Sorry about the false update emails a lot of you probably got!! I was trying to use a friend's computer, which had Vista. Let's just say that didn't quite work...

Anyway, here's Chapter 3! This is essentially setting up Chapter 4: it's all flashback

Warning: Contains Boiling Rock spoilers!

Disclaimer: Still don't own Avatar. All recognizable characters and settings belong to someone else. All original characters, settings, and the idea for this story belong to me.

Special thank-you to my wonderful Beta, The Red Bird!

Enjoy!


"Zuko, hold on a moment." Sokka extended a hand, laying it on the arm of the recently restored Fire Nation royal. Zuko turned back with a curious look on his face.

"Where…" Sokka paused, and rephrased his question. "If someone committed a crime in the Fire Nation, where would they be taken?"

Zuko's good eye narrowed and he hesitated, appraising the Water Tribe teen before him. "Why do you want to know that?" He asked, a bit more sharply than he intended.

Sokka stared resolutely at his own feet. "Because I want to know what awaits me if Aang fails." He said softly: if he spoke loudly, the lie would be obvious in his voice.

Zuko was caught off guard by the response, but it did not completely dispel his suspicions. "They would be taken to the Boiling Rock. It is a fortress of sorts: a stone prison built over a volcano, on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean." The prince looked away from the other teen. "No one has ever escaped from Boiling Rock. It would be foolish to go there."

"I don't plan to go there!" Sokka protested just a little too quickly. "I don't even know where it is!"

"Yes, you do. You flew right over it, on your way to the Western Air Temple." Zuko watched Sokka's face carefully and saw the brief flash of recognition in the warrior's blue eyes. "Sokka, it would be suicide!" He tried to make the other see reason.

"I told you. I don't plan to go there." Sokka answered just a bit too angrily.

With one last, appraising look at the other, Zuko turned and continued on his way.


Sokka breathed a sigh of relief when he finally reached the side of the sleeping flying bison. He wound his fingers into the thick fur.

"Alright, buddy. Let's not push our luck." He breathed, beginning to climb up towards Appa's saddle.

A hand closed around his shoulder, and Sokka nearly jumped out of his skin. He emitted a very undignified squeak and turned to see a very smug, and angry, Zuko.

"Going somewhere, Sokka?" He asked, smug smirk competing with the anger in his eyes.

Reluctantly, Sokka let go of Appa's coat and hung his head. "I have to try to free my father. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't. You'd do the same for your Uncle." He said.

Zuko stood silent for several long seconds and Sokka tensed, waiting for the heat of a fireball that never came. Instead, the fire prince gripped his wrist and began pulling him down a narrow corridor.

"The bison would be too conspicuous." Zuko said over his shoulder, shoving Sokka through a narrow opening. Sokka's eyes widened: there before him was the war balloon.

"We'll take this." The prince raised a hand to silence Sokka's protests. "I'm coming with you, Sokka. Boiling Rock isn't something you can handle alone."

Sokka nodded curtly and walked towards the balloon. Zuko stopped him once again with a hand on his chest.

"Wait a moment." The prince pulled a scrap of paper from a hidden pocket and scribbled a note to Aang.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked.

"Letting Aang know we've gone fishing for a few days, and reminding him to practice his Firebending." The prince shot Sokka a wry smile which he returned.

"He'll hate you." He took the stub of pen when it was passed to him and signed the note.

"I'll go put this in his room. You get in the balloon. Stay down. The guards still don't trust you." Zuko said.


"Something isn't right. We're losing altitude!" Zuko announced. They were just passing over the far side of Boiling Rock's island, still a day's flight from the prison compound.

"It's the air! It's hotter outside the balloon than inside it!" Sokka answered, sounding slightly terrified.

"What do we do?!" In the course of their journey, Zuko had come to respect the Water Tribe teen's talent for science.

"Hold on! We're going to have a rough landing!"


"Put this on." Sokka didn't have time to answer before a bundle of fabric landed right on his head.

"A uniform?" He asked.

"A prison guard's uniform. We'll blend in." Zuko answered as he began stripping out of his battered clothing.

Sokka glanced back at the remnants of their balloon. "How will we get out of here?" He asked.

"We'll figure it out. Put on the uniform. Patrols come by this area twice a day. We can sneak in with one of them. They won't notice a sudden addition. There are more guards here than they need."

Sokka silently removed the tattered remains of his fire nation clothing and put on the uniform. It was a little big, and scratchy.

"What is this thing made of?" He asked, scratching at his neck.

"Fire proof material. Come on. The patrol will be here any minute." Zuko motioned to a fissure in the steep rock walls, just big enough for two people.


"Scan the area. The warden thinks there might be suspicious activity up here." The foreman of the patrol said, words lightly muffled by his helmet.

"We have to get into the middle. Wait until I say so to move." Zuko breathed into Sokka's ear, receiving a nod.

"Now!"


Sokka breathed a sigh of relief when the heavy doors of Boiling Rock swung shut behind the patrol. They had made it.

"We need to find out where war prisoners are being kept." He said to Zuko as subtly as possible.

"You there! Get down!"

Both teens turned to see a large, burly guard forming a whip out of fire. Before Sokka had time to panic, it was whistling through the air, towards the prisoner still sprawled on the ground.

There was a flicker of movement, and the prisoner's hand came up, bending the whip away. In an instant, guards were all over him.

"What is going on here?!" Came a new voice. A man who was clearly of higher rank stepped through the stopped patrol.

"Refused to bow to a guard, sir. So I was going to give him the standard punishment. He parried." The guard announced.

"So, you're a firebender, are you?!" The new man growled, lifting the prisoner roughly. "Then it's the cooler for you! You!" The man pointed at Sokka, who jumped slightly, "take this man to the cooler." The Water Tribe teen hesitated and the man rolled his eyes.

"Someone show the new kid where the cooler is." He snapped.

One of the guards from the patrol stepped forward. "Let's go."

It took all of Sokka's control not to look back over his shoulder at Zuko as he led the prisoner away with the other man's help.


They stopped outside of a door made of smooth grey metal. It opened with a crackle and hiss. A wave of cold air rushed out, making Sokka shiver.

"This is one of the coolers. There are three. Firebending's against the rules. If you see a prisoner firebending, they go in here. It'll cool 'em off enough that they won't be able to bend for a while." The other man said as he thrust the prisoner inside and shut the door.

Sokka nodded, looking around to see if he could spot Zuko. Something else caught his eye first.

Brown hair. Medium height. And an athletic build to rival a man's. Even without her makeup, Suki was unmistakable.

Before he could fully think about what he was doing, Sokka had grabbed the other guard's arm.

"Where would war prisoners be taken? Say…Water Nation prisoners?" He asked.

The other guard was suspicious. He could feel it, even if he couldn't see it. "There aren't any war prisoners at Boiling Rock." He said curtly before turning to walk away.

Disappointment, hot and bitter, filled Sokka. He turned and began to walk away.


"Get away!" Suki growled, shoving Sokka as hard as she could. The teenager stumbled back, colliding hard with the wall. He felt his helmet fall off but he was more concerned about breathing at that moment.

"Sokka?" Suki asked, hope and disbelief fighting for expression in her voice.

"Yeah," he wheezed back. The next second, he had his arms full of excited warrior.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again." Suki whispered.

"Me either." Sokka smiled.

Their lips met. Zuko, outside the door, turned his head away, giving his newfound friend privacy.

His blood ran cold; a guard, mere yards away. Zuko hastily tapped out a pattern on the door and Sokka pulled away; that pattern meant 'trouble.'

"I'm going to get you out of here." He promised Suki as he disappeared behind his helmet, slipping out the door just in time to witness an argument.

Zuko had planted himself between the guard and Suki's cell and was now getting an earful about disobeying a superior.

The other guard spotted Sokka. "Help me take this fool to an empty cell. A few days inside will help him learn his place!"

Feeling unbelievably guilty, Sokka arrested Zuko and marched him off to an empty cell.


"Prince Zuko."

Zuko turned to face the warden. "How did you know it was me?" He asked, without much enthusiasm.

"My niece knows you. Mai? She says you broke her heart."

The man didn't wait around for Zuko's answer.


"I've figured it out. The cooler cells aren't part of the island. If we can loosen one we can use it like a boat, get out to sea, and hijack a ship from there." Sokka whispered later that night. Suki, in a newly stolen guard's uniform, nodded her agreement.

"But it can only be loosened from the inside." She added.

"I'll do it." Zuko volunteered immediately. "I have my breath of fire. I won't freeze inside it like you will."

"Is that so?"

All three spun to face the voice. A tall, burly man smirked at them, a mop and pail in one hand.

"Who are you?" Sokka asked cautiously.

"My name is Chit Sang. And I want in." The man answered.


"Watch it!" Zuko snapped at Chit Sang, glaring at the bigger man who had just "run into" him. "You spilled water all over me!" He snapped, slapping his mop angrily against the floor and pointing to Chit Sang's half empty bucket.

"Don't get in my way next time!" The other man snapped back.

They traded blows and Zuko launched a fireball at the other. Guards were all over him in an instant, throwing him into the cooler.


Zuko shivered as he loosened the last screw holding the cooler to the island. Stepping back, he took a deep breath, feeling his inner flame rise up within him. He breathed out a steady stream of flame, warming his hands and legs enough to keep moving.

Sokka heard the tapping from inside the cooler: Zuko had finished successfully. Sokka in turn signaled Chit Sang and two of his accomplices. As they were readying to dash over to the loosened cooler, two guards turned the corner.

"So we've got more coming in tomorrow?" One was asking.

"Yeah. Water Nation warriors."

Sokka's heart leapt. War prisoners coming in tomorrow. Maybe, just maybe, he could find his father.


"Everything is ready!" Zuko hissed. He was walking slightly ahead of Chit Sang and his friends, ready to fire blast anyone who spotted them.

They made it to the loosened cooler without incident. Sokka was waiting and opened the door: should anyone pass by, it would look like he and Zuko were simply carrying out the usual punishment.

"Take this too." Sokka handed the four men a rough-hewn plank, which would serve as a makeshift paddle to get the cooler out and away.

The four men stepped inside and Chit Sang turned grateful eyes their way.

"Thank you."

Sokka and Zuko watched them drift away with mixed feelings: they might have just missed their one chance to escape this hellish place. But on the other...

"I have to know," Sokka said, finishing aloud their unspoken thoughts, "I have to try."

"I know," Zuko answered softly.


The cooler was nearly out of sight when disaster struck.

Chit Sang got cocky. He saw his freedom near at hand and dug their makeshift paddle in too hard.

With a hiss of steam, he was covered in boiling water. An agonized scream ripped from him, hastily silenced by Haowen covering his mouth.

It wasn't enough. Already, the guards on Boiling Rock were moving to bring the cooler, and its inhabitants, back.


"Listen up! When your name is called, step off the lift, and line up in front of the warden. No funny business!"

Sokka listened with a pounding heart to the first three names.

By the fifth, he had lost hope.

The last prisoner was bullied off the lift by three guards, resisting every effort to move him forward. The guards managed to get the struggling man to the lineup, where he stood proudly, shoulders square and head high.

"Hakoda!"

Sokka could have leapt for joy: it was his father!

He readied himself to dash forward and throw his arms around Hakoda, but Zuko stopped him with a large handful of his shirt.

"You'll get us both killed!" The fire prince hissed.

Reluctantly, Sokka stood where he was, watching tensely as the Water Tribe prisoners were led deep into Boiling Rock.


He barely saw the blow coming. Only some primal instinct let Sokka duck his head, milliseconds before Hakoda's foot sliced the air where it had been.

It was nearly midnight, and finally, Zuko had declared it safe for him to visit his father. In his eagerness, he had forgotten about his guard's uniform and that he must look like the enemy. Now, realizing, he felt more than a little foolish.

"Father, it's me!" Sokka said, quickly pulling off his helmet.

"Sokka?" The look of hatred melted off Hakod's face.

"Yes. I'm going to get you out of here."


"That one!" Chit Sang said firmly, pointing to the man who had tried to whip him. He had been caught and ordered to name his accomplice. Sokka, on the man's right, subtly released his breath. He was safe.

As the big man was led away for questioning, Chit Sang passed by him and winked, very deliberately.


"We need a diversion." Suki said.

"Some type of bending?" Sokka suggested.

"No. They've stopped using the coolers for a bit and are just flat out torturing benders now. We need to get the prisoners to riot," Zuko said, "and use it as cover. We can get the warden and get to the gondolas before we're missed."

"But how to start a riot..." Sokka mused aloud. The group fell silent, thinking.

Hakoda turned matter-of-factly to the nearest prisoner -a man much bigger than himself- and hit him squarely in the jaw. The fight that broke out earned them little.

"Control your anger!" One guard barked, pulling Hakoda away.

Chit Sang watched this with mild interest and turned. He lifted a random prisoner. "Hey. RIOT!" He said loudly.

Within minutes, chaos had erupted.

"There's the warden!" Zuko yelled over the din.

"Leave that to me." Suki disappeared and they saw her flipping through the air. But they didn't have time to watch: soon they were drawn into the fray as the guards attacked, fire blasting indiscriminantly.


"Got him!" Suki announced, pointing to the carefully bound and gagged warden. The four of them were bruised, bloody, and utterly exhausted.

"To the gondolas!" Zuko gasped. "Hurry!"

Dragging their hostage between them, the five of them bolted headlong for the gates and for the harbor beyond. The gate was -miraculously- open and they made it without any sign of pursuit.

They had just cast off when a familiar, spine-tingling laugh reached the fire prince's ears.

"And where do you think you're going, Zuzu?"

Standing on the roof of the gondola were Ty Lee and Princess Azula.

Zuko idly wondered where Mai was before his sister attacked.


"Sokka! Duck!" Zuko shouted, crossing his arms in front of his face to block a shot of blue fire from his sister. Sokka dropped to the roof of the gondola in time to avoid a similar shot.

The two of them combined kept Azula from capturing them. Nearby, Suki and Ty Lee seemed to be having a battle that was all acrobatics.

There came the sound of snapping ropes and Sokka whirled around; too late. "Guards!! Cut the lines!!" yelled the warden.

Sokka and Zuko gulped: the gondola was still in the harbor. They were going to be trapped!

Azula smirked at her brother and grabbed Ty Lee's arm. The two women jumped, landing neatly on one of the other gondolas.

They weren't going to make it in time.

Silver flashed through the air, small daggers pinning the guards to the walls.

"What are you doing?!" One of them screeched.

Mai's voice was emotionless. "Saving the jerk who dumped me." She very pointedly eyed the fire prince

The five escapees didn't have time to be properly grateful, though Zuko had the grace to lower his head.


"What were you thinking?! Why did you help them escape?!" Azula was, literally, steaming at Mai.

Mai glared back. "I love your brother more than I could ever fear you, Azula." She said evenly.

Azula's hand reared back, and Mai tensed for the blow. It never came. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes.

Ty Lee stood protectively in front of her, daring Azula to hit them both.

Hands grabbed them both. "Your Highness. What do you want us to do with these two?" The guard holding the girls asked.

Azula's face was contorted with fury at her friends. "Put them somewhere that I'll never have to see their faces again, and let them rot there!" She snapped, turning on her heel.

The guard nodded and led Mai and Ty Lee away.

He marched them through the prison, but instead of putting them in any of the cells, he led them down a narrow passage, clearly a service pathway of some sort.

They emerged into the light, the two women blinking in confusion as to why they were outside.

Their guard, a boy barely older than Zuko, blushed heavily.

"I'm not imprisoning the warden's niece. Hurry." He said.

He led them to a much smaller, more secluded harbor. "This is the transport ship that brought the prisoners in. It's bound for Omashu next. Hurry." He said again.

Mai and Ty Lee didn't argue. They slipped aboard the transport and hid themselves quickly.


A few weeks after their return, Katara, Aang, Toph, and Hakoda were seated around the campfire, watching Sokka and Zuko. The two were a short way off, heads close together, speaking earnestly.

"They're so different now. Closer." Katara said.

Hakoda smiled wisely. "They had to be. They never would have escaped Boiling Rock if they weren't."


"I swear that, should you need it, I will fight beside you." Zuko said. Sokka solemnly repeated the words.

"Let's hope we won't have to come through on those promises." He said quietly.


Just to clarify, I wrote this as if Sokka and Zuko were in the Fire Palace at the beginning and met up with the others at the Western Air Temple

Well, there you have it! As I said, mostly a set up for future chapters. Remember to let me know who you want to have a change of heart between Sokka and Katara.

Next chap should be out by Wednesday (or sooner if I get enough reviews)

Until next time!