(A/N) This is my first fanfiction for the Zutara ship I've uploaded, so I hope it's okay. This is set in Season Two (I think), right after Katara sees her mother in the Foggy Swamp(is that what it's called?). It's kinda random, but I think it's pretty not-sucky.
Happy reading!
Swamp Vision
I cried. I know, I'm such a baby, but I'd just thought I saw my dead mother alive again, for La's sake! I was distressed, so what?
Kneeling in the murky water, I cried until my eyes felt like they'd be dry for months. When at last the tears ceased, I wiped my nose and began standing up. I was halfway to my feet when I heard it.
"Katara,"
Just a soft whisper, almost just a hush of wind. My breathing sped. I looked around, but no one was in sight.
"Hm," the voice said with a low chuckle. "Does my little waterbender need her strong firebender to protect her?"
I whirled, but still saw no one. The voice was familiar, male, but I couldn't place it. It clearly wasn't Sokka, and it wasn't Aang, and- wait, did he say he was a firebender? Oh, that might be bad news.
"Where are you?" I shouted, drawing up water from the swamp. "Show yourself!"
"No need to get snappy, love," replied the voice. "I was only asking."
He sounded mildly amused, as if my threat wasn't threatening at all. Maybe it wasn't. Hold up, did he just call me 'love'?
"Who are you?" my eyes flashed around the vines and mud, looking for anything out of place.
"Oh, come now, Katara," chided the voice patronizingly. "Don't be ridiculous."
I turned again and almost jumped out of my skin. Standing not five feet away from me was a teenaged boy only a few years older than myself. He was dressed in royal Fire Nation armor, his head almost completely shaved except for a high ponytail. My eyes raked over the reddened scar marring the skin spanning his left eye to his ear. Prince Zuko.
He stepped forward; I stepped back.
"Don't run from me, love," Zuko frowned at me, holding his hand out. "Come to me. Let's get out of this Agni-forsaken swamp."
I shook my head, backing away. My mind was frozen from the odd way Zuko was addressing me. It was like he thought I was his lover or something; whatever it was, it was creeping me out.
"Katara," Zuko smirked in a very irritating way, walking forward. Oddly, the water didn't move at all as he walked towards me. "Love, come back to me."
I whimpered, turning to run. I made it maybe three steps before I heard his hoarse voice right beside my ear.
"Where are you going, my little waterbender?" I could almost hear the sneer in his voice. It reminded me of the time he'd tied me to a tree, trying to bribe me into bringing him Aang. Not that it wasn't a good plan; I did really want that necklace back. "You know you'll come running back to me, love."
"What makes you think that?" I challenged in a whisper. I was really starting to get unnerved now. Not only did he call me little, he seemed oddly possessive of me.
"Katara," Zuko chuckled again. "You can't run from me forever; you're mine, love. Just like I'm yours."
"I don't know what you're talking about," I murmured, willing myself to turn around. "What makes you think I'm yours?"
"Because I l-"
And then he was gone. Like a vapor brushed away by the wind, my daydream Zuko had disappeared into thin air and left me feeling strangely empty.
"Katara!" Sokka and Aang burst out through the foliage, disrupting my muddled perception of the swamp. I turned to them and we all hugged.
Sokka said he'd seen Yue, the Northern Water Tribe girl he'd fallen in love with, shortly before she merged with Tui, the moon spirit. Aang said he didn't know who he'd seen, just that it was a young girl, laughing, with a winged boar fluttering around her. He had chased her, but never caught up to her.
I told them my experience, leaving out Zuko and only conveying what I'd seen with Mom. I asked them if their visions had said anything, and Aang said that besides laughing, the girl didn't make any other sounds. Sokka, however, did say that Yue spoke to him, but he didn't say what.
Strange, how I was the only one to have two visions.
Then, as we had begun following the waterbender in the vines, I could've sworn I saw a blue and white oni mask staring at me with sightless black eyes. I blinked, and it was gone. This place was really messing with me.
The waterbender in the vines said that the swamp made us see people we've lost, and people that we love, or loved.
If Sokka saw Yue, someone he lost and loved, Aang saw that girl, but that was Avatar business, and I saw Mom, who I definitely loved, then why was Zuko a vision?
"Excuse me," I said before we left, turning to the man. "What would it mean if someone saw another person, someone they hadn't lost or loved?"
The man gave me a weird look.
"That doesn't happen in the swamp," he said, his voice slow and calming. "Whoever you saw, you must love. If you don't now, then perhaps it's a vision of a future spouse or lover. I don't know, I've never thought about it before."
"You said you saw Mom," Sokka frowned. "We lost her, and we loved her, what're you confused about?"
"I..." I paused, fingering my necklace and thinking back on the time Zuko had held it up to my neck, his fingers barely brushing my skin. I shivered.
"Katara?" Aang placed his hand on my arm reassuringly. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Aang," I smiled at him and pulled my arm away, dropping my other hand from my necklace. "Nothing to worry about."
Except for the fact that I might be in love with the man who's chased us across the globe, trying to turn you in to the Fire Lord. Nope, nothing to worry about at all.
(A/N) Sorry if that sucked. If you feel so inclined, do drop a review and perhaps a suggestion for another little Zutara oneshot/drabble. I'm bored and running out of ideas. Thanks for reading, my viewers! And Happy Thanksgiving too! :3
