DISCLAIMER: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor am I in any way affiliated with Michael Dante DiMartino or Bryan Konietzko. This story is purely fan-made.

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Zuko shut his eyes and mentally groaned. The Avatar had not just said what he think he said. "We're with Azula" was easily the most idiotic thing Zuko had ever heard the child say, and that included the "We can get along and be friends" speech awhile ago.

The Dai Li didn't seem to buy this pathetic excuse for a lie either, if the way they tightened their grip on the boulders was any indication. Although tired, Zuko was still up for a fight if the Dai Li attacked. He needed to protect Katara and his uncle at any costs, and a little fatigue wasn't about to stop him.

Swiftly glancing around, Zuko discerned that they were in the throne room, and that luckily Azula was not on the throne. Not that he had expected her to be after causing the cavern to collapse, but it was Azula. You could never be too sure.

Zuko's legs shook for a moment, and then returned to normal. He guessed that redirecting Azula's lightning seemed to have taken a lot out of him, but he was just glad to be alive. Admittedly it had been risky, but otherwise Azula would've harmed the Avatar, or worse, Katara.

Courtesy of a side-long glance, Zuko could see that Katara was afraid. She tried to mask it bravely, but her eyes gave her away. The deep pools of cerulean were shining with fear and Zuko wanted nothing more than to take her in his arms and tell her that everything would be okay.

You can do that later, Zuko told himself, but for now you have to figure out a way of leaving this city alive.

"Azula is dead." He blurted out suddenly. Every single one of the agents turned to stare at him, and most of his companions turned with them. Katara in particular, because she was the closest, was giving him odd looks. Zuko raised his eyebrows momentarily, telling her to play along.

"It's true." Katara said, much to Zuko's relief. It was obvious she had no idea what she was saying, but he was immensely grateful to her for going with his idea. "We saw it with our own eyes."

There was a long pause, in which Zuko held his breath. The Dai Li weren't going to fall for this lie, that was obvious, so now it was just a case of who was going to attack first.

"Princess Azula is not dead." One agent said sternly. "She has just sent a message to us requiring our immediate assistance. It appears the underground city has collapsed." The agent paused. "But you wouldn't have anything to do with that, would you?"

"Of course we did." Toph scoffed, before anyone had a chance to deny it.

Seemingly thrown by this honest answer, none of the agents spoke for a moment. However, they didn't release their boulders either.

"You could have risked Ba Sing Se collapsing." An agent spoke up finally. "If you had penetrated any more rock it could've caused a major landslide."

"But it didn't." Toph said, deliberately slowly. "So why don't you just go on and get out of our way like good little obedient agents?"

"How can I put this…?" Another agent mused. "No."

"Azula may not be dead," Iroh spoke up, "but had it not been for your agents then she would've been crushed in the landslide that one of us created."

Katara glanced at Zuko proudly, and discreetly squeezed his hand. Zuko smiled back and turned to face the agents.

"Amongst our group there are four masters, one for each element. We have the Avatar on our side. We have skills in weaponry. Combined, we can cause destruction on a very, very large scale. So whatever you think Azula may do to you, it's nothing compared to what we'll do if you don't move out of the way." Zuko hissed the last parts dangerously, his eyes narrowed.

"I think what he's trying to say is that if you don't move, we'll kill you." Sokka added helpfully, smiling.

Every single one of the Avatar's group knew that no one would die tonight at their hands, but the Dai Li didn't need to know that. Zuko's little speech had the agents glancing at each other nervously.

"You've never killed before." One agent sneered, quickly glancing at his fellow agents, as if for support.

"No one's ever stood in our way before." Katara told him coldly, her eyes as icy as her voice. "And I'm sure you'd hate to be the first ones."

As if on cue, every member of the Avatar's group withdrew either their element or their weapon.

"It's your choice really." Aang said, in a pleasant voice that had an uncharacteristically menacing undertone to it.

"You-you're just a bunch of kids!" One agent spluttered, realizing that they were losing the battle of words.

Aang stepped forward, and pointed out his companions one by one.

"Waterbending master. Broadswords expert. Firebending Master. Earth King. Warrior. Earthbending master. " Aang paused, and then pointed to himself. "Avatar."

"I think we have the advantage." Toph said. "Now get the hell out of our way, I'm getting tired of this conversation." She stamped the floor harshly, directing it in front of her so that the earthy tile shook and the Dai Li fell to the floor. The boulders that they had been controlling fell to the floor with an almighty noise, but not one of the Avatar's group flinched.

"See, isn't it nice when we all agree on something?" Sokka asked patronizingly. He turned to his friends. "We better go."

There was an assortment of agreeing murmurs and slowly they began to move to the large, fancy doors at the other end of the large room. The Dai Li all stood up, but with a few well-placed water whips from Katara, they were all back on the ground again. Each time one of them attempted to get back up, one of the benders would send a mild attack that would have them crawling back on the floor again.

"Try any Earthbending and I'll throw you out the window." Toph called back absently, as if she thought the task not even a worthy challenge for her to put some threat into her voice.

"I bet they hate taking orders from a twelve year old girl." Zuko muttered in Katara's ear, making her giggle. Zuko smiled himself, loving the sound of Katara's laugh.

Walking in a group meant it took awhile for them all to get out of the throne room, even though there were only seven of them.

"I don't want to risk any surprise attacks." Aang told them when they had safely slammed the doors shut. "Toph, you're at the front with me. Iroh and Katara, you stay at the back. Kuei and Sokka, behind me. Zuko, stay in front of Katara and your uncle."

Without dispute, they all stood where Aang had instructed. Soon they were walking towards the palace entrance, wordlessly. However Sokka kept throwing dirty looks back at Zuko, who returned them in full force. After glaring at Zuko, Sokka quickly turned his softened gaze to his bemused younger sister, then sharply back at Zuko again.

The walk to the doors that meant they escaped the palace was agonizingly long, only made worse by the uncomfortable silence. Katara realized suddenly that Aang and Sokka would have no idea why Zuko had suddenly joined them, and why he wasn't trying to kill any of them.

Wait until they find out we're dating…I don't want to be a part of that conversation, Katara thought, smiling softly. Of course Aang would probably be devastated and Sokka would go insane with rage, but it'd be alright in the end. It had to be.

"Why is he here?" Sokka asked suddenly, breaking the silence. Katara glanced at Zuko, then walked up to her brother.

"He's here because he helped us to escape Azula." She said gently.

"Not when it counted. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have had to go through all this in the first place." Sokka snarled, glaring at Zuko again.

"If it wasn't for him we'd all be dead." Katara snapped back, "So maybe you should be a little more grateful."

"One good thing doesn't erase all the bad things." Sokka said stubbornly, and Katara knew that it would take him awhile to come around to the idea of accepting Zuko.

"What are you doing here anyway?" She asked, trying to change the subject. "Last time I check you don't go falling through roofs of strange places."

"It's a long, complicated story." Sokka said by way of explanation.

Katara raised her eyebrows expectantly, but Sokka said nothing more. Rolling her eyes, Katara walked back to her position and carried on walking in silence.

The whole group was tense and ready for any impending attack as they drew nearer the double doors they would escape from. Katara withdrew some water she still had in her pouch and began twirling it around her fingers absently. The water, she noticed a few moments later, had an unusual blue glowing effect to it, one that she hadn't noticed before. Also, this liquid seemed somehow smoother that what she was used to; it felt like wispy silk curling delicately around her fingers. Had the water always been like this? Surely not. Truth be told, in the catacombs and in the throne room she hadn't been paying much attention to the water, so wouldn't know if it had had the luminous effect then. Confused, Katara bended the glowing water so it enveloped her hand and made herself heal a small cut just below her thumb. The water shone even brighter and Katara squinted at her hand, which was now completely devoid of any dirt or injuries.

"Okay…" She murmured, frowning in confusion. What separated this water from the water she had been using previously she didn't know, but something weird was going on. Which meant that everything was back to normal.

"Something the matter?" Iroh asked gently, noticing Katara's expression and the water. Katara jumped and her eyes flicked to Iroh's soft golden ones.

"No, I just-"

"It appears the water is glowing."

"Yeah." Katara said lamely. "Any idea what that's about?"

"None I'm afraid." Iroh said, shaking his head, then adding brightly, "But I'm sure that it's nothing bad."

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you looked at it, Katara didn't have to wait long to test Iroh's theory out. No sooner had the group cautiously opened the palace doors and walked tentatively outside, were they met with the sight of about a hundred Dai Li agents obstructing the way at the bottom of the numerous steps.

"No way!" Toph complained loudly, having apparently sensed the vibrations of the Dai Li.

"Way." Aang replied miserably. He sighed heavily and turned back to the group. "We'll just have to fight our way out."

"The Dai Li are standing right next to a bank of water, I can wipe them all out in one go." Katara said confidently, then hesitated. "It'd only be temporary though, considering how many agents there are."

"It's a good start." Aang said, scanning the agents briefly. Katara could tell even in the weak moonlight that he was close to giving up; his shoulders were slumped and his voice lacked its normal spark and animation.

He's just a little tired, Katara thought frantically. She and Toph hadn't been there to properly witness the consequences of Aang being shot by lightning, so she was praying that tiredness was the only after-effect. Suddenly angry with everyone who had caused the young Avatar pain, Katara turned to the collective agents below her, still visible even though it must have been very late, considering the darkness still covering Ba Sing Se like a gothic blanket.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to use the water, Miss Katara." Iroh suggested quietly. Nodding, she withdrew the glowing blue liquid and prised apart her palms, causing a stream of shimmering water.

She narrowed her eyes in hatred as she pushed the liquid downwards and in the direction of her targets. The water shot down faster than Katara had ever seen it do before, and slammed into the lines of Dai Li agents, sending them all flying back. As they landed some feet back with a hard thud, Katara raised her eyebrows in surprise at the power of the water, but did not hesitate in bringing it back and repeating the attack as many times as needed.

"Come on!" She called to the others through gritted teeth as she started to descend down the steps. The shimmering water sliced through the air on its way back, and Katara deftly caught it and flung it back.

"What's with the water?" Sokka asked, quickly following behind his sister.

"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's pretty powerful." Aang replied, his feet only lightly touching each step on the way down. "Half the Dai Li agents can't even stand any more."

"Why aren't they fighting back?" Kuei asked, panting as he struggled to hurry down the steps.

"They don't have time." Iroh replied, throwing a glance back at the Earth King. "Katara is giving all she's got, and then some."

"Yeah," Zuko said, smiling proudly at the Water Tribe girl ahead of him. "She is."

He didn't know how their relationship would work with all the Avatar's friends back together, but he was determined to make it work somehow. Even if he risked his life by telling both the Avatar and Katara's brother that he was in love with her, it wouldn't matter. It had taken him too long to find someone like Katara, and he wasn't about to give her up without a fight.

Trying not to fall down these seemingly never-ending steps and concentrating on preoccupying the Dai Li agents was proving to be too much for Katara. She still had no idea where this miracle water had come from, but it was working its magic perfectly; the remaining Dai Li agents left standing were swaying and appeared disorientated.

Just one last attack, Katara thought, glancing down at her feet momentarily to check she wasn't about to trip up. If I can force them all into the river then I can freeze the water and we can get away safely…

The shining blue water came dashing back to her, and Katara skilfully ensnared it and took a deep breath.

"Stop!" She shouted to her friends, coming to a halt herself. There were still tens of steps left to run down, and Katara felt she had to put her undivided attention and energy into this move. "Aang, back me up on this." Katara instructed her young friend. "If there are any remaining agents left then push them into the river. I don't care how, just make sure they don't drown." She didn't want to be responsible for any deaths that she could have prevented, regardless of their previous crimes.

Katara felt a warm hand on her shoulder and looked behind her. Zuko stood there, giving her a small smile. His bright golden eyes spoke louder than words ever could; he was proud of her and he loved her.

Trying to contain the smile that wanted to spread across her face, Katara turned back to the front and breathed deeply. Then, without hesitation, she hurled the water so hard that it made her shoulders jolt slightly. Cutting through the air noiselessly, the water smacked into the few agents that were still standing and pushed them into the water with such force that upon impact, their bodies made a nasty slapping noise. Immediately the water in the river glowed a blinding blue and froze.

"Wow." Toph murmured. "That sounded painful."

"We have to get going." Sokka instructed, ignoring Toph's comment and taking charge. "Knowing our luck Azula'll be out any moment."

Every one of the group, besides Toph, glanced behind them instinctively just to check that no more unexpected enemies would pop up behind them. Thankfully, nothing was there besides the large stone pillars that supported the front of the palace.

"Don't jinx it, moron." Zuko muttered, as he began to walk down the steps.

"What was that?" Sokka screeched, causing Toph, stood at the side of him, to wince.

"Decibels, Snoozles, decibels!" She cringed. Sokka apologized sheepishly, as he too began to run down the steps.

Soon the pace began to pick up and they all ran down in silence. The unusually dim moon lit their way poorly, and Sokka began to worry if Yue had gotten back to the Spirit World okay. If the moon was weak then that meant that she was too…

Soon reaching the bottom of the steps (Finally! Katara thought grouchily) they paused for breath momentarily.

"Where's Appa?" Toph asked, turning to where she could sense Aang was standing.

"A little way from here." Aang replied, breathing heavily. "We had to make sure no one would spot him."

"Appa is your flying bison, yes?" Iroh asked also turning to Aang.

"Yeah." Sokka said instead. "Although what with all the extra people we're taking in we're going to have to trade him in for a flying marquee pretty soon."

"Sokka!" Toph exclaimed at his rudeness, kicking a small bit of earth at him. Dodging the earth, Sokka looked around his sister who would usually be the one to berate him.

Katara stood a little apart from the group, massaging her temple with her fingers with her eyes closed and face masked in pain.

"What's the matter?" Sokka asked worriedly, making his way over to her and began fussing over her.

"I…I don't feel very good." Katara said, her voice trembling. Suddenly she took a sharp intake of breath and her eyes shot open. Instead of the normal sapphire, there was just pure white covering both her entire eyes. As she breathed out, blinding white vapour exhaled also. The vapour dissipated in an instant, and then it was all over. Katara blinked in rapid succession as her breathing returned to normal.

"What was that?" Sokka asked, his own eyes wide.

"I don't know." Katara shrugged. "But I feel better." She examined the remaining water in her pouch, and was surprised to find it had turned back to its normal colour and texture.

"The water isn't glowing anymore." She muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

A moment passed in perplexed silence. Then:

"It's Yue!" Sokka exclaimed, pointing at his sister.

"No." Katara said slowly, raising her eyebrows and pointing at herself. "It's Katara. You know, your sister?"

"No, I mean…" Sokka couldn't seem to get his words out, so turned in a flurry of excitement to Aang. "You know at the North Pole when you turned into that awesome spirit monster thing?" Not waiting for an answer, Sokka continued. "Well Katara's water was the exact same colour as the spirit you controlled!"

"You're aware that you're making no sense at all, aren't you?" Zuko asked coolly.

"I believe I understand what your brother is saying, Katara." Iroh said, his voice pleasantly warm in contrast to his nephew's. "Back in the catacombs, you inhaled a speck of light. Unless I'm mistaken your brother thinks this was Princess Yue."

"It makes more sense when I say it!" Sokka interrupted. There was a pause, then he continued. "Well, it doesn't, but at least I know what I mean. Yue helped us by guiding us to you, and she helped you, Katara, by assisting you in your Waterbending. How else could the water have had that glowing effect going on?"

"It does make sense…" Katara mused, and Aang nodded.

"The moon just got a little brighter." He said, and the all turned up to stare at the luminous orb that lit up the otherwise black sky.

Sokka smiled softly and looked away. When he looked back a moment later, his face was steely and determined.

"We need to get going." He said, his voice matching his expression.

Before them lay the frozen river that the Dai Li were trapped in. Most of them were unconscious, but some were now struggling to free their legs and break out.

"Toph, we'll need a bridge to get past." Sokka instructed.

"No walking on the ice?" Toph asked hopefully.

"No walking on the ice." Sokka confirmed. The ground beneath them started to rumble and shake, and the row of stone slabs nearest the frozen river rose and rearranged themselves so that there was a two-slab width and ten-slab length, enough to reach to the other side.

Although Sokka mentioned they should go single file, Zuko insisted on accompanying Katara across. Katara wondered why he did this, until his warm hand slipped into her cool one. Smiling, she began to walk across the make-shift bridge with her escort. Behind her she could hear Sokka yelling to Zuko:

"There will be no touching of my sister!"

"I'm making sure she doesn't fall!" Zuko called back, unable to keep the smirk from his face.

"Liar." Katara muttered playfully.

"I saved all of your lives, don't you think if we told him how we felt about each other then he'd be okay with it?" Zuko asked quietly.

"That's it, stop holding her hand!" Sokka shouted. "I'd rather her fall than spend another moment with you!"

"I think we should wait awhile." Katara laughed. Zuko, needless to say, had not let got go of her hand. "But that doesn't change anything between us."

"I wouldn't let it." Zuko whispered back. His voice sent pleasant shivers down her spine and Katara had to fight the urge to kiss him there and then.

They reached the other side even though both had been walking deliberately slower than they normally would. Zuko held her hand for a few moments longer, then let go. The cold air rushed to Katara's hands, and she found herself wishing that Zuko would never stop holding her. Soon the others had all crossed in single file, and Toph collapsed the slabs back to their original positions.

"Aang, do you still have that bison whistle?" Sokka asked. "It'd really come in useful for a quick exit right about now."

Aang nodded and withdrew the sculpted whistle in the shape of a bison, silently marvelling at how it had remained intact. He blew on it sharply, then placed it back in his pocket.

"It's broken." Kuei informed the group.

"It isn't." Toph promised. "Even though it's for animals with super-sensitive hearing, like Appa, I can still hear it very faintly."

They waited for a few minutes in silence, the cold night air nipping at any exposed skin. Every moment was spent in fear that suddenly every single Dai Li agent would come rushing out from the palace, Azula and her friends in tow, and attack them all. The only noise was the crickets rustling up their whistling tune, which soon got on Sokka's nerves.

"Can someone shut them up, they're worse than the singing hippies!" He complained.

"Singing hippies?" Zuko repeated quietly to Katara. "There's a lot I don't know about you, isn't there?"

Katara smiled, but remained tight-lipped.

Minutes that felt like years passed slowly, until finally the dim outline of Appa came into view and landed gracefully on the stone ground in front of the large group. The bison groaned to Aang in welcome and Momo jumped off Appa's back, chattering incessantly. The lemur stopped "talking" for a moment as it saw Zuko and Iroh.

"What a charming lemur!" Iroh laughed, and beckoned Momo towards him.

"Uncle, make acquaintances with the pets later." Zuko muttered, not taking his eyes off the sky bison in front of him. "That thing flies, right?"

" 'That thing' is called Appa." Aang corrected coldly. "And yes, he flies."

Sokka had already scrambled up onto Appa's back, and was helping Kuei and Toph up. Iroh was next, followed by a very dubious Zuko. Soon, there was only Katara and Aang left on the ground.

"Why is he here?" Aang asked quietly, not looking at Katara. Katara could hear the hurt in his voice and she frowned sadly.

"He's here because I want him here. He saved our lives, and we can't just leave him." She replied finally, before walking up to Appa and taking her brother's hand in helping her up.

Aang stayed on the ground for a moment longer, before levitating up onto Appa's head. Momo had rested himself comfortably onto Iroh's lap, and the rest of the group were sitting awkwardly, making sure they could hold onto something.

"We need a big saddle for all of us to fit." Zuko said, taking in the group's obvious discomfort.

"Great idea." Sokka said sarcastically. "Let's buy it with the money that we don't have!"

"Just a suggestion." Zuko shot back coldly.

"Yip yip!" Aang shouted suddenly, and Appa quickly ascended into the night's sky. All the passengers jerked backwards upon Appa's lift off, but managed to compose themselves quickly.

We really do need a bigger saddle, Katara thought, falling briefly back into Zuko. As she straightened up, she smiled back at him, then looked down at the city. The occasional light was on, and Katara wondered how much the people of Ba Sing Se knew already.

It's been over a week since Azula took over…and I bet they're all still clueless.

For the second time Katara watched as the capital of the Earth Kingdom faded into the distance, but this time she was comforted by the fact that they were not fleeing for their lives. They were merely retreating, and the next time they faced Azula they would all be more powerful, and hopefully Aang will have truly mastered everything he needed to.

"Is anyone else getting a really bad case of déjà vu?" Toph joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Thankfully, no." Aang called back from Appa's head.

Katara smiled, glad that her family was once again back together.

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A/N:

Ack, I'm a day late in my updating, sorry. I have some personal stuff to deal with, and that's why I won't be doing a sequel to this story unless I find it absolutely necessary. As this is the penultimate chapter, are there any questions you'd like to ask about the story that I can answer in the next chapter? If there are, please don't hesitate to tell me (:

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and thank you to all my reviewers! The reviews I didn't get a chance to reply to I'll do as soon as I've updated, promise :D

Until next time,

- Momo