Just some vocabulary for you all here: I mention an "arcade" in the Fire Nation Palace, and by that I mean a large room filled with columns: in this case, where the portraits of the Fire Lords are hung. It may not be technically right, but it'll work.
Snickety Lemon
Never Forget Chapter Eleven
Zuko eyes snapped open when he suddenly realized what time it was. He quickly sat up in bed and looked around the room.
"Aang?" he called. "Aang, are you in here?"
No answer.
Zuko threw himself out of bed and ran to the door.
"Guard, have you seen Aang?"
"Um, I believe The Avatar went out for a walk this morning, sir; but that must've been over an hour ago. I haven't seen him since, but he told me to tell you once you woke that you should 'follow the path', but that was all he said."
Zuko smiled. "Thanks," he said as he looked around the hallway. Aang had played this game several times before, but he usually left a note somewhere and waited until Zuko found it. He had never before slipped out before Zuko woke up, nor did he tell anyone at the palace. Zuko scrutinized the hallway.
"Looking for something, sir?" the guard asked.
"Yeah, the path." Zuko smiled: at the end of the hallway, he saw a small pile of blue stones. He ran to them: they were in the shape of an arrow pointing down the second hallway. Zuko ran and found, on a table, a small card with another blue arrow on it. It pointed down a small hallway to the arcade. As Zuko entered the large room and looked around at all of the portraits of Fire Lords passed, he heard a bell ring. It sounded like it came from the corridor parallel to the arcade, and when he saw a blue arrow painted delicately above the doorway, he knew he was right. He walked into the Great Hall, and looked to his left: the curtains to the War Room had been taken down and replaced with new ones: they were a bright blue. Zuko smiled to himself and entered the room, looking around in the dim light. Suddenly, from behind, someone grabbed Zuko's torso and pulled him backwards into the shadows.
"Now, I've got you…" a deep voice said.
Suddenly, it hit Zuko: This wasn't one of Aang's tricks. But before Zuko could fight back, he found himself being pulled into a secondary room behind the chamber. The attacker let go, and hid in the darkness.
"Surprise!" A lone voice yelled from across the room. Suddenly, the candles all lit, and Zuko was standing in front of one of his guards, who was smiling devilishly. He looked over to see Aang.
"I'm sorry for the roughness sir, but I thought I'd play along," the guard said as he backed out of the room.
Zuko smiled and nodded, then ran over to Aang. "Aang, do you have any idea…I was about to attack that guy!"
"Shh…" Aang said, sliding close to Zuko and placing a finger over the teen's mouth, "don't you know what day it is?"
Zuko hesitated. "Um…Tuesday?" he smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, Zuko… Six months ago today, you found Kuzon," Aang said, expecting Zuko to have forgotten anyway.
"Really? It's already been that long?"
"Mm-hm. I thought we might do a little something special, just because."
Zuko smiled and kissed his boyfriend passionately, wrapping his arms around the younger boy. "What did you have planned?"
Aang reached up and began opening Zuko's shirt, "Oh you know…just a little…fun."
Suddenly, a guard rushed into the room. "Your highness, I'm so sorry to disturb you and the Avatar…" the guard looked at the two in the midst of preparing for sex. His face flushed. "But, we have a problem."
As the three walked out to the courtyard, the guard explained: "A Fire Navy ship entered the bay not too long ago, claiming that members of the Council of Five of Ba Sing Se were on board, wishing to speak with the Fire Lord. We felt something wasn't right, but when we noticed that the message was printed on paper with the royal seal of the Earth King, we decided to let the ship pass. Apparently, the ship that was carrying the Council was caught in a storm and nearly destroyed when a cruiser picked them up and brought them here. When we boarded to confirm the report, we made an interesting surprise…"
They rushed outside to see a battle unfolding.
"Fifty Dai Li agents were on that ship, and they stormed the bay, quickly advancing up the hill. Since we began disarmament last month, our defenses were poor; but then again, we weren't expecting an attack considering The Avatar was here."
"Captain," Zuko said, "assemble as many people as you can and get back here ASAP."
"Yes sir!" The guard left running.
"Come on, Aang, I think we can take them."
Dai Li agents were strewn about the bay. The great walls defending the old palace had been taken down as a sign of peace and good will towards the other nations. The agents had advanced with little resistance, and were now nearing the eastern edge of the palace complex.
Aang and Zuko rushed out into the battle to help defend the palace. A group of imperial guards had already begun fighting, but the Dai Li agents were swarming. Zuko quickly began to blast away as many of them as he could, hoping to get on board the ship where agents were earthbending boulders into the courtyard and toward the palace.
Aang bent a blast of air towards a column of agents, knocking them off their feet. He then trapped them with their hands and feet bound in columns of Earth.
He turned back to see if he could find Zuko in the midst of chaos. An agent, seeing the Avatar's back turned, took his chance and rushed at him.
"Ugh!" the agent yelled as he was struck with a stream of water. Aang looked behind him to see what had happened.
"Katara! Sokka! Toph!"
The three made their way into the courtyard, fighting off any attackers that came at them.
"We were down at some of the local villages when we heard of the attack! We got here as quickly as we could," Sokka said.
"Great! Sokka, Toph: try and get to the ship and stop those Dai Li up there," Aang commanded. "Katara, capture as many agents as you can!"
The three left to do as they were told. Aang stood in the midst of falling boulders as he summoned the power of the Avatar State. His eyes and tattoos glowed, and he was preparing to stop the Dai Li agents in the entire courtyard by sinking them into the ground where they couldn't bend, halting the attack immediately.
Zuko turned to see Aang, and smiled: there was no stopping Aang once in the Avatar State; but as Aang prepared to attack, Zuko watched in horror as Aang fell down to his knees, his head bent backwards and his mouth thrown open in pain.
"NO!" Zuko yelled as he ran to him, anger boiling in his heart.
Then everything went black.
Aang woke on a small table in the infirmary. The sun was shining in through the windows, and the light hurt his eyes. He winced and blinked. He was in great pain and could barely move; every muscle in his body refused to cooperate with his brain.
"Wha-?" he whispered.
Katara, who was sitting next to him, looking away, turned and gasped.
"Oh, Aang, you're awake!" she cried, reaching and hugging him.
"Ah! Ow!" he cried.
"Oh, I'm sorry. You got hit pretty badly."
"Don't tell me I died again…"
Katara smiled, "No, you were just knocked unconscious." She looked down at the young boy. "I'm glad you're okay." She reached for her water pouch and began to heal some of the bruises on Aang's body.
"And…Zuko?" he whispered.
Katara's face grew stern and she stopped, "Aang, I…He was never found. The Dai Li suddenly retreated, the ship pulled out, and…we think they took Zuko."
Aang sat up in anger, ignoring the pain. "WHAT? HOW COULD THEY?"
"Aang, be careful, you're hurt."
"I'll be fine, Katara," He said, groaning as he threw his legs of the side of the table, tears in his eyes. He was in great pain. "We have to get Zuko back."
"Well, Sokka and Toph went out on Appa about an hour ago to see if they could follow the ship, but they sailed straight into a storm, and they lost them. They were headed east, though, we think to the Earth Kingdom."
"Then we have to follow them."
"Aang, there's something else. It was Long Feng…he led the attack, and…he freed Ozai from prison."
Aang's eyes widened. "Why? He's powerless and an outcast! What could they possibly need him for?"
"Who knows, but we need to get him back and stop Long Feng and whatever his plans may be."
Aang nodded and stood up, pulling on his tunic and grabbing his staff. The two walked out past a hurried confusion of guards, masons, servants, and military personnel, trying to repair the damage to the palace and maintain government.
"General," Aang said to a uniformed old man walking back to the war room.
"Yes, sir."
"Contact Iroh and tell him that he's in charge until we get this sorted out."
"On it, sir." He ran down to the communications hub to send the fastest messenger hawk to Ba Sing Sei.
"Aang!" Sokka yelled as he rushed into the bustling corridor. "We've got everything we need ready to go. I figured you'd want to get out of here as soon as possible to search for Zuko."
Aang smiled at Sokka and followed him out to Appa. The adrenaline in his body was masking the serious pains in his back as he leapt onto Appa and took the reigns.
"Yip, yip!" He yelled, and they flew into the sky.
"They were headed towards the northwestern edge of the Earth Kingdom, just south of the Northern Air Temple. If we travel fast, we can make it there just after they land." Sokka explained as they headed out over the bay.
Aang nodded. I'm not going to lose you, again, Zuko, Aang thought to himself as he looked out over the ocean, his mind filled with anger and revenge and hate.
"Sir, Zuko is well secured in the dungeon. He won't be going anywhere."
"Excellent." Long Feng turned. "Not long now, sir, and you will have your empire back. The Phoenix Fighters are loyal to you, and their power is vast. Once we have ensured that the Avatar and his friends are far enough away from the capital to where they can't get back in time, we will strike. With their defenses down, we should have no problem retaking your palace."
"Very good, Long Feng," Ozai said. "When I have retaken my thrown, I will seat you as my highest advisor."
Long Feng smiled. "And what of your plans for the Avatar?"
"If he is killed in the Avatar State, the Avatar cycle ends. And that is exactly what I plan to do."