Ruka (1)

"Maybe we should get some help!"

"No. He's my friend." I smiled at the sound of my sister's voice. "I'm perfectly capable of protecting him."

I watched as Zuko walked up the bridge that lead to my younger sister. "Well, aren't you a big girl now?"

"No..."

"Yes!"

I ran past Zuko and stopped at Katara's side. "Ruka!" I smiled, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze.

"How sweet. Now hand him over or I won't have to hurt either of you!"

Katara and I got into fighting stances, as did Zuko. Zuko kicked out a flame of fire to us then several flames from his fists. Katara swiftly blocked all of them then threw back Zuko with a harsh shot of water. I watched in shock.

How can I help her when she's the one that's helping me?!

"Ruka, I need you to go follow Princess Yue and protect her!"

"Who the hell is Princess Yue?!"

"The girl that was just here!"

"What about Aang?!"

"You can't move him! I've got him!"

"I can't leave you!"

"Go Ruka!"

I hesitated for a moment before I ran after the girl I saw earlier.

Once I saw her, I called after her. "Hey! Hey wait up!"

She stopped and turned around. "Who are you?"

"I'm Katara's sister, Ruka. You're Princess Yue, right?"

She nodded. "I was on my way to look for your brother."

I smiled, "Sokka? You know where Sokka is?!"

Yue nodded, grabbing my hand and continued to run. As we ran, I saw Sokka up ahead with Appa.

"Sokka!" I called. He turned and when he saw me, he smiled widely. Yue let go of my hand and let me run to Sokka.

Sokka and I embraced in a tight hug and I felt at home. I pulled away and smiled up at him.

"I'm so sorry to ruin your reunion, but Katara is in trouble!"

I gasped, forgetting about my sister. "Zuko found them and him and Katara are battling right now!"

"Why aren't you with her?!" Sokka exclaimed. "Because she told me to go with her!" I pointed to Yue.

Sokka groaned, "Of course she did! She thinks she could do anything now because she's basically mastered her magic thingy!" 

"Katara's mastered waterbending...?"

Sokka placed his hand on my shoulder, "You'll learn too. C'mon, we got to get to them!"

We hopped onto Appa and with a yip-yip, we were on our way.

>>>

When we reached the oasis, my heart raced when I saw Katara alone. Zuko and Aang were gone.

Once we landed, we all stood up and hopped off Appa. "What happened?Where's Zuko?" Sokka asked Katara.

"He took Aang. He took him right out from under me." Katara said with a frown. I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Where did they go?" Sokka said softly.

Katara sat down to her knees, "I can't believe I lost him." I sat down beside her and put my arm around her, "Don't be so hard on yourself."

"You did everything you could. And now we need to do everything we can to get him back." Sokka said as him and Yue walked to Appa. "Zuko can't have gotten far. We'll find him. Aang's gonna be fine."

I wiped the tears that formed from her eyes away before grabbing her hands and standing up.

"Okay." She replied. Once we were on Appa, I scooted away from the saddle and sat down next to Sokka whom was holding the reins.

"It's alright. You stay here Momo, incase Aang comes back." Katara told the sad lemur.

"Yip-yip!"

We flew up into the air and out of the oasis. I raised my hood as we entered a blizzard.

After awhile of flying and seeing nothing, Sokka landed Appa then hopped off. I went down with him.

Sokka looked around for a moment before turning to us - nothing. I sighed, "It's okay! We can't give up!"

Sokka and I climbed back up onto Appa, "Yip-yip!"

We continued flying and searched around. But all we saw was white.

"You weren't out for long Katara!They couldn't have gotten too far!" I said to my sister over my shoulder.

"Yeah, don't worry! Especially in this weather!" Yue agreed. "I'm not worried they'll get away in the blizzard! I'm worried that they won't !" Katara replied.

"They're not gonna die in this blizzard! If we know anything, it's that Zuko never gives up!" Sokka said with determination etched in his voice. "He's right! Zuko is way too stubborn! He'll go through anything for Aang! They'll survive! And we'll find them!" I added.

As we kept flying, I nudged Sokka. He turned to me, "What?"

"There's something I have to talk to you guys about. And you won't be happy about it." I said slowly.

Sokka furrowed his brows, "What is it?"

I shook my head, "It can wait until we find Aang. I just hope it won't be too late to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?! What are you-?"

"Look!" We turned and saw a light blue beam fly over us and land into a cave. "That's gotta be Aang! Yip- yip!"

A few moments passed until we saw Aang crawling out of the cave with Zuko following him. "It's them!" I grinned.

Once we landed, Katara and I hopped off of Aang. I ran over to Aang while Katara stood in front of Zuko in a fighting stance.

I tried my best to untie the ropes, but they were too thick and strong. "Here, let me!" Sokka said, kneeling down and cutting the ropes with his boomerang. "Hey, this is some quality rope!"

"We need to get to the oasis!" Aang said while untying the rest of the rope and running to Appa. "The spirits are in trouble!"

I looked over to Zuko lying unconscious next to me. I scooted over to him and laid his head down on my thighs.

"Ruka! Come on!" Katara called. I shook my head, "I can't leave him!"

"Sure you can! Let's go!" Sokka said.

"No, she's right. If we leave him, he'll die." Aang said, hopping off of Appa and running to Zuko and I.

"Thank you Aang." I smiled while helping him pick up Zuko.

"Yeah this makes a lot of sense! Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us!" Sokka sarcastically commented while Aang jumped up onto Appa's saddle with Zuko on his back.

Sokka helped me up onto the saddle and I crawled over to Zuko. "I've got him." I told Aang, grabbing Zuko and resting his head on me while the rest of his body laid out.

On the way back to the oasis, the dark blue sky and the blue tint it carried around us turned to a dark red.

I looked down to Zuko and his scar - it blended in with the color around us.

"Are you okay?"

I turned my head to see Yue holding her head in a painful manner while my brother put his hand on the small of her back.

"I feel faint." She replied. "I feel it too." Aang said. "The moon spirit is in trouble."

"I owe the moon spirit my life." Yue said. "What do you mean?" Sokka asked.

"When I was born, I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born as if I was asleep - my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could. They told my mother and father I was going to die. My father pleaded with the spirits to save me." Yue explained. "That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry. And they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me Yue, for the moon."

"That's incredible." I said. "I'm not trying to make you worry even more, but what do you think would happen to you if the moon spirits just... y'know?"

Sokka hit my arm, "Enough."

"Sorry." I mumbled. "No, it's alright." Yue placed her hand on Sokka's shoulder. "I don't... know... I've never thought about it."