A/N
As I predicted, Zuko and Iroh DID show up in "Bitter Work". I am good, huh?
So I'm on 'vacation', which is more of an… obligation than a vacation, therefore I'm hoping to completely finish this entire fic during the week and a half I have been given. Mission Impossible, oh yeah baby!
xxx
"This is stupid, Aang." Sokka grumbled.
"Is that noise I hear from the pony-tailed boy?" Azula said mockingly from her litter.
Sokka scowled at her. He was being dragged by his arm by a soldier, a predicament that he wasn't satisfied with in the slightest. He looked back to Aang, who was completely bound and being carried across the shoulders of a man following the litter.
"Aang, you know you can get out of this. Go! Before she can take you to the ship, run!" Sokka pleaded.
Aang shook his head, his mouth gagged to prevent him from even making a gust.
"You're trading the fate of the entire world for one person!" Sokka exclaimed, "Compare me to thousands of people, Aang. Who's more important?"
Aang looked away, unconvinced.
Sokka tried to shrug off the soldier's grip. "What about Katara? Who will look after her now? She could be running straight into us! I'll never forgive you if anything happens to her! Leave and save her!"
Aang hesitated, but shook his head once more.
The princess let loose a horrible, squealing laugh. Its shrill tone seemed to shatter any hope the boys had left of leaving.
"This is perfect!" She said after she'd settled back down. "I have my uncle, my brother is on his way, and the avatar's heart is too big to let one person die to save the world. Oh, you two have made my day."
Aang stared at the ground. Hoping that by some miracle Katara could find a way to save them, and also sending his deepest apologies to the only friend that had remained alive with him those past one hundred years. Appa had been chained to the ground where Azula had found them. The sight of that lovable bison struggling to free himself from the dozen chains that prevented him from making the slightest move still haunted Aang.
Tears welled behind the young monk's eyelids as he realized his dearest friend's life would end in the mud, his very soul pinned down.
xxx
"It's stopped." Mai said, after putting her palm to the ground for several moments without any movement underneath.
Ty Lee peered at the area around them. "Well, I don't see anyone coming yet."
Suddenly, the entire ground trembled, and the group sank into a pit deeper than three men standing on top one another.
As they struggled to gather their bearings at the bottom of the man-made hole, they swore they could hear a young man's voice laughing.
xxx
Haru had never chortled before. He chuckled, guffawed, and even the occasional giggle was passed through his lips. But his victory over those fire nation idiots was cause enough to chortle. His laughter rang through his own tunnels.
"I did it!" he boomed, just in case Katara and Zuko could hear him. "They're in a rut now!"
He galloped back to the cavern and was welcomed by a flickering light set in the middle of the room. Katara and Zuko were huddled against one wall. Katara looked stricken. Zuko looked somber, but then again, he always looked somber.
"Well look here." Haru said, grinning at the two of them, "Neither one of you is dead or even maimed!"
"They're stuck now, right?" Katara asked, slowly recovering from her bug-eyed stare.
"Yup. We can go now. Hold on to your hats, lady and Zuko."
"Hey! Why am I not a gentleman?" Zuko snapped.
"Oh. Yeah, I guess you could be classified as that. Well, anyway, brace yourself."
Haru swung his arms in the opposite direction as he had before. Katara had just managed to get up onto her feet beside Zuko when they rose to the surface. She stumbled and latched onto Zuko's arm to keep herself from falling. He jerked away, but fell onto his knees when he did so.
The sun blinded them, even though it was the late afternoon light that struck them. They struggled together to regain their sight.
"No one's coming, right?" Zuko said, wiping the water away that had flooded his eyes.
"I don't know." Katara answered, bumping into Haru as he stood as still as he could with eyes squeezed shut. "Haru, what are you doing?"
"Stop moving and you'll adjust faster." He mumbled.
"That's bogus!" Zuko snarled and tripped over Momo. "Stupid lemur!"
"Wait! Don't lose him! We need him to find Aang!" Katara squealed and attempted to open her eyes. "Here Momo!" she held out her arm.
Momo jumped onto it, chittering in her ear.
"Momo, we need you to go and find Aang and Sokka. They'll get the point and they'll come and get us."
"We don't need them! We were doing just fine, and now that Mai and Ty Lee won't be able to follow us-." Katara cut Zuko off.
"But you have no idea where you're going!" she countered, finally able to see his outline. "We just need Appa, and then we'll fly over and spot him from above."
"Fly? What about Azula? She's out there somewhere, and with us in such plain sight we'd be a prime target to shoot down. Trust me, I should know." Zuko said.
"I can see!" Haru exclaimed.
"I'm sending Momo." Katara said firmly and he flew northward to find the now-detained air bender.
xxx
"Can you sing, water boy? I'm in the mood for a song." Azula said.
Sokka growled. "No. And if I could, I wouldn't."
"Too bad. I guess you'll have to find some other from of entertainment for me." She grinned maliciously. "I'll bet you can dance."
"No. I can't dance either."
"I'll bet I can make you."
"How about I give you a haircut? That'd be fun, wouldn't it? I'll style it just like your brother's. You'll look like twins." Sokka said.
"That would work, except for the fact that he's got a mite little scar on his left cheek. Perhaps you've noticed it?"
"Oh, don't worry." Sokka said, his lips curling into a grin, "Aang will be able to give you a matching one here pretty soon."
"I doubt that very much." Azula snorted. "Water and air bending hardly make an avatar."
Aang exclaimed something undistinguishable beneath his gag.
"He's working on it." Sokka said in his defense.
"Not anymore." Azula replied, grinning.
xxx
Despite his kind words only a few minute past, Zuko was ignoring Katara and being just as short and bitter with her as he'd always been. She had hoped that perhaps he'd speak to her like he spoke to Aang, like a friend. But hopes and wishes don't make fact.
"We're coming up on our prisoners." Haru said jovially.
Katara grimaced. She didn't like the fact that she had 'prisoners'. "Isn't it a little cruel to leave them down there?"
"What else should we do with them?" Haru asked.
"They deserve it." Zuko said matter-of-factly.
"Why?" Katara asked.
He sighed, "Because they do. Stop asking questions."
She bristled. "Stop snapping at me like I'm your footman!"
"Hey. Let's just stop fighting and get along, okay?" Haru offered, stepping between his two opposing companions.
"Tell him that, not me! I am getting along. He's the one who can't-."
"Shut up now." Zuko said dully.
She lunged at him, but Haru held her back. "Say that when I've got water, you jelly-spined bandit!"
"Why don't you have water?" Haru asked curiously.
"I'd tell you to ask him, but he doesn't want to talk to anyone, do you hothead? He drank it all!"
"I said I was sorry!"
"Uh… so here's the pit…" Haru said, gesturing grandly to the extensive hole before them.
"You said sorry, sure. But you can't just say it. You have to mean it!"
"I won't bend over backwards for you. I'll leave that to Haru and the avatar."
"Hey!" Haru interjected.
"His name is AANG!"
"Whatever."
"I'm serious. Fight me when I've got water to-."
"Splash at me? We've already seen how that went."
"Yeah. I beat you."
"Guys, could we-."
"You beat me when we were surrounded by snow. Of course you beat me. And I'd beat you in the belly of a volcano, too."
"Anytime, Zuko!"
"How about later?" Haru suggested meekly. "We could always take out our aggressions on the prisoners… in the pit… right here… now."
"Don't you have some rocks to roll around?" Zuko snapped. "The adults are busy talking."
"Don't talk to him that way!" Katara snapped.
"Hey! That's enough, okay? Besides, we have an audience." Haru yelled, and pointed behind him at the sets of eyes peering at them from the pit bottom.
Zuko and Katara were seething. Their glares were sharp enough to kill.
"You're on, Katara." Zuko growled. "Once you have some water to swish, we'll fight."
"Fine." She snarled back.
They finally walked over to the pit and studied its contents.
"Hey Zuko!" Ty Lee squealed. "Good seeing you!"
He scowled. "Where's Azula?"
"Get us out and we'll tell you." Mai answered.
"Fat chance." Katara said bitterly.
"I hope you packed some food. You'll be there awhile." Zuko snarled and began to walk around the hole.
"We'll tell you where Azula is, if you tell us where Iroh is." Ty Lee offered.
"How about no?" Katara snapped.
The three surfaced people walked away from the pit, leaving a fuming group of Fire Nation minions.
xxx
Azula's party halted for the night. Aang was wound so tightly to a tree that he could barely draw breath, which may very well have been the point.
Sokka was sat next to Iroh. Iroh couldn't have cared less about his situation; he was unconscious. But the old man had begun to reek, and Sokka was unaccustomed to bunking with smelly sick men. He tried to complain to the soldier who was binding his hands, and he received a smart kick to the gut in return.
Azula went to recline in her litter, while the rest of her men scurried about camp trying to please her every whim.
Sokka struggled in his bonds for awhile, until he had completely satisfied his curiosity. The bonds would not budge. He sank back against the tree he was propped against and tried to catch Aang's attention.
Aang ignored Sokka. He could see him flailing his bound hands, but he didn't want to notice. All the other boy would have to say is that Aang was doing everything wrong, that he should flee, leave Sokka to die.
A flash of white caught Aang's attention. Momo appeared on a branch. Aang could do nothing to signal to his pet, however. All he could manage was a jerk of his head towards Sokka, and hope that the lemur understood.
He did, and flew swiftly to Sokka.
"Momo," Sokka whispered, pulling the lemur into a hug as best as he could. "I guess Katara is okay? If she is, keep her away! Need to," Sokka squirmed towards his pack, but couldn't get close enough. "Need to get a message to her. Momo, get in that bag and see what you can find."
Momo blinked at Sokka. He sighed, exasperated. "Momo, please! Of all the times for you to understand, do it now!"
A soldier walked by, and Momo dove into Sokka's pack.
"Who are you whispering to?" the man asked suspiciously.
"Iroh." Sokka said quickly. "I thought I saw him move a little, so I was trying to make conversation."
"Well, don't. The princess doesn't want you gagged, but that doesn't mean you're allowed to talk though."
"Sure thing." Sokka replied nonchalantly.
The man stalked off, and just as he turned his back, Momo popped out of the bag holding Zuko's knife.
"Good, Momo! And here…" Sokka yanked off his left glove and tossed it to the creature. "Now go!"
Momo rose from the ground and flew into the night, disappearing before any of the fire benders could see him.
xxx
"I'm getting kind of tired." Katara said as they continued to march in the moonlight.
Zuko scoffed. "Figures you'd be the first one to stop."
"If Katara wants to stop, then it's no big deal." Haru countered, leading Katara to a place beside the road where they could pile upon the ground.
Katara and Haru spread their bedrolls out and sank into them, and Zuko kneeled over a grouping of logs to light them.
"Don't." Katara ordered, sitting up in case she needed to couple her words with action. "We can't afford to face Azula, and we'd be too easily seen with a fire."
"We have to get warm somehow." Zuko said and continued to stoke the small fire he had emitted.
Katara stood up and stepped towards him.
"Hear that?" she said, cocking her head to listen to the sleeping forest. "I hear a river."
"Great. Go jump in it."
"Why don't you! Put out that fire!"
Haru jerked his wrist and a spray of dirt smothered the fire. Zuko rose to his feet.
"You want to fight me too, mud squatter?"
"No. But Katara's right. I don't think we should have a fire. We'll be plenty warm without it."
"Oh, sure." Zuko drawled. "You two can snuggle together and get warm, but I-."
"No one said anything about snuggling, you pompous jerk!" Katara snapped. "Wait." She looked up at the sky. "Is that Momo?"
"You can't fool me." Zuko scoffed, and leaned back over to light his fire.
Haru promptly extinguished it again.
"It is Momo! Where are Aang and Sokka?" Katara cried after the messenger had landed safely in her arms. She pulled his treasures from his back feet.
"Hey! That's my knife!" Zuko exclaimed, swiping his weapon back.
"Sokka must have taken it while you weren't looking." Katara said nonchalantly, fingering Sokka's glove. "And Sokka would never take this off. He rarely takes his gloves off to bathe, so if Momo has this then…" She trailed off, afraid to say what might have happened.
Even Zuko stopped his fuming to give her a sympathetic look. Haru crossed the clearing to put a hand on her shoulder.
"Katara…"
"They're captured! That's it. They can't be… They're captured. We have to save them!" She looked from Haru's face to Zuko's. Each wore the same desolate expression.
"Sure, Katara." Haru said gently. "Let's just get some rest, then we can set off tomorrow."
"No!" She rushed to her bedroll and frantically began to gather it up. "We have to go now! They could be in serious trouble!"
Again she looked up to watch their faces. Neither one of them had made any move.
"Just a few hours of rest, then we'll go." Zuko commanded, then settled onto the ground beside his hopeless fire pit.
She looked to Haru, but he had retreated to his own bedroll.
"Come on, Katara. Just get some sleep." Haru pleaded.
She sank to the ground compliantly. "Just a few hours."
"Mhm." Zuko muttered.
Katara slipped into a dog-tired slumber, her brother's name on her worried lips.