Fire carries on the Wind

Chapter 1: Lost

"..."- Speech

'...'- Thoughts

Aang was running through the woods. panting and panicking. His foot caught an unexpected tree root. He fell, landing face first in mud. The rain pelted down on him like bullets. As he pulled himself up, he felt his eyes swell with tears. He slammed his fists into the ground while screaming into the darkness. He buried his face in his hands and began to sob.

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Earlier that day...

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Aang, Sokka, and Katara were riding on the back of Appa over a forest on a bright, clear, and intensly hot day. Katara was making Momo chase water bubbles, but had gotten bored after the first half hour of it. Sokka was tired of searching for any kind of food, so he was trying to take a nap, but failing from the heat. Aang was frowning as he sat steering Appa, the sun beating down on his hairless, unprotected head.

"Hey Sokka, could you-"

"SHHHUSH!" was the only response Aang got. He sighed.

"Katara, could you please pass me my hat?"

"Huh?" Katara looked up, a dazed look on her face, the water falling to a puddle, to be greeted by Momo licking it up.

Another sigh from Aang. "Please give me my hat." The heat was getting to Aang and it made him moody.

"Oh...Sokka threw it over looking for food."

An agravated groan from Aang. It was another ten minutes before Aang looked down and saw an opening in the forest below big enough for Appa. Aang decided it might be good if they took a break under the trees, and Sokka could search for food.

'Wait...He'd probably eat it on the way back...I should probably have Katara do it.'

So with a "yip yip" from Aang, he drove Appa back down to the clearing. Sokka looked at Aang.

"What are you doing?"

"We should stop for a while so we can eat and maybe sleep. We'll wait a while for it to cool down, and then we'll set off."

They had landed just as he finished explaining. They all hopped off Appa. They walked into the welcoming coolness of the shadows of the trees.

"Katara, how about you go find food."

"Why does she/I have to do it!" Came the simultaneous response from Sokka and Katara.

"You two are the men! You do it!"

"Yeah! Women are just supposed to cook it. Besides, Katara couldn't catch a turtle!"

"What was that!" Katara glared at Sokka.

"I was just stating the obvious," Sokka closed his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Well for your information, I caught more fish than anyone from our tribe!"

"Yeah, maybe out of the women."

There was a few moments of silence and Katara glaring at Sokka, before Katara turned and stomped off. Sokka smirked at his handywork. Through this argument, Aang had drifted out. He felt it wasn't necessary to get involved. No matter what, Katara would have noticed what Aang had realized, that Sokka would have eaten all the food.

Aang turned and went a few yards into the forest and thought he saw somehing in the distance. It was...sparkling. He ran towards it and saw a small river, almost a stream, with the sun hitting the top of the water through the forest leaves. He ran back and told Sokka. They were both tearing off their shirts on the way, running there.

Aang and Sokka lept into the water in their undergarments. They had expected to not be able to touch the bottom. They were just lucky they went in feet first, for the water only went up to their knees. They were disappointed at first, but sat down, the water going up to their chests. At least they were able to cool off.

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As Sokka and Aang got back to the clearing, they saw Katara already there, sitting cross-legged, waiting for them. There were some fish in a pile next to her, along with some fruit. She was taking bites out of what looked like a purple apple.

"Wow. You actually did it."

Sokka's saracasm didn't break the smug look on Katara's face.

"I know. Amazing. But don't act so cocky," she stood up, "you're gonna cook it."

Sokka laughed. "Yeah, right, and I assume Momo is gonna fly Appa and go slay the fire nation?"

Momo blinked, his paws curently on half-eaten piece of fruit.

"C'mon, Sokka. Katara did go and get the fish," Aang picked up an orange, pear-shaped fruit, taking a large bite.

"But I'm not suposed to cook. I'm a man!"

"Says you." Katara started to make a small fire pit.

Sokka glared at her. "Fine! But Aang has to help me."

"M'kay...I just want to eat...So let's get this over with."

As Aang and Sokka prepared the fire pit and food, Katara went back into the depths of the forest to find enough food for Appa, which Sokka had pointed out that she forgot and claimed he shouldn't still have to cook, but Katara ignored that.

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Katara was back and feeding Appa by the time Sokka and Aang finished cooking the fish. Each of them got four 5" by 2" fish, but Katara got an extra one for getting the fish, after much argument from Sokka. After the fish, they all ate the fruit, finishing it off, all of them quite content. Only then did they realize how late it was.

"Well, I guess we're just gonna camp of here." Aang had already gotten his sleeping sack off of Appa. Sokka and Katara followed his lead, them all falling asleep immediately, next to the fire.

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Aang awoke to the smell of fire, and assumed it was the campfire. He started to open his eyes and was blinded. His eyes finally adjusted, and he realised he was surrounded by flames. He started to panic. He wormed his way out of the sleeping sack and spun around, looking for Sokka or Katara. A burst of fire nearly hit his face, but he had ducked just in time. He saw his attacker just long enough to see the fire nation armor he wore. Aang sent a gust of air at him, sending the soldier into a tree, knocking him unconscious. Aang turned and saw two dozen more soldiers. The fight finally ended with him sending one soldier up into a branch, either killing him or seriously disfiguiring his face.

Aang smiled smugly and turned, quickly becoming aware of his loneliness. It began to rain, but the fire still raged. Aang took care of it in a few seconds. Extinguishing the fire, however, made it to where Aang stood in the lonely darkness. He thought about flying up and searching the woods, but there were three problems with that. One, he didn't have his glider. Two, the fire nation must have also taken Appa. Three, even if he could get above the trees, the leaves and branches were too thick to see through.

Aang decided his best bet would be to head in the direction with the strongest smell of burning, so he set off running, the rain pouring down on him. He was running for forever. He had no idea where he was. He was starting to panic when his foot caught an unexpected root...

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Hope you liked it. If you have any questions, comments, or flames/constructuive criticism just E-mail me.

R&R please.

-JoJo