Chapter 10: Family Reunion
Quick responses to reviews:
Natec183: Wow, I'm honored that you'd rather read my chapter than get some much needed rest. I would advise not making a habit out of it, though. I don't know about you, but I'm no good if I don't have any sleep.
Zackmood: Yeah, sorry about that. I never really said how old they were. They're both in their early twenties, but if you want actual numbers, then Katara's twenty four and Aang's twenty two. Hope that helps you out.
TheRaccoon13: Awesome, I'm glad that you liked it. And yeah, I think you'll like Azula's reaction when she finds out Aang's secret identity.
Wil02: I'm glad that you liked her confession. I wasn't thinking about doing it quite yet, but as I was writing, it seemed like it would fit well with all that was going on.
Lalaandikki: Maybe…
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Aang and Katara quickly made their way below deck, knowing that they had some questions that needed answering. Although she knew that Aang was really the one with the questions, she also knew that anything he did, she was going to do, too, so it really didn't matter who had the questions or not. Wherever he would go, she would go with him. Even if it meant giving up her mission for him.
As she had confessed to him while he had been… wherever he was, she loved him a great deal, and couldn't imagine her life without him. And although she knew that she wanted to do the world a favor by ridding it of the plague called pirates, Aang meant far too much to her to let him go now, and would gladly give up her pursuit of vengeance to make sure that she stayed at his side.
Not that she had been forced to make this choice yet. She got the feeling that she would have to soon, what with Aang seeing a spirit while they had been dancing in the Crew Mess. If she had to guess what the spirit had been there for, she would likely chalk it up to something to do with him being the Avatar. Despite what little knowledge her grandmother had told her about the Avatar, she still didn't know that much about it.
Whatever it was, it must have been important if Aang needed to talk to Zuko immediately. And knowing that Aang wouldn't be acting this seriously if it wasn't a serious situation, she saw fit to not ask him anything until he was ready to tell her. When he had it figured out, she was sure that he would let her in on what exactly was going on.
She just hoped it wasn't what she thought was happening.
Though she understood well that the world would need its Avatar one day, she had hoped that they would have had time to at least take care of most of the pirates in the world, but from the way he was acting, it didn't seem like it would be so. Granted, she had hunted down many pirates over her years of piracy, but there were still a lot out there that she wanted to make sure were put down.
But, knowing that there wasn't much she could do about it if Aang was being called into his duties, she decided to be content that she would be with him no matter what happened. As long as she was at his side, then she was right where she wanted to be.
Finally reaching the Crew Mess, they looked around and weren't so surprised to find Zuko, Mai, and Iroh all sitting at their usual table. The party was still going, but it was clear that people were quite drunk. Well, except for Toph, Sokka, and the other three. Every other member of the crew looked like they could barely stand.
Sharing a nod of understanding, they quickly made their way over to the table and took a seat in front of the three, taking them all by surprise as they noticed that it was no longer just them.
"What's up with you guys?" Mai asked dully as she leaned back against Zuko, looking as bored as ever as she mindlessly drew circles with her shuriken on the table in front of her.
"We need to talk to Zuko," was Aang's only reply, making all three of the Fire Nation refugees' eyebrows raise as they heard this.
"What do you need to talk to me about?" Zuko asked with a raised brow, his voice sounding uninterested, but the curious gleam in his eye betrayed his true thoughts.
The two were silent for a moment, and as Katara looked at Aang and waited for him to explain, he finally decided that he would probably want all of their input. "I just had a… vision about something. Something that you all might know about," he began, taking their interest immediately as they sat up a little straighter.
"What do you mean, young Avatar?" Iroh asked with a raised brow as he took a sip of his tea and set the cup down.
"Katara told me that you guys were running away from something when she let you guys join the crew. What were you running away from?" he decided to ask, watching as the three people in front of him shared an uneasy look.
After they all seemed to have a telepathic conversation that Aang and Katara couldn't hear, Iroh cleared his throat and looked back to them. "Very well. Before we came here, we were refugees of the Fire Nation."
"Why?" was Aang's only question.
The three shared a look again, but it was Zuko who answered this time. "Because we did something that my father didn't like." Aang motioned for him to continue, which Zuko did after a moment of silence. "I told you before that my father once ordered me to hunt you down. Well, when I gave up, Uncle convinced me that nothing was going to win my father's love, and that he needed to be removed from power."
"Wait a minute," Katara objected as she put her hands in the air to stop him. "Iroh, why would you want your brother to be removed from power?"
Iroh was silent for a moment, not liking the bad memories that this conversation was bringing back to his mind, but he knew that he owed them the truth. "My brother is not a good man," he began with a sigh as he looked down at his tea cup, seeing the steam rise from it as he did so. "The Fire Nation has always been ambitious, but my family has been preparing for war for generations."
Aang and Katara's eyes widened from hearing this, but Iroh knew that he had to get through the rest before he could allow them to speak. "Ever since my grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, took power, he had planned ways to 'spread our greatness with the rest of the world'. This was just a nice way of saying that he wanted to conquer it, however, but no one had stopped him. His best friend was Avatar Roku, and although he very much wanted to, he knew that it would not be wise to start a war with the Avatar there to protect the other nations."
Pausing for a moment, he took another sip of his tea to calm himself and put it back down before looking up at the Captain and Quartermaster. "Though Sozin did not get to accomplish his goal, my family has been secretly planning for this war ever since. And now, with a hundred years of preparation, my brother wants to finish what our grandfather started."
He looked down at his feet as a look of shame came onto his face, remembering his past vividly from what felt like so long ago. "I am ashamed to say that I used to be of the same mind as my brother, and even helped him prepare for it. But, something happened that changed my mind."
Zuko gave him a concerned look, but he gave him a reassuring smile and looked back to the two, tears starting to well up in his eyes as he thought back to the worst day of his life. "One night, when I was younger, my son and I led a scouting trip outside the walls of Ba Sing Se to see how well the Earth Kingdom's defences were. Sadly, my son…" his voice cracked as he felt the pain come back to him, making Katara and Aang feel horrible as they saw how much pain he was in before he forced himself to focus. "Did not make it back."
After a few moments of silence, Iroh wiped the tear away from his eyes and looked up at them, his face showing the devastation it had on the day of his son's death. "I'm ashamed to say that it took my own son's death for me to realize what war would bring to the world, but that is what it took. Once I realized what I had been supporting, I secretly started acting against it. I aided everything from underground revolutionaries to those who wanted to escape Ozai's armies. But, as time went by, I soon saw what would become of Zuko if I did not interfere."
To his relief, Zuko picked up from there, knowing that his uncle would need some time to let the pain fade. "After a… misunderstanding," he began with a little anger in his eyes, remembering how he had been permanently disfigured over an unintentional challenge of his father's honor. "I was sent to find the Avatar to reclaim my honor. When I realized that I wasn't going to find him- er, you, Uncle talked me into something."
Although Aang hated that he had made Iroh upset and that this whole thing appeared to be affecting all of their friends, he knew that he needed to hear the rest of the story. "What did he talk you into?"
"A revolt," Zuko finally told him reluctantly after a few moments of silence. "Uncle wanted us to take my father out of power so there wouldn't be a war, but we failed, and we had to leave. When we made it to the Earth Kingdom, some of my father's bounty hunters tracked us to where we were staying, and we knew that we couldn't stay. That was when we met Sokka, who after talking to the Captain, invited us to come with them."
The five all sat there in silence, not sure what to say to each other now that it was all out. Katara had always been curious as to why the three stragglers had needed to get away with a pirate crew, but she had never quite imagined that their reason would be quite like that.
Finally, after a few more moments of silence, it was Aang who spoke his thoughts aloud. "Well, thank you for telling me about your past," he began carefully, seeing that they all seemed a bit uneasy. "I appreciate it. Now, I think it's time I tell you what I learned."
And tell them he did. As he explained how he had been whisked away to another world, the four around him could only stare at him in shock, learning of all that he had learned. Well, all except for Iroh, who had plenty of experience with the Spirit World and the knowledge of his evil brother.
When he finally finished, it was Zuko who spoke. "Yeah, that sounds like my father," he agreed, frowning as he thought about it. "I always knew he was going to do it eventually, I just hoped that it would be a long time from now."
"I know. That's what I had been hoping, too," Aang agreed with a humorless chuckle, thinking of how he was going to have to give up the life of a Pirate to save the world. "Unfortunately, Ozai has different plans."
"Okay, so what does this have to do with us?" Mai decided to ask with a raised brow, feeling as if she should ask what was on her mind.
"You've all been in the royal palace before," Katara spoke up this time, watching as they all nodded. "Aang doesn't know anything about it, but you do. You can help us find the Fire Lord when we go to stop him."
"We?" Aang couldn't help but ask in confusion and a little worry, not wanting to put her in danger if he could help it.
"Aye, we," Katara assured him with a serious look on her face. "If you think for a second that I'm going to let you fight the scariest guy on Earth alone, you better think again."
Although he still didn't like the thought of bringing her to battle with him, he could tell by the look on her face that he wasn't going to be able to talk her out of it, and decided that it would just be best if he put that thought out of his head as he turned back to the three refugees.
"Then you can help us find him when we go to the Fire Nation," Aang corrected himself, not noticing as a satisfied smirk found its way onto Katara's face as she saw this. "If I- we tried going in there on our own, we wouldn't know where to go, but you all can help us."
The three looked at each other again, clearly weighing their options as they thought about it. "Well, it would be fun to do another revolt," Mai thought carelessly as she mindlessly flicked her shuriken around.
"And, with the Avatar's help, our chances of success would be much better this time," Iroh added, making Zuko nod in agreement as he thought about it.
After a few more moments of thought, Zuko finally looked up at Aang and nodded to him. "Okay. When it's time, we'll help you find the Fire Lord."
Aang grinned from hearing this, happy that he hadn't had to convince them too much to help them out. "Great. With your help, we'll find the Fire Lord and take him down and make sure that no war ever starts."
"That sounds like a plan, young Avatar," Iroh agreed with a smile as he took another sip of his tea, letting out a relaxed sigh as he enjoyed the calming effects it had on his mind and soul.
Grinning again, he looked at them all with a new hope in his eyes, feeling happy knowing that he had allies who would be able to help him. "Well then, we'll talk more about this when it gets closer. We have until the end of Summer to stop Ozai."
"At least that's still a few months away," Katara added, feeling happy that she at least had more time to work on her mission. "We'll have plenty of time to prepare for what's next."
"Aye, we will," Aang nodded his agreement and took her hand in his before looking back at the three refugees. "Thank you all for your help. I feel much better now."
"You are very welcome, Aang," Iroh told him with a smile, being prevented from saying anything else when the sound of a bell interrupted their conversation. They all recognized this bell, but before any of them could do anything, one of their crewmates came running down the stairs and ran into the Crew Mess.
"There's a Fire Navy ship coming for us!"
Katara blinked in surprise as she heard this, not understanding why this could be. "Why would a Fire Navy ship be after us? They don't like pirates, but they don't usually attack us unless we provoke them."
Zuko immediately stood up, looking out of the window as he saw the familiar ship that belonged to none other than his insane sister. "It's my sister. She's been hunting us for a while now."
"Your sister has been hunting you?" Sokka asked as he and Toph walked over to them. "What kind of sister is she?"
"Not the nice kind," Zuko told him regrettably as he watched the enemy ship get closer and closer. "We're not going to be able to hide from her. If she hasn't sunk us yet, it's because she knows we're on here."
"Then, let's not keep her waiting," Mai said simply as she too stood up, letting her shurikens slip back into her sleeves as she started making her way above deck with Zuko and Iroh right behind her. It took the rest of the four a few moments to snap out of their surprise from hearing about Zuko's family hunting him, but considering who his father was, they supposed they really shouldn't have been that surprised.
"Come on. They're going to need all the help they can get," Aang told them as he started leading the way with Katara right behind him as the other two stood there for a little longer.
Sokka sighed a little as he rubbed his hand over his face. "First we ran into a Kraken, then we get attacked by pirates in the middle of the night, and now we're being attacked by Zuko's psycho sister. What's next?"
Toph simply scoffed at his concern, cracking her knuckles as an excited grin spread across her face. "Who cares? This is going to be fun," she told him, her grin not faltering for a second as she started making her way above deck with Sokka not far behind.
As they all made their way over to the side of the ship, they saw that their crewmate had been right. It was indeed a Fire Navy ship that was coming towards them, and judging by how they didn't appear to be slowing down, they felt it safe to say that they weren't exactly friendly.
"So, what exactly should we expect from this sister you mentioned?" Aang asked with a glance at Zuko, making Zuko sigh a little as he found that he was not looking forward to what would come next.
"Just be on your guard," Zuko replied simply, looking at the ship to see if he could spot the insane woman he called family from where he stood. "She's one of the most deceptive and dangerous people you'll ever meet. If you're not careful, she'll take you down before you can even blink."
This put a little fear into the others around him, except for Toph and Mai, but it still didn't make them feel much better, either. Not that they would ever admit to this, of course. Looking back to the ship, Katara mused on what they should do.
"Alright, if they're going to attack us, we should attack first," she decided out loud.
"No. Please, don't," Zuko pleaded, taking them all by surprise as they looked at him as if he was crazy. "She might be crazy, but she's still my sister."
"Yeah! Your sister who's currently trying to hunt us down!" Sokka objected, clearly not liking this idea as he frowned at him.
"She's not after you guys, she's after us," he shot back as he gestured to his Uncle and Mai. "Besides, if we attack her first, she won't bother to talk. If I can talk to her, maybe I can get her to go away."
Mai gave him a look of pure doubt. "Zuko, it's Azula. She's going to try to kill you. If we attack her now, we might not even have to deal with her."
"She's still my sister, Mai," he said lowly as he looked at her. "As crazy as she is, she's still my family."
Aang and Katara both shared a look, knowing that family was certainly a more difficult thing to deal with than a common enemy. After a few moments of what appeared to be a telepathic conversation, Katara nodded to Zuko. "Okay. We'll wait and see what happens. But if your sister tries to attack us, we're not holding back."
Though he still didn't look very happy about it, he understood that he wasn't exactly in a position to argue, and decided that it would be best to take what he could get. "Fine. Let's just see what happens."
The seven moved over to the railing on the side of the ship, waiting to see what would happen as the Fire Navy ship got closer. Zuko knew that Azula would probably find him sooner or later, but he had really been hoping that it would be later.
Before long, the Fire Navy ship started turning to the right, revealing a line of soldiers with a girl in the middle who the pirates could only assume was Zuko's sister. Upon first glance, she didn't seem to be too scary, but the closer the Fire Navy ship got to them, the better they could see the malicious look in her eyes.
When the enemy ship finally got them close enough for them to hear her, Azula called out. "Why, hello brother! It's been a while!"
"What do you want, Azula?" Zuko growled back at her, not letting his guard down for a second as he prepared himself for whatever happened next.
"I thought it would be obvious, Zuzu," came Azula's taunting reply, making Aang snort a little as he glanced at the disgruntled looking firebender with clear amusement on his face.
"Zuzu?"
Zuko leveled a glare at him, but Aang just laughed it off and returned his attention to the Fire Nation princess, making Zuko sigh as he too looked back at her. "Yeah, I know what you came here for. Except I don't know if you came to kill or capture me!" he shouted back to her.
"Oh, Zuzu. After all you've done, you think that Father just wants me to kill you?" Azula yelled back to him, the evil smirk never leaving her face as she did so. "No. Father wants you to suffer before him, so I am to bring you back to the Fire Nation where you will be shown as what you are. A traitor, a coward, and a weakling. Which I always knew you are."
"I'm not a coward Azula, and I'm not a traitor," Zuko yelled back at her, his fists balling up in anger as he felt his anger getting the best of him. "Father is going to ruin thousands of lives, and for what? So that he can rule the world?"
"Why, yes," Azula said simply with a shrug. "Those who are weak should be led by those who are strong. You know this, Zuzu. The other nations are weak, and the Fire Nation is strong." Her hands caught on fire as she snarled at him. "Just as you are weak, and I am strong!"
Without warning, she shot the flames out of her hands and lifted off into the air, making the soldier around her panic for a moment before they remembered that they could simply put it out, which they then did immediately.
While they started lowering the gang plank onto the other ship, Azula finally made it over to the other end and just narrowly avoided a blast of fire from Zuko, not noticing as the others started circling around her. Had she been alone, she would have been outmatched, but it wasn't long before her soldiers started boarding the pirate ship and the group had to separate to fight them off.
While everyone else kept the soldiers at bay, Zuko and Mai worked together to fight against Azula, Zuko blocking any incoming attacks while Mai attempted to pin her down with her shurikens. Even if she didn't like Azula, she knew that Zuko didn't want her dead. That, and Azula had once sort of been her friend, even if she had been a jerk to her during the whole time.
Unfortunately for them, Azula was far too quick, not giving them the chance to pin her down as she aimed carelessly at them. Fortunately for them, with the help of Aang who had managed to knock out a few of the soldiers, he joined in the fight, making it more challenging for Azula to take them all on by herself.
"Useless guards," she muttered to herself as she glanced to her side and watched one of them get frozen in place by Katara. Her eyes widening as she felt a breeze come toward her, she jumped out of the way and narrowly missed a blast of air that would have sent her back into the ship's main mast, saving her a killer headache in the process.
Seeing that she needed to step things up, she started shooting fire at multiple people at a time instead of just one, making the three noticeably have a little more difficult time, but it still wasn't enough. Aang would normally use his firebending to break the fire shot at him, but he had already revealed that he was an airbender, and wasn't about to do anything that would reveal his identity as the Avatar. After all, it was clear that Zuko would not allow them to kill her. Not that he wanted to, anyway, as he was still against killing anyone at all.
After a little while of fighting, Iroh, Sokka, and Toph soon joined the fight against Azula, with Katara finishing off what was left of the royal guards. Seeing that she was close to being defeated, a twisted idea came to mind as she put her hands up in the air.
"You got me. I surrender. I know when I'm beaten," she told them as they all circled around her, peeking out of the corner of her eye to see that Katara was still busy fighting the last of the royal guards who had accompanied her.
Just as they all thought that she was actually surrendering and let their guard down a little, she quickly turned and shot a large blast of fire at the unsuspecting Katara, making Aang's eyes widen in fear as he saw it go toward her. "NO!"
Faster than the eye could follow, he used his airbending to run quickly in front of her, using his firebending training to break the barrage of flames as it reached him to ensure that she would not be harmed.
Azula's face took on a look of pure shock from seeing this, clearly having had no clue about Aang's true identity, but a wicked smile soon came onto her face as she saw that her search had yielded pleasing results.
"My brother and the Avatar?" she asked with clear excitement on her face. "Father will reward me well for your capture." She winced as she saw the people surround her again. "Though I suppose it'll have to be another day," she sighed before sweeping a ring of fire at them and launching into the air, flying over to her own ship as some of her guards lowered the gang plank.
Upon her landing, she smiled evilly at them. "Until another time, brother!" she called to him as the ship got moving, watching as all of her enemies lined up and watched her go.
"Well, shouldn't we go after her?!" Sokka asked incredulously, not believing that they were just letting her go.
"No. We'll see her again," was Zuko's only reply as Mai came up and took his hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"But what if she rats out Twinkle Toes identity?" Toph questioned with a raised brow as she folded her arms over her chest.
"Zuko's right," Aang decided to speak up, making them all look at him as they saw that he had broken his silence. "She won't, because if anyone else finds out, they'll be after us, too. She'll keep it a secret until she has me, so it won't be a problem." He then turned to Katara. "What should we do next captain?"
Katara thought about it for a few moments, and seeing the look on everyone's face as she looked around, decided that it would be best for them to get some rest. "Well, I think we've all had enough adventure for the day. Let's call it a night and get some rest."
"Sounds good to me," Sokka agreed with a yawn as he looked up to see the setting sun dipping below the horizon before turning around to go below deck. As the rest of the group nodded their agreement and went away, though Katara stopped Aang before he could follow.
"Yes, Captain?" he asked curiously.
"I just wanted to thank you for stopping Azula," she told him with a smile. "If you hadn't, I probably would've gotten burned pretty badly."
Aang smiled back at her, forgetting his problems as he looked into her eyes. "There's no need to thank me, Katara. I wasn't going to let you get hurt."
"I know," her smile grew as she wrapped her arms around his neck. "And that's why I… like you." She silently cursed herself, once again coming a little too close to telling him how she truly felt for him.
The young Avatar smiled down at her again, remembering what he had heard not too long ago. "I know," he finally decided to reply before pulling her in the rest of the way for a kiss, to which she responded with great fervor. After a few moments, they reluctantly pulled apart and shared another smile. "Sleep well, Katara."
"You too, Aang," she told him as she gave him another kiss before reluctantly letting him go, watching as he gave her one last smile before making his way downstairs. Letting out a bit of a sigh, as she found that she so badly wanted to tell him how she felt, she knew that now was not the time. Another day, but not today. Smiling as she thought of him, she made her way back to her cabin, feeling happy knowing that she was with such an amazing young man.