Zuko opened his eyes slowly, scarecly believing that this was possible.
His first sight was of Katara who immediatly smiled at him as he looked at her. Zuko was speechless and immediatly turned around blushing. He then noticed that the wall of crystals in the catacombs acted somewhat like a mirror,
reflecting his face, which bore no scar. He gasped as he stared at his face, no whole with no scar to speak of. He felt his face, where the scar that had imprisoned him had been. All he felt was soft skin,
no burn mark, where it was dry and crusty, which had need salve to keep smooth. He turned to Katara, who was still smiling, but silent, to let Zuko revel in his new face. "Thank you." was all he could say.
"You're welcome." said Katara, smiling.
Suddenly there was a boom, and the wall of crystal exploded, and Aang and Uncle Iroh stepped through.
"ZUKO!" said his uncle, speechless as he looked at Zuko. "Your face.
there's no scar!" "No, Uncle. No scar anymore. Katara healed it for me." said Zuko.
"WHAT?!?" said Aang, surprised at this news. He had been worried that Zuko would hurt Katara, because they were imprisoned together,
do something terrible to her. But he could hardly imagine that she would heal his scar for him. He went over to Katara and whispered, "Why"
"Because I think he's changed. I think that to complete that transformation and in order to have him let go of the past, he needed to be relieved of that scar. Couldn't you see that it was hurting him, knowing that he would forever be hunting you? Forever know that his father put it there? Forever know that he is a failure in his father's eyes? No, no one, not even Zuko should go through that." said Katara, softly, looking at the two men,
Uncle Iroh touching Zuko's face with tears in his eyes, knowing that his nephew was now free to live his own life.
Suddenly the catacomb door burst open, and the Dai Li and Azula swept into the room.
"I thought I heard a disturbance down here, and I was right. It seems we have the pleasure of my uncle, the traitor, and the Avatar with us." said Azula, snidely. "How about a little bargin? Hmmm?" she said, thoughtfully. "How about this? I let these two prisoners go, if the Avatar stays and duels with me?"
"NO!" objected Iroh. "This is one of your clever tricks! We will not surrender the Avatar to you. You'd just find another way to imprison the rest of us while you duel with him. And then, when he realizes, you'll strike!"
"Obviously my plan isn't that, of course, Uncle." said Azula, "Arrest all of them for high treason against the Fire Nation."
At those words, all four people resumed a fighting stance. The Dai Li made moves to arrest them. Zuko moved to one side of the battalion and blew a wall of flames at them. Iroh did the same on the other side. Katara used her water whips, snapping them smartly, hurting the Dai Li on either side, creating a box to imprison them. "Aang, leave quickly and find Sokka and Toph, they should be in the palace by now!" said Iroh, "We'll finish here and then, come get you." Aang, nodded, turned to look at the battle once more before leaving the way he came. I wish I could stay and fight,instead of running away. But that would put not just me, but Katara, Iroh and Zuko, and possibly the world in danger, too. He thought as he ran
Flashback:
Sokka and Toph came running into the Earth King's throne room.
"Good, we got here in time!" shouted Sokka.
"In time for what?!?" questioned the Earth King.
"Yeah, what are you in time for?" asked Ty Lee, who was disgused as a Kyoshi Warrior, as she flipped over to Sokka. "Cutie." She said, giggling as Momo flew off from Sokka's shoulder.
"Aahhh, I'm kind of involved with Suki," said Sokka, starting to sweat.
"Who?" said Ty Lee, before being thrown by Toph who earth-bended a pillar of rock up from under her.
But Ty Lee, being as flexible as she was, simply flipped to above the throne.
"They're not the real Kyoshi Warriors!" shouted Toph at the Earth King from her earth-bending stance, as Sokka turned to look at her.
"Toph, we discussed this before coming here. I was supposed to handle this!" hissed Sokka.
"Well, you weren't doing a very good job," snapped Toph.
The Earth King gasped at this statement, as the "Kyoshi Warriors" made their moves.
"Sorry to disappoint you," said Mai as she threw her daggers at Toph, leaving Ty Lee to take care of Sokka.
Toph blocked her daggers with a wall of earth before throwing it at Mai. It smashed into the side of the throne dais, as Mai who had jumped when Toph had thrown it, landed about six feet away. She immediatly leaped again as a pillar of earth shot out of the ground where she had been crouched moments before. Toph smiled knowing that this would be a good battle, as long as the other side didn't try to pull any sneaky moves.
Meanwhile, Sokka had hidden behing one of the pillars supporting the ceiling of the Earth King's throne room. Ty Lee appeared out of nowhere, giggling.
"Aah!" shouted Sokka, scared out his hiding place. Ty Lee tried to poke his pressure points to disable him. He jumped away, and it looked like they were doing some sort of weird ritual dance.
"Looks like we're dancing together," giggle Ty Lee.
"This fight is over!" said Azula, interrupting everyone with a little flame of blue lighting poised at the neck of the Earth King.
Sokka and Toph held their hands up in defeat, as Ty Lee poked their pressure points causing them to fall over.
The Dai Li, with one of their earth hands, captured Momo in mid-air and made him (her?) fall to the ground.
"Take them out of my sight," said Azula.
The Dai Li dragged the prisoners away, Toph being supported, Sokka being dragged, and Bosco the Bear being pulled on a rope by the Earth King as he was led away.
Ty Lee was walking on hands. "Come on, it's easym you just do it like this," she said, showing Basco the Bear.
Suddenly her hands became encased with earth, and she gasped and her feet fell out of the air and became encaed in earth, too.
Toph, Sokka, and the Earth King had broken out of their cells. Toph leveled a block of earth, at Mai.
"Just take the bear," she sighed.
"Basco!" said the Earth King, delighted as he hugged the bear's neck.
"Guys! We need to find Appa quick and get out of here! Katara, Zuko and Iroh are fighting Azula and the Dai Li! We need to provide an escape route!" shouted Aang.
Sokka and Toph nodded. The Earth King and Basco the Bear followed.
What will happen next? I'll give you these questions/hints!
What will happen to Zuko, Iroh and Katara? Will they manage to defeat Azula and the Dai Li? Or will they have to create a diversion and escape?
Will Aang be able to find Appa in time?
What will they do once they escape? They have hardly anywhere to go, because the last free kingdom on Earth has fallen.
Will they return to the Air Temple and to Guru Pathik?
Will Aang be able to access the Avatar Sate, by opening the last chakra? If so, how will he forget Katara? If not, what will happen then?
What will Zuko do, now that he has no scar? Will he be on Aang's side?
What about Uncle Iroh's tea shop? Will ha ever be able to have another tea shop again?
Will Sokka see his dad again?
What about Toph, will anything happen to her?
What happened to Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors? Is our assumption correct that they were killed? Or were they captured and are alive in the Fire Nation?
What will happen to the people of Bae Sing Sae?
And the world?
Lastly, and MOST IMPORTANT, will there be a little more Zutara action? Why did Aang, not question Katara's deicision to heal Zuko further?