A wide canal, a low dip, a cage awaits, under long strip.
That was the clue Azula had given him, but for the last ten minutes he sat there, thinking and coming up empty. Every minute was another tick mark off of Toph's life, and he couldn't figure out this stupid riddle.
Aang wasn't sure what to do. Maybe call Sokka? He was good at puzzles. But no, he couldn't do that. Ever since coming to San Francisco, making friends and building his life from the ground up, he felt like he belonged, and the thought of losing the best aspects of this change to be unsavory. He couldn't let his family get killed because of him.
And Toph was going to drown if he didn't fight the fear bubbling in his gut and figure out the location of this hiding spot. Besides, he knew that Azula still had some kind of trace on his phone; she would know if he asked his friends for their input. This was something he really had to do on his own.
Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he fought back the panic threatening to consume his entire soul. It was clear that Azula had been following him since he had escaped. He also believed that, afterwards, she had sent one of her trackers to follow him, but instead of taking him back, it was obvious as day that her plans had shifted. She wanted him to believe at first that he was safe, that he had gotten away, but in the end, he still played her mind games.
He rummaged through his memories, from the moment he had arrived here to now. He thought about all the places he had been, the locations in which she could...have...
Aang's eyes snapped open, hardly breathing in shock. There was one place that fit the riddle, one place he had been where she knew he was fairly nervous about.
The Golden Gate Bridge...
Or, more specifically, Suki's favorite hangout spot.
He remembered the spot almost underneath the bridge, where the waters were sparkling in the noonday sun. The crisp smell of the air, the dancing shadows of fish...and the grate. At the time, he didn't think much about that area, considering how he hated water, but it matched. It was the right location; it was the only place that made sense.
Taking a deep breath, trying to quell the fear and nausea of about what was going to happen, he started the car and drove there, wishing that he wouldn't be too late.
(***)
Katara paced in her room, phone clutched to her ear as she waited for Aang to pick up. But when his voicemail answered once more, she groaned in frustration as she ended the call. It had been at least an hour since Aang had departed after hearing about Toph's disappearance. Although she and the half-blind girl didn't necessarily get along, that didn't mean she wanted her to get hurt.
Taking a deep breath, she left her room to find Sokka and Suki, similar to the first time Aang had disappearance. The latter looked frustrated as she tapped on her phone, teeth worrying her bottom lip. If her friend looked like that, it could only mean trouble.
"No luck?" she asked in dread.
Suki moaned in annoyance at her phone. "The tracking program isn't working. I can't find Aang's cell anywhere."
"You don't think he's out of range, do you?" she asked, sitting next to her on the couch.
Suki shook her head, putting the phone down. "No; the program was designed to hone in on a signal using satellites. It can be used to track any number, no matter where it is. The only way to stop the transference is to have something block it."
A cold pit opened in her stomach, and Suki seemed to realize what she had said as the blood drained from her face.
"Azula," they said in unison.
Sokka looked up from pacing, face pained. "She must have done something. We all know she wants Aang for her sick mind games and is willing to do anything to get him." Rubbing his eyes as if a headache was forming, he sighed. "There's only one thing that can make Aang come."
The girls looked at each other, frowns adorning their faces, before Suki replied, "Toph's the bait."
Katara nodded slowly, her thoughts becoming cohesive. "Aang would never leave another to suffer in his place. Azula must have hacked into his phone somehow."
"And if she did," Suki said, "that would explain the interference."
Sokka clenched his fists, anger in his eyes. "We have to find him, before she can kill him."
Katara looked down, heart breaking at the mere thought of her boyfriend before dying. What of Toph, as well? Azula won't let the girl go, even if Aang did free her. She thought of the young girl he had been forced to shoot and shuddered. Violet had been murdered as if she didn't deserve to live, didn't deserve to grow up and have a future. It made her wonder once more who else had lost their lives due to the whims of this maniacal woman.
She stood up, restless. "Yes, we have to."
"But the question is: How?" Sokka demanded, pacing again. "He could be anywhere."
Katara thought about it. Since it was clear how much Aang had been followed, it made sense that there were a numerous places in which her spies could report about. She thought about the places they had all been together, from the very beginning. Aang arriving at the cafe, then their house, the cafe again where he was reunited with his sister, the little hill near one of the Golden Gate Bridge's support...
Her mind paused on that last one. It was the one place where all of them were together, and now that she knew of his aqua phobia, the conclusion was that Azula knew about it, too. If she had been watching them...
Turning to the others, she stated, "I know where we have to go."
The older couple gazed at her. It was Suki who replied for them. "You mean you have an idea?"
She shook her head, certain in her answer. "No, I mean I know where he's going."
Sokka came closer. "How can you be sure?"
It was time to tell them. "Aang told me that he was afraid of water because of what Azula had forced upon him. He had at one point defied Azula and it cost him." She knew they hadn't known about this, but if they were going to save Aang and Toph, they needed to. For his sake. She took a deep breath before continuing. "There's only one place where she could have taken Toph, the one place Aang fears above all else."
The couple looked stunned at this revelation, but then understanding came to their features. "My spot," Suki murmured.
Katara nodded. "It's the only one where all of us were together, including Aang, but he didn't get too close to the water. Now that we know, it makes perfect sense to make him face his fears in order to save someone."
There was silence as they absorbed this information. Katara didn't tell them the exact reasons as to why he was scared of water, but she had the feeling they knew anyway. It didn't take much thought to at least guess the truth.
Finally Suki stood with a long sigh, her face anguished but determined. "Let's go get my brother."
(***)
Azula chuckled to herself as she watched Aang drive. Unbeknownst to him, she was still viewing what he was doing, alerted in case he made any...unnecessary calls. But she knew he wouldn't actually do so. By kidnapping he newest friend, he could tell that she meant business. Anyone who became involved in their little game was going to get snapped in the trap.
She had refrain from giggling like a crazy person at the idea. This whole thing was like that dumb Mousetrap she and Zuko used to play. Thinking about her brother, oddly enough, made her feel tears prick at the corner of her eyes, but she knew there was no need for them. He had left her behind with a father who cared little about her, despite her being his 'protege'.
She snorted in disgust. Azula was forced to be what she was, a few years after Ozai had faked their deaths. At first, she did't really want to be serated from her mother and brother, but he had told they didn't care for her, and that with him, she had a future, a kingdom of her own that she would rule in his place.
Shaking her head, she looked down at the image of her once proud possession, and something flickered in her chest. Aang looked very different from the broken boy he had been when under her thumb, a person who was willing to die for someone, even those he barely knew. He had become stronger, most physically and emotionally, which was astounding, considering all he had been through.
Despite herself, she remembered his words from almost three years ago.
"What kind of person takes kids? To turn them into pleasure things? You're still a teenager, too!"
Well, she stopped being a teenager after a male prostitute made her into what she was today: The Mistress of Pleasure.
'But you wouldn't be if you stayed with your mother,' a tiny voice whispered.
No! She had abandoned her only daughter and took her son instead. Her father had made it clear that he was the only one who could watch out for her.
'Then where is he?' that stupid voice sighed. 'In jail for a crime even smaller than this.'
Azula groaned and gripped her head, muttering, "Shut up, you idiotic voice."
It had been growing stronger recently, until it was a near constant thing. Every memory, both good and bad, had come into her mind during the night, and she hadn't been able to gain proper sleep since. It started some time after her old hideout had been destroyed. She begun to think of the 'what-ifs' if things had played out differently. In her slowly shattering mind, she could see her mother and brother, people who spent time with her until the divorce.
Times when she and Zuko played with their uncle, picnics with the family, her falling out of a tree and her mother making the pain bearable...
Growling, she grabbed her brush and raked it through her long dark hair, staring at her eyes, at the bags underneath. There had even been times when she thought she heard her mother speaking, but every time she looked around, there was no one there. Perhaps it was stress of this little games that was making her crack. Once it was over, she would take a small vacation to get herself settled.
Taking a deep breath and placing the brush down, she was about to ring for tea when she glanced again at the mirror...
Her mother stared at her with the saddest expression ever.
Alarmed, she whirled in her seat, but her mother wasn't there. However, when she looked back, Ursa was still there.
Heart thudding in sudden fear, she stood on shaky legs, whispering, "What are you doing here?"
Ursa's face was the same, if slightly older, but she still had the elegant appeal that had attracted Ozai in the first place.
"You can't possibly think this will work, Azula."
Gritting her teeth, she yelled, "You don't know what will work! You're not really here!" Her chest was heaving, anger and sorrow warring inside her heart. "Why don't you go back to your favorite child?!"
Ursa reached out, but couldn't touch her daughter. Azula both wanted her mother's comfort and dismiss it. How can one person want and hate something so much?
"Azula, I took Zuko because he wanted to be with me. You chose to stay with Ozai. I never wanted to leave you."
"LIAR!" she screamed, turning away from the hallucination, for surely that was what this phantom was. Her mother was gone, moved away from her, and she couldn't care less if the woman was alive or dead. In a quieter voice, which made all the more unnerving, she muttered, "You never loved me, you think me a monster. You even fear my power."
There was a pause, then Ursa murmured in a heartbroken voice, "No, Azula, my little blue flame. I love you, forevermore."
Little blue flame, her title, because she had so loved that color when she was little. It reminded her of the sky, of the vast oceans and lakes that led to different places. Her mother had begun calling her that, not just for the color, but also for Azula's tempers. It had been during the times when she had been free...
Suddenly tears leaked out of her eyes, and in a fit of rage and raw pain, her hand grasped the brush and she swung it at the mirror, shattering the image, leaving behind a hidden picture of herself. Staring at the fragments that remained, the broken part of her realized what she had done.
Covering her face with her trembling hands, she fell on the shards, oblivious to the stings, and wept for a past she had forgotten.