Thanks to Densharr and JLynJoyce for the reviews. :]

Anyway, this is probably one of my favorite chapters I've written for this story. It's kind of a turning point in a way, so I hope you enjoy it. ^^


The next morning I rose with the sun as per usual. However, as soon as I was fully awake, a foreboding feeling washed over me. Something bad was going to happen today, I could tell. But when I walked out into the courtyard and saw Zuko going through his morning exercises, all thoughts of imminent danger were washed away.

I sat silently on the edge of the fountain, watching him perform fire bending basics with graceful ease. When he had completed all of his exercises, he took a deep breath and calmed the energy within him. I began clapping my hands slowly, taking him by surprise.

"Impressive." I stated, placing my hands back down on the cool stone of the fountain and leaning on them.

Zuko chuckled and came over to sit next to me. "But those were just the basics."

"Which is why I consider you a powerful bender."

"Do you really?" He asked softly, a hint of pride evident in his husky voice.

I nodded. "Of course I do. You have this… ferocity and power in you that I've never seen before."

He smiled. "Thanks, Hana. It's nice to know someone believes in me."

I smiled as well, watching him as he stared at me. He spoke suddenly, breaking the silence and making me jump a little.

"So… I know you didn't want to talk before you went to bed last night, but how about this morning?"

Sighing, I broke eye contact and looked out at the sunrise. "Why are you so obsessed with knowing about my life?"

His gaze still lingered on me, I could feel it. "Because I'm curious about you. I want to get to know you better. Something inside of me is screaming for me to do so."

My head snapped over to look at him again. Could he be feeling to same way about me? Well duh, he did try to kiss me before. But he seemed sincere on his intentions. Maybe he was different than everyone else. The inner debate about whether or not I should let myself get close to Zuko raged inside my mind once more as I stared at him. After a minute or so, I saw his lips moving and realized he had been talking this whole time.

"…and I just really think- Hana? Hana were you spacing out again?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I blinked. "Yeah… Sorry."

He sighed, trying to hide his exasperation. "What is wrong with you?" He asked. It wasn't in an irritable or demanding tone, but a soft and playful one.

I shook my head slowly, looking back at the sunrise. "You don't want to know."


Zuko's POV

Hana and I sat in silence after her last comment. She watched the sun rise as I watched her. There was a pained sadness in her eyes, and I longed to figure out what was causing it, but I knew she wouldn't tell me. Not yet, at least.

An hour or so later, Aang walked into the courtyard, rubbing his eyes in a tired manner. Before any of us could say anything to each other, something whizzed by my head and toward Aang. He acted quickly, using his staff to hit the object back out into the canyon. Just as it cleared the temple, it exploded.

"Oh no…" I muttered, standing quickly. Hana followed suit just as a barrage of fire bombs were shot up at the temple.

Upon hearing the explosions, the rest of the group ran out into the clearing and stared up in horror at the fleet of fire nation airships now surrounding the temple.

I stepped in front of Hana protectively, shielding her from bits and pieces of jagged rock flying through the air all around us. Suddenly, Aang sent out a large blast of air, closing a series of steel curtains around the courtyard. I heard a cracking and crumbling sound from above and looked up. The ceiling was beginning to cave in. I grabbed Hana's wrist and dragged her out of danger, pulling her to the safety of the closest wall. Looking at her, I made sure she was okay before turning around.

I caught sight of Katara and realized she had failed to notice the crumbling ceiling above her. Without a second thought, I ran full bore towards her and tackled her, moving her out of the way of the crushing boulders. When the dust settled, I looked over at the pile of rocks and let out the breath I was holding.

"What are you doing?" She yelled, glaring up at me.

I looked down, surprised by her anger. "Keeping rocks from crushing you."

"Okay, I'm not crushed! You can get off me now!" She pushed me away and ran off into the chaos.

"I'll take that as a thank you." I muttered, getting to my feet. I glanced over at Hana and saw her staring at me sadly. Or was that a look of jealousy? It was hard to tell from far away.

I brushed myself off and ran towards her. Just as I was about to ask what was wrong, Toph used her earth bending to create a tunnel within the solid walls of the temple.

"C'mon!" She exclaimed. "We can get out through here!"

Everyone filed into the tunnel. Aang even tried pulling Appa into the darkness. I turned and faced the steel curtains where I knew the airships would break through soon. Realizing who was most likely behind this attack, I decided to stay behind.

"What are you doing?" Hana yelled over the falling debris. "We need to get out of here!"

I looked at her. "Go ahead, I'll hold them off!" She looked at me like I was insane. "I think this is a family visit." I explained, pausing for a second before sprinting off towards the crumbling steel.

Hana called after me, but I ignored her and kept running. I reached the crumbling steel just as the last pieces were beginning to fall. I jumped through a large hole and landed on my feet outside. Standing back up, I kept running, dodging a constant downpour of fire bombs. After a close call with an explosion, I sent a fire ball from my fist at the closest airship.

All of the sudden, another airship appeared in front of me, carrying none other than my crazy bloodthirsty sister. She smirked down at me, her dark hair rippling in the wind.

"What are you doing here?" I called up, clenching my fists.

"You mean it's not obvious yet?" Azula asked, gesturing at the chaos. "I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!" As she spat out the last word, she flipped over the railing and shot a large column of blue fire at me.

My eyes grew wide as I tried to escape the burning flames. The impact of the blast sent me flying across the temple and into a pile of rubble. I screamed in agony, glancing down at the fresh wounds on my arms. Standing up quickly, I looked around me for an escape from the crumbling temple.

"ZUKO!" I heard someone yell. I turned and saw Hana motioning to follow her. "THIS WAY!"

I chased after her swiftly through the debris, watching as she nimbly dodged the falling rocks. When the whole temple finally crashed down, we turned and looked back at it. I turned and placed my hands on her shoulders.

"Hana, stay here!" I commanded. "I'll come back for you."

"But I can help! Zuko, listen to me, I'm-"

I cut her off with a quick kiss to the lips. In that short moment of bliss, everything around us seemed to slow down and stop. Silence surrounded me, and it seemed that nothing could touch us. I pulled away reluctantly and was brought back into reality. I smirked at her surprised reaction before taking off towards Azula's airship.

Running up a falling pillar, I jumped from the end towards the ship, shooting fire from my fists as I did so. But I had miscalculated the jump, and slipped on the side of the massive airship. I couldn't grab a hold of anything, and felt myself falling farther and farther down into the mist of the canyon. I heard Hana cry out for me as the air temples disappeared from my sight.


Hana's POV

I cried out for Zuko as I watched him fall from the airship. As he disappeared into the mist I felt the first tear fall. I looked up at his monster of a sister and gritted my teeth. She looked satisfied as she turned to me.

"Oh, I see Zuko has already replaced Mai with a new play thing." Princess Azula stated with a smirk. "No matter. I'll dispose of you quickly."

I screamed with rage, but made no move towards her. She was too far away. There was no way I could survive the jump. I'd be sent tumbling down into the canyon just like Zuko.

Another tear fell as I watched Azula's airship sidle up towards the ruins of the temple. But before I could attack, we were interrupted by a loud groan. Appa passed over me, a wall of rock shielding him and his passengers from Azula's blue fire blasts. As soon as they had cleared her airship, she turned back to me with a snarl. But my gaze was on something else, something that was rising up from the fog below.

She followed my gaze and froze in surprise.

Zuko.


Zuko's POV

I was going to die. I was going to fall to my death at the bottom of this abyss. Suddenly, I landed hard on the cold red steel of a stray fire nation airship. I gasped for breath, the air having been knocked out of me when I crash-landed. Standing up, I waited as the ship rose up through the mist. I could see Azula's ship growing closer and closer, and witnessed Appa fly past her fire blasts without harm.

Azula then turned with a shocked look on her face to see me. When the airship I was on was level with hers, I took a running start and leaped towards it. She shot a thick stream of fire at me, but I broke it apart mid-air with a simple kick, shooting a blast of my own flames at her in the process.

I landed gracefully on the ship and we immediately began fighting fiercely. Flame after flame was shot at me, but I countered without faltering. Suddenly, the airship shifted directions, causing me to lose my balance. I began sliding down the side of the airship, but managed to grip onto a nearby railing halfway down.

"You fought well, Zuzu." Azula said, standing over me. "But it was all in vain. Goodbye, brother!" She spat, raising her hand to strike.

But before she could do any damage, a bolt of white hot lightning flew past me and struck a piece of the ship's metal frame, mere inches from where Azula was standing. She took a few quick steps back, almost losing her balance before regaining her composure. Looking past me in shock, she muttered something under her breath. I twisted against the side of ship, enabling me to look back towards the temple. My jaw dropped at the sight in front of us.

Standing there with fingers smoking, on the airship I had previously occupied, was Hana.