A/N

I'm getting a lot of reviews, and I thank all who take the time to do so. I also received my first constructive criticism, which I was also ecstatic to receive. I plan to use it in this next chapter: Katara will be nicer (cuz she really isn't that mean in the show), and the seriousness will be induced. That last chapter will be the last one with chuckles for awhile, that is, if you chuckled at all.

Bon appetite.

xxx

Sokka looked Zuko up and down once more. He wasn't sure he approved of the swords hanging from the prince's side, but he was very sure there was nothing he could do to change that fact.

"So, let's get this straight," Sokka said, puffing himself importantly, "There are rules to this 'group' thing."

"I've heard this somewhere before…" Zuko muttered sarcastically.

"Good. Then what's rule number one?" Sokka quizzed.

Zuko rolled his eyes. How much longer until he could part with this oaf?

"Rule number one. Don't touch Katara."

"Number two?"

"Don't fight Katara."

"Number three?"

"Don't kidnap Katara. Look, can I go now? I have things to do."

Sokka raised an eyebrow and stared up at Zuko. "How important are these things that you can't-."

"Okay, Sokka, ready to go?" Aang called.

"That's your queue." Zuko ushered Sokka away.

Sokka scowled at him one more time and then rushed away to embrace Katara.

"I can handle this, you know." Katara whispered to her brother.

"I don't trust him." Sokka murmured back. "What if-."

"You could spend all day on what if's. Just go, I'll be fine. I've dealt with a lot worse."

Aang came to their sides. "So I guess this is it."

They all exchanged glances. It had been many months since either of them had been apart for too long.

"It won't be that long," Katara said assuringly, more to herself than to them.

"Yeah. And then we can go back to the way things were!" Aang replied cheerfully.

"Mhm. As if things were normal to begin with." Sokka scoffed.

Aang smiled sympathetically, "Well…not really, but I mean, it'll be…"

The gang glanced over their shoulders at Zuko, who was watching Haru balance on one leg with evident irritation.

"It won't be that long," Katara repeated hopelessly.

xxx

"And guess what I said next!"

"Erm…" Katara looked at Zuko for help, but he was clearly relieved to have someone else around to lend an ear to Haru. "You said… 'good'?"

"No! I said 'bad', and then he said that I was crazy! Am I crazy?"

"Yes," Zuko replied gravely.

"Oh," Haru said, disappointed.

Zuko shifted his pack and led on. He was at the front, and Haru and Katara were side by side behind him.

"I know! Why don't we play a game?" Katara suggested.

"A… game?" Zuko asked, spitting the word as if it was venom.

"Yes! One of us will say a word, and the next person has to say whatever they think of first. I'll go first, then Haru, then Zuko. Okay… how about…bison."

"Appa."

"Avatar." Zuko replied reluctantly. He scanned the tree line along the road, hoping to find his uncle as soon as possible. He didn't know how much longer he could stand these people.

"Aang."

"Air nomads."

Zuko paused. He knew what he should say: fire. Stories were told to children to usher them to sleep in the fire nation, stories of the great defeat of the air nomads. Their lavish burning temples had lit the skies like the sun itself. The entire people had been wiped out without so much as a blink of an eye from the fire lord. It was a glorious memory for the fire nation.

Zuko bit his cheek. Don't say it, he thought, just don't say anything.

"Come on, Zuko, what do you think of?" Katara prodded.

"I don't know."

"Isn't there something?" Haru asked.

Zuko's gaze was glued to the ground. "No."

"Come-." Haru started to urge him, but Katara elbowed him in the ribs. She shook her head fiercely.

"Let's start again." She offered, "I'm thinking of… mangos."

"Fruit."

"Food." Zuko muttered, and clutched his own stomach. That meat just had not been enough to satisfy him.

"Seal jerky."

"Um… weird?"

"Haru." Zuko grinned.

Katara hid a giggle, "Earth bender."

"My dad."

Katara grimaced and shook her head again at Haru, who didn't notice.

"My father," Zuko answered numbly.

Katara couldn't help but to feel anger bubble at the thought of Lord Ozai. "Destruction." She said icily.

Zuko could feel the terseness in the air behind him. He wished this game would stop before it got too far out of control.

"Omashu." Haru whispered.

"Azula."

"Who's Azula?" Haru asked. Katara would have asked the same thing, but she was still hung up on the fact that the world was plunged into a life-wrenching war caused by Zuko's own father.

"She's my sister, and I think you've met her before?" he glanced behind him to Katara.

She shrugged, "Evil girl with fire nation clothes and blue fire?"

"That would be Azula."

"And the other two? The ones we just fought?" she asked.

"Ty Lee and Mai, her two friends."

"I don't like this game." Haru said glumly.

"Me neither, to be honest," Katara answered.

"What do you usually do when you travel?" Zuko asked Katara.

"With Aang and Sokka? We tell stories and just… talk. What do you do?"

"I used to train, but anymore, Uncle and I are just… quiet."

"I like to sing songs and make up poems!" Haru chimed.

"That's great." Katara said to him, then turned back to Zuko, "What happened to your ship? Why are you running from the fire nation now?"

Katara had thought she'd pressed too hard when Zuko bowed his head and didn't answer, but he finally sighed and said, "Well, Zhao commandeered my ship and crew to take over the North Pole. Then he tried to have me killed."

"Why?"

Zuko shifted his shoulders. "Because I did something I shouldn't have done a long time ago, and he found about it. You remember the pirates?"

Katara dropped her gaze, even though he couldn't see, "Yes, I remember."

"He employed them to blow up my ship while my uncle was away. Uncle went undercover as Zhao's new general, and I snuck as a stowaway onto his ship. That's when I… caught up with you."

"What happened then?" Haru asked, his curiosity fully peaked.

Zuko looked over his shoulder again at Katara. "I captured the avatar."

"You did?" Haru gasped.

"Yea, he did." Katara scowled.

xxx

They sprinted. Ty Lee peered over her shoulder, only to find Mai and the other soldiers running just a tad slower than she was.

"Let's go!" Mai screamed.

"Don't yell!" Ty Lee bellowed back, "She'll hear us!"

Mai threw her a look.

They'd been attempting to shrug off their bonds at the waterfall when one of Azula's soldiers had stumbled across them. He'd taken one curious look, and then bolted in the direction he'd just come from, presumably to tell the princess that he'd found her comrades without the avatar.

In a rush, they had cut themselves free and fled to escape Azula's wrath. If they caught the avatar before she found them, then they would be free of any punishment she might inflict upon them.

"She's gonna kill us…" Ty Lee muttered to Mai as they barreled along the path.

"Why do you think we're running?" she snapped in reply.

xxx

A/N

A little short, I realize. However, the next one is going to be long, so I thought this would be a good stopping point.

Would anyone be interested in illustrating any scenes from this? Or even icons would be welcomed. Email me if you'd be interested.