Chapter 18

She marched her way over to the prison tower within the capital city. She marched with confidence and resolve, seeking answers from a source she once considered unreliable.

But deep down Azula was nervous. She had to breathe deeply to control her body from shaking. Oh how her father would look down on her for this…

A guard called down to Azula and warned her to turn away. She ignored him and preceded inside. When she arrived at the level where he was imprisoned. Another guard noticed her.

"Halt!" he commanded. "No one is allowed here!"

Azula raised her head, allowing to see her face from underneath the hood she wore to disguise herself.

"Princess Azula!" the guard said in shock. Before he could react, Azula grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. She gave him a deathly glare.

"I am going to visit my uncle," she growled at him, "and no one will know about this."

The guard shook his head in fear, knowing well enough not to cross Princess Azula. When she released him, he hurriedly open the cell door and allowed her inside.

She took a deep breath before walking inside, where the guard closed the door but left it unlatched.

Azula lowered her hood and said, "Evening Uncle."

She expected him to scowl at her, to curse at her, maybe even firebend at her. Or at the very least to turn away from her.

Instead, Iroh gave her a kindly smile. "Hello my niece. It is a pleasure to see you" he genuinely said.

Azula was unsure what to make of his gesture. Was he playing a game? Or was he actually being nice to her because he simply wanted to?

"You seem happy to see me" she said cautiously.

"Well I am actually" he replied shyly.

An awkward silence lingered between them. Neither were sure if the other could be trusted or believed.

But they were both willing to try.

Iroh sighed. "I know I haven't been a great uncle to you…"

"Well it's good you recognize that" Azula said with mild bitterness.

"And I am truly sorry for that Azula" Iroh said.

Azula eyed him, trying to see if he truly was playing a game with her somehow, trying to see if she had any information on Zuko, the Avatar or their friends.

But the longer Azula tried to read him for a lie, the more she realized his apology was sincere.

"You truly mean that?" she asked.

"Yes" Iroh said softly. "I realized that if I had been a larger presence in your life, then maybe what happened between you and Zuko could have been avoided."

Regret filled Azula's heart as she recalled striking down her brother with lightning. She always felt ashamed for doing that, because despite their differences and conflict, Zuko was still her brother.

And now that guilt and shame came boiling to the top.

She collapsed to her knees and began sobbing into her hands. Iroh got as close as he could but the bars to his cell prevent him from reaching her.

"I'm so sorry uncle" Azula croaked. "I don't know why I hurt Zu-Zu like I did but…"

"It's okay my niece" Iroh said reassuringly. "It was not your fault."

Azula's head shot up and she stared at Iroh in confusion. "How-how is it not my fault?"

"It is your father's fault" Iroh said sadly. "He manipulated you and Zuko into believing you must compete with each other to be his favorite. And somewhere along the way, it turned into a war."

"But how did this happen?" Azula asked. "Why did it have to go this far?"

Iroh sighed in defeat. After spending months meditating in his cell, he came to a deep and painful realization.

"It's because I also had a hand in it" Iroh admitted.

"You?"

"Yes, me" Iroh said before breathing deeply. "Your grandfather favored me over Ozai, which caused a war of sorts to brew between us. No matter how hard your father tried, he could never gain Azulon's favor. And it seems history has repeated itself because I did nothing to change its course."

Azula sat there for a moment, contemplating her uncle's words. For what she gathered, there was nothing Iroh could have done to change his father's favoritism of him over Ozai. But if Iroh claimed to have done nothing to change it…

"You feel that if you had been a better brother," she mused, "then this conflict, this war, between Zuko and I could have been prevented, because you tried to get along with my father."

"Yes" Iroh said, before a horrid thought occurred to him. "But not entirely."

"What do you mean?" Azula asked.

"It is because of our family's legacy Azula" Iroh said. "One that started with your great-grandfathers over one hundred years ago."

"What does Sozin have to do with causing our family legacy to be tarnished?" Azula asked. She was well familiar with Sozin and how he started this war, a war he claimed to spread the Fire Nation's greatness. But she learned, rather painfully, that all it did was cause pain and destruction.

"It was because of his best friend, Avatar Roku" Iroh answered.

Azula sighed deeply, somewhat annoyed at Iroh's cryptic answers. But out of wanting to improve her relationship with him, in honor of both Zuko and their cousin Lu-Ten, she played along.

"I know that Sozin and Roku were best friends," Azula said, "and I know that Sozin betrayed and let Roku die so the Avatar was less of a threat to the Fire Nation. But how does the conflict between Zuko and I have to do with them?"

"Just as Sozin was your father's grandfather," Iroh said, "your mother's grandfather was Avatar Roku."

Azula's eyes widen in shock and she suddenly felt dizzy and sick to her stomach.

It made perfect sense. It all made perfect sense. How she was powerful firebender, and how the conflict brewed between her and Zuko was one in the making for over a hundred years.

She wanted to rebuked against Iroh's claim. She wanted to go into a state of denial, for she had trouble accepting this new truth.

But in her heart, she found no reason to not believe her uncle.

She raked her hands through her hair and attempted to massage her scalp due the headache she now had.

"What should I do now?" Azula said with confusion and uncertainty. It was the first time in her life that she could not decide on a course of action.

"That is for you to decide my niece" Iroh answered. "Do you wish for this war to go on forever, or do you wish to end it all for the greater good?"

Azula clenched her fists on her lap, knowing she wanted this war, the one between her nation and the world and between her and Zuko to end, but she also wanted her nation to retain its greatness and continue to thrive.

She looked up at Iroh and gave him the kindest smile she ever had.

"Thank you, Uncle Iroh. I know what I have to do now" she said before standing and bowing to Iroh. She turned on her heels to leave, a dangerous but potentially rewarding plan forming in her mind.

"The first thing about firebending," Zuko began to lecture to Aang, "is not to fear it."

"Okay" Aang said with slight uncertainty. "Do not fear fire." He recalled vividly when he accidentally burned Katara while he tried to learn from Jeong-Jeong. Katara had forgiven Aang long ago, and he had forgiven himself for it too.

But he still was just a bit uneasy.

"Alright" Zuko said. "Let's see any fire you can make, and we'll go from there."

Aang took up a stance he remembered Jeong-Jeong taught him and punched out into the air. A small plum of fire shot out from Aang's fist.

"Not bad" Zuko said. "I wasn't expecting anything."

"You weren't?" Aang said indignant.

"Nope" Zuko said. "I didn't produce any fire on my first try, so you're off to a better start than I am."

"Well I am the Avatar…" Aang said.

"Don't get cocky" Zuko reprimanded. "Now let's go through some basic movements."

Aang followed Zuko closely as the latter led the former through several basic steps and forms. Since the invasion was going to take place during the eclipse, Zuko elected to show Aang more defensive forms, blocking and redirecting fire. Having mastered the other three elements, Aang was quick to pick up on the forms and was able to redirect every shot Zuko sent his way.

"Nicely done" Zuko said with a small smirk, for both Aang's progress and his own ability to teach.

"I see Zuko is bringing the heat around here" Katara teased as she walked up to Zuko. He blushed a bit before she brought him down for a kiss.

"And I can sense Twinkle-toes is holding his own" Toph said before jumping into Aang's arms. He laughed before giving her a sweet kiss.

But suddenly, she pushed off of him and earthbent him away.

"Toph!" Aang said surprised.

"What?" Toph said with a smirk. "Didn't think you're done with your earthbending training?" She sent a decent sized boulder at Aang, who redirected back at her. She caught it with her hand. "Nice job. Visualize, then attack."

With Aang distracted, Katara sent a large wave of water from behind. Aang sensed it and dodged it, before having to redirect a plum of fire from Zuko.

"Three on one?" Aang said with raised eyebrows.

"Make it four!"

Sokka came flying down from an overhanging rock with his sheathed sword. Aang dodged him and airbent a ball to separate himself from the others.

Toph, Sokka, Katara and Zuko surrounded Aang. He smiled at the challenge, but knew he had to hold back to keep from hurting them.

Toph sent another rock flying towards Aang. He again dodged it, causing Toph to miss him…

And hit Katara instead.

She tumbled over onto the ground with a heavy groan.

"Really Toph?!" Katara shouted as Zuko ran over to her. "Maybe you should take your own advice about visualizing and attacking!"

Instead of apologizing, Toph said, "What's the matter? Can't handle a rock, Madame Fussy Britches?"

Katara growled and sent a large amount of water towards Toph, who stood there and took the brunt of him, soaking her to the skin.

"Is that all you got Sugar Queen?" Toph shouted.

Katara let out a war cry and tackled Toph into the mud. They rolled around and bent the mud at each other. When that did not work, the resorted to more physical means.

The men stood by and watched in confusion.

"So," Aang said as he scratched his head, "should we stop them?"

"We probably should" Zuko said as he stepped forward.

"Nah, I say let them sort it out" Sokka said, knowing better than to get in his sister's way.

"Ladies!" Aang shouted. Both of the women stopped fighting. "I thought we were supposed to be training me?"

Katara straighten herself up. "Very well, pupil Aang. I believe we've had enough training for the day" she said as if the fight between her and Toph never happened. Katara walked away to clean up, with Zuko right behind her.

"While Zuko goes help Katara clean up-" Toph began as she bent the mud off her.

"Ugh, don't make me imagine that" Sokka protested.

"Let's go and have some real fun!" Toph said ignoring him.

"Alright!" Sokka said while Aang smiled with enthusiasm.

The trio walked into the nearby Fire Nation town, their disguise hiding their true identities.

Sokka noticed several red hawks flying back and forth in the sky. They were taking off and landing at a building where people were handling scrolls. It occurred to Sokka that it was a type of message center.

"How convenient would it be to have one of those hawks?" Sokka inquired. "It would help us keep in touch with the rest of our friends."

"It would" Aang said with Toph wrapped around his arm. "But we don't have any money to even get a single piece of bread." Sokka groaned at the idea of not having anything to eat.

Suddenly, Toph came to a halt, forcing Aang to do the same. A devilish smile came to her face.

"I have a way to get us some money" she said before pointing to a group of men. Aang and Sokka looked down and saw they were gambling.

"You plan on using the little bit of money to maybe win some more?" Sokka asked skeptically.

"They're playing a shell game" Toph replied. "See that guy moving the shells around? There's a small pebble underneath the shells. He's using some sleight of hand to consistently win."

Aang and Sokka looked at each other, wondering how that would help them. It occurred to Aang that his sweetheart can earthbend the pebble to consistently win.

He smiled at her plan. "Okay, let's do this."

Minutes later, the trio approached the conman and gained his attention. It was Toph and her apparent blindness that really got his attention. He smiled at how easier it was about to get.

"How about you little lady?" he said to her. "How about a quick shell game?"

"How could I win?" Toph asked innocently. "I'm blind."

"You don't need to see to be lucky" he persuaded.

Toph shrugged and approached the table feigning helplessness. The other men who played the shell game wondered if she could see the shells at all.

Toph placed a single coin on the table. The conman showed that one of the shells has the pebble underneath it, then began rotating the shells, all the while using his slight of hand tricks to place pebbles under the other two shells. As she expected, she can sense the pebbles underneath each shell and was happy that she was close enough to manipulate them. After he finished rotating it, Toph pointed at a random shell and the conman revealed that a shell was underneath it.

"Nice one Toph" Sokka said as he played along. He also understood what Toph was planning.

"Wow" the conman said. "You're pretty good at this. Wanna raise the stakes?" he asked.

Toph smiled and said, "Why not?" The conman smiled and placed a satchel of coins on the table.

"I hope you're good to match my bet" the conman declared.

Without warning, Toph grabbed Sokka's sword and placed it on the table. "I'm good" she said. Sokka gulped, thinking that maybe this was not a good idea after all.

The conman showed that a pebble was indeed underneath one of the shells. He began rotating it, using his trickery to remove the pebbles. When he was about to remove the last one, Toph used to earthbending to discreetly keep the pebble in place. The conman had no idea as he finished rotating the shells.

Toph pointed at the shell holding the pebble.

Confident of his scam, the conman pick up the shell and was horrified that the pebble was still in place.

"She won!" Sokka said as he grabbed his sword.

"Yeah I did!" Toph added before grabbing the money satchel and Aang, running off with him and Sokka before the conman became the wiser to Toph's scam.

After using their money to buy groceries, the trio returned to camp laughing to their victory. Katara and Zuko, both preparing dinner for the squad, looked at them and the groceries in astonishment.

"Where did you get this stuff?" Katara asked, fearful that they stole it.

"Toph used her earthbending in that shell game to win" Aang said as he ate an apple. "It was awesome!"

Katara looked at Toph with a judgmental glare, despite that the latter could not see it. "So you cheated" Katara reprimanded.

"Hey," Toph said as she took a bit of the same apple as Aang was eating, "he was cheating first. I cheated a cheater."

Zuko hummed out in thought. "Seems reasonable enough."

Katara looked at him in disbelief. "You can't be serious?"

"Katara," Zuko said carefully before taking her hand, "I don't like the idea of conning people to gain an advantage. But if he was conning others first, it's only fair it happens to him. Maybe he'll learn his lesson."

Katara sighed. "I know karma has its ways, but I'm worried that if we go too far, we'll draw attention to ourselves."

"Katara," Aang said before standing and removing his headband, revealing his tattoo, "you have my word as the Avatar that we will not let these scams get out of control."

However, the Avatar's word did not hold much weight. The next day it was Aang who was running a scam, using his airbending to subtly influence how dice landed in a craps game. Both Toph and Sokka cheered in delight at how much money Aang was winning, though they had to cut it short because the men hosting the game were becoming suspicious and upset at Aang's winning streak.

But the trio's scams did not end with rigging gambling in their favor. Toph used her earthbending to assist her in propelling a weight to ring a bell, allowing her to win a strongman game, where the buff men were astonish that a slim and athletic woman was able to not only ring the bell, but sent it flying through the air.

And to add to their scams, Toph stopped a carriage carrying a wealthy businessman and she worked with Sokka, disguise as a law enforcement official, to extort money from him in exchange to pretend the accident never happened.

When they returned to their campsite, both Katara and Zuko were waiting for them, looks of disproval on their faces.

"Guys, I think these scams have gone on long enough" Katara reprimanded.

"Agreed" Zuko said. "Keep this up and we'll draw the kind of attention we don't want."

"Would you two being such sourpusses?" Toph spat back as she curled up next to Aang to count the money they made. She can sense he was now a bit uneasy, but she would talk to him later about that. "We're traveling around the world, making easy money, and having fun! What more do we need?"

"We need to be discreet" Zuko hissed.

"Yeah we can't be acting like a wild child like you are Toph" Katara said.

"Well maybe you two should" Toph argued. "You guys need to lighten up. You're worse than my parents!"

"Oh," Katara said as she understood what Toph was saying, "this is because of your parents isn't it?"

"Whatever" Toph said dismissively. Aang wrapped an arm around her, knowing that talking about her parents in any manner was not a pleasant subject for her, or anyone for that matter.

"They were controlling over you" Katara said as she recalled how overly protective they were. "So you ran away and pretend they don't exist. You think you hate them, but in reality you feel guilty for leaving them."

"I don't feel guilty for leaving them!" Toph shouted. "I hate them!"

"No, you don't" Zuko said. "From what I'm gathering is that while your parents were overprotective, they still lovedyou." He breathed deeply before continuing. "I know what it's exactly like to hate a parent. You know exactly the reason why I feel that way" he said more loudly than he intended. Katara sensed his angry, his hatred, towards his own father, and she wrapped her arms around him to calm him down. Zuko took a deep breath to calm himself down and having Katara there really helped him do just that.

But Toph was not having it. "Look, I ran away to help Aang, and now I'm dating him!" She got up and pulled Aang with her towards their earth tent. They entered and she bent the door closed behind them.

Toph sat down onto the ground with a huff. Aang approached her carefully and wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you okay?" he asked gently.

Toph did not answer at first, doing her best to be angry but instead she only felt a terrible pain in her chest. She shook her head slightly.

"I just… don't understand why Katara has to behave the way she does" Toph said sadly. "And why she has to do it in such a mean way."

"I know" Aang said. "I'll admit she can be quite bossy, but that's because she wants to keep us safe and together. I know you love pulling these scams, and I have a lot of fun doing it with you, but she and Zuko have a point: we'll draw attention to ourselves eventually."

"Yeah" Toph said, understanding that maybe she did go too far.

"However," Aang continued, "that doesn't mean we can't pull scams in the next town for more money."

Toph laughed at his idea, to which he hugged her tightly and caused her to return it.

"You're such a troublemaker Toph" he said.

"I know" she replied.

But it did not matter to Aang because he knew how she truly felt.

"Well I'm going back into the town" Sokka declared after Toph and Aang left.

"For what?" Zuko asked.

"To get a messenger hawk, that's what."

"Don't tell me you're planning on exchanging letters with the invasion force" Zuko said with a scowl.

"No I just want my own pet like Aang has Momo. Having it being able to deliver messages is just an added bonus" Sokka declared as he walked away.

Momo jumped onto Zuko's shoulder and began chittering.

"I know Momo," Zuko said as he awkwardly petted the lemur, "you're everyone's pet."

Within an hour, Sokka had purchased a messenger hawk and after quick lesson in falconry, was walking down the street with his new companion.

"Hawky," he said with affection, "welcome to the Avatar Squad. Now, we have a lemur in our group, and I don't want any fighting." He began scratching the hawk's chest, who looked at him in confusion but was happy to receive the attention. "Good wittle messenger Hawky. Who's got pwetty feathers?" Sokka said with more affection, before he spotted a piece of parchment attached to a building side that made him take a closer look at it…

It was a wanted poster for Toph.

Hawky screeched out loud. "You're right Hawky. This is not good" Sokka replied. In response Hawky pooped from Sokka's arm onto the ground, causing Sokka to scowl slightly at him for the indecency.

After finding the wanted poster, Sokka immediately headed back to camp. He found Aang and Toph and flirting and playing with Momo.

"Guys, we've got a problem" he said as he held out the wanted poster.

"Well judging by the sound," Toph said with mild annoyance, "you've got a piece of paper. What is it, an invitation to another fancy party?"

"No," Aang said as he read the poster carefully. Having seen several dozen of one for him, he knew right away what it was. "It's a wanted poster, for you dear."

True to her form, Toph smiled gleefully. "A wanted poster?! Of ME?! That's so awesome!"

"No Toph, this is serious" Sokka said. "Maybe Katara and Zuko were right, maybe did go too far with our scams."

"Then why wasn't there one for you or me?" Aang asked.

Sokka paused and thought for a moment. He could not recall seeing wanted posters for him or Aang. "I don't remember seeing any, but that doesn't mean there aren't ones for us. Hell there's hundreds for you as the Avatar."

"Stop being a worrywart like your sister and her boytoy" Toph said as she held out a large bag of money. "Think of it like this: we now have plenty of money to help the invasion."

"True" Sokka said as he took the bag of money. "I had this idea to make armor for Appa…"

"He's not going to like that" Aang said.

"Oh c'mon, it'll protect him during battle!" Sokka insisted. Aang gave it a thought and decided that it would be worth it in the long run.

"If that's the case," Toph said as she handed Sokka more money, "here's a little extra to get a map of the Fire Nation." She paused and then handed Sokka more money. "Actually, make it an atlas."

"I do like expensive atlases" Sokka said with a gleeful smile.

"Of course you do" Toph said before taking the wanted poster from Sokka. "Just as long as we keep this a secret."

"Too easy!" Sokka said as he walked away.

Aang breathed out slowly, thinking maybe, just maybe, that their scams have gone too far.

But if it helped stop Fire Lord Ozai and end this war to bring peace and balance to the world, it was worth the risk.

Or so he hoped.

Sokka walked over to his pack to see if he would need anything else from the camp. All the while, Katara and Zuko eyed Sokka's new messenger hawk.

"You really did buy a messenger hawk" Zuko said with disbelief.

"Why did you do that?" Katara asked. "What good is it going to do?"

"Uh, his name is Hawky" Sokka corrected.

"Hawky?" Zuko said, confused by his friend's strange name for the hawk.

"Yeah Hawky" Sokka said proudly. "He'll be helpful. We can send him on messenger runs."

"How does that work?" Katara asked skeptically.

"Uh, I'm not sure" Sokka said. He turned and looked at Hawky. "Hawky, Gran-Gran, South Pole." The hawk stared blankly at him then shook his head vigorously, as if he implied he will not go to that cold and dreary place.

"I think he gets it" Sokka said to Katara's and Zuko's irritation. Before they could say anything, Momo hopped onto Katara's shoulder and began hissing at Hawky, who screeched in anger. Momo jumped after Hawky and chased him, all the while Sokka was in the middle of it.

"Hawky!" he reprimanded. "Play nice!"

All the while Katara and Zuko did was laugh at Sokka's misfortune.

The next day, Aang and Toph returned with more bags of money, and bright smiles on their faces.

"Out scamming again?" Katara reprimanded. Aang froze in place, knowing he broke his word.

"Katara, I know-" he began but was cut off.

"You broke your word Avatar" Zuko scowled. "What kind of example are you setting here?"

Aang remained silent, knowing he had no excuse for his actions.

"How could you let this go this far?" Katara asked before showing him the wanted poster of Toph. He gulped harshly.

"Is that my wanted poster?" Toph asked harshly.

"Yes it is" Katara said. "I knew something was up and went through your stuff." Rather than try to lie to Toph, Katara decided that it was better to tell the truth. As Toph implied the other day, one bad act washes the other away.

"You have placed us in greater danger" Zuko added. "We have the Fire Nation's most dangerous murderer after us, and now you're drawing the attention of the local constabulary. This ends now."

"Like hell it does!" Toph shouted. She got ready to bend earth at Katara and Zuko, who prepared themselves to fight their friend. They did not want this to come to that, but if it must, so be it.

Before any of them could launch an attack, Aang entered the Avatar State briefly and blew a gust of wind around to deter his friends and lover.

"Enough!" he yelled. "I know I was a hypocrite and went back on my word, and I am deeply sorry for that. You two were right, we went too far. Much too far."

Toph stood there in shock for a moment, unable to believe that Aang, her boyfriend, her lover, was going against her…

She felt an intense amount of grief for what he said…

Only for it to turn into rage.

With a scream, she bent the earth underneath Aang and sent him flying through the air. Aang was quick to respond and used his airbending to stay off the ground, knowing Toph would have the advantage if he did.

He sent a gust of wind at her, but she felt it coming and blocked it. Katara, unable to stand watching her friends fight, tried to rush forward to stop them.

But Zuko grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"No" he said, "this is their fight."

Katara did not like the idea of what he said, but she understood where he was coming from. She vaguely remember her parents having a disagreement or two when she was a child, and Gran-Gran told her that it was best to stay out of it and let them sort it out themselves.

Aang continued his best to hover in the air while trying not to hurt Toph. But the way she was going at it, it became harder for him to find ways to stop her.

He landed on the ground and sent a powerful earthbending move enhanced by the Avatar State towards Toph. She was unable to counter it and fell to the ground hard. By the time she regain her sense, she found Aang on top of her holding her arms and legs down.

"Please Toph," he begged, "I don't want to fight."

"How could you do this to me?!" she spat back quite literally. "You betrayed me!"

"Toph, I would never betray you."

"But you did!" she screamed back.

"Toph, I'm the Avatar! I can't go running around committing crimes when I need to restore balance to the world." A sudden realization occurred to him. Since he started dating Toph, he became more careless towards society's demands of law and order. As the Avatar he had to help maintain that for the benefit of peace and balance.

Toph was negatively influencing him the whole time.

But she had no idea she was, and he knew she had no intention of doing so. It was simply she was too immature for him.

Toph laid there, unable, or unwilling, to listen to him. She wanted to be angry at him, she wanted to hurt him, and in the deepest, darkest part of her mind, she wanted him dead.

But instead of acting on those instincts, all she felt was an incredible amount of sadness.

"So," she croaked, and tears formed in her eyes, "is that it then? Are you… breaking up with me?"

Aang sighed and let go of her. "Yeah, I guess I am." It was the last thing he wanted to do, but as the Avatar, he often had to do things he did not want to do.

Without warning, Toph earthbent a pillar and struck Aang's jaw, causing him to fall to the ground with a sickly audible popping sound. He groaned as Toph got up and ran away, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Toph!" Zuko shouted as he ran after her while Katara tended to Aang's jaw.

"Toph, get back here!" Zuko shouted, but Toph sent several rocks at him, too many for him to dodge and he was struck by a decent sized one, causing him to crash onto his back to the ground.

When he finally regain his focus, Toph was nowhere in sight.

"Dammit" he shouted as he walked back to camp. Katara was still tending to Aang, who was whimpering in pain. Not so much for the physical pain, but more for the emotion of doing something he never wanted to do.

Sokka strolled up and surveyed the area. "What the hell happened here?"

"Aang broke up with Toph" Zuko said. "Hit him hard on the jaw with that" she finished while pointing towards the earth pillar.

"Uh" Sokka said thoughtfully. "She took it far better than I thought."

Zuko scowled at him. "Since Aang would never say it, fuck you Sokka."

She huffed, cried, yelled, and bent rocks in random directions. Toph wanted to get as far away as possible from Aang. How dare he betray her.

But at the same time, she understood why he did it. Sure they were crazy for one another, but there was something there that held them back, something that told them they would never be.

And as Toph thought about it, it was the subtle difference in their personalities. Sure Aang was fun loving and can find joy in whatever he did, but destiny was calling for him to grow up and take things more seriously…

While she was far more interested in causing trouble and having fun, even at others' expense.

Toph realized that she is not mature enough for Aang, and it brought a rather painful feeling to her chest…

A pain so strong she did not realized she was being stalked.

The assassin watched from a distance, believing that somehow the earthbending girl can sense his presence. As he moved closer to her, she acted as if he was not there.

Perfect he thought coldly to himself.

He breathed in deeply to create an explosion.

Toph just barley sensed the incoming explosion and managed to shield herself from the worst of it…

But she still flung into the air, flying several feet across the ground, and knocking the wind out of her.

By the time she caught her breath, a large net was cast over her, and she felt entrapped, unable to move.

"Ah fuck…" was all she managed to say before being knocked out by a metal foot.

The squad, concerned for Toph's safety, heard the explosion that sounded dreadfully familiar to them.

"Oh-no" Katara whispered as she finished tending to Aang's injury.

"We," Aang said, his jaw in pain, "we ha-have to find her…"

"Aang, you're in no condition to fight" Katara said sternly.

"I don't think we have much of a choice" Zuko said as he prepped his swords while Sokka did the same.

"Sparky-Sparky Boom Man is likely to use her as bait for a trap" Sokka said, his instincts saying that would be exactly what he do in the assassin's position.

"You're really giving the most dangerous assassin imaginable a stupid name like that?" Zuko said with an unamused frown.

"Well do you have a better name?" Sokka said with a twitching eyebrow.

"Who the fuck cares what he's call" Katara shouted. "We need to find Toph and get out of here." The men gulped but understood what the priority was.

Aang stood up and prepared himself for rather tough fight, fully prepared stop the assassin from hurting Toph. He may have broken up with her, but he would never abandon her.

"Let's go" he said with determination, pushing the pain to the back of his mind, while anger, both at himself and the assassin, was in the forefront of his mind.

Toph woke up with a splitting headache. She glanced around her and realized she was in a wooden prison cell. She reached for the meteorite bracelet Sokka gave her, but she forgot she left it in her pack.

"Dammit" she said as she realized there was no way she could escape.

She began hoping that her friends would forgive her for hitting Aang like she did, and they all come to her rescue.

The rest of Avatar Squad moved carefully at Sokka's urging through the town. He suspected that if Toph was captured, the assassin would take her to the jail.

But he and everyone was uneasy as the streets were empty, unlike the days before when the streets were packed with shoppers, merchants, and other workers.

"This whole place feels like a kill zone" Zuko said, uneasy about the silence around them.

"It's because it is a kill zone" Sokka said. "Aang, get on the rooftops, see if you can spot anyone. Katara watch our backs while Zuko scans the allies. I'll keep my eyes forward as we move."

The squad did as Sokka said, trusting his tactical intuition. Aang airbent his way to the nearest roof and look around him, trying to spot anyone who might ambush them.

That is when he heard a sharp inhale to his right. He spotted the assassin look towards Aang's friends…

Right before the assassin can exhale and cause an explosion, the world slowed down for Aang as he airbent a power gust towards the assassin, causing him to blow up a building in front of the rest of the squad. The assassin lost his footing and fell of the roof.

Sokka, Zuko and Katara took cover immediately as bits of rock and other building material rained down on them. Zuko managed to duck just in time as several shingles flew past his head.

Aang came swooping down and joined the rest of the squad.

"He's down on the streets ahead of us" Aang said. Sokka looked forward but did not see the assassin.

"Okay new plan" he said as he unsheathed both his sword and boomerang. "Aang, Zuko and I will distract him as Katara goes to the jail, frees Toph and gets her back to Appa just outside the city the way we came." Sokka grabbed the bison whistle from Aang, then tried to hand it to Katara, but she only stared at him in shocked disbelief.

"No!" Katara protested. "We can't split up!"

"Katara's right" Zuko said. "We need to stick together if we want to beat that guy."

"We're not going to beat him" Sokka said sternly. "We don't know how bad Toph's hurt so our priority-"

Before Sokka could finish, Aang spotted the assassin step out of an alleyway. Reacting quickly, Aang earthbent a large boulder and set it flying toward the assassin. It exploded just a few feet from him.

Sokka quickly got up, tossed the whistle to Katara, and waved to Aang and Zuko to follow him. "You have your orders! Now go! GO!" He rushed ahead with weapons draw, with Aang and Zuko on his heels.

Dread filled Katara's heart as she worried this might be the last time she saw the people she loved. She set aside that dread and took off in the opposite direction to the jail. It took her almost fifteen minutes to find it, boarded up completely. She drew all the water from her bladders and used it to burst through the door, where four jailers were shocked to see her. Katara managed to knock out two of them, but the others sent fire blast towards her. Katara froze the water to form a shield, and to allow the melted ice to return to liquid form to be reused. When the firebenders stopped bending due to exhaling their breaths, Katara launched her attack and set them flying into the wall, knocking them out.

"Toph!" she called out. "Toph, where are you?!"

"In the wood cell" Toph said, weaker than normal to Katara. She rushed over to the cell and quickly cut the wood down. Toph attempted to get up but was still shook up from the blast she took. Katara helped up and they took off running towards the outskirts of the city.

As Aang tried to distract the assassin to allow Sokka and Zuko an opening to attack him, the latter two tried to close in on the mad man. Every time they did, the assassin would notice them, sending them to find cover as explosions ringed their hears and battered their bodies.

"Zuko do you have any idea what's this asshole's weakness is?!" Sokka shouted.

"No I don't!" he shouted back.

Sokka eyed the assassin, careful not to expose himself, Aang was quick as he moved between building tops. Then an idea occurred to Sokka as he noticed that the origin of the assassin's explosions were from the strange tattoo on his forehead.

When Aang managed to break visual contact with the assassin, he leapt down to Sokka and Zuko.

"I don't know if I can beat this guy" Aang said breathless. "We should leave. Now."

"If we leave he'll just chase us" Zuko said.

"It's the tattoo on his forehead" Sokka said. "That's his weakness."

"How would you know?" Zuko growled.

"If that tattoo is the origin of his explosions," Sokka said thoughtfully, "then maybe we can make it backfire on him somehow."

Aang and Zuko shared a skeptical look, but they no idea of their own to stop this crazed murderer.

"Okay," Zuko finally said, "how do we use his supposed weakness?"

"MOVE!" Aang shouted and the men took off running just moments before an explosion occurred where they crouched.

"Aang," Sokka said as they ran, "can you hit his tattoo with precision strike with a rock?"

"Not on my own" Aang said. "But in the Avatar State I can."

"Alright, you do that" Sokka said. "Zuko, cover him. I'll draw this asshole's attention."

"Be careful" Zuko warned. "If you get yourself killed, Katara will kill me for it. And that's if I'm lucky."

"Don't worry," Sokka said with a confident smirk. "this will work." With that he took off running, leaving a concerned Aang and Zuko behind them. They set off to find the assassin, using cover and concealment to stay out of sight. They found the assassin stalking the streets, searching for any sign of his prey.

Then Sokka emerged from an alleyway…

Opposite from where Zuko and Aang were. Their leader made a tactical mistake.

"Shit" Aang said, indicating how this situation went from terrible to outright horrible.

Without regard for his personal safety, Aang entered the Avatar State and sent several large rocks toward the assassin. The large man turned and inhaled deeply…

Aang, fully aware of his actions thanks to Guru Patik, sent a small rock towards the tattoo.

The world slowed down again for Aang, and he wondered if he missed, he would die in the Avatar State, ending the cycle and dooming the world to a tyrannical regime.

He decided that it was worth the risk to save his friends, as he stood there without fear, focusing his energy to control the rock. He breathed deeply, his eyes on target and aimed for the center of it…

Just mere seconds before the assassin breathed out, the rock struck the assassin, knocking his head back and breaking his concentration. He fell to his knees and grabbed his forehead in severe pain.

Aang exited the Avatar State and shouted, "Let's get out of here!" Sokka rushed past the assassin as fast as he could and joined Aang and Zuko in running towards the town's outskirts.

The assassin recovered and spotted his targets fleeing. He breathed deeply to send to create another explosion where the men were running.

But when the assassin exhaled, bright stars colored his vison and then suddenly, an explosion went off in front of him, sending him flying into a building, knocking him unconscious.

When he came to, he silently vowed that when he killed his prey, he will do it as painfully as possible.

Aang, Sokka and Zuko finally reached the city's outskirts, finding Katara, Toph and Momo waiting on top of Appa. The men were quick to mount the bison and took off.

The flew well into the night. Rather then take a chance of being spotted, Sokka said they would not start a fire for cooking, and they would only rest so they can take off right away in the morning. He wanted to put as much distance between them and the assassin he dubbed Combustion Man.

No one in the squad saw no reason to argue with him on either point.

Feeling guilty for how the day went to complete chaos, Toph elected to stand watch through the night. She waited till Sokka, Katara and Zuko collapsed in exhaustion.

But Aang stayed awake, know that she wanted to talk to him.

"Hey" he said shyly.

"Hey" Toph replied.

"I know that you felt like I betrayed you-" he began but she cut him off.

"No you didn't betrayed anyone" she said. "I was being a negative influence on you, making you forget your job as the Avatar. Sorry for that."

Aang stood there in silence for a moment, knowing she was right. "I'm sorry too."

"Don't be" Toph replied. "It just this… us… doesn't work as we are now. You've got a lot riding on you and you can't lose your focus." She walked forward and hugged Aang, with tears falling from her eyes. Aang returned the hug and kissed the top of her head, while a few tears feel from his eyes.

"What we had didn't end well," Aang began, "but promise me that no matter what happens, I will always love you, even as a close friend."

"And I will always love you too" Toph croaked.

After a few minutes, they let each other go and walked away, knowing that while they are sad that their relationship is over, they still remained friends, earthbending master and apprentice.

But as far as being each other's lovers, only the future holds that answer.

Azula sat her desk, staring out the window as she tried to think of a way to end this war without appearing as a traitor, especially to her father.

Some methods of persuasion were going through her mind. If she can convince her father that trying to unite the world through diplomacy rather than force, it would be beneficial for the Fire Nation in the long run.

Yet as she looked at it from the other perspective, that of the people the Fire Nation hurt, they would be completely unwilling to sit down and talk with the man who was the descendant of Sozin, the one who started this whole mess.

And there was the matter of her father himself…

"Azula" a cheerful voice rang out. Azula turned in her chain, just in time to brace herself for the inevitable hug from Ty Lee. Previously Azula was annoyed by Ty Lee's uncalled for hugs, but after Ember Island, she started to appreciate the affection.

Though in its own way, it was still annoying.

Azula returned the hug with slight awkwardness. "Nice to see you too Ty Lee" she said with a lopsided smile. Mai walked up to them and smirked, only for Azula to shrug at her defeat.

Ty Lee let go of Azula. "What are you doing in your room Azula? It's such a beautiful day! You should be outside!"

"Perhaps," Azula said, "but I have a lot on my mind right now."

"You always have a lot on your mind" Mai said.

"Well I have a lot more right now" Azula said. "Especially since-" She hesitated, unsure if she should tell her friends she visited her uncle in prison and had a rather interesting change of heart.

"Since what?" Ty Lee asked.

Azula did not answer. She could trust her friends to keep this secret, but if it somehow came out, it would put everything at risk. Not to mention put Mai and Ty Lee in grave danger.

But she might need their help…

"Okay" Azula said before sighing. "I-I visited my uncle in prison the other day."

Both Mai and Ty Lee stared at Azula in surprise. They knew Azula disliked her uncle to the point she would avoid him if avoidable.

To hear her willing visit her uncle? That was a new one.

After the shock wore off, Mai was the first to speak. "How did that go?"

"It was…" Azula said, trying to find the right words, "enlightening."

"Uh?" Ty Lee said confused. "How was it enlightening?"

"As you well know, Zuko and I never got along" Azula said before taking a deep breath. "And he paid the price." She grabbed her head and shook it. "I can't believe my family's legacy led to this."

"Your family's legacy?" Mai asked skeptically. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"You both know my great-grandfather Sozin betrayed Avatar Roku" Azula started with her explanation.

"Yeah, weren't they best friends too?" Ty Lee asked.

"They were, but it's more than that" Azula said. "Not only were they best friends, they were in-laws to a degree."

"In-laws?" Mai asked. "I don't remember either of them having siblings."

"It's because it happened after they passed away" Azula explained. "When my father married the granddaughter of Avatar Roku."

"Wait…" Ty Lee said as she connected the dots. "Your mother is the granddaughter of Avatar Roku?!"

"That's right" Azula said with a smirk. "Very impressive Ty Lee, you're starting to use that brain of yours."

Ty Lee huffed but knew Azula was only poking fun at her.

"But how is this relevant to what happened between you and Zuko?" Mai asked.

"My uncle believes that the conflict between Zuko and I started over a hundred years ago" Azula explained.

Her friends stared at her, Mai skeptical and Ty Lee baffled.

"I know it's insane," Azula admitted, "but in a very strange way, it make sense."

"It really does" Ty Lee said in agreement.

"I still don't believe it" Mai said with a frown. "But as ridiculous as it sounds, you find some truth to it Azula. So the question is, what are you going to do with it?"

"I am going to end this war" Azula said. She was not about to go into a monolog about Iroh's metaphor of war between her and Zuko.

If Mai and Ty Lee were shock before, it looked like they were about to pass out from it now.

"How the flaming fuck are you going to do that?" Mai asked.

"Yeah, I don't think your dad is just going to stop this war, not matter what you say" Ty Lee said while rubbing the spot on her arm where she was wounded. "No matter how much it hurts people."

"Azula, do you really think your dad is going to end this war simply because you asked?" Mai said sternly.

"Well if I could convince him-" Azula started before being cut off by Mai.

"You are not going to convince him of anything" Mai said. "Think about it Azula: your dad burned Zuko just for speaking out of turn. He had people jailed just for questioning his regime. What do you think he will doto you just for criticizing the war his waging?"

"Well if I can convince him that diplomacy can work-" Azula said before being cut off again.

"He will not care Azula" Mai pleaded. "He hasn't seen what we've seen on the frontlines. He doesn't know what everyone is going through, both soldiers and civilians. So what reason does he have now to start caring?"

Azula stared at her, unsure how to argue that her father would be willing to try things her way.

But the more Azula tried to find an argument, the more she realized that Mai was right.

Ozai does not want this war to end.

He only wants to rule it.

Even if that means standing on a pile of ash and bone.

"You're right Mai" Azula admitted sadly. "My father doesn't want this war to end."

The ladies were silent for several minutes, letting it sink in that there may just be no way to end this war.

That is until an idea came to Azula.

"Do you two remember what the Earth King said to us?" Azula asked. "When we were disguised as the Kyoshi Warriors?"

"That he would appreciate if we scoop up bear poop?" Ty Lee asked.

"Ugh, don't remind me of that" Mai said disgusted.

"No not that" Azula said with a hint of annoyance. "It was about what the Avatar and his friends plan to do."

"You mean the invasion during the solar eclipse" Mai said. "What does that have to with us?"

Azula smiled proudly, knowing what she must do.

"I have a plan."

The squad sat around a fire within a forest and listened to Sokka tell a rather not so scary story about something called the Blade of Wing-Fun. After finishing his story, the rest of the squad stared at him unimpressed.

"That was the worst scary story ever Sokka," Katara said, "and I've heard some really bad ones you've told."

"Yeah," Zuko agreed, "it was obvious the blade or whatever was haunted from the start."

Sokka sat down, scowling at his sister and her boyfriend.

"I think I liked 'the man with a sword for a hand' better" Aang said, sitting lotus style on the ground.

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink" Toph said, sitting alone on her rock bench. It was slowly becoming a normal sight where she and Aang sat alone from one another. While they were able to set aside their breakup and remain good friends, it was obvious that they were still hurt by it. But as each day goes by the pain each felt reseeded a little bit, giving hope they can move on and perhaps find other romantic partners.

"Hold on," Katara said suddenly, "I've got one, and it's a true Southern Water Tribe story."

"This isn't one of those, 'a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to' stories?" Sokka said sarcastically.

"No, it happened to mom" Katara said. Everyone knew that anything involving Katara's mother was a sensitive and serious subject. Katara went on to tell how a major snowstorm forced everyone into their homes for weeks. When it was over, her mother had not seen her friend Nini days after the storm ended; in fact, no one in the village had seen her or her family. When Kanna and her family went to check Nini's home, they were gone, leaving only a small fire flickering in the fireplace. As the village's men went out to search for the family, Kanna stayed alone in Nini's home, hoping for her to return. But then, Kanna heard a voice cry out, 'It's so cold! I can't feel anything! I just want to be warm again…' Kanna searched around the house frantically, finding Nini, all blue and appearing frozen solid. Kanna walked up to the apparent statue of Nini and place her hand on the shoulder. Nini's head turned suddenly, revealing hollow black eyes, causing Kanna to scream and run out of the igloo, begging for help. When everyone came back, Nini was gone. Terrified that the house was now haunted, the village chief ordered no one to go in there until a shaman could perform a ritual to appease the spirits so the igloo can be reused. But after that was done, people still refused to enter it, swearing that on certain nights they can still see a small plum of smoke bellowing from the chimney, as if Nini and her family were still trying to get warm…

Everyone stares at Katara in fear at her story. Even Zuko, not one to show fear, was shaking slightly. Katara wrapped around his arm trying to calm him down, but he still was slightly shook up by the story.

Suddenly, Toph shot up from her rock staring at the ground with her blind eyes wide open. "Holy shit, do you guys hear that?!"

"Hear what?" Aang asked nervously. He and the others knew Toph was not easy to shock and this was the first time they saw her that scared.

"It sounded like people screaming… under the mountain," Toph said as she felt the earth beneath her, trying to find the source.

What she heard as she concentrated, chilled her to her very core.

She back away from the ground, as if she no longer wants to be on it.

"It sounded like… they were being tortured" she said with horror and fear.

"Stop fucking with us Toph!" Sokka said hysterically. "You're going too far this time!"

"I'm being fucking serious here!" Toph spat back.

"Easy Toph," Katara said as reassuring as possible despite her fear, "you're just jumpy from my story, and I'm sorry for that."

Toph was about to say she was in fact being serious when it felt like the screaming suddenly stopped. She placed her hands on the ground and tried to hear the sounds or even vibrations from them.

She sensed nothing.

"It's… gone" Toph said. "Like someone just… stopped them."

"Okay," Aang said with a shaking voice, "now I'm getting scared."

"Me too" Zuko admitted. Katara held him tighter as an attempted to comfort him, but it felt like she was the one seeking comfort.

"Hello everyone" a voice said from the trees. The squad shouted and screamed as they formed a circle, their backs against each other, fearful of the owner of the voice.

Soon an elderly woman emerged from the trees, wearing an apologetic smile. "I am so sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama. You shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night."

"After what she heard," Sokka said while gesturing to Toph, "I can agree with that."

Hama looked at Toph in concern. "What did you hear dear?"

"Some strange…" Toph said hesitantly, unsure how to explain it.

"Animal noises" Zuko said for her in a lie. "It really put us all on edge."

"Oh that explains why you all jumped when I called out for you" Hama said. "Again, I am so sorry for that. Why don't you stay at my inn nearby? I can make you some calming tea so you can relax in my spare warm beds."

Sokka nodded his head in agreement. "Yes please" he said with a rather soft voice.

As promised, Hama brought the young adults to her inn and served them calming tea. Everyone drank it eagerly, except for Zuko, who was unsure what to make of Hama.

And how she managed to show up right after Toph's panicked discovery.

"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight" Katara said next to him. "You have a lovely inn."

"Aren't you sweet?" Hama dotted on her. "You know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in for years."

Zuko furrowed his brow. "What do you mean, disappearing?"

Hama's smile vanished. "When the moon is full, people walk in, and they don't come out again" she said ominously.

"Is it the work of spirits?" Aang asked. If that were the case, then he was the only hope these people have to stay safe in the woods. Who knows when the spirits decide to start taking people then other than a full moon?

"No one knows" Hama said. After a tense moment, she grabbed the tea pot and said with a smile, "Who wants more tea?" When she saw the fearful expression of the squad, she decided the night was finished. "Don't worry; you'll all be completely safe here. Why don't I show you to your rooms, and you can get a good night's rest?"

After settling in their rooms, Sokka laid in his bed unable to fall asleep. When a sudden high pitched squeak resounded from outside, Sokka stood up in his bed, startling Momo, and grabs his sword. After a tense minute, Sokka laid back down while Momo curled up next to him seeking comfort.

"I know Momo," Sokka said nervously, "this place is creepy. I don't think I'll catch any sleep tonight."

Yet in several minutes, Sokka was fast asleep, with Momo curled up next to him.

In the next room, however, Zuko laid awake in the bed he was sharing with Katara. He stared at the ceiling while she slept peacefully next to him. He did not want to wake her up, but he was restless as the same thoughts from earlier ran through his mind.

He growled slightly and sat up onto the bed, swinging his feet to the floor and rubbed his head with a hand.

"Zuko?" Katara said.

He turned to look. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's alright" she said as she slid over to him, placing her arms around him. "Can't sleep?"

"Something's bugging me" he answered.

"Still scared from Toph's crazy act" she teased.

"I don't think she was acting" Zuko said. "She seemed genuinely scared. How often do you Toph like that?"

Katara thought about it for a moment and realized Zuko had a point.

"Well maybe she heard some animals and thought they were people" she reasoned.

"Maybe" Zuko said skeptically. "But how do you explain that just after Toph said the voices stopped Hama showed up?"

"Coincidence" Katara said as if it was a fact.

Zuko looked at her skeptically. "I don't think so."

"You don't think she has something to do with that?"

Zuko did not answer right away, listening to both his mind and his instincts.

"Yeah, I think she does" he answered with certainly.

Katara looked at him indignant. "Well I think she doesn't. How could you think a sweet old lady be involved with something like that?"

"It's possible" Zuko said adamantly. "The one person you think is the least likely can end up being the person in the end."

Katara huffed. "Whatever" she said dismissively before rolling over and going back to bed. "I don't believe Hama would do something like that."

Zuko looked at her longingly. He wanted to curl up next to her and say he was sorry, but he knew it would be an empty apology. He cannot help but believe Hama is responsible or at least involved with what is happening in the forest.

"I hope you're right Katara" he whispered before laying down, his back facing Katara's.

"Wakey-wakey" Zuko heard a voice say as sunlight hit his face. To his dismay, it was Hama who spoke. Katara stood behind her and looked at him in indifference. "Time to go shopping" Hama said.

Zuko reluctantly followed the others as they walked through the market. Hama and Katara chatted amiably as they selected the best looking products in the market.

"That Mr. Yao seems to have a thing for you" Katara said with a smile. "Maybe you should go back and see if he'll give us some free komodo sausages."

"You would have me use my feminine charms to take advantage of that poor man?" Hama asked with a raised eyebrow before smiling. "I think you and I are going to get along swimmingly."

Zuko frowned at how Katara, his girlfriend, ignored his suspicions and is getting along with the person responsible for his suspicions.

He wanted to feel angry about it, but all he felt was an incredible pain in his chest.

"You won't have any ash bananas till next week?" a townsman asked a merchant.

"Well, I have to send my delivery boy to Hing-Wa Island to get them, and it's a two day round trip" the merchant replied with a shrug. "And I am not sending him out till the day after tomorrow."

"Oh right," the townsman replied, "tomorrow's the full moon."

"Precisely" the merchant replied. "I can't lose another delivery boy to the woods. It's getting harder to hire more!"

Zuko, Sokka, Aang, and Toph overheard the conversation and looked at each other.

"People disappearing in the woods, weird stuff during full moons…" Sokka said insightfully. "Sounds like spirit world shenanigans to me."

Or an elderly psycho woman Zuko thought to himself. He was not about to share his suspicions with the others just yet, not until he found more reasons than what appeared to be a coincidence.

Besides, all of this could be the work of spirits. Zuko had to give that theory the benefit of the doubt.

"I bet if we walk through the town and area around it," Aang suggested, "we'll find out what caused the spirits to become angry. Maybe the villagers did something to the environment to unbalance them."

"And then you can sew up this little mystery Avatar-style" Sokka said. "Easy-peasy."

"Helping people, that's what I do" Aang said proudly.

After catching up to Hama and Katara, the former turned towards the squad and hands them the groceries. "Why don't you all take this back to the inn? I have a couple more errands to run around town, then I'll join you for lunch."

"This is a rather mysterious town" Sokka said while looking at Hama, hoping to get some kind of explanation from her in regard to the disappearances.

Hama smiled at him and cryptically replied, "Mysterious town, for mysterious people." Zuko furrowed his brow, but before he could asked what she meant, Hama walked away quickly.

The squad returned to Hama's inn and place all the groceries on the kitchen table.

"That Hama seems a little strange" Sokka said. "Like she knows something or is hiding something."

"That's because she is hiding something" Zuko said.

Katara flashed him an angry look. "You're still thinking that way?"

"I can't help it" Zuko defended. "My instincts are telling me there's something very wrong with her."

Katara's nostrils flared. "Well now I'm starting to think there's something very wrong with you! You're starting to act like the jerk we met before Azula shot you with lightening!"

Zuko stared at her, both angry and pained at what Katara just said. The rest of the squad were shocked that Katara could say something so spiteful to anyone.

"Let's look around the inn" Zuko said in a low voice, trying to hide the pain he felt. "I'm sure we'll find something here."

Sokka quickly followed him, with Toph just behind him. Aang hung back and looked at Katara, who stared at Zuko's back with daggers.

"Are you okay?" Aang asked cautiously.

"I just can't believe him!" she said suddenly. "Hama's a nice old woman who took us in, and all Zuko can think is she's some evil woman."

"Is that what he said?" Aang asked. He knew Zuko was not the most trusting of people, but Aang never thought Zuko would be that distrustful.

"No but that's exactly what he's thinking" Katara said before marching after Zuko. Aang followed close behind, hoping this would not come to a physical confrontation.

When they got upstairs, Sokka and Zuko were looking through every cabinet, closet, and drawer they could find.

"You idiots can't just go snooping through someone's home" Katara reprimanded. "It's just plain rude and you'll get us in trouble!"

"She's hiding something Katara," Zuko said as he slammed a cabinet shut, "and people could be in grave danger."

"She can be home any minute!" Katara said. "And she'll have us arrested for barging through her home like some burglars!"

"We're not finished yet" Sokka said as he tried to open a cabinet. It was stuck shut and he pulled harder. "Come on…"

When he finally yanked it open, several marionettes fell out of the cabinet. He yelped and jumped back, creeped out by the puppets.

"Okay," Aang said as he eyed the stringed dolls, "that's pretty creepy."

"So…" Katara said as she pushed the marionettes back into the cabinet and closed it, "she's got a hobby. We should stop snooping around. Hama will be back soon."

"Not yet" Zuko said as he made his way up to the attic and finds a door. He walked up to it and tries to open it, only to find it looked. He looked over his shoulder at Katara. "Just an ordinary marionette collecting inn keeper. She's hiding something behind this door and I'm going to find out what it is."

"Ugh you're being such an asshole Zuko!" Katara yelled.

"Maybe" Zuko pulls his knife out and picks the lock. With expertise he picked up from his banishment, he unlocks and opens the door, finding a small lockbox sitting in the center of the room. He walked over to it and picks it up. "This is what she's hiding."

"How do we open it?" Sokka asked.

"Oh, give it to me" Toph said. Zuko hands her the box and watches as Toph takes her meteorite bracelet and bends it into a key. She began working the lock, slightly bending the key to fit the lock.

"Hurry up" Zuko hissed.

"This isn't as easy as it looks" Toph hissed back.

"Guys I don't know about this…" Aang said nervously.

"This is crazy!" Katara said. "I'm leaving."

Zuko looked at her, wondering if she was leaving the room or leaving him. He decided to put that aside to deal with later; his country's people are in danger and it is his duty to protect them, banished prince or not.

His honor depended on it.

"Okay I think I got it" Toph said. Everyone, including Katara, peered over Toph's shoulders to see what the lockbox contained…

"I'll tell you what's in the box" Hama said suddenly, startling the squad. They turned around and saw the elderly woman standing in the doorway. She walked over to them and Zuko held the box out to her. He watches closely as Hama opened the box and reached it to pull out… a comb made from a whale bone.

"An old comb?" Zuko said in disbelief.

"It's my greatest treasure" Hama said. "It's the last thing I own from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe."

The squad, especially Katara and Sokka, stare at her in shock.

"You're from the Southern Water Tribe?" Katara asked in shock.

"Just like you and your brother dear" Hama said with a warm smile.

"How did you know?" Sokka inquired.

"I heard you talking around your campfire" Hama said. Zuko grunted at her lack of respect and how Katara went on a rant about respecting Hama.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Zuko asked.

"I wanted to surprise all of you" Hama answered. "I bought all this food today so I could fix a big, Water Tribe dinner. Of course I can't get all the proper ingredients I need here, but ocean kumquats are a lot like sea prunes if you stew them long enough."

"Great" Aang said with a disgusted grimace.

"I knew I felt a bond with you right away!" Katara said with excitement. Zuko looked at her in dismay, thinking she was drifting away from him. He began regretting saying anything about his suspicions, and really regretted having them to begin with.

"And I knew you were hiding a secret, so we were both right" Sokka said, before being punched in the arm by his sister. "But I'm sorry we were sneaking around."

"Apology accepted" Hama said with a smile. "Now let's get to cooking."

As dinner was being almost readied and Appa and Momo were fed, the squad sat around the table waiting for Hama to be finished.

"I'd stay clear of the 'sea prunes'" Aang warned.

"I thought they were ocean kumquats" Toph said.

"Close enough."

Hama set down a large bow of steaming soup. "Who wants five-flavor soup?"

Aang, Katara, and Sokka raised their hands, but Hama simply circles her hands and waterbent the soup into everyone's bowl. The squad, especially Katara, were shocked by this revelation.

"You're a waterbender!" Katara exclaimed. Zuko sighed in disappointment for himself, knowing Katara was going to be really mad at him later. "I've never met another waterbender from our tribe!" Katara added.

Hama gained a sadden expression. "That's because the Fire Nation wiped them all out. I was the last one."

Shame and guilt intensified in Zuko's heart, weighing him down like a pack loaded with large rocks.

"How did you end up out here?" Sokka asked.

"I was taken hostage from my home" Hama said as the memory came back to her. "It was over sixty years ago when the raids started." Hama went over how she and the other waterbenders and warriors fought bravely against the Fire Nation invaders. But as the raids went on, more and more of their numbers dwindled. Many of the warriors and waterbenders were killed, but those unlucky were captured and taken away. Despite the odds they fought on, but eventually, it was only Hama who remained. Knowing she was the last waterbender, she surrendered and hoped that the Fire Nation would leave the tribe alone.

"They led me away in chains," Hama said as she finished her horrible story, "and put me and the other waterbenders in terrible prisons. I was the only one who managed to escape."

"How did you managed to escape?" Sokka asked, both amazed and sadden by Hama's story. "And why did you stay in the Fire Nation?"

"I'm sorry" Hama said sadly with tearful eyes. "It's too painful to talk about."

Zuko covered his eyes in shame and guilt, no longer able to bear it. He got up to leave and thought about just leaving all together. Aang took notice and got up to follow him.

"We completely understand" Katara said to Hama. "Sokka and I lost our mother in a raid."

"Oh you poor things" Hama said in empathy.

"I can't tell you what it means to meet you. It's an honor, and you're a hero."

"I never thought I'd meet another Southern Waterbender. I'd like to teach you what I know, so you can carry on the Southern Waterbending Traditions when I'm gone."

Katara's face lit up at that. "Yes! Yes, of course! To learn about my heritage, it would mean everything to me."

Outside Zuko walked over to where Appa and the squad's gear were. He started to go over his things when Aang approached him.

"Are you okay Zuko?" he asked.

"I'm fine" Zuko replied as he picked up his pack.

"Then why are you grabbing your pack? You're not leaving are you?"

"Why not?" Zuko said as he looked at Aang. "Katara's pissed at me because I think Hama's responsible for what's going on around here."

"That's still no reason to leave!" Aang pleaded. "We need you here. Look I get it, you feel really bad about what you've said to Katara, but if you give her time, she'll come around."

"But what if she doesn't?" Zuko said dismayed. "What is she doesn't forgive me?"

"She will, trust me" Aang said with a kind smile. "Besides, I still need you because you're my firebending master, and who's going to take over when we defeat the Fire Lord?"

Zuko sighed out, knowing Aang was correct. For the hundredth time, Zuko wished his uncle were here; he was the one who should teach Aang firebending and to take over as Fire Lord, not him.

And when Zuko really thought about, where would he go, and who would take him in?

Zuko sighed in defeat and dropped his pack. "Alright I'll stay. But what am I going to do about Katara?"

"I'm not sure how to answer that" Aang said. "But we do have just as big of a problem here, and that's the disappearing villagers. Given how Katara is enamored by Hama, maybe you can focus on that and give her and yourself some time and space."

"Right" Zuko said. He followed Aang back inside, where Zuko spent the night in the living room alone.

Katara said nothing of it.

The next day, Hama took Katara out to the Fire Lily fields and explained to her that while waterbenders were at home amongst ice and snow, they had to be adaptable and find water wherever they could.

"I know" Katara said. "When we were stranded in the desert, I felt powerless at the thought of having no water to bend."

"That's why you need to find water wherever it exist" Hama lectured.

Katara thought about that for a moment, then felt a bead of sweat flow down her arm. "Like my sweat! I can use that in a warmer environment to have something to bend."

"Very resourceful thinking Katara" Hama said with a proud smile. "That's a sign of a true waterbending master. But did you know you can pull water out of thin air?" Hama throws her hand out and circles it about her head, collecting the moisture in the air. "You must keep an open mind Katara. There's water in places you never think about."

Katara smiled brightly, eager to learn more.

As Katara was off learning more about waterbending, the rest of the squad moved about the countryside, trying to see what would be out of place to elicit angry spirits.

"This has to be one of the most peaceful places I've seen in a long time" Aang said. "There's nothing here to cause a spirit to be angry."

"Then that means it's not a spirit responsible" Zuko said with certainty. "It's a someone."

"Unless the moon spirit suddenly turned mean" Toph hypothesized. Sokka turned towards her with a furious look.

"No way!" Sokka yelled. "Yue is a gentle and compassionate lady! She would never do something like this!"

"Who's Yue?" Toph asked to Sokka's fury.

"The Northern Water Tribe Princess" Aang said as he stepped between Sokka and Toph. "She sacrificed herself to save the moon spirit, and the world."

"And the one woman who I loved dearly!" Sokka shouted before becoming sad. "The only woman I'll ever love…" Toph grimaced at Sokka's sudden sadness, wishing she did not ask about Yue.

As Zuko stood there watching them, he noticed a townsman walking along the path they took over. Zuko ran over to him. "Excuse me, sir!" The man turned toward Zuko with a friendly if bewildered smile. "Can you tell me anything about the people disappearing from the village?"

"Well," the man said with a thoughtful face, "there's not much I could tell you. But maybe Old Man Ding can tell you more."

"Old Man Ding?" Zuko said with disbelief. He wondered how people can refer to each other by strange and even cruel names, but he pushed that thought aside.

"Yeah," the townsman said, "Old Man Ding was the only man who ever saw the spirit and lived."

You mean 'Old Man Ding was the only man who saw Hama and lived Zuko thought to himself. "Where can I find him?"

Hama and Katara continued to walk through the Fire Lily fields. "What beautiful flowers" Katara commented.

"They're called Fire Lilies" Hama explained. "They only bloom a few weeks a year, but they're one of my favorite things about living here. And like all plants, and all living things, they're filled with water."

"I know about that" Katara said with amazement. "I met waterbenders who lived in the swamps of the Earth Kingdom. One of them could form a large monster with seaweed."

"You can take even further Katara" Hama said before bending the water out of the lilies and using the water to cut a boulder clean in half.

"That was amazing!" Katara exclaimed but sadly realized that the water Hama drew killed the lilies around them. "It's a shame about the lilies though."

"They're just flowers" Hama said nonchalantly. "When you're a waterbender in a strange land, you have to take advantage of everything you can to survive. Tonight, I'll teach you the ultimate technique a waterbender can know."

Katara's eyes widen in shock. "But tonight's the full moon. Even though were at our strongest then, it'll still be dangerous given how people have been disappearing."

Hama smiled at her in confidence. "Oh Katara, it's more likely we'll be the dangerous ones tonight."

Zuko led the way back into the village, determined to find out more about this mystery. They followed the directions the townsman gave them and found an old man trying to board up his home.

"Old Man Ding" Zuko said more than asked.

Ding accidentally hammered his thumb. "Eeh, yeow! Aw, damnit!" He shook his thumb as he scowled at Zuko, who was undaunted by the old man's glare. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?" Ding grumbled. "Got a full moon rising and I need to protect my home. And why the hell does everyone call me that? I'm not that old!" Ding attempted to pick up a board but dropped it after struggling with it. "Well, I'm young at heart."

Aang and Sokka picked up the board and placed it against the window, allowing Ding to nail it in. "I'm not ready to get snapped up by some damn moon monster, I'll tell you that much" Ding said as he finished up.

"That's why were here, to ask you about that" Zuko said. "What can you tell us about that night?"

"Well I didn't see anything" Ding admitted. "All I can remember is that I lost control of my own limbs, and they carried me towards the mountain, like they had a mind of their own. I thought it was the end as they walked me towards this cave. I took one last look up at the moon, thinking it was the last light I would see again. But then, the sun started to rise, and I had control of myself again! I just high tailed the hell out of there as quick as I could!"

"Why were you being led towards the mountain?" Zuko asked.

Before Ding could answer, Toph shouted out, "Oh, no! I did hear people screaming from under the mountain. The missing villagers must still be there!"

"Let's go" Zuko said, determined to prove Hama was the one responsible.

And he was just as determined to make her pay.

"This way!" Toph said as she approached the mountain. She led the squad to a cave, where it was completely dark. Zuko bent a plum of fire to light the way and he carefully led the way down with Toph.

They soon found a metal door embedded in the rock face. Toph walked over to it and crushed it open…

Only for her and the other to recoil at the horrid stench that assaulted them.

"Wh-" Sokka said, covering his nose, "what the fuck is that?"

"I don't know," Aang said as he breath deeply through his mouth, "but I got a bad feeling about this…"

The four squad members passed through the doorway.

And immediately wished they did not.

"Can you feel the power the full moon brings Katara?" Hama said as she basked in the moon light. "For more than a thousand generations, it has blessed waterbenders with its glow, allowing us to do incredible things." She continued to bask in the moons glow. "I've never felt more alive."

Katara stood nearby, unsure if she felt inspired or terrified by Hama.

But what she did know, is that something just might be wrong with Hama.

"What I'm about to show you, is what I discovered in that wretched, Fire Nation prison" Hama said. She then went on to explained how the waterbenders were denied any form of water, piping in hot, dry air and keeping them suspended from the ground. When they were given water, they were bound tightly and forced to drink the water like dogs, and any who tried to bend it was given cruel retribution.

But each month, Hama felt the power of the moon, and came to realize that where there is life, there is water. She then began experimenting to see if she could bend the water within the rats that scurried across her cell. When she finally managed to bend the rats to her will, she was ready to use her newfound powers on the guards, allowing her to escape.

"Once you've master this technique," Hama said to Katara, "you can control anything… or anyone."

"But," Katara said with unease, "to reach inside someone and control them? That's too much power for someone to have."

"This choice is not yours" Hama replied. "The power of bloodbending exist within you, and it's your duty to use this gift you've been given." She turned to look at Katara sternly. "Katara, they tried to wipe us out, our culture… your mother!"

Pain filled Katara's heart as she remembered that painful day, but it still felt wrong to learn this power. "I know, but…"

"There are no buts" Hama hissed. "You understand what I'm talking about. We are the last waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe. We have to fight these people wherever we can, wherever they are, by any means necessary!"

Realization hit Katara like a heavy wave. Zuko was right.

"It's you" she said. "You're the one responsible for all the village people disappearing during the full moon."

"They threw me in prison to rot!" Hama hissed. "Along with my brothers and sisters! They deserve the same. They deserve worst. You must carry on my work."

Katara stood there in shock as she cannot believe that a waterbender, a child of the element that gives life, could fall so far, and become the very thing she swore to stop.

And now Katara stood there, horrified that she can become that very same evil.

The rest of Avatar Squad moved through the room, becoming more and more sick and horrified by what they saw.

"This…" Sokka said as he looked closely at what must have been a beautiful woman, then recoiled away from the sight. "This is something beyond spiritual."

"No," Aang said horrified, "this is something of man."

Each body within the room appeared far too thin for someone to live. It look like they have starved not for weeks or even months, but years.

"Holy shit" Zuko said disgusted. "You guys have to look at this." The rest of the squad came over and saw the barrels…

The barrels filled with human blood, intestines, and organs.

"Judging from the smell," Toph said as she tried not to breath in through her nose, "I'm glad I'm blind."

"And I think we all envy you Toph" Sokka said as he moved on.

"Help me…" a weak voice echoed through the cave, causing the squad to look around frantically.

"Where are you?" Sokka shouted back.

"They're this way" Toph said as she led the way.

Sokka was about to ask what she meant by 'they', but he got his answer soon enough.

There was a dozen sickly looking people chained to the rock walls.

"Thank-thank you" a woman weakly said.

"We're saved!" a man shouted.

"Who did this?" Zuko said, even though he was confident of his answer.

"It was a witch!" the woman said. "She tortured the others with her powers! Made us watch as she killed them by-by-!"

"By bending the water out of them, along with their organs" Zuko said, hate filling his heart. "It was the innkeeper."

"Yes!" the man said. Toph went up to him to bend the chains off of his wrist. "She seemed like a nice old lady but she's a monster! A demon!"

"We have to stop her" Aang said.

"You guys go," Toph said as she helped the people out of their chains, "I'll get these people to safety."

Zuko, Aang and Sokka took off back through the cave, determined to stop Hama.

But Zuko was determined to go beyond just stopping her.

Katara still stood there in shock, horrified by what kind of power she had.

"You must do this Katara" Hama hissed. "You have no choice."

But Katara did have a choice. Everyone has a choice.

"No I won't!" she shouted. "I will never use bloodbending and I won't let keep terrorizing this town!"

As Katara readied herself to waterbend, her arms twisted painfully, then she was lifted off the ground and slammed against a tree. She stared in fear at Hama, who was using bloodbending on her.

"You should have learned the technique before turning against me Katara" Hama shouted in anger. "It's impossible to fight your way out of my grip. I control every muscle, every artery, every vein in your body."

Hama continued to use bloodbending to slam Katara against trees and drag her across the ground. Katara screamed in not just from the external pain but also the internal pain. She was dragged across the ground and faced Hama with tearful, pleading eyes.

"Stop…please…" Katara said weakly, only for Hama to laugh at her sinisterly.

Katara closed her eyes, believing this to be the end.

But she then felt some entity reach out to her. Katara looked up at the moon, and remembered who the spirit was.

"Yue…" she whispered. Katara took a deep breath and concentrated on using her own bending to save herself.

To Hama's disbelief, she lost control of Katara, who stood upright with defiance.

"You're not the only one who draws her powers from the moon" Katara said. "My bending is more than yours Hama. Your technique is useless on me!"

Katara drew on the water within the plants nearby and sent it flying towards Hama, who deflected it back. The old lady then bended the water from two trees and tried to attack Katara, who skillfully redirected it. Hama barley protected herself and started to lose her strength to continue fighting. Katara rushed forward and formed two torrents of water to knock Hama on her head and legs, sending her spinning then crashing into the ground. Katara breathed deeply to calm herself and be ready for a second round. The night was not over just yet…

"Katara!" she heard Zuko shout. She turned in horror as she realized they were coming to help her with Hama.

"No!" she shouted back. "Stay back you guys! It's too dangerous!"

"We can handle it!" Sokka said as he drew his sword.

"Yeah she's outnumbered!" Aang said.

"No," Hama said with a cruel smirk, "you've outnumbered yourselves."

Without warning, Hama sprung to her feet and began moving her arms in circles to bloodbend.

But it was not directed at Katara…

It was directed at Aang, Sokka and Zuko.

They three men began flying through the air. Katara wanted to use bloodbending to save them somehow, but she could not work up the courage, horrified at the potential of what could happen.

"Katara look out!" Sokka shouted. Katara looked and ducked just in time to dodge Sokka's sword. "It's like my body has a mind of it's own! Stop it arm! Stop! It!"

Katara used some water to freeze Sokka to a nearby tree. Then Aang and Zuko appeared and tried to strike at Katara, being controlled through Hama.

"This feels weird!" Aang shouted. Katara bent more water and sent Aang slamming into a tree frozen.

"Sorry Aang!" she said as she dodged Zuko.

"It's okay!" Aang shouted back, sick to see his friends Katara and Zuko fight, even if it was not one of their choosing.

Zuko, being controlled by Hama, continued to strike at Katara with his dao swords. Katara dodged and deflected the swords with water, but she had to make a move to immobilize him. It was Hama that was the real threat.

"I'm sorry Katara" Zuko shouted as he swung his swords about.

"No, I'm the one who's sorry" Katara said as she dodge more attacks. "I didn't believe you and look what happened."

"She took advantage of you" Zuko said as he tried to fight against the force controlling him, to avail.

"I know" Katara said regretfully. When Zuko was near another tree, Katara sent him flying against it with water and froze him, reminisce of their fight as enemies during the Siege of the North Pole.

Katara turned her attention towards Hama, who knew she would not stand a chance against the young woman.

Hama smiled maliciously as an idea came to her. "Don't hurt your friends Katara… and don't let them hurt each other."

Suddenly, the ice around the men broke and they wen flying towards each other, with Sokka holding his sword so it would cut into Zuko, while the latter had both his swords aimed at each of the other men. All three of them shouted in horror as they realized what was about to happen…

"NO!" Katara screamed out. She focus her energy to do what she despised to do…

She bloodbent.

Suddenly, the men stopped and landed on their feet. They looked amongst themselves as they moved of their own free will. They looked at Katara, who concentrated not on them…

But on Hama, as she became immobilized by Katara's bloodbending.

"Con-congratulations Ka-Katara" Hama said with a half-smile, half-grimace. "You're a bloodbender now."

Katara felt tears streaming down her face, knowing she took the first step towards becoming what she hated.

Zuko marched up to Hama with both swords drawn. Anger and hatred flashed across his face.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

"She must pay for her crimes" Zuko said with no remorse. Hama looked at him in fear. "You saw what she did Aang."

"But that doesn't mean she deserves to die!" Aang shouted.

"Maybe not!" Zuko shouted back. "But she's too dangerous to be kept alive!"

"Aang," Sokka said, "you know he's right about that!"

"But to kill a helpless prisoner?! How is that right!" Aang shouted.

"I'm sorry Aang, it has to be done" Zuko said. He raised both his swords into the air and pointed them downward towards Hama.

"NO" Aang said as he bent a water whip around Zuko's wrists and held him in place.

"What are you doing?!" Zuko said.

"I can't let this end this way!" Aang said.

"We don't have a choice Aang!" Zuko shouted back.

"Yes we do!" Aang said as he pulled Zuko away from Hama. "We always have-!"

Before Aang could finish, there was a loud and sickly popping sound. The men were confused where that sound came from, but they realized what it was when Hama's body collapsed to the ground, her eyes devoid of life.

Katara bloodbent her head sharply, snapping her neck and killing her.

The men stared at Katara in shock, who collapsed to the ground, crying loudly. Aang and Sokka ran over to her to comfort her.

Zuko stood by, horrified and angry. Not at Katara, not at Aang, or even at Hama.

He was angry at himself.

He reasoned that if he had not mentioned how dangerous Hama was, Katara would not have killed her when Aang stopped Zuko.

Or maybe if Zuko was faster, he could have spared Katara with the horrible act of killing.

Or if he kept his suspicions to himself, none of this would have happened.

Yet no matter how he tried to rationalize it, he was still angry at himself for doing this to Katara.

Toph came running up to the squad and saw the outcome of the fight. She felt the lifeless body and guessed correctly what happened.

"We should get going" she said carefully. "The village knows what happened and are coming to find the cave and… her" she finished while pointing towards Hama.

Aang and Sokka helped a crying Katara to her feet and led her back to Appa. Toph had to shake Zuko out of his trance to get him to move. After hastily loading up their gear, they took off into the sky, wanting to leave this nightmare behind them.

The next few days were rough for the squad as they tried to come to terms with what they experienced. Katara pleaded with Aang to forgive her, and while he does not approve of killing, he understood why she did it, and told her that the spirits were the ones who would have final judgment of her actions. It did not appease Katara much but knowing Aang forgave here when he should not gave her a sense of peace.

Katara and Zuko were rather avoidant of each other, giving each other space.

But they knew they had to face each other eventually.

As Zuko sat alone with his head in his hands, he felt Katara sit next to him. Several minutes passed before Zuko worked up the courage to speak.

"I'm sorry" he whispered.

"For what Zuko?" Katara said in disbelief. "You were right about Hama the whole time."

"But if I didn't say anything, maybe none of that would've happened."

"How?" Katara said. "Hama would have still tried to teach me bloodbending."

"Sure but if I didn't say how I was suspicious of her, then maybe we wouldn't have found out she was a waterbender after we snuck around her inn."

"And if we didn't find that out, that village would still be suffering under terrible powers. You have to give yourself credit for that."

"Yeah, I-I know" Zuko said. "But you killed her, and that was after I said she was too dangerous to let live. If I didn't say that-"

"I still would've killed her" Katara said as a matter of fact.

Zuko stared at her in shock. "No, you killed because-"

"Because she needed to die Zuko. I knew that when I found out just how twisted and evil she was. I only hesitated because…" she said before falling silent, tears willing up in her eyes.

"Because you didn't want to be the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe" Zuko deduced, though it pained him.

"Yeah" Katara croaked. Zuko groaned and rubbed his head, guilt coursing through him. Silence passed between them before Katara collected herself.

"If any of us are sorry, it's me" she finally said. Zuko looked at her in confusion.

"You have nothing to be sorry about" he said.

"You voiced your feelings and I ignored them, even dismissed them because of something I wanted" Katara said as tears of guilt flowed from her eyes. "If-if I took your warning more seriously, then maybe things could've ended differently."

"Please don't blame yourself Katara" Zuko pleaded.

"But I do blame myself. All of this happened because of me" Katara said sadly. "I didn't trust you and… and that's not fair, to either of us. How could we be together if I don't trust you completely?"

Zuko stared at her, mouth agape. "So… so does that mean you're… breaking up with me?"

Katara nodded her head sadly, not wanting to do it, but knew if she could not trust the person she's dating, or take their concerns and feelings seriously, she had no right to be with them.

"I'm sorry Zuko" Katara croaked as tears fell freely. "I-I can't date anyone right now. Not as I am."

Zuko felt the tears forming in his eyes, not just about breaking up with Katara, but also because she felt unworthy of anyone. He pulled her into his arms, causing Katara to think he was trying to keep her with him somehow.

"I understand" he said.

And with that, Katara really broke down. She knew Zuko came so far since when they first met, when he was a selfish prince more concern with pleasing his tyrannical father than for the world's sake.

And now he showed just how far he came, by being compassionate and understanding when he does not get what he wants or even needs. Instead of being selfish and fighting for something he cannot have.

She returned the hug fully.

"I know you don't want this Zuko," she said weakly "but just remember I will always be your friend."

"I know" Zuko replied softly. "And you know I will always have your back, no matter how crazy things get."

They sat there for a few minutes holding each other before they separated.

"You should get some sleep" Katara said. "We a lot of time to make up if we want to get to the invasion on time."

"Yeah," Zuko said, "and you should get some sleep too. After what we've been through, you need it the most."

"I will, but I'm going to sit here for a while" Katara said. "I need to alone right now."

Zuko nodded and rubbed Katara's shoulder gently before he headed back to the campfire where his sleeping bag was.

Katara looked up at the moon, no longer full but just as imposing to her. Not because of its size, but of the person who sacrificed herself to save it and the world.

And the person she taught of as a true hero.

Katara broke down crying again, full of shame and regret.

"Forgive me Yue…" she croaked, "forgive me mom…"