When Worlds Collide: Book One, Water

I silently followed Zuko, avoiding every twig, but going as fast as I could.
I could faintly here someone talking, sounding very upset.
It sounds like Katara. I thought.
I finally pushed through the brush, and froze. A pirate had grabbed Katara, but she used a water bending move to get away. She started running, but Zuko grabbed her as she turned around.
“I’ll save you from the pirates,” he said menacingly.
A few of the pirates tied Katara up to a tree. I stood silently in the brush, waiting for an opening.
“Tell me were he his, and I won’t hurt you or your brother,” Zuko threatened Katara.
“Go jump in the river!” Katara shouted.
Zuko calmed down a bit, then looked back up at Katara. “Try to understand,” he said. “I need him so I can restore something I’ve lost. My honor.” he walked around the tree, all the while, Katara was avoiding his gaze. Then Zuko leaned in and whispered something in her ear. I saw his hands go around her neck, and then Katara gasped.
“My mothers necklace,” she said. “How did you get that?” she demanded as he started walking away.
“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re wondering,” he said. “Tell me where he is.”
“No!”
“Enough of this,” the pirate captain said. “You promised the scroll!”
Zuko took the scroll from his pocket. “I wonder how much this is worth...?” Zuko asked himself while he conjured up a fire in his hand, and holding the scroll over it. All the pirates gasped. “A lot apparently.” Zuko snickered.
Finally, I stepped out of my hiding place. “Zuko, do you really have to threaten everyone?” I asked, shaking my head.
“Sam!” Zuko’s eyes widened. “I thought I told you to go to bed.”
I rolled my eyes. “Did you honestly think I would?”
“Sam,” Katara said, “what are you doing?”
I turned to her, smiling softly. “I knew Zuko was on another mission to get Aang, so I thought I might come to help,” I said.
Katara and Zuko’s eyes both widened.
“You’re helping him?” Katara asked.
My eyes widened to twice their original size. “No! That came out wrong. I meant to help you guys.”
Her eyes narrowed, disbelieving.
I sighed. “Look. I’ll prove it to you,” I said, walking over to her.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Zuko said, grabbing my arm. “You all, go find the boy and meet back here,” he said to the pirates.
They reluctantly nodded, and disappeared off into the woods.
“And as for you,” he said, “you’re going back to the ship with Uncle.”
I groaned. “You always tell me to stay with Iroh. I want to stay here.”
He sighed. “No. Last time you stayed with me, Zhao found you, remember?”
“Yea, but... that was because you made me stay at the bottom of the stairs. And besides, Zhao isn’t here,” I argued. I glanced at Katara, and cringed at the look she was giving me. Then I looked back at Zuko. “I’m staying. With her.”
After a few minutes, he sighed. “Fine. But if you make one move to set her free, I’m personally marching you back to the ship.”
“Yea, yea, whatever,” I muttered, and plopped myself down next to the water bender. “So,” I said. “What have I missed?”
She glared. “What have you missed? What have we missed? I thought that you didn’t like Zuko,” she whisper-shouted. “Well... after you’re stuck with him a few days, he kinda grows on you.”
Katara looked slightly disgusted, but didn’t say anything. For the rest of the night, she ignored me.
I ended up walking over to Zuko, who was sitting by a campfire he and his men had made.
“What’s up?” I asked him.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Thinking,” he said.
I nodded. “That can be dangerous you know,” I joked.
He smiled. “Believe me, I know.”
I sat down next to him, staring at the fire. After a while, I laid down, putting my head in Zuko’s lap.
“I’m tired,” I said.
He chuckled. “Then go to sleep.”
I looked over at Katara, and saw her glaring at me. “I want too,” I whispered. “But she thinks I betrayed her. She thinks I chose you over them,” I said softly.
Zuko hesitated. “Well... did you?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t chosen anyone. It’s like one of my books. In The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. I’m Switzerland.”
And then I fell asleep.

Early the next morning, I awoke to the sound of struggling. I slowly opened my eyes, to see that my head was still on Zuko’s lap.
I sat up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “What’s going on?” I mumbled.
“They found him,” Zuko breathed. Then he stood up, and I looked over to see the pirates had Aang and Sokka both in their grip.
“Nice work,” Zuko complemented.
My jaw dropped, and I stood up.
“Aang,” Katara said, “it’s all my fault.”
“No Katara,” Aang said, “it isn’t.”
I jumped when Iroh spoke. “Yea, it kinda is,” he said, looking at Katara.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re not really helping,” I whispered.
Iroh smiled.
Zuko ignored us-like usual. “Give me the boy,” he said.
“Give us the scroll,” the captain replied.
“You’re really gonna hand over the Avatar for a stupid piece of parchment?” Sokka asked.
I sighed, and face palmed.
“Don’t listen to him,” Zuko rushed, “he’s trying to turn us against each other.”
“You’re friend is the Avatar?” the captain asked.
“Sure is!” Sokka said. “And I bet he’d be a lot more on the black market than that scroll.”
“Sokka!” I said. “Don’t you know when to shut up?”
He gave me an odd look, before winking.
“Shut your mouth, water tribe peasant!” Zuko shouted.
“Yea Sokka, you really should shut your mouth,” Aang said.
“I’m just saying,” Sokka said, and I smiled, knowing his plan, “it’s bad business sense. Just imagine how much the Fire Lord would pay.”
“Keep the scroll,” the captain said. We can a hundred with this kid.”
“You’ll regret making a deal with me,” Zuko threatened. Then he and two of his soldiers attacked them with fire.
And before I knew it, another battle had begun. Smoke filled my lungs, as a few of the pirates had set off smoke bombs. I coughed, getting on my hands and knees, crawling around, trying to find a way out.
Finally, I made it away from the smoke, and I found myself next to the pirates boat. Katara was there too, trying to push it out into the water.
When she saw me, she glared. “What are you doing here?” she asked, venom clear in her voice.
“Uh, helping a friend?” I said, like it was obvious.
She rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just go back to your Prince Zuko?” she snarled.
I crossed my arms, and pouted. “I thought you’d be more happy to see me,” I said.
She was about to answer, when Aang called out to us from behind. “Katara, you’re okay! And Sam! I thought we’d never see you again!” the monk cried.
I smiled at him. “It’s good to see you again too, Aang.”
Katara sighed loudly. “Come help me with this boat,” she said.
We all started to push on it, but to no avail.
“It’s no use,” Sokka said. “We need a team of rhinos to budge this thing.”
Aang smiled. “A team of rhinos. Or two water benders,” he said, looking at Katara. She smiled back.
The two of them started to move the water, making it rise over the bottom of the ships hull. After a few minutes, it had only budged an inch.
They sighed. “It’s no use!” Katara said. “We need at least one more or something.”
I chewed my lip. “What was that move you were just doing?” I asked. “I mean, can you like demonstrate it?”
“Uh... sure?” Aang said, and he and Katara both started doing the same move.
After a while, I started to mimic them. The water raised up higher than it did moments before, and the ship lifted.
I looked down at my hands, shocked. Zuko was right. I could bend two elements.
The others looked at me weirdly too. “I thought...,” Sokka trailed off, shaking his head.
“Come on, we have to get on the ship!” Katara yelled, and pulled Aang over to a rope ladder hanging from the ship.
I stood there, until Sokka grabbed my hand. “Well, come on!” he said, yanking my arm.
“But-ow!” I yelped, when Sokka forcefully pulled me up the ladder.
We landed on deck, and Sokka rushed to set sail.
“Wait!” I said, looking over at the shore.
“What?” Aang asked.
“I... I...” I didn’t know how to finish my sentence. “I forgot my fans. That Suki gave me. They’re on Zuko’s ship.”
Katara glared. “Is it the fans you want to go back for, or is it Zuko?” she said, glaring.
“The-the fans,” I stuttered.
Katara huffed.
Aang looked at us confusingly, but turned back to the water. “Uh, Sokka?” he said. “Can you make this thing go any faster?”
I looked, and saw that the pirates had took over Zuko’s ship, and were hot on our trails.
“I don’t know how! This thing wasn’t made by the water tribe!”
I sighed. “Move,” I said, and took over the wheel. “Okay... I’ve been watching the pirates work this thing all night, so let’s try... this,” I said to myself, pulling on a lever that looked familiar.
Sokka was looking over the edge, and a second later, turned to me. “You did it, you’re making us go faster!”
I grinned.
“Uh, Sam...,” Aang said from behind me.
I turned, and gasped when the pirates quickened their speed to match ours. Soon, they were beside us, and were getting on the boat. I was still at the wheel so I couldn’t help the others. The next second, a huge wave came up on the ship, the water going up to my waist. I screamed, clinging to the wheel for dear life. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that two pirates had gotten a hold on Sokka, and one was trying to sneak up on me. Remembering a move that Suki showed me, I round house kicked the guy in the gut. While he was kneeling over in pain, I kneed him in the stomach. He groaned, and I pushed him away form me so I could focus on steering the ship.
Just try not to look at the water too much, Sam.
The others were shouting something to each other, but I ignored them. I glanced back to make sure they were okay, and when I looked back in front of me, I had to duck, because Momo was flying right towards me, trying to get away from the pirate captains reptilian bird.
“This place is a mad house!” I shouted, not really caring who heard.
“Sam! Look!” Katara yelled.
I turned. “What?”
“No, don’t look at us, look ahead!” she yelled at me.
“Sheesh, what’s her problem?” I muttered to myself, then turned. “Oh. Freaking. Crap.”
Ahead of us was a huge waterfall, and we were about to go down it.
“Oh my gosh, what do we do?!” I screamed.
“We can stop the boat,” Katara was yelling to be heard, “but we have to do it together. Sam, Aang, push and pull the water!”
“What?” I shrieked. “I don’t know how to do that!”
“Just do what we’re doing,” Aang told me.
I nodded, and started mimicking them.
“Your wrist are wrong,” Katara said sharply.
I chewed my lip. She was still mad at me, but could I really blame her?
In the next second, Zuko’s ship rammed into us, and we were thrown over the waterfall. We all screamed, and Aang and Sokka grabbed my hand. My eyes were shut tight, so when I landed on something hard, I kept my eyes closed.
“I’m dead,” I said. “I landed in that water with so much force, it was like landing on asphalt. And now I’m dead. I live sixteen years in my world, but can’t last a few weeks in this one.”
Someone sighed. “You’re not dead,” they said.
I cracked my eyes open to see that I was on Appa with the others. I sighed. “I’m alive!” I said dramatically.
Katara rolled her eyes.
“Thanks Appa, we owe you one,” Sokka said to the bison.
I looked over the side of Appa’s saddle, and saw Zuko staring up at us. Without the others noticing, I silently waved to him. He waved back, and I sighed. I watched him the while time until we disappeared into the clouds.

Later the next day, we were on the ground, setting up camp for the night.
Katara still wasn’t talking to me, and would tell others why. The boys even started to ask me, but I just shook my head.
It was mainly silent, until Aang stood up. “Where’s Momo?” he asked.
We could hear the poor lemurs cries, and Aang immediately started to follow them.
We followed, and made to the little clearing just in time to see Momo in a cage, and being lowered to the ground.
Sokka and Katara started to open the cage, and Momo ran out, eating some kind of fruit... it looked like a peach, but bigger.
Aang landed on the ground, then looked up at the crying animals who were also trapped.
“Alright, you too,” he said, and went back up to help them.
Sokka groaned. “This is gonna take forever,” he said.
“Well what do you suggest?” I asked, still watching Aang.
I flinched when Sokka’s boomerang flew past me, and went up to cut the ropes. It went right in front of Aang’s face, and I heard “That works too.”
After the animals disappeared, Sokka studied the traps. “These are Fire Nation. You can tell by the metal work,” he said. “We better pack up camp and get out of here.”
As we were packing up, Sokka stopped us. “No. No flying this time.”
“Why not?” Katara asked.
“Haven’t you noticed that every time we fly, Zuko or someone finds us?”
I snorted, still putting one of the bags together.
Everyone gave me odds looks.
“What?” Sokka asked.
“Huh?” I asked, playing dumb.
“Why did you just...” Sokka shook his head. “Never mind.”
“No,” Katara said. “Why? What do you know?”
I glared at her. “Sokka, did your sister just say something? Because, it sounded like she was talking to me, but we all know she doesn’t do that anymore.”
Katara glared back.
“Alright you two, what happened? You two were really close before, and now you act like you hate each other,” Aang said, looking confused.
Katara huffed. “Sam, why don’t you tell them? Who’s your new friend?”
I glared. “Not you, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
“Her new best friend is Zuko,” Katara said. “She even fell asleep on him the other night.”
“Wait, what?” Sokka asked.
“Why didn’t you just stay with him?” Katara asked. “Since it’s so obvious you’re buddy buddy with him, why didn’t you stay?”
“Would you rather me too?” I asked. “Fine. Next time we see him, I’ll go back to the ship, and I won’t try to stop him when he goes after you guys! Instead of begging him not too, or begging to go with him so I can help you guys, I’ll stand by and watch!”
“Fine!” Katara shouted. “We don’t need your help anyway!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!
“Good!”
“Good!”
“Okay!” Sokka shouted, standing in between us. “That’s enough. Just calm down.”
“Seriously, Katara,” I said, smirking, “take a chill pill.”
“I said,” Sokka said, glaring, “that’s enough.”
“Seriously guys, I’m confused,” the monk said. “Is Sam friends with Zuko, or is she helping us?”
“Sokka,” Katara said, “you heard what Commander Zhao said at Rokku’s temple. He said something about them being friends and her having ‘feelings for the banished prince’.”
“And I saw you,” Aang said, “at the bottom of the stairs. I thought you were following me, but you stayed at the bottom.”
“Zhao doesn’t know anything,” I muttered, going back to packing up a bag. “He’s an idiot who thinks he knows everything.”
“That doesn’t explain why you didn’t follow Aang,” Sokka said.
I sighed. “Zuko made me stay there, okay?” I said, looking up. “I knew that if I disobeyed him, there was chance you guys could get hurt. I thought... I thought I would here Zhao coming. I thought I could warn you guys.”
“How’d you know that Zhao was coming?” Aang asked suspiciously.
“I... I didn’t. I just meant, like if anyone was coming... and...,” I trailed off, seeing the looks they were giving me. “Just forget it, okay? Let’s start walking.”
I didn’t wait for a reply before taking off in a random direction.