A/N: Hello! This idea had vaguely been in my head for a while but when the Zutara Week prompt came out, it was like I finally had something to give it some direction.

N.B.: This story is assuming that after Zuko and Katara's mission, they returned to the island the gang was camping out on. Watching the episode recently, I noticed that at the end Katara was sitting on the pier outside Ozai's beach house but the rest of the gang was just arriving there on Appa, and it's implied that Katara hadn't been on Appa with them/had been dropped off on the way by Zuko… Why? :| That confused me and it unreasonably bugs me – if you know what went on there, please tell me. :( I had flimsy theories that she may have wanted to be by herself for a while but eh.

Disclaimer: I own nothing under copyright mentioned in this here story.

Warnings: Perhaps a bit dark? There's still fluff, of course, but it's quite dark – namely Katara.

To Bind to the Earth

Zutara Week 2013
Theme 4: Gravity

For lack of a better word, the night air on her naked skin was delicious. The Fire Nation summer proved a challenge for Katara – and especially her hair, which could no longer be tamed into the plait she had grown accustomed to over the years. She did not mind too much, though – she had decided that she looked better with her hair tumbling over her shoulders while still maintaining the hair loopies she could not bear to forgo. Removing the last strip of sarashi above her waist, Katara stepped into the lake and sunk down so that the blissfully cool water covered her shoulders and set her hair floating idly. She sighed with relief and picked up her sponge and soap, bathing after a long and sweaty day.

And all the while, she consciously ignored the shining presence of the moon.

After returning from her mission with Zuko a few days ago, she had been affected by a strange itching feeling radiating in tingles from her abdomen to her fingertips. She could not figure out what it was, having absolutely no idea what it had arisen from – until nighttime hit her on that very first day back.

A new moon was forming in the sky and charged her with the usual energy the moon brought to waterbenders. But this time, the nature of the energy was frighteningly different. Her mind was prickling, racing back to the part of the mission where she and Zuko had confronted the current leader of the Southern Raiders… and she had used bloodbending on him. Her mind was digging up and drowning her in the same sensations from that incident – the ire that filled her mind and turned her vision hot and red, hearing the blood screaming at her from the man's vessels, and her bitter rage causing her to lift her arms and answer…

She did not need the moon; she had not debilitated herself… That was incredible. Oh, she was far more powerful than she thought…

Lingering behind was regret and anger and shock at herself for feeling like that, as well as for utilising such an inhumane power on a – partly – blameless man. It caused that burning, uncanny tingling in her hands and what was almost the aftermath of an adrenaline rush. Although this quickly slipped from the forefront of her mind when she faced the real Yon Rha. Even when she and Zuko reunited with the rest of Team Avatar, she had forgotten about it and she felt fine enough, just exhausted from the mission. She was preparing to embrace the falling of the sun and retire to her tent when night-time indeed hit her – hard. What was meant to be a peaceful sleep turned into a waking nightmare, rife with writhing and bolting upright, cold sweat soaking her clothes and sleeping bag.

The others began to notice how the spring in her step was fading, dark circles ringing around her eyes – that one time when they asked if she was all right, she told them she was. And when they said she was overworking herself with all the extra waterbending, she laughed uneasily and joked that maybe Aang's training panic from before the Day of Black Sun was spreading to her. She assured them she was fine. Sokka, Aang, Toph and Suki had been the ones asking, and left it when she gave them those answers, only giving small frowns; it was Zuko who was silent, always watching her face… Maybe he understood it wasn't something she wanted to talk about, or maybe he didn't want to mess things up with them now that they were good.

Yes, she had been waterbending much more. All that was happening led to the discovery that little relieved the roiling sensation in her flesh; only waterbending preoccupied her. The guilt and shame ate at her erratic mind. What if she could not control it? Her mind had not been right when she took over the man… And what if the ease with which she could wield bloodbending drove her insane? What if she became like Hama, who was immoral and thought it was okay to use it? Katara was battling to forgive herself, mainly because of the knowledge that this power was easily accessible to her, lying just beneath her skin to be used when she pleased. That was the most terrifying and utterly sickening fact: It was part of her.

She could not handle it.

Katara had a vague, morbid idea of how she could try to alleviate it. She had considered asking Aang, an understanding person with the ability to waterbend, to do this for her, but she remembered how Hama had used the power on him and almost killed him with it… She knew what it felt like herself, and thus could not put him through it again – any of them. This had to be done on her own. On the fourth night of torture, when she felt the thread by which her sanity was hanging grow even thinner, Katara stole from her tent as the moon reached its peak in the inky sky.

She let her bare footsteps tread the damp grass, wandering through the widely-knit forest, using the tiniest fraction of bloodbending to sense the life in the forest, from puny insects to a wild boar. And the latter, she found as she arrived at a clearing, would be an ideal creature. Katara was more scared than she thought she would be. With tears leaking from her eyes and her body trembling, she lifted her hands. The tingling softened slightly, thankfully not that same sickening satisfaction she had after bloodbending the Southern Raider. But it was not closure – this power could not be hers; it was not something she wanted to be skilled at. The boar had to break free to show her the closure and knowledge she needed. It had to.

"Please…" she pleaded, shutting her eyes. "Break free, break free, please break free…"

But it didn't, no matter how much it struggled.

And before she made it back to her tent, the feeling overcame her in stronger waves than it had before. The act was like a drug, relieving her superficially before the burning itch returned stronger. There was never a time when Katara hated herself, except now. She lay on her side on the floor of her tent, curled into the foetal position as sobs racked her body and she asked herself why. Clawing desperately at her own skin, the ferocious stinging raged on and on and on…

Snapping back to the present where she reclined against the earthen edge of the lake, Katara blinked and realised that her eyes had locked onto the pearlescent moon. Glancing down at her reflection, she noted that her eyes were glazed over in memory. She sighed, rising and letting the night air press against her. Her guilt and dark feelings over using this power on the wrong man were colossal, and they caused the pulsing sensations that burned yet were icy cold; carrying a note of adrenaline, leaving her constantly anxious and jumpy; gnawing and eating at her mind, threatening to unhinge it and send it spinning away. Oh, how they haunted her… She abhorred them, and the notion she had before was the only thing that came to mind to solve this problem… But how could she carry it out?

Katara covered her face.

Waterbending training with Aang the next day was comforting, until they moved out of the water and rejoined the rest of Team Avatar in order to practice various stances and formations. As much as she did not want to leave the water, where her mind would not be allowed to wander and thus be prey to these horrid feelings, she already decided that she would act as normally as she could around her friends. They did not have to be weighed down by her own burden – one that would maybe disappear with time, she hoped, albeit its failure to waver so far…

"Is this right, Sifu Katara?" asked Aang from a short way in front of her. He was showing her the movements he would make if he produced a water octopus.

She smiled and studied him with her arms folded across her chest, watching his arms for a few minutes to see if he was not just flailing them around. "Your arm movement is very good, Aang. Keep it up." Her eyes went to his legs, planted firmly together, and she could see how he would shift his weight every few seconds. "Part your feet a bit, though. You want a strong stance that won't be easy to break."

"Okay… Like this?"

"Yes, perfect. Now how about a water whip?" She frowned when he unconsciously moved his feet together again. "Watch those feet, Aang… It's better if they're apart." A few more waterbending moves later, and he kept bringing his feet together. Perhaps he was not concentrating as much today…

…but it was wrong to wonder why he kept repeating the same mistake. Instantly, the underlying throbbing in her mind shot to the surface, a cold moisture forming on the palms of her hands as she flexed her fingers. Katara shut her eyes, trying to suppress the traitorous, ludicrous thoughts popping up in her mind. Opening her eyes again, with a panicked gasp, she tried to return her attention to Aang. But the thoughts sped around her brain, mocking her…

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she used just a tiny ounce of bloodbending to correct Aang. That was a good purpose, right? She wanted to prove that bloodbending had no good purpose – but there it was! Offered to her on a silver platter.

To bloodbend him in this case would not be pure evil, would it? In fact, it was better. He would learn the correct stance faster, with less effort on both the student's and master's parts. So effective.

Oh, but there was a constant chattering, likely coming from Momo… And was that a mosquito-slug buzzing in her ear? Perhaps she should deal with them, first, tie their tiny limbs into a neat knot and put them in a corner to be quiet. They should know better than to cause disruption like this, especially while she was trying to think and Aang was trying to concentrate.

Or perhaps becoming a supposed drug addict – like the homeless men sipping cactus juice on street corners in the Earth Kingdom – wasn't the worst idea after all. She had too many contacts to become homeless, anyway. Bloodbend anything now to feel that short-lived relief, and carry on in order to carry on. Totally out of her character, but she wanted to be rid of this awful, patronising itch that would not go away, did she not?

She wanted to know if she had self-control, that she wouldn't let her emotions run away and in a fit of fury bloodbend anything and everything – well, here was the perfect chance to test it! Test how far the sweetheart can go. Test if she is truly sane. And if they couldn't break free like she needed them to, that was their problem.

Either way, if she did not bloodbend at some point, she would definitely go crazy. Like, completely. Why wait for another time when it would be too late? Rather do it now, when the perfect candidates were before her…

Suddenly, a firm hand clamping down on her wrist snapped her from her trance. With dazed eyes, Katara registered that her hand had lifted by itself, fingers curled into claws before her… as though she were poised to bloodbend. A shaky breath left her lungs in shock, and she felt that last, faint tickle as a tear dripped off the edge of her chin. But the hand gripping her wrist almost bruisingly, without wavering, was pale, large and lightly calloused; her startled eyes travelled along the muscular arm, the scarlet sleeves of his tunic, and met with Zuko's steady golden pair. Silent, always watching her face.

"Katara," he began slowly, "what are you doing?"

"I…" For a minute she stood there, frozen in his grasp, until she broke off entirely and ripped her hand away. She pivoted and dashed from the campsite, making for the woods. The turbulent sensations still raged through her uncontrollably. Her breath was shallow as she ran, and the sobs heaving her chest only made it worse, lungs straining. After beating away the branches in her path, Katara finally slowed and arrived at the clearing she visited two nights before. The waterbender – or bloodbender? – pressed her palms to her forehead, before dragging them down to wipe away the salty moisture pasted to her cheeks. Her legs gave out, and as she knelt with her arms hugging herself, she heard the approaching footsteps.

The familiar footfall of boots entered the clearing, stopping a distance away from her. She did not turn around, instead forcing out hard words. "Leave me alone, Zuko."

"No. Not until you tell me what you were about to do back there."

"How do you know I was about to do anything?"

"You were going to use that ability, weren't you? On Aang. The same ability you used on the ship."

A jolt of astonishment made Katara sit up straight. Frowning, she pushed herself to her feet so that her side was to Zuko, lips struggling to form words. "H-How did you know that?"

"I'm kind of perceptive." He crossed his arms, leaning against a tree trunk. "The look in your eyes, and your hand. They were exactly the same as they were that night." He narrowed his eyes. "What is it?"

Katara turned her head to scowl at him. "There's a reason we didn't discuss it after the mission."

"Oh?"

She huffed. "If I wanted you to know about it, I would've explained. It's not something I'm proud of and we all agreed to never bring it up again… I'm not even sure Toph knows all the details. But it's something of the past now. It's irrelevant," she finished quietly.

His frown deepened. "If it's something of the past, why has it been appearing so often? Sometimes when I notice you go quiet, I see this look in your eye. It's almost… wild, lost. Tell me exactly what this is, Katara. I want to know from you first before I have to ask the others."

She started. "You can't ask the others!"

"Katara, no matter what you say, you're not okay. I won't leave you like this. If you won't tell me what's going on, I don't have another choice."

"How is this any of your concern?" she snapped. He was asking the question she was hoping he would not. But he did not answer her, and when she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, she saw his piercing gaze and the firm set of his jaw. If she didn't tell him, she knew he would go to the others, out of good intentions. She nearly smiled at that. Before, she would have sneered if someone said Zuko had good intentions. But that decided it for her. The word came out coldly: "Bloodbending."

Zuko's frown melted and he pushed away from the tree, taking a few steps closer into the clearing. "Is that the same as what it sounds like?" he asked softly, disbelief and surprise in his eyes.

She faced him fully, hands clenched at her sides, the gnawing in her mind flaring. "Why are you so interested in it all of a sudden?" she demanded. "Why now?"

"Because it's clearly affecting you now!" He flung his arms out in a beseeching manner. "I wouldn't have pried – you didn't bring it up after it happened, so it wasn't my business. I was all right with that. But now a week has passed and it's obvious – something's wrong, Katara, something you're not telling us. You've been zoning out, isolating yourself, jumping if someone tries to talk to you, and you look exhausted. Plus, you just tried to bloodbend Aang! I don't know if the others have come to you about it, but I have and I want to know. I want to help you."

"I don't know if you can do that, Zuko," she whispered.

His eyes widened at the fearful look she gave him. "Tell me what happened, Katara," he said gently, contrasting with his previous frustrated words.

"I just…" Her voice cracked, and she bit her lip as a fresh wave of tears welled over her eyelids. "I don't know what to do, Zuko. Ever since I used bloodbending on that man, I've been feeling so wrong and so guilty, a-and angry at myself. He was innocent, and I used bloodbending on him-"

"At that point you had no way of knowing he was innocent-"

"No!" Katara insisted tearfully, clutching at her face. "It doesn't change that I stooped so low I bent someone's blood. It's immoral, Zuko, disgusting and inhumane! To take over someone's body, to take control of the blood in their veins, make them do things like a…" Puppet, a voice that sounded oddly like Hama's whispered in her mind. She shivered, forcing away her last images of the old woman. "It's something I promised myself I wouldn't do again… and I did. I was so furious that night, and he wouldn't admit anything and kept trying to fight back… I don't know what came over me – it just seemed like a solution and I was so, so mad… I did it. It felt good." She broke off, covering her mouth with her hand to stifle a loud sob. "And I hated myself for thinking that.

"A-After that," she continued, swallowing thickly, "I had this nagging sensation. It wouldn't go away. Sometimes it would ease up but most of the time it's there, and it burns and presses and it's driving me crazy. Like… like an itch I can't scratch. And I know it's because I feel so guilty and ashamed of what I did. I'm never going to find relief – I think there may be one way, but even that's nearly hopeless – and then it's going to c-constantly torture me as punishment." She paused as her abdomen suddenly contracted painfully, forcing her to double over with a cry, a rain of tears landing on the soft earth.

Zuko started forward, but stopped when she held a hand up. "Katara…"

She caught her breath and slowly straightened, wetting her lips, arms remaining clutched around her abdomen. "I feel like my mind is slipping. I'm feel like I'm going to lose myself. You have no idea what was going through my mind back there – what these voices in my head were saying, motivating me to use bloodbending on Aang to fix myself. But I knew it couldn't work, and I knew that that's not who I am – until I realised how close I was to obeying." She shook her head. "Why is this happening to me? This isn't who I am!" she repeated. "It's against everything I thought I stood for. I used to think I was a good person, but now I have this awful power – and what scares me is that it's right there, in my face, easy and ready to use, like it's making fun of me…

"But I… I don't want to use it – I can't! It's cruel! No good will come of it, no matter what I try to think of. I don't want it to be so available to me that I begin to think it's all right, like Hama-"

"Who's-"

"She's this old woman who taught me about it, and I hate her for it," said Katara, surprising herself with her bitterness. Her lips trembled, and her hand came up to swab away the tears on her face, though it was futile. "Zuko… it really scares me. I don't want to be good at it and if I can help it, I don't want to be able to use it at all – I know it's too late for that, but… I at least don't want it to be this easy. Available enough for me to summon it without meaning to when I'm angry. It's… terrible, feeling like I can't even control myself. What person does that make me?"

Swiftly and abruptly, Zuko strode up to her, closely, and wrapped her in a warm, sure embrace, an arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders. "Tell me what you need," he murmured, as her hands shakily came up to clasp the material at his back, her sharp breathing easing slightly. "You mentioned one way that might be able to help. What is it?"

"W-What?"

"Tell me what that one way is, and I'll do it."

She pulled back to stare at him. He regarded her with a level gaze – a serious, concerned gaze. He meant it. "You'd really do this for me?"

"I do care about you, you know. I don't want to watch you suffer – if it's in my power to help you, believe me, I will."

She took a deep breath. "Bloodbending is a part of me I despise, but I want it to be completely forbidden. I don't want to be like Hama, who thought it was okay and eventually… she lost everything. She even hurt Aang and Sokka, and that's why I know I can't ask them to do this. But where my mind is right now… I think that's where I'm headed, and I'm…" She paused, sucking in another breath. "I'm scared. Th-There's something I think I need to do for closure, to answer all those things that've been bothering me, to calm and reassure me… I hope it'll help… It's the only thing that I feel can do it, even though I tried it once before and it failed…"

"What is it, Katara?" pressed Zuko.

Katara met his eyes. "I need someone to break free of my bloodbending."

Zuko looked down at her solemnly. His hand slid from where it rested at her neck to squeeze her shoulder, reminding her with a marginal shock that his hands were still around her and her hands still lay casually at his neck. "How tough can it be?" The corner of his mouth tugged upwards in a half-smile.

She stared at Zuko for a while, squashing down her sudden embarrassment at being held by him for a long period (a fact of which he did not seem to be aware), fingers twitching against his body heat before pursing her lips uneasily at the more pressing issue. "This isn't a good idea. You're not a waterbender – how do we know if this is even possible?"

He moved to stand a few yards in front of her, at the edge of the clearing. "Don't insult my element," he said, his mouth still quirked, though his eyes held gravity and reassurance. "I'm pretty sure firebenders are powerful, too."

She sighed, nervousness creeping up her spine. "Are you sure-"

His smile dissipated to match the expression in his eyes. "Katara, we don't know if it's going to fail or succeed, and as long as that stands, it's worth a shot, especially if it's for your wellbeing. As your friend, I'm willing to help you – and you'd do the same for me if I asked you to. Besides," the part-smile returned, "I hear you're the group optimist – maybe some optimism is due over here."

"O-Okay." She inclined her head in a single nod. She forced away all the noises around her – the rustle of leaves as wind hissed through the trees, the chirping of insects, her own breathing… Instead, she focused her energy on the firebender in front of her. His heartbeat was fairly normal, but as she closed her eyes and lifted her arms, she could feel it quicken ever so slightly. Swallowing despite her dry mouth, she reached to the water in his body, the blood flowing through the arteries and veins, sensing the tensing of muscles here and there. He was… nervous, and she was too. But glancing up, her blue eyes met with his calm, encouraging gold… Do it. You have my permission, they said earnestly.

Before the mission, she would never have thought she'd feel lucky to have a friend such as Zuko.

With the curling of her fingers and a surge of energy, Zuko's body was under her control. And as a few seconds grew into minutes, it took a lot more effort than last time, she realised, a lot more energy and concentration – but she was not sure why. She heard his sharp intake of breath, and she willed herself to not break as she was forced to take in his physical appearance: His arms, previously capable of producing great blasts of fire and consoling her with an embrace, were locked at his sides; his legs were firmly pressed together; and his lips were parted in surprise while his eyes flew skywards. The sight was overwhelming.

She felt a strain in her hold over him, a sudden ache in her eyes, and the wetness as a tear squeezed out and over her raw skin. "I can't do this…" she breathed. What had she been thinking when she let herself go through with this? "Zuko, I can't. It's not going to work. I'm going to let you go-"

"N-No…" he forced out, causing her to regard him with shock.

"What did you just say?" she whispered in wonderment.

"No! I… I w-won't let… let you d-do… that," he ground out hoarsely.

A slight glimmer of light ignited within her very core, a smile timidly fluttering at the edges of her lips. "Zuko," she exclaimed. "I had control of everything in your body – your vocal cords, your voice box… Everything. But you spoke."

His eyes travelled down to lock with hers, eliciting another gasp from her. Her face broke out into a fully fledged smile, but she did her best to maintain her grip on him. Yet as each second ticked by, the firebender won his body back, muscle by muscle, beat by beat. Beginning with a little flex of the muscles in his shoulders, to his fingers curling and stretching at his sides. She maintained control as much as she could – as she normally would have, but this… This was sheer… brilliance? Could that accurately describe it?

It was only when he finally broke free and took a stiff step towards her that she discovered the right word for it.

It was as though something inside her completely snapped, pain coursing through her body as she let out a scream. It felt like the energy she had urged into bloodbending had rebounded, zapping back up through the chi paths of her body, bringing with them an ache so powerful, so severe… Whiteness like the colour of water healing to a glow swirled at the edges of her vision. The world shook and spun in tandem with her mind, her knees going weak as her balance crumbled. She was going to hit the forest ground hard – except Zuko did not let her.

As soon as his arms, tender and certain and unchanged from before, went around her, the spinning stopped entirely. Although her consciousness was fading from her fast, she managed to peer up at him, take in the concerned look on his face, framed in a blurry glow. He was the only thing grounding her to the earth, then, the only thing keeping her from dislodging completely and fading into darkness… Her vision blurred and twisted until she was finally sunken in a wave of clean white, with a last mumble of the right word for what had occurred.

"…Miracle…"

Lying awake in her sleeping bag, Katara felt rather pleasant. It was the best she had felt in a while. The terror warring within her blood had ceased, and all that remained was a smooth, lilting relief; the exhaustion from her sleepless nights had caught up to her, and she found herself stifling yawns every other minute. It was as though a pounding noise had stopped at last, her mind and body allowed to relax and refresh. She was herself again. She also felt as though she woken from a terrible dream – and now that she had time to think, she could not believe what had actually happened to her, and was left slightly disappointed with herself. Perhaps for allowing it to get this far, perhaps for being weak, perhaps for losing hope… She knew it would pass, but for the time being, it kept her awake.

A rustling outside her tent caught her attention; her eyes flicked up in time to see a hand reach through the flap and draw it back. Her eyes widened and she sat up on her elbows as the owner of the hand fully stepped inside. "Zuko, what are you doing here? …H-Hey!" She clutched the top of her sleeping back, holding it up to her chin as she gawked at him: With a blanket on his arm and choosing not to answer, the firebender had dropped lightly down beside her and stretched himself out – in a very cat-like fashion, she noted. As he smoothed the blanket over them, she squawked, "What are you doing?"

"Shut up," he said simply, closing his eyes and curling his right arm behind his head to act as a pillow, taking her hand with his calloused left hand, his left arm lying against hers. Despite her shock at his abrupt actions, sleep began to settle over her fast, the warmth of his presence and fingers covering hers providing her with comfort. His blanket was nice, too. As her eyelashes began to flutter, breathing steadily growing deeper, he spoke. "Why are you awake?"

She sighed, but not out of annoyance, turning her head to look at him. "I can't believe it's finally over. I feel so relieved, but I'm disappointed in myself – I wasn't collected, I let this control me, and I wasn't me. But don't get me wrong – I'm happy that it's over. All that's left is the Comet, now… But I'm kind of disappointed I was weak."

"I'm not."

She cracked an eye open to find him watching her. "What do you mean?"

His expression was thoughtful, yet keen and sharp. "I don't see you as weak, Katara. You were as brave as anyone could be in that situation, and you helped yourself. Now you can forgive. If Aang knew, he would be saying that," he remarked. "Despite what you think, you were strong. In my eyes, you're not weak, bad or any different for what happened. Maybe I even respect you more. But everyone makes mistakes, especially me – it's part of being human."

Now she opened both eyes, grateful tears forming in their blue depths. A tear rolled down the slope of her cheek, nestling in the corner of her mouth; she tasted salt as she smiled at him. "Thank you, Zuko." With her left hand which was not in his gentle grasp, she reached up and brushed the stray tear away. "How did you know I'd be awake?"

He cleared his throat, and she knew that her words had affected him. She hid another smile. "I had a feeling. If I was out for a few hours, I wouldn't be able to sleep once I woke up." A few silent moments. "Plus, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" She had now opened both eyes, finding them glued to Zuko's, shining through the shadows on his face. This close in the dark, she noticed more fine details about him – how the eye surrounded by the scar was a duller gold than the other, how his eyelashes were long, and what was probably the memory of a cut on his jaw…

"I wanted to see how you are." His hand moved as he wove his fingers through hers, his grip strengthening. "Also, I understand what you meant. It was the strangest feeling I've ever…" He frowned, tearing away from the memory of being taken over. "But I had another idea. Maybe a positive purpose for bloodbending, if you think about doing it."

She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"You're already a healer, right?"

"Yeah."

Zuko nodded. "So it might be possible to use bloodbending as, uh… a healing technique. You could move bones into place and remove blood clots – that sort of thing. You could become a handy physician if it works. I'm not forcing you or anything, but if you want to channel it positively it's an idea – using bloodbending to help people."

She blinked, taken aback but also impressed. "That is a good idea. I never thought about that. I will now, of course." How had it not occurred to her? Once again, she found herself smiling up at him, releasing a tiny chuckle. "You really are making me happy I forgave you."

"I can't help it if I'm endearing."

She laughed, and with a more serious expression, squeezed his hand earnestly. "Thank you for saving me. I honestly felt like I was slipping away and I was losing my mind – but you didn't let that happen. You didn't judge me. Instead you were… you were like gravity grounding me on earth." She recalled with a distant, faint pang when she had used bloodbending on the man on the ship – even then, Zuko hadn't judged her… Forgiving him allowed her to forgive herself for all that had happened. "I couldn't have done it without you."

In the shadows of the tent, she saw a small, rare smile appear on his lips. "You're welcome," he said, quieter than a whisper. A pause before he continued normally. "But if it's earth we're talking about, we should've just gone to Toph about this."

The second time she laughed felt even better than the first. She turned her head away so that she stared up at the ceiling of the tent, and the fuzzy, tired feeling in her chest spread over her once more. Sidling just an inch closer to Zuko's allaying body heat, she closed her eyes. "Really, Zuko. Thank you."

A/N:

I know some of you will say that Katara would never in a million years do this and be like this and blah blah blah. I don't think bloodbending would make her go crazy either, but this is a fic considering if it had indeed. It's also set between The Southern Raiders and The Ember Island Players, so the forgiveness of Zuko was still fairly new, and that's why I couldn't have him jumping in bed with her and kissing her and stuff. I had to be a teensy bit realistic. :P

I do hope you enjoyed it! And even if you didn't, still, do let me know all that you thought! Thanks for reading. :)

~SuperSonic Violet