"How long are they going to take?" Brianna complained as she hid behind the pole. "We've been waiting for like fifteen minutes!"
"You can't blame them, most of them are old" I told to her in a low tone. The four of them laughed at my statement, but Shyu and I we too preoccupied trying to sense if the other sages were coming. After some time I heard the footsteps coming towards us and hid behind the pillar. "They're coming," I whispered to the others so that only they could hear me. Shyu got into character and waited for our targets to come in front of the doors.
"Come quickly, the Avatar has entered the sanctuary!" Shyu cried out as the sages finally came into view.
"How did he get in?" The oldest Fire Sage asked.
"I don't know. But look at the scorch marks" Shyu said as he pointed to the statues' mouths, "and down there!" Under the door way from the same gap you could see a shadow pacing back and forth. It was clear to the rest of us that it was just our lemur friend, but because the shadow had no definite shape it could have fooled anyone.
"He's inside! Open the doors immediately before he contacts Avatar Roku," the older sage ordered the group. As the five got into a fire bending stance Aang slowly crept down from the dragon statues that spiraled around the pole. Brianna and I waited on top of the dragon statues' body each on two separate poles, hidden from everyone. I heard the gate being opened while the sound of the flames blasting rang in my ears. When they ceased their attacks I heard the doors creak into a locked position.
"It's the Avatar's lemur! He must have crawled through the pipes! We've been tricked!" the leader shouted out. I peeked my head from behind the pillar just as I witnessed Momo jump onto the man's face. Katara and Sokka quickly crept behind two of the sages and grabbed them, preventing the two from stopping Aang. Shyu then grabbed the nearest sage next to him and restrained him.
"Now Aang," Shyu shouted, as he did his best to hold down the struggling man. The three waited for Aang to run out and into the gates but he never appeared. I looked over to Brianna as I signal her to get ready to attack.
"Aang now's your chance," Katara shouted towards the poll Aang was supposed to be hiding behind. I turned toward the last pillar to my far left to see if a certain person had captured him. Slowly we saw Aang come out only to be restrained by our scarred pursuer.
"The Avatar's coming with me! Close the doors, quickly!" Zuko shouted to them as he forcefully dragged Aang towards the exit. Roles were being reversed as the hunted became the hunters and chained our friends to a marble pole, all quickly been captured. I looked to Brianna and pointed out the sages then at Zuko with my eyes, telling her to take them down while I took out the troubled prince. She nodded her head and jumped down towards the sages and started distracting them. I jumped down in front of Aang and his captor and blocked their way. When he turned around the first thing that caught my eyes was the infamous scar that haunted the poor teenager for three years.
"Stand aside!" Zuko commanded me but I just stood my ground.
"Let go of my master," I ordered as I stared into his flaming golden eyes. I could see his eyes filled with anger and his breathing seemed abnormal.
"Make me," Zuko said as he breathed out small flames, showing his anger. I couldn't understand why he was so angry, but I just pushed the thought to the back of my mind knowing that now was not the time to be distracted. I used my high speed and ran behind Zuko and grabbed his arms then pulled them to his back. I forcefully spun him around and pinned him to a nearby pole, freeing Aang from his clutches.
"Hurry the doors are closing!" I shouted to Aang as I struggled to restrain the strong and stubborn prince. He nodded his head and sprinted towards the door, but hesitated when he saw the conditions our friends were in. Brianna struggled to hold off all the sages with her earth attacks, while Katara and Sokka were chained up to a pole. Brianna and Katara both spotted him and knew that he was concerned about them from his expression.
"Go!" they both cried out, which made Aang turn left towards the door. I watched as he squeezed in through the closing doors and just barely made it inside the room.
"He made it!" Katara shouted happily as the door completely sealed shut. A bright light then surrounded the gates, which gave the sign that Roku was ready to talk to Aang and that he was in safe hands. I loosened my grip of Zuko's hands, relieved at Aang's success, while giving Zuko enough room to get himself free. When he was able to take back his hands, he tried blasting me with fire but I easily dodged it by jumping into the air. I ran towards the gates trying to block anyone who dared to try to get in, with Brianna who had also stepped in front of the gate. We suddenly realized the mistake we had made by doing so as one of the sages walked over to Katara.
"If you don't want your friends to get hurt I suggest that you do as we say," the leader of the sages threatened as he held onto Katara's throat with one hand and bended a small fire with his other. Brianna and I both dropped our stances, allowing the other sages to take us to the pile.
"Wait," Zuko said suddenly, catching all of us all off guard. He walked over to me as he grabbed my chin and forced me to look up at me. "This girl is dangerous. She has superior brains and skills," he said as he looked over to Katara, Sokka, and the Brianna. "She needs to be chained to a separate pole so that she can't devise a plan with them." He grabbed my wrist and dragged me to the pole to the far left by the exit, while Brianna was chained up with Sokka and Katara. Zuko took a chain and put it around my body while I remained silent and composed.
"Why don't you struggle?" Zuko suddenly asked as he stared into my eyes, looking for any sign of fear or anger.
"Because it is unnecessary," I told him still trying to seem composed, but in truth I felt awkward with him staring at me. Zuko raised an eyebrow, not understanding what I meant by that. He continued to look into my eyes, still trying to see if I was hiding anything. "May I ask a question?" I asked him, but was ignored. Knowing I wasn't going to get a his approval, I decided to ask him anyway, seeing no harm in my question. "Why am I getting special treatment?"
((Zuko's P.O.V))
"Wh-what do you mean?" I managed to stutter out. "You think this is special treatment? I just want to make sure that you can't get away so that your little master can't escape without having to come save you all first, which won't happen because I'll capture him!"
"Then what are you going to do with the rest of us?" she asked me with curious eyes. I looked at her and realized that that thought never occured to me. "Your Water Tribe friends will be put in prison while you and your partner will be taken to my father."
"Hmm then I guess he would kill us right on the spot," she said after thinking a bit.
"You make my father sound like a murderer," I said angrily.
"I'm just saying what I think the Fire Nation would do. Like you said I am dangerous, so why wouldn't they kill me?" she asked rather calmly. "I wonder if I'll be blessed to have you witness my death dear Prince," she said jokingly. I felt a sharp pain in my chest when I heard her laughing, not caring that her life might be taken away. I turned away from her and headed to the gates to try to open them with the other four temple sages.
"What's wrong with me," I muttered to myself as I walked over towards the sages.
((Rebecca's P.O.V))
"Why isn't it working? It's sealed shut!" I heard Zuko shout out after their failed attempt at opening the sealed doors.
"It must have been the light. Avatar Roku doesn't want us inside," the leader said as he looked hopelessly up at the large sealed door. He turned and walked several steps towards me. "You girl, state your business with the Avatar!" I looked up at the old man as I gave him a blank expression.
"He is my master. My partner and I have a duty to protect him, but then again you four wouldn't understand the meaning of such a word. Betraying the Avatar and joining the Fire Lord, you're not worthy to call yourselves Guardians of Roku's Temple."
"Silence," he screamed out as he grabbed my neck and started burning my flesh with his fire bending. The metal from my choker began to heat up preventing the skin underneath it to burn up entirely.
"Rebecca!" I heard my three friends cry out. The sage released my neck, but the heat from the flames still remained.
"I'm fine," I struggled to say. I felt a sharp pain from the burn every time I inhaled air. It hurt even more just to talk.
"Little girls should know their place," the sage told me with a smug smirk across his face.
"I know my place," I was able to force out "unlike you I'll remain in it until my last breath." I lifted my head up and gave him a small smile which angered him even more.
"Then I'll make sure that you're true to your word!" he shouted as he grabbed the collar of my robe and pulled my upper body closer to him. He lifted his other hand as he made a large flame in his palm, ready to strike it at me. I closed my eyes, ready to yet again experience the feeling of getting burned, but surprisingly it never came. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Zuko was holding back my attacker's arm.
"What are you doing?" he shouted at the sage angrily. "We need the girl alive or else we could unleash the Avatar's most powerful form. If that happens we won't be able to take him down," Zuko said from past experience. The sage angrily extinguished the fire from his hand and stubbornly stomped back towards the others. I looked up at Zuko, a bit shocked that he would have saved me.
"Thank you," I said just above a whisper. Without responding he quickly turned around and started walking towards the others. "Weird guy," I muttered to myself.
"Clearly," I heard Gin say from the charm.
"Are you okay?" I asked him, feeling guilty that he had to experience the same pain I did.
"It's nothing you need to worry about. If you haven't already noticed your body is already starting to heal itself." I blew a strand of hair from my face as I sighed.
"Sorry, but I can't see anything above my shoulders." I said as I looked down at my body, attempting to see the healing. I heard Gin laugh to himself while I glanced towards where the sages and Zuko were.
"Why did you help the Avatar?" Zuko asked Shyu as he and other sages surround him.
"Because it was once the sages' duty, it is still our duty." Shyu answered him.
"Well at least one of you has some sense of loyalty," I said loud enough so that all of them could hear me. The sage who burned me earlier, glared at me hoping to strike fear into my heart, but was ineffective.
"I'd watch my tongue if I were you girl! Unless you can somehow magically heal yourself I suggest you not speak!" I gave him a small smirk which confused the group of Fire Nation sages.
"So I guess that means that I can talk. Seeing is how your attack no longer affects me."
"Impossible!" he exclaimed as he looked down at my fully healed neck. "Who are you?"
"I believe she's one of the legendary Girls of One Nation." I heard a familiar voice say from behind me. I turned my head and saw one of my least favorite pursuers Zhao with a crowd of Fire Nation soldiers behind him. He looked at me then at Shyu as a smirk formed on his lips. "What a moving and heartfelt performance. I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand when you explain why you betrayed him."
"Commander Zhao," my attacker bowed to the high ranked missionary.
"And Prince Zuko," Zhao said as he spotted the teenage boy "it was a noble effort. But your little smoke screen didn't work. Two traitors, in one day, the Fire Lord will be pleased. Especially since I found two other lovely prizes," he said as he grabbed my chin. He turned to his guards who surrounded the Fire Sages and Zuko. "Untie the girl in the Earth Kingdom clothes and bring her over here!" The soldiers nodded their heads as they went to their assigned tasks.
"What are you planning?" I asked as I pulled my chin away.
"Just making sure that two rare creatures like you don't get away. I must admit that the legend never informed us that you two would be such beautiful young women. Seems like a waste to just give you to the Fire Lord." I raised an eyebrow as I turned to Brianna, who was being dragged over to my side, but had heard the whole thing. Her face had both shock and disgust in it, probably because of the fact that Zhao was flirting.
"I think I'm going to be sick," I muttered under my breath as Zhao moved away.
"Same here," Brianna said agreeing as she was being chained up beside me. I watched as the other sages along with Zuko were being restrained by the Fire Nation soldiers.
"You're too late, Zhao" Zuko yelled at the top of his lungs, obviously angered by his defeat. "The Avatar's inside and the doors are sealed." Zhao just smirked at the statement and saw it as a challenge.
"No matter, sooner or later he has to come out" Zhao said slightly entertained. "Tie the Prince up with the two girls. After all the three of them are all gifts to the Fire Lord," he said chuckling to himself. Zuko was forcefully dragged to the pole Brianna and I were chained up to. The soldiers tied him up to my left while Brianna was on my right. I let out a heavy sigh as I looked towards the doors.
"Prince Zuko," I whispered to the angry teenager, who was trying to still ignore me. I let out another heavy sigh but decided to continue talking anyway. "Later when the doors are opened, get ready to escape." I could feel Zuko's sharp eyes on me, not fully understanding what I meant. "Please just trust me."
"Why are you telling me this?" Zuko asked in a low voice. I couldn't help but chuckle as I glanced at Brianna then at the confused Prince.
"Because we like you better than Zhao," I said still chuckling. I heard Brianna giggle with me as she nodded her head.
"Hell yeah," she said completely agreeing with me. I knew that Zuko was probably still confused because of my answer, but that just made Brianna and I laugh even harder. When my laugher finally stopped I looked over at the gate then felt a shiver go up my spine.
"Looks like it's about to start," I whispered to the two of them. "Brianna, keep your guard up. We have to get everyone out fast." Brianna nodded her head as she looked over at the doors waiting for the scene when Avatar Roku will appear. The doors then slowly began to open as a spiritual light surrounded the door. Smoke came from under the door's gaps as the image of two glowing eyes appeared in the darkness.
"No, Aang!" Katara shouted out but knew it was useless.
"Fire," Zhao commanded the soldiers as they all shot flames toward him, that came together forming one large sphere of fire. The fire, however, was being counter bended by none other than Avatar Roku. Zhao and the others gasped at this, not knowing what was going on. Roku took that chance and brought the flames towards him then shot a larger and more powerful wave of flames that knocked the soldiers out, burned away the chains, and created a giant hole in the wall.
"Let's go," I told Brianna as our chains had melted away.
"Right," Brianna said as she rubbed her wrist. I glanced over and saw Zuko had done as I had suggested and quickly ran off. I let out a relieved sigh as I ran to where Roku was. The temple was starting to shake, making it obvious to all of us that he was going to destroy the temple. Brianna and I stopped a couple of yards away from Roku and just watched him destroy his home. Roku sliced down on the ground making a deep crack that reached to the secret passageway. He summoned up a lava whirlpool that broke through the temple's roof. All the sages and Fire Nation soldiers ran in a panic, while Brianna and I just watched waiting for Roku to transform back into Aang.
I looked over towards Roku's statue as I saw the light on the statue was slowly coming off of Roku's eyes. Roku then stopped bending, allowing the lava to fall back down towards crack in the floor. The smoke in the room suddenly was sucked back into the statue's room and covered Roku's figure. When the smoke disappeared Aang had now come back to his own body. Brianna and I quickly ran towards Aang before he fell to his knees. I grabbed one of his arms as I swung it over my shoulder, while Brianna made sure that Aang was balanced.
"You okay?" Brianna asked him worryingly.
"Yeah, where's Shyu?" Aang asked after looking around at the room not remembering anything that Roku had done to the temple.
"I don't know," Katara said as she reached our side. I could feel the temple shaking as the volcano on the island was becoming more active. Sokka and Katara looked around for a way to exit, found that they were all blocked by the deadly lava, the only exit seemed to be the hole in the wall.
"Do you think Nyoko and Gin can carry all these people?" Brianna asked me. I shook my head as I sighed.
"No, we can't make them carry the extra weight plus I think Aang's too exhausted to fly himself." Just then I heard the familiar sound from my favorite bison with his best friend, Momo, leading the way. "Looks like we don't have to," I said as I pointed out to Appa with my eyes. I let go of Aang so that he could join Katara and Sokka in jumping onto Appa, while I placed a hand onto my charm. "Do you mind giving me a lift?"
"Not at all," Gin said as he teleported out of the charm. Brianna must have had the same idea because Nyoko was out just about the same time that I had summoned up Gin. We both quickly hopped onto our animal partners as they flew off away from the destructive island.
"Well wasn't that fun?" Brianna said sarcastically to me.
"Yeah it was, so much that I almost died from having too much of it" I said adding a little truth to the sarcasm. Brianna shot me a look, but I ignored it as I pointed down towards Appa. "You need to get on Appa, its sun down." Brianna looked at me, knowing that I was right, but tried to object. "Go before you and Nyoko fall asleep." I said in a stern tone. Brianna pouted as she and Nyoko flew down towards our giant furry savior.
"Man she's so stubborn," I said to Gin with a sigh.
"Yes, well she's not the only one" Gin told me as he glanced down towards the ocean. I looked to where he was looking and saw a small boat following us. It was clear to me that he was talking about Zuko, but I just shrugged as I lay on Gin's back not knowing if he was insulting him.
"Yeah well you got to admire him for that," I said as I closed my eyes. "Chasing the Avatar for three years, I don't know if I could have done that."
"Well you never know," Gin said in a gentle tone. I opened my eyes as I stared up at the orange and purple sky that was preparing for night fall.
"No I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have lasted three years, maybe not even one."
"Do you feel lucky?" Gin asked me.
"Yeah, but also sad" I said thinking about all the pain Zuko must have felt.
"You shouldn't worry about it."
"I know," I said as I closed my eyes again. I reached for the burnt skin on my neck, that had yet to completely heal, which reminded me of Zuko's scar. I quickly shook the thought from my head and tried to erase his image from my mind. "I know," I repeated once again, still trying clear my mind and calm my heart.
In another note, I have to say that all you fans are very lucky. If things had stayed on the proper course then this would have been the last chapter that I would have posted until mid August. I originally planned with my family to go out of the country and because my editor cannot do her job without me being with her, we planned on waiting until I came back. Due to things beyond my control, this plan has been cancelled and I will still able to post the story throughout the entire Summer.
Groovy's Note: Now aren't you all happy?
