Book 1: Water
Chapter 6: Imprisoned
Chapter 7: Winter Solstice Part 1: The Spirit World
Chapter 8: Winter Solstice Part 2: Avatar Roku
A/N: Hey all, newest update for ya:) I decided to put these three together because Zuko only makes a brief appearance in chapter 6 and chapter 7 and 8 go together so...here we go! Chapter 5 is completely canon since that episode pretty much has nothing to do with Zuko. Enjoy!
"Zuko, look." Emi said quietly holding up a pretty blue ribbon with a small stone attached. Zuko walked over to her and gently took the scrap of fabric out of her hands. He examined it closely for a moment, tracing the pattern on the smooth stone.
"Her necklace." He muttered. He picked up Emi's wrist from where it was swinging easily at her side. He tied the ribbon around it, running his fingers over the knot to make sure it would stay.
"I just don't want to lose it." he explained. Emi nodded and they both looked out to the sea.
"We need to leave! Where is Uncle?" Zuko asked, a bit frustrated. Emi tossed her hair out of her face and looked around before shrugging.
"I don't know. Why don't you go look for him? I will let the soldiers know we are leaving soon." Emi suggested. They had taken a short break to let everyone stretch their legs a bit before continuing their journey for the avatar by sea. Zuko nodded and walked off, shouting for Uncle as he went.
"Uncle! Uncle where are you?"" He called, finally stumbling across him sitting in a pool of hot water. "Uncle, what are you doing? We need to move on, we are closing in on the avatar." He explained.
"You look tired, Prince Zuko, why don't you join me?" he said, heating the hot spring even more.
"It's time to go!"
"You should take your teacher's advice and relax a little."
"Enough. We need to leave now! Get out of the water." He commanded.
"Alright then" Uncle said, making to stand when Zuko blocked his eyes, horrified.
"On second thought, stay. But we are leaving in half an hour, and I will go without you!" he warned before stalking away. Uncle Iroh sank back into the water and sighed happily.
"Zuko, maybe we should go check on Uncle. We are leaving soon, and he hasn't showed." Emi said worriedly, pacing as the crew prepared the ship.
"You're right. Come on, let's go get him." Zuko agreed, leading the way to the hot springs. When they arrived, they found nothing but a pile of rocks right where Uncle should be.
"Maybe he thought you left without him." One soldier suggested. Emi shook her head
"No. Something isn't right here." She said.
"The rocks." Zuko said, pointing to them.
"Maybe a landslide?" a different soldier asked.
"Land doesn't slide up. Those rocks didn't move naturally. My Uncle has been captured by earthbenders!" He growled. Emi clenched her fists in an unusual show of anger.
"We need to go find him." She snapped. Without a word to the crew Zuko grabbed her hand and together they ran back to the ship, quickly leaping up on Makoto's saddle, Zuko in the front and Emi sitting behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist.
"Look," she pointed to the tracks that covered the ground.
"Ostrich Horse." Zuko confirmed. "Main transportation of the Earth Kingdom." Without another word he nudged the Komodo Rhino in the direction of the tracks. They followed them for a while until Zuko pointed to something on the ground. "Look, a sandal." He said, hopping down from Makoto and gingerly lifting the shoe.
"Is it Uncle's?" Emi asked. Zuko sniffed the shoe and grimaced. Emi gave him a strange look and he nodded sheepishly.
"There!" Zuko shouted, running toward the circle of earthbenders and kicking the huge rock about to come down on Uncle's hands away. Emi rushed around to Iroh's side just as Zuko's foot cracked down on the chains binding his hands.
"Good Form, Prince Zuko." Uncle complimented, rattling his chains a bit.
"You taught me well." Zuko said slyly. The three of them turned to the earthbenders, who were all ready to fight.
"Surrender now!" the leader commanded. "You are clearly outnumbered!"
"Well that's true…"Emi began.
"But you are clearly outmatched." Uncle finished. The only response was all five of the earthbenders hurling rocks at them at the same time. They immediately responded and the fighting began. Uncle swung the chain still attached to his wrist around and destroyed a rock being thrown at him before using the other chain to throw the earth bender against the wall and causing rocks to rain down on him. Zuko tossed fire blasts at two other earthbenders, and the rocks they were bending fell down on top of them. Emi ran up to where one earthbender was and kicked the rock he had floating in the air so that it knocked into his stomach and made him tumble to the ground.
The last of the earthbenders attempted to throw a rock at Zuko's head, but Iroh was having none of that. He wrapped the chain around the rock and swung it around in a circle before hurling it back towards the man, knocking him into the wall. Just when Emi had thought they were through, one of the benders who had managed to recover pulled two huge towers of rocks into the air and was about to throw them at Zuko when Emi knocked his feet out from under him and then quickly rolled away, barely avoiding being crushed by the rocks.
Zuko pulled her up from the ground and wrapped her into a hug. "Emi are you crazy? You could have been crushed!" Emi rolled her eyes and glanced at Iroh, who was looking at them with a small twinkle in his eyes that Emi hadn't seen before.
"Zuko, I'm fine." Emi reassured him, pulling back from the hug and giving him a sheepish smile. He still didn't look convinced, but decided to let it go. Grabbing her hand, he led her over to where Iroh was standing and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Now, will you please put some clothes on?" He asked, and Emi and Uncle laughed.
"It was this town." Zuko said, leading the way. He was standing right outside of the door to the main building when a man came out, sighing heavily. He gasped as he went face to face with Zuko. "Couldn't sleep?" Zuko asked, pushing the man backwards. "Seen the avatar lately?"
Emi paced back and forth across the ship nervously, wringing her hands. Zuko was looking out of a telescope at the avatar, who was sailing right into fire nation territory…a place that they were certainly not supposed to be.
"Zuko, in all of your sixteen years this is one of the foolish things you have done! Have you forgotten you were banished?" he snapped. His voice came out harsh but Emi knew it was because He was just as worried as she was. "What if you got caught?" this was quieter, but just as serious.
"I have no choice Uncle." He said. "I am following the avatar. My father will understand."
"You give him too much credit Zuko." Emi said darkly.
"My brother is not the understanding type." Uncle added, arms crossed.
"There they are! Helmsman, full speed ahead." Zuko called out. Emi felt the ship lurch forward and looked up to see a mass in the sky that she could see was the avatar. The middle of the ship opened up to reveal a catapult with the smelly sulfur ball ready to be shot into the sky. Uncle complained about the smell, but Emi was too worried to notice. They were gaining on the avatar, and they were inching closer and closer to firenation territory. She highly doubted it could end well.
The fire ball was shot and just missed the flying bison…Appa, Emi remembered it being called. But it was what was on the sea and not in the air that caught her attention.
"Blockade." She ground out, watching as Zuko's eyes widened and Uncle squared his shoulders.
"We are still in Earth Kingdom territory. If we turn around now they cannot arrested you." Uncle tried to reason with him.
"He's not turning around!" Zuko argued.
"Please, Prince Zuko, If the Fire Nation captures you, there is nothing I can do! Do not follow the avatar." Uncle warned. Zuko clenched his eyes shut and Emi felt her heart clench, knowing what he was going to do before he said it.
"I'm sorry Uncle. I'm sorry Emi." He whispered. "Men! Run the blockade!" He turned to her with a pleading gaze and Emi knew she was going to forgive him again. Her breathing stopped altogether when she saw what had to be a hundred fire balls hurling towards their ship from the blockade. She immediately dropped to the ground and felt Zuko's arms go around her. They both jumped up when that round had stopped, but she knew damage had been done to the ship.
"Zuko! The engine has been damaged, we need to stop and make repairs!" a crew member shouted.
"Do. Not. Stop. This. Ship." Zuko snarled.
"We are on a collision course Zuko!" Emi said, holding on to Zuko's arm; a habit she had when one or both of them were in danger.
"We can make it!" he insisted, resting his hand where Emi's own were wrapped tightly around his arm. Emi squeezed her eyes shut, but when she heard the grinding of engines stopping she snapped them open. Her, Zuko and Uncle all glared at Zhao as they passed, Zuko drawing Emi closer to him as they did.
"Why didn't he arrest me Uncle? What kind of game is he playing?" Zuko asked angrily, gripping the metal railing on the ship tightly.
"He wants to follow you. He know you will lead him to the prize you are both after." Uncle explained.
"Well if he wants to follow my trail of smoke, then so be it." Zuko said. He opened the trap door in the middle of the ship and walked down to where a small ship was docked.
"Uncle, keep heading north. Zhao will follow the smoke trail while I use as I cover." He explained. He climbed into the small boat and held his hand out to Emi. "Come with me?" he asked. She nodded and grabbed his hand, letting him help her into the boat. They both stood as Iroh opened the back gate of the ship and lowered them into the water.
BANG!
"What was that?" Emi asked as the building shook. Zuko pressed a finger to his lips in the universal 'be quiet' signal as four shadowy figures ran up several flights of stairs. Without a word from either of them, they quickly followed them. Emi made it up to the top floor first and flung an arm out to stop Zuko, pointing to where Aang, Katara, and Sokka were hiding as the four fire sages loudly discussed how Aang had gotten into a room with a very complicated looking door.
They snuck around and grabbed Aang, making sure they made no noise. When the fire sages opened the door and found only Momo, they were ambushed by Katara and Sokka who both expected Aang to leap into the room. That's when they decided to make their presence known.
"Sorry, but the avatar is coming with us." He told them, leading Aang towards the stairs. "Close the doors quickly." He instructed the sages. Just then Aang maneuvered around Zuko and sent a blast of air that knocked him down the stairs. Emi lunged towards him, but she refused to firebend. Instead she ran after him, but he managed to get behind the closing doors and they slammed shut just as she reached them. She pushed her palms against the door and smiled to herself. Well done Aang. She thought. She turned around; not wanting to face the fire sages as Katara triumphantly declared that he had made it. Emi and Katara locked gazes just long enough for Emi to nod and try to convey to her that she hadn't really been trying to hurt Aang. Katara gave her a small smile of thanks before she turned to Zuko, who had recovered from Aang's attack.
A flash of bright blue light blinded them all for a moment, and not a second after it ended, Zuko and the other sages were firing away at the door, attempted to get it open.
"It's sealed itself." Zuko said, frustrated.
"It was the light, Zuko." Emi said. "Avatar Roku doesn't want anyone getting in." she added. They all knew the only thing left to do was wait.
"Why did you help the avatar?" Zuko asked, turning to the one fire sage who had been with the trio.
"Because it was once the fire sages' duty to help the avatar. It is still our duty." The fire sage said. They heard clapping from across the room and turned to see Commander Zhao walking toward them. Emi groaned. She didn't see how it could get much worse…which naturally meant that it would.
"What a moving and heartfelt performance." He sneered. "I'm sure the Fire lord will enjoy hearing how you betrayed him."
"Commander Zhao." One of the fire nation sages bowed to him.
"And of course, Prince Zuko and Lady Emi. It was a noble effort, but your smoke screen didn't work." Emi and Zuko scowled at him. "Two traitors in one day…Yes Lady Emi, just two. I do not consider you a traitor."
"Well that's a relief." She said sarcastically. "You're too late anyway. The avatar is sealed in." she said indicating to the temple door.
"Well," he started smugly "he has to come out eventually."
Zhao waited patiently for the doors to open, and Emi was worried. She and Zuko had been chained against a pillar much like Katara and Sokka did. The blinding blue light from before came again as the door opened and everyone shielded their eyes. Zhao and his firebenders sent strong waves of fire towards Aang, but what everyone saw when the smoke cleared shocked them all.
"Avatar Roku." The fire sage said, amazed. Aang/Roku sent out an orb of fire that burned away the chains binding both Zuko and Emi and Katara and Sokka without hurting them. Zuko and Emi immediately left, knowing that the temple was soon to come down. They ran until they reached the ship, the moon shining bright above them. Emi sagged against the sides of the small vessel while Zuko quickly set the course of the ship. When he was done, he sat next to Emi. She laid her head on his shoulder and soon fell asleep, while he stayed wide awake, watching for the avatar and for his ship, where they would reunite with uncle.
A/N: Ta da! This took me ages to write. I'm really really excited to write books 2 and 3 because that's where all the good stuff happens. Writing book one is kind of a chore:P Dont get me wrong, I'm enjoying it, I just have soo many ideas for the other two books and I can't wait:) So, good stuff coming up hopefully! And, to try to bribe you guys to review, something very exciting is going to happen in the next chapter...I'm just not telling you what :) So, reviews, and the chapter will hopefully go up tonight!
Much Love,
Em
