Katara stared at the girl in shock. Suki was the last person she expected to see here.
"Suki!" Sokka screamed, eyes bulging out of his head. "What are you doing here?!"
A wide, relieved smile broke across the Kyoshi Warrior's face at the sight of the two. "Katara, Sokka! I finally found you."
She walked closer to Sokka, gripping at the metal bars seperating them.
"S-Suki, but why.. how are you here?!" Sokka looked both happy and confused as he stared at his girlfriend.
Suki grinned, eyes sparkling. "I came to save you guys with the help of an old friend, of course."
"Aang is here?" Katara questioned, her heart fluttering traitorously.
Suki nodded excitedly at the younger girl. "Yes, he came to the tribe right after the attack looking for you."
"Why?"
"Why? Katara he cares about you, that's why."
Katara looked away, clearly not believing her.
Sokka scoffed in disbelief. "Yeah, right. That damn airhead doesn't care about anyone but himself."
Suki shook her head, exasperated. Even though she couldn't blame Sokka for being upset at the airbender, she wished he'd try to be a little more understanding.
They were interrupted by another wave of explosions, making them all flinch.
Katara's concerned eyes snapped to Suki's. "Is he fighting out there all by himself?"
Oh god, Suki was so engrossed in their conversation she had completely forgotten why they were here in the first place.
"Yeah he-" she was cut off by Katara's cry.
"Get us out of here fast, we have to go help him!" Katara had seen the power of their captor and as much as she believed in Aang's abilities she couldn't help but worry.
Suki nodded, running her eyes over the metal bars and spotting a key hole. "Is there a key that unlocks this door?"
"Yeah! Two guys came in here earlier and opened the bars using a key." Sokka said.
Suki bit her lip, feeling helpless. Before she could do anything else, she heard the door to the room slam open.
Suki turned around, hoping it was Aang, but instead of the airbender one of the cloaked guards stood there.
"That's him! He was one of the guys that opened the bars!"
It was one of the figures that were guarding the mansion earlier. Suki frowned, she thought Aang had dealt with them already, that was the plan.
What happened to Aang, was he okay?
She shook her head and glared at the figure, pointing a finger at him. "Good timing. Free my friends or I'll kick your ass and do it myself!"
No response.
The man wordlessly ran at her, hand slipping inside of his green cloak to pull out two knives.
When he neared her he slashed both his knives at her, Suki dodged the first attack and blocked the other with her fan, before flipping away to create some distance between them.
"Suki be careful! He's one of Malik's underlings!" She heard Katara shout, making her eyebrows furrow in confusion.
Who was Malik?
She didn't have time to ask, the figure charged at her again.
This time when he swung at her Suki dodged all his attacks and slashed at him, he ducked under it before thrusting his knife at her, Suki blocked it with the back of her fan. The cloaked man stepped back a little, switching stances and creating some space between them, before trying to stab her in the stomach but she caught his wrist.
Suki used her free hand to hit him in the face with her metal fan, making him stagger and clutch his face in pain.
She didn't let him recover. In a flash, she grabbed the man by his arms and flipped him on his back.
She took out her other fan and slashed it down intending to finish him but before she could do that, he smashed his fist on the floor, making an earth wall shoot up between them.
Suki's eyes widened. He was an earthbender. She was about to punch through the wall when she heard Katara scream.
"Suki, watch out!" But it was too late, Suki gasped as the wall flew toward her, smashing into her.
"Katara! You have to do something!" Sokka whispered to her sister, making sure the man couldn't hear them. Both of them watched in horror as Suki's back made painful contact with the metal bars.
Katara bit her lip, her hands were burned but she had to at least try to do something.
Ignoring the pain, she drew water without the man noticing and cut off her cuffs.
The man moved to strike Suki while she was on the floor but was stopped by a water whip. His head whipped up to stare at the waterbender for a moment before he flicked his hand, hurling earth bullets at her.
Katara's eyes widened and with great effort she quickly formed an ice wall, blocking the bullets.
He tried to send another attack when he was interrupted, again, by Suki who had now recovered. She kicked his feet from under him, causing him to fall on his back and before the man could try anything she punched him in the jaw, hard, knocking him out.
Suki let out a sigh of relief when he stayed down. She leaned against the bars to catch her breath
"Nice one, Suki!" Sokka cheered, grinning.
Katara also smiled at her for a second before it disappeared, a troubled frown replacing her features. "Suki, we need to hurry."
"Right." Suki got up and walked to the limp body, checking the pockets for a key.
She cursed outloud when she didn't find anything. "He doesn't have a key on him."
The Kyoshi warrior suddenly straightened up when she heard footsteps again.
Katara's head perked up, she was healing her hands when she too heard the footsteps.
"Someone's coming."
Another green figure ran inside the room, and immediately lunged at Suki, using a katana.
She blocked his thrust with one fan and slashed at him with the other, he side-stepped it easily and continued swinging his sword at her in quick movements.
As Suki blocked and dodged his strikes, she noticed that he was much tougher than the previous guy. She was forced on her back foot, barely blocking his fast attacks.
His sword caught one of her fans, flicking his sword, he sent the fan flying from her hands.
Suki pressed her lips together and tried to kick the man in the face with a high-kick but he caught her foot.
Her eyes widened.
He pulled her toward him and punched her in the stomach, making her gasp in pain.
The man pushed her away before he flipped in the air and kicked his feet, shooting a blast of fire at her.
Suki managed to block some of the fire with her remaining fan, but the force of the attack pushed her back.
Before she could regain her balance, he landed back on the floor, shooting another blast of fire at her.
Her mouth opened in a silent scream when the blast hit her and she was sent crashing onto a wall.
"Suki!"
Intending to finish her, he crouched down and slammed both his palms on the floor, making two waves of fire shoot toward the injured girl.
Suki could do nothing but watch as the fire got closer. She didn't have anything to block it with, her fans were on the floor somewhere and she had no time to jump away from it.
She shut her eyes, awaiting the worst.
Two things happened next. A wall of water blocked the fire, exstinguishing it, and the strong metal bars crumpled before they were flung toward the cloaked figure.
The metal wrapped tightly around him, trapping him.
Suki cautiously opened her eyes when nothing hit her, her eyes widening at what she saw. Katara was in a waterbending stance, frozen in shock.
That wasn't what surprised her though.
"Toph!" Sokka screamed, jaw practically touching the floor.
The blind bandit grinned, arms crossed over her chest. "Sup meathead, missed me?"
A massive grin broke across Sokka's face. He had never been happier and more relieved to see her. "Are you kidding me? Of course I missed you!"
"What are you doing here Toph?" Katara asked, confused. Just how many people came to save them. First Suki and now Toph.
Not that she was complaining.
Toph raised an eyebrow at her. "Jeez, could you at least try to sound happy about it."
Katara cheeks reddened at the remark. "What?! I am happy. I'm just confused, how did you even get here?" Suki nodded, wanting to know the answer to that question as well.
Toph shrugged, picking her nose. "Firelord Sparky paid me a visit and asked for my help so I joined him, we ran into June on her way back from here, she led us here."
"Wha- Zuko is here too?!"
"Yup, he went to help Aang while I came here to help you." She smirked, glancing at the man she trapped. "It looks like I just made it in time too."
Suki got up when the shock wore off and shot a grateful grin at the blind girl. "Thank you Toph for saving me."
Toph waved it off, looking uninterested. "Don't mention it."
Sokka smirked at the blind girl, he could see the blush on her cheeks and was about to start teasing her when Katara suddenly bolted toward the door, past Toph.
"Woah, where're you going sis?" He asked, but Katara didn't stop running. Suki ran after her.
Toph and Sokka looked at eachother, shrugging, before they followed the two.
Katara didn't stop. Her heart was racing wildly in her chest. Aang was so close to her.
She was going to see the airbender again, after three long years.
Aang easily ducked under a stream of fire, grabbing the figure's arm and flinging him far away with the use of his airbending.
Suki had just ran inside the mansion to go look for Katara and Sokka. The plan was for Aang to distract the guards while she went inside to look for the two.
Six more jumped down from the roof, surrounding him and started attacking with earth and firebending. Aang flipped in the air, avoiding all the attacks before jumping up high in the air and shooting a powerful blast of fire right in the middle of the group.
The force of the explosion sent them all flying.
The Avatar landed back on the ground and looked around for more guards.
When he didn't see any left he ran toward the mansion to go help Suki but a fiery figure materialized in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Not so fast." He rasped out, voice deep.
Aang stared, amazed at the fiery figure. Flickers of flame were all over the man's body and the airbender had to stop himself from backing away as he felt the immense heat radiating from him.
Suddenly, the flames vanished from the man's body leaving him in a cloak, similar to Aang's own, but red.
"Who- what are you?"
He didn't answer. His golden eyes seemed to bore into his soul, mouth twitching.
Aang's eyes widened as he was hit with a realization. This had to be him, the spirit Avatar Roku was talking about. He looked different from the others, more powerful, even without the fire surrounding his body.
Along with the realization, another scary thought entered his mind. If he was here then where were his friends?
Weren't they supposed to be with this man?
Don't tell me he... he couldn't even finish that thought, stomach clenching in fear.
"Where are my friends, what have you done to them?" Aang took a step toward the figure, fear turning into anger.
"It doesn't matter who or what I am, Avatar, but you can call me Malik." He extended his right arm, flames surrounding it, just like the ones that were all over his body earlier. "As for your friends, who knows. You should worry about your own safety, instead of worrying about theirs."
The fire left his arm and Aang watched in shock as the fire hovered next to the man's hand before it formed into a golden spear.
What an amazingly terrifying power.
His heart hammered in his chest. What kind of power was this. He knew Katara and Sokka were strong but this man was insane, his fire was unlike anything Aang had ever seen. Ozai's paled in comparison.
All the Firelords powers paled in comparison.
Just who was he and what did he do to his friends? These past few days Aang had managed to convince himself that there was no one who could beat his friends, they were hailed as the most powerful benders in the world for a reason.
But now that he had seen this man's monstrous power, he couldn't hold those worries back any longer.
"Stop messing with me, what have you done to them?!" Aang yelled, kicking his feet multiple times, making big spikes of earth burst from the ground and hurl at Malik.
"Where are they?!"
Malik lazily thrust his fire spear at the spikes, stabbing through them like butter. Aang didn't let up, he kept attacking him with all four elements.
Malik chuckled, dodging and destroying all his attacks with his spear. The Avatar's attacks were so erratic they were easy to dodge, he was too wrapped up in his emotions.
"You've been living in isolation for three years." Malik spoke while evading Aang's attacks. "Three long years yet your weakness still remains, you care too much about your friends!" Malik finished, rolling away from a blast of fire and sending one of his own with his free hand, much larger than the airbender's.
Aang smacked his palms together, creating a strong air bubble around his body to protect himself from the attack. However to his shock the fire was so intense it overpowered his air and some of the fire broke through. Aang gasped, losing his footing as the small amount of remaining fire hit him.
He panted, staring at the man in disbelief. "Who are you, how is your firebending so strong? I've never heard of you yet your bending is even stronger than Ozai's!"
The spirit frowned, walking toward the airbender. "Don't compare me to that fraud, I'm nothing like him."
Malik twisted his body and kicked his feet rapidly, several times, sending massive streams of fire toward the Avatar.
Quickly, Aang slammed his palms on the ground, putting as much air beneath them as he could and then sprang forward, above Malik and his fire.
The spirit whirled around as Aang landed. Malik ran at Aang who was prepared to defend himself, when suddenly a blast of fire was shot between the two, startling and stopping them both.
Aang turned to where the fire came from, his eyes widening when he saw Zuko standing there in a stance.
"Z-Zuko?" Aang stuttered, blinking.
Malik felt a stab of anger at the interruption. "Get out of here unless you want me to fry you too, Firelord."
Zuko stood strong, ignoring the threat and glanced at Aang. "Aang, who is this guy?"
"I don't know, but he's strong Zuko, like really strong. Let me handle him." Aang said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Go help the others, they're inside that mansion."
Zuko nodded, deciding to trust Aang's word and wordlessly ran toward the building.
Aang let out a small breath of relief. Having Zuko here definitely made him feel more at ease. If there was anyone inside that mansion, he doubted they'd be able to beat the firebender.
Malik leaped at the Avatar, losing his patience. He swung his spear down at him. Aang whirled back around eyes widening, he managed to cross his arms in front of his face just in time, stopping the spear from cutting his head in half.
When the spear didn't cut through the Avatar's arms, Malik stared down at it in confusion. Normally, his spear cut through anything like butter, including skin and bones.
Aang smirked. He had coated his forearms with a layer of air and it worked. He kicked his feet at Malik who was too busy staring at his spear and blasted him away with his airbending to buy himself some time.
Malik tumbled to the ground, growling. He got back to his feet and rushed at Aang, shooting a powerful stream of fire at the Avatar.
His eyes widened slightly when Aang stopped his fire with one hand, controlling it.
Aang then cupped his other hand over his mouth, taking a deep breath and exhaling, he released a sharp gust of wind straight at Malik who was caught off guard by the attack.
The impact was so great it sent Malik flying and crashing through the walls of his mansion.
Aang glared at the hole Malik's body made when he smashed through, clenching his fists. He had to go to his friends quick to make sure nothing bad happened.
He had to make sure they were okay, that Katara was okay.
He ran at the door and was about to smash through it when it was busted open by Malik, the spirit sent multiple powerful streams of fire at Aang, forcing him to evade and jump far away from the door.
Aang growled as the spirit ran at him once again. "Get out of my way already, dammit!" He evaded all of Malik's attacks and bent down low punching at the spirit, putting all his power behind a huge, powerful blast of air.
Probably the biggest blast Aang had produced in his life.
It sent Malik flying to the forest, smashing through trees and disappearing out of his sight.
Aang fell to his knees, panting and wiping his brow. He could feel the fatigue from earlier returning to his bones.
Ignoring it, he was slowly and shakily getting up when the door to the mansion busted open.
Aang took in a sharp breath. He knew who walked out without even turning around, he could feel her presence even without his seismic sense.
Katara, Suki, Sokka, Zuko and Toph? stood behind him.
Time seemed to slow down as Aang turned around to face them.
The whole Gaang was there but Aang's eyes were only focused on one of them.
"Katara."
I've almost finished the next chapter and will post it soon, I'm super excited and nervous to post it. It's also gonna be my longest chapter by a long shot. More than 5K words.
Oh also, keep in mind that Malik hasn't used his full power yet.