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Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar the last airbender.
Here's the next chapter! mwahahahaha i'm updating more quickly! HURRAH!
"How much farther!"growled Zuko. Night had fallen. They had predicted they would reach the north pole by now but they misjudged the distance.
"It wont be long now."Katara assured the impatient prince.
"It's cold."said Sokka.
"Thanks for pointing out the obvious!"snarled Zuko who was sitting a ways away from the rest arms crossed. He wasn't used to the cold weather and he wasn't crossing his arms out of anger, like the others suspected, but because he was cold. When he had gone to the southern pole he would never admit to it but he was freezing and happy that he spent so little time there.
"It means where close!"said Sokka.
"Not close enough!"growled Zuko looking out into the vast ocean. It was dark and he couldn't see much anyway but he was sure, if they were close he would have spotted something.
"Do you think Iroh is there?"asked Katara.
"Knowing him? Probably. I can see him now in a nice hut while we are freezing our butts off up here."said Sokka with jealously. Aang laughed.
"That does sound like him."Zuko said amused.
"Whats that?"asked Aang looking forward. Sokka and Zuko looked excitedly hoping it was the north pole, however it was just a ship. Sokka pouted with disappointment.
"Maybe it's my uncle?"said Zuko peering down. Katara peered down as well. The fire nation symbol was on the side of the ship. She pointed this out to Zuko.
"We should go down there!"said Sokka with excitement. "He will have food, and warmth and tea!"said Sokka.
"What if it's not him though."Zuko pointed out.
"There's only one way to find out!"said Aang grabbing the rings to Appa. They flew down a good distance away from the ship. They didn't want to be seen just in case it wasn't Iroh's ship. Aang flew low Appa's feet nearly hit the water and they got to the side of the ship. They slowly levitated until they could see on deck. Aang peeked over and observed the ship. It didn't look like the familiar ship he had gone to the fire nation with.
"I don't think this is it."Aang whispered checking to make sure no one was around. "We should get out of here."Aang said.
"HALT!"yelled a voice. A fire nation soldier had seen them. "APPA YIP YIP!"yelled Aang as Appa rose into the air but the soldier had already called for help. Several soldiers had appeared now and were sending fire blasts at Appa. Flames singed Appa's fur and he groaned loudly. Katara took water out of her canteen and quickly put out the flames. One of the soldiers jumped up and grabbed hold of Aang and pulled him down onto the ship.
"Aang!"cried Katara. Zuko jumped down sending fire kicks at several soldiers that tried to attack him and ran after the soldier who was pulling Aang below deck. Zuko ran below deck after the soldier. Zuko cornered him against the wall. Up close he could see who it was. But it made no sense to him. Standing before him with their arm around Aang's throat was Ryu.
"Why aren't you back at the fire nation? With Azula?"Zuko asked. There was a cold laugh that made the hair on the back of Zuko's neck stand up. He felt a slender hand on his shoulder and he reluctantly turned around to see Azula.
"Hello brother. Fancy seeing you here."she said. Zuko growled and made a move to send a fire punch her way but a rough hand grabbed his arm. Zhao stood their with a nasty smirk.
"Well this is a surprise. Here we are heading towards the north pole to capture you, and you walk right into our hands! I never expected it to be this easy. I must admit, I did expect it to be more challenging, I guess I overestimated you Zuko, than again, It seems everyone does. You keep proving your worthlessness to the fire nation and to the fire lord."said Zhao. Zuko let out a roar of fire but no damage was inflicted. Azula smirked.
"I can't wait to see the look on your face when father locks you up for the rest of your life! That way you can't embarrass him anymore!"said Azula smirking with victory. Zuko growled at her.
"Yes, you do cause an awful lot of grief for the fire lord."said Zhao and a dark smile formed on his lips. "It will be regrettable, that Azula and I will show up only with the Avatar."said Zhao. Everyone shot Zhao confused and odd looks.
"What do you mean by that Admiral?"asked Ryu.
"I mean, when we say that Zuko was tragically lost at sea as we tried to capture him. It will be a regrettable loss, but it really is in the best interest for the fire lord and the fire nation. Don't you think Azula?"said Zhao. The smile fell from Azula's face and she had a blank look on her face.
"Do you mean to say you are going to murder my brother? Than lie to the fire lord and say he was lost at sea?"asked Azula with no emotion. Aang's eyes widened.
"NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT! I WON'T LET YOU!"he yelled trying to fight Ryu but Ryu's grip on him was to strong, although Aang felt Ryu shaking.
"Lets face it, Zuko is an embarrassment to the Fire Lord. Fire Lord Ozai can't kill his son, his people would think he was brutal and they would try to over throw him or something. If I told him the truth, he would probably want to give me a metal but he would have no choice but to execute me, again to look good to the good people of the fire nation. However if I kill him than tell the fire lord Zuko was lost at sea, Ozai will be happy. His embarrassment of a son will be gone."said Zhao. Zuko's mouth went dry.
"My father would not be happy if I died!"yelled Zuko all though he didn't seem to sure about it. Zhao laughed softly.
"Your right, he'd be delighted."said Zhao.
"My father cares about me!"yelled Zuko.
"You? Why would the fire lord care about you? All you are is an embarrassment to him! If he really cared about you why did he give you that scar? If he cared about you why did he banish you? You know why he sent you on the quest to find and capture the avatar? Because at the time the thought of the avatar being around somewhere was a joke! The avatar had been gone for 100 years! He sent you on that mission because he thought you'd never find the avatar. He thought the avatar would never come back! He sent you on that mission so you would never come back to the fire nation! He wanted you gone! If he cared about you he would have had you come back Avatar or no avatar!"yelled Zhao. Zuko looked stunned and a wave of hurt crossed over his eyes. He felt the sharp stinging in his eyes and felt them about to water. He wouldn't let them. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't give Zhao that kind of satisfaction.
"Admiral Zhao, as embarrassing as my brother is he is royal blood and you must show him some type of respect! Traitor or not! You can't just murder him."Azula said. Zuko and Aang shot Azula a look of surprise.
"Princess think about it! With Zuko's death you will be certain to become fire queen."said Zhao.
"It's already certain I will become fire queen!"barked Azula. "Zuko has dishonored my father and has betrayed the country! I'm next in line. He has no need to die."said Azula.
"Princess think about it. Zuko will try to over throw you, you know it. It will be best to get him out of the way now."Zhao said, he looked at Zuko with an insane look in his eyes and grabbed a sword that was on the wall for decoration. "I'll make it quick."Zhao said looking at Zuko darkly. Zuko struggled trying to get away. Zhao put the sword to Zuko's throat. Aang bit Ryu hard on the arm. Ryu gasped in pain and let Aang go. He sent a fire blast at Zhao and Zuko. They both went flying and the sword lay at Azula's feet. She picked it up and her eyes met Zuko's. Aang swallowed. What was she going to do? Was she really cruel enough to kill her own brother?
"This is not good."Sokka said. Katara,Sokka,Momo, and Appa had been flying slowly next to the ship out of sight for some time now.
"We need to think of a rescue plan."whispered Katara. There were guards alert above deck so they had to be quiet as possible.
"How about we go in there, kick some fire bending butt, find Zuko and Aang than run for our lives?"asked Sokka. Katara sighed.
"There's to many fire benders. We'd be captured in a heart beat. We need to be smart about this we need to-" Katara never finished because Sokka hoisted himself up over deck and a minute later blasts of fire went soaring everywhere. Katara crossed her arms. "Appa,Momo you stay here okay?"Katara said jumping up on deck. Two fire bending guards were knocked out but there were three who had Sokka cornered.
"A little help please?"cried Sokka. Katara began water bending and lashed at them with a huge wave of water.
"Come on!"Katara yelled running below deck. Sokka made a face at the water logged fire benders.
"Na na na na na na!"he chanted.
"SOKKA!"yelled Katara.
"I'm coming I'm coming!"yelled Sokka going below deck after her. Luckily they didn't run into anymore guards. They started exploring rooms. "No one in here."said Katara looking around what had to be Azula's room. It had fire nation symbols all over it, a dresser, mirror, bed, and a book. Katara looked at the book with interest and picked it up and giggled.
"Sokka look at this!"Katara said holding out the book.
"What? Is it some creepy book on how to kill people?"asked Sokka coming near.
"It's a love story."said Katara.
"EYAH!"cried Sokka jumping back. "That's worse!"he said. Katara rolled her eyes.
"We have to be quiet remember?"she said walking towards the door."Come on, Aang and Zuko have to be around here somewhere."
It was as if two seconds lasted an eternity. Azula held the sword in her hand. Either she would kill her brother, or let him live. His fate was in his sister's hands. His sister, who had a grudge against Zuko. Zuko stood up and took a few steps back. Zhao stood up and made a move to grab Zuko but Zuko shot a fire blast at him. The two began fighting. Ryu grabbed hold of Aang again. Zhao knocked Zuko down and put his hands out to make a killing fire blow when a boomerang sailed through the air and hit him in the head. Zhao fell to the floor out cold. The boomerang sailed back into Sokka's hands. Sokka smiled.
"Need a hand?"He said. Zuko smiled. Azula smiled darkly. "Well, it looks like the whole gang is here. The fire lord will be pleased."she said. Katara rolled her eyes at Azula.
"Were leaving."she stated.
"I wont let you."Azula said. Aang sneezed levitating into the air and hitting his head on the roof.
"Ow..."Aang said rubbing his head. He found himself free of Ryu and ran over to Sokka and Katara. Ryu stood their dumbly, blinking as if wondering exactly what had just happened.
"You idiot!"growled Azula. Zuko began inching his way towards the others.
"GUARDS!"screamed Azula.
"That wont help you now."Sokka assured her and the group ran. Azula and Ryu ran after them, followed them above deck, but could do nothing. All the guards were either knocked out or far below deck and couldn't hear Azula's cries for help. Azula stood there angrily as Aang,Katara,Sokka, and Zuko flew away on Appa. Azula screamed in rage.
"A-azula? What do we do now?"asked Ryu. Azula crossed her arms.
"It doesn't matter. We will just capture them a little later, we know where they are going."Azula said with a dark smile.
"Were doomed."said Sokka.
"Don't sound so positive."said Zuko sarcastically.
"But we are doomed! She will follow us right to the north pole!"cried Sokka.
"She knew we were going there any way."Katara pointed out. Sokka blinked.
"Then we will have to confuse her."said Aang. They all looked at him. Aang turned around.
"What are you doing?"cried Sokka in alarm.
"Confusing her. If she doesn't think were going to the north pole, it will probably by Iroh enough time to prepare the northern tribe for us and for her ship."said Aang.
"Iroh doesn't know about Azula."Sokka pointed out. Aang blinked.
"Well if we confuse her, than lose her, we will buy us more time to go to the north pole."said Aang making Appa rise a little once he saw the ship turn around after them. Sokka crossed his arms. "I don't like this..."he muttered. They flew south, with Azula hot on their tracks. Aang was drifting in and out of sleep. Katara and Sokka were already in a deep sleep.
"I'll drive for a while."Zuko offered.
"No...no I got it..."said Aang with a yawn.
"Go to sleep."Zuko said firmly. Aang crawled away from the reigns and was asleep in seconds. Zuko took the reigns.
"Alright you big...flying...thing. Get as high up in the air as possible!"Zuko ordered. All he got in response was a loud groan. Zuko sighed.
"Well this is making progress."he muttered pulling on the reigns. Appa went higher in the air. The night was foggy and it would be harder for Azula to see them, especially if they were above the fog. Zuko turned them around and they were headed for the north pole.
Dawn peaked over the horizon, the golden sun that was rising illuminated the sky, creating beautiful pink, and purple colors. Zuko shivered hugging himself. They were nearing the north pole, and it was cold. He could see it in the distance. Katara yawned and sat up.
"Wow...the sun rise is beautiful."said Katara with a smile. Zuko didn't answer. He was to concentrated on stopping his teeth from chattering. "Have you been up all night?"Katara asked looking at Zuko. Zuko nodded looking around the ocean for Azula's ship. Katara laughed. Zuko stared at her. She had a nice laugh. Zuko thought quietly to himself. "You must be cold."said Katara and she began digging through their things and took out two blue parkas. She tossed one to Zuko and put one on herself. There were two other Parkas in there. One for Aang and one for Sokka.
"Thank you."said Zuko quietly letting the warmth of the parka fill his body.
"No problem."said Katara watching the sunrise. She looked at the prince who seemed lost in thought. Her eyes traced the scar on his face, the scar his own father had given him. Katara looked at the prince with sympathy. She couldn't even imagine, what he was feeling. She understood him now however. Why he had chased them like a crazy lunatic. He had his throne back... and he had given it up, for them. The prince was full of surprises. Katara thought and she inched closer to the prince for warmth. She didn't see him blush.
