I want to apologise to you all for not updating for so long. I had a huge writers block while writing this chapter. I had to rewrite it thrice while receiving a very nasty anonymous review from someone that was void of any constructive criticism. So I was a bit down for a couple days and didn't have the motivation to write anymore, BUT, finally I finished this chapter and I can FINALLY begin the next part of this book. I'm so excited! Anyway, enjoy reading this new chapter!

Chapter 11 – Siege of the North

Her muscles and lungs ached when she fell into the water, but she used her bending to create a strong current that would lead her to an opening in the walls of the Tribe. She knew exactly where to go, having lived here for 6 years. Once she resurfaced inside the borders, she knew she couldn't keep wandering here with a Fire Nation outfit on. But it would have to do, seeing she wasn't about to steal clothes from another person's home.

A large explosion, however, blocked her from going any further. The attack of Zhao had begun, apparently. Large piles of snow and ice plummeted down towards her. She tried to stop the avalanche that was running towards her, but it was too much. While quickly running towards a safer place, she was suddenly attacked by a water whip, which knocked her down and fell into one of the canals beside her. She grimaced by the impact of the whip while hurriedly looking behind her to see who attacked her which turned out to be one of the Water Tribe soldiers, probably thinking she was one of Zhao's soldiers, already feeling warm blood seeping from her side, but the hotness was soon replaced by the cold seawater which stung her fresh wound.

She tried bending the icy water around her to guide her towards a more secluded spot where she could continue her search for Zuko and her family once again, trying not to let the coldness affect her. She felt lucky that she had been part of the Northern Water Tribe for so long, seeing she could make her way quite well without getting lost. Finally, she reached the location she was trying to get to. It was behind the palace, nearby the entrance of the Spirit Oasis. She knew that that spot was probably empty and safe because of its location; far into the Water Tribe so hopefully, if the defence of the Tribe was any good – like she thought it was – then nobody would be here.

She resurfaced and bent the water to lift her up and put her on the snowy surface. She entered the Oasis and didn't find it unusual that it was void of any people. Warmth engulfed her like a blanket and made her sigh in bliss. But all of a sudden she was startled by a screech coming from, what seemed, a lemur. It landed in front of her on one of the branches of one of the many trees that were present in the Oasis and stared at her with its big eyes.

''Wait a second…'' she whispered to herself. She recognised it then as the creature she had seen flying around with Katara, Sokka and Aang. So that would mean that they were close.

''Katara!'' Milah screamed from the top of her lungs. She didn't even mind her wounds anymore. All she was focusing on right now was finding her lost family. ''Sokka! Aang!''

But no one answered. She hesitated for a second, but shouted out eventually, ''Zuko!'' Her heart contracted upon saying his name. His face appeared in her mind, clouded by betrayal and something else she couldn't yet fathom. It hurt her almost unbearably that he had left her once again, after so many times.

She had gotten to think about their relationship over the past two weeks, since she got nothing else to do anyway, and found that she had grown to care for Zuko, even after all the things he had done to hurt her, intentional or not.

Her train of thoughts was broken by another loud explosion. It sounded like it came from the Tribe which was shielded by the borders of the protected Spirit Oasis. Battle cries were heard from everywhere. The sounds were terrifying, to say the least, but Milah didn't feel that way. She only felt courage at that moment. After all, this had been her Tribe once. They were her brothers and, possibly, sisters out there, dying to protect their loved ones and Tribe.

Milah knew what she had to do. She didn't think of Katara or Sokka or Zuko or Iroh, no, she only thought of what was necessary then. And she needed to stand up and fight for the people that had cared for her for all those years. For Pakku.

She stood up, determined, and turned around to walk over towards the entrance of the Spirit Oasis. The sun had set already, making her wonder how much time she had spent searching for Zuko. The moon had crept its way into the sky, illuminating her surroundings with dreamy white light. Strength seeped into her muscles and bones. With a quicker pace, she made her way towards the fight, feeling like she could participate, even though she was still wounded, sore, fatigued and hungry.

But, upon exiting the Oasis, a large object made its way towards her head and before she could stop the attack, it hit her head, almost splitting her skull and knocking her out efficiently.

Zhao was sat on top of his rhino, smirking at the sight of the little Water Tribe girl he had laid eyes on ever since meeting her, lying unconsciously on the ground. One of his guards had spotted her and expertly knocked her out. She was wearing Fire Nation armour, making him question where in the world she had gotten that. But, the Admiral knew this wasn't the time to debate the history of that insignificant girl. No, he had much more important matters to attend to.

''Jung, take her,'' he called out to the guard, who saluted and heaved the girl upon his rhino.

Meanwhile, Iroh was looking worriedly towards the girl he had grown fond of. She didn't deserve to be treated like this, but sadly, he couldn't do anything about it at the moment. He had to keep his focus on the task he had assigned to himself. He had to stop Zhao from killing Tui, no matter what. He only hoped for Zuko to notice her and free her at some point.

''Bring her towards the ships. She'll be good entertainment once we're done here,'' Zhao laughed with his guards. Iroh's eyes clouded over but didn't move from his spot. He apologised to her in his head, casting his eyes down.

After the guard led her away from the small party, Zhao continued his path towards the entrance to the Oasis. Warmth met them, making some of the Fire Nation men sigh in delight. It had been a long time since they had felt warmth like this, seeing they had been up north for almost a month now.

''This is it!'' Zhao yelled and spread his arms in victory. ''This will be the downfall for those Water Tribe peasants. This day will go down in history.'' Iroh's eyes squinted from anger and terror when Zhao mounted off his rhino only to walk towards the little pond.

Two small koi fish were seen swimming in circles inside of it. Tui and La.

Zhao reached inside his breast pocket to fetch a small pouch and before Iroh could object, he had bent down to grab Tui. And immediately, the moon turned into a red colour, illuminating the entire world in blood-red light instead of the soft, white colour it always was.

'' I am… a legend, now,'' Zhao exclaimed, fuelling Iroh's anger. He could feel his palms heat up because of the heavy emotion. ''The Fire Nation will, for generations, tell stories about the great Zhao, who darkened the moon. They will call me, Zhao the Conqueror, Zhao the Moon Slayer, Zhao the Invincible!'' And out of nowhere, a lemur jumped on top of the Admiral's head, making him jump around. Iroh saw where it came from. The Avatar had entered the pond. ''Ugh ... Get it off! Get it off!'' And once the lemur was off of Zhao's head, the Admiral noticed the newcomers as well.

All of them prepared for battle, but Iroh stepped back a little, obscuring himself from anyone's view by stepping behind a tree. He had to keep his eyes on Zhao.

''Don't bother,'' Zhao threatened them when holding the sack up, raising his fist as if to burn the fish inside of it. Aang immediately sprang into action.

''Zhao, don't!'' the little kid tried to reason with him. Iroh was ready to intervene but found that the Avatar was handling it pretty well. So he waited.

''It's my destiny, to destroy the moon and the Water Tribe,'' Zhao retorted. Aang cringed. Iroh was already stepping forward, coming back to his previous statement that Aang was handling it well. The look on Zhao's face was deceiving and lying.

''Destroying the moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world,'' Aang told the Admiral. Iroh thought it was time to intervene at last.

''He is right, Zhao,'' the old man agreed with him. Zhao turned around to face him, his expression awfully calm and collected. Iroh tensed up.

''General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?'' Iroh was fuming because of his careless words.

''I'm no traitor, Zhao, the Fire Nation needs the moon, too; we all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you ten-fold. Let it go, now!'' By the end of his speech, he was screaming at the smirking, stubborn man. He moved to release the koi fish back into the pond and La greeted his companion with glee, but before all of them could sigh out in relieve, Zhao hesitated and fired at the fish, burning and killing it swiftly. The entire world turned grey upon the moon's disappearance.

Meanwhile, Zuko woke up from his forced slumber. A sharp pain went through his head, having been hit hard by Milah's little sister. Ropes were tied around him, but the one that tied him clearly didn't have any experience on the matter. In no time, he had gotten himself loose and stealthily climbed off the flying bison. It was then that he noticed the moon had disappeared. Battle cries were heard from the other direction from which he was headed. It was his uncle, fighting off Fire Nation guards.

When Zuko made a move to help his uncle but retracted after seeing the Avatar and his friends. He wasn't in the mood and right state to fight them off, so he looked towards his uncle once more, saw he was winning, prayed that Iroh would be safe and exited the Spirit Oasis silently and quick.

Once outside, in the streets, it was evident that the Fire Nation troops were winning. Some of the Tribe's men were bleeding heavily in corners, scorched by the fire and on the brink of death. The sight of the war hurt his eyes and his heart weighed heavy against his chest.

But what really attracted his attention was the sight of a small Fire Nation soldier laying on the ground with distinct womanly curves. And the Fire Nation soldier that was hovered over her, moving to pick her up.

''Hey!'' Zuko called out to the soldier. He looked up and took his helmet after that to show his identity. It was Amim. So that meant…

''Milah!'' Zuko whispered and ran over towards the two of them.

''Prince Zuko, I found her draped over a rhino mounted by one of Zhao's guards. I couldn't not rescue her. Who knows what he would do to her…'' Amim trailed off. Zuko's body was shaking from fury.

''I know, Amim. Thank you for this.'' Amim nodded but didn't move away.

''We should move to a more secure spot,'' he suggested. Zuko nodded and made a move to scoop her in his arms when Amim did the same. Awkwardly, they looked at one another.

''I've got this,'' Zuko grunted towards the insecure looking man before him. Amim hesitated but walked in front of them to give them cover anyway. When they found an obscured spot behind some untouched houses, Zuko laid her down again.

The Prince wiped away some of her hair from her eyes, but she didn't wake up. ''What's wrong with her?'' he asked Amim, who shrugged.

''No idea. After knocking out that incompetent guard I laid her down, and not long after you appeared,'' he answered. Zuko nodded. She was shivering, he noticed, so once again, he heated up his palms like he did that one particular night that was still evident in the back of his mind, and moved his hands up and down her body. A content sigh escaped her lips.

''She's waking up,'' Zuko said out loud instead of thinking it. It triggered Amim to get out of his guard-mode and move over towards them. He sat down on the other side of her, his eyes fixed on her face.

Zuko didn't like the way Amim was looking at her, but he knew there was nothing that could be done against it. She wasn't Zuko's, so he had no authority over her. Hadn't had for a long time, he realised.

A small sound came from Milah, tearing Zuko from his thoughts. Her eyes slowly opened and met with the golden ones she was so fond of.

''Zuko,'' she whispered, not noticing the guard that had saved her from the evil hands of Zhao.

Zuko shushed her, not seeing the hurt look on Amim's face. ''Listen, Zhao has killed the Moon Spirit and he's still out there.'' Milah sat up when he said that, grabbing her head out of pain in the process.

''He's killed the Moon Spirit? But… how?'' her voice was one of concern.

''No time to explain. Come on.'' Zuko stood up and reached out with his hand to help her up as well. When she stood on both legs again, she saw Amim for the first time.

''Amim,'' she whispered. His eyes closed upon hearing her speak his name.

''Milah, come on,'' Zuko tried pulling her away from the scene. Then she noticed the absence of the moon. The ice and snow creaked underneath her step, but instead of the spiritual connection she had with it, she felt nothing. It was like there was a big hole inside of her.

Zuko grabbed her hand then, wanting to get to Zhao as soon as possible. ''Amim, check if it's safe.'' The soldier nodded curtly, took one last glance towards Milah, and turned around the corner to check if they could pass. He gestured it was okay to go, so all three of them stealthily made their way around the Tribe, without being seen by anyone. It was on top of the ruined castle where she saw him.

''Zuko! It's Zhao!'' She pointed towards him. He followed her finger quickly, seeing the silhouette of the murderous Admiral in the darkness.

''Good,'' he spitted out through his teeth, anger fuelling his energy. ''Amim, protect her. I'll come and get her when I've defeated him.''

''Come back… to me,'' Milah whispered, still holding Zuko's hand. His golden eyes burned into her bright blue ones like they did so many times. A shiver went down his spine and before he could stop himself, he had pressed his lips against her forehead. A little sigh escaped her mouth, he heard. His hand caressed her cheek for the last time.

''Always,'' he answered softly and after that, he gave a nod to Amim, turned around and left the two of them to fight Zhao.

And after he left, Milah couldn't stop the terror inside of her that was beginning to grow. She had already lost her bending tonight… she couldn't lose Zuko as well.

''Milah, come, we have to find a place to hide,'' Amim said but just after, a blinding blue light filled up the sky once more. The Water Tribe girl quickly looked up, hoping to feel the rush of her bending once more, but the moon wasn't back. Instead, it was a huge shining blue body of water.

''It's… the Spirit of the Sea. It's La,'' Milah whispered to herself, tears appearing in her eyes. She dropped to her knees, gesturing for Amim to follow her lead. It took one look upon them, making Milah kneel before the magnificent figure. She could only hope Amim would do the same.

When it passed them upon seeing they respected the Spirit, Milah looked up and could just see Aang in the middle of the body. ''It's the Avatar,'' she whispered, making Amim look as well. And indeed, the Avatar was merged with La, unleashing terrifying power onto Zhao's army and navy.

''Look, Zuko has started the fight,'' Amim grabbed her arm to haul her up again and made her look towards the rooftop of the palace. Fire blasts could be seen from where they stood, two figures dancing around each other, giving quite a performance.

''Shouldn't we help him?'' she asked the man standing beside her. He shook his head.

''I don't know,'' he simply answered. This didn't calm Milah even in the slightest, so when she saw Zuko almost falling off the edge, she made a move to go and help him in whatever way she could. However, a hand grabbing her arm once more stopped her.

''Stop! Listen, you've lost your bending. You will only distract him, believe me,'' he tried to hold her back knowingly. Her look darted between Amim and Zuko, not knowing what she could do.

''Fine,'' she whispered finally, tearing away her arm from his grasp. His eyes clouded over with a hurtful emotion, she saw, but it didn't bother at that moment. Her head was filled with worry for someone else. There wasn't any place for Amim right now.

She turned around again, wanting to keep an eye on Zuko, but they had disappeared from the rooftop. ''Where are they?'' Her own hand now grasped Amim's.

''I don't know… but-'' he tried to answer her, but was caught off by Milah running into the direction where she could get a better look of the building. Amim tried to catch up with her, but she was too fast.

''Wait! Milah, please!'' Finally, she stopped, staring at the two fighting men she had finally found. They were on a bridge of one of the outer canals, near the border of the Tribe. And before either of them could see her, Amim pulled her around a corner.

''Milah, listen, please just once,'' he panted in her face. His hair was plastered against his forehead as a result of sweat, snow and ice. Her heart finally made a little place then, to consider his feelings. She knew he loved her, although the feelings weren't reciprocated.

''Amim… I'm sorry.'' She didn't even know why she was apologising. Or she just didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to admit that her heart wasn't with the kind and caring man before her, but with the man that was fighting the older and more experienced Admiral. The heir to the throne of the Fire Nation. The man she could never be with, no matter how much she wanted to.

Tears welled up in her eyes, making her hate herself for being so weak. But the weakness washed away suddenly for the moon reappeared into the sky, energising her once more. The water that was flowing through the nearby canal called out to her, making her want to bend the water again after a short period of time where she hadn't felt the connection.

And she knew this was the moment where she could finally help Zuko. So after forcefully shoving Amim, she ran around the corner, prepared to battle Zhao. But, a large blue hand shot out of the water, almost grabbing Zuko in the process.

''Watch out!'' she screamed from the top of her lungs, quickly sending a big wave towards his direction to push him out of the way. He was pushed against the wall of the building behind him, then, but quickly got up upon seeing Zhao being taken away by the blue hand which, Milah guessed, was a remnant of Aang's Spirit form with La.

She ran towards them at full speed, preparing to fight off the hand in case it would grab Zuko as well. However, Zuko got on top of the railing of the bridge, wanting to save Zhao from getting abducted by the Spirit.

''Take my hand!'' Zuko yelled, but Zhao didn't take it. And before he knew it, Milah had grabbed him by the arm, taking him away from the railing.

Roses and jasmine filled his senses. A blur of red and brown dragged him away from saving Zhao, not wanting to let him die, even though he was psychotic. Womanly arms were wrapped around his neck then, trapping him in a tight embrace. His own arms went around her middle as well. He buried his nose into her soft hair, inhaling her scent deeply.

He wished they could stay like this forever, forgetting all about his worries and goals for a moment. Only Milah mattered at that moment. His heart stuttered and his stomach fluttered.

But, alas, the moment didn't last long. A voice interrupted them sharply, ''Milah! Zuko! Run!'' It was Amim, screaming at them from a distance. The pair was just in time to pull away from each other to see the Fire Nation soldier being dragged off by Water Tribe men.

''There's more!'' one of them shouted to the rest. A dozen rounded the corner, preparing to imprison them.

''Fuck,'' Zuko whispered next to her, trying to think quick, and pulled Milah's hand to follow him.

Together, they ran through the streets of the Water Tribe, seeking for a way out. But, Milah stopped them eventually.

''This is of no use,'' she whispered, fear in her voice. ''There's no way out… unless you're a Waterbender. So, follow me.'' She led them towards a weak spot in the wall, one she knew she could bend so they could escape unseen. When they finally arrived, Zuko shot her a confusing look, not knowing what she was about to do. Shouts were heard behind them, signalling that the Water Tribe soldiers were closing in on them.

Milah tried to focus on the snow and ice that were keeping the wall together and finally found the weak spot calling out to her. She made the wall collapse into a puddle and was thankful that the remaining part of the wall was left untouched and could still hold its ground.

It was a small hole, but it would have to do. ''Quickly! I'll bend it back in no time,'' she encouraged the man beside her to get trough their escape route. And finally, both of them were behind the wall. Milah quickly turned around to bend the wall back together and was thankful to see that she was just in time. The men rounded the corner but weren't in time to see their escape.

She fell to her knees then. The adrenaline had left her body, knowing she was safe now. But another thought occurred to her. If she had stayed where she was, just now, would the Water Tribe really have hurt her? Or, upon seeing she was a Waterbender as well, would they have captured Zuko and left her alone in peace?

She couldn't continue this course in her mind, of course. She couldn't leave Zuko to the Northern Water Tribe even if she tried. He would be killed, for sure, and that was something she couldn't bear witness. So helping him escape and maybe even escaping with him were both good things. Events she didn't regret for even a second, for right now, she was with him. And that was all she wanted right now.

So she turned around, faced him, and gave him a small smile. He returned one and held out his hand to help her up. And once she was standing up, neither of them let go.

''Thank you,'' Zuko whispered and stared into her eyes. ''Thank you for not abandoning me. For… staying with me.'' She smiled back.

''Of course,'' she whispered back. ''But…''

''Yes?'' he encouraged her. She let her head drop down.

''Don't leave me, ever.'' His hand found her chin to push her head back up. ''Promise me that, Zuko. Don't ever leave me. I chose you, now, so you must promise me that when the time comes, you will choose me. Because if you don't…'' She didn't finish the sentence, hoping he knew what would happen if he did. He chuckled a little, making Milah's chest vibrate.

''I promise,'' he whispered back and leaned in, but before his lips could touch hers, he changed his direction and planted his lips on her cheek.

Both of them knew that they couldn't share a kiss. Not now, not when they both were too filled with emotion, fatigue, hunger and thirst. A kiss would come some other time when both of them were ready and sure. When they had sorted out their feelings for each other. A kiss would only complicate things, and Zuko knew it as well as Milah.

So, a kiss on the cheek would do, for now.