A/N: AH HAAAAA!!! The beginning of the end! Mwaahaahahaahaa!! No, I kid. The story's starting to progress now, hope you like (I added something new, let me know what you think).

I figured I would make all the characters a bit older than they are in the show, so here are the new ages for your reading pleasure:

Zuko: 24, Sokka: 23, Katara: 20, Aang: 17, Toph: 17, and Suki: 22. As more characters appear, I'll give their ages as well. Enjoy!

Chapter 3—The Beginning

Zuko led the group back outside, outside away from the horrors on the train tracks. He could tell that someone was about to make a drastic decision that could cost all of them their lives. One of the gypsies' friends had been captured, and not only that, it was the girlfriend of the spontaneous boy. Zuko had only been around Sokka for a few hours but knew better than to think that he was just going to sit by and watch as the love of his life was being shuffled off to a Nazi death camp.

He watched tears come to Sokka's eyes as they all hid inside an alleyway. "They got Suki," he started, a little lost. "What am I going to do?" No one said anything as they watched the young man sink to his knees in the dirt. He was silent for a while before speaking again, this time with determination in his voice. "We have to save her," he said as he rose back to his feet. "I'm going after her."

Bingo, Zuko thought. "Don't be ridiculous, Sokka. It would take us over a week to get there." The young Gunny shook his head. "Plus you don't even know where you're going."

"But you do!" Sokka cut in. "You could take us there!"

Zuko sighed for the hundredth time in two hours. "Okay, suppose we did get there in time without being caught, what could we do? The camps are guarded twenty-four seven with high fences and barbed wire. There's no way we would be able to infiltrate the place."

"It doesn't matter, we still have to try."

"Sokka, I'd love to get Suki back, too," Katara interjected. "But please, be realistic here. What you're proposing is far too dangerous."

Sokka only frowned and shook his head. "To me, nothing is too dangerous if it means saving Suki."

Again, there was silence for quite some time before Aang spoke for the first time in a long while. "I agree with Sokka," he said. "We've all lost nearly everything so far, so we can't afford to lose another one of us. Even if we can only save one person, we have to try."

"Yeah!" Toph agreed. "Katara, if Sokka were in Suki's position, what would you do?"

Katara pretended to think for a moment before answering. "I would lay my own life on the line to save his," she replied.

Zuko sighed and rubbed his temples again. "This is a bad idea," he growled. "What if this girl was already dead by the time you found her?" he asked, making Sokka flinch. "And then one of us might die, probably all of us."

They all stared at him blankly before one of them said anything. "We have to try." It was Aang.

"Aang's right," Katara agreed. "We have to try." This made everyone but Zuko smile and nod their heads in agreement.

"Zuko, what do you know about the place that they're taking Suki?" Sokka asked.

The man in question frowned, crossed his arms and looked away. "Fine," he said begrudgingly. "It's a death camp called Auschwitz two days inside the German border."

The gypsy boy nodded his thanks at the young German. "Auschwitz, very well." He then spoke more to himself than the others. "Don't worry, Suki, we're coming for you."

---

It only took them half an hour to go through all the abandoned homes in the town and gather supplies. In one home, they found plenty of clothes and bags that would be useful on their travels. Zuko removed his uniform and replaced it with a young man's casual outfit he had found in a trunk in one of the houses. He then shoved his uniform into one of the bags for good measure. Aang and Sokka ran off to gather food for their journey and returned fifteen minutes later with two travel packs filled to the brim.

When everything was packed and ready to go, Zuko slung his Kar98 across his back and one of the traveling packs over his shoulder. "We need to stray away from the roads," he told the group. "Lieutenant Colonel Zhao would have told Command of what transpired here and there will be people looking for us." When he saw the downhearted faces of his new companions, he added: "We can use the roads as guidance but we won't be able to travel on them."

Everyone groaned slightly as they picked up their packs and started towards the forest where they had come from. They walked for a couple hours before stopping for the night, keeping the dirt road in their sights but being very careful to hide when any cars came zooming by. Given the state of the country, any car would have been a Nazi officer or a high ranking public official; someone who was close to the Furer's inner circle. Zuko could not risk anyone who could afford to travel seeing them for fear of getting caught.

When camp was made and everyone settled down around the cooking fire, Zuko sat apart from the group and studied each member as they ate. He could tell that each one of them was scared, and yet each of them was determined and brave at the same time. Each individual might have had the same feelings towards their self-appointed mission, but they all had their own reasons for feeling that way. By studying the faces and actions of the others, he came to a conclusion to their reasons for being frightened. Aang feared taking human life. The thought of inflicting pain on another was too much for the teenager. Zuko saw everything in the boy's eyes, from his remorse for stepping on someone's toe, to his fear of losing those he had left. It seemed to Zuko that the teenager was not cut out for this kind of life.

Toph was more difficult to read. She was tough and gritty, bold and blunt, but she still held a soft side. Her outside emotions may have been aloof and non-caring, but she only used that as a mask. She feared just like everyone else; not just for her own life, but for the others around her. Her fears lay in the possibility that all their trouble would be for naught. That they would find Suki dead by the time they arrived at Auschwitz and the rest of them would die, screaming for her help, but she would stand in front of them, unable to do anything. Toph did not want anyone to know that she was scared just like them so she put up a guard, an illusion that she just did not really care if they sat and did nothing, or reacted to the situation.

"What would happen to us if soldiers saw our fire and caught us?" Sokka asked the group. They all remained silent and turned to stare at the young German sitting apart from them. Zuko turned his head away and pretended to clean his rifle. After a moment of silence, they all looked back at the fire and Zuko studied Sokka. He knew what the young gypsy was thinking when he pulled out the Broom Handle pistol from his coat pocket. The man had his emotions written on his sleeve making him easy to read. He did not care about his own life, that much was clear. No, his fear stemmed from losing the woman he loved. Yet through his pale face, Zuko saw a strong determination that seemed to outsource his fear. Sokka's love for Suki was the only thing that was driving him. Knowing that Suki was waiting for him gave the young man courage; it gave him hope for the future.

Zuko sighed and started cleaning his rifle for real this time. He wished he had the courage and determination the others had. His life had been gray and dingy ever since he was six years old; that was when he had lost his mother. After his mother died, his father was left to raise him and his little sister, Azula. Neither of them really cared for him like his mother did. His father, Ozai, was a very harsh and aggressive man, a fierce and relentless Colonel from the First World War, who only cared if his son exceeded in school and sports. Azula always exceeded, she was a prodigy child where as Zuko had to try hard at everything just to keep up. He always felt that his father never truly loved him and life was easier when his mother was alive but lately, his memory of her had begun to fade when it was normally as vivid and clear as if he had just seen her yesterday.

The only people who had truly cared for him as a child was his uncle Iroh who had long since disappeared once the war started, his mother, and his older cousin Lu Ten, whose fighter plane was shot down by an enemy jet in France. His squadron had won the dog fight, but they returned home feeling as if they had lost.

His life had lacked any feeling of love once his cousin died and his uncle disappeared. He missed it, wanted it back, and was quite jealous of his new companions. They had love; even with their families dead, one friend taken prisoner, and their own town destroyed, they still remained for each other. Zuko had no one; he left behind no friends in the army and no loved ones at his home town. He was truly alone.

Glancing back at the group around the fire, he spotted a pair of brilliant blue eyes staring at him from across the flickering flames. It was the gypsy girl, Katara, but as soon as he saw her, she looked away and resumed eating her canned beans. Zuko thought it was the flickering light of the fire that tricked him, but he was so sure he had seen a slight hint of a red hue on her cheeks. Was she blushing?

Zuko cared more about his own life above the group's, but this frightened woman had burrowed inside him somehow. He barely knew any of them at all, but yet he could not help feeling like he was going to put his life on the line for her and her only. Why? He did not know a thing about her and he still felt that way. Something about her, something in the way she looked at him, or maybe the way she had thanked him for saving her and her brother, replaced some of the lost love from his life. He could not understand it and was scared, frightened by it. What was this feeling, what was it that made him wish she would continue to stare at him? He did not know and for some strange reason, was scared to find out.

---

The first day was the toughest. No one in the group apart from Zuko had ever walked for so long at once. Their feet hurt, their backs ached, and their stomachs growled from hunger, though none of them dared eat anything until Zuko called out for lunch time. They had only a few days worth of food so they had to ration, that meant no snacks or quick munches and smaller meals than they were used to.

The first half of the day was relatively silent and Zuko hoped it would stay that way, but his hopes were dashed when Aang got everyone singing a very happy and upbeat song. It was not good, Zuko knew that, but the singing lifted the refugee's spirits so he did not ask them to stop. He only hoped that their singing would not get them caught.

When night fell, they all helped set up camp just as they had the night before and once again, Zuko sat separate from the rest of them; his back leaning against a tree, facing away from the fire. He ate his dinner in silence and tossed the empty bean can in the forest when he was finished. He heard the rest if the group attempting to cheer each other up with happy stories of their families and friends that they had before the war. Once again, Zuko was not part of it. He preferred to stay out of it, away from the others and secluded. When they had happy memories, all he had were ones of frustration, pain, and hatred.

Zuko caught Katara staring at him again, and as she did before, she quickly looked back at the fire pretending that nothing had happened but could not help the slight blush appearing on her cheeks. He frowned and turned away, he thought he hated it, but deeper inside him, he welcomed her stares, he welcomed her blushes. They made him feel loved again, like he actually belonged. He tried to tell himself that he did not belong with these people, but it was nice to feel like he did every now and again.

Why was it that every time he looked up at her, she was staring at him? Zuko was almost afraid to find out but was at the same time very curious. He loved her beautiful smiles and long, wavy brown hair. What got him the most was her big, opaline blue eyes. They shined just like the ocean on a sunny day and it was too bad she averted her gaze every time he looked at her. He would have loved to get the chance to study her eyes more.

---

It had been three days since they left the abandoned town to chase after Sokka's girlfriend. The rationed food they had taken from the empty homes was running out. Zuko calculated that with the little they had left, they would not be able to make another day without finding more.

"Where are we going to get more food?" Aang asked no one in particular. "I don't even think we have any money."

"We've got money," Zuko said as he packed up his belongings and shoved them in his pack. He reached into the front pocket of his trousers and pulled out a small pouch that was filled completely with paper money and change. "And there's a town a couple miles down the road. We can get food there."

Sokka dropped his own sleeping mat when he saw what was in Zuko's hand. "Where did you get that?" he asked suspiciously.

Zuko almost felt guilty for having the money pouch with him, but he knew better than to feel remorse. The people it belonged to were not using it and the group really needed it. "I took a bit from each of the houses we searched in the town," he responded.

Sokka seemed to steam with rage. "That money doesn't belong to us!" he yelled. "How could you take those people's money, they need it!"

"The sleeping mats, blankets, clothes and food we took didn't belong to us either!" Zuko countered. "Those people weren't using this money and it was just lying around! Plus, I knew we didn't have enough food to start out with so money was going to be a necessity! If we're going to save Suki, don't you think taking care of ourselves is top priority right now?"

Sokka did not have an argument to throw back at the young German. It was obvious that he was not ready to trust Zuko, but he knew that he was right. They had to take care of themselves first before they could save anyone.

"Fine!" Sokka huffed. He crouched down and picked his sleeping mat off the ground and shoved it back in his pack. "Do what you want, I don't care!" Standing back up, he turned to face Zuko with the worst glare the Gunny had ever seen on the man. "But I'm coming with you."

Zuko shrugged, not really caring if anyone came with him or not, but Katara had different plans. "No, Sokka," she said. "I don't think you should go. You two might get in an argument again, start a scene, and get arrested." She paused and walked over to Zuko. "I'll go."

The young German was surprised that she had offered to go. He would have thought that she would have been too afraid to go into a town for fear of getting caught. However, he quickly shook off his surprise and put the money back in his pocket. "Very well," he said, turning to the rest of the group. "Katara and I will head into town and be back within two to three hours with more food. Wait for us here."

No one complained as he and the gypsy girl left their little campsite. Zuko knew that Sokka did not trust him; the man was Mr. Tell-the-World-What-I-Think. The others were harder to decipher but as he left, he could feel their cold, untrusting eyes on his back. They immediately felt that they could not trust him without even trying to get to know him. This knowledge stung him, but he tried not to think about it as he and Katara set foot on the dirt road and turned to head for the next town.

Neither one of them spoke as they walked. The events that had just transpired left them shocked and at a loss for words. It was not until they were almost near the town did either one of them say something.

"Katara, what do you think of me?" Zuko asked as the first building came into view.

She looked up at him, obviously confused. "What are you talking about?" she asked.

He sighed. This was going to be a very awkward conversation. "Well, your brother obviously distrusts me, and the others don't show it but I can tell that they don't know what to think of me either, so I was wondering where you stand on me traveling with you. Do you trust me?"

Katara smiled brightly, making Zuko nervously look away from her. "Of course I trust you, Zuko. You were the one who saved me, remember?"

He said nothing, only nodded as they entered the town and searched around for a market place to buy produce. When they were looking over travel-friendly foods, Zuko decided to ask another question. "Do you…" he began awkwardly. "Do you know why Sokka distrusts me?"

Katara grabbed a small can of green beans and placed them in a rucksack she had brought with her. "I'm not really sure," she replied. "Maybe it's because of who you used to be? It's hard to tell without asking him. He himself might not know why."

"Oh," was all he said as they finished gathering food. He and Katara took their items to the lady at the counter, purchased them and headed back out into the street. Once they were out of town and back on the road, Zuko asked the gypsy another question. "What do you think of me?"

Katara stared at him with wide eyes. She was silent for quite some time before she was ready to answer him. "I…I don't really know," she began. "I trust you, but I don't really know you that well." She paused and stared at the ground before speaking again. "I think you are a very kind and caring person, you were just misled growing up and, I think I kind of like you." She blushed and watched her feet. "At least, a lot more than I did when I first met you," she added for safety.

Zuko stared at her. She what? he thought. What did she mean by that? He was having trouble deciphering her words and they threw his thoughts into a whirlwind of confusion. What could he say, that he felt the same? The truth was, he did not know what he felt towards her. At the moment, the only reason he was helping her and her friends was because he could not stand to think of what his people were doing to those they had captured. In some way, he felt that by helping them, he was helping himself, but it was too early to tell how, in what way, he was helping himself. He had a feeling, though he did not know if he could trust it; a feeling that told him that everything he was doing had something to do with the girl.

---

Suki was shoved off the train by the force of her stampeding prison mates. The very first thing she heard when she touched down on the ground were fierce and angry-sounding women yelling at them to separate; the females on the left and the males on the right. She was scared as she lined up with the other women, unsure of what they would do to her. Suki had never suspected this. She had an inkling feeling that the Nazis were bad people but she never thought they would go so far as to take innocents into custody.

She was surprised at herself that she had wished to get off the train as soon as possible. On the train, she had been crammed in a small corner by the abundance of people packed in the car. The air had become stuffy and she had an overwhelming feeling of claustrophobia. But now that she was finally off the train and out in fresh air, what she was immediately put through made her wish she was back on the train, made her wish she never had to get off.

On the train, Suki had believed that once she got off, the worst experience of her life would be over. Oh, how wrong she was.

How wrong they all were.

A/N: Well, Zuko's a bit confuse, isn't he? I like to write about confused people, it's fun.

Review or die! Just though you should know! :)