Hey guys welcome back, we're now in the main plot which of course is gonna force our main four to interact for the rest of the story.
Chapter 4:We gotta get out of this place
Everything was black, everything was cold, but Azula couldn't really process it. It was like she was in such a deep state of serenity that she moved past her ability to wake up easily. She wasn't dead she could tell that much, but she was nowhere, she was calm, she was relaxed beyond her deepest desires and reached a new definition of-
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" Azula screeched as she suddenly woke up blasting fire in all directions "AHH AHHHHHH" she continued to scream as multiple figure were around her trying to calm her down
"Woah woah Azula look at me, it's me Katara ok" Katara went on desperately trying to calm Azula down
Azula finally chilled out after seeing Katara, she wanted to ask what happened but she was dying of thirst. She snatched a canteen of water out of a nearby nurse's hands and drank the whole liter in two seconds. Azula was allotted a full three seconds to get an idea of her surroundings, she was in a healing chamber inside a full bathtub, in the same clothes she was in earlier, with Katara standing by using her healing.
Before Azula got out a single question Katara dragged her out of the tub, she was still soaking wet by the way, and forced her out the door.
"What are you doing" Azula finally spat out
"Azula I'm glad you're alright but we need to leave now" Katara said as Azula noticed people running rampant through the halls carrying weapons or supplies. Wait she recognized these halls, they were in the palace.
Eventually Katara stopped dragging her and Azula was able to run alongside her normally, as they made their way through the palace halls. As they moved along more and more guards and Kyoshi Warriors were being carried away to the medical facility. Azula recognized these injuries; water drained from their bodies, blade wounds with ice shards. They were here.
Azula and Katara made it to the hangar where airships were being loaded for evacuation. "Azula!" Zuko said, running up and trapping her in a hug.
Before either of them could get a word out a giant wave crashed into the hangar and flushed an entire airship off the edge along with several others falling to their deaths "ESCAPE NOW, HUG LATER" Katara urged
The three of them ran to the most secure airship, Zuko and Azula boarded and Katara shut the door from the outside "What are you doing, we gotta go"
Another wave approached but Katara pushed it back and prevented any deaths "I'm a waterbender, they'll need me to hold them back" she admitted "I'll escape on the last ship"
Azula sighed understanding that this was the better tactical approach "Ok"
"Azula, keep Zuko safe" she held out her arm "please don't make me regret trusting you"
Azula smiled "I won't" she assured
Azula, Zuko, Suki, and some other Kyoshi warriors started taking off along with two other airships. They exited the hangar to finally get a good look at the attack, they were so screwed. Azula took a deep breath and shut her eyes for a second to try and ward off whatever hallucination relapse she was having, but she still saw it. It wasn't her own eyes but the mortified expressions of the others that convinced her it was real.
A fifty foot wall of water pushed it's toward the palace, absorbing any attack the palace guards shot at it. It had to be about 20 meters in thickness and about 150 meters wide, they could've guarded a hundred battalions with it. The land behind it was leveled as it passed over it, Azula could never have imagined thousands of Waterbenders pulling off such a feat and it was all being done by two taking shifts to push further and further to the palace.
"You're gonna need a bigger ship" Ty Lee said shivering
"Well" the unnamed Kyoshi Warrior said, trying to lighten the mood "it ugh…. It looks like we left just in tim-" a stream of water cut her off and froze over her whole face on impact. Azula and Zuko jumped into action and melted the ice as fast as they could. Azula almost blasted a ton of fire but Zuko held her back to avoid burning her whole face off.
Before they could begin to clear her airway the sound of air blasting away and the hair flying up from their foreheads distracted them. They were crashing. The four of them braced for impact the best they could in the five seconds they had before the airship hit the ground.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Itch. Itch on forehead. Were the only thoughts in Zuko's head right before he woke up to a squirrel toad walking on his face. He took the squirrel toad off and rubbed his aching head. "Hmm.. WOAH" he leaned up only to fall out of the tree he was apparently in. After pushing himself back up Zuko found his airship, or most of what used to be his airship, and made his way to it; if he survived the others had to. "Azula" he said, his voice still tired and raspy after the crash "Suki". Zuko got a good look at his surroundings, thankfully the airship covered some more ground while crashing and the palace was pretty far away
There was some distressed moaning to his right, Zuko sprinted toward it causing him to get a little dizzy and found it was coming from under a broken piece of the airship.
"Zu…ko"
"Hang on Ty Lee, I'll get you out," Zuko said, gripping the bottom of the piece and using every drop of his limited strength to lift it. He only managed a few inches but it should be enough "Ok now" he ordered. Ty Lee gathered her strength and crawled out from underneath the rubble. Not a moment after she was Zuko dropped the piece before he plopped down hyperventilating.
After taking a minute to catch their breaths they both found the strength to push themselves back up. They grabbed a few pouches of water and a first-aid kit on the way to the wreckage. Zuko made it to the burning airship, it was wrecked and on fire but nothing less than seeing the bodies would convince him Suki and Azula were dead. He made it there and thankfully the door looked like it had been kicked open.
"Ugh" a moan came from behind Zuko
Ty Lee finally caught up "there she is" she pointed out the source of the moan. Azula was laying face first into the dirt, it looked like she successfully broke out and made it a few feet away. Zuko ran to her aid while Ty Lee was more meticulous. After flipping her over Ty Lee took one of the water pouches and poured some on Azula's face waking her up.
"Are you alright?" Zuko asked as he helped his sister up
"Of course, I've been through worse" Azula quipped "what about you?"
"I'm good"
The three of them spread out to look for Suki. Away from the flaming airship it was mostly dark, the stars not lighting the land around them that much. But he knew Suki wasn't stupid, she wouldn't leave the airship without looking for the others. Zuko tripped only once, probably a root or rock…. OR A BODY. Zuko looked down, caught off guard by the body of the Kyoshi warrior riding with them, the ice had since melted off her face but it was a little late.
Zuko heard some rustling to his left "Suki?"
"Zuko?" Suki's voice came from where he heard the sound
A dark silhouette approached him in the shape of Suki. They reached each other and hugged before they made their way back to the crashed airship. As they went further and further into the light Zuko noticed some scratches on the side of Suki's uniform and her grasping her arm "are you alright?" Zuko said concerned
"I'm ok," Suki said with pretend confidence. Zuko began to walk her to where Azula and Ty Lee were sitting
Azula approached them "you ok?" she said glancing at Suki's arm
"I'm fine" Suki said in a harsher way "let's see what we can- OWWW" Suki screamed as Azula popped her elbow back in place, Zuko took a step back and Ty Lee rushed over to restrain "You… you… oh that actually feels better" Suki said as Ty Lee hesitantly let go of Azula's arms.
"Hurts a lot less if you don't know it's coming," Azula explained. After freeing herself from Ty Lee's grasp she had a terrifying thought "Wait, did Mother escape?"
"Oh yes, I made sure she was on the first ship out of there" Zuko explained, there was no way he'd risk her safety no matter how much she opposed, he just sent her back to her new family's village.
The four of them checked the wreckage and only found some more water and fans for Suki and Ty Lee. Other than that everything was pretty wrecked. Zuko still had a while before he could regain his strength so he just sat down and tried to avoid thinking about how the palace may have just been destroyed, not the easiest task.
Ty Lee sat in front of him and offered him one of the water pouches. There was no way he would take it, with her panting and clenched throat she needed it way more. "You have it" he offered it
"Zuko it's my job to keep you-"
"I don't wanna have to order you" he cut her off. The two of them shared a chuckle before Ty Lee drank most of the water pouch.
Azula approached the two of them "are you two feeling any better?"
"I'm fine" Ty Lee coldly said and just left it at that.
It took Azula a second to respond to this, Zuko could only imagine what either of them were thinking. "I just thought… well we haven't talked in a while and I.. I just wanted to get another opinion on all this"
"We lost a fight, and now we're in the middle of nowhere" Ty Lee answered, never once looking Azula in the eyes "I think it's bad" she said, quick and simple avoiding looking at her
"I just-"
"Look Azula if you're not injured or in need of any immediate assistance than I'd appreciate if you'd let me rest" Ty Lee said, she was being very polite but Zuko could tell how much anger she was holding back
"I'M JUST-"
"Hey Azula I think my shoulder still needs some attending to" Suki said, stepping in and pulling Azula away. Suki was lot of things; a great warrior, a wise advisor, and a good friend…. But she was a horrible liar.
This was pretty hard to watch, but what was he supposed to do, how Ty Lee viewed Azula was entirely her decision. Zuko has always forced himself to be responsible and never exert his power too hard on others, it didn't always work in his favor but he knew it wouldn't have been right.
Azula gripped and checked Suki's shoulder and took several deep breaths to keep her from impulsively injuring her more in revenge. "We need to go" Suki said out of nowhere
"Can't we sit down for five minutes?" Zuko said still tired after the crash
"No, we need to go Now" Suki said pointing out into the fields, light rushing across in their direction and away from the palace
"You think it's the fire navy coming to help us?" Ty Lee naively and doubtfully asked
"You really want to find out," Suki said before gesturing to them to follow her. The four of them ran in the opposite direction and into the woods. Who would have thought a crashed airship was gonna be easy to find. Zuko could only ponder what to do next, his palace was taken over and the entire fire nation could be next. Maybe Aang and the Gaang could help, but now this was his mess to deal with and his nation to save.
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for reading, and Please Review.