Number one: What I See in Your Eyes

Theme: Betrayal

Characters: Zuko and Katara

Her element cut into his skin like freezing razorblades. It sent shivers down his spine to be encased in nothing but ice and stone, or perhaps the chills he had were from that look on her face. Katara's emotions just bled right through her eyes, showing him everything that was inside of her. He swore he could pick out a dozen different feelings from just the way her eyes narrowed and her sights dropped to the ground, fists clenched, tears threatening to explode from the dam she'd tried to hide them under.

Hatred, of course, was certain to be present; if all the world fell apart and even reality shattered, there would still be a fine film of hate between the two of them. Humiliation certainly mixed in there. Since, after all, she'd convinced all of the others to give him a second chance, and repeatedly said with absolute confidence how he had changed, only for him to pull this stunt and prove, beyond a doubt, that he hadn't. Her posture dropped downwards toward the Earth, as if she didn't even have the strength left to stand. Hatred and betrayal and exhaustion were all a part of war, though, and he'd steeled himself against the harsh realities of this during his training to be a prince. The part that hurt the most was that wet shine of almost-tears in her eyes.

Then, he knew, she had felt something more for him than just another ally in rough times. A single drop grew at the corner of her eye. All the times he'd been the one to light the campfire for her. That little tear grew, caught the light of fires raging in the distance. How whenever he dug himself into a hole, she was there to grab his hand and pull him up. That single action seemed to be in slow motion, it seemed to be years longer than just a few seconds. That time when he had called her short, and she'd stood on her tiptoes to be eye level with him. Her eyes closed, like a candlelight going out. When he had been cleaning a fish and cut his hand on the fin, and she had healed it right up for him, smiling all the while. She turned, eyes closed, towards his face and those blue eyes of hers shot open straight into his. The torn feelings, the mixed memories, the explosions of emotion; all of it was in the crashing seas of her eyes. Not all the scolding and punishments and injuries in the world could make Zuko feel as badly as when that single, lonely tear streaked down her cheek and hung from her chin, suspended in the air for a breathless moment. It fell through the air, through an empty expanse of irrelevant space, and crashed upon the stones and dirt.

He didn't know that a tear hitting the ground made such a loud sound.