Fuel to my Fire - Book One (ATLA Zuko Fanfiction)

Chapter Fifteen

Sakari's POV

We were hiding in a bush outside some kind of Fire Nation compound and I had given up on asking what we were doing. I watched as a rhino walked past us, it was pulling a cart full of supplies, and Zuko silently motioned for me to follow him. We crept up to the side of the cart and ducked underneath it, dangling from the bottom of it; Zuko was under me, keeping me from accidentally falling. The cart suddenly stopped at the gate for checking, and I started to get worried when I saw that the guard was about to check underneath the cart. Zuko quickly and silently pulled me with him, creeping to the side of the cart and climbing inside. The cart entered the compound and when it came to a stop again Zuko and I snuck out of it, hiding behind crates on the ground, and sprinting up some stairs. We snuck along the compound wall as Zhao was giving a speech to his men about how he captured the Avatar... Wait, what?! What exactly are we doing here?! I pushed my thoughts aside and continued following Zuko along the wall when he suddenly came to a stop, causing me to almost walk right into him. He threw a rope over the edge of the wall and slid down it, I followed closely and we jumped down into a drain, landing in water. We squeezed through some bars and continued running, eventually we came to an opening above us and crept out of it silently. We hid around a corner as Zuko peeked around it, he held up his hand motioning for me to stay put. I listened as I heard Zuko knockout one of the guards and his helmet when clanging to the floor, a moment later Zuko appeared by my side again.

"No bending." He whispered to me.

We emerged from our hiding place and walked silently against the wall, one of the guards rounded the corner and saw us. He sent a fire blast our way, which I dodged into the perfect position to kick the back of his knee. The guard fell to the floor and Zuko grabbed a chain from the ceiling, tying the guard up and then indicating that he was going to give me a boost up to the ceiling. I placed my foot in his hand and he threw me up, I grabbed onto some more chain and pulled myself so that I was flat on the ceiling, and Zuko did the same. Two guards then rounded the corner, stopping when they saw their friend in chains. Zuko quickly leaped from the ceiling and took the two guards out, waving for me to then follow him. We peeked around the corner and saw that one guard remained, and he was about to blow into a horn. Thinking fast, Zuko pulled a small knife from a strap on his leg and threw it at the horn which was knocked onto the floor. Taking advantage of this distraction I grabbed a bucket of water from the floor and ran towards the guard, Zuko was on my tail. The guard tried to Firebend at me, but I threw the water at him, putting the fire out. I then ducked and Zuko leapt over me, kicking the guard square in the chest and taking him out. Zuko took a key from the guard and used it to open the door he was guarding, we stepped inside and I finally saw the reason we were here. It was Aang! I watched as Zuko pulled out his duel swords and advanced towards Aang, planning on cutting the chains binding him, but Aang thought he was about to be killed and screamed. A moment later, Aang opened his eyes, relieved to see that his hands were free and that the two masked people standing before him were not here to kill him.

"Who are you?" Aang asked us as we turned and walked towards the door. "Are you here to rescue me?"

Zuko ignored him and opened the door, I looked back and waved my arm in a motion that said "follow us."

"I'll take that as a yes." Aang stated, following us.

We made our way down the hallway and turned a corner, but noticed that Aang was no longer following us. Turning back, we saw him trying to collect some half-frozen frogs that were scattered over the floor, I shrugged at Zuko when he raised his eyebrow at me, and watched as he grabbed Aang by the collar and pulled him with us.

"Wait, my friends need to suck on those frogs!" Aang yelled as he was pulled away from the frogs.

I'm assuming he was talking about Sokka and Katara, but why they needed to suck on a bunch of frogs was beyond me. I followed behind Zuko and Aang, covering their backs as we continued down the hallway and back into the drain we used earlier. We crept silently along the edge of the drain, so as not to be spotted by any guards who happened to look down, and stopped when we were near the wall that we left the rope hanging from. We checked our surroundings before making a run for it, Aang was first up the wall, followed by me, and then Zuko. We were about half way up when an alarm sounded from somewhere in the compound.

"Up there!" We heard one of the guards yell.

The rope was cut from above us and we fell to the ground, Aang gave us a soft landing with is Airbending though, and we began running to the slowly shutting gates. Some guards were blocking it, but Aang took care of them by blowing them out of the way, and he continued running. Zuko and I, however, had become surrounded by the guards, and Zuko handed me one of his swords for protection. We broke spear after spear as they were being jabbed at us until Aang blew everyone away and quickly lifted Zuko and I into the air and up onto the high wall, Aang followed closely behind by using a broken spear as a helicopter. He wrapped his legs around Zuko, and I wrapped my arms around Zuko's neck, we flew through the air as Zuko deflected the spears being thrown at us, but we must have been too heavy for Aang and we fell onto another wall. Guards came from all around us, but we fought them off pretty easily, then they started climbing some bamboo ladders up the wall. Aang simply blew them down to the ground and he grabbed the ladders, hopping on one and telling us to get on his back. We used the ladders as stilts and stepped across to the next wall, but the ladder wasn't quite long enough and we weren't going to make it. Zuko pushed me into the air and I landed with a roll on the top of the wall, but Zuko and Aang fell back to the ground; I hardly had time to process it before I was being attacked again. I had no weapons, I had given Zuko back his sword when Aang was flying us over the walls, I could use my bending but there was no water in sight and Zuko had told me not to bend so I shouldn't start just pulling moisture from the air. I dodged spear after spear as the guards pushed me closer to the edge of the wall, I looked down and judged the drop, if I could put some water beneath me and the ground, I would be fine. I dodged some more attacks before I made the decision and jumped from the wall, as I flew through the air, I suddenly felt an intense pressure in my right thigh, I ignored it and pulled some moisture from the air, making a small pool beneath me. When I landed, I heard the gates open and Zuko came backing out of the compound with his swords at Aang's neck, what was he doing?! I was about to run over to them when arrows starting shooting at me, I was forced in the opposite direction to Zuko and I ran into the woods, avoiding being hit by the arrows. I kept running through the woods, in the direction I thought Zuko and Aang would have gone, and slowed to a walk as I started hearing a voice.

"He was one of the best friends I ever had, and he was from the Fire Nation, just like you." Aang's voice said. "If we knew each other back then, I bet we could have been friends too."

I saw a sudden flash of fire in the direction I was hearing Aang's voice and broke into a run again, I entered a clearing and saw Zuko standing alone in the woods. I suddenly got very woozy and, looking down at my thigh, I saw that there was an arrow lodged deep in it and blood was dripping down my leg. I started to fall, but before I could hit the ground, I felt Zuko catch me and start running in the direction of the boat, my consciousness was drifting away and I could feel that I was about to pass out.

"You're gonna be ok." Zuko whispered right before I lost consciousness.