Chapter 13
"There.." Aang mumbled to himself, "Katara, we're here."
Katara yawned,"What? Oh.." She stretched and crawled up to Aang, and rested her head in the crook of his neck.
He chuckled,"Tired?" She nodded and groaned.
Aang smiled,"Well Zuko has plenty of guest rooms. You and I can each have our own." He stated cheerfully.
Katara looked up at this,"Oh. Our own?"
Aang stared at her,"... Yeah, if you want."
They were quiet.
"No, it's okay. Never mind." Katara babbled.
Aang sighed, as the words of Roku soared in his mind again.
They were both lost in thought, and barely noticed it when Appa landed. Aang shook his head and jumped to the ground, and Katara followed.
"Greetings, avatar." Two servants greeted by the doors. They lead them to the guest rooms, and bowed and returned to their stations. Both Katara and Aang left to go to Zuko's room. Aang knocked, but there was no answer.
"Maybe he's in his office." Aang suggested, and walked over to the next room, which was Zuko's office. He tried knocking on that door, but once again there was no answer.
Aang scratched his head, and jumped when he heard a voice behind him, a voice that wasn't Katara's.
"He isn't going to answer. We've tried all morning." Toph stated from the corner.
Katara and Aang smiled widely,"Toph!" They yelled and ran to embrace her. Then, Aang backed away,"Wait, why won't he answer?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because he's sad his girlfriend was captured by old perverts?" Toph explained sarcastically.
Aang backed down.
"So he is in his room , then?" Katara wondered.
Toph nodded,"That's where I feel him."
Katara sighed,"I feel so bad about this..." She trailed off.
Aang nodded in agreement, "So do I."
They were quiet for a moment.
"He must feel so hurt right now.." Katara spoke softly.
Toph looked up at the ceiling,"I'm gonna go get some lunch or something."
Katara and Aang's stomach growled.
Toph stared at them,"Maybe you two should come too."
Katara smiled,"Alright." She reached for Aang's hand, but he took a step back.
"I'll catch up with you guys. Go ahead." He said.
They gave him confused looks and shrugged, then left to the dining room.
Aang sighed, and gently tapped on the door to Zuko's bedroom.
"Zuko, I know you're in there." Aang said.
No answer.
"Can I come in?" Aang asked quietly.
Once again, no answer.
He took a breath and opened the door just a crack, and Zuko was laying face down in his bed. His face was buried in his pillow.
Aang sighed again,"Zuko, you have to know this will all work out. It always does."
This finally got him to speak, but Aang could barely understand, his voice was all muffled.
"But right about right now? Right now, when we aren't trying to help her. So many things can happen to her. So many bad things." He threw his face into his pillow again.
Aang rubbed the back of his head. This was a bigger challenge than he had thought.
"Mai is going to be alright Zuko, she will be, I know it."
Just then, a thought sprung into Zuko's mind. "You can find her!" He yelled, almost enthusiastically. He sounded very different than before.
Aang blinked,"Yeahh.." He trailed.
"With your spirit powers, Sokka told me you used it to help you find Appa." He stared at Aang.
He blinked again, remembering when Appa was missing. He felt horrible, like every second, Appa was being harmed. Now, he felt much, much more sympathy for Zuko.
"Well you see, I was just getting to know Mai, and those kinds of powers can only be used when I'm emotionally attached to someone." He explained in a whisper.
Then, Zuko's somewhat happy expression dropped, and he was scowling again. He rested his head on his pillow.
Aang stared out the window, determined,"We will find her Zuko, we will."
___
The darkness of the room was overwhelming. She could hardly breath. Her fingers automatically reached in front of her, trying to feel her surroundings. There was a wall in front of her, and to the side. It felt like a corner. She swallowed, and trailed her fingers along the wall as she walked. She felt her way around another corner, and saw lights. She even heard some music. She squinted, and saw there were people. He hid behind a wall, but continued to watch them. She noticed they were all girls, except there was one man in the back of the room, watching them. Occasionally, a girl would offer him food, but he would object. Food.. Her stomach growled, and she realized she was starving.
She swallowed, realizing there was a huge table filled with foods she loved. Her stomach grumbled again. She groaned. Her feet lead her to the room with out her even noticing it. She eventually realized when the light started to hurt her eyes. She must have been in the darkness for a long time. She began eating, and turned around, noticing that everybody there was staring at her. The girl's eyes widened, and they slowly shook their heads. She swallowed, and backed up. One of the girls bit her lip, and the others exchanged worried glances.
"There you are." Said a deep voice from the corner. She jumped.
"I was beginning to wonder when you would come out to eat.." The voice got closer, until she noticed it was the man from earlier. Her eye's searched his face, trying to see if she recognized him from somewhere, but she didn't. He was a new face to her.
Then, she began to hear a different voice. The voice was so familiar it hurt to hear it. Don't say anything. The voice warned. Her eyes looked to the side, to see who was talking to her, but nobody was there.
"Now that I see you in the light.." The man began to speak again,"You are actually quite a stunning young woman." He said, and his fingers ran along her hips. A shudder ran up her spine, bastard! The voice in her head yelled. She backed away from him, almost tripping. She was confused, who was talking to her?
"Don't be like that." The man said, walking back up to her.
Get out of here. The voice in her head instructed. But she didn't know where to go.
Just run down the hallway to the left of you, there is a closet at the end where you can hide for now. The voice explained, calmly.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then started running. "Hey, come back here!" The man yelled, trying to catch up to her but tripped over his robes.
She did exactly what the voice had instructed, and ran down the hallway, until she came to a closet. She opened the door, thankful it was actually there, and slammed it behind her. She locked it, and caught her breath. Her eyes slowly closed, and her back slid down the wall until she was on the floor. She hugged herself to her knees.
"Who are you?" A voice asked
She gasped, not knowing anybody else was in here. She stared, and a small flame flickered from a woman's fingers. She was a fire bender.
"Who are you?" She asked, finally finding words.
The girl sighed,"I have been in here all day. I am going to leave at night.. I know there is a way to escape this place.." She trailed, then spoke again,"Who are you?" She repeated.
She swallowed,"Mai." Mai said, hiding her face in her knees again. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
"I'm Aiko.. You don't know where you are, do you?" Aiko asked.
Mai shook her head,"No. I don't. I just want to get out of here." She said fighting back tears. She'd never felt so desperate before. And she hardly ever cried.
Aiko waited for her to explain further more.
"I don't even know how I got here. All I remember is leaving my house to go meet Zuko and-" Zuko..His name rang in her head. She hugged herself tighter. That voice, that voice belonged to him. How could she not remember her love's voice? How was he talking to her.. Where was he? Where was she?
She shook her head,"And that's all." She finished weakly.
Aiko shook her head as well,"You better stay here if you want any chance of escaping. I can tell you're innocent just by looking at you. That could change in an instant if you decided to leave this closet. You have no idea what goes down here." She explained in a monotone.
Mai hugged herself, all she could really think about was Zuko. She wanted him here with her. She wanted him to hold her again.
"Well, you look starved. Here," Aiko handed her some bread,"I stole this from the kitchen when I first came here." Mai took it quickly and ate the whole thing. She felt a little better from eating.
"If you're staying here with me, then you're escaping." Aiko stated.
Mai didn't object. She wanted to escape this place, where ever it was.
Aiko waited for her objection, but it never came.
"Then, it's settled. We will attempt our escape at nightfall."