"When faith is kneeling by his bed of death, And innocence is closing

up his eyes, Now if thou would'st, when all have given him over,

From death to life, thou might'st him yet recover."

Aang's mind woke before his body did. A light that seemed to be getting persistently brighter hit at his closed eyelids and forced him to stir in discomfort, but his body protested against this sudden movement. He furrowed his brow in confusion as his mind fought against empty memories – there was nothing. Struggling to open his eyes, he realized his body felt too constricted for taking normal breaths of air and the tension finally forced him to pry them open completely, meeting painfully with the harsh light engulfing the room.

He couldn't put anything together, it was as if his mind was having trouble comprehending his own thoughts. He decided to lie still and allow his eyes to adjust to his surroundings, suddenly longing to be back in the tranquil darkness he had just woken from moments earlier. He tried to focus something, anything, but a dense cloud in his vision was rendering it impossible. He took a few calming breaths and was relieved when his sensed started returning to him, but he paid for it when a sharp pain caused his eyes to snap shut as he let out a miserable groan. The sensation passed quickly, however, and he weakly pushed himself up.

He slowly looked to his left and right and noticed red silk laid beneath his frail body; but the strenuous act of pushing himself up distracted him from considering it any further. Awkwardly, he threw his legs over the side of the bed and slumped over immediately, letting out another painful groan as he grasped onto his knees to anchor himself in place. His head swam uncomfortably as his eyes fell to the floor, struggling to focus on any one thing. Growing impatient, he shook his head and the discomfort subsided, finally allowing coherent thoughts to come to his attention. Moving his hand to his chest, he finally discovered what was making his breathing feel so constricted. Wrapped tightly around his abdomen were clean bandages, as well as around the joints of his thing legs.

"Ungh – what happened?"

He could hear the rough edge to his voice as it echoed about the large, empty room. It caused him to finally take notice of where he was, and he gasped in horror. His head snapped to his left where he saw a familiar layout of meditation mats and his eyes moved wearily along each of the lanterns lit with fire dancing brightly to the red banners hanging heavily along the walls. It seemed each item confirmed to him of where he must be, what must have happened. He felt his heart pounding frantically as he looked behind him, and everything stilled when he saw the Fire Nation insignia plastered colossally on an oversized banner above his bed.

"Oh no."

Panic swept through him, his mind racing to recall any sort of memories from before waking up. When nothing came to him, a new fear took precedence – where were his friends? Sokka, Toph, Appa, Katara? Jumping to his feet, he pressed his body to the door and slightly cracked the heavy metal object open, peering into the dark halls for any threat of danger. Seeing no one, he stumbled out roughly, using his staff to help support his weakened frame. His body felt unusually heavy, like walking was no a difficult feat and he quickly wondered how long he had been out for. If his wobbly legs were any indication, it must have been for quite some time.

He faltered as another sharp pain shot through his back, so he resorted to using the wall as a support to keep going. Guiding himself lamely along the hall, he proceeded to turn the corner down a new corridor when he stopped dead in his tracks. He saw them before he heard them – two Fire Nation soldiers talking casually at the end of the hall – one very large and husky, the other so short he barely reached the larger man's elbow.

Aang gasped soundlessly and darted back against the wall and out of sight. He stood breathlessly, panicked of how he was going to be able to fight his way out of an enemy ship when he could barely walk. Without much strategy, he jumped out from behind the wall and hastily whipped his staff towards the men. He continued on without hesitation, trying to run as fast as his bruised body would take him. His gust of wind did little to distract the guards as they were quick to catch up to him.

"Hey! Wait!"

Aang looked back nervously as he heard the stocky man yelling after him, but he pushed on, managing to reach the stairs where he could feel the cool sea air calling to him. Reaching the top, he leapt impatiently, planning to use his glider to flee, but caught the top stair and stumbled, his staff flying out of his grasp and skidding to a halt in front of another set of guards. One was leaning down to the floor and Aang was surprised to see his pet lemur on the receiving end of an ear rub.

"Momo?"

Aang stood up slowly and the little lemur jumped to his shoulders, licking his face affectionately as the young boy looked on utterly perplexed. A new voice chimed in, one Aang recognized immediately.

"Twinkletoes! That's gotta be you!"

Aang had never been happier to hear that ridiculous nickname then in that moment. He watched as Toph and Katara, who had been standing near the edge of the boat, turned and ran to him in excitement and soon, he was surrounded by all of his friends.

"Aang, you're awake!"

Aang heard Katara's relieved voice and it immediately calmed him. Still, after the scare below deck, his adrenaline was now wearing off and he was starting to feel each of his bumps and bruises.

"Are you sure? It feels like I'm dreaming." He said groggily, rubbing his eyes lazily.

As he pulled his hands down, he was surprised to have Katara pulling him into a tight embrace, enveloping him in her intoxicating aroma. As she stepped away, a new figure approached, but Aang couldn't make out who it was due to the ugly Fire Nation mask over their face. He had a fair guess though, once he heard the young man's voice.

"Aang, good to see you back with the living, buddy!"

"Sokka?"

It was all too much for the young monk to handle, he had no idea where they were, why they were there, or how they got there. That and the fact his body was screaming its protests against the strain he had just put it through – his energy was close to zero. Not able to hold himself up anymore, the last thing he remembered was seeing his friends rushing to catch him as a shrill voice called out.

"Uh oh! Somebody catch him he's gunna – "

Aang came to a short time later and sat up slowly, holding his head in obvious discomfort. Sokka wrapped a clock around the airbender's bare shoulders as the cool night air nipped chillingly at his warm body, causing tiny goose bumps to form over his exposed skin. Aang looked up to Katara who knelt in front of him. He was so troubled over his current situation that he couldn't even take the time to appreciate her expressive, caring eyes he loved so much. All his brain could comprehend was something bad had happened.

"Why are we on a Fire Nation ship? Why is everyone dressed this way? And why am I the only who who's completely out of it?"

"You need to take it easy, okay? You got hurt pretty bad." Katara cautioned him quickly, clearly hearing the panic in his tone.

Aang froze in his tensed position and listened to her words. Slowly, he closed his eyes and brought his hand back to his abdomen, exhaling a relaxing breath. When Katara spoke again, Aang could sense the smile on her face and it made his heart soar – that was until he actually took in what she said.

"I like your hair."

Aang's eyes bulged open at her compliment and he immediately grabbed at his head in a panic, stunned to feel thin pricks of fine hair poking at his hands.

"What? I have hair?! How long was I out?"

"A few weeks."

Aang deflated, but Katara's smile helped keep his spirits up just a bit. Her smile soon faltered however, when a man approached them, his deep voice cutting through their easy conversation.

"Everything okay?"

"We're fine dad." Katara answered harshly, turning her head away from the tall, dark-skinned man. Aang looked up and was met with eyes that matched Katara's.

"I'm Hakoda – Katara and Sokka's father." He introduced, extending his hand warmly to the young boy.

Aang made to stand to introduce himself as well, but Katara placed her hand on his shoulder and pressed him back down, not bothering to look to Hakoda as she spoke.

"He knows who you are – I just called you dad didn't I?" Katara's hostility surprised Aang; he was aware that Hakoda had been gone fighting the war for a majority of Sokka and Katara's youth, so the fact Katara didn't seem ecstatic to have this time with her father confused him. Aang noticed Hadoka's face fall a bit, but regardless, he did not falter.

"I guess you're right."

Aang looked to Katara quickly before sliding her hand off of his shoulder, a warm smile surfacing on his face as he extended his hand.

"Nice to officially meet you, Chief Hakoda."

"It's an honor to meet you." Hakoda said, gripping Aang's thin arm. Katara huffed in annoyance before snapping once again.

"Great, great, so now you guys have finally met. So would you mind giving us a little privacy?"

Katara stared at her father, seemingly blind to the hurt expression on his face. He stood in silence for a moment before responding a quiet, "of course." Aang watched him walk away – a strength in his step, but an obvious sadness lingering.

"Are you mad at your dad or something?" It seemed pretty obvious something had happened between the two but Katara turned to him in utter surprise.

"What? No, not at all, why would you say that?"

Aang looked at her quizzically, wondering if he had imagined the whole thing or if he was just the biggest idiot in the world. He just shrugged but the motion sent a sharp pain through his back and he clutched at it gravely.

"Maybe we should go downstairs, you need a healing session."

Katara looked to him in concern as he nodded painfully. He reached his arm to wrap around her shoulders and she complied, becoming his crutch as she helped him up and carefully back to the room he had woken up in. He sat on a meditation table as she gingerly removed his wraps, the fresh air soothing on his wound. He dropped his head as Katara pulled water to her hands, pushing the glowing substance into the star shaped gash.

"Tell me where the pain feels most intense."

Aang squeezed his eyes shut as the pressure from the water pressed around the sensitive areas of his injury, a groan escaping painfully from his lips.

"A little higher."

Katara moved her hands up, and as she did that, the healing water sent a piercing pain through Aang's body, the jolt sending him into an odd acting Avatar state. He saw himself back in the Crystal Catacombs, the Dai Li soldiers and Zuko before him as he rose in a blinding white light in the Avatar state. He pulled out of his vision and sighed.

"Wow, you're definitely in the right area there."

"I can feel a lot of energy twisted up around there." She said, beginning to pull the water back. "Let me just see if I can – " But her words were cut off as Aang's body shot up, his arrows glowing white as he was thrown back into the catacombs.

He saw flashes of himself, his body lighting up with electricity – Katara looking over him, tears streaming down her face, gripping his lifeless body in her hands. Aang snapped out of it again, but this time his eyes were wide with understanding and fear.

"I went down. I didn't just get hurt, did I? It was worse than that – I was gone! But you brought me back." Aang held his head, unbelieving he had come so close to death.

"I just used the Spirit Water from the North Pole. I don't know what I did, exactly."

Aang turned to her, exhausted, but grateful.

"You saved me."

Katara bent over and placed her hand on Aang's face gently, smiling kindly.

"You need your rest."

It didn't take much for Aang to fall asleep after Katara left – but his dreams were full of lightning and images of Katara's tear-stricken face.

The sun was shining merrily early the next day as the gang sat in a circle eating noodles and filling in the rest of the gaps Aang had missed while being injured.

"After what happened in Ba Sing Se, we had to get you to safety. We flew back to Chameleon Bay where we found my father and the other Water Tribe men. The Earth King decided he wanted to travel the world in disguise, so he set off alone – well, not completely alone," Sokka reminisced happily, imaging the Earth King with his loyal companion. "Soon the bay was overrun with Fire Nation ships. Rather than fight them all, we captured a single ship and made it our disguise. Since then we've been traveling West – we crossed through the Serpent's Pass a few days ago. We've seen a few Fire Nation ships but none of them have bothered us."

"So what now?" Aang asked after letting everything soak in. A shadow passed over his pale form as Hakoda stepped in to answer.

"We've been working on a modified version of the invasion plan."

"It's Sokka's invasion plan." Katara cut in harshly. Her father looked down to her as her icy stare darted away from him

"Yes – Sokka's plan." He couldn't mask his confusion, but continued on anyways. "We won't be able to mount a massive invasion without the Earth King's armies. But the solar eclipse will still leave the Fire Nation vulnerable."

"So we're planning a smaller invasion. Just a rag-tag team of our friends and allies from around the Earth Kingdom. We already ran into Pipsqueak and the Duke." Sokka interjected enthusiastically, pointing to the two bodies Aang had ran into the previous night below deck.

"Good to see you again, Aang." Pipsqueak's deep voice boomed merrily.

"And the best part is, the eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage. We have a secret!" Sokka whispered to emphasize its importance. He quickly scanned the ship with his eyes before looking back to Aang, cupping his hand to his mouth and still whispering. "You!"

"Me?"

"Yup! The whole world thinks you're dead. Isn't that great?!" Sokka threw his arms into the air in obvious joy, but Aang looked on in horror.

"The world thinks I'm dead? How is that good news?! That's terrible!"

"No, it's great! That means the Fire Nation won't be hunting us anymore! And even better, they won't be expecting you on day of black sun."

"No, no, no, no, no. You have no idea – this is so messed up!" Aang grabbed at his face in disbelief as he turned his back to the others. How could they possibly think the world thinking him dead was a good thing?!

When he turned to continue his argument, he took in Sokka's confused expression. Anger coursed through him – he really didn't get it. Fed up, he shut his mouth and stormed off. Sokka managed a step in attempt to chase after him, but Katara caught his arm.

"This is probably a lot for him to take in; maybe we should give him some space for a little while." Sokka looked to his sister and considered her suggestion, ultimately nodding in agreement.

Aang went to his room and sat in his bed for what felt like hours. His head was swimming with this new information. The world couldn't think he was dead – he was their last hope to end the war. If they thought he was gone, then what kind of chaos was ensuing? The thought made him sick – he failed, again.

Lost in his miserable thoughts, he jumped when the large metal door swung open to his room.

"Hey Aang!" Toph was uncharacteristically cheery as Katara and Sokka followed in behind her. Aang sat up, holding his ribs tenderly. "We're going into town to get some dinner."

As if on cue, Aang's stomach growled greedily and he hovered his hand over the source.

"Well, I am pretty hungry. Maybe dinner's a good idea."

"Here, tie this around your head. It'll cover your arrow." Sokka instructed, extending a red sash to the young monk. Aang scowled at the suggestion.

"I'm not going out if I can't wear my arrow proudly!" He spit bitterly, lying back on the bed with his back to his friends.

"Aang, common, be practical."

"You guys go ahead without us – we'll catch up with you." Aang heard Katara suggest and felt her weight press on the edge of the bed. Toph and Sokka's footsteps faded out through the door as Aang tapped his finger on the thin mattress, agitated by the whole thing.

"I think I understand why being a secret bothers you so much. You don't want people to think you failed." He felt her soft hand fall comfortingly on his shoulder, but he didn't want her comfort. He sat up quickly, effectively brushing it off.

"You're right, I don't. But the problem is – I did fail."

"Aang, that's not true." Katara insisted, trying to reason with the distraught monk.

"It is true. I was in Ba Sing Se. I was there! But I lost. And now the Earth Kingdom is fallen for good."

"It's not for good. Remember, there's still a plan. The invasion!" Aang knew Katara was trying to make him feel better but her attempt to ignore the reality of the situation just made Aang more agitated. Suddenly not able to take it anymore, he snapped.

"And I hate the invasion plan too! I don't want you or anyone else risking their lives to fix my mistakes!" Aang hollered hotly, ripping the Fire Nation banner down violently as Katara watched it flutter to the floor, covering Aang's glider. "I've always known I would have to face the Fire Lord – but now I know I need to do it alone."

"Aang – "

"Katara, please. Just go. Please." Aang's defeated voice deflated Katara and she turned and did as he requested. Before exiting, she turned to him one last time.

"Is there anything you need?"

"I need to redeem myself. I need my honor back."

After Katara had left, Aang struggled with what he should do. The consequences of his defeat weighed heavily over him – he had already disappeared once. Leaving the world to believe he did so again was tearing him up inside, the others didn't understand that.

The airbender bent over, ignoring the aching in his ribs as he gripped the firm wooden body of his glider in his hands. He looked to the small window in his room that framed the now darkened sky beyond. He could hear the crashing of the waves around the ship as if they were calling to him. He pushed the window down completely and propped himself into the frame, looking up to the moon trying to peek out behind thick grey clouds. He took a deep breath, taking one last look into his room and whispering a silent apology in his head before leaping from the ship and into the night sky.