A/N – Next chapter might take a little while to come out, because I'm going camping starting tomorrow, and I won't have a computer to write with, so here's a fast update for all my awesome and lovely readers and supporters!
Chapter fourteen
Katara cursed the full moon as she watched the fortress from a distance. Usually it was a blessing to her whenever it was up, increasing her elemental affiliation with water, making her more powerful at least tenfold. However, tonight, the night when she needed darkness the most, it was casting a bright outlook over the field separating the forest she was in and the huge cleared out field surrounding the fortress. From the tree line, she watched with her mask lifted so she could see clearly, and from the corner of her eye she could see a cart within the forest, heading straight to the place, perhaps to bring supplies. Jumping at the chance, she ran over to the cart, pulling her mask down, and getting on the bottom of it.
The dirt path to the fortress was bumpy, maybe purposely so, so people like her couldn't sneak in by doing what she was doing right now. Regardless of the bumpy path, she held on with all her strength, the scar on her throbbed in pain with each bump however, and she had to hold in her scream of pain each time a particularly big bump jolted the cart up. She wasn't supposed to be doing this so soon after recovering from her wound, but she bit her tongue to prevent herself from giving herself away, and through all the pain she focused on what had to be done.
The cart came to a halt, and the sudden stop of motion nearly made her drop to the ground. Thankfully she regained herself and held tight, and watched as a pair of feet walked around the cart, torchlight right above them. She watched as the feet walked slowly around the cart once, before checking the supplies in the back. He then came to the side, and Katara realized as one of the legs fell to his knee that he was going to look under the cart. She looked around quickly for something to do, and realized this was what Zuko had been referring to.
Thinking fast, she dropped to the ground quietly, so that her hands and knees were both on the ground, and she crawled quickly backwards. Right when the man looked under she managed to evade his look when she climbed into the back of the cart where all the supplies were. She had narrowly escaped capture and a premature end to the night.
"Looking forward to watching the end of the Avatar?" The guard asked someone as he walked back to the front of the cart. Katara listened intently to the quiet voices.
"Yeah," The man on the cart said, or Katara assumed it was the man on the cart, "Finally we'll be able to take over the Earth Kingdom without a worry in the world."
Katara felt bile rise through her chest at the mere thought of the world without an Avatar to save them all - without Aang. She stomped down the thoughts, and forced herself not to stumble as the cart started with a jolt, and moved forward towards the gates.
She hid behind the small barrels of fruits and vegetables that came to the fortress, and watched as the gates came into view. She lost her breath as she looked on at the height of the walls, and felt a sense of dread when the gates began to close again, locking her inside of the fort. She let out a small breath, I need to find Aang first, and then we can find a way to escape. Nodding her head in determination, she hid down below again as several men walked by the cart.
More than ever she was thankful for the storms that occurred in the past few days, because the cart owner had set up a small canopy above the supplies. It was nice too, providing more than enough room for her to hide in the darkness it provided. She could even tell that it was beginning to rain again. It was light, but she smiled at the sight - yet another advantage she could use when freeing Aang, and with the full moon, well, she'd be a force to reckon with even if she were caught prematurely.
She hazard a look out of the back of the cart again, and caught sight of the storm drain Zuko had told her about. She crept forward from the back of the cart ever so slowly, but quickly hid behind a stack as the owner of the cart came back and picked up one of the barrels of fruit in there. She sighed, thankful that she hadn't hid behind that one. She again crept forward, and got out of the cart, and quickly ran towards the drain.
She jumped into them through the large bars that were spaced very far apart, her heart was pounding with adrenaline, and she prayed to the spirits that she hadn't been captured. When no alarm went off, she let out another sigh and snuck through the drain, hiding in the darkness it provided whenever a small patrol of men would walk near them. It took about ten minutes to reach the foundation of the biggest building in the stronghold, each second she counted on, because time was of the essence. She look up at the structure from where she currently stood, and jumped up and grabbed onto the bars.
She pulled her head out of them and looked around, and seeing no nearby patrols, she got out and hugged against the wall of the structure, the shadows it provided keeping her well out of harm's way. The building was larger than any tower she had even seen, the top was able to easily see over the walls and miles outside of the fortress. It was pained an awful red color, among other yellows and oranges to create the image of a flame bursting from the ground. It contrasted greatly against the large metal gates that surrounded the place, but it was very intimidating on its own regardless.
She took a deep breath to stop herself from shaking, and didn't let it out as she ran towards the front door as several patrols swept the area every other minute. Yet another ten minutes she wasted by standing there, but she had no choice. She had to be careful, for if she were caught, then Aang's life would be forfeit. Thankfully the bright moonlight was offset by the clouds that began to cover the sky. A storm was coming soon. However, that did little to offset her prowess during the time of the full moon, and it just heightened the power she wielded during that night.
She thanked the spirits for providing her with such an excellent cover, and also thanked them for giving her the night of the full moon to do this contradicting her earlier cursing of it, as she got in, and she quietly closed the doors right behind her. No one had yet seen her, and she hoped to keep it that way.
Zuko was pushing the ostrich horse for all it was worth. He looked worriedly up at the rainclouds in the sky, and he knew he was over seven hours away from the village now. Katara must have been trying to get into the fortress now. However, he had a gut feeling that he had to follow this trail, he knew that they had Toph, he felt it inside of himself, so he pushed the ostrich horse forward some more, even as it screeched out in protest.
That screech quickly followed with it shaking violently, causing Zuko to fall off of it, and hit the ground with a loud thud. All his breath was knocked out of his lungs, and he had a hard time breathing for a moment. By the time he got up, the beast had run off.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" He shouted, He cursed loudly, kicking the road. He then took a good look at where he was. He was on a high mountain road, and out in the distance he could very vaguely see the shape of the town he had been in the day before. Below him and spread all out across the distance was a large forest, and if he looked hard enough, he could see the shape of the tower rising out of the ground where Katara must be.
He was so far from both that it would take him over a day of walking to even get to either of them. In Katara's case, he would be so late it'd be pointless. The town was so far away that it was his only choice. The trail that the cart he was following was still days old from where he was standing, and he knew that he had no chance of getting to them on foot.
He feel to his knees, and pulled out the torn piece of cloth that he was so sure was Toph's and looked at it for a few seconds, the winds blew on it, and he held it tighter so he wouldn't lose it.
"Why do I always screw up?" He asked, and had the urge to laugh, and so he did. He laughed just thinking about how Azula had shown up, how much more aggressive Zhao had become, how he got separated from Aang, how Aang got captured... It was far from funny, but he continued to laugh at his desperate situation.
He then felt the tears begin to come. He had failed, and he knew that the laughter would lead to this, but he took a deep breath and held it in.
"I- I need to get back..." He mumbled, standing up and looking back to the town.
That plan left his mind the instant he heard a small chattering sound, and suddenly his face was enveloped by an animal. He let out a startled cry, but when he pulled the animal off, he glared angrily at it before he his eyes widened in recognition, "Momo?"
The small creature crawled on top of his head, and made itself at home.
"Wait! If you're here, then does that mean Appa is too?"
Momo might have understood him, he wasn't sure, but the little creature grabbed the piece of cloth that belonged to Toph, and flew around in the air with it. Zuko watched for a minute, when suddenly Appa came forth from the forest, and charged directly to him. It took the flying bison only seconds, and he reached Zuko and let out a grunt of excitement before landing next to Zuko and licking him.
"The scent?" Zuko mumbled as Momo landed onto his shoulder and dropped the fabric back in his hand, "You could smell Toph's scent on this, couldn't you!"
Momo looked at him oddly before chattering again.
Zuko didn't care that Momo didn't seem to give a crap about what he was saying. He was just so happy that Appa was there. He could go save them, it wasn't all lost! "Come on Appa, we need to go save our friends." He said, getting on top of the bison. Momo followed suit, and Appa didn't even need to be prompted to lift off the ground, doing so by kicking off and into the air, allowing Zuko to steer him into the right direction.
Zuko relished the air rushing pass his face and he knew at that moment that he would be able to find and save his friends. The rain was coming down harder, but it wasn't exactly storming yet, so he risked going further up than he normally would have if he was under any other circumstance. Appa seemed to sense the dire need to do whatever it was that Zuko was doing, and didn't groan in protest as they flew higher into the darkening skies. When he was high enough, he followed in the general direction of the road, keeping an eye on it to see if there were any carts on it.
His original idea of following the tracks disappeared as he flew by faster than he ever could have ridden on the horse. At this rate, he would be able to find her fast, maybe in another hour or so. Or so he hoped... No, he knew he'd find her, he couldn't let doubt cloud his mind after such a fortunate turn of events for him.
"Come on Appa, can you go faster?" He said to the beast, in response he roared at Zuko, "Fine, go as fast as you want." Zuko sighed, knowing that he was pushing his luck.
He flew for almost another hour with Appa going his top speed, following along the road making sure that he was going in the right direction occasionally. He had already covered the same distance he had on his ostrich horse, and maybe a little more. His eyes scanned the road, and thankfully he flew out of the storm that was forming and could see clearly again. I must be very far from the village now. He noted, realizing why he had such difficulties finding Aang before.
Then he spotted something, a small fire on the edge of the road. He peered down, trying to get a better look, but all he could see was two men sitting by it, and a small cart next to them with what looked like a coffin in it. He grimaced – he shouldn't mess with two people who were probably mourning. He was about to go on, but Appa grunted loudly when Zuko demanded the bison go further.
"What is it?" Zuko said in surprise as Appa groaned and turned away from where Zuko was trying to make him go. Instead, Appa was heading straight down to the fire.
"Appa! Wait, no!" He shouted to no avail, and soon Appa crashed down onto the ground next to the cart, and growled at the two men who were seated there.
"The flying bison?" One of them said, eyeing it warily, "So you're here for them then?"
"What?" Zuko asked, looking down at them from atop Appa. They were on a small path leading to the mountains, the forest line was just behind them, so they must have decided to camp out before heading through the mountains again, however, what interested Zuko the most is that they seem to know who Appa was, and that he was here for something.
"Oh, you don't know?" The one wearing the fancy clothing asked. He stroked his long moustache, "Then it's none of your concern! You should go on now before something bad happens!"
"Are you implying something?" Zuko asked darkly, jumping off Appa.
"No! He's not!" The much filthier of the two said, glaring at his companion, "We're just travels sending our dearly passed aunt somewhere to be buried with honor."
"I'm sure." Zuko replied dryly.
"So, you should shoo." The other one said, "We're still in dismay over the loss, and you're upsetting me!"
Zuko pulled out his Dao Swords, extending his reach, and pointed one of them at the man who said that, "Show me what's inside."
"You dare disturb our dear aunt?" He said in a vain attempt to stop Zuko.
"I do." Zuko said.
The coffin began to make a lot of muffled noise, and knocking came upon the top of it. Zuko could hear two voices, but he couldn't make out who they were. He instead turned towards both men who looked on in horror as the people in the coffin made noise, confirming Zuko's belief.
"Toph, are you in there?" Zuko called, keeping his eyes on the men as he walked over to the coffin.
"Zuko?" Her muffled voice came back.
"Hey," He said, not sure what else to say.
"Get us out of here Zuko!" She shouted, "I'm getting a really bad cramp right now!"
Zuko rolled his eyes, "Whatever."
"Yeah, please do that!" another voice from the coffin said.
"Sokka?"
"The one and only, but please, do hurry up!"
Zuko shook his head at Sokka's antics, but he made a crucial mistake and had his eyes leave the two men who had kidnapped Toph and Sokka. The one in the rich clothing stepped forward and sent a flowing wave of earth at Zuko, who managed to dodge it easily.
"Can you take on an Earthbending master I wonder?" He said, tauntingly.
A laugh could be heard from the coffin, "Yu? A master? You won't have a problem Zuko!"
Zuko watched as the man named Yu slumped when Toph said that, "I taught you everything you know little girl! Why would you disrespect your teacher so?" Another wave of laughter came from the coffin, further deflating Yu's ego.
Zuko took this time to run up to the man while he was distracted, and easily is able to knock him out with a single hit to the face. The man crumpled under the impact, and fell to the ground hard. Zuko almost felt bad for him, but he did steal Toph and Sokka, so it was hard to justify why what he did was exactly wrong. He turned his attention to the other man, but he shook his head, "Hey, take them, they're all yours."
"Coward," Zuko mumbled under his breath, and he walked over to the coffin, and looked on, trying to understand how to open it. Usually the top could just slide off, but it looked like those two buffoons slammed it shut so it was jammed in there. He would use his swords, but he was afraid that he might harm them inside. However, after looking for anything else to do, he couldn't, so he sighed and said, "I'm going to cut it open."
"Just don't stab us ok?" Sokka's voice called, "I'm not in the mood for acupuncture today!"
Zuko rolled his eyes, and with one sword he stabbed where the lid of the coffin should have easily come off, and used his sword to try and pry it open. It took a while, but eventually the top budged a little bit, and Zuko put all of his weight into it, finally causing the lid to pop off.
Toph was the first of them to climb out with Zuko's help; she walked out of it for a little bit, felt her feet on the ground, and in a very rare show of affection, she turned around and hugged Zuko tightly. Zuko was taken aback by the gestured, and patted her on the back as she did so. He watched as Sokka climbed out seconds later, and he didn't even say anything about how Toph was acting, knowing it would lead to him in the ground somehow.
"How'd you find us?" Sokka asked.
"Appa and Momo helped out a lot." Zuko said, "They could smell this." He lifted up a small torn piece of cloth that belonged to Toph.
"Oh wow, where'd you get that?" Sokka asked, taking it and looking at it.
"Found it half-buried in the ground in an alleyway. I also saw some tracks that led out of town, so I followed my gut feeling and followed it. I'm glad I did."
"You're not the only one!" Sokka laughed, slapping his friend on the back, "Welcome back Zuko! We missed you in the near – wow, nearly three weeks!"
Toph finally let go of Zuko and stepped back a little. Both Zuko and Sokka knew this was in the 'never talk about what I just did or I will destroy you' category. She then looked thoughtful, "Where's Aang? I was positive he was going to be the one to rescue us."
"Also where's Suki?" His eyes widened, "Wait, where's Katara? I thought she was with you! Did something bad happen to her?"
"No," Zuko said, "She's fine. Uncle and I took her to a doctor right away, and she is recovering nicely."
"Oh, so are they all back at the village then?" Sokka asked.
Zuko looked nervous, not entirely sure how to break this to him. "Well, no. Not really."
"What's going on?" Sokka asked, knowing Zuko was hiding something.
"Nothing too serious," Zuko said.
"You're lying." Toph said outright, "Did someone die?"
"No." Zuko said, "Aang and Suki got captured by the Fire Nation."
"What?" Both of them said in obvious shock.
"Yeah, the Yu Yan Archers captured them. They're going to be executed tonight, in maybe an hour."
"We have to go save them!" Sokka shouted.
"We can't, we're way too far away to make it there in time." Zuko said.
"There's something else then?" Toph asked, "Some good news?"
"It depends on your definition of good." Zuko said, knowing Sokka was going to hate this, "Katara went to rescue them."
"And you didn't go?" Sokka asked, his eye was twitching, "Suki is in danger, AGAIN! Now my sister and one of my best friends is in trouble too? Why didn't you go?"
"Because it was too big of a risk," Zuko said, "Think about it. If two of us go, then there's a higher chance of us getting caught. Also, it was when Zhao discovered that I helped to free Aang the last time as the Blue Spirit, and he ordered me killed, remember?"
"It makes sense." Toph said, "With you and Aang going on and on about how similar things are going, at least this is different, in a way."
"I guess." Sokka said, he then tried to think of something else to say, anything to get his mind off Suki being in danger, "So is she going to become the Red Spirit then?"
Zuko raised an eyebrow at that, "no, that would be utterly ridiculous."
"Oh, so she's the Blue Spirit?"
"Yeah…"
"Are you disappointed that she's going to be the real Blue Spirit this time around and not you?"
Zuko thought about it for a minute, "Not really."
Sokka shrugged, "Just asking."
"Come on you two," Toph said, climbing on top of Appa, "Zuko said it's a long way to go to help Katara out, so we might as well start!"
"It's over an hour away." Zuko pointed out, "It'll be done by then. We should head back to town and wait for them there."
"No, we're going to help them." Sokka said, stretching around and swinging his sword a few times, "We'll land in the forest near the place to not give away our advantage." He paused, "There is a forest near it right?"
"Yes." Zuko said.
"Ok," Sokka nodded, "That's what we'll do!"
"You forget that I'm not supposed to be helping you guys. If they saw me fighting them, do you think they would react too kindly to my betrayal? It would probably be international news within days, and then my father would put a bounty out for me, and some crazy bounty hunter lady with a giant beast will come and try to capture me and then-"
Sokka slapped Zuko, ending his rant prematurely, "We had gigantic bounties on our head in the future, but I see your point anyway. We'll land near town so you can get off and go back there like nothing happened, and then Toph and I will go off to help them. Is that a good idea?"
"Yeah," Zuko said, rubbing his sore cheek, beginning to wonder if every time he and Sokka interact if it was going to end up with him in pain.
"Good, now come on!" Sokka climbed on top of Appa, Toph there waiting impatiently, and Zuko followed seconds later. Toph was messing around with Momo, the small creature chattering loudly as it climbed all around Toph. Sokka took the head of Appa, and immediately took off, with Zuko directing him to the right place.
It was another five minutes when Zuko's eyes lit up, and he winced, "Oh, there's one thing I forgot to mention to you guys."
"What is it? It couldn't possibly be worse than what is going on right now."
"It's close." Zuko warned, "Azula came back."
Katara was not having an easy time with this building. It was a gigantic metal monster in her eyes, but it was also state of the art technology, having ventilation shafts for her to climb in thankfully. The ceiling of every hallway was covered in all sorts of pipes, and it looked like something out of a very bad and horrible nightmare. She half expected a monster to come out of the protruding darkness of the shafts she quietly crawled through.
Thankfully it never happened, and it was her paranoia getting to her. She often passed several grates in the shaft where she could see some men standing around, either guarding or just talking. She'd listen to each conversation between the men, hoping for some indication of where she needed to go other than her initial guess of up. However, they mostly talked about their wages, and occasionally about their family back home, things that didn't interest her in the slightest.
Each time she listened to someone, she stood still, and she could feel her heart pumping fast, afraid that this would be the time she was caught, but it never happened thankfully. She would quietly continue on without anyone catching on that she was there. It was during one of these conversations in which she got the information she needed though, and she sat there listening as the two men talked about the execution.
"You going to be there in an hour?"
"It's that soon?" One of the men asked.
"Yeah, only people off duty can attend though. Shinu doesn't want to let up on the security around this place, not even for five minutes."
"Wow, I feel bad for the people who have to work." The other said, "To see the end of the Avatar? It's a once in a lifetime event really."
"They're going to be leading him out to be executed shortly, want to watch?"
"Sure." The two walked down the halls, Katara's heart pumping even faster than before, he fears that Aang might truly die resurfacing.
That was it. She had to hurry. Zuko said that Aang was at the top, and she was going to make it there if it was the last thing she did. She swallowed down her fears and continued onward through the shaft, and when it went straight up at a ninety degree angle, she put both feet and arms on the opposite side of the shaft and began to make her way up as fast as she possibly could.
In Aang's holding room, Aang's head was bowed down, his legs were limp, and he had bruises and cuts all over his body. Blood freely flowed from some other open wounds, and though they were not serious, they could possibly be infected if left untreated for too long. Suki looked on in horror at the battered Avatar. She wasn't in a good condition herself, but where they had just beat her a little, they were relentless on Aang, and she didn't know if it was the fact that she was a girl so she got off the hook easy, or if it was because Aang was the Avatar.
She was not happy with either option, because having to watch Aang get the worse of the torture was a horrible sight. Her voice was hoarse from screaming at them to stop, and she feared her voice might be temporarily lost from her constant screaming. Her jaw hurt to move when one of the men punched her there in an attempt to shut her up. She watched Aang's nearly lifeless body the entire time though, not caring for her own wounds, but instead worried for her friend.
"A- Aang." She whispered hoarsely, attempting to say his name was tough. Her mouth was incredibly dry, not having any water to drink for nearly three days.
His only response was his head moving very slightly in his direction.
"We need to stay strong." She whispered.
Aang's head went limp once more, but Suki knew it was his way of dealing with the pain. His mind would go somewhere else during the torture, though when it got particularly bad, even that wouldn't help him and he screamed out in pain. His back was covered in scars that were still raw from the fire whip that was used on him.
She couldn't cry anymore. She had used up all her tears on the first day, and her eyes were very sore and puffy. She closed her eyes instead, and leaned forward. She was still hopeful, even an hour away from their execution. She just wished Aang would share that hope, but he stood there, chained up and defeated.
The door suddenly began to open, and she saw Aang's body tense up slightly. Four Fire Nation men walked into the room, masks covering their faces, but they could practically hear them sneering at the two.
"Look at the all powerful Avatar," One of them said, walking towards Aang and patting him on the head. Aang didn't retaliate in anyway.
"We're here to escort you to the execution. It's happening outside, during the rain storm. It seems like even the spirits don't want you to die, huh?"
Aang again didn't respond.
The guard shrugged, and the four men began to undo the chains on the post. They knew the kids were in no condition to fight, or even move without intense pain really. That wouldn't stop them from making them walk though.
The door opened again.
"Oh, you've come to see them escorted to – wait, who're you?" The other guards busy with undoing the chain looked up in surprise at a long figure standing at the doorway, dressed in blue and wearing an odd Oni mask.
The figure moved forward at lightning fast speed, and hit several pressure points on his neck before he could even scream, knocking him out immediately. She dodged under a blast of Fire coming from her left, and went over and disabled two other Firebenders as if it were nothing. The last one looked at the wall in panic where a horn was placed so he could use it in case of emergencies. He ran for it, but stopped when he felt his body go numb mere feet away. He fell forward, his head smashing into the wall.
The fight was over in less than a minute, and the Blue Spirit looked up towards the post, and upon seeing the two of them, recoiled in horror, taking a step back.
Aang's body was still limp, but Suki was watching the person, "Z- Zuko?" She said, her throat hurting intensely from saying that at normal volume.
The Blue spirit didn't respond, instead she was still looking at Aang. It took a little bit but she finally snapped out of it, and rushed forward towards him, and Waterbended some water out of the pouches she had around her waist and froze the chain holding his arms up, and then with a flick her hand, the chains shattered when the ice did. She grabbed Aang before he fell to the ground.
"Aang?" She said, Suki recognizing the voice as Katara's, "Aang! Come on, wake up!"
Her heart was pounding so loud and so fast that she could hear it as if it were right inside of her ears. Seeing that Aang wasn't responding, she bended some water over the open wounds over his body, praying to the spirits that she wasn't too late. She could feel the warm tears coming down her face, and with the mask covering her face, she could barely see in front of her, though she doubt she would be able to see in front of her without it either.
This was not how she expected their reunion to go. She thought he would smile up at her, and they would kiss one another and be on their way out of here with everyone else, but unfortunately, her thoughts had met the brick wall known as reality. She just hadn't expected it to be so brutal.
"Come on Aang, please…" She whispered, not even caring that her voice cracked.
Suki watched the scene from the side, and she knew that Aang needed the medical attention far more than her. She was still tied up, but she wasn't about to request Katara to free her. The girl was close to breaking down emotionally, and if Aang was actually dead… She shuddered at the thoughts. The world would be without Aang to save them all, and she had no idea how Katara would handle the news.
Katara continued to heal his body, there was practically a cut on every part of his body. They hadn't even bothered to take his clothes off when they beat him; they were completely torn apart and in tatters. She continued to mumble his name, begging him to still be alive, not even accepting that he might be dead. She noticed her hands were shaking very violently, to the point where she could barely bend water anymore, and she forced herself to take a deep breath so she could continue her work.
It was a very intense few minutes, but finally Aang opened an eye, the other too bruised to open, and he looked at her, he opened his mouth to talk, but like Suki's it was dry as a desert.
"Aang!" Katara practically shrieked, and noticed he needed water. She bended some out of a pouch she hadn't used yet, and gave him some slowly.
To Aang, it tasted like the best thing in the world. He savored the taste, and allowed it to roll over in his mouth, covering the sore and dry surfaces. He drank some more, and finally he looked up at her, "K- Katara…" He croaked out.
"I'm so sorry Aang." She said, hugged his head to her chest, her sobs sounding throughout the room as she cradled him back and forth, "I was so late, if Zuko and I had found you sooner this would never have happened…" She continued to cry, breaking down completely, just holding him close to her.
Suki watched on, knowing that it was a tender moment between the two, but she also knew where they were, and exactly how much danger they were in at the moment. She hesitated for only a moment, before she said, "Katara, we need to get out of here."
Katara didn't seem to hear her, still cradling Aang. It was Aang who finally snapped her out of it by patting her on the shoulder with his hand, and pointing it at Suki.
Katara looked on in momentary confusion through her tears before she suddenly realized where she was and what was going on. She gently lowered Aang to the ground, he was too weak to even sit up, and she went over to Suki and undid her chains as well. The girl rubbed her very sore wrists, and let out a sigh of relief.
"You're finally here." Suki said, hugging Katara.
"I came at the last possible moment." She noted, "I'm so sorry."
"Don't be."
Katara shook her head and reached into her pockets and handed Suki her fans back. The girl look at them in surprise, and accepted them immediately, opening them up, and looking slightly disappointed when one of them had a small hole in it where the sharp arrowhead pierced it right through.
Suki, unlike Aang, was in far better condition, and though she was extremely sore, and would like nothing more than to sleep, she knew that they had to escape. She went over to the wall near the door and grabbed her katana off the wall, putting it in her sheath while she also put both of fans tied to her belt. She then grabbed Aang's staff, and looked over to Katara, who very gently lifted Aang up, her arms behind his head and below his knees. The two girls then got out of the room, and went through the hallways of the tower.
"Where's Sokka and Toph?" Katara asked, looking around, holding Aang close to her.
"They're not here." Suki said.
Katara frowned, but showed no other emotion. Suki examined her and decided that she had far too many other things on her mind at the moment to think about what happened to her other two friends.
"Do you know how to get out of here?" Suki asked.
"Not really, I went through the vents, but with Aang like this I don't think it's a good idea."
Suki nodded, "So we need to use stealth?"
"Like when we were in Omashu." Katara noted.
"Yeah, we always do seem to get paired up when it comes to these kinds of things."
Katara nodded, and led Suki through the complex. They would hide in the shadows whenever possible, and take out the lanterns on the walls whenever they could, and soon they were at the front door after going down several flights of stairs. Katara pushed it open, making sure not to harm Aang, and she and Suki both headed towards the shadows where she hid earlier. The rain had turned to a downpour now, and it provided them with excellent cover.
Katara rushed through the weather, her dark blue hid her figure perfectly, but the bright orange she was holding was not very difficult to spot. Suki's dark green was also great cover, and they ran through the grounds without getting detected at all. They made it to the storm drains, and Katara saw the water flowing and steadily rising down there. With her bending it the current stop, and the three of them went in. Katara was only using one arm to bend, and even that arm was occupied with holding Aang. She was again very thankful for the full moon for providing her with this intense power.
They wandered through the drain, Katara pushing the water aside so they could get through whenever necessary and then they made it to the other side of them.
"We're at the gates." Katara said at normal volume. She knew the guards wouldn't hear her.
Suki nodded, her voice was still too hoarse even after getting a mouthful of rainwater.
Katara raised the water she the three of them could easily step out of the vent, and then she lowered it and allowed the current to go back forth. She smiled at her efforts, and the two of them looked up at the gates, wondering how exactly they were going to get through. Katara looked thoughtful, and smiled. It was a full moon. There was rain all over. This was not a hard problem for her to solve.
"Can you hold Aang for me?" She asked.
Suki nodded, "Sure."
Katara handed over the half unconscious boy, and then went to work. She took a small breath of air, and then began to bend the rainwater pouring all around them. The water gathered around their feet, and became ice. The solid surface was ridged so their feet could get a grip and they wouldn't slip off, and then slowly the platform began to move. It would take far too much time if she had made it a pillar from the ground up, so she had the rather large sheet of ice begin to traverse up the side of the wall. It took only a minute, and soon they jumped off and were on top of the wall.
There was another two walls they had to get across however so Katara did the same action to get them down and up the next wall. They were surprisingly meeting little resistance so far, and the rain seemed to never end. A loud clap of thunder occurred, and the following flash of lightning provided a little light, and one patrol of two men saw the three children escaping.
Unfortunately for them, Katara also saw them. Her senses were heightened, and her awareness of her surroundings were heightened due to the seriousness of the situation, and when she saw the men, she wasted no time, and within seconds the two men were covered from feet to neck in ice, and they fell down. She then easily knocked them unconscious from their prone state.
"Only one more wall," Suki said, from her side, still holding Aang.
Katara nodded, and they were off.
Suddenly a very loud horn went off, and they knew immediately that the four bodies in Aang's prison cell were found. Katara groaned, and saw the ground below the second gate beginning to get covered in men, running around looking frantically for the three of them. She bit back a curse and looked around to see if there were any other possible places for them to escape to. Not seeing any exit, she looked to Suki, who also looked lost.
"I guess we'll have to fight." Katara sighed, "You hold Aang, and I'll fight them off while you two escape."
"No." Suki said, "We're sticking together."
"What?"
"You heard me." Suki said, her eyes looking on in challenge.
"Do you see how hurt Aang is? He has to get out of here!"
Suki nodded, "How are we going to escape without your bending though?"
"I'll make a platform for you guys to ride up the wall; you'll have to find your way down though."
"That won't do." Suki said, "We're not leaving without you."
"There they are!" They heard shouting, and soon an arrow imbedded itself between the two of them, narrowly missing. They didn't know if it was bad aim, the weather, or a warning shot, but they got the message just clear. They had to get out of there, immediately.
Katara looked down the length of the wall and saw a few men with their arrows out, ready to shoot again, so she quickly bended the water at her feet launch at them like a tidal wave, picking up momentum and growing larger the further down the wall it went until it crashed into the men, sending them flying across the wall, and almost knocking a few of them off. However, they were all unconscious from the blow, and Katara knew that since they were spotted that they had to move.
"Get on it now!" Katara shouted, jumping off the side of the wall before the sheet of ice even formed. She landed on top of it right when it formed, Suki holding Aang following right behind her. She lowered the platform as faster as she could, and then they made their way across to the final wall at a breakneck speed.
Suki unfortunately was way too hurt, and Katara soon realized that she was lagging behind. She turned around, and formed a barrier of ice to protect her and Suki from several arrows that flew at them. The ice shattered, but it served its purpose, Katara was holding onto Suki as they ran for the ice platform that Katara had formed early.
"Don't let them escape!" The familiar voice of Zhao shouted.
Katara looked all around, but could not spot him. Men swarmed towards them, so she quickly raised the platform before they were in even worse trouble. As it continued up, She had to constantly form barriers of ice to protect from the arrows, and constantly reformed them when they were shattered. Half way up the final wall, a small burst of fire shot towards them, but thankfully the downpour, and Katara's quick motion to douse it prevented it from doing anything at all, proving to the Firebenders that it was a futile effort.
When they reached the top of the final wall, men ran up to them on both sides, so Katara quickly formed a wall of ice on one side. It was thin, but it would do its job as she quickly turned around and like before sent a tidal wave to push them far away from her. She then turned back towards the ice wall, and used her bending to push it and the soldiers behind it far away as well.
"It's a full moon and it's raining." One of the men said to Zhao, who watched from a distance, "He's practically unstoppable right now."
Zhao was on the second wall looking towards the first and growled, "Send in the archers then! They're our strongest men, they can take him out!"
The Archers heeded the command, and loaded their bows and fired.
Katara saw the wave of arrows coming from the downpour, and with a quick motion created another ice barrier above her to prevent the attack from doing any damage. Suki just watched in awe at the powerful display of Katara's fullest abilities as a bender. Eventually the onslaught stopped, and Katara turned around and created an ice platform for them to go on to get down the final wall.
Another round of archers got right on top of the final wall and aimed downward at Katara and Suki, and fired their arrows towards them. Katara made a shield again, but the ice shattered, and getting more creative from the last time, several arrows followed shortly after that, grazing Katara's shoulder, and grazing Suki's arm. The other few arrows pierced the platform, forcing Katara to quickly repair it.
In that short time though, they shot more arrows, forcing Katara to divert her attention back to the shield above. She knew they were going to do the same tactic again, so she quickly formed another shield below the initial one, and smiled in satisfaction as it worked. Unfortunately, they did the same thing with this one, piercing through it and an arrow barely missed her head.
The lowering platform stopped suddenly, Katara unable to keep it together, "Get ready for a fall!" Katara shouted to Suki right when the platform broke apart, and the trio fell to the ground. Suki kept a good grip on Aang, and placed herself to hit the ground and Aang to hand on her so he'd take far less of the impact. However, Katara fortunately turned towards the ground while in the air, and bended a pool of water to quickly catch them.
It was still a rough landing, but the mush softer landing probably saved their lives, as they were able to stand and start to run seconds later. Arrows still shot at them, but the increased distance was making it far more difficult for them due to the rain. That didn't stop a dozen archers from exiting through the opened gate and heading towards the forest where the children ran off to. Their orders were clear, get the Avatar or else. Knowing Zhao, the 'else' option was probably a painful death, so they abided by the order and charged outward.
In the forest, Suki had to stop running and lean on a tree. She set Aang down next to her and gripped her side, breathing heavily. She had her eyes tightly shut, and her teeth were gritted and she breathed through her closed teeth. Katara saw this, and quickly went over to the obviously pained girl and began to use her Waterbending to soothe the pain.
"Does that feel better?" She asked.
Suki was still breathing heavily, but she nodded in response.
When Katara was done she turned her attention to Aang. His chest was slowly rising and lowering, a good sign. She got closer, and began to heal some of the bruises that formed all over him. She grabbed him, and gently turned him over, and gasped at the scars that adorned his back. She unconsciously touched her own scars – both of them were hurt so early this time, and by the same man. She felt an intense hatred welling up inside of herself, but she forced herself to calm down. Now wasn't the time to let her emotions run rampart.
Bending the water, she put them over the scars, causing Aang to spasm in her hold, and she held him tightly, closing her eyes tightly knowing that she was causing Aang the pain. Getting rid of scars was impossible with Waterbending – without spirit water of course – and when trying to heal a raw scar it caused initial great pain before the relief washed through the person. His spasms stopped, and he again went limp in her hold. She still held him tightly after it was all over though, just happy to have him back again.
Until an arrow hit her clothes, and the momentum of the arrow forced her to drop Aang, and collide with a tree right behind her. She gasped in surprise, as did Suki, and she quickly bended a wall of ice around them, while Suki pulled the arrow out and pulled out her fans, standing protectively over Aang's body.
The men didn't reveal themselves, but the direction of their arrows did. When another volley came, Katara dodged out of the way as the ice was pierced, and stopped the rain within a few feet radius of her and turning them into jagged shards of ice and sending them straight towards where the arrows came from. One of the archers had to dodge by jumped from the tree, and Katara used that chance to use the water gathered on the forest floor to quickly encase his feet in ice. She then ran towards him and knocked aside his arrow as he was about to shoot another arrow, and then she hit him in the neck.
Katara's hand reached down towards her abdomen as an intense pain ripped through her, her still healing scar was getting worse from all the movement and fighting she had been doing that night, though now it felt like it was burning right through her skin. She held in her cry of pain, and forced herself not to fall to the ground, and instead turned towards a few of the men who saw her reaction in pain, and went to finish her off. However, she glared up at them and reached forward sending every raindrop around her towards them like small dull needles.
It was odd for her to bend so uncharacteristically like this. Usually she would drop in her stance to fight, but she has been in such a rush, in so much pain, that she had been using very sloppy motions to direct the water. This would usually make her bending far weaker, but she knew that she really lucked out this night. The needle like raindrops stopped, and the men staggered forward, but Katara got into her stance and with a few swift motions bended them up to their necks in ice.
She knew that Suki and Aang were in intense danger, so she decided to create a small dome of ice to surround them. She did so, easily hiding them within the safety of it, and she turned back to the archers hidden in the trees. She held her arms out in front of her, calming herself down enough to use her Waterbending stance. She took a few deep breaths, and knowing that her friends were safe, was able to fight better knowing that there were no risks.
Suki dropped Aang's staff near the boy and let out a sigh as she leaned against the tree, dropping her stance. She knew it was unprofessional, but she was exhausted, and really it was all an act. She could barely think straight. She let out a deep breath, and her eyes felt heavy, No, don't go to sleep! She chided herself, sitting up again, but it was no use. She eventually leaned down again, losing consciousness.
Katara was getting tired, but she kept on the offense, knowing that these archers could easily kill her if she wasn't constantly moving. They had pinned her to the tree several times, but every time it happened she would rip the arrow out while forming an ice barrier with her other hand. She was simply too much of a force to reckon with right now. The men began to realize this as the fight dragged on, Katara using every trick she knew to keep herself alive and to trap these men or knock them out, and eventually it was only four of them left against her.
She didn't know it of course, but she noted that their attacks were becoming far less frequent, and knew that it had to mean something, good or bad. From behind the mask she looked all over, eyeing each place carefully. When nothing happened, she slowly walked towards the ice, not breaking her stance at all.
A few arrows shot out towards the dome of ice, and she did a swift motion of her arm to send several shards towards the location, yet no men jumped down. She growled and ran towards the tree, and ran up it, each step she took water froze into ice, keeping her upright, and her momentum allowed her to reach the very top. If she had stopped moving for even a second, gravity would have taken her down.
She landed on a branch of the tree, and saw the men loading their bows to shot at her. She finished them all easily sending several shards at them, pinning their loose clothing to the treetops behind them. She sighed in relief, and looked around her, careful to keep her balance on the branch. When she was satisfied with the work she did, she dropped down, bending water to lower her down gently to the ground.
When she reached the ground, she collapsed. She knew it wasn't smart, and that there might be people around, but the burning feeling from her chest was too much for her to handle now. She got on her hands and knees, and felt the bile rise and she ousted it. Coughing, a little, she began to shake, knowing it was a side effect of all the adrenaline still running through her body. She did all that fighting, and finally she got to rest; she realized how horrible she truly felt.
She stood shakily to her feet, and walked over to the dome, not risking lowering it knowing the enemy could still be around, and sat beside it. Her clothes were dripping wet, on all parts of her body, and while her element was water, it didn't mean that she was immune to the cold. She shook, knowing that she needed to get out of the rain soon. She made a small barrier of ice above her to do just that, and she closed her eyes.
Appa roared as they continued to fly through the storm, and in the distance they could see the Stronghold that Katara had entered. The storm provided them with more than enough cover, and they flew low enough that they could clearly see people running about, and the whole place was in a fuss. Sokka looked down trying to determine if his sister, friend, and wife were all there, but he couldn't see anything to indicate where they were.
"Look there!" Zuko yelled out, not even caring that Sokka broke his word and went to the stronghold instead of dropping him off first. He was as worried as everyone else for the well being of his friends.
"What's over there?" Sokka said, moving Appa to the direction.
"Some men are moving out of the gates. I think she escaped."
"Seriously?" Sokka said, looking down, and saw several dozen men running out of the fortress with spears and swords at the ready, "Oh man, we have to find them fast!"
"They're in the forest somewhere I'd guess." Zuko said, moving aside his wet hair out of his eyes so he could keep watch.
"Just get me into the forest, I'll find them." Toph said.
"Alright!" Sokka said, flying Appa towards the forest, looking for some place to land. Unfortunately the place was very dense, and flying any spot for the bison to land was nearly impossible. Sokka steered Appa all around, but still couldn't find any place after a few minutes, "Damn it!" He cursed aloud, "I can't find any place to land Appa!"
"Go to the road to the west of here with Appa," Zuko said to him, "It should be a few miles away, land there and wait for us."
"Oh no you don't!" Sokka shouted, "I'm not leaving Suki behind again!"
Zuko didn't argue the point, but instead just nodded. He grabbed Toph, by the waist, and hoisted her up.
"What are you doing?" She cried out in surprise.
"Going down to the ground." He said, and jumped towards a large branch he saw.
The treetops did slow them down, but it was still an incredibly stupid and incredibly risky thing for them to do. They plowed through the branches, Zuko eventually landed on one with Toph holding him for dear life. Sokka followed a few seconds later and nearly slipped due to the wet branch. Thinking fast, Zuko reached back and pulled him back onto the branch.
"Thanks." Sokka said.
"Don't mention it." Zuko said, and they made their way down, Toph still holding onto Zuko very tightly. They jumped from branch to branch, Zuko told Toph get on his back so he could use his hands, which she did after little fuss. Sokka was the first down, with Zuko following shortly after, and Toph let go of Zuko, got on her knees, and kissed the ground at her feet.
"Don't EVER do that again without warning me!" She shouted after a few seconds.
"You wouldn't have agreed to do it if I told you."
"I don't care!" She said, standing up, "Next time you do it I will end you!"
"Oh, really?" Zuko said, sounding amused.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
"Well, you're a small kid again and –"
He stopped when a rock hit him in the butt, sending him up a few feet, "Say that again, I dare you to." She said threateningly.
"Enough flirting guys, we have much more important things to do!" Sokka said, breaking them up, "Toph, can you feel anything out of the ordinary?"
She stepped on the muddy ground and felt the vibrations of the earth below, "I can kind of make something out over there." She said.
Looking at where she was pointing, Sokka ran off, and Zuko ran right behind him with Toph tailing them. It didn't take them long to reach where Toph was telling them about, maybe a few minutes, and then they came across several men encased in ice. Looking at it, Sokka smiled, "This has to be Katara's doing! Katara! Where are you?"
The storm drowned out their voices as they searched, screaming out their names, when they suddenly found a dome of ice, and another layer of ice next to it with Katara laying under it.
"Katara!" Sokka shouted, running over to her and grabbing her, "Oh man, this isn't good." Sokka said. She was getting pretty pale, and her lips had turned slightly blue. Sokka reached forward and put two fingers onto her neck to check her heartbeat, "Ok, She's still alive." He looked at the mask discarded next to her, but said nothing of it, not really worried about that for now, "She's suffering from hypothermia." He stated.
Zuko broke through the dome, which was surprisingly thick, "Aang and Suki are both in here."
"Do they have hypothermia too?" Sokka asked worriedly.
"No, but… Wow, Aang doesn't look good."
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, but his question was soon answered as the ice broke away to reveal Aang lying there looking like he had gone through a grinder. Suki was next to him, and she was also is pretty bad shape, "Oh man, we need to get Appa."
"We left him, and it's about an hour hike to make it out of the forest from here." Zuko said, pacing a little bit.
"We have to leave now." Toph said, "I can feel them coming."
Sokka looked at his sister, and came to a quick decision, "Zuko, you can regulate your body temperature right? With like your weird Firebending mumbo jumbo?"
"I guess." Zuko said.
"You carry Katara. She needs something warm, and you're our only available option right now."
Zuko wanted to complain, but he knew how serious the situation truly was, so he didn't object as he picked up Katara and held her close to him. He was surprised by how cold she felt, and shivered at the touch of her bare skin where her outfit was ripped.
"Toph, you carry Aang, I'll get Suki."
It truly was an emergency when Toph did an order without complaining even once. She picked him up, grabbing his staff as well, while Sokka picked up Suki and the trio ran out of the area towards the edge of the forest. Toph didn't say anything else during the journey, which Sokka and Zuko were both thankful for, knowing it meant that there would be no ambushes as they ran to the road.
They eventually did make it, and the storm had lightened up a little, allowing them all to see.
"Ok, we're here, now what?" Toph said.
"Appa should be here!" Sokka mumbled, "Come on Appa!"
Zuko remembered something, and reached into Katara's pocket, and fished out a whistle. He brought it up to his lips and blew on it, protruding no noticeable sound to anyone there, but within seconds Appa flew from the distance, and landed near them.
"You got his whistle?" Sokka shouted, "Thank the spirits!"
They put the three unconscious people onto Appa and began to fly to the town. It would be roughly a half hour before they made it there, and with that time they had to nurse their friends. Sokka took Aang's tattered clothes off, and saw all the wounds, and especially the nasty scarring on his back. He reached for some supplies and stopped, everything was soaked. He bit back a curse and held Aang close to himself, knowing he had to keep the boy warm.
"We need to get them to a doctor right when we arrive." Sokka said, "Just focus on keep them warm right now."
"Got it." Zuko and Toph said with a nod of their head.
Zhao watched in anger that morning as group after group of Fire Nation soldiers returned to the keep empty handed. When the morning arrived, the sun coming up from the distance, it seemed to make the storm disappear. The clouds were still hanging overhead, and he could still hear thunder in the distance, but it was going away soon, and that angered him even more.
WHY did the storm have to hit that night? A lone Waterbender came and single-handedly saved the Avatar and his friend. he even managed to defeat several of the most elite squads. He growled as he thought of the night, and the moon… Oh, he had a special surprise for the moon, and when he- he stopped, and took a deep breath. No, not yet. That will come in due time, right now he had to focus on the report he was going to have to send to the Fire Lord, the report of his failure.
He didn't like that, not one bit.
"Admiral Zhao," Two archers kneeled down to the man atop the gate overlooking the plains in front of the fortress.
"What is it?" He spat.
"We were spying on the Waterbender when someone you're interested in arrived to help them all, if anything this should make you happy." The men said, and began to explain all they saw.
An hour later, Zhao was walking atop the gate with a scribe, a short man who had to run just to keep up with the much taller Zhao. He had a pen out, and looked up at Zhao, "You need my assistance Admiral?"
"Yes. I'm sending a letter to the Fire Lord," The scribe jotted down some quick notes, before he nodded to allow Zhao to continue, "Dear Fire Lord Ozai, I have recently learned that your beloved son, the crown Prince of the Fire Nation, has betrayed our great and powerful nation, to side with our enemy, the Avatar…"
Chapter fourteen – End
A/N –A few things different in this than my original outline:
Katara was originally supposed to Blood Bend, hence why I kept referring to the moon so much in previous chapters, and I hammered the point that it was a full moon in this chapter a lot. However, I wanted to show that she was a very powerful bender in her own right, and instead I just had her freaking dominate.
Second change was the fact that in my outline Aang and Suki were relatively unharmed. I figured it would be more dramatic and realistic if they were tortured while they were in there, especially since they were going to be executed soon anyway.
Third change was that I was originally going to have Zhao say Azula had betrayed the Fire nation in his letter as well. I changed this one because I doubt Fire Lord Ozai would truly believe that, and I have a newer and better idea of what to do with her (Don't worry, the outline changed according to this).
I hope you enjoyed that! See you all next time!