Ruka (1)
I woke up to being lightly shaken. When I opened my eyes, it was already dark out.
I turned to my side and I see Iroh with his hand extended out. I sat up, "You found them?"
Iroh nodded. "However, I think your sister may be in danger."
I shot up and ran down the boat with Iroh following behind.
"Go jump in the river!"
I smirked at what Katara said. With the water beside me, I quickly dipped my hands into it and when I reached out, I was holding onto water like reigns.
With my 'reign', I grabbed one of the guards that were behind Zuko and yanked him into the water, doing the same with a couple of the pirates.
"Ruka!" Katara smiled with her eyes wide.
"Guards!" Zuko yelled. Unexpectedly, a rope cage (1) was launched to me and held me inside.
"No!" Katara's yell was sad.
I fought it for awhile, but after a few seconds I gave up.
The guards took me out of the rope cage and picked me up by my arms and roughly lead me to the tree Katara was tied to.
They tied me as well to the other side and I huffed. "Sorry Katara."
"No, no. You tried. That's the important part. But you have to teach me that move!"
I weakly smiled and nodded, even though she couldn't see me.
"Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your sister." Zuko said.
"Like she said before, go jump in the river!"
"Try to understand. I need to capture him to restore something I've lost. My honor." Zuko slowly walked around us and stopped at Katara's side.
"Perhaps in exchange, I can restore something you've lost." Zuko said in low tone. I could tell he was smirking.
"She hasn't lost anything Zuko. Leave her alone!" I tried to look behind my shoulder but his back was to me. It was hard to see anything for that matter, I was tied behind Katara. I faced back forward and looked down to the grass.
"My mother's necklace!"
My eyes widened and I tried to look over my shoulder once again, "What?"
"How did you get that?!"
"I didn't steal it if that's what you're wondering. Tell me where he is."
"No!"
"Enough of this necklace garbage. You promised the scroll!" The captain of the pirates, I presume, spoke.
"Why does he have the necklace Katara?!" I whisper - yelled.
"I don't know how he has it, honestly."
"Why wasn't it around your neck in the first place?!"
"I..."
"Answer the question Katara."'
"I lost it back at the prison."
"What prison?" I furrowed my brows.
"The earthbending prison."
"You lost it all that time ago?! You lied?!"
"I didn't mean to Ruka. I just knew how much it means to you!"
"How much it means to us! And what's with you stealing now? You know Aang has to be on the low. Especially how Zuko is intensively on your guys' tail."
Katara stayed quiet and I sighed. I closed my eyes for a brief second which resulted into me falling asleep.
"Katara, where's mom's necklace?" I asked worriedly when I saw that it wasn't around her neck.
Her fingerprints touched where it usually was and she cleared her throat. "I've been keeping it in my bag."
"Since when?" I furrowed my brows.
"Since I've been paranoid about losing it." She shrugged.
"Well if your so scared about losing it, I'll wear it."
"No! I mean, um, it's just better if it's kept in my bag for now."
"Why won't you let me wear it?" I crossed my arms. "I know she gave it to you or whatever but if you're not going to wear it, why have it?"
Katara rolled her eyes, "Just let it go Ruka."
"Ruka!"
I shot my eyes opened and looked around. It was morning and when I looked over my shoulder, I could slightly see the side of Iroh.
"Aang, this is all my fault." Katara said sadly.
"No, Katara. It isn't." I heard Aang reply. I frowned, they found them.
"Yeah, it kind of is." Iroh and I said at the same time.
"Give me the boy."
"You give us the scroll."
"You're really going to hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?!" Sokka's voice got high and I smiled at that. I also know what he's trying to do.
"Don't listen to him! He's trying to turn us against each other!" Zuko said.
"Your friend is the Avatar?" The captain asked.
"Sure is! And I'll bet he'll fetch a lot more on the black market than that fancy scroll!"
"Shut your mouth you Water Tribe peasant!"
"Yeah, Sokka. You really should shut your mouth." Aang said with a worried tone in his voice.
"No, no. He's right! You won't even think of that fancy shmancy scroll of yours if you've got Aang!" I raised my voice loud enough so they could hear me.
"What are you and Sokka doing?!" Katara whisper- yelled. I smirked, "You'll see."
"Exactly! It's bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay for the Avatar. You guys would be set for life!"
"He's got 'em now." I kept my smirk, attempting to rub my hands together that were still uncomfortably tied behind the tree.
"Keep the scroll! We can buy a hundred with the reward we'll get for the kid."
"You'll regret breaking a deal with me!"
I heard grunts and ahs and got worried. "What's happening?!"
"The pirates are fighting Zuko and his guards!" Katara replied quickly.
I heard something being lightly popped and Katara knew to inform me, "Smoke bombs!"
"We got to get out of these!"
As if on cue, Momo comes crawling down the tree and bites our ropes off.
"Thanks Momo. I owe you a bushel of apples." Katara said. "Make that double!" I told him after before grabbing Katara's wrist and running to the pirates' ship.
"The fighting is that way!" Katara said. "My plan right now isn't to fight!" I said before we stopped at the ship. "We got to get this in the water!"
Katara nodded, going to the ship and attempted to push it with her body strength. I shook my head, "That's not going to do anything but waste your energy! Follow what I'm doing."
I started to sway my arms back and forth in a circular motion, the small waves following our bending - going back and forth under the ship. Katara shortly followed after and the waves got stronger.
"Katara, Ruka! You're okay!" Aang and Sokka ran over to us. I smiled, "Aang, great! Help us get the ship into the water with your bending."
Aang nodded then mimicked what Katara and I've been doing.
After a few more sways, the water lifted the ship up and was now able to be our temporary transportation.
"Everybody in!" Katara said. We quickly made our way in and Sokka went straight to the wheel.
Aang went to get a better view and Katara and I stayed on the lower deck.
I went to edge of the ship and looked behind us. "They're gaining on us Sokka!" I looked up to him and he groaned, "Again, I can't make it go faster!"
Zuko's boat was filled with the pirates and I snickered, but frowned when they reached next to us.
Some of them hopped onto the deck and made their way slowly to Katara and I. Before I was going to run over to the edge of the ship to get better access to the water, Aang beat me to it by bringing a good sized wave on the deck and pushing most of the pirates off the ship.
"Thanks!" I smiled up to him and he replied with a thumbs up.
Two of them stayed on the deck. One on my side and the other on Katara's. Her and I were back to back.
I smirked, forming the water that stayed on deck from Aang's wave as two medium sized 'tentacles' on both my arms.
I brought my arms back then shot them at the pirate, my 'tentacles' wrapping around his waist. I picked my arms up and the man was above me. He was squirming and yelling for help which made me laugh. I threw him over board then looked back to Katara to make sure she was alright.
She was fine, but as for Sokka, not so much. He was laid face down on the deck and I ran over to him. I helped him up and before we said anything to each other, we heard Katara yell to Aang, "Aang, look!"
We looked to what she was pointing at and by the sound of it, there was a waterfall quickly approaching us. Sokka ran off to help Aang and I ran to the edge of the boat to get a better look.
"We can and have to stop this ship!" I yelled with determination etched in my voice. "Katara, Aang, together! Push and pull the water like earlier!
In sync, we swayed our arms back and forth quickly in a circular motion.
"It's working! It's slowing down!" Katara exclaimed. She was right, the ship was turning to it's side then went to a stop. We continued this and I can see the proudness in Katara. "We're doing it!"
"We have another problem!" Sokka said.
Zuko's boat rammed right on our side, tilting the ship and making us slide down the deck.
"Jump!" Aang yelled.
We grabbed ahold of each other's hands and jumped down together. Before we could hit the bottom of the waterfall, Appa came flying under us and we landed on his saddle.
Sokka and I pulled each other in for a hug then pulled away when Aang spoke, "I knew a bison whistle would come in handy. Thanks Appa."
"Yeah, we owe you one." Sokka said as Momo flew down to his shoulder and wrapped his tail around Sokka's head. I chuckled, "Big time buddy."
Appa roared, basically telling us 'you're welcome' and 'I expect a lot of food in return."
I picked up Momo from Sokka's shoulder, "And to you too little guy. For getting me and Katara out of those ropes."
I hugged him to my chest and swayed my body side to side. He got fed up and pushed himself out of my grasp.
I smiled while resting my head on Sokka's shoulder. It feels good to be back.
"Aang, I still owe you an apology. You were just so good at waterbending without really trying. I got so competitive that I put us all in danger." Katara said with her hands in her lap. "I'm sorry."
"That's okay Katara." Aang smiled.
"Besides, who needs that stupid scroll anyway." Katara shrugged.
Sokka reached into his shirt then pulled out the scroll, "Is that really how you feel?"
Katara smiled wide, "The scroll!" When she went to reach for it, Sokka yanked it back then put his free hand out to stop Katara, "First, what did you learn?"
"Stealing is wrong." Katara said. Sokka softly smiled bringing the scroll down. Katara quickly grabbed it and chuckled, "Unless it's from pirates."
Aang laughed, "Good one Katara."
I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, good one Katara."
Katara frowned and slumped her shoulders. "I'm so sorry for lying to you Ruka. And for losing mom's necklace."
"Yeah, yeah, save your apology for someone else." I crossed my arms, looking away from her.
"Please forgive me Ruka." Katara said sadly.
"I will." I nodded. "Once you get Mom's necklace back."
"But Ruka-"
"I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get to where we're going." I removed myself from Sokka's shoulder and laid my body down with my knees up to my chest. I rested my head on my hands that were on Sokka's lap.
I had my body turned away from Katara and Aang so they wouldn't see that I was actually not trying to take a nap. I let a tear roll down the side of my face, not caring to wipe it away.
Sokka saw this and wiped it away himself. "We'll get it back." He whispered so only I could hear. I nodded, "I hope so."
_
(1) I don't know if that's exactly right. But, I presume you know what it's supposed to be.
I haven't had this long of a chapter since like, chapter two??? I'm proud of myself 😤 Sorry for any mistakes btw!