Chapter 13: A Way Out

Hey guys! I just wanted to say real quick thank you guys so much for reading my stories, and I also wanted to say that part of the way that I'm bringing this story to an end is not my own idea, but is from something else. I do not want to give away what's going to happen, but to those who are familiar with the source of where I got this idea will probably recognize it. Just so you guys know, I do not claim credit for this specific idea which will probably take place near the end of the chapter. Anyway, again thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you all have a great day!

Quick responses to reviews:

TheRaccoon13: Thanks, I thought it wouldn't be a good idea to drag the fight out too long, so I'm glad that I kept it short enough. And yeah, that's what I was hoping to make it seem like. I'm glad that I didn't do it too badly. And thank you, I'm glad that you've enjoyed it. I honestly didn't think this was going to turn out very well, but it turned out better than I had expected.

Stegz: No pardon, no quarter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Katara and Aang could only blink in disbelief as they looked down at the enemy captain, not being sure of whether they had heard him correctly or not. Of course they knew that he could have been lying to them, but between the look on his face and the genuine surprise in his voice from hearing that he knew something they didn't, it appeared that he was being honest.

After sharing a look of utter surprise with her Quartermaster, the young captain looked back to her enemy that lay at her feet. "What do you mean, 'there's a pardon'?" she questioned, moving her sword from his chest to his throat.

The enemy captain laughed nervously as he put his hands up in the air. "Take it easy, lass. I'll tell you what I know." He tried to stand up, but the look on Katara's face made him stop moving, and he decided that it would be in his best interest to stay where he was. "Aye, there's a pardon."

"How do you know that there's a pardon?" Aang asked, clearly still in a bit of surprise as he tried to process this and the potential this could hold for them.

"Learned it from a Royal Navy ship," the captain shrugged a little, gulping as Katara moved the blade closer to his throat. "The captain tried to get me to go away since there was a pardon, but I wasn't ready to stop being a pirate just yet."

"And you are now?" Aang wondered, making the enemy captain laugh sarcastically.

"Well, now I don't have much choice thanks to you lot," he griped a little. "But aye, all of the pirates in the world likely will be taking the pardon. It's only available for one day, though."

"When is that day?" Katara asked, though by the tone of her voice, the enemy captain could tell that she wouldn't take anything but the truth for an answer.

Knowing that he had no other choice, he reluctantly admitted. "It's one week from today. We're supposed to go to a certain harbor and give up our ship and surrender our treasure."

"Where's this harbor? And is this pardon just for the Earth Kingdom, or is it for all of them?" Katara questioned, her eyes blazing with hatred and a hint of curiosity as she looked down at the man.

"It's an Earth Kingdom harbor that's on the South end of the Earth Kingdom. They say they only use it for special occasions," the enemy captain told them. "As for your other question, it's for all of them except the Air Nomads, for obvious reasons. We're to surrender our ships and to give them all our loot before they pardon us."

Smirking a little, he then said. "Between you and me, I buried some of my loot on a nearby island. Once I've been pardoned, I'm going to go get it. Then I'll be set for life!"

"But you're still going to hurt people, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, lass. I'm going to turn over a new leaf," he said with a fake innocent look on his face, but Katara gave him a look of doubt that made him sigh in defeat. "Aye, you're right. I was actually planning on starting my own bandit ring."

Having nothing left to say, Katara moved her sword back down to his chest and plunged it in, making their enemy gasp in surprise for a few moments before the lights in his eyes dimmed and his head dropped back against the floor.

Aang looked at her with wide eyes, clearly not being very happy with what she had chosen to do at the moment.. "Katara, what did you just do?"

"You heard him, Aang. He was just going to take the pardon and start over on land," Katara argued as she looked down at the dead man. "He was going to hurt more people. I couldn't let him live."

Although he still didn't look very happy, he supposed that he understood her reasoning, even if he still didn't like seeing so much needless killing. "Aye, I guess you're right," he finally sighed before turning to her. "Well, what are we going to do with this information?"

"What do you mean?" Katara asked curiously with a raised brow.

"This could be our ticket to get back into regular society," he explained. "If we take the pardon, then we'll have a clean slate and we can go to the Fire Nation and deal with the Fire Lord."

Despite seeing the value in this, Katara couldn't help but also be a bit wary. She had known that she would have to stop her hunt of pirates soon, as the end of summer was only a month away, but she had been hoping they could hold it off longer. Unfortunately, it didn't appear that this would be the case for them.

"But we'll have to give up our treasures and the ship," Katara argued, knowing that she was being selfish, but unable to help the words from coming out of her mouth.

"I know, but we'll give away most of our money to those who need it. And if we're going to stop the Fire Lord, we're not really going to need a ship anymore," he pointed out, making Katara sigh in defeat as she knew that he was right.

"Aye, I guess you're right. I just had been hoping that we had a little more time," she admitted, becoming surprised as he took her free hand in his and squeezed it.

""I know, Captain, but this is our best chance," Aang told her gently, knowing that she was likely not very happy with all of this. "I'd love to stay a pirate as much as you would, but unfortunately I'm the Avatar. I can't leave the world on its own."

Katara smiled and leaned up to give him a kiss. "I know, and that's why I love you," she murmured to him, her eyes widening as she realized what she had said. Starting to panic a little, she rapidly tried to back track. "I-I mean, I like you. I-"

"Katara, it's okay," Aang chuckled as he cupped her cheek in her hand. "I love you, too."

"Really?" Katara asked hopefully with a smile, making him laugh again as he nodded. Wrapping her arms around his neck quickly, she sunk her lips into his and enjoyed the taste of his lips, feeling incredibly happy that he loved her. She stopped for a second when she thought of something, however, as she pulled away just a little and looked up at him with a question in her eyes.

"Why didn't you seem surprised when I told you that I loved you?" she asked suspiciously, wondering if he had heard her confession to him when he had been in the spirit world.

Unable to hold back a bit of a smirk, Aang then replied. "Well… I might have heard you tell me that you loved me when I was talking to Avatar Roku." Katara groaned and ran a hand over her face, making him laugh again as he brought his forehead down to hers. "Really Katara, it's okay. I was pretty happy to hear that you loved me."

"It's not that. I just thought that you wouldn't be able to hear me since you weren't responding to me," she groaned a little more, making him smile once again as he gave her a kiss.

"Really, Katara. It's okay," he gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm glad that I heard you because I actually have a gift for you that I've been wanting to give you, but I didn't know when I should."

At this, Katara couldn't help but raise a brow at him in confusion. "What did you want to give me?" Watching as he reached into his pocket, she became surprised as she saw a necklace that looked a lot like the one her mother had given her. But, upon checking her neck and seeing that she still had it, only then did she realize what it was as she couldn't help but gasp in surprise.

Tears started to flow down her eyes as Aang kneeled down to the ground, holding the necklace out for her to see as he smiled up at her. "Katara, I never thought that I would ever love someone the way I love you. I honestly thought that I would spend the rest of my life being a pirate and die early in my life. But when I met you, all of that changed. When I lost my ship and my crew, you gave me a new one. When I found out that I was the Avatar and didn't know what to do, you helped me to calm down and accept what I am." He smiled warmly up at her. "You've always been by my side, and over the time that we've been together, I figured out that I don't ever want that to change."

Taking a second to take this scene in his head, he then said. "You're the most beautiful, brave, smart, and amazing woman I've ever met, and I don't want to spend a day without you." Taking one more deep breath, he looked back up to her with a warm smile. "Katara, will you make me the happiest pirate alive and marry me?"

Feeling even more tears streaming down her lovely features, it only took her a second to decide as she replied. "Yes." Unable to keep a wide smile off of his face at this, he stood up and helped her put the necklace on, surprising her as she attempted to take off her mother's necklace only to be stopped by his gentle hand.

"I know that your parents mean a lot to you, and I don't want you to have to give them up for me," Aang explained with a smile as he saw the look of confusion on her face. "So, I made this one longer so that you could wear both."

Her heart in her throat, she waited until he had finished helping her get the necklace on before throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him, being so happy that she had such an amazing boyfriend- No, Fiance who loved her as she loved him.

As they kissed for a few moments, a chuckle escaped Aang's lips suddenly, making Katara pull back as she looked up at him with a curious gleam in her eyes. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, I was just thinking that this wasn't exactly the place I was planning on doing this," he explained, making her laugh as she realized that he was right. After all, one of the last places she would have expected to get engaged would have been on an enemy pirate ship.

"Aye, I guess you're right," she sighed in contentment as she put her face against his chest, making him smile as he looked down at his future wife, having a hard time believing that this beautiful and amazing woman had agreed to marry him.

Though the two were quite content with where they were, they supposed they should have known that they wouldn't be able to enjoy it for long, as soon they had some visitors.

"Hey, what's taking so long?" Sokka complained as he walked into the room, making Aang and Katara's eyes widen as they wondered how he would react to them being engaged.

"If I heard them correctly, they just got engaged," Toph grinned as she walked into the room, not even caring as the two lovers glared at her. After all, it wasn't every day that she would be able to see Sokka nearly explode.

They all could only watch as his face took on a look of surprise, holding that look for several moments before it changed to a look of disgust. "Gross! You guys really couldn't have gotten engaged somewhere else?!" Sokka whined, making them all look at him in utter surprise.

"That's all you're complaining about?!" Toph couldn't help but choke out, clearly having expected much more than that as she looked at him crazily. "Your little sister just got engaged."

"It's gross, but I knew this was going to happen eventually," Sokka shrugged, though he still couldn't help but keep the look of disgust on his face. "I just wished I hadn't walked in on it right after it happened."

"Would you rather have seen it all happen, Sokka?" Katara raised a brow at him with her hands on her hips, making him think about it for a moment before he shook his head. "That's what I thought."

Toph was still quite disappointed, however, and couldn't help but try one more time for a reaction from him. "Sokka," she began, taking them all completely by surprise, as she rarely called them by their actual names. "Your sister… got engaged. Doesn't that make you, I don't know, angry? Maybe overprotective? They've only been dating for eight months."

"And they've only known each other for nine," Sokka shrugged simply as he looked at the two. "But he makes her happy, and that's all that matters to me." Katara couldn't help but smile at this, happy to hear that her brother cared about her so much. "But I still don't want to see any of the Oogie-worthy stuff you guys do."

She supposed that she should have seen this coming, but she still couldn't help but be a bit annoyed that he had ruined one of the few moments where he wasn't acting like an annoying brother. Deciding to ignore it, she sarcastically replied. "Oh yeah, Sokka. Will do." Earning a snicker from Aang that made her smile.

"Oh, gross," Sokka groaned, shielding his eyes like he was staring into the sun. "Alright. I think I've had enough of all this mushy stuff. If you need me, I'll be back on the ship where I can't be grossed out by you two."

Toph nodded her agreement as she started following him out. "He's right, you two are gross." She grinned at them as she stopped at the door, her eyes alight with mischief as she looked back at them. "Come on, Mr. and Mrs. Twinkle Toes. We've got work to do."

Rolling her eyes a little, Katara decided to ignore her friend's comment and followed her out of the door, enjoying the feeling of Aang's hand in hers and, despite the fact that their friends had annoyed her a little, she felt grateful that Aang had asked her to marry him. And as they walked out of the room, she found that she was excited for what the future might bring.

A week later, the crew found themselves sailing towards the harbor they had learned about. Though the captain they had questioned hadn't told them exactly where it was, they had soon learned that they didn't need to, as all of the pirate ships going in the same direction told them all they needed to know.

It was strange, thinking about the life that lay ahead of them, but they all knew that it was what they needed to do. Aang had a destiny to fulfill, and the world needed its Avatar. Still though, the thought of settling back into normal life was strange, but they all found themselves looking forward to it. As much as they had loved their lives as pirates, it would be nice to not have to worry about Earth Kingdom soldiers coming after them.

Besides. With Katara and Aang's new engagement, they needed to settle back into regular society. Though they knew that they could technically get married as pirates, they also knew that if they were going to have a family, they didn't want them to be pirates. Not that they hadn't enjoyed being pirates, but they wanted their children to have a nice, peaceful life. One where they could prosper and grow up to have families of their own one day.

Besides, once Aang had been revealed as the Avatar, he wouldn't be able to go back to the life of a pirate. Well, not without the rest of the world hating him for abandoning his duties, anyway. And though Aang loved being a pirate, he knew that it was time to start a new adventure. The life of the Avatar.

He still wasn't sure exactly what all of his responsibilities were, but from what he had learned from those who knew of the Avatar, he surmised that he would be responsible for making sure the four nations remained in balance. And part of that was to ensure that the Fire Nation didn't start a world war.

Why they couldn't just be happy with their lot in life, he didn't know, but what he did know was that it was his job to stop them. And now that he had been fully trained in all of the elements and had people who would be able to help him get through the Fire Lord's palace, he felt more confident that he would be able to succeed.

There was something that he hadn't told anyone else but Katara about, however, that had put him more at ease for the upcoming battle. The main problem he had struggled to deal with was the fact that he likely would have to kill the Fire Lord to ensure that war didn't break out, but thanks to a vision sent by a Lion Turtle, whatever that was, he had been trained in the ways of energybending and knew how to defeat him without taking his life.

Because of this, he felt much more confident than he had before, and felt hopeful as to what the future would bring. Still though, he couldn't help but be a little nervous for the fight, but with his friends at his side, he knew that he would win.

"Aang?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned to look at the amazing young woman he called his fiance as she looked at him with curiosity gleaming in her eyes. "Yeah?" he finally replied.

"Are you alright? You seemed a little… out of it, there," she told him, making him laugh a little as he nodded.

"Aye, I was just thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"About the battle with the Fire Lord," he admitted, making her take his hand in hers and squeeze it gently. She knew that he was still a little nervous about it, and she knew that she would always be the one to reassure him when he was feeling nervous about something.

Giving him a smile, she then said. "It's okay, Aang. I know you can beat him. Especially now that you know how to take his powers away," she added as she lowered her voice to a whisper, making him smile back at her.

"And especially if I have you with me," he responded, making her laugh and playfully hit his shoulder as he laughed with her.

"You're so cheesy, you know," she informed him in a murmur as she leaned her head on his shoulder, making him smile as he kissed her head.

"Oh, I know," he joked, making her smile as she enjoyed being close to him, but her smile dropped a little as another pirate ship came into view. Noticing this, Aang gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry that you didn't get to finish your mission."

Although Katara still wasn't quite happy that so many pirates were going to get off the hook, she knew that she couldn't do anything about it. Over the last week, she had hunted down as many as she could, but she had known that she wouldn't have enough time to get them all.

"It's alright. I didn't think I would be able to get them all, I just wanted to get most of them," she shrugged simply.

"Well, judging by how few ships there are going this way, I'd say you accomplished that," Aang told her, making her smile a little as she heard this.

"Yeah, I guess we did," she replied with a smile back, making him smile as they stared into each other's eyes for a few moments. Just as they thought that they could actually have a peaceful moment together, they were proven wrong as Sokka came running up the stairs.

"We're almost to land, Katara!" he informed them as he reached the top, making them both look at him, but this time not in annoyance as they normally would. This was a new start for them, and they weren't going to let it start on a bad note.

"Thanks, Sokka! Go make sure everyone's ready to debark," Katara ordered, watching Sokka nod as he ran back down the stairs. Though Aang and Katara could only watch on in amusement as he went straight to Suki and took her hand in his as they neared the dock.

"Funny how things work out sometimes, huh?" Aang chuckled, making Katara laugh as she nodded her agreement.

"Aye. Who knew my brother would ever get a girlfriend?" she joked, making him laugh more as they watched the crew start to lower the gangplank onto the dock. "Come on. It's time for a fresh start."

A few hours later, all of the pirates that had come to take the pardon were lounging around the area that had been set up for them, waiting for them to start the process to pardon them. It had taken a lot longer than the pirates had expected to get it started, and they weren't sure why it was taking so long, but they knew that they would wait all day to have the chance for a new start.

The only real problem with this, however, was that Katara had to sit around all of the pirates that she had been planning on ending for much longer than she ever would have wanted to. Seeing them all celebrating with drinks for getting a pardon made her skin crawl, knowing that at least most of them would likely go on to continue hurting others.

But what really made her tick in the wrong way was the fact that she was not ten feet away from the very man who had killed her parents: Yon Rha. She had never known what he looked like before, but after the other pirates had already slammed a few drinks down, many of them had started calling each other by their real names, and it was then that she discovered the man whom she hated greatly.

If she hadn't been more determined to take out the majority of pirates in the world, she likely would have dedicated the time she had before taking the pardon to hunting him down, but she had known that it would be selfish of her to do so. No matter how badly she wanted to avenge her parents deaths now.

Aang, having seen that his fiance's mood had soured from seeing the man she hated, took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Katara, I know it's hard, but there's nothing we can do about it now. If we try to kill him now, we won't get the pardon."

Letting out a long sigh, she reluctantly nodded and squeezed his hand back. "I know. It's just hard. I've been looking for him for years, and he's right there."

"I know, but this is for the best," Aang murmured to her as he pulled her to him and kissed her head. "Once we get the pardon, we'll get out of here and you'll never have to see him again."

Feeling content with this thought, she was about to respond to him when the sound of someone talking loudly above the rest interrupted them, making their eyes widen as they recognized the voice.

Zuko, who was sitting across from them with Mai curled up to him, also seemed to recognize the voice and shared a look with Aang, both with fearful looks on their faces as they looked over to the direction the voice was coming from.

Unfortunately for them, their suspicions were confirmed as they saw none other than Azula standing on a makeshift platform as she said. "Welcome all! I'm sorry that I have to be the bearer of bad news today, but the pardon is not real. Fire Lord Ozai and Earth King Kuei have decided that the pirates of the world need to be dealt with, and have called for all of your heads. As of this day, there will be no more pirates left in the world."

At the last word she spoke, a line of earthbenders and firebenders stepped out from behind the platform in equal measure, making all of the pirates look at them in horror as they saw that they were heavily outnumbered.

Azula smiled evilly as she looked down at her brother, feeling content with the fear in his eyes as he stood up. "I'm sorry it had to come to this, brother." Taking a step back, she then ordered with a wicked smile. "Kill them!"