Pairing: Zutara
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender belongs to its respective creators. I am making no profit off of this story.
This is my first ATLA story, but I'm quite pleased with how it's turning out. I'm trying to move away from my usual stories (which are based in the BeyBlade series) and branch out into different genres. I wanted to get this story started before the premier of season three so my opinions and ideas weren't too heavily influenced... I hope it works out!
- SilkYuzu
"When you heal, you share the pain. The water connects you. You give them some of your own life force to sustain theirs and make them whole. Ina select few water benders, your body naturally replaces that life force given away. That special quality allows you to heal. Your body creates life force, and can handle the risk of sharing it. However, this why you must never try to heal the dead. All of your life force will leave you. You will die."
The sun beat down on the already battered land harshly, showing no mercy for the humans below it. The soil was hard and cracked from a lack of moisture and a few brown, dead grasses dotted the landscape. A ghost town provided the only shade for a long whiles. It had been abandoned after a fire nation raid and all was left behind in the broken buildings.
A small group of people were in the center of town though - a prince, a princess, a general, two water tribe travelers, and a wealthy earth bending family's blind daughter.
"A princess knows how to surrender." Azula raised her two hands above her head and tossed her head to the side in an arrogant manner, "With dignity." Her eyes shifted to Zuko for a brief moment then turned back to the others that had cornered her against a broken wall. Azula could see how riled up her brother was getting, and it was quite satisfying. Dirty outlaws and enemies teaming up just to bring her down was a nice bonus as well though. Azula was pleased that they saw her as such a threat.
Aang seemed to let his guard down in relief. He was glad that he wouldn't have to fight Azula, but something didn't seem right. She was planning something. Azula didn't seem like the type do just 'surrender' and give herself up. Aang was exhausted though from avoiding her all night, he wasn't thinking clearly.
Azula smirked when she saw the moment of weakness and took the opportunity to shoot a rather powerful bolt of lightning at her uncle. The raw blue power hit him in the left shoulder and tossed him like a rag doll backwards. He landed on his back at least 10 paces away.
Katara broke out of their 'U' shaped formation and rushed over the old man that traveled with her enemy. He was hurt and that's all that really mattered to her. Katara uncorked her canteen and opened Iroh's smoldering shirt exposing his wounded chest. The lightning had done great damage, and while the wound was not bleeding, the burns were life threatening. The lightning struck directly over the old man's heart, and Katara could feel his heart beating out of sequence beneath his chest.
Zuko gave a strangled shout that was a mix of 'Azula!' and 'Uncle!' but it just came out like an animal's cry. Focused solely on his uncle, he didn't notice anything else. His gold eyes widened and he bit his lower lip, enough to hurt. He whipped back around to face his sister and shot a powerful blast of fire at her. He was furious, he was distraught, because Zuko knew that if Iroh died, he would truly be alone.
Toph and Aang quickly followed suit after getting over the shock. Sokka threw his bladed boomerang at Azula's head. He wasn't a bender, but that fact wasn't going to keep him out of the fight. Hopefully they could bring her down now…
Azula dodged the streams of air, fire, rock, and the dangerous boomerang with grace and made a run for her lizard mount. Straddling it, she snapped the reins and began to flee back out into the desert, away from the ghost town. She knew when the heat of a battle was too much to handle, after all, she was a fire bender.
Sokka grabbed the reins of Zuko's ostrich horse and jumped onto it, ignoring it's surprised squawks. The bladed boomerang turned and flew in an arc back into it's master's hand. "Don't let her get away!" He sped off on his mount after the princess followed by Toph and Aang. Aang quickly opened his glider while Toph used her superior earth bending to propel her forward. A trail of dust was kicked up behind them as they stayed in hot pursuit of their new enemy.
Katara wasn't watching what was going around though. She vaguely noticed when the Prince ran over to his uncle's side, about to shove her out of the way. Making the healing gloves on her hands, she gently placed them on his chest over the wound.
"What are you doing you -" Zuko snarled grabbing her shoulder tightly to pull her off.
"Not now, he's close." Katara ignored Zuko and closed her eyes and focused on the water. She exhaled slowly and found the old man's life force. It was very weak and fading. She'd need to bring him back before he crossed over to the other side. If the old man crossed it, she wouldn't be able to help him. Katara pressed the water into the wound and opened the link between them.
Gods it hurt!
Katara gasped as pain erupted across her left shoulder and a good ways down her chest. The old man was lucky that he was unconscious and he didn't need to feel it. This was the hardest part about healing because you shared the pain. Katara felt the flow of her own life force flowing through her body and the connection between herself and the old man. Slowly and gently, she began to ease her own energies into the dying man's body.
Zuko watched with morbid fascination as the water tribe girl winced and tensed up. She seemed to be in a great deal of pain though he didn't understand why. He scowled; he didn't even know what she was doing although the glowing water was unnerving him. Zuko had never made a point to learn the abilities of the other benders, least of all the water benders. His education had been centered around the Fire Nation, the only one of importance to his father and the schools.
A tear made it past Katara's clenched eyes and slid down her cheek until it hit the hot and dry desert ground below. It evaporated quickly and was gone. "Gently… Gently…" She thought to herself as she eased more energy into the old man's body, if she went too quickly, the man wouldn't be able to hold the energy. His life force was stable now, but still very weak. Katara could feel the wound mending beneath her hands. She pushed energy in quicker know, knowing that the body could handle it. The skin over the wound healed and closed up but it would still take a while to heal and left an angry bruise on his chest.
The pain faded and Katara sighed in relief. She was panting lightly and quickly searched through the link for any other injuries in the old body. The pain was gone, but something still felt… wrong. Katara could feel something hard in the man's body that she couldn't heal. It felt ominous and powerful and Katara could tell that whatever it was had been there for a while. Was the man sick?
Zuko watched the girl sigh then furrow her brows in concentration – something was confusing or annoying her. Maybe both. She was panting and shaking from exhaustion – pah! Like she had actually helped in fighting his sister. "Girl… What did you do?" Zuko growled as he looked at his uncle's chest. It was impossible to see the wound because the girl's hands where shining and the water obscured his view. He knew enough though to understand the magnitude of a lighting wound. They didn't bleed because it was burn, but the internal damage was deadly.
Katara opened up her blue eyes and pulled her hands back into her lap making sure not to make eye contact with the enemy prince. "He was very close to crossing over." She had to use one of her arms by placing it on the caked and dry soil so she wouldn't fall over, "He's okay now… But he'll need more time to heal fully." Katara vaguely noticed that her canteen was empty. She must have used up all the water. She was defenseless now until she came by a water source. And being in a desert… chances were bleak.
Staggering up to her feet, Katara stood up and held her balance. Turning her back on Zuko, she began to take shaky steps away knowing that she'd need to travel a ways to catch up with her friends. She was so tired though, this was her second day without rest.
Zuko turned back to Iroh and checked over the wound when he heard a 'thud!' from behind. Some kicked up dust blew in his direction.
The girl fell down - her legs gave out beneath her.
Zuko eyed her for a moment before lifting his uncle up gently and carrying him into one of the nearby half destroyed buildings. He laid him in the shade and closed his shirt. Looking out the beaten down door he could see his supply pack had fallen off the ostrich horse luckily.
Walking out to get it, for it had blankets and dried food, Zuko saw that the girl was trying to get up again only to have her muscles give out. The heat would dehydrate her soon and the avatar's companion would be lost. Not that it was a loss on his part, it would be on less bender standing in the way of his honor.
Katara coughed and used her arms to left her head off the hot soil, she needed to get into shade. She was so tired, her eyes felt heavy. Falling asleep would be the end though.
With a sigh, Zuko picked up his pack, slung it over his shoulder to free his arms, and let his conscience get the better of him.
His arms where free and he picked the girl up so her head was cradled against his chest. Zuko was grateful that the girl was too tired to protest, because she made a face that showed that she would have if she had the strength.
Katara murmured something incoherent.
Zuko walked back to the building, wanting to get out of the heat as fast as he could. He had grown up in a nation twice as hot as this, but after not eating the heat was even starting to affect him. When the prince went to put the girl down next to his uncle, he saw that she was already fast asleep in his arms.
