*Zuko's POV*

"Wake up." Something was prodding into my side. "C'mon, get up."

Groaning, I rolled over on the hard ground. Why wasn't there sand underneath me? The sand had been much more comfortable...

Something nudged into my side again more persistently, and I snapped back to my senses, my eyes opening wide. I could see a hard rock floor, and someone's sandals. Sitting up, I saw there was a male guard standing above me, and it looked like I was in a dungeon!

"What's going on?! Where am I? Tell me now!" I could feel anger boiling up inside me, and I could've sworn the guy started shaking in his boots as I stood up. Good. Fear is a very effective way to control people

"I-I, uh, y-you-" the guy stammered, too scared to speak. I sighed. Was I that scary?

"Okay, take deep breaths. Calm down. There you go," I awkwardly said, and the man was much calmer after a few more minutes. "Now you can speak."

"I need to take you to the regent and the girl. Everything will be explained there."

"The girl?!" I shouted again, making the guy go paler. "What have you people done to Elizabeth?!"

"W-we haven't done anything now p-please just come with me!" And the guy was back to stammering. I sighed again, just nodding and following him out of the cell. If I so much as spoke again, I was pretty sure the man would wet his pants. Wimp.

We went through a dank, dim hallway that made it obvious that we were in the dungeon part of wherever we were. I could hear the pitter-patter and squeaks of mice, and there was screaming in the distance. Not like someone just shouting, but a blood curtling scream filled with pain and terror. Were there torture chambers down here? Or do people just go completely mad here as they rot?

You're doing great at thinking positive, I told myself sarcastically. Why am I talking to myself like this? It must be this place. I'm already going crazy and I just saw the inside of a cell and walked through a hall.

After a walking for a little further, we reached a rusty, metal spiral staircase. I had been keeping my eyes trained on the ground and trying to keep my mind clear so my mind wouldn't go into overdrive and then I would explode at everything. Although it wasn't working very well, it was worth a try.

I could see light leaking from the top of the staircase, leading into the outside world. Wherever that was.

I continued being silent as we ascended the stairs and walked through a hallway. I wasn't observing my surroundings a whole lot, which probably wasn't a good thing.

We finally passed through a tall doorway, and the scene ahead of me looked quite strange. There were two ladies standing up a few feet from each other- one of them I saw was Elizabeth. The other was a woman who I could see had experience with royalty. After being a Prince, even if I was barely in the palace and banished, made it easy to tell if someone was also royal. Maybe it was just the way a person held themselves.  Anyway, the two figures in front of me were staring intently at each other, and Elizabeth looked especially strained.

After a few moments of me standing there awkwardly and silence hanging thick in the air, Elizabeth exhaled loudly, tiredly flopping down on a nearby chair. The other woman watched Elizabeth, and then turned to me.

"Well, hello. It's nice to see you up and about. How was your stay? Have our facilities been satisfying?" She had a knowing smirk on her face and I scowled.

"No. Not satisfying at all. I may have to put in a few complaints." I scoffed, rolling my eyes.

The woman gave out a light, soft laugh. "Your face was priceless! Anyway, Zuko, my name is Abitha, and I am the regent of this city. We are on a Lion Turtle in space, and two more of them are joining us for an important meeting." 

I nodded slowly, my eyes landing on Elizabeth. She was sitting in the throne-like chair, catching her breath. "What happened?" I asked, my eyes darting to the regent woman. 

"Elizabeth is an Omnibender. She can bend everything, all the elements and even the ones that the siblings you're fighting against have. She's our leader, our Queen. She needs to train her skills, though. She is tired out because I had her practice Mindbending for the first time. She'll be fine in a few minutes." Abitha went to the table and poured a silver cup with water, bending down in front of Elizabeth and handing it to her, letting her drink some before taking it back.

"I'll take care of her." I spoke, narrowing my eyes at Abitha and stepping forward to Elizabeth. How could I know if this woman was telling the truth? "Is there a room I could take her to?" the woman nodded, motioning for a servant to come over. I gently lifted Elizabeth up and followed a girl away from the garden and into the halls. 

The whole place was so bright and shining- much too bright for my liking. How could these people live here without going crazy? I would sure go crazy. If only the coloring had some darker tones and not just bright, metallic silver. 

The servant in front of me come to a stop in front of a doorway. "They are waiting for you two." she bowed, then walked away. They? Who is she talking about?

My question was answered as a familiar voice spoke out. "Zuko, come in the room! Seriously." Stepping into the room, I was met with Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph, who was the one that spoke. The room had a bunch of beds, which the gaang was all lounging around on(well, besides Toph, who was on the floor). 

"Whoa, how did you guys get here?" I asked, taking Elizabeth to an empty bed and placing her there. She seemed to be asleep, her breathing even.

"Well, shortly after you guys fell down through the floor- or up, rather- we split up to search for you. But each of us can only remember blacking out and waking up here, where they fed us and a woman named Abitha explained what was going on and where exactly we were." Aang replied.

Katara spoke up. "And then we were told to wait for you two to come alone. We weren't told much else after that." 

"It was so booorrrriiinnngg..." Toph groaned, taking a finger out of her nose and flicking a booger towards Sokka, who dodged and fell off the bed.

"No, Toph, you were so bored that you decided to bury me in the ground with only my head sticking up! Like the time with the saber-tooth moose lion!" Sokka jumped up, making dramatic arm motions and pointing an accusatory finger at Toph, who only smirked with a slight blush on her cheeks. 

Katara sighed. "Yeah, and then Sokka wouldn't stop talking until we wrapped some cloth around his mouth!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Why couldn't Aang just get Sokka out?" 

"Oh, Aang with in deep conversation with the Regent Abitha." Toph said the regent's name in a sarcastically proper voice, then added, "Some Avatar stuff." 

"But who's more powerful now? Ommybender Liz or Avatar Aang?" Sokka jumped on his bed, raising an arm in the air. We all just stared at him in awkward silence.

"Om-ni-bender." an amused voice came from behind me. Everyone's heads turned to look at Elizabeth, who was now sitting up. How long had she been awake for?

She looked at me. "Long enough to see a booger fly across the room." My eyes widened, and everyone else had confused expressions. 

"I didn't say that question aloud, Elizabeth... Did you just read my mind?" She nodded slowly.

"What question?" Aang asked, looking between Elizabeth and I.

"Oh, I had wondered how long she had been awake for, and so she answered it." I replied. 

"My Mindbending abilities were activated earlier with Abitha. Sorry, though. I didn't mean to read your mind. It was like I looked at you for a few seconds and I heard your thoughts." Elizabeth looked down at the bed, embarrassed.

A new voice spoke up from the doorway, catching all of our attentions. "She cannot control her Mindbending just yet," There was a young man, looking to be in his twenties, leaning against the doorway. "My name is Boaz. I'm here to train Elizabeth in her Mindbending abilities, but I shall need some assistance in training her air, water, earth, and fire." The man looked between all of us, his eyes eventually landing on Elizabeth. 

"Okay..." She replied, swinging her legs over the bed. The man walked over to her, standing above her and placing a hand on her shoulder. I scowled at his proximity. 

"But not right now. We will start training tomorrow. So all of you can rest, relax, explore the place if you would like. After today, we'll be quite busy with training until we arrive at the meeting with the other Lion Turtles in two weeks." Boaz took his hand off her shoulder and patted her on the head, then strolled out of the room like he didn't have a care in the world. 

As I watched the man leave, I was sure that my face was red from anger at how close he got to her. Was he allowed to do that?

I was pulled out of my furious thoughts by Elizabeth's warm hand being placed on top of mine. She gave me a smile, and I half-smiled back. 

"Okay, lovebirds, what should we all do now? Do you want us to let you two be alone?" Sokka spoke loudly, crossing his arms and smirking. Aang and Toph giggled while Katara just rolled her eyes. I responded by sheepishly shaking my head.

Even if most of these people annoyed the crap out of me sometimes, I still felt a bit better being with all of them again. Especially being with Elizabeth.

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Heyy! I finally uploaded this! I think it's longer than most of my chapters, so that's good. I'm so sorry for not updating for months. So many things have happened lately... 

But yeah. I've been in a writing mood for the past two weeks because of Camp NaNoWriMo, and I was in the mood to update this story! I had to reread some of my previous chapters to get back on track!

I might even rewatch the Avatar show so I can refresh my memory on the gaang's personalities. Yeah.

Anyway, I hope ya'll enjoyed! Comment and tell me how it was! 

~Natalie