Zuko was a killer. Years at war against rebel scum made him that way, whether he liked it or not. "A ruthless Fire Nation tyrant" is what most people referred to his as, it didn't bother him, soon he would be Fire Lord and everyone would bow down to him. Well he would only become Fire Lord if he acquired the single most important thing in this spirits forsaken war. The Avatar. Zuko growled low in his throat. He hated thinking that a twelve year old boy was all that was standing in the way of his future, a future that held success. And success would only reach him if he captured him. It seemed like an impossible task when it was entrusted to him alongside his banishment, but Zuko was not one to give up easily. When he first heard that the Avatar was back, he jumped upon the nearest opportunity with a little more fervor than he should have, and it cost him. He would not make the same mistake again, he refused to let the Avatar slip out of his grasp. After that, he started tracking his every move, taking in every lead he got. It was a wild goose chase until he started capturing people and bringing them into question. After hearing that the banished prince was holding captives, and had no mercy, leads started to become more rational and Zuko was able to actually take action. Although the leads were getting better, he still didn't posses the Avatar. Zuko was baffled, he had captured powerful bender before, why was this such a challenge for him? Sure he was the Avatar, but he was still a little boy. He had to admit though, he was pretty talented to be able to elude him for so long, but Zuko was better, he would capture him. It seemed as if he was getting sloppy though, almost every time they docked for supplies, he had left a trace. Whether it was someone who revealed their next destination willingly, or a new captive that new the same information. Captives were mainly rebels, but there was the occasional shop keeper, and rarely, an authoritative figure. No matter their position in society, Zuko would kill them after extracting information. The first few times bothered him, but not anymore, he became numb. Void of all feelings, practically a shell of a man. But this was a war, and Zuko had no mercy. His nation will win, and he will have the Avatar.

/

Zuko plopped down on his bed with a sigh, it had been a long day. They had captured another prisoner from Makapu Village and he had questioned her earlier in the day. She was an old Earth Kingdom hag that had tricked her whole her whole village into believing that she could see the future. Zuko snorted at the memory, he couldn't believe people actually believed in that kind of thing, it was a scam. For an older lady, she had an intense morale and didn't let up. Zuko ended up lashing out an endless torture, trying to get any form of information from her but she would not speak, she just smiled at him. Her smile was warm and her eyes were caring, and that, drove him mad. How could she just look at him like that? He was brutalizing her! Common sense must go with age, he told himself, secretly trying to reassure himself. Finally he snapped.

"Stop smiling at me! What are you hiding? You must say something!" He barked at her, desperation in his voice.

She looked up at him and chuckled. "Such fire in such a young boy."

Zuko gritted his teeth and grabbed her by the shoulders, but as he opened his mouth she spoke again.

"I hope you don't treat her like this. You'll be lucky if you keep her around for longer than a week!" And with those last words she started howling with laughter.

"Who!?"

Her laughter subsided for a second and she looked at him again. "Ahh my young one, you will find out soon enough." And she started again.

Zuko could barely contain himself any longer as the steam came out of his nose. In one swift movement he unsheathed his sword and cut off her head. He took a deep breath in, trying to remember his composure and left. He would not have his prisoners laugh in his face. He was the Prince, banished or not, they would show him respect.

He sighed again and closed his eyes. He didn't understand, why didn't these people just come forward willingly? Then they wouldn't have to be subjected to torture or their deaths. He flipped over onto his stomach and groaned, hopefully he wouldn't have to deal with another old woman. Even though he had doubts about the woman's sanity, he couldn't help but hear her words over and over again. Zuko didn't have time to waste on girls. He would deal with that when he was older, and besides, it's not like anyone would want to be courted by a banished prince?

/

Katara sighed while Aang and Sokka bickered over food, they couldn't agree on anything lately and it seemed that even the little things could send them into an argument.

"I am not eating fruit again! I don't care if that's what you 'survived' on when you were with the air nomads, but I'm a man, I need meat!" Sokka argued.

"Sokka please, Appa and MoMo are meat too, you know! Are you going to eat them? And besides fruit is good for you!"

"You guys please, why don't we have both?" Katara tried to pip in, but it seemed like they weren't paying any attention to her.

"Aang, we can eat fruit anywhere, some places don't have meat! This one does! Now lets go!"

"You know what Sokka! I'm going to go get some food. Some nice vegetarian food! You can do whatever you want!" Aang replied as he stormed off.

Katara was surprised. He normally didn't raise his voice, but then again, him and Sokka were normally really close. Maybe it was some male dominance thing.

"Fine! I'll get some good, strong, manly meat, and you can't have any!" Sokka yelled to Aangs back as he turned on his heel and went Aangs opposite.

Katara sighed again and started to rub her temples. Their bickering hadn't started until they were at The Great Divide. It seemed to have subsided when they saw Aunt Wu, but as soon as they decided to head on their way, Aang got tense and very on edge, which is what seemed to cause him to yell back at Sokka. Katara thought they had a nice visit to Makapu Village, they got their fortunes told from Aunt Wu, they saved a town, and got some more much needed supplies for their journey, it seemed as if all was well. As if telling she was deep in thought, MoMo decided to provide a distraction, and jumped on her lap. Katara smiled and gave him a scratch behind the ears. She looked up and realized it was going to get dark soon, so it would be best to set up camp.

She set up a fire, rolled out their sleeping bags and decided to try and make a stew. Sokka was most likely failing at catching anything, and Aang would eat anything they made on the trip, he hated to waste anything. By the time she had the stew made and everything else ready it had gotten dark. Katara started to worry, but decided it would be best if she stayed put, it would do no good if all three of them were lost. Right as Katara was about to dig in, Sokka came back, with nothing but a sour look on his face, as she predicted.

She grinned. "No luck?"

Sokka stuck his tongue out at her, stole her bowl, and started shoveling it in. She scowled at first, but then smiled, it's just Sokka being Sokka.

It was way past dark now and Kataras worry grew. She knew Aang could handle himself, but she couldn't help it, he was like her little brother. She looked over at Sokka, who after he ate almost all the stew, fell right asleep. She sighed and got up. It wouldn't hurt to check, and she'll just stay near the village, that way, in case she got lost, she would at least be able to find people. Katara managed to stay calm until about half way through the brush they had to pass to get to their camp grounds. What if he got hurt? What if something got him? What if Zuko decided to stay and they captured him? Katara groaned, she knew she shouldn't have let either one of them go off by themselves. She kept telling herself to calm down, everything would be fine, and if anything was to happen to him she would find him. She instinctively reached for her water skin, she found comfort in her element and was glad she always had it.

Katara had been out for awhile now and sleep was started to claim her. She could turn back, if she knew where back was. It seemed that she was just wandering now, her tiredness made her lose focus and now, she was lost. She chuckled darkly at the irony in her situation and decided it'd be best if she just kept going. She couldn't just fall asleep all alone without any supplies in the middle of nowhere. And anyways, who knew what was lurking in the shadows? She walked on and, thankfully, found Makapu. Not really knowing any other businesses or people here, she walked straight to Aunt Wu's place. She walked in and was surprised when she wasn't greeted. Well, it was late, she just hoped she wasn't going to be an annoyance.

"Aunt Wu! Aunt Wuuuu! Where are you?" Katara repeated a few times until she heard foots coming at her and she turned around to face Meng.

"Oh, hi Meng. I was looking for Aunt Wu. Do you know where she is?"

She could see Meng tense up as she took a deep breath in "She's not here. She was taken two days ago. By…Fire Nation."

Katara gasped a placed a hand on her shoulder. "Oh Meng. I'm so sorry, I know you were close."

Meng looked up at her with a weak smile. "I'll be fine, Aang came by earlier and he helped me realize a few things."

Katara smiled when Mengs whole face broke out into a blush at the mention of Aangs name. "That's really great Meng. I know you'll get through this. But do you know where Aang is now? I was actually looking for him when I came in here."

Mengs blush got deeper as she realized Katara knew why she was blushing. "Umm, I'm pretty sure he said he was going to head back to your camp."

Katara sighed, of course he headed back to camp. She probably just missed him. She said goodbye to Meng and headed out. She wandered around the village for a little while enjoying the way it looked when it was lit up. Nothing compared to her home though. The way the lights twinkled against the snow was simply magnificent, she could stare at it all night, and she often fell asleep looking at them. She sighed as a pang of homesickness hit her. She sat on one of the many benches and considered going to sleep right there. She couldn't walk back through the brush, it was much too dark. She could try and stay at the inn, but she didn't have any money. She pondered her decision as something watched her from the shadows. Katara didn't pay attention to her surroundings as she considered her options, her fatigue drained some of her instincts as well. She continued to think absent mindedly as the shadow soon neared her. Katara stifled a yawn and decided sleeping on a bench wasn't that bad, it was better than Appa when he hasn't taken a bath in some time. Katara shuddered and laid down, right when she closed her eyes sleep met her.

/

The shadow watched the girl from a distance. Why was she alone? Normally those two idiots are with her, Jun thought to herself. And then she remembered that offer she got a little while ago, and hoped it was still up for grabs.

A/N: Okay so! First story, woo! Reviews are welcomed and wanted! This chapters kind of short, I had it longer but then it was too long and if I was to keep some in chapter one and some in chapter two, it would've been confusing and hard to end, so I'm sorry!

A/N2: Also, I know the whole kidnapped Zutara thing is over done, but whateva whateva I do wut I want.

A/N3: Lots of author notes! Anyways, I know Aangs kind of out of character (so was Katara) I just really don't like Aang so it's difficult for me to write him. So needless to say, Aang does not have a big part in this aside from being the avatar and such. P.s I apologize sincerlyfor Katara being out of character! I wrote her much better in the next few chapters!