"Aang, have you seen Suki this morning? We have to leave soon." said Sokka as he walked towards Aang who was currently loading their supplies on Appa.
Not thinking anything of it, Aang shrugged and replied "she's probably off somewhere with Katara. They'll be back soon."
Sokka groaned and walked away in hopes for finding the two girls soon. "Does anyone but me care about having a strict schedule?" he thought to himself as she stumbled through the village.
After a half an hour of searching Sokka failed to find the girls. He slowly started to become a little more worried and ran back to Aang and Toph to see if they arrived at Appa while he was gone.
"Oh hey, did you find them? Appa's all ready to go." said Aang with a smile on his face.
Sokka shook his head in defeat. "No, they're no where to be found. I searched the whole island and can't find any trace of them."
Toph snickered. "I'll go find them, snoozels. You're not the best at finding stuff."
"I'll go with you Toph." said Aang as he jumped on the ground off of Appa.
After walking the entire village Toph was unable to sense them nearby. By this point Sokka caught up to them.
"Okay, now I'm starting to get worried. Who just disappears like this without telling us?" Sokka exclaimed.
Aang agreed. "You're right, Sokka. Something doesn't seem right here." Worry started to come over Aang as he tried to figure out where they could be. He knew that this was a strange situation but he would do whatever he had to in order to get back the woman he loved.
"I guess Ba Sing Se will have to wait. I'll send a note to Zuko explaining that I'll be a few days late." Aang sighed as he walked towards the town center.
Was this what Roku tried to warn him about? He did tell him not to bring his friends but Roku said that he was in danger, not his friends. Something about this whole situation seemed very suspicious but Aang would not stop until his friends are back safe. Aang blamed himself for their disappearance. He knew deep down that he should've fought harder for them to stay back at the South Pole, but he let Katara and Sokka talk him out of it. Now he was paying the price for not listening to Roku. Aang was ready to risk his life in order to save Suki and Katara. There would be hell to pay for whoever took them.
After Aang sent the hawk with the note for Zuko he went back to Sokka and Toph so that they could come up with a plan. As he approached them he found the tow of them sitting on the ground, sulking in their defeat.
Normally in this situation Katara would be the one to step up and encourage everyone to keep going but of course she wasn't there at the moment. This struck a pain in Aang's heart as he realized he would have to fill the void for the group that is normally filled by Katara, his other half.
Aang took a deep breath, calming himself, before he continued. "So what's the plan? Any leads Sokka?" Desperation was present in his voice.
"I've got nothing. I can't think straight knowing that Suki is in danger." said Sokka.
Toph, trying to lighten the mood, said "we don't know that they're in danger. They could just be lost."
Aang scrunched his eyebrows in confusion and said "Where did this new, optimistic Toph come from?"
She chuckled. "Sorry twinkle toes. That was a one time thing. In all actuality I think that they are in danger."
Looking at the ground in defeat, Aang said "I know. We should probably start looking for some clues. I can't continue to stand around here knowing that Katara could be hurt." He started to walk away towards the back of the village in order for them to start their search.
Sokka jumped up and exclaimed "and Suki!"
Toph rolled her eyes and grabbed him by the ear dragging him towards where Aang was taking them. "Stop complaining and get to looking, snoozels."
After a while of searching Sokka came across a suspicious item. "Hey guys, take a look at this."
Aang and Toph ran over to see Sokka holding something taken from off the ground. Aang was curious as to what this could mean.
"What is that?" he asked.
Sokka opened his hand more towards Aang's view. "It's a shirshu dart. It's used to knock your enemy unconscious."
"You think whoever took Katara and Suki used this to knock them out?" Toph asked.
Aang's eyes glared towards the ground. He hated knowing the fact that Katara was attacked and shot with one of those darts. He not only promised himself that he would protect her, but her father trusted him to be able to protect and he let him down.
A strange path of footprints caught Aang's attention, breaking him from his train of thought. "Look, it's footprints going into the forest. Maybe it's from whoever took Katara!" Aang exclaimed as he ran into the forest following the path.
"Wait, Aang! Shouldn't we get Appa just in case?" Sokka reasoned.
Stopping him in his tracks, Aang turned towards Sokka and said "you're probably right I'll call him." He then quickly took out his whistle and blew in it, calling for Appa. Within a matter is seconds Appa flew down to greet them.
The three of them pilled on to Appa as he took off. Aang instructed him to stay close to the ground so they they could easily follow the footprints.
The trail took them deep into the forest and felt like it went in forever. This gave Aang some time to thing about this situation as a whole. He had been so focused on finding Katara that he had little time to really process what had happened.
Katara was gone and possibly hurt. Of course Aang could only assume the severity of her injuries, but even just thinking about it caused him to cringe.
"What is she's hurt? What if she's in pain? What if she's scared? What if she's..." Aang stopped himself before continuing with the last what if. He did not want to even imagine Katara hurt, let alone dead.
"Why am I such an idiot? Roku warned me that something would happen and he made it seem like it was serious, so why didn't I listen to him?" Aang continued to beat himself up for allowing his friends to accompany him on his travel.
"I'm sorry, Katara. This is all my fault. I should've never let you come on this trip." whispered Aang as a tear fell down his face.
Even though he whispered this Sokka still heard him and moved over to try to comfort him. He leaned over Appa's saddle towards where Aang was sitting and put his hand on his shoulder. This caused Aang to look up.
"This isn't your fault. None of us could've predicted this." Sokka tried to reason with him.
"Don't worry twinkle toes, we'll find them. Whoever took them is gonna have to deal with me." exclaimed Toph as she slammed her fists together.
This calmed Aang down a little. He knew how strong Toph and Sokka where and that they would stop at nothing to get them back.
He smiled and said "thanks guys." as he continued to look down at the ground following the footprints.
~ meanwhile ~
(Katara's pov)
As I opened my eyes I was quickly made aware of a sharp pain coming from my stomach. I went to reach for it but my arms were restricted by chains. I looked down to see a freshly cut wound still dripping by with blood. A sharp gasp left my lips as I started to shake. The air surrounding me was cold and damp causing me to shiver.
After a few seconds my eyes started to adjust to the dark lighting, allowing me to take in the strange environment around me. There wasn't much to the room but the dark, marble rock walls allowed to infer that I was in some underground cave.
How did I get here? Where is "here"? I can't remember how I get here. The last thing I remember doing was helping Suki look for her mom and then...
"Suki!" I exclaimed out loud. "Where are you? Are you okay?" I screamed as loud as my dry throat would allow me to but I had a feeling she couldn't hear me. I hoped that wherever she was she's safe and not in as much pain as I am.
How long have I been here chained up like this, I wondered. I realized no matter how much pain I am in I need to get out of here. The chains made a loud noise as I unsuccessfully tried my hardest to free my hands. If only I could loosen the cuffs around my wrists I could use the moisture from the air and bend my way out of here.
After several minutes of squirming I finally gave up on loosening the chains. I have never been one to give up easily but there doesn't seem to be a way out of here anytime soon. If only Aang were here right now he could get me out and we could take down whoever did this to Suki and I.
Tears started to fall down my face after realizing Aang wasn't here. Of course I not only needed to be saved by him but I also needed to be with him. I needed to feels his arms as they safely wrap around me. I needed to feel his lips softly on mine moving together in harmony. I needed to hear his soothing laugh as his stormy grey eyes lit up with joy just for me. I needed him.
Is he okay? Did he get captured too? Is he looking for me? Of course he's looking for me, right? Its funny that even when I'm in danger I'm worried about Aang more than myself. It has been and will always be this way. I'm constantly worried about whether he's cheerful or high-spired and not sad or discouraged. He could be very hard on himself about his avatar duties so I've always tried to calm him down and bring him back to earth. He's probably so worried there's nothing I could do about it.
Suddenly a dark shadow appeared around the corner, breaking me from my thoughts. I quickly tried to dry my tears so whoever was behind the corner didn't think I was weak. I couldn't see their face or body but I could tell that they were there watching me.
"Who are you and what have you done with Suki?" I shouted at the strange figure while pulling on the chains. If only I could get out of these chains then I could fight my way out.
As I was wiggling around in the chains I heard a deep voice chuckle, which immediately caused me to stop moving. It struck an unpleasant chord in me; it was very disturbing somehow.
"My sweet Katara, why don't you just calm down and we can have a nice little chat." said the voice.
I was still unable to see whoever it was but I recognized that voice. I can't put my finger on it but I know I know that voice.
Taking a deep breath to compose myself I calmly asked " I'll talk but who are you?"
That shadow chuckled again sending a shiver down my spine. "So eager to get to the point I see. Oh well, there's no fun in beating around the bush is there?"
As soon as the stranger said that I froze in fear. I know what that voice belongs to. But how? How is he here right now? Why did she capture Suki and I? My eyes sharpened their view as I glared at her stepping out of the shadows.
"What do you want with me, Hama?"
