Iroh's POV:

I carefully made my way through the market as I held tightly to Jia. She surprisingly stayed quiet until we were far enough away from the building. I smile down at her and made sure I paid attention to our surroundings as we went. She giggled at my smile and continued to play with my beard hair. It wasn't hard to fall for this tiny human in my arms, she reminds me of when Lu Ten was her age, so full of joy and life. She even reminds me of Zuko and Azula despite their current demeanour they were both once so innocent and happy.

I made my way around the corner and had finally found Zuko and Katara. They were holding a couple sacs that I assume were full of things for both Katara and Jia. Once they noticed me they both came my way and Zuko looked a little alarmed as he asked, "Uncle? Why are you here? What's going on?"

I smile calmly and say, "Lee it seems we have run out of tea. Our supplies are running low and we have to go shopping." Zuko's face slowly went from annoyance to understanding and then panic.

"Uncle, are you sure?" I nodded and sigh in relief knowing he understood what I was trying to tell him. Obviously working in a tea shop we would never run out of tea and we have already went over what we should say if we were ever suspicious of being caught in Ba Sing Se. What I told him basically meant we were running out of time and needed to leave Ba Sing Se before we got caught.

He looked to Katara who looked confused as ever as she handed him her sacs and took Jia from me and waited for us to explain. The first thing we will have to address when we are out of here is where exactly Jia came from and if Katara knew what I now know about her and what kind of bender she is. Before we can do any of that however we need to leave before things get messy.

Zuko ran his hand through his hair, "Alright, but we need to wait for the Avatar and his group to come. They need to know we did have our reasons for disappearing and not because they found us. They want to see that Katara is okay and I don't want to give them any reason to mistrust me with her."

I quickly look around nervously and say, "Are they coming now? Because we really don't have much time to spare, we are really low Lee and if someone comes for a visit we won't have any tea to offer. I can't go back home until we have a suitable amount of tea." I try to get through to Zuko about the fact our house was broken into. We need to be as careful as possible now that we can't go back to our residence. Maybe our best option right now could be getting the Avatar on our side then at least we would have more power on our side and have a chance at escaping.

He nodded and we all went over to a bench not too far from us and sat down. I look over to Katara and say, "So when were you going to tell us what kind of bender Jia is?" Zuko's eyes widened as he turned to her as well. Katara looked a little sheepish as she looked down and blushed.

"I wanted to make sure we were safe before revealing such a big secret to anyone let alone two people who were once my enemy." She looked the other way as she said this before turning back to us, "I know it is a shock and all but I really don't think we should talk about this here."

Zuko was clearly confused about what we were talking about though he did nod along with me at what she said. My impatient nephew has decided to have a little patience in this situation considering we don't have much time to go into this explanation and anyone can be around listening to this conversation.

Aang's POV:

We followed Toph through the streets anxious to finally find Katara so that we can find Appa, move on with our plans and meet with Hakoda and his men. They are waiting for us along with some people we have befriended in our travels who can help us with the invasion.

As we walked Sokka seemed to get a little impatient as he said, "Toph, where is she? We've been walking forever!" As always he has an overly dramatic and expressive body language and facial expressions. I look to Toph for an answer, also wondering when we will find Katara.

"Chill Snoozles, we're almost there!" Is all she says as she continues walking not bothering to see if we were still following.

Sokka and I look to each other with the same 'whatever' face and continue to follow her. At this point I'm questioning if she really did find her or if this is some kind of trick.

We continued on for a few more minutes before we turned a corner and there she was just like Toph said she was sitting there with Zuko but she didn't look the same, she was pale, skinny and clearly beaten. I can't believe what I was seeing, how can someone be so cruel. How did this happen and who did this to her? Everyone around me except for Toph were clearly shocked and disturbed by what they saw. Sokka, who was frozen in his place, suddenly jumped into action and quickly made his way over to her obviously in protective big brother mode.

At the movement Katara jumped up and backed away from him, watching all of us closely, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, she's afraid of not just her own brother but all of us. As she got up, Zuko and General Iroh stood as well, Katara moved behind Zuko and watched as we cautiously approached them.

Katara's POV:

I can't believe I agreed to this, seeing the gaang now I'm starting to have doubts that this was a good idea. I know my actual friends won't hurt me but just seeing them terrifies me and I'm surprisingly glad that I have Zuko here with me. He and his uncle are standing with me and I know if anything were to go wrong they would be there for me, strange isn't it? I've known them for such a small amount of time but I know and see that they both have a true and pure intentions and that they have just been mislead and misunderstood. If it weren't for them I could be back in that place or worse, they took Jia and I in and I am forever grateful. The fact that they want to help me and want to meet with my friends to show them I'm alright and that they can trust them makes me trust them a great deal. They could have done so much with me or used me to get to Aang but their only worry is for my friends to see I'm okay and that they can be trusted to take care of me.

My brother, who had frozen in place after seeing me back away was the fastest one to snap out of his shock as he said, "Katara?" I look down unable to watch his sad face as he looked at me, I didn't look the same and I know that, he was probably trying to figure out what could have happened as he looked at me up and down. "Come on Kara Bear, didn't you miss me?"

My eyes widened at the nickname, when I was born Sokka couldn't say my name properly so it came out as Kara. This lead my mother calling me Kara bear and when she died I couldn't handle hearing that name again so I forced my father and brother to stop all together and from then on, I was mostly just Katara except for the little pet names dad and gran gran gave me. No one has ever called me that or even knows about that except for my family and the other people in the South Pole, so that means…

Sokka readily caught me has I ran to him and jumped into his arms. He held me as a loving brother should as tears leaked from my eyes. I can't believe it, it's actually him!

"It's good to see you again Katara." I snapped out of my overwhelming happiness to see that Aang had made his way over to us. Him being a bit too close for my comfort I back away from both of them and stopped to stand beside Zuko. I love my brother and trust him knowing it is really him but after what I had been through I cannot let myself get too comfortable with them in case this really is a trick. I don't think I could ever look at Aang the same again that's for sure.

Aang looked as if his heart was ripped out of his chest and broken in two while my brother looked shocked but seemed to understand I was not purposefully trying to hurt them and that I couldn't help it. He slowly made his way over to us but before he could reach us he was stopped by General Iroh who had also walked forward stopping him before he got too close. There was now space between Toph and Aang and Zuko and I with General Iroh and my brother in the middle of both of us almost as if there was a fight about to happen but of course that was not the case.

General Iroh went to open his mouth, probably to tell Sokka that we will explain but we needed space to do so. He was probably trying to, as always, keep things calm as possible during such a difficult situation and he didn't want there to be any reason for me not to trust my friends again or for them to distrust him and Zuko with me.

Before he could utter even a simple word the ground between us and them separates and Zuko had swiftly turned around to attack someone behind us. I turned around to see what was happening and saw a group of Dai Li fighting Zuko. I looked down at my hands in desperation but knew there was no way I could bend and sighed in defeat as all I could do is watch. I look back to General Iroh and my friends and they were in their own battle with the Dai Li. There was nothing I could do but sadly this isn't the first time I felt so helpless and vulnerable and I'm guessing it won't be the last.

As the fighting continued Zuko continuously protected me as the Dai Li attempted to attack me as well. I looked around desperately trying to figure out something I could do to help but it was pointless. The Dai Li were relentless as they continued their fight clearly determined to do what they wanted and get what they wanted from us.

CRASH!

I heard something behind me and when I looked my eyes watched on in absolute horror as Azula was there on top of a building shooting lighting and fire in all directions. She was being tactful I could see as she used a great amount of focus to aim just where she wanted her shots to go. The citizens that were usually busying the streets had long fled to other parts of the city or into buildings and the streets were deserted.

As I watched everything going on around us I realized something, the Dai Li fighting General Iroh and my friends and the ones fighting Zuko were behaving differently. It seems that the ones fighting the one and only Avatar were not using their true potential and were very relaxed while the ones against Zuko were determined and seemed to be more focused on something, they fought much harder and came back a lot more. That's when I realized the ones fighting my brother and friends must be there for one reason alone…To Distract! We are there true targets and the other Dai Li and Azula are keeping my friends away from us so that they can get us!

As I think this a Dai Li member hit Zuko down and my eyes widened, "Zuko!" I move forward to get to him but I'm stopped by one of the Dai Li who is holding my arm as I hold onto Jia. Zuko is lifted and held as well as we are both forced to face Azula.

She smirks down at us and then turns to Aang, "It's been good Avatar but I think we must leave. If you want the water peasant back you will have to come find her."

A/N: Hey guys! It's been a while! Hope this was worth the wait 😊 I plan to post again real soon so keep your eye out for another chapter coming your way! Feel free to review and let me know what you think. Is this it for Zuko and Katara? Where will Azula take them and how will they escape?