Oh, I keep forgetting to do this: I, as sad as that is, solemnly swear that I do not own Avatar. I wish I did, but I don't. Such a pity.

Anyways. Here's the third chapter, which, though I'd said would come yesterday at latest if I didn't finish it the day before, well, it didn't. It was because of an occasion that no one knew anything about, where no one refers to me and occasion refers to my uncle's wedding. I was out of the city all day yesterday, so I couldn't finish this even though I had everything written down in my little book. Sorry.

Any how, here's the third chapter.

Ch.3.

Katara shivered in her bare metal cell, her fingers digging into her sides and her forearms wrapped around her stomach. Not only was she cold, but she was very, very hungry. She wondered what kind of bait she would be if she were dead. Zuko had kidnapped her and then forgotten completely about her.

In that metal cell, there was no sense of time. Because the cell had no windows and no way of light entering it, it always looked like the same time of day. An eternal twilight.

So she didn't know how long she had been in there, but she knew that she couldn't go much longer without food or water. Even the air in the cell seemed stifling now, harder to breathe in.

It was odd, but the longer she stayed in that cell, the colder she felt. It got colder as they got closer to dawn, instead of the other way around. It made no sense to her.

Katara wondered whether Aang and Sokka had woken up yet, whether they had discovered that she was gone. Zuko had ordered the pirates to find Aang; had they found him and Sokka? If they had, what had they done with them? Were they okay?

Katara sighed and looked up at the metal door and metal walls of the cell. They looked exactly the same, except for the hinges at the end of the door.

She would go mad if she were stuck in the cell until she found a way to escape. Speaking of which, that was what she should be doing; finding a way to escape. If only she knew the layout of the ship, or had a chance to be outside. Maybe then she would be able to escape. As it was, she was stuck inside a cell where she hadn't been bothered since she had been locked in here. She wished she had been able to escape when they were on the smaller river boat, but then her hands had been tied so she couldn't bend, and Zuko had tied her feet as soon as they were inside it.

Not to mention he was too strong for her.

Suddenly, there was a click and Katara looked at the door, and, sure enough, it opened slowly in a few seconds. An old, very fat man stepped in that Katara recognized as Zuko's uncle. She pulled back a little, hoping he wasn't very much like Zuko.

She watched as he looked at her with an expression she couldn't quite comprehend, though she could make some amount of regret out, and then gave her a wide grin.

"Hello! I'm Iroh, Prince Zuko's uncle." He said. She nodded slowly. She wondered if she should smile to be polite. She decided against it. "I'm sorry for my nephew's behavior. Hasn't he learned any manners from me? A pretty girl like you shouldn't be in this cell." He said, sitting down on the floor facing her, their ends of their feet nearly touching. Katara blushed despite herself. Iroh seemed like a nice enough man; she wondered why his nephew was the way he was, and what Iroh thought of it.

"I think you deserve a better room." He said, and she raised her eyebrows. She had honestly thought he was just joking. He stood up with a grunt and offered her his hand. She shyly took it, hoping he wasn't taking her to a torture chamber, and stood up. At that point, whatever her qualms about Zuko and his uncle and the rest of the fire nation were, she would do anything just to leave that cell. Her stomach grumbled loudly and Iroh shook his head, muttering something to himself that she couldn't hear. She blushed again, from embarrassment this time.

He opened the door to the cell and she put her hand up to shield her eyes; the light coming from outside, though dim, was painful to her eyes, considering she had been in a dark cell for hours. He stepped slowly out of the door, and she followed him out, wrapping her arms around her stomach. She was a little scared, being in a fire nation ship and all, but Iroh just kept walking forward, so she followed him.

Katara had seen the ship only from the outside; when she was being taken to her cell, she had been struggling too hard to have observed it. Now, she observed. The inside of the ship was, unsurprisingly, all metal walls. Every little while, they would pass a red lantern. They were the only source of lighting in the ship.

They climbed up to the main deck and then, because there were so many guards, she didn't make any attempt to escape as she followed Iroh through another metal door, entering the command tower. Then there were many narrow staircases to climb. A few flights of stairs and a huffing Iroh later, they were at another metal door with a cogwheel. Iroh opened the door and let her in. She stepped in gloomily, expecting a slightly bigger metal chamber, an only slightly improved version of her cell.

But when she saw it, she gasped.

The room was no more brightly lit than the rest of the ship was, with red-tinted windows. There was a bamboo mattress on the floor in the middle of the room. Two swords were hung up on one wall above a low table. Four candles were placed on another low table, behind which there was a showpiece that looked like a dragon's head. The same red lanterns that were in the rest of the ship and flags of the fire nation hung on the walls. Small decorative pieces were placed in the corners. There were two rectangular windows high up on the wall, not wide enough for her to get through, even if she did somehow manage to get up there.

It was bigger than her entire home in the South Pole, and while she had slept on softer things than bamboo mattresses, it looked very welcoming at the moment.

Iroh chuckled and smiled at Katara. She smiled back, thankful for him. She might have still been stuck in that hateful cell if it hadn't been for him.

"I'll get you some food. Make yourself at home." He said, and then left the room and shut the door.

Make yourself at home?

As friendly as Iroh was, she could never be at home on a Fire Nation ship. She had been kidnapped, used to bait Aang in. She would never feel at home here.

She shot a dirty glance at a flag, and then proceeded to lie down on the bamboo mat. It was bumpy and hurt her back, but it was an improvement on the hard metal floor of the cell.

She was so tired.

"Why did you -"

"We could get the scro -"

"But the boy said -"

"I was there!"

"Then why aren't you -"

Then the voices hushed and Aang could hear no more. He frowned, confused, at the conversation that was taking place between the pirates' captain and another pirate. It made no sense to him at all. That might be because they kept cutting each other off, though.

"What do you think that was about?" Aang asked, turning to Sokka. They were on the pirates' ship to discuss plans for how they were going to get Katara and the waterbending scroll back. Sokka didn't reply, simply continued staring off into space with a grim expression, much like he had been doing almost all day… Night.

"Um, Sokka?" Aang asked. Sokka snapped out of his reverie and said, "Sorry, Aang, I was just…" He still sounded somewhat lost in his thoughts.

The thoughts running through Sokka's mind were depressing ones: thoughts and memories of Katara endlessly teasing him, teaching Aang waterbending, being the supportive person she was, shouting at him for being a sexist… And how she had stolen the scroll. He had known nothing good would come out of it! And how had she been stupid enough to get caught?

And then there was failure. When leaving the Southern Water Tribe to fight in the war, Hakoda had told Sokka that his duty was to protect his sister. He had failed. He'd failed Hakoda, he'd failed Katara, he'd failed…himself.

He felt miserable.

"Come on, Sokka, they're calling us in." He heard Aang say distantly and nodded. This was important to him: he knew that getting the pirates' help would be helpful in getting Katara back, and it was important that their plan work. For that, he would have to explain it carefully and make sure the pirates were impressed enough to put their heart into it.

They should, because they want their scroll too.

Aang and Sokka entered the room where all the pirates had gathered and strode over to the table around which they were standing.

"What's the plan?" One pirate asked. Sokka felt like rolling his eyes, but answered him anyways.

"We have to lure Zuko in. He must have expected us to chase him, walk right into his hands. We won't. So he'll follow us. Then, when he catches up to us, we can ambush him and get Katara back. And the scroll." He added hastily. The captain seemed impressed to an extent, but wanted to know more:

"When we ambush him, how will we be able to find the scroll and the girl?" Aang looked up at Sokka.

"The scroll will be with Zuko: he wouldn't see any use of it, but he would keep it with himself in case Katara got it. She's a waterbender." He swallowed to himself, remembering all the times she talked about the bending and how she needed a master. And how it wasn't freakish magic, it was an ancient art. "Katara will be in… the prison, or something. Aang, when you were captured in the South Pole, where were you being taken?" He asked, turning to Aang, hoping he remembered.

"I'm not sure; I escaped before they could lock me in, but it was below the main deck. There's a staircase on the main deck, and you go down and there are many doors. I was going to be locked in one of them. I remember searching for my staff. I found it in a room in the command tower; I think it was Zuko's room."

"That's where the scroll will be, then, if it isn't on Zuko. And Katara will be below deck. If the rest of you are fighting his crew and his uncle, then Aang and I will have enough time to find Katara and the scroll and get back out of the ship. Katara might even know where the scroll is." Sokka said, looking at the pirates hopefully. Most of them looked impressed, as if they thought the plan would work.

That was what he needed.

And he knew that if everything went right, it would.

"How will scar-face be able to find you?" One pirate asked. At that, the others faces fell into a confused frown. The pirates aren't very smart, are they?

"We'll be flying on Appa." Aang looked up at that.

"Appa?"

"Appa is Aang's flying bison. He's an airbender and all, so he has one." Aang gave a small wave and said "That's me." Everyone ignored him.

"Appa is huge; he can be easily seen from the ground if we're not flying too high. That's how Zuko's been following us from the South Pole." At Aang's protest, Sokka continued, "It is! If Aang and I are flying on Appa, you can follow us on your ship. Zuko will spot us and follow us on his ship."

"How do we know you won't take off on your own and leave us to fight scar-face?" Scar-face seemed to have become Zuko's nickname, Aang thought. Sokka clenched his jaw.

"You'll just have to trust us." Sokka said. The captain shook his head.

"Oh will fly with you on the bison. For… security reasons." He said, and Oh, the pirate who Aang recognized as the one who had referred to himself as a "high-risk trader", gave them a wide toothy smirk. Sokka shrugged; he could see nothing wrong with this idea.

"Where will you be flying?" One pirate asked. "How will we know what course to follow? We should be able to follow you on our ship." He said, and Sokka nodded. At a signal of the captain, one pirate brought a map over and spread it on the table.

Sokka placed a finger on one of the coasts of the Earth Kingdom after studying the map carefully for a minute or two.

"Right now, we're here. If we keep going upriver, you'll be able to sail with us, and Zuko will be able to follow us as well." Sokka said, tracing his finger up the river.

"We'll land somewhere near Gaipan, then?" Oh asked Sokka, and he nodded solemnly.

"Near Gaipan."

Zuko looked through his telescope at a shape he had come to recognize as the Avatar's flying bison and huffed.

They weren't flying towards him. In fact, they were flying slowly in another direction altogether! What was he doing?

He took deep breaths and shook his head. Maybe the Avatar just hadn't spotted his ship yet. Maybe they were looking for his ship and would follow him as soon as they saw it.

Darn it! Why weren't they following him! Why wasn't his plan working?

"Prince Zuko, look at the sun rising. It is such a beautiful view." He heard Iroh say behind him, and exhaled smoke. His temper was, again, increasing steadily. This wasn't supposed to happen! They were supposed to follow him until he captured the Avatar!

He shook his head at his uncle and turned to face him. Iroh saw the angry fire blazing in Zuko's golden eyes and sighed. His nephew was upset again.

"I don't care about the view! Why isn't my plan working?" Zuko shouted, his chest rapidly rising and falling with his anger. Iroh shook his head at his nephew.

"Patience, nephew. Your plan is a good one, it will work." Zuko gave out a loud, frustrated grunt and stormed upstairs, cursing.

"Why can't he just follow me? Doesn't he want his girlfriend back? Why aren't they following? Why can't he just get captured? Stupid Avatar! Stupid Avatar with his stupid flying bison and his stupid -"

He broke off as soon as he entered the room, startled. The waterbending girl was asleep on his mattress, calmly breathing in and out. She seemed troubled, or so her face showed, though she looked calmer than he had ever seen her.

What was she doing there?

He cursed again. This had to be his uncle's doing.

"Uncle!" He shouted, but only after he had left the room and unconsciously closed the door silently behind him.

Ooh, so Sokka and Aang aren't going according to Zuko's plan. Tch tch, poor Zuko. Hehe. And Katara's asleep in Zuko's room.

Okay, so, when I was doing the whole story planning thing on Sunday, the first time I've ever done story planning, and ended up pretty satisfied with myself, I had to make a change in the story. Originally, the pirates weren't going to agree to help Aang and Sokka out... Which was why I left the scene sort of unfinished in the last chapter. Now that they are helping them out... Well, I could have finished it, but I don't exactly need to now.

Secondly, thank you for the 6 reviews! You all make me very happy. =)

iCraft and Sweetness22: Thank you both so much!
JackieStarSister: Well, I didn't plan to originally, I have to admit. But, hey, this works in the Big Picture. Thank you, I think I might need the luck. ;)Kiren: Honestly, Iroh is the coolest. He's so nice to Katara, even though she's a hostage and all that. Ooh, he's going to have a problem with those angry pirates, isn't he? ;)
CatsGurl98: You have cleared it all up. =D Thank you!
CrazyJulz16: Thank you so much! Well, I was trying hard for the suspense bit... But, seeing as how I don't exactly need that suspense any more. Psh, I feel useless.

Okay, so, I'm done. I will update next week again. Thank you all for reading... Review?

P.S. I'm still looking for a beta. Can anyone atleast tell me how to message or contact a beta? Thanks. =)