Avatar fell back into the saddle, exhausted. At first, they believed that they got away easily, but Aang had to quickly defend Appa from the burning rocks launched by the firebenders. Whereas before, they landed and pushed through the masses easily, once the firebending returned, there were many ways they could fight back and target the airbender's group.
So, Aang had to get up regardless of how tired he was from an attempted assassination of the Firelord and fight against the assault by Fire Nation against their flying transport. He was a powerful bender, but it still took effort to deflect massive flaming boulders.
Now, out of danger and slowly drifting away without direction, they could take a break and recover. They could also think about their failure and how their actions were pointless.
Because Aang was unable to take down the Firelord, the whole plan was pointless and just a waste of time, especially with how many people were captured. The group saw some people getting away in submarines, but finding them and regrouping would take a lot of effort and time. They didn't have any solid plans for when the plan failed.
Aang grabbed his head, because he had no hair to pull, and groaned loudly. Sokka, who managed to rest a bit while they escaped, turned to his young friend.
"Don't beat yourself up, Aang. Taking a life is hard, especially for a pacifist like you. We should have foreseen it and had someone else finish the job."
"Bah! We were so close! Just a little more and he was dead. We could have stopped him right then and there."
Sokka wanted to reassure Aang, but he was interrupted by one of the guards that helped them.
"It's a good thing you didn't. You don't understand the Fire Nation. Assassinating the Firelord when he was powerless and unable to fight back wouldn't stop the war, it would only fan the flames more. You would be seen as cowardly and weak, not as soldiers who won the war. My father has plenty of generals and advisors to continue his effort after his death.
The guard removed his helmet, revealing a scarred face of Zuko. Toph perked up when he spoke and turned to Katara.
"Hey, I think I recognise his voice."
She got no reply as the waterbender was too tired to care.
Sokka narrowed his eyes at the revealed prince.
"If we defeated the leader of the whole nation, we would stop the offensive and force your surrender. We could stop the bloodshed."
Zuko shook his head.
"You are wrong. My people are strong-willed and passionate. We respect power and strength. If you'd fought the Firelord and won, perhaps you could argue that the war would end. But if the Avatar attacks when we lose our main source of power, he would prove to the rest of the Fire Nation that he doesn't believe in himself and is too weak to fight a real war. My people would only be galvanized to fight more."
"Hey isn't he the guy that chased after you? What's his name, Zacki?"
Toph spoke up but was again ignored by everyone present.
Aang got angry at what he heard.
"Are you saying that today was pointless? That regardless of whether we succeeded or failed, the war would still continue?! I refuse to believe it! We fought hard and many of our people got captured. If only I could finish my job, we would win! It wasn't pointless, it was just my mistake. It's my fault."
The airbenders voice trailed off to almost a whisper. Sokka patted his back sympathetically, trying to comfort him.
"Aang, we may not like to hear it, but perhaps Zuko is right. We need to have a decisive victory against the Fire Nation. Isn't this what Viteq talked about? He said he could have poisoned the Firelord, but the war wouldn't end because of his demise."
"Right, Zuko! The exiled prince who tried capturing Aang multiple times!"
Toph was exasperated by the lack of responses and turned to Katara, trying to shake her. The older girl pushed the younger one off.
"Yeah-yeah, it's him. Stop!"
Zuko was about to continue talking, but he was yanked away from his place towards the smallest member of the group. He groaned in pain as he floated in front of the young earthbender, who had her hand extended in front of her, holding the prince in the air with her power.
He looked at her with wide eyes, shocked at the new development.
"Wha-what are you doing?"
The grin on Toph's face was savage.
"Do you like this? It's a little something I am preparing for your sister, but she is not here, so I will have to practice with you before we meet her."
The floating boy tried to move, but his limbs were frozen in place in an uncomfortable position. He felt pain shooting through his body as his limbs were held in the air unnaturally.
"Gah, you can't do this! You are an earthbender, you can't bloodbend!"
"You are the one to talk! Your sister killed the one master we had!"
"As much as I sometimes wished the bastard was dead, I had to spend a lot of time with him the last few weeks."
His words made everyone pause. The group, who were silent until now all focused on the exiled prince.
"Viteq is alive?""Where is he?""We have to go back for him!"
Toph narrowed her unseeing gaze at her captive.
"Don't lie to me! I saw Azula strike him with lightning!"
"We both know he can shrug it off with no effort."
The girl gripped her fists tighter, making Zuko groan in pain.
"His heart stopped! I saw it!"
"The bastard is heartless, he can do without it just fine!"
"He died!"
"He got better!"
Toph was so shocked, she let go of her prey and let him fall down onto the saddle with a painful grunt.
"He is telling the truth. But he can't be, Viteq died…"
The other guard who thus far remained silent, removed her helmet and revealed herself.
"Suki!"
Sokka was glad to see his kind of girlfriend and tried to get up, but feeling tired he shuffled towards her on his knees, only to get a painful shove to the chest.
"I still haven't forgiven you for getting engaged."
The boy rubbed his chest and looked at the girl wearily. She glared at him for a few seconds, before turning to the rest of the group.
"Regardless of how misplaced or on point Zuko's words are, Viteq really is ok. He got better and is relatively healthy."
The group got visibly excited at the news. Aang almost started jumping up and down.
"That's great! It means we can rescue him and have him help us! We need to go back and find him and get him out."
Zuko managed to sit upright and shook his head.
"Don't bother, he is perfectly happy in captivity right now. He told me not to tell you about him until we left so you don't stop your mission and try to find him."
Silence hung in there for a long moment, until Sokka clapped a hand to his knee and laughed.
"Oh, man. Here we were worried about his death, preparing to wage war against a whole nation and that guy just shrugs the lightning off like it's nothing and continues to have fun. If you were talking about anybody else, I would have called you crazy. But that guy, I totally believe that he did it."
Aang laughed with relief and even Katara and Suki smiled. Only Toph was still tense from learning the news.
Zuko sighed in annoyance.
"I don't know how you stand that bastard. He always acts like he owns the place. He gets captured and ends up getting amnesty for my uncle and Suki, while parading around like a free man. Nobody even bothered to chain him up or lock him in a cell."
Sokka laughed even harder and Aang joined in.
"Classic Viteq. He always acted like he knew what he was doing. The Wise and Powerful Master Viteq. I bet he had everyone eating out of his hand as soon as he could get up."
The newly exiled prince grunted in agreement.
"You won't believe it. He got friendly with Uncle Iroh, with Ty Lee and even Mai. He spent his time in bed antagonizing Azula and once he got up, they were like two viperwidows, trying to eat one another. She screams at him, he uses her bending on her, she calms down, he walks away looking all smug."
The group continued to laugh and chuckle at the mention of their friend. Zuko felt strange, receiving such a reaction talking about his sister's prisoner, but he liked how his words captivated the Avatar and his team.
"Oh, yes! It's like everyone instantly loves him or something. I know people can be charismatic, but to argue with a very angry princess and walk away unscathed, that's unbelievable."
"Yeah, that's nothing. It turns out she liked to be under his blood control. I always knew she was crazy, but to be insane to such a degree. So the two have a couple of fights with my sister acting like a child and Viteq ends up seducing her. A simple cook pairing up with an heir of the whole nation."
This time the group lapsed into silence, with only a muted 'What?!' from Toph. Zuko either didn't notice or didn't care. He caught his groove and he felt like riding it to the end.
"Yeah, they thought they were sneaky and sly, but I noticed them spending time together. But that's not the end. The two get together and seduce one of their friends and now the three act like a couple with one another almost blatantly flaunting their relationship. Of course if you don't know them well, you wouldn't understand what's going on, but I was there from the start and it was easy to see, it was obvious."
Toph's 'What?!' exclamation was much louder this time and Zuko turned to her to continue his words.
"Yeah, your friend now has two girlfriends, while in captivity and doesn't seem to care who knows. My uncle likes to talk with him, Mai doesn't mind spending time with him. Even my sister no longer cares about inheriting the throne and is willing to go along with your plans. They helped me escape and are keeping secrets from my father."
THe group looked stunned at Zuko's words. Toph grit her teeth and shook in place, anger rolling off her in waves.
"That bastard!"
Zuko cautiously eyed her but nodded along.
"Yeah, I very much dislike your friend. I don't know why you guys like him."
Toph threw her hands up with a shout.
"Gah! I don't like him, I hate him!"
She started pacing back and forth in the saddle.
"He was meant to wait for me. He knew I liked him. He told me he liked me."
Sokka decided to endanger his own life and join the conversation.
"I am pretty sure he always liked you as a friend. But, Toph, you are pretty small. He never acted like a pervert towards you, or did he?"
Her head snapped towards him, making both Sokka and Zuko flinch.
"What? No! We just talked and he said he liked me. He told me he would wait till I grow up! But now he went and got himself a girlfriend. Two girlfriends! That bastard! And those hussies!"
Zuko added fuel to the fire.
"Well, I can tell you that he certainly acted very friendly with my sister and Ty Lee."
Toph's head turned to the prince, making him back away and raise his hands in surrender.
"Yeah, and it was kind of an open secret that he always had many girlfriends all over the world and dreamed of never settling down with a single woman."
The tiny earthbender turned back to Sokka with an unseeing glare.
"I am pretty sure that Katara's dislike of Viteq came from that fact."
Aang added his five coins and Katara nodded in agreement.
Toph got very angry and her body shook as she couldn't contain it all. After a few seconds she raised her head and loudly yelled to the empty skies.
"A-a-a-a-a-argh!"
For Zuko, who was unfamiliar with the tiny girl, it was somewhat baffling to see her make so much noise. He tried to remain behind her, hoping that the blind earthbender wouldn't see him, unsure of how she was doing it to begin with.
She let out her frustration and loudly slapped her own face. Spending a few moments to get herself together, she turned to Aang and pointed her finger at him.
"Aang, come on! Get this cow moving. We have time before the comet and we can spend it preparing."
She turned back to the other two boys and raised her clenched fists. Zuko somewhat worriedly raised his hands again.
"I am coming along willingly to tutor Aang in firebender. Please? don't use your bending on me, it hurt a lot."
Toph turned her blind gaze in the Prince's direction and smiled toothily.
"Oh, there will be a lot of bending," she turned to Sokka, who wilted slightly, "and there will be a lot of pain." she turned to Aang who straightened his back. "We have very little time until we have to fight the Firelord and the traitor in his midst, so we better prepare. Every second not spent training is a second wasted. Find us a good place to stay and let's get ready for the fight."
She turned and sat at the edge of the saddle with a determined look. Katara and Suki stared at her with an open mouth, Aang slowly floated towards Appa's reigns to take control of where they were flying.
Sokka ended up sitting near Zuko and leaned over to whisper to him.
"Man, you just had to mention that Viteq got a girlfriend."
The exiled Prince looked at him with a confounded face.
"What?! That's the worst part! I got into a fight with mine and might not even have one anymore and he is just swaggering around with two! That's unfair and shouldn't work."
"Yeah, that's unnatural. I have a beautiful wife of my own and even I get jealous when you say that. That bastard!"
"Right, now you understand how I feel."
Whatever else the two wanted to say was interrupted by a loud cracking sound. They looked up from between the two of them only to see all the female members of the group cracking their knuckles.
Sokka coughed and quickly tried to correct himself.
"I mean, how dare that idiot give up on his one true love, the Blind Bandit?"
Zuko tried to play along.
"Yeah, right, how did he turn away from… wait, Blind Bandit? Is she really blind?"
The tiny irritable girl stood up from where she rested and decided to teach the two boys a lesson on disrespect and obedience. Aang didn't turn around to witness any commotion behind him and just whistled loudly, praying to the spirits that others forget he is a boy and was listening in on the conversation.