Avatar: The Parallels

Chapter 41: Sunset

Tikaani's POV:

"Wazzat?" I sat up suddenly as a loud BOOM sounded from above, waking me. It seemed everyone else had been disturbed by the same noise. The Western Air Temple shook slightly, rubble falling from the ceiling as another explosion sounded from outside. I rubbed the tired out of my eyes as we all scrambled to our feet to see what was going on. Three Fire Nation war blimps were looming out of the canyon fog towards the upside-down structure we were currently staying in.

"There goes our chances at a good night's sleep." Red grumbled, yawning as she slipped her arm blades on and unsheathed them. As the bombs came raining down, Aang sent out a gust of air that activated the tower's defense systems, shielding our campsite from outside fire, at least for a short while. Red sighed and sheathed her arm blades. "Can't we fight them?"

"Are you crazy?" Sokka demanded, raising an eyebrow at Red. "How would we be able to take out three Fire Nation war balloons by ourselves?"

"We can't stand here and do nothing." Jet announced, looking up at the ceiling. "This place is structurally unsound."

Just as Jet said it, a few chunks of rock fell from the ceiling towards Katara. Acting quickly, Ryuu pushed her out of the way to save her, though she didn't seem to happy about this after the fact. Toph and Aang, meanwhile, earthbended a tunnel in the rock at the back of the cavern, giving us a way out of the temple. "Come on, we can get out through here!" Toph announced, pointing. Everyone started running down the tunnel except for Ryuu and Zuko.

"What are you doing?" Aang asked as he tried to pull an unwilling Appa towards the tunnel. Zuko and Ryuu both looked back at us.

"Go ahead! We'll hold them off!" Zuko urged as he faced the closed defense doors. "I think this is a family visit."

"You guys need to get to safety." Ryuu added as he walked over towards Zuko. "We'll catch up later."

"Ryuu, you can't!" I called as both of them ran off. I looked back towards my dad, who seemed worried, but also proud. Ryuu will be fine. I need to stop worrying about him.

"We can't stay here." Jet announced, looking around at the ceiling and the rest of the room. "This place could collapse any second. Ryuu and Zuko are giving us a chance to escape. We have to take that chance."

"I'd rather stay and fight." Red snapped, pouting at Jet. She sighed. "But you're right. Retreating is the smart move, even if I don't like it."

"You don't like anything that doesn't involve violence." I chastised, rolling my eyes at her as I rushed over to help Sokka, Katara, and Aang with Appa. Red and Jet tried to help as well, but Appa wouldn't budge.

"I can't get him to go in there! Appa hates tunnels!" Aang cried as Appa continued to resist all our efforts.

"Aang, there's no way he can fly out of here." Katara argued, pulling harder on Appa's reins.

"We have to find a way." Aang responded, letting go of the reins. We all did the same.

"Appa weighs more than two tons. If he doesn't want to go in the tunnel, there's no way we can make him." I said, shaking my head. "But... There's no way all of us will fit on Appa."

"We need to split up." Sokka realized, frowning. He ran back towards where the others were waiting at the tunnel entrance. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship."

Katara's eyes widened as she looked back. "No!" She protested, storming over to Hakoda and Sokka. "The Fire Nation can't separate our family again!"

"I... I don't want to leave you." I admitted to my own father.

He put his hands on my shoulder comfortingly and looked into my eyes. "It'll be fine Tikaani. This war will be over soon enough. After it's over, we can be a family again." He smiled and hugged me. "I promise."