I give you: chapter 13!!!!
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"Wait! There's someone else here!" shouted Toph as the group continued through the seemingly endless maze. She sprinted towards the wall of the cave and everyone else followed.
"Is it Katara and Zuko?!" asked Suki as she dragged Appa towards the gathering. Toph put two hands on the wall and focused on the vibrations.
"Um, I don't think so. It's just one person." she replied. Sokka and Aang turned to eachother, eyes wide with fear.
"What if it's Hama?" Sokka asked, putting both hands on the sides of his head, dramatically. Aang looked at Toph, asking the same question.
"Could be. They're moving toward a big room. That's all I can see."
Katara and Zuko sat in complete silence, trying to wrap their minds around what they had revealed to eachother. Katara could feel Zuko's hand still on hers, not for protection, but out of love. His amber eyes seemed more beautiful, now, than ever. In about a thirty-second span, she could see all of the pain and abuse that had been inflicted on him in the past. Suddenly, she noticed that he was slowly moving towards her. She felt hot, now; not because of him, but because her heart was hammering away. Just as his lips were about to make sweet contact with hers, there was a loud rumbling on the other side of the room. Both of them jerked they're heads away to see the intruder. It was Hama.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you two would try to escape." She brushed her gray hair away from her face, nonchelantly. "No matter." With a swift wave of her hands, she grabbed water from the air and sent Katara crashing against the wall, surely re-opening the wound on her back. NO! Zuko stood to face the woman in a firebending stance.
"Not this time!" He thrust his hands out in front of him, unleashing the inferno on the old woman. Using the water in the air, Hama sent a bundle of razor-sharp ice daggers in his direction. Zuko dodged them and retaliated with more fire. Suddenly, he saw a wave of water come out of his peripheral vision and wash over Hama, knocking her off of her feet. Katara had regained her ground and began fighting along side him.
"She's got no bloodbendong! We can take her down easily!" Katara shouted. Zuko looked at her and nodded. He knew that she must be in some major pain if she was still fighting, but soon returned to the battle before him. Before he could react, Hama slammed him up against the statue with her own wall of water, and froze him there.
Katara immediately, waved her arm, un-froze Zuko from the stone, and brought him down safely.
"Oh, Katara. I don't need the moon to bloodbend. I've become even more powerful than you!" Hama's evil cackle echoed throughout the room as the muscles in her arms tensed. Katara didn't know whether she was planning on using the deadly art on her or Zuko, but the she knew one thing; she couldn't let him get hurt on her account.
Katara suddnely, saw Hama's gaze point toward the firebender, so she did the only thing she had time to do. Mustering all the strength in her body, and throwing the agonizing sensation aside, she sprinted towards him with a piercing cry. "NO!"
The fatal bloodbending that was meant for the Fire Lord was suddenly channeled at his waterbender.
The Gaang was now running frantically to keep up with their earthbending guide. "I can feel them! They're this way!" she shouted as she sprinted through passageway after passageway. Sokka was going mad with fear with each passing second. He had never been more scared for his sister in his entire life.
"Can you tell what they're doing?!" shouted Aang from on top of Appa. The bison's footsteps shook the very earth, but the group wasn't concerened when they heard Toph's response.
"There's three of them, and they're fighting!" Sokka, Suki, and Aang all looked at each other, eyes wide with fear. Suddenly, they came to a huge, stone door. Sokka, in his frantic state, brgan pushing on the stone, in an attempt to get through, but was pulled aside by Toph.
"Forget it, Snoozles! This is my job!"
Katara felt her limbs go numb as she shielded Zuko from his attacker. Her body was frozen in that same, running position as she stared at the ground. Zuko looked on in amazment as she protected him. Quickly, he looked up at Hama, who seemed surprised at first, but a sinister grin soon took over.
"That's alright. Either way is fine with me." She clenched her hands into fists, out in front of her, summoning a quick gasp from Katara.
"What are you doing?!" Zuko shouted, forming another offensive stance.
"Well, since you're next, I might as well tell you." Zuko was feozen at the horrific tone of her voice. "I can easily kill your little lover by stopping all blood-flow within her veins." He was speechless as he looked down at the waterbender's face, which had now turned a bright shade of red. Her eyes were squinted shut and her teeth were clenched tightly.
"STOP! She can't breathe!" he shouted desperately.
"That's the general idea, yes." Hama replied sarcastically. Katara face was now turning a light shade of purple; within seconds, she would die. There had to be something he could do.
Feeling the power and desire within him, Zuko closed his eyes and focused all his energy on his waterbending opponent. "No, you'll not take her from me." he whispered. Knowing what he was about to do, he opened his eyes and smirked at the witch. Extending his fingers and letting the chi flow through him, he unleashed a bolt of lightning from his fingertips.
Hama had no time to react. She was thrown back, against the wall, causing an avalanche of rocks to tumble onto her. Zuko lowered himself onto one knee and lifted a now, gasping Katara from the ground. The color was slowly returning to her face, but they weren't out of the dark yet. She was still seriously wounded and they needed to get out, quickly.
Slowly, Katara opened her eyes to see Zuko staring down at her with great concern. A sharp pain was emitted from her back and her head, which made her wince at the sensation.
"Katara, you know how to get out of here. How?" he asked frantically. The answer was on the tip of her toungue, but she couldn't speak, due to the agonizing pain she was experiencing. Without a word, she lifted her feeble arms up and around his neck. Zuko took the hint and leaned down to meet her half way. Katara's lips brushed against his as he lifted her further from the ground.
Almost instantly, there was a bright light that almost blinded the couple. Reluctantly, Zuko pulled away from the kiss and looked up towards the source of the light. On the ceiling, were hundreds of little, green stones that shone with a light like he had never seen. Zuko was destracted from the oddity as he felt Katara go limp in his arms.
Suddenly, he heard a loud "BOOM" from the other end of the room. "KATARA?! ARE YOU IN HERE?!" "ZUKO, ARE YOU GUYS IN HERE?!" The shouts and cries were coming from Aang and Sokka. He had never been happier th see them.
"We're over here!" he replied, holding Katara bridal style and walking towards the group. The moment Sokka layed eyes on him, he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SISTER!? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
"I didn't do anything! It was that crazy Hama lady!" Zuko shouted back. Sokka stepped back and calmed himself. Aang hopped off of Appa and took the lead again.
"Before we start asking questions, we need to get out of this cave." He paused for a moment as he looked at the blazing stones on the ceiling. Adopting an awkward look and rubbing the back of his neck. "Looks like we won't have any problem getting out." he said, starting toward the trail of green diamonds.
"Wait, that's how we get out?" Zuko asked, surprised. He looked down at the unconcious waterbender and realized that her kiss was the ticket out. Their love had saved them.
Throughout the whole treck through the tunnels, Zuko remained silent and contemplative, still in shock. Now that they were home free, little questions had come from the corners of his mind and attacked his thoughts; questions that would need to be answered as soon as Katara woke up.