A/U:

I'm sorry that I'm a week late- I had to work and a million other things, and I was simply exhausted and couldn't muster up any energy to write. I'm still tired, but the energy I get from the fact that I'm leaving tomorrow for my well- deserved holiday gave me the powerrrrrr to write this chapter. An extra long one! 13 pages in Word- Oh boy!
I also have found a Beta, Lunar Calling. She'll be Beta-ing the next chapters, and the ones I've already written- including this one. But I don't know when I'm able to update again, so please spare me for updating this without betaing- it!

Chapter 3– You brought WHO with you?

Branches, leaves, air- it was one large whirlwind to Zuko, who clung tightly to the boy. He squeezed his eyes when branches missed him by mere inches. He vaguely made out other colors in the green-brown blur. This was just crazy- he was in company of an Airbender and they were flying for the second time, and oh he was going to get sick.
Zuko didn't dare to open his mouth to tell Aang –not that he'd hear it anyway- for the said problem.
Aang better hurry up reaching that Temple or he might spill his guts over the boy.

Just when he thought he couldn't hold it any longer, they finally reached their destination. Zuko's heart was still in his throat from the high jumps, and simply fell off Aang's back. He somehow managed to stand upright. He staggered to the nearest pillar, leaning for support, doubled over and puked.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aang winced in sympathy and guilt.

Poor Zuko. Not everyone laughed at gravity like he did.

"Aang? Is that you?"

Aang's eyes widened and he spun on his heels. There, behind large pillars and in the shadow, he saw them. His face transformed in a big grin. The grin grew even larger when he heard Appa's happy roar.
He ran quickly to his bison and sick friends.
"Hey buddy, did you watch out for them?" he said while rubbing Appa's nose, who gave a happy grumble.

He then turned to see Katara and Sokka. They lay huddled up in their sleep bags.
His smile vanished when he saw their feverish faces. Aang quickly searched for two frogs, and said:

"Suck on these. They'll make you feel better."

Katara and Sokka happily obliged, glad they'd finally get a medicine.

He wandered off to Appa's tail to sit down.

"Hey Aang, did' ya make any new friends?" Sokka slurred with his frog in his mouth.

Aang halted.
Oh boy. He'd totally forgotten Zuko!

The Airbender turned to face his friend.

For a moment he hesitated.

"Yeah. I think I did make a friend, Sokka."

Sokka's reply was to be expected.

"Goood. Did he bring any meat?"

Aang slapped his forehead.

"No he didn't, Sokka."

Sokka scowled with his frog in his mouth. It was a priceless expression, and Aang had to do his best not to laugh.

"Aang?" a weak and slightly anxious voice from behind suddenly said.

Uh oh. What was he gonna do? Sokka might be still acting like an idiot, but Katara definitely not. She might be sick, but not stupid. She's freak out even if he'd just drop Zuko's name. Let alone if the Prince suddenly stood in front of her. Even Sokka would probably act hostile. Not that he blamed them.
determined not to let Zuko close until he'd explained his friends everything, he grabbed the empty water pouch, and walked over to Zuko.

Oh Agni, he felt sick. Though after he'd relieved his stomach of its contents, he did feel slightly better. Slightly.
He stumbled while he headed for a pillar for some support. Zuko had to admit, it was a magnificent view. Hills and ruins all over.
He let the air refresh his face and closed his eyes. After a moment he opened them.
Zuko turned around to follow Aang, but to his surprise, the boy was already gone.
He sighed and went into the ruin. He couldn't be that far away- ah, there he was. The Airbender's clothing stood out like, well, yellow against black.
He walked over when he suddenly heard a roar that shook the whole building. Zuko froze. What was that?
It didn't sound good. He quickly hid behind a pillar, and then tip-toed to the wall.

Oh Spirits. A giant monster stood next to the boy! What was Aang thinking! Then he saw the saddle. He frowned.
Unless… the creature wasn't dangerous at all.

Perhaps he should just go to Aang.
So he did. Quickly, with a very wide bow around the huge creature he walked to the Airbender.

"Aang?"

He grimaced. His voice was weaker than normal. Ugh, he hated throwing up.

The Airbender turned around, and hurried to him. He had a waterpoutch in his hand. It was empty.

"Hey Zuko," he whispered when he was close enough, "could you, eh fill this with water? There's a creek nearby. Just go through that corridor, then left, then right, past a statue of a lion turtle and then head straight. You can't miss it."

Zuko looked dumbfounded.

"What?" he spluttered.
"I thought I was going to meet your friends?" his voice rose a notch.

Aang threw a look over his shoulder, and then hushed him.
"You are, but they really don't feel well, and I need water but I can't leave them. Pleeeease?"

Zuko wanted to throw all the little fact at the annoying Airbender, that he'd just thrown up, that his head ached and everything else, but found he couldn't when he saw the boy's pleading eyes.

Spirits, that boy played it mean.

"Fine!" he growled. Begrudgingly, he snatched the pouch out of the Airbender's hand and marched to the corridor.

"Thank you!" he heard the boy yell behind his back.

A little smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.

Phew. That had been way too close for his liking.
Aang quickly ran back to his Water Tribe friends who were still sucking on their frogs.
But not for long.

Croak.

Sokka was the first one to find out that the medicine was still alive.
With a shocked face, he spat the frog out and rubbed his tongue with his hands clean, all the while making horrified noises.
Before Katara could berate her brother for his absurd behaviour, she found herself in the same situation. While she almost pulled her tongue out, her brother wiped his tongue clean on Appa's fur, which only resulted in him getting hair in his mouth.

Aang smiled.

They seemed better if you didn't count the way they behaved right now.

He sat down, cross-legged like the Monks always did and waited.
Finally, when the siblings where done torturing their tongues, he spoke.

"Katara, Sokka, you guys feel any better?"

Katara looked at him and nodded. The horrified expression hadn't left her face completely yet.

"Yes Aang, but-" Sokka interrupted his sister.

"Would you mind telling us the next time that the medicine is alive and croaking?" he said with a high pitched voice.
Katara threw her brother an exasperated look and went on.

"I feel fine, and Sokka does too, thanks to your medicine. But what happened to you Aang? What took you so long?" she said while crawling out of her sleep bag and sat down in front of Aang. Sokka followed her example, still rubbing his tongue.

Aang scratched the back of his neck.

"Well yeah, it's kinda of a long story you see…"
And he started to explain the whole ordeal to the wide-eyed Water Tribe siblings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zuko cursed inwardly. He should have reached that creek by now, he was sure of that. He went through the corridor, then left, and then left again. But he didn't pass a sing lion turtle statue, he now noted.
He had heard the instructions right, or did he?
Zuko groaned. He was so lost.

Not that he would ever admit that. Not even to himself.

He looked around and fell down on a block of stone.
When he sat down, pondering on what to do, his feet started to feel… wet?
Zuko quickly looked down, to see a tiny stream of water under his shoes.
It was moving. He jumped up and followed the small flow of water.

He wasn't lost after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you're telling us you were attacked by freaky super archers, captured by Captain Sideburns, rescued by Prince Ponytail with a blue spooky mask, then he was hit by an arrow, and you just took him with you, and now you say he's lost his mind?" Sokka said incredulously after Aang finished his long story.

Aang looked very uncomfortable, but nodded.

"Yeah… that's kinda how it went."

Katara hadn't said a thing throughout the whole story. That changed now.

"You brought Zuko here?"she said softly, but yet with a very dangerous tone.

Aang nodded again, anxious for her answer.

Katara just stared at him, like she couldn't believe it. Then she slowly rose. Aang prepared fo the bomb to fall.

"I-I- How could you, Aang? He's dangerous! He wants to capture you, remember? Capture you!" With every word she said, she became louder. Aang leaned a bit back, blinking.

The Airbender opened his mouth to reply, but Katara cut him off.

"That-that monster tried not only to capture you, but to hurt us all! Have you- what if this is all an act, huh? What then! He's trying to sneak in our camp, and hurt you Aang!" She pointed a gloved finger at him. Aang had to lean back a bit more, or else she would touch his nose.

"But Katara, he doesn't remember anything, he's- he tried to argue, but to no avail. Katara was furious.

"Hey guys…" Sokka tried to say, but Katara's voice interrupted him.

"Maybe that's true, maybe he doesn't remember anything right now," She put emphasis on 'Right now'. "but have you thought what will happen if he suddenly gets his memories back? What then? What if we're sleeping, and he sneaks up on us…" she trailed off, pausing to regain her breath.

Aang grabbed this opportunity with both hands.

"I know, Katara, but back in Zhao's fortress, he tried to save me, remember!"

"So he could take you with him. That's no saving, Aang. " The Waterbender said, hands on her hips.

"Katara, Aang…" Sokka rose as well.

" Yeah, well, maybe that's true, but after he woke, Zuko wasn't Zuko anymore Katara! I couldn't just leave him to- to die!"

"Yes you could! He would have done that!" Katara's voice had now reached a high pitch that threatened to pierce Aang's ear drums.

"But not anymore!"

"Zuko is-

Aang would never find out what Zuko was, because at that moment, Sokka decided he'd had enough of them.

"GUYS! Sheesh, wait a moment! Sokka's here too, remember?" he waved his arms. Both of his fellow companions rendered silent, he went on.
"I get what you say Katara, it is irresponsible of you to take him with you, Aang," The Airbender's face fell comically, and Katara threw him a triumphant look and crossed her arms.

But Sokka wasn't finished yet.

"But Katara, think about the possibilities! If Zuko's truly brainwashed, like Aang here said,"
"He is!" Aang piped up, but was silenced by Katara's glare.
"and he doesn't remember he's tracking us, then why don't we take advantage of that?
Aang just got rid of the Bad Guy! Maybe we can change him into a.. a Not So Bad Guy!" Sokka said enthusiastically.

"Or maybe we can even change him into a Good Guy!"Aang said happily, glad with the Sokka Support he got.

But as soon as he said that, both Katara and Sokka looked at him as if he were crazy.

"No no no, Aang, Zuko's not a Good Guy. He's Fire Nation, remember?"Sokka said while wobbling one finger at the disappointed Avatar. " What I mean, is that if Zuko's all the time with us, we may influence him a bit. But my major point is that if Zuko's travelling with us, we can keep an eye out on him. We have our enemy with us all time, only he doesn't know he is our enemy! It's just perfect." The Southern Water Tribe boy exclaimed, as if he'd just figured out how to beat the Fire Nation single- handedly.

"But what if he stabs us in our backs, huh? I am not going to close one eye at night with him nearby!"
Katara said. She did, however sound less convinced of her opinion than before. She had to admit, Sokka had some good points.

Sokka turned to his worried sister. " If he does that, remember that we're here with the Avatar, the best Waterbender of the whole world and the Brave Warrior of the Southern Water Tribe!"

"I'm not the best Waterbender of the world, Sokka." Katara scoffed. But her lips twitched as she said that. After all, being called the best Waterbender of the World, even by your own crazy brother, is flattering.

Sokka took his opportunity, and went along with his last point of Why-Team-Avatar-should-take-the-evil-Fire-Nation-Prince-Along, and threw his arms around both Katara and Aang, hands spread out to the sunset.

"And if you think that's genius, think of the information we can pry out of him! Maybe we'll find out what the Evil Fire Lord is planning, or something else!"

"Uhh, Sokka," Aang stuck up one finger, trying to interrupt Sokka, "I don't think Zuko remembers much. He doesn't even know he got his memory loss, and the same goes for his age."

Sokka just snorted.

"Have you already asked him something 'bout the Fire Nation? No? Then you can't say anything- he isn't useless yet. "

Aang looked dumbfounded. But Sokka was right. He hadn't asked Zuko anything about the Fire Nation yet. Just some personal questions. Huh, he should've thought about that earlier. But hey, that's the reason Sokka is the Map and Plan guy, not you, he thought.

Then he was shaken from his reverie as Katara launched another attack on the Turn-Zuko-Into-A-Not So-Evil-Guy-plan.

"Sure, Sokka. Go ahead and ask him about the Fire Nation. That isn't even a bit suspicious," she said, stressing 'bit'. Then she put on a large, fake smile and changed into a sweet voice." Hi Zuko, sooo, do you remember anything about the Fire Nation? That would be a great help, because you know, we want to defeat the Fire Lord!" She resumed her normal voice. "Honestly, do you guys really think that's going to work?"

"Well not if you're going to do it like that, sis. What we need is a little bit more… Subtlety."

Katara snorted and crossed her arms again.

"Hah, don't let me laugh. You and subtlety ? No way, Sokka."

"I can be subtle! Just so you watch when he's back!"

Aang tuned out as brother and sister began again one of their infamous squabbles.
This was not going to work. He wondered if Zuko had found some water on his meaningless task. He should have been back by now, right?

He slowly drifted back into the Water Tribe sibling bickering. However, what Katara said was not what he expected.

"FINE! You win! Zuko can stay here- but I am NOT going to cook for him or do his laundry!"
And with that, Katara stalked away to prepare dinner while Sokka let out a victorious "Whoop!" and punched his fists in the air.

Aang grinned, and gave Sokka an High Five.
So it was going to work. He had to thank Sokka later, when Katara wouldn't hear him. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the already irritated Waterbender. Now he thought about it, he'd never be ready for that. She could be quite scary is she wanted to be.

"So Aang, the plan's set, and Katara's going to cook. Guess that leaves us to do the planning, huh?" Sokka said.

Aang nodded meekly. They both knew Sokka would do the planning, and Aang… well, he would entertain Momo?

Sokka clapped his hands together.

"Right, now where's that Firebender Princey?"

Aang shrugged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He couldn't help but to smirk in triumph when he saw Aang and his friends, huddled around what looked to be a fire.
He hurried to them, clutching his full water skin tightly.
He cautiously walked with a wide circle around Appa, who snorted disdainfully. Whatever that furry beast was, Zuko didn't trust it with one cell on his body.

When the Airbender saw him, he waved cheerfully. The boy next to him in blue eyed him with curiosity and the slightest bit of distrust. The girl who was currently filling their bowls with rice stopped. She glanced at him with a kind look he couldn't decipher. The air did feel a bit chilly suddenly, though.
Zuko walked uncertainly to the group.

Luckily Aang spoke up before he had to say something.

"Hi Zuko, these are my friends. Sokka meet Zuko, Zuko meet Sokka. Sokka gave a quick nod in Zuko's direction before delving in his food.
Aang went on. Katara, meet Zuko, Zuko meet Katara. Katara gave him again that… look. It made Zuko feel a bit queasy.

He stuck up his hand in a greeting gesture.
"Hi." He said quietly.

He took off his sheathed Dao's and pulled the mask from his shirt. He laid them both down on the ground, carefully. Maybe if it looked like he let down his guard, they'd look different at him.

He then quickly walked over to Aang and gave him the water while looking at Aang's friends.

"Here. Guess the frogs worked, huh?"

Aang nodded happily. "Yeah, the crazy old lady was right."

Sokka choked up on a spoon of rice and coughed, before squeezing out;

"Don't talk about the frogs please! I'm eating you know! Seriously Aang, you could have found something else less disgusting than frogs!"

Zuko frowned. What a way to thank Aang.

"You are better because of the frogs, right?"

Sokka nodded slowly. "Yessss..?"

"So what's the big deal?"

Sokka spluttered. "You- I- Ugh. Stupid Fi…."
What the Water Tribe boy said was lost when he stuck another spoon in his mouth after a warning glance of the girl, Katara was her name, right?

While everybody sat but him, Zuko was uncertainly if he should do so as well.

But this time, the girl helped him out.

"I've got some rice left," She gestured stiffly to the small steaming cauldron. "help yourself." She said while she quickly pushed a bowl into his hands. She never even glanced at him while she said that, and her hands shook when she handed him the bowl.
Zuko took the bowl gratefully, and scooped it full. His stomach was aching- this was the first meal of today.

"Thank you." He said softly. He received no reply, nor had he expected one. The girl quickly sat down again. He did the same.
There was a pregnant silence while everyone ate. Aang was glancing at everyone, and fidgeted with his ladle while a winged lemur balanced on his shoulders and arms, trying to grab some rice. When the girl, or Katara thought he wasn't looking, she sneaked looks, or rather glares at him.

Suddenly, Sokka leaned forward.

"Soooo you're from the Fire Nation, huh?"

Aang smacked his head and Katara dropped her ladle simultaneously. Momo screeched and flew away from Aang's shoulder at the sudden movement, and landed on the other creature's head.

Zuko raised his eyebrow.

"Eh, not that I know." He said slowly, dragging out the words.

He didn't notice the quick Aang and Katara shared, or the flash that lit up Sokka's eyes momentarily.

"Why did you say that?" Zuko asked cautiously.

Sokka answered quickly.

"Weeelll, you could either be Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, so I thought; let's ask the guy where he's from. So if you're not from the Fire Nation , you're from Earth Kingdom then?" he said, wisely not mentioning the War that was going on.

Zuko's brow lowered into a frown.

"I guess so…"

Was he from the Earth Kingdom? He couldn't remember. It was disturbing in so many ways. But he probably was- when Aang was asleep, he'd found a dagger tucked away in the folds of his clothes. On it was a description, in Earth Kingdom characters. Never give up without a fight, said the inscription. The other side said 'Made in the Earth Kingdom', and that confirmed his theory.

He decided to show them.

"I can't really remember," he shot a glance at Aang, who stared at him with eerie interest, "but I have something from the Earth Kingdom, so I guess that's where I'm from." He said while taking out the dagger to show. It felt familiar, just like the swords and mask had.
He handed the knife over to Sokka, who cautiously took it.

"Yep, it's made in the Earth Kingdom. You can see that not only because of the inscriptions, but also from the style. See? The brown and the sturdy metal and shape are typical for the Earth Kingdom. Same goes for the pearl. You only find these in the Earth Kingdom reefs."
He let out the part that though the pearls where traded once, trade now no longer happened between the Nations because of the War.
"Dad explained it to me, once. Weapons from the Nations." he added when he saw the confused faces.

He then handed the dagger back to the owner, who quickly tucked it back in his shirt.

Zuko then spoke up again.

"I guess you're wondering why I can't remember anything-"

Sokka waved his words away.

"Don't worry, Aang has told us already everything-" Zuko shot Aang a glare. Aang smiled guiltily. Sokka ignored them and went on. " -'bout your memory loss. That really sucks, by the way."

"Yeah, it does." Zuko said. He was glad that Aang had explained them, he wasn't really in the mood to talk about it. He was however, a little miffed about the fact that he'd told them without him.

Luckily for Aang, Zuko decided, instead to sulk on it, he could ask them some questions, now that the ice was broken between them.

But he was still annoyed.

Sokka's heart was pounding in exhilaration. So now they tricked Zuko- Prince Zuko into thinking he was an Earth Kingdom Citizen. And the best part of it was that Zuko himself had come up with it first.

"You're wearing blue. Guess you're from the Water Tribe then?" Zuko suddenly said.
Sokka turned to him.

"Southern Water Tribe, to be precise," he said with an air of superiority, while Katara rolled her eyes.

"My sister and I, " he waved at Katara, " travel with the A- with Aang."
Oops. He'd almost said 'The Avatar'. But if the Prince had noticed his little slip, he didn't mention it.

Zuko did look interested though.
"You travel with Aang? Where are you going?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You travel with Aang? Where are you going?"

Aang decided it wouldn't hurt them to tell where they were going. They were heading for the North Pole to learn Water Bending. He'd just let out his part that he was to learn it as well.

"Well, actually, I'm merely giving them a ride to the North Pole. You see, Katara and Sokka helped me, and now I'm returning the favor by bring them to the other Tribe. Katara wants to learn Waterbending." he said.

"Really? You're a Waterbender? But why go the other side of the World for that?" Zuko asked, surprised.

"Because there are no Waterbenders but me in our Tribe left." she said, somewhat bitterly.

Zuko wanted to ask more, but Sokka cut him off.

" The problem is, that while we're going to the North Pole, we can't leave you behind with no memory left."

Aang winced. That was blunt, Sokka….
Zuko visibly deflated at the words.

Zuko stumbled over his words as he tried to come up with a reply.

"I-I don't want to be a bother to you- you just go on, I'll be fine."

To Aang's utter surprise, Katara spoke up for Zuko.

"Nonsense. You're going with us. We're in the middle of nowhere- maybe we can find you some help on the way, or help you ourselves." she said with a tone of finality.

"What? You want me to come with you? but I'll just-"

They would never find out what Zuko was, because Sokka jumped up, and said;

"You are coming with us. Period. Back home we'd never leave someone behind. Never. Same goes for you. If you want to help, then shut up and listen."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Zuko clamped his mouth shut. There was no way he could argue with such an… irrational person. Maybe he would have tried, hadn't he felt so tired.

He saw how Sokka went to the creature and climbed into the saddle. He rummaged around for a few minutes, before jumping up with a large sheet of paper in his hand. He hopped clumsily of Appa and fell down between Aang and Katara. He smoothed out the paper. Zuko could now see what it was: a map of the world. Interested, he scooted a bit closer to Aang to get a better sight.
"Tadaaa! Beware the marvelous map! So this is where we're going next…."

The next half hour was spent arguing, planning and more arguing. At last they'd come to a decision; they'd visit Makapu Village. Katara was adamant about going there because of the Village's Fortune Teller. Sokka had made a face, but remained quiet after receiving a death glare from Katara, and Aang seemed quite excited about it. Personally, Zuko wasn't really in to the Spiritual thing, and he doubted any so called 'Fortune Teller'. But he was far too happy that he was allowed to travel with them to complain about it.
Though he'd said he would be fine without him, his heart told him otherwise.

He would be completely lost without them.

Zuko closed his eyes, choosing not to dwell on it while he lay down in the saddle with a blanket. He had no sleeping bag, and Aang had taken his place on Appa's tail- after the planning, he'd asked what the creature was, and Aang had launched into a detailed story about how he got Appa, their adventured, and more. Zuko had been quite content with all the information, he now knew the creature's name, and what it was.
When they went to bed, Aang had said he could take Appa's tail, but he'd insisted he would be fine in the saddle with just a thin blanket. Aang had shrugged, but was too tired to argue with him. Everyone was.
So now he lay under his blanket, wondering what tomorrow would bring, and if they'd really help him regaining his memories.

But for the first time since he'd woken up in the forest, he felt content. And with that feeling, Zuko drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/U: Tadaa! Here's my (probably) last chapter for at least two weeks. Maybe I'll be in the mood to write during my holiday, but I doubt it. But who knows? Last year I wrote and updated a chapter for one of my stories in France, so who knows…

I hope you liked the interaction between our Benders- and Sokka. Sokka, surprisingly, is the easiest to write for me. Katara, on the other hand, the most difficult.
For everyone who didn't check out Avatar Wiki, Makapu Village is the Village with the Fortune Teller.

Summary for the next chapter: Zuko will make some discoveries, while Aang, Katara and Sokka have a difficult time with turning and twisting the facts around.
Also, someone will be searching for Zuko…

If you liked it, please Review!