Sokka began doing his best to block Yue out of his head. But the more he thought of her, the more he thought of Suki, who for all he knew could be frozen to death. He would wander the boiling rock, looking for his father and Suki, every once in a while dodging guards and the three demons.
Sokka didn't know, however, that Suki was fine. She had chipped away at the ice by banging it on the wall. She found a vent that was letting in cold air and pulled the covering. She crawled through and found herself on the side of the volcano, but went back inside to look for Sokka. She found a closet containing some guard uniforms and wandered the halls as a guard. "What are you doing?" a guard asked Suki.
"Um, room inspection. I'm making sure the rooms are spotless. Captain's orders."
The guard rolled his eyes and went back to his station. Suki looked in all of the cells with no luck of finding Sokka or the others. She finally gave up and went back to the edge of the water to search.
Sokka checked all of the cells and the freezers. He set his father and Zuko free and headed back to the shore. "Suki!" he exclaimed and kissed her on the cheek.
"Sokka! I looked everywhere for you!"
"I was looking for you, too!"
They all climbed up to the gondolas to go when Mai, Azula, and Ty Lee trapped them on the gondola and began to set the wire on fire. Zuko sent a ton of flaming fireballs at the girls, who didn't see them and got burnt. Azula kept toasting the line while Suki threw a knife that caught Azula's sleeve and pulled her to the wall. She struggled to get free while Mai continued cutting the wire.
The gondola fell, ever so slowly... so slowly that each one of them had a chance to realize what was happening, and knowing they were close to death.
Sequel: Read 'The Gondola' by metalbender247