Captured part three- by Aang-mega-fan

Aang looked around the room trying to come up with a plan. There was nothing in the room except for the bread and water the guards had left for them.

"Do you have anything in your pockets? Anything at all." Aang asked Katara.

She thought for a moment. Her face lit up.

"I think that I took Sokka's boomerang. Oh no… I left that in my bag by the river!"

She checked her pockets for anything else they could use in their plan. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Did you have anything with you when the firebenders attacked?"

Aang thought for a moment. He remembered the shark tooth that he had bought from one of the markets they had visited a few weeks ago. He had placed it in his pocket for good luck.

"I have that shark tooth I bought. It might just be sharp enough to cut that rope. It's in my pocket." Aang tilted his head towards his breast pocket. Katara blushed a little as she retrieved the shark tooth.

"Now try and break the rope." Aang told her. She sat down and hacked at the rope for several minutes. Finally, it was loose enough to slip her hands from them.

"Now what?" Katara asked him. Aang thought for a minute. What if the guards came back and saw that she was free from the ropes?

"Tie a piece of rope round your wrists. Make it look just like the knot the guard tied or else they might get suspicious." Katara did as Aang told her. She made the knot loose enough for her to slip her hands out, but tight enough so that the rope would not fall off. "Great! Now we wait until the guards come back."

"But how will I get past them?" Katara said.

Aang thought for a minute.

"I'll blast him out of the way, just like I did with Zuko, but I'll make sure that I hit him really hard so that he gets knocked out. Then you can slip past him and run to get help." Aang smiled to himself at his ingenious plan.

"But what about you? How will I get back to you?"

"You wont. You go and get help. I'll escape on my own. If you don't escape by the time I'm free, then I'll find you. Please don't cry." Aang saw Katara's eyes filling with tears. "You can escape, no problem."

Katara sniffed and wiped her eyes.

"It's not me I'm worried about." She cried. "It's you! How will you escape from these chains?" She grabbed one of the chains and examined it. "You can't use air bending to break these."

"Okay… I've got it! Once I've got the guard knocked out, You could get the keys and unlock the chains! Then we can escape together okay?" Katara smiled at him.

"I really can't believe that you came up with that. Even Sokka couldn't have come up with a plan like that." She smiled at Aang.

"We can't seem happy when the guard comes. We've got to act as though nothings happened. You could start by getting rid of that smile." Katara's grin faded. She looked at Aang's lip.

"You have a bruise on your lip now. From where Zuko punched you. Didn't it hurt?"

Aang's smile faded as well.

"Not badly." he replied. "But it didn't feel that great."

"Your going to have a nice collection of bruises when we get out of here." Katara smiled. Aang smiled as well. No matter how bad a situation was, Katara always made him feel better.

They waited in silence for the guards to arrive. The guard came in with the bread and water as he had done earlier, but as he turned to leave, Aang had a surprise for him. He took in a deep breath and blew out the biggest blast of air he had ever made. The guard was knocked off his feet and hit against the door, closing it with a loud slam.

"Quick!" Aang shouted. "Get the key!"

Katara leapt to her feet and ran to the guard. She slipped off the ropes round her wrists and began to search his pockets.

"Got it!" She ran back to Aang and began unlocking the chains at his ankles. When they were unchained she unlocked the chains at his wrists. They fell onto the wall. Aang rubbed his wrists; they were aching.

"Are you alright?" Katara asked. She let out a scream when she saw his wrists. They were scratched and were bleeding in areas.

Aang saw how worried she was, so he pulled his sleeves over his wrists.

"I'm fine." He said. "Let's get out of here before more guards come."

They ran across the room, passed the unconscious guard and through the maze of passage ways to the next floor down. They ran through more passage ways and through long halls until they were out of breath.

"Where's the… bloody exit?" Aang said as he massaged his chest. "I have the worst stitch."

"It can't be… to far… from here." Katara panted. She looked around her. They were in a large hall. There were six doors on each wall. "One of these has to be the exit." She peered through each of the doors on all sides of the wall. All except the largest door. Aang walked over to it, still holding his chest. It had a large flame engraved on it. He opened it and peered through. This hall was even larger than the one they were in. It was very dark. The only source of light was from the bright red flames atop tall pillars lined along the walls. He walked in. All he could hear was the echoing of his foot steps and the sound of his breath.

"Aang?" Katara sounded worried. "Aang? I don't think that this is the right way. Let's try another door. Aang?" Aang did not stopped. He walked on. His pace grew quicker along with his breath. This place seemed very familiar. He stopped. This was the place he had dreamt of.

Suddenly, he heard a scream. He turned round. Katara had gone. The door had shut.
"Katara!" He ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He turned on the spot trying to find a way out. Then a voice spoke from the darkness.

"I have been waiting for you."

A figure stepped out from the shadows. It was Zuko.

"Where is Katara?" Aang shouted. "Where is she!"

Zuko laughed.

"You are to late Avatar. We have already disposed of her. You left her behind. You left her unprotected."

Aang stood stunned. He was paralysed. This was not happening. "It's just a dream." He thought. "I'm just dreaming again."

He turned around, but Katara was gone.

"No." Aang turned to face Zuko. He could hardly speak. "You… you haven't." he was shaking all over. He had to be dreaming again. This was not happening…

"Oh we have, Avatar. She's gone for good." Zuko turned and walked out of the hall. Aang tried to follow him, but he could not move. This was really happening. He must be having the night mare again. He could hear Katara's voice, but it was different than it had been in his dreams.

"It's not me I'm worried about… it's you!"

He fell to his knees. He put his hands over his face. "She can't be thinking that now." Aang thought.

"Why did I leave her!" he shouted. The doors on either side of the hall opened. Twenty guards came into the room, ten from each side. Aang stood up. He had to find a way out of here. He had to escape.

The guards surrounded him, blocking his way. They closed in on him. Aang air kicked and flipped, but it was no use. He was out numbered twenty to one. He attacked the guards with all his energy, but some of the guards attacked him from behind. They hit him on the bruise he had got at the river side. Aang fell to the floor in agony, his hands over his head. He had been defeated.
Unlike the dream, the guards did not tie him up. He had used up all his energy in the battle. They led him into a room where, as Aang had dreamt, a man sat behind a fire with Zuko standing next to him. Aang could not believe that his nightmare had come true. He thought about Katara. "Have they really killed her, or was Zuko just trying to wind me up?" Aang did not know.

Zuko smiled at his father.

"Here is the Avatar, father." Zuko said. "He's all yours."

"Very good, Prince Zuko." his father said. He stood up and walked over to Aang where he towered over him. "I never imagined the Avatar as a young and… foolish boy." Zuko laughed at this. "Now you shall meet your end Avatar."

Aang lost all his exhaustion. He felt rage build up inside him. His arrow tattoos glowed a violent shade of blue. He stared up at Zuko's father.

"I don't think I will." Aang said in his Avatar voice. He blasted the guards around him away and they hit the walls. They fell unconscious to the floor. Zuko looked at Aang with an expression of fear and shock. His father stood his grounds. Aang blasted his strongest gust of wind at him and he hit the wall. Aang then made a wind storm around them. He had trapped Zuko's father.

"Where is Katara?" He asked him. "What have you done with her?"

Zuko's father smiled.

"Ah yes, the girl. We locked her away in the most secure room in the fortress."

Aang's rage grew stronger.

"Free her, let me go and I'll let you live. If you don't, your reign ends now."

Zuko's father laughed.

"You wouldn't kill me, Avatar." he sneered.

"You watch." Aang could not control his anger any longer. He lifted his arms into the air and dropped them. The wind storm collapsed onto them.

"Father!" Zuko shouted.

There was silence. Dust hung thick in the air. Then, light shone through the cloud of dust. Zuko could see Aang's arrow tattoos and eyes shining brightly. Aang walked into the clean air and out of the room. He had to find Katara. He could not leave her behind again. He ran down the hall to find her.

Zuko ran to his father. He knelt down beside him. Most of the dust had cleared now. He looked into his fathers face. There was no hope. He was dead.

Zuko's eyes burned with tears.

"That's it Avatar." he whispered. "Now you'll really pay." He ran from the room and began to search for Aang.

End of part three