A/N: I don't really know why I wrote this. BEWARE. THIS IS ZUTARA.
I wrote it about a month ago during finals while I was supposed to be doing papers and studying, and I ended up writing an Artemis Fowl fic called "She Can Keep It" and this.
It was going to be the third installment of my "Death of a Princess" series, because I'm lazy and haven't updated it in a thousand years, but I decided it isn't death-sceney enough. (and the other ones I wrote were better than this)
Zuko sprung Iroh from jail, wandered along doing his own thing, helping the gAang along while Iroh taught Aang, and now we are at the final confrontation, a place where many (MANY) things are yet to be seen.
He Thinks He Can Win His Heart
or
Killed in the Name of Peace
"Iroh!" Katara screamed as the old firebender went down below an attack from a panting Azula.
"Katara! Go!" Sokka yelled as he ran by, distracting an already confused Ty Lee.
Katara charged past Aang, who was dueling the Fire Lord and trying desperately to regain his breath, and a scowling Toph, who, after encasing Mai in a metal prison, was now screaming insults at Azula as she deflected her lightning bolts.
She knelt down next to Iroh. "Iroh! Are you alright? Please, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
He smiled slowly. "We're losing, aren't we?" he asked calmly as more firebenders streamed into the throne room.
Katara dashed away a tear and began healing a large gash in his side, silently begging and praying that it would turn out alright. It had to turn out alright. Then she sighed. "Yes, Iroh. I don't know how much longer Aang can hold out."
"Don't worry," Iroh told her beatifically. Behind him, Azula began to attack Aang with her father as Toph strived to hold off the endless supply of firebenders. "He's coming."
Katara looked baffled. "Who. . .?"
Iroh shook his head. "Just wait."
She frowned, her thoughts too jumbled to come to any real conclusion, or so she thought. The only answer her mind came up with seemed impossible.
But then she looked up to where Iroh was staring and her breath caught in her throat at what she saw there; a dark shadow, waiting in the rafters above Azula, looking for all the world like some great and stealthy predator biding its time, waiting to jump its prey.
Her hands flew to her mouth and she still couldn't breathe. She had never believed, even though he had visited his uncle frequently, that he would come.
It wasn't him, she was sure of it.
And yet. . .
The man sprang, yelling out a harshly jumbled series of syllables in a foreign tongue that sent chills up her spine. "What—" she gasped.
"The war cry," Iroh grinned, sitting up and turning to see more clearly, "of one who fights for freedom from a treacherous, tyrannical leader. It has not been heard in the Fire Nation for well over a century but it was used frequently in the old days, when injustice was rampant and commanders usually cruel."
"So he's. . ." she whispered, her hands cupping her face as she stared, open mouthed, at the dark figure beating Azula back, step by step, blow by blow.
"Denounced the Fire Lord," Iroh crowed. "For the world to see."
The next minutes were hectic as Fire Nation troops poured in from all sides, striving to protect and destroy. Katara fought on, her eyes fixed on the cloaked figure with the bound face. When Azula fell beneath his onslaught, she felt like she had gained the strength the princess had lost and was able to reach Aang's side.
The boy was exhausted, and she could tell he was putting everything into his attacks. He couldn't hold much longer. . .and Ozai was not dead. . .
Azula suddenly rose and, screaming like a banshee, flung herself at Aang. Katara was still too far from him to block the finishing blow Ozai aimed at the unsuspecting airbender, and she shrieked, trying to warn him, trying to stop this from happening with the mere power of her voice. . .but someone was already there.
"Father."
Katara was torn. Should she help Aang, who was now facing a badly bloodied but enraged Azula? Or should she. . .
He answered it for her. "This is my fight, Katara."
Ozai looked at her, not for the first time, and she cringed. "Ah. . ." he rumbled. "I see."
"You see nothing, father," Zuko growled, "but your own fear and hate. You will not defeat me this time. I no longer respect you, so I will fight."
Katara lost the rest of his words as she turned to side with Aang. She had to trust the wayward prince. . .it was about time. He deserved it.
Azula charged, laughing wildly. Katara sent ice shards and whips to block her, using all of her speed and skill to avoid her maniacal attacks. "He'll never join you!" she yelled. "He's too weak! He can't make his own decisions!"
"It looks like he just did," Katara said coolly.
Azula smirked. "Do you think he'd care about you, wench?"
Katara's eyes flashed. "He cares about peace," she hissed, annoyed.
Azula had backed herself right into Aang's trap. He suddenly released a terrifying barrage of earth at her back, making her fall to the floor, straight into a pool of water. She struggled to rise, spluttering, but couldn't. Katara glared down at her, but couldn't imagine killing someone in cold blood.
A howl made her whip around. It was demonic, fleeting compelling, and shatteringly hopeless.
Zuko stood, chest heaving, cloth unbound from his face to let his hair spill across his shoulders and reveal his scar, hands in a final position as his father burned in front of him, dying in the curtain he had once controlled. "Father," he said sadly. "I wish I could have helped you."
"You fool," Ozai rasped, turning still-burning eyes on his son. "You are weak. You killed me because you knew you could not please me. Spite, Zuko. You killed me out of spite!"
"You're the fool!" Zuko yelled, but his voice was oddly controlled. "I defeated you! I am stronger than you, and I know now that what you have done is wrong! I fought you because you were a disgrace to the Fire Nation, and your own pride killed you, Ozai! I killed in the name of peace!"
Ozai reached out a hand, clawing at Zuko's leg. "My. . .son. . ." he rasped.
The flames engulfed him, burning higher than Katara had ever seen them go.
Azula began laughing, and Katara suddenly realized that the room was deadly silent. "Zuko's still the fool," she coughed, "of the two of them. He thinks he can be redeemed," she spat the word out like a curse. "He thinks he can win. . .win his. . .his. . .heart."
Azula collapsed, and her torn up body succumbed to the water she lay in. The princess breathed no more.
Zuko turned, and surveyed the throne room. His eyes rested briefly on Katara, who swallowed and nodded at him.
"I am Zuko," he proclaimed, stepping to the edge of the dais, forcing the flames down to below his knees. "I am the foster son of General Iroh, and the son of Lady Ursa, the deceased wife of he who once called me his heir. I am the rightful ruler of this nation." He suddenly took a bending stance and roared fire at the ceiling. "Who dares to challenge me?"
Katara held her breath, but knew that not even the few generals in the room were that stupid.
"I always wanted to see my son become Fire Lord," Iroh whispered, coming up beside Katara, a hand clutching his side. "And even though he isn't Lu Ten, I'm just as proud."
"I AM FIRE LORD ZUKO!" he bellowed, standing tall once more. "AND I PROCLAIM THAT THE FIRE NATION WILL ENTER PEACE TALKS WITH THE OTHER NATIONS IMMEDIATELY!"
Katara looked over at Sokka, who was standing with his mouth hanging open, a shaking finger pointing at Zuko. "Did he just—"
"Damn straight, he did," Toph muttered.
Katara didn't think twice. She ran around the side of the dais, up the steps, and pelted full force to Zuko. She halted about a foot in front of him. "Clean this mess up!" Zuko commanded imperiously, glaring at his soldiers.
"All hail Fire Lord Zuko!" someone shouted.
"Hail Fire Lord Zuko! Hail Fire Lord Zuko! Hail Fire Lord Zuko!" people began calling out, stamping their feet and banging whatever they could reach. "He has brought peace!"
Zuko looked a bit stunned as the room exploded in cheers. Apparently his decision was a welcome change.
Katara hesitantly murmured, "Hey. . ."
Zuko looked down at her and smiled. "Come on, let's go see the damage."
The many times she had talked to him over the last few months, the training together, the sporadic appearances that had sometimes shocked her, all accumulated into a tidal wave of memories as he led her off the dais.
He'd never stayed long, so she'd never trusted him.
And yet, he had been their key turning point.
He had been helping them, all along.
He was not only powerful, but incredible strong willed. Who else could have endured such hatred, scorn, and loneliness?
"Zuko," she reached out to halt him as they began down the steps.
"Yes?" he asked, turning and stepping back up to her eye level.
Her mind froze as she looked into his shining, auriferous eyes. Now she trusted him.
Now her feelings had justification.
"I—I wanted to say thank you," she muttered, dropping her hand and staring at the ground. The tension between them was almost tangible.
He hadn't forgotten all the time they had spent together as the agonizing knowledge that she didn't trust him, that she might never trust him, gnawed away at his heart. But now he could see it, radiating from her being.
He had finally proven himself.
In some obscure and confusing way, he had won.
His heart.
He grabbed her hands and pulled her closer. "Katara," he said huskily. "Katara, I am so sorry. . ."
She looked up at him in shock. Her hands instinctively curled around his as he pulled her too him. "What for?" she gasped.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't do this a long time ago," he whispered into her ear, sending chills down her spine.
This is bad, Katara, the rational part of her mind told her. You should probably back away. Right now.
She froze as his soft lips gently claimed hers, so different from the rough and calloused man in front of her. But she trusted him.
And this was what she wanted. She knew it, deep in her heart.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave into the kiss, pressing herself tightly to him as he held her securely, hands on her waist and back. She couldn't think, couldn't breath, when he deepened the kiss, becoming forceful and passionate in the space of a heartbeat. She willingly obliged to his needs and matched his intensity with her own.
The world came back as they broke apart to breathe.
Katara blinked up at him as she registered yells and cat calls coming from behind them. "Oh no," she whispered, beginning to blush.
Toph was grinning ear to ear as Aang whispered hurriedly to her. They both looked ecstatic.
Sokka was—well, Sokka wasn't actually conscious. . .
Iroh was smiling like a cat that had got the cream.
And the men creating the ruckus behind them?
As they looked upon their new Fire Lord and the blushing waterbender in his arms, peace seemed like an attainable thing.
At last.
A/N: Yeah, not one of my best fics, but hey, I wrote it, so I posted it. A little weak at bits, but again, I was tired, and my other stuff is better, so just go read that instead. :-D
Oh, and review, because if you don't, Zuko will shave your head.