Chapter 16 Escaping with a little help and tea

It had been a few days since Iroh's incident. Zuko began to worry about the retired general's health. It wasn't the only thing that he was worried about. Ever since what happened with 'Fear' he had been watching Katara really closely. She would go out onto the ship's deck for fresh air and that's when she would be possessed again. Zuko always had to break some new bone just to keep her from killing herself. He finally figured it was just best if she was kept inside all day. Zuko would occasionally leave Katara's side only to get food and see how far they were from his father's ship.

Katara had time to herself when ever Zuko left the room. Of course it didn't help that every time she left the room Zuko decided to injure some other part of her body. And at one point in time she had actually trust the boy. When she was able to use her left leg again she was going to give that prince a piece of her mind. Zuko entered the room with a tray of food. He had been bringing Katara food ever since her third time of trying to escape or what he said killing herself.

"Food." He grunted.

Katara tilted her head and looked at what she was wearing. For the past six days she had been wearing the exact same thing over and over. She really wanted to try out one of her new dresses but she wasn't going to allow Zuko to know that.

"What?" He asked sitting next to her. "Look I told you I'm sorry for breaking your leg but it was the only way to keep you in here." He glared at her.

"Well if maybe you trusted…"

"I told you it's not that but the reason you keep leaving me is because of 'Fear'." He sighed and took a spoon full of soup and shoved it into her mouth. "I'm not going to explain it again."

"Well maybe I wanted to train a bit before rescuing my brother and Aang." She snapped.

Zuko was slightly taken back by her aggressiveness. "Calm down girl. What bug crawled up your ass?" He asked rudely.

"Maybe if you allowed me to change into one of my new dresses I would be so pissy." She snapped again.

Zuko looked at the two bags in the corner. Crawling over to them he tossed her the red dress. "Here I'll…"

"You idiot I'm too sore to get dress by myself." She snapped then thought about what she said. "Forget it. I'll do it on my own."

Zuko smirked and walked over to her. He leaned down and took her chin into his hands. "Katara quit making a big deal over it. Maybe if you weren't such an attraction than none of this would have happened.

Katara blushed trying to turn her head away from him. But his grip was too tight. She looked into his amber eyes and sighed. It then occurred to her what he said.

"I'm an attraction?" She asked.

"I'm not good with words so sue me." He snapped.

"I can tell." She said shifting her weight. It had only been a few hours since he had broken her leg but she was already healing up quite nicely.

Zuko leaned up against the wall and sighed. It had been two days since he had thought of whom to demolish first. And was four days since he wanted to destroy 'Fear'. His uncle was still in a coma and that was what worried him the most. Since his uncle wasn't hassling him about having kids he began to think more about it for some unknown reason.

"Hey you're leg is doing better." Zuko said lifting it up. Katara slightly flinched in pain but shrugged off the feeling. "It's odd normal it would take a few weeks for this to heal. But at the rate you're going you should be back on your feet by tomorrow." He placed her foot back down on the ground.

"I guess my will to walk around is greater than my will to sit still and be taken care of all day." She shrugged and took a bite out of a grilled cheese. "Did you cook this?"

Zuko nodded. "I can cook some things. Soup, grilled cheese, and cereal." He said numbering the items off.

Katara began to laugh at the last item on the list. "Cereal is not an item you need to cook." She pushed Zuko in a playful type way. He looked at her and patted her on the head.

"If it takes effort to make then I cook it." Zuko laughed.

With Aang and Sokka

Aang watched Sokka study the air vent closely. "Katara's not coming Sokka." Aang said looking away from the young warrior.

"How much do you wanna bet that, that prince did something to Katara?" Sokka growled thinking about the prince touching Katara in the most inappropriate ways possible. "Damn it." He swore.

Aang flew up and loosen the vent. When he landed he launched a blast of air towards the vent causing it to jiggle and fall off almost hitting Sokka in the head. Aang shrugged an apology before lifting him and Sokka up into the vent. He crawled down and motion for the water tribe warrior to follow. It was going to be a long way out but and they were sure to get out of there in one piece the fastest way was through an air vent which was a strange way but Sokka shrugged it off.

"Aang what kind of bending can you do again?" Sokka asked looking behind him quickly.

"Sokka you know I'm the Avatar so I can do…"

"I mean right now." Sokka said in a worried tone.

"Why?"

"Because I think Lord poop-face has found out that we're not in our cell." Sokka replied turning the Avatar's head around.

Aang's eyes widen and he said, "Grab on to my legs."

"Aang we can't possible out run fire." Sokka said getting his doubts up again.

Aang didn't listen to the young warrior. He placed his hands on either side of them and used all the force he could to blast causing the inside of the vents to dent. The left side cracked open and eventually broke. Giving the two boys an escape route away from the raging fire that was well raging towards them.

Jumping down they barely missed being fried by Lord Ozai's flames. Sokka began to regain his breath before looking up. It was then when they found out where they were. In front of the Avatar and the boy was a group of Ozai's army. Sokka froze before poking Aang in the side.

"What is it Sokka?" He asked then he noticed what the warrior was talking about. "Oh well I guess we have the wrong room. I thought this was the bathroom." Aang laughed nervously.

It was then when Lord Ozai burst into the room both out of breath and out of patience. "Get the Avatar!" He shouted.

Aang looked at the Fire Lord and then at the guards that lunged at them. He quickly put his fists together and launched out an air attack causing the guards to go flying across the room hitting walls and dressers. It was the Fire Lord that stood in their path to freedom now. And without the two other elements he needed to master things seemed hopeless.

It was then when something whizzed by Aang and Sokka's heads. Both boys turned around to see what had launched the item. When they turned back towards Lord Ozai he was knocked out cold and an arrow was lying next to him.

"Who are you?" Aang asked as the 'Black Shadow' passed by him. "Are you here to rescue us?"

The Black Shadow smiled and in a silky voice replied, "I'm here to help you get rid of Prince Zuko for good."

Sokka looked up at the Black Shadow and asked, "How do you know we want to get rid of Prince Zuko?"

"Sokka you can't talk to her. We don't know anything about her." Aang whispered.

Sokka shrugged and looked at the Black Shadow. "What do you know of him?"

"I know that he is abusing your sister. The girl was in tears yesterday and she had cuts up and down her arms and legs. Her right wrist is broken and he just barely broke her left leg." She said quickly.

"See Aang she knows about Katara." Sokka tried to convince Aang.

"I don't know Sokka. Something about her seems odd." Aang said leaning up against his staff that he recovered.

"If you don't believe me I suggest you follow me out and we'll go back to Zuko's ship." She said.

Sokka nodded and followed the mysterious girl. Aang was a little hesitant but in the end followed both Sokka and the Black Shadow. He knew that eventually they would get caught, but for now he paid no attention to it. Walking out onto the deck he saw that everyone was passed out.

"What happened them?" Aang asked stepping over fire Nation bodies.

"Sleeping arrows it's a simple mixture that results in their fear in the end causing them to pass out from it." Sokka nodded. He was impressed that one could do so much. "It takes a lot of energy and that's why I was sent to kill Zuko."

Sokka tilted his head. "I still don't get it. Why are you here to kill Zuko?" Sokka asked.

Black Shadow sighed. "Because it's my destiny. Once every three hundred years I'm to kill a royal family member who will make a difference in the world. The first one to go was an Avatar, named Avatar Ruko. He was killed before he had a chance to make a difference in the world."

Aang titled his head. "Fear of a name only increases fear itself." Aang said suddenly.

"Huh what does that mean?" Sokka asked turning to the young Avatar.

"I don't know it just felt like some advice an Avatar would give." He shrugged it off.

"Are you the next Avatar in the cycle?" She asked turning to him.

"Yes why I am." Aang replied. "Wait you're 'Fear'!" He realized.

"Actually I refer to be known as Shadow. But if you must call me by what those stupid fire benders call me then yes I am 'Fear'." She replied calmly.

"So you're to kill fire benders?"

"Not all only ones whose fates are written in the stars. And who is going to make a difference in the world. Prince Zuko is my target this time because he is going to create a monster with a water bender."

"Monster?" Aang asked.

"A mix child. Whose powers will be devastating to the world." Shadow replied. "Oh and he's to end the war within the span of a year." She shrugged off the last part.

With Katara and Zuko

Katara laughed at the thought of Zuko trying to cook. She then smiled as he came around her and began to massage her shoulders.

"Ouch that hurt!"

"Well if you didn't move so much it wouldn't." Zuko replied as she relaxed.

It was then when Iroh began to stir. It wasn't much and the two teens didn't notice the old general move or sit up for that matter. His eyes were still closed as he tried to remember what happened. Only a few faint moments came to him such as: shopping, tea bags and an arrow.

"You're fingers have a magic touch." Katara moaned. Iroh's senses came around so he was able to hear what was going on. The water bender was in the room but who was that with her.

"I learned from my mother." It was Zuko.

"Mmmm…" Katara moaned again. "Just a little harder… right there perfect." She said her head hanging down.

Iroh was almost afraid to open his eyes from the sounds that those two were making. He finally decided it was wise if he talked instead of opening his eyes. "Nephew could you get me some tea if you're not too busy."

Zuko and Katara looked up and laughed a bit from what Iroh had said. Katara started to blush at what Iroh thought she was doing with his nephew. Zuko got the idea and stood up causing Katara to fall backwards slightly before his knees caught her.

"UNCLE!" Zuko yelled.

K15: Okay guys Iroh is up and ready for action. The chicken suit will become important when Aang and Sokka get tricked back onto Ozai's ship. If you guys are still confused why Zuko is the so called 'chosen one' to be killed by Shadow aka 'Fear' I'm hoping to explain that in the next chapter. This whole chapter was four and a half pages long. I needed some more of Aang and Sokka so yeah. Okay Nyla will become back into the picture soon. But probably after or before the fight with 'Fear' I haven't decided yet. Oh and I like to thank you guys for the 100 plus reviews you've given me. I can finally die in peace... hah well not until the fic is over anyway. So keep reviewing and i'll try to get two more chapters up this week. Later. K15