AN: It has been a long time and I apologize greatly. I've been super lazy, running, playing video games, watching awesome stuff and sleeping. This chapter is dedicated Celtice and Mondale 2016 who really gave me the extra push to get going again and left an amazingly helpful review. Please enjoy the chapter, and once again I don't own Avatar, but I do have some rocks in my backyard, I close my eyes and throw them around and pretend I'm Toph.

"Thank you…" It was the only thing Nathan could think to say to Toph. He couldn't express his gratitude to her enough. Toph grinned.

"Yeah yeah it's no big deal Daffodil." She replied, "But I do want something in return"

"And what's that?" Nathan asked with an eyebrow raise.

"For you to talk to Katara" she told him. Nathan frowned. Every wound he received seemed to throb again; he felt the dull ache inside his chest return, the wretched pain of betrayal.

"No…I can't…." Nathan said softly.

"And why not?" She scoffed.

"She stranded me in the desert!" Nathan exclaimed

"You were smuggling alcohol!" Toph snapped at him. "Everyone was dehydrated, worn out, and not thinking clearly!"

"Yeah but-" Nathan started.

"No, Nathan" Toph cut him off with a raise of her hand, using his actual name. Nathan gulped and grew silent. "Everyone makes mistakes, some more than others. Katara made a mistake, granted it was a big one, but still one mistake. Now think of all the mistakes you've made, every time you've let Katara down, every time you've lied to her. You have no reason to hold a grudge Nathan, you've messed up a lot more, so suck it up and talk to her." Toph finished and left with a slam of the door.

Nathan was speechless, his mind comprehending everything Toph had said to him. He began to think of all the times he hurt Katara. He thought of how he lied to her when he first arrived, how long it took him to open to her and share at least some of the truth. Nathan thought of when he would be hung over in the mornings and he lied to her about what was really happening. Thoughts of all the times she had worried about him and how he shrugged her off, how she never gave up on him, despite how closed off he was. Katara was the first person Nathan truly trusted, she had told him she would always be there for him. Thinking of that caused the anger to fill him once more, she betrayed him, she said she would always be there, but she wasn't. Nathan held his head with frustration; it was all so confusing he wasn't sure what to do. He ran a head through his hair, raven locks falling back into the emerald eyes filled with conflicted thoughts.

Katara sat outside of the building, her knees pulled to her chest as she thought about her current situation. Nathan was, from her understanding, an alcoholic, a liar, an amazing painter from the future, but somehow a bender, a misunderstood guy with an awful past, incredibly sweet and able to fill her stomach with butterflies at just the brush of his hand. She sighed, as the contradicting thoughts filled her mind, she thought of the drunken look on his face in the desert that night, the cloudiness of his eyes in the moonlight, and the horrible way she felt when he seemed like a completely different person.

Katara then thought of the look he gave her when he came back, the cold untrusting look in his eyes, the betrayal she saw in them and most importantly the hurt. When he shrugged her off and pushed her away, an unexplainable pain filled her chest. Her throat seemed to close and it was hard to breathe, she slid down the wall and held her chest. Was this heartbreak? That was the only explanation, and she hated the way it felt. Katara screwed up, she knew it, but now she had to fix it, but how?

Nathan continued to lie in his bed, a couple hours had passed since his and Toph's talk and he had made no progress with his thoughts. There was a knock on the door and Nathan sat up straight.

"Who is it?" he asked with a cracked voice, his throat still a bit hoarse.

"Sokka", came the reply.

"Come on in" Nathan said. He didn't see any reason to be mad at Sokka, and besides, he was going crazy from being alone. The door opened and Sokka entered, his hair in a ponytail and his expression unreadable. "Hey" Nathan nodded at him. No reply came from Sokka as he walked to Nathan's side and looked at him with the same blank expression. Nathan began to grow uncomfortable and tried to figure out what he wanted "Uh do you-"

"Just shut up" Sokka cut him off. Nathan shut up and looked at the water tribe boy, now seeing the anger on his face. His eyes narrowed as he looked at Nathan. "Now I want you to listen up and not say anything." Nathan nodded, not used to this side of Sokka, he was always so happy. "I've always liked you Nathan, I thought you were a good guy. You treated my little sister well and you became an important part of this team, you became our friend. But then we get out in that desert, you smuggle water, you drink alcohol, and you try to take advantage of MY little sister! That was too far; you betrayed our team and hurt all of us! Now everything is falling apart and we have to wait for you to get well when we could be out there helping Aang prepare to fight the Fire Lord!" Sokka practically yelled at him. Nathan was speechless, the words Sokka spoke sinking in.

Sokka turned and began to leave, proud that he said what needed to be said, and before he opened the door he turned around. "And Nathan" he added, the boy raising his head to look at Sokka, "If you ever try to touch my baby sister again, I will show you first-hand what my boomerang can do. And if you've ever been hit by one, you know they always come back and hit you again." With that said, Sokka opened the door and walked out, slamming it. Sokka smiled big, "Oh yeah! I totally nailed my big brother speech!" He fist pumped into the air and walked off to go eat.

Nathan stared at the door Sokka had left through, everything he had said registering in his mind. It was all true, Nathan being hurt was only holding the group back, and he could only see a few options.

That night Nathan couldn't fall asleep, his uneaten dinner Toph brought him sat on the table beside him. When she entered she sat it down without a word, still mad he wouldn't speak to Katara. Nathan sat up and swung his legs over to the side of the bed; he touched the hard floor with his bare feet and winced a bit. He stood up slowly and walked to the window, his head so clouded with thoughts. Outside the full moon shone brightly, its light shining into Nathan's room. "Why me?" Nathan questioned, as he looked through the window. "Why am I here? Why was I brought to this world? Was it just so I could learn to trust? To feel something that wasn't pain? To learn what friends truly felt like and have that relationship torn from me? Because if that was it then you sure did your job!" He growled, punching the side of the wall. All the built up hurt and anger was releasing itself. "I was perfectly fine dying! I had nothing to live for! But now, now I actually care! I have people to live for, ones who care for me and I screwed up! That's all I can ever do is screw up!" He yelled at the sky. "I hope your happy now!" Nathan stormed from the window to the other end of the room, he chucked the food to the floor, the plate smashing, but he really didn't care anymore. He flipped the bedside table and kicked the flimsy object, leaving a good sized hole through it, pain shooting through his foot which he ignored.

Nathan stood, fists clenched, as he breathed heavily, now he understood why he got beat when his dad was angry, physical activity was quite the outlet. The person by the window, in the moonlight watched this activity before coughing quietly. With a growl, the shaking boy turned to the person, surprise filling his face as he recognized the figure. "You…" he whispered to the floating apparition of the moonlight.

"Nathan" she spoke softly and gently.

He frowned, "What are you doing here? This is all your fault!" he spat at her.

She stood unflinching, understanding his pain, "This was your own doing, I simply brought you here for your own good."

"But why? Why me? I don't even know you! You just poofed me here without me consent!" he accused.

She sighed, "I'm sorry Nathan, I believe you deserve some kind of an explanation. Introductions are in order. I am Yue, the moon spirit" she began, and Nathan's eyes widened. That name, it sounded so familiar, he could've sworn he heard Sokka mumble it before. Yue seemed to recognize Nathan's expression as she elaborated, "The friends you are with, you see, they helped me a while ago, before I became the moon. They are good people, and I knew they could help you as well"

Nathan's expression grew dark once more, "So you brought me here because you though I needed help? Couldn't you have picked someone else? Why me?" he asked once again.

Yue smiled, "That pond you went to every day to paint. That was a special oasis, that's where I died, where I became the moon. It is supposed to be unreachable, so you see, the spirits decided that you were special." She explained. Nathan pondered this, it was always empty there, and he always felt at peace there, it was the one place he could be happy.

"But that still doesn't explain why you saved me? Why I'm here?" He asked.

Yue sighed, "I saved you because I couldn't bear to watch you die, when you had so much to live for. My power is strongest on the full moon and I brought you here. I believe it was destiny Nathan and you've done so much better" she encouraged.

"No! Everything is worse! Now I actually care and feel and that makes it hurt so much more!" Nathan argued. Yue watched him sadly, knowing she couldn't convince him otherwise. Then Nathan began to pull on his shoes and take the blankets from his bed, she observed with confusion.

"Nathan, what are you doing now?" she asked calmly, knowing she wouldn't like his answer. He zipped up his duffle after putting in the blankets.

"I'm getting out of here." He answered as he pulled his duffle onto his shoulder with a wince.

Yue frowned, "You're in no shape to travel, you need to stay" she scolded. Nathan ignored her and went to the window, preparing to climb out as Yue spoke once more. "So you're just going to run? Leave it all behind?" she asked him.

Nathan looked back and nodded, "That's exactly what I'm doing" he answered, and proceeded to climb again, but Yue's next words made him freeze.

"Go ahead and run Nathan, because that's all you've ever done. Your whole life, you've never faced your problems, only run from them. When your parents hurt you, you turned to alcohol to run from the pain, life got too hard and you tried to run away from it by ending it. People got close to you and you tried to run from them. Every problem that came up, you ran from it and turned to alcohol, so go ahead and do it Nathan, I see now my efforts were fruitless" she told him with her soft and calm voice.

Time almost stood still as they stared at each other, the light rippling across Yue, her pale and transparent eyes boring through Nathan's bold ones. She then saw his green orbs look to the floor in shame, "I'm sorry" he whispered before sliding out the window. Yue bowed her head as the boy disappeared into the night.

"I'm not the one you should apologize to" Yue whispered as she faded away, leaving the room, empty.