Betrayed

~3~

Just as Aang was about to ask Katara what she mean by 'being the real villain, she broke out of his grip and ran to her room. "Hey Katara wait!" Aang chased her and tired to open her door. "Damn it She must have frozen the doorknob." Aang knocked on the door. "Katara can I come in?" He got no response. Aang sighed and decided to go back to the dinning room where Sokka and Toph were. "Katara is definitely hiding something. What ever she is doing can't be good because she's guilty." Sokka looked at Aang confused. "I was talking to her and she was saying something about 'being the real villain.' Toph stood up grabbed Aang and Sokka and dragged them to the corner of the room. "Okay guys I have a plan. We are going to find out what Katara is up too." Both Aang and Sokka's eyes lit up. "Yes that's a great idea!! How are we going to do it?" Sokka asked excited. "Okay shut up and I will tell you!" Sokka shut up. "Okay so It's pretty simple, all we do is sneak out the exact same window that Katara sneaks out of. And well that's it. We just have to make sure to get back to the inn before she does. And we can't make a sound... Sokka." Sokka pretended to be hurt. "Ouch."

Later that night Aang, Sokka, and Toph all met up in Sokka's room. "Okay yesterday she left at dawn so that's when Aang will wake us up." "Hey why do I have to wake you guys up can't we all just stay up till she leaves? That's probably what Katara does!" Toph sighed. "She will probably notice somethings wrong when she won't hear Sokka snoring!" Aang laughed. "Okay fine but next time Sokka is staying up." Sokka groaned and they both went to bed.

At dawn Aang herd a small click. He jumped out of bed to see Katara poking her head out of her room frantically looking up and down the hall to make sure no one was there. "Why are you hiding things from m-us Katara? Why?" Aang thought to himself. Aang's jaw dropped when he saw what Katara did next. She pulled water out of thin air and made a stair case out of ice leading to the window. "Must be something she just learned. There's no way she knew how to do that before. Maybe she's seeing a master water bender. But in the fire nation?" Once Katara swiftly jumped through the window and evaporated her ice stair case (which Aang was also noticed as a new move) Aang quietly sprinted to both Toph and Sokka's room and told them to wake up.

They woke up just in time. Toph earth bended them through the window as quietly as she could. It didn't seem like Katara had noticed. They silently followed her as she sprinted though the forest. She stopped and all three of them dove into a bush nearby. Aang quickly noticed where they were. "Guys this is where we last saw Hama!" Aang wispered to his friends who had worried expressions. Everyone's eyes widened when they saw Hama emerge from the darkness. "Why the hell would Katara meet up with her?! Oh my gosh I was right Hama must be threatening Katara so she will do something for her! That old hag!" Aang angrily watched the two stare at eachother. "Katara... I'm so glad you made it." Everyone was shocked when they saw Katara walk over to Hama and hug her.

Katara backed away and smiled at Hama. I think I'm ready to learn how to blo-" Hama put her index finger to Katara's lips motioning for her to be quiet. Hama sadly smiled at Katara. "Katara I don't think you should say that out loud. It was my honor to teach you this very special technique, and I had a lot of fun helping you learn but I'm afraid that we will never get to learn anymore together." Katara's smile faded. "B-but why? I love learning with you! I know that my friends think your bad but that's their opinion, I think your amazing! Why don't you want to teach me anymore?" Hama genuinely smiled at Katara, She did care a lot for the young water bender, she really did. "It's not that I don't want to teach you anymore Katara, I do. But I will not be able to, I want you to feel the water around you. Do you feel anything that is out of the ordinary than when we are usually here alone?" Katara took a deep breath and began to feel the water. She sensed something that was odd. She focused on that until she smirked.

Blood.

She was about to blood bend whatever was behind that bush. When Hama put her hand on Katara's shoulder. "Focus. That is not an animal." Katara's smirk faded. She focused and came to the conclusion that there was a person behind the bush. No 3 people behind the bush. Katara's eyes widened when she realized who the people behind the bush were. "Hama go run. Get out of here! I will distract them. You go now!" Katara whisper yelled to Hama. Hama nodded. Katara made a think mist that surrounded them. But it was quickly turned back to water. For 5 minutes it was Aang and Katara fighting to keep the mist up and turn it to water. Katara kept creating mist until she was sure that Hama was gone. She stopped and Aang cleared the mist. Aang, Toph, and Sokka where all looking at Katara. "They can yell at me all they want I do NOT regret learning blood bending or meeting up with Hama and helping her escape. The good news though is that they STILL don't know I'm a blood bender." Toph, Sokka, and Aang marched to Katara. "Why the hell where you with that old hag?! Why did you hug her?! WHY DID YOU HELP HER ESCAPE?!" Sokka screamed at his sister. Katara didn't flinch. She showed no fear, her face remained emotionless. Both Aang and Sokka were shocked that Katara had no even flinched at Sokka raising his voice. She usually would before fighting back. But she hadn't said a word to either of them. "So this is why you said you were the real villain. You are meeting up with a criminal and helping her escape." Aang looked at Katara disappointed. Katara's face remained the same. She looked at Toph waiting for her to blow up at her. But she didn't. "Well? What do you want to yell at me for Toph?" "Nothing. I don't know the story yet." Katara slightly smiled at Toph until quickly returned to a serious face. She looked at Sokka and Aang they both looked upset. "If you expect me to say that I'm sorry your not going to get that. I regret nothing." Katara walked past Sokka and Aang and grabbed Tophs hand. She started walking at a fast pace back to the inn. The boys jogging to catch up. "Toph i want you to make an earth tent around us and make sure no one outside can hear anything." Toph nodded and made an earth tent. Both of the boys groaned in frustration and sat on the ground.

"Care to explain sweetness?" Katara sighed. "The night you were saving those people from that cave Hama had come up to me and told me that she could teach me some water bending moves that no other master could. At first I wasn't sure but when she showed me her skills... I gave in. She is an amazing water bender she has so much power, I can control the water in living plants, and make them dance." Katara laughed remembering the dancing animals. "And I can suck water out thin air! I don't even need to carry my water skin anymore and get worried about running out of water because water is everywhere!" Toph chuckled. "That's pretty cool sweetness. I don't even care that you helped a criminal escape but it might not be the same for Aang." Katara frowned. "Yeah I know, but he can't stay mad at me for too long.... Right?"

Katara was absolutely correct. By the next morning Aang had already forgiven Katara. Katara had told Aang and Sokka that she was now a master waterbender and learned some really awesome tricks, and that she felt like Hama was family, them being the last 2 water benders of the southern tribe and all. "Well this is going amazing no one even suspects I'm a blood bender. I don't think any of them even know blood bending is a thing." Katara thought to herself feeling proud she got away with everything.