The sun had set long before Aang had said goodbye to his new friend. The Avatar in disguise waved a qyick farewell to them before he'd hurridly spun on his heals, dashing through the empty streets with ease. It was dark out by this point, and the young Airbender nearly stumbled over his own two feet, heart pounding heavily in his ears a sudden, uneasey feeling began kreepibg up his sspine, clawing its way up into his throat, and turning his blood fo ice in hus vins.

With an increasing sence of terror spiking across his subconcious, along with the insistonce, near-silant whispers, ones that were begining to sound suspiciously like a cry of warning. The sharpness of the tugging feeling warning of danger ar the back of his mind was begining to make the young 12-year-old Airbender feel a bit on edge.

The seemily never-ending tuging sentions crying out for Aang to be warry and vigolint, were now starting to really creep him out. Now unsure of what to expect to come out of this whole endever: The young Avatar increaaed his runnung speed times three.

He knew it was a huge risk by using his Airbending to increese his speed, but right now: Aang didn't particularly care at the momt, as he dashed out of rhe village outscirts, prackticjly bolting through the the darkened open landscape as he ran at lightning speed towards the their temperary home, using the shadows for cover as he hurriedly began making his way back to the cave that Aang, himself, and the rest of the Gaang, had all annanously agreed to stay in for the time being.

Doing so was the only safe way for them to recover themselves, (Both physically, and mentallt), hopefully, but not likely. Especiaysely, if one passerby just so happened to see the chasos, and then that same person were to also go out and do something about taking into acount that the world was sending child soldgers into battle!

Grinning widely to himself, the young Avatar used his airbending to lower himself a little closer to the ground before jumping down the rest of the way and letting gravity pull him along.

Thanks to Toph's earthbending lessons, Aang could feel Katara's vibrations move the very second she heard Aang entering the cave. And oh boy! She did not look happy at all.

"Where have you been? We've been worried sick!" Katara started shouting right off the bat without giving the airbender a chance to say a word. "If you remember, you just recovered from getting hit with lightning! And not to mention we're undercover! You're the Avatar, Aang. We can't afford to take any risks and let our guards down! We're in Fire Nation territory for spirits sake!" She cried furiously, scowling angrily at the young boy in front of her and throwing her arms up into the air.

She opened her mouth to continue yelling at the airbender but Aang cut her off before she could continue. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" The airbender shouted at the top of his lungs, scowling angrily and tossing his bandana to the side and throwing his arms up into the air wildly as Momo landed on his shoulder. "Just stop talking Katara!" Aang took a deep breath before speaking in a quieter tone. "I know what I'm doing! And yes, of course I remember getting struck by lightning! I'm not an idiot!" He crossed his arms over his chest and continued, "I'm also aware that I'm the gosh darn Avatar already! For spirits sake, I was almost 12 when the monks told me! They told me about my destiny three years earlier than they should've! So yeah, of course I know that already! And just for the record, I don't need you to baby-sit me every second of every day! I can take care of myself just fine!"

Silence was the only thing that followed after Aang's sudden outburst. For quite a while afterwords, nobody said so much as a single word. They had nothing to say in response to what the Avatar had spoken. But a few minutes or so later, somebody finally spoke up. And sure enough, just like usual, it was Katara who opened her mouth first. Of course it was Katara! Who else would it be?

"Sheesh, Aang! All I was asking was where have you been all day! You don't need to tell me your whole life story 'Mr. Airbending Master'." Her blue eyes were glaring daggers into Aang's very soul and it made him want to run and hide. "We're here to gather information, not to be goofing off all day! Ugh! Why don't you get that this isn't a vacation! It's just a place for us to lay-low for a while! You're such an ill-mannered child holding onto traditions that haven't been around for years! You need to wake up and look around you! This isn't the air temple, Aang! It's the gosh dang Fire Nation! They have different rules here!"

Aang's eyes lowered to the floor and he clenched his hands tightly at his sides. Had she really just said that? Did she really just see him as a child that needed a baby-sitter 24/7?

A whirlwind of negative thoughts swirled around in the young Avatar's brain and he felt his eyes start to water. He swallowed hard, clenching his eyes tightly shut and taking a few deep breaths in through his nose. He needed to be strong! He needed to get everything out that he both wanted and desperately needed to say before he lost it all together.

"You can't run away from this either, Aang. Running away won't solve anything! We need to make a plan to defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes." The water tribe girl added in after a short pause. "You need to grow up and learn to be more than a spineless cowered!"

That last comment hit harder than the rest of her words had, and it made the young airbender flinch backwards as if he'd been struck in the face. He just stared up at Katara with a hint of betrayal etched onto his face. He swallowed the lump that formed in the back of his throat and choked back a sob. The Avatar took a few steps backwards, wincing a little bit as he felt the stone wall collide with his back. He didn't meet either Toph or Sokka's worried gaze as he tried to get as far away from the water tribe girl as he possibly could.

He felt his hands begin to shake and he tried not to panic as he felt his chest constrict tightly against his airway. He gasped for air, choking back another sob as his vision started to blurr with unshed tears. The airbender lowered his head and gritted his teeth, whimpering pitifully as hot, salty tears sprung to the corners of his eyes.

"That's enough Sugar Queen! Stop yelling at Twinkletoes!" Toph cried out in a desperate attempt to stop the oncoming storm that was about to be unleashed. "You're just gonna make it worse if you keep yelling at him!"

But her cries went unheard and it was Aang who finally made a move and spoke up, his eyes shining with moisture and his heart rate echoing loudly in the blind earthbender's ears. Toph could feel something churning inside her stomach, making her head spin and her breath get caught in her throat. Something was going to happen, something really bad, and Toph wasn't sure if she knew what to do or how to stop the coming storm.

Aang's head shot up like a bolt of lightning and his stormy grey eyes flashed dangerously like a raging tempest. "DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?" He nearly shrieked, the winds picking up dangerously behind him and fueling the hurricane of emotions that had been locked away for so long. "I know that I have to defeat the fire lord! But how in the name of spirits am I supposed to do that when I can't even firebend? Or have you forgotten that I can't do that without a teacher who knows how to use said fire element?" By this point, tears were rolling down the Avatar's face like a waterfall, seeming to be like the water itself, endless and never-ending. His head lowered and his face turned a deep shade of red in a mix of shame and embarrassment.

"Hey, I have an idea! Couldn't you just use your airbending mumbo jumbo or something like that to finish him off without a huge fight breaking out?" Sokka offered up with a small shrug of his shoulders. "Isn't there like a way to take the air out of someone's lungs?"

Upon hearing the question given to him by the older water tribe sibling, the airbender's whole body froze in place like an ice sculpture and he normally calm expression shattered into a thousand tiny little peaces.

"I-I-I uh..." He stammered over his words, still trying to process everything that was happening around him. "T-there is a way to do that, yes. B-but I-it's a forbidden move. The monks made sure that nobody but the elders knew about it." His voice was so quiet that it was barely audible to their ears, but Toph could sense something hidden deep beneath the surface that Aang was trying so desperately to keep bottled up.

And because of that fact, she decided to speak up for the first time. "Can you two please just shut your pie holes for a few minutes?" She yelled rather loudly for her small size. "You're both gonna give Twinkletoes a heart attack at this rate! Can't you tell that he looks about ready to keel over?"

The 12-year-old blind earthbender was right, the two water tribe members realized with a flash of guilt, as they finally paused to really got a good look at the boy in question. He looked as white as a ghost and his hands were clenched so tightly that his fingernails were drawing blood. His stormy grey eyes were red-rimmed and tear stains lined his face as more and more tears fell from his eyes.

In all honesty, the Avatar looked absolutely horrible. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks, his eyes had dark circles under them, and his face seemed a lot paler than normal.

"I-I'm gonna take a little walk to clear my head." Aang eventually managed to get enough air into his lungs to speak properly again. "I-I need some fresh air and some time alone for a while." And with those last few words, the young 12-year-old Air Nomad spun on his heals and walked out of the cave. Before he left though, he quickly grabbed his headband from off of the floor and tied it securely around his forehead before walking outside into the awaiting nightfall.