Aang and Katara - A Wedding Tale

Chapter 16: The Red Shadow

Aang's Point of View
Staring at the burning blue flame sign was starting to hurt my eyes. It burned with so much intensity, so much hate, that had to be Azula. She was the only one who could create blue fire but only when she was unstable. And last night definitely made her that way. 

I feel guilty now for bringing her with me. She was on the right path. She had found peace with her self. She had made peace with the past... Or so we thought.

Now she had relapsed and spirits knows what she could do when she isn't in control.

"Guys! Guys! Here you are I've been looking all over for you!" Exclaimed Ty Lee as she ran to join our group. She sounded upbeat as usual, which was weird considering she was the closest to Azula. "Hey, what are you all looking at?" Me and Toph stood to the side, parting our group to let her see.
"I'm so sorry Ty Lee. Don't worry we'll get her back. Whatever it takes." Katara added sympathetically. She may not have be the princesses biggest fan, but even she pitied Azula after her mental breakdown.
"Why do you mean by that? What happened?" she added her voice shaking.

Then it struck her like lighting.

She dropped to the floor.

Tears welled in her eyes.

"You don't think - no! No. No! She's changed. She's not that person anymore! She promised-" she began quietly before ending in loud sobs.

"Look I'm just as worried as you are. She's my little sister and she's hurt." Zuko added softy, "I'm going to issue an official statement and offer a reward for information on her whereabouts. We will bring her home. Whatever it takes."
"Whatever it takes." We all added whist we helped Ty Lee up.
"Whatever it takes," she repeated, wiping away her tears.

"Avatar!" Called an unknown voice from the crowed. "Finally I've found you." It probably didn't help that the man happened to come out of no where, sounding almost threatening, to a bunch of sleep deprived and stressed teenagers and young adults, but I bent the earth beneath his feet launching him over the barriers and began questioning who the man was and what he wanted. Turns out it was Mr Gan-Lan or better known as the Cabbage Man.
"Sorry Sir, we are dealing with a bit of a crisis at the moment, I guess I'm a little jumpy. What can I do for you?"
"Its fine. At least you didn't damage my cabbages this time..." I tilted my head and stared at him blankly. "Ah forget it. Anyway about our meeting today, we have another robbery we think is linked to the first one. We also have reason to believe its connected to this." He said gesturing to the burning wood behind us.
"You think Princess Azula stole from you?" Mai said with a scoff.
"Princess Azula? Well does she usually rob in a red dragon mask from the Fire Nation plays?" (The one on the top left credit to the search comics)

We all turn and face Zuko. Sokka pulled out his detective hat, pulling the lenses across his right eye making humming noises and getting closer to Zuko. "Hey not me this time." He yelled shoving Sokka further away, "Our Mother had a lot of masks, it could be her..."
"No, just because someone may have robbed a store in a mask doesn't mean it was Azula. Lots of people have those masks..." Ty Lee began.
"Can anyone else bend blue fire though?" He asked
"It had to have been Azula. She's the only one who could bend blue fire and have access to our mother's masks." Ty Lee began biting her lip, trying to hold back her tears.

"Whoever it was, do you know what was stolen? Anything of value?" I interjected, trying to deescalate the situation.
"Well just some food, about 40 gold peaces and animal food. Also my back-up list of people indebted to my company. I only have three more back-ups of that list left, at this rate I'm not going to have any left in a week."
"I think you need look into your security measures." Toph added sarcastically.
"At least this time they left quickly with only slightly singeing a cashier. No hostages or casualties, and nothing of great value stolen. Its just the list I'm worried about."

It was only now I began to notice the crowed getting larger and more interested in our conversation. A few seemed a little too interested. So I suggested we continue this somewhere more privet. We ended up at Iroh's tea shop. Iroh didn't mind, and Mr Gan-Lan pitched him his cabbage tea although it was met with strange looks Iroh took it in his stride and said he'd look into it. Then we continued our conversation: it was decided that Toph would offer up some of her metal benders to act as security for his shops - some work experience she called it; we would all stay in Ba Sing Say for another week to deal with the current situation; and we would all meet up in a week to discuss further action if there were no more robberies.

6 Days Later
After Zuko's announcement and the distribution of flyers with a reward for any information and the message not to engaged if they saw her but instead contact us, we had been getting reports of a woman in dark red and black clothing, stealing food and money in a red dragon mask around the Earth Kingdom villages. It was a different village every day but they were all close enough together for it to be the same person. The locals all agreed on her appearance and fighting style - that she had no weapons, but was a powerful fire bender, capable of creating blue flames and occasionally - and most worryingly - lightning. Apparently the locals were calling her The Red Shadow.

Me and Katara were currently flipping through these reports at Iroh's tea shop, trying to see if we could work out where she was heading and work out if there was any sign she was becoming more mentally stable. Papers sprawled all over a table some marked with tea stains from our cups, but all showed the extent of Azula's mental state. And it wasn't looking good. One report said she was talking and yelling to herself as she attacked. Another said she was sitting in a corner repeatedly creating a flame and watching it. Another said she almost took the life of a person in a black suit and red headscarf covering her face. That battle was said to have destroyed the local tavern.

"Aang, you okay?"
"Yeah, just worried about Azula, Ty Lee, Zuko. What if she's back to how she was at 14?" Katara took my hand and gave it a little squeeze.
"She'll be alright, and for her sake and the worlds I hope she doesn't go back there. She'll be alright, she just needs some help." I gave her a small smile and looked into her eyes.
"I hope so too. Thanks Sweetie."

"Avatar!" Yelled a man bursting into the otherwise quiet tea shop. "Avatar! We've just received word that a gang may be using the tunnels under the Kolau Mountain Range to ferry stolen goods to Omashu. We think you should look into it as part of your Mr X investigation."

Oh spirits.

Authors Note:
So guys, galls and non binary palls (yes I got that of Instagram), my younger sister ElvenWizard7 has decided to write her own story, "The lost empire". Its a story about war, elves, elemental mastery, the four elements, a heroine and magic. If you like Avatar (which I assume you do to be reading this) or The Dragon Prince I'm sure you'll like her story. I know it would mean so much to her if you could check it out.