, even if she still wanted to be friends with him. She was still pretty mad at him for working with the Fire Nation royals, but for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to hate him. Of course, it probably helped that he was the only one to make her laugh ever since her mother's death and his fun and easy-going personality, but she found that it was pretty easy to hate someone for her, as she was notorious for holding grudges. But with him, she just couldn't for some reason. "Anyway, we have reports that they were going to a small island called Kyoshi."

"Kyoshi Island," Katara muttered, resuming her training as she nodded. "Never heard of it."

"It's a really remote island that not many people know about," Sokka explained, wincing as she cut off another limb and decided to pretend that didn't happen. "Probably why they decided to go there."

"How long until we reach it?" she asked curiously as she landed another blow on what was left of her training dummy.

"A few hours, so be ready. We don't want to get innocent civilians involved in this, but the island's too small for a sneaky invasion. We'll have to march right in and grab him."

"Okay. Should we try to grab the royals, too?" she asked curiously, and Sokka shook his head as he replied.

"No, they're for another day. Dad said that capturing the Avatar is priority number one right now, so we grab him and we get out of there." Katara nodded and sliced once more at the dummy, tearing what was left of it in half as its upper torso was removed. Seeing that his sister clearly wasn't happy, and knowing why that was, he then asked. "I know you're not happy about the Avatar siding with the Fire Nation, but if he is supposed to be the keeper of peace between the Four Nations, then he's just doing his job. You can't blame him for that."

"I don't blame him for doing his job, Sokka, I blame him for choosing to travel with them knowing what their people have done," she told him as she turned around to him. "I know he comes from a forgiving people, but for crying out loud, they almost wiped out his people!"

"The Fire Nation from a hundred years ago almost wiped out his people," Sokka reminded her, making her frown and roll her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sure your boyfriend understands that."

Katara looked up quickly at him as she heard what he had called her, her eyes wide as she felt her heart inexplicably pick up, but her face took on a look of annoyance as she responded. "He's not my boyfriend."

At this, Sokka just smirked and rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Sis. Anyway, we'll be there soon so get ready. And try not to destroy any more practice dummies, please!" he called over his shoulder as he began walking out of the room.

Rolling her eyes at her brother, she decided to ignore the comment he had made and went back to training. She knew that he often said stupid things, but for some reason this one hit a little too close to home. Sure, she and Aang had gotten along rather well before they had been separated, but he was a kid. Not to mention that he was now siding with her enemies. Though she supposed that just because he was a couple years younger than her didn't mean that it was out of the realm of possibility. And she had rather liked his smile and the way he looked at her…

Forcing herself to snap out of these thoughts, she put on a determined look as she decided that she wouldn't let Sokka get in her head. She would train and prepare herself for the mission to come, and she would be ready for when they reached Kyoshi Island.

Some time later, Aang found himself over by the water, a group of giggling fangirls standing nearby ready to watch him ride the Unagi, having ridden the Elephant Koi earlier that day. Prior to this moment, Aang and his friends had enjoyed a bountiful feast and had gathered some supplies for their journey, but most of Aang's time had been spent performing for his new fan club.

"Shouldn't we be doing some training?" Zuko asked in annoyance as he watched them. "That's the main reason we've come here, and yet we haven't done any."

"We'll get to it. I promise," Aang grinned as he raised a hand up in the air, taking on a look of excitement as he turned toward the water. "Now, I'm going to have some fun."

"I think you're letting these girls get to you, Airhead," Azula told him with a roll of her eyes as she pulled him back from running toward the water. "We should be training, not having fun."

"I know, I know. Just one ride on the Unagi and I'll be done, okay?" he nearly pleaded with them. The siblings shared a look and after a few moments finally nodded, making him grin again as he said while running towards the water. "Thanks! We'll start training soon! I promise!"

Zuko sighed and rolled his eyes as well, shaking his head as he turned to look at his sister. "How did we let ourselves get into this?"

"I believe this was your idea, Zuzu," Azula remarked with a smirk as she began walking away. "Something about 'he can help us stop the Water Tribes', I believe?" Zuko decided to ignore her comment and followed after her, deciding that he would do some training himself as he waited for Aang to finish.

Before long, Aang was in the water, but it didn't take long for his fan club to become impatient. "Where is the Unagi? It's taking forever!"

"I'm sure it's coming," Aang tried to reassure them, thinking for a moment before pulling out his marbles and spinning them around again, hoping this would keep them entertained. Unfortunately for him, it did not work, as the group began to leave. "Wait, where are you going?"

"Sorry, Aangie. Maybe next time!" one of the girls called back out to him as they left, making him droop as he sunk into the water. Deciding that he no longer wanted to ride the Unagi, he turned around and looked out at the waters to see if he could catch a glimpse of it and gasped as he saw what appeared to be a Water Tribe ship coming toward the island.

"They found me?!" he asked himself in surprise. "But how?!" He was met with no answer, and as the ship drew nearer and nearer, he knew it wouldn't be long before they reached him. He had to go warn the village before it was too late.

Shaking himself out of his surprise, Aang quickly ran out of the water and got his clothes back on, knowing that there was no time to lose. Guilt for bringing what would undoubtedly be a fight to the innocent people of Kyoshi flooded him, but he knew that dwelling on it would do no one any good now. If he got there in time, they would have enough time to warn the villagers.

Going as fast as he could, he ran with all his might back to the village, looking for the leader of their village as he did so. Not looking where he was going for a moment, he accidentally ran into a blur of dark green, hearing a gasp of surprise as he took a step back and looked to see the woman who had interrogated them when they had been captured.

"Avatar Aang," Suki, who had introduced herself earlier as the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, said in surprise as she saw the look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"The Water Tribes are coming here!" he told her, the guilt getting to him more and more as he knew they didn't have much time. "They're hunting me, and they'll attack the village to get me."

Suki's eyes widened, but nodded in understanding as she took on a serious look. "Understood. I'll get my girls and tell the villagers to stay in their homes while we deal with the Water Tribes. Go get your friends. If we work together, we can drive them away."

Feeling a little relieved from her solid plan, Aang nodded and stupid up straighter as he took on a look of determination. "Okay, I can do that." Looking at the statue of Kyoshi and once again becoming ashamed of himself, he forced himself to focus and said. "I'm sorry, I never meant to bring this to your people."

"It's not your fault," Suki told him as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You didn't ask for the Water Tribes' to hunt you down."

"But I let them follow me here," Aang argued, letting out a sigh as he shook his head at himself. Pulling himself together, he finally stopped beating himself and continued. "I'll go get Zuko and Azula." With that, Aang took off in search of his friends while Suki gave him a sympathetic look. She understood that he likely blamed himself for the attack, but she knew that this was not what he had wanted. None of them would blame him for what the Water Tribes' decided to do.

Deciding to leave these thoughts for the moment, she gathered her warriors and set to work. It wouldn't be long before the Water Tribe warriors reached their village, and they needed to ensure that they would be ready for the upcoming battle.

Katara and Sokka debarked from their ship atop some polar bear dogs as they led their crew toward the center of the island. Having scouted it prior to landing, they had determined that the village where the Avatar would be staying was in the center of the island, and that was where they needed to go.

"Remember, Katara. We're only here for the Avatar, not for anyone else," Sokka told the waterbender, making her raise a brow at him.

"I know who we're here for," she told him with a roll of her eyes as they continued moving toward the village. "I don't know why you feel the need to remind me."

"It's because I know that you have it out for the Fire Nation royals," he told her, watching as she frowned but remained silent. "I know you blame the Fire Nation for what happened to mom, but our job isn't to avenge her death. Our job is to make sure that nothing like that ever happens again."

Knowing that he was right, but not wanting to admit it, Katara simply said. "Whatever you say, Sokka. Come on, the sooner we're done here, the better." And with that she took off, leaving Sokka to shake his head as he went after her. It wasn't long before the Water Tribe warriors soon found themselves at the entrance to the village. There was only one problem: It looked like a ghost town.

"Come out, Avatar!" he shouted, but was met with no response. Sokka, looking around for any sign of movement as they continued on, thought for a few moments before saying. "They must have seen us coming. The Avatar will want to keep the civilians away from harm, so we should stay out of the buildings if we can help it. That's where they'll be." As the procession of warriors strode throughout the village, a flash of dark green out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

Putting a hand on his club, he looked around for another sign of movement, but was soon knocked off of his mount and onto the ground as a blur of green leapt at him from above. Shaking himself out of his surprise, he looked up to find that his attacker was a woman with face paint and a dark green warrior's dress. Although he couldn't keep himself from acquiring a bit of a goofy smile when he saw how pretty she was. Getting a little nervous despite the fact that she had attacked him, he coughed a little and put on a nervously flirty smile. "Hey there. I'm Sokka."

The girl smirked and leaned closer to him, having noticed his attraction to her and saying. "I'm Suki. I'd say it's nice to meet you, hun, but given that you and your people are attacking my village, it's really not." Knowing that flirting wasn't going to go anywhere, Sokka finally decided to move and threw her off, watching as she slid back a few feet but was still poised to strike as he got up to his feet. "Leave now, or my warriors and I will give you a beating you won't forget."

At this, Sokka just laughed her threat off, clearly not believing it. "Please, you and your girl warriors? Girl warriors could never beat a real warrior."

Katara, knowing about her brother's occasional sexism but also knowing that she had beaten him in fights many times, rolled her eyes and said to her brother. "Sokka, I beat you all the time. And that's without bending!"

"That doesn't count!" Sokka argued fiercely, despite knowing that he was wrong as he looked at his sister with a 'shut up' look on his face. "You're my sister! I let you win!"

Suki, smirking as she saw Katara once again roll her eyes, decided that she would help her antagonize her brother as she said in a mocking tone as she got her fans out. "Well, let's see just how good of a warrior you are, you real warrior." Seeing that she was baiting him, but his pride getting the better of him, Sokka charged forward and raised his club to attack. Just as he got within a foot of her, Suki spun around and swept a leg out, tripping him up and knocking him off his feet as he hit the dirt. "Wow," she sarcastically said to him as she did her best not to laugh at the look on his face, but was unable to wipe the smirk on her face. "You're a really great warrior. I bet you could teach us girls a thing or two, couldn't you?" Her warriors laughed behind her as they heard this, making Sokka blush in embarrassment as he got back up.

Katara, smirking as she saw her brother get knocked down a peg, had to admire this girl's spirit as she showed her brother the error of his ways. "It's a shame that we can't be friends," she told the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors with her smirk firmly in place as she enjoyed her brother's humiliation. "I think we would be good friends."

"I could see it," Suki shrugged with a smirk before getting back into a fighting stance. "Tell you what. Leave now and I'll think about it."

"Sorry, but we're here for Aang," she told her with an apologetic smile as she stepped down from her mount and opened her water skins, bringing some water out as she also got into a fighting stance. "We're not leaving without him."

"I'm right here," a voice came from her left, making her eyes widen as she recognized the voice that had been in her head since she had met him. Turning to see him standing at the other end of the village with his staff in hand, he said. "If it's me you want, then come get me."

"You'll have to go through us first," Zuko said as he and Azula stepped out of the shadows and stood in front of Aang, making Katara's eyes narrow as she saw that he indeed was colluding with her enemies.

"I'm disappointed, Aang!" she called out to him as she looked past them to the one she really wanted to see. "Why would you team up with them knowing what they've done?"

"Because they haven't done anything!" he answered her as he moved between the two firebenders and faced her. "I'm sorry that someone in the Fire Nation killed your mother, but not everyone in the Fire Nation is to blame for her death. And they aren't to blame for the murder of my people. Firelord Sozin and his soldiers were."

In her heart, she knew that he was right, but her mind wouldn't allow herself to admit it. All she could see was her mother's corpse that had been returned to them when she was young, and she would never forgive what had been stolen from her.

Deciding that voicing these thoughts wouldn't do any good, she responded. "It doesn't matter. Just come with us, Aang, and we'll leave these people alone. We don't want to hurt you, we just want to keep you somewhere you can't stop us."

"Why? So you can keep hurting those you say that you're helping?" Azula asked sarcastically as she ignited her hands. "Whether I like it or not, the Avatar is the world's only hope. He's not going anywhere!"

There was a staredown between them all for several moments, all waiting to see who would make the first move. Sokka wasn't at all surprised to see that it was Katara who began the attack, as she was never one to wait around when there was a fight to be had. Launching a stream of water at Azula, she watched as Azula narrowly dodged it and threw some fire back, which Katara also managed to evade.

With the fight having finally broken out, the small village was consumed with the sound of battle as the Water Tribe Warriors fought everyone else, though both sides were careful not to get too close to the houses so as to not get the innocent villagers involved. Katara herself had decided to go straight for Aang, who was currently all on defense while Zuko and Azula fought off some waterbenders who were attempting to aid Katara.

"I understand that you're just doing your job, Aang, but the Water Tribes' don't want to hurt anyone!" she told him as she tried to freeze him against a wall, but he narrowly avoided it and sent a blast of air to push her back a few feet. "If we control the other Nations, no one will ever have to lose anyone like Sokka and I did ever again!"

"Katara, do you really think controlling the world is going to fix anything?" Aang asked seriously as he dodged a water whip, doing his best not to hurt her as he attempted to talk some reason into her. "In the hundred years that I've been gone, my people have been wiped out, and war has taken the lives of too many innocent people! War doesn't solve anything!" He yelped a little as another tentacle almost hit him in the head, but decided to continue as he said. "Think about your mother! Do you really think that this is what she would have wanted? People suffering because your father thinks he can fix the world by controlling it?"

To his surprise, his words actually seemed to hit her heart, and she stopped for a moment. Just as he thought that he might have finally broken through to her, her eyes narrowed as she took on a determined look. "I'm doing this so no one else has to go through what Sokka and I have gone through. If you can't understand that, then I guess we're just going to have to be enemies."

She became surprised, however, when Aang jumped suddenly and stood right in front of her, a deadly serious look on his face as he said. "You can hunt me to the ends of the Earth, Katara, but I'll never be your enemy. Even if you won't be my friend, I'll always be yours. I understand that you've been through a lot, but what your father wants isn't going to fix anything. It's only going to make it worse." Looking to his right as he smelled smoke, his eyes widened as he saw that Azula and Zuko's attempts to repel the invading Water Tribe warriors were accidentally setting the nearby buildings on fire. "No…" he whispered, forgetting all about their fight as Katara realized why he had gotten upset. "Zuko, Azula, stop! You're setting the village on fire!"

Zuko nodded and attempted to put out the fires, but was prevented from being able to do so as a waterbender froze him in place. Azula sarcastically replied as she fought off three waterbenders. "Would you rather I shot them with some lightning instead?!" Fortunately for Aang, she noticeably was much more careful with her fire as she continued to fight, but the buildings were still on fire and threatened to hurt the innocents that were still inside.

Just as Zuko managed to melt the ice that prevented him from helping, Aang saw that the fighting would just keep going if they stayed and made a decision as he shouted to them. "Zuko, Azula, we need to leave now! I'm calling Appa!" Putting his fingers to lips, he used some airbending to let out a loud whistle which temporarily made everyone in the village stop fighting as it hurt their ears, but quickly resumed after the pain went away.

Katara, who had watched all of this happen, became conflicted as she knew that there was only a short window of time before Aang and the others would escape. On one hand, she knew that Aang was a threat to their plans, and the warrior part of her wanted to capture him and leave. On the other hand, she knew that to some extent at least he was right, and more importantly that innocents would be harmed if nothing was done about the fires.

Deciding that she could capture Aang another day, she took out what water she had left and began attempting to put out the fires, but there simply was not enough. Turning to her fellow waterbenders, she yelled. "Waterbenders, help me put out these fires!" The waterbenders quickly abandoned the fighting and helped her, making Aang amazed and grateful that she was putting the safety of the innocent villagers ahead of her mission.

A groan from above caught his attention, and he looked just in time to see Appa come in for a landing. Turning to his friends, he yelled above the noise. "Zuko, Azula, it's time to go!"

"Just when it was getting fun!" Azula huffed as she kicked back a Water Tribe soldier and turned around to race to Appa. Within moments, the trio were back on Appa as Aang looked down at Suki and the leader of the island as he put on an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry that I brought this on your people, but the best thing we can do is leave now and draw them away!"

"We will be fine, young Avatar!" the leader assured him as he readied himself to continue fighting. "Go, now! Good luck on your journey!"

Aang nodded and, after looking back over to where Katara was and seeing that she and her waterbenders had managed to put out a fair amount of the fires, locked eyes with her for a few moments before he shouted. "Appa, yip yip!" Appa groaned and launched off into the air, moving away from the island as the sounds of battle rung throughout the air.

Sokka, having once again attempted to fight Suki, but finding himself thrown to the ground with Suki pressing her knee against his chest, could only watch as Suki smirked above him. "Well, what do you have to say about girls not being real warriors now?"

Laughing nervously, even though his pride was severely damaged at this point, he responded with his hands up in surrender. "Okay, you've proven your point. I'm sorry. Girls can be just as good of a warrior as guys can."

"And we can be even better," she told him with her smirk firmly in place, leaning down and giving him a kiss on the cheek that made him blush. "You know, if you weren't attacking my village right now, I'd think you were kind of cute." Being distracted by this, he looked past her and saw Appa flying in the distance and quickly threw Suki gently off of him, not wanting to hurt her as he stood up.

"You've really taught me something today, but I've got to go," he told her, even if he wouldn't mind getting another kiss from her, although he was almost certain that wouldn't happen again. Turning to his soldiers, he yelled. "Water Tribe Warriors! Follow that bison!"

"Wait!" Katara yelled as she made her way over to her brother. "We can't just leave the village like this!"

"I'm sorry, Katara, but we have to go! Now!" he told her as he grabbed her arm and began dragging her back to the ship. She tried to fight it, but Sokka's grip on her was strong as he led the way back to their ship.

As the trio began flying away from Kyoshi, Aang watched as the village kept burning, being disheartened to see that Katara and her waterbenders had been unable to finish the job. "Those people, they're going to lose their home because of me," he muttered, the guilt crashing down on him now as they drifted away.

"We did everything we could," Zuko told him as he put a hand on his shoulder, but Aang didn't bother to respond as he kept looking at the statue of Kyoshi that was currently on fire. "They'll survive this."

"Please. A little fire won't hurt them," Azula spoke up as she looked at her nails disinterestedly. "Their little town could use a makeover, anyway."

Aang, not being satisfied with this as his eyes narrowed in determination, he jumped off of Appa and dove down deep into the water as Zuko and Azula both shouted. "What are you doing?!" They could only watch for a few moments as nothing happened, but suddenly Aang broke the surface of the water on top of what Zuko and Azula could only assume was the Unagi.

Struggling to gain control of the sea monster for a few moments, Aang finally managed to get it where he wanted it and forced it to spray water towards the town, unintentionally soaking the Water Tribe soldiers who had almost gotten back to their ship as Sokka took on a displeased look. Once Aang was certain that all the fires of Kyoshi had been put out, he released control of the Unagi and launched himself upward to Appa, being caught on each arm by Zuko and Azula as they hoisted him back up into the saddle. Katara, who had felt horrible that they were leaving the villagers in such a state, had witnessed the incredible feat that Aang had pulled off and smiled as she watched them fly off. She had known that Aang was already a kind and caring person, but he had just proven himself to be brave and selfless as he risked his life to ensure that the villagers home would not be burned down. Despite her still not being happy with him for siding with her enemies, she couldn't deny that she couldn't be his enemy either. Wherever their paths took them, she admired him too much to be his enemy, and found herself looking forward to the next time they met.

"I know, I know, what I did was stupid and crazy," Aang said as he took a seat next to his friends.

"Crazy, yes," Zuko admitted with a small smile. "But very brave and honorable. You live up to your legend, Avatar."

"Eh, I've seen better," Azula shrugged, clearly not being very impressed. "I would have put a little more flair into it." Aang just laughed this off, knowing that she was just being Azula as he looked back at the bay, just barely managing to catch a glimpse of Katara smiling, making his heartbeat pick up, who was staring back at him before she faded out of view.

Turning back to his friends, he watched as Zuko asked. "So, where to next?"

Reaching into his pockets and feeling the marbles that were always there, his eyes narrowed as an idea came to mind. "Before we really begin my training, there's something I need to do." Azula and Zuko shared a look of confusion, but Aang just jumped up to Appa's head and took the reins. "We're going to my home, the Southern Air Temple." Looking back one last time at Kyoshi Island, Aang returned his attention to the front and said. "Let's go, buddy!" Appa groaned and increased in speed as Aang began the journey back to the place where he had spent most of his life, knowing that it would be nothing as he remembered it, but also knowing that he would have to face his past before he could truly face his future.

As the Water Tribe ship began moving again, Sokka sighed as he thought of all that had happened. Between the battle, the fires that had been set during it, and Suki not only beating him easily and teaching him a lesson but also kissing his cheek, his mind was very scattered at the moment. Deciding to put these thoughts aside for the moment, he turned to look at his sister who was staring off into the distance, and he could only surmise who it was she was wishing to see.

"You okay, Sis? You seem a little out of it," he told her with a concerned look, but she was silent for a few moments before she nodded.

"I'm alright, it's just…" she trailed off, knowing what Sokka would say when she told him what was on her mind, but knowing that she needed to get these thoughts off her chest. "Some things Aang said when I was trying to capture him made me think… Are we really doing the right thing?"

Taking on a look of surprise from this, Sokka looked over at her as if she was crazy. "What?! Of course we are! Don't listen to him, Katara! He's just trying to get in your head!"

"What if he's right, though, Sokka?" she asked him seriously as she looked back into the distance. "For a hundred years now, we've been trying to conquer the world. Other than when Dad and Mom tried to end it, anyway. How many people have suffered because of us?"

"Hey, get those crazy ideas out of your head!" he said as he looked her dead in the eyes. "All we're doing is trying to make sure that no one else has to go through what we went through."

"But aren't we making people go through what we did by bringing war to their homes? We almost caused an innocent village to be burned down trying to capture Aang, and if Aang hadn't stepped in, it would have. What would Mom think if she were here?" she asked uncertainly, and this time Sokka didn't have an answer for her. Knowing this, she sighed and decided that she would put these thoughts aside for the moment. "Well, at least he managed to stop the fires when we couldn't."

Looking at his sister and seeing the admiration on her face, he asked. "You admire him, don't you?" She was silent for a few moments, but reluctantly nodded.

"He's brave, kind, selfless, fun, and funny," she answered him as she looked back out to the horizon. "Even when he found out that the Fire Nation wiped out his people, he didn't hold a grudge, and as much as I hate it, he's even working with them to help them. He's the best person I've ever met."

"You mean besides me, right?" Sokka joked with a grin, but she shot him a look and he just laughed. "I'm just kidding. Well, 'best person you've ever met' or not, he's still a threat to our plans. We need to capture him before he can stop us." Katara remained silent, clearly being conflicted as she thought things over. Knowing that she had enough for the day, Sokka said. "Come on, we've had a long day. We should get some rest. We'll get back to tracking the Avatar tomorrow." Katara looked like she was going to say something, and before she could, Sokka interrupted her. "Yeah, yeah, I know his name is Aang. Come on. We need to get some sleep."

Although she still was very conflicted at the moment, she decided that the best thing she could do was get some rest and contemplate on all that she had learned. Following her brother to their quarters, she laid herself down and closed her eyes, smiling a little despite the heavy conflict in her heart. She took comfort in knowing that she would see Aang again soon, and that even if they were on opposite sides of the war, that they would never be enemies as he had promised her. Being comforted at the thought, she finally allowed her mind to relax and stop thinking and she soon fell asleep.

Responses to reviews:

Ashley Barbosa: Sorry to make you sad about them splitting up, but I want to show how one decision can completely rewrite the story, but I understand. They'll still have little moments though, don't worry.

Aliyaallen3635: Thank you. I'm glad you're liking it so far. Hope you liked this chapter, and like Aang said. They won't be enemies. I can't picture either of them hating each other in any situation.