Post by Kataanglover on Oct 8, 2006 21:01:31 GMT
Captured Part Two- By Kataanglover
Aang looked around the room trying to come up with a plan. There was nothing in the room except for the bread and water the guards had left for them.
“Do you have anything in your pockets? Anything at all.” Aang asked Katara.
She thought for a moment. Her face lit up.
“I think that I took Sokka’s boomerang. Oh no… I left that in my bag by the river!”
She checked her pockets for anything else they could use in their plan. “Nothing. Nothing at all. Did you have anything with you when the firebenders attacked?”
Aang thought for a moment. He remembered the shark tooth that he had bought from one of the markets they had visited a few weeks ago. He had placed it in his pocket for good luck.
“I have that shark tooth I bought. It might just be sharp enough to cut that rope. It’s in my pocket.” Aang tilted his head towards his breast pocket. Katara blushed a little as she retrieved the shark tooth.
“Now try and break the rope.” Aang told her. She sat down and hacked at the rope for several minutes. Finally, it was loose enough to slip her hands from them.
“Now what?” Katara asked him. Aang thought for a minute. What if the guards came back and saw that she was free from the ropes?
“Tie a piece of rope round your wrists. Make it look just like the knot the guard tied or else they might get suspicious.” Katara did as Aang told her. She made the knot loose enough for her to slip her hands out, but tight enough so that the rope would not fall off. “Great! Now we wait until the guards come back.”
“But how will I get past them?” Katara said.
Aang thought for a minute.
“I’ll blast him out of the way, just like I did with Zuko, but I’ll make sure that I hit him really hard so that he gets knocked out. Then you can slip past him and run to get help.” Aang smiled to himself at his ingenious plan.
“But what about you? How will I get back to you?”
“You wont. You go and get help. I’ll escape on my own. If you don’t escape by the time I’m free, then I’ll find you. Please don’t cry.” Aang saw Katara’s eyes filling with tears. “You can escape, no problem.”
Katara sniffed and wiped her eyes.
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” She cried. “It’s you! How will you escape from these chains?” She grabbed one of the chains and examined it. “You can’t use air bending to break these.”
“Okay… I’ve got it! Once I’ve got the guard knocked out, You could get the keys and unlock the chains! Then we can escape together okay?” Katara smiled at him.
“I really can’t believe that you came up with that. Even Sokka couldn’t have come up with a plan like that.” She smiled at Aang.
“We can’t seem happy when the guard comes. We’ve got to act as though nothings happened. You could start by getting rid of that smile.” Katara’s grin faded. She looked at Aang’s lip.
“You have a bruise on your lip now. From where Zuko punched you. Didn’t it hurt?”
Aang’s smile faded as well.
“Not badly.” he replied. “But it didn’t feel that great.”
“Your going to have a nice collection of bruises when we get out of here.” Katara smiled. Aang smiled as well. No matter how bad a situation was, Katara always made him feel better.
They waited in silence for the guards to arrive. The guard came in with the bread and water as he had done earlier, but as he turned to leave, Aang had a surprise for him. He took in a deep breath and blew out the biggest blast of air he had ever made. The guard was knocked off his feet and hit against the door, closing it with a loud slam.
“Quick!” Aang shouted. “Get the key!”
Katara leapt to her feet and ran to the guard. She slipped of the ropes round her wrists and began to search his pockets.
“Got it!” She ran back to Aang and began unlocking the chains at his ankles. When they were unchained she unlocked the chains at his wrists. They fell onto the wall. Aang rubbed his wrists; they were aching.
“Are you alright?” Katara asked. She let out a scream when she saw his wrists. They were scratched and were bleeding in areas.
Aang saw how worried she was, so he pulled his sleeves over his wrists.
“I’m fine.” He said. “Let’s get out of here before more guards come.”
They ran across the room, passed the unconscious guard and through the maze of passage ways to the next floor down. They ran through more passage ways and through long halls until they were out of breath.
“Where’s the… bloody exit?” Aang said as he massaged his chest. “I have the worst stitch.”
“It can’t be… to far… from here.” Katara panted. She looked around her. They were in a large hall. There were six doors on each wall. “One of these has to be the exit.” She peered through each of the doors on all sides of the wall. All except the largest door. Aang walked over to it, still holding his chest. It had a large flame engraved on it. He opened it and peered through. This hall was even larger than the one they were in. It was very dark. The only source of light was from the bright red flames atop tall pillars lined along the walls. He walked in. All he could hear was the echoing of his foot steps and the sound of his breath.
“Aang?” Katara sounded worried. “Aang? I don’t think that this is the right way. Let’s try another door. Aang?” Aang did not stopped. He walked on. His pace grew quicker along with his breath. This place seemed very familiar. He stopped. This was the place he had dreamt of.
Suddenly, he heard a scream. He turned round. Katara had gone. The door had shut.
”Katara!” He ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He turned on the spot trying to find a way out. Then a voice spoke from the darkness.
“I have been waiting for you.”
A figure stepped out from the shadows. It was Zuko.
“Where is Katara?” Aang shouted. “Where is she!”
Zuko laughed.
“You are to late Avatar. We have already disposed of her. You left her behind. You left her unprotected.”
Aang stood stunned. He was paralysed. This was not happening. “It’s just a dream.” He thought. “I’m just dreaming again.”
He turned around, but Katara was gone.
“No.” Aang turned to face Zuko. He could hardly speak. “You… you haven’t.” e was shaking all over. He had to be dreaming again. This was not happening…
“Oh we have, Avatar. She’s gone for good.” Zuko turned and walked out of the hall. Aang tried to follow him, but he could not move. This was really happening. He must be having the night mare again. He could hear Katara’s voice, but it was different than it had been in his dreams.
“It’s not me I’m worried about… it’s you!”
He fell to his knees. He put his hands over his face. “She can’t be thinking that now.” Aang thought.
“Why did I leave her!” he shouted. The doors on either side of the hall opened. Twenty guards came into the room, ten from each side. Aang stood up. He had to find a way out of here. He had to escape.
The guards surrounded him, blocking his way. They closed in on him. Aang air kicked and flipped, but it was no use. He was out numbered twenty to one. He attacked the guards with all his energy, but some of the guards attacked him from behind. They hit him on the bruise he had got at the river side. Aang fell to the floor in agony, his hands over his head. He had been defeated.
Unlike the dream, the guards did not tie him up. He had used up all his energy in the battle. They led him into a room where, as Aang had dreamt, a man sat behind a fire with Zuko standing next to him. Aang could not believe that his nightmare had come true. He thought about Katara. “Have they really killed her, or was Zuko just trying to wind me up?” Aang did not know.
Zuko smiled at his father.
“Here is the Avatar, father.” Zuko said. “He’s all yours.”
“Very good, Prince Zuko.” his father said. He stood up and walked over to Aang where he towered over Aang. “I never imagined the Avatar as a young and… foolish boy.” Zuko laughed at this. “Now you shall meet your end Avatar.”
Aang lost all his exhaustion. He felt rage build up inside him. His arrow tattoos glowed a violent shade of blue. He stared up at Zuko’s father.
“I don’t think I will.” Aang said in his Avatar voice. He blasted the guards around him away and they hit the walls. They fell unconscious to the floor. Zuko looked at Aang with an expression of fear and shock. His father stood his grounds. Aang blasted his strongest gust of wind at him and he hit the wall. Aang then made a wind storm around them. He had trapped Zuko’s father.
“Where is Katara?” He asked him. “What have you done with her?”
Zuko’s father smiled.
“Ah yes, the girl. We locked her away in the most secure room in the fortress.”
Aang’s rage grew stronger.
“Free her, let me go and I’ll let you live. If you don’t, your reign ends now.”
Zuko’s father laughed.
“You wouldn’t kill me, Avatar.” he sneered.
“You watch.” Aang could not control his anger any longer. He lifted his arms into the air and dropped them. The wind storm collapsed onto them.
“Father!” Zuko shouted.
There was silence. Dust hung thick in the air. Then, light shone through the cloud of dust. Zuko could see Aang’s arrow tattoo and eyes shining brightly. Aang walked into the clean air and out of the room. He had to find Katara. He could not leave her behind again. He ran down the hall to find her.
Zuko ran to his father. He knelt down beside him. Most of the dust had cleared now. He looked into his fathers face. There was no hope. He was dead.
Zuko’s eyes burned with tears.
“That’s it Avatar.” he whispered. “Now you’ll really pay.” He ran from the room and began to search for Aang.
* * * * *
Aang had run through the room lit with red flames. He ran up the stairs and along the passage ways to the dungeons.
“Katara?” he shouted. “Katara?”
He ran from room to room trying to find her until he can to the last room. As Zuko’s father had said, it was the most secure room in the fortress. Aang had no problem dealing with the guards though. As he entered the room, he went into his Avatar state again. They had chained Katara to the wall as they had with him. This made Aang furious. He blasted the guards out of his way with ease. He approached Katara and blasted the chains away with fire, but took care not to burn her.
His Avatar state faded away and he collapsed to the floor.
“Aang!” Katara fell to the ground next to him. Aang had used so much energy, that he was not awake at all. “Aang!” Katara lifted his upper body off the floor and laid him in her lap. “Oh Aang… wake up… please!” Aang’s eyes opened slowly. His eyes focused and he saw Katara above him.
“Katara… are you alright?”
She held him close to her.
“I’m fine. What’s happened? How did you find me?”
“Zuko’s father captured me and… I just lost control… I… I…”
“Killed my father.”
Katara looked up and saw Zuko standing in the door way.
“What?” Katara did not believe Zuko at all.
“You heard me. He killed my father.” Zuko took a few steps into the room.
“Aang wouldn’t do anything like that, would you Aang?” She looked down into Aang’s face. There was silence.
“It’s true.” Aang stood up. “I did. But there was nothing else I could do. He was about to kill me. I had to defend myself and I… I lost control of my anger.”
Katara looked at Aang as though she had never seen him before. Zuko walked up to Aang, picked him up by the collar and pinned him against the wall.
“I should have killed you the moment I had you chained in that room, Avatar.” Zuko whispered. “I knew that you would cause trouble If let you live.” Zuko dropped Aang. He hit the fell hard to the floor. He looked up at Katara. She had a look of deep shock on her face. Aang felt deeply ashamed.
“I’m going to fight you now Avatar and kill you as I should have done before.”
Zuko walked into the centre of the room and stood, ready to fight.
“Come on Avatar! You don’t’ want your girlfriend here to remember you as the one who gave into defeat and let her be captured, do you?”
Aang stood up. His temper rose again. His tattoos shone bright as he began the battle.
Aang more fiercely than Katara had ever seen. She backed against the wall and watched with utmost fear. She did not want Aang to get injured, but she need not have worried. Aang fought very strongly. He used every bending skill to defeat Zuko. Air bending, water bending, fire bending and earth bending. Zuko was on the floor within less than a minute.
He looked up at Aang, who was still in his Avatar state. Aang had the most fierce expression on his face. Zuko could not fight anymore.
“I’ll let you live,” Aang said, “But me and Katara are free. You will not fight us any more or chase us anymore.”
Aang bent down so that his face was inches from Zuko’s.
“Understood?”
Zuko did not reply, but he gave Aang a look of deep loathing.
Aang turned to face Katara. She still had a shocked expression on her face. Aang frowned. His arrow tattoos’ light faded. However, he did not collapse. He had finally mastered and controlled all the bending arts. Katara ran to him and hugged him tightly. Aang hugged her back. They began to walk out of the room when Aang remembered something.
“Oh yes. About that question you asked me yesterday… the answer is, I have mastered all the bending arts.” Aang grinned at Zuko, then walked out of the room with Katara.
They ran out of the main building of the fortress with ease. Most of the guards were guarding the gates. They snuck out of the gates and ran down the road, away from the fortress. They ran into the forest and hid behind the trees.
“We made it!” Aang shouted. “We made it Katara!” He looked at Katara. She did not look happy. She looked really upset. Aang figured that she was still upset about the fact that he had left her behind.
“Look.” he said. “I’m sorry that I left you behind. I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s not that.” Katara turned away from him. “You… you killed Zuko’s father.
Aang could not believe that she was reminding him of this. Did she not see that it was Zuko’s father they were talking about?
“Katara. Zuko’s father was about to kill me. He forced me to use all my power against him. I had to defend myself. Don’t you see that?” Aang waited for Katara to answer him. She turned round.
“Aang. I know you were defending yourself, but… killing a human being. Isn’t that a bit…”
“HE WAS ABOUT TO KILL ME!” Aang had lost control of his anger again. His eyes were like flames. “HE’S THE ENEMY! I HAD TO TAKE SOME SORT OF ACTION AGAINST HIM!” His arrow tattoos lit up warningly. “ENEMIES FIGHT AGAINST EACHOTHER KATARA! THAT’S THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS! IF I HADN’T FOUGHT HIM, I WOULD HAVE DIED AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED AS WELL!” Aang was breathing fast. His face was red with anger.
Katara’s eyes had filled with tears. She had never been shouted at that much before and Aang was the person she had least expected to shout at her.
Aang looked at Katara. He regretted shouting at her.
“Katara… I didn’t mean to shout at you… I… I got really worried about you…Zuko’s father told me they had locked you up and… I lost control of myself… please forgive me?”
Katara looked into his eyes. She could see that he was really sorry. She ran up to him and hugged him.
“I’m sorry to. I should have followed you and helped you. I’m sorry.” Katara cried into his shoulder.
“Hey! I’ve had you cry the entire ocean on me now!” Aang said sarcastically. Katara laughed through the tears. Aang put his hands on her face and lifted her head up so he could see her. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything. It was my fault you were captured. Nothing that has happened over the last few days has been your fault.” Aang smiled at Katara. “I’m not angry with you.” He wiped the tears from her face and hugged her.
“I’m glad we’re together again.” Katara said. “I was really worried about you when they took me away. I didn’t know what would happen to you.”
“I was worried about you more. I thought that Zuko had hurt you or even worse…” Aang could not say “killed you”.
“But it’s all over now.” Katara said. “Let’s find the others. They’re going to be worried about us.”
Katara began to walk, but Aang grabbed her hand.
“I can call Appa from here.” He pulled out his bison whistle and blew into it as hard as he could. “He will be here in a few minutes.” Aang sat down and leant against a tree. Katara sat beside him. They waited.
Suddenly, a large white figure hovered above them.
“Appa!” Aang leapt to his feet. Appa landed near them. Sokka and Momo were sat on Appa’s back. Sokka jumped off and ran towards them.
“What’s happened to you guys? Where have you been? Whoa! What happened to you Aang?” Sokka pointed to Aang’s lip and the now very purple bruise on Aang’s head.
“I’ll explain later. Let’s get away from here before the fire benders come.” Aang jumped onto Appa’s head. “Come on you two!”
“Fire benders? What’s going on?” Katara pushed Sokka onto Appa’s back and climbed on herself.
“Yip-yip!” Aang shouted. Appa flew into the air and over the forest.
Aang and Katara were free at last. They were finally free from the fire benders.
The End
Aang looked around the room trying to come up with a plan. There was nothing in the room except for the bread and water the guards had left for them.
“Do you have anything in your pockets? Anything at all.” Aang asked Katara.
She thought for a moment. Her face lit up.
“I think that I took Sokka’s boomerang. Oh no… I left that in my bag by the river!”
She checked her pockets for anything else they could use in their plan. “Nothing. Nothing at all. Did you have anything with you when the firebenders attacked?”
Aang thought for a moment. He remembered the shark tooth that he had bought from one of the markets they had visited a few weeks ago. He had placed it in his pocket for good luck.
“I have that shark tooth I bought. It might just be sharp enough to cut that rope. It’s in my pocket.” Aang tilted his head towards his breast pocket. Katara blushed a little as she retrieved the shark tooth.
“Now try and break the rope.” Aang told her. She sat down and hacked at the rope for several minutes. Finally, it was loose enough to slip her hands from them.
“Now what?” Katara asked him. Aang thought for a minute. What if the guards came back and saw that she was free from the ropes?
“Tie a piece of rope round your wrists. Make it look just like the knot the guard tied or else they might get suspicious.” Katara did as Aang told her. She made the knot loose enough for her to slip her hands out, but tight enough so that the rope would not fall off. “Great! Now we wait until the guards come back.”
“But how will I get past them?” Katara said.
Aang thought for a minute.
“I’ll blast him out of the way, just like I did with Zuko, but I’ll make sure that I hit him really hard so that he gets knocked out. Then you can slip past him and run to get help.” Aang smiled to himself at his ingenious plan.
“But what about you? How will I get back to you?”
“You wont. You go and get help. I’ll escape on my own. If you don’t escape by the time I’m free, then I’ll find you. Please don’t cry.” Aang saw Katara’s eyes filling with tears. “You can escape, no problem.”
Katara sniffed and wiped her eyes.
“It’s not me I’m worried about.” She cried. “It’s you! How will you escape from these chains?” She grabbed one of the chains and examined it. “You can’t use air bending to break these.”
“Okay… I’ve got it! Once I’ve got the guard knocked out, You could get the keys and unlock the chains! Then we can escape together okay?” Katara smiled at him.
“I really can’t believe that you came up with that. Even Sokka couldn’t have come up with a plan like that.” She smiled at Aang.
“We can’t seem happy when the guard comes. We’ve got to act as though nothings happened. You could start by getting rid of that smile.” Katara’s grin faded. She looked at Aang’s lip.
“You have a bruise on your lip now. From where Zuko punched you. Didn’t it hurt?”
Aang’s smile faded as well.
“Not badly.” he replied. “But it didn’t feel that great.”
“Your going to have a nice collection of bruises when we get out of here.” Katara smiled. Aang smiled as well. No matter how bad a situation was, Katara always made him feel better.
They waited in silence for the guards to arrive. The guard came in with the bread and water as he had done earlier, but as he turned to leave, Aang had a surprise for him. He took in a deep breath and blew out the biggest blast of air he had ever made. The guard was knocked off his feet and hit against the door, closing it with a loud slam.
“Quick!” Aang shouted. “Get the key!”
Katara leapt to her feet and ran to the guard. She slipped of the ropes round her wrists and began to search his pockets.
“Got it!” She ran back to Aang and began unlocking the chains at his ankles. When they were unchained she unlocked the chains at his wrists. They fell onto the wall. Aang rubbed his wrists; they were aching.
“Are you alright?” Katara asked. She let out a scream when she saw his wrists. They were scratched and were bleeding in areas.
Aang saw how worried she was, so he pulled his sleeves over his wrists.
“I’m fine.” He said. “Let’s get out of here before more guards come.”
They ran across the room, passed the unconscious guard and through the maze of passage ways to the next floor down. They ran through more passage ways and through long halls until they were out of breath.
“Where’s the… bloody exit?” Aang said as he massaged his chest. “I have the worst stitch.”
“It can’t be… to far… from here.” Katara panted. She looked around her. They were in a large hall. There were six doors on each wall. “One of these has to be the exit.” She peered through each of the doors on all sides of the wall. All except the largest door. Aang walked over to it, still holding his chest. It had a large flame engraved on it. He opened it and peered through. This hall was even larger than the one they were in. It was very dark. The only source of light was from the bright red flames atop tall pillars lined along the walls. He walked in. All he could hear was the echoing of his foot steps and the sound of his breath.
“Aang?” Katara sounded worried. “Aang? I don’t think that this is the right way. Let’s try another door. Aang?” Aang did not stopped. He walked on. His pace grew quicker along with his breath. This place seemed very familiar. He stopped. This was the place he had dreamt of.
Suddenly, he heard a scream. He turned round. Katara had gone. The door had shut.
”Katara!” He ran to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. He turned on the spot trying to find a way out. Then a voice spoke from the darkness.
“I have been waiting for you.”
A figure stepped out from the shadows. It was Zuko.
“Where is Katara?” Aang shouted. “Where is she!”
Zuko laughed.
“You are to late Avatar. We have already disposed of her. You left her behind. You left her unprotected.”
Aang stood stunned. He was paralysed. This was not happening. “It’s just a dream.” He thought. “I’m just dreaming again.”
He turned around, but Katara was gone.
“No.” Aang turned to face Zuko. He could hardly speak. “You… you haven’t.” e was shaking all over. He had to be dreaming again. This was not happening…
“Oh we have, Avatar. She’s gone for good.” Zuko turned and walked out of the hall. Aang tried to follow him, but he could not move. This was really happening. He must be having the night mare again. He could hear Katara’s voice, but it was different than it had been in his dreams.
“It’s not me I’m worried about… it’s you!”
He fell to his knees. He put his hands over his face. “She can’t be thinking that now.” Aang thought.
“Why did I leave her!” he shouted. The doors on either side of the hall opened. Twenty guards came into the room, ten from each side. Aang stood up. He had to find a way out of here. He had to escape.
The guards surrounded him, blocking his way. They closed in on him. Aang air kicked and flipped, but it was no use. He was out numbered twenty to one. He attacked the guards with all his energy, but some of the guards attacked him from behind. They hit him on the bruise he had got at the river side. Aang fell to the floor in agony, his hands over his head. He had been defeated.
Unlike the dream, the guards did not tie him up. He had used up all his energy in the battle. They led him into a room where, as Aang had dreamt, a man sat behind a fire with Zuko standing next to him. Aang could not believe that his nightmare had come true. He thought about Katara. “Have they really killed her, or was Zuko just trying to wind me up?” Aang did not know.
Zuko smiled at his father.
“Here is the Avatar, father.” Zuko said. “He’s all yours.”
“Very good, Prince Zuko.” his father said. He stood up and walked over to Aang where he towered over Aang. “I never imagined the Avatar as a young and… foolish boy.” Zuko laughed at this. “Now you shall meet your end Avatar.”
Aang lost all his exhaustion. He felt rage build up inside him. His arrow tattoos glowed a violent shade of blue. He stared up at Zuko’s father.
“I don’t think I will.” Aang said in his Avatar voice. He blasted the guards around him away and they hit the walls. They fell unconscious to the floor. Zuko looked at Aang with an expression of fear and shock. His father stood his grounds. Aang blasted his strongest gust of wind at him and he hit the wall. Aang then made a wind storm around them. He had trapped Zuko’s father.
“Where is Katara?” He asked him. “What have you done with her?”
Zuko’s father smiled.
“Ah yes, the girl. We locked her away in the most secure room in the fortress.”
Aang’s rage grew stronger.
“Free her, let me go and I’ll let you live. If you don’t, your reign ends now.”
Zuko’s father laughed.
“You wouldn’t kill me, Avatar.” he sneered.
“You watch.” Aang could not control his anger any longer. He lifted his arms into the air and dropped them. The wind storm collapsed onto them.
“Father!” Zuko shouted.
There was silence. Dust hung thick in the air. Then, light shone through the cloud of dust. Zuko could see Aang’s arrow tattoo and eyes shining brightly. Aang walked into the clean air and out of the room. He had to find Katara. He could not leave her behind again. He ran down the hall to find her.
Zuko ran to his father. He knelt down beside him. Most of the dust had cleared now. He looked into his fathers face. There was no hope. He was dead.
Zuko’s eyes burned with tears.
“That’s it Avatar.” he whispered. “Now you’ll really pay.” He ran from the room and began to search for Aang.
* * * * *
Aang had run through the room lit with red flames. He ran up the stairs and along the passage ways to the dungeons.
“Katara?” he shouted. “Katara?”
He ran from room to room trying to find her until he can to the last room. As Zuko’s father had said, it was the most secure room in the fortress. Aang had no problem dealing with the guards though. As he entered the room, he went into his Avatar state again. They had chained Katara to the wall as they had with him. This made Aang furious. He blasted the guards out of his way with ease. He approached Katara and blasted the chains away with fire, but took care not to burn her.
His Avatar state faded away and he collapsed to the floor.
“Aang!” Katara fell to the ground next to him. Aang had used so much energy, that he was not awake at all. “Aang!” Katara lifted his upper body off the floor and laid him in her lap. “Oh Aang… wake up… please!” Aang’s eyes opened slowly. His eyes focused and he saw Katara above him.
“Katara… are you alright?”
She held him close to her.
“I’m fine. What’s happened? How did you find me?”
“Zuko’s father captured me and… I just lost control… I… I…”
“Killed my father.”
Katara looked up and saw Zuko standing in the door way.
“What?” Katara did not believe Zuko at all.
“You heard me. He killed my father.” Zuko took a few steps into the room.
“Aang wouldn’t do anything like that, would you Aang?” She looked down into Aang’s face. There was silence.
“It’s true.” Aang stood up. “I did. But there was nothing else I could do. He was about to kill me. I had to defend myself and I… I lost control of my anger.”
Katara looked at Aang as though she had never seen him before. Zuko walked up to Aang, picked him up by the collar and pinned him against the wall.
“I should have killed you the moment I had you chained in that room, Avatar.” Zuko whispered. “I knew that you would cause trouble If let you live.” Zuko dropped Aang. He hit the fell hard to the floor. He looked up at Katara. She had a look of deep shock on her face. Aang felt deeply ashamed.
“I’m going to fight you now Avatar and kill you as I should have done before.”
Zuko walked into the centre of the room and stood, ready to fight.
“Come on Avatar! You don’t’ want your girlfriend here to remember you as the one who gave into defeat and let her be captured, do you?”
Aang stood up. His temper rose again. His tattoos shone bright as he began the battle.
Aang more fiercely than Katara had ever seen. She backed against the wall and watched with utmost fear. She did not want Aang to get injured, but she need not have worried. Aang fought very strongly. He used every bending skill to defeat Zuko. Air bending, water bending, fire bending and earth bending. Zuko was on the floor within less than a minute.
He looked up at Aang, who was still in his Avatar state. Aang had the most fierce expression on his face. Zuko could not fight anymore.
“I’ll let you live,” Aang said, “But me and Katara are free. You will not fight us any more or chase us anymore.”
Aang bent down so that his face was inches from Zuko’s.
“Understood?”
Zuko did not reply, but he gave Aang a look of deep loathing.
Aang turned to face Katara. She still had a shocked expression on her face. Aang frowned. His arrow tattoos’ light faded. However, he did not collapse. He had finally mastered and controlled all the bending arts. Katara ran to him and hugged him tightly. Aang hugged her back. They began to walk out of the room when Aang remembered something.
“Oh yes. About that question you asked me yesterday… the answer is, I have mastered all the bending arts.” Aang grinned at Zuko, then walked out of the room with Katara.
They ran out of the main building of the fortress with ease. Most of the guards were guarding the gates. They snuck out of the gates and ran down the road, away from the fortress. They ran into the forest and hid behind the trees.
“We made it!” Aang shouted. “We made it Katara!” He looked at Katara. She did not look happy. She looked really upset. Aang figured that she was still upset about the fact that he had left her behind.
“Look.” he said. “I’m sorry that I left you behind. I don’t know what came over me.”
“It’s not that.” Katara turned away from him. “You… you killed Zuko’s father.
Aang could not believe that she was reminding him of this. Did she not see that it was Zuko’s father they were talking about?
“Katara. Zuko’s father was about to kill me. He forced me to use all my power against him. I had to defend myself. Don’t you see that?” Aang waited for Katara to answer him. She turned round.
“Aang. I know you were defending yourself, but… killing a human being. Isn’t that a bit…”
“HE WAS ABOUT TO KILL ME!” Aang had lost control of his anger again. His eyes were like flames. “HE’S THE ENEMY! I HAD TO TAKE SOME SORT OF ACTION AGAINST HIM!” His arrow tattoos lit up warningly. “ENEMIES FIGHT AGAINST EACHOTHER KATARA! THAT’S THE WAY THE WORLD WORKS! IF I HADN’T FOUGHT HIM, I WOULD HAVE DIED AND YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN KILLED AS WELL!” Aang was breathing fast. His face was red with anger.
Katara’s eyes had filled with tears. She had never been shouted at that much before and Aang was the person she had least expected to shout at her.
Aang looked at Katara. He regretted shouting at her.
“Katara… I didn’t mean to shout at you… I… I got really worried about you…Zuko’s father told me they had locked you up and… I lost control of myself… please forgive me?”
Katara looked into his eyes. She could see that he was really sorry. She ran up to him and hugged him.
“I’m sorry to. I should have followed you and helped you. I’m sorry.” Katara cried into his shoulder.
“Hey! I’ve had you cry the entire ocean on me now!” Aang said sarcastically. Katara laughed through the tears. Aang put his hands on her face and lifted her head up so he could see her. “You don’t need to be sorry for anything. It was my fault you were captured. Nothing that has happened over the last few days has been your fault.” Aang smiled at Katara. “I’m not angry with you.” He wiped the tears from her face and hugged her.
“I’m glad we’re together again.” Katara said. “I was really worried about you when they took me away. I didn’t know what would happen to you.”
“I was worried about you more. I thought that Zuko had hurt you or even worse…” Aang could not say “killed you”.
“But it’s all over now.” Katara said. “Let’s find the others. They’re going to be worried about us.”
Katara began to walk, but Aang grabbed her hand.
“I can call Appa from here.” He pulled out his bison whistle and blew into it as hard as he could. “He will be here in a few minutes.” Aang sat down and leant against a tree. Katara sat beside him. They waited.
Suddenly, a large white figure hovered above them.
“Appa!” Aang leapt to his feet. Appa landed near them. Sokka and Momo were sat on Appa’s back. Sokka jumped off and ran towards them.
“What’s happened to you guys? Where have you been? Whoa! What happened to you Aang?” Sokka pointed to Aang’s lip and the now very purple bruise on Aang’s head.
“I’ll explain later. Let’s get away from here before the fire benders come.” Aang jumped onto Appa’s head. “Come on you two!”
“Fire benders? What’s going on?” Katara pushed Sokka onto Appa’s back and climbed on herself.
“Yip-yip!” Aang shouted. Appa flew into the air and over the forest.
Aang and Katara were free at last. They were finally free from the fire benders.
The End
