Sorry for lateness gaiz, I've been busy lately ':D

Reviews on next chappie ;)

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Chapter 27

"Suuuuuuuuukiiiiiiiiii..." Sokka wailed. He pouted his lips,"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuukiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" His tone rose a bit.

Suki giggled and flopped on her back next to him. "Look." She said, lifting her shirt to reveal a small but noticeable bump in her abdomen. Sokka jolted upwards, and hovered carefully on top of her.

"It's...theres....you're....fat!!!!" He yelled excitedly. Suki laughed, not taking this as an insult. She knew how Sokka was with words.

"Thanks." She said sarcastically, still giggling.

"I mean you aren't fat yet, but you're getting bigger! I mean look at that thing! How long has it been?! How much longer until it's due?! Is it a boy or a girl?! Or both?! TWINS?! We have to go to a doctor to find out! No, wait, I don't know! I want to wait so it will be a surprise! Errr- But I want to know! Should we find out?! Can we even find out?! What if-"

Suki slammed a hand over his mouth. "Calm down," She chuckled. Her expression suddenly went blank, and slowly turned into a small smile.

"Sokka." She mouthed silently. He blinked, confused.

"What is it?" Sokka whispered. Her mouth parted into a small grin.

"Feel." She whispered, and set his hand over her abdomen. He jolted again.

"IT'S KICKING!!" Sokka hollered, breaking the silence. Suki set a finger over her lips,"Shh." She hushed, her smile returning.

"Does it hurt?" Sokka asked, completely enthralled by the tiny nudges coming from her lower stomach.

She shook her head,"No..." Suki trailed off, and it was silent again. She was lost in thought. Suki wondered if it would be a boy or a girl, or both like Sokka had suggested earlier. "Do you want to know what it is?" She asked quietly.

Sokka met her stare, then smiled. "Yes."

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Aang stretched his arms high above his head, and yawned loudly with his awakening. He batted his lips and blinked against the sun. "Where..." He gasped at the rush of his sudden flash back.

--

"Nothings here-" The world was spinning now. What was going on? Now he was falling... And now he was gone. "Aang?!" Her voice. Her voice was keeping him from disappearing. "Aang!" Her voice was closer now, he could feel her breathing on his face. "Ka-" He grunted. She hushed him. "What happened?" She whispered frantically. His shoulders shook,"Katar- take....this...." He moaned, and handed her Appa's whistle. "Just... incase..." And now, he was gone.

--

"No..." Aang breathed, shaking his head. What had happened? Something had struck him in the head... He hoped Katara made it alright. His fingers automatically reached up to feel the side of his head where he had been struck. He jolted as the waves of pain crashed through him. His fingers brushed over the side of his face, and flakes of dry blood fell to the floor. Aang tried to maintain calm. He began to check his surroundings... Nothing more than a cell. He groaned. Aang began crawling to the wall of the cell, and pressed his ear against it. He heard murmured voices, but nothing more. Who had brought him here? What had happened to Zuko? He froze as he heard a voice clearly. It sounds like he's awake. I'm going to pay him a small visit, is what it said. Aang backed up against the wall again, waiting for whoever it was to show themselves. The door to his cell creaked open, and his eyebrows rose at the familiar figure of Azula.Azula. Of course she was behind this.

"How are you feeling?" She whispered in a playful tone. Aang didn't speak. He knew if Katara got back to Zuko and the others, that they would search for him. There was no need to be worried.

Azula rolled her eyes,"Always so stingy. Well, you better not get on my bad side, since, you're going to be here for quiet a while."

"No, I won't. I don't need to waste energy on going to the avatar state in a place like this. Zuko and the others are going to come." Aang stated confidently.

Azula chuckled,"Actually, they won't be. I doubt Zuko would even think of taking a chance to come back here, after what happened." She said, her manipulative mood taking over. Aang blinked.

"What happened?" He asked. Why was he asking Azula? He knew he couldn't trust a word she said.

"Because, Zuko would immediately be turned in and locked away for life." She explained quickly, no change in her tone.

Aang shook his head,"What?! No he wouldn't. You won't fool me Azula." He stated again, hoping Azula wouldn't notice his confidence faultered.

"Actually, I'm telling the truth. Maybe he wouldn't be locked away for life, but for a very long time. Just because he is the new Fire Lord doesn't mean he can get away with murder." The last word swarmed around Aang's head like an angry swarm of bees. He shook his head slowly, then quickly. "No... no! Zuko's different now, he's a different person, he isn't who he used to be!" It sounded more like Aang was trying to prove this to himself rather than Azula. He shook away the thought.

"Katara will help me, or Toph. Or.. anyone!" He spat out. Why was he acting so desperate? He knew he could bust out in a mere second.

"Maybe, in a year or so... They were on-lookers, which means they will be spending most of their time with the police." Azula's tone hadn't differed since she arrived. She yawned,"Well, I have some business to attend to. Have fun." Azula said, a frown covering her face. Now she just sounded bored. As soon as the door slammed, Aang began to mediate. He began to feel his chakras flow, his energies blending. But suddenly, it stopped. His eyes opened,"What was that?" He asked himself. He shook his head, steadying himself again. And again, it stopped. Something was blocked. "My chakras must be blocked...But... Why...?" He moaned. Aang scratched his head. It must have had to do with the news he had just received. He had just heard that his friend, a friend he had thought had changed.

"No.. I shouldn't think that way about Zuko." Aang said, rubbing his forehead. Now he felt guilty. He could feel another chakra blocking. "No! Bad chakra!" He grumbled at himself. But it was no use, there was no way to get in or out of the avatar state with blocked chakras. He groaned and threw his back into the wall. "Ow!" He hollered as he realized the cell was made of metal.

"Stupid metal." Aang mumbled. His eyes sprung open,"Metal!" He shouted. He took a deep breath, and leaned his palm into the material as he had once before. He tried to calm his troubled mind, and just focus on the tight earth in front of him. As his thoughts cleared away, he slowly pressed his palm deeper into the metal, making an indent of his hand on the thick material. He took another breath, and hoped that what he was about to do wouldn't backfire and his hand would remain un-broken. He then clenched a fist, and pounded against the metal. As his eyes opened again, he could see a large crack that now ran up the cell. He smirked, and delivered the final blow with his fist. Now he could see a whole that formed in the middle of his cell. He leaped silently into the brush of the forest, and froze as he saw Azula standing to the left of him. He was shocked to see that she hadn't moved. Aang shook his head, and ran quickly into the forest. He spun his head around, assuming Azula was directly behind him with lighting ready to blow, but she was still just standing in front of the cell. Why isn't she chasing after me? Aang thought. He was glad that she wasn't chasing him, but confused. Is she planning something? If so... what?

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The shapes of the Fire Nation were getting closer and closer. Nobody still had said a word since the incident. Zuko quietly lowered Appa in the familiar gardens just a few miles away from the city. The gardeners kindly offered to assist, but the group silently waved them off. Katara bit her lip, wondering how Zuko would react if she rose her voice once she noticed he was going in the wrong direction. She decided she would try.

"Where are you going?" Katara asked quietly. Zuko lifted Mai back into his arms. "The officer station." He replied, emotionless. Katara hoped he wasn't going to do what she thought he would do.

"Why?" She asked, suddenly curious. Mai just kept staring at him, her eyes hadn't left his ever since they left that town. Zuko struggled not to meet her stare.

"I have to talk to them about some things that concern Mai..."He paused, and took a silent breath,"And myself." Zuko spat dryly. Mai's eyes widened.

"You're not....Zuko, you can't...It wasn't..."Katara clenched her fists," You can't turn yourself in just because you made a mistake!! It-"

"A huge mistake!!!" Zuko roared, hurling around. Katara cringed. Toph just stood there silently, feeling both Katara and Mai's heartbeat quicken. Zuko spun back around and trudged to the opposite side of the city.

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Aiko sat silently in the middle of the room. The silence was overwhelming. Thoughts were consuming her mind. What would they do to her? Did she do something wrong?

The door swung back open, and revealed the familiar police officer. She gulped, and opened her mouth as if she were to speak. He quieted her with a wave of his hand.

"Don't worry, you aren't in trouble. You just listened to them to stay alive, and there is nothing wrong with that.." The officer shot her a glance. Aiko tried to ignore it.

"But you aren't free to go yet, we still want to ask a few questions." He continued, taking out a sheet of paper.

Aiko nodded.

Then, there was another knock at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a visitor." The voice was a woman's, maybe in her thirty's. The officer lifted himself off of the chair, and proceeded back through the door way. Aiko sighed in relief at his dismissal.

--

The police officers just stood in awe of the sight of their Fire Lord in this state. The chief bowed dumbly. He was suddenly eager to know why they were here. "How can we help you?" The chief asked, his serious voice returning.

"I need to speak to someone about Mai,"Zuko motioned to the tired girl in his arms,"And myself." The chief nodded, and waved them to the back room on the opposite side of Aiko.

--

Now Aiko was getting impatient. Had they changed their minds about her? Would she go to prison? No, she really had done nothing wrong... But, what if they don't understand?! She groaned. Aiko could here voices coming from the next room, and decided she would listen in. There was nothing better to do, anyway.

A couple months ago, Mai was taken.

Mai.... Aiko knew that name, but she couldn't remember where..

And you didn't come to us?

I didn't need to, I had private police at the palace. I waited to come here because I needed to find her on my own.

And who took her?

There was silence for a few moments, and the chief's voice returned.

Would it be alright if we had the girl speak with one of our other officers?

It was quiet for a minute, then the door opened and closed. Aiko guessed he must have nodded. She peeked out of the crack in the door, and saw her familiar face walk by and into another room. Aiko gasped and hurried back to her chair. She prayed Mai wouldn't notice her, or remember her. Thankfully, the door closed, and Aiko was safe... For now, at least.

Eventually, her curiousity took over, and Aiko pressed herself against the wall to the room where that man had been. That very attractive man, she might add. That very attractive man that had been carrying Mai. Were they family? Were they a ...thing? Aiko shook her head and listened.

I did something...I'm really not proud of...at all.

There was an uncomfortable silence.

What?

More silence. And a sigh.

We found the man that...did some things to Mai... And I...

Another sigh.

And he was...murdered...

Really? How? Who did this? Do you have a description of the man that was murdered?!

Yes. He was a bit tall..Maybe in his twenties, and had green eyes, I think... And I....

And, another sigh.

I was the one who killed him.

Aiko blinked. They must have been a thing. Now she felt horribly guilty.

There was a dry, throaty sigh, that must have come from the chief. Aiko heard shuffling, and then it was quiet again.

Did he look anything like this?

It was quiet. Aiko assumed he must have a poster of the man... A wanted poster? She guessed.

Yeah! That's... That's him! Why do-

We've been trying to track this man down for 10 years. And his penalty for running from the law for so long, was in fact the death penalty.

It was quiet for another moment.

It was?

So actually, what you did wasn't all that bad! Well, you still probably don't want the word to get out that you murdered a man, so we'll keep it secret.

Aiko struggled to keep tears from draining from her eyes. That frightened, fragile looking girl that she had found in that closet was sent to a man the police had been looking for for 10 whole years...And it was all her fault.

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The sun was set, and the moon was just beginning to rise now. Zuko had to admit, he did feel a little better when he found out the police wanted this man dead....But he still felt very guilty as well, since he hadn't known that when he murdered him. Zuko shook the thoughts away, and turned back to the station. Mai was just finishing up with the police herself, and was probably bored to death.

"Fire Lord," Called a voice from one of the officers,"Can we talk to you for a minute?"

Zuko nodded, and followed him into one of the rooms.

"So.."The officer started, as Zuko took a seat,"We took some tests on Mai, and considering what she's been through, she's doing pretty well...All she needs is a few more healthy meals and she'll be back to normal in no time."

"But what about her memory?" Zuko asked suddenly.

"It could have been anything. The shock of waking up in that kind of atmosphere, the lack of food and water, or.." He paused, and shot Zuko a wary look.

"Or what?"

"Or, well... We found a rather large bump on her head, and we were wondering if that man did it on purpose. But you were lucky you found her before he did anything."

"He didn't do anything? But... I thought...." Zuko trailed.

"We didn't find and semen-"

"OK then what did he do?" Zuko interrupted uneasily. Even if he had Mai back, some of this was unbearable for him to hear.

"He played with her, no doubt. His DNA is in various different places on the girl's body, but nothing serious except the bump." The officer explained calmly.

"So, you think...He hit her?" Anger began to bubble up inside of Zuko. It was the same anger that he had felt when he murdered that monster.

"Maybe... But her memory wasn't effected that bad, so she should regain it any time soon. Come back in a few days to tell us if she's getting worse or better." The officer gave him an apologetic smile, then headed out the back door. Zuko hurried to the room Mai was still in, and she was sitting by herself.

"You ready?" Zuko asked quietly. Mai nodded.

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"I wonder how things are going...." Katara thought out loud. Toph just nodded. They were just arriving at the palace, and were quickly greeted by Sokka.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" He yelled. He hurled Katara out of the way, trying to find Aang.

"WHERE IS AANG?!?!?!" Sokka screeched.

"We'll explain if you shut up!" Toph shot. Sokka backed down.

"We found Mai." Katara exclaimed. Sokka grinned.

"YOU DID?! WHERE IS ZUKO?!?! WHY-"

"I SAID QUIET! I HAVE A HEADACHE!" Toph shouted. Sokka backed down again.

"Zuko isn't here right now...." Katara paused to sigh,"And....About Aang... He was taken."

Sokka let out a groan,"Once we find someone, we lose someone else. It's like, it isn't natural for us to be normal." He complained. His head shot up,"Who took him?"

Katara covered her face with her hands,"I don't know..." She sobbed.

Sokka quickly changed the subject,"About Zuko?" He asked.

Katara shook away those dark thoughts of losing Aang,"It's a long story...."