Hiya! A lot of people that reviewed Conventional Realities and BNPP wanted me to stick with this pairing, so I have! And I'm really tired of seeing the same stinking fics on the front page, so I decided to jump back in the game.

I don't know how many of these there'll be, to be honest, but I'll try to stick with my one-a-week theme. And they'll hopefully be all around the same length? The pairings will undoubtably be Zukaang, but not all will focus on the couple aspect, see? Like this one is kind of...not nice.

This first one needs a little explanation. Instead of having like, a day or two, like in the first few episodes, Aang has a month to adjust to his new life in the Southern Water Tribe. This lets him get used to the Fire Nation's role a little bit, but also lets him stew in his own muck for a while. And then Zuko comes and is like GODZILLA, destorying the village 'n' shit. RAWR. XD

!CROSSDRESS WARNING! -snort- And this is kind of, um, dark? Yeah. And there's cursing. And maybe OOCness.

In the month before the Fire Nation ships arrived, Aang learned a lot.

The death of the Air Nomads and the ruthless hold of the Fire Nation on the other nations. The continuing hunt for him and the hope people have pinned to his return. The responsibility and guilt that hangs over his head because of his role in his people's fate. It's a ton of pressure, a ton of fear, and he crumples under it.

The decision to dress as a Water Tribe girl is a precaution. Sokka laughs in his face as he pulls on one of old Katara's dresses, but he has a chill of foreboding that won't go away whenever he sees the peak of that Fire Navy ship on the horizon. He tells himself he's protecting the innocent in this village- if they can't find him, they'll leave- but it's a deep-seated lie to hide his cowardice. But how much can he possibly do? He's a twelve year old who only has training in air bending. What good can that kind of Avatar do?

Katara wheedles the truth out of him eventually, about being the Avatar. And she starts to teach him what little water bending she knows, but none of his bending seems willing to work well. He knows he should meditate, deal with the whirl of negative emotions dragging him down, but they frighten him. He shoves them down with the daily tasks of the village.

He pulls his weight, at least, repairing nets and clothing, sharpening spears, cooking, and keeping the ice and fur huts in order. He can't hunt, but he watches the little ones and plays with them whenever someone else can't. Soon they ask for him by name, and he loves to spend time with them. The villagers distrust melts slowly, and soon he's nearly a part of the family.

Aang is in one of the huts, polishing a kettle with snow one afternoon. Once he's scrubbed it clean, he pauses, catching sight of his warped reflection. His hair has grown down to his earlobes, and a lock is pinned back from his face in a girlish style. His face is young enough to not really identify with either gender, his large eyes and haircut leaning more towards femininity. Katara's dress and coat hide any hint of masculinity in his shoulders, and lend to the idea of a chest. All in all, he'd have to be stripped in order to find out his true gender, and a hood and gloves hide his arrow tattoos well enough.

He hears a scream outside and drops the kettle, ducking under the hut's flap to look outside. Sokka stands on the wall surrounding the village, and Katara rushes up to him.

"Fire Nation ships, on the horizon! Aang, you'd better take the kids and hide." The smaller kids gather around him, clutching at his legs and whimpering. He herds them inside a hut, heart hammering in his throat. They're here for him, he's certain.

He hears screams and a huge, screeching squeal and then the ground shakes as he hears the ice wall breaking up outside- one of the little ones starts to cry. He holds the girl close and tries to hush her, but even when her face is pressed into his coat her sobs are loud in the impossibly silent village.

Footsteps crunched across the snow, and all the children gasped and huddled close, suddenly quiet. Aang swallowed as the footsteps paused, boots visible beneath the flap. A soldier, in Fire Nation uniform, ducks inside. He sweeps a careful eye over them, then leers at Aang. The hair on the back of his neck prickles with a sudden, awful fear that he's never considered before; he's heard of pirates raping village women, and who's to say the Fire Nation controls it's soldiers? It doesn't cross his mind that he's male and likely to be discovered in that situation- only that this man is capable of doing very terrible, terrible things to him or the children in his care.

He bares his teeth at the man as he comes closer, then sweeps up a snowball and flings it in his face. The children titter with laughter for a moment, and then the man roars with rage.

"Little wench!" He advances at Aang , then pauses and turns on the children with a wicked smile. They shrink back, quivering in fear of his spear. Aang is caught between two horrible choices- surrender, or let a child be hurt. The choice was obvious, and he stood with his hands up. The Fire Nation soldier grinned cheekily, grabbing Aang by the collar and tossing him easily outside.

He fell, sprawling in the snow, with rage, fear and humiliation equal and hot in his stomach. The man steps over Aang, blocking out sunlight with his silhouette.

"Now, little girl, are you going to cooperate?" His voice was sickly sweet and jeering, and Aang shoved himself to his feet, skittering back a few feet with bared teeth and a defiant jut of the chin.

"Go suck on an icicle, you creep!" The soldier smirks coldly, and Aang's blood chills.

"Fine. If that's how you want it." He turns and suddenly jabs his spear into the base of the wall of the igloo, and a crack appears, splintering up towards the roof and cracking ominously. He hears some of the children start to cry, and a crash as a hunk of ice falls inside.

"No!" He tries to rush forward, but the soldier catches the hood of his parka and throws him back again. He stumbles, overbalances, and falls to his knees. He watches the hut creak and crumble, the children screaming inside.

Resolve wells up like a lump of steel in his throat. He doesn't think about the stance he assumes, with his hands up and arms stiff. His chakra reaches out, latching on to the ice, and holds it. The effort is enormous, his back buckling as it seizes him, but hunks of ice freeze in midair, the igloo trembling slightly but stable now. He grits his teeth, shutting his eyes against the strain. Cold sweat prickles on his back, and his arms shake, threatening to send the whole structure tumbling.

"Katara!" he screams, anxious for her help. The soldier is gawking, and quickly shouts something to another man in Fire Nation uniform, who passes it down the line. A child breaks out from the wall the man's body creates in front of the hut door and runs to his mother.

"What's going on here?" A young, harsh voice demands, and a boy no older than sixteen elbows his way to the front of the gathering crowd. He's using every ounce of will he has now to hold up the igloo, and the boy distracts him as he crouches on level.

"Hey, water bender." He looks up, glaring and sweating, whole body close to quitting on him. The boy's eyes, one shrouded by a magnificent scar, go wide.

"An arrow," he breathes, and he reaches out and brushed the hair off of Aang's forehead. Katara rushes forward then, barreling into the soldier blocking the door. The kids stream out, gathering around her, and Aang lets the igloo go, collapsing with a harsh gasp. He lies on the ground for a moment, and then is wrenched up by the collar of his parka until his feet dangle off the ground. He struggles, but that bit of water bending has taken a lot out of him.

"An air bender, pretending to be a part of the water tribe? That's pretty clever. Too bad it didn't work. And I thought the tales always made you out to be male, Avatar?" Aang pants for a second, then rears back and spits in the boy's good eye. Spears and halberds surround him in a second, but the boy waves them off. Aang can see now, from the quality of his armor and the bearing he has, that's he's a prince. The boy wipes his eye slowly, then drops Aang and orders two soldiers to bind him. He's pushed towards the ship, panic welling under the fear and lending him new strength.

Sokka bursts from the crowd suddenly, decked in a warrior's face paint. The boy whirls, catching him in the stomach with a kick and snapping the spear he held out of the air, breaking it over his knee. Sokka lays sprawled in the snow, shock and horror on his face.

"We're taking the Avatar," the boy announced as he mounted the ramp back up into his ship, "and there's nothing you can do about it. Surrender, and we'll go easy on you." And with one terrified look back at Katara, Aang is shut up in the Fire Nation ship.

The boy catches his chin, yanking him up until they meet eyes. Despite his terror, Aang can't help but note the gold of his eyes and warm to it, remembering Kuzon.

"We'll see about you, Avatar. We'll see."

coughZUKO'SACREEPERcough. xd