oOo
Katara rolled over onto her back, groaning softly. She pushed herself up on her elbows, levering herself from there to a sitting position. She brushed absently at the dirt she'd managed to mash into one cheek when she fell. Fainting onto a handy couch looked so graceful when the court ladies saw a spider-wasp climbing up the curtains, but the real thing hurt. Not an experience she was eager to repeat any time soon.
She looked around blearily, trying to force her eyes to focus on the confusion off in the distance. No one had come running to help her, which meant…what, exactly? She managed to get to her knees, ignoring the waves of dizziness that kept trying to flatten her back out. "No time for that," she muttered to herself as she pulled herself back to her feet, swaying slightly as the scene in front of her continued to move in and out of focus.
She blinked hard, running a hand across her face, and suddenly everything was clear. The roar of noise she thought was only in her head turned out to be the cries of battle breaking out everywhere. None of Ozai's men appeared to be willing to surrender, even the ones Toph had imprisoned in cones of earth. The spat fire at any who approached them, and Katara watched as Aang danced nimbly out of one such prisoner's range. She couldn't hear him, but she was sure he was imploring the man to give up, to no avail. Another gout of flame blew out, and Aang appeared to slump in defeat at he nodded at one of her father's men, who promptly hit the prisoner over the head with a belaying pin.
Another whirl of motion caught her attention, this time on top of the collapsed airship. General Tsing was battling a pair of Ozai's men, flames dancing from his fingertips as he deftly maneuvered his opponents closer and closer to the edge nearest the cliff. Almost she shouted a warning, but quickly stuffed her fingers in her mouth and turned away. He was ruthlessly pushing them to their deaths, as was his right, but she still couldn't stand to watch. Instead, she looked for her brother, her father, but neither man was in sight.
Feeling slightly sick, she forced herself to walk closer to the airship. Zuko is still in there, she thought, realizing that it was he she'd been subconsciously searching for. Her steps quickened until she was running, dodging clusters of men fighting with fire and swords, pulling some of the pooled ocean water to her in a sort of cloak to shield herself head to foot from the occasional misfire…and even one or two deliberately aimed attacks.
As she reached the beached airship, a figure emerged carrying someone over one shoulder. She ran even faster, only to come to a gasping halt as she recognized her father as the carrier, and her brother as the carry-ee. Ignoring the surge of disappointment that washed over her, she allowed the water to splash to her feet. "What happened? Is Sokka hurt?" She readied herself for healing, only to stop as her father shook his head.
"He was knocked out, but he should come to any time now. Zuko's not in the airship," he added, anticipating her next question. "We searched everywhere, and there's not a living soul left on board. I found some burned ropes," he added encouragingly. "I believe he freed himself and escaped on his own." He lowered Sokka to the ground with a grunt of effort, then splashed some water on his son's face to try and revive him. Katara raced away, too worried about Zuko to hang around and watch Sokka sputter and protest at his treatment. Their father had things well in hand, but where could Zuko be? She still didn't see him, what she needed was a better perspective. Without slowing down, she gathered more of the excess water to her, this time shaping it into a crude sort of ice ramp for her to follow to what was now the top of the fallen airship.
Aang saw her there; abandoning his latest attempt to reason with one of Ozai's followers, he formed an air ball and floated himself up to her side. "Katara! What are you doing up here?" he demanded with a frown. "You're making yourself a perfect target!" He tugged on her arm, but she shook him off impatiently.
"I can't find Zuko," she said, not even looking at him once she realized who had joined her, too busy scanning the chaos below them, desperately searching for one particular face among the many. "My father said there's no one left inside and he found signs that Zuko freed himself, but I can't find him." There was a hint of panic in her voice, in her widened eyes, in the tension of her stance.
"Then let me fly over and find him," Aang replied, a little more gently. He shook her by the arm to get her attention. "Let me fly," he repeated. "You get back on the ground so every Fire Bender rebel can't see you up here and attack you. You didn't even bring any water with you," he chided her.
"I'll use the ice if I have to," was her absent reply, her attention once again on the figures below them. "You fly, but I'm not leaving until I find him."
Aang shook his head, then nodded in defeat and lofted himself skyward, using some of Katara's ice ramp to form a water shield around himself as he had seen her do. The sooner he found Zuko, the sooner Katara would stop being so…so… "Pig headed!" he muttered as he swooped away.
oOo
Toph lifted herself onto an upthrust of stone as another rebel leveled a fire attack at her, narrowly missing the hem of her tunic. She neatly encased him in stone up to his elbows, ignoring the curses he now sent flaming up at her as she "looked" for another target. This was the most fun she'd had in ages; it was too bad so many people had to get hurt in the process, but that was war for you.
She lowered herself once again to the ground, trying to figure out where Ozai had disappeared to. He'd left the ground, presumably to jump onto the downed airship, and she'd been distracted by rounding up his followers, but there were fewer and fewer of them for her to battle; General Tsing's men and the South Pole warriors seemed to be getting things under control. She sped around the bulk of the airship, shivering in unexpected cold at one point. Reaching out, she felt the ice ramp and grinned. "So I guess Sugar Queen is still in the battle," she muttered to herself. She hesitated; what if Ozai was still on the airship? "Well, if he is, then he's Katara's problem," she decided, and continued on her original course. It would be just like him to try and run off into the forest while his men fought and died to cover his escape.
As she rounded the corner, something dropped from the sky above; she sensed movement a second too late, and was thrown into unconsciousness and borne to the ground.
Ozai snarled in triumph as he hoisted Toph's dead weight over his shoulder. His moment was at hand. Now, all he needed was his son and the Avatar to have all that he wanted. He dashed into the forest, carrying Toph like a sack of potatoes over his shoulder, muttering to himself the entire time of vengeance.
