A/N: Lovely reviewers, as always thank you so much for taking the time to leave feedback. You are the fuel that keeps this story going. The cream to my coffee. The bread to my butter. The pumpkin spice to my latte… which, by the way, is BACK at Starbucks :-D My favorite season has officially arrived, because everyone knows that Fall really starts when they roll out the Pumpkin Spice Lattes. And a shout out to all my story favoriters and followers. So glad you're here. I'd love to hear from you, so don't be shy to tell me what you think ;-)

In response to reviewers from Chapter 20:

2468sugar0: Very nice job! I can't stop reading :) Pleassee continue !
= = = Aww shucks, thank you. So glad you're enjoying it! I hope you stick around :)

AnnaAza: Genshi is definitely seeing something terrible! Every time Ozai starts to manipulate Katara (and he does it so easily, so creepily), I want to take a nice, long bath. Seeing Friendly Ozai is just wrong—he's very oily and oozing with...gah. Hurry, rescue group!
= = = I know what you mean! He is quite the expert when it comes to manipulation. Poor Katara :-P Thanks so much for being one of my faithful reviewers, AnnaAza!

JuiceKingBlah: I love this chapter! Ozai is just so devious! I'm secretly hoping that it would be Katara and Ozai.(Don't judge me! AH! Even though I'm a Zutara shipper!) Their chemistry is just so wonderful! I'm glad I came upon your fanfic! :D
= = = Haha, I have to admit I like the taboo idea of Ozai and Katara (which is why I decided to write this story!) even though, like you, I am a die-hard Zutara shipper. It is creepy at times and a bit twisted, but that's what makes it so fun to write ;-D Thanks so much for reviewing!

Fog curled around the trees like a dragon's final exhale as Aang lied in Appa's saddle, his cold eyes staring up at the friends huddled around him. He didn't say a word or even smile – he just sat up and stared at them callously, his eyes shifting to meet their respective gazes.

"Oh, Aang," Suki cooed, placing a tender hand on his shoulder. "We're so glad you're back. Not a moment too soon. We're so close to finding Katara, but we really need your help to –"

"Stop touching me." Suki gasped as Aang drew back, his face twisted into a sour expression. "How did I – why am I here? I'm supposed to be in the spirit world. Where is Jaaku?"

Sokka cocked an eyebrow at the warrior girl and then back at Aang. "Who?" The friends exchanged concerned glances. Something wasn't right. "Aang did you hear what we said?" Sokka asked, gripping the boy's shoulder to draw his attention. Aang didn't look at him. "We're hot on their trail. We could have Katara back safely as soon as today." He paused and grasped both of Aang's shoulders, turning his body toward him. "But we need you."

Aang turned to Sokka then, brows drawn low over his hardened eyes. "Oh yeah, she needs me when she's in trouble. Didn't seem like she needed me when everything was fine. When Mai caught her locking lips in the arms of my friend. Ex-friend." He shot a blistering glare at Zuko. The Fire Lord's posture deflated as he scowled at the ground. "Why should I run to her rescue? So she can double cross me again?" Aang waved them off, jumping down from Appa's saddle and began walking away. "Forget it."

"Aang!" Zuko jumped down after him. "This isn't only about Katara, or me, or you. Put aside your personal vendetta for one second and think. We have to deal with my father. If you walk away right now, you'll be condemning the world and everyone you love to despair. The world can't handle another reign of terror under Ozai." Aang didn't turn around, he just kept walking. Zuko grasped a fistful of hair, his jaw tightening. "You're the Avatar," he called after him. "It's your responsib –"

"That's right, I AM the Avatar!" Aang spun around, his tattoos and eyes glowing brightly. His feet hovered above the ground as he began to levitate, climbing higher in the air. "I am the most powerful being in the entire universe! The very strands of fate are mine to bend if I so choose." The boy's innocent face was becoming unrecognizable, contorting wildly with rage. His words echoed with that ethereal chorus of ancient voices. "And foolishly you have chosen to defy me, toiling to save that hussy despite her flagrant betrayal."

Zuko watched in dismay as a swirling vortex of dark clouds formed at the Avatar's feet and whirled around him, tearing apart the foliage below. He could feel his ears popping with the surging air pressure as a sudden burst of wind knocked him off balance.

"Aang, stop!" he shouted. "Please! We're still your friends!"

Dirt and debris were tearing through the air, stinging their faces. Zuko shielded his eyes as a large chunk of earth was ripped from the ground beside him, and then another, hurtling through the air to encircle Aang. A ragged hoop of fire blazed around him, and then a thrashing ring of water, all whisking around him violently like an angry galaxy.

"You have chosen your side," Aang's voice boomed. "And you – you are no friends of mine!"

With one deep breath, the Avatar sent all four elements blasting toward Zuko and the others.

"Aang, no!" His voice was stifled in the chaos. Zuko choked on a mouthful of dirt as he assumed a defensive stance. But it was so hard to see. In the debris that ripped around them, he never saw the boulder that came reeling from behind.

A loud crack, a jolt of pain. The world slanted out of focus.

And then there was darkness.

.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.

The soft morning mist was still sleeping in the trees as Katara gently bent a ribbon of water up from the stream and plunked it down again. She wasn't sure how long she had been at it, but her body was still mindlessly repeating the motions when she emerged from her daydream. The soothing push and pull of her element had a soporific effect on her at times. How she had missed the feel of the water as one with her body. How she had taken the freedom of it for granted.

Watching her hands as they glided through the motions, she noticed the dirt in the creases of her knuckles and caked under her fingernails. On closer inspection, her arms were also a blotched and crusted mess of dirt and dried blood from last night. She could only imagine what condition her face and hair were in. How long had it been since her last real bath? She knew Ozai was waiting for her to return with the water, but surely he could spare just a few more minutes in the name of cleanliness.

Katara checked behind her to make sure she was alone and then quickly stripped off her dress and bindings and immersed herself into the stream with a long sigh. The water was cold and biting, her hair bristling as it nipped at her mocha skin, but it felt so good to watch the dirt fade from her body. After a good scrubbing and dunking herself under the surface one last time, she reluctantly forced herself to get out, flicking the water from her body with a shake of her hand. Her shoulders slumped at her grubby old dress lying in a heap on the ground. It looked so much filthier now that she felt clean. The pale yellow looked more grey under the layers of dirt. Pursing her lips, she reached down to retrieve it and stopped short. The red dress! She had almost forgotten. It seemed a silly thing to wear out in the middle of the woods, but in the meantime she could give her other dress a decent washing. And besides, she could use a good morale booster right now.

She opened her satchel and pulled out the long red garment, holding it up before her. A small smile brightened her face. It was just as pretty as she remembered it. Pulling it over her head, she wriggled into it and smoothed the fabric down with her hands, twisting around to her inspect herself. The gold and black hem detailing was exquisite, the black sash around her waist so dainty. Her posture lengthened in approval as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear and grinned.

"What in Agni's name are you wearing?"

Katara yelped and spun around to see Ozai gaping at her, his brows pulled together as though he were inspecting a dangerous animal.

"What, this?" She glanced down and tousled the skirt of her garment. "I bought it back at that market. Sorry, I couldn't resist. I thought it was pretty."

Ozai huffed, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "You thought it was… pretty." A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth until it stretched across his face, erupting into a vicious laugh. "Do you have any idea what you're wearing?"

One arm crossed her chest to grasp her opposite arm. She suddenly felt like the butt of a cruel joke. "It's just… a dress. What's wrong with it?"

"Oh yes, it's a dress," he said, stepping toward her. "The sort of dress worn in the Fire Nation meant to be seen by the eyes of one's lover only. This dress is a symbol for… how can I put this delicately?" In two more strides Ozai was before her, burning her with that fiery gaze. "Desire and intimacy."

Her mouth went dry, an ache in the back of her throat. "Oh, gods," she croaked out. "You mean this is Fire Nation lingerie?!"

Despite the satiny red fabric on her skin, she suddenly felt naked. Katara hugged her arms across her bosom, hoping it would make her invisible. That old crone who sold it to her… Katara knew she'd looked at her funny when she picked it out.

"Well – stop staring then!" she snapped. "How was I supposed to know?"

"I would think it rather obvious, paper thin satin and all." He traced a V on his chest that mirrored her low neckline. "Am I honestly to believe that you chose just such a dress by mistake? That you donned it for amusement's sake in the moments before returning with the water?"

Her face was burning now. She was sure her skin was beginning to match her dress. How could she have been so stupid?! "Yes!" she spat. "My clothes are filthy – there's dried blood on them." She thrust an exasperated finger toward the pile of clothes. "They have to be washed and this is all I have."

"I see. How convenient." His eyes narrowed with a hard smile as he leaned in slightly. "First, you accidentally wake up in my arms and now you just happen to have purchased a racy, suggestive garment. You know, I would never have pegged a Water Tribe woman like yourself as such a desperate seductress."

Katara flinched. Her heartbeat felt heavy, sluggish. He was such a megalomaniac. "Ugh! Think what you want," she snarled, turning her back and yanking her soiled clothes off the ground. "I'm gonna clean them here before we leave, so I can end your narcissistic fantasy."

She thought she heard him chuckle under his breath. "Well, make it quick," he replied, ignoring her snarky comment. "I'm going to douse the fire and gather our things." He turned to leave and then stopped, half facing her. "Oh and, Katara…" His eyes flitted down her figure and then back up to settle on her gaze. "Do us both a favor and put your cloak back on."

Her frown hardened into a scowl as she watched him leave. In a flurry, she stomped to the stream bank and plunged the soiled, bloody dress into the water, scrubbing furiously. How dare he suggest she knowingly bought lingerie in an attempt to seduce him like some sleazy harlot? She had some self-respect! But that wasn't enough. Then he had to insult her by implying she was painful to look at in such a state. Sure, she'd seen prettier girls – maybe her hips were too slender and her breasts were a bit modest and she had a few scars – but was she really that bad looking?

Unless…

Katara blinked and looked up, her thoughts trailing off. The clothes swayed gently in the current as her hands slackened, lips parting as a new thought formed itself in her mind. Unless he had liked the way she looked. That could explain his dismayed expression when he stumbled upon her, the overstated teasing, that momentary fire as their eyes met. And the reason he told her to cover up. So he wouldn't be tempted by her. It seemed almost… gentlemanly of him. Was that even possible?

If there was one thing Katara was learning lately, it was that anything is possible and some things are not as they seem. If it were true that Ozai was attracted to her, that would change everything about her situation, about their relationship. She would be forced to contend with her own feelings for him so soon, robbed of the luxury of sorting through them at her own pace.

Her eyes closed as she shook her head, releasing a sigh. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself. She didn't know if any of that were true. But if it were…

Was she ready for that?

.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.

It had taken every last shred of their efforts combined to subdue Aang. When they finally did, it proved no easy task to keep him there.

"Find some rope, fetters, anything! We've got to tie him down!" Hakoda bellowed as Aang flailed and snarled under his muscley grasp. Appa's saddle rocked and swayed under the force of the boy's thrashing. "I can't hold him much longer!"

Sokka unhooked Appa's reigns and staggered toward his father, wrapping the leather around Aang's hands and feet as quickly as he could and then secured it tightly to the saddle.

Hakoda and Sokka both fell back with a groan, joining the others who were clutching at their injuries and catching their breath.

Zuko sat up slowly, his head still throbbing. Blood was oozing from a large gash in his head, trickling down his forehead into his eye. He wiped it away with his sleeve and squinted through the pain. It took a moment for his eyes to focus before he could make out the extent of the damage Aang inflicted.

Trees lay on their sides, some broken in half, ripped up by the roots. Huge chunks were missing from the ground, nearby trees and patches of earth scorched and sizzling. Appa's saddle was tilting to the side, riddled with debris and streaks of blood. Around him, his friends groaned and tended their wounds. There were black eyes, bruises, gashes, sprained joints. But thankfully they were all still intact. It could have been worse. Much worse.

"I guess – it's safe – to assume there's something wrong with Aang," Sokka panted, sprawled on the floor of the saddle. Aang writhed and roared beside him, his words muffled by the gag in his mouth.

From the corner of his eye, Zuko saw Genshi shift nervously, deliberately lowering her gaze. There was an air of unease in her posture, like she knew something they didn't. Then he remembered.

"Genshi, you said something about Aang's aura before. Something about the line between good and evil. If there's something you're not telling us…"

All eyes were pinned on Genshi now. The young woman sighed and looked up. "It's worse than I thought. I had hoped that I'd just caught him at a low point and that his aura would brighten with time. But seeing him like this…" She swallowed hard and shook her head. "…It's obvious that something sinister is going on inside him. Good, peaceful people like Aang don't transform into this without cause. Something must have happened to bring about such an ominous change in your friend. Think back – was there ever a time when Aang had a close brush with evil, one that may have nearly destroyed him?"

The friends looked at each other, eyes widening with the same realization. "Uh, actually yeah," Sokka said. "On the day of the comet, when he fought Fire Lord Ozai, Aang energybent his firebending away. But he almost didn't make it. He was so close to being corrupted by Ozai's energy that I thought we'd lost him." His expression tightened at the memory. "Do you think that could have something to do with it?"

"Yes," she nodded, stone-faced. "Our energies are like a fingerprint. We cannot touch another's energy without it leaving an imprint, however faint, on our souls. That's why energybending can be so dangerous. Every time we touch another's energy, a part of them stays with us. It's likely that Aang's had this buried inside him since the comet, but it was lying dormant, waiting for the opportune moment to awaken and strike."

Her eyes flicked to Zuko and then down to her hands folded tightly in her lap.

"Is there any way to help him?" Sokka asked.

Genshi chewed on her lip in thought. "If we found a way to purify his energy, I believe the darkness within him would be cleansed away. But in order to do this, we'd have to seek out a spiritual healer or someone highly skilled in energybending to extract the darkness left behind by Ozai. I'm not sure we have that kind of time."

"We definitely don't," Toph asserted. "We finally have Katara right under our noses. It'd be crazy to just up and leave now."

"But doing this without Aang could be suicide." Suki leaned forward, one hand on her stiff neck. "We've all seen what Ozai's capable of. Even if we caught up to them now and decided to untie Aang, he'd surely turn on us instead." Her eyes darted between her friends as her voice lowered. "With both Aang and Ozai to fight, our chances would be slim to none."

"Well what do we do then?" Sokka's bewildered tone spoke for all of them.

Zuko studied his friends, a huddled up mess of battered bodies. They were in no condition to confront his father. If he was desperate enough to devise such an elaborate prison break and go through this much trouble, he wouldn't go down without a deadly fight. But they couldn't turn back now, not when they were so close. Visions of Katara – bound and gagged, defenseless – kept running through his mind. She was likely terrified. There was no telling what kind of terrible things she'd already suffered by Ozai's hand. He couldn't betray her like that.

He blinked away the cloud of thoughts to find the others all staring at him. His eyebrows lifted in question.

"It's your call, Zuko," Hakoda nodded grimly.

Zuko ran a hand through his hair down to the back of his neck. He stared past them at nothing for a long moment.

"They've slipped through our fingers for too long now," he said at length. "If we forfeit this chance to catch them, we may never get another opportunity." He sat up straighter and squared his jaw. "We have to try."

.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.

Ozai cut back through the forest in large strides, his fists clenched tightly as his sides. Hard as he tried, he could not shake the image of that waterbender in that scandalous garment from his mind. Dazzling blue eyes playing off deep crimson, cascading even more brilliantly over her chocolate skin. There was not a curve on her body that wasn't accentuated by the thin fabric, leaving very little work for his imagination. Damn that girl.

He hadn't gotten far when a strange guttural groan somewhere in the distance froze him in place. He listened hard, his eyes darting across the landscape. It could be a platypus-bear or a giant rhino-hog, but somehow he knew that didn't fit. The sound was different somehow, exotic, and yet vaguely familiar though he couldn't place why. It didn't come again and he almost wondered if he had imagined it when another sound pierced the silence. It was the distant sound of dead branches crushing underfoot though amplified a hundred fold, as though under the weight of fire navy tank. And then human voices, one of which he swore he recognized. Almost too faint to detect but unmistakable.

A surge of adrenaline made his hair stand on end as the realization hit him. The Avatar's bison. His wretched disgrace of a son. How had they tracked him here?! By Agni, he'd be damned if he was going down now. Not when he had come this far.

Turning heel, he stormed back toward the stream to find the girl knelt on the bank. The clothes hung loosely from her limp hands, still dripping with water. She didn't seem to notice him.

He stepped forward and gripped her arm, dragging her up to standing.

"Ow, hey! What are you doing?" she yelped.

"Quiet!" he hissed. "We need to go. Now." He began hauling her behind him, bolting as quietly as possible back to the den. They'd gone through too much trouble to abandon their things, and he didn't want to leave any evidence of their presence.

As he scanned the forest for any sign of approach from his pursuers, he suddenly realized how thin the forest had become under autumn's cool breath. If he ran, there would be no cover to veil him. They'd spot his movements with ease and be upon him in no time. A web of expletives was spinning under his breath. He couldn't let it end this way. There was a way out of this, he just had to find it.

They reached the den and Ozai stuffed their loose gear into his satchel and slung it over his shoulder. He stomped out what remained of the fire and whipped out his map.

"What is going on?" Katara asked. "Who are we running from?"

"Shh, just trust me." Ozai didn't look up, his eyes darting frantically over the hand-sketched diagram. They could cut straight up north, beeline to Frostbite Cove where Jiao was stationed. It would be quite a detour to his destination, but nothing major in the scheme of things now. And he'd have reinforcements then. It was just a matter of getting there. Of course, they'd have to contend with the Bashou Mountains, those forsaken peaks; no easy task and he'd heard the stories. But right now, it was the best option. The only option.

The plan now was to hide out, wait for those imbeciles to pass and then bolt north. He looked around the den, his attention turning toward the far end where the walls became swallowed by darkness.

"Come on." He gestured for Katara to follow, their footsteps a shallow echo against the low ceiling. The light diminished behind them as they made their way into the darkness. But where Ozai expected it to continue, he was met with a solid rock wall. He cursed under his breath. It wasn't far enough. There was no way they could stay out of sight if they were tracked into the den.

Ozai skimmed the enclosure, feeling around for any protrusion or cavity that might act as a shield. His hands ran along the jagged wall, searching for anything he might have missed in the dark, when his fingers fell upon a small gap running down the wall. Following the gap toward the floor, he found it split into the mouth of a narrow opening between the wall and the floor, descending into what looked like a hollow underneath the den. He stooped down and peered inside. It looked just big enough for the two of them to squeeze into.

"This way," he whispered, sliding onto the ground and lowering himself down.

"What?! No way. There could be anything in there."

"Nothing worse than what I'll do to you if you don't do as you're told." His voice was stern, but he knew the threat came out empty. He steeled his scowl, hoping to mask his desperation.

The girl heaved a frustrated sigh and knelt down, grumbling as she carefully slid her legs through the opening, her dress scraping against the toothy surface. She reached up to anchor herself on the wall as Ozai grasped her waist to guide her through. The mounds of her breasts hovered at his eye level, not a sliver of skin untraced beneath that thin satin. He tried to swallow, his throat constricting, and averted his eyes.

A chunk of rock crumbled under the girl's grasp, dropping her down hard as she shielded her face. Pebbles rained down from the wall with an ominous groan. Katara and Ozai froze, bracing themselves. Nothing happened. Without hesitation, she began wriggling herself down more quickly. Another piece of the wall broke apart as Ozai pulled her through the opening. No sooner had her feet touched the ground than the entire wall came tumbling down into the hollow, huge rocks barreling toward them. In an instant, Ozai jerked Katara into him and spun her against the wall, pressing himself as close as possible to evade the rockslide.

The tumult was deafening. He ducked his neck over her as a large boulder skimmed his shoulder, another crashing into the back of his leg. A grunt of pain escaped through clenched teeth as the warm trickle of blood oozed down his calf. Ozai steeled himself for another blow, but none came. There was only the grinding of stone as it settled into place, the pattering of pebbles as they bounced off the rubble.

The air was thick with dust and silence. Ozai coughed, tasting grit on his tongue. It wasn't until he noticed the echo of their rapid breathing, amplified in the confined space, that he realized how closely he was pressed against Katara. The waterbender, he reminded himself. In the pitch darkness, he couldn't make out her face but noticed that she didn't shift or draw away from him. She remained there against the wall, her breasts rising heavily into his chest with each breath. And then he realized that he had made no effort to move away either. His lips parted slightly at the awareness, eyes searching in the dark to read her face, her body language. But there was only darkness, thick and heavy, and the warmth of her body pinned against him.

Darkness…

That's when it dawned on him. What little light had filtered though the passageway was gone. He blinked and drew back, turning to see a black void where the entrance had stood. They were trapped. He cursed under his breath and pushed himself off the wall, stepping toward the mountain of heavy stones and rubble. The darkness was absolute but he could feel his way along the rubble. Maybe they could dig themselves out. He grasped a stone and heaved upward. It didn't even budge. He tried again in another spot. It was no use. The wall had come apart in giant slabs; what looked like a manageable rock was only the face of a deeply reaching block of stone.

He groaned and rubbed the arch of his brow. Bad to worse – the anthem of his life. From the day of his birth, nothing had ever come easy to him. It was a curse. Damn it all.

"Ozai."

The girl's voice echoed from somewhere behind, pulling him from his thoughts. Something about it stirred him deep in his core. He didn't remember her saying his name before. He didn't know why he cared.

"There's a passage here." She gestured toward what looked like another wall of their prison. But as he stepped closer, squinting into the dark, he could see a narrow break in the stone, like a corridor, bearing a slender path.

Ozai took the lead as they felt their way gingerly in the unyielding darkness, snaking through twists and bends, their arms scraping against cold fists of stone. He started to wonder if it was a good idea to follow a strange claustrophobic path with no knowledge of what awaited them at the end. But he decided it was better than the alternative and there was no use turning back now.

He wasn't sure if it was a strange trick of his eyes. A faint light seemed to be glowing from somewhere in the distance. Sleep must be catching up to him. Maybe his body wasn't at full capacity just yet. Ozai rubbed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, the light was still there. Odd.

As they progressed, it became obvious that it wasn't his imagination. The light was glowing brighter, a clear blueish-white leaking through an opening in the tunnel up ahead. "There must be an exit up here," he said over his shoulder. "Come on."

He quickened his pace, the girl's footsteps speeding up to match his own. All was not lost after all. They would slip past his son's pitiable search party without a trace and maybe even cut out some of their route. He really could not have planned it better himself. It was about time he had a change of luck.

Ozai charged through the exit, prepared to revel in their salvaged freedom, when the ground beneath him suddenly seemed to vanish, loose rocks tumbling down below him as he recovered his bearings. The girl passed through after him and gasped as she lost her footing. He reached out and seized her arm, drawing her back just before she toppled over the edge. Gripping the wall behind him with his other hand, he backed them up against it and anchored himself on the ridged surface. His heart was thumping wildly as he struggled to regain his control.

"No…" he breathed out a whisper. This was supposed to lead them to freedom, not trap them deeper underground. Now they were lost in the belly of the earth with no sense of direction and no obvious way out.

As he took in their surroundings, he could only stare slack-jawed at the sight before him. The passage had spit them out into an enormous cavern, the likes of which he had never before seen. It was more like a cathedral in its massive size and they were standing at the top. From the ceiling hung extensive stalactites and crystal formations, the latter of which were emanating a soft blue-white glow. The crystals had taken over the cavern; suspending from the ceiling, veining down the towering walls, and even sprouting from the ground in jagged tendrils like razor-sharp anemones. Far below, he could make out shallow pools of water, gleaming an opaque turquoise in the luminescent blue light. Even the spores of dust that hovered in the air winked and glinted, reflecting the cerulean glow like specks of glitter.

Katara shifted beside him and he realized that he was still holding her arm. He let go as she took a small step forward, gazing with wide-eyed amazement.

Her voice was a whisper, lost in an echo to the cavern's fathomless reach. "What is this place?"

A/N: Dun dun dunnnnn ;-) Out of the frying pan and into the fire, as they say. Please take a moment to leave me some feedback – all honest, constructive reviews (good, bad, and ugly) are gratefully accepted. It helps me grow as a writer! Thank you all!