Author's Note:
This story is set during the SCPt4:AA episode after Zuko and Katara fight Azula with little snippets of other episodes and events I made up. This is my take on one possible ending for Zuko and Katara. I'm not sure about how IC the two are, that's something you readers will have to notify me about (please?). Also, first time writing a kiss, let's see how that works out!
Inspiration: I would suggest listening to Hero by Enrique Iglesias while reading this story.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but the idea. Story portrait belongs to YoriNarpati from DeviantArt.
And as always, reviews are appreciated!
You Can Take My Breath Away
"But I am ready to forgive you."
He smiled over her shoulder, hugging her back.
o
"Jerk."
"Peasant."
They both smiled and continued sparring.
o
"What happened to your mother?"
"She disappeared one day."
"I'm sorry."
"For years, I thought that she just didn't love m- us anymore, so she left. And then I thought something horrible had happened and she died, but no one would tell me what happened.. Well, that's what Ozai said. And when I confronted him on the day of Black Sun, he said that she was banished. Like me."
"Another thing we have in common."
"What?"
"We both lost our mothers because of the Fire Lord."
He smiled, a sad little smile, and glanced at her from the corner of his good eye.
o
"Take it."
"No, you take it."
"You need to eat, just.. just take it, okay?"
"I don't need it, okay? I can take care of myself. I'm fine."
"Can you? You're not fine. You go days sometimes, without food, just so everyone else can eat. You're so busy taking care of everyone else and no one takes care of-... you forget about yourself."
"I d-don't.."
"Katara."
"Fine."
She smiles at his retreating back, a warm feeling coursing through her.
o
"Some play, huh?"
"Oh, y-yeah.."
"I wonder where they got their information from? How did they even know abou-"
"Their information was all wrong! I do not tearbend and go on about hope all the time. Sokka, sure, they got him right. And Toph too. And Suki, was she even in the play? And Aang, okay maybe not him... A-and you! Did you see their bit about Ba Sing Sae?"
"I saw it Katara, I was sitting nex-"
"That didn't happen! Nothing happened! No one knows what happened! Did you tell anyone what actually happened?"
"No, I didn't. Relax Kata-"
"Nothing happened."
"No, nothing happened."
She smiled at him then looked away quickly, hoping to hide the confused feelings she knew were so obvious.
o
"I think I've lost my mind."
"What do you mean?"
"I-I mean, a war is going on. That's all I should be thinking about right? Teaching Aang, defeating my father, taking my country back. But I can't help.. never mind."
"Who can't you help think about?"
"I said never mi- wait.. How did you know it was a who and not a what?"
"You just told me."
"Stop laughing. It's not funny."
"I'm sorry. So.. who?"
"It's like the sunset. Even with the war and people dying and all the destruction, nature still finds time to have a beautiful sunset every evening. A-and.. I've just now noticed how beautiful the sunset really is. It takes my breath away sometimes."
"I know exactly what you mean."
"So if nature has time to indulge in beauty, then maybe I should make time too."
"Maybe you should. In fact, you definitely should."
They both hid their growing smiles and darkening blushes in the dimming light of the sunset, and his arm, from shoulder to hand, lightly brushed against hers as he shifted closer.
o
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend!"
Yet.
They both smiled on the inside, hoping their indignant expressions hid their blushes.
o
"Are you okay?"
"No, I'm not okay. My uncle hates me, I know it. He loved me and supported me in every way he could and I still turned against him. How can I even face him?"
"Zuko, you're sorry for what you did, right?"
"More sorry than I've been about anything in my entire life."
"Then he'll forgive you. He will. I did."
He smiled at her, a small quirk of the lips, and some of the worry dissipated.
o
"Katara, how would you like to help me put Azula in her place?"
"It would be my pleasure."
They both smiled at each other across the fire, momentarily forgetting about the war around them.
o
"Zuko, don't worry, we can take Azula."
"I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the guts to take out my Father? What if he loses? What if you.."
"Aang won't lose. He's gonna come back. He has to. And we're gonna win too. We're gonna fight your sister and win and the war will be over and we can finally-... we're gonna win."
She smiled and reached over to take his hand, shifting closer when she felt him squeeze back.
~o~
"Zuko!"
Katara ran through the rubble and flames that scattered the courtyard, ignoring the snarls and screams of the shackled Fire Princess behind her. Zuko lay on the other side, sprawled on his back and barely moving. Skidding on her knees to his side, she looked at the wound on his chest. The adrenalin that had pumped through her during her fight with Azula was suddenly frozen. Her hand rose to her mouth on it's own, covering it to stifle the distressed sound that came from it. She shook her head, trying to clear away the panic and fear and pushed the burnt edges of his shirt aside. She had to help him, heal him. She wouldn't let him die.
"Oh La, Zuko.. you have to wake up.. It's fine, I can heal you. It's not that bad anyway, just a burn. You've had burns and survived, right? You can survive this, too.. You have to." Her words came out in a jumble: desperate, clinging to hope, fearful, hurried. "You can't die, not now, not after everything.."
With shaky hands, she pushed her tangled hair behind her ears and reached for the flask at her side, gloving her hands with water with a practiced ease. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate, and pressed the water, now glowing blue, to his chest.
A small charge jumped between her hands and his body. She could feel the lightening lancing through Zuko's body, jumping from organ to organ. He hadn't managed to deflect all of it. Gritting her teeth, Katara pressed harder, willing the water to work and to heal. She had to save him. He had saved her so now she had to save him. He was Zuko, he just had to be fine.
She glanced at his face, her hands still working. Except for the pale skin and dry lips, he could have been sleeping; his messy hair lay haphazardly over his face and no expression was visible, he seemed peaceful. Too peaceful. She extended a shaking hand towards him, healing now forgotten, and lightly brushed the hair back. "Zuko, please."
His eyes slowly opened.
Another sound escaped her mouth, this time one of strangled disbelief and relief. His eyes couldn't focus on her for long and their golden hue seemed hazy as well. Every so often, he would shift slightly and wince in pain; she could see the muscles in his jaw clenching with the effort to not cry out.
"Zuko! Are you okay? Does it hurt? Of course it hurts.." She continued to mutter, more to herself, as her hands absently straightened his torn tunic. Reaching for her flask, she began to bend some more water out, only stopping when a hand touched hers: large, calloused, cold.
"Katara." His voice was croaky and faint and just above a whisper but it was okay because he was awake and saying her name and that meant he would be fine. She slowly lifted her gaze from his hand covering hers and met his eyes, instantly deciding she didn't like what she saw there.
"Zuko?" she asked again. "What's wrong?"
He simply shook his head and a small smile twitched at his lips. "Noth.. nothing," he croaked.
"Why did you do it?" Her question blurted out of her mouth before she could even consider it, and suddenly, an anger coursed through her, causing her voice to rise in volume and a frown to form. "Why did you have to be a hero? Why did you risk your life like that? You could have died!"
"I know Kat-"
"No! You don't know. Who would be Firelord? What about Aang, and the others? What about your uncle? And me? How could you be okay with leaving all of us behind?" Her voice was starting to waver and her throat was beginning to close up.
Her eyes drifted to his chest once more. The skin was red, even black in some places, and blood was pricking out of numerous cuts on his torso. She reached for her flask again.
"Katara, no."
She held up a hand gloved in water, prepared to resume her healing once more, when his hand closed around her wrist this time. The water left her hand and dripped onto him.
"What- what are you doing? You're still bleeding, I can-"
"You can't do anything more, Katara. I'm hurt too much on the ins-"
His words froze her. She stopped listening. He didn't want to be healed. No, he didn't think she could do it. Maybe she couldn't? But that didn't mean she couldn't try. She was a good healer. She had healed Aang after he had been killed and here lay Zuko, not even dead yet and already given up. If only she had more spirit water, Zuko would be sitting up and grumbling about another scar right now.
"Katara." His voice saying her name pulled her from her thoughts and though he spoke hoarsely, there was a strained strength there. "Listen to me. I have to tell you something." His eyes were half closed and tired but when he looked at her, it was with something she had never seen before. Katara frowned; normal Zuko wouldn't look like that, okay Zuko would've commented sarcastically five times by now, alright Zuko wouldn't be looking at her as if he would never see her again.
"Do you remember when I was talking about sunsets? How nature-" He coughed suddenly, cleared his throat then continued. "How nature takes time to enjoy a sunset?"
Katara saw him swallow heavily and his golden gaze seemed to freeze her in place and heat her up all at the same time. She nodded.
"You were my sunset. I was the world being destroyed by war and.. and you were my beautiful sunset. I wanted to tell you then, but I couldn't, so I decided to be clever and somehow sunsets and nature-" He coughed again. His words were becoming rushed and desperate and full of a want that Katara was sure she matched. "I wanted to make time, I should have made time. Time's up now. Im sorry, Kata-"
"Shut up." Katara's interruption was whispered, but grew in volume when she repeated it. "Shut up, Zuko. I knew. I knew then. I should have said something.. but I didn't... Time is not up."
With a strangled sob, she leaned closer and soon, her lips were pressed against his in an urgent kiss. A tremble ran through her and she was sure she could hear the spirits laughing at her. Why was it that the most amazing kiss of her life so far had to happen like this?
His lips were cold, or maybe her's were too warm and she could taste ash and fire and even the metallic tang of blood. Squeezing her eyes shut, she forgot about everything and pressed closer still. Her fingers dug into the skin of his neck and unscarred cheek and in her fervor, she didn't notice how cold he felt everywhere else. One of his hands reached up to bury into her hair while the other wound around her waist and she could feel him lifting up to meet her. His lips slanted against hers, deepening the kiss, when a sudden grunt of pain made them separate.
Breathing heavily, she rested her forehead on his and stared at Zuko. His eyes were closed, his breathing was laboured and his cheeks were wet; she didn't know whose tears they were because her cheeks were wet too.
"Stay with me?"
"Yes." Her voice broke.
"Till the end?"
"Yes." His words didn't register with her but her response was automatic.
This couldn't be happening. Not to her, not to him. What about the others? If Zuko was like this, then how was Aang, and her brother? Toph, Suki? Her mind was screaming and it was all she could do to stop the harrowing sound from escaping her mouth. Why was this happening?
She clutched his robe and held him close, with her face buried against his cold neck. Weren't Firebenders warmer than this? He was lightly stroking her hair and would occasionally get his fingers caught in some tangles, but Katara didn't care. He could keep doing it, messing up her hair like that, if it meant he was moving, breathing, living. It wasn't fair.
"Katara?"
She felt his throat move against her cheek and her whispered name was almost lost in her hair. Katara was so lost in her thoughts that she couldn't help but voice them before they died in her mind, before he died.
"This isn't fair Zuko. I wanted.. I thought we could.." The words died in her throat instead, and she clenched her eyes shut, her hand clenching simultaneously around the fabric of his shirt.
"I know. Katara.."
His voice was so quiet. She had never heard it this quiet before. He had said her name differently, not like a question like the first time, but like a statement. Her name sounded so different coming from him, compared to when the others said it. She liked it, she wanted to hear it over and over and over again.
"What is it?"
She felt his hand slowly slip off her head. Lifting her head from the crook of his neck, she blinked wearily.
"Zuko?"
His eyes were closed and the hand that had been stroking her hair was lying limply at his side. Even the arm looped around her waist was no longer tight in its hold.
Katara gave him a forceful shake, hoping to wake him up again.
"Zuko," she said, a tinge of hysteria lacing her voice. "Zuko, wake up!"
She sat up quickly and his arm fell away easily. Automatically, her hand went to his neck and two fingers searched for the pulse she feared wasn't there anymore.
"No.." She shook her head, slowly at first and then more quickly, and the softly uttered word was repeated, gaining in volume each time.
"No! Zuko, stop playing around.. wake up.. just open your- open your eyes!"
Katara's vision began to blur, and then the tears started, and soon she was sobbing, clutching his shirt desperately in both hands. She shook him every so often, hoping the jolt would be enough to bring him back to her, but a quiet, sad voice in the back of her mind spoke a horrible, horrible truth.
He was gone.
She didn't know how long she sat there, staring at and holding the boy lying before her. Her sobs had quietened and there was no screaming in the background anymore; it had stopped some time ago. Katara absently hoped Azula was dead as well. Katara slowly pulled Zuko's head onto her lap and stroked his hair, like he had done to her. His hair wasn't tangled and she could feel the sweat from his fight cooling at his brow. Her fingers then traced his features: over his eyebrows, down his nose, around his lips, up his jaw, to his scar where they stayed. Her tears dripped onto his face and then slid down his cheeks and it looked like he was crying with her.
He had saved her, and she couldn't save him.
And now, the sun had set, and Zuko was dead.