Jail Break
Zuko's POV
I hated prison.
Bad food. Bad sleep. Bad attitudes. I was sick of it all – and it had only been a day.
I'd tried fire bending once and that had resulted to the Captain throwing a fit and ordering the soldiers to chain me to the wall for breaking the rules, so now my wrists were sore from every move I made. Plus, the bruise on my head still throbbed from when that numbskull Tiro had wacked me over the head.
And that wasn't even all of it. Being on a ship again brought back memories of last winter. Of the desperation I had and chasing the Avatar. And of Uncle – this memory coming side by side with a dose of guilt.
I wondered where he was now. Had he gone back to the Earth Kingdom, to his beloved teashop?
No, I realise, he wouldn't have. There was no point now; Ba Sing Se belongs to the Fire Nation. He must be in hiding somewhere. I just hoped that he stayed out of harm's way… And any white jade bushes at that.
But he wouldn't even be in this situation if I hadn't betrayed him in the first place.
Argh!
Yes so, while being stuck in a cage, bored out of my mind and fighting off haunting memories, I also had one more thing to deal with. A humiliating and horrifying metal bucket that stood in the corner of the cage, something that I'd convinced myself that if I glared hard enough at it, it would evaporate.
Did I mention I was beginning to feel delirious?
Yeah. Prison sucked.
Seria's POV
We fly roughly south-east for another day, using the rising and setting of the Sun to keep us on the right path. We flew at very high altitudes, higher than the gulls and sea hawks that circled the sea in search of prey. The air was thin and cold, but up here the wind currents were stronger and we could see a lot further than if we were lower down so we endured.
Everything around us was blue. The cloudless sky, the abysmal sea that had turned into the deepest of indigos – it was beginning to make my eyes hurt.
This might have been why I saw the tiniest flicker of steel-grey on the horizon, as if my eyes had grown hyper-sensitive to any colour other than blue's numbing hue. By this time, my arms and legs were stiff and sore from being in the same position for so long and I was glad for any excuse to rest.
"You see that?" I shout to Aang, gesturing with my head towards the specks on the horizon. "It could be a ship."
I watch as Aang peers into the distance. "It looks far away, but we should probably check it out."
I nod and we steer our gliders towards it. As we get closer, I realise it wasn't just one grey smudge, but a whole platoon of Fire Navy battle ships.
Huh, I think. I was right.
Closer to them, we finally see the flags and I recognise the insignia on the flapping fabric, the same one that was on the wax seal on the scrolls: A Sea Raven.
This was it.
Then a thought occurs to me.
"Do we have a plan?" I shout to Aang.
He looks at me and grins. "'Jail break' seems like a pretty good one to me."
"Fair enough," I say laughing, but it comes out forced. How were we going to pull this off? It was two of us against four ships plus a whole army inside!
Sighing irritably, I shrug it off. I did have the Avatar right beside me. Wasn't he meant to have legendary fighting skills that even the spirits envied? I glance at the twelve-year-old kid beside me and my certainty wavers.
I guess we'll see…
We fly closer until we are a hundred yards off the nearest ship. The sea sparkles in the sun's great reflection and I have to squint against the light to see the grey shadow of the ship below.
"Let's dive!" Aang yells. Automatically, I fold the wings of my glider and begin to drop like a boulder, hurtling towards the water.
The brief and familiar thrill of free-fall grips my stomach before I slam into the sea, bubbles erupting from my mouth as I gasp. It was colder than I had anticipated.
A lot colder!
Underwater, I open my eyes to see the blurry figure of Aang crash next to me in a plume of white bubbles. My eyes burn from the salt so I close them again, freezing up. I was suddenly blank and I momentarily forgot how to swim.
So I began to sink.
There's a tug on my arm and I feel myself being pulled upwards. I kick wildly to what I think might be the surface, my lungs beginning to ache for air. Finally, we break the waves and Aang holds onto me as I struggled to stay afloat. I cough and grip onto Aang as he tries to swim closer towards the ships.
"Jeez, Seria," Aang says, struggling to pull me along. "Don't you know how to swim?"
"H-Haven't been swimming in two years, r-remember?" I spit out some salty sea water and try to control my shivering. "I've lost my touch."
"Just move your arms as well. It should keep you afloat."
I let go of Aang and tread the water hastily, very clumsy but at least I'm not sinking back under. Aang smiles at me and I feel silly. I look upwards. "Do you think they saw us?"
There's a shout aboard the ship above, answering the question for us. We quickly swim closer to the side of the ship. We duck out of sight behind the anchor as a head looks over the side. Aang creates a bubble of air around our heads and we dive back into the freezing sea, swimming deep under the ship's metal hull.
Once on the other side, Aang uses waterbending to create an icy ladder, making little footholds against the metal all the way up to deck. He gestures that it's "ladies first" and I glare at him, hauling myself up out of the water and onto the first rung. Aang follows and we make the painfully slow climb up.
My arms are shaking from the cold and the strain weight of my wet clothes, but somehow we make it and I reach out to grasp the railing of the ship's deck and peers over.
"What do you see?" whispers Aang.
"There's four of them talking on the other side of the ship," I whisper. "I think they're still looking for us."
"Let's do this quickly then."
I glance up towards the windows of the command tower and see that no one's there. Quickly, I pull myself up and jump down from the railing, falling lightly so my feet didn't make a sound. The soldiers have their backs to me as I silently stalk across the deck. I feel a familiar sense of anger at these kidnappers, yet I find slow smile spreading across my face.
This is going to be fun.
When I am halfway across the deck, I bring both arms either side of me upwards, collecting huge pockets of air and slicing them down in front of me, two very powerful waves of air careening towards them.
It smacks them right behind the head and they lose their balance and, with some satisfying shouts of surprise, they topple overboard. Aang runs up from behind me and with water bending, washes them further out towards sea. They wouldn't attract attention any time soon.
We grin at each other, glad that we hadn't been detected.
"So shall we search the ship for them?" I ask eager to get started.
"We don't have to." Aang slips his hand into his pocket and pulls out a small wooden carving of a bison.
"What's that?"
"A whistle," He says putting the thing to his lips and taking a deep breath. I wait for some kind of high-pitched shrill when he blows on it, but no sound comes out. I am slightly confused, but he's looking around intently.
"Is it broken?"
A smile tugs his mouth. "No, just wait."
There's a sudden growl from the ship next to us, followed by the sound of crashes and cries of panic, the ship swaying alarmingly from side to side. Unmistakably Appa.
I smile. "Things are running smoothly so far."
We fly over to the swaying ship and find the upper level empty, so we have no one to stop us as we run below deck. We run through endless metal corridors that are dimly lit by fire lamps, following the growls that were becoming incisively louder.
Suddenly, I collide into something hard when turning around a corner and fall backwards. I growl and look up. AFirenationsoldierstandsinfr ontofme, helmet in his hands and surprise written all over his face before he hurriedly gets into stance. I jump when my backpack explodes behind me and water rushes over my head, freezing him solid.
I give Aang a grateful look. But then I see how much water he actually used up.
"You used up all our drinking water," I say.
"Oh," Aang drops his hands sheepishly. "Sorry. It was a reaction."
I get up and we continue on until Aang skids to a stop by a door. Aang blows on the whistle again and a growl erupts right next to us.
"It's Appa!" Aang cries bursting down the door.
"Aang!" I yell, hesitating before rushing in after him. "What about the guards –"
I enter just in time to watch the last soldier drop to the floor at Aang's feet. The room is large and looks to be some kind of holding bay with huge gates at one end. The floor, currently filled with the red of Fire Nation armour. I blink as I try to comprehend how he had worked so fast.
"Hey, buddy!" Aang says as he gives Appa a hug. "You miss me?"
The bison responds with a good lick which covers Aang head to toe in saliva. I shudder but Aang's laughing, not minding a bit in the slightest that he is in fact coated in slime.
I look to the shackles around Appa's feet and frown. I search the groaning and moaning bodies on the floor quickly, fumbling fingers finally finding a metal loop filled with keys.
"Aang!" I call and toss them over. He just manages to catch it and tries them out on the shackles.
"Let's find Katara," Aang says eagerly as Appa's shackles fall away. The bison growls happily and shakes itself, making the ship dip precariously to the side.
Suddenly, there's an alarm bell ringing loudly over our heads. So much for being sneaky.
"No time, they know we're here!" I shout over the noise. "I'll get Zuko. Take Appa and find her, we'll meet up back on this ship."
Aang purses his lips but nods, obviously not keen on the prospect of splitting up. I give Appa a small pat on the head before I run to the door but before I go, I look at Aang one last time.
"Stay safe." I tell him and then I dash out, backtracking the way we'd come.
Once out in the open air, I realise that the once empty deck is now swarming with activity. I freeze, like a jackrabbit caught in the light, unsure of what to do. There's a shout and heads turn my way.
"Damn it!" I hiss, leaping over a fireball and snapping open the glider's wings and launching myself into the air. I fly higher up and look around. There's a ship to the right of this one, larger and more impressive in décor and size. The leading ship.
The perfect place to stow a prince.
I turn towards the ship and am halfway there when I hear something being sprung. There's a sudden whoosh of air. I instinctively bank and a grey web shoots past me like a claw. Only when it dropped back to the sea did I realise that it was a net. I look behind me and see them loading another one.
My brows furrow. Ok then, bring it on.
I fly straight until I hear the distinguished whoosh of another and then I drop from the sky, pointing the glider straight at the leading ship. There are men swarming over the ship like a disturbed nest of ants. I spot the single pale face of a soldier on the deck, staring up at me in shock. Then he gets into stance and I know he's about to flare fire in my direction.
Closing the wings, I bring the glider from my head and spin it around my waist so that the fire is whipped away and flies back towards the soldier. There's a shout and the soldier just has time to dive out of the way before the fire roasts the patch at where he was just standing. I land lightly on the now-scorched patch where he was once standing. I rest the glider lightly on the ground and grin at him. He's still on the ground and gapes openly at me, eyes darting from my glider to the sky I'd just fallen from, to my face again. He mouths the words 'air bender'.
By now, everyone around us has stopped moving. I survey them coolly, suddenly feeling amused by the shocked expressions that plaster their faces.
I grin and flick some air at them. "What? Haven't see an airbender before?"
There's no reply. So I sink to the ground and spin, air whipping from my arms and pouring down them, directed by my outstretched hands at the soldiers. They might have as well been hit by a hurricane. The soldiers fly back, hitting the railings – some going over – and the deck is silent save for a few grunts.
I jab the end of my glider into the chest of the first soldier, still lying on the ground. There's no sharp point and a staff with wings isn't the most threatening thing, but he flinches as if he'd been stabbed.
"The prison hold." I say threateningly. "Where is it?"
The soldier glares at me and struggles to get up. I push him down again.
"Don't you dare!" I growl, pushing him down again no longer in the playful mood I was before. "I swear I will launch you so high into the clouds you wouldn't know which way was up!"
"Second floor down." He spits out after a moment of rebellion.
I smile. "Thank you."
I whip him away from me so he's sent skidding into the side of the ship, too far away to stop me as I go. I hear the grunt as he smacks his head against the railing, but I haven't got time to stand and watch; I'm already below deck panting as I run through the corridors. Down a flight of stairs.
"Zuko!" I shout as I run through corridor after corridor as fast as the wind, searching each room I come across. "Zuko! Where are you?"
"Seria!" I hear a call from inside a room to my right and I skid to a stop instantly. "In here!"
"Zuko!" I cry and I unfortunately can't help the girly squeal.
With a little help of airbending, I break down the door and it flies off its hinges, clattering to the ground on the other side of the room. I take in the metal cage taking up one corner and Zuko chained inside.
And I'm furious.
Zuko looks to the side suddenly. "Careful! There's a guard–"
I whip my head around to see a one-armed soldier jump out at me, fist held above his head and about to smash into my head. I bob to the side as his fist crashes into the metal wall behind, fire flaring against the metal. Without hesitating, I swing a wall of air at him, smashing him into the wall. He goes limp and slumps to the ground.
"Never mind then," Zuko breathes behind me. I flash him a grin and pluck the chain of keys from the unconscious soldier's belt, opening the door and stepping into the cage with him.
"So how was the prison food?" I ask him, pecking him on the lips.
"Horrible," he grins and jangles the chains around his wrists. "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to knock a few heads together."
"Of course," I smile and fumble with the keys. As soon as he's free, he hooks an arm round my waist and pulls me towards him, kissing my forehead briefly.
"Thanks." He says.
"No worries," I laugh and move away from him and over to the door. "Besides, saving a damsel in distress is kind of fun."
"A damsel? Is that what I am?" He chuckles, shaking his head at me. "Alright come on, let's focus."
We run out of the room and head towards the deck. "Where's Aang?" Zuko asks as he jogs alongside of me.
"Oh," I say, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I, um, don't know."
The incredulity in his voice is unmistakable. "What do you mean 'you don't know'? He could be anywhere!"
"We didn't exactly have a lot of time–" I stop as we climb the stairs to outside. "Oh."
I stared around at the various soldiers lined up in front of us, including a very angry looking guy with a fancier helmet than the rest of them, glaring in disbelief at Zuko and then to me. I guess the fight wasn't quite over.
A/N: Yeah I'm so sorry about the late update…. I know it's kind of cliché and all to say that I've been so busy and blah blah blah but honestly I have xD I have squeezed every spare time I had into writing this! Anyway I hope you liked this one and thanks again for all the favourites and follows! I don't have a beta reader or anything so if you spot a mistake please tell me. Thank you to sunflower13 and Aeris for the reviews – you guys are the coolest; I love you guys! 3
