Disclaimer: I don't own ATLA.
Alison suppressed her annoyance as Zuko led the way. She was struggling with keeping her emotions in check for some inexplicable reason, which further aggravated her. She couldn't keep her sudden need to be rebellious in check. She felt angry, and when her thigh had gotten hurt, she had been dying of pain. The pain had made moving difficult for her, and she felt like dead weight for the first time in a very long time. And when Zuko had asked her to stay back, she had had it. He was right, because she needed a few minutes to recover, but she hated feeling useless. The mask was suffocating her, and she felt more trapped than she had in the metal cell.
'Hurry!' Zuko hissed at her, motioning her towards himself. Alison broke out of her spell, and mentally reprimanded herself for acting like a zombie again. Zuko's condescending tone made her angrier, suddenly.
She nodded, pursing her lips, and followed him.
She could hear loud chants in the distance. The air bender boy had been caught, and a huge army was celebrating. Alison felt a chill on her neck. The night was cold, but the shiver had more to do with the army of people that could discover them breaking the Avatar free behind their backs.
'You don't think the boy's been left unguarded?' She whispered as soon as she caught up with Zuko. He turned to glance at her, awkwardly dragged himself away from her. Alison bit her lips to bite back a comment.
The blue mask shook his head, 'Of course there will be guards. We will just have to fight them if we need to.'
Alison nodded moments before she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen.
Oh. She rolled her eyes at the realization.
As soon as they reached the inner ring of the tower, Zuko decides to go through the sewer to reach the main tower. Without waiting for Alison's response, he heads inside and she follows suit, pinching her nose as she regretted tossing her mask away.
The guards gaped at the little frogs croaking and hopping away from the chambers the Avatar was tied in. It was an odd scene. They heard the young boy cry for his frogs, as they exchanged confused and exasperated at the same time, glances. One of them rolled his eyes. Kids and their stupid pets.
Before one of them could react, a helmet fell on the floor with a loud clang and rolled into their sights. One of them pulled a stance, ready to fight. However, before they saw the perpetrators, a powerful whip of water appeared out of nowhere and slapped him loudly. He collided against his comrade and tripped. Just then a hooded and masked figure appeared with a pair of swords and started attacking them.
'You get the kid. I will take care of them.' A black-dressed girl appeared, her hands engulfed in water. The figure nodded and kicked the door open, as the girl raised her hands and began whispering an incantation.
Alison clasped her fists and closed her eyes. She dug hard into an old memory. Her mother had once taught her a powerful charm that could cause the target to lose their short term memory. The words came to her mind and she murmured them. She could feel her chi exploding with energy as the power emitted invisibly from her arms and the men fell one by one. She opened her eyes and everyone was down, and Zuko was back.
His mask hadn't moved an inch. Impressive, she thought. He gave her an unrecognizable look (duh, because his face was covered) which she thought was strong judgment for practicing magic – that is, if he even knew it's what she was doing.
'Where's the kid?' Alison asked, dusting her shoulders. Zuko gestured towards the door behind her, and put his finger to his lips. Or the mask's lips. She turned and saw a bald boy with an arrow on his head rushing towards her.
'OH NO! MY FROGS! WHY AREN'T YOU FROZEN? STOP THAWING OUT!' He cried, falling on his knees. Alison frowned in shock. This was the avatar? He was minute! Then her glance fell at Zuko's disappearing silhouette and she realized she was supposed to bring the boy to him. She would have denied his order but she was too confused to argue. She shook her head and grabbed the boy by his collar and pulled him to his feet. She swallowed bile at the sight of the gray-green frogs and turned towards the boy. 'Wait! My friends need to suck on those frogs!'
She felt puke coming her throat. 'Come on. We need to get you out of here!'
'Who are you, people?' He asked as he began walking next to her. Every few seconds he kept turning and glancing back at the frogs. Alison suppressed a look of disgust, and forced a pensive expression on her face.
The trio snuck out back towards and into the sewer. Alison tried to focus on what was important – getting the boy out of there, but she couldn't. The smell was disgusting, and she couldn't help but feel the need to protect the boy. He was as old as her little brother, and despite not having grown up with him, she could never let an older kid bully James into doing anything. She tried to follow Zuko's lead to avoid getting in the way, and forced herself to stop thinking. The kid, Aang, believed they were there to save him.
Zuko raised one of his swords and gestured them to follow him. They exited the sewer when the guards had their backs turned and headed towards the wall of the Fortress. There was a rope hanging, signaling that someone had tried to scale the walls earlier. Alison nodded at him, and they rushed towards it. Zuko let Aang climb the rope, and moved aside to let Alison do it. She wanted to earth bend them out of there, but didn't want to draw attention, nor get in the way of Zuko's plan. So she obliged and planted her left leg onto the wall and kicked off the ground. Zuko followed right after her.
So far luck had been on their side, but suddenly, it decided to ditch them. Horns sounded across the Fortress, and the announcement regarding the Avatar's escape rang all over.
The three kept climbing, but just then a man cut the rope at the top of the wall, and instantly they fell. Alison waved her arms to cushion their fall with air bending, but the boy beat her to it.
As soon as they were on their feet, Zuko rushed ahead and gestured at the opened gate. Their cover had blown, they might as well get used to it. Alison formed a stance, and as Aang and Zuko ran, she pushed her fists up and caused several limestone pillars to erupt and pinned the gates ahead of them open. She turned and kicked a column of rocks at a series of archers that had suddenly appeared. In the meanwhile, Zuko slammed and thrashed his sword, injuring rows of soldiers that kept attacking them. Aang air bent a powerful current and sent a column of them flying backward.
'Come on! Run, you guys!' Alison cried, narrowly dodging a punch from a middle-aged woman. Aang nodded at her, 'Stay close to me!'
The two of them rushed towards the gates. Her pillars had fallen and the doors began to close. She had no idea they were mechanical.
A column of guards appeared in front of them. Aang air bent them out of the way, and sprinted towards the exit. Alison followed, right before she heard a grunt. Zuko.
She rushed back and kicked a series of rocks at the men and women before them. Aang was right behind her, and she heard the gates shut with a loud clang. She glanced at the top of the walls. An idea formed in her head.
'Kid, look out for the masked man. I have an idea!' She shouted over the gusts of wind Aang kept throwing around.
'WHAT?' Aang asked. The wind was too loud.
Alison shook her head, and after a moment's concentration, launched a kick mid-air. The piece of land where Aang and Zuko fought rose into the air, and the platform levitated over the walls. Aang and Zuko jumped off of it, and made their way towards the other end. Aang quickly grabbed Zuko by his legs and awkwardly formed a swinging helicopter with a wooden stick. Alison was heavily impressed with his air bending skills.
'Get the girl!' She heard an order. Her panic reappeared, and she launched herself off the ground with earth bending, and landed swiftly on her feet. She felt herself exploding with energy and exhilaration. As she launched herself again to reach the other wall, she noticed Aang struggling to keep them in the air. Zuko kept deflecting the spears and arrows with his legs and swords, but they were struggling. Alison reached the other wall, and as unnoticeably as she could, bent the wind in her direction. The extra push made it easier for Aang to carry Zuko, and the two fell face first onto the wall's surface. Alison pulled Aang to his feet and gestured at the two men appearing from the watch posts surrounding them.
Aang jumped in front of her and blew a massive current towards one of them. More guards scurried out from the trap door.
The three of them fought the guards off effortlessly; blasting a few off with strong winds, slamming the butt of the swords onto a few of their heads, and pushing some of them manually off the wall. During their little battle up there, they noticed the men down at the ground sprinting towards the wall with giant bamboo poles. They planted the poles against the wall and began clambering them.
'If there's one thing I hate about the bad guys, it's their persistence!' Alison exclaimed.
Zuko paused and glanced at her. She could tell her commentary frustrated him. She nodded her head in a silent apology before she turned to push the poles away from the wall. She did not want to piss him off any more than she had already done. If she wanted to be a friend to him, she had to let him know she was a reliable comrade – now that she knew her initial anger was not directed at him (at least not intentionally), she could relax. She even felt slightly sorry for him, because he had to put up with her temper more than once. It wasn't his fault. Nor hers.
She clenched her fists and punched in seemingly random directions. Seconds after, large bricks thrust out of the walls and pushed the poles away. She heard distant screams as men after men fell. Zuko was on his own, dodging and parrying a series of attacks by the fire benders and Aang used his makeshift staff to shoot air blades at the soldiers. They were holding their ground rather well for a group of three, but each of them grew tired by the second. There was no end to the number of fire benders and soldiers coming to attack them.
'We can't hold them off for long!' Aang cried. Then he turned to Zuko, 'Quick, get on my back!' Turning to Alison he said, 'Can you make a temporary bridge?'
Zuko and Alison exchanged confused glances.
Aang blew a man down the pole, 'Hurry!'
Zuko ran over to Aang, and the air bender grabbed the pole and jumped off the wall. Zuko leaped over and grabbed on to Aang's back as Aang used another of the three poles in his arms as stilts to get to the other wall. Alison pulled a stance as soon as she noticed the fire benders punching flames at the bamboo ladder poles. Aang was having a hard time holding Zuko and making the jumps. She pushed her fist outward and swirled her leg. A small boulder emerged from the ground, slamming into the fire bender's back. She took the moment to create a rocky bridge connecting the walls just in time to break Aang's fall.
'Make one more jump. It's the last wall!' Alison yelled. None of the men and women were focused on her. They all wanted the air bender boy, and were willing to kill the blue masked man to get him.
The two launched themselves, switching the poles and almost reached the gates when their pole was engulfed in flames.
Alison jumped across the walls, bending out the rocks from the ground to land her feet between her hops. Zuko and Aang hung on to the wall, but continuous attacks caused them to slip. With a loud cry, the two landed on the ground with a thump.
Alison landed gracefully right behind them. They were at a dead end, and were surrounded by a hundred fire benders. A man emerged from the crowd. He was the leader. He sounded like one. Zhao? Alison asked herself. Protectively, she raised her hands and formed a stance in front of Aang. She felt useless relying only on her earth bending. There were so many moments she could have used fire, water, and air to get them out of trouble.
Zuko stepped ahead in front of the air bender defensively as well, crossing his swords testily.
Immediately the fire benders all launched their flames from all directions. Instantly Aang jumped in front of them and formed a protective air bubble to keep the blazes away. In the moment, he pushed Zuko and Alison back and breathed heavily as he defended the duo with his air bending. It all happened so fast, neither of them had the chance to react.
'No. The avatar must be captured alive!' Zhao, or so Alison thought, ordered. The men stopped. Alison sighed weakly moments before Zuko leaped ahead and crossed his swords against Aang's neck. She could hear the little boy gulp, and was tempted to kick Zuko in the behind. She calmed herself down and decided to trust Zuko despite her better judgment.
The leader, Zhao, gave Zuko a powerful glance. Zuko was testing him, and he knew it. He seemed to know the person behind the blue mask. Their staring contest went on for a few deadly long seconds.
'Open the gate.' The admiral ordered.
'Admiral?' One of the soldiers questioned. 'What are you doing?'
'Let them out.' Zhao's voice was curt and commanding. He almost sounded frustrated.
Alison was momentarily stunned at their luck. Zuko stepped back slowly as the gates screeched open.
'How could you let them go?' She heard a shaky voice.
As the three of them turned and she heard Zhao's response, 'A situation like this … requires … precision.' Her eyes widened. He either meant to kill Zuko, the Avatar, or both – or worse, all three of them. Her heartbeat fastened and her palms became sweaty. How would he kill them? Archers? Fire? Lightning? They were outside the Fortress – nothing could harm them. Or could it? A series of crazy thoughts ran in Alison's head. Aang and Zuko were right in front of her. The three of them moved slowly and steadily. She scanned her surroundings. All the checkpoints in the visual distance were eerily empty. Zuko did the same. He craned his neck and searched for potential attackers.
Croak. Alison swung her head in the direction of the voice. Her glance fell towards the dark woods and shrubs.
In that exact moment, an arrow thinner than an ant's leg flew towards them at lightning speed and hit Zuko's mask with a dramatically loud 'clang'. The impact was theatrical. He fell unconscious almost instantly, and his swords fell to the side.
'Oh fu-' She held back the curse as she noticed Aang noticing Zuko's scar. A shadow of recognition fell on his tiny face. She felt herself growing anxious by the second again. 'Look, Aang. It's Aang, right? We should get out of here first, and sort this mess out.' She placed her hand on his shoulder, half expecting him to jerk it off. He didn't. He looked almost sad, and it killed Alison to see him betrayed. She bent down and covered Zuko's face with the mask and faced Aang again.
'Hey, for your and his sake, we have to leave this place. But look at me. Aang?' Alison felt her heart aching as she gazed into his eyes. He was so little and reminded her of her brother so much, that it physically pained her. His eyes bore into hers. They were gray. James' was brown.
'Ali, hurry. Sneak out of here. Mom won't know.' James jerked her shoulders.
'Mhmm.' Alison moaned. 'My … hands …'
The room was dark and damp. Her cuffs and chains were gone. Her scars were fading and her vision was gradually getting restored.
James bent and held her up as much as he could with his little strength, 'Ali, you have to go. If Bella, mom, or anyone in the council finds you right now – they'll hurt you. Please. For me.'
She glanced into his deep brown eyes.
'For me. Please. I love you. But you have to go.'
'No … I have to … stop Dawn.' Alison staggered into a standing position and weakly limped towards the door.
'No Ali. You have to go. Take your bag. Eleanor gave me this. Take this and go.' James said. His voice was shaky and he looked scared.
Alison coughed out blood before turning to face him. She wanted to tell him off for being a wimp. She wanted to confront her mother and take back her honor and self-respect. After all this time, she wanted to take back whatever Dawn had taken from her. Despite the crazy determination that had suddenly emerged within her, Alison could see the fear in her brother's eyes. Fear for her.
'They'll hurt you. I can't see that.' He was silently crying now, despite apparently trying very hard not to. His tears made him realize how selfish she had been. Her brother needed a sister. She was there for everyone but never for him. His deep eyes, swollen with melancholy shattered her heart.
Her eyes soaked up. She blinked back her tears and brought herself back to reality. Aang was staring at her. He was confused. 'I know this is weird – how I know your name and all that. You have no reason to trust me. But I still want you to know that I am not going to let anything happen to you. Okay?'
Aang's eyes widened for a moment before he nodded.
They carried Zuko for a few miles into the woods. The sun had crept up. As soon as they found a clearing, they had stopped to take a breath.
'I have to get back to my friends.' Aang suddenly announced. 'They aren't well.'
Alison pulled Zuko against a rock and glanced up at him. 'Yeah, those frogs were for them, weren't they?' She found the idea weird, but she didn't mention it.
Aang nodded before settling down against a bark. There was silence for the next few minutes. Zuko snored lightly and the Alison fidgeted in her space.
Her head hurt. She was sleep-deprived, hungry and her cramps had worsened. She knew her monthly visitor was going to arrive at any moment now. She was not looking forward to it. She had her toiletries in her extendable bag, so that was good. But the pain was killing her, and that did not help her mood.
'So … I have never seen you around with Zuko before.' Aang commented. 'Are you family?'
Alison met his glance. She didn't want to play interrogation with him, but she owed him at least a small explanation. 'No, but we're friends.'
'Zuko has friends? But you're an earth bender. How - '
'Not that I know of. He's a decent guy, so he's my friend. And yes, I am an earth bender.'
Aang gaped. 'Zuko is NOT nice. He's followed me and my friends around for months, trying to capture me. Just last night he tried to kidnap me - you know. You were there!'
Alison noticed his tone was whiny. He was too young for someone responsible for ending a war. 'Well, if he is not nice, why haven't you left?'
'Because I need an explanation. Why did he do what he did last night? He saved me from being handed over to the Fire Lord.'
Alison sighed. 'Obviously, because he wanted to do it himself.'
Aang shook his head. 'No … I mean, yes. You are right. But there has got to be more to it.'
'You are making excuses for him. You are looking for good in him.' She commented, massaging her throbbing head.
'That's because everyone has good in them. I have had friends in the Fire Nation –' Aang began defensively.
'And so that's why we are friends. I don't agree with most of what he does, but I can sense he comes from a good place. I don't know if this makes me a terrible person – me giving him the benefit of the doubt, but this is what my gut's telling me to do.' Her cramp turned from the throbbing kind to a more permanent variety. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and stifled a groan.
'Ugh.'
The moan came from Zuko, who was now shifting in his sleep.
Alison got up to her feet. She had to find a bathroom. 'Aang, talk to him. I'll be back in a few minutes.' As she turned and left, she inadvertently patted the kid's head, as she sometimes did with James. Now and then, the fact that she would never see him again hit her like that glacier hit the Titanic. She was the Titanic. Her gut was drenched in this icy realization and ache. She glanced back at them once more, 'And hey, if he acts up, run.'
The boy nodded, giving her a weak smile, before turning to look at the lying prince.