Hey, so this is my fanfic with Zuko and a character I created, Katya. Hope it makes sense, if you like please review :D

I only own Katya and some other random characters like Muko, the forest spirit, and the other spirits, everything else belongs to the creator of the Avatar series.

Its a bit off story line, Zuko joins earlier and they have more time before Sozen's Comet, but other than that trying to keep it on story line. Hope its not too depressing, rated T in the beginning for violence/abuse.

(Katya P.O.V.)

The world around me is a dream, always a dream.

It seemed that even when I went to sleep and then became awake I would open my eyes to a dream.

This was no simple dream though, it was a nightmare, and I was helpless.

At times I could feel the very plants that grew beneath my feet calling me, begging me to wake up.

Yet the moment I heard their voices, that was the moment they would disappear and fade into my constant rolling background.

Muko ruled this nightmare, and I was the slave, always there to do his bidding and sit beneath his rage.

He favored his anger, rather than rationality. A whip was always looped at his side; even his fists seemed more menacing and stronger than most men.

Every day he would tell me he is doing me a favor, that "now no man will want to take advantage of me, my scarred skin will turn them away". It may turn everyone away, except for him. Each morning when I rise, his rancid breath still crawls across my skin. His hands feel burned into my flesh, into my memory.

I remembered a time when things were different, but it seems so long ago. I was young, my skin was flawless, my soul, my spirit was innocent.

Now when I look into the foggy depths of mirrors, I see a young woman that has aged maybe 10 years…or more, I am never sure.

The black metal collar feels tight and snug around my neck, as always, as I move about my daily routine. I barely remember a time when I didn't bare this hideous and crude collar; the sharper edges have finally dulled against my now raw skin.

Every noise seems to move around me instead of through me. The grass below my feet seems to blur into green waves as I grab the clothes from the clothesline.

"Natya, come inside NOW! You have been outside for far too long, hurry up." Muko shouted, his voice sauntering through my head as I hurried my steps to grab the rest of the laundry before rushing to him.

One crack of the whip, and I knew I had taken too long, the nice thing about this nightmare was that even my pain was dulled in the dream I seemed to live daily.

(Twenty Miles from Natya the Avatar and his group sleep soundly in the hidden cave as the small hours of the morning rush by. Next and around him lie Katara, Sokka, Toph, all old friends, and Zuko a new addition to the group.)

(Aang P.O.V.)

The black cloudy depths of my sleeping mind, which were quiet a moment ago, are now swirling around my consciousness. A figure emerges, an old friend and an old form.

"Roku! What are you doing here?" I say through my fading body visible within my mind.

"Aang, you are almost ready to face the fire lord. Zuko will be a good teacher for fire bending but you need one more member for your group. You are the bridge between spirits on earth, and this young woman, Katya, is part of the spirits on earth. She is the daughter of the spirit of the forest, a very powerful force but she has been kept a prisoner through modern techniques for 10 years now.

You need her, in order to keep the spirits on our side. Many of them are restless and seeking more human emotions such as greed, some are wishing to join the fire lord."

He said his face stoic and wise.

"I understand her importance, but how can the spirits want to join him." I said feebly, it couldn't be possible, could it?

"The spirits of the earth have been waiting for a long time for balance again, they do not want to be wiped out. Some believe the safer route is to join the opposing side. With her on our side though, half spirit and half human we can hold onto their support and gain some time. You only have a couple months before you must fight the fire lord, and we need all the support we can get."

I nodded my head in understanding. Hopefully she isn't a pain in the butt, I don't think we could handle another one.

Images were shown before my eyes, directions to where she was located. It wasn't too far from here, at least we wouldn't have to travel far, and all of us in the group were tired of traveling.

"Now you must bring the group with you, she needs to see who she can trust. You do not want to hide things from someone like here. This is a very delicate situation, and when she is released she will be angry. Her captor has held her as a slave, and created a way to dull her senses in order to hide her powers. To her it seems like a dream, but when you free her, by removing the metal collar around her neck, she will be smacked into reality quite quickly. You must all tread with understanding and caution. Her mother will be there waiting for you in the forest. You must leave soon, you cannot wait another day."

He finished grimly.

"I understand. May I ask though, why hasn't her mother been able to free her, she is a spirit after all," I asked curiously.

"It is the sole reason that she is a spirit that she cannot help. The device Muko, her captor, has created is a mystery but it also makes it so she cannot interfere at all or contact her daughter." He said simply, a slight smile crossed his face in reassurance.

I nodded and bowed. When I raised my head within my mind, he was gone.

I jolted awake, looking about me. The sun was up and climbing higher in the sky.

Moving quickly I moved about shaking each person awake.

"Wake up everyone, Roku came in my sleep, we have to go find someone who can help us. Come on come on, sleepy heads, we haven't a moment to loose." I hopped back and forth speaking loudly.

"What do you mean, who is it?" Zuko said first, waking up faster than the others his face pulled together in confusion, the act moving his scarred skin on his left eye to look jagged and strange.

"Her name is Katya, and she must join our group. I can't explain now, I will explain on the flight over. Hurry, hurry." I said smiling as I hopped about on gusts of wind grabbing things that we might need.

The rest of the group rose grudgingly, and filed in behind me as we got on Appa and rose into the air. On the way I explained everything that Roku told me. After all the questions were answered we finally landed in a remote forest, its branches seemed tangled and wild, its depths dark and full of mysteries.

We all began our trek into the woods, keeping our eyes open for the girl's mother.

"Awww you are finally here. Hurry, you must hurry if we don't I fear we will be too late." We all jumped at the silvery voice that spoke behind us.

She was beautiful, the woman seemed effervescent, her figure moved with the wind like a ghost. Her eyes seemed wild and untamed just like her deep auburn hair.

"How do we free her?" Katara asked timidly beside me. The woman's eyes looked deep into ours, one by one. I felt like she was looking into my soul as those dark depths met mine.

"There is a key, inside the house. It is in Muko's study inside his desk. I know that that is the only way to free her from it and it's affects, none of the elements affect it and she will not realize what is truly happening until she is free from it. I know that ten years of rage and emotion is waiting underneath her skin begging to be free.

The raw force and connection to nature has settled like a fire beneath her face. You must stay back but in plain sight when she is free, she will judge you but I do believe that she will trust at least one of you. That she will find something to relate to. Now we must hurry no more questions." Her voice finished, the very earth around her seemed to tremble slightly in ecstasy at the sound of her voice.

We all had confused looks on our faces, but at this point we could not afford the time.

I noticed the spirits face as we ran though, it was fixated curiously onto Zuko, and he seemed tense, unsure of how to act. Her mother didn't seem to hate him; instead she seemed to take a liking to him, following closely to him.

The end of the trees arrived all too quickly and we saw what she meant. There was a woman in the clearing by a small house.

She was chopping wood with an axe. Her back bent menacingly to each side as she swung and lifted the heavy object.

She was very pretty like her mother, but something was missing from her.

I looked to Katara in surprise as I realized that she seemed faded. The color, even in her lifeless eyes as she turned was so muted she almost blended into the background.

There was no vigor in her movements; it was as if her body was moving as a machine. She turned to us as we made our way as quietly as possible. Her eyes didn't seem to see us though, nor did she hear us as Katara called quietly to her.

"You said that she was part of the spirit world right Aang?" Zuko said, his eyes shining with an indescribable emotion as he looked at me, and I nodded.

"Her faded color and movements make sense then, like her mother she is connected to the earth, the plants. Not having a connection to her is like a plant without water…they slowly wither and die." He said in understanding as we agreed thinking of his correlation.

We moved quickly, Katara bringing cloud cover from a stream nearby and Zuko and I moving as quietly as possible into the house.

The key wasn't hard to find and Muko was asleep, no doubt years of his slave being in a dream caused his lax nature to keeping his key hidden.

Just as we moved outside he suddenly woke up, his temper rising as he looked about.

He stumbled from his chair and grabbed the twisted leather at his side, moving to the door.

Unsure of what to do Zuko and I waited in the darkness, knowing that the others were unseen behind the trees.

Suddenly we heard his screaming and raging, his suspicion changing into anger. Zuko froze beside me as we moved to the door, I understood the next time a sound came around it was the whip and the cry of Katya outside.