Aya's POV

It's been a few days since my encounter with Iroh, my father. I can't express how happy and overjoyed I was to have seen him after 12 years. The others don't even know about him or anything about me, besides Katara who knows about my bending but that's all she knows. They don't know about Iroh and Ruka, the Fire Angel thing, and my bending is still hidden from the boys and Toph. Unless Toph knows by feeling the vibrations of the ground.

I'm gonna tell them after we find Appa because that's our main focus and I don't want any attention on myself right now. I hope they won't be upset.

A part of me wonders if Sokka and Katara knew I was adopted. From my dreams, the were both very young but they were old enough to remember things that happened back then. Sokka was three at the time so there is a possibility he knew and never told me.

At the moment, Aang and I were heading home from printing out posters of Appa. We were gonna put missing Appa posters all over the city in hopes someone would find him.

Aang and I ran into the house with well decorated posters of the missing bison. It was a beautifully designed poster.

"We found a printer to make our posters!" I smiled and showed everyone the poster as Aang smiles while pointing to it.

"Hey, I thought designing the lost Appa poster was my job. I've been working all day on my Appa!" Sokka protests and shows us his crudely drawn poster of what I think is Appa. It was difficult to tell. Katara and I attempted to hold back out laughter but it fails miserably.

"Sokka, the arrow is on Appa's head." Aang informed him confused by the badly drawn poster.

Sokka was dismayed and points to his drawing. "This is his head."

"Why are feet coming out of it?" Katara asked, taking the poster from our brother.

Sokka snatches the poster back, indignantly. "Those are his horns!" He hangs his head. "I haven't seen him in a while, okay?"

"I think it looks just like him too me!" Toph mocks and I giggled lightly at her comment.

"Thank you, I worked really-" Sokka paused when he remembered she was blind and glares at her. "Why do you feel the need to do that?"

"Let's just stick with the professional version." Katara suggested and Sokka angrily rips up his drawing.

"Come on, let's get busy!" Aang exclaims with excitement.

——

As Aang and Momo went to give out the posters, the rest of us stayed at home. Katara, Sokka, and I played a card game, Bubbles was sleeping , and Toph is relaxing.

It didn't take much for Aang to return home and he was anxious to know if anyone has came by with news about Appa.

"I just finished dropping all the leaflets. Has anyone come in with news about Appa?" Aang asked, approaching the table we were at.

"It's only been a day. Just be patient." Katara told him and Aang sits at the table with a frown.

Knock Knock

Aang shoots up with excitement. "Wow, you're right! Patience really pays off!" Aang runs over to the door and opens it. "Joo Dee?"

I forgot to mention that when I left the party that Aang, Katara, Sokk, and Toph were revealed to some shocking news about this city. We were all right about it, the Dai Li agents, Hung, and Long Feng know about the war, but are keeping it a secret from everyone. Since that night, we are being watched by the Dai Li and if we mention anything about this war then we will be expelled. Also, when they saw Joo Dee she looked different then when we first met her.

This city is messed up. It's almost like Long Feng and Hung are performing a puppet show and the citizens and the King are their puppets.

"Hello, Aang, and Aya, and Katara, and Sokka, and Toph." Joo Dee greeted, walking into our house. We all went up to the creepy woman, but I noticed something was different. She had long hair again and it wasn't short like what the others saw at the party. This is the original Joo Dee.

"What happened to you? Did the Dai Li throw you in jail?" Sokka asked her.

"What? Jail? Of course not." She smiled, waving him off. "The Dai Li are the protectors of our cultural heritage."

Aang and I share a look at this. I don't think 'protectors' is the correct term here.

"But you disappeared at the Earth King's party." Toph reasons.

"Oh, I simply took a short vacation to Lake Laogai, out in the country. It was quite relaxing." Joo Dee informed us and I felt Aang grab my hand, squeezing it.

"But then they replaced you with some other woman who also said her name was Joo Dee." Katara protests.

"I'm Joo Dee." Joo Dee said with surprise.

"Why are you here?" I asked her, not enjoying her presence.

Joo Dee pulled out a poster of Appa. "Dropping fliers and putting up posters isn't permitted within the city. Not without proper clearance."

Does everything in this city need permission?

"We can't wait around to get permission for everything." Sokka argues.

"You are absolutely forbidden by the rules of the city to continue putting up posters." Joo Dee informed us in a monotones voice.

Aang stepped up with an angry expression and his face turned dark red. "We don't care about the rules and we're not asking permission! We're finding Appa on our own and you should just stay out of our way!"

Aang slammed the door on Joo Dee and glared at the door furiously. I was shocked by Aang's outburst I almost expected him to go into the Avatar State.

"That might come back to bite us in the blubber." Sokka mentions.

"I don't care! From now on, we do whatever is takes to find Appa!" Aang declares, angrily.

"Yeah! Let's break some rules!" Toph cheers and takes out part of the house with her earthbending. Momo flies out of the house and I picked up Bubbles before we exit.

We went out into the city and started to put up posters.

"We'll split up to cover more area." Sokka suggested and we turned to him. "Toph, I guess you should just come with me."

"Why? Because you think I can't put up posters on my own?!" Toph peevishly argues. She grabs the paint brush from Sokka, spreads glue on the wall and slams the poster on the wall. "It's upside down isn't it?" It's actually backwards. "I'll just go with Sokka."

All of us split up after that. Aang, Katara, and I went in different directions as Sokka and Toph walked off together.

I was in the middle of putting up a poster on a stone pillar when a familiar voice interrupted me.

"Aya?"

I turned around and I gasped at the sight. It was Jet. The guy who tried to burn down an innocent village and betrayed all of us. He also broke my sister's heart.

Jet walked closer and I got my daggers out. Should I firebend at him? He doesn't even know and he could see me in as a threat.

"I think I can help you."

I glared angrily at him and I unwillingly put my daggers away and formed fire in my hands. He was shocked at the sight.

"Aya, I've changed!"

I shot the fire at him and he got blasted back into a corner. I made my fireball bigger and was ready to launch it.

"Go tell my sister that, Jet!" I snapped and sent multiple fireballs at him. He swiftly dodged all of them with his weapons and wasn't harmed. "You broke her heart!"

"I don't want to fight you! I'm here to help!" Jet protests and drops his weapons. It was silent for a moment and I thought he was sincere until I saw him reach into his back pockets. I quickly reacted at this and swiftly launched my daggers at him, which pinned his wrists to the wall. "Since when are you a firebender?"

"That's none of your business!" I scolded and approached him so I was in his face. "But if you tell anyone in this town, I won't be afraid to end you."

I'm usually a passive person but when it comes to my family I'm not afraid to hurt someone. I moved back from him and I heard footsteps from behind me.

"Aya, what is it?!" Sokka asked.

Aang came up to me and wrapped an arm around me but I didn't move.

"Jet's back."

I heard Katara gasp at this and she stepped forward. "We can't trust anything Jet says."

"But we don't even know why he's here?!" Sokka reasons.

"I don't care why he's here, whatever the reason is, it can't be good!" Katara snapped and I nodded.

Aang instinctively put himself in front of me as we talked.

"I'm here to help you find Appa!" Jet interfered and showed us the poster of Appa.

"Girls, we have to give him a chance." Aang told us.

"I swear I've changed. I was a troubled person and I let my anger get out of control, but I don't even have the gang now! I've put all that behind me!" Jet explained and I folded my arms at this.

"You're lying!

"Yeah, you really expect us to believe that!" I agreed with my sister. Toph stepped forward and put her hand on the wall.

"He's not lying."

"How can you tell?" Sokka asked her.

"I can feel his breathing and heartbeat. When people lie, there's a physical reaction. He's telling the truth." Toph explains and turns to us.

"Aya, Katara, we don't have any leads. If Jet says he can take us to Appa, we have to check it out." Aang suggests and I avert my eyes.

"Fine." I muttered.

"Alright." Katara agrees and points her finger angrily at Jet. "But we're not letting you out of our sight!"

——

"This is the place I heard about."

Jet led us to a dimly lit warehouse. I still don't trust Jet at all, he lied to us, burned down an entire village, and broke my sister's heart. He's untrustworthy, how does he expect us to believe him?

I'm not one to hold a grudge but what Jet did makes him untrustworthy.

"There's nothing here." Aang said and I glared at Jet. It was empty and Appa wasn't here.

Katara bended water into her hands. "If this is a trap-"

"I told you, I work nearby!" Jet protests and Katara lowers her hands. "Two guys were talking about some giant furry creature they had, I figured it must be Appa!"

Toph runs over to something. "He was here!"

We all went up to her and she had a clump of Appa's fur in her hand.

Aang frowns sadly. "We missed him." I wrap my arm around his shoulder and rub his arm.

"They took that big thing yesterday." I turned to see an old man that was sweeping the floor. "Shipped him out to some island. About time, I've been cleaning up fur, and various, uhhh... leavings all day."

Aang got excited and smiled as he slid closer to him. "What island?! Where's Appa?!"

"Foreman said some rich royal type on Whaletail Island bought him up. Guess for a zoo or such. Though, could be the meat that'd be good." The old man explained to him.

"We've got to get to Whaletail Island!" Aang pauses and looks at us, dejectedly. "Where's Whaletail Island?"

Sokka looks at the map. "Far, very far." We all gathered around the map and Sokka points to a an island that's near the South Pole. "Here it is. It's near the South Pole, almost all the way back home."

It would take weeks to get there and get back.

"Aang, it will take us weeks just to get to the tip of the Earth Kingdom. And then we'll need to find a boat to get to the island." Katara reasons with Aang who didn't care.

"I don't care. We have a chance to find Appa! We have to try!" Aang declared.

"Must be nice to visit an island." The old man chimes in. "I haven't had a vacation for years."

"Don't you have some more hair to clean up?" Katara scolds the man.

"Shuffle on, I get you. No more need for Old Sweepy..." The old man walked away while sweeping.

"You're right Aang, right now our first concern has to be finding Appa." I agreed with my boyfriend, grabbing his hand and he smiled at me. "We can come back when we have him."

"All right, let's get moving." Sokka told us and we started to leave.

"I'll come with you." Jet offered and I turned around.

"We don't need your help." Katara snaps and I nod with a hard glare.

"Why don't you two trust me?" Jet asked us as he walks after Aang and Sokka.

"Gee, I wonder." I muttered, sarcastically.

"Did one of you guys date this guy or something?" Toph asked and I scoffed.

"Katara did." I told her with a sly smile before I caught up with the others.

"What...no!" Katara denied.

"I can tell you're lying." I heard Toph laugh.

We began walking through the city and toward the train station. I didn't like the thought of bringing Jet with, he will just betray us and expose my firebending to the city. If that happens, then I will get throw in jail and be known as a huge threat. He can tell Sokka, Aang, and Toph all he wants as long as he doesn't expose me to the city. Hung and Long Feng already know my secret and they have sworn to keep it a secret if I didn't tell the city about the war.

"We can take the train out to the wall but then we'll have to walk." Sokka suggested to us as we walked.

"Don't worry, on the way back we'll be flying!" Aang smiles. It will still take weeks to fly back here though.

"We're finally leaving Ba Sing Se." Toph with relief and spread her arms out in. "Worst...city...ever!"

"Jet!"

We turned around to see Smellerbee and Longshot running out to see Jet.

I folded my arms and gave Jet an angry look. He lied to us. I knew it.

"I thought you said you didn't have your "gang" anymore!" Katara scolds him.

Jet looks at Smellerbee with confusion. "I don't!"

Smellerbee hugs Jet. "We were so worried. How did you get away from the Dai Li?"

My eyes went wide. "The Dai Li?"

"I don't know what she's talking about!" Jet stuttered out with confusion.

"He got arrested by the Dai Li a couple of weeks ago. We saw them drag him away!" Smellerbee explains to us.

"Why would I be arrested? I've been living peacefully in the city!" Jet protests and Toph feels the ground beneath their feet.

"This doesn't make any sense. They're both telling the truth." Toph tells us and I raise my eyebrow with confusion.

"That's impossible." I say.

"No it's not!" Sokka steps up. "Toph can't tell who's lying because they both think they're telling the truth. Jet's been brainwashed!"

Brainwashing? Is that what this city does? Brainwashing people is a horrible thing to do, even to Jet.

"That's crazy! It can't be!" Jet cries out as we surround the confused Freedom Fighter. "Stay away from me!"

——

"The Dai Li must have sent Jet to mislead us, and that janitor was part of their plot too."

We tied Jet up and brought him and the other Freedom Fighters to Jet's small apartment.

"I bet they have Appa here in the city. Maybe he's in the same place they took Jet." Aang assumed and turns back to Jet. "Where did they take you?

Jet had his head low before looking up to defend himself. "Nowhere! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"We need to find a way to jog his real memories." Aang wondered.

"Maybe Katara could kiss him." Sokka joked and this annoyed our sister. "That should bring something back."

Katara glared at him as Aang and I chuckled. "Maybe you should kiss him, Sokka."

"Hey, just an idea." Sokka defends, slyly. "Oh, wait! I got it!" Sokka plucks a straw from under the mattress and sticks it in Jet's mouth.

"I don't think it's working." Jet states and spits it out.

"Try to think of something from your past that triggers your emotions." Toph suggests.

"The Fire Nation, remember what they did to your family." Smellerbee adds.

"Close your eyes. Picture it." Katara advises and Jet shuts his eyes. He thinks for a few moments and I could see the distress and angry in is face as he remembered his past.

"No!" Jet suddenly exclaims as he leaned for second with sweat beading off his face. "It's too painful."

"Maybe this will help." Katara walked over to Jet and bends out a portion of her bending water. She moves her hands to the sides of his head and they begin to glow. Jet's eyes stare at the floorboards as he begins to recall the memories of his horrible past.

"They took me to a headquarters under the water." Jet suddenly says and Katara removes her hands. "Like a lake."

"Wait." I spoke. "Remember what Joo Dee said? She said she went on vacation to Lake Laogai."

"That's it!" Jet shoots up. "Lake Laogai."

——

The following day, Jet led us to Lake Laogai and to us it looked normal. But if it's anything like Ba Sing Se, then it's far from normal.

"So, where's this secret headquarters?" Sokka asked Jet as we stared at the lake in front of us.

"Under the water I think."

"There's a tunnel right here near the shore." Toph pointed before she went over to the shore while whistling. Toph bended at the water and a stone pathway emerged from the lake, she walks across the pathway and we follow her.

Toph bends the stone disc to the side to reveal a dark shaft that was leading down to a tunnel and we all peer inside it. Momo grabs Bubbles and flies away, knowing she isn't a fan of the dark or tunnels.

All of us climb down the ladder and head inside the tunnel. We all stood at the bottom of a staircase that lead to the main chamber and waited for the Dai Li agents to pass by so we can continue. I had my daggers out ready to attack anyone who steps in my way. I wouldn't kill them, just injury them a lot.

Once it was clear, we carefully made our way down the hallway. The hallway had many green firestone lanterns all across the pathway and it gave the tunnel a green color to it. The color itself gave me an ominous feeling to it and I did not enjoy it at all.

"It's all starting to come back to me." Jet said as we walked down the hallway. Jet edges toward a partially opened door and peeked inside as we walked by.

My eyes went wide as I saw multiple women in there with dilated pupils. Those are the Joo Dee's, they are being hypnotized by the agent.

"I'm Joo Dee. Welcome to Ba Sing Se." The Dai Li agent said.

I quickly hurried away after that and ignored what they continued to say because it was creepy. Aang saw this and gently grabbed my wrist, pulling me close to him.

"I think there might be a cell big enough to hold Appa up ahead." Jet informed us.

Jet eventually stops before a sealed stone door." I think it's through here."

Jet opens the door to a huge cavern and we sneak inside. It was creepy and no was inside, but I had a feeling we weren't alone. Someone was watching us.

I jumped when the door behind us shut and we all gasped at the sound. The lights flickered on and above us we saw multiple Dai Li agents hanging from the ceiling. In front of us we saw Long Feng, Hung, and five more agents.

"Now that's something different." Sokka mentions at the sight of agents above our heads.

"You have made enemies of the state." Long Feng told us. "Take them into custody."

The Dai Li agents descended from the ceiling and landed all around us. The battle had began and I sat there not knowing what to do.

Two agents launch a stone fist attack and Toph disintegrates them before they could attack. As the dust clears, she launches the agents across the room with a pair of rock pillars. Behind us, Jet rushes another pair, cutting their stone fists with his hook swords. Sliding along the ground, he trips the second with his hook sword, slamming him hard to the ground. Aang takes care of two incoming agents and Sokka, Katara, and I smash through approaching stone fists. Suddenly, the three of us were seized by stone fists and shoved forward. My siblings run into a stone wave created by Toph but I landed into the arms of Hung.

I glared at the boy and shoved him away. He smirked at me devilishly before he bended my wrists to ground and I yelped.

"You're not going anywhere, Princess." He winked and I snarled at him. "You're trapped."

"I still have my feet." I lifted my foot up and kicked him in the chest which sent him flying backward. I struggled in the wrist restrains and couldn't break free from them.

"Aang!" I called as Hung recovered from my kick. "Help!"

I hate being the damsel in distress but I couldn't break free. Hung approached me and made the wrist restraints tighter which caused me to wince in pain.

"Don't touch her!" Aang yelled and airbended Hung away from me. My wrists were in extreme pain and I could barely feel them at all. Aang came up to me and bended my wrists free and I fell to my knees, holding them close.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worriedly. He helped me up, holding me close and I nodded. I looked up ahead and saw Long Feng and Hung escaping.

"Long Feng and Hung are escaping!" I called out. I noticed Jet run out but Aang didn't move. "Go, Aang. I'm fine."

He seemed hesitant but nodded and kissed my head before he ran after Long Feng and Hung. I picked up my daggers and reunited with my siblings and the others.

We easily took out the other Dai Li agents before we ran to find Aang and Jet. We managed to find the room they were in and saw Jet on the floor and Aang was beside him. Long Feng and Hung were gone. Jet look injured and I saw a large stone rock beside his body. Long Feng or Hung must of attacked him and caused him to get severely injured.

All of us sprinted toward Jet and Aang in worry and shock. Katara bends out her water and placed it on Jet's stomach. She bends it over his body for a few moments before she looks at us.

"This isn't good."

"You guys go find Appa. We'll take care of Jet." Smellerbee told us and I shook my head.

The three of them have helped us a lot today. I fully trust them now, despite of what they did before. Jet risked his life to save ours and now he may die because of it, I don't want him to die. He doesn't deserve to, especially not after what he did.

"We're not going to leave you." Katara reasons.

"There's no time. Just go." We all look at Longshot with wonder. This is the first time he's spoken. "We'll take care of him. He's our leader."

"Don't worry, Katara. I'll be fine." Jet assured my sister, tenderly.

Anyone with a good heart would know he's lying. He's not fine.

Katara stood up with her eyes shut and we walked off. I looked at the ground with sorrow and Aang wrapped an arm around me. My arms looped around his neck as we walked and I heard Toph softly say.

"He's lying."

Toph led us to the room Appa was in and we walked into it, expecting to find him but Appa was gone.

"Appa's gone!" Aang cried. "Long Feng and Hung beat us here."

"If we keep moving, maybe we can catch up to him." Sokka suggests and we sprint out of the room.

Toph and Aang bend a rock with a circular door above the water. They both smash the circular door and we are revealed to the surface of the lake as the door smashed against the wall. The five of us dash across the shoreline but behind us we saw nine Dai Li agents chase after us.

"You think we can out run them?" Sokka asked.

"I don't think it's gonna matter." Aang reasons. Ahead of us, we saw Long Feng, Hung, and other agents bend a stone wall in front of us and behind us the other agents bend a wall, trapping us in.

Suddenly Momo flies down and drops Bubbles off in my arms. They are both chittering with excitement.

"What is it, Momo and Bubbles?" Aang asked. Momo flies up toward the sun and vanished for a few moments. From the sun, a familiar figure flies down and I recognized it immediately.

"Appa!" Aang beams. I was smiling from ear to ear at the sight of our fuzzy friend. Appa smashes through both of the walls that encased us and all the agents fall to the ground. Aang and Toph ran over to the mountain side and bended the remaining agents off the cliff and into the water.

All the agents fled when Appa landed but Long Feng and Hung stayed put. Appa snarled at the two of them.

"My son and I can handle you by ourselves."

The father and son duo attacked the bison but Appa bit them and tossed them into the lake like they were ragdolls.

All five of us ran up to our long lost friend and tackled him in a hug.

"Appa!" I giggled and petted his fur. "You're back!"

Not too long after our reunion, we took off on Appa again. It's been to long since our last ride on him and it's good to have him back. We've all missed him.

Katara was staring at the lake wistfully and she wipes her eye. I placed my hand on her shoulder and she turns to us. We all gather in an embrace and Appa growls happily as we rode off into the sunset.

We finally have everyone back together. Finally.