Because it has to be said, I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender, or any of the names or characters of the show. I merely control them for my own twisted pleasure from this point in my story on.

Chapter 01:

Plans for the Future

"Katara?"

Her brother's voice echoed through her skull over and over. It felt like Appa had sat on her head in her sleep, and the fog that surrounded her brain gave way to enormous pain. She moaned slightly but didn't try to move.

"Is she all right?" Aang's voice was full of concern and he sounded farther way than her brother. Also, it didn't echo quite as many times.

"I don't know," was Sokka's answer. "It looks like she's waking up but I don't think she can hear us yet. That's a really bad bump."

"Her breathing sounds labored," came the familiar female voice. Toph's tone was also worried, but she was a little calmer then the two guys. "I think she might be hurt somewhere other than her head."

Sokka made a noise halfway between a grunt and a hiss. "I can't exactly move to check it out, you know!" There was the rattling of chains after he finished.

Katara managed to gain enough control over her bodily functions to open her eyes. She was laid out on her back and the first thing she saw was the ceiling of a metal room.

"Don't be such a bonehead!" the blind girl yelled, her voice taking on a tilt of anger. "I was just saying-"

"Guys, cut it out." Aang sounded tried, and Katara tried to follow the echo of his voice but moving her head made the world around her spin. "We don't have time to start fighting between ourselves."

"Katara?" Sokka's voice came from beside her and she slowly looked over to see her brother chained tightly to the wall. He was only about four feet away and he was staring at her with the happiest look on his face.

Katara took him in, noticing quickly that he had numerous smaller wounds on his face, including a bruise that colored his lower jaw on the left side. He was also chained to the wall behind him, his arms held taunt above him by the wrists.

"Are you okay? She asked, trying to sit up but failing when her head spun again.

"Yeah, hey don't worry about me;" come Sokka's overconfident reply "Are you doing alright? You've been out the longest."

She nodded, but stopped quickly. "What happened?" Katara asked with a groan, moving an unusually heavy arm to hold her head. She was chained too, but that didn't really surprise her.

"Fire Nation," Aang's voice drew her attention to the other side of the rather large room. The bars around him made it look like he was an animal, but she knew he'd been caged instead of chained to a wall. Airbending couldn't affect strong metal bars like it could chains, and as long as he was inside them and out of reach of any of the other elements, he'd be as helpless as a the child he was as long as you didn't get too close.

"Are you okay?" she asked him, and the bald boy just smiled weakly and nodded.

Her head still pounding, Katara looked around for Toph, but didn't see her. She looked at Sokka questioningly, and he pointed up. It was there Katara saw the younger girl suspended in the air in a cage much smaller than the one Aang occupied. By the looks of it she could barely sit up in it, let alone move around much.

"Toph? You okay?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The blind girl punched the bars around her and they rattled loudly. "At least I can see."

Katara nodded and shifted into a sitting position. She inspected her chains and found they were extremely tight, and she was sure they wouldn't reach standing height. Sighing, she looked around for a door out, but didn't find anything on the walls.

After a closer look at the floor around her, Katara spotted it in the very middle of the room. A trapdoor in and out. Clever.

"Do we know where we are?" she asked.

"We're on a boat," Toph said resignedly, "in the middle of the freaking ocean. No earth around anywhere."

Ocean… that's was good. Katara reached inside to see if she could bend.

"We're in the middle of the boat, Katara," Aang said as if reading her mind. "So you can't waterbend. We're too far up off the water."

Sokka's chains rattle as he tried to rub his nose. "Does anyone else think that this was, I don't know, planned?"

"Yeah." There was a loud bang as Toph hit her cage again. "This room seems to be designed to hold all of us, not just Aang."

"Meaning?" Katara asked feeling a little too much out of the loop.

Aang sighed, and she looked his way. "It means that they captured you guys too, and not just for getting in the way." The Avatar glanced around the room as if looking for something. "If I'd been awake when they took us here…" he trailed off. It was too late for that now.

Sokka's stomach rumbled and Katara gave him a heated look. He hung his head. "'Are they planning on feeding us,' that's my next question," He said it half joking, but it still earned him a scoff from Toph's direction.

Then, as if on que, a metal clatter from the underside of the trap door signaled the arrival of a visitor. The man that climbed up through the hole was someone that Katara didn't recognize, but it was obviously he wasn't just a foot soldier.

From what she could make out of his uniform, he was dressed more formally than a soldier. The colors were in the typical dark red and gold that all of the fire nation people Katara had seen preferred, but the uniform was different.

"Ah," the man said as he hefted himself out of the hole, "it seems that our little group is finally awake." He didn't move from the spot he was standing, but rather turned to look at Aang.

"Who are you?" Sokka asked angrily, voicing what Katara had just thought to herself. The man was obviously from the Fire Nation, but what rank or how far up the chain of command he really was, was something she would never be able to guess on her own.

"I am Admiral Sho and this is my flagship," the man's voice was hard sounding and gravelly, which didn't really surprise Katara much. "I have been dispatched by the Fire Lord himself to hunt for you." His face darkened with a wide smile, and he chuckled softly. "After all, Zuko failed so miserably at the task."

There was a hard silence, but then Toph voice echoed out. "Zuko? Don't you mean 'Prince' Zuko?" she asked, once again reminding Katara that the girl hadn't been with them for very long.

Admiral Sho didn't even turn to look at her when he replied, "Not anymore."

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It was getting dark by the time they made camp. After eating a sparse dinner of fish, Uncle had set out their sleeping mats and Zuko had gone to feed their only mode of transportation.

"Uncle," Zuko said, digging deeply into the feed bag to scoop out another cup. "We're almost out of feed for the ostrich-horse again."

Iroh glance over from his seat by the fire. "Well, can't have the poor thing running out of food," he said tiredly, yawning as he settled down on his elbow. "I think we're near a small port, we could stop there tomorrow and buy some more."

Buy? Zuko thought, with what money? He'd stolen the last bag, and now his uncle was acting senile again. He nodded at his uncle anyway and drew the bag's strings up and wrapped them around a few times to keep it closed.

Zuko wanted to say that he hated living like a common beggar, but his uncle had heard that enough. It still amazed him how the old man, once a Crowned Prince, had so easily adjusted to this way of life. It was disgusting, but at the same time, Zuko envied his uncle the ability.

In each town they begged for money and food, getting further and further away from the place they'd once called home. Each day brought them further and further away from the palace and the navy, which Zuko had come to think of his second home.

All in all, being in exile had been much much better than being a fugitive. But they didn't have a choice anymore. Azula had made that obvious.

Zuko looked over at his uncle again and wondered if the old man was really as happy as he always seemed. He'd never forget that had his uncle not come at just the right moment, Zuko's exile may have very well killed him.

Zuko was sure that it was his uncle's influence that had gotten him this far: the old man was the most important person in his life right now. Zuko turned away when Uncle began snoring under the darkening sky.

He walked over to the fire and lazily lowered himself on his own mat, glancing through the flames at the older man. Tomorrow, Zuko thought, he would steal some tea for the old man, as thanks for something that could never be repaid.

He lay back, staring up at the endless sky. Absentmindedly, he bended some of the fire over his head, shooting it towards the stars.

Even after all that he'd lost, he could still be one thing; a firebender. Even with his honor in shambles, he could still be proud of this. His uncle had taught him this.

This is where my author's notes go...Enjoy.

Look! It's Zuko being…thoughtful?

Is that a little bit too much out of character?

And I just made a randomly new character, which may or may not be the bad guy for the rest of the chapters.

Tell me what you think.

Next chapter, they meet; my unsuspecting fandom couple. Muhahahaha.

This is gonna be fun…

PS: YAY to TeenAnimeOtaku for being my first review! I hope you stick around for the rest. And a WOOT to sammiann as well. I couldn't do it without you guys!