A/N I obviously own nothing, the world of the Avatar and all characters there in belong to Nickelodeon/Viacom, just playing in their sandbox.

Chapter 4

Sokka ran. He was slow and awkward thanks to his broken leg. Suki and Toph were on either side helping him as they hobbled along the shore towards their eel hound. They had to get away. Ozai and his remaining troops would be upon them any minute and that was not a fight they could win. As they clambered up the animals back, he finally allowed himself to process what had just happened.

They had been able to see Aang and Ozai from the airships. The power Ozai had thanks to the comet and Aang wielding all four elements at once, watching them fight had been terrifying. It looked as if it might finally be over, and they had all paused to watch Aang deal the final blow. Only he never did. His moment of hesitation was enough for the fire lord to kill him instead. Sokka had been worried about this exact thing. He knew that Aang's desire to end this fight without killing could have devastating consequences. He had never been more horrified to have been right. Watching Aang fall had been a slow motion nightmare that Toph had had to rouse them from, "Come on guys, we have to get out of here!" Once the airship they were on got close enough to the ground, she had bent up a ramp of earth for them to jump onto. Now it was her turn to drag them along behind.

Sokka ignored the pain in his leg as he drove the eel hound towards the White Lotus camp. He prayed that General Iroh and the others had been more successful. If Ba Sing Se had been retaken they would at least have somewhere safe return to. Sokka thought about his sister and Zuko and their plans to confront Azula. As the sun set and the comet sank below the horizon, he begged Tui and La to keep his sister safe.

On the back of the eel hound it did not take long to make it back to their camp. It was master Pakku that greeted them, walking up to them as Suki helped Sokka and Toph off the animals back. The old man's triumphant grin faded as he took in their grim faces. He stopped in his tracks and looked back and forth between them, speaking as Sokka turned toward him.

"What is the matter? You three live so I assume your mission was successful."

Sokka limped up to Pakku, sagging as the older man braced his shoulders. He blinked back tears as he looked his new grandfather in the face.

"He fell, Aang fell. The Avatar is dead."

It was all he could choke out before his voice broke and he finally gave into the grief. Hanging his head and fisting his hands, he groaned and tried to will away the tears. He was a man, a warrior, he wouldn't cry now no matter how sad and afraid he was, nevermind the pain in his leg. What would they do now that Aang was dead? How could they possibly defeat the powerful Fire Lord without the strength of the Avatar? More than that, Aang was his friend and that loss was keenly felt. Taking a deep breath and accepting help to sit on a nearby stool, he relayed quickly to the older man what had happened since they had left. They had been able to incapacitate every ship in the Fire Lord's new air fleet, and even though he'd beaten Aang, Ozai had been injured and forced to retreat with the remains of his navy. Hopefully it would take them a few days to make it back to the capital, giving Katara time to get out. Thinking if his sister again, he gasped sharply in panic.

"Oh Spirits! Katara!" His head shot up and he stared wide eyed at master Pakku. "She is with Zuko in the Fire Nation capital right now. They need to be warned, they need to get out of there before Ozai returns with his navy. Even without the comet there is no way they could hope to escape alive. If Aang is, well then Appa is too. They will have to travel much slower. What if it's not enough and they are captured?"

In his panic, he had tried to stand again but Toph came up to him and placed a strong hand on his arm forcing him to sit again. "If Sparky defeated his crazy sister they are probably waiting to hear from us. Calm down Sokka, freaking out isn't going to help anyone right now and you'll just hurt yourself more. They took out that deranged wanna be fire lord, I know they did."

Pakku put up a hand to stem the hysterics, " This is disturbing news indeed. Aang was key to our plans and a dear friend to you, but we are not helpless without him. We were able to retake Ba Sing Se and you three dealt the Fire Lord a mighty blow in destroying all of his airships. We must retreat to the city for now to regroup and plan our next move. First, I will send our swiftest hawk to alert Prince Zuko and Katara to the danger. Stay here Sokka, I will send someone to help set your leg."

Sokka did as he was told, watching the old man stalk off in search of a messenger hawk. Suki came and knelt at his side, putting a hand gently on his thigh as she inspected the damaged leg. It was not a bad break, the skin had not been punctured and he was handling the pain fairly well, though as the adrenaline wore off that would likely change. He grit his teeth as another older man came to set the bone, Suki taking his hand as he groaned out in pain.

After his leg was set and bound and he had been given something for the pain, Sokka leaned forward holding his head in his hands thinking about his sister.

"Katara is going to be ok Sokka. I know you don't like to think about it and you refuse to believe us but, ole Sparky's got it bad for your sister. There's no way he'd let her get hurt if he could help it. Not that she can't take care of herself. You'll see."

Looking up from his hands with a wry smile and seeming to appreciate her attempt at levity under such a crushing amount of doubt and tension, he rose to the bait.

"I don't care what you two say, my baby sister has not been sneaking around with the junior Fire Lord. Your feet," he said to Toph before turning to Suki, "and your 'womanly instincts' are both wrong. I like the guy and all, but there's no way I'd miss that."

Suki chuckled softly before bringing up the painful-to-watch flirtation and shared chore duty. He simply ignored them.

"They are just really good friends now that they got to go on a field trip together too. Just like Zuko and me."

They all laughed at his self imposed ignorance before lapsing back into tense and contemplative silence. Eventually Master Pakku came back, having sent his message. They would stay at the camp for long enough to hear back before heading to Ba Sing Se.

Katara and Zuko had made good time. It had been only an hour after Yun Sui left them that Ming had arrived to help them get out. She had traveled with them until they were safely outside the caldera. Apparently she didn't want to be the only servant around when the Fire Lord returned. It would have been suspicious if she didn't know where Zuko had gone or anything about his sister. Not wanting to take her chances, she had decided to flee the city as well. Katara couldn't blame her. Ming was hopeful she would be able to get her job back eventually once the Fire Lord returned in case she could be of any use relaying information. They thanked her for her help and her loyalty, and headed on to the coast.

By the time they parted ways, it was well past dark, but Katara didn't want to stop so close to the city. Zuko was as comfortable as was possible, tucked away in the simple carriage. She didn't know where it had been found, it had obviously seen better days. However shabby it was, it provided as comfortable a ride as could be had and was certainly forgettable. Their clothes had been exchanged for shabby and unremarkable as well. Wrapped in a cloak, Katara drove the dragon moose on through the night. It was nearly nightfall the next day before Zuko had woken and convinced her to stop. A short argument over the necessity of their haste, and whether or not she would in fact be of use to them if she collapsed from exhaustion had them finding a place to stay for the night in the next village. Zuko had finally been able to convince her to stay by pointing out that if it came to it, she wouldn't be much use in a fight.

Thankfully, after nearly two full days of resting, Zuko was at last walking by himself, though not for very long. It had taken another argument to get her to eat anything. She still had no appetite from all the worrying and stress. Not that he was any better, hardly picking at his own food as he brooded over his father's fate and what it meant. He argued that he had done nothing but rest the last two days while she had pushed herself near collapse to get them this far. She relented, eating everything, when she realized how relying on her to such detriment to her own health must have been bothering him. He was right anyway, she hadn't eaten more than a few mouthfuls of food in three days and she'd be damned if she was going to survive a battle with Azula only to now die of self imposed starvation.

Later, as she lay staring up at the ceiling while Zuko slept restlessly beside her, she finally allowed herself to feel everything she'd been holding back. Her breathing hitched and came in gasps as her mind reeled at the loss of her friend. For no matter how awkward things had gotten as his interest in her became more obvious, he was that. Two years together since they'd found him in the iceberg, she loved him like another brother and his loss left a painful space in her chest. She couldn't stop herself from imagining all the ways he might have died, wondering if it was painful or quick. Fat tears rolled down the sides of her face and into her hair, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as she wondered what they were going to do. How could they ever end this war now without him. The Avatar was the great balance bringer, without him to stem the hatred and violence, everything they'd done and lost until now was in vain. As she wept and shook from her grief, she did not notice that Zuko had woken until he had pulled her into his arms. He offered her no empty words of comfort, only holding her to his chest as she cried until she had nothing left. She buried her tear dampened face in the front of his shirt and thought over and over again of her loved ones that still lived as she fell into a fitful sleep.