Burn Me *Prince Zuko Fanfiction*

Southern Raiders

I fell asleep early that night, tired from my journey. A loud crack woke me from my slumber. Rubbing my eyes as another bang sounded off the cliffside, I jumped and scurried out of my sleeping bag. I was still in my prison garb from the night before. Large puffs of debris created clouds just outside the Western Air Temple. I gasped as a barrage of bombs burst through. The rest of the group woke to the loud sounds and quickly began packing away their sleeping gear.

Aang came rushing back into the temple and airbent the doors closed. Bombs banged on the outer walls. The ground was shaking under the explosions. The ceiling was starting to crack. I stepped back as the ground vibrated beneath my feet.

"Watch out!" Zuko yelled.

His body slammed into mine, knocking me to the ground. I recoiled into him as our bodies tumbled out of the way and a piece from the ceiling crashed into the floor.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled as Zuko's body laid on top of my back.

"Keeping rocks from crushing you," Zuko yelled back.

"Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now." I growled and slid out from under his arm.

I ran over to Sokka who stood by a crumbling wall. Toph and Haru stepped forward and earthbent a tunnel in the side of the cliff. She ushered everyone through. I glanced over and saw Aang struggling to pull Appa toward the tunnel. The bison was a beast to budge. Looking past Appa, I saw Zuko standing in the center of the crumbling room instead of following us.

"Zuko," Aang called out to him. "What are you doing?"

"Go ahead, I'll hold them off... I think this is a family visit." Zuko stated then took off running toward the airships.

Aang tried to stop the boy, but he was long gone. Sokka grabbed the boy's shoulders and urged him to leave. The structure was crumbling around us as we pushed Appa into the tunnel. He was moving slowly and would constantly pull back. We had barely made it through the entrance and Appa tugged so hard he knocked us over. The poor beast wailed out of fear.

"I can't get him to go in there. Appa hates tunnels," Aang grunted as he tugged on the reigns once more.

"Aang," Katara cried as she joined him in pulling Appa, "there's no way we can fly out of here."

"We'll have to find a way," Aang stopped pulling on the poor creature.

"We need to split up," Sokka ran toward the group. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."

"What? No!" I yelled as I rushed after him, Katara hot on my heels.

"The Fire Nation can't separate our family again," she cried wrapping her arms around our dad.

"It'll be okay, it's not forever," he hummed.

Katara pulled away from him and ran back to Appa. Sokka wrapped our dad in a hug before grabbing Suki.

"Go," he ordered me gently. I squeezed him tight. "You'll find your way."

I pulled away and gave him a confused look, but I didn't have time to question him. I ran to Appa and I gripped Suki's hand and hoisted myself up onto Appa's saddle. Toph placed her hand on the wall and told us she could get us out through there before earthbending herself into the air.

"Umm, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction," Suki stated worriedly as the ground began to rumble and shake around us.

"We'll get through," Aang declared.

Toph began clearing a way for Appa to go through. The entire time Aang coaxed him, reminding the bison that we were heading out and not into the tunnel. Space was pitch black as Toph bent her way through. We burst through the underside of the mountain with a rock shield protecting Appa's face. Blue fire ate at the shield, but it didn't crumble away. We flew over the Fire Nation. Toph broke the shield away slowly, tiny rocks littered the air.