A/N: Finally, another chapter appears. I'm so sorry about the long wait, and I desperately hope the wait will be short on the coming chapters. Many thanks to all who take the time to review. You're amazing.

xx-Kitten.

Brightest Nights or Darkest Days

By Kittenshift17

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Hold your ground, Twinkle Toes," Toph Bei Fong shouted at Aang whilst hurling rocks at him.

The Airbender made a face of severe annoyance, having already been told more than a hundred times that he was too weak willed and that he'd never be a decent Earthbender if he didn't learn to stubbornly stand his ground and hold his stance and refuse to budge. The blind Earthbender was ruthless and crude and stubborn and Aang just wanted to let his own element rule his heart and his mind. His way had always been to move, to flow around any obstacle in his path, the float with the wind. He wasn't made for struggling to catch enormous rocks with just the strength of his will, alone.

He missed Katara. She was a better and more lenient teacher than Toph. She was kinder, and she didn't say hurtful things that made him feel useless. He needed to find her. He and Sokka had been hunting for weeks, hurrying toward Ba Sing Se in search of her, and there wasn't a single trace of her. He wanted to scream with fury whenever his imagination got the better of him and he started to wonder if she was dead, or if she'd been captured by someone horrible, like Prince Zuko.

He had to find her!

He wanted her back and he wanted to make sure nothing and no one would ever part him from his best friend again. Gritting his teeth, resolving that if anything had hurt Katara, he would destroy it, Aang opened his eyes and brought up his hands in a bending stance, blocking the rocks Toph hurled at his head and snarling under his breath before hurling the stupid rock right back at the little blind girl with all the power of an angry badger-mole.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The ferry port was and loud, filled with filthy refugees who looked like they'd all seen better days. Zuko found himself reaching for his waterbender protectively as he watched a trained platypus-bear rip apart a cart of cabbages with a furious roar. It was almost nightfall, and everyone was clamouring, trying to get aboard the ferry on the last crossing over before morning.

"Perhaps, it would be wiser to take the next one," Uncle Iroh advised quietly as they watched people pushing and shoving, a few fights breaking out.

"It's not like there won't be another ferry-crossing tomorrow," Katara said. "Why are they all clamouring like that?"

"They're afraid of the raids," Meng spoke up, surprising Zuko when she sounded grim, rather than her usual perky self. "In my village they used to tell stories of how the Fire Nation kept finding and raiding the ferry-ports, blocking those who tried to flee their fire by crawling into the bowels of Ba Sing Se. They all think that if they don't make it on board tonight, they might not see the dawn of tomorrow morning. The Fire Nation might find the port and destroy it before they can be free. They're scared."

Zuko noticed that the Earthbender sounded scared and sad, watching the people of her Nation as they all tried to squeeze past security and get aboard the ferry.

"We'll cross in the morning," Katara said firmly, leaning back a little and pressing herself against Zuko's front.

Zuko nodded, fighting the urge to pick her up and carry her away to somewhere safe. After so long spent in the wilderness, just the five of them, it was something of a shock to his senses to be faced with such a large crowd of people. Especially dirty, rough looking people who would likely stab them for the gold-coins they'd gotten for selling their komodo-rhinos in the Fire Nation colony village they'd passed through early yesterday afternoon.

It had taken them more than a single day to reach the port, and Zuko's body still ached from his exertions with Katara two mornings ago, but he wasn't about to complain. Agni, he'd do it again the minute he got her alone, if she would let him. He knew he shouldn't and he knew that parting ways with her was going to be absolute torture, but he saw no point in prolonging their suffering until such time as he returned to the capitol. It might not be for months, after all. They needed to take down Ozai before the comment at the end of the summer, but that was still a long way off and he didn't want to spend the next who knew how long fighting with Katara and being miserable.

"Over there," he commented, pointing toward a quiet corner that had been emptied thanks to the push to get on the boat. Everyone in the port had gambled their resting place for a chance to board, and Zuko was willing to take advantage.

The five of them made a beeline for the corner, and Zuko knew Uncle would feel better with a few walls at his back to ensure they if they were attacked, it would only be from one direction.

"At least we don't need to set up camp," Meng offered brightly when they reached the spot – closed off from the weather with a sturdy roof overhead.

"I almost miss the ice," Zuko muttered, realising that out in the open like this, they would be forced to take shifts watching to ensure none of these desperate peasants stole their belongings. Not that he currently carried anything with all that much value to him, other than his weapons.

"I could still bend some snow in and make a partial igloo," Katara offered.

"It would melt too quickly, with so many bodies condensed into such an enclosed space. It would drip on us all night and leave puddles everywhere in the morning," Uncle pointed out.

"Not if I maintained it," Katara said.

"It would be unwise to expose yourself for a waterbender, Katara," Zuko told her softly. "You never knew who might be a spy, feeding information back to the Fire Nation for food, or gold, or protection."

He watched her nod thoughtfully, though she frowned a little, clearly not thrilled about the idea of needing to hide her bending. Zuko didn't blame her. He wasn't thrilled about hiding his Firebending, either. But there was nothing for it. If they were found out for Benders, they risked being caught by the Fire Nation soldiers. The only one who might get away with being a Bender was Meng, and even that was a risk.

"Shall we put some dinner on, then?" Meng asked conversationally when they'd set themselves up well enough in the corner, laying down their bedding and creating a make-shift fireplace in the same spot someone else who'd used the spot before them had done.

"I could eat," said Uncle, smoothing a hand over his rounded belly and looking half-starved, despite his size.

It was impossibly difficult, Zuko found, to watch Katara and Meng struggling to make a fire when, in the recent weeks, they'd grown accustomed to using bending to start them. When Katara dropped the spark-rocks for the fourth consecutive time, Zuko reached for them.

"Let me do it," he said quietly, taking the stones and striking them together whilst directing a tiny flame into the piled kindling they'd set up.

"You're going to get us caught," Katara warned him quietly. "But thank you, Zuko."

She smoothed her hand over the middle of his back as Zuko pocketed the spark-rocks and stepped aside, letting the girls dive into the task of cooking. Not that he and Kuzon hadn't had their own share of doing the cooking, but it seemed that with so many people around, the girls would prefer to cook and Zuko knew he'd prefer to keep watch to make sure no one got any ideas about stealing their belongings or begging them for food. He knew that if anyone dared approach and ask, Uncle would be kind and offer them something to eat, and they simply couldn't afford to do that when so many hungry mouths would be drawn by the handout, hoping for some charity, too.

The silence amongst them was tense and heavy; even Meng managed to still her tongue as they warily cooked their dinner and prepared to spend the night waiting of the dawn ferry. Zuko eyed a number of characters who looked their way like they were thinking about trying something and he noticed Kuzon doing the same. Uncle sat by the fire, similarly looking around but doing a better job of making it look casual.

"It's going to be a long night," Katara muttered, coming over to him a short time later when dinner was hastily thrown together. She handed him a bowl of noddles, and briefly curled herself around his back, resting her cheek against him and curling one arm around his stomach.

"I'll take first watch," Zuko said, looking meaningfully toward Uncle and then Kuzon.

"I'll watch with you," Katara volunteered and Zuko's lips twitched just a bit.

"You need your rest, waterbender," he murmured to her quietly, peering over his shoulder to meet her bright blue eyes. "You get grumpy when you're tired and it's been a long few days."

"You get grumpy, too," she argued.

"I'm always grumpy," Zuko countered.

She laughed a little bit at that.

"True," she conceded. "But I'm still going to sit awake with you."

Zuko shook his head at her, even though he couldn't help smiling in return.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Princess Azula scowled as they slowly made their way across the Earth Kingdom in their enormous metal drill, intent on taking down the walls of Ba Sing Se. She'd given up on her intent to capture the Avatar or her traitorous brother and uncle, for the time being. There were more important matters at hand, and it seemed logical that she might find one, or both of her targets once she'd conquered the city in the name of the Fire Nation.

The Avatar still needed and Earthbending teacher, and there was nowhere else safe for Zuko and Uncle Iroh to hide. The whole lot of them might very well be hidden away in the city and Azula would eventually flush them out and drag them all back to the palace to face justice.

She would do what Uncle had failed to manage and take the city by force. Their enormous stone walls wouldn't stand a chance against the drill she'd commissioned. Trailing her eyes over the bedchamber she'd picked for herself, Azula sighed boredly, wondering what Mai and Tai Li were up to. Not that she really needed to imagine, she supposed. The sounds coming through the wall partitioning her chamber from Mai's were evidence enough of their activities.

Azula curled her lip. Wouldn't Zuzu be disappointed when he learned that the girl he'd been so in love with at the palace had turned her tastes to that of other women? She almost couldn't wait to rub in that Azula herself had had Mai long before Zuko would ever lay a finger on her. Though, if she had her way, she certainly wasn't ever going to permit that traitorous fool back into the Fire Nation unless he was clapped in chains and destined to be locked away in prison or hung for his crimes.

The throne was hers, and she wouldn't allow that snivelling, angry, traitorous brother of hers to usurp it. Father would never allow it. Azula knew Father hated Zuko, and while she herself would've been willing to tolerate him forever, she was certainly permitted more freedom, and received his title in his absence. Shaking her head to herself and wondering idly how much longer it would be before they reached the city, Azula threw off the covers and rose to her feet. She left her bedchamber and made a beeline for Mai's, unsure whether she merely wanted to interrupt the debauchery taking place within before demanding they entertain her, or if she might just join in herself. Maybe that would tire her out enough that she'd finally be able to get some sleep.