Opening Notes: Been a while, hasn't it? I'm sorry about the fewer updates, but this fic has slowed down a lot. I know what I want to do with it, but I've been too busy reading other peoples fanfiction—and discovering the awesome power of Naruto—and plotting epic-length stories—to work on Cosmic Repairs in the last few months. I've also been second-guessing my writing skills, and have determined to improve. Tell me if it's any better, or about the same.
Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender belongs to Michael DiMartino and Brian Konietzko, where it should stay as they have done such great stuff with it. James Cameron's Avatar belongs to James Cameron, which is good because I don't want it. Say what you may, but I just didn't like that movie. Far too much blue for my tastes.
Chapter Thirteen: In Which the Gang Splits Up, and Aang Puts his Foot in It (Not the North)
"He's not serious," Ursa snapped.
Zuko, Iroh, and Ursa sat in the mess. Aang was off meditating, but Zuko wasn't sure if it was to decide on his next course of action, or to decide how he would get the Mechanic out of the engine room. Azula was in bed just now, as was Suki; she'd said she'd need to get some rest in order to prepare for what would undoubtedly be coming next. Lu Ten was up on the bridge, shouting out some song that he was in the middle of making up; one which Zuko thought had something to do with birds, sunken ships, and an evil fruit. Nobody tried to understand too hard. Trying to understand Lu Ten could be detrimental to your mental health.
"So, instead of trying to put the world back in order," Ursa continued, "he's going to go and look for his friends? Can't you talk to him about it or something?"
"I already did," Zuko grumbled. He cleared his throat, and went to the map that they had spread over the table. "We have three people to pick up: Sokka and Katara of the Water Tribe, and Toph Bei Fong." Iroh's face lit up. "I'm assuming you know at least one of them?"
"The Bei Fong family," Iroh nodded cheerfully. "They are highly wealthy, and they have a very good cook."
"Glad to hear it," Ursa said dryly. "At least we will eat well, so this is not going to be a total waste. Joy."
"You're doing that thing again," Zuko pointed out. "Anyways, I was planning on splitting up so that we can speed things up. Aang, Suki and I would be going to the North Pole to find out if Katara and Sokka are there, and you would be going to pick up Toph. We—"
"I thought that the North Pole was the only place in the world with waterbenders," Ursa pointed out.
"I wish." Zuko shuddered. "Let's hope that we won't have to go to the Foggy Swamp Tribe."
"The Northern Water Tribe is not much better," Iroh warned. "Unless Aang can get the chance to prove that he is the Avatar, they are likely to simply execute you on the spot."
Zuko shook his head. "I know that they're at war with us, but I doubt they'd do that…" He trailed off, remembering Katara's out-and-out hostility towards him when he joined the group that Sokka called Team Avatar. "Actually," he amended, "maybe they would."
"And you're just going to waltz up to them, and ask if you can come in?" Ursa groaned.
"I could send a message ahead," Iroh offered. "I know Pakku of the Northern Water Tribe quite well."
Ursa stared at him for a moment. Finally, she threw her hands up in disgust. "I'm not even going to try to understand how you do that," she grumbled. "Fine. Get yourselves killed! Let's all charge dramatically to our deaths!"
"That's the spirit!" Lu Ten shouted in the doorway, shaking his fist in a way that, considering Lu Ten, was probably supposed to be dramatic or impressive, but came off looking a little bit childish. Everyone paused as they realized that the song they'd heard had ended several minutes earlier.
"… Son?" asked Iroh, sounding inordinately calm, "Who is steering the ship?" Lu Ten raised a finger, opened his mouth, and closed it.
"Oh," he said, mimicking his father's bizarre calm, "so that's what I forgot."
After several excessively bizarre minutes of finding themselves on a map and correcting their course, Aang decided it was time to go. Zuko and Suki threw their packs onto Appa's back, and climbed up. Iroh handed Aang a scroll to give to Master Pakku, and said goodbye. Azula and Ursa watched them as Aang flicked the reins, and Appa rose up into the air. Azula's expression was one of wide-eyed wonder and excitement. Ursa's was one of disapproval and worry.
"Why is Lu Ten like that?" Suki asked.
"Zuko's mom said it had something to do with his mother dying," Aang pointed out. Zuko sighed. His mother would do that.
"That's definitely part of it," he said. Aang looked at him in askance. "No, I'm not going to tell you the rest of the story. Ask Lu Ten some time."
The three of them were quiet for a moment.
"That was a rhetorical question," Suki pointed out.
"Ah."
There was a pause several minutes long. Suki looked over Appa's side at the landscape below. Aang looked over at her. This continued a few minutes longer, until Suki sighed, shook her head, and turned to face Aang.
"Well," she said with false brightness, "Since you so obviously have something to say, Aang, why don't you just say it?"
"Okay," Aang said. "Suki, you're from Kyoshi Island, right?" Suki stiffened, and Zuko groaned mentally and slapped a hand to his face.
"It's alright, Zuko," Suki said sadly, looking over at him. "I figured this would come up eventually." She turned back to Aang. "Yes," she said, "I came from Kyoshi Island."
"I know how that feels," Aang said softly. "To lose everything—your home, your friends, your family…"
"Yeah," Suki laughed bitterly. "Well, I think that the impact is a little different if it happens right in front of your eyes."
Aang stared. "You were on Kyoshi when it happened?" he exclaimed. "How did you—"
"Survive? One of the elders got me and another one of the kids to the ocean." Suki replied. "We swam out as far as we could, waited for help to show up." She shrugged. "Zuko came. He and his family took us aboard, and went ashore to look for survivors."
"Nothing was left, I've heard that part," Aang said, looking down.
"Glass was left," Suki corrected. "Ursa said that the fire was so hot, the ground fused into glass."
There was another pause, this one shorter.
"So what happened then?" Aang finally asked.
"We dropped the other two off at a port town," Zuko replied. "Suki stayed on a little longer, until we made her leave."
"You made her leave the ship?" Aang nearly shouted. Zuko and Suki recoiled. When Aang wasn't happy, he was very good at being very frightening. "Why did you make her leave the ship?"
"Bounty went up," Suki explained half-jokingly.
"Yeah," Zuko agreed ruefully. "We kinda got involved in a little naval battle with Admiral Chan, and…"
"Little?" Suki laughed. "THIS guy," she confided to Aang, "helped lead a complete route the entire Fire Nation navy, and sank the Fire Nation flagship, singlehanded, in a daring act of sabotage!"
Zuko shook his head. "Pretty much wiped out my chances of going home, 'cept as a conqueror." He leaned back and sighed. "Just my luck: get banished, become a traitor, and then discover that my entire life has been a lie."
Suki looked over at him fondly. "We used to talk about making a new home," she said. "A home—a village—for anyone the Fire Nation has done wrong by. A hidden village, where they couldn't ever find us, and we could be safe. And now, we have the chance to make the world so much better, and actually end the war over a year ago and save my island. Bring so many people back. This is just more than I could ever ask for."
"Okay, let's not get too sappy," Zuko warned her.
It ended up taking a week to get to the Northern Water Tribe. They were far enough North that, with Appa giving it his all, and taking the bare minimum of breaks possible, it could have taken a much shorter time of three days, but there was a major complication along the way (a story for another time).
Finally, after scrubbing off most of the glue (don't ask), they landed in the massive city (Zuko, judged it wise to get in a little further before trying to make contact. In his words: "The farther in we get, the closer to Katara we are").
Aang gazed up at the tall, foreboding ice spires that formed the buildings. "You know," he said, turning back to Zuko, "there were more people here when I last came." Zuko scanned the area and realized that he was right. The entire city seemed to be deserted.
"All right," he said. "I'm not liking this. Stick together, and tread carefully." Aang turned to walk toward him, and confirmed Zuko's suspicions about booby traps by falling through half-an-inch of ice into a massive snowdrift. "Tread more carefully than that," Zuko deadpanned as the snow spat the young Avatar back onto more solid ground. The three teens drew into a small knot. Gingerly, they threaded their way around the streets, searching for a sign of life.
"It's like they all left," Suki whispered. "Or they're hiding."
"Please hiding," Zuko pleaded. "I am not going back to the Foggy Swamp. Not ever."
There was a cracking noise, and all three of them froze. "Aang," hissed Zuko. Aang stretched out his foot, and tested the ice before him. It shattered again, but this time, Aang simply tripped, flailing his arms to regain his balance.
"Guys!" the Avatar shouted. "There's someone—"
The ground exploded.
Ice warriors rose out of the ground, spraying particles of ice everywhere. Suki was knocked from her feet by a water whip before she had a chance to raise her hands. As she tried to push herself to her feet, the water curled around her leg, and threw her against a wall. Zuko raised his hands, flames dancing in his palms, but suddenly the ground gave way and he found himself neck-deep in frigid water that turned solid the second his feet touched the bottom of the pit. Aang's leg was seized by whomever it was that he had stepped on, and he was slammed into the ground before he could finish his sentence, much less start bending. His head whacked painfully against the icy street, and he went limp.
A pair of feet walked over to stand in front of Zuko. "Well, well," a familiar voice said in a tone resting somewhere between spite and amusement, "if it isn't the Traitor Prince himself." The feet shifted, as if their owner was looking around the area. "And friends, it looks like. Fascinating, isn't it."
"So you've seen my wanted poster?" Zuko groaned, preparing to breathe a fireball. "I never did like it, anyway. Those stupid artists can never get my nose right for some reason." He could push the leader back, and then build up enough heat to free his hands, then—
The foot hit him in the chin. "Now, now," the voice said mockingly. "Don't be in such a hurry to leave. The chiefs are going to want to meet such an esteemed guest. And," the voice became less mocking and angrier, "I'm really, really curious about how exactly you got past my perimeters."
Suddenly, Zuko remembered whose voice it was. The cruel tone had thrown him off, and its bearer definitely sounded older—maybe that was why he hadn't recognized her at first. He strained his neck to look up. Dark skin, long hair, ice-blue eyes, older, yes, but it was definitely her.
"Bring 'em in, boys," said Katara of the Water Tribe.
Next Time on Cosmic Repairs: With their less-than impressive arrival at the Water Tribe, Zuko, Aang, and Suki must convince Katara to join the gang and save the world. And then there's another, bigger problem—Sokka isn't anywhere to be found…
Ending Notes: I'll write the chapter as soon as I remember to. Also, I'll be trying to increase the chapter length. See if you can find the shout-out I randomly decided to stick in there.