Disclaimer: Don't own.
Author's note: I kinda uh, lets say I have to wear a splint on my finger, hoping it goes back to normal. I broke it last summer (and jammed it too) and wasn't able to use it for 6+ months so its still wacky and its hard to type with a splint on your finger, eh? Would have been posted on Friday but I got sick. ? Would have been posted earlier but we switched internet providers and I had to wait for them to leave.
To all of my unsigned reviewers who don't have accounts, if you want to leave your name and all of that just sign your name in when you start your review and ill be able to respond to you if you don't have an account or anything. Anyone else annoyed with all of the changes too
ComicCartoonFreak13: Your welcome. Did you manage to not get on Lol?
Moonwillow: it's a weak point Lol, and I think we already discussed this in a PM Lol.
Xanimejunkie: She does, she does. Poor Zula cause Ozai's a arrogant ***** Lol. She was rasied differently since she knew Katara as a kid, and she reunited with her mother, cousin, and uncle in this chapter so..
QuietShadowz: Yea Azula IS joining them, BUT they are going to come up with a plan and stuff like she'll take zuko and katara back and say "Zuko's killed the avatar, I watched him. This is blah blah blah' that sorta thing. they come up with a plan to take ozai down from the inside you could say while Azula helps them. Yes Katara knows how to cook fish the lazy way Lol. Even though it probably was good xD
"He still abuses me," Azula whispered in Zuko's ear. Zuko's face turned into a scowl and he wrapped his arms around his sister before she broke down sobbing. Zuko bent down with his baby sister in his arms, trying to comfort her.
"It's much worse now." Azula hiccupped, and sobs escaped her mouth. Zuko sighed and pulled apart from his sister and looked her in the eyes waiting for her to continue.
"I still mess up, and I keep getting sloppier because when I mess up he'll burn me." Zuko's eyes widened slightly and looked at his sister.
"How often does this happen?" Azula's sobs quieted slightly before answering.
"I train every day, I mess up so often because it's too painful to move from the burns from the previous training sessions. He makes me train so often that I rarely get to relax. After he banished you, he made me train everyday so I wouldn't 'be weak like your older brother' so he claims." Azula escaped her brother's embrace and turned to Katara.
"How can you be a fire bender?" Katara turned to Azula before sighing softly. She looked into Azula's eyes, the eyes of Zuko's baby sister, not the sadistic sociopath as she put to Toph before they got separated.
"I'm a Master Double bender. I mastered fire when I was eight, alongside Zuko. I mastered water this past winter." Azula's head snapped up to Katara as she said Zuko was a master.
"Why did you never say anything?" Zuko ran his hands through his hair before responding.
"Ozai, what he did to you, I couldn't deal with it. He did what he did to you, so I never told him. Lu Ten trained us and he was the only one that knew of our potential. We were masters by the time of Katara's eighth birthday." Azula stared at her brother with wide eyes.
"You were master then?" Zuko nodded his head.
"Sorry, to interrupt this uh, reunion of sorts, but who are you?" Aang pointed to Azula, and had a look of shame on her face.
"She's my sister. Aang where's everyone else?"
"We're right here." A chorus of voices exclaimed, as the entire group walked out from behind the shadows. Azula stared at the group of people surrounding them. She stood up and ran to her mother and embraced her with tears running down her face.
"Mother!" Ursa embraced her youngest and hugged her tightly, before taking her by the chin and looking her in the eye.
"Azula… I'm so sorry." Azula pulled her mother closer to her, and another round of sobs escaped her mouth. A few minutes later, she let go of her mother and turned to look at the other people surrounding them. She saw, her cousin obviously, her mother, her servant, her Uncle, her brother, and many other people she didn't know. She walked up to Iroh and looked at him with shame crossing her features.
"Uncle." Azula said simply. Iroh nodded his head in return.
"Hello Azula. Ho-"
Lu Ten stood behind Azula now and stared at his father. Iroh stopped what he was saying and stared at his long lost son, who he thought, was dead for nearly the past decade and gaped at him, mouth wide open like a fish.
"Hello Father." Lu Ten said warmly as he walked forward, embracing his father, whom he hasn't seen in years. Iroh was frozen in shock and did not return the embrace; before Lu Ten knew it, his father fainted and fell to the ground.
~~~ A Few Minutes Later~~~
"He's probably in shock."
"Wow, you just stated the obvious Katara." Zuko deadpanned. Katara turned to Iroh, and promptly threw her waterskin full of water atop his head. Iroh shot up and scowled angrily. Katara shrugged.
"You didn't deserve to get slapped so you get water poured on you instead Uncle." Iroh nodded his head weakly and sat up.
"What happened?" Iroh coughed, getting the water out of his mouth.
"You fainted after you saw Lu Ten," Sokka piped in. Iroh opened his mouth to say something, but froze again, eyes widening.
"You're joking." Sokka shook his head and pointed towards Lu Ten, who was standing behind Katara and Zuko, pacing worriedly.
"Lu Ten," Iroh whispered. Lu Ten's head snapped up at the sound of his name and he went over to his father, who was staring at him as if he had seen a spirit. Tears fell freely from Iroh's face as he saw him.
"My son. Agni your alive, my son…" Iroh choked on his tears and Lu Ten rushed forward to hug Iroh.
"I missed you father," Lu Ten's voice was muffled as he held his father close. Iroh hugged back tightly, mumbling things to him. Lu Ten and Iroh stood up and looked at the group.
"So basically since we left the South Pole, not including Azula really, it's been a reunion for all of us." Katara spoke aloud. Everyone shrugged and nodded their heads grinning slightly at the idea.
"Come on guys, we should set up a camp and we need to discuss some things." Sokka said quietly. Everyone nodded their heads and slowly started to follow Sokka. Sokka led the large group of people to their current campsite, twenty minutes away from the small ghost town. As soon as everyone was gathered together Zuko spoke up.
"We need to make a plan." The older members of the group arched an eyebrow at his sudden words but said nothing.
"If what Azula is saying is true, and she's coming up with a plan I'm helping her." Zuko crossed his arms and sat down beside his little sister. Azula grinned slightly at her older brother's words. Katara looked between the group and sat beside Azula and Zuko.
"I'm with them." Sokka's eyes widened and Aang sputtered out.
"Wh-what?" Katara sat down firmly and crossed her arms looking at her brother and her friend defiantly.
"She needs help. How would you feel if I was put in an arranged marriage to some arrogant jerk? Wouldn't you want to help me?" That shut them up. Katara thought to herself. And she smirked.
"That's different!" Sokka exclaimed. Katara raised an eyebrow.
"No it's not." Sokka huffed out his chest out and frowned deeply.
Katara stood up and looked at Zuko and Azula. She motioned them to follow her, and the rest of the gaang watched them leave the campsite. Azula was the first one to speak up.
"Why?" Katara shrugged.
"You don't deserve to be put through that considering what you've already been put through." Azula nodded her head thoughtfully and they continued to walk until they reached the abandoned town that they were at earlier that day.
"Why are we coming here for?" Katara plopped on the ground. Azula crossed her arms and shook her head.
"I'm not sitting there." Katara sighed and looked at Azula.
"Well unless you feel like standing while we discuss this so called 'plan' then by all means be my guest." Azula scowled and sat down beside Zuko without protesting. Katara turned to Azula motioning her to begin.
"We both knew how much Zuko wanted to return home right?" Katara nodded her head thoughtfully and Zuko glared at the two girls.
"Father is putting me in an arranged marriage to Ruon-Jian." Katara raised an eyebrow.
"Everyone knows that you loathe him and even I know that, and I haven't been in the Fire Nation for years." Azula scowled and continued on.
"As I was saying, we know how Zuko wants to go home right?" Katara nodded her head and Azula continued the explanation.
"When father banished him he said he had to find the avatar. I'm thinking if we make a fake avatar, like a dummy or something and burn it to where you can't recognize it, that he would accept Zuko back. You would come with Zuko as his servant or something, and from there we figure out how to take him out from the inside." Zuko and Katara looked at each other before each nodding their heads.
"When we reach Ba Sing Se, you're going to take me and Zuko prisoner a couple of weeks after we get there. From there, you tell Zuko to choose between you and us. He choose's you and us three fight. You take me prisoner or something for Zuko. Everyone in the group will think that you were telling a sob story, so they probably won't believe you. When you capture me, that's when I will send them a hawk explaining everything to them." Azula and Zuko looked between each other and they nodded their heads, content with the plan.
"Come on, were going back. Azula tell them that your leaving." Azula nodded her head and they continued back to the campsite. Katara stopped and looked at Azula.
"You remember what my messenger hawk looks like right?" Azula nodded her head and kept walking. About a half hour later they reached the campsite again. Azula walked up to Ursa and hugged her tightly murmuring something into her ear. Ursa nodded her head and let go of her silently, tears sliding down her cheek. Azula left the campsite silently and the large group watched her leave.
"So…" Sokka trailed off awkwardly.
"Wait, care to explain how you got separated from us and end up finding your cousin?" Katara and Zuko shrugged before they sat down.
"That creek we were by, Zuko and I went swimming and all of a sudden this thunderstorm comes out of nowhere and then we're swept away down the river with our belongings too. We found an ostrich horse and we rode all the way to a village. The Inn we stopped at was where Lu Ten had worked since the incident at Ba Sing Se." Everyone was silent and was waiting for someone to say something end the silence. Sokka's stomach broke the silence and everybody burst into a fit of laugher.
"Wow Snoozles, you must be really hungry." Sokka grinned and patted his stomach soothingly.
"Well I am getting hungry. It is about time for dinner." Sokka tapped his chin thoughtfully before looking around at the other members of the group. Katara and Kya sighed before looking at him.
"Come on guys, we have plenty of rations left over, enough to feed everyone tonight and tomorrow morning. The lady at the inn we stayed at gave us rations enough for 2 weeks for three people, not enough for nine people. We can fly into a town, or find at town to stock up at." Zuko said. He went over to their ostrich horses and took out a large back containing dried meat, vegetables, and some rice.
"I think we could make a soup or something." The older women and Katara nodded their heads, and Katara left the campsite to a nearby stream. Toph created a large pot out of stone, and made three large stone logs for people to sit on. A few minutes later, Katara returned with enough water for the soup and enough for everyone else in the group. On her back were three large tiger-fish that she could fillet up to eat separately from the soup and rice.
"I'll fillet these up, and you and Ursa can get started on the soup." Kya nodded her head and started to prepare the meat and vegetables. Ursa in a different pot, started to make the rice. They added the ingredients together. Katara was on the other side of the campsite skinning and gutting the fish, preparing them to where she can fillet them up. Aang glanced her way as she twisted the head off the fish and ran in the opposite direction with a green face. Everyone looked at Aang as he ran out of the campsite. Toph had a look of confusion on her face before Sokka leaned next to her to explain Aang's hasty retreat.
"Aang's a vegetarian and he love's animals. He hate's seeing them killed. Katara was preparing the fish that she caught and Aang saw her twist the head off to fillet them up." Toph out right laughed and burst into another fit of laughter when Aang returned.
"What's so funny?"
"Who knew you were such a Pansy TwinkleToes?" Aang scowled and crossed his arms angrily. Katara came back around to the other side of the campsite with a ice bowl filled with filled fish. Kya brightened up as she saw her daughter carrying the fish.
"We'll cook this separately. Not everyone likes fish so..." Katara trailed off. She set the bowl down at the makeshift table that Toph bent so Ursa and Kya wouldn't have to bend over as they prepared the food. Katara sat down on one of the stone logs between Sokka and Zuko. The two boys looked at each other, then looked back at Katara. They stayed like that for a while before dinner was ready.
"Come and get it," Ursa exclaimed, everyone rushed forward rushing to grab a stone bowl and spoon from the side.
"The fish will be done in a few minutes for those who wants some." The majority of the group nodded their heads and dug into the soup with gusto.
Hope you liked this chapter, sorry's it's a tad late. Been busy and yea.. Read and review. Oh and Happy Fourth of July to all of those people in The good ole' U S of A. :3 Sorry for all those with the burn ban going on (including me which sucks!)