Chapter XIV: The Boiling Rock
It was a quiet night in the Western Air Temple, the group was sitting in a circle around a small fire in the fountain hall and Zuko was serving a freshly brewed tea to his new friends.
"No one can make tea like uncle, but hopefully I learned a thing or two" Zuko said as he served the tea to the group"would you like to hear my uncle's favorite joke?"
"Sure" Katara agreed.
"I like jokes" Aang answered supporting his friend.
"Go ahead!" Toph said insistently.
"Well, I can't remember how it starts, but punch line is 'Leaf me alone, I'm bushed' " the group looked at him for a moment in silence, nobody found the joke funny because Zuko only remembered punch line "well, it's more funnier when my uncle tells it"
"Maybe that's because he remembers the whole joke" Katara said making the other members of the group snickered and laughed.
"It's nice to have a chance to relax a little" Toph commented.
"It hardly ever happens" Zuko said as he handed Teo and the earthbender a cup of tea, he approached to Sokka who was drawing in the dust of the ground with a sad look on his face.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" the Southern Water Tribe boy asked. Zuko nodded and put down the tray as they walked over to where Appa was lying.
"So, what's up?" Zuko asked sternly "who was captured?"
"When the invasion plan failed, some of our troops were taken. I just wanna know where they might be."
"I cannot tell you."
"Huh?! why not?"
"Trust me, knowing it would just make you feel worse" the firebender said as he turned around.
"It's my dad" Sokka said, taking Zuko's shoulder "he was captured too, I need to know what I put him through"
"It's not good, Sokka."
"Please."
"My guess is they were taken to the Boiling Rock."
"What is that?" the Southern Water Tribe boy asked with a cold look on his face.
"The higest security prison in the Fire Nation. It's on an island in the middle of a boiling lake, it's inescapable."
"Then where is this place?"
"Why do you need to know? what are you planning?"
"Nothing... boy, you're so paranoid."
"It's in the middle of a volcano between here and the Fire Nation. You guys actually right past it on your way here."
"Thank you, Zuko" Sokka thanked him and yawned tiredly "just knowing makes me feel better"
"Yes, I'm sure it does" Zuko said, suspecting why Sokka would ask him something like that just like that, but how the latter insisted that he was not up to anything, he downplayed it and they returned to where the others were.
Assuming everyone else was asleep, Sokka crept his way over to Appa in the middle of the night, he cleared his sleeping area, and when he turned around... his foot narrowly missed Momo, he turned to Appa, shushing him when he stirred as he moved and climbed way up into the saddle.
"Not up to anything, huh?" Zuko said sitting in the saddle, Sokka fell off Appa to the stone floor, his bag emptiying out onto the floor.
"Fine, you caught me" he said as he gathered his things "I'm going to rescue my dad, ya happy now?"
"I'm never happy" Zuko said coldly, then jumped down from the saddle.
"Look, I have to do this. The invasion plan was my idea, it was my decision to stay when things were going wrong" Sokka explained feeling upset because thanks to this 'great' idea of the invasion his father and many other members of the invading forces ended up being captured and taken prisoners by the Fire Nation "it's my job to fix it, I have to regain my honor and you can't stop me, Zuko"
"Do you need to regain your honor? believe me, I get it, I'll go with you."
"No, I have to do this alone."
"How are you going to get there? on Appa? Last time I checked; prisons don't have bisons day cares" Zuko told him. Sokka sighed and looked over his shoulder "we'll take my war balloon"
Sokka jumped off Appa and followed Zuko into the woods where he kept his war balloon hidden.
The next morning, the Duke walked over Appa with an armful of hay, he sat it down and the flying bison eagerly devoured the hay. The group walked over to Momo, noticing a sheet of paper under his arm, Katara picked it up.
"What does it say?" Toph asked to the waterbender.
"Need meat" she read turning the paper from one side to the other, trying to read Sokka's writing "gone fishing, we'll be back in a few days, Sokka and Zuko. One more thing: Aang, practice your firebending while I'm gone, do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badger-toad croak, Zuko"
Much to the Avatar's annoyance, the room echoed with a loud 'ribbit!' indicating that it had to begin its assigned task. Aang sighed and got up from his sleeping bag.
"No one else has tasks to do!" the young Avatar complained about his bad luck, he walked two by two to a small mat "one hot squat! two hot squats! three hot squats! four..."
After Aang finished doing his firebending exercises, he decided to lay down for a nap. An hour passed and Katara walked into the bedroom, she walked over to Aang and shook him slightly to wake him up.
"Aang, wake up. We need to talk."
"Huh?" he woke up slowly when he heard the waterbender voice "yes, alright"
"Let's go to the fountain, it's hot out and I need to use a cool dip" Katara suggested, both walked towards the fountain, the waterbender took off her dress along with her blue pants and boots, changing them for her white swimsuit. Aang took off his robe and boots, leaving only his pants.
"She's still looks dazzling..." the young Avatar thought as he looked at the silhouette of his friend and he was right, even in her white swimsuit, Katara looked prettier than usual "so what do you want to talk about?" he asked once they plunged into the cold water.
"About you and Zuko. Aang, I realized that you've been spending too much time together and that worries me. What's going on between you two?"
Aang froze at his friend's question, he did not know what to told her, for a second the idea of having been discovered crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it, because it was impossible for Katara to discover his... well, whatever he and Zuko had, she could not know it, could she?
"Well, it's hard for me to say this but, you're spending time together because of the firebending lessons and also because he's my firebending teacher, also I want to get along with him, you know, to get to know each other better? waiting for the waterbender to believe his answer.
"Oh, it's fine. I agree with that, it's just that I realized that you have spent a lot of time with Zuko recently" Katara said "and it's something that worries me because I don't want you to end up hurt"
"You don't have to worry, Katara. It's kind of you to worry about me, but you must believe me that Zuko has changed and that he has no intention of hurting me" Aang replied "at least not for now..."
"Uh? what do you mean?"
"Nothing important."
"So Aang... do you want to have a friendly waterbending battle with me?" Katara asked him once they finished talking about him and Zuko.
"Sure!"
Both get up from the water, took offensive positions and looked at each other to see who was taking the first step. Aang saw Katara start to move, she created a large stream of water that she shot straight at him, but he pulled away, grabbing it with his hands and counterattacking with it. Thinking quickly, the waterbender vaporized the water, invading the entire hall with steam.
"You're thinking like a true master now, Aang" she commented, throwing jets and whips of water at him, each of her attacks were being deflected or stopped by the young Avatar. Katara stopped and Aang took this opportunity to make his move, he created a small stream of water, took a step towards the waterbender and wrapped the current around her leg, lifting her upside down in the air in front of him with his waterbending.
"I told you I could…" his voice cut short as Katara reacted quickly, froze his feet in place, turned around behind Aang, grabbed his wrists and used ice to join hands immobilizing him.
"What did you say?" the waterbender asked as she stood behind him and smiled triumphantly, Aang smiled.
"Okay, you win" Aang said acknowledging his defeat, Katara undid the ice from his hands and feet and they looked at each other.
"Way to go, twinkletoes!" Toph commented, laughing at the way that fight ended "it only took a fourteen-year-old girl to whoop Avatar's butt! now do you want to know what it feels like to get it whooped by a twelve year old blind girl?"
Three days have passed since that friendly battle and there was no sign of Sokka or Zuko, the rest of the group did not seem to care but Aang, well, he was an apart case, he was starting to worry. It was late at night and he was pacing back and forth through his bedroom.
"It's been three whole days!" he exclaimed "I don't think it will take three days to catch some fish! Zuko needs to be here so he can teach me firebending! Sozin's comet is only a couple of weeks away and I need to know as much as I can before I face the Fire Lord, and the worst part is... NO ONE HERE SEEMS TO CARE!" Momo looked at Aang and cocked his head towards one side, folded his ears back and curled up to sleep "you're right, Momo. Maybe I'm just stressed out because I haven't slept at all since Zuko left" he lay back on the bed and looked at the ceiling "I feel so lost and useless without him, I just wish he would come back soon..."
"Aang! Aang!" Katara yelled pulling the young Avatar out of his thoughts, he got up from the bed to look at his friend "we have a problem"
They raced to the edge of the pagoda where the fountain corridor was, in front of them a huge Fire Nation airship was heading towards the temple, Aang took his glider and prepared to take off.
"Katara, stay here in case I can't stop it. You can hold off any of their attacks" Aang told her, Katara nodded and got into an offensive position, the airbender turner his gaze to Toph "Toph! you too be ready to attack" he took off and observed the massive aircraft, he was a bit surprised to find it unmanned on the outside, then he flew towards the control cabin and leaning out the window he could see... "Zuko!"
"Aang, don't attack! It's us!" the firebender yelled wanting to be heard above the wind, Aang flew back to the pagoda where Katara and Toph were waiting for him ready to fight.
"It's Zuko and Sokka! They're flying that thing!" Aang said, the airship docked on one of the temple platforms, a large door opened and Sokka and Zuko came out through it, Sokka was wearing a Fire Nation guard uniform (it wouldn't be the first time) and Zuko wore a shirt tied with a red rope around his waist loosely, as well as loose dark red pants.
"What are you doing in this thing?" Katara asked "what happened to the war balloon?"
"It kinda got destroyed" Zuko replied.
"That sounds like a crazy and frantic fishing trip!" Aang said with his eyes fixed on the clothing that the firebender was wearing.
"Did they at least get some good meat?" Toph asked.
"I did" Sokka replied "the best meat of all, the meat of friendship and fatherhood."
The group turned their gaze towards the huge airship, Hakoda, Suki and Chit Sang walked out the ship and walked along the stone floor of the corridor.
"I'm new here, what's up everybody?" Chit Sang asked.
"Hi, Katara."
"Dad!" Katara exclaimed with happy tears in her eyes and hugged him "what's going on? w-where did you go?"
"We went to a Fire Nation prison" Sokka said. Zuko stood up there smiling behind him, Hakoda took Sokka and Katara and hugged their children.
"Seriously guys, didn't you get any meat?" Toph asked.
After that small meeting, the group broke up to go to their respective bedrooms, some arranged sleeping bags in front of the fireplace and get ready themselves to sleep. Meanwhile, Aang approached to Zuko and took his hand.
"Zuko, can we talk?" the young Avatar asked.
"Sure" Zuko replied as he looked at Aang with a smile. They walked to the young boy's bedroom and once there, he closed the door behind them "so what do you want to talk about?"
"I was thinking about what we talked about when we went to the Sun Warriors civilization" Aang told him with a serious tone in his voice, something that made Zuko's smile fade in a matter of seconds.
"Look Aang, I know I was wrong, not once but many times, but I feel like now I need to be here for you, I want to be by your side, no matter what happens" Zuko apologized, but Aang interrupted him again.
"Zuko, stop" the young Avatar interrupted taking a deep breath "I don't want to hear another apology from you, I only brought you here because I thought about what we talked about when we were at the Sun Warriors civilization, in Ba Sing Se I thought you really wanted to join to us, to be part of our team and help us to stop the war, but I was wrong, you hurt me and now after what you've done, I could only see you as my firebending teacher, maybe as a friend but as..." he stopped because he still had no idea what they were "whatever we had, I don't think I can do it"
"Wait, Aang. Please, I know that I have hurt you, but I have changed and I really want to be with you" Zuko said kneeling and wrapping his arms tigthly around the airbender's legs "please, let me show you that I want to be by your side, what can I do?"
Aang was silent, his mind drifting into thoughts, wondering what Zuko could do to show him that he really wanted to be with him and to make the firebender sure he would never hurt him again.
"There's something you can do" Aang said, Zuko raised his gaze to look the young Avatar better as he stood up from the bedroom door until his face was in front of Aang's, only a few inches apart "kiss me"
Without any hesitation, he kissed the boy's lips. Oh, that felt so good, he was beginning to miss the kid's lips after spending three whole days without him, Aang closed his eyes and take back the kiss with equal passion, the airbender clutched his hands to the firebender's red t-shirt while they Zuko's hands drew Aang closer to him, to the Fire Nation ex prince surprise, it was Aang who deepened the kiss, he felt the boy's tongue brush his lower lip and made way for him, their tongues intertwined and both moaned in pleasure. Zuko felt his body temperature rise and Aang could feel his tattoos glow from his growing emotional state.
When their kiss finally broke, both boys gasped looking at each other, their hearts were beating fast and their bodies were hot, that kiss felt really good and with it, Zuko's worries faded and Aang's doubts dissipated.
"Wow..."
"Yeah, wow..." Aang answered "so now we are okay with this?"
"If you say so... Trust me, Aang, I'll do anything it takes to make things right" Zuko said without leaving his gaze from Aang's.
"Anything?"
"Anything."
After saying these words, Zuko cornered Aang against a wall causing the young boy to groan, but his moan was cut off when he felt the firebender kiss him again, Aang was surprised at first, he did not expect something like that from him, but he reciprocated his kiss .
"Zuko, I missed you so much. I was so worried about you" Aang said with his voice shaking, the firebender realized what the boy was saying.
"Why were you so worried? I thought you had believed that we were going fishing" Zuko asked, looking at him with a confused expression on his face.
"I knew you hadn't gone fishing when I saw that you didn't even bring any of the fishing tools" Aang said "and besides, Sokka would have taken Appa"
"I see you've been suspicious; I can't believe we've forgotten the fishing stuff!" Zuko said as he pulled away from the airbender and began to scold himself, Aang walked towards him, took Zuko's hands and pulled him closer for another kiss.
"If there's one thing I missed more than seeing you, it was your kisses" Aang said.
Katara walked down the corridor where the rooms were being lit by a candle, verifying that everyone and everyone were resting, she would go to their respective room after finishing their homework; However, fate made her change her plans when, in the middle of the trip, being more specific, she stopped at the door of Aang's room and could hear noises coming from inside. A deep, husky voice muttered something that was muffled by the door so Katara couldn't hear it, but she knew perfectly well who the owner of that voice was: Zuko. But... what was he doing in Aang's bedroom? It was not unusual for her to see how much time they spent together and how close they had become, but on the other hand, the waterbender did not want to accept or believe that the firebender had changed, yet for some strange reason, Aang believed him and even trusted him, that didn't surprise her, Aang trusted everyone. Katara could hear Zuko whisper something to Aang and the young airbender giggled, but his laughter was interrupted once she heard the noise of something hitting the nearest wall followed by a gasp.
"What did that firebender jerk do to Aang?" Katara thought with a slight frown and a suspicious look on her face "I knew it! I knew I shouldn't trust him!"
Quickly and without even thinking twice, the waterbender slightly opened the room door, barely showing her face and was surprised with what she saw: Aang was cornered between one of the walls of the room and Zuko, who had an arm on one side of his head and his chest pressed against the young airbender one. He whispered something so low that Katara couldn't even hear it, Aang smiled and placed one arm over Zuko's waist and the other around his neck, bringing her face close so that her bright gray eyes looked directly at the golden orbs. Then the firebender did something that really surprised Katara, slowly leaned in and lightly brushed his lips against Aang's.
"Hey, don't tease me" Aang complained, his eyes were narrowed, and he knotted his hands in Zuko's hair. The firebender smiled slightly before he bends down and again joined his lips with Aang ones in a new kiss.
Katara pulled away and covered her mouth with her free hand as tears moistened her blue eyes, she felt a whirl of emotions form inside her, she wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to pull her hair tightly, but she couldn't do it. She just... she could not... was unable to process what she had seen, Aang and Zuko... together? it was something to not believe, he always believed that Aang had a crush on her, why?... how could this happen?
After seeing what she had just seen, the waterbender realized that she could not stay there for another minute. She walked away from the room unobserved, somewhat illogical because everyone was sleeping, well, everyone except Aang and Zuko, who (from her point of view) seemed to be too "comfortable" with each other and walked to her room in a trance.
She tried to fall asleep lying on her bed looking at the window, sitting on it but nothing happened.
"For some reason, it hurts me to know that Aang chose Zuko instead of me" Katara thought still sitting on her bed, her mind recalled the scene when she discovered them making out a few hours ago "but... it was logical that something like this was going to happen, I mean, Aang and Zuko have been spending a lot of time together and I see them too close, almost as if they were lifelong friends, but… if that were true, Aang would not have kissed me on the day of the invasion. I will have to talk to him and clarify my doubts"
After thinking about this decision for a while and preparing to ask Aang what she planned to ask him, Katara finally felt tired and her eyes were beginning to close so she went back to her bed and tried to get some sleep. The waterbender woke up shortly before the sun appeared, no one else had woken up yet, she went to the hall where the fountain was and began to prepare breakfast for everyone, she did it in the most calm way possible so the rest of the Avatar team won't wake up. She began to cook robotically, automatically, without any effort on her part as if she were doing everything in a structured way.
On the other side, Zuko woke up as soon as the rays of the sun appeared in the sky and slightly illuminated the room, he looked down and smiled when he found Aang sleeping on his chest, he was so adorable, he had completely forgotten that the kid was still there with him. He didn't want to wake Aang up, so the firebender stood there looking at him sleep and thinking about everything they had been through so they could finally be together, he could continue like this all day if it was not for Aang starting to wake up. Realizing this, he looked away and blushed at the thought that perhaps the airbender realized he was watching him, they had both spent very little time sleeping after their make-out session, they had spent most of the night awake talking about their past, neither of them was sure at first whether to give up or give themselves to the other, Zuko because of his pride and Aang because of his duties as the Avatar.
The young boy began to wake up, rubbed his eyes to clear his vision and looked up only to meet Zuko... red as an apple.
"Z-Zuko?! now what happen to you? do you have a fever?" the airbender asked shamelessly receiving an angry look from Zuko, how dare that kid receive him that way when he woke up?
"What do you think? I expected a 'good morning' at least!" Zuko scolded him, fading his blush instantly.
"Good morning, sorry, Sifu Hotman" he apologized with a smile on his face.
"Good morning to you too, Aang" Zuko said smiling, he stretched and got out of bed "I'll go see if breakfast is ready"
"Okay."
Zuko smiled one last time before leaving the room and walking towards the room where the fountain was. Aang took a little longer to get out of bed, but after a few seconds, he got up and went to the fountain room where the firebender was waiting for him for breakfast and then they would begin their firebending training.
Katara had already finished preparing breakfast and was now looking for the bowls to serve the food, when she noticed that Zuko was walking towards the same place where she was but he was not alone, Aang joined him a few minutes later, both of them blushed guiltily like if they had done some kind of mischief. Once again, the scene of the two of them kissing invaded Katara's mind but she decided to downplay it and started serving them food.
"Good morning, guys" Katara greeted them trying to act as normal as possible "breakfast is ready, eat before it gets cold"
"Good morning to you too, Katara" Aang greeted her but he could notice that something was wrong with her "uh are you okay?"
"Yes, of course I'm fine, why do you ask?" the waterbender asked as she passed a bowl to Zuko and then to her friend, the airbender.
"Because you look tired and you have dark circles around your eyes" the young boy said while pointing to his own eyes.
"Oh, I think I didn't realize it before and maybe I didn't sleep well last night, that's all."
"Okay" Aang replied, for a few minutes neither of them spokes again and after the airbender finished his breakfast he spoke again "Katara, um, Zuko and I are going to start our firebending practice."
"Oh, okay but could you stay here just a moment? I need to talk to you alone for a minute" Katara asked as kindly as possible.
"Sure" Aang replied, he turned his gaze at Zuko "you can go to the training place, I'll catch up with you later."
"Well, I'll wait for you there then" Zuko left the room and Aang looked at his friend with concern.
"Katara, I saw that you're not okay. I want to know what's going on with you" Aang said approaching to her while placing a hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down.
"Don't play fool with me, Aang. Because I already know everything."
"What are you talking about?"
"You and Zuko! I saw you guys having a make-out session last night!" Katara exclaimed angrily "how could you do this to me, Aang? all this time I thought you were in love with me, but you preferred to choose Zuko instead of me"
"And for what reason should that bother you? what's wrong with me preferring to be with Zuko and not with you? also, if that's all you wanted to tell me, then you better not talk to me, I have to start firebending training and I don't want to be late."
The young airbender turned on his heels and started to walk away from the room where the fountain was to meet Zuko at his training place, but Katara grabbed his wrist, stopping him.
"To me, Aang, he is the reason why I think everyone who is from the Fire Nation is evil and untrustworthy" Katara said to the airbender in front of her.
"Zuko is not responsible for your mother's death, someone else killed her and you know it."
"Of course I know, it's just that my hatred towards the Fire Nation is so strong and I still can't believe that Zuko joined our team after the betrayal he did to his uncle and us in Ba Sing Se and I can not believe that now you are… how to say it? his boyfriend. Seriously, I can't accept that he has changed for the better."
"People change, he's good now, you have to believe me, and you must believe him."
"Yes, I have seen him because he agreed to be your firebending teacher so that you can face his father, but..."
"No, Katara, it's more than that! I know well that he is a good person because... well, because I love him" Aang told her, Katara was about to say something but the airbender interrupted her "I can love him and I do, he showed me more love during these months than you you've never given to me!" Katara looked at him as she covered her mouth in surprise and tears began to form in her blue eyes. What was he talking about? that meant he and Zuko… were lovers before he decided to join on their team? Aang realized that he had hurt his friend and tried to comfort her "sorry, Katara. I didn't mean it, it's just that..."
"No, it's okay, Aang" Katara replied indifferently "you were right all this time, my past left me emotional scars and I don't think I'm capable of loving someone in the same way that you do. Furthermore, Aunt Wu predicted that one day I will meet a powerful bender and marry him"
"I'm sure you will find someone who makes you happy" Aang said "what about Haru? he is a great earthbender, he needs to improve his skills, but he could become a very powerful bender one day"
"Maybe you're right about that" the waterbender said feeling better with her friend's words "it's fine, I let you go to train with Zuko now, I won't stop you anymore. Don't you want to make him wait too long, do you?"Aang thanked her and ran off to the training point where Zuko was waiting for him to begin his firebending practice. Katara smiled and shook her head slightly before resuming her task of serving breakfast to the rest of the team, but, suddenly, she stopped when she saw some black dots approaching where she was "oh no..." she murmured, the bowl fell from his hand and crashed to the ground breaking into pieces, what he most feared came true: the Fire Nation war globes had found them and are now preparing to attack the Western Air Temple. She turned her gaze to the other bedrooms in the temple and ran to wake the others and tell them what he had seen.