Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any affiliated intellectual property. Amen.

"If you really wanna feel like old times again I could, uhh, chase you around a while and try to capture you again." Zuko jested, mustering his cheekiest face. It earned him an earnest laugh from everyone around the campfire. That is, everyone bar Katara, who had been silently stewing ever since they'd gathered for dinner.

She felt a bitter astonishment at how well Zuko was slowly creeping his way onto everyone's good side. A little happy trip with him was apparently all it took for them to drop their guard. How could they. If only they had experienced his betrayal first-hand, as she had back in the underground of Ba Sing Sei. In her eyes, Zuko's second chance was more than enough good will on her part, and any more would be dangerously naive. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice… Katara felt more confident in her sulking, the corners of her lips sinking deeper into a frown.

The orange flames dancing in the middle of the group seemed like the perfect metaphor for the boy among them. Such a bright and cozy flame, offering hope that Aang might yet master all of the elements. However, only Katara knew just how much those flames burned if one got too close. Zuko was nothing but trouble, and apparently it was her job to remain vigilant and protect everyone from his treason. When the time came, and Zuko cracked under the pressure, she would be expecting had informed him of this back when he'd joined them at the Air temple.

"Haa. Haa." Katara's unamused sarcastic laugh fell out of her mouth like ripe fruits of spite.

Ignoring her, Sokka raised his glass and said, still smiling "To Zuko. Who knew that after all those times he'd tried to snuff us out, today, he'd be our hero!" and everyone except Katara and Zuko joined the toast, the latter dropping his gaze. Aang and Toph threw one of his shoulders a friendly punch each, bringing out a thankful smile on Zuko's face.

"I'm touched. I don't deserve this," he thankfully said, looking around.

"Yeah, no kidding." came Katara's deadpan reply, cutting a hole through the pleasant atmosphere. Unable to bear her friends' insolence, she got up and hastily made for the nearby cliff.

"What's with her," she heard Sokka say just before she got out of earshot.

Zuko got up immediately after, answering the halfhearted question with a distraught "I wish I knew," before walking off after her.

"What's with him?" continued Sokka, not quite able to read the situation. He tried to think about it for a short moment, before his focus shifted back to Suki. Something about the long, dark shadows playfully weaving their way between the warm light of the campfire just screamed poetry to him.

Sokka felt excitement well up in the pit of his stomach. Though he tried to make it look effortless, he had to really try, to keep down a very silly grin as he got himself up off the floor. He discreetly shot a wink at Suki, before turning around and walking off while doing his best to look smug.

The third minute hadn't passed since Sokka's departure when a visibly flushed Suki started stumbling through a shabby list of excuses for herself. Aang's and Toph's knowing grins stunned her briefly. She, too, got up on her feet, and after mumbling an apology, took off.

Aang stared off into space, trying to wrap his head around Katara's attitude towards Zuko. It was very rare of her to be downright spiteful to someone, especially if it was someone who was on their side. Besides, Zuko was his teacher, just like her. From Aang's perspective, the arguing seemed pointless and unnecessary. He thought he knew Katara well, and having something unexpected like this go down tugged slightly at his heart.

"Don't worry about it, Twinkletoes."

At times like these, Toph could be counted upon to read his mind and put it at ease.

"Thanks." he answered honestly, then thought. Usually, he wouldn't really appreciate Toph's intervention, as it'd mean he'd have to just sink deeper into denial of his feelings for Katara. Now, though, he was so lost that anything tangible was good by his book, even if it was just a few reassuring words from his friend.

"What do you think, Toph… What's up with Katara?" started Aang out of the blue.

"Ech, she's just cranky as usual." she answered without hesitation.

Toph had the pleasure of meeting Katara's moody self before, and it had pitched a rough start for their relationship.

"But… that's not all." she then confessed.

"Remember how Katara and Zuko were stuck in that cave under the city?" how could he have forgotten?It took him such a long time to recover, and an even longer time to convince Katara that his memories were intact.

Toph continued: "Katara told me about how they'd talked in the cell. She even offered to heal the scar on his face before you and his uncle burst in. She didn't tell any of us straight away, and I didn't prod." She took a moment to consider whether or not telling Aang the rest was necessary.

She focused on her feet, feeling for her friend. His head hung somewhat low as he stared off into the space before him, the fire reflecting in his eyes. It took the black-haired girl a few more seconds to realize what had just happened. She had stopped in worry that she might hurt her friend by telling him those things. Undoubtedly something which she had learned from him. Toph found herself thinking it was ironic, in a way. She was the one who was supposed to be doing the teaching. It drew a small smile to her face. Toph felt thankful, and so she tried to express it. As soon as she opened her mouth, however, Aang spoke.

"Why did she never tell me?" his voice was hurt, with a tinge of anger. Toph's thanks got caught in her throat as her mind scrambled to understand what Aang was saying. She instinctively shifted her focus to her feet so that she could feel him. Aang's head turned to face her, his brows furrowed.

"Why did you never tell me?"

Having left her guard down, the doubt and accusation, which the Avatar's words carried, cut deep into Toph's feelings. She had to close her emotional shell again, and quickly, before Aang could further hurt her in his short fit of anger.

"Whatever. I'm going to ask her myself." Aang got up, and, fuming with jealous rage, stomped off towards the tents.

"What was Katara thinking?!" he forcefully strange feeling of anger, caused by the fact that he didn't understand Katara as well as he had imagined, was only growing. Growing steadily in his chest, clutching his lungs. Heal Zuko's scar. Aang held back a scoff. Images briefly popped into his mind, before fading off. The scar on Zuko's face. Katara, touching his face. Her gentle fingers, caringly caressing the damaged tissue, skillfully undoing the scar. Katara kissing Zuko...

The last one made Aang stop in his tracks, place his palm on his forehead, and sigh. What was he thinking? He trusted Katara above all, as his friend and companion. Besides, the danger of Zuko being drowned in her affection was, at the moment, far lesser than the danger of him being actually drowned. They would have to come to terms with one another somehow. Aang, now far more emotionally sober, decided that he ought to take a step back and let them figure it out. He saw the way Katara's friendliness towards other boys affected him, and he didn't want those feelings getting in the way. His firebending and waterbending teachers, though polar opposites in some respects, would have to make up and work together. If only there was a way for Zuko and Katara to iron out their dispute.

In the same breath, Katara trudged out of the nearby bush, pulling off an excellent "bane of team Avatar" expression. Zuko closely tailed her, also looking rather resolute. Aang was amazed at how on cue the duo waltzed in, but still upset about the whole ordeal.

The sarcasm button was pressed: "So now it's your turn to take a life-changing field trip with Zuko?" he droned. The duet offered an exactly matching pair of glares in response. "They have so much in common!" Aang thought to himself, before mentally taking a step back, and hearing them out. "I need to borrow Appa." she wasn't really asking. "Why?" came Aang's curious response.

"We're going to find the man who took my mother away from me." answered Katara unwaveringly. The feeling in Aang's chest returned. Katara's words raised questions, so many questions. Why was she like this, and what was she doing? Still, he steeled himself and looked Katara straight in the eye. He might not have understood her reasoning, but Aang still had to help her to the best of his abilities.

"Revenge does not lead to resolution, only to emptiness."

Katara refused the advice, along with any other attempts Aang made at changing her mind. Zuko mostly kept silent during the conversation, but at any time he did pitch in, he was always on Katara's side. Forgiving the man wouldn't be enough to give her the peace of mind she needed, and no amount of dusty airbender wisdom could convince her otherwise.

Realizing that this was going nowhere, Katara swiftly ended the conversation. "Fine, then. Good night." She turned on a dime and stomped off towards the tents, with Zuko again following suit. Aang allowed himself a few seconds of contempt, slowly steaming off the anger which had built up in him. He managed to calm down almost completely. The Avatar decided that some meditation in his tent was in order, for clearing his mind and sorting out his thoughts was top priority.

Aang awoke a few hours later in his tent, with a strange feeling that he'd forgotten something. He recounted the evening's events, everything from the campfire to the conversation he'd shared with Katara and Zuko, to the meditation before sleep. Then, he remembered. After he'd cleared his mind, Aang had finally realized that he must've hurt Toph. He wasn't quite sure why that was, but he did remember the sad expression she made as he'd stomped off last night. Before going to sleep, Aang had made a point to apologize and talk to her.

Deciding that it was as good a time as any, he stepped out of the tent and looked for hers. That's when he heard some rustling and whispering from Appa's direction. He rushed to the clearing, only to catch Zuko and Katara climbing onto the air bison's back.

"So you were just gonna take Appa anyway?!" Aang asked accusingly. Zuko's expression revealed that he was very done with it indeed, not even turning his head to face the airbender. Katara's blood was already boiling, and she couldn't help but feel provocated.

"Yes. I need this. And you can't stop us."

Sokka, having heard the commotion, joined the group. "What's going on?" he asked casually. Three pairs of angry eyes turned to him. Aang returned his gaze to Katara and carefully said:

"Just… Promise me you'll think this through. Revenge isn't what you're looking for." Katara's eyes told a different story. She simply turned around and barked "Yipp yipp!" causing Appa to take off.

"You know, your advice is pretty good!" Sokka commented. It alleviated Aang's discomfort a little.

"Usually I find it kinda annoying, but right now I totally agreed!" Sokka's positive effect was undone. Then, Aang remembered what he was going to do in the first place, and without a word, he took off towards Toph's tent.

A/N:

Sooo… Here we are. First things first; thanks a whole bunch for reading, and if you've got any comments, send 'em over, or if you notice any errors, it'd be awfully kind of you to point it out.

I'm gonna discuss this story a little here, so if you just wanna read the damn thing, I'd recommend you skip this. Much love.

Speaking of love, Taang gets far too little of that, as this cool guy MoonShadows717 pointed out. I need to get in a bit of writing (y'know, for the soul) and now we're here. Aang and Toph are excellent characters, and while the series' ending gives me the good kind of fuzzies, the little devil on my left shoulder can't help but feed me food for thought.

I just really want to experiment with the interplay between their personalities. Their reactions to their feelings and the way they decide to work it out seems so interesting. In fanfiction, you can usually see the outcome of the story in the tags and summary, so it's all about the journey. How much Deus ex machina do Toph and Aang need to fit together? How do their feelings affect the others?

This chapter was based (quite obviously) off the episode Southern Raiders, where Zuko and Katara take off to find and take revenge on that one guy. I thought it'd make for an interesting beginning, especially because a lot of loose ends might get swept away if Katara ends up forgiving Zuko a bit too much (hint hint).

Still, let's let the set up take us where it does, shall we? If you're still with me here, thanks a bunch. I'm open to adding interpretations like these at the end of a chapter. I'd rather have you (the reader) coming up with your own view, but if you'd like to compare it to mine, I'd love to add these, so that you'll be able to do that. Or just write me a review and I'll do my best to get back to you asap. So, if you wanna have some more longass ANs (these won't slow down or speed up the story writing, so no worries) just drop a comment saying so.

Anyway, love you, bye.

EDIT: Finally got around to breaking up some of the paragraphs to make it more legible. Thanks to Janet for guidance on that one, hope it's all better now. Next chapter is well on the way and should poke it's head out soon. 'Till then, my friends.