I know this one took a bit longer, but… There was a lot.
And you know how it is when real life gets in the way. But no matter what, I'm finishing this. Buckle up.
oooooooooo
Chapter 9
From a life as a Princess to this!
Azula was actually happy when she was finally placed in her cell. The Red Lotus members sure were thorough with the firebenders. They checked her for everything! They made her change out of her clothes, remove all jewelry and hair bands. She felt more like she was being robbed than anything else. When they made sure she didn't have anything highly flammable or explosive on her, they shoved her in a metal cell, barefoot and already severely cold.
This all seemed a bit excessive in her opinion, but it's better they fear firebenders than forget about them. She attempted a simple firebending move. No! That tiny flash was not going to be enough.
She sat down on the cold, metal floor and took a meditating pose. She was never good at meditation, but she did often benefit from taking a minute to flip through her memories. She was happy Zari wasn't in here. She really was, but she had to focus on him if she wanted to make the fire burn stronger. Just thinking about the Fire Nation stopped working a long time ago. Not even the resent she had for her parents worked as well. It was her husband who suggested she should always focus on what she was fighting for at that moment. Her drive.
Zari, of course, came to mind first, but for this occasion she tried to call to mind a memory of Zuko. Before. Before he betrayed her. Before she tried to kill him. Just plain old, scarless, clueless Zuzu.
Then she stood up to try again and managed to create a decent fire stream. But Azula had an advantage none of the guards thought about before locking her in there. Her fire was blue. It burned hotter than any other fire. It could even, as she learned over the years, melt metals. So it was enough for her to point her hand towards the door and watch as the metal dripped down instantly.
Well, that was easy…
After showing a few guards what exactly she thought about their accommodations, she found Izumi and freed her too.
"That was faster than I thought." Izumi carefully stepped out into the hallway next to her aunt.
"Since they obviously brought us to the damned Pole, it will take us long to travel back to our island. We have no time to waste."
Izumi nodded in agreement and started walking forward before Azula pulled her back. She realized the girl had blood coming from a cut on her forehead.
"What happened?" Azula moved Izumi's hair away to take a closer look at the wound.
"Nothing. It's fine." the girl said, "The Red Lotus doesn't like royalty and I'm the Crown Princess. I was pushed into a wall…"
"Well, you can be sure we're not leaving here until the person who did this is screaming in pain."
"No… We came here to get my dad. I can handle it."
Right then, a group of guards came running in their direction and Izumi immediately froze in place. Azula found herself fighting them off by herself, and while that wasn't a problem for her, she couldn't have Izumi just standing there like a statue. And to think she was so talented… All that talent wasted because she refused to use her bending to hurt another person.
Then, as the guards just kept coming, Izumi threw a couple of fireballs at them, but mostly kept to dodging while Azula knocked out the men. Nevertheless, it was working and they were making their way across the hallway, but Azula was inevitably becoming tired. The cold was making sure neither of them were at the top of their game.
Izumi just stood there, safe behind Azula and watched as she begun making mistakes, missing opportunities and missing her targets. The infamous princess was just as good as the stories said, even more so, but not even she could do everything alone. Not even Azula could face an army, but you could be damn sure she'd try.
Izumi would later describe that moment as one of the defining moments in her lifetime. The time she definitely decided to stop holding herself back. Out of the blue, she jumped forward, shoving Azula to the side and shot a lightning bolt at the remaining guards. She couldn't look, so she closed her eyes, but Azula could clearly see Izumi's lightning strike knock out a full hallway of enemies.
The sound was deafening. Azula's seen bigger blasts, but never in these conditions. Not without the sun or warmth.
"That was good. That was very good." Azula helped her niece stand up. Izumi looked up for just a moment before leaning forward to hug the older woman. Despite all her skill in prediction, Azula wasn't expecting it.
"Let us not let emotions steer us away from our mission." Azula said, but Izumi still wasn't letting go of her. After a very audible sigh, Azula returned the hug. That girl was so talented, yet so much like her father.
"Now we look for the Fire Lord." Azula stated.
"Azula?" they heard a voice from one of the cells.
"Did you miss me, Zuzu?" she immediately recognized her brother's voice.
"What are you… What is this?"
"A rescue mission. If I were you I'd get away from the door." she said and waited a few second for him to move before melting another metal door with her blue fire.
Zuko still wasn't convinced until he saw his sister's face through the raging flames. Everyone had thought her dead for years. And now she was here. As if that that wasn't strange enough, she was actually helping him.
It took the Fire Lord a few moments before he realized his daughter was standing there too. He never gave much thought to how similar Izumi looked to Azula, but now when they were both dressed in prison uniforms, with their hair straight and down, he couldn't deny it.
He stepped out of the cell carefully after which Izumi hugged him without a word.
"I'm so glad you're alright." she whispered to her father.
"I am, too, Izumi. But what's happened? Where is your mother?" he looked around hoping to spot Mai waiting somewhere.
"The Red Lotus captured her. They captured the whole Team." Izumi turned to her aunt, "But Azula found us, kids. She gave us a safe place to stay and helped us come up with a plan to free you."
"Azula," he turned to her now, "I really don't know what to say…"
"You don't have to say anything, dum-dum… You didn't think I was going to let a couple of nobodies tear down hundreds of years of Fire Nation culture?" Azula said.
"Well… The Fire Lord thanks you. Where have you been all this time?"
"Here and there." Azula smirked.
"She has a son now, Dad." Izumi interrupted.
"I'm an uncle?" his face lit up.
"We don't have time for this. We have a full prison to liberate and I suspect many, many more guards to take out." Azula turned to check if anyone was coming for them.
"How about Kiyi? Was she captured, Izumi?" Zuko asked.
"I don't think so. She wasn't at the palace when we were attacked. She was with the troops and I think she stayed there." she explained.
"You remember Kiyi? She's our-" Zuko started.
"I know who she is. I'll admit my faculties were a bit impaired at that time, but I do remember everything I did and everywhere I went. And as you can see, I am at the top of my performance now." Azula stopped talking as she saw a new group of guards running towards them.
"Get behind me, Izumi. I'll protect you." Zuko stepped between his daughter and the attackers.
"Or you could let her handle this since you've been in the cold for far longer." Azula pulled him aside allowing Izumi to walk forward and start fighting the guards, one at a time, using all the moves she only used as demonstrations until then. She even used a few lightning strikes. And all this without realizing no one else was helping her. Azula and Zuko just watched as she took down all of the men by herself.
"What is that?" asked Zuko, seeing his daughter take down grown men like they were figurines.
"That, my brother, is your daughter. Uninhibited." Azula put a hand on his shoulder, letting herself admire for just a moment what she's accomplished in just a few days with the girl, "Now let's free the rest of the people."
Zuko wasn't happy about leaving Izumi to fight on her own, but she seemed to be doing just fine. Besides, he was curious about Azula. She seemed completely different. Changed. Reformed. Just like he sometimes daydreamed about. But it was Azula… It couldn't be that easy. He couldn't just get his sister back. There had to be a catch. Right?
It was all going almost perfectly according to Azula's plan until they climbed to the next floor of the building. Even Izumi joined them, having taken down all the guards on the ground floor. There, they spotted a single guard alone in the hallway. Zuko made a fireball in his hand and was prepared to throw it, when Azula stopped him.
She knew the man. How could she forget?
Izumi's never seen anything close to the look Azula had in her eyes at that moment. It was a side of her aunt she had yet to experience.
"You…" Azula mumbled, still not wanting to believe her eyes. Izumi tried to pull Azula back, to lead her away from whatever it was about this man that upset her so much.
"That man… He was there!" Azula fought out of Izumi's grip, "You were there! You killed him! You killed…"
She put her hands together and created a ball of fire that just kept getting hotter and less stable. In that moment she wanted nothing more than to see that man turned to ash. She fired her charge, but Zuko pulled the man aside. Azula's blast ended up making a hole in the wall on the other side of the hallway. They at least had a more convenient way out now.
"You don't understand! Zuko, you don't…" Azula mumbled and then pulled her brother closer by his shirt, "He killed him! My husband… The night they killed him, he was there!"
Tears begun pouring down Azula's face and for Zuko it was way too reminiscent of their Agni Kai. A lot had changed since then, but he could still picture his broken little sister losing her mind.
"We'll take him with us. We'll question him." Izumi suggested.
"No! He's mine!" Azula shoved Zuko away and pinned the man to a wall, "Don't deny it. You were there. Was it the Red Lotus?"
"Um… I…"
"Answer me!"
Zuko tried to stop Azula, but Izumi pulled him back. Azula needed this.
"Yes, we came for the Fire Nation Prince and Princess that night." the man confessed.
"Me?! You came for me?! Well, here I am!" she punched the wall next to his face and started burning through it, "I promise you now, I will not sleep until your whole organization is in ruins, until all of you are scurrying around like the filthy rats you are, until you are gone and the world has forgotten you ever existed!"
"Azula!" Zuko pulled her away, "We will need one of them to find out where Aang is. We need him alive."
"For now." Izumi said.
oooooooooo
Not long after all the firebenders made their way out of the prison and into the wilds of the South Pole. They felt better, having the sun shine on them once again, but the cold was still too much. It took Azula only a few seconds and a bit of looking around to announce that she knew where they were. Then she started leading the group east.
They all trudged through the snow in silence, Azula leading and Zuko following close after with Izumi and the man they took prisoner.
After a few minutes Zuko decided to come closer to his sister who was visibly shivering even though she was trying to warm herself by rubbing up and down her arms. Since they all took their clothes back, he had his Fire Lord robe and started removing it.
"You try putting that thing on me and I'm going for the other eye. I'm not even kidding." Azula said without even turning to look at him. He just wanted to make her warmer.
"Alright." he paused not knowing what to say, "So what's the plan?"
"The plan is simply get to a ship, regroup and rescue your Avatar." she tried to hide it, but he could hear the shivering in her voice.
"And how are we getting to Aang? I mean, if the man doesn't tell us anything useful."
"Are you familiar with the Spirit World, Zuzu?"
"Yes. What about it?"
"My son, your nephew, can access it. When we meet up with him, he'll visit the Spirit World and tell the Avatar we are all safe so he can use the Avatar State to get himself out. He can save himself if he knows the Red Lotus has no leverage over him anymore."
"How old is my nephew?" Zuko asked carefully.
"Ten," Azula suddenly smiled, "Almost ten and a half."
"Well, I can't wait to meet him. And it's really good to see you. Who would have known being a mom would be so good for you…" Zuko was half-expecting to get burned after that.
"Who would have known being the Fire Lord would be so good for you…"
"You think I'm a good Fire Lord?" Zuko's face lit up.
"Oh, get over yourself." Azula rolled her eyes, "Here we are, that's one of my ships."
"Your ships?" he asked after seeing a dock on the horizon.
"I'll explain everything on the way."
oooooooooo
"Are you sure about this, sweetie?" Katara asked, while looking over to the two men guarding the pirate hideout. She wasn't judging, of course, but the men didn't look at all reliable. They appeared scruffy and distracted.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Kya smiled and stepped out so the two pirates could see her. They both smiled at her immediately upon recognizing her face.
"Oh, Lady Kya! You are the first to arrive." one of them held the door open for them.
"I told you it was going to be her! Pay up. Waterbenders never fail." the other man said and received a coin from his friend.
"We were instructed by Mistress Azula to give you and anyone who came with you anything you might desire."
"We'll need some water." Kya looked back at her mother, "And some food. Have it delivered to the main dining room."
"So all of this belongs to Azula?" Katara looked around as they walked through the hall, getting only a slight glimpse of the many rooms in the building.
"Well, if you get a little liberal with the word belongs, then yes." Kya chuckled slightly, but her mother wasn't nearly in the joking mood. She tried hard to stay as alert as possible while moving through this unknown territory.
"And Azula… Is she, you know… Clear of mind?"
"You're wondering if she's still unstable. No. She's perfectly fine. And she's told the truth about everything so far. I think you might have allowed some stories about her to get a little exaggerated in the many retellings."
"Kya," Katara stopped the girl, so she'd get her undivided attention, "I believe in people. I believe they can change, and your dad and I want you kids to live with that belief, too. But I can tell you now that every story we told about Azula was the absolute truth. She is indeed extremely dangerous if she wants to be. Remember that."
Kya just nodded. The look in her mother's eyes was proof that she was dead serious about this.
oooooooooo
After enjoying lunch, Katara finally managed to relax a little bit, just listening to her daughter tell her about what have her children been up to while she was gone. Then, in the middle of a story involving Bumi and a stuffed badgermole toy, Katara heard a voice she didn't think she'd ever hear again.
"… splitting into four teams. Two are here and now we have to await the others' return." Azula walked into the room first, followed by Izumi and then Zuko.
"Izumi!" Kya ran forward to give the princess a hug.
"Katara, I'm sorry we failed. But I'm sure that Aang-" Zuko started, but was interrupted by Katara hugging him. Azula fought the urge to roll her eyes and just stood there, waiting for them to wrap up this display of emotion. Judging by the look on her face she had something to say.
"It's OK, Katara. She won't hurt anyone." Zuko said after seeing the waterbender take a defensive stance.
"What my brother is clumsily trying to convey is that we are facing a common enemy, and are in need of cooperation. I am prepared to forgo any form of retribution for what transpired between us in the past if you are." Azula recited like reading of a piece of paper.
"You want to work together after everything?" Katara asked.
"I wish to leave any unpleasantness that might have happened, in the past." Azula said in a calm tone she was trying to maintain at all times.
"Unpleasantness?! You tried to kill me! You almost killed Aang!" Katara wasn't even trying to keep this a pleasant conversation.
"And you had me institutionalized!" Azula stepped forward, reaching a hand to threaten, but then quickly pulled herself back like she'd burned her hand. She promised herself she wouldn't get upset…
"She's right, Aunt Katara. About forgetting the past." Izumi placed herself between Azula and Katara.
"She's changed, Mom." Kya joined in.
"Think about when you forgave my dad. It was the right choice then." Izumi added.
"That… That was different." Katara said, seeing Zuko look over to her.
"Think about what Dad would do, Mom." Kya took her mother's hand, to calm her down. Katara sighed.
"Alright. We're working together. But you make one little mistake and I won't hesitate, trust me."
Zuko swallowed hard, remembering the time he got a warning like that form Katara.
Azula didn't even fully hear it. She was still in shock from the girls standing up to defend her. It was a strange feeling to her. Having someone on your side. This was maybe the first and only time she'd experienced it since her husband died.
Just as Katara was about to ask why Azula hasn't yet thanked her, they all felt a slight tremor of the ground.
"What?" Azula could have sworn the shaking was getting stronger.
"Oh, that's the Beifongs. They must be here." Katara said like that was a completely normal thing. About a half a minute later they could hear voices arguing through the hallway and then Lin walked into the room. Her frown disappeared as soon as she saw her friends.
"Lin, it's good to see you." Izumi hugged her first, followed by Kya. Suyin was the next through the door and was pulled into a chain of hugs and kisses as well.
"When you're all done cuddling, I'd like to hear about this plan some more." Toph came in and laid back on one of the dining chairs. She cracked the knuckles on both her hands and then suddenly turned directly to Azula.
"So, my girls tell me you wanna join Team Avatar on this one." Toph smirked, "I always thought we could use a second fire in our group."
"Hey!" Zuko whined.
"She's not joining anything." Katara snapped.
"Relax. I just meant that Twinkletoes could use a lesson or two in making lightning."
Zuko just huffed and mumbled something under his breath, causing Azula to grin.
"The plan, Azula. We want to hear it." Katara interrupted.
"Very well." she started, "My son Zari knows how to go into the Spirit World. When he returns with the final group, he can go and contact the Avatar. He'll tell him that the Red Lotus no longer has any leverage since we've freed all prisoners."
"Tenzin can also go. Maybe he'll have more luck in contacting Aang than your son."
"Great. Then you don't need me here anymore." Toph swiftly got up, "I think it's about time I returned to Republic City. Who knows what kind of trouble has been cooking up down there while we were away… Me and the girls are gonna leave soon, does anyone else wanna come with?"
"Azula, do you need me to do something while we wait?" Lin turned straight to the woman, completely ignoring her mother.
"Did you damage your hearing, Lin?" Toph started a little louder, "Pack up your things."
"Anything? Me and Izumi could take a guard shift." Lin continued being solely focused on Azula and the Princess didn't really know what to do. She didn't exactly plan on getting in the middle of this thing Lin had with her mother.
"Oh, are you still not talking to me?" Toph chuckled.
"That's right!"
"You just broke your own rule, kid." Toph's teasing was met by only silence.
"Just say what you have to say already so we can make it home by sundown." she added.
"I'm not going with you! How's that?" Lin turned around violently, stomping her foot to create a small quake of the ground, "Here, there are people that appreciate me… Azula invited me to stay here full time and I'm doing it! I'm not coming back to Republic City."
All eyes turned to Azula as she realized she was already involved in the fight whether she wanted it or not. Kya and Izumi were surprised since Lin didn't really tell anyone about this decision, but Su was by far shocked the most. The thought of living alone with her mom…
"Let me get this straight… You, the honor roll student, are dropping out and becoming a pirate?" there was just the slightest bit of irritation in Toph's voice. And Lin loved it.
"So?"
"Nothing. If that makes you happy… I left home when I was younger than you. Look how well I turned out."
"You know, I don't even know why I talk to you! It just ends up upsetting me every time. I hate you!" Lin made a few angry noises after getting no response from Toph and then walked out of the room.
Toph waited a few seconds before charging at Azula and pushing her into a wall. Zuko and Katara both pounced to separate them immediately. Su started crying and Kya took her hand to lead her out of the room.
"Who are you to put ideas into my daughter's head?! Turn her against me!?" Toph was yelling at that point.
"I assure you, I didn't mean anything bad by it." Azula showed great restraint by not using her bending, "I told all of them they would always have a place here if they needed it."
"I'm sure Lin didn't mean it, Aunt Toph." Izumi cut in.
"Whatever!" Toph stepped away so that her friends would let go of her, "You and my daughter like each other so much? Then congratulations! You can have her!"
After saying that Toph stormed out, not even using the door, but bending an exit through the wall.
Yeah, it was definite now. Azula had to get even more involved if she wanted things to go on smoothly. And if she didn't want to spontaneously find herself buried a hundred feet underground.
oooooooooo
Lin made it all the way to her room without crying. Then she immediately collapsed on the bed and looked at the celling. She could cry now. She already knew how this worked. If she was quiet enough, no one was going to look for her. No one was going to bother her. She was free to cry, but for some reason she still felt embarrassed to. Her mother didn't deserve it.
Then she heard a knock. Unexpected.
"Go away, Su!" Lin yelled. This really wasn't a problem a hug could make disappear.
"It's not your sister." Azula's voice came from outside the door, "I'm coming in."
The Princess made a little pause after entering, thinking Lin would like to get up, offer her to sit or just say something. Guess, manners really were dead.
"You're going to withdraw the offer?" Lin asked with just a pinch of resentment in her voice.
"No." Azula sat on the bed next to the girl, "I mean what I said. We'd be lucky to get ahold of a metalbender as good as you. But I don't think you want to take it."
"You're wrong. I can't live with that woman anymore!"
"Did you ever meet my mother, Lin?" Azula asked.
"Yes, briefly. I was only seven when she…"
"I know she's dead. I just want to tell you about the difference between our two mothers."
"The difference? They're complete opposites. Your mother was caring and supportive while my mother is cold and harsh and… Well, you saw!"
"I did. And the difference between our mothers is way simpler than that. Mine was only cold and harsh to me." Azula took a deep breath, "She showed everyone else how kind and warm she could be. She reserved all her motherly love for Zuko and she left nothing for me."
Lin sat up, surprised but this sudden vulnerability coming from the last person she'd expect it from. She couldn't really connect Azula's description with the good-natured old woman she remembered as Ursa.
"Your mother, on the other hand," Azula continued, "She's like that with everyone. I'm good at reading people and I'm telling you that she wouldn't have just pounded me into a wall if she didn't care about you. She just doesn't know how to go about saying it."
"You can't know that…"
"But I can. This might come as a surprise," Azula said sarcastically, "But motherhood didn't really come naturally to me. Especially, doing it alone."
"So I should just forgive her for all her garbage because my dad is a mess too?"
"No. But you should go talk to her because this is getting painful to watch. You're both absolutely dreadful communicators."
"Why should I go to her? She's the one th-"
"Think of it like this. Would she do it? No. That's why you have to."
Lin thought about if for a few seconds and then got up.
"Why did you do this?" Lin asked before exiting.
"You know me, I'm a people pleaser." Azula said as sarcastically as she could.
oooooooooo
Lin managed to use her seismic sense to find her mother in the huge compound. She appeared to be cooling off in one of the smaller training rooms. Lin ran all the way there and froze only moments from opening the door.
Azula was good. Lin listened to her without even thinking about what she was going to say. And that was a hard one. What even was there to say?!
The more Lin thought about it, the less she wanted to go through with it. It wasn't too late to return to her room and that was exactly what Lin was about to do before she heard it. No. No…
She pushed the door open and found her mother, alone, kneeling on the floor and crying.
Lin didn't really know where to go from this. She couldn't remember the last time she saw her mother cry. She did sometimes tear up at one of Uncle Sokka's terrible jokes, but this looked like real, gut-wrenching sadness.
"No!" Lin screamed at her, "No, you don't get to cry now!"
That was never how it worked… They never cried in front of each other. They fought, they said terrible things and they moved on. This felt almost like cheating.
"You don't get to cry! Stop!" Lin continued. Toph wasn't ignoring her daughter, she raised her head to look at her, but she was silent.
"What, you're just not gonna say anything?!" Lin didn't get a reaction, once again. Then she looked at her mother, her face going red and the tears making their way from her milky-green eyes.
It only took a second for Lin to kneel down next to Toph and put her arms around her.
"Stop… Please." And there it was! Now Lin was crying too. As soon as the first tear got free, there was no stopping. Lin was audibly sobbing against her mother's shoulder.
"I… I didn't mean it. I don't want to stay here, Mom…" she felt Toph's hands slowly embrace her.
"No, you have to. I won't be the one to hold you back." Toph said softly. Lin knew exactly why this hurt so much. She knew exactly what kind of people her grandparents were.
"No, you're not… Mom… I just wanted to make you mad." Lin swallowed hard, "I don't hate you."
"I just want your sister and you to be happy. Even if it doesn't involve m-me…" Toph's voice trembled at that last word, "I know I'm not much of a mother."
Before Lin could argue, Toph ended the hug so she could wipe the tears from Lin's face. The girl was so stunned by this sudden show of affection she wasn't sure it was really happening.
"Is it possible you look different from when I left?" Toph asked running her hands gently over Lin's face, studying her features.
"Mom, the last time you did this was when I was like five…" Lin smiled slightly. Hearing those words Toph caught her daughter's nose between two of her fingers. It used to get her a big laugh when Lin was a toddler. But those days were long gone.
"There's something I wanted to talk to you about, actually… When Azula took us to Ba Sing Se, I accidentally met my-"
"I know." Toph interrupted.
"Well, I just had a couple of questions about him and I hop-"
"Lin, I love you, but I'm not talking to you about this."
Lin knew she shouldn't risk ruining this moment, but she just couldn't take no for an answer when it came to her dad.
"So we're leaving for Republic City together then?" Toph interrupter her thoughts.
"Actually, I don't wanna leave yet." Lin didn't even know why she wanted to share this, she just felt like there was never going to be another moment like this between them, "I don't want to leave without Tenzin."
"Oh?"
"Me and Tenzin… I think I love him." Lin hasn't even told him yet, but somehow this felt like a bigger milestone. Telling her mother. She half expected Toph to break out in laughter. But she didn't.
"Good for you two."
"Seriously? Not even one inappropriate joke?"
"I'm a grown woman, Lin. Of course I won't make fun of you for being honest about how you feel." And Toph really did mean it then. That lasted for almost a week.
"Then you could stay too. For Sokka." Lin got up.
"I'll stay. But not for that clown, but for my girls." Toph stood up too and ruffled up Lin's hair a bit.
oooooooooo
Hour passed since they all returned from the prisons and there was still nothing from the non-bender one. They knew how far this one was and it made no sense that they still weren't back. Azula and Katara were the most worried and it was raising the tension in the room through the roof, so Kya suggested they all try meditation in hopes one of them could reach Aang in the Spirit World. Toph and Lin discarded the idea almost immediately, but Katara insisted.
"No! No more! It's been a half an hour… I need to stretch my legs." Toph broke the silence.
"We could spar." Lin suggested, "You know, if you want…"
"Sure. Anything to kill the boredom around here."
"Really, Toph? You just ruined everyone's concentration!" Katara spoke, but refused to open her eyes.
"Well, I see you're relaxed, Sugar Queen." Toph said sarcastically.
"You could interrogate our prisoner." Azula suggested, "If I remember correctly, you can sense lying. In most people."
"You're not supposed to talk, Azula." Zuko said.
"I think it's pretty much ruined now. We should all just try again later." Izumi got up too and everyone followed. Everyone besides Su. She was still sitting in her meditation pose, eyes closed.
"Su, wake up!" Lin tried to nudge her sister, but Kya stopped her.
"I think little Su did it." Kya announced studying the girl for a few more moments.
"How?" Toph asked.
"I know Zari talked to her about it. Maybe he knew a trick or something…" Izumi said.
"Or something." Lin smiled.
"And now we wait." Katara said.
oooooooooo
An hour later, Katara was still patiently waiting, sitting on the floor just opposite Suyin. She wanted nothing more than to join the girl. See Aang, Tenzin. It was killing her that she couldn't.
"Wait!" Su screamed as she woke with a violent twitch.
"What? Are you OK, sweetie?" Katara took the girl's hand.
"I'm fine. I did it. I found Uncle Aang." Su said. It was happy news, but her voice seemed scared.
"What did he say?"
"Well, I told him we were safe and he could use his Avatar State to escape."
"That's great. We did it." Zuko said.
"Is he OK, Su? How did he look?" Katara asked, worried, "If he knows where they're keeping him, maybe we could fly over and…"
"He's good. It's just…"
"Yes, Su, yes?"
"There was someone else there. Zari. I only heard a few sentences, but he said they were in trouble."
"Then you have to go back and hear him out." Azula pushed Zuko to get closer.
"No… I didn't leave. He did. He said their escape didn't work and then disappeared."
oooooooooo
Here we go! More free people.
Half the Gaang is reunited!
Half the Descendants Gaang is reunited!
I'll plan on explaining what happened to Zari's father in the next chapter, I think… Shortly, don't worry.
I'm so sorry if my quality of writing kind of dropped, but I'm just so busy, I don't have time to check the text multiple times… I hope you focus on the idea more than the execution.
If you have any thoughts about my story or just the last chapter, reviews are welcome. :)