Chapter 34

For the rest of the week, everything was peaceful. Nobody bothered Aang or his friends all that week, and maybe things were actually starting to get better for them and the surrounding civilians. Friday came much faster than anyone had thought was possible. When the final bell rang, Aang, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Toph, Mai, and Zuko went out to the mall again. They enjoyed being there since there was still so much to see and experience.

Afterwards the Gaang went their separate ways to get ready for their own plans and dates. Aang, Sokka, and Katara went back to Aang's house to drop him off. When they got there, he got out of the backseat and said to Katara, "I'll see you soon, sweetie." Just as he was about to close the door her hand shot out and grasped his before he could straighten up. He looked at her curiously.

She said, "Are you sure it's such a good idea to split up, Aang?"

He smiled and squeezed her hand. "Don't worry, Water Lily. It's okay now. We're safe now. Nothing is going to happen."

Katara looked a little doubtful about that, and she knew he was just saying that to reassure himself as much as her. But she decided to humor him and nodded before giving him a quick kiss on the lips much to Sokka's annoyance. Then he was gone, walking into the house quickly to get clean and dressed for their dinner date tonight. He just hopes that things will go the way he wanted them to for once.

Katara brushed her long chocolate curls after taking an hour long bath. It was a couple hours before she went on her date with Aang, but she took her time. She wanted to look and feel beautiful for their date, and she was planning on doing her hair up with tiny pearl hair pins that had been passed down from her family.

She was wearing the powder blue dress she had been looking at from their last trip to the mall. It resembled a princess type of gown, with a rounded gem encrusted neckline, long open sleeves, hugs her curves in a comfortable way, and the sparkly skirt flowed down to the floor. She couldn't believe Aang had bought her this. It was the most beautiful dress she owned. Aang spoils her, with gifts and love.

As she put up half of her hair, Katara thought about her relationship with Aang, and as her thoughts wandered, she pictured their future that seemed almost real to her minds eye. They had the house, a large backyard with a pool for Summer, trees surrounding the property, waking up and going to sleep together as time passes with their love growing more each day, and the laughing sounds of kids running around playing tag. It was beautiful to behold. Now they can focus on their future together without these kinds of problems that plague them now.

She placed the last pin into her hair. Half of the curls cascaded down her back while the top half was clipped with a faux diamond clasp, pearls closed tightly together at the base of the ponytail and becoming more sparce as they climbed the back of her head. Now she placed light makup onto her face, consisting of dark purple glittery eyes shadow, a tiny bit of blush so she wouldn't like she had a fever, and lipstick with lip gloss.

Once done, she examined herself in the full length mirror on the opposite wall. She didn't look like herself at all. The girl who looked back at Katara seemed like a woman goddess. Normally she would not go to such lengths to look different, but this was special, and Aang had promised they were going somewhere fancy for a change, despite her protests about how it didn't matter to her.

Looking at the clock, Katara estimated she had at least forty minutes before she had to go meet up with her boyfriend, so she sat down gingerly, not wantng to mess up her work, and started reading the third chapter of A Kiss In Time.

Thirty minutes later, Katara walked to the point where she and Aang would meet. Just the thought of being alone with him made her heart flutter with longing. She never realized that although they sleep on the same bed when staying over at one anothers house, they never really had time to have dinner on their own. They were usually accompanied by their friends. Katara loved all of them, don't get her wrong, but she wanted just an ordinary date with her soul mate.

As she stood there waiting for Aang to show up, Katara got the feeling she was being watched. She looked around, but no one was there. Her heart started pounding when she a crack come from the trees, and nearly jumped out of her skin when a rabbit jumped out of the bushes to stare at her for a few moments before hopping away. She breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's just your imagination, Katara. There's nothing to be afraid of." She spoke too soon.

As she was talking, a dark figure came out of the trees with a mask on, a damp cloth in his gloved hand. One arm snaked around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides while at the same time placing the rag on her nose and mouth before she could utter a scream. She was forced to breathe in the toxic, and the dream of her friends dying flashed before her. Breathing became difficult, and her eyesight became hazy. Before she lost consciousnesses, the person who was holding her said softly, "Enjoy your sleep." Then her world fell into darkness.

Something was terribly wrong. Aang knew it as he stood in the meeting spot, wearing a white dress shirt with black pants, waiting for his girlfriend to show up. He checked his watch again. She was five minutes late. He had shown up five minutes before their meeting time. Now she was late. This was so unlike her. Katara was always on time for everything. The moment he stepped onto the spot where she had stood, Aang's stomach had heaved for no reason at all. Then he stood there and waited.

Now he tried to communicate in Katara's mind, but all he got was a strange kind of liquid blackness, and he knew something was wrong. Still, he wasn't going to give up. He pulled out his phone and scrolled down the contacts to Katara's number. When someone picked it up he said, "Hey, where are you? You were supposed to be here over five minutes ago."

The voice that answered back, however, was one that made Aang's blood run cold. "Oh, I'm aware of your little date." It was a male's voice, full of malice and very familiar. "You think you won? Not even close."

Aang became angry and scared; angry for not protecting Katara like he should have, and fear for what she must be going through. "Where's Katara?" he demanded. "What have you done with her?!"

The voice laughed humorlessly. "Oh, she's alive. Just asleep." Aang then heard a groan from the backround. "Look at that. She's coming around." He heard footsteps on the other end of the line as the captor walked around. "Why don't you say hello to your boyfriend, Katara? He's quite worried."

There was a pause; then, "Aang?" It was Katara's voice, and relief hit him hard enough to make him breathless. She was okay! But her voice sounded groggy like she had just woken up from a long nap. "Where am I? Are you okay, Aang?"

Aang said, "I'm fine. It's you I'm worried about. What happened?"

She took a shaky breath, obviously still trying to wake up from her sleep. "I... I'm not sure. All I remember is waiting for you at the point. Then a rabbit jumped out of the bushes. Afterwards, a rag covered my mouth and nose, and I lost consciousness." He had felt the same thing while he stood on the same spot she had: a kind of suffocation along with dizziness. Then his stomach had started feeling funny. Now he knew for sure what had happened. He heard her gasp. "Aang! I know who took me! It was-" She was cut off. Aang could hear a struggle before all was silent. The captor must have used the rag again. It occurred to Aang that she must be bound, and the phone was on speaker.

Then the dark voice came back on a second later. "She didn't need to tell you who it was. Besides, I think you already know, don't you, Aang?" He did know. Aang Montauk will never forget that voice for as long as he lived.

Voice straining he said, "Where is she? I swear, if you had hurt her I'll-"

"Oh, don't worry," he interrupted darkly. "She's alive. For now, anyway. You better come and get her, Aang. She has two days until her time on this earth is finished. Oh, and to make things a little interesting, you'll have to figure where she is on your own. Remember, Aang, two days, or she dies." And the line went dead.

Dread filling his heart along with with the fear that had already added its own weight, Aang felt the gravity of the situation hit him like a hurricane. He placed the now silent phone back into his pants pockets and turned back to go to the house. The others had to know what was going on, before it was too late. The person who had taken Katara was the one person they had hoped to never see again: Jet.

When everyone got to Aang's house under his distress call, he explained what had happened on the phone. His friends looked angry and upset, all of them wishing they had been there to stop Jet from kidnapping Katara. He himself felt like a failure for not doing his job.

When he was done, everyone looked murderous. Sokka slammed his fists on the table. "This is so unfair! Just when I thought things were getting better the Snakeheads hit us once more." He glared at Aang. "Why didn't you do something?!" he demanded the boy, causing him to cringe with guilt. "You were supposed to protect her, Montauk!"

Aang only looked down. He already felt miserable. Did Sokka have to badger him for failing in something he had sworn to do? Suki pulled Sokka back and firmly said, "It's not his fault, Sokka. We didn't know if or when they were going to strike again. Aang did everything he could. He's already beating himself up about this. Don't make it any harder than it is already." Sokka sighed and nodded, giving Suki's hand a squeeze. Just the thought of his baby sister in danger put him on edge. He had promised to protect her after his mother had been killed by these ruthless people.

Zuko placed a consoling hand on the Airbender's shoulder. "Don't worry," he said, trying to give the kid some confidence. "We'll find her before it's too late."

Aang nodded and took a deep breath. It was time they knew the truth. "There's something else you guy's should know." His friends looked at him, wondering what he had to say next, and Aang cleared his suddenly dry throat before continuing. "Me and Katara have a secret. Something I think that might help us find her. " He went on to explain about how they can each others minds, feel their emotions, and can sense whether they were hurt or in danger. But both would have to be conscious if it was to work.

When he finished, Sokka scoffed. "Come on!" he complained, slapping his forehead. "Are you kidding me? Mind reading? There's no such thing." He crossed his arms defiantly. "Besides, I've had enough mystic stuff to last me a lifetime. This is no time for jokes!"

Toph sighed annoyingly , rolling her blind eyes. "He's not joking, Snoozles!" she almost yelled before rubbing her eyes with her fingers. "Nobody would be that sick. Besides, Aang and Katara are a couple. He would never lie when it came to them. The guy is telling the truth."

Sokka glares at her for a moment before looking at Aang's downcast face. The kid looked so heartbroken and sad that Sokka felt his face soften despite his resolve. He sighed tiredly, lowering his arms so Suki can grasp one of his hands comfortingly again. "Okay, alright. I'm sorry. I guess I'm just stressed out about this."

Suki squeezed his hand. "So are the rest of us." She turned to the Airbender. "How can we find her?"

The gray eyed boy frowned thoughtfully for a few moments before saying, "Well, like I said before, both of have to be awake for it to work. As far as I can tell, Katara has been out of it for a while. The only way for us to communicate is-"

A wave of dizziness washed over him, causing him to grab his head and groan into his palms. His friends looked at him in worry and concern, wondering if they should do something. But they need not worry for Aang raised his head and said, "It's Katara! She's awake."

When Katara finally came around, her head was pounding like horses were running amok inside her brain. She groaned and slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first. Then once she gained full consciousnesses, the girl looked around the dim room. There were some crates and boxes stacked neatly all over the spacious area. Katara figured she was in some kind of warehouse, and the only ones around were in downtown. Jet must have brought her here while she was out for the count.

A voice in her mind asked, 'Katara? Are you okay?' She gave a start, and realized her hands were bound behind her back. Katara almost groaned out loud. Some fighter she turned out to be. However, she wasn't completely alone. The girl knew that voice in her mind. The voice of someone she loved dearly.

She talked to him for a little while, glad to hear a voice that brought her hope. Then a different voice, a dark one that chilled her to the core said, "Nice to see you're awake." Dark eyes bored into hers as her captor walked slowly toward her.

When Aang told them it was Katara, Sokka immediately said, "Where is she? What happened? Is Jet there?"

Suki placed a restraining hand on his arm to stop the questioning. "Give Aang a minute, Sokka," she said gently. "He's still trying to figure that out." Sokka took a breath and nodded before looking at the kid as he concentrated on talking to his missing girlfriend.

'Katara? Are you okay?' He felt her start before she calmed quickly to answer.

'Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little bruised around the wrists. Where are you?'

'Back at the house with the others. When I realized what had happened after that phone call, I called the others and they came as quickly as possible. Kat, I'm sorry. I should have been there quicker to protect you. Please forgive me.'

'It's okay,' she answered gently, not angry in the least. 'Jet caught me by surprise. I don't blame you for what happened.'

Aang sighed, eyes still closed, blocking out the world where it was just him and Katara. Then after taking a deep breath he asked, 'Where are you?'

He heard her mental sigh. 'I'm not sure. But from what I gathered from my surroundings, I seem to be in some sort of warehouse. The only ones from around here are in downtown.'

Then Aang received a mental image through Katara's eyes. When he opened his eyes, his friends gasped in amazement. Instead of just gray like they had expected, a startling blue mixed in, the same eye color that Katara has.

Toph frowned. She was still blind so she wasn't sure what had happened. She made herself see, and when her eyes opened and saw Aang's, she said, "Whoa."

Through Katara's eyes, he saw crates and boxes. She was right; this place was a warehouse. Now if only he knew where it was, because the sooner they find her, the better. Then a shadow moved, and he knew they were being watched. Jet appeared from the gloom. "Nice to see you're awake," he said, a cold smile on his face. Katara had looked away for fear of him seeing the two different eye colors she had.

She said, 'We have to disconnect. He doesn't know about our mind powers. But please, Aang. If you come, be careful. Jet has some of his fighters with him who had escaped from the police.'

Aang nodded. 'We will. We'll get you out of there. Just hold on.'

Aang felt warmth come into his mind like an embrace. 'I'll be here when you come. I love you.'

'I love you too. See you soon.' The connection went off, and Aang's eyes turned back to normal as he slumped forward with a groan. Zuko caught him and waited until caught his breath before asking what he saw. He looked at all his friends and said, "She's in a warehouse somewhere downtown. But I don't know which one. From the picture, the place itself was old; maybe abandoned. But the crates were new, so they must be using it as a backup hideout. We need to find out where they are before any harm can come to Katara." He didn't add that he missed her because his friends already knew that by the way of his expression and tone of voice. He wasn't going to lose Katara to some scum like Jet.

Suki cracked her knuckles. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to a computer. We have a long night ahead of us."

Quick update with a new chapter. After this, there will be at least two, maybe three chapter s. People have been asking me to make a sequel, and I might. Still thinking about it. Anyway, I hope guys liked this chapter. A lot of stuff going on here. Poor Katara and Aang; herself bring kidnapped and Aang blaming himself. Again. Let's hope they can save her before her two days are up.