Chapter 36 The Trio
Zuko blinked awake at the canopy above him. It had been the sixth night in a row that he hadn't had a peaceful sleep without that reoccurring nightmare haunting him. He wasn't sure if it was the nightmare itself, the lack of sleep, or the fact that he hadn't been able to get a pleasant conversation, let alone a word of kindness, from the girl sharing his bed that was the cause of his new and very strange attitude. He was well aware that the others thought he was going crazy because of his new outlook on life.
Maybe I am going crazy, he rolled over when he finally decided that he wasn't going to get any more sleep than the few hours he had gotten that night. To his surprised, when he turned, to watch Katara sleep, she was already watching him. How long was she watching me? Why is she awake before me? Did she also have a nightmare? Zuko's thoughts started to seep around his mind when he was shocked for the second time in less than two minutes.
"Good morning Zuko." She sat up slowly and threw her legs over the side of the bed. She had gotten use to the extra weight on her; the chains and including the newly added weight that comes with the growth of the child in her womb. She was just thrilled that Zuko hadn't seemed to notice her extra pounds that she had put on already. Five weeks down and only thirty-five left to go, she rolled her eyes as she sighed.
He watched her until he finally sat up and moved across the bed to sit next to her. A huge smile had appeared simply by her greeting, he was just so thrilled to get anything instead of the normal "you snore" or "you kick" that had been his wake up greetings for the past month. He was also glad that Katara had finally gotten over whatever kind of stomach virus she had caught. Zuko had insisted on taking her to the doctor's but she would always shake her head no and sulk in a corner. He was just glad that he no longer had to wake up and hurry Katara to the bathroom to prevent more carpet damage from occurring. He was sure she was rather relieved at the fact as well.
He had been worried about Katara though. The stomach virus, her lack of appetite, her depressed mood, and her lack of speech towards him...Okay, he could understand the latter symptom but still Katara hadn't been herself during the past month. She was always moody, he could tell just by her body movements, and she turned her head in disgust to her normally favorite choice of food. Also, he could of sworn, that she was constantly rubbing her stomach.
"I'm glad you feel like talking again; I was getting a bit worried about you." He paused, "I understood why you didn't want to talk to me though." He scratched the back of his neck nervously and looked out the windows in front of him. The sun was just beginning to rise; the day had started and it was time he got to work.
"I'm sick," I thought you were finally passed that, Zuko thought as he opened his mouth to comment but she quickly shut him up when she looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm sick of this situation we seem to always be in. I'm sick of being quite, of being filled with so much hatred and sadness, I'm sick of fighting with you, and I'm sick of being held against my will." She looked at the ground as the tears started to fall.
"I'm only keeping you here for your own good," he cupped her chin and titled her head to look at him. "You'll thank me one day for this. After this war is over, you'll thank me because you'll be safe from any harm. If I let you go, even now, you would run out to try and fight and end up hurt, maybe even killed. I'm keeping you here to make sure you're safe."
"If you let me go now, I wouldn't fight anyone; I wouldn't even leave." I can't fight and I can't leave, I'm pregnant. If I fought I might hurt the baby and I couldn't leave because no one would accept me and an unwanted child of the Fire Lord. I'm stuck here whether I like it or not. "I've accepted that this is my home Zuko and that I'm to spend my life with you, even if it is against my choice. I can't leave and I won't from now on. I just want to stop being depressed and angry all the time so I'm going to try and be more understanding of you from now on. I'll try to look through situations the way you do and see them through your eyes. Please note though, that the key word is 'try'; I'm not promising anything."
Zuko smiled and wrapped his arms around her. "As long as you talk to me and I'm able to hold you, I'll be fine."
Katara sighed in his embrace. "Also, I'm really sick of this limited movement; please undo these stupid chains already." She stared at him pleadingly.
"I'll get the key," He stood from the bed and walked towards his wardrobe. "But you'll owe me for this." Katara rolled her eyes but couldn't help the small smile that crept on her face.
Sokka walked into the small inn that had become his new home. With the money that the pompous Fire Lord had given him he had been able to rent a room for a good time and even get a new outfit. After two people had tried to jump him from the sheer fact that his clothes were blue, he had decided that he was in need of a wardrobe change if he was going to stay in the Fire Nation. And he was going to be staying in the Fire Nation, at least until he knew his sister was happy, and he was sure that she wasn't. Not to mention he needed to find out a way to free Aang; Sokka was sure that the Airbender wasn't happy.
He sat down at one of the tables and a waitress quickly took his order and then went back into the kitchen. He sighed, the food here was a lot different then the food he was used to back at the South Pole. But he supposed it didn't matter as long as the meat here was still meat.
Sokka sat in the corner with his thoughts running throughout his head and twisting into each other as they fumed for his attention. He simply had too much on his mind and when the waitress returned with the plate of meat he had ordered he was rather glad that he could just gorge and forget his complicated life for a while.
His meal didn't last too long, seeing as most of his meals didn't even if they were buffets of some sort. He pushed the empty plate away from him and smiled as he leaned back in the wooden chair and placed a hand on his now full stomach. He felt that he was in a much better mood now that he had a full stomach. He was about to go pay for his meal at the front desk and then head further into the inn to his room again when the door swung open and a couple of cloaked figures walked in.
Sokka's eyes narrowed as one of the figures seemed to be looking at him. Perhaps he was being a bit paranoid, a thought of being dragged away by the Fire Nation army had often occurred to him though and right now that thought was screaming in his head. The Fire Nation was always recruiting boys around his age to join the army and if they came to him he'd have to reveal his identity, only to be thrown in jail for being from the Water Tribe. He'd rather rot away in jail then be a part of the Fire Nation's murderous army.
But then as the figure moved toward him, he knew he wasn't as paranoid as he had thought. He reached for his boomerang and for possibly the tenth time since he was torn out of the palace remembered that he no longer had it. Damn you Zuko, he cursed as he watched the figure seemingly glide towards him. That bastard had to leave me defenseless! I guess I'll have to make due with something else.
He was about to push up from his chair and use said chair as a weapon when the figure took two giant leaps and landed a mere two inches from him. He was startled and fell back off of the side of the chair, landing on the floor back first. "I'm sorry if I startled you," a sweet, high pitched voice giggled, "I tend to forget that I'm in a cloak and people don't know who I am."
Sokka blinked and looked up at the hooded figure who was now un-hooded. "My name is Ty Lee." She had long brown hair that was tied back and bright happy eyes. She held out her hand and Sokka shook it only to be completely shocked as she lifted him to his feet and brought him extremely close to herself. "You're cute." She giggled again and Sokka blushed as he took a step off to the side.
"Ty Lee," Another one of the now un-hooded figure groaned. It was also a fairly young girl with black hair and bored looking eyes. "I told you not to always go bounding around everywhere. You never know who you might be talking to."
"Don't worry about that Mai," one of the still hooded figures placed a hand on Mai's shoulder, "Sokka is on our side." The figure pushed back his hood and Sokka's eyes widened as he stared at the all two familiar face of Jet, the leader of the Freedom Fighters.
"Jet?" Sokka asked in disbelief. "What are you doing in the Fire Nation?" He quickly clamped a hand over his mouth and looked around the room. No one was present, it seemed as everyone had left when the new comings had walked in.
"Sokka please, take a seat, it's a long story." Jet walked past the girl known as Mai and pulled a chair up to Sokka's table. "First, let me introduce my associates; Mai and Tai Lee. I hope you remember Smellerbee, Longshot, the Duke, and Pipsqueak; my fellow Freedom Fighters."
"Yeah, I remember them, all of them." He looked over Mai and Tai Lee. "Those two were friends with Princess Azula; I remember seeing them as they walked around the palace with her. I don't know why you're hanging out with them Jet, they are from the Fire Nation after all."
"Yeah but we want to over throw Zuko like Jet does." Ty Lee spoke up happily. Mai glared and slapped a hand to her forehead.
"Ty Lee, remember what I told you before?" Mai asked as she skeptically looked over her friend.
"You mean that I shouldn't blurt out important information about the rebelling until I'm sure that I can trust who I'm talking to?" Mai nodded her head once. "But I do trust Sokka; he's cute and trustworthy."
"Being cute doesn't make someone automatically trustworthy, especially when they probably hate our guts." Mai folded her arms across her chest and leaned back against the wooden chair.
"He doesn't hate us," Ty Lee paused and looked at Sokka, her expression beginning to falter, "Sokka, do you hate us?"
Sokka was taken aback by the girl's boldness, but then he thought that she might just be really blunt, not brave. "Not really, no. You two haven't really given me a reason to hate you in particular. Still, if Azula is in this uprising as well then just count me out because I'm not going to work with that--"
"Azula's dead." Mai shifted uncomfortably in the chair and looked at Ty Lee. She had settled down and seemed less energetic already from the few seconds that had just passed from when she bouncing around the place happily; simply mentioning her friend's death was enough to put her in a lesser mood.
"Zhao killed her, betrayed her, to take over the throne after they killed Ozai. He had everything planned even before he started to trick Azula into a false sense of security. He used her and once she was no longer needed he killed her." Mai went on explaining, looking at the blank table before her.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Sokka muttered and was surprised when a thought of pity for the passed Princess rose to his mind.
"No you're not, you hated her; everyone hated her." Mai placed a gently hand on Ty Lee's shoulder. "Everyone except Ty Lee and myself; we were her only friends and I'm still sure she didn't trust us fully."
"After Zhao took over the palace, we left the Fire Nation and headed to the Earth Kingdom for some protection. We knew Zhao would look for us, to silence us from telling others what we knew about him and Azula, so we weren't about to give him that chance." Ty Lee forced her smile to remain on her face. "That's how we met Jet."
"I was trying to find a ship that would be able to get us all into the Fire Nation." Jet pulled out a piece of grass from his pocket and began to munch on the end of it. "It's about time we took the fight to the Fire Nation and with a new Fire Lord being in charge it was the perfect time to strike."
"We were going to help Mai and Ty Lee enforce justice on Zhao for what he did to their friend." Smellerbee spoke up. "Then we would end this war once and for all by ending the Fire Nation's monarchy."
"But by the time we actually got here, Zhao had already been dethroned. We were surprised to hear that Zuko was now crowned the Fire Lord." Pipsqueak rubbed the back of his neck. "But after what he did to Haru, we figured it was still worth doing and we have an even better reason now."
"What surprised us even more though," The Duke looked at Sokka with an accusing glare, "Was that your sister had joined Zuko's side."
"She hasn't joined his side! She's being forced to stay by his side!" Sokka stood up from the table so fast that his chair fell to the floor. "She wouldn't be willing to stay with that jerk after everything he's done!"
"I'm glad to hear that," Jet smirked. "I was beginning to think your sister had bad taste."
"She does," Sokka grabbed his chair and adjusted it back up. "First she liked you and then she liked Zuko--"
"What makes you so sure she doesn't still like Zuko?" Smellerbee asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I think I know my own sister," Sokka sat down as he pouted, "she has just been a bit confused and right now she's probably miserable with Zuko. I know she's worried about me and if she could have left that castle she would have to come and find me by now. That means that Zuko's holding her against her will and if you guys want to take Zuko down then count me in."
"That's what I wanted to hear. Welcome to the rebellion, Sokka." Jet held his hand out and Sokka stared at it for a few moments. He looked around the table at the others watching him. Mai was expressionless, Ty Lee was practically bouncing in her chair with joy, and the rest were all smirking. Sokka took a deep breath and he shook Jet's hand.
Sokka couldn't help but feel like he had just made the biggest mistake in his life. "So, what's your plan?"
"We need to gather more support, but that will be simple enough." Jet moved the grass piece he had been chewing on from one side of his mouth to the other.
"Many of the aristocrats in the Fire Nation disprove of Zuko and his decisions; he hasn't said anything about his future plans for the war and that's beginning to scare them. Then when they ask him about your sister, he claims that she's to be married to him." Mai noticed Sokka tensed but she continued. "That makes them angry because the Fire Nation's monarchy isn't supposed to be tainted with any outsider's blood. So whether Zuko stays in power or not, the Fire Nation will never be the same."
"We may hate Zhao but we still love our Nation," Ty Lee leaned next to Sokka, "so when we dethrone Zuko we're going to make sure the new Fire Nation ruler is to everyone's liking and then I'm going to go back to my circus." Sokka nodded his head in a way that said he understood even though he was confused about what Ty Lee was babbling about.
"After we gather enough support, we're going to storm the castle and after that, we'll decide then." Jet smirked.
"Just as long as we save Katara and Aang, I really don't care what happens after that." Sokka stated as he moved his chair a bit farther away from the clinging Ty Lee.
"That's understandable and Sokka, don't worry, we'll get Katara back safe and sound." Jet stood up and slammed his hand down on the table. "Now, we should split up and try to gain support. Sokka, you and--"
"Can I go with Sokka?" Ty Lee raised her hand eagerly. Sokka paled and shook his head wildly in protest; he already had a bad thought about what would happen if he was left alone with the deranged girl.
"Ty Lee I think it would be better if you go with Mai and Pipsqueak." Jet chuckled as Sokka sighed and Ty Lee pouted. This is going to be quite some team of rebels.
Aang sighed miserably as he looked around the darkened cell. There were no windows and only a small candle in the opposite corner of the room that barely illuminated said corner. He had a tight choking collar around his neck and shackles bored into his wrists and ankles. The only movement he could really make was sitting, standing, or scratching.
He was so lonely. Every time a guard would come in to hand feed him some sort of gruel that gave him just enough energy to live but nothing else, he would try to have a pleasant conversation. The guard never replied and would only shove the food into his mouth harshly if Aang continued to talk. He didn't even know how long he had been in this cell, or what time of day it was, or how his friends were. He had tried asking for the time or to see his friends, but the guards disregarded him. Then Aang tried counting his meals but quickly lost count.
Aang sighed again and closed his eyes, eager to go back to sleep; it was all he could do. He could dream. With his dreams he was still with Sokka and Katara, he was with Appa and Momo, even Monk Gyatso joined him sometimes in his dreams.
Aang opened his eyes and looked around the cell, unable to sleep from the sheer fact that he had been asleep for countless hours. He sighed again as a memory came back to him. Katara and Sokka were on Appa's saddle, looking at him. Katara had just asked him why he didn't tell them that he was the Avatar.
What's so special about being the Avatar? Aang thought depressingly as he looked at his shackled life.
I hope everyone had a very happy holiday, whatever it may be that you celebrate! Also I hope all of you have a happy New Year!
For this chapter I thought it would be for the best if I let you all know how the other's have been doing in their new lifestyles. Katara's starting to force herself to adjust to her new life, Sokka's making some new...friends, and Aang's just so depressed and alone! But who can blame the poor monk, he's 12 and everything that he has ever loved has been takened away from him, even his Airbending! Oh and in case you guys are wondering about who I ship with Sokka, I really like Ty Lee and Suki both but I find Ty Lee better. Oh and Yue's just dead, you can't ship with a dead person!