Chapter Four

"That was the last place we left Serpent Armour..." Aang said, looking down at the destruction of the town, people scrounging around to salvage what they could. Sokka, Zuko, and Katara were staring with wide eyes at the destruction; Keili was grinning gleefully at the smell of death.

"Ah, burnt Sue, the greatest smell a Canon could ever take part of." He sat back down, "I sense no Pantheons, and I don't think Serpent would have stuck around. Have this thing land so I can get a closer look at the ground. I might be able to tell where Serpent went if I can find a trail." He admitted, looking over the edge.

"How about we get down to the ground, but not land." Zuko said, looking at the group, then added. "Just in case there were surviving Sues or something."

"Wise idea." Keili agreed, and Aang had Appa swoop low, but the elf could not see if Serpent left a trail or not, they were still too high up for his near blind sightedness. "I can't see anything from up here." Keili bitched, nearly falling from the saddle as he leaned over a bit too far.

Katara grabbed him by the belt of his robes and hauled him back in. "I thought elves had excellent vision?

"They do!" Keili returned hotly, glaring at the girl who scooted back. "I just happen to be unlucky enough to be a dark elf, meaning my eye sight will be crappy until night fall!"

"Well, in that case, I think I found Serpent's trail!" Aang said, pointing due east, "We should go that way." Aang informed Appa which way to go, and the great beast turned in that direction.

"Thank you." Keili said begrudgingly to the child with the arrow tattoos. Aang just smiled at him, making the elf scowl darkly, his lovely features in a hateful sneer. Those two simple, polite, words seemingly to leave a horrid taste in his mouth. A few hours later, as the sun was setting, Keili held true to his words. "I see a village."

"Where?" Zuko asked, squinting out into the darkness; Sokka joining Zuko in the search of the horizon for a town that could not be seen.

"You can't see it yet, but it's that way." Keili pointed to their right, and still they continued to look, not seeing it. They could not see it until the sun was gone; the lights from homes and taverns were the heralding of the town. "Told you my eyesight is better at night."

"No joke!" Sokka exclaimed, realising just how far away it really was. They sat back in silence, waiting to make it the town they approached; every one of them praying it was devoid of the Sues.

It was devoid of Sues! A town that had not one Sue in it; so far. No one said anything of this though and they quickly went about, separating to see if Serpent was there yet or not.

Katara was searching the market area, which was already closed, and as she turned the corner, she ran into Zuko. "I thought you were in another part of town?" She asked, smiling as he smiled at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine Katara." Zuko admitted, taking her hand in his. "Come along, I want to spend time with you, without the others around." He brought her hand to his face, nuzzling it gently. "For the longest time you have been the only thing in my mind. Katara, I must confess that I love you and no other."

"Zuko." Katara breathed, getting lost in his eyes as she sighed dreamily. She never knew he could be so kind, caring, and compassionate. They walked for a little while, hand in hand, and Zuko, in a rare moment, was a real person with feelings.

Sokka sighed, having checked the last taverns and inns on this side of town, still no sign of Serpent. Perhaps he was still at the previous village? He shook his head, knowing there was no way the huge Armoured Serpent would stick around to help clean up; he was always on their tails to make sure the Sues stayed out of their way. He was not paying attention to where he was going and ran into somebody, someone who caught him before he could fall. "Sorry about that!" He said, looking up. "Zuko?"

"Sokka." Zuko said the Water Tribesman's name so softly, so intimately that Sokka was blushing.

"What are you doing here?" Sokka asked, confused at two things, one: why was Zuko here on this side of town? Two: why was the man not letting him go and pressing so close too him? "I-I-I thought you were on the other side of town?"

"I came looking for you Sokka." Zuko took Sokka's hands in his, bringing them to his lips, Sokka turning bright red. "We must talk. I cannot take living a lie anymore. My thoughts remain on you all the time. I cannot sleep at night with thoughts of you in my head."

"Uh..." Sokka was at a loss, and was just blushing as Zuko pulled him along to talk. Sokka was surprised by the other boy's compassion, his words of endearment and the confessions of love. Sokka found it a little unnerving, but went with it, because he had often entertained thoughts of Zuko being human.

"Ok, okay!" Serpent's tail hit the ground between Zuko and ...Zuko? Both Zuko's, who had been fighting about which of them was the real one, stared at the giant suit of living armour. "I'm goin' ta ask this once, and only once." Serpent said, both boys waiting, one with a scowl the other with a wary look of curiosity. Once Serpent had their attention, only then did he speak. "If I gave each of you a fluffy bunny, whut would you do wit' it?"

"I would nurture it." Said the Zuko to the right.

"Emergency food stash!" The true Zuko exclaimed.

"That is so! Urk!" The fake Zuko got a vibro-bladed tail stuck through the chest, then it was tossed aside as it erupted into sparkles.

"Why can these clones never die normally?" Serpent asked, shaking its tail with an annoyed sigh. "Now I got sparkles stuck between muh blades. How unmanly is that?"

"No! Unmanly was that! That!" Zuko pointed to the pile of sparkles. "What the hell was that?"

"A clone. I had heard rumours." Serpent said, slithering along and shaking the glitter out of his tail, the blades vibrating while he attempted to rid his tail of the stuff. "In fact, someone callin' themselves Dark4ever has cloned you in failed attempts. She cannot seem to duplicate your real persona."

"Great, let's find the others. I hope there aren't anymore of these... clones." Zuko says as he and Serpent make way towards another part of town. They just hoped they found the others before the Zuko clones did, if there were more. From what Serpent had gathered, there probably was.

"This is ridiculous!" Keili said, the butt end of his scythe hitting the ground. "I'll kill whatever Omnipotent Moron sent me on this accursed journey to deliver a damnable peace treaty. More like a demand of do or die, still, lame quest."

"Don't worry Keili, we'll find Serpent, soon." Aang said as he walked down the narrow alley. "In fact, I'm sure of it! I bet he's in this town somewhere, probably fixing his armour." Aang was not paying attention to where he was going, and Keili was distracted by staring at the stars. So when Aang ran into someone, jumping up and away, ready for a fight.

"Aang." Zuko said, catching both Keili and the Avatar off guard.

"Shouldn't you be on the far side of town fucking yourself?" Keili asked with a growl, "or at least finding that damn Serpent?" Keili frowned as he was ignored, Zuko's compleat attention on Aang.

"Aang, I wanted to talk to you for a while." Zuko confessed. "I'm sorry for the way I have treated you in the past. I know it was wrong of me, and I know you must have suffered because of the Fire Nation, Aang." The Avatar was staring up at Zuko with large eyes, not believing the cold hearted Prince he was accustomed too could be this warm and compassionate. "I wish to apolo..." Zuko gurgled as sparkles came out of his mouth, a Scythe in his head.

"Shut up!" Keili went off, scything the fake Zuko until it was a pile of sparkles; still he scythed that until it was scattered to the four winds. "Just great, something else to ruin my evil image!" He tried to brush the sparkles off, but that seemed to make it worse. "This world will one day be covered in nothing but glittering fairy fucking dust."

"How did you know it wasn't the real Zuko?" Aang asked, looking at the scythe-wielding elf in amazement. He was surprised, and a bit thankful, the elf had seen through the guise of, whatever that was.

"I didn't know." Keili admitted, shrugging. "I just wanted to shut him the hell up with all that sick talk of apol... apolo... I can't say those awful words." Keili said, looking up at the sound of metal scraping the ground. "Serpent! Thank the gods!"

"Whoa, there was another of those things?" Serpent said, Katara, Sokka (blushing still at having been caught with Zuko), and the real Zuko who scowled at the scattered glitter. Serpent slithered over to Keili, "What tha hell are ya doing 'ere ya elf?"

"This!" Keili held up the scroll, 'The Renewed Peace Treaty' written on the side. Serpent held up the shield and the axe, making it clear he had no hands. Keili sighed and opened it, allowing Serpent to read it. They were there a long moment, Serpent Armour's metal shell rattling with barely contained laughter. Finally Serpent lost and hit the ground in fits of laughter, slithering off on his shield and slamming his axe into the ground as he inched out of the alley. "Wasn't that funny."

"Hell yeah it was!" Serpent slithered off, wailing amusement. There was, at the end of the alleyway where Serpent disappeared, Zuko's Flamethrower.

Not as she normally was, no, but as an actual flame thrower; on the side were the words 'Zuko's main back up weapon.' Her voice however was as fiery as always, "Keili, placed that right there." She pointed with the business end of her artillery. Keili did so, and as they watched, she quite literally flamed the hell out of the piece of paper. "Are you ready to go home Keili?"

"Please, I hate this world." Keili admitted, eager to be off in his own realm.

"Aye, but ya haven't fallen in love wit' ah main character yet." Serpent teased, once again in control of himself.

"Bastard!" Keili snarled, very un-elf like. He turned to the nearest person, Katara, snagged her and gave her a mind blowing kiss. She stumbled against the wall, dazed, as Keili released her. "Can I leave now?"

"Go home Kei." Zuko's Flamethrower said, Keili disappearing with ZFT.

Serpent shrugged, slithering off. "Well, I gots work ta be done. I'll be seein' tha lot o' you around soon enough. Take care!" He called, he too disappeared in a flash of Omnipotent Light.

"The one who created the clones of me." Zuko said, and devious little grin tilting the corners of his lips. "Her name was Dark4ever. I say we find her, and kill her. Then we won't have to worry about these clones anymore."