Katara and Sokka stood outside the large Ba Sing Se theatre for a good twenty minutes while the unforgiving wind chilled them to the bone.

"Where are Toph and Aang?" Sokka complained loudly.

"Stop whining. If you hadn't been so worried about being late, we wouldn't have been so early." Katara snapped as her long braid whipped around her head.

"Sorry." He apologized. "It's just this weather sucks."

"Point taken." She agreed, wrapping her soft purple scarf tighter around her neck. She looked around and saw some people enter the theatre. "I hoped nothing happened to them; the play starts in fifteen minutes."

As if on cue, Toph arrived with her parents, all wearing matching clothes: fluffy green jackets, brown slacks and black dress shoes.

"Wow, you guys look cute." Sokka smirked.

"Oh, thank you…um Sokka, is it?" Poppy smiled.

"Yeah, and this is my sister Katara. Our friend Aang should be here…now." Aang jogged over to them from about half a block away.

"Hi Katara, Sokka, Toph, Toph's parents." Aang grinned. He walked over to Katara and took her hand; both of them blushed and moved toward the door. "We'd better get our tickets and go inside."

Sokka turned to his sister and mouthed 'Since when?'. Katara blushed in return.

Unlike what the name would imply, The Great Wall of Ba Sing Se was small, but it was beautiful and famous theatre. The interior was richly furnished with gold-colored furniture and green velvet walls.

"Woo, fancy." Sokka whistled.

"I'll say." Aang agreed.

As they neared the door of the auditorium, two girls were gossiping loudly, not knowing or caring that people in the lobby could hear them.

"I heard from one of my sister's friends that three girls got arrested on the subway this morning." The first girl, wearing brown, yapped.

"O.M.G. What were they doing?" the second girl, in green, gasped.

"I don't know; she was too far away to hear anything. But she recognized one of them, the Councilman of Tui's daughter. I guess she's the rebellious type."

"That's not going to look good for her dad's re-election campaign." The girl in green giggled.

Poppy scoffed in disgust. "I know what girl their taking about; her name is Yue. Good thing you children don't associate with criminals like her."

"Criminal?" Sokka sneered angrily. "You don't know who you're talking about!"

"So you do associate with this girl." Poppy frowned. She was trying to understand her daughter and her friends, but she didn't like what she was hearing.

"Yes we do." Sokka replied with as much indignation "And I know two things, it that Yue is a good kid and I don't want to spend another minute with you people."

He turned to storm out when Katara grabbed his shoulder. "Suki really wanted you to be here." She hissed in his ear "Are you really gonna walk out on her play and disappoint her; for what, your silly temper?" Sokka sighed and turned back to face the Bei Fongs. Ignoring them, he marched into the theatre.

)-()-()-()-(

Toph gritted her teeth together in frustration. Her parents were always ruining things. First, they forced her to wear some silly outfit that was supposed to match theirs. Then her mom goes and aggravates Sokka, the guy she'd had a huge crush on since she'd met him. How could she not? He was one of the funniest guys in the whole school, and the only one who didn't judge her based on her disability. And unfortunately was almost officially taken by that Yue girl.

Personally, she didn't care much for Yue as anything other than a rival for Sokka's affection. She was older, cooler, and girly-er and if Toph's eyes worked like they should, she would be able to confirm the fear that Yue was prettier than her; normally she didn't care about appearance, but apparently being in love makes you very insecure.

The play she had come to was worse than she'd thought it'd be. She hoped Suki would put on a good show, and she probably was, but she was blind and sitting up in the balcony where her parents insisted on sitting made it difficult to hear anything.

That left her with too much time to worry about what Sokka might think of her now that he knew that her parents were snobs. She was sure he hated her parents, and maybe he wouldn't consider going out with her because of it. 'As if Sokka would ever date me,' She thought bitterly 'a weird, blind freshman with crazy parents.'

She sat for the next hour, half-wanting to leave because of Sokka, half wanting to stay for Sokka, trying to ignore a faint beeping sound that was driving her crazy. "Don't you guess hear that?" she whispered to her parents.

"Here what?" Poppy asked.

"That beeping sound; it's driving me crazy." Toph complained.

"Maybe you just need some fresh air. Come outside with me."

Mother and daughter stepped out of the theatre and onto the cold, breezy sidewalk. Poppy looked up at the Ba Sing Se skyline, and sighed. "I'm always so scared for you." She admitted softly. "I wish I could believe nothing would happen to you but…"

Toph stood perfectly still and after a moment responded. "You don't have to go around protecting me from everything. I know you and dad love me and all, but it's getting crazy. I just want to like all the other kids, without bodyguards, or chauffeurs, or nannies."

"Or maids?" Poppy teased lightly.

"No," Toph chuckled "Maids are alright."

"Are you sure you can take care of yourself? A mother can't help but worry." Poppy looked at her daughter for a moment. She looked dainty and helpless, with her pale skin and small stature, but she carried herself like some kind of warrior: fearless and powerful. "You're stronger than we give you credit for."

"You have no idea." Toph agreed.

"Perhaps we can…"

A huge explosion knocks the two off their feet. It resounded through the air million times and shook the whole surrounded area. Poppy jumped up and wrapped her arms around her daughter, never taking her misty eyes off the now burning theatre. Within minutes, she could hear the sirens of fire trucks fill the street. A crowd of people was being evacuating from building, some in tears, all terribly shaken.

"Mom, what's going on? What's happening?" Toph cried.

"Oh sweetie, I wish I knew." Poppy fretted pulling her daughter to the side. 'Could this night get any worse.'

"Toph! Mrs. Bei Fong!" Katara's voice rang through the crowd. She ran up to them, hand-in-hand with Aang. "There's been a terrorist attack; someone bombed the theatre!"

"Where's my dad?" Toph demanded.

"I'm right here sweetie." Lao emerged from the thick crowd. He ran up to his family and put his arms around them. "Is everyone alright?"

"Hey, you guys are okay?" Sokka appeared next to his sister looking around frantically.

"Has anyone seen Suki?" Toph asked, worried about her friend.

"The bomb was set off near the balconies, so I think she got out in time." Sokka replied. "I'll go look for her." The then ran off in search of Suki and the other actresses.

)-()-()-()-(

Zuko had not been planning on saving any lives that night, but then again, he hadn't been planning on doing anything that night. He had been wandering the city since school had let out that day, not really planning on going home, but no sure what he wanted to do. Whatever it was, he had hoped it had nothing to do with his family.

'Nothing to do with my family.' He thought 'When did I start getting these thoughts?' He knew exactly when he began to think like that: when his mother, Ursa, disappeared. She had been the glue that kept the family from falling apart. That is, before she had vanished.

No-body was sure about the circumstances of her disappearance. While it was common knowledge that she and his father, Ozai, did not have a happy marriage, she was a loyal, faithful woman whose whole life was devoted to her children; it simply was not her nature to simply leave without an explanation. Zuko was the last person to see her, when he was ten years old, as she tucked him into bed and kissed him good-night; the next morning, she was nowhere to be found.

It had been downhill from there. Zuko relationship with his father had completely disintegrated and his rivalry with Azula had turned into full-blown hatred; he was never good enough for either of them. At first, it killed him. He would work his butt off for approval, but on the fifth anniversary of Ursa's disappearance, he finally just stopped caring about anything; his family; his grades; his old friends. The only thing he really cared about was his mother, whether she was dead or alive and what happened to her.

When the bomb had gone off in The Great Wall Ba Sing Se theatre, Zuko felt an odd, intense sensation in his normally apathetic soul. He immediately sprang into action, racing toward the demolished building. He looked at the back, where the stage would have been, and saw one green, clad hand sticking out from under a wooden beam. He heard the faint groan of the person under it, and immediately knew the person was still alive.

The damage had been terrible. The structure looked as if someone had snapped the place in half, and set in on fire. There were burned seats and scorched carpets along with broken beams and fallen balconies everywhere. Zuko stepped carefully toward the person under the beam, taking note of the firemen entering the building.

The girl under the beam lay down in an awkward position, with her arms and legs bend strangely and her lower half pinned down by the beam. She wore heavy makeup and a strange costume, hinting that she was an actress.

"Hey!" Zuko called out to the firemen "There's a girl here who needs your help."

Three of the firemen lumber over to where Zuko knelt beside the injured, young actress. "What are you doing here kid?" One of them said gruffly "This place is on fire, if you hadn't noticed!"

The truth was, Zuko hadn't noticed; he felt an intense need to be there, like an instinct. All he realized was the he was in a destroyed theatre with a girl who needed help. Suddenly, a panic raised in his chest as he realized the severity of his situation. The building was on fire and he didn't notice?

"Leave the kid alone." another fireman commanded "He just saved this girl's live. Let's move!"

The three firemen lifted the beam off the girl, and carried and escorted Zuko out if the building. They each took hold of a side of the beam and lifted it enough for Zuko to bring the girl into his arms and back away into the street. There was a ready ambulance not far from the hole in the back of theatre where Zuko handed her over to the EMTs.

But as she was being lifted into the ambulance, she took his hands and coughed "Thank you." with a weak cough. Zuko froze. It had been a long time since anyone ever thanked him for anything. For a moment, he felt more alive than he had since his mother vanished. He gave a rare, genuinely smile to the girl and said "You're welcome."

"Suki!" called a boy.

"Sokka." She coughed weakly. But before he could get to her, the ambulance doors closed.

Zuko turned to Sokka. "Do you know her?"

"Yeah, she's a friend of mine. What happened to her?"

"She was trapped under a beam until some firemen and I rescued her."

"Wow," Sokka's eyes widened in wonder "You're like some kind of hero." When Zuko made no reply, he continued "What's your name? I think I've seen you at Issho Academy before."

"It's Zuko. You probably have." With nothing else to say, he waved goodbye and left.

When he turned the corner, Zuko suddenly felt his heart pounding. For the first time, he really got a grip on what had happened. He entered a burning building. He saved a life. That boy, Sokka, had called him a hero.

'Me, a hero.' He thought almost giddily 'If only Mom could have seen me.' His pounding heart slowed and sank to the sidewalk as he leaded against the alley wall. 'But she wouldn't. The only people I have left are Azula and Ozai… and Iroh!'

He took a deep breath. 'Iroh would care if I was a hero. And I need to get away from my sister as soon as possible.' He walked down the alley and made his way to the familiar coffee shop his uncle owned.

)-()-()-()-(

The Bombing of Ba Sing Se Theatre was the biggest story of the night, and would be for quite a while. Every news stations was down in Ba Sing Se, giving so much information that you didn't have to actually be there to know everything that was going on. Ty Lee and Mai sat on Azula's white sofa.

"…nearly 7 now lay dead and dozens more are injured-"

"I'm not sure this is a good idea anymore, Azula." Ty Lee squeaked, clutching a red pillow. "People might get hurt."

Azula glared at her longtime friend "Are you chickening out, now? That's what we want."

"You want people to get hurt?" Mai gasped incredulously "Have you lose your mind?"

"If we want people to respect Huo, they have to understand that we're not going to put up with anything; we have to prove that we're the strongest."

Her two companions looked down, deep in thought. "Please don't tell me you…" Ty Lee trailed off. Her voice losing its usual cheerfulness.

"I had nothing to do with the bomb, if that's what you're asking. I plan to spread the message across and inspire the people of Huo to put the rest of Yuansu City in its place. My dad takes care the political stuff, and I'm in charge of what happens on the on the field."

"Your dad knows about this?" Mai narrowed her eyes.

"He doesn't have to," Azula brushed it off "It would have happened anyway; I'm just helping out."

Ty Lee remained silent 'I wish we could just paint our toenails like normal girls.'

But they weren't normal; they couldn't be with Azula for a friend. She was ambitious, ruthless, and extremely clever. While she did like the idea of Huo being the boss of Yuansu City, she wasn't sure she wanted to help hurt people; violence just wasn't in her nature.

She shared a look with Mai and a secret message passed through her eyes.

'I know; she's crazy.'