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 03:

The Blue Spirit.

Zuko unpacked his Blue Spirit mask once again. He'd never given it up or thrown it away, because he knew that some things just had to be done, and they couldn't be done by Prince Zuko.

His clothing was all black so that he would blend into the darkness around him, and every part of his body was covered. Strapped to his back in their shared sheath were his favorite Daos; the two single handed broadswords were mirrors of each other and became a single sword if brought together.

He waited until Uncle was snoring before sneaking off into the shadows toward the nearby port city. Since they hadn't traveled very far during the afternoon, it didn't take long at all for Zuko to get back inside the city walls.

Making his way silently through the alleyways and city streets he'd memorized the day before, he finally enter the docks. Upon arrival, he looked out into the open bay before him and clenched his fists on his unsheathed swords.

There had to be over fifty ships in the bay. He knew from experience that there would be various ships docked in the city for supplies, but most were out in the open water. However, the biggest ship, the flagship, would also be docked.

Zuko took a deep breath, and made his way down the docks, hiding behind crates and dock houses, making his way towards the huge ship. Looking around for the easiest way to board the main vessel, he nearly walked right into a couple of patrols.

Swiftly, he propelled himself on top of a tall crate and looked down at the two men. He could easily reach them form where he was, but the two guards obviously weren't paying attention.

But neither were you, Zuko though viciously. All he needed now was to get caught. The exiled Prince Zuko was wanted just as much the Blue Spirit was; either could get him captured, and both would get him in more trouble than he liked.

But the mask wasn't there to hide his face from the guards; it was to hide his face from Azula if he ran across her. She wouldn't fight him as hard if she didn't know her brother was under the mask. And against Azula, Zuko would take any advantage he got.

"Why is this ship designed so funny?" one guard was saying. He was clean shaven, and obviously a new recruit; after a while no one brother to shave anymore.

His partner, however, seemed to be used to this kind of stuff. "Didn't you hear?" the older man asked, turning away from Zuko's hiding place to stare at his partner. "We captured the Avatar a couple of days ago."

Zuko did a mental double take, his heart started beating so fast he had trouble breathing properly. The Avatar?

"I hear he's been traveling with a group of kids," the older soldier continued, "not even full adults yet; a young female waterbender, a teenage youth, and a blind girl. What kind of a group is that?" He laughed, and his partner smiled slightly. "It's a wonder they managed to escape so many times before now. But we've got them good this time. A specially designed room was lain out in the middle of the ship, which is what's taken up so much crew space." The man coughed and blew a small bit of fire into his hands.

Zuko wondered vaguely if it was cold because he couldn't feel anything but hatred. So, Azula had managed to capture the airbender brat and his friends? She'd go back home, get even more of their father's approvable, and Zuko would lose his only mean of regaining his honor!

He couldn't let it happen.

He could save the brat again, and his friends, if only to get back at his sister in really the only way he could. It was petty, but it would work.

Silently, he dropped down behind the two men, and quickly knocked them both unconscious. With some effort, he pulled their bodies behind the crate.

He left them there, stripped of their waterflasks, and then continued his search for the simplest way unto the ship. They were holding the boy in the very middle of the vessel, a very smart plan. Keep him away from any element, and he'd be as helpless as any other little kid.

But with the water Zuko was bringing with him, and a little bit of help from the Blue Spirit, they'd escape easily enough. And then, the first part of Zuko's revenge would be complete.

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"I can't believe they didn't bring us water," Toph muttered as the trap door shut loudly.

Katara looked down at her own food. No water at all. Just food. There was a bit of watermelon, but no actual water. And the piece was barely big enough to pass as a slice. It would quench her thirst, but it was useless for anything else.

"Well, considering they were smart enough to make this room inescapable and actually pull it off?" Sokka said as he sat for the first time in two days, "Did we really think they just give us water?" The men that had brought them their food had loosened his chains only enough so that he could move his arms enough to eat.

Katara was tired, uncomfortable, and angry that their plan had failed. "Shut up Sokka. This was your plan remember?"

"Actually," her brother said matter-of-factly, "it was Aang's plan."

"No, it wasn't," she snapped. "You came up with it."

"Katara," Sokka said, his tone very superior. "My plans always work, remember? So obviously this one can't be my plan, or it would have worked!"

"Come on guys, cut it out." Aang's peaceful voice called from his side of the room. "We're all just tried and cranky. We'll get out of here, I know it."

Katara sighed and began eating her food slowly. Their first meal in over a day. Maybe it had taken their capturers a while to figure out how to keep the group alive without any water.

"Anyone want my meat?" Aang called, and Katara looked over to him to see the boy holding the offending piece of animal protein in the air with a giant smile of his face.

"Ha ha; very funny," Sokka said and turned so he couldn't see the younger boy.

Katara had already gotten through half her meal when she realized that Toph was no longer complaining or even eating. "Toph, you okay?" she asked.

The blind girl shushed her, and that got the boys' attention.

"What it s it?" Sokka asked, tilting his head to listen.

"Shut up," Toph said hitting the bars around her. The ringing noise that they made seemed louder with the group all being silent.

"There something coming toward us and it isn't a guard. The footsteps are too light and their not wearing armor. This is creepy." Toph titled her head so that her ear was against bars. She hit them again, "What is that?" she asked quietly.

Suddenly, there came a soft noise from below, where their guard was supposed to be keeping watch. Katara put her ear against the floor, listening carefully. There was what sounded like a struggle and then there was a dull roar of a fire blast. Katara was sure she wouldn't have been able to hear it if she and her brother had still been arguing when it happened.

Whatever was coming was trying to be very quiet. She too had managed to get her chains released a bit, and crawled as close to the door was possible, laying her head against the floor again to listen. The trap door creaked slightly as the door was pushed up into an open position. It didn't hit the floor on the opposite side because it was designed to stay halfway open when up.

Katara moved closer, and from where she was, she could almost look down into the hallway below. She jumped and let out a small scream when a horrible grinning face appeared in the darkness.

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Zuko was obviously in the right place because the scream he heard was female, but the stupid girl was going to ruin everything!

He propelled his body up the ladder with a foot and pounced on her, one hand coming up to cover her mouth and the other held to the lips of his mask to signal her to shut up. She stared at him with scared blue eyes and he glared at her through the mask.

Straddling her, his took this chance to look around the large enclose space. No windows, he noted, and the only door was the one he'd come through. Lucky for him it was well past midnight, and the crew was mostly asleep. He'd still had to take out a couple of firebenders to get here so they needed to hurry.

Zuko heard a gasp from somewhere to his right, and looked that way.

He saw the Avatar in a large cage across the room, and some girl he didn't recognize in a cage suspending the air between him and the water girl's chained brother. Zuko looked down at the waterbender again and titled his head at her, again pressing his finger to the front of his mask. She nodded and he let her up. She was chained too, though not as tightly as her brother.

Zuko stood from his crouched position and deposited a water flask near her before walking across the room.

"You?" the airbender asked when the masked prince got close enough to hear. "You're saving me again?" he sounded eager, but Zuko didn't care.

"I'm only here for the same reasons I was before. I'm not letting anyone else take you in before me." Zuko whispered back, leaning as far forward in the bars as he could.

The Avatar's face was sad for a moment, be then he smiled. "Yeah well, you'll still here to get us out, so I guess I can't complain. Got a plan?" he asked.

Zuko took the second flask out and poured its contents out onto the floor. The water splashed unto the ground and the younger boy gathered it up quickly, bending it into a thin slice.

"Perfect," the boy said and began working on cutting the bars to his cage.

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He was creepy, Katara thought as she watched the man in the blue mask cross the room.

Dressed all in black, all of his skin was covered, and he seemed to slide rather than walk. He glided over to Aang, and the look on the Avatar's face was strange, almost like he recognized the taller man from somewhere. The two talked in low voices, and Katara couldn't understand them so she looked at what the masked man had put in front of her. Her spirits lifted when she realized it was a water flask. Real water.

"What's going on?" Sokka asked quietly, and Katara shook her head.

"No idea, but he seems to have come to help."

"What makes you say that?" Toph asked with a steady voice.

Katara smiled. "He brought us water."

She opened the flask quickly and bended the water out. Molding it so that it was so sharp it could cut bone, she began to work on the chains that kept her on the floor. After they popped, she looked over to see Aang doing the same with a few of the bars on his cage.

The masked man walked back over toward her and suddenly he had two swords in his hands. Katara almost cried out again when he raised them above her brother's head, but stopped the sound in the back of her throat when the swords come down on the chains and not her brother's flesh.

Sokka stared at the masked man in surprise; he had obviously not been expecting that either. "Thanks," her brother said and rubbed his wrists where the chains still hung. The masked man just slipped the swords back in the sheath along his back.

"Sokka," Katara called after a few seconds of tense silence, "come here and I'll get them off your wrists." Sokka nodded and headed over, giving her a quick hug before holding out his hands. Complete trust was in his eyes when he watched her use the sharp liquid to cut them off.

There was a soft sound from the cage on the others side of the room, and Katara looked over to see Aang use airbending to lower the last piece he'd cut off of his cage to the floor gently as possible. He then rushed over and knelt down beside her and Sokka, where Katata pulled him into a hug.

"Have you guys forgotten about me or something," came an irritated voice from above. The masked man took a step back and looked up at Toph and Katara followed his gaze before returning it to his face.

There was nothing but black under the mask, and she could make out nothing that gave away who he was. She furrowed her brows and looked over at Aang for an explanation, but the younger boy was already standing, bending his supply of water absentmindedly in his hands.

"How are we going to do this?" Sokka asked, and Katara gave him a look. "Something tells me Aang won't be able to stop the noise this will make with his airbending."

"We aren't going to do anything." Katara said matter-of-factly. "Only Aang and I can cut the chains."

The masked man moved forward slightly, and stood beneath the cage. Then, he raised his arms above his head; they were just long enough so that his palms laid flat on the bottom of Toph's cage and Aang smiled.

"Good idea." The younger boy said, and turned to her brother "Sokka, you and he can hold her up while Katara and I work on getting her down." Sokka was staring at the cage in disbelief, and Aang said it again. "Sokka, go help."

Sokka jumped like he had come out of a trance and then went to stand under the cage as well.

It took only a few minutes to cut the large chain that held Toph's cage in the air. When it broke, its full weight came down on the two guys and Sokka groaned slightly. The mask man made no sound, and they sifted the cage so that it was laying flat on the floor.

"Came someone get me out now?" Toph demanded, and Katara started to work on the bars.

"Thanks, again," Aang said, directing it at the masked man

The man in the mask didn't say anything back and he didn't make a move to tell that he'd heard it either. Katara wondered again what their connection was, and why Aang was so trusting of this guy.

"We've got trouble," Toph said as soon as her bare feet hit the floor. "There's moment all around and a lot of yelling." Her words made the hair on the back of Katara's neck rise. Even the mask man looked at Toph when she spoke again. "I think they know something is wrong."

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

All right, so here's what's new in my crazy life.

My best friend-slash- little sister gave my laptop an aneurism today, and it no longer wants to start. But you guys have nothing to fear; I write everything on my dad's desktop computer anyway, and have lost nothing really important.

I have found out that I am so a fangirl of my own work and spend every minute I can looking to see how many hits this story is getting.

Every little hit counts.

Oh yeah! And I have very good news:

I have finally figure out how I'm going to end this fic. That is a major step because I started it with NO inclination as to how it was going to turn out. Remember what I said about characters taking over? Yeah; totally true. And how'd you like the whole Zuko-on-top-of-Katara-thing I managed to put in there.

I love my hobby. :P

PS: You guys rock! I love getting review that say "UPDATE" cause that means you plan on reading the rest of my fic!

Okay enough with the rant. See you next Chapter. I will most likely update sometime later today or earlier tomorrow morning, (three AM, like right now.)

Review and tell me what you think, please!