Chapter 53

Once they were in the new tunnel, Toph paused to feel which way they should go. It hadn't taken her long before she was leading them down the tunnel and towards the outer city wall. Katara's stomach was in knots as they ran, terrified of what they would find. She knew they would need Kya alive so that thought gave her some small comfort, however thinking about how they would care for an infant made her sick to her stomach. Images of her brother, charred and broken, spurred her on too. Sokka was ok. He wouldn't have taken Azula out of her room if he didn't have a damn good reason. She had to trust him. Kya meant as much to Sokka as she did to her, he wouldn't risk their chances of finding her for nothing.

Katara nearly tripped as the ground beneath her shook. Earthbenders were fighting up ahead. Another great shudder and she did fall to her knees. She met her husband's eyes as he pulled her back to her feet. They were close. As they ran down the crystal lit tunnel, another tremor shook the earth, this time a plume of dust reached them and shouts could be heard. Stone breaking on metal and the undeniable sound of jets of flame followed the shouting, the shrill cry of a baby punctuating the sounds of battle.

"Kya!" Katara cried out, the sound of her daughter's distress making her heart clench painfully in her chest. Pushing herself even harder, she ran toward the sound. Another dip and curve in the tunnel and they could see a flash of light from a burst of fire. Someone that sounded to her ear like Sokka shouted 'Run Azula!' Confusion and terror for her now hysterical daughter and brother made breathing an excruciating task.

Azula came into view ahead of a small explosion, stumbling into the tunnel wall. When she started running towards them again Katara could see that she clutched something to her chest, tucked protectively under her chin. Sokka came into view a heartbeat later but she barely noticed as horror and fury claimed her focus. The something Azula had clutched to her chest was a terrified Kya.

Azula was carrying her daughter and running full tilt towards them, blood running down her pained looking face. Her initial feelings at that realization were almost immediately pushed aside as four Dai Lee agents followed Sokka from around the bend, rock crashing against his boomerang before it could strike either of them. Whatever was happening, Sokka was with Azula and their priority was the Dai Lee. One enemy at a time.

Azula stumbled again as the ground opened up beneath her. Curling her body around Kya, she rolled away from the gash in the earth. Toph was suddenly out front, bending back against the Earth Kingdom traitors. Sokka ducked behind her and helped Azula to her feet, relief flooding his face as he helped her.

"Thank the Spirits. I didn't know how much longer we were gonna last on our own."

Beside her, Zuko and Iroh had joined Toph, sending rapid bursts of flame against flying rock. Katara took only a moment longer to watch Sokka help a badly injured Azula to her feet and together they staggered up the tunnel the way they had come. Turning back to the fray, cautious relief bolstering her, Katara focused on the fourth enemy.

His blood quickly pulled him to his knees as she yanked the earthbender from his stance. Taking the opportunity to practice the abhorrent bending, Katara held the blood back in the major arteries around his heart. It was a sickening kind of power to have over someone she knew. Watching him as the organ gradually gave out, she had to remind herself that the man would have dashed her daughter's head against the ground if Ozai had ordered it. She prayed she would survive the war and still be able to count on one hand how many times she had used such a terrifying ability. The shock at how easy it had been in her furious haze only lasted for a moment before Zuko's flaming fist blasted apart a rock inches from her head.

Pulling water from her hip flask, Katara sent blades of ice at the throat of the agent attempting to flatten her husband. He managed to block them but was unable to dodge the twin jets of flame Zuko sent directly after. Two men down, the couple turned to watch Iroh and Toph dispatch the remaining two.

Before Toph could strike the killing blow, Zuko called for her to wait. Katara slid into the now familiar stance and held the battered man tight.

"I know you are working for my father. He wanted you to bring him the new Avatar. Unfortunately for you, she happens to be my daughter and there is nothing I wouldn't do to protect her. I also know that the Dai Lee pride themselves on their loyalty, though apparently not to their country, so I won't waste time trying to get you to talk. I just wanted you to know that you are dying a traitorous coward."

A flame burned hot and controlled in Zuko's hand before it leapt gracefully forward to consume the restrained Dai Lee agent. Katara dropped her stance the moment it was no longer necessary and turned and ran to catch up to her brother. She heard footsteps behind her but she didn't need to look back to know that Zuko had followed her.

"Uncle and Toph are taking care of the bodies. Sokka wasn't moving very fast with Azula and Kya, they couldn't have gotten far."

"They both looked injured. I hope they're ok. There, I can hear Kya screaming again. Oh my baby girl they better not have hurt you!"

Rounding a bend, they came into view. Sokka had set Azula down against the tunnel wall, her head hung limply to the side and her breathing looked shallow. He was braced against the wall and trying in vain to sooth the frantic infant in his arms. When he heard them approach, relief on his face, his head fell back against the stone in exhaustion.

"Oh thank La. I can't make her stop crying and one of those assholes hit my bad leg and I think Azula might be dying?"

He kept rambling as Katara took her daughter from him. She buried her nose in Kya's hair as the tiny girl was wrapped in both of her parents' arms, her screams settling to soft whimpering cries almost immediately as she recognized her mother. Zuko kissed her round wet cheeks and caught Katara's tear filled eyes over her head. Their little girl was safe. The tension that had wound them so tightly for hours released as they cooed over their recovered baby.

After a few moments together, Katara soothed Kya against her chest as Zuko knelt down in front of his sister. He gently took her chin in his hand to inspect her wounds. Blood ran down the left side of her face from a gash along her brow and her eyes were shut tight in pain. From where she stood behind Zuko, Azula didn't look too bad. A glance at her brother told her he had likely damaged the leg he'd broken on the day of the comet and would no doubt have severe bruising in many places. He hardly moved as he spoke to Zuko.

"She took a pretty good hit to the chest and back. I'm surprised she got up to be honest." Sokka ran a hand through his mussed hair and slid down the tunnel wall so he was sitting beside Azula and Zuko. "It's a good thing she did though. They clearly thought she was down and it surprised them long enough to snatch Kya. Bet she's messed up inside, made it this far on determination alone. Once we were far enough from the fight she collapsed." He looked at the girl beside him with something like admiration and Katara felt even more unsure of her opinion of the firebender.

Azula groaned as Zuko tried to check her over for more signs of bleeding. There was concern on his face as he tried to get her to open her eyes and look at him. She didn't, merely groaning again and hissing in pain when he prodded the flesh around the head wound. He looked up at Katara with a silent question, his sisters life in her hands once again. With some reluctance, she passed Kya to him and knelt where he had been to do what she could. Drawing water onto her hands, she closed her eyes and concentrated. She had exhausted herself from so much bloodbending and the extent of Azula's injuries would take everything she had left. Frowning as she counted the broken ribs, Katara decided to focus on the most dire things first. She would have to rest before she could fully heal her.

There was damage to her lungs making her breathing rattle, but the most imminent threats were the liver and kidneys. They were bleeding and close to fully rupturing. If that happened, it wouldn't take long for her to bleed out internally and die. Katara would have to heal those things before she could be moved. Taking a deep breath, she willed her chi to knit the flesh back and stop the bleeding. Healing the three small organs, she moved her focus to Azula's lungs. Luckily neither had been punctured by the many broken ribs so it didn't take long. By the time she was finished with the most critical injuries, Katara felt as though her own blood had been turned to lead.

Sitting back against the wall opposite her patient, she looked longingly at Kya in her father's arms. Zuko got the hint and set the now starving baby in her lap, kissing her and thanking her for helping his sister. Drawing her knees up to help support her arms, she smiled weakly at him and set about feeding Kya as they waited for Iroh and Toph. Azula had begun to breathe more evenly and Sokka looked to have dozed off where he sat. Only Zuko stood still, watching over them as they waited on their friends.

They didn't have long to wait. Toph had bent the tunnel open and sent the bodies of the five Dai Lee agents that had been there up into a field above. Iroh had cremated them before jumping back into the tunnel. Toph had closed the tunnel off for nearly a mile out, hopefully preventing any more intrusion until they were ready to use it again. Iroh realized it would be immensely useful in getting all of their people out of the city without alarming the populous and any potentially lingering spies.

When they joined them at last, Toph bent a slab from the ground to carry Azula and sent it along ahead of them as they made their way back to the city. Sokka limped along between Zuko and Katara as they went, his re-injured leg requiring him to lean on his brother-in-law as they walked.

"I know this isn't really my business but I seem to remember your sister being some kind of firebending prodigy. She seemed off to me. Like her bending wasn't quite right. It was almost like she hadn't fully mastered it yet or something. I don't know, maybe I'm imagining things but, well she didn't even try the lightning." He grunted as they stepped up a ledge and continued. "Although, that may have just been because Kya was there and she didn't want to accidentally hurt her. I just thought it was kind of her favorite thing."

Peering around her brother, Katara tried to decipher husband's thoughts from his expression. He looked at the ground in front of them thoughtfully as they walked for several minutes before responding.

"Well, Yun Sui had done something like the chi blocking her friend Ty Lee does. She didn't have her bending for more than a year. That would certainly make it more difficult. It's possible that… No."

He shook his head and looked up to where Azula lay, still unconscious on the gently rumbling stone. In the dimly lit tunnel, it was difficult to make out the look on his face and they were all too tired for much more conversation. When they had all healed and rested, they would need to have a long talk about Azula