Author's noter: Thanks a lot you guys! You rock! Enjoy the next chapter!

"Wait... what?" Bella stared at Aang like he had two heads, her arms crossed in an unsure way. Her dark brown hair was now up in an blue ribbon that Katara had given her, and her gray eyes were filled with a wary look.

"Common," Aang grinned assuringly, pushing his now open glider towards her. "It'll be fun!"

"No way am I trying to fly on that thing!" Bella threw her arms up aggravated. They had decided to stick around the area for a little longer, and Bella and Aang had snuck off further into the forest until they come across another clearing. Aang come up with the bright idea that Bella could fly on his glider. And Bella was not liking that idea.

"I know you can do it! At least try!" he pouted when she turned on her heel and began to walk away. She turned again and pointed at him.

"I would fall and break my neck on that!" she said curtly, a frown now on her face. Aang walked up to her.

"Okay, well, what if you flew with me first?" asked Aang with a smile. Bella blinked with an arched eyebrow.

"That flimsy little thing couldn't possible hold us both." she said crossed her arms again. Aang held up one finger, grinning wider as he bounced the end of it of the ground.

"It held me and Sokka up! And you're a lot smaller than he is." Aang announced, obviously very proud of his glider and flying skills. He had took it upon himself to teach Bella how to Air Bend, since as far as they knew they were the only two left.

Bella chewed on her bottom lip, still a bit unsure. "And you aren't going to let me fall?" she asked timidly.

"You know I wouldn't let you fall!" Aang held his hand out to her. "Trust me." again, that look that he had rendered Bella's attempts to say no useless, and she sighed and took his hand.

"Alright... But I swear, Aang, if you let me fall and I die, I'm going to haunt you till the end of your days." she vowed, but he pretty much ignored her, too happy to care about her threats. He wouldn't let her fall, anyways; he was a master at this.

He put glider behind him and turned away from Bella. "Get on!"

Bella hesitated, a blush slowly creeping its way onto her cheeks. She realized that by doing so, she would be pretty much right on top of Aang. Bella didn't know if Aang knew what he was doing or was innocently oblivious to it, but either way it was really making her cheeks burn.

Taking a deep calming breathe, Bella stepped forward and got on shyly, biting back the nervous smile on her face. Looking back to check that she was on securely, Bella noticed the slight blush on Aang cheeks and blushed more. He did notice it, great.

"Alright, hang on tight!" he announced, then took off quick. Bella did so without having to be told twice, maybe a little tighter than she had too, because she was frightened. Not that she doubted Aang's ability as a great Air Bender or at flying, but she hadn't ever been in a plane before either. So of course she was scared beyond belief. She clenched her eyes shut.

Aang glanced back with a huge grin on his face, laughing a little. "Open your eyes, Bella! It's a great view!" he looked forward and just glided around.

Bella cracked one eye open, testing herself. Then she opened the other and looked around. Breath taking... "Wow.." was all the girl could say, and Aang's smile softened without looking back.

"It's great, isn't it? Your first time.." he seemed to be remembering something, probably his own first time, and Bella nodded, though he couldn't see it.

"Yeah... it's amazing, Aang."

After a little while Aang landed, letting Bella get off. He smiled a little crookedly at her.

"No," she said, knowing that look from anywhere. "I'm not doing that alone." she shook her head, holding her hands out in front of her and backing up some. Aang sighed a little bit with a disappointed frown, but nodded. He was just happy she got her to fly with him, at least. They would work on the solo thing later.

"Alright, then." he closed his glider and grinned again. That was the thing Bella liked about Aang the most; he was always smiling. Bella smiled back at him as she put her hands down. "We should probably get back. I'm sure Katara and Sokka are wondering where we are."

"Yeah, we probably should have told them where we went." Bella added with a sheepish look, and Aang shared the look with her, then shrugged.

"Well, too late now. Common." they started to walk back in the forest together, lapsing into a comfortable silence. Aang was the one to break it though. "Sooo..." he started. Bella looked over with an amused smirk.

"Sooo...?" she repeated in the same tone, and they both laughed a little.

"So, what were you doing off of Hawaii?" Aang asked as they walked, using his glider as a walking stick. Bella blinked a little, then shrugged, coming up with a lie quickly.

"I just got bored; there isn't anything really special there. So I decided to leave home... without um... telling." she grimaced at the thought. Was her mother worried and looking for her?

Aang looked over with a slightly surprised look on his face, but it faded into a frown. "You ran away." he realized. Bella shrugged again, looking down.

"You could say that, I guess."

"But, won't your mom be worried?" he asked, concerned. Bella sighed a little.

"I was asking myself that." she replied, then decided to lighten the mood. She reached over and tapped him on the shoulder, then took off. "You're it!"

Aang blinked, then realized what that meant. He grinned widely and took off after her. He shot a tuft of air behind him to shoot him forward. Bella realized this and by reflex, jumped into the air and shot a tuft of air beneath herself, launching herself up into the air.

Finding his target no long in front of him, Aang blinked again in confusion and looked up. He let out a laugh and launched himself up as well. "Good one!" he commented, reaching his arm out and just grazing her arm with the tips of his fingers. "But, you're it!" then he shot air between them and jumped away.

Bella landed in a crouch, then grinned his way and charged after him. This went on back and forth until they reached camp. Just outside the cave, Bella tapped his arm and jumped inside. "The cave is base!" she said quickly, and Aang pouted a little as he entered the cave as well, then grinned.

Katara smiled as she watched them, but couldn't hide the fact that she had been worried. "Where were you guys?" she asked. Sokka walked up from behind her.

"Yeah, you two just took off without a word. Katara was worried." he said. Aang and Bella laughed a little sheepishly, Bella rubbing her left arm and Aang rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey, you were worried too." Katara crossed her arms giving him an amused look. Sokka blinked.

"I was not! I was just... concerned for their safety is all." Sokka crossed his arms too, giving her a curt nod.

"That's the same thing, Sokka." Katara countered, narrowing her eyes.

"Worried and concerned are completely different things!" Sokka moved his arms in a chopping motion, cutting off sections for the two emotions, then cut through them with his hands.

"Whatever you say, Sokka." Katara rolled her eyes, going back to packing things up.

"Sorry, I was just teaching Bella some air bending." Aang explained after their little discussion. Bella nodded to second his statement.

"What, tag?" Katara smiled a little not looking at them. The two both laughed awkwardly.

"Air Bending was.. involved." Bella grinned, and Aang nodded to second her statement. Katara didn't say anything. She was actually glad Bella had joined them. This meant that Aang could be a kid again, having someone his age to hang out with.

"Well, get your guy's stuff packed up, we're about to leave." she told them. The two nodded and went to go do as they were told, both grinning widely.

**Later in the day**

After hours of traveling, Bella was lying on her stomach on Appa's saddle drawing imaginary pictures on the surface of it. Her gray eyes drooped in boredom, and she was about ready to fall asleep again.

Suddenly, Momo landed on top of her head, giving her a couple chirps. She jumped with a quiet yelp, then blinked looking up. "Oh, hey, Momo." she smiled. The lemur was giving her the impression that something wasn't right, and his chirps were slowly and lower. "What? What's wrong, little guy?"

Momo turned his head to the side then looked in the direction of the 'flyer's seat', where Aang was with a longing look. Seeming to understand, she reached up and patted him reassuringly. "Okay, I get it." she nodded, and he chirped a little faster and then jumped off, flying over to an annoyed Sokka.

Bella turned and sat up, then peeked over the edge of the saddle at Aang silently. His shoulders were shaking with a completely silent sobs, and she frowned with sincere concern. She slid down the saddle so she was beside him, and he jumped in surprise, and quickly wiped away his tears.

"Aang, what's wrong?" she asked quickly. He shook his head sniffing some, looking away.

"I'm fine. The speed is making my eyes water." he mumbled. Bella knew that was a lie, and put one arm around him with a solemn expression.

"Aang, you can tell me anything, you know that." she murmured softly, putting the hand of her free arm on his arm. He hesitated for a moment, then looked back at her, his gray eyes penetrating hers. In the split second, it felt like someone sent a shock through both preteens. But it was gone faster than they could understand it.

The Avatar looked away again with a hesitant, though he knew he could trust Bella. He sighed. "I was thinking of what you said about earlier.." he mumbled. "About running away."

Bella blinked then her eyes widen a little, remembering. She forgot that he was sensitive about running away, because that's what he did, and why he was here now. Bella frowned a bit and chewed the inside of her cheek. "What happened?" she asked quietly, already secretly knowing.

Without looking up, he began. ""100 years ago, I lived in the Southern Air Temple. I was raised by monks, hence the bald head. But.. one day, I was told that I was the new Avatar. I wasn't supposed to learn this till I was sixteen, of course, I was twelve." he looked back a little, seeing her engrossed frown.

"After that, the children segregated me, because they believed I was too superior to play with. But I wasn't any different! But one day, I heard the Monks telling my mentor, Monk Gyatso that they was going to send me away to the Northern Air Temple, because he wasn't taking his responsibilities OR mine seriously enough." he crossed his arms, more tears pouring down his cheeks freely. "I freaked out. I was afraid of the heavy responsibilities and the separation from my beloved mentor. So I ran away from home on Appa. But..." he closed his eyes with a deep frown.

"I was caught in a fierce storm, and a huge wave overtook us both. When we crashed into the water, it triggered my protective Avatar State which froze us both in a state of suspended animation inside an iceberg. After my disappearance, Fire Lord Sozin, knowing that the new Avatar, me, was an Air Nomad, launched a genocidal campaign against the Air Nomads in order to ensure his plots for world domination would not be interrupted by me... I was the only Air Nomad to survive the attack."

Bella felt the sympathetic look on her face as she wrapped her other arm around Aang in a secure hug. She felt guilty for bringing up running away, and she mentally kicked herself. "I'm so sorry Aang. I wouldn't have brought that up if I had-"

"No!" Aang quickly covered Bella's mouth with his hand much to her surprise. "I don't want you to say sorry. It was my fault. I was a coward." Bella frowned and pealed his hand away.

"You were not a coward, Aang! Don't even say that! I would have done the same, in fact, I did. So if you're a coward so am I." she argued defiantly. Aang opened his mouth to protest, then blinked, seeing as she turned it around. He didn't like that.

"You aren't a coward.." he mumbled looking away. Bella's eyes softened.

"And neither are you," Bella used her hand to make him look at her. Their eyes met again, the electric feeling returning. "Maybe we did the right thing, or maybe we didn't. But if we hadn't, then we wouldn't be here. And I know now everything happens for a reason."

Aang stared at her for a long, silent moment. Then he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her back. The two stayed in the warm embrace until Appa groaned happily, glad that his master was in a better mood. Aang and Bella laughed, both simultaneously reaching down on either side of the bison's head and petting in affectionately.

The rest of the flight was spent in comfortable silence, water-bender, air-benders, and the tribes-man all thinking about the last couple days' events. Or, at least what they was going to eat in the next hour or so.

Author's Note: Ahg, sorry this took longer to write. School has started and, not that the work is hard as a freshman or anything, it's just that with all the getting up super early and going through the stress of school with all it's glorious drama and all that, then getting home and being completely drained, it's hard to find the time to sit down and write.

But I love it so far, it's been fun to write! Hope you enjoyed reading is as much as I did writing it! =D