Lost...

Graduly, Hilda got better. Everyone still believed that Hilda had let the Avatar out, though no one was angry with her.They just went on with buisness as usual. It was one morning, about an hour after breakfast, which consisted of eggs, toast, and bacon, that a group of soldiers came onto Zuko's ship. Showing him three wanted posters.

"These three girls have been charged with theift. If you see them conta-" But the solider couldnt even finish saying it before he spotted Hilda training with her sisters. "Those girls!" with that, this soldier's army ran down to Hilda, Violet, and Ashli. Once they were surrounded, the girls put their backs together. On guard. Hilda protected her sisters. Above them, the avatar flew. He saw that the Wormwart orphans were introuble, to Aang, against Sokka and Katara's protests, flew closer to the ship to that the siblings could get on. Hilda got Violet and Ashli onto Appa first, but as she got on herself, the army pulled her back down.

"GO!" Hilda hissed at Aang, Aang could do nothing but obey. Ashli and Violet wanted to go back down and help their sister. But Sokka and Katara wouldnt let them.

"Dont worry. Hilda will be okay.." Katara assured them, not to positive herself. I hope.

On the ship, Zuko fought with Hilda. As a better way to say it, he helped her fight off the guards that were trying to arrest her. Iroh did as well. They were quite outnumberd, but the army was out witted. Hilda was such a good earth bender. The best Zuko had ever seen. She either practiced every single day of her life. Or something else. But Zuko didnt think about that now, it was defintitly not the time. He would guard her when they shot fire at her. He wasnt about to let anything hurt her. Three great benders, Zuko and Iroh fire, Hilda earth.

"Isnt there some fine I can pay?" Zuko asked them, he didnt want to get Hilda hurt or arrested.

"No, This girl has been wanted for a long time now. We have to arrest her!" The soldier hissed. Zuko just kept protecting Hilda, no matter how many times she told him she didnt need to be protected.

The young wormwart orphans cried on Katara and Sokka. They both stroked the red hair of the orphans. I guess this really isnt the best time to describe their hair but ah well.

"Don't worry. Hilda is a strong girl.She'll be fine." Sokka said to them trying to keep them from feeling worse. But they just cried more.

"We broke our promise to momma.." Ashli cried. Ashli cried on Sokka as Violet on Katara. Sokka and Katara exchanged looks.

"What promise?" Katara asked them. They managed to cry out the promise.

"Momma...she said that she knew we would take care of eachother with love and self-lessness as we always have, but we let our big sister be hurt.." Violet told them, wiping away the tears she cried.

"Looks like you actually kept your promise." Aang pointed out. "Hilda put you on Appa so that you wouldnt get hurt. Its okay you know. If you would have stayed down their, Hilda would probably feel really guilty if you got hurt."

"Good point Aang. Like Sokka said,She is strong, She knows what she is doing." Katara said to them. Hardly comferting at all but it still helped a bit. All the sisters were able to do was watch as the ship that their eldest sister had stayed to fight on. They still felt terrible for abandoning her, but everyone on Appa assured them that she would be okay.

"Basics Zuko!" Iroh would snap when Zuko was heading into a mess up.Iroh himself was buisy kicking army ass. Hilda, she used her excellent earthbending techniques to their best abilities. She often got attacked from behind, but it was very easy to deflect their attacks with the coal. But, everytime she shot some coal at a group of soldiers, it would go overboard. That kind of buged Zuko that he was losing so much coal, so he did his best to protect her and make her not have to earth bend.She often did that one attack where she grabs the soldier's shirt and throws them over her head and into the sea. Yet, the number of soldiers never decreased. They just kept coming. The two firebenders and one earthbender began to get tired. Hilda was next to Zuko when she whisperd to him.

"Just let them take me." Hilda whisperd to him. He shook his head.

"No." He whisperd back. Hilda punched his arm.

"You dumbass. I'll be fine." Hilda told him, he wanted to protest, but Hilda had already given herself upto them. It was that time that Zuko tried to nagotiate wtih them. But he couldnt do anything.

"Zuko. When the girls come back. You take care of them." Hilda told him, Zuko froze.

"M-Me?" He asked. She nodded. Zuko kept trying his hardest to get the soldier to let her go. But alas, he would not.

"She won't be killed." The soldier told him. "Just married off." Hilda sighed.

"Can't I just be killed?" Hilda asked the soldier as he pushed her onto his ship. Once on, Zuko tried to follow her, but it was useless. She was gone. He felt like he was about to cry.He had lost her. He didnt want to lose her, he wanted to fight for her. The ship sailed away from his as he stood there, frozen in his tracks. Trying to hold back the tears that came to his eyes. What would he tell Violet and Ashli? It wasnt like they were small babies that wouldnt know if she was here or not. What would he say? "I let your sister be taken by the soldier to be married off in order to pay back what was stolen?" no, he couldnt say that. "She is going to go work off the pay?" No not that either. Nothing that he thought of telling them sounded good. He wished he was stronger, that he had tried harder.

"Prince Zuko, you did the best you could." Iroh told him, Zuko just shunned his comfert and retreated to his room. Where he would meditate and beat himself up over how stupid he was. Now though, he locked the door so that no one could come in. He lied on his bed and thats where he let the silent tears fall from his eyes. There really wasn't anything he could do. As much as he wanted, he wanted to do more, he wanted to follow that god forsaken ship and find Hilda. The girl he loves. But he didnt have any coal to get his ship moving any faster.

How...could I lose her? Zuko thought to himself bitterly. I fought to keep her with me. But I lost her...How could this happen? How could god do this to me? All I want is Hilda. I gave up my home for her. Why why why? Zuko kept yelling at himself in his head. When he calmed down a bit, not alot but enough to go up onto the deck. He saw Hilda's sisters. They were looking for their sister, They spotted Zuko and ran to him, asking where Hilda was. Zuko was silent.

"She...isnt..." Violet choked. Zuko kept silent. He couldnt tell them what happend. It killed him just to think about it. Let alone re-tell the story to her little sisters. He couldnt even tell them that he was suppost to take care of them, while Hilda is gone and if she never comes back.Zuko saw tears well up in the young siblings' eyes. Zuko himself choked a bit. He felt like he couldnt breath. He hated this feeling of weakness and helplessness.