(A/N: I'm really very sorry this took so long. I had final exams and final projects, so I was really busy. Thankfully, its all out of the way. So here's the next chapter. One of the scenes here was cut was a fight between Jake and Tsu'tey. I, however, have cut nothing. Hope you like it.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 10: Betrayal

Zuko's weapon of choice was a pair of dual duo swords. He really didn't want to do this, but he was giving no choice. He needed to get the Water Tribe to listen to him, but he'd never be able to do that with Jet spouting things about war and revenge. First Zuko had to shut him up, then he could get them out of danger.

"Nephew," Iroh whispered, "this is not the way. We don't have time for this." He glanced at Jet. "And he really wants to kill you."

"I know." Zuko agreed. "But it's the only way to get him to listen. I'll make it fast."

Jet charged at him, swinging his hook swords. Zuko blocked and swung his own sword, but Jet blocked as well. This was not going to be easy. Jet was very good at swordplay, and, as Iroh pointed out, actually wanted to kill him. So how was he supposed to end this without either of them getting hurt, or worse?

Jet twirled his hook swords and brought them down. Zuko responded by crossing his blade in front of him, the hooks on Jet's swords hooking onto his blades. Sparks flew as Jet pulled his blades free and did a back flip, kicking Zuko in the chin.

Zuko had to roll to the side as Jet swiped at him. Jumping to his feet, he headed for the ice with Jet right behind him. As he slid on the ice, he stabbed into it with one of his swords, allowing him to swing around and kick Jet in the chest.

Once on his feet, Zuko brought his swords down, but Jet crossed his own in front of him as Zuko had done earlier. He kicked upward, catching Zuko in the gut and knocking him off him. He swung with his hook sword, catching Zuko's ankle and pulling is foot out from under him. Zuko lost his balance and slipped, hitting his head hard on the ice.

On his feet again, Jet stomped down on Zuko's chest, holding him there, and raised his hook swords. He never got a chance to strike as a tornado of fire suddenly appeared, originating from within Zuko. The young prince was on his feet again, his sword ablaze.

Zuko swung his swords, unleashing fire as he did so. Jet was forced to retreat as Zuko launched fire at him with punches, kicks, and sword swipes. Jet was able to deflect the fire blasts with his hook swords until a particularly large blast exploded against his hooks swords, knocking them out of his hands and throwing him off his feet. Looking up, he saw Zuko standing over him, his swords in front of his face.

"You see!" Jet roared. "He's nothing but a demon! These monsters destroy everything in their path!"

Jet was obviously a sore loser, but Zuko didn't care; he had won. Unfortunately, he was feeling dazed from hitting his head so hard on the ice. Stumbling, he fell to his knees, trying to shake away the feeling of light-headedness.

Seeing an opening, Jet tackled Zuko, pinning him to the ground. He grabbed Zuko's dropped sword and prepared to stab the Fire Prince.

"NO!"

Katara jumped from the sideline, knocking Jet off the dazed Zuko. Bending the water in her pouch into a large deadly icicle, she stood protectively in front of Zuko, glaring at Jet, her deadly icicle aimed at him.

Jet jumped to his feet, Zuko's sword in hand. He looked ready to attack again, but stopped when he saw Katara standing in his path. With an angry snarl, he threw the sword down and stomped off.

Sighing in relief, Katara knelt down by Zuko and helped him to his feet. "You ok?"

He nodded, rubbing his head. "Hope I don't have a concussion."

She gave him a smile. "Come, you need to lay down."

Instead, Zuko pulled away from her. There was no time for that. He'd wasted too much time already. He turned to Hakoda, speaking loud enough for the whole tribe to hear. "Please listen to me, I have something to say." He gave Katara a sorrowful look. "The words are like stones in my heart."

Hakoda motioned for Zuko to continue. "Speak."

He took a moment to choose his words carefully. "A great evil is among us. The Fire Nation is coming to destroy the village." This declaration was followed by shocked and terrified gasps. "You must surrender, or you'll all die."

Aunt Wu and Hakoda shared a worried look. The former stepped forward and asked, "Are you certain of this?"

Zuko realized that he couldn't put it off any longer. "Look, they sent me here to learn your ways and earn your trust so… so one day I could convince you that surrender and death were your only options, and that you'd believe me."

Confusion was written on Hakoda's face, along with the rest of the Water Tribe. Katara seemed to recover first, grabbing Zuko's sleeve. "What are you saying, Zuko? You knew this would happen?"

Her eyes begged him to tell her that this wasn't true, and Zuko wished more than anything that he could, but it would be a lie. Instead he nodded shamefully. "Yes." The look of heartbreak on her face broke his own heart. "Look, at first it was just orders, but then everything changed. I fell in love, with the land, with the people, with you."

As he spoke, he realized in dismay that his words weren't reaching her. Tears crept up in her eyes as she backed away from him, shaking her head. "I trusted you. I trusted you!"

"Trust me now." He begged.

"YOU BETRAYED US!" she shouted. "You were played us all from the beginning! YOU WILL NEVER BE ONE OF THE PEOPLE! TRAITOR!"

Iroh realized that things were going from bad to worse very quickly. "I tried to stop them." He cried.

But his words fell on deaf ears. All around him, hurt and angry faces glared at them. Jet looked just as furious as the rest of them, but he also had a satisfied look on his face. Katara was too busy weeping to show her anger. And the most furious of all seemed to be Hakoda, who turned angrily to his warriors.

"Bind them!"

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The Fire Nation came by land, sky, and sea. As large war ships floated into the harbor, hot air balloons floated in the sky, and metal tanks road on land. On the biggest ship stood Admiral Zhao with an eager look on his face. Finally they would be getting rid of these water peasants. After today, no one would be able to doubt the Fire Nation's supremacy.

As the Water Tribe's village came into view, a red Fire Nation eagle flew over towards the admiral with a message. He read it quickly, looking surprised by its contents. Taking out his telescope to check, he saw that Prince Zuko and General Iroh were indeed being held captive at the Water Tribe, just as the message said.

"Well, well," he muttered, "I'd say negotiations have failed." He smirked. "Prepare to attack."

One of the soldiers glanced at the admiral uncertainly. "But, sir, the prince and the general-"

"Are traitors to the Fire Nation." Zhao interrupted, "and are therefore expendable. Now, prepare the catapults!" Grinning, he looked up at the hot air balloon he knew Combustion Man was on. "Time to show them what you can do."

Almost as if he heard the admiral, Combustion Man braced himself on the hot air balloon flown by Mai. He focused on the closest icehouse and took a deep breath. From out of his forehead, from the exact spot his tattoo was, he unleashed a heat wave compressed into a type of invisible missile. It struck the house he aimed at and exploded in a shower of fire and ice as all around the village enormous fireballs were thrown from catapults at the Water Tribe.

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"DAMN IT, RUN!" Zuko shouted.

If the Water Tribe even heard him over all the noise, they completely ignored him. They were too busy fighting. Those that could Waterbend were attacking with bending while those that couldn't used bows, arrows, and spears. But from within their machines, the Fire Nation soldiers remained safe from their attacks.

Zuko struggled against his bonds, but was unable to break free. The same went for Iroh, both of them left helpless to defend themselves and those around them. Up in the sky, Zuko recognized Mai's hot air balloon. He could see Combustion Man unleashing powerful heat waves from his forehead, destroying all in his path. Zuko now knew first hand why the guy was called Combustion Man.

Too his horror, Zuko realized that all the tanks and hot air balloons were heading for a single location, the palace of ice. "He's gonna destroy the palace!"

Iroh looked at the oncoming army and realized his nephew was right. "By the gods…"

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Mai winced every time Combustion Man unleashed another heat wave. Hearing something explode, she refused to look at the damage being done. But no matter where she looked, she saw some sort of destruction. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw towers of the ice palace falling as more and more giant fireballs were launched at it.

This wasn't right. Not right at all. What was she doing here? How did she get here? She had joined the army in order to protect her country from those who sought to destroy it. She loved her country and would give her life to protect it, but becoming a mercenary and killing innocents just to prove the Fire Nation's superiority had not been in the job description.

She looked at Combustion Man and saw him taking aim at another icehouse. Her eyes narrowed and she turned the wheel sharply, turning around the hot air balloon. Combustion Man lost his balance and he toppled over, his attack going way off course and missing his target completely.

Angry about missing his target, he turned to Mai and gave her an ittitated questioning look.

"Don't give me that look." she told him, steering the hot air balloon back to base. "I didn't sign up for this!"

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As Zuko struggled to get free, he soon became aware of Aunt Wu approaching him with a knife. Fear gripped Zuko as he expected the worst. She was going to kill him for his betrayal. He knew he had it coming, but he didn't want to die, not without setting things right at least.

Grabbing the Fire Nation prince, Aunt Wu held up the knife. Iroh renewed his struggles, this time to get to his nephew. "Aunt Wu, don't!"

She completely ignored the old man, giving Zuko a pleading look. "If you are one of us… help us…"

And then she cut his bindings, followed by Iroh's. Both Firebenders were astounded, but immediately jumped in to action, trying to evacuate the Water Tribe members and defend against the Fire Nation's attacks. They hated what was going on, but the fact of the matter was that there was nothing they could do at this moment to save the village.

The fireballs kept coming, repeatedly crashing into the palace. Without Combustion Man's explosions, the process was slowed down, but eventually the palace took more than it could stand.

The ground shook as the large palace collapsed, breaking apart into pieces of snow and ice. The members of the Water Tribe ran to avoid the large chunks of ice that came crashing down around them, though not everyone escape.

The attacks did not stop until the ice palace had been reduced to a pile of icy rubble. When the fire stopped raining down, the Water Tribe looked at their destroyed village, completely devastated. Cried of despair rang out around the valley as the Water Tribe members shouted their sorrow for the loss of their homes and fellow members.

Up in the sky, the mood was quite the opposite. Zhao observed the damage with a proud smile on his face. Patting a soldier on the back, he gave him a satisfied nod. "That's good work, men. That'll teach those peasants to respect their betters. Lets head back."

As the Fire Nation army left, the Water Tribe searched desperately for survivors. Zuko was among them, hoping and praying that a certain Water Tribe woman had survived.

"Katara!" he shouted. He had to find her. He'd never forgive himself if anything happened to her. He swore that one day he would make his father and Zhao pay for this, but Katara was his top priority.

During his search, he got some good news and some bad news. The good news was that he found Katara, and she seemed to be fine. The bad news was that she was standing over the lifeless body of her father. Chief Hakoda lay dead on the ground, half of his body covered in serious burns.

Feeling her pain, he dropped down beside her, trying to comfort her through her tears. "Katara, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Go away!" she cried. "GO AWAY! Leave, and never come back!"

With those words, she put him out of mind completely and went back to mourning over her father. Despair gripped Zuko, but what else could he do? He was just as responsible as his father and Zhao. All he could do was walk away with his head hanging shamefully.

He wasn't sure how far he walked before he was suddenly surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers pointing swords at him. He didn't even put up a fight.

(A/N: The most tragic scene. You know, when I first saw the movie, I was afraid it might end there as a tragedy. Thank goodness it didn't. So, we got more coming.)