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Unusual Circumstances	By : voyager Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Slash - Male/Male > Aang/Zuko Views: 5136 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender is the property of Nickelodeon, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Koneitzko. I earn no profit from this, other than pure enjoyment

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Chapter-9

What once was lost,

Now is found.

(Set immediately prior to "The Southern Raiders")

Sometime, in the middle of the night, Toph woke up in her earth tent. She was not sure why, or what, but something did not feel right. She could not figure out what it was until her Earth-bending seismic-sense made her aware of what was wrong. She could feel the heartbeats of Katara and Sokka, as well as their father. She could also feel Teo, Pipsqueak, Suki, The Duke and Haru. Two members of their group were missing; the two who, in Toph's mind, were probably the most important to the success of their mission!

Toph immediately left her tent and went to Katara's to wake her. "Wha…" she asked irritably, "Toph, it's the middle of the night, go back to bed!" "Katara, we've got a problem," Toph said urgently. This brought Katara fully to consciousness. "What is it," she asked Toph with fear in her voice. "Aang and Zuko are missing!"

The two girls quickly woke the others. "Do you think they were captured," Teo asked the group, as a whole. Sokka and his father were examining the ground, and then they looked at each other. Hakoda informed them that was no sign of a struggle. "Besides," Sokka added, "If someone came to kidnap them in the middle of the night; no matter how stealthy they were, Toph would have known about it." "Snoozles has a good point," the young, blind Earth-bender agreed.

Just then, Momo started to chatter wildly, as he stared into a darkened corridor. "What's down there," Hakoda asked his son. "I'm not sure," Sokka answered, "I've never fully explored the temple."

"I have," Teo told them, "The air temple sanctuary is down there. It has a door that only an Air-bender can open, so Aang's the only one who should be able to go in there." "Well, Momo seems to be on to something, let's check it out," said Sokka's dad. The group got to the sanctuary doors, with Hakoda and 'Pipsqueak' leading the way with torches.

Once there, they discovered the doors slightly ajar. 'That probably meant that at least Aang was inside, if what Teo had told them was accurate,' Hakoda thought. The giant, Pipsqueak, handed his torch to Hakoda, and using his immense physical power, pushed the door open wide enough for the whole group to enter at once. The sight that met them was unexpected, to say the least; Katara, in particular, was un-nerved by what she was seeing.

Sitting in the sanctuary, in front of the statue of Avatar Roku, were their two missing friends. Aang had Zuko's right hand in his left hand; and had his right hand on the back of Zuko's head. Both of them had their eyes wide open. Aang's glowed blue; Zuko's had a golden-red glow. 'Aang couldn't have taken them both into the spirit world, could he,' wondered Katara.

At that moment, Zuko and Aang simultaneously took deep inhalations, and the glow faded. The two of them looked at the other tiredly, Zuko hugged Aang; and then, they both collapsed! The worried group clustered around the two of them and Katara used her healing abilities to diagnose their friends. "It's okay," she reassured them, "I think that whatever they just experienced left them worn out; but otherwise they're fine." Hakoda and Sokka lifted Zuko, and Haru picked up Aang, then their assembled company headed back out to the main chamber.

Gradually, Zuko felt himself returning to a somewhat fuzzy stage of consciousness; everything he had experienced in the spirit world was still a jumble. 'It's going to take some time to sort it all out,' he thought to himself. Then, he remembered; "Aang!" he shouted and tried to sit up, this only brought a wave of nausea. Gentle, yet firm, hands held him down, and he heard Katara's voice trying to calm him. "Take it easy, Zuko, you're back with us." Zuko heard her, but could not see her.

There was an indistinct bluish-brown blur in his unfocused vision that he could only assume was Katara. "Ka-Katara, is that you?" he stammered, "I can't see clearly." "Your vision should return in another minute or two. Whatever you and Aang experienced left you virtually exhausted." Zuko asked, "Aang, how is he?" worried for his safety. "He's still unconscious, but otherwise he's alright. It's my guess that he should come around any time now as well."

"What where you two guys doing Zuko?" Zuko identified the voice as belonging to Sokka. He turned toward the sound; this time the image was clearer, he could just barely make out Sokka's features. "Ooh," Zuko groaned, the movement had caused a horrendous headache! "Sokka," came the voice of Hakoda, his and Katara's father, "Why don't we let Zuko rest, for now. When Aang regains consciousness, and if they feel up to it; then they can tell us what happened."

"It would be helpful if everyone just left, for now," Katara said, "let's give them some privacy to recover. I'll keep you all up to date on how they are doing." Zuko still could not see her clearly, but gave a small smile of gratitude in the direction of her voice. "Thank you, Katara," he said. "I'll let you rest now, Zuko."

"Katara, wait," Zuko said as slowly and softly as he could, to avoid more headaches and nausea. "Aang and I will tell everyone later, but I want you to know what happened first." "Zuko, you really don't…" she began. "Yes, I do, you deserve at least that much," he told her. "I realized that Aang can give me something that I haven't had in a very long time, a family, and somebody who will love me, unconditionally." Zuko thought Katara was about disagree, but the arguments died unsaid. "He loves you a great deal, doesn't he?" she asked Zuko. "Yes, I don't know why, but he does. He should hate me, for everything I've done to him, and for all the pain my family is responsible for; but, for whatever reason, he doesn't."

Katara heard the raw truth in Zuko's words, and for the first time she saw the pain and sadness that Zuko normally hid behind an angry demeanor and his scar. "He loves you a great deal, too, Katara. He could not do what the world needs him to do without your support." Katara was almost moved to tears by Zuko's forthrightness; "Thank you, Zuko," was all she could think to say. "He took you into the spirit world with him, didn't he?" She asked. "Yeah, he did, and he introduced me to my great-grandfather, Avatar Roku." "You're the great-grandson of both Sozin and Roku?" she asked him. "I am," he replied. "It was their falling out which began the war, and Roku said that me and Aang coming together can end the war, redeem the Fire-nation, and restore peace."

There was movement on the cot next to Zuko's; Aang was beginning to come around. "You should rest now; he's going to need you when he wakes," Katara told Zuko. She rose and left him to recuperate, as she walked through the door, she turned slightly and saw Zuko reach his hand to the cot beside his own, and grasp Aang's hand tightly; even though this development was still a bit of a surprise to Katara, she could not help but to smile.

Aang and Zuko recuperated for the rest of the morning, finally, just as the group was preparing for their mid-day meal, Zuko made his way out to the main chamber, "Zuko, welcome back to the land of the living!" Sokka quipped. Zuko gave Sokka a weak smile, and a nod.

However, Katara was not quite buying it. "You shouldn't be out of bed, Zuko." "Yeah," agreed Sokka's girlfriend, Suki "You are looking a little peaked." "I'll be alright; Aang's awake and asking to see everyone." Zuko led the way back to their makeshift infirmary, with only a little help from Sokka and Haru. Aang was sitting up in bed, with a serious expression on his usually cheerful face.

"Aang, you're okay," Katara said and rushed forward to embrace him." "Hi, Katara, everybody," Aang said with a somewhat less than enthusiastic tone, "We've got some bad news, do you remember what I told you about the comet; it is going to return, soon. If I can't stop Ozai before its arrival, he and his armies will be unstoppable."

"We'll be there with you all the way, airhead," Toph said. Zuko felt irritated by this, but let it pass, for he knew Toph was just trying to lighten the mood. He moved to sit beside the Avatar; grasped his hand and said, "We'll all be there for you, Aang." There was no mistaking the affection in the prince's voice. This came as a little bit of a surprise to some of the group, but Sokka, Katara and Toph knew what to expect, and had try to prepare them for it.

"There's more," Aang told them, "It's alright, Aang;" Katara reassured him, "You, more than anyone else, deserve to have some joy and love in your life. If you can find that with Zuko, then we're all happy for you." "You're not upset?" He asked the group as a whole, but he was really addressing Katara. "No way, twinkle-toes," Toph told him in her usual irreverent way, "I'm just glad I won't have to see what your kids are gonna look like."

Aang and Zuko flushed as red, and hot as any fires they could bend. However, everyone else just laughed, not at them, but with them. "Thank you all, facing Ozai is the hardest thing we've ever had to do together; but with all of us working together, I know we can do it. And, I wouldn't have it any other way." "Let's let Aang rest now," Hakoda said, "We'll all be just in the next room," his daughter added. Zuko caught Aang's eye, and knew that the younger man wanted him to stay. He gave a nod and slight smile and winked with his good eye to Katara.

"Do you think they're really happy for us, Zuko?" Aang asked him, after the others were out of earshot. "I think that they're happy that you're happy, Aang; you have no idea how much you mean to all of them, and they all feel very protective of you."

"Zuko, do you think we can actually beat your father, we could barely take Azula together, and he's got to be even worse than she is." "Well, to be fair, Aang, when we fought my sister, we weren't really working together, it was more a question of having a common enemy. This time, we're truly a team." "You know Zuko," Aang said, with a little of the old sparkle in his eyes, "I don't care what anyone says, you're pretty smart." Even Zuko's usually serious face had to crack into a smile to see Aang happy and making jokes again. For the first time, since his banishment, Zuko actually felt, happy, himself!
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Unusual Circumstances