...And I'll leave all my OrliBloom posters to Mrs. Stevens, and my fanfictions to Khazia, and Lobito's food dish to Lobito...huh? oh sorry, just working my will, cuz you are all gonna kill me.

Sorry I haven't posted sooner. I've developed a sudden obsession with Labyrinth and I doubt it'll go away any time soon. But on a good note, for you guys at least, this might not be over as soon as I thought. I don't want it to go over 30 chapters though, but it might.

Chapter 25: The Unexpected

Zula stood staring at the sky with piercing eyes. Anger spilled through her system unchecked. Zhao came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What?"

He glared angrily at her condescending tone.

"You keep telling us to head after the Avatar, but we have no idea where he's gone. We've found their camp, but there is still no sign of where they're headed."

She sighed.

"Zhao, sometimes I wonder if you're capable of thought. Now, Zuko's injured, so they've probably rested for most of the past two weeks. They can't have gotten far since we've started looking. If my brother's capable of speech, he's no doubt got them headed into the Achlys Range, which means we need different mounts, because the Komodo Rhinos can't cover the ground, or give us the speed we need."

He nodded, marveling once more at her intellect.

"We need horses."

"And horses are hard to come by, so I want you to choose 15 of your best men, and I will choose fifteen. 32 horses, and then we will head to Jabari, where the Avatar and my brother are no doubt heading.

Saiza and Iroh were discussing future battle plans at the Réels main hideout. A knock came at the door, and Iroh called for them to enter. A girl came in and bowed. She was dressed in bright yellow and orange, and carried a staff. Her hair was blond, and cut boy-short. Her eyes were soft gray, and smiling.

"Captain Hezier told me to talk to a General Iroh?" Iroh nodded to her.

"I'm General Iroh, and what might your name be?"

"My name is Canace, and my friends and I would like to join your army." Saiza frowned.

"Well, we welcome any new recruits, and I don't see why Hezier couldn't have taken care of this himself."

She smiled.

"My friends and I have special abilities that he thought you might want to know about."

Saiza and Iroh looked at her strangely.

"Are you benders?"

Her smile grew wider. "More than that, my dear sirs."

She raised her hand, and brought it down in an arc. A blade of air flattened the two men against the wall.

"We're air-benders."

Katara leaned back against the headboard of the bed. None of her boys had woken up yet and she lazily ran her hand over the clean-shaven head in her lap. He stirred softly, the telltale scar hidden in the folds of her skirt. Her thoughts turned back to the days before, one day in particular. She remember how the sound had cut off after he'd asked the question, the hope and fear in his eyes before she'd declared that she'd die before she married anyone else.

And now he lay beside her, dreams unfolding behind closed lids. He'd wanted to get married as soon as possible, but she wanted to get married at the North Pole. Her father had joined a group of warriors up there, and it was possible that he'd returned since they'd left. And Katara desperately wanted her father's approval.

But Zhi had refused to let Zuko go until his wounds were healed. The medicine she gave him and wrapped into his wounds helped speed the process, but they would still be there for at least a couple more weeks. For the time they were there, and the time not spent with Zhi, Zuko and Katara had taken to stealing away and…"promoting"…their relationship.

Zuko stirred softly and his eyes fluttered open. He sat up slowly, and she laid her head on his shoulder once he was up. Smiling, Katara sighed. So many times she'd thought she'd been in love, so many hurts. She'd thought she'd been happy before she met Zuko, but now, she knew she could never go back. A life without Zuko, without love…she couldn't even imagine. He was her life, her everything.

"Good morning, Katara."

"Good morning." She snuggled closer to him, and he placed an arm around her. In a few minutes, they'd have to get up and go outside, because Aang would be up. Zuko and Aang were training with Iroh and Saiza, and Aang was doing great with learning fire-bending.

Usually, Aang picked bending up very quickly, but he seemed to be taking fire-bending at a normal pace, perhaps even below average. And the problem was simple, as Zuko had pointed it out a few days ago. Aang was very happy and peace loving. Fire was an aggressive element, and that made it nearly impossible for Aang to bend. But he was getting there.

Katara decided not to mention her dream to Zuko as he sat beside her. In it, she had been with him, her brother and Aang, and the beasts including Hessair, had been with them as well. It had been a normal evening during travel. But then,Zuko had disappeared, and then Hessair, and then Appa. And thenMomo andAang disappeared. She and Sokka were alone, and she was pleading with Sokka to go after the rest of the gang, but he just looked at her and said they should go home. He forced her to leave those she loved more than life, and then she woke up.

She hated it, so much, and moved closer to Zuko for comfort.

"Zuko, will you ever leave me?"

"Never, I promise, and I never break a promise."

"I know that for sure."

He smiled into her hair and kissed her head.

"I love you Katara."

"I…"

"DON'T YOU SAY IT KATARA! WE'RE AWAKE!"

Both heads spun around to reveal two very awake boys.

"We've had enough of your lovey-doveyness."

Zuko raised an eyebrow.

"What? Had enough of this?" He promptly kissed Katara's lips, and they both heard two sets of footsteps running out the door. Katara grinned when he pulled away from her.

"Knew that would work." She pulled him down on top of her, kissing him as she did so. Barely noticing his weight, all she could focus on was his hand on her waist, his lips on hers. She parted her legs slightly, allowing him to get even closer. Zuko started to pull on her shirt as she slipped her hands beneath his.

"So, are you two getting to work on my five grand-nieces and nephews?"

Zuko sighed, and Katara sat up, taking Zuko with her.

"Well, we were going to until you so rudely interrupted us." Zuko added a glare for emphasis. Iroh vanished as suddenly as he'd appeared. She sighed. Even though Iroh was gone, the moment had been spoiled. Zuko held her close for a moment, and then he got off the bed and stood.

"I'd better go see Zhi and get my bandages changes." Katara nodded.

"Wait a moment and I'll go with you." He nodded, and began to change into some clean clothes. She watched him for a minute, and was sure she'd never seen anyone as handsome as her Zuko. She moved over and began scratching his back, expecting the usual euphoria. Zuko loved his back scratched, but he didn't even react.

"Zuko?"

"Yes Katara?"

"You usually go ecstatic when I scratch your back."

He paused, in dressing and in speech.

"You're scratching my back?"

Katara frowned, and rubbed his back a little harder, the skin turning red beneath her nails.

"Feel that?"

"Feel what?"

She grabbed his hand, worry etched in her face.

"Come on, we're going to go see Zhi now."

Zula was intensely frustrated. It had taken longer to get through the pass than she'd expected, and they were still nearly two weeks away from Jabari. For a moment, she wished that she had a dragon, or even a flying bison, that could carry her over these god-forsaken snow drifts. Scrunching down into her warm coat, she urged her horse on. Originally the horse had been blood red, but now it looked pink under all the snow. Hardly intimidating.

Zhao had more experience picking mounts than she did, and had, surprisingly wisely, said that she would envy him of his gray plodder before they were a quarter through the pass. She did, and that fact that he'd been right drove her close to insanity. Rest and prepare, brother dearest, you won't be so lucky next time.

"Well, I actually expected this." Zhi ran a hand over the newly formed scars on Zuko's back, and he didn't even blink.

"What is it, Zhi?"

"It's simple really, with all the scar tissue; you've lost all feeling in your back." Zuko stared at her ineffectively.

"Do you mean that I will not have any feeling at all? Do you realize how bad this could be for me?"

She looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry, Zuko, but there is nothing that I can do."

Zuko covered his face in his hands, and Katara placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. She looked up at the healer and sighed.

"Are you sure that there is absolutely nothing that you could do for Zuko?" Zhi nodded sadly.

"It's not really a bad thing, in truth."

"How could it not be a bad thing? He could get hurt and never know!"

"Well, I'm sure Zuko can deal with that. The scar tissue is only an inch deep!"

"Hello? Right here? Can hear everything you're saying?"

The two arguing women glared at him, and then silently called a truce. Zhi wrapped a protective bandage over his back and helped him put his shirt back on.

"I think you two were planning to head to the North Pole?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you best get going. No doubt those after you will be here soon."

The couple raced off to find Aang and Sokka. They were airborne by sunset.

Zula altered their course after seeing the bison fly over head. They were now racing after it, taking care not to be seen.

Iroh was sad to see Zuko and the gang go, but letting them go had been easier than expected. It was time for the first true blow against the Fire Nation now that Zuko knew what was going on. Where, however, was the question. Saiza made the final decision to wait, and draw on more allies. They wanted Ozai to know they meant business, and the only way to do so was to deal a crippling blow.

The gang was still in the Achlys range when Zuko decided that they should set up camp. After finding a clearing big enough for Appa and then some, Katara settled down to cooking them up a hot meal. Sokka and Aang played with a Pai-Sho set Iroh had given them, and Zuko helped Katara keep the food hot. Maybe an hour passed, and they all settled down to eat.

"Come on, Zuko. One more bite."

"I'm full Katara! If I eat 'one more bite' I'll explode!"

"You barely finished a bowl of stew! You've got to eat more than this!"

"I've never been a big eater."

Sokka and Aang watched this unfold, both munching contentedly on their third bowls of stew. Katara was crawling on her knees after Zuko, who was backing up backwards on his hands and knees. She was trying to spoon feed him, and he, as you can tell, wasn't hungry.

After several circles of the campsite, Katara gave up and settled back onto her heels.

"Fine. I give up, Zuko. Instead, you can help me set up camp. Get the sleeping bags from Appa's saddle."

Zuko sighed, relieved, and headed towards the giant bison. He'd barely reached the beast before Zula burst from the woods and buried a long dagger into the left side of his chest.

The point burst through his back, and Katara screamed, lunging towards him as Zula ripped her dagger free. But Zhao materialized behind her, and pulled her back.

Hessair leapt from where he'd laid and blew a burst of fire at Zula, who bended it away from her. An iron net was thrown over Hessair, who was quickly bound.

Several poison darts found their way into Appa's skin, and the bison roared before falling to the quick acting poison. Momo disappeared into the trees.

Several Fire Nation soldiers were battling Sokka, but Katara sat on the ground in shock as she watched Zuko fall to his knees, and finally slump senseless to the ground.

Zula grabbed the fighting Avatar and placed her dagger to his throat.

"Stop!"

Sokka froze and turned toward the shout. Katara scrambled to her feet. Soldiers rushed to their mistress and bound Aang's hands and feet in iron and took his staff. Silent tears poured down Katara's face, and Zula sneered.

"Alright, water peasants. I'm giving you a one time chance. I'm taking the Avatar, fight back now, and you will die. You see six soldiers, but there are many more in the trees. Zuko is dead or dying, so you'd best give up on him."

At this, Katara whimpered, and resisted the urge to run to her fiancé. Zula continued as Sokka tightened his grip on his club.

"You may return home, and I won't stop you. But if you come after the Avatar, I will kill you. Do you understand?"

Neither Katara nor Sokka said anything, and Zula shrugged. She threw Aang into the arms of another soldier, who knocked the poor boy out and slung him over his shoulder. The Fire Princess pointed to her unconscious brother.

"Get him. I'll need to give the body to my father."

Katara slumped to the ground and sobbed as the Fire Nation soldiers disappeared with two of the people she loved the most in the world. Sokka went and placed a hand comfortingly around her shoulders.

He understood how hopeless their situation was. Their supplies having been destroyed, they were left with nothing but a dead bison and a few weapons. Zuko was dead. Aang was captured. It was hopeless.

Just then, a familiar face dropped from the branches above, twin hook swords in his hands, twig in his mouth. And Katara had sworn she'd never be happy to see him again.

cricket cricket...silence...yeah...