I don't own ATLA, just this crappy laptop. .
"Zuko . . . Please . . . I . . . I love you."
And she was still. Zuko shut her eyelids over her once sparkling blue eyes, never to open again. The Fire Lord sunk back on his heels. He couldn't believe this. This couldn't be happening. Not to him. Not after everything that had happened.
The sounds of battle still raged around him, yet he heard none of it. Her last words still rung in his ears. The last words that would ever be uttered from her full lips. He was brought back from his shock by the sound of a sword being unsheathed.
Zuko spun around and took in what he saw. Jet stood smirking, his sword drawn.
"YOU. You did this to her! You . . . You did this to me!" The firebender screamed at the rebel.
"So what if I did? You both deserved it. She was a traitor to everything she believed in. And you're the leader of this nation, this nation that has caused so much destruction in the world."
With what sounded like a roar, the Fire Lord's arms incased themselves in flames, licking at his torn robes. A jet of flame poured from his mouth, purely white. The fire was blinding to look upon, and Zuko used this to his full advantage. The young man turned his wrath on Jet. His eyes seemed to hold the white fire that was now clothing the Son of Agni's arm and legs.
Zuko's heart was ripping in two, and he knew only one way to pour out the emotions that were washing over him. He would have time to mourn later, but now? Now he wanted revenge. He wanted Jet to feel what Katara felt. Nothing.
The former Crown Prince took a deep breath, seeming to collect himself. The heat of the flames grew more intense. He brought his right arm up, reaching to the sky. Using the form he had seen Azula and his father use more than once. He separated the energies and held lightening in his hands. In the blink of an eye the lightening was gone, shot into Jet's chest.
The young freedom fighter flew away from the impact. Hitting the ground, the friction stopped his electrocuted body after it rolled a few times. He lay there, dead, his arms and legs still twitching and jerking with the electricity that still flowed through his now lifeless body.
But Zuko wasn't finished yet. Letting out another roar, his white fire stretched across the battle field. Zuko's white flame was precise and deadly. Incinerating anything and anyone on contact. The field lay in deadly silence. The ground soaked with the blood of many men.
The firenation soldiers stood in awe of their Lord. The arms and legs of his royal robes singed off, his arms bloodied and bruised. But Zuko paid no heed to any of it. He turned his back on them all, and gathered his wife's battered body into his strong arms. Her blood spilling over, dripping from her delicate hand onto the wet cold ground.
The Fire Lord fell to his knees, tears falling fast from his amber eyes.
"NOOOOOOO!" His voice carried loud and far, it was said you could hear his anguished cry miles away.
Everything was lost to him. His father, his mother, his sister, his uncle, and now Katara. He had nothing left. The spirits had to take it all. They had no mercy on him. They just kept taking and taking, until he was left with nothing but himself.
Sokka, Toph, Suki, Aang, Teo, Haru, everyone, was there for Katara's funeral. Zuko didn't care. He wouldn't speak to any of them. They tried to get through to him, but none of them could, but he wasn't as numb as they thought. He had the presence of mind to order that Katara had a traditional water tribe funeral. Just as she would have wanted.
Katara's body was placed in the ocean, the salty water lapping at her beautiful hair. Some of the small white flowers escaped from her long tresses to float among the waves. The water rose up to meet her body, as if welcoming it back from a long journey. And in a way, it was. Zuko pressed one last kiss upon her cold lips, and let her go.
The water around her rose up in unnatural waves around her, wrapped around her body, and disappeared below the surface. Then the water rose once more, in the form of the waterbender. A watery hand reached out to Zuko's pale cheek, a sad smile on her face, than the waves dissipated once more.
Six months had passed from that fateful day, Zuko threw himself into his Nation's welfare, and the Fire Nation benefited greatly. But the Fire Lord was a broken man; his very soul was torn in pieces, never to be mended.
Reviews are much loved! This didn't turn out quite how I had it planned out in my head, but I got lazy and didn't feel like writing the other part.
