Katara, Toph, freckles, Sokka and I sat on the front of the stairs watching Zuko train Aang. Well not really we were all basically doing something other than watching the only source of entertainment around.
Katara and her sister were making watermelon juice. Toph was laying upside down and I was spinning the knife ring on my finger.
"More ferocious!" Zuko yelled at the Aang. "Imagine striking through your opponents heart!"
"He's being a little harsh no?" Freckles asked I tilted my head back at her.
"I like his style!" Toph smiled widely.
"Of course you do." Kaida sighed and looked at me. "Don't you think you should be helping?"
I glanced up at her. "Hmm help or relax? I think we both know the answer." She didn't look convinced. "I think Zuko's fine with hogging him."
"Okay." She looked worried at the two.
"Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo." Zuko ordered and Aang like out a small roar. "That sounded pathetic. I said roar!"
Aang tried again, bow releasing more fire than before.
"Who wants a nice cool glass of watermelon juice?" Katara asked.
"Ooo Ooo Me Me!" Aang replied happily and tried running over.
"Hey!" Zuko grabbed onto the back of his collar raising him "Your lessons not over yet! Get back here!" He pulled him over.
"Relax, Fire brain." Freckles said walking over holding a melon for him to take but he didn't.
"Come on, Zuko take a break, What's the big deal?" I asked and sat up.
"Fine!" Zuko replied letting go of Aang who raced to get watermelon juice. "If you all want to lounge around like a bunch of snail sloths all day, Then go ahead!"
I stuck my tongue out at him as he walked away with freckles and her pet followed.
"Maybe Zuko's right." Sokka said and we looked at him. "Sitting around the house has made us pretty lazy, but I know just the thing to chance that. BEACH PARTY!" He pulled off his clothes and dived into the water.
We all got beach ready and went down I sat on a towel and watched as Sokka went back and fouth with buckets of water and seaweed.
"Sokka, don't you want to just sit down?" I asked.
"No and don't look back here." He smiled and I smiled back then I looked over at Aang.
"Check out my Appa sand sculpture." Aang smiled and Appa roarded at it.
"Not bad baldy." Toph told him. "But I've been working on my sand bending, you're gonna love this." She made the entire city of Ba Sing Se along with the Earth King and Basco. "Try and top that Sokka."
"Ta-Da!" Sokka announced and we looked at it.
"Is that a blubbering blob monster?" Aang asked.
"No!" Sokka answered. "It's Mirai."
They laughed. "Mirai, we'll all understand if you break up over this." Toph said.
"I think it's charming." I said and smiled. "It's the thought that counts."
Sokka came over kissing my cheek.
"But it doesn't even look like-" Aang was cut off and we watched Zuko try to hit him with fireblast.
Sokka was trying to fix his sand sculpture when Katara and Kaida came back to shore and asked what happened.
"Zuko's gone crazy!" Sokka told them. "I made a sand sculpture of Mirai and he destroyed it!" I was actually kind of glad he did. "Oh and he's attacking Aang."
We all ran up to the house watching the two fight on the roof then disappear inside the house as we were getting closer. We made it just as Zuko was blasted out of the house.
"What's wrong with you?!" Katara asked. "You could have hurt Aang!"
"No, no." Kaida said and glared at Zuko. "Aang, could have killed you! Really Zuko! What's the matter with you?!"
"What's the matter with me?!" Zuko repeated getting up. "What's wrong with all of you?! How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's comet is only three days away?!"
We all looked at him. "Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?"
"About Sozin's comet." Aang said. "I was actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came."
"After?" Zuko repeated.
"I'm not ready, I need more time to master firebending." Aang told Zuko.
"And frankly your Earthbending could still use some work too." Toph had cut in.
"So you all knew Aang was gonna wait?" Zuko asked but his eyes stayed on Kaida.
"Honestly," Sokka said. "If Aang, tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose." I pinched him. "No offense."
"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war." Katara explained. "But they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse."
"Yeah right." I whispered.
"You're wrong." Zuko said and I wasn't really surprised. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine.
The day before the eclipse my father asked me to attend an important war meeting, It was what I dreamed about and wanted for some many years my father finally accepted me back."
He told us how Ozai and his men were going to burn down all the Earth Kingdoms so that the whole would would be under the Fire Nation's control alone. All of it on the day of Sozin's comet. I looked at him thinking about Annchi and Daiyu who were still there.
"I wanted to speak out against this horrible plan." Zuko continued. "I'm ashamed to say I didn't. My whole life I struggled to get my father's love and acceptance, But once I had it, I realised I lost myself getting there. I had forgotten who I was.."
"I can't believe this." Katara said falling to her knees.
"I always knew the Fire Lord was a bad guy," Sokka said squeezing my hand. "But his plan is just pure evil."
"How can we win this... The Fire Nation will be at it's all time high." Kaida chewed her bottom lip nervously.
"What am I gonna do?" Aang asked.
"I know you're scared." Zuko walked up. "And I know you're not ready to save the world, but if you don't defeat the Fire Lord when the comet comes, There won't be a world to save anymore."
"Why didn't you tell me about your dad's crazy plan sooner?!" Aang asked.
"I didn't think I had to." Zuko answered. "I assumed you were gonna fight him before the comet, No one told me you decided to wait!"
Zuko glared over at Kaida who glared at him back. I shook my head. "You should have told us earlier!" I shouted and breathed to calm down. We could have tried to do something else." I looked at them. "We have to do something..."
"This is bad," Aang said walking away and falling on his knees. "This is really really bad."
"Aang, you don't have to do this alone." Katara walked over and so did we.
"Yeah!" Toph agreed. "If we all fight the Fire Lord together we've got a shot at taking him down!"
"Alright!" Sokka cheered from behind us. "Team Avatar is back! Air, Water! Earth! Fire! Knives and sword."
"I have firebending too." I said not liking the way it sounded, it didn't really roll off the tongue.
"Shh, don't leave me alone." Sokka muttered and gave me the vine.
"Fine." I said and took it.
"Fighting the Fire Lord is gonna be the hardest thing we've ever done together." Aang told us. "But I wouldn't want to do it any other way."
We chuckled and walked over into a group hug. We looked over at Zuko who stood alone, looking at us.
"Get over here, Fire brain." Freckles said. "You're part of the group now, which means you have to take part in the group hugs." He rolled his eyes and stood between Toph and Kaida.
Appa crashed into us and Momo flew on him while Ming sat on Zuko's head.
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Edited; 8/2/21