A/N: BEWARE! THIS WILL BE RATED "M" FOR MATURE!
"Hey, Zuko?" Sokka asked shyly, rubbing the back of his head as he quickened his pace to catch up to the young firebender. He hummed, letting the warrior know he was listening. "Uh, I was wondering. Could I... ask you something?"
Ever since Katara had found him in the market, he had been wanting to ask what all had happened on the pirate boat. After seeing how paranoid and edgy the two were, he decided against asking right away. But he realized just how much it both of them got upset if someone ever mentioned the pirates. Sokka knew it must of been terrible, but there was obviously something that the couple still hadn't told the rest of the group.
"Sure," Zuko shrugged. "Go for it."
Sokka hummed before letting out a huff, not knowing how to ask. He turned and glanced over his shoulder, making sure his sister and the rest of the group were still a little ways behind them. For some reason he felt more comfortable asking Zuko about it than Katara. He figured this was because he knew should get upset about it, and he hated seeing her get like that, and it didn't exactly help his still terribly guilty conscience.
He let out a sigh and decided to just 'go for it' and blurt it out. "What exactly happened on the pirate ship?" Zuko's throat hitched and he stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening as he his mind went completely blank.
How the hell was he supposed to answer that question? Especially to Sokka? He was Katara's brother. He was sure to be her older brother, Zuko was nearly completely sure of this. Even though he wasn't on exactly good terms with his own sister, and he was sure that she didn't even care that he was 'dead', but if he had ever been told that her innocence had been stolen from her to entertain a bunch of perverted pirates, he would be absolutely blinded with rage.
Zuko swallowed hard and forced himself to begin walking again, a single bead of sweat racing down the side of his face. This could easily be dismissed as sweat from the heat when in reality it was his nerves getting the best of him.
Sokka noticed his sudden odd behavior, but brushed it off, deeming it as him just trying to fight of the memories again. This was something both Zuko and Katara still did rather often, despite it being a few months since they had found each other in the market. They would pause, stare off into space, shake, sweat, seethe, struggle to hold back tears, but a couple words or a touch from the other would bring them back almost instantly. Their physical wounds had been healed, but their mental ones were still struggling.
"I don't know what-" Zuko began slowly, trying to figure out exactly what to say and how to say it, only to end up failing miserably. "I don't know how- I mean- You- I- She- uh..." Zuko averted his eyes, ignoring Sokka's intense stare. He ran his hand down the back of head and neck, stopping on his shoulder blade to massage his muscles.
This was far too awkward for him. Should he direct him to Katara? How would she answer him? If she even would? Was now even the time? Did she even plan to tell him? Ever?
"You can tell me," Sokka assured, leaning a bit towards him.
Zuko flinched away, a sound of struggle escaping from back in his throat. "No," He breathed out. "I don't think I can," He admitted through clinched teeth, smiling out of nervousness.
"Should I ask Katara?"
"No, I don't think that would be a good idea."
"Well, whenever the subject comes up, she says always that you both went through something terrible, it sounds like together, equally. I know it must have been terrible getting beaten and it must have been terrible to watch it, but I just feel like there's something else you guys haven't told us about." Sokka shrugged lightly, obvious concern in his voice and on his face.
"Well, I mean-"
"Hey, guys!" Aang's voice rang out from behind them. "Look it!" Sokka and Zuko both turned, looking at him over their shoulders. He was pointing off into the distance, spotting a lake with a waterfall. They were finally about to make it out of the desert and into the tree line, greeted with a nice, small oasis. A great place to take a much needed rest.
As they approached the lake, Katara and Aang both immediately and simultaneously stripped down to their under garments, diving into the water, barely kicking out of their clothes before the water hit their skin.
Sokka scrunched his face up at them as he perched himself up onto a rock at the lakes shoreline, digging through his bag for a map that would hopefully show the area around them in a decent amount of detail that would allow him to figure out what route they were going to take to get to the Earth Capitol.
Zuko sat on the ground with his back up against the rock Sokka was sitting on, watching as the young Avatar slipped underneath the water, only to come up engulfed in a block of ice up to his neck.
Toph sat at the edge of the lake, kicking the water with her feet as Iroh sat a few yards away from the shoreline, carefully following a brewing technique described in one of the books Katara had snatched up from the library for him. He smiled as he read through the directions, happy to know that he was on good enough terms with her that she would have him on her mind while she was there.
A wave of water came up, spraying everyone with water after Katara had done a cannon ball into the water from the cliff side.
"Great," Sokka growled out as he held up the now soaked with water maps.
"Sorry," His sister apologized as she rung out her hair before quickly bending the water from the paper.
Iroh cleared his throat and smirked, noticing his nephew's gaze lingering on the waterbenders body for longer than necessarily. Zuko groaned and turned, hiding his flushed cheeks away from everybody. Katara had been starting to fill out over the past couple of months. He couldn't help but look!
"Aang," Katara called out, getting his attention. "Wanna spar?" She asked, holding up a bubble of water in front of her. He smiled and nodded, motioning for her to come farther out into the water.
Zuko huffed as Sokka slid down the rock, sitting next to him, map held out in front him.
"Looks like the only place we'll be able to go is this sliver of land here," He mumbled as he used his finger to trace an invisible line over the route they would have to walk over.
"The Serpents Pass?" Zuko groaned, leaning over to get a better look at the map.
"Yeah, I mean, it's not like we have Appa to fly over everything anymore."
"I don't know," Zuko protested. "I've always been told to steer clear of that place."
"Well, it's all we have." Sokka huffed as he stood, standing still at the sight of people coming over one of the trails that led into the lake.
"Hello there, fellow refugees!" A man greeted as he waved to them all, two more people joining on either side of him.
"Well, hello!" Iroh greeted back. "Would you like some tea?" He asked, holding up a cup in their direction. Sokka and Zuko both narrowed their eyes, both feeling uncertain towards these people. Zuko scolded, telling his uncle that they didn't even know those people. Iroh smiled up at him, telling him they would soon.
Katara and Aang ended their session, bowing to each other, deeming it finished as a tie. As Aang ran over to them, Toph stood as Katara passed her, panting after practicing so hard with Aang.
"It's crazy how you exert yourself like that all the time, Katara." Toph said, matching her pace to the waterbenders as they made their way over to the rest of the group.
"What do you mean?" Katara asked, running her fingers through her hair in attempt to look at least some what decent for when she would introduce herself to the new trio.
"Well, I figured you'd wanna rest more and stuff."
"What? Why?"
"Well, I mean- because- ah, never mind. Forget I said anything." Toph shrugged, waving Katara off as they came up to the group. Katara gave her an odd look before turning to smile, greeting the people who now sat around the fire Iroh had made for his tea.
"Are you guys going to Ba Sing Se, too?" Aang asked, handing tea cup over to the man.
"Yes," He said, before taking a small sip of the tea. "Mm! This is really great!" He admitted, holding up the cup for slight emphasis. Iroh smiled and thanked him before taking a sip of his own tea. "We're trying to get there before my wife, Ying, has her baby."
"That's great," Sokka shrugged. "We can all travel through The Serpents Pass together." Hints of annoyance seeped through his fake happy, inviting tone.
Ying let out a gasp, nearly choking on her tea. "The Serpents Pass!" She breathed out, obviously startled with Sokka's suggestion. "Only the truly desperate take that deadly route!"
"Told you," Zuko grumbled under his breath, leaning over towards Sokka.
"Deadly route," Toph repeated. "Great pick, Sokka." She teased, giving him a punch in the arm, nearly knocking the cup filled with hot tea out of his hand.
"Well, we are desperate!" He growled, wiping away the steaming hot droplets of tea that had managed to land on his legs.
"You should come with us to Full Moon Bay," Tahn suggested. "Ferries take refugee's across the lake."
"And it's hidden," Ying added, "So the Fire Nation can't find it."
Katara hummed, a finger on her chin in thought. "Peaceful ferry ride, or deadly pass?"
!
As they walked into the Bay, everyone looked around sadly at the amount of people who were all trying to get a ferry ride. Waves of guilt crashing over Aang and the firebenders. Had the young monk not ran away from his Avatar duties, none of these people would be in this terrible situation right now. Iroh and Zuko were directly responsible for the other reason these people were having to struggle just to get through the day.
Aang and Zuko both let out a deep sigh at the same time. This was reinforcement for both of them. Aang still missed and worried about Appa dearly, but he knew he needed to get the information about the eclipse to the Earth King as soon as possible. This helped Zuko realize that he had in fact made the right choice and was doing the right thing by helping the Avatar end the war.
Aang made his way through the line, finally getting to the front.
"Next!" The woman shouted, annoyed that the boy hadn't had any passports, unimpressed with his Avatar 'costume', and angered even more that he was wasting her time.
"I'll handle this." Toph assured, walking up to the stand. "My name is Toph Bei Fong and I'll need six tickets, please." She slipped a small piece of parchment from one of her pockets and slid it onto the counter top, presenting it to the woman.
She let out a gasp and assured that it was her pleasure to help anyone of the Bei Fong family. "This document is so official," She breathed out, still in awe. "I guess it's worth six tickets." Toph thanked her and took the tickets, handing one to each person of the group.
"Alright!" Sokka exclaimed. "We scammed that lady good!"
"Shh!" Zuko scolded, they had literally just passed by a guard! "Can you be any louder!" He growled, glancing over his shoulder only to see the guard reaching out a hand to grab Sokka by the back of the shirt, snatching him back to face her.
"Tickets and passports!" The female guard demanded, holding her hand out.
"Is there a problem?" Sokka asked, a big, cheesy smile plastered onto his face.
"Yeah, I've got a problem with you!" She told him off, assuring him that she had seen and knew his type. Stating that he was probably sarcastic, thought he was hilarious, and was traveling with the Avatar. Zuko tilted his head. Wow, this girl was spot on.
Sokka raised his brow, "Do I know you?"
"You mean you don't remember?" She growled, snatching the warrior up by the front of his blue shirt. "Maybe you remember this!" It had looked as though she was about punch him, Zuko let out a gasp of shock when she leaned over and kissed Sokka on the cheek. Who was this girl?
"Suki!" Sokka cried out in joy, immediately taking the girl into his arms for a short hug.
!
They all sat in one of the guard towers, permitted in thanks to Suki. Katara expressed to her that she looked so different without her makeup, and the new outfit didn't make it easier to recognize her, either. Suki shrugged, telling her that the lady they had to deal with made all of the guards wear them.
"And look at you, sleeveless guy," Suki swooned over Sokka, eyeing him. "Been working out?"
"Ah, I'll grab a tree branch every now and then, do a few chin touches."
"Ha!" Zuko let out a laugh. Not once since he had joined them had he seen Sokka do anything of the sort. He had even asked him to join him during his own physical training sessions, having restarted doing strength exercises after he had healed properly. Sokka turned each of them down every time Zuko offered. "When? Before or after you eat all my smoked jerky?" He was still pretty annoyed that Sokka had eaten the jerky he had picked up from the Fire Nation village for him and Katara, again from the Northern Water Tribe, and then again after he gotten some in Gaoling. He made a mental note to himself after the third time, stating that jerky was not safe around Sokka.
"Oh!" Sokka rolled his eyes. "Like you work out!" Sokka hadn't seen Zuko doing any kind of exercising activities! Little did he know, this was because he slept in so late all the time. Zuko and Iroh were up at sunrise every morning, while Sokka would sleep in sometimes past noon.
"Yeah," Zuko boasted, holding up his thick, toned bicep. Between Katara and Iroh constantly pressuring him to eat all the time, he had been eating well enough for his body to have enough energy and nutrients to build and keep the muscle mass he had been working so hard for.
Sokka groaned, wrinkling his nose at the firebender. "That's not that great," He said, smacking Zuko's arm away from him.
"Are the other Kyoshi Warriors around?" Aang asked.
"Kyoshi Warriors," Zuko hummed. "That sounds familiar," He trailing off into thought, wondering where he heard that name before.
"It should," Suki hissed, narrowing her eyes at him. "You burned down our village."
"Oh!" Zuko hissed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry about that."
"Yeah, how did you of all people end up traveling with the Avatar?" She asked, leaning towards him a bit, weary of his intentions.
"Uh," Katara piped up, "It's a long story." She gave Suki an awkward smile, making it clear that it was something they didn't exactly want to explain. Suki raised her brow and shrugged as she turned back towards Aang.
"Yeah, they're around. After you left we wanted to help more people. We escorted some people and we've been here ever since." The female warrior let out a small giggle as Momo hoped up onto the railing in front of her, chirping at her happily in his own language. She scratched him on the cheek and expressed that she was happy to see him, too.
She realized something and knitted her brows together, looking back over towards the group. "Why are you guys getting tickets for the ferry? Wouldn't you just ride on Appa?"
Most everyone looked down to the floor as they let out a sigh in unison. Katara glanced over towards Aang, the saddest expression on his face. She knew he didn't want to speak about so she spoke up, informing Suki that Appa had gone missing and that they hoped to find him in Ba Sing Se.
"I'm so sorry to hear that," Suki admitted softly, looking over towards Aang. "Are you doing okay?"
Aang knew she was being sincere and was honestly worried for him, but he was getting annoyed with everyone was baby-ing him about Appa. He had already expressed to them that he had just wanted to get to Ba Sing Se and inform the Earth King about the eclipse. "I'm fine," He grumbled, keeping his voice low enough to hide the annoyance in his tone.
"Avatar Aang!" Ying's frantic voice suddenly called out. The group stood and gathered at the railing, looking over to her. "Someone took all of our belongings! Our passports, our tickets!"
"I'll talk to the lady for you!"
!
"What if we gave them our tickets!" Aang pleaded, desperately trying to set everything right so the trio would have a safe way to Ba Sing Se. Ying was pregnant, they needed it far more than his group did. He had already expressed to the lady that she was pregnant, but she didn't care and went off on him about she couldn't just give away tickets or there would be no order and without order there would be no civilization.
"No!" She barked out at him.
"But-"
"Next!" Aang groaned out in defeat, turning on his heel, making his way back over to the trio.
"Don't worry, you'll get to the city safely," He assured, stopping before them. "I'll lead you through the Serpents Pass."
!
"I can't believe we gave up our tickets!" Sokka complained, kicking at the dust on the floor as he trailed after the rest of the group. "And we're going through the Serpents Pass!"
"I can't believe you're still complaining about it." Toph admitted.
"I'm coming, too!" Suki called out, running up to catch up with them. Sokka turned to face her. This worried him greatly. The only things they had heard about the Serpents Pass was that it was only used a last resort and was far too dangerous to be used often. Great. Danger. Sokka had a great past of keeping the people he cared about away from that, hadn't he?
He was happy she was coming along, he was, but he didn't want this to be a terrible failure on his part. He smiled at her, assuring her that he was glad she was joining them on their trip.
She smiled and grabbed him by the wrist, tugging on him to catch up with the rest of the group as they made their way to the entrance of the pass.
"This is it?" Sokka asked, leaning side to side to get a look at the trail in front of him. "This is the Serpents Pass? I thought it would be more wind-y. You know, like a serpent. Guess they missed named it." He shrugged.
"Look at this writing," Ying breathed out. "It's terrible." She frowned, pointing to the carving in the wood.
"What's it say?" Toph asked.
Katara made her way over to read it for her. "It says, 'abandon hope'."
"How could we?" Ying cried out as she leaned into Tahn's embrace. "It's all we have!"
"I don't know," Aang shrugged, a solemn expression on his face as he turned away from them. "The monks used to say hope was just a distraction. Maybe we do need to abandon it."
"Wow," Zuko blurted. "What a great suggestion." Sarcasm filled his tone as he narrowed his eyes towards the young Avatar.
Aang groaned and turned around, his face covered with annoyance. "Hope isn't going to get across this pass, it's not going to get us into Ba Sing Se, and it's not going to find Appa. We can't hope that we're going to get across this pass. We have to do it."
!
As they walked, a Fire Navy cruiser cut through the water's below them. Suki informed them about how the Fire Nation controls the Western lake, and that according to rumor, they're working on something big on the other side and they don't want anyone to find out what it is.
Suddenly, the rock beneath Tahn began to gave way, lucky for him, Toph bent a slab of stone out to catch him before he fell to his death. The rock splashing into the water just below them gave away their position and they were easily spotted by the men on the war vessel. A fire ball was catapulted their way not even a minute later.
Sokka alerted them and Aang took off before anyone else made a single movement, using his airbending to push him off of the cliff side and towards the fire ball, using his staff and airbending to send it hurdling back towards the ship, damaging the engine greatly. The ship sent another fire ball their way, smashing into the wall of rock over them.
Suki stood frozen as a bunch of rocks came tumbling towards her. Sokka immediately pushed her out of the way, putting himself directly under the falling rocks. Toph reacted quickly, bending an angled roof above Sokka's head, averting the rocks away from him.
"Suki, are you okay!" Sokka cried out, rushing over to her to help her up. "You have to be more careful!" He was not about to fail protecting someone he cared for again.
The group bolted into a sliver of land that had rock on either side of it for cover, keeping a fast pace to put good distance between them and the Fire Navy vessel.
As the sun began to set, they managed to find a nice, open area of rock to make camp on for the night.
Iroh set up a nice fire and began brewing some tea as the others began placing out their sleeping mats.
Zuko let out a snicker as he heard Sokka scolding Suki about where she should and shouldn't place her sleeping mat. Something about how the ground to could give out and how he thought he saw a spider. It was actually pretty sad, Zuko knew he was only being so over protective because of what happened to Katara and Princess Yue. But, hearing him screech out and over-react about small things, such as the imaginary spider, was pretty funny.
He lay back onto his mat, motioning for Katara to join him. She was sitting next to him, looking out into the distance, focused on something. She let out a sigh as she shook her head. "What?" He asked, concerned about her sudden odd behavior.
She messed her nails nervously as she lowered her gaze to the ground in front of her. "I feel bad for Aang." She admitted softly, slowly bringing her cerulean eyes up to his amber ones.
He sucked his teeth and rolled his eyes at her. "I'm sure he's fine." He grumbled, tugging on her arm.
"I'm gunna go talk to him." She breathed out, ripping out of his gasp as she stood.
"Katara!" Zuko whined, reached out after her.
"I'll be right back!" She hissed under her breath as she glared at him over her shoulder. "We can snuggle later!" She teased, waving him off as she carefully made her way over to the troubled monk.
He was standing close to the edge of a cliff, looking out over the vast ocean before him.
Katara let out a sigh, quietly alerting him that she was there, even thought he had probably already heard the rocks and dirt shifting beneath her feet with every step she took. "It's okay to be worried about Appa," She said softly, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You saw what I did out there," He rasped. "I was so angry I couldn't control myself. I hate feeling like that." He admitted, looking down at the rocks far below him.
"I know sometimes it hurts to worry and to be angry and to care. But, you're not letting yourself feel anything anymore. You can't stop caring, Aang." She turned him to face her before she held out her arms to him, offering him a hug.
He turned to her and leaned his head down, bowing in front of her. "Thank you for your concern, Katara." She breathed out a sad sigh and watched as he slowly walked away from her.
She huffed as she plopped back down next to Zuko, sighing out sadly in defeat.
"Your hugs are always welcome here." He grinned as he slipped her into his arms, taking her into a bear hug until she squeaked.
Katara groaned at him, his teasing was not amusing her or making her feel better in any kind of way, even though his hug kind of did, as always. She watched as Aang made his way to an area covered in shadow, away from the fire and the rest of the group, having to curl up into a ball to keep warm.
He was blocking everything out, just as Zuko had when they were on the pirate boat. She wanted to go over them and hug him or just simply lay next to him, letting him know that she was there for him. But she knew he'd probably get annoyed and irritated, telling her to not worry about it and that he was fine.
She was torn. She wanted to go over there and be of comfort, but she also wanted him to realize that it was okay on his own. She huffed again, but eased up, deciding that she could try again in the morning.
Meanwhile, a little ways away from them, Sokka sat alone, gazing up to the moon so far above him. Suki noticed this and made her way over to him, telling him that it was beautiful moon. Sokka mumbled as he agreed.
Suki sat next to him, and told him that she knew he was just trying to help, but it wasn't needed. "Why are you being so over protective?" She asked, gazing up at him.
Sokka sighed and looked down, waves of emotion crashing over him. How was he supposed to explain his behavior? "It's so hard to lose someone you care about. A couple of things happened and I couldn't protect the people I love. They're both completely different, now. I don't want anything like that to ever happen again..." He trailed off, having a hard time deciding whether or not if he should tell her that he honestly didn't think he could go through it again himself.
"I lost someone I cared about," She admitted before he could say anything else, looking away from him for a second before returning her gaze to him. "He changed, too. But I think it's for the better. He seems smarter now, braver, I suppose a little bit funnier." She shrugged.
"Who is this guy?" Sokka asked as he stood. "Is he taller than me?"
"No, he's about your height."
"Better looking?"
"It is you, stupid!" Suki teased as she stood and turned to face him. She smiled up at him and leaned towards him. But before they could get too close, Sokka turned away. She apologized and he shook his head, telling her that she shouldn't be. She let out a small sigh and made her way back over to her sleeping mat for the night.
!
"I think I just found out why they call it the 'Serpent's Pass'!" Sokka shouted, pointing out towards the giant sea monster that had breached the water.
"I'll distract it!" Aang readied his glider as he ordered Katara to get everyone across. She nodded and began making an ice bridge across the water as he took off towards the sea beast.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait!" Zuko called out, holding an arm out in front of Toph before she stepped off the pillar of earth she used to lift them out of the water.
"What!" Katara snapped back at him as she helped the others cross.
"Ice, Katara, ice! What a great way of transport for a blind girl who can't see unless her feet are on the ground! If she can earthbend us out of the water, I'm sure she can make a bridge across it."
"Fine, you help Toph across while I go help Aang!" She yelled out before using her waterbending to aid her over to the serpent.
Zuko melted a part of the ice before motioning to Toph which way she should earthbend.
"Wow," Toph started as she jutted her arms forwards, beginning to create the earth bridge. "I can't believe you let her go out there and put herself in danger like that." He scrunched his face at her words. They were all in danger right now. What was she speaking about?
"Katara can handle herself." He assured her as he melted another patch of ice so she could easily continue the bridge.
"I've noticed, but I just figured because-" Toph was interrupted abruptly when part of the serpents body crashed into the exact spot they had been standing on earlier. Good thing they had moved and were already nearly halfway across. They would have been crushed!
"Good thinking, nephew!" Iroh praised from afar as he watched them carefully make their way over to him and the rest of the group.
"Wow, he's pretty smart." Suki pointed out.
Sokka scrunched his faced up and groaned. "I could'a thought of that." He said, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But you didn't!" Suki teased, letting a small laugh at him.
Toph let out a huge sigh of relief one she reached the rest of the trail. "That thing is huge, isn't it!" When it had hit the slab of earth it caused plenty of vibrations for her to get a look, but she hadn't been able to see all of it.
"Yep." Sokka informed, watching as his sister and the Avatar used a whirlpool to sling the serpent into the wall of rock, successfully scaring it off for the time being.
!
They continued walking along the trail for hours and the Sun was high in the sky before they finally made it the end, the outer wall of Ba Sing Se way out in the distance.
"Who would have guessed that I would be returning to my greatest military defeat as a refugee." Iroh sighed out, looking at the magnificent wall before him. But his attention was ripped away from the city's wall to Ying, crying out in pain as she held her heavily pregnant stomach.
"What's wrong?" Sokka asked, turning to face."
"The baby is coming!"
"What? Now? Can't you hold it in or something? Ba Sing Se is right there!" He yelled out frantically, holding a hand out towards the city.
"Sokka, calm down," Katara hushed him. "I've helped GranGran deliver lots of babies back home."
"This isn't the same as delivering an arctic seal! This is real, human... thing!"
"It's called a baby! And I helped her deliver plenty of those, too. Aang and Sokka, you two can go get some water. Zuko and Iroh can warm some blankets. Toph, I need you to make an earth tent. A big one. Suki, come with me." Katara motioned for her to join her after Toph created the tent.
A couple of more hours passed and Ying was finally ready to start pushing. Katara assured her that she was doing great as she guided her through the process of child birth.
Only a few more hours until dusk before they finally heard a baby's cry, Katara happily shouting out that it was a girl.
"You guys wanna go see the baby?" Toph asked, motioning towards the entrance of the tent. Sokka, Zuko, and Iroh all nodded, following the earthbender into the tent.
"You've got to see this, too, Aang." Katara welcomed him in, holding her hand out to the happy family.
"What a beautiful little baby girl." Iroh complemented, admiring the family and their good fortune.
"What should we name her?" Tahn asked, gazing down at his new baby.
"I want our daughter's name to mean something," Aang smiled and was overwhelmed with a feeling of new happiness and motivation. He wiped away some tears onto his sleeve before admitting to the family that he had been going through a hard time, and that they had made him hopeful again. Ying smiled up at him before she turned towards her husband, telling him that she knew what she wanted to name their baby. "Hope," She stated, returning her gaze back down her new little bundle of joy.
They stayed a little while, admiring the new baby before Iroh suggested they give them some time alone while he prepared some tea.
Aang pulled Katara away to the side and admitted to her that he had thought that was just trying to be strong, but he had really just been running away from his feelings. "Seeing this family, so full of happiness and love," He breathed out, still feeling incredibly happy for them. "It's reminded me about how I feel Appa, and how I feel about you," He smiled, lifting his gaze up to meet her eyes. "All of you." He added, motioning towards the rest of the group as they approached them. "Ill find Appa as soon as I can!" He assured. He exchanged his goodbye's with each of them before readying his staff and taking off towards the big city.
Aang glided over the landscape easily, reaching the outer wall within in an hour after he had began making his way over. He gained his footing after landing and looked over the side of the wall, expecting to see miles and miles of quiet, peaceful land that stretched out to meet the horizon. But instead, his eyes focused on something terrible. He didn't know what it was exactly but he knew it was bad.
He let out sigh, sadly telling Momo that Appa was going to have to wait.
He made his way back down, meeting up with the group not far from the outer wall.
"What's going on?" Sokka asked, tilting his head in confusion. "Shouldn't you be looking for Appa?"
Aang shook his head and explained to them that something bigger caught his attention as they made their way to the wall together. Once reaching it, he and Toph used their earthbending to make a make-shift elevator, lifting them up to the top of the wall.
There, they met a group of soldiers that, after telling them he was the Avatar, took them to man in charge, General Sung. But, to their surprise, he told them that their help wasn't needed, assuring them that he had everything under control with the help of an elite platoon of earthbenders stationed in front of and on top of the wall.
"No one from the Fire Nation is going to get through these walls. Many have tried, but none have succeeded." Sung informed falsely, forgetting about one of the greatest war generals of all time, who unknowingly, was actually standing right behind him.
"What about the Dragon of the West?" Toph asked. "He got in." Zuko had struggled to keep back a snicker after seeing the look on General Sung's face.
"Yes, but, he was quickly expunged!"
"Yeah, that's great," Toph stated quickly, uninterested in hearing more about the city. "We've still got the drill problem."
"The Terra Team will handle it," He said, motioning towards a telescope he had stationed on the railing of the wall. Sokka was hesitant, bit he was the first to make a movement towards the telescope, watching as two girls he recognized easily took out a group of men.
"It's those girls from Omashu!" He said, pulling away from it. "We've dealt with them before." He crossed his arms over his chest and his brow, watching as General Sung bit his nails out of nervousness. "Think our help is needed now?" He asked, leaning over to him.
General Sung held his head down in shame, but admitted that he did in fact, need their help.
"So, how are we going to stop that thing?" Aang asked, looking over to the water tribe warrior on his right. Sokka lifted his brow and asked why everyone was looking at him. "You're the idea guy."
"Yeah? Well, I'm not exactly from the Fire Nation, if anyone knows how to take that thing down it's one of these two," He kept his voice low as he leaned back and pointed to his left, Zuko and Iroh both on that side of him.
"What?" Zuko breathed, surprised that anyone would think that he knew anything about the drill. "I've never seen anything like that in my life!" He exclaimed, motioning over the stone railing towards the metal monster inching it's way closer and closer to the wall.
"Well," Katara sighed out, leaning over the railing. "If we do end up going down there, we have to remember to stay away from Ty Lee."
"Which one is that?" Toph asked, having never being informed of which of these girls were which.
"She'll be light on her feet," Katara began to explain, getting a sarcastic 'great' from the blind earthbender. "You can't let her close to you. She can block your chi so you can't earthbend, remember? She knows the body and it's weak points. It's like she takes you down from the inside."
"Oh, oh, oh!" Sokka stretched up onto his toes and raised his hand up as if he were a boy in school, suddenly stricken with the right answer after having to work out a hard problem.
"Yes?" Katara asked slowly, raising her brow at him.
"That's how we'll take that thing down! Like how Ty Lee took down all the big earthbenders! From the inside!"
Aang walked over the side of the wall, looking down at the giant metal machine. "You guys ready?" He asked, looking at them over his shoulder. They all nodded while the two firebenders in hiding hesitated.
"Actually," Iroh began. "I think it's best if Junior and I stay behind." He said, putting emphasis on Zuko's fake name. They didn't want to be spotted by either of the girls, and they new Azula couldn't be too far away. In fact, she had probably been the one who sent the two girls out to do the dirty work while she stayed somewhere else.
Zuko didn't want to see Mai, either, and last time Ty Lee had suspected that he was someone she knew. He still had the duo swords from the Northern Water Tribe, but with all that swinging around he's be having to do, his hood would probably be tossed off, exposing him to the two girls who would alert Azula, who would of course in form their father, and the whole Fire Nation of his and his uncles whereabouts.
"Alright," Aang shrugged, clinching his fist and jutting his arms out, earthbending a slab of rock from the wall to use as an elevator to get him the rest of group that was going with him down to the ground.
Sokka and Toph made their way over the railing and onto the lift while Katara hesitated, looking back at Zuko. She made her way over to him, wrapping her arms around him.
"Be careful." He leaned down to kiss her quickly before she pulled away, telling him that she would as she joined the others on the lift, Sokka pretending to gag over the side after the sight of them kissing in front of him.
Iroh smirked and beamed up to his nephew. Zuko noticed this and groaned as he rolled his eyes, looking away from him, also hiding his reddening cheeks from him.
!
Toph stayed outside of the metal machine, under it, where she could still see and earthbend and try to slow it down on her own while the others made their way inside.
Sokka managed to get a copy of the blueprints of the drill, using it to figure out where the pressure points were. It was almost like a living organism. It had metal on the outside, like skin; structure in the middle, like bones for support; and protected inner section; like organs to run it.
The warrior came up with a plan to have it collapse down onto itself. They would have to cut through the support beams, which seemed easy enough until they saw one in person. The beams looked thinner in person, but they were actually thick pillars of solid metal.
Their original plan was to cut all of them straight through, but after exerting themselves terribly after just one, Aang was reminded of something Toph had been teaching him. Instead of going through each of them all the way, they would cut only halfway through, then, they would go outside and deliver the final blow, using it's own weight against it.
With new found motivation, Aang and Katara quickly cut halfway through numerous pillars before Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee showed up. They began making their way down the halls, desperately trying to elude the other trio. At a split in the halls, Aang told Sokka and Katara find their own way out while he went after his, knowing that he would have to send the final blow to the drill. Azula sent Mai and Ty Lee after Sokka and Katara while she went after the Avatar.
Katara and Sokka fled down a slurry pipeline, knowing it would be their way out. Mai and Ty Lee came up behind them not long after.
"Ew, disgusting!" Mai complained.
"You heard Azula, we have to go after them!"
"She can shoot all the lightening she want's at me, I'm not going into that wall sludge juice. You probably shouldn't either," She pointed out, trying to sway Ty Lee away from the water tribe girl and her brother, knowing Zuko must be some place near. The acrobat made a face, but began lowering herself down into the pipe anyways. "It'll probably ruin your clothes!" Mai called out after her as a last attempt, but Ty Lee continued on anyways.
!
Katara stood, having finally made it out of the pipelines and onto the ground behind the drill. She looked up and saw Ty lee riding the current after them. The waterbender quickly bent the water back up into the end of the drill, keeping the girl and the sludge in one place. Sokka told her to continue, pointing out that the pressure within the pipes would build up and by the time Aang delivered the final blow the pipes would be ready to pop.
"You guys need some help?" Toph's voice ran out as she appeared from under the drill.
"Help me plug up this drain." The earthbender took a stance and bent the the mud farther back into the pipes, causing even more pressure to build up within them.
Finally, the sludge began to erupt from the back of the drill, Aang had delivered the final blow, causing the pipes to bust and the whole drill collapse. Toph shifted the earth beneath them, getting them out of the slurry's range before it all came crashing over them, as if they weren't already covered from head to toe in it.
They all met up at the wall. Katara managed to get a hug from Zuko despite her being covering in mud while Sokka began suggesting team names after being inspired by General Sung's 'Terra Team'.
Katara used her waterbending to wash herself and everyone else off, telling Sokka that they would discuss it as they made their way into the city.
A/N: Next chapter things will finally start to get a little bit different. I promise. ;)