Hello my loves! I hope you all had a marvelous weekend & Easter (if you celebrate it)! I've been so busy with schoolwork lately, yall know how it gets when the end of the semester is approaching. I'm excited for summer to be coming up soon though!

For being patient, here's a long chapter! Please review~

xoxo,

nightfall26

"It's time." Aang's voice had disturbed me from my careful reverie, but I hadn't been angry. I'd lifted myself to my feet quietly, instead, nodding to him once as we moved soundlessly to the armory. To his surprise, I'd packed my Blue Spirit mask in my bag, and as I dressed in my armor, I slipped the wooden persona over my head as easily as breathing.

"We can't be ourselves tonight, Aang. We can't be good people. We have to be merciless, and hateful, because they will be. They're out for blood, and we should be too. We won't be able to survive otherwise." I said lowly, through the mask, letting my fingertips graze the surface of the swords I'd sharpened earlier that evening. Aang's face was pinched as he, too, suited up. Pulling a fitted black mask over his face as well, our eyes met with a quiet agreement floating between us.

We'd bring Katara back, or we'd die trying.

There were no other options.

zuko.

The first time I saw Katara after the year we'd been separated, I hadn't been able to believe my eyes.

She was taller, yes, and her hair was longer. She'd filled out in ways that she hadn't been before, curving in all the right ways. Her cheeks had lost their baby fat, her arms and legs were hardened with muscle, and her throat dipped and swelled into her shoulders beautifully. She was practically an adult.

But then again, she'd been old enough- mentally- to be an adult for such a long time.

The largest change was the agedness that sat heftily on her shoulders. There was a sadness to her now that hadn't been there before, an acknowledgement of the pain she'd gone through in her short lifetime. She and I had been the eldest of a group of ramshackle kids, trying to lead to them to a victory that we couldn't promise them. She'd been their mother before I'd gotten there, and in a way, I'd inherited a parental position alongside her.

I remembered the gentle way her hands had tended to wounds, the softness in her eyes when she spoke to her friends, and the way she put her hand on her hip while she made dinner. She kept everyone in line with a neverending patience that made my heart hurt to think of now.

Was it horrible of me to want to imagine her as the mother of my children?

Just after the war had ended, I could see the denial in her gaze, the attempt to push the hatred that boiled beneath her skin into submission, for Aang's sake. But just as I couldn't forgive my father and sister for what they had done, she couldn't forgive the years of hurt that had been done to her family and her people. She was ashamed of the anger pulsing just beneath her fragile attempts to hide it. Aang told her to let go of those emotions, to release them, but I knew why she cried late at night. I knew why she still had nightmares.

She was still fighting, deep inside herself. She'd always be a soldier. Her stubbornness mirrored my own, and neither of us had the ability to just let it go.

As Aang and I set out under the cover of night, I could see a heaviness to his movements that had never been there before. As an Air Bender, he'd always been light, his movements delicate, but something was weighing him down. There was a darkness in his eyes, too, one that had never surfaced before.

It was easy to sneak out from the palace, I'd done it a thousand times before. We moved silently through the passages until the moonlight bathed our faces. I winced, knowing that Katara drew her strength from the orb hanging mysteriously in the sky speckled with stars. I hoped that she was holding on, still, keeping her eyes to the moon and knowing that I was staring at the exact same one.

One of my small, personal airships was docked, primed and ready for flight. Aang remembered the machine as if he'd flown one his whole life, and he helped me cast off quickly and efficiently. We didn't speak a word to one another for quite some time, the tension between us sparking awkwardly.

"How do you think Azula got free?" The question hung between us in the chilly air as we rose into the clouds, the moisture collecting on our armor in dewdrops. I shrugged, the quick movement disassociating me from the great plumes of fire that Azula's look-a-like had shot into the afternoon air. I was trying so hard not to blame myself for not recognizing that it wasn't my sister earlier.

Raking myself over the coals was something I was so used to doing. I almost always blamed myself for the smallest of mistakes, making sure I practiced over and over again until I made it right in some way. Aang shuffled his feet for a moment before speaking again.

"Zuko, why does she want to do this?" The second question was quieter than the first, spoken as Aang the child, Aang the twelve-year old that made eyes at Katara. I turned to him, my eyes scraping over his mask and somewhat thankful that he couldn't see the shameful reddening of my cheeks.

"As silly as it sounds, I felt sorry for her when it was all over." My voice cracked, and I knew I wasn't answering either of his questions, but I hoped that he somewhat understood the difficulties I had surrounding my baby sister. His shoulders rounded forward awkwardly. I cleared my throat.

"She used to be so small, you know. Small and innocent, wanting to hold my hand, wanting me to teach her things. She looked up to me. But that's been gone a long time now." I glanced off into the darkness of the night, my eyes burning with tears that couldn't be shed anymore. There was no use in crying for something that had been dead a long time. Aang swallowed before speaking, and I could hear the creak of his lanky limbs in the armor that didn't completely fit him.

"Something broke in her a long time ago, Zuko, and it's not your fault."

I supposed that was true. I offered him a small smile in return for his words instead of replying, and returned to directing the airship.

suki.

"They're gone." Toph's voice echoed dully in the hall outside my bedroom as I was getting ready to sleep, and I pushed myself out of my chair with a sudden fever.

"What do you mean, they're gone?" I asked, horror clouding my heart. Toph's shoulders slumped.

"Aang and Zuko. They left a few minutes ago. I felt them leaving- they were in a big hurry."

"What the hell?" Sokka, who had been already in bed, was pulling a shirt on and marching to Aang's room down the hall.

"Aang! Where are you, kid?" He shouted, his voice hollow in the darkness of the evening. I pressed my hand to my mouth as the silence spoke for itself.

"I told you. They went after her. Aang said he was going out on a survey earlier, but I didn't believe him."

"Why didn't you tell us, Toph?" I asked slowly, moving towards the pale girl who stood shakily in the hall, her unblinking stare making my heart hurt. She bit down on her lower lip, her hands tangling together.

"I wanted to believe he was telling the truth." She murmured, dipping her head. I nodded softly.

"I would have wanted the same thing." I tried to keep my voice even as I bent, wrapping my arms loosely around the small figure of the girl who so often kept us all together.

"Zuko's gone." Sokka, out of breath from running down the hall, appeared back at my side. I stared up at him with eyes that wavered, knowing that Zuko wasn't nearly strong enough for a journey, let alone an actual battle.

"He's going to be fighting the hardest battle of his life." Sokka whispered, rubbing his hands through his hair, and Toph choked a little. We all had grown to care for the Fire Lord so much, for the little kindnesses that he treated everyone to. There was a softness in his eyes, a gentleness about his hands that made his good heart obvious.

"He was in top fighting condition when he fought Azula in the Agni Kai at the end of the war, and even then it was a hell of a battle for him. He's a talented guy, but she's always been better." My words were stiff and soaked in fear, and the quiver that jolted through Toph's shoulder made tears spring to my own eyes.

"He really loves her, doesn't he?" Sokka's voice was rough with pain, and he bowed his head, ashamed that he'd ever doubted the older bender.

"Yeah, snoozles. I knew it way before he even did." Toph scuffed her shoe against the floorboards, her mouth pursed in a frown.

"Didn't any of you notice how delicately he treated her? He was always saving her from some kind of mess."

"He did save her from the lightening." Sokka mused, his eyes falling to the floor in shame.

"And he pushed her out of the way of rocks that would have otherwise crushed her." I was feeling pretty stupid as I said the words, recognizing that Zuko had loved our waterbender for much longer than had been apparent to any of us.

"Not to mention he went with her on her revenge escapade against Yon Rah." Toph added.

"He wanted so badly for her to forgive him, he waited outside her tent all night once." Sokka's voice was smaller, now, and he moved towards me to lean against my side in a defeated sort of way. I let my arm curl around his, nodding to him.

"Zuko loved her." I whispered, shaking my head slowly at the secret the Fire Bender had fostered in his heart for so long.

"Tui and La, it's been years and he still loves her more than anything else." Sokka scratched his head, almost in disbelief of the dedication that Zuko had shown his younger sister.

"We've got to get the fleet ready for the morning." I said softly, softly patting Sokka's arm and leaning my head against his shoulder.

"It'd be letting both of them down if we didn't continue on as usual." Toph's voice was thick with an emotion that we rarely heard from the otherwise tough girl.

"Sokka, can you make sure that we've got the necessary resources for leaving at dawn? Toph, you should get some more sleep while you can-"

"Hell no, I'm helping you guys out. What do you need me to do? Twinkletoes and Sifu Hotman are out there, they're going to need everything we got." Toph crossed her arms stubbornly, her lips pursed. I chuckled a little to myself.

"Okay, Toph. You can come with me while we make sure the ships are primed and ready." The three of us split up then, resigning ourselves to spending the rest of the night making sure we could give our friends all the help we could give.

aang.

I was pretty nervous.

Zuko was crouched on the edge of the airship as we landed inconspicuously on the south edge of the island, readying himself to leap out onto the damp sand and anchor our getaway vehicle. His muscles were tensed, and I could see how much bigger he'd gotten in the year that I hadn't seen him. He'd gotten twice as broad and several inches taller, and the ghost of stubble danced across his jawbone. At the angle I was at, I could see a sliver of his jaw from behind the mask he'd tied carefully onto his face.

He was a man. I was still a boy. No wonder Katara had chosen the older boy over me, I mused to myself, watching his veins bulge as his arms moved in preparation for his leap. Zuko was as agile as a dancer, the singular move effortless and smooth as he settled the airship down into the sand.

"We'll tie it up closer to the shore so that high tide doesn't sweep it away." He said softly as I approached, his eyes lowered and darkened. I nodded once, agreeing, knowing my voice was squeaky and adolescent comparatively to his much deeper tones.

"Why this place?" I wondered aloud, admiring the landscape for a long moment. The Fire Lord sighed heavily as he tugged the ship higher onto the sand.

"Azula loved this place. It was said that the beach here brought out everyone's emotions and secrets, and one of the last times I was here, Mai, Ty Lee, Azula and I actually talked about how hard our childhoods had been. I think she knows that it means something to me, too."

"So it's symbolic?" I felt silly asking, but Zuko only nodded patiently, finishing knotting the cord attached to our ship to a nearby tree trunk.

"Azula's working in symbols right now. She started with a doppleganger, which is taunting me, telling me that I'm not man enough to face her myself. Then she took Katara as bait, which is trying to lure me in while my emotions are at a high and I'm unable to control myself. Lastly, she chose the beach house, a place riddled with memories for the both of us." His words were sad, and I knew that he'd wanted to be close to his sister- but her mind had escaped her a long time ago.

"I guess she's not as crazy as we all thought." I said quietly, remembering the smudged lipstick and crazed eyes of the girl from so many years ago that had haunted my worst nightmares.

"She's calculated. Mother thought she was a monster, and she was right." Zuko whispered hollowly, making sure his swords were strapped firmly to his back before motioning for me to follow him through the path that lead into the forest. It wouldn't be long before we reached the backyard of the beach house, and it took me a while to control how badly my hands were shaking.

What if we were too late to rescue Katara? What if the mysterious chains had already drained her lifeforce? I'd go into the spirit world and drag her back, obviously, but that was never a great option. She could be caught there, lost, unable to return. Or perhaps I'd have to bargain and I wouldn't be able to return.

One way or another, I just really hoped that she was alright.

The beach house loomed menacingly above us before too long, and I resisted sighing at the sight of it. There were still scorch marks on the rooftops from where Zuko had attacked me during our training. I remembered Sokka's giant statue of Suki, and how much Katara had loved the beach. She'd spent whole afternoons sitting there, gazing out at the sea, marveling at the warmth of the water.

Zuko had taken a walk with her there, once, and I wondered if there was more there than I'd thought back then.

The more time I spent with the older man, the more I saw Katara in him. They moved similarly. They had the same darkness behind their eyes, the same aged pain that I never seemed to be able to understand.

"It's too quiet." Zuko said under his breath to me, motioning for us to head in the back entrance of the house. I glanced out towards the water, and shuddered.

"Zuko, the ships aren't here." I muttered lowly. He clenched his jaw.

"Yeah, we've just stepped into some kind of trap. I bet you she isn't even here." He snapped, clasping one of his swords in his left hand as we entered the building. I swallowed noisily, my eyes on the back of the Fire Lord as we stepped into the long-abandoned house. There were vines growing in sections of the hallway, and most of the art had fallen down off the walls. Some of the paintings were singed a little, and I watched as Zuko's shoulders rounded over in pain when he passed a family portrait. I recognized the movement- Katara did the same thing when I said something that troubled her.

I would never understand his suffering, but I could certainly feel it right now.

zuko.

There were ghosts all around me, taunting me at every corner, reminding me of a past that I was ashamed of. My father sneered at me from every portrait, and my mother glowed like an unattainable angel that I'd never known.

Aang's steps behind me were soft, but I could hear his quick breathing. He was so nervous. He wasn't one to relish fighting, that was for sure. Not that I was any different, I didn't exactly love battles, but I felt more calloused than the boy by my side.

This had to be a trap. I hadn't seen or heard any soldiers, and the pathway into the house had been way too empty. Not to mention my sister's battle barges weren't resting in the harbor- what was going on? Was Katara even here?

Or would I be bringing her empty body back to my Nation instead of the girl I loved?

"So lovely of you two to join us at this exciting hour, gentlemen." The voice that echoed all around us was unrecognizable, but it made my skin crawl like maggots. I ducked into a fighting stance, motioning for Aang to stand behind me. All of a sudden, the wall beside us erupted into flames. I leapt away from it, motioning for the flames to disperse. Since when had fire been able to appear out of thin air?

This had to be Darin's work, the man behind Azula's rebel army. I remembered the assassin I'd once set after Aang- they called him Sparky Sparky Boom Man, which had made me laugh in the quiet of the night when none of them were listening- and how he'd been able to conjure explosions with his third eye. But this was entirely new to me.

"Zuko, this is kinda freaky..." Aang whispered from behind me, and I nodded, making sure the kid was behind me securely as I readied myself for a surprise attack. But we couldn't hear anything but the creaking of the floorboards beneath our feet, the once-polished cherry dingy with age and dust. Dead leaves that had blown in through the rattled windows swept all around us, and I couldn't help but wince at how bad the condition of this place was. Our boots crunched over shattered glass from a broken window and I tried not to think about what would have happened if they'd dragged Katara through here.

All of a sudden, the clock in the hall started to chime midnight. I could hear Aang's gulp of fear, and I, too, had to check myself before walking on. Darin was messing with our heads, playing with our minds in hopes of scaring us away. I took a long breath, slow and steady through my nose, and calmed my racing heartbeat.

I wouldn't lose my head. I wouldn't lose my temper. I'd find Katara, and we'd get out of here all in one piece.

The floor exploded into a sudden inferno then, singing my fingertips as I hurried to calm them.

"Did you know she screamed your name, Fire Lord?" The voice resonated again through the hall, accompanied by a deep, throaty laugh that made my chest rumble with a growl. Don't respond. It's what he wants from you. Don't give him the sick pleasure of reacting.

"Stay calm, Zuko, we'll find her." Aang muttered, and I was almost glad he'd insisted on coming. The rooms we passed were empty, devoid of life. The furniture was covered in white clothes and wrecked windowpanes, shards of glass and the stains of weather.

These rooms had once been filled, tended to carefully by maids who had smiled at me as a child and made sure that I was well looked after. Some of them had been kinder to me than my own family. As I'd grown up, I'd been sure to mention them favorably to my parents in hopes that they would make the lives of the hired help a little easier.

"She didn't like being burned, Fire Lord." The words this time were mocking me, mocking all that my relationship with Katara stood for and taunting me to throw myself into attack mode. The son of a bitch had burned the girl that I loved, and I prayed to Agni that he'd spared her the scars that I'd had to live with my entire life.

"Zuko." Aang's hand was on my back, now, guiding me as we crept through the endless halls of this house. Each room was emptier than before, and I could feel the pulsing of my heart driving me into a tense madness. I needed to find her. The seconds were ticking by, the clock was chiming in the hall, my blood was bubbling, my vision was clouding, and we still hadn't found her.

"I'm fine, Aang." I whispered, a little harshly, biting the words through lips that I tried to keep pressed together. I didn't want anything else to escape me.

"Just keep looking." I could feel the Avatar press a little closer to me, uncomfortable at the sight of the ramshackle stairs that we now had to walk up. Some were falling in, the wood rotted clean through, and some were about to cave.

"I'll bend us up the stairs." He said quietly, and I shot him a grateful look, eyeing the dangerous- and once magnificent- sweeping staircase. I still didn't like having my feet removed from the ground, but he seemed to relish it- pushing both of us safely up the stairs with a gust of air. We landed softly on the landing, glancing from side to side to observe the state of the second floor. It seemed to be hardly any different from the first, the floors covered in dead leaves and glass that crackled under our otherwise delicate footfalls.

"She cried your name through her tears when I deflowered her, cried through all the blood that escaped her tainted body." His voice was in my ear now, and I could feel the hotness of his breath on my neck, so I whirled, flames encased my entire arms as I realized what he'd done to her.

He'd raped her.

Aang, after a moment, realized too, bending the assailant to the wall with a smooth movement. The man only laughed, loudly, the tones of his voice scratchy and unwelcome. Aang's eyes were wide and troubled as he stared at me, and in that moment, I didn't give a damn what he thought.

"How dare you?" I hissed, the words snaking from between my clenched teeth as I locked into a bending stance.

Whoever this stranger was, he'd tortured Katara endlessly before taking her most sacred rite of passage from her. I walked towards him, each step that I took trembling through me like an earthquake. I was seeing red, now.

"You're going to pay for what you've done." I spat, feeling the weight of my swords in my hands and noting my surroundings once before allowing twin streams of fire to burst from me. Somehow, they only singed the walls around the stranger, leaving him unharmed and laughing all the louder. Smoke steamed quietly from my fists, my chest heaving, my forehead beading with sweat.

I struck again, feeling twice as frustrated when he neither moved nor made a motion to counteract my attacks. A yell of frustration burst from me, and the stranger only seemed to laugh twice as loud at me. Why wasn't he affected by my bending at all? Why wasn't he at least returning the attacks?

"Such anger." He noted, softly, his mouth curved in a smug smile that I couldn't wait to wipe from his face.

"Zuko." Aang's voice was background noise.

"I'll give you anger." I snapped.

I sheathed my swords, punching bursts of flame towards him, precise, aiming directly for his chest and head and writhing in hatred as they seemed to float harmlessly by the cloaked man. My arm wound strained, and I could feel the burn of the injury as I pushed my body into stances that challenged my weakened limbs.

"Zuko, go. I'll take care of him." Aang's eerie calm disturbed me, and I turned towards him, my nostrils smoking and my breath coming in gasps as I did so.

"Go find her. Make sure she's safe." He said softly, putting his hand on my shoulder before stepping into a stance that I didn't recognize. It took me a moment to notice, but as I turned to stumble down the hallway, it hit me. Aang was giving her up. He was letting her go, telling me it was okay that she'd come into my arms. I swallowed my pride as the cloaked man stood, facing the Avatar with the same smugness that kept a flame of utter fury roiling in my gut.

It took all of my strength to face away from the fight, pushing myself into the darkness of the hall beyond. Sections of the floor were rotting through, and I occasionally had to dodge patches that were soft with wear.

"Katara?" I called softly, the silence of the night air all around me. The quiet was strange, and if I stilled my breathing, the only thing I could hear was my own heartbeat. It unnerved me. The sensation was almost numbing. Suddenly, next to me, Aang's body hurtled through the wall, the splintering of the rotting walls slicing through the heavy silence that had sat upon my shoulders. He was covered in brightly colored flames that he hurried to put out before standing somewhat ungracefully in front of me, his eyes huge with fear.

"He's some new breed of Fire Bender, Zuko. He can conjure flame with just his thoughts." The boy said, his voice trembling before he leapt back through the hole in the wall he'd created. I blinked, unsteady for a moment as I took in the information. Bending with his thoughts? I continued to slide along the halls, embracing the shadows that danced in the corners, taking peace in the darkness that was speckled with slivers of moonlight. I found myself wondering where Azula had found the creepy cloaked guy.

Speaking of, where was my sister, anyways? Swallowing a sudden bout of nerves, I continued down the halls in a subdued bending stance, defensive, my muscles locked in long-remembered patterns that made my injuries sting.

"Katara, answer me." I whispered, the words coarse in the air before me as I softly prodded door after door open. When I came face-to-face with the door to my old bedroom, somehow, I knew.

She'd be here. Azula's plan had involved symbolic and metaphorical imagery so far, and so she'd be sure to leave the waterbender in a place that I would recognize. The door was hanging off of its hinges brokenly, and I noted scorch marks along the edges of it. I smiled a little, to myself.

She'd put up a hell of a fight. That was my girl.

When I reached out my hand to open the door, a burst of flame suddenly separated me from my former bedroom.

"Zuko! Watch out!" Aang's voice from behind me startled me into scrambling backwards. I bended the flames into my own palms, readying myself for whatever was hurtling down the hallway towards me. It was Darin, his cloak discarded and his disfigured face bared to me. I scrunched my nose as I noticed how his eyes were bright red, like the blood of the sunrise in the early morning.

He was still smiling. That sick bastard.

"You think you understand, Fire Lord? You won't know anything until it slaps you right off of your undeserved throne." Darin's words burst from his mouth along with a stream of blue-tinted fire. I stood my ground, engaging the mysterious bender until the Avatar rejoined me.

"We can take him, Zuko." The kid said, somehow still cheery, joining me in a fire bending stance. We took deep breaths in at the same time, moving in synchronization, like the day we danced the dragon dance together. I had to give him credit, he moved very nicely. Leaping into a spinning kick, I aimed a stream of flame at the face of the leader of Azula's troops before Aang delivered a smooth punch underneath me.

We were a good team, as much as I hated to admit it sometimes. Complete opposites, but somehow, we always were able to meet in the middle and reconcile our differences.

It was enough to land the other bender on his ass, and Aang shoved me towards the room I was sure Katara was in with a shout.

"I'm going into my Avatar State, Zuko, find her and get out of here before I destroy everything in sight." I nodded once, pushing myself towards my old bedroom. I was stopped dead in my tracks by an explosion that kicked me off my feet with a screech of pain as I realized that I was on fire.

"Zuko!" Aang managed to bend a stream of air towards me, effectively putting out the fire and sliding me across the floor until I was through the door and into the room beyond. Slightly steaming, I shook myself a bit before watching as Aang's head began glowing and Darin leapt into the air towards the extra-dangerous Avatar.

Moving to my knees, I shook myself, trying to catch my breath as I looked around the room. There were portraits on the wall that I recognized, but all the furniture seemed to have been removed.

All except-

The breath in my throat hitched as I noted the slight figure of a woman chained down to the floor. Blood stained the wooden boards she lay on, crusted in her hair, her meager, ragged clothing. I staggered for a moment, feeling tears of utter horror leap to my eyes. Scrambling towards the body of the woman I loved, I noticed burns that were bubbled along the flesh of her arms and torso, the long, red scratches that oozed thick, dark blood, screaming deep wounds that made me afraid she was already dead. I hovered over her, skimming my hands over the skin of her cheeks and murmuring her name over and over.

"Agni, Katara, I'm so sorry, I'm late." I pressed a kiss to her mouth, shakily discovering that fragile breaths still fluttered from her lungs. The realization that she was still alive spurred me on, and I hurried to heat the metal chi-draining anklets around her feet until they popped off with a hiss. I tossed them into a corner, my hands shaking as I checked to make sure I hadn't burned her by accident. I had to work fast. Aang had bought me some time, but I didn't know how much I had before his State began destroying the building around us.

I did the same with the cuffs around her wrists. I was still barely able to breathe, nursing burns of my own on my hands and throat. Even so, I hurried to pull Katara into my shaking arms, pressing butterfly kisses to her forehead.

"I'm sorry he got his dirty hands on you, my girl. I know you fought as hard as you could." The whispered words weren't enough to apologize for the wrong that had been done to her, I knew, but I pulled her as close to me as I dared, my lips resting in the hollow of her throat. I could hear the quiet whistling of breath in her lungs and thanked Agni that her heart was still beating.

I held her in my arms for a moment, her crushed body lighter than it had ever been before. Her bones were sticking through her skin, and my fingertips smoothed over the ribs that I could count, watching as her chest rose and fell rhythmically. As the beams around us began to creak, I knew Aang had bought us all the time he could manage. Soon I could hear the deafening tones of the walls around us crashing down, Aang's Avatar State demolishing the house I'd lived in as a child. Symbolically, my childhood had been long dead enough already.

The cuffs that had once encircled her rubbed-raw ankles lay sadly in the corner, slowly crumbling from the force of my efforts. My shaking hands hadn't been strong enough to pull them off of her, so I just feebly hoped that my bending hadn't hurt her.

I cradled the broken girl to my chest, feeling her head loll against my shoulder and fighting back the bile that rose in my throat. Burns that had scabbed over lined her arms and hands, and bruises in the shapes of handprints marred the skin I'd once let my fingertips dance against. I managed to kick out the glass of the window without shattering it all over us, and from there I could see the remainder of the pond where I'd once kept koi fish beneath us. We'd have to jump- it was too far for me to climb down with her in my arms. I was still weak, as much as I hated to admit it.

"Hang in there, Katara, I'll get you home." I murmured against the cold, clammy skin of her cheek, making sure my swords were stuffed securely into their scabbards before securing her in my grip and taking a low breath in through my nose.

"Well, here goes nothing." I'd have to make sure to keep her head above water. She was unconscious, and she'd been without her bending for days. Her element, much like mine, was untamed and dangerous, and I didn't know if it would recognize her. As I took the leap out of the window, I could hear the splintering of wood behind me as the last of the rooms collapsed on top of themselves. Taking a deep breath, I tucked my body closer to Katara's and readied myself for the impact of our bodies against the water beneath us.

The rush of cold made my chest constrict painfully, and I hurried to kick my legs so that I could get her head above the surface of the deep pond. To my horror, she'd fallen loose from my arms.

But the water was falling away from her, pushing her to the surface as if she were bending herself effortlessly out into the air of the night. Her eyes were closed, her head limp, but the moon smiled down upon us as the waves gently lapped her broken body to the shore. Scrambling unceremoniously towards her, I whispered a thank you to the woman who watched down on us from the warm strength of the moon's surface.

Aang was levitating above the imploding house, his head glowing and his legs crossed.

This wasn't a physical trap. It had ensnared our minds, driven us mad with the idea that they had harmed someone we both loved, and we wouldn't stop until we ended them all. That was all Azula had wanted- a good fight. A fight before she took the throne, a fight to grant her glory and honor with those who supported my father and her.

thanks for reading, my beautiful readers!

please give my story a little signal boost, I'd like to have more of an audience~

be sure to review, please please please~ you know how much I love hearing from yall!

revieeeew!

xoxo,

nightfall26