Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar.

Author's Note: I might not be updating until after my exams are over. I apologize in advance.

11/2 update: fixed the inconsistency in dialouge. So sorry about this. If you see any other mistakes, please tell me right away. Thanks!

+Avatar World+

Suki had learned at an early age to always look on the bright side and never give up until the battle was over. She had been brought up a warrior and she never lost hope. But there were those times when Suki, leader of the Kyoshi Warriors was a bit uncertain. This was one those times.

Suki looked anxiously from one face to the other. An aged healer bent over Aang as she tried to spoon him some herbal remedy. Aang didn't swallow but moaned continuously as though he was suffering from a horrible stomach ache. But Suki knew enough about disease to know that stomach aches didn't render victims incapable of sitting up. Aang seemed unaware that anyone was witnessing his pain.

"Can you tell what's wrong with him?" Suki asked nervously as the old healer set her remedy down.

"No." the old healer answered sadly. "I have never seen this happen before."

Just then, there was scuffle just outside the bedroom door and muffled shouting. The door opened a crack and a girl wearing the same uniform and makeup as Suki slipped in. As soon as she was through, she shoved the door closed.

"Ty Lee, what's going on?" Suki asked, looking bemusedly at the panting girl.

"There… there…" Ty Lee jabbed a finger at the door she had just closed. "There's some weird guy outside saying he's lives here. We told him to wait but-"

The door slammed open, nearly sending it flying off its hinges. In the doorway stood a tall, well-built man with a tanned face and bushy brown hair. He might have looked impressive had there not been half a dozen girls holding onto his limbs.

Suki, immediately recognizing him, called the girls off. As the girls fell away like some poorly stitched fur coat, Suki stepped forward to greet Hakoda.

"I'm really sorry about-" Suki began but Hakoda cut her short.

"There's no time for talking, I've gotta see Katara." His eyes glanced around seeking his daughter but in vain.

"Katara left me in charge." Suki explained, gesturing toward Aang who was lying on his bed. "They went somewhere-"

"They?" Hakoda interrupted, looking confused. "You mean Sokka's gone as well?"

Suki felt a little indignant. She didn't take kindly to being underestimated in times of need.

"Excuse me but I'm pretty sure the Kyoshi Warriors are up to the job. Whatever it is." She said boldly, drawing herself up to her fullest height.

Hakoda shook his head. "If it was a matter of manpower, or girl-power, I would take care of it myself." He wrung his hands like a jailed man and Suki was surprised to see him so crushed. "I'm not sure if they told you or not but I went down to see this Aunt Wu woman to try and get some help."

"What did she say?" Suki asked, glancing back at Aang hopefully. All the girls were huddled around his bed, whispering.

"She couldn't." Hakoda finally answered as he brushed his braids back and looked down at Suki. "She was dead."

+Sokka+

Having shared the loss of a mother, Sokka and Katara were more closely bonded than most siblings. They had had their quarrels, of course, but there was an unspoken pact between them that each would do whatever it took to keep the other safe.

But it seemed that Sokka had broken that pact. Ironic, really, how Katara had been taken away from him. Sokka had sometimes imagined the two of them, sister and brother, heroically avenging their mother and dying an old, peaceful death. That vision had become weaker, more childish as the years had slipped by. He had learned what was really worth living for, had understood that was not a game of hate. It was painful to look back now and repent letting his guard down at the first sign of a clear path.

But…

He shook his head, sighing. Toph was right. He had probably imagined it. Still, whenever he cast his mind back to Mt. Fudiyu, he couldn't quite convince himself that it had been a hallucination. After all, if Sokka had learned anything during his the war, it was that you couldn't just ignore 

instincts and instinct was nagging at the back of his head to accept the facts. He had seen a light and that was where Katara and Zuko had disappeared. But the doubt lingered. After all, what exactly did this prove?

Sokka glanced sideways at Toph who was slumped over the side of Appa's saddle, "staring" down at the sea below. Toph was in many ways a lot more realistic than even Sokka could be. Even though Sokka had often been the leader in many Team Avatar adventures, he could never be as down-to-earth as Toph was, both literally and figuratively. For these reasons he found it disheartening to see her so glum. After the volcano eruption, Toph had acted as though it was an inevitable conclusion but he knew that deep down she was hurt all the same.

Below them, Appa's newly healed legs propelled them through the sky. The beautiful sky mocked them as they flew closer and closer to the Fire Nation palace. Sokka dreaded telling an entire nation that he had killed off their only king. Sokka hadn't actually been responsible, of course, but the fact that he was a survivor didn't make him feel any better.

"We're almost there." Sokka's voice was wooly as it came out. It might have been because he had just spotted the red palace walls growing closer.

+Ethan Jones+

Ethan Jones wasn't insane. At least, that was what he had thought. Now he wasn't so sure.

Lying in a hospital bed at St. Carol's, Ethan couldn't help but feel pathetic. He had woken up that morning feeling like crap. By lifting a hand that felt like lead, he discovered that his head was bandaged and that was when everything started to come back to him.

Jones hadn't always wanted to become a police interrogator. In fact, he hadn't always wanted to be Ethan Jones.

When Jones had been 20, he had briefly changed his name to Thomas Hayse. Thomas had been in a criminal gang until his first arrest in 2045. In prison he met an alleged killer named Seiji. Seiji confessed that he was actually innocent and that the only reason he was stuck in jail was because a misunderstanding during an interrogation. Seiji then expressed how lucky he thought Thomas was for being imprisoned for something he had actually done. After Seiji's execution in December that same year, Thomas vowed to make something of his life and decided to become the one thing that Seiji had hated: interrogators.

Jones was surprisingly talented in the art of interrogation. He loved hunting down a prey and it never ceased to amuse him to watch someone squirm. It wasn't that he was heartless. It was because of what he had learned in prison. He had known from the beginning that Seiji was a coldblooded killer. However, it was difficult to deny that Seiji had been extremely convincing. Nearly all the people who met Seiji took his story to be true.

Years later, Jones still wondered what might have happened if he had believed Seiji's story too. What if he had vouched for the innocence of a man who had murdered five, like some of the inmates had done?

Whatever the answer, Jones had never regretted becoming an interrogator. Lies and truths were all part of the interrogation game and Jones loved getting to a bottom of a good mystery. There was a saying that the best had a nose for the job and Jones had that nose. If he got so much as a whiff of guiltiness, he was on the case like a pit-bull. The more complicated the scent, the better.

Strangely enough, it was those times when the case seemed too easy that Jones got it all wrong. Though this was very rare, the results were often devastating. At one point in his career, Jones had seriously considered giving up his dream job because he condemned a twenty-year-old man to 8 years of prison for nothing before a detective figured out that he was actually innocent. During that case, Jones had attacked the man mercilessly until he cracked, admitting that he "may" have killed his girlfriend in a drunken rage.

Jones had vowed from that point on that he wouldn't make the same mistakes because whatever anyone thought he was (and plenty thought him little more than scum) he valued justice and above all, the truth.

Yet, despite his efforts, he had come to another block in the road. This time, it was a lot harder to overcome because he didn't understand what exactly had happened. All he remembered was that he had been given a special assignment from a private company to interview a known friend of a business spy.

But then the film went spotty and distorted. He distinctly remembered seeing the subject burning on the surveillance camera. He had run to the interrogation room and then…

But he couldn't remember. The more he tried, the cloudier the memories seemed until they were nothing more than smoke. As though in protest, his head began to throb again as though overworking it had triggered a headache.

Lying quite still on underneath his sheets, he heard the door click open and the tapping of footsteps.

"Mr. Jones?" a gruff voice asked. Jones opened his eyes.

A beefy, mustached man wearing a stained shirt, baggy pants and a beaten coat stood over him, looking serious. Jones didn't blink.

"My name is Detective Green, private eye." The man said, taking out a tattered notebook. Jones almost laughed. No one in the detective business used old-fashioned paper and ink anymore. He had been expecting at least a cellphone.

"I'm here to ask you a couple of questions about the explosion down at Microbe." He said, jotting something down on his notebook. "Would you care to explain what happened?"

Jones said nothing for a minute. Still a little sleepy from the sedatives, he squinted at the towering detective.

Smiling he answered, "Sorry, detective, but I'm afraid I don't know what you're talkin' about."

Detective Green peered down at him, expressionless. "Rest assured, Mr. Jones, that whatever you say will only be repeated to the people who matter. This is just a formal investigation for the company's own interest, meaning yours as well." He said.

Still smiling, Jones put on a slightly punch-drunk face and answered, "Nope. Can't help you there. Don't remember too much about what happened. Just some bits and pieces about takin' a coffee break and-" he shrugged, "-mind's as blank as a piece of paper."

He looked up innocently at the detective who was staring back down at him, scrutinizing him.

"Say, Detective Grant," Jones said, slurring his voice a tiny bit. "Mind calling a nurse for me? I'm getting a bit tired."

Jones made a big show of yawning and closed his eyes. He heard the detective mutter something under his breath and walk away. Jones opened his eyes a fraction just in time to see the door close.

+Avatar World+

Appa landed neatly outside the palace gates. Appa was used to landing in the courtyard when they usually visited but this time, Sokka hadn't had the guts to do so. He wasn't the cowardly type but he was reluctant to tell Mai or Iroh what had happened.

Toph, always headstrong in any situation, didn't waste a minute and jumped off Appa the second they landed. Sokka lingered a little before climbing down himself. The palace gates opened to let them in. Sokka felt his heart jump into his throat.

It was now getting late and daylight was dwindling. Even so, Sokka clearly saw Mai and Iroh hurrying towards them from the palace. From this distance, he could not see their expressions but it hardly mattered. They would all be distraught in a few minutes courtesy of Sokka.

"Sokka!" Mai called before she had reached him. She looked anxious.

"Hi." Sokka mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "I- I need to tell you…"

With heavy footsteps, Iroh was there too. Sokka wondered vaguely whether Iroh would burn him alive for bringing the news of Zuko's death or just lock him up in a prison cell to rot. The latter seemed almost welcoming.

"You two need to come with us now." Mai told him, grabbing his wrist. "There's urgent business to attend to."

Toph looked up at her, surprised. "You already know?" She asked.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, bemused. "Chief Hakoda is here with urgent-"

"Dad's here?" Sokka exclaimed and without waiting for an answer, sprinted towards the palace with Toph, hot on his heels.

Bursting through the doors with his sides searing with pain, he looked around for his father. No matter what the consequences, he was bursting to see his father. Sokka believed that Katara had somehow survived and even though Toph had not, his father would certainly agree.

"Dad!" he called out, gasping for air. His voice echoed through the halls he ran past. No one answered.

"Over here, Sokka!" Toph yelled from one end of the hall. Sokka backtracked and ran towards her.

Sprinting into the room Toph was standing outside, he almost broke into tears. Grouped around his father was none other than the Kyoshi warriors. Sokka immediately located Suki who was standing closest to his father, smiling at him.

If Sokka hadn't been surrounded by a bunch of girls, he would have gladly burst into tears. After what had happened, he just wanted to be alone with the two of them.

"Sokka, I'm glad you're here." Hakoda said, smiling at him. Sokka would have stayed glued to the floor had it not been for Toph who shoved him forward.

"It's great to see you, Dad." Sokka sniffed as he hugged his father.

As usual, Toph was first to cut to the essentials which was probably a good thing because Sokka had been planning to hug his father for the rest of the day.

"What's going on?" Toph asked, feeling around before dragging a chair toward her and sitting on it.

"Bad news, I'm afraid." Hakoda said as soon as Sokka had let go of him. "Very bad. You see, I went down to see that Aunt Wu person like your sister asked. Well… It was too late when I got there. She was already dead."

No one said anything. The two people who hadn't already known just looked shocked.

"We came looking for you guys as quickly as we could." Suki added when no one else spoke. "Anyways, we've got more pressing problems on our hands. We've got to get the Avatar up and walking again before another war breaks out."

"Another war?" Sokka said, startled. He looked at his father who looked dead serious.

"Yes, Sokka. We all knew that this war wasn't going to end easily. But now that it has, it might not stay that way." When Hakoda spotted Sokka's and Toph's bemused expressions he continued, "I guess you guys weren't informed earlier. I only found out when I got here myself. It's been hushed up so far but I guess you should know that Ozai has escaped."

"What?" It came out as whisper, almost inaudible. But he was answered in a heartbeat.

"It's true." Mai said as she walked in behind Sokka. "And that's not all." She looked straight at the group of Kyoshi Warriors and locked eyes with Ty Lee before saying, "Azula's broken out, too."

+Zuko+

Zuko tried as hard as it was humanly possible to stay invisible during his stay in West Verklay. This was not entirely difficult as it might have been, for the citizens were mostly self absorbed busybodies who wouldn't glance twice at someone like Zuko. All the same, he remained out of sight and hoped Katara would do the same.

Whenever the unfamiliarity got to him, Zuko thought about his mother. It had been somewhat of a miracle finally tracking her down after his little visit to Ozai's prison cell. His mother had been banished to a secluded island and had lived there as peacefully as one could during a war. She recognized him the minute she saw him and they had spent a tearful reunion together.

When Zuko had asked her to move back to the palace, however, she had kindly refused. She had told him that now he was to be ruler, he couldn't be distracted with a "long-lost mother". She also admitted to having fallen hopelessly in love with the island whose people had long accepted her as one of their own and presented nothing of the cruel hardships that royalty had.

Disappointed as he was, Zuko had respected his mother's wishes to remain and had promised to return whenever he had the chance. He had visited her almost daily until the new stricter schedule had kicked in and he had been limited to a weekly visit. He had loathed his status of new king every time he thought of his mother on the island but had kept it inside, not wishing to fail his country.

And now, he was suddenly faced with prospect that he might never see her ever again. He closed his eyes he leaned against the wall. Glancing tiredly at the boarded windows, he wondered vaguely whether he should get up. He reconsidered and closed his eyes. Perhaps a little nap was in order.

+Katara+

Katara got out of the bathtub, wrapping herself in a towel. She expertly waterbended most of the water off her body and hair but left enough moisture so that she would not feel too dry. She then opened the door a crack to see if Zuko was outside. He was nowhere in sight.

Quick as a mouse, she slipped through the door and into the spare bedroom. After the locking the door she was right about to unwrap her towel when the sight of Zuko made her almost jump in fright. As it was, her squeak of surprise did not go unnoticed.

"Oh, sorry Katara." Zuko said from the floor where he was sitting. He looked away, clearly embarrassed. "I wanted to have a word with you so I thought I might wait in here."

Katara, face red with embarrassment, didn't know whether to kick him out or leave herself. It didn't seem likely for Zuko to be a peeping tom and she didn't want it to look as though she had misgivings about him. But all the same, it was kind of stupid of him to assume that he was allowed in here when she was bound to come in to dress.

"Just… Just gimme a sec." She said, opening the door to her room. She gestured for him to get out and Zuko quickly obeyed.

Shutting the door, Katara got dressed at top speed, glancing over her shoulder as though there was a possibility that other males were trying to peek at her. It was unfounded paranoia, she knew perfectly well, but there was always that prickly feeling at the back of her neck that made her think that someone was watching.

Checking her reflection in a cracked mirror hanging on the wall, she finger-combed her hair before opening the door. She had half-expected Zuko to be waiting, but he had disappeared. Apparently he did want her to think that he was a pervert.

Zuko came out of the bathroom a few minutes later and sat down on the floor. Katara slid off her bed to sit across from him.

"Katara," Zuko began at once. "I have a plan."

"You do?" Katara asked uncertainly. She hadn't expected for him to come up with a way to escape so soon. But then again, he had had nothing else to while during the time he had been alone.

"Yeah." Zuko replied with confidence in his voice. "I think it'll work okay. All we have to do is get inside Microbe."

"But…" Katara's voice trailed away. "Isn't that where the bad guys took you?"

Zuko nodded. "Exactly. Those people are obviously why we ended up here in the first place. It's their so-called experiment that did this to us. So I was thinking. Why not go there personally and find a way back?"

Katara wasn't so sure. It wasn't as if they really understood the whole "parallel universe" business. What proof did they have that there actually was a way back?

Zuko was looking expectantly at her. He obviously considered this their best option and had it not been for his knowledge of this place, she probably wouldn't have had the luxury of sitting there contemplating.

"All right." Katara said in the end. "Let's do it. When are we going?"

Zuko grinned at her as he got to his feet. "Today." He said, simply.

Fight scenes coming soon. Thank you, reviewers!