A/N- I'd like to send a thank you to my reviewers thus far: yanocchi, izumi-17, heynamassu, and doubly to Rashaka! You guys have lifted my spirits very much. Actually, when I got the emails I ran around the house giggling and sliding in my socks… The reviews mean quite a lot to me!
I present to you, Chapter Nine. This is gonna be a good one.
I suppose I should also slap a disclaimer up here somewhere.
DISCLAIMER: I, dream royale, do not own any of the characters or episodes of avatar. However, I do own the words you see on this page. Ha! Sue me now.
Okay, one more thing, I need some help deciding exactly what category this story falls under. Right now it's under humor/ romance, but I'm beginning to make it a little less funny and a lot more serious. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
xxx
Mai was the first one to wake. She opened her eyes slowly, trying to grasp her thoughts as they pushed sluggishly to the front of her mind.
The fight…. The water…
She struggled to move her arms. They felt so heavy. She rotated her ankle; that felt fine. She tried her arms again…
Tied. They were tied down.
She looked wildly around her.
Ty Lee was slumped against her, also bound to the same tree.
"Ty Lee," Mai called sharply. She nudged the soldier on her left, "You too, get up. Get us untied."
Ty Lee's eyes fluttered and her brow began to wrinkle, which sported a dark purple bruise.
Mai tried once again, unsuccessfully, to jerk away her bonds.
"Azula's gonna kill us," Mai growled.
Ty Lee raised her head finally, "Mai? Wha… Where's the avatar?"
"He got away, and he took our freedom with him."
xxx
Aang was sorely wishing Appa had a bigger saddle.
Zuko sat in the rear, his arms folded across his chest, and his scowl replaced. Sokka and Haru were hunched over, discussing in undertones ways to throw Zuko overboard without Aang noticing. Katara hung over the saddle, hurling complaints at Aang.
"I don't trust him one bit!" Katara squealed for the sixth time.
"I know, Katara," Aang sighed, "But you trust me, don't you?"
"I…" she thought about it. He hadn't led them wrong yet. "I do,"
"I know what I'm doing. You'll just have to trust me."
Katara scowled and fell back into her seat, facing Zuko across the way.
Sokka burst out laughing at something Haru had suggested.
"Hey, Aang, I've got a joke for ya!" Sokka called.
"Sokka…" Aang said warningly.
"No, it's a good one! How many fire benders does it take to kidnap a little kid?"
Zuko's glare could've burned holes into rhino hide, but Sokka ignored it.
"Sokka, I don't think-." Aang started.
"Just two! One to banish the other one and one to throw a pity party!" Sokka exclaimed.
"You shut your mouth!" Zuko bellowed, rising as much as he dared onto his heels.
"What are you gonna do? Throw something at me?" Sokka scoffed, "Besides, you couldn't hit an iceberg from three feet away. What makes you think you can tag me from all the way over there!"
"Sokka!" Aang shouted. "Cut it out!"
Zuko raised his fist, tensing his arm to strike him, when Katara pushed him back. She stood up on unsteady legs in the tumbling wind and towered over his collapsed from.
"Give me one reason why I shouldn't just push you over." She said darkly.
"Because I said not to," Aang answered her, climbing into the saddle.
She tossed him an exasperated look, "I won't go with him! He's a menace! What has he ever done for us to deserve our help?"
"We're not helping him," Aang tugged her down, and she folded herself onto the saddled unhappily. "We're helping Iroh, and he's never done anything to harm us."
Katara glared at Zuko, "Why should we believe he won't just kill us once we've helped his uncle?"
"Listen Katara, I'm going to help him. I never said you had to."
She quieted and stared at Aang with a growing hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. Was he asking her not to go?
"I just really wish you would help," Aang added to the stricken look on her face.
She turned to Sokka, who was making faces at Zuko's turned attention.
"Sokka. What will you do?" she asked.
He stopped mid-grimace and shrugged, "I don't know. I guess it depends on what he" he gestured to Zuko, "has to offer me."
"I'm not offering you anything." He snapped in reply, "I never asked for your help, either."
Katara smirked, "Well, that settles it. His highness doesn't want any help, anyway."
"Zuko doesn't mean that…" Aang said, gesturing to Zuko with his eyes to surrender.
"Yea, he really means that he's begging us to help," Haru added.
Zuko groaned inwardly. This could take a long, long time.
xxx
Azula's team was doubling back, to find Ty Lee and Mai and check up on their progress. She was hoping, madly, that they'd found the avatar, or possibly her brother. Either face would be a welcome sight. For now, her uncle's would have to do.
Her captain came to her side, looking a little panicked.
He always looks panicked, Azula thought numbly.
"Princess, we've found them."
"Elaborate on who you've found, please," she replied icily.
"Mai and Ty Lee."
"And?"
"And… they were tied up."
"Well, tell them that there is nothing more important than giving me an update. I want to speak with them."
"I… I didn't mean busy, Princess. I meant they were tied up, with rope, to a tree."
xxx
"Now, everyone close their eyes-."
"This is stupid." Zuko growled.
"Zuko! Close your eyes!"
"Don't worry Aang," Katara said between the fingers covering her face, "Zuko's just afraid of the dark, that's all."
"Hey!"
"Stop it!" Aang shouted, banging his staff on the ground. "Now close your eyes, everyone!"
He waited for Zuko to finally, reluctantly, shut his eyes.
"Okay, now I want a show of hands, no peaking, who wants to go with me to help find Iroh?" Aang said as calmly as he could muster.
Haru raised his hand first, shooting it above his head like a five year old. Zuko shifted uncomfortably.
"Do I have to raise my hand?" he mumbled.
Sokka snorted. Aang whopped him on the end with his staff.
"Ow!"
"No, Zuko, you don't have to raise your hand. I already know you're going."
"Then why am I closing my eyes?"
"So you don't say anything stupid and mess this up, that's why."
Haru continued to wave his hand ecstatically into the air. Aang rolled his eyes and watched Katara and Sokka expectantly.
"Well?" Zuko snapped.
"Just wait," Aang said, watching Katara's hand twitch in her lap.
She held it up in a crooked half-wave. Sokka hadn't made a move however.
"Is Katara going?" Sokka asked, his eyes still squeezed shut.
"That's the reason you have your eyes closed! So you don't know!" Aang cried.
"Ugh. Fine." Sokka held his hand up.
"Okay, all hands down. Open your eyes," Aang beamed at them.
Zuko squirmed. He hated waiting.
"Well, everyone's going!" Aang cried triumphantly.
Sokka glared at Katara, "You're going?"
"Well, obviously you raised your hand too!" she barked in reply.
"Because I was trying to-."
"Okay, the voting's over. Let's eat lunch and split up-." Aang started.
"Split up?" Zuko asked. "What do you mean, 'split up'?"
"We'll find Iroh faster if we split into two groups. We'll throw in Appa to make it a fair split."
"So… how are we getting divided? Is this like a first-picked-first go thing?" Sokka asked, already reaching for Katara. There was no way he'd let that fire prince be alone with his sister!
"No. The only way to make this a fair split is to do it randomly. Everyone writes their name on a piece of cloth, then I'll pick three for each team." Aang explained, tossing dried meat strips to the gang.
Zuko wrinkled his nose. "I don't need a team."
Aang tossed him some meat, and Sokka glared at it.
"That's my-." Sokka whined.
"See? Zuko doesn't want a team! So that means he can go one way, and the rest of us can go the other!" Katara said happily, taking a swig of water from her pouch.
Aang cast an eye over Zuko, "I'm sure that's not what he meant. Right, Zuko?"
Zuko was busy attacking the meat. He hadn't eaten in days.
He glanced up when he realized that all eyes were swiveled in his direction.
"What?" he asked around a mouthful.
"I said… you would like us to pick teams now." Aang bluffed, nonchalantly tossing more jerky to the prince.
Zuko caught it. "Fine." He answered gruffly, continuing to down the food as if it would disappear the minute he took his eyes from it.
Aang took a cloth from Appa's saddle.
"That's my fish cleaning rag!" Sokka complained, attempting to snatch it from Aang's fingers.
"And what fish have you ever cleaned with that?" Katara scoffed, "And what fish will you clean?"
Sokka huffed and sat back on his haunches.
Aang handed a cloth strip to each of his comrades. "Everyone write their name with this…uh… piece of dirt."
"You can't write with dirt!" Sokka exclaimed.
"You can't." Zuko muttered, loud enough for only Sokka to hear.
"Hey!"
"Sokka, stop complaining." Aang said, attempting to smudge his own name onto a piece of cloth. "It's… not possible to write with dirt." Sokka huffed, "Okay, Haru can you find us some slate or something?"
Haru placed his palm to the ground, "Sure, but… couldn't we just pick teams?"
"No."
"Oh. Well…" he pulled his hand upward, bringing a stone up with it "Here's your slate, then."
He handed him a dark, pliable stone. Aang successfully wrote his name on the cloth.
The rest of the groupdearly wished he hadn't.
xxx
"Should we try and cure him, Princess?" the captain asked her as they looked over Iroh's graying form.
"I don't see why," she replied, pushing a lock of hair from her face.
"Don't you think the fire lord will want him alive?"
"I know what my father thinks!" she screamed, and straightened herself to glare into the captain's fear-struck eyes.
He gulped and nodded vigorously, "Oh, yes, of course, I only meant…" He trailed off, thinking with a strange calmness who among his team would take his place as captain.
Her eyes lost some of their ferocity as she took another glance at her uncle. "We won't cure him. If he dies now, it'll only save my father the burden of killing him later."
The captain nodded.
Azula turned to recline in her carriage once more, and she sneered over her shoulder. "Chide me once more, Captain, and I assure you, Iroh's condition will look like a petal in the breeze compared to the state you'll be in."
xxx
Aang had an air ball suspended between his two outstretched palms.
"Okay," he said, "Who wants to pick?"
"Oo!" Haru squealed, throwing his hand in the air, "I do!"
"Great! Go ahead Haru, just reach in and grab one,"
Katara groaned, and so did Zuko. She glared at him. He glared back.
Haru clutched a cloth. "Sokka."
"The next one will be on Sokka's team," Aang explained.
"Aang,"
Zuko wanted to be with the avatar; because he was the only one who didn't throw him suspicious looks every five seconds. But the thought of being with that insolent boy who called himself a warrior didn't sound so appealing, either.
"And… Appa,"
"NO!" several voices chorused.
"Hey!" Haru said happily, "That means it'll be me, Zuko, and Katara!"
Katara recoiled from the very thought. She looked to Aang; maybe he'd changed his mind.
"And Momo gets to pick who he'll be with."
The lemur leapt to Zuko's knee, who shoved the animal away with disgust.
"I don't want it," Zuko spat.
"Ha ha." Sokka grinned, "Zuko's afraid of a-."
"Great. So everyone's set." Aang said cheerfully. "Now we'll just pack up and set off… And stop giving me those looks guys! This is not a hard thing to do!"
Momo screeched from Zuko's shoulder.
"Momo's right." Sokka said, pointing, "I don't think this is a good idea at all. What if Mr. Flamehead over here decides to do something… Oh, I don't know. Zuko-ish. Like take off with Katara as a hostage or something."
"I can handle myself!" Katara snapped in reply.
"I'm not taking hostages, you idiot. I'm looking for my dying uncle, in case you don't remember." Zuko growled.
"This is going to be a lot of fun." Haru said merrily, oblivious to the hatred being flung across the camp..
xxx
A/N
So I saw Zuko alone, and I screamed and giggled and screamed a lot more. It was absolutely fantastic! I don't think I'm going to slip anything from that episode into this, but I may be considering another fic. I just have to finish this one first.
The Zutara content is getting closer, can you tell?