Balance | Old Version

Chapter 109 (The Southern Raiders)

Elua's POV.

I was sitting with my legs crossed, meditating while everyone else was asleep. I hear Aang yawn behind me as he begins to wake up. It all seemed so peaceful, but all good things must end. I hear something fly through the air, I open my eyes and see a bomb heading straight for us. Aang quickly jumps up and bends the bomb away from everyone, making it hit the wall and explode, making everyone jump awake in shock. Aang and I run over to the edge of the temple and see several Fire Nation airships sending more bombs at us. We quickly turn back around and run over to the others, airbending the tall metal doors closed. Toph and Haru bend a hole through the wall behind us, giving us a way to escape.
"Come on, we can get out through here!" Toph shouts.

 Aang starts to pull on Appa's reins, but the bison's fear of tunnels makes it hard to get him to listen. I look back over to where the airships are and see Zuko is just standing there.
"Zuko, what are you doing?" I ask him.
"Go ahead, I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit," Zuko states.
"You'll get yourself killed!" I tell him with wide eyes.
"I'll be fine," He says as he runs towards the airships.
"Zuko-!" I go to shout, but he's already gone. "What is with these people and running into open fire!?" I ask myself as I throw my hands into the air.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here," Sokka tells me as he grabs my arm and pulls me over to everyone else as Aang continues to try to get Appa through the tunnel, but he won't go in no matter what we do.
"We can't get him to go in there. Appa hates tunnels," Aang states.
"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here," Katara tells him.
"We'll have to find a way," I state.
"We need to split up," Sokka says. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship," He tells his father and the others.
"No, the Fire Nation can't separate our family again," Katara says sadly.

"It'll be okay, it's not forever," Hakoda tells her with a small smile. Katara quickly hugs her father and then jumps onto Appa. Sokka hugs Hakoda as well and then he grabs my hand and we jump onto Appa too. Toph walks in front of Appa, walking over to the wall in front of Appa and placing her hand on it.
"I can clear that away and we can fly out through there," Toph states as she earthbends herself onto Appa.
"Umm, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction," Suki says skeptically.
"We'll get through, let's go," Aang says as Toph earthbends the wall out of our way and we fly out. Toph uses the stones of the wall to shield us from Azula's fireblasts as we fly by her. 

As we get past her I turn around to see Zuko and Azula send fireblast after fireblast at each other. I quickly turn back around as soldiers from the other airships send fireblasts at us. Katara and I block the fireballs from hitting Appa and the rest of the group as Aang pulls on Appa's reigns and get out of their range. We all look up as Zuko and Azula send blasts at the same time, their fire creating an explosion and sending them both flying off the airship. Appa quickly flies through the sky and over to Zuko, giving me a chance to grab his hand and pull him onto Appa. We all look back up as we see Azula is still falling.
"She's not gonna make it," Zuko says almost in a painful tone. Almost. But before Azula falls any further, she uses her firebending to launch her closer to the side of the mountain and uses a knife to stop herself from falling. "Of course she did."

That Night.

It had taken a while, but we found a safe island to rest on. We were all sitting around the campfire, our tents spread out around us.
"Wow, camping. It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?" Aang asks with a smile.
"If you really want to feel like old times, I could, uh...chase you around a while and try to capture you," Zuko says smirking, making everyone laugh.
"Ha ha," Katara says sarcastically.
"To Zuko. Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he'd be our hero," Sokka says lifting his cup up with a smile.
"Here, here," Everyone says, except Katara.

"I'm touched. I don't deserve this," Zuko says.
"Yeah, no kidding," Katara says angrily as she stands up and begins to walk away.
"What's with her?" Sokka asks in confusion. I look over to Katara as she walks away, I sigh as I stand up and quickly follow after her.
"What's with them?" I hear Sokka ask, but I ignore him. Katara and I walk over to a cliff and look out at the ocean as the moon reflects in it.
"What's wrong?" I ask her worriedly.

"How am I supposed to trust him? You saw what happened in Ba Sing Se," Katara states.
"I know. It's hard to trust someone after they've done such evil things," I tell her.
 "I was surprised I trusted him so easily after what happened to Aang," I state. She shakes her head and sighs. We both turn around as I hear footsteps approaching from behind us, to see Zuko.
"This isn't fair. Everyone else seems to trust me now," Zuko states. "What is it with you?" He asks Katara as she turns away from him angrily.
"Oh, everyone trusts you now?" Katara asks angrily.

"I was the first person to trust you, remember? Back in Ba Sing Se," She says with a glare as she points out at the ocean. "And you turned around and betrayed me. Betrayed all of us," She continues.
"What can I do to make it up to you?" Zuko asks her desperately.
"You really want to know?" Katara asks. "Hmm, maybe you could re-conquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King. Or, I know. You could bring my mother back," She says sharply as she walks away, hitting Zuko's shoulder with her's as she walks.
"How am I supposed to get her to trust me?" Zuko asks in frustration.
"...I think you need her forgiveness before you can gain her trust," I state. "Just, give her time," I tell him as I begin to make my way back to camp too.