WANTED

Chapter 2

Rescue

Sweat poured down his face as Zuko attempted to dodge yet another volley of flames from Azula's end of the saloon. He couldn't help but see that the building was slowly catching fire around them. Azula launched a complicated uppercut and forced Zuko to dip towards the floor, rolling away before she could bring a flaming heel down on top of him.

"You know, I bet that waterbender is already dead and the girls have got Uncle tied up like a chicken-pig." Azula purred from her position across the room.

Zuko's tempered flared at her words and he roared as he lunged upwards and swung his foot through the air at his sister's face. Despite his efforts, however, Azula easily ducked, swinging her own leg up and cracking it against his ankle. Pain flared through Zuko's leg, but he ignored it. He couldn't let Azula know that he was hurt. The longer it took for her to get through him the longer his uncle had to escape.

"Poor Zu-Zu." Azula mocked. "That sounded like it hurt."

"Not as much as you are going to later." Zuko declared calmly before he launched a series of large fireballs towards his sister. Any patrons who didn't leave at the first sight of flames where now jumping through the windows and pouring out the back door.

Katara struggled to keep herself away from the two women attacking her. While blocking waves of kicks and jabs from bazaar angles, she had realized who these people where. Some circles called them "The Guard" and for that she understood. It seemed that the Fire Nation Princess used these two girls as her personal guard wherever she went and for whatever it was that she did. It was no secret that the pink girl's jabs were meant to interrupt the critical flow of chi that every bender required in order to used their art. The dark girl, on the other hand, was know for being a deadly opponent in her own right. She once heard a story that she managed to rip out a man's tongue just by throwing one of her darts. The stories, at the time, terrified her.

Right now, as one of the dark girl's darts ripped through the sleeve of her shirt, Katara was just glad that she wasn't fighting against two firebenders and knew, more or less, what to expect. But as blood blossomed from the torn sleeve of her shirt, she knew that just knowing who these girls where was the last thing that was going to save her.

The fire that seemed to answer her internal worry, startled her, as it blossomed from the darkness behind her. She almost returned the sudden eruption of light with a icy water whip, but realized that the fire was from the General. Flames poured from the old man's fist, dripping to the ground and charring the sand and rocks it hit. She would've worried, questioning his loyalties, but the jet of white hot flame he directed at the two girls quelled the questioning within her.

The General let loose another jet of flame, thoroughly herding the two girls close together and into the perfect position for Katara to make her final attack. Pushing her senses out Katara felt for hidden moisture in the surrounding area and promptly called for it in distinctive pushing and pulling motions of her art. The protective orb of water in front of her grew and within seconds she had encased her two enemies up the elbows in thick, immovable ice. With their arms and legs effectively pinned by the frozen liquid, the two girls where rendered useless… at least until the ice melted.

But before Katara could even take a breather, the General was at her side grasping her shoulders and pleading with her. In the distance she could faintly hearing Sokka yelling for her. She ignored him.

"My nephew!" the old man pleaded. "I cannot leave him behind! We must go back for him!"

"There's no time!" she heard Sokka yell as he almost tripped down the rocky hill they had been slowly heading towards before the attack.

"I wouldn't do it." The dark girl replied indifferently, almost as if she wasn't more the half way encased in ice.

The girl in pink nodded. "Azula's been looking for you guys for years, I wouldn't get in her way. She's very determined."

"Young Waterbender, he is the only family I have left. I cannot leave him to face death at the hands of the Princess!" The old man looked like he was about to burst into tears. Katara heart ached for the man. She knew his distress, knew what it felt like to have only one to call family. But her reservations and Sokka yelling kept her rooted to the place. Sending the General back to get his nephew was out of the question. They had only just found Aang a firebending master; they weren't about to loose him now.

"I'll go." Katara answered, allowing her distinctly feminine voice to shatter the illusion of her disguise.

"He's a good boy." Iroh smiled, "Just a little confused and hurt is all."

Katara mumbled to herself; a confused firebender, great. She turned to her brother, "If I don't come back in half an hour leave without me." A look of horror passed over Sokka's face. "Don't give me that look!" she almost yelled, "This is bigger then me and you know it. Get him back to Aang and I'll find my own way back."

Sokka kept shaking his head no, but no words came out of his mouth. She quickly threw her arms around her older brother for a quick hug before running full speed back towards the now smoking saloon.

"You're insane!" Zuko yelled as the building started to burn furiously around them. His options of escape where narrowing by the second. The flaming backdoor was now out of the question, and Azula stood between freedom and death by cremation.

"Now Zuko, you know how I hate name calling." The Princess cooed darkly. "You know I have no intention of letting you get away this time. So I'll just have to let this tinderbox take care of you for me. But not before I have a little bit of fun with you first."

Zuko had to jump over the bar counter to escape the jet of blue flame that raced after him. He could almost feel the flamed licking his heels as he rolled over the counter and landed painfully on the floor.

A cool hand landed on his shoulder and before he could stop himself , a ball of fire erupted from his hands as he directed it at the stranger. He couldn't see how the attack was welcomed but a dirty, tanned face suddenly loomed over him with an angry look. It was the waterbender. Zuko didn't know whether or not to be grateful or to think the waterbender a probable idiot. Zuko struggled to get up, and was quickly assisted by his new comrade.

"Zuko!" Azula yelled from the other side of the bar. "You didn't impale yourself over there did you? You're making this too easy for me." And delighted giggle floated over the bar and Zuko almost felt like giving up at the hopelessness it made him feel.

Anger bubbled up again within Zuko's chest; coming out as a growl of frustration. He had spent years avoiding his sister; he wasn't about to let her get the best of them just as a new life was within grasp. Quickly summoning fire into his hands he made a motion to get up but the waterbender held him back. Irritated at being manipulated, Zuko directed his glare towards the obviously younger boy. Zuko opened his mouth to speak but the waterbender quickly pressed his finger to his mouth, signaling him to be quiet. A second later streams of liquor where twisting out of the bottles and collecting within the open hands of the younger boy. A look of horror settled over Zuko's face.

"Do you have any idea what is going to happen when you throw that at her?" he whispered harshly.

To his surprise the boy didn't answer him, only offering a weakly sinister smile. 'Yep,' Zuko thought, 'He knows exactly what's going to happen.'

He didn't wait for the boy to move before Zuko crouched low to the floor and had the collar of his jacket pulled up high around his neck. The last thing he wanted was a bunch of glass working it way down his back after the subsequent explosion. And the explosion that ripped through what remained of the saloon drowned out any reaction Azula would have had at seeing the waterbender's sudden appearance. Glass rained down over their bodies as they waited for the flames to die down enough to allow for an escape. His ears were still ringing as the waterbender hauled him up to his feet and was pushing him through a blown out window.

The shock of the waterbender's attack didn't seem to wear off until the shock of seeing Azula's cohorts frozen into pillars of ice replace it. Ty Lee and Mai where some of the greatest fighters he had ever seen, and to see them so completely incapacitated startled him.

"Hey Zuko!" Ty Lee greeted in her usual inappropriately cheery manner. Mai just nodded at him as the waterbender dragged him past their frozen positions.

Twenty minutes later he found himself back with his uncle, crushed in hug he was not expecting. He patted the old man's back tenderly, still not used to such displays of affection.

"Why do I have a feeling these aren't just ordinary firebenders?" Sokka asked his sister as they stood several feet away from the reunited uncle and nephew.

"I don't know, but I think the Princess called the General's nephew 'brother' back at the saloon." Katara whispered back, keeping her eye on the young man with the scar.

Sokka paled considerably. "That would mean that…" but he didn't want to finish the sentence.

"That we have the Crowned Prince and the Fire Lord's brother in our hands."

"But we don't know for sure." Sokka rationalized.

"We might not." Katara agreed, "But the last thing we need to do is introduced them to Aang."

"But if they are the Banished Princes, we still need a master for Aang." Sokka argued. "I mean, I think it's obvious where their loyalties are."

"I'd rather not try to guess where their loyalties are Sokka." Katara reasoned, whispering harshly, "that's just not something to try to guess at!"

"You just helped the General's nephew blow up his sister, I'm pretty sure that speaks volumes." Sokka glared.

"I didn't blow up his sister. She realized what I was doing and probably just got mildly stunned."

"Great now we're going to have to deal with her too, aren't we?"

"Probably." Katara sighed, readjusting the bindings disguising her chest. They were suffocating and she was itching to take them off, but now was not the time to tend to them. Besides, the Prince or whoever the heck he was still had no idea she was a girl, and it always made her feel a little bit better when she could keep that a secret.

"Well as long as they don't realize who we are, I think this might turn out okay."

"What, that this countryside is now officially swarming with lost royals? Sure, totally safe." Katara laughed sarcastically.

Sokka opened his mouth to bite back an equally rude remark, but was cut off when the General made his way towards the siblings. Sokka settled for throwing a disapproving glare at his younger sister before directing his attention to their new companions.

"I owe you my happiness young one." The General declared, offering Katara a deep bow. "My name is Iroh, though most know me as the Dragon of the West and…" Iroh stopped as both siblings took a step back. "I see you know the name." he said glumly.

Sokka spoke for both of them. "So you are the brother of the Fire Lord."

"Only by blood." Iroh replied darkly before turning to his scared nephew. "This here is Zuko…"

"The Crowned Prince of the Fire Nation."

"Yes." Iroh replied. "However we are both banished and hold no loyalties or relations with the royal family."

"So I'm not going to regret introducing you to the Avatar then?" Sokka asked wryly.

"Not in the slightest." Iroh laughed good-naturedly. Katara on the other hand did not miss the look of surprise that passed over the Prince's face. She knew he was unaware of their invitation to teach the Avatar, but sensed felt that it meant something quite different to the Banished Prince. Katara decided then and there that she may have trusted the General (to a certain extent), but his nephew was someone who was going to need watching.

"Well," Sokka continued, oblivious to Katara's internal realizations. "We don't have much to offer you other then a warm meal at night and a safe place to sleep."

Iroh threw his arm over Sokka's slightly taller shoulders. "That, my new friends, sounds like more then enough to me. May, I suggest though, in the meantime, that we find a place to sleep for the night?" The Dragon of the West asked, leading the young water tribesman back into the half dead trees.

Katara found herself standing under the night sky practically face to face with the Prince of the Fire Nation. She could help but stare him down, and she got the distinct feeling that he could sense her disproval. She almost expected him to say something; to tell her she was wrong in suspecting him of something terrible… or even telling her that she was right to worry. But the Prince said nothing, only staring at her through a half ruined face, and after a few more beats followed his uncle and her brother into the night.

Katara didn't follow immediately. Instead she looked down on the small town they had practically decimated less the half and hour earlier. It looked small from the hilltop, but the fire raging through the town made it more then easy to spot. Katara allowed a huff of frustration to slip past her mouth and tried to quell the sense of dread coiling up in the pit of her stomach.

A/N: Thank you everyone for their awesome reviews. It was nice to know that my story is appreciated. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'm sorry if some of you are a little confused. I promise, as the story goes on, that things will become a lot clearer. But as for now I'm including that air of mystery as an important part of my story. All I'm going to say is that, though the situations/people/details/facts may seem similar to the original storyline, not everything is going to be presented to you in a familiar fashion. Anyways, thanks again for reading and if you feel like reviewing, that's awesome!