An almost full moon shines on a sleeping Appa, who is on his back and snoring. Ayaan doesn't mind the noisy bison at all, his back resting on his soft fluff as he looks up at the rising moon and stars. Momo rests in his arms, warbling snores echoing behind his large friend's. Their presence was one of the only reasons Ayaan was as calm as he was, given what was going on.

There was no way he could sleep, not here. This place was far from safe. He'd already placed all of their things on the saddle before joining his fluffy family here to gaze at the moon. A refreshing feeling seemed to flow through his blood, enriching his being. He always felt stronger at night, especially as the full moon comes in. Lately, especially after... that incident, it was more apparent.

But right now, with such a delicate grip on his strange gifts, he felt even less in control of himself than he had before. His emotions were a turbulent sea, and he was a raft trying to wade through it. Waves crashed upon it with every obstacle, every feeling, and every argument. He doesn't want to scare his family more than he already is, but it seems too late for that if what Katara said is true.

What was happening to him? Whatever that Asrani did with that pearl had stirred something that had been dormant. Something violent and foreboding, an anger that didn't feel entirely his. It was all connected to that dream he had before.

That place with flowing waters and flourishing greenery amid walls of towering ice. The place that felt like home. The person who wanted him to find them. The part of himself that was missing was there. Somehow, he understood at least that. But everything else was a haze, lost in the mental waters he battled too often. This place and Katara's blatant denial of the truth wasn't helping.

He hears a disturbance below before he can be more lost in his thoughts. Peeking out from the canopy, he sees Sokka following after the Freedom Fighters, who are suspiciously stealthy. His instincts flaring, he quickly and silently disappears into the night behind them.

Just as he thought, whatever was happening was in motion already.

.

.

As quietly as he could, Sokka followed Jet and the others that had left the hideout. He was on his own for now, Ayaan most likely with Appa and Momo at the top of the canopy. He knew that Ayaan needed some time after that argument with Katara, and would likely sit and watch the moon. It was his way to calm down after any disagreement that went beyond the norm, it had been like that for as long as he could remember.

Though Just as Katara had so unhelpfully mentioned, Ayaan did seem more unstable after the pirates. Ayaan's way of controlling his emotions were keeping himself busy. He'd train, train again, and then train with them. It was unhealthy. His already abysmal hours of sleep were getting worse. It helped that Ayaan trusted him enough to speak, even just a little, about his stress.

It was slow, but it was working. A little bit of rest here, quiet company there. What Ayaan needed was someone he could rely on while he grappled with whatever was happening. He didn't like opening up about his feelings, not all of them. Sokka respected that, trying his best to take small steps.

If they were home, this would be when he'd go out hunting, coming back with sleds full of food for the village. That was how he destressed, letting his emotions out in his hunts. After that, he'd talk with Gran-Gran, the woman able to see through him to all that was troubling him. She was an adult he trusted more than anyone, and he felt comfortable speaking about those hidden troubles with her.

Here, however, he couldn't do that as often. They needed to get to the north, and while he still hunted, he didn't feel secure enough to leave them alone for that long.

Sokka was trying to be more reliable for him as a leader. He'd take over so Ayaan could relax for a bit. Even Aang was doing little things to help out. Katara had been diligently training her waterbending to be a better fighter. They didn't say anything about what happened, hoping to move past it and let Ayaan breathe in the present.

These little steps were helping, well... they had been, until Jet and all of this nonsense. Katara was an idiot sometimes. His instincts were wrong sometimes, he could admit that. Why couldn't she? Was it pride? Puberty? One day she'd understand... hopefully.

Letting her figure out the truth on her own felt like the right decision. It would most likely break her heart, but Ayaan was right. If she wasn't going to listen, then this is how it had to be.

But whatever they were doing now... something was wrong. That's why he opted to follow them, leaving marks so that Ayaan could follow his trail if he noticed they were gone. He'd normally go get him, but the canopy was a bit too far from where they'd been. If he did, he'd lose them. Wherever they were going, they were trying to get there quickly and quietly.

He grabs a rope line down to a lower branch, keeping pace with them from high in the trees. Jet's Freedom Fighters quietly pushed a loaded wagon on the ground below him, away from the camp. It looked like the spoils they'd collected from the raid they'd helped them in previously, barrels full of a liquid he'd never seen before.

Before long, they were in the valley. As quietly as possible, Sokka hides behind bushes. He marks the ground where he is, a subtle sign only Ayaan would notice. He'd taught them to mark a trail if they ever got separated from him or each other, something he thought to teach them after the incident.

Sokka eavesdrops as Jet gives out his orders.

"Now listen, you are not to blow the dam until I give the signal. If the reservoir isn't full, the Fire Nation troops could survive." He says, uncaring of how awful he sounded.

"But what about the people in the town?" The Duke jumps off the wagon, a confused frown on his young face. Unlike the others, he didn't know all of the details of the plan. He was too young to know it all, just turning eight that year. But he knew that people were living in the town near where the troops were.

Sure, they were fire nation, but they were still people. He didn't like the fire nation, but the villagers didn't seem like bad people. So he asked, "Won't they get wiped out, too?"

"Look, Duke," Jet places a hand on The Duke's shoulder, indifferent of the saddened look on the child's face, "that's the price of ridding this area of the Fire Nation." Turning to Longshot, he continued his instructions. "Now don't blow the dam until I give the signal. Got it?"

Longshot nods, his face carefully neutral. This plan was designed by Jet the moment they got their hands on the blasting jelly in the carts. Before, it was just a concept, something they couldn't realistically do. That was... until Aang and Katara came along. Now the plan became a real thing, and once he'd secured their help, he was certain it would work.

The problem was their brothers. Those two were too smart to fool. The older one was scary, too. But Jet believed he could put up a decent fight against him. When he told the others this, however, they vehemently told him not to test that. So the plan changed to being that they needed to keep them out of the loop for as long as possible, if they could.

Easiest way to do that was to keep them from the loop. Isolate Katara and Aang and tell them the lie. Just as he thought, they were more than willing to help him "save the valley". Though it wouldn't be from fires as he'd told them.

Sokka watches incredulously as they continue to speak, his gut twisting in horror. They were going to kill all of those people just to get a few soldiers?! It was madness! Jet was sacrificing them just because they were fire nation. Their deaths didn't matter to him because of his deep-rooted hate.

He had to tell the others about this. They needed to stop this before it got any farther! But before he can do anything, a strong hand yanks him from the bushes by his wolf-tail. "Ugh!"

Pipsqueak and Smellerbee had apprehended him, the smaller rogue putting a knife to his throat, "Where do you think you're going, ponytail?"

The duo brings him before Jet who stands knowingly at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the reservoir where his men had already gotten to work. The Duke was a smart kid, knowing the perfect places to set up the bombs for the most effect. He didn't feel a sliver of remorse or guilt for any sadness the child displayed.

Jet was his leader, his family. He told him to do things that helped them. All of his plans worked out for the better, so being the naive child he was, he trusted Jet knew what he was doing. He trusted what he said, and so he did what he was told.

The air seemed to drop several degrees as Jet ordered Smellerbee and Pipsqueak to take Sokka on a "long walk", keeping him far away from Aang, Katara, and Ayaan so he wouldn't be able to tell them anything. He already had a lie set up if they asked where he was.

Feeling an ominous chill go down his spine, he hurriedly turns around to face the trees. But when he gazes at the subtly disturbed branches, he finds nothing, even if the feeling didn't ease. After a few more moments of silence, a squirrel runs across the same spot.

"Oh..." He turns back around, thinking he was just being paranoid.

Unbeknownst to them all, a shadow had been watching the entire thing. Seething with a quiet fury, he stared at the back of the scumbag that had long since become his prey. But before he can hunt, he needs to recover his brother. He worried about letting his rage out before, but they weren't giving him many ways to repress it by harming his family. That was a line no one was to cross.

With the stealth of a ghost, Ayaan nimbly flipped through the trees despite his impressive size, no one the wiser he'd ever been there.

.

.

First thing that morning Jet leads Katara and Aang along the west bank of the river, upriver from the dam. Jet seemed a little prouder of himself than usual, but Katara didn't see any problem with that. Aang, though following them compliantly, was the more observant of them.

Sokka and Ayaan hadn't come back, but Katara just chalked it up to Ayaan training and Sokka watching him. If anything, that was Sokka's favorite pastime, and it would make both of them feel better about the argument they'd had. Aang wanted to believe her, but Sokka and Ayaan weren't the only ones that found Jet a little suspicious when one looked at him for a while.

It was no secret to anyone with eyes that Aang liked Katara, a lot. It's been like that since they first met. So when Jet got close to her, he was a little peeved. When she reciprocated that, however unconsciously, he was a little more peeved. But he wouldn't say anything about it. That was her choice, and he respected that. He would respect it.

But he listened to Ayaan when he said he didn't like him. If Ayaan, the one who was usually a gentle giant, says he doesn't like someone after five minutes of meeting them, something ain't right. That's just Aang's logic. He hadn't truly spent much time with Jet aside from their first meeting. His time was mostly spent hanging out with the youngest of their group, The Duke.

So, he promised himself that the next time he saw Jet, he'd pay more attention. Ayaan and Sokka wouldn't be so wary if nothing happen. That's just not who they were. He'd known them long enough to know that, at least. Something in him was screaming that Ayaan wouldn't lie like that. He chalked it up to the thought that they may have met in a past life, though the details of that were still vague.

"Jet, I'm sorry about how Sokka and Ayaan have been acting." Katara began, walking in tandem with him, "Usually, Ayaan is such an easy guy to get along with."

Yeah, that was true. So why did he not like Jet so much was the question that rang most in Aang's head. It wasn't the same for Katara.

Jet, with a strange look in his eyes, replied, "No worries, they already apologized."

Aang pauses at that. "Really? They... apologized?" He knows for a fact that if Ayaan didn't like someone, it would take a whole lot of effort to even befriend him, let alone an apology of any kind from him. Ayaan was the type to hold a grudge. If Omashu didn't teach him that, nothing would have.

Seeing that Aang wasn't fully buying it, Jet amends, "Yeah, I was surprised too. I got the sense that maybe you talked to him or something." His gesture was aimed at Katara, who nodded.

"Yeah, I did."

Jet smiled, a smudge triumphant and calculative, "I guess something you said got through to him." Quickly shifting the subject, he continued, "Anyhow, Sokka went out on a scouting mission with Pipsqueak and Smellerbee."

Katara was pleased, "I'm glad he cooled down. He's so stubborn sometimes."

"Hm..." Aang noticed that he didn't mention Ayaan, just as Sokka had mentioned before, something was suspicious here. Now even he was feeling it.

Sokka wasn't the type to apologize unless he thought he was wrong. Until the end, he didn't trust these guys. Ayaan didn't make his dislike a question. But suddenly, they apologized and went on another patrol, after the first one left him so out of sorts? It was too odd. Something really was weird here, and Aang was seeing it clearly. How did Katara not notice how wrong this felt?

But he didn't know the whole picture. As iffy as Jet was, Aang was a helpful person. So he worked with Katara to guide the geysers into the river, building it up as it fed into the dam.

After seeing everything was going well, Jet begins to leave. "Okay. You two keep it up, I'll go check on things at the reservoir." He turns and walks away.

Katara nodded, smiling, "When we're done, we'll meet you over there."

Jet hesitates for a moment, something Aang notices. "Actually... probably better if you meet me back at the hideout when you're done." Not giving Katara a chance to say more about it, Jet resumes walking away, disappearing into the thicket of trees.

Once he's gone, Aang voices his thoughts. "Katara, didn't that seem a little... weird to you? Why wouldn't he want us to meet him at the reservoir? Maybe we should check out what they're doing over there..."

"Not you too, Aang." Katara sighs, seemingly unbothered by what just happened. "He just suggested we meet him at the hideout."

She ignores the sinking pit in her stomach, knowing what she's saying is just an excuse for herself. She did think it was weird, but that would be the same as saying her brothers were right, admitting her faults.

...Yet despite what she wanted to believe, it was strange. Since they'd gotten here, Jet welcomed them tagging along with them, seeing the things they did around the hideout, even offering the patrol that Sokka went on. But now, he was creating distance. It was subtle, but Katara could feel it. The instinct she was ignoring was telling her he was trying to hide something from them.

But that couldn't be right, could it?

"I'm sure he has a reason."

.

.

"Come on, move along!" Pipsqueak and Smellerbee shove a tied-up Sokka along a long path through the forest, surrounded by massive trees. Sokka stumbles but remains on his feet, glaring at them harshly.

All three are unaware of a pair of ice-blue eyes watching them.

"How can you stand by and do nothing while Jet wipes out a whole town? Innocent people are going to die!"

Smellerbee makes a complicated expression, but steels herself, "They're Fire Nation!"

"No, they're people, just like you and me."

At that, her resolve falters the smallest bit, remembering the old man and even some other people they'd done the same thing to because they were Fire Nation natives. While most were soldiers, others weren't. Despite how much she hated the fire nation, and how much they took from her and all of her friends, she couldn't see past their terrified expressions and pleas all the time.

In those moments, they weren't different, just a scared person having everything taken from them... by bad guys. Unlike what she tried to emulate, she didn't have a heart of stone. But she couldn't forget her hate, even if she knew, deep down, this was wrong.

"Hey, listen, Sokka, Jet's a great leader." Pipsqueak begins. He was a simple guy. Nothing had gone wrong before, and he didn't read into details. Leave the complicated stuff to Jet and the others. All he needed to do was listen. "We follow what he says, and things always turn out okay."

"Not this time," A voice comes from above, making all three of them look up. The last thing Pipsqueak sees is the blunt end of a familiar spear before he's slammed into the dirt. A well-placed, vicious blow to his head slumped him to the ground, leaving him unconscious.

"Ayaan!" Boy was Sokka happy to see him!

"Pipsqueak!" Smellerbee, however, was not. She was instantly on guard as Ayaan dropped down from the trees. "How long were you following us? Since when?!" She hadn't heard a thing, and that scared her. She'd been living in these woods for so long, and didn't even get the sense they were being followed. That was a terrifying thought.

Ayaan doesn't answer her, instead blitzing towards her in a show of impressive speed. He knew that Pipsqueak was very strong, so he was the first he needed to take out. That left the smaller Smellerbee to deal with. While she was quicker and smarter, that wouldn't help her against an opponent like Ayaan. Both of them knew this, hence the anxiety coursing through her.

"Hah!" She goes to swipe at him with her daggers, but he vanishes from her immediate line of sight. She only understood he went below it when the monstrous hit to her gut registers, making her empty the contents of her stomach.

"Ugh!" She collapses to the ground, reeling in pain before a blow knocks her out too. Ayaan held no hesitation. Within moments, they were both out of commission. Looking around, Ayaan spots a few traps.

Fueled with almost spiteful pettiness, he takes them by the tufts of their hair as they'd done to Sokka and drags them both across the ground. Just like that, he tosses them into the traps. Instantly, they're snapped up in cages and launched into the air, left to hang as they groan in pain.

"Ayaan!" Sokka runs up to hug him. He'd already been planning his escape with the traps, as he'd already gotten out of his binds, but it was a relief to see his brother here. "I had it, you know."

Ayaan braces his middle finger with his thumb, aiming as he builds up a forceful and precise pluck to Sokka's unprepared forehead, leaving a glaring red mark. "Ow ow OW! Why me?!"

"Why would you follow after them without backup?" Ayaan wasn't pleased.

"I thought I'd lose their trail if I waited too long. Sorry." Sokka looks down, a bit sheepish. He noticed that his brother's eyes were doing that thing again. He was angry, and worried, and it wasn't helping with his already irritable mood. There was hardly any mercy in his assault just now, swift and to the point. Sokka could still hear them both groaning.

Honestly, he felt a little bad for them for being on the receiving end of his brother's current wrath.

"Yeah, not the best plan," He agreed, "but I still had it. I could have gotten out of their ropes anytime with their terrible knotwork, I just wanted... to convince them of how wrong this was."

"Haah..." Ayaan sighs, "Some people have to see it to believe it."

They leave the dazed and groaning Freedom Fighters to swing in the traps. Running to get back to Katara and Aang, they lay out their plan. When everything was planned out, they went their separate ways, if only for a while.

.

.

"I bet that's enough, and I'm not just saying that to be lazy." Aang and Katara had just finished with the geysers, over a dozen of them flowing into the river. Usually, Aang would feel good having helped someone. But with Sokka and Ayaan's vehement distrust of Jet and his own growing suspicions, he didn't know what he was currently feeling.

Aang's growing crush on Katara was glaringly apparent for him by now. He loved how hardworking she was, but she could be impulsive in a way that was different from his own usual antics. Plus, he didn't like that she was so cozy with Jet, but he didn't want to interfere with her choices. She wasn't his to claim, and she was free to like whoever she wanted no matter how much that would hurt him.

But this... felt wrong. Jet gave off a weird vibe and it wasn't just him noticing it. He trusted Ayaan deeply, in a way he had yet to understand. It felt like he'd known the teen forever, trust came naturally.

And then there was that entity before, the one speaking through Ayaan. Aang remembered the anger vividly. It called him a different name, someone from another life. Or maybe something. Had he done something wrong in another life? Had he hurt Ayaan in some way, or someone that was like Ayaan?

He didn't know, but something was up. Maybe because he'd encountered this disturbing feeling, he could pinpoint it easily with Jet the moment the suspicion was made clear.

Katara, however, felt great about her achievement. Filling the reservoir was a testament to her gained foundations in waterbending. She'd worked so hard, and finally felt she had something to show for it.

But she too didn't feel right for some reason. The pit in her stomach gnawed at her, and her brother's silence did too. After their argument, Ayaan hadn't said a word to her. She didn't even see him when she woke up this morning.

Usually, he was up before all of them. It may be from his lack of sleep, but it had become the norm for both of them to do the morning chores together before everyone else got up. Yet today, she couldn't even find him after she woke, neither him nor Sokka. It wasn't completely unusual but now, slowly, it was bothering her.

So, she finally decided to investigate the feeling she was having, trying to prove it wrong. "Let's catch up with Jet at the reservoir."

"I thought you would meet him at the hideout like he said." Aang is surprised, but Katara is dismissive of it, not giving anything to his inquisitive glance.

"Well, we finished early. I'm sure he'll be happy to see us." She inferred, but deep down there was doubt. She ignored it, continuing on, "We can go back to the Hideout together since it'll be night soon anyway."

Neither of them was sure her thought was true, but neither of them was stopping. Both, without saying anything, wanted to know the truth.

When they got there, hidden by the cliffside, they see Jet's people unloading barrels from a wagon. They were working diligently, careful and meticulous with every barrel they got down.

"What are they doing?" She asked, watching them arrange the barrels in confusion.

Thinking back, Aang replies, "The Duke called that stuff "blasting jelly", they got it from their raid before, I think."

Katara is even more confused, "...Why would they need blasting jelly?"

Aang takes in all of the details. As the seconds tick on, the answer becomes even more clear. The dam, the reservoir they just filled, the bombs, the town just beyond it, Ayaan's bad feeling, Sokka story, Jet's suspiciousness, and what the other Freedom Fighters were doing right now. Everything falls into place in a horrifying picture.

"Because Jet's gonna blow up the dam."

"What?" Dread sets within her, every doubt she had surfacing in a tidal wave. "No, that would destroy the town. Jet wouldn't do that."

"Ayaan was right, Katara." But Aang wasn't having it this time. He gave her a look, a final decision. No matter how much he liked her and wanted to keep her safe, this was the truth. He tells her firmly. "Sokka and Ayaan were both right. I've gotta stop him."

Katara stumbles behind him, dazed as the truth sets in slowly, "Jet wouldn't do that..."

"Yes," They turn to see Jet behind them, a neutral and calculating expression on his face, "I would." With a precise aim and skill, Jet uses his hook swords to snatch the glider out of Aang's grasp. The sudden move almost knocked him from the cliff had it not been for his Airbending.

"You're not going anywhere without your glider." Jet quickly bounds into the trees, the airbender following close behind. Nimbly, their chase continues through the branches, Aang desperate to get his glider back.

Aang knew there was no time for him to be passive. People would die if he did. If he didn't use his bending offensively right now, a whole town of innocent people would be washed away. He would have helped in the plan to kill them all. He couldn't let that happen! Ayaan had instilled when it was time to fight and when peace was viable. Right now wasn't it. So while he didn't want to hurt Jet, he would fight, because he had to.

Aang goes after him as he bounds into the trees, going more offensive than he ever had before. Gathering air in his palms, he pushed it forward at his opponent, leaving dents in the tree bark. Jet had a subtle sweat on his brow by how close each hit got, knowing they'd do damage if they reached him.

The ambassador of fun was playing any games. Not now. The fun-loving kid was replaced with a warrior in training. But even so, Jet was no pushover. As the little monk reaches for the glider in Jet's hands, he has to quickly evade the blades of the hook swords. Hook to hook Jet swings them about to regain distance, ripping the bark of the tree branches they hit.

Aang somersaults backward to avoid the extra reach, throwing a punch through the air. Jet has to swiftly avoid the hit as it tears through the branches. Ayaan had ben instilling these moves into him, more offensive ways of bending should he ever need it. This called for being on the attack, even if it was just to disable. He needed his glider to fly, or people would be drowned in the man made flood Jet was planning.

The flood he and Katara had helped become a real possibility.

He couldn't allow that to happen. Aang pushed off currents of air, landing in a nearby tree, "I don't want to hurt you, Jet."

But Jet taunts him, unmoved by how horrible this all was. "You'll have to if you want your glider back."

He knew how kind Aang was, and was trying to use that against him. Maybe he'd always been using that against him, and it left a sick pit in Aang's stomach. He could have never imagined someone being that twisted.

Ayaan could, even if it was just a feeling. He hadn't liked Jet since the beginning. It wasn't that he hadn't before, but Aang promised himself to believe those feelings of his wholeheartedly from now on.

"Stop this!"

"No." Jet retreats again, Aang follows after.

On the ground, Katara is trying to follow them. A tsunami of dread and anguish twists in her gut as all of the signs become apparent. This is what her brothers were talking about. The talks, the compliments, all of that was just Jet trying to win her over, and she fell for it hook, line, and sinker like a fool. She'd been stupid, and no amount of apologizing was going to help mend the bonds she broke with her stubbornness.

This was a choice she was going to have to live with, and that's why Ayaan stopped trying. She'd made her brother stop trying to persuade her. How could she be so dumb? The things she said blindly following her emotions made her ill, for a crush on a boy.

"We have to stop him...!" With those thoughts in mind, she rushes after them in the trees, just barely able to keep up.

The full moon slowly rose in the budding night sky, the air chilling as a certain someone steadily made his way toward the scene.