AN: Yes the girl in the fountain is a waterbender. This fountain was made before the war.
Some people may find Zuko's complete and sudden change of heart confusing and unnatural. But try to imagine coming home to find the person you cared most about had been murdered by your idol. Things like that change you. Big Time.
Chapter 4: The Escape
Over the few days, Zuko spent the daylight hours in his room meditating or sleeping. At night, he'd sneak out to the hill where the Avatar's bison was. The first night it had come, it had deeply distrusted him, even after hearing his plan. Now, as he had done everything he'd said he would, including bringing the bison word from the Avatar, the bison would groan loudly as he approached. For the first time in his life, Zuko considered someone his friend. (Other than his annoying uncle.)
Not knowing what else to call the bison, and he couldn't keep calling him 'bison,' Zuko began calling him Tchik, which meant 'trust.' Leaving the rhino at the bottom of the hill, Zuko climbed slowly but deliberately to the top. Once there, Tchik wasn't too hard to find. He was munching on some fruit left over from the day before.
Zuko went over to the giant bison and began scratching him behind his ears absentmindedly. In truth, his thoughts had turned to the night ahead of him. The escape shouldn't be difficult, only what would happen after. He'd sent another note to the Avatar, detailing his plans for the escape. Shaking himself from his thoughts, he checked to make sure the bison was comfortable, checked the stream nearby to see it was running freely, and then returned to the palace to wait for evening.
In one of the few castle gardens, Zuko sat near a fountain meditating. Strangely enough, the sound of the falling water was soothing. This particular garden was abandoned usually, and mainly because of the fountain. In the center stood a girl (and she was fully dressed, unlike most fountain people.) But what made the fountain unusual was the fact that she had her hand raised to the sky and erupting from her hand was several streams of crystal water. These crystal formations were elegantly twisted around her to the point that you couldn't tell the real water from the crystal. After a while, you stopped trying.
Zuko started to the sound of footsteps behind him. His eyes opened and he half-turned around to behold his uncle Iroh.
"You wanted to speak to me, Zuko? It had better be good. I'm missing my tea hour." Iroh's comment nearly brought a smile to Zuko's face, who had learned in the past five days to cherish every moment.
"I have a request and it's very simple. Do not, and I repeat do NOT, go to the banquet tonight. Leave the palace, leave the city, go far far away, because only then will I be sure that you are safe." Iroh looked confusedly at his nephew for a moment before nodding.
"I'm not going to ask why, and I can see this is important to you. Where should I go?"
"Anywhere. It doesn't really matter." Zuko turned back around after making this comment. Iroh nodded again and left. Zuko glanced back to make sure he had left, and at the same instant that he noticed the sun was setting, he noticed a group of servants who seemed to be waiting for him. He looked at them wonderingly, and one of the bravely spoke.
"If you will come with us, my prince, we will ready you for the banquet." Zuko sighed and nodded.
A few minutes later, they were in his room. He allowed them to dress him in delicate fineries. They even brushed through his hair and retied his ponytail. A young woman told him to close his eyes and she put something on his face. They were done quickly and they exited quickly, after one of them told him that someone would be there in a moment to take him to the banquet.
He knew that most everyone else would already be at the Great Hall, for the guest of honor, in this case, him, always arrived last. Glancing in the mirror, he was surprised that what the woman had put on his face seemed to diminish his scar by making his eyes stand out. The silks they had put on him were not the best choice for his mission, but they would work. Moving quickly, before his escort arrived; he slipped from his room and began to make his way to the Avatar's cell.
At his request, nearly all the guards were at the banquet. Four had been left on each prison hall. His father had thought he merely wanted extra security. No one understood that four were easier to dispatch than forty.
Zuko slipped easily into the prison hall where the Avatar was being kept and the four guards, who were all congregated in front of the Avatar's cell, bowed to him. Normally he would bow back, but this had been part of his plan. Without hesitation, he moved over to the men and brought his knee up sharply into the face of one while at the same time bringing his fist down onto the back of the neck of another. Both were out instantly. The other two were too surprised to react and he dispatched them both easily.
He took the keys from the waist of one of the unconscious guards and unlocked the Avatar's cell door. The boy was standing in the middle of the room, and his eyes lit up at the sight of Zuko and he smiled.
"Come on." Zuko led the Avatar down the hall a ways and unlocked another room. Inside was a huge amount of confiscated items. He quickly found the Avatar's staff and handed it to him. "Here Avatar. You might need this. Or want it. Whichever comes first." The Avatar smiled and he held his staff.
"Aang." Zuko, who had begun to walk out, turned back around and stared at him in puzzlement. "My name is Aang, not Avatar." Zuko shrugged.
"Fine. Aang. Now will you please hurry up?" He turned and walked out, the silk robes flowing out behind him.
"Wow." Said Aang as he jogged to keep up with Zuko's pace.
"What?" Aang grinned. Zuko didn't know he could grin so wide.
"You said please." Suddenly, Aang stopped, causing Zuko to turn around with an angry retort on his lips, but Aang beat him to it. "We are going to get my friends right?"
"Where do you think we're going? If I was just getting you out, we'd have turned left at the end of the hall instead of right! Do you think I like just wandering around the palace for no real reason?"
Aang shrank back from the outburst with a muttered apology, choosing not to mention the fact that he knew nothing about the palace. He could feel the tension radiating from Zuko and knew how much he was risking. He was silent for a time, contemplating their situation as he followed Zuko. Zuko could get them out of the cells but where would they go? Would he get them out of the city? No he couldn't. He had to go to the banquet. Appa was no doubt too far away to come. He looked at Zuko's back, always 3 steps away. They had conversed through notes, a rather one-sided conversation, but still, it had been one. It had kept Aang's hopes up, but it was still confusing.
"Why are you helping us?" Aang didn't expect Zuko to answer but he did.
"Because I see no reason not to."
"Why are you risking everything?"
"Because I have nothing left to risk."
"Why aren't you coming with us?"
"Because I'd rather die."
"What will you do after we leave?"
"I'm going on a suicide mission."
"What mission?"
"I'm going to attack my father in a room full of every guard in the capital and I'd be insane to think I'll walk out of it alive. I just hope I take my father down with me. Can we stop with the questions? We're almost to your friends' cell."
Aang stared at him with a mixture of growing shock and horror, but Zuko never slowed down. A fireball burst through the door at the bottom of the staircase that Aang somehow found him-self at. Pushing through the burning door, Zuko dispatched the guards as easily as he did the others, and it was then that Aang heard Katara's sweet voice. "ZUKO!"
Aang rushed through the door and was greeted by a warm hug from Katara. Apparently, Zuko had already gotten them out of the cell. Katara had a lovely red robe on, but it definitely wasn't hers. Completely ignoring the color, it trailed the floor by several inches and the sleeves were also impossibly long on her. One glance, and Aang knew exactly who it belonged to.
Sokka broke them up gently. "Now isn't the time."
Zuko still stood by the cell door, looking at Katara sadly. Finally he pushed through the happy group with a gruff, "Follow me."
Abandoning the quick walk he'd kept with Aang, Zuko was running full out. He could hear the heavy gasps from the Water boy and didn't care. Neither the Avatar …Aang…he corrected himself, or the Water girl were complaining. The girl has hoisted his robe up so she could run, but she didn't seem to be tired.
They raced through corridor after corridor, Zuko taking the long way to avoid any possibility of confrontation. HE finally ended the run by sliding down a slick column. The Water boy tried to copy him but lost his grip halfway down and tumbled into Zuko's waiting arms. As soon as Sokka stopped falling Zuko dropped him the foot left onto the ground. Sokka glared at him after he got up rubbing his bruised backside but Zuko had already turned away from him. Aang leapt down easily using Air-bending to slow his fall.
Katara stared at the three boys on the ground beneath her. She couldn't climb down the column like Zuko, especially after Sokka's display and she definitely couldn't air-bend. She didn't have a canteen, and even so, she didn't even know if water-bending could help her. So she held back, unsure of what to do. Zuko made the decision for her.
Zuko stepped forward away from the other boys and opened his arms. "Jump, and I'll catch you." When she still held back, he tried again. "I give you my word." She shook her head.
"Swear." He didn't hesitate like she thought he would.
"I swear…on my honor."
Katara didn't know much about fire-benders, but she knew that they believed honor was everything. She clutched the robe around her, closed her eyes, and leaped.
Instantly her instincts screamed at her. Foolish girl! Trusting a fire-bender! He won't catch you! He'll let you splatter on the cold stone at his feet and then guards will come out and re-arrest Sokka and Aang. You're a fool for believing in him!
The wind whistled in her ears and then there was a solid thump. She knew she was dead. But upon opening her eyes, she found herself staring once again into those golden eyes, resting securely in Zuko's arms. Looking back, she would know that this had been the moment.
Zuko set her down gently and continued their run. Now it was more dangerous, for in truth, the banquet was directly above them. At any point, someone could look down and see them. He could only hope that the lack of banquets would keep everyone focused on this one. They never had banquets, so people would cherish the festivities.
Few knew that there was an evacuation route in the palace. It had been built in case the capital was ever directly attacked so that the royal family could escape deeper into the Fire Nation. The trapdoor leading to it was directly beneath the Great Hall and it led to…the hill where he'd hidden the bison. For once, Zuko's plan was working out flawlessly.
Once in the armory beneath the Great Hall, the gang was mystified as Zuko told them to remain near the door. He himself walked around the room and bent down. He fastened his hand on something they couldn't see and pulled. Katara couldn't help but gasp and Sokka gripped her hand. It was as if Zuko had pulled the whole floor away, revealing a huge steel plate beneath them.
In the center of the plate was a small circular groove. Zuko motioned to them and they followed him to it. They watched as Zuko removed his crown and placed it in the groove. The plate shivered slightly, and then the groove slid back and the plate opened slightly, just big enough for one person to jump through at a time. Zuko told them to go before him, and when they were all in the space beneath the plate, Zuko snatched his crown and leaped through.
He landed lightly in the dark dungeon-like space and their only light faded away as the hole above them closed. Lighting a flame in his hand, Zuko motioned to them to follow him, as if they had a choice.
"Won't we get lost?" Sokka commented after several minutes. He was eyeing the hundreds of corridors and unmarked tunnels that led away from the main hall. Zuko smiled.
"Of course not. The halls are merely there to confuse the enemy. The only way out of this is to keep going straight." Sokka glared at him.
"Then I'm going back." Katara called to him but Sokka didn't turn around to heed her. He walked determinedly back the way they had come…and promptly ran into a wall.
"Hey!" Sokka shouted, rubbing his sore nose. "What gives?" Zuko's smile grew wider.
"It's another little treat this route has. The hall will close up behind us. Our enemy could be on the other side of that wall, but unable to reach us. When we exit, that slab will slide back to the other end of the hall. God help anyone behind it." Sokka swallowed nervously. Zuko merely kept going.
It took them nearly half an hour to reach the end of the hall. But, strangely enough, no one at the banquet was missing Zuko. They were having too much fun.
The gang slowly exited the cave that served as the exit for the escape tunnel and Zuko helped them to climb the hill. At the top, Aang was ecstatic to see Appa, which he showed by dancing around the hilltop shouting, "Appa!" Zuko was merely thinking, so that's his name.
Sokka was loading the supplies that Zuko had hidden up there for them. Katara looked at Zuko wonderingly. "You planned all this, didn't you?" Zuko nodded.
"It's good to see something work out for once." Katara smiled at him.
"Maybe you're finally on the right side." He just looked at her.
It was barely a few minutes before they were ready to go, and strangely enough, Zuko was rather sad to see them go. No one was on Appa yet, and Aang turned and looked at him rather imploringly.
"You sure you don't want to come with us?" Zuko nodded. He was sure. Katara was confused. She'd never heard Aang ask the first time. They were all surprised when Aang ran over to Zuko and hugged him.
"You have no idea how much this means to me Zuko." Zuko pried himself from the air-bender's grip.
"Just do me a favor Aang. Master all the elements and then come back and destroy my father and Zhao, if they survive tonight." Aang looked briefly sad, but then nodded and backed away.
Sokka walked over to Zuko as Aang got up on Appa's head. "You know, I've been trying to figure out a selfish reason for you to help us all night, and I wasn't able to. I guess you're not as bad as I thought." Sokka held out his hand, and Zuko shook it firmly.
"Just take care of your sister."
"I will." Sokka turned and climbed into the saddle on Appa's back. Then it was Katara's turn. A thousand ways to thank Zuko ran through her mind as her eyes met his. She started to take off the robe but he raised his hand in denial and shook his head. She thought of the past few days, of waking up to warmth instead of metallic chill and burying her nose in the sweet masculine yet slightly charred scent that the robe carried. She thought of all that he had done for them this night and words ran dry.
She placed a hand on the scarred side of his face. His eyes never wavered from hers and she drank in all the light resonating from them. She couldn't leave without telling him how much he'd done for them, for the world, but the words just wouldn't come. In the end, blinking back tears, Katara leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. She then ran from Zuko to climb up to her spot beside Sokka, who placed an arm protectively around her. Aang looked at Zuko from his spot on Appa's head.
"One last chance, Zuko."
Zuko shook his head, and Aang gave a despairing 'yip-yip.' Soon they were speeding away from Zuko and the Fire Nation.
Zuko watched them go with a growing feeling of dread in his heart.
"You'd better be safe Aang. Remember your promise." He turned back and began the long walk above ground back to the palace.
A HUGE THANKS TO MY REVIEWERS! YOU KEEP ME WRITING!
Looking back on this chapter, I noticed it's kinda long.Sorry if you prefershorterchapters, but Iwrite untilI reach a good point to stop.