A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed so far and thank you for giving me advice. I did not know about the spelling of the rifle, I only got that from the previous writer. Thank you for the advice. Also, I know a lot of German history too. I know that about half the German military hated Hitler and disagreed with his views but the other half truly believed in him, that is, until near the end fo the war. Things just went down hill from there. Trust me when I say I know this because I am training to become and officer in the US Navy at this very moment. World War Two is one of my favorite wars and I know a lot about it. Thank you for your advice and I will try to encorperate that into the story as well as I can. (Ever seen Valkyrie? GOOOOOOD movie!!!!)

Keep reading, I love you all!

Chapter 2—Jewish Companions

They ran, they ran for as long as their lungs would allow. Even when Zuko felt the girl lagging behind and tugging on his arm as if she were begging him to stop, he did not slow down. It was not until ten minutes later that the young Gunny even considered stopping.

The forest was dark with the falling night and it was difficult to see, but they eventually found a small stream by following the faint sound of running water. It was here where they stopped. Zuko did not know if they were safe or not. He knew that the first place his platoon would search would be the forest and there was no telling what Zhao would have done to them if they were caught. His only hope, and that of his two new companions, was to get as far away from the town as possible, and as quickly as possible.

He turned to the gypsies, Katara and Sokka, who were practically drowning themselves in the stream from their dehydration and parched mouths. Zuko sighed and got to his aching feet.

"We have to keep moving," he said bluntly.

Katara looked up at him from the cool, rushing water. She looked confused and appalled at the same time. "Why?" she asked. "Didn't we just escape them?"

Zuko shook his head. "No, if I know the Lieutenant Colonel, He won't stop hunting us until he's caught us in his net. Our only chance is to keep moving."

The brother, Sokka, finally looked up after drinking his fill and frowned at the former Gunnery Sergeant. "What do you care?" he asked, venom dripping from his voice. "Aren't you one of them?"

Zuko sighed and shook his head again. "No," he stated. "Since I killed a soldier and assaulted my superior officer to save you, I've now become a traitor to my country, and to my people. A deserter is all my comrades will see me as anymore."

Zuko's statement did not seem to satisfy the young gypsy. If anything, it made him angrier. His face turned red with rage as he burst out yelling at the young Gunny. "Your people, your so-called comrades, are monsters!" he cried, making Zuko jump at the sudden outburst. "For no reason, no reason at all, they killed our parents and even our grandmother!" He paused, almost as if he were done shouting, but then continued with even more hatred and rage. "You killed our parents!" With his last words, he lunged at the young Nazi, taking him by surprise and pinning him to the ground. Sokka tried to inflict as much pain as he could on his prey but Zuko was the better. As a trained soldier, it was impossible for the Gypsy to even get one punch in.

"I never killed your parents!" Zuko yelled in return, deflecting another punch from the boy on top of him. "The only person I ever killed was the man who was about to shoot your sister! I only used my weapons to save you!"

Sokka paused in his assault, unsure of whether he should believe the man or not. Katara took advantage of her brother's moment of perplexity to put her say in. "He's right, Sokka." He turned to look at her, the same expression of bewilderment remaining on his face. "I don't know what I would have done without him."

Zuko smiled in thanks to the girl whose cheeks turned a bright red.

Sokka sighed and got off the man on the ground, helping him to his feet. "You may be right about him," he said, pointing at Zuko with the emphasis on the "him." "But the rest of them might have already gotten the others!" He threw his hands in the air. "I'll probably never see Suki again and it's all because of him and his people!" Sokka was infuriated now, he could not help it. "They've ruined out lives and now they're about to end it!"

Zuko did not think it was the proper time, but he had to know; he was just too curious. "Who's Suki?" he asked. "Who are the others you're talking about?"

Sokka turned and glared at him and did not answer. It was Katara who spoke. "Suki, Toph, and Aang are Jewish friends of ours. They live in the town just over the hill."

Zuko closed his eyes, frowned, and clenched his fists. "I know of that town," he said, his voice full of remorse. "My platoon was supposed to raid there after your small encampment." He opened his eyes and stared at both of them, his face and voice quite serious. "If Lieutenant Colonel Zhao has not ordered his men to come after us already, then he probably took the mission as first priority and will search for us when he is finished rounding up your friends."

Sokka's demeanor seemed to change rapidly from angry to sad and fearful. It looked like he was about to cry when his sister pulled him into a tight embrace. "No, Sokka," she said soothingly. "We have to be strong and work together. It's the only way we can save them."

"What do you have in mind?" Zuko asked, suspicious.

"We have to find and get the others," she said over her brother's shoulder. "Or at least see if they're okay. We won't be able to sleep unless we know."

"And then we've got to get as far away from here as possible," came Sokka's voice from behind his sister.

Zuko sighed. He knew there was no changing their minds. He hardly knew them but it was apparent from the looks on their faces that they were as stubborn as the crankiest pack mule. "Fine," he said a little agitated. He pulled his broom handle pistol from its holster and handed it to Sokka. "Here, you'll need this."

---

The streets were empty. The town had an eerie feel to it as if it were an abandoned ghost town. A screen door flew open and slammed shut from the force of the wind making the three people hiding in an alleyway jump with surprise.

"This place is creepy," Katara stated from behind Zuko who led the way through the deserted town, dodging between buildings as a precaution in case any soldiers were left as sentries.

Sokka brought up the rear, giving the former Nazi directions through the town. "We're getting close," he whispered. "The orphanage is just passed that house on the left."

Zuko only nodded and bolted out from behind a brick house towards the building the gypsy boy had mentioned. The building was small, too small for an orphanage but it was bigger than the rest of the houses they had passed. He motioned for the other two to hide behind the outer wall as he cautiously opened the door and checked for Nazi sentries left in the building. "It's clear," he said and the two siblings rushed into the orphanage, searching frantically for their friends.

The building, just like the rest of the town, was abandoned. Toys littered the floors while the kitchen table was set with dinner plates and silverware; beds were made and bathtubs still wet as if the people living there were about to return home at any minute. It was eerie and strange and it made the hair on the back of Zuko's neck stand on end. He did not want to be there any longer than he had to.

Walking into one of the bedrooms, he sat down and looked at the toys and small drawings laid out on one of the beds. The drawing he held had a crayon picture of a girl with dark skin and dark hair tied back in a braid and below the girl was the name "Katara." Zuko sighed and placed his fingers to his temples. This was the room their friends had once resided in, but they were no longer there. He sat in silence for a while until he heard the faint voice of Katara in another room say, "They're not here."

Zuko sighed again and stood up. It was time to leave, there was nothing that they could do here in the broken town. Taking the picture and stuffing it in the belt of his uniform, he started to walk out of the room when he heard a quiet gasp and something that sounded like "Hey! That's mine!" The former Nazi froze. Another voice sounded from within the room that he assumed said, "Keep quiet, it's one of them!" After that, the voices stopped and silence fell on the room once again. Hoping he had not imagined the voices, he turned back around and searched the room once again. He looked under the bed, in the closet and the toy chests, and when he found nothing, he began checking each floorboard with his leather-booted feet. He only stopped when he felt one of the floorboards in the middle of the room give way slightly and an audible creek issued from the wood.

Dropping down to the floor, he noticed that some of the boards were loose and could easily be lifted away. It was the perfect hiding place. No one would have noticed the weak floorboards unless they were actively looking for them and no one would have thought to look for them unless they had search dogs. He had to hand it to the kids, they were really smart.

Standing back up, Zuko yelled out the door for the two gypsies. "Hey, you two, come here! You've got to see this!" Only seconds after he had finished speaking did Katara and Sokka come barreling down the stairs to the room where Zuko had found the loose floor boards.

"What is it?" Katara asked.

Flinging his rifle over his shoulder, Zuko smiled and bent down to the ground. "Watch," was all he said before lifting the floorboards to reveal a small, cramped hole in the floor that held two very squashed and very confused teenagers.

"Aang, Toph!" Katara cried out in delight. She and Sokka reached down into the hole and helped the two kids up into the room. "We're so glad to see you!"

"We're glad to see you, too, Katara," said a young boy around the age of sixteen as he hugged the gypsy girl. "We've down in that hole for hours."

"Hours?" Sokka asked. "What happened here?"

The girl who was about the same age as the boy answered his question. "We were hiding from the soldiers," the girl began. She spoke without looking at anyone, as if she could not see those who were around her. "Aang and I were playing up on the hill when we saw the soldiers attack your homes. We ran back to the orphanage as fast as we could and warned everyone but they didn't believe us."

"Though I don't know why they wouldn't over something as serious as this," Aang interrupted.

The girl, who Zuko took to be Toph, frowned and continued on. "Maybe that's because we always played tricks and pranks on them, Twinkletoes."

Aang's face turned to surprise in an instant. "Oh…" was all he said.

"Frustrated, we ran and hid in that hole in the ground and waited out the raid."

"Wow, Toph," Katara said when the blind girl finished. "That's really something." She then turned and walked towards the door. "Now, come on. We've got to find Suki and get the hell out of here."

Everyone nodded and started to follow her but was prevented but the blind girl. "Stop!" she demanded. She looked angry, though it was impossible to tell why when she was not looking at anyone. "Before we do anything, I want to know who he is," she said, pointing at Zuko. "Why are you with one of them?"

Zuko looked back at Katara and Sokka quite confused and then turned back to Toph. "How did you…?" he began.

"Don't be fooled just because my eyes are blind, soldier!" she threatened. "I can see just fine without them! By listening carefully to every sound and feeling every vibration through the ground, I can see just what you look like and what you're wearing. Who are you, Nazi!?"

Zuko was at a loss for words and turned to Katara for help. "It's okay, Toph," she said. "He's with us. Zuko turned against his own comrades to save Sokka and I and now he's helped us find you."

Toph raised a thin, black eyebrow but said nothing and bumped passed Zuko, walking out the door and around the corner out of sight.

Everyone stared after her and after about a minute of silence, Aang looked at Katara and asked, "Now what?"

"We find Suki," Sokka answered. "Her house isn't far from here, we can cut through the train station."

---

After sneaking back out of the orphanage and through the town, the group had found Toph and proceeded to head for the train station. Once they arrived, they found the station as empty and desolate as they town it resided in. With Zuko in the lead, all five of them quietly snuck in through the front doors and headed to the tracks. They walked through the corridors of the building without incident and almost made it through safely until the neared the tracks. Zuko heard yelling and harsh orders being issued from around the corner and held up his hand, indicating for those behind him to stop. No one made a sound as he cautiously peeked around the corner to the tracks. What he saw was of no surprise to him. His platoon had rounded up all the gypsies and Jews in one cluster and was shoving them all onto the train, cramming them together uncomfortably as Lt. Colonel Zhao watched from a bench a few feet away.

Withdrawing back behind the wall, he lowered his eyes and shook his head. "Not good," he said. "We can't go through here, the Lt. Colonel along with the rest of my platoon is here herding everyone onto the train."

Everyone groaned knowing that they would have to leave and go around but Sokka was the one who grew suspicious. "Let me see," he said in a huff as she shoved Zuko aside and peered around the corner. He only glanced at the sight for a few seconds before pulling back and looking at the group in front of him, ghostly pale and a look of shock on his face. "Zuko," he whispered with and edge of fear. "What's going to happen to all those people?"

The young Gunnery Sergeant was silent for a while, debating on whether he should tell the gypsy or not. "You won't like it," he began. "But they're all being taken to concentration camps. There they will be tortured, beaten, and treated like dirt. The guards there are terrible people and will mistreat their prisoners. They will be over worked, underfed, exhausted and worn down to the bone. Even the proper amount of sleep the body needs will not be allowed." He regretted telling the man and could not help but wonder. "Why?" he asked.

"Because," he said as he looked everyone around him in the eye. "Suki was being forced onto that train."

A/N: Okay, I forgot to say this last chapter so I will say it now. I am very well aware that the Broom handle pistol was for officers only but I had no idea was a Lugar was and I needed to give Zuko a second weapon. My train of thought went as follows: "The only World War Two Nazi pistol I know of is the Broom handle." "Broom handles are nice, I wish I had one." "I bet the enlisted wished they had one." "I bet Zuko wished he had one." "But they're only for officers!" "Awww hell, he's special, I'll give him one anyway!"