Hello! This is my first try on a hetero fanfic. I know, I'm pretty late on the Avatar hype but better late than never right?

All mistakes were mine, help me find a beta?

Set before the Ember Island Players.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even a computer.


"Hey guys?"

They were all by the beach of the ember island house, lazily relaxing after a long day of training. It was Katara who answered first.

"Yeah, Toph?"

"What day is it today?"

"Exactly two weeks since the invasion." Sokka answered.

"Oh."

"Why?" Aang asked "Do you have anything planned?"

"Well, it's my birthday tomorrow" She answered with total nonchalance.

All their eyes turned towards the blind earth bender, wide in shock. It was like the completely forgotten about birthdays since the war, even more so now that the threat of the comet was growing closer and closer.

"It's nothing, guys." Toph said dismissively, sensing the group's awkward silence. "Just stating a fact, nothing more."

"We're holding a celebration." Katara said matter-of-factly when Toph left the living room to sleep.

"But she said it was no big deal." Aang said confusedly.

"Oh, silly Aang, you have so much to learn about women." Sokka said. "For example, when they say one thing, they actually mean the opposite."

"Wow"

Suki and Katara glared at him. "I still don't know what you see in him. " Katara said, shaking her head at Suki before turning towards the group. "C'mon you guys, we can have a dance party just like the one we had for Aang!"

The Avatar instantly perked up at the sound of a dance. "Yeah we should totally do that!"

Everyone turned their heads towards Sokka. "Well, Mr. Schedule? You think we can fit that in?"

Sokka consulted his scroll for a few, tense moments before saying "Yeah, I think we can do that."

"Yes! Okay, Aang, you need to keep Toph distracted tomorrow while we prepare"

Aang shot Katara a salute. "On it!" Although a Aang tried to hide it, a tiny blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Sokka and I can go fishing for some food and Suki and Zuko could fix the courtyard."

"Ah, not exactly" Sokka said. "I was thinking me and Suki would stay together." He shot a giant and toothy smile at his sister.

Katara's eye twitched. "And why?"

"Well, technically Suki's my guest so I need to take care of her. And anyway if you can could most of the fish while you're there, we'd save a lot of time."

Katara glared at him and sighed. "Fine, Zuko you're stuck with me."

"Don't I have a say in this?"

Katara turned towards him and smiled a falsely sweet way "No, not really."

The mission was simple really. Wake up at dawn, fish, cook and maybe give Appa a bath since they already got him in water. It was easy enough. Yet after ten minutes of floating around with Zuko, Katara was murderous.

"You can seriously think you know more about fishing that I do!" Katara screamed at him.

"I lived in a boat for three years, it's not much of a surprised that maybe I know more about fishing that you do!"

"I lived in the South Pole, you idiot! OF COURSE I KNOW MORE ABOUT FISHING THAT YOU DO!"

Zuko let out a frustrated sigh. "It wouldn't kill you to take a suggestion" He muttered under his breath.

"And it wouldn't kill you to admit I'm right!" she said in an equally angry tone.

He rolled his eyes at her and stood up, stretching.

"What do you think you're doing?" Katara demanded when Zuko started to take of his shirt.

"Pearl diving." Zuko answered. "Add a pearl to Toph's head band or something. And since you're such an expert fisher, you stay and watch the rods."

"Excuse me." Katara said in an offended tone, also shedding her outer top. "I'm the water bender here. It'll be more logical if I hunt for the pearls."

Zuko glared at her. "Stop turning everything into an argument." With that, Zuko dived head first into the water.

She waited for him to resurface, just so she can scream at him some more. How dare he even suggest that! It wasn't like she picked a fight with him over everything.

Right?

Whatever. All she did was voice out her opinions and concern. For him to judge her like that was out of context and completely uncalled for. The nerve of some people!

Katara stayed on her spot, staring angrily at the spot where the prince disappeared. 'He's a fire bender' She reasoned, 'Surely he can't stay under water for that long. She continued to glare at the water. Anytime now. She searched the water for any indication of life. 'He survived a swim in the cold, northern pole water. A little pearl diving couldn't hurt him.'

Katara shook her head and tore her eyes away from the spot where he vanished. She leaned on the side of Appa's saddle and closed her eyes, hopping to get a few moments of relaxation before Zuko would resurface.

If only life was that easy.

She heard it before it came too close. A fire nation war ship was slowly approaching. Katara quickly scrambled up and turned towards the spot where Zuko dived.

"Zuko!" She shouted into the water. "Zuko you better come up here right now or I swear I will stop your heart."

Nothing.

The ship was moving faster now; she could practically see the crew men on the deck running towards their stations.

"Zuko1 Stop playing games! We need to go now!"

The water continued to lap lazily against Appa, as though taunting her current, tense moment.

"You there" announced a large male voice from the boat. "Do you realize that this is a strict no fishing zone?"

"Uh, no sir." She answered nervously; playing the confused, innocent citizen could possibly save her from any more investigation.

"Just take you and your…thing out of these waters."

She let out a sigh of relief and the boat started to turn. It was at this moment Zuko chose to return.

"I found a really big-" he instantly clamped his mouth shut when he saw the ship. It only took a moment for the captain to react to the sudden appearance of the Fire nation's biggest traitor.

"THAT'S PRINCE ZUKO RIGHT THERE!" The voice shouted. "Princess Azula said immediate capture when seen. Soldiers, NOW!"

Their response to the attack was instantaneous. Katara immediately started to cover Appa in a protective wall of ice. Zuko jumped from the water and climbed the side of the bison, shooting the ship in the process.

This was obviously not match to the ship. They were outnumbered, out machined and utterly unprepared.

They stood back to back, defensive stance ready. They knew they couldn't win this, nothing they could do could hold back the attack. Not when the ship summoned back-up.

The two were too busy fighting of the approaching war ships around them; they didn't notice the war balloon creeping near. They didn't see the giant ball of fire until it was too late.

The blast was strong enough to send them flying and away from the battle. Katara quickly found Zuko's hand and entwined their fingers, thinking that their last few moment of life should be at least spent in peace.

"Zuko?" She shouted over the howl of the wind.
"Yeah?"

"I blame you."

Good enough.

They began to fall in an impossible speed. Katara could feel the heat slowly surround them.

'I'm a comet' she thought before she was completely engulfed by unconsciousness.

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