Okay! So I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this chapter.. And I sure as hell needed to write a little Zutara after all that Kataang last chapter! Hahaha.. xD
Oh, and while I'm here, I sorta wanna apologize for my story referencing so much to the episodes so far... I'm branching out after this one, I swear. ;P Haha.. Anyway, um, a few other things I wanna address is that I left out that one dude from the prison that tagged along with Sokka and them 'cause honestly.. he's sorta lame and I don't really feel like writing about him or attempting to give him any lines... I don't feel like he adds anything to the story. Even in the real episodes. xD
I was a little tempted to even leave Suki out but I figured I could maybe benefit from her and do a mini side-story love triangle...... Hahaha. Sorry ahead of time for all those Sukka/Sokki (wtf is their ship called? xD) people...... I'm warning you now. Bah hah hah.
Anyway, enough babble! I hope you enjoy this chapter. :D
Aiko
After a few slow, lazy days of training and relaxing had passed at the temple, the small group of refugees noticed something flying in from a distance around dusk. Noticing quickly that it was a Fire-nation war balloon—they readied themselves for a fight. The three benders stood ready to meet their enemies and exchanged confused glances as the large flying balloon landed in the Air temple's main area without firing once. As the balloon landed and the door opened slowly, two familiar faces emerged.
"Sokka! Zuko!" they yelled out simultaneously.
Sokka stepped out and grinned at the three benders. Zuko followed closely behind him, his eyes darting across their faces, only hesitating for a moment on Katara's. The Waterbender noticed the Fire-nation prince's slight lingering gaze and cleared her throat, looking away. Zuko mimicked her reaction, coughing and crossing his arms.
"Where'd you get this thing?" Toph asked enthusiastically.
Sokka smiled and glanced to Zuko. The prince didn't meet his gaze, keeping his eyes away from everyone. "…I guess you could say we found it," Sokka answered, shrugging a little with a sly smile on his face. Katara wrinkled her brow a little.
"Uhh… You found a war balloon? On a fishing trip?" she questioned. She heard Zuko scoff and directed her attention to him.
"Yeah, and?" Zuko snapped. Katara's confused expression quickly changed and she glowered at the Firebender. What was his problem? She turned her nose up at him and shrugged it off.
"Well, that's random. Did you at least catch a lot of fish?" Toph asked. Sokka's smiled broadened and he nodded excitedly.
"We did. We found the best two fish in the sea," he said as he looked back at the ship's door. Two shadows of people stepped out and walked toward them. Aang squinted as he strained to see who it was, but Katara knew exactly who it was, just from the silhouette.
"Dad!!" Katara exclaimed happily as she ran over to him. She embraced her father, tears welling up in her eyes. Suki inched out into the moonlight behind Hakoda and gave a slight wave to everyone.
"Hello again everyone," she replied.
"Suki!" Aang gasped. He turned to Sokka with a pleasantly surprised look on his face. "How? What happened?" Aang asked. "Where'd you go?"
"Well... we sort of went to a Fire-nation prison," Sokka admitted.
Zuko spectated as Aang hugged Suki and Katara pulled Sokka over to embrace him. The Firebender's golden eyes lowered to the ground as he thought of his own family. The Water-tribe family talked eagerly amongst themselves and Zuko thought of his own father and sister—and how the three of them would never share a moment like this. His mind drifted to his mother and his uncle and the prince clenched his fist, growing angry that he the only decent people left in his family were taken from him.
The thought of Mai also crept into his head, how she was the first person outside his family to accept who he was. He thought of their relationship and everything that happened between them. Finally, that last look she gave him at the Boiling Rock prison crept into his mind and the fact that she risked everything to save him. He couldn't help but think that he should've stayed or gotten her to come with him somehow.
His thoughts were soon interrupted though as he was yanked into the Water-tribe group hug along with Aang, Toph and Suki. Blinking until his eyes focused, the Firebender quickly realized that he was smashed up between Katara and Aang. He felt himself tense up as he realized his arm was pressed against Katara's, who for once, didn't seem to mind that he was so close to her. He felt his face and heart get warm and he pushed himself away from them.
The group broke apart as he pulled himself out of the center and they looked at him questionably, upset that he had broken up their moment. Staring at the ground, Zuko didn't know what to do. For the first time since he had left the Fire-nation and decided to help the Avatar, he'd felt completely accepted by their group, but now he wasn't sure if this was what he wanted. Seeing Mai again filled him with doubt and brought out his conflicted feelings. He knew that helping the Avatar was right thing for him to do for the world—but for himself? He wasn't so confident. He felt badly for the choices he's made; leaving Mai behind, hurting her, betraying his nation and family...
Zuko found himself making stranger and stranger choices the more he hung out with these people. For example, helping Sokka break into the Boiling Rock, helping him escape at all costs, making a friendship with Aang and kissing Katara… twice.
He coughed uncomfortably. "I—I'm… I think I'm gonna go to bed," Zuko muttered as his head spun around with all his thoughts. He managed to bow slightly and wandered down the hallway. They all watched him go and once he was out of sight, Toph raised her pale, blind eyes to Aang, Katara and Sokka.
"Should someone go see if he's okay?" Toph asked.
Katara's eyes showed her true concern, but her mouth spoke otherwise, "No. He's fine. He's just having one of his famous 'Zuko' moments." Toph nodded a little as the rest of the group accepted the easy answer and came together for another group hug.
The Waterbender's eyes drifted from her father and friends to the hallway that Zuko had disappeared down, feeling strange. Leaning her head on her father's chest, she worried about the Fire-nation prince—she couldn't help herself.
An hour or so later, after the initial surprise of the arrival faded—the gang, minus Zuko, all sat around a fire in the main part of the temple, talking and laughing late into the night as Sokka described the trip to the prison. Eventually everyone had chimed in sharing old stories and laughing together. Zuko lay in his bed, listening to the muffled sound of his new group of friends laugh together. He stared out the small window in his room, at the beautiful starlit night and he had to admit it to himself, he liked Aang and everyone—but he missed Mai. Watching her fight off all those prison guards to save him, going against his crazy sister's orders and seeing her eyes filled with sadness as he locked her in a prison cell… he felt as though he betrayed her in every way possible and she still helped him.
Glancing out the window again, Zuko smiled a little, remembering how Mai and he would crack jokes about how much they hate beautiful nights like this, even though he knew they both secretly loved them. He sighed as thoughts of the dark-haired Fire-nation girl faded into thoughts of the dark-skinned Water-tribe girl laughing just a wall or two away. He thought of her bright blue eyes and her long brown hair that danced wildly in her face when she was angry…
He shook his head realizing where his thoughts had drifted. "No, no—I'm only thinking like this because I miss Mai. I only kissed her those times because I'm lonely. I want Mai," he thought to himself over and over. He rolled onto his back and pulled his blankets up over his face. Finally, after repeating this thought to himself a few hundred times, the Firebender was able to fall asleep.
At daybreak, Toph felt her toes twitch a little and she awoke to a rumbling. Opening her eyes, she soon realized that could see and feel the earth again—but it wasn't something she wanted to see. Sitting up quickly, she yelled out, "Everybody wake up!! We're under attack!" The Air temple shook violently as everyone was forced awake. Sokka sat up, half-asleep and confused.
"Are you sure it's not just an earthquake?" he asked hopefully. Toph shook her head.
"No, it's not shaking naturally! It's someone's firing at us!" Toph determined as she stood from the spot she had fallen asleep on, ready to fight. Following Toph's lead, the group of kids and Hakoda all jumped up, readying themselves for battle as well. Spotting all the war balloons that surrounded the Air temple, the Avatar soon realized there wasn't any way they could fight them all off, but they wouldn't be able to all escape very easily, either. Making a quick decision, he turned to face everyone.
"They've already surrounded us! Everyone get on Appa and get out of here!" Aang yelled, "I'll hold them off!" Katara watched Aang pull out his glider while Duke, Haru, Teo, Suki, Hakoda and Sokka complied with the Avatar's orders. The Waterbender stepped forward and stood beside the Avatar, silently indicating that she was staying to help. Aang looked at her earnestly and nodded.
"I'm staying too," Toph said as stepped up beside them. "It's been awhile since we had a good fight."
Aang smiled at his two friends. Turning to the rest of the group, he called out to Sokka, "Go on! Get everyone out of here! We'll meet up with you all later!"
Sokka noticed Katara and Toph staying behind and realized that he should stay and try to help too—but he knew he couldn't bend and wasn't sure if he'd cause more problems than anything else. Hakoda noticed his son struggling with his feelings and placed a calming hand on his shoulder.
"Do you want to stay and fight with them? I'll get everyone else to safety," he said. Sokka smiled to his father and nodded. Suki stepped up to Sokka, looking over his face. Toph shot a piece of earth at one of the balloons and felt her fingers twitch as she sensed Suki approaching Sokka. She stood still seeing for a moment, focusing on the shapes of the Water-tribe teen and Kyoshi warrior. Suddenly, Suki hugged Sokka tightly and Toph quickly squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to see what came next—but the blind Earthbender felt the earth with her feet. And she sensed it as Suki stood up on her tip-toes…
The temple shook again.
Toph shook her head, ridding herself of the sight of them. Katara and Aang took action and ran toward one of the war balloons together, doing a combined Waterbending attack. Suki climbed up onto Appa's back and waved to Sokka sadly. Sokka just smiled to her. "Don't worry. We won't be separated for long this time," he reassured.
Toph clenched her fists. Damnit, why did she have to see everything? She wanted so badly to turn a blind eye to what was happening—for a moment, she almost wished her feet weren't healed. But in reality, her feet were healed and she was so good and sensing the earth—that it became natural instinct. She couldn't select what she could and couldn't "see". Feeling Appa lift off and watching Sokka wave, Toph dropped her eyes to the ground. She knew that she had feelings for Sokka—but she also knew that the boy would never return them.
Even though they got along better together than any Kyoshi warrior could ever get along with him.
She felt herself getting angrier and angrier, sadder and sadder—so she redirected her feelings and broke off some of the stone ground of the temple, shoving it toward one of the balloons. Sokka ran up beside Toph and yanked his sword out of its scabbard. "Okay, what's the plan, partner?" he asked. She tensed up and felt her face flush slightly.
Quickly recovering, the Earthbender punched him. "Who'd want you as a partner!?" she demanded. Sokka laughed a little and took a quick glance around the area that was quickly falling apart. Finally, he noticed someone was missing.
"Hey!" he called out. Toph looked up at him.
Katara and Aang stopped, and glanced back at him. "What is it, Sokka?" Aang yelled back at him.
The Water-tribe warrior looked around fearfully. "Where's Zuko?!" Sokka shouted. As soon as the sentence found it's end, Katara had spun around in a full circle and scanned the area hastily. Aang also did a quick glance around, shooting fire and whipping water at their enemies as he did so.
"I don't know! He didn't go with everyone on Appa?" Aang yelled back. Pieces of the ceiling broke and fell to the ground, shaking them all and almost breaking their stances.
Sokka shook his head and sheathed his sword. "I'll go get him!" he offered. Turning to head toward the hall, Sokka caught a glimpse of Katara already sprinting down the temple's narrow hallway. His eyes widened. "K-Katara!!" he yelled out. Aang turned quickly, noticing his partner was gone and had disappeared to a dangerous part of the temple. Sokka ran after his sister. Aang stopped attacking for a moment, concerned. The Water-tribe warrior caught the Avatar's worried eye and hollered to him, "Don't worry Aang!! I'll go make sure they get out okay!! You guys just worry about keeping those balloons back!" The Avatar nodded apprehensively as he and Toph continued to fight.
Zuko had woken up with the last violent rumble of the temple and was now up throwing some key items in his bag. He grabbed for his dual swords when he heard his door slam open. He turned quickly, ready to fight—but it wasn't his sister or any Fire-nation soldiers at his door—it was Katara.
But he found himself feeling just as afraid of her.
The prince jumped backwards from her as if she were contagious with a deadly disease. He tumbled over his bed, hitting the wall behind it. The Waterbender's eyes widened and entered the room hurriedly, running over to him. She knelt beside him. "Zuko! Are you okay? What happened?" she asked, concerned. Bewildered, the Firenation prince looked up at the Waterbender.
Oh, now she wanted to be nice to him?
Completely confused, he got up and shook her off of him nonchalantly. "I'm fine—you just scared me. I mean, we're under attack and you're gonna burst into my room like that?" he instigated. Katara narrowed her eyes on him.
"Excuse me? What's your problem?! I just came in here to help you and make sure you were even awake!" she shouted. Zuko glared at her, ready to respond when the temple shook again.
Zuko stumbled a little and looking up, noticed the ceiling above Katara crack. His eyes went wide and he dove onto her, slamming both him and her against a wall as the piece of stone fell where she stood moments ago. They both stood there for a moment, pressed up against the wall and each other. Katara shook lightly between the cold stone wall and Zuko's warm body. The prince panted heavily and looked down at the Water-tribe girl shuddering beneath him. "You okay?" he breathed. She looked up at him, a look of shock and thankfulness in her eyes. Her clothes and hair were all disheveled and her cheeks a light pink…
"Katara!! Zuko!!"
Hearing the sound of Sokka's voice, Katara quickly snapped out of it and shoved Zuko off of her as he was already stumbling away from her. The Firebender turned away from her, his eyes squeezed shut and his heart pounding. "Mai, Mai, Mai…" he thought to himself, "She's not Mai."
"Thank God you're both okay!!" the Water-tribe warrior called as he headed over. The Firebender and Waterbender both looked to him as he ran toward them. He tripped a little as the temple jerked fiercely with another attack, and the ceiling above Sokka started to crumble.
"Sokka, watch out!!" Zuko and Katara cried out. Sokka looked up and jumped backwards as the ceiling above him collapsed entirely, completely blocking the doorway to Zuko's room and the two bender's only way out.
