My Weeks Of Love and Pain

The Southern Raiders

We woke up from a loud bang. I looked around confused to see Aang, charging to the cliff as airships rose from beneath the temple. A bomb was released from one of the ships and Aang twirled his glider and slammed the doors shut. I heard more bombs being hurtled through the air and explode onto the temple. The ceiling above me began to crumble and shake. I looked up as it fell apart.

"Watch out!" Zuko shouted.

He pushed me out of the way as the rocks tumbled down and landed where I was.

"What are you doing!?" I demanded as I fell under him.

"Keeping rocks from crushing you," he replied.

"Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now," I hissed and slid out from under him.

"I'll take that as a thank you," I heard him mutter.

Toph and Haru created a tunnel so we could escape.

"Come on! We can get out through here!" Toph said.

Aang pulled on Appa's reins. Zuko didn't join us to leave.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked.

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

He ran off towards the airships.

"Zuko, no!" Aang cried.

Sokka and I ran over to Aang.

"Come on! We've got to get out of here!" Sokka said.

All three of us began to tug on the bison's reins as Zuko jumped over the destroyed doors. A bomb hit the courtyard and smoke puffed out everywhere. When the smoke cleared an airship rose out in front of the others and on the stand was Azula.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko said.

"You mean it's not obvious yet? I'm about to celebrate becoming an only child!" she said.

Azula flipped over and blasted blue flames from her feet. Zuko jumped away as the spot where he stood exploded. As a pillar fell, he ran across it and shot fire at his sister, jumping off the pillar in the process. The fire hit the stand and Azula leaped off. Zuko began to fall rapidly. He tried to hold onto the insignia but soon fell through the clouds. Toph blocked my vision as she created an earth tunnel and held it up. Appa was still resisting Aang, Sokka, and I as we tugged hard on his reins. Our arms trembled with his strength.

"I can't get him to got in there. Appa hates tunnels," Aang said.

"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here," I said.

"We'll have to find a way," he said.

We released our grips on Appa's reins.

"We need to split up," Sokka said running toward the others. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."

"No, the Fire Nation can't separate our family again," I protested.

My dad placed a hand on my shoulder.

"It'll be okay, it's not forever," he reassured.