"This is what I'm thinking," Sokka said, "I'll leave the cell and 'forget' to lock it. While I'm telling another guard that the Warden wants the prisoners out in the courtyard, you sneak out of your cell and go out into the courtyard. Then we'll all meet up and then BAM! We've escaped," he smiled.
"Nice plan," Aram said, "But we have one problem— it's nearly impossible to sneak out of my cell unnoticed. There's only one pathway to the courtyard from here, and it's crawling with prison guards," he stated.
"Oh, right," Sokka said. Sokka went into his full concentration thinking mode and pondered other possibilities. Aram stared at Sokka, unsure whether or not he was thinking or was very constipated.
"Wait!" Sokka said, "What if I walk you out of here?" he proposed.
"Excuse me?" Aram asked.
"We can pretend that the warden has summoned you so I need to bring you to him. You'll have all your shackles and chains on so no one will suspect a thing. Once we reach a safe point, I'll unlock your chains and you can run out into the courtyard,"
"Hey, that's good enough for me," Aram shrugged, "Just tell me who I'm supposed to meet in the courtyard,"
"Well there's Zuko, Suki, and my dad. If you can't find me, look for Zuko; he has a giant scar over his left eye,"
"Cool, let's do this," Aram smirked.
As Aram was being dragged away in chains by Sokka, they walked in complete silence. Sokka wanted to talk with Aram and ask him questions about his past or even present, but he was still upset about Aram almost killing him. He knew that he should trust Aram, and that Aram was a good guy…but Aram did threaten to kill him and chocked him. Aram was clearly a very strong man who wasn't afraid to use violence, so Sokka wanted to be careful.
On the other hand, Aram was still suspicious of Sokka. After the Fire Nation raid, he wasn't trustful towards anyone. During the raid, some of the citizens, who were fire benders, joined the soldiers and fought the other villagers. People he'd considered his friends, neighbors, and elders had betrayed him and his family. After that, he vowed to never trust anyone again. The only reason he listened to Sokka was because of Rayna. No one outside of his family would know where her name came from, so Sokka obviously learned something from a credible source. Besides, even if this was a trap, he wouldn't be able to live with himself if Rayna actually was out there and he didn't save her.
"Hey," Aram said.
Aram's voice shocked Sokka a little bit, "What?" he replied.
"What's she like? You know, Rayna," Aram asked.
Sokka paused for a bit, thinking about all the possible ways to describe Rayna. "Well, she's…nice," he said.
"Look, I'm still not sure I can trust you," Aram said coldly, "You can at least give me more details. Telling me that she's nice isn't very convincing," he said.
Sokka gulped, "Um…you two have the same smirk and laugh," he said, "That's how I recognized you as her brother. Well that and your name. I mean, there aren't many Aram's out in the world. And I knew she was from Zai, so that helped too," he continued, "Besides, you guys don't look alike. Sure, you both have curly hair but still. You have blue eyes, while she has gray eyes; You have dark brown hair, while she has black hair; You have light and pale-ish skin, while she has very pale, almost white, skin," he said.
Aram smiled a bit at Sokka's response, "It's not much, but I'll take it,"
Sokka smiled back, "She's not a bad person, if you're worried about that. She's a good person, but she's just complicated at times,"
"Considering what we've been through, I'm not surprised that she can be complicated," Aram responded, "Hey…is she…dating…?" he asked, "I'm her big brother and I need to be aware of these things. Besides, since my dad isn't her, now I have to beat up any guys who try to date her," he said, "I'm also supposed to kill anyone who even dares to break her heart," he said menacingly.
Sokka's eyes went wide once he remembered that Zuko was technically Rayna's ex-boyfriend. He wasn't in the mood to tell Aram that Rayna's first boyfriend completely broke her heart and betrayed her, as well as leave a permanent scar on her right shoulder. "Um…no. Not right now," he said, "I mean she has been proposed to by an 8-year-old and has two or three secret admirers but nothing serious," he said.
"What about you?" Aram asked, "You don't have any feelings for her, do you?" he asked, slightly more menacing.
"Me? No way," Sokka said, "Besides, she'd rather be imprisoned than marry me,"
"Don't sell yourself short, man," Aram said.
"Oh no, she explicitly told me that she'd rather be imprisoned than marry me," Sokka admitted, "When we were hiding out in the Fire Nation, we had to pretend to be husband and wife since the avatar got in trouble at school and had to go see the principal," he said, "Back in those days, we were Mister and Misses Fire. I was the devilishly handsome father, Wayne Fire, and she was the mother, Sapphire Fire," he stated.
Aram gave Sokka a weird look, "Oh, okay, well as long as she's not in a relationship…I guess,"
"No problem, bud," Sokka smiled.
Sokka and Aram had finally reached a safe spot, and Sokka unchained Aram. As Aram continued to stay hidden, Sokka ran off and convinced a prison guard to release all the prisoners to the courtyard; warden's orders of course. The moment everyone was released, Aram immediately went to blend in with the group of prisoners and walked out to the courtyard.
Aram managed to find Sokka, who was with Suki and Hakoda, in the courtyard.
"Suki this is Rayna's brother, Aram," Sokka said, "Aram this is Suki, my girlfriend," he said.
"Nice to meet you, girlfriend of Sokka," Aram said.
"Nice to meet you too, brother of Rayna," Suki smiled.
"And this is my dad," Sokka said as he pointed to Hakoda.
"You can just call me Hakoda," Hakoda smiled as he shook Aram's hand.
"Nice to meet you, sir," Aram smiled.
"This is it! We have to start a riot," Sokka said.
"Okay. But how do we do that?" Suki asked.
"I'll show you," Hakoda said with a smug smile.
Hakoda walked over to a big, tough-looking prisoner and shoved him, but to no avail. Turns out this specific prisoner was working on his anger management, and therefore wasn't mad at Hakoda. Aram couldn't help but laugh a little bit, but he was quickly silenced by Hakoda's glare.
Suddenly, a big hulking shadow looms over Sokka and grips him by the shoulder. Sokka turns in fear only to find that it was Chit Sang.
"Hey you! You're lucky I didn't rat you out…," he started to say.
"Chit Sang?" Aram asked as he looked over.
"Aram?" Chit Sang asked as he looked back at Aram.
"Bro!" they both cried and they ran into a bro hug. Turns out that Chit Sang and Aram had been cellmates in a different prison a few years back, and they had become good friends. Apparently, they were notorious trouble makers and we're called 'the demon pair'. Chit Sang was sent to the boiling rock after spending his time at the past prison, while Aram was transferred to a different prison.
"Man, how long has it been?" Aram smiled.
"Too long," Chit Sang smiled back.
Aram suddenly had an idea, "Hey, so remember back in the old days when we'd randomly start prison riots just to bother the guards?"
Chit Sang chuckled, "Oh yeah, man, those were the good old days,"
"Well," Aram smiled, "we're trying to escape right now, but we need a riot. Do you want to do it like the old days?"
Chit Sang smiled back at Aram, "Just like the old days,"
Suddenly, Aram grabbed Chit Sang and lifted him up into the air and bounced him up and down. "HEY!" Chit Sang screamed, getting all the prisoners attention, "RIOT!" he hollered before Aram launched him down onto the ground. Suddenly, everyone broke out into a riot, even the prisoner who was working on his anger management. Aram and Chit Sang laughed and high fived each other, while Hakoda, Suki, and Sokka stared in shock.
Hakoda walked over and put his hand on Aram's shoulder, "Impressive," he admitted.
"Oh what, that? Please, that was nothing," Aram said as he stroked his own ego.
Meanwhile, Zuko was still trapped with Mai. They weren't even talking to each other; there was just a deadly tension between them. Mai had every right to be furious with Zuko, breaking a teenage girl's heart is one of the worst things you can do. To top it off, he lied to Mai. You'd think he'd stop lying to his girlfriends after what happened with Rayna, but apparently old habits die hard. He tried to convince himself that he wrote her a letter so she couldn't stop him or try to get involved, but he knew that he secretly did not want to face her. He was a heartbreaker, a liar, and a coward; truly a perfect man.
Out of the blue, a male guard burst into the cell, claiming he is there to protect Mai (even though she clearly doesn't need protection). While the guard insisted on protecting Mai, Zuko blasted fire at the guard and sprinted towards the door. Mai immediately chased after him, but he had closed the cell and locked the door before she could reach them. Zuko looked at Mai through the slit, while she angrily glared at him.
"I hope she breaks your heart," Mai said coldly. Zuko looked away from her and ran off to the courtyard, "Then you'll know what it feels like," she whispered to herself.
Zuko managed to reach the courtyard and find everyone just in time. When he arrived, he saw Aram slam a guard into the ground. A sense of fear fell over him as he realized that that man was Rayna's brother.
"Zuko! Good, we're all here," Sokka said. Aram walked over to the group, "Oh yeah," he remembered, "Zuko this is Aram, and Aram this is Zuko," he introduced them.
Zuko quickly shook Aram's hand, but immediately looked away afterwards. Aram knew something was going on with Zuko, but he knew that it wasn't the time to ask. At the same time, Zuko's face seemed very familiar to him. He wasn't sure if he'd met him before, or if he knew someone related to him, or if he just had a familiar face. Although he really wanted to ask Zuko about who he was or where he came from, Aram kept telling himself to wait until they'd escaped.
They'd managed to kidnap the warden and escape on the gondola all in one piece. Granted, they were on the verge of death when the gondola was being cut by other guards, but nonetheless it was a very smooth escape. After telling the warden to stick it where the sun doesn't shine, Aram and the others stole Azula's airship and set course towards the Western Air Temple.
