This is an au that originally starts during the 'Western Air Temple' episode!

If you've never seen it, you probably should make sure you remember how much Day of Black Sun sucked before you proceed!

Disclaimer: Oh, God. I wish I owned Avatar: The Last Airbender! But I sure don't. Only gonna say it one time!

Denial

"The new plan is the old plan! You just need to master all four elements, and defeat the fire lord before the comet comes!" A positive Sokka broke the silence. The losses that occurred during the 'Day of Black Sun' were eating up the entire gang. The constant worrying had become rather overwhelming, and there was no denying it.

"Oh, yeah," Aang rolled his eyes. "That's great, no problem. I-I'll just do that." Sarcastically, the Avatar huffed and flung a rock off the edge of the platform of earth he rested against.

"Aang, no one said it's gonna be easy." Eased Katara, as optimistic as she could be.

"Well, it's not even gonna be possible! Where am I supposed to get a firebending teacher?" Aang's voice was composed of doubt and reluctance. The stress was weighing on him.

"We could look for Jeong Jeong!"

"Yeah, right, like we'll ever run into Jeong Jeong again." Aang rested flat on his back against the earth, and his eyes flickered over to Toph, kicking her feet off of a much higher, flattened rock.

"Who's-? Oh, never mind. If it's important, I'll find out."

Aang jumped off of the rock he'd been relaxing atop of, on his feet quickly and running towards his glider. "Oh well, guess we can't come up with anybody! Why don't we just take a nice tour around the temple?" He didn't wait for their answers; instead, flying off a ledge and into the wind's currents.

An impatient Toph pressed the soles of her feet to the risen ground beneath her, bending her knees and taking a deep breath. "What's up with him?"

"There's gotta be someone who can teach him firebending."

An incredibly worried Zuko had spent the past hour and a half practicing a speech to give to the Avatar and his friends. Unfortunately, his only audience was an unconcerned frog.

"Well? What's your answer?"

Zuko felt crazy. What was he doing? Giving an explanation to an amphibian and expecting a response? He not only had raised his voice to the frog, but his breathing had sped up, and his shoulders had tensed. The frog croaked, and vaulted right past the banished prince.

Zuko lowered his eyes. "Yeah, that's what I'd say too. How am I supposed to convince these people I'm on their side?" He faced the ground for a moment, but soon transitioned to impersonating his Uncle Iroh, and sister, Azula, in a last resort to figure out ways to convince the Avatar to accept him in their group.

Neither relative gave him any ideas.

"Aang, I think we should be making some plans about our future!" Suggested Sokka, but Aang was far too 'distracted' to even take a look over his shoulder.

"Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table! Oh, you're gonna love the all day echo chamber!"

Once everyone had landed, Toph's body shifted, as though her attention had been directed to something behind Appa. "I think that'll have to wait." She spoke calmly, but irritably, the earth dispatching the signals of a racing heart that belonged to a former threat that stood behind the flying bison.

Appa moved to the left, revealing Zuko. Each member of the gang assumed a defensive stance, prepared for whatever the 'traitor' had brought this time.

"Hello, Zuko here. Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there. I just thought that… I'd wait for you here." Zuko gulped in between words, trying to find a more 'stable' tone, feeling rather uncomfortable that he was so all-over-the-place.

Roaring loudly, Zuko's hair whipped around his face and he clenched his jaw, unintentionally bracing himself before Appa's tongue left a trail of slime down the side of Zuko's entire face.

Not before wiping himself off, Zuko cleared his throat. "I know you must be surprised to see me here…"

"Not really," Interrupted Sokka, "Since you've followed us all over the world!"

"Right… Well, uh. Anyway, what I wanted to tell you—about, is that… I changed. And I uh, I'm good now. And well… I think I should join your group. Oh, and I can teach firebending… To you."

Zuko's measly few words influenced Aang to lower his weapon.

"See, I uh—"

"You wanna what, now?" Toph asked doubtfully.

Katara stepped forward in disbelief, shaking her head with thinned eyes and hands with every preparation to strike. "You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?" Her index finger twitched inward when Zuko took in so much as a breath… Any hope for her opening up to him any time soon seemed like a lost cause.

"Yeah! All you've ever done is try to hunt us down, and capture Aang!" Sokka backed his sister, shaking his head fiercely.

"I've done some good things! I mean, I could've stolen your bison at Ba Sing Se, but I set him free! That's something!"

In memorable appreciation, Appa licked Zuko once more.

Toph's face softened, but her defensive position didn't halt its place against the ground. Her feet were apart, but her arms were by her sides before folding them across her chest. "Appa does seem to like him."

Sokka begged to differ. "He's probably just covered himself in honey or something, so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it!"

The air bison licked its lips.

"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me. And I know I've made some mistakes in the past…"

"Like when you attacked our village?" Intervened Sokka.

"Or stole my mother's necklace, and used it to track us down, and capture us?" Katara followed through, her voice bitter and harsh.

"Look, I admit, I've done some awful things." Zuko's hand clutched over his undamaged eye, voice unswerving towards the temple's ground. "I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the water tribe. And I never should have sent that fire nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try to stop him."

"Wait, you sent Combustion Man after us?" Sokka reached for his boomerang, wielding it tightly in his hand.

"Well, that's not his name, but,"

"Oh, sorry!" Irritably, Sokka narrowed his eyes as a cynical expression came over his face. "I didn't mean to insult your friend!" A poisonous ending tone controlled Sokka's voice, overtaken by all of the previous run-ins, and slip-ups with 'Combustion man'.

"He's not my friend!" Snapped Zuko, taking a step forward.

At last, Toph stomped her foot. She'd been doing her best to keep calm the majority of the time, but it wasn't like her to avoid being begrudging when it came down to her losses. "That guy locked me and Katara in jail, and tried to blow us all up!"

At her outburst, Zuko lowered his head.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" He looked timidly in Aang's direction, hoping for some sign of an escape. "You once said that you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me." Searching for reassurance, there seemed to be a different look in the Avatar's eyes, that was, until the boy looked over to Sokka and the others, where the older boy from the water tribe shook his head. To Zuko's horror, a distinct 'no' wiped across Aang's features.

"There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done." The voice of the Avatar seemed unclear that time. "We'll never let you join us." Zuko noted how definitely less unclear it was the second time around.

Katara refrained from any steadying breaths, frustrated and angry. As usual, she was concerned for everyone's safety and acted instinctively to protect those closest to her. "You need to get out of here. Now." She instructed immediately to Zuko, who shook his head.

"I'm trying to explain that I'm not that person anymore!" His temper was rising, and he was losing his patience. However, if he wanted to win anyone's trust, he needed to calm down. Attempting to remind himself this much, Zuko stopped at two or three more steps closer to the rest of them, an opposite sides of the ledge, generally.

"Either you leave, or we attack." Sokka moved towards Zuko, boomerang clutched tight in his grasp. There was no hesitance in his vocalization.

Zuko needed to make an important move, and fast, or else this wouldn't turn out well. He knelt down first, but leveled himself to both knees before the other three. Lifting his wrists, hands clenched above his head and close to his neck, Zuko bit his lip in defeat. There were so many things he was determined to do, to serve his destiny and to make his uncle proud—but he couldn't do that before the Avatar forgave him.

"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." The former prince's words didn't sound ambiguous in the least bit. Toph could feel his even breathing against the turf beneath her feet.

The earthbender parted her lips to speak, a vague decision in her mind, but was immediately interrupted by Katara.

"No, we won't!" Unleashing a sinister current of water, the stream struck Zuko quickly as Katara twisted her body, agile and careful. This attack had been well prepared for him for quite some time. After Katara's last run-in with Zuko alone, she'd been furious at how easily she'd been fooled.

"Get out of here and don't come back!" Sokka's sandal crushed a rock beneath it, and Toph's head inclined in the slightest at the motion. She figured that she really had no place to speak—not yet. "And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!" Finishing his warning, Sokka, accompanied by Aang and Katara, were all completely on offense, aside from Toph, who had her arms crossed near the back of the group.

Conquered, Zuko left, completely soaked and vanquished with disbelief. For people that claimed to be so good—he thought they were pretty damn unforgiving.

The ex-son of the Fire Lord certainly had no problem in making the same mistake of complaining about his problems to the same frog as before. It was crucial that he figured out to fix things as soon as possible, but for the life of him, he couldn't stop cursing himself for mentioning the assassin he'd hired.

"I should've just told them Azula did it! They would've believed that!" Sure, they would have believed that Azula had sent 'Combustion Man' to kill the Avatar, but that would've started off whatever it was they would have worked out badly.

Just another system of lies…what good would that do absolutely anyone?

"Why would he try and fool us like that?" Katara fumed, her entire expression masked with unmistakable fury. The back of her neck was warm, and her forehead was hot in frustration and anger.

Sokka promptly agreed with his sister. "Obviously he wants to lead us in some kind of trap!"

"This is just like when we were in prison together, in Ba Sing Se!" Katara took steps in place, changing directions every so often in her fits of irritation. "He starts talking about his mother and making it seem like he's an actual human being with feelings!"

"He wants you to trust him, and feel sorry for him. And then—" Sokka raised his arms. "He strikes!"

Katara's initial rage seemed to dwell into regret. "The thing is, it worked. I did feel sorry for him. I felt like he really was confused and hurt. But, obviously, when the time came, he made his choice—and we paid the price." Her entire face hardened. "We can't trust him."

Aang, however, was attempting to make a point rather subtly. "I have a confession to make." He didn't want to wait this explanation out—not one bit. It just wasn't something he was comfortable talking about, especially since he figured out whom it had been that had saved him from Zhao. "Remember when you two were sick and I got captured by Zhao?"

"And you made us suck on frozen frogs? How could I forget? I had a wart on the flap that hangs in the back of my throat for a month!" Pointing to the back of his throat, Sokka's eyes bulged as he did so.

Katara gagged. "Sokka, I looked at it! I told you, there was nothing there!"

"I could feel it! It's my throat hole flap!"

"Anyway—" Aang cut them off, "When Zhao had me chained up, it was Zuko who came in and got me out. He risked his life to save me." Though completely skeptical, even Aang had to admit that seemed unlikely of someone that wanted him dead for all of time. Well, not dead, but miserable, at least.

"No way!" Katara interjected, making a large 'x' with her arms. "I'm sure he only did it so he could capture you himself!" She shouted, and Sokka nodded after his sister's clear remarks.

As much as both of them disagreed, it was rather clear how whenever they opposed someone else—the enemy was in trouble. Both Sokka and Katara looked like they were the firebenders, and they were preparing to burn the entire Western air temple to the ground.

"You're probably right…" Aang trailed off, but Katara didn't bother allowing him to finish his brief statement.

"And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar!"

Toph shook her head, finally. All this arguing was really getting irritating for her rather sensitive ears. "Actually," A distinct correction had Katara's hair whipping against her shoulder as she turned. "He wasn't lying." Toph, who'd seemed standoffish about all of this, folded her arms and shrugged her shoulders.

Sokka didn't seem to care very much. "Oh, hooray! In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list!" Placing his hands on his hips, Sokka seemed firm on his judgment of Zuko, but Toph stood, unmoved by everyone else.

"I'm just saying." Leaning against the wall, she didn't seem bothered by Sokka's sarcasm, as she often used her own independent arsenal of satire and the like. "That considering his messed up family, and how he was raised, he could've turned out a lot worse."

Katara scoffed. "You're right, Toph! Let's go find him, and give him a medal! The 'Not-As-Much-Of-A-Jerk-As-You-Could've-Been' award!"

"All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere." Despite the malice in her words, Toph was trying her best to be sincere. It was just harder on her when she wasn't really used to it. She'd never dealt with Zuko—not really. She'd just heard stories, and if Toph absolutely despised judging someone by other stories or by appearances, she couldn't live her life doing the same thing. "Maybe you're all letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly."

"Easy for you to say! You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates—" Argued Katara.

"Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island!" Sokka's inceptive argument no doubt had something to do with his 'girlfriend', Suki, a Kyoshi warrior herself.

"Or when he tried to capture me at the air temple!" Aang's argument was the most validated. Or, at least, it seemed to hit hardest in response.

"Why would you even try to defend him?"

As Toph called Katara, 'Sugar Queen', seemed to have the most legitimate hatred towards Zuko, but if they'd just been in prison in Ba Sing Se for a short while, there really was no reason to be so upset about it all.

"Because, Katara! You're all ignoring one crucial fact!" Toph left the wall she'd been leaning against. Prodding Aang's chest, she shifted her feet after a few stomps in the Avatar's direction. "Aang needs a firebending teacher! We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job! Now one shows up on a silver platter, and you won't even think about it?" Heated and decisive about her own moves, Toph didn't stand down until Aang made a move of his own.

"I'm not having Zuko as my teacher."

"You're darn right you're not, buddy." Confirmed Sokka, and Toph took one step backwards, pursing her lips uncomfortably. Her friends didn't usually take to ganging up on her. Even if it was a serious situation, she didn't like this kind of challenge, and she felt incredibly stupid.

Katara about finished it up. "Well, I guess that's settled."

Groaning, Toph turned on her heel, turning her back on the rest of them and stomping in the opposite direction. She didn't have any more patience to handle their biased judgments and quite frankly, she didn't want to deal with them at all. Before disappearing, she let loose a heavy breath through her nostrils and scoffed.

"I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here!"

The darkness engulfed Toph, but she could see just fine. She wasn't disadvantaged by the blackness in the slightest—the movements in the earth, rolling against her feet could still sense everything. She wouldn't hesitate to brag about that much, either.

Despite that fact, she wouldn't entirely say she was fearless—as though she may have seemed that way. The nighttime was certainly different from that of the warm sun, and while she absolutely loved the cool air that surrounded the moon, creaking and stilling sounds made her stomach flip. Not even Toph was invincible.

A familiar breathing pattern—though it was more slow and relaxed now, Toph rested her palm against the bark of a tree as she lined things up to this being Zuko…Except now, he was asleep. She wasn't' so sure if this was a good idea, but she was already here. Before she knew it, the tall grass was hiding all but the top of her large hair bun.

"Who's there?" Zuko sat up immediately, the crackling sound of a crunching branch startling him. He outstretched his palm, prepared to bend for his life, but instead, he jumped to his feet and glanced around.

Toph revealed herself from the long blades of grass, her arms up, doing her best to prove that she meant no harm. "It's me!"

"You're the avatar's friend…" Zuko gulped, retracting his hand. If she was there, did that mean the others were coming, too?

No—he quickly realized. This was the one who'd momentarily stood up for him. Is that what she'd done? "What're you doing here?" They words just blurted out of his mouth. He wasn't even sure if a question like that made sense. Instead of replacing them with better words, Zuko struck the firewood with a stream of discreet flames, lighting it and taking an unsteady breath.

"What does it look like I'm doing here, stupid? Trying to help! Now," She pointed to the ground. "You'd better tell me what you think you're doing, or I'm gonna kick your royal butt!"

AN: This is definitely just an idea right now. I'd really like to get things rolling, though!
I'm gonna make it a mission this year to finish a really long fanfiction. Hopefully, this is the one!

Read and review, please oh please! I'd really appreciate some feedback and ideas.
This was just slow. And the majority of the script isn't mine, but I wanted to get a better sense of all the characters! So.
PS: If you don't like Toko (Toph/Zuko), here's me alerting you that will be here! Among many other things.