Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: I'm not sure if therapy even exists in their world in a way we would recognise, but if it does they probably needed it.

Zigzagdoublezee: Zuko has always been reckless. But now he's using that for good, as you say putting himself in danger to save others.

Pan2000: Yes, the mask Chikao gave to Zuko in the last chapter is at least very similar to the blue spirit mask in canon.

As Always, Please Review!

Zuko bolted up the stairs, hearing the hiss of the fire being extinguished behind him and a wild cry of rage from the crowd. He hoped desperately that their ruse had worked; that Chen and the actors would be forgotten and the mob would be focussed on him, but he did not have time to worry about that now.

He barged past a startled looking couple on the first floor landing, who yelped and shouted questions he never heard as he rushed through to the stairs leading to the second floor. A moment later they were forced to retreat back to their rooms by the onrush of people pursuing him.

Zuko looked back quickly, and was met with faces full of rage and hate, and one person bringing a pebble out of his pocket. He tossed it into the air and then punched it towards Zuko at incredible speed. Zuko was forced to dodge to one side as it came whistling past him, and responded by spinning himself around and swinging his arm in a wide arc; ordinarily this move would have slowed him down too much and he would have been caught, but the plume of flame that followed his hand caused his pursuers to halt temporarily, eyes wide and full of fear, and he was able to resume his climb.

"My hotel!" A voice shrieked, audible over the din, but Zuko ignored it.

The second floor landing was empty, though he did see a pair of fearful eyes peering through a door which swiftly slammed shut, and so his progress towards the top floor, where the actors had been staying, was unimpeded.

He turned and sent another jet of flame back down the steps, causing the crowd to falter just long enough for him to bolt inside the room the actors had been staying in and drag a bed in front of the door. Then he dragged a second bed in front of that for good measure, and began piling bags on top of it to add extra weight. The actors had been forced to abandon any possessions they could not hide on their person by the sudden nature of their evacuation, which left plenty of stuff to block the door.

Zuko reached the skylight just as banging could be heard on the door, and looked up.

"Come out ash-maker!" A voice called on the other side. "We just want a word with you!"

"Go-" Zuko realised replying in his actual voice might be a bad idea and so quickly made it deeper. "Go away!"

He realised he couldn't reach the roof by just jumping, and so looked around. If his sister, or his father, or any more competent Firebender were here, they could use the force of their firebending to propel themselves upwards through the hole to freedom, Zuko thought. He didn't have that option.

Instead he found a third bed and dragged it to the centre of the room, glad that there were so many actors sharing one room. He then threw off the mattress and dumped it in front of the door, picking up a chair and placing it so it rested on the bed directly underneath the skylight.

The door shifted dramatically under the weight of a shattering blow.

Zuko gulped. It was definitely time to leave. He stood on the bed, balanced himself, and took a step up on to the chair.

The door buckled again, causing Zuko to nearly fall from the shock. But he steadied himself and reached up, grabbing the ledge and getting ready.

He had a sudden flashback to the window ledge he had used to get up on to the roof, and the way he had nearly fallen from it once already. The thought was enough to make him hesitate for a second, but the noise of the door finally being slammed open swiftly removed that doubt. A boulder floated into the room and dropped to the floor, having just been used to batter down the door, and furious people began clambering over the obstacles Zuko had placed there to get to him.

He pushed up off the chair and began hauling himself up. He got his head out, then managed to find a new handhold and pull his torso out- but then felt hands on his legs. Blindly he lashed out, and his foot connected with something hard and fleshy. He heard a scream of pain from whoever it was that he had just kicked in the nose and then he was out. He scrambled to safety on the rooftop, breathing heavily.

Slowly, he crept over to the hole and looked down. The crowd had knocked the chair over so they could just look up at him, spitting insults. Nobody was quite prepared to follow him up onto the roof where they could potentially fall, it seemed. Even xenophobic rage had its limits.

"Ash-maker!" Someone spat at him. Zuko didn't rise to it. They really needed better insults; ash-maker didn't even sound like proper words to him any more, he had heard it so often. Instead, he silently raised one hand and gave a very sarcastic wave to the crowd, before turning and sauntering off as nonchalantly as he could.

The square in front of him was still crowded with people. Zuko tried to scan the faces in the crowd for the actors, or for Chen, or for the other refugees but couldn't see anyone.

How am I meant to get down? He wondered. Deciding that another skylight was probably his best opportunity, he began casting across the rooftop looking for one.

Fortunately, it didn't take him long to find one. He carried on for a few more steps, and then ducked backwards, dropped down so he was crawling, and then made his way back to it to deceive anyone watching him. Then he dropped through the hole, landed on his feet, took off the mask and began making his way down the stairs.

Suddenly, he felt tired. Now he seemed to be in the clear, the adrenaline in his body was wearing off, and he would need to sleep soon. But he wasn't out of the woods just yet; he needed to find his travelling companions, and it seemed he had gained a few new ones, and probably get out of this place entirely before he could think about rest. And then there was the small matter of Chen knowing he was a Firebender to deal with. He wondered how she would react. She still didn't know he was a Prince, and she had overcome her prejudice to help people from the fire nation already, so there was hope.

But they hadn't been lying to her like he had.

He waved nonchalantly to a startled looking man as he entered the hallway.

"Don't mind me," he said. "I was just... leaving, yes."

Then he opened the door and stepped out into the street, the blue mask tucked safely under his clothes. The angry mob was still clustered around the building, and Zuko could see a face sticking up out of the skylight he had used to escape. The refugee column was still standing where he had left them on the other side of the square, and he gratefully made his way towards them. As he got closer, he spotted several familiar figures standing next to a cart, deep in conversation with the family he was travelling with.

Relief washed over him and he began jogging to catch up to them.

So they did get out.