Alright, I promised you guys two chapters today, so I will. Here's chapter 15, and I hope you enjoy! This is where things get heartbreaking. Aang, Ara, and Zuko begin the rescue, but are they too late? Read on, and please comment! And get your tissues ready!

But where did all of my readers go? You guys haven't talked much! Come on! I miss you! And please come back, or Iroh will! Please come back to me! I miss you all! Okay, on with the story!

The next morning, before dawn, the trio woke up to storm clouds and rain. But this didn't bother them as they ate breakfast and Zuko told them about the prison.

"Okay, there are about 14 levels, with 40 cells on each. It's huge. There's one exit, and it's hard to get in or out from there. Since there is no list, we have to check every single cell on every floor, and that could take hours. Here's the plan: I checked out the front. There are at least 20 guards there. Aang, you and I will take those out. At every level there's a guard at every cell. Ara, I've seen what you can do. I've even trained you. You are the quickest warrior to take them out, so that's your job. Along the way, we should get some uniforms or something like Sokka and I did at the Boiling Rock all those years ago for a disguise. Then again, we shouldn't because the whole place will know we've invaded by the time we reach the second level. Once we find Katara, Sokka, and Toph, we need to get out—fast. Aang, do you still have your bison whistle?"

"Yep!"

"I'll hold it. As soon as we find them, we need Appa to bust us out and get us on our way. Aang, I don't know if we'll need it, but be ready to use the Avatar State. If it is a trap, then there's probably going to be more guards. But for now, we'll do some practice outside. Ara, you're the one who needs to be ready the most. We'll each battle you. Everything clear for now?"

"Yep!"

"Alright."

It was already pouring, but to two of the three benders, it was second nature. Ara stood in between the two men, ready for the attack.

Zuko charged first. He shot fire at her, then dodged and spun as she waterbended at him, narrowly missing him. She turned as Aang shot fire and she blocked it with an ice wall. She leapt over it and threw air punches towards her father, knocking him down. He rolled to his feet and grabbed her with a water arm. She cut it off and then attacked Zuko. She threw a water blast towards his flaming hands, and the impact shot him backwards, and she froze him to a tree. She then attacked Aang again, and using the water like a razor shooting out from her hand, came so close to his neck that he could feel it barely cutting his skin. He spun on his hands and shot a huge gust of wind towards her. She fell down, but flipped backwards and landed on her feet. She used the rain to form a slide around her father. She slid down and around while he shot fire, but she was too quick and she knocked him off of his feet. She froze his hands and feet to the ground, stood over him, aimed at his head, and readied herself for her final attack. But she smiled and straightened.

"You are an excellent fighter, Ara." Aang said, melting the ice and getting up. "You've had great teachers."

Zuko melted himself off of the tree and walked up. "She is brave and courageous, and will fight to the death if she has to," he said. "I am very proud of her in her training."

Ara smiled at both of them. But she knew that they had to leave. "Let's go," she said, going back to the cave to grab her cloak and headband. Aang pulled on his cloak, tied on his headband, and Zuko put on his cloak too. Then the three of them, including Momo, ran stealthily towards the prison.

Katara was still pacing anxiously. Something told her that this would be a special, yet dangerous day. She looked every now and then at Sokka and Toph, who were watching her. Sokka's face was still bruised, and he had a terrible gash on it, but it no longer bothered him as much. He could open his eyes fully again, too. Toph's leg was still broken, but they were all pretty much fine, for now. As the thunder cracked louder each time, Katara became more and more restless.

"Aang, whatever you do, don't come."

The three figures hid their faces as they walked up, but the guards had definitely noticed them. They pulled out their swords. Aang went first.

Suddenly he spun and knocked the first guard off of his feet. Ara waterbended his hands and feet together onto the ground, but suddenly they were surrounded by at least 40 guards. She bended into the octopus form, and Aang joined her, and Zuko used his broadswords and firebending to take them out. But as they did, more showed up. Twenty minutes passed even with 3 masters fighting.

"Aang!" Zuko cried out. "We need it now! There are too many!" He fought back against his own group of soldiers, while Ara was water-whipping another group. "Dad! Hurry! Please!" she cried as she blocked a fire blast. She swirled the water around her, knocking them away, and she and Zuko ran towards Aang to protect him. Underneath his cloak and headband, his eyes and tattoos glowed. He got up, pushed Zuko and Ara to the side, and earthbended the surrounding troops. Every guard around them flew backwards, and as Aang pushed his hands forward in a punch, all of the guards were gathered into one little group. Aang placed his hands together swiftly. All of the guards were suddenly engulfed in dust and dirt, and when it cleared, Zuko and Ara saw that Aang had earthbended them into and earth prison, where their hands and feet were molded into the walls. They looked at Aang, and his eyes stopped glowing and he fell forward. "Ughh…" he groaned as he fell to his knees. Ara and Zuko caught him by the shoulders. She smiled at her father. He looked up. "I wish for the day when this won't drain my energy." He smiled as they helped him up. "We need to hurry," he said as they started to run.

Azula walked toward the cells. She had her Dai Li agents take her a certain way. As they opened the cell door, lightning lit her up menacingly. Sokka and Katara looked up, and Azula grinned evilly. "Time's up," she hissed.

"Wait!" Toph cried. "It's only morning. You need to give him more time!"

"I lied. It's what I do. Now, who's going to go first?" she laughed as lightning cracked and the thunder roared.

"Well, I guess I choose." She nodded to a guard, who took his keys and opened Katara's cell. She walked in, and the guard locked it behind her. "I choose you," she said, smiling wickedly and going for the attack. Katara readied herself and got into a fighting stance. She couldn't bend anything, but she could fight. Azula charged.

As Aang, Ara, and Zuko fought their way up, each guard left their post next to each cell to fight. But Aang was proud of his daughter as she fought and easily took down every guard she came across. While she attacked, Zuko and Aang looked in each cell, lighting them up with firebending. Even Momo helped. And it was easier than Zuko's plans had shown. In ten minutes, they were on the fifth level. But they still had ways to go. Zuko charged and fought next to Ara, and as he yelled, more lightning lit up the sky, and thunder shook the prison.

Azula punched Katara again. She was just having fun killing her slowly. Katara was already bleeding and covered in burns, but she didn't give up. When Azula shot more blue flame, Katara dodged, but a piece of her clothing caught on fire. When she moved to put it out, Azula punched the flame out towards her, hitting her. Katara cried out in pain as she fell to her knees. Sokka's knuckles were white as he clenched the bars. He was angrier now than he ever was. His eyes were full of hatred, and he screamed, yelled, and cursed Azula, but all he received was a blow from the guard on his head on his bad side, which made him crumple to his knees in pain, while dizziness and black spots in his sight overcame him. Toph, who was usually loud and unafraid, crawled towards Sokka, holding him as she was silent; hearing every beating and scream. Her tears wouldn't stop flowing, hearing her best friend slowly dying.

Katara wouldn't give up, though. She tried to fight back, but she was no match without her bending, she was severely injured, and Azula was way too agile. To make it worse, the princess had 10 of Mai's old daggers, which she concealed.

Suddenly, when Katara moved to punch her, Azula dug one of them deep into Katara's shoulder. Katara screamed in pain, which Azula took this opportunity to dig 4 more into her other shoulder, back, and sides. Katara's scream turned to blood-curdling anguish. As Azula flipped over her and dug two more into her neck, Katara fell. She hit the ground, blood everywhere. Sokka's tears burned. His heart turned to fire. But he couldn't do anything but watch. Azula turned to stand in front of the dying waterbender, and she smiled. She moved her fingertips in a circle as lightning from the storm empowered her.

"NOOO!" Sokka screamed as his sister was hit with the lightning, and Azula showed no mercy. Katara flew backwards, and Sokka saw the terrible wound, like Aang's, but on her chest. Azula hit her again and again with the lightning. Every bone in the waterbender's body lit up as she screamed to the pouring sky. Azula kept on at it, and the whole cell was lit up, but Sokka and Toph could do nothing.

As she brought in her chi, Azula stood up, smoke coming off of her fingertips. Katara's clothes were on fire, and were burning her even more. Blood dripped down off of her body and joined the other rivers forming, mixing, and swirling into the water on the ground. When they all thought she was dead, she found strength. Her pain-filled deep blue eyes opened. She got to her knees, slowly and weakly, wincing. Sokka knew he had to keep his sister alive somehow. He suddenly turned to the water bucket, and, grabbing it, threw it across, where the water flowed across the floor of Katara's cell. She saw it and crawling slowly towards Azula, weakly bent it up. But Azula took out her sharpest dagger, ran toward Katara, and pushed her down, yet grabbed what was left of her charred clothes before she hit the ground and plunged the dagger deep into Katara's chest.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sokka yelled, falling to his knees. His tears were flowing harder than they ever had. He watched as Katara's hand bending the water lost control, and the water dropped with a splash. Katara's hand dropped too. Her head fell back and her eyes closed. Azula smiled. She threw the broken body to the side and walked out, wiping the blood off her hands. She looked at Sokka and Toph. "You two are next…" she said, nodding to the guard. But suddenly the door opened and a Dai Li ran in. "Princess, there's trouble. We must leave!"

"Fine," Azula growled, walking out. "I'll be back for you two later." Her laugh echoed down the halls. The door closed and silence filled the cell.

Toph put a very shaky hand on the ground. "Sh—sh—she's g—gone," she whispered, her voice full of tears, hugging Sokka and burying her face in his chest. He couldn't bear to look at his sister's body anymore, so he closed his crying eyes and turned to hold Toph as well. They both silently cried for the wonderful, loving, caring person who was always there for them, who was now gone... forever.

As the three warriors went to the tenth level, the guards got tougher. Each level, Aang and Zuko had to help Ara a little more. Ara fought off more and more, and Aang was getting restless. "This is taking way too long!" he yelled and pushed an extremely hard gust of wind past Ara and knocked down the surrounding guards off of their feet. He earthbended a wall behind Zuko and one in front of him and Ara. He kneeled down and the other two joined him. "This is wasting time," he started. "If they were captured by Azula, they would be in the most heavily guarded or hardest to find cell. I think what we should do is go to the top and work our way down." The other two nodded. Aang broke the wall and started to run. Each guard that came up was knocked off of his feet by Aang as all his goal right then was to reach the top.

Finally they made it to the last level. They started searching each cell. Ara and Zuko watched Aang's back as he checked each one. When the last guard was taken down, Zuko and Ara stood up and looked at Aang. His eyes were full of defeat.

"They're not here…" he whispered as he fell to his knees. Ara ran to hold her father, and Zuko put his hand on Aang's shoulder. "We can't give up yet," he said. "There's got to be more cells."

Suddenly, Momo went into Aang's robe, took out Katara's pendant, and ran down the hall. "Momo! Come back with that!" Aang yelled as they followed the lemur though the hallway. Suddenly they stopped as Momo led them to a dead end. "Momo," Aang said, grabbing the lemur, "don't you ever take this away from me," he said, putting the necklace back around his neck. He looked up. "Sorry, buddy, it's a dead end." But Momo flew to the wall and started chattering and making a racket.

"What's wrong with him?" Ara asked. "Yea," Zuko added, "It's just a dead end."

Aang's eyes widened. "No," he said. He put his hand on the wall, feeling like Toph had taught him all of those years ago. His mouth dropped. "There's more cells!" he cried. "Behind this wall!" He stood back and earthbended the wall away. A whole hallway went into the cliffside.

They ran down it and checked each one, but Momo flew to the last one at the end of the hallway. They stopped checking and followed him. He was scratching at the metal. Zuko stepped in front. "I've got this." He took one of his broadswords and picked the lock.

Sokka looked up from his crying. Someone was trying to get in!

He held Toph tighter as the door opened and light flooded in, blinding him. As his eyes focused, he saw 3 cloaked figures. One of them stepped forward.

"Sokka?"

Okay, major cliffhanger, but oh well! You'll have to wait for tomorrow. So the rescue group was too late for Katara. Yes, I killed her, but with a twist. You'll have to read next chapter, which I PROMISE will be the saddest. Please read and review, and tell me if you cried. Thanks so much for all of your comments, and please stay with me! Thanks you guys, I can't wait to hear what you say!

Sorry to all Katara lovers. But there's a twist… keep reading! Please! Don't leave me! I will be sad if you do!

Iroh(running up crazily): TEA TIME!!

Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Iroh: Do not run from me! I am your elder! Obey me! Drink the tea!

Me(running away): Never!!

And Zuko lovers, don't hate me in not next chapter, but the one after. I warn you now.

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