Walk The Path

Chapter Seven

*There is some sexual content ahead. Skip past if you don't feel comfortable reading.*

"Aang," Katara whispered as she looked at him sadly. He swallowed hard, eyes remained fixed on Azula. With a scowl, he could only manage a "What did you say?" The firebender matched his scowl, "Just what I said. I have information about what happened to your parents and what it means for you. I'll tell you but you have to fall back." Aang relaxed his defense stance and nodded to Katara to do the same. "Aang, you can't be serious!", Katara yelled. Azula pleaded to Katara, "Not like it matters to you, but I only came here to tell Aang.I know we're not friends, but what I found out could mean bad things for everyone." Aang was conflicted. He knew Katara was right to not trust Azula, but for the first time, he thought he saw authenticity from Azula. She didn't look like she was trying to pretend and she seemed even a little scared.

"Yeah, right, Azula. You were all over Aang as soon as you met and then you were horrible to him. No one trusts you!" Katara was seething. "You're right, I did find him attractive, but panic attacks are so out, these days," Azula said with a smirk. Aang regretted thinking she seemed scared, but something about her voice was sincere. He felt like his duty at this moment was preventing the two girls from killing each other. "Okay, enough!," his voice rang out with a deep timbre. The girls relaxed their stances in shock at Aang's commanding voice. He took a deep breath, trying to keep his anxiety at bay. "Okay, this is what we're gonna do," he bended handcuffs out of earth and shackled Azula's wrists tightly, "You're gonna tell us everything you know."

The party came to a screeching halt as Aang, Katara, and a handcuffed Azula entered the home. Zuko's face became hot with rage at his little sister, "What did you do now?!" Katara answered, "Zuko, normally I would ask the same thing, but she has something we should all hear." Zuko became quiet, anger continuing to simmer through his veins. Mai interlaced her fingers with Zuko's facial expression unchanged. "I've never seen her like this, Zuko. You should give her a chance, " she whispered in his ear. He sighed and nodded in agreement. Toph, Sokka, and Suki looked at Katara and Aang for any sign of suspicion. Haru and Ty Lee looked out into the living room and decided to stay out of it, as they were both stupidly baked and couldn't imagine getting serious right now. Aang and Katara nodded as if to reassure everyone this was legit.

Aang looked at Azula, "Okay, tell them what you told us." "Finally! So, I overheard my father talking to Admiral Zhao, the guy that comes to school every semester trying to recruit kids into the United Forces. They were talking about how they tried to kill Aang but for some reason he wasn't in the car, so only his parents died. I didn't know what to think about this so I went digging into his computer. His hubris is evident by how easy it was to figure out his password. I found emails from more than 15 years ago to Zhao which described tracking the Air Nomads for any signs of the Avatar. Their whole plan was to kill the Avatar so they could invade the Four Nations and kill all non-firebenders," she took a deep breath, "It seems like he's still planning to go through with it."

Everyone could've heard a pin drop. Suki squeezed Sokka's hand, trying not to cry. Sokka stood with a stern face because he still didn't buy it. "If this is all true, why do you care? You're Daddy's good little firebender, you should be loving it." Azula frowned, "Whatever you think about me, I don't want genocide. My two best friends are non-firebenders. I know I can be a bitch," she squinted at the murmurs of agreement amongst the group, "but I'm not evil." "That's debatable," Sokka scoffed. "Well, what are we gonna do about it? This asshole is going down!", Toph yelled.

"Toph, while I admire your enthusiasm, I think we should ask Aang what he thinks," Suki suggested. The group nodded and turned to look at Aang. The sea of sad looks made me feel like he was going to cry. But now wasn't the time, he would deal with the fact that he definitely got his parents killed later. He cleared his throat, "Well, I think we should take it seriously. I'm the Avatar and this is stuff I should be handling anyway. I can't ask any of you to risk your lives for this." "No way, Twinkle Toes. Count me in," Toph stated. Zuko, Mai, Suki, Sokka, and Katara all voiced their support for joining Aang. Azula was nonchalant but agreed to help only to stop the end of the world. He let this joyful moment of support be felt for a brief moment before regaining his serious manner. "Thanks, I appreciate it. I don't even know where to begin, anyone have any ideas?" Sokka answered, "Well, I know our Dad works with Zhao at the United Forces base. We could follow my Dad to get close to Zhao and plant a surveillance device on him. We could also print those emails for evidence. When we do that, we should have more than enough to take legal action." Aang smiled, "Sokka, that's brilliant! I have to tell you, I'm really impressed with your ideas."