Chapter 4: To Capture and Escape

Zia's POV

By the time we arrived at the water tribe, my headache was almost completely gone. A few minutes before, Uncle had come get me from my cell and told me that we had arrived. He also said that I was snoring up a storm when he came in and was lying face first on the bed, drooling. We both quickly agreed to keep that to ourselves.

Alone on the deck, I glanced around and saw that a few feet ahead of the ship was the wall of the tiny city. When the Fire Nation ship made contact, it jerked forward and there was a loud cracking noise of the ice.

I saw a huge crack headed for a little toddler boy that had fallen down and yelled, "Look out!" I pointed to him and a teenage girl followed the trail to see the young boy. She gasped and ran to him; barely pick him up in time before the crack opened up where he was at. I sighed in relief and relaxed; I had unknowingly tensed up. The girl nodded her thanks to me and joined the rest of the villagers. The majority of them looked like older women and children, besides a teenage boy.

There was a few seconds of awkward silence and then there was a hiss of steam. I glanced down and saw Zuko walking stiffly down the ramp that had just opened. I stifled a laugh and jumped down from the ship. When I reached the ground, I tucked and rolled to my feet. I was on my feet and looked to where Zuko was to see the teenage boy run at Zuko, who was still on the ramp. Zuko stopped his attack and kicked him into a pile a snow. I walked in front of the water tribe people and stopped on the side of them. Zuko walked up to them, while he was glaring at me, and glanced at their faces. I briefly looked at their faces, too, and noticed there wasn't an air nomad.

Zuko must have noticed too because he yelled at them, "Where are you hiding him?" I scowled when he reached past the teenage girl and grabbed the old woman next to her. "He'd be about this age, a master of all elements." He shoved the old woman back to the teenager. I skimmed the villagers' faces; they all had a confused expression on their face and I knew right then that they didn't know that the Airbender was the Avatar.

Zuko must not have believed them because a second later he threw a fire whip above their heads. I gasped and threw my own a ball of green fire at his, to stop it from reaching the villagers.

They all gasped and backed away, looking scared. Zuko glared at me and yelled at the water tribe, "I know you're hiding him! Where is he?"

There was a yell from the teenage boy from before and I shook my head sadly. If you would have remained silent, you probably could have managed to defeat Zuko. As I suspected, Zuko skillfully ducked to avoid the attack and the boy was sent flying over Zuko. The boy rolled to the side, evading Zuko's fire blast, and threw a boomerang. The silver weapon just missed Zuko's face and I had to admit, I was impressed by the throw.

A little boy in the crowd yelled, "Show no fear!" and tossed the teenager a spear. My face softened a little at that and I giggled quietly; that was one of the cutest things ever. The teen caught the spear and ran full speed at Zuko, who stood at the ready.

When the teenager reached him, Zuko broke the spear tip off and poked the boy in the head a few times with the end. Zuko broke the spear in half and I laughed quietly to myself as the boy fell to his butt, rubbing his head.

I saw the sunlight reflect off a something in the distance and heard a faint whistling sound. I remembered the boomerang and saw it coming back, aimed at Zuko's head. There was a loud clunk sound when it hit the back of the metal helmet Zuko had on. This time, I laughed really hard and Zuko glared at me with fire daggers coming out of his clenched fist.

I just stuck out my tongue and wiggled it at him when all of a sudden Zuko was flying through the air. His helmet went flying through the air and landed on his butt, which was straight up in the air.

I stood there for a second and then I busted out laughing; tears were coming out of my eyes. There was cheering from the children of the water tribe and I looked to see who had saved the teenage boy.

To my surprise, it wasn't an old man, but a young child riding on a penguin. The boy head orange and yellow clothes on; he was an Air Nomad. He had a bald head with and arrow on his forehead. When I glanced at the back of his head, the arrow went all the way down to his neck.

"Hey Katara; hey Sokka." The boy said to the two teenagers. So that's what their names were.

I guess they had met before because the boy nodded and said, "Hi, Aang. Thanks for coming."

They all looked back at Zuko who was, at the moment, just getting to his feet. He spread out his arms and all of the guards moved to a semicircle around Aang. I inched my way beside the water tribe people and some of them looked at me warily. I raised my hands and pulled down my hood, showing my Earth Kingdom skin. They nodded and looked back at the soldiers, still eyeing me suspiciously, but less now.

Aang looked at all the soldiers, pointing his staff at them. Suddenly he jumped up and slammed down the top part of the staff down on the snow. Air blew the snow on all of the Fire Nation soldiers and he said to Zuko, "Looking for me?"

Zuko had a surprised look on his face and asked, "You're the airbender I saw? You're the Avatar?" He then got an angry and determined look on his face as he stared down the young boy.

I faintly heard Katara say, "Aang?" and Sokka, "No way!" I wasn't surprised and stood directly in front of the water tribe. From the way Zuko and Aang were walking, I could tell there was going to be a fight; I didn't want anyone else getting hurt.

"I spent years training, meditating, searching for the Avatar. And you're just a child." Zuko said dramatically.

Aang looked at him for a few seconds and said simply, "Well you're just a teenager." I laughed a little but stopped when Zuko shot a wave of fire at Aang. He grunted in surprise and twisted his staff to keep the fire from burning him.

They circled again and when Aang was standing only a few feet ahead of me, Zuko shot fire at him. Aang blocked it with his staff, but some if it got past and I put up my own wall of fire to protect the people from being burned.

Aang looked at the people behind him and I saw the fighting leave his eyes. The villagers were holding each other in fear, even though the fire went no were near them. Aang stopped twirling his staff and looked at Zuko, surrendering.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave these people alone?" he said. There was a few seconds of silence when Zuko nodded his head and Aang surrendered.

Two guards walked forward and one grabbed his staff and his arm while the other just grabbed his arm.

They were pushing him forward when Katara ran forward, "No, Aang, don't do this!" I just shook my head and walked past her.

Aang looked behind and called, "It's okay Katara; take care of Appa for me." The girl nodded and had tears in her eyes when the guards shoved Aang forward, again.

I heard Zuko yell, "Set a course for the Fire Nation; I'm going home." I rolled my eyes; oh, no we are not. At least Aang and I aren't.

Halfway up the ramp, I turn and bow to the Southern Water Tribe. When I was standing up straight, I made eye contact with Katara and winked. She stared at me in amazement and slowly got a determined look on her face. I gave a wicked grin and turned back to the ship. I walked the rest of the way and turned around to face the tribe as the ramp closed.

When it was shut, we walked all the way to the top deck and met up with Uncle. I stood next to Aang and stared down at my feet. Zuko started talking about something and I completely zoned out, trying to think of an escape plan.

"Take the Avatar to the prison hold, and take this to my quarters." Zuko handed Aang's staff to Uncle, who handed it to a soldier next to him. Zuko walked off to who knows where, completely ignoring me.

The two guards holding Aang took him down the stairs, and I followed, walking slowly behind. I heard Aang's voice, but didn't hear the words.

"Silence," said a guard. I heard that one loud and clear; it was Lee.

I heard a take in of a breath and immediately thought, Aang. I jumped to the side when I heard a whoosh sound and saw Aang, and the guard behind him, go flying past me.

I ran toward him, took my knife from my shoe, and cut his ropes. "Come on," grabbing his hand while stuffing the knife in its spot, "your staff is this way."

I dragged him behind me, to the deck. He ran beside me and I pointed to the door across the deck. He nodded and jumped, shooting air out of his feet to open the door.

We ran and I vaguely heard Lee yell, "The Avatar has escaped!" In the middle of the corridor we meet up with a bunch of soldiers.

Aang got into his stance and I put a hand on his shoulder, shaking my head. He relaxed and I pushed my hands forward; bright green fire came out of my palms and blasted the soldiers into the wall behind them.

I winced and looked at Aang. He looked at me and shrugged; we ran forward and I was leading the way to Zuko's room. On the way there, we ran into a few people, but between us too, nobody could stop us.

We arrived there and I gestured at his staff, "My staff!" I was about to walk into the room, but the door slammed shut before I could step inside. While I was trying to get the door open, I heard some mumbling and bright flashes of light.

I finally got the door open and I saw Aang air bend Zuko's mattress at him, hitting him into the wall. Aang then airbended it up, with Zuko laying on it, into the ceiling and I giggled, grabbing Aang's hand.

I pulled him out and he airbended the hatch door open the top deck. This time, Aang pulled me and I stumbled a little because of his surprising strength. He threw his staff in the air, which turned into a glider, and wrapped his left arm around me. He jumped, grabbing hold of his glider for a few seconds, the glider wobbled when I felt a lot more weight then there should have been, and we fell to the metal deck.

I managed to roll to my feet and, saw what the extra weight was. It was Zuko. Somehow he had managed to grab hold of us when we jumped and made us unbalanced.

Zuko and Aang were both lying on their stomachs a few feet away, groaning. Zuko got to his senses first out of the two and growled at me and Aang. Aang quickly floated to his feet using airbending and got into his stance.

Before anyone could bend, there was a loud groan that filled the air. I whirled around and my eyes widened. There in his furry glory, was a giant flying monster. On top of it were Katara and Sokka.

"What is that?" Zuko and I asked at the same time. We both looked at each and glared.

"Appa!" Aang cried out. So that's who Appa was; his giant flying creature. I was brought out of my thoughts when I heard Aang grunt. Zuko was now shooting fireballs at him, like there was no tomorrow.

I swiped my foot on the ground and fire was sent toward Zuko; easily distracting his attention away from the Avatar, who was trying to catch his breath, standing on the railing. Zuko shot fire at me and turned back to Aang, shooting fire at him again. I growled and sent up a wall in front of me and Aang. Unfortunately, Aang slipped and fell overboard when he saw the fire coming at him.

I heard Katara yelling Aang's name and I turned to Zuko, sneering. I rapidly shoot at him and he blocked, backing up. Then, all of a sudden, Aang burst out of the water, bending it around him, above the ship. I looked at him and gasped, the arrow on his face was glowing, along with his eyes. Aang had an unmistakable look of fury on his face as waterbended down to the deck.

I backed away slowly. Aang landed on the ship and the Fire Nation soldiers surrounded him. He spun the water around him and sent it flying, flinging everyone back into the railing, including me. I heard a loud crack sound and felt a sharp pain in my ribcage when I was flung into the metal railing.

I cried out, tears springing into my eyes and saw Aang slowly falling to his knees. The glowing had started to fade and I heard Appa land on the deck. The two siblings ran over to Aang and he grunted out hellos. He widened his eyes and looked in my direction, as I was getting to my knees. I whimpered as I tried to stand but fell back to my knees instead.

Aang stood up and ran over to me, yelling at the same time, "Sokka, can you get my staff for me?" Sokka said yes and sprinted off for it. Aang reached me and picked me up bridal style. He then walked quickly to the flying bison and accidently jostled my ribs.

I screamed in pain and he hurriedly said sorry over and over again; guilt was written all over his face and I mumble, "It's okay."

Aang nodded his head and said, "I have to jump on, I'm so sorry if I hurt you." He jumped into the air using airbending and landed as three of the soldiers regained consciousness. I wanted to shout a warning but my voice evaded me and blackness was slowly creeping into my eyesight.

Luckily, Katara saw them and used a waterbending moving, but only succeeded in freezing Sokka's feet to the deck. She turned around, repeated the same move as before, and this time froze the Fire Nation men.

One of the men yelled out as he was being frozen and I recognized Lee's voice. I used the last of my strength to unfreeze his face with a small fireball that flashed by his face. Katara jumped onto Appa the same time as Sokka climbed up and we took off into the air.

I heard Zuko's voice from where I was laying down on Appa's saddle, "Shoot them down!" I yelped and tried to sit up to see. My back shifted and I cried out, almost passing out from pain.

Aang jumped over me and airbended, using his staff, the ball of fire away; it hit the glacier next to us and the ice fell onto Zuko's ship. If I was sitting upright, I would have burst out laughing at the look of rage on Zuko's face.

Aang, Katara and Sokka started laughing and I asked, my voice weak, "What's so funny?" They all turned to me and I think Sokka and Katara didn't notice I was in the saddle with them by the way they gasped at my voice.

"Nothing," Aang said, "how's your back?"

"I think I have a broken rib or two but I'll live." I told him.

Katara looked at me and asked, "Aren't you one of Zuko's crew members who tried to capture Aang? Wait, you're the one who winked at me earlier. Why are you here?"

I shook my head and went to answer, but Aang beat me to it. "She helped me escape and even fought to protect me. I owe her."

"I was taking prisoner by Zuko about three or four days ago in the south western part of the Earth Kingdom. Apparently, he gets all moody when you earthbend at him," I said.

"But you're a firebender! I saw you firebend; we all did!" Katara said as everyone nodded, not believing my story.

If I could have moved my arm to scratch behind my head without my ribs killing me, I would of. "Well, you see, I can bend fire and earth. Both of my parents were powerful benders of their element; my mom was an earthbender and my dad was a firebender."

Katara and Sokka stared at me with very shocked and disbelieving faces, while Aang's was less shocked than theirs because a hundred years ago there was such a thing as 'cross-breeding.'

"So you know, while you are probably still processing this in your mind, I would really appreciate if someone would drive Appa to the nearest healer to heal my ribs!" The last part I virtually yelled at them because I was probably dying right then.

My chest felt like it got crushed by a heavily overweight man seven thousand times. I was sweating up a storm and my hands were bleeding from my nails that were digging into my skin. Suddenly, I remembered that Katara was a waterbender; most girl waterbenders could heal.

"Katara, can you heal?" I asked her, my voice sounded strained and weak at the same time.

"Do you mean first aid? Yes, I can."

"No, I mean waterbend healing."

"I haven't been trained in waterbending; I am the last waterbender in the whole water tribe," she said sadly. I was about to say something really sarcastic about being the first two bender ever, besides the Avatar, and no one taught me how to deal with being a freak, but I surprisingly held my tongue.

Instead I just said, "I'll teach you. I've seen a waterbender heal before." That was partially true, except, I was the one who being healed. "Come here and bring your water container. When she did what I told her, I continued, "Pull the water out of it and cover your hands. Then place them on the hurt area. You should feel something in the water, and it should glow a bright blue. And there, you're healing."

When I mentioned 'hurt area,' I rolled over on my stomach, wincing as I did. "My hurt area is my right shoulder." She softly placed her hands there and I said, "A little lower; perfect."

I got the familiar weird tingling sensation in my shoulder and knew that Katara was healing my broken ribs. I let out a sigh when she was finished and rolled over onto my back. Sitting up, I rolled my shoulder and twisted my back. My back was a little sore, but there was no more unbearable pain.

I looked up to Katara and nodded, "Thanks. I think you are a natural. It feels great, like I wasn't even hurt."

She brightened instantly and said, smiling widely, "Thanks um what's your name?"

"Zia, sorry I didn't tell you before. But I was a little distracted at the moment; who can blame me?" I replied, giggling. They laughed and we all sat there silently, contempt, until Sokka asked where we were going.

A.N- Hey guys! I wanted to tell you thanks for all the follows and favorites! Also, now that summer is over, I have a bunch of stuff to do, so yeah. I don't really like this Chapter, but I want to know what you guys thought of it. So please, oh pretty please with a cherry on top, leave a review so I know if I am going through the series too fast or if it is horrible, OR if you are a die hard fan and cannot wait for the next chapter.

Anyways, take the time to review and have a good day! Thanks! :)