As Zuko slept, he had dreams of his past. Azula bullying him, his mother leaving, his betrayal of uncle, his father... they all swirled around in his head.

When he woke up, the first thing he saw was the fire. That was a mistake. He jumped away in a panic and skidded away from it. "Zuko?" they turned to him with a mix of confusion and concern. He noticed that night had fallen since he had last been awake.

He slowly took deep breaths and tried to calm his racing heart rate. "Sorry..." he scooted closer to them, still staying wary of the fire. It was then that he noticed his arms. They still hurt, but there was very little visible damage. "Thank you..." he looked up at Katara.

"No problem..." they all studied him, "Zuko... are you ok?"

"I..." he gazed into the fire for a moment then turned away. "No..."

"I'm sorry about burning you," Aang said quickly. "It's all my fault. I never should have tried to learn fire bending!"

"No, it's not you..." he looked down at his hands. "I... it's my fault... over three years... and I still can't control it..."

"Control what?" Toph asked.

He tucked his knees up to his chest, "My fear... of fire..."

Sokka snorted, "You? Scared of fire?!" Katara punched him in the side. "Sorry..." he wheezed.

Zuko smiled softly, "No it's ok... I find it funny too sometimes. It's just... ever since well..."

He looked up at them, trying to find the words. "Since you got your scar?" Katara asked.

He nodded, "Ever since then... there's always been this nagging sensation at the back of my mind. This feeling that I should be terrified of fire. Normally I can control it. It took some coaxing on my uncle's part, but not long after my scar healed, I was able to start fire bending again without too much issue. The problem only continued to arise when I faced other fire benders. It reminded me too much of how it happened..."

"How did it happen?" Aang voiced the question they had all been wondering.

"In an Agni Kai." He supplied, "Against my father..." he didn't need to go into further details for all of them to be royally pissed.

"How could he do that to his own son?!" Sokka yelled.

He sighed, "It's a long story..."

"It's ok..." Katara laid a hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to explain. But thank you for telling us."

"I should have said something sooner..." he mumbled, "I was afraid that you all would think I was weak... for fearing my own element..."

"Hey, I'm afraid of fire too," Aang told him. "This is the second time I've hurt one of my friends fire bending. Fire can be scary."

Toph snorted, "The earth can be frightening too. One wrong move when I'm earth bending, and I could topple an entire city."

"Way to be modest..." Sokka grumbled. He quickly received a rock to the face.

"I'm scared of my element too..." he was surprised of all people to hear Katara say that. "Not long before the eclipse, we met this woman in the forest. She was the one that taught me blood bending... I've used it twice now and I... I just can't get the feeling out of my mind... it feels so wrong but... it also makes me feel so powerful..." she said quietly.

"I'm scared of boomerang! I'm always afraid one of these days he's going to come back and hit me!" everyone looked at Sokka with confusion. "What? I thought we were telling each other our biggest fears?" they all laughed.

"You don't have to be brave all the time Zuko," Aang said getting serious again. "We're friends now. You don't have to go through this own your own."

"Yeah..." he smiled and looked at all of them. "Friends..."

The End.

(A/N - well guys, that's it. Thanks so much for reading! I hope you liked it! :) Bye!)