Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or The Last Airbender.
Bodyguard of Azula
Chapter 32: Getting in and Disguises
"Talking"
"Thinking"
"Bijū/spirit talking"
"Bijū/spirit thinking"
(Location: Western Air Temple)
They sat around the fire at night. Things had been relatively peaceful, and they were enjoying it. It was almost a week since Zuko, Azula, and Aang went to the ancient city where the supposedly extinct Sun Warriors resided, and in the case of the two exiled royals' case, they were able to Firebend while keeping themselves at peace. In Aang's case, he slowly entered a routine every morning.
"No one can make tea like Uncle," Zuko declared as he poured tea into cups. "But hopefully, I've learned a thing or two."
"You lived with him and his tea for three years," Azula told him. "You probably would've learned something."
"Would you guys like to hear Uncle's favorite tea joke?" he asked the others.
"Do you remember the entire joke?" she asked before anyone could say yes.
"Just the punch line," he admitted. It was a little embarrassing, but it was the truth.
"Then please don't." He just started handing out the tea.
"It's nice to get a chance to relax a little," Toph commented. "It hardly ever happens." She took the cup he offered her.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" Sokka asked the Scarred Dragon as he offered a cup of tea. "Akela, stay put." He stood up and walked away.
Zuko put down the tea tray and followed him. Unbeknownst to either one of them, Azula took notice and kept a close ear on them. "So,what's up?" the exiled prince asked.
"If someone was captured by the Fire Nation, where would they be taken?" Sokka asked back.
"What do you mean? Who was captured?"
"When the invasion plan failed, some of our troops were taken," he tried to explain. "I just want to know where they might be."
When he heard that, Zuko had a vague idea of what he wanted to know. "I can't tell you," he said.
"What? Why not?"
"Trust me. Knowing would just make you feel worse." He turned around to walk away, but Sokka stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.
"It's my dad. He was captured too," the Water Paragon explained. "I need to know what I put him through."
"It's not good, Sokka."
"Please."
He turned back to face him. "My guess is…they were taken to the Boiling Rock."
"What's that?" He had a feeling from the name alone it wouldn't be something good. But he still asked.
"The highest security prison in the Fire Nation," Zuko told him. "It's on an island in the middle of a boiling lake. It's inescapable."
"So, where is this place?"
"Why do you need to know? What are you planning?"
"Nothing," he answered, trying to keep the conversation from going where he didn't want it to go. "…Boy, you're so paranoid."
The Scarred Dragon frowned, not believing a word of it (neither did his sister). "It's in the middle of a volcano between here and the Fire Nation. You guys actually flew past it on the way here."
"Thanks, Zuko." He yawned and stretched his arms exaggeratingly. "Just knowing makes me feel better." He walked past Zuko to the others.
"Yeah, I'm sure it does," Zuko muttered sarcastically, going back to the fire. They ate their dinner, and everyone soon went to bed.
Later in the night, when everyone was asleep, Sokka walked carefully away from the group, being very careful not to wake up Akela or Fǎn Yìng. He made his way over towards Appa and started climbing up his leg, waking the sky bison up. He shushed him, which made him put his head back down. Sokka kept climbing up the side.
When he was about to climb into the saddle, Zuko was already there. "Not up to anything, huh?" Zuko asked.
He yelped in surprise and fell to the ground. "Fine, you caught me," he admitted, getting up. "I'm gonna rescue my dad. You happy now?"
"I'm never happy."
"Look, I have to do this. The invasion plan was my idea. It was my decision to stay when things were going wrong," he told Zuko as the Scarred Dragon leapt down from the saddle. "It's my mistake and it's my job to fix it. I have to regain my honor. You can't stop me, Zuko." He pushed him out of the way and began to climb up Appa again.
"You need to regain your honor?" he repeated. "Believe me, I get it. I'm going with you."
"No. I have to do this alone."
"How are you going to get there? On Appa? Last time I checked; prisons didn't have bison daycares." That stopped the Tribesman, realizing he made sense. "We'll take my war balloon." He turned around and walked away.
Sokka hopped off Appa and followed him. They made their way over to where Zuko had parked the war balloon.
"It took you long enough," Azula said, surprising them from she learned against the side of the balloon. At her feet was a small pack. It was obvious that she had been waiting.
"What are you doing here?" Sokka demanded.
"I'm joining you. You're going to the Boiling Rock, right?"
"How did you know that?"
"I listen to what people say."
"Why are you coming with us, Azula?" Zuko asked his sister. "I know you don't really care about who Sokka's trying to free."
"You're right, I don't. I'm coming with you to free Naruto."
"What do you mean, Naruto?" Sokka asked. It had been a while since he had seen the blonde, but he saw no reason for him to be at the prison.
"It's the one place our ex-dad would send him if he was pissed enough."
"Why would the Fire Lord get pissed?" He had always thought that the man had been in complete control. How else would he have managed to keep the war going in favor of the Fire Nation?
"You really don't know Naruto, do you?" she asked with a small smirk on her face. "He can be vastly annoying when he wants to."
"Why are you doing this, Azula?" Zuko asked her.
"It's my fault he was forced to stall for us. I have to get him out."
"And…?" he asked, leaving the question hanging.
"Because…" She trailed off, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed.
"Because what?" Sokka asked a little impatiently.
"Because I love him," she answered, getting all out in one breath of air. Zuko and Sokka noticed a small blush on her face. They wisely chose not to comment further.
Zuko also decided the conversation was done. "Let's go, you two."
The Duke brought Appa his breakfast, which he threw into his mouth. As Katara walked up, she noticed that a sleeping Momo held a note. "Was that a note?" Toph asked as she and Aang joined her.
"Yeah," Katara answered, picking up the meat.
"What does it say?"
"We're running low on meat, so we're going hunting and fishing. Sokka, Zuko, and Azula,'" she read aloud. Aang yawned and went back to get reacquainted with his sleeping bag. "One more thing. 'Aang, practice your Firebending while we're gone. Do twenty sets of fire fists and ten hot squats every time you hear a badgerfrog croak. Zuko and Azula.'"
At that exact moment, a badgerfrog went off. "Nobody else has homework," he groused, standing up.
"There's something else," she said. "'If he starts to complain, his workout is doubled. Azula.'"
"What? Why?" he protested.
"'If he whines, it's tripled. Zuko,'" she read.
"How do they know what I'm going to say?"
"'You've never taken lessons from Naruto. Get to work. Azula.'" She flipped the paper over, still reading.
"They have got to be joking about all that work."
"'They're not joking. You'd best get to work. Zuko has Fǎn Yìng keeping an eye out on you. Sokka,'" she finished.
He turned to look at the dragon. Fǎn Yìng did seem to be looking at him intently. "Alright, alright, I do it," he muttered aloud as the others walked away. He stood up and went to work. "One hot squat, two hot squat, three hot squat, four hot squat…"
(Location: War Balloon)
They flew through the clouds in the war balloon. It was a bit cramped, but the three of them managed. However, the atmosphere was pretty much awkward. As Zuko heated the furnace, Sokka and Azula looked over the side of the balloon. "Pretty clouds," Sokka noted after he and Zuko shared a glance and looked away.
"Yeah…fluffy," Zuko agreed.
"Could this get anymore awkward?" Azula asked herself.
Sokka started whistling, getting Zuko's attention. "What?" he asked.
"What?" Sokka asked back. "Oh, I didn't say anything." They fell silent again. "…You know, a friend of mine actually designed these war balloons."
"No kidding."
"Yep, a balloon…but for war," he said.
"Agni, help me," Azula prayed/begged quietly. The awkwardness on the balloon was liable to drive her up a wall (and they didn't have walls!).
"If there's one thing my dad's good at, it is war," Zuko stated.
"Yeah, it seems to run the family," the Tribesman remarked.
"Hey, hold on. Not everyone in our family is like that."
"I know, I know." He looked at the exiled siblings. "You both have changed."
"I meant our uncle. He was more of a father to me," the Scarred Dragon admitted. "And I really let him down."
"…I think your uncle would be proud of you. Leaving your home to come help us? That's hard."
"It wasn't that hard."
"It seemed fairly easy," Azula agreed.
"Really?" asked Sokka. "You two didn't leave behind anyone you cared about?"
The siblings shared a look. "Well, I did have a girlfriend. Mai," Zuko admitted.
"That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?" asked the Tribesman, looking for clarification.
"Yeah," he answered. "Everyone in the Fire Nation thinks we're traitors. I couldn't drag her into it."
"My first girlfriend turned into the moon."
"That's rough, buddy."
"I am beginning to regret coming with you two," Azula said. "I'm seriously considering throwing myself overboard." If it would help get away from all this, she would do it.
"Please don't do that, Azula. That means I have to fly this thing down and fish you out of the sea," her brother told her.
"So, who did you leave behind?" Sokka asked her.
"…Some friends."
"Like who?"
"Mai…and Ty Lee," she answered.
"You mean the bubbly one?"
"Yes."
"And Naruto, of course."
"We're done talking about this," she growled. He had enough sense not to push it.
They kept on flying, the day eventually turning into night. Sokka had fallen asleep, Zuko manned the furnace and Azula kept a look out. "We're there," she called out, getting Zuko's attention and waking up Sokka.
"There's plenty of steam to keep us covered," Zuko noted as he looked at the steam emitting from the center of the volcano. "As long as we're quiet, we should be able to navigate through it without being caught."
As they got closer to the rock, he opened the furnace and put more heat into it, making the balloon rise. It cleared the ridge, but once they got into the steam, the fire in the furnace went out, making the balloon to quickly descend. "We're going down! The balloon's not working anymore!" he announced in a whisper as he tried to get the furnace going again.
Sokka looked over the edge. "The air outside is just as hot as the inside, so we can't fly!" he told them.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Azula asked him.
"I don't know! Crash-landing?"
The balloon hit the boiling water and skidded along the surface of it. Some of it splashed onto Sokka's hand. Although he did cry out in pain, he covered his mouth before doing so. It hit the outskirts of the prison, sending the three flying out of it. As they got their bearings back, they saw the balloon was destroyed.
"How are we gonna get off the island if the balloon doesn't work?" Zuko asked.
"We'll figure something out," Sokka told him. "I suspected it might be a one-way ticket."
"You knew this would happen and you wanted to come anyway?" Azula asked him.
"My dad might be here!" he replied as he approached the balloon. "I had to come and see!"
"Uncle said I never thought things through," Zuko said. "But this…this is just crazy!"
"Hey, I never wanted you two to come in the first place! And for the record, I always think things through! But my plans haven't exactly worked, so this time, I'm playing it by ear. So there." He tried to push the balloon into the water but pulled his hands away due to the heat. Instead, he kicked it into the water.
"What are you doing?" Azula asked him.
"It doesn't work anyway, and we don't want anyone to find it." They watched as the balloon sank into the water.
"I hope you know what you're doing," Zuko told him. "There's no turning back now."
"Let's just get inside," Azula said. They spent the rest of the night slowly getting into the prison, making sure they weren't caught. By the time morning had come, they had found a storage room full of spare guard armor.
"I hope these disguises work," Zuko said to the others as they left the storage room, dressed in guard uniforms.
"We just need to lay low and find my dad as soon as possible," Sokka told him. The three of them were wearing helmets to keep their faces hidden.
"Naruto too," Azula chimed in. That's when they heard boots running down a hallway and they soon saw guards coming down the nearby corridor.
"Guards!" one of them called. "There's a scuffle in the yard. Come on."
They followed the guards out to the yard. There was already a ring of prisoners stand around two people. When they forced their way to the front, they saw a guard and a prisoner circling each other. "I didn't do anything!" the prisoner said. "I'm going back to my cell." He turned around and started to walk away.
The guard whipped his fire at the prisoner's feet. "Stop right there, Chit Sang," he ordered.
Zuko tried to approach but was held back by Sokka's grip on his arm. "We can't blow our cover," he told him. Azula nodded briefly in agreement.
"I have had it with your unruly behavior!" the guard told Chit Sang.
"What did I do?" he asked.
"He wants to know what he did," he repeated. "Isn't that cute?" he asked Zuko and Sokka. When they didn't answer, he lifted his visor and gave them a look.
"Uh, very cute, sir," Zuko said.
"Super cute," Sokka agreed.
"Personally, I don't find it cute at all," a voice from outside the ring spoke out. He made his way to the inside of the ring. Both Sokka and Zuko heard Azula's small sigh of relief. The person who had spoken out and was now standing in the middle of the ring with Chit Sang and the guard was Naruto.
"This doesn't concern you, prisoner," the guard said, spitting out the word like it was something that disagreed with him.
"Are you going to make me leave?" he asked pointedly. He pointed at Chit Sang with his thumb. "What did he do?"
"He didn't bow down when I walked by."
"What?" Chit Sang asked. "That's not a prison rule."
"Well, it's fairly simple to do, Chit Sang," Naruto told him, walking over to the guard. "You simply get on your knees and bow your head, like this." He demonstrated the bow, making the guard smug.
"What is he doing?" Sokka asked.
"Just watch." Azula told him.
"And then," the blonde continued, "as you stand up, you do this." He stood up and then rammed his fist into the guard's stomach, making him double over and fall to the ground. "That way, he'll bow to you too." That got the other prisoners laughing. Seeing that his work was done, he walked away. The prisoners briefly parted for him and then surrounded him, allowing none of the guards to reach him.
The guard, embarrassed at what happened, stood back up, and threw a fireball at his retreating back. But before it could even get halfway, Chit Sang stepped in and knocked it aside with his own Firebending. The guard smiled smugly at the prisoner. "Firebending is prohibited. You're going in the cooler. You," He pointed at Sokka. "Help me take him in! And you two!" He pointed at two different guards. "Take him back to his cell, now!" He pointed at Naruto.
"Meet back here in an hour," Sokka told both Azula and Zuko. He ran over to the guard and helped him take Chit Sang to the coolers.
It didn't take them long, as the guard knew where they were going and Sokka followed his lead. "The warden will deal with you soon," the guard told him before throwing him into a cooler. "Can you believe this guy?" he asked Sokka as he closed both the doors.
"Prisoners!" he said, playing along. "Am I right?"
"Ugh. Tell me about it."
Both Zuko and Azula were grabbing lunch in the lounge. "Hey, new guys," a nearby guard called out, grabbing their attention. "I know it's the rule to have your helmet on at all times, but this is the lounge. Relax."
"But what if there's an incident?" Azula asked him.
"Yeah, if we're not prepared, we could get hit on the head," Zuko agreed as they walked over to the group.
His comment got the other guards laughing. "Give it a week," a female guard said to the first guard. "They'll loosen up."
"So, hear anything good lately?" Zuko asked them, sounding like a curious rookie who wanted to hear some gossip.
"You mean you haven't heard? It's been the talk of the prison as well as the rest of the Fire Nation," the male guard said.
"Heard what?"
"The Fire Lord finally legitimized Lady Yāo Jing. She's now the heir to the throne."
"What?" Zuko and Azula said at the same time. Never did they expect their father to do something like that.
"Wow, you really didn't hear about it," the female guard remarked.
"What happened?" Azula asked. "I thought Prince Zuko or at least Princess Azula was to get the throne."
"Did you hear about the invasion?" the first guard asked them.
"Only the official version, that the capital was attacked, but the invaders were defeated." The fewer number of facts they claimed to know, the better for their cover.
"That much is true," the female guard said. "But what you don't know is that both Prince Zuko and Princess Azula turned traitor and ran away. The Fire Lord sent troops after them, but Lord Naruto held them off long enough for the two to get away. Once he was sure they were gone, he allowed himself to be arrested."
"The Fire Lord didn't kill him?" Zuko asked her.
The male guard shook his head. "From what I heard, he was given to Yāo Jing, who tried to torture him. After a week of that, he was brought to the Fire Lord. He was told that Yāo Jing had become the Crown Princess and it was now his job to protect her."
"If that's true, then is he here?"
"He refused to do it," the female guard answered. "Lord Naruto said, and I quote, 'I swore to protect the Princess of the Fire Nation. Not the result of what happens when you can't keep it in your pants.'"
"How do you know he said that?" Azula asked. Silently, she was glad her bodyguard had refused to protect her bastard sister.
"My brother was there in the throne room when the Fire Lord and Lord Naruto had that meeting. Both the Fire Lord and Yāo Jing were furious at his refusal and the Fire Lord threatened to kill him. He replied that if he was killed, they would be spontaneously sprouting arrows in the forehead. So the Fire Lord sent him here, with instructions for to be beaten regularly."
"The guards actually did that?" Zuko asked.
"Some of them tried," the male guard said. "But Lord Naruto was the one who beat them into a bloody pulp. Since then, no guard has ever followed the instructions. Is there anything else you want to know?"
"Yeah, about those invaders…"
"It sure looks cold in there," Sokka remarked as he looked inside the cooler at Chit Sang. The prisoner looked completely miserable.
"That's why we call it the cooler. He won't be Firebending in there," the guard said. He saw someone coming down the hall. "It's the warden! Look alive!" They stood at attention as the warden came to stand in front of the door. One of the warden's guards opened the doors.
"So Chit Sang, I hear you used Firebending to try to escape," the warden said to the prisoner. "You should know better."
"I wasn't trying to escape," Chit Sang protested, shivering in the cold.
"He's lying!" the guard said. "I saw him with my own eyes."
The warden ignored him and kept his eyes on the prisoner. "No one has ever, ever escaped from here. I'd sooner jump into the boiling lake myself then let that record fall. Don't forget it. Now go back to your shivering." He walked out of the cooler and the door closed.
Sokka stood at a railing, looking down at the prisoners in the yard. "Hey there…fellow guard," another guard said, coming up to him. "How goes it?"
"Zuko?" he asked, lifting his visor.
He shushed him. "Listen, I asked around the lounge. There are no Water Tribe prisoners," he said, lifting his own visor. "I'm afraid your father's not here."
"What? Are you sure? Did you double check?" Even as he asked those questions, he felt like his hope were dying right in front of him.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"No. No!" He banged his hands against the wall. If his father wasn't here, why did he come?
"I'm really sorry, Sokka," the Scarred Dragon told him.
"So, I came all this way for nothing?" he asked. "I failed…again."
"Ah, what would Uncle say?" Zuko asked himself. He looked up and saw the clouds. "Sometimes, clouds have two sides, a dark and light and a silver lining in between. It's like a silver sandwich! So…when life seems hard…take a bite out of the silver sandwich!"
As he was speaking, Sokka noticed something in the yard (or rather, someone). "Maybe we haven't failed after all!" he declared, running over to the rail to get a better look.
"That's the spirit!" the exiled prince said. "I can't believe that worked. I didn't even know what I was saying."
"No, what you said made no sense at all. But look…" He pointed down to a prisoner sitting on a rock. "It's Suki!"
Before Zuko could really ask who Suki was, a bell rang off. "Prisoners, back in your cells!" ordered a guard. All the prisoners began to move back inside.
The door to Naruto's cell opened, making him look over to see who it is. "How lucky for me, the warden's come to visit me," he said sarcastically as the warden stepped into his cell. "I'd greet you, but I don't like you."
"I hear you humiliated one of my guards this morning, Lord Naruto," the warden said, making the lord sound like it should be in the garbage heap.
"Don't bother calling me lord. I know you hate saying it. As for your guard, you heard right. They just give me so many opportunities, it's hard to resist," he remarked with a small grin.
"It's too bad this prison doesn't have solitary confinement. You would spend the rest of your life there."
"In case you haven't notice, this entire prison is solitary confinement. We're in the middle of a boiling lake, how more confined do you want to get?"
"You should know that you will be properly punished for your actions," the warden told him, ignoring the question.
"What? You're gonna have the guards try to beat me black and blue again? You do remember what happened last time, right?"
The warden gave him a cruel smile. "Oh, don't worry, you'll find out soon enough." He turned around and walked out of the cell, the door closed behind him.
"What did he mean by that?" he asked as he sat back down on the bed. It was just a slab of metal attached to the side of the wall. He hadn't even been given the common courtesy of a mattress or a pillow.
"I don't know, kit," the Kyūbi said. "But you should probably be careful. Whatever your punishment it, I have a feeling it won't be good."
"Yeah, I have that same feeling."
Suki lay on the bedding, staring up at the wall. When she heard the door open and saw a guard come in, she sat up. "What is it? Did I do something wrong?" she asked.
"You mean you don't recognize me?" the guard asked.
"You people all look the same to me."
"That's funny. I would remember the guy I had kissed and felt up at the same time," he said with a smirk.
"How do you know…?" she started to say, standing up from the bed, when she remembered where she had seen that smirk before. "Sokka?" she asked hesitantly. His reply was to simply take off the helmet. "Sokka, it's you!" She rushed over and gave him a tight hug.
He returned it with equal measure. "I'm so sorry I made you go through torture, Suki," he whispered. Never had he wanted to kill someone then when he had heard about what the Kyoshi Warrior had gone through.
She didn't know how he knew that, but she didn't care at that point. "It's okay, I got through it. I knew you would come for me."
"The other Kyoshi Warriors, are they here?" he asked her, breaking the hug somewhat.
"No. I don't know where they are," she answered. "They locked me in here because I'm the leader."
"Well, you won't be here for long. I'm busting you out."
"I'm so glad to see you, Sokka." The two of them shared a kiss.
Meanwhile, Zuko stood guard outside. When he saw a guard coming, he tapped on the door, alerting Sokka. When the guard came up to the cell, he stood in her way. "Excuse me," she said. "I need to get into that cell."
"No, you can't go in there!" he told her. "The lights are out. The prisoner could sneak up on you."
"Step aside, fool," she ordered, putting her hand on his shoulder. He grabbed the arm and used it to slam her into the door. "Hey, hey, what are you doing!?" The two of them began to struggle with each other. As that went on, Sokka put his helmet back on and snuck out of the cell. The guard saw him. "Guard, help! I think he's an imposter! Arrest him!" she ordered. "Get him off me and arrest him!"
He walked over to the two, grabbed Zuko by the arm and threw him down to the ground. "You're under arrest!" he declared. "Don't worry, I'll find Azula, and we'll figure it out," he whispered as he pulled him up off the ground.
"What is going on now?" Azula asked herself as nearby guards all seemed to be in a rush, running down the corridor one or another. Finding Sokka nearby, she went over to him. "What happened?"
"Zuko got caught," he told her in a whisper.
"What?" How could he have been caught now of all times?
"You heard me."
"Just what we need, a complication," she groaned quietly. Trust her dum-dum of a brother to make things complicated.
"Well, where were you?"
"I was trying to find Naruto."
"Any luck?"
"None." Once she had left the lounge, she had looked high and low for her bodyguard. But since she did not know where he was, it became rather pointless.
Zuko had been forced into prison garb and was now standing in an empty room. It had felt like an hour when the door finally opened, showing the warden. "Well, well, well. I never thought I'd find you in here, Prince Zuko," he said with an evil smile.
"How did you know who I am?" Zuko asked.
"How could I not? You broke my niece's heart."
"You're Mai's uncle?" he asked, surprised by the fact. "I never meant to hurt her."
"Quiet!" the warden barked at him. "You're my special prisoner now. And you'd best behave. If these criminals found out whom you are, the traitor prince who let his nation down, why they'd tear you to shreds."
"I think I'd have one person amongst those prisoners who would back me up." He knew Naruto would help him.
"Don't be so sure about that."
"So, what's in it for you?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Why don't you just tell my father and collect a reward?"
"Oh, in due time, believe me, I intend to collect. I just have one question for you. Where is Princess Azula?"
"We went our separate ways after we escaped from the Fire Nation," he lied. He may be a prisoner, but there was no way he was giving up his sister.
The warden said nothing in return. He simply walked out of the room, leaving Zuko alone. Later, he was let out of the room and was handed a mop. When Sokka and Azula found him, he was mopping the floor next to Suki. "Oh good, you guys have met," Sokka said.
"Actually, we met a long time ago," Suki said.
"We did?" Zuko asked.
"Yeah, you…kinda burned down my village."
"Oh…sorry about that…nice to see you again." What else could he have said?
"He is such a dum-dum," Azula muttered. They made sure to remain unseen as they talked. Fortunately, the side of the stairs they were mopping ended in a corner, keeping them hidden.
"So, listen, I think I have an escape plan," Sokka told everyone. "I checked out the coolers again. The point of them is to keep Firebenders contained, right?"
"Yeah…" Zuko answered, waiting to see where he was going with this.
"So, they're completely insulated and sealed to keep the cold in. Well, to keep the cold in, it also has to keep the heat out, right?"
"Just get to the point, Sokka," Suki told him. Azula nodded in agreement. She wanted him to hurry it up.
"It's a perfect boat for getting through the boiling water."
Zuko, Suki, and Azula all shared a look. "The cooler as a boat?" asked Zuko. "Are you sure?"
"I'm telling ya, it'll work. I walked around the perimeter. There's a blind spot between two guard towers. It's the perfect launching point. I already tested it out. We'll roll the cooler into the water and just float with the current. It'll take us straight across. If we don't make a sound, no one will notice. And bing-bang-boom, we're home free."
"But how are you going to get the cooler out?" Suki asked.
"Yeah, how are you going to get the cooler out?" asked Chit Sang. He stood on the stairs looking down on them, before jumping over the rail and joining their meeting.
"We didn't say that," Sokka instantly lied to him.
"Yeah, you heard wrong," Zuko agreed.
"I heard you're hatching an escape plan, and I want in," the prisoner told them.
"There's nothing to get in on."
"Leave now or you won't like the outcome," Azula threatened him.
"Well, I can come with you, or the warden finds out," He threatened in return.
"…I guess we have no choice," Suki admitted. If the warden found out, they would be dead before they could make a move.
"Okay, you're in," Sokka told Chit Sang. He gave Zuko a wench. "Now, first we need someone to unbolt the cooler, from the inside."
"Oh, I can get you inside," Chit Sang promised. He stood up, walked in full view of the guards and just stood there. A few seconds later, Zuko backed into him, mopping the floor. "Hey! What are you, stupid? Watch where you're going!" He grabbed Zuko and shoved him away.
"Hey, you watch who you're shoving!" He pushed him into the middle of the room, getting people's attention.
"I think you mean whom I'm shoving." The two of them began to fight or, at least, fake a fight. As the prisoners began to cheer and urge the fight on, Sokka ran over to it.
"I need back-up over here!" he shouted. Chit Sang tossed Zuko to the ground. He leapt into the air and tried to do a flying elbow on him, but the younger of the two rolled away and bent fire at him, which he avoided by hopping into the air.
"No Firebending," a guard told Zuko, breaking through the thin crowd. "Into the cooler!" As Zuko was led away, Sokka shared a quick look with Suki, who was still mopping the floor, before walking away. Azula walked away as well, still intent on finding Naruto's cell.
Later, Sokka made his way to the cooler Zuko was here and opened the doors. "I can take you back to your cell if you've learned your lesson," he told him.
He raised his head and breathed a little fire, warming himself up. "Yes, I have…completely," he said, standing up and revealing all the bolts and screws the cooler was supposed to have.
He smiled. "I got Suki and Chit Sang out of their cells a few minutes ago," he whispered. "They'll be waiting for us at the shore, Azula too."
"Someone's coming!" He yanked Sokka into the cooler and closed the door.
"Yeah, new arrivals coming in at dawn," one guard told the other as they walked through past the coolers.
"Anybody interesting?" asked the other guard.
"Nah, just the usual," he answered. "Some robbers, a couple traitors, some war prisoners, though I did hear there might be a pirate."
"No fooling!"
Both Zuko and Sokka looked at each other. "War prisoners," Zuko repeated. "It could be your father."
"I know." Suddenly, things were beginning to look up for him.
"Well, what should we do? Are you going ahead with the plan or are we waiting another night?"
"I don't know. Is it right for me to risk Suki's freedom, all of our freedom on the slim chance that my dad is gonna show up?" It was a risky decision to even begin thinking of.
"It's your call, Sokka."
That night, Chit Sang, Azula and Suki were waiting on the shoreline. They heard something scraping on rock. Turning around, they saw that Sokka and Zuko were rolling the detached cooler down the slope. "Took you long enough," Chit Sang told them as he and Suki helped with the rolling. "This here's my girl and my best buddy, they're coming too." He looked down at the two extra people there.
"Fine," Sokka said. "Everybody in the cooler, let's go." They moved the cooler into the water, ready to go.
"I'm not coming," Azula stated, surprising Sokka and Zuko.
"Why not?" asked her brother.
"I came here to free Naruto. I just only found where his cell is. I'm not leaving this rock without him," she told him firmly. Her feet were planted, and she didn't look like she was going to move willingly
"That's your choice." He turned to face Sokka, who had uncovered his Water Tribe gear from where he had stowed it and put on his jian. "But are you sure you wanna go? You're the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself. Redeem your honor. Rescuing your dad is your chance."
"Your dad?" repeated Suki, surprised to hear that little tidbit of information.
Sokka turned to face them. "If I had just cut my losses at the invasion, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess," he told them. "Maybe sometimes it's better to call it quits before you fail."
"No, it's not," Zuko told him. "Look, Sokka, you're going to fail a lot before things work out."
"That supposed to make feel better?" he asked, standing up and walking away.
"Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again…"
"Seriously, not helping."
"You have to try every time." The Scarred Dragon walked forward and grabbed his shoulder. "You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail."
"Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?" Chit Sang asked pointedly.
"…No. I'm staying," Sokka declared, earning a nod of approval from Azula. "You guys go. You've been here long enough," he told Suki.
"I'm not leaving without you, Sokka," she replied.
"I'm staying too," Zuko said.
"Not me, I'm out," Chit Sang declared. He pushed the cooler into the water and hopped in. "Let's roll, baby."
"We gave up our only chance of escaping," Sokka stated as they watched the cooler float away. "I hope we haven't made a huge mistake."
The cooler floated away on the current. The problem was the current was a slow one. By the time morning had come around, the passengers were sweating and still in view of the prison. "This current is so slow," Chit Sang groused. He stood up and ripped a piece off the cooler. "I can use this to paddle." When he put the makeshift paddle into the water, some of it splashed onto his hand. He dropped the paddle; stared at his hand, and then screamed loudly in pain (he would later claim it was a manly yell).
His scream managed to attract the attention of a guard. The alarm bell rang, and the warden showed up on the wall. "Guards, secure the perimeter and lock down the prisoners! Now!" he ordered. The guards kept control over the prisoners by use of fire whips.
While this all went on, Sokka, Zuko, Azula and Suki were trying to sneak back into the prison. "The plan failed! They're caught!" Sokka announced as they heard the alarm go off and the guards disappearing. They moved along the outside of the wall faster.
"Get the fugitives and throw them in the cooler!" the warden ordered as he stood next to a large ballista.
"Uh…they are in a cooler, sir," aa guard manning the ballista told him.
"One's that bolted down and not floating in the water! This is a lockdown! We have new prisoners arriving! Everything must be completely secure!" The guard got the point. He aimed the ballista down at the cooler and fired the bolt. It hit the cooler and the line tightened up, pulling it back to the prison.
Sokka and the others managed to get back into the prison. "The gondola's moving," Sokka stated as they watched with a clear view of the gondola. The car came into the platform and stopped. "This is it. If my dad's not there, we risked everything for nothing."
"We had to," Suki told him, taking his hand.
"Come on, come on," he urged the gondola as it stopped, trying to will its door opened. One of the guards opened the car door and the first prisoner stepped out.
"Is that him?" Zuko asked the Tribesman.
"My dad doesn't have a nose ring." He turned his attention back to the gondola. "Where is he?" he asked as the prisoners walked out of the car. Finally, the last one got out. "That's it? That can't be it."
"I'm sorry, Sokka," Suki told him.
"Oh, no." He had risked everything again and nothing had come of it.
"Hey, you!" said one of the guards, getting their attention again. "Get off the gondola!"
When he heard that, his hope rose. When the last prisoner stepped off the gondola, he was overjoyed. "Dad," he whispered.
The door to Naruto's cell opened. "On your feet," the guard ordered.
"What did I do this time?" Naruto asked, not moving from his slab of a bed
Three more guards entered the cell. "You didn't do anything. It's time for your punishment." The blonde was yanked off the bed and led out of the cell.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
Yes, I had Yāo Jing legitimized. How else am I going to get a fight for the crown later on? She is a daughter of a whore. So, unless she was legitimized, she has no claim to the throne.
I know that Azula wasn't around a lot in this chapter. She's looking for Naruto, not Hakoda. So she would be doing her own thing.
I'll bet there are some of you who are going to complain about how Naruto wasn't shown enough in this chapter. Please remember, this is a two-part thing.
What the warden has for Naruto will be shown next chapter. I'll give you fair warning, it's not going to be pretty.
I see you all next chapter!