5 Chapter 5

He was like a demon on the ship, cutting down each soldier as they neared him. Despite their armor, he was able to target the weak areas in it to kill them. What else could be expected from someone who had worn the same armor for so long.

Aroh ducked, dodging a blast of fire that came from behind him. He swung his sword backwards, cutting off the limb of his current attacker, following it up with a backwards thrust to the chest.

Pulling his bloody sword out, he kicked the corpse to the side, momentarily shielding him from the torrent of flames that threatened to burn him.

A quick flick of his wrist sent a kunai flying into the small gap in a firebender's armor and into his shoulder. Non benders were provided with numerous kinds of weaponry so acquiring kunai were easy.

"Aaahhhh-!" His scream was cut short as a kick from Aroh sent his head spinning unnaturally. Behind all of this, Katara tried to focus on her other task as the ship beside them had already taken note of what was happening and was closing in.

One of the soldiers managed to escape Aroh's gaze, wanting to kill her while Aroh was distracted. As his arm extended to blast her with fire, it suddenly shifted to the side, shooting a blast of fire out of the ship to the man's shock.

Looking closer, a near invisible wire could be seen wrapped around his arm. His eyes widened as he was pulled off his feet and back into the flurry of the fight by his arm. He was unable to control his trajectory as a sword found itself rooted into his neck.

"Hurry up. They'll soon be on us." Aroh urged her, disappearing in a blur as torrents of fire crashed into his previous position.

Despite wanting to help him out, she could see that she would only slow him down even more than she already was. Not to think of the fact that she had a job she was supposed to be doing.

She looked towards the incoming ships with a determined look as she furrowed her eyes in concentration. She could feel the water around them but getting it to do what she wanted to do was an entirely different thing.

Looking at Aroh's blurry figure moving around the ship and tearing down the firebenders that tried to kill them, she couldn't possibly let him down.

"Breathe…" She muttered under his breath, getting herself under control as she stretched out her arms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dodging a slow punch, he got behind the owner of the fist, gripping his head and spinning it violently, killing him.

Looking around himself, he found the floor littered with numerous corpses of his former attackers.

Feeling the ship rumble and tilt to the side a bit, aa large shadow was cast over him and the entire ship. Turning to the side, he was pleasantly surprised to see a large wall of water rising high in the air from the sea before slamming down into the incoming ships.

As it came crashing down, he just barely saw Zhao's scared face before the now raging current pushed them far apart and damaging part of it.

"Would you believe that?" He muttered rhetorically under his breath as he saw Katara let her hands fall weakly, decently drained from such a powerful move.

It only took a quick dash for him to get behind her, catching her before she slumped to the ground.

"You did it." He praised, causing her to smile weakly before falling unconscious in his arms, her smile not leaving her face.

Not wasting any time, he took her to the cabin area, setting her down on one of the bed before leaving. Returning to the deck, he was met with the sight of the bloody floors littered with torn up bodies.

'Though it doesn't bother me, it isn't something I would like to put up with.' He thought with a sigh as he got to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Waking up, she groaned tiredly. She felt more tired than she had ever felt in her life. Katara looked around groggily her mind not fully piecing together what was happening.

Seeing the fire nation insignia on the wall, she let out a gasp in shock before bolting out of the cabin. She reached the deck only to see no fire benders there and the ship sailing peacefully with the current.

"What's happening?" She asked herself, seemingly under a lot of mental pressure before a smooth voice cut through her scarlet Theres thoughts.

"Is something wrong?" The voice said from behind her, causing her to spin around in shock. Her look of shock turned to surprise as she saw the familiar face of Aroh as he stood in front of the wheel.

Wait…face?

It was then it hit her. The rush of memories about what happened before she passed out, along with the fact that Aroh was no longer wearing a fire nation uniform, now wearing a loose white shirt and black pants.

Realizing that she was staring too much, she quickly turned away as he raised a brow at her strange actions.

"I-I'm fine!" She stuttered out before composing herself. Aroh looked away shortly after, now staring out into the sea in silence.

The silence was slowly becoming awkward as Aroh's attention left her while hers was still on him.

"So…we're free?" Katara said, still in wonder as she walked to the wheel, taking a stand near him as she looked around.

"What do we do now?" She asked as Aroh turned to her, knowing exactly what she was referring to.

They had planned to get closer to Fire nation border before making their escape and sneaking in but they had done it earlier. Despite it being only a few hours difference, Aroh was cautious.

Nothing was stopping Zhao from sending a messenger hawk to warn the soldiers at the border about their arrival, giving away their element of surprise.

"We change course. We'll circle around widely, wide enough that Zhao and his goons don't see us coming. After that, we'll make our way into the earth kingdom from there." He answers after some thought.

"And then what?" She questioned only for him to shrug lightly.

"We'll figure it out when we see the situation there." He replied before letting out a low sigh, walking down the steering area and towards the cabin.

"Get some rest while you can. We have no engineers to make this ship go faster so we'll have to rely on your waterbending to get us there quickly." He advised her as he continued walking.

It was only then it dawned on her the implications of what they did. They had killed numerous people. They were bad people but they were people nonetheless. Even though she didn't directly kill any of them, she was certainly involved.

She then looked around the deck in marvel and wonder. Had she not been present, she wouldn't have believed that people had fought and died on this same deck.

'At least he's clean. Sokka would probably just leave it for someone else to clean his mess up.' She thought as she remembered once again that she had been separated from not only Aang but her brother, Sokka as well.

The realization dampened her mood as tears pricked at her eyes. She missed Sokka. She missed Aang. Though she knew he didn't mean it, he was the reason she was where she was at the moment.

They had just barely made it to the fire temple in time for the solstice. When Roku had taken over Aang, he had dealt with Zhao and Zuko's men while freeing her and her brother. It was then the disaster happened. There wasn't enough time for Roku to round up his actions, the light of solstice leaving the statue as Aang was returned control of his body.

During that time, Zhao made his move and snatched her away in the midst of the chaos. Of course Aang and Sokka tried to follow but the large battalion on war ships that surrounded Zhao's own sent them flying away.

She didn't blame them. There was nothing they could have done to prevent it. If blame must be thrown, she'd rather throw it to Roku himself.

She let out a sigh as she took one last look at the vast sea before walking back towards the cabin area she had awoken in.

Upon entering, she was greeted to the sight of a shirtless Aroh fast asleep on one of the beds. His pale and smooth skin would cause her to believe that he had never seen a fight in his life had she not witnessed him fighting.

'He looks so peaceful.' She noted before realizing that she was staring too much, shaking her head of any thoughts as a hint of red stained her cheeks.

'What am I doing?' She asked herself as she took the bed opposite his own, staring at the wall until she fell asleep.