Appa landed on a patch of earth that was just barely visible through the mist.
"Good boy Appa," Aang smiled and patted the giant animal.
"How the hell are we going to find Zuko in this fog?" Sokka practically lunged off the bison and looked around in circles for a moment before running off in a random direction. "Zuko?" He called, "Zuko where are you? Come on!" Everything will be okay. Zuko's fine. Sokka thought to himself to try and comfort his brain that was running into dark corners about what had happened to the other boy. He bit his lip out of nervousness and circled around in the same patch of grass for a minute. He couldn't see anything that was more than two feet in front of him. He clenched his eyes and fists tightly to try and hide from all of his fear and be brave. He opened his eyes, and nearly exploded with happiness when he saw a blurry figure in the fog. The outline was unmistakable. Sokka gasped and ran as fast as he could to the figure. He made his way closer and closer until his goal was almost within reach. The fog suddenly evaporated and Sokka's sight was as clear as it could be. His eyes focused on what he thought was Zuko, which turned out to be a dead tree and a rock. His brain kicked into gear and told his feet to halt. Too late. Sokka's face went careening into the tree, knocking a hole in it. He leaned there motionless for a moment before pushing back and standing up straight. He swayed a little and gripped his head to try and lessen the dizziness that now consumed his head. Blood pulsed from his nostrils and there were quite a few splinters embedded in his skin. He looked up at the tree in confusion. How did...? His thoughts were interrupted by a shrill, high pitched voice.
"I can waterbend, remember?" Katara had run up to Sokka and put a hand on his shoulder.
Sokka flinched away from her touch and looked at the ground. His eyes swelled with disappointment and hate filled tears. One escaped down his cheek and fell to the ground. He was able to blink the rest away and conceal his emotions for the most part. "Right," he muttered and walked back towards the group. He looked around at his friends and his eyes landed on Toph. Memories that all of them could bend rushed into his head to form a plan of action. A stern, serious expression took over his face. He acted cool and in control, "Okay team, here's what we need to do. First: Toph! Can you feel if Zuko is actually here?"
She knelt and put a hand to the ground. After a moment she looked up, frowning slightly in concentration.
"The island is covered with tunnels. I can't tell where Zuko is, but there are definitely people down there."
"Great then we're at our island," Sokka tried to keep his tone cool but his words quivered with fear every time he formed one. "So the plan is that Toph is going to get us into one of those tunnels and find Zuko with her feet vision. Once we're in, Aang and Katara, you lead the way knocking out all of the people who try to get in our way."
"Jeez Sokka, swapping spit with that guy has made you harsh!" Katara butted in, putting emphasis on the the word 'guy', trying to intimidate her brother about what he was doing.
Sokka just brushed her comment away and continued to explain the strategy that he had created, "And from there, we find where they're keeping Zuko, rescue him, and head back to the island we were just on."
"But won't they just get him again? We should go to a different island!" Aang suggested.
"See, that's the thing. They'll be expecting us to go to a different island so we'll trick them by going back!" A little smirk was stamped on Sokka's lips at his self proclaimed brilliance. "It's a big island too so we can go to a different part of it. If they think that we went back to the same place, they'll think that we went to exactly the same place, but no! We're gonna change it slightly! Got it?"
"...No," Aang scratched his head.
"Well, we'll get there when we get there. Until then, we storm the castle!"
"But, this isn't a castle!" Aang cried out in confusion.
Sokka's palm and forehead collided with each other, "It's a figure of speech..."
A crack interrupted their conversation. The earth rumbled beneath their feet, and shifted aside to form the mouth of a slanted shaft descending into the ground.
"If you two chuckleheads are done," Toph said, impatience lancing her tone. "We have a prince to save." Without waiting for them to answer, she jumped down into the shaft and disappeared down its length. After a few moments her voice echoed back up the tunnel, "Would you hurry up?!"
Aang and Sokka were stunned into silence at Toph's action. Sokka shook it off quickly and followed her down the shaft after shouting, "Right!"
Katara looked at Aang. He gave a smile and shrugged before going down next. "Whooooooooooooooooo..." He shouted all the way down.
Katara finally closed her eyes tight and followed their lead by jumping down the long tunnel.
The earth grumbled above their heads, and the tunnel entrance collapsed, leaving them in darkness. A moment later, a fiery glow cut through the shadows as Aang cupped a handful of dancing flames between his palms.
"Alright Sokka," Toph said. "This connects with one of the smaller tunnels before joining up with the main shaft that cuts all the way across the island. Now we're in, what's the next step in your master plan?"
"Now we find where they're keeping Zuko. Aang, Katara, you lead the way and take out any guards who try to stop us. Our goal is to be quick, and powerful, not stealthy," Sokka explained. After he had finished his sentence, he took a deep breath and motioned for his team to start moving. Aang and Katara ran in front of everybody. Katara had her water pouch open and prepared, while Aang kept his arms in ready position. "Toph, tell us when you can see Zuko. Until then, we'll just have to go in blind-" He stopped mid sentence as he realized what he was saying.
"Oh anything but that!" Toph said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "How ever will we manage?"
Sokka showed an expression of regret at Toph's comment. They were nearing the end of the tunnel and could see the intersection to the main underground corridor. I'm coming for you Zuko, Sokka thought. They were about 10 steps away from the intersection when two large, muscular men in armor blocked their path.
"Hey!" the one on the left barked. "What are-" Toph stepped forward before he could finish, and stomped down on the tunnel floor, sending a wave of earth tossing the two men into the air. They slammed back to the ground and crumpled into unmoving heaps.
"Come on," Toph said urgently. "I can feel more that are on their way."
The group sped up and turned a random direction down the main tube. "We'll keep running until Toph feels him!" Sokka shouted behind him to the gang. He held his boomerang tightly, ready to strike at any moment.
Zuko was dragged painfully back to the metal-sheathed room by a fist connecting with his face. His head snapped back, a cut opening on his cheekbone. A fresh trail of blood trickled down his skin. When he finally blinked the stars from his eyes he was met by the leering gaze of the blonde haired man. Despair dropped like a stone into Zuko's stomach.
"How are we feeling today, my lord?" the man inquired, sadistic anticipation dripping from his words. "I've brought an entire new selection of instruments for you to sample. I hope that they are to your liking." Despite the pain that tore through his back, Zuko lifted his head, and with the last of his defiance, spat into the man's grinning face. The man recoiled in disgust, and backhanded Zuko, causing his head to jerk to the side. The metallic taste of blood filled Zuko's mouth. The man wiped the moisture from his cheeks, and glared down at him.
Pulling a blade from his belt, the man leaned down and traced the razor edge along the line of Zuko's jaw. Zuko flinched slightly at the touch of the cold metal. A smile flitted at the edges of the man's lips and ever so lightly, he pressed the tip of the knife into Zuko's jaw, and drew a hairline cut up to the corner of his unscarred eye. "That was foolish, my lord," he whispered. "I will make the pain of yesterday seem like a woman's slap for your resistance." Zuko's screams echoed around the room as the knife descended again.
Sokka's face twitched as the sound waves of Zuko's yell's reverberated through his ear canal, reaching the tiny bones that were endlessly sending information to his brain. He sharply turned a corner and skidded to a halt in front of a steel door. The rest of the group caught up to him a moment later. Sokka was draped over the large handle, trying to break his way into the room. He pulled and pushed in every position possible, but no luck, the door was locked. "Toph, can you get this door open? I know Zuko's inside!"
She shoved him roughly away from the door and planted her feet in a wide stance. With a groan, the heavy metal buckled as she slammed her fists into the center of the door. A teeth-grinding screech filled the air, and a moment later Toph tossed the door effortlessly to the side, revealing what was beyond.
I'm coming for you Zuko, Sokka thought before he barged through the threshold. The sight that was before him sent crippling shocks through his entire body. He scanned the scene and took in every, horrific detail. The blonde man hovering above Zuko, the bloody knife in his hand, the blood stains on the floor, the red and purple marks that were spattered all along Zuko's torso, and the worst of all, Zuko's expression; which showed a combination of agony, and hopelessness. His breathing got heavier and it felt like his soul was a piece of paper that got crumpled up and thrown on the ground in a busy, city marketplace, getting trampled and torn. His dilated pupils quivered and sweat dripped from various poors, chilling his body unnecessarily. Goosebumps formed and the tiny, invisible hairs on the back of Sokka's neck stood at attention. He opened his mouth to say something but only silence escaped his throat.
Nothing existed for Zuko now except the point of the knife. The uncountable times that it slashed across his skin had driven all else from his mind. Dying didn't seem so bad anymore. He welcomed it as an escape from the pain, and his only regret was that he would never see Sokka again, never hear his laugh or feel his touch. So when the door to his cell was ripped from its hinges, and Zuko looked up to see that achingly familiar outline, he knew that it was only a conjuring of his own desperate mind. He let his head drop back to his chest.
All of the moisture in Sokka's mouth seemed to have evaporated. He felt more rage flowing through his veins than he had felt in his whole life. His pulse skyrocketed and his face started to fade into a deep hue of red. Sokka lunged towards the blonde man. His body moved so fast, the gang could barely notice that he moved before he was already gone. While in the air, he twisted his body and pulled out his sword from its sheath that hung from his hip. He brought it down as hard as he could into his target, creating a deep gash on the man's shoulder.
Caught by surprise, the man stumbled back, and clamped a hand to the wound. Blood welled from between his fingers and dripped down his arm. A snarl of pain appeared on his face and he slashed at Sokka with the bloody knife still gripped in his unoccupied hand.
Sokka was too quick for him. He ducked out of the way and swiftly appeared behind the larger man's elbow. Sokka grabbed his opponent's wrist and jerked back fiercely. The strike wasn't forceful enough to break the joint but it was enough to immobilize the man's arm momentarily. While he was preoccupied with the new pain in his elbow, Sokka slid behind the blonde man and hit him hard on the back of the head with his sword handle. The large, blonde man fell to the floor, unconscious.