Note: Here goes my story I hope everyone likes it!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Avatar: Last Airbender characters or the story line.

A boy in his late teens stood on the edge of the royal ship, his eyes looking toward the West where the sun was setting; his short hair gently blowing against his head sending a deep shiver down his back. They were headed for the main island of the Fire Nation where his father would either relinquish his honor or would send him away again. He turned his head, slightly smirking as he did so at the sounds of confused fire soldiers; he could hear their feet shuffling under the ship's iron deck.

"Prince Zuko," one of the head soldiers ran up, and in a worried tone exclaimed, "General Iroh is gone!"

Zuko turned back to what he was looking at trying to keep the smirk from forming a wide grin; he had already known his uncle had "escaped" in the night. Azula stood up from her throne, her two long bangs blowing rapidly in the wind, "What?!"

"He's gone!" the soldier responded, trembling in fear at the thought of facing her wrath.

The wind blew even harder making any doubts of a storm vanish as the sun was doing now.

Azula looked at her elder brother, her honey eyes narrowing, "Escaped has he?"

Her voice was like ice and her eyes were even colder. Zuko couldn't help but snicker some at getting the better of her, but knew better than to laugh out loud for his own sake. Up above a large and great animal flew over them letting out a groan. Both of the royal siblings looked up at the blue gray sky as the rain began to fall.

"The Avatar," Zuko said more to himself than Azula.

"I will deal with Uncle, and whoever helped him later," she emphasized on the word "will" while glancing at her brother, "Commander Zoel, follow that bison."

"Yes ma'am," he bowed and left.

"Azula, let me get him!" Zuko yelled over a clap of thunder.

Azula cackled just as a bolt of white lightening streaked across the sky, "Why? You'll just fail again!"

Zuko could feel rage swelling in his chest; he wanted nothing more than to throw her off the ship. His hands clasped into fists from his anger as tiny blue flames shot out between his fingers; why was he there again?

Oh yeah, honor.

He watched as Azula formed her lightening stance until a bolt of blue lightening shot out of her two fingertips. The bison dodged it only to be nearly struck by a bolt from the sky.

"The heavens are angry," he heard one of the soldiers murmur as the rain began to beat harder and harder on top of them.

He paid no heed to the other murmurs but clenched his fists tighter and tighter all the while wishing that she would miss some more and the Avatar would escape.

That wouldn't be the case.

Azula sent out another bolt of lightening, this time hitting the great beast on his flat tail, making him rear up. He could hear someone scream and watched as the same figure fell into the water below. His eyes widened; it was the girl from the crystal caverns in Ba Sing Se. The bison, in panic, fled further and further into the storm, even though he could hear screams of protest. Azula sat back on her throne; them now being out of her reach, and said, "Follow them."

"What about the girl?" Zuko inquired, struggling to stay on his feet due to the rocking of the ship.

"What about the girl?" Azula repeated, mocking him.

"She'll drown!" he fell over by the force of a wave crashing against the vessel.

"And?" she tightened her grip on her throne's arms to keep from flipping over

"We can use her for bait!" he didn't want the girls death to be on his head, but also, he felt he owed her for what he had done in the crystal catacombs.

"No! Now go away!" she snapped.

He stormed away from her fuming; he was really getting tired of being told what to do by his younger sister. Suddenly another wave swept over the ship taking with it several men including him. Everything was a blur when he went under, his instincts screamed at him to grab something, anything. Feeling a rope swirling in his hands he grabbed it and when the wave passed he pulled himself up.

He took off his heavy crimson robe so that all he wore now was his black sleeveless shirt that stopped at his waist meeting his equally crimson pants, then he tied it around himself and called out to the nearest three soldiers, "Make sure this doesn't break."

"This is suicide!" one soldier yelled at him over the roar of the rain, "Is she really that important?"

He didn't answer but jumped into the freezing ocean; at first the waves seemed to be getting the better of him, but he continued to swim. He came up for air searching the sea he saw her just as she slipped under from a wave over her powering her small body. He swam even faster toward her now as she slipped into the depths of the ocean.

Hold on, he thought, I'm almost there.

He didn't even notice the snake like rope floating under him.

When he reached the girl his heart seemed to have skipped a beat. She really resembled a water goddess with her ebony hair floating about her as if she were on clouds. He shook his head, then quickly grabbed her by the waist and swam toward the surface of the water. About the same time they reached the top, they were drug back under by the weight of her animal skin coat, knowing this he pulled it off of her watching as it sank to the bottomed. When he resurfaced he began to pull on the rope.

He pulled and pulled until the end was in his hands, burnt. Azula.

Untying the rope, he turned about in circles looking for either land to swim to or driftwood to float on. Something hit him on the back of his head turning his vision white, nearly making him go under, he turned around to see a rotten piece of drift wood.

Good, he thought, land is near.

He pulled himself and the girl onto the piece of wood, and then rolled on his back closing his eyes.

"Mommy?" the girl mumbled, "Where are you, Mommy?"

"Your mother isn't here," he replied to her question, not out of being mean as out of exhaustion

The girl didn't answer, but once again passed out. He could feel the storm becoming more and more distant as they floated further and further out into open sea. He pulled her more toward him to help keep the driftwood balanced and fell into a deep restless sleep.