Southern Star

Chapter Fifteen: Maybe Just a Crack

After they returned from the Boiling Rock, Song and Zuko had both been welcomed into the circle of sleeping bags made up of the others in the main courtyard. For Song, it didn't seem to be that big of a deal; she had healed enough to sleep on the ground again, and she turned her sleeping bag into an oh-so-familiar nest as she curled up against a pillar slightly outside of the circle. For Zuko, though, it meant everything—even if Katara purposefully put her sleeping bag as far away from his as possible.

Even though they weren't keeping their relationship a secret, Song remained in her usual position, keeping her back pressed against a wall. As he lay awake, he decided that he would rather she pressed her back against his chest so that they could sleep together, but he didn't inquire after it. He doubted she had even thought about that, and didn't want to make anything awkward.

The next morning, with such thoughts silly, distant memories, he was fast asleep.

Or, at least, he was up until a BOOM shook the entire Western Air Temple, followed closely by a series of other crashes.

Zuko was up in an instant, checking to make sure Song was okay—she was just fine, already on her feet, her sword drawn—and then he looked over at the fountain, where Aang was running towards the edge of the Air Temple—

There were shells everywhere. Bombshells, to be precise, which exploded upon impact with any part of the temple. Fire Nation bombshells.

Azula had found them.

Appa and Aang ran to the area where everyone else was, and then Aang used his bending to create a mighty burst of air that slammed enormous metal shutters shut around the perimeter of the temple, effectively protecting them, at least for a short period of time.

The ceiling, however, was not so stable, and a portion of it came falling down. "Watch out!" yelled Zuko before he launched himself into Katara, knocking her out of the way just in time.

"What are you doing?" she snapped.

"Keeping rocks from crushing you."

"Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now." She shoved him off and ran away.

"I'll take that as a thank you!" he shouted after her before getting up himself and going to find Song.

The earthbending teenager—Haru?—and Toph bent a cave through the wall. "Come on, we can get out through here!" said Toph.

Everyone ran to the cave mouth, including Suki, who was pushing Teo's wheelchair. Aang, however, couldn't get Appa to go in, even with the help of Song, who was trying her best to pull on Appa's reins.

"Go ahead, I'll hold them off," said Zuko. "I think this is a family visit."

"Absolutely not," said Song without stopping her tugging.

Zuko didn't listen, even as Aang yelled, "Zuko, no!" as Zuko started running.

There seemed to be a million ear-shattering crashes as the temple was pelted in bombshells. It was all Zuko could do to dodge them, and then he stopped to launch a fireball at one of the metal behemoths in the sky, of which there were several.

They stopped their onslaught of shells.

A platform rose up from another behemoth, this one with Azula on it. She had a huge, maniacal grin on her face as she gripped the rails. Zuko couldn't help but notice that she was alone.

"What are you doing here?" he yelled.

"You mean it's not obvious yet?" was the reply. "I am about to celebrate becoming an only child! But first—" her gaze moved past him— "I'm destroying your precious girlfriend."