When Worlds Collide: Book Three, Fire

/////Sam's POV\\\\\

I was awoken by a loud crash. Groggily, I pushed myself up by the elbows, and blinked to clear my vision.

"What the...?" I muttered, seeing three Fire Nation air ships come into view.

Aang was quick to send a small counter attack their way, and dashed back under our protective ceiling. With a wave of his staff, heavy metal doors slammed shut, blocking the outside from view. The blasts continued, and I looked up to see the ceiling begin to crumble.

"Watch out!" Zuko shouted, and he rushed past me, throwing Katara out of the way of a large clump of stone just in time.

They landed with a soft thud, and immediately, and the water bender began yelling. I just rolled my eyes, and darted to where Toph and Haru were creating an escape tunnel.

"Come one," Toph called, "we can get out through here!"

Aang was struggling with Appa, so I went to help him with the giant beast.

"What are you doing?" the monk suddenly asked, and I looked to see Zuko standing in front of the metal walls.

"Go ahead," he called. "I'll hold them off. I think this is a family visit." He dashed off, not looking back.

My eyes widened in horror. "Zuko, you idiot!" I shouted, and Aang and I started to follow.

Sokka and Katara pulled us back. "Come on, we've gotta get out of here!" Sokka demanded.

"But Zuko-"

"Will be fine," Sokka cut me off. "Now, come on." He began pulling on Appa's reign, and after a second of hesitation, I helped.

"I can't get him to go in there," Aang cried. "Appa hates tunnels!"

"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here," Katara insisted, and I agreed.

I couldn't see over Appa's massive form, but I could hear the battle raging.

"We have to find a way," the monk pressed.

"We have to split up," Sokka decided, and he ran to the others who were waiting in the freshly made cave. "Follow the tunnel, and get to the stolen air ship."

I glanced at Katara and saw her furious expression. "No," she growled. "The Fire Nation can't split up our family again." She joined her family, and watched as she hugged her father before joining us.

Sokka hugged Chief Hakoda as well, and grabbed Sukki's hand, dragging her with him. Katara and I helped the two on the bison, and Toph stopped at the rock wall.

"I can clear that away, and we can fly out through there," she announced, running back over, using the earth to push her self up.

"Um... there's an awful lot of fire in that general direction," Sukki stuttered.

"We'll get through," Aang assured us. "Let's go."

Like she promised, Toph blasted the wall, and used the debris as a shield so we could escape into the sky. I ducked as blue fire slammed into the shield, and Toph had to drop the rocks. I turned in my seat to look back at the smirking Azula, and we all gaped at Zuko standing on an air ship to face her.

He ran forward, jumping from the aircraft, and slicing his sisters fire out of the way, landing in a summer-salt. His counter attack was instant, and their duel was much like one I witness back in the Fire Lords Palace, when I watched Mai and Ty Lee practice.

We couldn't watch for long, however, as fire flew at us from all sides. Aang had to make a swift upward turn to avoid colliding with a ship.

To my left, there was a large explosion, and I whirled around to see the siblings air born. "Aang, go!" I screamed, and the monk raced to catch the banished prince. When we were directly beneath him, Sokka and I grabbed one of his hands, and pulled him down.

We glanced back to see Azula still falling. "She's... not gonna make it," Zuko said, and it almost sounded like sorrow.

Contradicting his words, Azul shot fire from her feet, and she flew to the cliff side, where she gripped onto the rock and slid down a few yards before catching herself.

"Of course she did," Zuko growled.

When the carnage of the temple was far from eyesight, I turned on Zuko and glared. "You idiot! What were you thinking?" I demanded. "What if we didn't catch you? What if Azula hit you? Where would you be then, hmm?" The banished princed rolled his eyes, and my temper flared. "Don't you dare roll your eyes at me! That was the most stupid thing I've ever seen."
"Everything turned out fine, Sam," Zuko sighed.

"Seriously," Sokka chuckled. "It's already done and over with now. Not much you can do to change it."

I glared, and crossed my arms, grumbling.

/////\\\\\

"Wow, camping," Aang laughed. "It really seems like old times agian, doesn't it?"

We were sitting around a fire, yes, camping. With no where else to go, it was only option.

"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could. uh.. chase you around a bit and try to capture you," Zuko smirked, and we laughed.

"Ha, ha," Katara stated dryly, and shot her glance that said 'we'll-talk-about-this-later.'

When Sokka got a hold of himself, he raised his cup and said; "To Zuko. Who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today, he'd be our hero!"

"Here, here!" we chorused.

"I'm touched," Zuko smiled. "I don't deserve this."

"Yeah. No kidding." With one last glare, the water bender stood and left our circle.
"What's with her?" Sokka asked.
"I wish I knew," Zuko admitted, and stood to follow after her.

When they were gone, I sighed. "I wonder if she'll ever trust him," I thought aloud.

"She'll get over it," Sokka shrugged. "I mean, she got over being mad at you, right?"

"That's different," I said. "We had friendship before that. The only thing she knows about Zuko is that he chased us around the world and kidnapped me a few times."

"How'd you learn to trust him so fast?" Sukki asked.

"Easy," I shrugged. "I... I..." I stopped, drawing a blank. "It was something about... I mean... I don't remember."

"You don't remember?" Toph raised an eyebrow, and the others looked skeptical as well.

"It was something my world," I insisted, not caring that Sukki didn't know about my real home. "Something... important."

"Your world?" the Kyioshi warrior asked.
"Surprise, from another dimension!" I said quickly, before going back into my thoughts.

Why couldn't I remember this simple fact? It's just like my family - I should remember them, of all things, right? And here I was, drawing a blank on simple things, like names, faces, and birthdays. Were their names weird, like mine, or normal like Aang and the others?

"I... I think I need to go to bed," I muttered, and without another word, I stood to wander back to my tent.

/////\\\\\

"So when are you and Zuko going to get together?"

I dropped the rolled up sleeping bag I was carrying, and whirled around to Sokka and and Aang who were smirking. "What are you talking about?" I asked, stooping down to roll the sleeping bag back up.

"We're not stupid, Sam," Aang laughed, walking over to brush Appa. "You guys are always acting weird around each other."

"And yesterday, when you yelled at him for fighting Azula?" Sokka smirked. "You don't exactly try to hide it."

"Why are you so worried about my love life?" I countered. "Sukki came to my tent last night to complain about how you two didn't get your 'quality boyfriend-girlfriend time,' and she was not the happy camper."

"It's your boyfriends fault," Sokka pouted.

"How did you-"

"I need to borrow Appa," Katara announced, with Zuko behind her carrying a sack.

"Why?" Aang asked, turning to feed Appa some straw. "Is it your turn to have your little field trip with Zuko?" There was laughter in his voice, and I smirked as well.

"Yes. It is."

All three of us stopped what we were doing to see Katara with the mos serious look on her face I had ever seen.

"Oh...," Aang trailed, taking in the stern faces and sack that was resting on Zuko's shoulder. "What's going on?"

"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me," Katara declared.

Sokka dropped the necklace he was fiddling with and walked over.

"Sokka told me the story of what happened," Zuko explained. "I know who did it, and I know how to find him."

"Um.. and what exactly do you think this will acclomplish?" Aang asked.

"I knew you wouldn't understand," Katara stated, giving a dry laugh and a shake of her head.

"Stop," the monk called. "I do understand. You're feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sand benders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out about my people?"

Aang brought up many good points, and I was shocked when Katara had no reaction to his words.

"She needs this, Aang," Zuko spoke up. "This will bring her closure and justice."

"No it won't," I said, glaring. "This is revenge. And you know all about that, don't you Zuko?"

He narrowed his eyes.
"Fine," Katara snapped. "Maybe it is revenge. Maybe that's what I need... Maybe that's what he deserves."

"Katara, you sound like Jet," Aang pointed out.

The water bender whirled around. "It's not the same," she insisted. "Jet attacked the innocent. This man - he's a monster."

"Katara, she was my mother too," Sokka reminded. "But I think Aang might be right."
"Then you didn't love her the way I did!"

"Katara," Sokka gasped.

"The monks used to say that revenge was like a two head rat viper," Aang lectured. "While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisened yourself."

"That's cute," Zuko sighed. "But this isn't Air Temple preschool. It's the real world."

"Now that I now he's out there...," Katara said. "Now that I know we can find him... I feel like I have no choice."

"Katara, you do have a choice," Aang tried. "Forgiveness."

"That's the same as doing nothing," Zuko told us.

"No, it isn't." I stepped foward, and reached for Katara's hand. "You forgave me, several times. Katara, you're a great person. You don't have it in you to do this."

"Then you don't know me as well as you thought you did," she spat, and walked away.
"Zuko," I hissed before he could walk off. "Could I speak with you for a moment?"

"You're not talking me out of it, Sam," he told me. "This is something she needs."

"No," I growled. "This is just something to get her to stop hating you."

"It's something I can relate to her with," he snapped, dropping the sack. "I lost my mother to the Fire Nation as well. I know what she's going through here."

I faltered. "What are you talking about?" I asked. "You said... but your mom-"

"It's nothing," he sighed, and gave a soft smile before walking away.

/////\\\\\

"Sam!"

I stopped braiding my hair to look at the tent flap.

"Sam!"

"What?" I asked, peeking out to see Aang and Sokka crouched down in front of me.
"We think Katara and Zuko are going to try to sneak away to go on with their plan," Aang said.

"Well, duh," I snorted, but quickly lowered my voice. "I was going to hang around by Appa to make sure they didn't."

"And you weren't going to invite us?" Sokka pouted.

"Well, as long as they don't go, that doesn't matter, right?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ugh, come on." Sokka grabbed my hand, and yanked me out of my tent.

I was dragged to where Appa was resting, and we ducked behind a large boulder.

"Shouldn't we get Toph for this?" I asked. "Or Sukki? Another girls opinion could really make a difference, you know."

"Toph's too violent," Sokka reminded, twirling his finger for the international sign of 'loco.' "She'd only side with them."
"And despite them being friends, Katara and Sukki aren't that close," Aang said. "Besides, Katara would probably get more mad if too many of us tried to stop her."

I grumbled, deciding they were right, and we waited for Katara and Zuko to show up. It took an hour, but finally, the two crept towards the flying bison, decked out in black. The two boys poked their heads out comically, and burst out of our hiding spot. After shaking my head, I followed.

"So you were just gonna take Appa anyway?" Aang demanded.

The water bender didn't even look surprised as she turned to face us. "Yes."

Aang sighed dramatically. "It's okay. I forgive you." He paused. "That give you any ideas?"

"Don't try to stop us," Katara warned.

"I wasn't planning to."

"Wait... we weren't?" I whispered.

"This is a journey you need to take," Aang continued, ignoring me. "You need to face this man." Katara nodded, and climbed up on Appa. "But when you do, please don't choose revenge. Let your anger out, and then let it go. Forgive him."

"Okay," Zuko mocked. "We'll be sure to do that, Guru Goody-Goody."

"Zuko," I called, stepping forward. "Be careful. Both of you."

He nodded, and stepped forward, kissing my forehead gently. I didn't care that the others were watching. I just watched as my best friend and boyfriend soared off into the sky.

"Hey, Sokka," Aang said behind me, "guess who's going on a vegetarian diet for a week?"

"Awe, man!"

"You two made bets?" I asked, whirling around.

"No!" they rushed, and ran off.

I sighed, and shook my head, sending one last look at the disappearing dot before going back to my tent.

/////\\\\\

A few days had passed when Appa was back in sight. However, when he landed, only Zuko was present.

We panicked at first, but he explained that Katara had just stopped on a nearby island for alone time, and what she had done. Which was nothing; she didn't get her revenge, which was a relief to us all. Immedialty, we hopped on the bison and flew to her. While Aang and Zuko went to talk to the girl sitting at the end of the peir, I turned to Sokka.

"Do you want revenge?" I asked. "Be honest. Ignore everything that Aang said."

The water tribe teen shuffled his feet. "I used to," he admitted. "But... revenge is something that only holds you back. I didn't forgive him - and I never will. But... I had to move on. If not for me, than for Katara. She was devasted afterwards, and I had to step up as the big brother."

I nodded. "Good," I said soflty. "I look up to you, Sokka. You're the best sibling anyone could ask for. I... I think I had a little brother back home. I can't remember much, but I would like to think that I was good to him, like you are to Katara."

Sokka gave me a quizical look, and shook his head. "If you were anywhere near as good to your brother as you are to Toph and Aang... then you have nothing to worry about."

I smiled, and looked to the ground. I really hoped he was right.