The Avatar's Angel (Avatar the Last Airbender: Book 3: Fire)

Day of the Black Sun Part 2

Aya's POV

The battle continued and we were still winning, but it was getting rough. Sokka, my mother, and I were huddled around a map, studying it. I looked up and saw Katara coming back with Hakoda and Sokka and I smiled.

"Dad!" We both smiled and approached the two.

"You're on your feet again." Sokka said.

Hakoda sits down, weakly. "Thanks to your sister. I'm in no shape to fight, but maybe there's some way I can help."

"Everything's going smoothly and the eclipse hasn't even kicked in yet." My mother mentioned and I was looking up in to the sky. I saw something in the distance.

"Let's hope our luck holds out." Hakoda remarks. "Aya, you seem distracted. Is something wrong?"

"Yeah." I say with furrowed eyebrows. "Is that...is that Aang?"

Katara and Sokka were both shocked. "What?"

Aang rides in on his glider, dodging several fireballs. He lands in front of us and I immediately hug him.

"This isn't good, is it?" I ask him and I felt him shake his head. We pulled away and looked at everyone.

"Please tell me you're here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down." Sokka explains.

We kneel with Sokka as Aang spoke. "He wasn't home. No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned."

Sokka's eyes grew with epiphany. "He knew."

Aang rubs his fingers along the ground idly. "It's over. The Fire Lord is probably long-gone; far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse."

Sokka thinks for a moment before talking. "No. My instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker; somewhere he could go and be safe during the siege but still be close enough to lead his nation."

"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for," Toph points to herself. "I'm just the girl to find it."

"And I can light the way." I add with a smile.

Sokka pulled out a device. "The mechanist gave me this timing device. It looks like we've got about ten minutes until the full eclipse. Ten minutes to find the Fire Lord."

"We can still do this. We can still win the day." Aang declared.

"Wait! If they knew we were coming it could all be a trap." Katara protested. "Maybe we should use the time we have left to make sure we all get out of here safely."

Katara has a point, but we came here to fight and we need to give it our all.

"Everyone who's here today came prepared to risk everything for this mission. They know what's at stake." Hakoda proclaims.

"If there's still a chance and there's still hope, I think they would want Aang to go for it." My mother continued.

"What do you think? You're the one that has to face the Fire Lord. Whatever you decide, I'm with you." Sokka asked Aang.

Aang rises and turns away. "I've gotta try."

After that, Aang, Toph, Sokka, and I took off on Appa.

——

Appa flies over to the volcano and lands on top of it. We hop off the bison and Toph searches around for any vibrations of an underground bunker.

"Do you feel anything down there?" Aang asked.

Toph places her hands on the ground. "Yep. There are natural tunnels criss-crossing through the inside of the volcano."