Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The last airbender or any of the characters.

Thank you for the reviews guys. They're really helpful to me. I appreciate them. Also the ones about my grammars. You know, I get sort of carried away with my writing sometimes, but I'm working on it:) As for coming on kinda strong from the beginning;... Let's just say I have my reasons.

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

Chapter three: Separated

Iroh sat on a stool, his back leaning against the metal wall of the ship. The sun warmed him up, and he could feel the heat radiating from the giant orb. The source to his power. His first intention when he came out had been to take a nap. The smell of sea and ocean always wore him out and calmed him down. His plans however, had been disrupted the moment his nephew awoke. Iroh suspected the young prince hadn't slept many hours, if any, and he looked exhausted. The young male was pacing the deck, lost in thought and Iroh knew exactly what was on his mind.
What should he do? What would he do? What could he do? In one small hour his dreams had been shattered. All hope was lost. Everything he had worked for, all the pain he had suffered, all the hardships he had faced. He sighed.

Three years of banishment, the only thing holding him up had been the thought of restoring his honor when he finally caught the avatar, and now... All hope was gone.

Normally he would be angry and frustrated, but no. This time Zuko just felt empty inside, and quite frankly, he was panicking. He paced the deck, back and forth, back and forth. What would become of him now? His life as he knew it, was over. Damned Azula. She had everything. Everything. She had her honor, her pride, their fathers love, his respect, raw talent, everything. Why couldn't she have given him this one thing? Did she really hate him this much? Obviously she did..

He stopped at the bow of the ship and looked out at the endless sea. Somewhere beyond that horizon his sister was bringing the avatar closer and closer to the fire nation. The Avatar. The savior of the world and all living beings, including himself.

Azula of all people. She was too calculating, too smart and too cold to take any chances or make a foolish mistake. And that bald monk had no chance what so ever escaping her now that she had him in her clutches. It would be better if Zhao had taken the him. After all, he had already freed the avatar from him once, and he could have done it again. But Azula... How could he free him from Azula? Or more important; from her ship? There was no way he could sneak on board her ship undetected.

His sister had left Khoisan and set course for the fire nation the second she got back on board. And while his ship was small compared to hers, she would without a doubt spot him miles away if he tried to follow her. Not that his small ship could catch up with hers anyway. His grip tightened around the railing. If only there was a way..

He mentally slapped himself. Listen to yourself you pathetic fool. You sound weak and defeated. If anything, prince Zuko of the fire nation was not weak, nor defeated. He was a fighter. Yes, he kept going and never gave up. Off course there is a way, there is always a way. You just don't know what it is, yet. Concentrate..

If only he could find a way to sneak up on her ship, he corrected himself. Then he could get he avatar out of there and...and... and then what? How would he get the avatar away from her ship without her following him? The only thing able to stop Azula from following him would be, one; she was not able to for some reason, or two; she couldn't see him. Neither was very probable to occur.

He raised his head to the sky as too look for answers. The clouds drifted by somewhere way above his head. There was no way... Unless! A plan formed in his mind. Yes, that could actually work, but it wouldn't be easy, or fun. It would include more discipline and cooperation from his own part than he knew himself to be capable of, but it could be the only way. It was worth a try.

"I don't know Sokka. I'm not sure disguising as a traveling circus would get us on board that ship. Why would they wanna take a circus with them?"

"Why wouldn't they?" Sokka had a look on his face that told Katara her brother was convinced this was an excellent idea. Not that his ideas were always perfect, but this one was beyond bad. "It's entertaining, profitable, and a natural part of any royal company." The water tribe boy counted on his fingers as he listed the arguments.

"Yeah, sure. And you would know, since you hang out with royalties on a daily basis" Katara rolled her eyes. "But I think we'll toss some more ideas around before we go with that one."

After the girls had taken Aang with them Sokka had went and got Katara, who still couldn't move. Zuko and his uncle had disappeared before they could see where they went. Katara had been kind of shocked by their family reunion. They made her and Sokka's fights seem like the picture of a perfect family.

The water tribe siblings had eventually managed to get back to Appa and Momo. The day had been exhausting for them and they had fallen asleep early. Their sleep had been pore though, and Katara had awaken several times from bad dreams during the night. Before the sun rose she had gotten up and made them breakfast. Taking her time, letting her brother have a few extra hours to rest before she woke him up too. Wise from experience she knew that the longer Sokka slept, the better, for both of them. Her brother had a tendency of becoming cranky and whiny, more than usual that is, when deprived of sleep.

At the moment they were propped up against Appa's side. Now all they needed was a rescue plan. They had to come up with a decent idea in a short amount of time. If they waited too long Aang would be long gone, and Katara was not about to let that happen. But on the other hand they were most lightly to get only one chance at rescuing him, and couldn't afford rushing in to anything. No, they simply had to come up with an idea, a great one, now. So far, things were looking bad.

"I've got it!" Katara turned to face her brother who hopefully had a real idea this time.

"What, what is it?"

"We could take them out. You know, attack. Water tribe style."

"And that would work because...?" Katara arced an eyebrow and sent her brother a sceptic look.

"Hello?? You're a water bender, they're out at sea, what more reasons do you need?" Sokka's eyes widened in excitement. It actually looked kinda funny.

"How about they are on a ship full of fire benders, how's that for a reason?"

"Okay, I see your point. But what if we took a hostage. One of those girls for example, and we could trade her for Aang?" Katara was pretty sure he was just making this up as he went.

"Yeah, because we totally had them the last time we fought them. Except you being thrown into a brick wall and me being paralyzed by that circus freak"

"You see, circus training, -handy! Maybe we should go over the details to that plan one more time."

"Sokka..."

Aang tested his limbs. The feeling was starting to come back to him, but he was still not able to move. Ty Lee and Mai had brought him down to the brig and chained him to the wall. Shackles on his ankles and wrists. Yup, he was pretty much stuck. He closed his eyes. This whole "capture the avatar" thing is getting old, he thought to himself. He was tired of being chased. Tired of fighting. Tired of being captured. Not to mention sitting in a small cell was indescribably boring. He definitely had to come up with an escape plan. Being the positive spirit he was, there was no doubt in his mind that a chance would come along, sooner or later. And besides, his friends would come and help him. Together they could do it. He couldn't mind but wonder what this Azula was like. She sure was...terrifying. But she had to have her weakness to, right? Like Zhao, sure he captured him, but he was too obsessed with power to not make mistakes and rash actions. Off course, he had gotten some good help from the blue spirit that one time. His eyes fluttered open. Zuko... He couldn't believe he had almost forgotten he was the blue spirit. Why had he helped him in the first place? He always tried to capture him for himself. He should have been glad Zhao caught him. That would mean the end to their chase, and Zuko could return home. Who wouldn't wanna go back home after three years? The gang didn't really know much about the fire prince, or how he came to chase them so obsessively, but rumours got around and they had learned he was banished for some reason. And for some reason it had something to do with Aang. Aang pondered about it for a second. Maybe that was just it, he needed to catch him for himself... There was more to this royal family than met the eye. Maybe he could try to get some answers while he was stuck down here. And who knew, he might even learn something useful.
The fire prince sat in front of the desk in his cabin. For hours he had gone through several maps, finding possible routs from Khoisan to the fire nation. Finally he had decided which one his sister was most likely to have chosen and rolled the scrolls together.

At the moment he just sat there, his eyes fixed on something outside his window. The sun. It was about to set. It casted long shadows on it's way down in to the sea. He was running out of time. It had to happen tonight. Everything was timed perfectly. Judging by how far Azula had come by now, the speed of her ship and the speed of his own transport he had been able to calculate the time line down to the last hour. He had to leave no later than nightfall to be able to catch up with her two nights later. But still there was some loose ends... He would have to leave now. The main component of his plan was not yet in order.

Zuko went over to his dresser and slipped on a black shirt and trousers, the hilt containing the dual broadswords he hung on his back. With him he also packed a small pouch with some water, a bit of food and his blue spirit mask.

Suddenly the big metal door to his cabin slid open.

"Uncle, what are you.." Iroh raised a hand to silence him and walked over to the chair standing next to his desk. The general sat down, hands on his knees. Zuko watched his uncle, and suddenly he seemed more like a tired old man to him, than the cheerful mentor and powerful bender he knew him to be.

"Zuko, what are you doing?" His eyes looked tired too, Zuko thought, but there was still a spark of fire in there. He looked away.

"I have to go away for a little while, Uncle."

"This has something to do with the avatar." It wasn't really a question. Iroh sighed. "You have to stop pursuing that boy, and rather start pursuing a life for yourself."

The young prince let his eyes wander, apparently in deep thoughts. He lowered his head. "I...I can't uncle. It's my destiny."

"Your destiny is not yet set my boy. It is being molded by the choices you make today, tomorrow and the rest of your life!"

Zuko watched the dancing flame on top of the candle standing on the table in front of him, as he pulled the hood of his sweater up over his head. "I have to do this."

No, you don't. Iroh watched his nephew and felt sadness build up inside. This young boy was making himself so unhappy by striving to reach Ozai's overwhelming expectations. There was so many things he wanted to tell the young prince . So many things he wanted to help him realise, but he did nothing. Instead he just sat there and watched his nephew leave.

Dusk. The skies were dark gray and you could tell it wasn't long until night fall. The air grew raw and cold, and the fog dancing like smoke across the small pond next to their camp sent Katara shivers down her spine. They were nowhere near a solution. All day the water tribe siblings had tossed ideas of how to rescue their friend, but all of them lacked either possibility, probability or sanity.

Katara rested her chin on her knees and pulled the blanket closer around herself. Soon it would be to late to do anything. They had to come up with something soon.

Sokka and Momo were currently fighting over some berries of a sort, and Katara couldn't help but smile. Her brother could be whiny, grumpy, complaining, a pain in the ass and down right stupid, but at least she could always count on him to cheer her up. The two rivals struggling on the ground nearby was hilarious, and what's more funny, Sokka was loosing.

The lemur finally freed himself from the boy's grip and jumped in to a nearby tree with his prize. Katara watched the lemur with amusement as he ate. He was such a glutton. Hey, wait, what's that.. She almost yelped in surprise when she saw someone, or something else up there with him. It was blue and white, with a grinning mouth and fangs. The water bender had seen enough wanted posters to recognize the figure as the blue spirit.

Sokka was still pouting over loosing his food to the lemur, but forgot all about it when he saw the look of fright on his sisters face. He followed her gaze and saw the masked person sitting a mere three branches above Momo. Being the rash and hot headed boy he was he ran over to the trunk of the tree and started hitting it with his club. "Hey, you spy! Get down here!"

The blue spirit seemed hesitant at first, but leaped from his branch and landed gracefully on the ground next to Sokka. "What do you want?" Sokka held his club in front of him, pointing it towards the newcomer.

Katara could see the blue spirit clenching his fists, and knew this could possibly be a dangerous situation. If Sokka provoked him to much and went for his swords, there was no guarantee they would get away unharmed. And by the looks of it, Sokka was provoking him quite a bit.

"Sokka, why don't you calm down a bit and drop that club?" Sokka's jaw dropped and he turned to her in disbelief.

"What?!? He sneaks up on us. He is armed. He is wanted. And yet you're telling me to drop my guard? Nuh-uh Katara. No way."

"Take it easy Sokka." She walked over and placed a calming hand on his arm. "He is wanted, -by the fire nation. And a enemy of the fire nation is a friend of ours." The water bender turned towards the stranger and stared into what would be his eyes, except that there were only to dark slits in his mask. Still, Zuko felt like she saw straight through him.

Sokka grunted and dropped his weapon. Katara squeezed his arm a little in approval, but didn't take her eyes of the stranger for one second. "So, tell us. What do you want?"

Her face was friendly enough, but her eyes made it clear that she was not to be trifled with. She had shown him a great deal of trust by calming down her brother. In return she demanded respect and honesty. To bad he couldn't give her that.

He tore away from her penetrating gaze and pointed towards the bison laying a few yards off.

"Appa..?" The girl looked confused, while her brother was starting to flare up again.

"No way. You're not getting Appa!" The masked stranger sighed and Katara was sure that movement he did with his head was in addition to a rolling of his eyes. The blue spirit pointed towards the bison once again, at the same time pointing to the top of his own head, drawing an arrow in the air.

"Aang...? Do you mean something about Aang?" The masked man nodded and turned his head up towards the rising moon. They would have to leave soon, should this work at all.

"Well, he's not here..."Katara hesitated. "He was taken by the fire nation...yesterday." She was careful not to spill too much information. The blue spirit nodded again and turned towards the flying bison, waving his arm at them to follow.

"You already knew?" He turned back to face the water bender. "But how...?"

"Aarrrgh...does it really matter Katara? What is the meaning of all this? Appa and Aang and the waving and nodding?" The young warrior threw his arms around, nodding his head, imitating the stranger. "What do you want? Go rescue Aang?"

Maybe the boy had a tiny brain after all. He nodded again, watching the two peasants in front of him.

"Oh,well..." the watertribe warrior arced an eyebrow at him. "Thank you, but we're fine. We were just thinking the same thing actually. And now we are going. Just the two of us. Alone." Sokka waved dismissively at the masked one.

Katara on the other hand overheard her brother completely. "Do you know where to find him, or which direction they went?" He nodded his head once more.

"Katara, come on. You're not serious. We don't know this guy at all."

"It may be the only way to help Aang. Your ideas were no good anyway. We need the extra help, plus he's clearly good at getting away from the fire nation."

"Oh, That's fair. Yeah, blame it on me.. At least I had Ideas!! How do you even know if we can trust this guy?" Sokka turned towards the stranger. "How do we know if we can trust you?" The masked man simply shrugged, as to say "you can't". Somehow, the simple truth of his action reassured Katara. Besides, this was the best chance they had at getting Aang back so far.

"Good enough for me." She turned on her heal and walked over to Appa with determined steps, and climbed up his back.

Sokka stomped his foot and started in a angry tone "Katara, come back here..."

"We're saving Aang, and that's that." His sister sent him a look that signified she had made up her mind.

"Are you guys coming, or what?"

"Girls, they're crazy.." Sokka sighed and walked past their new Allie, who stiffened a bit at his words. Where had he heard that before?

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