We took the cooler down the hill. "Easy now," I said. "It's pretty steep." Sokka said nothing. He has to be disappointed in himself. There isn't anything I can do. This is his choice to make. Suki and Chit Sang came up to help when they saw us on the hill. "Took you guys a while," Chit Sang said. "This is my girl and my friend. They're coming too." He pointed at two more prisoners. His girlfriend is waving and his friend is sitting by the rocks. Sokka didn't even look up. "Fine. Everybody on. Let's get out of here." While everyone hopped into the cooler, Sokka walked over to a rock where his clothes were hidden. I joined him.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Sokka?" I asked. "You said that you were the one who needed to do this. To redeem your honor. Saving your dad is the only way."

"Your dad?" a voice said from behind me. I turned to see the voice belonged to Suki. "You came here looking for your dad?"

"If I just retreated at the invasion, we would be in this mess. Sometimes, it's just best to call it quits."

"No, Sokka," I said, "it's not. Look, you're going to fail before a lot of things work out for you. For anyone really."

"That's supposed to make me feel better, Zuko?" he asked, putting the rock back down.

"Even if you fall over and over again..."

"Still not helping," Sokka said, walking away."

"You have to get up and try every time," I said, stopping Sokka by putting my hand on his shoulder. "Eventually, one of them will work. Then, you'll stop falling. You can't just quit because you're scared you'll fail."

"If you two are done, could we go?" Chit Sang asked. "If we stay too long out here, we'll get caught." Sokka paused. "No, I'm going to stay. You guys go on ahead. My father needs me." He turned around. "You've been here long enough, Suki."

"I'm not leaving without you, Sokka. You're going to need all the help you can get to save your dad."

"I'm staying too," I said.

"All right, fine," Chit Sang said. "Well, we're out of here." Chit Sang pushed the cooler into the boiling water and hopped in after. "We gave up our only chance of escaping," Sokka said, watching them leave. "I hope we didn't make a mistake."

"We'll be fine, Sokka!" Suki said. "We can find another way out! You're still a guard after all! You can explore some more."

"Yeah, you're right," Sokka said. "You two are still prisoners."

"We can live," I said. "We just gotta find you dad and head home."

"Let's see if they make it out," Sokka said. "I just want to see if the plan would work either way."

We sat down near the wall. As morning came, I could still see the cooler in the distance. "Geez, sure is taking a while," I said.

"It kinda is," Suki said. "They're going to get caught in all this light."

Then, as if on cue, Chit Sang yelled. "Guards!" a guard from up top yelled. "Secure the perimeter! Prisoners are trying to escape!"

"The plan didn't work!" Sokka cried.

"I think it would've," I said, "if Chit Sang didn't yell."

"Yeah, he was pretty hidden," Suki said.

"Let's get out of here, before we're caught," Sokka said. He led us up the hill and towards the gondolas. "The gondola is moving," he said. "This could be it. My dad could be in there." He paused as the gondola pulled in. "If he's not there, we've risked everything for...nothing."

"We had to," Suki said. "For you."

"Aww, thanks guys," Sokka said.

"Don't get all mushy now," I said. "We still have to catch you father."

"Oh yeah, right," Sokka said. The doors opened. "Come on, come on," Sokka muttered. A man with a nose ring walked out first. He is pretty brawny. "Is that him?" I asked.

"What?" Sokka asked. "My dad doesn't wear a nose ring!"

"Right, of course," I said. We watched as more men came out. Sokka didn't seem thrilled about any of them. "That's it?" Sokka asked, disappointed. "That can't be it!"

"I'm sorry, Sokka," Suki said.

"Hey! Get off the gondola! It's not a hideout!" a male guard called. A man walked out. This one is tall. "Dad..." Sokka said.

"He's here!" Suki exclaimed. "It wasn't a waste, Sokka!"

"Dad! I can't believe it! He is here!"

"You made it, Sokka," I said. "Way to go."

Author's Note

Ok so I had a lot of fun writing the part about the Water Benders. My dad came up with it so all credit for that scene goes to him.
Thank you all for reading my story so far! I can't wait to see how many of you actually read the whole thing! Thank you for supporting me!