𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚒𝚡

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"Wait, stop here." La'kea pulled the reins unexpectedly, surprising Zuko enough that he let go.

"What?" He questioned.

The islander, who had been slowly picking up how to steer an animal, guided them over to two deep tracks in the ground. These weren't animal tracks, but it wasn't naturally made either. They ran in a deep straight line, unnaturally parallel to each other.

"Look up there," Zuko's hand was suddenly under her chin, gently tilting her head up. His hand lingered long enough to send her brain spiraling into disjointedness.

As soon as she managed to rearrange her thoughts, she saw what he was referring to. A billowing cloud of grey smoke and ash, moving farther away in the directions the tracks were.

"Well?" She asked, wondering if they should purse it. He only responded by snapping the ostrich horses reins.

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They rode fast through out the whole day, at one point pulling forward enough to see the monstrosity creating the tracks.

A metal tank pulling another one. The two machines roared forward unceasingly on heavy wheels, plowing through the earth with ease. Zuko suddenly jerked back on the reins, slowing them down until the tank pulled out of sight.

She shifted in her seat, turning slightly to look at him, "What are you doing?"

"It's my sister," His gold eyes narrowed dangerously on the horizon ahead of them.

Shuddering, she twisted back around to eye the smoke trail. "How are you sure?"

Zuko glanced back down at her, nudging the ostrich horse forward, they would have to stay on the tank's trail while staying out of sight. "I just know."

La'kea stifled her snort, "That's very reassuring." Relying on wishful thinking wasn't her strong point.

The prince rolled his eyes, leaning forward to huff in her ear. "Do you not trust me?"

She froze, swatting him away like he was an annoying fly as she tried not to let her shivers show too much. "Of course I trust you. If I didn't, I would have escaped three years ago."

He grunted in annoyance, disliking being reminded of his banishment, and didn't respond, only spurring their horse faster.

Eventually, the tank stopped abruptly in a forest, and three figures disembarked from the second tank, riding giant fast moving mongoose-lizards. She could feel the prince tense behind her as she craned forward, trying to get a better look at the three girls. One she could already tell was Azula, but the other two were unfamiliar to her.

"Who are those other girls," She felt the need to whisper as they ducked low in the tree line.

Zuko hesitated as his eyes never left the two girls that split off from his sister. "Ty Lee and... Mai."

Humming, she back slowly away from their cover to the ostrich horse. "So which ones do we follow?"

"My sister," He lifted her up into the saddle, mounting after her as he grabbed the reins. "She'll likely follow the Avatar." La'kea just gave a curt nod of confirmation.

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They followed the Fire Nation Princess all the way through the forest as the trees started to give way to desert. La'kea was starting to get sick of the hot and dry climates, wishing for once the Avatar would pick a tropical climate to be chased through. Did these nations have tropical climates, or was it all polar ice caps, forests, and desert?

The lack of civilizations was disturbing, and the unease only mounted when they tracked the princess all the way to an abandoned town. "Do you think she's know we're coming," La'kea asked, eyeing the rundown buildings and the princess facing the dead empty street in the distance.

Zuko thought about it, he was sure they had been careful to stay off her radar, "There's no way to know," He answered, guiding the ostrich around the back of the town through the alley. "We're about to find out. Ready?"

She placed a hand on her water pouch, "Always."

As they drew closer to the main street, they could hear the princess taunting the Avatar. "Do you really want to fight me?"

They finally appeared from the alley, leaping off the ostrich horse to land nimbly on their feet. "Yes," Zuko declared as he threw his hat to the side, La'kea lifted a brow at his dramatics, "I really do."

"Zuko," Aang gasped, looking exhausted. She turned slightly to look at the Avatar incredulously, throwing her arms out as if to say 'I'm here too!' The airbender just gripped his staff awkwardly.

The princess crossed her arms causally, "I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu."

Tucking that fun nickname away for later, La'kea held her hands out defensively, not taking her eyes off either the princess or the Avatar as she moved over to the other side of the road across from Zuko.

Aang covered his mouth with a hand to stifle his mocking snicker, "Zuzu?"

The prince threw his arms out to either side, "Back off, Azula. He's ours."

Azula quirked a brow, smiling as she shifted into a bending stance. "I'm not going anywhere."

They stood off against each other for several heartbeats, each one waiting for someone else to make the first move. La'kea discreetly uncorked her waterskin, putting a hand over it as the four of them all eyed each other nervously. Everyone, except for Azula that is.

Her smirk was the only warning they got before she launched a blue fireball at the prince, who shielded it enough to avoid getting burned, but was still knocked into a front porch. Aang immediately snapped open his glider and took to the air, only for the princess to bring down a powerful jet of fire on top of him.

The airbender looked up to see the princess running along the beam of a roof towards him, but ending up ducking to avoid a deadly icicle launched at her. La'kea leapt forward to the Avatar but the boy rolled out of the way in time as Azula landed on his other side. She swept a leg out, blue flames spinning in a circle outwards that the airbender leapt above.

Zuko appeared behind her firing a ball of flames at the younger boy that evaded the attacks. La'kea marveled for a moment at the Avatar's light feet and maneuvering that he did with seemingly no effort. Spinning her limited water supply in a circle around her, she parried Azulas flames while launching spearheads of ice with so much force they impaled themselves in the wooden posts.

The Avatar fled up a flight of exposed stairs with the princess on his heels, disappearing into the top floor of the house. Zuko and her took off after them, and even though she planted her heels into the doorstep at the sight that there was no top floor. The prince still ran right into her with a yell, knocking them both to the bottom floor in a pile of broken furniture.

She was just getting back up to her feet, hooking an arm under Zuko's elbow to help him up when the princess landed gracefully a few feet across from them. The islander barely had time to form a thick shield of ice as the blue flames slammed into both her and the prince, throwing them through the crumbling house to the street outside.

La'kea hissed, clutching her rib cage as she rolled onto her stomach to see Zuko with his eyes still shut faintly groaning. Just as she was trying to leap to her feet to face Azula, it turned out she wouldn't have to deal with her anyway as the princess was busy pursuing the Avatar. Zuko might not like that she stayed next to him instead of trying to fight for Aang. But as a familiar pair of Water Tribe siblings ran past, she figured they had bigger problems.

Someone suddenly grasped her hand gently to help her up, she looked up sharply only to break into a wide grin. "Iroh!"

The old man gave a firm nod as he moved over to his nephew, who was open his eyes slowly. "Uncle?" He croaked.

Iroh helped him up, commanding curtly, "Get up."

Rising to their feet, they watched as the two Water Tribe members and the Avatar drove Azula against an alley, only for the princess' feet to suddenly slide out from under her. An young earthbender girl appeared from the alley, smiling proudly. "I thought you guys could use a little help."

The others seemed pleased to see the girl so La'kea doubted she was on their side, but she wasn't on Azula's side either. Cornered by the four, she tried escaping down the alley, leaping over a stack of crates only to suddenly by blocked by Iroh. Zuko and La'kea quickly joined the old man's side as they slowly stalked towards the deadly firebender with the Avatar's team into a corner.

"Well, look at this," The princess cooed, lifting a brow, "Enemies and traitors, all working together." Her sarcastic smirk dropped for an angry frown as she lifted her arms above her head. "I'm done. I know when I'm beaten, you got me. A princess surrenders with honor." As if anyone believed that, no one took their eyes off her, no one... except for Iroh. And that was all Azula needed.

It happened so slowly, like the world was suspended in time. She could only watch, panic rising, as the kind old man was struck down from beside her. Zuko's scream of horror rang in her ears as everyone whipped around to fire their respective elements at the conniving princess who bent a spinning blue dome of fire that erupted backwards.

When the ash and smoke cleared, she was gone, but La'kea had bigger worries, much bigger worries. Zuko dropped to his knees before his uncle, stifling his scream of frustration and pressed his fists against his eyes.

She dropped down next to him, grabbing the prince's arm gently. "Zuko, you need to back up. I need to see how bad it is." He didn't respond to her, dropping his fists to the ground. "Zuko." The prince finally turned away and she quickly moved next to Iroh and sucked in a breath. She had hoped that the flames would cauterize the wound, leaving it painful but not life threatening, but of course it wasn't that easy. Azula's fires struck with such force it cut through Iroh, and he was bleeding out fast onto the dirt.

Katara suddenly stepped forward, "Zuko, I can help."

He only swung his arm out, an arc of fire exploding outwards that the teens ducked under. "Leave!" The prince commanded, voice heavy with pain and frustration. After they had heeded his demand, Zuko turned back around to see her staring at the blood pooling around his uncle with her hands on her head.

He tugged at her hand, "You can heal him, right?"

She squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to look at anything, wanting to be anywhere but here. "I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know," He resisted shouting, sounding disbelieving as he unconsciously squeezed her hand between his own, clinging to the hope she would fix this.

The islander looked at him helplessly, "I- I've seen the healers on my island do it before, but I've never tried it."

"La'kea," Zuko pleaded, "You are the best healer I know. Please try."

Thinking it wasn't the right time to remind him she was the only healer he knew, she chewed her lip nervously, rising to her feet . "Okay... Okay. You need to step back." The prince obliged quickly, scrambling a healthy distance away.

Breathing slowly, the waterbender thought back to when she had pulled Zuko out of unconsciousness even by using the tranquility method. She had to guess all the other great healers of her tribe were calm and collected when they bent the blood of the injured back into their body. It wasn't a common practice, as few people injured themselves enough to require it, and what few waterbenders were healers, even fewer could bend a person's blood.

Sliding into a low stance, La'kea threw her hands out in front of her, and slowly balled them into fists. The blood around her feet rose up out of the dirt, coalescing into one large orb in front of her. Zuko waited, not even daring to breathe as he watched her work with intense focus, every movement strained.

The red sphere thinned out into a stream that circled the waterbender, and as she carefully brought her hands down, it was slowly reabsorbed into Iroh's wounds. The hardest part now over, she hastily dropped back down to the old man, pulling out her water and spreading it over his extensive wound like a blanket.

Recognizing the silver glow and the twisting hand movements, the prince finally stepped closer, peering over her shoulder. He swallowed thickly, "So... Will he be alright?"

She nodded, thinking about how the last time she dealt with a wound this bad, the prince's eye was melting in it's socket. But even that horrific burn hadn't taken much out of her like this had, she thought of the nice long nap she'd like after this. "I'll have to work awhile, and he'll still need to be bandaged after, but Iroh will live."

"Thank you," He breathed a sigh of relief, nearly shattering her concentration as he suddenly pressed his forehead to her shoulder. They both knew words would never be enough to thank her for what she had done for him today.

The islander suddenly chuckled, "I just thought of something."

Zuko leaned forward curiously. "What?"

"Your life debts just increased again," La'kea grinned, waving her hands through the air.

The prince groaned.