Chapter 25: Fire Ice and Friends Part II

As we walked to the igloo that they have been staying at I noticed that Sokka kept looking at me a lot. I already met the Chief and told him who I was, even though he already knew. He told me that it was an honor to have me here, and he welcomes me to his tribe. I bowed in respect, before leaving. We were going to the igloo so I could take of my armor, and we could talk, but on our way we said nothing. We just enjoyed being back together. I felt like I found something, but I lost something too. What did I lose? I thought, but when I was going to start thinking about it again Sokka looked at me.

"What is it Sokka?" I asked a little annoyed. We were already at the igloo, and I walked in through the curtains. I looked around, and saw three sleeping bags on the ground along with the stuff we carried on Appa. I immediately started taking of my armor. It felt good to get the un-needed clothes off.

"What happen Alec?" Sokka asked. Once I took off my armor all I was left in was my tunic, and Zuko's tunic. That was under the cloak Uncle gave me, and a pair of black pants. I knew they were probably worried about me, and wanted me to explain. I went over and sat on a sleeping bag. The others did this also, but since there were three Katara sat next to me.

"From the begining?" I asked.

"Yes, but why are you bruised up?" Sokka asked concerned.

"I was in a ship explosion," I said.

"Wait. What?" Katara asked.

"Zhao," I said his name with disgust. "Tried to kill Zuko, and he sent pirates to blow up the ship. I was still on it at the time, and BOOM!" I threw my arms in the air from dramatic effect.

"Are you okay? Did you break anything?" Katara asked while looking at me. I knew she was a healer now, and she was probably itching to heal something.

"No, I got out fine," I said.

"So did Zuko," Sokka said coldly.

"What you guys saw Zuko?" I asked.

"He took kidnapped me, and went in to a blizzard," Aang said. As soon as he said that I felt something in the pit of my stomach. I suddenly became worried to, and tensed. I didn't know why I was worried, but I was.

"What happened?" I asked a little to quickly.

"He escaped," Katara said. I sighed in relief, but they didn't notice.

"He doesn't have a ship anymore, so maybe he will stop chasing us," Aang said. We all nodded our heads in agreement. Then I started telling them what happened from the begining. From when I woke up, but I left out almost drowning to death, and being attacked. I kept going until I started telling them about my sword battle with Zuko, because I was inturpted by Sokka.

"You challenged Zuko to a sword fight?!" He asked loudly.

"Who won?" Aang asked.

"I did," I said, and pointed my thumb to my chest proudly.

"You won!?" Sokka exclaimed.

"Sokka lower it. I didn't want to be deaf, and yeah I did. I don't think I told you guys this before, but I'm a Master Swordsman," I told them. None of them really seemed surprised.

"That kind of explains why you were so good when you practiced with your daggers," Katara said. I started looking around for them. Since most of the supplies were on the floor.

"Where are my daggers anyways?" I asked. They all looked at each other, and I knew they weren't telling me something. "What happened to my daggers?"

"Um... They kind of got taken by the pirates," Sokka said.

"What!" I yelled. I used the palm of my hand, and slapped it to my forehead. Stupid pirates. I thought. After that I told them how I saw them in the storm, but they told me they didn't see me. I didn't tell them about music night, because then I would have had to tell them about me waking up to Zuko. That would have been hard to explain. I did tell them about my Dad though.

"So that guy that stared at you was your Dad?" Katara asked. I nodded my head. "What happened to him?"

"Uh..." I wasn't sure what to say. I was worried if I told them I would break down like I did in front of Zuko. I can tell them. They will understand. I thought, but it wasn't that easy. I lost him two days ago, and it still hurt to think about it. I could still see his lifeless eyes if I closed mine. I knew if I tried to talk about I would cry, and I feared the tears wouldn't stop if I did. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words came out. They all looked at me, and I wanted to say something, but I couldn't. I felt something twist in my chest, but I ignored it. I just shook my head. They knew by my silence I didn't want to talk about it, but I needed to.

"He was killed by Zhao," I said in a cold whisper. I blocked out any emotions, and was glad to feel no tears. I felt Katara put a reassuring hand on my shoulder, but I just looked at the floor.

"I'm sorry, but like we told Aang you're are family now," Katara said. I gave a small smile. It was nice to know I had people that cared about me. There was an eerie silence until Sokka broke it.

"How did you get here? Since the ship exploded," Sokka asked changing the subject. I let out a breath, and cleared my throat.

"I sneaked on to one of the Fire Nation ships," I said bluntly. "Enough about me. What happened to you guys?" Then they started to tell me their story. Right after I was captured they went out looking for me, but later figured Zuko would find them, and once he did they would find me. So they continued on there journey knowing I would catch up to them. Later they meet a group of kids that rebelled against the Fire Nation, and of course I put in my own comments on that. Turns out their leader had mental problems, and tried to wipe out a whole village of innocent people. While Sokka told me the story I noticed Katara tense next to me. I would be pretty pissed to if you give someone your trust and they broke it with no emotion.

After that they went down the worlds largest canyon with two very different groups. The two groups were also enemies for about a century. That was until Aang fibbed to them to get them to work together. I smiled at the monk who usually never lied, and he turned red with embarrassment. Then after the storm story Katara told me the one where her and Sokka had to suck frogs. As she told me the story Aang played with his thumb like he was trying to avoid something. What's with the secret? I thought, but choose not to pry. Not yet. The stories continued until they started telling me about this guy named 'Jeong Jeong'.

"Wait. I'm gone for two months, and you're already trying to find another firebending teacher?" I asked looking at Aang, but he was looking down at his hands.

"I'm never firebending again," He whispered.

"Why? You have to," I told him. This wasn't like Aang he was usually really happy about learning something new.

"I burned Katara," He said. I turned my head to look at Katara who was looking at her hands.

"Aang I told you I'm okay," She told him. Then she explained because of that she learned how to heal. Once they were done telling me everything it was my turn to ask questions.

"So how many people did you tell about me?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

"Almost everyone we saw," Sokka said, and rubbed the back of his neck. "You're not mad are you?"

"No. I finally accept that I can't hide my bending," I said truthfully. Aang was the first one to jump from his sleeping bag.

"Does this mean we can spar now?" Aang asked. I laughed, and shook my head up and down. I was about to get up and spar with him then and there, but then I heard a knocking at the 'door'. We all turned our heads to the curtains, and Aang walked over to answer it. When he moved the curtain a Water Tribesman stood out side with a scroll. He handed it to Aang and left.

"What is it?" Katara asked. We all stood up, and walked over to see. Aang unrolled the scroll, and read.

"Well were going to another feast," He said, and rolled up the scroll. After he said that I felt my stomach grumble. I place my hand over the area and could feel the hunger.

"When is it?" Sokka asked.

"Right now," He said. As we were about to walk out Katara grasped my arm to stop me.

"You two can go. I need to talk to Alec," She said. They nodded thier heads, and left. I turned to Katara.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"Oh nothing," She said. She tried to walk past me, but now it was my turn to stop her. This kind of reminded me when Lieutenant Jee asked me if I was 'okay'. I knew she wasn't telling me something.

"It wouldn't be nothing if you brought it up," I said and let go of her arm. She turned around, and looked my in the eyes.

"Did Zuko hurt you?" She asked. I knew why she asked. She was just worried. I shook my head, but she gave me the look telling me to tell the truth.

"No, Katara. I'm fine," I said.

"Okay," She said. I walked over to her, and put my arm around her shoulder.

"Now let's go before Sokka eats all the food," I said.

By the time we got back to the igloo I was stuffed. All I did was unroll my sleeping bag that was in the corner, and laid on my back. The feast wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be. Since they just finished fighting a battle against the Fire Nation. I thought they would be weary of me, but they acted like I was a normal person. It felt good to be back with my friends again. We laughed as we watched Sokka eat like no tomorrow, and then we watched a performance from some waterbenders. After that we decided to turn in early, but as we walked back I saw a Water Tribe couple kissing. I couldn't help, but remember mine and Zuko's almost-kiss. I laid on my sleeping bag with my hands on my head.

With every boy that came close to me like that they would always regret it. In the end they would always find themselves with a bruised face, and never getting what they worked for. Those were mischievous school boys, but this was the Fire Nation Prince. My captor. He should have gotten a ten times worse then those school boys, but what did I do? Nothing. I was doing the opposite, and bringing myself closer to him. He would have taken my first kiss, and I would have gave it to him. Why did I do that? I thought, but I knew I was just caught up in the moment. But why would he want to kiss me? That was a question I could not answer. I fell asleep that day with Zuko on my mind.

And that is the end of book 1 :)

Book 2 will still be on this story.

I hope you guys watched the trailer for this book. If not link is on my profile.

I won't post 'til next week. Thanksgiving Break! :)

Thanks for reviewing, and reading

Love - ALec