Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar – The Last Airbender.
Aang paced back and forth, back and forth. It had been at least two hours since he had returned to the camp and there was still no sign of Avalon. Everyone had been surprised and overjoyed when Aang came marching back at the head of the warriors, Katara and Sokka especially. Everyone was sleeping now, except for Aang. He hadn't said a word about Avalon, knowing it would cause too much commotion.
Aang pricked up his ears. Footsteps, in the woods. He stood there gazing hopefully into the forest trying to get a glimpse of Avalon trotting home.
"Aang?" came a voice behind him. The footsteps had stopped. Aang whirled around and stood face to face with Zuko.
"Um, yeah," Aang replied, trying to keep his voice from shaking. He really didn't want to explain this to Zuko, knowing he would go off like a firecracker.
"What are you doing up so late?"
"Uh, nothing," Aang said, shaking his head nonchalantly. Zuko's forehead creased and his one eyebrow furrowed.
"It's Avalon," Aang blurted, and then squeezed his eyes shut.
"What about her?" Zuko asked through clenched teeth. He was painfully aware that she had not returned since two nights ago, when he had snuck up during a song he could only assume was about him.
Aang's words came out in a flood, "Well, see, it was me and her that freed these guys, right, and then she said she'd hold off the soldiers and meet us back here, only she hasn't come back yet, so now I'm worried and I never should've left her and it's all my fault."
Zuko stood still, processing the information. Finally he said, "Where?"
"At least five miles south of us," Aang answered in a whisper.
"Right," Zuko nodded and dashed off into the woods.
"Zuko! No!" Aang called vainly after him. He was torn apart. Of course, he should go with Zuko because it was his fault she had been captured, but he had an obligation to fill here. Aang bit his lip and turned to go find Katara and explain the situation in full.
Avalon was wrenched back into the world, fireworks exploding across her back.
"Aarghhh," she choked. A sharp crack was her only warning against the ensuing pain.
"Cut the hell out," she snapped thoughtlessly and was rewarded with another whiplash. Avalon was tied around a small tree, her hands wrapped around it, hugging it.
"Had enough?" asked a voice more painful to her ears than the whip snapping across her back.
"That all you got?" Avalon impulsively laughed.
"A bit more vocal this time around, aren't we?" Azula asked, her voice as sweet as a spider-vulture going in for the kill, "Well, I suggest you keep that mouth shut. It's getting you into more trouble."
"I suggest you go to hell."
Azula laughed as she tattooed another bloody line onto Avalon's back. After that furious round of lashing died down, Azula yelled at the soldiers smirking on either side of Avalon.
"Untie her," Azula commanded, "I'm sure she'll get more later."
As Avalon slumped to the ground, Azula bent over to whisper in her ear.
"Now, take some time and think about what you want to tell me about the Avatar and my brother, m'mk? And maybe your punishment won't be terribly torturous. You might just die quickly."
Avalon glanced at Azula, and giggled once. The giggle avalanched into a full-blown belly laugh. Azula fumed, the steam literally rising from her skin, and smacked Avalon hard. The slap didn't derail the laughter though. Avalon laughed once or twice more, wiped the moisture from her eyes, and spit right into Azula's face.
A tooth rocketed out of Avalon's mouth, surprising even her. Azula delicately wiped the blood and spit off of her face, a look of utter loathing twisting her already twisted features.
"You will die for that. Slowly and painfully." The words were pounded into Avalon accompanied by another smack.
"Aren't you tough, threatening a defenseless prisoner," Avalon shot her mouth off again. It had taken a mind of its own, fed up with how hers was running things.
Azula turned abruptly and stalked away, hands clenched tight at her sides.
An intense pain in Avalon's left cheek finally pushed its way to the front of her thoughts. She spit another tooth out, and then another. There was lots of blood, too much for her liking, and more coating her back.
A stray thought wandered aimlessly through her brain. Damn, people are gonna think I'm some kinda hillbilly, she mused.
"Well, it's been fun," she said out loud, reaching her arms up to stretch out. It was a bad move. Her back screamed at her. Avalon tried her hardest to block the pain, and her mind surprisingly obliged. Later, it warned her.
The soldiers stared at her uncomprehendingly and continued to stare as she disappeared and one of them had enough brains to finally sound an alarm.
As the camp burst into scurrying motion, Avalon was flying high above, in any direction that would take her away. She had no idea where she was, or how long she could go. She guessed she couldn't get very far in her condition, and knew that any town she stopped in would be combed through by Azula very soon.
As she contemplated all this, her mind was cool and calm and detached, thinking about the situation in an analytical state, hoping that some spark of luck would jump in front of her.
Zuko tramped across the land. His lonely eyebrow was creased down towards his nose, both of his eyes mere slits, but inside he was panicking. From what the prisoners had said Azula had been at the camp. That meant Avalon was now in her hands.
Of that Zuko had no doubt. He could feel it way down deep in his bowels. Avalon was suffering, and he had to do something about it. He ran on relentlessly, praying he would find her.
Katara had told him. Just after Aang returned, Katara had sidled up to him and had pulled to a private place. Zuko followed unwittingly, unaware of the world-breaking truth that Katara held.
She had been jittery and unsure, but had justified herself in believing that telling Zuko would fix everything and they would be together again. Shortly after that, Aang told him Avalon had been captured.
At first, when Katara's words had spilled from her mouth, "Zuko, you don't understand, she still loves you", Zuko's heart had leapt up into his mouth, crying out in elation. For a moment, he glimpsed the future.
She was standing on the back porch of a nice-looking, white house, and Zuko trounced up the steps and kissed her forehead. She smiled at him and leaned her head against his shoulder and together they watched the two little children playing in the fields behind the house. A little fair-haired boy and a raven-haired spunk of a girl running towards and away from each other in an endless battle of tag, laughing and tumbling in the soft, flowing grass.
Avalon tilted her head up and touched her lips to Zuko's burnt ear, "I love you."
Zuko looked down at her beautiful blue eyes and whispered, "I know. I love you too," and rubbed her rounded belly.
Reality checked him back into place. She may love him, but she still hated him. Or feared him. He wasn't really sure which one yet. And now she was gone and he was freaked. This couldn't happen now!
Zuko reined in his wild thoughts, trying to keep a level head. Every time he tried to think about his next move panic set in and he took off running again. Finally, he decided it was time to decide what to do. He couldn't just wait for her to fall out of the sky. An obvious epiphany hit him. The sky. She had to be up in the sky! Zuko jumped and caught a branch, swinging himself to the next one, until he was at the top of a tall, tall tree.
His next action was slightly foolish, but he was drunk on hope. A line of fire pierced the night sky, tearing it apart.
Luck was with Avalon after all. She spotted the makeshift flare, mostly because it erupted right in front of her. She followed it down to the tree where it originated. Zuko saw her coming and yelled out to her. She heard his voice and floated dreamily to the ground. He leapt down frantically from branch to branch and caught her on the ground.
Zuko gagged in horror after he had hugged her and come away with arms coated in her blood. But she was safe now and that thought alone calmed him.
She looked up at him confusedly, "Zuko?" she mumbled.
"Yeah, it's me" he said, tears starting to leak from his eyes.
"What are you doing here? It's ladies' night."
Zuko gaped at her, alarm coursing through his veins again, and gathered her up in his arms, careful not to irritate her back to much.
"It's going to be alright, Avs, I gotcha. I'm not gonna let anything else happen to you."
