Chapter 9

"Appa"

The Dai Li headquarters under Lake Laogai were as dark and creepy as the Upper Ring was bright and clean. Zuko moved through the tunnels, dao in hand, mask on face, gold eyes darting everywhere, looking through every cracked door. His steps were silent, his breathing just as quiet, though his heart pounded with excitement. Finally. Finally. He would have what he needed to catch the Avatar. He just needed to find the bison and then…

Well, he wasn't quite sure, but he'd figure that out when he got there.

-0-

Toph grimaced as they ran through the headquarters; some spots on the floor were slimy from perpetual dripping from the lake above, and it made her shudder with disgust.

They passed by rooms, lead by another kid named Jet, whom they had apparently met before. Katara's heart beat fast often when he was speaking, both from rage and from embarrassment, and that made Toph laugh really hard several times over.

They ran by a room full of Joo Dee's, all of them repeating words spoken to them by a Dai Li agent. Most of the rooms were shut, but Toph could sense what was going on beyond the closed doors, and she almost pulled her sight back in disgust. No wonder the doors were closed… they must've been really thick too, to keep all the sounds from filtering out and around the halls.

But she kept her sight pushed out as far as she could see it, trying to find the big fuzzball that was Appa.

Something flickered right on the edge of her vision—familiar footsteps. Toph frowned, concentrating, but they ran out of her sight before she could even get a good feel for who it was. Another pair of feet passed through, right on the edge, and out again. Neither of them were Dai Li—they moved too differently. But… who else could be down here?

"Toph!" Sokka called back to her in a loud whisper. "Anything?"

She shook her head. "This place is huge."

Sokka grit his teeth. "Right. We'll have to split up. I'll go with Katara and Toph. Aang and Jet, you go that way." He gestured down one hall. "Aang and Toph, keep an ear on the ground for each other, okay?"

They nodded, and everyone split.

As they ran down the hall, Sokka and Katara pausing to look in the rooms, Toph kept moving forward. The two sets of feet had appeared on the edge of her vision again, and she wanted to get closer, try to find out who it was.

Five steps later, it hit her, feeling as though the entire lake was collapsing on her.

Zuko!

She ran forward, leaving Sokka and Katara behind as they branched down a different way. Something appeared in her vision behind Zuko. Iroh was there, and so was… Appa! Oh no…

She ran faster, moving quickly around the corners and sliding a little in the wet spots on the floor. There… just ahead of her… she could hear their voices now, hear metal chains clank as Appa shuffled around nervously.

"What were you planning on doing next?" Iroh asked as Toph took up a position beside the door. She pressed close to the wall by the door, listening hard.

"I… I don't know," Zuko said. "I'll… figure out something!"

"This is exactly like the North Pole!" Iroh said, voice sounding surprisingly angry. "When you got there, you had the Avatar, but you had no idea where to go next! You would have died if his friends had not taken mercy on you."

"But I need to do this Uncle! With the bison I can get the Avatar and go home."

"Is that what you really want? Or is that the part of you that still wants to be the obedient son? It is time to ask yourself the big questions, Prince Zuko? Who are you, and what do you want?"

"Argh!"

With a clang, Zuko threw down his swords, the sound ringing around the large room alongside his wordless yell.

Toph stood outside, hands clenched into fists. Appa was right there… but what was Zuko going to do? Would he pick up the swords and attack the bison? Would he simply leave? What was he going to do?

Zuko was holding his head in his hands, taking deep breaths as the hot flames of his emotions shot out from this connection with the earth, an almost uncomfortable bright spot in Toph's vision.

"What should I do, Uncle?" He finally asked, his voice breaking a little.

Iroh was quiet, then he walked over to Zuko and put a hand on his shoulder. "Do what you feel is right."

Zuko stood there for a long time, then he picked up his swords and turned to Appa.

Toph panicked, and stepped around the doorframe as Zuko struck. "No!" She yelled, hand outstretched and ready to bring the earth up to stop him.

Appa flinched, and there was a loud clanging as the manacle around one of his legs fell to the ground. Zuko and Iroh turned to face her, surprise clear.

Toph stood there as she realized that Zuko wasn't going to kill Appa… he was going to free him. An embarrassed blush spread like wildfire over her face.

"Toph?" Iroh asked, head tilting slightly to the side. Zuko turned back, his emotions an impossible-to-read clutter, and freed another of Appa's legs.

"Um… hi," she said. "I was just… uh, looking for Appa."

"Like everyone else," Zuko grumbled over Iroh's chuckle. "We've got this handled."

"Come now, Prince Zuko," Iroh said, walking over to Toph. She got the feeling that he was smiling at her. "We could certainly use Toph's help. It would be much easier to get the bison out with an earthbender at our side."

Toph turned her head away, hands clenching into fists as a third shackle fell to the ground. This was the reason they had come to this slimy, awful building in the first place. But… working on the same side with Zuko…

She bit her lip, then lifted her head and nodded. "You're right. It'll be a lot easier with me. You done getting him free yet?"

Zuko snorted, swords making quick work of the fourth shackle. Iroh put a hand on her shoulder and leaned close to her. "Thank you," he said quietly. "This will be beneficial for all of us in the end."

"Yeah." She nodded, listening as Zuko sliced through the penultimate manacle. Appa was snorting with excitement, but was keeping still so that Zuko didn't accidentally cut him. "Why're you in Ba Sing Se anyways?" Toph asked Iroh.

The older man hesitated. "It is… a long story. To put it simply, we wanted to start a new life. And this is the safest place in the world, away from the Fire Nation."

Toph raised an eyebrow as the last shackle fell, but she was spared a response by the eager footsteps of Appa coming towards her. She had a moment to brace herself before she got a faceful of wet tongue.

"Pleah!" She spat, holding out her hands to ward him off. "Yeah, it's good to see you too big guy." He licked her once more then turned away. She shuddered and wiped her face, flicking her hand to get the spit off, and nearly missing what else was happening.

Appa had gone over to Zuko and was giving him the same happy, slimy treatment.

Iroh was chuckling over by Toph. "It seems he is glad to finally be free. Good."

"Ugh… yeah, sure." Zuko said, squelching towards them. "Now how do we get him out? He's too big to move through the halls…"

Toph grinned, and pointed straight up. "There's our exit."

She didn't need to see Zuko's face to read his exasperation. "Isn't there a lake straight above us?"

Toph shook her head. "Nope. Looks like this part of the compound spreads to the edge of the Lower Ring. We fly him out and come back for the others, then high-tail it out of here."

Zuko humphed, folding his armed and turning away from her. "You'd better drop us off before coming back. I don't think anybody else would be happy to see us."

She raised her eyebrow again in question, and Iroh must've noticed, because he shrugged. "He has a point."

"Alright, fine, I'll drop you off. Now come on." She grabbed Iroh and Zuko's hands, pulling them towards Appa's tail. "Let's get out of this place."

Before she climbed on Appa's tail, she sent one last scan around the room, just to make sure. Yep, there was that trap door in the ceiling, and it'd be easy to flip or break with her bending. There was no one in the corridor outside, but she could sense Sokka and Katara's worry through the stone. She had to hurry, or else she'd be in big trouble with everyone.

She took a stance in the middle of Appa's broad back, her toes curling around his fur in a firm grip. She could barely sense Zuko and Iroh crouched beside her, holding on tightly as well.

"Appa, yip yip!"

He took off, and Toph quickly crouched, grabbing on with her hands. Oma this was terrifying, flying without the saddle. "Tell me when we get close to the ceiling!" She said, and dimly felt one of them nod.

The continued flying up, wind rushing past her cheeks, then Zuko called out: "Now!"

Toph stood and pushed with her bending, feeling out for the stone. She found it, rushing alarmingly close, and she reached out with a hand, punching the air.

Just barely ahead of them, the stone slab shattered. They flew through a cloud of dust into the open air, Appa calling out happily.

Toph fell down into her crouch, climbing slowly towards his head. "Appa, there's a big lake just outside the city. Fly that way, and I'll bring Aang up to meet you."

He rumbled something back towards her.

"Sure," she said, completely guessing as to what he was saying. "Just let these guys off first, then let me get back down there."

He growled something else.

"No, you won't fit in the halls. And even I can't bend that much stone at once. Too much pressure from the water. We'll meet you at the lake, okay?"

Appa grumbled something that sounded like a sigh, and moved lower through the air. She felt Iroh and Zuko move off, and she carefully eased her way towards that edge—Appa must've been hovering with his back level to the street.

Someone stepped back on and grabbed her hand, guiding her to the street. Her eyes widened when she got her "sight" back, and she quickly pulled her hand out of Zuko's. "Get going," she muttered to them.

"Thank you," Iroh said, giving her a small bow and hurrying away.

Zuko stood next to her for a moment, fidgeting a little, as though he was trying to figure out something to say.

She flapped her hand at him. "I said, get moving, Sparky. Dai Li are gonna be swarming around here any minute now."

He nodded. "Thanks for your help."

"Yeah, sure," she said, turning her back to him. She jumped and thrust her fists downward, and the small square of stone she was standing on slid down, back into the tunnels. She heard Appa rumble as he took off again, and she felt Zuko and Iroh running through the city streets, until they passed out of her vision.

Toph turned her attention to the headquarters below. Sokka and Katara were rounding a corner, almost to the room where she was. She landed when they were a few steps away from the doorway, and ran over to the wall behind them. She opened it up and stepped out, shutting the wall when Sokka yelled her name. "Toph!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm right here," she said, coming up to them. "I never lost you."

Sokka shook his head, then looked in the room. "Hey… something was here…" he moved in further, walking around the newly sliced shackles. "There's six of these! Appa was here!"

"Well then, let's go find Aang and get out of here," Toph said, tipping her head to the side as something echoed through the earth. She turned towards the source, feeling panic start to rise in her chest as she realized what was going on.

"Come on!" She said, grabbing Katara's hand and running. "Aang and Jet are in trouble!"

Katara got her legs beneath her and started running, Sokka scrambling behind them to catch up.

Toph watched the fight, watched Jet turn on Aang, and she ran faster. This wasn't going to end well at all…

:p

So, let me tell you all this thing. A thing about my life.

When I get into it, I can write pretty quickly. However, the moments I have the time to slip into a writing frenzy are few and far between now, because I have an 18-month-old child.

I'm sure you're thinking "But PQ! You're a stay-at-home mom; that must mean you have tons of free time!" Let me tell you this: that thought is a LIE.

I want you guys to have the best fic I can give you, and that means waiting for me to pound it out and look over it and edit it. So, trust me. I know you hate it, but the waiting means the fic is a lot better than it could be.

So please, continue to bear with me. :)

(also, I'm not mad, I just want you guys to understand why asking for more chapters faster won't do you any good ;) )

Also, sorry for this being so late! It was Thanksgiving this past weekend, and we traveled down to see our families… and I forgot to bring my laptop with me. OTL So I couldn't update the chapter, because I didn't have it!

But don't worry, there will still be another one out on Friday. :D