Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

CAMIvH: Sorry! I should attempt to really answer it, shouldn't I? I don't think it'll be that often. And yes, I realize Sokka is OOC... and he probably will be in this chapter too. Truthfully, I've got a bunch of chapters written right now, so I didn't realize just how OOC he was for a while. Oops!

Steven-B: I'm way ahead of you on that. ;)

...

They planned their getaway over the next week, and decided on how to get to the South Pole. If they took a boat, they would be discovered too easily, so they used Mizuki as an alternative. They would stand near each other, and go directly under the water. They would swim underwater with an air bubble around their head, thanks to Mizuki pushing the water away from their heads, and if they got tired, Kimi would push a small square of earth under their feet to the surface for them to rest on. When they got closer to the South Pole, Mizuki would create sheets of ice to rest on.

Unfortunately, something was standing in their way. The day before they were going to leave, they were all resting on the sand. Mizuki loved the beach, it was so energizing. While they were all sunbathing and chatting merrily, Mizuki couldn't help but notice how hot it was getting.

"Guys," Mizuki stuttered, "anyone else notice how hot it is getting? It feels almost as if we are surrounded by fire!"

Sokka slowly turned around. Behind the teens was a group of three fire nation soldiers!

He stammered unintelligently, "Girls, uh, you may want to look behind, uh, you!" As he said so, another soldier crept up and threw a burlap sack over his head.

The soldiers grabbed Mizuki first; she was very close to the sea and could easily destroy them. They grabbed her hands and tied them, ignoring her head and feet.

Shizuka was grabbed next, her feet, and hands tied, her mouth gagged.

Kimi wasn't going to let this happen so easily. She bended loads of sand into the soldiers faces as they let go of Mizuki and Shizuka. Mizuki bended the water with her head, and a big wave came up and flooded the soldiers. They stood there, sputtering, while the last one dragged Sokka away. The guards still didn't think the teens were threats.

Mizuki didn't think it would be possible to catch up with the guard quickly running away, so she had one last card to pull: blood bending. She was so powerful, she could blood bend anytime. She stood and used the technique while her friends were occupying the guards.

She pulled the guard back towards her but the guards had tied up her friends and were advancing on her. They grabbed her and tied her up. She felt a pain in her side as they kicked her in the ribs. Her blue eyes watering, she inched towards the water trying not to think of all that she had lost.

By the time Mizuki had gotten in the water, the soldiers were long gone. She froze her bonds and shattered them, then broke Shizuka and Kimi free. She sat there, on the beach, and started to cry.

Shizuka sat next to her and placed an arm around her, "Mizuki, I am so sorry. This is horrible; you have lost everyone close to you."

Mizuki raised her head and gulped, "No! I haven't yet! We still have hope! The avatar is still alive! We are still in the Fire nation's way! There is nothing we won't do for our parents' freedom!"

Her face turned bright with fury, she was truly angry with the soldiers who had done this to her, "Gather your things! We are leaving now."

Her friends knew better than to argue with Mizuki, so they left and got their stuff. Soon they were swimming out at sea. They didn't know it, but Mizuki was silently weeping as she led the way into the ocean. She could swim very fast, creating a current to propel them through the water at an amazing speed.

They didn't talk much, but they didn't find the silence awkward. All they were thinking about were their parents, and what the soldiers may be doing to them. Finally unable to bare the silence any longer, Mizuki called over her shoulder, "Shizuka, you know Azula best. What do you think that she is doing to our parents?"

Mizuki had thought that Azula would interrogate them and torture them. Kimi thought that she would have them chained and keep them barely alive for ransom.

Shizuka looked up and replied slowly, "I think I know. One day, my parents had gone out to eat at a new fire nation restaurant. Dad told me about it, the manager had come up to them with a tired, almost glazed look on his face and told them they had prepared a Royal meal for their Lord and Lady. Mom looked a bit confused and told them that they hadn't asked ahead of time for the food, and that their visit was unannounced. The manager said it was on the house and that it had been prepared for them in case they should arrive.

"Mom and Dad were suspicious, but they were hungry and not nearly as wary as they were in the old days. A young boy, about my age, had come over with their food with a smirk on his face. 'For our leaders…' He said and then ran off.

"Dad picked at his food while Mom ate, and after eating nothing, he admitted he wasn't hungry. They left, even though Dad hadn't eaten and Mom had only eaten about half of her food. In the morning, Dad called for the Royal doctor. That was the first day Mom was ill. I think that Azula had started then. She has been hypnotizing the guards, so, she must have hypnotized the people who worked at the restaurant, and made them poison their food. Dad wasn't hungry, and he didn't eat the food. Mom ate half of it. If mom had eaten all of it, I bet she would have been dead by the morning. Because she only ate half, she is slowly dying, and won't be dead until Azula thinks it a good time, or, not for another year about.

"I think that Azula will forcefully poison them at some point, but not very soon. She will have interrogated them, tortured them, hung them, and then, when she is tired of that, she will give them each a spoonful of poison. That poison won't kill them, maybe not ever, but it will cause them pain and suffering; but she may just kill them though, just to get them out of her way. But I don't think so; she likes to play with her food before she eats it."

Mizuki's face paled, that was bad news. Suddenly the current whirred out of control, causing the bubbles of water surrounding the girls' heads to collapse.

Mizuki thrashed around wildly as her water-logged brain attempted to think. She finally got an idea, and grabbed her friends, and thrust her hand down, shooting them up in a jet stream, until they shot into the air. Mizuki made the ocean catch them, and created a sturdy sheet of ice underneath them.

They lay there, coughing as they tried to expel the water from their lungs. Mizuki then remembered that she was a water bender, and bended the water out. Once they all could breathe, Kimi passed out and Shizuka fell into a daze. Soon, after being sure that there was no one near, Mizuki passed out as well, into a shifty, dreamless sleep.