Please don't burn me for this. You can tell by the name that Suki is in this one, but.. well, just read. And thanks to all the people who have been reviewing my stories. It makes me feel better about them. XD
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"This one is a little saber-tooth moose-lion."
"That cloud almost looks like a bunny."
"That one kind of looks like the Fire Nation symbol." Zuko sat up to look for a different cloud. The ship was moving fast enough, they were about an hour past the new Air Temple already and it was barely dusk. Driving was simple enough, there seemed to be nothing to it. I guess that's why he and Katara were laying on Appa's back on the deck watching cloud shapes.
"Hey, there's a dragon head over there!" Katara pointed the direction Zuko was looking. He had already noticed it, but was trying to figure it out.
"It's almost dark, when should we get the night shift up?"
"When it gets dark, maybe?" she laughed. She sat up and slid down Appa's side to the deck. "I'm going to make sure we're still on course. Run and heat up the engine a little more, let's see how fast this thing can go."
Zuko slid down the other side and went below. Katara walked to the bridge to check up on everything. They were headed slightly off course, but she adjusted it with no problem. She stood there watching the sunset for a minute, not even noticing Sokka and Ty Lee coming in for the night shift.
"Are you going to bed tonight?" Sokka asked, startling her.
"Oh, yeah. I was just watching the sunset. It's just so pretty today."
"Well, go to bed. You have a long shift tomorrow."
"I know. Goodnight!" She walked out and headed below. Zuko was already in their room, almost asleep but fighting it until she got there. "You look tired," she laughed.
He yawned and stretched across the bed. She just laid down on top of him until he gave up and moved over. "I'm worn out. I ran all the way down there and back. I'm about to pass out now."
"Aww, my poor little prince is sleepy." She rolled over and wrapped her arms around him. He was asleep before she could blow his candle out, so she just laid there with him enjoying the company until she fell asleep.
Sokka and Ty Lee checked to make sure everything was running smoothly before going out on the deck to sit. They were still heading in the right direction and the engine was running smoothly.
"Thanks for helping me with the night shift, Sokka."
"No problem. I like the night anyway. It's not as hot as the daytime is and the stars help me relax for some reason."
"Who else is on night?"
"Just a couple of people from the village, Iroh, and Aang. My Gran Gran helps in the day with Zuko and Katara.. and Pakku I think. Katara thought it best for Aang to take night because she and Zuko would be taking day and Aang would've been keeping an eye on them. He has a girlfriend, but he's still upset about the whole thing."
"Where is his girlfriend?"
"She lives in a big Earth Kingdom city. He urged her to stay there with her father until he came back for her after the war was over and she fought with him over it, but stayed. She could've been a big help. She's the one that taught Aang to earthbend. She's the greatest earthbender I've met, definitely a challenge for King Bumi."
"Who?"
"King Bumi. The former king of Omashu before the Fire Nation stormed them. The only reason he didn't fight was because he wanted to stay there with his people. He said something like 'Their fate will be mine' or something like that."
"Wow. He's a couragous man."
"Yeah, especially for his age. He's about as old as Aang really is, overa hundred years! They were friends before Aang was told about being the Avatar."
They heard a noise underneath them. Sokka went to the edge and looked over, but it was too dark to see anything. They heard it again. It sounded like something was rubbing against the keel. He walked back towards Ty Lee.
"Go under now. If something comes out of the water, I don't want it to get you." He pulled his boomerang out of its holder on his waist. Ty Lee hesitated for a second, then went under just a little, making sure she could keep an eye on him. There was that noise again. Sokka went back to the edge but that couldn't change the fact he couldn't see anything. He heard a noise on the stairs and looked back to see Zuko, Katara, Aang, and Iroh running up.
"What is that?" Zuko demanded.
"I don't know, I can't see anything!" Sokka yelled over the noise. It kept getting louder like something was trying to scratch its way through the bottom.
"We have to get off the ship," Katara said, sounding scared. "Something's trying to get through and we have to get off now."
"Where are we?" Aang asked as if he might have an answer.
"Hold on," Sokka called, running towards the bridge. He checked and ran back. "I have some bad news and some good news. Bad news it we're near Keyoshi Island. Good news is we're near Keyoshi Island!"
"Wait, how is that bad and good news?" Zuko snapped.
"Well, it's bad because there's a giant sea monster that lives here and that's what's trying to get through. It's good because we're friends with the people who live on this island. They're worshippers of Avatar Keyoshi and their warriors are modeled after her."
Katara laughed thinking back to that. "That's the day Sokka got his butt kicked by girls and was too ashamed to admit it."
"I remember those girls. They were.." Zuko looked at Katara, who was glaring at him. ".. brave. Not pretty whatsoever. They were nothing compared to you." Katara smiled at him, but she knew what he was really going to say. She's just glad he knew better.
The noise was even louder now and sounded like it had broken through. Aang jumped in the water, catching everyone by surprise. "Aang!" yelled Katara as she ran to the side of the deck where he jumped.
"He somewhat tamed this thing last time we were here, he can do it again, I'm sure." Sokka walked up behind her. Suddenly the beast shot out of the water, Aang on his head pulling his whiskers back like reins. "See? That's what he did last time!"
"Sunagi broke through at the bottom! It's sinking, but Keyoshi Island isn't far away! You should be able to get there before it sinks, just stay up on the deck!" Aang yelled from the monster's head.
"Oh no, Gran Gran! I'll run down and wake everyone up!" Katara took off below, Zuko right on her heels.
"Maybe with some luck, the Keyoshi warriors will let us have a ship! They love us there, especially Aang because, well, he's the new Avatar." Sokka was only hoping he was right. They did like him, but now with them traveling with firebenders, who knows? Especially since one of them nearly destroyed their town last time. Maybe they won't recognize him with his 'new make-over'.
Zuko ran back up with Pakku and a few of the others. "Where's Katara?"
"She isn't back yet, she probably had to go further than you."
"SOKKA!" They all heard the call from below. A pain shot through Sokka's heart, he hoped it wasn't what he thought. He took off as fast as he could following Katara's continuing screams.
Everyone on deck tried to follow, but Zuko stopped them. "Stay up here and get off when we get to the island. If we're not back by then, make sure the Avatar gets to the Fire Nation Temple." He ran down the stairs, Iroh calling after him. He could hear Katara yelling for Sokka to help, he knew he had already found her. He ran into her Kana's room and slid to a stop. There was a little water on the floor from the hole in the bottom. The ship was sinking faster than Aang anticipated. Katara and Sokka were trying to get Kana off the bed. She was either unconcious or.. he didn't want to think about it and hoped for the better. He ran over to them and helped lift her up and carry her out onto the deck.
"What happened?"Pakku asked, running to help them as they came up the stairs.
"We don't know, she just didn't wake up!" Katara panicked. "I don't know if she's.. oh, I don't know!" She was in tears. Zuko wouldn't say anything about them this time.
"Appa! Follow Aang and land on that island! Yip yip!" Sokka yelled, hoping Appa understood. He took off, following Aang as Sokka had asked. They laid Kana down and tried to determine if she was still breathing.
Iroh kneeled over her and put a hand on her chest to see if it would move. Nothing. He felt her throat for a pulse. There was one, but it was very small and felt like it was fading. "We have to do something right away, she doesn't seem like she's going to last much longer."
Katara was in Zuko's arms, still crying. She couldn't look at her, not like that. They felt a bump and Sokka looked over the side. "Hey, we're on land. Let's get her down now!"
Ty Lee started down the ramp as soon as it was released. "I'll run ahead and wake some of the villagers up and see if they can help!" She waited for a nod before she took off across the sand and into the dark as fast as she could.
Pakkuand Sokka picked her up and started slowly down the ramp. Zuko helped Katara down. By that time, she was crying so hard she could hardly stand. "There's nothing I can do, there's nothing I can do," she kept repeating. "I can't heal her if I don't know what's wrong with her and there's nothing I can do.." Zuko finally gave up and picked her up and carried her the rest of the way down. She wrapped her arms around his neck and cried on his shoulder, but he didn't mind. If anything, this would bring them closer.
Iroh brought a blanket off of the ship to lay her on until help came. They didn't want to move her too much so they laid her on the blanket in the sand. Iroh kept a close watch on her pulse, Sokka wouldn't let go of her hand, Katara couldn't stop crying, and all Zuko could do was hold her until she calmed down. Finally Ty Lee came running back with a few of the Keyoshi warriors.
"We have to move her to the village, it's not far," one of them said. She was obviously the leader. Sokka looked up at her and automatically recognized her as Suki, the one that kissed him last time they were here. This should be fun, he thought sarcastically.
"Is it safe to move her?" Pakku asked before they would let them touch her.
"We have no choice. If she doesn't make it there, then she wouldn't have here. Now let's go before it's too late. Our medicine woman is waiting."
Six of them lifted her on the blanket she was laying on, making it easier and faster to move. Zuko carried Katara, still bawling. They got to the village pretty quickly, it was very close to the beach they had landed on. They hurried her in and most of them came back out. Sokka refused to leave her side and Pakku and Iroh stayed with him. Zuko sat Katara down on the porch outside the door and sat next to her letting her continue to cry on his shoulder. He kept his arm around her and tried to reassure her that her Kana would be okay.
"She's in a safe place now, they'll take good care of her and see that she gets better. She'll be okay, she promised that she wouldn't miss our wedding day or the day that we bring this war to an end. That's why she came, remember?" He felt Katara nod and kept going. "She'll fight to keep her promise, she will be okay." He turned his head to where hers was laying on his shoulder and kissed her on the head.
Suki sat on the other side of Katara and touched her hand. "Our medicine woman is a miracle worker, your grandmother is in the safest of hands." She looked at Zuko and he turned his head away quickly before she recognized him like the others had. Frankly that had him confused. Katara had taken his scar away so that no one would recognize him, but it hadn't helped so far.
"She just needs some rest now," Sokka wimpered as he walked out slowly. He sounded like he had been crying too. "She's okay, they think she just overexcited herself about leaving home for the first time since she came to the South Pole and had a heart attack. We're lucky we got her here as fast as we did. We're taking her off the shifts if we can get a new ship or somehow fix ours." Suki got up and let Sokka sit next to his sister. She leaned away from Zuko and hugged Sokka, still crying a little. He hugged her back hard. "It's okay Katara, she's okay."
"Wait.. aren't you..?" Suki started. Zuko's stomach jumped, he thought she recognized him. "You are! You're the ones traveling with the Avatar! Sokka and Katara, I remember you now! Where is Aang?"
Zuko jumped off the porch. "I'll go find him, he might be back at the ship." He walked away quickly leaving Katara to her brother. He was right, Aang was sitting on the sand beside the ship. No one ever saw him get off of that monster. He must've gotten off after they had left the ship to go to the village. "Why aren't you in the village with everyone else?"
"I don't know.. I know Katara's crying and I guess I just can't be around her when she's like that."
"Sokka's crying too if it makes you feel any better."
"Not really."
"Come on, the warriors are looking for you. They're excited you're back."
"What about you?"
"Why do you think I'm here? I'm afraid they'll recognize me like everyone else has since my scar was healed."
"But you're on our side now. They'll accept you if you're with us."
"I don't know.."
"Come on, you have to go back. Katara needs you." You could hear the sadness in his voice when he said that.
"You still don't want us to be together, do you?"
"Don't worry about me, I think I'm just being selfish. Besides, she thinks of me as her little brother.. that's how it's always been."
Zuko walked up to Aang and put his arm around his shoulders and smiled. "Well come on, little brother. Your family needs you right now."
Aang looked up at him and smiled. "You've really changed, Zuko. It's good to have you with us now."
They walked back to the village like that. When they got there, Sokka and Katara were talking on the porch. They looked up and saw Zuko and Aang walking together and it surprised both of them. Aang felt better since neither of them were crying anymore, but he could see Katara's eyes were still red. He walked up to both of them and hugged them. "I'm sorry guys."
"It's okay Aang," Katara sniffled a little. "She's okay now, she just needs to sleep."
Aang let them go and backed up a couple steps. "What happened?"
"Heart attack. She was overwhelmed with leaving the South Pole for the first time since she moved there and her heart just couldn't take it I guess. She needs to rest so we're taking her off of her shift if we can get a new ship."
"Maybe they'll let us have one, or at least borrow one."
Sokka looked up. "I was thinking about that, but I wasn't sure they'd let us because of who we're traveling with now. Let's hope they don't recognize Zuko."
"The Fire Nation prince?" someone spoke up behind them. Sokka jumped around. Of course it had to be Suki. "He almost destroyed our village last time and now you're traveling with him?"
Katara stood up for him. "His sister was hunting both him and Aang so he joined us."
"What do you mean 'was'?"
"She caught up with us in the South Pole and I battled and beat her."
"You? Beat the Fire Nation princess? Isn't she, like,the best firebender there is? A prodigy?"
Zuko looked down. "Not anymore."
Suki looked down at him. "That's him? The Zuko I remember had a ponytail, a scar, and a bad attitude."
"I had an attitude adjustment when Katara and I got together. Now, whenever we get our ship fixed, we'll be on our way to the Fire Nation to take down my father and she and I will take over. We're bringing this war to an end."
"Hold on a minute. A firebender and waterbender engaged? Not to mention you're the PRINCE!"
"A banished prince, mind you," he added. "What can I say? You can't help who you fall in love with." He walked over to her and hopped up on the porch next to her.
"So, what about you Sokka?" she asked, sitting down beside him. Just then Ty Lee walked up.
He pointed at her. "My girlfriend." That's all he could say. He knew he was in trouble but he couldn't have helped it either way. He didn't know he'd be seeing her again!
"Ah.." She looked at Ty Lee and got up. "I'm glad you found someone." Then she walked away.
Ty Lee was staring at him. "What was that?"
Zuko, Katara, and Aang decided it best that they leave for this. Sokka looked back at her. "We kind of had a thing for each other a while back when we came through here. I guess she was still hoping I was available."
"Would you have said yes if you were?"
"Probably. It's not often I find a girl that likes me, now I have two that I know of.. and a third that doesn't really count anymore."
Ty Lee looked confused. "Who's the third?"
"The princess of the Northern Water Tribe. She died though."
"I'm sorry. I've never had a real boyfriend before, I guess I get jealous easily. Forgive me if I act like that again?"
"Already done."
The next day, everyone went down to the beach to check out the damage the sunagi had done to the ship. Katara, once again, used her waterbending to get it out and up to the shore. There was a big scratch into the keel of the ship. It looked too small for water to have gotten in as fast as it did, but you can never judge things like that. That looked to be the only damage. It was very fixable if they had the supplies they needed. Unfortunately they didn't.
"We have a ship you can take, but I want to come with you." Suki walked up behind them. She had done that a lot since they arrived. "I'm one of the few who know how to work it.. and I want to help you take on the firelord. I figure you might need all the help you can get and I'm the best warrior on this island. I can help."
Sokka looked uncomfortable about that, but Aang piped right up and accepted her. Sokka looked over to Ty Lee, who just shrugged at him. Neither of them knew what to think. At least they had a ship now so they could be off. Kana had woken up when they got back. Sokka and Katara helped her to their new ship. This one was a bit bigger and had more rooms below, which was good since it looked like their party was growing. The entire village had, once again, gathered to say goodbye to their savior. The crazy foaming guy was, as usual, going crazy and foaming. Aang was standing on the deck waving at everyone while Suki got the ship going. Sokka and Katara walked over next to him and waved goodbye. Who knew if they were going to see these people again?
"Let's get moving, we still have a little ways to go. The Fire Nation isn't far away now, we may be there tomorrow if we're lucky.. or unlucky, depending on the outcome I guess." Sokka and Katara looked at Aang. He looked back at them before walking to his room. He was still night shift and needed his sleep. Sokka followed.
Appa had taken over the deck again, but since this ship was bigger there was still room to walk. The shifts stayed the same, except since Kana wasn't allowed to work, her shift was taken over by Suki. Everyone was sleepy from the night before, but the day shifters fought back hard. They knew how quickly they could be there if they kept up, so they did.
"This ship is easy to run so I'll run it during the day and.. I guess Aang and Sokka can battle out the night. Everyone else can just keep an eye out for suspicious ships."
Zuko heard Suki say that as he was walking towards Katara and realized that she was right. Mai and her crew could still be out there hunting them. "What kind of weapons does this thing have?"
"None that we can use. There are cannons below that earthbenders used to shoot rocks and earth from, but there aren't any rocks or earthbenders."
"Aang is an earthbender now, but no rocks, no help." Katara felt stupid for bringing it up.
Zuko looked at Suki with a question clearly written in his eyes. "What kind of cannons?"
"They're made of metal. The earthbenders stuck the rocks in and then pushed them out hard enough to fly into another ship."
"Could they withstand fire?"
"Definitely." She knew what he was getting at. "Are we expecting someone on this trip?"
"It's very possible. We still have someone out there looking for us. We lost her at the South Pole, but now that we're headed back for the Fire Nation she could catch us at any time. I just want to make sure we can take her."
"Well, you can check them out if you want. I'd better get back to the bridge to make sure everything is looking okay."
Suki walked off and left Zuko and Katara to watch the ocean below them and the sky above them. Katara turned to Zuko. "Clouds?"
He turned and raced her to Appa. He jumped up on the saddle, Katara right behind him. They laid down together and stared at the sky. "Look, there's another bunny!"
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I know everyone is obsessed with seeingSuki and Sokka together, but I didn't evenknow I was going to bring Suki into the story until I started writing it.. if that makes sense lol.R&R!
Jenn, waterbending master of the south