Hours passed and still Zuko was unable to get to sleep. He stayed awake until finally dawn arrived. Slowly, everyone else at the camp started to awaken. To Zuko's amusement, Sokka was the last to wake up.
"Sokka!" Katara yelled, kicking her sleeping brother. "Wake up!" Sokka awoke with a start and leapt to his feet, sword ready.
"What's wrong!" He asked. "Ae we under attack!"
"No," Katara said irratably. "But you did fall asleep! Weren't you supposed to be watching our prisoner?"
"I was watching him!" Sokka yelled back.
"Until you fell asleep!" Katara snapped. "We need him to end this war. What if he escaped?" This went back and forth for quite a while. Finally, Zuko cleared his throat.
"I don't mean to be a bother," he said. "But I need to, um, relieve myself." They looked at him awkwardly.
"Alright," Katara said. "Toph, you're an earthbender. Take him into the woods over there." Zuko looked at Katara then at Toph.
"But she's a girl," he said, obviously uncomfortable.
"Don't worry Sparky," Toph said, pulling him to his feet. "I'm blind as a badgermole. I won't see a thing."
"Alright," Zuko said, heading off towards the bushes with Toph following close behind him. Soon he stopped walking.
"This looks good," he said. Toph nodded and bent the rocks away from his hands. The moment his hands were free, an idea came into Zuko's head. he spun around and sent a blast of fire in the direction of the young earthbender. While she was distracted, Zuko turned and fled. He raced through the forest, his heart pounding and his chest heaving for breath. He needed to find a way back home that didn't include his sister. He didn't trust her to let him live if she found him. Behind him, he could hear The Avatar and his friends chasing after him. He kept running until he reached a small cliff. Taking a deep breath, Zuko ran towards the cliff and leapt over the gap, landing with a thud on the other side. He got to his feet and kept running.
He ran for waht felt like hours before exhaustion came over him. By now it was high noon, and he dared to hope that he had escaped The Avatar. Now he just needed to find a port and a ship that could bring him back home. At that moment a sickening thought came into his head. If his Father had sent Azula, then he must have known what had happened. Which meant he probably knew that The Avatar still lived. He swallowed, wondering what awaited him when he got back home. What if his Father decided to punish him for his failure, for the lie. His hand went up to his scar, his breath quickening. Swallowing another gulp of air, he sat down, his chest rising and falling with every ragged breath, his heart pounding in his ear. Finally, the previous night overcame him and he drifted off to sleep.
"We have a problem," Toph said as she raced back to the camp. "Zuko escaped."
"What?" Katara gasped. "How?"
"He attack me the moment his hands were free," Toph said. "I should have seen it coming."
"Well," Sokka said. "He couldn't have gotten far. Let's chase him down and catch him again." Everyone nodded and raced after the prince. But apparently Zuko's desire to escape outweighed their desire to capture him. By the time noon had rolled around, they had lost sight of him.
"We can't give up," Sokka said. "It's a small island, he's got to be here somewhere. We just need to keep looking until we find him."
Time passed and Zuko awoke from his rest. He looked up and determine from the position of the son that a few hours had passed. And that The Avatar and his friends had failed to find him. Getting to his feet, he continued to walk. He had walked for a few minutes when suddenly something dropped down from the trees in front of him. There was the sound of metal against metal and the prince soon found himself cornered, with two hooked swords criss-crossed against his throat.
Remember when I said I would take one detour from Cannon? This is it.
