ATLA: Bonds Within Bending

The Spirit Oasis pt 3

Zuko's POV

Katara went down, she shouldn't have started the fight in the first place, she isn't nearly as skilled as these guys, if I knew that I would've gotten her out of this straight away. I have to make sure she doesn't take any more damage, with my focus on Katara, Aang was also left vulnerable, my uncle was keeping most of the warriors back but he was weakening, he's too old for this.

 when all seemed impossible there was a long bladed knife thrown at the guard in front of me, hitting the top of his arm where it meets his torso precisely with enough force to weaken that side of his body, therefore making him unfit to fight back, I know that fighting style anywhere.

"Mai?", As I turned back to check if I was right, another knife was thrown inches away from my face, aimed at another warrior ready to attack whilst my back was turned, my eyes followed the knife as it sliced off the ends of my hair then straight into the warrior, I made sure they weren't going to get back up before risking my face again to look at Mai.

"Are you an idiot!? Stay Alert Zuko!", She sternly ordered, running ahead of me to retrieve the weapons she recently used from the warriors, seeing them wince whilst she pulled them out without hesitation.

"How did you get here?", I asked but I did as she said, attempting to protect the four of us by creating a fire shield, but because I haven't yet mastered this and I suck at defending anything with my bending, the warriors easily got through it, I could feel my energy quickly depleting, I don't know how long I can keep this up.

"We followed the red head, her friends were acting suspicious", Mai spoke quickly, staying close to me whilst fighting, obviously noticing that I'm failing and I need her near by to have my back.

"We??", I began to lose my breath, therefore also losing most of my control of my bending, from what Mai said, Azula's in The Oasis somewhere, which makes this situation even worse. The wind got stronger, pushing us further away from Aang and closer to the guards, I moved in front of Mai and prepared myself to use all my remaining strength to attack, as they closed in I  was ready for whatever they could throw at me.

As I watched them raise their arms to send what looked like ice spikes my way I went to throw fire back at them, another gust of wind pushed against my back, I lost concentration and shut my eyes tightly, holding my breath, knowing that this sure is going to hurt, but I didn't feel anything. I reopened my eyes to see the group of guards on the floor, staring angrily upwards, but unable to move.

"About time", Mai rolled her eyes whilst stepping out behind me, with one hand on my shoulder. I let my breath out as I saw Ty Lee in front of me, I have never been so happy to see her, this girl could take down everyone here if she wanted to.

"Sorry, I got held up", Ty Lee spoke bluntly, her eyes darting around us, ready to pounce on the next warrior that attacks, as she was looking around she focused behind me and her eyes widened slightly. "Where's Katara?", she worriedly looked at me. 

My stomach sank. I failed. I moved Mai's hand off my shoulder as I looked behind me, seeing that she's really gone, "I need to find her", I squinted as I faced against the direction of the strong winds.

"Are you sure?", Mai held a hand over her eyes to help block the wind and help her see better. I looked back at her, she seemed incredibly concerned, I just stared at her for a second as I thought. "Zuko are you sure?", her eyebrows furrowed, she was genuinely worried, I wouldn't go if she couldn't take care of herself, but I know she's more than capable, whereas Katara, not so capable.

"I'll be fine, cover me", I told the two of them before running towards the storm. It's a rare sight to see Mai like that, it's cute- WAIT NO. I mean nice. It's nice of her to care. Yeah, keep focused on Katara Zuko she's in danger here.