Balance | Old Version

Chapter 106

Elua's POV.

Sokka and I walk down the prison stairs into the dining hall, where we find Zuko and Suki mopping the floor together.
"Oh, good. You guys have met," Sokka says as we walk over to the two.
"Actually, we met a long time ago," Suki states.
"We did?" Zuko asks her as he stops mopping the floor for a moment.
"Yeah, you kind of burned down my village," Suki says nervously.
"Oh. Sorry about that. Nice to see you again," Zuko says awkwardly.
"So listen, I think I have an escape plan," Sokka whispers as we all kneel down behind the staircase. "I checked out the coolers again, the whole point of them is to keep firebenders contained, right?" He asks.

"Yeah..." Zuko says as he looks at Sokka skeptically.
"So, they're completely insulated and sealed to keep the cold in," Sokka says, the other two look at him in confusion. "Well to keep the cold in it also has to keep the heat out, right?" He asks again.
"Just get to the point, Sokka," Suki says impatiently.
"What he's trying to say, is it's a perfect boat for getting through the boiling water," I tell them.
"The cooler as a boat? Are you sure?" Zuko asks with a frown.
"I'm telling you, it'll work," Sokka tells them. "I walked around the perimeter. There's a blind spot between two guard towers. It's the perfect launching point. I already tested it out," He states.

"We'll roll the cooler into the water and just float with the current. It'll take us straight across. As long as we don't make a sound, no one will notice. And bing, bang, boom we're home free," Sokka explains.
"But, how are you going to get the cooler out?" Suki asks.
"Yeah, how are you going to get the cooler out?" A deep voice says behind us. We all turn around and see the prisoner that was being bullied by the guards jump over the railing and land in front of us.
"What?" Sokka's voice cracks. "We didn't. We...We didn't say that" He says nervously.
"Yeah, you heard wrong," Zuko tells him firmly.
"I heard you hatching an escape plan and I want in," Chit Sang states.
"There's nothing to get in on," I tell him seriously.

"Yeah, the only thing we're hatching is...an egg?" Sokka says, more so asks. We all turn to him and give him a 'really' look.
"Ok, well, I come with you or the Warden hears about this egg too," Chit Sang threatens. We all look at each other nervously and I sigh in frustration.
"I guess we have no choice," Suki states.
"Okay, you're in," Sokka says. "Now, first, we need someone to unbolt the Cooler. From the inside," Sokka states as he discretely hands Zuko a small wrench to get the bolts off.
"Oh, I can get you inside," Chit Sang says smirking. Sokka and I walk away from them, giving them a chance to execute Chit Sang's plan. Zuko begins to mop the floor again and 'accidentally' hit's Chit Sang with the end of the mop.

"Hey, what are you, stupid? Watch where you're going!" Chit Sang exclaims as he shoves Zuko.
"Hey, you watch who you're shoving," Zuko says as he pushes him back.
"I think you mean whom I'm shoving," Chit Sang says as they grab each other and pretend to struggle, the other prisoners gather around and cheer as they 'fight'. Zuko breaks off and attempts to throw a punch at Chit Sang, but Chit Sang grabs his fist and throws him to the ground.
"We need backup over here!" Sokka shouts as we push our way through the crowd. Chit Sang attempts to punch Zuko, but Zuko somersaults out of the way and as he lands, he firebends at Chit Sang's feet.
"No firebending!" A guard shouts as he steps forward. "Into the cooler!" He shouts as two other guards run over and grab Zuko, dragging him away.

After some time, Sokka and I split up as he goes to get Zuko out of the cooler, while I get Suki and Chit Sang to the shore.
"Where are they?" Suki asks me as we wait for Sokka and Zuko.
"I'm not sure," I say as I look up at the prison and sigh in worry. But, I see them rolling the cooler down the hill and we rush over to help them.
"Took you guys long enough," Chit Sang says. "This here's my girl and my best buddy. They're coming too," Chit says pointing to a girl and a boy that had somehow tagged along with us.
"Fine, everybody in the cooler. Let's go," Sokka says as he lifts up a rock where we had hidden our clothes.

"Are you sure you want to go? You're the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself. Redeem your honor. Rescuing your Dad is your chance," Zuko says to Sokka, I look over to him shocked and confused.
"Your Dad?" Suki asks in shock.
"Is he here?" I ask Sokka with a hopeful tone.
"Possibly," Sokka sighs. "If I had just cut my losses at the invasion, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe sometimes it's just better to call it quits before you fail," He says sadly.
"No, it's not," Zuko tells him. "Look Sokka, you're going to fail a lot before things work out," He states.
"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Sokka asks with a frown.
"Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again," Zuko continues.

"Seriously, not helping," Sokka says with a look of annoyance.
"You have to try every time. You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail," Zuko tells him. "Wow, that actually made sense," I state as I look over at Zuko. "Way better than the whole 'silver lining' thing," I tell him with a small smirk, making him roll his eyes.
"Hey, if you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?" Chit Sang asks us in annoyance.
"No, I'm staying. You guys go," Sokka tells us. I look at him shocked as I cross my arms and shake my head.
"I'm not leaving without you, Sokka," I tell him.
"Me neither," Suki says with a smile.
"I'm staying too," Zuko states.

"Not me, I'm out. Let's roll baby," Chit Sang says as he hops into the cooler and they start to float away from the prison.
"We gave up our only chance of escaping. I hope we haven't just made a huge mistake," Sokka says as we watch them float away.
"We'll be alright," I try to reassure him as we start to walk back up to the prison. We all stop walking as we hear yelling and a bell ringing above us.
"The plan failed. They've been caught," I state, not looking back as we keep moving.
"The gondola's moving," Sokka says as he stops walking. We all look up as we stand behind one of the walls of the prison. "This is it. If my Dad's not there, we risked everything for nothing," He says as the gondola stops moving.

"We had to try," I tell him. Sokka stares at the gondola nervously, he grabs my hand nervously.
"Come on, come on," Sokka whispers as we watch the prisoners get off.
"Is that him?" Zuko asks as a man with shaggy hair and a nose ring walks off.
"My Dad doesn't have a nose ring," Sokka tells him as more prisoners walk-off, none of them are Hakoda."Where is he?" He asks as one more man walks off and that's it.
"That's it? That can't be it," Sokka says in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, Sokka," Suki says with a sad frown.
"Oh no," Sokka says as he shakes his head, I wrap my arms around him comfortingly.
"Hey you, get off the gondola!" We hear a guard shout to someone, we all look over and watch someone walks off the gondola, Sokka's eyes widen and a huge smile flies across his face.

"Dad."