AU where Katara and Sokka did not find Aang in the iceberg. The Fire Nation continues to try to take over the world.
Katara heard another door open in front of her, this one heavier than the previous ones that had been opened for her as she was dragged through a maze of hallways. At least, it sounded heavier. She couldn't exactly see anything through the scratchy piece of fabric that had been tightly tied around her eyes shortly after being captured by the Fire Nation soldiers.
The air that hit her as she was pushed through the threshold was even colder than where they had been walking before, but only just. Almost as soon as the two arms were off of her, she swiveled around on light feet to face the direction where she had come. And was immediately met by a hard slap to the face. Reeling backward a few steps, her back encountered a wall, which she then braced herself against as she kicked out with her legs. Katara's hope to strike her captor backfired when her leg was grabbed and twisted, causing her to hit the ground hard. As she attempted to right herself, a pair of strong arms lifted her up and slammed her left shoulder into the wall as the piece of fabric fell from her eyes.
With her vision free, Katara took a moment to glance at her surroundings. She was in a small square room constructed completely out of stone, along with three of the men who had abducted her from the South Pole many hours prior. In one corner, a round metal grate rested next to a hole in the ground. The diameter of the hole was no more than the length of her foot, meaning it couldn't possibly be used as a means to escape. Other than that, the room was completely bare.
Katara was drawn out of her inspections by a sudden pain in her shoulder as it was pushed into the wall even harder by one of the men. She struggled, causing the flesh to pull from her skin as she was turned around to face her tormentors. The next few minutes was a blur of hits and kicks as two of the men attacked her while the third held her against the solid wall behind her. A particularly brutal blow to her stomach had her doubling over in pain, which only made it possible to take a knee to the face. She felt tears prick to her eyes for the first time since she had been captured as the bones in her nose cracked, and blood dripped down onto her heavy blue robe.
A few more hits later, the door opened again to reveal a tall man with chest-length white hair as he stepped into the room. His uniform was a slightly altered version of the ones worn by the men who had captured her, and his presence screamed authority.
The onslaught on her battered body immediately halted, but Katara continued her efforts to escape from the arms that detained her. She even managed to land a powerful kick between the legs of one of the guards who turned to acknowledge the newcomer. She couldn't help but smirk at the pitiful grunting sound he released. The expression only made her broken nose hurt more.
As the white-haired man made his way towards her, Katara noticed that his entire face was covered in healed burns. His skin appeared to bubble beneath the surface, forming strange patterns not unlike that of scales from a reptile. Paired with his thin-set mouth and light—almost gold—eyes, this man had the appearance and poise of a snake. Due to his hair and the slightly wrinkled skin of his exposed arms (one of which led to a hand scarred-over in the same manner as his face), she guessed him to be a few years older than her father. He didn't even glace at the other three men in the room, although he did cock his head a bit to the side at the sight of Katara's assault on the man who was now clutching his junk in pain. The girl continued to struggle and thrash even as the older man paused not an arm's length from her.
"This one's got fire," the snake man smirked.
Katara spat in his direction. The man's expression darkened as he wiped her saliva off of his face with the back of his hand. Before she could blink, a strong hand roughly grabbed her jaw, forcing her to look directly into the snake's eyes. The cold eyes starred at her, cruel and calculating. After a moment, Katara's face was pulled even closer as the man rasped into her ear, "I'm going to enjoy watching the light leave your eyes."
With that, he let go of the girl, signaling to the other men to do the same. Katara abruptly fell to the ground, scrambling to sit up just in time to see the last guard leave the room, closing the door behind him.
Now alone in her personal prison, Katara was finally able to give in to her exhaustion. She slid down the wall and brought her knees up under her chin, reaching up to pinch her nose in attempt to quench the bleeding. As fatigued as she was, the only thing Katara really craved was water. She couldn't even collect any moisture from the air. Straining her senses farther, she attempted to pull up water from the hole she had seen when the men had pushed her into this room, but felt nothing. There was no trace of anything she could bend. For the first time since the water bender had discovered her talent, she felt truly helpless.
Katara started when the door creaked open, fearing that her punishment wasn't yet over. From her spot against the wall, she squinted her eyes when she realized the newcomer was not dressed in the red and black uniforms of the guards, but appeared to be almost as dirty as herself. She briefly wondered what her tormentors could gain from tricking her in this way, but then the man—who was decided to be only a bit older than herself—continued his way into the room, carrying a small metal bucket with him. Katara heard the tell-tale sound of liquid sloshing around inside the container and immediately straightened up, preparing to attack.
The man (boy?) seemed to notice her movement, and quickly brought himself and the container all the way into the room, allowing the door to slam heavily behind him. He flinched as the sound resonated through the room, but never took his eyes off the water bender.
That is, until said bender drew water from the pail and pinned his arms to the closed door with only a flick of her wrist. The ice tightened around him as she slowly made her way over to him, streams of more water already at her command. The boy pulled in an attempt to free himself, but resistance only fuelled Katara's anger. She was in his face in a second with a sharp shard of ice at his throat.
Neither had said a word. Katara was shaking with excitement from the sudden position of power she found herself in. Or maybe it was just her legs protesting the weight they had to support. She held her ground, pushing aside the fatigue so she could size up the boy in front of her, who had stopped struggling and instead just met her gaze with an equal amount of challenge. They remained like this for a long while, the only sound coming from her heavy breathing and the occasional scuff of his shoe on stone as he shifted his weight.
It was he who spoke first. "You're bleeding," the boy said, nodding at her left shoulder.
Katara wasn't entirely sure what she was expecting, but it certainly hadn't been that. She squinted at him, certain he was just trying to distract her so he could get the upper hand. However, curiosity won out, and she tightened the restraints binding his arms before sparing a quick glance to her left. The cloth covering her shoulder was completely shredded and wet with her blood from where it had been slammed against the rough stone wall.
"And your, uh…" the boy started, crinkling his nose when Katara looked up at him again.
The girl couldn't help but bark out a snorting laugh at the absurd comment. Doesn't he know I can FEEL the blood dripping down my face. Do I LOOK like an idiot.? Actually, Katara thought, I probably DO… At this, Katara paused her inner monologue to review her now-ratty clothes. They were far too heavy to be appropriate in the climate of her small cell, and the vibrant cerulean and snow-whites of the fabric didn't seem quite right for this dire occasion. Not to mention that she was filthy from being on the ground, and covered in her own blood. She hadn't even bothered to wipe away the blood that had leaked from her nose since the boy had come into her room. Yes, in all honesty, Katara assumed that she did look rather silly.
And here she was, attacking someone who had done absolutely nothing to hurt her. He hadn't even said anything that could be taken as malicious. He'd simply walked in here to- what?
Katara stepped back and regarded her captive thoughtfully, if not a little cautious. He seemed to be about her age, maybe a little older, and, from what she could tell of his height (he was a little stretched out due to her ice limiting his ability to stand regularly), wasn't much taller than her either. He appeared thin, but strong underneath the worn maroon rags he was wearing. His face was marked by a round-ish scar completely encompassing his left eye and extending beneath his hairline and over to his ear. A mop of dark brown hair nearly reached his eyes. With his appearance taken into account, he couldn't possibly be on the same level as the men who had abused her earlier. Still, Katara thought it best to keep her guard up.
"Why are you here?" she demanded in the firmest voice she could muster.
The boy raised the uninjured eyebrow at her while shaking his still-contained limbs. Katara sighed and begrudgingly released him, but kept a firm hold on her element, ready to impale him with ice if he even blinked at her the wrong way.
Rubbing his chilled arms to restore warmth, the boy gave a sarcastic bow before gesturing to the bucket. "They told me to bring you water. Guess they figured it'd be best to send someone who didn't matter in with it, rather than risk you attacking one of them. Smart call." The words were both casual and acidic at the same time. His voice was gruff, yet stable, which somehow calmed Katara's nerves a bit. He didn't sound like he was lying…
She lowered her hands a bit. "And you're… what? A hostage like me?"
He chuckled at that. "A hostage would have somewhere else to be. A home. I'm more of a permanent resident. Against my will." The boy kicked a pebble with his shoe, looking down at the ground. His hands were tucked away in the pockets of his shabby pants. He clearly had no intent of attacking her, or he'd have done it the second she'd let her guard down. Katara decided to trust that he was simply a prisoner like herself, and let her weapons return back to the bucket he had brought with him.
Sighing, Katara knelt down next to the water and tried to focus on her chi and the water. She was interrupted by movement in her peripheral, and tensed when the boy sat down across from her, intentionally maintaining a decent distance away, which she appreciated.
"I'm Zuko, by the way," he announced, holding a hand out to her.
Katara shook her head at the hand and returned to her concentration. "And I would appreciate some quiet." That seemed to shut him up.
Zuko watched with interest as the girl formed glowing gloves out of the water before gently touching them to her wounds. The torn skin from her shoulder began to grow back, and her nose stopped bleeding as soon as her hand touched it. A few more moments of her hand lingering over her face, he saw the bones appear to melt back into place. He had heard of certain benders being able to heal themselves, but this was beyond anything that he could have imagined. That would have been handy a few years ago, he thought bitterly. He observed in silence until all the blood was washed from her face, and all visible wounds were healed.
The girl then bent a few handfuls of the remaining water into her mouth in neat streams, and Zuko was mesmerized by her throat as it took in the sips of water. She must not have gotten anything to drink in awhile, he thought as she continued drinking for a few moments more. He wondered if she'd had anything to eat yet. Would the guards allow her food? Or would they wait until they got the information they wanted? He thought back to when he had been filling the pail with water after being ordered to bring water into the designated cell, and had overheard the men talking about using her to gain information for the Fire Lord. Zuko didn't know what this girl knew, but he was certain that the brutal men who had kept him here for years would stop at nothing to get it out of her.
When Katara was satisfied that she had drunk enough water, the bucket was nearly empty. She knew it might be awhile before she would get another drink, so forced herself to finish it off. Feeling better after her drink and her healing session, she regarded the boy—Zuko—once again. He was watching her with interest, his light brown eyes swimming with questions.
But Katara was tired, and had to figure out a plan for escape. She had no time for questions.
"Well. Um… Thank you? For the water." She said, a little less confidently than she would have liked.
The boy shot her a small, hesitant smile before grabbing the empty pail and rising from his spot on the ground. His hand was raised to knock on the door when the sound of a throat being cleared stopped him. He turned to glance at the girl behind him.
"And I'm sorry for attacking you," Katara muttered as she sheepishly tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "I didn't know if-"
"It's alright," Zuko stopped her. "I'd have been scared too."
Katara shot him an indignant glare. "I wasn't- I was just-" she started, but then paused and sighed heavily, chewing on the inside of her cheek.
The boy gave her a weak smile before nodding his head once in understanding. He didn't blame her for acting the way she did. He made to turn back around, but stopped when he was facing halfway between her and the door.
"Besides," Zuko shrugged, "I could have gotten out anytime I wanted anyways."
Katara snorted. "Oh yeah? And just how would you have done that? My ice could hold a dozen adult warriors in place, no problem," she beamed proudly.
Zuko just grinned and knocked on the door. It opened just wide enough for him to squeak through. He turned to look at the girl over his shoulder, smiled, and puckered his lips to blow a light puff of air towards her. In the next split second, he had exited the room and closed the door, leaving Katara alone once again. If it hadn't been for the sudden warmth on her cheek, she would have been certain that the flame formed from Zuko's breath was just a delusion.
This new realization hit her with the force of a stampede of moose-lions.
Zuko was a fire bender.
I'd planned on waiting until I had a bunch of chapters finished before posting, but just wanted to see what the reaction would be. Please comment if it's worth pursuing! I'll be posting and updating on AO3 as well once I get more done.
Suggestions and comments welcome :)