Author's Note: Before I get started, I just want to explain that this chapter was not originally planned as part of the abridged series. However, these scenes were conceived for the episode, and still bumbling around my brain in little bits and pieces.

So when several people remarked that they wanted to see how the other's reacted to Zuko and Katara's circumstances, I decided to go ahead and post it despite it being a bit short and not completely in the same theme as the rest of the abridged set. But hopefully it fits the bill for those who were curious.

Enjoy!

Fire Chapter 17: The Crags

Segment 5: Search Party

They flew back to the site of the attack with all haste. Aang still refused to wake up, but Sokka was content to let him sleep for now. Better to let the boy remain oblivious than to get his hopes up needlessly should Toph be proven wrong.

When they landed, Sokka turned to the blind earth bender.

"Where do I go from here?"

"Get me to the ground," she instructed grimly.

He hurried over to help her up, but as she struggled to her feet, she let out a short yell of pain.

"Wait!" she gasped, sitting back down and tentatively shifting the sling on her arm, "Ty Lee…could you…?"

"Of course," the other girl replied quickly, and scooted over to deliver two short, precise jabs.

"Aaaah!" Toph sighed dramatically, visibly relaxing as the pain in her shoulder receded. "I never thought I'd be so happy to have you do one of those voodoo pokes on me."

Ty Lee caught herself midway through a smile and instead sent a guilty glance at Sokka to find him staring at her with an unreadable expression. She wondered fretfully if this would constitute a breaking of the promise she'd made never to use her chi blocking pinches on anyone in the group.

But Sokka calmly held her gaze as he said meaningfully, "For once, I'm glad she can too."

This time, Ty Lee did smile. And Sokka returned it briefly before helping Toph out of the saddle and down to the ground.

The moment Toph's feet touched the solid stone, her brow furrowed in confusion. She'd spent the better part of the afternoon monitoring the spot where Zuko and Katara had fallen to. While Renzu was stalling his team with instructions to devise a way to get Appa back to town, Toph had stayed focused on her fallen friends' heartbeats, waiting anxiously for them to stir. So she was certain she knew exactly where to find them.

But they weren't there anymore.

Quelling the rising panic in her chest, she knelt and placed her hand on the ground, taking slow deep breaths as she sought into the earth for any shudder, any murmur, any tremor of activity that might lead her to them. Sifting past the extraneous vibrations of burrowing insects and slumbering prickle-snakes, she felt deeper into the rock, seeking….searching.

There!

It was faint, but steady. A heartbeat. Zukos! And mingled in with it…

"They're below us," she finally declared, "Far below us. But they're alive."

Sokka let out a sigh of relief, and then looked toward the edge of the ridge, his head quickly scanning along both directions of its length in the moonlight.

"Which way?"

She pointed to area directly above where she sensed them, and then rose to her feet.

"Can you bring them up?" asked Sokka.

"No," she replied objectively, "even if I weren't injured, it would be too risky. That whole side of the cliff is unstable. We'll have to fly down to get them."

Sokka nodded curtly and took Toph by the hand to help her back onto Appa.

"Then let's go."

"You dunderhead," Toph scolded as she leaned out over Appa's side, Sokka holding tightly to her waist as she touched the face of the cliff. "You flew right past them! We need to go back up."

"It's kinda dark out here, Toph," he defended sardonically, "I can't exactly see much."

He pulled her back into the saddle as she replied, "Then try looking for a big crack in the canyon wall, they're asleep inside that."

"Can't you wake up Aang?" he suggested. "He could use his fire bending to give us some light."

"I've tried," she insisted, throwing up her good hand with dour frustration, "but he's completely catatonic!"

Sokka sighed as he glanced over to where Aang and Ty Lee both were fast asleep. He considered waking her at least to have a second set of eyes, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. She was hurt and tired, yet had still managed to care for the two youngest members of the group all afternoon and evening. He figured she deserved some rest.

Going over to Aang, Sokka shook the boy roughly to try and wake him.

"Come on, Aang" he pleaded forcefully, "I need you to help me find Katara."

The air bender barely stirred, letting out a small groan, and whispering in despair, "It's too late. I failed. She's gone…"

"No, Aang! She's alive!" insisted Sokka, shaking the Avatar even harder, but with no response.

"Forget it, Sokka," Toph insisted wearily. "We don't have time for this. Just fly back up…slowly."

"Wait, I have one more idea," he stated.

Sokka crawled over to the corner of the saddle where Momo slept, gently prodding the little lemur awake before picking him up and holding him at arms length.

"Momo," he instructed seriously, "I need you fly up above us, find Zuko and Katara, and then come back here and show me where they are."

The lemur merely blinked twice then trilled sleepily in reply, eliciting a frustrated sigh from Sokka.

"Come on Momo, you're my last chance here."

"Sokka…" Toph interrupted warningly, "wasting time…."

"Fine," muttered the disgruntled warrior, setting the smallest of their troupe back down, and frowning as the creature promptly curled back up and went to sleep.

"But Aang is so going to get when he finally wakes up."

When Sokka at last spotted the booted foot above him, dangling out into the canyon from the side of the rocky wall, he understood why he had missed it before. Were it not for bright light of the now high moon shining across the face of the cliff, he probably wouldn't have noticed them this time either. He slowed Appa's ascent as he drew even with the crevice and peered inside.

Sure enough, there was his sister, curled up in a little ball with her hand disappearing all the way up to the elbow into the folds of Zuko's shirt as if it was a blanket, and she was sitting halfway on top of a terribly uncomfortable looking prince. He had one arm resting at an odd angle across Katara's shoulder, with the other wedged against the side of the indentation, his hand still holding onto her ankles, which were tucked up under the crook of one of his knees, his head resting forward on top hers.

They were both sound asleep.

"Well, don't you two look cozy," drawled Sokka cheerfully.

The unexpected voice pulled Katara from her hazy dreams, and she shifted slightly in confusion.

"Sokka?" she mumbled, raising her head toward the sound and opening her eyes. They widened abruptly as she gasped, "Sokka!"

Her joyful cry woke Zuko as well, and when he caught sight of Appa hovering in the ravine with all their companions, his whole face lit up with relief.

"Boy, am I glad to see you," the prince declared earnestly.

By now, Appa was butted up flush against the rocky wall, and Sokka was already reaching out to help his sister climb into the safety of the saddle. Zuko followed somewhat stiffly after her, his legs burning as the circulation returned to them. He collapsed in the center of the saddle and sprawled with a happy sigh, relishing the sensation of being able to stretch his limbs.

"Bit cramped there were you?" teased Sokka.

A short laugh was Zuko's only reply.

Katara healed Toph and Ty Lee as they flew to a safe location where they could rest for the night. By the time they arrived at a suitable campsite, only Sokka and Zuko were awake, and they carefully carried the others one by one down from Appa's saddle, tucking them into their bedrolls while they slept, before turning in themselves.

A few hours later, Aang stirred in his sleep, groaning forlornly and thrashing in his blankets, waking Katara who lay nearby. Going over to him, she stroked his hair gently in an attempt to soothe him.

"Shh, it's okay, Aang," she consoled, "I'm right here."

"Katara?" he murmured almost deliriously, "I failed. I'm sorry."

"You didn't fail, Aang," she insisted quietly, "Everyone's safe. We're all okay."

She continued offering words of hushed comfort, until her steady voice finally permeated his troubled dreams, and he opened his eyes blearily. Then he blinked, not believing what he saw.

"Katara!" he cried, jolting upright and throwing his arms around her in a desperate hug, which she quickly returned.

"Katara," he murmured again, wet tracks streaming down his cheeks as he buried his face in her neck. "I thought I'd lost you. I thought I had failed."

"I'm right here, Aang. I'm okay," she repeated tenderly as she rocked him gently, letting him cry out his fear and anguish and joy in her arms.

Momentarily awakened by the disturbance across from him, Zuko couldn't help but smile softly as he lay there and watched their tearful but happy reunion. Then his eyes drifted shut once more and he sank back into blissful slumber, all the while wholeheartedly agreeing with Katara's whispered assurances.

"Everything is fine now."

Author's note (2): See, I told you it was kind of short, but I hope everyone liked it just the same.

There is a new sketch over on my deviantArt page for anyone who wants to get a clearer image of what Sokka saw when he finally found Zuko and Katara. It was really only drawn as a crutch for when i wrote the last chapter, so it's not colored, but I'm still rather pleased with how it turned out.

I really want to thank the overwhelming number of you who offered your input last chapter. I don't think I've had 40+ reviews on a single post in almost 13 updates. Thank you all so much!

And special thanks go to new reviewers Amara-chan, daveshan, Hanjeu, Kaiya, samanthe2121, yurtletheturtle (who isn't exactly a new reviewer but i haven't heard from her in a long time), and especially liham and hypergrl92 who, despite admitting an extreme dislike for the Zuko/Katara pairing, told me they still enjoy this story and are willing to see it through to the end. You guys have NO idea how much that means to me.

Thank you.