A/N: Ah, chapter twelve. We meet at last. This will be long lol. Sorry. So, in my imagination (therefore my story), the Air Temples have a LOT of hallways that sometimes go nowhere or are completely unnecessary to have. Why, you ask? Because in my head the people who built the Western Air Temple wanted the place to be confusing to outsiders; they used a lot of dead-end hallways (see chapter 10) and useless hallways that connect to other useless hallways etc, etc, to trip up intruders and the like. Also, not all of the people who lived there were benders, right? We know that from the other three kingdoms/tribes etc. So not everybody could simply glide from one building to the next like Aang can. There are hallways and such connecting the individual buildings (the one Wren woke up on was one of the few solitary ones) so that the non-benders could get around. This info is essential (kinda) to this chapter, and I couldn't manage to fit it in AND sound natural and stuff. I started out with this notion, but I realized before I started writing that I hadn't communicated that as much as I would have liked. ^^ So basically, labyrinth of hallways = Western Air Temple. Enjoy! Also, check out my new story - yay!

"Zuzu?" Wren giggled. What a cute nickname!

Wren's mind was working slowly - Zuko was still so close she could feel his warm breath in her hair and on her ear. Suddenly, he sprang from her like she was poison. Her hands automatically went to his stomach (yum yum!) to keep him close. Then, her brain caught up with the situation. A girl was standing before them, a bit out of breath. She was dressed head-to-toe in Fire Nation garb, hands at the ready with a just-visible sadistic smirk on her face. One glance told Wren who she was. Of course she would be here. Of course.

Realization struck home; AZULA! AZULA WAS HERE! FOR AANG! What to do what to do what to do?! Find AANG! She couldn't leave now, she couldn't run, she didn't know where he was, or where she was, she couldn't leave Zuko, she couldn't get past Azula. She weighed her options carefully in her head. After a few seconds of heated and lightening-fast internal debate, she stayed still. The battle that would ensue her trying to find Aang wouldn't be worth it. She had to pick her battles; she'd take the first exit she could get, and drag Zuko along with her.

There was a tense silence where the two Fire-Benders stared each other down, stances ready. Wren dithered behind Zuko; she had no idea what to do, now. Surely this was Azula - surely - who ELSE would it be? Did Zuko want her to himself? Did he even need her help? Suddenly, footsteps were thudding in the distance, growing louder. Both of the siblings took a short glance in the direction, but there was nothing but darkness there. Out of nowhere, a girl went flying past them. She skidded to a halt, and ran the five or six feet back to them.

"Azula, they...got..." said a dreary voice, slightly annoyed and very out-of-breath.

The girl had just caught sight of Zuko, still unbearably close to Wren, completely shocked. It didn't help that his shirt was askew and his hair thoroughly mussed. Wren put a hand on her hair to check the damage, and found that it too felt like she'd just...well, never mind.

"Zuzu...you remember Mai" Azula said viciously.

There was a scream of indignation, followed by a swift motion. A dagger just missed Wren by an inch. With this, action exploded. Fire flowed through Wren like she was a natural-born Fire-Bender, and she was sending a blast before she knew what she was doing, not in Azula's direction (but she was next), but in Mai's. She couldn't help it; her dream came flooding back to her. And dammit, this Mai wasn't going to be the one being kissed by Zuko at the end if Wren could help it.

This surprised the two enemies, and using this distraction, Wren grabbed Zuko's ready hand and bolted past them, heading straight for the main area where Aang was sure to be. Halfway down the hall, the pair had caught up with them, but were held off in the small hall by Wren and Zuko's combined blasts of fire. Wren and Zuko all but poured into the main area; to find it completely deserted, but decorated heavily with the evidence of battle. A red war balloon was sitting pretty on the lip of the cliff, and Appa was flying in circles, roaring every few seconds; looking for Aang. The cliff-adjacent room was riddled with scorch marks, small knives in the walls and floor, chunks of the floor and walls were missing where undoubtedly Toph and Haru were fighting, and most sickeningly, pools of blood were scattered here and there. Wren repressed a shiver; she didn't have time to worry. Azula and Mai were back upon them.

Azula went straight for her brother, while Mai - eyes watering - came for Wren. Though Wren was still exhausted and in pain from her battle with Katara and the burn that still hadn't been healed, her anger took over completely once again. Mai threw knife after knife after dagger after throwing-star at her, and Wren simply dodged every one. She was too angry to settle down and use an Earth-attack; she was only focused enough to use Fire, the easiest element to use because it was fueled in part by emotion. And she had a lot of emotion at the moment. Mai withdrew a dagger from her robes and it barely missed Wren - it cut part of her hair and robe as it passed, leaving a straight, clean and light scratch on Wren's waist. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the girl pat her robe for another dagger, but then a panicked look came to her face as she patted more frantically; she was out of knives. Wren took this opportunity. She twirled into Mai, sending a potent eruption of Fire in her direction - it was everywhere, the fire. It came from both fists and her mouth. She only stopped when she heard the satisfactory crunch. She watched Mai for a few seconds; she didn't get back up. The sight was an ugly one; her whole upper torso was burnt, what was left of her chest was open and exposed. Wren turned away.

She saw Zuko and Azula fighting intensely. She would have probably let Zuko handle it - he's a big boy - but they had no time. They needed to find Aang. So Wren decided to use the move that she hadn't unleashed yet. She separated her energies, and where they met again after rejoining is where she pulled her power from. She took as good of an aim as she could - and shot Azula in the back with her home-made lightening. Azula was raised off of the ground for a few seconds - having a sort of mid-air seizure - before crumpling to the floor and spasming sporadically. It was a disgusting sight to see a fellow human so easily disabled. Zuko rushed forward and grabbed her hand. They had to find Aang.

Thinking as one, they headed for the trapdoor. They opened it and found no evidence - except for a severely agitated Moose - of life, forget the group. So, they were still in the Temple somewhere. They ran down the first hall they could find, and then another, then another, then another! Did the builders of this place MEAN to make it a crazy house? Just when they were about to give up, the floor was pulled around their feet, unnoticed by Zuko, who had shoes on, but it meant good news for Wren. An Earth-Bender! Wren skidded to a stop, pulling Zuko along with her, and looked around. She started to run back to where she had felt the floor move when she ran head-long into somebody.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Toph!"

"I'm glad you guys are okay"

"I'm glad you're okay, too! Where's everybody else?"

"Follow me"

She led them back to a random room in the hall. She and Zuko never would have found them if Toph hadn't sensed them running by. Thank the Spirits for Earth-Bending. Toph led them to the room, and everybody was operating in the dark until Zuko and Wren lit their hands. This wasn't good, not at all. The majority of the group was doing fine, but Haru had taken a small injury to his arm and Teo...it didn't look like he was going to make it out of here. Katara was doing the best she could on him, but a girl named Ty Lee had apparently done quite a number on her. Aang, and now Wren, were doing their best to try to heal, but neither were doing a great job - the blood just wouldn't stop coming. Toph and Sokka were updating them on what happened, voices overlapping and interrupting each other.

Sokka and Toph and been above the Temple, playing with Moose, when suddenly Toph felt an attack below. She and Sokka ran into Haru and Teo on the way, who insisted upon coming, even though Teo was essentially useless in combat and Haru's Earth-Bending still needed ample amounts of work. They arrived to find Katara and Aang getting their asses kicked by Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. The fight was going down okay until Mai had gotten it into her head that attacking Teo would be a good idea. He'd been hit with no less than seven knives before anybody else noticed. That's when Sokka and Aang managed to get the idea across to separate and lose them in this labyrinth Air-Benders used to call home - that way they could meet up in a secret place and heal Teo. It worked. Azula went after Aang while Ty Lee and Mai went after the rest.

Ty Lee and Mai caught up with them. Ty Lee went after Katara while Mai was after Sokka. Toph turned, and Earth-Bended three spikes out of the stone floor, knocking Ty Lee into the wall, pinning her there. They all heard the bones crunch, and the blood spill to the ground. Ty Lee was down. Then Toph, Sokka, and what was left of Katara turned on Mai, who promptly turned and sped off in the opposite direction. They went to the safe place where Aang met up with them a few minutes later. That's when Wren and Zuko filled in the rest of the story.

"So Azula and Mai are down? We can get out of here okay?" Aang asked.

"As far as I can tell, yes" Wren answered.

"Then let's go. There's no point in sticking around when they know where we are. If we can get far enough away to where they can't follow us, then we may have a chance at them being unable to find us. At least not for another few weeks" Aang said tiredly.

"What about Moose?"

"They came in on an air balloon" said Haru, his voice a bit pained.

"So?" Wren asked.

"So Haru's got a point. We can put Moose in the balloon - it should be big enough for him and one Fire-Bender to power it. It can fly alongside Appa - it should be able to go just as fast"

"And if it doesn't?" inquired Zuko.

"We'll tie a rope or something to it and it can just go with the flow" Sokka said, clearly basking in his own brilliance.

"Okay, can we GO now? We don't know how long they'll be out"

And so they left. They got to the main room, and saw Azula still lying there, crazy-close to the edge of the cliff, breath shallower than a puddle. Mai was even worse. Zuko took a long look at her, then turned his face away with an expression of deep disgust. Wren and Zuko took control of the balloon, Zuko showing her how to do it - while the rest of the team packed up Appa, who had calmed down. Zuko took the balloon to ground level, and opened its door to get Moose in. He would just fit. It was a little hard getting him in, but once it was all done with, he laid down on the floor and that was that.

A fully-loaded Appa landed next to Zuko and Wren. They tied the balloon to Appa's saddle, and the last thing Zuko did was set the burner to carry the balloon to a reasonable height. After the fuel ran out a Fire-Bender would have to provide the flame, but they wouldn't need to do that for another two days or so. And sitting on Appa side-by-side holding hands, Wren, Zuko, and the rest of the gang took off for the nearest city. Teo would need real medical attention. At the last second, Wren turned to get a last look at the Western Air Temple. It felt more like a home than any other place to her. And even though they were quite a distance away, Wren could have sworn that there was nobody in the main room.