Polar Opposites *A Prince Zuko Love Story*

Chapter 15: The Southern Raiders

A loud explosion is what wakes me up from my spot next to Zuko and my dad. My eyes widen as I see Fire Nation airships rise from the fog below, throwing bombs at the temple. The others and I quickly get to our feet as Aang and Appa run over to us. Once Aang and Appa get to us, Aang uses his airbending to force the large, ceiling-high metal doors surrounding our campsite. As I hear several more explosions hit the temple, I hear rock crumbling and crack above my head. I look up to see the ceiling crumbling down. "Watch out!" I hear Zuko shout before I see him run over to Katara, who had been standing under the crumbling ceiling.

The 2 of them roll across the floor before settling several feet away from where the ceiling collapsed. "What are you doing?!" Katara asks Zuko angrily. "Keeping rocks from crushing you." Zuko replies calmly. "Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now!" Katara retorts as she rushes out from under Zuko and back to the others and I. "I'll take that as a thank you." Zuko says as he rises to his feet, running over to my side.

Zuko and I stand next to each other for a moment, glaring towards the doors that Aang had closed just minutes ago, knowing that Azula is probably the one who's leading this attack. "Come on! We can get out through here!" I hear Toph shout to the others from behind me. I turn around to see that she and Haru had used their earthbending to make a tunnel. I start making my way over to the tunnel, knowing that it's the best way for us to get out of here. I then realize that Zuko's not following me. I turn around to see him still standing there, facing the airships. "What are you doing?" I hear Aang ask. Seems like I'm not the only one who had noticed him standing there. "Go ahead! I'll hold them off." Zuko replies. "I think this is a family visit." And with that, he runs off toward the airships. "Zuko! No!" Aang and I shout after him as he runs off.

I start running after him, not wanting him to get hurt, but a hand being placed on my shoulder stops me from doing so. "Kida no!" Sokka exclaims. "But-" I start, but he cuts me off. "I know you're worried about Zuko, but he can take care of himself." "Now, come on. We've gotta get out of here!" he urges. I only hesitate for a split second before nodding in agreement and helping with pulling Appa towards the tunnel.

Sokka, Aang, Katara and I have been trying to get Appa into the tunnel for about 10 minutes now and he's still not budging. I know he hates tunnels, but COME ON! The temple's collapsing and we need to get out of here. NOW!!!!!!! "I can't get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!" Aang shouts. "Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here." Katara replies back as we continue to pull on Appa's reins, trying to get him to go into the tunnel. "We'll have to find a way!" Aang replies back as the 4 of us stop pulling on the reins. "We need to split up." Sokka says after a moment. I turn to him with wide eyes. SPLIT UP?! You have got to be kidding me! Sokka runs up to the others at the end of the tunnel. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."

"No!" Katara shouts angrily as she turns around, walking towards our dad. "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!" "It'll be okay. It's not forever." Dad replies as he puts his hand on her shoulder, reassuringly. Katara hesitates for a moment before hugging him and running back to Aang and I. I walk over to dad as Sokka and dad hug quickly before Sokka takes Suki by the hand, leading her over to Appa. I hug my dad. "Please be safe dad." I say. "I will." he replies. "Take care of Sokka and Katara for me, and stay safe." I nod in reply as I let him go before running over to Appa with the others.

As the others and I get onto Appa, Toph puts her hand on the wall, probably to look for a way to get out of here. "I can clear that away and we can fly out through there!" she says to us before she uses her earthbending to launch herself into the saddle. "Um, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction..." Suki replies hesitantly. "We'll get through. Let's go." Aang says, sounding very determined to get out of here.

Appa flies through the wall, Toph using her bending to make a shield to protect him from any attacks that'll most likely be fired at us as we fly out of the temple. Good thing Toph made that shield for Appa, because even from behind the shield, I could still feel the heat of blue flames. When we're out of Azula's line of fire, Toph breaks the shield away and we start to fly away from Azula.