Okay, wow. Sorry I haven't updated. Not sure if anyone even reads the authors little notes, but in the last chapter I believe I mentioned going away so I won't update until the weekend- well, this is the weekend. But, if I didn't mention it- I am now. I got back Wednesday or Thursday though, but I always update on the weekends, anyway. So no big deal.
Wow thank you so much for the reviews. Also, in the new summary, I added a note that said I proofread the chapters some more. I think I got all the spelling mistakes, but I could be wrong. Perhaps I missed a few. I know that sometimes people make mistakes in the reading and think differently about the story because the author didn't proofread, so I just think it's all blasphemy.
I'll try to spell check myself and have the computer spell check the chapter, too. Also, you would all be a big contribute if you check out my forum- It's Avatar, too. It's called Forbidden Love, just like this story.
Now, I can't give anything away, so I'll just note my new website is a Live Journal. I didn't make it to make friends (though if you have an account, you're more than welcome to put me on your friends list), I made it to inform you all that it has updates and what might be happening in the future of this story and stories I might write when I'm done with this one, and such.
Now that I've told everything I need to tell, let's get on with the reviews, shall we?
SovereignxXxBrunette: Yes- I knew somebody would point that out. Well, I was writing, and my little brother Brian, the only other Avatar-watcher in my house (he's four) came up to tell me to come to dinner. I was thinking about what I should have Zuko throwing out of his drawer, so I asked Brian. He said LACES. Now, my reaction was the same as yours - why in the world would Zuko have laces? Well- I misunderstood him as you did me- he meant those maroon things he keeps his hair up with. I said that was a good idea. I was going to change the name, but couldn't think of anything so I just wrote laces. Maybe I should've cleared that up in my author's notes after the chapter. Heh. -shrugs sheepishly- Sorry.
Akki818- Yeah well. I wanted to make it seem like the show. I think I have to Sokka/Aang part of the story down, but I don't think Zuko would fall for her just like that. He had to have some sort of plan, or it just wouldn't seem right. I hope you understand what I'm trying to get at. I want this to be a successful story and I don't think it would work without that twist. More people would review and ask me what the hell was my problem if I wrote a twist like that, then just making them fall in love.
Wilderness-writer: Now, see, somebody gets it! No offense to akki818, of course. I still think maybe I made Sokka a little too dumb, but whatever.
SweetStories11; Thanks for reviewing! Glad you liked the chapter and 'ten things to-do' list.
Monito: Thank you, that's what I thought, too.
LatinaMewTitan: Oh yeah, thanks. You always seem a bit hyper in your reviews to me…
Zukoscute2: Hmm…perhaps I have a knack for cliffhangers- of course I still have no clue (partially) what they are. Lol.
ChocolateSwirlz: Ohh…thank you. You just made me sound important and special, Flossy. Ha, lol. Thanks for reviewing.
Fairy Frost: Yes, well that and you've never written an Avatar story. Lol.
Jerseygrl246- See people, originality. That's what I'm trying to get at. Nobody would ever think about that (so I've heard/see/read), but oh well! Thank you for reviewing!
Kitsune6: Oh great, first I find out I'm being funny without knowing, and now people are telling me I'm being too funny. This is just too much.
Okay, well, I'm done with everything I need to say for now. Not sure, though. I feel like I'm missing something. Oh, well. I'll add it to my author notices at the end of the chapter.
Disclaimer:
Oh, yes. I decided to take a whole new direction in my disclaimers. So, anyone who's interested in my disclaimers and actually reads them, I'll have the new one in the next chapter. Until then, uh…hope you have fun reading the chapter? Okay then, please review.
Well…I think we're done here, then.
Chapter Six: Dumb Luck
'Hmm…Zuko should really open some windows in here." Katara thought looking at her empty and so called cell. She crossed her arms behind her head as she lay silently on the bed. She had to admit, it was much more pleasant and comfortable then the bed in the cell. Katara gulped. 'What was Zuko planning to happen to me? Why was he being so nice? Is he tricking me?' Three questions swirled around in her head like an eternal dance. One that was so annoying. All those questions, she just wanted them answered and out of her head. She just wanted to be free.
Then Zuko opened the door again. She whipped up with a gasp. This time, there was no chair and dresser and candle stick holder behind him. This time he was in the hallway. And he was wearing an elegant long robe attached at the top by a golden clip.
Katara was confused. 'How did he get from in there, to out there?' she wondered. 'And why was he wearing that ugly robe?'
"Excuse me?" Zuko murmured. Katara looked at him. He had his arms crossed and he was slouched against the door. She must've said that last part out side of her head because Zuko was looking at her funny with his brow arched and his lips showing a slightly confused kind of frown. She stuttered.
"Uh…nothing." She said quickly leaping up off of the bed while crinkling the blanket that was laying on top by doing so. "So, come to interrogate…" Zuko was swaying closer towards her. "…me…um," She muttered backing up and falling onto the bed and tumbling off of the other side. Zuko stopped with a sort of gasp.
He shot around with a sort of smile on his face. He was hoping Katara hadn't seen him trying to hold in a slight chuckle. Instead he cleared his throat and turned around letting out his hand ready for her to take it at any time. She looked up at him with a sort of frown, really not showing any emotion. Zuko attempted to clear his throat again. "Dinner's ready." Zuko squeaked. Katara rolled her eyes while taking his hand and letting him help her up.
"So, were exactly are you taking me?" Aang asked the guards. One was holding his right wrist tightly along with cuffs gripping him, and the other guard was holding his left hand.
"To the most secure prison cell here." One guard replied saying exactly what Zhao had told them. Aang was silent. He began to sort of hum and whistle at the same time. The guards were silent but one of them tightened their grip on Aang's arm. They seemed to have been walking forever before Aang decided to chat up another conversation.
"So, uh, where are you little guard friends taking my friend? Sokka?" He asked. He felt like he wasn't himself. Like he could be attacking them right now and freeing Sokka. But for some reason, Aang stayed put and let the guards shove him around corners and up stairs.
"You friend is going to die." The guard said sharply and kind of stupidly.
"Well, yeah. I'll die some time…" The guard looked down at him that said that about Sokka. "You will too someday!" Aang said in small voice. The guard grumbled and looked straight. Aang looked up at what the guards were. There was the smallest and darkest cell with nothing in it (that Aang could see) with eight to ten guards covering the whole bar part of the cell making it even darker in the cell (if that's even possible).
Three guards moved revealing a door. The opened it with a small chain with a metal key on it. They opened the door and threw Aang into it. Just as the two guards that brought him to the cell disappeared, Zhao appeared.
"Oh how the mighty have fallen." He laughed wickedly. Aang wrinkled his nose while crossing his arms with a mean pout by sticking his lower lip out into a frown.
"I've gotten away from you and a lot of others before! Do you think these bars and a few of you lower lackies can keep me in here forever?" Aang argued. Zhao chuckled a bit.
"No. And I won't have you in here forever. Just for enough time for us to transfer you onto my ship and get you to the Fire Lord right away." Zhao said crossing his arms behind his back with his disgusting and sly smile sealed on his disgraceful face. Aang growled. He leaped up in the air with the draft of air bending whipping it around in big and forceful air whips like mini tornados.
Screams and grunts came from Zhao and the guards being throwing back into the steel walls behind and in front of them. Aang lowered his self to the ground. This was his chance. He knew Zhao would call for reinforcements, but he and the other guards weren't getting up very quickly. He grabbed tightly onto the bars. He closed his eyes and bit down on his teeth. Some strong wind currents were coming from the palms of Aang's hands. If they were on the steel bars, bigger currents than before would be whipping out destroying everything in it's path. But instead, Aang spread his arms out to their span taking the bars with him.
Zhao and the others had their eyes closed and covered from the strong winds, things flying into the faces, and the bright light shining from Aang's arrows. The wind currents stopped. They got slower and slower until only the misty breeze from the foggy cloud of shadowed rain went through their bodies. Zhao put his arms down and stopped crouching.
"Told you so." Aang said in his little kid voice again. With a laughing purr, he leaped over Zhao and raced towards the entrance where they came from to begin with. For some reason, he remembered what turns and what stairs him and the two guards went up and down and around, even though he wasn't even paying any attention.
He had many challenges ahead of him. Zhao. His guards. Finding Sokka. He may not have been paying attention, but he did hear vague comments about fire sharks, tiger scorpions, and dragon piranhas. Those were the Fire Nation and the worlds most deadly predators on land and in sea. He wished for the best- that Sokka was still alive.
But one challenge surged through his body the most- maybe Sokka was still alive now, and maybe he knew where he was going because he went down all these corridors, but he has no idea where Sokka is on the whole campus. And that could be a problem. Aang gulped. This day was turning out horrible. He was hungry, lonely, and a wanted boy. Everywhere he turned and went there were three or more guards waiting for him so they could seize him.
The lethal Fire Nationers, raced after Aang as fast as their feet could take them and go. Aang was trying to air whip under his feet. He could believe he left his staff on Appa. 'Urgh! How stupid can I get?' He scolded himself. Guards from behind screamed and barked "Get back here!" "Stop!" "Stay put, Avatar!" But Aang didn't listen. Then, he came to a dark corridor. Much darker then the others. Aang tried to hold in his squeal. Part of his mission had ended. He remembered the hallway that held the door into Admiral Zhao's office was the darkest of them all.
He raced towards the end. "Ahh- oof!" He slammed right into the wall and slid down with a line of drooling spit after him. "O-oh yeah. The one with the dragon sphere." Aang stood up quickly and brushed himself off.
"You!" A guard alone attempted to race after him. Aang ran and looked behind trying to locate the guard. There was a bigger grunting "Oof!" Than Aang had squealed. The guard had slipped over the line of drool the Aang left and fell with a loud thump. Aang laughed and ran down the net dark hallway. He felt around the edges for a door.
"Yeah!" He turned the big spinner and whipped the large and heavy steel door open. He was in Zhao's office once more. There was a curtain door to the outside where you could see some guards mingling and not noticing Aang, another curtain in the other direction behind Zhao's fake wanna-be throne. There door he just came out of on the left side, and then a door they brought Sokka into on the right side of he office.
Aang raced over and opened the door. There were only two hallways to chose from. It was a confusing maze. Aang groaned. For all he knew, Sokka could be gone. Aang closed the door behind him and slid willingly down on the ground. 'At least there are no guards-' "Avatar!" Aang looked up with a gasp. Zhao was standing there with a guard at each side. Aang gulped and stood up slowly. Aang though for a moment and stupidly put his hands up as if he were going to be arrested, which he most probably was.
"Uh…no! Please- don't, uh, throw me in a vat of tiger sharks and dragon piranhas!" Aang stuttered dumbly. Zhao rolled his eyes with a muttering moan. He was in his usual stance with his disgusting face melted up in it's usual form and his hands behind his back. Legs spread out.
"You forgot tiger scorpions." Zhao replied gruffly with a roll of his eyes obviously and quickly catching onto what Aang was attempting to do. "("Oh," Aang said) I'm not falling for that one, Avatar. Your little friend is still alive- but just barely. The guards don't chop the chair down and send him plunging into his lethal death until I give them the 'okay'." Zhao informed him.
Aang closed his eyes. Not caring the guards whipped his arms down and cuffed them once more. He was in a deep ponder. 'Instincts. What would Sokka be thinking of right now? His instincts. What would Katara do? How would they escape? What would Katara try to do to get away from Zuko? What would Sokka do to get away from Zhao and his lackies?' Aang opened his eyes. 'You know Sokka has his own plan and his own way to save himself. Same with Katara. C'mon, Aang! You're the Avatar! What's your plan? Do something your way. A way nobody else can copy. Nobody could copy Sokka's instincts. Nobody could copy Katara's way to guide herself right and out.'
Aang couldn't think of anything. Katara would use her water bending- there was no water for Aang to bend. Sokka would use his weapons. Aang had no weapons to use- just his air bending. But the hallway was so small and dark, it could backfire onto him. Aang was stuck, and there was only one more way he could think of.
'But you burned Katara.'
'I'm doing this to rescue Katara.' Aang argued with the other side of his mind.
'Oh, please. Katara's fine. You're doing this to save yourself. There's no way you could burn her while she's on a gigantic ship in the ocean and your on land surrounded by this weird little moat thing! Just bend some fire!'
'What if they also start to fire bend?'
'Look at them! Those guards holding your arms! They have spears. And they don't have those weird white shield things over their faces! Everyone knows if their faces aren't covered and they have spears, they can't fire bend!'
'But what about Zhao?'
'What about him?'
Aang shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. He couldn't do it the Zuko way and that's for sure. There was no way he could fire bend. He let them take him down one hallway. Aang began to think again. If Zhao didn't want him dead, and didn't want him down where Sokka is, then the hallway they were going down, wasn't the right hallway.
"Yeah!" Aang flipped over and ran back down the other hallway. The guards and Zhao were screaming things like "Get back here!" or "Catch him- now!" or "Get him!" The corridor Aang went down had no other hallways attached to it or any other doors. Aang followed it straight down to the end and smashed into the door again.
"Oooo…ugh, man. I really gotta watch where I'm going." He moaned getting up while rubbing his head. While licking his lips and after rubbing the palms of his hand together he turned the door again and opened it. He was outside again.
"What? C'mon! Was there really any point of me going through that whole lair?" He asked nobody. A guard walked past him eating some sort of fruit.
"Nope." He said as he kept walking not even bothering to look and see that it was the Avatar. He ran around towards the back. There was a deep crater in the ground filled with water. Three giant black Fire Sharks with yellow lightning bolts for their gills and red tails and fins in the shape of fire. They'd stop every five seconds and let a blow of fire out of their gills and mouth. There were little spider type of snapping scorpion bugs. They were orange with black stripes.
Then at the bottom there were vague flashes of dragons swimming around in the tank type of pool. The had huge teeth and colors like piranhas. Aang bit his lower lip and looked around nervously for Sokka. All Aang could see of him were his bags and straps with his weapons in them. "Sokka." Aang whispered silently and sadly as he fell to his knees. He covered his eyes with his hands. "Sokka! I'm so sorry! What have I done?" He cried.
"What have you done?" A familiar voice from behind him asked. Aang turned around and looked up. The sun was behind the structured body making his face and most of his body a big black shadow. But Aang could recognize that posture and stance from anywhere.
"Sokka!" Aang leapt up. "You're alive! But how?" Aang asked him looking over at the scary sharks and piranhas and scorpions floating and swimming around in circles. Sokka sighed rolling his eyes.
"Oh, please. It wasn't that hard," He said triumphantly. Aang looked up at him in a face saying 'oh-please-how-could-you-have-triumphed?' Sokka sighed and flattened out.
"A guard went to throw knock out gas at me and pulled the trigger the wrong way making it backfire on him and the other guards." Sokka said.
"Well, that's dumb luck." Aang said with a laugh. "C'mon, let's get out of here." Aang said with a lazy wave of his arm. Sokka followed after him.
"Well, today was a complete waste of time." Sokka groaned.
"I'll say." Aang replied.
A/N: No, not much Zutara in this chapter, but the next chapter is dinner and the rest of the night which could be some lime…I'm still deciding.
But if you want to know what'll happen next to Zutara, in my live journal profile, there won't be a big giveaway, but just enough to wet your appetite to keep you coming back for more.
Please, review!