HOWDY YALl! Guess who's back again! I hope that everyone had a great summer. I was away at a summer camp with no internet access. Now I'm in college and writing with a head full of steam! I have planned out the rest of this story and I must say I'm quite excited to get back to writing again. There will be 2 chapters this week. One on Monday and `45 will be released on Saturday like normal. After that, we will be back to our regular schedule. Please don't forget to review, favorite, and follow! SEE YALL LATER!

I DON'T OWN ATLA

"You can't keep running forever!"

Ty Lee jumped over a stall full of exotic fruits and vegetables. She looked over her shoulder and frowned as she saw the two Fire Nation soldiers that were hot on her tail and continued to run.

"I'll keep running until you catch me!" she shouted, but not before she slammed into a cart that looked to be selling cabbages.

"My cabbages!" the seller cried after he watched his hard work get spoiled in the mud and grime that was in the streets. He angrily turned his head towards Ty Lee who was dusting herself off. "You!" He pointed. "You did this to me!"

"Look, sir, I'm really sorry about this," Ty Lee said, defensively waving her arms in the air as she slowly backed away from the angry man. She glanced around and found a pipe that was not being used. "I didn't mean to run into your stall, but I really must get going."

The angry cabbage salesman started walking closer to Ty Lee and pulled out a knife. "Not this time! I've had it with people knocking over my stall, so this time, you're gonna get it!" he declared as he charged the acrobat.

Ty Lee's eyes widened. Shit! I don't want to hurt him! She effortlessly dodged the sharp jabs and blows that the man was giving her. "Sir, if you would just calm down…"

"No! I'm not calming down!" the salesman cried as he jumped and slashed Ty Lee in the arm. She instantly grabbed her now bleeding arm and glared at the man.

"Hey! That could have taken off my arm!" she shouted as she got into an offensive stance.

"That was the point!" the cabbage seller yelled as he charged for another blow. She jumped out of the way of the crazy man and grabbed the pipe, swinging it around wildly so that the cabbage seller got off-balanced.

After a few minutes of fighting, the cabbage seller started slowing down. He dropped his knife, panting heavily. "You won't get away that easily," he said between heaves.

"I think I already did," Ty Lee said as she smirked to herself. She then dropped the pipe and chopped the man in the back of the neck. That should keep him down for a while, she thought to herself as she ran away from the scene, though did not get very far, however.

"Stop running!"

She looked up and saw two soldiers were now in front of her. She searched frantically, spotted a ladder, and sprinted towards it. She started climbing the ladder when the soldiers began throwing fire at her. Shit! She panicked to herself as she climbed as fast as she could.

"We said stop running!" Nu yelled from the bottom of the ladder. Je was ready to launch another round of fire at Ty Lee. Both were clearly agitated and wanted this chase to be over by now.

"And I told you that I wasn't going to stop!" the acrobat shouted as she reached the top of the ladder. She looked across the expanse of space and noticed that there were only small gaps between the buildings. She smirked to herself and ran fluidly across the rooftops of the buildings.

Nu stopped in the middle of it. "Je!" Nu yelled as he ran through the streets attempting to chase Ty Lee.

"I'm coming, you impatient piece of shit!" Je yelled back as he took off towards the girl, launching a series of fireballs at her in the process.

Ty Lee felt the hairs on her neck tingle as she backflipped over the fireballs heading towards her. She then ducked under the others that were after it. "Man, glad I trained with Azula or else I would be totally fucked right now." She wiped her forehead and started running again.

"I thought those would have gotten her! She didn't even see them coming!" Nu cried with his eyes widened. "How are we supposed to catch her now?!"

"Jeez, I don't know, maybe we should try RUNNING?!" Je yelled to his partner, who gained a sweatdrop on top of his forehead.

"Man, I should have thought of that!" Nu said as he rubbed his chin and tilted up his head. Both men immediately took off after Ty Lee who, at this point, was a few blocks away.

"I think I lost them," she reassured herself as she hopped off the roof of the building, wandering aimlessly down the street of the crowded marketplace. "Maybe I could just walk around and act normal for once."

As she walked, she spotted some baby clothing for sale and decided to take a look. She walked over to the merchant: a young woman. She had dark brown hair tied in a bun, dark green eyes, and was wearing a gray arpon around her waist.

"Hello! Welcome to my shop!" she excitedly called from across the room, walking over to investigate what was going on. "How can I help you today?"

"Well, one of my friends is having a baby and I wanted to see if there was anything that I could get for her while I'm here," the acrobat replied as she looked around the store.

"Sure!" the merchant replied as she stepped into the aisle that Ty Lee was currently in. "Is there anything in particular you are looking for?"

Ty Lee shook her head. "No, but I was hoping for something that would keep the baby warm," she answered as she eyed the little jumpsuits that were on the different racks.

"Ah. You don't live around here, do you?" the merchant asked the acrobat.

Ty Lee shook her head again. "No, I live on Kyoshi Island," Ty Lee lied effortlessly to the store clerk. She perused the items on the shelves until she found a deep red-and-blue onesie that had stars on it. It was made out of soft cotton and even had little footies at the bottom of it.

"Wow, you're far away from home, " the store clerk admired as she brought the onesie to the counter to ring it up. "How did you manage to get all the way out here?"

"Well, I'm with a group of friends who wanted to see the countryside, so we decided that it would be a good idea to travel around," the acrobat explained as she grabbed the bag and rushed out of the shop.

Ty Lee sprinted through the streets of the village for what felt like hours. She was constantly checking her surroundings and ensuring that no one was following her. She weaved in and out of allies, hid behind corners, and even contemplated going on top of the roofs of houses.

After much time of careful hiding and running, she finally made it out of the village. She let out a sigh of relief and started running back towards the camp where the others were. She ran through the dark lush forests that dotted the way back to the Air Temple.

After a couple of minutes of running, she suddenly stopped when she smelled something burning. Shit! They followed me?! She looked behind her to see half of the forest burning to the ground.

"We know you're there, Ty Lee!"

She turned around and spotted 25 Snufferes on different tree branches locked on her, along with a group of Snufferes surrounding her on the ground.

"Well...fuck."

Aang was sleeping in his metal cell when he heard her voice for the first time. He had barely been holding on to his sanity when he heard her sweet voice for the first time.

To say that Aang has been through a lot would be an understatement. For the past few weeks, Aang has been beaten, bruised, burned, and scarred. It's gotten so bad that he honestly does not know how long he has been imprisoned.

"Zula?" he called out as he opened his eyes slowly in an attempt to not make his already bad headache worse. "Zula, where are you?" he called again, this time more groggily, out to the empty room.

"Hey!" one of the guards shouted as he entered the cell. He was around 5'11" and weighed around 180 pounds. He had on dark clothing and bore a large knife in his hand. "I thought I told you that you were alone and are always going to be alone, you little piece of shit!" He slashed Aang's arm in frustration.

Aang groaned in pain as he felt the blood run down his arm. He glared at the guard, but before he could do anything, the guard slapped him in the side of the head, causing him to hiss in pain.

"Wow, this is pitiful! The almighty Avatar reduced to nothing but a whimpering baby. Poor baby, would you like some milky?" the guard taunted as he kicked Aang over and over again.

"Iralo! You are not allowed to hurt the prisoners!" a female guard called from down the hallway. Iralo grunted in response and gave the Avatar one final kick in the chest.

"You're lucky she stepped in, you filthy Airbender. Next time, you won't get off so easily!" Iralo spat as he walked away from the whimpering bender.

"Z-Zula, I n-need you," Aang whispered weakly before finally going back unconscious.

The second time Aang heard her voice, four days had passed and Aang was attempting to meditate. He was sitting cross-legged in his cell trying to steady his breathing enough. However, the lack of food and water made it practically impossible.

"I can do this...I can do this...I can do this," he kept repeating to himself under his breath. Finally, after a long amount of trying and concentration, he finally entered a state of meditation and was now able to enter the Spirit World. When he opened his eyes, he found that the wind was blowing harder than usual and that the sky was slightly gray. "Huh...that's not supposed to happen," he said to himself as he walked on the grass.

"Aang?"

Aang whipped his head towards the direction of her voice, yet could not find her. "Zula?" he whispered as he tried desperately to find her. "Zula, where are you?" He frantically searched for her in the wide open field. Unbeknownst to him, the sky and wind were steadily picking up as the poor Avatar searched harder for his love.

"Aang, are you okay?!"

"Yes, Azula! Everything is fine. Just tell me where you are!" Aang shouted as he ran through the meadow, trying to figure out why he could not find his love. He searched behind rocks, holes that were in the ground, and high in trees. "Azula, please! Come out wherever you are! I need to see you and hear you! Just please come out. I don't know how much more of this I can take!" He cried out as he fell to his knees in pain and suffering. All around him, storm clouds were swirling. Blinding lightning was high up in the sky and loud crashes of thunder echoed through the meadow.

Suddenly, it all stopped. Aang gazed up when he felt the halt. His eyes scanned the surroundings for any possible reason as to why everything could have suddenly ended. And then he heard it.

"Aang...I know you're scared. I know that you are alone and hurt. I know that you are cold, hungry, and lonely. I know that you feel weak and I know that you might not want to keep going. But Aang, I need you to keep going! I've figured out a way to get to you! I need you to hold on for just a little while longer! I know you can do it...just please hold on for a few more weeks! Please, Aangy. I'm coming and then we can be together again! I know you can do it! Don't worry, my love. I'm coming for you wherever you are!"

Aang was speechless for a solid few seconds after he heard Azula's speech. Never had he heard Azula say something that emotional. The only thing that came close in his mind was the speech that she gave at the Stronghold. He was so stunned that he did not even register the clouds slowly parting and a figure appearing in the distance. After a few seconds of staring towards the strange appearance, it finally clicked in his brain who it was.

"Zula..."

When Azula heard Aang say her name, she cried tears of joy and ran to where she heard his voice. She ran and ran until she found him collapsed on his knees, gripping the ground. Immediately, she could tell that he was barely tethered to the Spirit World. Her suspicion was confirmed when she tried to rub his back and her hand went straight through.

"Oh, Aang," Azula whispered as she tried to hold her boyfriend, weeping in the wide open meadow. "It's okay, my love. You don't have to be strong right now.

"Z-Zula," Aang croaked between sobs as he tried to get closer to her presence. "It hurts, Zula."

Azula nodded her head and bent down to be closer to him. "I know it hurts, baby. I'm going to find you. I promise. I need you to keep going for just a while longer. I will find you, Aang. Just a little while more and then we will be together again."

"P-promise?" he whispered as he met her eyes. Gray collided with gold in a fierce battle as one yearned to keep the other from giving up.

Azula moved her forehead so that it was level with Aang's. "Forever and always," she whispered back to him with as much love as she could muster.

The two did not move a muscle for what felt like an eternity. Both knew that it was not going to be able to last, but neither cared. All that mattered to them was knowing that the other was okay.

As they held each other, Azula began to notice Aang fading out and her eyes widened immediately. "Aang!" she cried as she longed to retrieve him.

"So...tired..." Aang mumbled to her, his eyes drooping heavily.

"I know, baby. I know you're tired. But you have got to stay awake with me. You can't sleep yet!" she pleaded in an effort to keep the Avatar for a moment longer.

"But...I'm...so...tired..." With those words, Aang's figure began to rapidly fade away.

"Aang! Don't go yet! Please, I need to tell you something!" the Princess called to her boyfriend.

For a split second, Aang's form stopped fading and remained as it was. He stared longingly at her with his tired and confused eyes and beckoned feebly for her to continue talking. "W-what?" he barely whispered to her.

"I-I lov-"

BOOM!