I don't own Avatar, or anything in here. Not even those little OCs. They may be a creation of my mind, but they were based of off servants of the Fire Nation.
The human heart is a strange vessel. Love and hatred can exist side by side.
Scott Westerfeld, Peeps, 2005
Zuko winced as he landed on the ground. The electrical current ran through him, shocking his whole body. He heard her voice shouting, her voice, and his name. He struggled to get up. "K-Katara..." He just couldn't move, the electricity coursing through him again, but not as shocking. He choked, pain coursing through him. Dammit, get up you moron, she can't get hurt, not now, not now that you let her get involved. The thoughts were something to focus on, but not enough to distract him. Once again, he felt the pain go through his abdomen. He clenched his teeth, choking on the pain.
Then, bursts of blue fire and sounds of splashes. He twitched, No. No. NO! He struggled again to get up. I...Katara, no. He licked his lips, something salty and wet hitting his tongue. Frustrated tears came down from the young fire bender. Suddenly, he heard his younger sister let out a crazy laugh, saying something he could barely understand. Too blurred for him, and he wondered dimly why. Then...no sounds, except maybe for what sounded like something icing over. And then just a few seconds after that, the sound of something like a big wave. He twitched, trying to get up again. Out of nowhere, feet pounded, the ground seemed to tremble all of the sudden. He felt so...lightheaded.
Who had ever survived the fight was getting closer to him, and he stared blearily at the ground. Please. Let her be safe, please, Agni, please. A pair of hands found his side, and rolled him over onto his side. He heard the voice, ever so quiet. "Oh Kuruk, Zuko..." Her careful, soft hands trailed over his abdomen, the wound wet with water. Zuko could barely see the grim expression on her face, but the way she choked on his name...It couldn't be good. And he so badly wanted to reach up and say he was okay, even if he wasn't, just stop those cobalt eyes from hurting. He attempted to open his mouth to say something, but he felt her fingers graze across his chest, leaving the wetness of water.
"This is my entire fault..." She hung her head, letting herself cry. "Zuko, I'm sorry. I shouldn't of..." She straightened up and pulled water from one of her water skins. Her fingers swiped away the water across the prince's abdomen. "No matter what happens...You have to promise me that you'll stay with me right now." Her fingers curved and she let the water hover over the wound, he wanted so bad to groan or moan. The stitching of skin made him tremble. Katara hushed him and hummed a lullaby he let his head lull to. He felt some strength return to him and he opened his eyes and turned to Katara. He smiled dimly at her.
"Thank you...Katara." The words he uttered held so much, Katara's eyes filled with tears, which proceeded to sloppily slide out. She shook her head, sucking in a shallow breath of air. He felt her tremble as she stared at him, as he smiled at her.
"I think I should be the one thanking you." She reached down and embraced him, for a moment he was shocked, much like the first time she had hugged him. Then, he wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug, but wincing when she hugged him too hard. He let out a groan, and she jolted up. "Sorry, here let me help you up." She glided her arm under his, lifting him up, and stumbling under his sudden weight.
"Why do you keep apologizing? You don't have to..." He grunted, his raspy voice filling her head. "Really, Just...this...it ma-" The sound of wailing shook the two. "What the he-" Again. Zuko whipped his head to look at the source. "Azula." He stared astonished at the condition his little sister was in. Her hair was down, but it had been like that before. Her hands were chained to the grate of the sewer that laid in the Coronation Temple and Plaza. "What in Agni did you do?" He glanced at the waterbender as his younger sister wailed blue fire. He felt Katara's hand tighten on the back of his shirt.
"I stopped her." She looked up, cobalt eyes sparkling. "What are you going to do?" This made him stop and think. What was he going to do? She was crazy and he certainly couldn't keep her chained to the grate. "Hey...Let's go. Think on it later, okay?" Her fingers tugged on the back of his shirt. His lips pressed together.
"Yeah. Let's go...We've got a lot to do." Zuko trudged slowly toward the entrance into the Palace, which wasn't too far away. A few Imperial guards suddenly appeared.
"Prince Zuko. As you were formally banished, we have mixed feelings on whether or not you shall become Fire Lord; you did indeed defeat your sister. So you would take the place your father gave to her. Although, you were never banished twice, so..." The Imperial guards paused, and turned to murmur amongst them. The one who had addressed Zuko turned back around. "We have decided that there is nothing stopping you from taking this place." They eyed Katara who did nor glare them, or threaten them in anyway. "Is she your friend?" Zuko looked at the waterbender, who wrapped her arm tighter around him in response. "I see. Then may this young Waterbender enter the palace and forever be a part of the Royal Court."
Zuko gapped at the men. He stuttered out a small part. "T-thank you." The men nodded, together in unison. "I..." He stopped as the Imperial guards started to turn to walk toward Azula. "I haven't decided what to do with her, please don't touch her." The Imperial guard stopped and just stared blankly at him. He took a deep breath. "What are your names?" This, of course, surprised the Imperial guards, but they took the request.
"My name, sire, is Shem." He pulled a young Imperial guard from the back of the five. "This is Li." The boy nodded, he looked about Sokka's age. Another man stepped forward. "This is Shyu." The man looked old, and Katara dimly remembered him from the Temple that they had gone to, to meet Roku. A younger man stepped forward, but he was defiantly older than Zuko. "This is my nephew, Shen. And this is our newest Imperial guard sire; he has only been here for a few months." An older man stepped forward. "This is Jee."
Zuko's eyes widened. "J-Jee." He didn't move but stared at the man like a frog. "Uh." He looked at his feet. "We are going to the Palace now..." He looked at his feet and then at Katara. She nodded silently. They both turned and walked toward the Palace. It was quiet as they strode into the hallway. She opened her mouth and glanced at Zuko. He coughed and winced, grabbing his abdomen.
"Careful!" Katara chided the Prince, and sighed. "By the way, where are we?" She glanced around and realized they had stopped, when Zuko had begun coughing. They were standing in front of a huge tapestry, which was red and had a black fire symbol upon it. "What's that?"
"Ah. We are in the Royal Halls, which house the Princes, Princess, Lords, Ladies, and any Ambassadors. This right here..." He patted the tapestry. "..Is where the servants enter, at least the ones that serve the Royals." Katara raised an eyebrow. "Fire Lord Sozin dubbed us that." He felt her arm relax as they began walking again. "We'll have to head to the Prince's room, since a majority of my stuff is in there. All the stuff I left behind, that is." Katara nodded. "You haven't said much." He raised his eyebrow.
"You haven't given a chance." She chuckled. "Anyway, no. I'm not that talkative. I thought you knew that...I'm not Aang." She joked. "Or Sokka or Toph...or-" Zuko pushed open the door to his bedroom. "Oh my...Who murdered someone in your room?" Katara stared at the disaster of the room. Ink was spilled over the fine sheets, a dagger stabbed into an angrily ripped up picture on the wall, the bed sheets were thrown over the room, daggers stabbing almost any surface that was available.
Zuko suddenly limped away from his supporter and caught himself with the dresser side. Katara called out a 'careful!' and started to pick up the bedspread. Zuko opened the drawers to see no clothes had been attacked. "Oh well, she respected my privacy." Katara glanced up. "Ah, Mai. And you don't have to clean anything..." Katara shook her head and muttered 'nonsense!', and then placed them carefully on the bed, and sat down. The bed sunk under her weight, and she sunk into it. She heard Zuko chuckle, and sit down next to her.
"She probably hates me right now." He glanced at Katara, who tried to give a comforting pat. "I broke up with her through a letter, and the last time I saw her...Was at the Boiling Rock." He looked down at his hands, they were trembling. He looked up as Katara grabbed his shoulder.
"If she really loves you, she would have understood, Zuko." She gave him a sharp look, and let go of his shoulder.
"Thing is, she didn't understand. She said I was being selfish, that this was not for my Nation. She said that it was just stupid, that it couldn't be for the Nation..." He looked back down at his hands, again. The waterbender smacked him on the back of the head.
"Don't let that affect you, you did what was best. If she doesn't see that now, then she doesn't love you the way she should." Katara smiled one of her gentle smiles. "That's love, understanding people in any type of mood." She took his right hand in her left and squeezed it. "As I said, no matter what happens...promise to stay with me right now." She looked so delicate all of the sudden and he interlaced their fingers. He buried his face in her shoulder.
"Don't worry, I'll never let you be alone, Katara." They both sat still for a few moments, before Katara pulled away. The door flew open, to reveal two normal servants standing there. They looked hotly at Katara, fiercely glaring at her. Katara leaned to whisper in Zuko's ear.
"I'm going to go now... Meet me...out in the Royal Gardens...?" Katara left her lips pressed carefully to the ear of the Fire Prince. He knew at once she was questioning whether or not there were actual Royal Gardens. He nodded carefully, just barely, but enough for Katara. As she slid out of the room, one of the servants followed her. She walked quietly, but was bothered by the other woman's presence. "What?" She turned, still a little edgy from saving the Prince. The girl fell back, alarmed.
"I...um...sorry Madam!" She bowed, so low that Katara thought the girl might, well, break her spine. She raised her eyebrows, as the girl looked back up. "You see, you must prepare for the Crown Prince's Coronation. As part of his Royal Court, of course!" She watched Katara raise her eyebrow, as they had fallen back to normal place.
Katara opened her mouth to protest, after all, she was fine with the clothing she had!
"Okay! Let's goooooo." The young servant tugged her toward a room, which looked very...big. As she was tugged in she was meant by eager other servants, different ages but all female. They tugged on her clothes, and started to poke her sides. What looked like the oldest woman there suddenly stepped forward. She eyed Katara's cobalt eyes, her russet skin and her chocolate hair. With ease, the woman pulled on a string.
"This one will be troublesome. We'll need measurements. Lin!" The girl who had pulled Katara into the room shot to the woman's side. "Figure out the colors." Lin nodded and started to compare reds, blacks, and golds to Katara's russet skin. The girl seemed to decide on the ones that fit Katara, and she strode back to the older woman. Suddenly, a pudgy woman pushed past the girls clustered around Katara, Lin and the woman who seemed it control. "Oh, there you are. Mia, this is Katara." The woman leaned into whisper. "She seems to have infatuations with the Crown Prince." The pudgy woman smiled, and turned to Katara.
"Alright, let's get started!" The pudgy woman smiled gently as she pulled the obi that held Katara's robes together. The obi was placed gently in what seemed to be a basket, and Katara's robes fell slightly off her shoulders. Katara pulled them off and tossed them into the basket. She tugged off her boots and pants, watching one of the servants swiftly take them away. She stood in her underclothes. The servant girls stared at her flawless skin. They seemed fascinated by her skin, and she shrunk into a corner "GIRLS. Ling, take the ones that you didn't call here back to the quarters." A majority of the girls were ushered out by the elderly woman. Ling, apparently.
Katara opened her mouth to say something. But the pudgy woman, Mia, hushed her. "Quiet dear. We've a lot work to do..." She carefully measured Katara's chest, which made Katara look shocked at her. The woman measured her waist, lengths of arms and legs, torso, and then her shoulder width. "Hm. Other than your chest, you fit Princess Azula's style and clothing." She turned to Lin. "The Princess has clothes to fit a Royal Court?" Lin nodded and shot out of the room.
The woman chuckled, but Katara was staring at her chest. "What's wrong with my chest?"
"Oh dear. You are just a little smaller than Princess Azula; don't make a fit about it." She patted Katara as Lin gave her an outfit. "Oh. Armor? No, that can't work. Here, the under clothing here will work, just get me a top, please!" She turned back to Katara, holding up a pair of capris, they were the red that Lin had thought would fit. The capris actually seemed to be a mix of two shades, dark spotting the lighter red. It was laced with red at the bottom and it was split where it was lace with the gold, just the edges of the bottom. She pulled them on and stared back at the figure in mirror. Odd, is this really me? She tilted her head as the thought ran across her mind.
Lin ran in with a top, that matched her bottoms exactly, a gold obi, that looked like it could be tied in the back. She handed it to Mia, and then scooted into the corner. The other servant girls started to move around, ad Ling appeared back in the room. She seemed to nod in approval of Katara's bottoms. As Katara slipped on the top, the obi was tied around her middle, tightened till she almost couldn't breath. The rest of the obi hung from her back. She breathed and widened her eyes at the girl in the mirror.
Ling brought over various metal objects, along with a pair of Fire Nation sandals. The servant girls pushed Katara onto a couch, and slipped the sandals onto her feet. They slipped metal circles until they hit her upper-middle arm. And then they clasped something around her wrists, which started at her wrists and only got a few inches away before ending.
"Oh, whoa." Her fingers twitched to touch her face, and she glanced back as the servants slowly spilled back to their quarters. She twitched her fingers over her skin, feeling the soft surface, and smiled. It tingled, her touch. Ling and Mia stared at her for a moment. Suddenly a boy busted into the room, Mia yelled at him.
"Sorry, Mia, Ling. But the Royal Court has been alerted that The Prince shall be Fire Lord tomorrow. And they would like to have dinner with him and his...lady friend." The boy glanced at Katara. Ling first sighed seemed to look relieved. "Right, I'll just leave now." The boys slipped out of the doorway, into the hallway.
"Honestly. Lin, go tell Ren to knock next time. Mia, go finish in the kitchens." The two females split away, smirking as they walked away. "Miss Katara, I must give you my humble apologies, Ren can be very rude." She gestured toward the doors suddenly. "Oh, just follow me, you will meet the Royal Court tonight." As Katara was shifted away, she felt her stomach suddenly start to slosh. She bit her lip and shivered.
Blood flowed into her mouth and she choked. Her fingers tightened on the sash at her waist, why did this taste so foul. She glanced at men that were walking around. They seemed very noble... The way they walked around, like there was nothing you could do about it. She glanced back at herself, her posture was fine, but she was stumbling behind the old madam.
Suddenly, she was in a room full of talking men, sitting with women who didn't talk out of turn. She twitched as Ling flittered out of the room. Now alone in the room,-Okay not alone, but she didn't know this people- she felt like shrinking into the corner and not being there. A hand landed on her shoulder and she jumped.
"Agni, Katara. Don't be so jumpy." The Crown Prince chuckled in her ear. "This is the Royal Court and their...wives." He nodded to the men, who were various ages. The women matched the ages of the men. "Don't be afraid, you're technically not actually part of the Royal Court... You are more of an Ambassador for the Water Tribes. Here, sit here." He patted a chair that sat empty near the first chair. As she slipped into the chair, Zuko let out a cough. The Royal Court looked up, surprised.
"As the Crown Prince, I have called all of you to prepare for the Coronation. I have a special guest with myself, a soon-to-be ambassador of the Water Tribes." Suddenly, all the head of the Royal Court and their wives turned to the russet-skinned girl. Katara attempted to sink in her chair, but that did not work. She knew at once that this would not ba a fun Night.
And yeah. This is really cool, in my mind. I dunno. Azula gets this huge part next chapter, and while this is Zutara, there is a Kataang moment; it's for a friend of mine. All of the respect moments to Maiko and Kataang still happen. .
It'd be awesome if you'd review, tell me what you think?