AN: Ladies and Gentlemen welcome back. Now on with the show.
The sound of the clinks and the clanks was always an unsettling sound to her ever since she was a little girl. It always reminded her of the sound of bones breaking for some odd reason and for these reasons she found herself having trouble sleeping in what once was an enemy ship.
After a few more minutes Katara decided to forget sleep and just wonder around this steel beast. Grabbing her fire nation cloak she made her way into the hall of the ship. Even though she was on the other end of the ship she could still hear the echoes of Sokka's snoring from the other side. She smiled and walked on decided she could use some fresh air. She made it a point to check on the others on her way up.
Checking each room was simple just crack open the door and see if they're asleep. She checked Toph, The Duke, and Aang who still was deep in sleep. After all that she made her way to the bridge of the ship. Walking at a normal pace until she heard whisper form up ahead.
She slowed down and quietly made her way to the door. As soon as she was a few feet away the door opened and she ducked into the nearest corner to block her from the men coming out. From her view point she saw Shu, Mamoru, Isao, and Zuko's engineer coming down the hall. After she was sure the coast was clear she made her way into the bridge to see Jee at the wheel and Zuko out on the observation deck.
Jee heard the door open and turned to see Katara entering. "Katara," he greeted. Katara nodded back. "What are you doing up so late?" Jee asked her. "Couldn't sleep. I don't get how anyone can sleep with all the noises."
Jee nodded, "You get used to it, in fact this is considered the fire navy lullaby," he said with a little laugh. Katara nodded and decided to go out on the observation deck.
Zuko looked on toward the clear moon sky as he watched the ocean wave's part for his steel monster.
'Such a peaceful night,' he heard in his head. 'Where have you been,' Zuko thought. He could hear the sound of tea pouring in his head, 'Drinking a fresh batch of tea. Want some?' the voice asked.
'You're a voice in my head how can I have tea?' Zuko thought. 'Good point, but answering your first question I thought you could handle things on your own and went far into you mind to block out my voice,' the voice said. 'Yeah that's great and all but I could have used some help getting out of that crystal cell,' Zuko thought.
'Well how did you get out?' the voice asked. Zuko took a deep breath, 'I blew myself up.' He couldn't hear anything in his head, all he heard was silence. 'And how did that go?' the voice asked. 'Not well,' he thought.
Before he could continue on with the debate inside his head he heard his name being called. He turned around to see that Katara had entered onto the deck.
"Couldn't sleep?" he asked. She nodded as she stood next to him. "How come you're not asleep?" she asked. Zuko shrugged, "I got a lot on my mind."
'It's quite empty in here,' the voice said. 'Shut up,' Zuko thought.
The both of them just stood there watching the ship slowly carry on into the open sea. "So how do you feel?" she asked. Zuko looked back at her, "About what?"
"Going home," she said softly. Zuko sigh and looked back out to sea, "Not really sure how I feel." Silence hanged in the air as the sea sang her soothing tune as the ship rocked back and forth upon the sea.
Zuko couldn't help but smile at the tune of the sea for it has been far too long since he's heard its soothing voice. But as he listen he felt a shiver go down his spine. He turned to face Katara wondering what it could be.
Katara notice him looking at her, "What do I have something on my face?" she asked. Zuko placed a hand on her shoulder before she could react he slowly moved her out of the way.
"You've got to be joking," he said out loud. Katara turned around to see a lizard parrot piercing yellow eyes staring right at them.
Zuko turned toward Jee, "Alarm!" he shouted. Jee slammed the button to sound the alarm. Just after the sirens went off the ship came to an abrupt stop, nearly throwing Zuko and Katara over the rails.
"What happen?" he shouted toward Jee. "They must've set a trap to stop the ship." Zuko looked back toward the deck of the ship and saw people making their way onto the ship.
"What's going on?" Sokka shouted entering the bridge. Zuko turned to face him, "Old friends of ours." Sokka was confused until he looked down and saw the familiar faces of the pirates. "What are we going to do?" he shouted panicking.
"Jee get the men and meet me down there," Zuko shouted. Jee nodded and turned to get the others. "What are you going to do?" Katara asked. Zuko walked over to the railings before turning around.
"Don't worry I'll save you from the pirates," he said before jumping off the side of the railing.
As Zuko fell he used his fire bending to break his fall but as he landed he punched the ground releasing a wave of fire from his fist as it made contact with the deck. Zuko looked up to see the familiar faces of the pirates he's dealt with before.
"Hello lads, remember me?" Zuko asked. The look of every pirate on the deck was of shock and fear; as if they had seen a ghost.
"You're supposed to be dead," one of the shouted. "Sorry to disappoint," Zuko said just as the rest of his small crew came behind him.
"Boys you remember these guys right?" Zuko asked amused. "Oh it's these guys," Shu said disappointingly.
"A vast me matte's. We came to get some booty and booty we're going to get," said the captain.
"What's wrong with him?" Mamoru asked. One of the pirates spoke up, "He got hit in the head a few weeks ago and now he talks funny."
"Give no quarter men," the captain shouted drawing his sword. His crew shouts with agreement in their voices.
Zuko's men starting cracking their knuckles waiting for the fight. "Well this is going to be fun," Shu said. "Always," Mamoru agreed.
"Remember what they said boys," Zuko said looking at his men, "Give no quarter."
With that Zuko and he men drove into the battle. Zuko decided the best way to end this was to take the captain out of the equation. As the captain neared him he thrust his sword toward Zuko. Who in turned used his wrist guards to block the attack watching the sparks dance off his armor as the sword made contact. The captain hashed and slashed toward Zuko who easily dodge each blow swiftly as if mocking him. Just to add in some effect Zuko threw a few fire balls his way just to keep him on edge.
Zuko decided that this was enough and using his legs kicked an arch of fire toward the captain's legs. Just as Zuko had plan the captain jumped and before he could realize what happen was blasted midair by Zuko's flame. Zuko stood over the captain before looking to see that the rest of his men had already dealt with the others.
Zuko heard running from behind him to see that Hakoda had come out with the rest of the water tribe.
"I was wondering when you guys would show up," Zuko said with a hint of amusement. Hakoda shook his head, "Maybe we should just let you guys handle these things from now on," Hakoda said with a smirk.
"Well now that you're here you can tie them up," Zuko said, "Jee you and the others search their ship see if there's anything worth taking."
After tying them up and the men empty the ship of their cargo Zuko turned back to face them. "So where did you get the money to buy the ship?" he asked. The captain looked up, "We bought it with the money we got from killing you," he stated. Zuko nodded and turned to face Katara who just joined them. "Would you be so kind as to move their ship away?" he asked her. Katara gave him a questioning look but nodded.
Using her water bending she pushed their ship a good distance before Zuko told her to stop. Zuko turned to face the captain again. "So you used the money you got to kill me to buy that ship?" he asked. The captain nodded. Zuko nodded as well, "Then it would be a shame if I did this then," he said snapping his fingers.
As he snapped his fingers the pirate's ship blew up right in front of their eyes. "Oh so that what it does," Zuko said smirking. He turned back to see the pirates eyes wide and mouths agape. Zuko smiled and turned to Jee, "Put them on a life boat."
As the pirates slowly drifted away Zuko turned to Katara, "Give them a good push," he said. Katara smiled and sent a giant wave after them. Zuko turned to find Hakoda looking at the cargo that they've taken.
"Did we really have to take their cargo?" Hakoda asked. Zuko shrugged, "It was probably stolen anyways." At some time the rest of the crew came up and looked at the cargo.
"So we stole a bunch of pirate's gold, sweet," Toph said. "Toph stealing is wrong," Katara said. "Unless it's from a bunch of pirate's," Sokka muttered under his breath earning him a jab in the ribs from Katara which did not go unnoticed by Hakoda.
Zuko just shook his head and started to head back inside. "Where are you going?" he heard someone asked. Zuko just shook his head and keep walking, "I'm going to sleep."
AN: Well here's a good place to stop. So how's things going. Well with that said thanks for the reviews and the support.
Until next time my fellow readers.
