Chapter 54

Episode 14, The Boiling Rock: Part 1

Sokka took Zuko somewhere else as the female guard took me to a room where I changed into a prisoner outfit.

She took me to a cell and locked me up. I couldn't believe that really happened. In complete silence, I waited for what felt like hours.

The cell didn't even have a bed or toilet. I mean, what kind of cell was that?!

The only thing I could do was sit on the ground, humming to myself and playing with a small flame in my palm.

When I heard the door opening, I quickly jumped up and stood staight. A man with long brown hair which was in a half ponytail entered. He had some kind of hairband on which looked like a crown at the front. The man seemed like he was one of the higher ranked people here; the warden.

"Well well, I never thought the Fire Nation's second biggest enemy would be so stupid to break into a high security Fire Nation Prison."

I tensed and gulped before narrowing my eyes at the man. "How do you know who I am?"

A scary grin played on his lips. "How could I not know? You are here with the Fire Prince after all."

I didn't move as his answer didn't quite make sense but I wouldn't get a better answer anyway.

"Why don't you give me to the Fire Lord then?" I challenged and wanted to curse myself. What if he does that now, then I'm finished for sure.

He chuckled darkly. "Oh I will, but first you should experience prison life for a bit."

Without another word he left and I let out a deep breath. Why do all Fire Nation superiors have to be assholes?

Not much time passed before my cell was opened and I was told to help mopping the floor in the prisoner's common room.

I was given a mop and entered the common room. It wasn't that big and a few prisoners were already cleaning. There was a stairscase in the middle of the room which seperated the room halfway.

I saw Zuko on the right side of it and with a small smile I quickly made my way towards him.

He didn't see me coming his way. I hugged him from behind. "I'm so glad you're okay," I said with a smile.

I felt him tense as he quickly stepped away from me before turning around. Upon seeing me he relaxed and hugged me. "Are you okay?" He asked in a whisper.

I nodded and we parted the hug. Luckily the other prisoners couldn't see us since they were on the other side of the staircase.

"The warden knows about us," I whispered and Zuko nodded, "We need to get out of here soon."

"Why are you standing there!?" a guard shouted at us, "No talking! Continue working!"

Zuko and I glanced at each other before quickly mopping the floor.

A few minutes later, Suki joined us. I shot her a smile which she immediately returned. We both knew that we should wait with the greetings and 'how have you beens' until we were out of there.

Not long after that, Sokka came down the stairs. He looked around and came our way as soon as he saw us.

"Oh good you guys have met," Sokka said and crossed his arms with a smile.

"Actually, we met a long time ago," Suki said and glanced at Zuko briefly, not stopping with cleaning the floor.

"We did?" Zuko asked and Suki knitted her eyebrows as her grip on the mop tightened.

"Yeah you kind of burned down my village," she replied in a bitter tone. Yeah, I bet he did that with other villages too. Seriously, why do I like this guy again?

"Oh sorry about that. Nice to see you again," Zuko said before we leaned the mops on the wall and sat down near the corner beside the staircase so that no one could see us.

"So listen, I think I have an escape plan," Sokka said and kneeled on the ground, pulling up the eye protection of his helmet. "I checked out the coolers again. The whole point of them is to keep firebenders contained, right?"

We nodded, not knowing where my brother was going with that.

"So they're completely insulated and sealed to keep the cold in. Well to keep the cold in, it also has to keep heat out, right?"

"Get to the point Sokkii," I interrupted him and crossed my arms. If we spoke here for any longer, somone will hear us.

"It's a perfect boat for getting through the boiling water."

I tensed and we looked at each other. I wasn't so sure if that was gonna work.

"The cooler as a boat? Are you sure?" Zuko asked, taking the words right out of my mouth.

"I'm telling you, it'll work." Sokka sounded and looked determined and sure about his idea.

He had found a blind spot between two guard towers. He said it was a perfect launching point and that he tested it out. We would take the cooler and float with the current and we would be taken straight across the lake.

"And bing bang boom, we're home free," Sokka said and I smiled. The idea actually sounded good.

"But how are you gonna get the cooler out?" Suki asked.

"Yeah," a deep voice said and we immediately tensed and turned around. Chit Sang was standing at the top of the staircase and watched us with a smirk as he was leaning against the railing. "How are you gonna get the cooler out?"

He jumped over the railing and landed in front of us.

"What?" my brother asked in higher pitched voice. "We didn't... we didn't say that," he waved it off with an awkard chuckle.

"Yeah you heard wrong," Zuko said in a more confident tone than Sokkii.

"I heard you hatching an escape plan, and I want in," Chit Sang said and eyed the four of us.

"There's nohing to get in on," I said and slighlty narrowed my eyes at him.

"Yeah, the only thing we're hatching... is an egg?" Sokka said and I closed my eyes and took a breath as Suki let out a sigh and Zuko face palmed. What a stupid excuse.

"Okay well, I come with you or the warden hears about this egg too," Chit Sang said. What an asshole.

I glanced at the others and my brother nodded. "Fine you're in," I said and narrowed my eyes at him, "But one wrong move and I'll end you."

He nodded and Sokka checked if there was anyone else listening to us. When he was sure we were alone, he pulled out a screwdriver and handed it Zuko. "Now first we need someone to unbolt the cooler, from the inside."

Zuko took the screwdriver and hid it under his clothes.

"Oh, I can get you inside," Chit Sang said with a smirk and looked at Zuko. He and Sokka nodded and we stood up.

Everyone went back to their positions but before they started their plan, I grabbed Zuko's wrist. He stopped and looked at me. "Please be careful," I whispered, looking at his face. He nodded briefly and I went to the other side of the room.

While mopping the floor, I glanced in Zuko's direction every few moments. 

"I'm sure the plan will work," Suki whispered while walking past me. I sighed and gulped. I needed to trust Zuko and Sokka.

A few minutes later, I heard some noise. Snapping my head in the direction, I got on my tiptoes to see what was happening.

Zuko and Chit Sang were fighting until Zuko firebended at him. A few guards pushed through the crowd that had formed around Zuko and Chit Sang and pushed the prince on the ground.

"No firebending," a guard exclaimed, "Into the cooler!"

The guards took Zuko and left the common room. The crowd slowly disappeared and I made eye contact with my brother on the other side of the room. He briefly nodded and left the common room as well before the other guards took us prisoners back to their cells.

After what felt like hours of waiting, my cell opened. A huge smile played on my lips when I saw my brother entering.

"Let's get out of here, Suki and Chit Sang are already waiting on the shore," he whispered and I nodded. We sneaked through the prison until we came to a corridor with more turns.

"You go right," Sokka said, "I'm gonna get Zuko and the cooler."

I nodded and we went separate ways. I managed to get out of the prison undetected and walked along the shore until I saw Suki, Chit Sang, and two other people. Knitting my eyebrows slightly, I decided to ignore the other two people.

"I hope everything went well," I mumbled and bit my lip slightly.

"It did," Suki said with a huge smile and looked at the prison. I followed her gaze and let out a breath of relief when I saw Zuko and Sokka. They stood in front of the cooler and slowly rolled it down the hill on which the prison was built.

"Took you guys long enough," Chit Sang said when they stopped in front of us, "This is my girl and my best buddy, they're coming with us."

Gee, thanks for asking. I rolled my eyes before helping with putting the cooler into the right position. We pushed the cooler halfway into the lake so that we could easily get it into the water once everyone was in.

"Fine," Sokka said and nodded, "Everybody in the cooler. Let's go."

My brother turned around and kneeled on the ground, picking up a stone. He had hid his normal clothes and weapons under it.

"Are you sure you wanna go?" Zuko asked and Sokka sighed, "You're the one who said you wanted to redeem yourself, redeem your honour. Rescuing your dad is your chance."

I knitted my eyebrows and looked between them. "Dad?" I asked my gaze stopping at Sokka. My heartbeat quickened and I waited for one of them to say something. I thought dad wasn't here.

My brother put his clothes into a bag and his sword on his back. He looked over his shoulder with a defeated face. "If I had just cut my losses at the invasion, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe sometimes it's better to call quits before you fail."

I bit my lip and my eyes watered. He shouldn't talk about himself like that. Without him, all of us, including Katara and Aang, would have failed a lot of times, we wouldn't have made it this far.

"No it's not," Zuko said, "Look Sokka, you're going to fail a lot before things work out."

Sokka stood up and raised his eyebrows. "That's supposed to make me feel better?" He walked up to the cooler.

"Even though you'll probably fail over and over and over again..." Zuko added and Sokka stopped.

"Seriously, not helping."

Zuko grabbed his shoulder, "...you have to try every time. You can't quit because you're afraid you might fail."

With a smile, I wiped a tear from my eye. My two favourite people have grown so much.

"Hey," Chit Sang completely ruined the moment, "If you two are done cuddling, can we get a move on?"

"No, I'm staying," Sokka said with a determined look on his face before he turned to face us. "You guys go." He walked up to Suki and put a hand on her shoulder, "You've been here long enough."

She smiled and put her hand on his. "I'm not leaving without you, Sokka."

"I'm staying with you too," I told him and smiled.

"Yeah, me too," Zuko said with a smile.

"Not me. I'm out," Chit Sang said and pushed the cooler into the lake before jumping in.

"We gave up our only chance of escaping," Sokka said as we watched the cooler disappear in the fog, "I hope we haven't just made a huge mistake."

We climbed up the hill until we came to a staircase which went around the outside wall of the main building.

We decided to take the staircase in order to see the new prisoners coming out of the gondola. Maybe dad would really be there this time. I really hoped so.

Suddenly we heard a loud scream and bells ringing. "The plan failed. They're caught," Sokka exclaimed as we looked on the lake. We couldn't see anything and quickly continued our way.

When we came to a corner from which we could see the new prisoners arriving we stopped. "This is it," Sokka said when the gondola stopped and the doors opened.

My heart almost stopped every time a person came out of it. I linked pinkies with Zuko and when no one else came out, my stomach dropped. Zuko put his hand in mine and gave it a squeeze.

"That's it? That can't be it," Sokka breathed out as his shoulders dropped.

"I'm sorry," Suki said and put a hand on my brother's shoulder.

"Hey you, get off the gondola!" a guard shouted. I snapped my head up and waited for the last person to get off with a quick heartbeat. I couldn't believe my eyes when dad stepped out.

I let out a laugh and hugged Zuko as my eyes watered while Sokka hugged Suki.

After we parted the hug, Sokka turned around to look at me. With a huge smile I engulfed my older brother in a tight hug.

"We didn't make a huge mistake after all," I said and a tear of joy rolled down my cheek.

A/N - Heyyy guys! 10k reads?! Wow honestly. I wanted to thank you all for voting and commenting.And I'll be on vacation the next three weeks and depending on whether I have WiFi or not, I'll update. Just wanted to tell.Anyways, thanks so much for reading this book! Stay safe and healthy :) <3