A/N: I'm updating because of ML7's persistent requesting that I do so. Everyone thank ML7! I'm not promising that I'll continue this story, but I just felt like giving you guys an update, and I might do so every now and then.
Aang yawned. He yawned again, and again. Sokka rolled his eyes, "Would ya stop that?"
Aang shrugged innocently, "Sorry…I'm bored." He flapped the reins attached to Appa's saddle, where Sokka was sitting, and Appa obediently flew faster through the air. Sokka leaned back and tried to sleep.
Flying through the air to find someone when you had no idea where they were wasn't too exciting Aang finally decided. He and Sokka needed to figure out where Katara was, or where she most likely was. In a prison…Aang thought bleakly. "Yip, yip." Appa waved his tail through the air and they soared on even faster. Sokka yawned, though he was still worried about Katara, he figured that there was no use in worrying until they actually found her.
"So where should we look first?" Aang asked.
Sokka sat up, his mind running through the possibilities, "I'm not really sure…Zuko's ship is probably out at sea somewhere. Where at sea I have no clue."
"I guess we'll just have to start when we cross into the Fire Nation." Aang suggested.
"Yeah, that would work." Sokka said sarcastically. Of course we have to start in the Fire Nation! But suddenly a thought crossed his mind.
"Wait, no. Not the Fire Nation."
"Why not?" Aang asked, confused.
Sokka grinned, "Because Zuko is a banished prince."
"Oh, good point. Then we'll start…now." Aang declared.
Aang's eyes searched the land below and saw where it met water. He steered Appa over to the ocean and kept his eyes glued to it to see any sign of a ship.
After quite a while Aang's eyes got tired and decided to look ahead. Sokka was asleep, lazily snoring. Booooom. Aang was wide awake now. Down below he could make a ship, and that was where the 'Bom' came from.
"Sokka, wake up!" Aang called, and Sokka was up in a second and had moved over and beside Aang.
"Let's go!"
"Appa stay up here. Sokka, grab on." Aang ordered.
Sokka grabbed a hold of Aang as he jumped off of Appa, "Are you crazy?" Sokka called over the roaring sound of wind rushing past his ears as the two flew down towards the ocean.
"No, just wait!" Aang replied. Right before a big splash could sound Aang easily bended the air to catch him and Sokka. It glided them towards the ship and they hovered across the ocean. "Cool." Sokka stated. They made their way towards the ship and finally boarded it. "Shhh." Aang mouthed, and moved slowly along the side of the ship.
Sokka followed, but he was a little hesitant. Suppose this was the wrong ship and they got captured by Fire Nation guards? Then all chances of finding Katara would be gone. "Aang…shouldn't we make sure Katara is on this ship?"
"No offense, but that is what we are trying to do." Aang whispered in reply.
Before he could look back to check on Sokka a dagger twisted through the air right beside him, and he heard, "I think you're on the right ship." And it wasn't Sokka who had said it.
-/-/-/-/-
Katara spent some time playing with Fluff. She was trying to get the bird to hold her wing still so that it could heal; but the bird was just plain unwilling to cooperate with her handling. She squawked protests time after time on end, and Katara finally had to give up working with her. She put Fluff in the makeshift cage she had made earlier and smiled when Fluff settled down and seemed to fall asleep.
"Get some sleep Fluff." She said to the bird and quietly walked out of her room.
"To the kitchen." She told herself. She was very hungry after spending the day tiring out an injured bird. She traveled down the hallways and into the kitchen where she made a scrumptious roast beef sandwich with Swiss cheese and mayo. She thought is was delicious after living off of dried nuts and bread for as long as she had left her tribe.
She stood beside the counter and ate the sandwich rather quickly, nevertheless it filled her up. So she got back up and slowly made her way back to her room, wondering what she could do. A blast of cold air rushed past her. It felt very good considering it was very hot onboard the ship, but she wondered where it had come from. Pondering furiously she turned around and walked up on deck and her eyes widened.
Zuko and Aang, and a little bit of Sokka, were in major combat mode. Katara's jaw dropped askew as she watched.
Aang jumped up, dodging a fire blast sent from Zuko, and threw back a blast of air, which hit Katara as well as Zuko. Grinning Zuko rose up a firewall behind Aang and it continued to circle around him, capturing his figure in the flames. Zuko walked through the wall the battle continued. Katara saw the flames bend backwards as Aang threw air blasts at Zuko, but she could see them rise higher when Zuko fired back a shot. Aang circled his hands through the air and produced a circle ball of air which he hopped on and used it to fly up over the firewall. For the first time he saw Katara and smiled, "Hi Katara!" He almost forgot about Zuko, he appeared from amidst the wall only seconds later.
"Uh oh!" Aang said and swung air at Zuko. Zuko sidestepped the blast and summoned a bug wall of fire in which he threw towards Aang. As the flames spiraled towards him, Aang realized it was too tall for him to simply leap over, and too wide for him to sidestep. He glanced at the ocean water and reeled it towards him, creating a water shield. The flames simply soared over and around him as if he weren't even there. Zuko was furious when he saw that his flames hadn't even touched Aang. Using a series of steps and hand motions he fired multiple flames towards Aang, whom leaped up in the air as each one came towards him. Zuko was so caught up in throwing flames that he didn't realize Aang had gotten closer and was sending water towards him. The water put out his flames momentarily, but he still had swiftness and he moved towards Aang, slicing through the water and air sent his way as he progressed. Aang never got the bright idea to move backwards and eventually Zuko got close enough to send a huge fireball that would give Aang no time to escape from. Aang realized this and tried futilely to create an air shield, but the flames scourged past his sides painfully.
When the smoke cleared Zuko was gripped Aang's collar and held a dagger to his neck.
"Zuko no!" Katara shouted. She had almost had a heart attack witnessing the battle, and was no scolding herself for not sending water to Aang's aid when she saw the flame ball heading towards him inevitably.
Zuko turned his head, panting heavily from effort. Here was his chance. Hi chance to regain everything he'd lost. He could not simply let the Avatar escape after a well deserved victory.
Katara walked towards him and was relieved when he made no sign for her to stay put.
"I have to regain my honor." Zuko said when she got closer. Katara noticed that Aang was unconscious. Sokka wasn't in sight.
"I know you want to…but this isn't the way. If the Firelord didn't appreciate you before what do you think bringing the Avatar will do?"
Zuko was lost in thought. He had never even considered that his father wouldn't accept the Avatar.
"Sure, he'll thank you. But you'll still be a disgrace to him. That's just how he is…" Katara said.
Zuko held back a retort. Katara had never even met his father yet she sounded as if she'd known him for years, before even he had. But when he thought about it he could see all the times his father had proved what she had said was true.
Slowly he lowered the dagger and his grip on Aang's collar loosened. Katara sighed a breath of relief. Zuko looked one last time at the Avatar, then Katara, and moved away. Katara watched him go and then Sokka appeared.
"Why didn't he kill Aang?" Sokka asked.
Katara shrugged, not wanting to talk about it. "Let's get him so medical attention." She said motioning to Aang. She had moved her hand behind his back to prop him up after Zuko had let go.
Sokka nodded and helped her carry him below deck to find someone who could help with his burns.