The Midnight Woods

Chapter 1: The Fall from Grace

The night air clung intimately to Zuko's arms and legs threading it's furtive claws through the openings of his clothes. However, despite the cold, turrets of warm sweat raced their way down the corded muscles of his limbs settling into the crevices of his skin. But he ignored the sticky sensation on his flesh, he had trained years in order to ignore most small annoyances including this very minor inconvenience. Clods of gray mud gilded his armor in the dreary glow that filtered through the blanket of clouds that morning and as the first true beam of golden light settled on the vast landscape before him, the final rebel died under his sword. He sheathed it elegantly, his movements orchestrated to mimic a dancers poise even in the hideousness of war.

"Sir, we've got every last one of the resistance. No one was able to keep a prisoner but we were fortunate enough that one of them spoke. The avatar isn't far, they're traveling on foot."

"Good work." Was all Zuko said as his captain bowed and waited further orders. The prince scanned the colorless scenery blanched and scarred with the marks of warfare. "What direction are we headed?" He asked impassively, finally allowing himself the pleasure of wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Due North, about a mile. The flying bison is injured, our troops will be able to reach them within 10 minutes if we go at quick and steady pace on the horses."

"Then lets go." Zuko gruffly ordered pulling himself on top of his black steed and urging it into a gallop. The soil ripped frantically under the hammering of the animals hoofs, clapping against the mud vociferously in a rhythmic melody of urgency.

Zuko had almost smiled then, he had always been close to capturing Aang but the boy had always slipped through his fingers. How old was he now, the prince wondered bounding over the fallen bodies that riddled the ground before him. 14 or 15? How long had he been searching for him?

Too long… Simply too long.

All the killing, the sacrifices, the pain of knowing he would never get to go home unless he would be able to take the avatar with him hung heavy on his shoulders. He was a battle hardened man now, no longer the teenager trying to fit into the weighty armor, no longer the child chided for his mistakes, no longer the troubled outcast trying to find a home. He fit into his armor like a glove with the addition of fuller shoulders, he learned from his mistakes and calculated situations so he wouldn't have to make them, and as for being an outcast… He was a nomad now, and that meant that no matter where he went he carried home and home was just inside his heart.

His heart of stone.

Well… A mother dead and a authoritarian father figure would do that. Maybe even being cast out of his homeland would further turn him into the monster he was now. But in all honesty it wasn't any of that because he learned to let go of those familiar loves a long time ago. No… It wasn't a dead mother or an lost home.

It was his future.

He knew what the end was going to be like, his fate after fulfilling his goal. He would be the king of a nation forged in blood and death and hate. He wasn't blind like his father was and knew of the repercussions that followed after war. His father would be feared and that would be why people obeyed.

But he would never be loved by his nation.

And Zuko knew that he would never be loved by his subjects either. He would be feared and he would die a miserable death all alone because he would never have the guts to oppose his father. So he took the easy route and accepted it as a part of him.

He became the monster.

"Shit, hurry!" Sokka whispered hoarsely. They had been cornered by the fire nation again and this time they narrowly escaped with their lives. "Katara, pick it up!"

"I'm trying." She said hurriedly leaping to a tree and grabbing a branch. She launched her body through the air in a panic and landed heavily on her feet before breaking into a run. Sokka, Appa and Aang were ahead of her darting through the sparse forest hoping they would be able to keep their luck up and escape Zuko's hands once again. However, as minutes rolled by they lost energy and to their horror the echoes of men and horses reached their ears and they knew the army was closing in.

"What are we going to do?" Katara yelled leaping over a fallen trunk. A stray branch lashed at her cheek as she leapt by, causing a strand of blood to form horizontally below her eye. Before anyone could answer they were cut short as a shower of arrows rained down over them. Appa's thick fur and skin prevented him from any harm but Momo, Katara, Aang and her brother were left to their own defenses.

"Take cover!" Aang yelled pulsing with anger as he sent a powerful wind ahead to throw off the arrows. Most were deflected but a grunt and a painful yelp from Katara signaled an injury.

"My arm…" She breathed as the blue fabric of her shirt quickly turned into a vibrant shade of red. The arrow narrowly skimmed her arm but the gash wasn't deep enough to be lethal.

"Katara!" Aang yelled running up to his friend as the army surrounded them. The water bender looked to her friend in a haze of pain. "Get on Appa! We have to at least get out of range of the arrows!"

"But they'll see us!" She cried through gritted teeth. Tears stung her glacier blue eyes and as much as Aang hated to admit it, she was right. But they had no other choice, it was either wait for the men to find them or do it now while they still had some distance between them.

"We don't have a better plan, come on!" The Avatar said before turning to Sokka. Katara's brother flinched upon seeing the bloodied arm of his sister but jumped on the bison's back as his friend ordered. The air bender jumped on himself, grabbed Katara's good arm and used his strength to lift her up. Both turned as the zip of an arrow drew their attention. There, mere feet away, the prince replaced his bow and whipped out his sword for battle.

"GO APPA! NOW!" Sokka cried. The bison took a few running steps and took off. "Hold on Katara!" Sokka yelled watching in uselessness as his sister dangled on the side of the great animal.

"I don't think so Avatar!" Zuko yelled leaping off his horse and grabbing the girls bad arm. Katara felt the spears of white hot pain shoot glaringly through her body and a tortured scream escaped her lips as the prince hung above the ground on her injured arm.

"Let go!" She screamed intermittently, her eyes blistering with hot tears. She swung her arm in an attempted to release him but only succeeded in doubling the already excruciating pain. Aang was afraid to do anything to Zuko in fear that he would lose his grip on his friend or end up hurting her, Zuko's army withheld fire for the same reason. They tried to follow as best they could but soon they hit the beginning of the thick forest, a forest they dare not tread in.

"He's going over Midnight." The captain said fearfully as he lost sight of his commander. The troops watched as their leader flew over the scared forest.

Katara felt the Prince use her arm as makeshift rope climbing up and squeezing into her wound. Her sobs were violent and she tried to hold on so very hard but she heard the sword unsheathe and knew that it was not a good sign.

It was a split second decision, a decision she hoped would end up being the right one.

"I'm sorry." She said before pulling her arm out of Aang's grasp and falling hundreds of feet to the forest below.

"NO!" Zuko yelled letting go of the girl and watching as the earth approached. The last thing the prince and the water bender heard before being enveloped by the forest was Sokka screaming his sisters name.

AN- Whew… I wanted to get that out today… Just to let you guys know, I'm definitely not TOTALLY following the series. I barely get to watch episodes but I thought that this wouldn't be totally reliant on them so… yeah.

If you happen to like art work I drew a picture of Zuko and Katara at their ages in the story (19, 17 turning 18) in my style so check it out.

http/img. And R & R!