Chapter 5

a/n- sorry about the mix-up earlier. Anyway, here goes chapter 5.

A few hours later, guards were searching the ship for the Avatar. Prince Zuko had noticed he was gone, and was furious. "Any sign of him?" Zuko barked at a nearby guard, who stepped back, cowering in fear of the Prince. "We- well," he stuttered. "A few ho-hours ago, two guards claimed th-that he was roaming about, and the-they were returning him to his c-cell." Zuko's eyes narrowed. "Who were the guards?" he demanded.

"I-I don't know, but no one ha-has turned themselves in."

"Fine" Zuko stared him down. "Sir," another crew member approached him. "Four of our guards were found unconscious in the storage room. Two of them were stripped of their armor. The two guards who had the Avatar must have been imposters."

Zuko stood for a moment. "Where are the water tribe peasants?" asked Zuko.

"Uhh, below deck."

"Very well. Send two dozen soldiers down, and search the room. I'll be down in a minute."

"You hear that?" Katara asked Sakka, as she woke Aang up.

"What? Yeah. Who's coming?" he looked out the window. "Guards!" he cried.

"Oh no!" Aang, get out of here!" she cried, pushing him under the bed. "Hide!" Katara and Sakka just got back in bed, pretending to be asleep, as the door swung opened. Guards marched in.

"You!" the seem-to-be leader pointed at Katara. "Where is the Avatar?"

She did her best to look scared, which wasn't difficult. "I don't know. I don't know where you are keeping him!" she claimed.

The guard narrowed his eyes and stared at Katara until she looked away. He drew back his hand to slap her, but someone caught it. She recognized that scar anywhere. "No need to fight," Prince Zuko said. He turned back to Katara and Sakka, who were standing there ground, looking braver than they thought. He grabbed each one of them by the arm and dragged them off. They didn't fight, for they knew, even if they could escape from his grasp, two dozen soldiers were surrounding them.

From Aang's hiding place, he could see everything. "No!" he willed. "Fight back!"he screamed in his head, careful not to make a sound. As he shifted his position, the floor creaked beneath him, and all the guards were staring right at his hiding place.

Zuko didn't turn around as he dragged the siblings around the corner, and into another room. "Tie their hands." He commanded to a nearby guard, who was quick to obey. He gave them another intimidating stare and returned to the Avatar.

"There he is!" the leader cried, sending a ball of fire at Aang's head. He dodged it with ease, and arose to fight. "I'd rather go down fighting, then go down being a coward." Without his staff, it was harder to fight. Dodging the attacks from the fire benders, he created a cloud of dust, which spun around the room, knocking a few guards into the walls, and then unconscious. "Call for reinforcements!" the leader cried, and a guard ran off to deliver the message. "There is no way I can beat these guys alone. I need to find Sakka and Katara. We are getting out of here."

"Coming through!" cried Aang as he pushed the guards aside with a powerful gust of wind. As her ran down the hallway, he blew dust and wind behind them, to keep the guards busy. He turned around to make sure no one was close, and someone grabbed him by the throat, allowing the fire benders to catch up. Aang looked of slowly and looked into the eyes of Prince Zuko. "Who have caused enough trouble!" he booming voice echoed thought the halls, causing a number of guards to flinch. He threw Aang against the wall with rage. "Where are my friends?" Aang demanded, trying not to sound scared even though he was terrified. Zuko ignored the comment, and aimed a fireball only inches away from his head. He started to walk away, but Aang interrupted him. "Are you scared?" Zuko stopped his back towards him. "You're scared! You're scared to hurt someone. All the time you have been chasing me, it has always been a warning, when you missed on purpose! Always, inches from killing someone! Why don't you just do it? You are too scared!" Aang spat. That seemed to hit Zuko hard, for he spun around and threw a fireball at Aang, careful not to miss.

Aang returned to consciousness, with a burning pain on the side of his head. "Owww!" he moaned as he rubbed it gently. "It hurts, doesn't it," a harsh voice said from nearby. It was Prince Zuko. "See. I am not afraid, just kind enough to give people a second chance, and you used your up. We will be arriving at the Fire Nation soon, and no one is going to rescue you."

Aang nodded. "No one is going to rescue me, because I am getting out of her myself."

"I'd like to see you try," Zuko said in amusement.

"Why is it such important to restore you honor? Your father banished you for being honest. Why do you want to go back? Is it just so you can be Fire Lord one day?"

Zuko was silent for a minute. "When I restore my honor with my father, it is also with the rest of my family and every single fire bender alive."

"But why? I mean you have your uncle, and your whole crew?"

"They mean nothing!" Zuko roared.

But Aang didn't stop. "Why do you care what your father thinks? He's stupid! I hate him! He destroyed everyone! Every air bender out there!" A tear fell from Aang's eye. He could have sworn he saw a bit of sadness on Zuko's face to.

"I am sorry about that," he admitted. "I know what it is like to lose something important to you."

"How do you know?" Aang said between tears.

"I lost my mother." He said simply.

"I lost my mother, father, friends, and my whole family! I lost everyone!"

"My father is the reason my mother is dead." Zuko explained. "She died, trying to protect me from the Fire Lord. He got angry, and had her killed." He paused. "I was only 8 at that time, but I remember it like it was yesterday."

Aang understood now why Zuko was the way he was. He went through a lot as a child, and was angry, so he took his anger out on the world. Aang spoke what he was thinking. "Is that why you are the way you are? Obsessed to find me? Destroying anything in you path? Because you are angry? You're taking you anger out on the world and people around you. Everyone is afraid of you. I'm not, because I understand you." Aang looked at Zuko hard, but kindly.

"I guess your right," Zuko admitted. "I am angry. I know people are afraid of me, but then they listen without arguing." Zuko sat on the ground, next to the poles Aang was chained to.

"I am sorry. You have to understand why I am doing this." He pleaded.

"Oh yes, I understand, but that doesn't mean I am going to make it easy for you." Aang said with a glint in his eye.

"Fine." Zuko challenged. A guard suddenly burst in. "Prince Zuko, sir," he cried. "We are under attack."

"By whom?" Zuko rose to his feet.

"We don't know sir, but it is chaos. There is no ship, but the wind is destroying everything. There is something in the sky. It looks like a big ball of blue. It is destroying everything."

Just then, Aang realized the arrow on his head was glowing bright. So did Zuko. "Roku," he muttered angrily. "Bring the Avatar!" he commanded and walked on deck.

"What's going on?" he demanded to a nearby fire bender.

"We don't know sir. That thing-"he pointed in the sky. "-has been following us, and now this." Zuko looked around. There was chaos. The sky above them was dark, and there were no clouds. All that was seen was a bright blue blur. It was the same color as the Avatar's arrow. The waves were huge, and the deck was flooding. People were falling and panicing. Fire sprung around the railing like a wall. Rocks from the bottom of the ocean were flying everywhere and the wind was intense. The four elements were in action. "Its Avatar Roku's spirit. He is here to save the Avatar!"

Zuko reached out and grabbed the soldier by the shirt collar. "Bring everyone above deck, all the guards downstairs, even the water tribe peasants." He commanded roughly. For the next few minutes, there was nothing to do, but help. He ran around, grabbing those who were falling overboard. A few jumped and were trying to swim away, but were sucked down into the ocean. Things were falling and people were screaming.

A/N- What do you think! I am leaving a cliffhanger here, but I know what happens next, but you will just have to wait! Hehe! Please R&R. Thanks!