Zuko parked the gray Audi about a block away from his father's mansion. The bruised and beaten up car looked out of place in the well-off neighborhood of Firestorm Hills.

"Everyone out," he grunted. Toph climbed out of the front seat. She kicked off her green sandals, and everyone knew that today, she meant business. Next came Mai, out of the right side of the car, using the blade of a swiss army knife to file at her nails. Out of the left side of the car came Sokka and Suki, their hands loosely clasped, and their matching bracelets touching like two stars. All of them wore black, which was normal for Mai but not so much for the rest of them.

"Mai will stay in the car and pull up in front of the mansion once we finish," Zuko said quietly.

"Didn't you just tell me to get out of the car-" Zuko shushed her.

"I have the key to the door of the balcony of my room, but it it's on the second floor, so Toph can earthbend a staircase to get us there," he continued.

"What do I do after that," Toph grumbled.

"Join up with Mai at the car. The rest of us will get inside and look for the money."

"Where exactly is the money," Suki asked skeptically.

"In a flat, blue jewelry box with gold embroidery on it," he paused, "I don't exactly remember where I hid it, but it'll be fine."

"You don't remember where you hid it?!" Sokka started hyperventilating, "I already knew this could get us thrown in jail but this? This is a suicide mission!" His breathing returned to normal, "and one more thing."

"Yeah..." Zuko said nervously.

"Why are we doing this in the middle of the day?!"

"Keep your voice down," Zuko whispered harshly, "I overheard Azula saying that she was going to go shopping with Ty Lee today, and chances are, they're going to throw a party tonight since Dad isn't home."

"Fine," Sokka grumbled, "Let's get this over with."

~~~

Aang led Katara through the fields of the valley with a picnic basket in his hand, and a letter in the pocket of his hoodie. The early spring air was cool and humid as they made it to a small grove of trees, but there was one that towered over the rest, a huge banyan tree with thick branches that looked perfect to climb on.

"Why did you ever leave," Katara said in awe, "when you would literally have lunch in a giant tree." Aang shrugged, grinning.

"It gets old after a while. Come on. I'll show you my favorite spot." Katara put her water bottle inside the picnic basket. They climbed for a good 15 minutes until reaching a sturdy branch that was perfect to sit on. Aang set the basket down and took out some strawberries, a container of pasta salad, and two huge, chewy, bakery style chocolate cookies.

"Lunch is served."

Katara wasted no time eating the cookies, and blatantly ignoring everything else. Aang absentmindedly chewed on a strawberry while staring up into the canopy of the banyan tree.

"Have you ever gone to the top?" Katara asked.

"I think that I may have, once, with Gyatso," he replied, "It was amazing. You could see the view for miles."

"We should go right now," Katara said immediately.

"I mean, you're not an airbender, but..." he looked at her smile and knew he couldn't say no, "It should be fine." He packed everything up into the picnic basket, (except for Katara's water bottle, which she held on to) and dropped the basket to the ground, using airbending as a cushion so it wouldn't fall apart. Then Aang slowly started to finish the climb up the massive tree, with Katara behind him. It was easy for a while, since they were in the dense undergrowth of the tree, but soon it became more dangerous as the branches grew farther apart.

"I think the highest up we can get is on the edge of this branch," Aang said, pointing to it. Katara nodded, and a few minutes later they sat down, exhausted. It was true, you could see for miles.

"Aang,"

"Yeah," She sipped at her water bottle before setting it down.

"How come you've never talked about your hometown before?"

"I- I don't know," it was true, he didn't know.

"It's just, you have this whole other part of your life that you've never even told me about." Aang sighed, touched her shoulder, and she turned towards him.

"Katara, I know I've only known you for a year, but I almost feel like you're as much a part of my life as this whole place. I know that probably seems crazy, but I've said this before, and I'll say it again. You're the most amazing person I've ever met." Katara blushed and turned away from him. Aang took out the letter in his back pocket. I don't need it, he thought.

And that was when the branch snapped.

~~~

Zuko, Sokka and the rest of them (minus Mai) had managed to climb over the forbidding metal gate and were now officially trespassing on the private property of one of the most esteemed businessmen in the world. And it felt great.

"This is insane," Sokka whispered, even though there was no one there but them. The mansion wasn't as big as Toph's, but it looked a lot newer, with its modern architecture and wide windows.

"Why aren't there any guards?" Toph asked as they made their way towards Zuko's balcony.

"I bet Azula paid them off so she could have her party. Toph, it's your time to shine." Toph smirked, adjusted her stance, and earthbent a spiral staircase up to the balcony of Zuko's room.

"Showoff," Sokka muttered as he quickly ran up the staircase along with Suki and Zuko.

"I'm gonna go back to the car with Mai," Toph said, "I'm sure you guys will be able to find your way out." The staircase retreated back into the ground, and there was no going back. Zuko quickly unlocked the sliding glass door, and they went inside his room.

"Whoa," Suki said. It was like walking into a time capsule of angsty middle school Zuko. Homemade posters of edgy song lyrics hung on the wall, along with some of Mai's poetry. His bed was still unmade, and a photograph of a beautiful woman sat on the nightstand.

"Who's..."

"That's my mom," Zuko said with a sad, thoughtful smile on his face, "I guess no one ever bothered to clean up here after I left," he turned away from the photo and back to them, "There's a storage room in the basement with a ton of boxes. I either hid the money here or there."

"Basement, storage, got it," Suki said, then grabbed Sokka's hand and pulled him out of the room.

~~~

"Do you even know where we're going?!" Sokka asked as Suki frantically tried to figure out the floor plan of the mansion.

"No, but I don't want to stay here longer than I need to," Suki said, "Where Azula could walk in at any moment." Sokka could tell that there was something bothering her, but now was not the time to talk about it, when they were literally breaking the law.

"I found the stairs!" Suki shouted. Sokka followed. The basement was, for lack of a better word, epic. There was a huge movie screen with reclining seats, a game room, a sauna, a steam room, and a small, inconspicuous door at the front. Suki apprehensively pushed it open, and found boxes and boxes of junk. The room wasn't even that big, but it would take them hours to sort through it all. Sokka thought things couldn't get any worse when he heard the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway, and a few seconds later, the sound of the front door being open.

Azula, he mouthed to Suki, although she probably couldn't see him in the dark of the storage room.

Don't come down here, don't come down here. But soon enough, the muffled voices from above became louder and clearer, and two pairs of footsteps made their way down the basement stairs. One was poised and purposeful, and the other was animated and enlivened. Sokka muttered a string of profanities before Suki pulled him into the dark recesses of the storage room, closing the door behind her.

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