Disclaimer: I own nothing in relation to Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Take the Good With the Bad
I stop at a door. Opening it I see I'm in a circle opening.
"Hey, look who's here," Jee says looking at me.
"Hi Jee. Nice to see you again," I say giving him a smile.
"Phil here just told us that you and Zuko are engaged," Jee says pointing to Phil who suddenly looks up. I look at Zuko who has his arms crossed and leaning against a wall and giving Phil a look. Neo and Ling are smiling at me.
"You're not gonna give us another intervention are you?" I ask remembering the last time all of us (not including Phil obviously) were in a room together.
"Of course not, we just want to congratulate you," Ling says giving a small laugh.
"Oh, thanks," I say sheepishly. "How in the world did you guys get so many people to come with you?" I ask changing the subject.
"Well, it turns out all our families, friends, and their families and their friends and their families, and so forth wanted to help. We had to draw the line somewhere since it'd be suspicious if fifty ships left the harbor at the same time. So we only took ten ships so a bunch of Fire Nation people are on our side and are in the capital awaiting any orders to help." Jee explains.
"Oh wow, that's amazing," I say in shock. "Where's Cho?" I ask realizing that he's not here.
"Oh he's in the kitchen," Neo says.
"So he's probably knows Ning by now," I say.
"Who's Ning?" Cho asks.
"Why don't you ask Phil?" Zuko says smartly and the three men turn to look at Phil.
"She's a friend," Phil says quietly.
"Oh come on, she's more than a friend," I start and now the three look at me. Phil turns to glare at me and I smile at him.
"Alright, we're dating," Phil concludes.
"Well, good for you," Cho says.
"Dinner's ready," a Fire Nation guy around my age informs us opening the door. "Prince Zuko, and Milady," he says bowing at us.
"Okay, how does he know?" I ask sounding aggravated turning to look at the men behind me. "How do you know?" I ask him more calmly.
"I heard it from an earthbending girl. She's was talking about it pretty loudly," he answers looking nervous.
"Did she have blonde hair?" I ask.
"Yes," he answers.
"Jackie," I say quietly. "So who all knows?" I ask wondering how far it got.
"I'm sure everyone knows by now," he answers unsurely.
"Alright, well nothing we can do now," I shrug. "So what's for dinner?" I ask abruptly changing the subject.
"I don't know," he says.
"Alright, let's go. I'm starving," I say turning back to the group.
"Sounds good," Phil says walking past me and stops waiting for us to catch up. The rest of us catch up.
"Haley, this is Cheng. He's our captain on one of the ships," Jee says introducing us.
"Congrats," I say.
"Thanks, congratulations yourself," Cheng replies.
"Thanks, and for the record you don't have to bow to me," I say and everyone who's from the Fire Nation turns to look at me. "What? I don't want people bowing to me. I don't want anyone to think that I think I'm better than everyone," I explain.
"That's very honorable of you but, for most it's just a respect thing," Neo says.
"I grew up without it and I just don't like bowing to people. You can still respect anyone even if you don't bow to them," I point out.
"True," Jee says as we enter outside.
"What are we doing out here?" I ask.
"Well, there are too many people to eat inside so we all eat outside," Neo says.
"Oh," I say and look around seeing tables outside. "It's like a huge picnic party," I think.
"Haley, over here," Jackie shouts waving to me. Soon everyone in hearing distance of Jackie turns their heads toward me.
I freak at the sudden attention and hide behind Neo and Jee.
"Are they still looking?" I ask.
"Yes, you're gonna have to get used to this amount of attention," Jee starts and Neo and Jee suddenly begin walking toward a table. Phil and Zuko are smirking at me. I glare at them and begin walking over to Jackie and the gaang.
"Sorry about spilling the beans," Jackie says as I sit down next to her.
"Well, I'm sure they would have found out sooner or later," I say.
"So you're not mad at me?" Jackie asks hopefully.
"I never said that," I say giving her a smirk.
"Sorry, I was just really excited for you," Jackie explains.
"Alright," I say as I dig in just as Zuko sits beside me and Phil sits across from him next to Ning.
"This is the best food ever," Jackie says stuffing her mouth. "You and Cho did a really good job."
"Thanks," Ning says smiling.
"So when are Sokka, Suki, and Iroh supposed to arrive?" I ask.
"They wrote that they should be here sometime tomorrow," Katara says.
"Yeah, you guys never wrote so you were a surprise," Aang says looking at Phil, Zuko, and me.
"Sorry," I say simply.
"It's alright, I don't mind. As long as you guys made it," Aang says.
"We would have written if we got caught up in something," Phil ensures.
"We all get it. Can we move on?" Toph asks.
"So do we have a definite plan yet?" I ask.
"Well, we were thinking that we should attack the Fire Nation on two sides, on the south where the Water tribe and the firebenders will attack, on the north side the earthbenders will attack; that way the Fire Nation soldiers would be spread out. While that battle is going on Zuko and I will sneak into the palace and Iroh, Jackie, Sokka, Toph, Phil, and you will guard the palace. We need people we can trust completely for that. Ning and Suki can join in if they want," Aang explains. "If that's alright with you guys," he adds mainly looking at Zuko.
"I would love to help," Ning says smiling and we all turn to look at Zuko.
"How are you planning to even get close to the palace? It's not like they're just going to relax seeing a bison flying overhead and landing in the garden," Zuko says.
"Actually the plan was to walk underwater toward the Fire Nation and then come up through the earth. Everyone but us two will get up and guard the palace inside and out. We'll keep going forward and come up when the coast is clear. Do you have a basement?" Aang inquires.
"Yes," Zuko says bluntly.
"Good, then what do you think of the plan?" Aang asks.
"It's fine; just I don't think the other guards will take kindly to earthbenders, airbenders, and waterbenders," Zuko remarks.
"Wait," I say thinking," there are Fire Nation clothes on our ship," I say.
"She's right; we found them when we were looking for coats. There are clothes from every nation on the ship," Ning says.
"Yeah, we found them too," Toph says.
"Good, so then the plan's set. We'll head out once everybody gets here," Katara says.
"Hey, another ship just showed up," a man shouts over the crowd.
The whole gaang stands up and we walk over to the side of the temple and wait for the people to come closer.
"It's the people from the spirit monster village," Katara says as the people come in sight.
Aang and Katara go to greet them once they reach the top. The rest of us sit back down finishing eating.
"Eighty-eight," Jackie says sitting down.
"What are you talking about?" Phil asks as he grabs more food.
"We're keeping track on how many ships we have here," I explain.
"Why?" Toph asks.
"Something to do, I guess," I say shrugging.
"Well, it's good to know. We might need to know that for later," Phil says.
"Alright," Jackie says as I finish eating.
An hour later everyone begins to move the tables and chairs back just before the sun sets. A couple hours later three ships showed up. They were from the South Pole. Master Pakku and more waterbenders were the ones sailing in the ships.
"Ninety-one," I whisper to Jackie as we all sit beside a fire.
"How many ships do you think the Kyoshi Warriors will bring?" Jackie asks.
"Probably a few," I answer.
"So, we'll have like ninety ships," Jackie says. "That's awesome."
"Yeah, so we can put like forty-five ships on the north and south side. That'll be an intimidating diversion," I add.
"Yeah, no kidding," Phil says.
"Kids, it's getting late, everyone's heading to bed," Neo says coming up. I look around and notice everyone is heading to the temple.
"Alright," Aang says and stands up.
"I'll show you where you guys will be sleeping," Jackie says to Ning, Phil, Zuko, and I.
"Sounds good,' I say standing up. Jackie leads us into the temple. After turning multiple corners and making our way upstairs she stops at the beginning of a hallway.
"This is Katara's and my room," Jackie says pointing to the first room. "Longshot's and Aang's is here," she says pointing across from hers. "And this is Toph's and Smellerbee's," she says pointing to the room next to hers.
"Do you and Zuko want to sleep in the same room?" Jackie whispers.
"It doesn't matter," I answer tiredly.
"Fine, I'll leave it up to you guys," Jackie whispers back.
"Alright, the rest of the rooms are empty, so you figure it out," Jackie says to the three of us and then heads to her room. The three of us just stand there.
"I'll have this room," Ning says and heads for the room next to Toph's.
"I'll take this one," Phil says taking the room across from hers.
"So you wanna share a room?" Zuko asks once we're the only two in the hallway.
"Sure," I say giving him a smile. We take the room next to Phil's.
"So how are you really doing?" I ask curling up to Zuko under the covers.
"Like you said in the catacombs, there's no going back," Zuko replies.
"Yeah, that answers my question," I say sarcastically.
"I'm fine. I wonder how uncle's doing?" Zuko considers as he changes the subject.
"He's probably just fine," I sigh realizing that Zuko doesn't want to talk about what I asked him.
I close my eyes as Zuko puts his arm around me and I fall asleep to Zuko stroking my arm with his thumb.
I wake up and feel sick again. Seeing that Zuko's still asleep I rush quietly to the bathroom. I close the bathroom door. Once I think I finished puking I rinse out my mouth with water. Feeling slightly better I open the door. Zuko's standing there with his arms crossed.
"What?" I ask averting his eyes as I walk around him.
"You should go see Neo," Zuko suggests.
"I'm fine, it's probably just something in the water or something," I say as I get dressed.
"You're not fine. You were sick yesterday and now today. Go see Neo," Zuko orders.
"I'm fine. I don't need to see a doctor," I ensure.
"That's it," Zuko says walking forward to me and I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Oh yeah, what are you gonna do?" I ask angrily.
"I'm taking you to Neo," Zuko says and picks me up putting me on his shoulder.
"Hey, you can't do this," I say as we leave the room. "Put me down," I demand as he walks down several hallways.
"Do you even know where Neo is?" I ask him.
"Don't have to. Here comes Jackie," Zuko says as I turn my head to look back to where Zuko's looking.
"Jackie, where's Neo?" Zuko asks.
"Don't answer him," I say and Jackie looks at me confused.
"I think he's in the medical room. Just turn right at the next hallway and it's two doors down," Jackie says hesitantly.
"Thanks," he says and starts off in that direction. I glare at the confused Jackie until we turn the corner. Zuko knocks on the door and after hearing a muffled 'come in' he enters.
Zuko sets me down on one of the beds. Neo's back was to us and he now turns around.
"So what can I do for you two?" Neo asks completely missing everything. "Oh, first things first, Jee wants to talk to you," Neo informs Zuko.
"Great, I'll go. Haley's been sick the last two mornings. Ignore anything she says, she's in denial," Zuko says before walking out.
"Am not," I yell out after him.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Thanks for reading. Please review. I'll probably update tomorrow.