The silver scales of her metallic warrior skirt glistened in the afternoon sunlight. Quickly turning to the side, the knee-length skirt flew to the direction its wearer twisted. Soraya carefully buckled a black belt on her elaborately adorned archery uniform, the tips of her fingers just barely grazing the silver buckle. She wore a brown-green vest trimmed with gold embroidery and cross stitches. Heaving a sigh, she bent down to nervously brush her russet boots; stroking the evergreen globules beaded into the black laces.

Katara swiftly trudged up to her, eyes cast to the floor.

"You'll need this…" An ivory bow slowly made its way to Soraya's hands. She gratefully ran her hands along its smooth surface; tracing the curled knobs at the ends and the twirling gold designs.

Glancing up, she slowly met Katara's determined expression. Her eyebrows were furrowed in courage and her lips curled into a grin.

"And this!"

Katara threw a small Rhouku Oxen leather quill at Soraya before darting out of the imperial garnishing chamber. Soraya's dull gaze and monotonous expression followed her out the door than glanced back at the weapons. Matching her bow, it too had embroidered gold designs and was fully equipped with thin, dark arrows tipped with silver.

She slid the quill onto her and fastened the silver buckle on the straps.

Katara rushed in; her long braid whipping Sokka, who ran behind her. Gracefully wrapping around her was an elegant blue dress with cuts that ran to the sides. Ashen trims added to the poise. Underneath she wore indigo pants and short silver boots. Two serene pools of azure tranquility were suddenly sent ablaze.

With sapphire orbs flashing, she soberly spoke.

"It's time."

A scout had seen dark images hovering over the sea, and they had to be prepared for whatever it was.

"Let no one else out!" Soraya barked to the guard, sealing her mother and the few villagers and servants in the palace. Soraya stood at the hill overlooking the shore and braced her weary nerves.

It had been quite a while…Soraya lifted her chin from resting on her fist and looked up. Perchance it had been a whale? Suddenly, a pounding resonance emerged and she turned around to her troops.

"Earthbenders! Listen to me! Today is the day of victory! It shall proudly represent our triumph! Who, is the Fire Nation, to restrict us from practicing our extraordinary gift; that which enables us to lift boulders whose size is beyond the imagination of any Fire soldier! The time has come to stand up! Enough cowering! Enough withdrawal! We are the last nation capable of bearing arms! LET US FIGHT!" Soraya yelled fiercely as she shoved her sword in the air.

Suddenly, she heard clapping from behind her. Soraya whirled around to find Zhao at the bottom of the hill, with an army five times the size of theirs.

"Adorable sanguinity!", He smirked pompously. "The day your kingdom will rise to it's potential is the day it serves the Fire Lord!"

The earth princess sharply respired air; shocked by his crude brazenness.

Soraya narrowed her eyes and glared at Zhao bearing her teeth. Searing with rage, the tips of her ears turned crimson. The back her neck boiled with fury. A stinging sensation nipped at her cheeks. She clenched the handle of the sword and attempted to whip a fiery comeback at him when suddenly, a livid cry broke out into the crowd.

"What business do you have defending against a Fire Nation assault? Get back inside!" Empress Emseirildia yelled as she furiously stormed to her daughter.

Her sea-green eyes were narrowed to piercing slits. Huffing, she trotted to her daughter.

She's a blade's distance away from death! What does she think she's doing? I wish she would stop pretending she's the masculine hero her brothers are and accept her role as a female! She has no place in a war!

With a swift release of an accurate arrow, her mother fell to the ground with a heart wrenching scream. In a lake of blood she lay, limp and motionless with a arrow pierced through her chest. No longer did it heave, no longer would her eyes flutter open, no longer would her soothing voice cascade from her lips; all symbols assuring her life had quickly ebbed out of her.

Soraya opened her mouth to say something, anything, but it remained ajar without a single tone trickling out. Her body trembled violently and she closed her hands to form fists so tight her nails stung into her palms and her knuckles paled. She gritted her teeth and whipped her bloodshot eyesight to Zhao. Smoothly, she raised her silver blade to the sky silently examining it by angles. The emeralds encased in the gold hilt glittered lavishly in the bright sunlight. Two diamond dragons swirled curvaceously between the gems on either side. She thrust her sword forward but before a syllable could be uttered, both armies charged forward. Augmenting with each vicious stomp of a boot, a clotted blur of dust wavered over the hill, befuddling the princess. Startled and disoriented, Soraya groped around in the confusion of the battle, blindly dodging an arrow or a blade here, and a stone or a fireball there. She recklessly wandered around; regretting her words spoken so courageously before.

I'm just as rightful a leader of this empire as any male!

She shook her head and wiped her tears. She hadn't known what war was like; being raised and pampered securely behind the walls of her palace. How could men slaughter each other so ruthlessly? She abruptly leapt back with a sharp intake of breath as a man stabbed in several areas fell from the smoke beside her to the ground. She shivered and moved on, and it was a few minutes later before she realized it had been an earthbender.

Suddenly, an elbow shot forward and collided with her fragile chest, throwing the young empress back a few feet. Roughly colliding with a boulder, Soraya groaned and rubbed her head. She glanced up and saw the incoming blade and shrieked but it slashed the soil six inches from her.

Zhao crouched next to her and gruffly hissed in her ears, his voice wrapping around her neck and choking her, "How does it feel to be the last of the Earthen monarchy?"

He lifted the sword above his head and Soraya squeezed her eyes shut. An agile maroon blur exploded from the scattered bushes at the side and put its wrist up against the flat part of the blade, attempting to block it. Soraya, bewildered yet thankful, propped herself onto her elbows to find Zuko screaming at her.

"GO!" Soraya stood up and stared, numbed by the experience. "GO!"

Without looking back, Soraya ran down to the hill to help her fellow comrades with the war.

The metallic clashes of their swords fed Zuko's desire to gain vengeance against Zhao. They both slung and slashed, never getting a clear shot.

Abruptly and wildly, the commander suddenly barked "NOW!", easing the strikes of the swords.

Zuko whipped around just in time to see to soldiers jump out from the thick cover of the bushes. He tried to run but wasn't fast enough apparently, because by the time Zuko was aware of them, they had managed to slip one metal cuff on his left wrist. Before they could get the other one on him, Zuko twisted out of their grasps and sprinted away.

Soraya moved her hands and kicked up an array of sharp rock shards towards two fire benders. She jumped and flipped forwards landing roughly on the ground, causing her enemies to lose balance from the violent vibration she created beneath them. As she was attempting her finishing move, a metal handcuff suddenly clasped around her right wrist.

"OOF!" Soraya gasped as the breath was knocked out of her and was quickly dragged backwards by a swift and seemingly unstoppable force.

"UNGH!" Abruptly, some strange weight had attached itself to the empty shackle. Zuko continued running; he couldn't stop now with Zhao's henchmen at his heels!

All of a sudden, she felt her legs tingle then her hips, and finally her shoulders. Cold water soaked through her thin archery outfit. The juggernaut force pulled her down to the murky depths and she struggled against it, trying desperately to swim back up to the surface. Soraya unfastened the belts holding her quill of arrows to her back and let go of her bow. She felt her chest tighten and kicked up until she breached the surface, only to see the gory battle and hear shouts of agony before everything went black…

Zuko sprinted up the sandy shore of a nearby island. He sat down on some sea grass and whipped the shackles around to unhook whatever had connected to it. Discovering the young princess and seeing her unconscious, he knelt down next to Soraya to feel her pulse. A blood thirsty roar broke the soft melody of waves slapping the shore

"IMPRISON THEM BOTH! I'M SICK OF THEIR ILLUSIONS AND TIRED OF THEIR GAMES! NO ONE WILL STAND IN MY WAY!" Zhao roared. Leave them in the custody of Aub'Zohriev prison sentinels!"

Soraya groggily woke to a sudden jolt on her handcuff. She sat up on the hard cot, coming finding herself next to a young heir. As soon as he saw her awake, the storm broke. Two blazing golden eyes robustly glowed with fury.

"Must youhave followed me!" Zuko roared angrily. Soraya widened her eyes with disbelief. He thought she had stalked him?

"HA! You wish! I never followed you! You lassoed me with that!" she snarled and pointed to the cuffs.

"YOU caught on to it! It's not my fault your too weak to break away from it!" Zuko snarled. "Go back home and sow; or whatever it is little girls do!"

"You egotistical jerk!" Soraya stood and shouted. "I never followed you! And I'm not weak!" She folded her arms across her chest, huffing. Her turquoise eyes flared with defiance as she glared at Zuko.

Irritated with her for not already fearing him or bursting into tears, he decided to throw one of his feats to show her he was more powerful, "If it wasn't for me Zhao would have killed you!" Zuko retorted, then immediately recoiled; but it was too late.

"So your saying you deliberately saved me from him?" Soraya inquired, smiling smugly.

Abruptly, he gave a powerful jerk on the shackles binding them together, causing Soraya to fall straight into his arms. Her face reddened and each and every hair on the back of her neck stood erect.

"WEAK!" Zuko snarled as he held her in her arms. Soraya broke free from him and tried to hide her burning cheeks.

"Listen! We have to get out of here before Zhao arrives at Aub'Zohriev!"

Zuko stood and wandered toward the far wall. He brushed the strange frame around window with the tips of his fingers and drew back, like a cat sticking its paw in cold water.

"We can't possibly fit through that!" Soraya exclaimed.

Without answering he punched a fire dart, burning the painted wooden frame! It had been camouflaged to look like metal. Then he kicked a massive part of the weakened wall down. Zuko jumped out of the ship and dove into the water, dragging Soraya with him. Still chained together, they swam for the sandy shore in front of the gargantuan stone castle of Aub'Zohriev. "Quickly!" Zuko hissed, shoving Soraya into nearby shrubs. She fell on dead, yellow weeds, Zuko crouching next to her.

"Looks like were already here…" she whispered.

"They don't stand a chance!" Sokka wailed, mournful and hopeless.

"Without the elements yes, but this time, their on my side!" Katara said thoughtfully. She grabbed a vine from a nearby tree and threw it over the palace wall. Clutching the liana, she quickly repelled down the wall, followed closely by her companions. She ran behind a cluster of trees, Aang directly at her heels.

"What now?" Soraya whispered to Zuko. He glanced out at the sea, scouting for someone… As if on cue, a small ship hastily sailed from the direction of the palace. Soraya's eyes widened as Zuko jumped from the bushes and began to run down the shore.

"Where are you going!" she asked, terrified of the answer.

"We have to! JinOKai is to be destroyed! Along with it the avatar! I CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN! IF ANYONE IS TO CLAIM THE LIFE OF THAT CRASS CHILD WHO CALLS HIMSELF THE AVATAR, IT'S GOING TO BE ME!" Zuko hollered.

However, Zhao's guard's were still behind there…

"There they are!" an exclamation rose after hearing the scream. Zuko ran faster, Soraya doing her best to keep up because if she didn't, she'd be dragged by the shackles that connected them. The vessel slowly lowered its door. Zuko vaulted over the gap between the door and the shore. And landed crouching on two feet. Soraya crashed to the ground from impact.

"Can't you firebend us out of this?" Soraya inquired, annoyed from being dragged around.

"Not when its gripping my wrist this tight! I just used all the chi in my free hand!" Zuko snarled back. He tilted his gaze up to the helmsmen. "TOWARD THE PALACE!" He forgot however, that Zhao, cunning as a snake, was following close behind…