Thanks for reading this far! Sorry it took so long to update! See here's how it goes: Over Memorial day weekend I was in TX to be at a cousin's High School graduation. when I came back it was the last days of school and I had to be studying and I didn't have time after school to write. So I got it done on Friday night (in time for the new episode!) and found to my dimay that I couldn't upload any documents! The server timed out on me every time I tried! But anyway, here it is, next chapter! Sorry that was so long, I had to defend myself!

Chapter 3: Thank You For the Music

The bellow of rocks groaning into each other rose to a deafening roar in mere seconds. Both the firebender and waterbender clamped palms tightly to their ears in a pathetic attempt to block out the sound, but to no avail. In one fateful blow the walls went tumbling down into neat chunks. Two opposite sides mirrored each other in effect as each seemed to simply melt into the ground. All at once there was silence—deathly silence. The two forced companions peered into the darkness beyond the tunnels. On instinct, the two backed up, nearing closer together, both facing the respective caverns in the walls.

Without knowing, both slid into fighting stance—Zuko in the steady form of a firebender and Katara in the graceful pose of a waterbender. Hands tensed, Zuko listened, waiting for the sound of movement. Whatever had happened there was something big, no, two big somethings waiting for them. Suddenly he heard it. It was the sound of enormous feet shuffling across the rough ground. At once, the two things appeared from both tunnels. Standing at least twice Zuko's own height on all fours were two massive badgermoles. At least, he thought that's what they were. He'd heard of them before and everything he'd heard was now proven true. The long snout and razor claws were present and accounted for. The small black, unblinking eyes were evident also, staring directly into his.

Zuko assessed the situation. Here he was, back to back with the waterbender girl, Katara, and facing off with a badgermole in the middle of a mountain labyrinth. Did he really want to fight these things? But if not...they might kill both of them. Chances were that a fight would ensue for sheer survival's sake. Knowing this Zuko fixed his gaze ahead on the eyes of the beast but aiming his voice to the girl.

"I hope you've made at least some progress in fighting since our last duel," he challenged. "I don't want you slowing me down."

Katara scoffed, how like Zuko. "You're in for a real surprise." The beast facing off with Zuko attacked. A large crevice began to form in the floor of the cave where he stood. Quick reflexes saved him as he jumped to the side, away from danger. Katara, still facing the other way, heard the tremor but was convinced of his safety with the faint heat of fire warming the back of her neck. He'd attacked back. Typical Zuko, she thought to herself; he obviously didn't understand neutral Jing.

As Zuko evaded and dodged the attacks of the badgermole, Katara chose a rather inconvenient time to be caught in a reverie. She knew she'd heard about badgermoles before. She was sure that's what they were; she just didn't remember who told her about them and what they'd said. All at once realization came back to her. It had been the plump percussionist Moku who had been telling her stories of all the creatures they'd encountered. "Those things are pretty dangerous; I'd much rather go see a giant night crawler. I have heard stories of them being subdued by song though, so we should be just fine, being musicians and all!" That was it! How could something so simple have escaped her?

In the midst of evading the boulders that kept rising from the ground beneath him, Zuko gave a small glance to Katara only to see her still standing in fighting stance, not having moved since the two earthbending beasts had entered. What does she think she's doing!

Without looking away, Katara shouted to the firebender, "Zuko! Stand still! Stop firing!" Though she didn't see it, Zuko gave her the most crazed of looks, his one eyebrow raised to where his hairline had grown since the absence of his ponytail and a look in his eyes that could have almost conveyed worry. Snapping back to reality, the former prince leapt from the spot where another boulder was about to emerge.

"What do you mean stand still!" He hollered above the still thundering noise of earthbending.

"Just do as I say!" She yelled back, not once taking eyes from that of the enormous earthbending rodent before her. Zuko ignored her, he could just stand still. This thing was all over the place, boulders left and right!

Realizing that Zuko was perturbed with her warning, Katara proceeded anyway. She pressed two lips together firmly and from deep in her throat came a long, sweet and soft note. The sound carried slowly, beginning to reverberate off of the cavern walls and filled the immediate area with the single pitch.

Zuko blinked in bewilderment as the mole in front of him stopped, mid form, with one gigantic paw raised in the air. The beast cocked its head, blinked, put the paw down without a show of bending and watched as the single note began to form that of a melody.

Katara watched the effect take place. Both badgermoles had stopped in their tracks to watch her intently with beady black eyes. She continued and strung along a series of notes to go with the first, not knowing where she had gotten it from.

Slowly, as if undecided in the course of action, the two moles began to turn from their places and faced the newly formed apertures in the caves walls. Almost as one, the two retreated into the holes and behind them the earth once again rose up into the ceiling, leaving no evidence of their existence but a panting Zuko with his eyes on the Water Tribe girl.

Zuko's mind was spluttering and so he kept his lips firmly shut for fear that his mouth would follow the same example. Finally trusting his voice, Zuko spoke.

"That wasn't quite what I'd had in mind." He admitted. Showing an unusual display of a lack of inhuman endurance, Zuko flopped to the ground. With legs splayed out, he rested a firm chin on crossed arms.

Katara smirked inwardly, not letting it show on the outside. She didn't entirely want to arise the burning pride of the firebender. She'd seen quite a display of that before. Weaving through a path of uprooted rocks, Katara made her way to Zuko's side of the tunnel and chose a boulder about ten feet away to sit upon. Close enough to seem willing and yet far enough to not seem too friendly.

"My, my, you sure tired out quickly." She commented dryly. "I would have thought that the prince of the Fire Nation would have a little more of a…spark." The sarcasm was overly evident in her taunting tone and Zuko almost lost his cool but forced it down. He envisioned the candles at the meditating table in his room and took a steady breath. He exhaled slowly.

"Yes, and I noticed that you avoided an actual fight. Were you too scared to show off your real techniques?" He shot back, this time allowing himself to look her in the eye with a confident smirk.

The waterbender shuddered. Something about that look was familiar. It struck her. That same smirk was the one adorning his face when they'd encountered at the river. His face had been so close then and she could see the familiar gleam in his golden eyes. The memory came flooding back to her in great waves, so to speak. She could vividly remember the way his arms had encircled her while she'd been tied to the tree, the way he whispered in her ear. Why was it making her blush! At the time he'd infuriated her, and with good reason. He'd stolen the last semblance of her mother and asked her to trade it for the Aang. Now the memory only brought unwanted color to her face. If Zuko had noticed, he didn't say anything.

The firebender watched as she fell off into thought and the smirk slid from his face. He was expecting a retort but she was long gone.

"I see you have your necklace back," Zuko commented dryly, interrupting her thoughts. All at once the blush faded from Katara's face and was replaced by a churning anger in her stomach. She swallowed it down just as quickly as it came. Zuko had been right; this was not the time or place to be fighting with each other. Right then, crazy as it was, they needed to work together.

"Come on. We aren't accomplishing anything just sitting here," she reminded him. With that said, she pulled herself off of the unnaturally occurring boulder and waited for him to stand as well. Zuko put a hand on a nearby rock and began to lift himself but winced in the process. Katara wondered briefly if he was injured but set it aside when he stood to his feet without further delay.

Katara reached for the discarded torch that was sitting a few yards away. It was burning faintly; they would run out of light soon. This wasn't a good sign. Zuko noticed and sighed. The waterbender looked over when she heard Zuko taking in a large breath and watched as he threw a fist in one powerful motion. A trail of fire shot from his fist and she could faintly feel the heat on her skin; it felt so soothing. For a moment the trail continued to flare but suddenly it looked as though he was willing it back towards himself. The trail of fire retreated to him, growing thicker as it did so, almost as if it was folding itself together. Finally, the fire was back at his hand, a large flame cracking at the tips of his knuckles.

Katara nodded, acknowledging the attempt at amity. She wasn't going to put out the torch though. It was her one comfort. She wasn't entirely sure why but she didn't want Zuko, former enemy by race and companion by circumstance, to control the light source.

Both nodded to each other and they began again to walk through the tunnels, never straying too far from each other but keeping a safe distance. Trust was yet to be earned by both benders. It would be a long night in these tunnels.

Be sure to leave this humble writer a review. Tell me what you think! I wanna know! Again, if you see OCC-ness dribbling in here please let me know and I'll be sure to be on guard for it next chapter! Thanks for waiting and I'll be sure to make the next chapter a longer one...I hope!

Special Thanks:

Reviewers: FirebenderKitty, Chou Hime, Rebirth of the Phoenix, and Rashaka

Replys:

Rashaka--Thanks soo much for noticing that blunder! I'll be sure to fix it as soon as I have the time!

Rebirth of the Poenix--Glad you think it's headed in the right direction! Encouragement is always appreciated!

Chou Hime--Thanks for the oppinion! I'm glad it's origional! I always end up submitting something I think is great only to find out it's been done before so I'm very happy!