xXx Chapter 11 xXx

xXx The Escape xXx

Ozai's pugnacious steps stormed through the foliage of the forest, making it seem like the leaves were jumping away from him in a frenzied fright. His thoughts were swarming in his mind with an aching ferocity; his thoughts hadn't been so scattered since the finale of his battle with the airbender. This was all just a part of his plan. He needed the girl to trust him. To choose him over her friends. It was all part of the plan. So why did he overreact? Surely he didn't feel guilty about using her in such a way. A deep frown tugged at his tightly pressed lips, which was the only thing that suppressed a groan of disapproval. That girl should mean nothing to him. She did mean nothing. He clenched his fists in frustration, realizing that Katara had such an effect on him. Why should she have an effect on him? She was just another pawn to be thrown away once her usefulness ran its course.

He would have kept walking all night in an attempt to calm his irritation, but a light caught his eye. Coming to a hard stop, he turned to see a bright glow coming from the direction of his departure. His mood dropped further when he decided to investigate the odd illumination.

xXx Katara xXx

Sokka jumped through the ring of fire with relative ease, and then shifted into a defensive stance with his sword held firmly in both hands. Seeing this, Hikaru reformed the fire to create a blazing line, which separated Katara from her brother. Faintly, she could hear Sokka's voice telling her to make a pathway through the fire with her waterbending. Her eyes darted to the water pouch that hung from her side, but she was interrupted before she had the chance to make the motion.

"Don't think about it girl, just come back over to me." Hikaru gave her a dangerous look.

As her hope slipped away with the setting sun, she came to a sudden realization; her whole purpose for being here was standing right in front of her. She now had no reason to do what either Hikaru or Ozai demanded. With their combined effort, her and Sokka could easily overpower Hikaru. Without giving it another thought, she sent a stream of water across the barrier of fire, and swung it around to clash into the body of her firebending opponent. Upon delivering another attack against Hikaru for good measure, she turned and ran toward Sokka, grabbed his wrist and dragged him away from the clearing. She could hear a staggered, "come back girl!" but that only gave her further inspiration to run.

Sokka tightened the grip around her hand in a protective manner, and pulled ahead of her slightly, taking the lead, "There's a village not too far from here," he cast an uneasy gaze behind him, "it's just that one, so we should be able to escape him without a problem."

She pointed out a foil to his plan, "What about Ozai?"

He shot her a disdainful look, "What about him? Aang took the powers away from that firebending psychopath."

She hesitated for a brief moment, "Sokka, I don't think he knows, but he's regained some of his powers." At seeing his shocked look, she elaborated further, "He grabbed my wrist, and his grip seemed abnormally hot. When I checked it latter, there was a burn."

His face fell into his characteristic expression of panic, "What! That lunatic has his powers back!"

In an effort to calm him, she repeated herself, "But I don't think he knows."

He groaned, "Okay, well, this isn't a huge problem. We just have to get away. Right! Then, Aang will just take his powers away again!"

Katara frowned, "Aang isn't here, Sokka. Even if he was, he has told me that he's not sure if could do it again."

He gave her a desperate look, "Come on, you're supposed to be the hopeful one! What kind of attitude is that?" He shook his head, "We just have to keep going for now." He looked away from her, keeping his eyes focused on the trees that lay in front of them.

She had to give him credit for not bringing up the incident between her and Ozai; she could tell that he hadn't forgotten. Not with that disappointed and confused countenance. Knowing that he would bring it up sooner or later, she frowned. Taking a very deep breath, she decided to copy Sokka's actions; she stared intensely at the path in front of her. The forest had become impossibly thick, which slowed down their pace and caused her some confusion.

"Sokka, why are we going deeper into the forest? The soldiers I've seen were at the docks."

Sokka didn't pause or look at her, "They'll be expecting us to go to the docks, it's the easiest option; so we'll go the opposite way. Maybe this will buy us some time." He was silent for a moment, "Besides, if there are soldiers at the docks, it won't be long before they move inland. He will be trapped in this forest, and it will just be a matter of tracking him down."

The darkening sky and the thickness of the trees soon made it close to impossible to see anything. This completely replaced their run with a slow and cautious walk. She kept close to her brother and had to feel her way through the trees. It wasn't as if this was something that she wasn't used to, but their possible pursuers made her uneasy. She glanced behind her, but saw nothing but darkness. She mentally chastised herself for thinking that she could see behind her when she could see nothing in the front. If it counted toward anything, she didn't hear anyone following them. When she turned her eyes back to the direction they were traveling, she did something. Small lights, quite a few small lights.

Sokka tapped her on the arm, "There's a village just up ahead… Keep your hood up, if there's one thing I've learned trying to get here, it's that Ozai has men everywhere."

"Alright." She could barely see through the darkness that Sokka was also wearing a cloak.

She wanted to know how Sokka escaped, but decided to wait until they were safe. As inconspicuously as they could, they entered the little community, and wasted no time in trying to find some kind of lodging. The dirt pathways of the village stood abandoned, and if it wasn't for the faint lights inside of the wooden houses, she would assume it to be deserted. Wordlessly, Sokka lead her into one of the wooden structures, and she stayed close as he approached a desk with a solemn looking man behind it.

"I would like a room, please." Sokka placed a small leather pouch on the desk.

The man peered inside the bag before taking it out of sight, "Take the room at the end of the corridor, the one to the right." The raspy-voiced man gave them no further attention, which Katara was grateful for.

Sokka, in turn, said nothing more to the grave looking man, and started down the corridor mentioned earlier. They walked to the room in silence, which Katara did not like. He must be furious with her, considering that Sokka usually doesn't know when to shut up. Sokka opened the door, let Katara pass in front of him, and then shut the door silently behind him. Katara stood in the middle of the room nervously, while her brother placed himself on the couch, which was placed against one of the walls. As casually as she could manage, she sat beside her distraught brother. She waited in silence for a few moments before it became apparent that she would have to speak first.

"How did you get away from the men that were holding you?" She made sure to not mention Ozai.

He gave her a sideways glance, "You want to hear the whole story?" He placed his elbows on his knees and hung his head low.

"Of course I want to hear the whole story."

He sighed, trying to recall the whole event, "I was back home, and Suki was with me. We had traveled quite a distance away from the village; we were confident that we could easily deal with any wild animals that we might come across, so we let our guard drop. This was something we did a lot, so we let our guard drop even further. We were having a good time, just talking. Then Suki tapped me on the shoulder and challenged me to chase her. She ran off and disappeared behind a huge chunk of ice, and that's when it all happened. When I rounded the corner to get her, I saw that she had already been capture. Four men already had her hands bounded behind her, and she managed to warn me about someone behind me."

"Without hesitation, I pulled out my sword and swung it behind me; which made a huge gash across a man's chest. I noticed there was someone to my left, so I swung again, but another crept up to my right and knocked my feet out from under me. I was prepared to get up and continue fighting, but a ring of fire circled around me, and without your waterbending," he gave her a sad glance, "there wasn't much I could do. When those brutes threatened to kill Suki, I dropped my sword… normally Suki could take care of herself, but not in this situation, when we were so unprepared for an attack. I begged them to let her go, but they said that she was already involved. So when they took me, they took Suki, too." Sokka looked saddened again, but did not look at her.

"We were held up in a solidly built room quite a few miles from here, but not for very long," he gave a small smile, "it was obvious that they were all formally Fire Nation soldiers, so it wasn't very difficult to get away from them… but when we were running in the woods, with the men following close after us, Suki and I became separated." Sokka ran a hand though his hair, which she now noticed was down, "with those creeps after us, I'm worried for her safety. I managed to take my weapons back before we had to leave that miniature prison, but Suki is out there without any weapons."

She placed a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure Suki is fine, she may not have any weapons, but this environment will be an advantage to her. Most of the old Fire Nation soldiers aren't that coordinated in a wooded area like this. Suki can take them down without a problem."

Sokka nodded his head in agreement, "Right…"

She could see his body suddenly stiffen, "Why were you traveling with him?"

She tried to catch his eye, but he wouldn't let her, "It was for you Sokka, and if I had known Suki was with you, it would have been for her, too."

He kept his gaze fixated on the floor, "For me?"

Even though he couldn't see her, she nodded her head, "He said that you would be killed if I didn't do as he said." She recalled to him the scene on the loading dock.

He clinched his fists in frustration, "You know you didn't have to do that, you should have known that I would have been able to get away."

Her heart sank, "But I didn't know…"

"Then why didn't you get Aang? You could have gotten away from Ozai easily enough at that moment."

She realized that she had conveniently left Aang out when she retold her story, "… Aang and I had an argument, I wasn't going to home to visit, I was going home for good… it seems stupid now, I should have gone to Aang."

His composure stiffened more, "Yeah, you should have." His tone of voice was harsh, the harshest it had been when directed toward her.

She stood and clenched her fists, "Sokka, I know I messed up, but-

"Why were you kissing him?" Sokka remained where he was, still refusing to look at her.

She clutched the material of her cloak nervously, then suddenly became angered, "Why is it me?"

"What?"

"Why was I the one kissing him? I'll have you know that he kissed me! And he didn't even kiss me, not really!" A sickening feeling consumed her every time she said 'kiss.'

He stood, meeting her eyes for the first time, "You still let him!"

She flung her arms dramatically about her, "I didn't let him! I was shocked by what he was doing! I couldn't think straight!"

Tears filled her blue eyes as she waited for her brother to reply, but he remained silent. A wind blew through the open window, causing the few solitary lanterns to flicker. It cast wavering shadows across the room until the light completely vanished. At her brother's next statement, she left like her reason had died with the flames of the lanterns.

"Whatever…I'm going to find something to eat." Through the dark, she felt him pass her, and knew he opened the door when light suddenly filled the room, "You can have the bed. I'll sleep on the couch." With that, he closed the door loudly, leaving her in darkness once more.

Her mind was spinning. Sokka had never spoken to her that way before. With weak legs, she carried herself over to the small bed and sat down on the thin covering. He was just upset and worried about Suki. With time, he would calm down; she hoped that he would calm down. She just couldn't stand how uncharacteristically he was acting. Of course, this wasn't a normal situation. Sighing, she flopped down on the bed, determined to force herself into going to sleep.

xXx Ozai xXx

Hikaru kneeled before him, shacking under his hostile gaze, "How could you have let her escape? I thought it was a simple enough order, to keep her here, apparently I was mistaken." His voice was cold and venomous.

Hikaru's eyes darted nervously from side to side, "A thousand apologies, my Lord." He rose from his kneeing position, "I swear, I will retrieve her, and the boy, too." He gave himself a moment to think, "Those brats are probably heading to the docks, I will go there myself." deeply, he bowed, and started on his own way

"I will go deeper into the forest." Ozai certainly wanted to give Hikaru a punishment, but that wasn't as important as finding Katara.

"My Lord?" He gave Ozai a questioning look.

"It is foolish to claim that you know which way they went; I shall not presume that they choose the shore for their destination."

Hikaru immediately turned, "Then I will go with you, my Lord."

Ozai could fell his blood boil, "No, both areas should be searched." Honestly, if he stayed with Hikaru, the incompetent ex-soldier would end up in a situation similar as Lee. Luckily, Hikaru accepted his plan without any further resistance and walked away.

He started to make his way through the suffocating thickness of the trees, letting his thoughts consume him. Katara would pay for this, but not as much as her brother. How dare she leave in such a way, he didn't see how she could. She wasn't some stupid little girl, at least he thought she wasn't; this only seemed to prove her foolishness. He could feel the power building up inside of him, and he could soon put it to good use.

He would have to teach her both respect and obedience….

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