Falling, Fallen

Chapter 8: Burned

"Why would he try to fool us like that?" Katara asked. "Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap." Her brother answered. "This is just like when we were in prison together at Ba Sing Se. He starts talking about his mother and then back in the Fire Nation he would tell me things about his past and his Uncle making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings." "He wants you to trust and feel sorry for him so you let your guard down, then he strikes again." Sokka replied. "The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he was really confused and hurt, but obviously, when the time came, he made his choice, and we paid the price. We can't trust him." "I kind of have a confession to make. Remember when you two were sick and I got captured by Zhao?" Aang muttered. "And you made us suck on frozen frogs? How could I forget? I had a wart on the flap that hangs down from the back of my throat for a month!" "Sokka, I looked at it, and I told you, there was nothing there!" Katara said rolling her eyes. "I could feel it! It's my throatal flap!" "Anyway, when Zhao had me chained up, it was Zuko who came in and got me out. He risked his life to save me." "No way! I'm sure he only did it so he could capture you himself!" Katara stated. "Yeah, face it Aang, you're nothing but a big prize to him." Aang agreed. You're probably right." "And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar!" Katara huffed. "Actually, he wasn't lying." The blind girl in the corner said. "Oh, hooray! In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list." Sokka said sarcastically. Toph growled. "I'm just saying that, considering his messed-up family and how he was raised, he could have turned out a lot worse." "You're right, Toph! Let's go find him and give him a medal. The "not as much of a jerk as you could have been" award!" Katara replied. "All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere. Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly." Toph fires back. "Easy for you to say! You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates! Or held me hostage!" "Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island!" "Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple!" "Why would you even try to defend him? "Because Katara, you're all ignoring one crucial fact." Toph starts poking Aang in the chest. "Aang needs a firebending teacher! We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job! Now one shows up on a silver platter, and you won't even think about it?" She stomps her feet on the ground to a point where the ground shakes slightly. "I'm not having Zuko as my teacher!" "You're darn right you're not, buddy." Sokka agreed. "Well, I guess that settles that." Katara smiled. "Ergh! I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here!" Was the last she said before walking away.

Zuko is asleep when he hears something. "Who's there? Stay back!" He hissed whipping fire thinking it's a robber or worse his sister.
"It's me!" Toph cries throwing up an earth shield, but steps back into Zuko's fire blast. "Ow! You burned my feet!" "I'm sorry, it was a mistake!" He starts toward her, but she begins to crawl away. "Get away from me!" As Toph crawled away, she grabs the earth under her and throws it backward at Zuko. "Let me help you!" Zuko says as he dodges another rock.] I'm sorry!" Not realizing his mistake as he tries to grab her." "Get off me, get off me!" She fights bringing up some earth which sends Zuko flying back. She disappears into the woods. "I didn't know it was you! Uggh, come back!" He calls knowing she's already gone. "Uggh! Why am I so bad at being good?" He yells frustrated.

Katara is serving everyone breakfast and as she hands a bowl to The Duke she looks around. "Has anyone seen Toph?" "I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday." Sokka answered. "Maybe she's just exploring the air temple. There are some pretty fun spots to practice earthbending." Haru added. "I think we should go look for her." Katara worried. Sokka waved dismissively at her not bothering to get up. "Let her have fun with her rocks. I'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again." "We can go check for her!" The Duke smiled. Teo agreed.     "Yeah! I want to ride that tunnel down to the Hall of Statues again. It will work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes." The three boys took off.
A large rumble occurs and Toph falls down the pile of rock that she created from a wall. The three older people ran to her. "Toph! What happened?" Katara cried. "My feet got burned!" "Oh no, what happened?" Katara repeated. "I just told you, my feet got burned!" "I meant, how." Katara rolled her eyes. "Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night." Everyone looked at her shocked. shocked. "You what?" "Zuko?" "Uhhh ...!" All three said at the same time. "I thought he could be helpful to us." Toph said as Katara begins to try and heal her feet. "And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out." "So he attacked you?" Sokka frowned. "Well, he did, and he didn't. It was sort of an accident." Toph defended. "But he did firebend at you?" Aang asked. "Yes." The young girl sighed. "See? You trusted Zuko, and you got burned. Literally!" Sokka said. "It's gonna take a while for your feet to get better." Katara stopped healing. "I wish I could have worked on them sooner." "Yeah, me too." Toph agreed. "Zuko's clearly too dangerous to be left alone. We're gonna have to go after him." Sokka said puffing out his chest. "I hate to go looking for a fight, but you're right. After what he did to Toph, I don't think we have a choice." The Avatar agreed. "He's crafty, but we'll find a way to capture him." "Maybe just invite him back here. Toph said as Aang and Sokka pick her up. "He's already offered himself up as a prisoner once." "Yeah, get him to come back and say he'll be our prisoner, then we'll jump him and really make him our prisoner. He'll never suspect it!" "You are a master of surprise, Sokka." Katara rolled her eyes.
The two boys dip the burned earthbenders feet in water and set her on the side of the fountain. "Ahhh, that's the stuff. Now I know how the rest of you guys feel. Not being able to see with your feet stinks."
"Stop!" Team Avatar turn their head up at the sudden shout. Its Zuko and Combustion Man. "I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore!" Aang looks up with shock as he is helping Sokka carry Toph.
Zuko as he stands in front of Combustion Man, arms spread out to block him. "The mission is off. I'm ordering you to stop." Combustion Man shoves him away and attacks again. "If you keep attacking, I won't pay you!" Zuko yells as he attempt to firebend at him, but Combustion Man grabs him. "All right, I'll pay you double to stop!" Zuko kicks Combustion Man as he fires, causing him to miss again. He subsequently takes aim at Zuko. Zuko creates a firewall to stop the attack but is pushed off the ledge.
Combustion Man turns his attention back to the Gaang. Aang does a spinning back kick, airbending and kicking up the dust around him, and leaping straight up just as a blast from Combustion Man explodes beneath him. Aang spins in mid air, airbending a tornado and kicking it at Combustion Man. Combustion Man leaps over the tornado and fires another blast as he descends. Aang lands and quickly back flips away from the blast, landing next to Katara and Sokka.
Combustion Man falls before switching to a shot of his metal, clawed hand as it catches on a small ledge and breaks it, slowing his fall. He lands on a new ledge and rolls, firing a blast just as he stops.
Katara and Aang shield themselves as the blast hits the fountain water. Katara runs forward and bends the water from the pool. A huge wave up between them and Combustion Man. The wave matches her arm movements and icicles in both directions. Combustion Man watches the icicles speed toward him. He brings his metal arm over his face and lifts his metal leg to shield him from the attack. The icicles break against him. Combustion Man flings his arms down to shake off the ice shards and steps forward, an angry frown on his face. The group is nowhere to be seen. Aang fires a tornado, which the assassin jumps over and fires again. Aang narrowly avoids the blast by jumping back. Combustion man falls and lands on a ledge as he fires and misses again. Katara bends water from the fountain and turns it into ice spikes, but Combustion Man appears unaffected. The assassin looks up and realizes they have disappeared but continues firing. The team hid behind a wall out of sight. "He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliff side!" Katara looks out from behind the wall only to see another incoming blast. "I can't step out to waterbend at him without being blown up and I can't get a good enough angle on him from down here." Katara yelled. "I know how to get an angle on him!" Sokka yells he takes out his boomerang. After another blast, he sneaks his head out, but has to hide from another shot. He projects Combustion Man's angle with his boomerang. "All right buddy, don't fail me now!" He throws his boomerang.
The boomerang hits the assassin in the head where his third eye tattoo is, causing him to hit the ground, before it returns back.
"Yeah, boomerang!" Sokka yells as he jumps up and grabs it, but Combustion Man gets up, albeit clearly shaken. "Awww, boomerang."
As the team runs back to their hiding spot, Combustion Man gears up again, but is dizzy and cannot aim properly. His next shot fails to escape, causing an explosion around him resulting in the building he stands on getting destroyed.
Zuko climbs a plant root, having survived the ordeal. Later, Zuko again approaches the gang.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but ... thanks, Zuko." Aang says. "Hey, what about me? I did the boomerang thing." Sokka whines. "Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday, I've been through a lot in the last few years, and it's been hard. But I'm realizing that I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honor, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honor. It's something you earn for yourself, by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war, and I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world." Zuko says then turns to Toph. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous and wild, so as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally." Everyone is silent for a minute before Aang speaks "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned Katara, and after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me." "Thank you. I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group." "Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them." He turns to Toph. "Toph, you're the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?" "Go ahead and let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet." Aang turns to Sokka next. "Sokka?" "Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then, I'm all for it." Sokka shrugs. "Katara?" Aang continues. She glares at Zuko for a moment "I'll go along with whatever you think is right." Aang smiles in return. Zuko looks at them excited. "I won't let you down! I promise!"
Sokka shows Zuko around and then takes him to his new room. "So, here you go, home sweet home, I guess, you know, for now. Unpack? Lunch, soon? Uhhh ... welcome aboard?" Zuko glances back and smiles at him. "Yeah." Sokka leaves Zuko to unpack and walks out of the room and meets Aang in the hallway. "Okay, this is really, really weird." Aang nods in agreement.
Zuko smiles to himself as he feels like he's finally going down the right path before he suddenly notices a clearly disgruntled Katara at the door.
"You might have everyone else here buying your ... transformation, but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past." Katara approaches him; threateningly. "So let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward, one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends ... right then and there. Permanently." Then she turns around and leaves. Her point was very well made.
"I have a lot to make up for." Zuko sighs before returning to his unpacking.