Falling, Fallen

Chapter 11: Southern Raiders

Everyone is sound asleep in their beds. The early morning is calm and birds are chirping and the nice morning is interrupted as a bomb is launched their way, splashing through the waterfall fountain. Aang, who was asleep on Appa grows suddenly alert, the Avatar rises and uses his glider to airbend the next bomb away. Two more bombs pelt the building. Everyone is now fully awake.
Aang races toward the edge of the building, glider in hand. He spots a Fire Nation airship coming into view which launches another bomb that sails through the air and crashes into a nearby bridge. Aang, runs back to the campsite, Appa following close behind, and uses airbending to force the large, ceiling-high metal doors surrounding their site to close. Several bombs continue to assail the temple. begins to crumble and finally caves in. Katara standing directly beneath the crumbling ceiling. She looks up, alarmed, only to be pushed out of the way by Zuko.
"Watch out!" He screams wrapping his arms around her the debris from the ceiling crashing several feet away from them. They finally settle on the ground. "What are you doing?" Katara asks angry. "Keeping rocks from crushing you." He answered. "Okay, I'm not crushed. You can get off me now!" Katara rushes out from under Zuko. "I'll take that as a thank you." He says as he rises and follows after her.
Toph and Haru, who have created the exit way using earthbending. "Come on! We can get out through here!" Toph yells time the others. Everyone begins entering the passageway but Aang stays behind, trying to get Appa to leave with him by pulling on the bison's reins. He notices Zuko standing, facing the airships. "What are you doing?" He asks. "Go ahead! I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit." He said running off. "Zuko! No!" Sokka comes to Aang. "Come on! We've gotta get out of here!"
Aang, Katara, and Sokka begin pulling on the reins together in an attempt to budge Appa.

Zuko races toward the doors and leaps over to the other side just as another piece of the door falls and shatters but Zuko continues running toward the airships. One bomb is launched and lands several feet before him where it detonates. Thick gray plumes of smoke rise; after a brief moment, Zuko emerges from the smoke cover, unharmed.
He firebends a large blast from his hand, it receives the blow. He stays still looking at the airships. A podium-like devise suddenly rises; standing atop it is Azula. The princess, who has an evil, maniacal grin on her face.
"What are you doing here?" Zuko calls to his sister. "You mean it's not obvious yet? I am about to celebrate becoming an only child!" Azula kicks a large blast of flame at her brother. Zuko dodges and runs backward into the temple, but falls. Several blasts are sent his way as the temple begins to fall apart. He runs toward the airships. As he jumps toward the ship, he sends several shots toward Azula, but fails to hit her and jumps onto the airship. He falls down into the misty floor below.
Aang and the group are still trying to get Appa into the tunnel unsuccessfully. "I can't get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!" "Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here." Katara says. "We'll have to find a way!" "We need to split up. Sokka says before turning to the others. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship." Katara around and suddenly grows angry. "No! The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!" "It'll be okay. It's not forever." Their dad says. Katara hesitates before hugging her dad and running back to Aang. Sokka and Hakoda hug also as Sokka takes Suki and runs with the others. The two groups go their separate ways. Toph touches a wall.
"I can clear that away and we can fly out through there!" "Um, there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction." Suki calls out. "We'll get through. Let's go." Appa flies through to the outside of the temple, covered by a shield of rock in front. Azula tries to bring him down, only for the shield to absorb the blasts. Appa escapes and the shield disintegrates. Behind Azula, a second airship rises, revealing Zuko survived his fall by getting onto another airship.
Zuko and Azula face off. Zuko makes the first move. He jumps toward Azula, who sends columns of fire at him, which he responds to with more blasts. The two attack each other several times.
Appa dodges fire blasts, as Katara deflects several large whips of fire with her waterbending. The group rises above the airship to avoid more fire.
Back on the airship. Azula and Zuko are evenly matched until they both hit each other with fire-packed punches, launching them both off the airship. Zuko is caught by Katara, but Azula is left falling.
"She's ... not gonna make it ..." Zuko mutters. Azula uses her firebending to propel herself toward the wall, stopping her fall with her hair pin and saving herself. "Of course she did." He adds. Azula, who stands on the side of the cliff, smiling evilly, watching as the team escapes.
"Wow, camping ... it really seems like old times again, doesn't it?" Aang says as they all lay around a camp fire. "If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh ... chase you around a while and try to capture you. " Zuko says jokingly and the rest of the group laughs, except for Katara, who sarcastically says "Ha, ha."
Sokka holds up his cup. "To Zuko! Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero?" Everybody except Katara holds up their cups. "Hear! Hear!" Aang nudges Zuko with his elbow, before Toph lightly punches him. "I'm touched." But then he stops smiling. "I don't deserve this." "Yeah, no kidding." Katara agrees walking away. "What's with her?" Sokka asks. "I wish I knew." Zuko answers getting up and following her. "What's with him?" Sokka says.
Katara sat on a rock and overlooking a rocky cliff, Zuko approached her from behind. She catches sight of him, immediately grows antagonistic, and rises to walk farther away toward the cliff.
"This isn't fair! Everyone else seems to trust me now! What is it with you? I've tried by best." Katara turns around furiously. "Oh, everyone trusts you now! I was the first person to trust you!" She cried touching  her heart. "Remember, back in Ba Sing Se and then again at the Capital. And you turned around and betrayed me, betrayed all of us!" "What can I do to make it up to you? I've said I'm sorry I've helped bring you father back. I've tried by best." Katara approaches him while snapping at him angrily. "You really want to know? Hmm, maybe you could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King." She said now face to face with him. "Or, I know! You could bring my mother back!" "That's not fare I didn't cause that." He says but it's to late Katara storms away, slightly hitting his left shoulder with her right one as she passes Zuko, leaving him disappointed.
Zuko returns to the campsite where he accidentally runs into Suki on his way to confront Sokka.
"Oops, wrong tent!" She says slightly red. "Sorry, do you need to talk to Sokka, too?" "Nope, not me!" She says walking away.
Zuko enters the tent, a look of disbelief spreading across his face. Sokka is holding  a rose in his mouth, surrounded by lit candles. "Well, hello ..." he starts then is surprised to find Zuko in his tent, destroying the rose in his mouth. "Uh, Zuko! Yes, why would I be expecting anyone different?" Sokka says painfully  swallows rose petals and thorns. "So what's on your mind?" "Your sister. She hates me! And I don't know why, but I do care what she thinks of me." "Nah, she doesn't hate you. Katara doesn't hate anyone. Except maybe some people in the Fire Nation." Sokka's eyes widen as he realizes his mistake. "No, I mean, uh, not people who are good, but used to be bad. I mean, bad people. Fire Nation people who are still bad, who've never been good and probably won't be, ever!" "Stop. Okay, listen. I know this may seem out of nowhere, but I want you to tell me what happened to your mother." "What? Why would you want to know that?" "Katara mentioned it before when we were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se, and again just now when she was yelling at me. I think somehow she's connected her anger at that to her anger at me." "It's not a day I like to remember. Many of the warriors had seen the black snow before and they knew what it meant: a Fire Nation raid.  We were badly outnumbered, but somehow, we managed to drive them off. As quickly as they came, they just left. I was so relieved when it was over, but that's because I didn't know yet what had happened. I didn't know we had lost our mother." "Wait. Can you remember any details about the soldiers who raided your village? Like what the lead ship looked like?" "Yeah ... sea ravens. The main ship had flags with sea ravens on them." "The symbol of the Southern Raiders. Thanks, Sokka." "No problem. Thanks for stopping by!" Sokka says ushering Zuko our until he leaves. "I'd thought he'd never leave." He whispered before he poked  head out excitedly and whispered. "Suki!"Unfortunately for him, Zuko has barely taken two steps away from the tent and is looking curiously at Sokka. Sokka pretends to be completely oblivious and whistles.
The next day, Katara emerges from her tent to find Zuko waiting outside, sitting on a rock. "You look terrible." She says. "I waited out here all night." Katara can't help but feel her heart swell blushing at how much he seemed to care. But she quickly pushed the feeling down and started brushing her hair to keep herself occupied. "What do you want?" "I know who killed your mother," She abruptly stops. "and I'm going to help you find him." Katara casts him a look of shock, which soon turns to a look of anger.
Later in the day Aang is feeding Appa hay. Sokka fiddles around with a flower necklace. Katara and Zuko approach the bison, Zuko carrying a sack slung over his shoulder.
"I need to borrow Appa." Aang looks at her and smiles. "Why? Is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?" "Yes, it is." She says in all seriousness. Aang looked at them slightly surprised. "Oh. What's going on?" "We're going to find the man who took my mother from me." Sokka pauses and stands up, surprised. "Sokka told me the story of what happened. I know who did it and I know how to find him." "Um ... and what exactly do you think this will accomplish?" Aang asks. Katara shakes  her head in dismay. "Ugh, I knew you wouldn't understand." She to walk away before Aang stops her. "Wait! Stop! I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?" "She needs this, Aang. This is about getting closure and justice." Zuko said stepping in. "I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge." "Fine, maybe it is! Maybe that's what I need! Maybe that's what he deserves!" Katara said angrily "Katara, you sound like Jet." "It's not the same! Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster." "Katara, she was my mother, too, but I think Aang might be right." "Then you didn't love her the way I did!" "Katara!" Sokka uttered hurt written all over his face.  "The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself." "That's cute, but this isn't air temple preschool. It's the real world." Zuko muttered rolling his eyes. "Now that I know he's out there ... now that I know we can find him, I feel like I have no choice." Katara, you do have a choice: forgiveness. "That's the same as doing nothing!" Zuko commented. "No, it's not. It's easy to do nothing, but it's hard to forgive." "It's not just hard, it's impossible." She walked  away, Zuko following close behind.
Later that night where Katara is seen dressed in a black cloak, tying her hair in a ponytail. Aang and Sokka watch her from behind a rock before emerging from behind it.
"So you were just gonna take Appa anyway?" Aang accused. "Yes." Katara said feeling no shame. "It's okay, because I forgive you. That give you any ideas?" "Don't try to stop us." She said. "I wasn't planning to. This is a journey you need to take. You need to face this man. But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him." "Okay, we'll be sure to do that, guru goody-goody." Zuko commented sarcastically as he joined Katara and climbed aboard Appa.
"Thanks for understanding, Aang. Yip-yip." Appa takes flight; Aang and Sokka look up at the departing bison.