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21. To Crumble into Dust

"Sir," a Dai Li agent said quickly as he bowed at Long Feng's feet. "Somebody had broken into the underground and the Water Tribe prisoner has escaped confinement."

Long Feng nodded, "Thank you, servant."

The man scurried off and Long Feng turned to Shang with an expressionless face. "Are you thinking it might be who I'm thinking it might be?"

There was a frown on the man's brow as he nodded.

"Secure guards around the Avatar's holding cell and the holding cell of the two girls we took."

Windu was quick on his feet. He had been up and down the corridors so many times that he knew the ones that didn't change constantly like the back of his hand. He led the towards where he knew Mai and Katara were being kept as quickly as his feet could carry him and only stopped when Toph told him that there was someone worth avoiding around the corner. They only had a couple of encounters which Toph quickly sorted out with earthbending before any serious fights could start or anyone could make too much noise or draw too much attention.

"Are we there yet?" Sokka hissed, impatiently.

"Almost, it's just around this corner," Windu assured him as they turned.

The group stopped and found themselves facing a stone wall.

"Are you kidding me? It's a dead end!" Sokka shouted.

"Shh!" several of his friends hissed.

"Sokka, this hideout belongs to Long Feng and the Dai Li – a lot of the prisons are caves with no proper entries or exists and require earthbending for access," Windu explained as if Sokka was a small child with no knowledge of the world.

The boy glared at him, "Just get me to my sister."

Windu looked at Toph, "Can you earthbend this?"

The girl had a huge grin on her face and, as uncharacteristic as it was, tears in her eyes.

"Toph, are you ok?" Zuko asked.

She wiped them away with her sleeve and tried to set her face, "Yes, I'm fine – I just didn't realize how much I missed Sugar Queen until just then. I can see them."

"Then hurry up and get them out!!!" Sokka shouted, throwing himself at the wall.

Everyone was smiling as he stumbled back to his feet and Toph nodded. Everyone stood behind her as she slipped into a bending stance and made the wall before them crumble...

When the wall on the far side of the cave was suddenly reduced to nothing, Mai and Katara didn't know what to expect. It was not a clean job like the Dai Li would have done, but knowing their luck, it didn't necessarily mean their visitors were friendly.

They scrambled to their feet and Mai took a step in front of Katara. Protecting her pregnant friend – the natural reaction.

But as the dust settled and the air cleared again, a smile broke over everybody's face as they all looked at each other in relief.

"Mai!" Ty Lee squealed and the two girls ran and each other and threw their arms around each other.

"Oh Ty Lee! I missed you!" the girl cried, very uncharacteristically.

"Katara!" Sokka shouted as he ran up to his little sister and hugged her. He cringed slightly at the bulge at her belly, but decided it didn't matter so much at that point. All that mattered just then to him was that his baby sister was back in his arms.

"Sokka!" the waterbender hugged him back. "Sokka, oh thank the Spirits!" Her body was shaking and Sokka couldn't quite tell if she was crying or laughing or both. He decided it was probably both, because he was too.

Toph and Suki stood and watched with smiles on their faces, patiently waiting for their turn to hug their friends... well, to hug Katara anyway.

Windu didn't step into the cave. He lingered in the background, feeling oddly out of place and pretty guilty for being part of the reason they'd been separated.

Zuko hung somewhere between where Windu stood and where the girls stood, his eyes on Katara. He couldn't take his eyes off of her and he didn't want to. The corners of his eyes were wet with tears and he was resisting the heavy urge to run to her and hold on to her and never, ever, ever let her go. But he wouldn't. Not until she wanted him to. If she still hated him, then he wouldn't force himself on her, even if it killed him.

Toph stood with a smile on her face. She would never admit it, but she was sobbing. Luckily for her, there was nobody paying attention to her and she was managing to keep quiet.

There were so many heartbeats saying so many different things. There was so much excitement and joy and so much love. Everybody was feeling so much relief and happiness – it was like a drug to Toph. She always had to know how people were feeling because she could always hear their heartbeats, and all the tension of the past little while had left her feeling pretty glum herself – glummer than she would have been if she had been anybody else.

The sudden buzz of positiveness was overwhelming. Everybody was happy and smiling and feeling good.

Well, that was everybody but the two boys lingering near the cave's new entrance.

She wasn't so concerned about Windu – he was not close to her or particularly important to her in any way. It was fair enough that he felt so awkward where he was, but he'd suck it up and get over it in his own good time.

But Zuko...

Toph listened to his heartbeat a little closer. There was conflict – a large part of him wanted to throw himself at Katara and take her into his arms and hold on to her, but another part of him was afraid and he was holding himself back. Toph's smile flattened a little bit, and she felt herself sigh. That boy's moods were going to give her grey hair before she was fifteen!

For a few minutes, Katara stayed locking in her brother's arms. She felt safe for the first time in who knew how long and she didn't want to change that. But she pulled away and looked to see who else had come for her and Mai.

The other girl was being embraced very enthusiastically by Ty Lee and Katara couldn't help but smile and giggle at how sweet that was. There was Suki and Toph. Suki gave her a huge grin and a wave and Toph gave her a thumbs up.

And just behind the girls, there he was. Katara felt her heart skip a beat as she lay eyes on him and as he slowly lifted his from the ground to look back, she let a smile spread over her face. She did not stop herself from running over to him and throwing her arms around him.

Zuko smiling hugely to himself and wrapped his arms around her as tightly as he dared without hurting her or their unborn child. The lump of her belly made his heart beat even faster and he gently lifted her off the ground and spun her around, burying his face in her hair.

He set her down in front of him and held her closer to him, breathing in her sent and kissing her neck and just holding onto her.

"Oh Zuko..." she sobbed onto him. "I missed you so much... I was so scared." She laughed a little, "I knew you'd come."

"Thank God you're safe," he sighed as his lips searched for hers. Hers searched out his too and when they met, their worlds exploded into oblivion.

Katara sank into his embrace and sighed in relief, so happy to finally be in his arms again. She ran her fingers through his hair and touched his face and ran her hands along the plains of his chest, all the while, he did not let her go.

Azula smiled. Her brother was on top of the world for the first time since the wedding night had gone wrong. How could she not be happy for him?

"Thank goodness," she whispered.

Ursa stood behind the Princess and wrapped her arms around her. "They're not out of danger yet, my love. Let's not get too happy yet – there are things that could still go wrong."

Azula looked to her mother's face. "Mum, do you know what will and won't happen?"

Ursa smiled at her daughter. "No, my love. But with common sense, I can take a guess at what has the possibility of happening or not happening."

Yue and Azula frowned at each other with worry and then they all looked back down into the well.

"Are they all going to get out of here in one piece?" she whispered.

Ursa kissed the top of her hair, "I have a bad feeling they won't..."

As they watched, the scene changed. The guards that Long Feng and Admiral Shang had sent to guard the area the girls were being held were about to arrive and there were plenty of them.

Windu watched the couple reunite. A bitter taste of jealousy made him cringe, and he tried to hide that fact. Katara and Zuko were married and he'd already caused enough damage as it was. He didn't want to inflict them any more pain.

He forced himself to watch them.

He loved her and looked like he would take good care of her. He had come all of this way for her after all, so there was a lot of loyalty and dedication from him towards her. He cared – that was for sure. It was all too evident in the way he held on to her so tightly yet gently in his arms and kissed her so sweetly and tenderly.

The corners of his mouth twitched up in a smile and slowly the rest of his face melted into one too. He sighed and looked away. His eyes rested on Mai, the girl he had been dancing with and talking to at the wedding after-party.

He smiled a little wider and then glanced back towards Katara. Then he almost laughed – it didn't hurt so much anymore. That was when he realized it. He was starting to make eyes at another girl. And he was ready to let himself fall in love again.

He smiled at Mai and she glanced over at him for a moment and smiled back before she focused on Ty Lee again, who was dragging her over to Suki, who also gave her a hug.

Windu looked over to Sokka, who was watching Zuko and Katara. The Water Tribe warriors' eyes met and they gave each other a smile and a not before looking back at the couple.

A few seconds later, Windu felt somebody come up behind him, but he didn't take much notice of them – he was too lost in the moment.

Then a hand covered his mouth and he felt himself sink into the ground up to his waist.

When Zuko and Katara's lips fell away from each other, he kissed her cheeks, the tip of her nose, her cheeks again, her forehead, the corner of her mouth and her cheeks again. She couldn't stop smiling and tears of joy were cascading from her eyes. He kissed them away as they appeared and now and then, returned his lips to hers for a moment. His hands rubbed circles on her back and he still did not let go of her. He ran one of her hands through her hair and wiped some of her tears away with his thumb. His hand slid slowly down the side of her face and down the side of her body until it stopped to rest on her swollen belly.

Zuko pulled her that little bit closer to him and pressed his lips into hers again and held them there. She moved her hands back up his chest and over his shoulders and wrapped her arms around his neck.

When they pulled away, Katara propped her head against his chest and he kissed the top of her head and rested his cheek there. She closed her eyes, feeling so safe and warm and so happy to finally be being held again. He shut his eyes and sighed, overjoyed that she was safe and in his arms once more.

Toph's panicked voice brought them violently out of their utopia.

"GUYS! WE'VE GOT COMPANY!"

They opened their eyes and pulled out of each other's arms. Zuko spun on his heals and pulled Katara behind him as he faced the danger.

"Windu!" Sokka shouted. They all saw Windu, half buried in the earth with a Dai Li agent forcing a gag into his mouth.

Nobody really had time to count how many Dai Li agents were barring their way out because they all rushed in and started earthbending. But Toph was too quick to retaliate for them and outmatched them within seconds, blowing them all against the far wall and forcing a few out the hole that she had made when entering. The man who had gagged Windu was blown backwards to and Toph made the earth release him and raise him back to his feet.

But Dai Li, as everybody knows, do not go down easy. The majority of them sprang back to their feet a moment later and advanced again. Ty Lee managed to take a few out with her chi blocks and Windu and Mai took out those nearest them with hand to hand combat and blows to the head. Suki had her fans handy and fended off any who came too close to her and Sokka threw his boomerang around the room and took out his club. Zuko used his firebending and tried to keep Katara in the background even though she was keen to fight.

"Let me help!" she plead.

"No, Katara, it's too dangerous!" he shook his head.

"I can fight!"

"No!" he said, rounding on her. "You don't have any water! Don't get in their way – I just got you back and I am not losing you again!"

"Zuko! Look out!" Toph's voice shouted from across the way.

The young Fire Lord turned around just in time to see a Dai Li agent on the attack. An earth pillar rose from the ground and caught Zuko square in the stomach, pushing him back violently and winding him. But Toph saved him severe damage when she sent her own attack at the offending agent, knocking him to the ground and rendering him unconscious.

But as the Fire Lord got to his feet, he saw the consequences of Toph saving him unfold from the corner of his eye. To save him, and in turn Katara, she had had to take her focus off her own fight. There was no time for her to turn back to the several opponents who had surrounded her and who were taking her moment to save her friend as an opportunity to win the fight.

However many rocks collided with Toph with whatever force behind them was enough to make her fall and contort her face with pain. Her mouth opened as she tried not to let the cry of pain escape.

"Toph!" Zuko heard several voices call her name, including his own. But the girl was already on the floor. He jumped to his feet and was at Katara's side in less than a second, shaking off the pain in his gut from the half successful attack.

Suddenly it was as if there were too many of the Dai Li men for the others all to handle. They seemed to rain down on them like fire. The way they moved the earth seemed to cause explosions and stone and dust flew up everywhere. Zuko wrapped his arms around Katara and shielded her from a vast amount of the debris and as soon as it cleared, he turned around and started dragging her towards the exit by the wrist. But there were so many Dai Li agents in the way!

Toph lifted her head up and, seeing all of the people around her in peril as well as the earthbenders who were about to end her, she moved the earth so that it rippled under everyone's feet and did what she could to make sure her friends were the only ones who didn't fall over and then get at least partially sucked up by the ground beneath them.

"Toph!" Sokka cried indignantly as she failed to keep him from sinking down to his waist in the earth.

"Sorry..." she pushed him back up, but Dai Li agents were earthbenders too and could get themselves out. Many of them had already figured that out and were already on their feet again.

Somebody struck Windu in the head and somebody grabbed Mai. Windu fell to the ground on the border of unconsciousness and Ty Lee tried to attack the man who had grabbed Mai and was pulling her backwards. But the acrobat soon found her feet encased in earth.

Somebody attacked Suki but she managed to dodge out of the way, but Zuko and Katara suddenly found themselves surrounded by the enemy.

"Zuko! Katara!" Toph shouted.

Zuko was doing what he could to shield Katara from the attackers, but Toph knew it was hopeless if she didn't step in. They were all going to die or become imprisoned at the very least if she didn't act fast.

Toph quickly got to her feet and dropped into a wide stance, lifting her arms towards the ceiling and stamping her feet as she brought them down sharply. With her movement – her command – the roof of the cave fell in.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Cliff-hanger! And definitely one of the longest chapters I've written in a while! Go me! And guys, I'm sorry for the long time between updates, I really am. But I guess this was still less than a week, so I'm not doing too badly.

That might change soon though – as of Monday in two weeks, I start working, which means it might take just a wee bit longer for me to crank out the chapters. Anyway, I stayed home sick today, so that's probably the only reason you ended up receiving this one.

But whatever! Here you go! I hope you liked it – tell me what you thought of the Zutara fluff and the reunion and the fight and the everything! :D I'm really excited to know what you think because a lot just happened this chapter.

So review – remember, I need three (3) before I can update. AND I'M ONLY 2 OF 100!!! xD Have I ever told you guys you're awesome?

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