"Uncle, I'm worried about Leiko. She didn't back yet, and she said she's be back by nightfall." Zuko said to Iroh. Iroh just sipped his tea.

"Then go out and find her." Was all he said. Zuko got on his rhino and headed out onto the land. He followed her footprints until he came up to a clearing. And what he saw shocked him.

There were two bodies lying on the cold ground, each one with a sword close to them with dried blood. Zuko jumped off his rhino and ran over to Leiko. "LEIKO!" he cried and cradled her in his arms. She coughed, she was still alive! But blood trickled down her chin from the corner of her mouth. "Leiko, what happened?" he asked. And then he looked down and saw her wound. Her flesh was showing, and even more. It was a deep wound. He turned back to Leiko's face as tears came to his eyes. "Leiko, you're going to be okay! Okay?" his voice began to squeak. "I'm going to take you back to the ship and the doctor will take care of you!" and he went to lift her up but she spoke up.

"No," she said in a raspy voice. Then she drew in a deep breath, and she made a gurgling sound from the blood in her throat. "My time as come." She said. And she closed her eyes again. Zuko's eyes grew big.

"No Leiko. You're going to live. You're too strong to let this kill you. Now come on!"

"No!" she gasped and then coughed again, "Let me die."

"I won't let you die Leiko! I can't do that!" he began to cry.

"Zuko," and she reached up a shaky hand and touched his cheek, "I've done something very wrong." She said. Then she pointed a shaky finger to her right. Zuko looked up at the other body. "Go look." She said. He set her down and tenderly and crawled over to the dead body. He turned it over and gasped when he saw who it was.

How could this be? Leiko killed his little sister? No! It was a lie. But he had to hear her say it. He turned back to Leiko. "Tell me it's a lie!" he yelled at her. "Tell me you didn't kill Zula!" There was silence. "TELL ME!"

"I'm sorry my love." Leiko squeaked out. "She got me first…it's just taking my longer to die." There was a screech in the night and Leiko saw that Tila was flying down from the sky. She landed next to her dying master. "Tila…hey girl." She managed. It was as if they had a spiritual bond, and maybe they did. Zuko just looked down at his little sister who was now gone forever. Gone at the hands of the one he loved. It couldn't be true. He lost his sister, and even through they weren't the best together, they were family. He was torn!

"Leiko…how could you?" he asked softly.

"She beat me Zuko…"

"But that's no reason to kill her!"

"She was going to kill you too…" she managed more words.

"I don't believe that." He replied.

"She was sent by Zhao…" and then she coughed violently, spitting up more blood and gagging on it, "Please believe me."

The moment was interrupted when men in firebender armor came though the brush and into the clearing. They were royal guards, the ones Zula had mentioned. Without a word, the walked over to the princess and lifted her up and carried her away. Zuko just watched as his dead sister was being taken away to be burry and never seen again. He thought about his sister rotting under the dirt forever feeding the worms and grew angry. He turned and looked at Leiko who was being picked up by two other men. She wanted to struggle from their grip, knowing well where they were going to take her. But she didn't want to go back home, she didn't want to be executed for her actions in front of millions; she just wanted to die alone. But that wasn't going to happen. As much as her groans protested their actions they went on. Zuko watched on as they carried away the love of his life.

"Zuko…please…I love you…" she wanted his help. And yet he didn't care.

Back at the ship, Zuko walked in and explained everything to his uncle. He appeared to him in tears, but wiped them away quickly; refusing to let his relative see him shattered like he was. "Uncle, I have bad news. Leiko was taken by the fire nation royal guards."

"The royal guards? But why where they here? Why did they take Leiko?" Iroh demanded to know the reason. His nephew just bowed his head and sighed in frustration.

"She killed Zula…"

"…What?"

"Leiko was attacked by Zula, and killed her. But Zula is being avenged at this very moment. Leiko was injured gravely and she is dying."

"Prince Zuko…are you telling the truth?" Iroh was bewildered.

"I would not joke about something so serious, Uncle. Zula is dead. And Leiko is dying in the arms of the royal guards." Iroh didn't know what to do or what to say, so he just bowed his head.

"Me niece is dead…" was all that came from his throat. There was the longest amount of silence.

"Leiko told me that Zula stabbed her first. But still, she had no right to kill my sister. I will never forgive her." Zuko added to break the silence. Iroh still didn't speak. "She said that Zula was sent by Zhao to kill me. Can you believe that Uncle?"

"…Yes." Iroh finally spoke up again. He wiped away his tears. "Prince Zuko, Leiko loved you more than anything in the world. She would never lie to you."

"Well she had now."

"I don't believe it. But Zuko, you just turned over the love of your life to Zhao."

"So?" Zuko didn't seem to care much.

"Zhao will have Leiko executed." Iroh reminded Zuko. Tila twittered sorrowfully from the corner of the room. Tila had followed Zuko back and stayed in the shadows, not making a sound. It was as if she knew what was going to happen to her master. Zuko just looked at the bird and then back at his Uncle. "I cannot believe such a tragic thing has happened. We've lost everything it seems."

"I lost my sister."

"And the one you loved." Iroh added and left the room. "I will inform the crew." Zuko just stayed in place, not knowing what to do. He took of his frustration on the wall, punching it as hard as he could, making his fist throb from the metal recoil. Tila fluttered from the sudden outburst.

"I don't know what to believe or what to do." Zuko said to himself. Tila chirped, as if talking to him. "I don't know if I should even try to save her. I'm so confused." Tila flew over and perched on Zuko's shoulder. They both bowed their heads.

Meanwhile, Leiko was brought onboard the enormous ship, chained and gagged. The pain was so immense that her life threatened to leave her at any second…and she was counting on it. The captain walked over and looked at her as they dropped her roughly on the floor, making the pain surge all through her body. She just moaned and turned on her side. Her wound's bleeding had slowed, but she could smell the scent of her own flesh. "So here you are now, the great and powerful Leiko." The captain said and laughed. Leiko just looked up at the man with tears still in here eyes. "I don't care if you're the daughter of Admiral Zhao. You're still a traitor and a murderer. Just wait until the Fire Lord hears of your actions." And then he spit on Leiko's cheek. "Take her down in the brig! And make sure a doctor sews her up. We don't want her to die before we reach the fire nation, she should swing from the gallows alive." And then the dragged her away.

That night, as she groaned and stressed in pain as the doctor brutally jabbed the needle into her skin and sewed her up. She tried twitching her toes to minimize the pains, but nothing would stop it. It took over an hour to sew her up completely. Then the doctor put on some cream that burned her skin and aggrieved her wound even more and left her chained to the wall. She hung there by her wrists as the door shut and there was complete darkness. And by then, she had lost all will to live. "Oh Dear Gods…" she whispered, "Take me out of this world now." Then she bowed her head and let her tears flow.