Dash lay inside a cave, shivering more from fear than the cold. He'd noticed that cold and heat didn't really bother him much. He wondered if it was an airbender thing.

He'd never slept outside before. Every small noise outside made his heart rate spike, as he worried it was something coming to eat him. He curled up into a tight ball. He wanted his bed. He wanted his mother.

His chest ached, heavy with the knowledge that he would never see Mirage again. Or hear her voice. Or feel her arms locked around him.

Mirage's lullaby went through his head. Haunting, but comforting.

"You may never be mine

But you're always on my mind

I love you, I'll love you for all time

So fly across the sky

Find where you belong tonight

And maybe I'll see you shining bright"

~~~~

Alberto walked through the forest. He hadn't slept at all. He'd just walked all night, fueled by his fury. Luca's voice fired through his head non-stop.

You don't know how to do anything! And you must know that!

You're jealous that I'm better than you! You want me to stoop to your level but I won't!

Who did Luca think he was? He wouldn't know anything if it wasn't for Alberto. Years ago, Alberto had stepped in to show him his waterbending potential when no one else had. And Alberto was the one who had given Luca the courage to even leave the South Pole in the first place.

But mostly, he was angry at himself. For being so useless, for screwing up the mission, for screwing up their friendship. Just like he screwed up everything else.

Luca's voice went through his head again. You don't know how to do anything! You useless moron! You ruined everything!

You want me to stoop to your level! Be as stupid and pathetic as you! But I won't!

He kicked a pebble. It hit a tree and bounced off. That seemed to break open the floodgates that were holding back his rage. The next thing he knew, he was attacking the tree, releasing all of the anger he'd been holding in all night. He tore at the branches and punched the trunk until his knuckles were bleeding. The pain made him angrier, but it also felt good in a strange kind of way.

The bushes behind him rustled. He whirled around angrily. "Go away, Luca!" He wasn't in the mood to talk.

Someone emerged. It wasn't Luca. It was an elderly woman, the oldest person Alberto had ever seen. Probably the oldest person alive, he thought. She looked like a witch. Her face was a web of creases and wrinkles, deeper than the Great Divide. Her bulbous nose had a large wart on it, and her cavernous mouth only had a small smattering of teeth.

He spat and held the droplet out in front of him defensively. "Stay back! Unless you want a taste of this!"

"You're a waterbender," she said.

"Yeah."

She waved her hand, tossing his spit droplet away. He looked at her in surprise. She was also a waterbender.

"I sense you're very angry," she said.

He grunted. "I guess you could say that."

"There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I can show you how to use it," she said.

He cocked his head at her. "Use it?"

"I sense great potential in you," she said.

"Really?" Alberto said. He put his hands on his hips. "I mean, of course. I am destined to be a powerful bender. A fortune teller told me that."

She smiled and beckoned him closer. "Perfect. Come with me." She looked up at the sky. "In a few weeks, I'll show you real power."

"Okay." He followed her through the trees.

"What's your name, boy?"

"Alberto."

"I'm Moira. Tell me, why are you so angry?"

He sighed. "It's complicated."

She didn't press him. All she said was, "Hold onto it. You'll need it."

He followed her to her house. A crooked little cottage in the middle of the forest. He looked around. "Is this that haunted forest that guy was talking about?"

"Haunted?" Moira chuckled. "It's not haunted. But the rumors do give me peace and quiet at least."

Inside the house was a mess. The furniture was all crowded together, shelves and tables and random chairs. And it smelled weird, almost like something rotting. He shrugged this off. Old people's stuff probably just smelled like that.

The weirdest thing was the puppets. Strewn about, in every corner, on every surface, were puppets of all shapes and sizes, all hand-carved out of wood.

"I enjoy woodcarving," she said when she saw him staring. She picked up an unfinished puppet and whittled away at it. In a few minutes, she was done. She held it up. It looked like him, with tall curly hair and wide freckled cheeks, but the scowl on its face surprised him. That wasn't how he pictured himself at all. Did he really look that angry and bitter? He supposed he shouldn't be surprised that all his rage was showing on his face, but he thought he was better at hiding these things.

She made him something to eat. A grey slab of meat. He poked it and sniffed it curiously. "What is it?"

"A…Fire Nation special," she said.

He ripped off a piece and ate it. It tasted like chicken. He quickly finished it, using his hands instead of the fork she'd provided.

"So why do you live out here?" he asked.

"I like the quiet," she said. "Nobody poking their nose into your business. Or threatening to imprison you or burn you for witchcraft."

"Why do you live in the Fire Nation?"

"I was stolen from my home in the South Pole."

"You're from the South Pole?" Alberto said. "So am I! I've never met another Southern waterbender. I mean…except for…" He faltered. "A friend of mine. A past friend." He sighed again.

"The Fire Nation took most of our benders prisoner, decades before you were even born," Moira said. "I was one of the last. They kept me imprisoned for years, but through my own resourcefulness, I escaped."

"Why did you stay here?"

"Unfinished business," she said vaguely. "Now tell me, why are you here?"

"I was…helping someone," Alberto said, unsure if he should tell her the details. "A girl, an amazing girl. I…really let her down." He looked down at his plate. "Then I had a fight with my friend Luca. He accused me of trying to screw him over on purpose, and he thinks he's better than me just 'cause he's a better bender." He realized he was clenching his fists, so tightly his knuckles were turning white.

"Well, maybe he'll change his tune once I teach you a new bending technique that I know," Moira said. "Very few have ever mastered it, but I think you have the temperament."

Alberto jumped out of his chair. "When do we start? I'm ready!"

"Not so fast," she chuckled. "I'll tell you when the time is right. For now, all you need to do is practice bending whatever water you can find. And hold on to that anger."

That wouldn't be a problem. He didn't think this simmering, burning anger would ever go away. It was part of him now, coursing through his veins just like his blood. Maybe it had always been part of him, just buried extremely deep down under a mountain of false confidence and humor and nonchalance. Now it was out in the open, and he couldn't put it back even if he wanted to. He wasn't sure if he wanted to or not. Acknowledging it felt scary but exhilarating at the same time. Like finally meeting someone you'd been circling for a long time. A new friend to replace the one he'd lost.

That night, Moira gave him a bed in the corner of her room. He hadn't had a real bed for as long as he could remember. He curled up in it and fell asleep right away, exhausted from walking and carrying the weight of his anger.

His sleep was fitful, plagued by nightmares. It started with his fight with Luca, in vivid detail. He could hear the venom in every word Luca was spitting.

Then, suddenly, he was made of wood. He was still with Luca, but now he was a puppet, with strings attached to his limbs. Luca was turning into a puppet too. Someone he couldn't see was jerking on the strings, making him walk toward Luca, and then they were fighting. A physical fight, taking swings at each other, which he knew neither of them wanted to do.

Then he was sitting alone on an island, with the sense that he'd been there for years, isolated and alone. He could see a village across the water, but the waters were too choppy to swim across.

The sand beneath his feet started to swirl, and he was sucked down. He was already up to his waist, and sinking fast.

He cried out for help even though no one was there. Then, two figures approached. Luca. And Alberto's father.

Alberto's heart leapt. He knew they wouldn't abandon him. "Help! Please…" He didn't even care if they couldn't save him. He just wanted to see that they would reach for his hand. That would be enough.

Instead, they just stood there, watching as he continued to sink. His heart sickened. He stopped fighting against the sand. They didn't care, so why should he?

Alberto opened his eyes, immediately awake. His heart was racing. He couldn't breathe.

It's not real. It was just a dream. But he couldn't shake the pain in his chest, the feeling that there was nobody who truly cared about him anymore. His mother was dead, and he barely even remembered her at all. His father had never liked him. His best friend hated him. Violet probably hated him too, for screwing up her only chance to get her brother back.

Alberto buried his face in his pillow. Don't cry. Don't cry.

Suddenly, Moira was beside him. "There, there." She stroked his hair.

He didn't look at her. But he relaxed a little and started to breathe again.

"You've been hurt by the world. I can tell," Moira said sadly. Her voice hardened. "But they'll all get theirs. The moon will make sure of that."

Alberto didn't know what this meant, but he didn't care. He sat up and hugged her. She was reaching out. That was enough.

~~~~

It had been a week since the eclipse and the failed invasion. They'd spent most of that time just lying around in a depressed slump. Woody and Buzz flew out periodically to look for the Boiling Rock, but they couldn't find it.

One morning, they all awoke to loud crashes and banging from outside. They went outside to see what was going on. Two people were standing by the airship, trying to open the door to the gondola.

"Don't break it, Sulley," the shorter one said.

"I'm not going to, Mike."

"You said that about the last vehicle we found."

"What are you doing?!" Violet yelled.

They screamed and turned around.

"We were just looking!" Mike said, throwing his hands in the air. "We definitely weren't planning on stealing it or anything."

"You better not have been," Buzz snapped.

Luca pointed at Mike and Sulley. "Hey, you're the guys who burned down our village!"

"And we're so sorry about that," Sulley said. "Really." He got down on his knees, holding his hands out in supplication. "We've changed. We don't do that stuff anymore."

Ian stomped the ground. Rocks burst out of the earth around Mike and Sulley, surrounding their limbs and trapping them.

"Ow! We said we were sorry!" Mike said.

Ian took a menacing step forward. "You're Fire Nation soldiers?"

"I mean, not anymore, but yeah," Mike said.

"Tell us everything you know about the Boiling Rock," Ian demanded.

"The Boiling Rock?! That's the worst prison in the Fire Nation!" Mike exclaimed.

"We sent a lot of people there," Sulley said. "A lot of prisoners of war." He didn't even want to think of how many people he'd captured and shipped off there.

"Why do you want to know about that place?" Mike asked.

"Because my brother was taken there," Ian said, trembling with anger.

"Oh," Sulley said quietly.

"Well, I hate to be a downer, but he's probably dead," Mike said. "And if he's not, he's probably wishing he was."

Ian sucked in a breath. Surely, that couldn't be true. They were probably just trying to get to him, to throw him off balance so they could escape.

"Do you know where it is?" Violet asked. "The Boiling Rock?"

Sulley nodded.

Ian grabbed Sulley's shoulder and shook him. "Take us! Now!"

"Hold on," Mike said. "You can't just waltz into the highest-security prison in the Fire Nation and hope to survive!"

"Well, help us, then," Ian said.

"Okay," Sulley said, nodding.

"I am not going to the Boiling Rock!" Mike said. "You have to be out of your mind, Sul. We're already pushing it by being in the Fire Nation at all. Imagine if someone saw us."

"Come on, Mike, he needs our help," Sulley said. "We're the only ones who know enough about the Boiling Rock to help him." He glanced at Luca. "And, well, it would be nice to do something good. To start making up for the things we've done."

"Fine," Mike sighed. "But we're not going until I come up with a foolproof plan."

Ian released them.

Mike immediately started pacing. "We could…no, no. Too dangerous. Maybe…no, too obvious. We'd be spotted immediately."

"This could take a while," Sulley said.

Mike mumbled to himself some more, then snapped his fingers impatiently. "Someone get me some paper and ink!"

~~~~

Alberto followed Moira through the woods again. His heart was quaking with anxious anticipation. She'd told him tonight was the night she was finally going to show him the powerful technique she'd been talking about. What if he couldn't do it? She'd probably kick him out of her house if he failed. He couldn't let that happen.

She still hadn't told him exactly what the technique was or what it did. He wondered why she was being so secretive about it. It had better be impressive after all this buildup.

They stopped in a wide clearing. The full moon shone down brightly.

Moira looked up at the sky. "This technique can only be done during a full moon, when our bending is strongest."

"Oh," Alberto said. That was a little disappointing.

She raised her arm and twisted her wrist sharply. A figure came stumbling out of the trees. A man, his eyes wide with terror, controlled by a force not his own, as if being pulled by a string. Alberto looked back at Moira. He didn't know how, but she was waterbending him.

Alberto stared at the man as he staggered around. The sight made Alberto feel a bit queasy. But he couldn't look away. "How…how are you doing that?"

"Bloodbending," Moira said. The word sent a chill down Alberto's spine. "With enough determination, you can control the blood in people's bodies and bend them to your will. How do you think I escaped prison?"

Alberto's eyes widened. "You're the one who was controlling that man in town! You've been making people disappear!"

"Yes. But what of it? They're just Fire Nation brutes."

Alberto wasn't sure about that. It wasn't like the man was a soldier or a member of the royal family. He was just a regular civilian. All of the people she'd kidnapped were.

She motioned for Alberto to approach the man. "Now you try it."

Alberto hesitated. He didn't know if he wanted to learn this. But if he didn't try, she would probably leave him, and he really couldn't bear the thought of being alone again. He felt paralyzed with indecision.

"Think of what they've done to our culture! Our people! Our home!" Moira urged. "They deserve retribution!"

He stared at her blankly.

"Revenge! They deserve to be punished!"

He still wasn't sure if that was true. These people hadn't done anything to him. But he supposed the Fire Nation as a whole did deserve it. And maybe they were partially to blame for not standing up to the Firelord. He wasn't quite sure if he actually believed this, or if he was just telling himself that so he wouldn't feel guilty.

"Think of the privilege of knowing such a rare technique," Moira said. "Your friend will be in awe of your power."

Alberto envisioned Luca staring at him with wide-eyed wonder as he showed off his new power. Just like the good old days. Or even if he didn't, at least he would never again be able to say Alberto didn't know anything.

Alberto took a shaky breath. "Well…okay."

Moira smiled. "Good boy. Now. Unlike regular waterbending, bloodbending doesn't rely on fancy stances or anything like that. Just raw emotion."

He could do that.

"Look at your target. Try to sense the water inside of their body."

Alberto looked at the man and tried to search his body for water. He felt like he could sense the man's blood, but he wasn't sure.

"Now dig into your hatred, and bitterness! Focus on what enrages you, let it feed!"

Alberto thought of his argument with Luca. Luca's words and accusations cut through his mind like a knife. Hot stabs of anger seared his chest.

He thought back even further, to the day his father left. Suddenly, he was eleven again, standing on the ice shelf, watching his father sail away. Leaving his son alone in a war zone.

Take me with you! Please!

Why would I bring you? You won't be of any use to me. Your bending is terrible. And if anyone finds out you're a bender, it'll just get both of us in trouble.

But…but what am I supposed to do? His voice sounded so small and weak. Had he really sounded like that? Or was that just how he remembered it?

His father didn't even look back as he replied. You're old enough to be on your own.

Alberto's body was so tense it felt like he would break. He looked at the man in front of him. His people were responsible for the war. The one that had killed Alberto's mother, the one that had caused his father to run away.

Moira gripped his shoulder. Her long nails dug into him, but he couldn't feel it. His body felt numb and not like his own. "Now! Seize his blood and twist it to your will!"

Alberto's hand flew up. The man winced as he was jerked upward, his back arching. Alberto moved his hand outward. The man staggered in that direction.

He was doing it! He was controlling the man's body like a puppet. He made the man crawl along the ground like a spider. It took concentration, but it didn't require much thinking, which he liked.

A twinge of guilt went through him when he saw the man's face twisted in pain. But he was from the Fire Nation, and they were the bad guys, so it was okay.

"You've got it!" Moira beamed.

Alberto smiled as a dark, twisted pride filled him. Finally, he knew something nobody else did. Giulia and Lucius had nothing on this.

He tightened his grip on the man and shoved him to the ground, making him bow. The power rush was incredible. He'd never felt so alive.

His bending wasn't so bad now, was it? His father and Luca were wrong.

"Want to test your new power out there?" Moira asked, pointing in the direction of the village.

Alberto grinned. "Absolutely."

~~~~

After days of anguishing over their situation, Mike finally had a plan. He'd considered maybe getting themselves arrested on purpose, then decided against it. He'd eventually decided the best way was for them to fly in under the cover of night on Buzz's airship, which hopefully looked enough like a Fire Nation ship that the guards wouldn't question it. They would steal uniforms and split up to cover the most ground. They'd make some excuse to move the prisoners, and then they'd fly away.

"Good plan, Mike," Sulley said. "I think that'll work."

"I don't think Violet should go anywhere near the Boiling Rock," Ian said. "The Fire Nation is probably looking for her. And I don't want anyone else getting hurt trying to help me and Barley. So I'll go with Mike and Sulley, and the rest of you should stay here."

"The full moon is tonight," Violet said. "So that means people might start disappearing again. Now's our chance to investigate that. Luca, your powers are stronger during the full moon, right? So can you come with me?"

He nodded.

"Okay," Sulley said. "Let's go."

Ian's heart rate quickened as he entered the airship. The thought of being alone with two ex-Fire Nation soldiers made him extremely nervous, even if they were claiming to be on his side.

Sulley piloted the ship while Mike gave him directions. Ian studied a map of the inside of the Boiling Rock Mike had drawn from memory. There were hundreds of cells. Barley could be in any of them.

They also had cold isolation chambers to punish the prisoners, an interrogation room, labor yards, and rooms just labeled "torture chambers." Ian wanted to ask Mike what that was, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

A few hours later, Sulley pointed. "There it is!"

Ian looked out. They were approaching what looked like a volcano. Inside was an island on a lake of boiling water. An impressive metal building took up most of the island. Thick clouds of steam rose off the lake.

"This steam should give us good cover and let us sneak in," Mike said as Sulley steered down into the volcano.

They landed inside the barbed wire fence surrounding the prison. Sulley hid the airship the best he could behind a wall. Ian looked around nervously as they stepped out of the ship. There was no turning back now.

He looked up at the menacing building towering over them. Barley was in there somewhere. After a month, he would finally see his brother again.

The prison courtyard was just around the corner, unguarded. They could slip in there and then find their way inside the building.

"Ready?" Sulley said.

Ian nodded. "Ready."

Mike grunted. "As I'll ever be, I guess." He muttered something about letting them talk him into this, then stepped forward into the courtyard.