Leaving

Seria's POV

"Seria?" A voice comes from far away and I realise that I recognise it.

Opening my eyes, I stare in confusion at the blur of faces hovering above me. "Aang?" I slur. "That you?"

"Of course it's me," Aang says and his shrill voice brings the faces together so I can see his cheerful one, looking down at me. Behind him the clouds are still grey but it's no longer raining. I begin to shiver as my wet and sandy clothes cling to me unpleasantly.

Suddenly everything comes rushing back and I remember what I'd just seen. "Zuko!" I exclaim, bolting upright. Everything sways and I groan as darkness threatens to wash over me again.

Aang puts a hand on my shoulder. "Are you alright, Seria? You've been gone for a couple of hours. Sokka had to come and fetch me."

"A couple of hours? It was a few minutes, that's all," I tell him. He looks about to argue but I wave it away. "It doesn't matter. We have to leave, now."

"What?" Aang asks helping me up. "Why?"

"Zuko and Katara are in trouble." I watch his eyes widen and I begin to gush. "They're surrounded by Fire Navy ships, stuck in the water and they were shot down by these net things. I was watching it all happen. We've got to help them!"

He blinks. "How do you know all this?"

"I–I don't know." I shake my head. "I know it sounds crazy, but I think I was sleeping then I was suddenly there, running through the forest with them. I don't know how but I think I have Sho to thank for that…" I trail off.

Aang looks torn between confusion and panic. "Are you sure?"

I meet his gaze. "Absolutely."

Aang pauses for a second and his face becomes serious. He nods trustingly and I have to resist the urge to hug him and instead quickly leap up the cliff face, landing lightly back at the top where I come face to face with the inquiring stares of Toph, Suki and Sokka.

"Seria, are you okay?" Suki asks.

"Have a nice nap, Peachy?"

Sokka crosses his arms. "Why didn't you wake up when we called you?"

I frown. "I was… dreaming."

Before they can ask anymore, Aang hops up next to me with a flurry of air, holding a bundle of wet and sandy clothing. He throws it on the ground. "Seria says Katara and Zuko are in trouble."

"What?" Sokka's irritation disappears as he turns worried. He turns to me. "What makes you so sure?"

"I had a vision… Kind of," I say, cringing as I realise how bad that sounds.

Toph tilts her head frowning. "A what?"

"Look," Aang says stepping forward. "We are going to see if they need help anyway. Seria might be wrong, but if she's right… then I don't know if I could forgive myself if I wasn't there to help them." I throw Aang a grateful look.

"Why can't I come?" Sokka asks. "She's my sister."

I look at him. "Can you fly a glider?"

He lifts his finger as if he's about to argue but falters. "Point taken."

"We'll be back in two or three days at most," says Aang moving away. "It would be faster if we had Appa, but our gliders will have to do. I'll get some supplies together."

I nod at him. As he goes, Sokka drops down and begins to sort through the pile of laundry. My heart sinks as I realise what he's looking for.

He looks up. "Er, Seria, where are my trousers?"

I cough and rub fiddle with the sash around my waist. "Oh, I guess you could say that they're kind of… Lost at sea."

"What?" Sokka groans. "Oh, that's just perfect. Now, I only have the pair left – and that one has a hole in it! Katara still needed to fix that."

"Which is also in Appa's saddle with Katara and Zuko," Toph reminds him.

Sokka's eyes widen and he throws his head back dramatically. "Aw, come on!"

"Not helping, Toph," I mutter walking away quickly. She's laughs behind me.

"Do you know how awkward it is," Sokka's still ranting. "Having to borrow your little sister's clothes?" I snigger as I know he's referring to the much-too-tight trousers that he's wearing.

"Still handsome to me," Suki says, and I hear some kissing noises before Toph's voice rings clear and loud across the empty space.

"Gross."

.:oOo:.

Seria's POV

I stand on the edge of the cliff, my glider resting behind my back, looking out over the sea. We'd have to find them first. Go to some communications tower and find them, we had a map for that, thanks to Sokka. One left over from "The Day of Black Sun". It was a long shot, but hopefully we'd find them. If we had no luck, then we'd have no choice but to come back.

Aang comes up beside me with two bags full of food and water pouches and hands me one. Our supplies. It's heavy, but I strap it around my back without a word.

"Thanks for trusting me, Aang." I say after a while.

"No problem." I see him smile slightly out of the corner of my eye and he opens his glider. "But – no offence – I hope you are wrong."

I sigh. "Me too."

.:oOo:.

Zuko's POV

I tread the water, fiercely trying to think my way out of this. One of the ships passes so close to us, I can make out the detail on the helmets and sneers of the soldiers on board. They're leaning over the side and grinning down at us, as if we were the fish and they were the fisherman.

Which they are, I think grimly.

I'm frowning up at them when I hear another whoosh of air as they launch another net at us. This time, Katara is the first one to react and she lifts a wall of water up in front of us and freezes it. The net slams into it, creating a thin crack. She continues to make a dome of ice around us as more nets are fired and stick to the outside walls of the icy defence.

"What do we do?" She shouts at me, her arms wavering as she tries to keep the dome from collapsing. "I can't keep this up forever!"

I look around, searching for a gap in the blockade. Suddenly there's a crack and we see another metal net, sticking to the side of the dome like some grotesque spider. It obscures half of the view.

"We could go underneath the boats," I say, relieved to actually have an idea. "But we'd have to dive deep, these ships are huge."

She nods. "Get ready and climb on Appa. We'll have to be quick."

I swim over to the bison's head and, gripping its wet fur, pull myself up.

"Now!" Katara shouts, climbing on board and creating a bubble of air around the bison's head. I slap the reins and urge the bison downwards…

Only for the damn thing to rear up, smashing into the suddenly terrified at the thought of going underwater and lashes out. Instead of going down, it kicks out with its feet and flies upwards, crashing through the protection of the ice dome and into the open air

"No!" I yell, trying to steer the bison back down. "Down not up, damn it!"

But it's useless; the bison won't go down and is climbing into the sky, trying to get clear of the ships.

Suddenly, there's a whoosh and before I can react, Katara is wrapped up in a net and yanked off the saddle, screaming as she goes.

"Katara!" I shout as she falls away. I stand up about to dive after her when my arms are suddenly drawn around me, my own net trapping me in its embrace. My feet are suddenly swept from under me and I'm falling – no being pulled – towards another ship, a separate one to the one Katara was on. I struggle and kick out but before I can firebend, I slam into the deck of the ship.

I lay there winded as soldiers run over and shoving me this way and that as I try not to black out. I blink hard and when I open them, I realise that there are already ropes around my feet and hands.

"Nice shot, Tiro!" one of the soldiers to my right is saying as he slaps another on the back.

'Tiro' grunts behind me and continues to tighten my bonds.

I growl and twist around quickly, spewing fire from my mouth at him. Tiro leaps back, blocking the fire with his left arm and then swiftly knocking me round the head with the back of a hook dagger that appeared from nowhere. I slump forward stunned.

"Get him to the hold!" He shouts to two others, pulling me up. I realise suddenly that he only has one arm. The right arm comes to stop underneath the shoulder where a knot has been tied on the sleeve. He turns and catches me gawking at it. "Sorry, Prince Zuko, but don't let my appearance fool you. I'm as strong a firebender as anyone."

I swore at him as they dragged me kicking and sending out fire blasts in all directions to a prison cell in the ships belly.